Grad school stress, a temp job, and an assignment for you

I am SO stressed out right now. I just got an email from my grad school advisor letting me know that one of my required courses is full already … and I don’t get to register for two more months! How do I already have complaints about Sac State and I haven’t even started back there yet? I went in today to talk to the registration office about this problem, hoping that they’d say only the undergrad seats were taken but that they hold a few seats for grad students (they don’t). My advisor is currently trying to get the dean to add a second section of the class, but if it doesn’t work out I’m going to have to take 12 units across two semesters, therefore dragging out my grad program and wasting money I don’t have to waste. Super sad for sure!

Some good news though (sort of) is that I’m going to have a regular nine to five (well actually it’s 8:30 to 4:30) for the next couple of weeks. I’m going to be correcting the essay sections of standardized tests. Super fun, huh? I’m actually really looking forward to it. I had tons of assignments last month from a couple of magazines and am really ready for a mental break … and some regular income.

OK, last thing: For any of you knitters or crocheters out there, I want to put together some afghans for Warm Up America, who has teamed up with the Ronald McDonald House to provide pretty blankets for the children they help. What I need from you is a commitment to make SEVEN squares at 9″ by 7″ each. And they need to be made out of synthetic yarn (aka not wool). You can get some ideas for patterns here. Please let me know if you plan to participate and I’ll send you my address (if you’re far away) or we’ll schedule a get-together (if you’re close). I’m going to set an arbitrary deadline so this doesn’t drag on for months without any results. SO that means you need to get your SEVEN squares to me by JULY 12. That gives you two months, or about enough time to do one square a week.

OK then, talk to you all soon!

 

Jammin

That’s right folks, it finally happened!

I got my jam on:

And with a lot of help from Sof we have success:

That’s right, tonight me and Sof did like old ladies and broke out the jam recipes. We made pineapple jam and some delicious pear-apple jam…and we didn’t mess it up even though it was both of our first times! I must admit however that I did sustain some minor injuries. I chopped the tip of my right pinkie, luckily only the nail and a little skin is missing and I managed not to bleed on anything before getting to the sink to wash it off. I also burned a couple of fingers. See what I go through for you guys?

Learned a few things about jam-making too:

1. Not all jams need fruit pectin added because some types of fruits, like apples and pears, have a high pectin content. This is also the reason the recipes say not to substitute one fruit for another, which is why I couldn’t make raspberry-pineapple jam.

2. If the jam starts to foam from boiling too fast, all you have to do is add a tiny dab of butter and the foam disappears.

3. When peeling pears be sure to have a sharp peeler or you might lose a fingertip.

4. It takes A LOT of sugar to make jam. We used four whole pounds of sugar!

P.S. I only had enough sugar to make the two flavors (12 jars) so if you don’t get any jam I’m apologizing in advance. Oh, and if you hate jam let me know so it doesn’t go to waste.