The weekend

I had a poopy weekend.  Not in the bathroom sense, just in the sense that nothing went right and my mood was in the crapper.  It continually got worse with just about every contact I had with people both in person or via email.  I was about ready to picket the apartment office where I live.  That kind of thing. 

Even poor Atticus didn't know what to do and just about everything he did ticked me off.  Of course his list of accomplishments includes a destroyed stuffed pumpkin that he stole and muddy footprints on my bed, but still.  I couldn't seem to shake anything off. 

The only thing that went right?  My niece's birthday present.  Her mother suggested something along the lines of a backpack, so that was my goal.

I'm discovering more and more that if I have an actual picture pattern (even if I'm the one who draws it), including dimensions, and take my time, I can make just about anything by myself.  I was going to follow someone else's pattern for this, but I didn't really like anything I saw.  So, taking a good look at my old Eastpak, and a little imagination, this is what I came up with for my niece, Eden...

I used pear fabric I got last year before Christmas....I can't remember what I used it for before.  The blue fabric is from a stash I found with my mom while yard-saleing in Pennsylvania this summer.  I think it was an old pair of polyester-blend pants.  :)  

Here's another view...

The back....

A closer look at the straps.  I thought ahead and made them slightly padded.

As always, the next step will be getting it to the post office.  It will join my brother Jonathan's present, which has been sitting in a box just inside my front door for over a week now.  It will also join my niece Emily's present, which I have yet to box up.  Both of those things I will show you another day. 

Sadly enough, I'm looking foward to work tomorrow, only so it might break up my bad mood.  Likely?  Not really.  But one can hope.

"If I can do better, should I?" ~ Jim Rohn

Some weeks

There's just some weeks that put you in a funk.  And you wish would end.  I'm in the middle of one of those.  There's nothing specific that makes it blah, but it just is. 

I've had to psych myself up to go into work this week.  I think I'm just tired of being a target.  Many times I've wondered if getting the promotion is worth all the political and social struggle I'm dealing with now.  My answer to that question is still up in the air. 

I DID however get my first promotional paycheck, and that, along with some overtime money, I was able to buy my plane tickets for my December vacation.  This is a record early for me.  Which is a nice load off my shoulders and to-do list.

So, the spiders are out in Washington.  Have been for awhile, but they tend to make Attie and my walks more interesting.   We encounter the following a lot, especially in the mornings:

No, its not a picture of Atticus, although I would like to point out hes patiently waiting for me to take my picture.  Its the hanging leaf in the right of the picture.  Its kind of hard to tell what it is, so I took a second picture, like "look at this magic leaf thats floating without any help", but it didn't quite turn out and then someone came along and I felt a little dumb for taking pictures of a leaf that was literally hanging by a spider thread.

If you're wondering why the pictures are so big, I just found out if I size them "extra large", then I dont have to bother formatting any of my typing.  Which is the main  thing that annoys me about this new blogger.  Plus, why wouldn't you want to see a leaf and my wierdly wrinkly digits in extra-large size?

In other news, I finally got a cut bad enough to use some of my pickle bandages.  Thats been cool.  Unfortunately, it happened to my index finger that accidentally got mangled by the sewing machine, but oh well.  I've been excited to show off my bandages. 

One 12 hour shift to go.  I can do it.

"When by now and tree by leaf
She laughed his joy
She cried his grief
Bird by snow and stir by still
Anyone's any was all to her."
~e.e. Cummings

Did you ever...

...just want to sit and create something?  Its tough when you don't have inspiration or direction or any ideas.

This is why I like to make cards.  Nothing has to match.  Thread, scraps, etc.  Its all a heaping load of mis-matched colors and textures etc. 

But it always just looks so neat!

Don't be surprised if everyone I know gets cards for Christmas...



Off to take a walk in the rain with my roommate.

"Do you share the same sense of defeat?

Have you realized all the things you'll never be?
Ideals turn to resentment, open minds close up with cynicism
I've got no judgement for you
Come on and ache with me."
~ Against Me!

Something went right

So I saw this idea the other day.  For those of you who don't click the links, its an idea for a reusable muslin coffee filter.  I even showed it to my brother, Andre', who recently wrote back and asked if I had made it yet.

Well, Andre'....here it is!!!!

It doesn't look like much, I know.  And although it looks a little wonky and unstraight, it actually is pretty darn symmetrical.

In my coffee pot....

I brewed water as a trial run...just because I didn't want a coffee fiasco on my hands.

During the coffee trial...

And done!!!!!

MMM....coffeee....



For all of you who were wondering - it works awesomely!  No difference in the taste to the coffee either.  Next time I make one it will fit more to my actual pot.  I modeled this one based on the filters I was using, and I don't think I ever realized that the filters are more of a SUGGESTION of what the inside of your coffee pot is shaped like than anything else.  If that makes sense.  To get rid of the grounds, I'll just wash them into my garbage disposal.  (Sorry, brother, I don't have a compost bin.  If coffee is even compostable).

Oh, and a sneak peak of my niece Emily's birthday present... (yes, I AM one of those people)....

Attie and I are currently munching on cream cheese garlic biscuits that I made last night (I added more garlic than called for, which made them pretty darn delicious).  Then its off to create something else before I start my 50 hour work-week. 

"I woke today, suddenly nothing happened.  But in my dream, I slew the dragon." ~ Colin Hay

Time

Its time to make some biscuits!

"All's quiet, except for this song.
So maybe while I'm not together I can feel like I'm not alone.
And somewhere off in the distance, rapidly advancing, is an onslaught of sorts.
Young sirens wail in a skewed sense of glory.
And the lions in the cages roar at the memory of fight.
And there's a joy, a joy in all I can see.
A joy, in every possibility."
~ Against Me!

Possibilities

A stack of freshly-washed new and new-to-me fabric.

Thirteen inches to be exact.

"I don't wanna defeat you

I don't wanna be sad

I don't wanna forgive you

I don't wanna be mad
'cause it's always say what you wanted to say
as you're walking away
and I can't take this disappointment again
and i'm waiting..."
~ Lagwagon

Torture

There's nothing quite as peaceful and relaxing after a tough week at work than torturing your dog...

"The moon hides behind the clouds

The foothills don’t make a sound

The clocks tired arms continue to spin round

I hold my breath under this ocean of silence

Until I put an end to this mind of violence"

~ The Briggs