yayyyy I remembered my blogger password without having to have an email sent. sweet action.

I have a window in my room. this is something that has never happened before. and HOLY CRAP I did not know the sun was THAT bright at eight in the morning. ouch. I couldn't sleep last night so I didn't get to sleep until around 2:30 and then I woke up because of the aforementioned brightness...then my mom called and woke me up for good. sigh.

Last night I had painted our shower curtain (pictures later, it was plain pink, now it's pink splattered with black fabric paint, looks freakin' sweet)...I tried to go to sleep around one but since I just couldn't manage it, I get up and wander to the kitchen where Alicia is still washing dishes. I sit down on the kitchen floor without saying anything and start picking at the fabric paint that got on it earlier...she turns around and goes "you know, it's a good thing we're living with each other and not anyone else, because anyone else would probably turn either of us in right now." haha...

I have an interview at Hot Topic today, heck yes! I'm excited. I hope I get the job. if not, there's at least one other place in the mall that I'm going to apply at.


I had the absolute CUTEST thing happen the other day(last...Thursday) though. I seriously almost died. I was in the food court talking to some friends, with Coni (she has hot pink hair), and this lady walks up to us with her little girl like...hiding behind her. She goes "Can I talk to you girls for a second?" and we're like "uh...okay" thinking she's going to chew us out or something...she pulls us aside and goes "My daughter is EXTREMELY shy, she wanted me to tell you that she loves you ladies' hair. But she thinks anyone with hair as cool as yours' must be a rock star, so she wanted me to get your autograph for her."

IT WAS ADORABLE. So we signed a little notebook for the little girl and we were talking to the lady, she said that she was really big on being your own person and that her daughter had seen pictures of her when she was younger with funky-colored hair, she thought the 'star' thing was because she used to work for a drama company and there was a guy with bright blue liberty spikes, and that was how her daughter got the idea. So freakin' cute. (and what a cool mom! seriously!)

hmmm yeah. back to trying to find a comb so I can shower, and sticky-taking up posters. it's kind of funny, actually...something I never realized until today is that out of all my decor (hah, by which I mean posters and the like), I only paid for 2 of them and those are both movie posters. seven or eight of them are my artwork, one or two is Seaira's artwork, one of them I found by the dumpster one night after work (it's perfectly clean, it was a halloween promo poster from like gamestop or something), two came with cds, and the rest are ripped or cut out of magazines or newspapers (or calvin and hobbes comics that I printed off and cut out). interesting...

So, I have decided that a. this is the Purse From Hell, it used to live in hell, until I gave it form, and now it just haunts me, and b. once I finish the Purse From Hell, I think I will have a sewing day or two for ME, before I start working on etsy things. I NEED a sewing day for me! I have let's see...still have the X-Ray Spex shirt, a pink shirt I'm going to remake/stencil, some hot pink jeans to peg, the pirates of the blood drive shirt from a while ago, probably another shirt from a while ago, a zebra print skirt to make (that will be COOL - all I need is for the grommet tape and etc. that I ordered to come in the mail), and now, a dress(out of an XXL men's t-shirt I got on sale today). See, I got these aweeeesome boots:





and they also came with the holy grail of samples:



of which my dad totally missed the point on - I was talking to him about how much free stuff the seller(it was a store) included, and he looks at it, and goes "man, what a weirdo".

Ok dad. Point is here, you are here. NOT THE SAME PLACE.

anyways, I looooove them, but they don't look very good with jeans. Much better with skirts. and I don't own very many skirts I wear willingly. My solution? Obviously, Michelle needs more cool skirts and dresses. Which means Michelle is going to be making some! Which goes back to the aforementioned sewing day.

Also, I still need to actually clean everything, and get all that crap to goodwill.

I ordered the hair dye on Friday! I'm doing my bangs, the side bits, and some random streaks/chunks on top. I might do some color in the back, but I haven't decided yet. It's going to be a mix of this color and this color. I LOVE the color that Virgin Rose is, before it fades to a hot pink (not that, y'know, I have any issues with hot pink either), so I'm going to do about a 3:1 ratio of that and Pimpin' Purple, in hopes of keeping it magenta a little longer. Either way, it should last ages, and hopefully will look kickass. *excited* I'll post pictures...and hopefully, very soon after the sewing day and the hair color, I will have a photo shoot with Aliciakins. yay!

my little brother is amazing. haha. earlier, we went to the post office and then to Hardee's to use the wifi, the entire way there, we're talking and stuff. He's listening to my music and starts randomly pumping his fists, except he's holding up peace signs, and then he stops and goes, "oh, I guess I shouldn't do that, I should do THIS" *he makes the rock symbol thing with his hands and starts pumping them again* "since you listen to punk rock and not hippie rock." Then later he randomly tells me he really wants liberty spikes and asks if I can do them for him, he said he wanted to do them on the first day of school next year. And he starts asking me where ska came from. Then he was talking about how he was going to cut up a band hoodie so that he could wear it year-round instead of just in winter. He randomly starts talking about how Jack Black makes him laugh, somewhere in there.

ahahaha!

I'm proud of myself. So far, I'm actually sticking to my goals. I'm ALMOST done with the purse, I listed the things on the destash blog and sold all but one of them already, hopefully, I will finish the purse tomorrow and then do my X-Ray Spex shirt, after that, comes the jacket and clothes for my etsy store. I'm doing...not so much a rehaul, but I think from now on, I'm probably going to be making things *I* like instead of just random ideas. Maybe that will make it easier to stay motivated. I'm even ripping up some jeans right now for a rag rug(that's not the whole idea, just part of it) to list. My dad's face was priceless, he walks in as I'm cutting the top from the bottom (separating the legs of the jeans from the rest of the jeans), and is giving me this look like...I dunno...like I'm peeing in the holy grail or something. I'm like "they're my jeans!" "yeah but they aren't jeans any more" "that's because I'm cutting them, silly".

ok. so this makes me a massive, massive dork and I don't even care. that chick I bought the kryolan makeup off of, on eBay - aka this lady - we got to talking while I was asking her about the stuff getting here in the freakish shipping delay, and mentioned I was making my prom dress. she said she thought that was cool and to send her pics (which will be posted at the end of this post) when I was done. I did that yesterday and she emailed back saying "You made that?!??!! AHHHHH!! I'm so impressed, AND you are really cute!! Good job, little lady!! I wish I had skills like that in high school. Hope you had fun at prom! My prom date was a redhead too, heehee"

it made my day. I'm not big on...I dunno...when people say they have idols...role models are ok, 'idols' weird me out. But yeah, she's definitely on my role model list - independent company and all. And super nice to boot. I'M NOT A CREEPY STALKER I SWEAR.

I just about peed my pants the other day when I went in to say hi to Amy while I was at the mall. I heard the first few chords of a song that sounded veeeery familiar and I look at the tv - it's 'Multiply and Divide' off the Soviettes LP III, that I've been listening to like crazy. I was like "I LOVE THIS SONG! WE HAVE THE SOVIETTES ON OUR DVD!!! so cool!!"

Although we have Hilary Duff and Avril on this cd too. So I guess you can't have some awesomeness without some my-ears-are-bleeding-ness.

I'm almost done editing the pictures for the massive eBay-a-thon. Unfortunately, I have massive nausea and I'm working on a headache. so I don't know if I'll actually get done with the massive-list-a-thon (I like that phrase better).

So I picked up one of Ashley's bunny rabbits to play with it...an older one that was apparently NOT socialized...and it scratched the ever-loving shit out of me. I look like an emo kid. scratches on the inside of one wrist, scratches all down the inside of the other arm and the outside of that wrist...it even got my tattoo! (which is already suffering from two bug bites, dammit). just a little skritch on my tattoo though, nothing big.

BUST sent a reader-call-out-email thing about a fashion spread they're doing, asking people to send in pictures of their clothes. I'm totally going to do that. I need to make a few shirts first though...

my job search is going ok. I've applied at Pac Sun, Lowe's, Shake's(technically haven't yet, will be turning in the app tomorrow), and someplace else I think I'm forgetting (probably not a good sign). Oh yeah, Target. Their interview took for-freakin-ever and they sent me a postcard(wtf?!) to tell me I didn't get the job. I have an interview at Jo-Ann's on Monday. It's hard, because I'll only be able to work 20-25 hours a week for the, y'know, two weeks until I get out of school...but after that, I want to be working 40 hours a week. I wish I could get some kind of 9-5 job. Maybe telemarketing. Or maybe I can weasel a bit and see if Heath's grandparents need any more help, haha.

oh yeah, pictures: (this is not the full run, because I'm lazy, and don't have all of them on photobucket also)





walking in:



picture of the back at home:



I was sooo proud and got a lot of compliments on it throughout the night.

so I'm in the middle of what will probably be a massively long PIA undertaking, hereby referred to as

Michelle is going through everything she owns and getting rid of a lot of it in prep for moving out and also because she's really, REALLY broke.

(I'm putting it up on eBay, and then whatever doesn't sell goes to Goodwill)

So far I've got one pair of shoes, watercolor and gouache paints, a pair of (never worn, thankyouverymuch) socks, a huge stack of books and magazines, and an mp3 player. I think all that's left is to go through the rest of my shoes and my clothes (and my massive trunk of various skirts and magazines and who knows what else). oh yeah, and some yarn.

I think I might just be being overly neurotic, but the main thought hovering over my head this week so far (along with 'man, I need to make a clutch to match my prom dress') is 'what if I move out and FAIL MISERABLY?!'. So I've been reading like, every article I can find on living cheap and making mental notes. I need to save a lot before I move out. I need to be prepared to walk a lot to save gas money, haha. I'm planning on making everything that I can, that I'll need for my new apartment. so far, I have dishcloths and blankets on the list - I'm used to sleeping with a LOT of them, and my current quilt is falling apart, and the other one I'll probably leave at home since it was hand-stitched (bejeezus, the patience that must've been required!) by my great-grandma on my mom's side and I'm afraid I'll like, destroy it somehow. Plus I somehow feel that I should have new bedding. I dunno. Anyways, so far I'm thinking a starghan in all these multicolored wool yarns I have, if I have enough (I'll do inventory and take a guess later). It's Moda Dea...err...Cache? I picked up a TON of it on clearance, and like how it looks worked up, but don't really have any ideas for clothing or anything. So I'll just do a big multicolored starghan. And then, I'm going to do a lighter blanket too - haven't decided if that'll be sewn or crocheted. There's the Color Bay afghan I've been thinking of for a while in the Happy Hooker, but the pattern is given in LB Wool-Ease (which I'm not a fan of) and I dunno if I could be arsed converting to colors in cotton. Sure would be pretty cheap to make, though. So maybe I'll make that afghan and then do another one AND my starghan haha! (the other afghan would be a Clash one. somehow, this strikes me as the COOLEST thing ever even though I'm probably waaay too lazy to come up with a graph for it). Yes, I'm a dork.

I think all of this stress is because of that stupid economics assignment of coming up with a budget. Or maybe it's transferred from prom or something, or other issues. haha.

I have so many t-shirt recons I want to do...sigh...after the ebay/goodwill project! I think Sunday will be the Day of Mass Listing.

I <3 postsecret:

I am angry.

So the flyers for the show tonight all said 7:30. I get there at 7:45 and there's no sign of anyone even setting up. Me and Jess are like, yeah, okay, whatever, we hang around...nobody even goes on stage until 8:30. No biggie, right?

They play for 30 minutes, they weren't particularly impressive. I mean...technically they sounded good, but they didn't really have a great live vibe. And then they get off the stage around nine or a little bit after. The next band didn't get on the stage until after right after ten freaking thirty! What the hell is that?! it doesn't take an hour and a half to set up the stage!!! So I ended up leaving before they were even done, because I was tired and had to be home around 11:30. I didn't even get to see the two paids I paid freakin' money to see, and I sat there for 3 1/2 hours to see two thirty minute sets of crappy bands. Not to mention the cigarette smoke was bad enough that my throat's going to be sore for days. GRRRRRRRRRRRRR

The good news is that I put my eyeshadow on at 8:30 this morning and it still looked fine until I washed it out 15 minutes ago. That's 15 hours! a record!

Anyways. The book signing went pretty well; it wasn't as big as the Small Town News one, but we figured that that was because STN was about actual events and DM wasn't. It was good fun anyways, hanging around and talking to people, except for this one guy at the end who was pretty rude. Started asking Mr. Turner if he walked with Jesus and yada yada...and I just...I mean, I know most people like that have the best intentions, but for crying out loud, you wouldn't walk up to someone and go "Hey, so what sexual orientation are you? Really, and how many partners have you had? Any STDs?"...so why would you ask them about something just as personal. Especially someone you DON'T KNOW. Sheesh. Mr. T handled it better than I would have anyways.

I think I'm a magazine addict...the list of magazines I buy on a semi-regular basis is now:
Razorcake
AMP (still subscribed, but I definitely won't be renewing my subscription, they've gone way downhill)
Crochet!
Crochet Today
Knit.1
Venus
Bust
Nylon

Sheesh. and yes, this is relevant - I bought the newest issues of Venus and Bust today. I think I might subscribe to at least one of them once I have the money...Bust is a good all-around thing, most of the time, and I *love* Venus even though I'm not big on their music picks...they have a decent DIY section. I need to subscribe to Nylon sometime too...but I think their yearly subscription is only $10 (which is a damn good buy considering as how it's like $4 in stores, it comes out either every month or every other month). And Razorcake. Haha. So yeah, everyone, if you want to buy me birthday presents...right there, baby.

I also bought Walden. Something I've been meaning to do for a while. Plus I'm sure I'll feel all totally philosophical and deep carrying it around, haha.

And I REALLY want this book called Fresh Fruits that's basically like 200ish pages of photographs of Japanese street fashion...I flipped through it and it would be GREAT for inspiration. It was like $30 at Hastings but it's only $20 at Amazon.com...or maybe I can find a copy at half.com or ebay. *makes note to check*

I'm starting a new blog, first post should be today or tomorrow. It's a crafty-type blog...but more just how to make the stuff I do (not exactly patterns, as I don't write it down stitch by stitch or anything, but more like...instructions, tips/tricks, etc.) than my crafty exploits. Like I was telling Alicia and Mr. T, I think part of the reason I massively failed at Unwise and Untimely is because my...politics and craftiness and just life are all mixed together, and if I try and separate them I don't have enough to write about any of them. 'Cause they're like spaghetti. Or alfredo. All with the twisty tangliness.

Which is part of the problem I'm having with Wardrobe Refashion, when I go to do my weekly blog post, I just...can't come up with anything. Partly because I picked a REALLY bad time to do this - SO BUSY - and don't have as much time for crafting, and partly because of the aforementioned reason.

But yeah. Tired. So bed. Night!

my prom dress just tried to kill me.

So I'm working on the top, I found a tutorial on craftster that helped a LOT. since my method was getting me nowhere and I ran out of fabric last night from multiple attempts. I went to Wal-Mart and turns out they've removed their fabric section, so I had to get red satin from Hobby Lobby which didn't match the old satin, so I had to start from scratch. I also found some hot pink cotton yarn on sale which made me happy :)

Anyways, back to the attempted murder.

This new method of making the top involves cutting out two shapes that fit the shape of your body. I did so, blah blah blah, added the corset lacing in the back, and go to try it on. Now, I have a rather hour-glass-ish shape. So I get the top over my head, and I guess I didn't leave the corset lacing loose enough, because it gets STUCK. Very, very firmly stuck right above my boobs. I'm left with my arms up in the air, home alone, no shirt on, can't get it up or down, and just about panicked. If I wasn't double jointed I'd probably still be stuck that way haha, I just managed to reach the lacing in the back and loosen it up some so that I could get it properly on.

So far so good, I just need to add a trim around the neckline, add the halter strap, and then actually sew the top and bottom together. After that, a simple tulle underskirt and I AM DONE YAY.

so my friend (the same friend that gives me crap all the time about crochet being 'old lady like' and etc.) today randomly picks up my Crochet! magazine (without asking, another pet peeve of mine) and starts flipping through it, commenting constantly on how 'skanky' the models look. I'm like, dude, wtf, it's certainly not any worse than anything you'd see in Seventeen - OH GODS A NAVEL RING!! - and then she finds a picture of this hideous, hideous trench-coat length jacket made out of varying motifs in bright clashing colors all stitched together with black. (note: this is coming from someone who normally likes the effect of day-glo colors with black. but it was just too much, it was REALLY ugly) And is like "Hey, I like that. Will you make something like that for me?"

Yes, of course! Because after you insulted every CUTE pattern in my magazine(and have spent the last six months telling me I'm such an old lady), I would love to spend hours of my time working for less than minimum wage to make an awful concoction that looks like hippy barf. No, really! *eyeroll*

I'm done with the skirt of my prom dress and about half of the top. I have the underbust pieces cut out(and one set sewn together - I'm doubling the fabric up since it's a little sheer), but I still have to do the top part of the halter, the neck of the halter, and the lace trimming/grommet tape. Not bad for only working off and on since like 4:30 or 5. Yeah, I rock. haha.

I am...probably eventually going to blog something about the V Tech stuff...but I don't even know what to say. It's just so...tragic and depressing. :(

I can't wait to get out of school. I'm rediscovering why I used to read so much - when you read, people generally don't bother you. There's always that one person or two that's like "Oh, even though they are VERY OBVIOUSLY engrossed in their reading, I will pester them with petty questions...botherbotherbother" but for the most part people get the hint.

YAY! I finally got my Kryolan eyeshadow and grommet tape in. I can start on my prom dress as soon as I figure out how I want to do the skirt. Also I got a date (this guy I work with, Jake). FINALLY. I had a few days of panic. Travis couldn't go because he had to work.

The eyeshadow is GREAT, although I thought the blue was going to be a different shade than it was. Oh well, I found some Stargazer eyeshadow in the exact blue I wanted on eBay and filed it away for when I have the money.

Speaking of, I NEED a second job! Especially for summer, so I can save up enough to move out. However, the only things that pay decent for someone my age are like...waitressing and telemarketing. Yuck! I might just have to settle for working a ton of hours...sigh.

My to-do list for this week:
-start on my prom dress (the last thing I need to pick up is some black lace trimming)
-recon at least one t-shirt...I have two waiting
-start on one of my two crochet tanks
-fill out the exemption for living off campus thingiewhopper

And you know what my reward will be? this weekend there's going to be an awesome show and I'm going to that. Saturday should just be good in general...since, as it turns out, AQT districts are NOT this weekend (they were yesterday, we got like...fourth or something), I can go to Mr. Turner's book signing. He sent me some stuff to work on posters for them...I'm not sure what to do though, 'cause I can't think of anywhere good to hang 'em. The only place I can think of would be Hastings, they have a bulletin board. I keep nagging like everyone I know to go though haha, that has to count for something right?

Oh yeah, I made it through the rest of my new cds. I love them all. I need to rip them off on the computer and burn a newer version of the mix CD that's always in my car, so that I have tracks off of these new ones on it.

Man, it's been a while. Oops. Haha.

Oh yeah, I joined the Wardrobe Refashion blog. the link is over on the side. Although I haven't got a chance to do much yet - the yarn I ordered was NOT the color I thought it was (ah, the bane of online shopping) so I haven't started on that tanktop, and my grommet tape hasn't come in yet (which is highly perplexing, as the chick shipped it on the 28th). I've been so busy, or it feels like, with senior stuff that I haven't made anything for my etsy shop lately either.

My weekends are taken up too! Districts this Saturday, book signing with Mr. T next Saturday, and prom the Saturday after that. And I really need a date for prom. I think I'm cursed.

and people are so, SO weird.

very short update, but it'll have to do for now - gotta get to work.

ahhh...what a great weekend. the best in a looooong time!

starting off with Friday...a half day...which is definitely a good thing. Mrs. Culp brought her ferret to class and it was FREAKING ADORABLE. see how cute?





yeah. I swear their spines are like...made of jello or something. I didn't expect it to be so freakin' flexible! sheesh!

Anyways, right after fourth hour, Alex shows up. BUT the secretary wouldn't let her talk to us. 'cause you know, it's bad or something. whatever.

oh yeah, and I thought it was funny...I still needed a prom date, so I called over Travis(younger guy friend) during lunch.

"Hey Travvy, has anyone asked you to prom yet?"
"Yeah..."
"Crap, I need someone who will wear a black and red tux to go with me and I can't think of anyone!"
"Oh, I turned them down. But I'll go with you if you want."

because I am just that cool. (and um, 'cause I have cool friends and all)

so we talked for a while after we got out of school and then I headed home, got the mail and packed some clothes, and we met up at the hotel room. we all messed around on the insanely fast wifi internet (at least, it was insanely fast to I of the very slow dialup internet). 'cause we're all dorks like that. Lydia showed up and we went to the movie theatres...the original plan was to see Meet the Robinsons, but we saw TMNT instead, since I was the only one who had already seen it. And it was just as cool the second time around haha. I swear I'm going to buy it the DAY it comes out on dvd.

We went and ate at Bob Evans, and then went back to the hotel room...then went and dropped off some stuff for Matthew. Then to Local Chaos for Cinna's CD release show, which was great! We missed the Rats, which I was disappointed about...really wanted to hear them...but The High and Lonesome is great, and Cinna was as great as usual. We left a little early though because the cigarette smoke was freakin' killing us (my throat is still kinda sore). Said hi to a few other friends, and then we went back to the hotel room for some more hanging out. I forgot how relaxing just being around friends without doing anything can be. We finally fell asleep at like, three, and I woke up around nine...since my cell phone was dead, I went home to charge it and shower/change (which involved driving in pouring rain without windshield wipers, NOT fun in case anyone was wondering). After a while the rain just went away, and everything was all gorgeous and shiny and green (y'know, the way it looks after it rains and the sun comes out). We went up to Springfield...we drove around for a while, mildly lost, and then found Good Girl Art. We parked by it, went in and looked around a bit, and then walked up to Stick It In Your Ear. Before we got there though, we walked into this indoor flea market that had a TON of classic rock vinyl (Alicia got a good haul, none of it was really my thing...I saw a Sid and Nancy soundtrack single, but it was like $6 and I was like...naaaah) and some interesting vintage clothes...then we ate at Nonna's, which was SO good and pretty cheap for a non-franchise restaurant. Then we actually went to Stick It In Your Ear, where I got How to Clean Everything by Propagandhi. After that, we headed homewards...and apparently I was more tired than I realized:



haha. how cute right? I didn't even realize I fell asleep, I was trying not to 'cause I wanted to keep Alex company. And then the next thing I knew I was opening my eyes going 'huh, what, where are we?'. I stopped by home, where I found out my CDs came in (good on you Interpunk! fast shipping!):



(this is my CD haul of the weekend)

I'm still working through them, obviously. So far I've listened to the Soviettes LP III (kickass, they've been added to my list of bands I want to see live this summer), The Briefs Sex Objects (also great, they were already on the list), and about half of the Slapstick s/t. (also...great...surprise surprise). I'm taking a break and listening to some of the music I downloaded at Alex's hotel room (a lot of Adolescents, Gogol Bordello, the Runaways, the Cramps, some HorrorPops and Towers of London...and Black Betty since I'd had it stuck in my head from TMNT) right now, because after a while all of the music starts to blur together and I end up not getting a great impression of the CD. I'm happier with this order so far than the one from Best Buy (which was Pure Mania by the Vibrators, Damned Damned Damned by the Damned, and Germ-Free Adolescents by X-Ray Spex). I loved the XRS cd, but the other two didn't leave much of an impression. Maybe they'll take a listen or two to sink in. I hope so.

ANYWAYS...back to the rest of my weekend...we chilled at the hotel room, went and said hi to my peeps at the mall (which was mostly Chris, Jesse, and Heath), brushed by the Bridge to show it to Alex...but it was overrun with 12 year olds so we went back to the hotel room and ordered pizza. (oh yeah, somewhere in here, Levi and his friend Chris met up with us...err...at the mall, that was it), more hanging out, and then I went home. And realized on my driveway that I'd left my &*%$ing pillows at Alex's hotel room...good thing Logan wasn't home so I could use his!

The only bad part of the weekend was that I woke up this morning to a voicemail from Alex saying she'd already left. But it was totally understandable, one of her friends is in the hospital. At least we didn't have to do the teary goodbye, I know I would have bawled like a baby haha.

So now I'm sitting here feeling the most content I have in a while, listening to some great music (I think I'm going to have to buy the Towers of London CD), and contemplating that I don't really want to go to school tomorrow. At least by then my eyeshadow and grommet tape should be in (I have some really great shirt ideas waiting to be made).

Heath is leaving Journey's, and that makes me really really sad. I'm not as upset as I was at first...he's promised that we'll still talk and hang out and stuff. Heath and Amy really are more than just managers to me...I love 'em to death (and always end up asking them for advice too). so it means a lot to me that we'll still hang out. There's not very many people I'm going to miss when I move to Springfield, and those two are definitely on the list. (which, btw, I really can't wait to move haha).

Here's some random pictures from this weekend, for your entertainment:





the only picture of me making a dorky face I've ever seen and liked haha. These are all off Alex's camera...I'm sure Alicia's got a lot more I might end up posting later.





And I was afraid there might be some awkwardness with Alex coming back since we hadn't seen her in so long. But nope, it was (to use an extreme cliche) JUST like old times. Better, even. I'm gonna miss her 'til she comes back up here.

oh yeah, and I need to call Cory about getting a touch-up on my tattoo. *makes note*

there's my weekend...in a really, really big nutshell. a mutant walnut nutshell.

so with my last paycheck + tax refund, I got:

-makeup brush set
-Urban Decay potion primer (this stuff that you put on before you put your eyeshadow on, and it keeps it on ALL FREAKING DAY, it's AMAZING :D *makes me happy*)
-uumm...I'm thinking four Kryolan eyeshadow colors (neon pink, neon blue, neon green, and ORANGE), plus four different kinds of grommet tape (two yards each of black cotton, red cotton, and turquoise cotton, and then one yard of black lace, going to see which of the blacks looks best with my dress design for prom)
-Sex Objects by the Briefs
-LP III by the Soviettes
-M.I.A. by the Germs
-Slapstick s/t cd
-Los Angeles by X (all the cds were through Interpunk, shipped yesterday and I can't wait to get them all!)
-the s/t Avengers CD through Penelope Houston's site
-ten balls of yarn
-Neverwhere, Mirrormask, Good Omens, and the eighth Young Wizards book

I think I might be addicted to online shopping. maybe. haha. but I'm so looking forward to getting all of it...so far all I've got is the brush set and the Urban stuff. But the Slapstick CD was backordered, which is why it didn't ship until yesterday, and I just ordered six of the ten balls of yarn, the Avengers CD, and all the books/Mirrormask DVD. The makeup should definitely be here by tomorrow (I'm excited woo hoo!). I can't wait to get the CDs either...I got a pretty good mix of older and newer stuff, I think. In between that and the books I should be entertained for a while.

The sweater held up well at work on Sunday. I re-blocked it because it got a little saggy at the end of the day, and did an extra row around the neckline to make it a little tighter...I need to write up a pattern as best I can from the notes to post on craftster. I've had kind of a crappy week, but at least it's looking up...the blood drive on Monday sucked! (but I got a t-shirt...still all bruised however) Tuesday and yesterday both sucked hardcore. My windshield wipers broke on the way to school (while it happened to be pouring down rain), so I got soaked trying to fix them, and then had to drive like 40 miles an hour to get to school so that I didn't hit anything or go off the road. There's some work-related stuff too...I don't think it's as bad as I thought it was going to be at least. Hopefully. Either way, Amy purposefully scheduled me off next week on Wednesday...so that I don't have to deal with the extreme douchebag of a regional manager we have.

haha. I actually just said the phrase 'I gotta finish this blog post and then I can go' to my dad. I <3 my geekiness.

Oh man, I still need to order than YAAAAAAARN shirt! >_< *writes note, maybe I can do it next paycheck if I don't have enough money now*

I saw Casey and Kassie! that was neat.

Alex is gonna be here tomorrow! WOOOO! and Mrs. Culp is bringing her ferret to class! fun to be had for all! :D killer weekend planned. or not planned, but it'll be killer anyways.

TMNT was AMAZING. just plain freakin' sweet. no other words.

And I finished the sweater. I am SO proud. it turned out pretty well. pictures (I'll do more details later, the flu of doom is kicking my butt...had a fever off and on all day Wednesday and I had to call in to work and actually not come in when I couldn't find anyone to cover my shift for the first time since I've been working at Journey's...anyways, still all achey and sick)





(at least my bra straps match the shirt right? haha)

so I'm sitting here because the Shining creeped me out and I'm not really tired anyways...against all logic. but yeah, picture of the WIP: (that's work in progress)



^this is the front (or back, one side, whatever) of the sweater (and yes, the neckline is meant to be asymmetrical)



^and this is the sleeve (or part of it) for the off-shoulder side

I made it so that the sleeve(s) will only go down to about elbow length. I want the ends of the sleeves to be verrrrry slightly belled and I figured rather than trying to figure out a slope for the whole sleeve design, I'll just crochet the sleeves on starting at the elbow and bell it as I go along.

I made my etsy goals for the weekend(see little thing in blogger sidebar - who's proud of me?! :D). Barring the legwarmers, which I frogged because I was getting frustrated, so I'm working on a different method now. I even listed a bunch of shoes and some purses on my brand-spankin' new ebay profile. (that I've already used to buy some Urban...aw crap. Urban something makeup brand Primer Potion and a set of makeup brushes, but Paypal is being SO SLOW in the payment so I probably won't get them 'til like next week...) I can't wait for my Best Buy order to get here either. That's the only bad thing about ordering online...you spend money, but it doesn't feel like you do since you don't get anything in your hands.

Anyways, hopefully I'll have enough by the end of this week (between eBay, listing some stuff for my mom, and my tax return - WHICH BETTER GET HERE THIS WEEK or some federal heads are going to roll, I tells ya) that I can get a new pair of Vans I've been lusting over for ages from Journey's, some Kryolan makeup off of eBay (also definitely lustworthy...yummy neon colors!), and make an order off Interpunk.com for some 4-5 cds and an on-sale t-shirt to boot. That would make for a very, very happy Michelle indeed.

Urban Decay. that's the brand.

I got warm fuzzies because the new girl, who, FYI, I haven't actually worked with yet, just met in passing a few times, was like "oh hey I have something to ask you about!". She wanted me to see if I could turn a shawl into a purse (I told her I'd have to see the purse design) and fix up a shirt for her. And I mean, I was going to do it, but I was a little miffed because I thought it was rather presumptuous seeing as how we had only talked in passing, to assume that I'd do her favors. (and I get so many people who are all "hey yeah, so can you make me a hat like the one you made one of your close friends as a CHRISTMAS PRESENT and spend like $6-10 in materials and then two or three hours of your time, for free? please?" and I'm like, WTF are you smoking, that it rubbed a bit) anyways, she goes "yeah, if you could do that, I would appreciate it SO MUCH, and then just let me know what I owe you, 'kay?"

aww.

and then I forgot and left it in the back room.

damn.



behold the angry gay cupcake! (which reminds me, I need to start working on Heath's b-day present...stencilled t-shirt, must be done by the 26th)

neat, I already sold that book I put up for sale on etsy. although it was a way way reduced price and I'm probably going to make all of $3 off of it. since it won't fit in the $#@%ing padded envelope we have. oh well, more feedback at least.

and Jordan still owes me $10! *makes note*

rainbow bag - FINISHED
purple flower crocheted and on the cloche - done

I'm so proud. And I am almost, ALMOST, done with the front half of my sweater. pictures tomorrow.

I stopped by the DAV today and got some awesome stuff...this blue and black leopard print top that actually fits me (yeah, no resewing, amazing right?), a black and red snakeskin skirt that I'm going to add ruching in the sides and put on etsy (or maybe keep for myself, but probably put on etsy), a hot pink plain shirt (I think I'm going to redo and put on etsy, also cut off the sleeves and use them to make armwarmers with next item), and these hot pink and yellow leopard print pants. Part of which will be a skirt and part of which will be the aforementioned armwarmers. and then I'm sure part will be left over, but I don't know what to use it for. aaaand I have a b/w gingham skirt from my last trip there that I finally got some reconning inspiration on. woo-hoo.

something like 3/8s of a set of funky purple legwarmers done crocheting too. need to finish that, my sweater, and my hot pink corset thingie. preferably before the end of this weekend.

project graduation is stupid and the lady who runs it is such an insufferable snob. I'm supposed to show up to volunteer for this thing tomorrow, and I'm supposed to be at work at five. Screw that, I'm not volunteering and wasting my free time before work. It's not like I didn't already volunteer at the fireworks place and sell fireworks. And I'm bringing food and $20, I'm just turning around and leaving after that.

need to sign up for the next round of wardrobe refashion...

I've been feeling ucky all day. My blood sugar keeps doing funky things (I almost passed out at the mall), and I haven't been sleeping well all week which doesn't really help. And no matter how much I eat I'm STILL HUNGRY!

la di da. I need to finish my two shirts(or, more correctly, a shirt and a sweater) so I can do more pictures with Alicia. (The ones we did yesterday turned out pretty freakin' awesome, by the way. can't wait to get them on CD so I can get some prints) My ideas with the two handspun yarns didn't really work out. Still clueless as to what to do with them. I did come up with a neat idea involving hot pink nylon thread. You'll see...

my etsy sales have been nonexistent, except for the one hat. I need to get the purse and cloche I have here up (which I haven't mostly because it involves stitching up the purse, and crocheting a flower for the cloche). Maybe mark down some of the more wintery stuff? spring stuff is hard...there's not a lot you can do that's one-size-fits all. I have a few thrifty things to remake. blah blah blah...*makes a list*

oh yeah, and people are way stupid. but you guys already knew that, right?

hmm. I got my handspun yarn from Etsy today. Happy happy joy joy! Just in time for spring break. (and on that note:

HALLELUJAH! etc. etc.)

Pictures:







(note the pink nail polish, half of the pink + orange nail polish that Lydia oh-so-kindly noticed and complimented me on today)

I realized that the colors would probably show better in untwisted hank form. One (the one in a ball) is a rougher wool/nylon blend, 87 yds, and has a freakin' rainbow array of all these neon colors - thick'n'thin, going from a little over worsted to very very thin, I was wondering if it'd break when I was winding it). The only thing that ticked me off a bit is that it still had a tiny tiny bit of vegetable matter left in it. The other one is a wool/mohair blend (100 yards) and is soooooo soft! They make me want to learn to spin faster. I found a neat drop-spindle kit on etsy for a reasonable price, with some roving (from animal friendly indie farms) included.

The issue is that I don't know what to do with either of them. Unless they're worked waaay loose, the yardage isn't really enough to do anything significant...I already have a scarf, and I'm not so big on hats most of the time. Wrist/leg warmers? maybe *shrugs* The neon thick'n'thin screams eighties to me...too bad I couldn't really see them combined, waaay too many colors at once. I'm thinking some kind of super-see-through corset tank with the neon, and...I don't know what yet with the other yarn. Plus I've got all of this(very soft acrylic/mohair blend):



waiting to be made into a sweater. (again, sheer, either long-sleeved or 3/4ths sleeved, off the shoulder)

Maybe I'll use the leftovers from all of them and do a mixed sweater, a la this. (and at some point, I'm definitely making my own version of the 'only anarchists are pretty' shirt. haha. I'd like to meet her someday) the teal in the handspun matches the teal in the acrylic/mohair blend almost perfectly...so maybe I can use those two together. ooh, an idea on that. hmm. neat.

aaand...now, either bed or more sitting here and thinking. but I am SO glad spring break is here. and Alex is coming at the end of this month! yay!!

eesh, I tried to start this post Thursday morning and I've been working on it off and on since then. Too busy!

(warning - long, long rambly photo-heavy post ahead)

So I read the other day about a contest thing, where you donate yarn to Interim House - they're teaching the women there to knit and crochet as sort of a stress relieving...thing...boy I'm eloquent - and not only do you get the warm fuzzies, but you get put in the running for a Jordiana Page bag full of knitting/crochet stuff. Here's the yarn I sent:



(excepting the Lion Brand Boucle, because my mom saw it and asked for a hat made from it, and I can't deny the woman that raised me, right?)

How many containers did it take? Not one, not two, but...



(or...two boxes and an envelope, I couldn't fit the tunisian crochet hook into either of the boxes and I'd already written about it in my note, so I was not about to be thwarted!)

Of course, I get there, and the lady tells me I can mail it all in a flat rate box for some eight bucks. Which is like, five bucks cheaper than it would've been seperately. so I did that instead.

I also went on a cleaning the kitchen spree night before last. I doubt my mom thinks it's clean of crafts, but now all of my yarn is shoved into 5 containers of varying sizes, except for 7-8 black and blue skeins of merino wool, for a knit sweater and crocheted hat and scarf, all stripy. Not that I'd wear them all at once or anything, I just really really like stripes. And blue and black. hah.

Tomorrow's going to freakin' kill me...have to be up at the school at six for a meet, (that's when I normally wake UP!) getting home around sixish, and then heading straight to work to close afterwards. Ouch. \

Oh yeah...I finished my fantabulous purse :D Check it out:

View of the holders under the flap, where I can stick knitting needles or tunisian crochet hooks (as demonstrated):



Stencilling along the flap:



yes, those are skulls with cross-crochet hooks and knitting needles. instead of bones. I know I'm a dork but I don't care. the stencil bled a bit, which really disappointed me - I think I waited too long after ironing the freezer paper on it, and I don't think it stuck so well to the canvas in the first place.

Not one, but TWO pockets on the inside:



And on the other side, a big pocket, with more slots for pens/crochet hooks/knitting needles (as demonstrated, again :P):



Couldn't possibly be any more places to shove my stuff, right? Wrong!



Pocket in the back, great for magazines or papers.

Here it is full of all my crap:



And here it is in actual use:



So proud!! It's working great so far. like I said, I can fit eeeeverything in there.

bleh, I need to list some more stuff on etsy. Most of this week, I've just been feeling kind of...I don't know. uninspired. I just want all of this to be over with. I'm sick of the stupid ritual of school taking up my time, of being tired all the time no matter what, and of being nice to people when I don't want to. I figure, most of these people I'm not going to see after I go to college, so why leave on bad terms? And I find myself wondering if it's a bad thing, that there are some 'friends' where my attitude is "have to be nice to them, don't want to leave on bad terms, in a few months I can just let things fade". One in particular just isn't who she used to be. And I think she's just going to end up throwing her life away and it depresses me. Actually, she's mostly the one that I just don't want to end things on bad terms for the sake of comfort. I don't know, it's all confusing. At least I'm a little less twitchy about making all-new friends after talking to Casey, who has many words of wisdom (sometimes :P).

The new girl at work is awesome. I was a little worried since a lot of times girls my age (or...girls in general) annoy me, but she's sooo nice and a total spaz, just like me. We got these new vans in that are pink and black striped with neon green accents. they are amazing.

It's supposed to get cold again. That is not, not, not, NOT cool.

The aforementioned and long awaited photos of the massive rainbow scarf:





(note how I oh-so-cleverly seamed the sun and cloud motifs on there WITHOUT ANY STICHES SHOWING! *is proud*)





And though this isn't the exact hat, it's the same pattern:





I forgot to mention earlier that Ashley won tickets for the AFI/Sick of it All/The Dear and Departed show in Springfield. (or at least, I think I did, and at this point I'm far too lazy to check) Which was pretty freakin' cool - better than I expected. AFI is one of those bands that I like sometimes, but I have to be in the right mood for it. They put on a great live show though, and the other two bands were good too. (gotta admit, I liked Sick of it All better than The D&D) And their guitarist? (SOIA, that is) a *total* spaz. Holy crap, the guy was jumping around and pogoing and running back and forth across the stage for the entire 30 minutes or so that they played. I don't think he stood still once.

Plus, Davey Havok? Say it with me now: mmmmm...

I'm annoyed with this purse that I made...impressed with all the shiny colors of the rainbow scarf, I decided to make a rainbow messenger bag. Which took FOR-FREAKIN-EVER, I might add (those straps? so boring)...and when I seamed it up...due to a minor error, one side of it is an inch higher than the other. And even if it was just for me and not for my etsy shop, I wouldn't be able to leave it that way. Sooo I'm letting it sit and not looking at it for a while so it won't annoy me, and I'm probably going to have a go at re-assembling it tomorrow.

things to do tomorrow this week:
-fill out application for MSU
-reassemble purse
-get started/finish on my grandma's hat
-finish wristwarmer set for etsy (and get buttons for neckwarmer)
-finish cupcake
-finish listing for scarf
-list hat, reassembled purse, cupcake, neckwarmer, and wristwarmers
-round purse
-skull purse
-file taxes (rebate = good)
-make myself the freakin' purse and laptop bag that've been in planning stages for FOREVER (sewing may be a lot more instant gratification than crochet, but you can't do it while watching Buffy)
-order Denise set and mohair yarn

whew. when I put it like that, it seems really depressing. also, go figure that as I'm actually getting started(ish) on my two sweater projects, it's finally warming up. Supposed to hit 70 sometime this week. I'm not sure if I believe it, but if it does happen, I can deal with having some knit/crocheted garments that aren't wearable until next winter. (although I think the mohair will probably breathe enough for me to get at least some wear out of it...) also on the to-do list at some point is try out some of those patterns from the 70s that I got from my grandma (were originally my great-grandma's), because there's some neat clothing patterns that I could probably adapt. The whole thing is that I hate working from patterns, but I can't normally figure out how something is done and how well it works until I've...done the pattern. d'oh. It's interesting how (flipping through those patterns just now) that people want to say crochet was so tacky in the 70s, but they figured out something that people want to ignore today...that you can't use worsted-weight yarn for really wearable garments (stuff that isn't a poncho/hat/scarf, though I dunno how wearable some of those ponchos were...haha). I think that's a good reason everyone thinks of crochet as so chunky.

I think I might destash by putting some yarn/random stuff up on etsy. mainly my knitting looms...now that I can needle-knit, I don't really need them any more. And I wasn't too fond of the chunky results anyways, except for something like a hat (which...I never got, I'll admit, haha). or I might just give them to my sister, she seemed to like them. At the very least, I'll probably be getting rid of some of them. Or maybe use them to make some fun-fur scarfs first...I got some for Christmas, and that stuff is HARD to crochet with (can't see the stitches).

not looking forward to going back to school tomorrow, I spent my whole weekend feeling like crap. at least I don't have to work again 'til Thursday (and Friday, and Saturday)

Anyways...wow...long rambly post...ok, night now!

So I go to Michael's on Thursday, and I'm looking at the magazines (can't find knit.1). This girl who works there glances at me and goes "man, you're here all the time aren't you?" (which made me laugh) I go back and see the sale yarn, and grab a skein each of black and blue merino wool to make a stripey scarf and hat with. Friday, I go to Springfield to check out Simply Fibers, which is pretty cool - and the lady who works there is totally friendly, unlike the lady at the Needle Niche (what a freakin' snob). After I left there, I went to the Thread Peddler, or what used to be that store, as apparently it got closed down. Pointless detour. Randomly wander around Springfield for a while, go in a big circle, and find their Hobby Lobby completely by accident. Buy some clearance yarn and chocolate. I went home, and decided to go straight to Joplin to just get some more of the merino for the aforementioned sweater...the same girl is working. I walk up to the register with five more balls of wool...she looks at me and says "you're an addict, you have a problem".

That cracks me up.

I managed to find knit.1 at Hastings today, and at the same time stumbled across this 'zine called Razorcake, which was only $4 and looks fan-freaking-tastic. 'a non-profit magazine to cover independent and underground music'. Maybe it'll be a decent replacement for AMP, which has swiftly gone downhill in my opinion. I mean, the columns are still ok, but they went from covering NOFX and the like, to My Chemical Romance...who seem like nice guys, but c'mon, not my thing.

I still need to order the Denise set - the store in Springfield apparently doesn't carry them, will just order them in. Phooey. and the mohair yarn to crochet my sweater with.

Speaking of which, this annoys me. Not so much the actual post as the comments. Like people never knit anything ugly, oh no. It's always crocheted. Esp. the post about how crochet is only either tasteless or classy. Gag me, what a bunch of snobs. (not that anyone besides me is really going to care at all, but y'know)

I feel like CRAP. Again! It's not fair. I am so totally and unbelievably ready for summer, or spring at least.