A New Acquisition

I acquired something new this weekend. New being relative, of course:





It's my mom's old sewing machine. It's older than me. It was the top of the line when it was new back in 1974 or 75. As you can see, it's got a little wear and tear. But, my mom tells me that it's still a great machine and makes a beautiful stitch. I'm not a good enough seamstress to know a beautiful stitch from a crappy one, so I'll take her word for it. Still, I'm excited to have a sewing machine. Not that I have any ambitious plans for it. I mean, all the fancy stitches that my mom carefully showed me how to do on the machine will probably never materialize. But, the fact that I have a machine means that I won't have to go to my mom's to use her machine every time I need to hem some pants (because, as I mentioned on my blog before, it's impossible to find pants the right length for an AVERAGE height person!) or work on a project I came up with because I didn't like what I saw in a store or I didn't like the price I saw in a store.

I don't plan to go sewing crazy all of a sudden, but a sewing machine is a handy thing to have, so I think this was a good acquisition.

Update

I haven't blogged for awhile. I don't really have much to blog about right now, but I guess it's time for an update. I guess the biggest news for me is that it's March. This makes me happy inside. February, though the shortest month of the year, always feels like the longest to me. I'm just done with winter and the cold weather and the rain. I get very excited to flip the calendar page on March 1st. March lifts my spirits because, with it, comes Spring, March Madness, and Mr. Frisby and I's anniversary. So, hooray for March.

Other than that, there's really not much going on. We haven't really had any fun adventures lately. I'm in the middle of a project that is taking longer than I hoped. Not because it's difficult or complicated, but just because I don't feel like working on it. Mr. Frisby is busy with school. And that's it. A boring update, but an update nonetheless. We do have things on the horizon, though, so hopefully we'll have some more exciting posts in the near future.

Scout's House

This has been our most recent project for the last few weeks. Mr. Frisby did most of the work. I did the painting. And we think it turned out pretty awesome. Now we'll just have to see if Scout likes it.

Happy Spring!

Oh wait. It's only February. Man, I love California! (And, yes, those are my tulip bulbs I planted in our front yard back in November)

Horror Movies

I purposely don't watch horror movies because I know for a fact they will give me nightmares. I inadvertently watched a horror movie in college and it has stayed with me ever since. Here's the story. Oh, first a little background. I have what some might call an irrational fear of snakes. If you come near me with a snake, I will fight you. If you come near me with a picture of a snake, I will still fight you. I hate the fact that there are snakes in every single one of the Harry Potter movies. To illustrate my problem with snakes, here's a story: Shortly after we moved, I was out walking Scout and exploring the surrounding neighborhood. I stumbled upon a little trail that went near some ponds. I went closer to investigate, thinking it might be a cool place to walk Scout. Upon nearing the trail, I heard a little rustling and looked down to see a small, tan snake slithering away. It was very small and probably harmless, but Scout and I were out of there so fast and I have not gone near it since.

Now that that background info is out of the way, on to my story about the inadvertent horror movie watching. When I went away to BYU, I was excited, for the first time in my life, to have cable. I didn't actually watch a lot of TV, but I did take a strong liking to Animal Planet. I was watching Animal Planet one day and they were showing an incident where this guy had a pet Boa Constrictor and it escaped. And it escaped hungry. Cut to this little old lady who lives by herself and has a small, white dog to keep her company. She loves the said dog because it is her little constant companion. Remember the Boa Constrictor that escaped? So, the little white dog hears something in the garage and peeks its little white head through the doggy door to see what's going on. Hungry Boa Constrictor is in the garage, sees the little white head poke through and strikes. Yep, it was a horror movie alright. That snake pulled the little white dog through the door, coiled around it, killed it, then ate it. And this poor old lady watched the whole thing through the window in the garage door but could do nothing to stop the snake and save her beloved little white dog. Horror Movie! And, I have never forgotten it. Though it was all a re-enactment, the images are burned into my mind. Especially the last one of the boa constrictor with a huge lump in its body.

Now, remember how I don't watch horror movies because I know they will give me nightmares? So, the other night I had a nightmare. I dreamed that this huge python came into the house looking for Scout. For some unexplainable reason, we had a big tiger in the house. The python made quick work of the tiger in order to get to Scout (and that's no small feat. I was rooting for the tiger, obviously. Later, when explaining my nightmare to Mr. Frisby, he said he would rather the snake kill the tiger because he would be able to run away from the snake and it would be less dangerous than the tiger. I told him that a snake powerful enough to kill a tiger like it was a stuffed animal would be much scarier and much more dangerous than a tiger, so he should probably root for the tiger). So, the rest of my dream (which fortunately wasn't very long because I was awakened when Mr. Frisby got up to get ready for work) I was trying to figure out what I was going to use to kill this snake so it wouldn't get to Scout. It was horrible! And, even after I woke up, I was still going over scenarios in my mind about how I might be able to kill this snake. And that is why I don't watch horror movies.

A Pleasant Surprise

Mr. Frisby did well, no?

Christmas in San Francisco

It's an atrocious song, but San Francisco really is a great place to visit during the holidays (yes, I know the holidays are well over, but life has been a little hectic, okay). My sister and her family, visiting from Washington, wanted to spend a day up in San Francisco while they were here. Having worked in the city and being pretty familiar with what it has to offer, I was asked to come up with some ideas of what we could do there. I tend to gravitate toward activities and places that attract less of a crowd, especially during a busy time like Christmas, so here's what we did:

First stop was Baker Beach. It's a nice little beach with a great view of the bridge and is usually not very crowded. Also, it's one of the locations where Mr. Frisby and I took engagement photos.




Next we checked out the Wave Organ in the Marina. Unfortunately the tides were not ideal for the best Wave Organ sounds, but we had fun checking it out anyway. And, it's another good spot for pictures. Though it's a little blurry, I like the one I snuck of my parents walking along.





After that, we checked out the Palace of Fine Arts. It's a busier spot, but is near the Wave Organ, so it was a convenient stop. Unfortunately, it's being renovated, so it can only be checked out from afar. This may have been Scout's favorite stop since she found her arch nemesis, a very saucy bird, which she barked at non-stop.




Next up was a brief stop at Pier 39. Not my favorite stop on any day, but it's especially worse when the crowds are horrid during busy times like Christmas. My family wanted soup in bread bowls. I had a hankering for some tasty pizza. Since the busy crowds were making Scout very nervous, we left the family at Boudin's and headed to Golden Boy in North Beach for the best pizza ever. After we ate, we met up with the fam again at Union Square to check out the lights and do a little bit of shopping. Neither Mr. Frisby nor I were in a mood to document the rest of the day photographically, so we left the camera in the car (along with Scout who was totally pooped and could hardly be roused from her napping) and instead showed my sister how to take good night time shots with her camera. I wasn't in a total shopping mood, but I did find a beautiful pair of shoes on clearance at DSW and a nice little scarf at H&M, so it was definitely a successful stop. And that was our day in San Francisco. Good times as usual.