Cheery Cherry

2010-10-28T21:05:00.007-05:00

October has been a busy project month! Painting, Sewing, even some Metalsmithing (but those aren't finished - so no pictures - sorry!)

First up is Curtains I made for the windows in my apartment. The teal/blue and white ones are in the living room and the green and brown ones are in the bed room.

I made a set of Pillow cases for the new couch and love seat my boss got for the new Children's room at the store. Don't you love those bright colors!?!

The biggest project by far was the train I painted for the walls of the Children's Room. I was told to model the engine after the one in the book "The Little Engine That Could", to make 7 train cars, and to use bright colors. This was the result!

Craziness

2010-07-22T00:57:00.003-05:00

My, what a busy couple of weeks I’ve had! It’s been just CRAZY!!!

First I had to take Benz to the vet; he was sooo good. I put him in his pet taxi and he just curled up and watched me drive. Didn’t cry even once!! He has to go back next week for booster shots, so I hope he does as good then as he did this last time. The next day I went down to Pratt and watched Tyler and T’Lane play baseball. That was fun but tiring, I ended up with a few Mosquito bites (one of them swelled up to the size of a dime!)

A friend of mine saw some pictures of some of the quilts I’ve made and asked me to finish one that she had started. All I had to do was put a binding around the edge, got it done in one day. (I might mention that it was only a baby quilt so it went fast.) I also hung a curtain rod in my bedroom and made a curtain. Now I just have to hang one in the living room and make that curtain! (hmm . . . maybe I should plan to do that tomorrow.)

Today I found a leak! The hose going from the toilet to the wall was dripping water all over my floor! Luckily I was able to turn off the water to the toilet while I waited for maintenance to come. (Thank you Google!) 6 hours later they finally showed up and replaced the hose. It took them about 5 minutes. I would have done it myself it I’d of known I would have to wait that long! (ha there was a date on the old hose from 1995! No wonder it was leaking! The rubber washers inside were disintegrated!!!) I also baked some pumpkin bread and read a couple of plays that a friend recommended. The bread was good; the plays were not.

Benz is asleep behind me and he must be dreaming because his toes keep twitching! Mercedes is asleep on my foot stool, she all disgruntled because I changed the blanket on the chair she likes to sleep in. Apparently the new (clean) blanket is the wrong color, wrong fabric, and definitely the wrong smell! Oh well, she’ll get over it soon.

Kitties, Hips, and Art

2010-06-17T17:58:00.003-05:00

Since it's been almost 6 months since my last post I figure I owe you all an update of some kind.

I moved into my apartment at the end of January. It is wonderful to be living alone again!

In February I was given an 11 year old cat, her name is Mercedes and she makes me laugh almost everyday.

In March I added a tiny little kitten and named him Benz. He is full of so much energy! Although he's not really little anymore, he still manages to spend most of his time in trouble.

April resulted in a hip replacement surgery for my mom. The surgery was successful except for the fact that her femur was broken during the surgery. As a result she had to walk with a walker for 10 weeks, and is only now able to put some weight on that leg. She is walking with a cane now and has even driven herself to town a few times.

At the end of May one of the girls I work with quit. So we're all trying to get used to the new schedule; the hard part is that some one has been gone for one thing or another every week since!

Kayla and I recently found this awesome little stained glass shop by our favorite Chinese restaurant that offers classes! As soon as I can scrape up the money I'm gonna take a class! Their gallery room was so beautiful! There were pieces EVERYWHERE!!! There's no way we say everything; there's just to much! But so pretty!

I spend my free time working on quilts and getting my studio ready. Soon I'll be spending more time in the studio, playing with metal and a torch!

Moving! Hooray!

2010-01-19T22:51:00.004-06:00

I sign the papers for my new apt tomorrow!!! Hooray! I'm so excited! I can't wait to get reacquainted with all my stuff! (I haven't seen most of it in over a year!)

Book-A-Holic & Life with Tammy

2009-11-15T21:25:00.003-06:00

Definitely time for an update!

On August 30th I packed up my car with the essentials and moved in with my sis Tammy in Wichita. I started my new job at Book-A-Holic on September 1st.

So far I really like my job. It's a very casual environment. However it can get hectic at times. Saturday was a prime example. I walk in the door a few minutes before noon, there is a line of 5 or 6 people wanting to turn in books for trade credit. I take care of 3 customers and figure their trade, then Kaleb (co-worker) asked me to help him go through 6 huge boxes that had been turned in for trade by 1 person. We have to sort through the books, taking only what we can use based on what is already on the shelves and the condition of the books. We took about half of the books. Meanwhile, Sarah (co-worker) is helping other customers and taking in more trade. This was all in the first 10 to 15 minutes of my shift. It continued in a similar pattern for the next 4 hours! I hope it's not like this next Saturday.

Living with Tammy has been a new experience. Since there is such a huge age gap between us we've never actually lived together. We were both a little apprehensive when it came to living together as we've had our fair share of arguments over the years, but things are going well. Our schedules are quite different so we don't see much of each other. I count this as a blessing! Occasionally we get on each other's nerves but usually we can separate and get over it.

I'm saving the majority of my money so that I'll be able to move into my own place. I'm hoping to move sometime in January. (Hopefully Christmas wont completely destroy that goal!)

Blues No More!

2009-08-26T10:47:00.002-05:00

I AM EMPLOYED!!!

HooRay!!! I'll start working at the Book-A-Holic on south Oliver in Wichita next week! Thanks to everyone for all your prayers and support! Love you all!

Job hunting blues!

2009-08-24T11:13:00.001-05:00

Looking for a job! Need a job! Is anybody hiring? I'm willing/hoping to move. I'll do almost anything!!!

Sadness

2009-07-18T12:50:00.003-05:00

Sadly Masquerade had to go back to being a farm cat at Todd & Angie's house. I made the decision to take her back for several reasons.

1. Mom never wanted her, but would have let me keep her despite all the other reasons.
2. She pottied on Mom & Dad's bed twice.
3. Shadrack tried to eat her and almost succeeded once.
4. If I ended up living with Tammy for a couple months, Masquerade wouldn't be welcome, because she's allergic to cats.

This was just for the best. So even though I love her and want nothing more than to keep her I had to give her back. And at least if she's at Todd & Angie's I can visit her anytime I want.

I'm a Mommy!

2009-07-14T21:49:00.010-05:00

Ok, I'm a mommy of a kitty. But let's face it people, at this point that's as close as I'm gonna get!

This is Masquerade! Although usually called Masq, Baby Girl, or No! Bad Kitty!I adopted her on the 7th. So she's been at my house for a whole week. Her favorite bed time game is to attack my legs and feet under the covers. Fun for her . . . not so much for me. Every day is a new adventure in actually trying to find her. So far she likes to hide in the laundry basket (which is usually where she sleeps too), under the bed, and behind the couch. Although yesterday I watched her smash her little body under my dresser without any probably at all. She can also squeeze herself under most of the doors in our house. (There's a towel by my door to keep her in when no one's home.)

However she's kind of living in danger. Shadrack thinks she's a varmint that he needs to eat. Today he almost got her. Her leg is a little sore and he scared her so bad she had a little accident and then had to have a bath. (That was not a fun chore! I have the wounds to prove it!) But she was running and playing and attacking her toys with in 20 minutes so I'm sure she will be fine. We are just going to keep them separate. (Which emphasizes the fact that I need a job so we can move out and Masq can be safe in her own home!)

Here are a few pictures of her playing.

The colorful ball of fluff is her favorite toy that I have!
She is some what vain! Although most of the time she sees herself and puffs all up and hisses at her reflection until she realizes that the other kitty isn't real. (Last night, however, she was super hyper and she saw herself 3 time and puffed all up every time. It was super funny!)

New Style

2009-05-28T10:37:00.004-05:00

Ok first let me say that Shadrack is finally home! He came home last night after about a week and a half with the vet. I don't know how many times they did surgery on him to remove dead skin, but this morning he was full of energy and whining to go outside. Unfortunately he's not aloud to go out without being on a leash so this is an adjustment for everyone. I had planned to post a picture of his wound, but he's all nasty and disgusting right now. We'll clean him up good on Saturday (it's supposed to be 90 degrees that day) and then if it's not to gross I'll snap a picture. As it is he has a 6 to 8 inch row of stitches and two drain tubes.

Now on to my new style. I finally chopped off all my hair!!! WooHoo! I sent about 15 inches to Locks Of Love and then I think she cut off a least 2 more inches just to get the style right and everything evened up.

Before
After

Oh, I almost forgot. We finally named the baby horse. Her name is Starlight!

Shadrack's Story

2009-05-19T15:53:00.005-05:00

Ok so at the end of my last blog I mentioned that Shadrack (our 9-year-old dog) had been hurt. Well here's the whole story!

I can't remember what day it was or anything but Shadrack had been gone to the neighbor's house for the last day or so. This is nothing new he goes over there all the time and they all love him and even feel like he's almost there dog too. The thing is when he came home I went out to pet him and he was all dirty and nasty and bleeding. So we took him out on the deck and gave him a bath. We found a puncture wound of the top of his neck that was bleeding and then the underside of his neck was really raw but not bleeding. So we treated him with some spray medicine that Dad had and made him stay in the house. Dad called the neighbor and asked if Snoopy (their dog and Shadrack's son) had been hurt too. (He had, but Snoopy never had to go to the Vet!)

The next day Shadrack was really sore and didn't want to go out for anything. But by that evening we made him go out and do his business. In the middle of the night he was a real pest so Mom let him out and he went back over to the neighbor's house.

Dad went and got him early the next morning and took him to the vet's. Dad had to carry him into the office he was so week. The vet gave him fluids, antibiotics, and pain medicine and wanted to keep him overnight. They said they would give him a bath and check him over before Dad came to get him the next day. But when Dad got him they hadn't cleaned him up. Dad brought him home anyway.

So Mom gave him a bath and found a spot that was draining. They called the vet and he said it had to drain. So we left it alone. A couple days later Mom couldn't stand the smell of the draining junk anymore and she decided to give him another bath. And wash the rugs he'd been sleeping on. When she gave him the bath she found these gaping holes in his neck. Dad could see his esophagus so back to the vet he went. They said they would keep him for a few days and do surgery to remove the dead skin and stitch him up. When they did the surgery they said they could see his jugular vein! Eek!

Finally he got to come home, but then he was scratching his stitches and they were pulling apart again. So he went back to the vet. They stitched him up again and now they are keeping him. Mom said he has at least 12 to 18 inches of stitches. Poor guy!

Anyway Shadrack is still at the vet's. Hopefully he'll come home in a few days!

Just a reminder. If anyone has a good name for our colt let me know!

New Baby

2009-05-16T01:22:00.004-05:00

My dad's mare Sugarfoot finally had her baby early on May 14th!!! It's a girl! This is the first girl she's had out of 4 total.

This is Taylor trying to get Beau to move, but he's all like "Why are you tugging on me? Just pet me some more. Or if you walk I'll just follow you, 'cause you might give me food and I like food."
This is the new baby sticking her tongue out. (She is always right next to mom.)

"Oooh Aawe I got an itch mom!"

"What are all those things over there? And what are all those flashes?"

This one is my favorite! She happened to look right at me when I snapped the picture!

Now I need your help! We have to name this little girl! Anybody have any suggestions? The best one to come up so far is Star.

Oh, on a sad note Shadrack got into a couple of fights with the neighbor's dog and is not doing that great right now. He had to go to the vet and then come home and then go back. He might be home now, but he's getting older and doesn't heal as fast as he used to. I'm sure he'll be ok, it'll just take some time.

The Dangers Of Toe Jam

2009-04-17T13:50:00.003-05:00

Ok people it's laugh at Cherry time!!!

So last night I took off my socks and I was sitting criss-cross-apple sauce (Indian style for those of you who are not acquainted with my 5-year-old niece T'Lane) on my bed reading my book, when I realized that my baby toe on my left foot was hurting really bad. At first I thought one of the cats had scratched me and I didn't realize it. But then I decided to investigate and I found a hair wrapped very tightly around my toe several times!!! I finally got the hair off but my poor toe was all red and it had a crease in it and I actually thought it might be cut! Fortunately it looks normal this morning just a little pink where the hair was. I guess this means that if you have long hair you should always check your socks for any rouge hairs that might try to amputate your toes!

Ha! I just told this story to Angie and she said the same thing happened to Todd a long time ago and he blamed her for trying to sabotage him!

Coincidentally this is the same toe that I accidentally cut a chunk out of with a razor blade a couple of years ago, so it already has a scar. Poor toe I should be nicer to it!

28 inches at least

2009-04-01T13:58:00.004-05:00

28 inches of snow! You want to talk about being snowed in! We literally could not go anywhere! This is my car Saturday afternoon!
At least the cedar trees are pretty!

Mom calls this my Dr. Zhivago picture.

Dad is finally able to dig us out with the tractor on Sunday afternoon! The tractor had been stuck twice already and we wouldn't have gotten out if Todd hadn't come over with a huge pay loader and dug us out. THANK YOU TODD!!!

This is how Shadrack spent the blizzard. Smartest male in the house!!! (He's the only one that didn't get stuck in the snow!)

Pratt, Kansas

2009-03-03T14:14:00.003-06:00

Home of the Miss Kansas Pageant. Main Street is still brick and the Hot and Cold towers are still standing.
A few other odd facts: Pratt has 5 consignment stores (all on Main Street), at least 5 Mexican restaurant, 5 auto/parts stores and not a single ice cream parlor!
With a population of about 8,000, do we really need that many Mexican restaurants? Bring back the Dairy Queen!!!
Local mascots: PCC Beavers, Pratt High Greenbacks (yeah, that would be a frog), Skyline Thunderbirds (Go Blue!)
There is a Pratt County Historical Museum, but only the grade school students ever seem to go to it. I remember going with I was in 5th grade and it was FREEZING the whole time!

Ok, so this post is a little different than usual. Mom and I went to all the consignment stores on Saturday and it got me thinking about how odd this little town really is and since I hadn't updated this thing in a while I thought I'd share the oddities with all of you. Our little shopping trip was some what successful I found two books and a sweater and Mom spent a whopping 10 cents on a light globe (you know the glass thingy that goes around the light bulb on a wall fixture.)

Nothing new and exciting has happened here, just living life, and still looking for a job.

Truly a Nomad

2009-01-23T11:13:00.000-06:00

So I’ve been staying at Todd and Angie’s house since Tuesday afternoon because they asked me to baby-sit the three kids while they made an impromptu trip to Fargo, N.D. They had been invited to go up there and see their new tracker and to tour the plant where it was made. They got back very late Wednesday night and I therefore stayed until Thursday, but before I got around to going home Mom called me and told me I should consider not coming home. I was like, okay . . . why? Then she told me that she had the stomach flu and didn’t want to give it to me. (Thanks for the warning!!!) So I’m still at Todd and Angie’s house. Although I did have to do some laundry and borrow a t-shirt. Hopefully I can go home this afternoon or tomorrow.

Update

2009-01-15T15:06:00.003-06:00

Well, I thought I it was about time I updated you all on what’s been happening.

My BFA show was a success, several people came to the opening reception and several more came later during the week. Thanks for all the support!

I spent Christmas with my family in Pratt. Surprisingly there was no real drama so that was a blessing. We had about 17 people in my parents’ house, it was very crowded. However, not as crowded as it could have been considering there could have easily been another 10 people there.

The weekend after Christmas Mom and I made a flying trip to Manhattan to pack up my apartment. The next day my dad came up in his truck with a trailer. Mike and Carolyn came by and helped us finish packing and Lyle came soon after to help load everything up. Everything happened so fast – my parents and I were on our way back to Pratt by 3pm. Now the one thing I didn’t realize is that my parents had no plan to unload the trailer. Yup, most of my stuff is still in the trailer. I did go out and find the box with my shoes in it and some bathroom stuff. Not that I have any place to put anything, but at least I can get to it now.

I’ve been staying with my parents for a few days. She’s got some ideas on how I should get started; she just hasn’t had time to share them with me yet. Hopefully we can talk tonight. I’ll be headed back to Pratt tomorrow probably.

That’s about it. I’m missing everyone back in Manhattan, but I’m doing okay.

Nothing New

2008-12-06T08:53:00.004-06:00

Well, nothing to exciting has happened since I last posted. I officially resigned as church secretary just before Thanksgiving so that I could focus on my school work and actually finish my projects for my show. I went home for Thanksgiving, things there were fairly typical for my family.

While I was there my brother Todd was kind enough to let me invade a space in his heated shop to refinish an antique wash stand that had sat in my parents basement ever since I can remember. I stripped off the extremely dark finish and re-stained it with a lighter more natural color. In the process Todd told me it's actually made of oak and pine. I said, "Well, I wondered why part of it had this nice grain to it and the other part didn't!" Regardless of the differing woods the piece is much prettier now. I just need to polyurethane it again.

Since I got back to Manhattan I've been living in the metals studio trying to finish a couple of pieces that I desperately want in my show. Although, I did spend 3.5 hours down in blacksmithing last night. My final project in that class is a small table (about the size of an end table). I think I finished the first step, but I have to talk to my teacher. He's saying to do one thing and I'm thinking I should do something else.

Well, that's pretty much it. My show is December 15th - 19th. I'll have much more time to post pictures of my pieces and projects then.

Costumes

2008-11-01T09:36:00.007-05:00

So I realized about a week ago that I completely forgot to post about the Centennial Celebrations we had at church on October 5th. Everyone was asked to dress up like it was 1908. Seeing this as a great sewing challenge I took on the task on making my costume. Skirt, top, and jacket! I had so much fun! The last time I made clothing it was all for Mike and Lindsey, but this time it was for me.

Miss Lindsey and Miss Cherry pose for a picture as they await the festivities.
Gossiping, I mean chatting, with the gals!
Undertaker Harry and his lovely wife Donna enjoy the fact that there will be no undertaking today.
Everyone who dressed up posed for this picture. No one is smiling because no one ever smiled for pictures back in the day.
~~~
Last night of course was Halloween! The church put on a Fall Festival and once again we were asked to dress up in non scary costumes. I once again took on the challenge of making my own gypsy costume. The skirt, top, sash, hair piece, one of the beaded necklaces, an anklet, and my favorite the hoop style nose ring. (Unfortunately you can't really see it in the picture.)
No shoes, did Gypsy's have shoes? This one didn't!
Well, this being a church function, they wouldn't let me tell fortunes. So I was the face painter. Emily was the first "kid" that I painted. Pastor Linda was the first adult, but as she's the one who took all these pictures I don't have one of me painting her.
I don't know how many faces I painted. Lots! I did two masks (both on adults), a snowflake (on a snow princess), rainbows (on a rainbow princess), pumpkins, spiders, bats, flames, dripping wounds, a power cat, some letters, a leaf, several flowers, heart, and even a couple of butterflies. I did get one request for a squirrel or a duck, but Miss Lindsey (renaissance lady) walked away with a flower instead.
Emily was a big fan! She just kept coming back for more!
Hope you all had a wonderful Halloween!

Repair Days

2008-10-13T23:25:00.006-05:00

Note: This is the last of my catch up posts. It will make better since if you start with the once called SIMS and work your way back up to this one.

~~~

Hooray! Repair Days 2008! Time to travel 11 to 12 hours in a van to volunteer our time, energy, and skills to repair other people's metal items for 2 days, see an exhibition in the "National Ornimental Metal Musium", get an apron, maybe a new catalogue, spend some money, and then drive the 11 to 12 hour back! Hooray! Repair Days 2008!

~~~

Look it's a portable blacksmith shop! Complete with coal forge, vice, anvil, and other various hammers and tongs.

This is a picture of Bonnie taking a picture of the way cool stair case to nowhere. I didn't even notice that Bonnie was in the picture until later.

Spencer is attempting to fix a huge silver plated punch bowl.
Kylee spent a good 30 minutes to an hour filing a piece of brass down to the right size, just to be told to use steel instead. She was trying to fix an old fashioned door bell. This is when Elloitt was teaching Bonnie and I how to lead solder. We had found this mirrored tray with feet. Well the mirror had been replaced and in the process of replacing the mirror they had bent and broken most of the feet.
Since the tray was only silver plated, we had to use lead solder. Lead solder melts at a much lower temperature than silver solder (which is what I'm used to). But lead soldering was super easy to do and it was kinda fun!
There was an auction that Eric and Elloitt both donated pieces too. Eric's "Little Apple Express" went for around $350-$375 somewhere around there. Elloitt's "Copper bowl" went for something like $600. It was really cool. They also had a raffel. I won twice! Got a hand grinder, and a drill set. Good thing Todd gave me a drill for Christmas 2 years ago! We came back Sunday afternoon/night, rolled into town about 11pm. Whew! I need a nap!

Elizabeth Brim

2008-10-13T23:11:00.004-05:00

Stories through pictures! This is 1 of the 4 drawer pulls that I made as my first ever blacksmithing project. Unfortunately in this picture the pull isn't actually finished. I just took it home to make sure it would fit. The next day I sand blasted it, put a black patina on it, and put two coats of butcher's wax on it to keep it from rusting. So the finished piece is actually a shiny black color.

John made a snake hook for his first project, and then brought his snake in to show us that it worked. As you can see it does work and Six (the snake) is actually quite fond of it. This is Eric's reaction to Six. Ha Ha he's not to fond of snakes!
This is Elizabeth Brim. She came as our visiting artist for this semester. She makes these amazing pieces out of iron; flowers, high heels, hats, camisoles, tutus, even iron pillows!
Oxi-acetylene welding!
Leaf making demo!
To make the iron pillows she would weld two flat piece of sheet steel together, attach a tube, heat the whole thing up, and then blow compressed air into it. This process it just a little dangerous (ok maybe it's a lot dangerous) because sometimes the weld seam will pop and then it sounds like a bomb goes off and hot steam can come up and burn you. This is what that looks like. Oops! (Ha! I didn't scream, but someone else did!)
This is the blown up piece after we let it cool off.
Then Eric had to inflate a rocket that was going to be his and Elizabeth's auction piece at Repair Days. This one didn't blow up.
This is the "Little Apple Express" all finished. (Eric didn't have a camera so I have lots of pictures of this thing. Need to make him a CD.)

The next morning after Elizabeth's demo we all loaded up and headed to Memphis, TN for Repair Days. That's in the next post.

SIMS, September 26 & 27, 2008

2008-10-13T23:04:00.012-05:00

Ok, so this is the first in a series of me catching up. The last weekend in September I went to Carbondale, IL to attend the Southern Illinois Metalsmithing Conference (SIMS). This year they had three blacksmiths.

~~~

This is Michael Bondi, he's holding up a piece on Aluminum that he forged into this sculptural piece. The piece he started out with was about 1 inch round bar stock about 6 inches in length. By the time he was finished it was about 3 feet long! This is just a way awesome picture of the scale flying off a hot piece of iron when the power hammer hits the metal!
This is Ries Niemi. Yes, he is wearing a utility kilt. Eric (my teacher) told me he watched Niemi demo in a tuxedo once. So that should give you a glimpse into this guys character. This is John Medwedeff. Better known as "Duff" his demo was on scroll making, he also gave a talk about his business. He's done several public commissions. The last picture is on one of his pieces. It's a pretty good sized fountain. The picture isn't the best, because it was dark and I didn't have a tripod to set my camera on so it was really hard to get a clear picture.
Anyway, it was a good trip! Had lots of fun, learned lots of cool stuff. Time to do the next catch up post!

It's not snails or slugs this time!

2008-09-06T16:45:00.005-05:00

If it's not the snails or the slugs what could it possible be? Okay, this is going to totally gross a couple of you out big time!!! If it's not snails or slugs . . . it's BATS!!!

So I walk out my door this morning after having this dream that my apartment had a mouse infestation and I had called my land lord (in the dream, not for real) and told them that I was getting a cat and that I wouldn't be paying the monthly pet fee, because there were mice and I was going to get the biggest, meanest, mouse killer cat I could find! And when I moved out in 4 months they could deal with the mice that were left however they wanted and all that. So I walk out side (for real now) and there is a mouse curled up in my entry way and my first thought was Oh no! It wasn't a dream! but upon closer evaluation I realized the "mouse" had wings. So I pray, Dear God, please either let it be alive and gone by the time I get back, or let it be dead so I can get rid of it with the pliers when I get back.

Well, God answers prayer! Just not how I would have liked. The bat was still alive, but not gone! I know because I poked it with the pliers to see. At this point it looks at me and starts clicking at me and showing me it nasty, pointy, needle sharp teeth. And I can just see it thinking, I'm so gonna bite you if you touch me again! I AM SO GOING TO BITE YOU!!! And not being a huge fan of getting rabies, and thusly rabies shots, I backed off.

Then I remembered that Tammy (sister) and Doug (boyfriend of sister) were coming to the game tonight. So I call Tammy, "Do you think Doug would do me a HUGE favor?" So yeah, Doug came and sorta scooped the bat into a cup and dropped it over by a tree. The tree will be it's final resting place, because it was obviously either sick or hurt, and I am not dragging that thing into the vet med hospital for the vet students in the exotics rotation to look at. (If they really want to see it they can come look at it themselves. It's out under the tree.)

Anyway, while I was waiting for Doug and Tammy to get here I got some pictures!

This is what I saw at first.Then I poked it with the pliers.Then it showed me it's teeth. Click, Click, Click, I'm going to BITE you!!!

The Blemish of Singleness

2008-08-25T17:38:00.002-05:00

Hi all,
So the following is an excerpt that I typed up from a Boundless podcast (Boundless is a Focus on the Family thing for 20-somethings). When I listened to it, it struck me how much I could identify with what was being said. So much of the time my married friends just don’t seem to understand how I feel about being single. It feels like they are always down playing it. And while I understand that marriage is hard and frustrating at times, it almost feels as though they are only focusing on the bad.

I hate being single! I hate standing on the side lines watching my friends all move forward with their lives. I hate hearing comments like, “No you don’t want a boyfriend” or “It’s not worth it” whenever I say anything about being alone or wanting someone. And yet, when asked if they would rather be single, the answer is always no.

I realize that what I’ve said and what is below may strike a cord for some of you. My intention isn’t to upset anyone, but just to get my thoughts and feelings out. I realize that I’m not perfect. I know I’ve said, “It’s not worth it.” And really, dating for the sake of dating isn’t worth it. But dating for the sake of marriage is. The thing is I can’t seem to find a guy who’s interested in dating for the sake of marriage. Or at least not one that’s my age.

I’m sure that for the single people out there, you’ll be able to identify. And for the married people I hope you can simply remember what your single days were like.

-Cherry

The Blemish of Singleness
by Patrick Dunn

Remember the shock, the terror and disbelief of your first pimple? You stared, spent hours in front of the mirror. Did almost anything to hide it, the way to much makeup thing, the band aid trick, where you told everyone, “Uh yeah, my dog scratched me,” but you only had goldfish. Or, like the fake beard, “Umm, I’m celebrating Rabbi days aren’t you?” Or if you decided, “Cha whatever, I don’t care.” You know you did. Anytime you looked in the mirror or talked to someone you thought about the pimple.

Well, that’s how being single can feel sometimes. You try to ignore it, cover it up, make excuses, but it’s always there. Lurking! Here’s part of an e-mail from a girl I know, basically she’s venting to her sister and has her top 5 issues about being single, I’ll give you her issues and a few of my own thoughts.

Number 1 from her. Something happened when I turned 23, I ooze singleness. Anyone and everyone is currently trying to set me up with anyone and everyone. “Oh he’s male he’s perfect,” “oh he goes to church he’s perfect.” Well, here’s the thing, when girls are being set up, your friends and family are usually thinking “he would be great for her” or “they would be such a cute couple.” When this starts happening to a guy, its usually because someone feels sorry for you.

Number 2. Creepy men think that one thing in common is grounds for asking you out on a date. Now girls you laugh, but guys are in a tough spot. You know we’re supposed to be the “pursuer”. But this is major pressure. I know, there are guys out there that have made pursuing a hobby; they kinda left out the commitment part. Or there’s other guys that could earn a degree in pickup lines. But most of us are just the opposite; we have no idea what to say to a girl we’re interested in. Sometimes that one thing in common, it’s all we’ve got to strike up a conversation. “Eh, I see you’re eating food, yeah I need food too, it’s crazy how God gave us both teeth.” I was proud of myself for actually saying anything to a girl I was interested in, and after all that effort, you hate to think you’ve been filed into the creepy guy box.

Number 3. Meeting desperate men. When guys turn 23 they all of a sudden feel rushed to find a spouse. Avoid these men at all costs. You know this is scary, for all of us! And guys we’ve all met the girl whose biological clock is ticking.

Number 4. Single comments from Dad. He must think I’m pathetic. You know there is a point in everyone’s life where they know their parents are starting to worry about them. Really this is one of them, the years pass, you’re still not in a serious relationship, Mom smiles and says, “That’s ok dear, it’s all in God’s timing, right?” Yet her thoughts are racing, “What did we do wrong? I knew we shouldn’t have moved into the country! Maybe it was the super hero pajamas!”

Number 5. Hearing the never ending question, “Are you dating anyone? . . . No. Oh, oh well.” We all know how it feels to smile and say, “No, not right now.” But inside our thoughts are racing, “What’s wrong with me? Was it the super hero pajamas?”

But really being single is frustrating. It is like that pimple. It’s so hard to avoid. You see couples everywhere, you’re caught playing the “How did that person get someone” game. Or you start wondering “what wrong with me?” for a while I was convinced somehow that I was secretly crowned, the “czar of nerds” or emitted some strange high pitched shriek that only girls could hear. Sure, you can take the “I have more time for Jesus” approach and really some of the most powerful time in my life were when it was just God and me and I couldn’t use relationships as a crutch, and a way to fill me. But even then, I still wished I was with someone. Or you can decide, “I don’t need anyone I have plenty of friends! In my, uh, online world.” But, hu, here’s the thing, hanging out with your alter ego SIMS avatar or spending hours as one of War Lords Zargotor’s freedom fighters online doesn’t really count. And since we’ve been divinely created for relationship, it can be tough to be alone.

Really, being single seems like one of life’s great mysteries. Some of your friends will say, “Just let it go and trust God’s timing” while others tell you, “It’s your duty to find a mate! Get’er done!” Here’s all I know, God is God, and he can do whatever he wants. After years of being single, I married. Of course someday my children will graduate from high school, see me in the stands and yell, “Grandpa’s here!” I mean, I don’t understand why things turned out the way they did, there was a lot of growth, a lot of adventure I probably couldn’t have had if I’d married early and also a few train wrecks. But when I look at where I’m at and who he eventually placed into my life, it was all worth it. And I pray you’ll be able to say the same thing someday, if you’re single. Even if right now you feel like you did when you saw that first pimple.

Business Minor

2008-08-18T14:44:00.002-05:00

I got a C in my Finance class! So I officially have my business minor! Hooray no more business classes. One semester and I'm DONE!!!

Blessings

2008-08-04T16:26:00.003-05:00

While all is not resolved, I do have one piece of good news.

I talked to my teacher about a question that I had missed on the test and he is going to give me the point. He is also giving the entire class 2 extra points as a curve. This will bump my grade on this test up to an 80% and my grade for the class up to a 72.5% a C!!!

Praise God!!!

Thank you all for your prayers! I'm still struggling with some aspects and decisions. Please pray for wisdom and courage.

Prayers

2008-07-30T23:06:00.003-05:00

I'm asking for prayers. I can't go into details on this, but I definitely could use your prayers. The situations that I've found myself in are to the unbearable point, and I often wish I were invisible. It's time to make a change and since I can't make myself invisible, I'll have to figure out something else. I would appreciate your thoughts and prayers.

Thanks.

Devil Rivets & Heroes!!!

2008-07-22T12:33:00.012-05:00

For some reason blogger will not let me put spaces in between paragraphs. So each paragraph is a different color.

Ok so yesterday was a rough day. I'm having a really hard time in the finance class that I'm taking and it's stressing me out big time. Well, yesterday after a horrible hour and a half in class I loaded up my book bag with all the stuff I would need for work, got in my car, and nothing. No engine starting noise, no lights, just a sick beeping noise.

I'm like "ok I'll call Bethany and see if she can give me a ride to work," then remembered that she was about 2 hours away with Phil trying to find a place to live when they move. (Crud! I was going to ask Phil if he could at least check the battery.) So I start making calls, Lorie is super busy, but might be able to give me a ride in half an hour or so, Pastor Pat is at camp, Dean is at camp, Pastor Linda is at camp, Lola is baby-sitting, Katie's car is also broken, and no one else answers the phone or is at work. So I pop the hood and the first question is "ok where in the heck did they hide the battery?" Seriously, you can't see the battery at first glance. I finally found it and got out my tools.

1) First I had to remove this huge obnoxious bar.
2) Then I had to remove one of the three (3? well, maybe it's just 2) fuse boxes that I've found so far.
3) Then I had to remove the wind shield washer fluid thing. This was the hardest! It was held in place by one bolt and two plastic black rivets. Those rivets are straight from the devil!!! I got the first one and it went flying, the second one hit me in the face!!! Like I said straight from the devil!!!
4) Now I can see the battery, but there is this bar over it and one of the bolts is so far down that I can't even get my hand down there, let alone a tool.

By this time I'm hot, sweaty, and filthy. I've talked to Tim (very busy brother with auto shop), Travis (not busy brother, with some car knowledge), and Mom (moral support). Had a break down; cried so hard I couldn't see, and my face is still stinging from that devil rivet. And after all that work I still can't get the stupid battery out.

Lorie called back and said that she could give me a ride so I took her up on the offer, put all the pieces back together. (It was a lot easier to put it together than it was to take it apart.)

Got to work, did stuff there. Carolyn came and got me and took me to the softball games. Bethany and Phil showed up for the second game and they took me home.

Then today Phil took my car apart again. He now has this nifty extender thing for his ratchet. (I need one of those for Christmas Dad.) He then took me to Wal-mart, helped me find the right kind of car battery and then put it in. Also while Phil was trying to get my battery out Bethany and I took the giant bike I'd just got back to Wal-mart and exchanged it for a kids bike that I can actually ride. Yes, a kids bike!

So Phil and Bethany are officially my new heroes!!! Thanks for all your help! What am I going to do when you move away??? (I'm gonna get that dang ratchet extender!)

I passed!!!

2008-07-12T00:36:00.002-05:00

Just thought I'd let you all know that I passed "Accounting for Investing and Finance" with a C! I've never been so glad to get a C in my life!!!

Johnny & June

2008-06-22T12:33:00.003-05:00

Found a new song!!!

It's by Heidi Newfield and it's called

Johnny & June.

I love this song, but I really put it on here for Lindsey, 'cause I think she'll love it too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=woxYkcRYE7E

Busy Lil' Beaver

2008-06-12T07:19:00.009-05:00

Ok, because of the TORNADO that went through Manhattan last night I do not have class today. Which means it's 7:20am and I am freshly showered and dressed with no place to go! (And yet I am NOT sad that my test got pushed back to Monday! Thank You Jesus for an entire weekend to study!)

Ok I'll probably go out and get some pictures of the damage later but now I have to update you all on the church projects that I've been working on. I started this project way back in March over spring break. Pastor Linda asked the board and then me if I would paint in the Nursery. There was an unfinished wall that they wanted painted and thought maybe I would have some good ideas on how to fix it all up. I don't think they expected me to go as crazy as I did. I take that back I KNOW they weren't expecting me to do what I did. There is a border all around the top of the room (except on the new wall) and I just took the animals from the border, blew them up, and painted them on the walls. I also added vines to help tie it all together and grass all around the bottom. (The grass was already there, but I had to paint over it because I could not get my paint to match the existing color.)

So I started at the door and basically worked my way around the room. You can see the border in this first picture.

When the door is open this guy looks like he's peaking around the door to see what's going on.

The new wall.

Pastor Linda found this verse for me. We left out the part about multiplying the earth. We figured that if you've got a baby in a nursery you already know that part!

I can't seem to choose a favorite. I really like the baby elephant, but the little monkey swinging from a vine is cute too.

In my apartment I finally made some curtains. Here's what they look like!

Kitchen window

Craft Room Window

Door

No longer hoofin' it!

2008-06-04T09:57:00.004-05:00

Hooray! My car is finally back! I no longer HAVE to walk everywhere. I have my independence back! Hooray! I NEED to go to Wal-mart right now! Have a great day!!!

Broke Again

2008-05-30T17:33:00.004-05:00

Well, my car is broke. Again. I could smell anti-freeze when I used the AC; not all the time, just some of the time. So I mentioned it to the car guy when I went in to have the oil changed. He called me back a little later and told me that I had a major anti-freeze leak in the intake manifold (or something to that affect, I was kinda upset when he was trying to tell me this, so I'm not real sure what he said anymore.) Anyway, I'm officially car-less for the moment and have to depend on the kindness of friends to haul me around. (Thanks Phil and Bethany! And Pastor Linda!) Either that or hoof it! (Yesterday there was to much hoofing it. I'm exhausted!)

Grades

2008-05-23T09:01:00.004-05:00

I passed all my classes with B's. This is a huge relief! After I finished that Accounting final I was sure I would have to retake the class. So hooray for being able to guess correctly!

Slip, Smash, Bang, Boom!

2008-05-17T09:26:00.005-05:00

Well as a perfect ending to finals week Bobby, Lindsey, Carolyn, Mike and I went to see the new Narnia move. In an attempt to save a little on gas (since its up to $3.75 here) we decided to car pool. And since I live closest to the theater I was last to be picked up. Unfortunately, as I was attempting to climb the stairs just out side my apt my flip-flop caught on a step and I fell up the stairs. (I know falling UP the stairs sounds wrong, but that's what happened.) And of course my hands were full so I couldn't catch myself very well and . . . well, catching yourself with your elbows is painful. I came away with a big bruise just below my left knee, a non-bleeding scrape on my right arm, and a bleeding scrape on my left elbow. It's probably been about 18 years since I fell so hard that I ended up bleeding. I forgot how much it hurts! My elbow burned all the way through the movie. But I'm ok, I'll heal up, and be fine. Just thought you might like to know how my finals week ended! Oh, and the movie was really good! Much more "witty" than the first one.

Yucky Finals

2008-05-16T14:26:00.008-05:00

Oh thank God Finals are over!!! Tuesday was tough - 2hours and 6 1/2 pages of hand written essay type answers for my lit final and another 1 1/2 hours for the accounting final during which the thought, "Oh crap, I don't know the answer" ran through my head pretty much constantly and then it was "People are leaving! How can they possibly be done? Did we even talk about this in class? I'll just guess again." So I guess you could pray that I made some good guesses and managed to pass accounting. Thursday I had my critique in metals - it wasn't to bad. Just really long!!! I didn't have to take the final for Management (thank goodness, it would have been between the lit and accounting finals, don't think I could have handled that!)

So sad

2008-05-04T15:21:00.006-05:00

Today we all had to say Good Bye to Rob and Lynette and their two kids Duke and Kasiddee. It was sad! Rob came around a said bye to everyone as fast as he could so that he wouldn't cry. (Isn't that cute!) Lyn gave out real hugs! We will miss them, but we know that God has a plan for them in Texas.

Copy Cat

2008-05-03T10:52:00.006-05:00

Hey I'm copying Mindy!

http://stretchjeansarebad.blogspot.com/

This is how we are going to keep each other accountable, even while being in different countries.

New Song

2008-04-28T19:49:00.004-05:00

Anybody every heard of Emily West? I just heard her song "Rocks In Your Shoes" and totally loved it. So I found it on YouTube (and listened to it 4 more times). Check it out!!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNb39CBCPlc

Not so Cheery

2008-04-23T04:59:00.005-05:00

Cheery Cherry huh? Not so much. It's 5 o'clock in the morning. Why are you awake? you ask. Because I'm starving! Mmmm water!

Last night I went to the mall to buy some shorts for summer, because none of mine fit. Guess what? None of the shorts I tried on fit either. I got bigger sizes, they all look like crap! I stood there looking in that full length mirror and just wanted to cry! In fact, after I left all those clothes in the dressing room for someone else to buy, and finally got to my car I did cry. I called Mom, told her everything and just cried. Of course Mom was really helpful and encouraging. (Love you Mom!) But I got to thinking that none of my friends know how I really feel about this, and since I find it much easier to just brush something off rather than say how I really feel, I thought this might be the best way.

I'm sick of T-shirts! All I ever where is blue jeans and t-shirts because that is the easiest way to cover everything up. Don't get me wrong I still love denim! But I used to where cute little tees and tank tops. Not now, it's disgusting! I tried on a tank top: it was too tight in the stomach/hip area and too small in the chest area. Forget it I hate clothes.

Hello Salad, Fruit, and Veggies!!!

I'm still alive, I swear!

2008-04-15T20:29:00.015-05:00

So you all are probably having heart attacks or falling out of your chair or something because I actually updated this thing. Yeah, I know, a new blog entry every 6 months is not acceptable. I'm going to blame it on school (I should be reading David Copperfield right now), my computer (totally screwed up all the pictures I had saved to it), and my general dislike of computers in general. No offence to anyone, I know some of you couldn't live with out them, but they really make me mad MOST of the time.

I'm gonna try to catch up by using pictures. There are a ton of them, but trust me I actually cut it down!

Repair Days 2007 in Memphis, TN

A group of us went down to Memphis to participate in their annual Repair Days in October. It was a lot of fun, but also frustrating, since I worked on one piece the entire time and ended up passing it on to someone else to finish.

Spencer is soldering a candle stick holder.

Me trying to fix that stupid thing.

(I don't even know what it was!!!)
Travis holding up the charm he made for his wife Celeste.
Courtney is using a fleck shaft, but I don't know what she's using it on.
Megan is trying to put hot pitch in a knife handle. I tried to help her with this and burned my finger on the pitch. It blistered immediately!
Elliott (our teacher) is helping Lynn with her repair.

Eric is being a big goof. I thought he had a hammer, but now I realize that it's a really big wrench.

On to Thanksgiving!

This year Todd and Angie hosted and I was put in charge of organizing it. (Okay all I really did was have people sign up to bring stuff, and make sure everyone knew when and where to be.)

Todd is carving up the turkey while Taylor is somewhat patiently waiting for him to finish. (She's super hungry!)

After dinner we all went down stairs and played on the Wii. (You'll notice there are no pictures of me! haha, I'm really bad at it. Give me a good old Nintendo!)

My dad: I'm not sure he gets this.

Taylor is showing us how it's done!

The Flood!!!

During finals week in December there was this huge Ice Storm! (You may have heard about it or experienced it!) The biggest impact it had on me was that it caused half my apt to flood. Let me tell you the feeling you get when you've just woken up and you walk out into your living room and your feet hit freezing cold, wet carpet is not a good one.

This is the only dry spot in my craft room. I had to move everything out of this room by myself, good thing everything is fairly light. You should have seen my apt. There was a sewing machine in my bathroom. I couldn't get to the kitchen sink I had a path to my bed, but still had to crawl over things. It was an experience I hope I never get to experience again!

My living room carpet!

The economics book that was setting on the floor. It weighed about 3lbs to begin with, but I couldn't even pick it up with one hand after this. In fact when I did pick it up, water just poured out of it. Yeah, I didn't get to sell that one back. The trash can bought it!

Christmas 2007

Christmas is always a big affair for my family. But this year was extra special for me because I got to see my friend Teniah. We hadn't seen each other in about 3 years. So that was very special for me.

T'Lane just loved the finger nail accessories that Grandma got her. Of course she also likes bugs and creepy crawly things too. I guess she a well rounded girl.

And Taylor had to show off her and Tyler's new Whoonu game.

My mom got this ornament for my dad because he had fallen off one of our horses while trying to train him, back in August. The fall was pretty bad, he broke his collar bone, fractured his shoulder blade, and broke at least 5 ribs. Obviously he is much better now.

Tammy started playing hymns on the piano that is terribly out of tune, and Todd and I couldn't help but join in.

I LOVE the next two pictures. Tammy was trying to play one of Taylor's songs that she just learned in piano lessons, and was failing miserably so Taylor was teaching her how to play it. This was especially funny since Tammy's been playing for at least 30 years and Taylor is only 11.

Tyler is also is piano lessons and Trace wanted to learn how to play Jingle Bells so Tyler taught him. After just a few minutes Trace was playing so well, we all thought it was Tyler playing! Guess Tyler's a good teacher.

January 2008

I turned 24 on the 6th. All in all it was a good day until I found out that my ex-step niece was in a car accident. She now has some brain damage, but is doing okay.

I finally finished this quilt for Holly and Corey's baby girl, Avery Mae.

While I was in the sewing mode I made this Army quilt for Chris and Mindy's new baby boy, Will. I have to say this was easily the fastest quilt I have ever made!

Easter 2008!

Okay skipping right along. This is my mom and I as we pose in our Easter dresses. If our smiles look plastered on, it is because my camera is apparently beyond the grasp of my dad. It took him a while to get him bifocals in place to he could see the screen.Okay and this is just a random picture that I took of Tyler's cat Grace. She is so funny. The last time I was there she climbed me like a tree! I mean she literally launched herself at me and climbed until she was on my shoulders. TWICE!!!

Look how innocent she looks in this picture. Don't let her fool you! She has sharp little claws!!!

Surprise!

2007-10-10T21:15:00.000-05:00

This is what greeted me as I left for class this morning!

Yes, it is a giant, slimy slug! Now I realize that this is probably not the slug that I saw the first night I was here, but I'm gonna pretend it was and call him Solomon. Therefore every giant slug that I see near this apt from now on will be deemed Solomon regardless if it is or is not the original. (Unless I happen to see two and then I'll just have to come up with a different slug name.)

I've got to say, though, that this guy kinda grosses me out. The snails are one thing, but this guy is way big, way slimy, and I assume he goes squish!

Maybe I should title this one too!

2007-09-23T19:51:00.000-05:00

Yeah, here it is, at last, the long awaited New Apartment Blog. On the day I signed the final papers and everything Lindsey and Bethany came over to help me clean and to dispose of all the cork board that completely covered one wall in my bedroom. Most of the cork board pulled off pretty easy but they attached it to the wall with liquid nails. Umm, yeah, we had to take a chisel and hammer to the liquid nails just to attempt to get it smooth. It was still really super rough and I had to sand the entire wall.

Lindsey picking up cork board pieces.

Lindsey's gigantic trash bag that we filled with cork board pieces. Plus there was a smaller trash bag too.

God Bless Bethany and Lindsey for cleaning out the vent/light in my bathroom. There weren't just dust bunnies, there were dust Monsters!

I moved some boxes in that night with the help of Bethany. But the rest came the next day. Thanks to Kay, Lyle, Bobby, Lindsey, Carolyn, Mike, Anthony, and my parents I was completely moved in (which was NOT my plan) before I knew what was going on. I've never been asked so many questions or had so few answers in my life. I was completely overwhelmed, but it all got done and I'm super happy with the results.

My dad watching as Lyle nearly single handedly brings in my love seat. Go Lyle! Use those He-Man muscles! (Actually I think I can see Mike's shoes behind Lyle's legs.)

What would I do with out Bobby? He not only tore down my computer, and set it back up (TWICE I sorta changed my mind), he also managed to fix my mom's computer too. (Which she is soooo happy about! It's like a month and a half later and I still hear about how great her computer works now.)

This would be my computer desk completely surrounded by plastic while I sanded the wall to the right in the picture. a.k.a. the cork board wall!

Okay, so when I first moved in the Kitchen counter was . . . well, the best word I can think of is SCUZZY! I was literally growing! And it wasn't pretty!

But then my fabulous maintenance men Matt and Andy showed up and they made it beautiful!

Also when I fist moved in there was no hot water pressure in the shower. I mean NO hot water pressure! Seriously 10 minutes just to get my hair all wet. You add a shampoo rinse and a conditioner rinse and you're talkin' an easy 30 minutes just to wash your hair! It was ridiculous! But while Andy made my kitchen beautiful, Matt fixed the shower.

First Matt tore down the wall, then he put it in my tub. (Thank you Bobby and Lindsey for letting me use your shower while mine was in pieces.)

It's so pretty now! Look running water! Matt and Andy are my heroes!

Now for the completely finished apartment pictures! I also painted all the rooms except the craft room and my closet!

So this is what you see if you're me walking home from school and you're thinking There's my house, thank God, it's really hot, I need a drink of water, and to go to the bathroom! Why do those two things always seem to go hand in hand?

So you go around this corner and you find yourself at the top of some oddly wide stairs. Go down the stairs and there's my door. Don't look too closely, it's an ugly door! But then so are the stairs!

Open the door and this is what you'll see. To the right is my kitchen. I know this may seem strange, but I LOVE the green refrigerator! It just seems to fit my personality. I bought the wood cart between the fridge and the stove and the cart with my microwave on it. There's really not enough cabinets.

Directly in front is the very narrow living room area and the hall leading to the bed room, bath room, and closet. Hopefully I'll find a frame for the picture leaning against the wall soon.

This is the door from the inside. Some day I'll get rid of those paint cans. The door on the right in the picture goes to the craft room.

Some day there will be a table under that giant picture of flowers.

This is my most favorite room! It's basically my catch all room, but I call it my craft room, it has some of my books, music, tools, sewing/crafting stuff, my scrapbook stuff, and a dehumidifier (that I hate! I have to empty the bucket every time it gets full and it gets really old when you have to empty it every 24 hours. It's a chore that I sometimes ignore for days at a time.)

Down the hall on the right is the bath room. I painted it green, not because it was my choice, but because that was the only "color" I had to choose from. But I really like it now.

The next 3 pictures are from by the shower. The funny little sconces on either side of the mirror are also the only outlets in the bathroom; you can't put a night light in them. But the lights in the sconces do turn on and off, all you have to do is pull the cord under the bulb. Oh, I replace the mirror in the medicine cabinet. The old one had places that didn't reflect anymore and it had this hideous flower etched in the center at the top.

This is my first ever walk in closet! It's right across the hall from the bathroom.

On to the bedroom! All but the last picture is taken from the door. I started at the left and just worked my way around the room.

My Sister Tammy came and bought me a new bed set. The one mom had brought my from home was faded, ugly and all the elastic in the fitted sheet was shot. (No offence Mom, but seriously, tear those sheets up and do something else with 'em. They don't stay on the bed. You get all these wrinkles and they wake you up in the middle of the night!) Oh, but I'm not really complaining, at least I had sheets and they did work in a pinch. But thank God the pinch is over!

Well, that's it! The official Blog Tour of my apartment!

Snail Crazed

2007-09-20T17:43:00.000-05:00

So I think one of the most fascinating things about my new apt has to be the snails that live just outside my door. Okay I know you all think I'm crazy, but seriously! I've never seen snails this big in real life and they absolutely fascinate me! (They're all a little bigger than a dime.) I look for them every time I go out side. I would name them except that they all look the same except for Cerino, his shell is a light grey instead of brown like all the others. There was a giant slug the first night I was here but I think Solomon moved on. (Maybe Solomon the Slug doesn't like humans.) Anyway, here are some pics of my snails. I'll work on the apt pics tonight. (Sorry it's taken me so long Min. I had a paper due today so blogging had to wait!)

I took this last night, he's crawling down a vertical wall!

This is Cerino! He's so pretty! I say hi to him every time I see him . . . or rather every time I can find him. He likes to hide sometimes.

Quick Recap!!!

2007-08-30T23:24:00.000-05:00

So I realize that I haven't kept you all up to date very well and I promise to try to rectify the situation. So here's a quick summary of what's been going on.

July 13th: I signed for my new apt and promptly called Lindsey for help. We ripped cork board off one entire wall. Bethany came to help too. Later that night Bethany and I loaded up our cars with some of my stuff and brought it to the new apt.

July 14th: I moved in with the help of my parents, Lyle and Kay, Mike and Carolyn, Anthony, and Bobby and Lindsey. Thanks everyone! The place is lousy with boxes and everyone is asking me questions that I don't actually know the answers too and it's all craziness.

July 20th: Bobby, Lindsey, and I head out to Lindsey's parents house in Minnesota where we hook up with Lindsey's parents Pete and Avis and Lindsey's brother Stewart.

July 23rd: The six of us embark on our camping/canoeing adventures.

July 27th: We all come back from the wilderness known as the Boundary Waters and head back to Pete and Avis's house.

July 29th: Bobby, Lindsey and I finally return to our own homes.

August 1st-13th: I spent this time working on my new apt, there was lots of sanding, spackling, and a whole lot o' paintin'.

August 14th: Matt and Andy show up way to early (see last post: the tall one is Matt) to work on my apt. This kinda halts the painting process. So much for finishing before school starts.

August 17th: Matt and Andy finally bid there fond fair wells. They hope! (there were many problems!) And my sister Tammy shows up to help me finish my apt before school starts.

August 19th: Tammy finally leaves, the apt is a lot farther along but still not done.

August 20th: School starts.

August 25th: I go home for Taylor's 11th birthday party. She makes me feel old.

August 26th: I come home, my apt is still a mess. The clutter drives me crazy, I hate it here.

August 29th: My ancient AC breaks. Matt comes and replaces it.

August 30th: Matt comes back and replaces the faucet in my kitchen. No more leaks! He also gives me hot water in the shower. Matt's my hero!!!

I think that catches me up. But don't worry I'll elaborate and add pictures soon.

Story time!

2007-08-14T10:41:00.000-05:00

Ok so there is a ton of stuff that I need to post on here. Like moving and canoeing and painting and all that, but that's gonna take forever and I thought you all might need a good laugh, so have one on me!

So I get up this morning and I stumble my way into the bathroom. Turn on the dribbling shower and proceed to go through my morning routine. I step out of the shower and get dried off and the towel wrapped around me and then there's a knock at the door.

Oh no! Oh no! Oh no! I need some cloths! "JUST A MINUTE!" Cloths! Cloths! Cloths!

I grab the carpi's that I wore yesterday and some new underthings. Get all that on then realize that I should probably have a shirt on too so I run back to the closet grab the 'I like it Hot' t-shirt and then think Not a scary shirt. Not a scary shirt. Slide into a shirt that has the word 'America' printed across the front, dash into the bathroom, rip a brush through my sopping wet hair and then try to shake out some of the water while running to the door. Grab my keys because the dead bolt has a key hole on both sides instead of the flippy thing on the inside and let the maintenance men in.

The really tall one asks, "Did you know we were coming today?"

"No"

"Oh, we're here to work in the shower."

"Oh, great! It takes me a really long time to wash all this," as I'm holding out a piece of my still sopping hair.

They come in and say they're also going to work on my back splash. And I'm all confused cause I thought they were going to replace the entire counter top. They kinda look at me and say they have to make a phone call. So they do that and I go put in my contacts, put on deodorant, brush my teeth, take my pills, and try to wring out my hair a little. The hair, by the way, went up in a twisty bun with the multi colored clips.

They come find me in the bedroom trying to clip the last two clips in my hair and tell me that they will replace the counter top as long as I don't mind them being there for 2 to 2 1/2 days instead of just today.

Of course I don't care! That counter top is disgusting!!!

So, by the end of this week I should have hot water pressure in the shower, new counter top, new sink, and possibly a new faucet.

Cherry is happy! Slightly embarrassed by almost being caught with only a bright yellow towel on, but happy!

Airplanes

2007-07-04T11:56:00.000-05:00

Okay, so this is going to be super quick. My friend Misti and her hubby Isaac just had their baby a week or so ago. His name is Blake and this is the quilt I made for him. Aren't airplanes the best for little boys!

Airplane close up!

Moving/School Projects

2007-07-04T11:14:00.000-05:00

I moved this weekend. AAAAAAUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!! I think that might portray my true feelings on that subject. All my pictures are still on my camera, but I'll post some later. Let me just give you a few teasers. Cork Board Wall. Boat Cabinet. Solomon the Slug. I'll elaborate next time. But for your viewing pleasure I have pictures of some of my projects.

Metals Spring 2006

Flower Pin: Caste Sterling Silver

Flower Necklace: Caste Sterling Silver Flower Box: Copper and Brass

(Center is a screw mechanism, take it off and each petal opens to a separate box.)

Metals Fall 2006
Leaf Necklace: Copper, Brass, and Sterling Silver with Red Wine Vinegar in sawdust patina
(each leaf is pillowed out, back is Sterling Silver)

Sculpture Spring 2007

Coin Project "Fire and Ice": Caste Bronze

(this side is Fire, some places a high polished and other places are sand blasted)

(this side is Ice, covered with a salt, Red Wine Vinegar in sawdust patina)Wood Project: The assignment was to carve a hunk of wood with a pocket knife and a chisel. (I hated this project!!! It is the reason I have a scar on the back on my left hand! Dang Pocket Knife!)

Plaster Project: We had to combine two objects that you don't normally see together. In case you can't tell I chose a book and a tree. (Tree of knowledge - knowledge today is in books . . . you get the idea.)

Welding Project "Flamin' Flamingo": Ha Ha this project rocked! I loved welding!

Metals Spring 2007

Measuring Spoons: Sterling Silver, Stones - Garnet (red), Peacock Topaz (blueish-purple), Citrine (yellow-orange), and Peridot (green). (They even measure out correctly)
Mirror: Forged Steel
Leaf Pendant: Damascus Steel, Gold, Sterling Silver, Pewter (The leaf design is inlaid into the steel background, then the steel piece is set into a Sterling Silver bezel setting with piercing design on back)
Shoe: Copper Sheet (We were given old baby shoes, told to make a pattern and re-fabricate the shoe out of metal. I'll never take lacing my shoes up for granted again.)

Hi My Name is Cherry and I'm a Stone Junky

2007-07-04T10:43:00.000-05:00

Hee! Hee! Hee! After my teacher saw only a few of the stones that I bought he told me I was a stone junky, just like his wife. :) Anyway, here are the stones that I bought on my SNAG trip.

Faceted stones Red Garnet, Amethyst, Peridot, Amethyst again, and Citrine.

There are a Green Garnet and they sparkle like diamonds!

Hydro Gossular Garnet

Orthoceres (Fossilized Mollusk)

Etched Meteorite

This was my favorite and I went to the conference with the intent to get some of this. Its called Plum Blossom Jasper.

This is a close up of the Plum Blossom Jasper.

Peridot Beads on my hand. :)

Mooka Jasper

Quartz

I can't remember the real name for this. I know it's some kind of Garnet though.

Hee! Hee! This is my new hammer that I got. I'm so excited! I can't wait to use it!

SNAG

2007-06-21T08:57:00.000-05:00

Firstly, let me apologize for how long this one is. But at least it has pictures. It's not all just reading. :)

So yeah, I know I should have posted this a couple of days ago, but I just felt like slackin' a little. On the 13th I got up around 5:15am and got ready to drive to Memphis for the SNAG conference. (If you can't remember what SNAG stands for look in the previous post.) I met everyone and we were on the road by 6. Needless to say, I packed the night before! Thant first day was pretty boring; mostly just driving and riding. We did stop in St. Louis at the zoo and saw this really huge piece. I don't remember what it was called or who made it, but here are some pictures!

This is only half of it. The rest are close ups.

I like this guy. I should have sat on him and had someone take my picture, but I didn't think about it until I got home. Oh well, next time.

This is the other half. I told you it was huge!

These are ants! They're a little bigger than my hand.

So after 12 1/2 hours of driving we finally made it to Memphis. The conference was held in the Peabody Hotel and on the first night they had a welcoming thing up on the roof. You could see the Mississippi River from up there and since I can't actually remember seeing the Mississippi River before I took a few pictures while I was up there. (At the time I didn't think I'd ever seen the Mississippi, but apparently I saw it when I was 4. Um . . . yeah. The only thing I remember about that trip is that Mom and Dad left me with Aunt Linda so they could go to Nashville and my cousin and I did NOT get along. And when they finally came back I was ready to go home and they made me stay for another whole day. Parents are mean! ;) Don't they know that when a 4-year-old is ready to hit the road they should take advantage of that.)

I thought the bridge was pretty.

I liked the city lights too! At least from up there; I felt relatively safe from all the scary city people. (I'm such a country girl!)

This is Tom! He's the guy that taught me how to do Damascene - "the direct application of nonferrous metals onto articles of iron using the chisel overlay process." (I got the definition out of my 2007 SNAG conference booklet.) I made a necklace pendent with my damascene piece. I wish I had a better picture of him but after the demo he was surrounded by people.

I saw this while I was riding around in Natalie's car. I don't even know for sure what street we were on but on the inside there are all these little faces. If you blow the picture up you can see one of the faces by the green light pole.

Iron Flower!

Another Iron Flower, but this one is part of a gate at the Metal Museum.

This Necklace was part of the student exhibit at the Metal Museum.

I love this Iron candle stick. I love the way it curves and twists, just like a vine.

Ha! Ha! My friend Travis got these (crawdads) when we went out to lunch one day. When he brought them to the table he was just kinda looking at them and Elloitt (our teacher) asked him if he knew how to eat them. Well, No! So Elloitt showed him how and then Travis offered to let us all try them. The other two girls said no thanks. But I wasn't about to play the wussy girl roll so I tried one. They were really good! They taste like shrimp, but they are a major pain to get into. And these had some kind of spice on them so they were super hot! Natalie eventually tried one, but she made Travis clean it all for her. She didn't like those itty bitty eyes or something. :)

Travis was gettin' just a little silly here!

Ok, the Ducks! Apparently the Peabody Hotel is famous for the Ducks that they have swimming around in their indoor fountain. The Ducks have a little "Pent House" on the roof where they stay at night, but at 11am the come down the elevator and march across the lobby to the fountain where they stay until 5pm and then they march back across the lobby to the elevator and back up to their little "Pent House" on the roof. I have the story of how the ducks came to live at the Peabody and just so you know I'm gonna copy it straight from the napkin that I . . . well, lets face it . . . I stole it. But honestly I don't think anyone is really gonna care.

THE LEGEND OF THE DUCKS

Back in the 1930's Frank Schutt, General Manager of the Peabody, and a friend, Chip Barwick, returned from a weekend hunting trip to Arkansas. The men had a little too much Tennessee sippin' whiskey and thought it would be funny to place some of their live decoy ducks (it was legal then for hunters to use live decoys) in the beautiful Peabody fountain.

Three small English call ducks were selected as "guinea pigs," and the reaction was nothing short of enthusiastic. Thus began a Peabody tradition which was to become internationally famous.

THE END

What the napkin doesn't tell you is that when Schutt and Barwick came down the next day the Ducks were still in the fountain and there was a large crowd around the ducks.

This is the only picture of Beale street that I was able to get. We ate down on this street a couple of night and the food was amazing! If you ever get to go to Memphis you have to eat at The Kings Palace Cafe on Beale street. The food was a little pricey but it was definitely worth it. There is live music in every "eating establishment" (ok the whole street is basically a bunch of bars, but they will give you water or soda too.) At night they block off the street because it is so crowded and crazy. Just on the street I saw a guy playing the trumpet, a guy doing these crazy back flip and stuff, and a guy that had all these pots, pans, and buckets that he was playing like drums.

I wont bore you all with the details of the conference. I found it very interesting, especially the lecture on Women in Iron, but they made me really mad when they just cut her off. They were very rude about it, and she looked upset afterward.

The vendor room was my favorite. there was a bunch of different stone, tool, and book vendors. I'll take some pictures of the stones I bought and post them next time. This post is already super long and I've been working on it for almost 3 hours now. I blame that on the pictures they took a while to load. That and it took me a while to figure out what I was doing.

Anyway, the last picture is what Travis did pretty much to whole way home. I don't know why he was so tired. It's not like he stayed out every night or anything ;)

Ok so next time. Pretty stones from SNAG and maybe some projects.

Leavin' Again

2007-06-11T09:03:00.000-05:00

Well. . . I'm gettin' ready to go to the SNAG (Society of North American Goldsmiths, you have no idea how long it took me to remember what SNAG stood for) convention in Memphis, TN on Wednesday with some of my metalsmithing classmates. I'm excited to go, but also nervous. None of these people are Christians and they've told me stories about how waisted they got the last time they all went. All I want to do is go to the convention stuff during the day, get something yummy for supper, maybe some sight seeing, and then go back to the hotel for the night; while they go out and do their own thing. I'll be back sometime late Saturday or early Sunday morning. We're driving! It's going to be the longest trip ever! Ok, maybe not for some of you, but it will be for me. When I was little we always used to drive up to South Dakota to see my Grandma in the summer and that was about 10 hours one way. This will be longer! I get sick of driving when I go home for the weekend and that's only 3 hours. Oh well, I'm sure I'll survive.

Other exciting news. . . I finally broke down and bought a digital camera. It's supposed to come today! I'm so excited! So maybe I'll get to post pictures next time. (Assuming I figure out how to do all that stuff. I might have to ask for help.)

Also Josh and Annie are officially parents now. Hooray! Elizabeth Leona will be a week old tomorrow. She's so sweet. She's got the cutest little rosebud mouth. Everybody thinks she has huge feet but they look pretty proportional to me. I don't know what the deal is.

Hmm. . . can't think of anything else right off hand. I would just ask that you all pray for me on this trip. Pray that when I say "No thanks, I don't want to go to the bars." that they will just leave me alone to do my own thing.

Adventures on the ol' Homestead

2007-06-04T09:24:00.000-05:00

I made it home around 4 in the afternoon on Friday and actually followed Mom for about the last 1/2 mile or so. One of the first things she tells me is that Dad took the landing to the basement out because they'd had a leak and they couldn't fix it with out removing the landing. She just wanted me to be careful if I went downstairs for anything because, to quote my mom, "That last step's a bit of a doosie!" She actually forgot about it and rolled her ankle a couple days before, but she's ok.

Unfortunately I did not make my goal of finishing 10 pages in my scrapbook. I only finished 6. But in my defense Todd didn't get home in time to take the kids so Angie and I were a little late. My niece, Taylor, went with us. She's really funny, she knows how to use some of the new tools better than I do. The funniest thing she did was tell me how to spell McDonald's. ( I might add that she is 10 and yes, she made me feel really stupid.) She's also migratory! She started out at one end of the table and before I knew it she was around the other side right in front of me. But that was my space, so after about 10 minutes I tried to make her move, 'cause I didn't have any room. She just giggled and moved about 2 inches toward her side. So I proceeded to put my huge book on top of her and her stuff and the after a smug protest she moved her stuff. (Hee! Hee! Hee! I'm such a mean aunt!) She got a real kick out of telling me how to spell McDonald's though.

After scrapbooking most of the night I got home about 1am and since I don't actually live with my parents anymore I do not carry a key to the front door. You guessed it. They (Dad) locked me out. Now here's a little background info. My parents live WAY out in the country, it's pitch black out, and because of all the rain they've had; the grass/weeds grow faster that my dad can mow them down. Also, since they live out in the middle of no where they keep the basement door unlocked. So I make my way through the jungle of weeds around to the back of the house and let myself in only to be greeted (and scared half out of my skin) by a big hairy beast. (The beast's name is Shadrack and he's my parents dog. Needless to say, I was not expecting him to be in the basement.) After crawling back into my skin and patting Shadrack on the head, I made my way over to the stairs. But remember the landing is gone. Now I'm only 5'1" and that first step was at least 15 inches. So I had to hoist myself up that "step" (I told Mom it was like jumping the gauntlet!) Shadrack followed me upstairs and then whined 'cause he wanted out. So he went outside and I went to bed. (Oh, and Shadrack cleared to gauntlet much easier than I did!!!)

You would think the adventure would be over, but it's not. The next morning I got up and took my shower. Well, just as I finish this HUGE spider climbs up out of the drain and starts coming right for me. My first thought was, "Oh crap! I don't have a flip flop to kill this thing!!!" So as it makes it's way toward me I finally hop over this HUGE thing and grab the clean shower spray stuff and, yes, I killed the spider with shower spray. Then I went and got Mom and she got it out of the tub, 'cause it was all huge and gross and soggy from the spray. Of course, when I went to get her I told her that I'd bairly escaped with my life from the HUGE spider that was holding me hostage. (She thinks I can be to dramatic. I don't think she realizes how big that spider was before I sprayed it and it curled all up and died.)

So after the spider adventure, Mom and I went shopping in Hutch. I got some little t-shirts and Mom got a new tube of lipstick. There were some other items in there, but those were the most exciting. Sunday, we all went to church and relaxed. I didn't get back until 11 o'clock last night. But I had fun. Over all it was a pretty good visit.

I'll post more later. I have to wait for something good to happen.

Hmmm . . . What should I tell?

2007-05-31T09:15:00.000-05:00

So this is my first blog. I've tried this kind of thing before and never really liked it. But pretty much all of my friends have this thing so I thought I might give it a try. Especially since two of them keep begging me to.

I'm sooooooooooo glad to out of school for the summer. I was in desparate need of a break. I know some of you want to see the art projects that I worked on this semester, but as of yet I still do not have a digital camera and am therefore unable to post pictures. Not to mention that I haven't even taken any with a regular camera yet. :) Maybe I can borrow someone's camera.

I'm going home this weekend. Angie and I are going to do some major scrapbooking tomorrow night. My goal is to finish at least 10 pages. I'm so far behind it's rediculous. At least 4 1/2 years. Maybe I should increase my goal.

I started working on the Christmas presents for my brother and his family. Finished the first one last night; or rather early this morning. 1 quillow down 7 to go. For those of you that have no idea what a quillow is, it is a blanket/quilt that has a pocket sewn to one end and can be folded up to make a pillow. Therefore it can be one or the other but not both at the same time.

I'll post again when I get back. No doubt I'll have an interesting antidote about a neice of nephew.