I solemnly swear that I am up to No Good.

What have I been up to this last week, you ask? (or I assume you ask, which is rather assumptive of me I must say...but let's move on.)

Pretty much a whole lot of nothing.

Um, let's see. Knitting. Dinner with folks. More knitting. Twilight. Dinner with folks and friends. More Twilight. Knitting. New Moon. More dinner. More New Moon. Knitting, Knitting....and more Knitting.

In case you were wondering (again, fairly assumptive), I've finished knitting the gray scarf (gift for ?), made another fabulous cable hat (move over Dr. Danny, this one has magenta and purple!), and began breaking ground on something completely new for me: gloves.

Totally took these pics late at night when I finished the hat. Pretty darn obvious.



Ah look, a Christmas Tree. I soooo 'dislike' Christmas. The songs especially.

(If you choose to comment on this pic, I recommend throwing in a compliment to mom's tree. She reads this thing more than any of you other yahoos.)

I chose this fantastic vintage pattern called Bon Voyage Gloves. Aside from learning cables, this is probably the most dreaded project I could think of...needed something to keep my brain busy.

I admit once you get to the thumb region, my version of the glove is completely "ad libbed" (no use of the pattern really, just thought it out). So far I'm enjoying myself, despite the incredibly small needles/yarn.

Starts out all well and good, with the dainty little cable design.

By the way...if the thumb looks funny to you...I increased a bit about midway because I have the world's widest and stubbiest thumbs known to man. Gloves will forever strangle my thumbs, unless I make them myself and allow for some room. And make them look ridiculous in return.

Seriously. The biggest hands known to man.

My tenacious knitting spirit would not allow me to sleep tonight until I was well over 1/2 fingers complete. I have just finished the index and middle fingers. I am terrible at picking up stitches, I have learned, and thus have nice small holes spattered between my fingers and at my thumb seam. No matter, because I have working fingers!

You can barely tell the imperceptible little obvious seams. Boo.

(Please Note: I have not, in fact, gone to bed before 2am any night since I've been back; however the knitting spirit is not solely to blame. There is also the "Twilight series" spirit, the "late night movies" spirit, etc. Don't blame knitting completely.)

I have also since learned that I have THE WORLD'S LARGEST HANDS known to man. No amount of beautiful, vintage glove patterns will ever change that. Pity.

As of this evening, I have not been contacted by any Hand Modeling Agencies, nor do I expect to be called anytime soon. Guiness Book, perhaps, about the largest hands thing. No modeling, though.

But then did you read about my size TEN jeans?!

Not that I don't amuse you all enough with my posts (again with the assumptions!), I thought I would add some fun little highlights to my post:

A classic considering where I'm waiting out my winter break incarceration.

Since leaving The Rock...

I cannot stop pulling into the left lane.

I keep revving the engine when starting my father's Accord.

I check under my sheets every night for centipedes and donkey spiders.

Between the thousands of cars and crazy amount of blinking roadside advertisments, driving at night is incredibly distracting.

I bought and began Twilight (yes, I'm a sucker).

I've knitted a hat and a scarf. [I've also been to the yarn shop twice and bought 4 new skeins of yarn. Addicted? Why, Yes Please!]

I've watched 5 new movies.

I fit into size ten jeans.

*GASP*

Did that last one really happen? YES. I seriously almost announced it to the entire Gap dressing room. This is a feat that has not been accomplished since 1996. And how did I celebrate this little monumental change? I walked around the corner to The Great American Cookie Company and bought myself a Double Doozie.

Actually, I just walked by and sniffed them. The eating part was simply my imagination.

It tasted better to fit into the jeans anyhow.

Rainbows, parasites, and candy. Mmmmm.

Woke up to my first day of second semester around 7am...rolled over and glanced out of my window to a GORGEOUS rainbow stretching from the mountains to the sea. It was absolutely perfect, really well defined, and full of colors. There is seriously no other way to start out a super scary semester than with an omen full of happiness and color.

School has started off with a bang, three exams already coming in week #3. That's our hell week. From there they will come about once per week. Just happy we aren't scheduled to walk the clinic dogs that week!

Made friends with my parasitology prof today, discussed some of my parasite books with her. She mentioned an interesting one I'd like to find, Jewish Grandmothers and New Guinea Worms. Seems Jewish grandmothers used to make some crazy fish dish and sample it without checking the temp. Then they'd become infected with a parasite from the fish. Kinda makes me think twice about sampling raw hamburger before cooking it. Relax, I used to do that when I was a kid...before I became obsessed with parasites.

Physiology is everything I thought it would be and more. I cannot tell you how much I love that class. The prof is fantastic, a total ham, and the subject matter is surprisingly interesting. Who knew urine and kidneys could be so fun?

Gross Anatomy is basically same as last semester, thought with donkeys. Unfortunately we had to inherit donkeys from last semseter's group, so we will be dissecting the other side of the head, neck, and thoracic limb this week. They smell and squirt yucky liquid out at us frequently. Thank heavens I have my fancy schmancy new bright red coveralls that actually fit!

Haven't had the pleasure of Immunology yet, we start that class tomorrow. But I'm sure it will be a barrel full of laughs. (can you hear the sarcasm across the ocean?)

For those who care (and there are surprisingly a lot of you!), the car is all good now. Started up fine from the mechanic's, but the battery wouldn't hold a charge due to the 4 weeks of no use. So we spent the morning before our first day of school getting Kristin's car from the police station (I think most of you know THAT story!) and having a new battery installed in our "communal" car. We are now a 2 car household!

The apartment is super nice but could use some AC. We keep the doors/windows open when we're home, but now we have a major mosquito problem that quite often interrupts my sleep. I've taken to spraying myself down with OFF at night. Super attractive, but not nearly as bad as walking around looking like I have chicken pox because of all of the bites. And yes, I've fully investigated all of the wonderful parasites I can get from those bites. You don't want to know.

Lastly, but certainly NOT least....we found a secret treasure trove in the midst of dirty Basterre. A nice little shop that sells all of the candy from home, including my all time favorites:

Haribo Gummy Bears

Sour Patch Kids

Toblerone

Life is Good!

I will try to update the blog every Sunday night, and stay on top of it with the news of the week. But I can't make any promises, especially with hell week looming over my head. I enjoyed seeing everyone over break, and hope all of you are doing well!