Anna's Jelly Shirt

Aaron and I went to this ghetto store in Springfield that sometimes has good deals on things like women's 100% cotton shirts. Which are hard to come by for under $10. Well I was stoked when I found these pink cotton shirts for $2. I decided to make Aaron's sister a jellyfish shirt at the last minute before Christmas. I was so excited at how easy, yet interesting the design was and how little time it took me. That is until I realized the wax was not releasing from the fabric. Some of it was stuck in the fibers and would not boil out. I've had this happen...on small things. And all I had to do was pretreat with liquid soap. But this had so many lines and dots and soap wasn't doing the trick. So I gave Anna her shirt at Christmas, but told her she couldn't actually keep it yet. I must have boiled this shirt 8 or 10 times and I was getting frustrated. Aaron's dad suggested I take it to a dry cleaner. Duh. There are three ways to get the wax out. This was the only method I had never tried. I know sometimes dry cleaners won't take batiks, but I didn't say anything when I dropped it off and I didn't feel bad because there was hardly any wax left in it, just enough to grease spot in a dryer. So I dropped it off a few days ago and picked it up today, it turned out wonderful, it's so soft.
I swear this fabric although labeled cotton, is not. It didn't feel right when it got wet and I've never had the wax adhere like that. Anyway, after all that, I think it turned out awesome.






Side View

In school related happenings, I have been kicking ass at radiography. My teacher is very strict and if you don't get an 85% or higher on your films, none of them count. So far I haven't had to throw any patients out and no retakes today! I hope the trend continues!
(I think part of my secret has been having male patients, bigger mouths make life easier!)

Going ons

This term is a lot more relaxed as far as homework and tests go, but more time in the clinic learning hands on techniques. I'm really liking it, and I will be doing my first cleaning on a real person in a few weeks! I've been trying to keep up on Etsy, it takes a surprising amount of time. I have several projects in the works, so hopefully we will get some more sales. I think that Buddha onesie will definitely sell...it turned out awesome. I would like to do more adult shirts, but haven't found a good source for women's shirts. I'm working on my first men's shirt for sale, I finally feel like I am getting good enough to make things for the public.
I also started going to Bikram's yoga again. It was a hard decision, but after 8 months of shoulder pain I need to try something else. PT wasn't working. I went 3 times last week, and I'm not sure if it's working or not. I have another week before I have to decide if I want to take the several hundred dollar plunge. I'm willing to do almost anything to feel better, but it's a matter of knowing if it is actually helping. I'm still not exactly sure what's causing the pain, so it's hard to know what to do to fix it. It does feel good though, there are only a few I'm unable to fully do. In half moon my right shoulder feels like it's going to sublux, which kind of freaks me out. There are two postures I can't quite do with my left elbow yet, but overall I was surprised how it all came back to me. (Not the flexibility, but the knowledge of the postures and what I should be doing).
Oh...and I've meaning to post about this:



A blog reader/friend of a friend asked me to make her a custom batiked shirt. With payment she included these awesome cards made from her watercolors. I'm not sure if she is selling these or not...but she should be. Check out her website hello cozy. The archives include lots of her work.

Tuesday Lee

I drove to Salem today to meet Amber and Bj's brand new baby, Tuesday. She is just as sweet and wonderful and tiny as she looks.



The tiniest fingernails ever (My baby has fingernails, FINGERNAILS!)


Mama and baby


I can't wait to watch this little one grow up! And don't tell anyone, but I want one.

Thrifting

Aaron and I hit a lot of thrift stores while he was here (you are a bad influence!!!).
But we did find a few awesome things. I found this milk glass and freaked out about it, then turned it over and practically yelled "And it's got a f$#*ing cow on it!!!!" in the store. I don't think it's old, but it makes me happy.



These owls came from an antique mall near my house, only $3!


We are constantly adding Pyrex to our collection. It's become a bit of an addiction. I just remembered there is one piece we got that is in the fridge, that I didn't get a picture of. I am in love with all the refrigerator dishes, they are fantastic. Not only do I like how they look, but you don't need saran wrap and you can just stick them in the microwave and then eat out of them.


We also found two salad plates that match our set, they are beat up, but perfect for using everyday and not worrying about them breaking or getting scratched. Then we found a blue one as well. I love these plates and would like to start collecting all the colors (4, kind of a salmon, gray, blue, lime). The ones that don't have gold on them are less common, so we don't see as many of ours.

Cougar Hot Springs

Cougar hot springs is one of our favorite places and we'd been planning on going while Aaron was visiting. We headed up today and weren't sure what the roads would be like. They were clear until 3 miles from the trailhead. We stopped to talk to a family that had pulled over, and they told us that the road wasn't passable ahead. We parked and started to walk. We walked maybe half a mile and decided the roads weren't that bad. So we walked back, told the family and we headed down the road. Then the snow got kind of deep. The Corolla was making it, but scraping badly on the undercarriage. We were getting ready to find a place to pull over when we hit a road block. A twenty something guy in a newer Passat wagon had gotten stuck. Several cars were behind them and we all got out to help. Aaron asked him, don't you have 4 wheel drive? "Um, I'm not sure". He had gotten high centered, but finally got going again with some help. I don't think he made it 50 more feet, and finally he turned around. At this point several of us put chains on and decided it wasn't worth the 2 mile walk since it was already 2:30. So we caravanned back down the road. It wasn't long before we encountered this:


The girl outside the car quickly told us, "We're ok, we got it". Yeah, looks like it. Since we had 5 cars behind us a makeshift rescue effort ensued. I was so sure that someone was going to get pinned on that guard rail, everytime the car was worked loose it would slide. After watching this get nowhere I suggested someone else try driving. A very stoned girl emerged from the driver seat. Reason #5,792 not to drive stoned, especially on shitty roads. Welcome to Lane County. I noticed the non-driver smelled like alcohol too. Anyway, they finally got turned around and again, we all paraded down the road.


The first pile up:


We then encountered a car going up, but there was only one lane. We watched in horror as the stoned girls in front of us began to go out of the ruts again to let this car pass (even though they had 6 cars behind them). Thankfully they stopped, so they didn't need to be rescued again. But they just sat there. I got out to talk to the oncomer, a crazy old bat of a man. After hearing a condensed version of the story he decided they should back up and proceeded to direct the driver and throw nonsensical hand signals toward the rest of us.

There was one group that made it to the hot springs, the last blue truck in the line above. They said they had to hike a ways and that the water wasn't even that warm. It was nice to hear after all that, that at least it wouldn't have been worth it anyway.

We hit up some good antique stores on the way home in Springfield, but managed to resist buying any more Pyrex. We had some good finds in the last week. I'll take pictures later.

Tomorrow I drop Aaron off to go back home. I am sad. But happy to know the next time I see him, he will be living in Oregon again, woohoooo!

Etsy

We opened our Etsy shop last night with 4 items and sold one in less than 12 hours!!! I am going to continue to add things as we get decent pictures of them. Here is our shop.

Spam and Carrot Cake

Aaron and I made carrot cake and sushi tonight. I love that he knows how to make sushi. Yum.

Frying up Spam for Spam musabi, we were both gagging as it cooked. It's weird how good fresh Spam musabi is, compared to how gross Spam is.


And California Rolls, they were delicious.


The finished product:


I guess I didn't take any musabi pictures. This is my ugly carrot cake, luckily I was not planning on entering it in any beauty contests.


Aaron has been sewing up a storm with me as assistant...we are opening an Etsy. I'm planning on selling several different things. I'll do a full post about it soon.

Nutrition

I just came across a new scoring guide in a National Geographic that gives a score to various foods. I thought it was really interesting...and a quick way to see how different foods stack up.

Scoring guide