I have been busy!

This is a hat I knit recently for an old friend of mine.
The pattern can be found here :http://www.straw.com/cpy/patterns2/accessories/MochiPlus-SwirlHat.html
I love this pattern! It is fast easy and I have made it in the past. 
I did try to use Crystal Palace's Mochi Plus, but was not impressed with the handspun yarn. So I purchased Knit Picks Chroma in Prism. It was a much better yarn in my humble opinion.

And Another. This hat was an impromptu gift. When I try a pattern I use cheap acrylic. I used Micheal's Impeccable in Eggplant. It was a lovely color and the yarn holds up really well if washed in a gentle cycle.  I do wish the picture showed the stitch, but oh well here is the pattern. http://shop.sweetgeorgiayarns.com/products/ballard-slouch
The pattern itself was really easy. It was my first time knitting a lace stitch and it knit up really well. I split the repeats by stitch markers and that made it super easy!  

And one more! For another great old friend :)  This is the Fish Hat [Dead or Alive] by Thelma Egberts. It was so much fun to make. My stripes did not jog too much, which was nice as this was my first try at Stripes. I used Michael's Impeccable Yarn for this one as well. It too was my first try at this pattern.  I am in the process of making one for my lovely 4 yr old nephew. I am sure it will last him for years!
The pattern can be found here: http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEwinter08/PATTfishy.php

The hat was a swap item and we got a lovely table runner. My girlfriend being a weaver made us a beautiful all purpose table runner....which I do not have a picture of! oops!

DBH

In April I finished my application for the Doctor of Behavioral Health program at Arizona State. It is an exciting new program that does not have a license to go along with it as of yet, but they take masters level counselors that already have licenses. Which I do have. I hope to get a second license though, the LPC (licensed professional counselor), while I am attending. I tried in 2006 and 2007 to get that license, but first  in February, the board lost my application and didn't bother to contact me after I had called them several times and then they lost the money order in September . By the time they had found it I had cancelled the money order and they required me to submit a whole new application and money order.... just in time for the rules to change! I was hanging in there, hopeful that my application would be reviewed before the rules had changed January 1. I was found deficient. Bummer! I had much more to say about it at the time.

I had spent 60K for a masters program that did not meet the qualifications the board wanted and the school did not give me enough guidance to stay a little longer and get the classes finished that I needed then allow me to graduate.  While I may not be overly interested in college pedigree's I will say a state school will at least give you decent guidance!

Long story short I was not able to afford a retainer for an administrative law attorney to help me get the license....I was missing psych testing, helping relationship, multicultural counseling (they made me take that over) career counseling, and the chemical dependency class (I have worked in chemical dependency for 2 years by this time) and 100 hours of pre-practicum supervision ( I had 104 hours of supervision). There was no option to test out. I was deficient. Case Closed. Not knowing what else to do, I took out some private loans to pay for classes. I took the majority of those classes, but ran out of money and steam. I was tired of dealing with Sallie Mae to get a loan. I had the credit rating but they made it nearly impossible to get a check to the school on time and twice I had to get loans from family and friends to give the school a deposit even though they had the paperwork showing I had applied for a loan and Sallie Mae had approved it and it was in process.

So this will help me to get that stinking license or if I wanted to take the necessary courses to get a psychologists license in the state of Arizona. Problem is I am not sure of a psychologist program that is not APA approved. I feel like I may be tempting fate, so while I may go that route and get the psychologist classes and extra supervision. I am going to bloody well make sure I have that LPC under my belt first.

I applied for the regular DBH program.  And nearly 3 months later they contacted me for an interview. School starts in August!  I am excited. It's a cheap doctoral program, I can work and go to classes without too much of a change in my routine. It is a professional program which I prefer. I love school, I want to eventually teach, but I want to get out there with a real license - I have a substance abuse license that keeps me employed but it will not get me into the Health Service Corps, serve my 5 years and have my loans paid for me! Every last red cent will be paid off in 6 years. So I can focus on my life without feeling like a beggar when I call the loan servicing center and keep asking  for another postponement of payment because my job at a non profit can't pay me enough to pay for me to live and be able to pay back this enormous debt I owe.

I really find that the price of education is inflated when compared to what people earn. I know I am not the only student or alum that has complained about this. I also know I am not going to be the last.

If you are interested to see if you qualify for the health service corps check out their website: http://nhsc.hrsa.gov/loanrepayment/

Good luck! 

A view of Lent from the outside

    Not being of any particular religion and having only a smattering of experiences as a child and a young adult with Christianity I can't say I know alot about Lent. My first experience with Lent was trying to rub the ashes off of the forehead of a devout Catholic....in Catholic school. Seriously. "Hey, you have something on your forehead."  I reached out only to have my hand batted away with such force I thought he loathed my touch. His sister jumped in and explained immediately that it was Ash Wednesday and he had been to mass.  I felt pretty ridiculous, but it was one more lesson learned about Catholicism. For some reason having ashes rubbed on your forehead in the shape of a cross was a good thing. 

    That year in Catholic school was like being in the center of an experiment. How will the godless girl get along in a sea of god-fearing Catholics? I remember sitting in one of my professors offices trying to explain how odd it felt to be there. How strange it felt to watch people go to mass every Sunday. She too, was on the outside looking in. She had been raised Protestant, a Scot from Aberdeen. 

    I remember being in awe when the school made its pilgrimage to the cathedral for the start of the school year.  I sat in the pew, next to my catholic roommate and stared wide eyed at the stained glass, the pillars that were cracked and knocked off kilter by the last earthquake. The heady thick fragrance that hung in the air. The cadence of Latin and the procession of believers as they knelt to take the host. I remember I had a million questions for my graduate advisor, a priest, who appeared to loathe me being in his presence for longer than 15 minute increments.  

    The Cathedral was not the only beautiful religious structure in Helena, Montana. The chapel in the basement of my dorm was magnificent. Small, but intimate. It was more the devotion people gave to the religion, some of the priests at the school, and the architecture that impressed me. The beauty of the paintings and the literature. I still think back to those days and have respect for that place, those people, and this religion, but there is one burning question I have. 

    I look upon Lent as a time for change. A time when you toss a bad habit, but what I do not get is why people do the 40 days then go back to their old ways.I get no meat on fridays- I get cutting stuff out of your diet for Lent. I can even get no sex during that  time. People are going to go back to eating meat, chocolate, or having sex. There isn't a human being that is a civilian out there that is going to willingly cut sex out of their lives forever.  But some people's grandiosity seems to influence them to make these wild sacrifices. The alcoholic who cuts it out cold turkey on Ash Wednesday only to make his way through 40 days and nights to binge on the feast day.  It makes no sense. If you are giving something up, sacrificing it for whatever, why do you take it back after the 40 days. Its like un-gifting. "Oh here you go, I bought you this lovely present." then 2 weeks later taking it back because you liked it so much. It just does not make any sense.  Anyone have any words of wisdom for me? 

Costuming

I am not really an armchair historian.I love history and nothing beats a good historical non-fiction book or fiction novel. I love them. (please leave the bodice rippers out of it as they bore me to tears.) I love historical movies and I love the costuming. I wish netflix had more on instant play as I can only watch Bright Star,Wuthering Heights, Sense and Sensibility, Dangerous Liaisons so many times. Sadly, Sophia Copolla's Marie Antoinette is not an instant play item. Booo! And recently Downton Abbey was added to the list of great series to watch.
If you have not seen Downton Abbey look it up, the costuming and story is fantastic!

Journal

This past Friday I had to adjust my weekend routine so my husband could have the car to go to work on Saturday and Sunday. So I made my list of groceries and after dropping him off at home I made my way first to Hobby Lobby to stock up on some Caron Simply Soft Brites! Yarn (to keep myself occupied) and then onto the grocery store. 2 hours later I was back home and getting ready to throw together some calzones.

That adjustment to the weekend schedule freed up my whole Saturday to focus on me, what I wanted to do, opposed to what I had to do. It was very freeing. I love my husband, but sometimes I just need our house to myself and it could not have come at a better time. 

This past week I ordered and received some great books from Amazon. I will add the books in the sidebar in a little while. I also bought myself a journal. I haven't journaled consistently in years. I last committed to one in 2001-2002. After 2002 it turned into an after thought. I started again in 2007ish. I bought a big sketch book, crayons, colored pencils, colored pens, and markers and was pretty consistent for about 6 months. But I got tired of the morning schedule. I get up earlier than God and it was draining me to get up a half hour earlier to write in my journal before all the other words, judgments, assumptions, emotions could rush in. It was not working. 

This time I am writing in it as I did in 2001-2002. It worked then to wait for quiet time or when it struck me to write, and I did it everyday. I usually did it late at night, before bed, emptying my day onto the page, working out the dilemmas of the day. This time I am going to use some of those fantastic books I bought and a book called Creative Journaling to help me along my way. 

So what did I do this weekend? Cleaned up my computer for a start. It had been freezing up and needed a tune up- so it got one. I continued to work on my personal statement for the MSW program I am applying to. I did some laundry, played soccer with the dog, and worked out how to crochet a hexagon using Lucy at Attic 24's instructions. I finally worked that out today and am adoring the colors I chose. I hope that when I send these to the little girls I intend it to go to it will be loved and toted around for years to come. Last but not least I journaled every single day. I have been examining some of my behaviors and irrational ideas. It was a great place to start putting it down.  

C R E A T I V I T Y

Last summer I became frustrated with writing. So frustrated I tossed the lot of it and gave up.  Giving up is not something I do easily and so when I actually said to myself  "I give up" I thought I was serious. Recently, I have re-evaluated.  I miss writing. I miss creating something that is purely my own. Thus, I will dig out my last notebook and begin again.  There is a fair amount of decent stuff in there.

So I guess I need to fake it til' I make it. This is the winter slump, it has been a long, cold winter and soon enough it will begin to heat up and by the middle of July I'll be dying for it to cool down. But this issue is also more than just the winter blues. I get frustrated with myself because I can't stay focused. I am easily distracted and then I forget what I was doing. So I have decided to start simplifying. And as much as I hate schedules and routines I am going to have to start one, just to get myself used to doing the things I enjoy on a regular basis and not get distracted by something with sparkles or worse....says its urgent when it is anything but!

I guess more people in my life are going to start hearing " After I have finished with this."

Flu Season

It is Flu Season and since I work where I work and with what I work with I usually get a flu shot.
I bypassed it this year due to timing and now I have the flu. Blargh! But on the upside I get some sleep, other people do my grocery shopping and cooking, and I get to concentrate on feeling better. I just hope it does not last longer then 3-4 days. I can only feel miserable for so long before my head explodes because I want to get out of bed.