sorry, blog

Blog, it has been almost a month since I have posted. I have no good excuse for that, but let me try to explain.

First week of work I did before care as well as camp hours. So that had me up at 6:30 and working until 3:30 and then I was spent after that and accomplished absolutely nothing in the afternoons that week, aside from watching a hell of a lot of television on my computer.

Then over the weekend I got nothing done because I was sleeping.

Second week I didn't have to get up until 7:30 but I worked until 6:00. So again, I got nothing done due to exhaustion. And over that weekend I went to New York for cousin's graduation party, so, no sleep. Or accomplishments.

Third week I got up at 7:30 and worked until 3:30 and had no excuse for getting nothing done except that I wanted to finish watching all the seasons of Lost. Which I did. Then on Friday I got a car! Then over the weekend I went to New York again for Fourth of July celebrations and family time. And got no sleep. Again. But I did learn to weave beads into bracelets!

So this past week I've been exhausted from getting no sleep for two weeks and weekends and therefore still got nothing done, despite 7:30 to 3:30 schedule again.

HOWEVER this weekend I've decided it's time for a change. I've gotten in a couple of workouts over the past four weeks, but not enough. I got my sleep in this weekend as well as the following:

Saturday

• WORK OUT CITY. Kind of. Cardio and swimming. I saw four campers at the pool. Talk about making relaxing not nearly as relaxing.
• SOCIALIZING which I haven't done in a while. Went out with a couple of lovely ladies for dinner and drinks and complaining about children. What could be better?

Then I slept 11 hours and then...

Sunday

• Phone calls to parents of my campers next week to tell them what their kids need to bring / where we meet / etc.
• Folded laundry that I did last week. Oops on the delayed folding. (Watched some really good TED Talks while I folded. Highly recommend them. Seriously watch them both right now.)
• Finished the two bracelets I made over the week/weekend with button closures. This took way longer than I expected.
• YOGAMAZING weight loss flow. Maybe if I do it everyday I will lose weight? It's about 25 minutes and makes me fall over and sweat a lot. That's good, right? 
• 100 sit-ups. Jesus. I forgot what feeling my abs was like. Back in the gymnastics days that was super easy. I have become a fatty.
• Attempted YOGA FOR THE BUTT AND THIGHS except that it was after I ate dinner and that is always a bad idea when you are doing downward dog. So I abandoned that about ten minutes in.
• Pending: finishing room cleaning. The laundry was the biggest part but I have some desk/dresser surfaces to clear, also.

While I was in the resting pose after my first session of yoga today, I decided that I think I want to do yoga everyday / make a schedule for myself to follow as far as being off of my butt goes. I'm super intimidated by weight machines at the fitness center so I'm kinda leaning toward yoga instead because I feel the sore more after that, anyway. And I don't have to feel self-conscious because I can do it at home. SO cardio and swimming and yoga in some sort of schedule where everyday I do something to not be a fatty.

Also, attempting to eat better. On that topic, I've not been eating meat for a while. For about a month actually I think? Still gotta back off on fats and sugars etc., though.

HERE'S TO BEING PRODUCTIVE AND HEALTHY. And blogging more, hopefully, too. Tomorrow, perhaps, pictures of car and bracelets. 

shirt!

Holla atcha, blog! I finished my shirt! If you recall it was a dress to shirt transformation that involved the total take apart of the dress to cut out pattern parts and put it together as a shirt. I learned cool things like how to UNDERSTITCH and SLIPSTITCH. (RElearn, actually, since I had done it before, but long ago.)

As a refresher, here's the before:

Let's remember, this was $0.75 worth of fabric (and buttons! and zipper!), and now it is this not-perfect, but good-enough shirt:

I promise I'm wearing shorts. Just you can only tell in the one picture. It's a bit shapeless, and you don't really notice the little yoke and gathering up top (detailed in the corner), but I like the pattern and I think I like it enough to actually wear it around. There aren't any pictures of the back because the back is pretty much exactly the same as the front. At the very least, I am proud of myself for finally finishing it. And I like it with a belt!

Things that were tough:

• This fabric is old. It frays soooo easily (and rips easily too) 'cause it is decrepit and fragile.
• The pieces didn't match up as well as I would have liked. 
• I got so tired of working with the instructions after a while. It is a lot more work to sew from a pattern than to just wing it. 
• I put too much pressure on the pedal of the sewing machine and it goes crazy fast and I'd get stressed when I was sewing sections that needed to be more particular.

Things that were nice:

• Making something totally different from a frumpy dress.
• Hand sewing! I actually really like that sometimes. Like when Mad Men is on and I'm seeing all the pretty clothes while I make clothes.
• The pattern of the fabric hides mistakes!
• I like gathering fabric!
• BEING DONE.

And on the topic of being done, to be honest there are a couple things I should fix that probably I won't because I am just so over this project, ha. BUT IT IS DONE (enough) SO THAT'S OKAY.

Also spent hours out for coffee and dinner with dear Steph and read more of my book. I am almost done with it-- expect an entry about it because I am wrestling with it very much.

So today, blog, has been very productive. Even though I didn't get up until noon.

the truth about some things

1. I am a terrible blogger, mostly because my life is not interesting enough to talk about.
2. Today... not the most productive.
3. Cleaned my room, though, since I have been letting it get ridiculous by leaving/throwing things everywhere.
4. Also finished season three of Gossip Girl, not that I would ever watch or have ever watched that show.
5. Read a lot of pages, too.
6. OH AND I DID whip out my clarinet and play it for a while for the first time in a long time. My mouth is no longer strong buuuut I do remember notes and I played what band music I had that sounded interesting and I miss band a lot because I'm a giant nerd. I will maybe get some good solo music or something.
7. I did sew a tiny tiny bit.
8. So I guess it wasn't that unproductive.
9. Here's a pretty picture I found on the internet, because every blog (especially this one) needs more pictures:

Found it here.

not the most productive

Well, guys, today was not the most productive of days. To be fair, it wasn't entirely unproductive. I did go out and get fingerprinted to prove I'm not a kidnapper for my summer job. Then I came home and got distracted by UH OH THE TELEVISION.

But it wasn't just any television. It was TLC's Toddlers and Tiaras. Jesus. That show. Is the worst. It is watching the worst people ever do the worst things ever and make examples of how America is terrible sometimes. I could not look away, obviously. And TLC was doing some marathon or something because I watched four episodes (that's four hours) while I half-heartedly worked a little on sewing and also ate dinner and stuff. But basically I spent my day watching 3-year-old (sometimes they were younger and sometimes older... up to 9!) pageant girls (and boys!) and their crazy pageant parents and being so horrified I couldn't look away.

Am I disgusted with myself? Eh, maybe a little. But days like these happen sometimes. It's like that time after I had oral surgery that I watched Tila Tequila all day while on Vicodin. Anyway.

So what sewing did I get done? Well I transferred the funky shapes on the pattern sheets to the fabric (this... might not make sense if you don't know how patterns work... but basically there are little shapes that you have to match up between pieces, like a puzzle, but you have to copy these shapes onto the fabric, or at least that's what I do runonsentencesorry) and then I sewed the bias tape onto the arm hole bits. This takes a lot longer than you'd expect, turns out. Three rows of sewing for each arm hole and multiple times ironing and super-precision and stuff. BUT IT WAS A GOOD LESSON, and I will definitely use bias tape in the future for things like u-necks and other arm holes and stuff. Also now I can make bias tape, which is good for the part where I am cheap and also good for matching fabric.

I also worked on the gathering that happens around the neck, and I was gonna sew on the yoke (this shirt has a yoke! front and back!) but then I got a phone call and now I'm all thrown off so I'm just going to give up on productivity for today. Particularly because sewing when I'm tired and irritable means that I will do a quick (crappy) job, and I am supposed to be getting better at this, not cheating.

So... kinda did stuff, but could have done more, had TLC not thrown horrifying people in my face for hours. (I also watched PREGNANT AND IN PERIL, which was really not as interesting.)

On a brighter note, I've been writing everyday before bed, except when I am not home / when company is over. All summer, actually. I am pretty proud of myself for that. Also, this is funny.

just an average zoo date

Well! The zoo was fabulous. Saw the whole darn thing in only five hours! (This is a big deal. The Cleveland Zoo is kinda big. And full of animals.) I didn't do anything else because I figured that wandering around for five hours is enough / I am tired and my body hurts / I'm watching Weeds on Netflix, okay?!

Anyway, so the zoo had lots of great things and here are some highlights!

There were instructional signs for the safety of animals:

There were informational signs on the animals themselves! This one showed different ways condors had to deal with being almost extinct / dying:

(I added the frowny faces.)

And of course, there was wildlife! My favorite = dinosaurs.

Thanks for all the cool stuff, zoo! And a great time with friends which included not only dinosaurs, but also actual living animals, blue icees (and blue stained mouths, oops), and all sorts of walking in the beautiful Ohio sun.

Gotta watch television now lol!