One Project a Month Challenge

I joined this challenge in January. I have to admit, I thought I would have no problem at all doing it! HAHAHA Yeah right!



February was a total bust! I didn't get a single project completed. Of course, I spent the first 2 weeks packing up and getting ready to move, and the last 2 weeks cleaning the old place and unpacking at the new one. I'm sure that's why I didn't get anything done....right?



March was a little better. At the start of the month I made a really cute draft blocker for under our furnace room door. There is a cold air intake pipe that blows tons of cold air into the furnace room, and there's a 1 1/2 inch gap between the bottom of the door and the floor. We got tired of it being so cold in our upstairs hallway, so I made this lovely:

I stuffed it with some rice and some poly-fill stuffing. It's tied off at each end with thread, and a LOT of knots! haha

I also finished these two quilt tops, and quilted them. I haven't completely finished them, as the binding isn't completely finished, but I do plan on getting them done by Tuesday (the end of the month!) :D Even if I don't get the binding done, finishing these two quilt tops is a HUGE accomplishment for me, since I can't sew at home anymore. I have to either stay late at work, or take time out of longarm quilting to sew them. I lucked out two weeks ago, on a Monday, and couldn't work on quilting because I didn't have enough batting, and my supplier was closed until the next Tuesday morning.

So, I kind of feel like even though I slacked off a little in February, I kind of made up for it in March! :)

Hmm...

You know, it's funny.

If you go into watching a movie with really low expectations....

the movie ends up actually being better than you thought it would.

Case in point:

TWILIGHT

Finally saw it tonight.

I didn't think it would be nearly as good as the book.

I knew it was a low-budget film, so didn't expect it to be that great either.

Umm....yeah, I know a lot of people don't like the movie because it's not just like the book, and I'll agree, it wasn't just like the book (but when are movies ever just like the book anyway? case in point: Harry Potter...they are all way different from the books, yet we still love them!)

Anyway, back to my train of thought....

LOVED Twilight.

LOVED IT

LOVED IT

LOVED IT

It way exceeded my expectations! I honestly thought, based on the previews I had seen, that it was going to be cheesy and dumb and ruin the books.

I still don't really like Rob.

But I have definitely changed my mind about the girl who plays Bella.

The ads and posters, etc, make her look not as beautiful as she is in parts of the movie.

She really is a pretty girl.

And she really does look like part of what I imagined Bella would look like.

Anyway, that's my little rambling about it.

My advice:

If you've read the book, don't expect great things. If you haven't read the book, enjoy the movie and then go devour the book. You'll like the book better, but that's a given.

:D

There may be snow outside....

But I swear my body thinks it's springtime!

Stupid spring.

Stupid pollen.

STUPID ALLERGIES!

I just sneezed 20 times.

I kid you not!

It was like I couldn't stop.

And I hate sneezing.

It's even worse when you're congested, and things find themselves projected out of your nose by the sheer force of the sneeze.

Yeah.

EWWWW!

It's a good thing I bought more Puffs Plus Lotion the other day!

I have a feeling I'm going to need it.

In case you didn't know....

In case you didn't know.....

It's a Woot! off.

Yep. I'll be staying up all night

Constantly pushing F5 to refresh,

Because things sell out almost instantly.

So instantly that we couldn't purchase the portable DVD player we don't need but wanted for our Vegas road trip.

Anyway, if you want some random/good stuff, check it out here.

Cute

I fell asleep on the couch Monday morning, while Marshy watched Bolt.

I was almost in deep enough sleep that I would be oblivious to the rest of the world when I hear from across the room:

"Mom"

"Mommy"

"MOM"

"MOM!!"

"wake up"

"WAKE UP"

"WAKE UP"

I turned to look at Marshy, eating his poptarts in his high chair. He smiled at me and said:

"Kai Lan?"

He is so cute!

Woo Woo!

So I am so proud of myself! I have studied so much today!! Woo Woo! I finished the last 30% of my proofreading module (which was REALLY hard), and did the first 30% of my Introduction to Transcription module (which is REALLY hard). I'm hoping to finish the last 70% of the module tonight so I can get started on my actual Clinic Note transcription tomorrow.

My Weekend

This weekend I went up to my mom's house and we made the cutest bags ever! It was part of this Quarterly Challenge here.
Above is my bag. We didn't have the magnetic snaps the pattern called for, so we picked out some really cute buttons from my mom's button collection. I found this really great, shiny, odd looking button. My mom couldn't even remember how she had got it!

She picked out a really pretty, purple rhinestone button.

Us and our bags. I know, we are so glamorous! It took us until about 7 PM (we started around 3) to finish, and we actually didn't finish when we took the pictures. We needed to take pictures before it got too dark, so we turned our bags and pressed them and took the pictures. I still need to topstich the handles and the top edge. I'm hoping to do that tomorrow. I think the bags turned out super cute though! It was really fun having a sewing day with mom though. :D

Icky

It's 3 AM. I have a load of laundry in right now. On the sanitize cycle.

Why so early in the morning, you ask?

Because at around 2:30 Marsh woke up screaming. I ran upstairs (I was downstairs studying) and found him in a GIANT puddle. His entire bed was soaking wet. Yep, with you-know-what. ICKY!

So, I grabbed new sheets, tore everything off his bed, and tried to hurry to fix the screaming child. Finally I got him changed, his bed changed, and his icky clothes thrown into the bathroom. Of course, this was no easy feat. His beloved puppy, and his blankie (the one he calls Stars, because there are little stars allover in the fabric) were soaking wet, and he wanted them so badly. He bawled and bawled. Poor kid.

At least he is back asleep now, finally. Now all I have to do is wait for the laundry to finish, as it is rather important that puppy be dry in time to go to work tomorrow. Ever tried to go somewhere without the "lovey"? Yeah, practically impossible. In fact, I don't recommend it at all!

Anyway, that is my fun. Staying up later than planned waiting for laundry to finish. Icky.

LIVID

Have you ever been so angry at someone that you can hardly think straight, and it takes talking to like 10 different people to calm you down enough to put coherent sentences together?

Yeah?

ME TOO!

I got a letter today. Well, not so much a letter but an envelope with a check in it. The check was for $405. This was the "remainder" of our deposit for our old apartment. You're probably thinking "that's not bad. why so mad?" but when you hear the rest you'll freak out too.

We paid $1200 for our deposit. Yes, $1200. Our rent was $795 a month. Hmmm...freaky coincidence that that amount is what was taken out of the deposit? I think not!

Our contract stated that tenancy could be terminated at any time by either party as long as there was 30 days written notice. So, when we got our new place we immediately provided the written notice, sent it off certified mail, and signed the contract for the new place (which is so AMAZINGLY AWESOME compared to the last place).

Then, we cleaned the crap out of that apartment. Remember how I wouldn't get home until late in the night/early in the morning? Remember how excited I was when I was finally done with the place? I had cleaned the carpets, vacuumed 3 times, swept everything, wiped out everything, filled ALL the nail holes (including the ones that she left when we moved in), and replaced a set of blinds. I was glad to be out of that crappy place, and into a much nicer one.

Well, when we left the keys at the apartment (she "couldn't make it down to check you out of the place") we left a note stating that we would like an itemized list of any money coming out of the deposit, and also that the power and gas would be shut off on the 3rd.

I hadn't heard anything from her. The check was due by Friday, as the contract says she has 20 days to get us our deposit back. Well, like I said, I got the check today.... but only for $405.

Our theories:

Angel thinks she spent all the money and is just saying that there was $795 in repairs, so she would only have to pay $405.
Vicki thinks that she is charging us for March's rent (as do Mike, my dad, and myself) even though we vacated the premises by the 28th of February.
I also think she is just being a B about it, and kind of figured we'd have to fight her to get our money back anyway. I started to suspect back in May, but really started to suspect earlier this year, January 25th, when her MOM called us instead of her to find out if we were planning on staying after our lease ran up. After she found out we weren't, they turned a little hostile on the phone. And what the heck was her mom calling us for anyway? She isn't on the lease agreement! And Tammy was right there, because I could hear them talking to each other. DUH!

Remember when Marshy locked himself in his room? Yeah, we didn't get the keys until like September or October I think. I was going through the copies of all the letters I sent her (thank goodness I kept copious records!), and found one dated in August that said we still hadn't received the keys and could we get them soon please? CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT?!

Anyway, yeah, I'm still just a LITTLE livid about the whole thing, if you couldn't tell. Even though I've sent the letter off, certified, that requests return of the $795 as she can't charge us for that extra month's rent.

I really feel sorry for whoever purchases/leases from her after us. I just hope they know what they are getting into.

Quilt Shops?

Going up to the SLC on Saturday to sew with my mom. Anyone know of any good fabric shops in the Murray/Holladay area? I don't know if my mom has ever been to a non-Joann's/Walmart fabric store. She probably has, but in case we need to buy more fabric (which is actually a probable definite thing) I might want to make her go somewhere cute and fun and different than Joann's. Thanks for any suggestions!

No joke!

So I am studying, and one of the exercises in my "wrong words" module was this:

"The woman was seen here for recurrent sick as hell anemia."

NO JOKE!

It's really supposed to be sickle cell anemia. They take actual mistakes from actual transcriptionists....some even have 20+ years experience. I couldn't believe it! It still has me laughing! haha

Well, back to studying with the hopes that there are other funny mistakes like that one.

Happy St. Patty's Day!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Hope you all remember to wear green today!

And don't forget to give out those pinches if someone's not wearing green!

When you go out to the bars/parties/whatever, have an extra pint for me! And please be safe when you go home tonight.

Productive

I got a lot done at work today! I am so proud of myself. I put a quilt on, but didn't have the right size batting, so I have to go get some tomorrow. The batting place is closed on Mondays, which is kind of dumb, but oh well!

Since I couldn't quilt, I decided to get to work on the commissioned quilts I am doing for a family friend out in NY. I got all the pieces cut out for both quilts. Then I cut and attached the binding for Marshy's "Froggin' Saur Bankdie" so I can finally finish it for him! He's been using it without the binding on it, so it will be nice to be able to have it finished.

I stayed a little later today, and got most of 1 of the commissioned quilts sewn together, and pieces of the 2nd one sewn together. Tomorrow is Colton's Angels at 6, so I will stay at work, instead of going home, and hopefully finish piecing at least the first top together. I am hoping to have them quilted by the weekend so that I can have them bound by Monday! Yes, just a little ambitious. haha

Saturn

Mike got a wild hair over the weekend and decided to start fixing up the Saturn. This happens twice a year: Spring and Fall. I actually quite like it. :D

Well, we went and purchased a brand new auto-tensioner for my car so it won't squeal every time it starts up. Oh it sounds so good now! Almost brand new!

Mike pulled the car apart and went to work on cleaning that sucker from top to bottom. He pulled out all the seats, vacuumed everything, and used the steam cleaner on the upholstery and the carpets. He shined up the vinyl, and took the car to the carwash. Aside from a few sunbleached spots, the car looks practically brand new!

Of course, there are still some issues with it. It is missing the passenger side mirror (courtesy of an ice ball 5 years ago), the wiring to the cooling fan is messed up, and the parking break is getting iffy, but it is a 13 year old car, with around 120,000 miles on it. I figure it's doing pretty good. Last year I got a new radiator (the stock one had a crack in it) and the year before I got a new muffler (the stock one was leaking). I figure if it takes things around 11 years to go bad, I still have plenty of miles on this baby! The only downside to this gem is that there are only 2 seats in the back, the headlights make a really loud noise when you put them down, and my spare doesn't fit in the spare tire well so I have limited trunk space.

Beach Party

Saturday we went to the beach. Okay, it's not an actual beach. It's the shore of the lake, and it is dirty and rocky and windy. But it was fun! Marshy discovered that throwing rocks (which he already loves to do) is even funner (yes, funner) when you throw the rocks into the water!

Mike took some really great pictures on his phone, but forgot to email them to me and now he is in Wyoming for work, so if he gets time I'll have him send them so I can put them up here, because they really are sweet. Marshy had so much fun. He even ventured into the water up to his knees! I tell you, that kid tolerates cold way too well. The water wasn't too chilly, but with the wind I can't imagine being wet clear up to my knees. BRRR!! *shiver*

We had hot dogs, and chips, and s'mores. Mmmm....yummy. I admit, I had 3 hot dogs! It has been so long since I've had one, they were surprisingly delicious. Maybe because they were charbroiled flame-kissed. Mike was nice enough to help me perfect my 'mallow roasting skills, which were in need of a lot of help.

It was really fun, and a great ending to a rough week.

T-shirts full of memories

On March 12, 2008, my sister-in-law, Angel, lost her youngest son Colton (15 at the time, 1 month shy of his 16th birthday) to complications from pneumonia and ARDS. A few weeks ago she had gone through some of his clothes and picked out a stack of t-shirts she wanted to make quilts out of for herself, and her other 3 children. She asked me to apply the fusible interfacing and cut out the t-shirts for her. She had also pieced blocks from this great guitar fabric she bought at Gracie Lou's. She wanted to have the quilts for her kids done by the 1-year anniversary, but was afraid she wouldn't make the deadline. A group of family and close friends banded together and had a sewing night to help her out.


Jenny and Angel deciding which fabrics to border the blocks with.

Carrie and Vicki (my mother-in-law) sewing the blocks and borders.


Lola chatting with the rest of us after using the iron.

Vicki making borders and blocks.

Carrie ironing.

Jase's Quilt:

The initial layout of Jase's quilt. Each quilt had 5 pieced blocks and 4 t-shirt blocks. They hurried and finished this quilt top first so that I could get it loaded onto the machine. Unfortunately, by the time it was done it was 10:30 PM, my little boy was tired and ready for bed, and my DH had just come to pick me up! I found out later that the rest of the gals stayed until around 11:30, but got the rest of the tops and backs pieced.

The finished quilt: (sans binding)

Several summers ago Colton was bit by a black bear while working at a scout camp. The center of this block was made from the shirt he wore from that camp. Above it I quilted "Bear Bait" in the bear paw print, in red thread.

This picture came in a little fuzzy, but it says "Jerry Finn", which is a nickname for Jase.

Underneath the Flogging Molly graphic I quilted "Honkey the Hooligan", which was one of Colton's nicknames.

And under the Playdead Movement graphic I quilted "Dirty Harold", which was how Colton signed all of his text messages.

The back of Jase's quilt is this really great red minkee.

Lynsey's Quilt

This quilt was for Lynsey, Angel's oldest.

Her nickname for Colton was Dody, quilted here in a tan colored thread so it would show up on the black fabric.

Dirty Harold

Honkey the Hooligan.

The back for her quilt was this beautiful black minkee with the paisley pattern in it.

Zack's Quilt

Honkey the Hooligan.

Dirty Harold, again quilted in tan.

Bear Bait, also quilted in tan.

The back of his quilt was this black minkee with the diamond design in it.

I finished quilting all three quilts on March 11th, and was surprised at how difficult it was for me. Angel, Lola, and Gayle bound the quilts. Between all of us helping, Angel was able to get all three quilts done for her kids in time.

Thursday was a rough day, and needless to say I didn't get much done. That night, those of us who were available, went to dinner at Los 4 Amigos, a local Mexican restaurant, in memory of Colton. We are having a bonfire at the lake on Saturday for the whole family.

We love you Colton, and miss you very much! I think Lola's post says it all. The song she posted is so beautiful, and if you get the chance, go to rhapsody.com and listen to it there (you can find it on the Weeds Season 1 Soundtrack).

The Team

Do you love your team? Sometimes more than your team loves you? Really? ME TOO!

Today I loved my team so much that I scraped the car off, in the BLIZZARD that was happening, in my FLIP FLOPS, before my family got in the car.

Then we drove up to Gracie Lou's to drop off a quilt. I was in there for a few minutes, it was crazy busy, so I kept it brief. I was maybe in there for a max of 5 minutes. Upon coming out to the car, it was completely covered in snow again. Mike needed me to brush the windows off so he could see.

I got out of the car, grabbed the snow removal brusher thingy and went to work. As I walked around the back of the car, I suddenly found myself lying on the ground, completely covered in snow. I was FREEZING! All I was wearing was a sweater over my t-shirt, jeans, and flip flops, and I was completely soaked.

I finished wiping the car off, which didn't really do any good because by the time I got back in the car it was covered again (stupid snow), and got back in the car, where Mike was sitting laughing hysterically at me!

RUDE!!

MEAN!!

JERK!!

Okay, it was pretty funny looking back on it. I'm sure it looked hilarious. But my pinky toe still hurts from the fall, and my pants were so wet they just got out of the dryer. I had to run them on a complete dry cycle!

Anyway, I just wanted to share my love for my team. I love them so much I was willing to take the worst fall in the history of my life (well, at least top 10 worthy), so that they could have a wiped off, snow-free car.

Marsh

Hi, my name is Marsh. I'm 2, and I've had too much stimulation today. I fell asleep in the car on the ride home from the furniture store, where I had to leave my favorite car stroller ever behind. :(

Random

SCHOOL: Finished radiology. And pathology. I think radiology was the hardest, dealing with all of those ARDS patient records. Now I get to learn about other medical departments, and their reports. I'm assuming along the lines of oncology, pediatrics, etc. Oncology might be a tough one too. We'll see.

WORK: Finished 1 quilt, and did 3 complete quilts Friday at work. And I didn't really get started quilting until around noon! WOAH! I totally amazed myself, because I was only there until 5:30, too. I must've had the quilting bug or something. Hoping to get at least 1 started, maybe even finished today (Saturday).

Also, started the two little duckie quilts for our friend in NY. I'm hoping to get the tops pieced by the end of the month, and then quilting them should be a breeze.....hopefully!

CHALLENGES: Just downloaded the new blocks for the Country Calendar, Verandah Views, and Basket quilt blocks. (See the sidebar for links). I still haven't done January or February. I'm hoping to get them started fairly soon.....as soon as I can find my scissors and buy some DMC floss! I have to make up for missing February's finish 1 project goal, so I'm hoping to get caught up on at least 2 of these BOMs.

Also, if you're looking for a fun challenge, go here and enter this quarter's challenge. You need to pick a partner, it's in the rules, but have fun with it! I called my mom up to see if she'd be interested. She sounded pretty excited. I think it's because she has a sewing room now. YAY for her! :)

HOME: Having a hard time keeping Marsh's room clean. He likes to throw his toys everywhere. I have discovered that if his room is messy he is less likely to go to sleep quickly than if his toys are at least in a pile in one of the corners! I only have 2 boxes and 1 laundry basket left to unpack, so that is good news. Then hopefully I can get pictures up on the walls. That would be nice.

CRAFTS: I made really cute silk floral centerpieces for Thanksgiving a few years back. Fortunately they look good year-round. I'm hoping to make a matching wreath for my door next week. The door really needs some major help!

ODD: In perusing my credit card statements, I discovered that 2 of the 4 payments I need to make are not due until April, even though I haven't paid in March. Why is this? Is this normal? I'm confused? Oh well, will definitely still make the March payment just to stay ahead. :)

WANTED:

Wanted, one pair of incredibly awesome fabric scissors.

AND:

One pair of really crappy fabric scissors that have been dropped a few too many times.

AND:

My memory to remember which box I packed them in!

Rough

Trying to study tonight.


Learning about different kinds of medical records.


Currently working in the radiology field.


All of the samples have to do with people with adult respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS).


Yeah.


This is rough.

Meeting

Went to my first Salem Days meeting tonight. It was really good. Of course, I now realize that most of the volunteers participating in Salem Days events have done this before. I am still a little scared, but really excited. I think I'm mainly worried that, not having done this before, it's going to end up sucking. I have a lot of good ideas, here's hoping that I can get a great committe to help me execute them, and that the Quilt Show turns out AWESOME!

Anyone been to a great quilt show, or a horrible one? I would love to hear more ideas if you've got them!

Alumni

I got an email today from a company putting together an alumni book for my high school. Normally I wouldn't care, but I still have some school pride. I felt it my duty as an alumnus of the Cottonwood High School class of 2002 to update my info.

I called in. It didn't take very long to update the info, even though everything was wrong. I was almost home free. Then it happened.

The Sales Pitch.

CSR: And now, Mrs. P, we would like to reserve your copy of this special alumni book of alumni from 1970s to 2008. Can we reserve you a copy?
me: Not today. Can I get one later?
CSR: No, sorry ma'am. We only print enough for the reservations. We can offer you a paperback version of this alumni for two easy payments of $34.95. Can we do that for you?
me (trying not to express my astonishment): Ummm...no thanks.

2 payments of $34.95! Are you kidding? That is $70!!! For a paperback?? YIKES!

I have until June to order one, but I don't think I will.

Quilt Posts and Pricing

Updated my quilting posts here. There are some really talented ladies who have brought me some really beautiful quilts.

Also, there's a new pricing list here.

Where are my Kleenex when I need them?

Watching tonight's Biggest Loser on Tivo.



Bawling almost hysterically at the sweet thing the teenage kid did.




Where the heck are my Kleenex?!

Shhhh! Seeping!

The other day at work Marsh decided to hop up on the table. He is playing with one of those dumb hand-held games you get in the McDonald's happy meal.
Shhh! Marshy's seeping!

Wake up!

All smiles at the fun sleeping game. :)

Seriously?

Got our SF city bill today. Yes, the bill for a whole 6 days. Ummm....seriously? You killed a tree for this?

I can't believe I have to write a check for $1.29! Seriously? Can't you just roll it over to next month? What a waste of paper!

My Lovelies

These are my new lovelies. Mike got them all hooked up and working, and I have now done 3 loads of laundry. Woo Woo!

My favorite feature? The "estimated time left" feature. LOVE IT.

Oh, yeah, and they're super quiet and don't shake the whole house. In fact, with the door closed you don't even hear them.

Today is the day!

Today, somewhere between 9 and 11 AM, we are getting our new washer and dryer delivered. And they will unpack said washer and dryer and place them in their final resting place (or at least semi-final....they will move again when we move into our permanent home somewhere down the line.).

You have no idea how excited I am. I have piles of laundry just waiting to be washed and dried. Now all I need to do is get some high-efficiency Tide laundry detergent.