Ok, so I know all these posts are about sewing, but that’s my current kick so you’re just going to have to like it or lump it. About a year ago I bought some fabric from reprodepot.com, that’s pink and has tattoo images on it (skulls, hula girls, hearts with knives sticking through them, snakes, etc.), that I had wanted to sew a tote bag with. It was going to be my knitting bag, since I’d found the pattern in a wonderful book called Stitch n’ Bitch. Well, after my first sewing class I decided to break out on my own and do a project all by myself – hence this here fabulous tote bag. It turned out pretty well, the only weird thing about it being that the pattern was rotated 90 degrees from the selvage ends of the fabric. So, in the end, the pattern is sideways on the bag, but I guess every project is a lesson learned, right? I’m going to bring my bag in next week for a little sucking-up teacher’s pet session; the two other girls in the class (ages and 13 and 14) just really have no idea who they’re dealing with!!!
In light of the fact that I was never going to learn how to sew without some serious help, I decided to sign up for a month’s worth of sewing lessons at Baker’s Sewing Center. Baker’s is located in historic downtown Escondido, and like most businesses there, has been around since about the 1940’s. Mrs. Nancy, my instructor, informed me that the class would be sewing pillow cases during the first two classes, so I headed down to JoAnn’s Fabric and Crafts store to pick out fabric for my first project. I chose a nice yellow cotton with small white flowers that would match a quilted bedspread that I have. Let me say that JoAnn’s is completely mind-boggling – there’s so much, too much really, to choose from. Anyway, by the end of my first class, I had completed one of my pillow cases, and was almost done with the second, which I completed about 15 minutes after I got home that afternoon. Yesterday was our second class, and I sewed up a “decorator” pillow to match the pillow cases that I sewed the week before, complete with an envelope back so that it’s easy to pop a pillow form in and out of. So voila! Here is my completed set – all the yellow items are the ones that I did. By the way – the quilt hanging above my bed was made by my sister Tyleen, who is a quilting genius.
Back in February, my Mom gave me a shiny brand new sewing machine. Unfortunately, the last time I even touched one of these crazy contraptions was back in my eighth grade home-ec class. I vaguely remember sewing some sort of shirt, but when I received my gift, I couldn’t have recalled how to even turn the thing on. I took out the book that accompanied the machine and started to read. I found all the parts that were labeled on the sewing machine diagram, but was still pretty clueless – feed dogs? Throat plate? Tension indicator???? The more I read about it, the more my mind began to swim. I referenced a couple of books I bought – Sewing 101 and Sewing for Dummies. Since I’m at the remedial level, neither of these books helped.
Well folks, I finally got the official email today: effective April 1, I will be promoted to a GS-11 from a GS-9. It has been a long time coming, let me tell you; when I was first hired, they told me I would get this promotion after three months. Well, that didn’t work out, and neither did a few other things. So, after a year, I’m now a GS-11. But seeing as how it takes effect April 1, it’s probably just a big April Fool’s Day joke and they’re really planning on demoting me to a GS-5. I’ll keep you posted.
I snapped this picture on the way up to the top of the mountain.
Here’s a nice patch of Horkelia that I found. Most of my sample plots did not have any, but the few patches that I did spot were really dense.
Here’s Kurt, trying to break into our vehicle with a wire hanger. We didn’t have cell phone coverage, but eventually walked to the observatory office and called AAA on my membership. We waited for the tow truck for two hours at the end of a very long, cold day!
Our last day of sampling was pretty easy – I had a couple of points inside of a horse pasture, and luckily none inside of this enclosure. We were warned that the ostrich would rip our guts out if we got too close – note the sign that says “DANGER – do not enter”.
I recently decided that I need a couch. In Pennsylvania I had a small fold-out couch from Pier 31, which Jesse destroyed in Colorado with his powerful stank-pee (good riddance though – it was really an uncomfortable sofa!). Then, while I lived with Steve, we had this awful plaid couch that smelled like dog butt and was getting torn apart by various animals. When I moved to California, the only thing I had to sit my ass on was an old green armchair that was going to be thrown out by the Fort Collins Mariott. I was so sick of sitting on this uncomfortable old chair that I said “screw it! I don’t care if Teddy is going to stink up a new couch, or Zoe will shred a new couch, or Jesse will pee on a new couch! I want something to stretch out on and lounge around on during my time off in front of the television watching reality tv shows!”.
So, I took a trip to the local Jerome’s Furniture store and ordered a REAL couch. A few hundred dollars worth. Plus a 5-year fabric warranty, which does cover pet pee and doggy drool. I swear it did not look this big in the store, but here it is, in all of its cushioned and pillowed fancy fancy glory! It’s huge! It’s a behemoth! A monster! It takes up my whole living room, but that’s ok, because I’m not going to be in this little apartment forever. It has been almost a week and it has not been smelled up by dog butt, Jesse pee, or marred by Zoe claws. So I’m pretty good so far…knock on wood…
Today I received complete confirmation that I do, in fact, live in the Ghetto with a capital G. At around 6:00 this evening I was sitting in front of the TV chowing down on my KFC, as that’s what people in the ghetto eat, when I heard all this yelling coming from the apartment right next to mine. I turned off the volume to the TV and started paying attention – the yelling increased, and then a woman started screaming her head off. It sounded violent enough (my apartment even shook a couple of times with all the throwing-of-various-heavy-objects that was happening next door) so I called the cops. I took the opportunity to act like real white trash and go out to my balcony and watch the scene. The screaming and yelling continued until six cop cars showed up (what else are the cops going to do on a Tuesday evening?). In about a minute they had four guys in handcuffs and had taser guns pointed at them and everything. The girl that had been screaming kept telling the police “it’s ok – they’re friends and they’re not fighting anymore. They’re just drunk…”, like the cops would go “oh, alright, I guess we can move on then, right boys?”. Anyway, they arrested one guy and he was totally messed up – I think he had been tossed down the concrete stairs because his back was covered in a bloody bruise, and his head had taken a beating too. I don’t know why the other guys weren’t taken in as well – they were bloody messes too, and they were all drunk and gangsta-y. Here’s some photo journalism for you, taken of the parking lot from my apartment. It’s just a few of the cop cars, but you get the idea.
On the plus side, I finally bought a REAL couch! It will be delivered on Saturday. Suede micro-fiber, full sized, overstuffed, with lots of comfy pillows. I hope no one shoots a gun through the wall and hits my new livingroom showpiece with a stray bullet. Good thing I got the 5-year fabric warranty…
Can my vacation truly be almost over? I was supposed to have like ten days of nothing to do! Now, on day nine, I find myself thinking about work, starting to go over in my mind all the things that will need to be done when I return. That overdue Biological Opinion for the park, the conservation easement review for the development, the amendment request for those grading phases, yada yada yada.It really helped me to have something to work towards – you know, having this cruise – saving vacation time, planning what I would do, looking forward to this vacation. And now that it’s over, I’ve got nothing to look forward to.So Tuesday I’ll be back at work, vacation gone in a flash, another few hundred dollars deeper in debt, all the stress of my job still there. What can I do? Sigh…I guess there’s nothing left I can do but…
…start planning my next vacation (although it seems so far away…)!!!
After waiting months to go on my vacation, Mark and I are back from our week-long cruise to the Mexican Riviera. We left from San Diego and enjoyed seven days of relaxing at sea, during which time we stopped in Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlan, and Puerto Vallarta. There were many great things about the cruise – the food, the spa, the relaxing, the no Teddy Bear whining at me 24 hours a day, the swimming with dolphins – but to see all the pictures, please click here or on the collage of pictures below and view the slide show that I put together with captions (you have to click the slide show button). Enjoy!
Fuzzy Undertones 
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