update

Oh my god, I'm frickin' tired. 

Pirate Kitty

Pirate Kitty says, "You don't need two eyes to be handsome.  And, I'm about to knock over some stuff on this table, because that's how I roll."

Alcoholic curtains

I finished my valances for the kitchen and put them up.  I really like how they turned out.  You will notice a bare light bulb hanging over them.  This is not because I live in a trailer park, but more of a tragic accident.  As I was putting up the curtains and standing on the counter, I managed to hit the glass globe in place over the bulb.  I hit it with my head.  The globe fell off, hit the counter, then the floor and shattered into approximately 1, 234, 734 pieces.  Of course, I was standing on the counter in socks and had to jump down on the floor.  By the way, the cat army was very helpful.  All three of them were sleeping, raised their heads when they heard the noise, judged that this did not cause a massive tuna release in the kitchen, and then lowered their heads and went back to sleep.  I've got everything cleaned up, but I'll need to head to Lowe's pretty soon to replace my lamp.  

In other sewing news, I've started the "evolution" quilt.  

Sarah Vowell

Sarah Vowell came to town last night to read from some of her books including the new one, The Wordy Shipmates. Wordy Shipmates is good, just not as good as Assassination Vacation, which is my absolute favorite book of hers. Despite getting up at 4 am Eastern time to come here to entertain us, she was incredibly generous with her time. She read from her books, held a very nice Q&A session and then signed books in the lobby. It was a really fun evening, and being Olympia, I ran into everyone I know there. I even managed to go out with MOS for sushi before the show. (And, now I'm thinking I had fish breath when I gave Sarah my name for the book signing. I'm sure she is heading back East with stories of smelly locals with easy to spell names.)

At any rate, Sarah ended her Q&A on a question of what do you have to say to the kids today. Actually, it was asked by an 8th grade teacher who wanted to know what she had to say to his students. I'm extrapolating to all of the kids. She discussed the value of work and how we don't seem to discuss that anymore. Having spent my last three hours of work madly preparing for my six bills on Monday at 8am, I was actually a little touched. She talked about how inspiring it is to see people work when they are really good at what they do. I don't think I have reached that level - I don't think people will ever been moved by my bill reports - but, it did make me proud of being able to take care of myself.

And, yes, the witch reference in my title is inspired by her writing about her trip to Salem.

Snowshoeing on Mt. Rainier

It is so rare for me to get out during session, but when CF suggested snowshoeing this weekend I thought it was a fabulous idea.  I don't own snowshoes but after yesterday, I'm seriously thinking of getting them.  The day was beautiful,  the ski was bright blue, lots of really good snow and it wasn't even that cold.  I ended up taking off my hat and vest and just wearing my long sleeved shirt.  Big thanks to Rich and Deb for giving me that for Christmas - it fits and was perfect for the day.  

CF and I went to Mt. Rainier and probably did around 3 to 3.5 miles.  It doesn't sound like much, but the snow is like walking in very aggressive sand.   We did make it down to Reflection Lake before turning back and heading back to our starting point near Paradise.  Afterwards, we checked out the new visitors center at Paradise which was actually pretty cool.  I really want to get out there again.  For more pictures of snowshoeing on the mountain, click here

Kitchen valances

Of course before I start the quilt, I have to make valances for the kitchen.  This is fabric I bought at Bayside quilting.  Wine bottles and wine glasses - just another sign of my growing need for alcohol.  The cats do not seem to approve because I cut out the fabric I needed and left it on the counter in the kitchen and someone (Scout) threw up on them in the night.  I'm so proud that she didn't try to get to the tile or the non-fabric covered part of the counter.  At any rate, I've rinsed them off and plan to proceed.  The cat army will not thwart my efforts to put up curtains.  

"Evolution" quilt

I'm starting a new quilt project. The quilt is called "Evolution" and is supposed to represent the Galapagos Islands. It should be pretty cool, and there are turtles on it. I've picked out my fabric, which you can see above. I'm a little unsure about the turtles because I don't want them to clash with the very nice blues I found. I was going to go with dark green and brown, but now I think I need to get some blue/green in there as well. I'll have to finish the quilt and then make a turtle and see how that goes.