No End in Sight

Lemme just say to you productive bloggers out there: Where do you get the energy? With all the blogging, amazing projects, holiday madness, and having a real life n all...seriously, how do you people sleep?

Still having hinky computer issues, and I'm lazy so check out the post about it on the official jewelry blog:http://bluedartdesigns.blogspot.com/2011/12/no-end-in-sight.html

Hoping to be back in business within a couple of weeks, woohoo! Happy New Year folks!

Computer issues (AGAIN!)

(For those of you who follow both my blogs, I apologize for the double post in your streams!)


A quick note (using an old rickety laptop with a usb keyboard since the laptop is missing half its keys) to mention computer issues....again. My laptop crashed for no apparent reason, and R's laptop (same model as mine) is also broken-the power pin ripped out when he unplugged it. Awesome. Mine had that problem on three separate occasions. We are not happy campers, and plan on raising a fuss to have the laptops returned and our money refunded. We bought the laptops in April of this year, and this will be the 4th time mine is going in for "repair." It wouldn't be so bad if the customer service rep didn't try to tell us it's our fault every time. "Oh, your power pin snapped off? You'll be charged for that!"

Apparently, one is never ever ever supposed to unplug a latptop. Ever.

Crankypants.
If R's desktop (from the same company as the laptops) hadn't crashed a few months back, this would be slightly less of a crummy situation. He's only had the desktop for a couple of years, and it's DOA. Guess who we're never buying computers from again? These guys! Ranty blog regarding how crappy this company is, coming soon! When I have a better functioning computer to use, that is....

If only MAC's weren't so expensive, and could run our sizeable collection of games & software without needing to shell out even more $ for software compatibility programs.

Fortunately, I have a smart phone and can at least access email (though, sadly, not Etsy at the moment) so I can keep up with any sales and mail out packages quickly. Just no fancy pants printed invoices at the moment. Grumble!

So Close

I feel like a neurotic Jack Russel Terrier hyped up on caffeine pills! Yes, that anxious. And, yes, I relate most things in life to dogs. You should know better.

My love is coming home SOON! So soon. Not soon enough, but, I'll take what I can get. This week has been a flurry of activity! Cleaning, chasing dogs down for baths/grooming, trying to stop said dogs from rolling in dirt, getting the car serviced, personal spiffing up, etc etc I am one lazy housekeeper if nobody's around, apparently.

An amazing WONDERFUL neighbor that I wanna hug until her eyes pop (in the happy, cartoon way of course) came by yesterday to help out with a few things, and I ended up monopolizing her whole day with car issues. Thank goodness for Sears Auto, lemme tell you. The dealership wanted $180 to replace the car battery. Before tax. I dun think so. Sears saved me a lovely little hunk of change which will go straight to the "beer n pizza dinner night" fund. Ok, I lie. It'll probably go towards the dogs...but, still! That's a lot of treats.

Now that I have the official date & time for his arrival, it just can't get here fast enough. I'm nearly finished with my to-do list, and the rest of my time will be taken up with obsessively detailed cleaning, trying to vacuum off a dog (hey, YOU try living with a Husky in Texas!), and/or playing computer games to pass the time. Oh, and planning the short-notice Thanksgiving dinner for 15 ish people. Wooohoooo! Good thing I like cooking :)

Bah Humbug

Halloween is my favorite holiday (next to my birthday). I have never skipped a year of dressing up and being a little ridiculous. Until now. I just don't have the energy, or the inclination. Of course it doesn't help that the 4 people I know in the state already have out-of-town plans, or are too busy to celebrate, and the fiancee is all deployed n stuff. So, bahhumbug! I barely put up some half-assed decorations this year (though I did score a pretty sweeeeeet entry mat from target!).

It's glittery and has rats...how could I resist?

I don't even have the excuse of handing out candy, to dress up. Without a large, strong metal gate blocking off the entryway, there is no chance I could keep the beasts from barreling towards the door and barking their heads off every time the doorbell rang. By the time I would be able to usher them into a room and answer the door, the poor kids would probably have fled.  

Which, I'm ok with. Past experiences of handing out candy show that kids are rude little monsters. A few times they've tried stealing the candy bowl from me! 

Which reminds me...I should probably bring that awesome mat in before tonight.....

Happy Halloween, folks!

Crafty bits

I admit, I'm a little wedding-obsessed. Instead of focusing in on the dress though, I'm all about the decor. I'm also a little too cheap to pony-up and by the schmancy pre-made stuff. So, in a fit of madness and mostly boredom, I started in on way too many projects. One of which has great results, but is taking forever. I am not a patient person, so it's slow going on this right now. I also kinda suck at taking photos of the whole process...my bad.

Materials:
Fine grit sandpaper
Container (Glass votive, old drinking cup, etc)
Sticks of varying length & width
Glue gun & several glue sticks
Branch snippers


Start with a container. In this case, I'm using a cheapy paint can. It was used as a flower pot in a previous life...

Grab some fine grit sand paper and give your container a once-over with it. If using glass, skip this step. Whatever you use, make sure you give it a good wash & thorough dry before hand.

Warm up the glue gun! I like to use sticks about an inch longer than the container itself. Make sure the bottom of your sticks are cut level with the ground, then go wild! I'm using dried branches from the sunflower jungle I finally cut down. 

Grab a stick, then look at where the stick meets the container, and put a dab of glue on the top & bottom of the container to secure. When placing the following sticks, put dabs of glue along the sides as well as the top & bottom. Hold in place until fairly secure and move on. 

It should like zis.

There comes a time when you may find yourself with a gap, like so.

Grab a wonky little bit of branch, and snip the top at an angle to match up with the gap.

Glue in place, like zis. 

Then cut to length, like zis!

You may notice the sticks tend to lean after awhile. You can fix this by going around and gluing them straight up and filling the gaps in later, like above, or just go with it. 

Which is what I did below...

Did I mention I was bored, and a little crazy? Yup.

Continue until it's covered all around with those larger sticks, then go back over it and fill in the gaps with the smaller bits left over from trimming. If you have a lot of stringy bits left over from the glue, take a hair dryer set on "high" for a quick blast to melt 'em away.

Yep, it's a little tedious if you're a fan of quick results. But, the results are pretty killer. So far I've stuck-it to a tea light holder, plastic nursery pot, and a little olive jar. I'm pretty stoked on how these are turning out, especially the plastic nursery pots! Our recycling center doesn't accept the recyclable pots (uhm, cuz that makes sense), so I have an ever growing collection if these babies just hanging out. The vague plan in my head is to eventually cover all those babies, and have a prettified stash of container we can use for the wedding and beyond. 

Fundraiser goodness

As I mentioned in a previous post, I'm holding a fundraiser via crowdrise for my birthday. Rather, using my birthday as an excuse to raise money for The Nature Conservancy.

So far, I managed to raise $90 of my $200 goal! 45% of the way there, folks! Thank you, again, if you're one of the three awesome folks to have already donated!

I admit I'm pretty bad at pushing myself out there-I don't want to be annoying with all the "HEY! Donate! NOWWWWW!!!!!!"

I do totally want you to donate, though. Pretty please? I don't want to be annoying, I really don't. All the money goes to a GREAT cause, and it's tax-deductible! Hey, if I can get 22 people to donate JUST five dollars, I would meet my goal! Awesome, right? It's all really easy, too. Just follow the crowdrise link to go directly to the donation page. A great quirk of crowdrise, is the writing is a little snarky. I like snarky.
It's just a few simple clicks to donate any amount ya want. Want to find out more about The Nature Conservancy?
Here's their home page. 

For followers of either of my blogs (and anyone you refer!) there's an extra incentive to donate! Anyone who donates any amount of five dollars or more to the fundraiser will receive a coupon for free shipping on orders from my etsy shop. $20 donations also receive a coupon for 10% off your entire purchase! $40 donations will receive free shipping, 10% discounts and a free pair of beaded earrings in your choice of colors! $50 and up gets all the previously mentioned goodies, plus custom earrings from a selection of styles, and a whole bunch of yet-to-be-determined goodies, depending on interest and preferences... If you like cookies, there's a darn good chance I'll make some for you.

Want to "join the team" and help promote the fundraiser further? You can do that! Check out the donation page for more info. I like teams, teams are fun. Hop on board the fundraiser-wagon, and we can raise even more for TNC! And I'll even let you think it was all your idea. Promise.

Just comment on this post after donating, to get the goodies rolling. If you'd rather not make a fuss on the webz about your donation, go ahead and drop me an email instead. Don't forget to share this post with friends! The more you refer, the more treats I'll send your way. I'm already stockpiling them. So, go go go!!

On gushing & roses

May I have a moment to gush like a fool? Kthx

This afternoon I received a rather unexpected package from UPS. If I had the sense to take pictures of it before tearing into the long, slender box, I would have. Know what comes in long slender boxes these days?

Two dozen long stem red roses. That's what. And a super sweet note from R that had me grinning, crying a little, and saying "no freaking WAY" all with my jaw firmly planted on the ground. I guess you could say I was a tad surprised. I thought flowers like this only got sent as a sweeping gesture to that impossibly flawless pretty girl in romantic comedies.

This pretty girl got 'em, 'just because.'
 If I had been wearing socks, they would have been simultaneously rocked and knocked off.  I'll be moving the vase around the house so I can look at these gorgeous buds all day long. When I wake up in the morning. when I make my coffee. When I spend entirely too much time on my computer. All day long.  R is pretty much the best, but I kinda knew that before the roses. I think this guy might be a little fond of me, and I'm definitely keeping him around.

Have I mentioned this guy is amazink? I'm still rather giddy. 24 red roses. Who does that? While deployed? Love this guy.

end gushing. for now.

On birthdays & nature

Since I'm several states away from 99.9% of the people I know, this year's birthday & the following holiday season is going to pass quietly. I'll probably find a lovely bottle of wine, get some gourmet cheese, and make myself a big ol' Italian dinner. There will likely be a B-rated movie, and couch-cuddling with as many beasts as I can get on the couch at one time. And that is perfectly fine with me.

Okay, fine, I'll probably have a cupcake, too. 

Especially since last year, R was the only one to remember my birthday....and it's not an event I am ever quiet or subtle about. I was already struggling with adjusting to the move and some massive disappointment with people I was close to. Having absolutely nobody remember my birthday (when usually it's a loud, populous affair) had me...well, kind of pissy. R remembered, of course, and was pretty much the only thing that anchored me down to sanity and non-crankyness.

So this year, my expectations are firmly set for a yummy dinner. I'm still making a big fuss about my birthday, in a different way.

 October marks the 60th anniversary of The Nature Conservancy, a rather stellar organization that I've been a member of (off and on) for about a decade now. They've done so much for preserving wild habitats around the world, it's a bit overwhelming. In the best of ways. To honor TNC's 60th anniversary, and all the awesome things they do, I'm holding a little fundraiser via crowdrise.  The donation goal is a modest $200.

In lieu of gifts or cards, I'm asking that folks check out the fundraising page and make a donation. I know a lot of folks out there are struggling with finances, and I'm certainly not one to be all judgy about donation amounts. If my etsy shop was selling, I would have donated more already. So, there.
 If 15 people donate $10, I'll meet my goal! If I manage to raise more than the initial goal of $200, then honestly, that would be one heck of an amazing birthday gift!

As an added incentive: Donate any amount via the crowdrise page I've set up, and you will receive a coupon for my esty shop in your inbox, as well as a complimentry "thank you" gift with your order. I'm whipping out something special to send to donors, so check it out! 

A friend is skipping one coffee drink a week, and donating the money she would have spent on latte's. It's an awesome idea, and makes me wish I spent money on latte's so I could do the same thing. Considering how addicted she is to coffee, I'm trilled she's willing to forego her fix to donate!

Won't you help a gal have an amazing birthday this year?

Peeved

The past couple of weeks, I've been in a mood. A grumpy-all-day, irritated for no specific reason, I-just-wanna-snarl-at-everyone kind of mood.
But, I'm not allowed to be grumpy. The dogs won't let me. Cuz, if I fall asleep, I wake up to this:

Or, if I hand out treats to keep them occupied, the little one decides that sticking his butt in the air is the appropriate way to enjoy his snack:

Or, they use each other's butts for pillows:

Finally, there's the "sleeping against a wall with a tongue sticking out" pose:

That one gets me every time.

Cranky-pants 0, Followers 1gazillion points!

So I was all geared up to bitch n moan about how there are so many rude/nonreciprocating people involved in my life lately; you know, the "friends" that only call you up for favors, the odd acquaintance that hits you up for money (despite the fact the last time you two spoke she accused you of being a "f'ing snob,") or the fact that you end up following a bazillion blogs as per a team-challenge thing and instead of getting "followed" back there's just this insane list of posts you don't have the patience to read through..?
Yeah, I'm in a mood, I know.

BUT! Then, I was checkin' out my dashboard, and some of you awesome folks left a bunch of lovely comments that I had somehow missed before. Lemme tell you, that totally made my day! So thanks for making me less cranky-pants :)
Just so's you know, I'm totally interwebz stalking your blogs if you're all nice n stuff. Cuz I adore you!

Dresser Success

Sometimes I get a wild hair up my ass about a project, and spend an inordinate amount of time researching, planning, and eventually making it happen. The most recent (finished) project was a dresser! 

Short back story to this- I sold/gave away all but three pieces of furniture when I moved  in with/ to Texas with my darlin R. A lot of it was hand-me down crap, stuff I was tired of having, or given to a friend cuz I couldn't fit it in my car...my gorgeous kitchen island being the only thing I regret not bringing with me (other than my plants) *sniff* Besides, his stuff was better. 

Anyway, the lovely buffet/sideboard that I was using as a dresser is now in our kitchen being used as what is was meant to be, leaving us with no dresser. Generous his n hers closets, and some rubbermaid bins have been doing the job, but, I longed for a dresser. A spiffy one. Something with curves. Something with pizzazz. Something that would hold up with several moves better than something from Ikea (I still lub you, Ikea). 

I wanted to balance out the more contemporary straight lines of the bed frame and a hand me down, beat-to-hell  bookcase in our room with something curvy. Something with sexy legs, a little pomp, but not so much foof.  Being cheap thrifty, I started hunting down DIY ideas on the interwebz, and stalking craigslist. I had a pretty solid idea of what I wanted, and probably drove R crazy with all the emails an how many times I changed my mind. Anyway, after weeks of checking craigslist, the perfect dresser popped up for $75.Well, it had a funky finish, but it had great bones.  I called the guy right away, checked it out the following morning, and made a date to come back with some muscle to pick it up (totally would have fit in my car!). Probably could have haggled him down to a lower price, but, I really suck at that. Besides, the gentlemen selling it was incredibly nice, and he rustled up a friend on his end to help him deliver it.That's right, I got it delivered, for free. Awwwwesome. 

So, the real work begins. Ignore the crap on top, it's the craigslist ad photo. All my before pics of the whole thing were even funkier. The top, laminate. So fugly, that sanding it barely roughed up the surface. Ugh. 

I started by taking off the handles, which were all sorts of awesome sauce. Lurve those leafy curve. 

Then I set into sanding all the drawers by hand. There's no electric sander around (other than a dremel) and those lovely inset bits on the drawer fronts require a delicate touch. Let's keep in mind the temp here has been triple digits. So, that was fun. Whatever kind of paint is on these things was a pain and a half to get off, especially by hand. And it was hot. And I'm a big time wimp. So I attacked the drawers with super grippy spray primer instead. Thank, you, Krylon. 

 Pile o' drawers, weeee! 

Then came the paining. And the sanding. And more painting, sanding, touch ups, chasing off birds. I used a crap ton of wood glue to fill hairline cracks and divots. At one point some of the local gangster birds knocked over a drawer and the whole front popped off. I was livid! Thankfully we had some clamps around so I was able to glue the heck out of it and clamp it all down to stick. Then touch up. Oy ve. But it was lookin sooo good! 

The dark coat (Behr's "Gray Timber Wolf) turned out a lot lighter than I expected, but as still fantastic. That went on the outer part of the drawers, with Behr's "Manhattan Mist" on those lovely inset bits. One drawer needed to have those ridges painted on, since at some point it looked like it had sanded off. Can we say hand cramp? Still, the hardest part (other than the profuse sweating) was keeping the dog fluff away from wet paint.  

The handles I attacked with the same white primer I used on the drawers:

Once they dried I went after them with some "aluminum" spray paint, but they came out too shiny for what I had in mind. Some old metallic craft paint and a couple light brush strokes dulled it out nicely, and the handles went back home to their drawers. 

The dresser frame was a breeze, surprisingly enough. I lightly sanded down the whole thing, and prepped it using Glidden Gripper in gray. It's great for painted surfaces, cuz there wasn't a chance I would be tackling that laminate by hand. I am not that motivated. It took me two coats of paint with some light sanding in between to smooth out the bumps, and man, stick a fork in me I was D.O.N.E. 

This thing's been over a month on the works, and buckets of sweat. Thanks to a lovely neighbor, I got this baby moved into the bedroom this afternoon. It looks amaaaaaazing!

I'm stoked with the final product. I'm thinking about taking some metallic paint around the edges to bump up the manly 'tude, but for now I'm calling it done! Still needs a little oil rub-down on the inside, and some purty accessories.Now, if only I could find a couple matching nightstands....

A game of kings

So I'm in a bind and could use some help from the wonderful webz. I want to get R a chess set, something unique but not cheap looking. So plastics, resin, and poly mixes are out. I'm thinking a themed set, along the lines of Ancient Greece (mythology based pieces), Egypt (again, mythology pieces), or Japan (Samurai vs Ninja kind of thing).

Or, a really lovely "standard" ish chess set made from carved stone or wood. But, kind of ...different. Ornate? If that makes sense?

The closest to the myth sets I've found would be here, which has about the right sculpted detail & quality, but I can't find much info on it. There's a set here that's pretty neat, but seems a bit on the "meh" side as far as the pieces go. I can't even find anything close to a non-resin Samurai set.

As for the other options of wood or stone, oy ve. There are so many to choose from, my head is still spinning from it. I can't even begin to narrow down the choices because I'm not familiar with the differences between  a marble piece vs an obsidian piece vs a rosewood piece is. Or, you know, whatever the choices may be. Have any input? Advice? Links?!?

It's Official

Since those close friends that occasionally read this wee blog have finally been informed, I can put the word out in cyber-space: I'm gettin' hitched! (insert flying pigs here?)

 Since R is deployed, it happened over the phone. Still, awesome! We won't be making any definite plans until he's safely home, whenever that happens. 'Til then I get to plot all on my own. A lot of the excitement just isn't there, though, since I don't know anyone in the freakin' state to celebrate.

Oh well, more time for jewelry, right? Hop on over to my other blog, or better yet, check out my etsy store! I need to pay for a wedding here. I am not above shameless self-promotion.

The majority of May was spent squeezing in as much time as possible with my man before he shipped out. Since then, my time has been divided between putting together ridiculous care packages, pouting, visiting with some AMAZING friends that flew out here for a week for some Texas sized shenanigans, and making things.

More specifically, making jewelry. It's been a process getting all the right materials in line to finish the pieces I had originally started, then in drafting up designs and making lists for all the other ideas that come floating into my head. Inspiration's a pain in the ass. It's everywhere, and in sketching out one idea, a dozen others come to mind. It's exhausting. Seriously. Also, there's a lot of pouting going on over here (not me, the dogs) so there's that to deal with. No, really, the dogs pout. It's not me, I swear.

See? Major league pouting. It's hard to get anything when a ball of fluff this large takes your spot on the couch and gives you 'sad face' for the rest of the night. 

It's amazing I get anything done, really. There's entirely too much cute runnin' around here. 

As for the jewelry-I managed to pull myself away from the fuzzballs just long enough to get all artsy with my camera, take some photos, and launch an etsy shop. Wooohoo! Round of applause, please? 

Thank you, thank you. 

Check out the blog for news, new products, discounts, and all sorts of good stuff::http://bluedartdesigns.blogspot.com/ ,and don't forget to check out the store, while you're at it: http://www.etsy.com/shop/BlueDartDesigns 

Custom orders are always welcome, and remember-every purchase you make helps support the above mentioned ball of fluff. Don't make me post any more sad puppy faces. Really, don't. 

On garden beds & poppies

 Have I mentioned how much I adore R? Cuz, like, he's amazink. So wonderful, in fact, that I substitute letters in words for emphasis. A-maz-ink. This time, he built me something I've lusted after for quite some time. A garden bed. Insert squeals of joy -here-

He didn't just build me one. I haz TWO. After the first one was built, we decided it looked lonely (okay, I decided it looked lonely).  He made my garden bed a buddy. So, now, I haz TWO. Again, with the awkward spelling. Anwho, I was so giddy with my first bed that I forgot to take photos. The second time around, I did better. I stalked the man around with a camera. There was plenty of grumbling on his part, and I promised to post no face shots if he let me ask silly questions and bother him when writing the tutorial.

Once it's all together the beds are 4' long x 4' wide. All the wood is untreated cedar- rot & weather resistant, repels insects to some extent, and is pretty durable. Since we'll be moving around a bit, I wanted something we could easily take apart, and a size that could fit into a variety of back yards. We also decided to place the beds against the back fence, to prevent neighbor dogs from digging under fence boards, and our dogs charging the gaping holes.  It took several trips to two different home-improvement stores to get the right materials. One had everything we needed, but their saw couldn't cut through the posts. The other didn't carry the cedar boards, but, they had a large enough saw to cut posts. Oy.

We had all the wood cut before buying. It was loads easier to transport, and cleaner than what we would have done at home with a hand saw. Also,the cuts were free. So there's that...
The downside is that they do rough cuts only, so the boards weren't perfectly aligned for assembly. We didn't mind much (just kind of matched up boards as it went along), but if you're a stickler for perfection you'll probably cut the boards at home with a schmancy saw.
 Now, for the good stuff. To the list!

Materials

Hardware:

We settled on screws specifically for wood applications, one box of 3 1/2" screws for the long ways, and on box of  2 1/2"  for the short ways. You'll have plenty of screws leftover if ya buy a box. Also, each box comes with a drill bit.  These Deck Mate screws were on sale for about $6 each. Scwhing.

Wood:

Untreated cedar. On the left we have the rough cut boards, on the right, our posts. Boards were 8' sections of  2 x 6's cut in half. The posts are sections of  2 x 4.  Probably started with a 12' hunk and cut it down to however tall we needed it (17" in this case, which gives you loads extra room). There was lots of arguing discussion about what size of wood we needed. The man likes to overbuild. 

Other junk:

                                                                  Sexy cordless drill.

                              Tape measure, assortment of drill bits, and a few of the 2 1/2" screws ready to go. 

Make it so:

 Grab two posts and one board, like zis: 

Mark where ya want your holes - ours went in about 2" from the side and 1" from the top. Drill pilot holes for the 2 1/2 " screws, then apply ze hardware! Here's what the first should look like: 

Clear as mud? Excellent. Now, repeat until you have both ends of one board screwed into two posts.Then, do it again, til you have one section that looks like this:

Once ya have that finished, make another. 

Go ahead, I'll wait here. I have coffee..... 

Let's put the sides on, shall we? Don't forget to offset the position of the screws. This time around, we're using 3 1/2" screws. 

First board placed, it should look like this: 

 Easy, no? 

                                     Now, just go on and screw in the remaining boards, like dis:

At some point, it was set on it's side to screw in the last board. Why? I dunno. Just felt like showing the photo. 

Once you're done, you'll notice the posts stick out. That's on purpose, really. 

Take that sexy new bed out into the garden, whereabouts you wanna put it. Grab your shovel. 

See those legs? Yeah, they're going in the ground. Mark the area around those posts, and dig baby. Dig. 

And he did. :) 

                               Isn't it gorgeous? For the purposes of blocking invasive neighbor pooches, the back
                              end is a little higher. S'okay. Bust out your level, and tweak to even it on up. Fill in the
                                         holes, and voila! You haz a garden bed, too. Easy, right?

Aw, aren't they cute?  We filled the second bed with hay and the entire contents of our compost bin, mixed, and dumped in three bags of organic soil. Gorgeous. 

That greenish thing in the middle? Potato tower. The bed to the left has five tomatoes, two peppers (Ancho and jalapeño), yellow straight neck squash, garlic, scallions, two types of basil, oregano, and rosemary. Oh, and some marigolds planted around there to attract hover flies.

The second bed  has Alaska peas, zucchini, loads of Texas sweet onions, eggplant, watermelon and dill. I'll probably tuck in some marigold seeds here, once planty goodness establishes a bit more. 

Yeah, I'm rockin' the veggie mojo right now. 

Oh, and one more thing: 

Oriental poppies. Marvelous. 

Recovering!

I just wanted to post a quick update about the recovery process. Went in for my two-week (ish) check up Thursday, and the x-rays look fantastic! The bones seem to be knitting together nicely, no sign of infection, and both the incision sites on my pelvis & shoulder are healing beautifully. Thank goodness I horded a couple of the coco butter massage bars I made a while ago-it's really coming in handy right now!

I'm still pretty limited as what activities I can do, but all in all, I'm rather well. Oh, and I'm cleared for swimming!!
Seven years is far too long to be relegated to a doggy paddle, let me tell you. I'm really, really hoping that being able to swim again will help get my chubby arse in shape. I'm all about loving my curves, not so much the extra flubby jiggle. Besides, swimming being a low-impact exercise, I am seriously less likely to hurt myself. Also, swimming = guilt free scoop of caramel swirl with chocolate sauce.

Or, this:

 

This sweet bowl of heaven is homemade (!!!) Dark Chocolate Truffle Caramel Swirl Ice Cream, from Kristine's Kitchen.   For the love of of your tastebuds, follow that link for the recipe! If only I had an ice cream maker....

Egad!

I know, I know, I should be stoned for not having posted for so long. Or maybe banned from sweet treats...which is worse?

So what's been shaking? In March we went to visit R's fam for a couple of weeks. Of course, I brought my camera and promptly forgot to take pictures for the entire visit. I'm awesome like that.

Something SUPER exciting happened, something that makes me squeal like a girl. I. HAD. SURGERY!

Why is this exciting, you ask ?
Well, for those of you who either don't know me or just don't pay attention, I was broken. All wonky like. Since 2004.
I was the passenger in a rollover car accident. We went down a hill and slammed into a tree. A redwood tree, right where I was sitting. The driver & two other passengers were fine ( a little whip lash, a couple of stitches). I came out with a concussion, broken clavicle, six fractured vertebrae, compressed vertebrae, multiple lacerations and a wound that resembled ground beef more than the back of a shoulder. Yummy, huh? Just be thankful I don't post photos. The bone injuries never healed, and I've been walking around with a broken clavicle and nerve damage since. Awesome, right?

I finally get myself insurance that covers the previous injuries (hooray!!) and find out that one section of the clavicle is pressing on my lung. So, surgery! This is incredibly exciting because, ideally, the bones will heal properly, fixing the nerve issues and back problems. I didn't just slouch, I rolled forward. I looked horribly shrunken, and could barely lift my tubby lil 20lb terrier.

If all goes, I will be able to lift my arms above my head with no problem, lift things, and (glee!) go swimming again. Not to mention have better posture, and oh yeah, no worries about puncturing a lung if I get into a fender bender, or trip over my own damned feet. It's a miracle it hand't happened, honestly.

For now I'm incredibly pampered by the R, well medicated for pain, and have an amazing new laptop (thanks, Babe!) to keep me occupied. Oh, yes, also, I'm looking into starting a business! Can I get a yee-haw?

Sorry, TX is seeping in....
I'm still working on official-like designs & inventory for the shop. When it's all ready, I'll make a fuss.


Enough shameless promotion? I think so.
As always, thanks for reading. I"ll try posting more pics later, when I have a functioning right arm n all.

Moroccan Table #1

As promised, here's a peek into one finished project: The Morocco inspired nesting table. I still have two more to complete, but those are keeping houseplants away from nosey dog snouts for now.

I started with a vague idea, and three cheapy nesting tables via Craigslist ($10 baby!), A little dirty, mostly scuffed, and under a charmingly thick layer of oily cleaners & veneer. After an inordinate about of time sifting through old art class handouts and the mounting collection of Moroccan inspired images I've collected, I finally came up with a design that I could reproduce.

A few hours at the light table, several sheets of paper, and a few choice words for the endless stream of broken pencil tips produced this:

Then came time to sand down the table (by hand, mind you. No fancy-pants tools for this girl). It would have been shorter on time, and easier on my knuckles if I had any sort of electric sander handy...probably why I'm still procrastinating with the other two tables.


So, a good thorough sanding leads to an equally thorough wiping down with a tack cloth, then transferring the design from paper to the wood itself. I taped the original design to a sheet of contact paper, and sliced away.  I'm sure there's an easier way to do this. Like ordering a stencil (which, in hind sight, would have also been much easier on my hands, but, hey, I learn the hard way). I, being the stubborn lady I am, decided to use an exacto knife to cut out the pattern. Pre-made stencils, people...they are your friend.

Once my home-made stencil was complete, I laid it out over the nekkid wood, and went to town with gold paint pen. After the base design was down, I decided a border would be nice, so the edges of the table were attacked with masking tape. I have no idea what size, it just seemed to work.

Then comes the really fun (messy) part-painting! While at the local Home Depot , I wandered off and  fell in love with a Behr color chip by the name of "Berry Charm." Of course, I had no idea what it would be used for, so I bought a color sample to add to my growing collection of "stuff I love but have no current use for."
Fast forward to the table. It was perfect. The gold, the rich violet. Very luxurious, very Morocco. 

 

Once that Berry Charm worked it's magic, I simply couldn't help myself. The mini paint roller took control, and attacked the rest of the table. Legs, sides, it was all fair game. The hardest part of the painting session was keeping the dog fluff to a minimum  between coats. I'd venture a guess and say I put two on there, plus loads of touch-ups where clumsy fingers , noses, and a giant husky-butt got too close to wet paint. In the meantime, some turquoise was put down on the top of my table. I would love to tell you the name color and brand of this gorgeous paint, but the bottle is so old and abused, I could barely read "Acrylic" on the front. It's a craft paint of some sort, if that helps?

I decided that a defined border was called for, so out comes the masking tape again, strips put down on either side of where I wanted the border to be. It took about three passes with my gold paint pen this time around, mostly because I kept finding little gaps and bumps that needed fixing. The final step was to haul this baby outside and descend upon it with a bottle of clear indoor/outdoor spray paint (thank you, Krylon, for making that part a breeze).

It took about three days of working off & on to finish this sucker. Some things I will probably change when I go to work on the next two tables:

• Use an electric sander: I wasted a lot of time, energy, and skin trying to sand this down by hand. Though we don't have one right now, I can wait until we do. Getting more power tools was something we both wanted to do, anyway.

• Stencils: While I kind of dig the irregularities in the pattern, it will be a huge sanity saver to just find, or order a custom stencil to get the pattern down.If I can score a reusable stencil, all the better.

• Cleaner work place: I love my dogs, I really really do. I just don't love how much they contribute to the painting projects (and dinner) with all that fur floating around our house. If I could find a dog-free zone to finish this up, I would. While the random strands of paint-locked hair are homey, it's not quite what I was hoping for. Having to chase down a beast before she sits because she got her hind-end too close to wet paint, really puts a cramp in the flow of things too.

Originally intended for the back porch, the table is making an appearance as my nightstand for awhile. At least until I can drag my butt outside long enough to clean up the porch area.
So, whaddya think? Can I keep my "crafty" member card for awhile?

"VDAY"

I have some unresolved issues with over commercialized holidays, especially one that makes a big deal about buying crap to "prove" your love to someone. The idea of showing affection is wonderful, and should be year round-not restricted to a predetermined day with a specified set of allowable gifts.
I'm a sucker for romantic gestures, but I just can't bring myself to go along with the traditional Valentine-craze.

Fortunately, R feels the same way.  So we spent the night doing our own romantic thing:

Nothing says love like a massive piece of grilled meat, some veggies, and cuddling on the couch to watch an awesomely cheesy 90's TV series.

Projects..ish

True to form, I have been one lazy monkey.

I did manage to finish two large paintings, in gouache no less. This is impressive, in that I generally loathe working with any medium other than pencil or oil paints. The bulk of the credit goes to a good friend, K, for the inspiration. Every time we speak, I walk away with warm fuzzies, and a certain artistic confidence that generally eludes me. If I could put her in my pocket and carry her around with me, I really would. A pocket muse!

Anyhow, I set out to do a series of paintings for the yoga-corner in my living room. A lot of planning went into it-hours of figure research, sketches etc..but when it came down to actually getting the figures on canvas everything crumbled. Until I spoke with K, that is. I still haven't managed to work out the yoga paintings, yet, but many great sketch-paintings came from it.

During one of many conversations about my frustrations with the idea, she reminded me to stay relaxed, and just let the art flow. Which, I finally did to wonderful results. A little wine, a little netflix documentary goodness. Lots of small, light, loose gouache paintings akin to sketches. I'm hoping to do several more in a similar theme and get them in one frame for a finished piece.

Just wish I had been smart enough to take a photo of the end result.
Of the two larger paintings I finished, the largest one I mailed off to K as soon as it was dry (okay, so I waited for a nominally warm day to mail if off).  Maybe one day I'll remember to ask her for a photo of it.
The other is hiding in the depths of my office closet waiting for a frame with proper hanging hardware, and far away from prying dog snouts. Eventually, hopefully, I'll manage to get at least one photo of that on here; if for no other reason than to prove that I actually did something last month other than make cookies and futz with the dormant garden.

Until then-here's a small example of what I whipped out while listening to Carl Sagan and learning about our cosmos.

Unsupervised

My dear man is away, training, for a month. Training in an area with poor cell reception and no internet access. Leaving me with no adult supervision whatsoever.

Oh boy.

  Let's try not to go crazy, shall we?