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tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-68825167873791669932019-06-27T22:28:42.388-07:00Cambria Washington: knitwear & firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-6882516787379166993.post-57920352682230315472016-04-29T15:43:00.002-07:002016-04-29T15:43:48.742-07:00I made the call, and I was pretty pissed off when I didThis morning I got on the scale and saw that I lost 6lbs this week. I know there's a lot of factors at play here, but I've been working out no more frequently than I was last month and I haven't changed my diet much other than trying to eat a smaller desert at night, so I'm feeling like Daily Burn might be worth the reasonable monthly fee. In addition to the ease of working out from home (which I really don't prefer over the gym but it fits my schedule better right now), I'm working hard enough to really feel the difference (mostly in soreness two days later, if I'm being honest). Also I was feeling really depressed and defeated after the latest news from Alex's school, but after working out I felt strong and capable again. This is good for my mental health. I'm thinking about canceling my gym membership and working out at home on a regular basis.

Today I called the superintendent's office and gave them a very angry piece of my mind. I didn't yell, but I wasn't nice and I let them know how angry I was that Alex is still being bullied by the kids who bullied him before, and how little the school does to protect him. I let her know about all of the times he tried to tell the teacher or principal and how they either ignored him or punished him for 'lying'. I told her how Alex is now suffering depression, and how we're prepared to take this to the next level if things aren't addressed. I told her how I don't want him at Oldham next year. She told me the principal told her about the "muffin" comments and what she planned to do about it. I asked her if she (the principal) told her (the superintendent) about how Alex tried to report this to her and how she ignored him and sent him back to his seat because she "was going to lunch". I asked if she'd been told about the latest incident (she hadn't). I told her that I called the school about it two days ago and haven't heard anything back. The superintendent asked if I'd be willing to have a meeting to try to resolve this. I told her that I have concerns about repercussions against Alex after a meeting, but if this was her suggestion, I'd try it as long as there was a chance that things would improve for him. I'm not going to hold my breath. I AM going to attend this meeting with my documentation of all the ways in which he has been humiliated or mistreated or left unprotected at school, and I'm not going to be very flexible.

In knitting news (because I still do that), I've made it to section 4 of my On The Spice Market shawl. I've almost knit through the entire skein (for both colors) and might have to wind up the second (for both colors). I'm still enjoying this knit. It's going to be amazing when it's finished.Cambriahttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-6882516787379166993.post-62367565883782011682016-04-27T16:31:00.001-07:002016-04-27T16:31:39.122-07:00If I didn't like my freedom so much, I'd go flip the principal's desk

You know, I envy those parents who can just pick their kid up from school/daycare and say "how was your day" and hear "great!", or "good" or even "fine". Because I never hear that. I always have to hear about how some classmate/teacher/principal said or did something that hurt Alex's feelings, and how no one did anything about it. Or how he did something he shouldn't have done, but then he refuses to take ownership of it. But today was the worst of all, because today was the day that I realized that my child has depression.

This isn't really a huge revelation given our family history of depression and anxiety, or the fact that children with executive function disorders often have depression because they struggle with everything. EVERYTHING. Today I picked him up and he had a look on his face like he didn't get to do something he was really looking forward to, and he moped and dragged his feet all the way to the car. It took 15 minutes of badgering to get him to finally say that he felt upset but didn't know why, and that he'd woken up like that. It got worst throughout the day. He answered 'no' to my question of "are fun things still fun?", and said this has lasted for months. This school year has been an epic piece of garbage, with the teacher and principal adding to the bullying instead of the usual failing-to-step-in that they usually do. All I can do is what I did do, and file a formal complaint of bullying on the principal, teacher, and the kids in his classroom who decided that making derogatory comments about his skin color was an okay thing to do. I'm hoping that this last one is the nail in the school's coffin.

So, all that being said, it's time for me to start managing Alex's depression, refreshing myself on the symptoms in children, and making an appointment for him to be formally evaluated. It was time to do that anyway. It's been 3 years since the last one and the school won't give him a 504 next year without updated paperwork (for all the good it's done this year).Cambriahttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-6882516787379166993.post-88568093868981308852016-04-26T16:42:00.000-07:002016-04-26T16:42:39.876-07:00My kingdom for a pencil that sharpens properly!Today it rained and was only about 40 degrees Fahrenheit. At the end of the month of April. I don't know why I'm making a big deal over that. It's pretty much standard protocol in Rhode Island. That being said, the school day was tough. Indoor recess is a nightmare for all involved. The kids are loud and we spend all our time in the gym, which smelled of floors that had just been waxed with rancid oil. You know the smell of oil that's been sitting in the cabinet too long, or those long forgotten nuts you found? You open the package and it smells wrong. Bad. That smell was my life for over an hour (because right after indoor recess, my class went to PE...in the gym).

Anyway, last night Alex was doing homework (like he does) when his pencil broke (as they do). That's not an issue for most people, but we break lots of pencils around here given that Alex doesn't know how much force he's using from day to day, and the pencils we have are just garbage. They don't sharpen anymore. I have actually taken a brand new pencil from the box and sharpened it right down to the half way point just trying to get a point that was free of wood. You sharpen the pencil and then it's pointy, but half of it's still covered with wood. If you get the wood off, the graphite tip is wobbling around in the wood casing and as soon as you put the point to the paper, it snaps off again.

I asked a few teachers, and one recommended the Dixon Ticonderoga brand to me, however I realize that I've used those and still had issues with the wood sticking to the point. It wasn't until I read a review of the Dixon Ticonderoga black pencils that I understood why this was happening. The graphite isn't centered in the pencil. This is a huge problem when trying to sharpen the pencil. Another friend recommended that I might need a better sharpener, however I realized that I actually own the exact brand she recommended (the x-acto brand in fact) and I've had the same problem.

It used to be that you could just go to the store and get the box of bright yellow pencils, and be all set. Then all sorts of companies started making the yellow ones and I couldn't remember which ones were the good ones anymore. Now I realize that the company that made those outsourced the work and now they're made in another country with lower quality materials. That's when I realized that one brand really sharpened nicely for the kids at school, and I asked my special ed teacher what brand they were. The winning pencil is the Mirado Black Warrior HB2, and she gave me a few from her secret stash to take home. So far Alex isn't having any difficulty with them and I'm planning to order a big pack from Amazon. As a matter of fact, I just broke one on purpose and sharpened it to a super sharp point with my regular manual sharpener. And by the way, who knew there was an entire blog on pencils?!Cambriahttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-6882516787379166993.post-39843056004028917062016-04-24T12:33:00.002-07:002016-04-24T12:33:37.322-07:00Sister Hobbs visited today!

Don't you hate it when you spend 30-45 minutes putting on makeup and contouring your face only to see someone you haven't seen in forever, and you smile so much that the contouring is ruined? My face is SO round here, lol. At least my eyebrows looked good.

This is a former Sister Missionary (Sissionary) by the name of Pricilla Hobbs, that served in the Providence 2nd Branch months and months ago. She was an excellent Sissionary and a beautiful person, and I miss her to death. She's in college now at BYU and is on their ballroom dance team. I'm happy that I get to follow her adventures on Facebook. You should see her in action! She's gonna be famous one day :) Anyway, she popped into church today and surprised us all. I haven't hugged someone and cried like this in a long time. Thank goodness my mascara is waterproof (I wasn't sure until today). We got to sit together during Sunday school and visit a little bit, and hopefully she'll be able to stop by later today before she goes back home.

I'm also making excellent progress on the shawl. Yesterday's photo was from a while ago and I decided that you deserved an updated photo for sticking with this blog, lol. I'm into the orange now and excited to see how the red looks. I'll definitely be cracking into the second ball (pictured here) before the shall is through. This is more fun than I expected to knit. I usually hate to knit garter stitch shawls, although I love how they look. Not so with this one. There's enough going on with each row to keep me going. I'm really looking forward to wearing the finished piece.

Cambriahttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-6882516787379166993.post-47402710929164332332016-04-23T15:09:00.004-07:002016-04-23T15:09:58.325-07:00Why does this always seem to happen?

Is anybody still reading this blog?! I've really neglected this space and I'm sorry about that. My life has been so busy and I just haven't made the time. Last weekend, I taught a lesson in Sunday school about the importance of journaling for future generations. Then I promised that I'd make an effort to start again. That was a week ago.

Recent developments include taking my son to the Social Security office to request a duplicate card (as evidence in this photo where he's not trying to be in this selfie with me), taking the other son to a pop-up carnival where he managed to give himself a minor concussion on the giant slide, and joining a gym. I'm also going to work summer school this year to help cover expenses, while Aaron goes back to school online.

Lets see...what else? I seem to have gotten heavily into makeup. It's not really that I need it, but more about the fact that thanks to Sephora employees and youtube videos, I can now successfully get the look I've been after for so long. Nothing makes you feel like makeup is a waist of time more than putting a lot of effort into it and not getting the color to show up on your skin, or having it all sweat off before you even get to work. These aren't problems anymore and now I can cover up for the nights I'm up till 1am watching Cracked.com videos.

Monkey

I have been knitting, but for reasons I can't explain, I haven't gotten around to writing up patterns for the three prototypes I knit up in January. I'm starting to think that I lost my mojo during my stint in graduate school, and it just doesn't seem to be coming back. I have a booklet full of ideas but I just can't get started. Maybe this was just a way to express my creativity during a time in my life where I didn't really have an outlet for it. My current career path takes a lot out of me mentally, and I don't have much left over at the end of the day. I prefer to spend my free time knitting brilliant patterns made by others, and knitting samples for designers and yarnies. I recently knit two for Zomari Dyelabs (and I'll get decent photos soon), including Cannetella in Doppler, and Monkey in Newton. It's a little scary how small an average woman's foot is compared to mine. I knit this and it felt like I was making it for a child.

I'm also knitting On The Spice Market for myself with a rainbow Maki from Play At Life Fiber Arts. This pattern is simple, yet engaging, and the colorplay is enough to keep you going when you find yourself with hundreds of stitches on your needle. I'm having a good time knitting it, despite all the garter stitch. Really looking forward to wearing this on the playground during recess duty.

All that being said, I'm going to make a real effort to come back to this blog regularly. Blogging is journaling too, and it's less cramppy on the hands.Cambriahttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-6882516787379166993.post-4477238452200879602016-01-09T13:25:00.001-08:002016-01-09T13:25:36.322-08:00On the road to recovery

Yesterday I got to finally get the stitches out. It looks way worse that it is, unless it looks extremely itchy and like the stitches get caught on the inside of the band-aid and pull and hurt. If it looks like that, then it's exactly as bad as it looks, lol. I am very happy to say that they came out quickly and easily, and I haven't had to take any pain meds since then.

The stitches are out in this photo, but it's still a bit red here. Today it's not red at all and I'm happily typing away, and knitting, and putting my own bra on. I can even tie my own drawstrings!

In other news, I've had lots of ideas bouncing around in my brain so I have hope that this will be a busy design year. I'm working on a new sample for my Winter White mittens, which is an old design, one of two that I actually submitted to an now closed web magazine. It was accepted but they allowed me to take it back once they realized that they were going to close shop. The other design was the Gingerbread Armwarmers that I published with Knit Picks (also available on Ravelry).

I had no idea how much time had gone by since I designed Winter White until I looked at the date on the bottom of the PDF. I originally intended to publish this baby in 2013. Looks like I got a little busy with gradschool and forgot all about it. I've been wearing the sample for two years so I'm in the middle of knitting new ones for photography. But if you want a peek at what they look like after two years of constantly living in the pockets of my winter coat, touching all manner of things (including my make-up covered face, and being worn over handwarmers, I'm happy to oblige.

Cambriahttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-6882516787379166993.post-82183496925113755442015-12-30T15:34:00.001-08:002015-12-30T15:34:14.394-08:00Ready to go

This is normally the time that I'd do a year-in-review but I've only managed to publish two patterns this year (Babadook and Blacula). That being said, I did get a lot of knitting finished. Part of that is because I was out of work for 6 months rehabbing my knee, and part was that I finally finished school this year. I have a lot more time to knit and cook now.

I have already made plans to knit several socks in 2016, and joined Yarn Yenta's Knit From Stash 2016 KAL. I don't have the patterns in advance but I did pull out 12 skeins of yarn and put them into bags labeled with the month. I once read a blog where the Yarn Harlot discussed putting 12 skeins of sock yarn and 12 random patterns into bags, and putting those bags into a cupboard, and grabbing one a month to knit. I've always been intrigued by that idea, and so I'm getting as close to that as I can.

In thumb news, I discovered that I can indeed knit, but more slowly than usual. I'll take it.Cambriahttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-6882516787379166993.post-34474176682807231742015-12-29T18:31:00.001-08:002015-12-29T18:31:40.402-08:00Good thing I'm a lefty

Ladies and Gents, I am a klutz. For those of you who know me in real life, this isn't a major revelation but some of you have been fooled by my cleverly constructed ruse. I decided that I needed to cook today even though I meal prepped enough food to last a few more days. Once I start cooking, I get in the zone and this was no exception.

Alex had been asking me to make the gingerbread house and today I finally got around to it. I figured that since I was in there and all, I'd get the crock pot going with a split pea soup. Simple enough. Open a bag of dried peas and pour water on top. Put in the smoked turkey wings for flavor. Chop up some onion for the soup. That's where things went wrong. That knife was EXTREMELY sharp and I darn near cut the tip of my right thumb clean off. Even went through part of the thumb nail. What really sucked though, was that I had onion juice on the knife so it went into the cut (yikes!).

This lead to a trip to the walk-in clinic for 6 stitches. They were kind enough to give me a splint to protect it from the inevitable waking it's going to take the next few days (I've already hit it twice). I'm happy to say that I had enough supplies in the first-aid kit to hold me till I could get there, and we don't have to worry about dinners for a few days thanks to the meal prepping I did earlier in the week. I've also got the Sissionaries coming over to help me roll out and bake the gingerbread dough I made tonight, so that's a big help. Then there's the fact that I'm left handed, and I'm still on winter break so I have a few days to heal before going back to work. Things could certainly be worse.

Now, I'm off to see if I can still knit. Cambriahttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-6882516787379166993.post-88402557419838862072015-12-25T09:38:00.001-08:002015-12-25T09:38:48.802-08:00Merry Christmas

It's been a long time since I've had the energy to post to the blog, but I've been doing well and the boys are too. This year I found time to finally finish my Christmas stocking, and to knit one for Eddie too (per my husband's request). They're arranged on the wall according to age. As you can see, the boys stockings (the red and green ones) are pretty narrow and they have both expressed a desire for updated ones. I guess I can do that, but I have a real fondness for these. They're 9-years old, and I finished Dante's because I really wanted to knit one for Alex and I had to finish Big Brother's before I could make one for the new baby. However, they're a real pain to stuff ever year, so maybe I'll just keep these in a special place and knit bigger ones that are easier to use.

I also finally finished my Smittens garland this year, but not in time to actually use it as intended. Next Christmas it will replace the advent calendars that I've been buying every year.

This year, Alex announced that he didn't believe in Santa. It was a little hard to take at first. I've had a believer-in-Santa in my family for 18 years. It made me a little sad at first, but I have to say that it also took a lot of the pressure off. I didn't have to knit a zillion-dozen cookies this year. I didn't have to remember to clean up the reindeer food, or take a bite from every single cookie so it looked like Santa was there. This year, the pressure to be good (which always results in the opposite behavior) so that Santa will come was gone, and we could just focus on doing things for others, and remembering the Savior. I was able to pace myself and take it slower this holiday season. As a matter of fact, I still haven't baked a gingerbread house yet. There's no hurry.

We spent our Christmas Eve visiting with family and friends. The day started with a long overdue visit to our friends Mandi and Graham so that Alex could play with the dogs. Mandi used to watch Alex after school on Thursdays, and he just loves to spend time with her so we try to do that when ever we can, but it's just not often enough. Yesterday we got to visit for a good long time until both Alex and the dogs were pretty well wiped out. Then it was back home to pick up Dad and Dante, and head out to Grandma's and Grandpa's house. As you can see from the photo, those Washington genes are very strong, lol. We had a great visit, getting to see relatives that we only see on holidays, and watching spy movies with Grandpa. After several hours, it was off to Nana and Jim's house to have dinner, watch Christmas episodes of Spongebob, and drop off their gifts. Nana is Italian so she treated us to the traditional Night of the Seven Fishes. We ate so much food that it felt like Thanksgiving all over again!

Finally, around 9 pm we finally headed home to crack into a roll of Pillsbury sugar cookies so that we could have some fresh cookies for Santa ("just in case he is real"). A few more Christmas cartoons, and Alex finally headed off to bed. That's when the real work began.

Alex struggles with waiting, and has a hard time regulating strong emotions due to the sensory disorder. This means that I've learned (the hard way as most parent do, lol), that we can't wrap gifts in advance and put them under the tree as the season goes along. That's what my parents always did, but it's just too problematic at our house so I wrap them every Christmas Eve after the kids go to bed. That means I'm usually up until 2am, which means that I'm exhausted every Christmas morning. This year I put a time limit on Alex. He had to wait until 8:30 am before waking us up, and if he woke us up before then I'd make him wait an additional 3-hours before opening gifts. The was a good plan, except that we forgot to set his personal clock back at Daylight Savings, so he woke me up at 7:30. I told him to wait until my alarm went off; he woke me up three more times asking if it had gone off yet, lol.

Aaron and I exchange gifts on Christmas Eve, since we're awake. He got my car fixed for me and ordered a set of healthy spice blends from FlavorGod. They have very little sodium (he uses sea salt), have no fillers or GMO's, and are ground fresh to order. They came with two free cookbooks as well, and I'm excited to give these a try. Here's to more clean eating this year!

The boys did quite well (per usual) thanks to their generous and loving grandparents, and this year is the first year that Alex was able to get through gift opening without having a meltdown because he didn't get something on his list. He's come a long way this year in terms of social skills, being able to handle disappointment, and being able to focus on the positives instead of the negatives. It was really nice.

And now that the big day is done, it's time to settle in for my first ever Christmas vacation since 1996. I'm looking forward to the break.

Some of the haul

Traditional Christmas Lego Boobie-trap

Alex's gift to me

Cambriahttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-6882516787379166993.post-33780367350690800482015-09-07T06:58:00.000-07:002015-09-07T06:58:12.796-07:00Week one

It's been an interesting week, having started my new job. The drive is longer than I expected because of the three exits which almost always create traffic. However, the town of Canton is beautiful and I just love being in the elementary school. These children are hilarious. There's not much difference yet between the children with developmental disorders and their "typical" peers, and they all get along pretty well and are willing to play with each other. However, I'm going to have to get used to the amount of tattling, and manipulation that goes on at this age. The typical children will engage the children who are "on the spectrum" in a game of tag or get handsy with them, and then turn around and tattle when that child accidentally hurts them, neglecting to mention how they started it all and were happily playing with that child one second ago. Knowing this, I spend a lot of time explaining to typical children that they need to tell the other children when they don't want to play anymore, or if something hurts so the other child can have an opportunity to adjust on their own. Children at this age have absolutely no concept of cause and effect, so I'll be doing a lot of training on the playground.

In knitting, I finally wound my Rainboom sock yarn from Zomari Dyelabs and I'm loving it. It looks like a rainbow/black sock in this photo but it's really more of a gun metal gray. The distribution of the rainbow colors is really pleasing and I love the yarn base. I'm looking forward to wearing this pair. I'm also knitting steadily on my Dark and Stormy, as it's now my designated Rhinebeck sweater. I haven't been to Rhinebeck in years and my friends and I are going this year so I need a new sweater. Plus, this sweater will be perfect for me to wear at school.

This new job has generated at least one unexpected expense. I had to go buy a new wardrobe. My last job required me to wear workout gear and I finally got myself all outfitted for it this summer, only to change jobs and wind up with no appropriate clothing for my new job. Technically, jeans are allowed but it's pretty hot in my classroom so I needed something other than jeans and tees. I ended up hitting Old Navy's Labor day sale and getting several pairs of cropped pants and a variety of light weight blouses and knit shirts that should do the trick. I'm also adjusting to being able to wear a watch, and jewelry, and being able to have my hair down. This is a while new world in which I'm allowed to dress like a girl.

Cambriahttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-6882516787379166993.post-29699027714462395322015-08-31T11:19:00.002-07:002015-08-31T11:19:11.467-07:00The more things change, the more they stay the same?Today was Dante's first day of college. We got up early and drove him out with plenty of time to make it, only to discover that someone thought it would be a good idea to do road work and close one of two lanes down leading to the college, on the first day of the fall semester. It took us about 20 minutes to get off the exit, so Dante was about a half hour late for his first class. Between classes, Alex and I did some running around to get him ready for school tomorrow. He has a new pair of shoes and found a pair with Velcro fasteners so he's happy.

After picking Dante up, we chatted all about his first day and how happy he was with the experience. He thinks he's going to like this much better than high school (I knew he would), and he's already enjoying the free time between his classes. He told me in the car on the way home about how everyone at the tables in the cafeteria seemed to be sitting with people that they knew but since he wasn't good at making friends, he decided to sit on his own and get online on his laptop. He met up with some friends later in the day. Then, when we were home for a few hours he says to me, "So two girls came over to my table and sat down across from me but I didn't know them so I just kept my ear buds in and ignored them. Do you think they were trying to talk to me?" (Insert the sound of a face palm here.) Yes my son. Two girls came over to sit down at your table because at least one of them thought you were cute, but you completely ignored them so you missed out. Sigh.Cambriahttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-6882516787379166993.post-75307548558187277402015-08-25T13:43:00.003-07:002015-08-25T13:43:45.557-07:00Starting a new chapter, as they say
As readers of this blog will know, I've spent the last six or seven years in college finishing up my bachelors and going for my masters degree in psychology. After all that work, I got my diploma delivered to my by UPS in a flat cardboard envelope, sandwiched between two thin pieces of cardboard. Not exactly as I imagined it, but at least it's finally here and I'm official. I officially have a masters of science in psychology concentrating on applied behavior analysis (it even says so on the diploma). That means that I can sign all my correspondence with M.S.-ABA after my name, lol. That also means that this year, in Alex's 504 meeting, if anyone tried to give me any grief I can slide this baby across the table and say (ala Steven Speilberg in Austin Powers) "my little friend right here says" I know more than you do about how to treat this disorder. My dream has finally come true! lol

Another new chapter is that I recently was hired to work as an ABA Tutor in a school district in Massachusetts for a substantial raise over what I'm getting paid now, with less risk to my personal safety. And as an added bonus, I'm working with a former co-worker from my days at the bank. I've been assigned to an elementary school and my hours are almost exactly what I work now. The schedule follows the school year so I can also have summers off if I so choose. I've always wanted to work in a school and I've enjoyed my time in the classroom with my current boys, but I'm just getting too old to handle the level of physicality that goes on in there (as evidenced by my season-ending knee injury, lol). I felt pretty guilty about leaving my room, but some of the other staff members have already moved on and I was about to be reassigned to a different room anyway, so I'm feeling better about it all now.
Cambriahttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-6882516787379166993.post-35770996618517452282015-08-13T09:03:00.000-07:002015-08-13T09:03:09.394-07:00Teacup socks and beet pesto

The other day I finished the first of my Teacup socks. My friend Heather texted a photo to me of a sock she knit with a nice ribbed pattern and I decided that I needed to knit that too (this is a regular occurrence, lol). So I knit my first sock using Glenna C's A Nice Ribbed Sock pattern (it's free), and used my favorite afterthought heel because it works so nicely with self-striping yarns. I also knit it toe-up so it went pretty fast because I was only ribbing on the one side for the majority of the time. The photo here is more accurate than the last one, and you can see the subtle shift in light blues that looked like white in the last photo.

Meanwhile, I finished the first Timberline sleeve and started the second. It's definitely going faster since I started using the Toolry cable needle. Being on vacation this week didn't hurt either. My only issue is trying to resist the desperate urge to cast on for this. It's a Thea Coleman pattern and I love her work so much. I haven't knit one, but I've bought several of the patterns, and the yarn to knit the sweaters with. I'm honestly not sure why I haven't actually knit one up yet. I need to rectify that situation this year.

In other news, I finally cracked out my veggie noodle maker and cooked up some "zoodles" out of zucchini. I told Alex that they were just green noodles, and he ate them without giving me a hard time. Then yesterday I gave in to the compulsion to buy a bunch of fresh beets, and I made beet pesto (found the recipe on Pinterest). It's not bad, and the color is fantastic! We had "pink pasta" made with the beet pesto over whole wheat penne, and Alex had seconds. The other guys in the house know what's in it, and Alex just thought that I used juice from the beets to make the pasta pink, so I was able to get him to eat a new vegetable without giving me a hard time.

I also decided to go through my folders on the computer today to clear out some of the old junk. I ran into an issue earlier in the week where my computer couldn't convert a newer Word file because there wasn't enough memory left on the computer. So I opened up all my folders and found a bunch of old stuff I didn't really need anymore. I was also surprised to see how many patterns I had designed, which never saw the light of day because I stalled out somewhere along in the process. Now that I'm done with school, I'm going to take another look at them and see if I can't get some of these out into the world. Cambriahttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-6882516787379166993.post-37025911561697113262015-08-08T16:56:00.002-07:002015-08-08T16:56:19.203-07:00Pop blanket is completed!I took advantage of a cool(er) day this past week and put the Pop blanket together. I'd been thinking about putting it in rainbow order but my friend Heather and her sister (via text message) voted for the random pattern, and at the end of the day, that's what drew me to this project in the first place, so I went for it. I had no plans for it and I just can't bring myself to give a hand-wash wool blanket to a new mom, so I gave it to Eddie. (I may have mentioned this before). Anyway, Eddie is not impressed, lol. He won't go near it. I think I have him too well trained to stay off my hand knits. I keep covering him with it or laying it in the places where he likes to sleep, and he keeps stepping around it. Although today, I did see him laying on the very edge of it so that's progress. When it gets colder, I'll throw it into his cat bed.

In sock news, I finished my gummy bear socks and immediately cast on for the Tea Cup socks. This photo is lousy so it doesn't show off the true colors of the yarn at all. My fault for taking a photo of red socks on red pants, lol. It's interesting because I was really looking forward to knitting this colorway but now that I'm into it, I actually like the other one better than this one. Either way, I'll have socks. This summer feels like the summer of socks, and I have more than my fair share of sock yarn, so I'm just going with the flow. Maybe I'll make a dent in my stash by the time my latest yarn diet lets up. Heather and I decided that we needed to reign it in again so the yarn diet is back on (with a small break allowed in October) until next April. I really need to knit up the yarn I have in the apartment, and I have to admit that it feels good to do that. Who knew it would feel so gratifying to actually turn the yarn into that thing I originally bought it for.

In other knitting news, I did pick Dante's Timberline sweater again and it's moving along more smoothly than before. I did make two changes that seem to be helping. First, I finished graduate school so my brain isn't fried. Second, I changed to a cable needle from Toolry (which was created by Naomi Herzfeld, co-owner of Bella Yarns). It has a unique shape that makes it easy to get the stitches on and off the needle, and as an added bonus, the needle is magnetic. That means that I can stick it right to my chart keeper, or hang it from the magnetic pendant prototype she gave me. That has greatly increased the speed with which I can work the many, many cables in this pattern. I don't like to use cable needles, but this one has been a life saver and I'd definitely give it my stamp of approval.

And finally, in ridiculous news, I saw a new item on the supermarket shelves..."Pot Ready" pasta, which is actually pre-snapped pasta for those of you who break your pasta before putting it into the pot. How busy/lazy have we become as New Englanders that we have to have our pasta broken for us! Does that step really add that much extra time to the cooking experience? And to top that off, we ran into Colonel Sanders at the market too. Here's proof.

Cambriahttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-6882516787379166993.post-64892655021180864862015-08-01T10:10:00.002-07:002015-08-01T10:10:58.897-07:00The summer of socks

I wish I could remember what this yarn was, but I bought it during the yarn crawl this year and I was really excited to knit it up. I expected the yarn to stripe. It looked like a self-striping yarn when it was wound up in the ball, but it was more of a free form, color shifting yarn. I don't think I would have been happy with how the color played out along the sock if the color were any less dynamic than it is, and the yarn itself is very course to work with, but that just means that they'll last forever, lol. This should make interesting Hexipuffs for my Beekeeper's Quilt.

Since finishing the last pair of socks, I started another with my Felici yarn from Knit Picks. I bought two colorways and I decided to start with Gummy Bear. The red stripe is actually an orangey-coral and the white is a very light blue, but the overall effect is the same. I knit this from the toe up, using an after thought heel. This strategy allowed me to knit my leg as long as I wanted, and the heel wouldn't interrupt the striping sequence. It's the best heel treatment to use when working with self-striping yarns.

And in other news, I blocked the Pop Blanket squares. It's been so humid here that it took four days to completely dry. That being said, I still haven't blocked the Promise Me shawl because the Pop Blanket squares have been on my blocking mat for most of the week. And in secret sock knitting news, I ran into a hiccup on my design and I have to pull back a good portion of the sock to change the calf shaping. It just doesn't work as is. Naturally, I'm avoiding fixing this by knitting the Gummy Bear socks.

Cambriahttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-6882516787379166993.post-5653871352495962302015-07-27T15:43:00.003-07:002015-07-27T15:43:55.325-07:00it's fudge time

just tilt your head to the right

Some days just require fudge. And I'm allergic to milk so these are pretty tough days for me. I usually have to weigh the need against anything I may have going on around that time to see if the disruption to my health will impact anything important. I know this sounds really stupid, but sometimes cheese, and ice cream, and chocolate are warranted, and necessary. Thankfully I've found many fabulous recipes on Pinterist for vegan deserts (not all of them were hits, but many of them where). Tonight I decided to try making vegan fudge. If the texture turns out fudge-like, then it's going to be amazing because the taste is perfect. And it's three simple ingredients: cocoa, coconut oil, and maple syrup. Can't go wrong. I mean, even if it doesn't set up, I can always make my gluten free vegan brownies and use the mixture for iceing.

Now, I did finish the Promise Me shawl but I haven't gotten around to blocking it yet. I never remember to do it until the afternoon and I know it won't be dry by the time I need to go to bed, and I don't want to pin it to the mat on my floor because I exercise there now, so it's just sitting in my old knitting bag looking sad. I went with the smallest size because the pattern said it took 430 yds to knit the sample, and I had just about that much, but I had a decent amount of yarn left over. I probably could have knit the next size up. I took the opportunity to knit 2 hexipuffs from the Celestia yarn, and then I'll return the left overs to Erin.

In other news, I finished my Pop blanket and managed to figure out the layout of dots. Again, I haven't blocked it yet but I'll get to it. I think Eddie is going to inherit this blanket. It's too small to do anything with, and the yarns aren't washable so I can't gift it to a new mom (I'd never do that to a new mom, lol), and Eddie's old blanket wore out. He definitely used it. I think he's due :)

For those wondering about the interview, it went well enough to grant me a second interview. I'm hounding everyone I know for letters of recommendation (which are required), and printing out transcripts from school, and trying to arrange a good time. I've put this all into the Lords hands. If it's right for me and my family, it will happen. If it's not, something better for me will come along.

Cambriahttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-6882516787379166993.post-73697711626745530332015-07-21T14:48:00.003-07:002015-07-21T14:48:55.470-07:00It is official!

Today my grades were finally put up and I passed the revision of my paper, which means that I passed my comprehensive exam, which means that I've earned my master's degree in psychology!! I get to put letters after my name. What's the abbreviation for masters of science in psychology? What ever that is, it goes after my name.

This feels so unreal. I never in a million years thought I could earn a master's degree. It was that thing that some of my friends had; the ones with more discipline than I. I took 16 years to earn my bachelor's degree after all. And now I've accomplished this major milestone, which I was inspired to pursue through much prayer and some fasting. I've already started to put it to use (serving as the Primary president for the last year), and it's already helped out at home, so it's already paying off. Now I have an opportunity to interview for a job in a school district doing something similar to what I already so, but with children who aren't as far along on the Autism spectrum as those I work with now, (lowering the likelihood that I'll tear another ACL. lol), and offering higher pay and summers off. It's what I've always wanted.

I celebrated this moment by getting my air conditioner fixed (it's been in the 90's with ridiculously high humidity), and by reading and knitting. This little beauty above is one of the Zomari Dyelab yarns in the Tesla base, in the Celestia colorway. I mentioned it in the last post, but I'm so excited with it that I had to mention it again. I reached the lace section in only two day! Unfortunately its not a good travel project anymore so I'm back to my old sock-in-progress, but I'm working happily on it at night. And in case you weren't sure about the inspiration for the colorway, this is Celestia. As you can see, Erin nailed it.

Cambriahttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-6882516787379166993.post-62035409137347375982015-07-19T17:06:00.003-07:002015-07-19T17:06:51.987-07:00Zomari Dyelab trunk show

My friend Erin has taken to yarn dying like a fish to water, and I'm being a supportive friend by buying ALL the yarn. Starting at the top of the basket is Rainbow Dash, followed by Rainboom (a custom color) and White Lightning. The ball in the center is Celestia, and I'm going to knit it into this shawl for a shop sample. The rest have unlimited possibilities, lol.

I've had the pleasure of working with Erin (dyer extraordinaire at Zomari Dyelabs) on one of my secret patterns for the 2015 round of the Scarefest. I can't wait to show that one off, but since I can't, and since I'm still knitting secret projects, I figured that the least I could do was to post pictures of yarn. You can purchase Zomari Dyelabs yarns through Bella Yarns (in store and online).

Meanwhile, I pulled out my old knitting bag, literally blew the dust off of it, and started working on the squares for my long neglected Pop blanket. It's supposed to be 20 squares but I have so much yarn left over that I think I'm going to make it bigger than that. Plus, its a lot of fun to knit these little things.

Now, its time to go cast on a sparkly, pastel, Pony-inspired shawl.Cambriahttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-6882516787379166993.post-82008432498995212202015-07-16T16:52:00.001-07:002015-07-16T16:52:05.347-07:00That didn't go as plannedSo as I mentioned, yesterday was supposed to be college orientation day but in actuality, it was college registration day. This detail is important because it determines how long you have to wait to pick up your kid. When I went in after an hour to ask them what time orientation was over, they told me "orientation lasts 4 hours". So naturally I left and went to the mall so that I could send my Coach bag out for repairs, and buy a pencil sharpener for my new lip stick crayon. I ended up buying a bunch of skin care things that I didn't go there for, one of which was a spray bronzer that I bought to use as a summer contouring spray. The girl at Sephora told me (with a straight face) that I could use it as a tanning spray... I looked at her for a minute, and just said "I don't need to tan".

Anywho, when I finally got back to pick Dante up after four hours, he informed me that he'd been sitting outside waiting for me for three hours. We were told that he was having orientation but we got the wrong information. And I took the whole day out of work for no good reason. But on the bright side, I did get to spend the day hanging out with Alex and we got to have our first Pinkberry yogurt together. He was particularly taken with the pebbled floor. We also went to see Splash at Jordan's Furniture and enjoyed their Christmas in July show. It was surprisingly fun.

Today, I went to PT and did my recheck to see how far I've come along. I'm gaining strength really fast. I just need to build up my running and jumping, and then I'll be all set to go back into my classroom (hopefully next month). I'm excited about it.Cambriahttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-6882516787379166993.post-326044095600099912015-07-15T06:56:00.001-07:002015-07-15T06:56:43.687-07:00Orientation day

In case anyone was wondering what light duty looks like, this is it, lol. Lots and lots of cutting, gluing, and laminating. I spend the majority of my day buzzing people into the building and making materials for the classrooms. It could be worse. I prefer to be busy.

Today is Dante's college orientation, and I'm not sure how I feel about it, except that I'm glad to be out of college before he got in. That was pretty much my only concern. There was no way I was going to share my computer time with my undergrad while trying to complete a master's degree, lol. I'm home from work today to take him and keep Alex busy while we wait.

This summer is the 3rd in a row that Dante has watched Alex while we were at work, only this time I learned from past mistakes and actually make plans for them to go and do things during the week so they can get out of the house and stay off each others' nerves. So far, so good. Tomorrow they take the bus down to the 2nd run theater and watch Home. Alex is pretty excited about it. And next Friday they have a play date with a friend from church to go to a playground with a water feature. That should be a lot of fun for him and if it's easy enough to get to, they can go as often as they want.

I'm starting to relax now that Dante has turned 18 and graduated, and basically nothing is different, lol. I don't know why I was convinced that 18 would be some magic number where Dante would suddenly detach himself from the family and disappear forever. Maybe that was what my mom was worried about when I turned 18. I just remember that my senior year was particularly difficult for us and I couldn't understand why. I think I get it now.

My knee has been aching more than it has in a while because I've been sitting behind a desk. It's really hard to get comfortable, and PT was harder yesterday than its been in a while. Hopefully I'll adjust to this new schedule quickly so I can get back to doing what I do. I'd probably feel better if I were working with the kids, but I still can't run or get into holds yet so I'm not allowed. Thankfully, I can get out and walk around the building every few hours to loosen the knee joint. This photo is a view from the parking lot. The humidity is unbelievable, but it feels good to be out there.

In knitting (the thing you actually came here to read about, lol), I've turned the heel on my latest design and I'm looking forward to starting the leg and getting into the calf increases. This could go quickly. And I'm also excited to be able to play along with the Scarefest this year, now that I don't have any more assignments to cut into my time.Cambriahttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-6882516787379166993.post-30106890482496512352015-07-13T19:27:00.000-07:002015-07-13T19:27:17.859-07:00more pattern knittingI'm working on the final pattern for the Scarefest, and I really wish I could show it off but I can't just yet. Needless to say, it's turning out really great and I'm excited about it. Too bad I can't knit this while I'm at work, lol.

Today I spent a fantastic afternoon with my friend Denise, knitting and snacking. It felt great to be able to go somewhere and not worry about having to rush back to homework. And to make sure the guys didn't miss me too much, I picked up some ribs from Sams for dinner. They were quite happy, and I was able to enjoy an evening of adult conversation.

Tomorrow I'll try to get a decent photo and knit something that I can show you :)Cambriahttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-6882516787379166993.post-47974587420422687172015-07-12T11:18:00.001-07:002015-07-12T11:18:33.973-07:00The best part of summer

If you look really, really closely at that yellow blob, you'll see Alex riding the carousel. This is a classic Looff carousel that's over a hundred years old and is still running. It's magical and we've been coming here since Alex was just big enough to get on one of the horses. I just love to sit on the bench and people watch. The families are happy. The look of pure joy on the children's faces is intoxicating. I just love being there.

Yesterday, one of the teens working at the carousel taught Alex how to grab the rings, and gave him a free ride while he was practicing. Then he introduced himself to me as we left, and gave Alex a high five. That young man needs a raise!

Today, Dante gave a talk at church and did a pretty good job considering the fact that he forgot all about it until this morning, lol. I asked him to try being more prepared and less "on the fly". Sharing time was nice, and I filled in for one of the primary classes that still is in need of a regular teacher. There was a small group and we had a really nice discussion. I usually dread the summers at church because most of our membership is comprised of college students who disperse to the four corners of the Earth, so it's hard to find enough people to cover all the classes. However, this year it just feels different. I'm enjoying the smaller class sizes and the slower pace of it all. Maybe that's because I don't have as much on my plate right now?

Speaking of which, I've been lurking on Ravelry pretty hard, queing all the things. I wish I could knit faster. I want to knit every sweater and shawl I see right now, and most of the socks. I mean, I certainly have time, lol. I'm still reading Whales on Stilts with Alex and it's so funny that I'm a little sad about approaching the end of the book. We're going to have to look for more books by this author. Now, off to knit socks. I'm almost finished with the 2nd of three patterns for the Scarefest, and I need to ride this wave of productivity while it lasts.Cambriahttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-6882516787379166993.post-62731384523355839292015-07-11T11:10:00.000-07:002015-07-11T11:10:14.198-07:00First Saturday off

I'm feeling a little afloat out here with no school work to do. It's my first real summer vacation in six+ years, and I'm not sure what the heck to do with myself. And it's finally hot here. So what does a New England family do when it's too hot to really be outside, and there's no homework demanding my attention? Read super-silly books while the husband plays Call of Duty, of course.

Last night's book was Whales on Stilts!, and it' hilarious. Alex kept making me read more and more chapters until I finally had to call it around 10 pm. To be fair, the battery in the clock stopped around 8:45 pm so we weren't aware it was that late. I think we're going to finish this book today.

I've been reading a lot myself. I just finished Pines, which is the first book in the series that the current show Wayward Pines is based on. And it's such a good book that I couldn't put it down. I'm reading another book by the same author now called Run. I also have a copy of East of Eden to get through and I'm kind of excited about it. The sample I read on my Kindle was very good. As you can see, I'm just as scattered with my books as I am with my knitting. Always 3-5 going, all the time. I'm super pumped about it.

Another exciting thing about new found freedom is that I can finally organize my dining room, finish building my IKEA furniture, and cook dinner. I might even be able to start baking bread again! I had to give that up about 18-months ago when I went back to work full time. Looking forward to my first loaf of sour dough. Cambriahttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-6882516787379166993.post-80665644017844707092015-07-10T13:43:00.001-07:002015-07-10T13:43:38.902-07:00Back in the saddleWell, it's summer finally and the weather is too warm to wear my knitted pants (or much of anything else). It's perfect however for sock knitting, and I've been busy knitting and designing patterns for the 2015 season of the Super Sock Scarefest. I have three of them this year, and I've had the support of two extremely talented indi-dyers. I can't share them just yet, but I'm really excited about them and looking forward to showing them off.

In other news, I'm back at work (still on light duty) after 4.5 months out. Physical therapy is going really well and I'm able to do all sorts of stuff that I couldn't do before surgery, but I still can't do all the things that I need to do in order to fulfill my duties at work, so I'm sitting at a desk and doing busy work. But it's still nice to be back around familiar faces and to be getting paid a full paycheck again.

I also just finished all of my course work for my master's degree (as of yesterday), and I'm just waiting on a final grade. If all goes well, I'll have initials after my name, and a master's in applied behavior analysis. I never thought I'd ever achieve something like this, and it's amazing to know that I completed something this big. I could never have done it without the support of my family, and my faith to keep me going.

And as if that's not enough, Dante graduated from high school, turned 18, received his Patriarchal blessing, and was ordained to the Melchizedek priesthood! He starts college in the fall, and applied for his first job. Oh, and Alex turned 9, and is finally out of a car seat. Everyone is huge (except for me because I've lost 15lbs since starting the Fit Mormon group on Facebook). Speaking of Facebook, I had enough of dealing with the crazy and next year is an election year, so to save my sanity, I took a break from FB. I just don't have the mental energy to deal with everyone else's junk, and I'm pretty sure it's one of the reasons why my blogging became so sporadic (that and Grad school). So you'll see less of me on FB, and more of me on the blog, plus there are designs that have been on the back burner and I'm itching to get back to it.

He made it!

At the Lego store

Random desk knitting

Cambriahttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-6882516787379166993.post-37520002598169048762015-04-09T14:57:00.001-07:002015-04-09T14:57:37.470-07:00Cam's Amazing Technicolor Dream Pants

 Folks, I've had it in my head for a while to knit a pair of pants. I know it seems crazy, but the pattern and the associated project pages looked super cute and I get cold. Recently I decided to bite the bullet. I had just finished knitting a fingering-weight pullover (yep. fingering.) that took about two years to finish and figured I should cast on another epic project. Besides, I had a crap-ton of scraps left over from the fifty-eleven projects I've knit with Cascade 220. So, I cast on.

The pattern provides an option for a draw string and I had one left over from a pair of flannel pants my mother sewed for me 14 years ago, so I went with that option. When I first started, I thought I'd use my copious amounts of Noro Kureyon but the color just looked muddy and I wanted something more stripey. That's when I ripped out all the work I'd done and decided to start over with my Cascade scraps. Most of the yarns are 220 in either superwash or hand wash, but there are the odd amounts of other worsted weight yarns in there too.

I alternated the colors with stripes of black (left over from a sweater I knit for Aaron), and knit the pants in as close to rainbow order as I could get. One of the pale pinks, and the last two greens didn't make it in because I ran out of leg, lol. I knit the legs with a 34" inseam, and I still couldn't get all the colors in there, but I did manage to finish the cuffs with a little green.

I'm surprised at how quickly I knit these! Especially given that when I started over, I worked the butt shaping on the wrong side and had to rip back again. But once I got past that, the rest went really really fast. It was probably the drive to get to the next color and see how it would look next to the old one that kept me motivated.

Overall, this pattern is really simple and takes into account the need for some extra room in the bum. It's worked from the top-down so you can knit the legs as long as you want. The legs have subtle shaping through the thigh, and then again at mid-calf which gives them a nice feminine feel, and makes them sit nicely over a pair of sneakers. If I were to knit them again, the only thing I'd change is to work some extra rows before starting the legs (as the pattern suggested I could) to make the rise a little higher. The only reason I didn't on this pair was that I'm short-waisted and I thought they would fit high enough as written (and they do) but I'd like them to be an inch higher.

These pants were a lot of fun to knit and they're amazing to wear. Warm, comfortable, long enough, and shaped like a girl; something I can't ever find in a pair of pants. My only regret came when it was time to do the finishing and I had all of these tails to weave in, lol. So much finishing!! Other than that, I'd definitely consider making another pair.

Cambriahttp://firstname.lastname@example.com


text:
Advices Radio, Episode 78
25 Sep 2018
Update Required To play the media you will need to either update your browser to a recent version or update your Flash plugin.
Advices Radio 78: 2 Topics - Myostatin Inhibition and Dieting on the Cheap. First Eric Marchewitz joins Scott to talk about Myostatin and supplements that may help to inhibit it. Then Scott is joined by Ryan Muzzell to talk about dieting on the cheap.
More on Myostatin from Eric here: http://mindandmuscle.net/articles/supplements-for-myostatin/
And Check out Ryan's site: GoldenEraFitnessCompany.com

subset: commoncrawl


text:
A close friend of mine recommended the TV series, Suits. Despite the fact it's a series about law, you don't need to be of deep under standing of it to be entertained. I loved how smart and good looking the characters looked in their fancy suits/dress, plotting their plot for power struggle within the top tier law firm. The lines are like all other US production, overly cheesy though. There are occasional participation of some actors/actresses from Game of Thrones as well.
One major draw back of mine on this series would be the fact that, I really really hated the main character Mike Ross and his lil girl friend. They are just toooo naive and annoying.
Harvey, Jessica, Louis, Donna, Scottie Rocks.
Mike, Rachael, suck.
Don't forget to support Booboo!!


text:
I was born and brought up In Chennai, and there is something here amidst the crowd and sweltering heat that is unique and different that I love about Chennai. Its wide roads, huge beautiful old heritage buildings, the bustling Central Station, the ever so beautiful Marina beach… The last few weeks have been so difficult, watching the pain that Chennai was going through. But some obvious and hidden lessons have to come through from this pain.
A lot of analysis will start soon on the reasons for the flooding that drowned Chennai. Yes, Chennai did get its heaviest rain fall in 100 years. This is big. But Chennai and its politicians and bureaucrats will have a lot of answering to do on why they gave away the marshlands and lakes that were meant to soak up excess rain to developers. Perhaps these very same politicians and bureaucrats were drowned with lots of cash at that point in time. But how dare they do this and drive the lives of thousands of citizens to misery. And the floods were merciless not caring if you are rich or poor. I saw an amazing picture on social media in which I believe it was AC Muthiah, the millionaire industrialist being rescued in a boat with his wife – what a leveler nature is! Soon the debate and blame game will start, and reports will be written and given to governments on what lessons Chennai has for the other cities of India. Seminars will be held, NGO's will be busy urging other state governments with petitions from Change.Org and Avaaz to clean up their act.
Amidst this entire lesson learning frenzy, I suspect a vital lesson may be lost, a lesson on sustainable living. While the huge section of the population suffered loss of life and property, majority of the population suffered immensely because of other reasons – lack of electricity, water, food, and waste disposal. I want us to look at all these factors….
Electricity was cut off in most parts of Chennai to prevent electrocution from loose live wires falling onto the roads. In the 70's when electricity was cut off we calmly used candles and carried on with our lives. But now lack of electricity resulted in one major catastrophe – cell phones could not be charged. Even when charged, there was no network because cell phone towers perhaps had to turn off their electricity because of flood waters damaging their electrical infrastructure. This caused panic as people could not get in touch with each other, something they were accustomed to. If they needed help, they could not reach anyone as they were marooned in their homes. They charged their phones in the cars, and soon the cars ran out of gas and the petrol stations did not have electricity or were flooded and could not supply gas to charge the cell phones! In parts of Chennai electricity could not be restored for more than 4 days. All UPS's shut down as they could not be charged. Total chaos!
The second factor was water. In the old days, we got most of our water from our well in the backyard and most homes had a well for their household needs. With the depletion of ground water resources, wells dried up and every one if now dependent on either water purification RO plants or bottled water from the local super market. Remember there was no electricity so even the charming ever green Hema Malini could not help us get shudh paani from her Kent RO plant. Most super markets were closed because of flooding and those who were open were selling water at rates close to hi octane jet fuel.
The third factor was food. People could not cook because their homes were flooded. But for those whose homes were not flooded, they did not have electricity to use their electric induction cookers. Those with LPG cylinders were dammed if they ran out of LPG on those days. Add to this the fact that food in the refrigerators were rotting because of lack of electricity. No chance of buying any food because all establishments – vegetable vendors, super markets, restaurants, hotels were all shut for 4 to 5 days in a row. It was heart wrenching to see people waiting for some food to thrown to them from helicopters. The warm hearts of India ensured that they responded fast enough to ensure supplies of some food for the suffering.
The fourth factor was waste disposal. At a home level, residents could not use their toilets leave alone take a bath, as they had no electricity to pump water to their overhead tanks. Apartment complexes with generators ran out of diesel so even they suffered. Excessive flooding caused drainage water to overflow and mix with flood waters and this is going to haunt Chennai for months to come. In some households the drainage stared to back into their own bathrooms making them completely unusable. There was no place to dispose of whatever little food waste in the homes, so they started to rot within the house.
I am reminded of the circumstances that prompted me to develop a fully sustaining living model which I eventually did with my resort – Our Native Village, an eco resort, just outside Bangalore. On the farm land where my resort is built, we do not have the civic services that urbanites enjoy in the city. We do not get electricity most of the time, we do not have water supply from the government, we do not have municipal waste management services, and the closest market for food is 45 minutes away. At that point in time I saw what I termed 'man made poverty'; farmers suffering because they did not have electricity to use their bore well pumps. These were the same farmers who knew how to harness and live in harmony with nature. They had skills passed down across generations that helped them avoid the harshness of droughts and floods. But these same farmers were told, as part of the green revolution in India, that they have to be progressive and not dependent on rain to grow crops. They were given bore wells and soon became dependent on it and lost all their skills and knowledge on how to harmonise with nature. And then the same benevolent government that gave them their bore wells pulled the plug and said, sorry no electricity! When I saw this, I said to myself that there is a flaw in what we term and perceive to be progress.
This flaw is coming back to my mind when I looked at the lives of the folks in Chennai for 4 to 5 days when all civic services that they have become so dependent on come to a sloshing, wet, drowning halt. We have to become self sufficient and live a more sustainable life style and stop our dependence on the any outside entity to provide us with basic civic services like energy, water, food, waste management. We did it with my resort a decade ago. It is even more easy and cost effective now.
Here is a list of 4 if's…..
If every household in Chennai had solar panels over their roofs to power their homes, their first problem of electricity would have been solved. Even with not too much sunlight, these new age solar PV cells are quite effective in generating electricity. If every household in Chennai has enough rain water harvesting capacity for their own homes, not just to charge the ground water but stored water for their own use, they would not have suffered lack of water. If every household could grow most of their food, it would have been so much easier and healthier also! A household of 4 needs about 500 square meters of space – space, not land to grow their own food. If every household had a small sewage treatment plant and a mini home composting unit for their waste, their waste disposal woes will have been taken care of. The least we can do is to take responsibility for our own waste.
What happened in Chennai was a once in a hundred year event. Will this repeat? Will it be worse? Will there be other such calamities that we are just not likely to be prepared? Will we learn? Will we apply the learning?
For all the love that the world has shown Chennai during these past weeks, and through all the pain that Chennai has gone through, this vital lesson on sustainable living is the return gift from Chennai to the world.


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Headlight Restoration
April 04 2019, Hamilton Volkswagen
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Other Articles That May Interest You
May 01 2019, Hamilton Volkswagen
2019 Volkswagen Jetta
May 01 2019, Hamilton Volkswagen


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While in Nashville, Frank Turner and Todd Beene co-wrote a song about a "Trucker Cap with a Chin Strap", a device that would let Beene play his pedal steel guitar with his teeth. Listen to the song below!
The song sounds somewhat like Tenacious D. What do you think? Let us know on Facebook!
Frank Turner on: Facebook Twitter Spotify


text: Evelyn, your laugh is infectious and your smile, joyful. You and Mike have a simple, fun connection that reminds me a lot of Dyl and I when we were engaged. This session was our first engagement session of the season and it was a good reminder for us why we do what we do. We love getting to know our couples and spending time with them before their wedding. We hope you love these pictures as much as we do!


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Picnic Wine
Summer is officially here, but you'd never know it from our weather outside. The mornings are grey and heavy, sun obscured by a thick marine layer of costal fog. We locals affectionately term our weather woes "May grey," then "June gloom." The influx of summer catalogs and cheery newspaper insets, however, belie the wet, morning haze. So every late afternoon, as the first rays of skittish sunshine finally emerge, a new stack of slick glossies peek seductively from our mailbox. The Sunday papers kindly provide special foldouts ranking the local summer camp programs, promising everything from traditional day camp with s'mores to fluency in Mandarin. On catalog covers, gorgeous toe-headed children romp through ocean whitewash, their salt-licked hair adorably tousled. Angelic, chubby-cheeked preschoolers advertise $48 toddler bikinis with color-coordinated rash guards, oblivious they're just a cog in the corporate consumer machine. Their complicit endorsement sells the myth of summer, with 10% off each additional purchase. Ah, summertime! Long, lazy days of sunny promise. We wait for those achingly protracted hours of extended daylight, when the midday heat is so oppressive our usual fevered pace slows to a crawl. Finally there's time to finish that project we'd planned to start 6 months ago. Maybe you'll finally tackle that novel you've always meant to read- Anna Karenina, War & Peace, or even Remembrance of Things Past, in original French. By mid-August, the lofty tomes are abandoned, and we're already anticipating the evening chill that signals autumn's arrival. Another season of high hopes and sweeping goals buried for another year.
This summer, we hope to spend some time in Sonoma County. I'm certain the inland heat will be more oppressive than to what I am accustomed. So my summer expectations are as languid as this: uncover the perfect picnic wine. Call me an underachiever and mock my mediocre expectations (or simply envy my job). Sure we here at Bruliam Wines would love to think you'd pick our pinot for all your backyard picnic needs. But given the global economic meltdown, we'll forgive you for packing a $12 rose instead. So drink around and help me find that ideal red blend of frivolity, easy sipping, and lighthearted fruitiness that pairs perfectly with brown-paper wrapped sandwiches, homemade brownies, and watermelon spears. I need a wine to slurp in the shade or share with friends at an impromptu backyard barbeque. And preferably a cheap one. After all, this is supposed to be a low risk, easy going tonic, to soothe sunburns and peeling noses. Find me wine that captures the ephemeral, fleeting sense of endless possibility which heralds the start of summer. Bottle just the expansive hopefulness without any of the melancholy that inevitably follows. I'd even spend $17 a bottle to drink that!


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This Week: See Zhang Huan's Semele at BAM
Starting March 4, the Zhang Huan-directed Semele performance will be presented at BAM Howard Gilman Opera House.
A 450-year-old Ming Dynasty temple shares the stage with an inflatable puppet, debaucherous monks, and sumo wrestlers in George Frideric Handel's sublime opera, directed by Chinese visual artist Zhang Huan. Renowned for his provocative interrogations of Eastern culture, Zhang transforms the restored 17-ton temple into an altar, palace, crematory, and heaven to tell of the karmic fate of Semele (performed by soprano Jane Archibald), whose attempt to trade sexual favors for divinity goes up in flames.
Zhang Huan talks about the origins of his version of Semele with the Wall Street Journal: "There are these messy relations between humans and gods, which we can see in real human life." Read more from Wall Street Journal.
Zhang Huan joined Pace in 2007. His most recent series, Poppy Fields, has been displayed at Pace in New York and London. Read more about Zhang Huan here.
Tickets start at $35, for more information on Semele go to BAM's website.
Performance Dates: March 4th, 6th, 10th at 7:30 p.m. & a matinee showing on March 8th at 3 p.m.


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Have you ever wanted to combine your text and images into one easy-to-read document that could be shared with your friends and coworkers? If the answer is yes, you might also have struggled to find a way of doing this for free!
That is just what Tweak PDF Manger offers you – the chance to join your PDF files and JPG files while maintaining quality.
If you want to combine your PDF and JPG files follow our simple instructions down below to be able to download a single file with your merged text and images.
Merge PDF and JPG Files with Tweak
Merging files with Tweak PDF Manager is easy-peasy! With just a few simple steps, your job will be done and ready for downloading.
Before you use Tweak's PDF merger, it's important to make sure that both of your files are in the same format. Of course, if you begin with files as both PDF documents and JPG images they are different file types.
If you use Tweak's PDF converter, you can choose to convert your JPG images into PDF files. There are many benefits to doing this but the most important one is quality.
JPG images can be deceiving to print. What you see is not always what you get when printing JPG images because the pixels in your image when on screen and on paper look very different.
But converting your JPG images straight to PDF files is just like freezing what you see on screen. This gets rid of any big surprises when you choose to print! JPG images are also not ideal for images with text content. So, once again, PDF seems like the best file format!
Convert JPG Files to PDF
From the PDF Manager homepage, you can click on the 'convert' button.
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Combine PDF and JPG files
Return to the Tweak PDF Manager homepage, but this time, click on the 'Merge' button.
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You've done it! Your PDF and JPG files are now merged into one, easy to read file – entirely ready for sharing with your friends, coworkers and boss!


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The painters were back on the job on Wednesday and the paint able to set before the next rain, giving it a shelf life of about a month.
The effort was the latest from the City in the quest to support the home team in the Dockers, including the distribution of purple supporter kits to a number of local businesses, heritage buildings lit in purple LED lighting and large 'Go Freo' banners put up in a number of places.
Fremantle Mayor Brad Pettitt said Dockers fever had taken over the port city.
'As a long-time and passionate Freo supporter, I'm just as excited as anyone about the Dockers' finals campaign and it's fair to say that the AFL finals fever has really taken hold of our city,' he said.
'The local community and businesses have really got behind the Dockers, and it's been great to see everyone in Freo unite to support them in their quest for the AFL Premiership.'
With the Dockers now in the Grand Final, Dr Pettitt said the City had even bigger plans.
'The City of Fremantle will host the biggest street party since the America's Cup, with the Cappuccino Strip closed off and a massive TV screen showing Channel 7's live coverage of the game…' he said.


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Labor Day
Labor Day in the United States is a public holiday celebrated on the first Monday in September. It honors the American labor movement and the contributions that workers have made to the strength, prosperity, laws and well-being of the country. It is the Monday of the long weekend known as Labor Day Weekend and it is considered the unofficial end of summer in the United States. It is recognized as a federal holiday.
Beginning in the late 19th century, as the trade union and labor movements grew, trade unionists proposed that a day be set aside to celebrate labor. "Labor Day" was promoted by the Central Labor Union and the Knights of Labor, which organized the first parade in New York City. In 1887, Oregon was the first state of the United States to make it an official public holiday. By the time it became an official federal holiday in 1894, thirty states in the United States officially celebrated Labor Day.
Canada's Labour Day is also celebrated on the first Monday of September. More than 80 countries celebrate International Workers' Day on May 1 – the ancient European holiday of May Day – and several countries have chosen their own dates for Labour Day.
Beginning in the late 19th century, as the trade union and labor movements grew, different groups of trade unionists chose a variety of days on which to celebrate labor. In the United States, a September holiday called Labor Day was first proposed in the early 1880s. Alternate stories of the event's origination exist.
According to one early history of Labor Day, the event originated in connection with a General Assembly of the Knights of Labor convened in New York City in September 1882. In connection with this clandestine Knights assembly, a public parade of various labor organizations was held on September 5 under the auspices of the Central Labor Union (CLU) of New York. Secretary of the CLU Matthew Maguire is credited for first proposing that a national Labor Day holiday subsequently be held on the first Monday of each September in the aftermath of this successful public demonstration.
(source: Wikipedia, Time and Data AS)123


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Day 1: Today was a day full of fun icebreaker activities and rule explanations. For our icebreaker activities, we played a round of human bingo, a team-building game on birthdays (that involved absolutely no speaking at all!), a camp-wide rock-paper-scissors tournament, and a name game where we would all assign adjectives to our names and memorize each other's names and adjectives. We managed to find descriptors for students across the alphabet, from Adorable Angie to Zebra Zeina and everything in between: Lovely Luixander, Jazzified Jasmine, Magic Mekhi, and Bubbalicious Brandon!
Check out some photos we took during icebreakers!


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The best and worst of Triad police blotters, as compiled
Greensboro police were dispatched to Carroll Street shortly after 10:30 a.m. on Aug. 13 regarding a suspicious vehicle. A witness informed officers that an unknown man had just jumped the fence behind his residence before running into nearby woods. Additional officers and a K-9 unit arrived to establish a perimeter and track the suspect. Police observed a signal from an electronic monitor worn by 33-year-old Bobbie Frederick Walls Jr. They connected Walls to a breaking and entering on Carroll Street, and then located and arrested him on Erwin Street. The monitor had been placed on Walls in November 2012 after he was released from the central jail on charges stemming from the Oct. 15 fatal shooting of Alkhaafid Nariz Shumate. Police charged Walls with breaking and entering, larceny and possession of stolen property. It remains unknown as to whether Walls forgot about the monitor or considered it a bluff.
Greensboro police officers were dispatched to the intersection of Phillips Avenue and Barto Place at 5:25 p.m. on Aug. 17 in reference to a car crash. Upon arrival, they located an unoccupied Blue Bird taxi that had struck a natural gas line after running off the road. There was no leak from the gas line. A short time later, the officers located the cab driver, 37-year-old Charles McMurray, in the 1700 block of Boone Street. McMurray stated that an unknown assailant stabbed him while he was driving, causing the crash. He sustained a serious, but non-life threatening injury and was transported to a nearby hospital for treatment.
Officers with the Winston-Salem Police Department were working off-duty at Club Secrets on Northwest Boulevard shortly before 2:30 a.m. on Aug. 16. As they were clearing the parking lot, officers heard gunshots from a nearby parking lot on Northwest Boulevard. As the officers approached the parking lot, they observed a man in a silver Chevrolet Camaro suffering from a gunshot wound. The man, identified as 40-year-old Larry Lamont Hatcher, was pronounced dead at the scene. Aaron Markel Carroll, a second gunshot victim, was located nearby, and transported to Baptist Medical Center, where he is listed in stable condition.


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Manager: Jon Gracie
Contact: email@example.com
Jon 07974 213786
Jon Gracie is the Coach/Manager of the team. Jon has completed the FA Level 1 Coaching course and the FA Youth Module 1 Award. Jon can be contacted on 07974 213786 or firstname.lastname@example.com. Mike Potter is the assistant coach and he has completed the FA Level 1 Coaching course.
This is the Coaching Philosophy that we aim to work achieve:
• The kids all enjoy themselves & have fun (training & matches)
• Fairness - all get the chance to play equally (each player must play at least 50% of each match)
• Praise & motivate all players regularly
• Instill a positive behavior & code of conduct for kids &parents
• Meet the needs of the individual player – understand all of them
• Let the kids make decisions, give them ownership, ask questions
• Rotate players in different positions – they learn more
• Let them try things, let them make mistakes, encourage creativity
• Work as a team (players, coaches & parents!)


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Floral Woes Maxi
Floral Woes Maxi
Leave them with regret when you exit the party in this dreamy maxi! Rock an updo, with multi-colored earrings, a simple clutch & nude stiletto and you're sure to leave a lasting impression.
- A long dress featuring floral embroidery detailing all throughout.
- Round neckline. 3/4 sleeves.
- Sheer mesh.
- Nude half slip.
- Zipper back closure.
- Finished hem.


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ShadowExplorer 0.3.339Free
Windows Vista Operating system creates shadow copies through one of its services. To view these copies, ShadowExplorer software is available. It is basically for the Home Edition users but along with that other users also take advantage of it.
Generally, what happens is all the files are copied and maintained by Vista version of Windows. As a result any file that was changed or removed by mistake, can now be retrieved. But the problem is that only Business, Ultimate and Enterprise editions can access these copies. So ShadowExplorer can be used for accessing the copies in all the editions of Vista. All the editions have the service of Shadow copy by default in them and they are set in ON mode so the user can access the storage of the shadow copies with the help of ShadowExplorer.
It is very useful in checking the presence of point-in-time copies. All the shadow copies can be checked. Along with that, it has a good feature that allows retrieval of the original files without any problem. The only inconvenience with this software is that it is not a replacement for back ups. The original and the copies both are stored in one disk. So any problem with the disc leads to loss of both.
Review summary
- Retrieves original files if changes have been done by mistake
- Not a replacement for backup of the files


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It offers the latest in technological innovation and style. A turbocharger further enhances performance, while also preserving fuel economy. Lincoln infused the interior with top shelf amenities, such as: telescoping steering wheel, a power rear cargo door, and a blind spot monitoring system. Smooth gearshifts are achieved thanks to the efficient 4 cylinder engine, and all wheel drive keeps this model firmly attached to the road surface. Well tuned suspension and stability control deliver a spirited, yet composed, ride and drive
We have a skilled and knowledgeable sales staff with many years of experience satisfying our customers needs. We'd be happy to answer any questions that you may have. Come on in and take a test drive!


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2017, A year of ups, downs, tears, happiness and big changes.
This post was kind of a spark of the moment idea, I was thinking about everything that has happened to me this year and wanted to compile it all into a blog post. So here is a review of my 2017.
The Good
Naples, Italy – In March, I had the amazing opportunity to go on a 5 day trip to Naples in Italy. It was an amazing experience, we visited Pompeii, the island of Capri and .the town of Sorrento. It was a fantastic trip that I will always remember.
A Levels – In June this year, I sat my A Level exams and when I received my results in September, I was thrilled. I received the grades AAB, higher than I was predicted, it was a great feeling.
University acceptance – As a result of the grades I received in my exams, I got accepted into my first choice university, the University of Bristol, to study Bsc Psychology. I honestly never thought I would achieve this, it was amazing!
Flat Deposit – This month, me and my boyfriend placed a deposit down on our first flat together for next year! This was so exciting for both of us, and we are both looking forward to moving in next September.
Medication – In September, I made the decision to finally go on medication for my anxiety. This was a big and bold step for me, I've always denied that I needed help and I've tried countless other methods to help myself, but nothing else has worked until now. This medication has been the best decision for me, it's helped me conquer the first term of university and do things I never thought I could.
On the flip side of the coin, yes there has been some downs. Panic attacks, arguments, losing friends and feeling disappointed in myself. But these are not things I want to dwell on, I want to move on from the negative events of the past year and make 2018 a great year.
What have been some highlights of your 2017?
With love,
Sounds like you have had a positive year also! Happy new year. I look forward to reading your blog and your content in 2018.


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Sado Trivet
Sado Trivet
Our Sado Trivet was designed and woven by Japanese craftsmen in Sado Island, Niigata Prefecture. Created with Rush, a natural plant fiber and woven in the tradition of Japanese folk craft. Our Sado Trivet is a minimalist object with a simple purpose, made for resting your hot pots or warm dishes and light enough to easily move from your kitchen to table. Its round shape stabilizes pots both flat and with rounded bottoms.
Dimensions | Approximately 6.75" Diameter
Materials | Woven Rush
Made in Japan


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Please note: some of the links in this post are affiliate links, which means if you decide to purchase through any of them, I will earn a small commission. This helps support the blog and allows me to continue creating free content. Thank you for your support!
May was a wonderful month of rest and rejuvenation. I finished my last semester of formal classes as a PhD student (hooray!) and we did lots to celebrate the return of warm, summery weather:
- took walks almost every day
- visited our neighborhood bakery (on a few occasions)
- had happy hour on the roof
- tried a new-to-us recipe for homemade donut holes
- visited with family (and played a few mini concerts!)
- played tennis
- celebrated Memorial Day with a visit to a little farm vineyard for a wine-tasting and picnic lunch
I am looking forward to the fun things we have planned for June!
- my year-end studio recital
- our annual Lake week (see here and here)
- house-sitting with three sweet pups!
Walk every day and do 30 minutes of bike exercise each week
Finish reading A Million Little Ways
Continue intentional time off of social media - daily after dinner and time on weekends
Take steps to organize finances
Look up berry-picking schedules for local farms
Review a few sight-reading series to recommend to students this summer/in the fall
Clean up files from the school year - save/organize on hard drive
Finalize workshop materials for June conference
Happy June!


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We start by working with you to define your digital objectives:
Once we have agreed on those, we can get to work coming up with a digital strategy to help you reach those goals.
A review of your current digital marketing presence, which leads to a joined-up approach across all digital marketing channels to increase leads and sales.
Get your brand out into the big wide world to help build awareness and drive more visits that matter to your site.
Encourage interactions on your website and other digital channels, e.g social media, to help you generate more potential customers.
Use retargeting, nurturing and conversion rate optimisation to remind and persuade your audience to buy online or offline.
Increase sales from your existing customers with personalised communications through web, email, social and paid search channels.


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Welcome to SIIT
Student Association
The Student Association is run by students, for students and consists of Executive members and Class Representatives. There are three Executive Teams located in Prince Albert, Saskatoon, and Regina. These teams help maintain communication with students and faculty of SIIT to help better student life, experiences, and success for present and future students through regular meetings.
Get Involved!
The Executive Team
Each year you will have the opportunity to run for a seat on the executive team. Depending on location, elections will happen in the fall or spring. Positions that are available each year:
- President
- Vice-President
- Treasurer
- Secretary
For a detailed summary of these roles, click here.
Class Representatives
Each year students in their program have the opportunity to better their fellow classmates experience at SIIT by participating in their locations Student Association. The Class Representative role is a shared responsibility of up to two (2) classmates in a single program and helps to address student issues/topics at Student Association meetings called by the Executive team at each campus location and relay important information about upcoming events, and volunteer opportunities that students can sign up for. Volunteer in this role and it can help you to enhance your resume and scholarship applications.
To get involved, reach out to your local executive team:
- Prince Albert: firstname.lastname@example.com
- Saskatoon: firstname.lastname@example.com
- Regina: email@example.com
Take a look at the SIIT Student constitution and by-laws!
Saskatchewan Indian Institute of Technologies
Administration Office
Suite 118-335 Packham Avenue
Asimakaniseekan Askiy Reserve
Saskatoon, SK S7N 4S1