Oh, and one more thing...

Just wanted to post happy thoughts to my friends Pete and Krissy, who welcomed a beautiful baby girl into the world last week. And to my cousins Joe and Brittany, who welcomed a baby boy into the world last week. (and people thought I was kidding when I said everyone I know is having a baby right now).

Shala's Birthday Festivities

February 6th marked the birthday of dear friend (and, bless her heart, fellow Doctor Who fan) Shala (upper right corner of the picture), which was reason to celebrate enough. However, when you consider that Shala is usually the caretaker/designated driver of the group when we hit the bars, we decided that we needed to tear up the town in honor of Shala's emergence into the world.
The evening started with Reish and I driving up to Shala's LaCrosse apartment, bringing a lovely fish cake from Linda's bakery. We headed to dinner (after eating a piece of cake, of course) where we met up with Emily (and Katie, but she left after the comedy show, so she is not in the picture). After dinner, we headed to a place called Howie's for a comedy show. I was less than excited about stand up comedy, given that I don't really like comedians (ok, I don't like comedians who don't host The Bugle podcast, and I was pretty sure niether of those two were going to be preforming at Howie's with a $5 cover charge), however, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that I do like comedy and had a good time (not that I wouldn't have had a good time anyway, given that I wasn't at work or at school and there was beer). We then headed out to various bars in LaCrosse (after stopping back at Shala's for another piece of cake). The bars were filled with mostly college student, which suceeded in making me feel very old. But again, there was beer...and booze...and shots...and fishbowls, which made for a morning spent on Shala's bathroom floor.

All in all, it was a much needed girls night out.

The Education of Nicole Cram

Sitting in the Davies Center at UWEC is an unacceptable way to spend my time. I've decided this. I get unbelievable irratated at the people sitting around me, today the main source of irratation comes from a guy a couple of tables over who is talking so loudly I must assume that his table companions are deaf. Everyone in the place is shooting him irratated looks, to which he is completely oblivious. Thanks to this conversation, I am learning more than I ever wanted to about movies that I will never watch. I can't help but resent the tution money that has been paid so I can sit here.

Thankfully, on most Tuesdays, I have a field placement at Chippewa Falls High School (Chi-Hi, a great school nickname, I must say). However, this week the kiddos are on their mid-winter break, giving me six hours to kill between classes. (bless my procrastinating heart that put off the stupid computer class until the last possible minute, creating the six hour gap between classes) But back to the newest placement,this is my first placement outside of an elementary school and I am loving it. I'm working with mainly CD students, and they are great. I'm in their tech. ed. class, where they have a little business making wooden frames, signs, and stuff with laser engraving. The guys have a great time designing the stuff on the computer and its great to watch. Then I go to a job skills class in one of the computer labs (those who are wondering Chi Hi, much nicer than the Tomah High of my memories). The job skills class nicely fits in with my experience, as I'm currently in a transition skills class at the university. I then spend my last hour tutoring students with LD in one of the resource rooms. This combination works great as I am getting placement experience for three classes, Transition and Career Services, Methods for Students with Moderate and Severe Disabilities and Methods for Secondary Students with Mild Disabilities. The teacher that I am working with is great, which restores my faith in cooperating teachers after last semester.

However, four (or is it five) weeks into the semester, and the stress is beginning to get to me. I have night classes three days a week, and usually close at the store at least one additional night per week. This gives me limited evenings at home. Of course, I have the added benefit of not leaving home until 2 on Mondays and Wednesday, but it still feels like I am getting nothing done at home.

The lack of home achievements is especially distrubing when I consider the vast amount of baby blankets that I have left to knit. I am about halfway done with both Silas and Petra's blankets, with only eight and four weeks left until their respective due dates. I am beginning to get concerned that I will never finish either blanket. On the other had, I would love to be done with those two blankets so I can knit something that I want. I only had a breif break after my Christmas knitting, which I used to make my llama hat. (quite possibly the greatest thing that I have ever created)See, it is pretty cool, isn't it? I'm so impressed with my ability to master colorwork so well. Anyway, of course, this has me dying to work on more projects for myself, which I cannot do until the baby blankets are finished. (except for the obligatory pair of socks that I have on the needles, the diagonal rib socks from Interweave knits)

Back to School Amusement

Spring semester of 2009 started yesterday for me. This is basically my last semester of classes, I'll spend next fall student teaching, with only a couple of seminars and take one four day class over the summer. That's happy news because I'm finding more and more things that annoy me about being on campus.

Such as:

• The inexplicable hotness of room 226 and the computer lab. It might be 10 below outside, not counting the wind chill, but it is a balmy 100 degrees in those two rooms. Which makes it unbelievably difficult to focus on anything.
• The fact that I am the only one that seems even remotely inclined to giggle at the unfortunately named "Woodcock Johnson" test. Seriously, how can I be the only one who finds this amusing? Am I that much more immature than my fellow, younger classmates?
• The fact the despite the limited number of parking spaces, people still believe that they are entitled to park like douches.
• The fake accent this guy is using to impress a girl two tables over. I think it is supposed to be a British accent, but I will not believe that it is a real accent, unless it is from Idiotia.
• The fact that despite the class registration has not changed over the past four months, the bookstore is unable to stock the correct amount of books. And these are for classes with 20 people max, not huge classes. Can no one in the bookstore count to 20?
• That guys accent again, I finally put an episode of the Bugle on my ipod to help drown out his fake accent. And to judge how fake it sounds in comparison to John and Andy's accents, I heart John and Andy.
  
• I get shit cell phone reception almost everywhere on campus. Seriously, am I the only one? Everyone else is chatting happily away on their phones, and I can barely make a call. I do not heart us cellular.
• The six hours I have with nothing to do on Tuesdays. Yup six hours, I have class until 11:50, and then nothing until 6:00. So far today, I have visited the cashier's office, printed out a 66 page document for one of my classes (yes, 66 pages) got my books (actually got about 60% of my books, the rest are unavailable due to the bookstore's inability or unwillingness to count all the way to 20), called Jeff (cut short by shoddy cell phone reception) and screwed around on the computer, and it is only 1:20. Thank goodness for my lovely little laptop which I can haul around campus easily and can keep me occupied during this time, otherwise I would probably go nuts and start throwing things at the guy with the fake British accent.

I'm thinking that this six hour lay over between classes might allow me to bring along some knitting to further occupy my time. I have decided that I am completely okay with being the crazy lady that knits in the student union.

Seriously, that is the worst accent I have ever heard. Ever.

New Year's Resolutions and Whatnot

I have managed to welcome the new year in with a bang. My New Year's Eve consisted of me laying on the couch, feeling crappy, and going to bed at eleven. Now, my New Year's Day seems like it is going to consist of laying on the couch feeling crappy. I'm coming down with something, I'm not sure what, but it does not feel good.

Anyway, while lying on the couch, feeling crappy, I decided that I would take a couple of minutes to lay out some of my goals for 2009.

1. Finish Unpacking. This one is pretty self-explanatory, there are boxes sitting in every room of my house from November's move. I hope to have all that put away by the time Spring Semester starts.
2. Ace spring semester. My goal is not to miss a single class this semester, and do my best work in each class. This is my last semester of classwork, and I would like to go out with a bang. I hope to accomplish this by not putting off work until the last minute, like I always do.
3. Catch up on knitting. Fall semester has taken a toll of my knitting progress. I have been working on the banded peasant blouse since last spring, I also need to make baby blankets for my unborn niece and nephew. I also need to sit down and make some more dish clothes for our kitchen, and can always use more socks. Lastly, I would like to make another wicked sweater, an hourglass sweater, and get some projects off of my Ravelry queue.
   
4. Make healthier choices. My PCOS does better when I drop some weight, so I need to start making better lifestyle choices. I need to plan out meals, eat better, and get some exercise on a regular basis. I think daily, or near daily walks with Pippin would be a good start down the exercise path. It will do good for both me and for Pippin.

That should be enough for a start. There are many other areas where I would like to improve, but we'll start slowly.

Winter Break!

Ah, thank goodness, Fall Semester 2009 is finally over! Between classes, Gate 2 (application and portfolio for student teaching), and placement along with work and moving, it has been a crazy couple of months. But, as of 9:30 am on Thursday, I finished the semester, what's done is done and there is nothing more I can do to influence the outcome of my grades. I then spent a couple extra hours yesterday finishing my Christmas shopping, and wrapped presents. (This is not entirely true, as I have a present that my mother purchased for my step-dad that I need to wrap, and I have not yet bought gifts for my father's family Christmas, and I completely forget about the gift exchange at work, but I'm close enough to done.)

This means I have some time to do crazy things like reading for fun and getting some knitting done. I finally finished my sister's afghan, only to be commissioned to make a blanket for the new baby (coming in March), which leads me to deduce that I should also make a blanket for my brother-in-law and his wife's new baby (due in April). Yup, I've got a niece and a nephew coming within a month of each other. So I had better get going on some baby knitting!

I also would like to make a new laptop case, and a couple of sweaters for me. I need to finish my banded peasant blouse and my Cheshire cat wrap. And I always need to make some more socks. Plus, I never got a chance to make a Sheldon the Turtle for Sophie. I'd like to make one to send out with the blanket for the new baby. (I know how much Sophie likes to get mail and I would hate to have her think that everything coming in the mail is for her new sibling)

Aside from all of this, I'm also hoping to pick up some extra hours at work. This coming week, I am scheduled for more hours than I had on my last paycheck, my last several paychecks for that matter. Plus, there is always unpacking and general work around the house. Busy, busy, busy.

Cutest Thanksgiving Dessert Ever!

My plan for Thanksgiving weekend was to get a whole pile of homework done. My application for student teaching is due next Friday, I have three papers due for SPED 210, a paper and a mid-term for Sped 431, a paper for FED 385, and my remaining SPED 431 lesson plans all due this coming week. So, the grand plan was to hunker down with my laptop and get things done.

But, it is Saturday night and I have not gotten anything done. And tomorrow I have to go to my in-laws for a birthday get together, though I am now 27, and have outgrown the need for a birthday party quite a few years ago (truth be told, the last birthday I actually wanted to celebrate was my 21st) But after many days worth of relentless badgering, I gave in. So for my birthday get together, we will be watching the Packers play (which I don't like to do) and having a dinner of Sloppy Joes (which I don't like). Ah, the immense fun of family. Though my mom gets big kudos for my birthday present of a bread maker, which I unpacked as soon as I got it home, ran to the grocery store for ingredients (one of the perks of living in Tomah, as compared to Warrens) and proceeded to bake some honey oat bread (and promptly ate about half the loaf).

On Thanksgiving, I experienced a great triumph. I found instructions for making cupcakes decorated to look like turkeys (phrased that way because "turkey cupcakes" can confuse people). They turned out absolutely adorable! I'll edit this post to include the picture that I took once I get it off my digital camera.



Knitting wise, I'm about in the same place I have been for the past few weeks. Danielle's Christmas circle afghan, my banded peasant blouse, and my Cheshire Cat stole are all still on the needles along with a new pair of socks made from Malabrigo's new sock yarn (of which I am a huge fan already). After I finish the socks (I have one done and one to go) then I am working only on the afghan until it is finished. I am not knitting anything for myself until after Christmas once I finish the socks. At least that is the plan for right now.