Welcome to my office... (Explicit due to excess enthusiasm)

On Christmas eve I completed a real life sewing pattern, the first ever.  Today I created a sewing desk where my sewing machine can permanently reside and have located my sewing Mount Everest, McCall's 4769.

Yes.  I have gotten REALLY enthusiastic REALLY FUCKING FAST.  All because of this child's apron.

The pink zigzag trim:  I fucking invented that shit.

I have sewn shit before.  I have made two quilts.  I am short so I have hemmed the shit out of all kinds of pants.  I have sewn a chemise and skirts to wear at the renaissance festival.  I have made pillow cases and curtains.  None of these items involved any kind of pattern.  I have bought patterns before, opened them and thought "What the FUCK?!" despite the "It's so Easy, it's Simplicity" assurance on the front of the packet.  This summer my friend Emily got some instructions from her grandma and helped me get started sewing an apron, and I discovered that one merely has to follow the instructions and the shit will magically come together.  I have yet to finish that first apron, due to complications involving my seam ripper going missing.  But this recent apron has given me whole new hope.  I have done it, and I have done it all by my self.

And now I have a SWEET sewing station which I have already started to call my office:

I even have a thread holder-majig which is actually a repurposed library drawer which up until now has only been used to prop up a window every now and then:

I have to build up my stamina and know-how before attempting McCall's 4769.  I cut out the pieces just now to Simplicity 3881, version C.  We'll see how that one goes, but it looks like a piece of fucking cake.

I also recently crocheted the cutest hat that ever existed, but gave it away before I could take a picture.

Close Encounters (of the Randy kind)

Me: Hey [patron], you need help putting anything on hold?
Patron: Yeah, I'm looking for the new of the Kris Longknife series.
[I look it up and discover that we don't have the newest one, and show patron this]
Patron: Ok...I'm in charge of some new missiles that were discovered hidden in San Antonio.
Me: Oh, really?
Patron: Yeah, and I just discovered that my superior is the lady that plays on Murder She Wrote.
Me: Angela Lansbury?
Patron: Yep, she's here restoring an old family home.  But they don't want me around because I have the missiles.
Me: Yeah, I can see that.  Have you already studied the missiles to find out what kind they are since they've been discovered?
Patron: That's what I'm doing right now.  That's why I'm here.  We are going to test them in the desert of Nevada.
Me: You better watch out because somebody might be trying to take you out.
Patron: They can't.  I can detonate the missile and it can be in D.C. instantaneously, and the amount of explosives on the tip of this pen [motioning to my pen] can destroy an entire city.
Me: So what are you going to do with the missiles after you study them?
Patron: Sell them.
Me: Who are you going to sell them to?  Don't sell them to any hostile countries.  Don't sell them to Cuba.
Patron: I won't.  But Cuba is part of Atlantis, the lost continent anyway.

At this point a librarian called on the phone from across the room to save me, but I totally admit that I was asking him questions because I was bored.  He has a ready answer for everything, always does.

Sappy embroidery

As it turns out, when you only work part-time and don't attend school or watch television you have a heck of a lot of time for delightful activities that you never had time for before.  This is what I created yesterday from a pattern I had prepared about 6 months ago:

I made the pattern by printing out the text in a font I liked on plain white paper.  Then I printed out some graph paper with the tiny boxes and traced the words on that by drawing an x in each applicable box.  The graph paper was a guide to the spacing and stitching pattern on cloth.  I learned during this process that you need to print out the text of the original bigger than you want it all stitched out, because the tiny box graph paper is still bigger than the little stitch boxies on cloth.  All I need is one of those pretty oval frames to put it in.  It inadvertently became a companion piece to this one I embroidered before we were married, as I somehow chose the same color for the text of both:

That one was freehand.  I got inspired by Jenny Hart one day and cranked it out using some embroidery techniques I googled.

Although I am impressed with how these turned out, embroidery/cross-stitch is not my poison of choice.  Knitting, you're still my number one, babe.  At least until I rustle me up some chickens and honeybees, or if I stick with banjo playing long enough get y'know...skilled.

Bread fail (again)

Looks like a brick, and when I hit Oliver with it he said "ow".

Bread is always a fail for me.  I think I must offend the dough somehow, but at what part of the breadmaking process I have no clue.  Maybe I offend the dough during the kneading, when I put my hands in all of its little pudgy crevices.  Maybe during rising when I either shove it in the oven before the yeast has fully performed its duty, or leave it too long languishing in a hot room until it starts to fall, defeated.

Someday I will figure this out, and then I will be a bread MASTER.

Simplicity in 13 measures

1. Did the dishes by hand today.  It was satisfying and it saved some electricity, plus the dishes look cleaner.  I get to appreciate my prettiful Fiestaware plates more than just eating off them.

2.  Yesterday made Danish wedding cookies which are/were dangerously delicious.  I ate about 12 of them and threw the rest away to banish the temptation.

3.  Cleaned the whole apartment yesterday in a single hour of determined frenzy.  It all started after I washed the dishes by hand in preparation for my IHOP pancake recipe.  I was done cleaning at almost lunchtime, so I didn't make the pancakes after all.  Meatball sandwich.

4.  Bought some fresh millet bread, organic apricot jam and loose-leaf chai tea at Central Market yesterday.  It made for an outstanding breakfast today.

5.  Trying out this recipe--I've got two loaves rising.  I've had the recipe printed for weeks, but just bought some more local honey.

6. Went to the park and marveled at the Medina River this morning, and felt like a pilgrim at Tinker Creek, even though I've never read Pilgrim at Tinker Creek.

7. Resolved to try and learn Spanish after all--give it a good go.

8. Almost done knitting my Grandma's swallowtail shawl.  Discovered I enjoy nupps.

9. Looking forward to the end of school and beginning of leisure.

10. Decided we will buy a house this year since we are both finishing school.  This dear hope all rests on the prospect of either or both of us snagging full time jobs.

11. I am all set to graduate this December.  I applied to be a children's librarian, but we'll see if I get the job.

12. Been off work for four days and haven't watched any trash television whatsoever, only Survivors on Netflix.

13. Witnessed and documented on film some top-notch feline hilarity.  The Christmas tree didn't think it was so funny.

Rudimentary television cover

 

I have improvised a solution to the clash of opposing viewpoints in my apartment.  The question: What do you do when you are morally opposed to trash television and the zombie-like trance that too much television stimulates, and you would rather get rid of the television altogether but you are married to a total screen-a-holic who will never back down?  The answer: Television cover!  For now my television cover consists of some stash cloth draped over the thing, but I am already quite impressed with it; it seems to have cured the living-room-black-hole effect.  This project will involve my sweet sewing skillz once the semester (and graduate school altogether!!!!!) is over.

 

Wow!  Peaceful!  Cozy! 

Meeting thoughts

Q: What do you get when you cross a Baptist and a Catholic?
A: A Quaker, apparently.

A little religious humor after the long writing absence.  It is wildly amusing to me, though it would make no sense to anyone else.

So, I have been to two Quaker meetings thus far.  During the first one I had my cell phone in my purse and it was on silent, but I could not stop worrying about it running out of batteries and breaking the silence with the continual beeping.  This didn't happen, though I couldn't relax nevertheless.  This morning I made a point to leave the cell phone in the car.  As a result I was much more relaxed and was able to center down in the freeing silence.  I liked the vocal ministry this morning: someone said not to forget the Spices of life.  S for simplicity, P for peace, I for integrity, C for community, E for equality and S for stewardship.  I knew the Quaker testimonies of Simplicity, peace, integrity and equality but did not know that they included community and stewardship.  It was a pleasant reminder.

I have been thinking a lot about community lately, more specifically the ineffectiveness of virtual community.  Despite the availability of so much technology people, as social creatures, still need the companionship of other people face to face.  I have resisted this for so long.  For instance, I attended a college of nearly 50,000 students for four years but made less than 5 friends.  I didn't join any clubs or teams, and felt constantly lonely and out of place.  I guess I found it hard to be with others for fear of being judged inadequate; my parents were very judgmental growing up so I thought everyone else was too.  I am also naturally shy, and I have had to constantly work on being more open, trusting and direct with people.  It's an ongoing battle with me.  I liked the reminder that community is as important as those other virtues.  Social networking websites do not fulfill the need for community.  I'm considering canceling my Facebook for this reason, and also because the site rates poorly on the Integrity scale according to reports.

The stewardship issue also has been on my mind.  By stewardship I mean taking care of those people, animals and possessions that I do have, being thankful for them and not seeking to own more than I need. This will also extend to doing my best for the land I will live on in the future, and doing my part not to ruin the environment.  I can definitely, definitely improve in this area.

This book has been very inspiring.  It's a collection of essays about how modern people have broken free from the modern over reliance on technology and the need to own more, more, more.  Most of the essays are by plain Quakers, Amish or Mennonite people.  I couldn't go as far as these essay writers (I am very thankful for movie making technology that put Harry Potter on an IMAX screen for me!  And obviously I am blogging right now), but it is uplifting to know that there are alternative "subversive" lifestyles that a discontented person could adopt.  I could cut down on my computer usage, for a start.  There's also something special about creating things with your hands, and so I continue knitting, spinning and crochet. 

(Gonna turn off the computer now)

Kitten

Somehow I now have a kitten.  In addition to a dog and an adult cat in our 2 bedroom apartment.

This kitten was trapped underneath the library for almost a week, and finally found her way out.  Couldn't resist that cute face.  I took her home the day before starting my Capstone exam week, and she infinitely improved my otherwise bleak week.

I haven't figured out what to name her.  I was thinking Susan B. Anthony (Suby for short), or Lucretia Mott (Luca for short).

Wow...

This week needs to be OVER already.  Sheesh.

Thoughts evoked by a library Bible

I went to Castroville Public Library today and got a library card.  It was meant to be a ploy to talk to the library people so I could fulfill some of the requirements of a homework assignment I am working on, but that didn't end up happening.  I was looking through the stacks and spotted several titles just sitting there saying "read me!" that are caught up in tremendous holds lists at San Antonio Public Library.  So I also thought that CPL library card would be advantageous if I ever want to read something that I can't get quickly enough through SAPL.

The library is very sweet and cozy.  They don't have all that many books, but they sure do have the charm.  They have pictures and quilts on the walls.  It's all very cute.  Then I noticed that they have a little stand that at my library in SA uses to hold our Oxford English Dictionary.  Their stand was used to hold a big dictionary and a bigger Bible.  I suppose this disturbed me a little, as I have conditioned myself to be suspicious of Christian teachings and even more leery of creepy followers who think it is their duty to preach at me.  I mean...they had the Bible placed at the same level as the Dictionary.  One is a book of Hebrew mythology and the other is a solid listing of linguistic facts.

I suppose this isn't a very charitable thought, but I can't help the workings of my anti-Bible brain.  I had to consciously stop myself from proceeding with the thought and remind myself that Christianity is a valid spiritual expression which keeps many people in the world feeling fulfilled [and restrained].  And that to many people [I have seen evidence of this] the message of the Bible is greater than error-free spelling and correct word usage.  I have to remind myself to respect the trappings of Christianity every day, in fact lately I have been trying to read the Bible in small doses.

My major problem with traditional Christianity is this: I don't believe in Hell or Satan because I don't think that a loving God would punish feeble humans for an eternity for minor wrongdoings that they committed in a mere 70-or-so years on Earth.  I don't like portrayals which give God a human sprinkling of emotions and pettiness.  I don't think that any form of worship is the One Truth, I think they are all valid.  Because I think all religions are valid I don't see any need for proselytizing. 

I've found it difficult in the past to be a person who believes in God but rejects major principles of the most widespread religion in my area.  It's isolating and a bit disheartening.  I did the whole Wiccan thing as a teenager, but largely gave that up because it required a lot of rituals that I was too embarrassed to perform.  Then I labeled myself plainly Pagan, but was still too lazy and embarrassed to do any rituals.  Then I thought of myself as more of a Deist, but thought there's no point in trying to know a god who creates the world and then unconcernedly steps away.  So then I thought I was mostly a Nothing who believes in Something.  It's just odd.  But then just because so far I'm a Nothing doesn't mean I have to give up Everything. 

I have lately found that reading in the Bible about the life of Jesus is very inspiring; I love the lessons about treating others kindly and doing good works that benefit others without expecting returns.  I like the thought of lived religion.  Living your beliefs.  The Bible was written by men, but may have been inspired by God.  I don't know.  I don't take it literally, and maybe I interpret it in a way that is unorthodox...but I suppose everyone takes it the way that inspires the most good in them.  I'm also reading the Bhagavad Gita at the moment which I find significantly more intriguing.

The speaker in the Bhagavad Gita is the Hindu Krishna, the incarnate son of God.  Many of his teachings are similar to the teachings of Jesus.  My favorite verse thus far:

 "However men try to reach me,

 I return their love with my love;

whatever path they may travel,

it leads to me in the end."

Bhagavad Gita 4.11

What I'm trying to say with all of this philosophizing, is that I like to take my inspiration from different sources.  And I must learn not to discount any source due to a personal prejudice, however just or unjust.  Or discount a source just because it doesn't line up with ideas about what I should or should not be reading.  Just take things as they come, and enjoy what they have to offer.

Overdue for a post...

Facebook makes me not want children.  Yeah.  Here's why:

1. Posts about being headbutted by a two year old.

2. Posts about cleaning up vomit.

3. Potty training foibles.

4. Posts about staying up all night with two sick kids.

5. Posts about nursing ALL NIGHT.

I seem to be one of the last in my graduating class that is still unburdened, which I find sad because we are only 25/26.  Yes, I respect your choice (or accident) to have a child.  It doesn't make you any more worthy than someone else.  And your posting scary things about your children on Facebook make me less likely to join you in the 'hood.  Motherhood.

Alright, that takes care of commentary on this morning's assault.  Holy shit.

So I don't want to join the mother cult any time soon.  I love having time for hobbies and soul searching.  I think I'm going to join the Quakers, but have never been to a meeting yet.  Been working every Sunday.  I did a drive-by scope-out of the meeting house yesterday just as a lot of people were arriving for some unknown event which was not advertised on their out-of-date website.  Anyway....I WILL be going to meeting when I have a Sunday off.  I would love to feel a sense of community and belonging again, so I hope it works out.

Agent Smith at Amy's Ice Cream?

1.  Ready for autumn, tired of sweating all the time.  Air conditioners are dying from exhaustion.  I like to have blankets strewn over me while I sleep (I like my neck covered to guard against vampires), and lately I have been sleeping with either sheet or nothing at all over me.  And we have the A/C on--am I going menopausal already?  Sheesh.

2.  I've been smelling my sweaty ass self all day.  It's mostly frustrating because I know the smell actually comes from the failure of my homemade laundry detergent coupled with that pungent mildew smell that comes when your husband turns off the dryer when the clothes are still wet and leaves them to sit in there all night.  A smell that resembles sweat.  I don't mind that sweat smell when I'm actually sweaty.  It's not really my laundry detergent's fault.  It's still better than the time kerosene spilled on my clean laundry and it took about 20 washes over a couple of months to get the smell out.

3.  Tomorrow is my grandma's 80th birthday party (go Gramma!!) and I have not finished the shawl I wanted to make for her.  The nupps are slowing me down, though I am really impressed by them.  But it's okay, because her actual birthday is on September 20 and I can give it to her on the actual day.  My cousin bought my grandma a hardcover copy of Strega Nona by Tomie dePaola which is to be signed by all of the grandchildren.  It is her favorite children's book, and she read it to us dozens of times.  She was an elementary school librarian for a long time.

4. Every time someone comes to my apartment and spots my cat they say, "what's wrong with your cat's tail?!"  It's perfectly fine...he just has some Manx ancestors, that's all.  Gatsby Cabbit.

5. I made some delicious banana nut orange cranberry bread this week after being spurred to industry by the sight of black bananas.

6. Got a handheld GPS for my b-day to facilitate more geocaching.  This will work better when it isn't sweltering outside.  It's soooo hooooooooooot.  Sometimes in the early morning the temperature gets into the upper 70s.  I am sick of summer.  Sick, sick, sick of summer.  Seasons, pleeeeeeeeeaaaaase change!

7. My hair is so sweaty right now.  I'm listening to an audio book in which it is winter in the South.  Unfortunately this does not make cool weather come any faster in real life.

8. I just realized that I drink about 2 quarts of ice tea a day on days when I make ice tea.  I drink so much tea that the pitcher does not last into the second day usually.  Once I went to a restaurant in Minnesota with my mom and the waiter asked what we wanted to drink.  We both said, "tea".  The waiter asked, "hot or iced?"  Dude........really?  Does hot tea even freakin' exist?!  Other Southerners would think me unorthodox in that I don't like "Sweet Tea" (capitalized to denote proper respect) in that I like my tea sweetened, but I don't want to drink straight sugar.  I have to ask for unsweetened at restaurants, or half sweet and half unsweet.

9. I haven't made any tea in a couple of days.  I'm turning into a hummingbird.  It's been nothing but diet Big Red. I have a friend who drinks a Big Red every day...I guess for years.  Now that's loyalty. 

10.  My brother delivered and assembled exercise equipment for George Strait a few months ago.  He did not give him a tip.  Oh George.  We used to lease some land from some of his extended family when I was younger, and I used to think that maybe one day we would see George Strait driving around on his uncle's land in a battered pickup truck.  It never happened.  And now I know he doesn't tip.  I still like your music, George.  But I am disillusioned. 

11.  The absolute best ice cream ever gifted by God to mere mortals is Amy's Ice Cream.  There is one location in San Antonio, which is about 30 miles away from my apartment.  I rarely go to the Quarry.  It's too far, and it's where rich people shop on the weekends, and apparently there are a lot of rich people because there is never any parking upon a Saturday.  So anyway, I went to the Quarry on Wednesday because it's usually deserted on Wednesday and there is a Borders that had a book I needed.  After the book store I tried to go to Amy's Ice Cream.  I determinedly tried to walk right past about 4 men in suits that looked like that guy that says "Mr. Anderson" on the Matrix.  They stopped me from going in.  There were more secret agents inside.  So then I thought, "screw this" and left.  Later that night it occurred to me that when I was in Borders I walked past about 10 suit guys just standing around for no particular reason.  I think I missed out on some kind of celebrity sighting, or at least something that should have been recorded and placed on Youtube.  And I didn't get any ice cream.  Pfft.

Need some acrylic

Yes, need.  Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows comes out on November 19 and I need a Gryffindor scarf.  I can use the same skeins to start my Jayne Cobb hat.  Need.

BFL envy

I think I've gotten too comfortable spinning BFL and merino top.  Last week I bought some corriedale.  It feels rough and my spinning is more uneven than usual.  It's very crinkly and there are little balls of fluff stuck in here and there.  I hope it feels softer after I set the twist, perhaps it has some residue dye.  But anyway...I miss the BFL.

Geocaching

First time geocaching!  Hubby and I went to Quihi, Texas which is a veritable ghost town.  I have lived within 20 miles of it pretty much my whole life, but had never gone there.  We explored an old Alsatian cemetery at the Lutheran church which houses the graves of some of the first settlers to the area.  Many of the epitaphs were written in German.  The cache itself was only large enough to contain a tiny notebook, a stub of a pencil, a (jasper?) red polished pebble, a heart/cross pendant.  I wanted to the pebble since I love stones, so I replaced it with one of the small fabric yo-yos from my purse.  The second cache in Quihi that we went to wasn't nearly as exciting--it was in the parking lot of a bar.  Not worthy of pictures.  Mostly because my camera had lost all power by then.

Everyday sights

I didn't mean to start a photo blog........but I've been taking a lot of pictures lately, for some reason.  Then again, this blog is about little details, as I frequently can't see the forest for the trees.  Anyway, my new years resolution was to take more pictures.  I meant to take pictures of people, but I keep taking pictures of things instead.  Still love them.

I noticed these leaves swept to the curb as I went to my mailbox on Tuesday, couldn't resist taking a picture.  Is it wrong that I bring my camera with me to check the mail?  I have been entirely too aroused by the mailbox ever since I joined Postcrossing.    

For a few minutes every afternoon the sun finds its way through a small space in the canopy of tree leaves above our balcony to form a thin stream in the window through the leaves of my plant.

My little box of postcard joy.  Thought it looked better with an artistic filter. :)

Bookcrossing

I have at last found proof that intelligent life may yet (or used to) exist in Castroville.  I view these signs with the same vigor and expectation as a paleontologist finding fossils.  Proof that life existed in some form an indeterminate length of time ago, but probably no longer exists.  Valiant Bookcrosser of the past, I hope you didn't perish in some sort of ancient asteroid fallout like your reptilian friends.

Expedition

Today I went on an expedition to meet a high school friend for lunch in S.A. and eventually ended up at Half Price Books where I found many wonders of awe and inspiration.  I was looking for The Black Tulip by Alexandre Dumas.  What I found was almost better:  three postcard books (about 60-80 postcards in all!!!!) and some brain food all for the low price of $12.

Also went to my parents' house to scan some postcards and was left admiring this sight:  a horse's big ass.  Her name is Cula.  You can see why.  That pile of crap is some of the many articles of useless garbage that my grandpa buys at auctions for no particular reason.  Once I found a box of about 50 broken umbrellas at his house that he'd bought at an auction.  He lived in a tent when he was a kid for several years during the Depression, and hasn't been able to shed that hoarding mentality.

I also saw this last night, which made me extremely happy.  Reminds me of "sing a song of sixpence, a pocket full of rye.  Four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie."  My pretty swallows, I know that they will leave the nest for good some day soon.  They already fly away all day to catch insects, but they still come back and sleep together as a family at night.  Four young birds and their parents.

Yesterday I hit a sparrow with my car.  How on earth I accomplished this feat, I could not say.  But I did, and it was pitifully sad.  Can you believe I come from a family of hunters?

Productive today...

I have been spinning for about 6 hours straight--very therapeutic and niiiiiiiice after the long break I had from it.  Finished spinning about 6 oz of BFL lace and fingering weight singles, and plied those for 252 yards of sport-worsted weight yarn.  I also still have a significant amount on a bobbin, and I might Andean ply that.  This also needs to be dyed.  Green is my go-to color, but might branch out.  I want to try my hand at the Felicity hat.  This will involve learning to use DPNs.  I haven't knitted a hat before, seems like a good time to try.  With cool weather about 2 months off, yet.  Womp.

Also got a haircut today.  The hairdresser got a bit scissor-happy, and my hair is quite a bit shorter than I had envisioned.  It still looks cute....but short.  It will probably be the right length in 2 months and an inch.  At this moment, when the wind blows I can feel it on my scalp.  This is why I need a hat.  In case my scalp feels too naked. 

Problems that reading can prevent:

Patron: "Hi, my son accidentally logged off of his computer as soon as he got on."

Me: "I'm sorry, the only thing you can do is just sign him up again." (There is a 1.5 hour wait).

Patron, her face becoming cumulonimbus: "WHAT!  That is not fair, he just made a mistake!  That's not right!"

Me: "When you click "done" on the computer, a message pops up that says, "Are you sure you want to end your session?"  You have to click "yes" on that before you end your turn.

Patron, becoming more incensed: "HOW CAN YOU HAVE A SYSTEM THAT DOES THIS TO PEOPLE?  HE JUST MADE A MISTAKE!  THIS IS NOT FAIR!"

Me, resisting the urge to perform a massive facepalm: "If you make a mistake and accidentally push "done" on the computer, then another message pops up that asks you if you're sure you are done.  Only if you push "yes" will it close your session.  If you read the message and push "no" because you realized you made a mistake then your session won't end.

Patron: "I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS!  HE JUST MADE A MISTAKE!"

I shrug because I don't know what else I can tell her, and I'm getting mad because she is blaming me for the fact that her son made this dumb mistake.

Patron: "IS THE MANAGER HERE? CAN I SPEAK TO THE MANAGER?!"

Sunday sights

1. 500 miles of smiling white clouds and intense sunshine.
2. Frenzied mass of red, white and blue balloons freed into the sky.
3. Crows.
4. Fresh baked Czech Stop kolaches on the way to my MOUTH.
5. Two new postcards in the mailbox from Sweden and Indonesia!
6.  Driving past Holland.  Texas.  Welkom bij Holland!
7.  North Texas through amber lenses.
8.  Cats wearing clothing.
9.  Wonderful, intelligent, flowing words penned by Anne Bronte.
10. Beloved University of Texas tower glowing in evening sunlight.

Despite being in the car for 5 hours, I would say I had a very nice Sunday!

Birdies

We have been watching a new batch of swallows brewing in the same nest as earlier this year.  The babies have hatched!

This year has been very birdy for me.  If I was to slap an icon on this whole year it would be a bird.  I've been enjoying this nest with different broods of swallows, I watch hummingbirds at my feeder, one bird used to gripe at me if I was sitting on the porch because it felt like I was threatening its nest, I had a bird seed feeder up for awhile until the fat buggers ate all the seeds, I got to pet a chicken, I almost held up Lytle traffic the other day because I was watching a duck family cross someone's front lawn.  I'm quite wingy myself, too.

Wow, just found out today that I might get to keep my job.  I don't know whether to laugh or cry. 

8 Things

8 things that I'm enjoying about learning Dutch so far:

1. I looooove vowels.  Dutch has words with unbelievable numbers of vowels in it.

2. It is sometimes near enough to English to look like a totally decipherable bad text message to me.  Or an LOLcat.  Example: "Wat zei u?" is an actual grammatically correct sentence meaning "What did you say?" Love.

3. The letters k, v, z.  These letters are ignored far too often in English.

4. It sounds cool and foreign.  I have come to realize that I could never learn Spanish because I had no interest in learning Spanish.  Almost everyone here speaks it.  It sounds same ol', same ol' to me.  Dutch sounds different, which therefore makes it interesting and exciting.

5. Guttural "g".  Very fun to say.

6. New phonemes that I haven't got nearly enough use out of in the past.

7.  It is refreshing to be studying another Germanic language as opposed to Latin languages because my native language is in the same language group.  You can definitely see how Dutch and English evolved from the same roots only to diverge due to time and separation. 


8. Many Academic librarians are required to have another Master's degree to pair up with the MLS.  If I were to go after another Master's I would get my degree in History.  Students are usually required to be able to have at least a reading knowledge of a foreign language.  If I do this, this whole Dutch venture would actually serve a purpose rather than just appeasing my childlike sense of curiosity and wonder :P

Fabric Yo-Yos

I made these fabric yo-yos (Exhibit A) just to learn how to make them.  I think they turned out really nice--I will be making more of these in the near future.  Especially since all of my shirts are really cheap, and if I pin them to my shirt it makes my shirt look less cheap and more cute (Exhibit B).

Exhibit A:

Exhibit B:

Austin

Oliver and I drove to Austin last night to see White Ghost Shivers play at the Continental Club at midnight.   There is one word to describe the performance: am-a-zing.

We arrived at the Club at 11:15 to meet my cousin, only to find that the club was at capacity and there was a line outside the door.  It turns out that we had to wait for people to leave before we could go in.  We waited in this line until about 11:50 when we barely squeaked through the door.  It took about 30 more minutes for the band to actually start playing.  I don't need to describe this since there are Youtube videos, but I will say that there were tons of people there dressed in old fashioned frocks, and people attempting to do the Charleston in the cramped space.  I was standing next to a lady with an interesting knitting tattoo.

This was the first time I've been able to see any kind of 1920s revival "bawdville" type band play, and it left me yearning for more!  WILL be  going to see White Ghost Shivers again--hopefully I can fix myself up an old fashioned dress.

Today I went to San Antonio to find me some Dutch learning utensils and came up utterly empty handed.  It turns out that these materials do not exist in San Antonio.  I went to 3 book stores.  Nada.  Had I wanted to learn these far flung languages, I would have been in luck: Irish, Gaelic, Swedish, Swahili, Brazilian Portuguese (!).

Stupid San Antonio.  I continually lose my respect for you.

In crafting news:

I found a sweet dress at a thrift store for $2 that I can shorten.  It looks 1950s-ish.

I also started working on the apron experiment after my friend Emily helped me with basic pattern reading:

I also knitted about 2 rows in the past month.  Slow, slow, slow.

And to wrap up this post, a fail inspired by the recent explosion of the local cricket population:

20 Things : D

1. Wake up early solely for the sake of enjoying my day off.

2. Postcards made it to Ukraine and Finland!

3. Successfully completed C25K workout #1.

4. Cool morning breezes.

5. Interesting blue/purple clouds with occasional sun holes.

6. "Sweet Transvestite" on my iPod.

7. Hummingbirds.

8. Sweet endorphins from workout.

9. Discovered that Rufus can "roll over" with voice command alone.

10. Woke up too early, decided to take delicious mid-morning nap.

11. Handcrafted Blue Star Pilsner Beer and Amber Ale.

12. Free Tuesday @ San Antonio Museum of Art.

13. Imperfection immortalized:  ancient Roman statue's right testicle hangs lower than the left.

14. Spectacular hand-blown glass ceiling.

15. Realized that I enjoy art more for its historical implications and colors rather than any deeper meaning that may be gleaned from it.

16. Enriched stash of post-cards.

17. Tree shadows!

18. Garlic mashed potatoes.

19.  Perfectly brewed ice tea.

20. Not doing the dishes.

Dutch

I have been inspired by reading the Swedish American in Sweden blog that I stumbled on when I was trying to figure out whether the "prison" portrayed in a Swedish movie I saw was legit (it was!).  The blog chronicles the adventures of a young (mostly)-American guy who moves to Sweden just for the heck of it.  I ended up getting stuck in a tractor beam reading post after post after post.  They're pretty funny...and also thought provoking. 

I've harbored the fantasy of moving to a foreign country for a LONG time--probably since middle school.  So anyway, the blog has inspired me not to move to a foreign country (I can't even convince Ollie to move to another state), but at least try to learn the language of my roots and perhaps someday visit a foreign country. 

Since my great grandparents came from Belgium, I have got a powerful hankering to learn Dutch. 

My sweet grandma is very prideful of of our Belgian roots--she has 2 pairs of wooden shoes in her house which I used put on and clack around in often.  She visits Belgium every few years because we still have some cousins who live there.  I did a report about it in middle school and found that it has two national languages:  French and Dutch.  Grandma says the French speaking Belgians are stuck up. 

So, I will learn some words from utterly-useless-in-Texas Dutch regardless of my track record for being flaky about ventures like this.

Learning for the sake of learning.  Love it!

Us and Them

Here is the difference between us and our neighbors distilled into two poignant images:

Our walkway/balcony:

Their walkway/balcony:

Death, destruction and a fantastic hair day.

Gatsby loves (or hates) this BFL roving.

In related news:  Mr. Chicken died today after his fluffy guts were ripped out and strewn across the living room.

By all means ignore my unplucked eyebrow.  Oh the curls!

Images for today

Postcards on top of the fabric I chose for an apron experiment...love that the armadillo one matches perfectly.

Several ounces of sheeny BFL.

Gatsby trying on his "innocent" face when I know he was biting that paper seconds before.

Postcrossing

I just discovered a website called Postcrossing.

This website allows you to send and receive postcards from random people all over the world.  I am positively vibrating with waves of recurring excitement about this.  One of the biggest reasons I'm so enthused is that I have participated in chain letter crap when I was in middle school which promised that after you send your letter allottment you would begin receiving letters from people all over the world.  Of course, the results of those scams never materialised.  But this is a bona-fide honest-to-goodness legitimate website. 

I've already requested five addresses.  I am sending postcards to five young women in Canada, Russia, Czech Republic, Finland, and Ukraine.

The only drawback at this precise moment is that I'm at work instead of at a store buying postcards.  That and the post office is closed on Sunday. 

I think this will be a FANTASTIC way to encourage me to visit more local landmarks.  Here are some places that I am looking forward to visiting around San Antonio at which I can pick up new and interesting post cards:  San Antonio Museum of Art (haven't been since high school), McNay Art Museum, SA Botanical Garden, San Antonio Zoo (I try to go almost every year, it's about time I made that happen again), the Riverwalk, the Alamo (I've only been once!!!), various Spanish missions around town, Witte Museum, state parks. 

I will post pictures of the postcards before I send them.

In other news:  I played with my spinning wheel for about an hour on my porch last night.  It was the first spinning I've done in about a month.  It was marvelous :)

A sad little list of today's thoughts

Looks like winter outside--everything is gray due to the Hurricane Alex induced rains. 

I am learning MARC21 and AACR2 coding.  It's interesting, but I still have a lot of reading to do. 

Last night I let myself watch TV--a show about hauntings on Animal Planet while I knit a few lines of shawl.  Back to knitting.  Which brings me to divulge a new physical fitness low:  knitting those 4 (?) lines made my arm sore.  Yes, indeed. 

Coconut oil.  I bought coconut oil to put on my hair to help it retain moisture.  Today I put too much.  My roots are very oily, but the ends are luxuriously smooth and soft.  Will only use on ends next time.

I have been listening to my Ipod a lot.  I'm tired of my music--even wearying of -dare I say it- Squirrel Nut Zippers.  Put the soundtrack to Garden State and New Moon on hold at the library.

Went to Castroville Public Library today.  There was a mentally handicapped kid singing Tom Jones "She's a Lady" over and over at the top of her (?) lungs.  While I was trying to read a lengthy chapter about following precise cataloging rules.  Tom Jones and AACR2 had a battle.  AACR2 was slain. RIP.

I am still reading the same books I was last week, and haven't finished any.

I find that I am opposed to contractions when I write online.  In real life I feel free to say things in grammatically incorrect phrasing when I am around people who won't know the difference.  I guess it must be amusing or I wouldn't keep doing it....

Holy Crap

I am reading about 5 books right now all at once.  I don't have a good track record about finishing every book I start, but I've been making great progress on them.  Too bad none of them is my book for class that I'm supposed to be reading.  Instead Sookie Stackhouse in large print to make me feel like I read faaaaasssst.

No more progress on Walden.  It increases my dissatisfaction-with-the-world level quite a bit.  I fell into reading a poem by William Stafford the other day about Daniel Boone while helping my brother write an essay (and I hhaaaaaaaaaate poetry, so you gotta know it was short).  One line was, "Children, we live in a barbwire time." 

That line really struck me--not just that pretty much all land in this country is owned by someone, but also that there are so many petty restrictions on everything.  I was at Ross yesterday lounging around by the fitting rooms waiting for Ollie to come back out and observed this scene:  a woman with about five dresses was attempting to enter the fitting room with a pair of Ross shoes in hand.  The fitting room lady stopped her and told her it was against regulations for shoes to be brought into the fitting room.  The lady started arguing, "but how will I know whether these heels are too tall for the dresses?!  I need to see a manager!"  Yeah, the lady was a bit unruly but I could see her point.  I could also see the point of the fitting room attendant, because she doesn't make up the policies but she could damn sure get in trouble for not following regardless of her personal feelings for the matter.  I was a little pissed off that 1) there has to be a policy regarding this mundane unimportant issue, and 2) I live in a time period in which Corporation is King and people have been relegated to useless drones with no power to use their own discretion in even the smallest circumstance.  Everything has to be by the books, by the books.

And I was under the impression that people and the needs of the individual or customer matter more than bureaucratic horse shit.

I give people freebies at the library all the time.  Free prints if the person really needs something but can't find $0.25, free use of my staff computer if someone need something printed out really quickly and there is a long line for the 15 min computer, additional time with books checked out if they exceeded the max # of times a certain item could be renewed.  I feel fortunate that I work in an environment in which I am not closely monitored and I can use my best judgment to help people.  I also keep my mouth shut because I am not sure whether or not I would get in trouble for not following the arbitrary rules that have been set down.

Alrighty--enough of my Barbwire Time rant. 

I really had a lovely morning.  And I don't use the word "lovely" lightly because I'm not British or an aristocrat.  I sat out on my porch with my dog and cat in the shade listening to the light notes of the wind chimes I hung up yesterday while reading my Sookie. 

I love seeing my cat experience what he can of the outdoors because our last apartment didn't have a balcony and he couldn't go outside ever.  Our current apt. has a balcony, but it isn't separate from the walkway to get to the door, so we have to put up a baby gate when our furry babies are out.  Gatsby loves it.  He gets to look at birds, kill insects, feel his hair ruffled by a natural breeze, lie in sun patches (otherwise known as cat traps), hear and smell new things, stick his head through the rails and look down on poor mortals below with that particular regal attitude that all cats possess in mass quantities. 

Yesterday I hung a hummingbird feeder in our tree.  A bird checked it out this morning, but we must not have the sugar water ratio correct because it flew away.  One more thing to do today.

Domestic bliss at its finest.

Tiny house, or thoughts that occurred because I got my ass up early to read Walden

Holy fucking shit.  I was looking into the merits of Tumbleweed Tiny Houses.  The prices are perhaps more laughable than the prices of regular houses, which are already ridiculously expensive.  Hahahahahaha $46,000 for 89 square feet.

If I was going to live in a tiny house it would be a shack of my own construction with a compost outhouse.  I could shower at truck stops.  I could be a squatter on my grandpa's abundant land.

Oliver would shit a fucking BRICK.

Ok, that fantasy was a little extreme.  But I need to definitely look at the merits of building my own house when that time comes (although land is so expensive that it might be NEVER).  I wonder if a person could successfully build a house using colonial building techniques but incorporate modern plumbing and wiring.

Ah goody.  More fodder for my already wild imagination.  I read this about Virgos today:

"Virgo is the sixth sign of the zodiac. It is a feminine sign ruled by Mercury. People born under the sign of Virgo are often idealists. They are intellectual and many are perfectionists. Although Virgos are often shy they have a good sense of humor that endears them to those who love them. Virgos are often athletic and talented in the area of sports. Virgos often have a skeptical and even cynical nature that may leave them prone to depression."

Sigh.  Every instance of that paragraph is true about me, including that part about cynicism and depression.  I always knew I was a child of Hermes (definitely NOT in any Percy Jackson sense....):

So what would Hermes do?  He'd make his own opportunities--make something out of nothing.  I'm about to pull some Elizabeth Bennett shit up in here--to hell with Fanny Price apathy.

I don't know where that burst of industry came from.  I read a quote the other day, "how we spend our days, of course, is how we spend our lives."--Annie Dillard.  I realized that I spend waaaaay too much time spacing out in front of the television in complete absence of thought or responsibility.  So I've made a solemn pact to cut out almost all TV watching.  This has freed up a tremendous amount of time for me to read, think, write, craft, go on walks and what have you.

This morning in the absence of TV I sat on my porch with a cuppa Earl Grey and read some of Thoreau's Walden.  I find Thoreau's sentiments all too parallel with my own, but I can't help but wonder if part of the reason he seems so morally opposed to opulence is because he could not afford those finer things and instead sought to content himself in a zealous rejection of them to make himself feel better about not having them.

I wonder the same thing about myself.  At this particular point in my life I have come to idolize simplicity in living--I would GLADLY take to wrap myself in a shack by a lake and make pert observations all day.  I wonder if I would feel the same way if I could afford a nice house.  Would I feel the same yearning for the pleasures of working hard with my hands and muscles and sinews if I actually enjoyed my job and the former would be less of an escape and more of an exile.

Wow, long post.  Probably convoluted and nonsensical.  The crux is that I need to figure out what I really want instead of tempering those true desires with sad resignations about what I think I can easily achieve or am expected by society to achieve.  Is it wrong to dream big, after all?

Hair revelation (revolution!!)

Ok, so I haven't crafted at all whatsoever this week.  Well, I knit about half a row of the shawl I'm working on.  No spinning.  No crochet.  A fraction of cross stitch.  I stumbled onto a website www.naturallycurly.com and have been furiously reading posts.  Through the magical wonders of the internet I now, after 25 years of uncontrollable frizzies, know how to manage my hair.  Here's a photo of what I usually have to deal with.  It's blurry, but oh well.  This was taken before I knew the magical wonders of eyebrow tweezing, or the mystery of the enchanted hair straightener of fate.

But I swear.  I SWEAR.  As I sit at this very moment I have actual ringlets and not a single HINT of frizz.  I have had five good hair days in a row without straightening.  This is just ASTOUNDING. 

And why was curly hair care such a mystery?  Because my mom's hair is super thin and pin straight.  I didn't discover until high school that if I don't brush my hair while it's drying I get sorta curls.  It never occurred to me before that not to brush my hair.  I used to buy cremes, Frizz Ease, leave in conditioners, mousse, gel, wax and nothing would eliminate frizz completely.  I did discover that I had better chances if I let my hair air dry and not touch it at all while during the drying process.  That was the extent to my knowledge, and I never did get consistent results.

Here is what I do now:  NO shampoo, instead I wash my hair with conditioner by massaging my scalp with the pads of my fingers.  After rinsing that out I put in more conditioner and let it sit on there while I do the rest of my washing.  Then I switch to cool water and rinse the conditioner out.  Then while I'm still standing in the shower with sopping wet hair I scrunch in more conditioner as a leave in treatment, and then about a nickle size amount of honey, and then scrunch in some silicone free gel.  The trick, I learned, is to use products free of sulfates and silicones.  THEN I dry my hair with a t-shirt by plopping.  After the plopping, I just unleash the mane and let it air dry WITHOUT TOUCHING AND WITHOUT BRUSHING.  This sounds like a process, but it actually doesn't take much longer than what I usually do. 

One beautiful aspect of this is that I can sleep on these curls and they are fine the second day.  Ah, I am starting to make peace with my curlies.  No more straight-envy.  What a revolutionary idea.

So far:  fun summer. I give it an A+.

Friday my friend Lizzie and I, along with her parents went to see the brand new off-Broadway musical Young Frankenstein at the Majestic Theater.  Yes, this classic Mel Brooks movie has been turned into a MUSICAL.  I can't say I will be downloading any of the songs, but it was terrifically hilarious to watch it live!  All the songs are dirty, dirty, dirty. 

The lady in front of us kept forcing her husband to play musical chairs with her during the middle of scenes, and then glaring back at my buddy because she was apparently laughing too loud.  The lady said under her breath while giving a death stare, "it isn't even funny."  You could tell she hadn't seen the movie and was pissed that she didn't understand any of the jokes.  She would also get up and leave for 10-15 minutes at a time.  This was all before intermission.  She did not come back for the second half, which left an empty seat in front of me and a wide open view of the stage (and we were ALREADY freakin' close!).  The lady's husband came back and seemed to enjoy himself ten zillion times more.  He let loose quite a few bona fide guffaws.

Saturday I thought Ollie and I would go to the Folklife Festival, but it turns out we just plain didn't feel like scouting out downtown S.A. parking or battling heat and crowds.  This saves money as well.  I will just have to make myself my traditional summertime henna tattoo.  Instead we immersed ourselves in a 1930s movie called "It Happened One Night" while munching on some tortilla chips and queso. 

Today we went to my favorite Indian restaurant for lunch.  Aaaaahhhhhhh.  I should learn how to make potato and coriander samosas.  And naan. 

Last Friday I went to a Shakespeare in the Park production of Romeo and Juliet.  There was a stage set up on a rolling lawn at the San Antonio Botanical Gardens.  The play is free admission, you just come with your folding chairs or blankets and stake out a spot.  This production was set in the 1920s.  Mercutio was a man.  I can't adequately express how much I enjoy reading Shakespeare, much less seeing the plays performed.  It was just fantastic when coupled with the warm summer breeze and soft black sky, and it's no secret that I adore 1920s music. 

I need to make an effort to see more plays this summer--it obviously exercises my contentment muscle.  I may have run out of positive adjectives to apply to this post.

Amistad

I never thought I would miss Del Rio, but I really want to go back to Lake Amistad (my dad's absolute favorite fishing hole from time immemorial) and swim wif dem bass n' perch.

It's a great lake.  The water is usually really blue and clear, and it is cupped all around by white white white sun bleached limestone hills.

Walking thoughts...

I just got done taking a 2 mile walk at the park here in Castroville.  Loved it!  I waited until it was approaching dusk so I would not get too hot.  The temperature was just right, it felt like it was in the upper 80s by then and there was a slight breeze.  I love the park.  It is full of mature oaks and pecan trees, and is nestled into a little valley with hills surrounding.  The hills help block out the sun a little earlier than usual.  There is a walking path with quarter mile markers.  One part of the path borders a little offshoot of the Medina River.  There are also wild flowers everywhere.  It couldn't have been more blissful. 

I live with two opposing ideals warring for dominance in my mind.  On the one hand I can see myself as a domestic goddess who keeps a cute kitschy house covered in rambling ivy with a shady secret garden-like verdant yard with tons of flowers, vines and herbs.  I have a hubby, two children, chickens, maybe some kind of livestock.  A sleeping cat curled up on a rag rug in the kitchen.  We light our home with oil lamps and don't own a television.

The other ideal involves me living very non-conformist nomadic, minimalist way of life.  I travel all over the world, finish the AT.  I make my income as a writer (I guess...), living wherever the mood strikes.  Never amassing too many possessions.  Not being tethered to family.

These two archetypal life plans are maybe too extreme to ever live out completely.  Either would be impossible to achieve in its entirety.  On some days the first scenario seems the more appealing of the two, and I feel like I am exactly where I need to be at the moment.  On some days scenario number two wins out, and I feel trapped by all of my possessions, my pets and my husband.  Like each possession gained adds one more brick to the prison I am building for myself.

I have always felt like I am being pulled in two different directions at once.  I cannot get any closer to any life goal because I am immobilized by indecision turned apathy.  Why on Earth can't I just *settle* like everyone else in America?

On a lighter note--today was a scenario #1 day so I am feeling quite content.  I am full of lentils, veggies, sourdough bread and butter.  Delicioso!

Summer summer summer

My goal for the summer:  make peace with the heat.

I absolutely abhor Texas summers.  I have always lived within 100 miles of where I was born.  I have not experienced summers anywhere else for any long period of time.  I should be effing used to this shit.  My skin should not have to feel 100 degrees.  I remember once walking home from school in August when the temperature was 111.  I don't go outside during the day if I can help it, which is sad, because I love outside.

I really want to move.  The thought is pretty naive.  To avoid summers like this you have to make a certain sacrifice involving a certain fluffy white precipitation substance that I know absolutely nothing about.  I really like Texas winters because it never gets below about 20 degrees, and usually I think 40-50 is too cold.

I guess I need to buy more tank tops and some shorts that fit...

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Originally uploaded by Library Gnome

Imogen is a feckin' hoss! HELL YEAH!

Imogen