Goodbye Hannah

Today we said goodbye to my Mother-In-Law's dog Hannah.  She was truly one of the sweetest, gentlest souls I've ever known.  She hated cats and other small mammals that ran from her, but loved pretty much every human.  My funniest memory is of her and our old dog Dexter eating apples they would pick right from the tree. 

Goodbye Hannah-Banana, we'll miss your tail-thumping.  Say hi to Dexter for us, we miss him too.

Some Pictures Finally

I was just looking back at the last couple of posts and there haven't been any pictures!  How boring!  So, to make up for that, here are a few shots I've taken recently.

This is Hayden, the neighbor's dog, and Murphy's best friend.

Action shot!

Jeff, taken with my new 50mm lens.
These next pics were taken yesterday on my grandparents' property.  I especially like the ones that look like a fairy's kingdom in the forest.

In the same vein, I just signed up for a 6 week photography class that starts on Monday.  I'm so excited!  Nervous too, though.  It's a second level class, so I hope I know enough!  I use my DSLR camera set on manual all the time, I know ISO and aperture and shutter speed.  I have 3 lenses and mostly feel like I know what I'm doing!  This class talks about macro and night photography, with field trips to the zoo and the Franklin Park Conservatory.  Hopefully I'm not the most inexperienced one there.  I guess I'll just try to soak up all the knowledge I can, and hopefully take some good pictures along the way!

I Should...

• Go run
• Be cooking dinner
• Look at pictures, edit
• Take pictures
• Work on the other computer and try to get it virus free and working correctly
• Vacuum
• Change laundry
• Blog - wait, I'm doing that one!  except, not anything worthwhile, just dropping in to make sure you know I'm still alive
• Put together a database and get Jeff's financial work stuff together
• Probably lots of other things that I can't think of right now

What I feel like doing:

• sleeping
• napping
• resting
• did I mention sleeping? yep, that's covered

Blah.  But here's a pic of Murphy the monkey:

She's so happy and energetic.  I want to be like her when I grow up...

New Toy

Since we've been back from Indonesia, I've had a renewed interest in photography.  I learned a lot on our trip and have really been taking a lot of pictures recently.  We have a Canon Digital Rebel XT, that we've had for the last several years, but I'm finally starting to learn how to use it, more than just in automatic mode.  Jeff got me a telephoto lens 70-200 mm for Christmas in 2008, which I use quite a bit, but lately, as I see some of the beautiful pictures on some blogs, and read more about the lenses they use, I decided on a new toy, a 50mm F1.8 canon lens.  So I've been playing with it lately, and I still don't quite have it figured out, but, I'm getting there, hopefully I'll have better project pictures.

The above pics were taken with the telephoto, of the barn at my grandma's house.  The last big snowstorm we got in February was just too much for the roof and it collapse.  These were taken a few weeks ago.  When I went out today, it has been torn down the rest of the way and the clean up has begun.  It looks so different out there, a whole building is gone.  It's a little sad, I remember playing in that barn when I was little, and there were always barn cats, up to about 30 at one time!  And our horse, Blue, was there for a while too.  I know my grandma was a little sad, change can be hard, but it will look so much better out there when it is all cleaned up.

These up-close pics are taken with my new toy, I love the short depth of field.  It's exactly the effect that I wanted.  So, I'm excited to learn me about it!

And these animal pictures are just for fun!  The cats are my grandma's kitties, the tabby is  Belle and the tortie is Missy.  Belle was all mellow and high on catnip at the moment!  And I really like this shot of Murphy for some reason!

Project Updates

Well, about that Ravelympics sweater, unfortunately, I didn't get it done on time.  This is where I got to by 11:30 EST last Sunday night:

Close, but even if I would have kept at it till 3am (12 midnight PST, the closing time for the Ravelympics), I wouldn't have finished, so I figured since I had to work in the morning, I might as well call it a night at a decent hour.  So, I knitted away Monday evening, and finished it (ends sewn in too) on Tuesday the 2nd.  So, I was 2 days late to the finish line.  I was fairly disappointed Sunday evening, but I'm just thrilled to have it done!  Here it is:

Still need to wash and block, but I finished a sweater in 2 and half weeks!  Not too shabby of an accomplishment I say!

Next up, some patchwork pillow cases for the sofa.  I've really just started on these.  I've worked out the design and the pieces, but have only just begun to cut the pieces.  Once I get everything cut out, the sewing won't be bad.

Look at the fun fabric I bought last night!  It's all washed and pressed here:

I do have specific projects in mind for all of them.  The 2 blue and brown fabrics are for the purse I'm making for my friend Dani's 30th birthday tomorrow.  I've got the pieces cut out, and have started to sew, so, I won't have any problems finishing it by tomorrow.

The plain orange will go with the orange, brown and green fabric for cloth napkins.  And the fun floral striped pattern will be a skirt from Sew What! Skirts.  It will be my first project from the book, and I'm looking forward to it!  Seems like a great book, good diagrams and clear instructions, so we'll see how it goes!

Hmm, anything else?  Well, I don't think this post would be complete without a dog picture, so, here's Izzie, being a mountain goat:

She's often either on the back of the couch or on the arm, which is where she is as I type this.  She's a nut!  Anyway, have a great weekend!

Random Wed...er, Thursday?

So I'm a little late on the Random Wednesday posting, the label still applies!

• Still plugging away at the Ravelympics project. I do have one sleeve done, one to go, plus the yoke... I'm hurrying, I know! I've only got 4 days left! And yes, I take full responsibility for the 4 days that I didn't work on it due to, um, not having the 10.5 DPN's. Whoops... 

• I don't think I've mentioned it before, but I'm a total American Idol junkie. I've watched it since the first season, and am still addicted. I made sure that our DVR stayed plugged in when we left the country, just in case they didn't air it in Indonesia. Surprisingly, they did! Anyway, after the preliminaries, I was pretty excited about a few of the contestants, but after the last 2 nights, man, almost all of them were terrible! I kept saying to Jeff, I think they gave both groups the off-key microphones, cause nobody could hit the right notes. It was BAD! 

Dogs on Thursday:

This is Murphy and Izzie, my MIL's 6 month old Labradoodle.  She's adorable, but rotten as can be! We think she's Dexter reincarnated.  She's so smart, but so darn stubborn, just like he was!  She's coming to stay with us Friday night through the following weekend as Jeff's mom and step-dad are going to Puerto Rico.  So, we'll be trying to keep her from eating the house for a week.  Man, I'm not ready for another puppy, I feel like we just got Murphy out of that stage!

• Oh, another dog related thing.  Please go vote for Murphy in the Humane Society Spay Day 2010 Online Photo Contest.  It raises money for a local Dublin, Ohio non-profit, Rascal Charities, for reduced cost spaying and neutering.  Spaying and neutering is one of the most impactful steps in reducing the number of homeless pets in shelters.  An estimated 10 million homeless animals are euthanized each year in the U.S.  I'll get off my soapbox now, but animal welfare is an issue that is important to me, so I want to promote it a little.  I've also added a button on the side linking to the Animal Rescue Site.  Just clicking a button helps provide food and services to rescued animals.  There are also links to gifts and other sites assisting homeless animals.  You can click every day, so click away!

• I think that's all!  Happy Thursday!

An Actual Knitting Update and the Calm Before the Storm

Let's have some knitting content shall we? I've finally got some pictures of the Dane Shawl that I've been working on. It's a gray color that is rather difficult to get a good photograph, but I've been practicing:

I've also decided to participate in the Ravelympics this time around. I've joined Team Twilight
on Ravelry and my event is Sweaterboard Cross. I will be doing the Duchess Raglan Sweater.

Here's the link to my Rav project page. I bought the yarn today, just basic Lamb's Pride Bulky in Brown Heather. It should be a lovely everyday sweater, and I've only ever finished 1 adult sweater, so that is my challenge! I'm nervous, but excited!

And the calm before the storm. We currently have about 10 inches of snow on the ground, with another storm coming in tomorrow. They are calling for up to another 6-8 inches! That will be a lot of snow! It is beautiful though, and Murphy is LOVING it!

Let's try this again...

So, I've been completely absent from blogging for quite a while, I've written dozens of posts in my head over the past several months, just never actually got online and posted. I'd like to try to post at least a couple times a week, and with at least some relevant content, either working out, knitting/crafting, dogs or diving must be discussed in each post. We'll have to see if I can do it! So, let's play catch up:

• Working out: I was running, and was building my strength and endurance. I was running 3-4 times a week for about 4 weeks, then I tore my quad. Couldn't run for 2 weeks, so I got lazy, and hadn't worked out until last night. Had a little bit of a headache, and it was raining, so I did one of the more strenuous yoga workouts, and I can definitely feel it in my muscles today, so that's a good thing! Plan to either run or do the Jillian Michaels DVD tonight depending on the weather.


• Knitting/crafting: We're now into the Christmas crafting season, so I have a butt-load of projects all going on at once, but no pics! I'm working on mittens for a friend, 3 (or more) pairs of felted slippers for family. Not to mention the couple of things that are languishing on the needles for myself. On the positive side, I've finished several projects; 2 Clapotis', one for me and one for my mother-in-law, my Monkey socks, well, I think that's it... Also on the crafting front, I want to make homemade scented bath salts for family and maybe sew a couple of bags too. We'll see how well I do! (FYI, all the knitted project info is on my Ravelry project page )


• Dogs: Well, we're now a one dog household. We said goodbye to the old man Dexter on October 30th, 2009. His quality of life was steadily declining, he was really starting to struggle to catch his breath, and we made the decision that it was time. We will always miss him, and it is certainly quieter around the house without him. Murphy has done well adapting, she's more spoiled than ever (thanks to the husband!) and we can now get a puppy fix at Jeff's mom and stepdad's house. They got a 13 week old chocolate labradoodle about 3 weeks ago, and she is super cute! She loves Murphy so much, but Murphy is not so sure about this crazy little thing that keeps stealing her toys! It's pretty funny to watch, especially since it wasn't so long ago that Murphy was that crazy little toy-stealer!


• And Diving!: I am officially a PADI Open Water Scuba Instructor!! I took my Instructor Development Course in August and September, and passed my Instructor Exam October 18th. It was stressful, but an awesome accomplishment and I am just thrilled! Of course, there's not much teaching to be done in the winter, but I have several people lined up for spring when the water starts warming up, so I'm very excited! Also, we have booked a big trip coming up soon in January. We're going to Indonesia to dive! I'm pretty excited about that too if you can't tell!! We leave January 10, will be spending a day and a half in Singapore on the way there, and then onto Manado, North Sulawesi for 7 days of diving around Bunaken island. Then we head to the East side of the island to dive Lembeh Strait for 5 more days! It should be absolutely amazing! We'll be gone 17 days, which is crazy, but we are so excited! We are waist deep in the preparations, everything is booked but there's just so much to plan for. We went to the Travel Medicine Clinic at OSU to get vaccinations and prescriptions and info for going to the other side of the world, so we're getting there, but there's still so much to buy and pack.

Well that's a good catch up, be back soon!

Slacking Blogger

So, I haven't been blogging much, but stuff has been going on. I haven't been working out much, but I did run last night! I ran outside too! It was such a pretty day. I started the Couch to 5K program and need to learn to run outside. I haven't been swimming but once, because I got a tattoo and couldn't submerge it in water for awhile. More on that later...

I've been working on some knitting, but no sewing. I've started the 2nd Jaywalker sock, and am about 2 inches in. It's my travelling sock. The one I throw in my purse to take with me, so those ones usually take a while to get done. I'm going to cast on tonight for Firestarter socks with my Andey's Original sock yarn in the Mossy Brook colorway! It is so pretty and soft! I'm excited! My February Lady Sweater is coming along, I'm about 6 inches into the lace pattern, it's going sooo much faster since I separated the sleeves! And the lace pattern is super easy! Let's see... Foliage is still hibernating because it hates me. The same with River. And I think that's all that on the needles right now.

On the diving front, Jeff and I are going tomorrow with our friend/instructor Jason to Lakeview quarry in Lancaster. We've been there twice before and conditions are going to be a crapshoot. The first time we went, it was great, 20 foot vis. The last time was awful, 15 feet till you got to about 20 feet deep, then when you went through the thermocline, the lights went out. You couldn't see your hand if you stretched it out in front of you. So, we'll see. I'm excited to get in the water again though! If conditions are decent, I'll hopefully have some pictures! I'll post some pics and talk about our ice diving certification soon too! Oh! And Scubafest is this weekend here in Columbus! I'm excited to see a bunch of people we met last month up at Whitestar Quarry for the ice dive. We're taking our neighbors, who are not certified yet (but soon!) and getting them in the pool for a Discover Scuba class. It should be a really good time!

I think that's a start for catching up... I'll do better at blogging, I promise!

And just for fun, here's a pic of Murphy curled up on the couch: