a lazy wednesday...

my last three days at work went something like this...

12 hours...
12 hours...
10 hours...

my weekend is going something like this...

sleep...
movies...
sleep...
the office season 4...
dog park...


(atticus hanging out in the puddles....)


(soaking wet and pleased with himself....)

finished a project....


but its for someone who reads this blog (i think?) so i can't really show you too much...

(combination of linen & sashiko thread and a couple buttons. isn't it neat?!?)

wish the video was better - but it shows you one of attie's favorite things to do at the park. as a side note, the ending is a little jerky because when i went to move out of his way my ankle came down onto a mini-tree stump, scraping my ankle bone. mmm...ankle bone...




"well, i'm off to fight crime..." ~ r.l. 1122

and back to nights....

if i show you something, you have to promise not to scream.

promise??

okay....

so recently i've been pretty lazy and haven't been putting things away when i should. as a result, my bedroom started to look like this...



i know....yikes, right??

let me point out a couple things. #1 - although i have dark curtains, light still streams through. #2 - my alarm clock is buried. those were two big things that HAD to change seeing as i'm going back to graveyard shift.

i finally bit the bullet and bought blackout shades. and since the first set i bought wasn't enough, i ended up making an emergency run to lowes (well, "emergency" in the sense that i needed to get those shades up there and wasn't waiting any longer) to get more.

this is what i came up with....

not too bad, right? there are 2 layers of blackout curtains there in case you're curious. do you notice anything kind of odd with the curtains??

here, let me show you up close...

*big sigh* yes, i bent the curtain rod. its actually a tension rod, but still. its permanently bent. and since i refused to make yet another run to lowes, i figured this would have to do. the one thing you can't see is the front set of curtains/tension rod is basically being held up by a screw that i had to put in the middle of the wall to support all the weight of the curtains. for some reasons i forgot to factor weight in there. hmmm....whoops.

anyways, onwards and upwards.

started sewing again today. awhile ago i bought my first pattern at pacific fabrics and today i used it. while it is a very simple pattern, it is also a good example why i like step by step tutorials with pictures and an opportunity to ask the author questions. in other words, i messed up what i was making today. i would show you, but i'm thinking of giving it away to someone and i didn't want to spoil the surprise. its not THAT messed up. :)

the one thing i made that actually turned out is my new fold-over bag....

here is atticus as my bag model...

and up close...

yes, that is pickle fabric you see!!! woohoo!!

heres a look at the inside....

(i know it doesn't match but i love the fabric and wanted to use it anyway)

AND, i got to use more grommets!

heres another look...(and yes, its almost impossible to take a picture without atticus getting in the way...)

i think i shall use it for work. maybe it'll motivate me to go....

(we were enjoying the clean room and available floor space....)

okay, time for a nap. first graveyard shift is tonight!!!

"he wasn't smart enough to play dumb." ~ t.b. 511

pbbbtttttt

wish i had more to report. but i dont, seeing as i was called into WORK on my day off. pbbbbbbtttttt.....

thats an air zerbert for those of you who couldn't tell.

and it was beautiful today. low 70's...sunny....beautiful. atticus wanted to go to the park. so did i. maybe on friday...

i did make a quick trip to goodwill. mental note: wednesday is senior citizen discount day at goodwill. good for me when looking at clothes, bad when trying to look through anything else. restocked my pants collection (thats a story for another day). got this cheery container....



went to work. had to eat a little crow. i hate that. its my day off and yet i graciously go to work and then i have to apologize for messing something up a month ago. *sigh* theres something inherently wrong with that.

home again....tried to make the most of the beautiful evening by taking a long walk with attie. afterwards we practiced the "leave it" command with some new treats.



lets just say we're working on it....

my dad challenged me to beat his all-time record in free-cell. 124 straight wins. after i messed up my 8 game streak, i'm back up at 13. i have a long way to go...

"the day i learn to fly, i'm never coming down..." ~rise against

just another saturday

another saturday has come and gone....

attie and i went to the park again....



he made a new friend, ollie...


ollie loved atticus. more than atticus loved ollie, but thats okay. we're working on making doggie friends.

came home....tried to make things out of my washer discards....

found a new setting on my camera to take up close pictures....

accidentally took a long nap....woke up, looked around, immediately frustrated with the state of my apartment. instead of actually doing something about it, i sewed instead....

sneak peek...my first time using sashiko thread....(anyone recognize the gray fabric?)...

made a garland out of black leather dots, red sashiko thread, and used a washer as a weight at the end....

(ignore the fact i need curtains - ironic, i know. one of the many reasons i'm frustrated when i look around.)

almost a busy day. feeling blah. maybe i'll do something more interesting tomorrow...

"maybe this, then, is the ultimate upshot of our endless, self-wrought swirl of sour disappiontment, of never having our impossible needs fully met, of constantly being thwarted in our desire to have the world revolve around our exact set of specifications and desires.

our disappointment begins to curdle, to turn back on itself, poison the heart, turn us nasty and low. it shifts from merely being a national mood or general temperament, into a way of being. a wiring, deep and harmful and permanent. its all very disappointing, really."

~mark morford

park smiles

so, attie and i like go to to the bandix dog park. of course its about 30 minutes out of my way and not on the way to anything, nor is it near anything or anybody i know. but its several acres, has probably a mile or two worth of trails through the woods, and is fully fenced. people there actually keep their dogs' behavior reigned in (for the most part), and most of all: atticus loves it there.

i talk about atticus a lot at work, and i've mentioned the dog park to a couple people i work with. several months ago, one of the troops asked me if i had been the one to draw the smiles at bandix. my confused look of course answered his question, but the question itself got my curiousity piqued.

a month or so ago i finally saw what he was talking about, and yesterday we went to the park (65 degrees and gorgeous!) and i was able to take some pictures of what he was talking about.

yes, someone went around with a sharpie and drew smiles on rocks in the ground. as far as i know, most of them go along one trail, but you really have to look for them. and when i found them, they made me smile. what makes me smile more was the fact that someone saw them, thought of me, and wondered if i did them. i guess i'm cooler than i thought. :)

i also went on a ride-along last night. quite fun. one of the few perks of my job i think. i like to joke that i'm building bridges. i got home last night after 4am, took today off, and have yet to do anything constructive today other than run the dishwasher.

oh, and i'm also going to a different shift starting next week i think it is....a split shift, 2pm & 10pm 4x10s. which means, i work 2 shifts 2pm to midnight, then 2 shifts 10pm to 8am. and i get a 3 day weekend every week. sweet. for those of you who are wondering, i actually volunteered for this shift. i'm trying to escape the drama that is called dayshift.

onwards and upwards!

"i've been way too busy taking naps." ~ m. segrest

heres another post about atticus

i got a pretty good compliment today.

so, i was walking atticus after work, and he saw a girl of about 12 leave her apartment and start walking in our general direction. now, let me say that while atticus likes other dogs, he absolutely LOVES people. he will do almost anything to be petted. (you would think i never paid any attention to him...its a little embarassing sometimes)...

anyways, atticus sees this girl and of course refuses to move and his tail is just wagging in anticipation of greeting her. luckily, she is a girl who likes dogs, and just showered him with attention. and she loved atticus...asking his name, how old he was, what kind of dog, if she could pet him, etc. it was great. by the time her dad came out of the apartment a minute later, atticus was on his back on the sidewalk getting belly rubs. no shame whatsoever.

anyways, the girl turns to her father and says "i want a dog just like this one!!". {insert a big happy smiley face here} the fathers reply, of course, was "keep wishing".

while i have no control over atticus's generally dopey ways, i would like to think that i do have something to do with his overall disposition as a happy and loveable dog. i mean, i'm pretty sure some of his quirks and anxiety have come from me, so on the same token i would like to think that i also gave him positive attributes. having someone, even at age 12, like my dog that much in less than a minute is a big compliment to me.

maybe its silly.

oh well.

(atticus & his friend walker thought it would be funny one day to drive my car...)

"dogs feel very strongly that they should always go with you in the car, in case the need should arise for them to bark violently at nothing right in your ear." ~ dave barry

monk and smarties

thats what i'm currently enjoying. monk and smarties that is. had a busy day o' cleaning. can't seem to get the faint bleach smell completely out of my hands. both attie and i wanted to go to the park but we were prevented by the fairly large storm with gusting winds and horizontal rain. maybe tomorrow. but a day inside isn't bad considering all i got done!

the washer & dryer haven't taken a breather since this morning.

my bathtub, while it doesn't sparkle, doesn't have an unsightly mildew problem anymore.

attie's nails are clipped.

i backed up most of my pictures onto cds. (although there were more cd casualties than actual cds made. i think theres something wrong with my cd burner)

played around with my computer. 6 for 6 in free cell. wished for some decent photo editing software.

dishes are done. things that have been sitting in the sink to be handwashed for about a week are finally washed.

i'm starting to wash all my fabric stash. i know i should do that when i buy them but i never get around to it. but i'm doing it now.

organized some of my sewing stuff. came to the conclusion i need more storage. or a different organization plan. probably both.

all my bedding is currently in the dryer/washer. i really hope its all finished before midnight.

started the process of turning my hands from the dry, wrinkled, cut up, beat up, gnarly looking digits that they are into something a little more decent. this involved oil, a salt scrub, and hand cream. i'm such a girl sometimes.

and my big accomplishment today is realizing that the combination of oven cleaner and a brillo pad will get ANYTHING off those drip pans on your stove. (as everyone who is reading this says "drip pans???" those are from ancient times, yes i know. however, i dont know of a single apartment that actually has a glass top stove. or whatever you call them.)

planning on a guinness tomorrow with friends...




"if you are a dreamer, come in.
if you are a dreamer, a wisher, a liar,
a hope-er, a pray-er, a magic bean buyer...
if you're a pretender, come sit by my fire
for we have some flax-golden tales to spin.
come in!
come in!"
~ shel silverstein

show and tell

TGIF. in many many ways.

i'm excited to show you all my new and fun packages i finally rescued from my apartment manager's office!

but first.... i left work on time today (4pm), and due to a slightly wonderful thing called daylight savings, and an even more wonderful thing called 64 degrees fahrenheit, i was able to try my hand at metal stamping outside on my cement patio. WOW. what a huge difference than stamping in my bathroom!! it was great! so much easier to imprint the letters on the metal, and the letters look a lot better. awesome.

i was able to finish the following (i purposely made it so you can't see what they say...)



the big problem with working on cement is all the grease or oil or whatever is on the stamps picks up the sandy grit from the cement. also, just because the letters imprint better, doesn't mean the stamps will not go flying out of my hand with significant velocity.

(my discard pile...and my quote book which was there for inspiration...)




atticus also enjoyed the sun. seen here deep in thought...




now onto fun purchases...

last week i FINALLY stopped window-shopping at etsy and bought something. actually, i bought two things.

the first....



can you see what it is?

heres another view....




its a bundle of zippers from kandcsupplies. aren't they wonderful colors? i bought a set of 50 (!) so i can start making small pouches. hopefully that will be as clever as this one.

my second etsy purchase is from a seller that i've admired for months and months. i keep looking at all his wonderful things. i dont know why i haven't bought from him sooner.



say hello to my skull mug!!!! isn't he fabulous????

and look at the bottom...he has a name! (shade)



plus hes dishwasher safe. and completely handmade. this same seller also makes many other fun things for your kitchen along the same lines (he has zombies and other monsters and skulls), and if you think this is cute, my pictures dont even do it justice. so seriously, check out skeletaldropkick. awesome stuff. i can't tell you how excited i am to drink my first cup of coffee out of him.

and finally...my stuff from purl. finally finally finally!

first off, look at my receipt slip.

thats handwritten. who wouldn't want to buy from a shop that hand-writes you a thank you? its the small things...

starting off with my sashiko thread. yes, when i start something i tend to go overboard. why buy one color when i can buy 5?? i have some plans for this stuff though....just wait....

i love sale fabrics. they allow me to get stuff like this....

(same design on 2 different backgrounds). how awesomely crazy are these? and theres so much going on its hard to take it all in...

here is part of the yellow fabric up close. very trippy, right??

next up, some pretty floral stuff and my...linen!! the linen is the stuff on the right. the color is "natural". naturally. its so prettily plain and linenly wonderful. i only got half a yard (its cost prohibitive), but i have some plans for this too....

next....my JAPANESE FABRICS!!!! these were the only two on sale that i really liked, but how awesome are they??

and finally, my huge splurge. japanese fabric, not on sale. i only got 1/4 a yard, but i think its enough. just look....



its on a canvas-like fabric so its a lot heavier than cotton. its hard to take it all in, i know. such an amazingly neat design i just might hang it on the wall and enjoy it for 6 months before i use it.

anyways, hope you enjoyed my show and tell!

...

i agree, atticus.

"its cold again, it looks like rain..." ~ bad religion

frustrated

i was just about frustrated enough when i got on the computer that i was going to write a sarcastic & passive aggressive entry about work. i wisely decided against that, and instead took out all my frustration on the nurse that had the gall to email me instructions from my endocrinologist who said my thyroid levels are fine and to go get another blood test IN 3 MONTHS. 3 months? i'll be dead by then from exhaustion. poor nurse nancy....i feel a little bad for her when she reads my reply.

but, as you are probably wondering, where are the pictures of your new fabric alicia? yes, thats a good question. well, my fabric is still locked up in my manager's office because i couldn't get out of work til after 6 even though i was scheduled til 4. no sarcasm there.

even atticus has wisely sensed my mood and is chewing on something in another room.



side view of attie's sad face. not from today. but i found it appropriate.


"trying is the first step towards failure." ~ homer simpson

a no-OT monday.

amazing. one of my first mondays without overtime in months. crazy.

i think its funny...sometimes at work we get so caught up in the fact that "we are not appreciated", "people dont understand what it takes" etc etc etc that when we (or at least i) get recognition for a job well done, or even just doing my job, its ultra humbling. i was humbled twice today - once by a coworker and once by a member of the public. humbled in a good way. sometimes its good to know that i'm not overlooked as a member of my work team and that people do notice when you do your job and you do your job well. i know i'm writing cryptically, but i can't help it. thats my observation for today.

anyways - happy birthday margaret!!! i got a message she received her birthday present today so i can finally show all of you! i love big reveals....(well, "big" reveals)....

okay, first thing. my inspiration was the question: "what re-usable party/birthday decoration can i make that is both slightly practical and fairly neutral?" i know. we all wonder that, right?

anyways, this is what i came up with....

a celebrate banner!! to be used during any occasion there is a reason to celebrate. this picture doesn't show it, but the line that attaches all the letters actually continues for quite awhile on both sides so it can be hung up. fun, right?

and the second thing i'm pretty darn proud of. as i said before, as soon as i saw that thread sketching technique, i thought of margaret. when i bookmarked it, i even wrote "margaret" after it on the title so i wouldn't forget.

i think i shall call this "margaret's birthday tree". hand drawn and then sew drawn by me. although i did look up pictures for inspiration, i didn't end up copying any of them.

heres a closer look at the trunk...

this part was inspired by "The Giving Tree" by Shel Silverstein. which is one of my favorite all time stories. if you haven't read it, i suggest you do.

anyways, there you have it! the big reveal!

in other news, my stuff from purl arrived, but it is currently locked up in my apartment manager's office. i got home too late to pick it up so i have to wait til tomorrow. harumph. oh well, at least i'll have more pictures to share with you then!

"i am still learning." ~ michelangelo's motto, 1560, at age 85

another weekend...gone!

i had a full day today. i'd say busy, but it wasn't busy per say. just full. went and got my brakes done this morning. *sigh* i also got a full tutorial on front and back brakes and tires. it was interesting. needless (?) to say, i also got new tires. i needed them. *bigger sigh* however, i do have to say going to goodyear was overall a pleasant experience, unlike going to the honda dealership. i got ULTRA FABULOUS tires (should have taken a picture of them before they got dirty!), and because i did everything at once, i saved 50% on my tire/labor costs. in other words, several hundred dollars. i still spent what i consider way too much money, but if it keeps josie going for another 65,000 miles, then so be it. (josie is my car by the way). i really wanted to take pictures of josie while she was hoisted up with no tires or brakes, but i didn't want to seem THAT weird. i felt dumb enough asking warren (my official goodyear pal) to re-explain how brakes worked yet again, and playing "whats that part?" etc. however, warren gets high marks and was very patient with me.

goodyear estimated it would take 2.5-3 hours to finish all the work. so, i had lunch with my friend/coworker katie. came back about 1.5 hours later anticipating very little time in the waiting room. as katie said: "mmm...rubber". yes, it smelled like tires in there. well, 4.5 hours later, i finally was paying for everything. yes, 4.5 hours. 270 minutes. luckily, i have an awesome phone which i played with for most of that time, but still. i was there for most of my day. ridiculous.

i had planned to do a bunch of shopping today, but after goodyear i wasn't in the mood. i HAD to go to safeway (seeing as i am completely out of any sort of work food), which i should never do when i'm in a mood and/or i'm not hungry. i bought almost all junk food and handy food. and somehow i neglected to buy fruits & veggies (except sweet potatoes for atticus). oh well. at least i dont have to worry about lunches for a couple of weeks.

after that i headed home. i had cut out fabrics for 3 separate projects last night and i had wanted to finish them today. i wasn't in the mood for some serious sewing so i did some fun things instead...



(here is a sneak peak at my fun)...

one of my very favorite blogs is MADE. she is so stinking creative, and takes absolutely marvelous pictures. everything is so bright and cheery. there are a lot of kid-based things she makes, so those things i just admire or bookmark when i see something for the nieces/nephews, but other times she has things that I can make. which is exciting....

SPLIT PEA SHAMROCKS! neat, huh?!?!



although i did have to buy the split peas, i actually had vinyl on hand (i'm falling in love with joann's remnant fabric clearance section....thats where i buy my random things i would never buy otherwise, like vinyl)

but i finally got to use this tool...

my gromet-er!

i do have to say, using it was a big disappointment. my grandmother's gromet-er is a lot easier to use, and that is like a piece of metal and a hammer. but still, i was able to practice using it...

(i gave up taking decently lit or backgrounded pictures. its dark outside and my apartment is really dark. maybe i should use better lightbulbs)

the finished project!! brightening up my entry into the bathroom. :)

heres a cooler view. plus you can't see that i stuffed all the shamrocks differently...

i laid on the floor to take the above picture, and within 5 seconds, a certain dog laid down beside me. he makes me laugh.

stoically accepting belly rubs.

here he was ignoring me completely. i'm standing over him, trying to get him to look at the camera. he knew. never has his concentration NOT to look at me been so fierce.

anyways, second project!! another one of my very favorite blogs to read is mairuru. everything she makes and sells is hand-sewn. its amazing. and she's always coming up with new and creative things. project 2 is her origami drawstring bag.
it was actually very easy and fun to make.

there's one big inside pocket..

and 2 outside pockets.

(i just have to point out here how well the fabrics match....at least colorwise. i'm so proud of that fact. especially because they're not the same designer and i got them at 2 separate places - the outside bird fabric was a fat quarter from pacific fabrics in east bremerton, and the inside fabric was part of my fabrics.com clearance fabric i got the other week. woohoo!)

heres another view. i think its cute! the yellow ribbon was from grandma blessing's days.

"i had to be a man about it...but that was stupid." ~ jacob oehrig