luxe

i know, i know, i am a bad blogger. i have been really tired lately and haven’t done much of anything. i had a cavity filled and knitted during the procedure.

it is the first dentist i have ever gone to that didn’t make me suffer! woot! there was a massager on the chair, too. can’t beat that. my last dentist didn’t clean out the cavity the whole way, so it was soft inside. also, i have a root canal next week. so.

also, peeps has a lump on her arm. we took her to the vet last night and he shaved her arm and pushed on the lump and it flattened out. it has since come back, so we will probably have to have it removed. he said it was in a strange spot and it is easy to move, so it is probably just fluid. we will have to keep an eye on that. she avoided me all last night and today and then peed in the doorway of our bedroom right in front of me. payback is a bitch. sigh. she really holds a grudge. brat.

i participated in a valentine’s postcard swap, and i got all of mine done and out. i did them on board, so they are nice and heavy and hopefully people will like em and keep em. wanna see?

i painted the backs a fleshy luxe pink and trimmed the sides up and painted the edge pink and that was that. sweet!

it is snowing like crazy here. jake came home early to avoid the weather and is probably going to stay home to-morrow if the weather is as bad as they say it is supposed to be.

i bought a couple of yards of wool felt to dye for poppies and for embroidery projects. i have been cutting it into the flower pieces rather than dye everything. i may actually paint it on and see how well it works. it is not anyone’s idea of soft, but what can you do?

i knitted up one of my singles for a swap into these handwarmers and this necky. really purdy.

my band of the moment is still me first and the gimme gimmes, they have one called ruin jimmy’s bar mitvah that is live like it is at a bar mitvah. so good. and they always do cover songs and they are so so good. so good. did i tell you they are good? you know the words to these songs, i promise.

i started “woman on the edge of time” by marge piercy, dunno if i mentioned that, but it is a really interesting book so far. i imagine i will finish it tonite or to-morrow.

okay. i am a bit of a loss. just a quicky shoutout to lynn whose daughter has been ill, but is on the upswing…hang in there sweets! and to barbe who has some house drama which seems to be sorting itself out.

xoxoxoxo
n.

jake is taking off early from work because i have a dentist appointment (you know, for the two gaping holes in my molars) and he fears i will ditch out. um, again. although, i was sick last time when i cancelled. anyway, wish me luck. i am sure you all know by now that i am terrified of the dentist. sigh.

i still have the headache and was really really tired for most of the day, in fact at around 2p, i fell asleep for about a half an hour. i am not much of a napper. i tend to feel really horrible when i wake up.

i did a bit of knitting for a swap. the handspun single i made is a pleasure to work with, although it is a bit overtwisted. i am so used to plying them after, or doing fancy stuff, i tend to overtwist to make sure it doesn’t fall apart. i will post photos of the fingerless gloves. i may be forced to make myself some. i did a clever pattern for the thumbhole that worked really well. i need to write it up and post it. i will.

i worked on this embroidered vintage doily with one of the pod drawings i did a while ago. i didn’t like how it looked and ripped some of it out a few months later, and i actually really like how it looks, although it isn’t done. not sure where it will go, but i really like the way the transfer looks, too.

i worked a bit more on my circle circle collage, adding smaller circles. i have managed to use my circle punches enough that the big one gets stuck and the other two aren’t so great either. i am planning to treat myself after the dentist by going to joann’s and getting a few new paper punches, (i want some hearts, some tear shapes and i am not sure what else. they have some cool ones) some white 100% wool (will they have such a thing?) to dye for my poppies and embroidery projects and…i think that is it. maybe some craft magazines. also, we plan to go to marshalls because i need to get some bras (i have 2 that fit. 2.) and jakie needs new work shirts.

i have had some interest in some of my fine art things, which is a really nice thing, i am hoping to be able to build up that part of my life, because i guess i feel like that is who i am at my core. that is why i never learned to ride a bike or ice skate (i imagined someone skating over my fingers and chopping them off. seriously) you can be sure that i will keep you posted.

i was checking my site stats and ended up on one of my favorite peeps’ blog, monstercrochet.com and found this cool site. it is for a book swap and there is also a cd swap. i prompty sent it to my mom and dad. my mom is a speed reader, literally a book in an evening. she likes best sellers, oprah books, true crime, things that would be readily available on this site. how does it work? well, it is free, you need to list at least 9 books. if someone orders one, you pay the media mail shipping. when they record that they got the book, you get credits. when you order a book from someone, you pay no shipping. i think as long as you have credits, you can get as many books as you want. they have audio books and other things, too. you can wishlist things, too. i couldn’t figure out how to search by genre, like to search for art books or crafty books, but definitely for best sellers i imagine it would be good. isn’t it an amazing idea? i hate having stuff that i don’t want. i am a huge cluttery pig, but if it is something i don’t want, won’t wear, whatever, it drives me nuts to have it. especially gifts, i feel awful that someone spends money on me for something i hate. i end up trying to find someone that wants said item. anyway, i read a good bit, so i have a lot of books that were not so great. when my parents moved to iowa, they had a bazillion books (that is the actual number) among other things, my dad is an audiophile and has thousands of cds. i have tried to encourage him to get an ipod and download stuff, back it up and be done, rather than have tons of cds and TAPES. plus he has soooooo many books. i understand that, because if i like a book, i want to keep it. anyway, it would be a good way for them to get new books and cds without them being all over the place.

wouldn’t it be great if we could all swap or give our stuff to people who want it? i am going to clean out my closet this weekend and will be getting rid of a bunch of purses and jeans and tops and bras that are damn near brand new and really nice (34D-36D)and probably some shoes, too, so if anyone wants any of it and either lives nearby or wants to pay shipping, it is yours. a lot of it is really good stuff. i have probably 30+ pairs of jeans that don’t fit me and are fancy brands. so leave a comment and tell me what you are interested in and i will put stuff aside from you. as i said, it drives me nuts to have stuff that i can’t or don’t use.

i was updating my flickr account and came across this artist whose name translates to wolf, which i like because lupus means wolf…i dunno. anyway, his work is just gorgeous. it is fantastic to see people who are actually the real thing, through and through.

speaking of the real thing, we saw a documentary on frank franzetta on the sundance channel and it was amazing. he is a “fantasty” artist, probably the most famous thing he did was the artwork for conan the barbarian…anyway, not my cup of tea, but the man is incredible. he was really handsome, a really nice person, an athlete, smart and a master artist. they showed an oilpainting he did when he was 8 or 9…holy shite. he is one of the few artists that do the kind of art they do because they choose to, but could do anything. picasso was that way, rodin, frida kahlo, leonardo…not a lot of artists can say that. there definitely is an issue with most people who call themselves artists not having training, but more importantly, that even if you have had training, if you go to most art schools in this day and age (or anytime after the 1950′s) you could actually not know how to draw very well, paint, sculpt, take a photo, and there is no standard against which your abilities are measured. this guy…could have gone up against anyone. he didn’t use models and the paintings are photorealistic. okay, it gets MORE crazy. he had an undiagnosed thyroid problem and went from being around 200 muscular pounds to 130 pounds and almost dead and went through that for years before a doctor realized what the issue was. he lost his mind. he shook. he was weak. he couldn’t make art the way he wanted to. ok, that isn’t the crazy part yet. he had a stroke. he couldn’t use his right hand to paint or draw, it shook, it was weak. he learned to use his left hand. and the work is magnificent. it looks different than the right handed stuff, but amazing. he said that you don’t draw with your hand, but with your mind. holy crap. he was an amazing man, father, husband, friend. (is) wasn’t an alcoholic, tormented, miserable, druggy…he loved sports, loved his family and friends, loved making art and was prolific. it is wonderful to see a succesful artist who appreciates life. go frank! you rock!

did you hear about the astronaut that wore the astronaut diaper and drove 900 miles to…um…do this?

i am off to shower. i feel rotten. wish me luck to-morrow. the one is just a filling that fell out, so hopefully that is no big deal, the other is a huge cavity that i showed the dental photo of before, except it is probably even better now. maybe i should start brushing my teeth? nah, just kidding. i would never brush my teeth. no. i do! i do! twice a day.

and peeps…i think that if she was a person (g-d help us if she were!) she would look like kathy ireland…

my brain is no longer working. must shower my head with hot hot water.
xoxoxoxoxo
n.

i was asked about my dishwasher dyeing method that i sort of…appropriated from shannon except made it for even LAZIER people, like myself…here is the original post. i am adding some new tips that i sent to the wooldancer herself, michelle, aussie spinner extraordinaire!

i use zipper freezer bags, not zipoc, the actual zipper. you can stuff much more into them and have them still close. they make bigger ones, too, that would be good. i have even used a plastic bag doubled from the grocery store and that worked fine, too. i had a bag with a hole in it, and put it in there for the sake of avoiding a dye-a-rama…if it is fiber that will felt, then wet it first and then stuff it into the bag, somewhat squeezed out, but not dry. if you are prewetting, you can put half in, squirt in one color, squish it around (don’t use vinegar or citric acid until after if you want the color to move around a bit) add the rest of your fiber, add that color, squish it around, make sure it is all the way thru, depending on how densely you packed it, it may be untouched in the middle, so check that. zip it, leave the zipper about 1/4 inch open to let steam escape. more often than not, i don’t use any acid at all and it sets just fine, although the colors may be a bit more pastel. so do as many bags as you want, make sure that they are upright so they won’t leak. i put the darker ones on the bottom shelf just in case they do leak. also, this sounds obvious, but try not to let the dishwasher shelfy things poke a hole in the bag. i have done this, it is bad. it is like a smurfen bloodbath…ok, set it for regular wash, sterilize, heated dry and let it go. mine runs 90 minutes i think. if it is not superwash fiber, you may be better off letting it sit overnight to cool and then rinsing. it is so much faster and less messy. i do it right in the sink and add the dye and everything there. magic!

after it is rinsed out (more often than not, the water will be completely clear. if you wash your yarns after spinning, you don’t even need to rinse it unless you used vinegar, lazy, i told you) also, you can put leave in conditioner on the wool, or i have also heard fabric softener works well, or rinse out conditioner, you can actually put that on the fiber whilst it is still hot if it isn’t super soft or is tangly. i also often use no more tangles stuff for kids.

after rinsing with water the same temp as the wool, and making sure that the water doesn’t run directly on the fiber, you can let it run down the side of the sink and pool up so that it gently rinses the fiber, squeeze the extra water out and then put it in a mesh bag (even the mesh ones meant for carrying groceries works well, just tie it tight at the top) and chuck it in the washer on the spin cycle. make sure it isn’t going to run water onto it…let it dry and good to go. you know all of my secrets now.

oh, one other tip…mixing dyes is NOT like mixing paint. most of the colors are not pure pigment, which is why when you look in the jar of dye powder, you see different colored granules, unless you don’t mind unpredictable results, buy a variety of colors and just use them in a more or less diluted form. i am really good at mixing colors, but with dye…it just is a whole different story. even a different fiber can make a color come out totally different. even if they are both white. superwash fiber and yarn grabs color really fast, it drinks it and no acid is required.

i like the dishwasher method because you can dye lots and lots in a small area, not a lot of mess, steam or mayhem. also, unlike using a steam set-up on the stove, you aren’t trying to rotate steaming hot slippery packets of steaming hot fiber and liquid. in the oven, i have had stuff burn, even when i did it the way i should have, and you can only hold so much and it is a mess. in the microwave, i have scalded yarn before and it isn’t the same after it comes out. i imagine it sort of cooks it. in the dishwasher, it is like it just steams it without cooking it, if that makes sense. i have dyed more than 10 lbs in one batch and the dishwasher wasn’t even filled! you can dye yarn too, just roll it up into the packet like you ordinarily would and then put it in a bag, with the zip a bit open. good to go!

one last thing, i reuse the plastic bags until they get a hole or the zipper doesn’t work. the brand name freezer bags are nicer quality and do hold up a bit better, but try out different things, see what you like. you really could even use a bread bag, or whatever, just make sure that it is closed off at the top. have fun!

okay, so as i said, i am making a point to devote at least one day a week (more, i hope) to fine art…today, i worked on a big wooden charger (you know those things that are supposed to go under a dinner plate when you are being fancy?) that my mom gave me to get rid of em…it isn’t done yet, but here are some shots of it so far…

and a detail of it…

i actually painted the plate, after attempting to do a crackle thing to it when i originally was going to put the matchboxes on it, then painted it again, over the crackle and then started punching out different sized circles from all sorts of paper: vintage wallpaper, a vintage bingo card, wrapping paper, origami paper, that japanese washi paper with the gold on it…gorgeous! also, in one of the magazines i got there was a huge layout on thick paper that wasn’t shiny and i used a lot of those and other rice papers and scraps, old dictionary pages, paint chips, all sorts of things. i should count how many circles there were. anyway, i really need to shoot out to joann’s to-morrow to get some new punches, new shapes, plus my large circle one is totally ruined, it gets jammed all the time. anyway, i really love how it looks. it is rather large, much bigger than a dinner plate.

what else? i did this freeform embroidered monstrosity last night…

it is on muslin, although afterwards, i realized that it would be easier on felt. i am going to look for some 100% wool felt at joann’s to dye instead of trying to find the colors i want. i am not sure if they have that in white. i always mean to make felt but am always too lazy to actually do it. it seems really labor intensive. anyway! there are locks, pieces of yarn, vintage buttons, silk flowers, felt, embroidery floss, feathers. i think i will attach it to a pillow or something. not sure. on this one, i plan to keep adding stuff.

and then this one, jet/red that has tulle, irridescent black sequins and matte black japanese delica beads. i really love it. again, not sure what i am doing with it…

and closer…

i listened to podcasts, researching, whilst working in the studio today. out of 7 of em, i lasted less than 3 minutes on all but pointy sticks which i really enjoyed. there was an interview at the end of it which i listened to most of, but otherwise, is was good. her voice is nice. the music is funny and not really really long-winded (i imagine you guys have heard some horrible music on other ones that goes on FOREVER, blech!), she doesn’t speak really slow, she doesn’t sound like she is reading off of a card. slowly. all of the others, which are the most popular ones from what i can tell are soooo boring. i don’t know how people listen to them, and more than that, think they are interesting. dunno. anyway! so still, anyone with crafty podcast suggestions, let me know!

i spun up a single that is worsted to sportweight that i did on the electric spinner that i really wanted to knit up, to have an excuse to do it anyway, so i am doing a swap for a stone ring from ashley’s store i am doing a necky and wristwarmers from this yarn…

yay! i get to knit it, without having to keep it. that is the best! i love it.

okay, i need to do some more work. i still have the headache in varying degrees throughout the day. i didn’t even check emails this morning, my head ached and i knew i would aggravate it. so i went straight to work and left my phone out of there and got a lot done. it is nice. i don’t know what time is it, just what i am doing.

please keep sending wellwishes to lynn’s sweet daughter who is really feeling crummy. a nice package is coming your way with some extras for the little one!

and lurkers, please pop in and leave a comment. i wonder who is out there? what do i need to offer to get you to reveal yourselves? c’mon! i dare ya!

xoxoxoxoxoxox
n.

one of my peeps, emailed me to let me know that i was on the treasuryon etsy, which i didn’t know about before…or did i? pretty cool. you can put up a list of stuff you like and it stays up for a certain amount of time and only 101 are up at any time and then they are gone…pretty cool, eh? it is one of my yarns that is so pretty, i am not sure how it didn’t sell right away.

okay, i am super tired, so i will post this and go…
xo
n.

hey guys! just a quicky to let you know that i updated luxe.etsy.com with soft lovely handpainted superwash merino top, some crazy spinning batts and some yarns, too. so go…check it out…and, matching sparkle as a gift with each order! yay!

to kick off the post, please send well wishes to lynn whose daughter is pretty sick. from what i know at this point, they are running tests and are not sure what is going on. i normally have a good guy feeling of whether something will be major or not, and i feel like it will resolve itself fast. let’s all send good vibes to them that i am right! if you read this lynn, mwah! mwah! mwah!

what else? well, i have been living in migraine city lately. i had a super bad one yesterday and have it brewing again today. i packed orders yesterday (yayayayay!) and had to finish the piece for the show that is long overdue and of course nothing went as planned, so 10 different approaches and a huge mess later, it worked. by then, it was too dark to take a good photo and i had one of the worst migraines i have had…ever. okay, in the last year, anyway. so the photos i took were bad, dark and i didn’t care, either. so. wanna see anyway? okay:
this is the top of it. handspun red yarn (it kept breaking, grrrrr) and a little nest with japanese orange coral for eggs and a little bird that velma gave me…

here is a detail of the bottom. as you can see, i embroidered muslin and attached it with copper tacks, strung copper wire and attached the boxes to the copper wire (which was a real challenge)

and here is the whole thing. dark. blurry. migraine. sorry.

also, there are some of my paper beads with the resin on em at the bottom of the box and one on top. the little boxes have torn out dictionary words including “heart”, “heartbreak”, “heartache” and then there is a ton of resin and copper and gold irridescence on it. i really like it and hope it doesn’t sell. i would like to keep it. additionally, i realized that i need to make sure that i MAKE time to do fine art every single week. no matter what. i love it more than anything and it makes me forget everything.

what else? well, on the regular electric spinner, which works really really well, much better than the bulky one, i spun a bunch of really pretty singles in sport/worsted weight that would be fantastic for socks. i didn’t skein it yet but, wanna see?

the photo is a bit crappy, and it doesn’t show how vibrant the colors are. emerald greens, purples, blues, gorgeous! i am almost tempted to keep it myself.

we were supposed to see butter yesterday and i had to call it off. and we were supposed to meet the new girlfriend! so not cool. additionally, i had wanted to go shopping today and knew it would be unwise. flourescent lighting and migraines do not mix. also, i would be like a drunk and blind driver. it tends to hit me full-on very quickly. anyway, i did some dyeing today, some good ones, i think. i am trying to get more depth in my dyeing, ala lynn, the yarnwench herself, because it is the thing that really takes it to the next level. i love bright colors, but bright colors with a few pops of something darker or deeper….oooh lalala! i mixed up new batches of dyes because i was out of a lot of things and used the olive drab i got a while ago which in the dye form doesn’t look at all like olive drab. it looks like a super dark purple black. we will see how it cures. i will hang it to dry a bit later and be listing fiber to-morrow. woo hoo! i would have done it today, but you know…no good yesterday. bah!

so, the anticraft has a new issue, with a knitted penis and um…nuts…it is rather funny. what do you do with it? don’t ask, okay?here it is! there are also wire crocheted pasties, which cracked me up, too.

also, i came across this fantastic fancy shmancy makeup called besame (i am sure you have heard of it. their red lipstick is very famous) anyway, you can order samples! they are $1.50 each and .63 cents shipping! can you beat that? it is a makeup lovers bonanza! do you remember those teeny lipstick testers you would get from avon and your mom would let you have it and make you think she bought it for you and it was a kid-sized lipstick. oh, i loved those things. i know this will shock you, but i hoarded them. i didn’t want to use it, then it would be gone. also, you know the cologne testers, the glass ones? i would add water to them in an effort to make it last longer. anyone ever put water in perfume? it makes it smell like a skunk. dunno why, but it took a longtime for me to learn. or else, i would do it still.

on the line of being a hoarder…i hoard medications. i push myself not to use pain pills and antibiotics in case i run out…and there is a zombie war or something. dunno why. i am the same way with tissues. it is torture for me to use it once and throw it away. before they diagnosed my lupus, i had false allergies that were so bad that my nose ran all the time. constantly. nothing, including rx medicines or benedryl made it stop. i sniffed every few seconds. in fact, in college, one of my profs would YELL at me for sniffing. i had a half a box of tissues in my bag at all times. i would use the entire stack by the end of the day. i would use each tissue until it was completely saturated before moving onto the next. back then, it made sense. now…not really. but i still feel guilty throwing it away. because i won’t throw it away, they end up in my pockets and in the washer. jake doesn’t like that so much.

when i was a kid, if my parents gave us each a pack of gum, my brother would put all of the pieces in his mouth at once. i would break each piece into a zillion pieces and eat each tiny piece individually, and not put a new one in until there was no flavor left. my brother would mock me, but a week later, i still had gum. so, there! when they came out with mini chicklets…ooh, i loved those! perfect!

i eat candy one piece at a time. in most cases, m & m’s for example, i suck on it until the shell is gone and then eat it. or keep sucking on it. m & m minis are a fav for that reason. i eat em one at a time. why am i not really skinny? when i eat cereal, i eat it one at a time, too. not with milk, though, that would be stupid. sheesh.

i am terrified of the dentist. as a kid, i had really messed up teeth and had horrible orthodontic work done, a nightbrace (boy did that hurt) retainers, and i had to have several teeth pulled because i didn’t have room. plus the wisdom teeth when i was 14 or 15 because they were impacted and would mess up my teeth. needless to say, i hate going to the dentist. i take pain rather well, it is just irrational, i guess. i am scared. so.

i have had chronic migraines since i was in 1st grade (that i remember) although back then, they didn’t really have anything that helped. at all. so if i got one, i had to go to the ER. if i eat MSG or bleu cheese (found in any sort of doritos or cheetos) i get a super bad one, in minutes. as a kid, i would lick my hand, pour accent on it (it is pure msg, i am not sure if they still make it) lick it off, repeat. i also would suck on bullion cubes. and if we had a party at school, i would scarf doritos, we never had stuff like that at home, not being american, and i loved salty, needless to say, bad bad things would follow. even now, if bleu cheese has touched my food, like if the salad comes with it, i tell them that i am allergic to it, and the remove it, like i won’t know, i am sick almost instantly. it stinks anyway. not such a big loss.

okay, dinner is ready, so off i go.
xoxoxoxoxo
n.

so, it is snowing, kind of hard, super duper cold and i am too exhausted to do anything. and i have work to do, so that isn’t good. i thought i would do a meme with some things about me you may or may not know. it is ALL about me, isn’t it? hee.

1. i have mild lupus, chronic fatigue syndrome and epstein barr. i have had kind of crummy health since i was born, but wasn’t diagnosed until i was in college. it actually was a good thing, because i have problems with thinking i am being a baby or i should be able to push harder, but can’t. finding out that something really was wrong helped me to accept myself. other than being sore and tired, the lupus is under control. although really, i feel almost like it is its own entity and if i piss it off, i will pay the price. generally, i get days now and then where i feel really energetic, overdo it (a lot) and then am exhausted for the next few days. that is what happened this week.

2. i am afraid of the dark. i have almost no night vision and if it is dim, i turn on lights. i hate driving at night, i always think i see animals running in front of me. when i go down the hall to the bathroom at night, if i don’t turn on the light, i imagine samara from the ring walking on her broken ankles after me and it freaks me out.

3. i am a complete pussy. i don’t know how to ride a bike, skate, and most other things that kids do. i lived my life afraid to hurt my hands (literally since i was little) and am incredibly unathletic. i can swim well and i used to dive and swim competitively.

4. i am a ball magnet. if there is a ball being thrown, hit, or falling from the sky, it will hit me. i swear it. so i fear balls. (ha!) when i was walking across campus in college and they were kicking a soccer ball, i would walk with fear ready to get it.

5. in 3rd grade, i had my arm broken by catching a kickball from the best kicker in the class, terry durham (who didn’t do the pledge of allegiance because he was jehovas witness and i always thought that was really cool, i never thought it seemed smart as a little kid to pledge your life to anything and i still don’t) i was being called a wuss because i run away from the ball and stood in the shortstop position and caught it, and my arm broke right around it. i quietly told the teacher i thought i had broken my arm and needed to go and was utterly humiliated that people saw me break my arm.

6. in 5th grade (4th?) during dodgeball, the tallest kid in the class, eddie josephoski threw the ball, i was behind someone who moved, and it hit me in the nose from the side. it bled like nothing you have ever seen (unless you have broken your nose) and again, i was humiliated for getting all bloody in front of everyone. did i tell you i am a ball magnet?

7. i have really nice feet. i have said this before, i don’t mean to brag but…okay, i am bragging. they are really pretty, and even feet haters like them. i will post a photo is you ask really nice.

8. when i get new high heels (oooh i love em!) i put them on, walk around the house and lay down on the bed and check em out, watch tv in em. jake thinks it is hilarious. i love shoes, okay. at one point i wanted to design em. i am too messy to be any sort of designer. i hear they frown on coffee spots on the drawings.

9. i used to sing in bands. my mom was an opera singer and a cellist, pro, and gave it up. all of her brothers were prodigies, as well. i have a “sweet” voice, as my mom puts it, because it is really high. mezzo soprano. i used to sing boy soprano music in college because it sounds like ghosts.

10. i am a sucker for animals. i have not gotten to “pick” any of our cats (and i have had many)they normally show up and come in and that is that. pavel got abandoned by his mama when he was about 2 weeks old, she we bottle raised him. i put him in a little dog tote and too him to work with me when he was little and tucked him into my apron so he was warm. we wrapped him in tea towels. that is how little he was. so cute. now he is a devil! i am a bad kitty mama, clearly. if he was a boy, he would be in juvie. his papa is the only one that he cuddles with. i call jake his papa-mama.

11. i have dyscalculia. i recently found out that my parents knew but didn’t tell me because they didn’t want me to…oh i dunno. also, i have organizational problems. diagnosed, even! i have a really hard time seeing the big picture. i have to always do things the same way or i will do them in the wrong order. i almost flunked out of math, i can’t do algebra, or anything really above basic math. i took chemistry when i wanted to get my masters in art restoration and had to drop out. i was so bad at it that i couldn’t even get the formulas and cheat. i literally have no idea what goes where.

12. i think because of the dyscalculia, i get numbers and letter mixed up. when you have to type in those security codes that are numbers and letter mixed, it takes me a few tries. i have to say them out loud. L and 5 look the same to me. R and 2. also, letters, numbers and colors go together in my head. i wish i had known that this was a real thing growing up, i may not have felt dumb! it was my secret, i was always in the gifted programs, and was the dumbest one there. wooo!

13.my ring finger is a 3 3/4. seriously. sadly, the rest of me is not so skinny. no matter how chubby i get, my hands and feet, wrists and ankles stay the same. i then look like i belong in a tim burton flick.

14. my favorite books are anna karenina (so sad, but so good!), oscar and lucinda (so sad, so good!)diary by chuck pahluniak…so clever! and oryx and crake by mag atwood. that’s all for the mo.

15. i have nightmares all the time. i rarely if ever have good dreams. i had serial nightmares as a kid so bad that i would try not to fall asleep, would make my bed really perfectly in an attempt to fool the killer into thinking it was a guest room and would sleep in my closet.

16. the sound of paper being torn or folded (you know, when you fold it and run your fingers over it to make the fold crisp?) makes me want to vomit.

17. i can’t use a nail file without cringing. that also grosses me out. even if i have to sand wood.

18. i can’t spin fibers that aren’t really soft. again, it makes me cringe.

19. i clean my ears sometimes 3 times a day. dirty ears are one of the sickest things in the world. in highschool, i broke up with a kid because he had gross ears. i didn’t tell him that was why. i also clean the cat’s ears a couple times a week. they always want to lick the qtip afterwards. ew.

20. i have no guilty pleasures. why? well, i am not ashamed of anything i like, no matter how corny it is. i just don’t care. it is a bit odd to me when people do care what people think. i like styx and journey, okay? i enjoy sting, alright? deal with it. also, my new show is everwood. it is on abcfamily every evening and i have become addicted to it.

21. i use pain patches. it is one of the few things that embarrass me, when someone sees it. i stick them where they can’t be seen, like my stomach, even though it hurts to take it off.

22. sometimes i do a partial moon to jake when we are in the grocery store.

23. i am supposed to wear glasses, but i am too lazy. also the feel funny on my nose, and i am so used to everything further away than my hand being a bit fuzzy. when i put them on, it is like HDTV on a giant plasma screen. i am not sure if i like it.

24. i have zombie nightmares a lot. when i see horror movies, i have nightmares about them long long after, so i have to be careful about it. also, depressing movies are out of my range anymore. i just can’t handle them. i used to love em! long, depressing, foreign.

25. i will turn off a movie if it sucks. i don’t care. i won’t waste my time watching it. likewise, if a book sucks, i will put it down.

26. i have a short attention span. i do many things at once, or else i get bored or feel lazy. if i start a project, i have to finish it before starting another or else it will never get done.

27. i am not a kid person, but when i met my cousin gabriella when she was 3, i saw myself. then, when i met my niece maddy, i again saw someone so much like me…we have the same sense of humor and she is so cute. if i knew i could have one like that, i would have it in a second. clone? that would rock!

okay, hopefully that wasn’t really really boring. it did perk me up, though. i feel a bit better. thanks!

ok, so i got a package from a really nice yarn shop called knitting diva and on the postcard from the shop it said “your secret pal”. because she has never emailed me (or i have never gotten an email) i assumed that the diva knitting lady was my pal and then got extra upset that she owns a lovely yarn store but didn’t do anything for secret pal, didn’t wrap it up, nothing. anyway, she emailed me because i left a thank you on her blog and she emailed me back saying that the package was from my secret pal, not her. it was supposed to be over last night, and no reveal or email, so….just wanted to set the record straight because diva knitting did nothing but ship an order. done ranting. for good. i swear it.

well. bad night last night. then, i had the migraine high, i don’t know if anyone else gets it…it gets super bad, then you fall asleep for a little while, wake up and feel hyper and high. if you are fooled by this and get up and do stuff, your migraine will be a thousand times worse. so i didn’t. i just lay here. i didn’t want to do any work or read or watch tv, lest i make myself sick, so i lay here until i fell asleep. then, the siding on our house just got replaced, so they woke me up around 8a and pounded all day. i was in the studio, which is the same wall that is being worked on and stuff was hopping on the window sill. anyway, i got work done and i think i may be (fingers crossed) done with the heart piece for the show. i will show you to-morrow g-d willing. i was watching a very long engagement with audrey tautou. it is now in my top ten movies ever. it was fantastic. it is based on a book by sabastien japrisot, which i plan to read if it is in english (my french is not good). the same director, jean-pierre jeunet did amalie, city of lost children, delicatessen, and more. so so good. i can’t say enough about it.

i got my regular electric spinner from babe, which works really really well. i am really pleased with it so far. it is small, easy to use on a small table, or even on your bed. the only downside is that the orifice is small, maybe 3/8 of an inch at most. i don’t plan to ply on it, except for simply 2 plies, but i am thinking of doing some handspun sock yarns! exciting, eh? it is fast enough that i could feasibly do that without charging a zillion bucks. it also works great to do my singles and then ply in the fancies on my louet. i just think that the bulky spinner doesn’t have the kinks worked out yet. so yay for that!

i am planning to do a swap, a non secret pal swap, amongst us that are fairly good at spinning and tend to like similar stuff. i think it is best to swap with the person that you recieve from, but the peeps i know from the blogging comminity are all incredibly generous, and i know we wouldn’t get some crappy yarn (i know several people that got horrible handspun, not even fitting the weight limit, let alone nice)and would have stuff we would like and USE. go figure! i will contact people about it soon!
***let me say additionally, if in the case of sickness, of course no one would expect you to participate, but if you are not totally on death’s door (i hope not!) you can always email either your pal and let them know it will be late or the hostesses and tell them that you can’t do it, or send a group email as barbe suggested so everyone knows you are sick. so if my pal was indeed sick or something, apologies.

what else? ooooh. i got a heated eyelash curler and i am pretty impressed, i must say. when i wasn’t so lazy, i would heat up my curler with the blog dryer and burn myself, and it was a hassle. this one does it itself! wanna see?http://www.amazon.com/Carmen-C8EYE-Battery-Operated-Eyelash/dp/B000092LXS/sr=8-1/qid=1170385177/ref=sr_1_1/002-0050101-5887215?ie=UTF8&s=hpc
wanna see it in action? okay, but forgive my gross skin. i am menstrual (which makes jake break out worse than me! seriously. ever heard of this?) and only have mascara on… i don’t have great lashes, but this really was good. it doesn’t get super hot, so you can actually use it after you put on your mascara and it has dried.

also, i got catnip raviolis (come in a pack of 3 for 4 bucks i think) from maryjanesattic.net and the cats went apeshit over them (catshit?) and pavel finally got one open…

the last photo is peeps staring pavel down, and he attempting to try the no-eyecontact-you aren’t there thing on her because he wants to eat the catnip. he has it stuck on his snootles if you look. nerd!

my new favorite bands….one, me first and the gimme gimmes all cover songs…and really good ones! so so fun! it is the singer from no fx, fat mike, who is not really terribly fat, but whatever. too good. i only have a couple of their many albums, anyone with some to burn for me, please let me know! woot!

another, flunk! is a norweigen band who has an adorable singer named ULF nygaard. could they be anymore scananavian? really good. mellow, electronic, but it is all live electronic, not programmed poopy stuff. another fave is mogwai that has crazy electronic stuff but it is all live. woot.

i know i have more i wanted to say, but i can’t think of any of it. grrrr. i am a bit zoned out. i have that migrainebrain. jake got me a lindt hazelnut chocolate bar when he picked up my scripts for me (he is an angel) so i am attempting not to eat the whole thing.

here is a photo of my desk whilst working on the open heart piece…

i used some gel medium on this one rather than the mod podge and i must say that i liked it a lot better. it has a really nice body to it. like you guys! ha! and listen to this…after i was done for the day, i cleaned it all up! even better than it was in the first place!

off i go. i am too out of it to read blogs, and i apologize for being so behind on my blogs. please don’t take it personally!

xoxoxoxoxxo
n.