Closed blog - remaining online as writing samples only

 Hi there! Thanks for coming by to take a look at my blog.

Unfortunately, this blog is no longer updated regularly. I maintain the account so that I have samples of my writing available should anyone be interested. 

Have a great day!

Once upon a mogwai...

I saw "Gremlins" when I was a kid, but I watched the DVD version I purchased for $4 a few days ago and it was not the movie I remembered. There seemed to be such depth to the little character Gizmo, who is so much more than just small, adorable, and kind of helpless in a human world where everything is so much bigger than he is.

In the beginning, however, he is not an agent in his own life. He is put inside a box and taken away from Mr. Wing; falls into a garbage can headfirst and has to be rescued and bandaged; and has water spilled on him which, in addition to creating more mogwais, seems to sting and burn him. If he underwent his metamorphosis and became a full-fledged gremlin, these things would not be happening to him. He would have all the capabilities we see in the scaly monsters later on in the movie. But even when he's offered chicken, Gizmo refuses and lets the opportunity to become bigger (and badder) pass by him. He makes a choice - presumably one that he has made more than once - to remain in what is essentially a larval stage.

Gizmo also helps kill other gremlins, which left me wondering: How does he feel about his own capacity to become just as cunning, murderous, and evil? Is he a happy little singing mogwai all the time, or is he sometimes sad that he carries with him the ability to turn into a gremlin?

Perhaps, but perhaps not. By the end of "Gremlins", our mogwai has gotten a bit tired of being hauled around in a backpack and decides to take matters into his own hands (paws?). He skillfully drives a toy car into a greenhouse to outmaneuver the gremlin mastermind Stripe, whom he manages to fatally wound with direct sunlight. Move aside, humans. The inches-tall rubber puppet is the true hero of this movie, proving to himself that he doesn't need to be bigger or badder in order to be the one who saves the day.

Even before I had seen Gizmo, when he was burbling and singing to himself in the back of the store in his little box, I was kind of enchanted. I wanted there to be more to him than just big round eyes and a vocabulary that included "light bright!" for any brilliant light source and "woof woof!" for dogs. So I'm very glad that he got his own character arc and could grow and change as the movie progressed - a metamorphosis entirely of his own choosing, and just as powerful as the one the gremlins undergo.

Garden from kitchen scraps?

Somewhere in the past year, I've become a Pinterest fanatic. It happened slowly - first a few pins a month, then graduating to several a week, and then finally it became a daily routine. My interests are all over the map: historical fashion from before 1970, handmade cards, sewing and knitting and (of course) cooking. But now that my husband and I have access to a yard, I've started a Pinterest "board" for gardening.

There are a lot of steps involved in gardening, as I knew - I helped my grandfather and then my father plant a garden every year when I was a child. Both men preferred to put seeds directly in the ground and let them align with the rhythm of the earth and its seasons. I've begun to wonder, thanks to many posts on Pinterest, if I should be starting seeds in a bit of potting soil before letting them loose in nature. I don't have all the supplies required, though - and I don't really have the room.

Thankfully Pinterest sent me a compromise - starting garden plants from kitchen scraps. Right now I have the end of a bunch of celery sitting in warm water in a sunny window. The only difference between day 1 and day 2 is that the end looks significantly more brown, but I'm assured by Pinterest that it will sprout within the next week or so. Even if it doesn't, I will only be out a celery bunch end that I would have thrown away anyway, instead of being out seeds and supplies. If this works (or maybe even if it doesn't), I'd like to try garlic next.

Do you garden? What methods do you use to start your garden? Have you tried starting plants from kitchen scraps - and did it work for you? Let me know in the comments!

On hiatus: Square seat cushions

I had hoped to write my next blog post after I finished working on a set of four upholstered seat cushions. I picked up a used copy of The Pillow Book by Shannon Okey, which has so many lovely designs in it for sprucing up any corner of the home! And anyone who knows me, knows that I have a large box of odd fabric pieces just waiting to be turned into...something.

But, alas, I overestimated the size of the foam 'fillers' and am trying to work out how best to salvage the process. So far, here are my two favourite possibilities:

1) Cut each one in half and make smaller cushions?

2) Cut each filler so that I can use multiple pieces of foam to precisely fit the shape of the original pattern?

I'm afraid to cut lest I spoil the foam for good. So for now, the nicely matching two patterns of fabric - one a remnant from a bedspread my grandmother made, the other a clearance-bin find at a fabric store - and matching buttons (from my grandmother's button jar) are sitting on the sewing machine table, waiting to regain my attention.

See! All ready to go...as soon as I work out that whole foam thing...

I HAVE been busy finding new homes for some things that I no longer need, however. Re-using is another theme of this blog, and I'm happy to report that my Facebook Garage Sale was a success! Friends and family members happily availed themselves of the extra Pyrex dishes and cutlery and servingware that accumulated when my husband and I merged households. He and I did not register anywhere since we already had pretty much everything we would need, and then some...hence the "Garage Sale". The cupboards aren't nearly as crowded anymore - which is great since we don't have a lot of cupboard or closet space, in the hopes of cutting down on the number of 'things' we hoard.

Since it finally looks like spring out there, I have two upcoming posts planned that should be perfect for the (very late) season: - Fun, cost-effective things to do outdoors! - De-cluttering a.k.a. Spring cleaning!

Stay tuned!

Transformation: A skirt from pants!

Welcome back! My sincere apologies for the long and unintended hiatus. As many bloggers before me have stated, sometimes life events just get in the way, and that is also the case here - not least of the events being my wedding! I'll say more about that in another post, because I want to show off my latest treasure.

I had a lovely pair of black, 100% linen dress pants that developed a hole along one inside seam. The surrounding fabric was just too thin and worn for patching to be effective, so I dumped the beautiful pants into the rag-bag, thinking they might be used to patch something else.

Then I found this pants-to-a-skirt tutorial by Michelle and I knew immediately what the linen pants had been waiting for - a complete transformation! With a sewing machine, as Michelle mentions, the project can take as little as two hours.

But, since my machine's motor is still waiting for repair, I hand-stitched the project, which took me two days. It probably would have taken me even longer, if not for this tutorial by Danni, which shows any novice seamstress or seamster like myself how to hem using nearly-invisible stitches that won't unravel.

And then I got really ambitious after doing a search for skirt trimmings on Pinterest. Melly Sews demonstrated how to lengthen a skirt using a matching pleat sewn separately, and I wanted to try the same thing. Since the new skirt is black, I decided to use a bright gold-and-purple floral-patterned synthetic fabric I'd bought years ago for a scarf project that never happened.

Again, Melissa's tutorial mentions a sewing machine, and a serger. Having neither tool, I naively undertook pleats by hand. Not highly recommended, but I am very pleased with the results.

I feel great about having "up-cycled" a no-longer-functional item of clothing into something useful and beautiful.

What do you think? Leave me a comment and let me know!!

(Huge thanks to my wonderful husband for the photos!)

Creating beautiful leftovers!

My yarn stash is kinda out of control.

Ok, not REALLY out of control. It all fits into one duffle bag, I swear. Well, and my grandma's old knitting basket. And a few things in the drawer of the plastic storage compartment where I keep my painting and beading supplies...

I'm a crafter. And things tend to accumulate. Especially yarn - after all, sometimes a pattern will end up using 3/4 of a ball of yarn, so what are you supposed to do with the other 1/4 that you can't make a whole pattern out of?

Morehouse Farms is a beautiful small retailer that has solved the problem for me. Not only have they rescued sheep in trouble and brought them into their fold, but their kits are also simple and beautiful. AND they have "leftovers" patterns on their website, so that you and I don't have to feel guilty about those small rolls of yarn we couldn't use but still thought were lovely and could make SOMETHING.

Click here to discover table runners, mitts and more, all made with your leftover yarn.




Image courtesy of ukapala | sxc.hu

Tea PAR-TAY!

Welcome to my kitchen! On tap: Ginger-Peach iced tea.



It's summer and I'm thirsty pretty much all the time. If I join a friend for lunch or 'coffee', my order is invariably an iced tea. I was happily surprised by a Pizza Hut in Minnesota, which actually brought me fresh-brewed tea on ice - unsweetened, which is how I drink tea whether it's warm or cold.

I've brewed tea, added ice cubes, and put it in the fridge before. The results never varied: my parnter sniffed, said he thought it smelled ok, and tried a couple of sips from my glass before foresaking my attempt. No Nestea or Lipton's for him, either. He buys Arizona brand green tea, sweet tea, any of their offerings he can find.

Forget that. I'mma make my own.

Today I created an iced tea that both partner and I enjoy. Here's how:

Steep 4 Ginger-Peach Herbal Tea bags in 4 cups of boiling water for 6 minutes. Stir in at least 5 sugar cubes (5 teaspoons of sugar), 2 teaspoons honey, and 3 pieces fresh cut ginger.

In desired pitcher, pour 3 cups cold water and add 6 ice cubes. Let stand until tea has steeped.

Add hot tea and ginger to cold water. Allow to refrigerate for at least 4 hours before drinking.

The same beautiful tea that kept me warm in the winter can keep me cool in the summer. Wonderful =)

The right pair makes all the difference...

When my good friend Holly walked in, I could tell right away that something was different. A new pair of glasses - a beautiful wrought-metal frame. After admiring them, I asked (perhaps rudely) how much they had cost. After all, my own most recent pair would have been unaffordable if not for health insurance.

Holly's answer surprised me. She said that the frames were from the 1950s, and she had purchased them through an online antique site for just $40. The prescription lenses that were in the frame when it arrived didn't match Holly's needs, so she ordered lenses to be cut to fit the frame, in her prescription.

For people like me who require thicker lenses for special conditions, just up and ordering any pair of glasses isn't possible. But frames can cost over $200, and if I was able to find the right frame, why couldn't I get an inexpensive one and only pay for the lenses?

Let's see if I can look as good as Professor Tiger up there. Next time I need a new pair of glasses, I'll be looking online first.

Image courtesy of gabetarian | sxc.hu

I want my A-Do-Be!

Time to get colourful!

If I hadn't already thought that Adobe's Creative Suites were the most fun way to get work done, the Creative Communications program proved it to me. My time spent on Adobe's mailing list yielded interesting but not so useful information, until earlier this week when an email titled Graduation Special! arrived. The entire Master Creative Suite for under one thousand US dollars? Yes please!

I contacted one of the helpful Live Chat reps on the Adobe site and learned that, since I haven't received my diploma, I am still considered a student. A few glitches later, and approval of my student status from The Adobe Store, and I am about to download the Creative Suite - Student Edition.

What does this mean when I am no longer a student? I will be able to pay just the upgrade fees, instead of purchasing everything from the get-go without my student status. My graduation is approaching, it's true, but why else would Adobe offer a "graduation special", if not to appeal to those of us about to enter the wild world of professional work?

May 31 is the deadline to take advantage of Adobe's Free Shipping offers as well. Soon-to-be grads still wanting to get their hands on Adobe: act now!

Image courtesy of www.sxc.hu

airport workout

Flying home a day early to keep an appointment with my surgeon was frustrating (although I did work overtime to make up the lost day of work placement). What was even more frustrating was arriving at the airport two hours early. This should ensure I am at the correct departure gate with time to spare, correct?

Instead, what happens is that on any given day, each plane scheduled to arrive is auto-assigned a gate number. As planes are late landing, delayed taking off, or required to sit at the gate while they're being repaired (landing gear or engine problems? YES PLEASE ground it until it's fixed!), the numbers shuffle so planes that haven't yet arrived are told to prepare for a different gate.

By the time my flight arrived, it had been through four gate numbers and instead of the calm, collected me that entered the airport, it was a rather confused and hurried me that made sure, several times, that gate # the fourth was in fact the landing place of my flight home.

Lesson learned: arriving early doesn't always save you time and hassle.

Secondhand...traveling?

I'm fortunate to have a big family, which includes many aunts. Despite being a bratty child, these relatives have always been kind to me, and a recent stay with one aunt in Ontario landed me a pair of shoes. It's not the first time this has happened - a visit to another aunt in Alberta led to a ransacking of her closet (done by her, of course) and many new items of clothing in my suitcase. I'm starting to think that my aunts save up all their no-longer-wanted clothes, shoes, and accessories to pass on to me - and I'm totally fine with this. Whatver I can't use, I pass on to friends or family back home.

Colour-coated

It's spring, and I'm thinking about paint.

My lovely character apartment has walls that didn't get much love when the previous tenants moved out. And I've decided I need my own room. The one I'm getting has three grey walls and a greenish one, while the master bedroom will get some brown and taupe paint, much softer than the deep purple that's in there right now. We'll cover up the gouges in the plaster, the places where the second coat didn't quite cover up the colour underneath it, and the place will look amazing.

Oh, and the paint was free. All of it.

My parents don't throw anything away, and of the cans of paint they opened for us to look at, about half were still in good condition to paint with. As far as I can tell it's all low-level VOC emission stuff, so even if things do get a little heady despite open windows and an air purifier, I won't be killing myself slowly.

If you're looking to paint, talk to the friend who just renovated the kitchen or who had the living room repainted a couple years ago. The leftover paint will probably still be useable and the people storing it will likely be glad to get it off their hands. And who knows, they might have really great colours too.

(image courtesy of daino_16 at www.sxc.hu)

Tough Stains Get Tackled

As a last-week-of-classes blog post, I'm going to post a list of some unusual yet useful stain removal tips I've come across. Before you take your clothes to an expensive dry-cleaner's, try these!

1. Lemon juice and baking soda: Supposed to be fantastic for removing discolouration (i.e.: if you washed a blue shirt with a yellow one and parts of the yellow shirt are now green). In my experience, the discoloured parts became fainter but did not entirely disappear.

2. Salt: Sprinkled on a fresh red wine stain, salt is supposed to help remove the stain. Haven't had occasion to try this one yet.

3. The freezer: If you've got gum stuck to your clothes, this trick actually works. Place the soiled item in your freezer for about 15 minutes, remove from freezer, and scrape off the solidified gum.

4. Hairspray: Removing red ink from clothes is a breeze with this trick. Don't wait longer than 24 hours, though.

BONUS:

5. Tea tree oil: This concentrated oil is a natural astringent. It's good for your skin because it clears up acne, but it can also remove nail polish (though this makes a nasty smell) and the goo that always gets left on your skin after you remove a Band-Aid.

a haiku for spring

spring has sprung, and I
need a surefire way to take
mud stains out of clothes

Should I stay or should I go, now?

If I'm really not enjoying this movie/concert/poetry slam/cooking demonstration, is it ok for me to leave, or is it rude?

Today an email from Kelly Hughes, owner of Aqua Books, got me thinking about this. He sent out what he called a "general amnesty" for people who "feel imprisoned by" his weekly e-newsletter, titled This Week at Aqua Books. If people feel imprisoned by his newsletter, I thought, why haven't they opted out before now?

This led me to wonder why I don't 'opt out' of things I am not enjoying. I saw an action movie recently that I found boring and gruesome (interesting and gruesome I can watch, most of the time. The boredom kills it), and didn't leave until the end. This may have had something to do with the fact that I attended the movie with several friends who seemed to be enjoying it, and I didn't want to leave them. I didn't ask them, though. Maybe they were as bored and disgusted as I felt, and we could have left together.

So here are my top five reasons why we stay with things we dislike watching/hearing/eating:

5. We're with friends/family/significant others who don't want to leave.
4. We're afraid of being spotted by the performer(s) and called out and/or insulted.
3. We don't want to explain why we're having an awful time to the wait staff/performer(s)/our dates.
2. We're hoping with all our might that it will get better before it ends.
1. We paid GOOD MONEY for the tickets/food/outfit we wore to the venue, and we don't want to feel that we've wasted it.

The #1 reason is very pertinent to my blog. Obviously, when we spend a lot of money on an evening's entertainment, we don't want to feel that the money goes to waste. But if we're just sitting there wishing we were somewhere else, like me in the movie theatre, wishing I was home doing laundry, then our time is being wasted along with our money.

If you can't get your money back, at least get your time back. Stop doing something you don't enjoy.

By the way, Kelly Hughes, I love your newsletter and I won't be taking advantage of the "general amnesty" notice. In my opinion, reading This Week at Aqua Books is time well spent.

idle hands...

do the devil's work, according to my grandma. And with my IPP submitted to a printing company, I've not much to do in my 'spare' time now (whatever bits are left over after the flow of regular homework). I have some time now, and also a lot of fabric stored away in a Rubbermaid container, against the day when I might actually do some sewing or mending.

No, not mending. The snow is going to melt (soon!), and with spring comes the need to make new things. What will I make?

Well, there are lots of great free patterns out there, with helpful tips. Crafters love to share their knowledge and experiments. Here are two of the projects I'll be completing:

High Tea Clutch: a beautiful little purse that I'm creating to a slightly smaller scale, to make a series of colourful wallets.

Super Apron: I looked through quite a few gorgeous half- and full apron patterns, and came to the conclusion that not only do I have all the materials for this one, but also that the pattern falls within my beginner skill level.

If you do a Google search, you will find hundreds of patterns for bags, clothes, whatever you fancy.

Spring will spring!

I'm Pumped, Proud & a little Paranoid

My ten minutes of fame went by in a blur. I wasn't nervous or unhappy. I knew what I wanted to say, and I hope I spoke calmly and with conviction. That morning, my stomach had been a tangle of nerves, but the instant I spoke into the mic I felt the tangle vanish. I was a little paranoid about what could go wrong, but once I got to that podium, I knew I was in control.

Today, Friday, is the finale for the Class of 2011 Independent Professional Project Presentations in CreComm. Two very talented classmates of mine, Jasmine and Erika, have been working to make the whole thing happen - alongside 59 other presentations showcasing the best of what we, the about-to-graduate students, can do.

Each time I hear a classmate's name announced, I'm so happy to watch them take their place under the spotlight to tell me about their journey to that podium. Since the projects are, for the most part, independent (really, I don't think any of us did EVERYTHING ourselves), I'm not familiar with each project from beginning to end, and listening to how bravely my peers struggled and planned to reach the finish line is inspiring. I'm excited. I'm on the edge of my seat. I clap, I cheer until I've lost my voice.

I'm so proud of what we've all accomplished, alongside our regular homework, family lives, and even jobs. Way to go, everyone.

(For those who would like to attend the finale at the Convention Centre later today, tickets are "the low, low price of free", to quote my Advertising instructor.)

Plus ca change...

As I was finishing up the video for my IPP, I thought I'd best show it to my mother and grandfather (the latter of whom is one of the two stars in the vid). My grandfather smiled delightedly as he watched himself onscreen, and my mother -

Well, my mother began to cry.

When I asked her why she was so upset, she told me that I was lucky to have my whole life in front of me, because that was her past on the screen: hers and her father's. "You have the future," she told me. "We only have the past."

Today, my mother was a witness at her father's remarriage. Looking at the photos of the happy couple, 83 and 85 years young, I thought to myself that they didn't look like people who only had the past. They were counting on a future together, too.

And later on today, as I read my classmate Amanda Hope's novel about her great aunt Rose (it's called Pieces, folks, and you should all go read it), I saw yet another example of a woman who continued to move forward her whole life, ready for the next adventure, never losing hope.

That's why I wrote my IPP. To show what amazing, forward-thinking people accomplished in order to get us to where we are now - and to remind us to always look forward and hope for a future, whether we're thinking two decades, two months, or two weeks ahead.

We've come to the end...

of five weeks of wearing a cast. Upon reflection, I've saved a lot of money. No driving meant not buying gas for the car. An inability to stand on two feet meant a refund on the Pilates class I signed up for. Not getting around much means I haven't been tempted to impusle buys at the mall or the grocery store. Nope, since I fell my purchases have all been school-related.

I will be extremely glad to get the cast off and return to making impulse ice cream purchases at the grocery store, though. :)

That's all for this week.

Any room for me at the inn?

I'll be spending a month out of town after school is out of session. I'm really looking forward to it, but I've run into one little hiccup. The family connection I'd planned to stay with rented out his condo and moved to the U.K., so I'm in search of alternate accommodations. I'm wary of hostels, since I need to put down roots for more than just a few days, and I'm also wary of hotels, because they aren't really set up for long-term accommodations and tend to cost a lot even when they are.

My discovery of something in between, called "apartment hotels" has really made the difference. These are set up for a long-term stay, with some including kitchens and looking almost like condos. The rates are a bargain if you stay for a solid month, or pay to stay for a solid month, sometimes as low as $60/night.

The other important discovery I've made is university dorm living. In the summers, most students have left their dorms to head home or travel or work somewhere other than the university's locale, so these areas are available for rent to travelers. One place I'm looking at has a rate of $38/night if you stay for a month in the summer.

I was concerned that without a couch to surf on, I'd end up in an exorbitant hotel far from the areas I'd planned to visit. But it looks like there really are affordable, apartment-style accommodations out there for travelers. And that's a big relief.