Here's my horrible Hair

Well

Luckily that was over two months ago. I think it was the 19th of September. This one is right after getting home for the hairdresser...I didn't hate it toooo much at the time...because everyone was saying how great it looked...but I was seriously uneasy...Oh, yeah, by now...I seriously hated it. This is on September 28th. I'd had enough time to discover that it was impossilbe to style...oh ya....and the little half inch long chunch of hair right at my crown....oh...how much glue did it take to stick the sucker down! I had dreams pretty much every night that my hair was long again...they...I'd wake up...how cruel!
A full month later..October 14th..with some highlights.....This is H and I at Laura and Kenny's wedding....I actually felt good that day....learning not to hate the hair....now just look at my hubby...ain't he cute!!!!!
And...now that it's november...it's almost as long as it was the first time that I got it cut..in the older pictures...when I actually liked it...
It's getting a little easier to style...but these people who say short hair is easy....are just plain nuts..... I'm not posting a picture of now...because I'm still in my pyjamas...and it's sticking straight up in the back like a peacock...yep...I'm a prize....my poor sweetums :-D hehehe oh well

Scrapbookin'

aha, Well, now I've finally got my pictures up here...if I could just figure out how to get rid of the underlining on everything that I type it would be blissful! Downright blissful I say...yes...I know...it's probably something stupid...but...why can I find bold, and italics...but nothing to change the stupid underlining ack! it's sooooo annoying...

Anyways...oh...wait...howd that happen...no underlining...woo hooo...now if only I knew what I did ha!

Yeah...anyways...here are my scrapbook pages for MomRobsons scrapbook....hopefully to be done by Christmas....then ...I can actually do one for myself...and have a wedding photo album...imagine that !?!?!

I bet ya can guess which ones I did first...and which ones I just did this week....hmmmm yeah...at first I really liked the plain ones...now I think they look so incredibly boring...but oh well...and they're all out of order...but they'll be in the right order in the book...
oh I should post a pic of the beautiful scrapbook I found at michaels that is in our wedding colours....they have a big one too that I'm resisting buying...because I already have one...but...it's just so perfect....there is only one left....maybe I'll go buy it on monday if it's still there...oh...I'm bad!

Anyways...there's the pages...let me know what you think....about the pages...not my rambling....and any suggestions are welcome too....

The pictures are dark..because the camera flash made a glare...but then turning the flash off made em dark...sorry.....











And....here is my almost finished bag (Sophie Bag) , being made for Harold's boss Nancy. Hope she likes it.....poor woman...she's probably allergic to wool!

HEY BABY!

Only 9 weeks to go....and a little lady will be wearing this!


ONLY 9 WEEKS TO GO!!!! Can you believe it?!?!?! I'm so excited I could pee!!!!
I just finished weaving in all the ends tonight...now I just need a button and I'm all done!!!!

It Snowed!

And...I have a migraine...but oh well..it's getting better
Can you believe that I'm still working on Thank-you cards! How nuts is that...people must think me awful...little do they know I become paralyzed with the fear of writing the wrong thing or too much or not enough or looking like a moron. I always thought it was just science papers that were tough to write....but it turns out...everything is tough to write...there goes my career as a famous novelist (no...I wasn't actually planning on that anyways....but what if I had been!)
Anyways...now I feel horribly guilty because I just got a thank-you card from a friend who's wedding was August 5th...and she's got hers out....Ok so I have all the cards out from the wedding...but...I haven't got them out from my family's BBQ that was the last weekend of July.....should be easy....but man...I really suck at this...and now..it's so late...ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh why do I suck so bad at thank you cards...I am thankful, I was so happy that I got to see everyone, and we were blown away by everyone's generosity, so...why such trouble with the cards! ack! OK, I'm done talking about the cards! F0r today anyways!

I'm almost done the baby dress "Anouk" it's so cute...I just have to do the three needle bind off for the shoulder, and then make the pockets..and block, and sew, and ta-da! So cute for baby girl!!! I can't wait...I'm totally posting a picture when it's done...and I definitely need one with baby in it!!!! but...I'll have to wait about 12 more weeks for that! I'm so excited!

I have another Sophie bag about half done, this one's a light purple. And Harold reminded me again yesterday that I'm still not done my sweater...it's next on the list....trust me....it's freakin cold outside....I want my sweater done!!!

Oh, and the scrapbook for H's mom....nope...not made any more progress on that....perhaps it will end up being a Christmas present...or something like that...ummmm I'm really not very good at scrapbooking...that much is for sure...my stuff is oh so plain...the lady I work with brought hers in to show me...whoa momma...that thing is nice looking...nothing plain about that....I like the 3 dimensionality of hers....lots of raised thingies...makes it really look nice...mine...flat...boring....hmph!

Home for a month

and I hate my hair
So....Now I've been home for a month...I have a job...a low paying job...but something to help pay the bills...so that's good...
I haven't registered for my courses yet because I was too late for September...hopefully everything will work out for January...I really really really really hope everything works out with this whole nursing idea...but who knows...just when I think I've got it figured out...it all goes to crap.
Anyways...still not done my sweater...as Harold reminds me when he sees me working on other stuff....I can't help it....my niece will be here in 15 weeks!!!! 15 weeks....How could I be so selfish as to keep working on a sweater for me...when baby clearly needs sweaters and dresses of her own...hehehehe
yep...I'm good a rationalization
I'm working on Anouk...sooooo cute!!!!!
I'll post a picture!

I'M HOME!!!

My goodness...Away sooo long!
It's official....I quit the Masters program and I moved back home with my sweet sweet husband yesterday. No regrets, I'm so glad to be home....

Oh ya, and I got my hair chopped off last week, the picture is from the day after I got it done, and I hadn't really figured out how to style it yet...but I think I'm getting better....or else people are just too nice and dishonest :-P

So now, the living room is piled high with stuff. Can you believe that I moved my entire apartment full of stuff in my Yaris! Yep, I got it all in!
I started packing at around 1pm, left Guelph at 5pm, got to my driveway at 6:30pm, Harold unpacked while I had the fastest shower in history, and we left for our Encounter 1 course with our church and actually got there on time at 7pm. Whew!

And the best part is, I'm pretty sure that I don't have to go back!

I have a lot of cleaning to do....ack

I wanna go home!

I hate this, I really hate living apart. I know it's not THAT far away, but I have to sleep in a different city, and only talk to my husband on the phone for as many as 5 nights a week. Well, it just sucks. We're frickin newlyweds! We're supposed to be together.
I hate school here so much is ridiculous. I can't believe I thought this was a good idea. Who knows when I'll graduate...it's so wishy washy with research. I really just want to quit. But I've already been in this for over a year. I so wish that I could transfer universities, or just do my lab work out of another lab at Western, as sort of an exchange, betcha I could go to pretty much any lab there and they could help me more than my lab here can. I really just want out. I think I could stand it, if I were in the same situation but living at home, but I'm not. I hate it I hate it I hate it...I wanna go home.....for good! Should I just quit? Throw away over a year of work? I haven't actually got any results because everything that I've done is garbage, so, what am I really wasting other than a couple of courses (which I did really quite well in). Oh ya, it would be a waste of a year of my life, a year that I've already spent away from Harold, it would all be for nothing. You know, this is where I really need a lightning bolt...I really need to know what God's plan is for me, because I really havent' got a clue what to do. If I was supposed to stay here and be in Guelph, then why does it seem so unbearable. If I was supposed to quit...then...why would I have even come here....why waste the time...oh how I loathe to fail at something else...it just sucks...is life just a series of failures...what am I supposed to learn from this...I don't get it!

A REAL ROBSON!

Finally!!! It worked! I'm really really a Robson. It's taken over three months, but I finally got my name changed. That is a picture of the name on my temporary drivers licence. I also got my other governmental IDs changed over today as well! Woo hoo....finally. I was beginning to think it would never happen, but it did.

So, If you go and get married in another country...like Cuba for example....when you get back here to wonderful Canada...Ontario for me, then here's what you need to do in order to change your name. It's really very simple, the hard part is actually finding someone who knows what you need in order to get things rolling. Once you get the official copy of the marriage certificate, the one that has been legalized by the Canadian embasy in Cuba, then you can take that and go get it translated. Here in london I went to the London Cross Cultural Learner Centre, they were by far the cheapest. Every other quote I got was in the range of $200 for translation, and $100-$200 for the notarization, but at the lcclc it cost $80 in total.

Once you have that, it seems to be no trouble at all. I went pretty early this morning too, so I didn't even have to wait in line very long at the first two places. The health card however...was a 40 minute wait...oh well, not too bad...but I am still extremely bitter that I had to give up my old red and white Ontario health card and get one of these darned picture ones...I'd been holding onto that baby since I was 12! Alas, now it is gone...and I'm doomed to go get yet another ID renewed every 5 years...doh! Who cares...I'm a ROBSON!

Wonderful Weekend!

Well, who could have imagined what a great weekend we had. My sister Kim and my Aunt's put together a BBQ celebration for Harold and I as a sort of casual after the fact wedding reception. I couldn't believe it when I walked in. So much work they had put into everything. I only regret that I left the camera in the car because I forgot it, then when I remembered there was a crazy storm....and so...I hope someone can share their pictures with us. The decorations where beautiful, and it was so cool to see everyones wedding pictures (OK, another regret...I really wanted to scan and print those wedding photos and put them in a scrapbook, but the day was so exciting that I didn't follow through...doh! hopefully I can contact people for a copy of a photo...it was still uber cool to see them all!)

The food!!! Omigosh! So good, and oh so much of it...mmmmm tasty chicken...and you should have had the cheesecake.....ha! I had three! and there's still some in my fridge...they won't last long let me tell you :-P

The day BBQ was followed by more fun at Aunt Karen and Uncle Ed's house...we didn't want to leave...and so didn't until very very very late...which is why we were so ridiculously tired the next day for diving...but...nothing new there...we rarely sleep enough before a dive...horrible I know!

Our wonderful weekend was completed on Saturday with a diving trip on Uncle Ralph and Aunt Lois-Annes boat. We dove the Vickory (sp?) and the Keystorm. I was far too stinking hot on the first dive to really enjoy it much, I used to being too cold when diving,,,never have I been so completely roasting for an entire dive before.

So the second dive on the Keystorm, I wore much less, and had a fabulous dive...that rec is like a playground, I could spend forever swimming around that thing! I'm so glad Uncle Ralph showed me the massive gash in the side of the hull where it ran into the shoals, it was HUGE, and now seems to be the hole for many a fish to linger.

Another totally cool feature I never would have found on my own, this little cave type thing in the side (I have no idea what to actually call it...or what it's purpose was on the ship...I was mesmorized by the coolness), you can sort of duck inside it and stick your head up, and there is about a foot and a half of air trapped in it....you have this little pocket of completely dry air space...and the sound in there was amazing. It was a really neat experience to hear the sound of the creeking metal and such, without it being dampened out by the water. That is a diving first for me, and very cool I must say!

Here's a great pic of Aunt Lois-Anne on the Myrtle Mae IIand Uncle Ralph

Here's Harold pretending to drive

And me ACTUALLY driving...whew!....no crashes

Alrightly...and on a completely different note, here's what I've done on the bag liner

I'm loving how this is turning out...it almost makes me want to make the inside the outside...almost...and everybody said that liner didn't matter because no one is going to see it...Audrey will! and I will know.... :-)

Yup, I felted it!

Well....do you remember the Sophie bag...last time I had it knit... but not felted...Here's the picture of it before

Today I worked at home..so I had some time to throw it in and try the felting. I was kindof nervous..but I think it turned out great..I'm so happy with it!





There's a pic from right after it came out of the washer (three cycles hot cycle, cold rinse)

And below, is the finished bag being blocked (I still have to make the liner), and a close up of what the felting looks like now.....I like it...Harold said he's very impressed..and couldn't believe I made it...oh how I love his praise..hehe)

Bag done too!

I can't believe I knit the whole thing on the weekend...I'm soooo happy!
I think it turned out pretty nice....I think I'll throw it in the wash to felt this Wed. when I'm back in London (with the washing machine).

I can't really decide which fabric to use for the liner...the blue and green are a little closer in colour...but I'm afaid it might make the bag look too summer only....the beige and blue is a little more muted...but I'm not sure...I'm so torn...what will I do?!!?
Yep...I'm crazy...oh well

And then there were two!

Sock number one...finally finished

..but then I went to the yarn shop in Guelph...they were finally open!
And I saw some beautiful yarn there...(that I didn't buy..but I can't get it out of my head!)
I did buy this bluey greeny stuff for Audrey's Sophie bag (Julie Anderson - Black Sheep Bags)

Sooooo...I just wanted to quit the socks...and start on the bag...it was killing me...but I resisted...and finished the socks first.... Joel's socks are done done done! Yeah!

I had to rip the first one out about half way...because it was turning out to be about 12 inches long! But...now I think they are a good size...I hope.

Ha!, So...I finished the cuff on the 2nd sock last night...wove in the ends...and then cast on for the bag!....Here's a pretty picture of my yarn.. and what I have done so far on the bag...I really hope it works out...since I've never felted anything before...I'm kinda nervous. (I wasn't sure about it at first...but the more I see it...the more I really love the colour...it looks fabulous with the brown shirt and beige pants I was wearing yesterday...which makes me think it will be a good purse accent colour)

I can't wait to see how it all turns out!

Back from Toby, and oh it was good!

Well, we're back from Tobermory.
It was WONDERFUL! The diving was great...(meaning that I finally got my gear stuff figured out more than that we saw cool stuff...which we did...but it wasn't anything new...the wonderful part was definitely the gear!) Have I mentioned that I love my new tanks! I really should have taken a picture of them...they really are very pretty...and just wonderful in the water...and without that pesky wedge weight they are so much lighter....almost like a feather I dare say!

Anyways, I did take some knitting to do in the truck...I made two dishcloths...I know...boring...but...don't mock...knit dishcloths rock.

Here's a lovely pick of the above mentioned dishcloths

While on this lovely and relaxing trip, I was thinking (not too hard...just enough to maintain life really), and I thought that it would be really funny for me to knit Joel socks for a wedding present...since he used to always ask for them, and I did start a pair a few times, but never finished any....poor Joel...all that time in Saskatoon and no warm socks....and now..that he's back in Windsor...he probably doesn't even want them...too bad...getting them anyways! That is if I finish them on time...

So, I really wanted to make some socks from the toe up...because I've never done that...and the one pair of socks that I did complete (too small for Joel, oops) were from the cuff down...and the grafting at the end was most traumatizing! I went online and found this sock tutorial, called Cybersock (you can google it..it's wonderful) and they have instructions for all these different types of socks...and they have the toe up kind! It's not a pattern though...she shows you how to figure it out as you go...without a pattern...how cool is that...I've always wanted to be able to knit without a pattern...but...I just can't do it....So...I took the leap with the sock!

Here's the beginning of my sock..being knit from the toe up..with no pesky seem at your toes

And now ...a little futher on...still looking good

And so I was kindof unsure of where to start the increases for the ankle, this picture (below) has a few rows of the increases done

Now that's done, time to work on the heel

Now...the heel, ack! What a pain! I tried the square version, perhaps it's beyond me, I don't know...it is working out finally, but now, methinks the sock is far too big. The picture below with me twisting the toe shows how much extra room there is. Joel's feet are bigger than mine (he IS a boy) but I don't think they're THAT much bigger!

I don't know...I'm going to keep doing the heel as is...pretty much just to see how it works out, but I'm almost positive that I'll have to rip it out, and make the body of the sock at least an inch shorter....DOH! everything was going so well!
What can you do....only question is...should I just go ahead and rip away...or wait till I can try the sock on Harold my man sock model before I frog away all that knitting....and this is my dilemma.

Oh ya, and since the wedding is soon soon soon (August 5th), all other knitting projects have been put on hold until further notice...I also want to make the Sophie bag (Julie Anderson on Magknits website) for Audrey...I hope I have time...I've never done anything like that before...so I hope it works out too! (better than the socks so far I mean) :-D

Off to Tobermory

It's a long long way to Tobermory,
it's a long way to go,
it's a long long way to Tobermory,
to the sweetest....
oh darnit...that's Tipperary! ha!
I'm changing it...it should be Tobermory

Clearly I'm far to sleepy to be typing...or awake, I need much more sleep than this! Three nights in a row I've gotten only about 6 hours, I know, I know, thats the most sleep many people ever get...but for me...this spells migraine...I can already feel it starting...migraines suck!
It seems that everytime we go to go diving I'm always sleep deprived and it just sucks the enjoyment out of it...oh well...perhaps I'll feel better after Tim Hortin's ohhh my friend Tim...he makes goooood coffee.

I really want to take my sweater in the car with me...but...I'm opting for some dishcloth cotton and one set of needles instead..I'm making a set of yellow dishcloths for a friend. I just haven't decided if I'm going to knit them all, and all the same to match, or if I'm going to crochet some, and do different knitting patterns...so that the set will all be different...but tied together by uniform colour...hmmm the possibilites :-) I'll decide in the truck. If I don't fall asleep that is.

Knitting in two cities

Well, I guess Guelph is bareable...as long as I have something cool to knit when I have to stay over night....all alone :-(

And so the last two nights that I've been in Guelph I started knitting my lacy little tank from Lana Knits, it's 100% hemp! I've been waiting to try this stuff for sooooo long. So I bought the pattern and enough to make the medium (which I hope fits, I noticed that it said finished chest measurement is 36", but that's my actual body measurement....but I don't have enough hemp to make the next size up...so I'm going to give it a whirl anyways.

Here's a picture of my hemp...I just have to roll it into a ball as I am not knitty enough to have a ball winder...truthfully...I've never actually seen one in real life...and I have no idea how they work! Anyways...isn't it pretty...feels kindof stiff...but I've already noticed how much it has softened up just by winding it on the ball and working with a little bit...I love the colour!

And here's how much I have done

And a little close up of the lacy pattern, I have messed it up on almost every lace row, I'm just hoping that it somehow still turns out, apparently I really can't watch TV and knit anything that requires memory. Oh well, I'm tired of un-knitting entire rows to get back to the stich that I messed up...if it's imperfect FINE! So am I!

So, this is my official Guelph knitting project..I can just leave it there...and not bother carting a million bags back and forth every week. And while I'm in London, I can keep working on finishing my red silk/cotton rowan sweater "chamomile" that Harold bought the yarn and pattern book for me....not this past Christmas...but the one before that...ack...it was our first Christmas together...and was absolutely wonderful. I had NEVER had nice yarn before...I'd only ever had acrylic or cotton...the stuff you can get at Walmart or Zellers. Doh! now I'm hooked on the good stuff...knitting with the good stuff...is oh sooo gooood.

LONDON KNITTING!

Here is the half-done back of my London sweater, I love knitting with this stuff so much..that I don't even mind that I've had to knit the front multiple times!

And here are my two fronts....enjoy them now...because the ripping will soon begin!

Why you ask? (even though you are me...because I'm probably the only one who will ever read my ramblings...will I even read them..who knows!)
Anyways.. I knit the front (right when I got the stuff....it's not been stashed..I meerly needed a break..for sanity) anyways...I knit the front in size medium...and even though my swatch was perfect..when I knit the sweater ...my medium turned out to be small, so then I knit the large thinking it would turn out medium, but it just so happens that at the same time I had been reading about why people knit too tightly and how to stop doing this....it worked...too well, so my large turned out extra large! ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!
So...I decided to forget the front...after a six month (or 12...whatever) break...I started the back...in medium, and low and behold..it's turning out to be exactly the size it's supposed to be....so....now I have to rip out both fronts...and redo them....my only problem now is that in instructions for the back you are supposed to knit the lenght to match the front...so..I'm going to have to put what I have done on the back on some holders and redo the front...then when the front is done..assuming that it might actually work out someday...then I can pick up the back again and finish it....after that...who knows.....maybe even a sleeve!

Booooooo Guelph!

Yeppers....I'm in Guelph again....oh how I love working from home in London, but...lab work can not be done in ones living room unfortunately,...although...it is much like cooking...perhaps I'll try the kitchen!

I keep wavering back and forth between trying to learn the immunology, trying to write the literature review (already knowing the immunology would make this much easier..*sigh*), and just plugging away at the lab work. I keep pulling myself in all the different directions...and I really need to just focus on one thing. Apparently focus is not one of my strong points.

So, I gave Harold's mom my deep red cable sweater that I finally finished. When I pulled it out to start working on it again I was planning on giving it to her for Christmas...yes...I know...it's July...have I mentioned that I lack focus (I knit sloooowwwww too!) I think it fits her perfectly, and she looks really good it reds, so, I hope she likes it. I absolutely love the one that she knit and gave to me, in the winter I think I would wear it everyday if people wouldn't stare...and there is that pesky problem of the perfume one would acquire by wearing the same sweater for 110 days.

Sooooo, this weekend it's off to Tobermory for some diving! Don't we look cute in our matching drysuits....and look at those 95's ohhhh sooooo nice to dive, but alas, they are back at home with their rightful owner.



I do have my very own shiny new 95's all nice and galvanized...sooo pretty. On paper they have the exact same bouyancy characteristics as the scubapros, but I tell ya...they just don't feel the same! I know, I just have to get used to them, and hopefully this weekend will help me to do just that. Must fix gear issues...must not suck with the diving!



These are all pictures that Lee took when we went to Toby last year...mmm crayfish are yummy, always good for an underwater snack.

On another good note - I hope - I think I might finally be able to really change my last name to Robson soon. Imagine that, actually having your real married name on some of your identification...what a novel concept! Hopefully this marriage certificate translation thing will work out, and hopefully that will be what the "official" people need in order to change my name eg. drivers license, health card (although I'm peeved that I have to give up my old red and white no-picture card), and maybe I can even get my degree to have my new name on it when I graduate....I have at least a year before that will happen...but...I just keep telling myself that it will go fast.