Debacle

Stranded at work on Christmas Eve! It all began with a brilliant plan and ended in a huge debacle.

At happy hour with my sister, e:

me: want to stay at my place tonight & wake up early to hit the mall?
e: yes! awesome.
j: that is the worst idea ever. there is no way you will wake up in time to go shopping before you go to work.

this morning:

wake up at 6:30 am.
shower and get dressed
e is making scrambled eggs and coffee
we leave at 7:15 and are shopping by 7:20.
no one is at the mall.
it is glorious.

7:55 we leave mall and my sister drops me off at work. j is my ride home. j calls at 9:15.

j: do you have an extra set of keys?
me: no.
j: i am blocked in by your car. cannot pick you up.
me: NOOOOOO!

9:30 am
I call e. she can pick me up. relief, but anxiety because she is like me and is never on time.

11:30. everyone leaves office. it is time for me to leave. call e. she has not left yet. she is 40 minutes away.

11:31. finally realize that all of my friends live about 10 min. away.
call mm. goes straight to voice mail.
call mr. answers. can pick me up!

11:49. waiting for ride. wrap up some leftover xmas cookies for mr. she is the best.
mr: +1
me: 0

run run reindeer

My friend S just ran the 5k on the new highway 40. I was impressed, as I am very far away from running a 5k anytime soon. In fact the only time I have been close to running a 5k involved rolling out of bed at a friend's apartment after a night of shenanigans and making my roommate grab my running clothes and race t-shirt, pick me up, and drop me off at the race. I finished the 5k, but did not run the whole time. I did learn a couple valuable lessons:

• Do not attempt the 5k if you drank close to a gallon of milwauke beast the night before.
• Do not attempt the 5k if your undergarments consist of a thong and strapless bra.

Anyway, my point is, I have decided it is time to take up running once again. So far, I have managed to run two nights in a row this week with my trainer, J. J as in my husband who does not have school or work until the end of January.
I am pretty impressed with myself so far as we were able to make it around the park one night and around the library last night. However, all of my progress has been negated by ice cream, reeses cups, and cookies. If anyone else brings food to the office, there could be trouble. (okay, totally empty threat - food and gifts still accepted)

Flavor Me

Found this new site where I can put my whole online life in one place. I still need to figure out if I can get an etsy feed or not.

Photo and Card Holder

Had some wire laying around from who knows what project and came up with this little card/photo tree.

Eco-Friendly Cozy Dog Bed How-To

After we got our Christmas tree up and our home decorated for the holidays, our pup's bright orange and blue tie-dyed blanket seemed to clash with our red and green decor. I decided to make a pillow cover that was a little more in tune with a winter mood, and stuff it with our puppy's old blanket I was trying to hide. You can try the same thing for your home with items just laying around the house.

You will need:

an old blanket or two (try a thriftstore like Goodwill if you don't have one in your possession, or ask around)
scissors
tape measure
thread

needle or sewing machine
straight edge
padding (I used my dog's old fleece blanket that I was trying to disguise. You can use memory foam, a bag of fabric scraps, an old pillow or two, or anything else that is soft and cozy.)
Chalk or fabric marker

First I determine the dimensions of the final product. I decide on a 24" x 30" pillow/bed. I measure and chalke the outline of the top on my blanket.

If you are working with very specific diminsions, remember to add a seam allowance. In my case, I'm working with a more general size so it doesn't matter too much.


Next, I cut out the shape.


Now I have the top of my dog pillow. I could add the bottom pieces right now, but this is a homemade project - you've got to personalize it at least a little bit! I have another old blanket in a contrasting color that I use to cut out lettering for my dog's name. After the letters are cut out, I arrange them how I want them, being careful to leave a little room on the edges for the seam.
Before sewing the letters on, I pin them to make sure they're secure and stay where I want them.
I machine sew the letters on, but you can hand sew them as well.

For another embellishment, I cut out the pocket of an old flannel shirt and sew it into the corner. Now onto the bottom of the pillow. The bottom will consist of two overlapping panels, like a pillow sham. Each panel will be 24 inches wide and 18 inches long (half of the pillow length + 3 inches so the sides will overlap). I want to make the pillow a little thicker so I can fit an extra foam pad in it at some point. So I add 1 1/4" seam allowance to three sides of each back panel to give me about and inch thickness to the final pillow and cut out the corners. Now I'm ready to sew the pieces together. Each panel has two corners like the one pictured above. First I sew each corner together. Then I sew both back panels to the front panel.

Voila, your pillow is finished - all in one afternoon!

Now all that's left to do is stuff your dog bed with something soft and snuggly! It's a cost effective, sustainable, easy project!

Presenting This Year's Office Christmas Poem

Each year my office sends out a gift to our clients, and I am the lucky girl who gets to compose the Christmas poem that adorns the package and gives hints as to what might be inside. This year's gift is a mini gift box of Penzey's spices.