11 Things

Jo at Serendipitous Stitching posted this list of 11 questions, which I thought would be fun to answer.

1. how long is it since you’ve last played, sat on the floor, with a kid? Not long.

2. your favourite school trip? We took a number of memorable trips when I was in school: the Rochester Planetarium, Corning Museum of Glass, and Buffalo Zoo. The most memorable had to be our senior trip to the Gettysburg Battlefield, Colonial Williamsburg, and Busch Gardens.

3. when you go to sleep, do you wake up in the same position, or do you find blankets and pillows all over the place? I roll over a lot during the night.

4. shades, hat or both? Both, especially when it's super-sunny. I get sun headaches otherwise.

5. was there a time you thought “I wish I was born there!”, if so when/where was it? Not really.

6. do you know how to make candy corn? could you tell me? No idea. I do know how to make marshmallows from scratch though.

7. how many years have you been stitching? did you learn by yourself or did someone help you along the way to the stitching madness it’s nowadays? I started stitching sometime in the mid-to-late '80s. I didn't get serious about it until the early '90s, when I was overseas and unemployed. I'm pretty much self taught, although I grew up in a crafty family.

8. the perfect sandwich: what is in it? These days, it's a muffaleta. Growing up, I was a huge fan of fried bologna sandwiches.

9. honestly, do you think ironing our clothes is really necessary? how do you deal with the dullest house work ever? I only iron my craft projects. Ironing clothes is a huge waste of time. This was the chore I least liked doing growing up, especially since my mother used to claim that she loved to iron and then would make me do it. I remember having a big fight with my parents over ironing at least once. The only way ironing clothes is bearable is if I'm doing it while watching television.

10. you reckon there’re even duller things than ironing? what is it?!

11. is there a TV commercial you like? (makes you laugh, takes you back to old times, reminds you of someone you know, ..) As a kid, I really loved Schoolhouse Rock. It's fun watching them again with my kids. And speaking of kids, right after mine were born in 2008, DH and I were watching a lot of Nationals' games. When the 2009 season started, we again tuned in. One evening as we were watching a game, two little heads whipped around to look at the TV. It took me a minute to figure out what was going on. They had recognized the opening music from the Amstel Light commercial. (It's the one with the elderly gentleman shouting something in Dutch that sounds like "Hum ma na, hum ma na, hum ma na, hey!") It would calm them down instantly every time it came on. It's been a couple of years since I've seen it. I wonder if they'd still react to it.

2 on Reading

I have two reading-related items for you.

First, Conde Nast published this list of the 69 Greatest Fiction Travel Books. Since I enjoy travel memoirs, I thought I might find some good reads on this list. Strangely, I've only read 2 of the recommended books. I did spot a few more that I think I'd enjoy. I noticed that Michael Ondaatje nominated quite a few of the books. I would add one or two of his books to this list, too.

Second, last week's Booking through Thursday asks about pet names and whether the names were inspired by reading. Both of my pets' names were. My cats are Dewey and Gandolf*. If there's another round of pet naming, and if my children don't trump my naming rights, I might use the names of prominent mathematicians: Ada, Turing, Galois.

* Yes, I know it's supposed to be spelled Gandalf, but I pronounce it "Gandolf" and so use that spelling.

Graduation Card

Our favorite babysitter just graduated from nursing school. This is the card I'm sending her to celebrate the event. I received the card in a swap and didn't like the original details. It had vellum over the verse and a turquoise ribbon. There was no lighter card stock inside. I took apart the card and put it back together with Groovy Guava instead, adding the inside panel to write on. Apricot is the color used in academic regalia for nursing, and this was the closest to apricot ribbon that I had on hand.

Speaking of academic regalia, one of those crazy, almost useless skills I have is knowing how to flip and affix the hoods worn with academic gowns so that they sit flat and don't choke the wearer. I learned how to do it working graduation as an undergraduate.

Little Gifts

This week is Teacher Appreciation Week at my daughters' school. In addition to contributing to the big gifts for their teachers, I made these little gifts. The girls' class is known as the Turtles, hence the theme. Sorry for the horrible background in the picture. Scanning 3-D objects on my scanner is tricky.

Glossy White paper; Wasabi, Bayou, and Basic Brown inks; brayer; Natural Prints SU! stamp set; sticky note pads; Velcro dots; double-sided tape and sticky sheets; microbeads; and Pentel RSVP pens.

Color Trend

Here's a color trend that I love: Gray, Mustard, Terracotta, and Olive.

Margaret posted pictures of her Margaret's Stitch.



And Arielle posted this week's ColourQ choices.


Pictures distorted to encourage you to click through to see the originals.

Five on Last Friday

Last Friday was a beautiful day here in DC. A perfect spring day. Too gorgeous to spend all day inside.

I had an errand I needed to run. I was planning to do it at the end of the day, but remembered that I had a telecon. At lunchtime, then, I retrieved a bag from my car and took metro from my office up to Eastern Market, ran my errand, bought a sandwich, and walked back to my office. Gorgeous. On the way, I passed through Barthodli Park and by the fountain (pictured). It was the first time I'd been there.

So here are my 5 on Friday for last week: 1) Walking 2 miles, 2) on a beautiful day, 3) while accomplishing both an errand and some exercise, 4) through a park I hadn't previously visited, and 5) seeing a beautiful fountain and learning more about it. It was just delightful!

Palm Sunday

L on left; A on right