My real Blog!

Go to www.katherineblock.com for my real blog that I keep updated with art, projects and ramblings!

I want more days like today!

Today was awesome! besides the work bit, that was just plain hot and boring (by hot, I mean being in a warehouse with no circulating air hot, not hot in a sexual way...)

I've been making it a point to bike to work as often as I can, both to save gas and burn some extra calories. It feels so very nice. Haven't noticed a change yet but perhaps it will kick in.

When I got home today, I discovered I had some mail, my favorite kind of mail in fact...money from the government! I got my renter's rebate back! god that felt good, especially after how I was feeling last night...That is going to put a nice dent in my credit cards! And then I get paid on wednesday! with any luck I can convince my dad to contribute tomorrow as well...what a profitable week I'm having!

After dinner, Deb and I started working on the quilt room, going through the closet of fabric to figure out what needed to be kept and what could be tossed. I'm proud of her...lol, she gave up a lot of fabric. Sometime this week she and I are going to start listing things on etsy so that should help some money come in. Every hour of chores I do, I am slowly chipping away at my debt to Debbie, it feels so good to be repaying her for all the helps she's given me over the years. Although truthfully no amount of chores I do could really add up to what she's done, but I can show her appreciation at least. I'll just have to make sure I amount to something so she knows her investment in me was well done.

At some point tonight my mother and I had a heart to heart. Well, sort of, as much as she can have one of those. I got a lot off my chest and whether it will mean anything to her in the future, I doubt, but for some reason I never stop trying... I just want a mother that cares, and that shows it. I want to see her be proud of me and not think I was a mistake, that she should have gone to be a nun or should have had a son. I'm proud of who I am, I want her to see that of all the mistakes she's made in her life, I am not one of them.

While I'm still conscious tonight I'm going to try and set up an excel spreadsheet for the etsy thing. My experience at the Pawn shop doing the ebay crap will come in handy I guess! I never actually thought that would happen...

I feel really good about today, really really good.

Genesis

I'm quite excited for the middle of the week since VNV Nation is coming to Station 4 in St Paul. I've seen them once before when they came two years ago to Ground Zero. That was a beautiful show and I can't wait to see how they outdo themselves this time around. Although I'm a little nervous about the venue because when I saw Combichrist at Station 4 in February, the sound cut out not once, not twice...but three times. Now granted, Combi and VNV have a very different kind of sound, the former being much louder and aggressive than the later...but still. Not cool. But no matter what, the show is bound to be good because Ayria is opening for them and she's got spunk!

This past Friday was an epic adventure into the realm of rock climbing for me. Bryce, Ian, Katie and I went to Vertical Endeavors in St Paul and climbed for a couple of hours. After about three climbs my arms gave up the whole working thing and I was forced to sit and watch for a bit. but I had a blast. My knees on the other hand continue to be angry at me...stupid knees...I'll just force them into submission with climbing every week...that's bound to be a good idea...right? ha...probably not but we'll give it a try anyway. I think Fridays are going to be our double date rock climbing adventures. should be excellent especially since Fridays are "Ladies Night" so I get in for half off...woot!

I've been suffering a terribly sore throat from some kind of allergy that picked up about two weeks ago. Not sure what it is but it sucks. My aunt suggested I run out and pick up a NetiPot from Walgreens. Imagine sticking a mini-watering can or tea pot in your nose with a mild saline solution and washing your sinuses out, in one nostril and out the other...it's awesome...*cough* but hey, if it works...why not. Debbie swears by it and she's been using it since last December.

Hmmm, the imitation Benadryl is starting to kick in...I can't wait to actually get some sleep tonight! and to top it off I'm drinking some "SleepyTime" tea...oooo life is good...

I should really fold my clothes and do some kind of art post card for Bryce yet tonight...totally shouldn't have taken that imitation Benadryl as early as I did...too much yet to dzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.........

Reset

The big move is officially this Saturday. Bryce and I have a storage place set up for Saturday and we're enlisting the help of friends and family to help us tackle all that stuff. Then lots of cleaning to prepare for our final walk through on Sunday. I still have mixed feelings about having to leave this place. But overall I'm really optimistic about the chance to regain some financial footing.

My goal is to have my credit cards paid off, two of them canceled and cut up, leaving one for emergencies with a sizable chunk of money saved up as well. I've been really foolish with money and it has gotten out of hand, I'm ready for change and I'm going to tackle it.

In other news, my internship at Goody Beads wraps up next week. When I asked if they would decide to bring me on as a paid part of the workings upstairs, I was told not likely. I've heard this before and I felt slightly betrayed after all my hard work that went unpaid. Sure, MCAD is happy, having another box checked for my transcript, but where are the ethics and loyalty? Play on my inexperience and naive hopes, fine, but don't expect me to be thrilled to continue doing little illustrations for you here and there when you feel like it...

Ugg, but my frustrations lead me to looking on my schools career services site to discover a posting for Fast Horse Inc. a multi Media Design firm in Minneapolis that has a wonderful personality that resonates with me nicely. They are looking for a Design intern and they will pay $12 for one with hopes of them taking a full time position in the fall...I feel a little foolish to hope I can nab this job...but that doesn't change the fact that I'm hoping all the same.

Here's a little something I've been working on for Goody Beads, I'm quite happy with how she's turning out although it's a little bittersweet since I found out the unhappy news. I don't really want them to have her now...*sigh* oh well...that's life I guess.

Moving time

Well, it's finally come. the time to leave this awesome place we have in Southwest Minneapolis. We've rented this house for about ten months now and I'm really super sad that we have to leave. But alas, the money is just not there. Bryce and I spent most of the day packing up my studio and the basement storage room. clearing that stuff into the garage and whatnot. Loooooots of work! I'm tired! Moved some stuff into my car as well to start moving the stuff I want to live with over the summer over to Debbie's and grandma's.

As much as I'm going to miss living with Bryce and getting to see him every day, I'm really looking forward to living at Grandma's again. I get to see my baby! Midnight Moon (Aka Evil Awful Pussy) is always so mad at me for "abandoning" him. This should make him less sulky. Plus, good ol' home cooking from the grandma? how can you get better than that? Then bantering with debbie on a regular basis...kinda miss that. Then there's being able to bike to work every day, not paying bills, not paying rent, and less to worry about in general. Hopefully the Summer will prove to be a good time to recoup some funds and pick ourselves back up.

I'll admit, I've been slacking off on my art (and just about everything else I've been wanting to use the summer for). but I've been working from 9 to 6 just about every day and by the time I get home I'm just not motivated to do anything...That should change when the move is over...*crosses fingers*

yeah...not a whole lot to say here...

oh! if you're a crafter, you should totally check out the place that I work... www.goodybeads.com They just redid their website and it looks awesome. As part of my internship I've been working on creating illustration content for the site. Particularly in the tutorial section. (note, I did not do the Miss Pearl Illustration, that would be my coworker So's doing. isn't she cute?) but yeah, go check it out! One of these days I get to be a guest blogger, so look for something from Kitty Crystal...I think that's the name I'm going to go with!

Anyway, I think I'm going to make something to eat and finish watching Batman Begins... I'm totally wiped from all that packing!

Cabin Project

Over Memorial Day Weekend, Bryce and I went up to my aunt's cabin to survey it's condition and start cleaning it up. We've made it our summer project to try and get that place into a state of being pleasant to visit and a desirable place to relax for the weekend...we'll see how that goes...since it's quite a piece of work...

We went up friday evening and arrived around 8pm. Bryce immediately got to cutting wood so we would have a fire. We didn't really need the fire for heat since it was a very nice temperature even at night. We needed it more for protection from bugs. The misquitos were vicious and annoying and woke us up at 5:30 in the morning...not pleasant.
We didn't actually stay up there very long, just friday night and then we left around 3pm saturday afternoon. We got plenty of work done though. we were just sick of sleeping on the floor. I have a feeling that we'll just spend one night up there until we can actually feel okay about leaving a mattress there. Anyway, I have lots of before and after pictures for your viewing pleasure. I'll update this blog as we get more work done. good times.























So yeah, all that stuff in the "Before" Pictures was shoved into either the storage area or the shed in the back. Most of it actually isn't ours so I have to wait and get the go ahead before we can throw it all in the dumpster like I want to...

Lots of work to go but I love it up there so much!

Summer is blowing in

Did we skip spring and just jump right in to summer? Jesus it's at least 90 out! I missed spring almost entirely...Today at work, the power went out because the wind took out a power tower, which in turn took out two poles with it. Excel decided to shut down the entire 1/2 mile radius even though just one building was actually connected to it...*sigh* oh well.

came home, played with the dog outside and got him drenched with the hose. He loved that quite a bit.

Not quite sure what I'm going to do with myself today... I could go outside and read more of Cradle to Cradle but too hot and windy...I could clean...but I'm too hot for that...I should either work on my dress or draw more...not sure. at some point I'm going over to my dad's to check out what he's doing with his new house. that should be exciting.

Oh! I got my grades back from Spring Semester...you ready for this???
Cultural Anthropology: A
Media Analysis: A
Reading for Ideas: A
Experience Frameworks: A-
Visualizing Physics: A-

life is good...

Anyway, time to go do stuff...