Homemade Xmas Goodies

I had a few request for gifts again this year. Annette wanted some more pillows. I made her a few in high school and some more last year. She like the fabric on them, so she wanted some more.She didn't give me any instructions on fabric colors, so she wound up with this.  I think they are kind of gaudy, but hopefully she won't. I blame my odd color selection on being at Joann Fabrics at 7am on a Saturday taking advantage of their holiday discounts. The third pillow (the one in the solo picture) is a little more toned down. I think the plaid fabric just got to be a bit too much.

The second request was for several pairs of slippers. I made a few in my normal way, which essentially just ends up looking like a big crocheted sock. But then I decided to try using a patter for ones I made for my grandma. I think they look kind of silly too, but as long as they fit an are warm I suppose they are doing their job.

Quilt Club Xmas Swap

This year at quilt club I participated in the x-mas gift swap. I was not able to do it last year because I missed the meeting where they discussed the plan, and so I had no idea what was going on. This year I was prepared. I made sure to figure things out in time to get involved. The way it works is everyone who wants to participate brings three fat quarters in a paper bag. They all get set on a table. Then you randomly take someone's bag. You have to make some soft of gift out of the fabric that you get in the bag you picked. It can be anything at all that you want to make for the person. There was a wide variety of things that people made: bags, wall hangings, oven mitts, aprons, wine bottle covers.

 The bag I picked was for Robyn. I don't know her really well, but I at least knew who she was (which sometimes is a feat in itself considering there are 100+ members in the guild) My blog is still being stupid and rotating picture when I tell it not too. So I apologize for making you need to see the chiropractor. I wasn't sure when I was going to do with the panels. Since it was such a weird number to work with, I abandoned my original wall hanging plan and made the pot holders.

I received this really cool "book club bag. It's got a zipper pocket on the inside and place for a cell phone and a pen. And it's a great size for a book....hence the name. The lady that made it for me (Sandy) made it with another lady from guild, so another person got the same bag in different colors. I like mine better :)

I also was on the snack committee for this month and brought in some yummy cookies and pop for punch. It was a nice little meeting. Now I have to get working on an idea for the challenge fabric. We reveal in February I think, so after I make something I"ll write a post with a photo of what I cam up with.

The Uggo Xmas Sweater

My mom's side of the family does a drawing each year to see who will buy for whom for xmas. Back in August my cousin Orry told me that he was going to rig the drawing so that I got his name. His special request was going to be that I crochet him an ugly xmas sweater. He wanted it to look like the sweater from the live version of "How the Grinch Stole Christmas." http://media.liveauctiongroup.net/i/13062/13226707_1.jpg?v=8CF201495BE22F0

After several months of working on and off, I finally finished the sweater. It's not quite the same. I am really not sure how well it will fit since I didn't have a decent size reference or pattern, but hopefully it works well enough for his purposes.My computer was being stupid and rotated the picture. I didn't feel like figuring out how to fix it, so please turn your head.

I plan on giving him the sweater at Thanksgiving so he can wear it before the actual holiday for any ugly sweater parties he might have. I'll try to get a picture of him in the sweater once I've given it to him.

Runless

I've been training to run the half marathon on Oct. 20th since August. I had made it up to 12.75 miles. (A half is 13.1) Then on Sep 29th, I did a long run in the morning. In the evening my foot started to hurt. A lot. I went to urgent care the next day for an x-ray. It didn't show anything, but I have been unable to even walk without discomfort since then, up until the last couple days, when the pain finally started to ease off.

I tried running today. I only went a mile. It wasn't awful, but I am definitely not better. And the pain was worse afterwards just walking. If I am even able to run at all, I will have to downgrade to the 10k. It is kind of disappointing. I was so confident that I could do it, and proud of what I had accomplished. I guess I will have to settle for achieving last year's desire to run the 10k. Maybe next year I can do the half. I'd rather be able to run some rather than not at all, so I am not going to push myself.

I've been using the stationary bike at the gym. It definitely does not give me the same results or gratification, but it doesn't hurt my foot and it's better than nothing. And I can work my brain doing crossword puzzles or reading, so I guess it's not a total loss.

Lord, I was Born a Traveling (wo) Man

I checked my mail today, and my passport had arrived. On Feb 1st I will be traveling to Mazatlan with my friend Jill and two of her friends. I will be staying in a super sweet resort with a wrist band that gets me free drinks and meals. I don't have to pay a dime for all of this. All I have to pay is the ticket to get there and any souvenirs that I might want. I also had to get my passport, but I have ten years to make that $132 worth my time.

This will be the first time that I am leaving the country. Really the first time I've ever done anything more adventurous than going to NY and NJ which I did in 2005. I think it will be amazing, and I'm very much looking forward to it!

The New Job

I started my new job on Wednesday. So far I am feeling pretty good about it all. My new desk is super far tucked away in a little nook in the basement of the hospital. It's kind of creepy getting to it. There are also a bunch of unused hospital beds right outside the door. A couple of them have full-sized practice dolls on them, so every time I walk out of the bathroom and see them out of the corner of my eye, I jump a little thinking there is a dead patient laying there. I showed Donna where I am at. She likened the area to scenes from The Stand and The Walking Dead. That didn't to much to make the area seem less creepy, but it is fun to day dream about it when I'm down there.

The work is ok so far. It is definitely going to keep me busy. There are lots of phone calls that interrupt work, so I have to work on that balance of finding good stopping places and prioritizing. I think I will like it a lot once I get faster and more efficient, and more comfortable with all the programs I will be using.

A couple of nurses at work got me a very nice bouquet of flowers and a balloon as a going away present. It was partially a joke because the balloon had a huge smiley face on it and flowers are so girly. At work I'm pretty well known as a cynical and dry humored person who is not super smiley. However, the gesture made me smile a lot, so it was kind of ironic and very nice of them. :)

New Stuff

Today I played in the First (Annual she said hopefully) Farrow Family Golf Fest. A good-sized group of the Farrow clan got together at the golf course in Elmore. We played a fun best shot, 9 hole tournament. The weather wasn't the most cooperative, but we got most of the holes in without rain. We ended up stopping on hole 8, but I think it was still good. Afterwards we had supper and delicious ice cream cake and good conversation. I really hope that we do this every year.

On another note, I got a new job. I will start on Aug 28th. I am staying within the Mayo system, but now I will be working in the Release of Information department. My title is "release of information technician." Basically I will be completing records requests that are submitted by patients for personal use, to be transferred to other clinics, or sent to insurance/employers/etc. I am excited to start. I have been needing a change of pace for a long time now. I am not sure what exactly to expect from it, but I think that it will be a good switch for me.