Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Another Elephant!!

So if you're a friend or family member of mine, this is a GREAT time to have a baby. I'm way into crafting right now (mostly just sewing). And now that we finally got an air conditioner in our apartment it's actually bearable to sew. I made this elephant for Minky last night. I worked fast and diligently and I think it's really cute, but don't look too close. It has its flaws, just like all of us. I don't know if these pics will do it justice cuz it really is cute and I'm not ashamed to brag. And the fabric is flannel, so it'll be all soft and cuddly for a little baby boy. I just hope the buttons won't kill anyone. I really doubt if they will...

Did you know?


That I cut like 10 inches off my hair? I hope everyone will still like me. And no, I didn't donate it. I would have, but I think it wasn't quite long enough, and since it had been a year since I last cut my hair, I figured they wouldn't want my raggedy split endy hair for wigs anyway.

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

DO YOU KNOW YOUR REAL AGE???????

So I'm a total sucker for online quizzes. A lot of them are dumb, but I really liked this one. It asks a bunch of questions about your lifestyle and then it tells you your real age. It told me that my real age is 5 yrs younger than my fake age!! I think that's pretty good. I think it would have gone even younger if I knew off the top of my head how many milligrams of certain vitamins and minerals are in the multivitamin I take. My score was helped a lot by the fact that I always wear my seatbelt, I don't smoke, I don't ride a motorcycle, I eat lots of veggies and no red meat. My score would go up if I had a dog or a cat as a pet. I thought that was pretty interesting. If you have something to snuggle you feel less stress and petting a small domestic animal can actually lower your blood pressure. Maybe I should let hoon get a kitty after all. Here's the link. What's YOUR real age??
http://www.realage.com

Monday, July 28, 2008

My Own Personal Library

So I have a habit of collecting books lately. Lots of books. That's all I really ever want to buy. So as it turns out, I have a lot of books. And I'm happy about that. I love owning the books I love. I have trouble with library books because I don't do well with deadlines. And also I really love being able to underline my favorite parts from books and going back to them at later times. But now my room is spewing over with books. So, I am making everyone an offer. I hate to see these books sitting on my shelf. Mostly only to be read once. If anyone, who is mostly responsible and trustworthy, would like to borrow books from me, I'd gladly lend them out. I mean, if you know that you're not good at borrowing stuff and you lose and ruin books, maybe you shouldn't take me up on my offer. I mean, I might hesitate to lend myself a book, but in the end I think I'd do it. And I want to thank all of you who have entrusted me with your book lendings. And I want to apologize to you who have lent me books (and other things) that I have borrowed and never returned. Anyway, if you want a list of my books, let me know.

Summer Short Story Derby!!!

So there has been set forth a challenge this summer to write the best short story. Well, not the best in the world. Just out of some of my friends. And we're actually not even really looking for the "best". It's more of a celebration than a contest. I'm really excited about it, so I hope it's really happening. People have been very silent about it, so I hope it's a sign that people are busily writing and keeping their ideas for an end of summer surprise. I've been intrigued by the short story format for some time. It seems so doable to me. Maybe I'm fooling myself. A novel seems impossible. But a short story, on the other hand, seems like something a regular gal like me might be able to do. I've been reading and listening to a lot of short stories over the past few months. I can't get enough of them. My favorite thing about them is that, well, they are short. I love the idea of getting any sort of theme or message or even something interesting into such a small space. The author needs to be calculated with what he or she leaves in or out. I'm partial to Russian authors lately, so I've read some Chekov, Babel, Gogol... But I've also been reading Italo Calvino, Jorge Luis Borges... hmmm... mostly foreign. But that's probably okay. Anyway, to help me along my journey I got this book at the biggest and definitely one of the greatest bookstores I've ever been to--Powell's in downtown Portland. It was highly recommended. So far I like it, but even though she's stating the opposite, I still feel like I have to be born to write, or not at all. It doesn't really seem like a learned thing. And I enjoy writing, but it's not like I can't seem to stop myself or that it's all I can think about or anything. So I guess we'll see how it goes. Anyway, this book is called Bird By Bird by Anne Lamott. If you can't read the subtitle it says, "Some Instructions on Writing and Life". Sounds a little cheesy. No offense. We'll see how it goes.

Sewing

Sew... I don't want to mislead anyone into thinking that I've been crafty lately. I've been lazy. It's too hot to sew, and it's definitely WAY too hot to knit or crochet. But I've finally loaded some pictures of recentish projects onto my computer. I have aspirations for some upcoming projects, sew I feel that's good enough for now. We don't have real air-conditioning in my apartment, sew I'm going to wait a while...

Here is a picture of my adorable mom and the apron I made her for Mothers Day. She knew that I was making her an apron because I told her I wanted to make her an apron. But I don't think she knew how cute it was going to be. I mean, look at it.





















Here is an elephant that I made for my friend's baby. I tried to finish it before the baby shower, but of course I didn't get it done in time. And when it comes to giving gifts, I either have to give it to the recipient right away, or they probably won't get it for about a year. So now the elephant is done, but I keep forgetting to give it to my friend. I don't know what my problem is. I'm getting old. My mom told me not to use buttons for the eyes because the baby will choke on them and die and I really don't want to kill anyone's babies. But I used the tiniest buttons the store had for the tiny elephant eyes. I think these shouldn't kill any babies. I think they're small enough that the baby can easily swallow it if it comes down to it.

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Where's Doug Fabrizio???

Does anyone know where he is? He's been gone for like 3 weeks!!! This is torture! I mean, no offense Jennifer Napier-Pierce or Jenny Brundine, But you are NOT D-fab. I wonder if we should worry about him? Maybe he's out of the country? I MISS HIM!!!

Monday, July 21, 2008

Blog Babies

I've been hearing a lot of this lately, "WHA???!!! You don't read my blog??? Every single day???" Wahhh, Wahhh. Cry me a river, babies. And I'm getting sick of it. So I just wanted to clear the air. And I'd really like to beat some of these people down (NOT an imminent threat). I'm REALLY sorry that I don't read everyone's blogs all the time. Really sorry. It doesn't mean that I don't value you as a person or think you're not funny and clever or that I don't think you have the cutest kids or that you aren't preparing to have the best wedding ever. It's not. Really. I enjoy reading blogs when I can. I like anonymously keeping up on what my friends are doing without actually having to talk to them, just like everybody else. But I just try to avoid the internet as much as possible in general. And if it makes you feel any better, I seldom check my own blog, as you can clearly see.

And please, don't come back at me with any passive aggressive remarks about how you're "Just going to stop reading my blog" or talk crap on me on your blog called "the daily uncool", cuz that just doesn't bother me. Well, the whining does get to me...

I feel flattered when people read my blog or comment on it. I think it's nice to know people care and want to read and comment. But if you choose not to read or comment, I won't be hurt or offended and I certainly will never say to you, "Remember on my blog when I said that really awesome thing?.... WHA??? You never read my blog every day???? But it's so FUNNY!!!" I guess that I place my self-worth in other things. I don't know. Maybe I shouldn't.

Let's make a deal, I'LL read your blog any chance I get, cuz honestly I think your blog is funny, interesting, I think you have the cutest kids, I think your wedding will be amazing, and I want to KIT; and YOU can read my blog whenever you feel like it and if you feel wounded because I'm not giving your blog enough TLC, well I support you in boycotting my blog. Deal?