The vet

I took Atticus to the vet this afternoon.  He's been whimpering about his ear so I thought he might have an ear infection.  He doesn't.  But it wasn't all in vain because he got caught up on his vaccinations.

Waiting semi-patiently for the vet to be ready

Afterwards we went to the dog park to work off all the anxious energy built up at the vet.  Fun, but I have had no time for a nap. 

Tonight's going to be a long one.

If all the beasts were gone, men would die from a great loneliness of spirit, for whatever happens to the beasts also happens to the man. All things are connected. Whatever befalls the Earth befalls the sons of the Earth.
~ Chief Seattle of the Suquamish Tribe, letter to President Franklin Pierce

Measuring my life

I think of all the things that I do on a consistent basis, I can say with utmost certainty that embarassing moments take up a lot of my time.  I can measure my life in these moments and the moments afterwards in which I actually hope that for once, the floor WILL open up and swallow me whole.

Today, after Zumba, I'm walking in the parking lot with my friend Michelle and looking at the new schedules the Y just posted.  Next thing I know, i'm skidding across the pavement.  Apparently I missed a set of steps.  Luckily it was only two steps, because otherwise I probably would have caused myself some serious injury.  I'm looking at my ankle now and wondering if its bruised, sprained, or just humiliated. 

Michelle was no help.  As I sat there red faced and blushing and giggling, Michelle was literally doubled over in laughter.  It took her several tries to pull me up because she was laughing so hard. 

Oi.

My only saving grace was that this happened outside, and I had 2 rows of parked cars in between me and the building, so hopefully no one really saw me. 

Hopefully.

I don't have any relevant pictures, so here's a picture of the cupcake I ate the other day.  Very Vanilla.

Show me a man with a tattoo and I'll show you a man with an interesting past. ~ Jack London

Sometimes I'm a horrible person

As I went into the YMCA the other day I saw something that made me laugh.  I didn't say anything because I wanted to get my workout in before I drug out my phone to take a picture.

After my workout, sweaty stinky me goes up to the main counter...phone out (set to camera).

Guy behind the counter:  "Um...can I help you?"

Me, focusing my camera on my prey:  "Nope".

*click*

Guy behind the counter is looking a little irritated.

Me:  "Oh, your sign is misspelled".

Guy behind the counter turns the sign around and confers with the 3 ladies behind the counter.

I guess they finally figured it out because when I went to the Y yesterday, the sign was fixed.

The feeling of Sunday is the same everywhere, heavy, melancholy, standing still. ~ Jean Rhys

Atlas vs. Mutant

My life has been weird lately.  I joined the YMCA so I'm currently taking advantage of that membership as much as possible.  That means going to the gym 3-5 days a week.  No longer am I zumba'ing twice a week in a tiny little room with 20 other people, but I'm sweating in public with 100+ other people within shouting distance.  Zumba days I'm in a gym with 150 other people.  Yesterday I got a strength training survey so a computer could tell me which weight machines I should use.  Its weird.  I'm like one of those people whose life statuses read: "work, gym, dinner with the girls", "work, gym, shopping...." etc etc etc. 

Its almost like I'm turning into a mutant.  A semi-recognizable version of my former lazy self.

This morning at work, I got one of the highest compliments I could from my supervisor.  He told me that for the 3 hours I stayed over into day shift yesterday, I carried the entire shift by myself.  Despite having two coworkers there.  Nothing went wrong, even having a confusing call for service at a jurisdictional boundary.  He looked for something to contact us on (to improve our work performance), but could find nothing.

That comes at a good time, I think because I've been feeling blah at work. 

Oh yeah, and I got a certificate (woo!) for a project that took me a year to complete.  Its more than that, but its hard to explain.  So I'm just going to say I got a certificate. 

AND, in all the hullabaloo with the gym and being busy etc, I'm trying even harder to get Atticus to the park and out for walks.  I don't want him to feel left out. 

He got in the car the other day and this is his immediate position.  He knew good things were about to happen. 

*deep breath*

Too bad I still can't fly.

Don't be yourself - be someone a little nicer. 
~ Mignon McLaughlin

REC

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY PAPA!!!!

My dad was a stud.

My dad and his dad.

Old as she was, she still missed her daddy sometimes.
~ Gloria Naylor

A pre-work nap...

Trying to take a pre-work nap...its not working....


Attie's tired from chasing dogs at the park for 90 minutes this afternoon.  I'm tired from watching him....























My goal in life is to be as good of a person my dog already thinks I am. ~ Author Unknown

Dorothy

I'm glad my promised 5 posts are over because its back to work tomorrow....

My  new red shoes.  (Goodwill baby!)  Atticus was feeling left out. 

Life's a game but it's not fair
I break the rules so I don't care
So I keep doing my own thing
Walking tall against the rain...
~ Rihanna

Promise part 5

3000 miles and 6 months later...

Look at these Angel Wings, Mom!!!!

Took my first spin class tonight.  It was a lot more boring than I thought riding a bike for an hour would be.  Have a feeling I wont be able to stand tomorrow though. 

Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant.

~ Robert Louis Stevenson

Promise part 4

A game of mini golf to start the weekend off right!

My swing is so bad I look like a caveman killing his lunch.
~ Lee Trevino

Promise part 3

I recently met someone at a BBQ and we bonded over talking about crafty things.  She gave me all these different gauge wires this week.  How cool is that??? 
p.s.  The wire is for jewelry making - I'm thinking of branching out. 

Promise little and do much. ~ Hebrew Proverb

Promise Part 2



My coworker brought me a cupcake this morning.  Long story.  It was yummy.























But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep...
~ Robert Frost

A promise

I was reading back over old posts and just realized how negative my writing has gotten recently.  I'm sorry for that.  Apparently I only blog when tired and out of sorts and annoyed??  I don't know.  I'm not an overly negative person I don't think.  Hmmm....

So...I promise that I won't say anything remotely negative for the next 5 posts.  Even if I have to lie.  So this entry won't even mention  my second week of three 12 hour shifts or my neighbor who felt like revving his Harley outside my bedroom window for 2 hours this afternoon when I was trying to sleep.  :)

So instead, here's another "look what I made!!!"

I used this tutorial, and made a diaper bag for my retired supervisor.  His first grandchild is due this month.  Normally I don't go around spending 5 hours sewing for old supervisors, but one of my coworkers asked me to.  Plus, I get to keep the extra fabric as payment.  (Score!)  He's a big WSU fan, in case you were wondering. 



The fabric up close.  Who knew how hard it would be to find Washington State University fabric IN Washington State?  I resorted to shopping online.



There's 2 front velcro pockets and a velcro pocket on each side.  Ignore that thread.  I'm going to go cut it off right now. 

The inside is gray vinyl with several elastic pockets.  I officially hate sewing with vinyl.  This was really nice stuff and my machine hated it.  I had to resew over most of it because my machine kept dropping stitches.  I was constantly adjusting thread tension and length etc trying to find that perfect combo.  I never found it.  I think the vinyl was too thick.  AND...one of the pockets started to rip away already.  AAAAAAAAHHHHH.  I need to fix that.  Oh, and yes...I used a Starbucks mug as a prop here.  I don't have any baby bottles laying around.

The back zippered pocket

I'm making you look at the bag again....

The best way to keep one's word is not to give it.
~ Napoleon Bonaparte

Debate

Whats's more depressing...

- working graveyard during the Pacific Northwest winter and not seeing the light of day for 3+ months?

or

- working 3 12 hour shifts in a row during what was described as "the warmest days since September" and sleeping through almost every last bit of sunshine?

Its a toss-up.

I have sometimes been wildly, despairingly, acutely miserable, but through it all I still know quite certainly that just to be alive is a grand thing. ~ Agatha Christie

What I've been working on lately

Weather report:  June 1st.  50 degrees and raining.  If I see one more Facebook status that talks about needing air conditioning I might scream.  To borrow from my friend Katie's Facebook status, she writes:  "Northface jacket, Keenes, sunglasses, windshield wipers on high, iced mocha in hand. Yep, it's June in Washington."  Yep.  Thats us.

But I digress.

This is what I've been working on lately....



Reusable coffee sleeves



I gave them out to a bunch of friends.  Grace chose this one - it has a big antique button and thread sketching of hearts on it.  After her boyfriend saw it now he wants one.  More manly, of course. 

Still my favorite thing to make.  Stacks of cards.

I gave a bunch of these out too.  Since then I've been told of two local cafes that sell homemade goods and that I should try to sell my things there.  I'm pondering it. 

Some of my favorite cards...

You can tell this one is made of scraps - 8 to be exact.  I like to look at them and see the different projects I've made:  This one includes remnants from two Ninja turtle masks, a purse, a pillow for my niece, another purse, a laundry bin liner, and an apron. 

A blanket, an old tshirt, and a stash from when I went yard-saleing with my mom.

My friend Sarah is thinking about re-entering the work place.  I thought she would need a sophisticated purse (that doesn't have baby remnants inside of it).  Its also an extremely belated birthday present.

This is called the Josy clutch.  I actually bought the pattern from Ithinksew.com.   The pattern called for an o-ring, which I was going to skip until I looked at my button stash and found what could pass for one.  I'm not sure what the ring was in an original life, but now it proudly sits on the bag strap.  I used chartreuse for the lining and hot pink for the stiches.  Just to make it fun. 

Recent fabric purchases.  Technically, its a Christmas present - thank you mom. :)  Pacific fabrics was having a clearance and I had a gift card.  I've been in a turquoise, orange, and brown mood lately.  If you couldn't tell.

I have a long list of things to do that I neglected to do this weekend.  I should probably get started.  Back to my regular shift tonight after 2 weeks of being away from the radio. 

Sanity is madness put to good uses.  ~ George Santayana