Where to begin--where to begin--can we start with today because I am so lost anyway?
My 'official' word count this morning as 350, roughly. Not my goal. Not even close.
I've been having a day.
Oh, let's see--what did my laziness lead me to do today?
I ordered a knitted doll, for whom I technically actually OWN the pattern.
This is my doll. Obviously. She has my name, right? :-)
The pattern is from 'Knitted Icons' by Carol Meldrum. A book I "had" to have--but never actually did anything else with other than flip through, mark a few projects, put on a shelf, and ignore.
Which is why I decided NOT to buy anymore knitting books--before I went on the infant knitting book spree earlier this year.
I have been working on my drawing skills. So far, I have two completed exercises. See, here would be a good time for me to have already fixed the scanner/pc interaction problem-but other than grouse about needing to fix it-I have done not a darned thing. I am planning to start the third exercise before retiring for the night, but it is already after 11p and I don't really want to be up much longer myself.
Funny thing about these exercises is that they are not just explorations of the five elements of shape, but also experiments in the use of colour--at least that's what I turned them into. :-) That would have been perfect for creative every day's theme for April: colour.
This month it's Nature. I have plans. :-)
I pulled out 8 tins, mostly altoid. I have primered the ones in need of primer, since I found 2 I'd painted but done nothing else with.
I am having some real issues dealing with the surrender box/god box/whatever box theme I have been running into all over the place.
I decided to do something about that.
I am creating my own series of "boxes".
I shall reveal them as I go along.
Right now--I am leaving them to dry overnight.
I did get to use my dremel for the very first time ever since I bought it and I am hugely proud of myself.
My copy of 'The 12 Secrets of Highly Creative Women' by Gail McKeekin came in today. So, I am going to have to pull something together so that I can work my way through it.
I also ordered 'Make Change With Your Muse!' with Marney from Artella.
I have wanted to do something like this for awhile now. It really doesn't have much to do with increasing my finances--although that's a bonus. Working with the'Muses', well, now, that is a different story. Plus, I figured if I totally hate it and it does nothing for me I only wasted less than $25. So that is far worth the cost regardless.
Yesterday I tormented the heck out of bf for no real good reason. Made him drive over here to watch E pitch a fit-and me pitch one in retaliation-poor guy watches that ALOT lately. Ahh, almost 8 yo's. Pre-puberty SUCKS. If I were not her mother, I would have turned on my heel last night and left her standing there in the middle of the store pouting because I refused to buy her a toy--especially since her room is still a condemned zone.
I did manage to pick up a plethora of sharpies, which pleases me to no end--especially after tonight when I went looking for my ice pick and my awl (still MIA, both)--and found a stash of sharpies--both black and coloured, ultra fine and fine. That just so sucks, you have no idea.
I did buy a 3 pack of 9x12 canvas, just so I have something to play with for a bit. As if I am ready for that! I am NOT. But I am so willing to work my way up to that. I would prefer to have it on hand now rather than go nuts wanting to have it when I am ready and not have it.
Yesterday was a good day. I figured wordpress and uploading pictures.
I wrote officially 4368 words.
I cut the long shaggy border collie ruff off of my dog's butt and I gave her a bath--and she looks like a regular dog now. We have less issue with the gumballs sticking to her fur (the ones from the tree outside)--even though I did not trim her tail at all. I was afraid if I started to trim her tail--she wouldn't have one when I was done. It seems to be all fur!
I did borrow the shaving kit from bf so I could do a better job on Ken. Although Ken hates anything that makes noise like that. She nearly bit me when I took after her tush with the scissors--not that I blame her--but not that I let her get away with that either. She's bossy enough without giving her any leeway.
I was reading this post and remembered I REALLY need to read my copy of 'The Highly Sensitive Person' by Elaine N Aron--which I had to take a few seconds to find real quick so I will remember.
When I bought this book, I was hoping it would help E and me find a better more stable in between ground-because we are both highly sensitive. N is too. But my dear N is just different. He has other stuff going on on top of this. Call it whatever you want to.
So, that book is on my list as well. And in the correct octo bag to make my progression that much easier to boot.
Yes, I have octopus bags. Yes, they have stuff in them.
One is a knitting project--bf's sweater in the making. Ds's yarn for his sweater-well, it's in a plastic bag in the knitting basket--which is held in check by the door of my computer armoire, lest it spill its contents all over the place. Which is tends to do anyway.
One bag has my sumi-e books in it. One has my Monart books and supplies in it.
One has my to be read books in it, the ones from my list from this past Wednesday. Speaking of which, I finished 'The Watchmen" and had the opportunity to return it to its owner today. And he and I even had a very nice chat, like real people. Some days he can be surprising-and polite as well.
Drives me nuts with the way he looks at everything as if he is trying to memorize every detail, but hey. I pity the poor fool who tries to work anything based on the seen in this house. :-)
There was no word count Wednesday. I did that by choice. Bf came over. We got to have lunch with Kerry, which for me is ALWAYS a treat.
I got to spend time w bf afterwards, which is the even bigger treat.
I even got to bake all by myself early in the morning--made coffee cake--which everyone enjoyed--and which did not survive a full 48 hours either.
Tuesday I officially wrote 2447 words.
I made my bed. Some days this is a big deal. Except in this instance, I hadn't made my bed since E wet the bed on Sunday morning--well, it was Saturday night and the bed stripping happened that Sunday.
I finally took my lawn mower out of the house. It is in the car port. My grass is way too high and I have no plans to even attempt to cut it--until the rain ceases long enough to let the grass dry. Then I will cut the lawn. No matter what the ex says.
I am slightly bothered by the fact the grass is nearly taller than my climbing rose bushes.
The lawn bothers me. But I won't go out when the grass is wet. And I won't go out when it's cold. And I could really really care less.
My iris are up. :-) All three of the rue survived and are doing well (the ones dad got me). One of the lilac bushes seems to have bitten the dust (the one dad got, which is of a different variety than what we got). I have hope it may survive yet, but--we'll see. Otherwise, with all this rain, everything else is doing really well. The tiger lilies are booming. (not blooming, booming). No sign of the glads at all. No sign of the yucca either--but then again I really don't know what I am supposed to be looking for there. My white sage has burst into seedlings. One of the sacred basils has begun to sprout. I still need to plant my garden variety basil--and mints--and rosemary. Not to mention, the upside-down tomato garden is still sitting there, unused.
I am this close to weeding the front flower bed, the one with the hedge roses. Only because the dandelions are rampant. We'll have to see.
Monday I officially wrote 1129 words.
My Yoga practise has been off all week--but it is my week to take off from Yoga. I have continued to stretch, but not much more than that. I was hoping maybe tonight I could sneak an hour in after evicting E from the living room--but I forgot to take N into consideration--so there is always --some time. E cannot listen about the stuff in the den. No toys in the den unless you are in there playing with them. When you leave, the toys leave. Nope. She leaves them 'for (her) brother' to play with--and he is not interested in the toys. He likes the rug toy-free too because he plays on the rug. When no one is looking, HE does Yoga. Because he watches and helps me. When I walk in the room he quits though. :-) I watch him when he doesn't know I am there though. It's hard to 'hide' from N--he gets things really quickly.
I have no word count on Sunday either. It was a rough day. Although I enjoyed making cupcakes w the kids. I loved watching N take every single remaining cupcake to take back to dad's w him when it was time for him to go. :-) He was just so determined to have every single one.
I did knit something this week--even though i still have no clue what to do with it. I like the colours and the texture. I could turn it into a wooby--but it would be a small wooby.
I also decided this week, in the midst of my Guides setting me up with the Muse series and the Donkey series (which I am apparently taking a small break from today), that I am pulling my red folder and re-working the essays I have in there and re-working the patterns--or at least typing them up--before test knitting them.
I have a couple faroese-esque shawls in there that I want to knit up just for me. Much less for posterity.
I keep having such strange dreams lately. I can almost catch them before they run away. They are not bad or scary. A little unnerving at times. But the remnants I can catch are pretty decent. Even inspiring.
Number nineteen is almost entirely healed, except for one small spot. And that spot itches like you would not believe. Nothing I do or put on it or wash off of it takes the itching away. What worries me is that the colour will be off--although once it is done healing I doubt it. BUT if the colour is off that means I have to go have it re-touched--which means I will probably go through this same thing again all over with it, since it is that one spot.
Oh-I did agree to knit and/or crochet an octopus for the bf to wear-under his kilt or otherwise--since i have the pattern for the octopus toy--I am planning to crochet that up to size and then not stuff it--but arrange and sew the tentacles just so in order to keep the octo up as necessary. :-)
Speaking of octos, I want this one, but cannot justify it--because the eyes are wrong. Yes, I can be a stickler for some details, indeed. Octopus eyes stay level with the horizon--it helps them orient when they turn upside down and all over the place crawling into holes and niches after prey and whatever else.
I am waiting to hear back on something about having a certain ring made for me. If it can't be done, I have plans to order something else. Rings have suddenly become very important to me these past couple weeks. Funny after the issue one ring that isn't even here caused a few weeks ago. Such things that set me off. Now that entire episode is utterly irrelevant anyway. BUT the interesting thing is the rings I wear help me focus on my writing and keep me writing more. Hey-at least it's not the same pair of socks!
So, if I cannot have this ring I want resized, I will buy a different brand all together. That depends. I may just buy the other one when i wake up in the morning anyway, simply because I can. We'll have to see how I feel in the morning.
That's all I have for the moment.
Good night.
Yes, I usually mean to write up a check-in on Sundays--but never get around to it. So I am doing it tonight, simply because I can. :-)
