I took the opportunity of a slow-moving day spent lazying around in my pajamas to finish my coffee cozies! Actually, I finished weaving ends in and making ends meet last night - today was spent packaging them up. I will be sending them off in a few days, I suspect. I'm so excited! I can't wait for the recipients to use them!

Oh, and then there was my other project for the day: frogging my shawl. I hadn't worked on it since I posted about it, and honestly, I'm just not a shawl kind of person. I've decided that I'm going to use this yarn to make the baby blanket (because if I don't, I will NEVER get rid of it, and will continue to frog anything I make with it like a crazy person with a nervous tick). I found a cute pattern, which I'm not going to reveal because I've also noticed that I have a terrible indecisiveness when it comes to finding a pattern, sharing it, and then realizing that I don't want to use that pattern. What a waste.

I've been meaning to change the look of this theme for weeks now. Really, I have. I had full intention of doing it today, until I realized that I really need to get these coffee sleeves out of my sight before I ended up never sending them at all. Soon, my dears. Soon. Until then, good night!

It's official. My orientation for the Nursing program is on the 14th of March. Excited? Yes. But also a bit sad. I won't be able to work more than 24 hours a week for the next 2 years - that's a major wage cut for me! Not that I'm the kind of person who is used to buying extravagant things; but Chris and I are fortunate enough to be able to afford, more or less, anything we want.

On top of me not working as much during school, Chris will be receiving a fairly substantial pay cut as well when he gets out of the military and goes to the police academy this fall. We will be ok financially, but we won't be able to have much fun in the process. I doubt that either of us will have time for fun and games, though (outside of the bedroom, that is...). And what doesn't kill us makes us stronger, right?

Right.

I try to stay optimistic about our life, and thank God for all we do have (rather than bitch about what we lack). But these next few years just seem so daunting to me. I just have to remember that this, too, is temporary. And that money, as important as it is at times, isn't everything.

Anyway, the reason why I brought this Debbie Downer moment up is because today was the first day I worked since Saturday. And I had to fight, tooth and nail, to get it! It happens quite frequently, actually - on the days that I have plans, I will get an early morning phone call from work asking if I can come in for a shift. Or, on a day or two stretch where I have nothing planned and no work for the week yet, they don't call me. At. All. I what you would call "on-call" status, especially this month, with my erratic schedule - I unfortunately couldn't give my availability to staffing so that they could give me definitive dates to work this month. So last night, I got a call from the night shift charge to come into work today - I said yes! She, I come to find out after waking up at 5:30 in the morning, thought I had said no. However, I was the one who had to stay, not the other CNA - it would have been her extra shift for the week, so it would be less costly to keep me on. Heh. And, I ended up getting work tomorrow as well. So much for the "dry spell". It lasted but a few days. That's really what I like about this job. I can sweat a little, thank goodness for all the days I have off, work it around my school schedule, and ultimately get enough hours that I need.

My mishap for the week. We all have them, every once in a while.

4 Jobs I've Had in My Life:
-Summer job in high school...
-Sales associate at Sears
-Cashier at a Japanese grocery store
-Certified Nursing Assistant

4 Shows I DVR (TIVO)
-One Tree Hill
-Gilmore Girls reruns
-Gossip Girl
-Good Eats

4 Places I've Been
-Yokosuka, Japan
-Ikego, Japan
-Riverside, California
-San Diego, California

4 Favorite Foods
-coffee-flavored ice cream
-shrimp fried rice
-tekkadon
-miso ramen

P.S. sorry for the lack of updates. I'm trying to pretend that I have an actual life... <3

I have a thimble in my sewing box, that I bought specifically for my left ring finger. I also have darning needles, embroidery needles, and embroidery thread in an assortment of colors! And, my crochet supply tote is actually a scrap booking tote. Heh. It's in cute colors, and it was on sale!

From Stitch Stirrers.

There are several things in life that get me all excited, and electronics is one of them. So today was a good day in respects to this; I finally have a wireless mouse, and guess what color it is! Black and dark pink, of course! I also bought my card reader - not as multi-faceted as my old one (it read 25 cards, I think; my new one only reads 5 main ones), but it seems to be a much better quality, and I'm making sure that I keep track of the warranty on it as well. Fa sho!

I also managed to go to Michaels without buying ANYTHING yarn/crochet related. I bought frame hanging supplies, candles/river rock for some holders I already had, and a pink photo box to store some loose photos in (once our book cases arrive and we start sorting through our boxes again, I don't know how many photos I'll find...).

I'm about to continue on adding to the coffee cozies I need to fix,]]> Tue, 26 Feb 2008 07:31:54 -0800 http://virb.com/juless/posts/text/484096 http://virb.com/juless/posts/text/481989 ARGH.

I honestly suck. I mean, I don't take pictures for like, ever. Don't upload the pictures that I never got around to uploading for like, 2 weeks. And now, my card reader is broken. Figures.

So Chris and I roll up into the parking lot of our local electronics store and, hello, the damn store is closed! So. Now, I'm anxious. I can't believe how much I took for granted the fact that I could upload my pictures whenever I wanted. Or, the fact that at one time, I had a computer with a built-in multicard reader. Stupid Mac. But at any rate... (more...)

Clean up Kona's borderline diarrhea that he so expertly flung onto the wall. It was really riveting, I tell you. I heard him digging to China in the litterbox, and since Mocha has that E-collar on, I have to keep the top of the litterbox off. So I get up to get him out of there, only to switch on the light and see a pile of poo in the sand, Kona positioned precariously above it, and a huge indentation in the pile. I look a little further, and I notice a huge chunk on the little bag I keep the litter scooper in (tucked neatly behind the litterbox, against the wall) and tiny fleck of soft poo on the wall. So I grab him, and do this silly 10-minute dance that we've done once before of getting the poo off his paw (luckily, it was just one paw).]]> Fri, 22 Feb 2008 08:29:21 -0800 http://virb.com/juless/posts/text/478013 http://virb.com/juless/posts/text/476015 While I usually have my laptop to keep my skinny thighs from turning to ice, today I have Kona to keep me company. Mocha has been keeping to herself lately, what with her gigantic collar Chris had named The Satellite Dish of Love. She isn't exactly the ideal lap cat right now, or pillow friend at night when one is trying to sleep.

The reason for her being our satellite dish for the next week is because she got fixed on Monday. She was stripped of all her inner female goods; therefore, she won't be going into heat (I've seen it in action, with a cat we had when I was younger. Not pretty... for men, anyway.), or escaping the house only to come home pregnant.]]> Thu, 21 Feb 2008 05:08:57 -0800 http://virb.com/juless/posts/text/476015 http://virb.com/juless/posts/text/476014 I found a blog/website reminiscent of The Friday Five, but for the crocheter! Every Sunday, there is a new prompt or challenge to answer. There are also monthly missions. Shall I attempt it? For now, I think I will!

What is/are your favorite thing(s) about crochet?

My favorite thing about crochet, is not so much physical as it is the mental relaxation I experience when I'm sitting there with my WIP. A close second is the look on a recipient's face when I give them something I made for them.

A hat! And boy, is it a colorful beauty! I don't know if it is the right size for me, per say, but it's a great accomplishment and took me, oh, 4 days of off-and-on crocheting? It's tasty, too. Mocha agrees. I used Please Login or Register to see the link. pattern. It doesn't fit me, as the pattern didn't have a gauge to go by, etc, but I'm still pleased by how I did on it. I guess I either have to crochet more loosely, or go with step 12-B and make it bigger.

But I also think I might turn this into a crochet blog, but I don't know yet. I don't know...

Everything else is in the vlog <3 enjoy.

Let's see, I tag...
Saha, JC (I don't think I've ever seen your desktop!), Barbs, Katie, Kayla, and Dani!