h.stew’s blog

hi, friends.
i've decided to change things up a bit and i won't be blogging here any longer.

my new blog is http://moxiefarm.blogspot.com/ if you'd care to visits.

cheers!

i've been back in MN for about 5 days, but somehow it feels as if i never left.  except, you know, my friends bought houses and their kids got bigger.  but other than that, things are pretty much just as i left them. 
i take some comfort in that.

because of the relocation, i'm back on the job hunt.  i've got an interview set up with an assisted living facility on monday morning.  could be a fun gig and i imagine the hours will work with my school schedule.
<shrug>
cross your fingers for me, eh?

i'm feeling the need to bake again - but my growing waistline is indicating that might not be the best idea.  i'll just have to quell that urge for a couple of weeks . . . and then i'll whip up another batch of cupcakes for tiffany and sabrina's birthday party.

i finally got around to cleaning/oiling my sewing machine (thanks, mom!).  this should have been done awhile ago, as my friend jennifer had placed an order - and the fabric had been sitting around (waiting to become a drawstring backpack) for over a week.

drawstring backpack.

now that i've finished that project, i think i'm going to dive into a puzzle i've been meaning to work on for... oh... a few years.

puzzle.

actually i *did* finish this puzzle once - i even glued it together and was planning to frame it - but it ended up getting lost during one of my moves.  sadness. 
when i finish it this time, i'll be getting it up on the wall post haste.

earlier this week it felt like fall was in the air, but i see the forecast high for tomorrow is 91.  indian summer?  let's hope not.  i'm ready for a little scarf action.

it's official.
i am completely, utterly, hopelessly addicted to the show 'mad men.' 

this is a perfect example of why i tend to stay away from television.  when i find something i like, i don't just casually watch it - i obsess over it, and the rest of my life gets shoved to the back burner. 

dirty clothes?  what dirty clothes?
who needs a shower anyway?

this show is particularly dangerous to me, as it takes place in the 1960s, my favorite decade, the decade i'm certain i was meant to have been born into (i was misplaced in the 80s, you see.  silly, confused storks...). 

manhattan in the 60s.  all that glamour plus a delicious undercurrent of radical social change.
i want to go to there.  please.

sometimes blogging starts to feel like a chore.  so i stop.
today i decided i'd like to start again.  without pressuring myself to be superontop of it.
<shrug>
we'll see.

i made it back to portland.  starbuck ran like a champ and kept me cool and comfortable for all 1800 miles of our journey (or as comfortable as one can be when crammed into a smallish car with nearly everything one owns). 

i've been here for nearly a month and i'm feeling mostly settled.  i've yet to pick up any real furniture ('cept for the sofa sleeper i inheirited from the former occupant of my room), so i'm still kind of living out of boxes - but i've got beautiful plans for a craft/sewing table (a door laid across sawhorses, maybe?) and shelves (i'm leaning towards cinder blocks and boards) for odds and ends and a curtain to cover the gaping expanse that is my closet . . . among other things.  i'm obsessively attentively watching craigslist and freecycle for items i can score on the cheap (or free!).  good for my wallet and my green-karma (keeping things out of the waste stream 4tw!).

school doesn't start until the end of september (this quarter system will take some getting used to), but two charming gentlemen (sam, 4 and ben, 1 1/2) have been keeping me relatively busy.  i'm so enjoying working with children again and i'm looking forward to coming up with activities and projects to keep us busy when the weather gets cool and gray.

i need to get the frak out of this place.

i'm losing my patience with damn near everyone.

the end.

i will never cease to be amazed at the human body's ability to heal itself.

this past monday i spent 11 hours working in the back yard, mainly ripping up sod and shoveling pea gravel.  pretty labor-intensive stuff.  by the end i was the picture of exhaustion and when i woke up on tuesday i could barely walk and absolutely could not bend over.

yesterday i got an IUD (wikipedia's crash course, for the uninitiated).  i've heard horror stories about the pain these t-shaped lil buggers can cause, and yesterday i was definitely feeling the presence of my new "friend."

today - 4 days after landscaping the crap outta the yard and 1 day after having a chunk of plastic and metal shoved into my uterus - i'm feeling...
...perfectly normal.

how is that even possible?  i literally felt like i needed a cane to move around on tuesday - and yesterday i was popping extra-strength tylenol like candy - but today i'm feeling great.

<shrug>

happy weekend!

i need to take a moment to toot my horn:

i got a 4.0 this semster!

if that doesn't prove that i'm finally dedicated to this schooling stuff, i don't know what does.  :)

ok, seriously?  there is no reason for it to be this hot outside in MAY (or ever, in my book).  according to the weatherdude on the news, this is the hottest day we've had since july 2007.
what the hell?!

i started a new workout regime today (in addition to the hundred pushups program - i'm currently on week 3) and i'm feeling absolutely unequivocally spent.
i really want to try to get my arms (and the rest of me - but mostly my arms) into some sort of presentable form this summer, though, so i'm gonna keep plugging away until they either look nice or fall off.
let's cross our fingers for the former, eh?

exactly 2 months from today i will be in portland.  i leave mn in 51 days.  jason gets back in 2 weeks.  i'm a college graduate (kind of).
<stops head from spinning>

i think i need to go to bed.