Happiness is a warm puppy

My husband makes me happy. This afternoon I was sinking into that so-much-work, so-little-ganas funk when he suggested we go for a walk. After an hour in the gorgeous early fall sunlight, I feel like a new person.

Here are some other things that make my happy:

1) walking to campus. This is the time when I look at trees and clouds and let my mind wander. Even though I do it out of necessity (although I could, perhaps, take the bus, it's actually simpler to walk 15 minutes than try to figure out a schedule), I still think of it as mental health time and usually I'm not in such a rush that I don't enjoy it.

2) Reading. Good thing, huh? :-)

3) knitting: definitely a mental health thing. When I'm trying to plough through a pile of reading I'll take knitting breaks, and I often pull out a sock to work on during meetings etc. (And yes, I did knit the ones I'm wearing in my new picture!)

Funny, though, I don't really like sewing. That purple and green jacket I'm working on just threw me for another loop - I was sewing in the stripes, which suddenly illuminated the fact that I had sewn the left sleeve in crooked - it's not centered along the top. Grrr! I have to unpick the seam and resew it in now. The finishing of a project seems to be the part that takes the longest.

So, making plans for Fall Break already! Wow...

Teaching

I love teaching; I love working with the students and getting glimpses into their minds and worlds. Well, most of the time anyway! I just find them very interesting - even if I'm occasionally horrified by some of the opinions that are expressed. There's always a reason.


I've also realized in a different way than before why it can be so hard to finish a dissertation while teaching. My focus and energy are divided in a different way now. I wrote my master's thesis while working part time, but it wasn't academic work - I could focus all my intellectual/academic energy into the thesis, and my social energy into the job. When I was teaching and working, I could focus my intellectual/academic energy on teaching, and my social energy on the job (I realize these are somewhat rough divisions and not terribly accurate, but there is still a different kind of energy that's involved). With teaching and studying, I find that there is not much left for other creating pursuits - pleasure reading has pretty much evaporated, and knitting has slowed to a crawl. Even working out has diminished to about once a week instead of about 4-5 times a week. I feel like my performance in the classes I'm taking has suffered a bit too, because of how much I'm putting into the class I'm teaching.


But I love it.


In lieu of new knitting, here's a project I did 2 or 3 years ago - the pattern is from Interweave Knits Winter 2004, it's a cabled shrug, knit in 100% wool from Peru, something called "renaissance" but I forget the brand. So worth the $60! I have anough yarn left over for something small, like a child's vest, but haven't figured out what exactly I'm going to do with it. I already made a pair of fingerless mitts that I gave away... who knows.

Happy Birthday Mom!

I hope your day is as happy as that random guy in the row behind us! Lots of love, tu hija Betty

Happy Birthdays!

(These pictures are both old, but still cute :-))

Go Big Red!

Worth a thousand words... :-)

Knit Pics

So, my poor neglected knitting projects... brown mitts are done, with a hat to match; unfortunately the "blissful jacket" is in the exact same state it was before we went to Bolivia/Colombia in July. I need to do something slightly different with the stripes. It's just that and buttons, that's all! Yet it seems so insurmountable.

busy busy busy

I found the other sock!

Sorry have not had time to post much - lots of work. As in, too much. Am dropping one class and downgrading another to audit.