Ever So Slowly

Well I use to think I was up with the times...until the "times" started moving so quickly! I refuse to consider myself "middle-aged" but each year I get closer and closer to those years. This is very true when it comes to my knowledge of technology. I only know what I know. I have not spent much time moving up with the times! Soon I am going to be one "those people"....the people that only know what they need to know for their job or their newest toy...the ones who say that back in the day it was just easier to.... Last weekend I finally joined the ever so overcrowded world of laptop owners. I have been pining away for years but could not justify the spending of money. I have a perfectly good desktop sitting at home...with a very hard chair...so not to sit there too long. All I have to do now is take the time and figure all this stuff out! Vista Office System, new features within Word, Outlook and PowerPoint, downloading pictures....a wireless router...how to print...and new software I learned about at school this week that will make teaching super cool and fun....and I no longer have any excuses on why my raverly page is not completed! When I left Drake University I felt very confident in my computer skills. In fact within the school system I felt even more confident because Drake was ahead of the school system. I helped all of those who needed it. Those were the Mac years and the beginning of the PC years. Then years of keeping the same operating system both at school and home did not force me to update my skills. Now I know just enough to be dangerous. Well if I do this...then this should happened...why won't it let me do this if I can do that...It can take me forever just trying to make sure it is centered just the way I want it or I find a clip art to match my newsletter. I am hoping to start my Master's in Teaching degree in a couple of weeks. I have a lot to learn. If nothing else...just a new computer. I am very excited by the whole process. I have been saying for last couple of years that I wanted to learn something different within education and technology and now I can do both at the same time! My Master's will be a work in progress...ever so slowly to not overwhelm me while teaching. But oh so exciting! Here I go ever so slowly...expanding my learning in both education and technology just like back in the day when I took a knitting class. Excited, nervous, ready...I can't wait for it to begin. Now if they make me hold my pencil a certain way I might have through it across the room like I wanted to with my knitting needle. (As for the Einstein coat...it too is going ever so slowly...I am just about ready to work on the button holes on the bottom of the coat...next comes the front. I can't wait to just sit and knit.)

A New Challenge

As many of my friends know, I don't knit big or complicated projects. Sure I have knitted a couple of the Cottage Corner sweaters for my cousin's children and a log cabin afghan for myself. But other than that it has been a sock here, a hat or scarf there. Nothing big time. Back in the day when the Knit Wit was my favorite hangout spot in DM. I bought 16 skeins of Lambspride pink. It was the first time I bought more than 5 skeins of anything! I was determined to make my first article of clothing for myself besides a scarfs and hats. Well that was two years ago. Oh I started the Einstein Coat in the The Knit Stitch Inspiration and Instruction by Sally Melville. I knitted up 8 skeins of yarn then it went into the closet - deep, deep into the closet. So a couple of weeks ago I was cleaning this very deep closet (really not so deep) and found the beloved Einstein Coat. I looked and looked at it. Where to start? Why did I stop - was it because it was getting to be warm out and I did not want all of the Lampspride in my lap or was there a mistake? Knowing me, there was a mistake - I tend to abandon projects when I don't know how to fix them. The only problem with this one is that it is much bigger and more time consuming than the smaller projects. I started at one end - of course the wrong end - when I was having to work really hard at picking the right piece of yarn, I knew something was amuck. I know from smaller projects that pulling out a couple of hours of work is hard enough but this was painful...until I turned it around, and started on the other end. This was the first time I had to unravel a project with a bind off. I pulled and pulled, and whined and winded....and then I looked at the pile of the yarn and decided it was for the best...a fresh start. What if I abandoned the project because of major error on my part (most likely) and continued to knit - got slowly to the end and then figured out it was wrong. So I continued, with a smile on my face. I decided to make a new challenge for this project. You can't let 16 skeins of pink lambspride sit in a closet. I decided this time it might be good to make a photocopy of the pattern, journal as I go, take pictures and finish it in time to wear it on Valentine's Day! So I found my project for the knit-along. Let's see where my progress is in a couple of weeks!

I am woman hear me roar!

I have spent the last 5 days working on my smallest bedroom. It is my "craft room" otherwise known as my room that I hang out in during the winter time. It is a small room but it manages to store my stuff and allow me to hang out upstairs and not be in a bedroom setting. My upstairs is at least 10 degrees warmer than downstairs. You have to love old homes mine is very charming - aka needs a lot of work. I hope by next winter to have a new boiler and water heater so I won't have to live upstairs in the winter unless I want to. I wanted the room to be terracotta but it turned out a little more orange than terracotta. It has been a labor of love but I am painting all of the trim white and not the same color as the walls. This is the last room to be painted in house. I thought it was time to start over - ha ha - I won't be picking up a paint brush anytime soon! Every room in this house has taken at least 2 gallons of paint just for the walls! And the trim is always in need of a touch up. But it is MINE and I get to paint it any color I want - even if it Valley High School orange - after 10 years of schooling in West Des Moines I thought I would never like the color orange again, but I do! Not only have I enjoyed doing my own painting/work but I have learned a few new skills. Over break I have replaced my deadbolt, my plug ins in my craft room, and a light switch. As it turns out all you need to do is know how to use a screwdriver and how to turn off the power. Who knew? I do now. It makes me feel very powerful - watch out I might have to move onto power tools next! It is amazing what I have kept over the years. But as long as it has a home that is all that is important! When I painted the bookshelf and dresser black I thought I would throw things away - HA I just neatly piled them and put them right back where I had them! I guess once a pack rat always a pack rat! Now if I could only get all of my school crap so organized! I plan on adding to my raverly account soon. Life would be so much easier with a laptop...hint hint mom and dad! Tomorrow school starts and routines will restart thank god...I need to go to bed early, get up early, eat on a schedule and hopefully start exercising again. I have missed out hanging out with my knitting friends. It is time to commit to this wonderful group of friends again. They inspire me!

I'm Back!

I finally found my username and password -- so as Jack Nicholason said in the Shining - IM BACK! This is one of my New Year's Resolutions. So you will be hearing from me again soon.