Dainty Kitty

Frankenberries

So last night I finished my tea towel for the Crafty Daisies Tea Towel Swap.  It was such a refreshing project.  My current financial status is forcing me into a mode of Use What You Have but I found the perfect white material and a large scrap of strawberry fabric.  It was so nice to do two things I haven't done in quite a while: get out the sewing machine and embroider.  Oddly enough, I spotted a couple of other towels out there with a strawberry theme.  I'm a bit Pandora-ish and, even though this is a blind swap, this morning I did some lurking through the comments.  I can't help it.

There's no picture yet - it was dark when I finished last night but I'll take one when I get home.

And if you really want to have some crazy dreams, fall asleep to Young Frankenstein.  That's what I did last night and, even though I can't remember any specifics, I do remember being somewhat shaken when I woke up at one, turned off the tv and wandered off to bed. 

Bad Dog!

And here's the mask Jake made for me.  Of course, the girl draws the sweet puppy with the tongue hanging out and the boy draws a menacing dog with terrifying fangs.  Go figure. 

This is how we spent quite a bit of the weekend - stripping and scraping. 

Oh, that's my car in the background.  The car that is currently in the shop because I was rear ended about two weeks ago.   (Edit: well how do you like that?  While I can see my car just fine it doesn't show up at all when I view my actual blog.  Interesting.  Trust me, it's there and I was, indeed, rear ended.)

And who'd have thought you'd ever get a glimpse of my underthings?   

My New Puppy

How many guys out there would not only let their girlfriend draw a dog's snout on the face mask they were actually going to work in but also allow her to take a photo?  Not too many, I think. 

We worked on the patio today - sanding and scraping and finally stripping.  Very messy work but you can make anything fun if you try just a wee little bit.

Tomorrow (or rather today since it's after midnight) we were planning to spend the day lounging but we didn't get as much done today so we're back at it until we go to my parents' house for dinner.  My brother is in town from Charleston, SC and I just realized that I haven't seen him since Christmas!  It really doesn't seem like it's been that long.

I've also been working on something a little crafty - a crocheted zombie doll but he's missing an arm and a leg and some bloody embellishments which have been put on hold until later this week.  I'm also working on sanding down a coffee table I got for free from work so that I can stain it and I need to get the flowers that have been sitting on my kitchen table planted in my window box but I've not been all that motivated.  I took Friday off with the express purpose of not only relaxing but getting at least one task completed...oh, I took care of the relaxing part but nothing else.  Well, I  baked cookies and that should count for something....

And now I'm off to bed, to dream of sharp metal objects scraping against paint....

Damn That Aunt Flo

I have run the gamut of premenstrual emotions this month.  Tears welled up in my eyes as I watched a little girl hula to "Little Brown Gal" at the World A'Fair Saturday night, I was cranky, I was a bit crazy (thanks, Elizabeth), I was bitchy and not myself...I'm glad I'm not like this every month.  Seriously. 

But it's all over now.  I ended my carnival of emotions last night with nearly an entire pint of Ben & Jerry's Phish Food ice cream.  I left about three bites just so that I could tell myself, "Well, I didn't eat the whole thing."

Just most of it.

A'Fairs, Nights and Strange Encounters

Lucy, my tortoiseshell cat - the one who isn't in the banner and doesn't get as much attention as Mina - is in the living room, playing with a plastic bag and doing that strange thing where she talks to herself: loud, plaintive mews.  I used to think it meant she was trapped somewhere or upset but I think she just decides to be chatty ever once in awhile.  That or she thinks it's cool because I do it all the time.  Talk to myself, not meow.  Although I do wear the cat ears you see on the left when I clean.

Tonight we're going to the World A'Fair - something my parents do every year and something I also adopted several years ago.  Representatives from several countries set up booths selling food and other goodies.  I remember my parents bringing home desserts and some sort of flute like thing one year.  On my list of things to eat: a falafel, cannoli, German potato salad and these apple fritter things that Holland, I think, sells.   Then we're heading to the Oregon District for Urban Nights.   Should be a good night.

I wish I'd taken before photos of Jake's front yard before we cleaned it all out and planted flowers, hostas and bushes.  We're going to mulch today and that'll finish it off other than some sort of stone border. He has a lot of ideas for inside and outside - next time I'm going to remember to take more pictures.  I used to hate working in the yard but this has been a very rewarding experience.  I guess when I'm not doing yard work because my parents want me to, I actually enjoy getting my hands dirty and sweating.  Who'd have thought?

On a last note, W. texted me at ten o'clock last night.  How odd is that?  A simple, "Watcha doin?" to  which I replied,  "Not a whole heck of a lot - I was wondering where you'd gotten to."  She replied that she'd been working and did I want to come to a bar downtown.  I said that I would if I weren't already in my jammies and catnapping (she'd woken me up, actually - I was asleep at ten on a Friday night if you can believe that).  And that was that.  Part of me thought I should go just because she asked but I was realistic and didn't drag myself out.  I really don't know what to think of that exchange.  Maybe I'll try to call her next week....

And in closing, since she never gets any blog attention...Lucy with Thread.

The Cute, The Sad and The Mushy

First this - How utterly cool is it that Jake has Prince Damacy up on his mantle (I finished him ages ago but still need to take pictures)?  And how utterly cool is it that he just added the Happy Poo that I had crocheted for his Easter basket?  Uh, yeah, the Easter basket that I just gave him last week (note the date).  I made him one because I was making one for my parents and making Easter baskets makes me happy...but when it came down to it it just seemed too soon.  So I waited and waited...and when he couldn't find any chocolate in my cabinets one night last week I finally gave it to him.  It was really cute - I put everything, including the Happy Poo, in a pot (get it?) and used white shred.  I contemplated actually cutting toilet paper into shred but it just seemed like too much work.  So he got a Poo themed Easter basket.  Late.

Then this - I'm going through one of those stages where I just don't get women.  If you know me at all you love me...no wait, that wasn't what I was going to say...if you know me at all you know that I don't have very many female friends.  In fact, right now I have none.  I don't have a BFF to call up and say, "Jake made me cinnamon toast last night!" (if I actually explained what that meant you'd know that it's the kind of Cute that a woman likes to share) or "He met my parents yesterday!"  This usually only bothers me when I've just broken up with a girlfriend but I had something kind of sad happen recently that bothers me enough to post it.

I've lost another friend.  And this time I don't know why exactly. 

W. and I met at a Christmas party last year and, due to our single status, our love for all things Buffy and my dazzling extrovert personality, we quickly became friends.   We went out with the group quite a bit but also did things together.  It's been so long since I've met a girlfriend for dinner, shopping, happy hour or a movie that I was nearly swooning.  I had a friend!  And she was so like me!  I borrowed the entire Angel series from her and watched it in a month.  We talked about books.  I've never had a friend that had read Jane Eyre and wanted to talk about it!  What a thrill!

She met a guy an New Year's Eve and they really hit it off.  Great!  I'm not the jealous type at all.  He was leaving for Germany in a matter of months and didn't treat her the way she deserved to be treated but I was there to listen - only cursing him out a few times.  I think we talked a couple times after he left.  I had met Jake and things were going well.  The last time I saw her we were supposed to meet at a shi-shi bar downtown but she was late and arrived just as Jake and I were leaving to get dinner.  A few weeks later she invited me to see Rent (she gets free tickets through work and called me that day of) and I copped out at sort of the last minute due to an overwhelming wave of depression that came out of no where.  She chastised me and told me to throw on some clothes and get my ass downtown.  I left her a message after the play started explaining why I couldn't leave the house and that I hoped she wasn't mad, "Because I really like you."  I wasn't too worried - she'd called me that day of and had also said that I could drop out of something else came up (i.e. Jake) - but I really didn't want her to be angry with me.

She wasn't and I think we spoke on the phone once more after that.  She forwarded me a couple of job openings where she works which were appealing but not what I was really looking for.  I probably should have come right out and told her but I didn't and I now wonder if that had anything to do with it.   We texted a few times after that and I asked her to meet me for happy hour a couple times but was turned down each time.  The last time I communicated with her I sent her a text, "What are you doing after work?" to which I received a very simple, "Sleeping." 

And that was it. 

It's just sad.  I'm not a bad person.  I think I'm nice.  I think I'm giving and caring and fun - all things that make up a good friend.  But I can't hang on to one.   I just don't get it.

And I'm not writing about this looking for ego strokes or anything...I'm actually very happy right now and I know I'm a good person with a lot to offer a friend or a partner.  I also know there are a wonderful handful of people out there that I consider good friends that I've never even met and that really means the world to me.  There's just that void, you know?   That vaguely nagging void.  I miss that person to shop with on a Saturday night and gush about how great my boyfriend is while we sip coffee or have ice cream.  It's just something I'd like to have that never seems to work out for me. 

But I won't stop trying.  And I'll just enjoy what I have because all of it is really great. 

Catching Up

When it comes to most things I almost always seem to be a step behind.  At least a step...maybe a few sometimes and other times I'm so far back you barely see me waving frantically.

Anyway, I just took advantage of Google Reader and added most of my favorite sites and now I'm wondering how I lived without it.  I've attempted to use some of the other blog tracking sites out there but they never worked right for me - I never felt comfortable with them - so I just added blogs to my favorites and clicked away.  But I did a lot of useless clicking on non-updated blogs so I'm happy to now have found a tracker that I actually like and is fairly easy to use.

Like I said - I'm behind. 

That reminds me of the magnet I have that used to hang on my parents' fridge - it's the back end of a Beetle and says, "I MAY BE SLOW BUT I'M WAY AHEAD OF YOU." 

There you go.  A little Useless Emily Trivia. 

Of Goats and Cows and Other Things

Going to Young's Golden Jersey Inn for lunch on Mother's Day wasn't the smartest thing I've ever suggested but the food is more than worth it and Jake and I got to walk around the farm during our hour wait....

A Fish Full of Trees

I took this yesterday at the pond where I like to eat my lunch on nice days.

You've Been the Hole in My Sky

What a perfect day for driving home while dancing to the Indigo Girls!