Since the last post my husband has started and finished a graduate degree in library science. I am very proud of him, and it is sure nice to have the degree finished- now on to finding a job with it! I hope that is the fun part. I have been busy with learning how to make soaps and lotions, and designing knitting patterns. I am hoping that I can sell the patterns through Knitpics, which is really cool. But if that doesn't pan out, I can try on Ravelry too. I am really enjoying Ravelry. I added some books to my bookshelf, and put up a couple of projects. Not much else going on- just got a package out in the mail with presents for my Mom, sister-in-law, and niece. I hope they like them, will probably post the projects on Ravelry pretty soon

New Year

I am taking an interesting class through the linguistics department this term- community activism, which is very much like a senior capstone because of the community service aspect. We are working as volunteers with Atkinson, a local elementary school. My group is helping out with the Asian New year celebration that will be near the end of February.
Doing a little research on the web, I found that certain flowers such as peach tree blossoms, hoa mai (plum tree blossoms), chrysanthemums, camellias, orchids, peonies, dahlias, gladioli, narcissus (water fairy flower) and kumkwats are traditional for the Vietnamese New Year. There is also a New Year tree, which is a stick of bamboo wrapped in red paper.
I found a nice picture of a plum tree blossom:

rbreed101
I don't think this is the same variety- different color, but it is a very nice picture. I was unable to find any pictures googling for hoa mai.
Good colors for the new year ar red- which symbolises vitality, the green of banh chung, the pink of the peach blossom, and the yellow of hoa mai (plum tree blossom)
There are some traditions that go along with the new year, such as cleaning homes, and getting new clothes and shoes, and paying debts and resolving differences. Midnight on New Years Eve firecrackers are set off, the noise blending with gongs and other loud things- to send out the old year and welcome in the new.

New Year resolutions

My resolutions for this year are:
to learn to play a musical instrument,
to finish my degree at Portland State University,
to find a job,
to completely organize my home,
to travel someplace I have never been before.

Happy New Year!

New Year plans

For new year's eve, Jody and I are planning a quiet night at home. We will go to Jody's Mom's house after Mass this morning.

Friday evening we stayed up late with a good friend, Curtis. We ate dinner together, went swimming in the pool ,and crocheted, and chatted. It was very fun.

For my friends and family, I wish the best for the new year. And for us too. I will be finishing my Bachelors Degree in spring. It will be a year of adventure and changes. Who knows where we will all be a year from now?

men knit

I found these two fun videos on youtube.com. The first is a trailer for a movie about the new trend: manly knitters. The second is a response to the first. It is verry funny.

Christmas cheer

The managers at our apartment complex have opened the pool for two weeks to celebrate the holiday season. That is really nice of them. They have also decorated the community room, with a tree and lights. I am glad that we ended up moving here, it has turned out to be a nice neighborhood- quiet and friendly. I haven't taken knitting down to work on by the fireplace yet, but that sounds like a good idea. Christmas is less than a week away now. What fun- our first Christmas together!



We have nothing to complain about, but check out this fun choir!

december update

Since I last wrote an update on this blog, we have had a very hectic time. Jody has been sick for about a month, and I have been sick since Thanksgiving. Today we are starting to put the house in order again. Jody is doing dishes, and I am working on the living room. My next task is vacuuming.
School is over for the term, and I have signed up for next term. It should be a good term- I am taking my senior capstone, contemplative practices, and Hebrew 302, and meybe (probably) a linguistics class also. I haven't signed up for that yet- Ling 410 community activism. Books aren't available yet for next term, but as soon as they are, I will go into PSU and get them. I already have the book for Hebrew, and I plan on spending at least an hour a day studying for that class. I finally started my Hebrew blog, and put an embedded video of Chava Alberstein on it. Jody showed me how to do that, and it wasn't at all difficult. Youtube provides the code, and all I had to do was copy and paste onto the blog post. Jody has been putting lots of videos on our joint blog, teamramey.