Still mostly incommunicado

Finals haven't even started and I'm studying my butt off. Or rather, I'd like to think I am. But I needed a bit of a break, so I thought I'd discuss the State of Things.

I've started on a weight-loss shake called NutriMed 420. It's doctor prescribed, and my progress will be closely followed by medical staff to make sure I'm not dying or my body isn't eating into important tissue rather than ass-fat. I officially began yesterday, and already hamburgers are taunting my brain with their delicious existence.

I'm not allowed any food for at least the first six weeks, which may possibly turn into two months as the amount of weight I need to lose is close to 100 pounds. I seem to be incredibly dense and my thighs have managed to store the weight of a small annoying child.

Since this is the first week, I'm calling it Hell Week because of the intense experience I'll be having while my body switches into fat-eating mode. Dizziness, intense fatigue and body weakness, headaches, and irritability are on the agenda and this also happens to be the week right before finals (which are next Monday and Tuesday) so I'll be feeling all of the above anyways, but now for more than one reason.

My spare room also happens to be completely filthy, so there's no crafting on the horizon until I get my butt in gear and clean, which will be nearly impossible for a while. Because I'm so weak, I long to work on something small and quiet, like perhaps sewing up some of the beautiful scraps I got from Jude (below) but with stuff strewn everywhere, it's a bit hard... My mind gets as scattered as the stuff on the floor when I don't have a clean house.

I suppose I should stop whining. My final class of the semester is in 30 minutes and I need to run. Perhaps when I get back, I shall do a bit of studying, get started on cleaning my horrible spare room, and try to (for once) sit down and think with a bit of something crafty in my hands.



I believe this makes one of the best presents I've ever received.

Turning wheels

I was asked what the tattoo on my ankle is, so I took a photo to share. You can see how deathly pale I am; if you pay attention to the lower left corner, you can even see some veins. I believe the term used to describe me is "translucent".



I also had an idea and was wondering who, if anyone, would want to get involved. Would there be any interest in a Scrap Exchange? I have a large amount of scraps that I like to use for various things, but getting some added variety can be a bit difficult. So I was thinking of organizing an exchange of scraps with anyone else out there who wants to share. If enough of y'all show some excitement about the idea, I'll do something official, like a banner and a fancy post and everything.

Freedom is the ability to fill your sewing room with as much crap as possible

Lots of news and fun stuff from the last week or so. I'll try to include a little bit of everything. I should break in the new blog layout with a nice long entry, after all.

Last Saturday, we went down to Lake Jackson, an area of Texas near Galveston, for a Ron Paul rally. Tanya came with us and we got to hear Ron speak, which was unbelievably awesome. There were tons of people there supporting him. He had a lot of very insightful and inspiring things to say, and I managed to capture the whole speech on video with my nifty camera. I'll be transcribing the speech if anyone's interested. If you'd like to actually see the speech, I would suggest doing a search online for the Lake Jackson Congressional Rally, as the quality of my video isn't very good. Lots of shoulders and picture-jiggling.



After the rally, we drove down to the beach, which was just 10 miles away, and I got to see the ocean for the first time since age 2. Completely amazing and very beautiful, even with the overcast sky. (And yes, the picture in my header is from that trip. That's me wading in the sand and collecting seashells.)



Tanya was quite freaked by the seagulls flipping out over the food we brought for them. They swarmed into a cloud of beaks and feathers that I have to agree was pretty intimidating.

So, rest of the week. Psych test was Thursday, and I did awesome! So I'm pretty happy about that. Grade came back from the Microbiology test, and that was a total A, and Sociology wasn't too bad either.



I got a whole giant box of fabric in the mail, courtesy of my dead grandmother. There's a lot of really awesome prints, and this photo doesn't nearly show all of the kick ass-ness of this fabric. When my mom got all of the fabric from the estate, she called to ask what types of prints I wanted, to which I replied "Just give me half of anything cotton. I guarantee I will use it at some point in my life." So she sent this giant box stuffed to the gills with tons of old fabric and, oddly enough, she included my violin from when I was in high school. My mother's weird.



I also finished the chameleon foundation block for a quilt I've been working on for some time. It's called Escaping Bugs and it's a Bottle Quilt Co. pattern. (I would link to their webpage, but the site was shut down after the passing of the owner.)

I've been saving up different bug fabrics for a very long time, and I had the majority of them stuffed into a basket with the pattern since before I moved to Texas. They sat in a box or the closet or just hidden somewhere for the last four years, and I was almost convinced I'd left them back in Reno. But I finally started on this quilt a few months ago. (I ended up having enough bug fabric for three quilts, so I sent some pre-cut blocks to my sister and aunt.) Now that my chameleon block is finished, I just have to finish the Sticky-Tongued Frog and then put the top together.

Last bit of news: I bought Dane a Nintendo Wii for Valentine's Day, officially making me the most amazing wife in the world.

And I close this post with a challenge! I want to see some artistic representations of this photo from my beach trip:



Use any medium, make it any size, add any elements, do whatever. I have plans for this picture, and I'd love to see what others can do with it!

Battlegrounds

There was a super awesome sale at my very favorite quilt store today. Fat quarters for a dollar! And it was madness, madness I say! I had to chew a woman's arm off to get the fabric I wanted. I walked over small children with no regard for consequence. I pushed people aside, swinging my basket and purse like dangerous weapons, gouging out eyes with my car keys. Blood splattered the floors, family members cried, I laughed with the sheer joy of the battle, bathing in the carnage that is War of the Fat Quarters.

Possibly some of what I just said didn't actually happen. I won't say what.

So, I have my first two tests of the semester this week, Microbiology tomorrow and Sociology the day after, and in true procrastination fashion, I decided that instead of studying, I would arrange my new fat quarters in lovely formations. If I'm not doing that, I'm admiring my new pencil bag that I made all by myself.

I was feeling pretty nasty last week, thanks to a sick husband that whined and moaned for me to take care of him, then passed on whatever he had because after all, I did say in sickness and in health. He's going to wring everything he can out of those vows. So, I cultured whatever was in my throat in Micro, and after growing it on a blood agar plate (made with sheep's blood, which is awesome and makes me feel a little Pagan) it looked pretty nasty. Saw a doctor on Friday, got on antibiotics, and when the prof took a look at the culture yesterday, she said something along the lines of "I'm thinking I'm really glad you got drugs for this because whatever it is, it looks mean. Could be pneumonia."

I was never more happy to throw away that plate. I was afraid it was going to eat me.



So then, what should I do with all my nifty new fabric? The option of stuffing it in my shelves and forgetting about it is always a viable choice (and the most likely), but I thought I'd allow for some enlightenment from the crowd.