Boobie pancakes

I have my first mammogram scheduled for Monday. And I'm nervous. I'm not nervous about what they might find - I don't even want to think about that can of worms - but I'm nervous about the procedure itself. Am I going to feel really weird with my breasts exposed to and being handled by strangers? (Although it has to be better than an internal exam or that ultrasound I had over the summer, right?) Will it hurt? (I had a friend who was an x-ray tech and performed mammographies, and she had said it was all about how the tech did her job, whether it would hurt or not.) Am I going to faint while I'm standing there with my boob clamped into the machine, and then just be dangling by my boob? (Why do they make you stand, anyway?) Doesn't that smushing damage the breast? And why did I explain EXACTLY to The Boy what a mammogram is?

Also, why am I reading on the Web that I shouldn't wear deodorant for the test (it can cause shadows), but nobody at the doctor's office told me that?

Does anyone have any positive mammography stories they wouldn't mind sharing? And if you've got a horror story, please don't share it. At least until Tuesday.

:D

Scene from two minutes ago:

Boy: Today in Spanish class, I heard a word that I swear sounds like "fee-cee-less".
Me: No shit?

Jake's prediction for Joss' movie "The Cabin In The Woods":

"There will be 2 sweethearts going on vacation. An axe murderer attacks them. Joss will get the audience to love the boyfriend and then kill him off. Heartbroken and seeking vengeance, the girl proceeds to kill the axe murderer."

I've posted this to save it, so we can see how he did once the movie comes out.

Unagi

Last night we were standing in the kitchen so I could give him some medicine. As I reached on top of the microwave, something fell. We watched it crash to the floor and saw that it was my little Christmas mouse figure, now broken into three pieces. Together, we paused for a beat; and then, at the exact same time, and in the exact same tone, said, "Awwwwwwwww".

And then we broke out laughing.

Jake's quilt

Jake's quilt is finished. It is a rag quilt made of denim and dark green flannel. It was sewn very quickly, but the finishing took a long time. First, the snipping of the seam allowances took several days, including most of yesterday. Then I had to wash and dry it to get it to fray. I almost thought I'd have to take it to a laundromat, but I finally determined that it was not too big or heavy to do here. So that's what I did today. First I put it in the dryer to try to get a lot of the lint off. I had to literally go downstairs to the laundry room every 10 minutes to empty the lint trap. Then through the wash. I was surprised by the tons of lint (wet lint, no less) that I had to clean out of the machine after. Then I put it through the dryer two more times, both to dry it and remove the excess lint. Again, I had to go downstairs every 10 minutes to empty the lint trap. But then it was finally done!

And now, pictures:

Jake's old jeans, cut to pieces and ready to iron and cut into 7" squares.

Some of my tools: cutting mat, square, long ruler, scissors, cutters, iron, squirt bottle, and sewing machine.

Beginning the stacks of denim squares. I needed 144 total.

All 144 denim and 144 flannel squares.

Those stacks have now been arranged into sammiches of
denim
flannel
flannel
denim
then stacked back together.

I sewed the squares into strips of 12, then started pinning the strips together. Each square is a denim square on top and a flannel square on bottom, with the seam allowance on the "top" denim side, which is the opposite of where you'd usually put it.

Close up of pinning.

Sewing the strips together went fast, but it got trickier as it got more together and heavier.

I didn't take any pictures of the snipping or the washing/drying. I thought about it, though.

FINISHED!!

Close up.

This was a lot of work, and I don't think I want to make another denim quilt, especially a denim rag quilt, but I'm very glad I made this one for my boy. He's sleeping with it tonight. :D

Smile!

Awesome, awesome, awesome Buffy/Angel fan vid:

Shhhhhhh!!! It's a Secret!

Last week, I overheard my sister tell our mom that it was cold where she works, and she really needs a lap quilt. So I decided to surprise her with one. I am 99% sure she does not frequent this blog. And Sue, if you lurk and don't let me know, then shame on you, and you've ruined your surprise!

I put the denim rag quilt for The Boy on hold and made a (cotton) rag quilt for my sis. The sewing itself was very quick, since you sew all three layers together and it's self finishing. But then you have to snip along ALL the seam allowances to make it fray, and that takes FOREVER. (Although not as long as it's taking for the denim one, because the denim one is three times as big and also made of DENIM.)

After I finished snipping sis' quilt, I washed and dryed it twice to get its fray going on. Here is the finished quilt:

back

I'm going to mail it to her tomorrow. :D

The instructions for this quilt are here.