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is finally here! I know, it’s so exciting. I’ve been delaying because I don’t really have anything good to talk about or pictures to share or recipes to post… and I didn’t really want to whine and complain and rant on such a momentous occasion. (Let’s just say that I’ve been a little stressed over school lately and have weird new muscle twitches, including one in my lower lip.)
So, what to talk about instead? Well, yesterday my congressman John Kline came to the bus station in the morning to shake hands. He seemed nice, so I thought I’d look up what he stands for (since shaking a hand is nice, but if we are polar opposites I’m still not going to vote for you), but I forgot. This morning, my representative Sandra Masin came and talked to people at the bus station, and she seemed very nice (and gave me a flyer, much like the thousands that have been in our mailbox daily for the last three weeks), and I thought I should look her up.
The flyer helped jog my memory, so I looked it up today, and while I won’t be voting for John Kline (sorry, John, but I think we disagree on almost everything), I will be voting for Sandra. It’s a little hard to tell for the latter exactly where she stands on the issues from her website because it’s a much smaller political position (and because the person who’s running against her says just about the same things), but she is endorsed by a whole bunch of groups that I trust (maybe a better way to put that is that I know their agendas and I can get on board with them, like the Sierra Club and my union), so that cinched it for me.
My Thursday afternoon teacher has promised to cancel class next week if Obama doesn’t win, because he will be too sad to teach.
OK, enough politics. Now on to what you’ve been waiting for… the winner! There were three whole comments on the “” post, and while I felt tempted to add in the extra 2 comments on the “Shock and Awe” post, I didn’t think that was necessarily fair, plus the three original commenters are regular readers, which seemed right. I asked a co-worker to pick a number between 1 and 3, and she chose…
3!
So that means you, Susan, win! Congratulations! You get your choice of either two decorative pillows (such as for a couch) or two pillowcases (so sleep on). You didn’t leave your email address – I’m assuming you’re my Susan from college, and I’ll email you details. If by some strange chance you’re a different Susan, you’ll have to email me and let me know.
Sample Pillows:
 Fall-themed pillows for the couch  Brown and green pillows for the bedroom
Sample Pillowcase:
 Awesomely retro themed pillowcase
And, for the other two of you (and the rest of you), stay tuned in for an eventual real 3,000th post sometime in 2009 (probably, maybe 2010 depending on how life goes), with an even better giveaway!
I have to say (and I did edit the original post to reflect this as well), that my earlier-bragged-about high post count is not, in fact, true. I thought it was, really I did. I wasn’t lying when I said it. I was… misinformed by my eyes. You see, I saw on my dashboard the number 2, 296 and thought… that’s super-close to 3,000! Wrong. In four posts (now just one after this), it’s actually 2,300. I’m so embarrassed.  saw my error right away. Numbers and I don’t necessarily get along – that’s my defense. Plus, I’ve been doing a lot of homework lately.
Really, a lot. Monday night I worked on my presentation for 2 1/2 hours. Last night I worked on it for an hour, spent 2 hours on my take-home essay quiz (it’s really quite bad by my standards, and I simply don’t care, and I may not have even truly followed the assignment), and then another hour on the presentation. I’ve also spent some time at work doing some research for the presentation. It’s tonight, and at the moment I’m not nervous. I haven’t rehearsed at all (unless you count discussing the merits of the arguments with ). I just have a really rough outline with a bunch of quotes. And an activity. I probably should have practiced what I wanted to say once, at least to watch for time, but whatever. I did used to do this on a weekly basis, so I have some practice under my belt. Approximately… (does math) 450 times, give or take a few dozen. And I was much less prepared many of those times. I did spend 5 minutes today pulling together a handout of resources for my classmates so if they were interested they could do further research themselves. (Did I mention there’s a decent chance I won’t go tonight, since in our 3-hour class we have 5 30-minute presentations and one 45-50 minute group presentation? And my teacher likes to talk, a lot, and totally is unaware of time.)
 The rest of my time at work has been spent doing this.  We've got regional meetings coming up and these are the table decorations.
Lots of little words on clear labels individually adhered to nearly 1800 small shapes. I’ve got about 2/3rds of the flowers left. The squares were thankfully completed in a day. We ran out of labels, so I have a 1-2 day hiatus from the task until they come in.
Apparently it’s inevitable that in the fall I want to knit. It just seems right. I’m cold all the time and knitting is snuggly and warm. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it), all my knitting supplies, with the exception of two unfinished baby blankets and a book of needles, are in storage. That didn’t stop me from browsing on Ravelry today for mitten patterns. Sometimes, I overwhelm even myself.
I am holding my own at the moment, just barely. My head is above water. I’m living day to day, so as to not be overwhelmed by the homework. Thankfully, the most overwhelming class will be over in four weeks (unfortunately, this means that everything needs to get done in four weeks). Breathe deeply, I keep telling myself.
Amazingly enough, even with the surprise-scheduled (less than 24 hour notice, that is) house showing, I managed to get a lot done this weekend and I’m feeling pretty good about my progress on the bazillions of things I’ve got in the hopper.
So, to show it all off in pictures…
Friday night, I did homework. No pictures of that. It was terribly boring. Saturday we went out and ran errands, which included a disgustingly easy shoe buying experience at Clark’s at the MOA. If they come in the mail this week like they’re supposed to (they were out of black in the store, but shipping was free), and they’re as comfortable as they felt in the store, I may be a lifetime convert. I’d post a picture, but I kinda forgot which pair I ordered; the whole thing happened so fast!
also walked into the Apple store and came out with a new laptop (planned, of course, because the night before he’d sold his old one to a guy on Craigslist). Then it was back home for more homework. Once I finished reading the Kozol book, I could take a break and work on something else.
If you recall on the BTRS Swap quilt, I had appliqued the flowers on last. I made the coin strip for the backing, and shortly found myself doing this:
 Am I really quilting?
Did you need a closeup? Because I happen to have one:
 Yes, I think I am!
The whole process was a bit messy (cutting out the strips, that is), but I didn’t get any pictures of that.
We also ate dinner, and I did some reading/research for class. Oh, and we went to Home Depot to get a new kitchen faucet (Delta), which installed while I did homework. It’s so pretty! Here’s the stock image, but ours is brushed nickel, not this silly chrome (which would look just awful in our kitchen):
 New kitchen faucet The old one looked nice, but we had terrible issues with dripping, and we had an on-faucet filtration system and they just didn’t get along. I grew up with a pull-out one like this, and  has installed them in several houses, and I just adore them. This one toggles on the side nicely, switching between a regular stream and sprinkling/rain. It works nice and we’re pleased.
Sunday morning we cleaned the house and left so that some lovely people could come over and fall in love with it (hey, a girl can dream, right?). We managed to stop into Linens N Things while we were out, since they are going out of business (everything is currently “10% – 50% off,” but it’s more like 10% for most stuff). We didn’t find anything that was on our list (well, we found it, but 10% wasn’t enough of an incentive to buy it), but we did get some other stuff we’d wanted (like a very un-exciting ice cube tray, and a wine foil cutter). We also stopped at Sears and bought an in-sink water filtration system, which replaces the on-tap one we had before. Here’s what it looks like (it sits where the soap dispenser used to):
 New water filter
did a great job of installing it. Conveniently, it sits underneath the sink and doesn’t have to be mounted, and Sears gave us a good deal on it (a lot better than the prices at Home Depot, surprisingly, who only carries GE brand).
More homework for me, and then I got the binding for the quilt sewn onto the front by machine, and after dinner set out to start sewing it onto the back by hand. I was dreading this part of the process, because it’s like hemming pants, which I hate, and my hands cramp up something awful after just one pant leg. Imagine a whole lap quilt! Surprisingly, my hands didn’t cramp up at all, and only hurt mildly towards the end, which I’m attributing to my embroidery work as of late. Also, as a nice bonus, I got it done in 2 hours! I was so thrilled, I kept showing it to at every stage of the game and he was quite nice to humor me.
So at about 10 pm, I popped it in the washing machine, quickly dried it, and we took these photos of the finished product:
 BTRS Swap Lap Quilt finished - front  BTRS Swap Lap Quilt finished - back
Awesome, no? And, it’s officially my first completed quilt, since I have two others that need the binding sewn on. It will make it into the mail tonight or tomorrow morning, just in time for the deadline (which is today). I know I’m not the only one who was doing work at the last minute, and that several people haven’t finished yet. I feel very lucky that mine was sent to me last week, and that it is just gorgeous!
I suppose one of these days I should tell you about our trip to Grand Rapids last weekend, but the truth is that I keep forgetting to upload the photos to Flickr, and they’re at home on the server, which I can probably access from work but I don’t know how. So, another day….
The one thing I didn’t get done that I really needed to was call  . I know she’s a bit disconnected from the internet these days, but if she’s reading this, know that I thought about you a lot this weekend and just wasn’t able to make any phone calls (and I refrained from emailing since I thought talking would be better).
Homework-wise I got one book finished, and my “Racial Autobiography” done. So before Wednesday I need to formalize my presentation (30 minutes on the afore-mentioned book), and by Thursday I need to do my take-home essay. No rest for the weary, right? Conveniently, all my swap items are taken care of except for the Doll Quilt Swap, which isn’t due until December 1st, and I have a lot of embroidery work completed on that, so I can take a breather from that if need be.
I’ve heard  is back from Africa, which is good. She has some sweet pictures of penguins and other African things – maybe she’ll post some on her blog one of these days.
So… lots of people who blog do some sort of special thing for their 100th post, or 200th, or 1,000th. Um, I’ve been blogging way longer than that (not that I’ve had that much to say, I just like to say it often, “aloud” to myself). I kinda missed 100, 200, 500, 1,000, 2,000… can you see where this is going? In approximately 3 posts, I will reach a grand total of three thousand posts. Oh my goodness.
So obviously, I should do something fabulous and give away a car. But, I’m not Oprah. So maybe a nice crafty project. But, I don’t have time these days, so it might have to be a small crafted item. Hmm. I’ll have to think about that. I’m quite good at pillowcases. Anyone want some of those?
Here’s the deal: leave a comment on this post and whenever I get around to writing that three thousandth post (sometime early next week), I’ll randomly draw a winner and everything will be fabulous.
Of course, if no one leaves a comment, as often happens on this blog because despite the nearly three thousand entries, I really don’t talk about much of significance most of the time which means I’m not that popular, then I’ll just have to sit at home and eat chocolate ice cream by myself. And no one wants that. I barely fit into the few pairs of pants I own. So please, leave me a comment!
Editor’s Note: the author is not so good with numbers. It won’t actually be 3,000, but rather 2,300. Nonetheless, the giveaway will occur as planned. My bad. But, this does give me 700 posts to figure out an awesome giveaway for the real 3,000th post.
Look at this post on the Pimp Stitch blog! #4 is mine! Woo-hoo!
Also, the piece mentioned is now finished (except for framing/hanging), which is equally exciting. I finished it late last week, I think.
 Finished apple basket embroidery
And while I didn’t get the photos from our trip uploaded last night, I did make some progress on the BTRS Swap Quilt. I got the flowers appliqued onto the quilt top. Tonight, I will hopefully make the coin strip for the back and applique the flowers onto it as well. I am excited that I’ve read a few places how much people love the Bamboo batting, which is what I bought for this project. My biggest worry is actually not having nearly enough time to hand-sew the binding on the back.
 Sneak peak at BTRS Swap quilt
 I've made this progress on Doll Quilt Swap 5 (my aplogies for the blurry pics - it was quite late and dark and the combination was no good for close-ups).  I have tons of time left to complete it, so I've been trying to not work on it, though embroidery is one of the few things I can do on the bus, so it hasn't gone completely stagnant. Most of the progress was actually done while on the Ferry to Michigan or sometime during that trip. That’s about it from me…. I will be spending lots of time today cutting out little circles for a work project. I know, sounds thrilling.
I know, I know, I’ve been gone for over a week and left you all here to wonder where I went. So bad of me. I had a sudden 6 days off work that was mostly unplanned, which left me no time to set up posts in advance to entertain you in my absence. I’m guessing you all did fine with that, since is mostly without internets and is in South Africa (and sees me every day).
Last Monday through Wednesday, I was at a Spanish Immersion School getting my “cultural learning experience” hours in. Do I speak Spanish? No. Did I do anything other than sit and watch? No. Was I bored to tears? Yes. But, I did get my paper written, so it’s all good. I did learn some things, though not nearly as much as I should have for 15 hours of observation. Oh well. Another professor has hooked me up with a high school teacher in Bloomington so I can get my last 15 hours in (so I can apply to the program), and that will hopefully go better.
I also went to my last quilting class and learned how to put on binding. No photos of the finished product because I made some mistakes and need to re-do it (no worries – I was only a few inches into hand-sewing on the back of the binding), and haven’t had any time to do that.
There was also class as usual on Thursday afternoon, after Wednesday night’s class-not-as-usual, where we met at one of my group member’s to work out our group presentation (which had confusion and disaster all over it, since we were meeting at the home of the group member who is a foreign exchange student and seems to not really understand everything that’s going on, making life difficult, but it actually turned out OK after everyone finally found where we were supposed to be, which was almost funny but mostly frustrating and not entertaining enough to detail for you). The bonus of that was that instead of being in class from 6-9, we met at 5 (which my group decided the week before, without me, and I was lucky enough to be able to make it on time), and I got home by 7:30.
We had a house showing on Thursday morning. I was home for the morning, needing to be in Minneapolis by 1 for class, and accidentally slept in 2 hours (which meant I woke up at 9 instead of 7 like I was planning). The showing was 10-11, and I was supposed to be out of the house by 9:45, so I was rushed. We’d already cleaned the night before, but the bathroom needed some extra work, and I needed to get myself ready for the day as well. Much to my surprise, the Realtor showed up half an hour early! She was quite apologetic, and I scooted out of their way quickly, but I was a bit frustrated by it. Hopefully it went well, though we don’t have any feedback yet. I ran over to TJ Maxx and Old Navy before getting an oil change in the meantime.
We also had another showing on Monday morning, while we were traveling back from Michigan. I’ll have to tell you more about our trip later, because the pictures are all on ‘s laptop. It will most likely be later in the week, since tomorrow I will be out of the office most of the day, and have class at night.
This week is crazy. No more quilting class, but I realized that the “two weeks to mailing it out” deadline for the BTRS Swap was last Monday, meaning I have about 6 days to get it done in. The top is done, the batting bought, and the applique cut out, but I haven’t prepped the back yet, sewn on the appliques, or cut the binding. And I had wanted to do two matching pillowcases as well, which may not get done. Oops. Also, I have a take-home exam to complete by next Thursday, a class presentation next Wednesday, and has finally decided to purchase a garbage disposal so we can install it (her birthday present), which means a trip over there on Saturday. And I really wanted to move date night to Saturday so we could go to a state park and have a picnic, looking at all the pretty fall colors (we’re at peak now, but only for a short time!). I did get a ton of work done for the Doll Quilt Swap (what was I thinking, signing up for 2 swaps?) while we were in transit, so that can thankfully sit aside for a week while I focus on the other swap.
I did not get all caught up at work by 10 am like I predicted, but then again several people have sent me very annoying requests and I’ve been ignoring them, so that may be part of it. I will have to deal with them eventually though.
Look for pictures of our trip on Thursday!
It was a rush there towards the end, but I got it all done. Getting ready to be gone from the office for 6 days, that is. Normally I don’t have tons to do, and going away for a short time wouldn’t be an issue, but right after I get back is a meeting, and there are always things that I delay doing until I have to do them, and so push came to shove today. But, it’s all done. Well, everything but the stuff that I have to go in on Tuesday to do. That’s right, in the middle of my 6 days off work, I’m going into the office to work for an hour or two. Boo on that, I say, but it couldn’t be helped. Someone has to upload some files and that someone is me.
In other news, I have some pictures to share.
Wednesday, I met up with and her mentee instead of going to class, so that I could do my cross-cultural interview and write the paper that was due (that night in class). I got the paper completed and emailed in, and then used the time to make some progress on the BTRS Easy Lap Quilt Swap.
 Wednesday's progress
Thursday’s class got out an hour early, but I ended up waiting downtown Minneapolis almost 40 minutes for a bus, so that was mostly a waste. I did stop in to Goodwill on the way home, however, and found some lovely things.
 A new dress...
 ...a fun book...
 ...and some wall hangings.
They’re not as hideous as you might think. OK, they are, but parts of that are fixable. First of all, the orange backing is felt that was falling off, and has since been removed. Now I’m left with how to refinish them. Originally, I was thinking black glossy paint, but I’ve since changed my mind towards white glossy paint. And I’d prefer a nice turquoise background, but I can’t decide if a solid or print would be better.
 Thoughts?
Also, I don’t actually have a room in the house to place them, so another thought is to just put them in storage until we have a new house, and then refinish them to match the decor there. But, given the current state of the economy, that could be a very long time. The birdies make me happy now, so I should figure out something to do with them. Maybe paint them white and do a temporary backing (dark brown?) that matches the room they would hang in (I’m thinking the spare bedroom – it’s kinda sparse on decorations)?
I’m sure Jessica of How About Orange would have just replaced the orange background and left it at that. And G of doe-c-doe would definitely know what to do, since she always does such nice things with her garage sale finds. Alas, I’m feeling slightly more challenged by this project. I’m torn between wanting them to look cool and wanting to keep the “gold” that they’ve got going on. OK, not really, because it absolutely must go. This is what comes from reading so many craft blogs. I’ve got ideas, but not necessarily the artistic eye to make it happen.
Then Thursday night (aka Date Night), after some delicious turkey tacos, I took some time to get it to this point:
 Progress
I also figured out that the idea I had for some applique (something new for me) would work, and where to place it.
And now, I have to do homework, because if I don’t start now, I’ll never get to leave and go to JoAnns and Michaels and the co-op (to get some more Teeccino, because I’m almost out and I don’t want to pay shipping if I don’t have to).
- One of the best concerts/plays/movies I ever saw that I really didn’t think I’d like was [no answer]. I don’t really have any answers for this. I don’t go to concerts, plays, or movies that I don’t think I’ll like, unless wants to go, and then I’ve usually still not liked them (big surprise), or even hated them (there were a few really bad ones while we were dating – now he goes by himself, or at least goes without me).
- Crock Pot Roast Beef (that I talked about earlier in the week from “Use Real Butter” by Jen) is a recipe I recently made (or meal I recently ordered) that was delicious!
- It’s time for a nap, don’t you think? Or Daylight’s Savings? I’m getting tired of not seeing the sun.
- Getting projects done is quite refreshing.
- If I never hear the word phrase “oh, snap!” again, it’ll be too soon.
- To one side of the curving road was a bear, and on the other was a huge waterfall. (I don’t know where those answers came from, but doesn’t it sound almost nice? Not camping appropriate, but I do love waterfalls.)
- And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to hopefully going to JoAnns and Michaels, assuming I get my homework done too, tomorrow my plans include homework, the post office, and some crafting and Sunday, I want to bake (wishful thinking though)!
So my darling cow creamers that I’d hoped would sell on Etsy haven’t, and though a few people have favorited them, there’s clearly not been much interest. I’ve dropped the price several times, but still no luck selling them. So, I put them up in the “Sweat Shop Swap” on Craftster, which means that up to 5 of them will be leaving my house this month, to go live in homes where they will be loved and used (instead of living in shoe boxes in the top of my closet). A few people in the swap commented that they liked them, so I was encouraged by that.
But then, just fifteen minutes ago, someone actually bought one on Etsy! Imagine that! It’s a gift, so that’s pretty cool too. The Spanish one, Dulcinea (with “leche” on the side) is going to go live somewhere else.
 Dulcinea
Which also, coincidentally, means there’s money in my Paypal account, but we’ll just let that sit there for a while.
It also means that I now officially have a sold item in my store, which hopefully looks better to potential buyers than none. Hopefully I’ll get a good rating, as well, thus further boosting my selling potential. I don’t really know how it all works, beyond the option of buying featured spots, which I’m unwilling to do at this point.
So, I guess I’ll be taking a break from reading this weekend (lots and lots of reading for class) to go to the Post Office. Yay!
 Goodbye, Dulcinea!
Note: if my swap partner (that is, the partner for whom I’m making the quilt, not the partner who’s making the quilt for me) happens to drop in here, you should probably not read this post if you wanted progress to be kept a secret from you. Just sayin’….
So, the other day I received the fabric from one of my swap partners for the “Easy Lap Quilt” I’m making for her (wondering what that looks like? here’s some search results from Flickr). The book says 3 solids, 3 prints, 1 backing. She sent three prints total (OK, the brown one could be considered a solid), and I thought, OK, I can work with that. After all, I didn’t exactly follow the instructions either, if you remember, so why should I require everyone else to. It had been suggested that we could add some fabrics from our own stashes if we wanted to, so I took the opportunity (since I used it already for stash-busting, having purchased nothing for this project yet, and I wanted to keep it that way as much as possible).
Here’s what I came up with:
 The three on the left are mine - the three on the right are hers. How'd I do? The yellow isn't nearly as yellow as it looks in this picture.
So last night, I cut out the fabrics, and after playing around with layout and getting ‘s advice (he’s very good at this sort of thing, though after I took his suggestion and “fixed” it, he said, “I don’t know what you did, but it’s much better” – so he gets it, but only kind of), here’s the layout I ended up with:
 What do you think?
Also, over the weekend, I did a little bit of sewing (besides finishing up the veil for Tink, which is now in the mail). I decided to try the coin quilt technique for some pillows. I’d found this pretty purple flannel as a remnant at JoAnn and thought it would make nice fall pillows for our living room.
 Going through the rest of my stash, I came up with.
So, the pillows will be the purple flannel (it’s got leaves on it, if you can’t tell in the picture), and there will be a stripe of the “coins,” most likely offset to one side (like these ones I made), because I like that look. I’m hoping they can be fall-like and winter-y, but it wouldn’t matter that much since pillow covers are so easy to make, and I always make them removable (because in our house, you need to be able to wash the cat hair off of things), so I could always make new winter-y ones, if we decide we want pillows. Oh, that’s right, we don’t actually have any pillows on our couches. I asked what size he wanted, and he said he didn’t know, because he didn’t know why we would have or use pillows. Hmm. I’m thinking small-medium. 14″?
Lastly in crafting, while finding new blogs (which means I really, really, really need to update my list of blogs I read on this here website, because I read about a dozen or two more than what’s listed there), I found Quilter’s Cache, which has (literally) thousands of quilt patterns. Here are some I picked out that I would like to make some day (though many are highly unlikely that I will ever be that skilled):
 Quilty Inspiration
(Description of each on the linked page)
That’s it for me – any votes for Halloween Costume yet?
I need some advice! What I really need is to have you vote, but I can’t get the good poll plugin to work because the hosting site is blocked here at work, and the other one I tried required there to be a right answer, which is not how polls work.
Here’s the thing: I have some awesome vintage patterns that I’d love to make a “Halloween Costume” from. But I can’t decide. Which one would look best, be worth my time, not make me embarrassed to be wearing it… I really have very little judgment at this moment.
Here are the options. Vote through the comments….
 (a) Loves to play tennis  (b) Sophisticated woman
 (c) Clearly medicated
 (d) Dinner Party Hostess
 (e) Happy Housefrau
What do you think?
Occasionally, I exercise great self-control. Like waiting until marriage to have sex, or not ripping my co-workers’ heads off. You know, important things. But, when it comes to, shall we say, smaller things, I am not so good. Want to eat that whole bag of cookies? Sure, go ahead. Don’t feel like going to the gym? Don’t. Feel the need to consume an entire bar of chocolate? Just do it.
This, of course, is what I’m struggling with at the moment. My goal for the day (just one day, mind you) was to eat healthy. I had my caffeine-free Teeccino along with some instant oatmeal for breakfast. I had a sandwich for lunch made of left-over pot roast (you simply have to try Jen’s recipe – I linked to it a few weeks ago and we made it this weekend and it was awesome!) and a slice of cheese. I also had celery with low-fat peanut butter. See how good I was? I was even going to skip the trip to the Tea Garden today since I’ve decided it would be prudent to cut back to once or twice a week, but then I got notice from a co-worker that I will be here all afternoon by myself, and that calls for some warm, toasty, Chai comfort.
But, while out to get my Chai (my decaf Chai, that is), I was overwhelmed with the desire to consume something else. I knew that back at my desk I had some lovely yogurt and a strawberry fruit leather, just waiting for my return. I took a very long walk (exercise is good, right, and this was the only chance I’d get until after dinner), all the time strongly craving something very specific. I was good. I returned to my desk with only the Chai, and quickly ate my yogurt and fruit leather. It wasn’t nearly as good as what I really wanted. But so much better for me, right? Even if I end up eating a few squares of Dove dark chocolate (the only chocolate I have in my cube), that’s gotta be better than what I really wanted.
Which was a large chocolate shake and a Moon Pie.
What, if any, historical events occurred during your elementary school days? Middle school? High school?
The only thing I can think of for elementary school is the Challenger explosion. I’m sure there were many other important things.
When I was in junior high, the Berlin wall fell, and that was a pretty big deal.
In high school… I can’t think of one single thing. Boy, that’s not good for a future Social Studies teacher, is it? Truthfully, my thinking at the moment is limited to things I was aware of during those years, and I know that I didn’t pay attention to world happenings at all in high school.
Haven’t done one of these in a while….
What is one thing you admire about each of your parents? has a great ability to bounce back from adversity. Sometimes it takes her a while to recover, but she is much stronger than she sometimes gives herself credit for, and I think she raised to strong girls, and that’s where it shows up.  is very handy and knows how to do all sorts of clever things, like woodworking and plumbing and gardening (OK, what I admire most is his green thumb, because I cannot replicate it for the life of me).
Which parts of your home do you like best? I’m quite fond of the spare bedroom where my craft stuff is set up, though I can hardly keep it organized so it’s not exactly my favorite. If I could get the pillow situation figured out so I’d be more comfortable, I’d say the Poang chair in our bedroom next to the Barometer lamp (yes, both Ikea) where I do my homework, because it’s finally well-lit, I can close the door to tune out the television, and turn on the radio for some peace and relative-quiet. I’m also a fan of our bed, because it’s where I sleep, and I like sleep. Sorry, no real favorites in my current house (we are trying to sell it, you know).
Which would you prefer and why? To have every stoplight turn green upon your arrival for the rest of your life or to have one week of the best sex any person ever had? Well, that seems like quite a personal question, but I have a very non-personal answer. Seeing as how I drive very little (though more so now than when I didn’t have a car at all), and that sitting at red lights usually doesn’t anger me (unless I’m really really really late for the bus in the morning), I’m going to go with the awesome sex. Because, well, duh.
My elbow hurts. Why, you ask? I’ve been taking Flax Seed Oil and Vitamin E, as well as Vitamin C and a multi-vitamin for over a month now, and have completely eliminated the tendinitis pain I experienced all summer long (simply from working at the computer). But, the combination of running out of my multivitamin last week (and not having time to get to Target to refill) and the bus ride home yesterday (I got to stand the entire way on the yellow line, you know, the one that if someone is standing in front of it the bus magically can’t operate, and had to hold on to something with my right arm, so my elbow took a beating, and I knew it was happening but couldn’t do anything about it) means that it hurts something awful today. OK, not really awful. Between annoying and completing-interfering-with-my-life. I took Advil. It didn’t work. I’m wearing my brace. It’s not working either. Sad.
I spent some time this morning crashing both  and  ‘s email systems. That was fun. It wasn’t intentional. She asked me to send pictures from when we saw , so I did, but they were too big for her system to handle. I only sent 3, singly attached to emails, but no good. We’ll have to work something out.
I strongly require a nap. A 12-hour nap.
Just a smidge of homework tonight. I also have to finish the veil I’m making for a blog-friend. Last night I got the ribbon sewn on, and it’s 75% attached to the comb, but then it was 10:30 and I was super tired and had run out of thread (which was all the way upstairs!), so I called it a night. Note: I hate working with invisible thread. Sewing things onto combs is annoying, but invisible thread is a nightmare. That will be my only complaint about this project because I’ve really enjoyed it and think the end result will be very nice, and it feels good to do something nice for someone getting married. I remember what it was like, all the planning and stressing over what things cost and so forth – being on the other side of that, besides being wonderful, brings out a lot of sympathy for people still in that stage. Plus, it carries a family tradition all the way across the states ( made ‘s, I made mine with some sewing help from , and I’m not family at all in this instance, so maybe that doesn’t make any sense, but I do believe that it is so easy to make a veil and costs so little, that no one should have to pay ridiculous prices for a store-bought one).
Yesterday I had a haircut from another new stylist, as the last one didn’t work out at all. This girl seemed very knowledgeable and had suggestions, asked for my input, had a plan, etc. I’m liking how it turned out (though we’ll see what it looks like in 6 weeks, since that’s when I knew my last haircut had been bad). I have noticed today that my hair still isn’t curling its best, despite the cut, which means that my hair has grown averse to my styling products and I need some new ones. It’s about time. I’ve been using the same stuff for quite some time (I’m on my 3rd or 4th refill on most of them), and that’s just way too long. My hair is like that – it likes change.
I’m all caught up at work, including my email, which is nice. I only have 3 messages in my Inbox, and they’re from June and July. I’ve got some more work to do this afternoon with our policy manual (ooh, exciting stuff), but that’s about it.
I’ve recently discovered a bunch of new blogs, mostly craft blogs, that I’ve really been enjoying. I’ll have to share them soon. And I’ve found some new Flickr groups that are great! If you’re interested in those, just go to Flickr and you can see them in my profile.
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thankful
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