mikao's world

Craft Fair

2011-10-28T19:08:00.001-04:00

I have just booked myself in for a table at my first Artists/Craftspersons/Small Business Expo... and it's next Saturday! Yikes! I had been planning on doing one, but thought it would be later in the month. I am going to be busy!

Sourcream Cranberry Coffeecake

2011-09-06T18:57:00.006-04:00

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a 9-inch square baking pan.

In a small bowl combine and blend until crumbly:
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 tbsp all-purpose flour
2 tbsp unsalted butter
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
Set aside

Chop 1 cup fresh or frozen cranberries into halves, set aside.

In a medium sized bowl, whisk together thoroughly:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup white sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
Set aside

In a large bowl, beat well:
1 cup sour cream
2 eggs
Once well beaten, add 1/2 cup of the chopped cranberries, and mix.

Add the dry ingredients to the sourcream/egg/cranberry mixture and beat until just smooth. Overbeating tends to make a tough cake.

Pour the wet mixture into your greased cakepan, smooth out with a spatula. Sprinkle the sugar crumble overtop, and then sprinkle the remaining 1/2 cup of chopped cranberries.

Bake 30-35 minutes or until a a toothpick comes out clean.

August Soundtrack

2010-08-31T23:00:00.000-04:00

What Do I Know of Holy, Addison Road

Paperweight, Josh Radin

Fearless, Taylor Swift

Small, Amanda Falk

July Soundtrack: It All Looks Different

2010-07-31T22:50:00.002-04:00

Chances, Five for Fighting
Say Your Name, Bethany Dillon
In the Beginning, Bethany Dillon
From the Inside Out, Hillsong
Great Are You, Downhere
Enough, Jeremy Camp
Love is Waiting, Brooke Fraser
Brand New Day, Joshua Radin
Say, John Mayer
Enough, Chris Tomlin
Healing Begins, Tenth Avenue North
Beloved, Tenth Avenue North
Lead Me, Sanctus Real

Cinnamon-y Goodness

2010-07-03T22:56:00.009-04:00

June Soundtrack: Somewhere to Fall From

2010-06-30T22:40:00.000-04:00

For the First Time Again, Jason Gray
Lifeline, Mat Kearney
Today Was a Fairytale, Taylor Swift
Straight Away, Mat Kearney
On A Night Like This, Dave Barnes
If It's Love, Train
Gone, Matt Nathanson
Somebody Like You, Keith Urban
Feels Like Home, Chantal Kreviazuk
Until You, Dave Barnes
I Could Get Used to This, Everlife
Lullaby, Dixie Chicks
Everything Falls, Fee
Always Enough, Casting Crowns
I Am, Jill Phillips

Downtown

2010-06-26T22:24:00.011-04:00

Yesterday I had to go downtown for a friend's party, and with the whole G20 hoopla, and expected "significant traffic delays" due to closed highways, freeways, streets, and protesters, I left an hour earlier than needed.

While I hadn't previously been downtown many times before this year, in the past month or so I had already been there three times, and was able to find an alternate route easily after hearing a warning on the radio that my anticipated exit was closed. So, lo and behold, I ended up downtown an hour early. I didn't have my good camera with me, but I did have my point-and-shoot, so took a few pictures as I walked around.

Overall, I'd say it was quite deserted. Might have been because it was a Friday night, or maybe because the G20 was scaring many away, I'm not sure. Every store seemed to have a security guard out front, which isn't normally the case.

Here is Toronto's Flatiron building, also known as the Gooderham Building. Located at 49 Wellington Street East, it was built in the early 1890s. On the left, above the "Le Papillon" sigh, you can see a sliver of the CN Tower.

I like the crazy fire escape. It's also interesting to compare this photo of the building today, with all the giants in the background, to this one of it shortly after it was built. Everything was the same height back then!

On the backside of the building is a mural facing a small park, which was painted in 1980 by Canadian artist Derek Michael Besant in 1980. I sat down on a bench and took a picture of it and some hydrangeas, and then went over to the bottom right corner to read a plaque about the history of the mural. When I walked away a security guard shouted to me "You don't have to leave, you can stay and enjoy!" which made me chuckle.

This bird was drinking out of a dribbling water fountain. There were also lots of pigeons about. And The Ice Bear Project was also kind of dropped off in the middle of the little park area (I say dropped off because it really seemed mishmashed into place, it wasn't centred, the stand was weird, kind of looked like it had just been dropped off as an afterthought. Unfortunately I thought I'd be able to find good photos online and didn't take one of my own. It was a little more than half melted, the sculpted skelton's entire upper body was exposed. The concept is that it's a comment and demonstration of global warming, and that global warming not only effects all of us, but also is caused by all of us. In town for the G20, I wonder how many working on climate change policies have seen it.

Here's the only real G20 business I saw in effect. This is looking west from the corner of 1 Front Street West. There were a whole lot of people taking pictures of this, and not a whole lot was going on. And apparently anyone within 5 metres of this fence has their rights revoked.

Signs I Need to Go to Ikea

2010-06-24T22:44:00.003-04:00

1. I am almost out of meatballs. I can't just eat 4, that's a weird number.

2. I am out of Lingonberry sauce/jam.

3. My awesome print from Natasha arrived and I need a frame. I can't wait to put it up.

Phyllis Irene

2010-06-16T22:15:00.009-04:00

A year ago today, on a sunny summer day, my grandmother died. It's strange to think that a year has passed already. She lived for 91, and in us her memory lives on. What follows are excerpts from the eulogy I gave at her funeral:

My Gramma was born in Ontario in 1918. Following her birth, her parents decided to move to the Swan River Valley to farm. She grew up on that farm with her brother John and her sister Francie, south east of Swan River, where they attended local schools.

Following a career in teaching, she married my grandfather, and moved to Blue Skies Farm north of Bowsman. Although my grandparents’ time together was short, they both had a love of the land and of horticulture They shared a common vision for their property and worked together to carry it out. One of the last books she was rereading was a book of my grandfather’s on soil management. In one of the last telephone conversations I had with Gramma, she gave me marriage advice as she often did, and told me that one of her most precious memories was of the unity of thought she had with my Grandpa Ernie, and how much enjoyment marriage was.

Gramma always enjoyed sewing, and after their daughters Connie and Jennie were born, she sewed clothe from whatever was available- mostly old flour sacks, old curtains, and old wool coats, until yard goods became more readily available. She made coats for the girls and also took a tailoring course where she learned to sew suits and clothing for herself, all on a treadle machine. These clothes often continued life overseas via the St. Faith’s missions. I think that I learned frugality and a love of sewing early on when she often gave me packages of scraps to make doll clothes and other crafts.

Gramma believed strongly in being involved in her community and in doing things for others. Because she wanted her daughters to learn from her example, she taught Sunday School and led 4-H, continuing to share her gardening experience with 4-Hers many years after her children were grown. She always enjoyed being involved with young people and their parents, willingly mentoring and sharing information, listening to their hopes and dreams.

Two of Gramma’s outstanding characteristics were her fierce independence and determination. A story from her early life related by her brother, John, will give you an idea of how she developed these characteristics. In his words:

"Shaw School, where we started and attended for several years, was just a few miles away. When Phyllis was seven, Dad bought a docile small white horse and cart for her to driver herself to school. She was responsible for seeing that Jimmy, the horse, stayed at the school during the day and for getting herself home after school- a big responsibility for a seven year old. She took me with her for a special day for beginners before I started school."

This determination and independence then served her well when she chose, as a woman, to continue farming after Grandpa died. She was fortunate to have Great-Grandpa Provins and wonderful neighbours who helped with their time and advice. But she also faced tough adversity that would have deterred many others. For example, she would have to wait to get her machinery fixed regardless of the order in which it was received. She was in great physical condition and could work circles around most people. On March 15th, 1980, her diary says, "Shoveled by garage and over to the big trees- an hour. Split wood for four hours."

Five weeks later her diary read, "Washed hair and was going to dry it outside while putting the siding back on the house where the insulating men took it off to drill holes. Began to fall off ladder so jumped. Felt cracks at top of leg bone. Didn’t faint. Went in, phoned Ed Baird, got cleaned up and used my dust mop as a crutch to get to the car. Picked Ed up and went to the hospital. Had x-rays. Broken hip bone just above the ball."

She went by ambulance to Winnipeg and had a pin put in her hip. She came home on May 17th on crutches, but that didn’t stop her from gardening that year just the same as usual.

Always interested in the interdependence of the land, plants, animals, and people, Grandma cultivated and tested numerous varieties of garden vegetables, flowers, herbs, and fruit trees. She carefully recoded such things as height, days to maturity, disease resistance, size, colour, and flavour.

The beginning of Gramma’s love affair with lilies began in 1947 with a Lemon Lady lily given to her by my grandfather. This developed into a passion over the years. She experimented with cross pollination and waited patiently for the years to go by until she could see the results in the form of a new lily bloom. Form the knowledge she gained, she wrote articles for newspapers and magazines such as Grain News and The Manitoba Gardener and progressed to giving talks at various meetings and conventions. She worked for five years with Professor Lenz of the University of Manitoba maintaining lily test plots and recording every detail. Through these activities she became more widely known and her circle of friends increased rapidly.

Friends, gardeners, and lily enthusiasts were welcome in her garden at any time. She was always very happy to host Open Garden tours for the various societies she belonged to. We have many photographs of these happy times. She gave anyone who was interested lengths of yarn of a particular colour to mark the lilies they wanted bulbs from. Sometime before freeze-up she dug, bagged, labeled, and distributed the bulbs, never charging. People’s friendship was her reward.

In 2000, Gramma was deeply honoured to receive the Manitoba Horticultural Society’s first Prairie Garden Award for Excellence., With her price money she purchased a Mantis tiller to ease her gardening load. Unfortunately, someone else wanted to ease their load and took the tiller from her shed.

Motivating quotes and sayings lined her cupboard doors and backsplash. An anonymous example is "Nobody knows about your integrity, sincerity, talent, or good will unless you give examples in action." She lived by putting others before herself and always sharing what she had. In the words of her lily society friend Brent, “She treated everyone fairly. Everyone had a chance with her. She never judged anyone by their appearance. She always gave encouragement and encouraged the horticultural board to try things even if she didn’t approve. She’d say, 'Well, try it, and if it doesn’t work, we’ll fix it.'"

Another friend, Diane, had fond memories of the fun she and Gramma had riding to lily shows and conventions together. One of the words Diane and several others used to describe Gramma was the word ‘encouraging.’ One of the seedlings Gramma shared with Diane turned out to be an unregistered lily. As she often did, Gramma declined to register it. After much work persuading Gramma to let her do so, Diane registered this lovely yellow and burgundy lily as "Phyllis Irene."

Species lilies are those that originate in the wild and are often used to develop other lilies. Gramma’s last talk was on species lilies. Recently, an award in her name was created for the best enhanced species lily.

While Gramma's horticultural life was growing, she also became a grandmother to my two sisters, Pamela and Jillian, my brother Edward, and myself. Along with her many special horticultural awards hanging in her house is the World’s Greatest Grandmother award.

Going to Gramma's almost every summer was always a special highlight for us. We all have many special memories of time spent with her, playing in the creek, running around and having parades in the garden, picking fresh vegetables and flowers, playing on the porch running our own glove, hat, and vitamin shops, and eating fresh baked bread out of her wood burning stove.

Some of our friends couldn't understand why we would choose to go to Gramma’s whenever we had the opportunity. In college I would usually come to visit her most fall and spring breaks, and I had a very good friend who didn’t realize until third year that I also had parents and didn’t live with my grandmother!

Gramma once told me that although her father had to leave school very early in life, "he never stopped learning." This love of learning was passed on, and a short time before she died she told my Mom a couple of months ago that she wasn't ready to die because there was so much more to learn. Every birthday and Christmas we could always be sure we would receive books as gifts. Gramma loved to read and enjoyed many magazine and newspaper subscriptions, some of them paid up until 2015. She was always interested to hear what we were learning in school and encouraged us to continue our education.

A eulogy for Gramma wouldn't be complete without mentioning her love for animals. Cats, skunks, and raccoons were all welcome at the feeding bowl on her porch. She also enjoyed watching the many birds that came to the feeders in her yard. She liked dogs but she particularly enjoyed the antics of her many cats. One particular cat that she had for 19 years spent many hours at the garden with her, but was also her protector. Big Spot would meet people at the door; if they passed muster he would walk away, if they didn't, he stood guard. Occasionally his judgment later proved correct!

Gramma was a very principled lady who always made time for others, who cherished her friends, and loved her family. When asked what was the thing that made her happiest in life, she looked surprised and said, "I’ve done what I wanted to do where I wanted to do it."

The world was a better place with Gramma in it.

Cupcakes

2010-06-13T22:01:00.002-04:00

May Soundtrack

2010-05-30T23:00:00.000-04:00

Gone Away, Lucy Schwartz
Fight Another Day, Addison Road
Something More, Ingrid Michaelson
Beautiful History, plumb
Hey Soul Sister, Train
From You To Me, Jon McLaughlin
All I Have, Mat Kearney
What Do You Want From Me, Adam Lambert
It's Amazing, Jem
More Like Falling in Love, Jason Gray

2010-05-16T22:57:00.004-04:00

I really should post more often, shouldn't I? This Friday I went to the Distillery District in downtown Toronto. I happened to pick up some "vintage lucite" floral beads from a place called Tank. Normally I don't like plastic beads and think they're tacky, but somehow if you call them "vintage lucite" it makes it a cool plastic. :) Today I went to Michael's after church and picked up some freshwater pearls to make the blue bells and pink earrings above complete. The clear blue beads are ones a friend gave me for my birthday. In the end I wasn't satisfied with those fishhook wires and ended up swapping them out for some longer trendy wires... and didn't take a picture of the finished product before giving them away.

April Soundtrack

2010-04-30T23:04:00.001-04:00

Everything's Right, Matt Wertz
I Will Not Take My Love Away, Matt Wertz
All My Days, Alexi Murdoch
Absolutely, Starfield
Call Me on Your Way Back Home, Kiersten Holine
Giving Up, Ingrid Michaelson
Beautiful Disaster, Jon McLaughlin
Carolina, Matt Wertz
All of Creation, MercyMe

Little Guys Need to Keep Warm Too

2010-04-09T14:28:00.010-04:00

I stumbled upon this pattern on Whipup at the end of February, and knew it would be perfect for my good friend Jodi's expected son, Caleb. Now that he's been born, I can show the finished product! Hopefully he doesn't grow out of it too too quickly.

I used some washable yarns I had on hand... and the pattern used so little yarn that I could have probably made another whole sweater with what I had left. I finished it while I was in Alberta visiting my family a couple of weeks ago. My Mom gave me some buttons out of my Gramma's stash, so this sweater is now festooned with some special old wooden buttons.

The pattern was originally written in Norwegian, and is available free on Pickles. There were a few ups and downs, but thanks to some posted errata and some helpful Ravelers, I think it turned out quite nice. I hope to knit another one or two of these with other yarns.

Check out my Ravelry project page here.

March Soundtrack

2010-03-31T23:57:00.003-04:00

Something Beautiful, needtobreathe
Love Never Fails, Brandon Heath
Choose, Christy Nockels
Simply Nothing, Shawn McDonald
Gravity, Sara Barielles
Listen Up, Brandon Heath
Why, Secondhand Serenade
Be Okay, Ingrid Michaelson
Come Thou Fount, Jars of Clay
Let That Be Enough, Switchfoot
No Not One, Brandon Heath
Here in This Moment, Beckah Shae

February Soundtrack: Out of Shadows

2010-02-28T23:29:00.004-05:00

Live Like We're Dying, Kris Allen
Can't Go Back Now, The Weepies
Melting, Riley Armstrong
Soldier, Ingrid Michaelson
The Mess I Made, Parachute
When You Find Me, Joshua Radin and Maria Taylor
She is Love, Parachute
Valentine, Kina Grannis
Snowfall, Ingrid Michaelson
If My Heart Was a House, Owl City
Home, Vanessa Carlton
Corner, Allie Moss
Hot Air Balloon, Owl City
Meteor Shower, Owl City
I Am Yours, Bethany Dillon

Be It Resolved

2010-02-21T17:33:00.007-05:00

Usually I don't make new year's resolutions, but this year I wanted to make a sweater... and finished it by January 17th. I told my Mom I'd post these pictures a long time ago, but sometimes life gets in the way of things... but here they finally are. I don't have a picture of me wearing it so this is all you're getting for now (and they're not even good pictures). The pattern is called Rusted Root, although I did make some minor modifications to it (see my Ravelry link for info) Overall it was fairly easy to knit and a great first sweater pattern to work with. I chose a cheap yarn as I wasn't too sure how the whole project would turn out. Now I kind of wish I had used a better yarn after investing so much time into it, it's already quite a bit pilly and I've only worn it 3 or 4 times.

I started another sweater right after finishing this one, but was having some issues with the sizing and so it's currently sitting and possibly never being finished. We'll see. It was a lot of effort to get it to the point where it is now, and really wasn't fitting properly so have put it on hold.

Another resolution, or goal for the year, is to write and publish a knitting pattern. Most of the time I make up what I'm knitting anyway, thought it would be neat to write it down and have others be able to knit it too. Currently am working on a touque pattern. Have a few kinks to work out, but it is coming along nicely. Let me know if you'd like to be a test knitter before I publish it, would love someone to test it out first before I put it out there as a freebie.

January Soundtrack: Soon and Very Soon

2010-01-31T22:42:00.007-05:00

Half of My Heart, John Mayer
You Got Me, Colbie Caillat
In Your Atmosphere, John Mayer
Your Call, Secondhand Serenade
Free of Me, Joshua Radin
Tracing, John Mayer
Someone Else's Life, Joshua Radin
You've Got Growing Up to Do, Joshua Radin and Patty Griffin
Behind Your Eyes, Jon Foreman
My Love Goes Free, Jon Foreman
Somewhere Over The Rainbow, Israel Kamakawiwo'Ole
Let Your Light Shine, Bethany Dillon
Gassenhauer, Carl Orff
Coffaro's Theme, Curtis Fowlkes, Bill Frisell, Eyvind Kang, Ron Miles
Soon and Very Soon, Brooke Fraser
Amazing Grace, Josh Wilson

Tree Necklace

2010-01-20T22:07:00.004-05:00

My Mom wanted to buy all of her daughters necklace charms this Christmas, but couldn't find a tree.

However, she gave me some money instead, and I ordered one of these that I had seen on Etsy. I got it in the mail two days ago and wore it to school today.

Dear Dell.ca

2010-01-19T23:02:00.003-05:00

Thank you for selling computers. I have to say that I have been satisfied overall with my April 2008 purchase of your Vostro 1400 laptop. I loved the convenience of online ordering. I was familiar with your brand from my day job. I liked the customizationableness you afforded me with my laptop choices. I liked it that you shipped to my door.

It hasn't really given me any problems other than the fact that every once in awhile it tells me it doesn't recognize the adapter connected to it (and a quick re-seating of the cable end usually rectifies that issue). The battery life superseded that of most of my peers' laptops in teacher's college. And it's way cooler than my work T60 IBM laptop for my computer job.

I do have one complaint though. You send me too much mail. I get junkmail from you at least twice a month, if not more. Sometimes I get it at least once a week! I know, I know, I did purchase a "small business machine" as a "small business owner." But the key word here is small. It's just me. And I only need one laptop. And this one's still chugging away. The expected lifespan of a laptop is generally three years. It hasn't even been two yet! I'm hoping and expecting this one still lasts me a while.

I like my laptop. I recommend Dell to others.

But I do warn people about the junk mail.

Kind regards,
Michelle

Movies I Can Watch Again and Again

2010-01-18T22:40:00.004-05:00

- Serendipity
- Elizabethtown
- Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken
- Back to the Future II
- Finding Forrester
- The Lakehouse
- A Lot Like Love
- P.S. I Love You
- Brokedown Palace
- The Bourne Identity
- Kate & Leopold
- Catch and Release
- August Rush
- The Holiday
- Little Women
- Enchanted
- The Blind Side

Resolution

2010-01-11T22:57:00.001-05:00

I can remember telling someone sometime around a year or so ago or so that I thought knitting a sweater was ridiculous due to a few factors:

a) It takes a long time
b) You can buy a perfectly good sweater for not very much money
c) You can never be completely sure the sweater you're knitting is actually going to fit you.

But here I am in 2010 with the New Year's Resolution to knit a sweater. Day 11, and it's going fairly well. I had hoped to be done by yesterday, but re-evaluated and decided not to rush things so in the end I'm actually happy with it and get a few wears (or a whole lot) out of it.

I bound off the bottom edge today. Now just have to finish the sleeves and the neck edging.

Stay tuned for further updates.

It's a New Year, And All That Jazz

2010-01-09T22:40:00.005-05:00

I've seen a few posts around the blogosphere in my daily wanderings talking about the whole "it's a new decade!" thing, bugging out about that whole big deal, and reviewing the decade that was, year-by-year. While I appreciate this, I was thinking could I even list significant details from each of the past ten years? Some of them were so long ago! Some of them were not so significant.

But never to let a good list pass me by, here goes:

2000: Finished my first whole year not transferring colleges, and my first whole year of Bible college. Spent the summer in the Yukon waitressing. Hitch-hiked for the first and last times.
2001: Finished another year of Bible college, and applied for internships for the summer to fulfill my program requirements. Ended up spending the summer in southern Illinois as a youth ministry intern. Went to Mexico on a missions trip as part of my job. Went back in the fall for my last year living in dorm. Went to Montana for Thanksgiving.
2002: Graduated college for the first time, still had one class left to finish my B.A., and it was offered the week after graduated, so graduated with a lesser A.A. degree to walk the plank. Spent my first summer in Ontario in camp ministry. Returned to school in the fall, started my Masters degree, lived at 208 Third Avenue in a house on campus.
2003: Finished a great first year of seminary, said goodbye to the wonderful memories of the brown house, oddly found myself back in Ontario in the same place for another summer. Returned to seminary and lived in a duplex.
2004: Finished my MRRP (thesis), graduated with my M.A., said goodbye to my wonderful Briercrest years, got my drivers license (finally!) and went back to Ontario for a third summer, and headed out into the big wide real world of post post secondary life. Got a "real" job and moved to Muskoka to work at a camp full-time. Bought my first car, Hot Rod, a red 1992 Mazda 323. Moved into an apartment with two new friends. Spent my first Christmas away from home.
2005: Worked. Took a summer week off to volunteer at my old camp. Started selling purses on Etsy. Went to my Gramma's to visit in the summer. Went home at Christmas.
2006: Made the decision to move on and started interviewing for other jobs. Had a big birthday party with friends from different stages of life. Went to Sudbury for a quick vacation in the summer. Went on a road trip to Saskatchewan with friends for a wedding. Quit my job. Started working year-round for the camp I had previously spent three full summers at. Moved into my own apartment. Spent Christmas in Sudbury.
2007: Started working part-time for a computer company in February, quit in June to work at camp full-time for the summer. Moved in June to a house with housemates. Started full-time in computers in September, while working part-time at camp. Checked out teacher's college. Went home briefly at Christmas.
2008: Applied to teacher's college. Kept working 11 hour days until the beginning of July. Went to Florida for my first real vacation during March break. Was accepted into teacher's college in April, started in July. Had a great first teaching placement. Worked, went to school, worked, went to school. Part-time camp, part-time computers. Went to Sudbury for Christmas.
2009: Did my second teaching placement, went to Myrtle Beach for March Break, did my third teaching placement, flew to Manitoba for my Gramma's funeral, worked at camp full-time for the summer and part-time computers, went back to working full-time computers, part-time camp, and got a part-time teaching position. Graduated from teacher's college. Went back to Alberta for Christmas.

Of course, many many other things happened over the course of the past ten years. Can we really reduce a decade to a short list? Life was lived, and continues to be so. Here's to the next ten, may they be abundantly more than all we expect or imagine.

Buttery Neckwarmer

2010-01-03T21:48:00.001-05:00

I originally blogged this Cabled Celtic Neckwarmer awhile ago, here it finally is in it's completed form. I finished knitting it in November, and now it's on it's way to my aunt as a late Christmas/winter gift. Here is my Ravelry Link for anyone interested. The yarn is Mirasol Yarn Miski, a super soft yarn made from 100% Peruvian baby llama. The sale of the yarn supports health and education for disadvantaged children.

The pattern is Celtic Cable Neckwarmer by Lindsay Henricks, with some minor modifications in the cable pattern. The pattern is available free here.

December Soundtrack: Interrupt My Life

2009-12-31T23:59:00.004-05:00

Dreamer, Bethany Dillon
Heartbreak Warfare, John Mayer
1234, Plain White T's
Everybody, Ingrid Michaelson
Clinging to the Cross, Bethany Dillon & Matt Hammitt
Everyone to Know, Bethany Dillon
Top of the World, Bethany Dillon
Wash Me Clean, Shawn McDonald
Winter, Joshua Radin
Closer, Joshua Radin
I'd Rather Be With You, Joshua Radin
Stolen, Dashboard Confessional
All We Are, Matt Nathanson
Last Train Home, David Mead
The In Betweens, Geoff Moore and The Distance
Wait and See, Brandon Heath

Deadbeat Blogger

2009-12-13T23:28:00.002-05:00

My camera batteries died awhile ago, and then I kept forgetting to charge them, and then life got busier, and then it snowed, and then winter crept in and Christmas started to creep up (again). Less than a week until I fly to Alberta for the first time in two years, and this time for longer than 3 days! Still trying to wrap up some extreme Christmas crafting (I shouldn't leave these things so late), hoping to get it all done before Friday. And somewhere in between 49 hours of work from Monday morning through Friday morning, I need to do a wee bit more shopping.

November Soundtrack: Sometimes Bombs Fall Quietly

2009-12-01T22:35:00.002-05:00

Somehow suddenly it's already December, but this whole past month I've been faithfully saving a list of songs I've listened to over the course of the days that were November 2009. It's always surprised me how powerful music is to memory, how easily a song or an album can take you back to a remembrance. I love this soundtrack project.

Here We Go, Mat Kearney
City, Sara Bareilles
Show Me What I'm Looking For, Carolina Liar
The Best of Me, The Letter Black
Moonlight Kiss, Bap Kennedy
Someone Somewhere, Jason Reeves
Never too Late, Hedley
Fallin' For You, Colbie Caillat
Gravity, Sara Bareilles
The Chain, Ingrid Michaelson
Breathe, Taylor Swift
Wedding Dress, Derek Webb
Fireflies, Owl City
King of Glory, Third Day
Forgiven, Sanctus Real

Confessions

2009-11-26T22:37:00.007-05:00

1. In grade 7 practically every day when I came home from school I had a snack consisting of a glass of chocolate milk (homogenized milk with Quik mix) and a spoonful of peanut butter (the chunky kind, in the jar with the red lid with a squirrel on it). Sometimes I still come home and have that for a snack.

2. I had never driven alone until I was 24 years old. I didn't yet have my full licence then (but it was just down the block to drop a car off at the repair shop).

3. I still think McDonald's is a real treat.

4. I started sewing when I was 4 years old.

5. I missed my kindergarten Halloween party because I ate a Nestle chocolate pudding (back when they came in little cans with pull-tabs) and got sick because I was allergic to chocolate and didn't know it.

6. The oldest piece of clothing in my closet is from 1996. How nuts is that?

7. I have a Gmail account that I get mostly mail for other people with the same name as me. In fact, more mail is for them than for me. Theatre e-tickets, overdue library books and CDs (Michelle, return those overdue Kelly Clarkson and Taylor Swift CDs), information on the house she just purchased, photos of various kids, emails from MeMaw, letters from her long-ago lover, I've seen them all.

8. There are certain Judds songs that I can still sing word-for-word due to long family trips and limited cassette tape selection.

9. I carry a full keyboard to work, for two reasons. a) So I have a full-size keyboard and don't have to use a laptop keyboard, and b) since I always use someone else's cubicle then I don't have to use their germy keyboard.

10. This list has taken me forever to write. I keep getting interrupted!

Fly Away

2009-11-16T22:24:00.004-05:00

I keep thinking I should blog more often, but then after sitting at a computer all day working, usually afterwards I'm too tired to do more of the same and would rather do something else! We've been having some lovely fall weather lately, today I drove with my window down in disbelief that it actually was this late in November. But I'm quite alright with the weather staying this nice for awhile!

I got this bird t-shirt a couple of weeks ago at Jacob Connexion... too many birds to wear on it's own but I think it looks nice peaking out from beneath a sweater.

Have been working on a few Christmas presents lately, finally finished the cabled neckwarmer after I bought some buttons this past Friday. Why are buttons so expensive? $3 for 4? Really? That's ridiculous. I know somewhere I have some that my Gramma gave me last summer, but I can't seem to find them any of the places I would put them.

Slowly I've been sorting through my room and belongings and trying to perhaps better organize and figure out things I don't need to keep any more. Have some fabrics I will really never use and am not sure why I bought in the first place. Have some clothes that I always think maybe I'll wear that again "some day," but really I never wore it in the first place so why would I wear it ever? And of course always have piles of paper I need to deal with and sort out and file and such. Really would love a filing cabinet, that would solve a lot of problems. Or perhaps just make more.

I was originally planning on taking photos last weekend and posting them for each part of the weekend list, but didn't get photos of everything. So Mom, I'll still email you some graduation photos. The pancakes were very good. The steak was okay. Never did find a pile of leaves.

I'll end this post with a recommendation: the Starbucks Caramel Brule Latte. And I don't even like coffee.

Things to Do This Weekend

2009-11-05T21:37:00.004-05:00

1. Sleep in.

2. Make pancakes for breakfast.

3. Graduate.

4. Eat steak.

5. Find a pile of leaves.

5. Knit.

6. Sew.

7. Work on secret Christmas projects.

8. Get out my duvet for winter.

9. Laundry.

10. Maybe eat pancakes for supper.

Cabled Celtic Neckwarmer

2009-11-01T22:33:00.005-05:00

I've been working on this Cabled Celtic Neckwarmer for a week or two now. This is a lovely soft “100% Baby Llama” yarn I got on sale at a yarnshop I stumbled upon in Aurora, Ontario. The photos don't show the colour very well, but it's a warm buttery yellow shade.

Made a mistake in the first repeat of the pattern, but kind of like the way it looks so am repeating it in every other repeat of the pattern to add a little more variety and length to the cable pattern.

This is the first time I’ve used a chart when knitting… not sure I like it! Much prefer knitting from written instructions.

Hope to finish up with this project this week. Only have a few rows left and the buttons to add, but have a busy week ahead so am not sure if I'll get it done or not.

Wash Your Hands Germies

2009-10-30T23:10:00.004-04:00

I tried to find a copy of an Ontario Health poster on "proper handwashing technique" that one of my places of employ has posted up in their kitchenette, but alas, I could not find it anywhere online.

However, there are two funny things to note:

a) It specifically tells you to clip your nails short. I have had short nails my entire life, until a month ago when I grew them out. For anyone who knows me, you might consider this an unbelievable feat.
b) There are 13 steps in proper handwashing. I can't even comment on this. Thirteen!

October Soundtrack: Your Love Is Strong

2009-10-29T22:50:00.009-04:00

Trying to get back into regular blogging! I've been thinking about doing a monthly soundtrack for a very long time... and I even have a few kicking around in my mix CDs from months long ago. I've come to love YouTube and the accessibility it gives to finding music and following musical trails. The following is a list I've been keeping over the course of this October, representative of some of what I've been listening to, and some are songs reflective of what I've been feeling, experiencing, doing, loving, living. I hope you find something you like.

Closer to Love, Mat Kearney
Breakable, Ingrid Michaelson
Between the Lines, Sara Bareilles
Beyond Words, Tenth Avenue North
Heartbreak World, Matt Nathason
One Sweet Love, Sara Bareilles
Sooner Surrender, Matt Nathanson
Maybe, Ingrid Michaelson
Rain, Patty Griffin
Haven't Met You Yet, Michael Buble
Lovely Tonight, Josh Radin
Sort Of, Ingrid Michaelson
Your Love is Strong, Jon Foreman
Satisfy, Tenth Avenue North
Hymn, Brooke Fraser

Autumn Virtue

2009-10-24T22:40:00.007-04:00

This fall I've found myself once again with a busy and often hectic schedule, working three jobs and 55 hours a week. But so far I've been able to retain my Friday afternoons off as time to spend doing things I'd like to do or need to get done. I also bought a new... well, maybe not new, but new-to-me car, that is a lot more reliable than my 2000 Hyundai Accent that was on it's way out for the past year and a half, so am now able to do a bit more traveling and not have to worry about if I'll get there or not, and whether or not I'll get home again.

For the Canadian Thanksgiving weekend, Friday I spent finding a visiting a few local yarn shops in towns close to where I live, and then spent the rest of the weekend on a lovely trip north to Sudbury (4 hours) for a few days to visit family, and enjoyed the first real break I can remember in a long time.

Have also spent some Fridays with random friends for lunch, and Knitting Club.

This Friday I went on a short trip to visit friends in London, Ontario. Had never been there before so was nice to see something new.

It's been nice to catch up with people and have time to visit and time to socialize. I missed that.

Autumn will probably quickly slip or pass into winter, the leaves will finish falling and the wet rain will turn to slush and ice and snow. Christmas will soon once again be upon us.

I've been trying to savour the season we're in, savour somehow this season of life I'm in. With various friends I've had various conversations about different stages of life. How sometimes we're surprised with where we are or where we aren't, or how we look upon others as the greener side of the hill. We want to tick off boxes on life's to-do list, and impatiently wait or try to hurry on. We forget that God's timing is not our timing, that our plans are not always God's plans. There's that cliche saying that "yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift, that's why it's called the present." The theme song of the television show Dawson's Creek had the line "I don't want to wait for our lives to be over, I want to know right now what will it be?" However, there is something to be said for patience.

"There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under heaven:
a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain,
a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace...
He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end. "

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, 11

Update

2009-09-25T16:26:00.003-04:00

7 years and two days ago I started this blog. I was going to post two days ago. And many other days. Sorry I don't update it more often. Yes the hat is done. Sometimes life is busy and overwhelming and not what we hoped it would be.

Coming Along...

2009-09-06T13:44:00.002-04:00

Claudia Progress

2009-09-01T22:35:00.006-04:00

I decided to go with the pattern Claudia and make a toque with my lovely Cascade 220 wool. I've had the PDF of this pattern saved for awhile, and wanted to go with something cable-y for this yarn, so seemed like a good match. This yarn appears to be a little bit lighter and less itchy than the Briggs & Little wool that I am used to, although I haven't decided yet if I'll keep this when it's done or give it away as a gift (Christmas is just around the corner). Usually I can't wear wool toques, my forehead gets too itchy.

So far it is slow going, I've knit two afternoons and am only finished the band and opening "trellis" pattern. What's with boring afternoon television? How come there isn't anything good on? House Hunters, House Hunters International, Ellen, and a little bit of classic Party of Five is getting me through this one.

Autumn Knitting

2009-08-30T21:31:00.012-04:00

All summer, while I was not looking forward to fall weather arriving, I looked forward to fall knitting. And the week after camp was over I wanted to go yarn shopping Monday, but every local yarn shop I found online seemed to be closed on Mondays. So I ended up going to Michael's and getting a few different kinds of yarn. I tried a few swatches of different stitches, but haven't yet ended up making anything out of any of those yarns yet.

Then this past Wednesday I ended up driving by Knitter's Attic (which it turns out is apparently open on Mondays as well) and picked up a few lovely yarns, including Cascade Yarns Cascade 220 Colour #8404, and Freedom Spirit by Twilleys of Stamford Colour #506.

And this weekend I believe the fall weather arrived. So far, I've knit one mitten out of the Freedom Spirit yarn. I tried to take some pictures tonight but it's just too dark in here to get the camera to focus so that will have to wait for daylight. And I think they shall be a Christmas gift.

I also started a sock with another yarn not pictured here. Am still contemplating what exactly to do with the Cascade yarn, was originally thinking perhaps a scarf (but am not sure about the itchy factor), then thought perhaps mittens, but then tonight I was thinking maybe a cabled toque of some sort. I'm off to look up patterns now.

Almost Over

2009-08-13T20:06:00.003-04:00

Summer is almost over, only a week and one day left of camp. Then I'll be able to sleep in my own bed every night, instead of just Friday and Saturday nights, hurrah!

I finally bought one of those clear plastic see-through rulers for cutting out quilt blocks. It goes with the rotary cutter and cutting mat I got from my parents for Christmas. So far I've just been making do with my metal ruler from a college art class, and cardboard templates I made out of a pizza box. Can't wait to try the real one out this weekend.

Once camp is over, I'm hoping to get a whole lot more sewing done.

And some more sleeping.

And maybe taking a few days off to rest and relax.

:)

Long Weekend

2009-08-03T11:58:00.005-04:00

I've been thinking about posting for a long time, really. And then yesterday I looked at my blog and realized really how loooooong it had been.

Chalk it up to a busy busy summer and lack of motivation. I finished my studies officially at the end of June, and now officially am unemployed as a teacher. However, I continue to work at camp and at the computer company (part-time). Camp has been fairly good, busy as usual, different from other summers, overall good.

This weekend, being the long weekend, gave us an extra day off... starting camp Monday at 1:30 rather than Sunday at 1:30. So so so very nice to have an extra day. Saturday I took off from computers and went shopping and ran some errands, did some sewing. I looked all over for dinosaur fabric and didn't end up finding any anywhere, so ended up getting some other fabric that I already had a bit of. Worked on another baby quilt in the evening. Would post some pictures but they're on my memory stick and it's downstairs and it's too much effort to go down there and get it. :) After fabric shopping I went to the mall and ended up getting a grey polka dot tank top from Old Navy and a flashy dress from Forever 21.

And now it's back to camp for another week.

Lanae' Hale

2009-05-19T20:22:00.002-04:00

I don't usually do promos on here, but I got an email from downhere yesterday saying you could get a free copy of a new artist with a CD coming out today. Turns out I was one of the first 500 to visit the site so got the entire CD download for free. Check out Lanae' Hale at this link and see if you can get the album as well.

Found Photos Update

2009-05-18T20:09:00.004-04:00

You might recall that while in Myrtle Beach, SC this spring, I found a camera on the beach. After I blogged it, Peter left comments that I should contact http://ifoundyourcamera.blogspot.com/ and perhaps reunite the owner with their photos (the camera sadly was too damaged by water and sand). The website has now put up a couple of the photos I sent and some info here.

Some of My Favourites

2009-05-15T22:41:00.007-04:00

I just finished a five-week student teaching placement, and currently am in the midst of my final three weeks of teacher's college classes. Tuesday my last three assignments are due, then I just have two weeks of seminars to sit through and 4 more weeks of another placement block.

These pictures are from an assignment I had two different classes complete, one a grade 6 class, and the other grade 7/8. Each class was broken into six table groups, and each table group was assigned to create a "family" of portraits using an assigned colour parameter and line parameter. These six are some of my favourites.

Striving Higher

2009-04-29T21:30:00.004-04:00

For this past Christmas, I finished two quilts to give as presents. The first one ended up being a pinwheel design I blogged here, here, and finished here. The other one I talked about here, but never put up any photos of when it was finished.

My original idea for both of these quilts was from the little zig zag quilt in this post from the blog a Stitch in Dye. But, as you can see, neither of the two quilts I made ended up looking anything like it.

The second quilt I originally planned to craft from white and orange and brown patterns and solids in cotton. However, I found that it was nearly impossible to find a variety of prints that matched in those colours, in fact, it was very near impossible to find any prints in those colours. I had a few in my stash, but not nearly enough to make a whole quilt out of.

One day whilst I was at Fabricland on another mission, I stumbled across two matching shiny home decor fabrics in different shades of orange. And, they were on sale. I wasn't too sure about the content of the fibre (and still am not sure exactly what it is... satin, nylon? Something a little plastic-y, but not scratchy). They were stiffer than what I was hoping for, but I figured they'd make an okay quilt, seeing how they were home decor fabrics to begin with.
The shiny orange fabric was quite nice on both sides, reversing to an opposite design on their reverse sides, so I knew I would be able to use the two fabrics as if they were four.

I can't remember how much fabric I bought, but it ended up being just a little short of what I needed, so I had to go back and get more fabric to cut a few more blocks from.

For the backing, I used some chocolate brown broadcloth. The broadcloth dictated how big the quilt ended up being, as they only had three metres of it. I had to piece it together to make it wide enough, I ended up putting a wide section in the middle and two smaller side sections, rather than having a seam down the centre back.

The quilt block pattern I stumbled upon on the internet when looking for a quilt idea using squares (rather than triangles, I was triangled out after the first quilt!). The pattern is called "Bento Box." The fact that the Bento Box pattern is actually squares and rectangles meant that it would take even less sewing time than squares. I can't find the original picture now that I had used for an idea, but Google of course has a whole wealth of other Bento Box quilts.

Although, this quilt ended up being very labour intensive. I was able to finish it in a couple of weeks, but it did take a lot of non-stop work. I decided on sewing all of the seams flat because a) I liked the way it looked, and b) the nature of the fabric meant it unraveled very easily (and there are still orange threads all over the house). Sewing the seams flat made a nice look and gave the quilt a better durability. In the end I used a little over 3 spools of orange thread to finish the project.

I planned the quilt out by using Microsoft Excel. I played around with a few different designs of block placement before I decided on this stair-type option. Unfortunately the height of the blocks meant I ended with the bottom section not being complete boxes, but in the end I don't think it hurt the design at all. This is a "tv watching sized" quilt, and was a little too short without those additional two rows of blocks on the bottom.

The centre of this quilt is two layers of a polyester batting. I wanted a puffy sort of look with the chocolate brown cotton ties, and found that I needed two layers of the batting to get that effect.

Unfortunately these aren't the best photos, but I don't have a great digital camera at the moment. You can click on any of the photos to make them bigger and get a closer look.

Overall, I quite love this quilt. And it's very warm and comfy.

Reagan

2009-04-14T18:15:00.000-04:00

Cleaning up my photo folders, I found photos of this baby dress I made earlier this year but neglected to post. I bought the floral fabric a couple of years ago on sale for a couple of dollars a metre, the orange is just regular broadcloth, and the rick rack is from my thrift store stash. The buttons are two from a bag my Gramma gave me. The little green one has an off-white centre, and the dark orange one has a lovely carved design.

Queen's Park

2009-04-11T14:09:00.018-04:00

Yesterday I found myself in downtown Toronto with a few hours to kill, so went for a walk and wound up at Queen's Park, the site of the Ontario Legislative Building. I had driven by it once or twice before, but I'd never walked around the park so took the opportunity to snap a few photographs... so here's a sculptural tour for you all.

Sir John A. Macdonald, first Prime Minister of Canada.

Not being from Ontario originally, I really wasn't sure who some of these guys were at first. There were plaques on all of the statues though. This is James Whitney, the sixth Premier of Ontario.

John Sandfield Macdonald, first Premier of Ontario. I thought it a bit strange that I had no idea that there were two big John Macdonald's around in 1867 (the year of Canada's confederacy).

Queen Victoria.

John Graves Simcoe.

"Commemorating the struggle for responsible government in Upper Canada...", I couldn't find any information on this monument.

William Lyon Mackenzie.

Sir Oliver Mowat, third Premier of Ontario.

George Brown, known as one of the Fathers of Confederation.

The Northwest Rebellion Memorial , this was the one I was most surprised to find.

This statue of King Edward VII was moved from Delhi, India, in 1969. Here's a better photo of it, I couldn't take a very good one as there were all these parents and their kiddies playing around it.

Myrtle Socks

2009-04-09T15:45:00.010-04:00

I'm procrastinating from doing things I should be doing (like, oh, you know, lesson planning, working on my resume, applying for jobs, figuring out my taxes, cleaning, going for a walk, etc.), but thought I'd post some pics of my Myrtle Socks.

I bought the yarn at Wal*Mart in Myrtle Beach, it's Bernat Baby Jaquards yarn in the colour "Boo Berries". I'd always wanted to try a self-striping yarn, and this was a real cheapo. I made up the pattern, using size 3 needles. Checking Ravelry there are a few others who've made socks with the same yarn in various colourways. I had thought about making another pair with the yarn I still have left, for a Christmas present, but I think I'll wait a bit as I'm wondering how they'll hold up to regular wear.

And, in case you were wondering, oh yeah, it's totally cool to knit socks while you're on vacation.

Just So You Know

2009-04-01T20:22:00.002-04:00

If I had a sound recording option on this computer, I would record my neighbour's kid's band for you so you could hear it too. They practice a lot.

But I haven't noticed a discernible difference.

Stuff I'm Really Good At

2009-03-24T19:56:00.004-04:00

1. Procrastinating. Like right now when I should totally be doing homework.

2. Messing up my room. This one is so easy. I can have just done a spotless job cleaning it up and in 10 seconds flat have the entire floor covered with stuff. By "stuff" I mean mostly books and craft stuff, which usually end up on the floor because I've been looking for something else.

3. Collecting water cups on my bedside table. My housemates make fun of me all the time on this one. I like to have a cup of water to take a lovely tablet of levothyroxine in the morning, but I don't like to drink it if it's been sitting there for more than one day (come on, who wants to drink water with dust in it?). However, I don't always remember to take the old cup downstairs to the dishwasher. So, sometimes a couple pile up. I claim my record is 5 cups, however, they claim it's 7.

4. Eating bacon. Man, bacon is good stuff. I lost count after 12 slices at a buffet once. But please don't repeat that, because that's totally gross.

5. Reading blogs. At home. At work. At school. They're a good mind break. I have a whole long bookmarks list of regulars, I have a bunch of Bloglines subscriptions, then I have the ones that I check every once in awhile, then I sometimes just follow links. Mostly I read craft blogs, and friend blogs, and family blogs, and etc. But my tastes have changed over the years.

6. Not doing all my laundry. I LOVE having all clean laundry. I mean, it's so nice having everything clean and folded and smelling nice and put away where it belongs. Then you can wear whatever you want and it's exactly where it should be when you want to find it. But I have this t-shirt that I got sap on in July 2007 in the bottom of my laundry basket. And a silk skirt that I'm not exactly sure how to wash. And usually there's a few wool sweaters in there waiting until there are a few more so I can wash a whole load at once and use water more economically.

7. Eating candy. Usually I can't stop. Like the other night I ate a whole pack of Razzles. And you're not even supposed to eat Razzles, because, after all, they really are gum. (And, they're hard to find. I got mine at Cracker Barrel last week).

8. Forgetting what I was talking about. Ask my friend Joanne about this one. I blame this one mostly on Grave's Disease.

9. Interrupting myself (and other people). I think this stems from the previous one. Or I just get so excited about whatever I have remembered that I interrupt the previous story or think I was just talking about.

10. Procrastinating. Like right now when I'm still not doing my homework and am totally supposed to be writing a paper that's due tomorrow. And it's 8pm. And I haven't started.

P.S. I just found out that I have to moderate comments now, so sorry your comments weren't showing up... I think I clicked on that a few weeks ago when I was getting tired of all the spammers. But now I know. :)

The Myrtle Beach Report

2009-03-21T22:26:00.011-04:00

This March Break I wasn't planning on doing anything but homework (and I still have a whole boatload left to finish before class on Tuesday!!!), but a friend invited me to go to Myrtle Beach with her and another friend, so off to the south I went.Our first few days were cloudy and rainy, but it was still warmer than at home. We drove straight through the night and arrived in the mid-afternoon. The ocean's nice even when it's cloudy.
This was the sunrise on our last day. Thankfully things had cleared up and gotten sunnier towards the end of the week.

Our second last night we went to Original Benjamin's Calabash Seafood, which was an all-you-can-eat seafood place. 170 items in the buffet. I wouldn't go again, but it was a neat unique experience. On the way out I saw my old pastor on vacation with his golfing buddies, chowin' down.
Waffle House. I don't get it. They're EVERYWHERE down there in the Carolinas. And they say that they sell a waffle every two seconds. We stopped at one of these establishments on our drive down, but our waffles weren't quite cooked all the way through. And I had forgotten that some places you can still smoke in restaurants. Food doesn't taste good with cigarettes.
Last night on our drive back home we stopped at a Cracker Barrel somewhere in Ohio. I had Chicken n' Dumplins, with turnip greens and fried apples. I wasn't sure what turnip greens were, but I could guess. The biscuit and cornbread were very good, as were the apples. You can also see some deep fried okra there in the picture, which I had experienced at Benjamin's... although there they called them "Oysters Rockefeller". I like pickled okra better than deep fried okra, but they didn't have any from what I could tell.
I found this Samsung L200 camera in the surf on the beach. It didn't appear to have been there very long, had minimal water inside, but a lot of sand. The battery appears to be fine, and the memory card has a few dozen pictures on it (some girl and her friends, same girl kissing a guy, same girl and her new tatoo, some pics from Christmas, and a set of twins having a birthday party).
I've been trying to take it apart... I can only find 5 screws but the backplate won't come off the top section, I can't figure out how to get it apart where the dial is for the different picture modes. Couldn't find any info on the internet on how to take apart this particular model of camera. Anyone have any info or suggestions?

Myrtle Beach

2009-03-19T13:03:00.001-04:00

You Were Wondering What to Get Me For My Birthday?

2009-03-07T14:29:00.004-05:00

The new Jars of Clay album, "The Long Fall Back to Earth" comes out 4.21.09. And on their website right now you can buy one of 500 limited edition packages with lots of goodies for $75. That's what you can get me for my birthday in May.

Right now you can listen to complete songs on their Myspace page.

Quizzle

2009-03-07T13:20:00.000-05:00

I'm still bogged down in homework and work, but this post has been floating around in my saved drafts for awhile and I thought I should post something, so here this is.

I asked finnyknits to interview me after she posted this post. I should have been wary based on her warning, but I went ahead and said "Interview me! I'm not afraid!"

Except, I'm totally not fearless, and I've edited some of the questions.

What's the stupidest/lamest/worst gift you've ever received?
When I was in my last year of living in dorm in college, I had either a) a horrible horrible parasite, or b) extreme anxiety. I was sick for a month straight and had to give stool samples and other such things to the hospital lab, but even they weren't able to figure out what was up. I was prescribed some jumbo pills that were $3 a pop and they did nothing. And every day I would get up weak/nauseous/barely-able-to-walk and I would trudge on over to the academic building and I would sit in the corner of the auditorium and attempt to make it through class. But I couldn't look up or move my head or make any sudden movements. And I carried a brown paper bag with me "just in case." And most days I didn't feel like I could stomach anything until sometime late after supper, after the cafeteria had closed. Trips into town, into civilization, were rare. But one night during the horrible ordeal, my friend Joanne was going to town. I told her all I wanted were a couple of burgers from McDonald's. So she brought me some back. Only she thought it would be funny to hide the meat. WORST PRANK EVER. Have you ever seen a sicky bite into soggy ketchup and mustard laden empty McDonald's buns. Trust me, it's not something you EVER WANT TO DO.

If you could undo one thing you've done in your life, what would it be?
Wow, that's a toughy. I always felt bad that in 1987 I hit my third cousin with the handlebars of an exercise bike. And summer 2007 I said some things that I'd take back if I could.

If you could be The Best at anything - ANYTHING - what would it be?
Flying. Like without any sort of flying apparatus. Someone told me that being the best at flirting would totally come in handy, but who wouldn't find someone who could fly totally attractive?

Would you rather be hotter or smarter?
I already am smart.

What celebs do you have a crush on?
Totally edited this question. But only Finny and Joanne know what the real question was, if they remember.

1. My first celebrity crush was Joey Lawrence. Not because of his acting, but because he was the best singer ever. Well, maybe in 1993. If you were 15, female, and weren't into grunge. And his cassette tape was the first music you ever bought. I tried to find the song "Read My Eyes" on the net but couldn't, but I do have this gem for you.
2. Someone still owes me a Jeremy Piven locket from Christmas. Joanne, did you go to the post office today? Because it's totally MARCH 7TH.
3. Usually I can't even remember who specific celebrities are. I think generally you fall more for character, so it's the ficticious movie character you like rather than the actual celebrity.

Lost in Homework

2009-02-21T19:27:00.005-05:00

I finished a homework project today that has been on the go since September or October. Well, I finished my part of it. There are still 3 other group members, and we have to compile it all together and make it a cohesive unit of lesson plans for grade 7 History, on New France.

I have so so so much due in the next couple of weeks and on through to the first week of April. And in the midst of that I'm supposed to be spending spring break in Myrtle Beach. Probably not a smart idea. Except for the warm weather part. It's always nice to have a wee break from the cold and snow.

Okay, back to work. Other stuff to finish. Oy.

Juliet

2009-02-17T20:17:00.008-05:00

I originally bought this orange cotton print with the idea of using it in a quilt, but had a lot of trouble finding any other suitable prints to match it. Some websurfing has led me to the fact that is is part of the Marie Osmond - Blanc et Noir Companions collection from Quilting Treasures, fabric "20468-O".

For this version of my favourite baby dress pattern, I lengthened the dress overall, and added a bird motif. Originally I was going to applique a brown calico print, however, I was advised by a housemate that white would look better... and I quite like the way it turned out. It took me a few sample tries to get the zigzag stitching to work satisfactorily, luckily I tried it out on some extra fabric before attacking the actual dress.

The buttons on the back are some from my Gramma's attic. The orange one was just perfect, however, I only had one of them. Wonderful that I found two similar-sized pearly numbers to go with it!

Pink and Brown

2009-02-16T21:18:00.006-05:00

When I was housemates with my friend Rachel in college, she invented a wardrobe concept, that, if I recall correctly, went something to the effect of each year (or perhaps each season) was going to have an overriding colour palette that she would name. So she called the first one "Neopolitan Thrift," which consisted of a heavily brown/tan/pink palette. Not too long after she decided though that she liked the colour scheme too much to change it so kept it for the next year at least (or is it still going strong Rachel?).

Last fall when Rachel was expecting, I made her a dress for the wee one, and I quite liked the way it turned out. This year, with the thousand million bajillion babies expected, I've been plugging away at various projects. So far, Juliet and Reagan have started things off right and are both little girls. Which is good, because I like making dresses. I'm not sure who'll get the one above yet, but I think it turned out lovely. I love the pink piping, slightly different than the lace I used for Rachel's dress for wee Nora.

I've continued to tweak the pattern as time goes on... I've made I think 10 from the same pattern base, no two the same. Yesterday I drafted a new neckline and sleeves. Only problem is, I don't have any babies around here to try it on and make sure it fits!

Owls

2009-02-14T23:47:00.003-05:00

So, I decided that at some point this year I would knit a sweater. I figure it is the next big accomplishment that would be logical in knitting, as I've mastered scarves and touques and mitts and such. Even though sometime late last year I told a couple of my housemates that I thought people who knit their own sweaters are crazy because a) they take forever and b) you can buy something cheaper.

I found this sweater that I'd really like to make (see it here too). I've been waiting since last week to go out and buy the yarn and get the required needles, however, stupid Michael's was out of at least half of their circular needles and didn't have the right lengths nor sizes. So I'm either going to have to track down a knitting store or get the needles online. Blah.

Assorted

2009-02-10T19:18:00.003-05:00

My housemate Rachelle got me these brads last weekend from Michaels. There's some info on the brads here. I find it kind of humourous that the webpage says "They are so adorable you’ll wonder how you’ve lived without them!"

I'm not really sure what to do with them, but they are cute. And there are squirrels!

January Scarf

2009-02-08T20:54:00.009-05:00

I'd been wanting to knit a lace-patterned scarf for awhile, something that would be light and airy and quick to knit. I was going to draft my own pattern, but then I took on Ravelry for lace patterns and found this Leaf Lace Scarf pattern. One of my New Year's resolutions was to knit something that would take a lot of patience... but I didn't know this would be it.

a) I had been a member of Ravelry for awhile, but had never posted anything nor used any patterns.
b)Ravelry is fantastic. You can find all sorts of good patterns on there. And lots for free. And you can see the same project knit by a bazillion different people so you can get more of an idea of what it looks like in different sizes, colours, variations, etc.
c) This scarf took forever. Probably at least 25 hours of knitting... I counted it up just before I completed it.
d) I knit it on 3mm needles, with some thin ivory yarn I bought at a thrift store a few years ago.
e) Unfortunately in it's finished state it curls over on itself, I think perhaps blocking it might help, but I have never blocked anything and haven't gotten around to it.
f) Overall, I do like the way it looks, but I wouldn't make another one. I would draft my own pattern and do something not quite so intense.

Pinwheel Joy

2009-02-06T20:19:00.007-05:00

Back in September I started this quilt, with a few layout ideas. I didn't actually end up going with any of my ideas from that post, and by Thanksgiving had decided on a pinwheel pattern.

This quilt took a whole lot more time than I was expecting, but I was so glad to have it done in time for Christmas, finishing the binding on December 17th.

The coloured fabrics I purchased back in I believe it was spring 2007 from Fabricland (some of the fabrics they still carry, some have been discontinued). I'm generally not too great at matching fabrics so well, but I took the cues from the multi-coloured green fabric and tried to find ones that matched it, and was quite please with how it turned out. The white is a recycled cotton sheet... they don't make them like they used to, so good for quilting.

The quilt is a lap / tv watching size. I made it as big as I could, I didn't have enough fabric left for any more rows.

If I was to redo the quilt, I definitely would have bought a rotary cutter, ruler, and matt beforehand. Some of my blocks, especially the first ones, were not quite so square, or triangularly perfect, which led to some puckering and mismatched edges. And the white cotton wasn't the same thickness as the coloured cottons, which made it somewhat difficult to match the corners perfectly in all cases... I ended up ripping out a lot of stitches and redoing many.

The quilt batting was a thin polyester, the only previous quilt I had ever made (in 1996/97) had led me to believe that only fluffy batts existed. I quilted in straight lines lengthwise as I was pressed for time, otherwise I would have liked to have quilted diagonally. I had a lot of problems with the thread breaking, which was eventually solved by using a lesser tension setting.

Overall, I loved the way it turned out, but I don't think I would make another quilt in this pattern... unless I was wanting a project that would take forever!

First Baby Quilt

2009-02-04T17:19:00.014-05:00

I have a file on my computer desktop entitled "People Who Are Pregnant". There are currently 17 people listed (well, one gave birth today, so I suppose I can take her off the list!). Those remaining include good friends, college friends, and church friends. I won't be giving all of them gifts, but I have decided to make a few things to give as gifts over the next few months.

This is a baby quilt I designed, did the sewing of, and quilted in an evening (minus the binding I did on a second day because I did it by hand). The fabrics were all ones that I already had on hand, and the batting was some I had leftover from a Christmas project I had made late last year.

I designed the quilt in Microsoft Excel... good for more than just spreadsheets! I quite like it for designing layouts, especially since I don't really have any good graphics programs. Originally I was planning to do a log cabin type of design, but eventually settled on straight rows, and I really like how it turned out.

The fabrics I used were as follows:

- old white sheet
- the brown with white floral was a vintage duvet cover I purchased a few years ago, it has made a few appearances in other crafts of mine in the past including a few purse linings and a shirt
- the white with brown and blue floral was also a vintage duvet cover purchased at the same time as the brown one. It's been repurposed into a purse, some purse linings, and a skirt.
- plain brown broadcloth
- blue with brown print is actually a home decor print I bought originally to make this baby dress a couple of summers ago.

You can click on any of the photos for a closer look.

Christmas Ornament Exchange 2008

2009-01-31T13:33:00.005-05:00

I've been trying to take pictures for awhile but my camera is on the fritz... finally got it to work today. I wanted to post this awhile ago, but one ornament only came this past week and better late than never. :)

This is the second time I've participated in the cake & pie and Freshly Blended Holiday Ornament Swap, the previous time was in 2006. I still have two of the ornaments from that swap up on my wall, one a screenprinted-on-felt pinecone, the other a little bumble bee pink and linen circle from joybucket. I just checked back in my archives to see if I had some pictures posted from that swap, and here they are. Some of the ornaments I don't have any more, the rest are with my Christmas things packed away. I still like the knitted tree from Sarah.

One of the great things about that swap was the people you sent to also sent to you. This year, the people you sent to weren't necessarily the people that you received from.

You can click on the picture to make it bigger. I have to admit, some of these ornaments I've forgotten who they are from, as most did not include a blog address or shop address, and some didn't even include a return address!

Top Left chihuahua is from the Shops@FunkyFinds. The little knitted owl next to it was from Scandinavia. The "M" is a wooden piece with some puff glued on and then the fabric over top, with a little bit of snow drizzle of some sort. On the right, the rotating heart ornament was one of the last to arrive. The little flag says "Open Your Heart" on one side and "It's Christmas" on the other. Came nicely packaged.

In the second row, embroidered hoop. Two bottle caps (one Coke, one Sprite) hotglued together with a ribbon hanger. Ribbon tree from Kate in the UK.

Bottom row left is a snowman head made from a styrofoam ball covered in I think Model Magic, with a sock hat? Came really nicely packaged in a coordinating box filled with tinsel. To the right, a screen-printed deer ornament from Shanna Murray. Bottom right is the first ornament to arrive (actually, very thoughtfully two were included), from Michael McDowell. The deer and little owls are hanging on my wall now.

Also got a mitten from my sister, but at the moment, I can't find it.

The ornaments I made this year were little red knitted touques... only have this poor photo taken in December.

The ornaments you receive are a real mixed bag... some good, some completely odd. Some I love though, so I think I'll participate again this next December. It's fun too to track down people you'd like to trade with.

Crafty Blogs

2009-01-12T16:31:00.002-05:00

The following is a short list of some of the crafty blogs I happen to frequent on a regular basis, in no particular order:

Ysolda: A young knitter somewhere in the UK, have been reading this one for awhile but am not sure how I stumbled across it. Hers was the first knitting blog I can remember reading.

Princess Lasertron: A blog I ran across last year sometime from a link off of a design blog talking about the Princess' wedding dress. Her blog is an interesting look at a new business getting it's feet firmly planted.

wikstenmade: An independent clothing designer.

wise craft: The crafting pursuits of a mother and her family.

sugar city journal: Two sisters share childrens' clothing designs.

Philigry: Just discovered this one the other day, this woman is an intense sweater knitter.

pretty sketchy: I pretty much check Natty's blog every day. We went to college together.

soulemama: Another blog about the crafting exploits of a mother and her family.

Inside a Black Apple: Found this one off of Etsy. I like to follow Emily's crafting pursuits (over her painting ones), and it's been neat to see her business flourish on Etsy and beyond.

whipup.net: Whipup offers a great review of the crafting going on out there, mostly tutorials.

Things I Loved 2009

2009-01-01T12:15:00.001-05:00

Squirrels, rick rack, knitting, deer, cordouroy, owls, YouTube, medium blue, plain white china, wiener dogs, sushi, spending time with friends, walking, autumn leaves, pancakes and bacon, gumball machines, stitch directories/dictionaries/sourcebooks/field guides, Ravelry, sweaters, graduation, no-iron dress pants, cotton, neat knick knacks, dark jeans, lilies, tights, granola bars, gold eye shadow, kitties, silk scarves, road trips, trees, gloves, long-sleeved t-shirts, polka dots, angora socks, long conversations, giving.

2008: The Year that Was

2008-12-31T18:06:00.004-05:00

January: Continued working at a computer service company full-time and at camp part-time. Worked 8:30am to 8pm every weekday.
February: Went to Buffalo, NY for the weekend with a couple of friends to go shopping. Finished my teacher's college application at the end of the month.
March: Went to Florida for the first time, on a "real" vacation. Drove through the Everglades.
April: Bought a computer for the first time. Getting a laptop was fantastic, and a big upgrade from the free desktops I always seemed to inherit from upgraders. Am still enjoying my Dell Vostro 1400... which has already been discontinued. Went for my teacher's college interview.
May: Turned 30. Joanne and Rachelle teamed together to throw me a fun surprise party. Got in to teacher's college. My car started having issues. Went to a wedding in Muskoka of a dear friend.
June: Contemplated not going to teacher's college due to $ and car issues. Eventually handed in my quitting notice to the computer company. Got called in to the big cheese's office to find out what was up, and told I could continue working part-time while going to school. Whirlwind of a summer began.
July: Worked my last full-time day at the computer place (and my last twelve hour workday), worked evenings for camp, and started teacher's college July 8th. Was in class 8am-4pm, then at camp in the evenings and on Sundays all summer.
August: Wonderfully had the first week of August off from school, flew to Manitoba to spend some time with my Gramma who was beginning to decline in health. Enjoyed a few days at her farm where I always spent part of my childhood summers at, loved visiting. Camp continued and ended. Went to meet the teacher I would be doing my first teaching placement with. Emceed a wedding of two good friends.
September: Started my first teaching placement with grade 7 and 8 students, teaching art, geography, literacy, and math. Spent a full week with them, then started classes 3 days a week, one day of placement a week, and a day of working at camp. Started back at the computer company two evenings a week.
October: Canadian Thanksgiving came and went. My four housemates and I started taking turns cooking supper... what a fantastic idea. Finally got my original car issue fixed... several trips to two mechanics, and $1700 later and all it needed was a $40 part. The next week it started making a new noise. Terminal transmission problem. Will drive it until it dies.
November: Finished up classes and headed into five weeks at my placement full-time. Went back to Florida for 4 days on business for a camp convention. We had a sixth housemate move in.
December: Finished the last three weeks of my teaching placement, the kids threw me a nice little surprise going away party. :) Borrowed a car to drive up and spend Christmas in Sudbury with relatives. My car is still ticking but not reliable for an 800km drive.

About Me

2008-12-30T20:31:00.014-05:00

1. I like watching movies to the very end, to the very last of the credits.
2. I knit, but haven't yet learned to crochet.
3. I have three degrees and am somehow now working on my fourth.
4. My favourite colour is usually green.
5. I love trees.
6. I like strolling through antique stores.
7. I have a weakness for real letters and mail.
8. I've lived in four provinces, one territory, and two states.
9. As soon as the weather is agreeable, I stop wearing socks.
10. I really like peonies.
11. I love wool sweaters.
12. I won two short story writing contests in the sixth grade. I don't write that much any more.
13. I'm a reigning bubble gum chewing champion. 43 mini gumballs. 17 sticks of Double Bubble.
14. I miss the prairies.
15. Wheat fields always remind me of childhood.
16. I've always wanted a poofy 1950s-style dress.
17. I like dressing up.
18. I take sermon notes, mostly because I have a hard time staying focused.
19. I don't do well living alone.
20. I'd much rather make something than sit around doing nothing.
21. I miss HotRod, my first car, a red 1992 Mazda 323... purchased in 2004.
22. I crave carbs.
23. I collect cool knick knacks. Cool is completely subjective.
24. I'd like to learn to play the violin. And the piano.
25. Songs always have strong associative memories for me, then can take me back to a time, moment, or place in an instant.
26. I've never been overseas.
27. I tend to own an awful lot of pairs of brown mules, backless leather shoes.
28. I like poetry and good writing, but I don't read enough of it.
29. I love vintage jewelry.
30. I am thirty years old.

Life and Other Things

2008-12-19T21:11:00.006-05:00

Back in July I went back to school full-time (probably because I said I'd never go back to school and things we say come back to haunt us) and today finished my first placement for teacher's college. The past five weeks I spent Monday to Friday teaching grade 7 and 8 students art, geography, literacy (English), and math. Now I'm on Christmas holidays, but will be spending most of it working... catching up on things at camp and still somehow managing to spend a few evenings a week and Saturdays working in computer service.

Wednesday night marked the completion of the pinwheel quilt I started back in October... I thought for awhile that it would be the quilt that never ended! I'll post some pictures when I can, at the moment my camera is on the fritz. I machine pieced and quilted it with a thin batting.

A little while ago on a break from the aforementioned quilt, I started another one. Tonight I'm working at getting the final rows sewn together before I begin to sew them to each other. The pattern is apparently called "Bento Box".

Oh America

2008-11-26T13:43:00.001-05:00

I'm at the Tampa airport waiting for my flight home. They have free wireless internet (not like the stingy Canadian airports)and they play good music at the airport!

Florida x2 2008

2008-11-24T22:37:00.002-05:00

It's a little cooler here now than it was in March, but still no snow in sight! :) I'm here on a quick business trip, how great is that?

Progress

2008-11-08T17:00:00.003-05:00

I've been doing a lot more knitting this fall, trying to get a few Christmas gifts taken care of.

I never much cared for fingerless gloves or mitts before, but saw a few neat pairs on Etsy and Ravelry and thought I'd give them a try.

natty

2008-11-02T14:48:00.004-05:00

When I was going to college at Briercrest, my last year in dorm there were a few crazy girls on the first floor, one of them being Natasha . Now she is all grown up and has her first art show currently up and happening at the Sugarbowl in Edmonton. I wish wish wish I was closer so I could go and see everything in person, but for those others who aren't able to stop by, check out her website and her blog to see more.

Holiday Ornament Swap

2008-11-01T13:42:00.007-04:00

Two years ago I participated in the 1st Annual Cake and Pie/Freshly Blended Holiday Ornament Swap. Unfortunately last Christmas I simply didn't have the time to participate. But this year, I've just signed up again.

I've already started working on my ornaments... can't wait to see what comes in the mail in return.

Thanksgiving Weekend

2008-10-13T22:07:00.004-04:00

Today was Thanksgiving Monday in Canada, and the weather was lovely all weekend. Long weekends are always nice, but warm ones are especially nice. Saturday I trekked to Ikea looking for a lightbulb for a light I bought there in the early spring, only to find that a two-pack of bulbs for it cost $14! I decided the lamp could continue to look nice (although non-functional) without lightbulbs at that price... at the moment I can't afford them! I did end up picking up one cheap Christmas present so that was good I suppose. So far I've one finished present that I crafted, and three others are currently in various stages of completion.

I didn't get as much done as I hoped to get done this weekend, but overall it was a lovely weekend. Yesterday at church there was a Thanksgiving potluck. I went for a walk in the late afternoon and took a few pictures tinkering around with an old camera and trying out some TTV photography. Also worked a bit on the quilt I started about a month ago, finally decided on a layout and got a good chunk done. Today I spent with most of my housemates at an acquaintance's home for Thanksgiving... a farm somewhat in the middle of suburbia with a great big glowing yellow maple tree in the front yard. It was lovely.

Thanksgiving

2008-10-12T18:30:00.003-04:00

TTV photo taken this afternoon using a Kodak Duaflex IV and an Olympus Camedia D-595 digital.

Weekend Plans

2008-09-26T19:10:00.005-04:00

1. Clean my room, listen to Colbie Caillat.
2. Go for a walk.
3. Make something out of all the broccoli I have in the fridge (before it goes bad).
4. Bust out the Shrinky Dinks plastic that Rachelle got me in the spring and make some stuff.
5. Work on the quilt I started a few weekends ago.
6. Cut out, sew, and complete one custom bag (like that one, but brown).
7. Do homework.
8. Reply to a few pending Facebook messages and wall posts, etc.
9. Sleep in.
10. Party it up like it's 1978.

Meadow Fieldbag

2008-09-22T21:47:00.003-04:00

This is a new design I came up with for my first day of teaching... I needed a bag I could carry the essentials in, as well as my lunch. And it has three pockets, all big enough and versatile for all kinds of stuff... wallet, etc.

Etsy Mini

2008-09-21T22:34:00.001-04:00

Etsy
Buy Handmade
mikao

I just got this link of of Etsy today.

Finally!

2008-09-20T20:51:00.003-04:00

This is a purse I started making about a year ago, and finally finished this past week. You can see more photos here. It's nice to finally have a bit more free time!

Layout

2008-09-13T20:25:00.006-04:00

I started making a small quilt today... and am playing around with a few layout ideas. What do you think? Click on any for a closer look.

Squares

Arrow Down
Zig Zag

Target

Multi Zag

Left and Right (Not Connected)

Left and Right (Connected)

Multicoloured Lines

Flying Geese

Variated Flying Geese

Slowly

2008-09-07T22:20:00.006-04:00

Once again autumn is here and I've been noticing the first few leaves slowly start to fall. I'm also back in school (as of July) and just spent the last week in an elementary school starting my first practicum placement for teaching.

I've been getting into the swing of things. One of the things I really wanted to do this fall was do more of the things I love to do, so I've been slowly getting back to sewing and went to an art gallery and second hand store this weekend and spent some time with a few people I love.

I also put my first listing up on Etsy in over a year, check it out here. I've a few more items to list, hopefully I'll have them up in the next couple of days.

Duck Dress

2008-09-05T22:39:00.002-04:00

Back to School Bag

2008-09-03T16:22:00.003-04:00

I'd take a better picture but I'm too tired.

Logic?

2008-07-14T10:17:00.001-04:00

What's with white pants? What makes people ever think they're a good idea?

The View From Here

2008-06-05T21:30:00.001-04:00

Dear Reader's Digest

2008-05-13T21:16:00.003-04:00

Thank you for the many years of enjoyment and things that I have learned due to your monthly magazine. There is not a time in my lifespan of 30 years that I cannot remember not having Reader's Digest in the house, more specifically, in my parents' bathroom.

I can remember doing some sort of Language Arts assignment in grade 5 using Reader's Digest magazines. I can remember the surprise at finding people we knew who had written in with submissions for Life’s Like That, All in a Day’s Work, Humour in Uniform, Campus Comedy, Tales Out of School and As Kids See It. And friends and family, throughout the years, would always say "I have a story I should send in to Reader's Digest".

As an adult, it has been nice to receive a yearly subscription to RD from my Gramma, who always says you should never stop learning. These days, the new issues sit in my kitchen and housemates enjoy reading it when they sit down to eat breakfast or take a break at the table.

I have, however, been alarmed since this past summer to continually receive pieces of mail from numerous charities whom I know have purchased from or been given my mailing address from Reader's Digest. It started out with a neat set of address labels from the Muscular Dystrophy Association or some such organization. These were somewhat nice, although I was in the process of moving so the address would soon be null and void. Then, once I moved, I still received another set of Christmas address labels and seals from another charity at that same old address. I got a metal angel ornament from somewhere else. In the winter I also received some duck-themed labels from somewhere else. And then some with daffodils and irises and other flowers. And then the War Amps sent me some keychain tags. I actually like the War Amps (Drive Safe!) so I didn't mind that. Then I got some dog and kitten address labels.

And then this week I got a set of gift cards from another charity.

No less than two of these charities have sent me a nickel with their mailer, encouraging me to send it back (with more money).

It's not that I don't like address labels. And gift cards. and Christmas tree angel ornaments. But I've received 5 label sets in less than a year! I do send some mail, but certainly not enough to warrant having more than one set of address labels.

I don't know how to get off the junk mail list you sell my address on, but please remove me. If I cannot do it through such electronic means, let me know the mailing address and I'll send you a letter. I have a few address labels to use up.

Thank you!
Michelle

Dear Tom

2008-05-11T23:14:00.003-04:00

Yes, I'm sure I really want to delete my MySpace account.

There are a few reasons:
1. I never use it.
2. I don't need this info floating around on the web for anyone to read.
3. Facebook has overtaken MySpace and we all know it. Facebook is way easier to search and find people you know. With MySpace, it was always hit and miss... near impossible to find people you knew.
4. No one I want to keep in touch with has just a MySpace account. They've all switched to Facebook.
5. The layouts here always looked cheap.
6. Tom was never really my friend, no matter how much he wanted to be.
7. I'd like to stop the birthday announcements I get from MySpace that never tell me whose birthday it actually is.
8. I'd like to stop the spam friend requests I get too.

Thanks Tom and co.! Best wishes upon your future endeavours. I'll give Mark Zuckerberg your regards.

Sincerely,
Michelle

Surprise!

2008-05-04T21:36:00.006-04:00

This is my friend Joanne. We went to college together, and then she moved back to British Columbia. I haven't seen her in four years. Then she threw me a surprise 30th birthday party on Saturday. Unfortunately she couldn't make it to the party, but still, she threw me a party from the other side of the country.

hurrah!

2008-05-01T21:13:00.003-04:00

Just a quick official first post from my brand new Dell Vostro 1400. Hurray! I'll have more time to set things up on the weekend.

Update

2008-04-15T18:45:00.001-04:00

The fan on my old borrowed desktop at home is sounding like a jetplane, and I am fearful of turning it on. It. Sounds. That. Bad. No. Actually. Worse.

Thus, my current proect is on hold.

However, I have a new laptop on order... how exciting is that? :)

28

2008-04-07T22:40:00.003-04:00

29

2008-04-06T15:56:00.002-04:00

30 to 30

2008-04-05T21:52:00.002-04:00

Where Does the Time go?

2008-03-09T19:54:00.002-04:00

Here it is March 9th already. Someone asked me a while ago when I was going to post again on this thing and I said next week, but in reality that next week was already at least a month ago. In all reality I think about posting here all the time... but I can't do it at work and I work eleven hours a day, and when I get home I don't really want to fire up my desktop and spend more time on a computer when I've already sat in front of one for the previous 8 hours straight and usually the three hours before that.

I miss blogging and I miss sewing. And I miss a lot of the other things I used to have time to do.

And I'm very glad I'm not planning to do this forever.

The Equation of Integrity

2008-01-01T21:24:00.000-05:00

Every year January 1st comes. And every year we stay up, watch the ball drop, cheer, and bring in the new year. We look back on the old year, and wonder what that new year will bring. We hope for better things, and look back on both the tragedies and the triumphs. We can look back on what we have learned, and towards what we still need to learn.

January 1st never gets to be an ordinary day. And January 2nd is just the day after New Years Day… still getting used to the new digit we have to remember to write on the year on letters, notes, and cheques.

Then comes January 3rd. Life back to normal. One of the promised days we looked forward to at the end of the old year, a day when things could perhaps be better than they were. A resolution soon forgotten, to make every day like New Years Day. One more chance to start all over, one more chance to change and grow.

I’ve found often I live my life looking forward to the big things… looking forward to a certain day when some event is to happen, or I’m taking a trip, or I know some sort of change is coming. I too often want every day to be like New Year’s Day.

Someone told me once that God didn’t intend for us to live in the big events or expectant of such days, but rather in the inbetweens. The regular days.

I don’t know that I really believe that. I like to think that these big days, these big days are important. But they’re not any more important than the January 3rds. Or the March 14ths. Or the July 30ths. The sum of all these days, the ways we deal with them collectively, they make up who we are.

"We are not made for the mountains, for sunrises, or for the other beautiful attractions in life— those are simply intended to be moments of inspiration. We are made for the valley and the ordinary things of life, and that is where we have to prove our stamina and strength." - My Utmost for His Highest

Our handling of these big days, and the everydays, they add up. Adding together to get the final equation of life.

Back at It

2007-10-08T13:24:00.001-04:00

So... I have internet in my room now. It's been a few years, I guess 5 to be exact. I'm sure the novelty will wear off soon. But this also means that I can work on my blog a little bit more often, or a whole lot more often.

Blogger's been doing a lot of changes, the template editors are defintely a lot easier for those with no html experience to work with. I'll tweak this one for awhile and will at some point end up with something I'm satisfied with.

And the comments hopefully should be operational now. :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

(Un)Announced Hiatus

2007-06-05T20:12:00.000-04:00

Mikao's World is currently on hiatus until September. Summer's here, and Blogger's got too many issues for me to deal with.

Until then, enjoy the wonderful weather, see you in the autumn. :)

Flashback Friday: 2004-2005

2007-03-11T15:00:00.000-04:00

These are a couple of scans of maintenance requests that I saved from the camp I worked at at the time:

Dear Blogger

2007-02-26T16:40:00.000-05:00

Over the four and a half years I've been using Blogger, I've generally been satisfied with their product and services, and upgrades. I was thrilled when they started offering picture posting. And I was glad when they started offering a commenting service. The only thing I still wanted that they didn't provide was categories.

And then, along came the new BloggerBeta. And then along came the new Blogger.

One of the reasons I avoided switching over to the new Blogger was everyone I knew who had done it said DON'T DO IT (it's a pain), and also because I knew that even if Blogger said it was no big deal, it would be a big deal.

So the other day, when Blogger told me I had to switch or else, I really wasn't very impressed. Because I knew something would happen. And it did. Well, actually two major things happened:

a) My old archive templates are gone, so now everything in my archives has the current template. Not only are the hideously ugly templates gone, but also the links to the old comments (back in the day I once used a cople of other comment providers). I liked keeping things as they were the month that I published them. Now it looks like I wrote everything today, except for the date. I think that the template is an important part of the digital image that you present.

b) The comments are no longer working at all. Boo.

I think the only solution to fix the latter issue to to pick a new ugly Blogger template, which I really don't want to do and don't have time at the moment to fiddle with and fix. So for now, things are staying as is. If you'd like to email any comments, you can feel free to do so at dialog at briercrest dot com . (Sorry, it's a pain, I know).

Barefoot

2007-02-23T12:08:00.000-05:00

FYI, I checked into it, and driving barefoot is actually not illegal.

So there.

Flashback Friday, or Sunday

2007-02-18T15:30:00.000-05:00

A family photo from a trip to Rock Lake, Manitoba, Summer 1993.