Why I hate sewing... and love it at the same time.

My mother taught me how to sew when I was little, just like her mother taught her. Sewing has always been a source of great frustration for me. Most of my sewing lessons involved me getting upset and ended with me unpicking massive amounts of stitches. I hated unpicking the very most, and unfortunately, since I was impatient, chose difficult patterns and fabrics, and tried to rush through every project, I ended up unpicking a lot. Whenever my mother told me that I would have to unpick something, I got so angry. I don't know how she put up with my crankiness.

And then I talked to my grandmother. Apparently great sewing frustration is an inherited trait. My grandmother told me that during one sewing lesson, my mother became so frustrated that she threw a spool through the basement window. After hearing that story, I knew why my mom was so patient when she taught me to sew. She knew exactly how I felt. Even though sewing was frustrating at times, my mother became really great at it. She made matching outfits for us, amazing Halloween costumes, and cute things for herself.

When I got married, I really wanted to be able to do the same thing when Garrett and I had children. After I finished my B.A., Garrett and my mother bought me a beautiful, brand new sewing machine, and I put it to good use. My cousin is getting married in a couple weeks, so as a shower gift, I made her an apron using this adorable pattern. The pattern has three adult sizes and three child sizes, so I decided to make a cute little apron for my niece's birthday (I hope toddlers don't read blogs!). About halfway through that project, my thread started getting stuck in the machine. Ugh! I felt all that old frustration come rushing back. I looked through the manual, I took the machine apart, cleaned it, and put it back together about 5 times without figuring out how to fix the problem. I was going crazy! All of a sudden I heard a loud CRACK and I landed flat on the floor. The old wood folding chair I was sitting on had chosen that precise moment to give up the ghost. I started bawling. It was horrible. Garrett consoled me and took care of the chair while I called my mother to complain. My mom's advice? To take it apart and put it back together. So I did it one more time. And magically, it worked!

There is just something special about a finished project that makes me love sewing despite all the little frustrations that go with it. Mostly I'm just grateful that my mom taught me to hang in there, because the end makes it all worth it. Check out this lovely, toddler size, reversible apron!

I'm in love!

My sister introduced me to vintage Pyrex, and it was love at first sight. In order to start my collection, Garrett and I decided to devote Saturday morning to Pyrex hunting. We got up at 6:30am, went to one antique sale, one yard sale, two estate sales, two D.I.s and one consignment shop. Sadly, the only place that had any decent Pyrex was the very last place we went, an adorable consignment shop on 9th East. Happily, the Pyrex they had was BEAUTIFUL! As you can see, I bought two casserole dishes and one lovely Cinderella mixing bowl. I can't believe they don't make this stuff anymore. I think everyone would totally buy it instead of the plain boring clear glass stuff they make now. Just look at that Cinderella bowl. It is the perfect mixing bowl, with a round shape, a spout and a handle. Why would they stop making such a perfectly designed mixing bowl?


This little casserole dish, for me, is the belle of the ball. When my sister first showed me all the vintage Pyrex patterns, this was the one I immediately fell in love with. I couldn't find any listings for it on Ebay or Etsy, and I thought that this would be the one item I would always love and never be able to find. Lucky me! Isn't it lovely? The pattern is called Crazy Quilt, and it was a promotional item so it only comes in this size.


The morning prior to my amazing Pyrex discovery was not a total bust. I picked up this pretty green bowl and silver-rimmed glass coasters at the antiques sale for a song. The coasters need to be polished, but at $1 for the whole set, I'm not complaining. All in all, it was a very productive morning, which Garrett and I promptly made up for by taking a well-deserved nap.

Trapped in Florence

Yes, I am supposed to be driving home today. It seems that the desert has taken me captive. Picture a very dark Thursday night. I was cruising down the highway with two coworkers. We were on our way back from having dinner in Tucson, making the 1 hour and 15 minute drive back to Florence. Everything was fine. Until suddenly a giant jackrabbit* darted out of the shadows and right in front of my car. There was nothing I could do. The jackrabbit made a big sickening thud as the car hit it. There was nowhere for me to pull over. It was the middle of the night, and the highway had no shoulder, so I kept driving all the way home.

When I woke up the next morning, I went outside to survey the damage. My front license plate holder was broken and hanging askew, the front bumper was broken, and the grill. There were tufts of hair all over the bottom of the car. I drove the car over to the town mechanic to see if he could patch things up so I could drive it home without losing anything on the way. Turns out, not only is my front bumper and grill all busted up, that darn rabbit hit my radiator, pushing it back into the engine. Bottom line, I'm stuck here until they fix it. Great. Hopefully I'll be back next week. In the meantime, keep me in your thoughts. I really want to come home, and I'm sure that was quite apparent to the mechanic when I burst into tears at the sad news. This already feels like the longest week of my life.

*Everyone has asked me if I am sure that it was a jackrabbit and, yes, I am 100% sure. But it was a really big jackrabbit. I've never seen such a big jackrabbit. The lady at my insurance company is from Arizona, and she said that on her property they have jackrabbits as big as her dogs. The trainer at the gym said she saw a jackrabbit down here that, when it was standing up on its hind legs, was taller than her child, not including the ears. In the words of the insurance lady, "We grow them big down here."

Can you tell I'm from Utah?

Since I only have two more weeks to go, I thought I'd share with you one of my Arizona adventures. I don't have any pictures to make this post fun because my camera is not waterproof, so you'll have to use your imaginations.

Last Saturday everyone at the Project decided to introduce the interns to an Arizonan activity: tubing down the Salt River. And I know what all you Utah people are immediately thinking. No, the Salt River does not have any salt in it. I also think it's a silly name if it doesn't have any salt in it.

We arrived at the river at 1:00pm on a day where the high in Phoenix was 113 degrees. Smart, huh? I put on massive amounts of sunscreen, hung a small cooler filled with four water bottles and a gatorade around my neck, and hopped on my tube. I drank lots of water that morning, and I drank all four bottles of water and the gatorade over the three hours we spent on the river. Nevertheless, when we got out of the river, I started feeling really, really sick. I'll spare you all the yucky details of the bus ride back to the parking lot, the grouchy paramedics, and the long, bumpy drive to the hospital.

When I got to the hospital, I was still really sick. I had thrown up everything I drank that afternoon, and I was so shaky that I couldn't fill out the admissions forms. The nurse and the doctor kept asking me if I had anything to drink that day, and I kept telling them, "Yes! I've been drinking all day!" Sounds perfectly reasonable, right? Why then, did this emphatic response send my friend from work into paroxyms of laughter?

Back to the river. Tubing down the river is NOT a family friendly trip. This particular river is filled not with salt, but with drunk, DRUNK college students. So drunk. We're talking topless coeds and frat boys armed with bags of marshmallows drunk. Marshmallows are the ammo of choice on the river because when they get wet, they stick to you, so as I was floating down the river amidst a mine field of soggy marshmallows, I wondered what effect this sugar must have on the river ecosystem and whether they should rename it the Sugar River. No one else was wondering this. They were all too busy throwing marshmallows at each other.

So, when the doctor and nurse asked me if I'd been drinking, they were not asking if I'd been drinking water during this hot day to keep my body hydrated.* And after my friend got over her laughing fit, she added that I'd been drinking WATER all day. I don't know if they believed us, but they have my blood samples to prove it, and I felt much better after they treated me for dehydration and extreme heat exhaustion.

Now I know the funny Sarah phrase is going to be "I've been drinking all day!"

*By the way, when did the verb "to drink" get taken over by alcoholic beverages? Why don't people ask if you drank any alcohol that day? That would be much clearer, especially to people like me who drink all the time, just not anything alcoholic. I'm drinking right now. A nice cold Jones black cherry soda.

Crafty Tutorial

Here's a little tutorial for the blocks, if anyone else wants to make them. I think they turned out really cute. I especially like that you can stack them however you want. They would look really cute on a mantlepiece, or in a nursery, or (feel free to laugh) as a really cute Relief Society centerpiece.

Supplies:

Vinyl Lettering-I'm not sure who mine was ordered from, but look here, here and here.

Acrylic paint

Some cute scrapbook paper-It doesn't take much, I used two half sheets.

Ink or chalk pad

Sand paper

3 1/2 inch blocks-I used six.

A bottle of matte Mod Podge

First, I sanded all the blocks to smooth off the rough parts. Then I painted all of them with a coat of acrylic paint. Then I sanded the edges again and went around them with an ink pad to make them look more distressed. Some people used a chalk pad, and it looked pretty neat too. Next, I applied the vinyl letters to the blocks. Three of my blocks only have lettering on two sides, and three have lettering on three sides because I wanted to use every Be. Then I cut my scrapbook paper into 3" squares, covered the back of the paper squares with a coat of Mod Podge and stuck them on. Then I went over all sides of the blocks with a couple of coats of Mod Podge.

It's really easy, but takes a little time to get everything sanded and painted. I really love mine. So much, that when I get home, I'm going to try making some alphabet blocks like these, only with letters instead of scary skulls.

There is life in the desert!

It's just not that exciting. I know you have all been anxiously awaiting a new blog post from me and were terrified that I had been stung by a scorpion, got heat stroke and swine flu, and died of thirst in the desert. Well, none of those things have happened. And not much else has happened either.

Someday I hope to put up some pictures of the middle-of-nowhere, wild west town I'm living in. Until then, I hope you enjoy the few pictures I have managed to take. The first one is where I spend 3 mornings a week. The detention center. Isn't it a happy place? No plants. Deathly hot (it was 115 degrees outside when I went to church today). Just lots of dirt and barbed wire out in the middle of nowhere. There are over 1500 people housed in this center, with just two attorneys and a couple of interns from the Florence Project to try to help all the pro se people (the vast majority), so work keeps me really busy.


And everywhere I go, there are subtle reminders of home. It's a good thing I'm so busy at work because I know I'd be horribly homesick every single day if I weren't so busy. I especially miss the mountains when I think it's cool outside, and it turns out to be 98 degrees. Yes, it's basically always triple degree heat, so under 100 is cool. I pass this sign every time I drive out to the detention center, and it makes me tear up every time.


Fortunately, I get to go home for a few days soon, and the ward here has been really great. One thing that I really love about the church is that it is the same wherever you go, so going to church always makes me feel at home. I loved my ward in Costa Rica, and I love my ward here, too. They've been so friendly. The bishop invited me over to play games with his family one night, the Relief Society presidency paid me a visit, and I made the cutest blocks at Enrichment Night. Check out my beautiful Be Blocks!


The weekends here are pretty slow, and I'm not too eager to go hiking in triple degree heat with my crazy roomates. But I've had a good time hanging out with friends, going shopping, and being crafty. I've gotten quite a bit of knitting done, and since my Be Blocks turned out so well, I decided to try another project. I've got a double baby shower coming up for two of my fellow classmates. One just had a boy, and the other is expecting a girl. These are the fancy schmancy frames I made for them. Aren't they cute?


After my trip to Salt Lake for the 4th of July, I will only have 4 more weeks left. Hopefully I can come up with enough fun things to do to make it to the end. The weekdays go by super fast, but the weekends are so slow. I'm getting so much great experience this summer, and I love my work, but I'm really glad this is my last summer. I miss you all and can't wait to see you!

Greetings from Florence!

Arizona, not Italy. Over the weekend, Garrett and I drove down to Arizona, so I could start my internship with the Florence Project. All together, it was about a 12 hour drive. Here is a picture of Garrett in his new PT Cruiser (which I'll be driving now in Arizona) just before we left our apartment in the village.


We took Highway 89 pretty much the entire way, and it was definitely the scenic route. Not only was it more direct than taking the interstate, it was more entertaining too. Here's a funny sign we saw on the way down. After laughing forever, Garrett promised he would never refer to anything I cooked as "ho-made."


After traveling for eight hours, we stopped at Little America in Flagstaff. It was about 8 o'clock at night, we had gotten lost on our way there, and we were EXHAUSTED. The hotel was great. We got plenty of rest and relaxation before we had to hit the road again. I was pretty sad when I had to finally drop Garrett off at the airport in Phoenix and finish the rest of the drive on my own. So sad that I wasn't paying attention and missed my exit twice before getting it right. But I made it to the office, got a key to the duplex I'll be living in, and got settled in. Here is the duplex:


I'm in side A. As you can see, it is SUPER HOT and dry. When we left Salt Lake, it was about 60 degrees outside. Right now it's about 96. The landscape here is all desert, including some really tall cacti. Here's the lovely side yard:


The duplex is pretty big. It kind of reminds me of going up to my family's property because it has left-behind movies, books, furniture, food and cooking appliances. Here are both sides of the living room:



And the kitchen:


It's a two-bedroom duplex, so there will be plenty of room for the two other girls who will be living here with me. Here is a picture of my room:


I have a closet, dresser and plenty of space for my yoga mat. Now if I only had Garrett... I guess someone has to stay home and pay the bills, but I sure do miss him! I hope you are all having a great time and enjoying the cool weather. I'll work on boosting my heat tolerance posting on all my fun adventures. See you soon!