Kristin's Corner

Hello, February, as you speed by.....

2012-02-15T14:42:00.000-08:00

Time for another update, but I have no idea where to start or what to cover.

Bill and I are both gainfully employed;

Our parents are all in good health (as are we);

I have a sudden obsession with crocheting, yarn, and recently knitting. Many people post their projects to their blogs… but that requires that I TAKE pictures of my projects. I have pictures of a few of them, but no really good ones. I’m thinking about getting a foam head next time I go to Hobby Lobby so I can show my hats and scarves. I’d rather get something with a face, but I’m thinking that the foam head is a lot less expensive than something that has fake skin and eyelashes. Oh, sorry - I looked on the Hobby Lobby site and it’s called a Styro Head. My mistake. ANYWAY, $5 seems pretty decent for a photo prop. If anyone has ideas on how I could dress her up, let me know.

I have a phone that’s smarter than I am. I think I can use it to share pictures on my blog, but I don’t know for sure if I can, and if I can, what it would look like. Stay tuned for experimental posts.

You can find Bill and me on Facebook (but not often).

You can find me on Ravelry (kristinkm) and Twitter (@kristinkay26);

Or you can keep checking here and I’ll “see” you in August or so. Unless I start getting obsessive about sharing my projects or figure out how to share pics from my phone. :-)

Blessings,

Kristin

Sharing a Smidgeon

2012-01-30T13:17:00.000-08:00

Okay, for not posting for as long as I have this may seem like a lame update, but I wanted to show you my latest art acquisition. I won a raffle in October for a pet portrait, and here it is, a beautiful work by Frances Downs.

More another time.

Blessings,

Kristin

Putting the "ug" in August

2011-08-14T10:29:00.001-07:00

I told myself that I wasn't going to post again until I had "good" news... not that things have been horrible, but this year has had its personal challenges for me. Well, since I don't see a fairy tale ending in sight anytime soon, I'll update you all who have been so good at checking my blog and pinging me on Facebook.

March 10 - I left my work family of over 6 years to take a job still within Boeing, still within the same organization, but a different role in a different location. Between the different work statement, different programs, and different people, it has been an uphill climb at best for me these last five months. All of my emotional energy is expended at work, and I have no motivation or concern for most other things. The learning curve has been more of a roller coaster, and I continue to hold on and try not to scream. ;-) It is getting better, but it's still a source of great stress for me. I was battling some emotional health issues before that, so it's been doubly hard.

July - Lucky me, I received my first ever Washington state jury summons. At least they had the courtesy to make it after my vacation. The fun part will be when I have to explain to them why I never updated my name on my voter registration so my name is no longer as it appears on the summons. Do they have wi-fi in jail? It's rather inconvenient, though, since I just got back from vacation and I'm going to be out of work another 1-5 days. I hate burdening other people with my work.

August 4-8 - Just to show that not everything in our lives sucks, Bill and I went to Minnesota for his family reunion for his mother's extended family. It was my second reunion, and I actually remembered a few people there that I had seen in 2008. However, I did manage to embarrass myself by calling someone the wrong name... I hope they don't think too poorly of Bill's choice in a wife. ;-) All of Bill's mother's five siblings made it, and 4 of Bill's 6 siblings were there, along with cousins galore.

August 5 - I got an email from our pettsitter during vacation that she found a flea on Milla. We figured out after a fashion that Bill probably brought the fleas from his rental house that he checked in on before he left for vacation. Fleas are a catastrophic deal for us because fleas LOVE to chew on my mother, so Bill, Milla, and I are quarantined for the foreseeable future from my mother. *sigh*

August 12 - I went to the doctor for a follow-up appointment after a mammogram that I had in July. No worries... I've been called back for all three mammos I've had. Then they wanted an ultrasound. Never had that before. Then I was informed that they wanted to biopsy a most likely benign tissue they had found. It looked fine to the doctor, but since it was new since last year, they wanted to check it out. Okay, I hate the idea of needle location and surgical biopsy, but I don't have cancer in all likelihood, so it's just an inconvenience and another couple of appointments and more days away from work where someone else has to cover my stuff again. I thought that was the worst news I was going to receive on Friday.

August 12 - About 1:30pm, as I'm running errands, I see that I had missed a call and voicemail from Bill. How I didn't hear my phone, I don't know. Bill had received a voicemail from his mother, telling him that his brother Steve (age 57) was dead. I could go on for pages about it, but some of the details are sketchy and may have to be retracted later, and you really don't want all the information or to read about all the thoughts, opinions, and feelings I've had in the last two days. The tentative date for Steve's funeral is August 27. I may stay behind and give Bill's parents the money I would have spent on airfare to help defray funeral expenses. Or, i may go with him and miss another day of work for travel. Please pray for comfort for Steve's parents, siblings, and children, and for strength for the family as they go through the logistics of taking care of business associated with Steve's death.

I hate to end on such a crappy note... maybe I'll have some good stories from jury duty next week that I can share and cheer us all up a little. ;-)

Blessings,
Kristin

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Bill got a job!!!!!

2011-01-17T14:53:00.000-08:00

For those of you where were wondering / praying, Bill starts a job this week. It's a 12-month contract position with Microsoft. Of course we'd rather have something direct and permanent, but we're sure this will lead to good things one way or another. God is good!!!

More news another time...

Blessings,
Kristin

You know it's been too long...

2010-08-23T15:45:00.000-07:00

... when your mother tells you she's been looking at your blog and not seeing anything new. ;-)

Hi, Everyone! I've got lots to talk about since it's been a long while, but I'll try to break it up into bite-sized pieces for you.

The most exciting thing that's happened since I wrote last is vacation! We went back to Binghamton, NY at the beginning of August. We visited friends and family, saw the sights, and attended events. One of the events we attended was the SpiedieFest and Balloon Rally. We were right in the midst of the balloons when they launched, so we didn't miss too much. You can see a few of our pictures here. I bought a wire-wrapped pendant from a vendor there, and saw another vendor who I thought was cool. Visit Kathy at artworkbykd.etsy.com. She does great things with recycled materials, and even her business cards are on recycled material. I saw a pair of Diet Coke earrings that I maybe should have bought. They were heart-shaped dangles and were really cool. I just wasn't sure I'd wear them. Seriously, though - check out her shop.

The main reason we went is because my friend of 17 years was having her wedding reception. They got married in June in a family ceremony, and had a reception in August for all their rowdy friends. ;-) It was great to meet Kim's husband and his two boys (we had private visit time earlier in the week). The reception was fun, the food was great, and it was wonderful to see people I hadn't seen since I moved to Seattle. Thanks, Kim and Don, for a great party, and congratulations!! Love ya!

Another visit that I have to mention was to long time friend Verna. We've known each other since elementary school and had never sat down and had an adult visit. It was great sharing about what our lives looked like these days and she was a very gracious hostess. Thanks, Verna!

We also had a visit with my brother and his wife of almost 3 years (whom we'd not met). We'd also not met their two-year-old daughter, my littlest niece. She kept us entertained on her hobby horse, in the pool, and out for ice cream.

Other activities included a visit with my aunt and uncle, my friends Dale and Mary, eating local food, a local art walk, going to a minor league baseball game, and going to calling hours / visitation for someone I used to go to church with. I was apprehensive about going because I knew I would run into people that I didn't want to run into. But, Thank you Lord, the whole thing was uneventful as far as that was concerned. I got to talk to the widow for a little while - we used to be good friends before I moved away. It was good to see her again - I just wish it had been under better circumstances.

Now that we're back home, we've been busy with work and other things. We just finished a book group at church, I'm back to my workout routine (kinda), and life is hectic once again. I have an event coming up - I have the opportunity to display and sell my jewelry for the month of September at the Curves where I work out. They have a "business member of the month" and it's made it around to my turn. I've known about this for many months - have I done anything to prepare? Not really. I've bought some displays, but I haven't made my poster or signage or anything. And there's a week left and I'm busy both days this weekend. Guess my nights are going to be pretty full for the next week. Tonight I'm going to put price tags on things and figure out my display, and hopefully figure out signage. Friday night maybe I'll work on the poster. I'm kind of writing off tomorrow since I'm working out, and I'm beyond exhausted and brain-fried by the time I work all day and then work out. Friday will be a better day (night). :-)

September promises to be busy for us - we've got something on the calendar every weekend already. How does that happen? Maybe October will be mellower - there are five weekends and no holidays (unless you count Halloween falling on a Sunday). I guess I'm going to have to get up the gumption to get things done on the weeknights in September. I usually save hobby things for the weekends, but that's not working for September - except for....

... QUILT RETREAT! Yes, it's that time again!! In two weeks I'll be madly trying to figure out what to work on in preparation for retreat. I have a project I want to do, but it involves machine embroidery and my embroidery has been behaving badly lately, so we'll see. I'm hoping to run a couple test projects Labor Day weekend and see how they go. Wish me luck! And that reminds me that I need to go buy embroidery thread. It's always something.

Well, I think that's all the news for now. I did this in two sittings, so I have no idea if I captured all I wanted to when I started. :-p Hope everyone is well - drop a note on my Facebook wall if you want to check in. I haven't had much time for Facebook since we got back from vacation, so I'm not up to date on how you all are doing.

Blessings!
Kristin

2010-07-03T13:39:00.001-07:00

This is a test to see what will happen on my Blog page. I have far more ways to communicate from my phone and computer than I need, but it's fun to play with. :-) And who knows? I could be out somewhere and NEED to post something to share with you all... and now I can! If this posts, that is.

Another month goes by.....

2010-06-11T11:32:00.000-07:00

... without an update from me. You all are probably used to it. ;-) I've been in a funk over the last month (except for my birthday, which I'll talk about later). I haven't felt like doing anything, and for the most part, I haven't.

I did manage to get some things sewn and some jewelry made, but haven't gotten around to taking the pictures to list them in my Etsy store. The great news is that I did sell three of my purse organizers to one of my friends! YAY! I do hope they sell on Etsy, too, along with the wine charms I've been making. I need to stock up on things because in September I'm doing a month-long display at the Curves I belong to for the Business Member of the Month. I also have to get signage and display stuff done, preferably before the last minute.

So the highlight of the time since you heard from me was my birthday! Usually it's a rather ordinary day, but a couple of my coworkers found out about it and decorated my cube. I've worked in the same place for years and no one has cared before - I was even going to pay for my own cake for my birthday - but they did a great job decorating and brought me a cake. Chocolate with chocolate frosting! YUM!!!! I was really touched that they went to that effort for little old me. :-) I got some great gifts from friends and family, and had dinner out at my favorite restaurant.

I also signed up for retreat in September, so I have to figure out projects to work on between now and then. ;-) I do have a project that I didn't get to at the May retreat... maybe I'll try to work on that. Or bind these quilts that I had quilted but aren't bound yet. Ugh. I'm so lazy. Or maybe it's all the blind hand stitching I know I'll have to do. Yeah, we'll blame the hand stitching. ;-)

In other news, we have our vacation plans in order, the pet sitter scheduled, and a new suitcase bought that hopefully won't go over the weight limit like our big one does. *rolls eyes* I'm hoping that the less we can take, the less the suitcase will weigh. I'm also more confident that the slightly smaller suitcase will fit in the Aveo we're renting where the big suitcase very well might not fit in the trunk. All these details!

Well, that's about all the news I have for now. "Talk" to you next month (I hope!)! :-)

Blessings,
Kristin

Retreat report and other things

2010-05-12T12:53:00.001-07:00

Hi, all!

It’s been almost two weeks since retreat, and I haven’t posted an update yet. Mostly because I was waiting until I wasn’t so lazy about posting pictures. ;-) The pictures are now posted and can be found at my Picasa site and the individual links are in the paragraphs below.

There were a few bumps in the road (as happens when you have six women in close proximity) but overall the retreat was good. Here's a picture of our retreat space and my station.

I finished a purse that I had started a while ago but was waiting for machine embroidery on the outside pocket, which Mom and I got done with on Friday before we left. YAY!

I started and finished a quilt top for my couch time. The pattern ended up being a little different than I had planned, so it got longer until it was symmetrical top to bottom (I have a “thing” about balance). So it’s about 48”x88” (long and narrow) and will be great for being under on the couch. I’m contemplating doing some machine embroidery in the white spaces before I have it quilted.

I started and finished a purse from a new pattern I got - it’s a little more fussy than a similar purse I have a pattern for, but I really like how it turned out. I started cutting for another purse from the same pattern Sunday before we left, but didn’t get all the fabric cut and haven’t touched it since. I’m planning on finishing that at sew day on Saturday.

I bought another purse pattern (can you sense an addiction here?) last Saturday when Mom and I were out, and I’m hoping to try that soon, too. I have really nice fabric that I’m going to use, and hope that it all turns out since it will be the first time I’ve made the pattern. It’s not THAT much different than the ones I’ve been making, so I should be okay. I hope. Since I’m using my “good” fabric. ;-)

Last Saturday included trips to a Gee-Gee’s quilt shop, Shipwreck Beads, and a consignment shop. I dropped money all three places. ;-)

Since I got back from retreat I’ve been pretty much a tired slug. The week right after I was out almost every night of the week (including Sew Fun where I showed my retreat treasures at show and tell) and then this week I’ve just been a slug and not felt like doing anything. I can’t even get a few pictures uploaded, let alone work on anything fabric or bead related. I’m hoping our little sew day on Saturday will get me in the mood to do more sewing or beading or something besides being on the couch. I haven’t felt like I’ve been getting enough sleep, even though I’ve been working to get more sleep at night.

This weekend if our plans stay, Sunday I’m going to a paper arts festival with my friend Kelli. She has free passes, so why not? I usually don’t stamp or scrapbook unless I’m at a friend’s house for that purpose - I have too many distractions in my craft room. But it’ll be fun to see all the new trends and maybe pick up a few things for future projects. I’ve been working (slowly but surely) on an album of pictures of my late grandmother. The first few layouts I did were really good, and then the ones I’ve done recently have been less than impressive. It’s hard to scrap at someone else’s house because I don’t have all my stuff, yet I won’t do it when I’m at home. *sigh* I can’t win. ;-)

More news and pictures as they become available! Thanks for stopping by!

Blessings,

Kristin

Thinkin' about RETREAT!!!

2010-04-29T13:58:00.000-07:00

About this time tomorrow, I should be getting my sewing machine and other things settled in at the quilting retreat. YAY! Sleep, eat, and sew for 48 hours. Well, 46 hours once you take out the set up and tear down time. ;-) I've been to this venue before, and the scenery and meals are fabulous! My Mom and my friend Wendy will also be going, so I'll have someone I know to talk to as well as being able to meet new people.

I have a quilt (lap size) that I plan on making, and hopefully I'll have enough room on the floor for my "design wall" since I don't know 100% yet how I'm going to lay out the blocks. I'm PRETTY sure I know where I'm going with it, but you never know until you get the fabrics and blocks together how it's going to look. Unless you use Electric Quilt. But that's too much work for me in this case. ;-)

If I have time left over after I get the lap quilt top done, I'm going to either start on a wall hanging (if I can remember what fabrics go where for the block) or make some more purses. I bought a new pattern the other day that's a lot like the Thimbleberries purse (see Purse mania) but it is a little bigger and doesn't have outside pockets. My struggle now is to figure out what fabric I want to use for it out of the many purse fabrics I've purchased lately. ;-) I'm also wondering how many projects I should take. More purses? Different purses? Purse organizers? I don't want to have nothing to do at any given point in time. It's always hard to know how long things are going to take. The quilt I'm doing is a pretty straightforward block, so it shouldn't take me the whole weekend. The wall hanging could take me the whole weekend to figure out my notes and where I was going with it! But it could also frustrate me greatly, and then I'd need something else to work on.

I also have a wallet in work that I might have to take with me to finish up. I'm pretty sure I won't get it done tonight before I need to start packing up for retreat (I haven't even started packing yet). I also want to try the machine embroidery thing on my backpack pocket. Oh, I didn't tell you that story! I got my old XP laptop and Janome to talk, so I tried out a machine embroidery design last weekend, with the Queen of Machine Embroidery (Mom) by my side. The thread broke. And broke. And broke. Adjustment A. Broke. Adjustment B. Broke. On and on to about Adjustment M. I finally after the fourth hooping got the design to stitch with only one thread breakage. So I'm going to try it on real fabric tomorrow when Mom's around and see if it cooperates. I wrote down all the adjustments we made (tension, thread cone position, needle, room temperature, planetary alignment....), so we'll see how it goes. If that goes well, I can finish up that backpack at retreat, too.

I think that's all the news I have for now... I've just been looking forward to retreat for the last couple of days and wanted to let you in on the ramblings in my head about it. ;-) I'll report after I get back, and hopefully have some pictures. The camera is on my list, but will I remember I have it with me??

Blessings,
Kristin

Purse mania

2010-04-18T09:54:00.000-07:00

Hi, all!

Well, I was brave enough to do Show and Tell at Sew Fun this month... for those of you who don't know what that is (and care), it's a monthly seminar with demos of products and techniques relative to sewing, quilting, and machine embroidery. Anyway, we have Show and Tell every time, and this was my first S&T in the year and a half that I've been attending. Partly because all my projects are LARGE (like queen size) and I don't want to haul that to Sew Fun and back, and partly because I rarely finish anything. So I showed off (ha) my backpack purse, my purse organizers, and a purse I made out of Thimbleberries fabric. I've since made another purse (yesterday) that I don't know that I'll make another of. It needs a higher caliber of sewing prowess and patience than I have to make it well enough to give away or to sell, my purse organizer doesn't fit in it, and it doesn't have a closure. But it's a cute style and I'm sure I'll get some use out of it. I may make a second one because I have some fabric DYING to be used and I don't know that I have enough to make a strapped purse. It'll be close - I'll have to check that out.

Here are some links to the pictures of my creations (except the backpack purse - I don't have pictures of that because I'm not thrilled on how it turned out. I'm planning on taking pictures of the second one that's in progress now, just waiting for machine embroidery).

Purse organizer (pattern my The Crochet Diva) and Thimbleberries purse (pattern by Keyka Lou)
Dewdrop Purse (pattern by Keyka Lou)

I found a wallet pattern on Etsy that I really like, but I have a couple reservations. First reservation is that the pattern writer is not a native English speaker. Her English is decent, but I can tell from her product writeups that English is her second language. Second reservation is that there are 48 pages of instructions! This could be good or bad. ;-) I'm still thinking about it. I like the wallet and I think I would use it even though it's a smidge bigger than I would like, but it's got a lot more compartments and is smaller than other wallet patterns out there. I'll probably go for it, but I'm still thinking. :-)

Last weekend Bill and I went up to the Tulip Festival with our friend Kelli, her two boys, and her mother and mother in law. I took over 150 pictures and I don't know how many she got. We usually trade CDs of the pictures we took, too. I took quite a few of her boys because they were entertaining playing in the mud. :-) Here are a few pictures that were taken of the tulips and of us.

Do any of you go to JoAnn Fabrics? If you do, you know that this week was Daffodil Dash - lots of sales and some 50% off coupons! I went on Tuesday before I got my temporary crown put in (that's another story - ugh) and I found some fabric I really liked, but not enough! WHAA! They were also out of the magnetic snaps I wanted for my purses. So yesterday I violated a stay-at-home day and we went to a different JoAnn's and it was SO worth the trip!! Four packages of the snaps I wanted, three yards of the fabric I wanted, plus some fabric for other projects that was all either on sale or I used a 50% off coupon for! YAY! And Bill and I went to Applebee's for dinner. It was an anniversary of sorts - 2 years and 5 months. I wonder when we'll grow out of counting the months? ;-) You may gag now. ;-)

I mentioned a temporary crown... I went for my dental checkup a couple weeks ago and they found some cracks in one of my molars. So I have my first temporary crown, and I asked if getting a crown means I'm a princess now. They got a kick out of that. They tried to tell me that once I get the permanent crown I get to be queen, but I don't want to be queen. Princess is fine. Queens have too much responsibility. ;-) So I go in a week and a half for my permanent crown, and hopefully that will be the last one for a while. Or ever.

Today before our church activities this afternoon and evening, I'm planning on trying to get my old laptop (XP) to talk to my sewing machine and transfer some embroidery designs. I'm guessing that my Janome is a Vista snob since I couldn't get my new laptop to talk to it, no matter what patches I installed or what things I tried. I have an email out to Tech Support - we'll see if they have any other ideas that the forum didn't address. Hopefully XP will do the trick - we shall see! It'll be slow, but it might just work. If that goes well, I might do some sewing today, too. If it doesn't go well, I'll probably go in a corner and pout. ;-) Nah, I'll probably sew anyway. I've got a few hours before I have to think about getting ready, and I might be able to whip up a purse in that amount of time.

Thanks, everybody, for reading my ramblings! Let me know if you like the links to the pictures or if you'd rather see pictures in the blog itself. I was being lazy this time, but I am able to share more pictures this way. I'm just curious how it works out for the readers.

Have a great day / week / month until I blog again! :-)

Blessings,
Kristin

I have purses!

2010-04-06T12:06:00.000-07:00

I don't have pictures [yet], but I've made one backpack purse (but not without incident) and a shoulder tote. I'll try to get some pictures together sometime and post them since I'm sure both my readers would like to see them. ;-)

I've been bitten by the sewing bug lately, and I've even been thinking about making some sewn items for my Etsy shop. I have a purse organizer pattern that I really like (I've made 2 so far) and the latest purse I made came out pretty well for a first attempt. I also have patterns for little pouches and business card wallets that would be great accessories, as well as another purse that I haven't tried yet. The backpack purse is really fussy, and I wouldn't be able to charge enough to sell it. Nor could I come close to getting it "shop" quality. Not that my other stuff is perfect or even outstanding, but this bag is pushing my comfort zone significantly. Plus to sell it I'd have to make the straps adjustable, and I am so not going there.

I have a bracelet I need to make to sell to have something new in my shop, but between my recent sewing spree and my limited time when I'm not sewing, it hasn't gotten done. It'll be beautiful when I do, though! ;-) It's similar to a bracelet I made for myself that has been getting some nice comments. I also have some beads I ordered that need a home (and more things on order), so we'll see. I just know it won't be this week since it's a manic week anyway. Something going on every night this week plus both days of the weekend. And it's baseball season again, which means I may not get anything constructive done until October or November! ;-) GO MARINERS!!!!

I have a quilt retreat coming up in a few weeks, so I've been trying to decide what to take to work on. I have one quilt that needs the binding sewn on, and may have another if it's back from the quilter by then. Those will keep me occupied for a few hours. I also found some fabric I bought about a year ago with a block pattern that I must have meant to be a quilt, so I can get started on that. That's if I finish the wall hanging that I also bought fabric for a year ago and now I can't tell where I was going with it, even though I have the measurements and the pattern with the fabric. Which fabric was which in the pattern? Did I buy backing and binding? Where are my instructions on a mitered border? Oh, brother. Retreat could be interesting. But it sounds as if I won't have to wonder what to work on since the wall hanging will take me forever to figure out and the other quilt is a large lap size (since I have a large lap, hee hee). Yep. I should be able to entertain myself from Friday afternoon through Sunday afternoon.

As I said, I'll post again once I have some pictures to show, and if not before, I'll have to give you a retreat report (that will be the first week of May at the earliest). Until then....

Blessings,
Kristin

Sewing Spree and other things

2010-03-17T14:08:00.000-07:00

Hi, all!

Well, it wasn’t easy, it wasn’t always fun, but I have another quilt top and backing DONE! YAY! I’m giving it to the quilter on Saturday. It doesn’t look like the picture in all regards because the one in the picture looked good hanging, but I hated how it looked on the bed. So the side borders are wider than the bottom border, but I don’t care because it looks better on the bed with a longer side border. It wasn’t as wide as I wanted it to be, but measure twice, cuss once, what can ya do? They say done is better than perfect, and it’s a good thing, because it’s far from perfect. I’ll try to remember to post pictures once it’s quilted and on the bed.

I’ve also decided that I’m no longer going to make a quilt backing that requires three widths of fabric. UGH! It’s either going to be a lap quilt (no bigger than 76” wide) or I’m buying the 108” backing fabric. :-\ Talk about a beast of a piece of fabric to try to tame!

So it’s on to something smaller and less in my comfort zone... a backpack purse! I finally bought the Cindy Taylor Oates Backpacks book and I’ve been studying it to see if I can get it to make sense. I think it’s starting to (after about a week or so of reading through it). I started cutting yesterday for the first one, and funny things happen when you change the pattern... you end up with not enough fabric! BOOGERMUFFINS! So I dove into my limited stash of fat quarters and found one that though it’s a little more flowery than I was planning on using, the colors match VERY well. Now I have a problem because I’m planning on making another one just like it with two other sets of fabrics, and I probably don’t have enough. So it’s back to the fabric store. After I prove to myself that I can make this thing, I have some really nice fabric coordinates that I’ve been looking for a special occasion to use, and I think this is it. Pictures will be available should the project come out nicely.

I also have some ideas brewing for a quilt project I set aside last year because I got frustrated and discouraged (a common syndrome with me), so we’ll see if I can make that come to fruition. I just hope I don’t have to buy any more fabric. I’ve already invested way too much and I don’t even know if the fabric is still available since it’s been over a year. I just looked and it seems to be - at least it’s coming up in the product search. That’s encouraging. The quilt is still going to have some elements that look like a three-year-old pieced it together, but it’s going to a non-quilter, not the Quilt Police, so we’ll hope for the best. :-)

I have been making some jewelry here and there, mostly for me, though. Hard to make money that way. Click this link to see a necklace that I made one for me and one to sell. I made matching earrings, too, but they’re a bit much next to the necklace, so I’m not sure what to do with that information.

Well, I think that’s about all the excitement I have for you this time around. I’ll post pictures as things progress (assuming they progress well, tee hee) and keep you posted (assuming I don’t get discouraged and want to give away all my fabric stash again). :-)

Blessings,

Kristin

What does Kristin do on a sunny day??

2010-02-06T11:52:00.000-08:00

She stays inside and plays on the internet, apparently, since that's what I'm doing today. I've been monitoring Facebook for news (did you know there's snow back east??) and catching up on a few emails and other things, including a short blog post. I say it's going to be short because I don't have lots of news - we'll see if my rambling gets in the way of that.

Work has been really busy this past week - I've gone from second gear to fifth gear pretty much overnight. I've forgotten how to multi-task because I haven't had to in so long. But busy at work is good - that means that I have a job and that I have meaningful work to do and the day goes by faster than when things are slow and I'm looking for things to do (like cleaning out my files. Ugh.).

I haven't been doing as much crocheting this week, but I did get four bracelets made on Tuesday night. I'm supposed to be doing beading as I'm writing this, but instead I squandered the morning (and part of the afternoon) on the computer. I think I've done about all I had in mind on the 'puter, so it might be almost time to set it aside and do some beading. I got some great beads last week that I'm really looking forward to playing with, but I want to do something creative - I do a lot of bracelets and earrings - I'd like to do a necklace. I have a sketch in my head, but when I try to apply beads and findings, it never seems to match what's in my head. I've always had that problem.

Speaking of art never turning out in reality the way it is in my head, I had a fun experience last week. My Dad sent me my school papers and art that he had from before I started school through second grade. I got to read stories and poems I wrote (and we laughed really hard) and I got to see some of my artwork that my Mom could tell what it was supposed to be better than I could. Still trying to figure that one out. I did find some paintings I did when I was three that are actually suitable for framing (if you're a fan of abstract art). I've come to the conclusion that the age of three was when I peaked as an artist. I tried painting about 5 years ago and it looked like it was done by a two year old. Obviously I've not progressed in my painting skills since then. ;-) Though I didn't try anything abstract... maybe that was my problem? I wonder if I could sell prints of my paintings on Etsy? I painted them, after all. ;-)

Speaking of Etsy, I should probably go grab a snack and then play with some beads. Thanks for reading, and feel free to drop me a comment and let me know what's new in your zoo!

Blessings,
Kristin

It's been a while....

2010-01-14T08:42:00.000-08:00

.... but I have great excuses!!! First (and foremost), I've been sick since the beginning of December. It started out with a sore throat, grew into congestion, almost disappeared until an airplane ride, more congestion, another airplane ride, and then a cough that sounded like my esophagus was going to be visible at any moment. I'm almost over the cough now (thankfully), as well as the associated fatigue that goes along with being sick (and hacking up one's lungs). Work was about all I could handle, and I didn't feel much like being on the computer when I wasn't working, nor did I feel like thinking. I'm getting a little better with the thinking part now, so here I am. :-)

One of the downsides of being sick is that I haven't been to Curves in about 4 weeks. Now that my cough is almost gone, I'm planning on heading back this coming Monday. I haven't been weighing myself, but I must not have gained all my 40 pounds back over the holidays because my clothes still fit and people are telling me how good I look. Now I'm feeling pressure, though, knowing that people are noticing (and "watching"), if you know what I mean. I can't fail! AUUUGHHHH!!! But failing is what I do best! ;-)

We went to Minnesota for a week over Christmas, and in spite of my being sick and Bill's Mom also being under the weather, we had a good time. This was my first Helgeson Christmas, and it was an adventure. :-) No, really, it wasn't bad at all. A little chaotic, but chaos is sometimes fun to watch. Christmas we went over to Bill's sister's house and about 25 of us gathered to sing carols, hear the Christmas story from the Bible, and of course, eat and open presents! We were about 11 people short of the typical number as the blizzards kept some away. Next time we go maybe the weather will be more cooperative to the west. Speaking of weather, it was WONDERFUL! It wasn't so cold that I thought I was going to die (I'm so acclimated to the Northwest) - in the 20s most of the time we were there. That's a heat wave for December in MN! :-) We had some snow but it didn't hold back the seasoned MN drivers that we rode with. It was pretty, especially knowing we could stay inside most of the time an d just watch the snow fall.

I've been bitten by the crochet bug recently, making things from shawls to ponchos to reusable coffee cup sleeves for those Starbucks trips and for our church that serves coffee and tea before the service (in a different size cup than Starbucks, I might add). I haven't been too inspired to create any more jewelry this new year, but I'm hoping that the better I feel, the more creative I'll get. I also may find my crochet niche and list some crocheted items on Etsy, but I don't think I've found it yet. The coffee cup sleeves are great, but I haven't made one that I've been happy enough with to sell yet (plus I don't have the right size cup to measure yet). My gauge is ALWAYS off on crochet things... must be the goofy way I crochet. ;-) I see these tutorials on YouTube and I see how the rest of the world crochets.... how did I get such a freaky technique? Oh, well. It works for me. Except for the gauge thing. But that's why there are other size hooks. ;-)

Bill and I have been attending a new (to us) church since late November or early December. We're going to their membership class next weekend and have signed up for a growth group together, so we're getting more and more involved. They have a Sunday evening service, too, so that frees us up to visit Bill's "home" church once a month or so in the morning and not miss anything at the new church since we can go in the evening. So far we really like the pastor - the messages are down-to-earth, relevant, and Bible-based. Just what we were looking for. Hopefully one of these days we'll learn the worship songs that they play - they do some obscure ones that you rarely hear on the radio and some things that they've written themselves, so it's hard to get traction if you want to sing along. But there have been a couple that I've known or been able to follow along a little bit... just not as much as I'm used to.

Well, I think that about sums up the last month. Hopefully I'll have something exciting to blog about one of these days. Until then, you get to hear about my mundane life. ;-)

Blessings,
Kristin

Welcome to December!!!

2009-12-07T08:55:00.000-08:00

Hi, all!

I hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving... we went to a community dinner so we didn't have to cook, and we had a wonderful time. Not much else new in November that I can think of now. If there had been, I probably would have blogged about it. ;-)

The onset of December has given me a head cold... usually that happens around New Years. Maybe that means this year I'll get through Christmas and New Years being healthy! ;-) In spite of the scratchy throat and dripping, we managed to get our Christmas letters done and printed and stuffed in signed cards in addressed envelopes this weekend! Now we're just waiting for the stamps. We got our first Christmas card on December 2nd! Can you believe it??? Complete with a picture! How amazing is that?? I'm excited that people are going to get a card from me BY Christmas, let alone probably by the week before. I just hope I remembered everyone. I did take a few names off my list this year - people I haven't heard from in a number of years. It's sad because the people are dear to my heart, but it's been forever since I've heard from them. I don't even know that they're getting our cards. Granted, Christmas is the one time per year most people hear from me (which is why I continue to send cards year after year), but it would be nice to hear back sometimes, too.

In other news, we've been keeping busy with various things... I've been crocheting a lot over the past couple of weeks. I bought some patterns on Etsy and have made a few different scarves and two hats (same pattern - the first one didn't turn out as well as I would have liked - the second was much better). Just in time for a cold snap here... it was 20F at my house this morning! Not fun when I'm already sick! :-( But I had my nice warm coat and my nice warm neckwarmer and my nice warm hat and my thin gloves (bad call on my part), so I was pretty okay waiting for the vanpool. The sun's out now, so hopefully it'll break 32F today. This is unusual for this area - we're not used to it and we don't like it. ;-)

I have been making some Etsy sales here and there... I ran an ad for a while on Facebook and got a bunch of new fans for my Ladybug's Beads and Baubles Facebook page, so I can let them know about new items I have and hopefully that will translate into sales eventually. I'm also running an ad on a crafting site, and I'm getting some views from that, but I don't know if the sales I'm getting are from there or people just wandering in. Either way, I'm getting seen and selling some things along the way. Not too bad for a beginner.

I also want to report that I think Bill and I have found a church to attend. It's interesting because it's not somewhere I would have expected him to be comfortable, but everywhere is going to have pluses and minuses. We're also occasionally going to be going to the church Bill's been a member of for a few years. Our new church has an evening service, so we can do both in a day. That will help him since he's used to something more traditional and this new church is anything but traditional. :-) We really like the pastor, though, and the way he delivers his message, and that's the main thing I think we both were looking for. They also have small groups (another thing we were looking for), so we'll be checking those out in January. Thanks for those who prayed about us finding a church home, and please continue to pray that we would be able to grow and serve in this church.

Other than that, it's been Christmas plans and preparations. I have my shopping done (YAY!) and all the presents wrapped except one. I think Bill's getting close to having his shopping done, too. I'm glad I started my shopping early. ;-) We did some decorating but not as much as we normally do. I just didn't feel like hauling out every box and going through it. We did our tree in a red theme this year (no, I don't have pictures, Jana, LOL) and it doesn't look too bad. We have some lights outside, but not a many as last year (I guess my lethargy was contagious - sorry, Bill!). But we're still festive. :-)

If I don't "talk" to you before then, have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, and in the bustle of presents and preparations, don't forget to remember the real Reason for the Season. Happy Birthday, Jesus.

Blessings,
Kristin

Great weekend!

2009-11-09T13:11:00.000-08:00

Hi, all!!

Retreat report - it was great! :-) I think I was the only one there that wasn't from the three churches that participated, but everyone made me feel very welcome. I sat at a table with 7 great gals of varying ages, and even though we had to do small group discussions, I survived. ;-) It was a great time of learning and I took some notes that I hope to refer back to. Carolyn also sang some of her songs that had to do with the topics she spoke about, so when I hear those songs again, hopefully the lessons will pop into my mind as a reminder of what I heard.

Bill drive down and met me after the retreat and we went to dinner and then back to the church for a concert (where he also bought me some Christmas presents, hee hee). All in all a really good Saturday. The concert was especially nice because I went to a concert years ago where Carolyn opened and only did two songs. I was so disappointed!! This time not only did she play for over an hour, she took requests! :-)

Sunday Bill and I visited a church. Our "first choice" had an off-campus service, so we visited our second choice of the three on our list. We both liked it pretty well and a few people introduced themselves, including the pastor (which is always a plus). They were having a bake sale in the foyer so we bought dessert for later. ;-) Then we went to lunch and talked about the church and what we thought about it and a lot of other things, which was neat. Not that we never go out to eat or ever talk, but it just seemed especially good on Sunday. After we got home, Bill logged into work and I listed a few new things on Etsy and played with beads. I constructed one bracelet three times before I was happy with it, but finally got it done as well as one other (which went together with much less rework). Even though we had to get out of bed for church and we both "worked," it was still a nice kick-back day.

This week I have my three workouts, dinner with a couple friends, a free night (which will probably be spent with beads), and then this coming weekend Mom and I are going to a sewing and craft festival. I already know what (three or four) free seminars I want to attend... my brain is going to be full! :-)

I hope you all have a great week! Keep in touch, and thanks for reading!
Blessings,
Kristin

A jewelry kind of weekend...

2009-10-26T15:12:00.000-07:00

Hi, all!!

This past weekend I was either eating, sleeping, or doing jewelry stuff - buying supplies, taking pictures, creating new items... Okay, it wasn't quite THAT intense. We did go to church and I did have some time away from the worktable, but I did accomplish a lot, too. I had no idea that I would have such a hard time taking pictures. One or more of my medications makes my hands shake (or maybe it's just me - it's more fun to blame the meds), so I have the hardest time getting clear pictures. Using a tripod is even a challenge because most of my photos are close-ups and it's hard to get a close-up shot from overhead with a tripod. I have some pictures I have to take over even though I spent the better part of an hour yesterday photographing. By the time I dragged out the tripod, I was just not in a way to do a whole lot of manipulation. Since then, I've been thinking of other ways I might take the pictures I want and utilize the tripod, so we'll see. I've included one of my favorite shots - it's SO clear! These earpins are made with tiger eye beads, and this picture brings out the beauty of the stones (though I'm not thrilled with the background, but that's the best I have for now. That's one area that I could use a little more creativity - and props.

Other than that, I haven't been doing much with my Etsy shop for the time being because I applied for my business license (heaven help me in making a profit three years out of five) and I'm waiting for that to arrive before I go out beating the bushes for more sales... ah, the feeling of legitimacy. (Update - it arrived on Thursday!) I thought I could do this as a hobby, but I didn't want to get into trouble and the license wasn't that much to apply for, so I wait patiently for November 1 when I can start listing things in my store again and know (hope) that I'm not going to get in trouble. If any of you want to keep track of my Etsy shop activities, do a search for Ladybug's Beads and Baubles on Facebook and join my fan page! I've been revamping that, too, to add some bells and whistles, thanks to some great Etsy forum posters. I did manage to make a sale while I haven't been doing any listing or promoting - my first sale to a stranger! My previous sales have been to my friends. Those earpins went in the mail on Friday.

On more personal happenings, things have been busy but good. Bill found he's got enough vacation time for us to spend a week in Minnesota with his family at Christmas, so we're excited about that. Flights are booked - now I just have to book the pet-sitter. I hope she still remembers us. :-)

Work has been going well for both of us... Bill's been really busy and has been working weekends now and then to meet deadlines. My work has been at a slower pace (no OT for me!) but steady. I'm going to be taking on another project here in the next couple of weeks - I'm not sure what all that will entail, but it sounds interesting.

I've been going to the gym (still) three times a week with one exception (I was sick) where I only went two days. Bad Kristin! LOL! I've lost 44 pounds, give or take, and am kind of stuck right now (or losing slower than I want to). I think I need to change my eating pattern a little to jump start my body to losing again, but to be honest, I don't want to. ;-) I'm not ready to do that yet, so I guess I'll be "stuck" a little longer and then decide I'm ready to eat like a rabbit to get my body losing again. The last 14 pounds has made the first 30 pounds seem easy. Bottom line - I've just gotten lazy. Good thing I'm still working out. As much as it's not my favorite thing to do, I know it's working and so I keep on going and hoping for a pound of fat to fall off now and then.

In other personal news, I'm going to be going to a Women's Retreat in November with one of my favorite Christian musicians, Carolyn Arends. I could have just attended the free concert that night, but it's been ages since I've done a retreat and I really need a spiritual jump-start. Maybe this will help. Bill and I are also talking about church shopping again. He likes his church, but it doesn't have what I need (as much as I like the pastor there). So I found a few churches that we may have a look at, or we may just keep going to Bill's church like we've been doing and avoiding the topic altogether. ;-) Church shopping is never fun, but when you have two peoples' needs and wants to take into consideration, it's even more difficult. Neither Bill nor I have church shopped as a couple before, so this will definitely be interesting. Prayers appreciated if we come to mind.

I think that's all the news I have for now... Thanks for reading. :-)

Blessings,
Kristin

Moving weekend and a near miss

2009-10-19T07:11:00.000-07:00

Hi, all!

We went down to Puyallup Saturday to help my parents out with the residual items they needed moved, plus a little settling in. We made two trips in the morning, and decided about 2pm (after lunch) to take a break for a couple hours. Are we ever glad we did! We found out in Sunday's paper that there was a high-speed chase with a fatality (the one being chased was shot) while we were all comfy at the new house. This happened on the exact route that we were taking between the two houses (6 miles apart). Here's the news story. It was done with and cleaned up by the time we went by for another trip between houses. Scary stuff. Lord, thank you for keeping us out of that situation!

The most exciting thing that happened to us was a few claps of thunder (with one lightning strike so close I could hear the buzz of the electricity) and some rain. It managed to pour while we were inside and no more than drizzle when we were loading and unloading the cars. As of Saturday about 7pm, we had all the stuff out of the old house except for cleaning supplies, and when Bill and I left Sunday afternoon the kitchen was at about 75% settled, the master bedroom closet was in pretty good shape, and Mom and David had beat us badly at a game of Hand and Foot. :-) It was a nice balance of work and play - Mom and David were ready for some down time since they've been packing the car and carrying loads to the new house all week, and the big stuff was moved on Friday. Mom was really pleased with the movers she had on Friday, so that's greatness!

The new house is a few years newer than the one they moved out of, in a 55+ community, and yardwork is included in the rental price. YAY! They really like the new house (even though there are a few things that aren't as convenient, like the kitchen is a little smaller and there's no hall coat closet - it was converted to a much-needed linen closet). It's VERY nice and is begging to be decorated! :-) It's one of those houses with lots of interesting angles and lines and walls that don't quite make it to the ceilings, if you know what I mean. Mom and I will tackle the decorating one of these days, once the garage gets cleaned out to the point that we can see what decor stuff she has. Right now most of her sewing stuff and a lot of David's office-type stuff is in the garage - that's going to be the fun part for them to get settled. But the nice thing is everything is at the new house (including cable and internet) so if they're looking for it, it's there somewhere. :-) I wanted to help Mom get her sewing room in order, but she's still scheming about how it's going to get set up. She gets two rooms now, so one will have the machines and a couple other things, and then the stash will live in the other bedroom. David has a loft for his area, and I'm sure he'll love it up there.

So that was our weekend, and this week we're all back to normal. Three days at the gym, errands on Tuesday and downtime on Thursday. YAY! Downtime! :-D It's been a while since I've had a down evening that I haven't been feeling so tired that I thought I'd gotten hit by a truck. I hope I feel up to doing some things around the house or some hobby stuff. I've just been so tired - probably the weather. Yeah, we'll blame the weather. ;-)

Thanks for reading, and blessings to you all!
Kristin

A Short Update

2009-10-02T13:57:00.000-07:00

I always say that my update will be short, and then I get rambling.

Not too much is new here since my last update, but I did want to fill everyone in on a thing or two. Just because I can. ;-)

I got my first sale on Etsy this week!!! It was a friend of mine, but a sale is a sale! She bought a pair of earpins that I had taken pictures of mine and thought if anyone wanted them I'd make another pair, so the thing that sold got made JUST for her! :-) I hope she enjoys them! I have a few more ideas in the works for earpins since they're something different than regular earrings or other jewelry (and I enjoy making them and wearing them), so we'll see how those turn out. My wine glass charms are getting the most looks of anything out there, so I've been trying to come up with more to try to figure out what people are looking for. Nothing moves really fast on Etsy, so I'm also learning some patience. I started a fan page on Facebook for my Etsy shop, so if you're on FB and didn't get an invite from me, do a search on "Ladybug's Beads" and the Ladybug's Beads and Baubles fan page will come up. Fan me! :-) I'll be letting fans know when new things are up at my shop, and I have a couple opinion questions out there right now for input. For those of you who want to visit my Etsy shop, I'm at www.ladybugkristin.etsy.com.

We've been keeping busy, and somehow the days go by and seem full, but nothing much is "new." Our jobs are going well and our health is good, and everything else is icing on the cake. I just wish I wasn't so tired when I get home from work / working out. I'd get so much more done. But I am still working out 3 times a week (except this week I was sick on Monday and didn't go) and I'm still losing weight, little bit by little bit. I'm getting close to the halfway mark on what I want to lose; it'll be so exciting to have lost more than I have left to lose. I'm trying not to get discouraged because the first 30 pounds seemed really easy to lose, and now things are going much slower. But I'm still losing, and that's what matters.

We have tickets to a Mariners game this Saturday (Bill's only one of the year - my second as I went with my team from work). I hope the weather's not too miserable as we're taking the bus down there and home. That's what people do when they don't want to pay for parking and deal with the downtown traffic - and if they don't want to deal with bus transfers (and I don't), they take the bus to the transit station over half a mile away from the stadium and walk the rest of the way. ;-) Hopefully the weather and bus schedules and game length will all align and it'll be an easy and enjoyable trek. Sunday I'll be scrapbooking with a couple friends, and hopefully inbetween there somewhere I'll be inspired and make the best piece of jewelry I've ever made! :-)

Well, I guess that's all I have for now. Thanks for reading, and have a great weekend!!

Blessings,
Kristin

Money-making hobby?

2009-09-16T07:41:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm taking the plunge. By selling a pair of baseball-themed earrings to the Director of Merchandising at the local minor league baseball club, I've made my first sale. She is going to show them to a few people and may be interested in carrying them at the stadium store and on their website! I don't know if it will be Christmas or next season or ever, but my work has gotten noticed and I may get an order for a whole bunch more and will be able to say that my merchandise is carried by a minor league baseball team! Isn't that cool? I'm trying not to get my hopes up, but the gal sounded pretty upbeat about the possibility. Just waiting for the phone to ring. ;-)

Since someone besides my mother has shown me that my stuff is worth money (no offense to Mom, but you know, she and Bill are my biggest fans), I've decided to list some of my work on Etsy. It's a sales website that is only for handmade items, vintage items, and supplies, so I'm not as likely to get caught in the noise as I would on eBay. I've looked at some of the jewelry on Etsy and some is way out of my league, and other things are kind of on par, so we'll see what happens. Things don't tend to move quickly, so patience is a virtue. I don't have that particular virtue, so we'll see how I do. :-p I'm listing 4 items today, and then I have plans for several more items once I get the time and energy to get them made. They're all replicas of things I've made for myself, so it shouldn't be too hard to do. All I need is an all-nighter with caffeine overload to crank out some product (you Facebookers have seen what that's like). I don't have any free Saturdays for a while, so I'll have to try to find a few weeknights to set up shop. Problem is, my shop is the dinner table, so that makes things inconvenient unless we want to eat in the living room. ;-) We'll see. I'm still trying to catch up on sleep from quilt retreat, so it won't be this week.

Oh, yeah! Quilt retreat! Last weekend Mom and I went to a retreat in the woods at the cascade foothills (I'd been there twice before - she'd never been). We both had a great time and were really productive! I finished a block swap that I've been holding on to for the better part of two years (and Kelli, I'm going to try REALLY HARD to remember to bring it Thursday to dinner), I got the 48 blocks done I need for another quilt (needs sashing and borders and stuff, but I didn't have sashing fabric with me), and ripped apart another quilt I started 4-5 years ago to fix it and I have all the rows constructed and just need to put on setting triangles and sew the rows together. I was really happy with the amount I got done, even though on one project I spent almost as mich time ripping as I did sewing. ;-) One more full day and I would have had that done, but we only paid for the weekend (the retreat went on until Tuesday afternoon) and Mom was out of medication, so we couldn't even buy another night if we wanted to (and we talked about it, but the meds were kind of a show-stopper). We're planning a sew day at my house in October sometime, so we'll see what I work on then (and how much I get done before then, if anything). Sorry, no pictures this time. I only took one with my Blackberry and it's just to show the 48 blocks I got done. Not worth the trouble of downloading to anywhere.

I'm still working out three times a week and watching what I eat, and I've lost about 40 pounds to date since I joined Curves in February. I'm almost halfway to my goal weight now. I've been working out 7 months now, and I still have to talk myself into going half the time. I thought by now it would be a habit and I would just do it and maybe even like it, but I haven't had the attitude change yet. I guess it's just because I'm so tired after being at work all day that I just want to go home. It's not Curves' fault. ;-) But I go, and some days I do better than others, but at least I'm there. Today is my monthly weigh and measure - last time I lost a few pounds and my body fat % went down, but all my measurements went UP! ACK! I hope I don't see that nonsense again tonight! :-p

So, there's my attempt to manufacture news. ;-) It's been a while since I've posted, and I did want to let you all know to look for me on Etsy and wish me luck!

Blessings,
Kristin

Vacation in pictures (and a few words)

2009-08-26T09:36:00.000-07:00

Welcome to a pictorial view of our recent vacation! We went to Minneapolis to visit Bill’s family - all but two of his siblings were there, and some nieces and nephews and friends. Bill and his brother Steve had a great time catching up while I was at the mall checking out the bead store. ;-)

Tuesday

Dinner Theatre at Chanhassen - Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

All the girls ready to go!

On the road!

Wednesday

Surprise birthday party for Bill’s sister’s 50^th birthday...

And a picture of us because we’re cute. ;-)

Thursday

Twin Cities tour (Minneapolis and St. Paul)

Minneapolis Sculpture Garden

We’re on opposite sides of glass for this picture. Cool, huh?

Big fish!

Downtown Minneapolis

Flowers at the farmers market

Capitol Building in St. Paul

Our Mississippi Riverboat!

Friday

Twins vs. Indians

Family over in the cheap seats (digital zoom). Look for the ones who are waving.

There - that’s closer. They came over to sit with us for a bit.

Swing, batta batta!

Saturday
Family birthdays party day!

Bill’s breakfast - he did such a beautiful job I had to take a picture!

One of the many pictures of family - there were about 20+ people there.

Bill and 5 of his 7 siblings.

We had a great time, and we missed the family as soon as we got to the airport. Bill’s family is so nice and open and warm... which is a good thing since I’m used to a much SMALLER family. ;-)

Not much else new besides vacation... still going to Curves, still losing weight (slowly but surely). I have a quilt retreat coming up in a few weeks, and while Mom and I are gone to that, Bill and David are going to install track lighting in my craft room. WOO HOO! :-) Bright light! I’ll probably be blinded! No excuse that I can’t see what I’m doing, that’s for sure! We also got a ceiling fan for our bedroom. It’s probably a little late for this season, but when the temperature gets up over 80 degrees again, we’ll be ready.

Hope you all are doing well... drop a note if you get a chance!

Blessings,

Kristin

Has it really been that long???

2009-07-11T23:24:00.001-07:00

Hi, all!
It always seems like nothing's new, but this time I have a little news and I've had way too much caffeine today, so now seems like a good time.

New weight, new phone, new hair!

Friday I had my monthly weigh and measure at Curves, and I was officially under 200 pounds! YAY! 198.5! Another goal reached! In half a pound, I also will have lost 30 pounds, which is 1/3 of all I want to lose. It's so nice to see progress, especially since the past couple of weeks I've been yo-yoing and plateauing with my weight. I've been eating right around my calories goal and working out my three times a week, but I was still gaining or not losing. I was pretty frustrated. Hopefully that nonsense is over and we can go back to losing weight. ;-)

About the time of my last post I decided to try out a new phone (if I told you this already, feel free to skip down - I don't feel like going back to look). I wanted something that would have street addresses of my contacts in my phone so I'd always have them, so my choices were a Palm or Blackberry. Well, the Palm device I had the choice of doesn't work with the navigator software that I can't live without, so Kristin got a Blackberry. I'm such a geek. Now since it's not a work device I couldn't sync it with my work contacts (where all my contacts live) so THANK YOU to one of my coworkers, I transferred everything into Google Calendar and Contacts and now I have my schedule and contacts on the go. It wasn't without some manual intervention required, but at least I got the phone to do what I bought it for. Oh, and I got a great deal on it (assuming I remember to send in the rebate on time).

A week ago, I got my hair cut. And I mean CUT! I'd been thinking about going really short ever since my big cut last year, but Bill (and I) needed to ease into it a little bit. I took some pictures with my phone camera that will have to suffice. The first two are fuzzy because they are pictures of my reflection in the mirror the day I came home with the new do. The other two are "direct" shots taken other days.

Bill had day surgery this week (Wednesday), so I've been trying to be a good nurse, but not doing too well, I'm afraid. It's been a long time since I've had to do anything like that, and I've pretty much forgotten how. ;-) He's doing pretty well, though, independent guy that he is. He's still in some pain, but the meds are keeping that in check. All in all, he's being a good patient (now - he was being a little too independent the first day or two). He worked from home Thursday and Friday; I'm not sure if he'll work from home Monday or go into work. He'll probably still be on meds so I'd prefer he stay home, but it's his call. He commutes by bus so I don't have to worry about him driving, but he's been on the drowsy side. I can just see him falling asleep on the bus or something. He's certainly not as loopy as he was the first couple of days since he's decreased the dosage since then. :-)

This coming week I do my three workouts, and Thursday I'm going to a baseball game with my friend Joanne. She and I go to several of the Aquasox games together every year, and I'm really looking forward to it since I haven't seen her in forever. I think I've seen her since last baseball season, but I don't know that I could tell you for sure. We keep trying to get together for dinner, but her work schedule changes every week (ah, the joys of retail) so it's hard to pin her down.

We're still looking forward to our vacation to Minnepolis coming up in August. I'm going to be in internet withdrawl because Bill's parents have dial-up so I won't be able to Facebook or read and reply to email except through the Blackberry. Sure, that's what it's for, but it's laborious to type much on that little keyboard. So, don't be offended if you email me or send me a FB comment that week and I don't reply or say much back. It's nothing personal. ;-) Can you just see me trying to catch up when I get back? Yikes!

Well, I think that's about it for this update. I actually had news and pictures and everything! Are you impressed? ;-)

Blessings,
Kristin

Little bit of news

2009-06-29T10:36:00.000-07:00

Hi, all!

Not too much new here, but I thought I'd pop in and say hi. :-)

June 23rd was the home opener for the Everett Aquasox, and we were there for the extra inning, the win, and the fireworks. Kind of late on a work night, but I would have been sleepy anyway the way I've felt lately. Then Saturday night we were back at the ball park witnessing another win (but in a regulation game and no fireworks).

Sunday I got together with a couple of friends and got four pages scrapbooked. I now have my pages done for our wedding rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. I should probably write some names on the pages for when I get senile and forget who my friends and family are in the pictures, though.

As I alluded to above, I've been really tired lately. I think I've been sleeping okay (I haven't been waking up and staying up or anything) and it seems no matter what time I get to bed, I'm still tired in the morning (and for most of the day). I hate to go back on the Diet Coke, but tea just isn't doing it (and it's been too hot at my desk for tea, especially today). Plus I have a bribe with myself that I'll drink two bottles of water before I have tea so I make an attempt at getting all my water in during the day that I'm supposed to, and that makes the morning pretty long because I'm just not in the mood to drink water today, thank you. There. I just drank 4 ounces of water. :-p Usually I'm okay drinking water - I'm just having a rebellion today for some reason. I don't want water, thank you! :-p Okay, I could have green tea, but then we have the hot liquid issue again. I guess I'll have a Diet Coke with lunch and see if that wakes me up. *sigh* I was doing so well, but now I've fallen back off the wagon this past week because of the sleepies.

I've still been working out my three times a week at Curves. My Wii Fit arrived last week (but I was busy every night) so maybe I'll have some time over the long weekend to unpack it and try it out. I hear from reviews that it's going to tell me I'm overweight. Hopefully it won't say "obese." ;-) I've heard mixed reviews and I got it for free using an "atta-girl" award I got from work (or a combination of awards, actually), so if I don't use it much, it's not like I spent a mint on it. But I think I'll use it. I hope. If I think it's going to work out well, there's a sports game out there that uses the balance board that comes with the Wii Fit that's gotten good reviews. But I want to wait and see how much I use this first. I think it'll be great for weekends or for in between workout days (assuming I don't have plans between workout days, which is pretty rare).

On the weight loss front, I've been flirting with 200 pounds now. I was 203 at last weigh-in, and I've lost a couple pounds in the last two weeks. I've had some bad eating days, though, so I don't know how much progress I would have made otherwise. Either way, I'm still hoping to be under 200 by my next weigh-in in a couple of weeks.

Tomorrow night I have one of those rare evenings where I get to go straight home and change into comfy clothes - I have nothing on the calendar. I love those evenings! They don't happen nearly enough. After that I have something going on every day and/or night until July 9. I don't know what I'll do with myself tomorrow night - I haven't felt much like sewing lately, so I don't know if that will work into the mix or not. I think a nap will probably be in order if I feel tomorrow anything like I feel today.

Well, that's the scoop! Have a great week, all!

Blessings,
Kristin

What's new in my zoo

2009-06-18T10:55:00.000-07:00

Hi, all!

This blog post also serves as an experiment to see if my posts will feed onto Facebook. If you’re on Facebook and tempted to read, do so at your own risk (or if you’re having trouble sleeping). I don’t have that much excitement in my life. But that’s not an entirely bad thing. SOme kinds of excitement we can all do without. ;-)

Well, here I am, lunchtime at work after a self-proclaimed mental health day off yesterday. It was a good thing I had decided to take the day off, too - I didn’t go to bed until 1:30am. Bill and I had walked to our local bar for dinner Tuesday night, and their iced tea was really strong (someone had made it wrong). I was WIRED! After we got done there, we walked to the grocery store to pick up a couple things, and then walked back home. After Bill went to bed, I was playing games on the computer and doing nothing productive until 1am. I wasn’t even tired when I went to bed, but I didn’t want to pull an all-nighter, either. Life isn’t very exciting at 3am when you’re trying not to wake up someone who has to work in the morning (sucker!).

Wednesday morning I woke up when Bill got up for work, but had no trouble getting back to sleep. 8am rolled around and there was a cuddly kitty next to me, so I stayed in bed until about 8:30 and then started my day. I went to work out, and met the new manager of the club (she seems really nice) and so I talked to her for a few minutes (must have been the residual caffeine - I’m usually not that much of a chatter). When I got home, I played with my dumbbells a little and had the need to shower but not the energy. ;-) So I played on the computer for a bit and threw in a load of laundry. After the laundry was done in the washer, it was my turn to get washed.

Clean and refreshed, it was time to make some banana bread. Now I need to tell you that I honestly cannot remember the last time I had baked anything. I know it hasn’t been in the last 20 months. But, hey, that’s what recipes are for! I used to LOVE baking, and the bug bit me again. Too bad I’m concentrating on eating healthier (as are several people at work). I could see myself baking again sometime soon. Anyway, I tried out two banana bread recipes I found online that used part wheat flour and used applesauce instead of oil. One of them came out denser than the other, but they were both edible. ;-) The “winner” was good, but still was a little different than the bread I’m used to making. More banana might have helped. I had some in the freezer and some fresh, and I split that quantity between the two batches and don’t know how much I really had. Next time we’ll do more banana! (More cowbell! Never mind - inside joke. Laugh if you get it, though.) While the bread was baking, I was watching a video I got from the library that was due back today, and rescuing the laundry mentioned in paragraph three. I was so busy running between the computer, kitchen, and living room that I almost forgot to eat lunch. I know, what idiot forgets to eat lunch? But I didn’t forget altogether, so lunch happened in there somewhere during baking and video. All in all it was a good day off, and I want another one! PLEEZE?

Of all the things I did yesterday, one thing I didn’t have time to do was sew. I don’t know that I had the desire, either. Maybe some night during the next week or so. I missed my Girls Night Out sew night for June, so I didn’t have that time to work on my project, so I have to make up for it here somewhere. Speaking of sewing, last Saturday Mom and I went to an internet fabric store with a couple of our friends. Mom almost fell over! Shelves and shelves of fabric on two floors of a barn! I didn’t buy nearly as much as I wanted to but managed to find a few things. I stuck to my list pretty well, but Mom “made” me buy some panda fabric I didn’t have. ;-) She also bought a half yard of a fabric that looks fabulous with the panda fabrics I bought, but I didn’t notice it until we were home playing show and tell. So I’ll have to head to the website and get some of that once I decide how much I think I will need of a fabric that I have no idea how or when I’m going to use it. :-p I’m such a nut.

In other news, I’ve had a couple people mention recently that they’ve noticed I’ve lost weight, so that’s been nice. My weigh-in last Friday had me at 203 pounds (YAY!) for a 25 ound loss so far (YAY!) and by my August weigh-in I hope to be under 200 pounds. I know I was under 200 pounds in 2005, but I don’t know at what point I went above because I stopped weighing myself after I stopped working out back then. Main reason I didn’t weight myself? I didn’t have a battery for the scale to replace the battery that died because the scale used to be the cat’s favorite perch in the bathroom. :-p The scale is now in the hall closet and we go get it if we’re curious. I usually just weigh myself at the gym so the time of day, clothing, and scale are all consistent. I didn’t weigh yesterday since it was a different time of day, so I’ll probably weigh Friday and see if I’m making any progress this week. Monday I was still at the 203, but we’re not surprised because it was only 3 days from the last time I weighed and because I didn’t eat as well (or as little) as I could have over the weekend because we went to a brunch buffet on Sunday. Though I did pass up the pizza Saturday night because I wasn’t hungry, and we only had one other meal on Sunday night after going to the theatre. Baby steps. Oh, yeah, the theatre! We went to see Fiddler on the Roof. I had never seen it before, and I really enjoyed it (even if I did cry in public - something I hate doing). :-)

This weekend we’re headed north to Bellingham because there’s a tool tent sale that my stepfather wants to go to, so we’re going to spend Saturday night at a hotel casino. We’re also planning on stopping to shop on the way up and / or back since there are outlet malls and shopping malls along the way. AND, as if that weren’t all enough.... there are three other casinos on the way there, so we’re going to hit 4 casinos in 2 days (previous record is 3). We’ll probably hit two on the way back, so if you count the one where we stay, that will be three casinos in one day (which we have done before - a few weekends ago when we went north for Memorial Day weekend). Yep. We’re crazy.

I think that’s about all the news from here. Still awake? ;-)

Blessings,

Kristin

Weight Loss News and Goals

2009-06-11T10:20:00.000-07:00

Hi, all!

I wanted to wait to update because I knew I was going to do my monthly weigh and measure this week. It was supposed to be Monday but the gal who usually does mine wasn’t in (out sick) so I was chomping at the bit since the scale when I took my weight had good news. I wanted that officially in my file. Then I was paranoid that I was going to weight more "for the record" than I had earlier in the week. And to have a good weight on Monday was something else, since weekends I tend not to be as structured and disciplined with my eating, and I don’t work out on the weekends. So yesterday I went in and she was with a new member, so I have to wait until Friday. Since I won’t be able to post this weekend, I’m just going to go with my unofficial weigh-in from last night, and if I gain a half pound or pound by Friday, I just won’t tell you. ;-)

I’ve officially lost a total of 23 pounds since I started at Curves in February, and that’s about 25% of what I want to lose overall. Sounds great, huh? Consistent loss and I’ll be at my goal weight by next Christmas (but how often is our weight loss consistent?). Unfortunately, the loss is also only 10% of my total body weight, so no one is noticing. Not even me. Okay, having my size 18 pants fall off me is noticeable, I’ll grant you that. I’ve bought some 16s and 14s (depending on the fit) over the last couple of weeks, and it’s kind of fun buying pants in the misses’ area of the store and not the womens’ area for the first time in a few years. It’ll be a while before I can do all my shopping on the misses’, but we’ve got a start. Okay, and Bill says he notices (I think he’s humoring me) and one of my friends said I’m easier to hug now. ;-)

Last Sunday I had an experience that made me pretty pleased with myself. I was having dinner with a great couple of gal friends of mine, and I discovered that at Denny’s they have an option of dippable veggies to go with your sandwich instead of fries for no extra charge. And I chose the veggies over the fries! Can you believe it? (I can’t!) I’ve started counting my calories and macronutrients (carbs, fat, protein) to the best of my ability, and carbs are SO HARD to avoid. It was nice that there was another option besides the fries to cut down on the carbs (and fat). If I hadn’t had a weigh-in on Monday, would I have still ordered the veggies? I hope so, but maybe not. ;-) I typically save about half the day’s calories for dinner, and eat about the same thing every day at work for breakfast and lunch, so that seems to work well... it’s the weekends that usually put me in a tailspin. I’ve just started counting weekend calories and such (I’ve been counting at work for a couple weeks now), and that’s been an eye-opener. Especially for breakfasts since cereal and toast / bagels / etc are so high in carbs. Save some carbs for the fat-free frozen yogurt! ;-)

A real eye-opener has been walking around at work and seeing how much free food is usually available. One day I passed up cake, cookies, and doughnuts, all in the same day! Usually I would have had at least two out of the three. It’s been astounding to see how much more I was eating before I made a conscious decision not to eat whatever was there just because I could. No wonder I’ve been gaining weight! (Though wouldn’t you think since I’m NOT eating all of that now that the weight should be coming off faster???)

I’ve also over the last few days started tracking my water consumption and getting my eight glasses of WATER a day. (Those are in caps because I’m a tea-drinker, and I have to get in the habit of making sure I still get all my water.) By lunchtime Monday I had consumed the equivalent to 6 glasses. It’s easier to do at work - at home and out and about it’s harder because I get distracted. At the gym I usually drink about 2-3 glasses worth, so that’s an easy one. Someone told me she heard of a gal that lost 100 pounds by drinking a gallon of water a day. One gallon a day. That’s 16 8-oz glasses a day, or eight of my water bottles (varies from 16oz to 20oz). We surmised that the loss probably came from the incessant trips to the bathroom. :-p

My Weight Loss goals:

205.5 pounds (25% of total loss goal) - ACHIEVED!

199 pounds (to be able to say that I’m under 200 pounds)

188 pounds (shift from "obese" to "overweight" on the BMI (Body Mass Index) charts)

183 pounds (50% of total loss goal)

160.5 pounds (75% of total loss goal)

158 pounds (shift from "overweight" to "normal weight" on the BMI (Body Mass Index) charts)

138 pounds (goal weight, 90 pounds lost)

My goal weight may end up changing, depending on how my body is feeling and looking when I get close. My "ideal" range is pretty wide (about 120 to 155 pounds) so I’ll need to listen to my body and see where it thinks my ideal weight is. I was 135 when I was in my mid-20’s... not sure that’s happening again, but you never know. ;-) I also have a goal where my waist is noticeably smaller than my hips. I’m not sure when that’s going to happen. My hips are probably at about 43" now (based on weight loss and weigh and measure history), and at 115 pounds they were at 35". So they’re going to be tapering off in loss here in not too long I’m guessing. My waist has plenty to lose, and I hope it does so quickly. I’ve seen too many middle-aged women with the shape I have now (even those that I work out with), and I hope I’m not doomed to this body shape (and associated wardrobe problems) for the rest of my life. I did read this week that fat come off last in the first place the body puts it. I think that’s my waist. Bummer.

On the non-weight front, my parents are coming up this weekend. Saturday morning we’re going to a quilt shop (by special appointment) and then doing what-not for the rest of the day. Sunday will be brunch, and then Bill and I are going to see Fiddler on the Roof. I’ve never seen it (not even the movie) so I’m pretty excited. The following weekend we’re going to Silver Reef Casino Hotel and Spa again. My stepfather has an event up near there that he wants to go to Saturday, so we’re going to spend Saturday night up there. I haven’t decided if I need another pedicure or not. After the last one, I just am going to have a hard time going back to the Vietnamese nail places that are on every corner. :-\ They tend to rip my feet apart when I go (they generally get out the trusty cheese slicer and attack my callouses - yes, I know, TMI), and it was nice to have someone not trim my cuticles so close that they bled. I’m spoiled now. ;-)

Now that you have far more information than you ever wanted or needed.....

Blessings!

Kristin

Happy BIrthday to me!!! :-)

2009-05-26T13:48:00.001-07:00

Hi, all!!

We had a really nice weekend... let me tell you about it!

Saturday we had four of us sewing at our house.... okay, one was hand sewing, two were cutting, and one was knitting. But we worked along and talked and had a great time! I got all cut and prepped for Girls' Night Out next week so I can sew, sew, sew; Carol got a bunch of squares cut for a charity quilt she's making; Wendy got the binding sewn on two charity quilts, and Mom got a fair bit of knitting done. I also trimmed the edges of a quilt that Wendy quilted for me on her longarm and got the binding cut. Later I got it pieced and washed and now I just have to press and sew. Like that's some small task. ;-) I gave Wendy the rose quilt to quilt up, so she's got that beast at her house now. ;-)

Sunday we left to head north to Silver Reef Casino, Hotel, and Spa. And I used all three! :-) On the way up, we stopped for an early lunch, then at an outlet mall to do some shopping. We got to the hotel right at check in time. Are we good or what? We checked in, got settled, and then headed to the casino to check out the slots (table games are too rich for our blood - we're penny slot people). Later I got an manicure and pedicure (paid for with birthday money with some left over), and then we grabbed some really good pizza from the pizzeria at the casino. Monday we had a great continental breakfast that was included in our room rate, and then gambled a little more before we headed back south. On the way home, we stopped at a different outlet mall and two casinos (one of which was feeding people free hot dogs - LUNCHTIME!). Three casinos in a day. Yes, we're nuts. I had enough points accumulated at one casino to collect a $22 comp, so that was nice. Birthday cash! ;-) Sure, I gave some of it back to the casino playing the slots, but it wasn't really my money in the first place. I still left there with more than I went in with, so I can't complain.

Once we got home, we found out that the neighbors had organized an impromptu block party and invited us to have some "leftovers." We had met some of our neighbors but not others, so it was nice to put names with faces (at least for a few seconds until we forgot their names or what house they live in). ;-) And we had a free dinner and good company. Can't beat that!

Tonight Bill is taking me to dinner at my favorite local [Mexican] restaurant, and I assume giving me presents. :-D He's not good at secrets, so I know what two of them are (and there are probably only two). Poor Bill. One of these years he'll be able to surprise me. :-) But then, he surprised me BIG TIME last year on my birthday with the Wii, so he can coast on that for a at least a couple years. ;-) The only drawback of the day today (besides having to be at work) is that I have to go work out tonight. *sigh* I wonder if the machines will be extra nice to me since it's my birthday. I'm guessing not, but we can hope. I'm just glad that this isn't a weigh week after the way I ate this weekend. *blush* I definitely need to get back on that wagon tomorrow. Birthday over, back to sensible eating! ;-)

Well, that's all the news I have for now. I hope you all had a great weekend (and long weekend for those in the US)!! Enjoy your week!

Blessings,
Kristin

Backing done!!!

2009-05-21T07:02:00.000-07:00

Hi, all!

I just had to report that I got the backing done for the rose quilt, so I can hand that off to Wendy for longarm quilting when I see her Saturday. YAY!

I also have to share that God is so much better to me than I deserve. This whole backing thing was nothing short of miraculous. I bought a 10-yard bolt that ended up being 9 yards and 28 inches (before washing). It's a directional with a 12" repeat that I was hoping to match up, but once I measured the quilt, I knew I wasn't going to have 12" extra to play around with. Oh, well. Would have been nice. So anyway, I'm sweating at this point that I even have enough because I need three lengths of 114"... After washing, I had about 345" (three lengths of 115"). YAY! I measured about 4 times before I cut anything because I knew I didn't have oops room, and I got my three lengths. Now to sew them together. WOULD YOU BELIEVE I was able to match up the pattern by only moving the fabric TWO INCHES????? There are two seams, in the backing, and one of them you almost can't tell there's a seam there - the other one is a little more obvious, but it keeps the horizontal pattern across the width adequately. God is SO good!!! I couldn't have done that myself if I'd had 12 yards to play around with, and God did it with inches to spare. So that's my story of thankfulness. I love how God even cares about the little things. In the grand scheme of the universe and mankind, who cares if my pattern lined up? But deep down, I did, and God is gracious. Praise God from whom ALL blessings flow.

Today at work we have a going-away lunch and a retirement party with cake, so it'll be an interesting eating day. Light breakfast, light dinner (if any), and working out tomorrow. ;-) Tonight we have to get the house company-ready as my parents are coming up Friday to spend Friday and Saturday nights, and a couple friends are coming over Saturday for a sew day. Bill's the cleaning king, and I'm the de-clutter queen. Actually, I throw stuff in the closet until people leave. ;-)

Sunday morning we're going to brunch, do some outlet shopping, and then heading to Silver Reef Casino and Hotel for an overnight stay that counts as my birthday trip (manicure and pedicure scheduled - YAY!). We'll be coming home Monday with all the other nuts, so hopefully the traffic won't be too bad. We're making a few shopping stops on the way home, too, so maybe that will help us out traffic-wise. It's only a couple hours away anyway (freeway speed) so we shouldn't get too caught up in traffic. I hope. :-)

And, last but not least, I did mention my birthday. On Tuesday, I will bid adieu to my Thrilling Thirties and enter my Fabulous Forties. :-) I'm not particularly hung up on my age, but there's always that "how old am I?" thing when I enter a new decade. I'll probably forget how old I am for the first 3 months. :-p

That's all for today... for you American readers, have a safe and wonderful Memorial Day weekend, and don't forget about those who gave their lives for the many freedoms we so often take for granted.

Blessings,
Kristin

Trip Report

2009-05-18T12:10:00.000-07:00

Hi, all!

We had a beautiful drive to Portland... we saw 4 mountains during the trip, and the weather could not have been better! And we got to buy fabric! Here's what I remember that I ended up with:
5 yards - borders and binding for Dutchman's Puzzle quilt.
3.5 yards - fabric for wall hanging. I found a nice sunflower design that I think will work well.
6 yards - marbles for Grandmother's Puzzle quilt to coordinate with the border and backing fabric I found on sale last week that I had to buy the whole bolt of.
8 yards - backing fabric for something - hopefully Dutchman's Puzzle quilt, but I'll have to piece something else with it. Bargain of the day - $2.50/yd!
I stuck to my list, so that's a good thing! :-) The backing wasn't on the paper list, but it was on the mental list. No impulse purchases, not even the panda fabric! I think my Mom thinks I'm not feeling well. ;-)

Last night I got the last of the borders put on my rose quilt, so as soon as I determine if I have enough backing fabric, I can hand that off to get longarm quilted. I plan on measuring that tonight and washing it if there's enough. If there's not? Off to the fabric store. I can't remember how much I bought, but I don't think I knew that this quilt was going to be as long as it ended up being. We shall see.

Next project on the list will be prepping for my next Girls' Night Out (June 4) and if I get that done, then I'll start on the wall hanging. It's going to be one 20" block plus borders, and I know exactly where it's going to go (and that's about all the width that's there). I have to finish Kelli's block, too, and I need to bring that to the top of the pile to work on for when I see her again. I also need a color thread I don't have. Oh, I'd better make a list. ;-)

Yesterday Bill and I went to pick up our partial-season tickets for the Everett Aquasox baseball team (minor league). Their season doesn't start until late June, but we have our tickets! YAY! Can't wait! We also are starting to make our plans for our trip to Minnesota in August. Summer is coming! We had the top down on the convertible and I got a funky sunburn. I usually remember sunscreen on my face, but rarely anywhere else. Dummy.

This weekend I realized that I'm outgrowing my clothes... they're all stretching in the wash or something. :-p All of my scooters (shorts with a wrap part that looks like a skirt) are too big, so I'll have to wear belts when I can and hope I find more that fit. Shorts ride up on me (I know, TMI) so it's either the scooters or capri pants, and one of those pairs are too big I learned this morning. So that means my hips are smaller this summer than they were last summer. That's good news, I guess, except that I have to buy new pants / shorts / whatever that I can only wear one season. I hope I find a good sale. The capri pants I'm wearing right now I wore in the summer of 2007, and they're a smidge big. Hopefully I can find a few basic pieces that I can wear with several tops. I'm going shopping tomorrow after work - wish me luck! I hate clothes shopping, and I hate paying anything near retail for clothes, so that's not a successful combination most of the time.

Thanks for stopping by!!

Blessings,
Kristin

ROAD TRIP!!

2009-05-15T07:20:00.000-07:00

Hi, all!!

Just had to tell you that we're going on a road trip tomorrow. I'm so excited! We're headed to Portland, Oregon (about 2-1/2 hours drive) to Fabric Depot! I think that will help get me my fabric shopping fix! I have my list all ready and a fabric I'm trying to find coordinates for, and I'm even buying batting for a friend. Mom will probably bring the haul up next weekend in her car because we're driving the Miata to their house... gorgeous weekend = top down, baby! Can only fit so much into the Miata trunk, you know. ;-) Mom offered to drive her car to Portland, so that was a nice bonus (her car gets better mileage than my sedan anyway and has fewer miles).

Sunday I will get my tickets in hand for the minor league baseball season here... I have a 10-game package for our short-season Mariners affiliate. SWEET seats, too. I've had them for several years. I'm in row two - row one is the home dugout. Good times! I can't wait for the season to start. There's nothing like live baseball, and it's even better when you can actually SEE what's going on because you're so close (without paying $500 per game). I want to buy tickets for the home opener, too, but I have to wait another couple weeks before they go on sale.

Last night I got the bottom border on the rose quilt, and most of the top pillow row. I want to have another strip of pink up there to connect with the other borders, but I can't do that until I sew on the sides to find out how much I have left over to piece up. The pillow row didn't turn out as well as I had hoped, but I don't see myself tearing it out. I don't have any better ideas, so there you go. It is what it is, and it's staying that way. Unless I get a weekend epiphany or something. ;-) Goodness knows I've torn apart half the blocks in that quilt... if I get a really good idea, I'm not above tearing out some more. But so far, no grand ideas. The only other idea I've had is incorporating another row, but that would involve tearing the whole thing apart, and that's where I draw the line! :-p I'll rip out the pillow row, but I'm not invading the quilt itself. The inner border is on, it's DONE!

Well, that's all the news for now. Just wanted to share about the road trip because I'm really excited. (Did I mention that I was excited?) I was looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow since it's been a while since I haven't had to set the alarm for anything, but the itch I had to buy fabric for a couple projects has outweighed the need for a down day. Maybe May 30th will be our down day. And hey, I don't think we'll be getting up at 5am, so that's a bonus, right? ;-)

Blessings!
Kristin

Measure Twice, Cuss Once

2009-05-12T11:50:00.000-07:00

Okay, it wasn't really the measuring that was the problem... it was the math. Or something. Either way, I'm short on my main border fabric and there's no where on the planet that has more. Sooooooo..... I spent last night thinking up creative solutions. Do I make squares in the corners? If so, solid or pieced? I didn't really like how either one was playing out in my head. Make the border half as wide? Not unless I REALLY have to. I decided that I'm going to try making a "pillow row" up near the top and have no border (or a very narrow pieced one with my leftovers). The vagabond row will be where the pillows are and no one is really going to look at the top border to notice that it's not as wide as the others. And I'm not going to be hanging it or showing it, and the next picture you see of it, it will be on a bed and not on the floor, so you won't know either (except that I just told you). I looked and I have enough blocks and setting triangles left over... I'm not sure that the row will sit right in the middle of the pillows when the quilt covers it, but we're giving it a try and see what happens. It's better than a 4" border all the way around - I know I won't be happy with that. I'll have to piece the binding, and that's going to be an adventure since I can't make a diagonal seam work. I have another project to bind and I haven't wanted to mess with the piecing since I failed so miserably at retreat, so I'm procrastinating. Any excuse to procrastinate.

Speaking of retreat, Mom and I are going to a quilt retreat in September. She doesn't quilt, but she does sew, so I don't think anyone will throw her out or anything. She's really looking forward to it, and so am I. We'll see how much she likes it once she lays down on the twin bed (she has a king size at home). But it's only two nights - she'll make it just fine, I'm sure.

I went for my weight and measure yesterday, and I've lost 17 pounds in 11 weeks. My BMI and body fat % were improved, too, so that's good news. Now I just have to keep doing what I'm doing and I'll be thin in no time. HA! More like a couple years. I'm trying to be patient. Another 2-3 months and I will hopefully be under 200 pounds. Still a ways to go before I hit my ideal weight (whatever my body decides that is), but I'm making progress. At least that's what I keep telling myself so I don't get impatient or gorge on chocolate.

So I guess that's all the news for now. Thanks for stopping by! :-)

Blessings,
Kristin

Retreat Report

2009-05-04T13:53:00.001-07:00

Hi, All!

Well, I’m back from retreat! I had a good and productive time, and I’m disappointed that I have things going on for the next 8 days and nights so I can’t finish the little bit of some of the projects that I couldn’t complete at retreat. Sorry about the picture quality (cell phone camera)... but you’ll get the idea.

FINISHED: A quilt that my friend Kelli and I were passing back and forth (mine). I gave this one straight to someone to quilt so it would be DONE and be a nice lap quilt for naps in the living room.

AS DONE AS IT GETS FOR NOW: Edging 9 yards of eyelet lace for dust ruffles in the spare bedroom. The other edge will get hemmed once I’ve cut the fabric for the dust ruffle. Whenever that’s going to be.

I REALLY THOUGHT I PACKED THAT: My rose quilt is done except for the borders. I brought the pink border fabric, but the blue border fabric was nowhere to be found in my stuff. I have to look around for that.

THE BEST LAID PLANS: A quilt block that Kelli and I were passing back and forth (hers). One more thing I need to do to it but Mom has the tool I need. Can’t talk any more about it here since she is one of my 5 readers. ;-)

I HATE PIECING BINDING: I quilted the Christmas table runner that I finished at a Girls’ Night Out a couple months ago. I was going to fold the backing over to the front and sew to bind it, but as I was trimming the batting (which I should have done before I quilted, but I wasn’t that smart), I cut the would-be binding. So I tried to piece binding and I couldn’t get it to come out right, and I can only rip so many times because it was on the bias. I was totally frustrated and didn’t get a picture. Sorry.

The company and the food were good, I was productive, and here’s a picture of my retreat space.

Are you jealous? ;-)

This Thursday is Girls’ Night Out so I’ll be working on my Dutchman’s Puzzle flying geese again, since I can do that in a small space (and that’s all we’ll have). I’m kind of wishing that I had the room to play with the rose quilt borders, but even when there were only a few of us there, there really wasn’t the room for that. So, that will have to wait for another time (probably May 16 at the earliest, looking at my schedule).

Sunday on the way home from retreat I stopped at a craft / fabric store, and managed to avoid purchasing yards and yards of the fabric I saw that was so darn cool! I’ve found it online in another colorway that I like even better, but I have no idea what I would do with it (so no idea how much I would need), so I guess that’s that. Nothing purple in the house, so no purple quilts for me. And it’s not as if I don’t have other sets of fabrics that I couldn’t live without that I need to do something with. I need ideas. Actually what I really need is to finish other things I’ve already started. *sigh* But I did manage to use the coupon that we were given at retreat on some jewelry making tools - heaven forbid I should waste a coupon. So I now have a jump ring maker and flush cutters for cutting said jump rings, and a do-hickey that twists wire. I’ll have to try them out one of these days. I’m on a mission to complete a project I started that I have to keep buying supplies for because I underestimate the length of the links.... or maybe I should just chain it up and call it good. I guess I can always try the chain instead of more jump rings and make sure I hate it before I buy another $14 in jump rings.

I guess that’s it for now... hope you all had a great weekend and have a great week ahead (and hopefully less busy than mine)!

Blessings,

Kristin

Quilt retreat, here I come (almost)!

2009-04-30T14:38:00.000-07:00

Hi, all!

It’s been a while since I’ve updated, so I thought I’d drop a line to say hi and fill everyone in on the latest (which isn’t much).

On the weight loss front, I’ve worked out at Curves 3 times a week for 11 weeks now, and have lost 15 pounds (unofficially - I get weighed and measured next week). We’ll see if it’s still 15 pounds after this weekend. Weekends are hard for me anyway. I shouldn’t say it that way. Let me say it this way: weekdays are easy for me because I have the same things for breakfast, lunch, and snacks every day, so I know what I’m eating and I’m not tempted (much) throughout the day (though I did have a dream about doughnuts recently...). On weekends, my meals aren’t at regular times, they aren’t always at home, and I just get all discombobulated with my eating and don’t feel the same control. I still try to not eat like a piggy, but it’s just not as easy as it is during the week when I know when and what my meals are.

I’m also trying to give up Diet Coke, which is another whole issue in itself. Now I have to figure out how to stay awake until 2am this weekend working on my sewing projects! LOL! I guess I’ll have to pack some tea and a cup.

This weekend is going to be particularly interesting because it’s the weekend of my long-awaited quilters’ retreat! We get meals served to us, but quilters love chocolate and I’m sure there will be some available between meals. I’m taking pretzels and a friend of mine is taking nuts, so at least there will be a couple “better” choices. I’ll also take a few things that are better alternatives than a candy bar in case I get hungry or get the munchies. Now if I can deal okay with mealtimes, I should be fine. In theory. I just never know what food I’m going to grab when I’m frustrated with my project and need a break. Maybe there’s a place I can take a walk to without getting lost (assuming it’s not raining, which there’s a chance of this weekend). I’m not too stressed about it, but I am aware that I’m going to be in a situation that could make my weight loss not as much as it could be. ;-)

But enough about the food and more about the retreat. I have a quilt top that I really want to finish up this weekend, so that’s my goal. I have a couple other things with me in case I get done or get to a point where I can’t proceed any longer (need fabric, have to rip the whole thing apart, etc). I have so many projects in work that it was hard to pick just a couple, yet so few that are portable (or that I am willing to have under scrutiny in a group environment). The second thing I’m going to work on if I get the rose quilt done is a project that my friend Kelli and I have been passing back and forth (kind of like a round robin, but with two people). I’ve known for about a year what I’m going to do to her block next, have even bought the fabric, but just never got around to doing anything with it. That’s #2 on the list. #3 is a toss-up between my block on the project we were passing back and forth, and edging some eyelet lace yardage with some fancy-schmancy machine stitch. I’ll probably do something with the lace yardage first (it’s going to be a bedskirt eventually), but I’ll probably get brain lock trying to decide what stitch to use and whether to roll a hem or just trim the excess. Heck, I’ll get brain-lock no matter what project I tackle, so I don’t know what the difference is. ;-)

Not much else is new here.... those are the highlights, and I know it’s none too exciting for you all. But there’s something to be said for stability. ;-)

Have a great weekend, and I’ll try to remember to post next week and let you know how much (or not) I got done at retreat!

Blessings,

Kristin

Weekly Update

2009-04-20T07:47:00.000-07:00

Hi, all!
My updates haven't been weekly lately by design... it just seems to turn out that way. ;-)

Last Monday I had my monthly weigh and measure and I'd lost another 2.5 pounds. Because of a variety of factors that I'd rather not subject you to, I knew that wasn't as much of a loss as it should have been, so I weighed myself again on Friday (31 days from the last weigh) and I'd lost an additional 2.5 pounds. So officially I've lost 9.5 pounds since Feb 17, and unofficially I've lost 12. Of course I like my number better. ;-) They keep track, but I'm not committing total inches to mind, just whether I've lost anything off key measurements (which I have a little, so that's good).

I've also been itching for something available at home to do on non-Curves days to keep me off the couch for 10-15 minutes, so we're getting an eliptical-ish thing (just the foot part - no handles - can you see me on this? LOL) and I got some dumbells for toning. I've used the dumbells already. On Sunday, Bill and I went for a jog. Mostly Bill, but a little me, too. :-) My legs gave out before my lungs did, just as the terrain started going uphill. It's been a while since I have been reminded that I have muscles in my shins, but Sunday was one of those days. ;-)

Also Sunday we went to dinner with a couple friends of ours - we don't see them nearly enough and they don't get away from their two boys for the night nearly enough, so it was a good combination. :-) We visited for about 3 hours, talking about just about anything and everything.

This weekend I tried to do something creative, but it just wasn't coming to me. I haven't played with my jewelry stuff in a long time and I miss it, but the projects I had in mind aren't stimulating me, and all the "fun" stuff I thought of before is gone. I got really discouraged when I was replacing a couple earwires and a brand new 14KGF ear wire broke on me. That was the end of the pursuit for Saturday. Sunday I went through my bead and project boxes, and nothing jumped out at me. I thought about making another badge lanyard for work, but that wasn't thrilling me, either. So I played online a little and got a little more done on my crocheted sweater. It seems to be going a lot slower, even though the piece I'm on is smaller than the last, so you would think it would go faster. That's what I get for thinking. ;-)

This week isn't going to be terribly chaotic - I've got a dinner date with a Facebook friend penciled in for Thursday, workouts M-W-F, and then a free night on Tuesday (YAY). We're supposed to get together with my parents over the weekend, but I don't know whether it will be here or there or what we'll be doing - stay tuned.

I guess that's about the news for now. Hope everyone is well and doing more exciting things than I am. ;-)

Blessings!
Kristin

Pre-Easter week

2009-04-13T13:42:00.001-07:00

Happy Easter Monday, one and all! :-)

The week before was really busy for me... getting my three workouts in plus the social activities... my workouts ended up spilling into Saturday since I had things going on Monday and Wednesday and Friday. Monday we went to a buffet dinner and opening day watch-the-game deal hosted by the minor league team I have partial season tickets with. Lost money at that casino, too. ;-) The dinner was good, the game (on the 12-foot screen) was great, and it was a fun time out and a nice way to start baseball season. Now we’re chomping at the bit for live baseball, but the Aquasox don’t start until late June. :-(

Wednesday night I had my monthly Sew Fun meeting. It’s a little seminar type thing that’s put on by a local sewing and vacuum chain. They show new products, new techniques and patterns, and they have a show-and-tell time for the people who attend. If you’re a member of the Sew Fun club (which I am for the first time this year), you get a free gift each month as well. Fun stuff! I went to a different night than I normally do, and it was quite a difference in attendance. It’s usually packed when I go, and this time there were maybe only a few dozen people. It worked out well, because I got to win my first door prize ever, and it’s actually something I wanted - sewing machine needles! YAY! They also demonstrated something I’m trying to decide if I want - it’s a small table that sits next to your machine that is a gliding table to help you with free motion quilting with your regular machine. I have my main machine in a table, but it would be great for the machine that I don’t have in a table, and for “one the road” at retreats or sew days (if I’m going to be somewhere that I know I’ll have the room). I just don’t know if I’ll get the $$ out of it. Yes, I have three quilts right now that are ready to quilt (and more to come - I’d go broke sending them all out), but would it make me more likely to get them done? Good question. If I’m out somewhere, for sure. But since I have my main machine flush in the table anyway, I’m questioning whether I feel like it’s a good purchase. I played with it a little bit and it nice, but I’d rather see it with a sample that’s closer to a quilt size than a placemat size. ;-)

Friday night Bill and I went to a Good Friday service. It was really nice - I hadn’t been to one in a long time. I liked the sobriety of it - but I’m one of those focus people who doesn’t really care to chit-chat with people at church, at least during service time anyway. I’m there to worship and learn, and that’s what I’m focused on (unless my ADD gets the better of me, then I’m looking at the pretty quilted banners or staring at the organ pipes). I had my eyes closed the whole time (except when we had responses we were supposed to do). It’s hard to describe, but since the congregation didn’t sing and the readings and music had continuity, it was easy to kind of empty one’s self and just listen and imagine the events as we heard them unfold. We weren’t “interrupted” by the temptation to follow the readings in the bulletin as we are on Sunday mornings. We weren’t distracted by trying to find page numbers in the hymnal. It was really nice.

We had a nice Easter weekend... Saturday my parents came up and we hit the outlet stores and a casino that they hadn’t been to before (Bill won $2 - the rest of us lost various amounts). We found some good bargains at the outlets, though. I’ll spare you the list since I don’t know of a person out there that would find it exciting to know what clothes we bought. :-p Sunday Bill and I went to church (with a breakfast at the church before the service) and then came home. The four of us played cards before, during, and after dinner preparations. I didn’t take a picture of the table like we did last year... I guess the second Easter dinner with the good china isn’t photo-worthy. We joked later that we should have taken pictures so we remembered what we had and what we would do differently (like make less mashed potatoes). All in all, a good weekend and a good Easter.

This week is going to be a little less hectic, thank goodness. Tuesday night I don’t have to work out and we don’t have any social plans, so I’m going home straight after work, getting into comfy clothes, and doing whatever I want to! :-) It may be nothing, it may be sewing or crocheting. Speaking of crocheting, I got the back of my sweater done this week and I’m a couple rows along on the left front of the sweater.

I guess that’s all I have for now... hope you all are doing well!

Blessings,

Kristin

Next project - Dutchman's Puzzle

2009-03-28T12:39:00.001-07:00

Hi, all!
I just wanted to show you the quilt that inspired the next quilt I'm going to start. I'll probably do the borders a bit differently, but I have a little while to think about that. I'm not a huge flying geese fan, but I really liked the scrappy look of this. According to the program, it's a friendship quilt by Deb Taylor that she did with a friend, swapping blocks over the years. I like how she used the border print for the sashing squares to tie it all together... so I'll have to decide on a border print before I sash the blocks (yeah, like I have to worry about that in the next six months).

Today after lunch I think I'm going to either work on the rose quilt (unsewing) or do the last two scrapbook pages for the layouts of our engagement pictures. Or maybe I'll do nothing. ;-) A nap sounds pretty good for a rainy Saturday afternoon. :-)

Blessings,
Kristin

It's FRIDAY! :-)

2009-03-27T09:32:00.000-07:00

Hi, all!!

Last night I went out and bought background / sashing / border fabric for the new project I'm starting (my first time buying an entire uncut bolt of fabric!). I should have sufficient stuff in my stash for the scrappy part... even then there are some FQs I just can't cut into right now! How bad am I? I may have to dig deeper later as I'll need 96 squares, but I've got a good start washed up and pressed and ready to cut. I have scraps from my rose quilt that might work, and leftovers from my round robin quilt that I might not use in coordinating pillows and such, so there are definitely "backup" fabrics before I start cutting into stash yardage. I cut off 3 yards of the background to wash and play with, so I have stuff to keep myself busy for a while. I might not even have to take my machine to Girls Night Out - I'll be cutting and cutting and cutting! Though I probably will get some prep cutting and a couple Flying Geese made up this weekend to get into the rhythm and get the 3-yard piece into a more managable size. I have instructions and a spcial ruler that helps me make flying geese (Eleanor Burns), but I also found a method online that my friend Kelli was taught that is a no-waste method so I'd use less fabric. That method also makes any size, where the rulers I have limit me to four sizes (though one of them will work just fine and I'll use that size regarless of the method I choose). I'm going to try that no-waste method and see if I think I can do that 96 times. ;-) Oh, and that 96 number isn't counting an outer border of geese, either, so there are actually more than just in the blocks. But at least the blocks aren't going to be on point and it's scrappy, so I'm not going to be tearing apart blocks to make them go in the right place like I have been (and continue to do) with the rose quilt.

I've also decided that I'm going to sign up for a quilt retreat for the end of April, so I'm looking forward to that dedicated time and ability to spread out a little more (i.e., use the floor) and I should be able to finish my rose quilt there. :-) I'm also thinking I might be able to get a bedskirt or two made (or started) as well. I've had the fabric for that forever. I usually take more than I know I'll work on in case I get brain dead or bored, so I might throw in another UFO for good measure. Goodness knows I have a few. :-p

I was thinking this week (as I was sitting at a park and ride waiting to get Bill off the bus) that I need to have a handwork project to carry with me in the car. I tend to string errands and appointments together, and often end up waiting for the next activity without a planned activity to take up the time. Something that's small and uncomplicated and portable. A crochet project would be ideal, but what? Hmmmm..... I need to figure this out by Tuesday as I have two doctor appointments and of course I couldn't schedule them back-to-back. What to do, what to do....? Maybe I could start working on my sweater to match the sleeveless top that I have yet to post a picture of, but I think that it will require too much concentration since there's a slanted shell stitch in the sweater that wasn't in the top. Maybe I could start another sleeveless top - that was just straight DC and I'd only have to pay attention to measuring rather than stitching. I was going to try to conquer the boucle and make SOMETHING out of it, but I haven't thought of anything yet. One thought was a shawl made of granny squares, but I haven't tried that yet. I think something that I can work in the open spaces is going to be my only hope for crocheting with that stuff. Maybe I'll try that this weekend and see if I get anywhere. It's supposed to rain all weekend and we have no other plans besides church, so it'll be a good craft weekend.

I think that's all the news I have... thanks for reading along as I think out loud. :-)

Enjoy your weekend!!!

Blessings,
Kristin

Stuck Again. :-(

2009-03-23T12:47:00.000-07:00

Hi, all!
We had a good family weekend... took in a quilt show on Saturday and saw a scrappy Dutchman's Puzzle quilt that inspired me. It would be a good project for Girls Night Out since my rose quilt needs to be spread out while I attack and divide and try to conquer. More on that in a bit. But the weekend with my parents was nice - brunch, quilt show, card playing, and two Skype calls with my brother (one of them with my 9-month-old niece as well). Mom is shopping for a webcam now, The same woman who didn't want to even think about a "video conference" with my brother when he brought it up was so impressed and excited that she wants a webcam. :-) That was my first time using Skype, so it's nice to know it works. My camera software doesn't have fun effects, though, so it's pretty much all business. Oh, well - we can't have everything. ;-)

So during "quiet time" I tried to make some headway on my rose quilt. I don't know how or why, but I have one block that the pieces just WILL NOT go together and make the size block I need! Completely obstinate! I tore apart a bunch more stuff (actually the same block at least twice plus some others for the right color components) and I really didn't get anywhere at all. :-( That was disappointment number one.

Then after Mom adn David left Sunday, I put away all the rubber stamps I've had out for weeks without labels. The labels I made didn't work, but at least the stamps are sorted and put away by category (for the most part) and now I just need to figure out what to do with the stamps that I don't think I want to keep. I'll find a box around the house somewhere (I just might have to take it away from a kitty cat I know).

After I got that done, I took another stab at the pirate quilt. I had started some cutting that I didn't know what it was for, so I started playing with that and heading in the direction I thought I had been going, and then I realized that if that was the direction I was going, the measurements are going to be off. Ugh. Disappointment number two. Now I'm either going to have to just get in a mood where I don't care what it looks like, give up, or figure out a way to use what I have and have it not look stupid. I'm just feeling really uncreative and I'm again at one of those moods where I'm ready to throw all my craft stuff out the window and write it off as a loss. :-p

I wish I had something more happy and upbeat to report... maybe next time. :-) I guess I'm just in a mood because all around things are disappointing and saddening me, and I need to just put my head on straight and get a better attitude. Easier said than done.

Blessings,
Kristin

Friday update

2009-03-20T08:49:00.001-07:00

Hi, all!

I've been playing on (fluff)friends on Facebook more than anything else lately, and I managed to earn a couple decor items through the racing part of the application. Let me rephrase that. I managed to earn a couple COVETED items (shells - they look like turtle shells). I had to challenge for 1000 races and had to earn 1500 race points within 30 days. The latter is easy - it's the former that's harder because it only lets you race 20 times an hour. But it gave me a good excuse to play with my new laptop. ;-) There are four more shells to earn, and none of them easy. we're up to 15000 points now for two of them, and a third one is only 1000 points, but you can only win a MAXIMUM of 35% of your challenges. In other words, you have to lose a lot of races. The one I don't think I'll ever earn requires you to have a certain number of points (1000 maybe) but you have to win a minimum of 90% of my challenges. I don't think I'm going to end up with that one anytime soon. I'm already winding down my winning percentage in preparation for the 35% max by racing people a lot faster than I am... and I still beat them sometimes! It's not fair! LOL! I can't win when I want to win, I can't lose when I want to lose. Such is life. When I'm not (fluff)ing, I'm enjoying catching up with friends (old and new) on Facebook. There are a lot of applications and such to distract you from "real" updates, but it's nice to see my friends posting what's new in a sentence or two.

I had my weigh and measure at Curves this week - I've lost 7 pounds for the month. I've also lost a little in inches here and there, and my BMI has improved. Kudos to Bill for shoving vegetables down my throat and to me for not eating an entire box of Girl Scout cookies in one sitting. ;-) My workouts have been up and down, but it's nice to see them doing something. But I still look and feel overweight. I guess that's to be expected when one has 70+ more pounds to lose. ;-) My clothes haven't really started fitting differently yet except for pants (which have been low riders for months now). I found a couple pairs that should get me through a few more pounds and might even be wearable if I ever find my waist again (but maybe not).

This weekend my parents are coming up for the weekend and we're heading tomorrow to a local quilt show where my friend Wendy has a quilt displayed. It was a great show when we went last year, and I'm sure it will be nothing less this year. Crud, I have to remember to charge my camera. ;-) Another thing we're hoping to do is Skype with my brother and his family on my new laptop :-) and his new webcam. He's not a computer whiz, so we'll see how he makes out. It shouldn't be too hard on him - I'm not a computer whiz, either, and I figured out how to install the webcam I bought to use with my old computer. So he should do fine. :-)

Oh, and I did get the fabric washed and have the love quilt block started. It's a 16-patch and I just have to put all the pieces together (after I cut all the dog-ears of my half-square triangles). I was going to do that this week, but I ended up going to the gym TWTh instead of MWF, so my week was all thrown off. I'm also still not at the point where I feel like I have more energy. The workouts wear me out, and on off-days I don't feel much better, either. But I have a week or so before I have to have the block done, so that shouldn't be a problem.

I think those are the highlights... Have a great weekend!

Blessings,
Kristin

Did I tell you I got a new laptop? ;-)

2009-03-16T08:58:00.000-07:00

Hi, all!

I have a couple things to share, so hopefully it’s worth the post. ;-)

I FINALLY used my USB turntable and software to copy a couple records onto my iTunes Saturday, so that was cool. While I was babysitting that, I decided it would be a good thing to go ahead and unsew some of my blocks so I can get my rose quilt a little further along. So while I was ripping the records onto my computer (I have to stay close because I have to tell it where the track breaks are), I was ripping some stitches. I then realized I got some other blocks in the wrong places, so I have more work to do than I thought.

I got parts of two rows taken apart (only what I needed to) and I have to take two rows off sections I've already sewn together to get two more blocks out. Then I have to take those blocks apart (okay, 4 out of 6, I think) to get the coordinate colors right for their new locations, and then I can go back to the business of assembly. Before all that, though, I have a block I have to make for a group love quilt we're making for someone in one of my online groups. I finally got the fabric washed this weekend, so I have one less excuse to procrastinate. Oh, and I picked out the block pattern, too, do there are two fewer reasons. The only excuse now is time to do it, and I don't have anything going on Tuesday or Thursday nights this week, so there you go. All I have to do is take my new laptop downstairs with me so I don't feel like I'm going into withdrawals.

My stepfather asked me yesterday if I have everything loaded on my laptop that I want. HA! I do have a few games loaded on it, though, so that's a start. One of these days I'm going to go through a lot of my games and software CDs and just load and load and load. I’m looking forward to being able to use some of the programs that I couldn’t use on my old laptop. I need to take a class on Photoshop, though, I think... I can't figure out anything on that, and I'm not even trying to do advanced things! It'll be easier on a faster machine, but if I don't know where I'm going, it doesn't matter how quickly I can get there.

Sunday I got together with my little scrapbooking group and made 4 pages of engagement pictures. I want to do a couple more pages of those, so I’ll have to find some time to do that. Next month I’ll be scrapping Bill’s niece’s wedding pictures, thanks to Bill’s family to the rescue for sending me some pictures and a CD so I have some pictures since my 400+ pictures didn’t turn out. Ugh. Anyway, this monthly scrapbooking should hopefully get me in practice to do our wedding pictures. I started wading through to figure out which ones I want prints of - talk about tough choices! I’m dumping the ones I like into a separate folder and then I’ll go through those and weed out if I need to. I’m just not sure how many pictures I want to / should scrap. I also don’t know if I’m going to want to have the same layout for all the pictures or if I want to vary it. Oh, the decisions and the drama! LOL! I really do need to scrapbook more, though... along with all of my other hobbies. ;-)

I’ve done 12 workouts now (13th today) and I get weighed and measured this week, so we’ll see if there’s any good news from that. I weighed myself on a day a couple weeks ago that I felt particularly thin ;-) and I had lost a few pounds, but I’m almost feeling like I’m gaining it back. I haven’t been eating any extra, but I just feel fatter. :-p

Our beautiful sunshine of late last week has turned to rain, to snow, and back to rain again. Let’s hope that this sixth week after Groundhog Day means that the snow is GONE! I hear it was warmer in Minnesota last week than it was in Seattle. Just not fair. :-p

I guess that’s it for now! Hope all is well in your worlds!

Blessings,

Kristin

Lotta Nuthin'

2009-03-11T09:56:00.001-07:00

Hi, all!

The big excitement of the day... my new laptop is on its way to me! YAY! Not a top-of-the-line by any means, but a heck of a lot better than the one I have! Now I just have to find some time to stay home and play with it and get things loaded and surf at something faster than the speed of slug.

Nothing much is new... just going to work, working out, and going home with a little social life thrown in here and there. I’ve been working out 3 times a week and this is my 4th week, so next week I get measured and weighed to see how I did over the last month. I know the machines have been kicking my butt and I’ve only eaten 10 Girl Scout cookies in the last 4 weeks, but is that enough? :-D We shall see. I’ve cheated here and there on food, but not nearly as much as I would have expected, You can’t put me on a diet where I get denied junk entirely, or I’ll never stick with it and the binge is right around the corner. I don’t look like a supermodel yet, though, so I must not be done. ;-)

I’ve been really sleepy since the time change and my brain isn’t working as it should, so that’s all I can think to share right now. Hope you all are doing well - I’m way behind in my blog reads... nothing personal!

Blessings,

Kristin

NO MO' SNOW!

2009-03-06T13:15:00.000-08:00

Hi, all!

We have that four-letter-word in our forecast again. Don't get me wrong - snow is lovely - but I don't live in Minnesota for a reason. No one here (myself included) knows how to drive in snow, it always falls when I have plans, and I'm just ready for the spring, even if it means rain (and it does). Okay, done complaining. I don't mind the snow as much as most people - I just needed a catchy title more than anything else.

I've had nine workouts now, and I'm still alive. I've lost about four pounds, but I expect that to plateau soon as my body gets used to working out and used to eating baby carrots instead of pretzels at lunch. The cookie jar doesn't even know who I am anymore. I'm expecting any day to go into a huge regression and just start to binge, but I haven't quite hit that phase yet. ;-)

I had a sew day with a couple friends last weekend and got some work done on my rose quilt... enough to see that I must not have laid out my blocks as well as I thought since I've got two rows that are two blocks short. DOH! And, of course, I have no more of the fabric that I need and no way to get it, so I have to rob Peter to pay Paul as it were, which means ripping apart two rows from the nice triangles I sewed last weekend. I also have to rip a block out of two rows that I haven't sewn to anything yet. I know what I'm going to replace them with, but I don't have those put together yet. So that's a project for some night that I'm not working out or that I'm not knocked flat on my backside from working out. I missed my Girls' Night Out last night because I was out every night this week and ran errands and had doctor appointments all day Wednesday instead of going to work. It was nice to get so much done, but it sure made for a long day! of the 16 hours I was awake on Wednesday, I was home for about 3 of them (and not all at the same stretch).

That's the news from here. Pretty exciting, huh?

Blessings,
Kristin

Making news out of no news (or little news)

2009-02-24T09:35:00.000-08:00

Hi, all!

I know it’s been a long time, but there really hasn’t been that much new. I hate to ramble for the sake of having a blog entry - I ramble enough when I do have something to say. ;-)

So working backward, this past Sunday was my monthly scrapbook date, and I got some pictures of my baby niece scrapped. I need a picture for the first page and have to get her vitals so that part isn’t done, and I realized later that I mis-labeled some of the months, so I’ll have to fix and finish that up next time when I’m near the same inks and stamps. All in all I’m please with the results - they’re 9x9 pages that are made for snapshots (landscape orientation), so they went together quickly (no matting, even) except for the two photos I cut down to 4x4 and the page embellishments (which are close to non-existent). Someone else could have done much better, but it’s not too bad. And it’s done (kinda). :-)

Other than that, we had a pretty mellow weekend. The weekend before last, my parents came up and we kind of kicked back and played cards and visited. That Saturday was Valentine’s Day, so we went out to lunch and then headed to the casino to feed the slot machines.

The other “news” is that I finally broke down and joined Curves. I’d been thinking about it and making excuses for a while, but I took the plunge last week. I’ve had four workouts and have lived to tell about it, but tonight I get to start on the “smart machines” which don’t let you slack off. Darn. Maybe the switch is premature. ;-) I’m one of those “instant gratification” people, so this isn’t the most pleasant thing for me because I’m not really seeing results (and can’t expect to for a while). I don’t have more energy yet and of course I probably haven’t lost any weight yet (and I’m coming into that time of the month, so that’s a great de-motivator for weight and having clothes fit). I am seeing some extra flexibility when I’m bending and things, but that’s from the stretching and I can do that at home! :-p For all the groaning I do about the whole thing, though, it seems like a really good program and hopefully it’s something I’ll make a habit of and get enough results to be encouraging yet still have a healthy (gradual) weight loss. The one nice thing is that once the vanpool drops me off and I do to work out, Bill and I get home about the same time, so I’m not missing time with him.

Joining Curves has also put my crocheted garment projects on hold for now... the next few things I want to make are sleeveless, and I want to wait until closer to sleeveless weather to see if I am going to be a different size by then. I wish I had kept track on how long it took to make the first top I crocheted so I have an idea how much time I’ll need. Oh, well. We’ll see when it gets closer, I guess. I’m also torn about my summer clothes... I bought some nice stuff last year that I would love to be able to get a second season out of, but I also want to lose weight as fast as is healthy. I hate that. I already have one skirt I’ve never worn that I can’t wear that (it fit when I tried it on but I must have been bloated or something) and I can’t find the receipt. I hate that. I don’t know if I want to try to take it back without the receipt because if they take it back the standard policy is to refund the lowest price it’s been in the past 90 days, and it’s probably been on clearance by now. I don’t want to hassle it for potentially 75% off what I paid. Not worth it. I’m just bugged that I can’t find the receipt. I only have a couple places I ever put receipts, and this wasn’t in either of those places. Drat.

Other than that, it’s life as usual with my three waking hours at home after work every day, and playing on Facebook when I feel like sitting upright in a chair in that time frame. I have some sew time with friends coming up in the next month, so hopefully that will help me with that progress. There’s also a quilt retreat coming up at the end of April that I’m thinking about going to - I could get some things knocked out there, too. I wish I could work on some of the stuff that needs to be quilted, though, but it’s so much easier with my sewing table. I love that flat surface! Not that I’m taking advantage of that surface area now, but it’s also cold down in my craft room right now. At least that’s the excuse I keep using (along with being exhausted after a day at work and then working out).

Thanks, all, for tuning in!

Blessings,

Kristin

Sewing with Mom

2009-02-06T08:35:00.000-08:00

Hi, all! I’ve been busy on Facebook and not much else has gone on... I wanted to wait until I had something to report besides what Bill and I had for dinner on a given night. ;-)

Last Saturday, Mom and I got together to make a neck wallet that she bought a pattern for. What we thought would take two hours didn’t (I wasn’t counting the hours, but it was a long session). We both tore out binding and wanted to say bad words (I’m not sure if Mom has reconstructed hers yet, but I did manage to finish mine on Saturday). All being told, I don’t know that I’d make another one just like it. It’s really a neck wallet - no accommodation for anything heavy or lumpy - but it’s a little big for just a wallet (unless you want to put your checkbook in there, but who carries those anymore?). If it were me, I’d either make it smaller or gusset the bottom so it’s flat and I can throw my inhaler in there. But that would be more complicated a pattern, so I guess if that’s what you want, you have to make a purse. ;-)

Here are pictures of what I made. It looks okay from a distance. ;-) Mom got really creative and made a zippered pocket for the back. She’s so awesome. Just a note that the window in front is bigger than for a driver’s license - more a size for a nametag.

We decided we want to do another sew day, and we talked about doing this pattern again (though I would make mine smaller) but the more I think about it the more I think I’d rather do something else. I have a purse organizer (or two) on my list of things to make, so maybe I’ll do that instead. I also have a purse pattern that I got that I might do. I also have a block I have to make for a love quilt, but I don’t think I have the right colors in my stash.... oh, WAIT! I just thought of some. Thanks for your help! :-)

Thursday night was my Girls’ Night Out sew night, and I got a few more complete rows and a couple partial rows of my rose quilt put together. I have some blocks I need to construct to get the colors in the places I want them, one I have to swap out because it’s wonky as all get out, and then I have about three rows left! YAY! After that, I’ll need to cut the setting triangles and sew those on, and then I can sew row to row. Then the border, then top done! I might even have it done by the time the weather requires a change of bed cover in the guest room. I’ll probably have my friend Wendy quilt it (if she wants to) as I know she has a nice rose pantograph. The only trouble would be if she can’t guarantee that the back will be straight as the fabric is a directional. Then I’m in trouble because I don’t know if I’d get it right if I did it on my machine. :-\ I’ve never used a back that needed to be even (I love the fabric, so I want to make it “reversible” so I’ll be able to flip it over periodically - or I could buy a different backing and make that one a wholecloth quilt - it goes with the guest room SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO well!!!. :-p

Bill and I are going on another wine outing on Saturday. Should be fun! Sunday I’ve got my scrapbook club - the first time I don’t have pictures to use. Bummer. I like layouts a lot better when I have an idea what I’m going to use with them. I might just take something else to work on and take the kit home with me for another time. I do want to get our engagement pictures scrapped and I have some things set aside, so that’s probably what I’ll take. I bought the papers from her, so I’ll have the same colors in inks at my disposal, too. That will be better than trying to match the inks I have to the other ones.

That's all for now...

Blessings,

Kristin

The things we spend our time on....

2009-01-30T14:50:00.000-08:00

Okay, I mean the things I spend MY time on. ;-)

So most of my spare time is spent on the Facebook applications if I’m not eating, sleeping, working, or too lazy to boot up a laptop at home that takes 20 minutes before I can even open a web browser. Hello... my name is Kristin, and I’m a Facebook addict... There’s got to be a 12 step group, but I probably wouldn’t go because I’d be to busy on Facebook. :-p

When I’m too lazy to boot up the computer at home, I have been sorting through my rubber stamps. It all started when I was looking for a couple stamp sets, and then I realized I had never organized them when I took them out of the moving box (over a year ago). So I took them all out with the intent to organize them. First impression looking at all of them is that a rubber stamp store threw up in my craft room. Second impression was “now what?”. Kelli gave me a couple of good ideas, and as much as it’s going to kill me, I think I’m going to have to catalog them since I don’t really know what I have, and that means stamping out all the images on paper. I don’t even want to guess how many stamp sets I have, and I can guess there’s usually about 6-9 stamps per set. This could take a while. I hope I didn’t plan on doing anything constructive for a while. The good news is once it’s done, I can feel a sense of accomplishment and be able to find something (in theory) when I am looking for it. And I get to say that I’ve used every stamp set I own. How many people can way that? :-p

I am AMAZED by how many Christmas stamp sets I have. I shouldn’t be since the main reason I wanted the stamps was to scrapbook and to make Christmas cards. Okay, that sentiment lasted about 20 minutes. :-p I haven’t gone through those to see if there are any I no longer want, but even once I do, I think I’m going to still have a lot of Christmas stamps. And now we have a ton of purchased cards... I’ll probably make some (or finish ones I’ve started over the past few years) for this coming Christmas for the people that will appreciate them. Unfortunately, that’s not that many. But we’ll see what happens. I already have about two dozen stamp sets set aside to get rid of... I’m not sure how I’m going to go about selling them, but let’s deal with the business at hand first. They can sit in the garage just as well as all the other things I’ve been meaning to get rid of that are too valuable to just give away.

I got a great gift from a friend this week - two earwarmers! Just in time for a cold windy day, too! How did she know? ;-) Here’s her blog post about them with pictures. http://gquilts.wordpress.com/2008/01/27/2-4-kristin/ I haven’t taken a picture of me wearing them yet... I’ve been holed up in the craft room or sitting at the computer.

I have a haircut appointment tonight... my stylist likes me because she can experiment. :-) I never know what it’s going to look like (not that I don’t have a say - it’s just that lately I don’t care much, hee hee). And no, I’m not going to take pictures. I have pictures from Christmas I can show you the last cut, and I haven’t even gotten those uploaded yet. I’ll probably use one of them (If I like them) for my Facebook profile picture since I don’t have anything too recent to put up there. Right now I’ve got an avatar as my profile picture. I’m such a dork.

That’s all I’ve been up to... I’d update more often if there was something to say, so take it for granted that I’m not doing much besides Facebook if you don’t see me post. ;-)

Blessings,

Kristin

Weekend update

2009-01-26T09:29:00.000-08:00

Happy Monday, everyone! :-)

Thanks to a couple great ideas from my friend Kelli, I spent some time “organizing” my craft room Saturday. I moved some boxes to other rooms that had space (mainly the downstairs bathroom that’s three times bigger than it needs to be) and then was able to fit a wire cart and unearth my Iris carts. I have the things I have to move to get somewhere else at a minimum now, and they are things I don’t use very often or don’t need until I start a specific project. I was also able to unpack a box that was under my desk so I can actually put my legs there now - that was the main goal. I can’t say that it’s “organized” to most people’s standards, but I can walk around and I know where most things are. I’ve also gotten bitten by the scrapbooking bug (and discouraged from some of my sewing projects) so I might be doing some scrapping in my not-too-distant future. In the meantime, Walgreens is having a 10 cent per print sale, so I am going to try to go through my wedding photos and take advantage of printing some photos to get the wedding album started (once I’ve had a little more practice at scrapping since it’s been so long).

I do have to prepare my rose quilt to take to Girl’s Night Out on February 4, so I have a few more blocks to assemble before I can take the rows to sew. I should get the setting triangles cut, too, but I haven’t wanted to deal with that yet, plus getting all the blocks in each row put together will keep me busy for a while. I’m smart enough (believe it or not) not to sew rows together before I have the setting triangles in place. ;-) I do have a row on my design wall that I know is wrong, do I’m anxious to get the other rows in place to see what the problem is. I think a block or two migrated when the kitty batted them out of place, but they look like they belong there, so I’m stumped. All my rows need to have and odd number of blocks, but one or two have even numbers. That’s not going to work. :-p

Yesterday Bill and I and my parents to a bus trip to a casino a couple hours away. The buffet was good (too bad in landed on my white shirt - any suggested for a way to get chocolate out without having to go out and buy anything elaborate?)... I ended up losing what I brought except for $4, and the three of them each won $3 plus the match play coupon values they turned in (they had $15-$17 - I had $5). Bummer deal. But I had fun, and of course I was starting to win $2-$5 at a time right when it was time to leave. :-( Oh, well.

I guess that’s about all the update for the weekend... pretty much the rest of the time I played on Facebook. Bill has threatened to block the site on my computer. ;-)

Have a great week, everyone!

Blessings,

Kristin

Not much to say, but I'm saying it anyway! ;-)

2009-01-23T13:24:00.000-08:00

Hi, all!

There hasn’t been much new and different going on for the last week, but I’ll ramble anyway. ;-)

My eye is still a little red but not nearly as swollen (thanks, Kelli, for asking). I’ve only worn makeup once since it started swelling, and I haven’t worn contacts in I can’t tell you how long (before the swelling started, anyway).

This weekend will be pretty low-key... Saturday we have a free day to do whatever we want, and Sunday we’re taking a bus trip with my parents to Lucky Eagle casino. If you’re on the bus, they give you a ticket for a discounted buffet, so we usually eat first and then gamble our $10-$20 in the slots (the last of the high-rollers). The trip is kind of long, but it gives us a chance to visit. I can’t believe it’s been the week of Christmas since we’ve seen my parents! We’re going down there next weekend for a generic visit - nothing really on the agenda.

Work has been feast or famine for the past couple weeks or so, and this week there was some feasting, so that was nice. I also have a new manager (my former one moved on to another position), but it’s someone I like and who knows me pretty well, so that’s good. And we have the same last name. In fact, that’s how Bill and I got talking on the day we met. I found out his last name was Helgeson and I asked him if he was any relation to the Don Helgeson I worked with (who is now my manager). :-) Hopefully HR won’t think Don and I are related and try to suggest moving me out of the group. ;-)

Bill still likes his job, and he has his 90-day review next week. He expects it to go well because his manager and the interim manager that was there when he got there have been giving him good feedback. YAY! He’s still spending his time on the bus reading and / or listening to his new iPod (well, new to him - it used to be mine and I upgraded).

I had dinner with my friend Kelli last night - she’s always great to chat with, listen to, and glean great craft ideas from. She made a few suggestions that I’m going to have to try to follow up on - maybe tomorrow if I don’t have my butt in front of Facebook all bloomin’ day. (Bill won’t let that happen.) I have all these craft “urges” to scrapbook or crochet (not much sewing - pretty discouraged there at the moment and have been for about a month or so) when I’m at work, but I’m so fatigued when I get home that I couldn’t care less about doing anything. Hopefully with some sleep tonight, tomorrow will be a semi-productive day.

That’s it for now... I’m starting to really ramble about nothing, and pretty soon I’m going to be telling you what I had for dinner all week just to fill space. ;-)

Blessings,

Kristin

My weekend

2009-01-19T07:49:00.001-08:00

Hi, all!

Well, I haven’t started my second garment yet (haven’t even checked the blocking on the first) for lack of time, but I did manage to buy some yarn Sunday. ;-) I also completed a four-page layout for my friend Jana. She only wanted one page, but it was a workshop and we had the packages handed to us. I was going to use them for my niece’s layout, but I saw little frogs on VERY cute girl paper, and I couldn’t help but think of Jana (and the fact that I still owe her a layout). I don’t know what she’ll use it for - it’s not baby-specific - so she should have fun with it for some occasion either now or down the road. I’m going to give her the embellishments to play with (hint, Jana: princess party or dress-up) so she can tailor it herself. I think she’ll have fun with it, whatever she decides to use it for. Sunday was also nice because my workshop was in the evening, we got to have a leisurely Sunday morning / early afternoon before I left at 4pm to go shopping and head to the workshop.

Saturday was a fun day... we went to a wine-tasting party in the evening with a local wine club we belong to, and with our membership card we were able to do some free tasting beforehand at some local wineries. This was the first even we’d been able to make it to because more are in Seattle, and this one was practically in our backyard! So we starting our wine-tasting about 2pm, had lunch at a hole-in-the-wall sandwich shop nearby that Bill had a coupon for (I would go back again - good stuff!), hit one more winery where we met a great gal named Julie who was part of the club, and in addition to a bottle of wine, we scored a reusable 4-bottle wine bag for $2. That will be GREAT for the grocery store (not that we’ll need to buy wine from the store anytime soon). After that, we went on to the “warehouse district.” It’s a corporate park that has several (more than a dozen, I think) winery taste and sales rooms. I think we hit 4-5 of them - we bought two bottles at one, one bottle at one (a nice blend named after their poodle/cocker mix who happened to be there and was a great little pooch), and then went to a couple where we didn’t end up buying anything. I was collecting corks, though, for some art project I’m going to do eventually, so the places that we didn’t get wine from, I did manage to get a cork (except one place that had lame corks). One place gave bill a bag of corks (and they were different styles, so that was cool). I’m not sure at what point I’m going to start this endeavor or how big it’s going to end up (considering out kitchen wall space, there may end up being more than one), but we’ve been collecting corks from our bottles for a couple months now. I saw a couple that were really cool-looking, and I decided I needed to play with them. ANYWAY, back to Saturday. After the tastings, the party started at 6pm at another winery outlet, and there was art on display for sale, a ping pong table, a live band, and sports from a projector that took up a great amount of wall space (they’re having a Superbowl party there) - something for pretty much everybody. And, of course, and more tasting from their winery and another couple places that I didn’t catch (darn, I forgot to get a cork from two of the three tables. Oh, well). The only hitch in the day was my skirt. I didn't realize when I put it on (for the first time) that it was too big (it seemed to fit okay at the time), and it kept falling down to my hips. And I had been more worried about my panty hose! The day and night when pretty okay (it dropped to about mid-hip at one point, but hopefully no one noticed). Well, as soon as I got home, the thing dropped to my ankles! Glad it was then and not at another time! I had some static cling issues, too, but that wasn't as bad as the rest. I guess I'm going to have to remember how to make darts and snug that thing up a bit. :-p

I’ve also been spending some time on Facebook. Boy, that place is addictive! I’ve got a (fluff)friend, a pet at the pet society, several applications, and all sorts of fun stuff. Sometimes I even do serious things like look at peoples’ pictures and comment, or look for people I haven’t seen in a long time to see if they’re there. ;-) I was showing Facebook to my husband this weekend. I don’t think he’ll be getting an account anytime soon - he’s not as frivolous and silly as I am. :-D If you’re on Facebook, feel free to look me up (most people reading this probably know my real name - if not, let me know and we’ll see how I can get you my email address).

Well, I think that’s all the news I have the attention span for today... have a great week!

Blessings,
Kristin

This and that

2009-01-14T08:30:00.000-08:00

Hi, all!

Not too much to report (not that that has ever stopped me from rambling), but I didn't want you to think I didn't care anymore. ;-)

Crocheted sleeveless top news: I got the trim crocheted on the neckline and one armhole last night. I also sorted through papers and filed. Big night! :-) Tonight I'm going to finish the other armhole before Bill gets home, go through my credit card receipts that got unearthed last night in the paper frenzy, and then we're on to the next top (with the adjustments I wrote down). I bought enough yarn for three of the same top, and since this next top is the second experiment, it's with the second more expensive yarn... not that any of it was really that expensive - that's for when I get REALLY good (ha) and get some debt paid down (ha). After this top, I have a variegated yarn that's going to look great with denim, so I'm looking forward to that and hoping it comes out just great with the practice I'll have had. Did I mention that I bought some [inexpensive] yarn to try out for a cardigan? Sleeves.... DOH! LOL! It's also a different stitch (as in not as simple) as the ones I'm doing now, so it will be an adventure. I'll probably end up making a couple of those, too. I've also been wondering if I make the next size up on the sleeveless top or delete the sleeves on a cardigan if it would work as a vest. I have some short sleeve shirts that are too small to wear alone [and not show my true body contour, which no one wants to see] but work fine under other things. It's a thought, anyway. There are a couple tops in the book that I would LOVE to do, but I need way more practice (and a little more money) first. The weight yarn they require is only found in baby yarn at Jo-Ann's and Michael's, and I look horrid in pastels (and I don't wear white much). Doesn't anyone want a baby afghan in a nice bright purple or turquiose? :-\ I'm not ready to pay yarn store prices yet. The author can afford to do that - I can't. Unless I start selling crocheted sleeveless tops on eBay. ;-)

Yarn shopping is interesting... I was looking for something on sale to make the sweater out of, and the color combinations for variegated year can be pretty funny. There was one yarn that was cream, pink, and brown... neopolitan ice cream! LOL! I saw a great black, white, and gray that I wanted for another sleeveless top (can you tell I'm gearing up for summer and like making the easiest project in the book?) but there wasn't enough for the project. I'll have to keep my eyes out for that, and maybe try another store.

I'm also getting the nibble to work on some jewelry projects. I can kit things up and work on them at work at lunch instead of shopping online :-) but I haven't gotten to that point yet. I really need to know where a project is going or I end up not having something key that I need and it ends up being a really short work session. I found a design online that I want to copy - I might start with that one. I saw it and had to buy the components - even though I have very little that the ensemble with go with. I'm such a dork sometimes. I'm better about that now, but the ensemble was just SOOOO cool! :-) I also have something I want to do in purples, which I actually have a couple things I can wear with and I have all or most of the materials from when I made a badge lanyard for work. I have one necklace I made in silvers and blacks which is pretty cool. Problem being I made it too small so it has an extender and I may or may not tear the necklace apart one of these days and make it the right length. Then I made the same type of thing in browns, and I made it too long. Some days I just can't win. ;-) I'd like something in black that's a little more subtle for summer, so I'll have to work on that.

On the work front, Bill still really likes his job and is able to do some reading on the bus. He likes his walk through downtown from the bus stop to his building. There's a coworker that lives not to far from us, so he even has someone to talk to on the bus now and then. There are a few regulars at the stop near our house, so he's been getting to know them a little bit, too. I've still been able to get up and get to the vanpool (though some days are closer to departure time than others), and I love being able to relax on the ride, and sometimes listen to music. I like to do that more when it's daylight so I can see to untangle my earphones on my iPod. It's not daylight either way quite yet, but it's getting closer on the ride home where we don't arrive in the dark.

Work for me has been a little slow - kind of like the calm before the storm. We've been delivering airplanes more than putting them together, and I'm way upfront in the process (we tell design engineering what to design). February looks like it's going to be busy, so I'm holding out for that. Layoffs are also supposed to start in February, too, and the good news is that 50% of the group will be going before me if things stay the way they are. Unfortunately, they're going to be doing what I call a "rack and stack" where they decide who is going out the door before whom. I was told not to lose any sleep over it, but that's what I was told right before I got bumped out of a job in 2003. So, I'm not losing sleep, but I'm also not feeling invincible, either. I do trust this manager more than the one I had in 2003, so that's something. ;-)

I got an email about the temperatures beck east where I'm from originally... lows of near zero degrees F. I'll take our 35-45F any day over that stuff. :-) I love the Pacific Northwest! It's even going to be dry and partly sunny for the next three days - good news for the flood-filled areas. I think most of the roads are open now and back in business (at least we're getting more mail now).

Looks like this is the end, as the narrator for the Underdog Show would say...

Blessings!
Kristin

Crochet News and Prayer Requests

2009-01-12T08:01:00.000-08:00

Hi, all!

Well, Saturday night I was able to assemble the pieces of my crocheted top. YAY! I still have to do the trim and block it, but it’s put together (and something I would actually wear out of the house). There are a few things I’ll do differently on the next one (which will probably get started shortly), but overall not a bad attempt for a first garment. I bought yarn yesterday to do a cardigan - sleeves! ACK! LOL! :-)

Other than that, the Christmas decorations are all now packed away. The mantel looked really bare, so I put the “normal” stuff up there this morning before work since I had a few minutes. It looks a lot better now. Our mantel clock decided to stop working over the holiday, and since everything was bare last night Bill decided to take a look at it and it’s beyond anything he can do. :-( We’ll have to take it somewhere to get it looked at. It’s the biggest clock in the room and it’s got wonderful chimes every quarter hour, and I miss those a lot (yes, even in the middle of the night).

This week doesn’t look very exciting when I look at our calendar - more time to crochet. ;-) For the weekend, my parents are coming up to visit. I’m sure that card play will be involved, and maybe a trip to the casino to play some slots. I had a dream the other night that I won $100 on the slots and there was a quilt shop in the casino. There’s definitely something wrong with me. ;-)

On a more serious note, please pray for my friend Sharon. She lost her dear father in early December. They were extremely close and she did get through the holidays without him, but I don’t know how good of a support system she has. It sounds like a lot of the affairs are settled, but I know the next weeks and months (and years) will be hard for her. Thanks for praying.

Also on the prayer list (though much less important) is that I developed a swollen eyelid last night. It’s about the same this morning, but it hurts to the touch, and it didn’t last night. So thanks for praying for that if you think of it, and hopefully it will go away without my having to take time off work to get it dealt with. My vision seems fine, and it’s not bothering me if I don’t touch it, and it’s nor weeping or anything. I’ve had pinkeye, and this isn’t it. Hopefully it’s nothing serious.

I guess that’s about it for this morning... Thanks for reading. :-)

Blessings!
Kristin

Facebook Fun and Crochet Cautious Optimism

2009-01-09T14:00:00.000-08:00

Hi, all!

There’s not much to talk about in my world, but that rarely stops me. ;-)

I’ve been playing on Facebook a little more... not that I have much more figured out, but I’ve been playing. ;-) They have quite a few cool applications and features and silly stuff that no one really needs but entertains us and keeps us from doing less important things like laundry and such. :-p

This weekend we’re planning on taking down our Christmas decorations... why are they so much easier to put up than take down? ;-) Hopefully we’ll get it all done Saturday and then have Sunday to do what we want after church.

I started the front of my crocheted sleeves top this week - I’m 2/3 done and just at the neckline. Now I’m going to learn how to make a V-neck. Good luck! :-p Hopefully it will all turn out fine - I did find out that I was a stitch over somewhere along the line, but I have the number of stitches I’m supposed to have for the row right before the V-neck. Hopefully one extra stitch in the armpit won’t make a difference.

Weather-wise, we’re enjoying a dry day so far today, which hasn’t been the norm lately. There has been quite a bit of flooding here between the melting snow and the rain. Not a huge surprise since there’s flooding to some extent every spring, but it’s been pretty devastating and unusual for January. Bill and I are high and dry, but there are some pictures on TV that just tug at your heart. As expected in a flood situation, there are people (and retailers) who have lost much or everything, and one woman who is lucky to be alive after her house slid off its foundation and down the hill (while she was in it). It’s a good reminder of how incredibly blessed we are.

Believe it or not, that’s all I have for now. Thanks for stopping by, and I’ll try not to be so boring next time. ;-)

Blessings,
Kristin

Happy [belated] New Year!!!!

2009-01-03T11:23:00.000-08:00

Hi, all!
So much has happened since my last post... hopefully you (and I) won't fall asleep reading. ;-)

Today is my first day of work since December 22nd. It's been easier to get back in the routine than I thought, but the getting up at 5am part was a shock. :-\ This lunchtime is very welcome to restore my blood sugar and another caffeine opportunity. :-) So back to the Christmas break.

My parents were scheduled to come for a visit Wednesday through Friday for Christmas (they live about 50 miles away), but the weather changed things a little. We decided that it was best that they come up Tuesday night as they were predicting snow for Wednesday. And did we get snow. And snow. And snow. Our "official" measurement was 9.5 inches, but Mom and I think there was more than that. It was hard to tell since we had snowdrifts here and there and there were few areas that we could measure because they were unaffected. As the week went on, we had significant snow adn slush in our cul-de-sac, and very few people were getting in or out (including the mail carrier). We tried to get out on Friday, but that didn't work. My car isn't bad in the snow, but I wasn't going anywhere in that wet mess. If it had been just snow, we would have been fine, but with all the water and slush underneath... no dice (and no time away from the house). Friday turned into Saturday, and Saturday into Sunday. The snow and slush was starting to recede and more ruts were available, and my parents were running out of medication. So, Sunday they saddled up and Bill and I were ready to push if required. A powerslide and a couple ruts later, they were headed for home. Until that time, Bill was the only one that got a cure for cabin fever - he walked up to the grocery store about a mile away to buy a few things. I got out Monday night to go to dinner, and then ran some errands on Tuesday. It was good to be out.

As for our Christmas, it was white and wonderful. I made a ham for dinner and a couple of the accompanying dishes, and Mom made a couple of the side dishes as well. We've never cooked together much, so that was kind of neat. We had together time, presents, game time, and relax time. It was an altogether good holiday. I had some frustration getting my computer to talk to my new iPod (Bill got my old one), so that was a little annoying. It still every once in a while tries to make me register it (been there, done that), but the largest frustration factor seems to be gone. Now I just have to take all my Christmas songs off there until next year. Even if I don't, I have plenty of room for new songs! YAY! Now I just have to figure out which of my CDs I didn't burn the first time because I didn't have enough room. Hmmmm......

New Year's was pretty low-key... except at Costco! I had to park in a lot that I didn't even know they HAD! The place was a madhouse!! I'm so glad the only thing I went there for was to go to the optical. I went in the middle of the day, thinking that some people had to WORK on December 31. I guess not. ;-) No one but retail people and my husband.

Over the break from work, I'd been playing with some fiber that I couldn't knit or crochet, so I started a really long crocheted chain to make it a little bigger fiber, maybe to make one of those fiber scarves. There's a whirly-gig thingy that would probably do a better job and it would definitely be faster - maybe I should look into that.

For Christmas, among other things, I got a plus-size crochet book that I asked for, and after I got over my intimidation, I decided to try one of the smaller and easier projects (a sleeveless top). I bought some acrylic yarn on sale, and have enough to do the whole thing for $10. I've bough a couple other colors since then in case I need a do-over or like it so much I need more. They're not really light yarns that were recommended (medium weight), but I think it'll be okay for summer. I'd use a lighter fiber, but then I wouldn't know how to modify the pattern, so I'd better stick with the instructions. I'm a self-taught crocheter, and this is my first project where gauge matters, so I'm a little intimidated. Last night I got the back done, and tonight I'll start on the front (including a V-neck - ACK! LOL!). Wish me luck. :-)

I didn't do any sewing (too cold in my sewing room, hee hee) or many things that I expected to do during the break, but at least my crochet made me feel productive (even if I don't have much to show for it). Rest is good, too, right?

Well, back to work I go. Thanks to all you readers out there who make my rambling worthwhile (all 5-6 of you that I know of). :-) I did send my blog address to our Christmas card list... probably one look at this and they won't bother to come back! ;-)

Blessings!
Kristin

Close don't feed the bunny

2008-12-24T14:34:00.000-08:00

You've heard that close doesn't count except in horseshoes, right? Well, this is what happens when Kristin has too much caffeine. We were playing cards last night, and someone said something was close, and out came "close don't feed the bunny" from my mouth. Don't know why. It just did. My mother is very amused by the phrase (I crack her up all the time - just no one else thinks I'm funny) and she is convinced that I've coined a phrase that will spread worldwide. Okay, Mom. Whatever.

I did have a cool thing happen yesterday that is the real reason I'm blogging today. I had set up appointments to get my oil changed and to go to the eye doctor (I haven't gotten to the cool part yet). I was done REALLY early with my oil change, so I'm sitting in the parking lot of Costco (wholesale warehouse like Sam's or BJ's) talking on the the phone and trying to get hold of my insurance company. (That's still not the cool part - but don't you love the suspense???) I was talking to Bill (since my insurance company wasn't open yet due to the weather, and this still isn't the cool part) and saw a pickup truck trying to back out of a space and spinning a wheel. And spinning. And spinning. And spinning. And spinning. (Did I mention he was spinning? And this isn't even the cool part, but it's coming up really soon.) So after I got off the phone with Bill, I decided to offer to push because it didn't appear he was going anywhere otherwise and no one else was coming to his aid. If I were having trouble, I'd sure want someone to help me. Now I'm not strong, but let's say that I could put my weight into it. :-p I also learned how to push a vehicle out of spots when I lived in New York and when to push and how to push, so I wasn't a newbie. Anyway, between my pushing and his pushing with one leg out the door :-) we got him out of the hole he had burned in the ice with his right rear tire.

As someone who receives help much more than can give it, it felt so great to be on the helping end for once. It made me smile most of the day. The guy was really grateful as he honked and waved as he pulled away, and that makes it all the better. It made me feel better about mankind in general, and that I'm not a totally useless sac of protoplasm on the face of the earth - who wouldn't feel good about that?

Thanks for putting up with my story. I just felt so blessed because there was something I could do. And because it came in handy for once to be overweight. ;-) Had I been the 135-150 pounds I'm supposed to be, I don't think I would have been much help. There's just something cool about being in the right place at the right time.

Well, I'd better get back to the family (who said they're going to be at our house until spring because of all the snow we have). Bill's at the next door neighbor's house right now looking for eggs for corn bread to go with the chili Mom is making... it's closer than walking to the grocery store in 10" of snow. Sounds like he scored three eggs. Woo hoo!! :-) See what I mean about usually being the person in need? :-p

I hope you all have a blessed Christmas and a very happy and healthy new year. If you're in the snow like we are, be safe and warm.

Blessings,
Kristin

Made it to work....

2008-12-22T09:46:00.000-08:00

...but not uneventfully.

The van wasn't getting out of where it was parked, so we carpooled. I didn't realize when I got to the P&R that I would be driving (though I was ready if I had to). Since I did well in the snow, I didn't think about ice (I figured it would all be compact snow - that's what I get for thinking). Two people had chains and didn't want to drive with them should the roads be bare later (not good for the chains, the tires, or the road), so I drove the four of us that showed up. Long story short is that I did a fishtail and a 180 on a patch of ice on 405 (no harm, no foul - God was SO looking out for me!!!). After that, one of the more experienced drivers took over driving my car. So we're all safe and he has temporary custody of my car in his building's parking garage while we're at work. :-) There are actually a lot of people at work today, surprising for the weather and for the fact that people can take three vacation days and get two weeks off due to the holiday schedule Boeing has. Some did take vacation, of course, but there's a lot of chatter over the walls, so there must be quite a few people here. Bill walked toward the park and ride (about 1.5 miles away) since the busses weren't going any further north than that) and at one point decided that he was nuts for being out and was going to turn back for home and work from there. He gave a bus five minutes and then he would turn back, and a bus came along. So he made it to work (not sure if that's good or bad, but he's there). I had left him a voicemail asking him to call me when he had a chance - I didn't want to email him with the "news."

Bill and I had a nice hibernation weekend. I beat Bill at cards (but not by much), he got some cleaning done in preparation for my parents coming up on Wednesday for Christmas, I played on the computer a bit (but not here, obviously - mostly iTunes) and facebook). We got some presents wrapped, got the snow and ice off my car, and unearthed the front steps. The car took a while - there was some nasty ice underneath the snow. I don't know how much snow we got because the roof (and several other places on the property) had snow drifts. Cleaning the car is playing in the snow for adults, I guess. There was about another inch of snow on the car this morning when I went out. I had started the car last night and made sure I could get out with no problem (I did), so that was nice to know.

There was a snowman across the street that appeared on Saturday and got buried Saturday night / Sunday (they dug it out Sunday afternoon. This was not your average quit-in-the-middle snowman. This one came complete with shoes, a broom, a hat, and a basket. I could see the face from across the street (not sure what they used for facial features). Pretty cool.

No other stories that I've heard from other people about getting in except no one in the carpool could believe that I got out and about without chains. I like my car. :-) I thanked my Mom again for being a consideration in buying the car I have. Without thinking that I'd have to drive them around, I might have had something with two seats and rear-wheel drive. :-o

I don't know what I'll end up doing tomorrow, but I won't be doing it at work. ;-) I may sew some, and even get that Christmas table runner done (or close) that I started at the beginning of the month. Or I might end up sewing something else, or finishing a scrapbook layout (just a few embellishments and journaling missing) so I can call that finished. (Finished? Whats that???) Or maybe I'll spend all day on the computer. :-)

Stay warm and stay safe, everyone!!

Blessings,
Kristin

Boucle is my new best friend!

2008-12-19T12:00:00.000-08:00

Okay, boucle is not for the beginner beginner (sorry, Henry Cho), but I'm a sucky knitter, and this covers the fact that I'm doing knit-knit-knit ad nauseum when I hate the way it looks in better defined yarns (like worsted). It's also covering my inconsistent stitches and inadvertent increases and the following decreases (fortunately, the project I'm doing is also forgiving of my sucky knitting). I haven't figured out hot to crochet boucle yet, though... I can't get my foundation row done because I can't see where the chains are.

Yesterday was a snow day away from work. I went to the park and ride to catch my vanpool, and the van couldn't get out of the neighborhood. I went back home, which was a piece of cake compared to Wednesday night's fiasco. 3/4 of the road was blocked with cars that couldn't get up the hill, people were being idiots (it doesn't snow often enough here for people to get a clue), and it took me a 1/2 hour to get from the P&R to home (about 2 miles). Bill ended up walking almost a mile home because his bus couldn't go anywhere at that point, so he brought home McDonald's for dinner. :-) So back to yesterday. I get the call that the van's not running, and in the 20 minutes I'd been sitting there at the park and ride, about 1/2 inch of snow had fallen, making it less than easy to get OUT of the park and ride since it's all a slope. After the third try, I finally made it to the top and headed for the exit. As I said, the road wasn't clean by any means, but there weren't a lot of people on the road, so I had a pretty uneventful drive back home.

The snow came down pretty much all day, and there were some sunbreaks that were nice. I spent a portion of the day printing out our year-end newsletters (without pictures since my printer was being stupid, even though it had brand new ink) and stuffing the letters into our Christmas cards (which still don't have stamps and might not until New Years if we can't get out tomorrow to stamp and mail). Fun fact: I figured out that my printer prints 12 pages per two rows of knitting. ;-) Then I played computer games, formatted some CD labels... OH! That's ANOTHER story! Ugh!

After putzing and futzing at work Wednesday with Word CD label templates (I hate Word), I went home and made labels for our wedding CD with photos that our friend took, and for my brother's wedding photo CD that my stepfather burned for me. I got them all nice and pretty, went downstairs and got my labels. I pulled one out and yelled a Grace phrase! Bl---y H--l!!! They were a TOTALLY different setup and you had to use their software! UGH! Sooooooooooooooooooooooooo... I loaded the software and played around to find out what it would do ("Help" is a last resoert). I like it marginally better than Word... okay, a little more than marginally. I know what to expect and how things work now, so that's good. So I got 4 labels printed (several to go), and feel some sense of accomplishment for the day.

Today I'm back at work, typing this up during lunch. There are quite a few more people here than I would have expected (if I weren't in a vanpool, I don't know if I'd be here). Bill walked 2 miles to a park and ride this morning (not mine) because that's the furthest north the bus was going to go (and we're north of there). We're hoping by the end of the day that the busses will be on their normal routes so Bill has his regular 2-block walk again. I also have an appointment to get my hair cut, so I'm hoping that the "storm" we're supposed to get today or tonight holds off until tomorrow, and I also hope that the cleanup is done by Monday morning because I have to work that day, like it or not. If I have to work Tuesday instead, I would have to cancel a couple appointments after making them purposely for Tuesday because I thought it was going to be a vacation day. *sigh* Not that I expect the weather to accommodate my whims and wishes, but it would be nice. ;-)

I guess that's about all I have for this time. I may update over the weekend when I should be sewing or something... we'll see what my motivation looks like at that point. And if I have anything to say besides what I had for breakfast. ;-)

Blessings!
Kristin

I'm so lame, I prob'ly think this blog is about me...

2008-12-17T12:36:00.000-08:00

Okay, the blog is about me but I needed a halfway catchy title.

I just got done catching up on a friend's blog that I just found out existed, and she was talking about communicating online with a webcam and voice. I bought a webcam years ago (I might even know where it is, and there's probably a microphone in the same place). I tried to no avail to do voice chat with her several years ago (I guess my mic(s) just did not want to work). Part of me is tempted to try it again, but what would I talk about? Kind of like on the blog. From time to time I have a bit of accomplishment or drama to share, but for the most part, I'm boring. I don't do anything exciting (if anything at all but work, go home, eat dinner, and go to bed), and even though no one wants to hear that I'm trying to knit and how it's going (could be better), I write anyway. Why? Because I CAN! ;-) This is my little corner of the web and I can put whomever to sleep that decides to drop by. Hey, maybe my purpose in life is to be a cure for insomnia. It's a thought.

So here's what's been going on lately:
We (I) just finished composing our newsletter to put in our Christmas cards, and addressed most of our cards. We're waiting for the holiday stamps to arrive and for me to have a chunk of time to print the newsletters to send them out. I don't know that the East coast ones (and Canada for sure) will get there by Christmas, but it might be close enough to call it good. If your tree is still up, it's still Christmas. I'm hoping to get them all in the mail before the end of the week (which is fast approaching - I'd better get printing). One of these days we'll have our newsletter on only one sheet of paper like everyone else (though presently our font is a little bigger for our older readers - at least that's the story I'm sticking to). I'm one of those "I need to include detail" people... apparently Bill is, too, because there was only one section he suggested I take out (and I did). Or perhaps it's because I'm anesthetized because I have a cousin who sends newsletters twice a year that include work stories (he's in law enforcement) and jokes and family visit details. I can't imagine paying that postage. I'm on page 45 right now I think. It's nutty. But it's entertaining and it gives him a nice hobby to keep him out of trouble. As for us, maybe 2009 will be boring and we won't need as much real estate in our newsletter. But I think we said that in 2007 about 2008. And the beat goes on.

Last night I had fits and more fits trying to make holiday return address labels. Word doesn't make it easy, and Word and I already have a hate-hate relationship. I tried another (very unintuitive) program and gave up on that pretty quickly. I don't have Avery installed on my laptop, and I didn't feel like powering up the desktop and let it do its diskscan because it turns on every time the power goes out and comes back on, so I do a hard shutdown every time. I also didn't feel like fishing around for the Avery disc. Either would have been faster than Word, but Word it was. I got them done and they're as good as they're going to get. Jimmy-crack-corn.

Last weekend was errand and snow weekend. We're supposed to get a big storm today, but the meteorologists are coming up with lame excuses why we're not getting the snow they predicted at any of the times they predicted. I could have had that job, but I'm not pretty enough nor thin enough to be on TV, so it wouldn't have worked.

I recently took the dive and set myself up on facebook. I'm still totally befuddled by it all, and they tell me there are games and stuff and things I can't figure out how to do. WHAT did I get myself into?? The nice thing is that I've been able to connect (to some extent) with classmates and see what they're up to. I also have a couple friends that are almost exclusively on facebook now (that were on MySpace), so if I want to know what they're doing, I have to go there. I haven't found a place to read blogs yet, though. One of my friends used to have some good blogs on MySpace and I miss reading her stuff. I'll have to ask if she has a blog anywhere. It's probably in front of my face in facebook, but I wouldn't see it if it came out of my monitor and bit my nose.

Oh, and I have my Christmas shopping done and presents wrapped (except one that's coming in the mail). Sure, I only have to buy for three people, but that's not the point. Are YOU done? :-p

Two or 3 more work days (depending on my mood and workload), and I'm done until January 5th... free time! YAY! Maybe I'll have a project I can post about or something constructive.

I guess that's all the "fun" stuff I have for now. Aren't you glad you dropped by? ;-)

So HI!!!! to the 5 of you who read me here (I found out about another one - Hi, Di!). Maybe one of these days I'll find out a 6th person is reading my rambling (and yawning). :-)

Blessings!
Kristin

What I'm up to

2008-12-13T13:16:00.000-08:00

Hope you're all enjoying your weekend - ours is going to be pretty low-key with hubby hanging more lights outside and me staying in and seeing what trouble I can get into and which of my many projects I can procrastinate on. :-)

We ran a couple of errands earlier today - nothing too exciting. There wasn't a run on the grocery stores even though they are predicting an "arctic freeze" here (low of 19F, and that would come close to breaking a record, I think). I know most of the people reading this aren't feeling to sorry for me because they wish it would be that warm in the winter. ;-)

My hubby is out Christmas shopping so I'm trying to remember how to knit. The only problem is when I used anything besides worsted yarn (and maybe even then - I haven't worked with it in quite a while), I have to count the stitches each and every row because I have a tendency to increase my stitch count. I knitted three rows and I had already added 3 stitches. I don't know if I'm an idiot or the boucle is screwing me up. I'm probably a idiot. ;-) I'm much better and faster and crocheting, but it uses up more fiber. With this boucle crocheting is just as much of a pain in the neck as knitting, so I may as well knit. I have a bunch of it, and I hate to never use it. SO there you go.

I made three (small) seams in my rose quilt last night. I had a couple blocks to sew on to make complete rows, so I got that taken care of since I was downstairs doing something else anyway. So now I think I have 10 rows sewn, but I didn't count and can't remember. Because the blocks are on point, the rows are getting longer and harder to transfer from the family room (where it's all on the wall) to the sewing room. I thought about taking the sewing machine to the family room, but I don't know that I want to set it up there, either, when it's so nice and snug in my sewing table. Maybe 'll just have to bring in half a row at a time or make the invisible thread work and go back to the pirate quilt. Or I can stay upstairs where it's warmer and knit. ;-)

My computer is being slower than slow , so I guess I'll sign off. I don't have the patience to type half a line of text and then have it show up 30 seconds later (and I don't type that fast).

Blessings!
Kristin

Short update on Karen

2008-12-11T09:38:00.000-08:00

Hi, all! Thanks so much for your prayers for my friend Karen (see previous posts - I'm too lazy to link them all). I got an email from her this week that she's up and around and her live-in help has gone home. Here's her email:

"Quick update: I'm doing really well. Had my first followup appointment this week. Everything is healing well, no problems. Pain level is much less than I expected it to be. I'm walking every day. Getting around well. [Names removed] moved back home yesterday and is going to come every day to do the stuff I can't (whatever requires bending, lifting and twisting). Biggest issue... determining how to minimize weight gain from all the good food my friends are bringing! I'll be starting Physical Therapy in January and should be able to start driving again by the end of this month."

She also included "before and after" pictures of her since her surgery... boy does she look great!

I'm sure she'd appreciate prayers for her physical therapy starting in January, as well as just general healing to go well.

Thanks agsin for your prayers!!

Blessings,
Kristin

Rose gardens and spinning yarns

2008-12-09T13:58:00.000-08:00

Well, we’re decorated, shopping has started... welcome to the holiday season!

Sorry about the radio silence. We’ve been working on our Christmas letter and I’ve been busy at work and at home. Errands, this night out, weekends with my parents... the next couple of weekends are a little less busy, but work is ramping up to be even more busy, at least for a week or so. I usually make my posts from work at lunchtime or other break time, so busy at work means no blog in the immediate future unless I have something I’m just DYING to tell all four of you.

We had a nice Thanksgiving with my parents - we went to a community dinner (they had done that several times in NY). Mom may not like that I say this, but I don’t know that I’d do it again. There were a lot of people there that needed the free meal more than we did, and they didn’t even take donations for those of us and willing to make one. The food was great, the entertainment and hospitality was outstanding, but I just felt badly looking around at people who really couldn’t afford a whole traditional thanksgiving dinner, and then looked at us who just didn’t want to cook (mostly Mom). She suggested the same deal for Christmas, and I put the nix on that really fast. First, we have Christmas china we’ve never used (we got it after Christmas last year) and I wanted to make a home-cooked holiday meal and we haven’t done so since Easter. We have three people out of four who are capable of cooking and cleaning (some more willing than others) and I want to have Christmas dinner at home. So she ended up being okay with that and even offered to make sweet potatoes (since she knows I won’t) and green bean casserole (which neither of us has ever made). Bill and I are in charge of ham and stuffing and potatoes and gravy. Canned gravy. LOL! I can never get gravy to come out right, and we’re going to get a pre-cooked ham anyway, so I’m not sure we’d have enough drippings anyway. So now you’ve heard about a holiday that’s passed and one that hasn’t even happened yet. :-)

I’ve been working on the rose quilt and trying to put the pieces of the puzzle back together from what the Milla-meister knocked down. I’ve gotten 3 or 4 rows done at the bottom and 3 rows at the top... or almost done - I had to unsew so I have to sew the right block on, and I’m really wondering where the other block came from that I put there first. That’s a real mystery and I have myself concerned. It doesn’t help that there are some blocks that I have to assemble as I go along and then sew them into rows, either. Since most of my problem is in the middle to lower section (the ones that are 13-15 blocks long), I thought that if I started in opposite corners and work toward the middle, then I’d be able to decipher what’s left and make sense of it. We’ll see how well logic prevails in this case. I had a map at one point of how many rows there were of how many blocks, but every time I tried to count, I got goofed up. So I’m just going forward and que sera sera.

I’m trying to figure out if I should start a knitting or crocheting project to do here and there when it’s not time-practical to sew (maybe even to do at work at my lunch break). I’m much better at crocheting, but knitting consumes SO much less fiber. I’d love to make a shawl and I got one at Ross that would be so easy to copy... it’s two lengths that are stitched up the middle in the back. Hey, I could do that! How much yarn do I need? I don’t know. Do I want to knit or crochet? I don’t know. I do know that I can’t knit with needles as small as were used for this shawl (that was probably not even knitted by hand anyway), and I can’t get my edges to not curl if I knit/purl and I don’t want to knit knit and have those ridgies (and the whole “blocking” thing eludes me). I’m so picky. Anyway. I’ll have to find some black yarn and see what damage I can do. Or maybe I should try one in a fiber I already have. I don’t need a shawl in any of the colors I have, though. That makes it tough. :-p Can you believe I don’t have any black yarn? I wear black 2-3 times a week, and I don’t have black yarn. I have variegated blue and variegated green, but no black. I also have a nice cream, but that’s the color of the shawl I bought, so that doesn’t make any sense. I’m rambling again, aren’t I? A little bit more. The other project I had in mind was a crocheted cloche or a bucket hat. I lost my great pattern from a few years ago and I found another one online but don’t like it as much. I could try to copy the one I made that I like, but I wouldn’t remember how to make the brim. The rest of it is pretty easy. I’m also not a bit working-to-gauge fan, which is probably why I don’t make anything but scarves. :-p

Okay, I’ll plod away now. Enjoy your week, and “talk” to you later!

Blessings,
Kristin

EUREKA!!!

2008-11-24T09:08:00.000-08:00

Amazing things happen when you sit down at your computer for a couple hours and examine the content of photo CDs... I found pictures I’ve been looking for for months!! Two of them are baby quilts I made in 2003 (see February 22, 2008 post). Others were pictures of me for a scrapbook I’m doing of me throughout the years. It hasn’t been updated since 2001, so I had a few pictures to find. Good thing I only usually use one page per year. So I got the CDs reviewed yesterday, plus a little work on my rose quilt on my design board and some yardwork since it was a nice day. So, I’m a little sore today. But I got to play with a hedge trimmer and a bow saw, so my day was pretty fun. :-p Saturday was errand day... nothing too exciting about that except that I did manage to get out of the house. If you have a Billy McHale's near you, I highly recommend the Reese's shake. If you like Reese's PB cups, you won't be disappointed.

I’ve been bugged for a while about this pirate quilt I’m doing... oddly enough I had a dream about it last night that someone made a quilt with the same panel and it was in a totally different direction than I’ve been heading. Food for thought.... but I played aroud with it tonight and I'm still ready to chuck it out the window. I either need more fabric or more creativity, and I can't justify putting much more money into fabric for this than I already have. :-(

Milla kitty struck again... my bottom blocks on my design wall were all discombobulated when I went down today. I sewed a few rows to try to get the bottom in rows so she can't do much more damage, but I only got two done before I totally confused myself and gave up. I think it's time for comfort food and elevating my aching foot. This heel issue is getting old. Over the weekend it was feeling better, but today not so much. Ugh. I hate to leave you on a complaining note, but I must. My brain is mush. :-p

Blessings,
Kristin

Friday News

2008-11-21T12:30:00.000-08:00

Hi, All!

I haven’t had a chance to update because work has been nutso the past couple of days. Not even time to breathe (except to sigh occasionally). I thought that I was going to have to go hide so I could even eat my lunch.

I got an email from Bill today that he got to work and noticed his cell phone was not on his belt. He was hoping that it was home. Found out later, nope. Background: My husband (as wonderful as he is) is the man who dropped his phone off his belt once or twice riding his bike home from work before he decided that it was a good idea to keep it in his briefcase when traveling. Well, now that he rides the bus and walks, the phone is safe from dropping, right? WRONG! He dropped it this morning about a block from where he got off the bus. THANKFULLY Bill decided to give me his new work number this morning (since I couldn’t call his cell because he didn’t have it) because I got a call from someone who found the phone and was looking for its owner. YAY!!! There are decent human beings in the world! This guy called me, I gave him Bill’s work number, and now Bill has his phone and all is well again. AND Bill has finally decided that briefcase travel with a cell phone if a good thing. *sigh*

On to my gift quilt saga... I haven’t done anything but rip one of the 4 blocks apart into quarters, and I don’t know that I can deal with trying to rework them. I may just move on and KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid). Or I may give up for a while. I’ll probably decide this weekend when I take a look at the panel and consider my options. I’ve done all that quilting and stuff - it’s a shame to let it sit for another year. I even thought about putting a quarter of the compass in each corner, but then it would look like flowers, I think. ;-) Not very manly for a pirate quilt.

In good quilt news, I’ve been using my new portable design wall and my rose quilt (the one that’s for my spare bedroom for spring / summer) is finally taking shape and I think I’m almost ready to start sewing things together. I have a few blocks I need to sew up (after a little bit of unsewing), and a few things I might rearrange (hopefully that doesn’t involve unsewing - but it’s easier than unsewing those compass blocks). Pretty soon I’ll be able to start the rows. The blocks are on point, so I’ll have to find that website again that did a really good job telling people how to figure out the size required for setting triangles. I can do the rows before that, though, and put them up on the board and see if they cam out as I expected. Then I’ll just need to do the setting triangles before I sew the rows together. We’ll see how the weekend goes to see how much I get done. I might just be on the couch taking naps and eating comfort food. ;-) Nah... Bill won’t let that happen. He’ll at the least drag me out to church. ;-)

My friend Karen’s surgery update: She is doing MUCH better now and will probably go home this weekend. She's been walking around and can get herself in and out of bed, and yesterday apparently she looked in the mirror and saw how much taller she was. What a thrill that must have been!! Thanks for praying, and thanks for continuing to pray as she recovers at home. She’s got a great network of friends and family to stay with her and other church friends will be making dinners and things.

Have a great weekend, and “see” you next week when I answer the question... was she a sloth all weekend or was she productive? You’ll have to wait to find out! ;-)

Blessings,
Kristin

Happy Anniversary to us!

2008-11-18T15:08:00.000-08:00

Hi, all!

Yesterday (the 17th) was our one-year wedding anniversary. We made it! And we still like each other! LOL! We went out to dinner at Outback Steak House (where we went on our first date, but not the same location) and had a nice relaxing evening of talking and just being together. Just for the record, Outback is one of two places (that I’ve found so far) where I will eat steak. It’s got to melt in my mouth, or I’m going for the chicken. ;-)

Over the weekend, Mom and I went to the sewing and craft whatever I called it in my last post. I bought a couple patterns and Mom got some embroidery do-hickey thing. She and I went to 4 free seminars (three of which we went to the same ones) and got lots of creative ideas that we may or may not ever use. ;-) I took notes, and hopefully I’ll remember where they are when I want them. ;-) Mom also bought me a Christmas - Birthday - Christmas - Birthday present - a portable design wall!! It’s not as big as tablecloths tacked to my wall, but I can collapse it and / or transport it, the duct tape won’t dry out and lose its sticky, and I don’t have to use a stepstool to access the top 3 rows. Pretty good deal! :-) Bill and I put it together Sunday night and I’ve even put stuff on it. Sunday I went to a stamp / scrapbook club (I got 4 pages almost done which is four more pages than I’ve done this entire year). I didn’t get home until after 7:30, so that didn’t give me much time to get myself set up at the sewing machine and do something productive before bedtime. Last night was the anniversary dinner :-) and then tonight I have errands to run, dinner, and then the evening is almost over but I could still probably get some seams ripped out before bedtime. At least that will be something. Tomorrow I should be able to get sewing. Not that I know how I’m going to approach my compass issue, but I have one last ditch effort in mind before I either do them over (smaller, and still paper piecing) or use a totally different block that’s a ship (traditional piecing, and I’ve made the block before for placemats for Bill).

Bill continues to enjoy his job, even starting the second week. ;-) The bus seems to be working out well for him. It may take a little longer in some cases, but not all. Plus he doesn’t have the stress of driving, either, so that’s worth a lot.

I haven’t talked about my job much. Now that the machinist are back to work, the work is starting to come in to us in bigger bunches, so I’ll have to remember soon how to handle high gear (the rumor is the next couple days, hee hee) and things have been pretty steady here for a while. The vanpool that I’ve been taking since May is still working out great, even if I do have to get up at 5:00am. Just don’t expect a whole lot of conversation from me at that hour, that’s all. ;-)

That’s about all I have, except for an update on my friend Karen’s surgery from her brother:

“Physically Karen is doing fine. She has had periods of being very confused and combative. It has been concerning. The hospitalist, neurologist, psychiatrist, orthopedic surgeon, and her primary care physician have seen her. They are not sure what the problem is. They have given her some medication to make her sleep and are hoping that while she sleeps her brain will 'reboot'. We'll see tomorrow.”

I can tell he’s concerned because this is the fifth status email and all the other ones had an underlying sense of humor, and this one seems pretty straight. :-( Please keep praying.

Blessings,
Kristin

Curses!! Foiled again!! and other updates

2008-11-14T11:26:00.000-08:00

Just when I was getting so I didn’t care if my points were even close to matching on the compass blocks and I could call them done... they don’t square up! I was suspecting this might happen since I could either make the circle part match up or the center, but not both. I can’t get a 1/4” out of any side and have everything else cooperate. Soooooooooooooooooo.............. as I see it, I have two options. One is to not use them in this project and set them aside for something else. The other is to trim around the compasses and appliqué onto another piece. I figure by trimming, I’m not trying to stitch through the seams. Every once in a while I think ahead. ;-) I don’t relish the thought of satin stitching around these four circles - it’s going to slow me way down - but that’s life. I must have been in a good mood last night again because I didn’t want to chuck out all my sewing stuff. I guess I’m finally giving myself some slack that this stuff is not easy and I shouldn’t pretend that it is and that I should get it down in the first four blocks. Or the meds are working. ;-) I’m a little slow on the uptake and very impatient, so I should know that things aren’t going to come out perfect the first (or fourth) attempt.

I spent part of my morning installing (and troubleshooting) software to get my work calendar to write to my phone. I keep pretty much everything in that calendar, so it will be nice to have that handyso when I go to make appointments, I know if I have the time free or not (I gave up trying to cram my Palm Pilot into my purse a while ago). I can also make my own ringtones and transfer pictures with this software, but not from work. ;-) I have a program on my home computer that lets me slice and dice songs and create sound clips or cut out parts of songs (I used it EXTENSIVELY for our wedding music last year to meet time requirements on songs I HAD to have in the wedding), so that will be cool to make other music into ringtones. :-)

Bill continues to like his job, even though he’s now been to two meetings back to back and the bus dumped everyone off at the middle of the line and were told that was the end of the line and they all had to get off. WHAT? Same bus route he’s taken all week. I think the driver was just being a poo-head. ;-)

My friend Karen is in surgery as I write this (see 11/103 post)... she went into the OR about 7:45am PST, and is expected to be in there almost 8-1/2 hours. I won’t still be at work when she gets out and won’t have computer access for most of the weekend, so it’s a bummer that I won’t know anything concrete until Sunday night or Monday when I can check my email (her brother is sending updates). Continued prayers appreciated.

Tonight before Bill gets home I get to sew my two tablecloths together. YAY! If I get that done and he’s still not home, I might try to take the tack nails out of the wall so I can put up my new design wall. WOO HOO! Have pushpins, will travel.

More next week... we have a busy weekend with my parents, but probably not anything exciting enough to blog about, so I’ll have to find a few less boring things to chatter on about on Monday or Tuesday (good luck with that).

Blessings!!
Kristin

Today's update and prayer request

2008-11-13T12:29:00.000-08:00

Hi, all!!

Just wanted to share the news that I found 2 52x70 tablecloths to put on my wall! YAY! On has grapes and one has Santa, but I don’t think it’s going to matter from the back. ;-) and for $7.50 for the two of them! Rock on! Now I just have to stitch them together so they’re 104x70 (a sideways wall - how about that?) and get the nails out of the wall holding up the old one [pieces] and tack up the new one. Hey, speaking of tacks... I wonder if pushpins would be easier than nails? Hmmmm..... certainly easier to pull out when I have to vacate or relocate the wall.

In the meantime when I’m now sewing, I’m picking apart blocks so I can have my picky way with the fabrics that go into the blocks (and incorporate some other fabrics from the line). I’ve come to the conclusion that I am going to have quite a bit leftover (unless I want to make a colossal quilt - and I don’t) so I may make a lap quilt in the same fabric line with what I have left over. Maybe a rail fence since most of what I have are 2x4 pieces (finished) in what I have left over. But that’s after I make pillows and things, of course (maybe even out of rail fence to make life easier on myself). Gotta have those decorative pillows, you know. And maybe I can use some in trim on pillowcases that coordinate (I might have some of the border fabric left over to do that). Such grand plans, such little motivation. But, I have other tasks at hand, so I need to stop rambling about how gorgeous all this is going to be and have it be a disappointment to, me and to whomever is picky enough to say “yuck.” ;-)

I know I say this every day, but I hope I can get some sewing done tonight. I’m only making a couple small stops tonight after work (which I really could do tomorrow, but I’d rather get them out of the way) and since Bill’s not going to be home about 6:30 (based on yesterday since he was on normal hours), I should have sometime to “play” before he gets home.

Weather conditions in Renton, Washington: If you don’t like the weather, wait five minutes. Rain, clouds, sun, rain... should make for an interesting commute tonight. I’m so glad I’m in a vanpool.

Last but not least... please pray for my friend Karen. She’s undergoing back surgery tomorrow to straighten her spine. She’ll be in surgery for eight hours (ugh). Also pray for her finances. She is a missionary and though she has funds for out-of-pocket expenses, she expects that all of that will get spent. I know she would covet your prayers for her surgery, recovery, and finances. Thanks!!!

I hope to report next time that the compass blocks are done and I’m sewing my wall together. :-)

Blessings!!
Kristin