Not quite believing Christmas came and went. I didn't really blog about anything fun this year. I didn't have time to read blogs, my magazine full of Christmas images sit untouched. I opted for bags instead of creative wrapping. Christmas is the time I have my most fun, but not the last two years, apparently. Work seems to take over my life somehow. I am still trying to get my Christmas goodies out the door. What is that saying, "Christmas in July" ... might be appropriate for me this year ... make that next year.
I have been up since 3am ... pinched nerve in my back. Can't sleep, can't sit. It's really unpleasant. Have my second acupuncture appointment today.
Mom's cars in the shop. Microwave went out last week and replaced it. Of course, we couldn't use the existing trim kit. They are making microwaves 1 inch smaller ... so if you have one built into the wall and need a trim kit ... that will be another $100, thank you very much. ;)
I have also been out of commission computer-wise the last week. Transitioning over to the a new one. Moving files around, loading programs. But mainly D has been trying to move all iTunes stuff to an external drive and that has taken the longest. Hired someone to come help out with some of that last night. It is going to be nice to have a newer, faster computer. I am really excited.
So things here feel a little disjointed. Needing repair. I need fixing. ;) Off to work now.
My mom can make anything look good. I found two very inexpensive blouses at Burlington the other day. I just happened in there and ran across one blouse that I LOVED for my mom. But it was an XL. So I spent the next hour pouring through aisles of racks crammed full of clothes to find her size because I knew it would be beautiful on her. (The red one, previous post). Also found this cute little number in the hunt. These are probably the only cute things I saw there. And knowing her, knew she would dress it up just right.
Mom always dresses for Christmas day, festive. And cooks all day.
Merry Christmas everyone. Thank you so much for letting me share my world with you all. My life world would be so dull if you all weren't here with me.
Woke up early to a quiet, cold house without the thought of work in my head. Delicious. Answered a wonderful email from a friend, watched as the rising sun turned the snow-capped Olympics red for a minute or two. Spied a Flicker, Junco, Chicadees, Stellar's Jay feast on the suet I put outside last week. I am sure I saw a Towhee. My favorite flock of Bushtits came through the yard. Of course, the ever present Crows. (note to self, buy more suet today). Really love WhatBird site, really helpful. Now, on to get the microwave repaired, cleaning and a little more shopping and then wrapping it all up.
Mercedes Baliarda's "They are better left unspoken" artist book, edition of 10, inkjet prints on tracing paper, card, book cloth, thread and adhesive. Yes. I want one! Via A Good Idea on Paper. Thank you for that link!
Isn't this adorable? Robot tree-topper by Seattle based artist Christine Marie Larsen. Don't forget her Robot of the month club. All ready blogged about her wonderful textiles last year. So very talented!
My friends in Arizona are having a little too much fun decorating Bo, their Longhorn sculpture (that I think they bought at a garage sale). Wish I could see it in person you guys!
Christmas is missing something this year ... D's family. It will be a quiet and lonely Christmas without them. Christmastime is all about our family-time. I decided to go 'tree lite" this year. As most of you know, D and I collect Christmas ornaments (among many other things) and we have over 500. But in the time crunch, I decided to use only balls. It wasn't as satisfying but trees are up and running. The boxes stowed. Wreaths and Santa collection up. Missing, ... family. We miss you guys!
Last week I was meant to be on vacation for a couple of days to get ready for Christmas. The trees have been standing tall in a dark living room for weeks. No ornaments. But I FORGOT I was on vacation because I am so preoccupied with a big project at work and school final. Forgot.My own vacation.
I decided to transfer that vacation to this week ... but because of that previously mentioned big project, had to cut it short a day.
Here is the sad bit. Yesterday, during a meeting someone mentioned Christmas being next week. I sat stunned. "Is that possible?" my mind was asking myself while I tried to conjure up a monthly calendar in my head to see the relationship between that day and the next week. So, yes I am losing it.
In panic mode now. I will be dressing the trees today but with less ornaments than usual. We are going to call this the "scanty Christmas" and get on with it. Try to produce some sort of Christmas card. Some shopping? Some cleaning? Some holiday-making? I have 4 days.
I can't say thank you enough for making me feel so special! And not so unique in my quirkiness. But a part of a larger group of women just like me! It is so satisfying and such a relief.
I presented my final project tonight, it wasn't perfectly done. But it was so near complete. More importantly ... I finished this semester. And now, I fear, I am hooked on being a student again. Then I finished off the perfect, busy day by finding a site where I can buy Adobe CS 4, very affordable on my student status. I am so excited. I feel like I might be getting back into this century with my new computer and some updated software. Honestly, I have been so afraid to spend any money on non-essential expenses because of the economy but I decided the other day to bite the bullet. So, Merry Christmas to myself.
I guess I shouldn't have "woo hoo-d" so loudly the other day when I finished my project. I tried to validate it and came up with 50 errors. I have gotten that down to 14 errors since last night but I present it today in class after work. We are never too old to learn? Right?
Something occurred to me the other day when I was driving home. I am the antithesis to all of those blogs belonging to the perfectly coiffed, home-cooking, crocheting mom and wife. There are many of those out there, I see them and think, can those people be real? How do they do it? Of course, they are all attractive, even on the internet, beauty=popularity. And then they are usually talented and of course, they cook a wicked meal. Do they worked a full-time job? As Dee mentioned ... could they have their own hair dresser?
For me, I struggle to get up at 430a every morning. Drag myself to work and come up with good, creative ideas. Try not to work 10 hour days but usually fail at that. Rush home to think I might be creative - and that usually doesn't happen either. I don't cook. My mom makes all of those wonderful meals we eat. I occassionaly make a dessert, brownies from a box. I have given up wearing make-up and now you all know I have a bad hair day, every day. I hate all fashions of the day and would prefer to wear the same jeans day-in, day-out, than to be seen in anything I see in the Macy's catalog. I have never really been the organized mom and since I began working this early shift have gotten any worse at it. I am, in short, a terrible mom, except for the fact that I love my son to pieces. So, yes, I am the opposite of most of the blogs I use to read back when I had the time.
The Christmas trees have been standing in a dark living room, with no ornaments for a week. I was thinking this week was going to be my decorating, having fun for Christmas, creating Christmas cards. I am suppose to have a couple of days off but that might have happen since I have a big project at work that keeps changing. I did manage to stick some Narcissus in some bowls last. Right now I am thinking, Bah Humbug. ;)
My friend Susan sent me this in email today ... gave me a chuckle.
Something Went Wrong in Jet Crash, Expert Says
No crap, really? Ya think?
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Police Begin Campaign to Run Down Jaywalkers
Now that's taking things a bit far!
----------------------------------------------------------- Panda Mating Fails; Veterinarian Takes Over
What a guy!
--------------------------------------------------------------- Miners Refuse to Work after Death
No-good-for-nothing' lazy so-and-so's!
------------------------------------------------------ Juvenile Court to Try Shooting Defendant
See if that works any better than a fair trial!
---------------------------------------------------------- War Dims Hope for Peace
I can see where it might have that effect!
---------------------------------------------------------------- If Strike Isn't Settled Quickly, It May Last Awhile
Ya think?!
----------------------------------------------------------------------- Cold Wave Linked to Temperatures
Who would have thought!
---------------------------------------------------------------- Enfield ( London ) Couple Slain; Police Suspect Homicide
They may be on to something!
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Red Tape Holds Up New Bridges
You mean there's something stronger than duct tape?
---------------------------------------------------------- Man Struck By Lightning: Faces Battery Charge
He probably IS the battery charge!
---------------------------------------------- New Study of Obesity Looks for Larger Test Group
Weren't they fat enough?!
-----------------------------------------------
Astronaut Takes Blame for Gas in Spacecraft
That's what he gets for eating those beans!
------------------------------------------------- Kids Make Nutritious Snacks
Do they taste like chicken?
-------------------------------------------------
Local High School Dropouts Cut in Half
Chainsaw Massacre all over again!
So tonight when we were laughing about me posting my terrible hair-do photo online, my son was telling me he had written his English paper about just that. Last week he "interviewed" me for a paper for English. So horrified, I said, I hope you didn't tell your English class I never shower and have really bad hair days. He said no. But he said in his paper that when I was happiest in my paint pants, a polar fleece jacket and my hair was always in a mess. That I didn't really care what people wore. That I didn't judge people by what they wore, but by their character. Wow. My son said that! And my son recognizes that. That is huge for me! Maybe we did do something right. ;)
I found something for D online this year. I couldn't decide whether to order it because it was a little expensive and ask him to tell me if he wanted some special tool or something more specific. But I loved it so much, that I just did it. Tonight. Can't tell you what it is exactly ... although ... D never reads my blog. But I think it is something below on the page I linked to ;) Can you guess what it is? xoxox
My final project for school, Jonah's website is almost done! I wish you all could see me now. I didn't realize my hair could stick up in such weird ways. I haven't bathed in days and my hips hurts from sitting in this uncomfortable wooden chair. But no matter, I accomplished what I set out to do, even if it isn't perfect. And that makes me very happy.
I miss blogging and doing fun things. Now it is on to work on the Christmas trees. Although, I did take a break yesterday and had what is suppose to be a monthly bunch (and a little Christmas stocking gift shopping) with my friends, Bo and Joel . We actually only manage to get together every couple of months. I love seeing them and always feel so energized after spending a couple of hours together. But it was all cut short because of my looming final project that needed to be finished.
I was laughing with my friend at work the other day. Instead of actually sending out Christmas cards instead I am going to email or blog about the great idea I had for my Christmas card and didn't have time to do (didn't I did that last year). It could save some time and postage.
Only because I know you all know me so well, I will share my hair today. Although my mom is saying in the background ... don't let anyone see the way you look. ;) Looks like a cats been sucking on my hair! Please ignore the wrinkles! xoxoxoxoxo!
Can you imagine this wonderful building by MAD architects called urban forest. Can't you imagine this building? (It reminds me of rings that I would love to wear).
"The Stories From The Ground shadow puppetry collective are: Stephen Mushin, Raku Pitt, Amadis Lacheta, Emily Smith, Saita Ryan, Myfanwy Auldersun, Anna Nilsson and friends. We specialise in 'Micro-theatre' shadow performances... although some of our recent performances have become a little more grand. In 2008 we performed two seasons of 'The Baron in the trees', a shadow adaption of Italo Calvino's classic novel in Melbourne and Brisbane." Via Pia Jane Bijkerk.
I have been meaning to blog about an Edmonds based Ephemera Letterpress that a co-worker had hired to print her beautiful wedding invitations. And Ephemera Blog. I keep wondering what I could have printed! For myself. So I can call her. ;)
Found this interesting post on COLOURlovers ... a look at the last year of O Magazine covers and their color trends.
p.s. My head is hurting. My brain is numb from trying to build my final project website ... I just can't seem to remember anything I learned this year and I am starting to panic.
I was searching for something in my blog for someone and ran across this post from March 2008 that I guess I never published but it is still pretty interesing.
"InmatesForYou.com provides a user friendly, searchable database for which to correspond with those that are in county, state or federal prisons across the US. We charge a nominal fee to help with the time and costs involved in maintaining the website, sending out mailers and fulfilling orders.
Not only do I communicate with the inmates listed within here as a service provider, but I have also had the opportunity to reply back to personal letters written directly to me. This has aided me in getting to know more about what prison life is like. I can honestly say there are sincere, caring women in prison who want nothing more than a pen pal or friend to correspond with. Some may even look to you as more than a friend and possible partner in a relationship. Either way there is someone out there for all of us."
Honestly, if you just google "prisoners photos" there are more sites than I can list here. I am have written a email to ask about this and am investigating this further. I think this is very, very odd. And definitely needs some more research.
Found a couple of interesting things while paging through Pacific Northwest Magazine today.
Held in September, an innovative garden show that I would loved to have gone to ... The Late Show Gardens, photos by Saxon Holt, this amazing table! "Future Feast in The Garden Of Flow / Accumulation" by Suzanne Biaggi and Patrick Picard at The Late Show Gardens".
Then I ended up at Garden Design photo gallery (and the blog) where I spied one little thing in a photo will make your heart stop. It happened when I was going through the photo gallery of "David Winston Flowers takes a modern approach to decorating for the holidays". I saw this chandelier! The description is rich: "The crowning glory of the room is the chandelier (shown in detail above). The drum-shaped framework of aluminum and wire, 30 inches across and 38 inches tall, was created to fit over the existing light fixture. It took three people two days to meticulously attach its tiny jewels - pine needles, hemlock cones, Mylar snowflakes, faux gems and Hypericum berries."
It rained all November! December, just dipped into the 30's. I have been so busy with school, work and stuff going on that I feel like I haven't been spending enough time blogging. I am going through my drafts this morning (hundreds of them) and found this.
I remember feeling like I could do a big backwards flip when I first discovered Mari Andrews ... and just felt the same way when I saw her work on the most wonderful art blog, Dear Ada. Thank you!
Remember Lil' Waif, where we found our Pixel? They have a new book out Timmy’s Rescue: One Lil’ Waif at a Time: "is a true story about finding inspiration and gifts of friendship. Now, when people ask, "Just how did you get involved in rescue?" this story, can be our answer... Watching our book evolve while patiently wading through the publishing process has been a worthwhile venture and now we're ready to share it. It's done! It's finally here. Time to spread the word and begin our adventure into the book-world; we're excited! We hope you are too.'
Do you know how much I love brussel sprouts, and how good this recipe for balsamic braised brussels with pancetta looks! From Smitten Kitchen (and don't miss the cappuccino fudge cheesecake while you are there). Well, it all makes me hungry.
Going to get my son this TODO-TATTOO™, he needs something like this to get him through his chores. He keeps telling me to make him a list. I say, make your own list.
I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THIS leaf installation by Luzinterruptus. Found at MoCo - "Imagine the magic of autumn leaves afloat just above the ground, seemingly lifted by light. Then blink again, and they are still there." Photo by Gustavo Sanabria.
I have blogged about chaircouture before. I am obsessed with chairs and my friend, Katie and I thought of doing a little business making one-of-a-kind chairs many years ago. I think we both still have many chairs squirreled away in storage ... but work, weddings, marriage, kids, life got in the way of that idea.
I look for the beauty in nature, patterns, the ordinary. This is my place where I save wonderful discoveries since 2004. Please contact me at kimberlycarney AT hotmail DOTCOM.
