day off wrap up

with the exception of cleaning the office and taking photos at goodwill, the list is done. yup. the laundry is done (i even threw in a third load just for kicks), the dishes are done (i even swapped the christmas dishes for the winter dishes - which are in the dishwasher now), the tree scarf is up (and the neighbor across the street loves it!), the pizza place verified they do indeed offer gluten free pizza every day (and cheddar cheese is definitely an option), my christmas cards are off the tv and i took a three hour nap. oh yeah, it was a good day.

i narrowed my focus for the birthday list. there's no way i can get every goal accomplished by my birthday. i've spent way to much time distracted this year to do that. note: that is not a complaint or even an attempt at an excuse. it's just true, and i'm quite okay with it. as erin said recently, i've done a whole lot that's NOT on the list, and this year has been great. so i've pulled twelve goals that i figure are my best bets. in fairness, most of them are related to cooking/baking. but i had to go with the most likely, ya know? :)

i left in the goal about posting items on etsy. it still scares me. and i'm not sure what i'd post. i've got a few crocheted rose rings sitting around ... sigh. maybe i just need to admit i don't have the focus? i haven't crocheted since before LA. the big secret project isn't even done, yet. meh.

day off to-do list

i'm off work tomorrow, and i've got plans to be productive. that's right. i plan to do more than sleep all day. go me! :)

- finish the laundry (two loads, i think)
- wash dishes/unload the dishwasher
- take photos at goodwill
- sew the tree scarf on
- formulate a plan to maximize success at the birthday list
- clean the office
- call the pizza place
- clear the christmas cards off the tv
- take a nap :)

christmas cards

i figure i have one week to get cards in the mail to be delivered before christmas. one week. so today, i had an idea on how to make them using this stack of black/white photos i've got sitting around. photos that have been sitting around for years. literally, years. how do i know? because the only reason i have the stack is because i got doubles printed when i got the film developed. that's right - they were on film. i haven't shot on film in - that's right - years. so as i'm searching for the HDMI cable that i'm convinced came with my laptop (which i didn't find because it didn't come with my laptop), i find the box that has all my negatives and prints in it. except ... no prints. apparently at some point (the move to here, perhaps?) i tossed them. sigh. one week and i need a new plan.

51 days ... what?!

ummm ... we may have a problem. my birthday is in 51 days. 51 days! and i haven't recapped this list even once. so, at marlana's request, here's a look at how scary this is going to be. :)

1. finish The One With 31 book: done!

2. create a book to track my 32 goals: it's pretty up to date. just a couple of things need to be added - maybe some photos - it's going well.

3. watch all netflix-available Vincent D'Onofrio movies: okay, he's got 41 movies available on netflix. i've seen 12. that means i need to see 39 more in the next 51 days. ummm ... wow.

4. watch half of marlana's movies: i need watch 14 of her movies. i've watched ... drum roll please ... three. yeah.

5. finish watching all netflix-available episodes of The Office: done! easy.

6. watch Law & Order: Trial by Jury: yeah, haven't even thought about this one. but in fairness, i've been watching a lot less tv the past few months.

7. post items on etsy: nope, still too scary. plus, i've not made anything to post except for a few crocheted rose rings.

8. plant vegetables: done! tomatoes, radishes, lettuce, cucumbers, spinach, green beans, squash and asparagus.

9. play every game in the house: HA! i actually made a list of the games in the house. there were 54 when i started the list. i've played nine. and i've added at least two games to the stash.

10. decorate my bedroom: nope. unless the two photos & the cocktail umbrella stuck on the wall count?

11. cut my fabric stash in half: right ...

12. finish a quilt front or back: done! i finished the front of the t-shirt quilt.

13. cut my yarn stash in half: nope. pretty sure i have more yarn now than i did when i started. BUT, i've still been super productive with my yarn arts. i just accumulate as i make new projects.

14. complete a pattern from ravelry: done! several, actually.

15. finish the tree scarf: done! and i'm thinking if it's not too cold tomorrow, i might go put it on.

16. make some jewelry: nope.

17. save money for a stand mixer: currently, no. i started saving money ... but it's all been used for other things.

18. try six recipes from Baked Explorations: halfway there: devil's food cake, angel frosting and grasshopper bars.

19. use my madeleine pan: no, but i do have several yummy looking recipes. :)

20. use my tart pan: done! the thanksgiving pumpkin custard was in my tart pan.

21. make injera: nope.

22. use my ice cream maker: done!

23. make pierogi: mmmm ... pierogi. but, no, i haven't made any.

24. succeed at meringues: HA!

25. eat pizza at Bazbeaux: done! marlana and i went for my birthday.

26. end the year weighing less than i do now: so far so good on this one. it would take more effort than i'm willing to put into it to tell you how much i've lost since my last birthday, but i know it's at least 25 pounds. i've lost about that much in the past 11 weeks.

27. regrow/replace Bill: yeah, bill's dead. and he's not been replaced. so ... yeah.

28. paint Bill's pot: nope.

29. read an autobiography/memoir: nope.

30. fast from the internet for three consecutive days, twice: hahahahahahahaha ... nope.

31. send mail to my nieces: i sent alicia a get well card a couple of months ago. so i'm halfway there.

32. make christmas cards AND send them: nope. but then, i never said they'd be out by christmas, right? :)

so ... yeah. 32 goals, and i've accomplished ... 12. awesome. it's gonna be a busy 51 days. :)

thanksgiving dessert

the oven went out on thanksgiving before i had a chance to finish baking the pumpkin custard tart. i had the tart shell baked, but not the custard. i was ready to toss the shell, but then decided i should at least try it first. i was nervous about it because i'd had to futz with it a lot to make it workable. but it was really tasty! so instead of tossing it, i took it for a drive to brian's today and used his oven to bake the custard. definitely a good choice. so good.

X is for Xylophone

blargh.

that is all.

W is for White Christmas

"but it's only one verse, so i added one extra one," she says. love it.

thanksgiving recap

thanksgiving was amazing. my parents came down, and we had a lovely dinner together. my parents are awesome. my mom even brought bouquets for brian and i (mine was asparagus, his was radishes) and goody bags filled with tasty treats. plus, when i went to work this morning? she cleaned my kitchen! and it was a mess! she's much too good to me. :)

among the funnier events of the day: we realized we couldn't fit the potatoes in the oven with the turkey to bake, so we went to kroger and bought firewood. :) we pulled out my little patio fire pit (which had never been used before) and brian started up a fire. it worked quite well, and gave the potatoes a tasty smoky flavor. and the baking element in my oven shorted out! it started about halfway through the turkey cooking. we kept a close eye on it, watching the short progress around the element until eventually it completely fried. thankfully, at that point, the bird was done. :)

unscheduled free day

so i skipped monday's free day because i was just too excited to re-post the S video. or i forgot - one of the two. :) i'm up early this morning, hoping to work some magic on the chair back covers for thanksgiving. they did not fair well in the wash. i'm hoping to get them fixed without brian realizing i had to fix them. luckily, the chances of him reading this are slim to none. :)

edit: one hour later and Project Chair Back Recovery is complete. maybe i AM magic ...

T is for Two

as in two days until thanksgiving!

we went out tonight and got the last of our goodies. groceries? check! dessert dishes? check! flowers? check! butter dish? check! tomorrow is all prep work (with a little bit of actual going to work in the middle), thursday is all celebration, and friday? friday you just might see pictures of the whole amazing hoopla. ;)

S is for Shake It

R is for Really

yup, i skipped yesterday. really. :)

P is for Procrastination

remember that big crochet project i told you about last month? yeah, it's still not done. :) i'm thinking another 12 hours of work and it would be completed. but, you see, i gave it to its new owner before it was done (in celebration of Tim Burton Day) ... so now i'm having some issues working up the motivation to actually finish it. i mean, the surprise is over, ya know? :) maybe in time for his birthday. that gives me a week to focus on thanksgiving and then a week to crochet. i can do that, right?

O is for Olvera Street

N is for Narwhals

M is for More Important

on sunday i said i wasn't looking forward to this week. that is true, but only if i put on blinders and focus only on work. there are certainly times when it is much too easy to focus on a possible disaster that way. i want to mull over every possible outcome. i want to believe it's going to be bad because being surprised by success is always better than being surprised by failure. but this is not my point today. my point today is that there are much more important things happening this week than work. yesterday, when i wanted to retreat into my own gloominess? that was both work related and erased when a conversation with a dear friend reminded me there were much more important things that needed my attention. people i love, for example? much more important than work. and spending time with those people? much more important than sleep. :)

good night

tonight i haven't the words to actually describe what's going through my mind and my heart. both are aching just a little. my head from need for sleep, my heart from need for an outlet. six hours ago i wanted to retreat into my own gloominess for no easily defined reason. three hours ago i wanted to scream at the indecency and injustice of others' actions. now i want to curl up and sleep it all off. wake up to a new day, holding onto the simultaneous feelings of warmth and love that showed up somewhere along the way.

L is for Long Week Ahead

i am not looking forward to this week. i am not dreading it, but i am apprehensive. what i need to remember is to not let the apprehension undermine the possibility of success. i need to go in with an open mind and just let things happen. then, when things have happened, i can make an informed decision to embrace the change or run away screaming. yes, i do believe those are my two options. nothing in between. ;)

J & K are for ... Just Kidding?

wow. apparently alphabetical order isn't always my strong suit at 4:30am. because at 4:30am i apparently start working backwards and I is followed by H. i could change it since probably no one's seen it, yet. but ... why not just embrace it, right? :)

H is for Hmmmm

the chickpea bread did not turn out as we had hoped. but this is why you do a trial run, right? i need to try it again with a few modifications (like precise measurements, for starters) and see how it works.

I is for Ice Cream

i joined a group of gals in a six week weight loss challenge. we agreed to compete for six weeks and then take a week off before starting up again. today's my last free day before the next six weeks of focus. so tonight we went out for dinner (pizza ... mmmmmmmmmmm pizza) and picked up ice cream on the way home. might as well go out with a bang, right? :)

as a side note: i won the first six-week challenge, losing exactly 20 pounds. hopefully i didn't gain back too much of it in the past seven days. ;)

H is for Hollywood

G is for Good Things

- Great breakfast with a Great friend
- Getting to start my day in a skirt and cute boots
- Going on long drives filled with laughter, singing and honesty
- Going bowling, bowling, bowling!
- Guys who will let me play with their hair :)
- Gourds! and pumpkins and squash
- Guys who can sew
- Green batik fabric
- Gorgeous weather
- Gorgeous life

flying away

F is for Fabulous

yes, i originally wanted to post this for D, but i couldn't get it uploaded in time. however, i'm pretty sure i could come up with a complimentary adjective for every letter of the alphabet that describes it. so Fabulous it is. :)

E is for Effort

sometimes being patient takes a lot of effort. sometimes i want all the answers right now. sometimes i forget to remember to just breath and let things happen. sometimes possibilities are just so exciting that i can't contain myself. :) oooo ... Exciting! that's another good E word. :)

i get to see a bunch of friends from home tomorrow. we're going bowling and then out for dinner. i'm pretty Excited. :) brian's coming with me - without me even asking. i swear he volunteered. hopefully he has as much fun as i do. mixing groups of friends can be a bit ... Edgy. ;) luckily my friends from home are all Extremely Excellent, so there shouldn't be a problem.

D is also for Dispirited

some days i just want more than the people i'm surrounded by have to offer. often on these days i have the cure all worked out in my mind. mostly that cure never comes to fruition. some days are just like that, i suppose.

D is for Driving Into the Sunset

it was a beautiful evening. and the drive wasn't too shabby, either. ;)

C is for Cancellation

i believe i'm finally going to cancel my domain name and web hosting. the domain name expires at the end of january, i'll keep my web hosting until then to give me time to back up all the files. i guess. do i need the files? probably not. but why not have one more CD sitting around that i never use, right? :)

i'm still not sold on cancelling flickr, as i've started actually using that as a viable option for sharing photos.

B is for Bedtime

i will be back-dating this post to 11:59pm on Nov. 2. in reality, it is nearly 5:00am on Nov. 3, but as i haven't slept yet, i'm still deeming this post on time. :) i have a million things i want to say, and a million more that are quite content just resonating in my mind.

A is for Awkward

apparently i'm going dancing next month. this is not my idea, but i don't find myself having a good excuse to say no. granted, i have a month to come up with a good excuse - but it's a birthday request. how do you say no when someone's birthday request is to go dancing? sigh. this is guaranteed to be awkward.

macarthur park

as we were riding the subway on tuesday, brian noticed there was a stop for MacArthur Park, which triggered a Donna Summer song in his head. so that night, we looked up the song and sure enough, it was talking about the MacArthur Park that's in LA. so we went back the next day and spent almost two hours taking photos. brian than turned those photos into the video above.

yes, we might be the biggest nerds ever. we flew a thousand miles to go on a vacation where we went spent a chunk of our afternoon photographing a cupcake in a park. but you know what? we had so much fun. :)

LA: Day One

while the three-hour time difference currently has me wide awake at 3am, day one of our trip has been wildly successful. :)

blinding

quiet now

smiling

because some things just make me happy. :)

pros & cons

i re-read and re-read typed conversations. i love that facebook archives messages indefinitely, as i go back days, weeks, months later to re-read what was said. there have been e-mails that i've forced myself to trash so that i would stop re-reading them.

phone conversations do not allow the same revisiting ... but i think that's fairly replaced with instantaneous responses that haven't been written and re-written before being sent. i don't generally like phones, but tonight was good. i'm heading to bed with a million conversation snippets running through my mind, a smile on my face and warmth in my heart.

mushroom

his cap is so tall. like he's pulled it down over his eyes, allowing him to hide from the world.

... yawn

i planned to come home today and mow the lawn. and get the oil changed in my car. and mill around the red dot boutique. and buy eggs. and return some stuff i'm not going to need. but instead ... i'm thinking maybe i'll take a nap? and then crochet?

or maybe i should go take pictures ... the sun is especially shiny today.

it's all in the details

it might be ridiculous how excited i get when someone takes the time to put the apostrophe in front of my name.

and breath

i need to calm down. relax. remember that i made the choices that got me here, and i can make the choices that get me somewhere else. besides, where i am is not a bad place to be.

borderline guilt

i don't think i can be held responsible for people assuming i still do the same things i did ten years ago. but when they make those assumptions, should i correct them?

photo fail of the day

really, 'becca? you couldn't take two more steps to the left and get the entire statue in the picture? really?

that's multitasking.

i got an extra hour of spare time this morning before needing to head downtown, and i thought to myself, "self, would you rather spend that hour dying your hair or pulling out your autumn dishes?" so i did both. because i'm a multitasking master.

this is my first time using my new lemongrass fiestaware. i only bought one piece because i wanted to see how it jived with my older chartreuse pieces. the bowl (top/left) is lemongrass; the saucer (bottom/right) is chartreuse. not too shabs, homer laughlin. not too shabs.

on second thought ...

i don't know that i've ever deleted a post before. but if you happened to read this in the last five minutes, you read something that's now gone. :)

blasted anonymity

know what i don't like about the like, dislike, think you're crazy buttons on here? i have no way of knowing who's clicking what. it's like a guessing game where i'll never know if i'm right.

is there an echo in here?

i told brian the other night that i do my best to not blog about the same thing twice. however, tonight i do find myself once again contemplating the ineffectiveness of the internet. ineffectiveness? limitations? yes. limitations. some things just can't be expressed by the typed word. and it doesn't matter if you put asterisks or parentheses around the word ... you just can't hug a friend online. no matter how much you'd like to.

i love the fall

daydreaming

i would estimate i spent at least 2 hours today doing nothing more than sitting and daydreaming. mostly daydreaming, at least. there was a little analyzing going on there, too. but not in the overcritical way i usually analyze. (people often make the mistake of thinking i turn a blind eye to the possible ramifications for my actions. in truth, i spend a lot of time concocting in my mind the worst possible consequences for the things that i do. once i know i can make peace with the possible outcomes, it's easy to make the next step. but i digress.) it started as i was waiting for a phone call from a friend. i was idly clicking around on facebook, and then just started to let my mind wander instead. and you know how a mind can wander. i have no idea where i started, but i ended up dreaming about a little bit of every thing. after the phone call and running a quick errand, i came home with no real plans for the evening and seven or eight new thoughts running through my mind. it was gorgeous outside, so i took a glass of wine onto the deck and settled into one of the patio chairs. another hour or so passed by, and it wasn't until i came inside to make dinner that i realized this song had been running through my mind.



there are, of course, lots of youtube options for this song. this one's got good audio, a little bit of background about the song and a decent angle to see that JoCo looks like a muppet when he sings. :)

it's all in the last eight lines.

So enjoy yourself, do the things that matter
Cause there isn't time and space to do it all
Love the things you try, drink a cocktail, wear a tie
Show a little grace if you should fall

Don't live another day unless you make it count
There's someone else that you're supposed to be
Something deep inside of you that still wants out
And shame on you if you don't set it free

on blogging and letting it go

in retrospect, i practically led my coworker to my blog tonight. she's a friend of a friend on facebook, and as she & i shared space in the break room tonight she asked me about a facebook conversation she'd seen. i told her we were talking about the song Disco Dancing Dragon because brian had used it in a video and i hadn't been able to find any information on it, even though it's been indelibly stuck in my head ever since. she was sitting there with her phone in front of her - of course she googled it. now, i KNOW that if you google Disco Dancing Dragon, my blog pops up first on the list. but that thought didn't cross my mind. she quickly pointed out what album the song was from and who the artist is. i confirmed that that's what brian had told me and that i had downloaded the song last night. then she says " ... wait. are these ... ? i think these are brian's pictures. yeah, these are brian's pictures! that's the dragon you gave him!" and she's laughing and turns her phone so i can agree that, indeed, those are brian's pictures.

and that's when the light bulb went on. this is what she was looking at.

i don't know if she realized she was looking at something i had posted or not. if she read the actual text, she had to have known. i mean, the first line states "i gave the miniature dragon to brian" - that's pretty obvious. but if she noticed, she didn't let on.

torn between feeling awkward and being humored, i'm choosing to be humored. even if she realized it and comes back to read more - so what? it's a public blog. i've always had it that way, and i don't see any reason to make it invite-only or anything like that. that's why i keep stories vague and don't use a lot of names. that's why i don't post every thing that goes on, especially the stuff inside my head. ;)

i did come home tonight, though, and start reading through my posts. my original thought was to edit out anything that shouldn't be read by new readers. but, again, so what? i don't really blog about anything that's going to embarrass me. and i don't use it to unabashedly vent about work or coworkers. and if people want something to judge me for, they're going to find something to judge me for - they don't really need my blog to do that. plus, if learning that i'm slightly OCD about keeping my silverware off of restaurant tables is something that interests them - then read away, good people. read away. chances are you're going to find out i'm crazy eventually anyway. :)

mid-day progress

so far i've managed to:

- sleep without an alarm clock
- make serious progress on the crochet project (in fact, i think i'm done until my yarn order comes in)
- watch one movie i haven't seen before

BUT, i've also managed to:

- wash dishes
- run the dishwasher
- get chili simmering in the crock pot
- sit around with a dopey grin on my face because my friends are awesome

today has been good. :)

tomorrow's to do list

i'm off work tomorrow. my roommate's away for the weekend, so i've got the house to myself. what to do?

- finish the back of the t-shirt quilt
- sew together the middle of the t-shirt quilt
- decide next step of the t-shirt quilt :)
- make serious progress on the crochet project
- run the oven through a cleaning cycle
- bake cookies to ice with the leftover icing in the fridge
- sleep without an alarm clock
- watch two movies i haven't seen before
- contemplate why the plural of "hiatus" is not "hiati"

on calling people love, take 2

i had a customer call me "love" today. yup, just as cute coming from someone i didn't know. plus, she had an english accent.

silent, not invisible

has this ever happened to you?

i was having a conversation with Person A tonight, when Person B entered the room. Person B asked a question about the conversation, which i answered. my answer apparently surprised her, as she immediately exchanged one of those wide-eyed "did she just say what i think she said?" looks with Person A who returned her own "yes, she did. what do you think about that?" look.

okay, i know the looks were silent - but they weren't invisible, ladies.

did i mention ...

that i'm going to LA?

good things, september 12

- working with fabric, which makes the time go quickly
- amazing friends, both old and new
- parents more supportive and loving than i could ever describe
- sunshine for the drive home
- planning a trip to LA
- embracing possibilities

on calling people love

have you seen the tv show Lie to Me? the main character is an expert at reading facial expressions (micro expressions, even) and judging if the person is being honest. it's an enjoyable show. the main character is british, so he has a lovely accent and a tendency to call people "love" during normal conversation. it's cute. and it's something he can get away with, in part, because he's got a british accent, which is also cute.

my point? i got a message from a friend last night that started with, "actually, love, you are proof of that" - and it made me grin. he doesn't have a british accent, but i can forgive him that. ;)

good things, september 6

- eyeball salt and pepper shakers
- doodling through team huddles after the store is closed
- passing notes like kids in middle school
- open windows and cool breezes
- photo days with april
- dinner with good friends
- dinner with family
- copernicus the homicidal monkey
- sewing at 5am

please excuse me

while i whine for just a moment, okay?

so there's this amazing (assumedly, i mean how could it not be?) tim burton exhibit in LA right now. over 700 pieces of his art (hundreds of which have never been seen), two large-scale outdoor pieces ... and it's all accompanied by music composed specifically for the exhibit by danny elfman.

i wanna go!

new flooring

we had laminate flooring laid in the house this past week. it's beautiful.

last week i told erin that she hadn't missed much by not visiting my blog recently, as i hadn't been posting regularly. and now i've posted three days in a row. i'm flighty like that.

it's almost september. that means NaBloPoMo is only two months away. you should start thinking about committing to blogging every day in november. or at least to reading the blogs of those who do. ;)

gf snickerdoodles

it occurred to me as i typed the title that "gf" could stand for god-forsaken. yes, these could be the cookies that god forgot. poor cookies.

however, it stands for gluten-free. in my recent trollings about the internet for gf recipes, i landed on the betty crocker site. as it turns out, she makes several gf baking mixes. she also offers up a variety of recipes using those mixes outside of their original purpose. for example, these snickerdoodles use her gf bisquick mix.

they're quite good! are they as tasty as the recipes i usually use? maybe not. but if no one told you they were gluten free, i'd bet good money you wouldn't guess.

meh.

i found myself surrounded by negative nellies today. (where do we get phrases like "negative nellies"?) i haven't slept well the past couple of nights, and i was up early this morning. so i'll admit i'm a little crabby. but these ladies were just working my nerves! going on and on about this problem and that problem and how they could solve each of those problems so much better than the folks who are in charge of solving those problems. and if it wasn't bad enough that they were incessantly complaining - they were doing it in front of people who had no business hearing any of it. it'd be like going to a store and hearing the employees complain about their bosses, company policies and job expectations because they were unabashedly having these conversations out in the open, without concern for who was listening.

yes, it would be exactly like that.

peanut butter frosting

apparently when i don't spend my time crocheting, i spend my time baking. unfortunately using a hand-held electric mixer isn't much easier on my wrist than a crochet hook. :)

crochet hiatus

i'm taking a break from crocheting. i've got an octopus with one tentacle and a baby toy that's just starting to take shape ... but i've also got some irritated carpal tunnel in my right wrist that's slowing me down. i worked up some sample squares last weekend that i think did me in. one of them was single crochet with a small hook, and i didn't realize how tightly it was working up until i was done. looking at it now, i'm not surprised my wrist is hurting. a few days of rest will do it well.

i learned last week that my laptop came preloaded with a trial version of Plants v. Zombies. one of the guys at work has it on his ipod, and he had asked me awhile ago if i played it. i was intrigued, but not enough to go looking for it. and then i found it on my laptop, and of course i fell in love. it makes me want to get the pattern for a crocheted pea shooter. but then, i'm not crocheting right now, right? :)

grandma's peanut butter cookies

32g recap

i started a big update on where i'm at with my 32 goals for the year, then i decided i'm not posting it. why? two reasons. A: i've not made good progress on many of the goals. and 2: i'd hate for that lack of progress to reflect poorly on the year so far. we'll see where the next 5.5 months get me. :)

yup. i'm that smart.

after a brief moment of slight panic, i remembered that the best way to start the dryer is to the close the door first.

storm: short, powerful

this afternoon at work, a storm rolled through. it came up quickly. the rain dropped in torrents. the wind whipped violently. and within about 15 minutes, it was over. the sun was back out, the humidity shot back up and it was as if nothing had happened.

now when i left for work, i distinctly remember that our patio furniture was sitting in its rightful place: on the patio. and the potted tomatoes and peppers were all in their rightful places: in their pots. so i'm thinking maybe the same storm hit at home that hit at the store? maybe?

roy the toxic boy

To those who knew him
-his friends-
we called him Roy.
To others he was known
as that horrible Toxic Boy.

He loved ammonia and asbestos,
and lots of cigarette smoke.
What he breathed in for air
would make other people choke!

His very favorite toy
was a can of aerosol spray;
he'd sit quietly and shake it,
and spray it all the day.

He'd stand inside the garage
in the early-morning frost,
waiting for the car to start
and fill him with exhaust.

The one and only time
I ever saw Toxic Boy cry
was when some sodium chloride
got into his eye.

One day for fresh air
they put him in the garden.
His face went deathly pale
and his body began to harden.

The final gasp of his short life
was sickly with despair.
Whoever thought that you could die
from breathing outdoor air?

As Roy's soul left his body
we all said a silent prayer.
It drifted up to heaven
and left a hole in the ozone layer.
(words and inspiration for the crochet by Tim Burton)

dinner with dave

i had a fabulous dinner with dave last night. he's in town for GenCon and made some room in his schedule for marlana & i. lovely evening, really. :)

sally

i've been uploading so many "in progress" photos for my sally doll to facebook that it didn't occur to me until now that i haven't shown her here at all. here she is!

sally stands about 12" tall and has posable arms and knees that bend. she was a lot of work - and i'm so happy with how she came out! hardest part? embroidering the face. i've done a bit of embroidery before, but this really challenged me. it's not an even surface, plus it's round and stuffed. yeah, challenging. but all in all, a good experience. i want to make more creatures with hair now. it's fun.

conversations that stick

a couple of months ago i had a conversation with a friend i haven't spent a lot of time with recently. she was sharing her opinion on an area of my life, and she assumed i shared that opinion. as it turns out, i do not share that opinion. and that's fine. i found our difference of perspectives to be a little humorous and chalked them up to just that: difference of perspectives.

lately, however, that stupid conversation keeps playing in my mind, and it makes me wonder if i should share her point of view. if i share her point of view, i should be very unhappy with that area of my life. but i'm the exact opposite of that. i'm very, very pleased with that area of my life - more pleased than i've been in quite some time. but for some reason, these past few weeks, it's hard to just embrace that.

why must i over analyze? just be happy, 'becca. let the rest fall away.

the secret dragon

thankfully, greg finally had his birthday so i can show you my first commissioned piece!

yes, he's practically identical to the first dragon i made with the exception of his spines being orange instead of purple. but check out the second photo. see the wire running through the veins of his underwings? they're posable!

now to finish up sally from the nightmare before christmas. i put a good 20 hours of work into her over the past three days. i figure another 2 or 3 and she should be done. i heart her!