randomly chaotic and frequently mundane

so one of the girls at work is pregnant.  I’m working on a blanket for her, been going at it pretty hard the past week or so, it’s almost done.  but now my fingers ache.  It gets better.  An old friend from many years ago is having a baby soon.  A girl (everyone else I know seems to be having boys), so I can make a blanket I’ve been wanting to make for months.  It’s really girly, so it wouldn’t work for a boy, but now I can make it for a girl.  That’s a good thing.  I was thinking that the pattern might be cool in a different color scheme and made bigger, as well.  I’ll have to see how the first one comes out though.

 What is it about building a website for the straightjacket quartet that makes my computer want to stop working?  The first time it happened, my computer had to be reset.  This time, the fans stopped working and it wouldn’t run for more than 15 minutes without getting hot and shutting down.  It’s now cleaned out and running fine, but I’m afraid to start working on the website again, lol.

Work is… interesting.  A new security guy has people on edge.  The vibe that most employees have gotten from him is that he’s not really there to watch the customers.  I think most people are convinced that if he thinks you did something wrong, he’s going to make a stink and paint the picture however he wants to.  Seriously, it’s to the point that, for example, the people who make the prepared foods are afraid to taste the stuff they make.  Something they generally HAVE to do to make sure that it tastes good, has enough seasoning, etc.  That’s not exactly a benefit to the store.

The blanket is finished.  It looks really good.  The colors go well together, but also contrast nicely.  I’d love to be able to make a blanket out of angel hair yarn (it’s really soft), but it’s pretty pricey.  Just a throw for the living room would probably cost $100 in yarn.  I think I’ll stick to using the soft stuff for scarves and hats, at least until I win the lottery or something.

Haven’t painted much since the skulls, which I’m still in awe of *g*  I did work some on the Christmas Tree that I’ve been working on for Carrie.  It’s pretty basic so far though… it’s green.  The base is glacier blue speckled red and green.  And I’ve given it a sprinkling of fairy dust.  I gotta get the pin lights and light kit for it, then I’m going to add snow.  It shall be pretty.  At the ceramic shop, I have 2 faeries to work on for Maddie.  There’s also a welcome sign with a bear on it for mom and of course my Christmas train which needs finishing.  There’s really not much to do on that… some detail work and I have to give the engine a second coat.  After that it gets its first firing, a glazing and then a second firing.  After that I’ll decide if I want to go all out and get the 3rd firing — which will mean that I’m putting gold touches (of actual gold) on it.  I’ve also got another goblet set to paint.  1 dragon and 1 princess.

And of course… the Halloween piece I didn’t have time to finish before Halloween.

So, I’ve done some painting of ceramics of late.  Most recently, I’ve been working on Halloween themed items.  I did this very cool stack of skulls and I gotta say I’m so proud of how it came out I’m gonna tell y’all what I did (as well as post some pictures of em).  This was my first attempt at antiquing and I love the effect that it had.

First I painted the whole thing cornsilk yellow (skulls, leaves, everything).  Then I painted the leaves and vines avocado green.  Once that dried I dry brushed rain forest green onto the leaves and some parts of the vines.  Because I wanted to be cute, I gave 2 skulls gold teeth with metallic gold and 1 a black brown tooth.  After all that had plenty of time to dry, I used an antiquing paint (I don’t remember the exact wording of what kind of paint it was… it’s oil based though) — walnut brown.  Brush on, rub off.  The skulls were actually brown when I rubbed off the antiquing stuff, but later I took a slightly damp rag and rubbed it to the color I wanted.  I’m so very happy with how this piece came out.  On Halloween he’ll be outside (in view, but well away from trick or treaters ability to knock over) and lit from inside.  Shall be eerie and creepy and all kinds of groovy.

Internet access is up and running again, woo hoo.  This is a good thing.

Work goes well.  What can I say, I enjoy the grocery store.  It’s cool to see all of the groovy things that people buy, and as weird as it may be, coupons make me happy.  Getting a discount is nice too.  Employees get a 5% discount.  It’s not much, but considering the really low markup on groceries, it’s damn generous of the company to offer it.  So it’s “only” $5 off of a $100 purchase, but it’s $5 in my pocket at the end of the day that wouldn’t have been in my pocket at the end of the day — at least that’s how I look at it.

Been getting some ceramic relaxation, too.  Now I understand why my mom has always been such a fan of painting ceramics.  It’s so relaxing to just sit and paint… to contemplate the color combinations, to mix unique colors for certain projects — just gotta remember to write down what you’re using for a particular piece, especially if it’s a custom mix.  You never know if you mixed enough of a particular color.  So far I’ve finished a turtle, a lighthouse and a fish.  I’m working on a faerie sitting on the moon (almost done).  I’m doing her in a mix of blues and purples, with lots of irridescent and metallics.  I’ve also got a really cute treehouse I’m working on and a shark in the wings.  When they’re done, I’m doing a goblet with a dragon on the stem.  The goblet I’m going to do with glaze, so it can be fired and, if I choose, drank from.  That one I probably won’t, because of the way it was poured.  But I might get one later from greenware and ask them to pour it differently.

I think when I’m done with what I’ve already got on my itinerary, I’m going to start doing some seasonal stuff.  The shop I go to has seasonal items (for all seasons) on display all year round.  So I could do some Halloween and Christmas stuff if I want, or I could do some stuff for upcoming holidays.  There’s a huge selection of really cool pieces for all the various holidays.  I can also get some ceramics that I’ve had in need of firing for several years fired soon.  That’ll be nice.  I can finally get them painted.  One of them is a Christmas tree and one of them is a ceramic Christmas card that I’d wanted to give to Carrie for Christmas.  When it’s painted, I’ll be sending it to her.  I have to take those out and clean them, actually.

I weighed myself the other day, and I’ve lost a couple more pounds since December.  My goal is to be down to 130 or so by May or June, and a little more toned.  I have no objection to walking or riding a bike to work, so that’ll be helpful towards that particular goal.  I think I’ll wait for slightly better weather though.  The cold would leave me hacking up a lung while I’m working, that wouldn’t be a good thing.

I got some cross stitch books from someone on paperbackswap.  One of them has these “Rose-Petal Place” characters in it.  They looked familiar, and when I read the inside cover of the book I realized why.  Perhaps others from the 80’s will remember this:

Long ago on a
Day in May
A young girl
Had to go away
And leave her
Lovely garden fair
With no one to tend it
No one to care
So the child cried
And her teardrops fell
It was as though
They cast a spell
For they touched the petals
Of a rose
And magically
So the story goes
The rose and others
Came alive
Now it’s here they live
And here they thrive
In Rose-Petal Place…
There’s a garden of
Love to share.

It was a series of dolls, as I recall, that lead to a short lived cartoon.  Each of the dolls (dressed up as a flower) had a little crystal teardrop on their petals.  I never had one, but I think my sister did.  Anyway, this book has patterns to do the flower/dolls in cross stitch, and they’re really pretty.  I was contemplating whether it would be worth it to do some of these and sell them on Etsy.com.  They’d make very pretty decoration for a girls bedroom, as long as it’s a girly theme.  Not sure if it’d be worth it though.  I’m contemplating.  Cross stitch supplies are relatively cheap, so it’s really about the time that it would take to make them.  But they’d be more likely to sell at Etsy than eBay, since Etsy is specifically for crafts and hand made items.

I dug some sculpey out of my craft supplies for Gage to play with.  He plays with it much like he plays with play doh and it doesn’t give me a migraine.  Also, when he does something really cool, I can bake it and keep it forever — bonus!  Actually, I thought about getting him to cover a can I saved with the scupley to bake and use it as a change can.  It took some prompting but he did it.  Now I’ve got 2 more cans that are a little bigger.  They’d be good for pencil cups or something.  I covered the inner rim with sculpey and baked it before I gave him the can so he wouldn’t cut himself.  Now I just gotta convince him to cover the other two cans.

not up, not down. just… there.

gage is having a good day, but there are only so many times i can endure the same two episodes of blues clues in one day. it’s ok tho. we’re gonna go outside in a few minutes. i got some stuff to do outside, and gage will enjoy the playing. especially since rain filled his little pool (which is really just a plastic sandbox with no sand) the other day. i’ll probably dump that and refill it tho. the last time he played in it he filled it with dirt and rocks and leaves n stuff. he likes throwing things into the water. you should see him when we pass puddles. he can’t resist tossing things into them or jumping into them. truth be told, sometimes i can’t resist jumping in them, myself.

i’ve been doing a little writing lately. not a lot, but more than i used to.

i have some denim. from 2 pairs of woody’s jeans that died, and a piece that i bought. i’ve decided to make a blanket out of it. which’ll be interesting, since the jeans were light blue, and the denim i bought is black. the reason for the blanket is weight. gage like many autistic children, apparently, enjoys weight/pressure on him. someone on the paperbackswap forum mentioned that she had a denim blanket once but it was so heavy she couldn’t get comfortable under it.  actually what she had was a quilt with a denim top.  i’d probably skip the quilting and just do a denim blanket.  maybe use the quilt top i already made but haven’t quilted as a backing.  i think gage would really like the weight of the blanket.  then maybe i can have my comforter back.

time for lunch.  i crave salad.

for some reason i’m not feeling like reading lately.  dunno why.  of course, tonight i’ll probably read until 2am or something.

got the grocery store flyers for this week today.  some good seafood sales going on.  some seared sea scallops would be so tasty.  the crab legs look good, too.  $8.99 a lb isn’t bad for king crab legs…  perhaps there will be seafood this week.  that would be good

gage has the camera again… he’s addicted to taking pictures it would seem.  it’s quite cute, really.  he’s started using the display to point it at what he wants to take pictures of… unfortunately, half the pictures he takes are of scenes in nightmare before christmas.  he got a pair of kiddie scissors from school.  they came home in his lunchbag.  he’s very interested in cutting paper, so that’s a good thing.  he also did his best this morning to button and zip his pants by himself.  which is nice, another good thing.

i need to get up into the attic… i wanna start pulling down boxes, consolidating and listing stuff on ebay.  i was also thinking about starting to make different ornaments and decorations for halloween, thanxgiving and christmas for selling.  dunno about that yet, tho.  for the time being, i’ll just content myself with working on reducing the clutter.

need to get some ear candles and have woody do my ears sometime soon.  should probably do his as well.  it’s been a long time since either of us have had our ears done, actually.

woody brought us a new couch.  it’s quite comfy.  it’s “used” but was apparently never actually used.  good n firm and stuff.

gage was painting some fabric last night.  once it dried, i washed it and it’s up on the clothesline now… got the loose paint off of the fabric.  gonna make some bears and stuff out of it.  probably make some pillows for the couch as well.  that would be cool.. pillows made of fabric gage decorated.  gonna send bears to his grandparents… and depending on how they come out and how many there are, i might try selling 1 or 2.   hey if they sell, maybe i’ll get some fabric paint and more fabric to make stuff out of…

watchign lord of the rings on tbs at the moment… as much as i enjoy the movies, and i really enjoyed the books… i agree with some of the sentiments of clerks II… lotr is NOT “the trilogy” there’s only one “the trilogy” that would be episodes IV, V & VI (star wars, of course).  additionally “return” can only mean return of the jedi.  return of the king is return of the king.

i’ve been looking up patterns for simply made bears and dolls and stuff like that.  some of the fabric pieces i gt are too small for clothing, but would be good for things like that.  i’ve got a cute piece of blue gingham that i think would make an adorable little bear.  maybe i’ll make one and send it to my niece for her birthday or something.  there’s also one that’s a little more complicated… i was thinking about trying that one w/ a piece of vinyl and a piece of velvet.  i think it’d be interesting.  maybe get some body jewelry for him, he he.

got a box of fabric today.  bought it on ebay for $5 + $8 shipping.  it was a good deal.  mostly i was interested in pieces… a piece of silver velveteen, a piece of black vinyl and a piece of camouflage.  there’s a bunch of other good stuff in there too… velevet, crepe, mesh… many ideas.  i found a site that has basic instructions for making a corset… i was thinking about using the vinyl to give that a try.