Thursday, December 31, 2009

New Years

freak me out. There's so much hope and happiness about a new year. I'm always worried I won't have packed the tree up on time and catch bad juju for the next year. I know that's an easy fix, but this being off thing is like a terminal disease. It just saps you of your strength the longer you are off! I've gotten so sorry...or well...sorrier. But I did managed to pick up the little decos scattered through the house this am when I got up (ah hem...10:30ish). D got the 2 boxes our decos go in out of the storage room, so I have no real excuse not to do it today. I'll think real hard and try to come up with one right after I post here.

Since I last posted, I've been a busy little bee. Or maybe I've posted since I've done some of this, but I didn't talk about it, so it still counts.

1. We, J and I, drove to the Miss'ippi/Lousyanna line on the 21st to fetch her son P who lives in TX with his dad most of the time. Remember she works with D as a part timer...those kinds of moms don't rake in the cash, esp. while they are still in college. So I have seen a few things on the way and back again. Like this:
There is a town called "Chunky." Reckon all skinny folks live there?

And another thing about Miss'ippi, they like first names as town names. Weird. We drove through Jackson, pased Brandon, saw Flora and Edwards, passed by Flora, and I half expected the next exit to be Fauna...but it wasn't. I think it was Pearl.

I saw and crossed the mighty Miss'ippi. Didn't pass out. I have a thing about bridges. I am phobic of them....seriously. Scared to death of them. But I made it over this one. Just don't ask me to drive in the Charleston from Savannah. WON'T DO IT! That bridge is high, it curves, and you can't see around it. To top it off, we wound up stopped on the damn thing with DUMP TRUCKS! I just knew we were all going to die. D-I-E! I cried on that bridge. But NOT this one:


I also visited the meanest gas station in Lousyanna. They wouldn't even put my little post cards in with their mail. Besides, it said "FOOD MART" on the outside, but it was really a "BOOZE MART" on the inside. I bought my 4 little LA postcards and fairly ran back to the car. They wuz mean, even on a Sunday.


And as weird as Miss'ippi was about first names, Lousyanna was just as unimaginative. Here is a sampling of the towns we saw on the exit with the mean gas station:
Really, a mound AND a delta...in LA, really?? Who'da thunk?

The next day, J and P came over to bake cookies. We were all so messed up from the 12 hour trip that I only managed to make choc. chip, but we made cookies all the same.

Oh, and I bought a new car. :D It's a used 2010 Ford Fusion with a blue paint job, leather seats, a moon roof, a 6 cd player, and it GOES with it's happy 6 cylinder heart. We couldn't be happier. We're still missing a few things to have it perfect (like a front tag bracket), but I keep harrassing the fellow that sold it to us at RiverTown Ford, so I hope that we'll get it all taken care of soon.

We've also been to Fantasy in Lights again, but this time we had a real live little one to share it with. P had a fantastic time and was the quietest I've ever heard that kid the WHOLE RIDE! And he sat still. That in and of itself is a miracle next to the loaves and fishes. He is a wiggle worm.

Then we've also been to Chuck-E-Cheese's. I felt like a 7 year old all over again. I played skee ball and all the little coin eating games. The pizza tasted a little like sugar was put in the crust (prolly was). But P and D had so much fun. You would have thought D was 7 too. The boys played some Johnny Nitro comic game for like an HOUR. J and I kept feeding them coins and starting them back up when they were killed. When we ran out of coins, we had all played, and we made it through 2 of the comics games and were in the third one. A good time was had by all. P even gave us some new fridge decos in the form of three spin art pieces he and his mom made with a gift from santa.

OH and we all 4 had a silly string war on our playground the night before we went to see the lights. The grown ups were out of string pretty quickly, but P saved his up for a sneak attack.

So, that's a fair account of how I've spent my last few days and weeks. Hope all is quiet and peaceful tonight as the ball drops or wild out and party hardy if that's more your style. We'll be out and about tonight at the bars downtown to watch everyone get really trashed and have a good time ourselves.

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

THE WORST GIFT EVAR


MVI_4683
Originally uploaded by venutian_beauty
If you love me, you'd never get me the thing I avoid like the plague. Just sayin'.

A pap smear? Really.

Umm no. I'll take a wad of cash instead.

Friday, December 18, 2009

Random Stitches


And now for something completely different...

Sewing!

I've been a little blue as of late because I've wanted to sew. Only sewing would make me happy. Sew sew sew sew. But my little $54 brother sewing machine was having NONE of this sewing thing. I'd bought it a few years ago at Walmark on the Black Friday crazy sale. I sewed it to death. Made all sorts of crazy things on it and never paid much attention to it. I blew out the fuzz balls every now and then that lived in the bobbin case, but nothing serious. Well, it's always had personality issues. It'll work for a little while and then snap every thread I put in it. I had enough of it and called to see about getting the stupid thing serviced. It would have cost $69.99, and it wouldn't be ready until after the new year. UM NO. I want to sew RIGHTTHISFRIGGINMINUTE!

Enter Saint D. He got to thinking in the car that the stipid little $54 machine wasn't really worth the $69 it was going to cost. And I wanted to sew RIGHTTHISMINUTE! So he asks, "why don't we just buy you a new one? There's one on sale at the store for cheap."

I'm sorry, was there a question?

YES! Due to some packaging error at Joann's, we got the nicer of the machines I'd wanted for the price of the baseline machine. Someone at the factory was sticking the wrong machine in the wrong box. SCORE for me. The machine was marked at $128, and I purchased a few half yards of fabric (like 8) plus a by the bolt package of fusiable web interfacing. Our final total was only $111. Granted, we used some coupons and my teacher's discount, but DANG. That was a steal. I kinda felt guilty that I snatched it at such a fabu price.

Enter J and today. She is a friend who works with D, and she's a sewer. We like to get together and make these cute, simple bags. It's her pattern, and she's planning to make up a billion of them to sell at craft fairs. We work as a team. She does all the PITA parts like cutting and ironing, and I do all the sewing. She HATES to sew in the bottoms of the bags, so that is all me. She brought over a stack of them that only needed the bottoms sewn in, and that's what I set myself to doing. Then she had another stack that had already been cut and only lacked the iron-on interfacing. She ironed them on, and I stiched them up. We were our own little sweat shop. I only poked/tore my fingers up once that required a bandaid out of all 22 bags we made today. 4 of them were mine to keep. It was a good day.


If you look at that pic, the top four are mine. You can only really see the top 3 because my Geisha one is squished under the vintage santa print.

And that brings up another issue. I found a new quilt shop in town. Well, new to me. It's right behind my house!!!! Like if I weren't a giant fat kid and a scardy cat, I could walk to it! I'd have to cross like 8 lanes of traffic to get there at one point, but I could technically walk there. That's the place that we found the vintage santa print and the skunk print. J is a HUGE fan of skunks (no idea why...), and she had a duck when she saw it. It's really quite cute. I liked it. We made her a bag straight away when we got home.

So, that's what I spend this fine Friday night doing. A nice cozy night by the Singer and good company. OH, and pizza. And a great torte that didn't look 'sactly like the photo because I can't follow simple directions. It still tasted mi-t-fine though.

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Oriented

I have been doing a bit of navel gazing today, and I was inspired to post. I thought all this up in the shower as I washed my hair. Seems that's when I get my best ideas these days.

All my life, as I was growing up, I thought I was straight. Just one thing for me...easy, relatively uncomplicated.
But then I went to college, and I fooled around with other types. I found that I liked more than just one type.
And now I'm out of college, and I'm still fooling around on the weekends. And I find that simply calling myself Bi isn't cutting it. I thought for a while that it would; I even loved the idea from Miz Violet to make a shirt that proclaimed my bi-ness, but I don't think that covers it all anymore.
I've thought about the label I'd like to wear on this blog, and I've tossed straight and bi out the door. Now I've been thinking about being tri, but that sounds a little narrow (only 3) and it also sounds desperate (try anything once).
SO what I think I'll call myself now is poly.

There. I've said it. I'm POLYCRAFTUAL!

I knit. I spin. I crochet. I dye. I sew. I bake. I love to make stuff.

My mother should have always known what I was. She taught me most of what I know. My father might be ashamed, but he always has been - no big change there.
My boyfriend won't be surprised when I come out to him because he's always been there for me. He even likes to watch!!!! Ever since I've started bringing girls home to craft with me, he's been all eyes and ears when I'm fooling around. You've never seen a better fetcher when you're all tangled up in yarn or stuck at the sewing machine for hours trying to get 1 damn hem straight.

I figure now's as good a time as any, I thought I'd come out to all my friends and admit that 1 craft or hobby just isn't enough for one girl. Hell, two or three aren't either! I'm up for all the crafty love I can stand. March loud and proud ladies and gentlemen! We are POLYCRAFTUAL, and we are happy to say it!

***Nearly died laughing as I typed this entry by the way. I wrote this in a spirit of silly happiness and do not mean to be disrespectful to anyone who has really had to come out and tell his/her family something painful. I do not mean to mock you with this post. I was shooting for funny.

Saturday, December 12, 2009

As promised


MVI_4428
Originally uploaded by venutian_beauty
A rather poor quality vid, but it's still funny!

My Fridays

I have a confession to make. I've been busy doing fun stuff and living a really full life these last few weeks. We have a new friend who wants to be as good a friend to us as we always are, and we've got a new bar.

I just have to channel Toby Keith and say, "I love this bar. It's my kinda place!"



We have finally found the gay bar in Columbus, and while I'm not gay, it's about the most fun you can have with most of your clothes on. Rilly.



And the costumes are FANTASTIC!!! I would just love to make friends with one of the girls so that I could help make them.


So from mine to yours, Have a Happy Holiday...no matter who you are or who you love!


ps I'm uploading a video on my flickr right now...it's a trip!