Goofy Titus

It's been a long time since I've done a Titus post, so this one's for all of you who love him.
I was recently trying to take some pictures of Titus, but he wasn't cooperating.  I did get a couple of goofy looks from him though.

On Sunday, Titus got a little distracted by a big moth on our front window.  He would not rest until he had handled the situation.

Here's my little exterminator in action.  WARNING: One moth may have been injured in the making of this video.  (please excuse the voice behind the camera)

Some Projects I've Been Working On

Well, all these gifts have been given away, so now I can blog about them.  Here's what's been keeping me busy lately.
First up, 2 flannel rag quilts.  One for baby boy Bramlett, and one for our niece June.

I went for stripes with some fun puppy fabric

Close-up of the fabrics I used

Daisies and stripes

Close-up of fabrics

Next, tie onesies.  This may be my new favorite project.  I think they turned out super cute, and they're quick and easy to make.  I used this tutorial.  I did 2 for baby boy Bramlett and 1 for baby boy Perrey.  I had to dye the navy onesies because it is impossible to find solid color boy onesies that do not already have some kind of embellishment on them.  I use Rit dye and the stove top method for all my dying.  I'm just terrified of using it in my washing machine!  I especially love how the thread doesn't dye (because it's synthetic) which leaves a cute little contrast stitch. 

The colors are horrible in the picture.  I could not get them adjusted the way I wanted to.

These colors are more accurate.

I also made some taggy blocks and a pacifier clip.  The first block and pacifier clip were for baby boy Perrey, and the 2nd block was for June.

Pacifier clip

I saved the best for last.  While Mom was here for spring break, some ladies from church were working on a quilt for baby boy Perrey.  This baby's mama is a quilter, so we had to do something special for her.  Mom and I did the pinwheel border on this quilt, and I did a couple other blocks as well.  The animals are all paper pieced- I did not attempt any of those squares!  I didn't even know what paper piecing was until I saw this project.  This quilt turned out amazing!  I could just sit and stare at it for hours.  We have some extremely talented ladies at our church, especially Mary Lou who designed the quilt, put it all together, and did all the binding and quilting.  I always feel honored to get to work with such wonderful women!

The binding was not finished when I took the picture.  Pretend the bottom looks like the sides :)

I think the elephant may have been my favorite animal on the quilt followed closely by the zebra.  Hmmm- the 2 grey animals, anyone surprised?

We've got another niece besides June on the way (Ellie) plus many other friends that are pregnant, so I'm sure I'll find some more cute baby projects to work on soon.  Hope y'all are finding some time to be crafty too! 

How it all began...

12 years ago today, Josh and I went on our first date.  We went to a Thursday night city-wide college Bible study that was called Grace.  I know it's weird to call a Bible study a date, but what better way to start a relationship?  Some of you have never heard the story from our first few dates, so I'm going to share it with you today.

It was the spring semester of 2000.  Josh and I had 2 classes together: Animal Nutrition and Mammalogy.  Even though they were both pretty small classes, we didn't know each other or talk at all.  A part of my weekly routine was to go to Grace on Thursday nights with 1 or 2 friends.  On one particular night, none of my friends were available to go, so I went alone.  Apparently as I was walking to my car after Grace, Josh was walking behind me with a group of his friends who had also been at Grace.  He took notice of this and thought it was interesting that I would go alone and not be concerned about the social aspects of the night.  Honestly, I think this is the only time I ever went alone, and Josh just happened to see me.  Of course I didn't know any of this at the time.

So for our Mammalogy class, we had a field trip coming up soon to Big Bend National Park.  A week before our trip, our class got together to buy groceries and get a bunch of gear prepared.  It was a Thursday afternoon, and we loaded up the trailers at our professor's house.  As we were about to leave, Josh approached me -
Josh:  You go to Grace, don't you?
Me: (completely shocked- why does this guy know I go to Grace?) Yes...
Josh:  Can I go with you tonight?
Me:   Ok (I actually don't remember my exact answer, but it must have been along the lines of yes/sure/ok)
So he got my phone number and we arranged for him to pick me up at my dorm later that night.  After Grace, we sat in the atrium of my dorm building and talked for a long time just getting to know each other a little bit.

The next evening, Josh called me and asked, "Do you have anything better to do than hang out with me tomorrow night?"  Those of you who know Josh are probably laughing right now because you can totally picture him saying this.  Smooth, isn't he?  So our 2nd date ended up being a BBQ at a friend's parents' house.  It was a little awkward not knowing anyone and barely knowing Josh, but it was still fun.  Our 3rd date was hanging out with this same friend and his wife at their house.  I think we watched a movie and Josh held my hand for the first time.

Here's where things get a little crazy.  Remember that trip we were preparing for when Josh asked me out the first time?  Well, now we had to go on this trip and spend 6 days together after having our first date just 1 week earlier!  And this wasn't some nice trip where you stay in a hotel and go sightseeing.   We were heading to the Big Bend area to camp/hike/explore for 6 days with only 1 shower- yikes!  So basically we spent the 2nd week of our relationship living together in the wilderness with a bunch of other people watching our awkward first moments.  Nice.  I guess it worked out ok.  We saw each other at our dirtiest and smelliest right away.  We had lots of time to talk and get to know each other.  We survived and still liked each other at the end of the week.  The rest is history!

So I pulled out our scrapbook this morning that I made while we were dating.  I'm so glad I made it all those years ago- there's no way I would remember Josh's exact words and other details if I didn't have this book.  Here are some pictures from our trip- the first pictures of us as a couple :) (sorry- low quality, pre-digital pictures)

We're on the far right

Here's the dorm where I lived and the atrium where we spent many hours together while we were students.  It's so funny that we now work just across campus from where it all began...

Happy 1st date anniversary, Josh!  Here's to the next 12 years of adventures together!
  

2012 Garden- Part 1, Here we go again!

Although some of you are still buried in snow, we're greeting spring a little early this year.  Our fruit trees are blooming, elm trees are leafing out, and we're already thinking about our garden.  Josh has hauled in some (farm animal) compost, tilled the garden area and planted some seeds.  We've got little sprouts of tomato, green chile, and eggplant so far.  We'll see if our 2nd attempt at a TX garden is more successful than last year!

Lab Quote Friday: A Lesson in Biology

Boy, we've had some fun in our department this week.  I think people are just really ready for spring break already- one more week!
So here's a conversation from lab yesterday that was using yeast as a catalyst.  Josh, you're going to love this one.

Lab boy:  So, where does yeast come from?

Lab girl:  Didn't you take biology?

Lab boy:  I mean, like, back in 1800s, where did they get their yeast?

Me (sarcastically):  Walmart

Lab boy:  No, I'm serious.  Is it like part of a plant or something?

Me:  Ok, really, did you take biology?

Professor:  It's a unicellular organism.  A eukaryote. 

Lab boy:  Oh yeah...

This may or may not have been the same lab boy who broke a thermometer into 3 pieces while trying to remove it from the protective case.  The case was not broken.

Here's the best thing that happened in our department this week.  Some students decorated one of the organic chemistry professor's office.  It was quite a sight.

Everything was completely wrapped in foil.

File cabinets, couch...

plastic cup garland

"The Organic Throne- place bum here"

Books completely wrapped

telephone, pictures

plants, pictures, pens

shoes

Tree with wrapped ornaments

nerdy chemistry mugs- this is my favorite!

National Peanut Butter Lovers Day!

So apparently today is National Peanut Butter Lovers Day!  I saw several posts about it on Facebook and then looked it up to verify- yep, it's true!  Now this is a holiday I can get on board with.  Would you like to see what form of peanut butter I've been munching on lately?  Behold this little beauty...

What's so special about this Reese's peanut butter cup you ask?  Well, it weighs 1/2 pound!!  I'm serious. 

It was a gift from my friend, Shelly, and oh my is it ever good!  This is the 2nd cup by the way.  The first one was devoured earlier this week.  Chocolate and peanut butter is my biggest weakness.  More pictures you ask?  Sure!

This thing is HUGE!  I can barely hold it :)

It's all about balance.

1.25 inches thick- Love it!

How do you plan on celebrating National Peanut Butter Lovers Day?