You'd better behave, or else....

...you'll be forced to wear these!

REET! REET! REET!

Yeah, so remember a little while ago when I asked for opinions on these slippers?  Despite some mixed opinions, I decided just to do them anyways.  It was too intriguing of a project to pass up.

Here are some more views:

The one on the left is the bottom--just so you can see the different colors.

With feet inserted.

View from the back.

Ok, so they're not entirely hideous, but as you can see, they look a little wonky with feet in them.  Or at least, with my feet in them, which is what matters.  I was prepared to wear them anyways and face the mocking of my family if they were warm (my feet seem to be cold a lot), but, alas, they are not.  They were really fun to make, though, so I say it's not a total loss.  And if all else fails, I can just take them apart and use the granny squares for something else.  Haha.

(Seth and I were joking that I should use these as a punishment for my future kids, hence the title.  Who knows...)

Pretty Hot For an Animated...

So, I just did a guest post-ish thing over on Kailei's blog.  If you'd like a taste of what our Kailei/Jenny nights are like, you should check it out.  Be warned: it is a tad long.  But AWESOME!!  

You know, sometimes I think we have a bit too much fun together.

Nah. 

Just a taste of the goodness to come!

Banner Week 2

Tuesday was day/week 2 at the hospital.  Holy cow--the craziness!  I left last week thinking "Yeah, I can totally do this.  I basically know what I'm doing."  Haha, guess not!  All sorts of weird situations came up on Tuesday, such as:

• A lady walked in to the desk and said "I'm having chest pains and my doctor told me to come here."  She was short of breath and looked pretty bad.  Unfortunately, the emergency department is on the opposite side of the hospital from my desk and we didn't have any wheelchairs to take her in.  One of the other volunteers walked with her to the ER, but I was worried about her all day.  Yikes!
• There was a big kerfuffle with a volunteer and a wheelchair.  (Wheelchairs are a precious commodity, I've come to learn.)  I guess some wheelchairs are assigned to specific sections of the hospital and when they're moved everyone gets upset (including department heads).  Good to know...
• Lots of visitors and delivery people seemed to be looking for patients we couldn't find.  There were at least 2 or 3 that I saw/dealt with.
• I had to answer the phones, which is scary when you don't know what you're doing.

But, on the good side, I got to do a bunch of deliveries.  That was fun.  (Even though one sent me all across the hospital with a huge cart full of scrapbooking supplies looking for the antepartum craft room.)  Oh, and I was reminded of how helpful the staff is at the hospital.  Just walk around looking lost to see for yourself. :)

On a random note, I got my hair cut today.  Hooray!  I'm pretty sure the last time I had it cut was in...March.  Yeah.  Sorry hair!  It's so soft now!  

Oh, and be on the lookout for a kind-of guest post on a friend's blog and more crocheting projects soon.  All should be awesome.  Get excited!

"Would you like some bread crumbs?"

Today was my first day volunteering at the hospital.  It was a little crazy at first, but ultimately AWESOME!  I got some training first, which took a whole, oh, 10 minutes, and then they kind-of just let me loose.  Well, not completely--there were 3 other people there.  (I'm at the main entrance information desk.)  The first few people that I "helped" were probably really sad that they walked up to me.  This was how most of those conversations went:

Visitor: I'm looking for this person.

Me: Oh, ok, let me look....uh, they're not here, let me look here (I think...)...um, [turning to my fellow front desk person] where should they be going?

Yeah, I was very helpful.  You learn a lot in 4 hours, though.  I even had someone say how helpful and knowledgeable I was somewhere around hour 3.5.  Ha!  Not bad for my first day!  (Yeah, I think I laughed when they said that.)  The best part, though?  The feeling you get when you leave and think that you've just helped people for 4 hours, and it wasn't even that hard.  How awesome is that?!

And now, I get to go see "Tangled" again with Kailei!  Hooray for Kailei/Jenny Tuesdays!

Oh, in case anyone actually read the title of this post and wants to know what it's about, it's from my first (and only, for today) flower delivery.  I had the room number, but wasn't exactly sure where I was going (it was in the first hour or so).  The guy working with me said "I think I have some bread crumbs, if you need them to find your way back."  Yeah, sure, pick on the newbie...

It almost looks good enough to eat...

...you know, except for the fact that it's made out of yarn.

Yes, my friends, I can now crochet waffles!  Why you ask?  Well, I found this pattern the other day to make a waffle-y thermal scarf.  But, since I live in Arizona and already have too many scarves (well, relatively), I didn't really want to make a whole scarf for myself.  I just happened to have this awesome orange yarn and voila!  Le waffle!  

Good thing the nephews have a play kitchen in need of some breakfast foods...

Happy Thanksgiving tomorrow, everyone!

Make Your Voice Heard!

Now that I've gotten you all sucked in with that wonderful title, I have a question for you: What is your opinion of these slippers?  (Sorry I can't put an actual picture on here.  Just go to the link.) 

I can't quite decide whether I like them or not.  I really want to make them, but don't know if I would actually wear them.  What do you think?

I Am an Adult

I'm currently in the start-up process to become a volunteer at Banner Desert hospital (down on Dobson and Southern).  I decided that I might as well do something worthwhile with all the glorious non-school time I have right now.  So, today was step #3 (I think...somewhere around there): the health screening.

Dun dun DUNNN!!!!

Really, it wasn't that bad, but they did do a TB skin test (where they shoot you up with TB particles...or something...let me go consult my disease textbook and I'll get back to you on that one) and take what seemed to me to be a large amount of blood.  Really, how much do you need to check for chicken pox antibodies?  Whatever.  The moral of the story is that I did it, did not pass out (I have a bad history with blood donation), and even went to a 2-hour orientation session afterward and drove myself home.

For some of you, this may seem like nothing special.  But to me, it was a big deal.  I actually feel like...an adult.

Haha, only took me 22-odd years.   

Winter is a-comin....someday

I got a new hat pattern in my e-mail the other day and it looked cute and easy enough to make.  So, I broke out my crochet hook and got to work.  Here is the result:

And it even matches this scarf I made last year!

Man, I'm going to look cute.  You know, once it's cold enough to actually wear these.

Trial and Error

A few weeks ago, I was hungry and feeling slightly vegetable-deprived, so I decided to give this a go:

Doesn't it look inviting?  And...healthy?

My opinion of V-8: Disgusting.  

(No offense to those of you who like it.)

I could only drink about 1/3 of it before I gave up and had to eat a mellowcreme pumpkin to get the nasty taste out of my mouth. 

Just in case any of you were wondering about my feelings on the subject.

Another Fond Farewell

I've been trying to decide how to update this thing.  Should I do one huge post, or a bunch of little ones?  Since my posts tend to be ridiculously long even when they're current, I'm going to change it up a bit.

Story of October that I meant to blog about forever ago #1: My Black Shoes

I have a pair of black flats that I've really loved.  They were cute!  And fancy-looking!  (Hooray for patent leather!)  But, as you can see, they were looking a little....sad.

I was determined to keep these shoes as long as possible.  Then, one day, I noticed that they felt a little lopsided...hmm...

Why yes, that is a chair pad on the bottom of my shoe.

The actual heel came off somehow (beats me), so I tried to replace it.  My dad suggested the above solution, but it wasn't quite the same.  So, I had to say good-bye to my beautiful shoes.  *tear*

Don't worry, I've already found new ones to love. :)

Paperbound Torture

So, I just finished reading this book this evening:

Thanks for the picture Barnes and Noble!

Holy cow.  Ok, before I get into this, I probably should let you know: I LOVE the Percy Jackson books.  In fact, I have them all sitting on my shelf.  I think they're awesome.  Naturally, anything by Rick Riordan is going to be on my list to read.  The aforementioned tome is a new series in the same setting as Percy Jackson and the Olympians.  

So, what did I do when it came out last Tuesday?

Went right to the store and bought it, naturally.  Who cares that I was in the middle of another book or two?

Oh man.  As I got to the end of this book, I literally felt my blood pressure rising as I got closer to the end and realized: yeah, you know that nice tidy ending you wanted?  It's not coming.  This is definitely the beginning of a series.  

Aaargggh!!  

I'm beginning to think I get a bit too attached to these fictional characters.  Guess what I'm going to be dreaming about tonight and thinking about for the next week?

Next fall can't come fast enough.  Stinkin' series...

Ultimate Sewing Machine Smackdown!

Tonight, two sewing machines are going to face off in Battle: Apron!  Let's take a look at our competitors!  

The reigning champ (kind-of): SVEN!!!

What, you don't remember Sven?  Here, maybe his glamour shot will jog your memory.

Ooh, look at those awesome buttons....

OK, everybody remember?  Good.  Now, back to the program!

In the other corner, we have the newcomer: KEN!!!

My sister was nice enough to share Ken's awesomeness with me.

So new...and shiny...

It's going to be a battle for the history books, folks!  Let's see what happens!

Round 1: Ooh, looks like Ken's got pretty good technique, there.  I mean, look at him: he doesn't ever snag the fabric!  When's the last time we saw Sven do that?  Ken's action's so smooth!  I just don't think Sven can compete, poor old-timer.  Well, I think we have a winner!

Round 1 goes to: Ken!

Round 2: It looks like Sven is trying to prove that he's got some decency left in him!  Ah, look, he's playing nice!  I was a bit worried when he kept messing up that gathering stitch, but it looks like a quick consultation with the manual fixed the problem.  Wow, he's sewing over 3 layers of fabric!  It's gotta be the metal--Ken's smooth plastic body is looking a bit flimsy now!  What?!  You're telling me that Sven took care of nearly the entire construction all by himself?!  If I hadn't seen it with my own two eyes, I never would have believed it!  Ooh, sorry, Ken, but it looks like your time is up!

Round 2 goes to: Sven!

Round 3: Well, the match is all tied up now, folks!  They say the third round is the toughest, but--oh, no, it isn't--it is!  The dreaded buttonhole!  Sven looks like he's willing to take a crack at it:

I swear, this thing hates me.  I could only get this hideous buttonhole done because my mom was there.  Sven kind-of has a thing for her.

This was even a second attempt--trust me, the first one was worse.

Ooh, that doesn't look good for Sven!  That buttonhole looks pretty nasty.  It looks like Ken's going in for the kill!  What's this? *gasp*  An automatic buttonholer?!  Where in the blazes did that come from?!  Well, I think it's pretty obvious where this is going, folks. 

Round 3 goes to: Ken!

Well, it's been tough to watch at times, but it looks like this battle has been decided.  After winning 2 rounds and the hearts of seamstresses throughout the stadium, the winner of tonight's ULTIMATE SEWING MACHINE SMACKDOWN is:

Ken!!!

So sorry, Sven.  Better luck next time!

Oh, yeah, guess I should show you what I made.  Here it is!

Disregard my retarded face in this one...

Yeah, I thought it turned out pretty cute.  And it was super easy!  My sister found the tutorial here, although we made a few adjustments (or wanted to after it was done), so let me know if you plan on making it yourself and I'll fill you in.

Battling Microbial Beasties

This is just a news update for those of you who don't know: this was sicky week.  Some of my family had been sick a week or two before, but none of the rest of us had come down with it.  Well, on Tuesday my sister and I both started getting sick--it sounded like what everyone else had, no big deal.

Yeah, guess I'm just special.

Come Thursday, I felt particularly horrible and decided since it was getting difficult to swallow--and, you know, swallowing is kind of important--that I should get this checked out.  While it's not fun being sick, I must say it was a bit satisfying opening my mouth to say "ahh" and having the doctor say "Oh wow, no wonder you feel like crud!"  Why yes, I do, thank you.  (At least that told me that I wasn't making things up in my head.)  The diagnosis:

Just had to post this

Strep!  (Well, at least, that's what we're assuming {as opposed to mono--yikes!} since the actual lab results won't be back until Monday or Tuesday.)  With the help of my good friend amoxicillin, I am now pretty much back to normal.  Hooray!  I can eat again!  And do something other than sleep! 

The one thing I will miss: having a legitimate excuse for sitting on the couch watching movies all day. *sigh* (By the way, a big thanks to the Guthries for providing most of my sick-day selections!)

Obsession #297

Say hello to my latest fetish:

Yeah, the colors aren't exactly right--it's much cuter in person, trust me.

OK, I just have to say it--isn't that the cutest little tiger you've ever seen?!  I think I might die!

My mom and I are now slightly addicted to crocheting the edges on baby blankets.  And the best part is it's totally an excuse to sit and watch movies.  ("Hey, I'm doing a project!  I need something to...listen to, yeah.  And possibly watch...")  Who are these blankets for, you ask?  I have no idea.  Possibly my *future, of course* children, possibly whoever has a baby next.  Meh.  The "who" isn't really that important.   

Look!  More!

Mwahahaha.  Now where's my copy of "Wives and Daughters"?

Labor Day, Seattle Style: Part 2

Ok, let's hope Blogger likes me again.

Saturday continued
After the Japanese garden, we headed off to the Seattle Space Needle.  We didn't really spend much time there, for a number of reasons.  (Big huge paid-admission-required art/music festival at the bottom, lots of people, $20 to go to the top of the needle, you know.)  But, we saw it and went into the gift shop.  That counts, right?   

After the hubbub down there, we headed off to find some grub.  Using Sarah's phone, we found a cafe nearby that was supposedly cheap and friendly.  Being the innocent child I am, I took the description of "atmosphere: offbeat" as "atmosphere: quirky and fun."  Yeah, turns out it actually meant "dark, smoky, and lots of neon beer signs in the windows."  So, we bypassed that lovely little gem, as well as a few really expensive-looking restaurants, and ended up at Zeeks pizza.  Mmm...Zeeks.  

Waiting for our waiter to return...

Chop salad

Frog Belly Green pizza

One nearly-exploding (with goodness) stomach later, we walked all the way back to our car (which we had to pay $15 to park, by the way.  Thank you Seattle...), we found out that the glass-blowing studio we wanted to go to (which was FREE) was back by Zeeks.  I was really not feeling up to either searching for a parking spot on the street or walking back over there, so we just went back to the hotel.  Thankfully, we were moved to a different smoking room that was almost in the non-smoking section and the staff had put in non-smoking bedding.  For causing them so much grief, they really did try to take care of us.  Of course, room #3 didn't have a refrigerator or a microwave, but hey, at least it didn't make me want to puke.  I'll take what I can get.


Oh yeah, I almost forgot--once in room #3, Sarah realized that she didn't have the wall charger for her phone in our stuff and that it was most likely in room #2.  I went back to the lobby to see if they had found it: no dice.  Because of this, we were trying to save her phone battery (our link to the world wide web) and had no choice but to use the computer in the lobby.  (Really, I think the staff was sick of us.  It seemed like we complained a lot.  They definitely knew what room number we were in without us having to tell them.)  After some research, we found a $3 movie theater not too far away.  Hello Saturday night activity!

Thanks for the picture Disney!

The only problem: we weren't hungry enough for dinner before the movie but knew we would be by the middle.  Solution: popcorn, of course.  But, sadly, a small popcorn at this cheap theater cost....$6.  So, in essence, we paid $6 a piece for the movie, instead of $3.  Lame.  But at least the movie was decent.  (I'm a fan of Jay Baruchel--I think he's funny.)


Sunday
Sarah wanted to go to 9:00 church.  Ugh.  But, being the good sister I am, I got up super early and was ready to go on time.  We just happened to go to the same ward that my cousin is serving his mission in...

Don't mind the fact that 2 of the 3 people in this picture are blinking.

The look on his face when we walked in was priceless.  The ward was really friendly and people really tried to help us feel welcome.  Yay for The Church!  I even got to fulfill my calling a few states away and played in Relief Society.  (One of the sisters in the presidency asked if I could stay forever.  Haha.  She was cute.)  After church, we hopped back aboard George and went to: 

If you look really closely, you can see us at the bottom.  The temple was quite large.

It was really pretty.  They had flowers and stuff, but the sheer amount of green there (and the cloudy skies) was beautiful for a desert rat like me.  Like this:

This is what I called the backyard of the temple.  Just a nice little forest, sitting there minding its own business.  Seriously?  A forest?  And it was on all sides, not just in the back.  How cool is that?!

After dinner (it felt so weird to be going to an Applebee's on a Sunday...), we headed back to the hotel because we were feeling tired.  I think the plan was to take a nap.  Did we take a nap, though?  No.  We looked up a few scriptures our mom suggested to us (gotta love that momma), did some word searches together (aww, sisterly love), and...sat there.  For FIVE hours!  We did turn the TV on, but our best choice was "Facing the Giants."  Now, don't get offended.  There's nothing wrong with that movie.  Heck, it was even Sunday appropriate, in my book.  But, it's pretty heavy on the cheese.  And when you've already been stuck in a very small hotel room for 3 hours, it doesn't quite cut it.


Why didn't we go explore a little, you ask?  Well, as I mentioned before, I think we planned on the nap thing.  But, when that didn't happen, we couldn't really think of anyplace free and Sunday-like that we wanted to go.  And, to be honest, we were a little sick of getting lost and missing turns.  Seriously, the state of Washington needs to rethink it's highway and road system.  I have never seen so many retarded forked roads in my life!  And the street signs were tiny!  Look at this:

This is what we had to deal with.  When you don't really know where you're going in the first place, this does not help.


We tried a visit to the ice machine to relieve the boredom, but sadly, we were foiled.

Don't I look sad?  The sign says the machine is broken and you have to go to the front desk to get some ice.  Yeah right!  Those people were sick enough of us as it was.  No use pushing it.

So, we resorted to taking pictures of each other.  As you can probably guess, none of them are very flattering.  I'll spare you the horror.


Monday
We decided to dedicate all of our available time on Monday to Pike's Place Market.  That place was crazy!  There were shops and stalls everywhere.  Oh yeah, and tons of people.  There were 3 levels to the marketplace, too.  We started out mostly wandering, but when I tried a sample of this I was such a sucker I had to buy it:

It probably helped that the guy giving me the sample was fun to talk to.  I should have gotten a picture with him.  Another guy that we should have gotten a picture of is our good friend David.  He was the shopkeeper in a little bookshop on the second-ish level of the market (it gets a little confusing down there).  When a new customer came in, he would say hi, ask where they were from, and then sing out "Oh, you came all the way from [location] to see me!  You're a bookstore groupie!"  Yeah, he was pretty much my favorite part of the market.  The shop was fun, too--new books next to old, tatty ones and everything kind-of stuck on the shelves haphazardly (I mean there were sections and all, but they weren't in neat little stacks).  Normally that would drive me nuts, but it worked there.  We bought something from him, too, but after we had wandered through the rest of the market trying to find cheaper playing cards to no avail.  (After Sunday's boredom, we wanted to be prepared for a long wait at the airport.)  That's ok--I'd like to think the $6 we played for a deck of (European) playing cards was like a little tip to David for being cool.


Some other highlights of Pike's: 
1) We saw our cousin and his companion again.  When we caught his attention, he said "You guys are everywhere!  What are you doing?"  Haha.  After assuring him that we were not stalking him ("No, really, we're not."), we went off to see other things. 

2) Me and Rachel, the pig of Pike's Place.

3) Our lunch.  

Rachel's All-American Sandwich.  Pretty much awesome.  Do you see the bacon on that thing?  Mmm...bacon.

We saw a ton of people eating this stuff and decided that we might as well jump on the bandwagon.  Holy cow, it was good, but I could almost hear my arteries screaming in protest.  So...much...cheese...

4) The bathrooms.  This may sound weird, but they were funny.  Here's how you know you're in the women's bathroom.

For obvious reasons, I didn't get a picture of the big XY marking the men's bathroom.


After Pike's, we headed off to return our car (goodbye George!  You served us well!) and get down to the airport.  It was probably a good thing we got there nearly 2 1/2 hours early because Sarah's ticket somehow got cancelled, a fact we learned when she couldn't check in to the flight.  Thank goodness they got it fixed pretty quickly and we were on the same flight home.  (At first, the lady said, "Now, I couldn't get you two together because the flight is pretty full..." and we interrupted with "Wait, so we're not on the same flight?!"  Turns out she just meant we weren't sitting together, but we would be on the same plane.  Phew.)


And so, we made it home alive!  (If any of you are still reading this absurdly long post, you deserve a candy bar.  Don't worry, I can wait while you go find one.)  Despite the problems we had and the fact that I'm not very good with spontaneous changes of plans, I'm glad I got to go.  Amazingly, except for a few minutes near the very end, we really got along well.  Who'd'a thunk: my sister and I can survive in close quarters for 4 days without killing each other!  Haha, j/k.  It was an amazing experience, though.  Thanks for the ticket parents!  And thanks for taking me Sarah!  Mom was right: this one is definitely going down in the family lore.

239861D5-47E6-4FD5-767A-B24AC01627AE

1.02.28

Labor Day, Seattle Style

This post is either going to be one really long one or a few shorter ones.  I'm not sure yet.  We'll just have to see how long my concentration (and interest) lasts. :)

Last Thursday Night
Around 7:00: I am planning to go to Thatcher for the weekend with my family.  You know, see the cousins and Grandma, pick some apples, normal Labor Day weekend stuff.  My sister is planning to go to Seattle to visit a friend.  Everyone is excited for their respective vacations.

Around 9:30: my sister's plan quickly changes and visiting her friend is no longer an option.  But, she has already checked in to her flight online and has a hotel room booked for the next 3 nights.  When another friend in Portland is also unavailable, it looks like she can either be out $500+ or go to Seattle (where she's never been) all by herself...or I can go with her.  Really, there's only one feasible option.  So, my parents buy me a last-minute plane ticket (they are amazing--thanks Mom and Dad!) and I frantically start packing.  And trying not to freak out...

Friday
For the first time in probably ever, I cannot finish my cereal for breakfast--my stomach will not allow it.  Stinkin' nerves.  (This probably seems like a minor detail, but I LOVE cereal.  Just thought it needed to be known.)  We get to the airport on time and our flight leaves at 10:40-ish.  About halfway through the flight I can finally eat again.  Huzzah!  Sarah and I find each other in the corridor off the plane, find our baggage, and head off to the car rental desks.  The lines are long and we have no idea of which one to go to.  After a few phone calls for advice, we decided on Dollar Car rental.  When that takes too long (and the guy at the desk is crabby), we slide over to Enterprise.  Make the reservation, get on the shuttle, look blankly at most of the questions the rental guy asks us ("Do you have full coverage on your car insurance?  Does it cover rental cars?" How would we know?!), and finally get our rental car.

Meet George.

Even with navigation on Sarah's phone, we can't find our hotel.  After driving around the neighborhood for 20 minutes, we finally figure it out and are very excited to rest in our hotel room.  Get checked in, walk in, take a deep breath...gag.  We have been assigned a particularly nasty smoking room.  We talk to the manager and head off to Walmart while they air out the room.  At Walmart, we discover that we've forgotten a few things:

Thank you, Walmart.  Now I won't repulse random Seattleans on the street with my horrible breath.

When the airing-out does squat, we talk with the manager again, call the company Sarah bought her travel package with, call our parents, and eventually get a non-smoking room...for the night.  We order a pizza (realizing that we are starving) and decide that we've had enough adventure for one day.  Ignoring the fact that we don't know where we'll be sleeping tomorrow night, we look for a movie to watch.  Luckily this is premiering on TV tonight:

Good thing we watched the first one a few weeks ago...

Thanks for the picture Amazon!

Saturday
After checking out of our lovely hotel room and pleading with the manager to save us a non-smoking room if it becomes available, we head here:

a.k.a. the coolest place EVER!

See, don't I look happy?

 Here are a few more pictures, just to make you jealous.

Love.

Some of the biggest koi I've ever seen

View from the back of the park/garden.

Blogger is now being retarded, so I guess this is going to be a multi-post thing.  It was getting pretty long, anyways.

239861D5-47E6-4FD5-767A-B24AC01627AE

1.02.28