What I did on my anniversary, 10-23-09

By now it should be abundantly apparent that I really LOVE thrifting. LOL So much so that it has become the activity of choice.


The OH and I just celebrated our 27th anniversary on Friday the 23rd. We sometimes take a trip, driving off for a few days to stay somewhere else for a while, maybe do some sight seeing, shopping and antiquing, have some interesting dinners out, etc. Not this year though. While things are OK on the financial end, his job is bucking the trend and he is pretty busy at work, so getting more than a day off was going to be problematic. Not only that, but because of my poor eyesight he does all the driving on our trips, and after working long hours in the week, that is pretty wearying. So when he asked me what I wanted to do, you can guess what I answered right? I suggested we take the day off and go thrift shopping, and then have an early dinner, so he could get home at a reasonable hour and relax, maybe catch up on some much needed sleep. Ain't I a good wife? *g*


Initially there was some resistance, because to Frank it didn't sound like a celebration. But he does love junk hunting too, so I planned us a route and we were out of the house by 10AM. Everything was within a 45 minute drive, and pretty much clustered in the same area. We went to the farthest point first, and then backtracked.


First stop was a restaurant supply place we discovered some years ago that sells used stuff to the public. I am primarily interested in smallwares, which is the pots, pans, dishes, prep tools and so on. In the past they had a big room full of that stuff you could paw through, but we hadn't stopped by in several years. The smallwares are now in a single row in one of the back warehouse rooms filled with old kitchen equipment, Sadly there wasn't much for the picking, but I did come out of there with several items.


Our next stops were a Goodwill on that same end of town, and across town a Salvation Army and a private thrift that has been there for years and supports a local auxillary group. Whoo hoo, did we have fun! By the time we got through the last place I had planned, Frank was so enthusiastic he asked me where else we could go and continue thrifting. Since the restaurant we were going to was back in our area and conveniently down the road from yet another Salvation Army thrift store (one of my regular haunts) we went there first. Finally, all shopped out, we were ready to eat.


The restaurant we went to is one of two in the area, a small, local chain that has always had fabulous food and middle-of-the-road prices. We had been given a $50 gift certificate back in 2002 for that particular restaurant and weren't sure if they would honor it, since it was so old. We went in with the intention of eating there no matter what, and were pleasantly surprised when they never even batted an eyelash at the idea of honoring a 7 year old gift card. We were told their certificates never expire and so we tucked into a nice late lunch/early dinner around 3 PM. I had decided ahead of time that I was just going to ignore the carbs and have whatever looked good, and that is exactly what I did. I don't do alcohol anymore because of my my BP medication, so I asked for unsweetened iced tea with lemon. There was a bread basket on the table, and the herb sourdough bread was really good, I had several small pieces of that. For an appetizer, I chose some tasty sausage and spinach stuffed mushrooms, Frank got boneless buffalo strips that were TO DIE FOR; and we shared, which we usually do. Both our dinners came with very nice salads that weren't just iceberg lettuce and greenhouse tomatoes, and those we savored. I could have made a meal out of the appetizer and salad alone, but then came the entrées - which we could hear being prepared since we weren't far from the kitchen where we sat (you can't miss the pounding noises of fresh cutlets being made). Frank got veal parmesan over linguine, I had Chicken Milanese with a lemon veggie sauce over angel hair, and both were very good. But we were so full by then, we ate half the entrée and took the rest home - and no dessert. You could have rolled me out of there, I had not eaten that much in weeks. We donated the rest of our dinners to the hungry ones at home and there were a couple of happy diners. Secondhand dinners after a day of secondhand shopping - kind of appropriate.


The pictures below are in no particular order, as I just plopped things on the kitchen table and snapped them alone or in groups. I apologize for all the background clutter because I was too lazy/tired to clear everything off.

This is a used bus tub from the restaurant supply place, and not a particularly clean one either. I didn't buy it to be a bus tub, I got it to mix potting soil in. It is deep and strong, perfect for that. In fact it is already in use, after being wiped out of course. Works so well, I went back for a couple more, but that is another story.






This wire lug is just like one I've had for years that came from an old chest freezer we discarded decades ago. Very handy when I am canning, putting up bags of frozen veggies, or just retrieving things from my canned goods storage in the cellar. No way was I passing that up. The second of 3 things I grabbed at the restaurant supply place






Some Salvation Army cake tins I grabbed and a giant rolling pin from the restaurant supply place that Frank grabbed for me - he knows I love to bake. It is huge, and heavy, good for making a thin sheet of dough. One of the advantages of getting restaurant supply stuff is it is usually better quality than consumer retail stuff. The extra pans will come in handy if I am doing lots of baking or making fudge for the holidays. Hmm, I have a lot of pumpkins to use up - can you smell the pumpkin nut bread?




OK, an eclectic mixture of odds and ends. Most was Goodwill. Sometimes I just grab whatever appeals to me. I tend to like jars like that with the wire bail seals, they look neat filled with things like beach glass and pebbles, shells, buttons... The tin was marked on top, but a handy size. The clothespins we can always use, we hang out laundry whenever the weather is permissable. The purse pattern set I spied at the desk of one Salvation Army and knew my crafty friend would appreciate that in her Christmas gift bag. The hook with the firetruck went to grandson Ben for his room, several adults in his family are firefighters and mom Stacey is an EMT. I told him he has to hang up his coat on that, never too young for good habits. *w*



Another mix of stuff. Most of this is stuff Frank wanted but Miss Mousie was mine. Not sure why the oil can, I'd never use that on the table because it is impossible to clean and messy even when new. The spatula is his, the egg beater was sort of my idea. Someday when my kitchen is finished *SIGH* I want a wall to display antique kitchen tools. Someday...

I figured Miss Mousie deserved a picture of her own. She is so cute! She was the first thing I grabbed at The Penny Saver, the auxillary thrift shop. She is sitting on a toadstool BTW. I have a burgeoning collection of fantasy items and she kind of fits in well with all the fairies and things that now inhabit my home.

More housewares. The vase and tomato slicer were Frank's finds, the rest is mine. Funny how you come across things you already have and like. I have a large Rubbermaid tub like that I use for storing Christmas cookies while I am baking, and thought it would be good to have another one, since I do like 6 dozen cookies each of 5-6 varieties every year. The bowl was a find too, because we rented a house back in the early 80s that the landlord said we could clean out, and the last tenants had left a bowl just like it behind. It is made in France and I absolutely love it, and have never seen another one like that until now. The other two pieces were just handy sizes of ovenware good for custard, French onion soup with melted gruyère, or roasting garlic. Yeah, I love to cook too. *s*

These are both Frank's. The beer mug brings a smile. He does collect them. I like my bowl better - nyah, nyah!

More odds and ends. I have plenty of star cookie cutters but wanted the angel to do in gingerbread with frosting. The cast iron sheep doorstop is going to my crafty friend who spins and knits. I'm keeping the hollow tubular green coated aluminum knitting needles, but they do need the backs replaced. I might do something decorative in polymer clay. The ornamental birdcage top folds open and right now I have 4 little crocheted birds in there. The little flowered dish is bone china.

A closeup of the bone china dish to show the detail. Yeah, that's what I paid for it, but it is very pretty.

Oooh look, I found yarn! This was all from the last Salvation Army we hit I got the box lot for $2.99, but paid another $2.99 separately for the big cone of bittersweet orange sweater weight. I am thinking a shawl or something with that one. There's a lot there. Yarn is one of my frequent purchases, as long as I can find something I like and can work with. I crochet quite a bit, and will eventually learn how to knit.

Yeah, more tins, from Goodwill. They are a bit beat but open and close well and are not all rusty inside. I like to use them to store my craft supplies that I leave out all the time. Much nicer looking than plastic boxes. I would never buy the stuff that came in these because it would go to 'waist'... LOL

Found this set of hardwood embroidery stretcher bars at Goodwill too. I don't embroider often, but they are nice to have. I have worked a bit in crewel and candlewicking, and have some interest in cross stitch and needlepoint.

This was from the Penny Saver, and I grabbed it as soon as they put it out. It looks brand new. It is a holder for seagrass hotmats, something we use an awful lot. I have one in my kitchen already that is a chicken that holds 4 mats (that are getting beat up) and it is handy. We do a lot of cooking and the hot mats will save your table and countertops from getting heat rings when you put a hot dish or pot down. They also don't absorb the heat from the dish, so if covered with a clean dish towel, your food stays hot longer. See? You learned something!

The stairstep basket was from The Penny Saver, my find. Frank grabbed the long shelf at Goodwill, I do love the fancy brackets.

The debris you can see out back is from a recent kitchen floor project still being worked on.

I do really like this old file box I found at one of the Salvation Army stores. I'd love to repaint or decoupage it with a nice design, but not sure when I will get to that. I was thinking it would be a great place to keep folders of my favorite crochet projects, or it could store folders of favorite recipes. It latches securely for carrying.

I love repurposing old things like this that have been used a lot. Knowing something has a history I may never understand just makes it that much more appealing. And it's not going to a scrap metal pile somewhere, but actually will continue to be useful.

I wish more folks would look at what they have and what else could be done with it, rather than keep buying new stuff all the time. I am always amazed at what perfectly good things get tossed out. I haunt the thrifts for that reason, and because I know that whatever I purchase from them is income that ultimately helps people in need. Win-win all around.


It wouldn't be a thrifting stop without looking through books. I did OK there. The ladybug book is for grandson Ben, because we have those Asian ladybugs all over the house on any warm day. I grabbed the Larry McMurty western for Lee, and we will share the Neil Gaiman, a book I've been wanting to read. The Dragon Lance books are for #1 son Jason. The one with the colorful cover is a blank book with ruled pages, none written in and like new.

The big find of the day, a lightly used original NES system for $10! It even had the original Super Mario/Duck Hunt/Track Meet game in it. Oh did I make the boys happy when I brought that one home!

Best part is, it actually works! And now they can play all their old favorite games again. I got that at Goodwill too, just spotted it as we were getting ready to leave.

As you can see, Ben really loved the ladybug book. He begged Brian to read it to him. It always makes us grandmas happy when we know we got something for a bargain that is well appreciated.

Yeah, I'm sure in the eyes of some folks I could find better things to do with my time and money, but we had a memorable day out, and really didn't spend all that much. In fact, Lee and I went out again the next day locally, looking for something at the last Salvation Army we stopped at, which was the one in our area. And Frank and I went back out this past week to check out a piece of furniture in one of the thrift stores, and he wanted to hit them all again. While those forays will be the subject of another post, the point is, we obviously enjoyed ourselves. Thrifting is inexpensive fun; the walking around you do is pleasant and gentle exercise, there is the thrill of the bargain hunt, and it gives you a chance to unwind - plus you come home with something new (to you). You can't beat that as a holistic hobby. *s*

10-26-09 Did You Write?

10-26-09 Did You Write?

Sound the alarms, batten down the hatches. The day you all dread has arrived. It is time to announce to the world, whether you applied yourself and wrote, or you had a confrontation with life and life won. Stand up and tell the world about your accomplishments. Stand up and tell the world about your failures. Otherwise tell the world what is going on in your life.

We all know that anything new you write, whether it is a paragraph of a dozen pages, is writing. We must remember that anything we edit, even if it is the work of others, is writing also. Poetry is writing, so is writing assignments, blogging, technical writing, article writing. World or character development is also writing, especially if it gets on paper. E-mails can be writing too, if they are very wordy and pertain to story or writing. There are others that can be writing, as long as you decide it is writing. Some of these might not be writing to you. It is really just your decision.

AS for me. Yes, I did write. for me, I really did write. I added four pages to my story, all new scenery, and then zapped two pages of the previous verison that I no longer needed. Even with that, I added two pages, 1327 words. AS I mentioned, I zapped two pages. I should have did a word count before I zapped, as I removed them when I was about to do my word count, but I did not. As it is, the story is now at page 60.
I finished the scene where one of the main characters was hunting. I fired that off to my writing partner. She said I had it. I just needed to add more dread and do some editing and would have it perfect. I will try to fix that on the next edit run. I am giddy that it worked. It was actually her idea on how to save this scene that was about to stop the story.
I finished, roughly, the next new set of scenes. I will punch it up on the next pass through. The story will essentially be four more scenes. The writing ahead of where I am working will not be used, but it is there to remind me of what I want to do.
This was a fun week of writing. It would be great if all weeks were like this, but then reality sets in. One has to get up from the computer and do something else.

On the story idea front, I have 42 story ideas in my compost pile. I have not been coming up with very many ideas lately.
On the ends of many of these DYW posts, I convert my activities into possible story idea presentations. I have known that some of these were really good, but had left them alone. I save these notes in files since the start of 2008. It dawned on me that I could dig into those presentations and rewrite them as full story ideas. I have done eight of them so far.
I see a lot of them are very close to the same thing, but there are some good ones in there. My new story idea presentations are more complete, better developed, but still story ideas. Many times, I offered several options on how to use the concept and my new presentation was just one of them. You can see where these come from, but they are different. If I were to create a finished story from either concept, it would not look the same either.
The interesting thing is that I cut and paste the text into the work I am writing, and not one word is copied into the finished piece. It is always that different, or not worth the effort.
I look at all my story ideas the same way. If Twenty people were to write the stories from one story idea, they would end up with twenty different stories.

I am in a project of trying to consolidate some stuff in my house and get rid of things. On weekends, we go to yard sales or garage sales (tag sales in some areas) in my mom's community. She is looking for Christmas presents. I am just looking for things that catch my eye.
Anyway, I have run into the problem where I am bringing more home than I am tossing out. It gets a bit frustrating. Of course, one person's junk is another person's treasure. I am lucky. I have learned that a lot of things I would have gotten because I thought it would be of use later, or just wanted to have, are no longer interesting. I either have it, or know I will never use it. I walk away from a lot of treasures that way.

My mom was not happy with me. I ended up with more wood. If I chose the project according to the wood I have, I would have five years worth of wood. When I choose the wood according to the project I want to do, I don't have the right kind of wood, and therefore feel like I don't have any wood at all.
The pieces I selected are perfect for some very large projects I am considering. I just have to decide which projects take precedence.
One thing was that the tree the wood was from, was dead for a while. One piece of wood had an ant colony inside. pealed the bark off which was already loose, and then brushed the dust and ants off into a pile. They got swept up and stuck in the dirt pile mom uses for her potted plants. I don't think they liked how they were handled. I did a couple quite projects with some of the wood and it looks great.

Using the above as a story idea, he gets shipments of material from other environments, or even other worlds. He is in an isolated location, a space station, that is an old garden, abandoned long ago. He moved in and took over. He brings in materials to work with and there are sometimes pests still living in the material. He simply cleans the material and dumps it into a compost bin. It is filled near the top. There is an auger that moves slowly at the bottom that will empty the bin in a year. Pests, weeds, chopped debris all go into the bin and it has a way of eliminating any pests.
One shipment has some "bugs" in it. He treats them the same way. They are not normal bugs, but have "magical" powers and are very intelligent. they are ticked at their treatment and decide to get revenge. They escape the bin and start making his life miserable, gremlins in essence.

AS to the question of the day,
I am proud to say,
Yes, I did write.


DID YOU WRITE?

Wood Carving, Week 511.

year 9, Week 41, Day One (week 511) (January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.) 10-24-09 Saturday

80s, small, fast moving cells of liquid sunshine hit in quick succession. There was some sun, but the day was mostly cloudy with blue sky nowhere near the sun. Later in the day, it cleared up. This Weather report was brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.

Over the week, I have stuck the coconut palm bowl in the microwave, heat it for thirty seconds, then let it cool and air. If I had a more powerful microwave, I would have heated for only fifteen seconds. The main thing is to try to dry out the bowl. I thought I had it quite dry but by WEDNESDAY, I found there was some mold building up so I had to start drying it more.

WE went yard sailing first today. I got a few things for at home. because of the liquid sunshine showers, many of the yard sales did not put their stuff out or had them stacked up or under cover. It messed up the day. I did do pretty good, though.

After petting the cat, who was not in a good mood today, I dug out my dremmel and my face vase. I very slightly under cut the faces, to make them stand out, and detailed the eyes more. I still have more to work on. I also reshaped a few faces, fixing errors I have. Lastly, I started cleaning up the surface, sanding it, in the process to get the faces ready for finishing. I don't like any of the faces, but this will be all right. I know I can do better if I plan the faces more. Experience helps. "Success comes from experience, Experience comes from failure.

one of my grinding bits is very aggressive. It is a wheel style grinding bit and has points that stick out visibly. While I was grinding with it, It slipped. It ran across two finger tips and chewed up the skin a bit. It also marked my finger nails. Luckily, the damage did not bleed. It did not get much past the surface. It is a royal bother, though. I keep forgetting that this tool does that when it touches skin. it removes wood with such wonderful ease.
I have some similar bits with the bumps, not points. I have used these for years and they do a great job. they are less aggressive and do not like skin quite as much. They tend to give "road rashes".

I did some hand sanding on the vase and that helped, but have a lot more work to do.

AS I was leaving to go home, I saw that a neighbor cut down a slash pine tree. I grabbed two pieces of trunk and a branch. It was cut down as it was dead and the bark is coming off. I will remove the bark from my pieces and might pick up one or two more. The biggest pieces are likely to be cut up to fit the lathe, but I did want that wood. I have not heard what Mom thinks of it.

Tomorrow, I have to deal with the wood, and might do some turning. I really need to carve my Christmas ornaments, but it seams other projects are more exciting.

Will see what I actually do tomorrow.



year 9, Week 41, Day Two (week 511) (January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.) 10-25-09 Sunday

85 degrees, mostly blue sky with some disappearing high feathers, and some low puffs. Just enough breeze to keep things comfortable without moving the dust around. This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department Of Tourism.

My first job was to tackle the wood I picked up yesterday as I was about to go home. Mom said it was filled with worms. I went out back and realized it had ants. A very active colony.
I pealed the bark off, which was planned when I had seen the bark was loose, and then brushed the wood down to remove the powder, and the ants. I set the wood to the side, the big sheets of bark in the garbage with some ant bait and swept up the powder and the ants and buried them in the potting dirt. I have a feeling they did not like the way they were handled.
I should note that I drove by the place on the way to Mom's house and saw that a lot of the logs were gone. I did not bother getting any more, though the desire was there. Some people use the logs around their property to keep cars from parking there. There are a couple wood turners in the area and they may have taken some. I will kick myself for not taking more, but It may be months before I get to work the wood. It is now back in my wood pile.

I cut pieces of the long branch and mounted one in the lathe. Just looking at it, I knew it wanted to be something long and thin. My first thought was a Christmas ornament with long finials. As I rounded the not-round branch, I realized it needed to be a goblet.
I made a tenon so the chuck could hold onto it. mounted it into the chuck, and rough turned the outside of the bowl of the goblet. I then pulled the tail stock away and hollowed out the goblet bowl. Once I was satisfied with the inside, I worked on the outside, finishing the surface. I then followed the shape of the inside bowl, feeling the thickness of the wood periodically to make sure I was following the curve properly. I went down to the thin stem of the goblet, which was just a little bit bigger than the pith in the middle of the branch.
I went down to where the base needed to be and got it fairly well shaped. The wood is green and clogs up sandpaper really fast. I had sanded the first goblet bowl and decided that it was not a good idea at this time. They both have things that need to be cleaned up but will leave them as they are.
I made a second one the same way, about the same size, but I did not go quite as thin on the bowl. The wood has strong rings and it really adds something to the design of the goblets.








The cat was being a Grinch, mainly because I seam to have forgotten how to pet him in a way he likes to be petted. he did calm down, but by then I was ready to get back up and make some more sawdust.

I intend to cut slabs off the big log, using the as full circle platters. I also want to split some of the log and do some side turning for the wonderful ring effects. I will have to see how my first platter comes out to decide how much of the wood will be used as what. That is chain saw work anyway.

Next week, Mom will be visiting that big rat in Central Florida. I will be on my own all weekend. I do have some projects that just have to be done. I will have to see if I actually get something done. I am not doing well this year.
I should be visiting the antique shop and thrift shop next weekend.

I will see what I actually do next weekend.

On dragons and stories being told...Part 2

A lot of details in the story- universe that we write in, are still in flux, not fully decided on or codified. Here are some comments on the Waxy world I have that are a corrections or additions to what Nancy said. They may change was we write more or edit more.

All dragons have a name for the person they are with. No non-dragon fully knows where the names comes from or what it actually means. When asked, the dragon will usually break out into giggling fits and never end up giving answer.

While they sound like the words we have in our common language, they are not really. they just seam to sound similar to our words. The sounds are really in dragon-speak. they usually only come up with the name if they are attached to the person. Even a strange dragon will know the name of the person when they meet the human. It just goes with the person.

*********

On Waxy's likes and dislikes, Waxy also has a distaste for fairies, No one is sure as to why, but one suggestion is because Bubblehead loves Fairies and uses their dust to do magic. She will deal with them when she has to. but would rather not.

Waxy loves to eat bugs and worms, but will never knowingly harm a spider or an animal. They all have a higher level of intelligence creature. Insects, except for the possibility of dragon flies, are without any intelligence at all and are good food.


*********

Another change in Nancy's note is that Waxy has pretty much the build of a cat, but has a longer neck, about twice as long, wings to fly, long tail that is thick at the base, dorsal plates down the back, has no fur, and is striped in varied colors. On a dark night, she might easily be mistaken for a cat when she has her wings against her body.

It is thought that Waxy's mother was bout the size of a horse or cow, not really big on the scheme of things.

Lazlo can maneuver tighter, quicker and faster than Waxy can, but she has more endurance and has less caution than Lazlo has. In all their races, they end up coming in tied.

****

There is a saying among people who have been around dragons and cats. When a cat purrs, Cats only know the rhythm, When Dragons purr, they know the whole song.

Dragons learn a basic purring tune from their parents when they are in the egg. Puppy mill eggs are removed from the parents only a short time after being laid. They have to be with the mother for a period of time or they won't be viable. In that short time, the babies know something of the song the mother sings to them and the world they will be entering into. In the wild, when a baby hatches, they learn the full song from their parents. With eggs are removed from the parents, They will adjust their song to some popular song one hears that has some similarities to their original song.

With the dragons in our story world, none of them were hatched near their parents so they take on the songs that we know.

Dragons can talk while purring, but it really sounds weird.


**********
While Waxy's reputation is to hate baths, That is not really true. She just does not like baths from Bubblehead. She does not like being handled by Bubblehead. There is nothing she likes about Bubblehead bit since he is really the only parent she knows, she is stuck with him.

One thing that she will do with Bubblehead, is that she will be enjoying some attention, realize what is happening, then Bite Bubblehead. She will then relax and enjoy all the attention he will give her as she has gotten her vengeance already.

When it comes to baths, She resists being cleaned behind the frills. That is because she hates being cleaned behind the ears.

Waxy will tell anybody who will listen, that Bubblehead is mean, dirty, rotten, always angry and never gives her enough chocolate. She might get a just a taste of chocolate from someone else and that will seam like a lot to her. If Bubblehead gave her a whole case of chocolate she will still take that as a sign he is holding back on her.

Because of her metabolism, chocolate syrup gives her a buzz like Alcohol would do to us. It is common for her to post on line that "the syrup is half drunk and so am I." Bubblehead is famous for bribing her to post jokes that she does not think are funny.

**

Waxy knows by definition, that she is a good girl. She just does things that get people angry, especially bubblehead.

Waxy will obey adults, at least while they are looking. In her childlike mind, she believes that if an adult did not see her do something, they cannot really blame her for it. They did not see it.

****

There is the joke that according to the Egyptians, People descended from cats. Cats will never let you forget that either. It just happens that Cats descended from dragons.

Waxy gets into trouble once in a while when she brings that sequence up to a human, especially when she is arguing with them.


**
Dragons have many eye spots on the back of their eyes, each patch sees different types of light, even when there is no light. They can also see different types of magic. Dragon eyes can also change focus, to zoom if needed. When watching a dragon make these adjustment, their eyes tend to swirl and sparkle.

Because of all the adventures Waxy has been on, she is an expert in the use of the eye spots. She learned to set each eye to a different view, like watching magic and low light, or watching two different levels of magic.

***
I should explain that Bubblehead has a computer operated portal that allows him to visit all sorts of worlds, meets strange peoples, follows weird creatures, sees wondrous events, and spectacular scenery, and then returns to write dry, humorless, unimaginative descriptions of what he saw. he posts them on line as fantastic wild science fiction or fantasy story ideas so other authors can use them to write their own stories when their minds are blank as to what to write.

Waxy uses the portal all the time, and she knows she is not supposed to use it.

Many of the worlds Bubblehead visits involved devastating diseases, wars, monsters, entire universes blinking out of existence. Bubblehead uses fairy dust to create a protective bubble, sort of like god-mode in a game, where the stronger it is, the less he can interact with the world. Most of the time, he can observe, but no one knows he is there.

Waxy could easily get caught in those worlds so Bubblehead has screen savers set up to show the most horrendous of the worlds as a warning to Waxy. Waxy will always give second thought to using the portal, but she really needs to give a third thought, and that never happens.

Waxy always finds the safe worlds that Bubblehead has found and hidden for her and she has many adventures through the portal. He "hides" them to make sure she will find them. She would never go to them if she thought he placed them just for her.

Waxy also has play-adventures with her teddy bears, that are almost as exciting as her portal adventures.

Crafty, Thrifty, Nifty, & Capers of Kitties!

I'm getting behind a bit here, so I've had to cluster a bunch of pictures together.

Fall and winter are my main crafting seasons. All spring and summer I am gung-ho into gardening. Trips to the craft store, now that we have one in the area, can be impromptu, but I only go when I can afford to. Our super big box retailer also has a craft department and I hit that often too.

My mother and I had doc appointments a week or so ago, follow up consultations after lab work. We both did very well with our meds and diet restrictions so we got pretty glowing reports. Ma wanted lunch and some cookies afterward, and at a spry 75 years young and a whopping 96 lbs soaking wet (she's 4'11") she is certainly entitled to that. I was complimented on my 50 lb weightloss this year, and so I decided not to reward myself with anything edible. Crafting and thrifting works for me! *G* So after some quick shopping that included her lunch, we dropped Ma back off at home to eat and relax, and Lee and I headed back out.

Some recent bead purchases, with the mermaid dolls in mind. They look like pearls but are glass, and so are a lot cheaper. As I recall they all came from the craft department of the department store.




Most of these are from the craft store, I think the E beads in the flat pack were from the department store. They are glass too. The doll buttons get used as either eyes or actual buttons, not sure about the bells but they are cute. The round buttons with the flush stems will likely become amigurumi crochet eyes, they are actually blue. The white snaps I will sew to our flea market rolling totes so the top flap will stay closed. I look at things like this and I see projects.

Do you remember the mermaid doll in progress? Well, here she is in all her glory, completed at last. This is Sapphirina, and she is now living on Lee's side of the office. I gave her to him because he is the one that drives me everywhere; to docs and dentist, the flea markets and yard sales, and the craft grocery, and department stores. All of the materials I used in her construction were purchased on trips with Lee, who does have a thing for mermaids. I think for something that started out as an experiment, she came out rather well. He insisted on the belly chain BTW. The yarn for her hair is Caron Simply Soft, which I really like as doll hair. It has a nice silkiness and the plies separate easily. Couldn't find my fine beading wire or nylon so the beads are strung on heavy sewing thread.


I started another mermaid too. In this pic, this one is in its second night of work. I wanted a darker blue one, but didn't have the finer sport yarn so I went with worsted on the tail section, which gives her a fuller figure. So, she is going to be a bit pear shaped - probably too much rice in the sushi... She kind of looks like the Venus De Milo of mermaids right now. The main thing was to try out the pattern I wrote while doing the first one, and see if it works. I found a couple of minor bugs but otherwise she looks fine so far.

Gratuitous kitten cuteness pictures inserted below. My little buddy Mischief sitting in the office window next to my desk and PC. It was a sunny day and there were Asian ladybugs all over the south side (back) of the house, including the screen. Those non-native ladybugs are PESTY at this time of year, looking to come indoors and hibernate with us. Mischief has never been outdoors in his young life, but he has the hunting instinct, and so I had to keep the window closed to prevent him from clawing the screen to get at them. Normally that sill is filled with odds and ends but I cleared off one end for him. Lee took these pics BTW, and even with as dark as they came out, I think they are kind of artsy.

The kittens are really getting big now. Mischief is a love and he is all over me all the time. He likes to smooch and cuddle, when he can sit still long enough that is. I had to eventually chase him off, the sparkly danglies became too interesting as possible toys. I like them hanging up there, in the full sun they throw rainbows all over the room, and there are small windchimes that tinkle. Kittens, rainbows, and fairy chimes tinkling, what a setting to work in! *S*

With our anniversary coming up, I sent away to Amazon.com for something for Frank (OH) and decided to treat myself at the same time. Well I needed the $25 for the free shipping, so why not? I don't add too many books to my overflowing collection but these seemed like a wise buy. I am very happy with both of them.

Another night on mermaid doll #2, and she had an arm. A bit of trial and error as I was watching something on TV and not paying enough attention to my hastily scrawled directions. I eventually got it right. The arms get crocheted in rounds right on the body, and I keep the seam underneath. Stuffing thin tubes like the arms is easier if you work on it as you go along, and having something firm to grip as you crochet really does help. Just don't stuff to the very edge of where you are working, or you will be scooping up fiberfill as you stick the hook in, and that is a PIA. I roll the fiberfill into cylinders and poke it in with the back of a larger crochet hook. I find low loft quilt batting works best for small pieces like this, it is already fairly compact. Most of the arm is done with an F hook, the hand is done with a D.

Um, I didn't notice at that point I had the thumb going the wrong way. The directions did say, "Attach thumb on the shoulder side," but I wasn't paying attention I guess.

The craft store is in a mall that also has a pet supply place. I had a reason to go out and get pet supplies again so that meant I could stop at the craft place too. *w* Plus, I had a 40% discount coupon for 1 item at regular price that would expire within a few days. So off Lee and I went and here is some of the haul.

The findings are copper, I got two sizes of jump rings and crimp beads for my green leaf earrings. The E beads are for the mermaid dolls, one was marked down. The flower buttons I just fell in love with, the shamrock ones are going into my friend's gift bag. I have never seem wiggle eyes with an eyelid and lashes and HAD to have those.

More mermaid doll stuff; yarn for hair and crochet cotton for bikini tops. I will likely make a third one based on this hair color and the aqua top, and likely a green one too. I am on a roll here. I am thinking one of the newer ones will be a Christmas gift for someone.

This is what my 40% off coupon was for! I finally got the big sketch boards I have been salivating over. Those clips hold the thinnest paper tightly, and the rubber band helps too. I like to work with oil pastels, which you can smear around, and that will tend to wrinkle the paper if you don't have it firmly pinned down. I think this puppy will see plenty of use. I have several unfinished pieces I'd like to dig out again.

After the craft store, we took the highway back to a town that is east of where I live that has a Salvation Army thrift store Lee and I like to haunt. They had moved their music up to the front and so he went through it and found this Celtic CD for me. I like to listen to Celtic, New Age, Native American flute or nice instrumental music when I am writing. This one would be good for chase scenes and marshaling the troops in a battle, it is pretty lively. If you buy used CDs, ALWAYs open them up and make sure the disc is actually there, it is the right one, and it isn't cracked, scratched or scuffed. This one was in perfect condition, a well spent $1.99.

I debated on picking up this embroidery stand the entire time I was there because it is missing the top part of the hoop with the clamp. I know they are not cheap so for $2.99 I decided to grab it. I might have a top hoop that fits, but if not I will buy another one and drill the base to replace this one. It just kind of screws on. The joints are not worn at all, this baby was not used much. Very stable too with the wide base. Someone paid a pretty penny for this.








I debated this one too, as I really don't need a lot more dishes, but we do run out of bowls on the holidays. I love the green glass, and the design of these appealed to me. They were sold as a set for $3.99. I will put them away for now in a box with my other holiday tableware.

I grabbed this at the last minute too, I love the trellis design of the frame. This was also $3.99, but is like brand new. I want to put a picture of my boys with Stacey and Grandson Ben in it.

Look at that detail, could you have turned that down? Very nice for something from the big box store. I'd expect to pay at least $15 for that. Jeez I love thrifting!












It has a few minor chips but this little cottage/wishing well planter for 99¢ really talked to me, and it was the first thing I grabbed. I am thinking it would make a nice candle holder. I could write a story about this place...

This one was for my mother, who loves the Chinese pincushions. Only 99¢ too, and never used.

OK, day's end and I worked on the second mermaid doll again. I had just finished her right arm when I realized I had the thumbs on the wrong side. Thankfully crochet and fiberfill are very forgiving, so with some twisting I managed to realign her arms. I think this one will get a big pearl sewn/glued into her hands to keep them in the position they belong in. I will definitely have to type out that pattern so I can read it better. Still she is coming out rather well.

One more gratuitous kitten picture. End of the day for the two babies and they decided to cuddle up on an old doormat and take a snooze. I am glad we got both of them together, they play nicely and keep each other company. Mischief is definitely the more active and aggressive of the two, and he is a bundle of energy. Merlin is bigger, but he is more sedate and quieter. Not actual littermates but blood brothers of the heart. *s*

Aw c'mon, you know you just want to say, "Awwww!!!!!"

Did You Write? 10-19-09

Did You Write? 10-19-09

Many of us write in spurts, going as much as months between writing sessions. We need help to become regular writers. Of course, life does get in the way, but for many of us, we have the time to write, but don't take advantage of the time.
This note is an attempt to offer that push to write. I post this note each and every week. Everybody knows the note is going to be posted. the hope is that you post your results here, whether you wrote a lot, or did not write at all, and also to tell what is going on in your life. the idea is to get you posting every week, and get you to feel bad about reporting that you did not write. This is to get you to sit down SOMETIME DURING THE WEEK, and write something, whether it was a paragraph or half a novel. Be able to proudly report that you wrote.

Of course, there are always questions as to what counts as writing. No one is going to agree on that answer. I like to post a list of things that is writing. Some are obvious, others are not. Generally, the weaker the excuse to call it writing, the wordier it likely should be. One might get away with (and I have) saying that you wrote one paragraph of new writing on a story. One might have to write several pages of text about writing in an E-mail. it is up to you what is considered writing, as no one I know of is keeping track.
Writing new text is writing. Editing, even if it is someone else's work, is also writing, since few of us can write perfectly first time around.
Blogging, technical articles, writing assignments and exercises are also writing.
Poetry is also writing. world creation and character creation is also writing, though I prefer that things get on paper. E-mail notes can also be writing, as long as they pertain to writing or story, and are wordy.
The final decision is really up to you.

yes, I did write. I spent good time writing, I do know I did a lot of editing, but am in all new scenes right now. I am disappointed with the actual word count as I thought I wrote more this week.
I had started new scene and it came to a stop, like running into a brick wall. I described my problem to my writing partner and she gave me several E-mails with possible solutions. She gave me the solution I really needed. I was having the problem met and tried to be solved immediately. That is not the nature of the situation. I needed to take time, develop character and situation. My writing partner also gave me the real key to the situation. Waxy is following a creature that is hunting. It turns out that the creature is hunting the one she is with. She has to be a real bother for the creature, developing the personality that runs through all the stories that follow. The real key was to slow down, let the situation play out rather than have it a hit and run.
As mentioned, I was disappointed with my word and page count, but when I think about how much time I spent adding and changing early scenes to fit new information, I did not do too bad. I added two pages. 1448 words added. The story is up to page 58 now. I am writing on page 53 right now. I have at least a page, possibly two more pages on the scene I am working on now, then have to enter an all new scene after this.
I am writing about an hour a day, not every day. I am excited about that amount of time. I do get things done but not enough to really finish anything. I retain the excitement of the writing, wanting to get back to the story and continue as soon as I can.

I fell behind on my story ideas this past week. I was an idea behind, then had my turning club meeting and lost another day, then Sunday, I helped my brother with a mechanical problem that went longer than expected, and lost another idea there. I wrote and am posting two story ideas tonight, and will still be a story idea behind for this day of the month. I have to catch up that extra story idea by Saturday so I will end the month on schedule.
My compost pile count is 39. while counting them, I saw several that may never see the light of day, even under desperation. As long as I keep up with coming up with new ideas, I will never get that desperate.


As to the question of the day,
I can honestly say

YES, I DID WRITE.

DID YOU WRITE?

Week 510 Wood working.

year 9, Week 40, Day One (week 510)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
10-17-09 Saturday

94 degrees, building clouds, almost no breeze. At around noon, thunder to the west and a grey wall approached. A cold front passed through, watering mom's plants for her. temps dropped to 81 degrees several hours after. Wetness was gone by one.
This weather report is brought to you by the city of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.

The turning club meeting was on Thursday. I remembered about it on Monday. I headed home, with the idea of getting my face vase up to some presentable level. I got home, pulled the face vase out, looked it over, and realized nothing would make it presentable. It needed more work. I went there with nothing to show.
I did bring some swans to show. the originals I got my ideas from, the swan blanks I made to carve, and the finished (carved) swans. I also brought the blanks and finished carved owls. The head of the carving club liked the results.
They had a Christmas Ornament challenge. Everybody was to make a Christmas ornament to show off. Everybody who brings an ornament in for the challenge gets a raffle ticket. They are also collecting ornaments to go onto a tree that is donated to the FORT LAUDERDALE ART MUSEUM and sold to fund museum projects. We, with three other wood groups, get a large tree and decorate them with wood ornaments. the tree always sells the first night, when the benefactors get to see the trees first.
Anyway, for the ornament Challenge, if you donated four or more ornaments to the tree, you also got a raffle ticket. later, instead of judging the ornaments, they draw three raffle tickets and the winners get gift cards.
The purpose of the challenge is to get people to make something they might never make on their own.
The demonstration was on the BOWL SAVER, a bowl coring system. This is a device that allows you to core out three or more bowls out of the same piece of wood, rather than turning the inside into shavings. It was a great demonstration. I had some questions about the process and that answered those questions really well. It is easier than I thought it was. I do see that it takes a lot more setup than I prefer to apply to most projects. Once one does it a few times, the bowl aver can be left set to do more.
The real use of the BOWL SAVER is to rough out a whole bunch of wood to dry out. Wood moves and shifts as they dry. One usually cuts a bowl about an inch thick, let it dry, warping and twisting. One then mounts it bak on the lathe and true it up and turn it to the finished thickness.
If I was spending more time on the lathe, I would likely get a bowl saver to get more out of my wood.
They had a wood raffle outside the meeting place after the club meeting. I was good. I left without any wood at all. I have plenty of wood, if I put it to use.

We started the morning yard sailing again. I think I spent about eight bucks and did well. WE got home sooner than it seamed.

The cat was not at his best. He was still a good kitty cat compared to the beginning of the year. Mom and I did well in taming him these past two years.

The flower vase needed a pot on the bottom of it, something the flowers were growing out of. I mounted the vase on the lathe and turned the pot. I do have one little thing that needs correcting, but it makes a big difference in how it will work out. I still have all the flowers to carve, but now it has something to make it work right. Tomorrow, if weather permits, will be when I make the correction to the flower pot.

I drew on the eyes of the face vase. I then went to mom and asked her to draw the eyes for me. Just a couple extra lines gave me what I needed. I carved most of one eye, using power, then stopped do to incoming weather. it will make a difference. I am carving on and around a knot so it will take some work. The rest of the faces do need correcting.

I cut a piece of wire from a coat hanger and spent some time to get is bent with the right curves, but straight in other directions. This coat wire is a gauge for thickness, calipers. With a little bending or squeezing, I can set it to the thickness I am after and stick one end inside. If the outside is touching while the inside is also touching, then the wood is thick. if there is a slight gap, the wood is thin. I checked the thickness of the thinnest part of the carvings and still have good amount of wood in there. I have room to make corrections on the faces.

I closed up everything, packed everything away after the stuff mentioned above. I headed in through the door and felt a few drips on my arm, I got inside just before the cloud burst. that basically ended my day.

Tomorrow, I plan to work on the face vase and if I do really good on that, I might start on the flower vase. I do want to correct the flower pot on the flower vase.
I will see what I really do tomorrow.


year 9, Week 40, Day Two (week 510)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
10-18-09 Sunday

56 degrees in the morning, 62 degrees when I arrived at Mom's house, I think it got up into the 80s, but I was not home when it got up there. There was a pretty good breeze as certain parts of the day. The sky was a mix of high feathery sheets and roaming puffs and blue sky.
The cold front that passed yesterday hit us with really cold weather, for Florida, especially this time of year. When I got to Mom's house, I did not need a coat as it warmed up enough.
This weather report is brought to you by the Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.

I petted the cat once I got out back. he was not on his best moods. I seamed to either miss the attention he was after, or hitting the wrong kind of attention.

Mom had tried to move a coconut palm but it had gone through the pot and into the ground. She butchered the roots in the process. I decided I would turn a bowl out of it. I had to cut it about three different times, turning once in between, before I got to the actual wood of the palm tree.
the coconut palm has a rough, bare bark, and then the fronds on top. I found that the fronds were not part of the wood. when I got to the rough bark, that was where anything that resembled wood was found. The three foot tall tree turned out to be only three inches of bowl.
I left the bark in place, untouched, and hollowed the inside. I guess I can describe turning the inside as cutting cantilope or a pumpkin. A "muck" came out in globs. there are fibers on the inside, but not much. I got close to the bottom and stopped.. I cleaned the bottom by bandsawing the tenon and left it as that.
I did stick it in mineral spirits as a way to possibly keep it from rotting, which is something that palm wood loves to do.
When I got home, I found I left my varnish can open and it gooped up, unusable. I am also out of mineral spirits at home. I mixed the last of my mineral spirits into the varnish, got some to pour out, gave the bowl the best coating I could do and left it in a closed baggy. will see how it reacts over the week.

I was carving the eyes on the face vase. I had done some of the work on all eyes, when my brother called. He was going some place when the transmission died right near us. That killed my woodworking for the day.

I got my sister in law and brought her to Mom's house, then went back. When the wrecker was to arrive, I was to sit by his trailer until he got back. We ended up unloading the truck, filling the trailer and my little pickup, and the wrecker still would not lift the truck onto the bed. they used "plan B" and towed it with the hind tires on the road. They got half way to my brother's house when it got so bad they had to leave the truck. My brother got his other truck and came back. We picked up the stuff that did not fit on my truck, and we went to where his truck was parked. We unhooked the drive shaft, using the setting sun to light the underside of the truck. We got to his house to unload my truck when dusk was disappearing.
He still had to get some stuff and go to the truck to tow it home, but I was allowed to go home, in time to get to bed on time for work.
I did have my carving basket with me, but and planned on carving. I left my carving gloves at home and decided I was not really in the mood, rather sit and read.

I got more exercise than normal, It was not hard work but more than I normally get.

Next week, I will see how this palm bowl survives. they are notorious for rotting fast as there is so much water in the wood. Some palm trees can be carved, some cannot. Will see how this survives.
I will work on the face bowl, see how it comes out. It has a lot of work to be done just in carving, not even mentioning finishing.
I still have ornaments to be carved and I have to have them ready by November.

I will see what happens next week.