I have been memetagged.....

By Debra Roby of the infamous AQRing Debs, and me with my shots out of date. It's the 4 Things Thing. Getting tagged is something like getting an eartag, the painful indignity inflicted on animals by people insisting on knowing where they are and what they have been up to and not unlike the alien anal probe. I was going to plead early onset Alzheimers and skip it but I had a vague notion that not meme-ing when tagged rates up there with farting in church and using your fish fork to scratch between your shoulder blades. I was also tempted to lie wildly but the truth is out there now. Four Jobs You've Had: Domestic Engineer (the Paid kind),Phone Slut,Proofreader, Computer Network Security Administrator Four Movies You Watch: Shakespeare In Love, You've Got Mail, Jaws, The Natural Four Places You've Lived: 122 Commercial Street, 10 Bank Street, 15 Baker Steet,25 1/2 Dykeman Road Four TV Shows you Watch: Law & Order, West Wing, Deadwood, The Gems Rotating on the Lazy Susan Show Four Places You've Been on Vacation: Panama City, FL, Hyannis, MA, Savannah, GA, Naragansett, RI Four Websites You Visit Every Day: NYTimes, CraigsList ATL, TheStreet, Refdesk Four Of Your Favorite Foods: Bing Cherries, Fried Clams, Key Lime Pie, Apple Cider Four Places You'd Rather Be: any beach, any sailboat, any frozen lake at night, any jurybox Four (real)Albums You Can't Live Without: Rubber Soul - Beatles, The Essential Artie Shaw, Hell Freezes Over - Eagles, Fumbling Towards Ecstasy -- Sarah McLachlan Four People You'll Pass This On To: Let's surprise them.

First DyeFest of '06

Well, there's nothing like a tidy crop of hand dyes to get the creative year started. I think there was something seriously wrong with the black though. I used a lot of it - I was in a broody mood- and looks like 99% of it left town in the rinse cycle. Anna! Do recognize any of these pieces? Can't wait to be hacking them up but that project is in a conga line of other patiently waiting it's turn. My UFOs are giving me nightmares so in self defense I am tending to those first for while.

unpacking (still)

Did you ever find yourself on the brink of change and the whizzing of it all leaves you just exhausted and empty? Deadlines, decisions and distant dread. There was a time when I had this much time on my hands. While the cicadas are chewing the air with their threats and the sweat rolls sweet, I think "All that is not given is lost" and wished that you could have seen how the flecks of gold stuck to my skin when the sand gave up and fell away.

Tornado Watch

OK.OK. So I looked up a bunch of lo-carb recipes and made a shopping list but I thought I would wait until the sky stopped being greenish-black before venturing out. Wonderful Winter in Georgia. Since we are under a flood warning with tornados for dessert, I though I would wile away an hour with an ER rerun and a game of solitaire with real cards! I got all the way to the end of a winning hand and found the six of hearts to be missing. "The Six of Cups (Hearts) is the only one in the Tarot that refers explicitly to the past, and of memories and good times experienced there. After losses such as those on the Five we sometimes have to take a time out to heal, to look back on the past and all the good that lies there. And during such times it's never the right thing to focus on the negative, and that's why this card is so positive and full of light. The fallen cups are now full and upright again, but with blooming flowers that cannot be spilled or washed away. Now that you have looked back, maybe now the way will be clear to look forward." What an opportunity for further honing my skill! My procrastination skills, that is. Here's all of what Tarot Master, James Rioux has to say about the six of cups and so I am properly chastened about not taking the time yesterday to reflect on the passing of 2005.

Happy New Year!

After reading everyone else's deepest thoughts on resolutions, I thought I would take a stab at it myself. Here is the Unvarnished Truth. And for those who need the warning, I have decided that Politically Correct postures will give you hemorrhoids. I decided to spend the day honoring Procrastination instead of denying her. My studio looks like Katrina paid a visit so I knew it was going to be a long day. My calls to FEMA have gone unanswered. The backdrop of my efforts today, A "Law & Order" marathon. Tomorrow, the bar exam. Before I could even get dressed I was finding ways to delay. I have several identical Wrangler denim workshirts, sized 4X, men's 4X. I wish they looked as huge on me as they should. I use them interchangeably as smocks, bathrobes, and my version of the Dixie Mink but I was getting quite sick of the corporate logo hovering over the breast pocket so I decided a little quick machine applique on one of them could cure my wardrobe blues. Now I look like a refuge from the Pyromaniacs Union.At least now I can tell which one to wear in the studio. Next on my to-do list, Breakfast. Two microwaved meatballs (in homemade 'sketi sauce) on a whole wheat roll (health food!), half a glass of OJ and two cups of coffee. Then fully dressed and fueled up, I jump on the bathroom scale - none of these "naked post-evacuation" weigh-ins for me. The awful truth lurked between my toes. At the very least I will break a sweat today. I filled several coffin-sized plastic tubs with fabric, vacuumed the nap off the carpet rather than pick up bent pins and decided a break was in order. More creativity! I really needed to finish this crocheted hat that I started last night. Wasn't Dick Clark scary? The Big Peach was out of sync with the big Apple while my neighbors treated me to fireworks and semi-automatic gunfire. Yee-haw Amigos! It's dark now. The first new day of 2006 is circling the bowl and I am quite satisfied with the proceeds of the day. No resolutions but some truth, farting around, sweat, a glimmer of order and whiffs of the promise of tomorrow.

Sneaking up on sewing

This from my new pen and sketchpad. Danny Gregory would probably be appalled. I always seem to be warming up and never pitching. Now I am going to ice on my arm, wrist and hand - aching not from drawing or sewing but a day romping around with an adding machine and several excel spreadsheets. Meanwhile this still from the trailer for "Casanova" has me thinking about a quilt with large creatures menacing a city "War of the Worlds" style. That flick had me jumping over the back of the couch. Talk about a cheap date.

Serenity

I finally got to see this tonight. Now I know why people were mildly freaked when I took that silly quiz to determine which character in the movie you were and I came up Summer. Thanks for not spoiling it for me. Nothing like having your heart wrenched around for an hour and change. All and all, I liked it but saddened that any sequel or TV show will bear the violence and changes wrought in this movie.

Merry Christmas...

There's a stuffed turkey almost done, folks are sleeping, lounging about, playing with the booty. I keep going to the mirror to admire the moonlight Jim bought me, just like in the song. He really knows how to make me smile. I want to make the time to curl up with "The Creative License" by Danny Gregory . The introduction lifted my heart, made me laugh and cry. For the moment though, I am compelled to keep sewing on this piece. I keep stitching things and then picking all the stitches out just like I used to do with beads. Does this mean it's time to stop?? It needs something more, some focus.

Changes upon changes.

the O-Bags

I don't know why I didn't post these this sooner. I was told that these steps were published in a magazine somewhere so I have to figure that it's ok to share my version. If anyone wants to get into a copyright brawl, you send your lawyer to meet my lawyer out in the parking lot and we'll let them kick each other's asses while we make stuff. Start with any size square sandwich of two fabrics that get along nicely and your choice of batt or interfacing. You know the drill - right sides together, leave a small opening in the middle of one seam so you can drag it inside out...poke around in the corners gently with a fat old crochet hook or something equally benign...I like crayons, they'll break before they hurt the fabric. Then iron it flat. Fold, stitch and if you must, embellish. I have been told by one of my sons friends that if I tarted one of these up with black lace and ribbon the Gothic Lolitas would be fighting over them. Is this something I aspire to?

A Quiet Saturday Night

We had an invite to a posh do in town but Jim's been coming down with a rotten cold for about a WEEK now. He's one of those guys who thinks he's invincible. He came home from work early this afternoon and curled up on the couch. Immediately, Nurse Karma jumped up to do her vigil. This cat is one of the most haughty, arrogant females on the planet. I am sure it pains HRH daily to have to suffer living with these commoners. She rarely has anything nice to say to anyone beyond giving orders and almost never permits petting. There is once huge exception in her behavior. If someone in the house is ill, even just lying down with a headache, Karma approaches the sickabee tentatively and then, with a stern look at the patient as if to say "Tut, tut, my deah. All will be well soon" she climbs aboard and just roosts on you purring, hours if you don't stir. It's such a contrast to the way she normally acts, aloof and skittish. Jim was mildly alarmed. "Stop looking at me like that." I actually think she's sitting there thinking this last ditch attempt at cuddly civility will get her into someone's will. Or else she is planning to eat your eyes once they flutter down for the last time. I like cats. They don't really care about us beyond what we have to offer. So the house is quiet, I am alone and have had a good weep over the last half of "You've Got Mail" and finally finished my buddy's Christmas gift. You better not read this JR! I don't know how long it is but I'm 5'8" (well I used to be) and it hangs down mid-calf on both sides and it's a foot wide. Jinx helped. Now I am going to listen to Vin on WFUV and whoop someone's butt at Literati.