New Project + Camping

Last summer my friend, Kelli, offered to give me her old motorcycle. It's an '82 Suzuki gs650. It has not been started/ridden in five years. So it is kind of rough shape. I did not work on it last year. I intended to get it moved to Fairmont so I could work on it in my mom's garage. That never happened, so this summer I asked if I could just work on it in the storage garage where it is currently at. Last week I started on it.

I removed the battery and spark plugs, took off the gas tank, and took off the carbs. I will need to get rid of the old gas and try to change the oil. That might be challenging. I have not checked the oil, but it's probably a thick sludge that will be hard to drain. I am currently trying to clean up the carbs. I have not gotten too far into it. I need to get a special screwdriver to help remove some of the jets.  I have also encountered a pin that I can't seem to get out which holds the float in place and I'd really like to get that figured out so I can clean the whole thing a bit better. There are 4 carbs. So far I've only looked at the one. I am hoping the rest do not have the same issue. We shall see.

I also went camping last weekend and the this one. Over memorial day, I went to Minneopa where I met a really fun couple who gave me and my friend a cribbage board, a ton of food, and fire wood. Yesterday I went to Rapidan. It poured rain which got under my tent. It was so bad that it felt like I was on a water bed. The friends I was with and I all ended up bailing and going back home. I had to go back today to get my soggy gear. It was fun before that part though. I am hoping to get a lot of camping in the year.

Mmmmmmotor Vehicle.

I'm quite tardy in posting this, so most people already know: About a month ago, I bought a new car.

My old car was getting a bit rough. There was a lot of work that was going to need to be done eventually to keep it drivable. So it was either sink money into that, or use the money towards something newer. I opted for the latter. I also never mentioned that my old car was hit when it was parked at work one day this winter. The person left a card, and I was able to get an estimate and get some money out of the situation. I never bothered getting the car fixed. It wasn't worth it, so I used the money towards the new car.

I didn't want to take too many pictures because some weird guy was outside smoking and looking at me funny. But this photos give you the gist of it. It's a 2012 Mazda 6.

I have named it Ben. So far, he has been treating me very nicely. I traded my old car in. They gave me a little more than I was expecting, so that was nice. The morning before I left to buy the new car, I caught a mouse that I had discovered was hiding out somewhere in the front end. I am also pretty sure the mouse chewed through some wiring while he was in there. My battery light kept coming on. When I took the car in to get it tested, they could not find anything wrong. The light would come on randomly and go off randomly, so I think the wiring was chewed through enough that it would lose connection a bit from time when things got jostled while driving. I feel a little evil for having not mentioned that when I traded it in, but I figured they are making bank on the whole deal anyway, so I only feel just a teeny bit bad.

In other news, I am still making booties. Though I keep only half making them. I have several unfinished sets. I did sell one pair on Ebay, but didn't make much. I have another pair listed too because, hey, why not? Anyone want to buy some booties?

Ch Ch Changes....

I rearranged my living room because I got bored. It basically turned back in to the same room I had when I first moved in to this apartment. I like it though. And I got a shelf at good will for $5 that put up to display some stuff.It's a good thing the shelf is large, because it took three nail holes to get the shelf to stay level, but the big shelf coves all the holes I made. I don't have a real leveling tool so maybe that made it more difficult...

I moved my television, so I decided to move the wall decorations that I made to the little nook above my sewing area. I think I actually like them there better anyway, so that really worked out. 

I also got a new piece of furniture for my bedroom. My friend Ryan who made the dresser in the previous post made me a chest/night stand with the spare wood he had. I really like it a lot. It is taller than my old one and a little wider as well, so all my extra blankets fit in there and it is more convenient for holding all of my nightly needed items like the alarm clock and water bottle. I will hang on to my old one for extra storage, but the new one is really great.

I made some new booties for fun. I listed them on Ebay, but I don't think they will sell for much. But it's not really a bid deal since I made them for fun anyway.
 I did some fishing this weekend. I had a really nice time, but I did not catch anything. My friend caught a nice sized crappie. Hopefully I will be able to make it out a bit more this season than I have the past couple years.

Booties

A friend from work asked me to make her some baby booties for a shower gift. She gave me a few pictures for reference, and I found a pattern online that was similar to what she wanted. I ended up thinking they were so cute and fun to make that I decided to make a couple pair for fun. She is also raising money for the March of Dimes, so I made an extra pair for her to sell and keep the money as a donation. I took a picture of one on a dollar bill for a size comparison. They are super small. I was thinking of making some to try to sell, and also thought I could make some along with a bib and burp rag as a little gift basket to donate to a silent auction. The only auction I am currently aware of though isn't until September, so I have a little time. I've been making a lot of bibs and burp rags for a coworker who is leaving to start home day care. I am not quite finished with everything, but when I'm done she will have 12 bibs and 9 burp rags. I will post pictures of those when they are completed. If someone walked into my apartment right now, they'd think I have baby fever will all the baby stuff I've been making.

Catching Up

I haven't blogged in awhile. I'm going to do a bulleted list with photos of the goings on in my life of late:

- I went on a quilt retreat. It was a lot of fun. I made this:

 

 It's just the top, but I hope to finish it someday soon. 

- I also made this for my friend Donna's daughter. It's a dress up doctor jacket thing:

 

- I also finished this crocheted blanket (not at the retreat):

 

- I got this cool, hand carved owl statue in Mexico. It was my souvenir. Dan wanted to see it:

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 - My awesome and handy friend Ryan suprised me with this custom made dresser. It is amazingly nice.  He designed it himself.

 

- I've been making a lot of pizzas lately. My new things are barbeque chicken pizza and single serve frozen pizzas

- My best friend in Mankato is moving to Australia in three weeks. I will miss her.

Mmmmmmmexico

I'm not doing so well on keeping up with the two-post-a-month thing. Oops. If you cared, you'd comment.

Feb 1st I left for my first big girl vacation. I traveled to Mazatlan, Mexico with a friend I used to work with and two of her friends. We stayed at the El Cid Resort. It was an all-inclusive stay, so I stuffed my face the entire time I was there. I honestly gained 3 pounds that week.

We spent a ton of time on the beach. We also went to the Marina a few different time for food, sunsets, and the bringing in of the fish. We took a city tour that talked about the history of the city and showed some historic statutes, churches, and famous shops. On Wednesday we went to the Mexican Fiesta in which there was a whole variety show style supper with a huge variety of food, historical cultural dances, mariachi bands, games, and auction, and horse dancing. And lastly, we spent some time at the market down town where the locals do their day-to-day shopping, and at another small, touristy one near the resort.

I had a really awesome time there. I miss getting to use Spanish. I've forgotten basically everything I learned in high school which is sad.

Our room was amazing. It was bigger than my apartment. Two bedrooms. Three bathrooms with three full showers. Plus an extra shower room with sauna. Jacuzzi on the balcony. Murphy bed in the living room. We didn't have to spend too much time in there though, because the weather was AMAZING the whole time we were there. Sunny and 85 everyday. I really lucked out. 

In the photos below: 1 - view from the resort balcony. 2. The group I went with on the beach 3. Sunset at the marina 4. Sunrise from the balcony at the front side of our hotel room 5. pig heads at the market
 

Saying Goodbye. And Beer

My friend Erin is dating a girl from Australia, Catalina. They met when Cat was vising friends in the US and fell in love in a storybook-like way. Erin was able to visit Cat in Australia for a few weeks this summer, and in October, Cat was able to come to the US for three months. During this time I was able to get to know her, and we became friends. She had to go back to Australia last week. It was sad to see her go. Erin plans to move to Australia as soon as her house sells. It will be hard to say goodbye to Erin when the time comes. But their story is an amazing one, and they belong together. As a bonus though, I now have good incentive to visit another continent. Someday in the hopefully not too distant future, I hope to visit them both. In the meantime, I'll enjoy the time I have with Erin while she is here and help her pass the time until she's able to reunite with Cat.

In other news I went to the Craft Beer Expo in Mankato this weekend with Court. I am not really a craft beer lover. Court is, so I bought tickets for his birthday figuring it would be a good way to experience more types of beer. I usually have to stick to lite beers in order to find things I like, but I had a fun time sampling all the varieties out there. There were over 50 vendors. Most stations had 2-3 samples each. I kept track on the little map in the brochure they handed out of which stations has beer I liked. Most were no-gos but there were a couple that I enjoyed. By the end however, basically everything was tasting about the same - pretty awful. I think I've had my fill of craft beers for awhile. I plan on sticking to my miller and bud lites for the next few months. If I go again next year though, I plan on taking a leaf from the books of the experienced expo-goers. They made necklaces with pretzels on them to snack on between samples. They provided two benefits: Palate cleanser, and sobering agent. I definitely could have use both of those.