swimming

Ben and I have been swimming every day since the pool got clear enough. It wears me out so much, I fall asleep, boom, and don't even move until 6:30 most mornings. It's really awesome exercise. We swim constantly for about half an hour, back and forth, and then we do noodle crunches and such. I've even been considering adding back in my morning exercising too. Oh, fitness! From whence have you come? but seriously, I'm feeling better physically than I have for years. It rocks.

Today is Anti-Procrastination Day, so I'm finally getting the pieces for my dress cut out. There's a reason that I don't sew such large things... complicated? yes, large? no.




There is no where but the floor that's big enough to cut on. Getting all that cut out was a big pain in the butt. I still deciding whether I want to line it. I'm supposed to, but it's pretty heavy-ish cotton, not really something that HAS to be lined. I might go through the pattern instructions and see it there's a structural reason it should be lined.

I finally got the yarn wound into balls, so I'll be able to work on my sweater this afternoon. I'm hoping to have it done by the end of the week. Fingers crossed.

The desert is a stupid place to live.

We had a really good time up in Flagstaff and seeing the Grand Canyon. The weather up there is so much nicer, it's just crazy. I could just about cry when I think of having to be back here in the valley of the sunstroke, I want to get outside so badly, but the heat just sucks. But it is nice in the pool in the evenings, so we're lucky to have it clean and working again.

We went to Walnut Canyon and climbed down a cliff to look at ruins of cave dwelling type things. That was a lot of fun, even though it was quite a hike. The Grand Canyon was pretty. I'd been there before, so it wasn't new to me, but I think Ben enjoyed it quite a bit. We went to a historical home in Flagstaff, it was really cool. It was a huge duplex because brothers who married sisters built it. They were big lumber people at the turn of the century. It was very nice and had lots a really pretty arts and crafts style furniture and stuff. I think that was my favorite part of the trip, but I'm a sucker for touring historical homes.

I've been taking apart sweaters this week. I made quite a haul at the Goodwill on Friday before we left while the oil in the car was being changed. I managed to find five sweaters to cannablize all with the right color tag to get fifty percent off. I found two silk blend sweaters, one silk/cotton and the other silk/cashmere and two angora blend sweaters and one 100% wool one. I usually don't bother with the wool ones because they're really common, but this one was light colored so I figured I could dye it, and it wasn't nearly as fine gague as most, the yarn is pretty much heavy worsted weight. I took that one apart yesterday and made a swatch to see how it'll felt. I want to do a felted bag with it. The silk ones are really very finely gauged, but I figured by doubling it and using a pretty lace pattern, I could make a nice stole from the silk/cashmere, which is a pretty charcoal color. Anyway, pretty great yarn for only $2.50 a sweater.

Going to the Grand Canyon

Well... yeah... That's what I'm doing. Yep.

By Request

For Julie:



And because Stephanie wants gratuitous yarn shots:



This the the sweater yarn after I unravelled it.



And here it is after being dyed with a pack of royal blue and a pack of navy blue rit dye. I'm not really happy with the color, I'm afraid I'll end up looking like a molting muppet.
The crocheting behind the skein is the start of my sweater. I was going for one of those cool front and back the same wrap sweater type things, like this but it's probably going to end up a lot more like a regular cardigan. I don't know yet. I'm at a stopping point at the moment anyway, because I have to wind up my last four skeins into balls and my skein holder isn't home from work yet.

To Donny Osmond:

No. No, you're not.
You're not even a nano-bit rock and roll.

A wire necklace and evil eyebrows

We went to a fondue restaurant on Sunday. I can't even describe how good it was. Just know that if anyone ever invites you to fondue, it might be the greatest mistake in your life to tell them no.

Yesterday I dyed some angora blend yarn that I had pulled out of a Goodwill sweater. It took forever to get the rinse water to run clear and the kitchen smelled like wet dog. Well, techinically, I guess it smelled like wet rabbit. But the yarn is now a much darker blue.

I'm thinking of entering this in the Craftster challenge 5.




I'm pretty sure I will, because the entry period ends tomorrow, and I'm not planning a different project that doesn't use yarn before then.

I got my eyebrows waxed on Sunday. She messed up. I don't remember checking evil on the form.

Julie's gonna love this one.

Your Linguistic Profile:

75% General American English

20% Upper Midwestern

5% Yankee

0% Dixie

0% Midwestern

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

I'm feeling happy tonight...

...because people are nice. Tonight I was supposed to start a new session of my tatting class, and when I got my bike I realized that the tires have gone flat. Probably because I haven't ridden it in a couple of months. Ben's was a little better, so I took his, but they were still soft. So I figured I'd have to stop for air, because it was riding really hard. But I didn't have any quarters, and for some reason his chain wasn't on it. So I was thinking that I'd have to park it somewhere that I could keep an eye on it while I went in and waited in line for change.

Well, when I pulled up, there were these two guys using the air hose to fill their bikes, so I got off near them to wait my turn and to go through my backpack and make sure I didn't have some quarters in there. And when they saw I was waiting for the hose, they called me over and filled my tires themselves with their own air time. Those nice guys really deserve something great to happen to them, they even did the filling and checking for me.

It really made my night. I didn't even care much when my student was a no show. It gave me a chance to shop a little.

So, anyone reading my blog, I have a moral this time...
Even when something seems simple and no problem to you, when you're nice to someone, it can really make them feel good, and take away problems you didn't even know they had.

My cat loves you...

Take that Bree's Dick Chaney... :D

Your Daddy Is Johnny Depp

What You Call Him: Papi Why You Love Him: He gives good spankings

Who's Your Daddy?

This week...

...I've been working on Donna's Christmas present. I'm through three and a half skiens of yarn with only two and a half to go.
...I've been preparing outlines and lesson plans for my sewing class. I may be a bit too anal for my own good, but man, I love a good outline.
...I've been doing well with my working out, and I've branched out a little from the treadmill, Wednesday was my yoga for dummies tape and today, Broadway Blast Off with Richard Simmons. Do I need less dweeby workout tapes? Yes, yes I do.
...I saw Denis Rodman on some comercial or other on tv the other day and am conviced that he's turning into some sort of ogre monster demon thing.
...I cleaned my sewing room. It was odd, I didn't even know it was messy until I put everything away and then wow, it was a wreck in here before. I hung my tape dummy from the ceiling for now until I make its stand, and everytime I walk in and see it out of the corner of my eye, I think it's a trophy deer head or something.
...I got annoyed with my MIL because she keeps talking about how it's too bad I wouldn't let her give me a wedding shower, but she never just comes out and tells me what about that bugs her. And truthfully, it's not that I wouldn't let her, it's that I wanted one shower because I didn't have time for two what with finals of senior year and all, but she wouldn't give my mom the full guest list from her side. My gosh, do we still have residual wedding planning stress left over? So vote, should I ignore her guilt inducing comments like I have for four years? Or should I just tell her what I said here? I mean, she wants to be friends and stuff, but she does that so much with the little comments and the being kind of pushy about certain things that just when I'm feeling really friendly, I don't even want to deal with it. But I'd like to just be relaxed and friendly too, so shouldn't I let her know that that bothers me? I should call Dr. Phil.
...I got hooked on Dr. Phil. I never meant to. I'm so sorry. I never watched it before, and it turns out he's smart and funny. God help me.
...I talked Ben into taking ball room dancing classes with me. It's going to be fun, it'll count as exercise, and we'll know how to dance at his brother's wedding. I think that having to dance at the wedding decided him, because he's a groomsman, and he'll have to dance with the wedding party and all. I've been asking him if he'd do this everytime the community ed thing has come in the mail, and now that he's said yes, he's not getting out of it. We're signing up tomorrow.
...I looked hopelessy for a dress to wear to the wedding. They're telling me really formal. But I just can't wrap my head around wearing a gown to someone else's wedding. What are my choices? Why does this matter so much? Why do I insist on wearing brown?

More Christmas!

(or possibly birthday).

Here is a scarf I made for Angie that will either be her Birthday present or her Christmas present. It's made of Kid Seta 70% Mohair/30% Silk. I would usually make a scarf longer than this, (it's about forty-three inches), but that yarn is expensive ($11.95), so I just used one whole skein till it was gone and that was that. The color is off in the picture, it's really a dusty rose sort of color. And for anyone who thinks I'm cheap for only wanting to spend $12 on a Christmas present, bear in mind that my list has 33 people on it, lol.




I've started work on Donna's present, but her's is bigger and so might take me a little while. I'm thinking of entering this scarf in the state fair, but I don't know if it's nice enough. Or if there's a category it would go in.

Oh, I got tagged...

Ten things I hate:

1. When people write eyes in the o's of the word look.
2. Being wrong.
3. Heat and being hot.
4. Biting into somthing that doesn't taste good in an otherwise good meal.
5. The fact that I can't keep a plant alive.
6. Crowds and being crowded.
7. The way Smudge's fur sticks to my nose and face when I pet him.
8. Not being able to find a good pillow.
9. The fact that our "cold" water comes out of the tap at about 90 degrees.
10. Bossy mean people who always want their own way, but are super mean about it too.

Home Again

I had a good trip back to Michigan. It seems like we fit a ton of stuff in just a few days. I shopped with my mom, went to a Tiger game, hung out with my nephews, saw Charlie and the Chocolate Factory with Adam and Marissa, visited their new apartment, went to curves, ate at the Bakery, saw the construction all over Pinconning, visited Teeters and saw all the stuff that Wayne and Jolee and Angie have done to make it better, went to the Catholic store, did the Shower thing at Ben's Parents' house, and ate lots of Jimmy John's. Oh, I got my first manicure too. That was fun. There was more too, but that was a summary. Not bad for only fourish days, not counting the travel days.

I bought some really pretty lace weight mohair/silk yarn for Angie's Christmas present. I can't wait to start it. It's going to be a nice lacey scarf.

Does anyone know if there's something I can buy to make an IPod Shuffle play in the cd player of a car? It's an important part of Ben's Christmas present.

I have a good idea for something to make for Wayne's birthday present too, so I'm going to spend some time digitizing for that project today too. I'd tell all about it, but I want to just post the pictures.

There's something crazy with my keyboard today, it's being all delayed, so I'm just going to post more tomorrow.