I should maybe put this on the Life List page, but the list of books is getting rather tedious there. Since I last updated it, I have read Becoming a Psychotherapist, Days in the Lives of Social Workers, The Girls Come Marching Home, Once a Warrior, Always a Warrior, The Three of Us and The Courage to Create. That’s 6 books for a total of 41 books since I started the Musing Mighty Life List, if I haven’t forgotten any, which I might have. If it’s all the same to you, we will skip the backed up reviews and just try to do better from now on, ummkay? Kay.

Speaking of reviews, I think I might have mentioned that I have a horrendously tall stack of TBRs. Actually, I now have 4 reasonably short (approximately 2 feet) stacks. That is a lot of books, right? One of my goals for this year is to eliminate that stack of books, either by reading them or deciding not to read them, and/or giving them away/selling them. But another of my goals for the year is to work on my crafty life, including getting my craft books organized and actually making stuff. Yesterday, I pulled all my knitting books together, except for the ones in those stacks, and this morning, I pulled those out. So, in order to accomplish three goals at once over the course of the month, you get some knitting book reviews. Yay!!!!!

Up first, we have Men’s Knits by Erika Knight. Apparently, I have had this book for about 3 years, since I have been SINGLE for almost that long. Yep, I’m a little behind. We’ll get over it. Of course, it helps that the boyfriend sweater is always in style, and this way I can have the sweater without the boyfriend, right? And also, except for the boobs, both men and women are fairly rectangular in the torso, and while women’s clothes are occasionally over-fussy, things for men tend to be functional. I like functional.

So which patterns do I like best? The “favorite sweatshirt” on page 68 looks fairly unisex. It’s reminiscent of the wonderful wallaby, but without a hood or pocket. I love the wallaby, along with most of America, so this may be a knittable option. I also really, really like the “collegiate cardigan” on page 80. It’s thick and lush and has some great textures. Unfortunately, it’s knit in bulky weight yarn, so I may or may not work it up for myself. I tend to think I am bulky enough with adding fat yarn to the mix. Same goes for the “funnel-neck sweater” on page 110. I like it, but not in fat yarn.

But here’s a little trick I know. It is totally possible, if you know your gauge in a preferred yarn, and a little basic math, to knit a pattern written for a different weight yarn without re-writing the pattern. Just figure out how many stitches it takes to go around the person you are knitting for in the yarn you want to use, and (provided you can find a close enough match), follow the pattern as written for that number of cast-on stitches. This is super simple to do when using a pattern written for men (for instance) in bulky weight yarn (for instance) and making something to fit a five foot nothing shrimp of a girl in a lighter weight yarn (for real). Most of the time, patterns don’t call for a given number of rows, but just “knit until the piece is x inches long.” Just keep knitting until you hit the desired dimension, which may be shorter than called for, so don’t forget to measure yourself!

Ok, ya’ll, today is my first official study day. Big news, right? I just hope my brain responds to mental workouts better than my belly does to ab workouts!

I got up at 5:30 this morning, which was a new thing for me. It gave me an hour of quiet in the house to knock out a good chunk of my morning routine, which is, at this point complete! In fact, I have nothing left on my schedule at all except blogging and studying, which I plan to alternate through today.

And I am posting this so I can be accountable to some back later and say “Yeah, I did that.” Whatever it takes, right?

So, I had my first day of classes. And that was a little mind blowing. And then my car would not start so I missed the second day of classes and tried to do homework instead. That was also a little mind blowing. I had forgotten just how much *boring* reading is involved in the pursuit of higher education.

I clearly will not be needing to price shop Lightweight Backpacking Tents until at least mid-May, because I am going to be pretty much chained to my desk, which is not the right height and therefore gives me a backache. Whine, whine, whine.

I did, however, buy a new backpack, because my old one was full and I don’t even have all my books yet. It has not given me a backache. So far, anyway.

Today, I am blogging and filling in my calendar for the next few months. You?

Heh, man do I have stuff on my agenda. I’ve spent the day working a half hour on this and a half hour on that. The result is that I haven’t made a lot of progress in any one area, but I have managed to touch just about everything on my weekly and monthly plan. In fact, once I create a file for my “hands” pictures and knit a little bit, I will have accomplished what I set out to do today, except for the pleasure reading I am promising myself later on tonight. Every day ought to have a little reward built in, don’t you think? And reading books I already own is certainly cheaper than sending flowers with ProFlowers, even to myself. I do intend to buy myself some flowers this year, don’t get me wrong. But it’s not going to be today, nor is it scheduled for this month.

But let me tell you about what I am reading! First, I am continuing The Artist’s Way with a short segment each morning, and I am also following a yearly Bible reading plan, which I begin every January and sometimes finish and mostly do not. I’m human, yk? But I am also reading Writiing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg. When I first found this in my house, and no, I do not remember buying it, I have no idea where it came from, so I am accounting it as a gift from the muse since I found it in the middle of November and the NaNo, I thought it was a manual of style. Umm, no. No, it’s not. It is a book of small snippets (2-3 pages) of encouragement for the writer. Try this, sample that, yes you can, etc. All good stuff, so far. I’m nibbling this one slowly, so as to gain as much as possible from it.

I’m also reading The Fiery Cross, which is the 5th book of the Outlander series, and the first one that I have not previously read. I’m looking forward to finding out what has happened to my friends since I last visited with them, LOL.

Okay, time to stop for now. I have a file to create and some knitting to do. And laundry to fold. And supper to cook. By the time lights out comes tonight, I really think I’ll be more than ready for it!

While I was out NaNo’ing I did have some other exciting stuff happen. I get my acceptance letter to UNCW, and also my financial aid notice. I’m in and it’s paid for, basically. That’s exciting news for me, and I am really looking forward to starting classes in January.

I’m also planning some house stuff. I need new floors in the kitchen and living room, and a couple of windows. While I am doing all that, I plan to go ahead and do new counter tops and cabinets for the kitchen. And a new, deeper sink. I don’t know whether I will end up with danze faucets or some other brand, but I do know I will have two separate handles for the hot and cold water. My one handle faucet has gotten itself all twisted up somehow and getting hot or cold is a guessing game each time I use it, and the shut off is also at a different point each time. I am tired of fighting with it.

What else? Typing. I am doing a lot of typing, because I wrote most of the book longhand. I am estimating it will come in around 60K for the first edit and I have a little over 20K in the computer. It took about 90 hours to write the thing, I think, and I calculated 63 to type it. And then there are additional revisions, etc, etc, etc. But I feel really accomplished, because HEY! Write a book was on my list, and i have done it.

Speaking of list(s), I need to update all of mine. But not today. Today, I need to finish blogging, deal with this week’s paperwork and then type some on the book. So exciting a life, right?

No, I’m not going to the straight jacket place, but I am committing to something here. This year, I’m doing NaNoWriMo. One of my daughters asked me to do it with her, and after years of ignoring the whole concept, I decided to go ahead. And write after I decided that, while I was writing my Morning Pages, the idea sprang forth pretty much fully formed. All that’s missing are the details, which I plan to outline in this:

Since my work schedule has picked up again, and I already had so much free time to begin with, I expect this exercise to be just as effective as any Brazilian diet pill. Well, combined with the extra coffee I’ll be drinking. Reckon I better stock up on the Folgers Black Silk the next time I’m at the store.

Speaking of which, I went grocery shopping yesterday. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. It was actually FUN to walk up and down the aisles and make choices. Of course, I came home and got sick right after that: fever, sore throat, cough. But other than that, it was great!

By the way, I am still looking for a platform to do my writing. I’d prefer a dated journal type page if you know of one. If not, Open Office will have to suffice. Not sure I want to do a whole new blog thing for that, although, Lord knows, WP and I are like bestest buddies and such.

Ok, so, yeah. I’ve done stuff about school, and come January, whether I need snow boots or daisy dukes, I’ll be there. I went by the admissions office yesterday to turn in a bit of paperwork, and they are still waiting on my college transcripts, which I’ve ordered. They also need a high school transcript, which I still have to figure out how to get. I did it years ago so I could homeschool the children, but I don’t remember how I did it. A quick call to the high school ought to take care of that.

Let’s see what else? Oh yes, the living room. Whittling that down a box at a time. I did mention that I unloaded 1/4 of the shed into my living room, right? Umm, yeah, to make my studio. I’m still thoroughly enjoying that, btw, my little official work and play area. And it’s nice to not have the computer in my room.

Boy, I think the hardest part about now having time to blog regularly must be the forgetting what I’ve talked about and what I haven’t. I’ve built daily blogging time into my routine, but I don’t always get through the whole routine, and it’s near the end, so….yeah.

P.S. The high school transcript will be going out this afternoon. Why, yes, I am a multi-tasking queen!

So, as I sit here typing, I am in the middle of a hot flash that has been going on for about an hour. That is a very long time for this turkey to cook. I’m figuring it has to stop once I am well done and the juices run clear, right? I should totally grab a Canon camera and take a picture of my red flushed face, but it would be too embarrassing to post. I love peri-menopause. Really. I especially love talking to That One on the phone and having my voice be deeper than his. Feels so lady-like and feminine. Especially when I am also panting like a pup.

In other news, I have ordered a copy of The Artist’s Way. I met with my friend last night and we plan to work through it and help hold each other accountable. I’m a little intimidated and a lot excited. And a little perplexed about how in the world I am going to write three pen and paper pages of stuff per day and still write here, too. I’ll figure it out when the book gets here, I guess.

In yet other news, I ordered Fluffer Phone yesterday. I’m expecting it to be delivered tomorrow. I’ll be playing with it this weekend. My inner geek is very happy about that. I’m expecting a list of must-have apps for it from The DJ sometime today, too!

Let’s see….what else? I am sure there was more, but with my brain simmering like this it’s hard to think. Really hard to think.