Rain & Other Things

Yesterday.

Hot-lanta.

Wasn't so "hot".  More "wet".

Wet-lanta.

Doesn't have the same feel, but I might try & throw it into casual conversation, see how it flies.

I'm still processing everything that happened yesterday at the race that wasn't.  And by "race that wasn't," I mean that we got rain delayed and then sat for 2 1/2 hours while they dried 7/8th of the track, and then it rained again for 5 minutes and it was cancelled.  Technically, this means that I've still never been to a Nascar race.

I suddenly feel better :)

Confession: I did have fun.  Take me as I am, I cannot help myself.  

I have pictures.  Oh, do I have pictures.  But I don't have my camera currently, so you're going to have to live in a state of suspended satisfaction until I can get home and put them up here for you.  Trust me, if anything was ever worth waiting for, these pictures are it.  Let me see if I can sum it up in a few words for you.

Handsome.  Wal*Mart Jeans.  Scissors.  Redneck.

I feel like that induces the appropriate level of anticipation.  

The problem with a knapsack

The problem with a knapsack is that its only got so much room in it.

On my final day in Reno (I think it was Wednesday... but I'm not sure what today is... Friday? Saturday?), I arrived at the airport around 10 AM and was scheduled to board my flight about 45 minutes later.  I had a limited amount of time, and considering that I would, best case scenario, have 25 minutes between my two flights, I needed to get myself enough food to last the day.  (fyi: turned out I only had 7 minutes from touchdown to boarding.  What a rush.) 

There were certain criteria this amount of food needed to satisfy:

• moderately healthy
• able to travel/unlikely to spoil
• not über expensive
• small enough to fit in my knapsack backpack
• yummy and delicious

Here's what I had to work with

With only 8 minutes to make the decision, my gut instinct kicked in and I started picking.

I tried to pick enough food to fill me up, while satisfying my taste buds, staying within a budget, and only buying as much as will fit in my backpack.  Obviously some foods were more appealing to me than others.  Like the drinks; I don't really like diet coke, but I do like vitamin water, so one is more appealing to me than another.  I don't like black licorice and it has no nutritional value, so its appeal is very low.  Its all pretty much instinct.  Don't lie, you do it too.  You do it when you grocery shop and when you pack for a trip and even when you choose which friends to take with you on a car trip.  Different friends have different appeal, and you can only have so many of them.

This type of decision making process is actually near the heart of my Masters studies.  I know, I'm sorry, I tricked you.  Slid an operations research lesson right in here, in between my quilting and recipe tinkering and bicycling adventures.  It was rude of me and I apologize.  But in case you're not totally ticked off and through with me, here's a link to the classic problem.  Just in case you want to know more.  I won't judge you if you don't, as long as you don't judge me for being unable to stop my brain from working this way.

My final choices: 

Yes, I spent an embarrassing amount at the airport newsstand.  And yes, I shoved this all in my backpack, but barely.  But really, it did work pretty successfully; I didn't go hungry, I didn't get sick, and I hit all most some of the food groups.  I mean, starbursts count as fruits, right?

I'm a tricky little nerd,

TFW

Oh Today...

Today was not the day that I thought it might be.  It was not bad, not really in any way at all; it just wasn't what I thought I was getting when I pulled the "May 26th" straw.  I didn't get as much time with Handsome as I would have liked, due to an excessive accumulation of crap stuff in my Math office and a freak accident with my computer.  

I am sad to say that I am writing to you from somewhere I have never written to you from before.  Also, as the other side to that coin, I will never again write to you from my old computer.  The math dept computer dude doctor said that it was most likely an aneurysm and it went quickly in the night (last night to be exact).  However, the "doctor" was also a transplant specialist and right there, without a sheet over it or any type of anesthesia, he removed the old hard drive and memory card (stick? piece? magicness?) and transplanted it into an even older but more mobile computer.  Apparently my old computer was the universal donor, because despite a sizable difference in years and generations, the transplant was a success and the recipient of the new parts got to go home the same day.  The old computer went to the place where computers go to die (note: linked movie is not recommended unless reader enjoys playing Mystery Science Theater 3000).

Yesterday, riding on my high of moisture-rich air and a sweet tea smell you can taste, I arrived home to find out, quite to my pleasure (remember, I was on a high) that although my home and its inhabitants can survive without me, they do not thrive as well as when I am there.  Today I tried my darndest to get the dog smell out of my house, swept and did laundry, and thought about grocery shopping.  I thought about taking the covers off of the couch cushions to wash them, but I'm pretty sure that zipper is just there as a selling point; one would never be able to fandangle that cushion back inside that cover in a million years.  So tomorrow, when I think more intensely about grocery shopping, I'm going to pick up some febreeze too, and pretend that its the same as cleaning.

Last week, I had another day that did not go as I had thought it might; it went much better.  Handsome and I took el Duke-o and went mountain biking.  We actually did this two days in a row, although the second day went considerably better than the first.  It helped that we actually found the trail the second day.  Here's some pictures with narrations from myself.  Feel free to add your own narrations if you don't like mine; its called creative license.

Foray into Pins & Needles

On this blog, we've got a little bit of everything.

Contests

Challenges

Fire-related things

Wifery

Photography

Food

Adventures

General Life-snooping

And you've put up with a lot from me.  I appreciate that.

Now, we're going to go where some of you may never have gone before: The land of pins & needles

(aka: quilting)

I quilt.  I know, kind of grandma-esque, especially when you factor in all of the other things I find enjoyable, such as baking and cooking and making little villages out of plastic mesh & yarn (jk on that last one... as of yet...)

But I do it and I like it and I won't apologize.  However, if you want to skip ahead to something with less mothballs and false teeth, I understand.  Skip away.

I like to quilt.  I like to make most things.  In my life, I've created in nearly every way possible.  Let me count them.

1. Spinning Pottery   2. Jewelry Making    3. Chocolate Molding

4. Cake Decorating  5. Velvet Embossing    6. Candle Pouring    7. Soap Making

8. Bead Loom-ing    9. Crocheting    10. Baking    11. Paint-by-number    

12. Charcoal Drawing    13. Paper Mache    14. Acrylic Painting    15. Mixed Media Creating

This is just a brief listing.  As you can see, my mother indulged my creative side a bit.  And we are thankful.

But I got into quilting a few years ago.  I remember it well.  It was winter.  Cold.  Very cold.  And I wanted to be warm.  So I thought to myself, "A quilt would keep me warm.  I want a quilt.  I shall make one."  Fast forward 22 months, I was cold again, and finally finished my first quilt.  I did not do it correctly, OH no.  Some people might decide to take a class or ask someone for help or at least youtube it.  Apparently not me.  I blame this trait of mine to plunge headlong into a previously untried experience on an excessive amount of unearned praise received as a young girl; I really believe I can do nearly anything.

I've Been Lied To

And most likely, you have been lied to, too.

Shocking, really.

And the worst part is, I, no, better yet we were lied to by America's sweethearts.

Yep.  Its startling, but true.

These gals, right here, have lied to me for the majority of my life.

Topanga                           Kelly                               Anita

A'paintin' we will go...

And a'paintin' we did go.  Painted a lot, actually.  Here's the story:

Handsome was pretty down about 8 weeks ago when I took our brand-new (to us) Jeep and backed it into his love-of-his-life-wants-to-be-buried-in-it Truck.  

Whoops.  

I cried.

Anyhow, he was pretty bummed, because, did you know this, when you hit your car with your car, thats not a double negative.  Nope.  Its a double deductible, thats what it is.  So he was bummed, and even though he works so hard already, was thinking about picking up some odd jobs to pay for the repairs.  He mentioned this to some guys and one thing led to another, bam!  We've got a painting job.  Painting approx. 10 rooms in a 2000+ sq. ft. house. yay.

Again, I cried.  Almost.

Decisions Update!

So I've not been amazing, but I'd call it above par.  As long as we overlook the excess Perfect Combo that I consumed tonight.  (If you click on the "perfect" part, try to ignore the calorie information on the side.  Its best that way.)

I've yogged (like jogging, with a soft j), exercised my pup, taken care of bid-ness (mmmhmmm) with regards to homework, and cleaned my kitchen.  Alls quiet on the western front.  Until I noticed my spare oohm.  This awkward room I have that isn't an extra bedroom, isn't an office, isn't quite sure what it is.  Except that right now I am quite certain that it is chock-full of cardboard boxes.  I don't know what to do with them.  I'd take them to the recycling center (not that I'm earth conscious, but we have to haul our own garbage) except that the cardboard bin is broken.  So I'm thinking about crafting something out of them.  AFTER I get my homework done and AFTER I take care of my chores and YES I'm 11 years old and hoping for a sweet upgrade in the allowance area.

Any ideas for what to make with bunches and bunches of boxes of different size?  I'd love to hear your ideas!  Its gonna get wild!  I'm thinking some practical (can I make a coffee table out of them?  who says I can't?) things, as well as artsy-fartsy (3-D wall art, possibly spray painted...)