Wednesday, June 29, 2005

More on Bricks

I'm thinking of coming up with words like "blockonade" to describe the result of life giving you more than lemons. Any suggestions?

When life gives you ___________ ...make ____________.

Monday, June 27, 2005

When life throws you bricks....

So when life throws you bricks...(lets just say, for rhetorical accuracy, with a series of loud slamming and crashes at 8:10 AM on a sunday through the second of your two glass front doors)... does one build a wall or some equally cheery, optimisitic drivel equivalent to lemondade? Or does one simply enjoy the basic goodness of using power tools and drilling into your beautiful wood surround glass door and slapping up masonite and two by fours that you had cleverly kept stacked along the living room wall for the past two years?

Yeah well I'm allergic to lemonade anyhow.

I must admit to feeling a bit vunerable and scared at how close we came to having our apartment broken into with us still there (though this actually didn't dawn on me until later in the day, but somewhere between drill bits, hammers and 2x4s I left behind those feelings for a bit of attitude that said, "go ahead, try something...I've got a chainsaw just waiting to be used"

I was thinking that the companies that do emergency board up services should also have a "rent a guard dog" service for people who were just broken into. I think I wouldn't mind a pacing mutt with a loud bark..just for a few nights until I have a real door again.

Friday, June 24, 2005

Asana


So I've reached about the 1/2 way point on Asana. I'm pretty happy with how easy it is, but a little worried about what the finished product will look like. I'm not overly fond of the look for the K3Tog, and the cotton yarn seems to show tension differences over any individual stitch a lot more than I'm used to. I'm worried these will still show up after blocking. I'm also concerned that I haven't figured out what I'm going to do for fasteners yet. I don't like the idea of using Velcro because of the likeliness of snags, but with such a stretchy fabric there aren't a lot of options. Got any ideas?

Sunday, June 19, 2005

Thoughts on getting older....

So I was reading a forum today and came across an old thread on "what age do you see yourself marrying at (if at all)" and read an answer I gave responding to a couple of other posters who wrote:

QUOTE 1: If the person you are contemplating marrying is perfect for you now,then DON'T get married. The only thing you can be absolutely sure of is, that person will not be the same 20 years from now, and neither will you. You will end up wondering happened to perfection. If you are the type of person who doesn't adjust easily,then don't marry,and don't marry someone who doesn't adjust easily.

QUOTE 2: I like to believe that people generally become better persons as they age, and that if a marriage collapses later on, it's from a lack of foresight (or insight) in the early stages of the relationship.

My response:
I still like that movie quote that said something like "we both fell out of love with each other at various points, just neither of us at the same time" Although it is probably happiest when both people are working together, sometimes it's just a matter of faith and belief in the relationship to survive. I don't think you can ever forsee the future or fully prepare for every situation, but you can choose someone that is going to believe in your relationship as much as you do. And hopefully when hard times come or when one of you lacks faith, the other person is strong enough to carry on believing and the dynamic of your relationship allows the relationship to continue on.

I added my newest thought (which is most likely influenced by the birthday I just had)

I've tried on enough pair of pants that I don't believe in the perfect fit. I do believe in the flattering fit, the comfortable fit, the adjustable fit (it works with a few alterations or a belt), the fit that was perfect 3 years ago but isn't so much right now, the pair that are just so wild and crazy and fun that it doesn't matter how they fit, and the favorite pair that may not fit perfect but are just amazing anyhow.

I've also learned that when you finally find a pair that you think fit well and try to memorize all of the descriptors that make them fit well and try to find more the same size and style, none of the ones you find (if any) will fit the same. And even the pairs that I've loved have, over time, had to be re-stiched along certain seams, patched up in places or adjusted to fit a changing figure.

I always figured I would marry in my mid twenties. I'm past that now. I wouldn't say I'm looking for "the perfect fit"--I'm looking for the Right fit.

Thursday, June 16, 2005

It's my Birthday!!!

I love birthdays. Every year I think "it's not that big of a deal, birthdays are for the young" and every year I get excited, giddy and anxious the week of my birthday. They say people usually die within a few months of their birthday and theorize that it is because people anticipate and look forward towards the "milestone" of a birthday and that afterwards there is less to look forward to. I just wonder if the same would be true for people who knew this statistic. Would they be depressed by their forthcoming doom and die BEFORE their birthday?

Yeah, sometimes I think about death a little more than most. I remember thinking that being an honor student in highschool somehow increased my worth because they would memorialize "the honor student" who died an early death more on the news than some depressed loser kid who died and never made headlines.

But back to the birthday. Every year I make a little more money I spend a little more on my birthday present to myself and gifts to other people (not proportional though, but hey, they didn't EARN it). So this year I got a digital camera, but I didn't stop there....

You see, I couldn't decide between two items that I really wanted and "needed" I really wanted a digital camera to take pictures of my knitting, of my artwork, and to get back into photography--I had been really into it for a while, but found I took rolls more photos than I ever took to get developed.

In addition, for three years I had been eyeing the same miter saw, but always dispelled the idea of buying it because of its cost. At the same time I had several times wanted to do some sort of art project but felt like I couldn't because I didn't have the necessary tools.

So I found that digital cameras had finally gotten to the size, quality, ease of use, and price that I found reasonable and wanted to buy one. The price for the one I decided on was the same as the saw I had been "saving up for" for three years.

Solution:

I bought both.

Here's my new saw:

Wednesday, June 15, 2005

New Digital camera

So now that I've got my new digital camera I can run around like a mad-woman photographing everything and sharing it with the world. So of course the first thing to share would be my most recent FO, my summer shawl. (Note: I still haven't blocked it)

So here goes:

The Ultra Close Up



The Overall



The Pattern



The Matador

Saturday, June 11, 2005

My Grandfather

Earlier today my mom wrote emails to most of the extended family (6 kids, 17 grandchildren:

>Dear Family,
>
>I am preparing a PowerPoint presentation of pictures to be used at the funeral home and as a keepsake. I have been scanning lots of pictures. Now I would like your input. I want to include more than pictures and history. I would like to include his loved one's remembrance of the person he was, his qualities that we will always remember and love. I would like each of his children to have a slide that expresses this and as many of the grandkids or in-laws as are interested. As the presentation moves quickly, please use just a few words. Please list several choices incase we all choose the same one. Please pass on to others in the family.
>
>Example: My Dad:
>
> 1. Always humble.
> 2. Encouraged excellence
> 3. Helpful
> 4. Generous
>
>Please let me know as soon as possible. Suggestions for a picture to associate with your qualities are welcome. Otherwise the words will probably have flowers from their garden in the background.
>
>Thanks
>
>Julie


First of all this is really difficult because my grandfather is still alive, but in hospice care and degrading quickly. It is hard to have to remember someone who is gone but still living.

I'm not good at single word answers, and have too many wonderful memories of my grandfather (who lived in the same town as us and taught me many things including how to drive and how to make a hair stand on end-an inside joke of sorts) ...here were my wordy answers, though there could be so much more:

My Grandfather:

-A patient teacher
-the best "hair standing on end-er" ever
-Knew how to swallow a fork
-Wonderful Storyteller
-The Waffle Master
-Always kept the cookie jar filled
-Ear wiggler
-Built the best playground any kid could want
-Listener
-Volunteer
-Generous with his time
-Knew how to be Gentleman
-Exemplar for service to humanity
-Enjoyed a good pecan pie

I can't do anymore without crying.
Valerie

Wednesday, June 08, 2005

New Camera

So I purchased the CannonSD400 today, and it should be arriving in 4-10 days!! Yay! I will hopefully get it just in time to take pictures at my birthday party on the 18th. I can't wait to add pictures to my blog and have images to play with on my computer (now that I have a G4 with the latest Adobe Photoshop on it)

SD400

Sunday, June 05, 2005

Finished Shawl

I finished my shawl today, and am just waiting to get home, weave in the ends and block it so that it's ready for SNB on tuesday. Yay!!!

I also finally selected a camera--a Canon SD400 to purchase so that I may share photos of my beautiful FO and WIPs with my blog. My parents have offered to help pay for the camera as part of my birthday present.