Weekend Wednesday WTF Catchup... Or something.

I'm not even trying to post regularly anymore, things are just too nuts! But here's a few updates for you.

I know you were waiting with baited breath.

(Where does that phrase come from? It just makes me think of worms and teeth at the same time and that's not a good thing.)

So the weekend! The weekend was nice.

Long, fairly uncluttered, and I got lots done.

Friday night The Kid and I had a nice dinner of pasta from Trader Joes (figures my Tucson souvenirs would be food), and just relaxed. Nothing exciting, really, but definitely a nice calm evening.

Saturday I was a sewing fiend!

One of my Trivia buddies, Mary, admired my black purse and requested one of her very own. Being that it's one of my favorite things to do (making things for others) I told her to grab some fabric and I'd whip it up...

Even I didn't expect myself to do it one day, but my ADD/OCD kicked in (it's a killer combo) and there it was!

I forgot how much pinning these suckers require, but in the end it came out really cute.

She chose a very Merimekko-style big poppy print which is just her taste (obviously, she did buy it after all) but is apparently also The Kid's taste, seeing as how she kept threatening to make off with it. (Mary said I could keep the leftovers, so I think a wallet will be in her future - a consolation prize.)

What you can't see is the lining, a simple but pretty Amy Butler print.

Thank you internet!

It's different but really a pretty good match!

Between all that Kraft Krazy, and the installation of my new disposal, there went my Saturday!

Sunday, being the 4th, The Kid and I both had firework-viewing plans, although this year they didn't mesh. She and I both had some barbeque with her grampa and related family, and then she stayed with them and I headed down to Denver to watch the show at Mile-Hi Stadium.

Ours was a bit late, due to the unusual and determined downpour (which was fantastic, by the way), but in the end it was impressive and grin-inducing fun!

I love fireworks.

They're so unapoligetically noisy.

And after was another of the best burritos I've ever had in my life, from a drive-through 24-hour Mexican joint that you would swear would give you 3 different kinds of intestinal dissatisfaction, but in fact is amazingly delicious!

Sunday brought a first for me... Gunther Toody's, a 50's themed diner along the lines of Ed Debevic's (for you Chicago readers). The waitresses seem a little jaded in their "Later, Gator" exit greeting but considering it wasn't full of screaming children (which TR told me is the usual state of the place) I figure it was more auto-pilot, calm-before-the-storm quiet and less forced gaity.

Of course I could be over-thinking it.

I do that on occassion.

ANYWAY after lunch we headed to the largest Bed Bath & Beyond I've ever seen in my life so TR could grab some Hercules Hooks (they work so well, really I can't recommend them enough!) and then it was back home to take a nap because why not?! What good is a free day off from work if you can't freely slack.

Oh! And TR & I also started looking at stuff for an upcoming trip to Disney World! I feel like a kid about it all, actually. I've never been (I went to Disneyland once when I was little) and I am ridiculously excited! I've promised The Child I will bring many goodies back with me, since she'll be in school at the time (FRESHMAN YEAR OMG) and not coming with us. You can bet that a set of mouse ears will be in that lot.

I don't think it's wrong to go to Disney without kids in tow, do you?

Monday night The Kid and I had some dinner with her grampa (grilled talapia, YUM) and then headed home to watch The Lovely Bones, which had I not read the book I would have liked better.

We also very nearly disassembled the couch looking for earwigs. It's that season, and they do find their way in, but since I'd seen 3 in as many days next to or on the couch (which is by the front door), I finally cowboyed up and pulled the cushions out to search for a nest.

There wasn't one, thank goodness (I've had an infestation once in my life, in a gross apartment - my first, how charming!) and trust me, there's no mistaking it. I felt better for having checked, though.

Remember when I said I was getting Terminix in the fall?

This is why.

And now I have cooties again.

Tuesday was full of physical therapy (ow - but getting better!) and lots of work, plus dinner with my friend Melissa and her mom, who is in from out of town. There's an Irish pub in downtown Longmont whose name I contantly forget, to the point where I finally listed it in my checkbook this morning as "Murphy O'Slappy's" because I just couldn't come up with it. Though I finally remembered (it's Mike O'Shay's) I think it's going to be permanently re-monikered, at least in my own head.

Tonight, Triva in a new location (The Rio in Fabulous Greeley Colorado) and a very large margarita (their specialty!) while The Child babysits her cousins. And it's rainy and cool - it hasn't even broken 60 degrees today!

Fabulous.

Happy Wednesday!

Weekend Catchup: 18 Again, Only Less Sucky

Wow.

Just, wow.

I had such an awesome weekend I'm almost hesitant to tell you about it, because it might seem like I'm bragging...

But I'm gonna anyway!

So Friday night after getting The Kid, we headed home for a nice quiet evening of hangin' in the crib. I finished (almost) the Birthday Bag for Elise (I can tell you that now, because she's got it at last!) and finally got started on the Folklore Bag I meant to make in February but never quite got around to doing.

It's going to be SO CUTE... especially the palm tree liner fabric!

Waiting for me at home was my birthday box from my mom. This year, she sent me an amazing sweater that she made with her very own hands, from a pattern on Interweave I was drooling over awhile back. It's gorgeous, and the cables are amazing (and go in different directions depending on which side they're on!), and the buttons! So cool - they're big and kind of Polynesian.

It's totally cozy and soft... thanks Mom!

She also sent some gorgeous earrings from the gem show she went to awhile back, including these very Arts & Crafts style dragonflies (which I'm wearing even as I type) and a pair of unusual carnelian ones that match a bracelet she sent a couple of years ago, plus a beautiful card which is suitable for framing! (I think I'll do just that... I think it would look awesome in my bathroom, which sounds weird, but I mean it in the best way!)

Saturday morning I got up and we had some breakfast (The Kid made blueberry muffins, isn't she sweet?), and I got the lining almost done on the Birthday Bag. I had a date with a pedicure up in Loveland with Nova, but I knew we'd be coming back to the house before heading out to Denver for dinner, and that I'd have time to finish up. I tacked the lining in place with approximately 1000000 (or so) straight pins, called it good, and (after The Kid got picked up by her grampa) headed down to have my heels buffed.

GROSS. But necessary!

The pedicures at this place are just so awesome; they hot wax your feet, there are massage chairs...

It's bliss!

After our fabulous pedis, Nova & I went for some lunch at a hibachi place with a lunch special, which was awesome. I did try to pay for lunch (I went to some extremem measures - a Hail Mary pass was called for), but she beat me to it!

Back at home, I FINALLY finished the bag while Nova got ready for our dinner in Denver (her husband was heading down to meet us). Et voila!

Can also double as General Ackbar's favorite hat

Thankfully she liked it (or at least didn't hate it on sight haha), so yay! Craft success! The link for the original is here, but please note the photoshopped handles because there's no way they got them that perfect. I changed the colors and the top pattern since I didn't like the flower, and I didn't take a picture of the lining, but it worked out great!

We had dinner at Racine's with TR, Nova's husband Kelly, and TR's brother George and the afore-mentioned Elise, which was lots of fun and...

Um, I shouldn't drink rum in public.

Not that I was running naked in the streets, but I do seem to get rather loud.

Also, when did I get to be such a lightweight?! One mojito and suddenly it was story time!

Oh well!

After dinner, the gang went to their respective corners, and TR & I headed for some hot tub loveliness, and can I just stress it was a HOT TUB. I swear it was hotter than the hot springs! I had to keep getting out, but it made the pool feel absolutely lovely.

And then...

TR gave me my birthday present.

Holy shit!

I told The Kid that she can use it, under supervision, if her hands are clean and there are no liquids in the vicinity.

There may be a hazmat suit. We'll see!

And let me say again...

HOLY SHIT!

He totally surprised me, which is not easy to do! I have an intuitive streak that often means I know exactly what's coming... I try to shut it off but inevitably I ruin it for myself.

But this?

Complete shock.

It was a delightful surprise, and I am enjoying it thoroughly! It's so pretty.

So white and pretty.

And clean.

On order: one hardshell protective case. I know myself well. I'm also going to make a soft padded case for it, because I'm a crafting nerd.

Sunday morning we had a late breakfast at a place which immediately charmed me, but stole my heart entirely as soon as my 4.95 steak and eggs arrived (with rye toast, mind you)...

How can you not love a place with a horse on the roof?! (Click the picture for a little local history.)

Now you might fear a 5 dollar steak breakfast, but let me assure you that everything was fresh and delicious; no powdered eggs or frozen potatoes at this place.

My favorite part was the original Formica table top with the boomerang design, which you could tell was the original due to the center of the pattern having been almost entirely wiped away after 50 years of use. I imagine when the smoking ban wasn't in place that it was kind of gross in there, but now?

Absolutely delightful.

After breakfast I headed home, although I had meant to stick around awhile and help if I could with a local campaign that's going on (click it and help if you can!); between the super-hot hot tub melting my muscles and a super-squishy bed that induced near-coma, I kind of yanked my back out of line, but a few Advils and a heating pad did a lot to fix that. (Today I'm not feeling too bad, but I'm definitely taking it easy!)

After languishing at home awhile, I headed to get The Kid from her grampas and have dinner with them (gluten free tempura - it was fantastic!). Her grampa and his fiancee gave me a very funny card, and a gift certificate for Bed Bath & Beyond... I see new sheets in my future! Maybe a comforter set. We'll see.

Tonight, I'll be finishing my new bag (I got the lining and exterior done last night - definitely the hardest parts!) and enjoying my new toy.

It was a delightful birthday weekend, full of balloons and surprises; I was made to feel very special, and really what more can I ask?

Especially at my advanced age.

Last but not least, congratulations to... um, us! There will be some bumps, and there's still a lot to do, but it's finally DONE.

Thank goodness.

Now maybe we can move on to some more stuff that needs doing!

Weekend Catchup: Piercing Silence

Ah, a 3-day weekend. It's a rare but wonderful event, and I thoroughly enjoyed mine!

We don't get many "non-standard" holidays here at the University, but the 2 we do get really float my boat.

CAUTION: EXTENSIVE AND EXHAUSTIVE RUNDOWN ALERT. Grab something to drink before you dive in. I don't want you getting dehydrated.

Friday night was pretty quiet; I picked up The Kid and her buddies from their orchestra rehearsal, as usual, dropped the not-mine kids off at their homes, as usual, and then went home and crashed on the couch by 10PM.

As usual.

I did manage to get a couple of things done before falling asleep, which was good. My New Years Resolution (such as it is) was to finish up any UFO's (Unfinished Objects) I've got before taking on anything new (birthday presents excepted), and so I've been attempting to finish up a couple of the more complicated ones first.

One of the UFO's is a dragon like this one, just in different colors, which I had started probably a year ago with the intention of selling it at the convention I'm not going to anymore, but I figured I can stash it away for later gifting. I got fairly far on it, the toughest part being the head (what with all the hand-stitching...those eyes!). Pictures when I'm done!

My other project was a quickie, a birthday gift for a friend... a guitar strap!

I bought a semi-cheap nylon adjustable strap (there was the super-cheap one, and the upgrade with the leather tabs, and the leather just looks so much better), then deconstructed it, covered the strap itself with fabric and put it back together.

I had considered just doing a plain fabric strap and ditching the nylon, but I figured for sturdiness (and to guard against the fabric stretching) it was best to use it as the guts of the thing. It made it a little thicker and a little harder to adjust, but it can still be done with a little utching.

Is that how you'd spell that, do you think? Utching? You know, when you utch something along, bit by bit?

Anyway.

UPDATE: New Photo Below! (The old one was a camera-phone picture, and awful.)



Saturday The Kid and I just kind of lazed about before heading down to Denver to meet TR and have a hot dog and do some quick shopping for said friend's birthday; The Kid hadn't yet experienced Twist & Shout and she totally loved it, because she's awesome like that. Some of their toys are a little R-rated, but I successfully steered her away from them with my amazing mom radar. She wanted this and that, but I assured her I'd bring her back another day, all while making mental notes for her upcoming 14th (!!!!) birthday.

SNEAKY.

Hopefully they'll still have the cute little lunchbox/MP3 player speaker combo she was gunning for; if not there are about 20 other things she was pretty jazzed about.

The hot dogs were from Steve's Snappin' Dogs, which were pretty good although TR's smashburger was covered in what appeared to be small grey eels. I didn't point this particular comparison out at the time, since he gamely scraped them off in order to be able to actually eat his meal and I didn't want to gross him out, but that's pretty much what they looked like. I think they were supposed to be grilled onions, but if that's what they were aiming for, they missed.

A lot.

After our excursion we headed to the party for the guitar strap recipient, which was a great success (he was super surprised). The Kid was a good sport about being there (I brought her with since the birthday boy's 8 year old stepson was going to be in attendance, and there's a Wii, so I figured they'd be able to find some common ground), and we got to see a video of some underwater work (I'm not entirely sure what they were doing, other than "science") done by some other friends of TR's who work in and around the Alvin sub, which is famous for, among other things, being one of the subs that found and explored the Titanic wreckage.

There was one part of the video that showed super-heated water that makes these solid-looking masses (which would evaporate in the air), and I couldn't stop gawking. Totally amazing stuff.

We also watched the video I'm tacking on the end of this post, which had me absolutely mesmerized.

Sunday morning, after stopping by The Kid's Colorado Grampa's house, we head to the mall...

And she got her ears pierced.

This might not seem like an event, but over the years many have tried and failed to convince her to get it done, but as with most things in her life, she wasn't going to do it until she was ready. (I didn't really care whether she ever did or not, to be honest.) It almost didn't happen due to a set of circumstances that will only bore you, my dear readers, but suffice it to say that she did it! And no tears!

Sunday afternoon I ferried The Kid to a birthday sleepover and went home to snooze awhile (ah, lazy weekends). TR came by later in the evening and took me out for a steak, some helpful items at the Less Than Safeway, and some adventuresome donuts.

We headed back home with our spoils and watched more Rick Steves.

Well, he watched more of it than I did, to be honest. Remember I mentioned about lack of light + arm around the shoulders = Mimi's out cold? Add a blanket and it's a guaranteed knockout.

The Kid was headed to the Denver Aquarium (which has tigers and a seafood restaurant - wrap your noggin around THAT one) Monday, and even then not until noon, so I was able to really maximize my sleeping in. Lovely! After lunch at Lucille's, TR headed home just as The Kid was getting in, and she & I spent the afternoon hangin' on the couch.

I attempted to make pizza for dinner, but it failed miserably. Oh well.

I hope you had a lovely, lovely weekend... enjoy the video, we'll consider it the Totally Random Tuesday post, shall we? (I'm not giving up on Tome Tuesdays, but I'm not going to make it to the 52-book level, which is okay.)

The Third & The Seventh

Do yourself a favor and full-screen this. It's stunning.