Projects.

Have any of you ever started a project, noticed a problem, and thought to yourself, "Not a big deal.  No one will notice.  It'll be fixed by the time I'm done."  That is exactly what I did when I began making my quilt.  Now, I must say, I've been making this queen-sized quilt since I was in junior high. (I just graduated from college last May.)  I've only got about a quarter of the squares sewn together.  Now, pulling it out after a long break from working on it, I realize just how off some of my stitching was.  I've had to go back and rip apart rows to resize them so everything lines up.  The really unfortunate thing, though, is that I cut most of my fabric back in junior high, and wasn't very precise, so everythngs not even.  

Please, take my advice.  Do it right the first time.  It's so worth it!

(Pictures of said quilt will follow when I've fixed a few things.)

Jonathan David...and TMI. :)

Ok, it's been nearly one month since Jonathan David was born. He's adorable, exhausting, and wonderful. Labor was insanely difficult, but we got through it, without drugs. (Not my choice, but labor progressed too quickly for me to be able to have anything.) He was born, after three hours of active labor, at 4:48 am, weighing 7 lbs. 2 oz, and being 19.75 in. long. He's now about 8 1/2 lbs, and longer, though I don't know how much. He's a very skinny baby, and apparently much smaller than almost anyone else's baby that we've encountered, at least according to the other mothers. :) "He's so tiny!" and "That's a brand new baby!" comments follow him whenever we go out, to which I want to reply, (in good humor of course) "He's baby-sized! They're supposed to be tiny!" Anyway, we are loving having him home, and learning to take care of him.

Warning, what follows is a bit coarse and uncouth.

On another note, I've discovered what exactly women are going for in respects to their breasts. Whether they're wishing for these, or actually go for implants to get them, they want postpartum, nursing breasts. Enlarged past normal size, rounded out with swelling, and quite solidly firm. Women, it's not worth it! They are incredibly uncomfortable until your body adjusts, and they get in the way, catching more food and generally not really fitting right. Thankfully, for those having second thoughts, they do go back to normal size, or nearly, after finished nursing...or so I'm told. Anyway, ladies, learn to love what you have got, and you'll be much happier in the end. :)

We've moved!

Hi all! I'm blogging from our new apartment in Lincoln, NE. It's way nicer than the one we had in Vermillion, though the office is a bit smaller....that's ok though, we have a third room now, and a much larger kitchen/living room. We even have a balcony now, on which we will soon be placing a new gas grill. (Lincoln has a ban on charcoal grills within city limits which "forced" us to upgrade grills...we just haven't purchased the new one yet.)
That's all for now, as I should probably keep unpacking, or be social with our family, or something. :)

Moving!

We have an apartment! Chris and I signed the lease yesterday. I'm spending part of today packing up things that we don't need for daily use (my books, extra linens, etc.) to prepare for the move. Here's a link to see what we've rented. We signed for the "2 bedroom with den". If you click on the "HI/LO" links on the floor plan you can see the rooms. The den is bigger than it looks.

http://www.rentcip.com/NorthridgeHeights/floorplans2b.asp#996

Winding down.

Well, the opera is finished, as is my recital. Both went reasonably well, and I'm glad to have each in the past. My days are much more relaxed now, almost to the point of boredom, (though I still have too many projects and things to do to be truly bored), and I am enjoying the break.

I began packing yesterday for our big move in May. We picked up boxes from the local liquor store this afternoon for more packing, and, consequently, Chris' car is full of all sorts of boxes. It's rather funny to look in the windows, really, as there's such a variety to the boxes that we really don't look very good. The guy at the liquor store laughingly said that we should tell our new neighbors as we're moving in that all the boxes are from our own collection and that we saved them from all the liquor we drink. While funny, probably not the best idea....

We are driving down to Lincoln, NE, on Friday to scope out apartments and hopefully have one nailed down by the end of the weekend. I've been setting up appointments with different places for the past couple days and Saturday is pretty full, to the point that we're packing a lunch to eat in the car in case we don't have any other time to eat. Hopefully, we'll be able to stop for lunch though, as we'll probably need the break eventually.

I'm avoiding homework tonight. I don't really have a deadline, other than the end of the semester, but I really should hand it in this week. The problem is, the work is just busy work, and I know it's going to take at least 2 hours once I begin. Because of this, I don't want to begin it at this time of night. I am justifying not doing it by saying that I"m going to stop now and get some chores and packing done, and do the homework tomorrow during my long afternoon break. Yeah, that sounds good. :)

That's all for now.

P.S. Baby and Chris are doing great. Baby is kicking like crazy, and Chris likes to watch him shake my stomach with his kicks. I don't mind this, as long as Baby doesn't kick a nerve, or my bladder!

Nerves.

Well, it's the morning of my recital, and I have to say, I'm a little nervous. I haven't looked over my music again, mainly because I'm not looking for any confirmation that I've forgotten a line. I just finished cleaning up the living room, and the whole apartment needs to be vacuumed before my family arrives, and I need to do the dishes as well. I'm waiting for the shower, so I can continue to get ready, and so I almost feel like I'm stuck in limbo. There are menial chores to do, but otherwise I'm alone with my thoughts. Yay for that. :) I'm sure the recital will go well, and I'm sure that when it's all over, very little of this will matter, but it's hard to rely on a thought like that when it's not over yet. Yes, I do get nervous before performances, but you wouldn't be able to tell by looking at my face. Usually, you can tell by conversation, if you ask the right questions, but I decided not to wait for questions like "Are you nervous?" and just say, yes. I know it'll be fine, I know no one (except my professors) will know when I make a mistake, so it's like not making one, but I am still nervous.
After all of that, I am not really sure how to wrap this up. It is a beautiful day outside, and I am really looking forward to seeing my family again, so it should be a good day regardless. Wish me luck!

I'm back!

Ok, so I've been back for a week, but at least I'm blogging again. One week from today, my recital takes place, and I"m somewhat more ready for it, though I've still got a ways to go...I'm goin got go study for it next. I've got a concert tonight as well, the last official concert of my college career, supposedly, though we're doing a Vivaldi's Gloria concert, (I think with the Sioux City Symphony? Maybe?) in about 3 weeks to a month. We haven't started working on that yet though, so that'll be what choir consists of for the next however many rehearsals till that concert. But I digress.
It's weird. Once my recital's over, and the opera is over the week following, most of my schoolwork will be done. Yes, I have other classes, but those two events have been taking up the bulk of my rehearsal time, and I don't know what I'm going to be doing after that. Probably packing for our move.
Well, I should probably go study for the recital. I've got 4 1/2 songs left to memorize...that's down from 10, but still.

Going off the grid.

Today I leave for choir tour. Not that you probably would have seen a post anyway, but this is to let everyone know that I'll be unavailable for contact by any way except phone until Wednesday evening. Feel free to call me if you wish, though I may not answer immediately, as I'll have a crazy schedule over the next few days.

Talk to you soon!

Warning: Recital Looms Closer.

Yeah, so today I have to study for my recital a ton. It's in about a month, and I'm still learning my pieces...which is to say I"m not even comfortable enough with them to perform them in class, let alone for a grade as a performance. A month would be a long time, if it weren't for the fact that spring break is in the middle of it, with choir tour and then easter taking that time up. So I've got about two weeks before we leave, and then about a week when we get back....scary. I plan to spend most of the afternoon working on translations and notes. I'm posting here so I don't put it off and actually get work done....because, hey, even after all that, a month is a long time! :)