I get it…you want me to post!  Fine.  Its not like I havent been busy with very important life skills like trying to remember how to make toast under a broiler, avoiding moose attacks and planning for student staff training and the opening of residence halls for UAA!!!  Let me tell you, making that toast can be darn tricky.  Even just now I let some get darker than I prefer!  That whole thing about ‘a watched pot never boils’ doesnt apply to toast under a broiler; you have to watch lest it burn to a mighty crisp.  Everything else has been fairly stress-free.

Moose-watch has been eventful.  Sisu is way more curious about the moose than she is wary and she managed to flush a Mom and babies (Cow and calves if you are being particular) out from their settled spot behind West hall the other night.  Right in front of MB who is the RC of West, who, to her credit, ran straight for the bridge and called UPD while Sisu and I backed quickly off and stood across the street.  They weren’t upset for being startled and jsut started grazing again…mainly on the rosebushes at the corner. Such delicate little mouths.  S/He managed to get all the leaves and none of the thorns off that branch.  I know because I looked later on   MB was maybe 15′ away when she took this picture.  S/He is about 4.5′ at the shoulder and has such skinny, wobbly looking legs.  They really are funny looking creatures and you just want to stop and watch them.  Sisu kept pulling and wanting to get closer but every time she barked at them I got nervous and the moose DIDNT CARE.  There were 3 of them and none paid any attention to the barking black and white little predator in their area.  I guess she doesnt smell enough like a wolf to cause alarm and enough like people to cause apathy.  Still glad I had her on the leash though!!

MB and I went to the store not long after that to buy her some boots and, as you can see, she had a bit of trouble getting them off again.  I was laughing so hard I almost couldnt help her.  It was a good evening.

Lately, my apartment has been the scene of an invasion of sorts. And she brought with her all sorts of disruptive friends:

From L to R: The Felted Sheep SWMerino/Tencel and Merino/Silk 50/50 blends, Corridale Natural and Lt. Brown-2 oz each, Merino Top-2oz and Super Angora 2 oz.

I’ve already dove into my survival plan for dealing with these, these…these…oh hell, these lushious, beautiful, perfect fibres and I am loving every moment of them.  I stared with the SW Merino Tencel from my friend, K who is The Felted Sheep and who I met at my first day that I went to the Saturday Market in downtown Anchorage.  I originally planned to have J send me my drop spindle after I saw and bought those rovings but then fate stepped in and threw Ladybugs at me.

For those of you who are still wondering what the heck I am talking about and why ladybugs have anything to do with yarn and roving:  Here:

Meet the Ladybug. Its a spinning wheel by Schacht Spindle Co and is fantastic.  You can read all about her HERE. I was torn about buying her, really, I was.  I didnt know if I really wanted to get into spinning as a ‘real’ hobby and really didnt know if I wanted to shell out the money for her.  I was borrowing my friend SYs’ Louet s10 in Pelican and while I really liked spinning, I wasnt sure if I wanted to continue doing it all the time.  Would it replace knitting?  What about dyeing?  When could I do it?  Its expensive!   All these questions and more and in the end, I was lead by the fantastic community over at Ravelry to a Ladybug.  I knew that I liked spinning on the Louet s10 but I didnt like the single treadle part because of the dead time on the wheel.  I needed a double! (and I’ve never said that before!)  I considered a Babe wheel because I really liked the inexpensiveness of the wheel and, really, how cool would it be to have a spinning wheel made of PVC?  But, after reading more reviews and advice from Ravelers, I went with a wheel that I could spend more time on, instead of  spending less but needing to upgrade in the nearer future.  I already knew that I could spin well on a Louet but then, I couldnt find anyone nearby who stocked them or had them in a price range that I was willing to get into!

Long story short, I found  a wonderful woman here in Anchorage who is a Schacht dealer (kind of like a crack dealer but with lots more fibre floating around).  She is the owner of Far North Fibers and runs a shop out of her home.  She also does natural dyeing and, wow, let me tell you how beautiful her yarns are.  Those colours are amazing and I can only admire and drool.  She was having a dyeing session in her driveway yesterday (when I bought the Corridale, Merino and Angora) and the ladies involved looked so happy and were having fun despite the drizzle coming down.  Anyway, last Saturday, she came over with my ‘bug and I took her for a test spin.  I was pretty nervous about spinning double treadle since I never had and really scared that I wouldnt remember what to do.  It was like coming home again.  My feet fell right into the rhythm of treadling and as I held the fiber, my fingers knew exactly what to do.  I drafted and spun, all the while talking to PG about what I was liking and what a comparison to the s10, my only other experience with wheel spinning.  After a bit, she stopped me and came over to see what I had been spinning and said something to the effect of, ‘you already know what you are doing, dont you!’.  I looked down at the product of less than 10 minuets work and saw beautiful, even,VERY thin singles.  I was, honestly, amazed.  I was never able to spin less than fingering weight singles before .  There was just something about this weel.  I was spun and I used my first paycheck to buy her.

So now my life is Sisu, knitting, spinning and Residence Life.  Yes, I have found the time to balance all 4.

And I have even found time to enable my own stalker, AlaskanMama.  She is buying a Ladybug now too.  Now that is the real meaning of a fibre-y life.  To be enabled and enable other.  My life is good, especially since now I will have a spinning buddy   Thanks A.

Sisu in the new apartment

This is a pretty picture heavy post so I will apologise in advance if it takes you a while to load. This is our new place in Anchorage, complete with a final picture of a new neighbor who came over while I was washing dishes. Sisu just stared out the window.

Little, homey touches...ignore the clutter.

The hallway leads back to 2 doors on the right and 2 on the left. The one you can see there on the L is a storage closet which is pretty darn big. It could have been a 3rd room if someone was thinking clearly…see the next photo for more of an explaination.

1/2 the bathroom. I am standing about 8' away from counter and there is about 5' to my left! This is a HUGE, freakishly and needlessly so, bathroom

Yes, it is HUGE. You could honestly fit another tub/shower in there with ease. Possibly the argument could be made for handicap accessibility but there are no fittings anywhere and the toilet doesnt have the clearance. Even a new underling who stopped by today made the comment that it was huge. They could have brought the wall shared with the storage room forward about 6′ and created a room, granted, it wouldnt have windows but still. Or they could give me a hot-tub. Just sayin’

This is the room right across from the bathroom and its the perfect size. And it has a big girl bed!

There is a closet without doors off to the left too. Another bedroom, the same size or a bit smaller is off to the right. No need to see a bare mattress and empty dressers!

The perfect place to sit and knit on...

Can someone PLEASE tell me how to rotate these darn pictures in WordPress? They are right-side up in my iPhoto and this is driving me crazy! Either way, I have this beautiful set-up here and I am 1.75″ into the ribbing on my Vail sweater.

...my Vail sweater Swatch. Hooray that I will be knitting on 4's not 1's!! I also get to...

...watch the wildlife go by. Really.

He came by the other evening and I was washing dishes and saw something out of the corner of my eye and I almost dropped my plate. He was RIGHTTHERE next my window eating the tall grass you can see close to the front of the frame. By the time I dried my hands and came around the bar, he was already moving off and this was the best shot that I got of him. Where was Sisu? Looking out the window, not making a sound. She was as baffled as I was. My first moose!

Hopefully soon I will have some more pictures of our new life here in Anchorage. I want to get some shots of Sisu playing at the dog park. She has such fun there and then always sleeps well that night. Hopefully too I can have some pictures of more progress with my Vail sweater as well as something else that I swatched for.

I made a new stalker friend and went over to her house for a knitting group on Wednesday and I had so much FUN! Thank you so much for inviting me and I cant wait for the next one. As much as I miss my knitting group friends back in Pelican, I know that this is going to be a great group of friends too. I cant wait to get to know them all better.

Off the knitting notes…Thanks to not having a car, having a bike is great for my legs and waistline! I can already feel my legs being and getting stronger. It also helps that the dog park is right across the street and Sisu wants to spend every spare moment there. I am challenging myself to 8 miles a day on the bike (has been more every day since I got it…more like 10-12) and 2 miles at the dog park (simple because 1 lap is about 1.25 miles). Add to that the fresh fruit and veggies that I can get at the farm stands and natural market about 3 miles away and I should have to buy some new clothes again in about a month or so.

Darn.

It.

All.

Well, I passed the ability test with the Dean and my soon-to-be boss has been given the go ahead to re-write a job description for me and my lack of a Masters Degree so that HR can make me fully official soon.

I will be moving to Anchorage and will be the new Residence Coordinator of West Hall and the Templewood apartments.

Wow.  Jut writing that makes me shiver with excitement and nervousness and all the unknown.  I know that its going to be a great adventure and just a good all around experience…once I get over all the nerves and excitements!  Now I have to make plans for packing and moving and getting there and having a home there for 10 months.  Tasha is moving again…surprise, surprise   Hopefully Mum has left space for me to move again in her address book!

Whew!  At least all of those stress’ of the last week are over…and then life always brings you new ones   Such is life and since none of them have killed me yet, I must assume that I am stronger for them!

The interview went well but no, I havent heard anything yet about the job.  Now I have to decide if I want it if they offer it to me.  I was quite overwhelmed at first with Anchorage.  I mean, there are stores(!) and roads(!!) and more than one restaurant(!!!) and even a Taco Bell!!!!  The apartment is really nice and there is a dog park right across the street where Sisu can run.  The city bus stops right outside what might be my apartment complex so I should not need a car at all.  That would be a great thing, mainly because after 10 months, I would need to get rid of it already so I could come back to Pelican sans auto.  I had a good time with my possible future staff members and we all relaxed together and got on well during the interview.  It was fantastic of them to come in on their first day of vacation!  All in all, it was a good time and I felt very relaxed but I need to decide if I really want to leave Pelican for this position.  Do I really want this job and all the stress’ that it entails?  Do I want to move away from Jamie and Pelican for 4 months and 10 months, respectively?  What will happen with my dyeing business?

Speaking of the dyeing…I got a call yesterday from Nancy, the owner of Skeins Fine Yarns and she said that she was not only happy with the yarns I sent her but she already sold 4!  She got the box at 10am.  Not too shabby for my first day being in stock!  If you are someone who bought any of my handpaints, I would LOVE to hear from you!  Leave a comment, send me an email, anything!  Just tell me what you bought and how you like it   I would love the feedback and I hope that you are a happy knitter with my colourways.

Its pretty ironic that I am titling this post “Nerves” when one of the things that is giving me tummy flutters is my final exam on the Nervous system.  I have taken 2 previous exams and have done just fine on them so why I am so jittery about this one, I really dont know.

Ok.  Yes I do.

Not only do I have this test to take today but I am going to hear about a job that might take me away from Pelican and up to Anchorage for a year.  It is such a great opportunity but boy, does it bring up huge questions, concerns, feelings and also makes me want to bring up my breakfast.  It would be such a huge thing that I cant even go into it all here and I dont want to until I know if I have the job or not because I dont want to jinx it…or maybe I do and I dont really want the job at all and want to stay in safe, little Pelican and continue working for the Seaplanes.  Nope, dont wanna do that but I just am nervous and nothing has happened yet!  The deal is, they offered the job to a guy who has a girlfriend who really doesnt like Anchorage (has been there a year) and she wants to go back to California.  So she says, take the job and stay but I am going back to Cali. and I would like it if you came with me.  So he asked for an extension in the decision time and it is up today.  He has to make a decision by today.

Monday.

The same day as my Nervous system final.

And Lab practical.

And the day I want to be able to ship out 36 skeins of handpainted yarn that I dyed, dried and reskeined this weekend.  But I cant send them until I have tags and they are in the mail.  I will fill you in on THAT brand of insanity after my test.  Pictures too, I promise.

And the day before my future in-laws are coming back to town with their pets.

And the day that I am moving from the house that I have lived in to a large boat in order to circumvent any dog socialisation issues.

And the day that I am supposed to adopt a dog from J’s Dad.  A Karelian, just like Sisu who needs a new home and a lot of love and attention.

And the day I am supposed to get more yarn blanks in the mail. To start dyeing.  Because I have at least 24 more skeins to do for this original order. (Yay!)

Can you tell why I am nervous and excited and have so much on my mind that I want to burst and cry and cheer and sleep and generally explode?

When you are not looking for it, you can find joy in just the oddest of places.  Things that make you just laugh out loud because of the randomness and general funny placement of things or a statement.

Take these for instance:  I was wearing these socks all day and then took them off to change for a workout with the full intention of putting them back on to go to SnB later that night.  I went to grab them after my shower and this is what they looked like. I swear, thats just how I tossed them off my legs and onto the bed!  I was in a rush to change and pulled them off and then never thought about them until after my shower I looked down at them and started laughing.  Sisu looked at me like I was crazy but really, they took me by surprise in such a good way.  BTW, they are “Arsenal” football (soccer) socks.  (And Yes, Janyne, they were yours   You have to come visit me to get them back!)

This was another: I have no earthly idea why there was or should have been a flipper at 1,500′ but there was!  J and I were just hiking along with Sisu and there it sat.  Both J and I laughed like crazy and Sisu gave it a sniff and a nose.  We left it there for others enjoyment but also because there was a moss already growing inside the foot portion.

What has made you laugh today?  Are you laughing today?  I really hope so, because I am.

I have this friend, who I love.  We were only living close together for less than a year but wow, what a year.  We learned to like each other, despite my not wanting another person to supervise and direct in a very simple job and him being scared of this very opininated, bitchy girl who, upon first meeting, was ranting about someone else being lazy or just plain dumb.  Turned out, he didnt need directing or supervision and I turned out to be justified in my rants about dopey people and a great person to rant to.  He would join me for gut turning dinners in the cafeteria and I would join him for bagels and coffee early in the mornings.  I prayed for him and him for me.  He was an answer to prayers for a friend and confidant and I was his answer for a sponsor for his second 6 months.  He would laugh at my knitting obsession but would listen and watch carefully, especially when I told him to pick a skein of yarn and I would make him something for his months of not laughing.  Socks followed and I know that they are loved.  We were looking forward to another year of near-by friendship and then that plan fell through for me and has gone on to success for him.  I miss being able to sit and talk over a cup of coffee and a toasted bagel in the morning with him just about more than anything.  Its the presence of him as a friend with the uncompromising agape love that I feel the lack of.

What prompted this post?  Well, its snowing out and Sisu needed a walk.  So I put on my coat, hat and mittens and started out the door, only to be hung up by the one thing that I have always struggled with.  He always did it for me with a smile and a laugh when I would hold out my hands and say, “Please” and he would be wondering aloud, “What would you do if I want here for you?”  I never had an answer for him but now I know.  I miss him most when I have to struggle with the most important job before walkies and the one I always struggle with…Tucking in my mittens.

After a month of below freezing weather we have finally had a steady week of well above freezing and dealing with a lot of melting. I love the melting, for more than one reason. I like seeing the grass poking out, the feeling of warmth after the below freezing weather, the rain instead of snow, and, for me, the run-off from the roof filling the rain buckets so I can cook, brush my teeth, J can wash dishes and we both can flush the toilet! Its the distruction of the snow but thats OK. I will be able to look up at the mountains until July and still see snow! Either way, the sooner that the snow melts from the beach behind my house, the sooner I can get flowing water back.

WARNING: Religious content with personal views.

I know nothing about the Mormon faith. My pastor, when I told her about moving to work for Seventh Day Adventists said something to the effect of, ‘Well, at least they arnt as bad as Mormons.’ It was proof that she knew nothing specific about either religion! There are so many bad jokes about how ‘bad’ Mormons are and the ‘errors’ about the religion and someone always brings up polygamy. I know nothing about the Mormon church from real Mormons or from the Mormon Church. The only one that I know, sort of, is Mitt Romney and I dont know him at all! So there are Mormons who have moved into town. Before you, dear reader, start rolling your eyes, sighing or making pre-judgements, just listen (rather, read). I love them. Its the Agape love that I feel for a family that is far from perfect but strive to be as close to godly as possible. They are good friends and great people and I cherish and value their friendship.  But I still knew next to nothing about the Mormon religious history, theology or beliefs.

The extent of my knowledge was this: There was this man named Joseph Smith who had an angel visit him named Moroni and was given a revelation about a new ‘brand’ of faith and a book of Mormon with golden plates under a rock. After translation and years later, a document is formed in English and is the book of Mormon and the core of the new faith. Eventually a man named Brigham Young would come to believe the new faith and would be the man who lead the Mormon followers to Utah to escape from persecution from fellow Protestant Americans (who, ironically, escaped from persecution of their own religion!) There would be some polygamy but that was officially ended pretty fast after BY had his original revelation and the official Mormon Church hasnt authorized it for over 100 years and actually they excommunicate any of their members that practice it. Thats it. Thats all I knew about the Mormon faith. I was thinking that I needed to talk to my friends about their religion because, if anything, I was really curious.

Its the scientist in me that wants to know more about everything, especially about religion. How do I know that my ‘brand’ of faith is correct if I dont know about all of them in detail? How can one person possibly choose what to believe if they dont know all the options out there and their teachings? I am a firm believer that God sent his Son, Jesus Christ to earth to live and teach among us so that by his death we would have everlasting life. Nothing that I have been taught about different religions thus far has dissuaded me of that belief. So I wanted to talk to my Mormon neighbor about her faith and the core beliefs of the church. And then PBS intervened.

The Mormons is a program that is about 5 hours long in two sections that give this history of the Mormon church, the people who were instrumental in their revelations and creation of the church, the history of the people and those that opposed them, plural marriage and its revocation, moving westward to start a new settlement, the reasoning behind missions, discipline, baptism, temple life, family and so much more. It was a fantastic, non-biased, eye-opening look at the church and basic beliefs. I would highly suggest to everyone that if you have ever heard a Mormon joke, wondered about the history of polygamy or baptism of the dead, heck, if you ever heard the title of ‘Mormon’ and havent known one yourself and want to know anything about this religion, WATCH this programme. You can see it online HERE.

I can honestly say that it was a fantastic programme and I hope that everyone watches to learn more about a religion and a people who have been the butt of many jokes and have had little understanding given to them by outsiders to the religion. I have more questions and I will talk to my neighbors but really, this programme was enlightening and very helpful if becoming a better educated person and a more well rounded believer. I don’t think that I can give an official name to my ‘brand’ of my religion but I know that in my learning that I am growing stronger in my belief in God and his mercy and grace in my life. It doesnt need a specific name and religion is created by man anyway. Its the faith in Him that is important.

More posting tomorrow with actual knitting content (GASP!) and knitting pictures too.

So about a month back I received an email that said that I won a prize from another blogger who was running a “donate to Heifer Int. ” contest. Rules? Make a donation, let me know, you’re in the running! So I let her know about my yearly donation and I was in the contest…and won one of the prizes! It was a shawl pin, hand made and exclusively designed for me by the fantastic woman who runs the ThatLoganChick Designs Etsy shop. She asked me about what I liked and disliked and said that as soon as she could get the beads and create my pin it would be in the mail from Alberta, Canada. I was so excited about the possibility of soon getting a shawl pin I even pulled out MY shawl and did a shell! Well, yesterday we had a break in the weather and FINALLY had a plane (it had been a week) and there, waiting for me at the post office was a box much larger than I expected that had come all the way from Alberta, Canada! Go and see what she sent me!! My flickr has the pictures as well as the other fun stuff that the mail plane brought me.  I think that I just might have to cast on in that lighter Treking XXL tonight.  Not like I dont have enough on the needles already!

On my workout path, I am doing so well!  I have managed to workout 6 days a week for at least 70 minutes a day for over a month now and though I am too scared to see what the scale says, I know that fantastic things are happening to me.  First of all I am loosing my, um..pooch?  I dont know what else to call it!  Its that fantastic layer of fat right below my belly button and right above my girly bits and for years it has plagued me.  While I was really active in Cardio Kickboxing I had it way reduced but over the last 3 years it was slowly creeping back.  Not any more!  I can stand up straight and see my…well, lets just say I can see everything below my belly button (and I could always see my toes!)!!   This morning I had the dreaded task of having to put on a clean pair of jeans.  As always, I dreaded it.  That too tight feeling that every pair has unless it is a size or two big?  Yeah, that one was nonexistent in my pair of 12’s.  Yes, in my 12’s.  1-2.  I stuck my legs in, pulled them up and buttoned them without one single tug, moment of breath holding or roll of fat.  I was/am so excited that I even woke J up and made him look and admire me.  He was suitably impressed so I let him go back to sleep but man, am I ever excited.  I bought them August 2006 but they had been getting slightly tighter from then onwards, mainly from my lack of regular exercise from that month on.  I had done Tae Bo with students the year before but just didnt do it again during the 06-07 year.  They became more loose during the end of the 07 school year and the 07 fishing season but were never as comfy as they were in August 06 or as perfect as they are now!!  I look better in them now than when I bought them!

I know that I love to run and I started a new programme where you slowly build to running for 30 min straight and then I want to work up to a whole hour.  Since I was already running for 20 minutes straight, I skipped to week 7 of the 10 week 30 minute plan (walk 1 min, Run 9, Rpt. 2 more times) and did just fine.  J was wondering if this would make me lose milage and/or speed but I did 2.7 miles so that means that the whole things was just under a 10 min mile (6 mph).  Not shabby at all!  The girls and I did a bellydancing video and we are all better at it now than when we started.

I’ve finally got my workout buddies convinced that we need to do a hard cardio workout at least once per week instead of strength training and more not quite cardio workouts…FINALLY.   I started running because I knew that I just wasnt getting the cardio that I need to reshape my body but they felt that any workout where their muscles got tired was cardio enough.  The only thing that convinced them was their Wednesday workout where they almost quit part way thru the Tae Bo workout that they hadnt done in about a month.  I had been saying how important it was to keep up the cardio but they didnt listen to me…now they listen to their bodies!  They were both at a plateau so hopefully this cardio change will give them the boost that they need.

I cant believe it!  It was the 17th and I completely missed it.  Oh well.  Thanks to everyone who has been reading, if you started on the 17th (none of you because I didnt get any hits until February 20th!) or started here.  It really makes my day that ANYONE reads.