Monday, August 25, 2008

Dorkathlon

Finally, all those years of being teased and bullied by the cool kids are going to pay off!
I am SO in the Dorkathlon, people!
I mean, you used to read my 8th grade diary, right? I left off at 9th grade, during the Mike Pirnik Unrequited Love Months, right? Remember all those dumb things I used to write? There's 3 more years of that, and some of those years are heavily Smiths and Cure-influenced! Some diary pages have candle wax from my "I am obsessed with flames" stage!
Maybe it's time to whip that baby back out and stop blabbing about my garden or sewing or Maggie.
I could start in on my infertility woes, but...hmmmm...Dorkathlon or uncomfortable topic? Dorks trump incalcitrant reproductive parts every time. (and that's the second time today I used the word "trump" as a verb)

Vote for me. You will not be disappointed, my friends.

Saturday, August 23, 2008

Woo hoo!

I was pleasantly surprised at Tower Grove Market this morning by my friend Dana. Apparently, Squaresville was mentioned in The Daily Sauce last week. Figures that I canceled their daily newsletters!
I'm so glad to see that they noticed the "meticulous" craftwomanship. I do love some meticulosity.

http://www.thedailysauce.com/issue/L/3822

And now to: add the rest of my inventory to my Etsy site, do laundry, finish a pair of pants, sweep the floor, think about trimming back the tomato and gourd vines, make chocolate zucchini bread, grocery shop and run a package to a customer.
Maybe I'll just make some iced coffee and bask in my glory.

Oh, while I'm here, I need to let you read about my friend's battle with her insurance company over her adopted child. It's completely crappy how companies are just in it for the money. Where are the businesses that use The Fred Factor?
Here's the website for the adoption/insurance woes.

Now back to that coffee...

Thursday, August 21, 2008

*yawn*

So very tired...

In a nutshell, I went to lovely Lewiston, Maine last Thursday for a wedding and flew back home Sunday and started school Monday. All this is after working super long days at school getting my classroom ready for the Youth of Tomorrow, mind you.
Maine was wonderful, as it was last year. I stayed with my dear old pal Kate in her new creaky and well-loved house. There were kitties, there was a cemetery full of crows, and there was the obligatory lobster.
The wedding was nice. I even got a manicure and an emergency dress for the rehearsal dinner! In times of stress, I totally snap into calm, cool and collected. "The General", you might say. I got to do that this weekend and it was fun. I even got to read Corinthians 2 during the service and did not get shaky or stuttery. Sweaty hands, but nobody saw them.
I'm the short one with the granny purse, not the statuesque cutie in the palest blue silk dress. (Sorry, Kate, but we'll never be sexy. We're cute to the end! Besides, sexy takes too much work) This was taken shortly before it rained, a la Guns'N'Roses video of "November Rain". Did you know Rikki Rachtman was the guy who dove under the table in that video? Neither did I. Let's just hope this marriage turns out better than the video one.

While pics were being snapped, I walked around the church and thought you might like these pics.
The Androscoggin River ( I think):


And a rustic barn and patch of monarda:
I drank spiked punch at the reception. Well, one sip. One sip was enough for my brain to yell, "DO NOT SWALLOW THIS POISON THAT SHAUN HAS OFFERED YOU" so I listened to my poor brain for once. It fears weddings with open bars.

After the reception, I hung out with some old Boston friends at a coffeehouse. Some band from New Hampshire was playing and the drummer looked just like a smaller Matt. Shaun bought me a tasty beer and we all felt old.

I spent the night in the same apartment we stayed in last August. In the middle of the night (or wicked early morning at this point), I opened my eyes and saw a man standing in my room with his arms crossed. Not threatening or anything, but it startled me enough to close my eyes and keep them this way. Ghost? I didn't have my glasses on, but he was so clear in the dark shadows. And how could I see anything without my specs? I don't know if I was dreaming or just deliriously tired, but it was cool.
The betrothed couple liked their gift ( and I think it was the coolest) and modeled it for me. Watching them explore the thousands of one-inch squares and seeing Kate recognize so many fabrics really made my whole trip.
Awwwww.....

The whole weekend made me really appreciate Matt and what an awesome person he is. Somehow we have gone two years without a major or minor argument. It's rare that we use a harsh word with one another, and if it happens, it's usually me retching about soggy corn flakes in the sink ( the only thing that makes me vomit). How is it that people who are perfect for eachother find eachother? Do we have options and one of them arrives in our lives?
Besides being on time at the airport, he had done laundry, cleaned the skanky bathtub and run the dishwasher! We won't discuss that he let my potted plants out front die.....the geraniums will make it, but the lovely scented pennyroyal is done for.

School has been okay so far. Already, I've discovered some knuckleheads! Where's my 2 week honeymoon?
I'm also mildly stressing about making enough product for the multiple craft affairs coming up. Strangefolk, Tower Grove, Rock and Roll Craft Show, blah blah blah. Part of me just wants to say "Eff it" in order to avoid the anxiety. But, the other half wants a new tattoo. Give me some motivation, people!

My whole self, though, wants to just sit on the porch and eat ice cream right now, so off I go.

P.S. The other day a squirrel freaking chewed through a screen on the porch to get to the container of bird seed I have out there. Then, he couldn't find his way out and ran circles around the porch, knocking over many plants. If he had broken my vintage McCoy planter that matches my mother's, he would have been a dead squirrel. Finally, he figured out that I had propped the door open and he zipped out, bypassing the steps. Just a big leap and he was gone.
Bastard! Next time I won't drag the dog off him! She might be down 2 teeth, but she's ready for blood!