Dear California,
It should not be easier to take away my civil rights than to raise property taxes. This is no way to run a state.
Fuck you very much,
.nicole.
My parents very awesomely gave me a nice, fat check for my birthday this year. Right now I’m just leaving it in my savings account in case of emergency. I probably won’t get around to spending it until next March, after I get my student loan check for next semester.
This is kinda a boring post because I’m just making up a mental list of big ticket items that I’ve been wanting for a while. But I really need to write these things down so that I don’t just up and buy whatever pops into my head in a couple of months.
Stuff:
1) A new camera. So I have the most awesome camera ever right now. But it is huge and heavy and really, really loud. It would be nice to have a 35mm camera again. Or maybe a medium format TLR. If I get a TLR then I’d save on film since I’d use the same stuff as I do for Hazel. I lost my 35mm cameras in the mail last October and I’ve been wanting a new one ever since. Rangefinders tend to be cheap, right?
2) A new tiny laptop. I’ve needed a Windows machine the last 2 semesters and have been getting by using an 8 year old laptop that my brother gave me. I guess there isn’t much library software that works on Macs? I could very well need a windows machine for my next 2 semesters. Also, an ultra light weight laptop that would be easy to lug around would be super keen.
3) A new bike. Right now I have my Giant Bike of Dutch Doom and Les’s old commuter bike. Les’s bike is fine. I use it to get to and from class on Thursdays and anytime I need to take a bike on public transport. Thing is that 1) it is my ex’s bike and it would be better if I had my own and 2) it is a tad big for me. I can’t take the giant bike on public transport, so I really need *something*.
4) A stand mixer of my very own. I’ve been using Les’s stand mixer since January. I tend to use it twice a week when I bake bread, so this is actually something I’d miss *a lot* when I have to give it back. (I really should already have given it back but 1) Ellen said she never used it 2) Les is out of the country and can’t use it and 3) I really do use it twice a week.)
5) Various odds and ends. I don’t own a tripod (got lost in the mails) or a light meter. I could use better boxes to keep my photos and negatives in. My preservation management class has made me much more worried about how I store my photos than I already was. Eeeee. Also, I’m pretty sure there’s a bunch of other stuff around that I need to fix that I haven’t gotten around to yet.
I’m 30, y’all.
Today my plans include getting breakfast with T and Alex and then going to SF and hanging out.
Aaron’s making dinner this evening. I’m going to be seeing some of you there. Woot!
I totally finished sewing my quilt today. Last Sunday I put the back on and added the batting. Today I stitched the pieces together. I continue to suck at sewing straight lines, but I think the quilt looks ok anyway. I look forward to napping underneath it frequently in the coming months.
I really enjoyed making the quilt and I’ll probably make another soonish. Although in the future it would be nice to get those weird clip things that help keep the quilt rolled up while you sew. And walking foot would be really helpful in keeping the fabric moving. I had trouble with it getting stuck while I was sewing.
In other crafty news, I’ve been totally slacking on getting this pair of mittens I promised Sarah knit up. Like, ten months worth of slacking. Ug. I think I’m going to implement a “no crafty items for others” policy for the foreseeable future. I just can’t manage to get things done with any speed.
I am planning on going back to knitting, however. My birthday is coming up and I’ve decided to give myself the gift of sweater yarn. I’m hoping a new project will get me motivated to finish Sarah’s mittens. And working on and off on a sweater for year seems less stupid than starting and stopping a bunch of tiny projects.
(The no crafty items for others rule does not apply to baked goods or photos, by the way. I can get things baked or printed in reasonable amounts of time.)
So somehow I managed to buy twice as much batting as I need for my quilt. I’m not sure what to do about this.
I have the urge to just fold it in half, sew up the edges and use all of it. However, I’m not very experienced with this whole quilting thing. The Brompton flight bags that I made earlier this year used two pieces of thick canvas and a single layer of the same batting. I had huge problems with my machine creating stretched out, loose stitches on the bottom. I’d rather not have that happen again with my quilt and I’m worried that a thicker batting layer will cause me problems.
My other option is to just use the extra batting on a new quilt. The only thing about that is that I’m making a twin-sized bedspread and I’d rather make a larger quilt next time. Plus I don’t know if I’ll make another quilt in the near future. I’ve really enjoyed doing it, but I think I might invest money in yard for a cardigan instead of fabric for a quilt.
So, people who’ve made these before, what do you think I should do? The batting I have is thin 100% cotton. It’s really very easy to work with what with being flat and even and all. Is doubling up on the batting a horrible idea?
Also, should I invest in a walking foot? I get how it’ll be easier to quilt with one. However, $30-$40 is kinda a lot of money for me right this second.
I’m making this extra large “twin” sized quilt. It is the first one I’ve ever made and so far I’ve really enjoyed it. I spent the last two Sundays cutting out fabric and sewing up the squares. I’m done with the squares and now I just need to…do everything else. So far I’ve really enjoyed making this quilt. I’m horrible at sewing garments so I was worried that doing something as big as a quilt would be terrible. But it turns out that I actually like making quilts.
I bought the batting and a couple of twin sheets for backing fabric today. I’m constantly frustrated with how much fabrics and yarns cost. I always end up spending more money making something myself than just buying an inexpensive version of whatever it is at a store. I guess what I make tends to be nice and with fewer third world children involved in the making. But still. It would be nice to save money, too.
Speaking of money, it’s been tight, tight, tight round these parts. Student loans, man. You don’t live like a king. But I think that the budget that I’ve set out for myself is actually do-able, thank god. I’ll have enough left over at the end of the semester to carry me into the next one without freaking the hell out. Woot.
I really should start looking for full time employment. I applied for a job at Mills a couple of weeks ago, but I don’t think I’ll even hear about getting an interview for a week or two. I guess I should really be applying for jobs now if I want something to turn up in December. Blech.
Tonight I’m going down to Santa Clara to hang out with Sarah Doty. Tomorrow morning I have class in San Jose.
Way to terrify my first thing in the morning, California!
I really thought Schwarzenegger was just fucking around with the whole budget crisis thing. :/
Ok. So here’s the clip of Palin being unable to talk about Supreme Court cases. It wasn’t so much that she wasn’t able to name one, she just couldn’t talk about any one with enough knowledge to say she disagreed with it.
But she *does* manage to babble about local control. Which…is she talking about Brown here? For real. When do conservatives like to talk about local control? School boards teach creationism, abortion (they don’t actually favor local control in that case as the late pregnancy abortion ban that Congress passed shows), and segregation. They do not favor local control when it comes to gay marriage or some medical pot, to bring up some current issues where you’d think States Rights would come into play. States Rights = Brown. Legislation from the bench = Roe. Yes?
I know I’m, like, assuming that she had some kind of point. And that when she talks it means something. But still. Is there some *other* decided-on-a-local-level issue that she could be talking about that I’m not thinking of? I guess she could be talking about Lawrence v. Texas, but somehow I doubt she’s even aware that sodomy laws aren’t allowed anymore.
(The bar has been set so low for this woman that I’m just happy that this was the question she couldn’t answer and not “quick! name a Supreme Court case!”)
I hear people freeze can freeze cookie dough. Does this work with any drop cookie? I want to make ginger cookies. There’s a lot of butter, a couple of eggs, and molasses.
I’d rather bake myself 2 cookies at a time than 2 dozen all at once, you know?
Oy. So Les and I broke up this week. Or last week. Or something. I haven’t wanted to talk about it with anyone before, well, right this second because I didn’t really know how everything was going to shake out.
But really, Les has treated me pretty shabbily these last two weeks and I’m not inclined to forgive him for it. And I don’t think he’s really inclined to care much about what I’m inclined to do.
I don’t want to go into more detail here. But I’ll happy rant over a cup of coffee next time I see you.