No, I am not suicidal. I did not intentionally try to kill myself. Intentional being the key word here. I did not "try" to kill myself, it happened through sheer coincidence (A.K.A STUPIDITY!!).
In my defense, it has been many years since I took a high school science class.
On Saturday, I decided to do some spring cleaning. I like to think of it as getting a head start on this coming spring instead of being very late for this last spring. Anyway, as I said, it has been a long time (20+ yrs) since I learned anything about the consequences of mixing cleaning chemicals. Yes, I know your not supposed to mix bleach and ammonia. Duh? Who doesn't know that one. However, no one ever mentioned that you shouldn't mix bleach and toilet bowl cleaner. I mean, there are toilet bowl cleaners that you can buy that have bleach added to them. It says so right on their labels. It just so happens that I didn't have that particular one. So I just didn't think it through when I decided the toilet needed to be just a little bit cleaner and dumped in the bleach. Of course what do I do when the toilet starts hissing and bubbling? The logical answer would have been to flush the toilet RIGHT AWAY!! Yes, that would have been the logical answer, but I'm blond. My immediate response to the coughing fit was to run from the bathroom and find the little white breathing mask that was sitting on the kitchen table (which was not much help at all). Not thinking that in between the time that I leave the bathroom, run to the kitchen, and run back to the bathroom that even MORE fumes have been generated. Once back, I immediately flushed the toilet. Luckily the window in the bathroom was open and the little fan was going. I also had to bring in the big fan. Once that was all set up, I vacated the house. Luckily the cats were smart enough to stay clear of the bathroom. Jasmine had retreated after dueling with the fire-breathing vacuum and Java ran for the basement like a coward as soon as my hand touched the vacuum handle.
Boy, but let me tell you. I don't think my toilet has ever been as clean as it is now. At least not since it was brand new. Next time though I will get the cleaner where the bleach has already been added to it by PROFESSIONALS.
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
I got some things done!
A.K.A Show & Tell
On July 4th, I dropped my Summer Breeze quilt off to get it machine at Phyllis Sponsellers house. I got it back last Friday. I am very happy with it. I decided I wanted to make a summer quilt out of it. What that means is that instead of using cotton batting (for warmth) I just used a white piece of muslin. This makes it thinner, and required Phyllis to play around with the tension on her long arm quilting machine. Although since it is a queen sized quilt, I thought that using the fabric instead of the batting would cut down on the weight of the quilt too, but it really didn't. It will have scalloped edges (which I have already marked) and it will be bound using the same "blueberry" colored fabric as the skinny border. I got the binding made last night and I want to start sewing it down tomorrow night. I need to get it finished because it will be in the Bangor, MI quilt show on September 20th.
Here are a few pictures.
This is a photo of the back of my quilt. When I was learning to quilt, I was taught to put just plain white or light color on the back of the quilt. A lot of quilters in my quilt guild use the scraps left from the front of the quilt to piece the backing of the quilt. So I thought I would give it a try. I've come to the conclusion that it's just not something I like. It's pretty, but to me I still see it as an awful waste of good fabric. Fabric that could be used to make other projects.
Here is a close up photo, so that you can see the heart design that Phyllis used to quilt my quilt.
A couple of months ago, I was cruising around on Ravelry and came across the blog of Sarah. She is a quilter and knitter. She had made her own "swift" based on another blog by Anne of Crafty Diversions. When I saw the plans for it, I thought "I can do that!" So I bought all my supplies, went down to the basement, marked all my cuts. When I went to drag out the compound miter saw that my dad had lent me, I discovered that he had taken it back. So, not wanting to let the project sit, I took it to work and asked our maintenance guru (Dennis) to help me out. He cut everything and drilled all the holes for me. I took it home, sanded it and put it together on Saturday.
Here it is:
I've already tried it out and it works great.
On July 4th, I dropped my Summer Breeze quilt off to get it machine at Phyllis Sponsellers house. I got it back last Friday. I am very happy with it. I decided I wanted to make a summer quilt out of it. What that means is that instead of using cotton batting (for warmth) I just used a white piece of muslin. This makes it thinner, and required Phyllis to play around with the tension on her long arm quilting machine. Although since it is a queen sized quilt, I thought that using the fabric instead of the batting would cut down on the weight of the quilt too, but it really didn't. It will have scalloped edges (which I have already marked) and it will be bound using the same "blueberry" colored fabric as the skinny border. I got the binding made last night and I want to start sewing it down tomorrow night. I need to get it finished because it will be in the Bangor, MI quilt show on September 20th.
Here are a few pictures.
This is a photo of the back of my quilt. When I was learning to quilt, I was taught to put just plain white or light color on the back of the quilt. A lot of quilters in my quilt guild use the scraps left from the front of the quilt to piece the backing of the quilt. So I thought I would give it a try. I've come to the conclusion that it's just not something I like. It's pretty, but to me I still see it as an awful waste of good fabric. Fabric that could be used to make other projects.
Here is a close up photo, so that you can see the heart design that Phyllis used to quilt my quilt.A couple of months ago, I was cruising around on Ravelry and came across the blog of Sarah. She is a quilter and knitter. She had made her own "swift" based on another blog by Anne of Crafty Diversions. When I saw the plans for it, I thought "I can do that!" So I bought all my supplies, went down to the basement, marked all my cuts. When I went to drag out the compound miter saw that my dad had lent me, I discovered that he had taken it back. So, not wanting to let the project sit, I took it to work and asked our maintenance guru (Dennis) to help me out. He cut everything and drilled all the holes for me. I took it home, sanded it and put it together on Saturday.
Here it is:
I've already tried it out and it works great.
Sunday, July 20, 2008
National Ice Cream Day!
Yahoo! Can you believe it! There is actually a National Ice Cream Day where it is encouraged that everyone chow down on their favorite cold dessert. The whole month of July is Ice Cream month , but today is the special day.
Of course I had to stop at the store on my way to work today and pick up a container of vanilla, my personal favorite. Which by the way is the #1 most popular flavor followed by chocolate, butter pecan and strawberry. I also brought chocolate syrup, carmel syrup, raw almonds, walnuts and a little left over whipped cream. Sundeas on Sunday!
Happy National Ice Cream Day to everyone and hope you all enjoy a nice bowl!!
PS Today is also my Dad's 59th birthday. And my BF Debby's youngest son's 3rd birthday.
Happy Birthday Dad and Ethan.
Dad made some home-made Expresso ice cream last week. OMG! It was so good. Sure wish I had some today.
Of course I had to stop at the store on my way to work today and pick up a container of vanilla, my personal favorite. Which by the way is the #1 most popular flavor followed by chocolate, butter pecan and strawberry. I also brought chocolate syrup, carmel syrup, raw almonds, walnuts and a little left over whipped cream. Sundeas on Sunday!
Happy National Ice Cream Day to everyone and hope you all enjoy a nice bowl!!
PS Today is also my Dad's 59th birthday. And my BF Debby's youngest son's 3rd birthday.
Happy Birthday Dad and Ethan.
Dad made some home-made Expresso ice cream last week. OMG! It was so good. Sure wish I had some today.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
There's Just Nothing Like a Good Mad!
There just nothing like a good mad to get me working on something. Once, in high school my dad made me so mad I cleaned my room and put away 7 baskets of clothes that had been laying around the room. My mom was confused when she went into the laundry room and saw the stack of laundry baskets. I don't think she realized she had so many!
Anyway, I was seriously pissed off when I left work yesterday. I have a co-worker who never answers a question with a direct answer. It is always a huge production and really long explanation just to end up at "yes" or "no." He just hit my last nerve yesterday.
My first thought was to go out after work and have a drink, but after I ran some errands, I was just to damn hot (as in sweaty 'hot' not steamed 'hot') so I thought I would go home and have my drink in the privacy of my own home. By the time I got home, I just wanted to do something. So I changed in to grunge clothes and headed for the basement (where it is much cooler). Once there I proceeded to finish painting my 'square in a square' blocks on the wall. Here are the photos:
This is the photo I took last Saturday after I finished putting on the 10" squares. I was a little excited about the results and ended up pulling the tape off a little early on my last squares. You can really tell on the blue square in the corner. The light green (3rd block from the left) one isn't so noticeable in this photo. The paint was still damp enough that it pealed the purple off. I had already touched up the purple by the time I took this photo.
These 2 photos were taken last night after I taped off the 4" inner square and sections of the blue and green square that had to be re-done.
Then I painted all the centers. This time, I let it dry longer, but I probably could have let it go a little longer, because I had to re-touch up the green and blue squares where a little bit re-pealed up.
And wallah! I have quilt blocks on the walls of the sewing room! I think they turned out so nice.
I didn't actually pick this pattern out because they quilt blocks. I saw this on HGTV. They were recommending that if you have low ceilings, that you paint something along the bottom of the walls. Then when you walk into the room, your eye is drawn down and gives you the 'impression' that the ceilings are taller than they actually are.
Now I just have to get the linoleum down and the ceiling up and the trim trimmed. Then I will be ready to move in. I have the linoleum and the drop ceiling stuff purchased I just have to arrange for someone else to lay the linoleum and someone else to help me install the ceiling.
But it's getting there!
Anyway, I was seriously pissed off when I left work yesterday. I have a co-worker who never answers a question with a direct answer. It is always a huge production and really long explanation just to end up at "yes" or "no." He just hit my last nerve yesterday.
My first thought was to go out after work and have a drink, but after I ran some errands, I was just to damn hot (as in sweaty 'hot' not steamed 'hot') so I thought I would go home and have my drink in the privacy of my own home. By the time I got home, I just wanted to do something. So I changed in to grunge clothes and headed for the basement (where it is much cooler). Once there I proceeded to finish painting my 'square in a square' blocks on the wall. Here are the photos:
This is the photo I took last Saturday after I finished putting on the 10" squares. I was a little excited about the results and ended up pulling the tape off a little early on my last squares. You can really tell on the blue square in the corner. The light green (3rd block from the left) one isn't so noticeable in this photo. The paint was still damp enough that it pealed the purple off. I had already touched up the purple by the time I took this photo.
These 2 photos were taken last night after I taped off the 4" inner square and sections of the blue and green square that had to be re-done.
Then I painted all the centers. This time, I let it dry longer, but I probably could have let it go a little longer, because I had to re-touch up the green and blue squares where a little bit re-pealed up.
And wallah! I have quilt blocks on the walls of the sewing room! I think they turned out so nice.
I didn't actually pick this pattern out because they quilt blocks. I saw this on HGTV. They were recommending that if you have low ceilings, that you paint something along the bottom of the walls. Then when you walk into the room, your eye is drawn down and gives you the 'impression' that the ceilings are taller than they actually are.
Now I just have to get the linoleum down and the ceiling up and the trim trimmed. Then I will be ready to move in. I have the linoleum and the drop ceiling stuff purchased I just have to arrange for someone else to lay the linoleum and someone else to help me install the ceiling.
But it's getting there!
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Questions
1) What was I doing 10 years ago?
Wow, ya know, I'm not really sure. Other than living in an apartment in South Bend and working for SYSCON.
5) Places I have lived:
Wow, ya know, I'm not really sure. Other than living in an apartment in South Bend and working for SYSCON.
2) What are 5 things on my to-do list for today (not in any particular order):
-Filing (YUCK, YUCK, YUCK)
-Sales orders
-Stop a Lowe's to try to find a wall stencil for the basement that I saw somewhere, but can't
remember if it was Lowe's or not.
-Make dinner (maybe just cereal or bacon sandwich)
-Touch up some of the squares painted on the basement wall or Finish sewing the sashing for my Lilibet's Garden quilt. Whichever sounds more interesting at the time.
3) Snacks I enjoy:
4) Things I would do if I were a billionaire:
Be debt free, help my family5) Places I have lived:
Decatur, Dowagiac (2 places), South Bend, Niles
7) 6 people I wanna know more about:
Any one who wants to participate. Just leave me a comment, so that I can check out your answers.
Friday, July 11, 2008
Weekly Post
I've been slacking off on posting to my blog a lot lately. It had deteriorated to a weekly post, that recaps the whole week. Well, so here it is.
On Tuesday night, I took my spinning wheel to the Frog Pond Fiber Arts meeting. I was hoping to get a few pointers to help me get started. There were just 4 of us who attended; Mel, Mary, Aubrey and myself. It was a nice homey group. The scotch tension nob came out of my spinning wheel when I was carting it inside so I spent most of my spinning time trying to find the right setting. Thanks to Mel, I learned that by tightening the know it draws the spinning in faster and by loosening it it slows it down a bit. But I still had problems. Too loose, too tight, too loose, too tight. No happy medium.
Here is a picture I snootched from Aubrey's Flickr page. This is she and I spinning on our Ashford Traditionals. Only I discovered I can't spin and pose at the same time, because I forgot to let the yarn go in to the orifice. It was way too overspun!
Once I got fed up with the spinning woes, I decided it was a good thing I brought knitting along. I pulled out my Cul-de-Sac Vest pattern to work on. When I chose this pattern, I didn't notice that it said it was for "advanced" knitters. I was having a problem with some of the unfamiliar increases/decreases. I found 1 explanation on-line for right/lifted lifted knit/purl increases, that I thought would be great. Don't know if I was doing it right or not (probably not) because I ended up with a whole. Not sure how that happened, so on Wednesday, I pulled out another skein of my yarn and did a practice swatch. I also remember that I had just done some lifted increases on the gussets of my Toe-up sock that I am currently working on. So I brought that along to Knit Night too. I'm so glad I decided to to the practice swatch, because (1) it helped me practice unfamiliar stitches and (2) it made me realize I need to enlarge the chart.
On Tuesday night, I took my spinning wheel to the Frog Pond Fiber Arts meeting. I was hoping to get a few pointers to help me get started. There were just 4 of us who attended; Mel, Mary, Aubrey and myself. It was a nice homey group. The scotch tension nob came out of my spinning wheel when I was carting it inside so I spent most of my spinning time trying to find the right setting. Thanks to Mel, I learned that by tightening the know it draws the spinning in faster and by loosening it it slows it down a bit. But I still had problems. Too loose, too tight, too loose, too tight. No happy medium.
Here is a picture I snootched from Aubrey's Flickr page. This is she and I spinning on our Ashford Traditionals. Only I discovered I can't spin and pose at the same time, because I forgot to let the yarn go in to the orifice. It was way too overspun!
Once I got fed up with the spinning woes, I decided it was a good thing I brought knitting along. I pulled out my Cul-de-Sac Vest pattern to work on. When I chose this pattern, I didn't notice that it said it was for "advanced" knitters. I was having a problem with some of the unfamiliar increases/decreases. I found 1 explanation on-line for right/lifted lifted knit/purl increases, that I thought would be great. Don't know if I was doing it right or not (probably not) because I ended up with a whole. Not sure how that happened, so on Wednesday, I pulled out another skein of my yarn and did a practice swatch. I also remember that I had just done some lifted increases on the gussets of my Toe-up sock that I am currently working on. So I brought that along to Knit Night too. I'm so glad I decided to to the practice swatch, because (1) it helped me practice unfamiliar stitches and (2) it made me realize I need to enlarge the chart.
Saturday, July 5, 2008
4th of July Fireworks Bust
Hope everyone had an enjoyable 4th of July.
I had a nice cookout at my Mom and Dads. Wasn't a big turnout, but I had a good time visiting with my Aunt Margaret, her daughter Tracy, Tracy's daughter Erica, and my 16 month old cousin Ethin . His mom was sick with the flu, so he came with his Grandma Margaret. If I have that figured out right, we had my aunt, cousin, second-cousin and third-cousin over for the party.
As always, there was too much food, but we were expecting to more of my cousins plus there spouses/kids. But yeah! I don't have to worry about cooking anything for work on Sunday.
In the evening, we went to Tracy's house to watch the Hartford firworks. She lives right across the street from the speedway, where they were being set off. We went there last year and it was a great view. This year however, the Speedway owners decided to wait until after the races were over before they set off the fireworks. Last year they started right around dusk. This year they didn't start until 11:30. I was amazed at how many cars left before the fireworks started. My parents left at 11, because they were getting tired. Then just when I decided to leave, they started. However, by that time I was getting tired also. I left about 15 minutes into the fireworks and I am so glad. By the time I got home after a 30-40 minute drive, I was struggling to keep my eyes open. I had the radio blaring and the windows open and it was still hard.
I had a nice cookout at my Mom and Dads. Wasn't a big turnout, but I had a good time visiting with my Aunt Margaret, her daughter Tracy, Tracy's daughter Erica, and my 16 month old cousin Ethin . His mom was sick with the flu, so he came with his Grandma Margaret. If I have that figured out right, we had my aunt, cousin, second-cousin and third-cousin over for the party.
As always, there was too much food, but we were expecting to more of my cousins plus there spouses/kids. But yeah! I don't have to worry about cooking anything for work on Sunday.
In the evening, we went to Tracy's house to watch the Hartford firworks. She lives right across the street from the speedway, where they were being set off. We went there last year and it was a great view. This year however, the Speedway owners decided to wait until after the races were over before they set off the fireworks. Last year they started right around dusk. This year they didn't start until 11:30. I was amazed at how many cars left before the fireworks started. My parents left at 11, because they were getting tired. Then just when I decided to leave, they started. However, by that time I was getting tired also. I left about 15 minutes into the fireworks and I am so glad. By the time I got home after a 30-40 minute drive, I was struggling to keep my eyes open. I had the radio blaring and the windows open and it was still hard.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
More Camping Photos
There are photos I took while walking along the beach at Ludington State Park. Sure wish I had remembered to take the date stamp off before I started taking these.
Camping Pictures
OOPS! I forgot to post pictures of my camping trip. So here are a few.
Look Mom, I made my bed!
This is a picture of the strategically placed space heater that I took with me. Yes, I know you're not supposed to have a heater inside your tent, but it was really cold at night. Low 40's. Brrr!
We tried to tell the kids it was too cold to go to the beach, but they wouldn't listen. So Eric said let them find out for themselves. Here is McKelle in her long pants, sweatshirt and jacket. Behind her is her husband Eric in his sweats. And the 2 freezing kids in the front are Brenna and Landon. Needless to say, they didn't stay on the beach for long. Maybe 20 minutes at the tops.
Here they are in wearing more appropriate cloths. This was day 2. Day 1 would have been warm enough to go in the water, but we went visiting other friends who were in another campground nearby.
Here's me, hamming it up for the photo. I almost fell backwards inside the tire tunnel.
I started my Toe-up socks our first morning in Ludington. I brought them along that night to sit around the campfire. It was so nice and toasty. We tried a new S'mores recipe while we were there. Instead of graham crackers, you use chocolate chip cookies. And instead of just plain Chocolate, you use Reeses Peanut Butter Cups. Boy were the sweet! Turns out me and McKelle were the only 2 willing to give them a try. I like the Chocolate Chip Cookie idea, because I really don't like graham crackers, but the RPB Cup was just too much. Next time, I'm going to just leave that part out.
Landon with his glow stick.
Now that's Static!
Look Mom, I made my bed!
This is a picture of the strategically placed space heater that I took with me. Yes, I know you're not supposed to have a heater inside your tent, but it was really cold at night. Low 40's. Brrr!
We tried to tell the kids it was too cold to go to the beach, but they wouldn't listen. So Eric said let them find out for themselves. Here is McKelle in her long pants, sweatshirt and jacket. Behind her is her husband Eric in his sweats. And the 2 freezing kids in the front are Brenna and Landon. Needless to say, they didn't stay on the beach for long. Maybe 20 minutes at the tops.
Here they are in wearing more appropriate cloths. This was day 2. Day 1 would have been warm enough to go in the water, but we went visiting other friends who were in another campground nearby.
Here's me, hamming it up for the photo. I almost fell backwards inside the tire tunnel.
I started my Toe-up socks our first morning in Ludington. I brought them along that night to sit around the campfire. It was so nice and toasty. We tried a new S'mores recipe while we were there. Instead of graham crackers, you use chocolate chip cookies. And instead of just plain Chocolate, you use Reeses Peanut Butter Cups. Boy were the sweet! Turns out me and McKelle were the only 2 willing to give them a try. I like the Chocolate Chip Cookie idea, because I really don't like graham crackers, but the RPB Cup was just too much. Next time, I'm going to just leave that part out.
Landon with his glow stick.
Now that's Static!
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