GAMEDAY and Happy Friday!

GAMEDAY! GT vs JSU

DH and I attended the GT football game last night - click on Buzz above to see more photos. It was a great kick-off for the new season and a new coach. We got to see the triple option in play, and it seemed to work pretty well, at least against Jacksonville State... We also got to see the new uniforms in person, and yes, the "old gold" pants are as mustard-greenish as they appear in photos. DH has decided to give this color the name "mold gold," which I think describes it pretty well! I did notice, however, in looking at the big screen in the stadium, that they do look more like the classic, tannish-old-gold color on the jumbotron, so maybe it will look good on TV. One can only hope. My personal opinion is that anything is better than white pants. For many reasons that I will not get into.

The Mellow Mushroom down the street from my office finally opened up this week, so we went by for lunch today - pretty standard MM pizza, and pretty good service. I am looking forward to the long weekend. I have more ARE studying to do, and DH and I plan to head downtown for a break tomorrow to watch the Dragon*Con parade (that's some great people-watching there!), so I should have some good photos from that. Sunday we plan to stop by the Decatur Book Festival, as one of my fave comic strip creators, Patrick McDonnell of Mutts fame, will be in the Children's area on Sunday at noon. Might actually take some of my Mutts books to see if I can get a least one signed!

Oh, I forgot to mention my WIP update - I did finish my wedding present for C&M last Sunday (the closing day of the Olympics, no less!), but I now need to clean it, then figure out how I will package it and mail it to Denmark. I have photos, but don't want to spoil the surprise until C&M get it, so photos later. But I will say that I was very pleased with how it turned out!

Nap Cat

It's a cloudy in Atlanta, threatening rain for the last 2 days thanks to Fay, but still no rain here in Marietta. The lack of sun has made it feel like an especially lazy day, yet with much to do! I went by the Marietta Square Farmer's Market this morning - next Saturday is the last market of the season, so I am sad to see it ending so soon. I love that the prices are so much better than the supermarkets. Thoth is napping in the middle of our guest bed as I type (that's him perking up a little when I sat on the bed to take a photo) - it is best to let sleeping kitties lie.

I am so glad that NBC finally showed something besides swimming and track - as amazing as they are to watch, I was really hoping to see some soccer, table tennis (which I finally saw the last 2 games of the women's singles gold medal match this afternoon!), and other sports. They did show the finals for sychronized swimming today, so that was something different. Hard to believe the closing ceremonies are tomorrow night!

So excited to finally see some of Cyndi and Matt's wedding photos online from their wedding photographer, Kristi. Here's a link to her blog: http://thekristi.blogspot.com/2008/08/cyndi-matt.html. That means all the photos are soon to follow - YAY! C&M should have returned to Denmark from their two week honeymoon in Italy yesterday, so looking forward to hearing about their adventures.

DH and I will be going to the GT Football Kick-off Banquet tonight, so maybe I'll have a picture of me and Buzz to post tomorrow!

Dairy King

Thoth seems to have a dairy radar. I guess most cats would just call it a keen sense of smell. But whenever DH or I get any type of dairy product out of the fridge, like vanilla ice cream or a glass of milk, he becomes a stalker. I am impressed because sometimes he comes out of a nap in the woodwork to a glass of milk. And how in the world does he know it's a glass of milk and not OJ? Anyway, those that know Thoth know that he's not much of a lap cat and is usually only motivated to be petted more than once if it involves treats or his wet food in the evening. He will follow us to wherever we are going and proceed to stare at us (or shall I say the container with the dairy product), licking lips, and looking generally hopeful. Being the softies we are, he usually gets to lick what is left in the container. Not much. My sis gave me a great Dr. Seuss mug for Christmas last year. What's great about it is that it has a big diameter opening. This makes putting the cat head WAYYY down to the bottom of the mug possible. Now this is what I have been *trying* to capture in a photo, but my camera has not been cooperative (flash is WAY too slow), so here are other pics that should suffice to illustrate in the meantime. One day I'll have that Nikon D80 that can take a couple of shots per second!

As an aside, I learned today that trampolining is an Olympic sport! You can seriously get a medal for jumping on a trampoline? Huh? (Yes, I know that they are truly better athletes, than me!)

WIPs - part 3

Here are the finished photos of the baby blanket I made for John and Susan. Baby gender is yet to be determined (although I think it's a girl), so that's why it's in sort of neutral colors. It turned out pretty well - I got to play with the fancy stitches on my sewing machine for the binding, and also got to use the serger machine that I have on loan from Cyndi (thanks, Cyn!) while she is in Denmark to bind the raw edges of the blanket before putting on the binding. Quick tip for a fast and easy blanket is to pick a fabric with squares on it for one side. As you can see from the numbers side, this made the quilting process pretty fast. I need to make one of these for myself!

WIPs - part 2

So here are the little projects I am working on. The first one up there that Thoth is helping me with is a baby blanket. The numbers side is cotton, the green side with bugs is flannel. That was when I had pinned the sandwich together, and last night I was able to quilt it all together, so all that is left is the blanket binding, which will be yellow. The bottom three are from the Debbie Mumm Noah's Ark of Animals fabric panel book. I ended up putting some batting into the cover section, but just interfacing for the inside pages. These are sewn and turned right-side-out, but I still need to whipstitch the openings closed from turning them out. I'll get finished pics of the blanket up this weekend. Looking forward to my showers tomorrow - I hope the recipients like their gifts. And happy 8-8-8 day! I can finish up my projects while watching the Opening Ceremonies tonight!

Everything's better with cheese

I don't know what it is, but I am on the constant search for a good cracker. I know at least since college when I had to keep snacking in order to pull off long nights in architecture studio have I been on the search for the perfect cracker. Old favorites include Keebler Toasteds, Cheez-its, fresh saltines and Triscuits. Some must go with a particular thing. For instance, Toasteds with my friend Cole's cheese dip, or Triscuits with slices of Cracker Barrel Extra Sharp Cheddar Cheese. My new favorite Triscuit is the deli-style rye. They go especially well with slices of sharp white cheddar. And then the newest favorite is Wisecrackers Roasted Garlic with rosemary. Actually, it should be called Rosemary (with a little roasted garlic), in my opinion. One of my co-workers had a box of these at her desk one day, and after offering me one to try, she had me hooked on them! The only place I have found them in these parts is at Trader Joe's. Being that they are from Washington State, this makes sense. Anyway, check them out if you have a Trader Joe's near you. These go well with olive spreads and prosciutto, or just plain by themselves!
http://www.partnerscrackers.com/partnersframeset.html
http://www.partnerscrackers.com/wc411lg.html

WIPs and UFOs

So my crafty friends are familiar with these terms: WIP - works in progress, UFO - unfinished objects. They refer to those oh-so-exciting projects that you pick up, only to find yourself perhaps a little less interested the next week, then forgetting about it on and off the next week, then it gets under a pile of other stuff and it's left your mind completely. I decided about a month ago that I had several showers coming up and somehow decided to make gifts for all three. One is a wedding present that I am not going to reveal much about just yet (even though the wedding happened two weeks ago and they are currently on a plane to Denmark), but they already know that it is going to make it to them via airmail. I will say that I am very excited about how it is turning out, and friend's former roommate saw it and approved of my work so far. I started it about a month ago, and have finished everything but the border, so I will post pictures of it once they get it in the mail. The other two are baby shower projects - one blanket and one fabric panel book. Hope to get them both done by Saturday, as both showers are on Saturday! Ha! So hopefully these WIPs won't become UFOs...

In other news, our downstairs room continues to dry out. The dehumidifier we bought last week is working like a champ. We cleaned up more gutters last weekend and did more work in the yard, so hopefully that helps improve the yard drainage if more showers pop up this week. Two waterproofing contractors have come out and priced the work within $50 of each other - amazingly close estimates! So I hope we'll get this taken care of this month. Also, a old Tech friend and an aunt of above newly-wedded-moving-to-Denmark friend have both been diagnosed with cancer in the last week, so my thoughts and prayers are with both of them as they begin their treatments.