Mid-Holiday recovery

Well...I "should" be at work. I planned to take the day after Christmas to recover from all of the events (party at our house on Friday, family party on Saturday, mom's birthday/annual nutbread baking/visit with Mary Ellen and Taryn on Sunday, and of course the triple house visits on Christmas day). So I went after Christmas shopping and sufficiently recovered. But...I woke up this morning and realized that I have a hair appointment at 3 and some job applications to do and that driving to school was really a waste of time so I would just work from home. The plan was to have the application ready to submit by 2. I'm still in my robe. To be fair I did update the CV portion, make a nice checklist, and print out my statement of research and teaching for proofreading and changes. Now I just have to read it a million times... maybe I'll submit it after the haircut.

cat poop

Damn cats! I'm mostly ok with that way they know that I'm allergic to them, which means they immediately run up to me and rub all over me. I'm mostly ok with them spending alot of time under our porch, or in the garage when it got cold. I'm mostly ok with them hanging out on the porch on a nice sunny afternoon, it's a pretty pleasant place to be. I even let peeing on the mustang cover slide by...but know we have reached the final straw. Pooping all over our yard is just not polite. We don't shoo them away, call the humane society or impinge on they're life in any way. But this is the final straw! One poop I might excuse, but in the course of two hours, I stepped in cat poop twice! I had to spend the rest of the day wearing two different shoes! Anyone know how to keep unwanted cats from your yard? Maybe a big mean dog will do the trick...

the post with no name...

Well, it seems I've been blogging remiss. I did post not too long ago saying that I was thinking about leaving the blogging world for a while...or switching to a new blog because blogger eats my posts and taking nominations for a new blog title....but ironically the post got eaten.

Honestly though the last 2 months have been crazy, so there has not been much time for blogging anyways. We went to 4 weddings in 6 weeks. So here's my shout out congratulations to Shelly and Rich, Ellen and Ronn, Junior and Karen and Matt and Kristen! I have pictures of all of the above still trapped on the camera, so they may be posted someday soon. So that accounts for half of the weekend activity in my blog free time...the other half was well...consumed by life I guess. Not in a bad way, in a good way. I like to keep busy, I like to be active. We only live once so we might as well make the best of it right?

The weeks themselves have been busy as well. Mark is fencing and got a ribbon at the last competition. I've decided to get fit and lose the pounds of stress that grad school put on so I joined a gym and I'm taking cardio kick boxing and pilates a few nights a week. I'm also teaching a group of folks how to quilt one night a week and trying to keep up with my real job too. Mark's research is well underway and still on track for finishing this spring. My job search is also well underway with applications out to seven different schools in every region of the country.


random interruption...is it normal for your car service place to both send a "thank you for your service" card in the mail and call to make sure that everything was enjoyable? I mean the car runs. The bill for the new brakes wasn't exactly "enjoyable"... but ?


Well, I guess that's about all for now. Comment some thoughts on a new blog name please....

My New Title

April Lynn Hiscox, PhD...or Dr. Hiscox if you prefer!

Yup, it's done...finally!

Well since I've been getting crap for not posting here is a random update from my trip to Portland.

By 8:29 am Monday, I had paid $16.00 for a train pass that I didn't need because the train ride is free...and had begged a stranger for a band aid to cover the blister from my new shoes: very cute and comfy flats bought expressly for avoiding the blisters that my normal conference heels give me!

By 6:00pm Tuesday: 2 buttons had randomly just fell off my jacket. and I mean literally just fell off. The strap of my bag broke while I was in the MIDDLE of crossing the street and it was only by the use of my catlike reflexes that I avoiding the contents from spilling all over, A bizarre stain appeared on my skirt, It was not there when I sat down and and a very ladylike manner placed a napkin on my lap, when I finished dinner and picked up napkin, the stain , resembling something I had no recollection of eating, was revealed underneath. The napkin itself was spotless.

Yes, I am the calamity Jane of the ASABE.

30 days

Check it out, I got a star for 30 days with no purchase. While the depletion is going slowly, mostly because I'm the world's slowest knitter, at least the stash is not growing.


In other news...well there isn't other news, just writing and writing, and analyzing and writing.

I'm planning on starting a deadline countdown soon, but I'm not quite ready to make the reality sink in yet. I've been in school for nine years, the thought of not being in school is a bit intimidating. Oh well, we'll tackle that hurdle next week!

sock done

Well, I finished the first one, now onto the second one. For those of you interested, the pattern in Child's first sock from Nancy Bush's "Knitting Vintage Socks

Other random thoughts for this week.

Never sew your finger through a sewing machine. It hurts.
I seem to very easily pick up speech patterns from others around me. Seriously.

Nothing else creative to say, thought everyone would like to know I was still alive!

socks in the round

1 new year's resolution almost accomplished. I've been knitting in the round for awhile now, but this is my first attempt with the tiny needles and the tiny sock yarn. So far, I'm pretty impressed. The colors of the yarn are fun, although not as fun as the colors a lightbulb makes in the microwave :), and I'm enjoying the pattern very much. I'm turning the heel now, so I'll let you know how it goes!

SYAC

Ok, make fun all you want, I joined a support group to help fight my growing sock yarn addiction.

I will not buy sock yarn for 90 days. Ok, I'm a little late to start. 89 more days.

The first assignment is to flash the stash. I have enough to make 11 pairs of socks. Here are 6, others are possibly planned for gifts, so will not be flashed.




If you think 11 is alot of pairs, check out some of the other particpants! One has 124 skeins!

That's it for now. Safe and sound home from Texas and ready to go back to dissertation land!

texas again

Out of town in beautiful College Station. At least it's warmer then home. Conference is good, very busy, but good. Be home soon!

I want this!

Mom, dad, shelly...anyone who has cause to buy me an unfortunately expensive present for any reason.

I'm in love with these shoes.

Very pratical. They are interchangeable and therefore go with EVERYTHING!

why?

Why can't the world just be good and people just be nice and accept everyone? Guess, I won't shop there anymore.

Read Here

February Stash Busting

Well, The February stash busting was...a bust. I did use up some old yarn. I made the entire front of Mark's sweater, which used up one large skein of Red Heart. I knit my first pair of socks in the round with two almost full balls of wool-ease. Mark put them on right away so there are no photos to post. But...I fell victim to a yarn purchase. What it was is a secret because it's special for someone, but of course I also fell victim to some yummy alpaca for myself to save on the shipping. So, I figured out yardage wise, February had an exact net exchange of zero, no gain on busting the stash, but I'm still ahead for the year :)

Oh yea, I managed to write and submit a 20 page paper that will become part of my dissertation, lest you all think that I'm so yarn obsessed I've been avoiding my real life! For fun I made a master document today. Cover to bibliography I'm up to 63 pages. Not too shoddy. Sadly, percentage wise, I'm only ~30% of the way there....

Oh yea, I'm with Krista, why did Jesus show up down the street in a piece of sheet metal?

Welcome another reader!

Woohoo. A year on the blog and my readership is up to..5. That's right, you all know who you are. Welcome Paul. Looks like the tagging worked, even though he is claiming he doesn't understand blog tag!

Stash busting

So when we had our New Year's party I moved all my yarn out of it's various places around the house to keep it safe from spills, mocking friends, etc. Well, it is ALOT of yarn. Justin told me that I had an "illness", which I take with a grain of salt from a man who owns 4 cars, but he got me thinking that I should start stash busting.

Here are January's results:
1 ball of Knitpicks sock garden became very soft fingerless mittens
4 balls of Valley Yarns Shelburne which was an impulse buy on my first trip to Webs became a very cozy hat and mittens. The mittens were knit in the round btw.



One half a ball of Patons Classic Merino became a cute little felted pouch. Which is waiting for Mark's Haunted Mansion project to clear out of the sewing table so I can sew a lining for it.
And last but not least, my Christmas crocheting became complete with dad's socks being finished.

I've made some good February progress too, but haven't busted out the camera yet. Maybe next week!

Well. Life is life. To update anyone who was concerned about my eyeball situation, I managed to get in touch with the eye doctor who said that the solution Ciba was recommending "should" be fine. So I braved it. It only required trips to 2 different drug stores to purchase it, so far it's been ok, so we'll see how it works out in the long run.

I am feeling the need to blog today although I have nothing really important to say, but this has been such a technologically backwards week that I feel the need to be using a technology that was invented within the last ten years! In the past two days I have used both a typewriter and a fax machine. Yes an actual typewriter, the likes of which I haven't seen since high school typing class. For a visual on that picture an abnormally large man with an abnormally high pitched voice saying very slowly "aaawaaawaaawaaaqaaazaaa" in a classroom full of socially awkward fifteen year olds typing in rhythm to that letter by letter chanting. AND, a fax machine to send the typed document of course! Since it was typed on a typewriter there is not convenient way to get it anywhere other than a fax machine that makes those yucky screechy noises awfully reminiscent of dial up modems! All of this to apply for money to go to a conference at "a complete state of the art conference facility with overnight guest rooms, and meal services. The Center occupies a tranquil 83-acre setting that blends rolling fields, woodlands, and pathways lined with colorful gardens and shrubs. The site of a former monastery....I hope that typewriters and fax machines are not state of the art for old monasteries, I mean even the Vatican is online! Well maybe I'll visit the national postal museum while I'm there, it is after all the only hotel with a permanent Smithsonian exhibit on the premises! I think that the lack of email is a way to drum up more business for the postal service, since after all, if I was on the ball I would have been mailing my application rather then faxing it just before the deadline!

Oh well, back to the dissertation!

Riled Up!

Well, I was thinking about starting up my WIP Wednesday again, but I am so riled about something else today that it will have to wait until next week!

So I have very sensitive eyes and went through a thing a few years back to find a contact solution that was just right for me. It's kind of expensive, but I really like it, so two weeks ago when I was at the eye doctor's we agreed I would stick with it. A new brand came out with something similar, I gave the trial a try and it made my eyes burn like heck so, back to the good old Pure Eyes.

Why is she babbling about this you may ask?

Last night, I ran out of my solution. So I tossed my month old contacts and wore my glasses today planning a quick stop to CVS after school today. But, CVS was all out of my Pure Eyes, or had stopped carrying it, I was unsure. Then to Walgreens. All out, empty shelves where the Pure Eyes belongs. Then on to RiteAid. No luck. Now I was a bit annoyed an a little vocal to Mark about what was going on. The kind manager overheard and told me that they had just pulled many of the Ciba products because they were being discontinued. So I was a bit miffed.

So to the internet, nothing at Cvs.com, walgreens.com, drugstore.com and a variety of other kind of sketchy online pharmacy sites. All just poofed the product or discontinued it. Amazon does have it here. But I'm a bit worried that that is a lie. I've Googled and Froogled and tried every variation I can think of. No go.

So I called CibaVision. They have a lovely message stating that they are undergoing a manufacturing upgrade so all of their products will be out of stock. Please consult your eye care professional to see if clear care one step will suit your needs. We hope to have our products returned to shelves sometime in the first HALF of 2006.

Now I'm riled.
a) I can't use a one step. I'm allergic.
b) I was just at my eye doctor, there isn't really another option for me other then the nasty burny one.
c) wtf! a product just poof's for 6 months with no warning, no notice to doctors, no further explanation, no alternative. I mean I understand killing a lipstick color, or a jean cut, but you can still paint your lips or wear jeans, maybe just not as aesthetically pleasing. But come on! Eye care!!! What if I didn't have glasses! I'd be blind and causing car accidents or something. I'm pissed.

Now I have to call my eye doctor, to see if he can recommend something else, or go get fitted for daily disposables, which since I was just there 2 weeks ago, my insurance won't cover another visit. Plus I just bought a year's worth of contacts $140, which are useless to me because I have no solution to use them with! Can I sue for damages. Financial and emotional I'm thinking.

So here is my second public service announcement for the week. Boycott Ciba!

Public Service Announcement

Never use spray pledge to clean/shine your wooden kitchen cabinets. It makes the floors dangeroulsy slippery. Even for sneakers.

The new Ski's rock!!! I don't know why I put it off for so long. (I've been ski shopping three years in a row), but I always had this inexplicable connection to my old, old school skis. Maybe it was some aversion to growing up, some nostaglia of my youth...blah blah. Who knows, but when the boots really fell apart and I got jealous of Mark's shiny new skis I finally made the purchase. And they are wonderful. Boots are comfy, skis are really easy to maneuver and ah it was like skiing heaven!

Ok, so you're bored. I'm done talking about the slabs of wood that carry me through the woods.

from Krista...I'm tagging Paul (he probably doesn't even know I have a blog, but I know he does)
10 Random things about me:

1. I have a fingernail that grows crooked
2. I have a master's degree in electrical engineering
3. I hate washing dishes
4. I took gymnastics for 9 years... but only ever got good enough to knock over James Van Der Beek in a embarrassing back handspring incident. (his mom was my teacher)
5. I want to learn how to play the violin
6. I wish I could bake without exploding/burning/throwing/forgetting something
7. Glacier National Park was my favorite of all of the ones I've been too.
8. I have slept overnight in 40 states
9. I wear contacts
10. I have a laser....Well, technically I'm the only one who uses a university owned laser, but this year it's possible that I spent more time with it than I did my husband!

pretty random. Paul you're it

New Year's survived...barely

Well, hat's off to a new year, rung in like no other I can remember. Thanks to all of you who helped make our party big fun!

More importantly, welcome to the world Anna Sophia Deitz. You are well loved already and have a whole slew of aunts to make you fun things and plot torture to your father as soon as you're old enough to appreciate a good joke! Although your New Year's arrival was a good start all on your own.

Well, so starts the year I become a doctor *YIKES*, learn to knit real socks, and ??? I'm ready for whatever else life throws at me are you???