Busy Busy

So much to do lately!  It's all good stuff, but it's piling up in a way that's verging on stressful.  I need to work on time management!

Saturday I walked around with Bri downtown to help her find a new apartment.  It was chilly, and a bit damp, but I haven't been seeing much of her so it was nice to have time to talk.  Also, we found an adorable studio downtown with great views of the city.  The landlord is letting her paint.  Exciting!  DS and I also picked up a new climbing rope and a helmet for me.  Outdoor climbing is so close.

Sunday was climbing gym day.  We were there for several hours, and I managed to completely exhaust myself.  It's a good feeling.  Also, I on-sighted a 5.8 climb.  Whoo!  I love how you always know how well you're doing in climbing because of the rating system.  As we were walking home, we were asked by Sarah and Bri to join them for dinner at a place right by our house, so we changed quickly and met up with them.  And then after that we hurried to Dan's house to watch the premier of Season 2 of Game of Thrones (omg so excited for this season).

Monday I went to a regular gym with Sarah.  We scored a Groupon deal that got us 20 non-consecutive visits for just $15, which includes all their classes and tanning and sauna and everything that's there.  It's a pretty sweet deal.  We ended up being there for 2 hours, and I was completely surprised by how easily I was able to jog on the treadmill.  Afterwards we went back to her place so I could work on her couch some more.  And when it was time to go home and I was still working on the same cushion, I got exasperated and asked to steal a cushion so I could work on it at home.  I had a quick dinner with DS and then met up with Bri again to help her move some stuff into her new apartment.  We measured all the walls for reference, since she'll have to pare down some of her furniture in this place.  When I got home I used my drafting skills to draw it all out to-scale for her.  And then I spent some time watching Star Trek: The Next Generation while I pinned fabric for a couch cushion.

Today I have an eye doctor appointment.  I'm excited to finally be able to get glasses that aren't scratched up from hurricane...  I think they've been giving me headaches, so I'm looking forward to alleviating those.  I have a lot of house chores to catch up on since I haven't been home much.  More couch to sew.  Possibly measuring Bri's furniture.  And First Friday is this week, so I've been trying to find time to work on making new things to sell.

So much happening!  It doesn't make for very exciting blog posts, but what can you do.  The rest of the week and weekend are looking busy also.

It's Spring!

Spring is here!  In fact, in PA it came early.  Starting March 7th, almost every day has been at least 60°, many of them in the mid-70's.  The average high for March here is only 53°, and on Friday it was 80°.  The 10 day forecast has temps returning to something a little more normal, but still on the warm side.

As much as I think this is probably not a good sign in terms of me hating this summer, DS and I have been very diligently taking advantage of how nice it is right now.  To start, as soon as I noticed that there was no indication of freezing temperatures anymore*, I set out for Home Depot to restart my balcony garden.  This year I have three kinds of lettuce, brussel sprouts, oregano, rosemary, catnip, cilantro, and strawberries.  I plan to have more stuff as soon as I can find it, but things like tomatoes weren't even in the store yet.  I have carrot seeds too, which I'm pretty excited about.

Clockwise from top: Strawberries, Cilantro, Catnip, Oregano

I've been spending a couple days per week visiting Sarah in Franklin Square park.  She's a nanny for this adorable kid we'll call Mark who is 16 months old.  He doesn't talk yet, but he knows sign language, so we can have conversations of a sort.  As a result, and because of my secret deep love of the show Switched At Birth, I've been learning sign language too.  This Thursday is the grand re-opening of the park, where they'll open the carousel, miniature golf course, and the shake place.  Sarah wants to buy Mark a milkshake.  I'm just excited to be going to the park so much.  It's a really awesome little place.  The best is when the Chinese kids get out of school (we're right by Chinatown) and come set up their boombox for breakdancing sessions.  Mark loves it so much that he's been making up his own breakdancing moves.

"Mark" plays peek-a-boo in Franklin Square Park.  He hid for like 9 minutes that time.

We've been looking into place to climb outside as soon as we get a new rope and some weekend days that don't include rain.  Hopefully in April.  To prepare, DS and I went hiking around Birdsboro, PA.  There's an old quarry there that is now a water reservoir, and the remaining exposed rock has been bolted for sport climbing.  It was a nice little place, and I especially enjoyed the two wire cable bridges you have to cross to get to the area.

If you'll recall from the Changes and Challenges post, we had two extra cats living here for a while.  They moved out right after we got back from the snowboarding trip, but last weekend we had them again while their owner was out of town.  Aside from some superficial hissing as the cats came in, it would seem that the forced cohabitation did the trick!  We had some actual getting along, and it was very exciting for DS and I.  Our cats have never before been okay around any other animal, and look at them now!

Johann and Winston share the bed.

Progress on Sarah's couch is coming along really well, though very slowly.  I keep meaning to take a picture of it, but forgetting.  She's only about a mile away from me, which is easy walking distance.  Thursday I met her at Llama Tooth, an adorable little bar near her house, for drinks on their patio.

The patio of Llama Tooth.  There are worse ways to enjoy an evening.

Today marked six days in a row of working out.  I'm trying to vary what I do every day so my muscles don't get overly sore and I don't get bored.  I can already tell it's making a difference in my climbing.  Yesterday I conquered a beast that I thought was just too big for me, and it was so exciting.  There are quite a few climbs in the gym that seem to be set by someone about 7 feet tall, so figuring out a way to get my munchkin self up them always makes me feel very accomplished.  Their setting initials are BJR, and I think their climbs are going to be my project material from now on.  I already have the next one picked out!

So that's what we've been up to around here, sprinkled with a lot of book reading.  Hopefully I'll be updating a bit more often now that I'm caught up!

The Verge of Something

I finished reading The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson today.  I found the ending to be abrupt, and that made all the side store lines feel inconsequential.  Which is too bad, because had they gone somewhere, they would have probably been considered awesome.  As I was entering this read into Goodreads, I saw that I'm already 4 books behind for reading goal this year.  This is not a good sign...  It also has me thinking about my other goals for the year that I posted.

In my head, I was doing really terrible at all my goals.  But as I look back over them, I'm not doing too awful really.  I haven't been working on learning to code at all, but I've been making excellent progress on the cross stitch and Star Trek.  DS and I have been climbing twice a week, which is one more day of exercise than I wanted already.  I can already tell that soon I'll be doing other exercises specifically to make my climbing better, so that the exercise thing is in the bag.  I'm not blogging as much as I might want, but I am technically blogging more.  And while it hasn't really felt like I've been playing my instruments like I intended, in truth I just haven't been playing the mandolin/violin/hammered dulcimer, which need the most work.  I've been playing the crap out of my piano, and even finished writing that song I was working on.  As for board games, we had people over last night for that reason, and while we did not play one of our newer ones, we did play a rather fun game of Clue.

So things that still need work: the clothing pattern, coding, weaving, my website, and Etsy.  Also, at some point I threw learning sign language into the mix.

Last band practice was pretty awesome.  We finally found our new trumpet player, and he's a pretty cool guy.  So we're going to start looking for shows to go again, which will be fun.

I have this strange feeling that all aspects of life in general are on the verge of something great.  I've felt like this before, and even if it doesn't go anywhere, I really like being caught up in this feeling of profoundness.  But I'm holding onto this thing's coat tails and letting it pull me where it needs to go.  Bring it, greatness.

Tribbles and other thoughts

DS has made it home from CA.  As usual with prolonged trips, he was more than ready to be back.  Winston has demanded fetch sessions about 10 times today.  We are all happy he's back.

I accomplished more than I would have thought while he was gone.  I'm making a lot of progress on this cross stitch pattern I've been sewing.  I woke up Friday with an idea in my head for new jewelry options and then made a whole bunch of them.  The first one was given to my friend Sarah, who came over that day, and she was super excited about it.  So even though she later broke while nervously fiddling with it, I feel like I'm on a good path with this idea, and that I can work through the kinks.

I got bored with the living room layout and decided to completely rearrange.  Well, as completely as we can considering the tv is immobile.  We're getting used to it, but so far I think it's a nice change.  I also started teaching myself sign language from a website I found.  It's something I've always wanted to do, and could possibly come in handy one day.  Especially if we ever have kids, since comprehension and motor skills come earlier to children than speech.

I'm reading The Diamond Age, and while I'm not very far along, I can say A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer is something I would have absolutely adored in my youth.  Alas, I learned to read from regular books...

I've finished the first two seasons of the original Star Trek series in my quest to watch them all in order.  DS even watched an episode with me today and laughed at all the appropriate parts.  Perhaps there is hope for him yet.  Here are some thoughts so far:

• I knew going into this that gold uniforms of command in the original series were actually chartreuse, but that the lights on the stage made them appear gold on film.  So I find that I really enjoy it when Kirk wears his couple other shirt designs.  They seem to be made out of a different fabric, and actually show up green.  It's really lovely.  Related: sometimes you can see the hidden zipper on the left shoulder, and even when the shirts look gold, that zipper looks green.
• Most of the stereotypes you've probably heard about the show don't seem very apparent until the second season.  And considering the first season was a whopping 30 episodes, that's a lot of show to get through before you start seeing them.  I kept a special lookout for the ill fates of "redshirts" and "Dammit Jim, I'm a doctor!" jokes, but I don't think I saw the first redshirt die until close to halfway through season 1.  That being said, they certainly ran with it once it got started.
• I really enjoy the banter between McCoy and Spock.  Also, I love it when Kirk compliments Spock's humanity, and Spock is subsequently offended.
• I was happy to see the cast solidify a bit more in season 2, meaning more of Scotty, Zulu, and the arrival of Chekov, who I was not aware wasn't in season 1.
• Also, what the heck is up with Chekov's hair in his first few episodes????  Did something made a nest in there??
• While The Trouble with Tribbles is a pretty famous episode, it had been a long time since I'd seen it.  Watching Shatner trying not to laugh as he's buried in tribbles and someone is obviously pelting him in the head with more while he talks is super hilarious.

I just noticed today that Deep Space 9 finally made it to streaming, so now it looks like I won't have any trouble getting through all the series, including the animated one.  Though all but the newest movie will have to come in disc form.  I can handle that.

DS called me a geek today, like it was a bad thing.  Though I give him credit for smiling when I said "OF COURSE!"

Catching Up

One of my goals this year is to blog more, but here it is, the 16th, and this is only my second post.  I haven't even gone back and posted my holiday photos here yet, though I did manage to get them up on Flickr.  So I'm here, trying to write something.

I had a conversation with DS today about time.  Well, mostly I pontificated to him through instant messaging while he failed to respond because he was working at a real job.  Anyway, we were talking about how it was taking me longer than I wanted to write out some new flute parts for some new material the band is making, and I was worried about getting it done before practice tonight so I'd have something to play.  But also, there are like 15 other things I wanted/needed to do today, one of which was "spend several hours playing computer games."  In case you're curious, those games are Skyrim and Sims Medieval*.  Though I have to admit that it's mostly Sims Medieval, because I rock at that game (I think you have to be really bad not to), and I keep dying in stupid Morvunskar and it makes me mad so I quit.

Anyway, I was thinking about how whenever someone finds out I don't work, they look at me strange and almost always ask what I do all day.  Except they don't ask it in a way that would suggest they're curious, but more like they can't comprehend what a fully functional adult with any self respect would do with themselves during those hours of the day most people dedicate to "work."  As if not going to a job every day somehow means you are incapable of doing anything worthwhile.  This question always bothers me.  My snippy answer is, "All those things you wish you had more time to do but don't because you work all day."  It's a subject that I struggle with on my own anyhow.  There is a lot of importance put on what you do for a living in this world.  Or maybe there isn't, but some congruence of my childhood and upbringing and education caused me to be overly sensitive to the matter.  For a long time I felt like I should be working, even though I didn't really like the idea of working, because that is what an adult does.  Even now, when I'm mostly okay with things, I will feel the urge to find a job.  The idea of having to be up and dressed every morning and out the door by 8 or whatever shuts that urge down really fast.

I'm getting off topic.  What I was trying to say is that I was thinking about all these things I wanted to do today.  Not just things to do in general, but a long list of specific things that I wanted to accomplish on this one day.  And I found myself wishing for more time in the day.  Even though I have more time in the day for these things than most.  Which, as you can see up there, brought me back to thinking about how people are always amazed that I'm not bored out of my mind.  I wonder why it is that I'm not when so many people are sure they would be in my place?  What is different about me?  Do I just have that many hobbies?  It really doesn't feel like it, especially since I know I could spent several days in a row, all day, doing the same thing and be perfectly content.

I did title this post Catching Up, didn't I?  Well, DS and I have been spending a lot of quiet time at home.  He's most of the way through The Eye of the World, and not hating it, which is a big source of happiness for me.  I've been listening to audiobooks while chugging along on this cross stitch pattern I've had for 15 years.  Band practice finally resumed after a 2 month hiatus, and this time we had my new Zoom H2 to record our shenanigans, so we happily caught the impromptu new song on tape.  DS and I got a membership at the local climbing gym, and we've been twice already.  Their climbs are graded harder than they were at Boulders in Wisconsin, which combined with my several years of not doing it meant that I was struggling up 5.4's the first day.  This gym is quite a bit taller than my last one too, and I found myself afraid of doing moves at the top.  Also, it took a session and a half to really start trusting the rope and my harness to catch me again, even for little things like lowering me off the climb.  My muscles hurt in a good way, and I was up to 5.6's when we left yesterday.  I also have new beads and some jewelry making tools, and plan to really get into my Etsy shop again soon.  And I got a book for learning the violin, and hopefully I'll find the time and motivation to squeeze that into my schedule too.

So we've been busy, but also mostly by ourselves.  A bit different from last year.  I'm feeling very productive, and I like it.

===========================
*It occurred to me the other day, in one of those thoughts that you think are excellent and profound but in truth probably only seem so as long as they stay within the confines of your own brain, an "it sounded better in my head" type of moment if you will, that any Sims game (not Sim City though, that's a whole other beast) mostly requires a strong dose of time management for excelling.  Which is funny, because anyone good at those games probably struggles with that in their real life.

Some Feelings About Google Reader

When I discovered Google Reader, it was quickly considered a godsend.  Here, in one place, I could see all the things posts on the websites I frequented.  ALL THE POSTS.  IN ONE PLACE!  I would never miss another update.  It was amazing.

And then it quickly became immensely overwhelming.  I would log into Reader, and there would be 2000+ new things to read.  Reader became a chore.  A sad thing.  Something that filled me with anxiety and caused me to "Mark all as Read", completely destroying the very thing that made it awesome for me.

Then I started noticing the social features.  I realized that several of my friends had similar tastes as me, and that they subscribed to the same feeds.  These friends would share the posts they found interesting.  I realized that I didn't have to subscribe to every site I liked, I could just check my friends' shared items for some of them.  Suddenly, my daily reading list was something I could knock out in an hour.  That's quite a thing really.  The idea that in one hour I could ingest the entire contents of 79 different websites, plus those things my friends found worthwhile, is an amazing thing for me.  I felt connected and informed with the world around me in ways I never have before.  And if something on the internet was worth sharing and saving but not the whole site?  Well, there's was the "Note in Reader" button on my browser tool bar.

The best thing about Reader was that all of these things was in one single place.  I didn't have to go anywhere to read anything, because the entire article was there.  I even made new friends by enjoying the comments friends of friends left and realizing that their shared items would also be things I found interesting.  Many of those friends are people that aren't even on any other social networking site, and they are not effectively gone from my life.

Now I must say, I feel like Google Reader is a ghost town.  Can I still read the full contents of those 79 subscriptions?  Yes.  But who will I talk to about them?  Share them with?  The idea that I have to go to another site to see +1 items, which are snippets, and then click those to go to yet another site to read all of those items.. well, that's not going to happen.  I don't have time to do that.  If something that was shared wasn't something I was interested in, I could easily type N and be done with it.  Now I need to scroll through everything all of my friends have done on G+?  I mean, that's a lot of stuff.  I don't really care about most of that stuff.   Every picture they post, every time they're happy there was ice cream in the fridge, every time they go somewhere and check in...  This is not part of my "one hour to know what's happening in the world" routine, and it shouldn't be.  The option to have that data show up in G+ is not the issue.  It's that my Google Reader experience has been neutered into something far less useful in the process.

Multiple Successes and Random Updates

After more than a year of periodically going to Goleta Beach looking for sea glass, Samantha makes me go to Arroyo Beach and we find a crap load.  Neither of us had been to that one before, and we were so surprised.  The beach is really rocky along the shore, then turns to sand, and then giant cliffs with uber fancy houses on top.  We made the mistake of walking it barefoot.  It probably would have been nice in the sand, but once we realized that sea glass was abundant, we stayed in the rocks.  Ouch.

Sore feet is a small price to pay for this megaload of sea glass though!  We even found two small cobalt blue pieces.  Most are white and green, and there's a fair amount of brown.

Double Success:  I bought a diamond tipped drill bit for my Proxxon today, and managed to get a nice little whole in my practice piece.  That means I can start making real sea glass jewelry now!!

Speaking of successes, I purchased one of those "as seen on tv" planters that grows vegetables upside down.  This particular one is meant for pepper plants, and I got a "six alarm combo pack" of peppers to go in it.  And then, because I don't like peppers, I got myself basil and rosemary.  I hope it actually works.  Though I'm a little nervous about our sunlight situation.  And also the cats.

While I was at it, I re-potted all of my plants, finally getting rid of some dead ones that had been languishing on the porch for six months.  My aloe and catnip are doing excellent, so if you want some... let me know.  Also, the porch has been cleaned finally!  (it's coated in some kind of high gloss paint, and is always covered a thick layer of dirt due to lack of rain, dust, and occasional fires)  We'll see how long that lasts.

DS is having success as well.  We'll be in Chapel Hill from April 8-12 to see if we want to live there.  Anyone going to be around there then?  Any suggestions for things to do/see that might entice us?  Would you recommend it?

Also, it looks like we'll be in the DC area the weekend of May 22 for a wedding.  I've never been there.  Not sure we'll have much spare time, but just in case, feel free to send me suggestions for awesome things there as well.

Craft Room Makeover

Get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer

Photos of my newly arranged craft room. I took the month of January off from crafting, as I was a bit burned out after the mad dash to Christmas. I just put the finishing touches on the room yesterday, just in time to resume crafting for February. I have a couple of projects for specific people that I need to get done, and then the shop should start seeing new items for sale.

Side note: DS has a fourth interview at U Penn!

Busy

I've been keeping myself too busy to blog, but as I have a brief respite, I though I would give you a quick run down on what I've been doing.

1. Made hand-dipped peanut butter balls for my husband's 30th birthday. A LOT of them. This was the very last one, and as I keep them refrigerated until I eat them, they get a little sweaty. However, I have yet had someone taste them that did not fall in love. My papaw's recipe is still the winner!

2. I've been volunteering at the Santa Barbara Wildlife Care place. There was one afternoon of "training", and now I go in a few hours a week. My first day I was sent to the zoo to pick up a sparrow that had nearly drowned in a pool. The poor thing was nearly dead when I got him back to the center. I held in my hands under a heat lamp for an hour, occasionally feeding him electrolytes. Now he is happy and perky, and awaiting the healing of an injury before being released again. I have learned that as long as you have gloves on, you get over touch bird poop very quickly. And also the meal worms some of the birds eat. But this is worth getting to help pretty little things like European Starlings, Meadowlarks, and Warblers get well. Also, Starlings and Sparrows are tricky bastards. When cleaning a cage, we put the bird in a temporary enclosure to help keep them calm. This is usually a basket with some netting or a towel pinned to the top. These little guys would be in there, and then I'd go to the kitchen for fresh food and come back to them hopping around on the floor like it's perfectly normal for a bird that can't fly and has one taped wing. Sneaky!

3. My scarves have been surprisingly popular! Also, a family member ordered seven to sell in her bricks and mortar store. So most of my free time for the last two weeks have involved heavy weaving. I've been very happy with the results:

This one is in Lion Brand Color Waves in Lava. It's mostly black with a lot of jewel tone accents.

Here are four scarves done in Red Heart Casual Cot'n, one each in Trailside, Preppie, Majestic, and Falling Leaves. I need to get more of this yarn. The scarves feel wonderful, and I love the colors.

And sadly, I'm already out of Falling Leaves.

4. I started a new job on September 28th. Now that training is over, I'm doing real work. So far, I actually kind of like it. It pretty simple stuff, and I get to talk to people all day. Considering I only interacted with one person in my previous job, this is an improvement.

5. Today I got off work early, and all the scarves are mailed. So I'm taking a break before starting into the Christmas ornament production to curl up with Winston and a book. Speaking of Winston... if I'm in the craft room, he's in he craft room. And if there are clean clothes that aren't put away, they are without a doubt his new bed. On Monday, DS's pile was too high to lay on, so he just shoved his face into them and fell asleep...

*YAWN*

Holy moly I'm tired. I had to get up early, with an alarm clock, like a normal person today. And also last Friday. You see, I have a job again. Nothing much mind you, easy stuff that pays what feels like minimum wage for Santa Barbara. But minimum wage is at least a paycheck, which is much better than the nothing I've been getting. The first two weeks is just training, so only 4 hours a day. This is both good and bad; good because it lets me transition back into a working person again (outside the home at least), and bad because we could really use a full-time paycheck. I think in this case the good outweighs the bad though, so I'm cool with it.

You may be aware that today is DS's birthday, and that he is officially 30. Last week was also my friend Sam's birthday. To celebrate, we're having a joint party here at our apartment tomorrow. Thus, I spent the weekend cleaning (with DS's help), seriously cleaning the craft room/office (SERIOUSLY; as in filed 6 months worth of floating papers and found all the carpet and desk space!), and then doing other things. For example, I made a super sweet birthday banner out of felt and fabric (photos and a tutorial to follow when I'm not exhausted), and because I love him, a LOT of peanut butter balls for DS. Also lots of earrings for Sam for her birthday (with major design help from Juliana!). Those last three things didn't get finished over the weekend though, so I finished them tonight. Oh crap, scratch that. I have more PB balls to dip in chocolate. *sigh* Hey, I get off at 12:30 tomorrow!

Well, as long as I get to sleep soon (it's 10:09 right now), I should be well rested for the festivities tomorrow. In the mean time, here are some photos I've been meaning to share for a long time.

Felix and Winston, crow hunting. Not that they'd know what to do with one. I'm positive Winston would run away in terror if one actually came to the window instead of taunting him from the power lines.

A rare moment of shared love. They did this a lot as kittens, but not so much anymore.

Also, it's pretty rare that I can get decent photos of Felix. She's not very photogenic.

I love how he has his leg sprawled over her. He takes up so much space!

Look at them holding hands!

She really is a pretty cat. I'm happy to finally have some pictures to show that.

Did I ever show you these? They're my Settlers of Catan cookies, made the first night that the group of six of us that regularly play games together got to play this particular game. We had needed the 6 player expansion, and the game stores were sold out for a long time.

This is homemade royal icing, dyed with food coloring, and piped with different tips onto that break and bake sugar cookie dough (I could only make so much from scratch in one night).

Here they are laid out like the game board. Blue is the ocean (ports), yellow is wheat, black is ore, green is forest, white is wool, and red is brick. That one lonely cookie with only yellow sprinkles is the desert.

The cookies were a lot of fun to make, though my icing designs got sloppier as they went, because I ended up being late. Not really a quick project. But tasty!

Progress

My mother requested a custom scarf as a present for someone. She wanted something in purple that included hearts. I've been studying anything woven I can ever since I bought my loom, so I knew a heart pattern was possible. Of course, I had never done anything other than a plain weave, with my only experiments thus far being in color placement in the warp and weft. So I decided to take this challenge! And it was a challenge, though thankfully one I could handle. I tried several different techniques from the only book about weaving in the entire Black Gold Library system (which is a terrible shame), and finally settled on the loop effect. It would seem inlays are best made with different yarns, with the thicker yarn used for the pattern. The contrast helps make the pattern visible. Since I was using two identical yarns (other than color), I had to make the pattern really stand out to keep it from blending into the background. The end result is an identifiable shape that is puffy. I have to say, I really like it.

+:
soft
puffy
looks pretty cool

-:
one sided
hard to weave in the ends of the pattern yarn...

I do think I could get the pattern on both sides, though it would increase the working time by quite a bit, and use a lot more yarn. I'll have to experiment.

I have an order for six scarves to be sold in a family member's store. I decided that I needed to buy yarn in bulk to help keep costs down (seriously, yarn in my local craft store is EXPENSIVE), and found this site called Smiley's Yarns. I'm almost ashamed to admit how much I bought.. but I will use it, and a good selection on hand will help my creativity. And I keep telling myself that at least I took advantage of the expensive flat rate shipping; got my money's worth there! More importantly, they have some HUGE discounts on their sale yarns, so the cost of materials going into each project will be drastically reduced. It's kind of a weird site though, and I got nervous today and checked the BBB, just in case. Luckily, they have a good rating. Probably should have checked that before giving them my CC information.. :P oh well, what are you going to do?

Finally, the 2009 ornament is coming along, and they should be done by November 1. I am taking pre-orders, which will help me know how many to make. So if you want one, let me know! You won't have to pay until they are ready for shipment, so don't worry about possibly hating the design (though so far, I have gotten really good feedback from the people I've shown it to)!

busy

Things I've been up to:

1. learning to quilt with my sewing machine (thanks again mom!!)
2. reading the chabon book i got from the library
3. experimenting with needle felting wool roving into decorated coffee cup sleeves
4. making a bunch of jewelry for various birthday presents
5. finishing a plaid scarf on my loom
6. sketching the beginnings of my first painting in years
7. making mother's day gifts
8. seeing the new wolverine movie at the matinee (pretty good!)
9. watching LOTS of streaming netflix while doing 1-7
10. game nights with friends (photos of my catan cookies if i ever get around to it)
11. exploring ventura (photos from that too.. again, if i get around to it)

1-8 have all been within the last 4 days.  i've been inspired, and it's wonderful.  i wish i felt this productive all the time.

also, we've had 3 japanese classes now.  the 4th is tomorrow.  i can count to 99 in japanese!!  it's pretty sweet.  ds can tell you all about it.  because i demonstrated for him.  out loud.  while walking back from class.  he loved it.

Distractions

It's been several weeks since I've posted anything. Part of me feels like I haven't done anything worth posting about, and part of me feels like I've been too busy to post. Truth be told, I've been very distracted. There are lots of pictures I need to wade through so I can post stuff (be on the lookout for back posts in the near future). I've been making a meager effort to jot down small reminders of my more interesting days so that I'll have some kind of reference when I finally do get around to posting again.

Life is in disarray. Not bad. Not bad at all. Kinda good actually. But very much not organized. I had plans for life here. Work part time in the real world, part time for myself. Get chores done somewhat regularly, do some exercise, actually experience the outdoors from time to time. The only thing I'm consistently doing is working part time in the real world, and I think we all know why I'm doing that... Certainly not because it's the thing I want to do most.

I'm finding that I have a habit of obsessing over things, and then only really being able to do that one thing with any sort of discipline. The rest falls by the wayside and hopes I'll remember it and re-obsess soon. After I picked up Animal Crossing for the Wii, I did that for 2-3 hours everyday. I spent a lot of time setting up the craft room. Then I bought a loom, and spent a couple of weeks weaving. Last weekend I was starting over with Harvest Moon: Island of Happiness, and the past few days have been split between crocheting a bunny and reading The Time Traveler's Wife (this book is AWESOME, btw).

Meanwhile, I haven't posted new jewelry to my store since 2/18 (though I have made a few things, and shipped some other things to a solid store), I'm not getting around to laundry until I have enough for a whole day's worth of washing, and the mail is in an ever-growing heap on the kitchen counter. I don't remember the last time I rode my fancy bicycle. I think it was early March.

Image via Wikipedia

So what's the deal? I'm young enough to be able to have energy to do things, yet 2 things a day seems to be my limit. And I'm sleeping like 8-10 hours every night. How do I get motivated? Any ideas? I need some kind of schedule that's flexible enough to allow my imagination to have room to come up with new ideas and keep me feeling fresh, but rigid enough that I'm actually getting something done.

Oh, and can anyone clean my apartment before this Firefly marathon we're hosting on Saturday?

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Seriously though, life is awesome. The weather is beautiful, we're seeing friends, and I'm happy. Just not productive :)