Wonderling

where have I been?

I haven't been posting much lately, but I have been up to a lot. The colder weather has caused my mind to obsess with knitting (is that a bad thing??):

not done yet, but this will be a pair of gloves. yay!

The band has also been busy. We've been working on a lot of new songs and even bought an awesome camping van for touring. One of these old Toyota vans:

We broke it in by taking a band trip to Red Robin yesterday. 

So now that I've finally posted again I solemnly swear to post on a regular basis. Even if I'm feverishly knitting 12 things at once.

How to: Backpack Rain Cover from Rain Pants

The other day it was supposed to rain and I was going to ride my bike to work. I have raingear for myself, but until the night before I didn't think about my backpack getting wet (and the clothes/stuff inside getting soaked). So I looked around my house for maybe a large plastic bag to sew into my packpack as a waterproof "lining", but I remembered that I had a pair of army issue rainpants that I would probably never wear again (not comfortable!!). I laid them out and realized that it would be a piece of cake to make a cover for my backpack with them! Here's how I did it:

First I cut the two legs apart in the crotch area (there was a seam there). Kitten help with this step is optional :)

Then I cut the seam along the inside of the leg and, one corner at a time, pinned the elastic waist to the widest part of the pant leg.

Here's one side folded and pinned. To give it a more rounded, backpack shape, sew diagonally. To have square corners sew right along the edge instead.

Once you've sewn both sides and cut off the excess you should have something like this

Here you will want to size the length to your backpack and, keeping in mind that you will need to fold the bottom around the backpack, cut off the excess.

Fold the newly cut edge and pin diagonally as shown. Sew along redlines.

You should end up with this (after cutting off excess)

Depending on the shape of your backpack you can either stop here or sew in some elastic. I choose to sew in elastic. Some other options would be making a pocket for the outside and a strap to go around the backpack for added hold (my pack is oddly shaped, so I also added a strap that snapped)

Now I'm ready for the rain!

Will you need an umbrella?

Umbrella Today? Is a wonderful site that will tell you if you need to bring an umbrella with you each day. You can even subscribe to have a text sent to your phone telling you that you will need an umbrella! How handy! (via swissmiss)

Update!

I thought I would do an update on all of the new stuff I've been trying since it's been a few weeks. 

1. Free Online Samples: I posted a while ago about seeing if getting online samples really worked and if it was really worth it. A few weeks ago I started getting the samples in the mail (it works!), but they were only sample size....which really isn't that great. I also have started to get these magazines like Lillian Vernon and Handsome Rewards; mags for retirees. Most people would be irritated, but I've always liked looking at all the crazy stuff people will buy. 

2. Baking Soda everything! 2 weeks ago I decided to stop using store bought shampoo, conditioner and deodorant and replace them with baking soda and vinegar mixtures. 

For the first week the baking soda deodorant worked great, but once I started riding my bike to work it wasn't enough. I'm going to try this recipe and see if it keeps me "fresh" on biking days. At the very least I can bring it to work and reapply. 

The baking soda shampoo is wonderful. It doesn't strip my hair like regular shampoo, but it still gets it clean. With regular shampoo my hair would be totally limp (it's naturally fine and pretty straight), but it feels like the baking soda shampoo keeps some of the natural oils on my hair, so it's not all lifeless and dry. For the first time in years I can have a "good hair day" without using a pound of product. 

I haven't really used the vinegar rinse. I used it once, but I haven't had a problem with the baking soda drying my hair out yet. 

3. Biking to work. This one is really new. I have only ridden to work twice this week, but I already feel so much better. The first day was really hard. I realized how horribly out of shape I am when I almost didn't make it home without getting off my bike and walking. The great thing about biking though is that you don't really get sore muscles. I thought my legs were going to be too sore to walk the next day, but they were fine! I didn't go to work on wednesday and my neighbor was driving up here this morning for some pre-volunteer stuff so I hitched a ride with him today. 

I'm really looking forward to getting better at biking. Once I have better balance (how do people ride with both hands off the handlebars!?) I think my confidence riding in traffic will be much higher. For now I try to stick to non-trafficy areas. 

Keep your bike safe

My brother sent me this link that gives you tips on how and where to lock your bike up to avoid it being stolen. It's a great site and it has pictures showing you the 'right way' and the 'wrong way'. I like pictures.

Back to Biking

At work I get a yearly bus pass for the small price of 30-something dollars a month that's automatically taken out of my paycheck. I decided today that I'm not going to renew my annual pass so that I have no choice but to bike to work.

Here's what influenced my decision:

1.This morning my brother sent me a link to the 2008 Bike Commute Challenge where businesses all around the Portland Metro area compete to see who can bike the most days to work in September. You can even form teams within a business to compete as well as challenging individuals to a "commute-off".

2. I ate half a pint of ice cream last night in bed.

3. I spent a decent chunk of money on a perfectly wonderful bike that I rarely use

4. everyone else I know bikes to work (peer pressure!)

I'm happy with my decision. A bit scared that I will have no other option in getting to work, but I think this is the only way that I will buckle down and do it.

Someone also pointed out to me that with the 300+ dollars a year I'll be saving I can spend 200.00 on fun bike attire and still save 100.00! haha, I wont spend that much on "attire", but I am going to get my bike some fenders and myself a nice breathable set of rain gear.

Automotive X Prize

I don't know if I'm just in a black hole where I don't get any good news or what, but I just found out about the automotive x prize. I wasn't even aware that cars could actually get 100mpg, let alone some of these examples that are getting 300mpg. crazy.

whipper snapper!

Usually I try to get on the 'early bus'. If I miss the early bus then it's a 45 minute wait for the next one, which means I have to stay longer at work. I barely get myself together before it comes and it's a 10 minute walk or a 15 minute wait (if I take the bus to the bus), so I usually drive the 10 blocks to the bus and park on a side street. I've done this for 3 months now, off and on. This morning however, I get to the side street and this older man (I'm thinking mid 60s??) is backing his car up one car length and re-parking it. Then he stood outside his car waiting for something. As I got out and starting walking to the bus he says, "young lady do you live in this neighborhood".

"yes" I say (well down the street, but close enough!)

"do you park here and then take the bus downtown?", he asks

"no. I take the bus to work", I answer

"why can't you park over there?" (he points across the street, which is another side street exactly like the one we are standing in)

"um, I can legally park here, so I don't see what the problem is", I say

"you park here (he points in front of his car, which I've never parked in front of) and then I have to go around you", he says.

"I've never parked there and even if I did so what? I have every right to park anywhere on this street. Too bad if you have to go around me.", I say and walk to the bus.

Now I'm thinking two things. One, That I could see my dad doing the exact same thing and two, did I lock my car after all that banter...hum. The alarm automatically sets itself after 5 minutes of the car being turned off, but still. I'm a bit worried I may come back to my car and the guy will have put Bengay all over the seats or something.

The kicker of this whole thing is that I've never seen more than two other cars parked anywhere on that block, so it's not like I'm taking prime parking real estate. My car is newer and not an eyesore and I don't tromp all over people's lawns getting to the bus. I honestly can't imagine what the problem is other than him being possessive and easily irritated.

More uncommon hotels

Hotel Particuluer Monmartre has an eclectic mix of rooms that will make you forget you're in a hotel.

Monday Mayhem

Monday was one of those amazing days where time seemed to stand still long enough for me to get all those "little things" done. It seems like they just build up, but they're not really important enough to actually do them because other things need to get done first. Getting all those little things done is probably one of the best feelings ever. Especially when that list includes thoroughly scrubbing my apartment, rearranging the furniture and finally getting rid of all the boxes from when I moved in two months ago. I also got my flat tire fixed (you don't even want to know how long it sat in my brother's garage waiting to be revived) so I no longer need to worry about getting another flat and being stuck with only 3 good tires. I have also been having issues with the little fob that unlocks, locks and sets the alarm on my car. It's been finicky for weeks. So Adam and I drove out to Milwaukee to the Hyundai dealership only to have the parts guy take the fob apart, put it back together and like magic, it worked fine. There is a thrift store just down the street from the dealership and we spent, I believe, two hours there sifting through people's unwanted things. I found the cutest fabric, white with little strawberries! I still can't believe all that wonderfulness happened in just one day.

Of course when I take Monday off the coolest posts go up on my favorite sites so here they are...late, but still great.

finally a tutorial on making those amazing shrinky dink rings! I've been wanting to try it forever, but not sure exactly how to shape them. Planet June does a great job of not only describing the process, but there are also pictures of each step. via CRAFT

Popgaget had these lovely raindrop shaped shower speakers for your ipod. If I hadn't just indulged myself with an ipod shuffle (only 49.99!) for the gym I would definitely be tempted to buy one of these. available at Audiocubes

Anyone who is following the democratic debates will want to check this site out. With all of the fighting about things Hillary and Obama have said this is a great way to decide for yourself by seeing what they really did say. via swissmiss