So... I'm not a baby person. I think babies are cute and all, I just don't wanna own one. So baby crafts = not my thang. Now that my sister has officially announced her pregnancy (you know, on Facebook), I can put it out there that I need suggestions for cute baby-themed gifts that I can make! Got babies? Great! I need your advice! My sister is due in April. I want to make something cool for the nursery (ideally that is cute and functional!) and I want to make something cute for the baby. We don't know the baby's sex yet, so preferably something gender neutral, at least for now.
If you have a project on your blog or know one from another blog that you think is super cute, please add it to this linky! It doesn't have to be a tutorial, just something to give me ideas! Or leave a comment below with your ideas.
Showing posts with label random. Show all posts
Showing posts with label random. Show all posts
23 October 2011
02 October 2011
Random: My Dream Home
Nick and I have been saving up for a house, but we're not looking into a traditional home at all. I've been fascinated with the idea of tiny houses for a long time. Each apartment that I live in seems to get smaller and smaller, like I am slowly downsizing enough to live in a tiny house. I'm still aways away from being able to do it, especially since it won't be just me as the original plan entailed, but me and Nick. (Which is way better, really!).
My mom has an acre of land in Pennsylvania. Before my dad passed away, I'd discussed the idea of me building a tiny house at the back of the property, and he'd agreed to the idea. The land has been unused and unloved for at least 15 years. It's overgrown, wild with vines and all sorts of native plants, and it's the most beautiful place in the world. There's a giant patch of blackberries, wild strawberries and wild onions all over the place, a type of cherry tree, among other things. What used to be a yard and a garden is now a baby forest in the middle of rural suburbia.
Even though I have no experience whatsoever in building anything beyond frames for my paintings, and that's a new skill, my dad was a wood worker, which means that any tool I could need is likely gathering dust in the workshop. I've been feeling like Nick and I should be able to accomplish the project, with some help from friends, and this video convinces me that it's a definitely possibility! My idea is to build a tiny house, followed by a tiny art studio, both of which will be on wheels, like the house in the following video, which means when I can finally afford my own land, I can move the house as needed.
I know it sounds crazy to lots of people, but to me, it's perfectly logical and a natural extention of my lifestyle. I've moved around a lot since I turned 18. I've lived in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and, currently, Rhode Island. My longest stint was in Greensburg for 6 years, but that was about 2 years too many. I start to get antsy if I'm in one place for too long, I guess, but the thing is: I don't really like moving, even though I like being in new places. I am, however, open to changes and the whims of the universe, which is how I ended up as an art teacher in Rhode Island. Stranger things have happened... though I'd never have predicted this career path for me!
Having a house on wheels would be an ideal combination of both worlds: stability and the gypsy in me. For a while, I'd thought I'd satisfy this urge by buying an RV, but more and more, I'm looking at tiny houses. I'm nowhere near having enough money to start the project, but I might be able to start collecting materials next summer. I definitely plan on doing like this gal did: collecting from craigslist, curb alerts, and other free sources. I already have access to an old chicken coop!
My mom has an acre of land in Pennsylvania. Before my dad passed away, I'd discussed the idea of me building a tiny house at the back of the property, and he'd agreed to the idea. The land has been unused and unloved for at least 15 years. It's overgrown, wild with vines and all sorts of native plants, and it's the most beautiful place in the world. There's a giant patch of blackberries, wild strawberries and wild onions all over the place, a type of cherry tree, among other things. What used to be a yard and a garden is now a baby forest in the middle of rural suburbia.
Even though I have no experience whatsoever in building anything beyond frames for my paintings, and that's a new skill, my dad was a wood worker, which means that any tool I could need is likely gathering dust in the workshop. I've been feeling like Nick and I should be able to accomplish the project, with some help from friends, and this video convinces me that it's a definitely possibility! My idea is to build a tiny house, followed by a tiny art studio, both of which will be on wheels, like the house in the following video, which means when I can finally afford my own land, I can move the house as needed.
I know it sounds crazy to lots of people, but to me, it's perfectly logical and a natural extention of my lifestyle. I've moved around a lot since I turned 18. I've lived in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and, currently, Rhode Island. My longest stint was in Greensburg for 6 years, but that was about 2 years too many. I start to get antsy if I'm in one place for too long, I guess, but the thing is: I don't really like moving, even though I like being in new places. I am, however, open to changes and the whims of the universe, which is how I ended up as an art teacher in Rhode Island. Stranger things have happened... though I'd never have predicted this career path for me!
Having a house on wheels would be an ideal combination of both worlds: stability and the gypsy in me. For a while, I'd thought I'd satisfy this urge by buying an RV, but more and more, I'm looking at tiny houses. I'm nowhere near having enough money to start the project, but I might be able to start collecting materials next summer. I definitely plan on doing like this gal did: collecting from craigslist, curb alerts, and other free sources. I already have access to an old chicken coop!
01 September 2011
The Case of the Missing House Key
A few days ago, my friend posted on her facebook that she had a vacation and asked for input on which way to drive. I said that if it weren't for the massive flooding currently going on from Hurricane Irene (this was the day after), she should come visit me. I wouldn't suggest a visit if I didn't mean it, but I was still pleasantly surprised when she said she was coming up. I'm on vacation indefinitely and, quite honestly, pretty bored with not working. So I was pumped. I haven't had a lot of visitors in my new apartment, but I'm really happy with how it's looking (remind me to post updated pictures! The Buy Nothing Summer has definitely helped!).
Let me tell you a little about my friend: She is an amazing person, she really is, but she gets super worked up when she's talking and there are times when it's impossible to get a word in edgewise. This can be grating, yes, like if you have a headache or something, but she's generally pretty self-aware, so it's usually more amusing than anything else. I did warn Nick about this trait before she came up.
The next thing is that she had just found out that her husband wanted a divorce. Now I knew I was in for an unusually high quotient of chatter, but I also really wanted to be a good friend by showing her a good time and helping her see that the situation is actually a positive thing. Her husband is a good man, generally, but there are fundamental differences in their temperments and lifestyle that would be really difficult for any couple to contend with: she loves adventure and travel, he loves staying home and watching sports. She loves going out and trying new things; he is allergic to everything you can imagine, except, apparently, cats. She is a champaign thrift store shopper; he thinks used things are icky. She is super positive; he is Debbie Downer. Plus, they got married 9 days after their first date.
Yes. 9 days is no exaggeration, and I played a big role in bringing the two of them together. They knew each other in passing, because he was the shuttle bus driver at our school. Lest you think of him as a creepy old man, know that she and I were both adult students at our school and they are the same age (or close to it.) One day I rode the shuttle alone and he starting talking about how he was so into her and just didn't know how to approach her in that way. So I threw the boy a bone: I invited him to the party I was hosting that weekend. Long story short: my birthday is December 21 (send presents); they were married by the new year.
Believe me, no one really thought they'd make it. I'm sure everyone who knew her shared a collective WTF moment. I figured if anyone could have a happy marriage, the two of them just might make it. (No offense to married peeps, but I'm just not the marrying kind.)
When I heard she was coming to visit, before I heard about the D-word, I told another friend the story and said, "Well, it's 6 years later and they still are together. They proved everyone wrong!" Oops.
Here's something about me that you don't know: I am the break-up- maker. Like a rainmaker bringing in big money accounts or water-filled days, I bring break ups to unhappy couples around the world. Or, at least, in the eastern united states. I have lost track of how many people I have met who were in unhappy relationships who split shortly after one of the pair spent a few hours in conversation with me. Whether they've been together for a few months or many years, people just seem to break up when I'm around.
While I'm not actively encouraging break ups, generally, I think it's because I say the shit that the unhappy person is thinking but unable to say for themselves. I am tactful, but I also don't sugarcoat the truth. I ask the hard questions. I am completely supportive of their right to find a way to be happy, and if that involves breaking up with their current beau, so be it. I am the one person who says it's okay to do what you want.
Of course, generally I'm counseling the one who wants the split. This is not the case with my friend, though she started owning the divorce during the whirlwind 24 hours we spent together.
Can you sense that drama is coming to this little tale?
So, my friend is a total beach girl, and the whole time she was talking about the visit, she mentioned the beach, so I'm like, "Alright, the girl wants beach, let's give it to her!" Nick and I drove her to South Shore beach late last night (which was WRECKED by the hurricane by the way!) We were the only people around as we drank wine while sitting on the rocks on the destroyed beach watching the powerful waves roll in and out. It was beautiful and scary and sad all at the same time. She only facebooked a little while we were there.
The next morning, I woke up to find Nick had left a spare key with a little note for my friend as well as some delicious chocolate almond croissants for our breakfast. (Best. Boyfriend. Ever.) She woke up shortly after and went in and out for cigarettes breaks at least half a dozen times before 10 am. (Perspective: 6 cigarettes in 90 minutes. OMG.). I didn't care about the smoking, whatever it's your body, but I was a little worried about the fact that she was outside screaming on the phone. I wouldn't have been surprised if someone had called the cops on the crazy crackhead on a rampage. The maintenance guy almost escorted her from the property, until she explained she was staying with me. (My place is like fort knox in a shady neighborhood. This is a good thing.)
At some point between cigarette breaks and coming in and out of the house, she lost the house key. Lost, completely, gone. I mentioned that this is a shady neighborhood, right? Random people sit on my porch all the time to smoke doobies and, probably, some other stuff. We find brown-bagged bottles at least once a week or so. I did not want someone to find the key and think "Alright, moving day!"
Logically, I figured that the key was probably inside the house, since she had managed to get inside the house, but, realistically, that might not be the case. She'd been propping the door open before I gave her the key, so I had no way of knowing for sure. The thing about that key to my place is that it opens every door in the place. Front door, back door, both at the house entrances and in the apartment itself. It opens the basement door. And the deadbolts. Can you see why I might have been concerned?
My friend, however, was not so concerned. She looked for it, but in a half-assed, oh well, it's gone forever, just like my marriage, kind of way. She didn't seem to think it was a big deal at all.
Since we were already running late, I said we'd look for it later. (I did a quick look outside, just in case, but didn't find it.) She promptly forgot all about it and spend the day telling us how she was going to stick up for herself and express herself anyway she wanted. She'd be honest about what she was thinking at all times. She recanted the many battles between the couple, both to us and on her many phone conversations in our company. We drove to Race Point at Cape Cod. The beach was awesome, so calm compared to South Shore the night before. I found it very relaxing. She was distressed not to have facebook connectivity. Still, I thought we were having a good time.
I didn't mention or even think about the key all day, but on the way home, I said that I wanted to look for it thoroughly when we got home. We got home and she seemed to have forgotten all about it again. She was either talking on the phone or outside smoking so I decided to communicate with her chosen form of communication by sending her a text. (I thought about a smoke signal, but I'm not a smoker and not that talented anyway.) The text was non-accusatory, simple addressed the way I was feeling. I said "I am worried about the key being lost and I would like to find it tonight so I don't worry about it all night. I'm ocd, I know it."
It wasn't like I said, "Hey, biznitch, you lost my key and you better find it or Imma cut yo face."
I was perfectly civil and there wasn't a shred of anger in me about it. I just thought, "Oh that ditzy divorcee!" I understand that her headspace was all muddled, and that I was probably overworrying about the key. But here's the thing: I have a touch of OCD in me, probably everyone does. I will often be lying in bed and wonder if the deadbolts are on the doors. I will worry about it excessively unless I get up and just check. Once I check them for myself, I'm fine. It's a mild compulsion, but it's a long-standing one that probably stems from living alone for 6 years. I knew that I would keep waking up in the night listening for intruders (with a key, argh!) if I didn't just find that key safe and sound.
She'd been expressing the hell out of herself all day, so I didn't see a problem in just telling her what I was worrying about. I figured we'd dump her bags out together, look through stuff, and, most likely, find the key. I wasn't accusatory or angry in any way, which is what made her reaction all the more shocking.
She came upstairs and, at first, I thought she was looking in her bags, so I said "where can I look?" I had already torn apart the couch, in case it was behind the cushions, and looked underneath it, too. I looked everywhere that it might logically have been placed by a scattered divorcee, but I didn't look through her stuff, of course. Then I realized that she was packing up her stuff, not looking through it. She said, "I'm going to a hotel."
I said, "Are you serious? You would rather just leave than help give me peace of mind by looking for the key?"
She said, and I quote, "I can't believe you are worrying about a little key when your friend is getting a divorce!"
"Are you kidding me?" I said. "I just want to find the key to my house!"
She's like, "Yeah, well, I lost the key. So sue me. You know what's going on in my life right now."
Oh yeah. I'm the jerk here. In case you didn't know.
I said, "I just want you to look for it. I'll help you. You don't have to leave. This is crazy."
It didn't matter.
She said some more crap. I said "Wouldn't you be OCD if I lost your house key? Don't you think this is a little irresponsible?"
At this point I was completely furious and just walked out of the room. By then, I didn't give a crap if she left or stayed. I was over it. When she came to say goodbye, she was talking to me like I was the crazy one, like I was getting upset over some small trivial thing. I just said, "You know what, Cherie, fuck that."
She left.
Apparently, I am a terrible person for being concerned that the key that opens every single door in my house and to the building was lost by an inconsiderate divorcee. The loss of that key jeopardizes both my apartment and safe well-being, but also that of the other people who live in the building. I have to be honest: I cannot afford to pay a locksmith to change all five of the locks that key opens and for master keys for the other people in the building. How dare I get upset about her complete lack of consideration about a little old key? Seriously, she was so flippant about the key the whole time, when I know full well if the situation were reversed, she'd go nuts.
I just can't believe it and am still completely flabbergasted by the situation. [I love the word flabbergasted and don't get to use it nearly enough.] If I had lost someone's house key, I would feel like a complete shit and I would tear everything apart until I found it. I wouldn't turn the situation around on the person, making them feel bad for something I did!
I just have to hope that she finds the key in her cluttered belongs and eats crow when she does.
I also hope that nobody creepy is planning a visit to my apartment.
Seriously: what happened here? Am I a complete jerk for worrying about a lost key? I don't think I'm in the wrong at all here, but, hey, I've been wrong before. At least I can admit that.
Let me tell you a little about my friend: She is an amazing person, she really is, but she gets super worked up when she's talking and there are times when it's impossible to get a word in edgewise. This can be grating, yes, like if you have a headache or something, but she's generally pretty self-aware, so it's usually more amusing than anything else. I did warn Nick about this trait before she came up.
The next thing is that she had just found out that her husband wanted a divorce. Now I knew I was in for an unusually high quotient of chatter, but I also really wanted to be a good friend by showing her a good time and helping her see that the situation is actually a positive thing. Her husband is a good man, generally, but there are fundamental differences in their temperments and lifestyle that would be really difficult for any couple to contend with: she loves adventure and travel, he loves staying home and watching sports. She loves going out and trying new things; he is allergic to everything you can imagine, except, apparently, cats. She is a champaign thrift store shopper; he thinks used things are icky. She is super positive; he is Debbie Downer. Plus, they got married 9 days after their first date.
Yes. 9 days is no exaggeration, and I played a big role in bringing the two of them together. They knew each other in passing, because he was the shuttle bus driver at our school. Lest you think of him as a creepy old man, know that she and I were both adult students at our school and they are the same age (or close to it.) One day I rode the shuttle alone and he starting talking about how he was so into her and just didn't know how to approach her in that way. So I threw the boy a bone: I invited him to the party I was hosting that weekend. Long story short: my birthday is December 21 (send presents); they were married by the new year.
Believe me, no one really thought they'd make it. I'm sure everyone who knew her shared a collective WTF moment. I figured if anyone could have a happy marriage, the two of them just might make it. (No offense to married peeps, but I'm just not the marrying kind.)
When I heard she was coming to visit, before I heard about the D-word, I told another friend the story and said, "Well, it's 6 years later and they still are together. They proved everyone wrong!" Oops.
Here's something about me that you don't know: I am the break-up- maker. Like a rainmaker bringing in big money accounts or water-filled days, I bring break ups to unhappy couples around the world. Or, at least, in the eastern united states. I have lost track of how many people I have met who were in unhappy relationships who split shortly after one of the pair spent a few hours in conversation with me. Whether they've been together for a few months or many years, people just seem to break up when I'm around.
While I'm not actively encouraging break ups, generally, I think it's because I say the shit that the unhappy person is thinking but unable to say for themselves. I am tactful, but I also don't sugarcoat the truth. I ask the hard questions. I am completely supportive of their right to find a way to be happy, and if that involves breaking up with their current beau, so be it. I am the one person who says it's okay to do what you want.
Of course, generally I'm counseling the one who wants the split. This is not the case with my friend, though she started owning the divorce during the whirlwind 24 hours we spent together.
Can you sense that drama is coming to this little tale?
So, my friend is a total beach girl, and the whole time she was talking about the visit, she mentioned the beach, so I'm like, "Alright, the girl wants beach, let's give it to her!" Nick and I drove her to South Shore beach late last night (which was WRECKED by the hurricane by the way!) We were the only people around as we drank wine while sitting on the rocks on the destroyed beach watching the powerful waves roll in and out. It was beautiful and scary and sad all at the same time. She only facebooked a little while we were there.
The next morning, I woke up to find Nick had left a spare key with a little note for my friend as well as some delicious chocolate almond croissants for our breakfast. (Best. Boyfriend. Ever.) She woke up shortly after and went in and out for cigarettes breaks at least half a dozen times before 10 am. (Perspective: 6 cigarettes in 90 minutes. OMG.). I didn't care about the smoking, whatever it's your body, but I was a little worried about the fact that she was outside screaming on the phone. I wouldn't have been surprised if someone had called the cops on the crazy crackhead on a rampage. The maintenance guy almost escorted her from the property, until she explained she was staying with me. (My place is like fort knox in a shady neighborhood. This is a good thing.)
At some point between cigarette breaks and coming in and out of the house, she lost the house key. Lost, completely, gone. I mentioned that this is a shady neighborhood, right? Random people sit on my porch all the time to smoke doobies and, probably, some other stuff. We find brown-bagged bottles at least once a week or so. I did not want someone to find the key and think "Alright, moving day!"
Logically, I figured that the key was probably inside the house, since she had managed to get inside the house, but, realistically, that might not be the case. She'd been propping the door open before I gave her the key, so I had no way of knowing for sure. The thing about that key to my place is that it opens every door in the place. Front door, back door, both at the house entrances and in the apartment itself. It opens the basement door. And the deadbolts. Can you see why I might have been concerned?
My friend, however, was not so concerned. She looked for it, but in a half-assed, oh well, it's gone forever, just like my marriage, kind of way. She didn't seem to think it was a big deal at all.
Since we were already running late, I said we'd look for it later. (I did a quick look outside, just in case, but didn't find it.) She promptly forgot all about it and spend the day telling us how she was going to stick up for herself and express herself anyway she wanted. She'd be honest about what she was thinking at all times. She recanted the many battles between the couple, both to us and on her many phone conversations in our company. We drove to Race Point at Cape Cod. The beach was awesome, so calm compared to South Shore the night before. I found it very relaxing. She was distressed not to have facebook connectivity. Still, I thought we were having a good time.
I didn't mention or even think about the key all day, but on the way home, I said that I wanted to look for it thoroughly when we got home. We got home and she seemed to have forgotten all about it again. She was either talking on the phone or outside smoking so I decided to communicate with her chosen form of communication by sending her a text. (I thought about a smoke signal, but I'm not a smoker and not that talented anyway.) The text was non-accusatory, simple addressed the way I was feeling. I said "I am worried about the key being lost and I would like to find it tonight so I don't worry about it all night. I'm ocd, I know it."
It wasn't like I said, "Hey, biznitch, you lost my key and you better find it or Imma cut yo face."
I was perfectly civil and there wasn't a shred of anger in me about it. I just thought, "Oh that ditzy divorcee!" I understand that her headspace was all muddled, and that I was probably overworrying about the key. But here's the thing: I have a touch of OCD in me, probably everyone does. I will often be lying in bed and wonder if the deadbolts are on the doors. I will worry about it excessively unless I get up and just check. Once I check them for myself, I'm fine. It's a mild compulsion, but it's a long-standing one that probably stems from living alone for 6 years. I knew that I would keep waking up in the night listening for intruders (with a key, argh!) if I didn't just find that key safe and sound.
She'd been expressing the hell out of herself all day, so I didn't see a problem in just telling her what I was worrying about. I figured we'd dump her bags out together, look through stuff, and, most likely, find the key. I wasn't accusatory or angry in any way, which is what made her reaction all the more shocking.
She came upstairs and, at first, I thought she was looking in her bags, so I said "where can I look?" I had already torn apart the couch, in case it was behind the cushions, and looked underneath it, too. I looked everywhere that it might logically have been placed by a scattered divorcee, but I didn't look through her stuff, of course. Then I realized that she was packing up her stuff, not looking through it. She said, "I'm going to a hotel."
I said, "Are you serious? You would rather just leave than help give me peace of mind by looking for the key?"
She said, and I quote, "I can't believe you are worrying about a little key when your friend is getting a divorce!"
"Are you kidding me?" I said. "I just want to find the key to my house!"
She's like, "Yeah, well, I lost the key. So sue me. You know what's going on in my life right now."
Oh yeah. I'm the jerk here. In case you didn't know.
I said, "I just want you to look for it. I'll help you. You don't have to leave. This is crazy."
It didn't matter.
She said some more crap. I said "Wouldn't you be OCD if I lost your house key? Don't you think this is a little irresponsible?"
At this point I was completely furious and just walked out of the room. By then, I didn't give a crap if she left or stayed. I was over it. When she came to say goodbye, she was talking to me like I was the crazy one, like I was getting upset over some small trivial thing. I just said, "You know what, Cherie, fuck that."
She left.
Apparently, I am a terrible person for being concerned that the key that opens every single door in my house and to the building was lost by an inconsiderate divorcee. The loss of that key jeopardizes both my apartment and safe well-being, but also that of the other people who live in the building. I have to be honest: I cannot afford to pay a locksmith to change all five of the locks that key opens and for master keys for the other people in the building. How dare I get upset about her complete lack of consideration about a little old key? Seriously, she was so flippant about the key the whole time, when I know full well if the situation were reversed, she'd go nuts.
I just can't believe it and am still completely flabbergasted by the situation. [I love the word flabbergasted and don't get to use it nearly enough.] If I had lost someone's house key, I would feel like a complete shit and I would tear everything apart until I found it. I wouldn't turn the situation around on the person, making them feel bad for something I did!
I just have to hope that she finds the key in her cluttered belongs and eats crow when she does.
I also hope that nobody creepy is planning a visit to my apartment.
Seriously: what happened here? Am I a complete jerk for worrying about a lost key? I don't think I'm in the wrong at all here, but, hey, I've been wrong before. At least I can admit that.
26 June 2011
Blog Redesign: Unveiled
Well, it's taken me all day, but the redesign of Crafty Moira is complete (mostly). I have been meaning to do a redesign to this blog ever since I started it. I mean, I know html. I've designed lots of graphics and web pages, so why didn't I take the time to make my blog look nice? In part, it's laziness, I'll admit it, but also: I kind of started this blog thinking I'd get bored with it in a few weeks and abandon it. I never expected that I'd love it so much!
Nick and I did a photoshoot a few months ago, so I used my favorite images to create the blog. One of the pictures was so pretty, with my hair blowing in the breeze and the water of Stump Pond behind me, that I decided to use it as the inspiration for the redesign. (The picture above makes me laugh, especially with the caption I added. It's day 8 of my Buy Nothing Summer, and I'm sure I'll be feeling that way any day now!)
I'd love to hear what you think about the new look! If you come across any problems, please let me know. It's been, oh, a decade+, since I learned html, so lots has changed since then. It's looking good for me on my Mac, but if you are a PC-user and it looks like crap, please tell me so I can try to fix it! All of the tabs at the top work, though the "Classes" tab is still under construction... for now! I'd love to know what you think about the new tutorials page and my new about page! And, hey, maybe you'd like to grab my new button for your blog?
12 May 2011
Random: On Moving, Again
My boyfriend and I are moving into a new apartment for June 1st. I've been thinking about moving for a while now, what with our ridiculously loud neighbors, from the floor below us and next door, but the idea of moving can be so overwhelming. We found an apartment about two weeks ago that we liked (well, if I could get past the hideous speckled paint job, that was), and we were all set to move in, but the landlord was wishy-washy about the rent and about our cats, so we changed our minds. We did end up finding an apartment that was both affordable and pretty as well as right across the street from my best friend in Providence.
The only problems? The move in date had to be June 1st, and it's a one bedroom. June 1st is a problem because the Providence Arts Festival in on June 4th. I already feel like there's no way I can be ready for it, because I just don't have enough energy to get everything accomplished that I want to do. Moving a few days beforehand? Yikes! Instead of driving myself crazy trying to match the inventory and sales from last year, which honestly feels downright impossible right about now, I'm telling myself that I just want to make back what I put into the festival.
Last year, I had to buy a tent and all my displays. Last year's sale more than paid for all of those things, so this year it's all about inventory. Luckily, I know what sold well for me last year, so I'm focusing on those items. I don't have very much in the way of new items, but I'm telling myself that I'll debut new items in time for the September festival. For now, I just want to cover my costs and have fun!
Last year's festival was exhausting, yes, but mostly, it was loads of fun! I love getting to talk to lots of people about my work, and I love being outside, out of the full blast of the sun, drinking iced coffee and listening to music. Plus, once the arts festival is over, I'll be on vacation until June 20th. I can relax and settle in to our new apartment then.
The one bedroom thing is going to take some getting used to, but I'm actually looking forward to it. Nick and I both spend most of our day in our separate studio spaces, so sharing space will be really nice. The room we'll be sharing is actually huge: it's going to be our combined studio / living room space. The bedroom is tiny, and so is the kitchen, but I'm fine with that. The kitchen has tons of storage space, unlike the other apartment we almost rented which has no cabinets whatsoever. I figure I can store some of my craft stuff in the kitchen as well as in the basement storage cage.
The biggest thing about moving into a smaller place is getting rid of stuff in order to fit! That's actually not so hard either. The only piece of furniture I'm really attached to is my awesome desk, the galant system from Ikea. I scored the desk top and some of the legs for free on craigslist and got the rest of it from the as-is department at the Stoughton Ikea. All in all, it cost me about $35 plus gas to Ikea. Replacing it new would cost $200+. So, yeah, I'm keeping that.
In order to figure out what we'd keep and what we'd donate, Nick and I drew a map of the new apartment to scale. We made little graph paper representations of all of our furniture and played around with the arrangement until we liked it. I'm sure it will change a bit once we're in the new place, but I bet not that much.
So moving day is two weeks away and hardly anything's packed, but am I stressing? Nah. We'll get it down and it will all be fine. Even if my inventory is sparse at the arts festival this year, it will still be fun just to be there. And I'll probably do just fine. I tend to stress myself out too much about everything, but this year, I'm taking it easy. I'm dealing with some health stuff, too, and instead of stressing about that, I'm just trying to remind myself to relax and just let it go. It will work itself out in the end. Deep breath. Relax.
The only problems? The move in date had to be June 1st, and it's a one bedroom. June 1st is a problem because the Providence Arts Festival in on June 4th. I already feel like there's no way I can be ready for it, because I just don't have enough energy to get everything accomplished that I want to do. Moving a few days beforehand? Yikes! Instead of driving myself crazy trying to match the inventory and sales from last year, which honestly feels downright impossible right about now, I'm telling myself that I just want to make back what I put into the festival.
Last year, I had to buy a tent and all my displays. Last year's sale more than paid for all of those things, so this year it's all about inventory. Luckily, I know what sold well for me last year, so I'm focusing on those items. I don't have very much in the way of new items, but I'm telling myself that I'll debut new items in time for the September festival. For now, I just want to cover my costs and have fun!
Last year's festival was exhausting, yes, but mostly, it was loads of fun! I love getting to talk to lots of people about my work, and I love being outside, out of the full blast of the sun, drinking iced coffee and listening to music. Plus, once the arts festival is over, I'll be on vacation until June 20th. I can relax and settle in to our new apartment then.
The one bedroom thing is going to take some getting used to, but I'm actually looking forward to it. Nick and I both spend most of our day in our separate studio spaces, so sharing space will be really nice. The room we'll be sharing is actually huge: it's going to be our combined studio / living room space. The bedroom is tiny, and so is the kitchen, but I'm fine with that. The kitchen has tons of storage space, unlike the other apartment we almost rented which has no cabinets whatsoever. I figure I can store some of my craft stuff in the kitchen as well as in the basement storage cage.
The biggest thing about moving into a smaller place is getting rid of stuff in order to fit! That's actually not so hard either. The only piece of furniture I'm really attached to is my awesome desk, the galant system from Ikea. I scored the desk top and some of the legs for free on craigslist and got the rest of it from the as-is department at the Stoughton Ikea. All in all, it cost me about $35 plus gas to Ikea. Replacing it new would cost $200+. So, yeah, I'm keeping that.
In order to figure out what we'd keep and what we'd donate, Nick and I drew a map of the new apartment to scale. We made little graph paper representations of all of our furniture and played around with the arrangement until we liked it. I'm sure it will change a bit once we're in the new place, but I bet not that much.
So moving day is two weeks away and hardly anything's packed, but am I stressing? Nah. We'll get it down and it will all be fine. Even if my inventory is sparse at the arts festival this year, it will still be fun just to be there. And I'll probably do just fine. I tend to stress myself out too much about everything, but this year, I'm taking it easy. I'm dealing with some health stuff, too, and instead of stressing about that, I'm just trying to remind myself to relax and just let it go. It will work itself out in the end. Deep breath. Relax.
05 May 2011
Random: Studio Destashing
Anyone who knows me, probably knows that I am a major packrat. It's not my fault; it's genetic. Seriously. The packrat gene definitely runs in my family. Being a packrat is not the same as being a hoarder. A hoarder keeps everything and is practically unable to throw anything away. I'm definitely not like that. I go through tossing binges where anything and everything could end up in the trash, on the curb, or at the local thrift store. When I moved to Providence from Greensburg, PA, I got rid of just about everything that didn't fit in the back of my dad's small Toyota, selling all my furniture and trash-picked treasures to fund the trip.
I don't keep things just for the memories attached to them either. I hardly have any items that I keep purely for sentimental value. Sure, I have photographs, letters from friends, and a few mementos from departed loved ones, but it's not like I keep every single photograph, letter, or memento. I have a select few items, like a metal lobster claw that I found on the beach the last time I saw my father before he died, ashes of my dear friend Fiend who suicided in 2002, a half-empty bottle of my grandfather's shaving lotion, but mostly the stuff that I have is of a crafty nature.
Everything has a potential crafty use: old glasses bottles could be used in a mixed media collage, tangled and broken necklaces could be reinvented into new jewelry creations, saved wine corks might eventually be carved into stamps. The problem is the same one that most Americans face: time. Who in the world has time to do all of these crafts? Even I, who works very part-time out in the "real" world and mostly from home can't possibly finish all of the potential crafts that might happen from my crafty stash. And what good does a huge stash of yarn do if it's just hanging out in plastic bins in a closet somewhere?
I don't keep things just for the memories attached to them either. I hardly have any items that I keep purely for sentimental value. Sure, I have photographs, letters from friends, and a few mementos from departed loved ones, but it's not like I keep every single photograph, letter, or memento. I have a select few items, like a metal lobster claw that I found on the beach the last time I saw my father before he died, ashes of my dear friend Fiend who suicided in 2002, a half-empty bottle of my grandfather's shaving lotion, but mostly the stuff that I have is of a crafty nature.
Everything has a potential crafty use: old glasses bottles could be used in a mixed media collage, tangled and broken necklaces could be reinvented into new jewelry creations, saved wine corks might eventually be carved into stamps. The problem is the same one that most Americans face: time. Who in the world has time to do all of these crafts? Even I, who works very part-time out in the "real" world and mostly from home can't possibly finish all of the potential crafts that might happen from my crafty stash. And what good does a huge stash of yarn do if it's just hanging out in plastic bins in a closet somewhere?
28 April 2011
Found Poetry: Special Needs Lizard
Have you entered my giveaway yet? You could win a $25 gift certificate to Literary Tease! (Hurry... contest ends Friday @ 5 PM!)
I'm preparing for a move into a new and smaller apartment, which means that I have to destash EVERYTHING! I'm making huge piles of stuff to donate, stuff to sell, and stuff to throw away. As I was cleaning, I came across this notecard that features a poem that I wrote at some point, who knows when. I rarely write poems, but I usually like the ones I do write. I'm pretty sure it was inspired by Kat, who always liked to bring home animals to the apartment she shared with Mel. I figured I'd share it here then I can throw the notecard into my recycling bin. So here goes:
Special Needs Lizard
by Moira
Unloved by the child whose Christmas was gay,
Missing an eye, part of an ear and its leg,
Hot sand rehabilitation on a Saturday night.
When the lizard ceases,
as it surely will,
there will be another in a short line of scaly others,
each homelier than the last,
needing religious devotion,
and plenty of fresh flies culled by hand,
from the sweaty desert heat.
The flies circle her skirts,
pulsing purple, turquoise on fire,
& the bells of a million stars,
twinkling at her heels.
Swirling, she clucks and coos in psuedo-lizard tongue,
and, loves, without question,
the beast.
I'm preparing for a move into a new and smaller apartment, which means that I have to destash EVERYTHING! I'm making huge piles of stuff to donate, stuff to sell, and stuff to throw away. As I was cleaning, I came across this notecard that features a poem that I wrote at some point, who knows when. I rarely write poems, but I usually like the ones I do write. I'm pretty sure it was inspired by Kat, who always liked to bring home animals to the apartment she shared with Mel. I figured I'd share it here then I can throw the notecard into my recycling bin. So here goes:
Special Needs Lizard
by Moira
Unloved by the child whose Christmas was gay,
Missing an eye, part of an ear and its leg,
Hot sand rehabilitation on a Saturday night.
When the lizard ceases,
as it surely will,
there will be another in a short line of scaly others,
each homelier than the last,
needing religious devotion,
and plenty of fresh flies culled by hand,
from the sweaty desert heat.
The flies circle her skirts,
pulsing purple, turquoise on fire,
& the bells of a million stars,
twinkling at her heels.
Swirling, she clucks and coos in psuedo-lizard tongue,
and, loves, without question,
the beast.
25 April 2011
Random Musings: World's Smallest Book
First of all: have you entered my giveaway yet? You could win a $25 gift certificate to Literary Tease! (Contests end April 29th @ 5 PM)
I wasn't so foolhardy as to believe that the tiny coptic-stitch books I made last year after taking a bookbinding class with Joann of Paper Girls Studio were tiny enough to be considered for the title of World's Smallest Books, but compared to the book that actually has that title, my books are positively gargantuan!
When I came home from my bookbinding lesson, I decided to try my hand at making a smaller book that my original (7 inches x 4 inches). My second book measures 2.5 inches tall by 2 inches wide. But that still wasn't small enough!
My third book is even smaller at 2 inches by 1.25 inches. Could I go smaller? I sure could!
The smallest book measures 1.25 inches by 1 inch. I did the stitching a little too tight; I suspect I was getting tired by that point. The book won't stay closed flat. I meant to add a tie to it, like the other two miniature books, but never did get around to it. I made the signature using scraps of watercolor paper and pages from a copy of Alice in Wonderland, which just seemed appropriate.
Still, despite being very small, this book is giant compared to the tiny book owned by Mark Palkovic. His tiny volume .9 x .9 millimeters. You read that right. Millimeters. Not centimeters. Millimeters. Go, right now, look at a ruler to get a sense of just how small that is. How would you even look at it? Apparently, only 100 copies of the book were made, and I just bet that over half of them were lost or accidentally inhaled! In fact, the book is so small, that Palkovic keeps a larger copy of the book around to show people:
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| Tiny books, coptic-stitch, made by me |
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| Second book - 2.5 inches x 2 inches |
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| Third book - 2 x 1.25 inches |
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| Fourth book - 1.25 inches x 1 inch |
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| Coptic-stitch bound |
Still, despite being very small, this book is giant compared to the tiny book owned by Mark Palkovic. His tiny volume .9 x .9 millimeters. You read that right. Millimeters. Not centimeters. Millimeters. Go, right now, look at a ruler to get a sense of just how small that is. How would you even look at it? Apparently, only 100 copies of the book were made, and I just bet that over half of them were lost or accidentally inhaled! In fact, the book is so small, that Palkovic keeps a larger copy of the book around to show people:
Guinness World Records has confirmed that Palkovic is the owner of the smallest book in the world. Palkovic's book, Chekhov's Chameleon, measures just .9 by .9 millimeters, not much larger than a grain of salt. Amazingly, this miniscule book has 30 pages and three color illustrations. The print cannot be read by the naked eye, but Palkovic keeps another larger copy of the book, still measuring just a tiny 2 by 1.8 centimeters, nearby.
The "larger" copy is still about 1/3 the size of my smaller book. Wow.
Here's my favorite part of the article:
As for the tiniest book in the world, Palkovic does not just let it sit in its decorative collector's box. Even though it's as small as a little grain of salt, he has to take it out and look at the book, bound in gold and silk. "If you ever get a miniature book, you will never lose it," he says. "You may not be able to find it for awhile, but you'll come across it again. You just tend to put it somewhere safe because it's a treasured little thing."
So, what are your thoughts about tiny books? Ever made one? Own one?
24 April 2011
Random Musings: World's Largest Book
First of all: have you entered my giveaway yet? You could win a $25 gift certificate to Literary Tease! (Contests end April 29th @ 5 PM)
For some reason, last night as I was falling asleep, I started wondering about the world's largest book. I have this huge board, 4 foot by 8 foot, in my studio and I was imagining how I would make it into a coptic-stitch bound book using rope. (Books were on my mind, I think, because I made two finished journals and two almost finished ones yesterday.) I asked Nick how big he thought the world's biggest book would be, and he, half asleep, muttered a number that seemed way too small. No, I said, I bet it's huge. Well, he said, I'm sorry, but I'm too tired to look. I wasn't going to get up to research it either, and figured I'd probably forget all about it by morning. And I did. But Nick didn't.
So what do you think? How big is the world's biggest book? According to Nick's research, this is it:
The 128-page page atlas measures 6 x 9 feet and debuted at the Frankfurt Book Fair in October 2010. It's part of a limited edition run of 31 and has 128 pages. The article states that the book took three hours to get into position for the book fair and requires a man's full strength to turn the pages. I think it would be so cool to see this book in person. Maybe the RISD museum will buy one?
Second in line to the atlas is Bhutan, a book published by Michael Hawley of the MIT Media Lab in 2003.
The third largest book, 2nd largest atlas, is the Klencke Atlas, which was presented to Charles II of England on his restoration.
The book, owned by the British Library, is 350 years old and measures 5ft 10in by 3ft 5 in. It's 4 inches thick.
Here's an interesting entry on Wikipedia about the world's largest stone book, which stands upright and resides in the Kuthodaw Pagoda in Myanmar. It's not the type of book I was thinking about when I thought about giant books, but it's still worth a read! (The entry I mean, not sure about the book!)
Stop back tomorrow and we'll talk about books at the opposite end of the spectrum! How small do you think a book can be?
For some reason, last night as I was falling asleep, I started wondering about the world's largest book. I have this huge board, 4 foot by 8 foot, in my studio and I was imagining how I would make it into a coptic-stitch bound book using rope. (Books were on my mind, I think, because I made two finished journals and two almost finished ones yesterday.) I asked Nick how big he thought the world's biggest book would be, and he, half asleep, muttered a number that seemed way too small. No, I said, I bet it's huge. Well, he said, I'm sorry, but I'm too tired to look. I wasn't going to get up to research it either, and figured I'd probably forget all about it by morning. And I did. But Nick didn't.
So what do you think? How big is the world's biggest book? According to Nick's research, this is it:
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| Source: http://www.luxuo.com/events/worlds-biggest-atlas-book-fair-frankfurt.html |
Second in line to the atlas is Bhutan, a book published by Michael Hawley of the MIT Media Lab in 2003.
 |
| Source: http://www.lib.washington.edu/specialcoll/exhibits/bhutan/book1.jpg |
"Bhutan: A Visual Odyssey Across the Last Himalayan Kingdom" weighs in at more than 130 pounds and stands at five by seven feet, nearly as big as a Ping-Pong table. The book features more than 100 pages of spectacular images of a country often referred to as "the last Shangri-la," and showcases a variety of new digital, photographic and printing techniques.The rest of the MIT press release details the making of the book and is definitely worth a read.
The third largest book, 2nd largest atlas, is the Klencke Atlas, which was presented to Charles II of England on his restoration.
 |
| Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/jan/26/klencke-atlas-british-library-exhibition |
Here's an interesting entry on Wikipedia about the world's largest stone book, which stands upright and resides in the Kuthodaw Pagoda in Myanmar. It's not the type of book I was thinking about when I thought about giant books, but it's still worth a read! (The entry I mean, not sure about the book!)
Stop back tomorrow and we'll talk about books at the opposite end of the spectrum! How small do you think a book can be?
12 April 2011
Random Art: Yarn Bombed Bathroom
Found this picture of a yarn-bombed bathroom on flickr. Can you imagine if you walked into a public bathroom stall and saw this? Amazing! People should totally yarn bomb more! I saw a bus stop in Providence once that had been yarn bombed, but really, I haven't seen much of it in person. Hmm, speaking of, I probably have some granny squares around here...
21 February 2011
Found: Dear Artist
Last spring, Nick and I were wandering the streets on the annual art sacrifice night in Providence, RI. When school is over for the year, RISD students abandon unwanted artwork around the city. We don't know if this is an official tradition or something that happens naturally when artists move, but for two years in a row, we've seen random art all over the city the weekend that school lets out. We like to walk around the streets searching for a piece worthy of taking home.
On this night, we parked our car, and when I got out, I saw a letter hanging from a tree. Naturally, I was unable to resist opening, since it was, after all, addressed to "artist." Hey, it coulda been for me, right? I'm going to mail my find to Found Magazine, but I thought I would share it with you here, since it's wicked awesome. You're welcome. Oh, and in case you are familiar with Rhode Island, RISD stands for Rhode Island School of Design. RISD students tend to dress in flashy, odd clothing, so they are easy to spot.
(P.S. I also took home a strange painting of what I can only figure is a female amputee and a Snapple bottle. It has a place of honor in my kitchen, but I'm eventually going to take her to the Museum of Bad Art.)
18 February 2011
Happy Customer & Beast
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| copyright Severine Naturel http://severinenaturel.etsy.com |
This morning, after adding a custom listing to my Etsy shop, Literary Tease, I noticed I'd gotten a new feedback, so I clicked over to check it out. With the feedback was the above picture. At first, I thought the white fluffiness was a stuffed animal of some sort, but when I saw the image larger, I realized that it was a dog, a very, very large dog. The woman is holding the Coco Chanel pocket mirror that she purchased from me. If you are a dog owner, you might want to check out her shop, Severine Naturel, which features a natural product designed to protect a dog's nose and paws from the elements. (Also, I think the dog's name is Eli!)
11 February 2011
Today on Craigslist: Write My Book, A'ight?
Another installation of Today on Craigslist...
You got problems? That's awesome! I want to write this book about the 33 problems that women face in their lives, but I could only think of 5. Choose your own problem and write 15 pages about. Oh, and don't act white. Also, don't be a bitter whore. Got it? Great!
Original text reads:
"I need your help.
It is a grave desire of mine,
to put out a book that speaks to the woman.
I would like the book to identify,discuss,
and offer solutions to 33 problems
that women face in life. 33 chapters,
and each chapter will be about a void...
- Incarceration
- AIDS
- Unemployment
- School drop-out rate
- Low self-esteem
You can choose any topic in the world,
but the focus of the book will be to show
women how & why...improvement is
needed.
I need 33 authors, to write 1 chapter each.
The 5 topics that I listed were just examples.
Please choose another topic....dig deeper,
what topic would you like to write 15 pages about?
ALSO: You will be credited as the author & receive royalty
checks for the rest of your life.
Traditional family structure is necessary.
Speaking proper English is NOT ?acting white.?
Kids reciting rap songs should not be tolerated.
ALL single mothers are not mean and bitter.
Women must stop picking men that are using their potential to land them in jail instead of the boardroom.
There is no shame in seeking professional help to mend broken relationships and work through mental issues.
Sexual promiscuity exists in the absence of self-control and respect."
(link)
You got problems? That's awesome! I want to write this book about the 33 problems that women face in their lives, but I could only think of 5. Choose your own problem and write 15 pages about. Oh, and don't act white. Also, don't be a bitter whore. Got it? Great!
Original text reads:
"I need your help.
It is a grave desire of mine,
to put out a book that speaks to the woman.
I would like the book to identify,discuss,
and offer solutions to 33 problems
that women face in life. 33 chapters,
and each chapter will be about a void...
- Incarceration
- AIDS
- Unemployment
- School drop-out rate
- Low self-esteem
You can choose any topic in the world,
but the focus of the book will be to show
women how & why...improvement is
needed.
I need 33 authors, to write 1 chapter each.
The 5 topics that I listed were just examples.
Please choose another topic....dig deeper,
what topic would you like to write 15 pages about?
ALSO: You will be credited as the author & receive royalty
checks for the rest of your life.
Traditional family structure is necessary.
Speaking proper English is NOT ?acting white.?
Kids reciting rap songs should not be tolerated.
ALL single mothers are not mean and bitter.
Women must stop picking men that are using their potential to land them in jail instead of the boardroom.
There is no shame in seeking professional help to mend broken relationships and work through mental issues.
Sexual promiscuity exists in the absence of self-control and respect."
(link)
10 February 2011
Today on Craigslist: Bleeding Heart Liberal TV
I love Craigslist. I found my apartment and my boyfriend on Craigslist. At least half of the furniture in my house came from curb alert listings. I've bought plenty of jewelry and art supplies on Craigslist, and I've sold things, too. I've used Craigslist to advertise yard sales, to get rid of crap I don't need, and to find jobs.
I once kept a log of Missed Connections listings for an entire week, categorizing the listings by type (such as: long lost love, booty call, deadbeat dad huntin'), until I realized the quest was futile and I could never keep up.
I even made a series of Craigslist-themed buttons, just in case I wasn't alone in my obsession. Sadly, I think I am, since I haven't sold a single one. Boo!
I used to check Craigslist free listings several times a day, in the hopes of finding fabulous junk I never knew I needed, but after a while, I realized I just didn't have any room left in my house for any junk, no matter how fabulous.
So, yes, my obsession has, like all crushes, faded away, but I still check in from time to time, the same way I might look at an ex's Facebook page just to see if he's gotten fat or bald. I can't help myself.
And, sometimes, I see an ad that calls out to me. Like this one. Sure, I have no use for this "bleeding heart liberal" television, but a part of me sure wishes I did after reading this ad:
"Free 20 inch Pioneer TV. It is old, but it still works. As long as you don't want to watch any channel above 45. My own theory is that since The Fox News Channel is channel 46, it refused to tune past channel 45. I don't know why it won't go above 45. I am just assuming that since this tv is so old and still working, it's probably liberal.
Maybe you want to harvest it for parts. Or turn it into a fish tank. Or take a sledgehammer to it. Maybe you can take it to the State House on tax day for the Tea Party demonstration.
Save it from being buried in a landfill (although we all know that is where it will ultimately wind up). Prove me wrong and turn it into art that lives forever in a museum.
If this tv doesn't find a new home soon, I am afraid it might go and file for section 8.
You let me know when you want to pick it up, and I will lovingly place it out on the curb. If I am going your way, I'll even drop it off to you. Let's figure this out.
I live in Providence, on the Cranston line, off Reservoir Ave. " (link)
This is a Craigslist ad worth remembering, and so I'm starting a new blog feature called Today On Craigslist. When I find an ad that leaves me speechless, whether with laughter, terror, or whateva, I'll share it with you, my dear unknown reader. I hope you are suitably moved.
I once kept a log of Missed Connections listings for an entire week, categorizing the listings by type (such as: long lost love, booty call, deadbeat dad huntin'), until I realized the quest was futile and I could never keep up.
I even made a series of Craigslist-themed buttons, just in case I wasn't alone in my obsession. Sadly, I think I am, since I haven't sold a single one. Boo!
I used to check Craigslist free listings several times a day, in the hopes of finding fabulous junk I never knew I needed, but after a while, I realized I just didn't have any room left in my house for any junk, no matter how fabulous.
So, yes, my obsession has, like all crushes, faded away, but I still check in from time to time, the same way I might look at an ex's Facebook page just to see if he's gotten fat or bald. I can't help myself.
And, sometimes, I see an ad that calls out to me. Like this one. Sure, I have no use for this "bleeding heart liberal" television, but a part of me sure wishes I did after reading this ad:
"Free 20 inch Pioneer TV. It is old, but it still works. As long as you don't want to watch any channel above 45. My own theory is that since The Fox News Channel is channel 46, it refused to tune past channel 45. I don't know why it won't go above 45. I am just assuming that since this tv is so old and still working, it's probably liberal.
Maybe you want to harvest it for parts. Or turn it into a fish tank. Or take a sledgehammer to it. Maybe you can take it to the State House on tax day for the Tea Party demonstration.
Save it from being buried in a landfill (although we all know that is where it will ultimately wind up). Prove me wrong and turn it into art that lives forever in a museum.
If this tv doesn't find a new home soon, I am afraid it might go and file for section 8.
You let me know when you want to pick it up, and I will lovingly place it out on the curb. If I am going your way, I'll even drop it off to you. Let's figure this out.
I live in Providence, on the Cranston line, off Reservoir Ave. " (link)
This is a Craigslist ad worth remembering, and so I'm starting a new blog feature called Today On Craigslist. When I find an ad that leaves me speechless, whether with laughter, terror, or whateva, I'll share it with you, my dear unknown reader. I hope you are suitably moved.
27 January 2011
Can Wii Fit help you lose weight?
Can Wii Fit help you lose weight? That's what I aim to find out! I've been using mine for 30 minutes day for a week now. Sure, I've gained a pound instead of losing, but whatever. I'm giving it at least a month before I make any judgments!
I've wanted a Nintendo Wii game console and Wii fit for ages now, but haven't really been able to justify the expense. We were lucky enough to get a free Wii console recently, and by combining a couple of gift cards, we ended up paying just $21 for a Wii Fit to go with our console. That, my friends, is a hell of a good deal.
I've been saying for months that if I had a Wii Fit, I'd use it every day. It's very easy to say that when you don't actually own one... haha! Still, we've had our Wii Fit set up for a week now, and I've done 30 minutes (at least) every single day for the last week. And I'm not being a twerp about it either, by playing that stupid lotus game for 30 minutes straight. (Apparently, I am literally unable to sit still!). Even though I recently found out that my Wii Fit is spying on me by asking my boyfriend about my posture, I still love it.
And the thing is, I still don't want to exercise. It's not like that I wake up and think, "Yay! Exercise!" Instead, I have to force myself to get started... but, the coolest thing about the Wii Fit is that once I get started, it's not that hard to keep going. Sometimes I do yoga, sometimes aerobics, and sometimes just a bunch of games. (I'm pretty good at that penguin slide game!) I haven't even tried any of the strength training yet, so I still have a lot to explore.
I set a goal of doing 20 minutes a day, minimum, but almost every day, I've done at least 10 minutes extra. One day, I did 50-some minutes. My favorite activity so far is the biking. I've unlocked the Advanced, Island View, and Expert courses. I haven't tried Expert yet, since I just unlocked it last night, but the Island View course took me 21 minutes and I think I ended with just over 5 miles. I don't know if this counts as "real" exercise, but it definitely gets me sweating!
This morning I woke up at 7:30 am and did 20 minutes of yoga before 8 am. Did I do this because I love yoga and was raring to go? Hell no! I decided to get exercise out of the way early so I didn't have to put it off all day. Haha!
I'm not bored with the Wii Fit yet, but I imagine I'll get bored with it eventually. So I ordered another Wii fitness game called Walk It Out. It should be arriving today or tomorrow, so I'll post about it once I've tried it. It got positive reviews on Amazon though and sounds like something I'll like. Eventually, I'm going to get EA Sports Active. Nick and I are saving our change; we have $16 towards the game so far.
23 January 2011
Happy National Handwriting Day
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| My new font: Art Journal Dots |
Today is National Handwriting Day. In honor of the holiday, YourFonts.com is offering FREE custom fonts when you use the coupon code: CPN2011FUN. Custom fonts are usually $9.95, so this is a great deal! The best part? You can make more than one font! Hurray! I made one font that was just my regular handwriting. Then, I decided to make a font with capital letters like the letterings I do in my art journal. Fabulous, eh?
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| Another font: Moira Handwriting |
05 January 2011
Day One: Gluten Free Diet
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| http://glutenfreeeasily.com/july-go-ahead-honey-its-gluten-free/ |
Hypochondria? Was she kidding me? I HATE being sick, I HATE going to see a doctor, and, in general, I'm pretty healthy. For me to be going to a doctor regularly and having all these tests done told me that I must have something wrong, because the number of doctor's visits I had in that 6 month period was definitely more visits that I'd had over the course of the previous 6 years. I started thinking about all the med-school students who had been my dorm mates at YSU, the ones who'd partied all hours of the night, puked all over the bathrooms, and squeaked by in their classes, and I thought, you know what, there are probably just as many, if not more, bad doctors out there as there are good ones. My doctor was a very nice person, I suppose, but I just don't think she was a good doctor.
Am I saying that I'm smarter than my doctor? No, not exactly, but I also don't think that the answer to every problem is a prescription, which is what my doctor when I was a teenager seemed to think. He never told me what was wrong with me, just wrote a prescription for antibiotics every single visit. I stopped going to see him, too, except when I needed a note to excuse an absence from work. My most recent doctor insisted my problem was heartburn. Yeah, I know that that feels like lady, and this wasn't it. And, if a patient has a persistent complaint about abdominal problems, and only abdominal problems, why wouldn't you investigate all possible causes before accusing said patient of making it up? Grr. The only time we talked about my diet was when she gave me a diagram of a plate showing proportions of food, because, you know, if I'm overweight, I'm obviously stuffing my face full of Big Macs all day long. (I'm not.) When I suggested that the weight gain might be a symptom, she laughed. Really.
So, I'm still having problems, have been having issues for a good two years, possibly longer. I've altered my diet in different ways, trying to find a possible food source for my issues, but one thing I haven't tried, until now, was a gluten-free diet. I think I figured that if I was gluten intolerant, I'd have figured it out by now. But then I started researching gluten intolerance, and I realized that many people who are diagnosed with gluten intolerance, gluten allergies or celiac disease frequently have a 10 year period of suffering through it before getting a diagnosis. TEN YEARS!
I'd looked at the symptoms of gluten intolerance before and some of them fit, many, really, except one noticeable one: unexplained weight loss. Yup, that doesn't fit me. If anything, I'm the exact opposite: I've gained much too much weight in the past few years. It doesn't seem to matter what or how little I eat, every time I step on the scale, the numbers go up. So I figured no way could I be gluten intolerant. Last month, I decided to research again and found a number of sites listing weight gain as a symptom of gluten sensitivity. Hmm. Combine that will everything else and there's a good chance that's my problem. And since I eat a lot of whole grains and pasta, if I am gluten sensitive, I've been basically poisoning myself every time I eat. Yikes!
So, since gluten free diets also have benefits for people with autism, like my fabulous boyfriend, Nick, who has Asperger's, we are both trying out a gluten-free diet for the next month. We tried vegan and that didn't really work out, but I'm committed to really being a stickler about gluten-free, because I know if I am gluten sensitive, even the smallest amount of gluten will give me symptoms. So I bought a bunch of gluten-free pastas, made from corn, quinoa, and brown rice, plus an assortment of gluten-free flour so I can try making my own bread and other things.
Also, I'm planning on using a lot of recipes from Appetite for Reduction, the newest cookbook by Isa Chandra Moskovitz, since a lot of them are already gluten-free, and I made a meal plan for the first week so I don't have to have a mini-panic attack like I did last night when we got home from driving 10 hours. I was hungry and I didn't know what I could or couldn't eat yet. I ended up finishing my non-gluten-free sandwich from lunchtime and promising to start fresh today using the meal plan I made.
Wish me luck! Any one have any favorite gluten free resources or recipes they want to share?
23 December 2010
21 December 2010
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