Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Blog Burn
me: "Hey, how are you (blank)?
friend: "Oh great, how are you? How's the adoption stuff going?"
me: "Oh it's going. Loads of paperwork and stuff to get done. Hey did you get my email about our blog? We put up any adoption info we get."
friend: "Yeah, I got the email but I haven't looked at it. I mean honestly, who ACTUALLY reads those things? I am way too busy for that."
(end scene)
Ouch.
Booger Boy
"AWWW, wouldn't you know it? Two pinks in the same pack! CAN YOU BELIEVE MY BAD LUCK?!"
This outburst was made during someone else's critique and while the room was all serious and quiet. The girl getting critiqued was already a nervous wreck and she just stood there staring at him in horror. I swear I almost peed myself trying not to laugh because inappropriate humor is usually the funniest kind. He followed that up by picking his nose and wiping it on his jeans leaving a shiny white trail. Classic. He clearly has some sort of something going on, but he is capable enough to attend college and he completes his projects correctly and on time. Graphic design isn't exactly rocket science but it's not that easy either and some of his stuff is actually pretty good. He is a mystery to me.
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Confrontation
I have noticed a trend among people these days who feel as though they have free reign to say whatever comes into their little heads. Some call this "being blunt" or "telling it like it is" or "not caring that you come across as a big jerk" or what have you. This type of thing tends to lead to some kind of heated confrontation, of which I am not a fan but of which I bore witness to today. That's not to say that I sit by meekly and take whatever crap is thrown at me, but I have learned many lessons in life and the most valuable has been that it's easier to catch flies with honey instead of vinegar or something like that. Maybe it's bees. I don't know but my point is that being nice and trying to work things out without getting all jacked up isn't that hard and quite frankly, it will get you a lot further than being nasty. There are lots of days that I'm crabby and don't want to fake it, but being a jerk just makes it REALLY hard to like you and want to be around you. There is another life lesson I hold valuable and that is, if you can dish it out, you better be able to take it. If you think that someone is being stupid or you don't agree with what they're saying, unless you have a REALLY good reason for it, just let it go. Why take every opportunity to point out someones flaws or shortcomings and act like you're the boss of the world? Maybe you have those same shortcomings and seeing them in someone else makes you angry at them, but you're really angry at yourself. Paging Dr. Freud!
I have been making a very concerted effort to try and change my disposition so that I can actually BE happy instead of just faking it, and the only way I have found to accomplish this is to try and stop judging those around me. Does it always work? Hell no. There are LOTS of people that ring my bell, but I try keep that private. I'm not saying don't bring up bad subjects or hide stuff under the rug, just don't approach stuff with a gigantic chip on your shoulder and expect everyone to think you're awesome. Am I saying that you should sugar coat things? Well yeah, sometimes and what's wrong with that? You may think you're being all cool and forthright by "telling it like it is", but you usually just look like a wiener and that's not good. Anyway, I'm sure I've strayed off topic but I think you get my point that people need to stop being so dang nasty and start being nice to your fellow humans. Lest you think I'm being all self-righteous, I spend a sad amount of time reading online gossip where they skewer celebs like beef tips and I will laughingly point out a shiny shirt on a man if I spot it. I said I TRY to be better.
Okay. I'm off the box. Sorry for the rant but I had to get it out so I can make room for lunch.
Monday, October 29, 2007
Weekend Loverlies
Clearly, the place is still a disaster area, but we are finally in a position to get stuff put back together. I am going to get the backsplash installed this weekend (hopefully) and then we only have the bar area left to tile. It has been a very long 10 months, but seeing it all come together makes it worth all the headache. The sink turned out so freaking gorgeous that I just like to stand and stare at it. Here, you can too:
Oh so pretty.
Here's a close-up of the countertop:
We did give ourselves a small reprieve this weekend and went to a spectacular party at Mike & Brian's beautiful new house. Seriously, their place is REALLY nice. As usual the food was outstanding as was the company. Of course, I mention the food first because I spent a good 30 minutes hovering over the table eating my own weight in cheese dip. You know, I could eat appetizers at every meal. I already have an abnormal obsession with things in miniature so an appetizer spread calls to me like a sweet siren. I wish they made tiny hot dog buns for little smokies. That would be so awesome. Anyway. We had a great time and it was so nice to see all my girls! Jeff and I are truly a couple of lucky ducks to have the group of friends we have. T-Rav, you crack me up!
Friday, October 26, 2007
woo-hoo part II
whew. It seems like a long time but it'll be here before we know it. It's going to be a nerve-wracking wait for all of this to happen (for me anyway, Jeff is way chill about this stuff) but I plan to occupy my time with various baby projects like designing a nursery, super cool kid art for the room and whatever else I can find to keep me from chewing my nails. Oh yeah, I also have to graduate from college and finish remodeling my house. No biggie.
WOO-HOO!!
This means we have 3-6 weeks to get this house put back together. Holy crap, people. It's on!
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Know when to say when
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
I ran for the border
I managed to find a couple in the bargain section but the majority of those were either Sesame Street, Disney, Nickelodeon, etc. and I'm not interested in that. I don't care about Dora or her explorations. Where are the parent I ask? Would you let your daughter traipse all over the freaking globe with some kind of monkey thing as a guide?? I think not.
I think I'll write a children's book about my weirdo dogs and charge 50 bucks for it. Zoey is the weirder of the two and if she were an actual child they would suggest she wear a helmet for her own safety. She is afraid of the wood floors we installed and goes from rug island to rug island when she needs to move through the house. She is also afraid of the vacuum, thunder, ladders and steps yet she will go after a rottweiler like nobody's business. She is truly the most bizarre dog I have ever known and yet I love her to pieces. Cleo is the older of the two and is basically annoyed by everyone around her. She is like a wise old owl except that she licks her pooper so she isn't that wise.
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Mum's the word
The class was full of all these women who a) couldn't keep their mouths shut long enough for our instructor to speak, and b) couldn't stop one-upping each other with their cake skills, even though we are all at the same level. It got so bad at one point my mom turned to me and said she was going to hurl from the overwhelming stench of stuck-upedness. I wanted to go up and smack them all in the mouth to silence the snoot, but I just focused on my flowers. This whole class is about making flowers and borders, which is cool. We learned the reverse shell, the rosette, the rose bud and the mum. The mum was my favorite. We still had fun despite the squawking hens around us. This one woman in particular kept interrupting the instructor and felt as though we all wanted to hear her stupid stories about the cake she made for her daughter's birthday. Hey lady, guess what? We don't care so ZIP IT!
Next week we learn violets and apple blossoms. Hopefully in silence.
Monday, October 22, 2007
The Darkest Depths of Mortar
We decided to actually cut and dry fit all the tiles before we mortared anything, which would seem like the logical thing to do anyway but we aren't logical, which all in all made the laying of the tiles go very, very smoothly. We made a few bad cuts due to my inability to read a ruler properly so we're going to have to order another box of tiles before we can do the bar. That sucks but realistically it will probably take 2 weeks to get the bar base constructed. Yeesh. I'm getting home improvement burnout at this point but we are SO CLOSE to being done. The counters turned out great, by the way. I think we were both nervous because we ended up using a porcelain floor tile, which isn't exactly conventional for a counter, but it looks like I wanted it to look. Well, almost. We both thought the tiles were much darker than they turned out to be but I have to chalk that up to the crappy lighting at Expo Design Center. The countertop was probably the hardest thing we had to decide upon. We had a teeny tiny budget so most solid surfaces or anything cool like glass or metal were out and I HATE granite so that was out, too. That left laminate (icky) or tile. I had originally planned to use Carrerra marble but every time I mentioned it to a tile person I got a lecture on how I shouldn't use it because it stains and scratches and blah, blah, blah, so I chucked that idea as well. I'll post a picture when we get it grouted. Now I just have to figure out my backsplash pattern................
Still no word on the adoption. I know it's WAY too early but I'm anxious and I want to know right now. I was daydreaming about cribs the other day on the internet. I found one I like on some modern baby stuff site and it was about $1500. WTF?! Can I not have modern design at an affordable price? Who am I kidding, of course not unless it's IKEA and I wasn't impressed with their cribs (although their bedding is quite cute). I must resist the urge to look until I know something.
I finally mustered up the courage to call the book guy. He was really nice and put me in touch with the author, and I spoke to her this afternoon. They're both interested to see what I can do (as am I since this is scaring the caca out of me). They seem to want a style that I can do, so that's a plus but I'm not saying any more about it until I meet with them this Friday. It'll make me too nervous and I don't want to go all mental.
P.S. - That's a Lord of the Rings/ Led Zeppelin reference in the title. NERD ALERT!
Friday, October 19, 2007
overload
On that note, I am going to spend time this afternoon working on my own art so that I can decompress and gear up for this to start again next week.
Oh, to follow up from my last post, I did call the illustration man but got a voicemail and left a message. Due to the fact that all of the self-confidence I had a the start of the week has been sucked out of me, I don't expect anything from it.
I also want to send my condolences to my good friend Geryl who had to have her beloved dog put to sleep last night. He was 13 and had a great life because of his awesome mom and dad. I'm thinking of you both.
Oh, one last thing, I want to say happy birthday to sweet little Maya. I am absolutely dreadful with birthdays but I know it's coming soon so Happy Birthday Maya!
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
The Check's in the Mail
In today's other news.....
- I have a meeting with my dept. chair next week to discuss my graduation and what I need to do to make sure next semester is my last. This semester has pretty much sucked since I piled on as many classes as I could (18 hrs of ALL studio classes) and it looks like next semester is shaping up to be just as bad but I have to suck it up and get it done. I have come away with a bunch of stuff for my portfolio, which is currently in the shape of a pile. I need to work on that right quick.
- It looks like Jeff and I will be joining my sister and bro-in-law on their Hawaiian vacation next May. Aloha indeed.
- My illustration teacher told me about a man looking for a student to submit illustrations for a children's book, which is super cool because I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to do that but I'm too freaking scared to call him. Coward. I guess I'm afraid of rejection but I'll never know unless I jump, right?
- Monday is the start of 8 more weeks of cake decorating classes so I will hopefully have some kick-ass cakes to post. Here's my first cake ever from the last class:
Awww.....probably not so much kick-ass as it is cute, but not bad for the first one. I will be learning about fondant this time around so I hope to get more elaborate in the future.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Freaking HILARIOUS
Monk-e-mail
***Thanks, Gwen.
Holla
Monday, October 15, 2007
Road Trip
We have no countertop yet (that's plywood) and no sink, but that's our project for this weekend.
Flag info
"The four trigrams originates in the Chinese book I Ching, representing the four Chinese philosophical ideas about the universe: harmony, symmetry, balance, circulation. The general design of the flag also derives from traditional use of the tricolor symbol (red, blue and yellow) by Koreans starting from the early era of Korean history. The white background symbolizes "cleanliness of the people." The taegeuk represents the origin of all things in the universe; holding the two principles of "Eum", the negative aspect rendered in blue, and "Yang", the positive aspect rendered in red, in perfect balance. Together, they represent a continuous movement within infinity, the two merging as one. The four trigrams are:
Force (☰; geon (건; 乾) in Korean) = heaven (天), spring (春), east (東), virtue (仁);
¦¦¦ Field (☷; gon (곤; 坤)) = earth (地), summer (夏), west (西), justice (義);
¦ Radiance (☲; ri (리; 離)) = sun (日), fall (秋), south (南), courtesy (禮);
¦¦ Gorge (☵; gam (감; 坎)) = moon (月), winter (冬), north (北), knowledge or wisdom (智).
Traditionally, the four trigrams are related to the Five Elements of fire, water, earth, wood, and metal. An analogy could also be drawn with the four western classical elements."
That's pretty neat-o, eh?
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Adoption Fair
Amy and I went to an adoption fair @ Calvary Church in St. Peters (O'Fallon??) on Friday night. We meet with Judy, The Holt social worker from KC. She said she is hiring a St. Louis employee, so that is good.
We met a man who has 4 boys from Korea (and 2 bio girls!) that we talked to for a minute, he had pictures of his homecoming, his first was escorted to St. Louis. Pretty cool, it was exciting!!
We also met with a couple that used Dillon for their 3 adoptions. They had lots of pictures, and answered all of our questions.
It is starting to hit home, the more people we meet, the more I think about it, we are gonna have a baby in the next year or so.......that is so crazy
Friday, October 12, 2007
For The Record
That just didn't sound like fun anymore.
I guess I could just sit in the lodge and drink.
Thursday, October 11, 2007
My turn
I am boring so don't expect too much. And my grammar stinks.
Today I got an e-mail from a co worker that had this link;
http://www.justsayhi.com/bb/keyboard
It is a questionaire that give you the dirtiness of your keyboard in units of toilet seats!!
I didn't really think about it, but at work I eat at my desk at lunch most days, and I can't remember when I cleaned it last. Needless to say my keyboard was as dirty as 300 toilet seats!! Go there, you will clean your keyboard. And after reading my wifes last post, I wonder how dirty the school's keyboards are?
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
deees-gusting
There is a fellow at my school who has "issues". Well, today, while sitting at a computer that EVERONE uses, he blew his nose into his hand and proceeded to lick it off. He LICKED it off. He followed that up with a major finger excavation for dessert. Then he went back to using the computer. Did I mention that WE ALL USE THESE COMPUTERS? The instructor was in the room but said nothing, which I'm sure is difficult with his issues. Nevertheless, I am now forced to deal with wayward snot all over the mouse and keyboard.
I'm taking a bath in Purell right now.
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
Clarification
I just wanted to make that clarification considering he is the only one reading this. That is all.
Hanger-On
Oh, I do have adoption related news. We are 98% done with our application and it should be in the mail soon. yay! We are also going to an adoption fair that our agency is holding this Friday night where we will get to see our social worker again. Her name is Judy and she seems very nice and I hope she doesn't think we're heathens.