Busy Weekend

Of course, I'm sitting here blogging on my laptop at the dining room table, so you'd never know it's been a fairly busy weekend, BUT IT HAS BEEN!!! Not as busy as it needed to be...but still. I've gotten plenty done, and there's plenty more to do.

Probably of most interest to you will be the progress I've made on Bluebonnets! I really like how it's turning out. I feel the need to throw in the typical "This will look much nicer when it's blocked" disclaimer, but I like how the open rib at the top mimics the fluffy, round column of blossoms you get on a bluebonnet. I'm using a slipped-stitch cable to create the stem and leaves, and I love how leafy it's turning out! I'm knitting this hairband from the center out, and I now have one side done and the provisionally cast on stitches picked up. Pattern's set, chart is drafted, all I need now is to knit the other half and pretty up the directions, and it's off to be tested!

Did my taxes. Wooooooo. Unfortunately, my former job wasn't so good with the withholding, so I owed a painful chunk of change. Turns out, though, that after finishing up my taxes today, I only owe slightly over half of what I thought I owed. That's still over a month's worth of rent, but still. I'd planned for much, much worse.

And other than that, I have a boat-load of school work to do. I've been plowing through a Dostoevsky novel, reading up on a presentation I'm giving on Tuesday about Dostoevsky's less-than-sympathetic attitude toward Jews in Russia and Europe and doing some editing and follow-up emailing for a professor. Oh, and articles on cognitive linguistics and Russian morphology. Let's not forget those.

Oh right! It's Easter! Happy Easter, everyone. It's easy to forget about this particular holiday, being childless and not really religious. But it's blatantly springtime outside, and all of my friends are posting to their respective blogs about family and food and coloring eggs with children, so it's definitely Easter. I'd been planning to make a big roast chicken dinner tonight, actually forgetting that it was Easter. My boyfriend, who shall remain nameless, is at his place, my roommates are with family, so...big dinner by myself? Woo. I'll try to focus more on the amazingly tasty food I'm able to prepare, and less on the fact that I'll be enjoying a big, Easter dinner with my cats.

I'm back!

You, of course, did not realize I'd left. I had not mentioned it. But I did leave. And now I have returned.

My boyfriend, who shall remain nameless, and I spent the weekend in Muncie, visiting my grandmother. We met my father and brother there and had a wonderful time. I love getting to spend time with my family. It's relaxing, like a deep, intellectual sigh, and I love how my boyfriend, who shall remain nameless, fits into the mix. I am often reminded that some people dread spending time with their families, or enjoy the company of their families as long as it's kept to small doses. I feel very lucky to have such good people in my family. I can't spend enough time with them and would be satisfied to turn out like any of them later in my life - even the wackiest, most idiosyncratic of them is a really good person.

We stayed at the McDowell-Nearing House, and if you're ever in Muncie, I highly recommend you stay there. The proprietor, Jane, is very friendly and an excellent cook! Her breakfasts were much heartier than I'm used to...in a good way...and absolutley delicious! Breakfast on our first day was a slice of pound cake, fresh fruit, a breakfast casserole, cheesy grits and this baked apple...sausage....thing....God, it was good. Plus, of course, coffee and various types of juice and tea. After 3 mornings of this, my body was begging me for a salad, but I said, "NO!!! This stuff is GOOD!!!" My brother had to leave at the crack of dawn this morning with no time for breakfast, so she left him some cake and yogurt in the fridge. The rooms were spacious and comfortable. I have nothing but glowing, wonderful things to say about this place!

Brought some knitting along, didn't get much done. I guess I did, but it's a long, thin thing, so progress isn't really the spectacular kind. No, you don't get pictures yet. :-P For my upcoming birthday, my boyfriend, who shall remain nameless, got me a bread stone! With it, I made this. I'm getting seriously into baking bread. I've discovered the world of no-knead bread, in which one can have bread-dough ready to rise and bake on hand in the fridge at all times. You can find a basic recipe here (adapted by the New York Times from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoë François).

In other news, I returned home to discover three things. 1) I did not get a fellowship for next year, which is ok because I need to teach at some point anyway. 2) A good friend of mine got tenure. w00t!!! 3) Another good friend of mine from undergrad was accepted to the department of design studies here at UW Madison. This means not only will I have a good friend with whom I go way back living here in town, it means my friend is TOTALLY GETTING A PH.D. IN KNITTING, I AM NOT EVEN KIDDING, PEOPLE!!! Yes, you heard right. Ph.D. In knitting. HOW COOL IS THAT???