Disney, Super Bowl, and a Whole Bunch of Lazy

Saturday was a complete lazy day, I gotta admit. Which is fine, I had a long week. I am now the queen of 1099 forms...or at least I was for 127 of them this week. What a pain! Coupled with a lot of month-end & year-end reporting we were wrapping up from December, I probably worked more this week than I have in quite a while.

Anywho, today I got started on my Disney perpetual photo calendar. First things first - I need to make a mental note that Super Bowl Sunday isn't the best day to go to Disneyland, especially when it's 70 degrees and perfect outside. I decided we should wander California Adventure for a couple of hours today, as it is usually less busy. DCA was still pretty busy, but we first managed a short wait for Screamin' (7 minutes), so at least we got on one ride today.

The numbers I managed to find in that short 2.5-hour time frame included 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 18, 19, 22, 23, 24, 25, 29, and 30. 21/31 is pretty great, and I'm confident I'll find the rest in Disneyland. If anything, I can cop out on a couple of the lower numbers, as the ticket booths have numbers on the outside. I also managed to find January, February, March, May, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday (or at least a letter or abbreviation). Steve had fun watching people watching me and trying to figure out what the hell I was taking pictures of.

The Disney pictures are intentionally random, I took over 100 pictures today, some of which weren't at all related to my project, but I liked them anyway.

We went over to Shannon & Cory's to watch the game. My favorite commercial was the LMAO commercial (and boy, do I wish that could really happen, because there are some days when my A would invert, I've laughed so much...*sigh*). And if the Steelers has not managed their game-winning touchdown, and could only muster a field goal instead, I would have been $100 richer from my office pool...but alas, it was not meant to be. But I liked the purely random format of our office pool, and I hope it will be resurrected for the NCAA b-ball champ game.

TTFN as T-I-double-guh-rrrr would say! Here's hoping that I can finish my couch quillow, and the swing bags this week, along with some piecing. And I MUST go to the gym this week!

New Project

This is going to be my new project. :) And based on my past Mouse Adventure experiences, I bet I can compile photos from Disneyland to complete the whole calendar. :)

Fall 2008 MA Team - Cory, Shannon, Michelle, Steve

Saturday Crafting

In between watching LOTR movies, I cut out the pieces for 2 new handbags:And since I wasn't sure if I was ready to completely fuss with the expensive Belgium linen Winter Foxes fabric, I decided to make the butterflies my prototype bag using the Manhattan Handbag pattern I bought a few months ago and haven't gotten around to using yet.

I think it turned out super cute. I'm surprised by how big it is, the pieces seemed small when I was cutting them. I used Stiffy, the really bad Timtex substitute, but at the time I bought it, Timtex was no where to be found...and I wasn't really wanting any of the other substitute items. And you know what - it's worked out okay so far. Granted, the bag hasn't been washed, so I don't know what's going to happen there. I'm hoping this butterfly bag is already spoken for...cuz otherwise I might keep it for myself (it coordinates with my owly backpack tote). For my Winter Foxes bag, the lining and side/bottom pieces are going to be a gray micro-cord. I'm excited to make the bag - the 1st went together VERY quickly once I got all of the pieces cut out (and fleece/decor bond ironed).

And in a completely random ending to this post, this is the shirt I got today when Steve & I went to Disneyland (actually the shirt was bought in California Adventure, but whatever):

We're on a mission to find a "I'm with Dopey" shirt for him to wear - they had one, but it was women's shirt, so that wasn't going to work. The other alternative is to find him a "I'm Grumpy" shirt, to go along with his Grumpy hat (and my "I Heart Grumpy Guys" hat). Supposedly, the shirt exists, but we didn't find it.

MouseAdventure

Today we spent all day @ Disney, doing a scavenger hunt called MouseAdventure. This is my 7th time participating (held 2x/year), and Steve's 6th time. Steve missed the spring '08, he was in Denver for work (and don't get me started on the spring...it sucked!). We originally were planning for 2 teams - Guys versus Girls. But, unfortunately, with the fires going close to Disney, Joelle's asthma kept her & Gabe from joining Shannon, Corey, Steve, and I...so we combined back down into one team and hit the parks. We ended up playing in the Advanced division, something we haven't done before...because the Basic division registration filled in 44 minutes, and I tried to register @ minute 45. So we had to do 5 quests, instead of 3...we got 3.5 completed ...plus solve the MA Mystery, which we didn't do completely either...we only got the when & what of the puzzle. Steve put the GPS tracker on his iphone, and it ended up dying after about 4 hours... but this some of the route we took through Disneyland (phone died before we got over to California Adventure (DCA) for quests 3-5):

To orient you a little bit, the entrance to Dland is @ the bottom of the picture; the big white circle in the bottom right is Space Mountain... we spent a lot of time in the hub, this is where we re-grouped between quest puzzles (we were allowed to split up our team in Disneyland, but not in DCA. So the phone recorded 3.5 miles, just in the 4 hours...

Results should be released late this week or early next week...will post when I know. Our usual goal is to finish in the top half of the participants...we've normally been fairly successful with this goal, but in the less competitive Basic division, so we'll see. But we had a lot of fun, the air pollution wasn't really noticable, and none of us died of heat exhaustion. We did take the opportunity to grab some beers in DCA, and were puzzle solving with booze in hand (and it didn't impair us one bit...we were already impaired by ourselves!). And afterwords, we always skip the awards ceremony (they do figure out top 3 for each group), and got more drinks, and some much-needed food.

I should probably go shower now, and will likely be heading to bed somewhere around 9 tonight...it's been a long day!

Bats Day

So Steve & I were thinking about going to Disneyland for a visit on Sunday, because we wanted to do a walk around the parks in preparation for MouseAdventure next Sunday. However, I happened to check the Disneyland park update on MousePlanet, and noticed this weekend is Bats Days. We happened to be @ Disneyland last August during Bats Day weekend, and it was CROWDED! We couldn't figure out why we were seeing bunches of Goth people roaming the parks, but later learned about Bats Days.

Now, don't get me wrong, I have no problem with Goth people...unlike some of the grumpy parents of young children we heard grumbling throughout the day. I just don't understand how it possibly be comfortable to wear a black, long-sleeved, high-neck Victorian-esque dress under a black parasol in 90 degree heat. Or wearing a black Jack Skellington hoodie... I remember being very hot and sweaty in my tank top & track shorts!!

So based on the large crowds there last year, I don't Disneyland is a good idea this weekend. Which is a bummer...I was going to do a dry run (or would it be a wet run?) with my Camelbak to see how it works for me there. Steve and I are on separate teams for MouseAdventure this time around...Guys (Steve, Gabe, Corey) versus Girls (me, Joelle, Shannon), so I don't have anyone to tote around water and lipgloss for me! Plus, this is the first time we're doing the Advanced division, which is dealing with 8 hours of competitive Disney nuts! We always ignore the awards ceremony at the end, instead preferring to head to Downtown Disney for some grub and beverages (generally the alcoholic variety). Although, we didn't do that in the spring...it was too freaking hot that day (101 record setting temp in Anaheim), so we all just went home to shower and veg.

So we shall see what happens this weekend...

But maybe we'll torture ourselves with the crowds!

Word of the Day

RIDICULICIOUS

Source: Disney's California Adventure
Use: "This ice cream is ridiculicious!"

Yes, I'm going to be incorporating this one in my vocabulary. :)

Catching Up...

So it's been an exciting 2 weeks... a wedding, a new job, etc. But first, my 401(k) has only lost about 9.8% of its value since the end of August - OY! Still painful...but I am only 26, and this is the start of retirement funds for me...so I will not panic!

So anywho... as we were driving to Oktoberfest at Alpine Village on Saturday night, I realized I had neglected to tell some tales from my previous weekend back in Lincoln for my friend Abbie's wedding to Steve... Including the fact that my borrowed car from my mom's hubby Rob ended up being covered in cow shit/pee right before it went to said wedding. I guess a big semi trailer full of cows and their bodily emissions turned a corner too sharly, and everything slopped out besides the cows. So there were literally cars ahead of Rob sliding thru the shit/pee mess on the road. Thankfully, Rob, being the good guy he is, didn't want to inflict any of the smell torture on my in my fine clothes, and washed the car before he got home, whence I took off to pick up my friend Meryt. As Meryt & I drove back to her place, we stopped to pick up her baby & the dog from the babysitters. She asked if it was OK to have the dog in the car, and I giggled, saying that since the car was literally covered in shit earlier today, I didn't think the dog in the backseat was a big deal.

Yep, missed telling him that story... I got the hoo-hoo laugh out of him. :)

Last week, I also finished the project from hell - the Christmas tree skirt I started making last year in a class. I had shown up late for the class - who woulda thought I would be working until 8pm on a Friday?? Not I... So I got 2/3 of the piecing done in the class, tried to finish it at home, and got the measurements wrong. Still thought I would get it done relatively early in 2008, so I bought new fabrics for the final 1/3 over Christmas...and didn't touch them again until last week. I think I just want Christmas time to be here. And since the cat puked over the non-washable tree skirt last year (which we just had to pitch), I needed to get this done to ensure I would have a tree skirt this year. So I finished it off last week, and the thing is a monster - something like 54" across (haven't measured), and it was a bitch to sew the backing on - all the turning on the points, coupled with the circular design = not so fun sewing! But finally, it is done... and it is machine-washable. :-D I will post a photo later.

Last week, Steve & I went to Disneyland on Friday just for the novelty of it. It wasn't too crowded, although probably more than it should have been since the day was so nice. Friday night we watched more Freaks & Geeks, and the Big Lebowski. I had received it in from Netflix prior to going to Lincoln, so I had to laugh to see an article in my bro's Rolling Stone about the now cult classic film. Steve really enjoyed it (once again, the never smoked pot people really enjoying the stone movies/shows), and I drifted in & out as I was re-reading one of the Twilight books.

I started my new job yesterday as an accounting manager. So far, so good - you know, 1 1/2 days into it. But the people are super nice, and I have an office! What a trade - more pay, good hours, an office (not just 2 filing cabinet drawers to call my own). And I'm on a mission to bring my lunch to work, which shouldn't be too difficult to achieve. The closest decent place within a mile is Subway, and since I don't really like Subway, my plan is realistic. Good luck to me!

Ok, gotta leave my lunch break now (in my office). :)