Flying

Bits and pieces of the house are undergoing transformation. I don't have a lot of time to do things and, lately, my stamina has been suspect, so I look for small projects which accomplish a couple of goals. 1) They make a section of the house whimsical or more enchanting and 2) They help me continue on the long journey of tidying up. Last month, I did another small corner.

This is the end of the hallway. To the right is the back bedroom. To the left is my bedroom. On the wall to the right are photo collage frames containing a wide variety of photos of my life; both family, alive and deceased, and friends, alive and deceased. Above the chair is framed The Simpson's "Wanted" poster from TV Guide from the two part "Who Shot Mr. Burns" episodes of 1995. Below that is a plaque which reads, "Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons for you are crunchy and good with ketchup." The chair was owned by my mother's father. His third wife did the needlepoint chair seat. It is very worn and I think, some day, I'll have the seat recovered. In my fantasy life, I actually do the needlepoint for the seat but reality usually points out that I don't know how to needlepoint.

On the left used to be a drawing of a sunflower. I did it years and years ago, when life wasn't sunny. It was to remind me to turn and follow the sun; follow the light; be open to the light. For the last few years, that's felt rather 'new agey' to me and I've wanted to replace the piece, but didn't know what to put there. So, this corner was ripe for a minor redo.

In the winter, I ordered a poster which featured the cover images of the Cedar Rapids Gazette's coverage of the Iowa Hawkeyes 12-0 Big Ten football season last year. I got a frame for it and took it to the office, intending to put it up on the wall next to the Fantasia poster for which I did a frame make over.

It's a big poster.

Fantasia is the only thing I want on this wall. The Hawkeye poster would go on the right wall, above the bookcase. The more I looked at the poster, as it leaned against the wall, the more I realized I didn't like it over the bookcase. I moved it to the wall where the large Hawkeye wall decal is.

But I wound up not liking it here either because it's big. The other side of the pass-through window doesn't have enough space unless I want to hide the poster behind the office door. I never close my office door. I have no reason to close it. The poster came home. Maybe I can...wait...it can go on the wall in that spot where I'm removing the drawing. That's what's up against the wall on the left, in the top photo, the framed poster.

The best thing I did to this corner involved some stuffed animals.

I got the little orange bird, named "Pepe", and the black and red dragons back when I went to BlizzCon last year. Dragons feature in World of Warcraft extensively. These represent baby dragons, called "whelplings".

Essentially, the stuffed animals just sit around. I don't do anything with them, other than move them because where they are sitting is in my way. Blizzard released the green dragon in April and, well, there are some things one simply must have. That means I have to move all four of them around when I need the spot where they were sitting. Such a pain. Then, I had a singular idea. They are flying creatures. What if I had them fly?

I bought some neon bright variegated yarn and crocheted a thread for each dragon, Pepe, and Figment, a dragon I got from Walt Disney World back in 1990. I bought cup hooks and screwed those into the ceiling. The thread was looped around each character and then tied to the cup hook in the ceiling. Viola. Instant flying bird and dragons.

Now, the plaster ceiling holds the cup hooks, but I was surprised they didn't screw in as tightly as I would prefer. Right now, nothing's fallen, but I kind of expect one of these guys to wind up on the floor if we have a really windy day and the windows are open. At that point, I'll have to evaluate this arrangement and consider how else to anchor them.

The poster went up on the wall. You can see the hanger to the left in the above photo.

I'm very pleased with the overall result. The drawing wasn't applicable to me anymore and these items reflect who I am.

Beverage:  LaCroix raspberry seltzer

Deb

Neck Catterpillars

One scarf is done. I worked a half day yesterday because we had a meeting in the evening I have to go to for work. So, I came home and finished one scarf.

I looked at this lying across the deck railing and thought, I could put big googly eyes and antenna on one end and then crochet a bunch of feet and this would be a really great centipede stuffed animal.

To give you a better idea of the length, here it is lying on the love seat recliner.

It runs from my ankle to my waist. This is one skein's worth of crochet with a size "I" hook.

I wrapped it around my neck and decided this was, most definitely, long enough. You would fold it to wrap it about your neck and then tuck it into your jacket. It seemed to me to be nice and warm. So, one skein per scarf it is, which is nice for the pocketbook.

I'm still on the fence about fringe on the ends. Should I or shouldn't I? The thing about the fringe is that I'm not doing all the scarves in this old gold and black color scheme. I'll wind up with a bunch of skeins of yarn that I have no use for beyond fringe. Still, fringe might make the scarf look more finished. I'm so on the fence about this.

The task is to finish off the four skeins I bought at the beginning of the month. Then, I'll go to one of the cross-stitch projects I selected for someone. Then, I'll go back to another few scarves. Alternating projects will keep my interest up and keep me going. My left and right thumbs ache today and I think it's because I crocheted a third of a scarf yesterday after finishing the one above. I should probably give my hands a rest but this is so much fun.

It's supposed to be in the single digits temperature-wise this coming week. I'm thinking of giving a scarf a test run, just to check the warmth. Some potential recipients have birthdays upcoming and, for a moment, I thought I could send them a finished scarf now. Nah, I want everyone to get their scarf at Christmas. It's more fun that way.

Beverage:  English Breakfast tea

Deb

It Only Took 5 Years

Back in 2008, a had a friend come for a week-long visit. He brought his lap top so I set up the card table in the office so he'd have a place to connect to the Internet. At the time, a wireless router was not on my radar of possibilities.

After he left, that card table became a dumping ground for all manner of paper goods. Pilchard used to "nest" on it and sleep while I played WOW.

Or she would try to fit into a box clearly 2 sizes too small for her that happened to be on the table top.

Over the years, the piles on the table would get bigger, then smaller, then bigger as I would simply toss things I didn't want to deal with onto the table for the proverbial time I'd "get around to it". Gradually, the pile grew to where Pilchard didn't want to sleep on the top because she would continually knock things off.

While watching the box score of the Iowa-Central Michigan football game, I decided this was the day to seriously clean and deal with the stuff on the table. I had managed to whittle it down to this.

Let's see. There is a container of CD cases, most of which have CD's containing photos and videos from my World of Warcraft guild. There are a bunch of photos stuck in packages. There is a stack of newspaper clippings and whole newspapers dealing with the great flood of 2008 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. There were football articles and old newsletters saved by my grandfather. There were books and sewing supplies. My Bullwinkle Moose, Marvin Martian and Spot from 7UP dolls and the wooden shelf on which they sat, which had tumbled off the wall several years ago. And there were other things, letters, magazines, genealogy items, stuff that just needed to be sorted and either pitched or filed.

It took roughly 2 hours to empty off the contents of the table, decide if I really wanted to save it, and then, if so, do something with it, not just stack it in another pile "to be dealt with later". Nope, this was going to be a deal with it now event. Finally, there was nothing on the table.

Well, not quite nothing. Cat fur. There was a lot of black fur on the table cloth. This is one of my grandmother's bridge club table cloths. It has been on this table since 2008. It is time to wash it. Then, I took down the table and stowed it in a closet.

Immediately, the room felt more open and spacious. When you have a small house, as I do, the stuff of life can slowly turn a room into a cave. Removing this opened up the area in front of the bookshelves to the right of the table.

There's the chair Pilchard sleeps in when I play WOW. There is a rolling stool my friend bought when he was here. I always meant to get rid of it, but, I can see its value in helping me do some cleaning and organizing in the kitchen, since getting down on the ground is currently difficult for me. There is an antique magazine rack which held catalogs from, I kid you not, 2007. It has 2 empty slots in it now, thanks to the pitching of a lot of paper items. Plus, I can get to the cedar chest where I store the music CD's not in a tower, and my sewing materials. The machine sits in front of the shelves. I think I still have maybe too much stuff and could whittle further, but this is a huge, huge first step.

Mija and Pilchard like to sit on the padded top of the stool so it's a win that it's freed now for them to use. I put a bunch of items I won't ever use again into a bag to be given away at the next opportunity. My recycling can had to be emptied once, too. I could use a scanner and then I could get rid of more paper items that I really don't need to keep except they have meaning to me.

Best of all, I no longer have a place to dump things "to get to them later". This clean up forces me to deal with items when I use them or receive them. I can be the best procrastinator in the world but this forces me not to be and that's a plus for me.

Beverage:  water

Deb

It Broke

You know how there are some things that you keep around because you just like them. Everyone else gives you that one eye half-closed, head cocked, "Hmmm" look but you happily keep that item because you want to. The cup to the left is one of those things.

We got it at Walt Disney World's Epcot Center Imagination Pavilion. This was back in 1990 and was our very first visit to the the "mouse house". At the time, Michael Jackson's Captain EO was there (It still is.) and there was a ride that featured a professor and this little dragon named "Figment". It appears this is still a part of the attraction. I remember nothing of the ride but I adored the dragon and the idea that he was a "figment of imagination". I guess, as a long-time Dungeons and Dragons gamer, a dragon representing imagination struck a cord with me.

As with every attraction at WDW, you get dumped out into a gift shop. I really hadn't seen anything up to this point that I wanted to take home with me. Suddenly, to be surrounded by little purple dragon everything, I wanted things. One of the things I got was this plastic glass.

You know these. They have liquid sandwiched between two layers. In the liquid, float these plastic items, in this case, Figment's head. You can make the heads move around the glass by rotating it. I have one with Marvin Martian.

This glass has served me in good stead. The water between the two layers has long been evaporated although I could still, if I so wanted to, make the heads move around the glass by rotating it. I think it's a squat 8 ounces which made it a go to glass for beverages. I noticed in the last couple of months, however, that dishwater and soap bubbles would seep into that inner cavity when I washed it. I couldn't find a broken seam and the water and bubbles would drip out of the unknown breach so I really didn't give it much thought. On Sunday, however, that changed.

I'd used it Saturday night, filled with Dr Pepper, so it  needed a washing on Sunday. Drop it into the dishwater and let it soak. When I picked it up, the two pieces separated and there was an obvious vertical crack on the interior liner. I fished out the heads that had fallen into the dishwater and looked at the pieces in my hands. I could "fix" this. I could just glue the two pieces back together and stick the glass in my secretary, where I keep mementos. But I hesitated.

What did this represent to me? It represented a time when a big vacation like this was something we spent two years saving for. We had a wonderful time, yes, to use their advertising, a magical time. Carole and I have gone twice since this trip. I enjoyed myself both those times, as well, although I didn't come back with the same amount of souvenirs. But was it necessary to save a plastic cup which really only meant something to me? No, not really. I tossed it.

It's not like I don't have other things to remind me of Figment. I have this stuffed animal in my home office. It reminds me to harness that figment of imagination, that spark, which I have and which brings me pleasure to use. I dust off the dragon every so often and smile at the memory of bringing him home.

Lastly, remember the blog post with Carole and I at Coco Beach and that neon shirt I was wearing? That shirt has Figment's face on it. In addition to it being loud in color, it has dragon heads on it, stylized dragon heads, but dragon heads nonetheless.

So the cup has finally broken beyond repair. I've still got my dragon.

Beverage:  Edinburgh's Finest tea

Deb

Christmas Lists

Unless you play World of Warcraft, these might be a) mildly amusing or b) mildly disturbing. These are Murky, on the left, and Lurky, on the right, and they are plush representations of the denizens in the game people love to hate, murlocs. For those who don't play WOW, these creatures populate every location in the old world. The make a sound like a drowning man gargling which is enough, when you have a kill a lot of them, to make you turn off the game sounds. Occasionally, when you reduce the life of one to zero, it will die in a very "B" movie actor fashion. That's the reason I like to kill them, to get the "Oh my god, I'm dying" animation.

These belong to Jon. He ordered them off the WOW store web site and had them shipped to the office because he knew I would get a kick out of them. They reminded me that, in my family, we need to decide if we are drawing names for Christmas and, if so, lists have to be exchanged.

This has been a tradition my entire life. I never could understand the not having a list from which to work. In 22 years of birthday and Christmas gifting, my late-mother-in-law never asked what I wanted for Christmas. Maybe she asked my ex, but she never asked me. I got one gift in all those years that I actually remember being useful. There might have been others but I just remember the pair of navy blue sweat pants the exact size. I wore those for several years before the waistband gave out.

So, I've asked Carole and Chad for lists and have some ideas on what to get them. Actually, Carole is done for her November birthday and I'm working on Christmas. I have to write my mother and ask her feelings on Christmas as my brother is out of work and supposedly, my sister is moving, although this hasn't been verified. (Long story) Christmas is bound to be lean for everyone.

Would I want Murky and/or Lurky? Well, won't put them on my list but I wouldn't turn them away. I need new oven mitts. I would like a new robe and new slippers. I would certainly use gift certificates to Penney's so I could get long-sleeved shirts. I have a lot of turtle necks, but I would like something less clingy. Chocolate is always good and I have to get rid of my Iowa Hawkeye socks as I've worn the bottoms out.

It's interesting that, as I've aged, I've gone from wanting "stuff" to wanting "things". I don't want (or lack for) the accouterments that make my space lovely. But I am less about wanting those things and more about wanting things to replace items I have worn out. Hence, while Murky and Lurky would be welcome and I'd certainly find a place in my home office where they could watch whilst I "off" members of their race, I don't want them and my life wouldn't be tragic without them. If I don't get oven mitts this Christmas however, I am going to have to get some. Removing the potato skins from the oven over the weekend reminded me that I need to get new mitts.

71 shopping days left. What's on your list?

Beverage: Blackberry Sage tea (Ooooh I need more of this! Add to the list)

Deb