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Its 1 30 AM Why am I still up

Ill tell you why!

First of all, it started with a certain 4 year old who needed to use the bathroom at midnight, right after I finished watching "Whats Eating Gilbert Grape" on TV, and layed my head down on my pillow. On cue, I hear bare feet padding down the bunk bed ladder.

45 minutes later, plus 2 more bathroom trips, 6 times up and down the ladder, a few sips of water, 7 denied requests for chocolate milk, 3 monsters vanquished, 1 fan adjusted 2 times, and some stern words, he is asleep. Or so I thought.

I wait up for 10 minutes to make sure he is fast asleep. Satisfied, I climb back in bed, pull the covers up, set my alarm, and close my eyes. Immediately I hear the footsteps again.

"WHAT is it NOW?!?!?!?!"

"I just wanted to say sorry,"

*sniffles a few muffled sobs* (Not me, I dont cry until later in this story.)
*lots of hugs*

"Thank you for apologizing, honey. Its OK. I just want you to stay in bed so I can sleep."

"Oh, ok. Goodnight. Love you mommy. Sweet dreams mommy."

That was the last of it. My brain, though, had been tricked into thinking it was going to get to sleep one too many times. Not anymore! I have passed that point of being sleepy tired, and gone into the zone of insomnia. I am tired, yes, but my body has to torture me and make me stay awake until I am a walking zombie.

I got online, looked at some blogs, searched for some scrapbook inspiration, and edited some pictures. Somehow, I ended up on YouTube. I am going to embed the video that I saw here, because I will need to see this again. Some day I am going to be depressed or stressed, and if I can just pop over here and watch this, Ill be OK.

Once in a while, something strikes me so hard that I just crack. It doesnt necessarily have to be really funny- once it happened because I saw a dead deer on the side of the road. (Which usually makes my cry). I laugh so hard that I dont even know if Im laughing or crying anymore. My eyes are blurry with tears. I snort, I squeak, I gasp, I choke, I hiss, I make the weirdest contorted faces. I literally cant breath sometimes, and I laugh without making a single sound, until my face turns blue, and I gulp in air like I had just been underwater for 20 minutes. It is uncontrollable, and at times extremely inappropriate. (Try church, during a long solemn prayer). I just cant help it. Rather embarrassing!

This video did that to me. I was worried I would wake the neighbors up. Seriously. Something is wrong with me. Doesnt it feel good to get all that emotion out, though? Id rather have a laugh attack than a good cry (only because a good cry requires something bad to happen, usually, and Id rather die laughing than find out my cat had been ran over), and I end up feeling equally better after each one.

Without further ado, the one that almost killed me:

Available link for download

It was easier than I thought

I wanted a way to distribute JUnit tests among multiple threads. I couldnt believe how easy it turned out to be.

 public class ParallelTestSuite extends TestSuite {
 private final int numWorkers;

 public ParallelTestSuite(int numWorkers) {
 this.numWorkers = numWorkers;
 }

 @Override public void run(TestResult result) {
 final ExecutorService executor
 = Executors.newFixedThreadPool(numWorkers);
 TestResult newResult = new ForwardingTestResult(result) {
 @Override protected void run(final TestCase test) {
 executor.execute(new Runnable() {
 public void run() {
 superRun(test);
 }
 });
 }
 private void superRun(TestCase test) {
 super.run(test);
 }
 };
 super.run(newResult);
 executor.shutdown();
 try {
 executor.awaitTermination(3600, TimeUnit.SECONDS);
 } catch (InterruptedException e) {
 }
 }
 }

ForwardingTestResult is just what it sounds like; a TestResult that forwards all its method calls to another TestResult.

I found it interesting that I couldnt really figure out how to avoid needing that one-line "superRun()" method. What else could I do?

Anyone out there who understands JUnit and java.util.concurrent have any helpful criticism for how to make this better?

Available link for download

Its so hot I cant think

I was trying to title this post and sat staring at the screen for who knows how long. So! Hot! Cant! Think! I am not a hot weather person. My favorite season is fall. I love sunshine and warm weather, yeah, but when the INSIDE of my house is 87 degrees (after cooling it down), thats too hot for me.

Anyways, this post isnt really about something, I just wanted to post some pictures of things Ive been working on lately! I have at least 13 new projects to share, and I decided to spread them out over the next week or two. Here are the first couple things.

I made this zipper pouch for my nieces birthday. I LOVE this owl fabric! I have been hoarding it, and figured it was time to use some more. >>Here<< is the tutorial I used, in case you want to make one too!


These are some cards I made for Mothers Day and Graduation this year. I ironed some fusible web onto fabric and ribbon, cut it to size, and ironed it onto the card. (I pre-printed the message onto the card stock first) While the card was still hot I pressed it in a book to flatten it out. Then I sewed a border around the edges. I like using fabric for cards because of the texture it gives the card, and also its a great use for those small scraps you dont know what to do with!


Im going to go check on our homemade popsicles now, and get stuff ready so Jer can barbecue up some dinner when he gets home! I hope you all are staying somewhat cool today :)

Available link for download