Crochet wallet in 2 hours!

I made this wallet this evening by crocheting a basket weave stitch on the body and single crochet on the flap in burnt yellow. It had been at least 3 weeks since I did something crafty, and boy it felt good and relaxing ;-) And, I was quick!

I love it! I'm probably going to change the clasp, as this one is going to be cumbersome I'm assuming, but it's cool for now ;-)

On the side right here, I have sewn on a button for Ross ;-) He'd been wearing the pants without a button and with a belt for a while, and I didn't know it.
Silly! It took me no time to fix the button right on ;-)

Nailed

I painted my nails differently last night, and I'm pretty proud of 'em ;-)
Granted, they are weird, but I think they have a certain "Alice in Wonderland"/Helena Bonham Carter appeal to them ;-)
I simply used Scotch tape and two different nail colors.
Ross doesn't like it, as he says when my nails catch the light, they are an ugly green color. BUT IT'S GRAY BOY!

In the photo above, you can see my wicked OWIE!
I was cleaning under the metal tray/heating coils on the stove top, and I bumped my finger on the prong where you hook the heating coil back up. It smarted real bad.
Maybe I'll have a crescent moon scar...
Ciao for now!
Jess

Valentine's Day 2013!

Today was full of much love from students and Ross alike ;-)

1st thing, I get to school, and a sweet, sweet 7th grader, who just loves me, came in my room to give me this #1 Teacher Hershey's Kiss with a big hug:

I also got this box of chocolates (which kind of had the "toothpaste" thing going for them), and several Valentine's Day Cards, including my favorite of the day: "You BUTTER be my Valentine", featuring Paula Dean riding a stick of butter. It was from one of my kids who will graduate this year...I taught him in 8th and 9th grade.

 

Next, a kid who I am ALWAYS getting on to, decided that he would suck up a little and try to get on my good side on Valentine's Day by doing his Spelling definitions all in French. Touché!

  

I got home today, and Ross was cleaning and doing dishes in the kitchen. To my surprise, the dining table was just covered in gifts for me. It was a great surprise: Tipton Hurst exotic and colorful flowers, a Ghiradelli chocolates box, a new yellow vase, wall decals, and a shower organizer unit. Plus, he had bought a little rolly cart organizer for the living room gadgetry. He OUTDID himself. Seriously.

This is just the prettiest bouquet I have ever received! It is so unique!

 This is what I made for Ross for Valentine's Day:

 
Notice the puns ;-) I googled the Periodic Table of Elements, and made a few puzzles for Ross to put together ;-)

 This is Ross putting together his messages.

After being thoroughly Ross-spoiled, I went to check the mail, and I had a beautiful card from Jen, Cody, and Evelyn wishing me a Happy Valentine's Day! She's just the cutest, sweet little one. I love that toddler!
AND! Best friend, Thomass, had sent me a "Condolescences" card for the loss of my Gramps. He's such a thoughtful best friend! I love him.

It was a long day and an exciting day, and tomorrow, I can sleep in 1.5 extra hours because we have Professional Development all day from 9-4.
I'm thinking about just rolling outta bed ;-)

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!
Love,
Jess

Post Secret / Spring!

I just love my routine of waking up every Sunday to coffee and Post Secret!

www.postsecret.com

Also, this rain might be allowing Spring to peek through!

New Haircut!!

On a more positive note than today's earlier post, I GOT A HAIRCUT!

I know. I know. Everyone gets their hair cut. BUT I don't do it that often! It's been since last May!

I love it!! And I think I've finally found a coiffeuse I wanna go back to!

On the Hunt and Thoughts of Gramps Jones

I'm on the hunt for a DIY way of displaying/storing my earrings and necklaces in the bathroom. I'm thinking cute wall knobs/sconces on which I can hang necklaces. I'm thinking a picture frame with wire or yarn to display earrings.
I'm on the hunt.
Luckily, I have a Christmas $50 gift card to Michael's, a gift of Justin and Miriam.
Oh. Yeah.
I have picture frames...I have paint. Hmmmm.

The new place is Turning out to be really nice ;-)

I promise I will finish posting my N'Orleans adventures/moving adventures/new apartment adventures.

On another note, this past Saturday, Groundhog's Day, February 2, 2013, we lost my dad's dad to cancer, which we found out about the day or two before he passed away. He was just eaten up with it. It sounds so very painful.

It was a real shock, but in retrospect, he'd been in pain for almost the whole year. Stubbornness kept him from doctors, pain kept him in silent agony, and family was there for everyone. I think he would've wanted it that way-the last part.

I'm glad that my dad was able to go up and see him before he left this life. I'm glad my dad got to do some reconnecting with his siblings. I'm glad I got to explain my love for him by telephone into his ear while in the hospital (my dad said he nodded in recognition of my voice).

The last time I saw him was July 2008, and he was the same ole Gramps. I'm kind of glad that I didn't have to see him so feeble and skinny. I know that is selfish.

I can't imagine my gramps going through cancer treatment anyway. He would've cursed every part of that process with the foulest of mouths, which is kind of a funny image ;-)
Oh Gramps.

A part of me feels like maybe he didn't want to go to the doctor because maybe he knew that he was "that" sick, and it would be a long hard battle for him to get better, if he were able to.

My dad and I were discussing how strong he must've been to go through such pain for months and months. I often have back pain (mostly from being overweight and not exercising-of which I plan on correcting now that I live on the river with a number of trails and opportunities to get off my butt), but I can not imagine having back pain that doubles me over and refusing to go see the doctor.
He must've been very strong.

I just wish in some ways that we may have found out sooner.
I'm always going to wonder why he didn't seek help, and if he knew.
I'm always going to wonder if his early stages of Alzheimer's was actually Alzheimer's, since his kidneys and liver were failing him, his blood was clotting, and he was plagued with widespread cancer. These are all common misconceptions that are overlooked when diagnosing Alzheimer's. Maybe that was what caused the forgetfulness.
I hope so.
Lord knows, he's the first in our family to have Alzheimer's (if he had it).
I pray I never get it, and that is does not run in our family.

All in all, I pray the Lord's open arms for my Gramp's Hereafter.
I'm glad he's not suffering anymore.
I'm glad all his organs are brand new, and that he is experiencing a joy we've never known.

He and Anne have got to be having a grand ole time up there ;-)

We've arrived in N'Orleans!! Scrabble tournament here Ross comes!

Today marks the day of a new adventure!

Ross and I traveled to N'Orleans via 65-S and I-20 through Mississippi. We made it! We arrived at about 1:10 AM, by my gunning it around 75-80mph on my half of the driving. Yes, I AM better at maneuvering than Ross; it's true.

He's playing at the Crescent City Cup at the Sheraton Saturday-Monday morning! I'm so proud of him for studying so hard! My guy is extremely dedicated and determined with this! It's been a little exhausting-I gotta say-, but in the end...WE ARE IN FREAKING NEW ORLEANS!!
There are around 100 participants listed, and he will definitely give most of them a good run for the money "pun intended" :-)

https://sites.google.com/site/nolascrabble/

Before sundown, which set in traffic while sitting in the car on Little Rock's 630 for 50 minutes, I started crocheting Ross's "official Scrabble tile pouch", which I hope to finish tonight at our hotel, the Bourbon Orléans Hotel, of which I will undoubtedly be talking a lot about later, for it is haunted by 17 ghosts, and I am a ghost story/show freak.
It was opportune that the sun set at this point because I was getting carsick, and I didn't want to hurl.

On the way we stopped in Dumas, Arkansas, and I had a faint nostalgia about the word "Dumas" that I just couldn't seem to pinpoint. It wasn't until after my belly was full of McDonald's double cheeseburger that I belted out in song: "Well let's all go down to Dumas Walker, lets all go down to Dumas Walker...we'll get a slaw, burger, fries, and a bottle of skeet...bring it on down to my baby and me."
This is, of course, the lyrics I googled. What I really sang was all of the beginning and then: "We'll get a small bowl of fries and two bottles of beer."
I'm happy with those lyrics too, especially since I probably haven't heard that song in 15 years.
I was pretty content in my recalled country music youth, until Ross spoiled my sport and banned me from singing country music for the rest of the trip.
"Ross, hunny, you know how I have random things pop in my head that have to get out lest my head explode. I can't guarantee this, and you can just put up with it."

Cut to dub-step music.

Cut to state lines.
Of course we kissed when we crossed the borders, a Jones family tradition. I have fond memories of my childhood, when my parents would always kiss whenever we crossed through state lines. My brother and I always squealed uncomfortably, but deep down we knew that we were in a loving family.

Cut to cracking the window open because I got carsick.

Cut to hearing howling coyotes. Ross said it was probably some country drunk folk hootin' and hollerin'. I stand by the coyotes. Not by my man on this one ;-)

Okay, so back to the hotel...
The Bourbon Orléans Hotel is nestled in the French Quarter. Built in 1817, it was N'Orleans' first Theater/Opera house. Then a convent for black nuns, one of the first of its kind. Then an orphanage. Also, for a time it was the seat of legislature when the old state house burned down. Marquis de Lafayette held gala events there at some point, and white businessmen/rich men/plantation owners would often frequent the hotel to get with their mulatto lovers in secret. Last (but probably not least), there is a lot of Civil War history in N'Orleans, as it was the largest Confederate city at that time, providing a bounty of soldiers.

So, with all that, you've got a hotel full of historical significance and spirits who intend on staying.
I've read through a lot of personal eyewitness accounts online about hauntings:
1) James Franco stayed in the hotel-with but not in the same room as Nicolas Cage-while filming a movie. He got into his room, started putting his stuff away, and he heard the bathroom sink's faucet turn on at full blast. He went to investigate the faucet, decided it wasn't loose, and then asked the maid about it. "Oh, it was probably the Confederate soldier. He frequents this floor."
2) Most of the sightings are of kids. Tablecloths can be seen being tugged at, and a little girl is seen roaming the halls of one floor.
3) An old man reading a paper and smoking a cigar is often seen just sitting at a table in the ballroom. Folks say they can often smell cigar there.
4) Some have said they've seen a Confederate soldier wandering around in full regalia with weaponry.
5) Some have seen a fancy mulatto woman dancing under the chandelier in the ballroom.
6) There has been witness of a black nun in one of the hallways.

http://www.bourbonorleans.com/

Interesting...wonder if we will encounter anything;-)

I had a dream last night that Ross and I were in an unspecified, though huge hotel room, and he went out to get ice or something. He was gone for a long time. I was in bed, wrapped up, and I heard something and thought it was him, which it wasn't. I got up, tried to find the light, couldn't find it, kept hearing stuff and seeing shadows. I finally found the light switch, and it wouldn't turn on. Then I found another, and it too wouldn't turn on. Terrified, heart racing, I began wandering through the room and its many doors (leading to where, I don't know), and I became dizzy and disoriented. I felt I was being toyed with by ghosts, malevolent ones.
Luckily I woke up to pee, and then I didn't dream another minute about it.

Interesting...wonder if we will encounter anything;-)

So, we get here. Awesome valet, awesome bellhop, awesome hotel (though a bit cramped), crazy people on the street.

Nathan Joseph Rabalais, my dear Cajun friend who was also a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar to Strasbourg the same year I was to Lyon, lives in New Orleans, goes to/teaches at Tulane, a short distance away from his "pays"-Lafayette. He told me that Mardi Gras started early this year. Super Bowl's at fault. So, it's gonna be craaaaaaa-ceeeee.
Already, driving to our hotel, through the iron-barred, beaded, balconied buildings, we spotted some questionable characters: 1) a had-to-be-a-trannie, Asian guy dressed in a skin-tight dress, fuchsia, 2) a Mohawked, short Latino wearing a ton of black eyeliner and a full body suit of a full buff-bodied suit (literally head-to-toe), and 3) several shirtless people (I think I saw female breasts).
It's shaping up to be an Old-French cultural experience, a Cajun/Creole experience, and an underground "I'm in that phase right now in my life" experience.
Should be entertaining, on all three aspects.

I'll write soon...maybe...remember...Mardi Gras is starting early in N'Orleans this year on account of the Super Bowl.

XOXO,
Jess