if wishes were fishes ...

things i wish i had today:

- an "all play" option on netflix so i didn't have to start each episode of Parks & Rec individually. just keep playing 'em, netflix. i'll let you know when i'm ready for you to stop, okay?

- the ability to work on multiple crochet projects at the same time. or, at least, the ability to go back and forth between multiple crochet projects without forgetting which hook i was using on each and not being able to match gauge later.

- an extra 47 hours. do you know how much work i could get done on sally in an extra 47 hours?

tonight's conversation

over the radios at work
coworker a: do we still have any of those little drink umbrellas?
me: we have some with skulls & crossbones in the wilton halloween section.
coworker a: not with skulls & crossbones. for a birthday party.
me: i'd use them at my birthday party.
coworker b: i'd use them at mine, too.
coworker a: so that's a no, right?

photo movement

i've been copying photos from my back-up cds onto my laptop. why? i'm not exactly sure. it just seemed like the thing to do. i've got the room for them, and i do occasionally have reason to go through them - so why not, right? and while i'm copying them over i'm testing the "facebook as a workable photo sharing option" theory. so far so good. i didn't realize facebook would let me arrange the photos however i wanted. perhaps that's a new option?

when words fail

i love the internet.

there. i've said it. it's true. i love the internet. i'd rather send an e-mail than use the phone. i'd rather google information than ask someone standing next me.

but words just can't do justice in a situation that requires action. and sometimes, like tonight, i'm overwhelmed by the insufficiency of the internet. sometimes, words are just not enough.

edit/addition: the art of companionable silence (which, quite frankly, i rock at) is lost online, and there is no textual equivalent to be found.

letting it blur

sometimes the beauty is easier to see when you stop focusing and let everything blur.

sunroofs, windows and photo storage

i shot photos on my drive home saturday evening. i do enjoy shooting photos out my windows and sunroof while i'm driving. it's multitasking at its finest. plus, once the drive is over, i have the pleasant surprise of seeing what kind of photos i actually got. sometimes they're all useless. other times? well, i get something good often enough that i keep doing it. :)

i want to rig a way to attached my camera to the dashboard of my car. that way, with the help of a shutter trigger, i can shoot photos of the road in front of me. i don't expect those photos to be as interesting as the ones i get out of the side windows and the sunroof, but that's why i carry two cameras. ;) plus, i want the dashboard camera to very easily detach, so i could quickly get it out the sunroof if needed. of course, ideally i want the mounting system to involve no permanent modification to the camera itself - especially if it's my large camera. my smaller camera? i might be okay with some permanently adhered velcro on the little camera. i wonder if i can get a trigger for my little camera. ideal would be a single trigger that worked for both. yup. that would be superb.

i'm considering two options for future online photo storage/sharing, as i'm more and more convinced i will not be paying for flickr next year. A: facebook. i upload photos there anyway, although it's generally been smaller sets than i put on flickr. i wonder if there's a limit to how many photos i can upload to facebook. facebook does generate a url for each photo album that i could link to on the blog for folks who aren't on facebook (c'mon, patti. all the cool kids are doing it). or, i could go with option B: setting up photo albums here on the blog. that would require more work on my part, at least initially. and then i could share the url on facebook. i could do both, i suppose, but i'm leaning towards option A. so do i move over all the photos i currently have on flickr? or just let those disappear?

too much thought for a monday morning. ;)

time warp evening

i could list three elements of tonight's goings-ons that made me feel like i stepped back in time ten years. it was surreal.

those three elements aside, i had a great time hanging out with some terrific friends. :)

disco dancing dragon

i gave the miniature dragon to brian, as he's the one who extended the challenge to make a miniature dragon. plus, i think brian's a good guy who would appreciate it. so last night he uploaded a video to facebook with all these photos of the li'l dragon around town having a good time. the photos are set to music - a catchy little Disco Dancing Dragon ditty that i can't find any information on at all.

the video is great. i've watched it a half a dozen times, and i've been singing the song all morning. i'll have to ask brian for the file so i can post it. but for now, the still shots above give you a little preview.

i just ...

i'm disappointed. and in my absolute need to over analyze, i find myself wondering at what point i can allow myself to feel justified in being disappointed. the actions i'm disappointed by are not surprising. i should have expected them. so perhaps i'm disappointed that i didn't see it coming? or that i let it surprise me?

maybe i just shouldn't think so much. yeah.

maybe i'll make cookies instead. :)

schedule shift

i worked the morning stock shift yesterday and today. i got to play in fabrics for a good three hours before the store even opened, and i learned that the chaos of the store is greatly reduced when one is hiding in the back corner stocking foam and fiber. it was a good two days.

little butterfly

one of my facebook friends mentioned she'd like a butterfly for her niece's room. i didn't promise her anything, but i did start looking for butterfly patterns. i really like this one. it's worked flat, folded in half and then secured with a chain that forms the body. i worked it up with thread thinking i might end up with something small enough for earrings. i think it's a little big for that. he's just under an inch from antennae to base, an inch and a half across his wings. a good pendant on a necklace, maybe. although i really think a group of them would make a really cute mobile.

it's just annoying, really.

if i was picking pet peeves, being ignored would be at the top of my list. i'm not talking about the i'm-in-a-room-full-of-people-and-everyone-is-talking-amongst-themselves-and-not-to-me kind of ignored. or even the i-just-had-a-coworker-walk-right-past-me-in-the-supermarket-without-saying-hi kind of ignored. no. i mean the i'm-actively-trying-to-tell-you-something-you-need-to-know-and-you're-talking-over-me-instead-of-listening kind of ignored. it just grates at me a little.

although, the i-told-you-i-wanted-to-upsize-my-combo-meal-at-the-speaker-and-you-still-rung-up-the-smaller-size kind of ignored rates pretty high on the list, too.

more to come

i've been working on a secret project lately. it's my first commissioned piece, and i'm quite pleased with how it came out. i'm also pretty excited for it to make it to its new home.

i'm also enjoying working up some of my smaller balls of yarn into flowers. the one in the front of the photo? it's made of that beautiful variegated thread i bought a couple of weeks ago. loving how that one came out. and once i finish up the dodecahedron i started three months ago, i'll have some fun brown & pink yarn to turn into flowers, too.

feeling good isn't all bad

if compliments can be divided into categories, i think the best ones come without intention and as a surprise from someone you know is being honest.

last night at work i received a compliment that took me completely off guard. it came in the middle of a conversation and wasn't said with the intention of making me feel good. it was simply stated as a fact that was related to what we were talking about. and while it didn't take long for my brain to confirm that i had indeed heard what i thought i'd heard, it made me momentarily lose my train of thought and stop short.

after which i'm pretty sure i grinned like a kid in a candy shop and maybe even blushed a little. ;)

why limit the options?

if you only give yourself options A and B, you're probably missing some great opportunities.

just sayin'.

the importance of motivation

if you help someone change a flat tire - does it matter why you helped?

note: no one helped me change a flat tire in the recent past. it's a fake situation. don't get hung up on it.

but whether you helped them change the flat tire because you thought they couldn't do it themselves, or because you needed to feel like a hero, or because you enjoy changing flat tires, or because it's your job, or because you're a nice person who can't pass up any person needing help, or because you're friends with the person who had the flat ... does it matter? in the end, the tire gets changed. let's even assume the person you helped is grateful.

does it matter what the motivation was?

random bits

- i have two bug bites on my right leg. they're mostly just big red bumps, but when they itch it's a little ridiculous.

- i picked the first of my jalapenos today. i should go buy an onion and make salsa.

- i'm trying to not spend any more money than absolutely necessary before next friday. but i'm pretty sure that "buying complimentary ingredients so the jalapenos get used before they go bad" counts as absolutely necessary.

- there's a full moon. i knew this by the actions of the people around me but looking at the sky confirmed it.

- being able to access facebook on my phone is only mildly entertaining, at best.

- i could buy limes & coconut instead of an onion and make cookies instead of salsa.

a she dragon?

i picked up this gorgeously variegated thread at work tonight. i believe it will make a lovely she dragon with green spikes down her back. i'm not quite ready to jump back into such an intense miniature project again, but it'll be waiting for me some night when my eyes are feeling strong.

rose ring

i can work up a rose ring in about an hour. if i could sell these for $10 each it might make crocheting for profit a reasonable option.

miniature zombie

i was off work today and wore one of my cute skirts into the store for two reasons. A: sometimes i miss having job that lets me wear cute skirts. and 2: sometimes it's good to give people something to talk about.

good things, july 7

i make lists of good things under two circumstances. A: when things really are so overwhelmingly good that i can't help but list their goodness. and 2: when i really need a reminder to focus on the good and let the rest fall away. for no particular reason, the past couple of days have definitely been 2s. but i'm glad there are still good things shuffled into the mix.

- plans to see awesome friends
- unexpected giggles from a person caught by surprise
- knowing tomorrow is pay day
- the smell of pizza baking in the oven

good things, july 6

- margarita ice cream
- short days at work
- watching pam & jim be pam & jim

the little brother

when i took the fierce and friendly dragon to work, it was suggested that if he was a little smaller he'd be awesome to hang from a rear view mirror. the only way to accomplish that, as far as i was concerned, was to work him out of thread instead of yarn. i've been wanting to work with thread for awhile now, and i've even borrowed my mom's baby crochet hooks to try them out.

the result? fierce and friendly dragon's little brother measures approximately 5" from the tip of his tail to his nostrils, 1.5" from the tip of his back spikes to the ground, and 3.25" across his wings. the perfect size for hanging from a rear view mirror, wouldn't you say?

all the bits and pieces

toenails and spikes

progress, day 3

the tiny legs are only about 3/4" long, but they took me all stinkin' night to work up. i believe i'll take a nap before attempting the wings. :)

progress, day 2

it's tricky to show the size difference when the original stands up and the miniature doesn't, yet. (plus, i thought i had their noses lined up, but apparently not. oops.) but the miniature dragon's body is just less than half the length of the original. i wasn't sure i could make something cuter than the original dragon. now i think i might be proving myself wrong.

my eyes. my eyes!

working in miniature is hard on the eyes. :)

cuter in minature

the yarn on the left gave me the fierce and friendly dragon i posted a couple of days ago. he's about 10" long. tonight i bought the string on the right. i'm wondering if it will yield a dragon small enough to hang from a rear view mirror.



i bought a nicely variegated thread for the spines. they'll look like fire. :)

what the what?!

it's july.

july.

usin' the noodle

did you know that eating twizzler nibs with a fork prevents you from getting that greasy residue on your fingers? and that not having that residue on your fingers means you don't have to wash your hands after enjoying said nibs? and that not having to wash your hands means you can enjoy them whilst crocheting?

because stopping the crocheting to enjoy a nibular snack would just be too much to ask.