Mennonite Girls Dance (the Scandal!!)

So you know I've been taking ballroom dance lessons. Julie and I also took a salsa class together. So at the Harvest Swing dance, we thought we'd practice a bit and record it to prove that we historically 2-left-footed and non-rhythmical Mennonites may in fact be less than hopeless when it comes to dance. Keep in mind that we are the beginningest of beginners and judge us accordingly ;) I think this is a little hard to see - it was so much more visible on my computer! Just use your imagination.

socks!

I've been off this week (my mom says I'm unemployed and I don't think that's fair!). Actually I'm off for about 6 weeks while God finds another job for me. Hopefully back with my team at Building Health Equity. Anyhow. So I've been loving having time to do some craftiness. I love making things and so often I can't find the time to do that sort of thing. I really want to post all of my crafty stuff, but unfortunately, a number of items are gifts for readers of this blog and so I'd better not spoil their surprises. I have like 10 projects that I've been meaning to finish this week - finally finished a pair of socks I've been working on for 2 years (seriously - I think i started them in South Africa). I'm LOVING wearing them today - so cozy.

wake up call

I was up at 7:00 this morning. I don't have to work. I wanted to sleep in. Why am I up, then, you ask? Is my life destined to be full of strange events - do these things happen to other people too? Not that I mind them; I'm just wondering. I was happily dreaming this morning. I think it was a dream about teaching in a classroom, maybe? Then, intruding into my dream, I hear a loud knocking sound. A very deliberate knocking. Understand, there is no one else home with me this weekend. I sleep on the 2nd floor, so it's not the door downstairs, because I wouldn't hear that. And thankfully it didn't come from my bedroom door or I might have been quite freaked out, knowing I was alone in the house. So I tried to ignore the knocking and go back to sleep. Then I heard it again, very close to my head. It was coming from my window. So I got up and pulled up the shade warily. Standing on the roof was a grey bunnyhugged youth, rapping on my window. I opened the window and he asked me if Ashley was home. Wouldn't most people ring the doorbell? And the thing is, there is no Ashley living here and there hasn't been as far as I know. I told him there is no Ashley here and he asked how long I'd lived here, because he was sure this was the right house. Then he asked about Alex, who is one on my roommates, but I said she wasn't home. He said he had locked himself out of the house. In my sleep-confused state, I asked if he wanted to come in and use the phone. Which I realize now wasn't maybe the wisest idea. But he said no, that wouldn't work. And apologized for waking me and climbed down off the roof. I tried to go back to sleep, but no luck. So I am up and blogging.

sushi

I've recently discovered a love for sushi. I don't know if I've actually had anything authentic yet, but the stuff I've tried has been great. The first time I tried it was when Dan brought some into the cottage at TLC. Woolworths is a department/grocery store in South Africa which donates its expired food to charities twice a week, as long as they come and clean out the food storage room before they take the food. So twice a week, we would get flats of random food and flowers. Some were fine, some were of questionable safety. In that case, maybe sushi wasn't the best choice of expired food, but it seemed fine and I think we were all a little less particular considering our choice of food in those days. Rice with bits of gnurply unidentified meat gets old after a few months. But Dan let me have some of his sushi. Mmmm.

Second experience with sushi. Someone at work bought some from Safeway for lunch and shared it and is was soooo good.

Third experience with sushi. Julie and I were babysitting for our little friend Eunice and suddenly, unexplicably, we both had a huge craving for sushi. Remembering the great Safeway sushi, I drove there 15 minutes before it closed and nabbed the last tray of California rolls they had. With soy sauce and wasabi and pickled ginger.....drool....

Fourth experience with sushi. Mark came over and taught a few of us how to make it. So now Julie and I have no excuses for ignoring our sushi cravings and can make it to our hearts delight. Somehow that takes some of the mystery out of it, but I think with the effort it takes to make, it might still just be a special occasion food.

I'm thinking that these probably aren't the "real thing" when it comes to sushi and I need to go out to a Japanese restaurant for the authentic thing. Anyone know a great sushi restaurant in Saskatoon to share?

just can't get enough

I think I'm addicted. Here's the next. I LOVED Enid Blyton growing up and when I found this Noddy in Scotland kid's t-shirt in Value Village, I knew I had to transplant him. I finally decided to put him on a bunnyhug. I love it. Warm and cozy and uniquely cute.

craftiness

I'm so excited to have room now for a sewing machine because I always have these crafty urges and then I'd go out to Mom's on a Saturday for a marathon day where I'd try to get a project or two done. But I always ended up being rushed and frustrated because I was hurrying and making silly mistakes. It's been so nice to be able to just work on my projects a bit at a time and not be rushed. I've been so inspired by this website I found called craftster.org where, among other things, people post their reconstructed clothing. Very cool stuff. Taking clothes that are just not right for some reason or another and turning them into something wearable with a few (or a lot of) alterations. Joining a couple of things together to make something new and unique. I have a box of bits and pieces and clothes I've been meaning to alter, so this week I finished a couple of projects. I took a striped long sleeved T and some green fabric and added a zipper, the pockets and hood. It's not the most perfect and you know I tend to be too perfectionistic about things like this. It bugs me that the pockets don't quite line up. Which, now that I look at this picture, you can't even tell. Anyhow, it's a little tight on me so I think it'll be given away. Not sure yet to who. Anyone smaller than me who wants dibs on it?? :)
This next one I really like. It was a skirt that I bought in South Africa (Mr. Price, oh yeah!) and I enjoy the beading and the color but it was just too big. So I bought this cheap ($3.33) T-shirt at Michaels and put the two together. I actually really like the end result, although after I added the strip of fabric under the bust, which isn't stretchy like the t-shirt fabric, it became a little hard to pull on.

What do you think? Cute/dressy enough to wear to a wedding or two next weekend? Yes, I have two wedding to go to next weekend. Two great couples - I'm so looking forward to it!!

slipping

Ok. I'll admit it. Facebook has been the evil adversary of my blog. I love posting pictures, but when I've posted them to Facebook, I figure everyone's seen them already and so what's the point of putting them on again. But perhaps not all of my faithful blog readers have joined the addiction that is Facebook.
Summer is flying by much too fast. I feel like I just want to grab onto it and hang on, but it's just slipping through my fingers. "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans." That's how this summer has felt. And hot. It has also felt hot. My room in my new place is upstairs and I can literally feel the temperature rising as I ascend the stairs. I've been finding it difficult to get a good night's sleep. I have a little thermometer on my clock radio that says it is 34 degrees Celcius (that's 93 Farenheit for you Americans)in here. So no wonder.
What have I been up to, you ask (or maybe you don't but I shall tell you nonetheless)? Well, I moved in with my dear friend Julie and another A.(Alexandra) Fast. It's so nice to be out of the basement and I actually get to use my boxspring which previously wouldn't fit down the stairs. The only downside is the heat up here vs. my previously perpetually cool basement suite. And being a little farther from the river. But everything else is good. I got to do some travelling to the states to visit some TLC friends and be at the wedding of a couple of them. I did some crazy/illegal camping with Julie (and thoroughly proved my goody-two-shoes status). I've spent some time with friends and done the usual summer in Saskatoon things like Taste of Saskatchewan and BBQ's...And tomorrow, my friend Lucy from the UK is arriving and spending some time here in Saskatchewan. I hope she's ready for this heat! So that's it. Let me know how you're doing too!