A meeting

Yesterday Mom, Adam and I met with a guy from Campus Crusade for Christ to talk about starting up a group on our campus. Yes, our campus is a community college, not a 4 year school. Yes, our school only consists of 1 floor of an old mill and sometimes the old, abandoned cafeteria upstairs. Yes, our student population isn't very big and has a very diverse age group. Yes, to all those things and more, but how great would it be to have a ministry on our campus? I've said it before, I hated going to school (I will be the first to stand up and say a lot of our teachers are mediocre and some are downright lazy and don't teach, but this isn't supposed to be about bashing our school...we'll save that for a different post sometime). And I still do. But I would love to help start up a ministry on the campus. How different would my school experience have been if there was a group like this set up when I got there? It might have been way different! Having a group of believers to encourage and pray with and for each other and the school and study the Bible with would have been SO awesome! But since there wasn't, I may be given the privilege of helping start one. I'm really excited! And one of the coolest things is there are at least 3 other people besides Adam and me (5 people isn't a big group, but at least there are 5) who want to help too and maybe more. We're still trying to find out who is interested. I hope that God will bless this group and bring about great things on the campus. Who thought I would actually be excited to start school? (I'll give you a hint, it definitely wasn't me!)

New Martha Stewart stamps at Walmart.

That's right! Martha has a stamping line in the crafting section at Walmart. I really like the stuff she has there. I bought a kit and some ink and pulled out some cardstock at the house and made these little posters for my blog header.

I wrote the whole 'Life According to Me' bit on there myself because I thought it would be kind of cool to have my own handwriting on the blog. I think it makes it a bit more personal.
And this one was made because I really want fall to get here! Soon! It was nice and cool out tonight, and the sun started going down around 8:15-8:30 PM. I think that autumn is on it's way!

Work has been kind of discouraging again this week. I am really getting the feeling that the office manager doesn't like me. She's just not very friendly. At least not when it's just us. Sometimes she is a little more chatty, but lately she just isn't very...oh....polite? I don't know. I'm really trying to make sure I'm not imagining that she doesn't like me and I'm trying not to be overly sensitive, I am just still getting vibes that she doesn't like me though because she is much friendlier to the other people who work there. And I don't think she takes me very seriously. I really do try not to bother her and I try to do my job as best as I can, but I'm still very new there and they do a lot of things differently there. Like their panoramic machine is different and it's not digital so to develop film I have to go in a dark room and lock myself in and wait for the film to be completely in the developer before I come out. I didn't realize the safe light could be on with the film exposed. I thought that could only be on once the film was all the way in the developer so I was waiting till then to write up my labels and log how many x-rays I've taken. I ended up taking longer than I needed too. Now I know you can have the safe light on the entire time you're in there and I can write up labels and log away really quickly.

So I'm still adjusting, and I don't think she really knows that.

I guess that eventually we'll all figure it out. I hope. :)

Quilt Top

Would it sound really vain and silly to say that I really like this quilt? Well, I do. I like the colors and the simplicity and the big blocks...I'm loving deep colors against white or black lately. I got the idea from Joelle Hoverson's book 'Last-Minute Patchwork and Quilted Gifts, which lately I've really gotten into and talked about on my other blog a lot. This quilt is loosely based on the 'Stacked Coins' and 'Just Sweet Enough' quilts in that book. It's not very big. It was fun to make. I had this past Tuesday off and with everyone leaving for school I've been pretty bummed (plus some trouble with one of my new co-workers has added to my bummed-out-ness) and a morning out with my sister and an afternoon of sewing was a very nice way to spend the day.I'm not trying to sound sappy here, because I know I'm not the best seamstress (hardly very good at all) and I don't really sew as often as I would really like to, but there is something about working on a sewing project that just helps to keep me in the 'now.' I so often am busy thinking about what will happen in the future or what's happened in the past. Thinking things like "what am I going to do when I finish school?" or "I hope I didn't offend them by saying that," or whatever. Sewing helps me to just focus on the task at hand. Sometimes it's a good way to get my mind off things that are bugging me.

I got out of work early today and went up to town to return a movie to Blockbuster (Bella...a very good movie! I'd recommend it. If you are prone to crying during movies you may want to have a couple of tissues nearby) and run to the grocery store and while I was out I picked up what I needed to finish the quilt. At least, I hope I got enough fabric for the back. Like all my projects I was kind of 'winging' this one and I didn't measure it before I left the house this afternoon so I guess we'll see if I got it right!

I'm not sure where this quilt will end up once it's done. It is a good size for a baby quilt. Or a wall hanging. I guess I'll just hang on to it until I figure out a good home for it.

I'll post pictures once it's finished! Hopefully this weekend. If I do get it finished it will be my first quilt ever! Pretty exciting for me. :) I'd like to make more. Maybe one big enough for my bed. Maybe I'll finish the other quilt I was working on first. That would be nice. :)

Dear Cheryl,

You mentioned in a comment to me that you wanted to see the bee-sting. The action! Well, we didn't catch the drama on camera, but here is a picture of my hand. It was taken 2 days after the bee-sting. You really can't even see it anymore. If you click on the picture you may see a teeny-tiny pin-prick that is actually the site of the sting. But there is also a brighter red mark on my finger (also probably hard to see). That's where I burnt myself 2 days later on the autoclave at work. It was freezing in there and I thought I would warm my hand up by placing it on the autoclave that I was running my instruments through. I didn't realize it would burn it. Those things are hot! Like 250* F hot. It's times like these I have to ask myself, "what was I thinking?" And I wonder if maybe I should start drinking coffee in the morning before I go to work. Or take my vitamins more than twice a week. You know, keep those brain cells working...

I brought a lab jacket with me today which helped me keep warmer. Good thing too cause my doctor forgot to turn the air conditioning up and it was only 62* F in the office this morning!

I got the idea for touching the autoclave because many many years ago (back in 2005) when I was working at Daily Grind (coffee shop) I would get to work at 6:30 AM every morning when my dad would drop me off on his way to work. I wasn't supposed to be there till 7 AM, but when you can't drive you just get there when someone can drop you off. Anyway, the guy I worked with on Mondays refused to turn the heat on in the winter. He just refused. He said people would buy more coffee if it was cold. I think he just liked being cold. I hate being cold! When he wasn't looking I would go turn the heater on and run and stand in one of the bathrooms until I warmed up because it got hot in there really fast. Once he figured out that I'd turned on the heat he'd go switch it off. So I would go turn on the convection oven and heat it up and then, periodically, I'd open the oven door and stand in front of it while it was blowing out hot air until I warmed up. It was that cold.

So on Monday I was remembering this while I was freezing at this new job. I couldn't open the autoclave while it was running, so I just touched the door. And now I know better.

Sorry the picture wasn't more exciting. :)

How are things in Texas?

Love,
Gracie

125th post...

...I spend way too much time on here!

My Half Apron

I made this half apron just in case I am able to take a pottery class. I want to take one, and if I can work it into my schedule this fall, you may be seeing some pottery posts on here. :)So just in case I am able to do it, I made this half apron to help keep myself clean.

The back criss-crosses so I don't have to worry about making my ties long enough (mine always end up way too short! I think with one apron I made they were only 8 inches long.)

And it's reversible. :) I love reversible things. It was kinda tricky to make. I didn't have a pattern so I had to use my seam ripper a few times. All in all it only took me a couple of hours to make. It was a fun way to use up some fabric I had that wasn't big enough to make into a bag or skirt. Actually, the blue dotted fabric is a remnant from a skirt I made so I didn't need to try to make another skirt out of it.

I bet it would be useful for cooking too because I'm always getting grease on my shirt when I brown meat for dinner. Or I get flour all over my shirt when I'm baking something. I think it may be useful even if I can't take pottery classes.

But I still really want to do pottery.

Dinner with the Tyners :)

Last night we went to the Tyner's house for dinner. It was Courteney's last night at home so I'm glad we got to go visit before she left for school.Mr. and Mrs. Tyner are very good cooks! And Mrs. Tyner always has beautiful table preparations. I feel very lazy because I am all about using paper plates/cups/ forks, etc., but Mrs. Tyner goes above and beyond the call of duty. Another fun thing is all the girls get to eat in the kitchen while the "adults" (okay, technically Courteney and I are adults) and the boys eat in the dining room. So we can talk and be silly all we want without scaring our parents. Not that we would scare our parents, but that way they don't have to listen to us talking about school and work and people's toes falling off or how/why a person would get their stomach pumped....maybe we would scare our parents. I don't know. I've known Courteney's family since we were in 7th grade and I've been having dinner in their kitchen for 8 years now. I wonder how much our conversations have changed? Rebecca and Jacqueline are now married and aren't at that table with us anymore. Holly and Caitlin are there with us now....poor things!

And their coleslaw was amazing! Courteney made a coleslaw and both Mom and I loved it. That's a big deal because we are both coleslaw haters. I think I ate a third of the whole dish that was on the table for us. Good thing it's mostly all vegetable. :) We are actually making it for dinner tonight!

In addition to a lovely dinner and desert, Kenny entertained us with his clay-mation videos. He makes his own. He is very good at it too. He writes his scripts and makes his own characters and makes his movies. He just finished a production of David and Goliath for the church's vacation Bible school this year (kids in the church star as the voices of some of the characters which was really cool!). He has also made a movie in which he used a poem written by his grandfather for his dialogue which was very good too. I was very impressed!
We were on the front porch talking and Holly took our picture! This was right before I got stung by a bee. :( Thank goodness for baking soda!

I'm not sure if you guys know this, but if you are stung by a bee you can make a paste out of baking soda and water and rub it on the area of the bee sting and it helps to take the pain away. It's really great!

And so was our visit!

Now I can't wait for everyone to come back from school so we can hang out again! I'm going to miss everyone.

Wall Hanging for Courteney!

I made this door hanging for my friend Courteney. She is going to be an RA at college this year and I thought it would be fun to make her something for her room. So I came up with this:There is a notepad and pockets (with a special pocket for a pen) so people can write her a note and stick it in the pocket. That way if someone has a message for her while she is in school, at work, or at the gym or Bible study people can leave her a note. I left the upper right hand blank so she can personalize it with a note or picture or anything else she'd like to put there.
Courteney's the oldest friend I have here. She is one of my dearest friends too. Even though she has been in school for 2 years she has always kept in touch with me and I can't say how much I appreciate her for reaching out to me and being an encouragement! She even started a blog too.

Courteney, have a terrific semester! I'm excited for you!

You gotta be tough! (Warning: May provoke disturbing mental images)

At the new dentist office I work at there are two podiatrists who rent space in the office. I mentioned this before and Cheryl left me a comment that said something like 'Hoof and Mouth disease?' I love Cheryl!

Anyway, I have been told several times by patients and friends that I must have a tough stomach to be a dental assistant. When they say this I don't tell them that my favorite part of being a dental assistant is helping the doctor pull teeth. Honestly, I've helped with some messy extractions and it doesn't bother me. In fact, I really enjoy it. I don't know why. I have to wonder about myself sometimes. And helping with root canals and seeing the nerve get pulled out of the tooth and laid on the counter...that's really kinda cool. I'm not sure why I'm saying this because y'all are probably going to think I'm really weird....and you're probably right, but I really don't feel like it takes a tough stomach to do my job. After the first few times you help with those procedures, you stop thinking about teeth and start thinking about what you're going to do with your weekend or what to have for dinner or what the people in the next room are saying or how much you hate the song on the radio or something like that. You don't have to be tough is what I'm saying.

I was talking to the podiatrist's assistant the other day about her job. I didn't (and still don't really) understand all that a podiatrist does. I thought that they just clip toenails and cure fungi and treat ingrown toenails. And I didn't think the assistants had to do much more than clean rooms in between patients. Well, the assistant was talking to me about some of the stuff she has seen and it was grossing me out. She said they get a lot of diabetic patients who have bad circulation and they come in with glass stuck in their foot or big abrasions on their feet and they have no idea it's there because they don't feel it and she will help the doctor treat them. The worst story she told me though was that one day she was seating a patient and helping them take their shoes and socks off and one of their toes fell out of their sock. It was gangrene and had just broken right off the foot and.....oh gross! She said the doctor on shift was very understanding and that if it had been the other doctor he would probably have said, "oh you lost a toe there, let me throw that out for you." I think I would have passed out or lost my lunch or something by that point. So the moral to this story is (I guess) that you have to be hardcore to be a podiatrist (and a podiatrist's assistant). With a stomach that is tougher than enamel (which is the strongest substance in the body, just so's ya know!).

Now, are you all thoroughly disgusted and ready to never read my blog again??? I won't post anymore disturbing stories. I think. :)

Friends.

I got to meet up with Janice, Rachel, and Sarah tonight at the Daily Grind. Everyone is getting ready to go back to school. I'll be at the same school as Janice and Rachel, but Sarah will be out of state. I will be sad when our friends who are leaving for school are finally gone. I wish I got to hang out with them more this summer. I am grateful for them!I hope they have a great semester! And I hope they keep in touch!