Yeah, I know I haven't been very productive lately...we'll, there's a really good reason why...I have been trying to work in my kitchen for the past two years (well, about 6 months in a spare bedroom that was too dark) and I was finding every day more and more cramped and difficult...we've been looking for studio space for the past two years, I found a couple of small, inexpensive houses that we considered buying, but people who actually wanted to LIVE in them bought them instead, so I just kept looking..and finally, a little building came on the market...it was for sale for two seconds and then sold, so I figured I'd have to keep looking, but the buyer changed their minds and it came back on the market...we made an offer and finally closed yesterday...
I was having a minor meltdown on Thursday because we wanted to close this month, but everyone seemed to be dragging their feet - not answering emails, phone calls, no one could find the survey that was required, and it was very frustrating, but they finally pulled it all together and we signed papers yesterday...and I'll be sure to steer friends away from some of these local yahoos if anyone I know should ever want to move here..which I highly doubt...anyway, the key is in my pocket, I've ordered all the utility services which will be up and running next week and we are gonna start moving stuff in right after i publish this page...why, oh why do we always end up moving in August? The hottest month of the year...why can't we move in January when its at least cool outside? geez...
Its a good day...
I dunno if you were a fan of the WB or the shows that were GOOD, but I've seen that they are now offering some of my fave shows on the new website: TheWB.com Catch up with Veronica Mars, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and of course my fave- the Gilmore Girls..now, granted, I own all the VM dvds and I've been watching the GG on ABC Family for a few years now, and I can catch up on Buffy on Hulu, but its still great to see them all in one location, on your computer, at anytime you want...there are episodes of each of those series that I've never seen before, and I tend to forget them, so its like watching new tv for me...I'm easily amused, obviously...and assuming you're fans of something called 'The O.C.' or 'Friends' you can catch those as well...
I hardly watch daytime TV at all, but i used to watch lots of DIY Network during the day a year or two ago...I see that most of the craft shows have been discontinued and are now just syndicated a few times a week...so I am TiVoing "B.Original" cause I always liked the weird stuff she worked on...I even bought a small drill press to drill rocks and bought some washers at the hardware store...alas, I've done none of those things, the rocks went into the garden and the washers are just sitting in a bag somewhere (haven't run across those yet)...I feel like I should be hammering something right now...making a bottle tree or a flower from a left over tin can...jewelry for my trees...actually, I need to water the front lawn and mow the back..not so glamorous, i have to admit...
this morning has been frustrating on a few levels...we're having to deal with some people in this local podunk town who are truly idiots...its frustrating and infuriating and makes me wanna kick something hard...I think Cartman sums up my feelings right now...I can reveal more tomorrow, I think...We actually like living out here for the most part, but the Post Office accused me of lying on my postage labels and now there are some other local business folks who are not doing their jobs properly and are causing us some major hassles...its very frustrating and makes me want to not participate in the community where these idiots run wild...I'm not very social in the town anyway, and now I have even less reason to get to know these local yahoos...and people wonder why I'm a hermit...
yesterday, on the other hand, was tons o' fun...lotsa silver fusing, ring making, texture hammering, and successful jewelry was made...I made 3 bangles that I had been having trouble fusing, but now with two torches, I was able to get enough heat into the silver for them to fuse properly...I made a link bracelet and some earrings and demo'd how to make the wrap rings, so the other chicks made loads of those along w/ chains too...everyone had a good time and came away w/ not only cool jewelry, but the stuff to make lots more...I hope we can get together again soon...with 5 of us, its hard to get all our schedules coordinated, so we have to plan ahead...
Clementine bit me on the arm this morning, after I was on the phone getting 'animated'...she doesn't like it when I am loud or make a lot of noise...she used to just jump on my chest and try to calm me down - now she just cuts to the chase and bites me to show me her displeasure...so, not only was I mad, now I'm bit too...today is starting off to be a really good day...nice...
I need to get outta here, time to walk the dog and go kick something (not the dog)...
Today I'm gettin together with my bead chicks and we are gonna do a fine silver fusing workshop in town...some of us have fused before, others haven't, and since the class we signed up for didn't make, we are gonna teach each other what to do...nothing complicated, just making rings, chains, and anything else we can melt...I need to gather up my stuff, I've already had a full day of dog walking, garbage hauling, showering, smoothie purchasing and need to hit the bricks shortly...I think the dog needs some frisbee time before I go, she was kinda dancing in the backyard...the cats have all been up and yelling at me like they do, except little Bette Davis who tends to sleep till 10:00am...I dunno what she does every night, but it must be quite the project, cause she's a late sleeper...maybe she's wallpapering the bathroom for me...I could only hope...
Ow, I just received a painful email from the SmartCar folks...they've discontinued the YELLOW option for their car for 2009...that was the color I was gonna order!!! Now whadda I do? I guess I can order white and then have it painted to whatever I want...I have bonded with the yellow, I have pics of one as my backdrop on my computer...dangit!
I'm taking Barky McBarkerson out for a walk this morning, at the High School..now that classes are back in session, I hope things are quieter in the field and we can get some serious ball-throwing going...
I was busy all day yesterday, picking up birthday cakes, a big pink pig balloon (I made a little boy cry at the grocery store, he reached out to grab my balloon and his mom told him 'no'...), some silly birthday cards (Cartman singing), and a wacky pen that has a big googly thing on the top of it...Brian opened presents and was happy with the haul...useful stuff, things he asked for, can't go wrong there...
I've got more work ahead of me today, but not as much, thankfully...just left over chores that didn't get accomplished yesterday..Brian wanted to see the giant spider in the bathroom...first I showed him pics of what it looked like on the internet, which spooked him...then I took him into the bathroom and we found the dude, which spooked him even more, although he seemed to realize that the spider was gonna hide more than it was gonna venture out and crawl over his foot, so he relaxed..have you seen Annie Hall where Alvie takes the tennis racket into the bathroom to kill the spider in there? yeah, it was kinda like that...
There are all sorts of crazy, wacky things going on here, all good...the house is in upheaval with all the new furniture we just bought, but haven't hauled upstairs yet...I can't get to the closet where the vacuum cleaner is, without moving 15 shelves and a large table...but I'm gonna do it! Cause I must vacuum today or I'm gonna lose my mind...exciting stuff, right? Here's something that you mighta found amusing (or not)...I was in the bathroom this morning, and when I moved some tiling equipment (yes, we are repairing some bathroom tiling too) a GIANT spider jumped out at me...I didn't even flinch, I just looked at him to make sure he really was a spider and not some thread that was lost in the corner...now I have to go scoop him up and toss him outside before the cats kill him...he's a biggie, this will be fun and a little skittery...hmmm...I wonder how it'll all work out...
Brian tells me he's working on a new blog software for my site...I really want to overhaul this thing, give it a new facelift..I've been contemplating whether I should build it again or just outsource it to Pappashop and be done with it...my concern is that I like to be hands on with my site, I am always adding pics, pages, links, videos and am not sure how fluid the Pappashop sites would be for me...I think they are wonderfully designed, i always send customers there who ask me about building their own site, because frankly most folks don't wanna learn HTML or Dreamweaver or Homesite just to build a simple site...but I don't wanna be dependent on anyone (or bother anyone) in order to post all the silliness that I do...for most folks who simply post beads, that's great...still, overhauling this site is a bit daunting and I know I'm gonna have to shave it back and streamline it...
Now that the Olympics are over, I'm always bummed out...there's something thrilling about watching top athletes compete at the top of their game...still, football starts this Saturday here in Austin and I'm thrilled...I LOVE football season...the Longhorns play here in Austin, I don't have tix, but am contemplating paying to see the game on television...I dunno..its not THAT big a game, but I DO enjoy watching them...and there are only so many games in a season, so why not see as many as I can...I don't enjoy seeing them at the stadium, its too hot, too difficult to park, too many drunks...I suppose if I was with a group who had an RV and we did the whole tailgating thing ahead of time, cooking brisket and ribs, visiting with other fans, sitting in the a/c and watching the game I might enjoy it more...I'd rather stay inside in the cool house and cheer from the comfort of my own sofa...
the dog is chasing the neighbor's lawnmower...she's not had a chance to do that much this year, with the lack of water, there hasn't been much grass growing around us...she doesn't chase the mower when WE mow, she just skitters away from the mean beast that makes so much noise, but on the other side of the fence, it always more exciting and she must run up and down the yard barking and having fun...I appreciate the tolerance of the neighbors cause there's no way she's gonna stop barking, she loves it...once they turn the mower off, she quiets down...its not a ferocious, dangerous bark, its a fun, playful bark...I doubt they can tell the difference when a big black dog is barking at them, tho...
Ooo..I just looked out the window and saw a Monarch...I bet its the beginning of the migration to Mexico...I hope we get lotsa eggs and caterpillars..the garden is flush with flowers and we've been visited by 4 or 5 Queens, lotsa large yellow Sulphurs and white cabbage lopers, along w/ the various bees and hummingbirds...I spied a carolina wren in the street yesterday, next to what looked like a worm...turns out, it was a small 4" snake and I think the bird wanted it for lunch, but the snake wasn't playing along...the little birdy hopped away and then I saw the snake cross the dirt road...it had a pattern on its back, but I couldn't tell what it was exactly...for all the times I've taken the dog out into the middle of the field behind the High School, I've never ever seen a snake out there...but I've seen two in my street...awesome!
We've spent the day upstairs working on building IKEA furniture to hold my yarn collection, which isn't nearly as large as you might think, but I can't SEE it when its stuffed in wicker bins and shoved into a corner closet...so, its now out, in drawers, I can see my inventory and actually USE the dang stuff...I love it...the upstairs is starting to look more like a real room instead of the carpeted attic that it's been treated as such...we just need more storage up there where I can load my stuff into...we're working on it...it just takes time...we have another 6 drawer dresser to build, I'm not sure what'll go in it, cause all my yarn is accounted for, but I have plenty of other stuff that can just go in it for the sake of getting it out of sight...I've still go work to do up there, but its feeling like a real room now...
Its Brian's birthday today and he decided he wanted to do the Spaghetti Feast at Alamo Drafthouse, where we'll partake of the movie Fistfull of Dollars (spaghetti western, of course) and eat all the pasta we want...sounds wonderful...we've been watching the TNT presentation of Lord of the Ring while upstairs today, so it's been quite the movie-laden day for him...still hasn't opened his presents, I guess we'll do that later tonight...he didn't want a cake, and he says this is his 'last' birthday to celebrate cause next year he turns 40 and he doesn't think he wants to recognize those numbers in that order...I told him 'sure, ok, fine, but you know that means you won't get any presents if we don't celebrate it'...he'll have a year to contemplate that...
Yesterday was spent hanging up and re-hanging up all sorts of pieces of artwork we've been having framed of late...they've been just sitting around and I was tired of seeing these pretty pieces doing nothing, so I grabbed my hammer and nails and went to town...and its like a whole new house...I also put together all the earrings that I'm gonna keep on the earring rack that is massive and hangs on the wall...I bought it years ago at a local art fair and it holds, I dunno, hundreds of pairs of earrings I suspect...a bunch anyway...and that took hours to put together...you wouldn't think so, but once I got started, I had to clean the silver stuff in the tumbler (that thing was running for hours as I tossed tons of stuff in it)....but the end result is pretty good, and I found LOADS of stuff to sell/donate in the jewelry box...I'm collecting it all into a pile and will post it probably on my site here, cause I don't think I can post it on Etsy, since I didn't make the pieces myself...this isn't my rack, but it looks very similar to this one...
I've been watching the IOC and their sad little attempt to quell the noise about the Chinese girl's gymnasts ages...nothing will be done, don't worry...the IOC doesn't want to look like fools, so they won't admit to any neglect, the Chinese gov't will just falsify whatever it needs to in order to 'prove' the girl's ages and it'll all go by the wayside...I think Martha Karolyi had the best idea - eliminate the age requirement altogether so that all countries can enter gymnasts in all ages...the US has good gymnasts that are 12, 13, 14 just like the Chinese do (as do other countries)...lets all play on the same level, or not at all...but if you think anything will come of this investigation it won't...don't hold your breath...it is what it is...
The neighbor's chickens are out in force zooming around the field and I'm cracking up at them...so cute...free range indeed!
Looks like he arrived just in the nick of time (ha, that's one of his movies I saw...)...I'm glad he made ya'll feel better, I'm gonna keep him around for a few days to keep ya'll company...and if you're ever in the need of a dire JD fix, just type his name in Google and then click the 'images' link and you'll instantly be drowned in the goodness of all things JD...how did we ever manage before the internets arrived? tubes! they're all a bunch of tubes!
We gave in and went to see Tropic Thunder last night...we've been burned by Ben Stiller movies before, as much as we like him and think he's funny, his movies can sometimes be bleh...but this one is funny...about what we expected...everyone is blathering about Tom Cruise's character, but the real star of the show is Robert Downey Jr. (RDJ)...is there nothing he can't do? He does a quick Russell Crowe impersonation that is dead-on great...and he's funny..and you don't really see him since he's covered in makeup and wigs...the trailers before the movie are pretty funny too, especially his...I wouldn't say you should run run run right out and see it, but if you're bored this weekend and wanna get out of the sun, you might enjoy it...the chick sitting next to Brian was laughing thru the whole movie, in parts where nothing was happening...i'm pretty sure she was watching her own movie with some assistance, but it made me laugh listening to her enjoy herself...better than talking thru it all...
The hummingbird comes up to the flowers outside the window every morning...yesterday Clementine caught sight of him and was pretty interested in what it was all about...who's that? what's it doing? She likes to sleep on my pillow, so I wake up in the middle of the night w/ a small white fluffy thing in my face..and then we have to jockey for who gets to keep the pillow, my head or her body...I don't have the heart to kick her off, so i just nudge my head onto the corner of the pillow and try to make it work...eventually she gets up and leaves and I go back to sleep...she's 11 and I let her do what she wants...how can you not, right?
for your eyes...I figured we could all use some Johnny Depp right about now, eh? Its hard to find pics of him where he doesn't look like he just crawled out from under a rock and doesn't desperately need a bath...he's such a nice guy, I guess its his way of 'rebelling' against the Hollywood look that so many other cheesecake actors aspire to...which is cool and all, but it makes for finding pictures a little difficult...I did my best to find 'clean Johnny' for ya...I love those purple glasses, I gotta get me a pair of those...they are for sale here
School starts Monday, apparently its already started in other parts of the country...Florida has already gone back...I thought Texas was the only pre-September state, but I am wrong...is it a Southern State thing? I dunno...regardless, we'll have to be looking out for tennis players and other kids at the school again...it was nice to walk the dog at the school with nooooo one around...peaceful, if not blazingly hot...still, I prefer a quiet place where she can run and investigate...the band was practicing their new field formation the other day (in the parking lot, of course) and they were constantly getting yelled at...they'd get about 8 notes into the song and have to stop...I guess hitting your mark at the 45yd line isn't as easy as it seems...
When did BMX bike racing become an Olympic sport? Did the Greeks zoom around on their bikes too? Fascinating! Have you seen any 'fringe' sports like badminton or Equestrian? I thought hitting the shuttlecock was supposed to be a relaxing, fun thing to do..they are hitting it at 100mph...crazy cool...I missed the dressage, I always enjoy the horses at the Olympics, but i mighta missed my opportunity to see it this year...I thought it was the last weekend of the Olympics...oh well...Be sure to buy your frosted flakes when they hit the store shelves...just like Mike...I love frosted flakes, I don't think I've had any since college...yum...
I was surfing Etsy and saw Hunter the Cactus monster and thought he was funny looking...his expression reminds me of that weirdo Gary Busey...especially the teeth...if you want Hunter to live with you, click the 'Etsy' link and go get him...he makes me laugh...
After reading on USA Today and MSNBC the results of who won what medals last night, I decided I could handle watching it...it was Shawn's turn to win a gold, she was performing and getting handed the silver (which is still pretty sweet), but after 10 years of practice and anticipating the Olympics, you wanna come home with a gold...especially when you're as good as she is...plus, I saw that Jonathan Horton had gone ballistic on the high bar and scored a silver, so I had to watch that...pretty freakin' sweet...it was nice to see the right athletes come away with the right hardware...tonight is exhibition and fun, and if it doesn't involve a hurdle, I'll watch...
Its been really busy here behind the scenes, although I don't have anything to show for it, exactly...but trust me, I've been busy doing stuff...and I have more days of stuff to do...after spending most of yesterday in Austin taking care of stuff, I'm back here at the house, spending the day upstairs again, organizing, tossing, keeping and purging stuff...I tossed all my stuffed animal collection over the stairrail the other day and the carnage of the little animals at the bottom of the stairs looked as tho they had all jumped to their fluffy deaths...but they all survived and are happy...do I really NEED a collection of stuffed animals? I have a few sentimental ones that I'm ready to part with (a buffalo from Catalina Island, some bunnies that I don't remember where they came from), and a whole slew of hedgehog animals that I might have to find a place for...but for now, they are giving me some much needed space where I can put new stuff...I've run across so much stuff that I haven't seen in two years - texturizing hammers, silver jewelry that I made in my silversmith classes, frits, dichro strips, wire, my entire earring collection from the past 20 years (I'm not kidding - and I've purged about 2/3 of them), its been really great getting up there and working on it...I have a huge box of stuff to toss, and some small totes of things to keep (in an organzed way)...I like just sitting among it all, once I let it wash over me, I tend to be able to let it go easier...its like the bond slips away and I'm asking myself "will you REALLY use that? no? then lose it"...and I like that...I've always been a purger - I prefer a non-cluttered house and if I haven't seen or used something in 2 years, I prob don't need it...now, don't get me wrong, I have PLENTY of stuff that I still am keeping, but I like to streamline...plus, it gives me room to bring in new stuff...heh...
I did just what I said I'd do - I stayed away from the Olympics last night and it was refreshing...granted, most of the reason I stayed away was that Brian has food poisoning (no, it wasn't me, he ate something at work) and as such, it was an interesting night...he's still pretty sick today, you get the idea...I bought him a buncha comfort foods - mashed potatoes, pudding/jello, nilla wafers, crackers, chicken soup, white bread, yogurt, bananas, Sprite, foods that are bland and easy on the stomach...he's had some jello and mashed taters and I'm trying to convince him to take some Immodium AD, but he's afraid it'll come back up so we're at a standoff...I can sympathize, i had an intestinal bug when I returned from Germany that tore me up for over a week...took me a second week just to recoup...things'll get better as we go, but sometimes your body just has to get thru it...at least he's drinking water and getting some food in him...
I've had some antique samplers 'in the shop' the past week and just picked them up from a local conservator who took them out of their terrible frames and stitched them to some acid-free foam core covered in fabric to keep them in as good a state as she can...they are dated 1793 and 18XX something, i can't remember the date on the second one...they are kinda beatup, but it was fun to get to see them out of their frames - we took pics of them and I'll attach them to the back of the frame for posterity...I was thinking of taking the saying from the old beatup sampler and creating a new complimentary sampler using the same colors...Here's the back of the piece, where you can see what the colors look like...the front, they are all faded into oblivion...(I'll post more pics once I get them all processed)...
I've been enjoying the Olympics, the Michael Phelps phenom and all that hooha...but I'm pretty much rattled regarding the women's gymnastics and all the crap the Chinese and judges have been pulling...last night a Chinese vaulter beat the American, even tho the Chinese landed on her knees...I realize her vault was a higher value, but when you land on your knees, do you really deserve a bronze medal? And now I read another gymnast has lost a gold due to a tie-breaker that didn't go her way (no spoilers, all names are withheld)...is that fair? Especially when the winner is the Chinese gymnast is the same one who is only 14 years old and has no business competing due to the age qualification being 16 and older (its not her fault, the government is lying to allow her to compete)...I don't think its fair that we are losing to the Chinese when they are so blatantly cheating...so I think I need to take a break tonight and do something else...
I didn't know Michael Phelp's mom is a school principal...how cool is that...can you imagine what school will be like for her this year - especially if Michael shows up for a school assembly or something...how fun would that be? Loves it...
We are getting some fantastic dark skies, cooler temps and rain these next few days...its a wonderful break from the 100+ days we've had since May...you get used to the heat, you might not like it, but you get used to it and you just deal...except Aug and Sept are the worst...we normally don't get a decent break until October...so these next few days are a nice reprieve...ahhhh......
I'm heading upstairs to the scary room where all the stuff stays that has nowhere else to go...we bought some totes at Target and I'm gonna try to organize what I have...its a frightening thought, actually...i'm ready to get the room in order so I can reclaim the space and actually USE it properly...wish me luck...
UPDATE: I've been up here for 4 hours and the room actually looks worse than it did, but I think that's cause I've thrown stuff all over the place...I've brought some bags upstairs to load junk into, I've made piles of 'keep', 'toss', 'donate' and 'sell' (we'll see if I ever get around to selling anything)...and I can see daylight in a small area that I haven't seen the bottom of for months...its been a lot of going thru bags and boxes, rediscovering stuff that I bought at B&B (sunglasses! rings! beads!) and coming to terms with stuff that need to go, no matter how nice it still is...that's what PayPal is for...I found some bracelets that I tossed in the tumbler during lunch, and when I pulled them out, I found a ring that I put in there a week ago...full of surprises, that tumbler is...
I stumbled on a website the other day that had cake disasters that i found hilarious...can you imagine giving the cake decorator the instructions to put 'olympic rings' on the cake and that's what you're given? I cracked up...and of course, I woulda taken it to the office and laughed and laughed...that's when you buy a bag of M&M's and just make your own rings (like the other cake pictured)...its a crazy world..someone oughta sell tickets...I'd buy one...
another day, another exciting swimming meet...yelling at the TV...clapping and cheering...we're having fun...
its actually raining here right now...its been so long since it rained, I can't tell you the last time we had a decent soaking...it rained for 10 seconds the other day - hardly enough to make a difference...we love the rain...I read something the other day - do you know why the rain dances worked for the Indians back in the day? cause they kept dancing till it rained...makes sense to me...bring it on...I shoulda washed my car, that always makes it rain around here...and I haven't washed it in a long time...dusty...
we paid a long overdue visit to IKEA, but it was just a 'tire kicking' session...took notes, looked around, had some meatballs and came home...not a purchasing day...didn't take the truck...some days ya just gotta go see what's there, others you gotta take the truck and haul some of it home...on the way home we saw a hay fire in the median...there were large trucks and trailers hauling huge bales of hay and apparently some of the hay caught fire...the bales had been tossed into the grass, the fire trucks were hosing everything down..its so hot and dry that just a tiny spark is sending stuff burning up...Brian said you could smell the hay, and the smoke was bright white...kinda like when a new Pope is chosen...heh...
Now THAT's how ya do it! Nastia stuck her landings on her vault and beam and she won the gold...I thought Shawn would be the better of the two, but the judges were so terrible in their scoring that they really messed her over...she was better than the scores they gave her, but she has the silver and she's happy and that's all that matters...good job girls, you rule!
I was so bummed to hear that Harry Potter 6 has been pushed from November of this year to July 2009...boohissboo!!! We have to wait almost a YEAR to see the movie...! its because of the writer's strike, it affected the stream of movies and next summer looks to be pretty stinkola...since Warner Bros. is raking in the $ on Dark Knight this year, they can afford to push HP to next summer to help offset the lack of money they're gonna make...i read a small list of the movies coming out next summer (not including HP) and it looked, as Homer would say "Boring!"...i understand the business decision, but I was looking forward to the movie this winter...
I found a funny picture on the web yesterday, but if you are of a sensitive nature regarding women's boobs and wedding dresses, then perhaps you wouldn't wish to visit this link...Its probably the raunchiest wedding dress you can imagine, and to think that someone would actually find it appropriate cracks me up all sorts of ways...If you think you can handle the smuttiness of the boobage, check it out for yourself and see what you think...would YOU let YOUR daughter get married looking like this? Who would?
My neighbor's chickens are out in the yard, running around like..well, chickens! there are about 6 or 8 of them, white and black ones, and I like when they zooooom around really fast...so cute...I can't hear them, they are too far away, but I'm spying them thru my window...as I'm known to do...I sound like I have nothing better to do than spy on my neighbors thru my windows, but its not like that...we've recently changed up the furniture layout in the living room and now I can enjoy the view out the window...the mornings are nice, it gets East sun and everything is still in shade, the garden is quiet and dark...so I enjoy looking out at this time of day...and there were the chickens doing their thing...we country folk are a plain, simple people...
Yesterday i had my hair chopped off even more...and of course even tho I asked not to have lots of curls (please use that flat iron like I do!), she left me with loads of curls all over...I love my hairperson, she is the best ever, but she does like playing w/ my hair and letting the freak curls fly...I can't fault her - nearly every hair person I've been to for any length of time loves to scrunch up my curls and let them go nuts...and i like to tame them w/ my flat iron and make them straighten out...(the irony is they curl on their own- I can't win)...but it is shorter and asymmetrical and its so much easier than having long curly hair in this hot, humid place...
After being away from my usual routine the past couple of days, I'm back on track for while...I hung out with Corina yesterday here at the house, she was staying w/ a friend in Austin and their a/c blew out...too hot...so we hung out here, had some home cooked food, did some show and tell, talked about everything and nothing in particular and had a great time...did I take pics? no...I hadn't seen Corina in years, so it was fun to catch up...she snagged some yarn and needles from me and is gonna do some knittin'...and no, I didn't snag any beads from her...i left them all for YOU...
You can't be growing weary of the Olympics just yet - there's still more swimming and gymnastics to be watched...next week, during the track and field events, you can take a break and go back to whatever it is that you do...I'm not all that into the track and field stuff, I guess its cause i can't clear a hurdle or jump over anything larger than a shoe...can.not.relate...
The dog got me up early, she was ready to go out and was doing her little quiet 'hush' bark that she does when she is 'talking' to us...its all rather amusing and you can't get mad at that...at least she uses her inside voice...cause she has a very loud bark and hearing it in my ear at 7:00am is not my idea of a good way to start the day...
The band and football kids are still out practicing in the mornings when its cool...makes sense...so we rode around the countryside looking for places to get out and run...I saw a neat hawk waiting to spot his breakfast...there's such great birdlife out here, its really spectacularrrrr....I enjoy the mornings, the front yard is still in shade and the air, while warm, is still comfortable...once 10:00am hits - run and hide...too hot!
The poor women gymnasts, they couldn't keep their heads together...each one of them faulted on the floor, after Alicia fell off the beam...FELL OFF...you can't do that at the Olympics...she rattled the entire group and they all settled for silver...whats so sad is, she can do that mount (where she fell) perfectly fine any day of the week...but that's not when it matters...its always so tough to perform at the Olympics, even the Chinese were faultering (falling on beam too)...your body can do the moves, but your brain can't handle the pressure...I've seen it happen time and time again...entire teams will just crumble, both men and women...still, the silver is better than nothing...too bad the Chinese are putting up their 12 yr old girls in competition...have you seen how tiny they are? you can just tell these kids aren't 16, its so obvious...they can barely make a dent in the springboard when they vault...ha...whaddya gonna do...the Chinese substituted the little girl in the opening ceremonies cause she wasn't pretty enough, they'll certainly lie about a kid's age in order to win gold...and the wheels go round and round...
So, did you catch the Men's gymnastics last night? And the sync diving? And the swimming medals? Another glorious night for the Olympics...not everyone was perfect, but it was still tons o' fun...I can't wait to see the women tonight..I hope they've settled down and come out ready to battle...they're good and I want to see them do well...the Bronze for the men's was an unexpected victory, lets hope our chicks can bring home the gold, cause they have the potential to do it...rock on!
Another day of busy busy here...trips to Austin, meetings, appts, all of it...I'm finally home and have even more things to do here...I did get some beads made yesterday, they are pretty crap, but I am happy...at least I got back on the torch, at least the flame was steady and I managed to get some glass melted...at least I'm moving in the right direction...
I have another action-packed day tomorrow...haircut and then hooking up with some folks...who knows when I'll be home...the dog won't recognize me anymore...she wonders where I am...who am I, this stranger that keeps showing up in her yard...yeah, yeah, I know...I did take the Vampyr out today, it was good to blow the cobwebs out of the tailpipe...sounds like a joke, but there were literally cobwebs on my tailpipe...yeah, sure, so I don't drive it as much as I should...I'm taking it out again tomorrow, its filled up w/ petrol and is ready to rock...it needs a bath, tho...dusty little Vamp...
Please tell me that you watched it last night...live...the 4x100 men's swimming relay...how crazy-exciting was THAT? (watch the full video HERE) I do love it when athletes talk smack about one another - when will they learn NEVER to do that? All it does is fire up the competition and cause you grief...poor France, I guess no one told them to keep their big yappers shut...amazing stuff...that was one really fast race, the World Record green line was wayyyy behind the teams, the winning team was 4 seconds ahead of the WR...that's crazy-fast...Note to other Olympians: Do not taunt your fellow athletes...
The women gymansts had their share of flubs and falls, not only the Americans, but the Chinese goofed too...still, they did it in style...and what's with the obviously 12 yr old girls who they are claiming are 16? its so obvious when a girl is still a child and when they are 16 or 18...no wonder Bela Karyoli is up in arms...he's hilarious anyway...I think the men's competition is tonight and women are tomorrow...good stuff...
I had a great meeting with a local textile conservator here in town and she's taking care of my ancient samplers for me...I'm heading over today to take some shots of the pieces on the back - where all the tell-tale information takes place - before she mounts them on acid-free boards for framing...I've had the opportunity to view lots of antique samplers in London and Cambridge, and when the front of the piece is all faded from the hundreds of years exposed to sunlight, the backs of the pieces are typically still bright with color...I'm curious to see what the backs of these pieces can tell me...
The best news of all, tho is I'm spending the day on the torch...I anticipate having a GOOD DAY, now that the deflector is installed and the generator is home and everything is back to normal...I'm gonna go walk the dog and then get underway...I like having a routine (that I can deviate from sometimes) where I know what I'm doing that day, I can play my books on cd, or watch my Netflix movies, and get stuff DONE...this is gonna be a good day...yeehaw!
It sounds like it...for me, its all about the gymnastics..mostly the women, but I enjoy the men's too...I just read a story on MSNBC about how the women did today...I won't ruin it for you, bit I will say it'll be interesting to watch tonight...I was telling Brian that as a kid I always enjoyed the Olympics cause I could relate to the athletes..NOT that I was as good as they were, but because I too could swim, dive, tumble, ice skate and I could appreciate just how hard/scary the routines were to perform...I think if you've never been on a balance beam, you really don't have any idea just how truly scary it is...and how really hard the parallel bars are - I never could even begin to attempt to do those...I used to do floor exercise and beam when I was in school...I was proud to be able to do a backward roll on the beam...so the thought of flipping around on it, landing on the 4" wide beam, there's just no way...its terrifying...I watched the men on the pommel, vault, rings and giant bar last night...good stuff...those bodies are so beautiful...and the swimmers have those long rubbery muscles, I'm always impressed at how beautiful the human body can be when it's toned and in shape...
I've got an appt. in town to have some antique needlework tended to...I bought two samplers off eBay and they need to be re-framed...but my framer is wary of touching them, for fear of damage...one sampler is dated 1793 and needs to be removed from the frame for some repair...the other sampler isn't quite as old or damaged, but I've already picked out some great frames for the both of them, now I just need to have them viewed...I may end up taking them apart myself, depending on how I feel about it all...I'm not afraid to do it, I just don't want to make things worse, of course...but it looks like these pieces were framed in the 40's, the fabric is wrinkled and on the older one, it looks as though it might be stuck to the glass..the hanging wire is actually a piece of string that was roughly nailed into the frame, which then caused it to splinter...its just a mess and needs some love...time to step in and see what can be done for it...wish me luck!
I saw so many cool pictures of the Opening Ceremonies for the Olympics that I went ahead and watched it all last night...and I can only say one word to describe it: Spectacularrrrrr!!!!! Really amazing..I can't even say what my favorite part was because there were so many incredible images...and I won't rant about anything negative, I'm drinking my koolaid and staying positive...Brian wants one of the 'light suits' that turn on and off...they were really groovy! The Ralph Lauren uniforms looked SO good and professional, I was impressed...
I played around at the fine silver torch yesterday and made a few new rings...pics to come, i swear...
There are some cool things going on behind the scenes here, but I am waiting for some more bits and pieces to fall into place before I can say anything else...and who knows, maybe nothing will happen, and it's all for nothing...I'll know more in the next coming days...
And, I almost forgot- guess what arrived yesterday! Yep, the deflector is here, and it works great! Brian placed it on the vent and I could feel the air hitting the back wall now..I haven't had time to fire up the big torch just yet, but I'm ready! I just have a BUNCH of stuff to do this weekend, errands, trips, plans, places to go, and it may be Monday before I get to the torch...even so, I'm glad to have the chance to get back to work soon...I'm ready...I've been imagining making lots of beads...weird...
You don't REALLY wanna work today, DO YOU? So, I'm here to help...I'm sure you've seen one or two of the 30 Second Bunnies that re-enact movies, but have you ever visited the website and watched THEM ALL? Me neither! So, I happened to stumble upon the site this morning, after chasing my way thru a weird path thru the internet tubes...I don't even remember what I was searching for, but here we are...I even spotted some other very cool sites that I'll be linking to down the road...such fun this whole 'internets' thing is, isn't it? What did we do before Al Gore created it? Did we pick up a book and read it? I can't remember back that far...
Guess...what....arrived....at...my....house...yesterday....that's right! I HUGE tub of Bronze PMC...I'm still waiting on the charcoal to fire it with, I had to order that from another source and it should arrive, oh I dunno, soon...the packs of 100g are thick and tasty...I haven't opened one up yet, I've just fondled the silvery foil package and enjoyed the pretty autumn colors screened on the front...not red and yellow like silver PMC, but deep russet and olive green...mmmmm....do I KNOW how to use this stuff? Why no, I do not...will I screw it up royally? Why yes, I believe I will...but don't we all? what's nice it - its cheap...so ruining a pack of it won't be the end of the world...
In the meantime, i've been pulling out my .999 silver wire and making more of the textured wrap rings..only this time instead of making a 5-wrap, I made them half that size...and then added some wire to give some color and dimension...my next thought is - I can keum-boo them, right? I mean, I can keum-boo PMC, which is .999 fine, so I could do it to a .999 ring as well, eh? I don't see why not...now if I can only find the supplies I bought from Celie at B&B, I might be able to add some gold to these here rings....I think I need to get to work and stop farting around watching bunnies...
I thought it was interesting that Madonna, Prince and Michael Jackson all turn 50 this year...I chose to use photos of them in their 'good' years, although I will admit that Prince still looks great (i.e. normal)...Its kinda weird to see they are all turning 50, cause I remember watching the Jackson 5 cartoon when I was a kid...I had the 'Off the Wall' 8-Track and we used to dance to some tunes off it in our high school drill team...Then college hit and that's when Madonna and Prince showed up on the scene...I remember being at a small club in the little town where I was going to college, and Prince came on the sound system - and most of the dance floor went and sat down...no one knew who he was! I had seen his Doves Cry video on MTV (a big deal in 1982) and knew exactly who he was...course, a few weeks later everyone in the world knew who he was, with Purple Rain and all that...but I still remember thinking 'what is wrong with you people, don't you know who Prince is?' and realizing I was slightly ahead of the curve on that one...
And then there was the whole Madonna thing - everyone wearing black lace, lotsa chains and bracelets, and frizzy blonde hair...I always thought Madonna was good at what she did best - marketing herself...she's not a great singer, but she's a great entertainer, and that's pretty cool...I like it when anyone can conquer their field of choice when they aren't necessarily the best at it...there's something to be admired about that...and she has some catchy tunes to sing along with too...
I watched The Graduate last night on TCM...Man, I really love that channel, they show such great movies, they don't clog them up w/ commercials, Robert Osborne has a nice little stash of trivia about the movie before and after the show, its just a classy channel...Anne Bancroft is so gorgeous in the movie (she was only 6 years older than Dustin Hoffman) and the dialog is classic...Such a great slice of life in 1967...Berkeley campus, San Fran in the late 60's, 'plastics', afternoon cocktails and all the doors were unlocked - Benjamin sneaks back into the Robinson house - no locked doors...Elaine sneaks into Benjamin's on-campus room - no locks...such a free-love kinda time, the cares in the world weren't in your backyard quite yet...and of course, the SOUNDTRACK cannot be beat...classic...I like how Mike Nichols would use entire songs in a montage, instead of just a 20 second sound bite...such a great movie....
Well, so much for the rains, we struck out...yet another example as to why when we hear a hurricane is going to hit the coast, that we don't freak out too much...we've learned that Mother Nature (MN as we like to call her) will pretty much do whatever she wants and we just have to live with it...Have you ever seen the Weather Predictor Rock? It goes something like this:
If the Rock is:
Wet - It is raining
White - It is snowing
Moving - It is windy
Hot - It is sunny
Gone - There's a tornado
That pretty much is all we need to predict the weather here...
When I took the dog to the high school for her walk yesterday morning, the BAND was in the parking lot, practicing...it was so cool...I remember those days, being in the drill team, and our band would use our parking lot to practice and march..I remember one year one of the girls layed her trumpet down and it was run over by another student...that was not good...we rarely practiced with the band, we'd do a quick run thru so we knew our spots on the field, but mostly we'd practice on our own, in the gymnasium and then we'd take the field Friday night...it was always fun, I liked being on the field, but also being one of many in the crowd...some years we'd have ladders that we'd dance around, or great big skirts that showed really nicely in the stadium...good times...it was fun to see the band practice yesterday...but I took the dog to another location so she didn't have to get involved with anyone or potentially scare anyone...I had dreams about Dobermans last night, we were in a large city like NYC and people were out walking their pure bred Dobies, when I realized that our dog doesn't really look like a pure bred Dobie...similar, but not exactly...which is probably why everyone asks us what kind of dog she is...her ears aren't cropped and she's got the white blaze on her chest..she's a mystery dog, but we have fun with her all the same...
Nothin'....nada....zip....zilcho....bupkuss.....guess how much rain we got from the hurricane...righto...guess who is now watering her front yard...righto...I...am...so...bummed...out....
You might have heard - a hurricane is heading for TExas...I just saw MSNBC and they claim its already made landfall in Galveston...if that's the case, then we should be seeing some really decent rain today...I'm counting on it (like a dodo)...While I don't want anyone to suffer damage at the hands of the 'cane, I do desperately need a good soaking rain for my trees and yard...I've been watering, but there's nothing like real rain to make everything come to life again...its been crazy hot and dry here of late, grassfires every day, scorched earth, the whole thing...no, it doesn't look like Beyond Thunderdome, its not that bad, but when we spot rain 400 miles away in the Gulf, we start doing the rain dance to bring it home...I hear that the storm will be coming right thru Austin - yeehaw...right now its sunny and calm outside, but I'm gonna be watching for signs of storms...I should go walk the dog now, before I have to bring her inside for the day...
My redirect vent has been shipped, but its not arrived quite yet...still, its gonna be here soon and I'm gonna have to put the child gate up to keep Clem outta the kitchen so i can get back on the torch...I'm SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO looking forward to it...(Clem is not, I'm sure)...
Ok then, lets get ready to rumble!!!!!!!!!!
Bead Girl bags - more than 50% off price! Thanks Julie, for the link...
I know the comments/blog section has gone wonky again...its my fault, kinda...but I'll take the heat for it...when I couldn't connect to the SQL server the other day, I thought maybe i had accidentally corrupted the blog code, so I copy/pasted some code that I thought was 'fixed' (it was marked as 'fixed' by someone, so I thought it was), but alas, it is rather broken, isn't it? I really need to rebuild the page and put it all back together properly, and that's gonna take me some time, so for the interim, its gonna be wonky...sorry about that, it wasn't intentional and I don't like it either...I've found some portion in the HTML code that I've changed to try to make the column smaller, but when
I make the change, and save the edit, it reverts back to the previous information...which I find odd, but don't know why its doing that to me...and such is the circle of code fixing...nice...
We befriended some rescue greyhounds over the weekend, and they are so thin and sleek compared to our dog...one of them about 5 months old, kept trying to jump up on me, he wanted to be held...a giant greyhound wanted me to hold him...he was a pretty blonde dog and I woulda been happy to bring him home, but we can't really deal with two large dogs in this house...its all Lady can do to get up and down the narrow hallways, its no wonder she prefers being outside where there is plenty of room to run...if we do get another dog to keep her company, I think it'll have to be a small dog...something that fits in the house, and something she won't feel is a threat...i've been told we should consider a puppy, as they are not threatening, but I don't think I want all the chewing and peeing in the house...plus, will a puppy chase the cats, thinking they are toys? Clementine really doesn't need to be chased right now...that's how we ended up with her - a bulldog puppy was brought into her house and thought she was toy...she's 11 now, I don't want to terrorize her at this point...but I'd like Lady to have a dog companion in her world, to play with and keep her company...will have to figure all this out in time...
Brian is cutting some backerboard to replace some tiles that have come loose in the bathroom...he says "I have to cut a piece 11 and 15/32" and another one 3 and 11/16"...ugh! Why can't we just cut 50cm and 100cm? Isn't that easier? Weren't we supposed to 'go metric' back in elementary school? do they even teach that any longer? our nation is so stubborn sometimes...I hate reading tape measures, its too complicated...bah...
Not much is going on here, as you can see...tile repairs, staying indoors and soaking up the a/c...We did catch the latest XFiles movie yesterday afternoon, since we used to be such big XPhiles, and figured we 'ought' to support the film...Wow, did it suxors- bigtime! Really bad...Mulder and Scully were good, but the story was stupid, the writing was bad, the shots were boring, it is a really bad movie...stay away...do not enter...go see Wall*E or Dark Knight again...whew!
Its probably not a big deal for most folks, but I was tickled to see a new Carolina wren on our fence the other day...the pair we had earlier this year were both killed by the outside cats because the poor little birds feed mostly on the ground, and the cats, well, they couldn't resist...and I was lucky enough to discover both their little bird bodies, which was a real bummer for me...So, seeing the new wren is actually a mixed emotion for me...I'm glad to have them around again, but I worry for their safety...they are spazzy little birds, not afraid of much and that is their undoing...they need to be more cautious, and I need to find a place to relocate Jack, Chloe and Catalina (although I don't think Catalina had anything to do with the previous killings)...Still, I am excited enough to post some pics of the birds for your enjoyment...I found these on Google, they are not my images...love the little baby in the nest w/ the eggs...
I had a laugh yesterday - I had ordered two watercolor prints off Etsy and had been excitedly expecting them to arrive...the previous prints I've ordered from various artists are typically 8x10 or 9x11 in size, so I was all ready to get these new ones framed and hung on the wall...when Brian came out of the post office yesterday, he held a few bits of mail but I didn't see an envelope that I was expecting, so i figured perhaps it was still being held for ransom from the PO, needing my signature to release it..no problem...but no, when he get back to the car, he handed me this small envelope- and inside were the two watercolor prints I was expecting...they are 2x3...! I was laughing...I guess they'll make a nice LITTLE display somewhere in the house, IF I remember to get them framed...what'll is cost, .79 cents or something????...ha...
I am STILL kicking myself for not researching the deflectors for the a/c units further...and I'm still laughing at myself for it...I just never even considered such a thing existed, so it never occurred to me to even LOOK for one...nor did I ask anybody...and getting ahold of our a/c dude has been a pain in the butt...he prob coulda suggested one, if we coulda actually talked to him, instead of playing phone tag...regardless, I do believe it should arrive one day next week, and I'm excited...I'm ready to get back to work, seriously...
We are heading into the worst part of the summer for us - August/September...its been really bad the past 3 months, and the thought of two more to go is really a drag...I'm sure its how ya'll who live far up north probably feel when you know you have more snow coming, and you're feeling that Spring Fever hit...I have Fall Fever, if there is such a thing...
I can tell that its 'movie dumping ground' too, the few movies that have come out look really weak...Swing Vote? The Mummy part IX? Pineapple Express ("I'm already in the dumpster")...ugh...I've seen a couple of trailers for the new Ben Stiller movie, Tropic Thunder, and some of them have been cut to look funny, but others have been cut and look awful...like Brian says "all the funny bits were in the trailer"...I think I'm gonna wait on seeing that one, but I'm sure the dudes will think its funny...I might have to go see Wall*E eventually, tho...
