Thursday, March 29, 2007

Nothing like the smell of fresh laundry...

and good news to make a girl in a good mood. :) I'm saving the good news until the end. ;)

I just finished washing, drying, folding, and putting away five loads of laundry. This included three of the four five fabric lengths that needed to be washed (i forgot one, which could have been washed with the darks. Darn.).

In the course of my closet purge of Tuesday night, i found a whole basket of clothing that I must have sorted, discovered I didn't have enough of anything to do a full load, then stowed in the closet for some reason, where they were covered by a stack of blankets that didn't get used this winter. In this basket I found two pairs of jeans I had forgotten about, along with a couple of other items that I had missed. Almost like Christmas!

Anyway, on to the good news...

Or maybe I should wait, because I don't know if this certain family member has talked with everyone she wanted to talk to, yet...

Okay, if you are family, and are reading this, and haven't talked to Nan yet, stop right there, and don't read any further because

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

She and her husband are expecting a new baby!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay, I blabbed, but i couldn't HELP it. Too happy! Babies!!!!!

Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Hey, at least I got something done tonight.

I managed to find the fabric for four of the costumes I need to make. I found solid homespun in blue and green, a red broadcloth, and a tan cotton. Next step is to get this stuff washed, dried, and ironed, then cut out, and ready to go.

Did I do anything else besides snarf down two Cadbury Caramel eggs????

Nope.

Does anyone else hate those stupid Vista ads?

You know the ones I'm talking about. The ones on Yahoo!, for starters. The actual ad is somewhere else on the page, but at the right of the page, directly over the story you want to read, a stupid translucent ad for Windows Vista plays, and closing it doesn't always work right.

I don't want to have to click to close an ad that is OVER THE STORY I WANT TO READ. I just want to read the damn article.

If there have to be ads, don't cover up the main topic of the page. Be out of the way. Don't interfere with the information, or I am going to go elsewhere.

What do you think about this new trend in ads?

Time is slipping away...

The faire in Amana is just five weeks away. So far, the only progress I have made is to trace off the two sizes I need in one pattern, and locate a new copy of another. I also found out that I can buy rolls of tracing paper from our departmental art store.

Have I so much as cut out one of the costumes yet? Nope. Haven't had time. I am going to go to Wal-mart tonight and dig around on the $1/yard table to see if I can find ANYTHING that would work. I need to stop my own projects, except for the red skirt I need to go with my pirate costume, and my cloak.

I just need to get motivated. I meant to work on this stuff last night, but instead, I did laundry and cleaned out my closet. :)

And now, i am going to rest for a bit, as I am wiped out from work again today.

Sunday, March 25, 2007

The Scream heard 'round the world.

Not going to give away any spoilers for BSG tonight.

Except this: the next season will not start until 2008.

2008.

I don't think I can take it. Especially not with the cliff-hanger tonight.

Okay, so this wasn't on my list, but should have been.

Worked for over an hour on my character sketch for Lady Rosalind Woodville, Dowager Viscountess Hereford, widow of Robert Woodville, Viscount Hereford, Baron of Gillesland and Greystoke.

Wrote too much, but had to get it all down so I could remember. I'll work on improving this character over the next few months.

Started braiding the silk strips for the trim on my new silk sleeves and forepart. Not quite sure if it will work as I want it too. The cut edges are fraying quite a bit, and it's making it more difficult. Some test strips are in order...

Okay, back to work!

How to tell when you are really tired...

I managed to keep my eyes open until a little after 10:30 last night. When I went to bed, I set the alarm for a luxurious 8:00 am.

When the alarm went off this morning, I turned it off, stretched, rolled over, and went back to sleep. "Just a couple minutes..."

I woke up at 9:33.

It is so nice out today that I can't believe I just wasted an extra hour and a half asleep. I must have needed it, though.

In any case, here is the list for this Sunday:

1. Unload dishwasher, and load the rest of the dishes from last night.
2. Clean kitchen.
3. Have my son take out the garbage.
4. Eat breakfast.
5. Pick up living room.
6. Dust.
7. Vacuum.
8. Make my son clean up his room.
9. Work on making the test braid for trim on a new set of sleeves and forepart (rust colored duponi silk - ravels too much, and I may have to recalculate the original width of the 3 yard strips. I made them too narrow to turn inside out. I am still using the strips, just to see how well the braid turns out, and how hard it will be to braid something that long. These braided stips will create a diamond shaped lattice, with pearls or other beads at the joints. It should turn out really pretty.
10. Finish tracing off pattern pieces for the other 3 costumes I have to make (2 are already traced and just about ready to go, besides drafting out darts. Darts just do not look right on these costumes).
11. I was thinking of making pot roast for supper. It's a huge mess, though. But it is soooo good. I nearly have my recipe perfected. Of course, it ended up being so warm out, that I may just freeze the roast and save it for another time...

So, that's the plan for the day. I am going to go work on #4.

Saturday, March 24, 2007

Surprise!

My son called at about 6:15pm, to let me know that they were back from Carroll, and to let me know one other piece of information:

They advanced to the State Competition!!!!!!!!

Now, last year, they finished dead last out of every team in the improv category.

This year, out of the five Car-DI-ology teams, they finished... last.

The reason they get to advance is that five teams from each category get to advance. There were only five teams in his category.

But that doesn't matter whatsoever, because they now have three weeks to improved their skit and structure, and he is so excited that he ran out of the school, holding up his medal.

I am just as proud of him in last place as I would be if his team had made first place. He's a good sport, and is so happy to be going to State, that I just can't help but be happy along with him. :)

Lost in Translation...

We got to the school at 5:00 am. No one in sight. We waited a few minutes, then went home for a bit, as the bus isn't supposed to leave until 6:15.

We go back to the school at 5:30 am. No one in sight. The kids are supposed to load all of their sets, costumes, and structures, so the bus needs to be there early.

No bus.

At around 5:40, an SUV pulls up and parks. At around 5:50, three minivans pull up. At around 6:00 am, my son's DI teacher arrives. A pile of girls spill from the vans and SUV, excited, there are more kids than vehicles, so I am guessing a bunch of them stayed overnight together. My son was glad to see another boy from his group, and they walked together towards the group of girls rather bravely. I left as the teacher was letting the group into the school, so that they could start gathering their props.

There are about five kids in each group, with about 6-8 groups, including the high school group, if I remember correctly. My son is doing Car-DI-ology, which involves building a card structure that can hold 300 pounds, and developing a skit, complete with sets and costumes.

Okay, going back to bed now. I have a long morning ahead of me, and I've been up for about two hours now.

And I am more than a little ticked off that we never received anything in writing about exactly what time the kids were supposed to be at the school. I could have slept another 45 minutes...

Friday, March 23, 2007

Oh, the humanity!

My son needs to be to school by shortly after 5:00 am tomorrow. He was at school until 7:00 pm tonight, working on his Destination Imagination project with his group. After I picked him up from school, we raced to Great Clips, as his hair is wildly out of control. An hour later, we raced to HyVee, to get snacks for the 90 minute bus trip.

I have pizza dough rising right now, and a load of jeans in the wash. Luckily, the brown shirt that he needs to wear tomorrow is already in his closet.

You may ask why in the world all of this wasn't done before tonight. I can honestly tell you that ALL of it was supposed to have been done LAST NIGHT, but due to having to unexpectedly work really late, there just wasn't enough time. And this kid has only three pairs of jeans right now, because I can't find the fourth pair, so today just ended up being the day I needed to wash jeans. That fourth pair is probably stuck under something in his closet, because that's how he cleans his room.

My lunch hour was spent going to Target to get DVD-Rs to back up my work machine. I am a firm believer in back-ups. I ended up having to leave one of the DVD-Rs burning as I left, because I only have a 1x burner in my machine. Better than nothing. This is in addition to the copy I keep on my firewire drive.

Okay, clothes are in the dryer, and the pizza is in the oven. I have to fix my son's backpack now (zipper isn't working right).

Wish I could go to sleep right now...

Thursday, March 22, 2007

Stressful day

Don't want to go into things in detail, but let's just say this is one of the most stressful days I have had in a long time.

See this coldsore here? The one on my upper lip on the left? Started this afternoon.

I'm gonna have a margerita, and I'm going to sit and read, and then go to bed early. Only good dreams tonight, please.

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Highly Intellectual Reading Material

The April Cosmo:

"99 food* Facts you've never heard before" Hmm... so what about the other 11 times a year they cover this topic? You mean, they were holding out on us? Someone needs to compile a book of everything Cosmo has ever written about food, in chronological order. It would be twelve volumes long, and would take years to read. Bestseller material.

"What he does when you're not around" ooookkkaaayyyy

"Guys spill their Dirty, Dumb-Ass Blunders. You'll die laughing." I'm sure I will. Right after I finish reading that first story about food.

"Blow his mind. The Awesome new food Prop — and Guess what? It's in your Purse" Trust me, folks, it's tamer than it sounds. It's a menthol mint. Sorry for the spoiler.

And finally, scarily:

"5 Warning Signs a Stranger's about to become Violent" Okay, talk about awkward placement of an article title.

Sometimes, I think the $4.50 spent on this magazine is the most important investment I make to maintain my sanity in an otherwise chaotic world. Thank you, cosmo!

* Replace food with S.E.X. Funny, isn't that what a lot of us do anyway?

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Not much to say today.

Or yesterday, for that matter.

I have a lot of stuff to do, and not a lot of time to do it. In between tasks, I am focusing on relaxing, doing things I enjoy, and resting. Last week took a lot out of me, physically and mentally. Saturday night was fun, but as I told my dad, Sunday I felt like I had ended Saturday by drinking my way across Des Moines instead of going home and drinking a Diet Pepsi (plans for a margerita were thwarted by common sense).

In any case, if I am a little quiet for the next couple of days, it is because I am reading a book, playing Animal Crossing 2, or tracing off pattern sizes for at least five costumes.

But then again, sometimes when I am busiest, I post more frequently.

Sunday, March 18, 2007

Telethony goodness...

1000th post!!!!!!!!!!!

Yesterday evening, in costume, I drove from Ames to Des Moines, to the Iowa Public Television Studio, to participate in the Festivals telethon. A group from the Des Moines Renaissance Faire had volunteered to answer phones and take pledges from 6:00 pm - 10:30 pm. Another group, whose name I have forgotten, had also volunteered, so we had a mix of people in Renaissance Faire costumes and in regular clothing.

When we walked in, we signed in, and put on our name tags (one for our front, and one for our back). Then, we went around a corner and were in the studio, which resembled an auditorium with seats and a stage. This was the first time I had been in a TV studio, so I wasn't really sure what to expect.

At the back of the studio, they had a table with lots of food set up for the volunteers. They had a couple of different types of pasta, sandwiches, and a shake machine (a huge hit - mmm...). We had a pretty big group of people from DMRF, and it was great to see everyone again. Some people I hadn't seen since September.

A few minutes before we were to take over, we had a brief training session to explain how to fill out the pledge cards, and what to say on the phone. In too short of time, we were moving up to the stage to take our places before the next pledge break. The night's programs were all music themed. As we began, a Ralna English concert was starting. It was followed by Lawrence Welk, with in-studio guests Mary Lou Metzger, and Jack Imel. We finished up with Andre Rieu, who rather unfortunately wasn't in the studio (probably a good thing - too distracting).

We all tried to figure out where to sit, and I ended up dead center in the back row, between Troy, and Rick Flatt. I soon found out that I had ended up at phone #1, the phone that rang first when anyone called. Great.

Pretty soon, we were on the air, and it was too late to escape. The announcers and the guests were right in front of me, and within moments of going on the air, my phone was ringing, and I had to answer. I had my pen ready, and a smile on my face, just in case the camera was on me.

"Thank you for calling. May I take your pledge?"

"Hi! We're Souix City Ren-festers! We can't afford to make a pledge, but when we saw you all, we had to call and say 'Hi!'. It's great that you're doing this!"

It took everything I had in me to not burst out laughing. After a couple more words, and a wave at the camera, my first call was over. A long line of puzzled faces turned to me, and I quietly relayed what had happened. We had a good laugh over that later, once everyone heard the message.

My next call was real, and I spent quite a long time on call after call. Rick wasn't getting any calls at all, so the rest of us put our phones in the off position, and he finally got one. Phone #1 was very busy, and it was quite awhile before I could get a break and get some water. It was hot with the lights on.

When the Lawrence Welk segment was winding down, Mary Lou sang, and I was more than a little disappointed that my phone rang right as she was beginning, and I missed it. she has a beautiful voice. After she was done, the pledge break was over, and I put my phone on hold in order to go get something to drink and eat. The announcers had out their cameras, and posed with Mary Lou and Jack. I was standing off to the side with Wes, waiting for them to finish, when the guy taking the picture waved us over to stand on either side of the group. I wish I could get a copy of that. We watched Lawrence Welk quite a bit when I was a little girl.

After that, we had a break for a bit, and I decided that I just could not sit at phone #1 again. I was exhausted and getting dehydrated (I missed the first break we had, because I was still answering the phone). When we went back, I sat to the left of the row for the rest of the night. Alan, aka Captain JP Boyd, sat by me for some of the time, and every time the camera was at our side, if he wasn't on the phone, he was being funny in the camera.

The rest of the evening went well. I didn't have a single mean caller, and I enjoyed talking with the people who were calling. I had quite a few people ask which one I was, so I would tell them, and give them a little wave if the camera was on me. One of our cast members had someone ask if she was the one in the funny hat. We were all in hats that could be considered funny, so she just told him what she was wearing.

Eventually, Andre Rieu had finished his concert, and we had our final pledge break. As we said goodbye, it was nice knowing that I will see some of these folks next Saturday, and some in early May. What a fun evening!




Home. Tired. Very Tired.

I'll save my stories for tomorrow, as I am running on shear adrenaline and that feeling that you get when you haven't eaten enough due to wearing a corset for eight and a half hours.

I was serious, Troy, when I said i was going to eaten a huge amount of Doritos and salsa when I got home. Too tired for the margeritas, but HUGE amounts of Doritos. Huge.

I'll post pics and stories tomorrow!

I was on TV a LOT!

Saturday, March 17, 2007

Two things you don't want to find out 20 minutes before you have to leave

1. Dried mud still on part of my forepart hem. No idea how I overlooked it.

2. My laundry brush is missing. Not where it is supposed to be.

Old toothbrush seemed to work okay. Hem is now clean and the forepart is hanging in the bathroom to dry.

Good thing is that the hems don't drag too much when I am not wearing a farthingale. ;)

Thrilled.

Woke up this morning, with my schedule in mind, looked out of the window and...

It's. Snowing.

Huge, fluffy flakes. And inch on the ground, and another inch on the way, supposedly. From the looks of the radar image, it seems like a lot more snow could be on the way than just another inch.

This is Iowa's way of letting you know to never let your guard down. After all, we always get kooky weather this week of March. We had 76°F, and gorgeous on Monday, 28°F and snowing by Saturday.

Yuck.

Friday, March 16, 2007

Worked too hard today

We started moving furniture and equipment today at around 8:30am. I was going to wait until 9, but it's a good thing that we started a bit early.

The only time I sat down for longer than 5 minutes, from 8:30 until 5:15, was when I went home for lunch. By 2:00, I could hardly move, but kept on going. From 5:15 until 5:45, I sat and printed time sheets, emailed my student workers, and finished up some things that needed to be done to be able to open the labs on Sunday.

After work, I made pancakes for supper. At 6:30, I told my son that I was going to take a nap before getting back to work on the laundry and any last minute costume details.

I woke up at 11:15 pm. Not good. I had things I wanted to do tonight, so that I didn't have to rush around tomorrow morning.

After i woke up, I sat down and made a list of things I need to do tomorrow, and a rough schedule of when they have to be done, and when I need to leave and get back from everything I need to do tomorrow. This list involves a lot of driving - three hours to Manson and back, and then to Des Moines and back. I think I am going to leave the farthingale at home. To hard to drive in. ;)

The only good thing is that the scale tonight says I lost the three pounds I wanted to lose. We'll see what it says tomorrow morning...

Putting my insomnia to good use

I managed to get all of the trim sewn to the red bodice tonight. I started at around 9 pm, and worked pretty steadily. I added the bodice jewelry, but I still need to replace the "S" hook on one end of the pearl strand, so I can attach it to the center pearl cluster. Tomorrow night, I need to sew the sleeves to the bodice (decided not to mess with rings until later), and make sure everything is set and ready to go for Saturday.

Last night, I tossed and turned most of the night, then ended up oversleeping by about 20 minutes this morning. This is not the first time this happened this week. But, tonight, I should be good and tired enough to sleep. It's been a long day.

Thursday, March 15, 2007

Sad news

There were a lot of things that I wanted to say in this post, but the words just aren't there right now. So, I'll quote this bit from JP, over at AtTheFaire.com:

8:07 PM - Loss of a friend, Brad Nelson ("King Oberon"). (posted by JohnPaul )
It is with great sadness that I have to post another sad news item. Apparently, our friend Brad Nelson passed away last Tuesday from Asthma complications. Brad was known in and around Iowa as "King Oberon," the faery king, along with his family. A photo of him is on the opening page of this site, and you may have seen him last year at the Des Moines Renaissance Faire:

Brad and Tina

...or playing the Tin Woodsman at the Pumpkin Festival, or even as Father Christmas at the Clear Lake Iowa Victorian event. If you've been to any of these events, you'll no doubt know who I speak of.

Things just won't be quite the same.

Here's the best photo that I have of Brad.


Here's a health to the company and one to my lass
Let us drink and be merry all out of one glass
Let us drink and be merry, all grief to refrain
For we may and might never all meet here again

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Progress, of a sort

I've had a hard time getting started on sewing the trim to my red bodice. I have everything cut and prepared, but the only work done so far has been to sew four strips of trim into two strips that will run down either side of the front opening.

Considering the fact that the telethon is Saturday night, and I need this costume ready to wear, it was time to get to work. So, I sat down at around 9:30, after South Park, and started.

I had forgotten how hard it would be to sew the trim near the opening edge, due to the presence of two pieces of steel on each edge. I need a curved needle to make this easier, but since the only one I have is for upholstry, I am going to have to make do with my straight needles. Patience is the key.

I'm done for tonight, though. Too tired, and I don't want to make a mistake I'll have to rip out later.

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Little Miss Popularity

Dieting did not go well today, for several reasons. Big on the list was not being able to sleep last night until around 2am.

I got nothing at all done tonight, due to a meeting I had to go to. I got home late from work, because I had an errand to run. I made a quick Weight Watchers frozen dinner for each of us, and we had pineapple and carrots, and garlic toast (light bread, butter spray, very few calories).

Lunch had to be eaten out, due to no time to get home to make something.

Tomorrow will be better!

Monday, March 12, 2007

After the snow, ice, and rain...

you have flooding. We're supposed to be at 16 inches above flood stage by tomorrow morning, on the South Skunk River. The news site is maddeningly vague about where the flooding is going to be, but the county to our north is also under a flood warning, and that water will have to go somewhere.

We hit 66°F today! Yippee!!! The end of this long, strange winter is nearly here. I won't really feel like winter is over until May 1st, but spring is very welcome this year.

Sunday, March 11, 2007

BSG - kick some Cylon a$$ already!

Not a spoiler, really, but I was again mighty disappointed to not encounter the cylons tonight. It's bad enough that they "killed" off Kara last week (we all know she's coming back), but there are only a couple of episodes left in the season!

Very disappointed...

Although, there were interesting things happening, and I was rivited by watching the further erosion of Baltar. Interesting, but they aren't spending anything like enough time on him and Caprica Six.


It just feels like they are rushing through all of these stories that are setting up things that are going to happen, but we're never actually getting to what's going to happen.

I hope the Cylons show up during the trial.

Diet - Day One

Breakfast: peaches

Lunch: cheese pizza. homemade. Okay, not off to a good start.

Snack: 100 calorie pack of cookies

Dinner: salad with dressing and a little bit of shredded cheddar cheese. Baby carrots. Green beans.

Still hungry. Shouldn't have had that pizza.

Saturday, March 10, 2007

Every meal is salad, from now until Saturday.

I needed to figure out where to have the trim end along the top edge of my red bodice.

So, I put on my new smock, hooked myself into my corset (little tight), and put on my bodice.

Yes, it hooked. It was a little tighter than it was back in September, but then I always gain weight in the winter, and lose it in the spring.

After about 5 minutes, I couldn't stand it, and had to take it off. Maybe it had something to do with the amount of pizza I had for supper (way too much), or the fact that I have been so down lately that I haven't really given any thought to what I have eaten (I've looked at the calories and sodium and eaten it anyway). Just a bit too tight around the tummy, and that was enough to make me feel faint.

Anyway, the point is that I have to drop a couple of pounds this week in order to be more comfortable in my costume on Saturday. I figure cutting the sodium will help shed water weight. I'll keep eating bananas, salad, and grilled chicken, but no bread, no pickles, no cheese, nothing processed, salty, or fatty, or anything with tomatoes in it (tomatoes do bad things to my skin). If I can drop even a couple of pounds, it will make a big difference. I don't want to lose a lot of weight, just enough to be able to breathe. :)

After this week, I'm going to be so busy that I'll lose weight anyway. Always do at this time of the year. It gets nicer outside, and I stop putting comfort food on the menu. I just am starting a bit earlier this year than normal.

Accomplished

Finished my high-necked smock! Completely done, very pretty, and ready to go. Now I just have the trim to sew on my red bodice and I'll be ready for next Saturday.

Gorgeous!

Beautiful blue skies! Warmest it's been in sooooo long.

Had a great time out shopping today! I finally, finally, finally found the perfect fabric for a new gown: black cotton velvet!!! I am sooooo excited!!!!! It was normally $10.49/yard, but I had a 40% off coupon, and a gift card. I wasn't going to use black, but the only other color they had in the cotton was marroon or bright red (I prefer the red I used in my last gown, can't stand the reds they had). And, the more I thought of it, the more the idea of using the black grew on me.

I bought 8 yards of it, and am going to make a gown with a doublet-style bodice. I am going to use the rust colored douponi silk fabric that I found last fall for a set of sleeves and a forepart. In addition, I can also wear all of my other sets of sleeves and foreparts with it, too. I am going to stick with black braid trims, and just layer the trims like crazy to get a lot of texture. For the sleeves, I am going to braid long strips of the douponi, and have the strips be trim on the sleeves.

okay, gotta go get out my sketchbook - don't want to lose these ideas! I only hope I have enough of the douponi... it was orgininally a set of curtains I found on clearance at Walmart, so I can't get any more of it than what I already have.

I'm so excited that I was laughing on the way out to the car!

Fun day planned now that i thought about it...

This may not seem fun to you, but it will be for me!

Visions of sewing projects dance in my head...

1. Go to JoAnn Fabrics and (hopefully) buy something very nice for a new dress, with my 40% off coupon, and my Christmas Gift Card. If the JoAnn's in town doesn't have anything I want, it's off to Des Moines! I won't be able to start this project for a long time, but winter fabrics will be on sale, and the heavier stuff makes for richer looking garb.

2. While at JoAnn, take advantage of the fact that Simplicity Patterns are on sale, and get two more copies of 4942 (the Lord of the Rings - mens), and two copies of 4059 (don't have yet, very nice. also men's pattern). Look for inexpensive fabric to make at least one tunic, and one vest, for samples. Try the Dollar/yard table at Wal-mart if nothing at JoAnn.

3. Need 3-4 yards of red quilters cotton to replace my pirate skirt.

4. Go to both Goodwill and the Salvation Army Store to look for a heavy, large "gold" locket for Lady Rosalind

5. Write up my character description/story and send it to Queen Catherine.

6. Hem my new high-necked smock, with the sleeves on the correct sides (finished last night), and add the ribbon ties to the neck and cuffs.

7. Tack the trim down on my red bodice, and hand sew it into place. Make another couple of pearl quadrilles for the bodice. Figure out if I want to carry the same decoration to the skirt trim, or just use broaches as I did last year (the facing was only tacked down last year, due to lack of time, and the stiches kept tearing out, the broaches held it in place, and looked very pretty to boot).

8. Library - get movies and books. I like to watch movies when I sew, especially hand sewing.

Okay, I'd better get going. I have things around the house to get done before I can go and have fun!

Friday, March 09, 2007

Sorry for the boring posts lately

Hey, what can I say... I am a boring person.

Actually, I am not always a boring person. I just haven't had much excitement in my life recently. Haven't done anything fun for a really long time.

This weekend is going to be really busy, as far as sewing, cleaning house, etc. I am also going to get the wireless router working with the Wii, maybe. Ooo...

Anyway, I swear things will get less boring in the future. Lots of costuming stuff in the works, events, etc.

And if my life doesn't get more interesting, I'll start making stuff up. ;)

Thursday, March 08, 2007

What in the heck is this thing made of?????

We had to move some furniture at work today, due to some construction that is happening. We had moved quite a bit of stuff out of the back room, but there was this fairly large table that needed to be moved to one of the labs (only place that had room for it).

So, the person who was helping me grabbed one end, and I grabbed the other. I lifted with my legs instead of my back, except I couldn't straighten my legs. Damn thing was too heavy!. I'm just barely pushing my end, can't even come close to lifting it, until we got it to the hall, and realized that we would have to tip it on its side to get it through the door to the lab. At that point, I realized we needed more help, as there was no way I'd be able to help guide the table to its side, or lift it to tip it into place. TG another coworker was around. I let the guys carry it down the hall, and helped guide it to the right place in the lab. It did take all three of us to tilt it upright again.

The table top was more than two inches thick, and appeared to be some kind of pressed wood, and masonite on top. Heaviest table I've ever seen.

Considering that I throw haul around heavy boxes of paper on a regular basis, not to mention carrying laser cutter materials (who knew 10 sheets of 1/8th in. acrylic could be so heavy), and my stubborn determination to never make two trips to carry the groceries inside the apartment, and up a flight of stairs, the fact that I couldn't even budge this table should give you an indication of how heavy it is.

And just think, eventually we are going to have to move it again.

Wednesday, March 07, 2007

Mailbox Goodies

After work, I checked the mailbox, and my CDs from my son's fundraiser arrived!!!!

I bought two, and am listening to U2's greatest hits from 1980-1990. Already found a song I had forgotten about!

I also bought Love. Angel. Music. Baby.

Going to have a great evening once I get these loaded onto the iPod Shuffle...

Tuesday, March 06, 2007

Trying hard to keep a positive outlook.

Sometimes, I feel like that is all I can do.

This must be the panic setting in as I quickly approach the twin milestones of having a teenager, and turning thirty-five.

I had a list, but deleted it. Too depressing.

Monday, March 05, 2007

Obsessively. Relentlessly.

Another long day that isn't over yet...

Last night, due to a meeting running late...

I missed Battelstar Galactica!!!!!

They need to move it back to Friday nights.

Sunday, March 04, 2007

Whadda ya know?

That box spring did fit down the basement steps...

I am so tired that I don't even want to qualify that remark, other than to say we accomplished nearly everything that we wanted to accomplish.

Nap time.

Another bright and sunny day

Second day of clear skies. If it weren't so cold out, it'd be gorgeous.

Lots of stuff to do!

Saturday, March 03, 2007

How to improve an already good Saturday?

Chocolate cake, baking in the oven right now.

I bought this cake mix last Friday evening, with the thought that I would bake it then. That way, if the electricity went out, we could at least have cake with our peanut butter sandwiches. Of course, I didn't get around to baking it, because I was busy doing other things in case the electricity went out.

So today, after throwing a load of clothes in the dryer, I decided to make this cake. I am eagerly awaiting this cake, as it has been months since I have had chocolate cake. We had angel food cake a couple of weeks ago, but no chocolate cake.

Perfect Saturday afternoon... smell of chocolate cake in the air...

Busy morning

I did indeed wake up at 8:00 this morning, as planned. Of course, I fell asleep much, much earlier than planned.

This morning's list of things accomplished:

1. Breakfast - waffles!
2. Clean kitchen
3. Take magic Eraser to countertops (I have very light gray counters that discolor every time anything scapes across it the wrong way - pans, aluminum foil, dishes, paper... okay, kidding about the last)
4. Vacuum
5. Move living room around - felt too claustrophic. It was adding to my anxiety. Seriously. And I don't need any more anxiety in my life.
6. Dust.
7. Collapse into a quivering heap of aching muscles.
8. Move the green chair back to where I had it last, because it ended up looking nicer there.
9. Blog.

This afternoon's exciting event: Laundry.

Right now, it's time for a break.

Friday, March 02, 2007

Ripping out thousands of tiny stitches

It took about 45 minutes to rip out all of the stitches to remove the sleeves and side seams of my smock. I was very careful to mark what should be the right sleeve, and the right side of the smock, so that I don't make the same mistake twice.

And that is how I am ending my work day.

This week was incredibly stressful and chaotic. Between the weather, and events going on at work, I have never been so busy, and yet felt like I accomplished so little.

Every night, I have come home from work barely able to move. I have been up and down so many stairs, walked so many places, and moved lots of heavy stuff. Constantly aching legs and back.

For the rest of tonight, I am going to concentrate on things I enjoy. I am going to sew trim together. I am going to work on more pearl quadrilles for my bodice. I am going to watch funny movies. And as soon as 10 pm hits, I am going to sleep for a luxurious 10 hours. When I wake up, I'm making waffles for breakfast. I may even have ice cream with caramel on top of the waffles instead of syrup.

Sometimes the most simple things in life are the most appreciated.

Thursday, March 01, 2007

I am getting so old...

I fell asleep on the couch at a little after 8:00 pm. It was such a stressful and busy day today that I just couldn't keep my eyes open. I wouldn't be awake right now, except for the fact that I needed to check to see if my son's school is cancelled tomorrow (yes). I got up to check the kcci site, as I kept dozing off while trying to watch the ticker at the bottom of the TV screen. There are about 255 cancellations for tonight and tomorrow, so you can imagine how long it takes to get through them all.

Very sleepy... I'm going to go back to bed...

Once again, staring out my window...

and having my whole post disappear!!!!!!

Dang it!!!!!

Okay - lots of snow, 7 to 12 more inches on the way, it sucks, and I wish i didn't have to go anywhere tomorrow.