Newfound Free Time? Splendid!

Quick life update:
I was working at a music (instruments & equipment, not CDs) store for the last three months.  It was an okay job with some wonderful people, and I learned a lot.  Recently though, I found out that my previous position at the local school district was open again (thanks, Jen!), and I applied for it.  After a couple of interviews, I was rehired, and I started my new-old job this week.  Aside from the fantastic people, supportive environment, rewarding work, and encouragement to wear orange often, I have to admit, one of the things I'm most looking forward to is no longer spending 2 hours on the road every day.

So, here are the Top 10 Things I'm Going To Do With My Time Now That I Don't Commute (in no particular order):


10. Voice Lessons - Guys?  I think I started my bucket list, and the only thing on it right now is to sing in a band.  I've got a decent voice, but I think it would definitely not hurt to take some lessons.

9. Illini Volleyball - The Illini Volleyball team has been consistently good for quite a few years, yet season tickets for an adult are only $25.  At $5 a game to get in normally, I only have to go to 5 games to make it worth it!

8. Illini Basketball - A slightly less consistent team, I still love going to Illini Basketball games.  Since I'll be getting off of work before 5pm every day, I'll definitely be able to attend way more weeknight games this year than I previously thought.

7. Illini Football - Despite the insane sunburn I got on the left side of my body at last weekend's game (still hurts!), I was so excited to be there.  I ordered season tickets before I started working at the Music Shoppe, so agreeing to give up my Saturdays to the retail gods did not make me happy.  Luckily I only had to miss one game for work, and I should be able to enjoy all that football Saturdays have to offer.

6. Ukulele - Did I mention I bought another ukulele?  I had been lusting after a Fender uke since my first day at the Music Shoppe.  I was going to wait till the holiday season to get one with some sales credit promotion they offer, but obviously that won't be happening.  Instead I took advantage of my employee discount and brought one home last week.  I've really enjoyed practicing so far, so I'm looking forward to skipping fewer songs in my book because they use "hard" chords.

5. Exercising - I'm going to start slow, but maybe I'll try the Couch to 5K program again.

4. Visitin My Friends, especially those with kiddos - LOOK AT HOW CUTE MY FRIENDS' KIDS ARE!  THEY ARE SO CUTE!  

I need to spend more time hanging out with them.  I also have a ton of friends in the Chicago area whom I should visit more.  Who wants to go on the Chicago architecture boat tour this fall with me?

3. Cooking - Remember when I used to cook delicious meals?  Remember when I was making pasta from scratch?  Yeah, it's been awhile since I've had the time or motivation to do that.  I would say I'll even consider cooking slightly healthier options too, but I don't want to get ahead of myself.

2. Being a Better Sigma Alpha Iota Member - I have been slacking in this area lately.  I'm looking forward to catching up with my responsibilities to my chapter and the collegiate chapter.  I'm also looking forward to coming up with new ideas for recruitment, fundraisers, and chapter events.

1.  Updating My Blog - I got into a nice habit of writing something on a weekly basis, and then BAM! all writing stopped because I wasn't getting home till after 8pm most nights.  I have so many ideas for posts that I just haven't gotten around to sharing.  Because I know you're all waiting with bated breath for the next installment of Kiddo Kim Stories and This is My Life?! ridiculousness.

DIY Ukulele Kits? Splendid!

A couple weeks ago, Stacey and I were out doing some shopping, when she mentioned that she had found DIY ukulele kits on Amazon.  I've been not-so-secretly interested in learning ukulele for a couple months, but I didn't want to make the investment in a nice one if I was going to A) destroy it accidentally (a distinct possibility with my penchant for bumping into things) or B) get bored with it and ignore it while it gathers dust in our instrument petting zoo. These Grizzly DIY kits were, like, 1/5 as much money, and it meant we got to decorate them ourselves.  We got so pumped about them, that Stacey ordered them from her phone while we waited in line for the cashier.

They arrived about a week later, and we set a roommate date to start working on them.  In the meantime, we gathered most of the materials we needed: wood glue, sandpaper, a drill and appropriate bit, clamps, and various tie-down straps.  (Shout outs to Dad and Boyfriend for providing some of the necessary tools and Mom for delivering some of the supplies!)  Much in the same way that I cannot follow a recipe exactly, I decided we were not going to follow the directions exactly either.  Mostly, this just meant instead of buying 6 different grains of sand paper, ranging from 120 to 800 (or something equally ridiculous), we would buy two - fine and extra fine.

We began by sanding down the body and neck of the ukuleles.  

Action shot!

After that, we glued the neck to the body and used the tie-down straps to keep them pressed together.

We were supposed to wait to perform the next steps for something crazy, like 24 hours, but ain't nobody got time for that!  We were able to rig the ukes so we could keep the necks drying against the bodies while also gluing the fretboards down to the necks.  Before we could glue the fretboards on, though, we drilled the holes for the tiny mother of pearl dots.  This was terrifying for me, because I was convinced I was going to mess it up.  Also, Scott's drill weighs like 75 pounds.  Note the terror on my face.

Slightly terrified I was going to ruin something or hurt myself

We also taped off where the bridge would be placed after decorating, and left everything to dry for a day or so.

Now, let's be honest, most of the reason I wanted to make the ukulele myself was because I wanted to decorate it.  We took a trip to Michael's to gather supplies.  Stacey's inspiration was the striped side of a gift bag we have in the house.  I decided I wanted purple paint, purple glitter, and orange flowers on mine.  Because clearly I revel in simplicity.  I've already received multiple comments on how people are surprised I didn't use orange glitter paint on the body.  To be honest, I just didn't like the Krylon Glitter Blast shade of Orange Burst as much as the Grape Glitz.

A few days later, we spread out our decorating tools before us, taped off the neck of each uke, and got to work.  Since I was using spray paint, I took mine outside, where I promptly gave the bushes in front of the porch a little more pizzazz.

Do YOUR shrubs sparkle?

Stacey carefully taped off the body of her instrument using painters tape and different widths of washi tape we found at Michael's.  I thought it was brilliant of her to label which color each strip of tape would be painted.  It definitely kept things more organized as she continued to add color.

The flower stencils I bought were actually designed to be used on glass or plastic, so they were extra flexible and had a bit of adhesive on the back.  I found this very useful.  I cut up my stencils to use the flowers in a design that looked best on the body of my ukulele.

After letting them dry, we still had to attach the bridge, attach the tuning machines, and string the instruments.  I found attaching the tuning machines with a tiny screwdriver to be incredibly difficult and frustrating.  I thought this was supposed to be fun!  I apologize to anyone I spoke with on the phone that night.  I was Miss Super Cranky Pants.  I was so frustrated by this process that I asked our guitar technician at work if he would finish attaching them and put on the strings for me.  He obliged, and the angels sang from the heavens.  My poor bruised palm rejoiced.  Well as much as a hand can rejoice, I guess.

I brought my uke home after he finished it and promptly tried tuning it to learn some songs.  The problem is that strings need time to stretch out after they're put on, and I wasn't being patient enough.  I would tune the strings and start learning a song, and by the end of the song, the strings were out of tune again.  I didn't really care because I was just excited to be learning new chords.  After a few days, things leveled out quite a bit, and they sound pretty good now.

Stacey was at a workshop during the time I was finishing my instrument, so she finished it a few days later.  So, without further ado, i would like to introduce you to the newest members of our instrument family:

Luke the Uke and UkuLeia

(Get it?  Luke and Leia!  Because they're ukuleles AND twins!)

Luke is on the left, Leia on the right.

I'm so happy with the way they turned out!  I have to admit that I was hoping for more instant gratification when putting the kits together.  I wouldn't recommend building this particular kit with a classroom of kids, because it does take awhile, and there are some tricky parts that require dexterity and/or strength.  I think there are some other kits out there that might be a little bit easier in that regard.  But it was fun to build them and paint them, and now we're having fun learning how to play.