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.

Of Unknowns and possible Knowns, and Everything Else

Stuff's been busy. So very very busy. I saw my sister in Dallas, took a few tests in school and aced them, Dane had his birthday this last weekend, and yesterday Tanya and I did major deep cleaning of the apartment and dyed my hair. I now have black-reddish hair and it looks awesome.

So because I've been completely unable to do anything crafty or fun the last few.... years... I'm going to catch up on some previous projects I should have posted about long ago.



This is a very crappy photo of an absolutely adorable doll that I made from a pattern made by a girl on Craftster.org. This lovely girl decided one day that she wanted a doll of her very own that she could dress up in lots of clothes. So she drew up a very simple-looking but rather impressive pattern and made the first ever Poppet. Then she shared that lovely pattern with all of Craftster and this large doll was born in my spare room. It was around Halloween, so I gave her green pigtails and a dress with ghosts on it. And a pumpkin.

I had every intention of making more dresses for my Poppet, some for different holidays, some just because, but none of that happened, and I think it may be partially because her head flops around quite strangely, despite the pencil in her neck, and it kindof unnerves me. In any case, on to the other thing.



Having fallen in love with Anne Hesse's beaded doll faces, I was ecstatic when Patti Culea's latest book (Creative Cloth Doll Beading) featured a section on how to make such lovely beaded faces. I immediately got to work, even though usually beading has been a rather scary task to think about... all those little things and they're so tiny and I could accidentally smack the container they're in with my clumsiness and then they would be all over my carpet and I'd need to pick up every single one.....

I don't do well with tiny things, but after starting this face, I found myself loving the minute detail, and the ability to fill in any little bare spot with just a few beads and have them fit so very perfectly. I guess this was the best project for someone who's a perfectionist like me.

I'm still working on the myriad of other projects that remain as yet unfinished, and I would so very much love to have a night to myself tonight to work on such things, but alas, I have laundry, and we've started our Unknowns in Microbiology, which means I get to spend many evenings running tests to see what mysterious organism is living in my test tube.

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.

Do You Has An Owl Too?

A few little owls have followed me to school and made themselves known in the strangest places... I'm waiting for one to appear during a Sociology lecture.

I've been rather wrapped up with school stuff, which is really the way it's supposed to be. I'd love to spend all day creating things and cutting up fabric and just making a mess, but sadly, that doesn't get the bills paid in four years when Dane expects to be able to go for his Art and/or History degree. And it's hard to think of artsy things or just write in my art journal when I have to make cultures with my own lip bacteria or look at a slide of a gonococcus smear. (And yes, you guessed right. That is the bacteria responsible for gonorrhea. Isn't microbiology fun?)

But then, I feel fairly certain I'll see more little owls showing up to keep me company while I study. This guy flew in during micro lab tonight.

Frantically scrambling

A little preview into my current state of.... stuff.



This next week is going to be extremely busy, as I only just realized that classes start next Monday. I need to finish a few projects, such as Tanya's birthday present (which, yes, I didn't have finished on her birthday last Wednesday...) and I need to finish my sister's cushion. I'm supposed to go up to Fort Worth at some point and give my presents to the nephews and return a bunch of books to Sheri.

I also need to at least look over my textbooks, so I feel a little prepared. But good among all of this is that we got a new printer last night! Which means I can finally print out all of those online patterns I found, and scan in some photos from Tanya's birthday.

I've also discovered that if I truly put my mind to it, I can take, edit, and upload a picture in a very short amount of time (i.e., before Tanya gets here for our 4pm lunch).

Guinea piggin', can you dig it?

I decided that white quilting thread on the journal cover wasn't showing up the way I like. The prints on the front are just too busy. So, I picked out the stitching I'd done and redid it all in brown thread. I don't have any quilting thread in that color, so I used regular all-purpose thread. (And I've discovered that Thread Heaven is one of the best products on the market!) Here's how it looks:



And on the front:



In other news, I picked up my books for the Spring semester yesterday. $300 later, and I'm lugging home a textbook and a study guide for each of my three classes. I spent last night flipping through my Microbiology book and looking at the different bacteria. Rather interesting, and some beautiful ideas for art. Those false-color scanning electron microscopes can produce some pretty awesome images.