Good day/bad day

I had today off from the store and the plan was to get up fairly early and head to the school and start painting the show. That didn't quite happen. I had changed the time on my alarm so I didn't have to be up quite so early but then forgot to turn it on. What actually woke me up was the smoke detector plummeting to a not so graceful landing on the tile floor below. No clue why...maybe all the times it has randomly gone off late were cries for help and just couldn't take it any more.

I had a pretty good day paint wise. I over came the the drawing obstacles that were thwarting me on Christmas day (yes I went and worked Christmas day)
This is what I started with. My love and I had snapped a 1' grid over the flats on Christmas. I cover the renderings with plastic wrap and draw the same grid in scale on the plastic. From this I draw on the flats with charcoal. Usually the drawing is done on kraft paper (especially if one is painting on fabric) which is then transfered to the scenery. The paper is more forgiving and even comes with a grid printed on it. For the sake of time and money, I was doing this directly on the flats



I started on the sky and finished the drawing while that dried. Once the charcoal was what it should be I go over it with Sharpie. and then flog away the charcoal. That is the fun part. This is my flogger...I inherited the leopard print flogger but it has become one of my trademarks now. Basically it works like it sounds...you hold the stick and flog away the charcoal.


Once that was done I laid in the base colors on the wall. Then a little more work on the sky. It is nice when you can rotate on a project. Really half the job is waiting for paint to dry.



Then some detail and shading on the wall.






Last I threw some green down to base in the bushes.






The play list for todays painting was as follows:
First a little NPR then CD's
Enigma-MCMXC A.D.
Medieval Babes- The Rose
GreenDay - American Idiot
Evanescence- The Open Door
Rob Zombie- Hellbilly Deluxe
System of a Down- Toxicity

So the bad part of the day. Other than the late rude awakening. I got a stupid traffic ticket. I turned left out of the school like I always do...except you're not suppose to between 3:30 and 6:30 weekday. Now this normally isn't an issue for me because I'm never leaving at that time. Rehearsal is typically 3 to 6. So I'm either already gone or just showing up at those hours. Well school is out right now, so there I was, not even thinking about it and now I have a ticket worth $103. I feel like such an idiot and irritated as hell. With so much going on in my life right now, and so much stress, I know I am on the verge of my breaking point. I'm trying to keep this ticket from being what cuts the thread on my sword of Damocles. *breathe*

Waiting is the hardest part...

I'm down in the studio waiting for a bag to felt. So I thought I would write a few words.

First I want to amend the gift list from my secret pally. She also gave me domiKNITrix. I forgot it because it rocks so much that I hid it away until I was done knitting holiday gifts. I was too tempted to knit a boatload of stuff for me. I actually squealed with delight when I realized that the cover is black vinyl. Mmmmmmmm.....black vinyl.

Christmas was lovely. Getting up to be at work at 6:30 this morning wasn't.

Its cold and I hate winter.

And in two weeks I'll be 30.

Need I say more?

Tis the season for...

(to quote my Dad) PRESENTS!!!!!

And I have made out like a bandit lately.

First was the lovely box from my PRGE (not so) secret pally Obsidian Kitten.
The spray of real lavender sits on my night stand. A bag of homemade kitty treat mix for when my girls decide to be good. Lavender and oatmeal soap with two candles graced by a spunky Catwoman action figure. Chocolate...oh the chocolate...one bar is Belgian and the second is Swiss. The Swiss one is called Art Bar and a portion of the sale goes to Art Education programs. How could you make chocolate more perfect. And then there is the Homespun handknit hat made of "llama/corridale & mixed wool" And it fits perfect. (maybe I'll get a pic when love and I are home the same time.) Thank you thank you thank you. You were the perfect secret pally even though you weren't quite so secret. It was fun to pretend though.

Then came Yankee swap night at our stitch n bitch. There is a play by play posted here by Karen. I ended up swiping my final gift which was brought by Amy. It is a Knit Picks pattern for a cup cozy and coasters in a beautiful snowflake pattern. I admired this when she was knitting some of her own a few weeks before...little did I know. She also included the needles needed and enough yarn (Knit Picks Telemark ) to make a set in green, red and blue. I can't wait to knit these.

And then to top it off, my love won 5 free yoga classes at his company holiday party. (I couldn't go, I had to work) He gave them to me since yoga really isn't his thing. I guess that Lorna's Laces from O'Kitten is going to be made into yoga socks sooner than I thought!

First lines

I got this meme from my kick-ass Secret Pally.

What is the first sentence you posted at the beginning of each month in 2006?

January:
(Didn't have blog then)

February:

And so it begins...

I have been meaning to start this thing for a while.

March:

The Gnomes are back

You know...gnomes...those pesky little critters that move stuff around your house.

April:

Paint & Yarn

That's what it has mostly been about lately.

May:

I know I haven't blogged in a while...i'm a bad little blogger.

June:

The Lusty Month of May

Tra La!
(bonus points to you who know what that is from)

July:

ever onward

6 is done despite having to rip back to the life line 3 rows in.

August:

I'm ok

Thank you everyone for your encouragement.

September:

Punk Rock Gift Exchange Questionaire

Here it is ...in all its freakish glory.

October:

Busy Season

Did I mention this is my BusySeason?

November:

yep

a lot has happened. Halloween has come and gone.

December:

Calendar days

I just bought our 2007 calendar.

There it is. It is amazing to see that there was knitting content once upon a time. I'll have to get back to that...someday.

What I really want for Christmas...

is a homing device for my mug of tea. Damn thing keeps hiding on me!


I know I've been quiet lately. I've been a bit of a wreck and not in the right mind to post. I found out last week that my Dad (who is the coolest Dad in the world, btw) needs open heart surgery for multiple bypasses. So I've been crying on and off consistently since then. His family doesn't have the best track record for heart stuff. His parents both died young. My aunt died at 49. My uncle had a bypass last year. And everyone is on meds for heart disease. Plus the timing has my morbid sense of doom activated since everyone in my life tends to die this time of year.

So what I really REALLY want is my Daddy to be ok. I'd even give up my stash for that.

(have to go...crying again)

Deck the Halls

Last week was spent moving furniture and this week is decorating. Christmas is both a good and bad holiday for me. It is second to Halloween in my favorite. The good parts of Christmas are romantic and fun. Being a divorced kid, it had its really bad parts...fighting over who got me when. That and lots of people in my life die at Christmas.


Here's our tree. Yes its a fake one. I do fake for several reasons. One, I don't like killing trees for my own entertainment. There are enough stupid people in the world who deserve that honor. Two, they are messy and Isis won't stop drinking the water. Three , we have an active fireplace and its not worth the fire hazard. (can you tell i'm a firefighter's daughter)



One of my favorite parts of our tree is the topper. It is pure retro. That is the tree topper my Mom had as a kid. Inside the globe is a cylinder of lighting gel that is blacked out with a pattern of different colored translucent stars. That sits over a light bulb and the heat of the bulb makes it spin. All those lights that you see on the wall shift in and out of colors. It drives the cats nuts but its absolutely beautiful when the room is all dark. Mom and I use to just curl up on the couch together and watch the tree.


This is my new addition this year. I have a bunch of the vases left over from various centerpieces. I bought all the glass ornaments with my work discount, filled them and lined them up on the mantle. See the knitted Santa face stocking. One of my cousins (2nd cousin I think....who really cares...a cousin is a cousin) knit all the kids in the family a variation on that. His beard and the fur on his hat are angora. Wow...that stocking is almost 30 yrs old!

That's all for now...I have to go get ready for work. I hate being an adult sometimes.

Calendar days

I just bought our 2007 calendar. We alternate who buys it every year to avoid any disputes. I always agonize over the buying of the calendar. It's going to be a fixture in our house for the whole year; I don't want something that sucks. The top runners this year were the Magnetic Poetry Calendar,Pin Up , Boris Vallejo, Klimt.
Instead I settled on this one. Its pretty, informative and has the moon phases on it. I hate it when I get one with out the moon phases on it. Especially when my cycle is in sync with the moon. Like it is now...It was a full moon last night and I'm fertile. That's pretty close to lock-her-up crazy. All I need is a cupcake, a fit of giggles and a slurpee and/or a margarita to push me over the edge. Watch out!