Today

Today I'm trying to be the dancing, carefree, happy girl I want to be and know I truly am, but I'm stuck being the skulking, burdened, grumpy girl I hate being.

Bleh.

I'm having dinner tonight with a friend who I haven't seen for a year. But right now I'm going to go roll some Katamari. During the load scenes I'm going to do some mountain climbers to chase the clouds off my shoulders and out of my mind.

(I don't like to post about my dark moods, but it's a very real part of my life, and I'm working toward living out loud, so there ya go)

Summertime, and the livin' is easy

I know I said I had a project to show, but I can't find the pictures! I'm afraid that I deleted them off the camera before I could upload them. Boo.

I'm trying to get into a summer schedule that will make it easier to go back to work in August. In the summer my body wants to stay up until 3:00 or 4:00 in the morning and then sleep in until 9:30 or 10:00. It's murder when I have to go back to waking up at 5:45!

Last night we turned off the TV and the computer and hung out in the front room. It was so nice! We put on some music and just chilled for the evening.
Rocketboy got "comfy" on the couch and read.
Pixy got truly comfortable on the arm of the couch and wondered why Rocketboy didn't push things out of the way to make a cozy place to sit.
Link got snugly on the back of my chair.
And I worked on some designs in my sketchbook for a project. I'm having a really hard time translating a treasure chest into a 2D design.
LisaLove was out having fun, so she didn't join us.

We're going to try for four TV free days a week. There's nothing on TV anyway. Except for American Gladiators. Have you been watching it? You should! I find myself up out of my seat cheering people on.

Huh. That's interesting.

Just a little note for those who like to slack at work and use the free high speed Internet- CrimethINC is often blocked by a net nanny because it's "Category: Terrorist/Militant/Extremist"
That makes me laugh and cry at the same time. Sometimes I can't access instructables for the same reason.

Uh, not that I would ever use the Internet at work for time wasting purposes. No way. Not me.

Shake Girl

I've got a finished project, but I can't show it yet as it's a surprise.
In the mean time, go read Shake Girl, A really good graphic novel written by fourteen Stanford students.

Wasting time

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Originally uploaded by Pearliepie.

I have three big projects that I should be working on right now, but bleh. I have no crafty mojo.

Here's the second quilt block I was working on in my big crafts in progress list. The three projects I'm currently working on also feature embroidery quite heavily, and I'm getting sort of burned out on the needle and thread.


This is the make or break point- either I push through this bleh moment and finish on time or I continue to sit in front of the computer, feeling more and more guilty and becoming less and less likely to finish. Guess I'd better get my rear in gear, yeah?

Tree square

Tree square
Originally uploaded by Pearliepie.

One of the teachers I work with was diagnosed with Leukemia this year. The school has really pulled together to support her. Her students have started fund raisers to help with her medical copays, because she has to be in hospital so often, and the staff all decorated a muslin square to be sewn into a quilt for her.

I thought it would be fun to document my progress by taking a picture every time I ran out of thread. In the middle of the experiment I misplaced my camera, so there aren't many pictures of the top in progress, which was the most interesting bit. Oh well.

I did the outline of the treetop first with backstitch.



Then I got bored with green and started the trunk.

When the trunk was almost done I went back to the treetop and started filling it in.
I used two colors of thread held together for a blended look. The bigger circles are stain stitch, filled web stitch and button hole stitch.
In the middle of the trunk I used a raised rose stitch to look like a knot in the trunk. The rest of the trunk is modified long and short stitch to represent bark.

Blah blah. Back from the dead?

I always write here "I'm gonna..." and then I never do, probably because I'm catching up on old episodes of Lost or The Wire. Or Deadwood. But mostly Lost. Curse you Netflix! Uh, and my own laziness and love of television, I guess.

Speaking of Lost, there's a line that's been bouncing around in my head since we watched it a few weeks ago, "If you want to change, just change."

Duh.

But at the same time- sort of earth shattering for me. Instead of talking about all the things I want to do, why don't I just do them?
Will I change? I don't know, but I don't want to say that I'm going to do things and not do them anymore.

So. Here's a list of some of the crafty projects I've got going right now. I'm not allowed to go to the craft store for supplies until I finish five things, or start any new projects until I finish ten things.

1. Woo Woo swap- I need to finish two collages and find one that went missing.
2. Surprise project that freaking broke as I was packaging it up to send.
3. Scarf for MIL *Done and sent! She loves it!
   
4. Blanket for sister
5. Blanket for SIL's high school graduation present
6. Lady is a Tramp's quilt square ***Finished!
7. Quit square for work ***Finished!
8. Needlework swap package
9. 3 giant rasterbations for my basement
10. Sock monkey baby blanket for my cousin's baby
11. Granny square blanket for my other cousin's baby
12. Surprise Mobiles
13. Thrifted polo blanket
14. Butters ami for Rocketboy
15. blue/green circle blanket for me
16. Replace broken buttons on winter coat

I'd like to post pictures when I finish these things, but will I really do it? Who knows.
It's sort of like Lost- tune in each week for no answers and even more burning questions!

The new year

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Originally uploaded by Pearliepie.

Last year my resolution was to live out loud. I don't know if I really accomplished that or not. So it's my resolution again this year.

I've been thinking a lot about this blog and what exactly I want to do with it. I always feel like there is a better way to say what I want to say. I've started a million entries and then deleted them because they didn't seem like "enough". Not personal enough, not interesting enough, not good enough.

But that's not living loud. That's staying in my hermit comfort zone and letting the world pass by.

I uploaded a bunch of photos into my flickr, and over the next few weeks I'm going to write about old projects I've finished and show a bunch of the UFO's floating around the house.
I may write about them, I may not, but I do want to show them off.

So step one to living loud- Stop being so shy and start sharing things with the world.

Getting there is half the fun

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Originally uploaded by Pearliepie.

We're almost finished with LisaLove's bedroom floor. We just need to put up the trim and throw on a coat of paint and she'll be able to move back in!

next up- the downstairs bathroom.

Oh ,YEAH!

I am wiped out. People tell you how much work a house is, but you don't believe it until you're neck deep in crap like the above. We had to get the basement floor mudjacked because it had sunk almost four inches in some places. Now that the slabs are raised the upstairs drains are acting up. Fab. And the floor is bare dusty concrete in the basement, but that will be another post.

This post is about something AWESOME.
That's right- a Kool Aid Man lamp. Try to control your jealousy. I got the pitcher when I was just a tiny thing. I collected Kool points for ages so I could get the pitcher and four matching cups. I was SO EXCITED when it finally arrived. But then disappointment set in. Don't get me wrong- this pitcher has served many a frosty glass of flavored sugar water, but every time you'd pour out of it your delicious beverage would spill onto the counter. The spout on this thing is terrible. There's a lip on the top that makes pouring a real bear. So I had a dilemma. Should I toss it? NEVER. Cut out a better pour spout? No way (to much work) . No- the solution was found in the holiday decoration isle at the local hobby store.


One pack of red mini light later, a star is born. Seriously- this is like the coolest thing in the house right now. I just plopped the lights into the pitcher, added an extension cord, and viola! Fancy (& high class!) mood lighting in the kitchen!

Our house, in the middle of our street

We're buying a house! We'll occupy in two weeks.
It's in an actual city with access to parks and shopping and high speed internet!

To be honest, I'm not sure what that means for the future of this lil blog. On the one hand, a faster internet connection would encourage me to write more, but on the other hand, is that really the reason I never update? Sometimes this blank E-box is so intimidating. Often I sit down to write something but blank out when I open a new post. Will that go away when I'm happier in my living situation?

My sister and I have discussed creating some podcasts as we've always wanted to do a wacky sister radio show, and the house needs loads of work that Rocketboy and I are going to do ourselves so I'll have lots to write about, but I don't know if I'll really do it.

We'll see, I guess. For now I'm putting this blog to sleep (as if it weren't already sleeping, right?) so I can focus on packing and moving.

See you from the new digs!

Hooray for crochet!

I haven't left my ugly yellow chair for days now. Crochet is the only thing on my brain. I even dreamed about crocheting last night.


So far I've done four dishcloths (I'm sending away three of them for a swap), countless learning swatches, a tiny flower that I've somehow lost, and four practice circles for a really cool blanket from the Craftivity book.


These are my two favorite circles. I'm going to try starting all three colors in the middle of the spiral next time, I think. And the other one has three colors in it, not two. It's a shame I couldn't get the camera to pick up the true colors because they look so nice next to each other. For now I'm going to throw these ones into the wash next time I do laundry to felt them. I think they might become coasters, but we'll see what they do in the wash. I'd like to lightly felt the blanket I make, so I want to see what happens to the yarn in one wash cycle.

Oh, wait- I did get out my sewing machine to make a little needle roll for my hooks. It's pretty small, but I only have seven hooks so far and I don't need anything bigger.


I love crochet! I hope everyone will be happy with scarves or hats this holiday- I don't see myself losing interest in making things with hooks and yarn anytime soon!

I think I'll call him Fiver

Yet another good reason to put covers on your basement windows. Every summer we get at least one sad little bunny who has fallen or jumped down into the window well and can't get out. I'd put covers on them myself but our landlord in a little funny about things like that.

It worked out just fine this time- I was using the computer and heard the skritch-skritch THUMP of something trying to hop out of the window. I looked over and there was a little fuzz face sniffing around the window screen trying to find a way out. He darted to the other side of the window well when I opened the window, so I snapped a quick picture through the screen. Then I ran out to the garage to grab some gloves and popped the screen out from the inside because the window well is nearly six feet deep and I hate climbing down the little escape ladder.

Of course that terrified the little guy so he hid from me in the weeds. He did a pretty good job too. I scooped him up all gently, but he got even more scared and hopped out of my hands. I had a moment of total panic because I hadn't closed the window behind me when I came out of it and he was sitting on the window ledge sniffing inside the house. Having a wild rabbit, no matter how cute, loose in my house is not something I want to deal with, thankyouverymuch.


So I grabbed him up and put him over the edge of the window well and then watched him hop away as if nothing strange or exciting had happened at all. I hope it makes for a good story in the warren tonight when all the bunners are getting ready to sleep.

Summer crafty

So far this summer break I've met my goal of working on a project everyday. I have not yet reached my goals of a blog post or a finished project everyday, but I'm getting there.

I needed to send out a thank you card for a beautiful capelet that one of the glitter girls sent me, so I went a little crazy and made a whole stack of cards.




The mermaids are my favorite. I used parts of the illustrations from The Water Babies and some random lady illios I had laying around for inspiration.

On Friday my friend Laura and I sat around for hours teaching ourselves to crochet. Well, teaching ourselves the "real" way to crochet using patterns and all that. I should have something crocheted to show soon!

Yesterday Rocket Boy and I drove around with my sister looking at houses. We've got a realtor lined up to start showing us some and hopefully we'll be in a house of our very own by the end of the summer! It's a little overwhelming, to be honest. I had a little bit of a freak out this morning because I act like a spoiled three year old when I'm faced with any sort of long term change.

I'm off to do some more crafty things- Maybe I'll finish another project today!

We'll fill our mouths with cinnamon

This photo is from a month ago while we were visiting my family in Oregon. I love when my accessories match my delicious frosty beverages.

Today is the first day of my summer vacation! Hooray for school jobs! I'm planning lots of craft projects and day trips with my sister (house hunting, WHOO!!), but today I'm just going to be lazy and enjoy the freedom of summer time and no work/school responsibilities.

so fresh and so clean

, originally uploaded by Pearliepie.

Sorry I've been gone so long.
Things are...mm. I don't know. Things just are I guess.

I'll be updating more often with photos for awhile. I feel quiet but creative- I like this feeling.

Still hibernating

Of course I did not do what I said I was going to do in my last post. Oh well.

I have been crafting though! One of my students gave me a beautiful blank book for the holidays. I wanted to turn it into a photo album or something because the pages are a beautiful shiny black. Then I decided that it's perfect for my sister and I to send back and forth to each other while she lives out of state. We're filling the pages with letters and art and scrapbook type things. Here's the inside front cover. I used a library pocket from a used book I bought years ago and some of my favorite stamps from my collection.



Then I wrote her a letter and made a little letter pocket to put it in. I was making a stamp for the corner too, but I sliced my hand open with the exacto knife and abandoned that project for awhile.

Hibernation, day 45

We've had snow on the ground for 45 straight days now. This is the first weekend in almost 2 months that it hasn't snowed. This sort of thing does not happen in Colorado. The sun always comes back out and melts any snow we get within days.


No updates because I've been stressed out at work and hiding under a pile of blankets while at home.


But I'm sick of hibernating! I'm finishing up projects 1 and 2 for the 50 projects in 07 challenge I joined (some of the other participants are on projects 6 or 7 eek!), and next week I'll be following SouleMama's lead and posting at least a picture every day.


Wanna take some bets on my progress? Seven updates in a row- Will I do it? We'll see!

Ch-ch-ch-changes

Sigh. Have you ever wished and wished for something new and shiny to replace something old and worn, but when you finally got your wish you almost couldn't bear to part with the tattered item it is replacing? That is exactly how I feel about the present that Rocket Boy got me.

This is my old wallet. I've carried it since I lost my Hello Kitty wallet during my sophomore year of high school. That was many years ago. I bought it at the Contempo in the now demolished mall in Boulder, back when edgy, punk rock girls shopped at Contempo. It served me well all those years.

Once in college it was stolen out of my purse right behind my back. Oh, how I mourned the loss of it then. Whoever took it used my credit card, took the cold medicine and cash out of it and then dropped the empty wallet into one of those blue post boxes. When the post office sent me a notice weeks later I cried with happiness. I had to pay the post office $8.15 to get it back, but I didn't care. It was my perfect wallet. Satiny soft on the outside, (that's all worn off now. It's as slick as deer guts on a glass doorknob, as my dad would say) roomy inside with lots of room for discount cards (I'm a sucker for a coupon) but still cute and ever so slightly punk rock.

Cash never really fit into it all that well, so I developed a way of folding my bills that drove everyone crazy. I always had to unfold the cash before I paid for something and then carefully fold the change back into my wallet. If I wasn't ever so careful, the bills would catch in the zipper and it'd get stuck. I ripped the corners off of more bills than I care to remember. Sometimes I'll get a ripped bill now and wonder if somehow it has been in my wallet before.

I started tucking a twenty into the middle change pocket after one horrible trip to the gas station. It was before I had a credit card and one morning before work I filled up my tank with gas, grabbed my wallet, and noticed there was NOTHING inside. "No big deal," I thought, "I'll just use a check." Except I didn't have any checks either. I panicked. I stood there next to my car crying. What was I going to do? Nothing like this had ever happened to me! Thank the Maker, a very nice stranger saw my distress and paid for my gas for me. I don't think I even thanked him properly. Sir, if you are out there, you made a huge impact on the seventeen year old me. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

A few years ago the front pocket started to rip after I pulled my ID out of it a little forcefully. I was in a hurry to a doctors appointment and got pulled over for doing 40 in a school zone, only I wasn't actually in the school zone while I was speeding. I know I wasn't because I worked at the school in question, and the school zone didn't start for another 2 blocks, and it was 2:20 on a Saturday, so (I thought) it didn't matter anyway. Got a double fine for that one, but I haven't gotten a speeding ticket since. The anger I felt at getting the ticket wasn't worth the few minutes I would have saved if I hadn't been pulled over.

Just now when I cleaned it out I found Rocket Boy's fortune from one of our first dates. Actually, it wasn't a date. We were just hanging out at his place before we "officially" started dating and decided to get something to eat. He took me to a little Chinese buffet where we pigged out on fried rice, sesame chicken, and veggies. We got our fortune cookies at the counter when we paid and opened them in the car. I knew as soon as I saw his fortune that things were going to work out for us. I tucked the little promise into my wallet and promptly forgot all about it. I am tucking it into the change pocket on my new wallet to serve as a reminder of all the wonderful, magical things in this life.

Here is the shiny new one. I sent Rocket Boy to the Queen Bee site and told him which color combos and styles I liked and he picked this one out for me. Isn't it sweet? Look at the tag- the bee just makes me melt.

Oh, I will miss my old wallet. But I'm sure my new wallet will carry just as many memories for me. And look at how nicely it goes with my new purse from ten thousand villages!