I have put off too much stuff for far too long. In order to have one more thing checked off my list, I am writing an update blog. Sorry for the list-like format and sorry to anyone who accidentally clicked on this blog hoping for some kind of interesting information. I have none. I have nothing of interest for anyone who is not a close friend, and even the most hardy of them will be hard put to refrain from yawning as they read this.
Last night at 8pm I was possessed of the desire for something sweet. Completely forgetting the fact that I had a new box of sugar free popsicles in the freezer, I decided to make chocolate chip cookies. It's been a while since I baked anything, so I simply followed the recipe on the bag of Toll-House chocolate chips to the letter.
I'm used to cooking for a higher elevation. Even in California I lived in the mountains and cookies just seemed to come out flat and floppy looking. This time I managed not to burn the cookies (insert pat on the back here) but they came out all...puffy. It was odd. Paul and I both looked at them with some distrust, but they taste ok. I think next time I'll have to flatten them a little bit before cooking so they don't come out dome shaped. And I must admit that while the Toll-House recipe is ok, I wasn't wowed. I'll be searching for a new recipe, or something to jazz up the current one. Let me know if you have any ideas you'd like to share.
I am trying to make a dress for a 40's wedding I am going to in July. I found a great period pattern - it's actually from the 40's, so I am sure of historical accuracy 
. Finding material for the dress is another matter entirely. I went to JoAnn fabrics, which is the only fabric store I am aware of in this area (aside form Wal-mart, and I found nothing there). I was hoping for a silk or even a polyester would do, and although I did find those fabrics the colors were just awful. What to do? I miss the LA garment district where you could find hundreds of fabrics at great prices. What to do? Looks like I can buy fabric online, but of course I have no guarantee of quality, feel, or even color. If I purchase something online I'll let you know how it goes.
Side note: Paul looks fantastic in his Zuit Suit. He looks like a gangster. I just need to take up the length of the pants, otherwise it's a perfect fit. Pictures will follow at some point!
The Howell Balloon Festival was this weekend. Pictures to follow shortly - don't ask. I'm technologically challenged and must rely on others for help. It was pretty darned cool to see all those balloons. More importantly I was introduced to a new type of craft - quilling. I don't' think I'd want to take it up, in spite of the fact that I have a desire for crafts that require long, painstaking hours of minute detail. It's pretty incredible to look at though. Basically it is where you take long, thin strips of colored paper, roll them up, and arrange then in a design. Here's an example of what I'm talking about, but believe me it doesn't do the art justice. It's something that must be seen in person: http://www.naqg.org/gallery[new]/index.htm. The lady that was at the fair this weekend had a booth and she was selling her work. Her most expensive work was $425, and if I had money to spare I would have purchased it. The "work" wasn't really my type of thing, but the amount of work and detail in it was something to behold, and worth every penny on that level. I hope she made some cash this weekend, she deserved it!
Looks like we might be going to Minnesota this weekend. We have a 4-day weekend and Paul's Dad is having a picnic. Looks like he's getting married so we really ought to go, and I do want to go, but as always traveling is difficult because of the dogs. If we take them, we'll have to take the truck and we won't have any air conditioning so we'll all be in hell. But if we don't take them it will cost us quite a bit to board them. We haven't yet found anyone to take care of them at our house - it's difficult to find someone willing to walk a 120 pound dog and a 65 pound dog twice a day...but she's just as sweet as pie. Too short notice to find someone...so we might be taking them. We'll have to see.
We've done nothing new on the house, other than to finish moving in a couple of weekends ago. Right now our biggest upcoming expense is going to be landscaping, so all money goes toward that right now. Next year we can start worrying about building a deck, building custom bookcases in the library, and buying new furniture. Our house looks like it have no furniture, and what we do have looks pretty shabby right now. But no money to replace it all, so it stays for a while. It's clean and functional and not too embarrassing, so I think I can deal with it for a while. I do wish I'd hurry up and win the lottery, though. Perhaps I should buy a ticket to speed things up?
My sister is pregnant. Gosh that is still so strange to me. Current thinking is that it's a girl, but I say it's a boy. The ultrasound is pretty inconclusive at this point, so it could be a boy. Whatever, I hope it will be healthy and I simply cannot wait to be an aunt.
Ah yes, and how could I forget? I'm training for a marathon. Sigh. It sounded so good at the time. I haven't actually done any running since Jr. High (other than running after the ice-cream truck) so I did scale back my initial enthusiasm and will only be running the 1/2 marathon rather than the regular 26.2 miles. This will be part of the Detroit Marathon. I plan to run several 5k's leading up to the event, and if I'm smart I'll buy new shoes (I only have trail runners right now). So far I've seen no change in my overall body shape (I was hoping for an overall reduction) but I do find that I can climb a flight of stairs without having to stop and rest halfway, so I guess progress is being made.
No writing is happening. How usual. Oh well. I'll try and get on it soon. Sometimes I really feel like...well, bad about myself. We'll leave it at that and I will try and do better in the future.
That's all from here. If you read this, drop me a comment and let me know how you are doing.