I'm Not Made for Competitive Sports

It's true. I've no problem admitting it. I'm just not made for competition. I don't think I've got a competitive bone in my body. If you wanna play, sure, I'll play. I just don't care who wins. Let's just play for the sake of playing. I competed in horse shows in my younger days but that was more of a showing off frame of mind & doing the best I could rather than an "I'm better than you at this" mind set.

This has been drilled into me hard this weekend. Kaisara & I have two of our awesome nieces this weekend. Tiana & I took Kayla to her all-star practice yesterday & I watched the girls get yelled at for 3 1/2 hours. Today, while Tiana & Kaisara were at church I took Kayla to her tournament. I like watching them play but listening to the girls get yelled at for 7 hours really got to me. It's not even just the coaches yelling. Everyone's yelling! It's not even an "oh, I'm so excited this is a great game!" yelling. They're honest to goodness yelling. Get a grip people!

While at the final game I was reading a magazine. One of the ads said, in huge letters, something to the affect of, "An inspired child can do amazing things". Huh, never knew that yelling was a form of inspiration. I held it together long enough get to my bedroom & brake down for a moment. I'm better now & am inspired even more than I ever have been not to be a yeller (and that was already a major goal of mine).

I Killed Obi Won

Not really. In reality, Alec Guinness died in 2000. I did however kill him in a dream last night. It was horrible. I have no idea where it came from. I love him. I've only seen him in the Star Wars movies & Doctor Zhivago but I think he's great. The horrible part of my dream is that I killed him on purpose. Premeditated murder. WHERE DID THAT COME FROM??!!??!!? Let just say he wasn't at all expecting me & it was messy. Afterwards I was completely remorseful. I knew I did something horrible & that I deserved to go to jail. I wanted to turn myself in but I knew that everyone would know what I did. I was more remorseful of dissapointing those I loved more than the killing poor Mr. Guinness. That's so bad. I was however relieved that my dream was a dream within my dream. I "woke" up to find that Dana & Melanie had been planning a suprise 10-year anniversary re-wedding for Kaisara & I. It was beautiful. Thanks ladies. It was gorgeous. I wore my wedding gown (that was a little too big, yeah right) and my dad did my hair (again I ask, where did that come from). The dream ended with me running past the door where Kaisara was getting dressed & I hollared at him to where a white dinner jacket with a black tie (it was an evening event). I raced into my room (we where running late) and took my hair out of the hot rollers. I smiled at myself in the mirror & said, "I look beautiful". Way better than slaying Alec Guinness with a piece of glass from a bronekn window pane. Yuck.

Must...Stay...Motivated...

I'm working from home today since the designer & assistant wouldn't be in the shop today. I took homework home with me & got as far as I could. I need a pattern I left at the shop & didn't bring enough muslin for my mock-up any way.

I'm a much faster worker at work. Too many distractions at home. Well, back to it. I'm now working on a quilt a friend has hired me to make from her wedding gown.

Life's Been Busy

Last weekend Kaisara & I drove up to Cal State San Bernadino to see Cat in Noises Off. It's one of our most favorite plays so it was great to see Cat's shop's work again AND see Cat in the show itself. They did a great job. We laughed out loud for two hours. If you've ever an opportunity to see a production of it GO (& let me know so I can go too). After the show we went to Fridays with Cat, Randy, Kathy (whom Cat & I went to school with) & her beau Jody. We closed the place down. Not sure when the last time was that I had a restaurants lights turned on & the music off on me. Needless to say we had a great evening.

Sunday Four stories lead worship at church. AMAZING (as always). We then went to lunch with everyone & it was great to be joined with Alex & Becca. We sat & chatted 'til 3:30 when we had to go to our niece's birthday BBQ.

Monday & Tuesday I finished up my hours at SCR. I was originally going to be fired last Friday but Amy found 15 hours of "costume unassigned" so I put in all those hours in a day & a half so I could start my new job Tuesday afternoon.

Oh yeah, I got a new job. Perfect timing as I started right when SCR ended & this will end right when SCR picks back up. I'm the cutter for Shakespeare Orange County. It's been 4 years since I've done community theatre. Sure is different. I'm glad I'm there. Katie is the designer for both shows (oh yeah, we're doing Shrew & R & J). I know Katie from SCR. She's worked as Designer's Assistant & crafts on several shows. She's great.

Last night I picked up Dana as my date for Hamlet at SCR. Kaisara didn't want to go since everyone dies at the end & he's seen it before. I know it's one of Crista's favorites but I never heard from her so Dana was my arm-candy. I was really eager to see this production. I was really curious about how the actors I got to know a bit would pull it off & I, of course, wanted to see how the costumes looked after working on them for weeks. I did 13 pairs of pants as well as did all the costumes for a few of the actors. Go to SCR's website to see a brief slide show & video if you're interested. Dana & I both LOVED the show. Horatio, played by Michael Urie was our favorite. We both loved his performance, Dana thought he was hot & I know that he's a nice guy. So there ya' go.

I'm now adding a couple people to my "Rubbed Elbows With" list. You don't know their names but their faces might be familiar.

This weekend holds an Oceans marathon before viewing the new one and playing with 2 7-week old kitties that we're fostering for 2 weeks.

Born To Ride

I'm sorry, did you even notice my weekly mileage?

The booty's a bit sore but I'm goin' out again tomorrow!

Open For Business

So I've got my store up & crawling. I can't say up & running as I've only got a few items posted right now. I'm hoping to crank out a few more things & post them rather soon. I'm 1/2 done with another purse & I've got several more baubles ready to post I just haven't done it yet.

My store is Lucky Zelda. A fitting little name for anyone who knows me & my love for my pets (past & present). My super generous & talented Julia designed my banner for me. She designed three so I've actually got two others that I also love. I plan on rotating them every so often.

I'm not really eagerly anticipating regular sales. If I get one here and there, that'd be awesome. I'll get you posted!

Delicious Never Sounded So Good

Kaisara, Daryl, Kyle, & Dana (otherwise known as Four Stories) will be playing at The Corner Broiler on Monday, June 4th. The Corner Broiler is, in a word, DELICIOUS! The band plays from 7:00pm - 9:00pm. This is they're 2nd time there & they'd love to fill it again with friends.

Kaisara & I discovered the place right around Christmas last year. It's a TINY (and I mean tiny) joint in the Albertson's center at Muirlands and Rockfield. The owner, Chris, welcomed us in, the wait & bus staff were awesome & the food was so very tasty. Anyway, come to here the band & eat great food. If you don't want to fork it out for a whole meal, they've got a bar & you could just order a beverage (or the brownie al la mode).

We'd love to see you there! I'll be outside knitting as I want to leave the tables for actual paying customers. I'm hoping Lydia with be there too. We also have wonderful chats.

Not Cheating...exactly

I've made a decision. Since purchasing Silvia (by the way, I've named my bike Silvia. Odd, since most of my things get boy names, but Silvia's a girl so her name is Silvia. Not sure how I decided she's a girl. She just is okay?!) now back to my sentence... Since purchasing Silvia, I've been biking rather than walking. I've made the decision to modify my goal of walking 500 miles in 2007 to include biking rather than just walking. I feel like this is cheating a little but that's okay. The goal of the goal was to exercise more & Silvia enables me to do that more than a mere walk. My heart rate is increased much higher, I don't get bored & I can accomplish more while riding Silvia instead of walking places because well, you cover alot of ground on a bike in no time! I'd forgotten that. Man! My mom & I went for 14.5 miles on Memorial Day. We're practically athletes, ya' know?

Holy Jim, Batman!

We went hiking with the Stensons this morning. It was great. We picked them up in the topless jeep at 9am, drove into the local mountains, past O'Neil Park then turned onto the dirt road. After over 4 miles of bumps, ditches & Kaisara side-seat driving we made it to the parking area.

I really like this hike. I hiked it with Greg & the Dans a couple years ago. It's a there-&-back totalling 2.7 miles & it gains over 400 feet in altitude. Somehow my mind remembered it flatter. It wasn't to hard, don't get me wrong, I just told the others "Don't worry, it's really flat." Oops. It was a great morning for it and I was surprised there was actually some water falling down the water fall. I was expecting a trickle at best.

After Dana almost knocking herself out on a tree at the falls, we headed back down the trail much quicker than up. Then back onto to 4+ mile dirt road bumps, ditches, Kaisara's side-seat driving and all.

Yeah, Not That Kind of Biker Chick

I got a bike today! I'm so excited. I've been wanting one for a while now. Being a fatty, crazy high gas prices & a wanting to be more "green" all had a part in my wanting a bike. Kaisara got one too. They match. His is a large, mine's a medium (because I'm so petite, ya' know). They are '07 Schwin Sierra's. We both got dark red. Didn't much care for the tan. Can't wait to take out my new ride. It's gonna be awesome.

Kaisara & I rode bikes all the time when we started dating. Neither one of us was old enough to drive at the time so we rode our bikes all over the place. Mostly down to river bed to the beach. Spend all day at the beach & then ride home. Obviously we were both in better shape then. But we're headed back thera now, baby!

I'll close with an obvious quote from Napoleon Dynamite:

Napoleon Dynamite: Dang! You got shocks, pegs... lucky! You ever take it off any sweet jumps?



(and yes, Kaisara already bunny jumped his half-a-dozen times while test riding it)

My Mom's Better Than Your Mom!

Happy Mothers' Day, Mas Mer! I love you and am so grateful for the godly woman and mother you are.

To everyone else...na na nana na!

Tid-Bits

Here's a few items about me as of late. Not really in the mood nor the mind set for complete sentences:

-I'm crazy busy at work. We load out at the end of the day on Wednesday. There's no way I'll get it all done.

-I'm really looking forward to getting my web-store set up & running.

-I'm scared I won't sell anything on my web-store.

-I'm furious at myself that I've gained back all the weight I worked so hard to loose and then some. I'm the fattest I've ever been in my life. Gross.

-I want a bike. Not sure where I'd ride it. I'd have to go alone.

-I'm about to pick up another dead soldier project. I haven't actually ever started it so I'm not sure it's technically a dead soldier. Looking forward to getting it out of my closet though.

-Not sure I want to keep dying my hair pink. I love it but it's a hassle. And really, a fat, 33 year-old chick who doesn't even dress well with pink hair?

-I'm fired on June 8th. Looking forward to the time to crank out dead soldiers & items for the web-store.

-Got some turkey deli meat from Costco. It's super salty. Don't buy it.

-Painted my nails this weekend. Should do that more often. Work's not ruining them as quickly as I thought.

-Making salmon for dinner tomorrow. It's gonna be rad. OOOO maybe with roasted potatoes. Yeah, yeah, yeah...and salad of course.

-Super excited that Emma's sitting up on her own now. That's been a long time coming.

-Wish I could more effectively share my faith with others. Feeling totally inadequate in this area at the moment.

-Had a great fitting today. We all laughed the whole time & got stuff done. I love it when that happens.

-We're making progress on re-doing our master bathroom. It's slow but it's gonna be awesome.

-Made cheesecake from scratch last week. I think I like making them because not many people do it. I don't even really like them very much.

-I'm over 1/4 finished with my second list of 100 things. Perhaps I should add some of these items to it.

Lock & Load

I've got a name for my store. Thanks to all of you for your suggestions. After discussing them & others with several different people, I've chosen my name. I've got my graphic artist on the case of designing my banner. You'll have to wait to find out the name until my store's open for business. Some of you out there already know the name so keep it hush-hush until my unveiling.

I know you're all dieing of anticipation.

Let the Creativity Flow!

I need some creative, witty assistance. "But Cate, you're so creative & witty on your own!" It's true, I know, but you can't possibly expect me to think it all up on my own can you? I know plenty of people that fit the witty & creative label & I'm counting on your ideas.

Here's the deal: I'm opening an on-line store for my wares. Baubles, purses, perhaps some baby quilts, whatever. I need a store name. I don't want anything with "Cate". I'm not opposed to using Catherine or Esera but if it wasn't one of my names at all that'd be stellar. "Stitch in the Ditch" is taken as are "Sew What", "Bits and Pieces" and a number of other lame-o ideas I came up with. I'm putting a bit of thought into this since once the store is named I can't change it without re-inventing the store all over again & that would confuse the hundreds of customers I'm sure I'll have by the time I think of a great name on my own.

What do you guys think? Please comment with any and all ideas you may have.

Great Weekend

I got to sleep in yesterday. I love sleeping in. It's delicious. My Dad doesn't sleep in. His sleeping in is 7:30. Yikes! Needless to say it was 10 days of early mornings.

So I slept in yesterday. Worked on a couple of purses I've been making. Went bowling with Kaisara & Daryl. I did awesome! Probably near to my best score ever. Ready? I got 95!!!! Sweet.

We then went to The Corner Broiler for dinner. DE-LISH-SHUS! It's so great. If you've never been there you should go. It's not cheap the the food's great. It's a tiny place but the staff does a great job & the owner Chris is very cool. The band is playing there next month on the 7th. Stop by for dinner or maybe just dessert. I had the brownie a la mode & Daryl had the crem bru le. Yum!

Today we got to sleep in a bit since Kaisara didn't play at church so we didn't have to leave ultra early. We headed to Home Depot for some trim for our bathroom we've been working (rather, not working on). Then we walked over to Lucille's BBQ for lunch. So good! Came home worked on my Bible study homework a bit, took a nap, cleaned the house some then went on a walk with the best dog ever.

It's been a good couple of days. I'm so blessed!

Photos Up

I've put up some of the pictures from my trip with Dad. Take a look if you're interested using the photo album link on the left.

After These Messages...We'll Be Right Back

Dad & I are home safely. I'm exhausted. We were up at the equivalent of midnight this morning after only 4 hours of lousy sleep. I'm trying to stay up 'til bed time tonight to get back on Pacific Standard Time ASAP. Laundry's done & put away, now I'm starting dinner.

I'll fill you in with details & photos when I'm back among the living.

How Yooz Doin'?

We're leaving Chicago this morning & heading over to Des Moines. We went up 103 floors in the Sears Tower on Sunday & I had dinner with Julia last night. It was great to see her. It's beautiful here & crazy flat, just like Manetoba, Canada. Not a hill to be seen. Even from the top of Sears Tower. Yes, the deep dish pizza is delicious (and nothing like BJ's Brewery "Chicago Pizza".

Not sure when I'll have a computer again so I'll fill "yooz guys" in when I can. Chow!

I'm Leavin' On A Jet Plane

Many of you know this but others don't so I figured I'd keep you all informed. I know you're all waiting with baited breath to hear of my goings-ons.

I'm leaving for Chicago tomorrow with my Dad. Just him & me. We're flying to Chicago to visit his buddy, Tony, from Vietnam. We'll be staying at Tony's house for a few days, including Easter dinner with his large Italian family. I'm so very much looking forward to eating a delicious meal with a family of 25+ people. I'm sure there'll be people watching & food galore. I'm also looking forward to seeing Julia. I let her know that I'd be in the area (albeit an hour from her place) and we're going to get together sometime on Monday. I've never been to Illinois. I'm looking forward to it, even if tomorrow's forcast is something crazy like 28 degrees.

After a few day in Chicago we set off driving to Des Moines, Iowa to visit my Dad's sister, Neva, & other family members. My sister, Dad & I were in Des Moines in 1984 to bury my great-grandmother but I'm looking forward to seeing it & my relatives as an adult. We'll fly home from Des Moines on Monday, April 16th.

I'm really looking forward to this trip though I'm already feeling those excited/nervous jitters before any trip. I'll try to post while I'm gone but who knows what sort of connection/computer I'll have access to.

See you soon.

Dead Soldier Resurection

I started this project at least 5 years ago. When I began, I began with the notion that every good quilter has a 20-year quilt. I never heard that said but it just seemed to be the case from quilters I knew at the time. A quilt they started 20 years ago & never got around to finishing. This was going to be mine. I got the block pattern from Janice, Cat's mom. It's a Mariners' Star.

Each star block is 48 pieces so I knew this was going to be my 20 year-quilt. I made great progress to start then put it away not working on it again for a year or so. I pulled it out again only to run out of one of the fabrics so put it away again, not know how to finish. After some great advice from my boss at SCR I pulled this dead soldier out of the closet one last time.

In total, the quilt is 511 pieces. Only after viewing these pictures did I notice two of the blocks should have been switched. Dang! I can't believe I did that. Oh well, there's no going back now. SHOOT! MAN!

Any way, should you wonder who's going to be the recipient of this quilt & knowing that I've never kept a quilt that I've made, I'll close with a quote from Finding Nemo,

Seagulls: Mine. Mine.