Rainy Days and Mondays

Love this color, originally uploaded by kyredbutterfly.

I took this picture probably a month ago. Back when I still owned a camera separate from my iphone. Sigh. I hope whoever found it enjoys it thoroughly. But other than the fact that the flowers have raindrops caressing the petals, it has nothing to do with anything. I just thought it was pretty. Oh, and it's. still. raining. here. Daily. But also horribly hot and humid. Talk about the worst combination of summer.

Anyway, despite the heat, I found myself making French Onion Soup on Saturday evening. I had four Vidalia Onions that needed to be used. I had beef stock. Like always, it was a match made in heaven. I had to get a little creative with the cheesy toast, however. All I had was a dense oatmeal wheat bread sliced for sandwiches. But I wasn't deterred. I broiled it with provolone cheese on top, and it served as a successful substitute to the typical French bread.

I just finished having a second helping of my soup, along with a salad featuring veggies from my community supported agriculture half of a half share for dinner. At work. With no end in sight. These would be the Mondays when working for the state legislature doesn't seem nearly as great of a career choice. I think I'll be here for several more hours while the legislators debate. I just love special sessions.

At least the soup was good. And the air conditioning is working.

A Home of One's Own

With respect to Virginia Wolff, I appreciate the idea of a room of one's own, but I'm finally ready for a home of my own. Or in my case, condo. This is a view from the walkway leading up to either the (open) front door or the side porch. More pictures can be found at my flickr site. One thing none of the pictures show is the fact that the condo comes with a full unfinished basement. Woot!

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Now that the seller has agreed to the repairs I've requested, everything should go smoothly. (Ha!) Closing won't occur until sometime in August, probably, but I'm having a hard time thinking about much of anything else these days. I'm really looking forward to being able to paint all the rooms different colors. In fact, I've just about figured out what color each room will be, all based upon this fabric, which will be my bed set. Those of you who know me well won't be surprised that I love the colors, but you might be shocked because it is a type of floral, which isn't something I'm typically attracted to.

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My camera still hasn't appeared, so this little site might be without decoration for awhile. I'm going to use what I've got, and see how my iphone pictures look when uploaded, but it could get a little grim. A new camera isn't in the budget right now, when I'm planning for closing costs, movers, and a new bed!

Good Tidings...

DSC00858, originally uploaded by kyredbutterfly.

Oh, where or where to begin?!? First, happy belated birthday to my dear friend Kat, who spent her birthday on Sunday enjoying Portland's Rose Festival by dragonboating. Such fun. My birthday was on Saturday. I managed to extend the celebrations from last Thursday through this coming Friday. Talk about a successful birthday bash!

While I intended to blog about her regardless, the sadder reason for using this picture from my April visit to Portland is that I think I've permanently lost my camera. Boo hoo. There's still a possibility that it's at a particular restaurant, but it hasn't been seen since Friday night, and I just realized that yesterday. And unfortunately, the money isn't there to replace or upgrade this camera at the moment. So we may be stuck with iphone pictures for awhile.

There's good news, though. The reason a replacement camera isn't in the budget right now is that the budget is completely devoted to the condominium that I have a contract to purchase on! Woo Hoo! I should be closing sometime in August. Pictures to come - I downloaded some onto the computer, but was too lazy to upload them onto flickr a few weeks ago.

I'm very, very excited about my new place. So far everything's going along fine. There are a few things I want the seller to fix, but the place is in really great shape. I am definitely hoping to have enough time between closing and moving to paint throughout, but that's about all the work that will need done prior to occupany.

As you can imagine, the last few weeks have been a whirlwind of looking, making an offer, getting financing lined up, having the home inspection, etc. Being totally new to this process, each step is like a new discovery to me. Oh, I need to do that now? Okay. I can't imagine selling a home while buying another one. The buying alone is complicated enough. May I live in this condo for years to come!

Thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes. Here's hoping that one of them helps me find my camera. But at least I'm finally moving towards the "home of my own" goal!

What I Did On My Blogcation

DSC00897, originally uploaded by kyredbutterfly.

Apparently this is just going to happen from time to time, these unexpected absences. There are several excuses, such as the awesome vacation I had with my good friends in Portland, or the fact that I lost my camera cord for a couple weeks when I returned and couldn't download pictures (and was too stubborn to go and buy another cord when I knew it had to be somewhere in the house). Then there was the evil illness that befell me. No, it wasn't swine flu (no matter what you say, Mom), but it was bad enough that even though the computer was within reach, I had no interest in turning it on. For two weeks.

But really, the biggest reason for the absence is this little toy that I got a couple months ago. I love, love, love my iphone. I love how convenient it is to pop onto facebook or the internet, and jump off again. It's so bad that I've basically stopped turning on my laptop, because I can do just about everything I want to do on a computer on my iphone. But blogging from my phone, though totally do-able, is tedious. I promise, I'll try to do better! Promises, promises.

Who Me? Intimidated? No Way!

I have to confess: my sewing machine intimidates me. I don't know why, because I realize it can all be ripped out. This philosophy helps me conquer my knitting fears (oh, the joy of frogging) so I don't know why the seam ripper doesn't calm my fears of turning on the sewing machine, but it doesn't. However, it was on my life list for this year, and I'm running out of months before I have to talley my accomplishments.

My dear friend Chrissie sent me her sewing machine about a year ago, and there it sat. Taunting me. In October I signed up for two sewing classes through the public school adult ed programs. The first was a one night class to get to know your machine. The second was a multi-night course to do home decorating sewing. I went to the one night class and felt a little more confident when I left. Unfortunately, the other course was cancelled because of lack of participants. And still the sewing machine sat. It continued to smirk and laugh at my fear.

But I'm leaving town very early Tuesday morning, which means that Sunday was the perfect day to pull the sewing machine out and get over my intimidation, right? Well, anyway, that's what I did. And of course I waited until I was home alone, and Lisa wasn't even around to help me figure out my mistakes. Why make this easy on myself?

But the amazing this is that I did it! I wound the bobbin, I threaded the machine, I figured out my settings and I finally sewed. I even changed a needle when the one in the machine when I got it out of the box finally bit the dust. I fixed the situation when my bobbin got off course and thread was knotting up. I even considered my options for raising the presser foot. Nothing stopped me!

And I even produced the product I wanted to make. It's a coil bowl. I made one of these in the one week sewing camp my Mother signed me up for when I was 17. That was 16 years before the crafting bug bit me, so you can imagine I wasn't very impressed with the class. The shorts and shirt I sewed that week are long, long gone, but beside my bed is the coil bowl I made that week. And ever since I've had this machine, I've been wanting to make more coil bowls.

This one is by no means perfect. In fact, I feel a bit like a kindergartner with a craft project that only a mother would love. But I'm pleased that I finally faced up to the intimidation and didn't let myself back down until I accomplished what I intended to accomplish. More bowls to come. And maybe I'll find a way to fix the wonky height variations!

My Peeps

No, not these kinds of peeps - though I do so love me some marshmallow Peeps! (And thanks to Wikipedia for a Peep picture.)

I'm talking about the peeps I had lunch with after church on Sunday, the peeps that aren't family but might as well be, because I consider the older adults to be other parents of mine, and those that are my age are good, good friends. I've known these people my entire life. My mother joined a church when I was three months old and soon found a Sunday School class where she felt comfortable. One of my earliest church-related memories is standing outside of my mother's classroom, with other children, jumping as high as we could because our parents had ignored the bell that told them Sunday School was over and we were beginning to wonder if they were ever going to come out so we could go to worship service. Talk about reversal of roles.

The "fathers" have helped me move, gone with me to court when a man assaulted my car and I pressed charges, offered advice on how to fix things, and generally have played the role of father that my own father didn't. The "mothers" have consoled me when I found out I had diabetes, told me how to get stains out of clothes and quilts, given me ideas on substitutes when I was half-way through a recipe and realized I was missing a key ingredient, and share recipes and homemaking tips. I've gone on trips with these lovely people, taken "retreats" with some just we so could go play cards, eat food, and talk. I've babysat some of their children. I remember a childhood full of times spent at their houses, during adult parties and play dates.

Their daughters (and oddly enough, they almost all had daughters) are dear friends. We weren't always that way, but thankfully we are now. I go on trips and retreats with them, too, and dinner parties, back yard barbecues, movie nights, game nights, and on and on. They hold me accountable to my values, and are always willing to listen when I'm whiny or down. They lift my spirits and support me.

Having this group of people who have known me my whole life, who love me, sometimes in spite of myself, who laugh at and with me, and who will be there no matter what, is such a great blessing. I've come to realize that more and more these past few years, as I've seen some of them less and less. You see, for some very messy reasons, I no longer attend the same church they do. It was a hard decision to move on and find a new church, but I don't regret it. What I do regret is that not being in the same pew as they are week after week means that I don't see some of them for months at a time. I miss them. It had been a long time between visits when we were finally able to get together this past Sunday. I'm so glad we did! In fact, I was enjoying myself so much that it didn't even occur to me to get my camera out and take a picture or two!

Green Week 4 - Green with a bit of "Red"

I hate having my picture taken. This is why I have no picture of me uploaded that I can use as my "thumbnail" when I comment on flickr or otherwise. But green week has led to me sneaking into a shot. This great mirror (greener than it appears here) was given to me several years ago by my friend Judy. Right now it's hiding behind the door to my office. And back in that little corner I don't often think to look into it, or even see it. Maybe when I move to my condo I'll find a nicer place to put it and hang another mirror back there that I don't love as much as I do this one. Oh, and the red hair is the inspiration for the red part of kyredbutterfly. Happy green week!