And another thing...

Karaoke Jammin'
Originally uploaded by Epiphany.

something I forgot to mention earlier - I've posted a few pics of recent activities over at the flickr site. If you're bored and trying to escape the relatives and want to idly flip through 'em, click on the Karaoke mayhem to be transported.

Cramming it all in

There's SO much to do, and SO little time. I know, it's a more common refrain this time of year than Feliz Navidad, but that's just how it is. There's a lot of stuff I've wanted to take the time to blog about properly, but there's just no time, so you get the Clif's Notes version:

• Quilt: The top is done, and the borders are sewn on it. I bought the most lovely soft cotton batting to put inside. I almost wish I didn't have to put a bottom on it so I could still feel the batting. But these are the sacrifices one must make in life. The fabric store I frequent got in some more of the green leafy stuff I wanted to use as the bottom, so I was happily able to get enough of that to cover the back of the quilt. I still have to put the bottom (back) together; stitch the top, middle(batting), and bottom together;cut some binding; and sew it on. It will still probably take a while longer to finish, as I'm going ot of town tomorrow, but I feel confident that I know enough to finish it on my own. And yes, there will be pictures. Sometime. Oh, and I have some lovely plaids I'm planning on making another quilt with, using the stuff I've learned from this quilt. Give a girl a quilt, and she stays warm through the winter. Teach a girl to quilt, and she'll spend all her money on fabric, thread, rotary cutters, cutting mats, rulers, quilting books,...
• Christmas: I'll be celebrating with the family this year in Mississippi. It will be quite the whirlwind tour (it usually is), but we'll be heading back to North Carolina on Christmas day. I suspect we'll get up, unwrap some gifts, eat some lunch, hug everybody, and get on the road. But that means we'll probably stop in Atlanta for the night, which means getting up early on the 26th and hitting one of the many malls there. Yes, there are malls here, but there are different stores in the malls there. It's the only power-shopping I'll get to do all season, at least let me enjoy it.
• Presents - I think I have everybody covered, but there are two scarves that have yet to be finished, and I haven't wrapped anything. My excuse for not wrapping will be that I didn't know if airport security would let me through with wrapped gifts. You think they'll buy it?
• Packing - Nope. Haven't started. And I have from about 9pm, when I get off of work, until 3:30 a.m., when I pick up Robb-who's taking me to the airport-to pack, clean the litterbox, do the laundry, wash the dishes, clean the apartment, and sleep for a few minutes before heading out to be with family. Feliz Navidaaaaaddddd....
• Aunt Bonnie - It's her 90th Birthday on Christmas day, and I've been trying for about a month to compose a little something for her at her party tomorrow afternoon. I've got parts of it written in my head, but the distance from there to the page seems oh, so very far. But I'll be disowned by my mother if I don't finish it, so I'll try to tackle it after lunch.

And that's it. For now.

Have a Happy and a Merry.

Okay, I gotta say it

You know that lady who always wears the Christmas sweaters at the first sign of winter? And the closer it gets to Christmas (because let's face it, she's not celebrating Hanukkah or Kwanzaa), the more items of decor she wears? Well, that lady and all the other ladies in her club, have been coming to my workplace in droves. I wish I could get a picture for you without being obvious, because I would so put that little black rectangle over her eyes, and the words "Fashion Don't" on the picture. We've got the Nutcracker in here for a three day residency, and these ladies aren't pulling out any stops when dressing for their night of holiday culture.
Last night, there was a lady in a 3/4 length fur, but it wasn't cold enough in the lobby for her to button it up, so I was able to see her Christmas cardigan with gold sequins, her white turtleneck with snowman applique on the neck, her red showflake gloves, quilted blue skirt with the winter scene on it, white tights with alternating poinsettia and candy cane pictures on it, and her ballet-style low pumps with another winter scene, complete with a layer of snow painted 'round the heel and a snowman perched on each toe. I am not exaggerating. I believe to my core that she had christmassy earrings, but I couldn't pull my eyes away from those shoes long enough to check it out.
And just a few minutes ago, a lady came in to pick up her tickets in advance, and she was decked out all in red: Red blazer with glittery wreath pin on the lapel, red and green plaid vest with gold lame threads running through it, red pants, red shoes, black tights, red fingernails, poinsettia ring, and these red christmas Jingle Bells (about 2 inches in diameter) hanging from red satin cords in her ears. The bells made so much noise with every step as she walked in, she had to stop and wait for the noise to die down before she could make her request. I kept expecting eight tiny reindeer to be following right behind her.
Ladies. If any of you are reading this (and I would say, "you know who you are," but I don't think any of these ladies read my blog or any other for that matter - is that mean of me to say?) are guilty of Christmas-wear overload, it's not too late to rein it in.

There will be other Christmases. There will be other events at Christmastime. You can spread it out. You don't have to show off every piece of decor at every opportunity. This is not a contest, and if it were, You Win. Just stop it already.

There. I'm done. Ya'll have a good holiday now, y'hear?

funny memory

Dooce's Daily Photo reminded me of one time, a few years ago, when I was standing in line to pay my phone bill. It was some time in like, June, and there were several lines of people waiting to pay. In front of me was a mother with her little boy, about 3 or 4 years old. He was standing next to her, being very well-behaved and patient, checking everything out from his safe spot near mommy's legs. He looked over to an old man with long white hair, a bushy white beard and moustache wearing baggy jeans and an untucked button-up shirt standing in the line next to ours and the little boy's eyes got REALLY WIDE. You could just see his head fill with questions: "Santa?!?? what are..? why is...? how...? if it...? wha--HUH?!??"
Kid looked to mom for verification, but she was busy paying her bill. All the other adults were staaannndinnggg arrrounnnnd, like ya do, another boring day at the billpay place. Kid can't figure out what's wrong with all these people, I mean, fercryin'outloud, SANTA. IS STANDING. RIGHT. THERE!! Santa looks down, makes eye contact with the kid, and gives a slight nod and a mild "hey, hows it going" kind of smile. Kid still can't believe what's happening, just STARED, open-mouthed, at Santa in civilian clothes, as his mom walked him blythely out of the building.

Wistful

I wish it were beginning to look a lot more like Christmas. I'm looking out my window, and it's sunny, bright, and about 52 degrees. Ordinarily, this would not at all be cause for complaint. But lately, I've been so busy with work and other responsibilities that I haven't had time to decorate, send Christmas cards, shop for presents, or any of the other things that people tend to do around the holidays. I feel like I'm missing everything. And now, I look out my window to see what looks like a sunny spring day, and I couldn't feel any further from "having the holiday spirit."
Several friends in other locations are talking about having snow, and it's just making me feel all jealous. I'm still a mountain girl deep down. Could somebody please send me some snow?

OTH in da howse!

OTH
Originally uploaded by Epiphany.

The crew from One Tree Hill is filming in the building where I work today. This is the view from my desk.
They're doing some scene with a cheerleading competition on our stage, so when you see it onscreen (admit it, you watch.), think of me!
They didn't ask me to be one of the cheerleaders, despite my wealth of experience cheerleading from 1986-1988. I'm guessing that they're waiting to use me in a really pivotal scene later in the season.

Click the pic for the rest of the series.

"and the Emmy for the Best Guest Star Ever goes to..."

Simmah Down Now, Ed.

Quilt top
Originally uploaded by Epiphany.

I got yer quilt fer ya. I got yer quilt Right Here!

Okay, so it's not the whole quilt - it's just the top. But as you can see, things are going swimmingly. And my homework's already done for class on Wednesday. yay me. :)

Arrgh - I'm a Pirate!

This past weekend I went with some friends to see The Chronicles of Narnia at our local UberMegaplex. I remember reading at least one of the books when I was about 7 or 8, which was too young for me to really "get it." I realized that even then, and didn't finish the series, always intending to go back and read them when I was older. Well, I'm quite a bit older, and still haven't finished the series, so those nice folks at Disney made it easy for me by making a film.
I gotta tell ya, I really enjoyed it. Apparently, they had to cut oh, about an hour out of it (so the DVD's gonna be nice and fat), but I didn't really notice where the cuts came from. Also, I didn't know enough about the story to know what had been cut.
Apparently, the WETA wizards (of Lord of the Rings fame) did a lot of work on Narnia, and I did see several things that looked like they'd been given a second life - it's good to see the Orcs getting some work these days!

<---this is a shot taken from where I was sitting...is it considered a bootleg? ...In that case, it is a shot taken from very close to where I was sitting. Yeah. I confiscated the camera. Freakin' bootlegger pirates. sheesh.

Stuff

The last several days have been quite busy. We're understaffed at work, and we have a big show coming in two weeks for a three night run. I have been serving as ticket agent for the past week, which means that my duties as manager have had to take a back seat. And any time there is a spare moment away from the ticketline, if I start on something else, I get interrupted. But everyone still wants their reports, and payments, and email replies, and new events set up. It leaves me feeling like I've been at target practice all day - as the target. There is just SO much to get done, and no time to do it. By the time I leave here, I have no energy to do any Christmasshopping or decorating, which leaves me feelig even more behind. I've told my boss that we need to hire more help, and I think I've finally gotten him to agree to think about it, but it's too late to hire and train someone new for the holiday shows so we'll just have to limp along as best we can until after the new year. I hereby decree that all current staff members are prohibited from getting sick.
I hate to be the whiner (no really, I do). But I am getting burned out, and every week that I work more overtime without pay, I just get more and more bitter about it. I could make a list of all the things I still have to do, both personally and for work, but that would only take more time that I don't have and it would depress me even more.

'Nuff o' that.

In other news, my birthday was yesterday. My loved ones did everything they could to make it a good day, and it was very nice. If not for my family and friends, I would be a very sad sack indeed.

Focusing on the positive, I got some really cool stuff. My parents sent goodies from their trip to Ireland - A gorgeous sweater, a Connemara Marble worry stone, some bookmarks, and a wee bit o' sheep's wool so that I can begin to make my own sweater(!). They also sent me cards and money and flowers and stuff. They do spoil me. Rotten.
On the way home from work on Monday, as I was wallowing in self-pity, I thought of my Granddad who passed away a couple of months ago, and how I would not get a card from him this year, signed "Love, Granddad" with his scrawly signature. When I got home, there was a card that said "for a dear Granddaughter" with a note inside from my mom. She said that she thought Granddad would not want his grandchildren to be deprived of their birthday wishes just because he is no longer with us, so she and my uncle are sending cards along, with his love inside. I'm crying as I'm typing this.
Do you see how fantastic my family is? And how lucky I am? What room do I ever have to complain about anything?
My friend Doug (of DOUG. fame) took me out to dinner at a really nice Thai place, My co-worker Susan got me a pretty lamp, several friends (thanks Adam, Grant, Red, Marie,Doc, ...I feel like I'm at an awards show and forgetting to thank someone!) called or sent cards or emails to wish me a Happy Birthday. Also, Michael - my friend Michael - who wants to be mentioned here more too (Michael does) - Michael gave me a rockin' foot massage and backrub the other day - I'm counting that as a birthday present too. 'Cuz it's my birthday, and I can if I want to.

Thanks everyone for making me feel special and loved. I love you right back.

Quilt update

Quilt block 1
Originally uploaded by Epiphany.

I know you guys are dying to know, so here you go. This week's quilt homework is to finish the top part. That means making 13 blocks like you see here, and alternating them with 12 blocks of the bright floral fabric, and sewing it all together. In later classes, we'll learn how to put the borders on, fill it, put the back on, bind it, etc.

The little checkerboards in Gryffindor colors are the 52 that I was talking about in an earlier post. Each new block will use 4 of them, as you can see.

How do you like that machine? It belonged to my mother before I was born. It's a Singer Zig-Zag 457, and according to my google results, it's from 1968. But it still works really well. In fact, I thought I had broken it when I dropped it a few weeks ago, so I went out looking for a new one. they intimidated me so much with all of the different stitch styles and odd knobs, that I decided to perform surgery on the 457 and see if I could fix it. A little cleaning (I could probably have stuffed the quilt with the 35 years worth of lint I found inside), some poking and jiggling (git yer mind outta the gutter!), and a few soothing words later, and she's working fine again. This is a very cool thing, as I really like working with the older, sturdier machine. I learned on one from probably the late 1800's, and I feel more of a connection to the older machines.

But the iPods from the 1800's really aren't worth much, so it's not the same for all types of devices.

Click the pic for a larger version if you want. There are nifty notes on it too - you can mouse over it to read 'em.

Milestone

...I just realized it's my one-year-Blogiversary! Woohoooo!

Confession

I have impure thoughts when I watch Josh Groban videos.

DOUG.

My friend Doug mentioned that I never talk about him on my blog. Doug said that I talk about my other friends, and mention their names, but that while I may mention Doug once in a while, I never include Doug's name.

Doug and I went out for some dinner last night after my quilting class. I suggested to Doug that we get some sushi at great place downtown. we had some yummy wine, with Doug ordering a white, and me ordering the red. Then we had the food. Doug had not had edamame before, so we had that for an appetizer. I think Doug enjoyed it. We (Doug and I) had a such a nice conversation that we decided to continue it at another place after the sushi place closed.

Since I was enjoying talking with Doug, I hoped we would go to someplace where I could still talk with Doug, and not have the conversation between Doug and me drowned out by music or people. We found that place at a cigar bar (although I've never seen anyone smoking cigars in it. I wonder if Doug has?). Doug and I stayed there for about an hour, and then headed to our respective homes. All in all, I had a great time, and I think Doug did too.





This is a picture of Doug playing Tennis. --->








So Doug, I just want you to know that I value our friendship, Doug. I want you to know, Doug, that I care for you as a person. Here's to you, Doug.