Saturday, October 31, 2009

Saturday-4pm

The big fish project has begun.
This is where the gravel, live plants, rocks, and fish will end up. May take me a few days--hehe!
Karma never misses a trick, of course.
This is what I was doing in the dead of the night. Took out supplies and removed some buckets of water for the next step. The buckets will hold fish and live plants.
My home has been in chaos for some time and it doesn't look like that will end any time soon--hehe! I am still partially done with the clothing stuff and have big black trash bags and one of the clothing racks sitting around. It will all come together in the end. :)
Went to bed in the morning and slept all day--my least favorite time schedule to be on. Halloween tonight, so I won't work on the tanks. At least not until after 9 or 10pm--hehe! Maybe tonight I should work on the Christmas cards a little? :):)

Friday, October 30, 2009

Friday-2:30pm

I finished cutting the strips of green paper we'll use to cut out the Christmas trees. Another step done-tada!
And the new Spellbinder's deckle rectangles set arrived yesterday!
You can see why they call these sets Nestabilities--hehe!
Funny how that small raised edge that won't cut your finger can cut such a clean edge on a piece of paper.
Oh--why did I take in the 10 gallon? I am planning on moving some gravel, the plants, and my few fish into it from the 30 gallon and then tearing down the 30 and removing it from my living room. Plan to put a bookcase there instead for crafts.
Not sure if I am going to get rid of the 30 or not yet. It might sit out in the garage for a while--alongside the big bird cage. :( Physically--it has just been difficult for me to keep them up like I should anymore. But since I do have the old 10 gallon...I can keep my few fish and it is easier for me to handle for cleaning, etc. The tank won't get all the sunlight in the bedroom that causes the perpetual algae growth, either.
The silver lining--we'll have some more room for craft supplies.

Karma slept while I watched movies the past couple days.
First of all--confession--I couldn't even finish watching Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen. That's a rarity for me--to actually just quit watching any movie. (Hey--I have a lot of forced inactive time on my hands, right?) Not that I probably shouldn't have been doing that more often--there are so many bad ones or yawners out there these days--hehe! The movie was probably very exciting to some people--but it was a yawner and head shaker for me. The mom who eats pot brownies--things like that, I just shake my head. Little or no plot and all special effects. I guess I wasn't in the mood.
I watched Orphan. Now I don't usually watch horror or slasher type movies movies.
Play Preview Picking up the pieces after their baby's tragic death, the Colemans -- Kate (Vera Farmiga) and John (Peter Sarsgaard) -- adopt 9-year-old Esther (Isabelle Fuhrman) from an orphanage, but it doesn't take long for Kate to see through Esther's angelic façade. When John brushes aside Kate's paranoid suspicions, Esther wreaks havoc on the world around her in this chilling tale from director Jaume Collet-Serra.
This one was listed as a thriller, I think, but ended up being half slasher movie--hehe! Okay, I guess. If you like those kinds of movies, it has a big creepy factor with a twist to it.
Dagan and Leah suggested I watch Gattaca (1997).
Play Preview With one eye on his lifelong dream of working in outer space, a genetically flawed but determined "In-Valid" (Ethan Hawke) hires a DNA broker (Tony Shalhoub) to help him obtain more desirable genetic material from a paralyzed man (Jude Law). In the process, he meets and falls in love with a beautiful "Valid" (Uma Thurman) with a heart defect. Screenwriter Andrew Niccol also directs this futuristic thriller in his feature-length debut.
I was glued to this movie. Talk about an interesting premise! And it was so fun to see so many actors who are more famous now. I really liked it.
Oh--the latest on the mystery of the slain dentist--this was really planned out! Neighbors saw a truck and flatbed take the silver Porsche away!!
I can certainly see why nobody called the police or anything. You just wouldn't ever think that anybody would be doing something so blatant and bold. And with the economy the way it is, you'd just assume the good dentist was selling his impractical car, you know? They had to have been there for some time because the place was torn apart. Makes you wonder what they were looking for and did they find it? Sure sounds like they might have known the dentist or they had been in his home--maybe some type of service people? Or he led a double-life nobody knew about? Something fishy or underhanded about the whole thing.
Well, I am sleeping my way around the clock again. My day just started at 2pm! So I need to get moving and see how the day is going to be. Later... :):)

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Thursday-10am

I was ready for Leah. :)
Pre-cut 94 white squares to put thru the Cuttlebug for the snowflake background.
Leah and Ariel came with dinner--YUMMY! Thanks, Leah!

See how much Karma has improved with her social skills. She sat for a long time on her chair and Ariel sat right where Leah often does. As long as they don't try to touch her, she's okay for quite a while. Eventually she went into the bedroom and hid under the bed, tho.
We brought the floor fans out to the garage and brought in my old ten gallon aquarium. Miss Karma loved the shiny plastic background paper.


Rolled, pawed, and head rubbed. :)

Of course, these weren't taken until after Leah and Ariel left and Karma felt safe enough to be herself--hehe!
Leah also ordered a Scor Pal online--to be delivered here. I'll show you when it arrives.
Leah got all 94 white sheets embossed with snowflakes! That step is finished already!!
I got about halfway done cutting the strips of greens we are going to use for cutting out the Christmas trees.
We're cutting them out in threes like you see above so that we can use the silhouette strips another time for different Christmas cards--tada! You know how we hate to see anything go to waste, right? hehe!
I think they left around 10-10:30pm. I didn't take note of the time. There was a light, drizzling cold rain last night when we made the trip to the garage, but late last night a steadier rain began. Apparently it may have kept up all night. Steady rain this morning--still patting against the air conditioner and coating the windows with shimmery droplets. I'm glad we got the ten gallon in when we did. :)
Today I plan to finish up cutting the strips of green paper and watch a couple Netflix movies. I realized in the middle of the night that we never showed Ariel all Leah's pottery! Funny! None of us remembered--ROFL!!
Here's hoping for dry days up here. :):)

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Wednesday-1pm

I finally got a little something extra done yesterday. Got the green paper cut for the base of our Christmas cards--tada!
Karma thought it was a safe and boring thing for me to be doing. No worries, eh? ROFL!
She's in for it tonight, tho. Leah and her youngest sister, Ariel, are coming over. Ariel has just moved into Dagan and Leah's basement ("lower level"-not really like a true Midwestern basement) and she wanted to see all the things Leah had made in her pottery classes. Well, they're almost all over here at my place so Ariel is coming along on Craft Night.

We'll be working on the Christmas cards and using the new toy, of course. :) Leah wanted to stop and pick up dinner--and I got to pick! Pitas!! Yummy! What a treat! So--since I have been up later and sleeping later and didn't get up until "noon-thirty"....guess I'd better get moving, eh?

Oh--unusual--we have quite the mystery going on up here. A periodontist was struck down and killed in his home two nights ago--the place was ransacked--and his 1999 silver Porsche boxter convertible is gone from the garage--ND license plate "2 KRYSIS". This is a car rarely seen in the Midwest because it is a car that doesn't function well on snow and ice. (That's what the police said.) I suppose since it wasn't the usual knifing between friends that we have in the poorer sections of town, this is big news. Be a hard car to hide on the road. Anyways, I find it interesting that this is plastered all over the news. They really want to find that car and the person or person's who killed the dentist.

Okay--really have to go now. Hope it is sunny where you are--or rainy if you need rain. :):)

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Tuesday-1:15pm

Here's my awesome cherry wood spinning thingie. I think I've had it close to ten years and would be lost without it now. It holds my current magazines and books I am reading, bookmarks, ballpoint pen for writing on shiny paper, markers, lip gloss...
...the remotes, my list of goals for the year, a couple sizes of cut paper that fit inside cards along with their writing guides and a clipboard, and my leather small legal pad holder.
I have a little table on the other side with my two cups of pens, Puffs, scratch paper, camera, and a wooden napkin holder that I use to hold all my bookcards that are in progress. (I often have more than one going at the same time--hehe!)

Here's Miss Karma--wondering why I was spinning the thingie around and taking pictures of it.
She gets that tinge of worry on her face when I do anything out of the ordinary from our very quiet daily life. No wonder she has turned into such an "old lady" cat. She lives with me--hehe! Not exactly the fast paced life when you wake up on a good day feeling like you haven't slept and you have a bad case of the flu aches along with a smattering of sharp joint pains--ROFL!! Thank God I have a great sense of humor. I am still chuckling!
Have a great day!! :):)

Monday, October 26, 2009

Monday-11:15am

The mystery of cat whiskers!
Blows my mind! Do you believe it?! So dogs must shed them, too, right? Weird!
I got this reader's meme from Serena's blog:
The books in that desk cubby on the left are the ones which require activity--writing, journaling, or sketching--and a couple "next on my list" books. The bookcase to the right of my desk contains all my reference books, books about writing, writing collection books, literary type books, the lit mags I was published in, and some of my notes from college writing classes. In the very bottom of the curio cabinet on the far right are all my decks of angel cards and the corresponding books. Okay--here goes...
Do you snack while you read?
No. But I usually have something to drink nearby and am vigilant about spilling even one drop upon the book.
Do you tend to mark your books as you read them, or does the idea of writing on your books horrify you?
Horrifies me! When I went to college a few years back I was actually appalled by the common treatment of class books--made no difference if it was in the private or the public college. I bought brand new books because of the rampant book abuse, even tho they were more expensive. And when there were no new books for a class I stood there in the bookstore aisle and went thru every book in the stack or stacks to find the least defaced book of the lot. I was actually shocked that the books in both the college libraries were written in, dog-eared, and highlighted--library books! To me, books are something to be handed down and shared--respected. They are on loan to me--as children are.
How do you keep your place while reading a book? Bookmark? Dog ears? Leaving the book open flat?
Bookmarks. I collect them and have made many of my own. I also love Levenger's Page Nibs (used to be called Page Points and were a slightly different but similar shape):
I sometimes even have a page point attached to a bookmark--hehe! You can mark the exact line you were on. Awesome! I have never, ever dog-eared a book. I'd leave the book open upside down first.
This bookcase in the hallway holds all the various art and craft books--grouped up in sections: watercolor painting, acrylics, oils, Chinese brush painting, drawing, polymer clay, rubber stamping, book binding, aromatherapy, beading, and card making. The majority are the various painting books. [Aside: see the rain stick in the corner by my bedroom door? Freaks out Miss Karma--hehe!]
Fiction, Non-Fiction or both?
I hadn't thought about it, but the majority of the books I own are non-fiction. But, as far as what I read--I go back and forth pretty equally between fiction and non-fiction.
The bookcase by the front door holds all the cookbooks and all my magazines (cardmaking, polymer clay, and writing).
The bedroom bookcase holds all my fiction (top shelf only) and all the New Age or spiritual books, self-help books, and books on world religions. My fiction is only the one shelf any more since I joined www.bookcrossing.com. I usually release my fiction books now and pass them on.
Are you a person who tends to read to the end of chapters, or are you able to put a book down at any point?
I prefer to finish a chapter, but it depends on what I am reading, where, and how tired I am--hehe!
If you come across an unfamiliar word, do you stop to look it up right away?
I prefer to look up the word, but--again--it depends on what I am reading, where, and how tired I am--ROFL! I have read many a book in my day with the dictionary by my side. :)


What are you currently reading?
One of the books Caroline brought over--On What Grounds by Cleo Coyle. Sadly, I am still working my way through Soul Coaching by Denise Linn. Doing this meme reminds me that I should continue on with that book--tsk!tsk! Forgot all about it, to be honest.
What is the last book you bought?
A book on Chinese Brush Painting from Haiying--sorry--in Chinese can't tell you title or author--hehe! (I have a few like that.) Before that, tho--from OAS I bought 100 Birds and 100 Flowers both by Yang O-shi and they are both in Chinese and English. I haven't been buying many books recently.
Are you the type of person who can only read one book at a time or can you read more than one at a time?
I usually have 1-4 going at a time. I have been on the low end of the reading cycle lately. Seems like I always do go back and forth from reading a lot to reading very little. On my upswings I usually have a fiction, one or two non-fiction, and an activity or participation type book going all at the same time.
Do you prefer series or stand alone books?
Have read both. All the paperbacks Caroline brought me are series books. Don't know as I have a strong preference. Hey! I'd read a cereal box! :)
Is there a specific book or author that you find yourself recommending over and over?
I don't tend to "recommend" books. I can never count on other people having the same tastes as I do--and I do enjoy a wide variety of subject matter. I can tell someone what I thought of a book, but I make sure they know it is just my personal opinion, you know? (I loved The Pillars Of The Earth by Ken Follett!)
How do you organize your books? (By genre, title, author’s last name, etc.?)
All my non-fiction books are just grouped up by subject matter in no particular order. My non-fiction books are basically on the TBR (to be read) shelf--which has a sub-section of borrowed books. I have a couple of "soon TBR" fiction spots--or my finished and ready to be released on www.bookcrossing.com stack. (Which I forgot to mention is the small stack in the front right hand corner on the bottom shelf of the bookcase by the door).
There--finished! Tada!
You now know more than you ever cared to know about me and my books--hehe!
Oh--I forgot about my swiveling "stuff" holder by my chair that I adore. I'll have to show you that tomorrow. :)
If you do the reading/book meme please let me know. As you can imagine, I am curious about other people's reading habits and book collections--hehe! :):)

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Sunday-10am

I'm not sure why, but out of all the bedspreads and blankets that have been on top of this bed Karma absolutely loves the new flowered bedspread.
She usually climbs under the covers to take a nap during the day--which is why I have a pillow under there to make it easier for her to burrow to the foot of the bed. But she is sleeping on top of the bed. First time ever.
And instead of sleeping up by my pillow at night she is actually braving getting kicked or pushed off the bed by sleeping by my feet, stomach, or back--just because she wants to sleep on the bedspread--hehe! (Not all that much room--only a twin bed, after all.) Another first--and she is over four years old. She must really love this bedspread. Who knew?

Still dark and occasionally rainy up here. Water still sitting everywhere, of course. They said the really wet fall last year is what caused the double flooding this last spring. It freezes the ground solid and then in the spring all the melting snow can't absorb into the ground and you have tons of runoff. Not good to repeat that. *shudder* Right now--in October--people's sump pumps are working and the river is rising. We need some days with sun up here or the crops will rot and/or freeze in the ground. They said crops are only 30-80% harvested--depending on the type of crop. Think sun, eh? Think sun!
Me--I'm not getting anything extra done. Back still bad. So I'm just doing my stretching exercises and behaving myself. Finally sleeping better, so that's a plus. Isn't it funny how we need sleep? Everything--from bugs to elephants to humans. Seems like it is a magical, self-healing, rejuvenating process that we all require. Without it--our bodies and minds break down. Doesn't it make you wonder why? What are the properties we don't know about? What actually happens to us while we are "away" in snoozeland? What are dreams all about? Why are they often a complete mystery to us--the dreamer--if they are ours and they come from us in the first place? And if we are asleep to rest and heal and repair ourselves--why are we expending energy to come half awake to dream--regularly?
I am always thinking about these kinds of things. Life is endlessly fascinating to me--from the overwhelmingly large questions to the minuscule aspects. Like why--when I recently discover that cats shed their whiskers--I am suddenly finding whiskers--regularly? I have had cats all my life. I could easily see how I could have missed the short ones--but the long ones? Or does Karma somehow understand that I wanted to find them? She leaves them right on her chair on the soft green throw. They were never there before. That I noticed. How interesting. Makes me chuckle every time she leaves me another whisker. What a world, eh?
Have a fascinating day! :):)

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Saturday-11:45am

Different day today--38 degrees, chilly, and gray again. Yesterday we saw the sun off and on. Here's Karma taking advantage of the opportunity to lounge in the sun a bit...
...and watch the swooping barn swallows...
...and the kids sloshing about on the wet lawn.
I did get the clothes, hangers, and shoes packed up yesterday--what I have so far, anyways.
That was my one extra thing yesterday. This morning--well--not so sure I should have done that yet. Oh well. :)
Shopping for about four hours and it takes me a few days to recover. And this is my life with darvocet--ROFL!
I have saved the next Planet Earth DVD from Netflix to transport me away for a few hours--so I know it is going to be a wonderful day. You betcha!! :):) Have a good one!

Friday, October 23, 2009

Friday-11:45am

As Leah and I were driving through Moorhead to get to K&Krafts Wednesday night we noticed that there were orange cones all over the place. We wondered if this had something to do with the permanent dikes they have been talking about building--and, of course, they made us think of you, Iggy, and your orange cone fetish...or should we say fascination--hehe!
We were taking a dark back route to the freeway on the way home. I remarked to Leah that I should have taken a picture of a Moorhead, Minnesota cone for Iggy. We laughed. Leah turned the car around. (I'm chuckling as I type this.) I got out in the cold, misty night and tried to take a picture from across the street--black as night--nothing showed up. Too far away for the flash to work.
So, why did the chicken cross the road? To take a cone picture for Mr. Intense--ROFL!!
Just kidding--I wasn't afraid. Although.....I was standing on the edge of a very dark road where no one would ever expect any normal human being with any common sense to be standing on a cold drizzly night--hehe! It was soooo black. I waited until there was a car coming up from behind me on the road so I could snap this picture of the illusive Moorhead road guard cone! There you go, Iggy. A genuine Midwestern orange cone--on duty and shivering in the night--ROFL!!
And I forgot to take any pictures of any of the four craft places we went to. :)
Speaking of on duty...
Miss Karma missed the new typewriter! It was obvious that she had not checked it out during the night by the frozen moment of fear when she leapt up on the desk to join me at the computer and came face to face with the black beast. I guess that reveals how truly chaotic my place is at the moment with the clothes in piles and boxes and racks...
...Karma completely missed the new typewriter! I hit a key and she jumped--hehe!

I have the feeling that Karma isn't going to like this new noisy contraption. She likes her peace and quiet, as you know. Clacking and bells and metal against metal...not sure Karma is going to appreciate the sound of a manual typewriter like I do. :)

Apartment living and manual typewriters--guess I'll be back to the not typing after 10pm again, too. [Another activity that sound carries clearly when people are living on top of each other is playing Yatzee on a wooden table. Don't ask me how I know--hehe!]
I called the FM Typewriter Service. The man is semi-retired, so I am lucky he is still in business! :) It will cost me about the same to have the typewriter cleaned and oiled as it did to buy and ship it here--no surprise. And worth every penny! Yet another skill that is very difficult to find in these computer days. I am thrilled he's available and told him I will make an appointment to drop off the typewriter in November when I have the money--or Leah will call him. I will need her to carry the typewriter for me. He might be able to set me up with a ribbon, too. :) Nice! Nice!
Oh--BTW--Leah and I sprayed our hands in the car after we'd leave a store with this all-natural antiseptic spray Leah bought. In the dark--I sprayed myself in the face! ROFL!! (Karma wonders why I am sitting here laughing out loud--hehe!) Sooo funny! The advantages of wearing glasses. Natural eye protection! Hehehe! I am so easily entertained, aren't I? Anyways, we were trying to do our part to not pick up the H1N1 flu.
The sun was peeking out for a while this morning and the wind wasn't coming our way. Karma is still outside perched on her wooden TV tray. She hasn't seen it for a while, so it was of immediate interest, of course. Barn swallows were swooping up by the screen--been an awesome morning for Karma. I am hoping to be back to my functional by tomorrow. Life is good!! I am sprinkling you all with happy dust! :):)

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Thursday-10:30am

What a day yesterday!! During the day I washed clothes and then Leah came over after work. She had something to eat and we hit the craft stores with coupons in hand--hehe! Besides some glue & glue sticks and a lot of ribbon on sale, we got a set of Martha Stewart small ink pads...
...20% off coupon. Wanted to have something more convenient for coloring edges of paper for that aged look.

We also got a Colorbox set...

...25% off, I think. We had so many coupons and used them every place we went--hard to keep track--hehe! A couple of times I laughed and asked Leah--Where are we? I forgot which store we were in. Michael's, Hobby Lobby, or JoAnn's--when you get deep into the aisles they look very similar--hehe!

We got this set of two-sided Fiskars texture plates to use with the Cuttlebug.

Didn't care for the other two sets we saw at all. We'd use most of this one, tho. In fact--this will probably end up being the snowflake background we'll use for the Christmas cards.

Not sure when we'll use this set--one of these Christmases--hehe! Leah and I love snowflakes. Was 50% off!

Last place we went was K&Krafts in Moorhead. Hadn't planned on going all the way over there, but glad we did. Found a couple of cute little Christmas tree dies that are made to string on a ribbon and fell in love with them. We also picked up some more green paper in different shades there, too.

The only place in town that had one of the bigger sets of Spellbinder Nestabilities dies--K&Krafts, of course. :) And the smaller stores that are not chains are usually willing to special order for you, too. Wonderful! It was definitely worth the late, last trip to Moorhead! (Although, I'm not sure the polite sales clerk was glad we kept her 5 minutes after closing--hehe!)
[Iggy--I have a very special picture taken just for you but I messed up when I was uploading these pictures. I can't click and drag pictures anymore on blogger posts for some very frustrating reason. I guess it was meant to have its own post. :) You are out of town on business right now--so you won't be seeing this for a little while, anyways.]
When Leah and I finally got back to my place we used my little green cart to haul up...
The Underwood! TADA!!
I discovered that the close-up pictures can
make it look gray. But it is really matt black.

And it fits!! It actually fits exactly where I envisioned when I saw it on eBay when it just felt like it was supposed to be mine. :):)

The ribbon had fallen half off and unwound--(was dry as a bone, as expected)--but other than that it was packaged very well and looked sentimentally beautiful to my eye. I was thrilled to see it is actually black and not gray! I'm gazing at it right now--ahhhh! :):):)
I will call the place I found listed online that is supposed to be right here in Fargo--FM Typewriter Service--to see if they can clean and oil it for me and if they sell ribbons. I hope they are still in business? :):)
Leah played for a while with the Cuttlebug before she went home--embossing snowflakes and cutting the little Christmas trees. Both of us had really sore feet by that time (plantar fasciitis) and I hurt all over--but we couldn't stop smiling! :)
I knew I would be totally useless today so--after I made the bed, snapped some pictures, put things away, and Karma got some I-missed-you cuddle time--I made the online order for the Spellbinders Nestabilites small deckle rectangle set that we had hoped to find in town.
You can think of me hobbling about up here today with a big smile on my face. Thanks for a fun night, Leah! Hopefully we'll start next week on the Christmas cards--tada!! Over and out for today. R&R, crispy noodle day--ROFL!! :):)