Everything

I thought I would share Boigie's new sleeping space with you....He likes to alternate every few weeks. He briefly frequents the space for those few weeks before abandoning it all together. He, of course, has his tried and trues. Our bed, his perch, and the linen closet whenever I've put off laundry long enough that he squeeze his wiggle waggle in there.

On to business:
First things first, my mother has come and gone. She was here for only a long weekend...I was bummed that I couldn't take off on Monday but I had to attend a conference for work which I really couldn't get of because I got CEU's for it and my mom also came at this time last year to meet M's parents and I skipped out on one of the days for that. So her visit went really really quickly. She arrived on a much delayed flight on Friday night which put the kabosh on our dinner plans but we still managed to fit in a beer or two at our neighborhood pub. Saturday we walked down to the Charles River to watch the Head of the Charles Regatta. It was a great New England Fall day....sunny with a great chill in the air. I love living close enough to Harvard Square that we can walk and we don't have to worry about fighting our way onto a bus full of tourists who have no idea about bus etiquette. For dinner, we went to one Kashish, our favorite Indian restaurant. Aside from them giving me way too spicy Chicken Tikka Masala, it was good as always. On Sunday, my mom wanted to cook so after a lengthy trip to Russo's and the other grocery store who can not begin to compare, we started cooking and we remained cooking all through my precious Sunday football (I did abysmally if that's a word) until we finally could serve dinner at about 830pm. I met my mom for lunch on Monday (conference benefit, uber lon lunches). She flew out Tuesday after I left for the conference. As usual, the visit went way too fast and always gives me a taste of what it would be like to actually live by mom and meet for lunch etc and then it's ripped away. I've lived here ever since I was 21 so I've never really had the pleasure of living near my mom when I could really appreciate it.





Today was the final day of the conference and MY GOD I can't possibly listen to another case study!! I was so glad to walk out tonight. It's a very informative conference but you could almost play Palin bingo with all the buzzwords that are repeated over and over again. For today's lunch excursion, I did some shopping at Copley Place and decided that these items would enjoy a better life with me and probably should journey home: Ruffle Packet Henley Sweater and hmmm..the other one is not posted on their site. You'll have to trust me it's cute. It's a tan, chunkier knit sweater with a collar that can be made into a shawl collar. There were a few other sweaters there that I liked, but I decided I could make them or something very similar so I passed.

School is getting a little more stressful right now. Next Monday I have my advising session for next semester followed immediately by the Random Systems exam where my lab partner and I each have to pick a patient scenario out of a hat and perform the appropriate exams on each other. Next semester is my first clinical and I'm nervous about it mainly because I have to do 150 hours of clinic time over the course of 15 weeks and most clinics are M-F 9-5 which are also my work hours. I have no idea right now how I'm going to finagle this. Oh, and we have class every other Tuesday at 4pm so I also have to leave early that day to get there in time. Yikes. From what I understand, each subsequent clinical requires more and more hours ( I have three total) so I have no idea how this is going to shake out.

Knitting news...I'm doing a quasi February sweater. I have also learned that M and I will most likely going to visit baby SEM this coming Sunday so I'm signing off now in the hopes that I can finish this sweater by then. And yes, I'll take a picture..I've been really bad about doing that lately but it always seems like so much of a process. Take a decent shot, load it up, load onto this page...It's just easier to tell you and show you at the end.

And with that I'm off!

Jo Mama

This weekend's plans are very exciting....my Mom decided a few weeks ago to fly out for the weekend! I'm tracking her flight right now online, she's been delayed several times but at least she got a seat. She has unconfirmed seats for some reason and said that it would have been $50 extra per plane (that's 4 planes total) to get confirmed seats on all flights. I'm not sure if this is because she booked it without much advanced notice or if this is a new policy on top of charging her $15 for her luggage.

Raincheck on the February

After about three different attempts and frogs for either things I forgot to do or.....yeah, things I forgot to do, I've decided that the Mountain Colors handpainted yarn is too pretty to use on the February pattern. Nothing against the pattern, the sweater is scrumptious but there is too much detail in both the yarn and the pattern to accentuate either. Everything is just disjointed looking and you can't tell what's going on with the pattern.

I'm going to use the basic idea of the sweater, but do it all in stockinette so you can see the lovely hand dying and color variations. I'm going to keep the yoke garter stitch, and I like what some people have done with their modifications by reducing the buttons to only two in the yoke so the sweater will have more swing. Not that there will be much swinging going on on a baby that can't even sit upright, but hey. So that's the plan.

Pet Peeve

Today's pet peeve:

When you are walking and the person in front of you as walking at basically the same pace as you, but you are a bit too close so you have to slow down to not run into them and you can't get around them because of large trucks and trees, as was my scenario this morning. If you try to pass them, you would have to break into a light jog and look slightly moronic.

The resolution: Did attempt the pass when I had room to go around, but the fastest I could walk without jogging was the same pace this guy was walking so we walked down the hall together as if we were old chums going to grab a cup of coffee on our way into work. Finally, he turned and I could resume my normal rate of speed.

February Sweater

So even though I told myself I was not going to use my lovely hand painted yarn until the blanket for my in laws was done, I couldn't resist. I'm working on the February Sweater, you can see several variations here: http://zimmermaniacs.blogspot.com/search/label/February%20baby%20sweater

I'm not sure which baby girl it will before, guess it depends on how big it is when I'm finished. But tonight, I solemnly swear, to do nothing but the Burridge Blanket. Hopefully.

Farms and Peeps

This weekend S and I went on our annual trek to New Hampshire for the Wool Arts Tour. Not much changes from year to year and I'm not sure it's something I need to go to every year, but the drive certainly makes it more tempting. The leaves were much more vibrant this year, lots of bright oranges and reds, last year was more washed out. We mastered the journey from farm to farm using Mio this year and fared sooo much better than last year, albeit we had a few problems which I am declaring user error. You just can't let S around technology she doesn't understand :)



My sole purchases were two hanks of Mountain Colors Bearfoot yarn in Red Willow and a hank of silk and linen blend yarn. Both were handpainted and I couldn't resist. The Mountain Colors yarn is going to be made into a baby sweater for another friend S who just had a baby girl on Saturday morning. The other yarn will probably be made into a scarf at some point, but I need to finish that god forsaken blanket before I do anything else. Well, that's what I told myself yet somehow I found myself starting the baby sweater last night :(



In school news, the proof is in. I'm a total slacker. I think it's because I'm taking one class instaed of two and therefore don't have as much to stay on top of or do. Well, I took this to an extreme this weekend when I totally spaced on doing the next SOAP note that is due today! I casually looked at my syllabus to see when it was due, I at least knew it was coming up soon and then WHAM! Right there no the page, SOB SOAP Note Due 10/14! I even verified it online. So for the rest of the evening, knitting needles down, pencil up! I managed to pull together a reasonable note (I think).



It was also our 6 month wedding anniversary (already) on Sunday. I remembered all through the week and on Sunday not in the presence of M and then totally forgot about it once I came home! He had done all kinds of nice things, gotten me my favorite treats from Trader Joe's, cleaned up the house and vacuumed, bought my a lap desk for my lap top and picked up some flowers! Still with all these niceties around the house, it did not occur to me that it was for our anniversary. I kept commenting that he should really be left to his own devices more often and only as we were going to bed that night did I realize that it was our anniversary. At least one of use remembered and that person lacks the estrogen that it takes to get mad at the other person for forgetting!

Coffee and Marching Bands

A fellow blogger highly recommended the Starbucks Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate as a little slice of heaven. I took her recommendation to add a shot of espresso (she actually added 2 but I decided against the palpitations today and stuck with 1). It looked and sounded extremely indulgent which is right up my ally, but I find in recent years, things can now be too chocolatey for me and I think this is one of those things.

I was hoping the espresso would add enough bitterness to cut the ultimate sweetness that was promised on all of the signage but no...it's still cheek puckeringly sweet. It's tasty but I would need about a thimble full before I need a water chaser. I'm thinking of cutting it with milk and trying another incarnation of a fall beverage next time.

In weekend news, M and I are thinking of checking this out today: http://www.honkfest.org/index.htm

Ridiculosity

Is it just me or does anyone else find this completely ridiculous? I have seen two people wearing these, not this Paul Frank one, but hoodies with ears. Yes I said it, hoodies with ears. Both were adults.

http://www.shop.com/Paul_Frank_The_Julius_Ears_Z_U_Hoody_in_Black%2C_Sweatshirts_for_Women-98478915-p!.shtml

School, Weekend Plans

Ok, I totally forgot about the debate last night! I even got home from school in time for it but was apparently zonked and didn't even think of it. From what I've heard, it's fairly lackluster...just like the candidates!



Last night, we learned how to do the complete neuro exam. For some reason, this is the one that I'm most comfortable with, likely because I do portions of it for a few of our studies.



Well, it feels like a long week. Even longer now that I know my Mom is coming to see me in only two weeks! Luckily, I'm pretty busy between now and then so she should be here before I know it. My friend S and I are once again going on the Wool Arts Tour. It gives you a chance to see the whole process of how our precious yarn comes to be. There are five or six farms that you can tour, some have sheep, some have no animals but have the roving some have yarn. It was really fun last year and the farms are in the mountains and country side of New Hampshire which is great for leaf peeping. This year, we'll be accompanied by a GPS and no longer have to rely on my husband to give us very very slow directions while we pass all the roads we should be turning on. He feels that the GPS system was a gift for both me and him :)

Monkey Waiter!

I can't embed this video for some reason...but seriously. Click on this link. I'm both horrified that someone is using a monkey like this but intrigued by his knickers and kimono and overall aptitude at serving.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/telegraphtv/3145850/Japanese-monkey-waiters.html

I can't believe I'm paying $65/Month for This!

So I've had two less than desirable experiences with my gym in the past week.

Exhibit A
I walk in and notice signs stating that membership dues are going up as of October 1. I decide to inquire as to how much it's going up.
Me: How much are the dues going up in October
Girl at Desk: I don't know.
Me: You don't know?
Girl at Desk: No.

No offer to find out, look up my account, an apology for not knowing....

Exhibit B
Today, I arrive for my Sunday morning work out, which frankly, takes some degree of motivation. Working out on a dreary chilly Sunday is probably not the top activity on my list, but I talked myself into it only to find that the equipment would also rather by lying dormant.

Treadmill #1-Programmed in all of my info and chose the running program I wanted and then just as I was about to hit start all of the display lights went dead. Unplug headphones, move to Treadmil #2.
Treadmill #2-Works but TV doesn't work and I didn't bring my iPod.
Treadmil#3-Doesn't work. I now notice that only 2 treadmills have any display lights on and only 1 treadmil in the sea of non working treadmills has an 'out of order' sign on it.
Development of Plan B: Elliptical.
Elliptical #1-See Treadmill #3 issue.

I decide to go to the front desk since none of the equipment I use at the gym is working. I am joined by another treadmill enthusiast who has noticed the same problem. The girl at the front desk was juggling phone calls and says this to us when she hangs up,"Did you guys have a question or something?" Yes, none of the treadmills or ellipticals are working. On the one I found that is working, the TV is not working..."Yeah, we're having electrical problems". Uh...Ok....??

So the girl and I turned around and left. A sign on the door AND an apology would have been nice. My $65 dollars a month should at least ensure politeness at the front desk, at the very minimum.