Happy Memorial Day!

Well, here I am enjoying my magical FOUR-DAY WEEKEND... I haven't had one of these in a longgg time. I hope everyone has spent their holiday relaxing and visiting with family and friends.

Some quick points about the last week:
1) I GOT A RAISE!!!! I am very excited about this. I have a decent job and a perfectly passable salary that covers all my bills, but every little bit helps.

2) The "Lost" season finale. We threw a mini-party; Sara and Jesse came over and I made brownies. I think we all agreed that they could of fit the amount of story they had into one hour, and it would have been more exciting. I hope Jin is ok... and Sawyer. And what an interesting conclusion to the whole "they're coming for the boy" thing. I hope Locke spills it regarding the "security system." All in all it was a bit dragged-out but it was still exciting. It's going to be a long wait til next season.

3) I am getting kitties!!!! :D :D :D I called the landlord and he's fine with me getting two cats. We're going tomorrow to pick them out, then next Friday they can come home with me. I'm getting two because I'm concerned that if I get one, it will have to be alone too much and will be more destructive.

4) I finally beat EVERYTHING in FFX-2 and got 100% completion so I could see the Perfect Ending. Woohooo!!! And it was marvelous! So happy. Bryon helped sooo much. The hardest part was beating Chac on level 80 of the Bevelle dungeon (Via Infinito)... after him Paragon and Trema were cake, and the final boss was a pushover. I literally hit all the parts with Trigger Happy lvl 3 once and they would die. I could have killed the final boss in 2 moves but I was holding out to watch him fight because it's entertaining (he's borrowed his moves from someone else...). Now we are playing Samurai Jack for the PS2. It's a great game - well-designed and fun to play.

As for the four-day weekend... Friday we just bummed around. It was MARVELOUS. Saturday we drove to Syracuse to briefly hit the mall and the huge comic/game store up there, and ate dinner at the Spaghetti Warehouse with Mick (Bryon's Iraq buddy) and his wife, Sharon. On Sunday, Bryon's Boy Scout troop set up for a hot dog/hamburger-selling fundraiser at a local hardware store, so we helped them out with that and then went to Bryon's parents' for a Memorial Day picnic.

When we got back, I just put on bum clothing and working on my latest sewing project: window treatments for the living room. The fabric is the same as my sofa pillows, with red lining. The pattern is from the Better Homes and Gardens Home Decor Sewing magazine. The first treatment is finished, except that I *may* have to put grommets and a cord down the sides to make it pull up correctly at the ends. I'm just not sure. We also have a very wussy curtain rod (left by the previous inhabitants) which is bowing down in the middle because the curtain is fairly heavy. Since we don't have a rod for the other window I think we'll just go buy two sturdy rods and put them up.

I'm pretty proud of the way the project came out - it really did make a nice heavy drape, with the "linen-look" fabric and some heavy red fabric for lining and ties. It's all done by sewing three sides and turning it inside out so you get a nice finished edge. Unfortunately I managed to prick myself with several pins, burn myself on the iron, and pinch my arm in the folding-leaf table (which left a nasty bruised line)... but I'm still willing to make the other curtain so I guess it can't be that bad. :)

In the coming week we'll be sending my very first newsletter out for printing, and finally choosing a new point-of-sale system for the gift shop. Those will be two giant loads off my back - then I can move on to the next loads, like the historical journal and stuff for the upcoming summer events. :) At least it keeps me busy!

One final note... I got a box of fairies from Mike in Germany!! :D They are five *beautiful* fairy figurines, with different themes like fire, water, earth, etc. There's a lot of fairy stuff out there, but this is some of the most beautiful I've ever seen. So thanks, Mike!! Glad you're coming to visit soon! See you in a couple of days.

Now I'm just getting ready for the coming week, relaxing, doing laundry, etc. I made blueberry pancakes this morning. I guess I'll go watch Bryon kick everyone's butt as Samurai Jack for a while longer. :)

PARRRRTAYY

Well ok, that makes it sound more exciting than it really was. After a lot of planning and some sneakiness, we threw a surprise birthday party for Bryon today. Nick got him out of the house this morning by having him come help work on the house, and then my parents and D came over to help set up. My parents brought with them porch furniture we'd bought at Walmart the night before, and Bryon's major present - a Thermos Fire & Ice grill (which is a portable grill with a cooler in the bottom). After a lot of setup and a bit of food preparation, Bryon showed up and we kinda suprised him. He really didn't know anything about the party but he was tipped off when he came into the parking lot and there was a Happy Birthday banner tacked to the outside of the deck railing. :D I think he likes his grill and we used it immediately to cook hot dogs and hamburgers.

The biggest problem with this party was that we only had four people (five including Nick) to surprise him. There were other people whom I thought would have arrived by that point, but it didn't happen that way. Sara ended up getting called into work, and I still haven't heard from her... Ozog was off looking at new cars after getting rear-ended last week, and Bryon's parents were on a boat trip on the Keuka Maid. It just felt... underdone somehow. Lots of people showed up through the course of the afternoon - Kathy, Ozog, Kansass, and Bryon's parents - and we ended up having a lot of fun. I was a little disappointed that we had so much food left over. No one ate the actual dinner food except the 6 of us who were there at the beginning. The blueberry cobbler (which I made because Bryon's not a huge cake fan), cookies and snack food went over well. I think Bryon enjoyed himself, and that's what's important.

I'm just so tired. Yesterday my parents (and our whole neighborhood) had a yard sale, plus I went to a lot of them in the morning before doing some running around related to the party, and baking the blueberry cobbler. It wasn't a very relaxing weekend although I did have a good time. Maybe later I'll post a picture or two from the party or something. Right now I'm going to read or something.

Star Wars and a crafty update

Well, our event at work (on the 13th-14th) went quite well. I'm just glad it's over and that enough people showed up so that the speakers weren't talking to an empty room. The food was GREAT. Bryon got back safely from NYC and had a good time while he was down there - saw Ground Zero, went to a Thai restaurant, went to see Kung Fu Hustle... I'm so jealous.

Wednesday was "Lost" again... I loved this episode but I felt like it was similar to the first act of the musical "Into the Woods." In that show, the first act ends with everyone living happily ever after in fairy tale fashion (being that it IS a show about fairy tales)... and then in act two everything goes to crap. Now I'm waiting for the boom to be lowered in next week's 2-hr season finale. I have to say, if they kill off Jin (or Sawyer really) I will be very upset.

Last night Bryon, Sara and I went to the drive-in to see the midnight showing of Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith. I really, really enjoyed it. It opens with an epic space battle with some amazing special effects. This movie would have been hard to mess up because there's so much good story to cover to bring it up to where the next movie starts. It was fun seeing some familiar faces and piecing the story together as it unfolds. The love scene dialogue was just as bad as in the last movie... but overall the movie was carried off very well and added a lot of dimension to the story and characters. Another amazing feat: so many of the characters in this film were completely computer-animated, and I never thought about that for a SECOND.

In other news, I've been doing a lot of projects lately - mostly sewing rather than knitting. I LOVE my sewing machine. It's a simple Janome machine that has a lot of different stitches. It works quite well and I am proud to say I think I'm using it enough to justify having received it as a graduation gift last year!!

Here are some of my latest finished projects:



Sofa pillows. I made two. I fell in love with this fabric, which happened to be on sale. It's a linen-look fabric and I loved the colors. In fact, I ended up going back to get more so I can make matching tie-up window shades, as shown in the magazine I picked up about a week ago. The pillows are an 18x18 form with a 2.5" flange. My only problem is that the inner seam is not very close to the pillow form, and therefore the flange is super-floppy as you can see in the picture. I even tried sewing interfacing into the flange on one of the pillows but it didn't help at all. Oh well. They are very cushy.



I finally made the knitting needle roll I'd been contemplating for a long time, even before I made one for Lisa for Christmas. I found a different pattern, which is here, and I really enjoyed making it. The hardest part was sewing the bias tape onto the corners. Live and learn, I guess. Overall I would highly recommend this pattern! Some other views:





To completely change the subject... I had what I THOUGHT was my last dentist appointment out of this marathon session. Unfortunately it turns out I still need to have two more. *sob* So glad this will be over soon.

Apparently this is a granny's idea of fun

Work was just... work.

After work, I cleaned up some of the clutter around the apartment, then Jesse came over for dinner. After determining that it was too frigging hot to cook anything, we decided to go out. We tried to go to the Classic Cafe but my fabulous sense of direction kind of prevented that; instead we ended up at the Maple Lawn Dairy Family Restaurant. The food was very good, and it's cheap too!

Despite my feeling kind of ill (I think it was from the humidity rather than the food - I had a headache for most of the day as well), we drove over to Barnes and Noble to meet up with Sara. I finally bought the Yarn Harlot's bookbookbook, At Knit's End: Meditations for Women Who Knit Too Much, and a nifty magazine on home decor sewing.

Which brings me to the subject line. [rant] I would just like to state that although I do enjoy knitting, wearing sparkly slippers and holding my purse over my arm the way my grandmother does, I do NOT enjoy people telling me I am an old lady at 25! And furthermore, none of these comments are going to keep me from engaging in and enjoying all of the above pasttimes. [/rant]

Aww, Bryon just called me. He's down in NYC because he is picking up three of the Guard guys (who don't drive) to go with him to testify in court. I hope that between them all they NAIL these guys. Heh, I just blathered on at him about my day. He had a pleasant trip down - made good time, and found the place pretty easily. Right now he's racking out next to a fairly young cat, who apparently plopped down on his chest when he laid down. Animals LOVE this man. I've yet to see an animal dislike him.

It's so good to know we can babble on at each other. I like that. :D

In knitting news, I am finally able to make progress on the Magic Tube Scarf, now that I have the appropriate needles.



This is my first project with double-pointed needles and these happen to be HUGE. I feel like a 3-year-old using those giant Crayola crayons.

Beef stoodle over news

(My dad is somewhat known for spoonerisms, but that was definitely one of his best... trying to tell me dinner was going to be "beef stew over noodles.")

Work was kind of slow today. When it was over, I got back to the apartment and Nick was visiting. I had to make a quick trip to the yarn store to get some big (size 15) double-pointed needles for the Magic Tube Scarf, so Bryon and I took off. We then sojourned to the mall to find court-worthy clothes for Bryon (he's been subpoenaed in a case about something that happened to one of the Guard guys while they were out at a bar). While we were at the mall, I found gorgeous pillow fabric, which was 40% off - and the pillow forms were on sale too! Woo! We ate dinner at Ruby Tuesday's (which was delicious) and then we stopped over at Nick and Kathy's new house. It is a ranch-style house built in the '60s - very obviously built right around the same time as my parents' house, based on the architecture and style of doors, ceilings, and wood floors. They are pretty much redoing the entire place, since nothing was really updated at all since the '60s. It is going to be a lot of work, and a lot of money, but I'm sure it will be lovely when they're done. It's in a nice area and they have woods out back. Luckily Nick is a carpenter so he is able to do a lot of the work himself.

On the way home, the following conversation took place:

Me: (as Bryon almost takes a wrong turn and then changes his mind) "Oh good, I was just thinking 'ahhh, I don't know where's he going!!"
Bryon: *looking at me*
Me: "...what?"
Bryon: *looking at me* "Do you even know what you just said?"
Me: *repeating it over and over... "I don't see what the problem is."
Bryon: "You don't know where's he going??"

Finally it dawned on me and I got into this huge giggle fit for the rest of the way home... I was laughing over that, plus the beef stoodle over news story which I had to tell Bryon, and even the fact that the other night something happened and Bryon said "hahahaha... if I had a blog that would SO be going in there."

Scarf for Bryon's mom

Almost forgot... Bryon went and took a picture of his Mom wearing her new scarf!

Wheee!

"Difficult times lie ahead, Harry..."

Woohoooo!!! Go watch the new Harry Potter trailer!

Success!... sort of. Happy Mothers' Day.

Ok, so. Interesting stuff of late... last night Sara came over and we watched Phantom of the Opera. Now, I've heard the soundtrack before but I've never seen the show or anything, so I didn't really know the story. The biggest surprise of the evening was when we first started the movie, and... Bryon starts singing along. Sara and I both kinda just stared at him. Apparently he's seen the show three times, and he does own the soundtrack (although we can't find it right now). All through the movie he was making comments on changes to the plot, scenery, etc. Very amusing. Overall I liked it, even though the Phantom had kind of a cheesy voice. I don't think it was his fault; he was OBVIOUSLY chosen primarily for looks (woo!) and he'd never sung professionally before. When he got very emotional, his Scottish accent couold be heard more strongly and it just sounded a little odd. The costumes and sets were lovely, of course, and I enjoyed the music.

Today Bryon and I went to his parents' house for dinner, for Mothers' Day. His grandparents and Milt were there too. It was a really nice dinner. Bryon helped his dad print out some photos from his digital camera, I went for a walk with Bryon's mom and grandparents, and then we helped get their computer to recognize their printer. :p Afterwards we went to my parents' house so I could take Mom her card and present. We sat and talked for a bit, then came home. This is what I accomplished this evening:


Sorry it's so blurry - no flash.



Yippee!! Finally done. Unfortunately even after two blocking sessions, the stripes still wouldn't stop curling in, so I finally gave up and sewed them up anyway. For the picture, I basted the open edge together, just temporarily. Bryon's going to try to work his MacGyver magic on it so it will actually lie flat. I also might try putting an edge on it to see if that helps. If I'd been SMART I would have done it in garter stitch or seed stitch in the first place, so it would lie flat on its own! Sheesh. Overall I guess I'm happy with the way it turned out.

The BEST news of today is that I finally found the very important CD I needed for work. Um, maybe I should have cleaned out my car sooner.

Adriannnnn!

Got back from the dentist about half an hour ago. I feel like Sylvester Stallone... when I smile, half of my upper lip doesn't move all the way. I hope the novocaine wears off soon. I'm hungry.

We put Bryon's microwave in place. I wonder if there's a recycling place for electronics in the area? Next, I am switching my printer with my grandpa's - mine is a bit older, so it has no USB connector, and my computer has no printer port. Grandpa's (which is actually my parent's former printer) has both connectors, and his computer has both as well. Hopefully this will work out nicely.

I think I'm going to get the last stripe for the Tohru scarf done tonight. Woohoo!!

Shadow of the Giant

The new Ender book is out - Shadow of the Giant by Orson Scott Card. Hopefully I'll be able to add this onto my reading list pretty soon.

Today was... stressful. The phones, computers and even plumbing were all rebelling at work, and to top it off, my microwave died at home. *sigh* Happily we have a backup because we'll just use Bryon's microwave from Oswego. But this was my cute cube-shaped microwave, one of the first two apartment purchases I made when I got my very first apartment (the other was a set of pots and pans). Cute little microwave... I shall miss you.

Updates.

I've finally made updates to my Finished Objects Gallery and my book blog, Readbooks. Whee.

Get one now!!

The other day when Sara and I went to Walmart, we both bought that new Rasera "bladeless razor" (from Veet) so we could give it a trial run and then discuss our results. Well, here's what I have to say: GO GET ONE. RIGHT NOW. It is very easy to use, does what it says it will, and produces better results than I have EVER gotten from a regular razor, or even from waxing. Basically it's a hair removal lotion along the lines of Nair, with a razor-shaped tool with two rubber "blades" to help scrape away the results. I think it's less offensive to the nostrils than Nair (I bought the Aloe Vera version, can't speak on the other scents). They recommend starting with 3 minutes; I found it to be more effective for me after 4. The "razor" works beautifully and I just can't stop touching my legs because they are so smooth! All that's left now is to see how my legs react. So far it hasn't irritated them any more than a regular razor - probably less!

This has been a personally-tested product review brought to you by i like shiny things. :D

Laundry day.

Hahaha, Kim just called and she's driving an hour to come visit me so she can do laundry. Hahahaha.

Lazy Sunday

So. Gosford Park was ok, although we had to turn the captions on because all the English people were mumbling. That movie takes quite a few brain cells to process, let me tell you. There were lots of great actors and actresses in it: Maggie Smith, Michael Gambon, Jeremy Northam, Emily Watson, Derek Jacobi, Ryan Phillippe, oh, and the girl who played Deirdre in Intermission, Kelly Macdonald.

Vanity Fair was beautifully done. It is very much a Tess of the D'Urbervilles sort of story where the good people are constantly screwed over... but at least in this one SOME of the people find happiness in the end. Poor Rawdon. I do believe that he and Becky were happy together in the beginning, although her line about "In my way, I have loved you" was spectacularly cruel, suggesting that she never loved him the way he thought she did in the first place. Again, the movie had an enjoyable cast: Reese Witherspoon did a lovely job as Becky; a couple of familiar faces were present (Jonathan Rhys Myers, Jim Broadbent and Gabriel Byrne), and there were several characters played very well by people I hadn't really seen before (Rawdon, Amelia, Dobbin, Joseph Sedley... etc.). Enjoyable, despite being frustrating.

Today I got up at 10. I wish I could have slept longer. I get my Bryon back today, but probably not until 11 or 12 at night. Until then I will try to get some things accomplished (even if some of those things are for entertainment's sake, like... finishing the Tohru scarf??).

D loves cooking with gas.

Sorry, random. But she's making noodles for the three of us (D plus Sara and me). We are having Girls' Night, because Bryon is off at Guard for the weekend. He doesn't sound like he is having a fabulous time... they had an informal (and mandatory) party tonight and he said that wasn't that fun. Tomorrow he's got a huuuuuge ceremony to go to and apparently some four-star general decided to go, plus Thomas Hamill (the American worker who was kidnapped in Iraq, escaped, and found Bryon's unit who then kept him safe and went after his kidnappers), so now the whole thing has turned into a huuuuge fiasco. I hope it's not *too* ridiculous for him; at least he gets to sit down this time instead of standing for two hours like at the demobilization ceremony.

Yesterday I had an ok day at work - the computer guy came in again, plus I got another page done on the newsletter. After work I went to Nick's mother's house (Nick being Bryon's best friend) for a welcome home party - Nick's Guard unit just returned yesterday from Afghanistan (via Ft. Drum). Then Ozog called to see if I wanted to go to Olive Garden. I had some WONDERFUL Spaghetti della Rocce and then Ozog, Sara and I traipsed around the mall, Barnes and Walmart for a bit. It was late when we got done, and after taking a goofy wrong turn I was actually heading toward Mom and Dad's house, so I ended up staying over there.

This morning Mom and Aunt Lisa and I went to yard sales, then Mom, Dad, Brion and I hopped in the car and went to Ithaca for the book sale and a mall excursion. I *finally* bought a living room rug and a slipcover for the couch. It's starting to look better in here. I can't wait til Bryon sees it. :)

After a yummy dinner of pancakes and sausage at home, I returned to the apartment. D came over and helped me get the new rug and slipcover in place, and then we figured out how to order a double feature of Gosford Park and Vanity Fair on pay-per-view. This digital cable thing is great. Much better than going to the video store - we can rewind, pause etc. and we get the movies for 24 hours, but we don't have to take it back to the store! I sound like an ad for Time Warner Cable.

I made mini apple cinnamon bread loaves with my ADORABLE mini loaf pan! Very tasty. Now we have finished Gosford Park, and D is making soba for us to eat during Vanity Fair. It smells good.

Bryon will be back tomorrow. I have been running around non-stop so far this weekend, so I'm taking tomorrow to be lazy and stay home - although I may do some laundry or clean the floors.

Knitting progress: I've finished the two orange stripes for the Tohru scarf, and I've done about 6 inches on the center purple stripe. It's going quite quickly and I'm very glad I ripped it out and started over. I know it would have bothered me in the long run not to do it correctly.

Ooh, now we're watching The Kumars. AND PATRICK STEWART IS ON. Wheeeee.