10
Nov, 2006

thunder snow!

sudden snow shower today. very wet, heavy snow. but the weirdest part was the thunder and lightning. rather surreal.

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09
Nov, 2006

two left feet

the other morning as i was getting dressed, i pulled on my boots, stood up and realized that something didn’t feel right. i had put my boots on the wrong feet! silly me. so i sat down, pulled them off and switched feet. nope, that was even worse! what the heck? oh, look. i have two different boots. and they’re both lefts. wow. haven’t done that in awhile! i laughed and it brought me back to the here and now instead of deep inside my head frantically planning and planning and planning…

Posted in autumn, laugh | Comments Off on two left feet
06
Nov, 2006

happiness is…

getting foot rubs
clearing out your closet of less-loved clothing
willing models for pidoodle photos
making cards with other people’s (less familiar) stamps and supplies
boggle at midnight
reading before you fall asleep
reading before you get out of bed in the morning
good music, hearing new artists
exploring your own mental and emotional depths
talking to women friends you don’t see as often as you’d like to
women’s retreat!

Posted in autumn, stuff that sparks a glow in my soul | 2 Comments
03
Nov, 2006

ahead of schedule

this is very strange for me. i have completed three assignments for class that aren’t even due yet. in fact, i only have two more assignments plus some short readings to complete between now and the middle of december when the class ends. i have never been this far ahead of the game! it feels kinda good! it sort of feels like when mom made me eat the yucky parts of my meals first (not that there were lots of yucky parts) and then i could enjoy my favorite bits afterwards. i’m done with all of the homework that i can finish at this point, so i actually have (a little bit of) time left to work on making new pidoodle things. which is good. i have some special orders to complete and i may get more this weekend. a friend of mine from work is hosting a holiday open house featuring three other women who sell things (their products are all from companies like stampin’ up and body shop) and then my stuff which is all handmade and one-of-a-kind sort of stuff. i know which type of thing i prefer, but not everyone feels the same way i do, so we’ll see how this goes (it’s the first time i’ve taken pidoodle to a shopping party). but i was excited to be invited to bring stuff!

i’m also very excited because this weekend is the annual women’s retreat–a great opportunity for me to recharge my batteries. my favorite weekend of the year!

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02
Nov, 2006

edible orchid

yesterday, i attended a library conference lunch and workshop. when my lunch selection arrived (a giant slab of lasagna and half a stalk of broccoli-steamed) there was an edible orchid on the plate. everyone had one. i didn’t see anyone eat one. the room was full of people and everyone had an orchid. it’s amazing how much that little flower made the whole meal feel infinitely more fancy (and what must that have cost?!) than say…a sprig of parsley would have. i chose instead to tuck my flower into the pin on the back of my name tag. despite losing one petal during the workshop, it survived the rest of the day pretty well. and it made me smile each time i looked at it.

Posted in library stuff, stuff that makes me smile | Comments Off on edible orchid
29
Oct, 2006

sisterly visit

this weekend, my sister visited me. she lives about 5 states away and we don’t see each other very often. i don’t think i’ve visited her without our parents being around too since we’ve been married. for some reason, we can get along great over the phone, but when we’re in person we tend to fight a lot–falling back into old patterns. so i wasn’t sure what to expect for this weekend, but we both had a great time! we spent the first day buying flower bulbs for my yard and she spent the afternoon planting them. she looooves gardening and this was a treat for her. hooray! i would have never gotten around to it and i just would have been jealous of everyone in the spring. now, i’ll have some beautiful flowers in the spring as well!

the rest of the weekend, we went thrifting. she is in desperate need of maternity clothes (she packed two pairs of pants and three shirts to come up here and that was pretty much the extent of her wardrobe), and i am the super thrifter, so we hit all of the thrift stores in town as well as one (slightly pricier) consignment shop. amazingly, we found at least 7 pairs of pants that fit her, as well as a generous stack of shirts and sweaters that should last her for the next 3+ months (hopefully!). while shopping for clothes is not her favorite thing and apparently, both our mom and her husband cringe away from clothing shopping with her, we had a great time and found some great bargains. she went home with two full suitcases!

we had a little extra time today, so we visited the zoo and especially enjoyed watching the primates. someone had thrown some ads from the sunday paper into the chimpanzees’ habitat, and we giggled as they flipped through the lingerie sales.

i avoided cooking with her (at one point, she generously offered to make grilled cheese sandwiches, couldn’t find the soft butter, so she melted some stick butter in the microwave, couldn’t decide how best to get melted butter onto the bread, so she just poured it on, making for some very buttery sandwiches. had i been in the kitchen while all of this was going on, it would have driven me nuts. as i was in the shower at the time, i just laughed at the end result and ate (most of) my glistening lunch.) and we managed to avoid any major fights and i was actually sad to see her leave at the end of the weekend.

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment
27
Oct, 2006

things i saw on my run today

a tree with tiny orange leaves and black branches in front of a cream-colored house with a bright orange pumpkin on the steps that was the same color as the leaves

a tiny mouse that scampered away from the edge of the road and up a telephone pole as i ran by

a deer, not more than 10 yards away from me when he bounded away from the road. if he hadn’t moved, i may never have even noticed him. and he was so big!

the lake, through the trees (becoming more transparent as they lose their leaves, as i ran over the highest hill on my run.

Posted in autumn, sporty stuff | Comments Off on things i saw on my run today
24
Oct, 2006

fall

today i walked past a tree with intricate black branches and tiny, bright orange leaves. the stark contrast in colors and textures made me smile.

Posted in autumn, stuff that makes me smile | Comments Off on fall
23
Oct, 2006

finally!!!

pidoodle.com has been a limping website for a very long time. i think i last did a partial overhaul on it about 3 years ago before i started making anything other than jewelry. the website was ok for what it was, but i cringed any time i referred anyone to the website, stumbling over a long explanation of how to find stuff other than jewelry and how most of the items listed on my site were probably already sold. now, although i’m not sure i’m any better on that last point, i have a site that i can feel proud of! check it out! it’s not perfect by any stretch of the imagination and there are tons of things missing (see the “jewelry” page for instance which is woefully empty!) but now that the structure is in place, i hope that updating it will be simple enough that i will actually do it. i’m hoping to take a bunch more pictures at the women’s retreat in a few weeks, so maybe then i can get some more pictures up on the website. isn’t it pretty? i sacrificed pretty much most of the weekend and half of today, but i love it! plus, i feel so empowered. i’ve always had to ask other people to design my site for me and now that i’ve done the whole thing myself, i know how it works and i am not afraid of it anymore. woo hoo!

Posted in crafty stuff | 1 Comment
20
Oct, 2006

mmmm… falafel….

so today i had hoped to have lunch with mr. h-s, but due to a crisis at his work around lunchtime, he was unable to accompany me. since i already had my heart set on eating out, i decided to take the opportunity to eat somewhere new that wouldn’t be all that exciting to mr. h-s. if you’ve been reading the blog for any length of time, you’ve probably caught on to the fact that i’m a “new experience” junkie. i’ll take (almost) any opportunity to try something new if it sounds good (or interesting or at least mildly intriguing). there’s a restaurant downtown called “king of falafel” that i’d been wanting to try and which mr. happy stuff was not so interested in, so i biked over to try it out. i located the entrance, parked my bike and went in. my first impressions were a bit sketchy. the entrance looked like someone’s back hallway with tables stacked on top of each other and a walk-up counter to order from. there were three tables covered with plastic yellow tablecloths that would seat two people, scrunched up along the walls of this passageway. being the brave person that i am, i approached the counter and after glancing over the menu, taped to the counter, i quickly chose a falafel pita with hummus. the person taking my order was in training (possibly her first day. the guy training her had to prompt her with “ask her if she wants it for here or to go.”) and when she was done writing down my order, she asked me if i wanted to sit over here or over there. i glanced around and, well, honestly it didn’t look like it mattered much where i sat. no one was sitting at any of the tables, so i vaguely waved to the ones she had indicated as “over here” and she wrinkled her nose at me a little bit and said, “are you sure?” and i told her i wasn’t sure what was “over there” so she gave the order slip to the guy and then walked me through some swinging doors that were “over there” and we stepped into a (comparitively) luxurious dining room! ok, maybe luxurious is a stretch. there were still (clear) plastic tablecloths on the tables–but they were covering up fabric tablecloths! and the chairs were padded wood, not plastic, and there was paint on the walls and music to listen to instead of kitchen noise. the drop ceiling had been draped with fabric for a somewhat successful effect. i agreed that “over there” was much better than the original “over here” and sat down at a table. she brought me a glass of cold water and a small, gold-rimmed glass cup of hot tea with a tiny gold spoon and a matching saucer (no charge!). about a minute later, she walked over to my table with my falafel pita sandwich. two halves, wrapped in foil with a cup of cucumber yogurt sauce and a pile of surprisingly delicious fries*. wow! i thought i was just getting a half of a pita with some falafel stuck in it! it turned out to be a very enjoyable lunch. i think i’ll go back sometime and try one of the meat dishes…

*the surprise is because generally, i’m not a big fan of french fries. as a kid, i refused to eat them and as an adult, i’m still not fond of the mcdonald’s or wendy’s types of fries. i’ll sometimes eat a few at burger king or arby’s (on the rare occasion that we eat at one of those establishments) or at a fancier restaurant if they have seasoning or at least plenty of salt.

Posted in reviews, yum | 1 Comment