i just wrote the internet exam.
i opened the file and immediately panicked. "i don't know how to do any of these things!" but i decided to just get started on it, and hopefully something would come to me.
My attitude with a previous job exam was to just answer to the best of my ability, and if my common sense and personal experience was what they wanted, i would get the job. better that than cram for the test, get the job and be completely out of my depth.
Of course with this one there was nothing to cram for, you either know it or you don't, so i gave them what i know. If it is good enough, i might get an interview, if not, well, i probably shouldn't be in that job right now anyway.
wow, i sound so blase about it, but now that it is over the nervous belly-dropped-out feeling is back. trying really hard for the zen of "let it be".
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Monday, February 9, 2009
silver lining
my dad had his watch stolen at the gym today. while he was having a shower.
and while the fact that he had something stolen is slightly disturbing, it is actually kinda funny.
my dad's watch doesn't work.
he has been wearing it for the past year and a half, insisting that "it works sometimes" but still asking us what time it is every few minutes either to check if his watch was still keeping time, or to adjust it to the proper time. it wasn't a battery problem, it was just dead, and dad refused to believe it because "i have a perfectly good watch, i just need to figure out what's wrong with it."
so mom and i are pretty excited about today's little misfortune. he can finally buy a new watch like we have been trying to get him to do for the past year.
i wonder if the thief will ever steal from that locker room again?
and while the fact that he had something stolen is slightly disturbing, it is actually kinda funny.
my dad's watch doesn't work.
he has been wearing it for the past year and a half, insisting that "it works sometimes" but still asking us what time it is every few minutes either to check if his watch was still keeping time, or to adjust it to the proper time. it wasn't a battery problem, it was just dead, and dad refused to believe it because "i have a perfectly good watch, i just need to figure out what's wrong with it."
so mom and i are pretty excited about today's little misfortune. he can finally buy a new watch like we have been trying to get him to do for the past year.
i wonder if the thief will ever steal from that locker room again?
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Always the way
so. bowling with the church choir=my parents friends and my parents.
and what happens?
of course we are sharing a ball dispenser with a group of good looking young men.
and of course i recognize two of them as having gone to my highschool. =sigh= luckily i remembered they had been a couple of grades behind me. so i had the edge of seniority.
i took it as a sign of being grown up that i did not get flustered and embarassed and actually ended up having a pretty good time bowling with the old fogeys. i even shared a few "oh old people" eye rolls with the young guys when one of my team-mates did something silly.
one of the guys even talked to me. he teased me about dancing while waiting for my ball (its all disco balls and dance music after 9). i laughed. that counts as answering right?
when we were driving home my mom says "i think you need to practice your flirting." what? you mean sneaking glances at guys when you know they aren't looking doesn't count? then she says:
"I guess its kinda hard to flirt when you are surrounded by old folks."
yes mom, that is my problem entirely. =sigh=
and what happens?
of course we are sharing a ball dispenser with a group of good looking young men.
and of course i recognize two of them as having gone to my highschool. =sigh= luckily i remembered they had been a couple of grades behind me. so i had the edge of seniority.
i took it as a sign of being grown up that i did not get flustered and embarassed and actually ended up having a pretty good time bowling with the old fogeys. i even shared a few "oh old people" eye rolls with the young guys when one of my team-mates did something silly.
one of the guys even talked to me. he teased me about dancing while waiting for my ball (its all disco balls and dance music after 9). i laughed. that counts as answering right?
when we were driving home my mom says "i think you need to practice your flirting." what? you mean sneaking glances at guys when you know they aren't looking doesn't count? then she says:
"I guess its kinda hard to flirt when you are surrounded by old folks."
yes mom, that is my problem entirely. =sigh=
Huzzah!
I am done! finito! hurrah! huzzah!
ok, well not quite, i have only sent in my last chapter to my advisor, i still have to edit the first two chapters again, and then edit this one when i comes back, then put it all together and read it all at once, and then write a conclusion. argh! so much left to do.
but yay! done this step!
and i got to sew this afternoon! i finally made my mom's birthday present, a table cloth for the kitchen table. i will post pictures tomorrow because we have decided to but a backing on it, so i have to find a piece of fabric for that. i am thinking old b&b sheet.
anyway, off to go bowling. with my church choir. yup, i am a wild and crazy girl.
ok, well not quite, i have only sent in my last chapter to my advisor, i still have to edit the first two chapters again, and then edit this one when i comes back, then put it all together and read it all at once, and then write a conclusion. argh! so much left to do.
but yay! done this step!
and i got to sew this afternoon! i finally made my mom's birthday present, a table cloth for the kitchen table. i will post pictures tomorrow because we have decided to but a backing on it, so i have to find a piece of fabric for that. i am thinking old b&b sheet.
anyway, off to go bowling. with my church choir. yup, i am a wild and crazy girl.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
old favorites
Well, I am being edited right now, huzzah! I know I will have a bit more work on it before it can be sent away to the advisor because i wrote this chapter in little bits and now i have to find an order for them. But it is 26 pages, so I am happy, and so are my editors (mom and dad :D)
To gear up for my sewing exploits which have probably been postponed till tomorrow because leaving this house seems like a better idea right now, I thought I would show you two of the things that make me happy whenever i see them, and that is all the time because they live right here in my room.
The first one is a pillow I had to make for Fashion Design class in highschool in grade ten. I designed the applique myself, and then once i started it quickly realised that appliqueing those sun rays on was hell. There was no freezer paper or fusible web used in this project, i tucked all those edges in by hand because nothing else worked. I embroidered the face and some stars on the moon side to even it out, and then quilted it by stiching around the edge. Its faded now, it used to be a bright royal blue, but i still love it, even though it makes me think of all the work that went into it!
My Grandma did not have very much money, and being a child of the Depression, was very good at working with what she had. I am pretty sure all of the fabric for this quilt was thrifted, she bought most things at garage sales and bazaars. The quilt is mostly solids and ginghams with some very random patterned pieces. alot of the pieces have a seam down the middle, which she may have put in, but equally likely, it was there in the original piece.
See the random thriftiness? The pink striped fabric with the blue flowers will be recognizable to some as pillow ticking (with the seam down the middle) from the feather pillows that everyone in my family seems to have owned at some point. The brown patterned fabric beside it is a miniature toile de jouy pattern, with little trees and pagodas.
She quilted almost all of her quilts by hand with a simple scallop design in lines about 3 inches apart. My Grandfather actually cut her a board with the scallop design on it for easy tracing. I wish I knew where that board ended up, but i think she gave it to a friend.
well, hope you enjoyed them!
To gear up for my sewing exploits which have probably been postponed till tomorrow because leaving this house seems like a better idea right now, I thought I would show you two of the things that make me happy whenever i see them, and that is all the time because they live right here in my room.
The first one is a pillow I had to make for Fashion Design class in highschool in grade ten. I designed the applique myself, and then once i started it quickly realised that appliqueing those sun rays on was hell. There was no freezer paper or fusible web used in this project, i tucked all those edges in by hand because nothing else worked. I embroidered the face and some stars on the moon side to even it out, and then quilted it by stiching around the edge. Its faded now, it used to be a bright royal blue, but i still love it, even though it makes me think of all the work that went into it!
Now this is the best quilt ever! My Grandma Lou made it, and I love it the best of all of the ones she made (which i will likely show you more of in the future). It is very similar to the stacked coin quilt in Last Minute Quilted and Patchwork Gifts, but with a bunch of short stacks whose ladder ends don't quite match up.
My Grandma did not have very much money, and being a child of the Depression, was very good at working with what she had. I am pretty sure all of the fabric for this quilt was thrifted, she bought most things at garage sales and bazaars. The quilt is mostly solids and ginghams with some very random patterned pieces. alot of the pieces have a seam down the middle, which she may have put in, but equally likely, it was there in the original piece.
See the random thriftiness? The pink striped fabric with the blue flowers will be recognizable to some as pillow ticking (with the seam down the middle) from the feather pillows that everyone in my family seems to have owned at some point. The brown patterned fabric beside it is a miniature toile de jouy pattern, with little trees and pagodas.
She quilted almost all of her quilts by hand with a simple scallop design in lines about 3 inches apart. My Grandfather actually cut her a board with the scallop design on it for easy tracing. I wish I knew where that board ended up, but i think she gave it to a friend.
well, hope you enjoyed them!
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Since I can't do....
Since I can't sew until at least the weekend because the big thesis is not quite done (actually I am going to try for tomorrow during editing time:D its not like i am going to write anything more during editing time!), anyway, i am doing enough dreaming about fabric, i thought i would participate in Sew, Mama, Sew!'s Stash Talk, and answer a few questions.
For those of you just tuning in, I do sew, knit, crochet and embroider, but there has been a moratorium placed on such activities until my thesis has been finished, and I am very close, like two pages and some editing! But I do have a few crafty posts here, here and here. Edit: forgot about this one!
Ok, here goes:
What do you usually sew? I used to sew mainly clothes, but i do a lot of smaller things as well, like bags, oven mitts, aprons, pillows and duvet covers, and i have just started quilting.
When you shop for fabric, what size cuts do you usually buy? depending on what i think i will make out of it, and how expensive it is, anywhere from half a meter, to three meters. I really like buying up remnants though, and those come in any size. gorgeous expensive fabric i usually buy in a fat quarter.
Do you buy on impulse or do you go out looking for something you need? I usually go with something in mind, but these days i got to the quilt shop, see fabric i like, go home and think of what i could use it for, and then go back and buy it. not enough in the budget these days to be impulsive.
Are you a pre-washer? yes, i have had too much trouble with dye running or fabric shrinking not to be! i usually wash it when i bring it home because i am so excited to start a project!
Do you iron it? yes, after i wash my fabric, large pieces i put in the dryer for about 15 minutes and then iron them while they are damp. fat quarters I iron to dry them.
How do you sort it? i don't, although i do keep fabrics for a project together.
Do you have any special folding techniques? nope, as long as it is folded, i am happy.
How do you store your fabric? in rubbermaid totes, because right now, it is in the basement. i dream of one day having a sewing area!
What tips do you have for building up a well-rounded stash? i am just building mine, but my biggest problem is buying up too much of one kind of fabric, in my case bold colourful patterns and batiks, and ending up with nothing to use as a contrast because i find solids and white boring.
When do you say enough is enough? hmm, not yet! i am just now finding uses for fabric i bought when i was a lot younger (like, when i was ten) and never did anything with.
What are some of your favorite stash-busting projects? making all my christmas presents was really good at busting down the stash, especially some country looking stuff from my mother. i made oven mitts out of the scraps left over from making boxer shorts when i was a teenager, tote bags with patchwork strips on them, and my favourite was taking a whole cut of fabric that i knew i would never use for anything, adding a contrasting border (in style of fabric and colour), and making a tablecloth.
Do you have a current favorite print in your stash? Let’s see it! hmm, so many to chose from, i really like the Amy Butler fabric i made my cousin's diaper bag out of, and i have just enough of it left to make a purse for myself. i was so happy to discover that!
What’s your definition of the perfect stash? well, since mine is definitely not perfect, i dream of one that had enough of the basics, like solids, that i could start on a project as soon as i got home with a new fab fabric purchase, and not what i do now, which is get home and realize that to make anything i have to go back out again and get something for a lining or backing.
For those of you just tuning in, I do sew, knit, crochet and embroider, but there has been a moratorium placed on such activities until my thesis has been finished, and I am very close, like two pages and some editing! But I do have a few crafty posts here, here and here. Edit: forgot about this one!
Ok, here goes:
What do you usually sew? I used to sew mainly clothes, but i do a lot of smaller things as well, like bags, oven mitts, aprons, pillows and duvet covers, and i have just started quilting.
When you shop for fabric, what size cuts do you usually buy? depending on what i think i will make out of it, and how expensive it is, anywhere from half a meter, to three meters. I really like buying up remnants though, and those come in any size. gorgeous expensive fabric i usually buy in a fat quarter.
Do you buy on impulse or do you go out looking for something you need? I usually go with something in mind, but these days i got to the quilt shop, see fabric i like, go home and think of what i could use it for, and then go back and buy it. not enough in the budget these days to be impulsive.
Are you a pre-washer? yes, i have had too much trouble with dye running or fabric shrinking not to be! i usually wash it when i bring it home because i am so excited to start a project!
Do you iron it? yes, after i wash my fabric, large pieces i put in the dryer for about 15 minutes and then iron them while they are damp. fat quarters I iron to dry them.
How do you sort it? i don't, although i do keep fabrics for a project together.
Do you have any special folding techniques? nope, as long as it is folded, i am happy.
How do you store your fabric? in rubbermaid totes, because right now, it is in the basement. i dream of one day having a sewing area!
What tips do you have for building up a well-rounded stash? i am just building mine, but my biggest problem is buying up too much of one kind of fabric, in my case bold colourful patterns and batiks, and ending up with nothing to use as a contrast because i find solids and white boring.
When do you say enough is enough? hmm, not yet! i am just now finding uses for fabric i bought when i was a lot younger (like, when i was ten) and never did anything with.
What are some of your favorite stash-busting projects? making all my christmas presents was really good at busting down the stash, especially some country looking stuff from my mother. i made oven mitts out of the scraps left over from making boxer shorts when i was a teenager, tote bags with patchwork strips on them, and my favourite was taking a whole cut of fabric that i knew i would never use for anything, adding a contrasting border (in style of fabric and colour), and making a tablecloth.
Do you have a current favorite print in your stash? Let’s see it! hmm, so many to chose from, i really like the Amy Butler fabric i made my cousin's diaper bag out of, and i have just enough of it left to make a purse for myself. i was so happy to discover that!
What’s your definition of the perfect stash? well, since mine is definitely not perfect, i dream of one that had enough of the basics, like solids, that i could start on a project as soon as i got home with a new fab fabric purchase, and not what i do now, which is get home and realize that to make anything i have to go back out again and get something for a lining or backing.
Monday, February 2, 2009
Sunshine inside and out!
This is what i wake up to:
we have been having bright, sunshiny, warm days here, which is ten times better on our snowy tundra. there is nothing quite like the joy of having to wear sunglasses in February. unfortunately, it means my good friend Wiarton Willy saw his shadow today, so 6 more weeks of winter.
we have been outside enjoying it, prying the icepack off the driveway and sidewalks, going for walks around the neighbourhood, and throwing the bunny into snowbanks. Baz had a wonderful morning outside helping her grandpa shovel the driveway and sampling the birdseed that has been knocked onto the patio. so wonderful that she dug her heels in and refused to come inside. dad had to call me to come and get her and she took off on one last tear around on the snow.
too bad i had to spend the afternoon inside writing. almost done though!
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