Friday, March 24, 2006

Today I made a left turn...

It wasn't difficult. I even managed to drive at the speed limit and avoid breaking any major laws.

What I don't understand is drivers who don't seem to have any particular goal in mind... the ones who are fine with letting 3 or 4 cars cut in front of them because they just can't be bothered to keep up with the car in front of them. There ought to be another type of horn on cars, one that indicates "I think you are dumb", not the alarming "you're about to hit me" that is built into the steering wheel, but something a bit more judgemental-- Perhaps something that sounds like Goofy when he falls off a cliff or something of that nature. I could have used it several times today...

I also tend to stop when big red signs declare STOP. Someday I will write a blog about stopping... one perhaps entitled "today I made a complete stop."

But it is not this day.

For those of you who recognize... yes, that is a quote from Lord of the Rings. Today I made reference to a sci-fi movie... It's a lesser acknowledged fraction of my being.

Wednesday, March 22, 2006

Today, I made a final grasp...


... at my quickly receding control over this wedding. For the past 5 or 6 months, I have been singing the praises of our dj and his company for having a genius on-line playlist builder: Imagine, getting to choose ALL of your own songs!! You can eliminate the Macarena and the Chicken Dance (sorry Michiganders) and "Cotton-Eye Joe" from your wedding-day-worries. You can pitch lackluster selections that everyone plays but you never really liked and replace them with hidden gems from your past. You can carefully construct your own private sound track for maximum poignant affect... A genetically engineered sight and sound experience guaranteed to bring down the house and leave you feeling completely satisfied with your wedding...

Except this is not apparently the case at all. He e-mailed today to praise our interesting choices, and then make a joke about not being allowed to play hip hop (anyone remember my high school student body secretary speech about too much rap and hip hop at school dances?!), and then say that he'll probably have to "Spice up" our dance selections... Spice it up with what, "I Will Survive"? A song about surviving a broken heart delivered by a total bastard? Or maybe "I Like Big Butts"? I've got news for you, Mr. DJ, my grandma does not like big butts!! And if you play "I Will Survive", I will not be able to resist the white girl party faux pas of mouthing the words and squishing my eyes closed and acting it out... I don't want to do that on my Pretty Day!!!!!

I e-mailed him. I dug in my heels. I hate to do that. We'll see when he writes back who will emerge victorious... WHICH DIVA WILL WIN?

Monday, March 20, 2006

I did it!



The rabbit is done!!

I am now in the process of knitting a tiny scarf for him... his little neck is too thin to stay warm.

Or is it a she? Votes?

Non-commentors, please cast your vote so I know who you are!! Hellooooooo!!

Thursday, March 16, 2006

In the name of bridal pristineness...



... I made myself into a basketcase!! A few caveats:

In no way do I mean to denigrate any tooth-whitening system or to instill fear in any unbleached parties...

In no way do I mean to reflect badly on my dentist/father, who is away at jury duty today and unable to defend himself...

In no way do I intend to imply that a wedding (or beauty in general) is not worth suffering a little suffering...

I only mean to say, "STOP THE MADNESS!!!!"

I mean to say I have sensitive teeth. Not so sensitive as to unite me with the campy folks on Sensodyne toothpaste commercials. Unlike them, I can eat icecream, and do, without flinching. But the bleach, the bleach, the bleach has made my teeth throb and prickle...

I am reminded of one unfortunate incident in high school when my vanity led me to leave the bleach on ALL NIGHT. The next day I thought of the people who take power drills to their skulls to relieve unusual headaches, and I thought, "Not so strange after all!"

I left it on too long. Too long for me, anyway. An hour and a half the other night worked out fine... Two hours last night, and I am a mess!! Most people don't have this problem, which is important information for all of you who are unbleached... don't assume you will have this problem. You won't.

I do, though... Son of a...

Wednesday, March 15, 2006

I made an everlasting statement



I just spoke to my jeweler, George. On Saturday I dropped off our wedding bands to be engraved (this is not a photo of MY wedding band, but mine is very similar).

There was some concern as to whether or not they'd be able to engrave on the inside of my band, as it is so narrow, but I chose my words for Patrick's ring and hoped that they'd be able to write the same on mine.

Well, for the bargain price of $20 (yay, George) they WERE able to engrave both rings (yay, George's engraving guy).

The words are to remain a secret until the wedding, but I like the idea that someday when our good-for-nothing great grandchildren sell our bands at a flea market when they finally inherit the family estate... someone as sentimental as I am will find them and buy them for thousands of dollars (inflation's a bitch) simply because they say "Nat and Pat Were Here".

No, that's not what they say...

Monday, March 13, 2006

Mommy, I made a dress!


No kidding! We made the orange version-- only it's not orange. Gran and I spent the day yesterday working on an "easy" dress pattern I bought from voguepatterns.com. Do not believe them-- "easy" would seem to be the lowest challenge level, but according to Gran, there must also be "Really Easy", "Simple", "Ridiculously Basic", and "Not sewing at all"... making my EASY dress more like intermediate to frustrating. Yesterday was our second marathon day of sewing and seam ripping (not too much of the second, thankfully). I did most of the work, but I definitely would have had to re-do a lot more frequently if I were trying to do it alone. Thank you, Gran!!!

It's almost done. All that's left is the zipper and the hem, which Gran took home with her to do. Zipper lessons at a later date. I am planning to wear it to one of my bridal showers. You'll get a picture of it then... It even fits me. Which is good, 'cause I'd hate to have committed to wearing it if it didn't. ;)

Wednesday, March 08, 2006

I made it!!





10,337 Steps... I'm exhausted. Goodnight.

Yesterday, I made less than 5000 steps.


Pathetic effort. I bought a pedometer at 5pm Monday. After a trip to the gym, which included a 35 minute walk on the treadmill, I had logged nearly 5000 steps. I thought surely if I'd had it on the entire day, I'd have reached the 12-15,000 steps required to count these steps toward my weight loss efforts. So I woke up Tuesday feeling excited to count an entire day-- I made extra trips to the coffee machine, I delivered messages to my dad's office in person instead of using the intercom, I even had two hours of dance class-- and I ONLY TOOK 4721 STEPS!!! That's not even enough to maintain...

This is going to be much harder than I thought. I am looking to beat my very very low "high score" today... It is 8:22 and I have taken 511 steps. I am going to the gym later, so there's an extra 5000ish right there (maybe I'll do 45 minutes instead of 35)... I am aiming for 10,000 today.

And with that said, I am going to take the 24 steps to the coffee machine and back. The added benefit of more trips to the coffee pot? Extra trips to the bathroom... 18 steps one way.

One could really obsess about this.

But I'm not. ;)

Tuesday, March 07, 2006

Lately, I've made nothing.

I miss making things. Since I haven't made anything, you probably missed me too... 'cause the problem with starting a blog about making things is that if you make nothing... the inspiration is not there. As a result of my not writing anything for about a week, you are probably not even reading this... so I miss you too.

I made wedding invitations. And I made a trip to the post office. I made one of my "relatives" sad by not inviting her to my shower... She's invited now, though... :S It's not that I don't like her-- far from it-- I just never see her and don't know her very well, and she lives far away... I didn't skip her, I forgot her. Not actually better to be forgotten, but at least it wasn't malicious.

I made no money on the Oscar pool... in fact, I believe I was the big loser. Booby prize? Nope. Nada.

I lost 2 pounds last week... so I made progress.

Wednesday, March 01, 2006

Today, I will have made a rabbit.


This piece of knitted road-kill will be a rabbit by the end of the day... if all goes well.

If all goes well, a career in surgical re-attachment may be in my future.

Or I'll just knit the matching elephant... not sure yet.


LATER THAT DAY...

Instead of a rabbit, I just made my blood pressure go up. I left the assembly instructions at home.

I did teach a senior citizen how to alphabetize. It's nice to know I'm good for somethin'.

Rabbit tomorrow.