She Who Shall Not Be Defined

Jeanne B. -- [noun]: A dance involving little to no clothing 'How will you be defined in the dictionary?' at QuizGalaxy.com

Well, OK then, I guess.

posted by Jeanne @ 6:02 PM 0 comments

Horses, Not Knitting

Let's see...

HORSES
Went to the barn for a trail ride with a new riding buddy tonight but wound up working on our horsemanship due to Extreme Skeeters. It is May, people. The skeeters should NOT be out in full force like this yet. It was a massive cloud of them. Now, we'd prepared well, we thought. Marinated the horses in fly spray. Applied copious amounts of Deep Woods Off to ourselves--despite a warning label that says, I shit you not, "hazardous to humans". This stuff claims to ward off West Nile Virus.

And yet, we were lunch. We left the property, took five steps into the woods and WHAMMO! It was the $3.99 All-You-Can-Suck Buffet at the Golden Corral. My poor horse. He pitched a fit. He made it perfectly clear that he was completely and utterly miserable, would not STAND for being attacked by miniature flying vampires and told me in no uncertain terms that if I insisted on continuing, I'd be doing it on my own because he had no intention of going anywhere but home.

Normally, I'd have a conversation with him and re-establish my leadership and invite him to consider that my plan is to hit the trail. But all four of us (horses and people) were too preoccupied slapping ourselves silly. I apologized profusely to my horse and we headed back down the lane.

Actually that was probably a good thing. I wasn't too upset about it because I can handle one or two bites, but not being divebombed like that. I itch just remembering it. The ride would have been miserable for all of us. And my new riding buddy had a horse who was nervous about the trail. Her horse needed to do some confidence-building exercises, and mine needed practice in listening to me rather than Hoovering the grass, so we rode up and down the lane. The bugs weren't with us.

My new friend's horse benefitted greatly from the experience. She (the horse) went back to the barn calmer and left-brained, and they ended on a good note. The horse will be better next time for it. Honestly, I'd rather work on my horsemanship than trail ride, anyway. I realize that's not the way most of the boarders at the barn are, and it took some convincing before M conceded that it really did NOT bother me at all that we didn't hit the trail. So many are so focused on one thing: it's a goal. They go out to ride, and dammit, they'll ride, no matter the weather, no matter how their horse is that day, because it's all about the ride. They pay good money to board so they can ride, and they WILL achieve their goal even to the detriment of the relationship with their horse.

I'm the complete opposite. I'll abort a planned ride if my horse got up on the wrong side of the corral. If I'm on the trail and we have an issue, I'll stop and do whatever it takes to work it out, even if it means getting off and walking my horse for a bit, or backing up, whatever. If I have to take my horse back home because he's having a bad day, I'd rather go fix the issue and have a better ride next time than try to fight my way through it like so many others. My attitude drives most of the "ride or die" boarders crazy ("just get on and MAKE him do what you want"), which is why the longer I've been doing Parelli the less people I have to ride with.

But that's OK. Because my relationship with my horse is far better than theirs is, and it shows. They all think it's because he's older now (he's 10; M's horse is 18 aka "should know better" according to their beliefs), or he's "learned", but the real reason is, I've learned. He's been ridden by people who let him get away with stuff that he doesn't do around me because he knows who the leader in our herd of two is. I never have to "catch" my horse (or have trouble with it)--he comes galloping to me when I call. He'll follow me around of his own volition, because he wants to be with me.

That's magic.

---

KNITTING
There are approximately four socks in progress and on the needles at the moment. One is the second sock from last year's Christmas Knitting Fiasco (can I just say I think it'll be a handwoven holiday this year?); one is for mememememe; and two are being done for someone else (test knitting). I hope it won't scare the person for whom I'm doing the test knitting (if this blog is in their blogroll) when I admit that this was my first experience using the Two Circular Needle method. I thought I'd hate it.

I don't.

I love it.

That really surprised me. I love knitting on DPNs but 2Circs seems to go so much faster! It helped to have Cat Bordhi's book on hand. (For some reason I thought this was the Magic Loop method, but a bit of research on the Internets cleared that up. How many ways CAN one knit a sock? One needle, two, three, four, five...)

Great. I have 4,000 sets of DPNs that I got specifically for my sock-knitting endeavors. Now I have to go out and buy 8,000 pairs of circulars because of course I must have every size and they must be Crystal Palace--although I'm currently using *gasp* Susan Bates aluminums *cough*cheap*cough* because I wasn't sure if I wanted to commit to multiple CPs if I didn't want to use this method past these test socks.

Will this be the moment I cave and forego CPs for Addi's? Time will tell.

---

Labels: Christmas knitting, horses, WIP

posted by Jeanne @ 12:07 AM 2 comments

Gone Fishin'

Real Estate transactions are interesting. Apparently, one can make verbal bids, thus avoiding the paperwork while still finding out if you're in the ballpark. Every time one comes in, the realtor must call both my sister and me to present the bid for our acceptance or denial.

Personally, I think it's the potential buyers who are in denial.

Grandma's house is rather run down, true; but it sits on top of a hill on nearly nine acres of raw, beautiful farmland in a growing area of Southern Ohio. Pastoral is a word I often use to describe the area. The house isn't where the money is; the land IS.

I realize that there is a way to become rich in real estate by purchasing rundown properties from estates, from very naive sellers (like little old widowed ladies) or from people in desperate circumstances who need to "unload" something fast. The buyers then fix up the place, invest a little money, and turn around and sell it for a huge profit.

That's fine.

But we're not desperate. And we're not naive. And we heard the appraiser when he told us a figure over $200k, because it's not about the house.

So is it criminal for me to laugh hysterically when someone calls me (as they did several months ago) and makes a "generous" offer of $75,000 for the whole thing? And to laugh even harder when they get mad at ME and try to tell me they're doing me a "favor" by offering "that much"?

We got an offer this week for $110,000.

Nice downpayment—oh, you mean that's the entire offer?

ERNGCK! Wrong answer.

Today they (or somebody) raised it to $170,000.

Getting warmer.

It's going on the market for $259,999.

I'm fully expecting that price to weed out the "how to get rich quick in real estate" wanna-be's and bring out those who will truly love Grandma's old Victorian on the hill. I'm also fully expecting that there will be a grand bidding war that will take the price even higher. I know by watching the verbals come in that they are just biding their time tossing a line in to see if we'll bite; trying to get the deal of the century, hoping we'll jump prematurely. What they are soon to find out is that WE are the ones with the line and the bait.

This should be interesting.

posted by Jeanne @ 2:27 AM 3 comments

More Sewing FO's

The circular needle case is finished! Three down, one tote to go. I may not make my self-imposed deadline (tomorrow night's SnB), but that's OK. It's only me and my friend anyway. But I'm 3/4ths of the way there.

How matchy-matchy of me! LOL!


Closed...


Open! (Remember the MadTV skit with the nail salon owner? "close... sad... open!... happy!... close... OPEN!)


Velcro Tab (ZZ Top comes to mind for some reason):


Wow. Momentous occasion. A post in which I do not ramble on for hours on end.

---

Labels: FOs, sewing

posted by Jeanne @ 7:52 PM 3 comments

She Sews AND Finishes Things!

The needle rollups are ready for their debut!


On the left is the DPN rollup. On the right is the straight needle rollup—the actual pattern as provided by B*tterick. To make the DPN rollup, I measured my longest DPNS, and took a "tuck" in the pattern for the straights. If you've ever used a pattern that includes two lengths on one, you know what I mean. It was so easy I slapped myself silly over it.



Yup. One is lined in lime green stripes, the other in obnoxious circley-dots. You wanna know the funny thing? I don't like lime green, orange, or yellow. Yet, I absolutely adore this fabric!


Oooh, sneaky. Look how the longer DPNs hide behind the shorter ones in the pocket above. Only one tiny thing I need to fix: on the top pocket, right hand side, I need to stitch a couple more lines in to make the wide pockets skinny enough to hold my little DPNs (that's what the white chalk marks are all about).

I've almost finished the circular case, and I just bought interfacing for the tote. Yes, I'm sewing the tote as well. Why not have a completely eye-boggling 70's-inspired knitting ensemble for the next SnB? I might even whip up a handy-dandy zippered carrying case for all the extra stuff we knitters carry around (pencils, tape measure, Chibi, etc.).

This caught my eye while in the store last week. It jumped into my cart. I could not resist. I mean, LOOK at it. It is screaming to be made into a blouse of some sort. The gradiation from blue to purple is so "me" I can't stand it.


OH, yeah. It has sequins. It also has embellishments that make it look very antiquey IMHO.


Now all I need to do is design the pattern. I can't find one I like in the books. One is great but it has the seams all the way to the arms (Princess) and I don't want to cut up the lines of the fabric itself. Another had the right fit, but the wrong sleeves or collar or... you name it. Well, I need a refresher course in flat pattern design anyway (before tackling the woven coat) and I'm sure my old sloper is *ahem* a size or two smaller (or *cough* five or six)—so I'll just design my own.

Then I can stitch it up in my brand new fiber studio.


It's OK to chuckle. It's my old bedroom and the loom and sewing machines (including the serger on the floor) have to share space with the computer, but... it's a dedicated creation space and that is what matters.

NO KaTZ ALoWed!

posted by Jeanne @ 3:36 AM 2 comments

OK. I need your help in the good vibes department. According to my horoscope, the atmosphere is favorable, but I believe that the more good energy driven towards something, the better.

DAILY HOROSCOPE FOR 22 MAY 2007
Overseas or interstate connections hold potential for the development of your financial position. This trend is accentuated favourably during May 23-26, with family or property ties involved.

As many of you know, my parents passed away last year, leaving me and my sister with the grievous task of tying up their loose ends (of which there are too many to mention). One of these ends is my Grandmother's house in southern Ohio. My parents had it as a rental property until mid-2005 when the renters, after 12 years, just up and moved out one day without much warning, leaving it vacant. I was supposed to take over the rental management but then everyone got sick, that got put on the back burner, and now it's part of the Estate.

Mother gave me a choice in the Will: choose one of the two houses for my primary residence, and the other would be sold to settle the estate, proceeds to be divided evenly between my sister and I. The clincher is that upon being sold, Sister gets cash in the equivalent of the appraisal of the house I chose to live in, then we split the profits (if any) after closing costs are paid. The choice was: do I keep my childhood home or the family farmhouse?

One might say, "farmhouse for sure", considering I have two horses. Yes, it has enough land for them (about 9 acres). Yes, it's rural. Yes, it's a beautiful spot. So desireable, in fact, that one person has called my Mother every month since Grandma died (that was 25 years ago) wanting to buy the place. Since Mother's death, I fielded enough new inquiries that I handed it over to the realtor. But the 1880's Victorian is very rundown. To the tune of $50k just to bring it back to "liveable" condition; more to restore it. Never mind clearing the pasture that's been allowed to grow into a mini-forest, or build a barn, put up fencing, and so on. Unless tonight's my lucky night and all five plus the bonus ball match the numbers on my MegaMillions ticket, I'm just not quite that financially flush to be able to do that.

Whereas, my childhood home is only 50 years old, great condition, good suburban neighborhood, near my alma mater, and it's where I grew up. Ironically, it appraised much lower than the rundown farm, but that area is booming right now. New construction in that area is very expensive.

The lawyer says the house MUST be sold to close the estate. So my sister and I are essentially business partners in real estate now. Today I'm meeting with him regarding the contracts. My sister is pushing for me to sign because there has already been an offer. Oh, do let's get over-anxious here. I don't buy the notion that it's *gasp* maybe the only offer we'll get so we'd better hurry up and take it! No. Here's what I see happening (and what I need energy directed towards):

• We declare that only offers submitted after the house is officially on the market will be considered.
• I believe that within a few days of this, we will receive several good offers all at once.
• These offers will correspond to our unanimous understanding that it's not about the house (run down), it's about the value of the LAND it's sitting on.
  
• We will contact all but the highest bidder and ask if they'd like to counter offer.
• We'll let them fight it out. If everybody is so hot and snorty to buy this property as is, then let them prove it. (Apologies for the snarkiness.)
• We'll accept the final offer before June 30, 2007.
  
• I fully believe that the final winning offer after the others have dropped out will be well over the current asking price (which is also higher than the farmhouse's appraisal price), giving each of us an amazing profit.

So, go forth and energize with me. Much appreciation and gratitude in advance. :-)

posted by Jeanne @ 2:30 PM 3 comments

I Have Been Tagged

Stick has caused me to dust off the old brain and actually think tonight. She's tagged me for the 8 Random Facts Meme. OK, I'll bite.

The Rules:

1. Each player starts with 8 random facts/habits about themselves.
   
   
2. People who are tagged write a blog post about their own 8 random things and post these rules.
   
   
3. At the end of your blog you need to tag 8 people and post their names.
   
   
4. Don’t forget to leave them a comment and tell them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

8 Random Facts/Habits:

1. I talk to myself a lot—actually carry on a two-sided conversation. That's not unusual. What's unusual is that sometimes I'm surprised by "my" responses.
   
   
2. I hate wearing skirts, pantyhose and heels. HATE. I find a way to wear pants and some type of boot (cowboy or "equestrian") to every event—even weddings and funerals. The last time I wore skirt/hose/heels was in... let me think... uh... hmm.
   
   
3. I won't eat lettuce, spinach or anything that is a whole leaf. No exceptions. I also won't eat it if it's shredded. Even if it is pulverized. But I will eat herbs as seasonings as long as they are finely shredded and dried.
   
   
4. Watching someone eat chicken straight off the bone grosses me out. Needless to say, my chicken must be fully dissected and prepared before I'll even look at it. The same goes for other meats, but to a lesser degree. Chicken is THE WORST.
   
   
5. I love milk. I can drink a half gallon a day by myself easily. It has to be at room temperature before I can really enjoy it.
   
   
6. My musical preferences are rather eclectic. I can happily play, right in a row, Iron Maiden, Martina McBride, Journey, bluegrass, new age meditation music, Carlos Nakai (Native American flute), Soundgarden, the Violent Femmes, Indigo Girls, and maybe a disco song or two. The only music I cannot stand is rap.
   
   
7. Throughout most of the 80s and 90s, I sang (and occasionally played bass or guitar) in a variety of rock bands: everything from an 80's hair band to a very loud screaming heavy metal band. I was SERIOUS about becoming a rock star.
   
   
8. I've been on TV a few times in my life: when I was around 8 or 9, I was the "guest performer" (with my guitar) on a local children's show. I had to participate in the activities first, then play. It was great until I blanked out in the middle of "Für Elise" (where it modulates to major) and froze. It was a one-shot deal. No do-overs. God, I hate live TV. I blame this as the reason I'm so uncomfortable improvising on the guitar in front of people, but have no trouble singing. Last time was on the news when one of my rock bands put together an all-day local unplugged event at the mall, and they featured clips of our performance and interviews with us. I still laugh at our drummer's attempt to convey how serious we were about promoting the local rock scene and bringing it to the masses.

And now, I tag the following people (who hopefully have yet to be tagged, if you were, please pay the tag forward):
Turtlegirl, Tienne, Share, Carrieoke, Jen, Erin, Carole, and Ms. Sheepie Herself.

posted by Jeanne @ 1:40 AM 5 comments

Knitting Meme

OK, I guess I will succumb to the latest Meme going around (carefully alphabetized by CatBookMom), simply because there is no other interesting content for today.

Mark the items Bold for stuff you’ve done, italics for stuff you plan to do one day, and normal for stuff you’re not planning on doing.

1. Afghan/Blanket (baby)
2. American/English knitting (as opposed to continental)
3. Baby items
4. Bobbles
   
5. Button holes
6. Cable stitch patterns (incl. Aran)
7. Cardigan
8. Charity knitting
9. Continental knitting
10. Cuffs/fingerless mitts/arm warmers
11. Darning
12. Designing knitted garments - doesn't include minor/major modifications
    
13. Domino knitting (modular knitting)
14. Drop stitch patterns (doing one right now!)
    
15. Dyeing with plant colors
16. Dyeing yarn
17. Entrelac
18. Fair Isle knitting
19. Freeform knitting
20. Fulling/felting
21. Garter stitch
22. Gloves
23. Graffiti knitting (knitting items on, or to be left on the street)
24. Hair accessories
25. Hat
26. Holiday related knitting
27. Household items (dishcloths, washcloths, tea cozies…)
28. I-cord
29. Intarsia
30. Jewelry
31. Kitchener BO
32. Knitting a gift
33. Knitting a pattern from an online knitting magazine
34. Knitting and purling backwards
35. Knitting art
36. Knitting for a living
37. Knitting for pets
38. Knitting for preemies
39. Knitting in public
40. Knitting items for a wedding
41. Knitting on a loom (see note below*)
42. Knitting smocking
43. Knitting socks (or other small tubular items) on two circulars
44. Knitting to make money
45. Knitting with alpaca
46. Knitting with bamboo yarn
47. Knitting with banana fiber yarn
48. Knitting with beads
49. Knitting with camel yarn
50. Knitting with cashmere
51. Knitting with circular needles
52. Knitting with cotton
53. Knitting with dog/cat hair
    
54. Knitting with DPNs
55. Knitting with linen
56. Knitting with metal wire
57. Knitting with recycled/secondhand yarn
58. Knitting with self-patterning/self-striping/variegating yarn
59. Knitting with silk
60. Knitting with someone else’s handspun yarn
61. Knitting with soy yarn
62. Knitting with synthetic yarn
63. Knitting with wool
64. Knitting with your own handspun yarn
65. Lace patterns
66. Long Tail CO
67. Machine knitting
68. Mittens: Cuff-up
69. Mittens: Tip-down
70. Moebius band knitting
71. Norwegian knitting
72. Olympic knitting
73. Participating in a KAL
74. Pillows
75. Publishing a knitting book
76. Purses/bags
77. Rug
78. Scarf
79. Shawl
80. Short rows
81. Shrug/bolero/poncho
    
82. Slip stitch patterns
83. Slippers
84. Socks: toe-up
85. Socks: top-down
86. Steeks
87. Stockinette stitch
88. Stuffed toys
89. Swatching
90. Sweater (I'm assuming full-grown adult versus baby sweater on this one)
    
91. Teaching a child to knit
92. Teaching a woman to knit
    
93. Teaching a male how to knit
94. Textured knitting
95. Thrummed knitting
96. Toy/doll clothing
97. Tubular CO
98. Twisted stitch patterns
99. Two end knitting - Tvåändsstickning
    
100. Writing a pattern

*Knitting on a loom: There are two ways to go about this as I'm aware of. The first is using one of those currently trendy devices like the Knifty Knitter or a peg loom (I have a set of KK's that I bought on a whim). The other way is to knit on an actual weaving loom. Years ago, I picked up a 44-page booklet entitled "Knitting on the Loom" by Birgit Olson Barron (1988). I've been planning to set up a warp and try it out this summer. It is a method that incorporates knitted stitches within the woven cloth. Any loom that can be set up for a 50/50 plain weave structure can be used—rigid heddle on up. The loom is warped, and away you go.

Yes, I certainly do intend to one day be:

• designing knitted garments
• knitting for a living
• publishing a knitting book
• writing a pattern

I don't know how, but I know that I want to. It's possible. Difficult, I imagine, but possible. If others have done it before, then it's possible. Others have done it... why NOT me?

---

Labels: memes

posted by Jeanne @ 3:19 AM 1 comments

Just For Me

Well, I did it. I did something JUST for me.

A couple of months ago, while searching for a suitable pattern upon which to base my woven jacket, I found the most adorable pattern for a roll-up knitting needle case and a circular case (and tote, etc.):



photo from Butterick.com

I spent a good two hours looking at fabric until I found some great 70's inspired cotton fabric in the discount aisle. It's orange and hot pink and lime green and white. One motif is circles and dots; the other is a hippie floral. I just finished the roll-up case. It's tied with this great ribbon I found that is lime green stitched on the sides in hot pink. I'm so psyched. On board is the circular case. Same fabric, with a third contrast fabric for the pockets in solid lime green.

The only thing that frustrates me is that the top part of the roll-up (and most roll-ups) is too short for my big Crystal Palace DPNs, and I don't want to stuff them in with their longer straight counterparts in the lower section. So I'm thinking of making a pattern based off the roll-up to make a shorter DPN roll-up. IF I can still find the fabric. (Probably can.) Heck, I might even make the tote (although I saw a pattern for one I liked better in another catalog).

It felt SO GOOD to sew something up for fun!

Remind me if I forget to take daylight photos and post.

---

Labels: FOs

posted by Jeanne @ 11:34 PM 4 comments

Grades are IN!

Turns out my hard work was worth it after all:

Course	Title	Credits	Grade
ARTS 352	Fibers:Surface Techniques	3.00	INC
ARTS 353	Fibers: Weaving	3.00	INC
BA 304	Innovation/Creative Think	3.00	A
ECON 200	Intro To Economics	3.00	B
LEGS 304	Law for Entrepreneurs	3.00	C

Don't worry about the Incompletes. That's just to give me more time to finish my nine yards of fabric (which I've forgotten about in the cleaning madness) and my knitted sculpture. According to University Policy, I have until August 1 to finish. But I'll be done long before that. I just needed a slight break after all that.

Still cannot believe I managed to swing the B in Econ!!! And glad I got the C in Law. It could have been worse.

Doing the happy dance and preparing to wash fourteen loads of laundry (mostly underwear)...

---

Labels: college life

posted by Jeanne @ 7:04 PM 2 comments

Oh I Almost Forgot

Today is a double birthday! Sammy Blue and Tyler turned three today. Happy Birthdays, Kittens!

posted by Jeanne @ 9:16 PM 0 comments

So Behind!

Crazy Aunt Purl has posted TWELVE TIMES since my last reading! I am SOOOO behind on my blogreads that I have no idea what's happening in the world. I've heard rumors of something called Ravelry, and caught the notice about CAP's book, but other than that--I'm far, far behind.

How behind, you ask?

Try 948 posts unread.

If I read 10 posts per day, I'll be done by September. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAA!!!

OK, so I can probably get by with skimming a few of them (apologies in advance if I gloss over your FO posts to get to the meaty stuff).

Not much going on over here. Well--on second thought, a lot is going on, much of it related to my mare and her lameness issues and the reaction from people at the barn who just don't get it in regard to natural hoof care, time, patience, and so on. But that's for the horse blog, not the knitting blog.

I've moved all my yarn into my fibers room (old bedroom). My goodness, to see it all lined up in the bins in the closet is scary. Happy to report that the ancient Singer works--it stitched up the ripped seam on my underwire just fine the other day. How old is my Singer? Well, it's been in the box since its last repair session. The receipt from that said "1997". I realized it had traveled to Los Angeles with me--and it was a few years old then. That was 1989. So it's, uh, 25 or so. But it works! Yay. I fired up the new serger I bought last month and it seems to work but there will be a slight learning curve despite the fact that 10 years ago I used one daily during my stint at an alterations shop.

What else? Um... lots of cleaning and straightening. It's still a mound of chaos, but it's becoming organized chaos. The storm windows come down tomorrow, and Ver*zon will be by in the morning to fix the wire. I found the main wire from house to street dangling from my dogwood tree. Apparently it broke at the street end. Dead phone. Not good. Thank God for call forwarding to my cell.

I just started reading one of the two books I picked up yesterday--stayed up until 4 AM with it. "The Attractor Factor" by Joe Vitale teaches the five steps to attracting anything you want into your life. It's amazing. I've experienced this phenomena before, but it was random. I thought I understood the power of positive thinking. What I'm finding out is that I had the concept, but I needed to learn HOW to think positively. I was on the right track:

Bad: "I don't want all these bills anymore"
Better but not Good yet: "I want to avoid all these bills"

Why isn't it Good? Because I'm still focusing on the BILLS (the unwanted thing). Instead, I need to learn to change the focus to the opposite of the thing. For example:

Good: "I have more than enough money to afford all that I desire"

is much better because it focuses on what I really WANT rather than what I don't want. This is just one of the concepts I've learned.

The other book I peeked at but have yet to delve into fully is "Quantum Success" by Sandra Anne Taylor. It's also in the Fix-Your-Life genre. I still want Michael Losier's "Law of Attraction" but the bookstore didn't have it. What I like about these books is that they acknowledge the spiritual side of attracting positive energy into your life. I'm going back to my New Age roots and rediscovering Feng Shui, Creative Visualization, and related topics. Today I unpacked most of my books and was amazed at what I'd forgotten I'd had. Lots of summer reading for me.

Actually, I think it started to work right before I found the two books. A couple of weeks ago I got another Estate Bill IRS shock. The IRS tried to claim that my parents' 2005 return was late enough to warrant my paying another $3,600 to them (most of it in penalties, the other $850 in interest). I looked at it and, rather than throwing a hairy conniption, I just said, "this is NOT my responsibility. I have paid them enough. I'll give it to the accountant and she'll fix it. And whatever I have to pay, I'll get returned to me from the IRS in refunds later in triplicate."

The tax accountant said the claim was ridiculous, and wrote a letter of Reasonable Cause to explain the situation. She said usually they'll wave the penalties but I'd likely have to pay the interest. I said that was fine and wrote a check for the $850. Still waiting to hear, but my guess is, they'll dismiss it, and the $850 will fold into the 2006 refund.

So. Knitting. Yeah. I'm working on some socks. That's about it for now!

posted by Jeanne @ 8:48 PM 2 comments

DONE!!!

OMG.

Classes are FINALLY over! (I'm still four yards down five to go on my weaving, though.)

Yesterday, I moved all my clothes from my old closet to my "new" closet in the former parental bedroom. Now I have a place for my yarn!!! Today, I'm setting up a list of the colleges where I'm interested in doing grad work so I can plan a trip to see them this summer. Then I'm moving yarn. Then I'm replacing four burnt out bulbs in the house (yeah, I neglected to do it weeks ago, just lived in darkness.) Then I'm cleaning the kitchen. Then I'm catching up with my friend at our Friday SnB (we haven't seen each other since the end of March). Tomorrow I have horse feet to have trimmed and if it doesn't rain, maybe a play date with my equines (and the Kentucky Derby to watch). Then, I suppose, I'll have to sequester myself in the weaving lab and finish that yardage while the rest of the campus parties ("I Gradgitated!") or moves out of the dorms.

Summer break is FINALLY here. What a relief!!! A clean, organized home is imminent! As is relaxation and time to breathe. Summer. Bring It ON.

posted by Jeanne @ 3:02 PM 3 comments

Still Breathing

Just to let you all know I'm still breathing—it's finals week. I had Econ Monday (I felt prepared); a weaving crit; finished up C&I today; Law final at 8 effing 30 tomorrow morning; then surface design crit on Thursday afternoon and I'm done. Mostly. In between tornado sirens/warnings and demands by school officials that we hide in the bathrooms until the storms passed, I managed to get 1 and 2/3rd yard of my 9-yard final weaving project woven. Midway through, I ran into a snag—literally. When winding forward, my warp pulls the harnesses forward too. One of the hooky-jobbers on the first harness managed to hook itself into my already-woven cloth. I didn't notice it until suddenly I couldn't raise the harnesses.

Oy.

My saving grace is that since I'll be whacking up the yardage to make a coat anyway, I can probably use creative pattern layout and just avoid the big honkin' hole in my cloth. It didn't mess up the rest of the tension or run all the way down, so it's salveagable. But still. OY!

Then there's surface design... that project will get finished at home during the summer and turned in later (yes, I'm taking an incomplete, I just got too busy and being sick one week didn't help).

Well, that's all for now. I supposed I'd best get to sleep. Tomorrow is the LAST day I have to get up in the morning for awhile (yay), and the LAST exam of the semester. Of course I won't fully breathe until it's all completely done, but I think I'm safely in the home stretch staring at the plate. See you this weekend!

---

Labels: college life

posted by Jeanne @ 12:20 AM 3 comments