Nursing school is no joke.

All of my previous jobs left me with a desire to be challenged on a daily basis – so I guess I need to be careful what I wish for.  Nursing school is the hardest thing I’ve ever done.  I’m mentally fatigued.  I’m physically fatigued.  My husband and kids are neglected – but I’m passing all of my classes.  Its a sacrifice that I hope will pay off in the very near future.

So yes.  I’m still here.

No – i don’t have time to post about anything.  Ever.  If I’m not doing homework, I’m trying to spend time with the kids and/or Bill.

I have renewed my domain – so I’ll be around.  Hopefully at this time next year, I’ll be getting fitted for my graduation gown etc.

 

And just for fun . . .

It isn’t often that Bill and I go out.  Even less if we go out over night!  But this summer, I bought tickets for us to ring in the new year with Louis CK in Baltimore.  Totally exciting, right!

We got the kids (2 and 4-legged) dropped off at Heather’s house and headed off to Baltimore.  We got checked into the hotel and i got changed and put on my going out makeup!  Ooooh lala!

We walked over and met our friends for pre-show drinks and dinner.  It was nice sitting down and relaxing, enjoying adult conversation and jokes without having to look over my shoulder and tell the kids to stop doing that or behave or calm down, etc.

We took a quick cab ride to the symphony hall where he was performing.  I didn’t get sick or anything.  I was very proud of myself!  We were there really early and when we went to our seats, the place was practically empty.  It filled up as it got closer and closer to 10:00pm and then they dimmed the lights and I got really excited!

Louis CK is so funny!

I made sure I brought my glasses so I could see him in all of his ginger-balding-sweaty-spare-tire-black-t-shirt-and-jeans gloriousness!  Sometimes when I wear my glasses, it takes me a few minutes for my eyes to adjust and I get a bit of a headache – i knew it would wear off.  It always does.

Todd Glass came out and was his opening act.  I’m not sure, but I just didn’t think he was all that funny.  It could have been that I started to get really dizzy, or that i was starting to get hot, or that I really just wanted Louis CK to come out.

A few laughs and a round of applause later – Louis CK walked out.  Yay!!!!  But I still had my headache and I was still dizzy.  But he was standing there, telling jokes, and I had been waiting for that moment for months.  Sadly, my body kicked into defense mode – like when I start to get car sick – and I started to get really sleepy.  I dozed off at least a dozen times.  Every time I opened my eyes, the dizziness was a little worse and i started to get a lot queasy.

I dozed off again – to the point where I woke myself up because my head was falling down.  And this time i started to feel my stomach tighten up, I got the cold sweats, my mouth started to get all watery and my stomach started convulsing.  I tried really hard to tell myself that I was fine.  (I have been able to talk myself out of vomiting.  I did it all the time when I was pregnant with Stewart.)  My stomach kept squeezing and I barfed – disgustingly enough, I managed to contain it in my mouth.

I sat there very panicked – looking around and thinking about worst case scenario if I couldn’t get out of the really tight row – was there a place where I could barf and not get it on anyone?!

And then I barfed in my mouth again.  This time Bill noticed and immediately stuck his cup under my mouth.  I just knew that little cup wasn’t big enough.  I tossed my coat, scarf, purse, and phone into his lap and tried my best to get out of there.  The rows were really close together and everyone had to stand up so I could try to run out.  I threw open the door, and frantically looked around and I spotted a poor little trash can sitting on the floor in the corner.  I ran over, and barfed.  Twice.  It was so gross!

And like a good little husband, Bill came out to check on me.  I felt so bad that he was missing the show and I kept trying to get him to go back in.  He insisted that it was almost over and he sat there with me until I decided to go back in.  We went in and sat on some steps by the door.  He was still telling jokes – yay!  and i was able to enjoy some of them.  Double yay!

He kept telling new bits and trying hard to extend his show so we wouldn’t have to ring in the new year standing in a crowd in the lobby or trying to flag down a taxi cab.  I thought it was really nice of him!

And then it was 11:56 and he did a bit about being single on new year’s eve – and then it was 11:59.  And he’s checking his phone to start a countdown and he notices his phone doesn’t give the seconds.  Just the time.  :)

“It’s still 11:59.  11:59.  11:59.  11:59 . . . My iPhone doesn’t give me the seconds!  12:00AM!  HAPPY NEW YEAR!”

and I got my new year’s kiss – brave man to kiss me with my barf mouth.  And I was feeling much much better.

Once we got outside, trying to get a cab was a nightmare – mostly because there weren’t any, and also because there was a bagillion people out there wanting one.  So we decided to walk for a while and then try to catch a cab.  I don’t really know that we were in a very safe part of town – but I felt really safe with Bill and Mr. Foster.

We walked past my first homeless shelter, and a prison, and Scores, and more homeless people – and then we got a cab. It was a very eventful night and I will always remember it as the time we rang in the new year with Louis CK.

 

I’m testing my new comment verification thingy.  I hate spam bots.

- you probably don’t need to make little boy’s underwear in white.

I would stick with colors like BROWN.  Or even DARK BROWN.  Possibly even Black.  Or BROWNISH BLACK?

Just a suggestion.  :)

. . . but nursing school sure is kicking my butt.  :(

Nearly five years after we moved in, I finally painted his room. It looks great. It feels like a big boy room now.

We have this sandbox in the backyard. I bought it last year because I THouGHT the kids would like it. Well it’s an eyesore. The kids immediately tore up the plastic liner so it’s full of weeds and the sand is infested with ants.

Piece by piece we are taking it apart. We are doing it a few pieces at a time so the garbage man will take the pieces with the trash. If we were to take it apart an haul it all to the curb, i don’t think he would take it. Neither one of us drive cars with any hauling capacity. So it’s up to the garbage man!

So anyway I was out mowing and i was mowing around the stupid sandbox and I thought, “I wonder if I can just kick off this piece?” I should point out that I was wearing flip flops and that I have been watching HGTV. I must have mistaken my size 6.5 foot with a goddamn sledgehammer because I tried to kick it apart.

If I were wearing steel-toed boots this may have been plausible. If I were wearing sneakers it would have been dumb but might have worked. But since I was in flip flops, it was an epically dumb idea. I damn near broke my toes because I do not possess super powers that would allow me to kick through wood and my flip flops did not provide any protection in the toe-area.

I think I’ll leave the sandbox demolition to Bill. Or at least try again with tools and the proper footwear.

Two quick things that make me say WHAT THE F!

1. When we bought this house and moved in, I didn’t realize that in about five years we would be living across the street from a fn used car lot. Every time I try to back out of the driveway I am pissed off by our neighbor parking all of their teenager’s hoopties in the street. Right behind our driveway. It pisses me off even more when their drive way is totally empty and they still have all of their POS cars parked in the street.

2. Being a pound puppy parent means that I get up every 2-3 hours to take Molly out. I don’t usually go to bed until midnight, and I walk her right before I lay down. I get up between 2-3 and then between 4-6 and walk her again. The weird thing is every single time I go out, our neighbors (not the same ones) are sitting on their porch furiously rocking in their chairs. its kinda weird right. So maybe being up at midnight and enjoying the peace and quiet isn’t that weird. But 2:00am is kinda weird. 4:00am is definitely weird. What the hell are you doing on the porch for four hours. Just sitting there, rocking at a very quick pace. I think it’s very weird.

I had one other one – but I can’t remember it! If I remember, I will come back and write #3.

We got a puppy.  Let me be more specific – we got a pound puppy!  Her name is Molly.  We got her on Monday from the Berkley County Animal Shelter.  The staff didn’t know very much about her.  A man found her (and her sister) under his porch on Saturday and he brought them in.  They said she was covered in fleas.  As soon as I saw her, I knew she was the one.  She is so happy.  Her and Madison are going to be best friends.  They already play with each other.  Its very cute.  Madison is such a good dog – she is gentle with Molly when they play.

I wish the shelter knew more about her.  She is very healthy.  I don’t think she was homeless for very long.  I actually think the big storm we had on Friday may have knocked down a fence and she made a break for it.  Which means, someone out there could be missing two puppies.  .  .and if you are, I promise she has a good home now.

My friend Heather went on Tuesday to adopt her sister, but the staff said she was adopted on Monday.  I really wanted Heather to get the sister – I love the idea of them getting to still be somewhat together.  They were both so playful – tumbling around each other while we tried to decide which one.

I think this was my first time to go to a pound.  I visited a no-kill shelter before – and it has a different feeling.  All of the dogs look the same behind the same type of cages.  But the feeling in the pound just felt so much more desperate and sad.  When I pulled up, I tried to explain to the kids that it was going to be sad and we were going to want to take them all home.  It was sad.  They had a lot of pit bulls and chihuahuas.  In fact – all of the shelters that I looked at online had a lot of pit bulls and chihuahuas.  I understand the stigma of a pit bull – but what’s wrong with chihuahuas?

Anyway – I’m trying to figure out what kind of dog she is.  She is some kind of Beagle mix.  I want to get her a crate, etc but its hard to know how big she will be when I don’t even know what she is.  I don’t think she is going to be very big.  We got Madison about this same age – and she was quite a bit bigger.  Madison also had HUGE feet, so we knew she was going to be a lot bigger.

Anyone have any ideas?

(Missing, beagle, puppy, Martinsburg, Berkely County)

Since my semester ended, I’ve gone a little crazy.  The big pile of really cute coordinated fabrics that was getting dusty in the corner of my office – I’ve started using it.  I’m really bad about picking up 2 yards of cute fabric when I see it.  I may not have something specific in mind but I know two yards is enough for me to make a lot of things.

Last year, I got a really good pattern for a tote bag.  I made some changes to the pattern (namely added pockets inside and out and made it wide vs. tall) and it is a perfect reusable shopping bag.  I am always surprised when I fit a ton of groceries in them.  Plus – they are cute.    (The only downside is that it literally takes ALL DAY to make one – about 8-9 hours.)

But that was last summer.  To quote Cher in Clueless, “that was so last season!”  So this summer I have been making a completely different bag.  This one also started with a very basic ONE PIECE tote bag pattern that I found in a book that I had in my office (surprise!  I have good stuff stashed in here!!)  As you can imagine, the ONE PIECE tote bag was boring.  Easy but boring.  So first, i threw on rows of ruffles and some pockets on the inside.  It came out looking pretty good but it was kindeve weird.  The straps were too short (not to mention a real pain in the ass to turn right side out.) and it was almost too big to be a purse but too small to be a tote.  This one was for Stewart’s teacher.  He picked out the fabric based on his knowledge of her favorite color, purple.  The second one I made for myself.  I made the straps a lot longer, added more and bigger pockets on the inside.  I also made the ruffle wider, so there were less rows – but I ruffled the front and back (instead of just the front.)  I LOVE the fabric that I used for this bag, and I think it came out pretty decent.  I’ve used it several times and it’s a good purse.  With the added pockets I can put things in there like keys and phone, so I’m not constantly trying to fish them out of the bottom.

It still wasn’t perfect – perhaps I will never think anything is ever perfect but if I’m making it, I can keep making changes to it until I think it’s awfully close!  This time – bag #3 – I added a crescent shaped piece for the bottom and it goes halfway up each side.  It kinda helped give the bag a little bit more shape – and obviously, it made it bigger.  This bag was probably the best one I’ve made so far.  I gave it to Parker’s teacher at daycare.  The added width made it more of a tote bag – which I thought would be good for hauling around cute school supplies etc.

And then I decided to make a completely different bag again.  This time, I sat down and came up with my own pattern.  I drew it out on poster board.  Having spent a lifetime working with those fragile tissue paper pattern pieces – I would like to say that all pattern pieces should be made of poster board.  All I have to do is lay the piece on the fabric, trace around it, and use my rotary cutter to cut the pieces out.

Holly had picked out some fabric for a bag LAST summer but I’m not making that bag anymore so I decided to make this new one for her.  This one I designed specifically for beach going.  I measured the size of a folded up beach towel and make sure it would fit inside.  I measured the width of a standard paperback book and made sure it would slide into a pocket.   I gave it a ton of pockets in the front – books, sunglasses, suncreen, water bottles, phones, EVERYTHING!  I was really proud of this one when it was all finished.  It was my very first completely unique creation.

But of course it wasn’t perfect so I made another one.  This time using fabric that I loved – because it was going to be for me!  I used the same pattern but I also added a cell-phone holder (that snaps closed) inside one of the front pockets, a dangly thing that I can clip my keys to, and I added some really cute ribbon trim to the pockets across the front and back.  Oh – and I attached the straps with D-rings instead of sewing them down to the bag.  This bag is officially the best bag that I have ever made.  The prints that I used look so great together and I really did a nice job putting it together.  I think it looks rather professional. 

And not wanting to feel left out of all of the Tracey-lissima bag fun, my mom sent me some fabric for a bag.  As soon as I saw it, I knew I had a perfect coordinating fabric.  (So far, all of my bags have been made with only two coordinating fabrics; this time I added a third.)  I also completely changed up the entire bag style.  I kept the ruffles, but I made a different shape and used grommets (stubborn ass little bastards) for the handles.  Sadly, I feel like this was the worst bag I’ve made this summer.  I’m probably over analyzing it but it just didn’t come together as easily as all of the other ones.  My machineS – yes plural – gave me a lot of troubles.  The grommets were harder than I thought and I made a huge mistake on the inside.  (There is a very visable RAW edge and its only saving grace is the interfacing that is ironed to the fabric.  Hopefully it will keep it from fraying too much.)

I have a few more sets of cute fabric that I can use to make bags – but I just may be bagged out right now.  Once I finished these four quilts, I’m sure I’ll want to get back to something smaller.  Hmmm . . . even though they are a lot smaller, the bags take 2 hours longer to make.

Anyway – here are some pics of “stuff I made.”  Apparently I can sew up a storm but I can’t figure out how to put some damn pictures in order, so let me just tell you what the are – going by row, left to right.

1.  This is the first ruffle bag that I made for Stewart’s teacher.

2.  This is the second ruffle bag that I made for myself.

3.  This is the bottom/side piece of the third ruffle bag – the one for Parker’s teacher.

4.  This is Holly’s beachy bag.

5.  This is my beachy bag.  This is a really craptastic picture.  It looks great in person.

6.  This is a picture of the materials that I used to put together my mom’s bag.  Fabric, ribbon, grommets, and belt-like stuff that I used for the straps.

7.  This is the finished third ruffle bag.  Cute huh!

8.  This is my mom’s finished bag.  Yes I am modeling it.  When I took the picture, I only intended it to be seen by my mom.  I have cropped out myself smiling like a dumbass into the mirror.

9.  This is a closeup of my mom’s bag.