8 Things Friday

1. 8 minutes left in Friday, so I'll be fast!

2. Birthday party for two friends tonight (combined). Peach pie, tea, homemade ice cream that was mostly a puddle when I got there. And then a fire and s'mores! Haven't had those in probably years, since we haven't been camping for probably years. Yummm. My hair smells like woodsmoke now. Was good to see the two friends, and meet their friends.

3. Was on campus Wed-Fri for all-day (9-4ish) classes to start off the Summer semester. Learned a lot about the program itself, but not too much about teaching so far. That's okay, though, that's what the 5-6 hours a day of online classes will be for!

4. AUGHHHH! I'll see you all in a year, I guess, because it looks like I won't have time to have a social life or anything else for the next year. See you in June 2010! Today the instructor said this "intensive" program I'm in crams the last 4-5 semesters of a traditional teaching program into TWO (2) semesters! I'm not freaking out (yet) but I do think... it will be an adjustment. Especially if I can't keep working full-time hours. I hate needing money! So wish me luck and be supportive, because I'll need it!

5. I can't type three things after this in the next three minutes so I'll just stop trying. Most of you probably read this on Saturday anyway.

6. Speaking of Saturday:
8am-9:30 : Work (we're opening early for a special tour sort of thing, blah blah)
10am-12ish : Baby shower!
1:30pm-9:30 : Work (regular work)

I don't waaaaaaaannaaaaaa!

7. Baby shower present:



A little blanket about a yard square. Cotton fabric printed with jungle animals on one side, flannel giraffe print on the other. Just stitched, turned, topstitched, ta-da! Also, the first of the baby hats I started knitting last winter when I heard about all the pregnancies. Pink acrylic and size 5 needles.

8. My "week off" was nice. I didn't take it totally off from everything I said I would, and I didn't get the house as cleaned up as I would have liked, either. But it was nice not to feel "stressed" (in whatever manner or to whatever extent) to socialize and be out of my house. It was nice to just do nothing for a bit. I highly recommend it.

2 Things

Because I want to start blogging more, but because I have very little to blog about:

1. Last night I came to bed after Matt, but lay there awake for quite a while listening to the ticking of a clock. It was LOUD. Tick. Tick. Tick. It sounded like it was coming from our front porch! (Our bedroom window was open for air, and I could hear it through the window.) Finally I couldn't stand it anymore so I got up to stand in the living room. No, it wasn't the living room clock. I opened the front door, keeping in mind that a friend said she might drop something off on my doorstep. I didn't know what the "something" could be, and thought "Good grief, what if it's a clock?"

Nope, nothing out there. It seemed to be coming from our downstairs neighbor's open window! LOUD! It was even louder on the porch!

I got back into bed and Matt sort of huffed and rolled over. "Are you awake?" I whispered.

"Mmmm."

"There is ticking."

"Mm?"

"Ticking! It's really loud."

Silence for a moment, but for the TICKING.

"'S water dripping. Close the window."

"....Oh."

D'oh! Water dripping down the gutter and hitting the bottom curve of it! No wonder it was louder outside and seemed to be coming from the neighbor's window! The window is right next to the end of the gutter. I am a total doofus.

2. I like that people apologize to me (sometimes) when they cuss or say certain things when I'm around. I like that I exude some sort of vibe, that it's obvious that I don't cuss or say "certain things." My manager apologizes when she swears at the deposit not coming out right, or the computer not working. A couple of times I've had a couple different people apologize to me about a conversation they had in the break room while I was in there, and hoped they hadn't made me uncomfortable. (Both times I'd been reading and completely tuned them out, but it was a nice thought.)

I'm not really sure what I'm trying to say. I don't want to make anyone uncomfortable around me, but I do want to come across as a Godly, polite woman. And if people feel like they should watch what they say around me, I guess I'm succeeding?

P.S. The previous post, 8 Things Friday, has pictures now!

8 Things Friday

1. The trip last weekend was fun! :) Friday night we had dinner with the graduate--Matt's little sister, Katie--as well as her husband, mom, grandmother, and some friends.

2. Saturday, she graduated.



3. We then went to a large-ish graduation party held for Katie plus four of her husband's relatives (cousins and such, I think) since they were all graduating from various colleges and high schools. Why not combine all the parties into one big one, right?

4. Sunday we (me, Matt, Matt's dad, and his stepmom) spent most of the day (after sleeping in and lazing around, then having a fantastic buffet lunch at an Italian place) at the Denver Art Museum.

There was a funny sculpture in the front of it:



and another one in front of the Denver Public Library, right across the street:



5. We had early dinner at a little hole-in-the-wall French place in downtown Denver:



6. Monday morning we had breakfast with Matt's older sister and her two little boys (our niece was in school), then drove home in absolutely beautiful weather.

7. Sorry this is so short and abrupt. It's very late and I'm very tired. I've been very tired for a few days. I always feel discombobulated after a vacation, and it didn't help that I closed three nights in a row, which I almost never do. (I almost never close, period.) So we have had no real dinners, no clean laundry, not much to pack for lunches... I'm feeling scattered and a little stressed.

8. Therefore, I'm going to be taking a little bit of a break for the next few days. I do have to work, of course. (Bleh.) But I'm not going to do any "extras" if I can get away with it. As little internet time as I can bear, though I will keep up with blogs and Facebook for the most part. No IMing, no messing around. Just checking what I need to keep up with. Also no running around town and not meeting up with friends. Much as I like all that, I just need to be home for a few days.

I also want to get the house back in some kind of order, Lord help me! I want to get to bed at a decent hour, feed myself and Matt decently, and do good things for myself: eat fruit, take walks, stretch, knit.

I shall return in full, as usual, in the middle of next week. Once my house is a little less cluttered, hopefully my brain will follow suit. I'll be able to make a couple of Big Life Choices that have been looming over me for a while and feel more at peace. (Even if not everything gets decided and ironed out, I want to still feel at peace. Oy, pray for me.) Have a lovely Memorial Day weekend! May your hamburgers be tasty, your lemonade/beer refreshing, and (for those of you in town) the JUCO fireworks show spectacular!

Not 8 Things Friday

It's almost 2am. I was up packing and preparing, then suddenly realized I HAD TO order my books for summer classes RIGHT NOW so they'd get here in time, so I did that too. It is bedtime now, then in the morning we are off to Denver for the weekend for Matt's little sister's graduation from college! Perhaps I shall post an "on the road" version of 8 Things Friday, or perhaps I'll post a belated one on Tuesday, since we're back Monday night. Only time will tell!

I'm a little loopy.

Goodnight.

8 Things Friday

1. Has it really been a week since I last posted? It seems like it just zoomed by, but kind of like it dragged at the same time. Do you ever feel like that? Ugh, it's weird.

2. I was suddenly seized by this urge to look at pretty yellow things tonight. It started when I looked at some "wedding dresses through the decades" website, and the bridesmaid's hats in a 1950's wedding were said to be "lemon yellow." ("Said to be" because the pictures were, of course, black and white.) I love that shade of vintage lemon yellow! Like lemon pudding, but softer. The color of old handkerchief edging, and the flowers on aprons. I just spent half an hour on etsy and Google looking for "yellow," "lemon yellow," "lemon yellow vintage," "lemon yellow jewelry." (I'm now also overwhelmed with the desire for some lemon drops. I haven't had those in forever! When I was younger, we'd take them on camping trips.)

3. Short-ish post today since I've written the above two points in the first ten minutes of official Friday. It's late, and I have a big day tomorrow, preparing for my weekend away (visiting Mom and family for Mother's Day).

4. Can I have another wedding? Now that I'm not 17 and dumb and would know what I was doing? *Whiiiiiiiinnnnnnne* Mine was beautiful and so special! It was great! But I'm looking at a friend's wedding pictures and they're so lovely! I love weddings! Planning them, throwing showers, going to them, dressing up for them, being in them...

5. Speaking of showers, the Summer of Baby Showers is about to begin. The first one is May 30th. The next one will probably be the following weekend. Better get to work on some little flannel blankets to go with all those hats I've knit! (I neeeeed to take pictures of them all before I give them away! I can't forget!)

6. I used the gift card I won for the dessert contest at the work picnic to help me buy a Victoria's Secret swim suit! I've never had a "nice" suit before. Well, the ones from Target and such were nice, and very cute and I liked them. But this one feels nice. You can tell the difference in the fabric. It'll last, it won't stretch out or fade. I tried to find a picture of it online, but I can't! It's like this one, but has wide horizontal stripes of white and hot pink, and the top is bandeau-style with the halter ties starting in the center, instead of at either side. The shape of the cutouts frame my tattoos nicely!

7. I like the big flower headbands that are popular right now, and I'm thinking of making a couple. (Ribbon + elastic + flower from Michael's.) What do you think, too much to wear to my cashier job with khakis and a polo shirt? What about a feather headband?

8. Does American Apparel make it their life's work to create the ugliest clothing possible? Oh my gosh! Everytime I see a banner/sidebar ad on a website, it's of these appalling creations no sane human being would wear outside of a weird music video or a dare.

8 Things Friday

1. Fairly brief tonight because we're going to see the new X-Men movie in a couple of hours, and I want to get in as much sewing time as possible between now and then.

2. This is what I've been seeing for half of today:



I've been chain-piecing colored squares to white rectangles (and before that, cutting out lots and lots and lots of white rectangles). I have three strips done, and will probably have ten, total. With the plain white strips between the pieced strips, I think this thing will be big enough for a twin bed!

3. Went to Goodwill yesterday, and made several great scores:



Real leather, I think, and for only $5! Lots of great pockets, but not too many, and they're not too hard to get to. Very steampunk-looking, I think (and would go with my sky pirate/adventurer look nicely), nice size, good strap length, and it could even double as a "manly diaper bag" for Matt when the time comes. IF I let him have it.



Vintage aprons! I'm pretty sure the bottom one was hand-crocheted!!! And the top one has light pink chicken scratch embroidery on it, which you can't really see in the photo (and you can hardly see in real life, but which looks very sweet).



The blue and red is a Martha Stewart sheet (from her line at K-Mart, I'm assuming) which will likely become a skirt or dress, and the pastel floral is a knit sheet that will become pjs--I think shorts and a cami, maybe with a short robe if I have enough.



I didn't have brown sandals! But now I do. Love them!

4. Tweenbots. This is adorable. Someone made little cardboard "robots" and then set them going (in a straight line only) somewhere in New York City, with a flag attatched asking passersby to assit them toward their destination, which is printed there as well. Watch the video, it's worth it!

5. Possibly the cutest handmade toy(s) ever.

6. I've begun tagging my posts, which you should be able to see in the sidebar. I don' think I'm quite halfway through, but maybe 1/3. I'll tag each new entry from now on, and just do a bit at a time from the past ones til I'm all caught up.

7. I haven't really written anything since my last post, but I want to! I'm going to! Keep cheering me on/bugging me about it.

8. I did not put a ruffle on my new halter dress. I'd situated the skirt lining so the nice, even hem of the sheet it was cut from was the hem of the skirt, and if I cut off the outer fabric to shorten it and add a ruffle, I would've had to cut off and re-hem the lining, which would've been more work, and anyway, I'm almost out of white thread and wanted it done LAST NIGHT NOW instead of waiting. I can always put a ruffle on it later if I change my mind (and feel like hemming the lining, and buy more white thread).