Curtains In Place

The curtains were put in place on the 23rd. I neglected to take before photos.

The Star Wars comic kitchen curtains.

The Star Trek home office curtains. The walls are a dove gray here which worked very well with the gray in the design. The original curtains, from Wal*Mart, were camel colored. Once on the floor, they were claimed, almost instantly, by Tobey.

The Star Wars dining room curtains. The curtains in the kitchen and above had been a dark red.

And the back door curtains. These had been a white lace.

Carole and Larry were thrilled. It was fun to see them get excited over curtains. They weren't going to tell friends who come to their annual Halloween party. They were going to see who noticed.

Beverage:  Black Cherry Seltzer

Deb

Crafting in September-New Curtains

I started the new curtains last night.

Carole said Star Trek was suitable, too. These will be made exactly like the blue Star Wars ones just finished. The texture of this fabric is more supple. Plus, the way the design is printed, I don't have to match sides as I did with the blue print. Still, I'll pin everything the same way. I should have another set to show you by week's end.

Beverage:  Water

Deb

The Next Crafting Project

I went to  JoAnn Fabrics last week to get an item to finish this wedding present. While I was there, I noticed bolts of cloth sitting on a rolling cart.

Oh my. Carole's boyfriend, Larry, is a huge Star Wars fan. He also doesn't have a Hawaiian-style shirt made by me, in a loud fabric. I could certainly use one of these prints to make a shirt. This one was particularly attractive to loudness.

So I asked Carole which print would be the most attractive. I have no illusions about whether the shirt would be worn. It was more the idea of him having a shirt this "loud" in a print he would like. It's the proverbial Christmas gag gift.

Carole's response?  "Um...how about curtains, mom?"

Now, I haven't made curtains in years, decades even, but rod pocket curtains are very easy to make. The problem, for me, is doing the math to figure out how much fabric I need. But, heck, I can do this. It will be fun. Normally, I would wash the fabric to get the sizing out of it, but, for curtains, I don't have to. My friend, Pam, and I sat in JoAnn Fabrics surrounded by all the bolts of Star Wars AND a bolt of Star Trek fabric because Carole said that would be cool, and did math. In the end, I didn't need that much fabric to cover 4 windows.

Here's what I purchased.

I have curtain material for the side door, above the kitchen sink, the dining room and the home office. Now, about that chunk of Hawkeye fabric on the end there. It was off to the side. Someone had taken the rest of that bolt and this was to be added to the remnant pile. It's about a yard in length and is 60 inches wide so there is a lot of fabric. It's soft. It's a very soft flannel.

As I was waiting to have my fabric cut, I could hear it whispering me. "Hi there. You're a Hawkeye fan. I know because you keep looking my direction. You've picked me up a couple of times, too, and noticed I have football and basketball emblems on me, as well as Herky and the tiger hawk. Buy me. I'll be greatly reduced in price because I'm a remnant and the only piece of this bolt left in the store. Buy me. You know you want to." I got the remnant for 75% off. Since this fabric wasn't on sale, that was a big reduction. The rest of the fabric was on sale for 30% off AND I had a coupon for an additional 15% off everything. Not bad for curtain material.

I did purchase material for the shirt. That will show up in another post. I have no idea what I will make with the Hawkeye material. I have two other chunks I need to do something with. Maybe I should consider that Hawkeye "patched-look" blanket I've been thinking about making.

I am on a deadline. I will be back in Virginia in October for a Highland games and I want to bring the curtains along at that time and hang them. The shirt can wait for December and Christmas. There is a book on the ottoman I should finish reading. I'm up to book number 8 and I don't want to abandon the drive to read 12 books this year. So many things to do.

But, this is my next project and I'm excited to get started just as soon as I clean off the table.

Beverage:  Huckleberry Tea

Deb

I Won't Call it "George"

Perhaps you saw the press release from The Weather Channel about naming winter storms. Here is a link to the full press release. I'm just going to highlight a few paragraphs.

"During the upcoming 2012-13 winter season The Weather Channel will name noteworthy winter storms. Our goal is to better communicate the threat and the timing of the significant impacts that accompany these events. The fact is, a storm with a name is easier to follow, which will mean fewer surprises and more preparation.  

Naming Winter Storms

Hurricanes and tropical storms have been given names since the 1940s. In the late 1800s, tropical systems near Australia were named as well. Weather systems, including winter storms, have been named in Europe since the 1950s.  Important dividends have resulted from attaching names to these storms:

• Naming a storm raises awareness.
• Attaching a name makes it much easier to follow a weather system’s progress.
• A storm with a name takes on a personality all its own, which adds to awareness.
• In today’s social media world, a name makes it much easier to reference in communication.
• A named storm is easier to remember and refer to in the future."

When I heard this, my initial thought was laughter. "Yeah, right, naming our winter storms. That's just silly." The Weather Channel says they will not use names which have been used by the National Hurricane Center to lessen confusion. But still, who names a winter storm? These things are huge. Unlike a hurricane, which has a clearly defined beginning, a winter storm can take days to develop into something. What crosses Chicago with a half inch of powder can meet up with some other weather system over eastern Tennessee and pound the east coast. How are they really going to know what is a storm to be named?

The Weather Channel answered those questions.

Often a weather system that is expected to strike a metropolitan area three days from now has not even completely formed in the atmosphere. Therefore, naming of winter storms will be limited to no more than three days before impact to ensure there is moderate to strong confidence the system will produce significant effects on a populated area.  In addition, the impacts from winter systems are not as simple to quantify as tropical systems where a system is named once the winds exceed a certain threshold. 

The process for naming a winter storm will reflect a more complete assessment of several variables that combine to produce disruptive impacts including snowfall, ice, wind and temperature.  In addition, the time of day (rush hour vs. overnight) and the day of the week (weekday school and work travel vs. weekends) will be taken into consideration in the process the meteorological team will use to name storms.

I'm really on the fence about this. Maybe it will help in keeping thing straight and in communicating the need for people to prepare. One of the problems is that weather prediction with storms is still an inexact science. How many times have I battened down my hatches in anticipation of 6-8 inches of snow only have to a cloudy day pass by? What constitutes a "bad storm" by standards in Atlanta is NOT what I consider a bad storm up here. I lived in Southern Indiana for 21 months, 4 weeks and 3 days, not that I kept track. They closed the schools for 1 inch of snow, 1 inch. I howled with laughter. What you need to remember is that they are as ill-equipped to handle 1 inch as we are to handle 3 feet. If the storm goes south and hits the southern US, is it as bad as if it hits the northern US? And what if it organizes over South Carolina and goes right up the coast? What of areas such as Buffalo, New York, which measure their snow in feet and can have 5+ storms a season? Are each one of those going to have names?

I guess we see how this pans out. Commentators on the press release have not been the kindest, seeing this as The Weather Channel's attempt at making themselves newsworthy again. Dr. Jeff Masters points out that, in Europe, people have the ability to pay for naming rights to some storms through the Free University. The money goes into a fund to keep their meteorological department open. I shudder to think what could happen if such a scheme came here, although it's possible that's a next step. I think I would rebel if the great 2011 February blizzard was named "Kim Kardashian".

I did get a huge chuckle out of some of the storm names selected.

Gandolf -- A character in a 1896 fantasy novel in a pseudo-medieval countryside
. No, that's the name of the wizard in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, expertly brought to life by Sir Ian McKellan in the movies. 

Kahn -- Mongolian conqueror and emperor of the Mongol Empire
. No, that's the name of James T. Kirk's nemesis in the Star Trek movie The Wrath of Kahn. Ricardo Montalban played Kahn and the movie gave rise to one of the best onliners ever, Kirk yelling into his communicator, "KAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHNNNNNNNNN!" 

Nemo -- A Greek boy’s name meaning “from the valley”, means “nobody” in Latin . No. That the name of the clownfish in Pixar's Finding Nemo.  

Q -- The Broadway Express subway line in New York City. Um...no. Maybe to a New Yorker, this makes sense, but you might as well name a storm, the Red Line. Chicagoans would recognize it. "Q" is the name of Jean Luc Picard's nemesis in the TV series, Star Trek: The Next Generation. John de Lancie probably can't find work as anything other than Q. He reprised the role in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager. It's also the name of the man who created all of James Bond's toys. Desmond Llewellyn is probably the most famous movie "Q". 

Rocky -- A single mountain in the Rockies
. Right. This is a reference to that one guy in that one movie, you know the one, where he runs up the steps of the Philadelphia art museum. No one refers to just one of the mountains. If they do, that peak has a name. 

Yogi -- People who do yoga
. This one is my favorite. When I heard it, I instantly thought of Yogi Berra, baseball Hall of Fame catcher. It would have to be a very bad winter for them to get this far, but, I kind of hope they do. The quotes coming from Mr. Berra about winter storms would be worth their weight in snow drifts. 

Winter starts on the 21st of December this year. While a winter like last year would be nice for my arthritis, it was not good for water tables. I'd like a bit more snow this year, although if it would come in no more than 4 inches at a time, that would be extremely helpful. Those of us in northern climates, used to snow, would like our Christmas to be white. Farmers depend upon a good snow cover for spring planting so a foot or two over the whole of winter would be good for them. "The Great Snow of 1967" is still a good name, if you ask me. 

What do you think?

Beverage:  Dunkin Donuts hot tea

Deb

Day 3-A Book that completely surprised you (bad/good)

This was going to be another easy book to pick. Moby Dick by Herman Melville.

I had to read it in "American Literature" class in college. We spent an inordinate amount of time on this, never really getting through the first 6 chapters. There was, in the instructor's view, so much to address, but we had at least 10 more books to discuss before the semester ended so she had us read the last 3 chapters and skip the middle. It fell into the 'loathed' category only because we spent way too much time on it.

But, three years after graduating college, I was looking for something to read and found the slightly battered copy in a box. As this is considered a classic, I felt I should give it another try. Low and behold, once I got past the chapter discussing the minutiae of whaling and the chapter on the different kinds of whales which were hunted, which fell into the first 8 chapters, I got to the middle and it was funny. As Melville discussed life on the whaling boat and added more nuances of character to Captain Ahab, Queequeg and Ishmael, he brought out the humanity of those on the boat and that humanity was, at times very funny.

I knew Melville had taken jobs on ships, including a whaling vessel, but the depth of that experience really comes through later in the novel. As Ahab's obsession grows, Melville weaves into the narrative just enough factual information that the story stays grounded in reality. It makes the ending all the more powerful. You've just got to get through the first 8-9 chapters.

In looking for an appropriate illustration for this post, I found this. This is NOT Moby Dick. First of all, the ship is not correct. That is not a whaling ship of the 19th Century. This is Jaws masquerading as Moby Dick. The only thing the two have in common is that they take place on the ocean. There are documented stories of whales attacking and sinking whaling boats. Early whaling was a very treacherous occupation. But this book cover doesn't relate to the story. Someone picking this up thinking they are going to get a book about a monster whale attacking ships in the 20th century is going to be disappointed.

This book is quite ingrained in our culture, too. My friend, Sheila, posted to my Facebook note about this that she became interested in reading the original when one of the Star Trek books she was reading had Mr. Spock go back in time and become the "Ishmael" who is the narrator. The opening line, "Call me 'Ishmael'" can be sometimes written as "Call me, Ishmael".

The online game I play, "World of Warcraft" is well known for slathering pop culture references throughout the game. One of the most interesting boss kills is the whale shark. When you kill him, you get the achievement, "From Hell's Heart, I Stab at Thee", which is a direct quote from Chapter 135, and are the final words Ahab says,

Towards thee I roll, thou all-destroying but unconquering whale; to the last I grapple with thee; from hell’s heart I stab at thee; for hate’s sake I spit my last breath at thee. Sink all coffins and all hearses to one common pool! and since neither can be mine, let me then tow to pieces, while still chasing thee, though tied to thee, thou damned whale! Thus, I give up the spear!

The World of Warcraft achievement says, "Kill a whale shark in spite of or because he drops no loot."  I hope this is just enough information that someone who plays the game will investigate more and, ultimately, pick up the book and read it. I hope they will be as pleasantly surprised as I was.

Beverage:  Edinburgh's Finest Tea

Deb

Allergy to Penicillin Sucks

There is no way to sugar-coat that. Sorry.

My ear infection or whatever it is, is back. I saw the doctor in early November. My regular doctor wasn't available so I happened to luck out and get an appointment with his wife. There was lots of fluid in my ears so I was put on an antibiotic and given a new script for my allergy meds, patted on the head and sent on my way. I took the antibiotic the full 10 days, as I was supposed to, and I take the allergy meds every night as they make me sleepy. After 10 days, I felt very well.

The ear pain returned on Friday.

It's a dull ache all day that is mitigated with aspirin, but that only masks the symptoms. I need this gone. Hence, another visit to the doctor and this time, it was my regular one. The fluid is back but my sinuses are clear. It's just my right ear this time. I awoke over the weekend with a stabbing pain on the right back side of my head which chased a stabbing pain in my right ear. Then, it would settle down to this dull ache. My doctor doesn't know if the pain is related to the pressure on the ear drum from the fluid or the pressure of the swollen ear canal. No wax so it's not that.

I have ear drops now. Those weren't that expensive, but I'm allergic to penicillin and cannot take any of those derived drugs. This means I have to take the designer antibiotics which don't have the lovely $5 charge for the co-pay and almost no generics. $45.00 later, I have a 10-day supply. Just out of curiosity, I called around and my charge for the same amount would have been the same at the 3 other pharmacies I checked. It's the nature of my insurance, I guess.

This better work. If I'm not better in 10 days, I'm to call my doctor and I'll get a steroid to reduce the swelling in my ear. If, for whatever reason, that doesn't work, it's off to an ENT. I keep thinking, when I hear that, that I'm going to see one of those tree creatures from LOTR. I do have to admit that last night, as I was falling asleep with my ear throbbing, my mind wandered to Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan, and that ear thingee Khan put in Chekov's ear. (And I saw that involuntary shudder you just did.)

Ah popular culture. Helps to define exactly how I'm feeling.

Beverage: Coke

Deb