Profile

I am the Administration and Assessment Manager for the College of Education at Oregon State University. It's not my favorite thing to do but I'm pretty good at it and it pays the bills. I have reasonable insurance and retirement benefits and that counts for a lot. I completed my Master's degree in Education in 2007 and did it at a significantly reduced cost due to working for the university.

I own my own home in Junction City and spend a lot of time on yard and garden maintenance and improvement. Sometimes it takes more time and money than I want to give, but it's better than renting.

I love animals and have three cats, currently (1/2015). I spend too much time working/commuting to have other, less independent animals. So I get my dog fix from my parent's black lab. I would have liked to have been a veterinarian but life didn't cooperate with that aspiration.

In my spare time, I knit, crochet, read, make cards, scrapbook, sew, hike, and participate in the SCA, a medieval recreation group. My LJ name is related to my SCA participation. According to Goodreads, I currently own 3226 books but that will likely be out of date before anyone even reads this. In 2014, I read 114 of those and hope to read more in 2015.

I have strong religious convictions but I won't tend to talk about them unless you ask about them, even then I'm likely to be brief unless you press for more information. I try to live my life according to my convictions and believe that is the only explanation I need to give unless asked. There have been times in my life when I didn't live by my convictions. I'm trying to grow and become a better person daily and stay true to my beliefs. You won't likely hear about much of that on this journal.

I struggle often to stay positive and have days when the world seems out to get me. I am aware that these are my perceptions but sometimes I just need to spew them out there and get it out of my way. You will, unfortunately, hear some of this.