Planty Plants

I used to name all my plants, but they kept dying on me so I fell out of the habit since I was running out of names. Lately it seems like all my plants are thriving, so I decided I should pick the habit back up. In no particular order (keep in mind that some of these names are simple so that I can easily remember them): The aloe plant- Alleyna.  The light-colored philodendron: Phil- he's been around for awhile. The new, darker colored philodendron (featured in the first photo) is Betty. I just got her from work. Then there is the dieffenbachia named Earl. He was named a couple years ago when I got him. Next is Vern. I have no idea what he is, but I got him from a friend of a friend who was moving. Then there is this fern like thing I have that I thing might be called a croton (he's on the left in the second photo.) I named him Carlos. Lastly there is the Orchid which I've named Victoria since she makes a v shape.

This past weekend I took the motorcycle safety course. I am now officially a licensed motorcyclist. (I have been riding on a permit for the past three years.) Now I can officially and legally give rides to passengers, ride at night, ride on the highway and ride without a helmet (though I don't plan on doing this last one). It was a long weekend, but it was fun scooting around on the tiny 250cc bikes since I was so used to my bigger, 750cc bike.

The New Place 2.0

Last Thursday I (sort of) officially had my kitchen finished. They started the install on Monday and had a bunch of issues with it. So the installation that was supposed to only take two days ended up taking 4. The electrician still needed to come in to put an up to code electrical plate in on the sockets, and the jerks didn't clean up their sawdust mess, so I had to do that. But I think it's all done now. The only other things I need to complete my home are the closet doors whose eta is unknown, and a toilet paper holder for the cabinet in the bathroom.

It's been so nice to finally be able to cook normal meals, do the dishes in a real sink, and not have to dig through boxes to find a fork or tupperware.. I've already made bread and granola, and I might make some cookies soon too.

In other good news, my motorcycle is fixed. It has actually been done for a few weeks. I just haven't written about it yet. I got it all put back together and have taken it out a couple times. It seems to run really well and doesn't have the power issues and topping out crap that it was doing before. So apparently my attempt at being a mechanic worked out well which was a nice boost for the ego.

The New Place

Last weekend I moved into my new apartment. I had a lot of help from my friend Erin and my brother Jess. Thanks guys.

So far things have been going well, and I'm pretty happy with the place. In my last post I said there was an annoying incident that went along with the move. Here is what happened: I came to see the place at the end of February, and the apartment was ok but rather outdated. The manager told me that they had plans to renovate so the apartment wouldn't be available until april 1st. I was fine with that so I gave her the deposit. The plan was to repaint all the walls, get new carpet and linoleum, new lighting fixtures, and new sinks and cabinets for the bathroom and kitchen. About a 10 days before I was supposed to move in, the manager called and said the owner forgot to order the cabinets for my unit. Everything else was done but that, so they wanted me to move into a unit on the basement level for a month until my place was completed. I asked if I could just live without the kitchen for a few days, but she thought it would be too long for that having only running water in the bathtub. A couple days later she called and said the cabinets would be in a little sooner and they took the bathroom sink and cabinet from a different unit they were working on, so if I wanted to live without the kitchen finished for awhile, I could move in as planned. In an effort to make up for their giant mistake, they gave me the first month's rent free, and I demanded free parking for three months (it's an extra $20 a month for off street parking).
So I'm all settled in except for the kitchen which has several boxes of stuff waiting to be unpacked. The cabinets have been shipped now, so the kitchen should be done by Tuesday. (I'm also missing closet doors but assume those will be coming with the cabinets). I'll post more picture when it is completely finished.
I think my favorite things about the apartment are the nook for me sewing corner and all the windows with ledges for my plants. I get great afternoon sun and have room for a craft nook despite the place only being a one bedroom.

The Retreat

Last weekend I went on my very first quilt retreat. I was invited by Jan whom I have various odd connections to. There were fourteen of us total and the retreat was held in a renovated church in Granada. I was a little nervous because I'd never been on a retreat and didn't know most of the people there, but I ended up having a really good time.

One of the ladies there was actually and old high school teacher and another was the wife of a high school teacher. We had a lot of really good food, fun conversations, and a lot of sewing. There was even a st patrick's day visit to the local water hole where a fellow quilter bought me a beer.

I worked a lot on a quilt and got a decent portion of it done. I'm not sure how big I want to make it and since i'm about to move, it's sitting in quilt limbo. There is one spot where I messed up that pattern laying the pieces out, but I fixed when I sewed it all together.

Regarding the moving....yes, I'm moving....again. There is a whole story involved, but the cliff's notes version is that Andy is an asshole, we broke up, and I'm moving into a one bedroom apartment. I'll post some pictures once I get settled and share some info about an annoying situation regarding the place I'm moving into, but that will have to wait for another day.

The peeps.

So I guess my mystery cupboard game wasn't such a mystery and my guess concurred with what three other people thought. I said I would tell a story involving the first person to give me the answer or to come up with the most entertaining idea...but since there were three responses all agreeing on what it was, I will tell three little stories.

Jan - The very first quilt show I went to was the DVQ's (the guild i belong to) show last March. I figured the only people that I would know there would be people from the guild itself. Little did I know that Jan was there and she came and found me at the check-in desk to say hi. She said she specifically looked for my challenge project so she could vote for it. It made me happy to know that A) real people read this blog! B) real people read this blog and care about what I write about! C) Jan was going to vote for my project! I kind of felt like a schmuck for not submitting the piece, but it was still neat to know I would have gotten one vote. Thanks Jan!

Emily - In Fairmont there was this store called EZ Own that had this giant check list on the front window. It had three big boxes with check marks showing they had electronics, furniture, and appliances. One night Emily and I snuck to the store and added one more big box (with one of those washable window markers), but we left off the check mark and wrote "pick up dry cleaning" next to it. We are such vandals. This other time I forgot all my memories of Emily ever existing in my life and she got mad at me. Love ya Em.

Shanna - The closest my life ever came to seeming like a musical was when I was working at the mortuary with Shanna. She, myself and two other employees were working in the prep room with the radio on one day. Queen's "Under Pressure" came on and everyone started signing along. It was one of the most fun times I had working at the mortuary.

How Obnoxious.

This is the second time I've started a post with the intention of putting on a new Name that Tune video. However, my blog only lets me put on videos under 100 mb and my fancy new camera recording in High Def makes 30 second videos 110 mb. Sigh (and hence the name of this post). This is also the reason there was not a second post for the month of January. When my video didn't work, I got mad and didn't feel like writing anymore.

I've been selling some of the stuff i've crocheted to people at work. I made a couple scarves for my boss and one of the nurses and some mittens. These mittens are super small (about the length of my middle finger) and ridiculously cute. They are for my co-worker's one-year-old daughter. I made her (the mom) a pair and had some leftover yarn. I was going to make her a matching hat, but there wasn't quite enough yarn left so I decided to make the mini-gloves instead. Now they can have mommy-daughter matching gloves. Plus the kid likes to suck on her fingers so now she has finger access without her hand getting cold. Everybody wins!

There is this cupboard in the kitchen that has a mysterious metal thing in it. My goal for you is to tell me (or guess as to) what it is. I have no idea. It is on a roller thing so it can slide in and out of the cupboard, but it's is on of the cupboards against the wall and facing the "dining room" part of the kitchen, so besides oddly placed towel holder, i'm at a loss as to what it is. Whoever tells me accurately what it is (or makes the most entertaining guess) will get their name featured in the next post with whatever story comes to mind involving me and said person. I can't decided if that's a good prize or not, but it's all I can think of to award.

Mmmmbread.

I got a bread maker for Christmas. The very first loaf I made turned out like crap. It didn't rise at all, so it was basically a solid ball of flour. The second loaf, however, turned out quite nice (as did the third). So nice in fact that I took a picture...but it's not downloaded to my computer so you don't get to see it. I have been using homemade bread to make the sandwiches I eat at work. I want to find the perfect recipe for a whole grain bread. The one I used last was a whole wheat, honey oat bread. It is pretty good, but not the best.

I've been tinkering with my new camera. I think it's grown on me some. I took advantage of the big moon and the frozen river when it was nice out this past weekend. I'm glad I did because now it's too damn cold. I need to get a tripod if I intend to keep taking nighttime photos because the shutter stays open for a long time and i am bad at holding the camera steady and there aren't usually level things to set it on. I can get one for pretty cheap, but I haven't decided if it's worth it yet.