Monday, April 13, 2009

How I Spent My Easter Vacation.

Cowboy Easter Basket - Filled
Project # 15 in '50 in 2009 Challenge' - Cowboy Easter Basket

I was granted an additional day off (Good Friday is a work holiday) last week to allow me to recuperate from the previous two weeks of working non-stop trying to get our magazine done on time under the tight schedule.

It was great. Refreshing, relaxing and productive (if not a little destructive, too). Just what the doctor ordered. Though today was tough, I was getting a little too use to not going to work after 4 days off.

I started my mini-spring break, as I like to think of it, Wednesday night with a yummy homemade meal and my favoritest tv show. Then woke up a heck of a lot earlier than ever expected (8am) to start a day full of crafting and cooking.

I had grand plans for my two days off before heading up north to spend Easter with my family - like completing 2 large projects and 3 smaller ones, plus making pizza, bread and cinnamon rolls.

Instead I got:
- a completed fabric easter basket (in one day…squee!)
- beer battered chicken strips for lunch
- homemade pizza for dinner
- 3/4 of a completed doggie diaper bag…

which is when I busted my machine and all progress stopped (all in all, a good thing because we were leaving for the weekend in a few hours and I hadn't packed myself or the dog, nor picked up my dad's birthday present yet).

So yes, I busted my machine. My practically new machine's shaft does not raise without grasping it and shoving it up and then when stitching, the foot goes all crazy and turns to one side, eventually ending up underneath the needle and breaking it.

I actually tried to continue by using my finger as a guide to keep the foot in-line, but once I got to the point of top stitching the lining into the outer shell, I decided it would be too hard to manuever the stiff 3d structure through the machine with only one (non-dominate) hand.

So I stopped, disappointed, packed Nibbler's stuff in a American Girl shopping bag and headed to the Harley store to find my dad a present before we headed north.

Ingenius Use of Available Tools
Ingenius use of tools laying in the backyard.

The weekend was pretty relaxing. We got to my parents' house in time for dinner and it was still light (a big change from getting there at like 10 when we usually do). Then spent the weekend eating and watching some tv. Not much else. Well, besides chasing around Bray. Who is a handful, of course (oh! and he can spell his name now, so that was an exciting new trick). Nibbler cuted her way into being allowed to sit on mom's couch. I caught up on Castle (a new tv show) and finally spent my Williams-Sonoma gift card I got for my birthday last year by heading to the store (which allowed my to get a dough mat & mini rolling pin for only $4 since I didn't have to pay shipping). Mike watch 229 (HGTV) and got just a little bit drunk off scotch during our Saturday Easter dinner.

We were all pretty exhausted Sunday on our drive back. I was able to sleep a couple hours (much needed since I was up until midnight the night before making cinnamon rolls & then got up at 6 to bake them for breakfast), Nibbler quietly lounged the entire ride home (on the way up she has bursts of crying throughout the entire ride) and Mike drove in piece listening to baseball & golf without me bugging him.

We hadn't seen my family since Christmas and really hadn't been out of Springfield since then either, so it was nice to get out of town. But ask me at the end of next month, and I'll probably be singing a different story (we have another trip up there and a trip for them down here all within the next month and a half). ;)

Do you like the easter basket I worked up for Bray? Homemade from my stash (well besides the interfacing). The grass is actually green yarn, in a slightly neon shade, that I got from my mother-in-law's stash. And since I ran out of time to make any gifts, I provided Bray with some paints and wood easter eggs & a pair of plaster dinosaurs to paint. I try to give an activity if I can't make the gift, and he seemed to have fun painting a Black Brontosaurus & a Peach Stegosaurus.

No comments: