Marvelous Monday Update 8/30/10

HAIR UPDATE
For those of you who stated you'd like to see photos of my hair: Hell No! (LOL) The coworker who thought I was "hip" kept coming to check on the status of my purple hair. :O In the course of a week, it did lighten up considerably, but whenever I was out in the sun or under bright light, I still had magenta hair. I went to the store and bought a soft black root touch up kit. No more magenta highlights!


STITCHY STUFF
A while back, Bette from Reflections of a Desert Rat was hosting a giveaway on her blog. I won a cute kitty chart along with a frame that has kitty paw prints all over it.

Thank you, Bette!

I was able to work on Gentle Menagerie this week. I finished up the pig (Isn't he cute?) and most of the goose. It won't be long and I'll be done with this one. Then I'll be scouring the thrift stores for the perfect frame :)

Other WIP photos can be seen HERE.
Have you noticed a "theme" to my GM WIP updates? It occurred to me that quite a few of my updates involve an animal with no head! Do I need help? Bwahahahaha!


YUM-YUMS
Pirjo of Pike is Stitching! was the first person to guess what the pancakes were for last week's contest.

Zucchini Pancakes!

I planted zucchini in my garden this year and had a couple in the refrigerator waiting to have something done with.... when I saw this:


They were absolutely scrumptious. I learned a very "valuable lesson" while making these pancakes. Shredding zucchini works much better if you take the seeds out first! I had zucchini seeds flying everywhere, lol.

Pirjo, please email me with your snail mail addy and I'll get a prize out to you. Congrats on being the first to guess!

In other cooking news... I made chicken fajitas for the first time. There might be "fajita mix" packets at the store, I dunno. This recipe was "from scratch". I changed it up some and it was D-Licious! I had enough leftover that I made individually wrapped fajitas and put them in the freezer. Yummo!!


DIY
Over the weekend, I finishing staining the bed I started at the beginning of the month. No new pics yet, but you can see the WIP HERE. I have to put all the pieces back together to form the headboard and footboard. Then it can be set up, which means doing "something" with the junk stuff in my spare bedroom/craft storage room.

Marvelous Monday Update 8/23/10

SCHOOL
Last week I worked like a dog getting 5 chapters worth of homework done BECAUSE I thought the week we do reading of said chapters is the week homework is due. Wrong! It's due the following week after we get lectured over the chapters. So, I was a week ahead, LOL.



MAGENTA IS NOT AUBURN!
Like my mother, I started getting gray hairs when I was 16 years old. At 26, I started getting my hair colored. A year ago, I decided to start coloring my own hair due to changes in the finance department: $60 at a salon vs. $10 at home... Hmmm. Granted, I *do* miss my 2 hour "therapy" session with my hairdresser of 12 years, but I digress.

It was *that* time again... so I made my monthly trip to the store and decided to try something different. For those who don't know, I'm brunette -- I was born with black hair. At the store, I chose a color called "Auburn Black". I looked at the pictures on the box. You know, the ones that show you what color your hair will look like if you're blonde, brunette, black, etc? The photo for black hair looked exactly that... black with a slight brown highlight. My inner self said, "Be brave... try it" So I did.

The application went well. No different than any other time I've done it EXCEPT the color had a pink/red tint to it. It wasn't until the next day at work that I saw the REAL color.... my gray/white hair was turned....

MAGENTA!! Not auburn, not even a red... but Magenta!

The brand I used was Feria which is made by L'Oreal. I went to their website to complain and found no email address or phone number for contact. *Grr!*


STITCHY STUFF
Carol (Just A Virginia Girl) is doing a stash reduction with some of her Blackbird Designs and Lizzie Kate charts. I've secretly coveted the LK's 12 Blessings of Christmas. When I saw that Carol had the entire set at a fabulous price, I contacted her.


Not only did she send me the charts complete with charms, she also sent the flip-it border and the bonus tree topper. Now... I just have to get busy and stitch them up!

Since I was ahead on homework, I had some time to stitch. Woo Hoo! I almost have the pig done on GM:

Can I count each animal as a finish??

CHARLEY
Guess what? Charley laid an egg last night! Of course (as warned by the previous owners) she "poops" it out from the highest perch and it crashes to the bottom of the cage. I was a bit worried about her all weekend because her feathers were fluffed up a lot... then I read that females do that when they're getting ready to lay an egg.


I have been leaving her cage door open when I'm home. When I first open it, she quickly climbs down and comes out the door for a rub on the head and some attention. Then she'll walk around on the door and climb on sides. She's "found" a new toy: The handle on the top of the cage flips back and forth. She has figured this out and will flip it from one side to the other. When she's in the mood, I can get her to "step up" on my finger or arm.


TREADLE UPDATE
On eBay, there was an auction for "singer treadle parts". There were at least 3 pieces I needed, so I bid and ended up getting them really cheap. One of the parts missing from my treadle when I got it was the bottom bobbin sliding door:



There was a needle plate and both bobbin doors in the package of parts. I spent a little time cleaning corrosion and dirt off the bottom door. Now I can see my reflection in it!

I still need to clean the needle plate and upper door. Doesn't the bottom door look awesome?


YUM-YUMS
I made these pancakes over the weekend. I'd never had them before, or even knew such a thing existed! My photo doesn't show it, but the tops should be slathered in tomato or spaghetti sauce.

Can you guess what they are?

I'm going to hold a little contest. The first person to guess what kind of pancakes these are, will get a little stitchy something from my stash pile. I will announce a winner on my next MM update. :) Plus, I will share the recipe!


FAMILY
Lastly, I found out this morning that I became an auntie again (late last night). I have another niece to add to the 6 others! My poor nephew... looks like he'll be the only boy cousin, LOL. Harlee Ann decided to enter the world early. Weighed in at 6 lbs 3oz, and was 18" long.

Worst Date #13 - I'd Like To Introduce...

When a guy says, "I want to introduce you to some friends," I don't immediately think, Oh, he wants to take me to an AA meeting.


Now, I'm all for the program. It's helped many people, including friends of mine.

It's just not a place to take a date ever. That's why it's anonymous.

I get that he wanted to be open and honest about where he was in his life, but have some decorum. If not for me, but for the brave souls trying to overcome their addictions in private.

They don't want to see you woo me with your "sharing."


Disclaimer: These are not my dating stories... Just ones I've accumulated.

Marvelous Monday Update 8/16/10

SCHOOL
*Whew* The stress has already started after one week of class! I have another group project due this semester. There are 4 of us in the group this time. We have to choose a publically traded company and do a written financial analysis, then give an oral presentation on it. There will be three tests during the semester, in addition to homework problems and chapter reading. All in 8 weeks. I woke up in the middle of last night worried about whether I'd be able to do it with two jobs. Since I couldn't sleep, I read one of the chapters.


WEATHER
After weeks of high humidity and HOT-HOT-HOT temps, the weather has finally cooled down. I woke up to 59F temps this morning. Ahhhhh! Much better.


At 6am on the 11th, I walked outside and saw this rainbow to the west. The odd thing about it was that it hadn't rained for days! My guess is that there was so much humidity in the air, that a rainbow formed. About 3 days later, there was another rainbow to the east. This time due to some light showers.


DIY
No stitching this week, but I spent about 30 minutes doing more cleaning on my treadle sewing machine. I have the outside of the machine almost cleaned up.

BEFORE
AFTER
BEFORE
AFTER
Isn't it amazing what is underneath all that grime?

Meet Charley

Charley is the newest member of my household. She joins Celeste and a fish who remains nameless. A member of my local freecycle group posted a message stating they were giving away a cockatiel with cage. The owners were told she was a male when they got her a year ago. After she starting laying eggs, they realized HE was a SHE. Then the woman of the house became ‘with child’ and with six people in the apartment, they’ve had to downsize on their birds. Thus, Charley now has a new home.


Charley is a white-faced grey cockatiel, and a member of the parrot family. Cockatiels are closely related to the cockatoo. Average lifespan is 16-25 years. The previous owners thought she was about 2 years old. Cockatiels are extremely social birds and need human interaction. If they are the only bird, they will become attached to their owner.


A friend of mine had a male cockatiel for about 18 years. The stories I’ve heard have been very entertaining. I’ve never owned a bird before so this is new territory for me. I’ve been doing a lot of research, and trying to interact with Charley. I’ve read that females are more aggressive than males and have a tendency to bite – which I have found out, lol. I have also read that they are very smart birds and can be trained not to bite, to do tricks, etc.

The first evening at The Homestead was quite chaotic. Celeste wasn’t sure what to make of the new family member. She paced around the house alternating between whining and woofing. Charley was up in arms being in a new environment. Numerous times, she attempted to bite me. Eventually, she acted like she wanted to come close to me but then would back away. When I walked away from the cage, she’d squawk and again, this was an attempt to get my attention – which I read she should not get if I want to train her not to squawk. That night, all was quiet. Celeste went to sleep, Charley went to sleep, and I went to sleep.

The next day, Celeste was still prancing around the kitchen and woofing, lol. Charley was a little more social. She’d go to the side of the cage I was on and then back away. She even let me rub her head but then tried to bite me, lol.

Fast forward a week:
• Charley no longer tries to bite me.
• She has learned what "lovin" means: a nice rub behind the head and ears. All I have to do is say "lovin?" and she will bow her head to get a rub.
• I can stick my hand in the cage, which the previous owners said they couldn't do without her trying to bite.
• I'm also able to let Charley come out of her cage. If I am sitting next to her cage, she will walk out onto the door and bow her head to get "lovin". Then she'll climb to the top of the cage and walk around.
• If startled, she will try to fly, but she doesn't really know how. She ends up flying into walls and such, which then startles her even more.
• Celeste still tries to "woof" and charge the cage (like she does with birds outside, lol) but for the most part has gotten used to the new member of the household.

A bit of trivia: The Australian government instituted a strict ban on the export of these native birds in 1994, which means cockatiels in the U.S. are from captive bred stock.