YOP: Week 32 Check-In

     I'm going to a quick check in.  I finished up my two classes on August 1st.  I got As in both Philosophy and American Government.  There was some sort of snaffoo with the Government class, there were only three of us enrolled in that class so the college cancelled it before it began but didn't remove it from the online platform.  The professor didn't know either, so with about a week to go he contacted us to see if we still wanted to finish out the class and get credit for it.  I only had two more assignments to go, and I already knew I was headed for an A, so of course I said yes, I wanted credit for the class.  The paperwork for it is still in the works.  I have just a few weeks here in August free and then I have another class starting on the 19th of August for the Fall semester.  It will be interesting to see how different the classes are during a "normal" semester instead of these accelerated summer classes.  

    We've had soooo much rain this summer, it's been very abnormal.  The kids went out and caught frogs while my husband mowed the lawn a few days ago.  Of course they had to bring them to me to take pictures.

Liara with three frogs

Ronon found a snail shell

   My husband had an appointment in Syracuse on Friday, so I drove through the storm front from tropical storm Debby.  Then we did a little grocery shopping at BJs once the appointment was done.  I got a few weather alerts for home while we were in Syracuse.  The weather was nice driving back and we got to see the flooding in our area on the way back.  It wasn't as bad in most places as Beryl had been.  We, however, wound up with some flooding in our yard this time.  

This was all gone by morning when I left for work yesterday.  Our basement stayed nice and dry though, thanks to all the work my husband has done with the two sump pumps down there.

    I turned 40 on August 2, with no fanfare.  I made my own cake.  I used a boxed white cake mix from Aldi (the Baker's Corner Classic White) and then made homemade vanilla frosting that I then dyed purple.  I used this recipe for the frosting.  The cake was excellent.  I was very impressed with that box mix.  I found the frosting to be a tad on the sweet side for my taste.  I shared the cake with my parents.  My Mom thought the frosting was perfect and not too sweet.  When I make this frosting again, and I will, it was simple and tasty, I am going to cut the sugar back just a tad.  It calls for 3 cups of powdered sugar, I'll probably cut it back by 1/2 cup.

    Finally, the actual purpose of this blog.  I started a new project (that isn't a dishcloth).  I'm going to use it as my Nerdopolis Summit Seeker project for the next few months as I don't expect to have much knitting time.  I started Always Be Brave which is a free Knitty pattern; using Shirsty Cat BFL Dk in the Electric Nights and Highlight colorways.  This is yarn I picked up at the 2023 CNY Fiber Fest.  

This is a really terrible low-light picture I took while I was getting ready for work this morning in the dark.  The Electric Nights colorway is very pretty.  It's a blue-green base with speckles of cobalt blue, lavender and olivey greens.  I'm enjoying this knit already.  

I think that's it.  Until later.  Happy crafting.

-Q

I forgot one more picture.  When I retrieved my swift, winder and project bag from the infamous craft closet, I had a little too much help:

Jangles claimed a spot for a nap.  This is the only space in the entire house where we keep a door closed to the cats.  As soon as I open it, they all come running to check on what's inside.  (I need to tidy up in here again.)