You say Tomato

I say holy cow. I took 15 pictures this morning trying to get a couple really good ones of all the new budding fruit I have on my three plants! I feel like a new mother- lol, showing off my babies. Mostly I am just proud that I didn't manage to kill all three plants. lol. I'm afraid to show you the pictures though because you might think I start each morning with more than a few sips of hard liquor. Of the 15 aforementioned pictures, these were the best of the bunch... oh lordy.

There is always so much to share!

1. They get along. I cannot tell you what a relief it is that they have finally decided to be friends! Little did I know that friendship was so close to alliance... Boy am I in for some trouble now...



2. I finished this hat so long ago. I did put a pom on top but apparently it is even better to play with than the gazillion toys I have bought for The aforementioned Alliance. It has gone to the big yarn stash in the sky... Sorry about the funny face, hehe.

3. Flowers are the one redeeming factor of summer. I'm not very good with the names of the flowers, but this one looks like a lily to me, what do you think?

4. These have turned orange! They are almost there, I am so excited! Amazingly enough,there are also tons of flowers on all three plants now. I hope that means I will eventually be rolling to tomatoes! I see a lot of tomato dishes in my dinner-making future!

5. My friend at work just found out that she is expecting. This means that I can finally breakout baby patterns without making RT too nervous. I have already made the cute Bolero that I showed you a while ago, but I have recently started this. It is actually red, despite the picture. I must look so silly at work with my camera, taking close-ups of a heap of yarn!


6. KJ has recently decided to help me with my knitting. His first mission is to help me discover guage. I am bad in that I don't ever worry about it. For most of my knitting, namely hats and scarfs, the occasional mittens, guage isn't really important. I make it up as I go along. But now that I am in the big leagues making socks and baby sweaters, KJ says I need to get out the ruler and follow directions! He means business! (Does anybody else notice I keep catching him upside down?)

7. I have some news, but I don't think this is the place to share it quite yet. Hopefully, soon...

8. My monthly Saturday spent with Habitat for Humanity is coming up this weekend. I am exhausted now- I hope I get a chance to catch up on some sleep before then!

9. Todder shipped out to California almost 2 weeks ago now. I'm sure he is doing ok, but I still worry about him being so far away! I found this picture of him floating around the internets.

(He is the gansta, front left)

10. Work is getting increasingly annoying... 'nuff said.

11. I feel like I have a lot more to say.

12. We will be moving in the end of August, beginning of September. I have already begun to pack and clear out some of my stuff. I don't feel that it is unreasonable considering I work so much and do seem to have free time on the weekends either. I just really want to move now. I'm ready!

No Pictures

That is almost like cursing around here, but it is true. The batteries on my camera done run outta juice. Regardless of the lack of pictures, a lot happened last week. I think I will recount my week for your reading enjoyment! I would like to just say now that my "vacation" was awesome, but I know understand why I usually keep myself a lot busier. I tend to get into a lot more trouble when I am left to my own vices.

Last Sunday I went shopping with one of my bestest Columbus buds. Sara and I had a great time trying on clothes and "ooo"ing and "ahhh"ing over sparkley things. After that we swore to each other that we were going on a diet because we just didn't look as hot as we wanted to in the different dresses. Then, we went to Applebee's. What is wrong with me really? hehe. We finished the evening by gathering up our boys and some brews and watching King Kong. I fell sleep- haha.

Monday, I worked in the morning, but then Dave and I got to spend the afternoon together. We ran errands and simply enjoyed each other's company. It is so rare that we get to just "hang out." He had to work the night shift Monday night, so Sara and I went for a walk after he left. I had no idea just how beautiful the bike path was along the river. We might have to make a tradition out of that!

Tuesday is Poker Night. For more than a year now, the boys (and a couple of us girls) get together on Tuesdays for a little betting. I don't usually get to play because they start the game before I get home. It was nice to be done working for the day by 3 because I was able to play poker. The game was huge and I came in 4th place. It was wonderful!

Wednesday we went to see Tom MutherF---ing Petty. I'm not even kidding when I say that is the most fun I've had in a while. There was great music, good company and some sitting outside, which is something I don't get to do very often. I was designated driver, so I can say that I didn't have as much fun as Dave, but it was great to see him so happy. Just remembering that night makes me smile!

Thursday morning came a little too early, but the good part was that I only had to work until 4:30pm. Woot woot. After work, there may have been an emotional breakdown. I pulled it together though and hung out with my kitties and Dave for a while. We watched crappy tv and snuggled on the couch. It was relaxing, good preparation for our big day on Friday.

The last day of the work week went by in a flash. I was by myself all day at the job for the first time and managed to keep the work load under control. I left a couple minutes early- clocking out at just under 33 hours for the week. Dave picked me up and we went to an appointment together. After the appointment, we left to drive up to Cleveland, stopping for Arbies on the way. That is a fast food that is absolutely wonderful, every once in a while. We got to visit with his parents for a while before we met up with his high school buddy. Shooting the breeze and drinking like fish, we were up until almost 4 am. I may be getting too old for this- but it was fun!

Saturday was The Big Day for another one of Dave's high school friends. Her wedding was beautiful. It made me think about what I will have, someday. There was lunch at Stamper's, a sports bar. And a great reception. The music wasn't that great though, so we spent the majority of the evening outside. By the end of the night I was definitely ready to call it quits.

Sunday was Father's Day. This is not something I remember to prepare for, for obvious reasons. This meant getting up early (ow, my head hurts) and running out to the store to pick up something for Dave's father. His mom came too so that she could help us find something great. She ending up paying for Dave's gift, and also buying a little somethin-somethin for Dave and I too. There was some bbq at Famous Dave's for lunch, gift exchange, playing cards with the fam, napping (thank the lord), and then there was a party at Dave's friend Dave's house (is anybody else's head spinning?). It ended up that I had to be the one to drive back to Columbus. I'm not a fan of highway driving, but I did it- and we are still alive, score.

So, that was my vacation week. I wouldn't change it for the world, but now it's back to the grindstone. I am ready to start school so that I can have some quiet study time... hehe.

Embrace Random

1. Remember the plants from this post? Well, now my tomato plants are more like tomato BUSHES! And on closer inspection, I have two whole cherry tomatoes starting to grow on the biggest plant. Hopefully soon there will be more. My green thumb hasn't turned brown yet, wahoo!

2. My Aunt is so lovely. She sent me the cutest bunch of flowers to celebrate my admission into vet school (ya, class of 2010!). The only bad part was that she sent them to work on the one day that they are closed. They delivered them to my place the next day, but they had to call several times because my apartment is very hard to find!

3. I finished the Baby Bolero from One Skein. I would highly recommend this book to any knitter. I start so many projects that never get finished, but I have already knit several things out of this book because they 1. are very quick (so you can see them come together before your eyes) and 2. turn out beautiful. Example numero one;

This is pre-blocking of course

4. This week was my transition into a paid position at the vet hospital. While I don't get as much hands-on experience with the animals, I am getting PAID and I am learning a bunch of medical terminology. The down side is that it is another job where I sit at the computer all day, meaning I will have to find some sort of work out program to keep me from resembling a pear.

5. As I transitioned, my new boss asked me to add an hour onto the beginning of my day. Luckily starting a week from now summer hours kick in at my other job and I will be working 9am-3pm at the vet hospital and 4pm-9pm at the Center. If I was still working until 9:30 pm, wake up call coming an hour earlier would definitely be kicking me in the nads every morning.

6. My cats are insane. They spend ALL night playing. This includes using my (slightly more doughy than I would like it to be) stomach as a trampoline. Does anyone have any valium that I could slip in their dinners?

Why yes, I am as Evil as I look!

7. This week and last I have received several packages. My Aunt (told you she was lovely) got me a new pair of shoes. Mine have fallen apart, too much walking to work I guess. My mother sent me a huge box filled with yarn (wa hooo), pictures, a few books, some food, kitten toys (for the boys) and beef jerky (for The Boy). Like any toddler though, the boys were more interested in the actual box than any of its contents.

Ah, So Comfy!

8. Even though it is hotter than Hades outside, I am currently knitting a hat. It is from a vintage leaflet that was sent by one of my other Aunts a while ago. Some of the patterns she sent me were from as early as 1961. They were so very cool to look through. This hat is very cute and contains a small amount of cabling, a technique I don't have much practice with. It will be donated when I am finished with it, not because I don't like it but because I know there are so many people in need of hats around the world that someone could give it a good home.

Congrats...to me!

Why Celebrate? Not just because the balloon says so, but I have to start at the beginning of the saga.

Yesterday was The Big Day. I was going to turn in all the paperwork so that I would be put on the payroll over at the vet hospital. For everyone that didn't know, I had been volunteering in the radiology department there since I graduated in December. While I love to give back to the community, I could no longer volunteer 25 hours a week, I needed a second summer job. Well, I filled out all the paper work; there was a whole packet full of worksheets. Handing the papers to the woman in the office, we were having a polite conversation where it came up that I was not currently a student.

"Well, when did you graduate."
"December"
"Oh, then we can't hire you."

Apparently, you have to be a student, or one quarter before or after student-dom. Well, that sucks. I did the only thing I could think of. I went home and cried. Well, this morning I went back in and told my boss that while I was very reluctant to leave, I couldn't stay anymore if I wasn't going to get paid. Since I didn't think I could get paid, it would be shortly that I would be leaving.

Lo and behold, my boss went down to the payroll office to "figure things out." After a while he comes running down the hall, dialing the phone and handing it to me. Ask for Greg, he has been waiting to talk to you.

"Hi, uh, is Greg there? This is Kristen ------- and he has been waiting to speak with me."
"Hi, Kristen! We have been trying to contact you about being admitted to vet school in the fall."
Holy...bleep (I even bleep myself in my head, hehe)

Since I am going to be a student in the fall now, I can get that job at the vet hospital. (Class of 2010 baby!)

So, in a matter of ~18 hours, I went from thinking I needed to leave the place I love to having a) a much needed second job for summer and b) a place in vet school. I was so sad yesterday and I am nearly bubbling over with excitement today!

Of course, I spent most of my first paid day in Radiology calling my mom, and Dave and emailing everyone I know to let them know about getting into vet school. When I got to work in the afternoon, my boss at the Newman Center had bought me that cute cute balloon and this delectable treat:

Go me!!!