The 7 Random Things Bandwagon

Hopping on...
1. I have an olympic gold medal. Promise. I was a coach for the RI special olympics sailing team when it went to worlds (which was in CT). In sailing, they have "unified partners" in the boat as part of the team, so, you know, no one gets killed. Part of the team=medal. I think my mom has it, it's not really something I brag about.
2. On the sports theme, in high school I was on the track/indoor/cross country team for 9 seasons. There weren't tryouts, which was good, cause I was BAD. REALLY BAD. I couldn't even place in JV events, and again, this was RI, not exactly competition central.
3. I prefer glasswear, plates, bowls, silverwear, ect. that are textured. I like the way they feel, and will wash a favorite textured item even if there is a clean regular one.
4. I won $15 dollars in a frog-jumping contest with a frog I caught in the creek at my grandparents house. It was at the local 4-H ish fair. I was around 8 and wore Richard Simmons shorts. My aunt was nice enough to send Mr. VT the pic, which is now on his Myspace page.
5. Until Mr. VT bribed me with vodka, I could not and would not eat raw oysters. They tasted like drowning, like saltwater and mucus and YUCCCCCKKKK. Now I really like them and we get some of each kind to do taste tests.
6. I was a reader when I was a kid. I mean really, over the summer one year when I was 12/13, I actually read all of the books in the young adult section of the library and had to go find adult books. Over Feb break at my grandparents house I read 30 books in 6 days (and yes, they were at or above my reading level) and won a plastic trophy from their reading challenge.
7. I do a minor hair change about every 9 months, and a major one about every three years. I sat down once and figured this out, and somehow this timing stays true. (in my book, major=a BIG cut, a BIG growout or major style change, or something involving bleach and manic panic. My profile pic was the last change, flaming red manic panic)

Look, it's me again!!!!!

I swear, it's me. And considering how far away my family was sitting, I'm impressed that I'm recognizable as a person. Hint, I'm the one to the right of the President who is wearing the silly blue beret. I mean the pres is the beret wearer, not me. I'm next to the flag.

WOOOOO HOOOOOOO!!! We are done!!!!

That there is $48 of high quality grad school polyester(okay, mine was $48, Mr. VT's was free AKA included-in-his-student-fees). After 3 years and a combined $100,000 debt rack-up, our schools spend the big bucks for the big day. Kinda like blowing forty thousand on your wedding but buying the dress at walmart. And being flamable. We're two shots of tequilla away from being human molotov cocktails. (disclainer, these outfits were actually donned the day AFTER graduation, when were sufficiently recovered from kegging the night before, but not yet tipsy from the mimosas and bloody marys; so as to not catch fire on the bar-b-que that was pretty much on the whole weekend.)

FYI Family... I am going to attempt the very challenging task of posting many of the grad pics on some online private site, so you can print to your hearts content. Wait for the e-mail, and thanks Dad G. for the pics (having to resize this picture from the 34 by-some-odd INCH picture in the CD you sent was really special. Just wait for the poster-size-print-of-us-once-the-keg-got-tapped that your getting for Christmas. It's going above the fireplace.)

A Wee Little Update, But No Pictures...Sorry

I have a dilly of a cold, and just can't quite rangle myself into taking any pics to go along with my update. Since it's been a while, I figured I'd be all organized and stuff, so here we go...

1. finished "not-hat", a surprise gift that should be arriving to it's owner any day now. The "not-hat" is a new favorite pattern that will be familiar to the knitty-ers out there.
2. finished the world's largest hat, also a surprise gift, but it was a requested knit so it's a lesser surprise than "not-hat". Also on it's way to the owner, in the same box. After sending it off, I realized that I forgot to finish part of it!! It's totally wearable, but I'll want to add that one last bit. Feeling very silly.
3. cast on for a very special gift with this yarn, soooooo loverly! (must remember to re-size pics before posting). It has a deadline that is fast approaching.
4. made more progress on column of leaves, my first "lace" project. Does intentionally putting lots of holes in the pattern make it lace?
5. called a hiatus on urban aran, waiting until my new addi turbos in a very wee 12 inch legnth show up. Doing the sleeves using the magic loop is magic in the way that you have two places in each round where you have a natural stopping point. This is the opposite reason I knit in the round. I will resume knitting when my new needles arrive from Mr. ebay Jeff Wonderland in China. Great prices and great selection, but China shipping can be a tad slooooooooow.

In non-knitting news, we graduated! Mr. VT and I are now masters of stuff. My graduation was, ummm, nice, and I fell asleep during the commencement speaker. I felt much more special whilst being hooded and having my FULL name being read (kept my maiden name as a second middle name). I didn't trip, but I'm sure my special pic with the president of the college will look awful as I was a bit overwhelmed and was shaking a bit. Like my lips and face were shaking. Lovely. Not like crying shaking, more like on stage infront of the entire civic center simultanously realizing that three years of suckiness is over, I am officially allowed to try and fix youth's lives, and that I owe the feds $90,000 for this privlidge.
(sidebar, I think they should make it so that grad school costs a percentage of what you will make as a professional. Cause no joke, that's like three full years of my potential salery, not including interest. I could buy a house for that much. Or three cars. Or feed all of Maine's food stamp recipients for a year or so(maybe).)
Anyways, we had a great weekend, HUGE party on saturday and did up a kicking mother's day brunch in the yard on sunday complete with crabcakes benedict and mimosas. It was soooo fun. Now I just need a job.

Yarn, Cats, and Not Much Else

With school and all, I've had a lot of books and binders and stuff around. Here we have:My best bookshelf spot, complete with binders, dayplanner, assignments, my testing folders, the DSM, and other assorted textbooks.
Now, HAAA HAAA!!!! It's my yarn shelf! with all my current projects including urban aran, several balls of yarn in various stages of knitting, a bag of secret knitting, knitpicks options binder, and notions boxes. This is not technically THE knitting shelf, as there's two other shelves that already had that job, but it's certainly more convenient.
And here we have yarn. These people make the MOST AMAZING YARN and I crave it in my dreams. This is not nearly representative of the actual color. It is reserved for a very special project.
This is also my new favorite yarn. It is 25% cashmere, 75% lambswool. Some lovely lady in my area had started a yarn company then didn't, and had gobs of roving that she had spun up and is selling at one of my LYS's. It's cheep. And 40% off. And is now sitting in my living room in a bag with 17 of it's siblings. Yep, 18 balls. 3,420 yarns of soft lovelyness (I had to get extra cause once it's gone, it's never going to be in stock again). It will be the Rogue hoodie for me and the Manly Maze Sweater for Mr. VT. His will be dyed though.
And lastly, I leave you with the kitties. They are both in catnip-hazes. Zora is very proud of herself cause she got the top of the perch, which Dulce usually steals. Dulce is also proud, cause she tricked Zora into staying on top of the perch so she can enjoy all the nip that's fallen on the floor. They're such dorks.