math

plus

i am finished with rapunzel and power ranger- finally! (and only because my mom helped me with power ranger- she is so talented. she just sits there and practically completes a jumpsuit while i thread my serger. i sew soooooooooooo slowly sometimes. but then again, i am learning new patterns, so i do have a learning curve. i've got time to catch up).

i have a website, and lots of people are looking at my work. wow. the internet is one powerful ... thing.

i don't have any cavities

craig just made some yummy iced tea

we should have a rainy day for yellow brick road class tomorrow, but not a hurricane (yet)

junie is housebroken (???)

lucy now climbs out of trees, as well as up them

minus

working with pleather is like trying to do origami with saran wrap

i have to have all four wisdom teeth removed

i have to get braces (at 25!?!?)

i am breaking out horribly- aha! maybe instead of thirteen going on thirty, i am almost thirty going on thirteen

i haven't gotten a single call regarding my job applications. these are jobs as receptionists. not rocket scientists. you'd think that all the time i've spent on the phone in my entire life should count for something.


all in all, it looks like maybe my life is more plus than minus. i'm not complaining!

juniper jane style

I am so pleased to announce that I have an actual website for my products!!!!!!!! Yippeee!!!! Actually, it's just a blog.... but at least my stuff is out there to be seen.

Let me know what you think!

www.juniperjanestyle.blogspot.com

I have also started getting an insane amount of spam, even the first half hour I was on-line. wow. do I smell that naive?????

In other news, I am in halloween costumes up to my ears. Thank god November first is right around the corner.

I have a dentist appointment tomorrow, so I'm about to go eat a s'more before bed. (I'm not kidding...)

grey day

For the past couple days, Gainesville has not seen sunshine. It's a soft cool grey outside, and I like it. It almost matches my mood- but maybe my mood is more hurricane and overcast. I am frustrated by teaching, depressed about being home alone all day, and REALLY tempted by the thought of a salaried job. I know that teaching is salaried, but it just doesn't seem worth it. Am I a job snob? (Absolutely). However, I don't think that having high standards is a problem. I have never been good at settling, and if I am going to spend 40+ hours a week doing something, shouldn't it be something worthwhile, something you can be passionate about? Kim Dunkle says good luck. Maybe I'll try to get passionate about answer phones or filing.

I am up to my ears in Halloween costumes- rapunzel, power ranger, lion, skunk. Maybe Captain Hook and Peter Pan too. It is satisfying to do costumes. There is no perfection involved, and there is a definite finished product.

I have discovered ebay, and the fact that you can order fabric on it. Wow. What a great country, right? (let's ignore the fact that I am currently bidding on no longer printed fabric for 12+ a yard, that retailed originally for 8.50. supply and demand at work.)

I was thinking about trying to find some chocolate, but I don't think that there is any chocolate strong enough for my mood.

currently reading: Charlotte, by Julia Barrett (recreation of an old Austen manuscript- supposedly)

Back to the Bedroom, by Janet Evanovich (crappppp romance, on cd. the plot is sooooooooo predictable, and I'm only on -CRAP. Craig turned my cd player off. now I've got to find my place. At least it's so painfuly banal that I can read a pattern while listening to it. Ha! "It had nothing to do with the fact that her complexion was flawless". )

Update Installment 1

July, 2003

I married Craig and we had a lovely and very large wedding. It was the wedding my mother had always dreamed of. (I can't even dream that big). Even though we had a fantastic time, I was completely overwhelmed. Not in a bad way, but in a "I didn't know that we knew so many people and they are all watching us" kind of way. I have to admit, the very best parts were the actual ceremony (like the "as long as we both shall live" part), and the few moments I could steal alone with Craig. However, I have to send a HUGE "Thank you, you are the best, most wonderful people" hug to everyone who helped, drove in from out of state, flew in from foreign countries, planned, arranged, wore awful dresses, had their hair mangled and put up with me (at my worst). I never knew how well loved we were until we got married. Thank you. I can never say it enough.

I do not understand how people get married twice. One wedding was lovely, and more than enough for me.

Craig and I moved into a little townhouse near the university. We paid a very low rent while he finished school and I continued to teach at Interlachen High School. We (and Kim, Virginia, Henry????) painted khaki, pink and magenta stripes on the dining room wall. (Actually, I just chose the colors.) I painted solid walls and later was chastised for for my sloppy work. Craig will never let me paint again. (Who won THAT one??????) The entry way was painted magenta. I loved it, but Craig never brought people over for the first 4 months that we lived together. (I tried to bake cookies for him everytime he did bring someone over, to show that there are compensations for being married to a crazy decorator).

We finally got a little dog... well, we got Junie. She is a chihuahua, so she is neither dog nor cat. She is a pet. I didn't want a dog (read: hair, slobber, tail that knocks things over), and I really wanted a puppy. Chihuahuas are actually perpetually puppies- or at least they look that way. Because it wasn't a good idea to have a baby 5 months into marriage, we got a pet instead and she has been babied and spoiled- but not by me alone!!!!!! (ask ANYONE.) I know we'll regret this, but in her defense, she doesn't bite or act aggressively, like some chihuahuas. She's just a barking spaz ball, but we can't have everything in life.

Craig graduated with his mechanical engineering job in April, and was hired the day he walked by Terra- Com, and environmental engineering company run by Mormons. For the sake of being PC, I won't say anything else. I left Interlachen to work as the manager of My Favorite Quilt Shop, a job I literally walked into. It was my dream job, and I was VERY happy. I liked Interlachen, I liked teaching reading, but I didn't like the paperwork involved and I couldn't stand the drive.

We started loking for a house just before Craig graduated, and fate brought us to a little house in a nice neighborhood that my boss's friend was selling. I was shocked when he accepted our offer. Plus, we got to choose the paint color, so I picked minty-light green with white trim and a hot pink front door. (My neighbors hated me before we moved in!) I have recently dubbed our home "Flamingo Cottage". Plastic yard flamingos are on my Christmas list. I'm not kidding.

Okay- I have given in to my husband's dream date idea, and am headed off to Hungry Howie's All You Can Eat Pizza Buffet. I can't believe I just admitted that.

I deserve my reputation

If you're reading this, you are someone who knows that technology and I are not the best of friends. Okay, let me rephrase that- returning messages/checking messages/remembering my password/remembering my email address - I am not known for any of these things. However, I have turned over a new leaf, and am doing my best to be a responsible correspondant. This blog is intended to keep me current, keep me using the world wide web, remind me to check my email, etc. etc. etc. It's also here so if I fall off the wagon, at least you'll
a.) be able to see what current drama I have embroiled myself in/created
b.) be able to spy on me without me even knowing it, thus keeping up to date with me and still punishing me by not letting me know you care...
(But you don't really want to punish me, do you? Post me a comment and guilt me into sending you a nice fat personal email.)

Truly, people, let's be honest here. We are all very busy individuals. I make negative $5 an hour, and I still manage to be very busy. You all have jobs, go to school, and lead full and varied social lives. Do you have time to write out the details of your weekend to every friend you have? Of course not! No one does. So here's my proposal- if you want to know all the details of my day to day dramas, read this blog. That way, I don't feel like I have pressured you to read pages of hyperbole, and you can read at your leisure. You can always ask ask for the really juicy details if you want more. There is also no pressure to write me back a nice long email, because you might be to busy at the moment. I lose touch with a lot of people, and it makes me sad. I miss you all, and I think about you more than you know. If you had blogs and sent me the address, I would read them every day. (Hey- there's an idea...) Anyway, the point is that there can be weirdness if I email you , and you email me, and then I forget to email you back... for 3 months.... then I feel weird about emailing you, and it just compounds into this huge weird ...thing. And I am tired of that. So here it is- I am here, in the vagueness that is cyberspace. If I have lost touch with you, post a response, or email me a short message, and I will write you a big juicy email back. It is no pressure!!!! The one thing you learn about living in Gainesville is that everybody moves away. So let's stay in touch, and please pretty please allow me to redeem myself. I am worth it! (I hope!)