Some things I’ve bookmarked recently:
- Square Foot Gardening/
- Certified Organic Seed From Wild Garden Seed
- Turtle Tree Seed
- Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds
via Google Reader (Shared Items)
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Well, classes have been canceled due to the crazy snow storm (visibility downtown is about 2 blocks right now), which is good, because I was going if we were having class – there’s a test tonight and a paper due (which I stayed up late to write last night). But, the roads are so bad (one co-worker lives 10 minutes away and it took her an hour to get home, which does not bode well for those of us who live further away) that I don’t think I will actually gain any free time tonight. Oh well. Maybe a little. However, we’re moving date night to Saturday this week so that we can go out and do… something (depending on the weather, perhaps a little fun in the snow), so that means that I have a bunch of homework to get done Friday night, so maybe I’ll just capitalize on the extra time tonight. I have a splitting headache, again, for about the fourth afternoon in a row. No fun, I tell ya. My neck still hurts too, though I’ve been icing it on and off since last night and it has improved somewhat. I now have a more normal range of motion. I wonder if the two are related…. Since so many of my co-workers live far away from the office, the place is clearing out pretty fast. I wonder if I did manage to complete a major task in the background of this blog today, something I’ve been working on for months. Now every post has one and only one category that it is filed under. Woo-hoo! The next step is to see if I can categorize some of the 800+ posts in the “uncategorized” category. I added two new categories just to try to help out. Slowly, but surely. It’s time again for the Thankful Meme! I hope you’ll play along with me – leave what you’re thankful for in the comments if you don’t have a blog, or link back here if you do. I know lots of people find it difficult to have a positive attitude this time of the year (February, blah, grey, and for us in Minnesota, spring is oh-so-far away), so hopefully creating a list of the things that you have to be thankful for, whether they are big or small, will help! Today, I’m thankful for… …ice packs to soothe sore muscles. …good grades on papers (and positive, flattering comments from my professor). …the city council member who responded quickly to my request for an interview, allowing me to write the paper and turn it in on time. …a great open house this past weekend, and perfect weather for a winter showing. …not having to answer the phones today. …the new “trial” dress code at work that allows us to wear jeans on Fridays, starting next week (it’s all I ask for). …figuring out how to assemble the last parts of my messenger bag, finally (still waiting for some webbing for the strap though). …at least one person in each class this semester that I can call a friend. …the patience of friends and family who are graciously putting up with my busy schedule. …moving this week’s Date Night to Saturday (so we can go out and do something, hopefully in the outdoors if it’s not too cold). …my new commuter mug, which not only is spill-proof but also keeps my Teeccino warm (I have a post planned for sometime in the next few weeks where I review a few commuter mug options, if you’re interested). …Minnesota bloggers (the more local, the better). …time to craft in the midst of homework and cleaning. …skin allergies being under control for the last few weeks. …Crystal Light packets, which make the water here at work drinkable. …finally wrapping up a terrible project at work yesterday. …good health, both my own and of my loved ones. …Skittles pink (strawberry) jelly beans. Now it’s your turn!
Just when I thought I was going to have to turn in my “elected official interview” paper late (because none of the elected officials I had contacted had gotten back to me, and I was led to believe I wouldn’t hear back from the city council until Thursday, when the paper is due), I received a response from a council member answering my questions. Yay! Of course, this means that tonight when I get home from class (around 10 pm), I have to write said paper. But, that’s OK. I think it’s just a 2-3 page paper, the first half being an overview of the interview and the second half a reflection. I don’t have the assignment handy, so I’m not sure, but it seems easy enough. The hard part was supposed to be getting the interview (and it was). Tonight in class (which starts in 7 minutes), I have to give a mini presentation on one of the readings, which seems to make a lot of people nervous. Not me (though no promises that I won’t turn tomato red – can’t control that). I am, however, anxious for this day to be over. I have had a terrible crick in my neck all day. I can’t turn my head left. At all. Makes driving, specifically changing lanes, quite difficult and/or painful. I’d like to go to bed and wake up and it to be gone. I’ve tried a heating pad and Advil, to no help. And now I’m out of Advil. But, only another, what, 5 hours of the day? I can do that. [If I didn't have class tonight, I'd so be getting a massage right now. Alas, school is more important than a bit of muscle pain.] I wrote this list last week while waiting for class to start, trying to stay cheerful. daffodils Some things I’ve bookmarked recently:
via Google Reader (Shared Items) My apologies if the blog has been a bit boring lately. I’ve been working on stuff in the background, getting tags and categories cleaned up, links corrected, etc, which is terribly boring, and consequently I haven’t felt motivated to write. Last night I wrapped up what I could on the messenger bag. I also ordered the webbing I need for the strap, so I can’t do anything else until it arrives. But, the only steps left are to attach the strap, sew the lining to the bag, and then some decorative top-stitching. I can’t figure out what the instructions are telling me to do for attaching the lining, but I’ll figure it out at some point. I did write a post on Monday, but then decided I couldn’t post it. Bummer. Let’s see… I’m reading Breakfast at Tiffany’s (borrowed from the library), which is quite good. Very different from the movie, but in some aspects it’s word for word. Interesting. A short read, too, so if you’re looking for some light reading, I advise picking it up. I’m about 2/3rds done. The best part is that the Prince of Brazil, Jose, has a last name in the book (which isn’t mentioned in the movie) that is fabulous. He’s Brazilian, so his name is Jose Yberra, but his mother was German, so it’s hyphenated, Yberra-Jaeger. Maybe not funny to you, but to me it is. Apparently the open house went well, with 7 parties passing through, which includes a few sets of neighbors who want to sell their units this year. To them I say, good luck! There was also a showing (during the open house – weird, I know), and they were the only people who might have been interested. Our Realtor thinks we should do another one in a few weeks. I would like to be able to garden in the ground this summer, and it’s not planting season here in Minnesota until Memorial Day, so that might be a possibility, but I’m not making plans. More fabric arrived at my house last night (I know, I know – but the February budget was blown on, like, the 5th, so I already had a “why not” attitude about it), which was exciting. More short cuts from JCaroline, including a lime and brown stripe that I had designated to be part of a tablecloth and just hadn’t purchased, and now it’s not available anymore, so I had to buy what I could (and I’ll have plenty, enough to make napkins too). So pretty, and now it’s all washed and ironed (but not photographed or folded and put away). I also cut up the charm squares for the second Mini Quilt in a Bag swap. My partner sent me Sweet, and I had a plan, which I then had to revise when I read that I was supposed to use a bit of every single print. Oops. Good thing I hadn’t cut anything out. So, I spent some time yesterday doing math and charting it all out. I think there will still be some revisions that I need to make, but I haven’t cut all the fabric out yet, so there’s still wiggle room. I’m hoping to get the main “blocks” done this weekend so I can finish calculating the rest of it out. Don’t want to say too much, in case she drops in to take a peek here. There was also a tiny bit of studying for tomorrow night’s test, which I’m not worried about (10/10 on the last one, and I’m the student in class who answers all the questions). I should have been writing a paper on my interview with an elected official, but all the ones I’ve contacted have ignored me. I think I’m going to have to be a co-worker to introduce me to the city council member she knows, and then beg him to answer the questions via email. I am anxious to get the paper I wrote back tonight, since it will be the first grade in my Historical Interpretation class. I feel like it was a bad paper, though I will probably get a decent grade, but you never know how a professor grades until that first one comes back. If you’d like to look to the right, I added a little countdown to the end of the semester (aka Countdown to Hammock Time). I am looking forward to that very much. We’re at the point of the semester where I feel like I bit off more than I can chew, am not really interested in any of it, but it’s too late to drop out of any classes without financial and GPA consequences. So, plug on I will. And it will all be good in the end, but it’s a struggle for a bit. (That said, I have had a great deal of free time the last few days, which has been nice. I’m struggling with my online class, in that I’m not particularly fond of the professor at times, and I’ve turned in two papers that weren’t for credit, but for the online discussions he’s given me 20/25. Grades weren’t posted for the first one until after the second one was over, so then I could try to participate more, but obviously not soon enough to change my grade for the second one. It’s really annoying. But, he liked one of my comments on discussion 3 enough to comment on it, which he rarely does. So I feel like I’m all over the board with him.) Lastly, today is the last day of the half dosage of Wellbutrin I’ve been on for the past 18 months. Tomorrow I start back on the 300 mg, which is very exciting. I have been sleeping better lately anyways, which is nice (there were a few weeks there that I wasn’t sleeping well or much, and that was rough). Plus, Spring Break is in two weeks, so that’s good. And, to reward you for hanging on so long, here’s a pretty picture for you. These are my new earrings I bought on Etsy. They arrived on Monday, and I promptly wore them yesterday. So springy and cheerful! (She still has a few pair for sale if you hurry.) Her blog is great too – one of my current favorites.
While babysitting Friday night, I got most of my homework done (except for a troublesome paper and a short presentation, the latter of which I finished on Sunday), so I had all Saturday and a chunk of Sunday (and Monday night too!) to… do anything but homework. It was lovely. I’ve been working on making myself a new bag, since my last one died long before it should have and I just couldn’t justify shelling out $75 again for something that would just fall apart. It has taken quite a lot of time to get this far, in part because it took a while to figure out which pieces to cut out of which fabrics, and in part because after everything got cut out, I had to spend almost 2 hours ironing the fusible fleece or fusible interfacing to fabric. Important steps, but time-consuming. Plus, the general construction is a lot of work (and a bit confusing). But, I’m pleased to report that Saturday I finished the laptop case.  New netbook case
Aside from some errors that I haven’t figured out how to correct (involving the zipper), the only change I made was to alter this so that it would fit my very tiny netbook instead of the 15″ laptop it was designed for. Also, I made a mistake when putting on the zipper and accidentally put it on the opposite end, so what is now the front was supposed to be the back, and vice versa. Oh well. I will end up re-making this so that it fits better (it’s still too big) and will get the fabrics in the right places. Also, that stripe of Katie Jump Rope (the orange checks) between the two Aviary prints will be replaced with a ribbon, or at least a better print. Overall, I am quite pleased with this project and would definitely make it again. And after a lot more time sewing, last night things finally came together so that I had something that actually started to look like a bag.  Progress on messenger bag
There’s still no lining, and I need to go buy some brown webbing for the strap (because I am not sewing one out of fabric like they suggest), but I’m quite pleased.  Progress on messenger bag - inside
You know you’re impressed. Details on the fabrics and pattern are on Flickr. You can’t see from this picture, but there’s a large pocket on the back (that will probably fit my laptop, since it is so tiny). The lining also has a large zippered pocket. I’ll post better pictures of all the little details when it’s finally done (and hopefully I’ll take them when there’s some sunlight, because this taking pictures in the dark thing is just no good). Lastly, there are more things growing at my house!  Doesn't that just make you happy?
Yesterday morning, the birds were chirping (don’t they know it’s still February and we’re in Minnesota?), and it’s starting to get light out before we leave for work. It always seems like it takes such a long time for the days to get longer, but it is happening. And, eventually, the grass will be green and not buried under snow (though fellow Minnesotans shouldn’t get their hopes up too soon – I heard on the news that March is actually our snowiest month), plants can live outside in the sun, and we can all fill up on Vitamin D. Until then, this bit of green will have to do. Some things I’ve bookmarked recently:
via Google Reader (Shared Items) Some things I’ve bookmarked recently:
via Google Reader (Shared Items)
Well, it seems that I’ve got things here at thee olde blog fixed, somehow. Or maybe they magically fixed themselves, because I certainly didn’t do anything that could really be classified as “fixing.” Whatever the case, I’m no longer getting continuous PHP errors, so it’s all good. 3:05 is a lovely time to be at work on a Friday afternoon. Seriously. Right now my work schedule is 7:30-4, so it means I have less than an hour left. But, today is different, and I get to leave at 3:30, which means that there are only 25 minutes of work left! See, 3:05 is lovely.
This is my first (!) solo babysitting opportunity with Tonight, however, no gifts. Just a honking stack of homework for me. There are only 2 hours of awake time with him anyways, which leaves… 2-3 (hopefully) hours for homework. How long do Timberwolves games last? Add in driving back from … wherever the game is… and then me driving home… and I will be a very tired girl tomorrow. But, it’s definitely the last chance to babysit Did I mention my sister is giving birth in less than 4 weeks? We’re having an open house on Sunday, which is exciting. Hopefully someone will be interested, especially now after all the work we’ve done. If you thought maintaining a home was a big deal, just wait until you try to sell one. Yikes. Think positive non-hazardous-road-conditions thoughts for me, OK? |
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‘s work has sent him home – they do that sometimes. Guess I’ll find out when I get home. Those of us who take the bus, however, are still here. So that means… three of us.
called me yesterday after her two babysitters canceled on her. They’re going to a Timberwolves game and apparently I’m the only person on the planet who doesn’t have plans. Or something like that. Alas, driving up to her house from mine is something I try to avoid like the plague during any type of “rush hour,” since it inevitably involves getting stuck in traffic either heading into the city or out of, depending on time of day. There’s really no winning. And unfortunately, there is a snowstorm predicted to arrive just in time to mess up the evening commute. What is normally an hour or hour and 15 minute drive will take… who knows how long. I’m hoping less than an hour and 45 minutes, which is what I’ve scheduled for. If things get very bad, I will call her from the road and we’ll work things out.
. How can that be? He’s over 2! I think it’s because 
is just 15 minutes away from him, and there are always youth group kids around who will babysit. And we live an hour and 15 minutes away. That must be it. Of course it couldn’t be that he doesn’t like me, because, as we all know, I am the coolest aunt ever. Who got him (OK, we got him) the best Christmas gift evar. You don’t even know.
