Yes, boys and girls, it is official:
Until this came in the mail, I couldn’t help thinking that when they reviewed my transcript, they would find I was one credit short. But I passed muster and it is indeed over. Whew!
Also in the mail was this:
It’s a wonderful skein of Zen Garden Squooshy in the Anna Grace colorway! This is named after Isobel’s buddy who has fought the battle with apraxia and is winning. Way to go Anna Grace. Words can’t describe how beautiful the colors are and how, well, squooshy, it is. You can have your own skein by bopping on over to Sonny and Shear.
You might notice the book lying beside the yarn. My church friends know me pretty well and this was a book they presented to me in honor of my graduation at last week’s service. The main focus of the book is that we put too much emphasis on having “quiet” time with God. When life gets chaotic, we put God on the back burner because we just don’t have time (or think we don’t). But we forget that God is there even in the midst of chaos. We don’t need huge chunks of time to commune with Him, but can include Him in every aspect of our busy lives. I highly recommend the book.
Chaos does seem to somewhat define my life right now. I seem to be hurtling in 100 different directions at once. It finally occurred to me the other day that it’s because I promised myself that when I graduated I would . . . . . (insert activity here). My problem now is that I’m trying to do them all at once! I seem to start one thing and before it’s finished I’m flying off starting something else. I really need to settle down and get focused.
One of the things I really wanted to delve into is baking bread. I love everything about bread – baking it, smelling it, eating it, thinking about it. I’ve even been grinding my own wheat with a friend’s borrowed grinder. But now I need borrow no more:
A brand new wheat grinder and 40 lbs of wheat purchased with a friend’s very generous graduation check! It arrived yesterday and I spent a great deal of today cleaning out and reorganizing my pantry so that all my bread making supplies are somewhat centralized:
I should have taken a “before” picture so you could see what a mess it was. I now have some loaves rising in the kitchen. Of course, as hubby pointed out, I’ve picked the hottest day of the year so far to bake! But when you work, you can’t be picky. You have to grab the free time when it’s available. Besides, I have this to keep me cool. Kristen will appreciate this:
I don’t think this is available anywhere except Rhode Island. I’m not sure how I came by this – probably a gift from someone who traveled back there. I found it while cleaning out the pantry. You can’t believe how refreshing it is on a hot summer day. It’s kind of like a slushy lemonade, but not too sweet. Yes – it finally got hot here. Well, relatively speaking for those of you in other areas. I think we may have hit 80 today.
Off to check on my bread. Next week I promise knitting content and a report on a trip to Starbuck’s
missouristar 
