Love is a Warm Scarf!

It seems like the weather has been a bit wacky all over the place lately, so it's hard to say if winter is coming or going! I've got friends who had snow and ice yesterday and are expecting a warm day today. In Seattle, we've got the cold rain that's pretty typical this time of year. I'm sure I know someone who lives somewhere that spring is already sprung, though that doesn't mean it's here to stay quite yet.

A warm scarf is a good way to beat the cold days, no matter what time of year they appear! Soft and fluffy, the scarves in my Etsy shop are skinny (2-4 inches wide) and LONG (some of them up to 9 feet long), so you can wind them around your neck a few times, or just wear them long and decorative! They're also all machine washable and made from a wide variety of fibers!

It's fall, for sure!

The weather has turned directly into fall, and just about right on schedule, too. Seattle has a good tendency to turn warmer around Memorial Day, turn hot around the 4th of July, and turn cooler around Labor Day. It's a good system, if you ask me, because I'm perfectly happy with about 3 months of summer-ish weather (with only a week or two of summer heat).

Of course, this seems to mean that I need to stop thinking that I can get away with more summer-y clothing options. Apparently a knee length skirt with footless tights and ballet flats just doesn't work for going out to the bus stop in the morning. I'll probably be fine on the way home, of course. :) Jeremy said we need to get me more winter-y clothes, and I responded that I just need to learn how to dress for the weather better. I've got a whole drawer full of corduroy pants and sweaters. :)

I can sort of tell that the seasons are turning by what Jeremy reports to me as available at the farmer's market near his work. On Tuesdays when he's coming straight home from work, he heads over there on his lunch break, and we frantically text back and forth so I can help him choose some fresh produce for our meals. This week, it was less fruit than previous weeks, and a bag of purple potatoes. This is mostly for my love of all things purple, but also for my love of strange potato dishes (like the blue mashed potatoes that we had for Thanksgiving in Carbondale one year). I had purple potato salad at the Can't Stop the Serenity event in Seattle, and decided that I needed to make purple potatoes at home, too. :)

I think the plan for these is just to boil them and eat them relatively unadorned, so we can see what they taste like before I start doing more odd things to them. But really, how often do you get to eat purple food that isn't grapes?!

Catching up at the end of the week...

I have more topics that I wish to cover than I have blog posts left before these topics slip my mind. Therefore:

1) Push was a pretty good movie. Of course, as soon as it ended, I turned to Jeremy to ask him his top choice for a game system to simulate the way the movie worked. He picked Mage. I picked Aberrant. He agreed that Mage needed a lot of tweaking to work, though. We are unrepentant geeks who turn all slightly geeky movies into a potential game. :)

2) The weather in Seattle has turned cool enough that I had to wear a long sleeved shirt AND a jacket this morning. This makes me very happy. However, the forecast says this won't last long, so I guess we'd better enjoy it while we can.

3) The end of moving is in sight! We're going to make a big push tonight to finish packing and moving the stuff in the living room that gets moved, and then all that is left is the kitchen. The kitchen can technically wait until after the movers do their work, if need be. YAY! :)

4) This is extra good because I'm off to the Olympic Peninsula next week for three days for work. Ah, I love getting over there. :)

Cats + heat = not good!

The heat continues. And while we get to go to our nice air-conditioned offices every day, the poor cats are stuck at home. We're doing as much as we can to keep them comfortable--fans in the bedroom and living room, plenty of fresh water every time we can refill it, and even a bit of water in the bathtub in the hopes of either keeping the bathroom cooler or giving the cats a spot to hang out--but they are NOT liking the heat one bit.

Last night, I went straight home while Jeremy headed to an appointment, so I spent about an hour trying to get the cats more comfortable. Mostly they were doing alright by hiding out in the bedroom, but one of the cats insisted on laying on the living room floor, and looked downright miserable. I ended up "petting" him with an ice cube to get his fur a little damp, and he seemed to perk up after that.

Today is forecast to be worse than yesterday. We're holding out hope that my apartment is retaining its cave-like qualities, so that we can sleep there tonight. The cats, however, can't come with us. Hopefully they're finding good ways to beat the heat!

In other cat related news, I don't think I ever showed off the catnip toys that I made. I had a custom order request for a cat toy, and since I had to buy catnip to make it, I ended up making a ton of these little fish. They're from a pattern that I whipped up when I wanted to make a crocheted Swimmy, and then modified to make stuffed fish. I like these little featureless catnip toys, and I keep promising Jeremy's cats that they can have one... they go so nuts when I work on catnip toys near them and don't share. :)

Summer in Seattle

Oof. It's been way too hot lately in Seattle, which is really difficult to deal with. Jeremy's apartment does not have cool little hiding spots like mine did, and I just think it's been hotter all around. I've been jumping in the shower quickly before bed so that I can actually get to sleep at night, and once the sun starts coming up, I'm ready to get out of bed and back into the shower to cool off again. Truly ridiculous, if you ask me!

I'm trying to think cool thoughts at the moment, though, because I'm really hoping for cooler weather by the weekend. We did Jeremy's storage unit move this past weekend (which was more fun than it had any right to be) and we're doing the one big moving push with our friends this Saturday. After that's done, all that will be left is to move smaller stuff in the car, and hire movers to put my big furniture into storage. We've been recruiting friends with the lure of food, and it looks like we might have enough people to actually move my stuff. The one fear has been that the teenaged girls and I probably can't handle carrying my entertainment center, so we're hoping at least a couple of the guys will be able to make it to help Jeremy with that. It is seriously heavy.

We're doing the studio move on Saturday as well, though most of that stuff is fairly lightweight. My vintage table-mounted sewing machine is the true beast, and really, it's mostly just unwieldly and awkward to carry. I'm so excited to be getting my stuff moved into my studio, and have already been scheduling the rest of the moving tasks around a few nights that I plan to spend at the studio, getting stuff made. Very exciting!

There might be pictures of the studio once I'm all moved in, and maybe some pictures from the apartment, once the dust there has settled. Really, though, there won't be much to see in the apartment, as it'll just be a rearranging of the living room and adding furniture to the bedroom. Trust me, you won't be missing much. :)

Crazy weather

Last night, I had a bunch of errands to run after work, and a pretty strict timeline in which to get them all done. The weather did not want to cooperate. :(

People from Seattle know that when we talk about it "raining," it's not what people in, say, the Midwest would consider rain. It's usually really light rain, sometimes more mist than rain, but rarely actual raindrops. Last night, it was more like real rain. In fact, my friend Tom said that the top news story was the "thunderstorm." I heard no thunder, for the record. :)

But I got my errands done, and without any great incident. Aside from leaving the stuff I bought at Costco in my trunk. *sigh*

Hurrah!

Well, I successfully made it to and from work today, without much trouble. I did take the quick way down about four steps, but my backpack saved me from much more than a bruised left forearm (and not really a bad bruise, either).

My weekend plans seem to be mostly surviving, though some of them in altered form. I may be having virtual coffee with a friend... as in he has coffee at his apartment and I have tea at mine while we chat online... to substitute for actually going out into the cold cold world. Thus far, my plans for the Steampunk Cabaret remain completely intact... I just need to find clothing that is warm enough and boots that are functional enough. Fashion may not win out this time.

Sunday, though, I Heart Rummage has been canceled, so I'll be recovering from the Steampunk Cabaret and watching it snow and/or sleet. The head of our office sent out an E-mail today suggesting that folks take work home with them today so that if the weather is really as nasty as they are predicting, we can all just work from home on Monday. I like this option. A lot. :)

Aw, man...

Apparently I spoke too soon yesterday. The snowpocalypse has arrived, and it ain't pretty. Luckily, I had already planned to head to UW again today, which turned out to be a MUCH easier commute than getting downtown would have been. There were easily 30 people waiting for my normal downtown bus at 8:30, and only 3 people waiting for the bus to UW.

So I'm hoping the snow stops early enough that the roads can be cleared before tomorrow, as I pretty much have to get to my office to do any more work. I've finished everything I have home with me, except for the answers that are sitting happily in my office. :)

I'm also hoping that they can get everything cleared before it gets super chilly tomorrow, cuz there will then be a lovely crust of ice on top of the snow, which will pretty much destroy all of my weekend plans. And that, my friends, would suck. A lot.

In other news, it looks like it will be warmer in Denver on Christmas Day than in Seattle or St. Louis. *boggles*

There is no snowpocalypse...

There is only Zuul. :)

So I had gotten myself good and ready for there to be HEAPING piles of snow everywhere when I woke up this morning. I peeked out the window at 6 a.m., and saw nothing. I continued peeking out the windows until I had to leave for the library, and still nothing. For about 1 minute after lunch, there was some vaguely sleet-y snow at UW, and then it was done.

Now I know that SOME parts of Seattle got snow, and apparently even a reasonable amount, but I'm still waiting for the impending snowpocalypse. Of course, I don't REALLY want it to happen, as I have plans for tomorrow night that hinge on no snow, and plans on Saturday that hinge on no snow. Oh, and Sunday too. Today was pretty much the only day I was willing to tolerate snow.

Sorry weather, you blew it. No snow for you. :p

Oof...

Hello, jet lag! I managed to defeat it when we were in D.C., but it's kicking my butt this time around. Probably doesn't help any that this trip was preceded by a three day weekend, during which I was particularly lazy, and then the fact that I didn't sleep on the plane at all. First class was just too darn exciting! :)

It is going to take some getting used to being this far south though. I got up at 6 a.m. local time, and was shocked that the sun isn't even beginning to make the sky pink. Also, it's 79 degrees out (plus humidity), when it's still pitch black... oi.

I had all kinds of very articulate things to say about Texas, flying first class, and inadvertently running into the Alamo in downtown San Antonio, but with the jet lag and the lack of breakfast thus far, I've got nothing.

The rain came back! :)

So after sweating through Saturday (and then going to see Tropic Thunder mainly because it would get us out of the apartment for a few hours... though it was thoroughly hilarious as well...), Sunday wasn't too bad. Last night, we watched some SERIOUS lightning off in the distance, but we couldn't tell for certain if it was heat lightning or storms.

It's much cooler today, and with that comes the gray skies and rain that is far more typical. As much as I love the big blue sky, the gray skies are nice, because they mean it won't be way over 80 degrees outside! Of course, silly me neglected to wear a jacket to work this morning, enjoying the mid-60s temperatures. Now it's kind of cold and rainy out. :)

My work plans for this week are all kinds of in the air right now, but it looks like I'm returning to my second home during the later part of the week. Hurrah for my hour-each-way commute time returning! I get so much crocheting done on that route! :)

Ugh...

This week has turned out to be one hectic week. I know that part of that I've done to myself, like insisting I had to run to the post office right after work, and silly things like that. But ugh! TGIF!

My plan is to spend the majority of tomorrow sewing, and then probably hitting a few thrift stores on Sunday to get more stuff to sew. My hour-each-way bus commute this week has gotten me WAY ahead of my self-imposed schedule on big order #2. This means I can start working on stuff for the Green Edmonds show, which is in mid-September (more on that later, of course). It's not that I don't have stuff for it, but I feel like I don't have enough stuff for it. I don't want to go too overboard, but it's nice to be able to offer options. :)

In other news, it's beastly hot in Seattle right now, with no real signs of cooling off any time soon. This kind of sucks for my plan to sew all day tomorrow, because I'll probably be melting the whole time. Melting onto your sewing project is generally a poor choice.

What a change!

Overnight, that oppressive heat seems to have vanished into the clouds that are now blanketing Seattle. Silly me went out with no jacket this morning, expecting another scorcher. Instead, it was downright brisk! But I didn't mind--I don't like roasting while waiting for the bus!

In other news, I think a pair of crows (or ravens... I can't tell the difference) have taken up residence in the tree outside my office window. They aren't there today, but I've seen them twice in recent weeks, just hanging out. Now, granted, I have no way of knowing if they're the same pair as I saw before, because they're all just BIG black birds. But I swear they're watching me. They must know about the guys who have got my back. And though the pair on my back don't have official names, I'm naming the two outside my window Huginn and Muninn. :) [Edit: And they're back, about 2:45. I can't see a nest, but I think they live here now.]

And in other other news, discovering halfway through your bus ride that your applesauce container is leaking onto your khakis is not a nice feeling. Every time I wear these pants, they end up with more stains. I think I know why they were at Value Village now... :(

Longest. Day. EVAR!

I know some Seattle-ites are going "80 degrees? In May? Are you crazy?!" But when the sky is this blue, and all the mountains are out, I ain't gonna complain for a second. Plus, 80 degrees is nothing. :) There's still a breeze and you don't feel like you're swimming in it. I call this a win!

It's only the longest day ever because I was cooped up in the office all day long. And it's Friday. So that made it seem like the afternoon took at least 6 days. Maybe 7.

Unfortunately, no rest for the wicked, and all that rot. We're foregoing Prince Caspian tonight so that I can work on my freelancing project tonight, since tomorrow I need to run errands and work on my Exalted game, which runs tomorrow night. Nothing like putting that off till the last minute. :) We're gonna try to catch Prince Caspian on Wednesday, which will also help in the task of avoiding opening night crowds for what is, when it comes down to it, a kids movie.

I'm at the archives all next week for work (local, though), so expect lots of these after work type posts. No wifi in the research room, from what I've been told. :(

*checks the date*

Yeah, that does say April. Why, then, is it snowing intermittently in Port Angeles?! And scheduled to do the same in Seattle tomorrow?! AUGH!

Well, at least Megan came up with a backup plan for tomorrow if it does snow. We'll just go to the aquarium instead of the zoo.

But first, Apocalyptica tonight. And I was hoping I wouldn't need my winter coat... guess we better take some extra cash for the coat check... *grumble*...

Blah

Still busy. So I'm planning out my Saturday, which will be my free day. I have decided. :)

I need to get a new black printer cartridge, so that will probably be my first stop. I also need to run by the bank, so that's stop 2. And I have a gift card from Jo Ann's burning a hole in my wallet, so that's stop 3. The rest of the day will then probably be spent playing with whatever new stuff I bought at Jo Ann's. :)

And yeah, I know a lot of that is errand running and not necessarily the sort of stuff which might qualify as fun. But seriously, this week I've been getting up in the morning, going to work (which occasionally means trips to the library), coming home in the afternoon, working on more stuff, and going to bed. The only excursion outside of that has been to go grocery shopping on Sunday night. So running errands might not be fun, but it'll be out of my apartment and office, which makes it fun for me. Plus, the weather is supposed to be GORGEOUS on Saturday. Yay! :)

New Asian place in Marion is definitely worth checking out. It's called Sao's Asian Bistro, and it is DAMN good... :) For those local folks who are interested, it's at the same light at Steak 'n Shake in Marion, next to the Harley dealership.

Of course, going there for lunch ended up keeping me out of the office for the bulk of yesterday afternoon, so I didn't post. :)

Today is a day of lots of rain, and what the hell happened to it being May? This is very non-May like weather, in my book. I should be having to open the windows when I get home from work, or be bitching about having to turn on the AC already. It's been cool enough outside in the afternoons that I don't need to open up the apartment, and the AC is totally out of the question. I still have a fleece blanket on my bed (with my summer time sheets, because of those like 3 days when it was warm enough for them).

Not to say I would mind a mild summer... in fact, I could totally deal with that... but I really do want the opportunity to wear some of my summer clothes and not freeze half to death in the process. Yesterday afternoon, I put on shorts when I got home from work. Went to the driving range later (yeah, I know... I didn't hit but like 5 golf balls this time, though...), and thought about putting on jeans. Decided I definitely needed jeans before going to Hangar.

(Fun conversation:
Megan: "So we're going to the driving range, and then to Hangar, and then to Applebee's."
Me: "So it's the same plan as last week?"
Megan: "Yeah, but without the drama... we hope..."

Hurrah for lack of drama! :) )

Right, I think I'll stop rambling now. :)
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Rather than the normal format for End of the Work Week Wisdom, I will direct you to Everything I needed to know I learned from listening to They Might Be Giants. So it's like 30+ pieces of wisdom for the price of one!

Except I don't get paid even when I post only one... damn... :(

In other news, it's absolutely frickin' gorgeous outside, and I'm sitting inside, at work. This, my friends, blows chunks. The boss is out of town, one co-worker is off running errands, and the other is at lunch. I think I'm gonna try to bust outta here early, since I need to go mail one pair of Docs off to their happy new owner... any excuse to enjoy a little of this weather!

I'm hoping desperately that it will be this nice tomorrow, because I really wanna hit Laumeier before the show. If it's like this tomorrow? We're golden. :)

I'm also hoping that maybe my new Docs will arrive today, though I won't start breaking them in till next week... breaking in new shoes tomorrow is just gonna make my feet super grumpy. So screw a bunch of that. :)

Blah... this will be the longest. afternoon. EVAR. Must find something to entertain myself with!
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Not much to mention today. It's just another day of work and such. Wednesdays are too much in the middle of the week, and too far from Friday afternoons, to make me happy with them. So Wednesday will be full of disgruntlement. At least for now.

Sun has come out finally, which means that hopefully this odd little cold snap will be a thing of the past. Seriously, it was colder when I left work at 4:00 p.m. yesterday than it had been when I got here at 7:45 a.m. Last night, I wore my jacket, and kept it out to wear this morning. April, people. Nearly May. It should not be in the 30s at night!!!!! I should be bitching about how soon my AC is going to have to come on, not pulling an extra blanket out of the closet!

Anyways, yeah. Lots of stuff to do, not nearly enough time to do it. Luckily, nothing with deadlines at the moment, so I'm not stressed about it... though I really should work on Jesi's stuff before she moves in... at least I mostly have her room cleared of my stuff... :)
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Not much to report, in all honesty. It seems like I'm busy everywhere I go... busy at home, busy at work... busy all around...

The busy at home is in preparation for the yard sale on Saturday, as well as some preliminary getting ready for Jesi to move in... cuz I'm going to have to get all of my crap out of her bedroom soonishly... :) Shouldn't be too difficult, mostly it'll just be a matter of figuring out how to fit everything back into the living room closet again... it all fit in there to begin with, and I've whittled down some of it, so getting it back in SHOULD be easy. :)

The busy at work is because I've had a large-ish project land on my desk every afternoon this week. The one today has been small, in comparison, but seriously... regular work + extra large-ish projects = very busy Dawn! I think this is all just coincidental, but it will be nice when it slows down, and goes back to just regular work with occasional small projects tossed on top.

Only 2 and a half more weeks of classes, then finals, which doesn't really affect me, but, at the same time, it does. It affects pretty much everyone in a college town. In this case, it's because a good chunk of the college kids are busy and/or stressed... and it spills out onto the town, and makes everything kinda crazy. Ah well, come May 13th or so, there will be many less people in town, and I will be happy. Carbondale is so much nicer without the bulk of the students. :)

The weather out today is odd... gray and cool... I suspect it's a precursor for rain tomorrow, or maybe late tonight... I don't care, just as long as there's no rain on Saturday! I will not be a happy camper if I wake up early for the yard sale on Saturday, only to see that it's rescheduled for Sunday. :(
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