Iris

I bought an iris this morning. Kroger had a little stand: "Spring Blooms--5 for $10." I don't understand the "X for Y" pricing system. Doesn't "$2" look more enticing than "5 for $10" or "10 for $20"? Anyway, I looked, pleased that spring was showing up one way or another, and a slender little iris caught my eye. I'm not much of a flower person, but I've always liked irises, for some reason. So for $10/5*1 I bought it. Even if it starts to die immediately I'll get several days' pleasure out of it.

Yesterday the binding for Marie's quilt kicked my butt. It's the very last thing I have to do, and theoretically what you do is sew one side of the binding to the top-batting-bottom quilt sandwich, then fold it over and attach it on the other side. But when I sewed the binding, by the end of the seam the sandwich was askew, with the bottom fabric an inch shorter than the top. I tried it again, pulling the bottom taut. I tried flipping it over. I tried using my walking foot. No matter what I did, the two sides wouldn't stay even. I brought it over last night for Edith's advice and her advice was adhesive glue, or desperate measures such as completely hand-stitching it. Hand-stitching the back half is bad enough, so I was going to try the glue, but then I thought perhaps pinning it to within an inch of its life might work as well. I've tried it on half a side and it seems to be okay--a little slippage, but not enough that I can't deal with it. So we'll see if that continues on the next side. If it doesn't, it's time for desperate measures such as folding the binding differently and sewing both sides at once.

Still no job, but I'm applying for several low-level things this week from the classifieds--the ones where you call rather than send in a resume--and we'll see what happens. I wish I could have used this time off more productively, but I don't think I did too badly, really; and I'll be more motivated to do more once I have more to do. Until then, job applying and binding applying and watering an iris.

In the style of Bridget Jones after 4 alcoholic units.

Down. No job, no house, no inspiration, no one to call. Whiny and annoying and annoyed at self. Read 'Scheduled outage' as 'scheduled outrage.' Bought ice cream and Hint of Lime chips. Will try not to consume them all. Depending on how the evening goes.

Motivation

We found a house. This is a bad thing--but purely because I don't yet have a job and therefore we can't possibly qualify for a mortgage. Thus, I am sitting here applying to what I suspect is a telemarketing-esque job in order to get something, anything, that will bring in a regular paycheck.

We went to the U of M Life Sciences Orchestra concert tonight, which was very nice--I'm not excited about classical music taped but live it's a very different thing. Afterwards we went to the after-party, where all of Eric's friends insisted he come back and play next semester and I ate sesame seed-covered pizza and pondered why I don't like crowds. I also applied for a bookstore job and a Best Buy job, and both used the exact same electronic questionnaire, one of the questions on which was, "Going somewhere with a big crowd is fun. Strongly Agree/Agree/Disagree/Strongly Disagree." Blechh. Stupid questionnaires. Interviews are much better. You have a much better idea of what they're looking for. How do I know what whatever consulting company came up with the survey told them to look for in the personality profiles they receive? I'll figure it out, though. I have a house to get.

My mountain.

This is Mt. Rainier as we saw it December 27, 2005, on a gray day in a gray truck. It was so very still up at Paradise, with the snow muffling everything--except when we went inside and heard on the radio that some lady was pulling her kids on a sled behind her car.

I'm applying to bookstores. And real jobs too, of course. Eric and I are holding a weekly writing session on Saturdays, which should help both of us. I call Asia today and work on my sock made from the yarn Edith gave me. I should be finishing other things--Eric's DNA scarf and the Jayne hat and Mariah and Marie's quilt--but I love these socks.

I don't seem to have much to say lately, only that I'm trying to do things. Which is enough, I suppose, at least for me. And for you, there's my mountain.