You know that saying about lemons and lemonade?  I’m thinking about buying stock in lemons and sugar.  The University of Wyoming laid off 43 people 2 weeks ago, and all of the development officers (the people who raise money for programs and scholarships – like me) were laid off in what we are all calling Black Thursday.  Upper administration didn’t tell the deans what they were doing or give the individual colleges an opportunity to cut other places to save what most people see as essential jobs in the colleges.  I am lucky to have worked for such a wonderful dean and to have worked with so many truly outstanding people.  The bad news for me is that the job I had was the perfect job.  I loved it.  And now I have to find another one.  The lemonade part of all of this is that there are a few job opportunities in Laramie, and we’re also looking at this as an opportunity to look around a bit and see what else is out there.  If you have any ideas or suggestions for someone looking for a development position, please let me know.

A colleague of mine said that rather than thinking that we’re unemployed, we should instead think of it as “funemployed” – it’s summer and we have some time to enjoy ourselves while we figure out what’s next.  I’m spending some time working around the house, getting all of those things done that you never seem to have time for.  I’ve been riding the horses, working in the yard, and going to a lot of yoga.  I think I’ll get some knitting done – there’s an EZ sweater I’ve had mulling around in my mind for awhile now, and maybe I’ll even put the spinning wheel on the patio and soak up some sun (when we actually have sun) and spin.  I’m also working on more boring, but necessary things like my resume and job hunting.  It can’t be all play all the time!

In really fun news, my brother and sister-in-law had a reception to celebrate their marriage.  They eloped in January and had a party for everyone last weekend in their home town.  I got to see a lot of my family, and some of my mom’s family even came up from California and Texas.  The interesting and scary part of the whole deal was that they couldn’t find anyone to make them a cake, so I volunteered (in a moment of insanity!) to make a 3-tiered wedding cake for them.  All I can say is talk about stressful!  It’s also a good thing I didn’t have to work because doing that cake took a whole lot of time.  I read up on Deb’s efforts and ordered the cookbook she used (which is fabulous!).  I ordered supplies, made sample cakes, and finally figured out the high-altitude adjustments so I had moist cakes that didn’t fall!  Of everything, I am most excited that I figured out the high-altitude business – it’s been the bane of my existence for years now.

The party was 4 hours away, so I made the cakes (9 in all) on Thursday and froze them.  I transported them in a cooler with ice so they’d stay frozen, which made everything a lot easier when it came to assembling.  It took me most of the day Saturday to get everything assembled and decorated, but it was worth it.  The cakes were really good – very moist – and everyone raved about them, so I’m happy.  The decorations were very simple, which made it easier for me.  I made brands (my dad and brother’s brands) out of tinted and rolled fondant and used those for the main decoration and used the couple’s initials on the top.  Who knows, if I can’t find a job, maybe I can make cakes for a living!

Carole does Ten on Tuesday every week and it seems like fun.  This week is your 10 favorite places to shop.  As some of you may know, I love to shop.  I should qualify that and say that I love to shop online.  Physically going to stores and shopping is a whole heck of a lot of work and in Wyoming, the shopping is somewhat limited anyway.

My 10 Favorite Places to Shop:

1. Sephora I love make-up, skincare, haircare, body stuff and perfume and this is the place to get it all!  They usually have free shipping and easy returns, so it’s really an easy place to shop.
2. Victoria’s Secret I shop at VS for lingerie, of course, but also for clothes.  Their pants are pretty nice and very reasonably priced.  I have a hard time with pants and I’ve found that some of their’s fit better than the much more expensive styles at Banana Republic or the department store.
3. Etsy All things fun and crafty!  It’s a wonderful and horrible place.
4. Hot Patterns I love their sewing patterns.  They’re a little bit more expensive than the big pattern companies, but I have better luck with HP patterns.  I think part of it is there are less patterns to choose from, so I don’t get as overwhelmed trying to pick the “right” one.
5. Zappos Shoes, clothes, accessories, free shipping … what’s not to love?
6. Amazon They have everything and at good prices.  What else do you need to know?
7. High Country Gardens They have a great selection of seeds and plants that grow here (zone 3 above 7,000 feet) – it isn’t as easy as you’d think.  Everything I’ve ever bought from HCG has done really well in my yard.
8. Kpixie For those knitterly things I can’t get at the LYS – like Peace Fleece.
9. Cowgirl Yarn My local yarn store.  They have a great selection and the owner is wonderful.  I try to buy as much of my yarn and notions as possible at the LYS.
10. Quilt Essentials The local quilt store.  They have a wonderful selection of fabrics, great classes, and fabulous employees who are always willing to answer a question or help you pick out fabrics!  I know I would have a much harder time quilting if I didn’t have a great local store.

In knitting news, I’m almost finished with the log cabin baby blanket.  That’s the good news.

The bad news is that I’m not going to have enough of the pink yarn.

I need 18 garter stitch rows and I have 12 done.  I imagine I have enough yarn for one more row, which is 1/2 of the 13th garter stitch row, but not enough to get to the required 18.  It isn’t like I can’t go get some more, but I hate to buy another 50 g ball of yarn and use 10 yards.  Although as much as I hate buying another ball of yarn, not finishing the blanket at this point would be so much worse.  So, I guess I’ll go buy another ball and use the leftovers for a hat and booties for another baby.

Sorry that I missed the More Than You Know update last week.  My mother-in-law was in town and we were hanging out and shopping so I didn’t have time to get the latest chapter edited and posted.  It will be up on Friday though.

Coming back to your real life after having been gone for 10 days is a bit challenging.  I’m having a hard time figuring out what to do first, and then there’s the sleep deprivation.  Wow.  I was traveling for work for 4 of those days, and the rest was catching up with my grandma and my best friend.  My best friend had twin boys on January 30th (they’re doing great), and she has another little boy who isn’t quite 2 yet.  I know, she’s insane.  I’ve told her, and she completely agrees.  I spent a week at her house in Arizona helping her.  Her mom was there too, so we had a lot of fun, but man is that baby stuff a lot of work!  I was in charge of cooking and helping with the 2 year old, which seems simple enough, but I came home exhausted! The good news is that it was warm there and I had a little bit of time for some knitting.  Not a lot, but some random minutes here and there.

On the knitting front, I have a finished hat (ravelry) to show you and I have about half of a yoga bag (ravelry again) done.  I really want to post about the hat, but I need some freaking daylight for a photo (and probably someone to help me with the photo taking).  I couldn’t take pictures last weekend because it was blocking, but now it’s dry and so I will hope for the best tomorrow or Friday, and if not, there’s always Saturday.  I haven’t done any colorwork for awhile and I was worried about how my tension would be, but I’m pretty pleased with it.

Another really bad thing about travelling for work and then being on vacation is that your exercise suffers.  I managed to do a little bit of karate in my hotel room and then went to one yoga class while staying with Ashley – neither of which was sufficient to counter the amount I was eating.  But I’m back in my routine and feel so much better after having gone to a couple of yoga classes.  In fact, I actually did a head stand in yoga last night!  My first one.  It was against the wall, but I’m still pretty proud of that.  I guess I am getting stronger.  My karate instructor and I are teaching a 6 week women’s self-defense class starting next Monday night before karate class.  If you live in the Laramie area or know someone who does, and are interested, please e-mail me and I’ll give you the details.

I’ve been thinking about Lolly’s newest Project Spectrum and I think it will be fabulous.  I’m really excited about exploring the four cardinal directions and the corresponding elements and colors.  My mind is working on how I can incorporate these ideas into my crafting.  I’m sure inspiration will strike soon.  At least I hope it does!  It had better show up before March rolls around.

I think that’s all the randomness I have for today.  I have some bread in the works and am thinking of trying pitas, so I’ll let you know how that goes.  Have a great Wednesday.

In typical weekend fashion, I got done about half of what was on my To-Do List, but I suppose I should give myself a break and admit that part of my love for weekends is being able to lounge and read a book or watch something meaningless on tv. Saturday was very exercise related. I took Riley (the dog) for a run – we ran for about 15 minutes and walked for 10 (5 at the beginning and 5 at the end) and when I measured my distance after I was done I ended up running about 2 miles (and walking another 1/2 mile or so). Not bad for my first time in too long. To continue with the exercise theme, I also went for a nice long hike with my friend Amanda – about a 3 mile hike in the “mountains” – not really the mountains, but I’m not sure how else to describe it. The hike was gorgeous and the company was pretty great too. The weather was gorgeous – in the 60s with a bit of cloud cover and no wind! Riley had a great time playing in the lakes and the mud puddles and he was exhausted when we got home. Score one for tiring out the dog!

Yesterday was a day for household stuff. I did laundry and worked in the yard. I still have more flower beds to clean out, but they’re getting there. The highlight of the day was making oreo cookies.

The recipe is fabulous and quite simple to make, although I made a huge mess while I was doing it – which is pretty normal in my cooking en devours.

I’m still knitting the sleeves on the never ending sweater, and I had to call the yarn store and see if she could put a couple of balls of the Rialto back for me because I’m going to run out before finish. Lovely. At least the LYS still had a few balls in the same dyelot. I ordered the harmony needles from Knit Picks, and they should be here this week. I’m not sure I’ll be able to resist casting on once they arrive, but who knows. Maybe I’ll surprise myself. Or maybe not. Whatever.

Have a happy Monday.
Steph

Spring in the Rockies, and Wyoming in particular, really sucks. It’s this time of year that I really wish I lived somewhere else. It’s still winter here while everyone else is enjoying spring. Yesterday morning looked like this:

And 24 hours later – this morning – this is what it looked like:

Big difference, and while it looks nice in todays pictures, it was still cold. And the really good news is that we’re supposed to get another inch of snow tonight, so I’m sure tomorrow morning will look like yesterday. It’s a vicious cycle. If I didn’t have to be a somewhat productive member of society, I’d just stay home and craft and drink until July when our 4 weeks of summer finally show up.

Happy Thursday.
Steph