Procrasti-Nation

The title of this post just seems to work with how I've been doing lately.
That doesn't mean things have been going badly. They've been going quite well, actually. I've just been, well... Procrastinating.

I've got a lovely client that I've seen every other week for a year next month. I know the office likes to be able to give each client a Christmas present. This particular client... I want able to think of anything. She didn't want anything. The office had no clue.
I don't know if they ended up getting anything for her or not.

The last time I saw her before Christmas was only a few days before, I believe, an then I wouldn't have seen her for another couple weeks. But during that time she mentioned to me that since she's been getting older, she's having a harder time getting out of her recliner, and that the recliner also seems to be "sinking" from normal wear and tear.

BINGO!

Gift idea? A new cushion for her chair. Or rather, one to go on top of it, replace the pillows she'd been sitting on.
Of course, I forgot to ask her what her favorite color was. So I had to wait two weeks. Then I finally got to ask her - you know, after Christmas is over and done with. Her favorite color?

Yellow.

So two weeks after Christmas, DH an I are scouring the fabric section in our Walmart to see if there are any bolts of yellow fabric that aren't too boring or too far, uhh, "out there". And in yellow, it's usually one or the other, and selections are few and far between, especially when compared with purples, greens, and blues.
But we finally found some. This rich golden-yellow with white swirls in it :) Then we picked up some foam squares to go in the cushion, about four inches thick.

I had two weeks to get it done, to make sure my client had a lovely seat cushion. And of course, when did I start on it? About two hours before I had to be at work. Go figure.
::rolls eyes::

It wasn't my best work, because this is the first time I've ever used foam, not to mention making a cushion. I'm used to making pillows and maybe the occasional bag or a super easy dress or something.

I brought it to my client, as a super late Christmas present (yeah, a month and a day late! Haha), and she loves the colors, and she says it's super comfortable. I'm really glad that she likes it :)

Maybe it would've been better if I'd started on it a week ago, but I don't know that. And I think it turned out really nice.

Ooh! I also have plenty of extra fabric (Walmart now sells quilting squares as well as small bolts of about three yards or so). I can probably finally turn one of those pairs of old, torn jeans I've been keeping in my crafting area into a skirt or something! With the yellow it'd be super cute for springtime!

Attached (since I'm posting this from my phone and not a computer) are a couple pictures of the cushion. I'm really happy with the way it turned out, and I can comfortably say that my stitches shouldn't be coming undone, so she's got a sturdy cushion to last a while :)

And since I can't post a picture of my super sweet client (or maybe I could, but I won't) here's a picture of her wonderful doggy :)

Have a good one!

Borders bookstores

It's a sad, sad moment in my life.

Borders bookstores are OFFICIALLY going out of business.
Not that this was news to anyone (except for me, apparently). I knew their stores has been closing. But two of the stores near me had just remodeled a bit, so it's not like I was expecting them to go anytime soon!

With that said, I have expanded my bookshelves a LOT in the past week. I do mean a LOT.
Anybody who knows me knows that at home one tall bookshelf was pushing my luck. At school the 3 shelves I was given above my desk were pushing their luck - and those were only the books I WANTED to take to school with me!
Now I've got 2 tall bookshelves, which will be full whenever I get another peg to put underneath one of the shelves since it broke while it was being moved into the apartment. I could really use a 3rd tall shelf.
DH and I are in the process of cleaning (which means I'm STILL cleaning what was moved in 3 weeks ago, because I really don't want to touch it - there's just so much stuff!) so the third shelf will have to wait.

It's kind of sad that Borders is closing. In the last 4 years or so I've finally gotten to the point that I LOVE Borders, and if I didn't need food then I could kill an entire day in the store!
And of course my nerdy random thought was "My kids will think I'm nuts when I talk about Michael Jackson and his music and dancing, Patrick Swayze and his movies and dancing (and why mom would've REALLY loved dancing with him), and Borders bookstores!
'Mom, what's a Borders?'
'It's a BOOKSTORE! How could you not know that??'
'Mom, you're ancient. Those don't exist. How was I to know? What's a book look like? We have these things called e-readers, Kindles, and Nooks now. And iPads. Who's Patrick Swayze?' 'Wait, you mean you've never seen Dirty Dancing? WHOSE CHILD ARE YOU???'"
Yup, I can see it now.

So in the last week I have been to 3 different Borders stores. And I've been to a Borders in general at least 10 times.
Thanks to the "Going Out of Business Sale" (AKA the "GOOB sale" or "GOOBS," as I like to say... seriously, Borders, "Liquidation" is shorter!) I have successfully begun working on one of those fabulously full bookshelves that my college professors always had!
Granted, some don't look as "professional," but I make sure to check out the references they list in the book. And I've been going for ones that i'd be likely to use as a therapist. Like on ADD, psychiatric drugs, divorce, prescription painkillers, eating disorders, dealing with the death of a loved one, and aging parents.
...
I don't the "The Psychology of Harry Potter" will get me anything at work except maybe some brownie points!

Hopefully the books will be super useful when it comes to writing papers.
There were so many more books I would've LOVED to look for, but unfortunately some people aren't very good at distinguishing between "self-help" books and "psychology" books.

I can guarantee i'll hit up Borders a few more times before it closes for good (sadness!!), but I think I'm pretty well set on things. At least for now. Until the DSM-V comes out. Which reminds me, I need to buy the DSM-IV-TR, since someone ripped me off... But that's another story.

(Random note on books: I'm looking for books on making bags. So instead of buying a bunch of new bags for school and work, I can just make them myself after I buy the fabric (and maybe figure out how to make handles...) Any suggestions?)