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.

fig delight

Good morning to all and happy monday. This thursday Jody and I move across the river to Vancouver. Our packing is going well, and we made an important purchase online the other day- three small fig trees. They are special dwarf fig trees that reach somewhere between six and eight feet tall. They get three to four feet wide. They can be house plants or live in a garden or on a patio. According to the website, one harvests figs the very first year! And in years after that, the little guys put out TWO harvests of YUMMY FIGS!!! This is very exciting for the Ramey Household.

new news

It has been a long while since I posted or looked at my blog. Lots of new news. Jody and I will be moving to Vancouver in less than a week now. I am finishing up my final year at PSU, and my classes are awesome. I recieved a scholorship to continue my study of Hebrew. It is a wonderful class, and it is fascinating to hear such fluent conversation. Especially when I can understand it! Syntax is fun, and I am taking it from the best professor in the department. Mideaval litterature is also a good class. We are going over Beowulf right now, and our prof. is very enthousiastic about the material. I am not at my ease in lit classes, but I enjoy the readings and the lecture.
Jody and I went on a little adventure to Washington Square yesterday evening. We wandered into several stores, and then caught the bus back home.

Secret EVIL by the husband

Jody just wants to say "I love you" to his wife, and see how long it takes her to discover my secret posting to her blog. (Evil laughter ensues) ;-) Let me know the day and time you discover this hun.

xoxoxoxoxo

hubby

fall news

Well, school is back in session, and it is nice to be back to the routine of classes and study. I just got some wonderful news yesterday- I have been selected to recieve a scholorship to study third year Hebrew. It will cover the cost of tuition, and possibly the book as well. I was not expecting to be able to continue with Hebrew, mostly because of the schedule- it was going to be Teusday and Thursday evenings. It works out much better for me at its new Monday and Wednesday afternoon time slot. I only have classes three days per week, which is very nice. The other two classes I am taking are Mideaval litterature and Syntax. Both classes have good teachers who care about the subject material.
My husband and I will be moving this term- out to Vancouver. We found a nice little place, and I am looking forward to that. (For wedding related news and pictures, see the team ramey wedding blog)

today in oregon

Today in Oregon the job hunt continues. In addition the melding of my household and my future husband's has begun. What else? The figuring out of the webcasting of the wedding- how the camera works, how the software works, how to set it up at the church. And aside from that? Well, I have also started studying for my syntax class in the fall, and I am taking two credits independent study. That is more of a challange, because it involves writing, which is not my forte.
I would also like to put some more things up on my aplingwordweb blog, that would be fun, and I would like to turn it into a sort of a portfolio, including some sort of project relating to each and every class I have taken or will take in linguistics.

today's adventure

Today, Jody and I are going out to Gresham. It will be an adventure. I haven't been out to Gresham before. According to the internet, they have a cool historic downtown area, and are the 4th largest city in Oregon. They also have an important musical festival there every year- Blues, I think. We will picnick, and have a nice afternoon. This morning at home, I am cutting out flash cards and doing laundry and a little bit of housecleaning. Probably vacuuming, too. I am enjoying my cup of morning tea at the computor. I guess one could call this multitasking- cutting cards, typing, and drinking tea all at once.
My wedding is in 16 days. Not long now. And my husband will move out to Tigard to live with me and my two cats. They will have a little adjustment. Spare likes Jody already. Ariel isn't sure of him yet, but it takes her longer to warm up to poeple. It took weeks for her to decide that she liked me, and she has only seen Jody a few times.

the kitten and the computor

This may sound strange, but my little cat Ariel has changed some of the settings on my computor. She loves to play with the computor when I am trying to work- she jumps up to play with the screen (especially likes following the pointer around the screen) and stepping on the keys. It is in the second that I think she changed the wallpaper (because it wasn't me) and she made some kind of adjustment to the web browser also, because now web pages are looking differently on the monitor than they once did. Very noticable on trimets webpage- the 'little plan your trip' window is now oddly arranged. Oh well, this will be something for Jody to figure out when he moves in after the wedding. He is more computor literate than Ariel and I both put together.

another day in oregon

Today started with gathering papers and catching the bus down to PSU. The route is very familiar. It was not exactly as I had envisioned the day, but then, when is it ever?
Tomorrow, I will work on the newsletter, and my resume and coverletter, and a few other things.
It will be an adventuresome wednesday.
back home

pinkerton update

Pinkerton has been signed over to the garage owner. He will either pass it on to a salvage yard or try to fix it up himself. To replace the engine would have ended up costing about two thousand dollars, which was not affordable for Dad, and even if it had been done, we wouldn't have been assured a reliable car.
It is good that I have not found work that depends on the car. I will carry on my job hunting with public transport in mind. In the end, it might be good that we don't get the car. Fewer expenses and all that. And we are fortunate to live in a place with such good public transportation.

back home

Well, back home. People have asked me: are you glad to be back? Well, yes and no. 'No' because I very much enjoyed the trip, and there are things that I really appreciated about England. If ever faced with the opportunity to live in the UK for a while, I would want to- it would be an awesome adventure. That is not to say that I didn't miss anything about America whilst I was gone. I did. I missed the soft toilate paper. ;)
Now that we are back in the states, we have a lot of last minute things to arrange for the wedding. Including, on my part, figuring out when exactly my family will be arriving in town, and where they will be staying.
But, I will write more later.

another limerick

There once was a little car Pinkerton
who wanted to move out to Beaverton
but a head gasket blew
and its days may be through
without even getting to Washington

The little car Pinkerton suffered a break down on its way from Montana. The head-gasket blew as it was going over Lola Pass, and it is currently in Lola, awaiting a decision on what to do.
So Dad was not able to come for his visit, he ended up catching a greyhound bus home to Bozeman. I was looking forward to spending some time together, but we will see each other soon, when he comes out for the wedding.

lunch out

Today a friend from first year Hebrew and I are meeting for lunch at PSU. I haven't seen much of her lately- since I went on to second year at PSU, and she went on to a semester of biblical Hebrew elsewhere. Our first year class was a nice group of people. Only two of us continued through the end of second year, Sharla and I. Sharla just got married and is moving to Louisianna to go to school there. And I am getting married in September (and on to who knows what kind of adventure;-). Everyone else moved in other directions. Laura and I have had a couple of classes together in the Linguistics department. Virginia switched to Spanish, which last I heard was working out really well for her. Ann I have seen around campus a couple of times for events, but have not had a chance to talk. Mike decided to redo first year from Shirly (she tutored us first year, and now she is teaching classes for the university) rather than take second year. Alexis didn't have time for Hebrew between Linguistics and Chemistry and everything else. and that is all that I have kept track of...

old recipe

We looked at a page from a cookbook from 1390. The spellings are strange and the instructions foreign to modern ears, and it was a bit of a puzzle to figure out what they are trying to say. There are two letters that we no longer have- one looks like a cross between a g and a 3, and the other is called a thorn, it looks like a b with the tail of a p. So I will use the letter y for the first and the combo th for the second:
33 Gees in hoggepot. Take gees and smyte hem on pecys; cast hem in a pot. Do therto half wyne and half water, and to therto a gode quantite of oynouns and erbes. Set it ouer the fyre and couere it fast. Make a layour of brede and blode & lay it therwith; do therto powdour fort and serue it fort.
bon apetit?