Tuesday-8:15am

Good Morning!

My time got sucked up on youtube yesterday--hehe! Watching videos on the Big Bite..which got me watching other craft videos, of course. :)

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I explained in great detail in a reply to Sue's comment yesterday what the issues are with the Big Bite. I suppose I could copy and paste it here for those of you who are interested.

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The problem with the instructions--"Place eyelet, snap, or other embellishment in the hole in your project and then line up the BASE of the tool in the hole of the snap or eyelet and compress the handle"--is the lining up part.

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You can (1)try to balance the tube on the backside of the eyelet on a slippery little metal bump--with a piece of paper blocking your view entirely, of course. (2)try to hold the sometimes bendable piece of paper up against that top protruding prong and keep the eyelet hole inside the little prong as the square piece moves down. Or (3)try to hold the eyelet and paper in midair and center it or line them up as the pieces come together. When I watched people do it on the videos it looked like most people were using method one. Kind of laying the paper and eyelet on the bump and using a "feel-ly" method to guess that the eyelet was centered on the metal bump (because you can't see it with the paper in the way and it's basically a balancing act until the prong part reaches it). But if you have the paper too far down on the eyelet--they tip. When they tip they seem to really split badly on the back...?? Such is my learning curve so far. :):)

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I did find the video where the lady said to use a different setting than they recommended, so I'll try that. And I found reviews that said it worked better with their embellishments--that some brands tended to split very unevenly. That may be the case with mine. I know Leah and I had that trouble using certain eyelets with the hammer setting method, too. So, I'm going to try some different eyelets brands, too, that we have--just to see if some work better than others. :)
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They tell you to balance the eyelet tube on the BASE--so that is probably the best method. I had to try others, tho, of course. I should try to remember today to take a closeup of the metal thingies I'm talking about for you crafters. :)

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The sun is shining today! So--of course--that means we have dipped just below zero. Beautiful morning to look at from inside where it is warm, tho--hehe!

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I was restless sleeping. A little nervous about calling my (now retired) poetry professor, Mark Vinz, from MSUM this morning. I finally worked up my nerve to call him yesterday, but he wasn't home. I talked with his wife and she said to call him this morning around 9:30-10am to tell him about winning the prize with a poem I wrote for his class. :)

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Professor Vinz is a true poet. Has had many book of poetry published and has taught poetry for decades. Knows so many Midwestern poets personally. We had just the best group of students in that small class--laughed every day--enjoyed each other's company--supportive--insightful. It was magical!!!

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I think he'll remember me because Mark was the one who suggested to me that after we left his class to gather together half a dozen writers from that class to continue meeting and form a writer's group. (There were some really talented writers in that class--where I could hardly wait to see what they had written next!) We met at my apartment in Moorhead for maybe a year and a half or so--four gals and two guys. That is how I got to know Jennifer. (Remember how young and shy you were, Jennifer? hehe!)

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Anyways, Mark will probably remember how I used to say in class, "I'm not a poet, ya know"--till he and the class told me they were sick of hearing it--ROFL!! But I had only written a handful of poems in my life since my teenage/young adult years and the only poets I knew of were the ones we studied in high school in the late 60s--Dickinson, Frost, Wordsworth, Longfellow, e. e. cummings, Poe, Shelley, Keats, and Shakespeare. And I didn't remember much about them after over 30 years. I felt way over my head. Out of the poetry loop, so to speak.

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Feel funny about calling. Must be that Swede/Scandinavian thing in me--feels like bragging, ya know? I didn't even send an email to my folks, brother, and sister until a couple days ago. And yet I have talked about it on the blog here. Silly, I know. :)

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Well, I will call Professor Vinz this morning. Caroline comes this afternoon. Been getting some letters written, too--using some of the new cards I've made. I think the day will fly by. :):)