Meh.

So there are now boxes of crap all over the apartment. I will spare you pictures, no one needs to see that. It's not. pretty. I seem to mainly be getting rid of books. There are a lot of cookbooks going away. It's funny how few of them I use. I mostly use the same ones that I have been using for years. Just to summarize...

I have 2 boxes of books to get rid of. This is not including the cookbooks. I think I can find homes for all of them.

I have 1 rather largeish box of clothing to get rid of. I was merciless. If I hadn't worn it in the last year, it was gone.

A whole crapton of pots for plants. I have no clue what I am going to do with these. Maybe the little neighborhood thrift store?

I have about 15 packages of varying shapes and sizes to get to the post office. I am RAK-ing a bunch of stuff. I love it when I have something that someone else really, really wants. And several small boxes of books that are going to various people.

I have another shelf of books to go through. Then I think I am mostly done with books.

I need to get this all out of my way so that I can get some sewing done. I have a whole slew of knitting project bags to sew and put up on etsy. I also have the recycled cashmere hats to get sewn and listed. If only I didn't have to go to work.


I can tell it's getting colder. Teh Stinkiecat won't get off of me. Ever. He stayed with me through all of last night. Little booger. He was curled up on the pillow nex to me with my cheek lying on his wittle fuddy butt. He is full of awesome.

Lame? Oh Hell's yeah I am!

I don't seem to be blogging about much of anything lately. And now, I am blogging because I am sick of re-potting plants and trying to figure out where to put all the dishes I thought that I needed 10 years ago. Does anyone want a bunch of Harlequin dishes? I have, a lot. They are really super pretty!!! I could try to sell them on ebay, but damn, that's a lot of work. I did pass a shop on Dempster up in Evanston that had a bit of Harlequin in the window. Maybe they would be interested. I wish I could remember the name of that place.

I have so much stuff scattered all over, it's driving me nuts. But. I found someone to take the deep freeze. ComEd had an ad on craigslist. They come and fetch it, take it away and recycle it. And give you a $25 rebate! Woot!

Now if I could only find a home for the industrial sewing machine.

Huh.

Well she-ooot. I don't quite know what my blog should be about anymore. I suppose I should maybe switch out the pictures of the cat who has passed on... but that requires remembering how to do pictures on here. It was a nightmare the first time around. I should probably take some kind of basic computer skills class. It would probably fill in a lot of gaps.

I have a boyfriend now. Met him back in February. He's adorable. And moving in the end of the month. He is good with the computer. Maybe I can get him to do the picture bits on the blog for me. Hmm.

In the meantime, I am busy trying to clear excess clutter out of my life/apartment to make room for his stuff and because I just have too much stuff. Gah.

It's going slow.

Sigh..... I knew he was old, but still....

It sucks when a pet dies. Alex was anywhere between 18-20 years old. And on his daddy's birthday, he stopped eating. He still seemed to be his same old sassy self, but no eating. Given his age and his extreme dislike of going to the vet, I opted for letting him go at his own pace here at home. He died sometime in the morning of August 3rd. I will miss him dearly.

Stinkiecat seems to have gotten over it pretty quick though. Two weeks later and he's all like, " Suhweet! More Mommy for meeeeeeeeeee!!!!!"

R.I.P. Bernie

So yeah. I think it's finally time to give up on Bernie. Bernie would be my 21 year old Bernina 910 sewing machine. Berninas are awesome sewing machines, but alas, the 910 was a home model. I firmly believe that I wore him out. Why exactly I have decided that my sewing machine is a male, I do not know. The good news is that about 2 years ago when Bernie started ailing, I started perusing Ebay to find a replacement. After a false start with a low-end Bernina that has no button hole feature, I ended up with a Singer from the early 60's. Which was an incredibly good buy. Sewing Machine Dude told me I should never, ever get rid of it. And I won't. My mom had a different model from the same line, same era of Singers. Sewing Machine Dude would be a guy I found in the Chicago yellow pages. He comes out to your house to fix your machine. If it needs a lot of work, he takes it away and brings it back about a week later. He. Is. Awesome.

Spring has sprung

Or as what often happens in Chicago in spring, we went from freezing our asses off to the mid 80's. Why do we all keep putting up with this? =)

I am so full of blog-fail of late. I haven't blogged since freaking October for pete's sake. I. Am. Lame.

But it's okay...'cuz I haz boyfriend now! A very fun boyfriend. Who is sweet and adorable and who would seem to think the same of me. Wow. How did that happen? My dating life, not usually much to report. But the real question is how do I feel about living on a boat? This keeps coming up. Because that's his dream. It's not the solitude of it that makes me hesitate, but the being-in-the-middle-of-the-ocean-with-no-land-in-sight part of it.

I have all kinds of fun and exciting sewing projects going on. Which of course I will not put posting picture of. Because that's too much work and I never manage to put them in the right place. Dur.

I am re-covering the cushions for a chair. That is done now. Cushion jobs are a lot of fun. There is something oddly satisfying about zipping a pretty, fresh, new cover onto a old, ratty looking cushion.

Pants. I am trading pants for my February Lady Sweater. I got the yoke of the sweater done and realized that having not knit lace before, the rest of the sweater was not going to go as smoothly as I would have liked. One of my friends had just finished her's and having heard her mention that she has trouble finding pants that fit, I offered a trade. They are soooooo close! But I now see why she has trouble buying pants. I think it would have been better just draft a pattern rather than tinkering with one I have. They are just too big. Every fitting has been a case of taking in some here, taking in some there. I feel like I have been slacking. She had my sweater done ages ago. I do love, love, love the sweater!!!

I am also doing a wedding outfit. I say outfit because it is a corset and skirt, not a dress. That's gonna be a lot of fun to make! I love making corsets.

Plus, my birthday is on Tuesday. Boyfriend has all kinds of fun ideas. We are going to dinner and Too Much Light Makes The Baby Go Blind on Saturday. Sunday we were going to just bum around downtown, but then I remembered that Memorial Day Weekend = IML!!! So we are going to the leather market at IML on Sunday instead. Mmmm, leather men..... did I mention that boyfriend is a leather worker? Heh. And I don't know what all else he has planned, but it was suggested to me that I take the day after my birthday off. So I did.

Blog #43 or, According to Blogspot, This is My #43 Post.

I don't know how I got so mixed up with my numbers. Maybe I should come up with a different system. It could be a little bit tedious when I get up to a bajilliondy blog posts. As if.


There is a skunk in my neighborhood. And yes, I'm talking about a for reals skunk. Not the ward alderman. I could smell it this morning. I have heard no other talk of any kind about skunks in the city. Someone at work asked me if I was sure it wasn't pot. Um. Ew. If people are now smoking pot that smells like skunk, dude, then I really do not understand the kids today. And yes, I have smelt both and I do know the difference. I did large chunks of summers as a kid on a farm. I know me some skunk when I smells it. Besides, I saw a skunk-shaped being waddle across Morse Ave while I was waiting for the train. I wonder if he's on Daley's payroll.....ouch! I wouldn't be making that crack if the CTA wasn't talking about raising fares again. Stupid old people and their free rides. Pfffbbbbt!!! Bite me. And no, I am not giving up my seat for someone who didn't actually pay to get on the bus/train. So there. Yes, I will fake being asleep behind my big, black sunglasses.

And since I am talking about our fine city. I used to read the Tribune every day that I was at work. No more. I just really hate the new layout. I realize how stupid that sounds. But it seems like less paper and when I'm done, I don't feel like I've read the paper at all. So I have been reading the Sun-Times. Maybe I should just read the New York Times and be done with it. At least they talk about fashion and shit.

And speaking of fashion. I still haven't watched more than the very first episode of the most recent Project Runway. Sad, but true.