polyester

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Happy Easter!...image lifted from vistaprint.com where I've made calendars and note cards and other stuff.  Not really a plug for them, but I was happy with my stuff and who doesn't love bunnies?

the 30 second post

So I have just a bit of time and mostly I would say that I don't post because I want to craft this deeply meaningful post and make it just so darn perfect.  Um, no, ain't going to happen.  Hows about I jump right in and post already in the 20 or so minutes I have.

Valentines came and went and I made the MS fortune cookies and filled them with these fortunes.   Everyone was so impressed, apparently, I just work in a crafty desert where every thing I do is a marvel.  Gosh, how cool is that even stuff I didn't think of makes me a god????  I made 18 of them  and this picture was taken before noon.  (not to self, next time make twice as many red ones) and set them out as a no-calorie alternative to the overflow of chocolate on every desk.  And as a bonus, I got strawberry chocolate Hershey kisses (my mistake!), a bonus for me because I didn't care for them but other people ate them up.  It just made it easier for me, sitting there with a plate of  candy I didn't like.  I have a friend who took three to take home and hang up for Chinese New Year.

And for our typical Valentine's Day dinner, we went to the hot bed of romance...Korean Barbeque.  I love Korean Barbeque and decided wow, is this a very the sexy place to eat.   Except I'm thinking everyone either came in before me or way after because the place was not so busy.  Me and the man must be the only ones who think that Korean Barbeque is great because there was no one there but us and the owner.  But it has to be just about the best out to dinner food ever, plus you get all kinds of little dishes of stuff that who knows what it might be.  all of it good, if you don't count that dried anchovy thing.  I tried it so I know I don't like it, ugh, dry crunch anchovy icky-ness.  No thank you on that ever again.  but the rest was damn good.

Gone Fishin'

No, really, that should have been the sign posted on my blog for the last blabbity-blah months.  But seriously, I DiD go fishing, today in fact.  And it was so relaxing that I thought I might squeeze in a post this evening even if I do have homework, meal planning (meatloaf, asparagus w/walnuts-Monday, buffalo wings, arugala orange salad-Tuesday)and wardrobe to lay out for the week ahead( grey suit Monday, Black kimono dress w/lime sweater-Tuesday.)

So Ta-dah, new post.  First healthy snacks were packed, only because that's what we had and for whatever genetic reason, the only junk food I don't like are chips in all their forms.

That gooey one is peanut butter, to go with the celery and apples.  And the best part is that, no, I don't fish.  I did as a kid and loved it.  Maybe I loved buying the snacks in preparation just as much.  Twinkies, peanut butter sandwich and cheetos and orange crush in a brown paper bag.  What could be better than that when you're eight?  Uh, nothing.

But today, I'm over that, except for the peanut butter love.  So now it's healthy-er stuff and my knitting.  Currently knitting a veerrrrry simple sweater, where great strides were made while my butt went numb on the cold ground.  I brought a blanket to sit on, but I noticed everyone else had some type of chair, which I will not neglect to get next time.  Oh,yes, there will be a next time. Why do my tennis shoes look so very white?  (I don't know, they're not that white)  And you also might ask, how many fish did you catch?   And how many bites did you get?  the answer would be the same for both questions.  None.  Not a one, no nibbles, no fish to throw back, nothing.  First, this is a state park that gets stocked on Friday and today is Sunday, so, uh, no, not so much.  What the people on Friday did not catch, the White Herons got on Saturday.  I did however compensate by having a tasty fish sandwich at Burger Town next door  where someone had actually caught some fish back East and someone else plopped it into a deep fryer and fixed it up with some weird tartar sauce, which was so good.  This after four hours of my rear end sufficiently losing all feeling and having fished out the entire roll of fishing line that fell into the water and my knees getting  muddy.  But dang, I really need to get out more.

So the knitting detail.  The marker is where I started, and the rest is what I accomplished today.  Knit in the round from the top down with some inexpensive yarn.  I'm just trying to get my mind around the idea of an actual sweater, so much time and commitment to something that will appear in public.  But this one has only a brooch to fasten at the neck and no buttons, definitely spring wear and when I'm done, all that's left is weaving in a couple of loose ends and light blocking.  Details when they become available in the future.

what was the license plate on that truck that ran over me?

Add the end of summer, a one-week beach vacation, the beginning of school and the extreme lack of financial means, and you have my life.  School started, as did the job hunt and suddenly I have no money.  I'm selling textbooks and an old car and some office equipment like mad (all extras and I should be grateful that I have them to sell) but dang I'm so not used to being, well, penniless. Maybe not Dickensesque, but poor.  I've started using Monster.com but I'm a little confused by the whole deal.  I have a temp interview tomorrow, which pisses me off, not because I'm not grateful for the opportunity, but sheesh, it's a data entry job, basically entry level and I am trying not to be snooty about the whole thing and just be glad for the opportunity to do something.

Okay, so enough of that.  One of my classes is a speech class.  It's a requirement and I swear I getting down to the point where I have only so many classes I have left to take and I was trying to figure out how I could take extra P.E. classes in lieu of Communication Studies.  First thing in class, we learn that people would rather suffer physical discomfort/pain than speak in public.  'Nuf said.

But a strange thing has happened.  Our first speech was rapidly approaching and I went to the library to get a book on some pointers and once I sat down and wrote my damn speech, I was okay.  I was actually looking forward to it and kind of rethinking this whole avoidance thing.

But gawd, what's with the quavering voice and the feeling faint and suddenly having amnesia when confronted with a group of people, all just as nervous and me and all anxious to GET THIS OVER WITH.  Man, I was kinda looking forward to this, I was prepared, I had notes, I knew my material, all things the books recommend.  And then it turns out that with the luck of the draw, I am going to be the very last speaker of the class.  Uh, yeah, THAT will certainly build my confidence.   

I still wasn't nervous,  I noted fidgety-ness and made a mental note not to sway back and forth or tap my foot.  I had my notes to refer to if need be to keep me on track.  I am freaking prepared, folks.   At last, it is my turn.  I stand up, walk to the front of the class and I open my mouth....and  nothing  comes  out.       

Crap!  No, seriously, I'm prepared. I know what to do here.  this is simple, why can't I speak???

Finally, I speak with the voice of a 14-year-old boy at choir practice.  Deep breath, I'll be okay.  Just keep going.  My hands are shaking, I can barely see my notes, which I can't read anyway, because I swear, sweat is pouring into my eyeballs.  And this is just the first ten seconds.

I begin to relax, I find my stride, just like it says in the book.   Blah, blah, blah.  I look around, people laugh at the appropriate funny spot.  Good.  More blah.  I notice people are smiling and I can feel my fingers again. 

You know what?  I did it!  I gave a speech in front of a bunch of people and afterwords in critique, a couple people even said they liked by speech.  Whoo hoo.  Next speech in 3 weeks, I can't wait.

I think I've had just about enough

Yes, these are the candles that sit on the shelf in my living room.  They are slowing or not so slowly melting.  by the end of the day, they had basically fallen out of their candle stick holders and however phallic you want to interpret this, is up to you, but I think of it in that not so fresh feeling kind of way.  enough with the heat already.  Today is the first day where 90° is sounding pretty darn good.

made up words I enjoy or perhaps I should take up drinking

I enjoy made up words that pretty much mean what they sound like even though they are not official words.

propangutan (propane and orangutan)--seen on an episode of king of the hill regarding a large inflatable purple gorilla, ..."oh, no, looks like he's got a propangutan"  or something like that.

garanimals--old school matchy, Google to enjoy the fun

alcohog--an episode of the Simpsons where brandywine joins the bake-off with her dish, the Christmas alco-hog

murse--man purse

linner/blunch--between lunch and dinner and breakfast and lunch respectively

craptastic--and not in a good way.

what I want to be when I grow up.

This keeping someone else busy during summer vacation thing, whew, it tends to keep me busy too.  There was the curious experiment with plastic bags and an iron, just Google fusing plastic bags and you'll see what I mean.   Basically take some layers of grocery bag, or those produce bags or bread bags or dry cleaner bags or whatever bags you have on hand, get freezer paper or butcher paper or whatever paper you have on hand and put a layer of paper on your ironing surface, 6 to 8 layers of plastic bag, another layer of paper  

(the paper is to protect your iron and your work surface so that no plastic melty-ness ruins your day)  Then take those sheets of fiber and make stuff.  I made a pretty fabulous but unimaginative tote bag with a 22 lb rice bag.  yes, it's cool   And yes, we eat us some rice around here.  However the fabulous Miss C decided that fashion was more the order of the day.  First off, she is now my new hero because she just decided that she would make some type of top, no clue as to what that was to look like, just jumped right in there.   Me?  I spazz out if I can't imagine the steps and the shapes and all that beforehand.  I want that, that absolute carefree, no-expectation outlook and no finished product in mind.

So she makes this vest and I am so impressed. 
  Darts...
...fasteners

and those thrifted pants that she took in herself and that top she made from this dress pattern.  

I need a tall frosty beverage

I have spent the last two days cleaning up my office and it looks...pretty much like it did before except now I remember what color the top of my desk is and I am minus a file box full of books (thank you freecycle).  I filed, I tossed, I culled, I dusted, vacuumed and polished.  What the hell?  It was hot and I was hot and I'm dang disappointed that it doesn't look just freakin' Martha fabulous.  Of course, there's not as much clutter, but there's still some and although only half joking, the thought of everything burning to the ground and me being left with the contents of my happy shelf seems like a relief.

I've read all about letting go of stuff.  I understand the idea.  But the distant between the theory and the practice is many many miles. 

Here's what I do...I think "Okay, if I'm moving, do I want to take this with me?  Do I want to pay for a box, pack it up carefully, load it in a van, unload it and have it waiting at the end of that journey?"  Yes, yes, I do.  I want the Eiffel tower charm my daughter brought back from her trip to Europe,  I want the tiny laughing Buddha my sister sent me from Idaho, the blue plastic paratrooper found up in the tree house (been there so long, since the last time the man's daughter played with it)  the pixie that Angus brought home from the Wicca store.  I want the incense burner from the man's mother that now holds vintage buttons.  Okay, I got that, but why do I have to keep the reams of paper?  the sketches of red work designs that I will never get to or the recipes that I tried and didn't like or every single ticket stub on every flight I've ever been on?  The clock with no batteries (okay, THAT is going into the goodwill box, I never liked it).    Things look better, but this letting go thing, it's tough and I do feel better about having less stuff around, but man oh man, I just wish my mom--okay, not my mom because she liked stuff too, but a really strict practical sort of mom type person would come in and just help me out here and let me shirk the responsibility of having to make my own decisions.

a little me time

Having another person with whom you wish to cultivate the love of craft is pretty cool, but it doesn't leave a lot of time to craft your own stuff.   Since Miss C has been busy sewing and crafting, I have found it hard to work on projects of my own.  I mean I want to be right there while the sewing machine and the iron are on and to help out when the sleeve gets sewn to the hem.  Anyone care to wager how I came up with that scenario? 

I did manage to make a little bag for holding my latest sock knitting project.  Made with vintage decorator fabric and some weird wood grain fabric.  I used this tutorial and in the spirit of using what I had, I used a zipper from a purple dress I would never wear.   Truth is I bought the dress off the 99¢ rack at a thrift store and they were having a 2for1 special, so it really only cost half that.  I'll cut the dress up because the fabric is very nice cotton, but the style, uh, not so much. 

 

love for the skirt

So the month of having the man's daughter has  is ending its second week.  While I've been busy trying to keep the man's daughter busy, I've learned a few things.   First, that Connecticut is the nutmeg state.   Something the announcer said during a baseball game the other night.    That little gem will pop  up in my head during the next party I go to, I'm sure.  Yeah, that'll be stuck in my head for the rest of my life, squeezing out important facts like my cell phone number or my blood type, neither of which I know.  I'm not sure what genetic defect makes me think that the very best time for riding bikes in the middle of the day is beyond me, but apparently the idea of riding only clicks in when it's hot.  the urge to ride becomes irresistible if it's humid as well.  The post office, the library, the grocery store, the bank, the fabric store are all within a reasonable bike ride.  I find it odd that complete strangers need to stop and talk to us as we're unlocking the bikes in front of the library/grocery store/post office.  I'm thinking we must be the oddity, a normal (oh, if they only knew..) woman and teenage girl riding must be kind of unique around here.

So we've been busy crafting and sewing and talking and bike riding. 

We/She made the most amazing circle wrap skirt out of a really great lime-neon green cotton.   Based loosely on a circle wrap skirt in the SewWhat!Skirts book.  We made a few variations, so that the skirt would be a quick and easy project.  Drafting the pattern was simple and we had to adjust the waist a bit because of the fashion factor that you absolutely must wear the skirt closer to the hip and not the waist, but once I got past that (by just shaving off ever so slightly on the waist until we could agree on a measurement). The big changes we made were to streamline the construction even more.  The waistband calls for cutting two strips 3inches wide for the waistband.  Obviously this is way longer than what you'll need and they have you cut off the excess, but you are still left with a sorta bulky tie portion.  I got my handy dandy two-inch bias tape maker.  (if you are buying one at Joann's, wait for the coupon) This made a nice small waist band and it folded easily on the wrong side and got stitched on the right side.  I didn't really cut the fabric strips on the bias, just cut it straight across.  Since I was just going to finish off at the ends of the skirt, one 2inch wide strip across the fabric (45 inch width in this case) was all that was needed.  We were going to use hook and eye sets on the inside of the waistband, thus also eliminating a button and button hole as well.  The final thing that made this easier for a beginning sewer was to use some vintage pom-pom trim on the edge of the skirt instead of having to worry about making a neatly folded hem.   So no long skirt waistband tie thingies, no buttons or button holes and no turning under the hem to worry about.  In the next skirt we do, we may tackle a few of these things, but for now, it's about having fun and just sewing.  She was thrilled with the results.  It was hard to get a decent picture as once the skirt was completed, we had to go somewhere so that she could practice wearing the skirt (at least that's what I was told).  This skirt is hard to wear on a bike as those little pom-poms are attracted to the spokes on the wheel.  We had to stop and rearrange everything just so, and then off again.  The skirt got worn and then into the laundry then it went back into rotation without being ironed, but when you're 13, you have priorities and none of them involve ironing your clothes.