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Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Mid-Week Updates

Illustration Friday - Climbing

This has been a pretty annoying week. :\ I just have not been feeling well all week...Wednesday was the only day I felt halfway decent, and it was also the only day that I got anything done.

I hate feeling bad and knowing that there is stuff that I want to do that I just don't feel good enough to bother with. Sigh.

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

The Last Lecture - Review

First non-fiction book.

The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch and Jeffrey Zaslow

This was an interesting book, and a quick read. I did find it just a bit depressing, although I don't think that was the intent. The book is basically a series of life lessons as told by Randy Pausch, about how to live your child hood dreams and use your time wisely. There were many funny anecdotes, as well as some interestings tidbits of information. However, no matter how many people tell you how (even so gently as this) to live your life, it is still your life to live, to have, and to waste. While one can be inspired by stories such as the late Mr. Pausch's, it is infitely harder to change your own life. Essentially, these types of life lessons must be learned the hard way - through trial, and error, and a lot of mistakes.

All that said, I did enjoy the book, and it was a very quick read.

Pretties!

I got yarn in the mail yesterday! =D And it's so prettyful!!!! Now I have to wind it up and cast on for the Mystic Star KAL. I'm so excited! ^_^ And I ordered Acid Dye and am going to be dyeing some of my merino purple-ish and using that to knit cabled fingerless gloves and maybe legwarmers, for the SKC 2009 1st Quarter KAL. Yay!

Syd says I have a knitting fetish...I say I don't have enough money to spend on yarn for it to be a fetish. And I actually have more of a beading fetish, I definitely own more $$ worth of beads than I do of yarn! XD

Soooo this week I need to:
1) bake sugary goodness. I'm still debating between Star Wars cupcakes and Pixel cookies, though
2) Illo Fri
3) exercise
4) Creme Brulee for dessert
5) continue scanning magazines
6) poi
7) finish the first fire armlet
8) start applying for jobs?

and Next Week or in the first two weeks of February:
1) valentines cupcakes (cupcakes, V-day sprinkles in batter, raspberry jam heart on top)
2) fondue
3) chocolates of some kind

Friday, January 23, 2009

Friday Fun

Sooooo I woke up this morning and watched Wives & Daughters, Part 3...I love that series. And the book, as well. And I knitted while watching, I am almost to the point with the white skirt that I can cast off a bunch on the ends and just fill in the middle, which will hopefully make it go faster? A little bit cheating, but I don't really want to knit the whole underskirt. XD

What else did I do? I played DDR for a while. I emailed my husband <3. I looked at acid dyes. I'm still waiting on my yarn to ship, I don't think I am going to be able to begin the KAL on Monday...oh well, I will just have to catch up. I should probably stop by Hobby Lobby this afternoon and buy a circluar needle, size..um...4? I think? O_O 3.25 mm?

And then I cleaned house. I dusted the living/dining/study room, and the bedroom, and I vacuumed the living/dining/study roomed, and mopped the bedroom and the kitchen. And I cleaned the bathroom. >.< And now I am tired. But at least I am so far keeping up with my 101 in 1001 goal to clean the house every week! It still looks too full of stuff...but I guess it is! XD

Next week I need to try a new dessert (creme brulee, I think) and a new candy (not sure what...I realllly want to make homemade Aero bars but I don't have a whipping canister and I don't think I really want to buy one just now?). I reaaaaaaaaally want to make geeky cookies or cupcakes (or both). I saw a how-to for pixel cookies, which looks really fun and amusing, and I also kind of want to do Star Wars themed cupcakes (with mini edible lightsabers!!!). So...we'll see if either of those happen next week.

I need to start applying for jobs. I am stumped as to where to apply, however. :\

Okay got to get on with it, I've got lots to do this afternoon and not much time to do it!

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Illustration Friday - Pale

So I submitted a drawing to illustration friday again this week. 2/2 so far! ^_^

It can be found here: Pale

Really happy with the expression, less happy with the bangs, but overall not too bad considering I did it in about an hour or less.

Also I have been keeping up with exercising and eating less, so hopefully I am progressing on that scale as well (no pun intended).

Need to work more with poi. I did create a list of all the poi moves I know how to do but I need to review them and review linking them all together as well as learning new moves. I wish there was a poi group in my area.

Going to do some bellydance now, I think. Or maybe more DDR. Or maybe...maybe I will just do nothing at all. :P

I need to email my love. Yeah I will do that and then figure out what else to do!

Friday, January 16, 2009

Poi Move - Shoulder Wraps from Alternating Outwards Shoulder Reels

Long Title, Sorry...

But that is what it is. I can kind of almost do them...They are really frustrating because if you get off your planes even a little tiny bit you get whacked in the head from one side or the other. :P

Syd says it looks awesome, though, when I do it right. I wouldn't know...it's hard to watch yourself without video taping it! :P

I also cleaned house today, again, so I am trying to get into the 'clean-every-week-for-two-months' thing. Yup.

..that's all. My face hurts. My shoulders hurt. My legs hurt. I want to go to sleeeeep. I woke up at 6:30 this morning, for crying out loud! D:

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Illo Fri - Contained

Illo Fri challenge posted on drawingpoint. Yay.

Contained

Hmmm what shall I do this morning? I have absolutely no idea. At all. Whatsoever. >.<

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Muffins! And other stuff.

So I made cheddar cheese muffins this morning for Syd, I think he likes them. They were very easy to make. Yay, muffins! Now, if only I could actually EAT them. :P

I also made chili for lunch, with a recipe that I have never used before. It was pretty good, it might have been better had I actually had one of the spices that were supposed to go into it. Oops. I though I did have some of that, but...I didn't. ^^' Oh well.

I also got the bedroom floor cleaned, FINALLY, and moved stuff back into the room. So, next I want to go through the electronics box and then maybe some of the stuff on the shelf. ^_^

I'm going to play DDR for an hour now. I also need to do dishes. And make chocolates. And write checks and get them ready to mail. And other things. *sigh* I never have enough hours in the day. Oh! And I get to figure out what the heck to make for dinner! And...I have NO clue. >.< Oh dear. And I also have no car...so I can't go to the store so I have to make with what I have. Hmmmmm. I'm sure I can come up with something. Yup.

I'm going to start keeping count of calories, I think. Syd thinks it would be a good idea, so...I'll give it a shot. I'd really like to be able to wear my black Chinese chengosam. Really. REALLY really.

Oh yeah! I also need to fix up new earrings so I can wear them! And stuff. Yup. Syd wants me to write an email for him. And I want to finish my IlloFri drawing. And look at bellydance videos. And do poi. And and and...no time, system crash. >.<

Okay since I have so much to do I am going to finish this off and go do stuff now! Yay!

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

January New Main Dish

So last night for dinner I made "Fish Fromage", which is a fish - and - cheese (as the name implies) casserole. I have never made it before...actually I don't really do casseroles very often! ^^' But Syd requested this, and it is good. It actually turend out well, which is surprising...often things I make don't turn out quite right the first time. Ah well, I try. And usually the second time I can cut down on the amount of time that it actually takes to make it!

So this morning I worked on my French Beaded Golden Snitch. It's not quite done (the center is done, as is half a wing :P) but it is getting there. I just used beads that I already had on hand, but the colors are pretty good. I bougth them this summer to build up my bead stash, which is made up primarily of blues and greens and a few purples and I was trying to get some more variety in there :P, and then never used them (ended up busy, going back to classes, etc, so...things kind of stopped getting done?). But they were perfect for this project! Yay!

I think DDR killed me...seriously. Ow. And I still want to work on poi, and figure out a poi song and actually start on a poi routine. Yeah. I need more moves to have a good routine, though. I don't feel like I am progressing much, and I am trying to change that, but...it is hard? :P

I also want to start scanning some of my bead and knitting projects/patterns and storing them in PDF files. I haven't figured out yet how to actually arrange them yet...by magazine issue? By project type? >.< I have no idea...

I'm going to make my husband chocolates again this afternoon, and maybe make some muffins too. ^_^ Too bad I can't eat the muffins! I'm fixing chili soup for dinner tonight (which is, technially, also a "new main dish"...uses a new chili recipe that I have been meaning to try for ages), I think, which shouldn't take terribly long.

Man, I still need to clean the bedroom. Sigh.

And I still need to knit, needlepoint, and ummm stuff. Yeah. At least we finally orderd from amazon last night, I am excited for my new bellydance DVDs to arrive! YAY! And a yoga stretch workout! I need to stretch, I have lost a lot of my flexibility and would like to get it back for dance class.

And I also need to color/finish my IlloFriday pic...gah! >.<

And I just want to sleeeeeeeeeeep. -_-

Monday, January 12, 2009

General Monday-ness

Well...start of a new week.

Beginnings of my 101 in 1001 list:
I have gotten halfway through That Darn Pearl Necklace (in the crafts category), which is further than I have ever gotten with it before...now we'll see if I can finish it without screwing up the second half! I'm scared to even look at it! :P

I am working on mastering shoulder wraps from the Encyclopoidia. If I can figure out the movement one way, then the other two ways should come easier. I hope! Because I am getting frustrated - I can do it with each side on their own, but trying to combine them is HARD. Sigh. But at least I can now dow it with each side individually, that was hard at first, too.

I have sketched and outline my submission for the current Illustration Friday promp ("contains"). So...once I get it colored I will be posting that up.

And I may make something new for dinner tonight, a fish casserole-ish-thing. And I also have new muffins on the list to make this week, for Syd to take to work (or not!).

Groceries are a must this afternoon, as is cleaning the bedroom. Between that and dinner, there goes all of my time today. I already did DDR and have been working with poi.

I wish I could feel better. Most of the time, I don't feel great but I can manage it, and then every so often the weather just messes with me and I feel terrible, and compared to that I feel just great the rest of the time. Unfortunately, now is one of those times. -_-

Anyways...I need to get on with things. Groceries, check. Put away, check. Now...onto bedroom cleaning. :( After emailing Syd.

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Yay!

Well, I finally got my 101 in 1001 list up! =D There's a link to it over there -->, too!

Didn't really do much today. :\ Played DDR for an hour, it nearly killed me. We have dance tonight, bolero and chacha. Yay!

Syd came home early, but now he is taking a nap. He got up early this morning to call the bank, and hasn't been getting enough sleep. We need to get to bed earlier (don't look at me...HE is the one keeping us up! :P).

Here are things that I have come up with already that I think I missed on my 101 in 1001 list:
1) learn to braid my hair in several different ways (5, at least) that I can do easily with practice

2) organize recipes

3) Hobbit comics...

4) I know there is something else that I can't think of at the moment. >.< Rawr!

I want to buy pretty yarn but I don't want to spend money. I also want to buy a professional hula hoop and a hooping video, with the same problem. AND I want to buy bellydance DVDs...you guessed it, same problem! >.<

Ya I really need to do something productive. I'm trying to work on my Maya underwater scene (Gnomon Workshop, Maya Dynamics, Underwater Environment)...yay for Christmas presents! But now my external harddrive is being weird. -_-

Monday, January 5, 2009

I need more sleep than that...

pleeeeeeeeeeease???

I do not function very well on only five hours of sleep, when I also have a cold AND a stomach bug (recovering, kind of...still have the headache, stuffy nose, and icky tummy T_T). >.<

Plus I had a dentist appointment this morning, which completely ate my morning. Sigh.

And I did dishes. I hate dishes! And put the laundry away. I don't hate putting the laundy away. :P And I did a *little* bit of cleaning in the bedroom, but I am REALLY going to do that tomorrow morning.

I'm still sore from bowling. Ow. And dance. Ow. And DDR. more ow. Sigh.

I haven't played Spyro yet, and it's due tomorrow. And I haven't practiced poi yet today. I should do that. I need to do that. Maybe I will do that now.

I need to get my 101/1001 list done. And work on Maya. And make Hobbit Comics. And order stuff, maybe? And work on "stuff" (care packages? Christmas presents for next year? Something?).

Annnnnnnnnnnd I just want to go to sleep. I feel so pathetic. :'(

Friday, January 2, 2009

Reflections

So, now that is is 2009 (yay!), it is time to look back on 2008.

There were lots of good things that happened in 2008. Syd recieved his green card. We had our "real" wedding (as opposed to our "fake" courthouse wedding?). We got to go back to Disney World and see more of Florida. I got to go surfing! And I went to the beach, for the first time - ever (was just as good/even better than I'd imagined ^_^). I learned about Maya and got access to it at school. Maya is awesome! I finally took the silver jewelry class (also awesome!). We did our first ballroom dance exhibitions, in Columbus and at Dance Fair. Syd got a good programming job, finally. So now we have a source of income! And I finally finally finally graduated, which nearly killed me, but I did it, and somehow my grades were actually GOOD (Seriously, I still have no idea how I survived five classes in one semester >.<)!

Then there were some not-so-good things. Like ICE agents waking us up at 7 and lying to us (multiple times) and dragging Syd down to Cincinatti WITHOUT RIGHT (and actually, almost technically illegally) and putting him in jail for the night, destroying any belief that I had in the goodness, effectiveness, or ummm worth of the American Government. Kind of sad when your government betrays you just becuase it is "easier" for some government employees to go after REGISTERED aliens who are trying to get adjustment of status and have filed (after which they cannot be deported anyways until the results of the change of status are completed, one way or the other) so they know where they are than to actually DO THEIR JOBS catching ILLEGAL aliens. Completely destroyed my faith in the government, and I now believe the system is completely broken (as opposed to partially broken). Oh, and then there was the frustrating internship. The amount of time it took for Syd to find a job. The really really bad job at UCR from which he would come home with his back in a knot from pressure/stress. Stupid required classes. And evil professors. Of course, the election. Which was bad either way, really, because I am now for the Libertarians, and don't think there is much difference between the Dems and Repubs really. Both corrupt, inept, and full of stupidity. Bad economy largely because of stupid government policies. Everyone and their mother asking for (and receiving?) "bailouts" which won't work anyways...

But overall, I guess it was a pretty good year. Ended on a good note, anyways. Hope that 2009 will be even better, that I will be able to get a job and we will be able to save for another car, move to a better apartment, and go on a trip to South Africa (and/or New Zealand) by the end of the year so that I can FINALLY meet my in-laws! :D

The New Year's ball was awesome. Although now I am hungry for chocolate-covered strawberries (bought strawberries and chocolate!). We danced. A lot. We have improved an amazing amount from last year at this time, when we still only knew bronze dances and couldn't do silver waltz or foxtrot at all (now we can get around the room!). I braided my hair all pretty! And it actually turned out pretty well, which was surprising. We had a board game night with Tammy and Adam, that was mostly really fun. Rosie is adorable!

I still need to finalize my resolutions, which will be officially coming later, I guess, and I want to complete my 101 in 1001 list (which will probably include most of my resolutions :P). So, yay!

I want to buy yarn. >.>