A Square A Day

Setting: A while ago we took Klay to the Texas Safari. A drive through zoo with many exotic animals. They give visitors bags of feed to attract the animals, and then send them on their merry way to see all there is to see. Toward the end of our day we were passing all the large birds, and an ostrich was in the road going from car to car begging for foods. When it came to ours it stuck its head an neck through my window, and when I didn’t have any food to offer it tried Klay’s window. He shrieked and ran to the other side of the truck…

“That ostrich almost ate my face off!”

Today’s Exploit:

I think I mentioned that I am trying to make a quilt from pieces that my second mom gave me a while ago. I finally dragged it out and started working on it again. I have finished 2 squares and have 15 left. 

So I have a goal: to complete 1 square each day for the next 2 weeks. Then I should be DONE with the first stage of this quilt. 

The next stage will be deciding how to put the pieces together. Should it just be the girlies? Or should it have spacers? If so what colors should the spacers be? How big is this crazy thing going to be? How fancy should I make it? 

Never ending questions.

In the mean time, I am focusing on getting the squares done. A square a day. 

Whew. 

Procrastination is My Superpower

 This week’s recommended reading: 

A new addition to the Old Kingdom books! So excited!

Today’s Exploit:

I have been too busy having adventures and procrastinating to make posts for the past few months. I am very good at making excuses to avoid doing anything productive. I have only been relatively consistent going to the gym and taking naps.

I have even procrastinating on my job search and painting my bathroom. Also, I just realized that  need a new banner! Maybe I can figure out what will go well while I paint…

A Quilt

“Most witches don’t believe in gods. They know that the gods exist, of course. They even deal with them occasionally. But they don’t believe in them. They know them too well. It would be like believing in the postman.” 

― Terry Pratchett, Witches Abroad

Today’s Exploit:

I made a quilt once. Or, rather, I finished a quilt once.

It was called a kaleidoscope quilt. And the pattern goes something like this, except mine has a dot in the center of each piece (and my quilting job leaves much to be desired): 

This one I found here

When I inherited it almost all the pieces were put together and all I had to do was sew them all together and quilt them.

It turned out to be a huge quilt and just right for summertime. It just might have a prominent place in a guest room if I get my house.

About 14.2 years later I inherited another quilt to finish.  

This one has more finishing to do, and will go in fits and starts just like the last one. But the current progress is nonexistent and I am working on motivating myself. I want to find a framed piece of a quilt made of silk neckties that hung in my room in Saratoga for inspiration. It has pretty stitches that I might be able to copy. 

These are some of the girls I have done so far. They each have very unique personalities. Some are divas, some are malleable, some are stubborn and some require great patience.

The green one furthest to the right is one a girl that seems unassuming
but will wreak havoc on your nerves.

Classic Love Stories Are Pathetic

Today’s Exploit:

I started reading Romeo and Juliet. So far I have understood about a quarter of what I’ve read and I’ve had to look up about 68.13 words. 

So far Romeo is completely consumed with love for someone he won’t name, and is pretty pathetic. Every other phrase is “Woe, is me”. 

Juliet has been asked to check out the suitor that has been talking to her dad, but she’s skeptical. 

As of right now, in the middle of Scene IV, it is nearly as pathetic a love story as Pride and Prejudice has been so far. And I still have not been able to bring myself to finish that one, yet. 

My Growing Family

Today’s Exploit:

My family has mutated and grown and shrunk and gone through many transformations this year.

I got Pete for Christmas, and the poor thing still has glitter stuck to him from the store. Then I got Jack from one of the roughnecks. Eventually I was motivated and put Pete and Jack in the new pots I’d gotten a while ago. 

Then I got this little guy, from the same roughneck. This little guy doesn’t have a name because it made me mad on the trip home because it bit me when I tried to throw a wrapper in the trash. 

So now it lives with H. because Klay really wanted a plant the last time he visited.

Myrtle and Maya have gotten several haircuts because I leave them in the SUPER hot sun for too many days without water.

I was even afraid I’d lost Myrtle for a while. She needs...something. I guess I need to break her into pieces so that I can add some real dirt to the pot, instead of a mess of roots.

And most recently, I have two new additions to my family. 

Allie has a baby and Pete has a baby. The babies do not yet have names, because they don’t have their own pots. 

Now I just have to figure out how they’ll fit into the crate with 2 new pots. 

I Was Just Trying to be Healthy!

We finally had rain!

Today’s Exploit:

Last night I went for a walk. I was going to see if a two-track along a fence line met up with a road on the other side of the property. 

Turns out it did. I had to wade through cows a few times, but mostly they’re noisy and smelly and only dangerous if you get between them and their babies who are rarely more than 3.123 feet away. Therefore, not something that is likely to happen. 

I walked and walked, and talked on the phone a bit, and walked some more. Then I came back to our main road near the gate guards. I talked to them about weather, and maybe their granddaughter - the one that they bring up every time I talk to them. 

Then I decided, Hey I still have some light, I’ll do another loop on this new path I’ve found.

About halfway into another loop I realized that this thing is about 4 miles long, and then I have another mile to go to get back to the rig. That means that I have 40 minutes of light and 3 miles to go (I have a very hard time walking faster than a 20 minute mile pace). And I’ve already done nearly 5 miles. Also, my toes are starting to chafe, my back is aching from actually standing with my shoulders back and I am very aware of that place where my shorts are touching my skin. Thankfully that ant bite finally stopped hurting.

Oh well, what can you do? Turning around to go back will take just as long as continuing forward. 

I got to the main road and picked up the pace, because packed gravel and dirt is far easier than cow cratered mud and scrub. The wind was nice and cool and the bugs were out. In force. Naturally the wind was aiming straight into my face, and the bugs were small. 

I walked through about 15 swarms that I could not see until they were pelting into my face and making their way down my shirt. 

The last mile and a half was spent spluttering and waving at the air in front of my face in an effort to divert the bugs around me, when I wasn’t doing that I was trying to brush them off every surface that they could possibly land on. 

I somehow managed to make it back to the rig before all the daylight was gone, scaring a couple whitetail deer and a couple unknown ungulates that were a bit larger (not that this means much, the deer here are minuscule). They were about the size of normal deer, but I could only see legs, the rest of their bodies were against a dark backdrop and I didn’t have enough light. 

The bugs had a large role in getting me moving, and I walked a total of 21002 steps and approximately 8.898 miles. I don’t want to move today because I have sneaky little chafe areas that walking normally or awkwardly does not relieve. Also my blisters think it’s funny to give me a nice twinge every so often, to be sure I don’t forget them. Good thing my job requires very little movement, I suppose.

Some Things I Want To Make, When I Go Home

I have discovered that Canada has this thing called Ketchup flavored potato chips. 

Um, what?

I have been very brave and worked up the courage to test them, and they taste, weirdly, like a combination of German curry sauce and tomato soup.

I haven’t been able to decide if I like them or not.

Proof. You didn't believe me, did you?

Today’s Exploit:

I miss my stove. I have a list of about 4,391,975 things I want to try to make. 

Right now I have the tools to make No Bake cookies and Peanut butter and Jelly sandwiches. That’s a lot of peanut butter.

I have so much motivation to cook when I am at work with no tools to accomplish my goals. And then I go home and lay on the couch reading my book for a week. 

So I am going to make a list, to remind myself to get my lazy bum, which has been the topic of many a conversation lately, off the couch and go get some groceries. And then use them, rather than letting them rot in the fridge.

My list:

Marshmallows. They are so pretty and they look so fluffy and squishy. 

Apple Fritters. I love them, I love them, I love them, and I miss the Donut Ranch.

Fruit Snacks. You have no idea how much I love fruit snacks. I’m such a 5 year old. 

Spider Repellent. To keep those crazy brown widows from laying egg sacs and me trying to remove them, resulting in spiders falling down my shirt.

Nutella. Because, really, who doesn’t like nutella?

Macaroni & Cheese. About 7200 ways, sans the breadcrumbs. Breadcrumbs ruin a good mac & cheese.

Asiago Cheese Biscuits. I discovered them as a pot pie topping, and I changed the recipe to suit my whims and kitchen supplies. I want them as real biscuits, today. 

Chocolate and Peanut Butter Pudding. Because, yum.

Queso Blanco Dip. I love this stuff, and could eat it all day, and all tomorrow.

Vanilla Extract. Except I still have 3 bottles in my cupboard.

Graham Crackers. Perfect with Mom’s Chocolate Orange Chocolate Buttercream Frosting.

Goldfish Crackers. “I love fishes ‘cause they’re so delicious!”

Plus a billionty other items.

Organization is Overrated

While I have not yet lost any of my toenails, I do have some nice purple-black bruises under them. I won’t have to paint them for the next year (not that I paint them on a regular basis, but now I’ll look like I do).

Today’s Exploit:

According to my workout schedule/preparation for a marathon I was supposed to only walk a couple times the week after I raced. 

So I did.

I followed this by a week of complete laziness and did nothing. 

Then I decided I was going to start doing my video workouts again. I was really excited. And I was so ready, I even planned with the other MWD that we were going to switch over at four instead of six so that I could have some sunlight. 

And then the day came that I wanted to start.

And the day went without starting.

Because I was very organized the last time I was home and put everything away instead of leaving it in bags in my car like normal.

Organization is overrated.

I May Update This Blog, Someday

I started this post 7 days ago. It then spent 4 days unsaved on my desktop with a few unexplained numbers in it, followed by three days with the same content saved as “untitled” in my blog folder.

Today’s Exploit:

I had some vacation just before Thanksgiving. While part of the reason for vacation was my parents’ visit, the other part was to run a really long ways.

A REEEEALY long ways.

I ran a marathon, the Rock and Roll Marathon in San Antonio, to be exact. That’s 26.2 miles. And I really wanted to do well for my first one, but I kind of tanked just over half way through. 

Things were going well, and I finished the first half at least 30 minutes faster than my other races. But then I started getting cramps. First in my right calf, then my left. Then they got worse. And when I tried to walk it off I’d get cramps up thigh, and going up any hill that didn’t immediately make both calves so tight I couldn’t reach my toes meant my hamstrings were going to cramp. 

Therefore I walked most of the second half, and took almost 6 hours to finish, 5:49 to be exact. That was an hour and 49 minutes longer than my goal time. 

Stupid cramps.

Anyway, I didn’t come in last, so there’s something.

Rankings:

148/207 Women 25-29 yrs

2448/3111 Overall

Attack of the Sugar Ants

I just had to write a paper selling something. So, naturally, I chose Hello Kitty backpacks. Nerdy Hello Kitty, no less. When looking up reviews of this product I found some lovely gems that were something along these lines:

OMG! Hello Kitty is, like, so cool and I (heart) her so much! I totally, like, love this backpack and everyone should, like, totally get one to be as cool as I am now! OMG It's so exciting and I love it so much, everyone in, like, all my, like, classes is going to be, like, so totally jealous that I got this, like, totally awesome backpack. (;

Except with worse grammar, capitalization, punctuation and emoticons.

Today’s Exploit:

I had a nice long break between my last one and this one. Almost 2 1/2 weeks! In that time I worked on shelves (I’m ALMOST done), ran a long way WITH OTHER PEOPLE, and fought some ants that took up residence in my closet on my porch. I think I almost got rid of them, but we’ll see when I get back.

In the mean time. I arrived at the rig to find all my boxes piled up and ready to be unpacked. Which I did, in the heat, all by myself. I put the computers in the box, along with all of the cables and nonsense that needs to be hooked up. I ran cables to my sensor and a separate monitor, and I set up the satellite. By then I was nice and soaked from sweat and covered in dust from crawling around on the floor and sitting in the dirt to untangle some cables. 

My night hand arrived in time to run one last cable and set up his own computer while I showered and got some dinner. When I came back to the box, after a few hours, to set up some computer files I was assaulted by itty bitty sugar ants. These things like to bite. And then you feel all creepy-crawly with phantom ants for about 6.32 hours. 

After the one bit my hand I looked around to discover that they were EVERYWHERE! They were in Logan’s keyboard, on and under his mousepad, under all of the computers in mass quantities and hiding individually under cables. 

I killed 487.

Then I went and got some bleach, because I heard a rumor that they don’t like strong smells cause it means they can’t follow their neighbor’s trail.  

After about 2 hours of alternately killing mass quantities of ants and spraying the heck out of the counter and any possible entry space I started to feel sick from the fumes and gave up for the night. I still have to kill one or two every day, but it’s much better than being swarmed by them every time I try to work at any of the 172.6 computers. 

And now I have the creepy-crawlies again.  Gah.

Bud, the Grasshopper Dog and King of the Table

Texas is hot and humid and gross. I want to go to the cabin.

Today’s Exploit:

Today I went to the trailer to get some breakfast, because I decided that a few drinks of chocolate milk were probably not enough to be considered food. When I got there Bud the dog was sprawled out on the coffee table. 

That was new. Usually he sprawls under it, or under the desk or on the couch. But today he was king of the coffee table. He stood up when I walked in, so I patted him on the head and he sprawled out again.

He got kinda interested when I went into the kitchen, but only kinda because he wasn’t too impressed with the grape I shared with him the other day. He really was more interested in the ham sandwich I was making. But when I stayed in the kitchen with yogurt and blackberries and strawberries and raspberries he got a little more interested.

He stood up on the table and started to act like he wanted to jump down. But it was a little on the tall side. I guess he forgot how he got up there. My guess is he jumped on the couch and then hopped over to the table. But he evidently didn’t think that would be a good way to get down, so he paced along the other three sides of the table for a good while before braving it and diving off. 

Once safely down he had to investigate the kitchen to see if I dropped any tasty crumbs on the floor, one that the cloud of flies hadn’t carried away. On his investigation he found a grasshopper. This was interesting. 

He pounced. I’m pretty sure he pinned the grasshopper to the floor with his face. 

When that got boring he whipped his head around to make the hopper jump. And he scrabbled around and pounced again. This time he swiped with his paw to make the poor grasshopper flee. He spent the next 15 minutes wiggling and bouncing and swiping and whipping and pinning the grasshopper with his face, and was still at it when I left. 

By this time the grasshopper was missing a hopping leg, and the other one wasn’t getting much traction on the floor as he fled. The only way he got into the air was when Bud whipped his head around and threw it across the kitchen, and then it could almost make a graceful landing by flapping its wings. 

I’m told Bud is an English bulldog, so he’s all squat and square and sausage-y with a giant, heavy head (he has to rest it on the table or on your knee for a pet so that he doesn’t fall over sometimes). The grasshopper probably thought it was being smashed by a furry boulder. Anyway, Bud is not particularly graceful and made quite a spectacle bouncing around the kitchen. 

A Long Job

Today’s Exploit:

We drilled 7 feet last night. It was a winner of a 12-hour cycle. 

This job is supposed to be done in 4 days, according to the report I received from my manager at the beginning. We have 2 wells to drill and are still working on the first 500 feet of the first one. That means that we still have over 9000 feet to drill. 

At 1.02 feet per hour. 

This is going to be a long job.

Myrtle Has a Friend, And a Baby!

Today’s Exploit:

Myrtle has a friend, or step-sister, or something. I was wondering around Home Depot one day, working up the courage to talk to one of the “associates” about getting a washer/dryer. Not a washer and dryer, but a washer in a dryer, or dryer-in-a-washer. Something. 

Anyway, I was wandering through the plant section when I found Alison. Miss Alison (Aly) Aloe shouted at me that she needed to go home with me. And I was so shocked that I acquiesced. So now Myrtle has company.

Also, I took a cutting or two or three from Myrtle a few months ago. Probably March. Anyway, I put them in a glass with some water and promptly went to work. When I got back the cuttings had roots and were looking rather pale. 

I changed the water and put them outside for a while, since I was home to monitor water levels. They perked up and turned green again just in time for me to go back to work. When my parents and Cupcake arrived in May they were stringy and nearly white with lack of sunlight. My dad took care of them and I ignored them for another month or so.

On my last days off I finally opened the potting soil, since I needed to re-pot Ally into a pot that wouldn’t fall over from a nasty look. And I potted the babies and gave Myrtle some more dirt, since I keep dumping hers in the floor of my car on trips. I also planted some seeds in my big pots, but that’s another story. 

To complete my ramblings: Baby Maya perked up and turned green and sturdy in about 2.6 seconds. She withstands the heat better than Myrtle and doesn’t seem daunted by the wind. Also, she’s safe from the company man, David, because Myrtle offers a larger selection of leaves to eat.

Group Picture Time

A cookie:

Today’s Exploit:

So, after being goofy and taking lots of crazy pictures their mama came out and made them sit still so we could take group pictures.

I couldn't resist tickling, they set me up.

English Essays are Boring

I should be writing a persuasive essay on an academically disputed subject. Which means that I could write about anything from abortion to why a bumble bee can fly. 

It’s just too big a pool to make a selection!

Today’s Exploit:

When I was working on my engineering degree I welcomed the, mostly pointless, classes that were required outside the engineering field. It meant that I had an easy A with minimal effort. I mean, it’s hard to get a bad grade in an Economics class with a teacher that can’t do math and uses mixed drinks for all his examples. 

Now that I’m trying to take some business classes I hate the extra “cultural” nonsense. Seriously, I have to take more English classes than I do classes that pertain to business. I also have to take psychology. I have to take all these classes because my prior credits didn’t transfer. Naturally all the math classes transferred, so I don’t even get to take some easy and fun classes. It’s just easy and boring and tedious English classes. Also, I feel like I’ve been demoted to high school, and the teachers are actually more lenient than my high school Humanities teacher.

I get four credits for each of these classes. That means that it’s supposed to take me at least four hours of studying each week to be successful in this class. 

I can write an essay that will get 97-100% in an hour: five paragraphs, five sentences per. The only difficult part is the choice of subjects when they say things like “defend a position that concerns you”. My only boundary is that I should avoid personal attacks on other people. 

I think that means that “people need to learn to take the consequences of their actions” is probably a poor topic choice? I plan on finding some obscure argument that I find entertaining and no one else will have a clue what I’m talking about.

The Big Update

I have acquired a new follower while I was away. Huh.

Also, the new version of Blogger is strange. 

Today’s Exploit:

It is hot here. Yesterday when I walked out of the trailer to go for my run I felt like I was stepping into the oven after baking some cookies. Texas likes to try to knock you off your feet every time you step out the door. 

In other news I have been running, swimming in the river with big rocks and scraping my knees, running, exploring San Marcos on my bicycle, running, writing English essays, running, being frustrated with school, running and baking in this horrible oven of a state. 

How long has it even been since I last posted? Probably years.

I am getting ready for my second half marathon, I will be running with my friend Catherine. It also means that I will be seeing my buddies Eli and Cavan and escaping the inferno for the moderate temperatures of Washington. Yay!