I can't believe that it is already Saturday. We leave tomorrow, this vacation went way too fast. I wish that we could just stay another week, then perhaps I would be completely rested and be ready to go finish up the school year.

Oh, I really don't want to go back to school. I have a major case of senioritis right now. Almost half of the year is over though. Only about 3 more weeks until Winter Break and the end of the first semester. Granted the first semester is much shorter than the second. I am happy that the new year will be starting because the months of school after January just fly right by.

I will be back home tomorrow. I am happy to be going home. To see my cats and I'm hoping my yarn will arrive this next week and I can finish my sweater.

Vacation is going well, here are some picture of my new car. Tehe. Now I really can say that I got a car when I turned 18. Whatever. Here they are...



I'm not sure what we are doing today, but I'm sure that more pictures are in store.

We did one of the most childish things ever today. My dad decided that it would be cool to go to this Build-A-Car workshop thing, basically it is a Build-A-Bear, except you build cars. Anyway, we built remote control cars. I have to say that it was really fun, and I have a really cute blue Mini Cooper. I also got a roof rack for it that came with a surf board, boogey board, and snow board. I also got these turtle decals, so it looks like it should be going to a beach. I was joking that it looked like Malibu Beach Barbie's dream car, but my mom corrected me. Malibu Barbie drives a corvette. Therefore since it is a Mini, it is Brighton Beach Barbie's dream car.

Since my sweater is at a standstill, I decided to take the opportunity to knit some things for someone else. This year we have 3 foreign exchange students in my school. A boy from Germany, a boy from Hong Kong, China, and a girl from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. I really don't know the boys all that well, but Pho (from Vietnam) eats lunch with me at school everyday. It is really cool to get to know someone from a different place. Anyway she is not used to the cold like we have in Iowa. She said that most of the time it warm where she lives. I decided that to try and keep her warm this winter I would knit her a hat, scarf, and mitten set. I have tons of people asking me to knit them hats and things this year. I just didn't know where to start. Pho didn't ask me, but I thought of all the people that could probably use some things like that it would be her. I started this cool ripple scarf that I found of Knitty. I am actually almost half way done with it. I knit really fast I guess. Not to worry though, I got enough yarn to make a scarf for myself as well. Pho's is a this heathery pink color, and mine will be the same pattern but in this Kermit the Frog green. At least I think that the color looks like Kermit the Frog.

Vacation is good. Hope everyone has a wonderful week.

I thought I would run out of yarn and I did, unfortunately. My sweater is really close to being done, it just needs a neck. Makes me kind of sad. I ordered more yarn, although it probably won't be the same dye lot and that kind of scares me.

Yesterday was our first full day here, we arrived around 5 on Sunday. We went to Eureka Springs, Arkansas. Then Dad got us lost in the back woods of Arkansas and Missouri. I had a nice little photo shoot for my senior pictures though. Mom started out, and then James kind of took over. I don't know what we are doing today. I finally got to sleep in a little bit though. I got to sleep until 8.

I don't really have anything interesting to write about. I will post one of my favorite pictures from yesterday. It isn't really one of my senior pictures I just think it is funny. And...

Here is a picture my mom took of my bro and I when he was telling me what to do when we were taking pictures on a train.

Wow, this week flew by. Well kind of. The hours in the day went slowly, but the days of the week just flew past me. I can believe tomorrow is already Saturday. I have so much to do before we can leave. One of those including cleaning the whole house and making sure that everything is in order. It has just been so crazy. I didn't even get all of the stuff I needed to get done at work. I can't believe that November is almost over, I am an "adult", and I have a lot of work to do for school. All of my stuff for English is fun, reading A Tale of Two Cities, I will probably read way farther than I am supposed to. I need to pick a book to take with me to Branson so that I don't feel the urge to read all of Two Cities. Maybe I will finally finish reading Gone With the Wind. Or, I could read Howard's End, or I could read a book that I have already read. I kind of feel in the mood to read A Room With a View. I will now stop book dropping. That is kind of an inside joke. You know how people drop names. Well, in English class at the beginning of the year my teacher said that we are going to read all of these books so that we can be book droppers. What is sad, is that I am am already a book dropper. I have been since the 6th grade.

Well, I have to run, I have laundry to do, bathrooms to clean, and bags to pack.

I never really posted a November challenge so I guess that you all are off the hook for this month. Next month will be things that you want to change about yourself. The new year is coming up, and I don't want to call it resolutions or anything, but basically the challenge for December will be to make a self examination of yourself and see what there is that needs to be changed.

I can't wait for this weekend. We are leaving on a family vacation to Branson. I am super excited. I'm taking my senior pictures down there, so that is really exciting too. I have the body of my sweater done, I just have a sleeve and the bodice to go. I plan on having the sleeve done by Thursday or Friday, and I will finish up on the bodice during our 8 hour car ride on Sunday.

My lab for Anatomy was kind of cool, although I really didn't like dissecting the fetal pig or looking at the cadaver, we did get to see the difference in some organs that had defects. Like what an alcoholic's liver would look like compared to a healthy liver. That part was really interestings. I am so glad that I am done with that lab though. I'm working on completing my class. I have a lab to finish for this week, and an exam, and a final. Then I will be done. Yeah!

Now that I have changed directions, I will be taking some business classes next semester, so that will be kind of cool. I will probably learn how to run the family business completely, or mostly. That could come in handy some day if I ever decide that I actually want to open that coffee/yarn shop, or I've been thinking of opening my own gourmet pizza place. That will never happen, they are just pipe dreams, but I can always wish.

We are finally done reading The Odyssey in College English, I am so happy. I thought that I would like that book, but I really didn't. We are now reading A Tale of Two Cities, I think that I will like this book. I am used to this style of writing. I have read Jane Austen since I was 12, and last year I read Little Dorrit, a Dickens tale, so I don't think this book will be too much of a difficulty for me.

I will keep everyone posted on my sweater progress. Also my dad will have his computer in Branson, so I should be able to post from there a little bit.

Pizza, Yum!

We made pizza last night, it was a delicious treat. With family members who can't eat wheat it has taken some time to get pizza crust just right. We finally can make it with Bob's Red Mill Wonderful Bread Mix. It seems to make the best crust although my mom says that she likes using the All Purpose Gluten Free Baking Flour for pizza crust. James likes the Wonderful Bread Mix one better.

My dad and I wanted regular pizza crust though. It makes the rest of the family jealous, but sometimes we just have to have wheat. So, I made the pizza crust. I learned how to make pizza dough in foods class, but my mom has her own special recipe. It ended up delicious, and now I can make pizza crust anytime I want. My dad said it was the best pizza he had ever had, and that is pretty amazing because my mom is the pizza queen. We had Mediterranean pizza, topped with mozerella, spinach, tomatoes soaked in olive oil and oregano and garlic, greek olives, and feta cheese. The pizza was delicious. Surprisingly my dad and I ate two whole pizzas. I couldn't believe it, it either was really good, or we were both starving. I think that it was a little bit of both.

I didn't wake up early enough, I just felt like staying in bed. I guess that I will have to exercise tonight and then wake up early tomorrow. That is okay though, because I think I will start by just exercising on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings. Giving myself a break in between. Plus I had PE and rode my bike around yesterday afternoon and my legs hurt. I am such a wimp sometimes.

My allergies are major acting up again, so I'm wearing my glasses today. Which makes me feel really tired, because usually I only wear my glasses before I go to bed. Another somewhat warm day is slotted, 62 for a high, and right now I sound like a weather girl. Maybe I should go into reporting the news. Whatever. I'm going to continue getting ready for school. I started my Odyssey paper, at least I have the first paragraph and my thesis statement, I just need to write the rest of it. That shouldn't be a big deal because I can write a paper like that in an hour, I usually write my best papers last minute. Although this isn't really last minute, because it isn't due until Friday, but I can pretend that it is due tomorrow or something like that.

Nonsense

I really don't have anything to write about, I just feel like writing, so here I am writing. I can not wait to go on vacation in 2 weeks though. It will be amazing. The next two weeks had better fly. I really only have one weekend left before we go on vacation so that makes things better. This coming Saturday is my lab at K-wood. I now know for sure that it is a cadaver lab, and that is actually scaring me now.

I have decided that I am going to start exercising. Starting tomorrow I am going to get up at 6 and come down to work and run on the treadmill. What is nice is that we kind of have our own little gym down here at work. There is a treadmill, a bench, and we have this other machine that I can't remember the name of at the moment. We also have a full bathroom with a shower, so I can easily work out, shower, and get ready for school down here. Then I can go back home and eat breakfast. Although I probably should eat something before I work out because I won't have had anything to eat for many hours. This is the plan. I am going to have to make a basket of the things I need for getting ready in the morning though.

I am kind of going on this major cleaning rampage right now. I just have this urge for everything to be clean and organized. I made a cleaning schedule, which I don't know if the rest of my family will like it, but I think it will really help in keeping the house clean. I will just have to wait and see I guess. I just am going crazy with cleaning though. I want everything to be spotless and organized and clutte ris just driving me up the wall. There is this stack of papers on my desk that James left here and it is kind of driving me insane, but I don't know what to do with it.

The warm weather has been making me somewhat happy, and that is good. I will give you a list of some good things today...

• I saw Mindy and the boys on my walk home from school.
• Book Sale at the Public Library
• I'm almost finished with the bottom of my sweater.
• Rode 3 miles today averaging 12 mph.
• The kitchen was clean this morning.

The Darkness

The one things that I really don't like about this time of year is the darkness. It gets dark at 5:00 and starts getting dark around 4. But that really isn't the reason I'm writing. I'm actually going to just make a list, because it is the simplest way to express my day...

• The dishwasher is broken.
• The house is a mess and I really need to clean it.
• I still have homework to do, ugh.
• I took Will to the park.
• I'm addicted to changing my desktop background. And InterFACELift is at fault. I have now made it so my desktop is on slideshow and changes pictures every 10 minutes because I just can not make up my mind. So now my desktop wallpaper is a series of black and white photos that I found.
• I love black and white photography, I think it is because it reminds me of old things.
• All of the dreamsicles are gone.
• All of the banana bread is gone.
• I wish all of my homework was gone.
• I still haven't finished reading the Odyssey, maybe I will someday.
• We will never be done raking leaves, there are just way to many.

It just can't decide this year. It is November and in the mid 60's, and in October there were days when it was in the low 40's. The air must just be so confused. The weather that should have been in October is now in November, and the weather that should have been in November is now October weather. It just doesn't make sense. Although I am enjoying this little stint of warm weather. It makes me so much happier to go outside when it is warm. I actually rode my bike around yesterday instead of driving.

I think that I will be outside again today. We have to finish with the leaves and burn them, and then I think I might take Will to the park. Mom has decided that we have to do something with will every Sunday, and basically since the only thing to do in my small town is take a kid to the park that is what we do. I didn't get to go last time because I was sick. But now that I am feeling so much better that isn't really a problem.

My parents unfortunately discovered mold in their Select Comfort bed yesterday. That was a big todo yesterday. Amazingly though, the company is going to send them a brand new bed, and they are even going to send the labels to ship the old bed back. For now my parents put and Aero Bed on top of their frame and are sleeping on that until the new bed comes. The woman at customer service said that this mold thing probably happens more often in regular spring mattresses, but you can't really take those apart and see the inside like you can with a Select Comfort air mattress. My parents have had the bed for about 15 years now, so they didn't have the anti-microbial foam that was required after a certain date. Anyway, my parents will be getting their new bed in the mail this week.

In other news. I might not like it when it gets cold and yucky outside in November, but November has to be my favourite month. There is just this warm feeling that comes over me. I want to knit and drink tea. Curl up on the couch with a good book, and wake when the sun comes up. I really don't like it getting dark earlier, but I do enjoy the leaves turning and this warm and toasty feeling that I get. I love wearing nice warm sweaters and my sheep wool lined boots.

My sweater is moving along quite beautifully, I am on inch number 11, and only have to go to 15.5.

Baking Gluten Free

My mom and brother have been off of wheat for over a year now, for my mom almost 2 years I think. My brother has Gilbert's syndrome which involves the liver producing too much of the product bilirubin, this is the secretion that turns babies yellow when they have jaundice. People who have Gilbert's syndrome often have trouble processing wheat products, and for that reason my brother doesn't eat wheat. My mom has been allergic to wheat probably her whole life, but within the past couple of years she has gotten worse, and now she finally feels better.

Subsequently with my mom and brother having to go wheat free, pretty much everyone in my family eats wheat free. That means baking wheat free, which isn't very easy. You see wheat flour sticks together a lot better than other flours. Thankfully throughout the years more and more gluten free baked products are being produced, and more a more wheat free flours are being made. My family usually buys Bob's Red Mill products. They have a really nice gluten free all purpose baking flour. Basically with this flour and about a teaspoon of xanthum gum you can change any recipe calling for wheat flour into a wheat free product. Xanthum gum is really confusing, because I really do not know what it is. All that I know is that it helps things to stick together, which is why it has to basically be added to every gluten free baked product.

Anyway, I made gluten free banana nut bread this morning. I was just in the mood to bake, and since 2 people in my family have to have wheat free things, I figured I would experiment just a little bit. In the past my experiments haven't always gone so well, but for once I made something that actually tastes like the real thing. I mean the real wheat thing. What I mean to say is that I am not bad at baking and that is why the wheat free things that I make don't always turn out well, what I'm saying is that something finally worked. This recipe will have to go into the books.

I am now going to go and enjoy my delicious gluten free banana bread. You can find the recipe for this bread on the back of a bag of Bob's Red Mill All-Purpose Gluten Free Flour.

Back to Work

Well, I'm back to work, working for my parents that is. Basically I have to work for them because I have to be able to pay my part of the car insurance, so here I am. I did paperwork today, and cleaned up my office, or my desk space I should say. Basically I am reception, except I don't answer the phone yet. I just have to say that a cluttered desk and office area makes for a cluttered mind. I just could not function in it the way that it was before. I think that it okay now though. Everything is clean and organized.

I don't have school today, I guess that they are giving the teachers a break after having conferences the past two nights. My mom forgot to go and finish talking to some of my teachers, but that probably doesn't matter because I'm a good student. I have to go and buy pastels this afternoon, and I'm also going to my friends house to teach her how to decrease her hat. Anyway. I think that I have most of my actual work done for the day, and the rest of the afternoon may actually be free for me to do what I want. Yeah, I am so happy that I don't have school today.

Comfort Food

There is just something about Thai and Vietnamese food that makes me feel all warm inside. I should probably tell the whole story leading up to that sentence though.

Last night my parents and I went to my conferences at school. As always I am doing just fine. My parents finally got to meet my awesome new principal though, I really like the guy. Anyway we had to go to town to get things for Mom's new office and Dad took us to this oriental restaurant called Mekong. The food was amazing. It smelled really good in the restaurant too. The atmosphere of the place was just really nice, they played really nice music, jazz standards and such. I had beef pad thai which was delish. I just feel so happy right now. It is kind of weird to be happy after eating, but I was. It is a really great feeling to leave a restaurant feeling full but not sick to your stomach, which is often how I feel. Granted we don't eat out that much because we live in a small town with only one real restaurant that isn't really open all that much.

Anyway, I just thought I should tell everyone about the great food that I had. I can't wait to go there again. The only problem I had was that I didn't know we were going to this really nice restaurant, I figured we would go to the Mexican restaurant that we usually go to, so I felt really under dressed. I was wearing one of my shirts I bought from school, a really ugly fleece pullover.

Pictures As Promised

I have my pictures. I also just realized that yesterday's challenge post was post number 200. This is 201. Anyway, here come the pictures.

Here is the magazine and my yarn. It is called Welt and Rib Raglan if you can't read the print in the pic. The pattern is out of Interweave Knits

This is the beautiful yarn that I am using. It is 70% Merino Wool, 30% silk.

The sweater is reversible so the picture above is of it "right" side out. And the picture below...

...is "wrong" side out.

This is the start of the body, I actually am a lot further than this right now. I have finished the increases. The sweater is knit from the bodice down. So the stitches on my needles are actually working towards the hem at the bottom of the sweater.

So there you have it, what I have done of my sweater. I am working more quickly now that I need to have it done by around the 20th of November.

Challenge Post

Well, it is already November and it seems that I forgot to publish my challenge. I actually had this challenge done for a while. We were assigned to write a college entrance essay in College English and it made me start thinking about my life and what is important in it, so I wrote this little paper, and I got an A on it too, my teacher really liked it. He said that he liked I was opening up in my writing. I really dug deep with this assignment and it helped me to get in touch with some emotions and feelings that I have been having. So here is what I'm going to do. I'm going to publish it as a google document and you can go and read it here...October Challenge.

In other news, I finally took some picture of the sweater that I'm knitting, but my mom has the camera with her, which has the memory card with my pictures on it. I took some really good pictures too. I also have some pictures I need to get off of my dad's camera from the other day when I went on a walk. I will post my sweater picture soon though. I will have to see if my mom can email them to me or something.