Monday, August 16, 2010

Birthday girl

Whats a 31 year old to do??

Why, have a pedicure (and manicure), of course!



Where shall the 31 year old hang out?

Why, visit "the beach" with a very special friend, of course!



What shall the 31 year old do at the beach?

Why, collect a rock and shell stash, of course! (no, these were all sarah's)



What else shall the 31 year old do?

Why, take a walk in the park, of course! (and keep a lookout for the coyotes!)


And what shall the 31 year old buy?

Why, buy another cookbook for the dog, of course!



Where shall the 31 year old eat?

Why, eat on the waterfront, of course!



What a lovely day!

"i need to see more toe-age." ~ s. guajardo

Friday, August 13, 2010

A how-to

This isn't really a tutorial, but more like an idea of what you could make if you have the following ingredients.

I used:
Black matte fabric paint
A set of old metal letter stencils
A foam brush
Small piece of burlap (yes, I'm about a year or so behind in the burlap phase everyone else seemed to be in)



Figure out what you want to write. I have a birthday coming up, and I wanted something along those lines.

Then start stenciling! Make sure you hold your stencil down. And dont use too much paint. Otherwise, you'll get some blobby nonsense under your stencil.



Cute!



When finished, my sign looked something like this:



After setting the paint (ironing it with another layer of cloth between the paint and the iron), I created a hem and threaded it with a stiff piece of leather cording.

Oh, and hung it up on my mantle...



My friend Sarah is coming tomorrow!!!

"Birthdays are good for you. Statistics show that the people who have the most live the longest." ~ Larry Lorenzoni

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

The new rule

My new rule with Atticus is: if he wakes me up before my alarm goes off and I actually get up, then I get to sit around and drink coffee and be on the computer until the time I was SUPPOSED to get up before he gets his morning walk. He still sits outside in the sun, but now I have imposed times on everything. It makes me feel less guilty about letting him laze around (well, really, less guilty about me lazing around). I still have 15 minutes to go in my timer. And I'm already on coffee cup #3.

Its also amazing how fast time flies when you aren't doing anything productive. I've made great headway on my to-do-before-my-friend-sarah-arrives-list though. Mostly whats left is cleaning. Blech.

Happy almost birthday to me!



"The concept of premenstrual syndrome was invented by a woman in Iowa who was trying to come up with a way to call her husband shit-for-brains without repercussions. Now we all benefit." ~ Leslie Mann

Sunday, August 8, 2010

A total cliche, I know

Weekend roundup, cliche-style:

Two wooden folding chairs, St Vincent de Paul = $5.42



Lamp base, Goodwill (Bremerton) = $2.50
Lamp shade, Target = $7.99



Fabric, fabric, and more fabric, Goodwill (Tacoma) = $26.93


Cute white shelf (and a place to house my button collection!), Goodwill (Tacoma) = $4.99


What every shelf hook needs, a basket via Mother Hubbard = 1 hour, give or take (I was distracted!)





Photobooth at the mall = $3.00



Bowling with a friend = $20.00


Knowing that this girl will one day be saving lives = priceless. :)



"Always acknowledge a fault. This will throw those in authority off their guard and give you an opportunity to commit more." ~ Mark Twain

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Leash-less

While my phone takes pretty good day-time pictures, 4am pictures turn out not so nice.

Anyways, I'm trying to get Atticus used to going leash-less! He tends to be a runner (he thinks the terrified look on my face is funny), and he has yet to understand that running in front of moving cars is bad. So, we're going to practice when no one is out, and the potential for accidents is low. (Having yumm-o dog treats on hand doesn't hurt!)



In other news, my apartment is finally coming together. The carpet cleaner guy came today - a whole hour early - and the maintenance guys finished painting all the patches etc. I still have some small things I would like attended to, but its looking pretty good! I still haven't seen hide nor hair of Jen though, even though I think shes the one who knocked on my door yesterday at 4:45pm when I was in the shower. I have decided she gets until Thursday, and then I will visit the office.

I started to reorganize some things today - getting ready for my friend Sarah's visit & my birthday party on August 15th! Woohoo! I think my biggest fear with having a party is that I'll invite 20 people but only 3 will show up. We shall see.

Onward and Upward!

"you are a snowflake!" ~ j.m. 1094

Monday, August 2, 2010

Leave it

Trying to teach Atticus to balance a biscuit on his nose...



No, those aren't moldy biscuits - they're freshly baked cheesy biscuits. Perhaps I should have baked something different to show our latest work...





If anyone has any suggestions on how to transition from this to flipping the biscuit up and catching it, let me know!

"she's the teenage daughter you haven't had yet." ~ m. simpson

Sunday, August 1, 2010

a waterlogged update

Back from vacation. I wish I could post vacation pictures, but I'm trying to stick to the "no kids faces on public webpages" rule. So, if you want to see them, I'll post them on facebook soon. Kind of an ironic sentence, but there you go.

So, let me paint you a picture. I had just taken a 6 hour plane ride, stuck behind some lady who stuck her seat back the whole way, preventing me from falling asleep. I went from being on a dayshift kind of schedule, falling asleep at nine pm EST, to a plane ride that ended at 1 am PST. I got my luggage and called my ride. Well, she was lost. Long story short, there was construction on I5, and she couldn't figure out how to get around it. So, instead of finding a gas station or staying PUT so I could consult a map and give her directions, she just kept driving aimlessly. *big sigh* But, she finally made it and I got home around 3:30 or 4am.

So, just imagine. I'm already grouchy, exhausted, and just want to sleep in my cleaned up apartment. (see previous post for water damage fiasco).

I step into my apartment and am immediately assailed by the strong smell of once-wet-now-dry carpet smell. Its strong enough I almost gag. I turn on the light and look around. No carpet pad. Half-finished patch job on ceilings and walls. Doors are still off my closet. The carpet in my bedroom is completely warped and now almost twice as large as it should be. Oh, and no smoke detectors.

Also, hanging up on the door to my apartment is a pre-fab note from Jen (apartment manager) saying my lease was almost up, and "Stop by the office so we can talk about lease renewal options!"

I was frustrated and angry. I went to bed with the covers half up my nose because the smell was absolutely overwhelming.

Next day. I notice this....



Can you see that green stuff? AKA mold?

Wonderful.

It was then that I decided to put a plan into motion. Of course, its Saturday, and no one who can actually do anything is in my apartment manager's office, but...did I already mention I had a plan?

I talked with Erin who was manning the office. Who was actually very nice. I layed out my complaint to her. I asked when it was going to be fixed. I didn't pretend it didn't matter, and I didn't say "its okay". I then pulled out what I consider a dangerous weapon. It may not seem like a big thing to you all, but I pretty much consider it to be one.

I asked Erin for Jen's (manager) boss's name and number. I told Erin I didn't appreciate how Jen was handling this situation or her attitude, and I was going up the line.

After Erin's goose-egg eyeballs went back into their sockets (haha...not really. But she WAS a little surprised I think), she suggested I talk to Jen before talking with Jen's boss. I said, no. Jen had plenty of time to fix this problem. I got the boss's name and personal cell number. I promised Erin I wouldn't bother the Boss til Monday.

Now, think about it. If you were Erin, what would you do???

Thats right.

Guess who I got a call from today? (Sunday) Guess who called apologizing profusely? Guess who promised things would be fixed Monday and Tuesday? Guess who promised my whole apartment's carpet would be shampooed on Wednesday?

Thats right. Jen called. She was overwhelming apologetic. She said she misunderstood me when I said I would be gone for a week. Apparently she thought that meant two weeks. She promised action and she apologized continually. She told me Erin had called her, mentioning I was upset. She told me I had every right to be upset. No mention of Jen's boss. No glimpse of the previous "just let it dry out" attitude. I told Jen I now had mold on my walls.

She's coming over herself tomorrow.

I'm wondering if now's a good time to renew that lease???

"i ain't no cinderella, i ain't waiting for no prince..." ~ NOFX