Christmas in November

A few weeks ago, Grandma Benac wanted to give me my Christmas present early. Sure. I love presents. I love it even more when I don't have to wait for it. She led me over to her craft tables, and told me my gift was under there. I couldn't believe it! I just about cried.

Grandma Helen in an avid seamstress, even though she would deny that. She has made many embroidered quilts, and is always working on another project. She bought her first fancy Husqvarna embroidery machine just a little while after grandpa Bill died. The Husqvarna Designer 1 is an amazing machine, but with grandma's grand ambitions, she got an the upgraded Designer SE. The "old" Designer 1 sat, untouched, in her closet for years. This machine can work miracles. It's pretty much a computer and a sewing machine in 1. With the attached embroidery arm, you can push the start button, walk away, and come back after a few minutes to an embroidered masterpiece. I am now the proud owner of a Viking Husqvarna Designer 1 embroidery machine

Where do you start? The first thing I did, like in most situations, was hit the internet. The internet is great for ideas, tips, tutorials, and anything and everything you need to know about any topic. I would love to start selling stuff on Etsy, so that's where I started my search. I need to know what my competition is doing! One thing I found on there, was an art caddy. A bag for kids to carry coloring books, crayons, and scissors. Winter's is already done. It's amazing how much a little bit of embroidery can do to really make a project special.

After seeing prices for thread at the local craft store, I decided Ebay was the way to go. At Jo-anns one spool of thread is $5.99. I got mine for $0.89 a spool. Sure, I still spent $90, but I do have enough thread to last me a lifetime!

New Profession?

It was 1994. At a rowhouse in "de Maten". Carla needed a haircut. She had scissors, and I was willing. That was the first time someone put complete trust in me, and let me alter their appearance. It really wasn't a very exciting occasion, only an inch or two came off. My next victim: Roel Schrama. The (only) guy in my class with long hair. I'm sure it took me weeks of nagging and complaining, before he finally agreed. No one had ever shown me how to cut guy's hair. I just winged it. Some other early guinea pigs included my dad, the missionaries, and my girlfriends.

It was never a big deal. Someone asked me; I obliged. Over the years, my skill and confidence increased. The eve of my wedding Joe needed a haircut. I made the mistake of listening to him describe how I should cut it. I should have stuck to my gut. In all our wedding photos, the sides of his hair were almost military short. Over the years, the haircuts have kept coming. Babies, toddlers, children, husband. None of these haircuts are nerve racking. So what if Winter's hair's crooked, or there's a chunk missing out of Sterling's head? It will grow back! Even Joe isn't very picky as to the length or style.

Last week, I got nervous for the first time in a long time. Josh was ordered a haircut, but he really didn't want to cut any off. The goal: a more polished look, that was still long. Owen Wilson. This haircut was special; There was a picture. An expectatation. Thinner hair than I'm used to. And then there was his girlfriend. She willingly got into the chair, but I could feel her apprehension. I don't have a license. I've never been educated. She's never really even seen any of my work. Plus, her hair is thicker than any I've ever worked with.

Sometimes it's not until the end of the haircut that the anxiety kicks in. What if too much has come off? What if they don't like the look? What if it's totally crooked? At this point of my anxiety attack, the rational angel on my left shoulder, has to overpower the anxious one on my right. My "customers" know there's no license, education, or guarantee that they won't come out looking like frankenstein. All they can have, is faith. Faith that I'll do whatever is in my power, to let them walk away with a decent look. I guess if they really hate it, they can always go to the salon and pay that professional to fix my mishaps.

Cutting hair is entertaining. I couldn't make a living doing it, as it would bore the bejebers out of me. But a few haircuts a month are great. The only depressing thing about the whole situation is, that others end up with free haircuts, while I have to scrounche up $25 to get my own hair fixed. Trust me, I've tried doing it myself. It's just really hard to see what you're doing, when your hair is halfway down your back. Lillie, at grandma's salon, is a great stylist. She's the first stylist I've ever gone back to. Other stylists either cut off too much, hack layers, or just don't have a clue what I want. Yesterday I forked over the $25, and enjoyed every minute in that chair. The way she massaged my scalp. The feeling of someone combing my hair. And even the sound of the snipping scissors. If I didn't know any better, I would have even gotten a perm, just to enhale the addictive toxic fumes.

Photography Club

Photography is one of the many joys in my life. So when Renee and I found out about a local Photography club in Bonham, we got really excited (you should have seen how excited Renee got!). They hold monthly meetings, and tonight was my first time.

It never ceases to amaze me how unsavvy many people are with computers. I guess I take it for granted that I can type with 10 fingers, operate windows, and figure out new programs. The first half hour of the meeting, a bunch of old people tried to set up the computer and projector screen. First they couldn't figure out how to make the projection the right size. Then, they forgot to hook up the internet card, so the internet wouldn't work. Instead of just typing in gmail.com, the man did a search for mail.google.com in google.com. After gmail was finally up, the poor man could not, for the life of him, figure out how to enter his username and password. After 10 tries, someone finally stepped in. The whole reason he had to open gmail, was that club members had sent their monthly photo assignments in. Of course when you attach a file in an email, it doesn't always show up in the right size for easy showing. It took painstaking coaching to get him to actually pull it up, but luckily Aubrey finally stepped in and saved the day.

The idea of sharing my photographs with other photographers is scary. I get insecure, and intimidated. It only took a few submissions to realize that I don't have to feel intimidated at this club. I don't want to sound snoody, but Winter can take better pictures than most of them. (except Dee and Renee) I've decided this club is more of a social gathering than a real photo club. We never critiqued each others photos, or suggested improvements. It was still worth the trip into Bonham though, because I got to go to Braums afterwards for some good girl time. Man, this post sounds negative.... I really did have a good time. Oh, and I don't have to worry about any of them finding my blog, because I'm not sure they would know how to search for it.

Day in Dallas

Josh came to visit, with his girlfriend Kristin. I'm glad to see him with such a nice girl. Having never been to Texas, we showed her some of downtown Dallas tourist sites. The first destination was Swiss street, where some houses have been restored to their original state. For the kids, the most exciting part of this stop was the dog park right across the street.

Dallas has a full-time farmers market, which I have wanted to check out for some time. The produce seemed fresh enough, but I still can't figure out why there had to be dozens of vendors. They all sold pretty much the exact same thing, for the exact same price. I was a little bit disappointed with the variety. I expected there to be all sorts of exotic fruits and vegetables.The arts district had a fun reflecting pool, where we all learned to walk on water

Joe's mom works as the property manager at the Meadow's building. It was one of the first "high riser" buildings in Dallas. What was supposed to be a quick bathroom pitstop, turned into an hour long tour of the building. It amazing to look at photographs taken of the area in the 1950s. If only we could have bought some land back then!

We finished off the day with some clam chowder and roasted pinenuts. Somehow it got to be after midnight again....

Texan landscape

Texas has beautiful landscape in it's own way. We've had a very full and low moon the past few days. I would still like to learn how to capture the details of the moon.

Shop till you drop

I've had a fun couple of days. Yesterday Dee took me shopping in Frisco. I love shopping. We hit Sam Moon's where I got an awesome new purse. They even killed a croc for me. Just kidding, it IS my first genuine leather purse though. It's a little more flashy than my past purses, which is perfect because I'm Texan now. After that, I introduced Dee to the pleasures of Ikea. She was so funny, she was just so overwhelmed. and I can see why. I've shopped there a lot, and still get overwhelmed with all the ideas.

Today, Tracey Sparks drove out here, and we just hung out, and chatted. If I was a good writer, I would have a fun witty paragraph on how we ranted about all the downfalls of the public school system. But I'm not, so that's all you're gonna get. Tracey is the most dedicated sunbather I've ever known. She lays out about 9 out of 12 months of the year. (Starting in March at the Beach, and again today in my yard) I haven't even thought about laying out or swimming in almost 2 months. The pool is slowly starting to turn a lovely shade of green.

I like to experiment with new recipes. A few weeks ago I bought some butternut squash, and having never cooked it before, I did what I always do in that situation, and googled a recipe. I came up with a yummy carrot/ginger/squash soup.

If you want to make it for yourself go to Allrecipes for the recipe.

Keep working

How much can a person work in 1 week? I guess the answer is different for each person, but I think Joe should take away the grand prize. He was in Phoenix all last week. He left super early Monday to fly there, worked all night, slept 1 hour, worked all day doing his regular job, and then worked all night again. He did this all week long. Then he came home Friday night. He spent Saturday at home. Sunday morning he jumped in the car, to drive back to Phoenix to deliver 2 trucks. He drove all day Sunday, slept for 4 hours, stopped at the side of the road to do his regular job for 4 hours, drove until he got there at noon. He then went to the airport, got on a plane, and arrived in Dallas at 7pm. Tomorrow morning he has to do a bidwalk at 9am, which means he'll have to leave around 7am again. After all of this, he is STILL not appreciated at his job. What gives?