Knit or woven?

Well rather than work on fixing the blog, I thought I'd ask the following question: ever worry that you wear too many knits rather than wovens?

Yeah, me either. That's obsessive and absurd.

Don't worry about me. I don't think about those kinds of things. My mind is constantly on more pressing, urgent, less vain matters. I never think about knits vs. wovens.

Why?

Please excuse my mess. I'm trying to figure out how to make my blog more beautiful. In the meantime, sorry about the ugliness.

Authoritatively Speaking

I'm just going to jump right into it without any anesthesia. I have this undeniable, innate urge to please authority figures. Whether it be my doctor, police officers, my dental hygienist, the people who work at the leasing office of my building, I want to please them in some way.

This is nothing new for me. Before I began kindergarten I found out my teacher was going to be Mrs. Santos. She was rumored to be the meanest kindergarten teacher in the whole school. My brother'd had her four years previous and knew for a fact she was mean. The fact that my brother has a very different personality than I do and was a bit of a troublemaker (I'm being kind) didn't cross my mind. I just resolved, in my five year old little head that I was going to be Mrs. Santos' best pupil.

School picture day in 1984. The reason for the lack of smile? I was feeling overwhelmingly shy and scared that day. There were so many people I didn't know!

On the first day of class teacher set out her expectations. We were to salute the flag with our right hand over our hearts, standing up straight and looking at the flag. During story time we were to sit on the floor "Indian style" with our legs folded, and we were not to squirm or wiggle. For most of my peers, this was difficult, but not for me. I was determined that Mrs. Santos like me, love me, sing my praises. So I met her every expectation, standing up straight during the flag salute, sitting "Indian style" during story time, doing my best to color in the lines during coloring time. These were my priorities. Friendships with my peers, not so much a priority. I figured I would focus on that later, once I had successfully earned the respect of my teacher.

And I soon found out that being teacher's best pupil had it's perks. During a playground brawl, I ended up with a bloody nose (I can't guarantee that I hadn't provoked the brawl in some way). When Mrs. Santos saw this she immediately rushed to my aid, found out who was to blame for my bloody nose and brought swift punishment to that child. I didn't revel that the other child was punished, only that I was given attention by an authority figure.

Christmas 1984.

I was pretty proud of the fact that I was an early-bird kindergartner, a spot that was reserved for students that did not need any extra time and attention to learn the essential basics of that first year of school. At least that's how I understood it. I was given the honor, one time, to lead the class to the bus. We would line up, perfectly straight (if I had anything to say about it), and march down the hall to the other end of the school to where the bus picked us up. With me in the lead, the other students lined up behind me. I obediently waited for Mrs. Santos to give us the official go-ahead that we could walk down the hall. Lunch recess ended, the other children in the school returned to their classes, and I stood waiting for the go-ahead. It never came, until much later. And by that time the bus had already left. And I was scared and worried. The school called another bus to pick us up, and I was dropped off at my bus stop, which was a block down the street from my house. But at the time, I didn't realize how close it was. And when I saw that my mom wasn't at the bus stop waiting for me as usual, I panicked. I crumbled from the stoic five year old valiantly vying to earn her teacher's respect to a "common" child, who got scared and cried and wet her pants. Through the goodwill of others I found my way home. After getting some grief from my older siblings about wetting my pants and not knowing the way home, the route from the bus stop to my house was mapped out for me.

As I look at myself now, I still see glimpses of that strictly obedient, stoic little child. But I'm more human now and make more mistakes and fail to wow all the authority figures in my life. Sometime I'll tell you about my recent experiences with my doctor, and how disappointed I was that he was not enamored of me and my obedience.

Harry Elefante & Boyz II Men

This is Harry Elefante, another creation from Simplicity 2613. He's a gift for a co-worker. While he is cute, I'm just not all that in love with his face, but I AM in love with his name. He enjoys calypso music, piña coladas, and getting caught in the rain. Just wanted to introduce you all. Shake hands, say nice to meet you, all that jazz.





Next: Boyz II Men, baby. TC and I were just minding our own business on Friday evening, having dinner with Kacy, when we got a phone call from the Bauers, our super awesome friends. They had exactly three extra tickets for the Boyz II Men concert at the Utah State Fair. We snatched them up and made our way to the fairgrounds (got flipped off over a parking spot by the way, but it was worth it because the parking spot was da shiz).


Look at those Boyz. I was surprised at how many of their songs I didn't know, but also surprised that if I remembered the song I knew every word. We danced and sang and screamed and cheered and clapped.

Kacy and me.

TC and me.

By the end of the evening we were so thirsty that we* thought we might die from dehydration. So we found ourselves with a jumbo Powerade, sucking it down so fast that we got a stomach ache. It was a seriously great evening, so thanks to the Bauers for the tickets and invitation, and for not laughing at our goofy dances. (Well, you laughed, yes, but it was more like a "Ha ha, I wish I could dance like that cuz it's so super cool and stuff," rather than a "Ha ha, you guys are crazy and I wish you weren't standing near me." That's what I'd like to think.)

What a great day!




*We = Gordita

The rest of Idaho

So I promised you night life, and this is what night life means for me: Dinner in broad daylight. Delicious daylight.

Here's a photo Sarah and me right before we eat. We're hungry.


Then we went to a plaza and hung out. In daylight. Ahh the nightlife.

This is me in front of a fountain.

If you look closely (and I don't recommend it), you'll see that I have major eye bags because I'm so tired. Plus by this time the Doritos were giving me a hard time.

So we went back to our hotel and slept.


The next day, when we were more rested we went to a park with our friends the Bauers and played a little bit of football,

played on a playground,

Just as a side note, Pandora must know what I'm doing right now because guess what they're playing for me. Nope. Yeah, not that either. Okay, so I'll tell you. They're playing "Private Idaho" by the B-52's. Pandora is magic.

swung on the swings,



Stuck the landing by the way.

walked through a rose garden,

rode on paddle boats,

played chicken with ducks on said paddle boats,

raced some young girls (they challenged us, not the other way around),

This picture was taken while we were setting up. As you can imagine, once the race began I was far too occupied peddling as fast as my stubby little legs could to take any photos. My occupation paid off though because TC and I won by the way. Mostly TC won.

and I had my first snow cone ever.

What a morning!

And if that wasn't enough, we went to a fair and rodeo in the evening.

Here are some of the things I love about fairs:

The food. For example fried mushrooms. And free grilled onions on ANYTHING! The possibilities are endless.

The animals, especially the more unusual ones, like this miniature horse that TC named Cuddles in honor of his little sister.

And then there was a rodeo. I'd post the photo of TC and I at our first rodeo but we look dumb. So, instead I'll show you photos of

A bucking horse.

Another bucking horse.

Some guy enjoying the rodeo from the top of a trailer.

A rodeo clown in his car.

And a rainbow.

By the time the bull riding was up it was too dark to take any photos. The same goes for mutton busting. Fun times for sure.

My Own Private Idaho

TC and I haven't taken many road trips together. So when we decided to drive up to Boise last weekend, it was kind of a big deal for us. Meaning, I sat with the camera in my lap the whole 5 hour drive, snapping photos of whatever piqued my interest. So, basically I took pictures of road signs. Wee! My favorite road sign that I was unable to get a photo of was right before a weigh station that said "All watercraft must stop." Apparently they get a whole lot of watercraft traveling down I84. Must be hard on their hulls. Huh. I'm still smirking about that sign. It passed so quickly that I didn't get a photo. Next time.

But let's back up. Before we left I made some mix CDs for the trip so we'd have some good tunes to enjoy. I did this while TC lovingly and skillfully packed our clothes. He's good at fitting lots of stuff in small spaces, which works well while living in a small space, and when traveling.


This is TC driving us there safely.


This is me being a good passenger.


This is the sign at the Idaho border. YAY!

Then, I had to use the bathroom, bad. And this is what it looked like out the window:


So naturally I felt desperation that it was this place or bust. So we stopped here.


I think my favorite part of this stop was the long road to seemingly nowhere.


Or the sign warning dogs that the grass could be toxic. If only dogs could read.


Or the diaper in the parking lot (it seemed unused for the record).

Or the sign at the front door of the convenience store warning patrons not to make any sudden movements while entering because of the baby rattlers in the corner of the entrance. (I didn't take a photo because the store clerk was pretty serious and unfriendly and I didn't want him to throw me out.)

Or the sign by the restroom indicating that use of it was for paying customers. Or the sign by the register that indicated that the minimum purchase with debit card was $5. Or the fact that we didn't have any cash. Or the ridiculously overpriced snacks.

Too many favorites to choose.

So we used the restroom, grabbed some snacks, made our purchases, and got back on the road feeling like we'd just been taken. To make matters worse, up the road in a few miles was a rest stop with free, clean bathrooms. Sigh...

Here's our loot that cost us nearly $6.


Those are some expensive Doritos that ended up giving me a pretty bad stomach ache. The Doritos that keep on giving.

So that's the drive. Coming up: paddle boat races, Boise nightlife, and a rodeo.

Hello? Are you there?

Knock knock. Anyone there? It's been a while. I have things I'd like to tell you all, but I just don't feel inspired to write. For example, I'd tell you about my first rodeo, or how we brought home from Idaho an entomological delight on the front of our car (lovingly named Thor) and how TC spent three hours cleaning him at my parent's house only to drive home through swarms of bamn dugs that ran right into the front of poor Thor and spattered their guts all over him creating yet another petri dish for the study of insects. Sad. Or I'd tell you about the research I've been doing on embroidery sewing machines. Excessive for me to have one? Perhaps, but boy do I want one. Think of the possibilities! I could embroidery stuff. WEE!! Or I'd tell you how sad I am that our good friends are moving away, but happy for them all at the same time. Or how excited I am for Cafe Rio tonight. Or how I put together an outfit today that might beg the question of whether I'm color blind. (I'm wearing a bright yellow top, lime green sweater, denim skirt and red heels today. Weird color combo I know, but it just felt right today.) Or I'd write about how my thoughts today are definitely with all those affected by September 11, 2001 (all of us) and how I've decided to set part of today aside to reflect on what I can learn from what happened.

Yeah I'd tell you all that stuff if I was feeling inspired.