Ten on Tuesday- Weekend edition

10 Things I did This Weekend

Ah the last weekend of summer....but not quite. Apparently someone forgot to tell the Weather Gods that it is fall now. Today is slated to go to 95°F, which means my un-airconditioned shop will be much higher. But on with the list:

1. Celebrated Little Dude's 7th birthday- Yeah. SEVEN. How the heck did he get that old. I came up with an idea on Friday night and drafted up a birthday quiz for them to fill out every year. They put down their age, grade, favorite food, show, color, subject at school, book, etc and I will save them all in a book for them. Don't know where the thought came from but we already have some interesting answers....and spelling. 
2. More cake decorating experiments- Little Dude said last minute he wanted a Minion cake. I did my best and learned a few things. The main cake was cut to look like a seven, utilizing a cake number guide I found. The extras became some Minion cake pops. The fail part of the experiment was my attempts at pourable frosting. We will just end it there. 
3. Nursed Little Miss- Saturday night she woke up and ran into the bedroom complaining about her belly. I sent her into the bathroom (thankfully) and then she reenacted the Exorcist. My wonderful husband took over (I don't handle vomit well. At all) and then she had fever all the rest of the next day....which is my territory. She is better now. 
4. Knitted- Holy shit...I actually spent time knitting. 
5. Putting stickers on Legos- and helping when Little Dude got stuck. Over the course of the weekend he put together 3-1/2 Lego sets mostly on his own. 
6. Imbibed NyQuil- I was nearly healthy...so close I could taste it (because I could taste again...for about 3 hours) and then there was a complete turnaround. 
7. Spent some time with a dear friend- I really don't see her often enough. 
8. Did some more work on prepping my Warhammer miniatures- Yes. I am a geek. 
9. Spent some quality time with my husband before he heads into his load-in schedule.
10. Slept- but not quite enough.

Ten on Tuesday: Ordinary Joys

10 Seemingly Ordinary Things That Bring You Joy

1. A perfect fresh peach- sometimes there is nothing quite so delightful. I have been known to horde the fresh peaches for myself
2. The smell of fresh bread-is there anything that feels more like home than that smell. I'd much rather the phantom smells my brain throws at me be this instead of burning
3. Squaring a box perfectly the first time- doing geometry on a large scale by oneself can be tricky, but the sense of accomplishment one has of doing it right on the first try is delightful. Especially when one does it while in labor.
4. String music- I played violin years ago (and not very well). I have never lost my love of the sound of strings. My latest delight has been the Piano Guys, 2cellos, and Dallas String Quartet. I will often put them on sleep mode on Pandora.
5. A perfectly starched drop- I might have talked of this before. I find something beautiful and Zen in an untouched freshly starched drop. It is nothing and yet at the same time has the potential to be anything and everything.
6. Color- I just delight in color of all kinds. Different colors appeal to me at different times. The only meditations that seem to work for me are the color ones. I really don't know how to explain how color touches me but sometimes it just reaches into my soul.
7. The sound of rain on the roof and of thunder- I love the sound of rain on the roof and I could listen to a thunder storm forever.
8. The laughter of my children- it used to be that the first thing I would do when I got home from a day at work was to just tickle my son to hear his laughter. I love listening to the two of them work themselves into a fit of giggles. I think it is time to renew my old tradition. We could use a lot more laughter in our lives.
9. Listening to my husband's heartbeat when my head is resting on his chest- What more is there to say?
10. Getting lost in the act of creating art- whether painting or sewing, drawing or knitting. Spinning is so meditative...I really must trade my wheel for a double treadle so that I can spin again. I've been know to get so absorbed into my work that I forget to eat and sometimes even sleep. The time that I had to work retail was one of the most miserable of my life. The paint lab at the conference always makes me twitchy because I want to be there painting too; not just standing and guiding others. I could never give up my art, and the day that I can no longer create is the day I truly lose myself and who I am.

Ten on....whatever day this is

Apparently the blogger app ate my Ten on Tuesday post. I will try to recreate it the best I can...

This once again is a timely topic this week: 10 Things You Need to Do and Stop Procrastinating. I would have had a whole different list just a day or two ago....even before reading the topic. Once the weather warms and the show season ends I get the urge to clear everything out and attack the endless to do piles. The biggest problem is what to do first. Here is the current list:

10 Things I Need to Do and Stop Procrastinating
 

1. Clean the damn house.
2. The next round of Nutcracker designs.
3. Get my new glasses. (I just need to find frames I like)
4. Likewise get fitted for my new contacts and get them. (seeing things is good)
5. Get to a dermatologist
6. Make Little Miss's annual appointment. For some reason it wasn't made at the end of the last appointment....and we completely missed it at the time.
7. Wrap up all the MS Walk paperwork. 
8. Finish my paperwork for my conference trip reimbursement.
9. Get the fencing and get to the garden plot. - we've got the postcard saying out plot in the community garden is ready. It's time to get digging in the dirt. Finishing the layout plan might help too. 
10. Get downstairs and get working on finishing the playroom walls.

So there's the list. I suppose I should add Get back to blogging on there. I want to. I really do. I am constantly writing posts in my head. It is just finding the time in which to get them from my brain onto the laptop. As the season winds up, I am hoping to do just that. Currently Geek-boy is in his 5 (or 6th) week of long hours and it is all I can do to get the minions cared for and work full time.

Soon.
Something will happen soon.
Whether good or bad, something will happen.
It always does.

Time Machine Tuesday

My time machine must be on the fritz because apparently it is Wednesday. Who knew.

10 Time Periods You Would Visit If You Had a Hot Tub Time Machine 

This week's topic tickled me for a few reasons

• I'm a history geek. I was watching The Tudors last night and trying to explain to my husband how they went wrong and his eyes glazed over a little. Yes. I'm a history geek. And I'm proud of it. 
• Time machines. Do I need to say more? My son is already drawing up plans for one so he can go ride a dinosaur. "Don't worry Mom. I won't get eaten. I promise." 
• Hot Tub Time Machine is a movie I probably shouldn't like. But I do. Actually I love it. I don't know why. It makes me laugh. It has joined the list of movies that I adore that make my Geekboy just shake his head in wonder. (I still don't know how I married someone who doesn't like Spaceballs.)

 But I digress....on with the list. It is a bizarre mix of finding answers to may of history's mysteries and spending time and being inspired by some of my favorite artists and art.

1. Fall River Massachusetts, summer 1892. Mission: Did Lizzie Borden really take an axe and give her mother forty whacks? (Actually it was her step-mother and Abby Borden was hit only about 20 times. Her father about 10 or 11) The Lizzie Borden case was my first true crime obsession. I first learned about it in a true crime/mystery book I obtained in the RIF program in 4th or 5th grade. 
2. London 1888. Mission: Find out who Jack the Ripper was. This case was also in the book and became another obsession of mine.
3. England 1560. Mission: How did Amy Robsart, wife of Lord Robert Dudley, really die. Was she murdered by Robert? By Elizabeth I? Was it suicide? Or was it really just an accidental fall made fatal by the effects of cancer? 
4. England early 1480's. Mission: the Princes in the Tower. Perhaps one of history's greatest mysteries. Now that they have found Richard III's body, maybe an answer about the boys is next....but not likely.
5. Vienna, 1786-1787: Mission: to see Mozart's original productions of The Marriage of Figaro and Don Giovanni .
6. Gads Hill Place, Kent- Spring/Summer 1870. Mission: Discover the ending to Charles Dickens' unfinished work The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Who the hell did it???
7. Vatican City, 1505-1512. Mission: Watch Michelangelo paint the Sistine Chapel ceiling. How could one not. I might pop back in between 1534-46 while he paints The Last Judgment.
8. Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, May/June 1889. Mission: Vincent van Gogh's painting of  The Starry Night.
9. Paris, late 1880's-early 1890's. Mission: Hanging out in the Paris nightclubs with Toulouse-Lautrec drawing, paintings and just enjoying myself.
10. Mexico- So hard to pick a time in the life of Frida Khalo but I'd want to be there when the art was happening, but also to see how she poured her physical and emotional pain into her canvases. 

Other things that were edged out of the top 10, but barely, are:

• going to a Queen concert
• seeing if Katherine of Aragon and Prince Arthur really did consumate their marriage
• off to Scotland to see who blew up Lord Darnley
• Dallas 1963- to know for sure

Oh the things I would do and see. I might go back and stop myself from doing stupid thing or two.

*sigh*
I want a TARDIS

Ten on Tuesday- Happy Happy

Wow...how did we go from it just being New Year's to more than halfway through the month??? I think the empty bottles of DayQuil and NyQuil littered at my feet might be a clue. Somewhere on January 2nd the sinus crud returned and my voice started to go. Within a day or two it moved into my chest and then it went downhill from there. The month has been a blur of normal life hampered by illness to a level that if it didn't directly relate to what I need to do to get paid or to keep the Minions alive and in school, it just didn't happen.

And that would lead us to todays Ten on Tuesday: 10 Things You Are Happy About Right Now

1. Feeling like a functioning human being for the first time in weeks. I still have a residual cough, but I am a far cry from not being able to leave my bed. 
2. The sun is shining- this cannot be under-appreciated by those in the depths of a North East winter who suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder.
3. I've started crafting again- Little Miss received some dolls for Christmas. Dolls desperately in need of wardrobes. And since they aren't the standard size for doll clothing patterns, I'm getting a chance to really experiment with pattern drafting and alteration...on a much smaller scale. It is far less disheartening when the clothing doesn't fit at all when it is only about a square foot of fabric. I've scavenged scraps from the theatres' costume shops and look forward to having fun with this. I've also convinced Little Miss to wear the tube socks I knit for her, that she had a sudden aversion to because of "the lines"...also known as the ribbing that makes the socks possible. Now the pair she has is the first she grabs, so it is time to knit more. Plus the knitting and sewing queue that is tempting me now the Christmas tree is out of my sewing corner.
4. I'm happy my eye/vision issues aren't as bad as they potentially could have been. And now I can add Nero-Ophthalmologist to my list of doctors whom I get to visit and banter with. (No, really. This guy is a pip)
5. My crock-pot bouillabaisse came out pretty good. I've not had much luck with crock-pot recipes. I love the theory behind it, but it just doesn't work in my reality. Unless it is pot roast, it just seems to always become a mass of inedible crud. BUT the recipe out of The French Slow Cooker just might make regular rotation. It isn't a Throw-in-Pot-and-Leave-All-Day meal, but it is a good Stay-At-Home-and-Barely-Think-About-Dinner meal. And it is lovely left over for lunch.
6. I have a drawer full of delicious holiday candy all had at 75% off. Peanut butter M&M's and mint truffle Hershsy's Kisses are my new guilty pleasure. 
7. Downton Abbey
8. I finally started reading the Outlander series. (Thank you Knitmore Girls)
9. My husband doesn't have to work late. And shouldn't have to for a few weeks, at least.
10. For the first time in, probably, months I can say that I am not gripped by depression. I can't even begin to say how amazing that feels. 

I would write more, but I must go paint a dragon head. (I love my job!)

2015- Let the New Year Begin

It's 2015.

I know deep down inside that whole changing of the year is arbitrary, and one day is hardly different from the next. Despite knowing this, with the way the last few years have gone, I embrace the opportunity of having a fresh start.

I packed up Christmas yesterday. Fittingly, I wrapped up the whole task just before midnight. And this year I did more than just tossing it back into what random box I had pulled them out of. Last year I had started the task of organizing and weeding out my decorations. This year I have essentially completed the task. The Minions each have their own box of ornaments containing ones given by Grandparents or handmade by themselves. I also gave them choice of the ones I no longer really wanted. Or still want to see on the tree, but wish to distribute to them now. Our tree is mostly their ornaments now. I am partial to the old school glass bulbs...the kind that don't mix well with adventurous children. So my ornaments are all packed away in their own labeled boxes. I was able to consolidate into ornament totes and discard a lot of extraneous packaging. I even weeded through and organized the wrapping paper, gift bags, ribbons and bows.

So with the tree gone, I am able to engage in my favorite annual pastime: Moving Furniture. With all the renovations this has been a regular pastime since May. I was forced to do copious shuffling of things to get the tree in front of the window in the living room. Now I find myself with more space. Especially since I am reclaiming a wall I had mostly vacated in the summer, believing it slated for demolition. That project being pushed off, I can use it again. Now it is the game of 'What-Should-Go-Where'.
Perusing Houzz earlier today, I found a picture that gave me some new thoughts on how do deal with television placement in our living-room. Our house is cursed with a long, narrow living-room that is cut up with a fireplace and doorways...one of which is the main entryway. Not an easy space to work with. Complicating things is that our ancient by today's standards TV (19" tube TV circa 1999) is starting to show signs of giving up the ghost. So is the DVD player (wedding gift c.2002) and the VCR. Yes, you read that right. We still own a working (of sorts) VCR. Therefore I am trying to accommodate future electronics, of which I have no sizes. Frankly, my ground plan of the house with it's little furniture cutouts aren't cutting it anymore, in regards to deciding layout before dragging heavy furniture around. I really need to bite the bullet on one of my insomnia nights and make a scale model of the house. I need to start working in 3D to surmount some of the challenges of this house.

Or I could just win the lottery and rip the damn thing down to the studs and build the house I really want. Wouldn't that be nice?

Well it's getting late and this is the second time I've written this post due to some screw up with the Blogger app....off to bed and on with the new year.

Ten on Tuesday- Resurrecting Musicians

10 Musicians You Would Bring Back From the Dead.

Interesting list for this week. Not something I've really pondered before, or at least in depth. I think we've all had that moment of "Oh I wish I could have seen them perform" in our lives. But I've never really sat down to make a list....until now.

1. Mozart- One of my first musical loves. And one that never fails to touch me.
2. Freddie Mercury- I was in my freshman year of high school when he died and one of my first thoughts was sadness that I would never be able to see him in concert.
3. Buddy Holly- someone we lost too soon
4. Kurt Cobain- Yes. Nirvana was the music of my 'coming of age' years. And I still love it. No matter what you think about his life and his death, he had so much more to say musically that is lost forever.
5. Johnny Cash- He didn't die young, and I don't think he every expected to live quite so long. Despite my aversion to country music, I grew up listening to The Man in Black and I love his work. Just not the Christmas album (oh all the gods in the pantheon...NOT the Christmas album). His covers of NIN's Hurt and U2's One just tear at me heart and soul. In a good way. That is what music should do.
6. John Lennon- who is to say what would have come next for him. But there was no reason for him to go the way he did. 
7. George Harrison
8. Jimi Hendrix- I'd would love to see what he would create in his older years. 
9. George Gershwin- another with so much more to say and do
10. Beethoven- another composer who never fails to move the soul