Not exactly my thing

I have a stack of new/old books sitting on a chair waiting for a home. I got them this past weekend as I trolled the area thrift stores. It's not a good thing. I have started just packing up things for people when they come over. Would you like this? Or this?
On Monday I sent my soon-to-be-sister-in-law off with a purse I had thrifted. A cute, vintage red purse that I had picked up somewhere along the way. I have several purses, I have to admit. More than my fair share of red purses. But I rarely rotate purses, it's just not something I think about. I also think that spending more than $10 for a purse is ridiculous. At least for me it is. I usually grab bags that appeal to me aesthetically and make sense practically. Of course, I did just spend quite a bit of money on the cutest little camera bag. But it's a camera bag that looks like a bowling ball bag. And it's shiny and red. Completely justified.

Recently though, I've picked up a couple of less than vintage purses. One has become my regular bag. It greenish-khaki and huge. It's got some good pockets on the front and I can fit lots of crap in it. Crap that grows exponentially to fit the space that is available. But tonight? I picked up a smaller bag, kind of a tweedy gray. It's nice for a dark, dressier type bag. Also, there's this label on it that says "Kate Spade" and I paid less than $2.

Really, I need one...

http://www.furrrrocious.com/

Mostly done

They guests have come and gone. I love them, I do. And I know the parents worry, that's part of their job. But I guess I have to think that at some point you just keep your mouth shut and worry quietly. The neighborhood, the music, the L, the car. It's exhausting trying to keep back this sometimes overwhelming wave of worry and negativity. My father wanted to knock on the back door of my loud music playing neighbor. To which I heartily objected. He doesn't know if this guy will have a gun or a knife. What I do know is that he occasionally yells out his window at nothing. I worry that he is has gone off his medication or something like that and I would much rather have my building manager talk to him than have him know that I am annoyed with him for his loud music playing. But I don't mention the yelling out the window or the fact that my white table disappeared from my back stairwell and then reappeared just as suddenly. I do mention that I will have to deal with the fallout if he decides to knock.

The truth is I am doing the best that I can with what I've got coming in. The truth is that living where I live is less exhausting than thinking about moving. The truth is I worry too. The truth is I try not to be stupid.

But the truth also is that they traveled out here to celebrate this. And Dad made me a little teary with the "your grandparents would have been proud."

One of my favorite pictures from the weekend:And another:

If you think of it...

I love my parents. I really do. They just drive me crazy a little bit. They flew in tonight and the first order of business was to go get deep dish pizza. They are staying 30+ minutes away from where I live. My father keeps giving me crap about getting henna tomorrow. It's a little gift to myself as I've never had it done professionally before. I can't get any sort of schedule figured out, at least that's the way it feels. And the first thing I did when I got home was get a glass of wine. It'll all be fine. I know this.

Tomorrow the brother and his girl arrive. They are staying with me.

If you think of it, just say a little prayer for me, for all of us really. That we would be willing to be stretched farther than normal, full of grace for one another's idiosyncratic tics that drive one another out of our minds, patient with the people we love.

What If?

The past two nights I've had bad dreams about important upcoming events. For instance, I have a presentation to make tomorrow morning regarding some of my work that I've been doing for my "internship" for school (at my job). Wow, that sounds really confusing. Needless to say, I'm a little bit behind on putting it together. But it'll happen, I'm not worried. In fact, I'm so not worried I'm going to meet a friend downtown to visit the Art Institute and their new modern wing because it's free. That may not be the smartest thing to do but it sure will be fun.

What else have I had bad dreams about? I've dreamed about my brother's wedding and completely screwing that up as well. And that's months away! Not tomorrow.

Maybe I'm feeling a wee bit stressed out about things for some reason. But in the end, it'll be okay.

Lordy, Lordy

That's two, count'em, two, Lordies.

It's been a frustrating sort of a day. Because of the economy the workplace is suffering some. Hopefully things will pick back up in the fall. *fingers crossed* But today people are being down-sized. Someone, somewhere decided that their job, while important, could be split into ten different pieces and handled differently. And people are out of a job. Which sucks ass. I am so grateful that my boss said "Nuh Uh. You aren't making me downsize. We'll make other changes but nobody is leaving." She's all kinds of awesome like that. But it still makes for a tense sort of a day.

Also, there are some idiot people out there on Facebook that make me want to smack them. They aren't my "friends" or I might have a different conversation with them. I can appreciate the difference between their political views and mine. I was once one of them so I know where they came from and the type of environment that can form such views. I have had a different set of experiences from them and know that for me, my politcal views are muddled, but work for me most of the time. It's frustrating but I'm glad that I don't know these people or need to interact with them beyond this very superficial sort of online thing.

Hey, in a week and two days I graduate! Holy sh*t! Yesterday I made an appointment to get henna on my hands. It's my way of doing something different visually (instead of dying my hair red for instance). In order to graduate I need to finish a couple papers. I'm also slated for a presentation on Monday morning. I should work on that I suppose.

Also...

I promise I wasn't trying to throw him out with the trash. He just climbed in there.

Friends will play games with you

I think we played four different games Saturday night:
Pit
Dutch Blitz
Pass the Pigs
Apples to Apples

I highly recommend all of them.

My Pit game has been around for a long while. It's my parents' old game. I remember them having friends over to play and yelling and laughing late into the night. I'm glad I get to do the same.

I was gleeful to find a complete Pass the Pigs game at the thrift store one day. Based on a dice game, you throw pigs instead. The components of the game make it just that awesome. Witness the pigs and carrying case:
That roll right there? Worth 5 points.

And the case is molded for the pigs! How can you not want a game like that?

Hmm...

I haven't said much lately. Sorry for that. I've felt like I haven't had time to do much that's worth reporting. I'm finally working more on the table having bought tie-downs to serve at clamps for gluing the top together. I think I need to reinforce that with some connectors somehow. My hope is to get it together before I have folks over for dinner tomorrow night. Heh.


Tomorrow is graduation. Not mine - that's a few weeks down the road. I have two of my traditional kids graduating. Yes, they're mine. One was the president of the Latino student group, the other vice-president. I'll miss them. I'm sadder to see them go than the folks that are graduating from the department where I work. Probably because I think that the folks in my program have some parts of their lives together, whether it be work or family or whatever. But for the traditional students life is starting. I'm excited to see where life takes them.

The rain stayed away

aaaand it's Monday, yet again.

I fielded a phone call this morning from a student in my program who had no idea who I was. It was very, very odd. Mondays the office manager is gone so the main phone gets forwarded to me usually. Today I answered and the person on the other line was genuinely confuddled as to who I might be and whether she had called the correct office. Unfortunately for her, I was able to answer her questions. But she kept wondering if she had the right office despite my correct answers and assurances. It's just an odd feeling that these newer students don't know who I am or recognize my name because when I was the office manager everyone did. I think I'll get over it.

But this weekend was lovely. I think I've found a lead on a community garden where I could be involved. I have a powerful need to dig in dirt sometimes and without a porch that sometimes doesn't work so well. I spent time at the beach on Saturday and limited my sea glass intake. The collection is nearing ridiculous porportion and I'm not doing anything with it. Maybe I'll start taking some back to the beach with me instead of picking it up while I'm there. I watched kids and seagulls play. I also did laundry. I hate doing laundry but I love the freshly washed sheets and towels and clothes.

I've recently discovered the newest Dr. Who incarnation and they offer a lot of the old seasons on Netflix so I watched a few episodes of that while finishing up a camera carrying case. I had sewn it together ages ago and then quilted it but needed to get rid of the string ends and sew on a some sort of fastening system. It's OK. I made it up in my head and I really should have used pre-quilted fabric or thicker batting. It's not much better than what I was using to carry my camera around. But it's really great fabric.

My other sewing project for the weekend is almost done. It just needs a hem. This is a pattern I picked up thrifting at some point. I had fabric appropriate for a girl to try my hand at sewing again from a pattern but not for a boy. And it's a very summery type of pattern. And the one baby girl I see more often than once a year is getting bigger. So I'm thinking this is for her.
Don't ask me how many times I've used the seam ripper because I've lost count. And I'm sure it still isn't quite right. But in the end it'll be cute, I'm convinced, even if it's not perfect. But re-learning how to read patterns and following directions can only be a good thing, right?

I also saw a friend in a play. I resisted the urge to pick up mossy bits to make terrariums. I don't need more crap around my place. I just don't.

April Showers and May Flowers

Happy May Day!
It is a time to remember the beauty in the simple things.
It has been raining. And raining. And raining some more. I was hopeful this morning when there was blue sky peeking through the mottled clouds. Alas, the clouds persisted and it is again a bit damp and dreary. But! Beauty! Simple things!May your May Day be filled with joyful surprises.