Parlez-vous Olympics?

Olympics Update.

Ok, I have no idea what the medal count is. But I watched Lindsey Vohn win silver, Apolo Anton Ono win bronze, I watched ski cross, Super-G, curling and even some ice dancing.

This was my Olympics project last weekend.

(Have you seen that fatty crochet hook before. Yeah, that's why this is going fast.)

After a great weekend of Olympics, this is my project now.

I just finished my 3rd skein of yarn. One more and I'll be done. It is a giant blanket, which Heather will like next time she comes because we will be able to share. I have a sharing problem, so I'll think it's perfect for just me.

In my day, we walked twenty miles in the snow just to get to our shoes.

From my lovely little hippie Boone. A church right on the highway posted this picture. Although I'm not there, I still have to second that.

Feel the rhythm. Feel the rhyme. Come on boys, it's bobsled time!

I love the Olympics. I had a colleague who said that she is hating snow and ice so much right now that watching the Olympics will just send her over the edge.

Surprisingly, I don't feel that way.

Liz, this is for you. I took you up on your Olympics Challenge.

My project is to crochet another afghan. Heather and I were sitting on the couch, and we were both trying to be under the last blanket that I made. The problem was that I made it for one. It is the perfect size for just me because I measured it on myself.

This is the new afghan.

I watched some figure skating last night and got two rows done. But I have to undo the second row, because I didn't understand the pattern directions -- so naturally I just made up what I thought it should be. But then Heather helped me out and explained what it actually means.

Updates to come.

You do remind me a little of Hooch.

Work and bad writing.

I'm sure you would assume that I am talking about my student's bad writing. But no. I'm referring to my own.

Heather called me out for my last post about the blanket. And she totally sounded like me, "Details! You should have provided more details!"

So let me try again.

I crocheted this blanket. It is my first crochet project ever in my life, and while my inability to follow directions followed me into this arena just as it haunts me in cooking, I think it turned out pretty well.

***

Some other odds and ends.

I got my hair cut last week. I don't really like it, so here is a picture and you can give your own judgment.

The bangs are a little worse today than normal, but that's pretty much how it is looking every day. Ignore my squirrelly eyes, I was half closing them.

I am thinking that maybe next time I should take in a picture of Kate Beckett, the detective on Castle.

***

I got a few really nice comment about my post over the last five years. I was still thinking about the last five years last week, and had the thought of a couple things I should add to that.

1. Places I've worked
--LabCorp. Super boring data-entry temp job.
--Brooks Museums Magnet Elementary School. Kindergarten Teacher's Aide. Rough job.
--The Science House. I can't stay away. High school program for that summer.
--The University Writing Center. As a tutor.
--The Mustard Seed. A plant nursery. Hard work, but it actually made me think about throwing in the towel on all this English stuff. Glad I didn't though.
--Teaching as a grad student. My first year, 4 classes.
--The Mustard Seed for a new summer season.
--And my current job.
Eight jobs in 5 years. Does that look bad on a resume? Maybe it isn't something I should brag about.

Along with things I shouldn't brag about, I was thinking one of them is how many places I have lived in those 5 years. I mentioned the cities in my last post, but it's funnier to think about the number of apartments.
--Raleigh. Always at the parents. That's the benefit of Raleigh.
--Boone. Two different apartments.
--Here. Two different apartments. Now my house.
Six places in 5 years, that doesn't sound as bad as the jobs.

And to end with something that I can brag about: Races.
I ran a 10K in 1:03. I ran a Thanksgiving 5K in 27 min.
Maybe more to come on that. We'll see.

***

Finally. Classes.
My classes are going well for the most part. I have one group of duds, but at least their writing is decent. But I have two tiny girls in one of my classes. They came in the first day, and I thought wow, they are tiny. And then I thought, I wonder if people think that when they see me.

Then during the name game, one of them used the adjective "short." It was good because I remembered her name.

Before you think, of course people think that about you, I realized today, while following the short one down the hall, that she is a full head shorter than I am. So I decided that people don't look at me and think, wow, she is tiny.

It's nothing but work, work, work, all the time.

There's always a moment when you finish a project that you are like Woo hoo! I'm done!

For me that is quickly followed by, uh, what do I do now?

The answer, for today, is show off the project.

You're doing recon work on our anniversary?

an⋅ni⋅ver⋅sa⋅ry

 [an-uh-vur-suh-ree]

the yearly recurrence of the date of a past event

Today is an anniversary. It has been five years since I came back from Italy.

Well, technically, five years

ago today I got on a plane to return to the States, I didn't actually arrive until tomorrow.

I'm not really into anniversaries. There aren't any that I celebrate, but this one always makes me think. I still miss Italy, I miss the people that I knew there, and I miss the work that I did.

Besides nostalgia, I spend the week of this anniversary wondering what I've done with the past five years. What have I got to show for this passage of time? So here are some things I have and have done with my time.

Material things:

A nice car

My House

Other things:

A Master's degree

An Office and the office means that I have a job. It's a good job and I really like it.

Places I have lived:

Raleigh, NC

Boone, NC

Missouri

Places I've been:

Chicago

New York

The Beach

Nauvoo, Illinois

The sadder but wiser girl for me.

I was at an activity the other night, and we were playing getting to know you games. One game was "two truths and a lie." I decided the best thing to tell about would be my extensive job history. So I told them that I started working when I was 16 at Wendy's, that my 2nd job was at a library, and that I loved my job at a plant nursery.

As they were guessing, someone said, "The library is the lie."

And someone else responded, "No way, she's the perfect librarian."

And I was left standing there thinking, wait, perfect librarian like this:


Or like this: