a quick little post

I have to make this quick because I amcatsitting for a friend and so tryng out the indian restraunt by her house that I have always wanted to visit. So, I have to go pick up my order shortly!

This week has been crazy! I had to mmove out of my house for a few days while the floors are sanded so I am jumping between catsitting jobs and then back to y aunts until wednesday when it should all be done!

Oh and the reason my typos are worse then usual is because my friend's computer is a laptop and I am super bad at tping on laptop computers!

wow, this looks like a lol post!

It's been a while. My life has been pretty darned crazy in the last two months, so here's a quick recap:

July, decide not to go to Mich Fest this year :( , find out I can't live with Hugo Buffo and The Collector, and subsequently don't know where I will live come September, then find out I can because they are buying a house. Yay! Finish up my English class...with an A!! Double Yay!

Early August, after returning from a Boundary Waters Trip I get to packing. This shouldn't take so much work in a studio, but it does. HB and C find a house and make an offer, they get it and we start making plans.


Mid-August, start cleaning the house. Filled with the smells of nicotine, dog and dying people, this takes about 10 paid helpers, a weekend and a week of a lot of painting with Kilz. And, p.s., it still smells pretty rank in some places.

BUT...the wood work is beautiful, the outside was redone recently so there is no work to be done there, and now Winifred T. Katt has an awesome big house to play in and catch mice in! Oh, had I left out the mice?

Late August, we move in, but can't unpack because we are having the floors redone at the end of September, so most of my stuff sits on the porch while the dining room, living room, study, extra living room and front room are filled almost to the ceilings with boxes and furniture! We all moved from smaller spaces, so why does it seem like our stuff takes up more space? Probably because we all have a fair amount of books (I have the least of my family, and I have about 3 book cases worth). Quit my job at the mall because I don't have the time for it. Classes start. I have been randomly selected by the government to have my taxes, FAFSA, and other stuff compared to make sure I'm not lying. This will take 4-6 weeks, and I can't get any financial aid till then. So, it looks like I will be dirt poor until the end of October. No Soup for You!

Early September, life is a whirl-wind of new bus schedules, digging out warm clothes, remembering how to do homework and adjusting to a new work schedule. Also, mourning the loss of my good friend from last semester, who moved to NY and got a job in the industry right away...no. fair.

So, hopefully, I will get back to blogging more, and I will try to post some pictures of my crazy life.

(The first picture is one of the two "staging areas I had in my apartment - I had over 40 boxes and lots of loose ends. The second picture is from when I was cleaning the base boards in The Collector's room, by far the worst smelling of the bedrooms. It has since been primed and painted a lovely shade of blue (but a different blue than it was already))

Friday Five: Labor Day

At RevGalBlogPals:

Here in the USA we are celebrating the last fling of the good ol' summertime. It is Labor Day weekend, and families are camping, playing in the park, swimming, grilling hotdogs in the backyard, visiting amusement parks and zoos and historical sites and outdoor concerts and whatever else they can find to help them extend summer's sun and play just a little bit longer.

It is supposed to also be a celebration of the working man and woman, the backbone of the American economy, the "salt-of-the-earth nieces and nephews of Uncle Sam. With apologies to those in other countries, this is a Friday Five about LABOR. All can play. Put down that hammer, that spoon, that rolling pin, that rake, that pen, that commentary, that lexicon, and let's have some fun.

1. Tell us about the worst job you ever had.

Ok, it's time for the truth here...I've only had, like, three jobs if you role all the nannying and babysitting and child care related stuff into one. So, yeah there were definitely babysitting clients I didn't care for, but it isn't really appropriate to discuss those online...overall I have been very lucky, with bosses, co-workers, companies, the whole sha-bang...get back to me in 10 years!

2. Tell us about the best job you ever had.

I realize in the last question I rolled all the child care into one, but I have to single out my work for the Norwegian and the Dutch-ess as being the best job I have ever had. The parents are freelance artists and the two boys are awesome free spirits who have really good morals even at 3 and 5. Besides being a great family by any standards, I think our philosophies on child-rearing really meshed better then with all my other clients. They would actually tell me not to play with the kids constantly, that they need to learn how to play on their own, which I completely agree with. I miss those little guys!

3. Tell us what you would do if you could do absolutely anything (employment related) with no financial or other restrictions.

Right now, I think I would like to be employed as an assistant to an editor. I know I don't have the skillz yet to be a full-blown editor, but working along side a really cool, knowledgeable easy-going editor would be super awesome!

4. Did you get a break from labor this summer? If so, what was it and if not, what are you gonna do about it?

My trip to the Boundary Waters was my only break, which was great and I am sure would be long to most people, but the past three years I had scheduled my work around a three week trip to Michigan which I couldn't do this year, so it doesn't really feel like I have had any break at all...especially now that I am back in school already!

5. What will change regarding your work as summer morphs into fall? Are you anticipating or dreading?

Well, I like to think that part of my "job" right now is school, and I just realized that my two Film Theory classes have a few papers due the same weeks, so that will be a new challenge for me! Also, we are starting a new announcement system at the church I work for and I am really excited, but a little nervous that people won't like it (even though they should, but their church folk and sometimes they don't see what's best for them!)

Bonus question: For the gals who are mothers, do you have an interesting story about labor and delivery (LOL)? If you are a guy pal, not a mom, or you choose not to answer the above, is there a song, a book, a play, that says "workplace" to you? This is one of my absolute favorite songs of all time! We used to sing it in elementary school and I would sing down the octave from where everyone else was singing...then I would be told not to do that...but how could I help myself!? This song sounds the best being sung in a big, deep man voice! The best line is, "If you see me coming, better step aside, a lot of men didn't, and a lot of men died." Classic.

Friday Five: What's in a Name?

RevHRod at RevGalBlogPals writes:

If you are a regular reader of Songbird's blog, you know that "The Princess" has requested a new name. Her older brother changed his "secret identity" a while back and now this lovely young lady is searching for a new name on her mother's blog. This got me to thinking. How do we come up with all of these names? There must be at least a few good stories out there.


1. So how did you come up with your blogging name? And/or the name of your blog? My original blogging name was SisterKnits. This came from a conversation my sister, Cordeliaknits, and I had about the yarn store we would someday own together where I would be the business end and she would pick the yarn to buy...it was to be called SisterKnits. I recently changed it because I really don't have time to knit much, so I don't. I don't have time because I am usually doing film related things in my spare time, hence, SisterFilms.

Last summer I was dogsitting for my friend who is a Children's Book Editor and didn't have anything to read. So I went rummaging through her vintage collection of 1970s young-adult novels and found Judy Blume's Are You There God, It's me, Margaret. I loved the book and happened to be starting this blog at the same time, so it seemed like a good match(click the link to read my first ever post about why I chose the title!). My other blog, FilmAching, is a play on the words film making -- I often slur my words together so that when I was getting a "Self Loan" people always thought I was saying "Cell Phone," so this seemed like a good fit. Anyway, it's based on the idea that you can love something so bad it hurts.

2. Are there any code names or secret identities in your blog? Any stories there? Well, check out Mommyknickers site, to see an explanation of that. Hugo Boffo...I am not really sure because he picked it himself and I can't remember, maybe he will chime in with that info.

3. What are some blog titles that you just love? For their cleverness, drama, or sheer, crazy fun? I really like a lot of the knitting blogger's titles, like dolly dimple knits, and yarn harlot

4. What three blogs are you devoted to? Other than the RevGalBlogPals blog of course! Well, obviously Cordeliaknits and one she recently introduced me too, the Pioneer Woman - warning! that site is addictive! I also really like Subway Knitter.

5. Who introduced you to the world of blogging and why? Cordeliaknits, definitely. I kind of knew what a blog was, but to hear the news talk about them, they were this weird thing for politicos and tabloid journalists, so I wasn't all that interested. But, as usual, Cordeliaknits opened my eyes to something I now can't live without...it's a really good thing she isn't into drugs, or she would have gotten me hooked, too!

Bonus question: Have you ever met any of your blogging friends? Where are some of the places you've met these fun folks? I have met the blogger of StoneSoupArt when I visited Berkeley last spring and then, obviously, the ones I've known all my life!

Random thoughts Running around in my head today...

...wishing i was there not here...and by "there" i mean anywhere but here...

it's really past time to get rid of that car...

..."if the fish swam out of the water, and grew legs and they started walking"...

...why does this denomination need so many rules?...why does my denomination not have a lot of rules?

...why aren't women's studies classes mandatory for high school and college students?...
why is "aren't" grammatically acceptable in the sentence above, but "are not" in its place would sound stupid?

...how about I not be so shy anymore? you know, around strangers...

why can't I spend my days watching movies and writing instead of working and commuting?

..."if the apes climbed down from the trees, and grew tall and they started talking"...

...I hope winifred is OK...

...is it weird that I want it to be september now when I won't have anytime anymore? at least I wouldn't have so much time to THINK...

..."and the stars fell out of the sky, and my tears fell into the ocean"...

...why do we have to rent space to crazy people?

..."and now I'm looking for a reason why you even set my world into motion"...

Friday Five: Summer Camp!

Mother Laura at RevGalBlogPals says:

We're settling into our new new apartment, and after a lifetime at Montessori Katie is having a fantastic summer at YMCA day camp. Meanwhile, Nicholas is packing up for a week at Camp Julian, shared by the Episcopal dioceses of Los Angeles and San Diego. His lists of supplies and rules--except for the ropes course available to the teenagers and the ban on IPODs and cell phones--bring back memories of my own happy times weeks at Y camp Ta Ta Pochon, funded by selling countless cases of butter toffee peanuts. So, in celebration of summer, please share your own memories and preferences about camp.

1. 1. Did you go to sleep away camp, or day camp, as a child? Wish you could? Or sometimes wish you hadn't?

I attended one summer camp at Pilgrim Point, the Minnesota UCC camp in Alexandria when I was in third grade. I got terribly sick and they were mean about letting me call my mom, which I was mad about. So, I didn't have the greatest experience there.

But I also went on many Brownie trips and had lots of fun on those. My favorite place was Camp Locksly because it was like a really secluded lodge that we usually had all to ourselves.


2. How about camping out? Dream vacation, nightmare, or somewhere in between?

I love camping! We did a lot of it when I was little, though not as rough as some might have it…we had a trailer because of my p-rents back problems. Of course, usually I attend the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival where we camp in tents for three weeks (those of us who work). Some of it is roughing it, but it’s mostly just nice. This summer I will not be going to Michigan, L, but I am going to the Boundary Waters for a weekend and that should be really fun! I haven’t been since I was about 7 or 8 I think, so I am hoping I will be up for the challenge!

3. Have you ever worked as a camp counselor, or been to a camp for your denomination for either work or pleasure?

At Michigan I work as a counselor for the boy’s camp. It is child care for mom’s attending the fest, but we run it like a day camp. I also once substituted at the JCC day camp in St. Louis Park. I had the kids write and produce a little play…I think it was about mice who solve a crime…big success!

4. Most dramatic memory of camp, or camping out?

I guess the thing I liked most about our Brownie trips was the way our troop was so rebellious! One trip, a big one with several troops all at the same camp, our troop leader snuck a tv/vcr into our cabin and we watched Cool Runnings! It was so against the rules that we didn't even tell one of our own troop members who was a total tattle-tale (before you judge my leader, let me just say that it was a very stressful year for us in which we had way less fun then Brownies should ever have!) That was such a great trip!

5. What is your favorite camp song or songs? Bonus points if you link to a recording or video.

This is a hard one! I love Make New Friends from brownies – as a Capricorn who still has friends from Kindergarten (who were in Brownies with me), this idea is an important one to me. But also I love the Danish Hiking Song we sing at West Denmark Family Camp!

Here is a different camping song I found on YouTube - High-larious!

And here is another song I remember from camp days at..Lake Barbra?...but I think these girls have way more attitude then we ever did! Look how the leader keeps flipping her hair! It reminds me of one of my favorite movies growing up...Troop Beverly Hills!!

God's Pottery is just about the funniest thing I have seen recently, and I am kind of sad they were kicked off Last Comic Standing, but happy I learned about their blog!

Here is a pretty funny video, but caution, subject matter is not for sensitive viewers!