Home sick

Left work about 45 minutes after getting there when I realized I really should not have come in. Woke up at 5 AM, unable to breathe, after having a pretty bad asthma attack last night. Thank god for rescue inhalers. Took my wonder drug, Mucinex, this AM, but though my nose is nice and clear, the body aches were unaffected. I think I unwittingly pushed myself too much this weekend with travel and lots of fun times. Off to nap this away and get all the way better ASAP.

(Also, last day of nablopomo! Other than my 5 minute delay, I made it! Mostly. But it still doesn't feel like it counts. Stupid 5 minutes.)

Getting Back

Tomorrow, we all go back to work. Unlike in years past, I am not returning from Thanksgiving Break to face papers, finals, and the general mayhem that is the end of a semester. However, I am also not trying to make that final push, knowing that Christmas Break awaits me on the other side. No, I will only get a few days off for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, though I may end up taking an extra day off, just for my sanity.

We just got back from a lovely afternoon and evening with our friends Jill and Kyle. We did more Quilt Club, plus got to join in their family pizza night and enjoy delicious utterly homemade pizza and even play some Rock Band. Completely fun, but I am exhausted now. Off to bed to start the week anew tomorrow. Maybe the Christmas decorations will put themselves up while I sleep.

Working Stiff

For the first time in my life, I am at a point where what I am doing could be (will be?) what I will be doing for The Rest of My Life. This scares the shit out of me. Not because I'm not happy with my chosen profession or because I don't like not having homework, but because this feels so final. So ultimate.

I know it doesn't need to be, and being out of school does give me so many more options, but it is utterly frightening not to have an ultimate goal. In grad school, there was always an end goal (the degree) and even a general end date. Before that, my goal was grad school. Before that, graduation from undergrad. Etc.

So now that I am just working, what exactly is the goal? I mean, I know the goal is to help kids and generally make the world a better place and hopefully have a family someday, but it's just too abstract for me right now.

Maybe that's why I've thrown myself so much into sewing and making these various projects. They give me some sense of completion, a goal to work towards, because goodness knows my job does not give me that. Some jobs are project-driven, and I tend to do very well with those kinds of jobs. Other jobs you just keep DOING, and the doing is the job. The doing may vary considerably from day to day, and it may be very important that you keep doing, but the doing never stops.

Perhaps someday I will decide I want to go back for a PhD, and then I won't have ANY problem with goals and deadlines! In the meantime, I will continue having projects at home to give me a sense of completion. In addition, I am going to try to follow the excellent advice of my father, who was a school counselor for many years, which is very similar to what I do, and make sure that I FINISH the projects on the weekend so that I can get a sense of completion and not have things hanging over my head at home and at work.

Back to the blog

So sorry for the last few posts. For some reason, I was not able to enter text in the body of the blog, even though it has worked in the past. Hence, the incredibly informative and compelling posts.

We are in Reno now, after a lovely Thanksgiving in Sacramento and a hassle-free flight on Wednesday from one of the nation's busiest airports. Today was one of the first Black Fridays I actually went shopping and I managed to get some decent deals. Too bad I can't share most of it, since I don't want to ruin any surprises!

Though this is not perfectly timely, I would like to take this opportunity to reflect on a few things for which I am thankful, since this is not something that should be done only one day a year.

In no particular order, I am thankful for:

My beloved husband, for being who he is, and for loving me so deeply.
My family, for always being so supportive and loving.
Jasper, for being the snuggliest dog in the world.
Both of us being employed in our chosen fields, in these uncertain times.
Having health insurance.
Our dear, dear friends, who bring so much light and joy into our lives.
Sleep.
Our health and the health of our friends and family.
Being done with school. At least for now.

iPhone blogging only lets me write in titles. More like Twitter, this.

Too little, too late

Woe, c'est moi!

Tonight, I cried over cinnamon.

Those near and dear to me know that when I am hungry, I cry. When I am getting sick, haven't eaten in 8 hours, frustrated with a hyper dog who just needs attention! attention!, home late due to a broken bus, leaving in 11 hours for a trip for which I have not packed, have an apartment to clean so the dogsitters don't declare us unfit puppy-parents, and desperately want some homemade chicken noodle soup but lack the time and energy to make it, and so make due with some applesauce for which I simply want some cinnamon, and yet the cinnamon is not where it should be! Well then... then I cry. Even while I realize how ridiculous I am. Throughout it all, I just kept thinking, "If Peter were here, HE would know where the cinnamon was!" (In fact he did. He knew it was at school where he took it for a cooking project for his students. Boo.)

Now, my stomach is full(er), the apartment is somewhat picked up, I had an excellent snuggle with Jasper (he really is the best snuggle-dog in the world), and I have exactly two shirts and two pairs of underwear packed. And I think I am going to give myself a freaking break and drive to work rather than try to catch the ass-early bus and attempt to get everything else done before 6 AM. Yes, I think I shall give myself a freaking break.

Transitions

I am at a weird point in my life where it seems everyone I know is either getting pregnant/having babies or off on some epic journey traveling the world. Thanks to too many years of grad school, I am too fresh in my career to join the ranks of the baby-makers immediately, and our own epic travel adventure is years behind us now (not that we couldn't travel more... but being newly employed makes that difficult too!). I'm just very glad we aren't trying for a baby and not succeeding because seriously, I can't even count how many pregnant people/very recent babies I know!

Thanksgiving

I can't even believe November is almost over! We are about to start the week of Thanksgiving, which is basically the official kickoff to the blur that is the holiday season.

I was not as productive as I had hoped this weekend, but I did manage to get some good things done. I started my Christmas shopping today (I KNOW), and bought some Christmas decorations, since we will actually need them this year! For the first time, family is coming here!

No longer will our single ornament and one strand of lights suffice. We'll need a tree, lights, ornaments and all the trimmings. I seriously wanted a wreath for the front door, but I couldn't find one that was flat enough to fit between our front door and the storm door.

It's all very, very exciting! I love Christmas and am so thrilled that we will be able to have our families here to celebrate with us. Yes, both sets of parents are coming, albeit at different times. Thank goodness, because I don't think we would all fit! Hopefully someday when we have a real house with extra bedrooms and such we can have everyone come to stay.

We are going to California for Thanksgiving (Peter is actually already there with my brother, lucky duck!). I can't wait to see family again and EAT delicious food!

My new hair

Got the bangs a little while ago now, but I LOVE them. Excellent change.

Sound Sleeper

I found out last night who is going to be responsible for hearing things that go bump in the night.

C'est moi.

Just after I went to bed, I heard a very loud crash, with a distinct shattering overtone. I startled awake, obviously, and Peter startled to my startle. Great. The huge crash five feet from him didn't even phase him, but my jumping awake did.

The ancient light cover above our bathroom vanity had decided it was time to end its life (perhaps it knew we had designs on its life anyhow?) and threw itself off its moorings. Very odd. Luckily, it was just brittle plastic and so there were only a few plastic shards threatening our feet in the morning.

The two incandescent bulbs now look so chic nestled in the industrial metal frame left. I guess this honey-do just got bumped up on the list.

Frustrated

In keeping with my 8-years-behind-the-times theme (see: recent Buffy discovery), I am obsessed with Funny Farm now. I've unlocked eight of the squares and just get myself to the point of frustration with a section before figuring something else out using only my wits, Google (who seriously knows the names of poker stars off the top of their head?) and a few hints from the archives of when this was popular 2-3 years ago. It's quite fun!

***

Jasper has a habit of lightly nipping or snapping at people's faces when he is excited. I HATE this habit, but haven't figured out a good way to deal with it. Tonight, I saw a positive side to it.

We were on our nightly walk which is always taken in the dark now, just me and J, when I heard two men talking by the bus stop. I had to walk right by them to throw away J's offerings, so I was trying to take stock of them, as any female walking alone at night does, just as a matter of course. Friend or foe?

As I got closer, they began talking to me, asking what my dog's name was and if he was a boy or a girl. I was pretty sure they were residents of the group home nearby, but no matter who they were, they were strange adult men, and it was very dark and I was wearing all black walking a black dog. I politely answered their questions, walking quickly by, as J tugged to sniff them.

I had to walk past them again to get back home, and as I did so, they asked to pet the dog. Sure, fine. J of course is in raptures, wiggling and sniffing and loving attention. One of them is frantically petting him, and talking to him in exciting high pitched tones, and THEN that same guy puts his arms under J and looks like he's about to pick him up!

Nanoseconds later, J is just WAY too excited by all of this. The guy's face is bent down near J, and J does what he always does when excited: nips at the face with love. Luckily, he NEVER gets close to the actual face, but let me tell you from experience, you are close enough to hear those jaws snap!

I tug J away and say we better get going, and Nipped Dude seems to be OK with that. To his credit, he wasn't upset or scared, just a little taken aback, which was fine with me, because who tries to pick up a strange 60 lb. black dog?

I will still try to figure out how to curb that habit (the joys of adoption!), but for the time being, I'll take the silver lining!

Filters

Lately I've been noticing how grateful I am that I have somewhat working social filters. I think they have improved slightly with age, because I'm pretty sure most of my early 20s were spent with my foot firmly in my mouth. But now I notice myself thinking things and only nanoseconds later, thinking, "THAT would be a dumb thing to say!" thereby preventing unknown tragedies and hurt feelings galore. And then I spend the next few seconds congratulating myself on not being a social dunce, and miss what everyone else has just said, thus negating any social points I won by not saying the dumb thing I think and missing the smart things other people say.

Almost!

I almost went to bed without posting! Oh noes! Isn't it funny how when you have time to blog, it usually means you aren't doing much, meaning you don't have much to write about. But when you are doing stuff that would be excellent fodder, you don't have the time to write it. I guess that's what drafts are for! Save the ideas for a rainy day.

I went to dinner with my mom tonight at Bonefish Grill, the first time for eiher of us. I was very impressed! My pork chops were delicious. And the wine was a little too good. There is definitely a reason I don't usually drink on weekdays! On the plus side, I can't keep my eyes open, so I'm going to bed much earlier than usual!

Mondays

Mondays are always hard, no matter who you are or what you do. My Monday schedule sounds like it should be a nice way to start the week, but I'm rethinking that now.

Mondays, I can't start the part of my work that actually counts toward something (seeing patients) until 1 PM, though I usually come in at about 11 AM to do paperwork, etc. Easing into the day, extending the weekend, right?

At 1, my first patient comes and then I don't stop until 6 PM, not even for 5 minutes to sit and write the notes for each kiddo's visit. Which means I get to stay and write all 5 of them at 6 PM, plus cleaning up, etc. I'm literally doing a full day's work in half my normal day, so it's essentially going zero to sixty in a heartbeat.

But, being thrown headfirst into the work week isn't so bad. Every other day's schedule seems like a relative picnic!

Crafty Day

I must confess, I am still feeling a little happy from the glass of wine at dinner, so if any of this doesn't make sense, I blame the vino. I also just mistyped three words in that last sentence before catching the errors, so you are hereby warned about spelling mistakes too.

Today was a lovely crafty day! Mom hemmed and hung the IKEA curtains that have been languishing in our bedroom since we moved in 5 months ago. They look lovely and I really should have taken a picture of them opened with the gorgeous snow covered trees just beyond. It was lovely. (Speaking of lovely, Mom got to fall asleep on the bed next to the dying fire. Doesn't that sound awesome?). We also finally had our first Quilt Club meeting, which was super fun, even though one of our trio couldn't make it because of the snow. Le boo. We'll just have to meet again sometime soon!

I also was able to submit an abstract for a big conference next year, the second one I have submitted to, so now we just wait and see. I am so grateful to have such a wonderful advisor because I really could not have done any of this without her. It makes a world of difference to have someone supporting me and guiding me through this crazy process!

Weekend Update

The snow is falling, the fire is gently flickering and the hubs, dog and mama are all snoozing in the soft light. It's lovely. I expect tomorrow I will have pictures, if not video, of more frolicking in the snow because we already have at least 3-4" and it's not supposed to stop anytime soon.

Good thing we got a lot done today! I didn't have much time for pictures today, but I hope I will be able to get some more tomorrow. Then, you'll only get a story a day because I need to pace myself!

OK, off to take J for his nighttime stroll before bed. Mom's coming with me because it's so beautiful out. Sorry, no pictures likely, since it is so dark. Sleep well!

Posting on the run

Phew! This works! I am blogging from my iPhone so this will be short because I don't have enough patience for two-fingered blogging.

It was 70 yesterday (not that I could tell you from experience) and it snowed an inch or so today. Fun!

I am also trying to speed 2-fingered blog because we are driving to pick up
my mom for the weekend! Expect reports of quilting, crafts and antiques. My partying brother would be proud. Hopefully I will also get enough pictures to last me at least until Wednesday next week. Nablopomo is just sad when you have no life outside of work and the weekend. Oh wait! That's adulthood! Right.

Until tomorrow, sweets.

As the week goes on, the posts get randomer

My mommy is coming to visit tomorrow! I am so excited! We are supposed to get snow tomorrow (le boo), so hopefully her flight stays on schedule.

Funny word swap I have seen twice now: "viscous" for "vicious." I was really confused reading "My horrible viscous burden on society is licking the tears from my face." Umm, really gooey dog? Because she licks a lot? I definitely don't mean to be a word-nazi, and usually I can just skim right over these, but vicious and viscous are still too different for me, and so it's jarring to try to parse it out. And funny.

I have been working on another post about Jasper, but I really need to take some pictures for it and I can't take decent pictures in our place at night. Since I am no longer ever home during any kind of daylight hour (even when I leave 2 hours early), you will have to wait for the weekend for my masterpiece.

The font is wacky on this post and I can't figure it out. Nor do I care overmuch.

You should read Julia. She is wonderful and makes my day happy. We made her couscous cakes tonight for the second time and they were delicious.

Buffy is teh awesome. Why can I never get in on shows when they are actually airing? Oh, maybe the lack of cable and/or time to watch has something to do with it. And the lack of desire to get a TiVo. Netflixed old episodes will have to do, I guess.

Witty, satisfying ending here. Done! And before midnight, even!

The Hamthrax*

About a month ago, it seemed like everyone was getting H1N1, including two of my close friends, who came down with it almost simultaneously. We had massive cancellations, and everyone knew someone who had it, or had "the flu." PS If you have "the flu" right now, it's H1N1, even if they haven't diagnosed you with it. The regular seasonal flu just is not circulating now.

Anyway, a week or so after mass infection seemed imminent (and right after I got my vaccination), things started to calm down a little bit. The hospital has a little graph tracking all of the various bugs in the hospital at any given time and after a dizzying climb for 3-4 weeks, it plateaued for a few weeks, and has been steadily dropping for the past 3-4 weeks.

Interestingly enough, it feels like now it is spreading to other places, if my informal sampling of blogs-I-read is any indication. I hope that the peak is as short for others as it was here and that everything calms down before seasonal hits. Stay well!

*Made up by people cleverer than I

Shouldn't have used all those pictures up in one post

Things that give me a cozy feeling

Having lots of food in the pantry

Snuggling with Jasper

Snowy nights

Knowing I have projects waiting for me

Pulling out the good down comforter

Having a nest egg in the bank

Looking at my pretty fabric stash

Weekend in Pictures

We actually did do fun things this weekend, but I need to stretch them out for my NaBloPoMoing, because we do nothing during the week. Well, that's not entirely true. We have finally jumped on the Buffy bandwagon (what, a decade too late?) after an aborted attempt at starting at Season One (PS Not That Good). So yeah, an episode or two a night and we are DANGEROUSLY EXCITING.

This weekend. Right.

Here are some pictures, because, you know, a thousand words and stuff. And do you know how long it actually TAKES to type a thousand words? A lot longer than picking out pictures, I tell ya!

Here are three pictures of a beautiful sunset we had. I meant to only post two, but accidentally uploaded the third and figured, what the hell. Who doesn't like a pretty sunset? Pro tip: if your camera has a sunset mode, use it. The real sunset didn't look half as amazing.

Went to a super fun engagement party Saturday night wherein I drank some too-delicious vodka cider and remembered my fear of heights peeking over the edge of our friend's 14th floor balcony. Gulp.

Then we went for a walk on Sunday with Jasper and his little people friends (our adult friend and her daughters).

Near our place:

Jasper was watching something very intently. I'm pretty sure it was a leaf.

And finally, here is a video of Jasper frolicking in the snow when we had our storm. He can't wait for winter (but we sure can!).

I hope I still have stuff to blog about tomorrow! Stay tuned!

Another weekend...

Another project!

I'm taking a break from the super secret project I'm working on now which might end up being a Christmas gift, if I can get it to work. That isn't looking so good, since I can't even get it to make two stitches at the moment. I have a few possible solutions to look into, but need to take a break from it for the moment.

Since I was hoping to have some more progress to report on than I do, I guess I should tell you my surprise.

I actually finished ANOTHER project this weekend! That's right. The current project is actually the second one of the weekend! In fact, I actually started and completely finished a project in less than two days! Truly unheard of.

I think the secret is making projects that aren't that hard or complicated. Giant quilts? Take forever. Seven seam wonders? Much faster.

Here is my lovely:

It's just a fabric ball, but it was my very first attempt ever at curved seams! It was somewhat successful, especially if you ignore the Franken-seams at the other end where I put the stuffing in. I need to improve my handsewing skills fo sho. Also, I am fairly sure I got the wrong kind of batting to stuff it, but I couldn't find the kind I think I needed at JoAnn's.

So yes, this one worked and it's pretty cute, but it was much too complicated for what I was hoping to do with it, which is shrink the pattern and make little ornaments like this. The thought of all those tiny curved seams makes me want to cry, so no. Other ornament plans must be made.

Also, I realized that while all of the fabrics look very pretty together (Midwest Modern again, just a different colorway), I would have liked a LITTLE more contrast. Maybe that bright orange I was looking at wouldn't have been so out of place. Oh well, live and learn.

Parting shot:

Recent sunset over the Flatirons.

Things that are awkward

The word "akimbo."

Goodbyes.

Using the word "slim" to describe anything but a chance or a Jim.

Being 90% sure of someone's name.

Baby giraffes (see also things that are cute).

Actors pretending to be dancers.

Guess who?

We watched Guess Who's Coming to Dinner tonight, which aside from being a delightful film full of win, thanks to Hepburn and Tracy, not to mention Poitier, was very interesting from a historical standpoint.

Brief, necessary background: it's about an interracial couple (Poitier and pretty girl who very much looks like she could be Katherine Hepburn's daughter) and their families, who are trying to come to grips with the interracial-ness of it all.

First, it's odd and sad how this doesn't seem THAT dated. I mean, I would hope people wouldn't freak out quite so much at the thought now, but I was really hoping it would feel laughably old-fashioned. Or maybe it's just because the performances are all so good?

Second, the craziest thing is how coincidental and eerie parts of the movie seem now. To wit: the couple meet in Hawaii at the University of Hawaii (presumably), and then later in the movie, Poitier talks about how his love "is confident that every single one of their biracial children will grow up to 'be president of the United States and they’ll all have colorful administrations.'" (Source. Great minds!).

Uh. YEAH. I seriously stopped the movie and made us watch that part again. How crazy is that? Like, did they have a time machine? Nutterbutters, I say!

So I was happy that something that seemed so ridiculously outlandish to the characters was very, very true and real 40-50 years later, but then I was sad again because Spencer Tracy's character says something about how while the world will change, it likely won't be in his lifetime. I have no idea what it was like then (being not-alive and all), but I know it took until almost exactly one year ago for the dream of a biracial president to come true. Luckily, I think there were plenty of other changes before then, though less dramatic. Loving v. Virginia was the same year (1967).

Watching the movie, I was also strongly reminded of the very similar struggle happening this very moment (I'm looking at you, Maine). There's a scene where the very awesome priest looks at the couple and says something about how looking at them makes him so incredibly happy and hopeful. It's funny, but I feel the same way whenever I see a same-sex couple expressing affection in public (even just holding hands or hugging). I always smile at them (or just smile) and want to tell them what a cute couple they are or something, but that seems HIGHLY random. So I just feel very happy for them inside and walk by.

So when will we have the "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?" for this struggle? When can we look back at a scene and marvel at how far we've come? I hope we don't have to wait too long to make real progress. Nothing should hold back love.

Election

We moved over the summer, and yes, there are still some places we have not changed our address. Voter registration is apparently one of them because we got a letter from Voter Registration the day before the election.

"Ooh, are these our ballots?"

"No, they are the letters telling us we can't get our ballots."

Yeah. The letter politely informed us that they can't forward ballots, so if we wanted our ballots, we would have to MAIL IN A FORM to get them in the mail. By the next day. Yeah. Plus, we work until 7 PM, which is when the voter registration office closes. So we didn't vote. However, if we had had Maine's ballot, you can bet your BOOTS we would have made it happen. Fricking Maine.

So um, vote? and change your address when you move?

Posting doldrums already?

Hmm... this is going to be tough. Only the fourth day and already I am thinking about taking a nice hot bath and forgetting about my blogging duties. Onward!

I'm tempted to make my blog all lists. I lurve lists. The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon is one of my favorite books, partly because it has lots of lists. It was seriously the original blog (back in the 990s in Japan, gangsta!). But I know I am too wordy to be able to just stick to nice, neat lists.

Here's one:

Things that have distracted me from this blog entry:

Looking up the full name of The Pillow Book

Looking at a picture of Sei Shonagon on Wikipedia

Going back to the page to be able to make that last link

Call from my brother to joke about how lame I am, "writing my blog"

Booger thing on my keyboard

Decided booger was old rubber cement (phew)

Snuggling with Peter and Jasper on the couch

Starting solitaire game on phone

Turning on bathroom light to take a bath

Remembering blog

Finishing this entry

No wonder I never blog! I am incredibly disctract---ooh! shiny! Where was I?

The end. (PJ, I am counting on a "first!" for this one)

This is going to be a picture-y post. Busiest day at work yet, with literally no time to pause. But still good! Just no words left...

Last week. Lots of snow. Made news. 20+ inches. Snow days for all!

And then two days later, it was 60 degrees. Colorado, people. Gotta love it!

Another finished project!

OK, this is getting ridiculous. TWO finished projects in the same month? Unheard of. But yesterday, I finished a useful little thing for the house: a plastic bag holder. I used this tutorial, linked from Sew Mama Sew, though mine was not scrappy, sort of defeating the whole purpose. It was not scrappy because though I have lots and lots of yummy fabric, I have not actually been MAKING a lot of things, therefore I do not yet have a lot of scraps. The scraps I did have were lovely, but not of a color that would match our overall decor.

An unexpectedly good thing about making something I actually NEED is that every time I looked at the growing pile of plastic bags, I was reminded that I needed to finish it, and soon! Start to finish, I think this one took me two weekends, which is really good for me. Really, it was probably less than 2 hours, including leisurely cutting, ironing and sewing, and an unfortunate period including mysteriously tangling thread and bad stitching (still learning my machine!).

All in all, this was an excellent project for me, if only to show me how I can branch out a bit and think of things that are NOT quilts! Plus, I got to use some of my delicious fabric (Amy Butler, Midwest Modern here, both prints) and make scraps to use in other projects! And it's much prettier than the cluttered pile of bags we had before!

Have you finished any projects lately? Do tell!

Nablopomo

I've decided to try this again. Blogging once a day for the month of November. If you recall, I made it ALMOST to the very end last year, but missed one of the very last days. Rereading that post was very interesting. I was so, so stressed and overwhelmed and now that I am out of those dark days, I feel sorry for my former self, without even remembering what exactly was going on then. Is all that schoolwork really so important? Was that big project really so daunting? It's hard to remember now, when it has all passed. Perhaps I would have remembered it more clearly if I hadn't finished it and been penalized for that.

Since stress is not fun to read about (I realize now, far too late), and since I have much less to write about anyway, here is what I had intended to write about before I got sidetracked!

Yesterday, in a desperate attempt to get out of the house on a Colorado bluebird day, after two days of clouds and 20+ inches of snow, we went to Lyons, which is a teeny little town on the way to Estes Park. It was simply lovely, with lots of "Q stores": Quilts and antiQues! We each got a little something (Peter, and antique ring, and me, some more fabric!) and Jasper even got a walk in a new place. So much not yet peed-upon! So, yes. Good day, still talking about how much fun it was.

Then Halloween evening was spent on Pearl Street, admiring the costumes, watching the zombies dance and remarking at how few "sexy ______s" there were! Maybe because we were there before 11 PM, most of the costumes were just clever, homemade affairs (or at least homemade). There were amazing get-ups, good ideas and fun group costumes. Very inspirational for next year!