The Dangers Of Toe Jam

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.
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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!