New Fish

I have been busy, busy, busy but I did get a chance to photograph one of my new inhabitants. I got two of these and then three new mollies on the last purchase. The mollies were being shy so I'll have to post pics of them later. All are doing well, no sickly ones this time.

Adventures in Drying

For the last few months, I have noticed that I have to run the dryer for a full 60 minutes twice to get stuff to dry (even if the load is not huge, this is the case). I figured it had something to do with the voltage or the age of the dryer but when I told my friend K about it the other day, she said I should check the exhaust hose.


I had looked at it in the past and thought it was a bit large for the amount of distance that needed to be covered to reach the outvent but I figured that professionals put it in, so they must know what they are doing, right? Wrong...


I finally decided to pull the dryer out and find out if I could fix my issue on my own. Turns out, I could. I took about 3 feet off the hose and also took out a huge clump of lint that was up against the outvent. Now the dryer is drying in one turn of the clock rather than in two. I am sure I will have to clean it out again soon but I am hoping that the purchase of new towels was the main culprit in the fast fill up and that I won't have to clean it out too soon.

Drums Are Mostly Done

Well, I managed to get the drum body cut out and ironed on my third and final square for the quilting project. I have to do some detail stitching on it before I can add the drumstick but it should come out looking pretty nice when I am through.

We found another fabric store and this really cool kitchen store yesterday when we were out exploring. We had soba at this shop near the Ginowan 100 yen store that was awesome and I managed to find a few things to pick out from the store (big surprise there...haha). We also went to eat at this Thai place (that doesn't have a Thai person working there) that wasn't half bad. It wasn't the most authentic I have had (although that would be hard to do since the most authetic I have had is in Thailand or at my Thai friend's house), but it was still pretty good. I had a red curry chicken with rice that was yummy.

We have a few things that are coming up in the next few days to keep us pretty busy around here but I am sure that K and I will find time to laze around as well. I need for it to stop raining so I can get some yardwork kicked out as well as some exercise...the sidewalks are super slippery for walking fast (much less lunges) when it is raining or has rained recently.

We are getting a Thailand shipment in at one of the gift stores we frequent so I guess I will be checking that out next week and then there is a Sophi sale too that will be interesting to see. I don't know that I will get anything for sure but I would just like to at least look as what the options are.

Okay, have stuff to do....

Koi Are Done

Well, I am done with 2/3 of the basic quilting project....I have finished cutting out and ironing on the koi pieces to my blue background. I need to get with one of the other girls that has done this before because I know we are supposed to put our names on the square but I didn't know if she said just to write them on in permanent ink or if we need to stitch them on....

I'll post pics of the two squares I have as soon as I finish up some of my stitching on them.

New Art

I purchased this print from Kanda's BOQ gallery here (the link goes to the Tokyo gallery) last night at a meeting we had at the gallery. I wasn't expecting to buy anything but this one in particular really grabbed me because, like my Andrew Wyeth's, it has a story to it. I am sure there is a full story, but for now, I am content to look at it and imagine a story of my own.



I hope that some of my family can get over to the Portland Museum of Art to see some of this artist's other work. His name is Hiroto Norikane. He is supposed to have a collection there but I don't know if it is current or not.

He has some other pieces that I loved (and might have to get at future dates) and I also found another artist (Kunio Kaneko) that does wood block that I loved as well. This gallery runs auctions throughout the year as well so I am hoping to cash in on some of those. I would love to purchase some of the smaller prints as gifts.

Vomit Eater

I am sitting here trying to catch up on my morning email and comments when Chase (after woofing down her food) decides she needs to hurl. She does so, on the hardwood floor and as I start to get up to clean it up, she eats it all again.

I guess the first time was just not enough for her....

Fans Are Done

I picked three different squares to do for the quilt and I have finished the fans (they were the easiest to do). I am doing a little bit of stitching on the one I am keeping for myself as well as the one I will be donating to the charity quilt since everyone has to do their own stitching.

This is detail stitching on the "wood" part of the fan to make it a bit less 2 dimensional. I'll post a pic of it when I have completed the stitching for mine. I'll probably do the outline stitching too on the one we were donating since I don't know that anyone else will be up for it, but I'll have to check first to see if they want us to do that (who knows if they have a color of thread issue or not). The detail stitching I am doing by hand. I learned to do embroidery from my grandmother when I was a kid and amazingly enough still have some of those skills although I haven't embroidered in a while. I do cross stitches too but that is a different ball of wax....I just thought....I probably could use embroidery thread too instead of the regular thread I am using....duh!!! Oh well, I'll do it on the next one...haha gues that is the good thing about making 20 squares of each design, huh?

Making Changes

I decided I was sick of our template on the Finding My Happy Medium fitness blog so I changed things up a bit....might get around to doing the same thing here....would like to load my own header to it and I think that playing around with the other one has given me some ideas of what I can do.

I have had this template since I started this blog so it is definitely due for a change....I even change my myspace more frequently than that...haha.

Project Update

Along with other things I accomplished today, I managed to get all my fabric washed and ironed again. I also designed my squares and purchased the Wonderunder to start the construction of squares. We are now each making 20 squares of each design so mine better be easy or I am in for some work.

I am also in the process of making 4 pillow covers for my friend K's livingroom. She really loves Hawaii and we found this cool print when we were shopping for our quilt material so we decided it give it a shot. I have made them before my own throw pillows (I have Christmas ones I put over my regular pillows so I don't have to store a whole pillow). I use velcro to close them so they are also washable...they should be cute when I am done. I'll take a picture.

My back is pretty much back to normal....I am not weight lifting on it yet but other than that, I am back to exercising (except I failed today). I better get going so I can get to bed and get up and get started on things bright and early tomorrow. I would love to knock my squares out and at least two of K's pillows before too many days go by because I do have filing, taxes and a hoard of other things pressing on my To Do list....

Done Messing Around

Okay, today I am finished with messing around, procrastinating my life away.

I managed to get up at 6:30am (which is a feat when you don't have to get up that early), and went for a 2 1/3 mile walk. It started to sprinkle on me a bit while I was doing it but nothing I couldn't handle. I did my loop that takes me down near the beach and then back up through this cute park, and home through the sugar cane fields, mum farms and bull homes. It felt great to smell the ocean (not so much the bulls) and get some exercise in after having to take it easy for over a week now.

K and I were able to get a bit of the fabric we wanted for our squares yesterday. I found everything but the background for two of my squares. We are meeting a couple of the girls for coffee this morning and then hitting the shop again to see if we can get inspired. I will bring the fabric I have to match up and hopefully I'll come home with the right amount and can get started with my stuff. We found a really cool fabric for the Koi...it is going to be so cool.

I have some other errands to run as well but I hope to get some more exercise in this afternoon if I can. I don't want to overdo it on my first day but I also want to grab the inspiration while I have it and not let it slip away. I am tired of feeling fat and looking tired and worn out....time to get it into gear. I know from experience that just by working out, I will feel a million times better about myself, have more energy, get more things accomplished and definitely be less stressed. I also know that all of those things make me feel more positive and that comes through in your posture and face as well so there is really no reason to not get with it.

Memory and Friendship Project

Some of my friends here (girls I have known for a while and those from our bunco group) are attempting a friendship/memory quilt this winter. The idea is that each person picks an idea for a square and then makes a bunch of that same square and then we get to get together and give each other person one of our squares, so you end up with however many different squares to make a quilt from. Unlike the one pictured here, ours will be Japanese themed. We are also making one for auctioning to charity.

The process of making the square is relatively easy (no stitching required). You find a pattern you like and then hunt down fabric that will work with your pattern. Then you traces a pattern transfer the pattern onto the fabric and apply wonderunder to make it stick to the background, so all you are doing is cutting and ironing to make the square. Once you have all your new squares from your friends, it is on you to do the stitching around all pieces of fabric to secure them down in a fashion that will be uniform throughout the squares you now have. So to make the squares for everyone is really not that hard. I am signed up for three pretty simple squares (fans, taiko drum, and koi fish). I think it will be pretty fun and I have always wanted to see the process of making a quilt, in case I ever wanted to make one on my own in the future.

Oh, and to get the finished product, you need to actually do quilting or pay someone to finish the quilting part of it. I am hoping to get someone to show me how to do it so I can do it on my own when I am ready....but we will see.

I know I really don't need another project on my head but this is pretty simple and I only have to do the cut out and ironing part to meet everyone else's deadline. The finished project is then on me to do. So I can take my time on that if I want. We are planning to exchange squares near the end of February....

Getting Motivated

Well I made a dent in my to do list today and that always makes me feel better. I have to run shortly so I can get up to the post office before they close and mail all the stuff I just packaged up. I still am hobbling around a bit with the back thing but I am not going to let it completely deter me.

My friend really did a lot at her house to get some stuff taken care of and it has motivated me to do the same. I am hoping to do the flea market this weekend (weather permitting) and greatly reducing the amount of stuff that is in our laundry room so then I can declutter a bit around the house and overall feel better.

I plan to start working on the year end, filing and tax situation this week. I know I won't finish it all in one sitting but I need to get started or I will be scrambling before long to get it done and I hate that.

Sitting for long periods still hurts some so I am thinking that I just need to space out my sitting projects and go for some that require moving around or laying on my back...not hard to do, just have to make some adjustments.

Well, that is it for now, gotta run to the PO so I can get these things out and check that off my list....whooeeee!!!

Movies

One good thing about my back issue is that I am catching up on some movie watching I have needed to do. I have had one movie since July (yes, before we even moved here) and I finally watched it today. Thank goodness for Netflix or I would own the damn thing by now in late fees.

So my recommendations: If you haven't already, watch Mr Brooks and Letters from Iwo Jima....both are great flicks and I thoroughly enjoyed them even though I was alternating between the heating pad and ice packs through both of them...haha.

Mishka's Reading Update

Added my December books on today. Will try to get my year synopsis done in a few days....means trading all the posts over to Powell's from Amazon because I don't buy from Amazon anymore....I just don't have time to do it right now.

Hasta.

Back Strain

I managed to strain a muscle in my lower back doing absolutely nothing yesterday, and then stilll went out dancing with the girls. Needless to say, it is not healed by this morning, so I will probably not be online much in the next day or so because I want rest it up so I can get back to things I really need to do (like filing, taxes, computer cleanup, work on our wireless network, yardwork, exercising...etc), and sitting seems to hurt more than any other position.

So I guess it will be movies and motrin for a day or so and we'll see how things stand tomorrow or the next day. Have fun in blogging world.....

All It Takes

is a few days of cooler weather (cold by our standards here) to make those days in the 70s look awesome. We will be sunny and 70 today and then sunny and 73 tomorrow. I will try to get the yardwork and car cleanup done while I have the chance and I will spend as much time as I can in it and absorb some sun. I think before it got cold, I was a bit spoiled, thinking everyday was going to be gorgeous (which they are even when they are cold unless it is windy and raining sideways) and warm. Now I know, that for the next few months, I need to take advantage of the really gorgeous days because they are going to be much much rarer.

I better run, still in PJs at 8:44am and have to be at a friend's for birthday coffee and then lunch after starting at 10am....toodles.

Learn and Live (Barely)

Read this.....enough said.

_______________________________

Clarification so those that would worry, won't. I am fine. I accidently got some Pledge on the floor near a turn in our hallway the other day. I knew when it happened that it was going to be slippery for a few days. What I didn't expect was to come around that corner and have my feet go completely out from under me and end up on the floor on my side with my feet almost knocking over a shelf. If I had been elderly, I would definitely have a broken hip now but since I am not, I am fine. I don't even have any bruises but I thought I would (in fact I thought it would be my entire right side). I will probably have a worse bruise on my leg from running into a table chasing the cat a few minutes a go (no Pledge involved). I am lucky I didn't knock my head on the concrete walls and give myself a bump on the back to match the one on the front...haha.

Mishka's Late Friday Feast

Appetizer
Name 2 things you would like to accomplish in 2008.

Too many things in all different departments of my life, so I am going to list a couple that are not resolution types, just on the list of things to do.

Taxes, and pictures for my grandma (both of which I know I will get done)

Soup
With which cartoon character do you share personality traits?

The jury is out on that....I would guess like a mix between Daphne and Velma....

Salad
What time of day (or night) were you born?

I think early morning like 5:30am or something....

Main Course
Tell us something special about your hometown.

The park downtown has so many different parts of it that each have a different feel. You can visit it day after day and never feel like you are seeing the same place over and over.

Dessert
If you could receive a letter from anyone in the world, who would you want to get one from?

My love.