An overdue update

I haven't blogged in forever, and I'm sorry about that. It's just that I've been so darned busy. It's crazy!!! Getting ready for school, and then going to school, have been hectic. I'm sorry it's been so long, and I'll try and do better. School is going. It's going both well and poorly at the same time, in different areas. The academics are going well. I'm a quick reader, and I learn at a pretty good rate. They physical stuff is killing me though. It's a heck of a walk from my first class to my second, and I'm not used to ANY physical activity. It's killer. It's about a three block walk, and I have ten minutes to do it. I have to stop two or three times to get my asthma under control. Using my inhaler that much makes me shake, all over. By the time I get to class, I'm shaking like a leaf. The best thing I can say about my notes is that they're legible. That's it. Well, mostly legible. There are short lines in strange places, but that's okay. I'm enjoying getting out of the house. I met a couple of very nice girls in chorus today. They's all so young, though, lol. It makes me feel ancient at forty!!! They're nice enough to me, so that's good. It doesn't seem to be too cliquey. I'm happy about that. The Choruses are VERY social. We have an event coming up on the fourteenth and fifteenth of September already. It's a mini retreat. We'll be away overnight (yes, both the men's and women's choruses). I'm hoping it goes well. It's not far away, in IN somewhere. It will be our first actual event, so I'm excited about it. I haven't met any of the men yet, but we will then. The president of the Choruses has already sent out a welcome email, which I thought was nice of him. Chorus was, um, repetitive today. He was matching like voice tones, and that's always boring. I don't think I've heard the words Row, Row, Row your boat so much in all my life. But we're all matched, and they'll have a seating chart for us soon. It's a great class, and I'm so glad I found it (many years ago) through a friend.

And my Computer Applications class is going to be fun too. It's a lot of Microsoft office work, and goes through how to use the various programs in the suite. So far, we're learning the components of the computer. What does the processor look like, what does the RAM look like, etc. It interests me, and (truthfully) makes me want to pull my computer apart to have a look inside to see if I recognize everything. My professor for that class is such a nice man. I've been late to both classes, and I told him after the first one about my asthma and the problems I was having. His first response was to tell me not to overtax myself, and that he didn't mind if I was late everyday. So far, it's been ugly. Twenty minutes or so late both times. This time, I was only so late cause I was gonna take the shuttle. But it was late (really late), so I walked it. And of course, I started late, so that sucked. I hate having asthma. I really do. It limits so much of what I can do. Grrrr... But I will persevere. Hopefully, as I go, I'll get more used to the walk. That would help me immensely. So far, homework for this class hasn't been too bad, so I'm pleased about that. And his lectures are easy to follow. He does, however, take attendance by asking you a question, and it seems that he likes to put people on the spot. I got mine wrong today, so I'll have to work on that!!

And lastly, and least, imo, is my Intro to or Fundamentals of Information Technology class. It's called one thing on blackboard, and another on the schedule. It's a new class, so I guess they don't know the name of it, lol. So far, it's a repeat of my Computer Apps class. We're learning the components and limitations of the computer. The teacher is... He works full time elsewhere, and teaches at night. He told us he'll lecture for an hour to an hour and a half, and then we can go. I was a little bit ticked off by that. It's supposed to be a three hour class. So I don't know why he doesn't fill up the time. And I can understand if he wants to stop lecturing twenty minutes early on Tuesday for questions or comments. That I would be okay with. He said he'll stay after the lecture in case someone needs help or wants to use the room as a computer lab. Honestly, I feel like he's not doing as much as he should. The class started at six (well, actually, five after or ten after) and it's once a week, scheduled for six to eight fifty. He let us go at SEVEN!!!! Went over the syllabus and showed a short presentation on the web that someone else made up. That was it. So we'll see if he's more intense as we really get into it.

I'm off tomorrow. I'm hoping to get some recovery time for my lungs, cause my chest is hurting from the asthma. I walked way out of my way on the first day, cause someone told me the way was blocked by some construction. Then I found out (after class) that it wasn't. I don't think she was trying to mess me up, I think she was trying to be helpful. And then today, I parked in the garage for the first time, and walked all the way around the wrong way cause I wasn't sure where the entrances were. Nicely, the end of the garage is right near where my last class lets out. So I'll park at that end, take the shuttle up for Chorus, and then walk back down for Computer Apps. I'll be tired by the time I finish, so I can make the short walk back to the car. That will help, cause I feel dead tired by the time I get home. My legs were shaking from the effort of walking around the first day. It's not a huge campus, but big for an asthmatic couch potato. Hopefully, the muscles will get used to it quickly. I'm hoping anyways.

And now, on to the stitching. I know that's what you all are waiting for. And dogsitting too. I told you all I had emergency dog sitting weekend before the last. And this time, I remembered to take my camera with me! Whoo hoo!!! No pics of the house per se, as my brother would be ticked at me if I showed off his house. But I have pics of the dog and cats. I also have a video of Reese hissing at me, lol. She's such a brat. I did pet her while she was eating the first day, Friday. Well, until she started growling while eating. Then I stopped. It seemed like a good idea, before she turned around and bit me, lol. They were all good. The dog was pretty good about taking his pills, so I was happy about that. I worked on Country Bloomers and got a pretty good bit done, so that was good. First though, I'm moving my pics to Photobucket. So I uploaded the pics there. If you want to see the dog and a few shots of a gorgeous sky, go here. If you want to see the pics of the cats, and the video of Reese hissing at me, go here. The first "pic" of Reese and Butters is the video. You'll see there's a play button on it. It's very short. Like ten seconds or so. So it won't take you forever to watch. Reese, you'll see, looks a lot like my Yes Dear. Pretty cats, both of them. Butters is a bit of a chunk though. Hope you enjoy the photos.

And now, piccys of my stitchy stuff. And there're a lot of them, so let me get to it. I didn't work on Noah's Sub last week. I was too busy Thursday to even pick it up. So Rosa's now even closer to me than she was. She and her boyfriend are going through a rough patch too, so if anyone could say prayers, that would be awesome and much appreciated. So first up is going to be Country Bloomers (Jeremiah Junction). I finished up the parts that I wanted to, namely the pots underneath the bloomers and the letters underneath the pots. I was quite happy about that. Then I started on the next pair of bloomers. They're solid, so I finally got to do some one line after another stitching! It went fast, but so did the day. I didn't get as much done as I had wished to (do I ever???), but I'm happy with it, so nbd. I really like the shade of blue I'm using too. It's a lovely color. The outside edges, as you can see in the second pic, are darker blue, but the inside is almost a sky blue. It's easy to do too, as there is very little variation in the colors. I think the outside is all dark blue, and the inside is all light blue. So that makes it go by faster too. Hopefully, the next time I get it out, I can manage to finish this pair of bloomers. We'll see!! (Maybe it's a pipe dream. We'll see how much homework I have then, lol.)

I also worked on Beach Romance (Janlynn) over that weekend and the next. I had hoped to finish up the fill it in by this past weekend, but I didn't make it. It's close to done, I only need to do another fifty or sixty stitches or so, but it'll have to wait till next weekend. I like the way her dress is looking. At first, I didn't cause of the tans in it. I can see the violet for shadows, but not tan. I guess it reflects the sand, a little bit. I'm not sure. But now that it's mostly in, I like the colors. It does look all right, so that's good. I haven't shown it to Amy in a while, so I need to do that soon. She'll be happy with it, I think. As soon as I finish off those little fill in spaces, I'm moving the Q-snap over, and starting work on his feet and legs and the surrounding sand.

Next up is Rosa (India Grace Designs). It came along very well during this rotation. I did have to do a little bit of frogging, but not too much. I had to frog out one side of the square of Star Stitches and a few times I had to pull out the trellis. I did meet my goal on it. I wanted to do all the Star Stitches, and complete the trellis. I got a LOT done in court on that Monday (I had to testify against the woman who left her baby alone by the street). I didn't have to testify, I just talked to the prosecutors for a few minutes. I hope she's learned her lesson, but who knows.

And then there's Time To Go (Witch Stitch'n'Bits) for Freak. I usually do really well on it, but this time I didn't do as well as usual. I don't know why, I just didn't. It is coming along though. I worked on it out on the balcony with Yes Dear, and really enjoyed it. It's so nice out there in the late evenings. Cool and breezy, and really nice. Of course, there are lots of moths out there, so Yes Dear enjoys it too. It's peaceful, away from the street and the noise and stuff. You can hear the crickets, and see the flickering lights of the torches... I love it out there.

I haven't got a piccy of the globe this week, although I did work on it a very little bit. I may have put fifty stitches in it, so it's not a big change. Today was Wednesday, and I did take it to school with me. I worked on it before Chorus started. I'll take Fred on Friday, and work on him both before Chorus and after. On Friday he's separating the altos, so he'll let the sopranos go early, like the altos left early today. It'll be nice to be in my seat at Computer Apps before it starts. I'm so worried I'm gonna miss something. Luckily, the teacher posts everything he does to Blackboard, a part of the university website, so I can go check what I may have missed. That'll be nice!!

I'm sure I've missed a couple of things. Like HAED appreciation days. I can't remember who started it, but in order to help Michele and Bob out, HAED appreciation days are on the tenth of September through the fourteenth. You're encouraged to buy a chart to keep the company up and running strongly. With their recent copyright problems, they've lost a lot of money, and it's hurting them. If it keeps going the way it is, they'll be out of business. And then where will I get charts from? So support HAED if you can. I'm sure they'll be grateful. I probably won't buy any new charts as I have a layaway to pay off and another to make a payment on. But we'll see... Hopefully, it will help. I can't imagine HAED going out of business!! I'd be sooooooooo freaking ticked off...

Once again, thanks for listening to my ramblings. I did pay off a LARGE layaway last week, but I haven't got the energy to post all those pics tonight. If you want to look them up, I got all the birthstone fairies by Rachel Anderson. And one other chart that I can't remember the name of. I'll post the pics next time. And hopefully, it won't be as long. Thanks to all my followers. I appreciate you all, especially when you leave me a comment. I won't be commenting as much, but I'm gonna try and get caught up with email soon, so I'm not a couple of days behind!! Hope you're all having a super night!!!