Hey! I'm turning old.

I love Exploding Dog.

It was my birthday! For the first time, in a long time, I celebrated by myself. The first birthday I had to spend mostly by myself was my freshman year of college--I had just moved into the dorms and started school and I didn't want to be THAT person that loudly celebrates their birthday. I did, however, register to vote. I also got my foot cut up by a door because some poop head wasn't paying attention and swung the door into/onto my foot and opened a gash that left me bleeding and hobbling to a convenience store to buy band aids. Although I was partially at fault for choosing to wear flip flops to class but, to be fair, it was college, I was toying with the new sense of freedom unencumbered by high school dress code guidelines--I was living on the edge. And that was my 18th birthday.

I did like my birthday this year, because I actually managed to keep myself fairly busy--unlike any other day in the life of an unemployed. I made rice krispies treats (with sprinkles in them for a bit of panache) and chocolate chip cookies for my neighbors for driving me around when I had last minute errands and Jack was off at work with the car. Then I sat down and watched my DVR'd episode of Gilmore Girls--and it was one of my more favorite episodes (Season 6, Episode 9: The Prodigal Daughter Returns). I also made a quick dinner for one of the officer wives, who had just given birth a few days before, as part of a meal plan the other spouses had set up. After I dropped off the dinner, one the way back home, I picked up a tiny ice cream cake for myself. Finally, I settled in for a night of Dancing with the Stars with chicken strips and fries for dinner.

The day felt good and I enjoyed doing the little things for my neighbors and the officer wives. It might be the wisdom of years lived creeping up on me, but I do like the idea of making my birthday a day of service--or just doing something for someone else because damn, it fucking feels good. I've now realized (or at least I am old enough to admit this to myself) that I enjoy volunteer work and doing things for others, not because it helps to foster a sense of community, to bring people together, or that it is consistent with the idea that helping each other out is just what a civilized society does because we all live in the same community, but because I get a serious high off of people saying, "Thank you for what you do. You're so awesome." Seriously. It's better than crack and just as addicting.

Things I Will Find Myself Missing About Anacortes

I am someone who becomes attached to things very quickly. For example: In summer school biology class (that I took to get ahead), we had to create a bug collection (properly labeling the species and type) for our final class project. My friend Elisa had caught a caterpillar and dropped it into a jar for temporary storage before it was transferred to the the kitty litter-plaster of paris-acetone gas chamber. While it was in it's little holding cell, the caterpillar just made circles over and over again to the point where we named it Speedy. And once you name something, knowing that it will be dead mere hours later and pinned to a foam board, the act of killing it becomes heart wrenching. I assume little Speedy was eventually killed, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. Just trying to remember it brings a tear to my eye.

That being said, knowing that I will be moving away from the Northwest, Seattle, and Anacortes is heartbreaking. For the short time that I have lived in Anacortes, I have grown strangely attached to this little town. Perhaps it is due to all the Gilmore Girls I watch and my secret wanting this town to be my Stars Hollow.

Things I will miss: This view.

These are the things I will find myself missing about Anacortes when we move away:

-The Senior Center. In this period of unemployment, I have volunteered at the Anacortes Senior Center as a way to keep myself from going crazy and also to just hone whatever skills I still have. But I like the place and the people that frequent the Senior Center. They are just characters. Most of them are what I imagine my friends and I will be like when we get into our twilight years.

-Stan, Yeong, and Mark the Skagit Transit Bus Drivers. They are awesome--when I get on they greet me by name, they know when I get off so if I happen to zone out they won't pass my bus stop, if the bus is running late and I need a transfer they know to call the bus driver ahead to wait for me. Yeong even brought me homemade kimchi one day when she found out I liked kimchi. They were the first people I ever talked to, on a regular basis, in Anacortes.

-The Seafood guy at The Market. I swear he's stoned most of the time, but I've never met anyone who's more excited about seafood than that guy. Plus, he remembered that I was from Seattle and what I did last weekend, thus making for casual conversation while he's weighing out salmon for me.

-The deer in the backyard who live under our porch. Sometimes I pretend they are like pets, but sometimes they are just a touch annoying what with the eating of the foliage and peeing on our lawn.

-Victoria radio, mostly like CJZN The Zone on Vancouver Island. It's a cute little radio station and they play great music and they're just so adorable in their little Canadian ways. Although I have yet to get used to their weather reports, as they measure the temperature in Celsius.

-Old Salts. It's a gas station mini-mart. But it's owned by a nice Korean couple, who make kimchi on the reg and sell it. Homemade kimchi, at a gas station mini-mart in Anacortes: Weird, I know, but so delicious.

"Live" Blogging: My Eventual Descent into Misery as I Attempt to Make Something

Look at the mess I can make!

Today, I was planning on blathering about things I want in my dream home (or at the very least, things I will no longer tolerate in the next place I rent) but, buoyed by a fairly healthy breakfast (oatmeal and bananas, side of turkey bacon, and a cup of coffee), I decided to start on a new sewing project. After deciding what to make, I decided to take pictures to document my "creative process" and perhaps if it turns out nice, I'll share it with the three people that read this blog. But then the coffee finally kicked in and I decided to blog my descent into a hot mess instead. Initially, I was thinking about doing a "live" blog, but then I got realistic about my weekend warrior tendencies. There was no real way I could have finished in a day and be happy about the end product--and I would have gone hungry because it would leave no time to make dinner and eat. So, this will become a diary of sorts that I hope to remember to update as I work on making a knitting needle roll.

Also, that is what I am making: a knitting needle roll. Hopefully it will make starting knitting projects a touch easier if all my needles have a proper home instead of a plastic bag. God, my knitting needles are hobos. Anyways, onto the action!


Wednesday, 1:26pm: Tragedy strikes early.

In case you were wondering what happens if you iron fabric onto your fabric cutting mat, well it warps. And the advertised "self healing board" doesn't necessarily apply to heat. I definitely yelled out loud and then cursed. Oh, there was cursing. Luckily, I had only inadvertently ironed on one edge of the cutting board so flipped it around and continued cutting out the pieces needed for this project.

Why yes, it's nearly two in the afternoon and I am still in my pajamas. (F)unemployment!

Wednesday, 4:11pm: Measure twice, cut once.


I'd like to think that it was the coffee was wearing off, but really I was being careless and not quite paying attention when I accidentally cut a strip of fabric about an inch too short. Well, normally I'd just re-cut fabric, this time in the correct size, but I was trying very hard to stick with the fabric scraps I have accrued and hoarded from various other projects and I didn't have enough of that particular color to re-cut. When that happens, the instruction pages end up looking like this, as I fudge the all the proportions and make my own edits:

Math skillz, don't let me down!

On the upside, after spending a half-hour trying to figure out how it would all work out, I finish cutting out almost all the fabric pieces I would need. I also decided to label all my fabric, which I've never done before, but it turned out to be a good idea. I'm glad that I managed to confuse myself for a bit while labeling the pieces rather than confusing myself as I sewed the pieces together only to realize I did it wrong and then cursing to myself as I rip out all the seams.

I say I'm almost done cutting out almost all the pieces because halfway through putting the fabric together to see what would look nice with each other, I realize that I hate my fabric scraps (which is probably why they were fabric scraps to begin with) and I'll need to make a point of stopping at a fabric store for some sparkly trim and a ribbon that will tie the roll together.

That's it for this week or, really, that's all I'm motivated to do for today. Now is the time for watching Gilmore Girls on my DVR and enjoying a beer.

I made a hat! (and other things I with which I pass my time.)

Among the things I have done over this period of (f)unemployment, I have started and finished (!) a few knitting projects. Although, this might just be a record for me--I have started and finished knitting a hat in under a month. And with plenty of winter weather left to spare. It seems like winter will never end, despite the daffodils blooming in our yard.

True story: I actually got dressed in "real" clothes for this picture.

I got the pattern through Ravelry, which is the most awesome website ever if you are looking for patterns or inspiration for your next knitting/crochet project. Starting the hat was a bit tricky because I had never done an Italian Tubular cast-on, so I had to look up instructions and sort through all the different YouTube videos out there. But once I got started, I only made like 5 mistakes, which seems really low considering that most of the time I was knitting while watching Gilmore Girls.

A few months ago, I also finished a cowl scarf. I had bought the yarn on clearance not really thinking about the color only that I liked the yarn. So once I finished, much to my chagrin, I realized that with the color and the way it's striped, it kind of looks like a bacon scarf.

Bright side: My bacon-looking scarf is ridiculously warm.

Lest you think that all this time spent not working have been toward productively knitting cold weather accessories for myself, I have also wasted countless hours on Interwebs watching cute animal videos. True story: One night I stayed up way too late, just watching a dog named, Murkin, and his cute little kittens. You are just going to AWWWW all over the place. Behold:

EXTRA BONUS CONTENT!
So, here's an outtake of me trying to figure out my PhotoBooth program on my computer. It had been a while since I last used it, and my laptop is getting into its twilight years, so I kept on hitting the button to set off the camera, but when it took it's sweet time to load, I got up to open the door for some fresh air. And that's when the little punk decided to start working.

I can't wait to have a job again.