Sarah's Thoughts: July 2006

RIP Prince Charming

You might have already heard, but my fish passed away last Monday. When I got home from my trip that afternoon I saw that his tank was full of water but missing a fish. I just assumed he had died (he was over 18 months old!) but this afternoon I heard the rest of the story.
Prince Charming was alive and swimming when my roommates left for school and work that morning, just as every morning, but when J got home a few hours later everything had changed. She and a friend, A, were talking when she noticed something dark on the floor. It looked like a fake fish, but they didn't know how it would have gotten there so decided to have a closer look. A picked it up and made the shocking discovery: it had a fish face! (apparently other than the face he didn't look much like a fish) They both looked up. There was no fish swimming in the tank on the shelf! They looked back at the fish in A's hand and knew it was Prince Charming. I don't know why he felt he had to end his life, but I will miss him.

...by the way, I'm getting a new fish tomorrow and have no idea what to call him (I didn't name PC, and the fish I did name I called Fish, so I need a little help) Any suggestions would be appreciated (as long as they're family/Sarah J friendly!)

UPDATE- I got a new fish and he is a beautiful, deep blue. He seems to enjoy his new (much larger) space and is very active. He doesn't have a name.

ALARMING UPDATE- He won't eat! Any ideas on how to get him to eat?

YAY! He ate!! He doesn't have a name, but he's eating now

SUPER LATE UPDATE: he's had a name for a few weeks, my brother and I decided on Phinneas ("like Phinneas Nigellus or Phinneas Gage!" he said) and he'll be Phinn for short. YAY!

Southwest...

isn't what it used to be, I gather.

No, my experience on Southwest a couple of weeks ago was unlike any other flight I've been on, mostly because the flight attendant thought he was funny and the rest of us thought he was silly, especially when he dumped the peanut packages on the floor as we took off, sending the blue foil-wrapped snacks sailing down the aisle for passengers to grab. I'd never even heard of such a thing! He also attempted to make jokes, such as suggesting that if we wanted to pay $2000 to fly we would have flown American, not flown Southwest and disabled the smoke alarm. Also, if we really wanted to smoke, the wings were available as "designated smoking areas" and could be used as soon as we reached our cruising altitude. I sat next to a woman who is a HUGE Barney Fife fan. She knows all kinds of quotes and has an 8 year-old son who did fantastic impressions
The flight back from San Jose last week was less funny, and it took me nearly as long to fly to Utah as it did my parents to drive, but I wasn't in a car with sometimes working a/c and a tempermental transmission (the fourth in ten years, probably to be replaced soon) and seven family members (five siblings, two parents, and myself) listening to missionary-appropriate music. I was in planes and airports with fantastic a/c, one brother, and plenty of space to move around in. YAY! for air travel!!

8. My Baby Brother

I have the best little brother EVER!!

My little brother is the cutest. He's ten years old and way too smart for his age. He has an older brother who taught him how to tease his four older sisters, and he does it well. He makes our family happy, he makes me happy, and he makes us laugh. He does some pretty silly things, like hiding when someone tries to take his picture:

He takes up odd hobbies (such as learning shorthand and having my mom quiz him on it, sewing, building electrical circuits, drawing in his bed at night, etc) and he keeps us guessing. He's the only member of the family who has ever taken an interest in sports and his sports of choice are lacrosse and basketball. When I asked him recently what he wants to be when he grows up he said a basketball player, very different from my other brother's dreams of becoming a doctor, scientist, or artist. He bought himself a basketball a couple of months ago and now he and my dad ride bikes to the elementary school and shoot hoops. This shocked me as much as when my dad bought my 16 year-old brother a bullet bike. Dad playing basketball? Absolutely unheard of!!

He's recently taken up art and does quite well with it, as do many of my other siblings (I totally missed the drawing/sculpting/painting gene) He and I played with Model Magic™ and he made a dog and a platypus (his favorite animal)

He then got a hold of my camera and took a few pictures that show he's all boy (he took the platypus one too)

YAY! for my baby brother!!!

Super-cutest of all he sleeps under the quilt I made him for his birthday. (see the picture blog for pictures of the quilt) It's just the size of the top of his bed and he lays it out on top. I don't know what happened to his comforter, but it's no longer on the bed!

Disappointment

I don't know why I've had such a hard time putting this thing together. It's still not done, but I've had a lot of setbacks and am a little disappointed with the end result. I am very much a perfectionist, but I think in this case I just want it to be done so it's okay for now. I'll probably tweak it later, but for now it's going to look a little sloppy; at least I know it's sanitary ☺

Part II

I took measurements, drew diagrams, and redrew plans with seam allowances and hems included. I used those to make the pattern.

I drew the pattern on Hallmark wrapping paper for three reasons:
1. It's big enough to draw the pieces out on
2. It's thinner than butcher paper
and the biggest reason I used Hallmark brand paper?
3. It has a 1" grid on the back, which makes it SO much easier to transfer the plans from the diagram to full-size pattern pieces

Then I cut out the pieces. Right now I'm working on sewing the pieces together and figuring out how I want to embellish the boring blue. I'm currently thinking about sewing on stripes of white grossgrain ribbon, but I'm not sure where or how many or if I really want to do that or not. We'll see.

Lastest Project

I've been working on a fitted slipcover for my hand-me-down chair (it's had 4 previous owners that I know of, and I don't know where the first got it from.) I want to document the process and post it here, but it's taking longer than I thought so I'll start with what I have.

This is what the chair looks like. It's a little ratty looking and if you look closely you can see stains (it might be hard to see, it's stained pretty much everywhere) especially on the top at the back. The arms are a little weird which is why I've decided to do it "jacket style" with a zipper going up the back; I think that'll be the easiest way. I'm making it removable so it can be easily washed.