frenchtown fiber

Project Number 2

2011-09-04T08:06:00.000-04:00

So I figured that I would get that mantle stripped on Saturday and have Sunday and possibly Monday to work on the Garage. Why did God make me so delusional? I have not stripped a piece of furniture in maybe 28 years. I am kind of remembering now that I vowed never to do it again. Yes, that memory is coming back to me,
My first mistake was painting the entire mantle with stripper. Like as if it would be done in one day. My second mistake was buying this wimpy little package of steel wool. I will need a bale of the stuff before I am through. Kate helped me a little. We were in the backyard with the mantle laying horizontal on four 5-gallon paint buckets. First I was using an old paring knife to pick out the paint between the little tiny crevices in the carved designs, then I switched over to a straight pin. I worked like that... I don't even know how long, but it became too dark to see. My reward is the revelation of the most exquisite design. Little flowers and ivy leaves and roses, and the circle in the design has an oriental design to it and finally, a stylized shell at the bottom. There are acanthus leaves running down the sides, and some more little flower clusters on the front. I will finish this, and it will be gorgeous, but what a job! I'll post pictures today.

I've got to run over to Home Depot this morning. A 24 mile round trip. Our local hardware store is closed for the holiday weeked. Imagine the nerve? (joke. of course the devils at home depot never close)
Right now Joe is taking apart our coffee maker. I consulted the Consumer Reports website when we were buying a new coffee maker to make sure I got a good one. Now, about six months later the bitch won't work. It keeps saying, "pour water" when there is water in there. I am this close to buying a perculator like my mom and dad used to have. That stuff is so annoying!

Finished Brick Walkway

2011-09-02T09:27:00.000-04:00

Finished walk!

Remember the Hurricane?

2011-09-01T17:33:00.003-04:00

I suppose you can tell that the hurricane was no big deal for me, since I almost forgot to mention it. It rained like hell on Saturday, and the power went out around 3am. I always forget that losing power is a big deal. You can hardly do anything! We have an electric range, so we could not even make coffee. Our grill is gas, but the side burner is shit. You should have seen us driving around Sunday morning looking for coffee. First we had to find a town with power. Every road was blocked, wires and trees down, one road was blocked by a mudslide. You don't see that too often. Finally we ended up out on the highway at a truck stop.

The other thing about no electricity is that our sump pump won't work. Our house is OLD, and the foundation is made of stones. Water just comes right in. This is the case all over town. Since we live just under 2 blocks from the river, water in the basement is a fact of life.We all have french drains and pumps, but no one has a rec room in the basement. We ended up with 3 inches of water down there. Just enough to make the place smell bad. Once the electricity came back on, the pump worked and the water was gone. Now the floor is even dry.

Here is the picture of the Delaware River from the Frenchtown Bridge. The water had not crested yet, it did get higher. Still, not enough to cause major flooding in our town. We enjoyed watching entire trees float down the river toward Trenton. We fantasize about getting a canoe and riding it all the way to the Delaware Bay. I wonder if you could really do it?

Projects

2011-09-01T17:02:00.001-04:00

Joe and I have been trying all summer to get someone to lay a brick walk in our back yard. It is to replace the old cement path that leads from our deck to our garage. We always have a hard time getting contractors to do work, because we are a pain in the ass. We want them to do it the way we want them to do it. We are picky about the brick we want to use, and most contractors want to use their own material. We already have our brick. Long story short, we finally found someone to do it. Joe also bargained to tear up the old walk himself, saving a couple of hundred bucks. The day the guy agreed to do it, Joe came home from work and went nuts tearing up that cement. I could not believe it. I wanted to take a before picture, but I never got to it, because it was half gone by the time I got home. He put up with lights outside, so he could keep working. Oh, if he could put his mind to my attic studio that way! (This labor day weekend marks year 2 since it was started and no where near finished.) I believe the walk will be done when I get home today. I did manage to get a picture with the old walk torn out, before the new one was in.

In other news, our garage needs painting. You can see the garage in the picture. I bought scrapers and five gallons of outdoor primer. I will begin sometime this weekend.

When I was buying the primer, I saw a bottle of that citrus stripper stuff. It reminded me that I want to strip this mantle piece we have. The mantle is not attached to a wall, there is no fireplace involved. It is just decorative. It is painted white now, the paint job is kinda shabby, which I know is chic, but I'm just not into it. I had a piece of tape stuck to it at one point, and the tape took the paint right off. I've been going at it with my fingernail, and in the space 2 days I have taken most of the paint off. A lot of it came off in big sheets.There are decorative parts of this mantle, and the paint is not coming off that so easy, so I will still use the stripper.

So, I have plenty to keep me busy this weekend! What are you doing?

A Small Measure of Freedom

2011-08-27T17:15:00.000-04:00

I just submitted my final essay for my history class, so that makes me free as a bird who is not taking any courses next semester. Now I can just sit around and wait for hurricane Irene to hit. We have done virtually nothing to prepare. I expect we will get a lot of rain and wind. It is pretty common to get tropical storms around here this time of year. By common, I mean, I guess, every couple of years. Or house was flooded by a storm named Doria in 1971. The next real big one that flooded my parent's house was Floyd in 1999. There have been others, but I don't remember them. I am really really glad that my parents sold that house.

It's raining now, but there is not even any wind yet.
Hey, want to see my essay? It isn't too long, and you will most likely learn stuff about the 14th amendment. I would say it is the most important amendment. Many Supreme Court decisions are based on it. I really was not too familiar with it until now. Here, check it out:

The 14^th Amendment Then and Now

As a result of the Civil War the slaves were set free, but blacks in the South still did not have any civil rights. Southern states had no intention of giving them the same rights as whites, but Northern states considered it essential, as so many had fought and died for it. At the time the North had total control of congress since the defeated states had no representatives yet. (Des Chenes, 2009)

The 14^th Amendment was passed by Congress June 13, 1866. It was ratified July 9, 1868.

The 14^th amendment brought about a huge change in the government of the US. Some scholars call it the “second constitution.” It has come to ensure that all Americans have equal protection under state and local laws and guarantees civil rights for everyone. (Des Chenes, 2009)

Section 1 states that everyone who is born or naturalized in the United States, except members of Indian Tribes and children of foreign diplomats, is a citizen of both the US and the state they live in. (The exception for Indians was overridden in 1924.) No State can make or enforce any law that deprives any person, not just citizens, of life, liberty, or property. Furthermore, every person within a state, not just citizens, must be treated equally by law without arbitrary discrimination.

Section 2 says that a state that denies the right to vote to any male citizen over the age of 21 will have their representation in the government reduced. This provision was intended to penalize Southern states if they did not allow blacks to vote. (The 26^th amendment changed the voting age to 18.)

Section 3 states that no person who has previously pledged allegiance to the US government as a federal or state official is eligible to hold such an office again if they have participated in an insurrection against the US government. This section was intended to prevent officials in Southern states who fought against the Union from holding office or military command in the future unless they were individually permitted to do so by congress.

Section 4 states that the US must pay all of its debts, including benefits owed to members of the Union army or civilians who performed services. However, the US government is specifically forbidden to pay for any debt incurred by the Confederacy and will not compensate slaveholders for slaves lost because of emancipation.

Section 5 states that the Congress has the power to pass laws to enforce the provisions.

Today we think of equal rights as minority rights, but in many parts of the South after the Civil War blacks were in the majority. This was one of the reasons Southern states resisted giving blacks the right to vote. The whites would likely be voted out of office and blacks could hardly be expected to pass laws favorable to their former masters. Laws known as Black Codes were passed to restrict the rights of black citizens. (Des Chenes, 2009)

Congress needed to amend the constitution in order to have the power to regulate what the states did in that regard.

The main author of the 14^th amendment, John Bingham, had a vision of an ideal republic in which everyone would be Equal. He said, “The equality of all to the right to live, the right to know, to argue and to utter, according to conscience, to work and enjoy the product of their toil, is the rock on which the constitution rests, it’s sure foundation and defense." (Des Chenes, 2009)

Some people who argued against the bill were able to see a time when having this amendment in the constitution would lead to more rights for black men than anyone could imagine at the time. The Supreme Court has been arguing ever since about what the amendment implies.

In 1886 the Supreme Court case Yick Wo v. Hopkins, ruled that equal protection applied to everyone, including Chinese immigrants. This was the first time the law was acknowledged to apply to anyone besides black people. (Des Chenes, 2009)

The extent of the rights protected and the categories of people protected have continued to broaden gradually over the years. In 1896 in Plessy v. Ferguson, the Supreme Court decided that it was ok to provide separate accommodations to blacks and whites, as long as they were equal. In the 1954 decision Brown v. Board of Education, it was struck down, In this decision, the court ruled that in the modern era, the mere fact of segregation had a detrimental effect on the education of black children. (Des Chenes, 2009)

In his book Marriage, Loving, and the Law, Kermit Roosevelt writes that the equal protection law does not ban all discrimination, only discrimination that is intended to oppress a particular group or brand its members as inferior. If there is a rational justification for discrimination, it is not unconstitutional. There was a time when most people believed there was a rational justification for banning interracial marriage. Social attitudes change, as we can see now in respect to homosexuality. At some point in the future, attitudes may change enough that if the Supreme Court validates same sex marriage, we will say, "what took so long?" just the same way as we say that now about the decision in Loving v. Virginia, which struck down state laws against interracial marriage. (Des Chenes, 2009)

Currently, a number of states have enacted laws requiring voters to show an unexpired government photo ID before being allowed to cast a ballot. Some are saying that the push for photo identification cards carries echoes of the Jim Crow laws — with their poll taxes and literacy tests — that inhibited black voters in the South from Reconstruction through the 1960s. Election experts say minorities, poor people, students and older voters are among those least likely to have valid driver’s licenses, the most common form of identification. While defending its photo ID law before the Supreme Court, Indiana was unable to cite a single instance of actual voter impersonation at any point in its history. (Alvarez, 2011)

Also, conservative legislators from five states have opened a national campaign to end the automatic granting of American citizenship to children born in the

United States

of illegal immigrants. (Preston, 2010)

Recently, the White House ruled out the possibility that President Obama would cite the 14th Amendment to disregard the debt-limit law during the recent battle in congress as to whether to raise the debt limit. (Calmes, & Steinhhaer, 2011)

It looks as though the 14^th amendment will be revisited again and again as the US Supreme Court continues to interpret situations based on it.

Sources:

http://www.14thamendment.us/

Des Chenes, E. (2009). Amendment xiv: Equal Protection. Detroit: Greenhaven Press.

Preston, J. (2010, August 11). Births to illegal immigrants are studied. The New York Times, Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/12/us/12babies.html?ref=fourteenthamendment

Alvarez, L. (2011, May 28). Republican legislators push to tighten voting rules. The New York Times, Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/29/us/politics/29vote.html?ref=voterregistrationandrequirements

Calmes, J., & Steinhhaer, J. (2011, July 29). Rejecting the 14th amendment, again. The New York Times, Retrieved from http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/07/29/rejecting-the-14th-amendment-again/?scp=2&sq=14th%20amendment&st=cse

The 5 O'Clock Train is Leaving

2011-08-24T23:08:00.000-04:00

As you might imagine, people are pretty discouraged where I work. It has gone from fear to anger in pretty short order. Individuals are realizing that the extra hours and dedication they had previously displayed are for nothing, and they are finished. Now at 5pm we say, the 5 O'Clock train is leaving, and we get up and go.

I am so busy right now it is crazy. It is hard for me to take it easy. If someone does not get their work done, who suffers? The giant Corporation? No, it is the fellow ant I work with, who is scrambling like the rest of us. Just the same, I am not killing myself anymore.

The department down the hall is going through this. They have a slightly different version. They got e-mails informing them that those who are employed as "Strategic Thinkers" would remain employees. Those who are "implementers" would become contract workers. Translated into normal English from Bullshit Corporate Lingo, Implementors are those who actually do work. Strategic thinkers come up with words like "Rebadging." We asked the person who was reporting this to us what category she falls into, and she wasn't sure. She'll find out soon enough.

A Bit of Information:

2011-08-23T20:39:00.000-04:00

At 9:30 am we had a teleconference at work, our whole department, at all of the sites. (New Jersey and Pennsylvania) The short version is this, at the present time they are investigating 4 different agencies that we could be outsourced to. They will make a choice by end of September. From there, the transition will take 2 months. Merry Christmas.

After the meeting was over, we had our own meeting, to discuss the whole thing. One of the managers was there, and told us some of what he had observed. He said he had been involved in some of the negotiations. He said that most of these organizations had no intention of giving us any paid time off. Here we are worried that our big fat vacations are going to be gone, but really they will not even give you a paid holiday! This manager said he was fighting against this and thought we will end up doing better.

I think that white collar work is the new sweatshop. Of course there is not really any comparison, but we are really being squeezed, My husband said he would not blame me if I quit. I will wait the thing out and see how it goes. The problem is they really have us over a barrel. Everyone knows that the economy blows and it's hard to get any job. When the meeting was over I went right back to work, but I find it difficult to concentrate. We are all talking, trading rumors, grousing, cursing. Later in the day I made my appointment at the photo studio to have my picture taken. I told you, right? How we are doing a new campaign to promote our department and we are all having our pictures taken for the website. We will be bringing in props that show our personality. I may have mentioned that I think this is rather insensitive to do this at this time. Joe said to ignore it, which I did for a while, but they started to hound me. I figured that I might at least get a nice picture out of it. I decided to bring in a bunch of my books, since they would represent all of my interests. I am going to lay on the floor and read with them all around me. So I am talking to the photographer about this, and generally complaining about our situation, when 2 guys ran into the room and said, "Did you feel the earthquake?" We did not feel any earthquake. We were informed that the building had been evacuated.

I went back to my desk, and sure enough, the place was deserted. There was a 5.5 earthquake in Virginia and we had the after shocks. How do I manage to miss these things? And like I was not already distracted enough. Plenty of people felt it, but many didn't. Joe says that he was driving and didn't feel it. Kate was working in the supermarket and did not feel it.

At the end of the day, the manager I was telling you about called me into his office and shut the door, He said, "Don't lose hope, you may not lose your job." Immediately my heart sank. He said, "They will most likely keep one person to lead each department. You might lead your department." I don't know what to think. If I end up staying, things have got to change. I started mulling it over and thought, to hell with it. We'll see how it goes. I am so ready for change.

My Job Has Become Toxic

2011-08-23T00:14:00.000-04:00

It really does feel that way. Upon arriving at work this morning I could just feel the waves of anxiety roll through me. As I read through the e-mails I could feel the adrenaline filling me. I have done this job for years, 15 years. It is everything that does not come natural to me. It is fast paced, it requires a lot of organization, I have to deal with all kinds of people, most of whom are also way stressed out. Everything is ridiculous and a waste of time and blown way out of proportion. How have I done this for so long? The person I work with everyday is so completely opposite to my personality, and that in itself is taking a toll on me. This is a person who will tell you every detail of her health regardless how humiliating or disgusting. She is a person who will find endless amusement in the fact that we have worn the same color shirt one day. She will laugh like a hyena over any reference to a penis, breasts, ass or poop or any other stupid childish thing. And her work sucks.

You know when you have to pee really bad, and when you get near a toilet, when relief is in sight, it becomes especially unbearable? That's where I'm at with this job. I'm finally near a bathroom. It ain't funny.

And tomorrow morning at 9 am everyone in the department has been invited to participate in a teleconference with the big cheese. Please, please, put me out of my misery.

Meanwhile, I have stopped drinking. Here is what I miss about it. It is actually an activity. It was a thing my husband and I did together, an after work ritual. "Honey," he would say. "You want a drink?" and I would say yes. He would either get a bucket ready, fill it with ice and water and open a bottle of white wine, or he would mix a cocktail. Now, after work feels a little disjointed without this ritual. But what also has happened is I have a lot of energy. I am up late (It is 12:03 am) I am agitated and thinking a lot. It may seem counter intuitive, but I feel that I want to be wide awake for all of this. I don't want to be sedated. You might think this would be an ideal time to work in an art journal, but I can't do it. Yesterday I picked up a quilt that I started last year. I had it and some strips that I had sewn together, that needed to be attached, hanging from a clothesline in the basement. I sewed together those pieces and spread it out over the bed. This thing is not nearly wide enough. What was I going to do? What was my original plan? If there are more pieces to sew to this, where are they? I believe my concentration may have been ruined forever.

Which reminds me, I am dropping my college class. Fuck it. I got a bill from the college, and I had already paid it. So I called the bursar and argued the point, until it became apparent that I had not paid it. That was last semester. It seemed like yesterday. That's because it takes so long to submit the paper work and get the thing approved, that it had just been completed on August 8. You can see why it felt like I just paid it. I'm just doing too many things. I really need to let go and chill out. I was feeling bad, because it is my last chance to take a college class. See how diligent I am? So that's it, I'm going to be a giant slacker and NOT take a college class. Evil! Slut! Bitch!

The Fertile Void

2011-08-20T21:02:00.000-04:00

I'm reading this book called "50 is the New Fifty" It's a book that makes you understand that your life is at a crossroads, everything is about to change, you have no idea what's coming, hang on, it's going to be a bumpy ride. It is perfect for me right now. The author's name is Suzanne Braun Levine. I recommend it if you are a certain age and you really do feel like... what I just said.

I had some "women's trouble" surgery on Thursday, right after getting home from a little weekend in Cape May. I had been fretting about the surgery, even though this is a very common procedure and they kick you out as soon as you wake up. Part of what was freaking me was the anesthesia. The last time I had it was when I was 8 years old and I had my tonsils out. I think it was ether, and made me throw up later.This time I had an IV in my arm already, and the anesthesiologist said he would give me some Ibuprophen and an anti nausea medicine along with the knock out juice. As the medicine was going through my vein, it was hurting. The doctor could see i was uncomfortable, and rubbed my arm. At that moment I felt something wipe across my brain. It was the stuff. I said, that works fast. A few minutes later they roused me, I guess they were going to give me some further instruction? No, the operation was done! I laughed.

I was a little groggy, but I just felt better as the day went on. I sat my ass on the couch and watched DVD after DVD of Ken Burns the Civil War. I felt so indulgent, wicked almost. I had Friday off, and by then it was like it never happened.

I am making this event, or non event, kind of the beginning of a new phase in my life. As Suzanne calls it, my Fertile Void. I would say that very soon I will know my fate as far as my job goes. It seems very real that we will be made contractors. Get this, they call it being "re-badged." How's that for a giant load of crap? I was expecting to be bridged to retirement, meaning that I will get my pension somehow, either in a lump sum to be invested, or monthly when I become retirement age. Most people elect to get the lump sum. Who knows if there will be pensions when I finally retire. The other thing you can count on is severance pay based on your years of service. For me, that's like 6 months pay. Not a bad consolation prize. But wait! They've made a new rule. If you get laid off, that is the case, but if you get RE-BADGED, then it is 50%. Hey, wait a minute, rip off! Those bastards. This went into effect as of August 1, although we did not hear about it until just this week.

Meanwhile, my department is re-branding itself. We are changing our look and out colors and our mission statement. W are supposed to have our picture taken and bring along props that show our personality. Can you believe they are doing this in the middle of this turmoil??

I really want to quit. I want to try my hand at voice over work. I would gladly be the person who reads books on tape. Everyone is so scared. Everyone says, they are glad we will at least still have jobs. But I already work so hard at this job, do they expect me to do this job the same way with reduced benefits and likely new pay? At least I would like to do something different. I really can't take it any more.

So that is where I'm at. and I have suddenly quit drinking. Seemed like a good idea. I think I need to purify myself.

Should I Take a Web Class?

2011-08-06T08:06:00.001-04:00

I've already signed up for a class for the fall semester (possibly the last one my employer will pay for) but I have always thought it might be good to take a web course. If nothing else, I can figure out what I am doing with my blog. I just tried to look at a comment someone made here, and it told me I could not view it and that I had to change my java script settings. I clicked on this help button provided, and it was help for any kind of thing you could think of. I started scrolling through and after a couple of minutes just thought, "Hell with it." I can access the comments from the dashboard.

I forget what class I did take. Let me look it up...

Organizational ethics: This course focuses on the application of ethical theories and principles to organizational systems and decision-making. Emphasis will be placed on how ethical principles affect and are applied to organizational policy-making, leadership behavior, systems of communication, technology use, and other systems of organization.

This class, by the way, is listed under Philosophy. I have so many classes left to take for my Bachelor's degree. I was saving all the shitty classes for last, namely math, thinking that I could die before I finish and maybe never get around to taking Calculus. But I had a number of other options, I could take an Anthropology course, Political Science, Sociology, Linguistics. I looked under everyone of those subjects, and I had either taken a similar class, or I was not interested, or there was nothing. I moved on to my core Communication classes. Intro to Journalism? It's a writing intensive class, but probably useful. They are not offering it this semester. so, I ended up with Organizational Ethics. Drexel University is an expensive school, and I will not be able to continue without my tuition being paid. I think it would be pretty crazy to take on student loans at my age. Back to the web course, maybe it would make me a touch more marketable.

Yesterday I sat down to watch a documentary about the reconstruction. I turned on the TV, and the news was on and they were telling me that the credit of the US has been downgraded for the first time in history. Gee Wizzz, how interesting. I wonder what that will be like? They say interest rates will go up. Does that mean that the interest on my saving account will go up? Or does it only apply to money I want to borrow?

I think I will make an appointment with my financial advisor this week. This is another free service provided by the company I work for!

Here is a comment I had on yesterday's blog: "Chris at least you have a great attitude. Working isn't all it's cracked up to be. I'm racking my brain on how we can make the break and move to an island or Costa Rica or the Yucatan in Mexico."

I hear that. Work sucks. I really want to make some changes. I would not mind living somewhere different. I'm not sure if that is a midlife kind of dissatisfaction thing or what. Joe and I want to live in Italy. Too bad they are now falling to pieces, plus, I don't think Italians have an easy time finding jobs either. Any kind of wonderings like this are always punctuated by the "What about Kate?" thing. I can't leave her behind, and if I don't really know what i would do in Italy, what the hell would Kate do? Start learning Italian?

More later. I'm going to try to make art today.

My Poor Neglected Blog

2011-08-05T17:25:00.000-04:00

Hey, check out these postcards. These are ones that I have sent:

I'm up to my ass in the civil war, but that's OK, pretty interesting.Summer is moving quickly along, like it always does. Next weekend I am going to Cape May for 4 days, always good fun.

Meanwhile, the world economy is falling apart. Just before the debt ceiling fight was resolved, I chucked a bunch of money in my 401K into a money market. When they were done, something told me not to take it out. The stock market has been going down ever since. I may be able to retire when I am 80 years old. Just to add a touch more excitement, the company I work for, which became gigantic after they merged with another company, announced they are cutting 12,000 jobs. I did not think that they were finished with the layoffs they announced last year. Right after that announcement was made, the Vice President of my group sent an e-mail warning us that we were going to get hit. Right after THAT, my manager sent an e-mail to say that surely we would be affected.

I always knew this day would come, but really, I don't exactly know how it would go down. I'm in the graphic art department, and that has absolutely nothing to do with the core business of this company. Pretty much since I started here in 1997, the idea has floated that they could eliminate us at any time. Maybe we will revert to contractor status. Meanwhile, I have accumulated 5 weeks vacation, a pension and probably 6 months severance. Yo, it's the vacation that really has me down.

When this kind of thing happens, you see the people you work with fall into 2 camps. Those who freak out, and those who don't. I am happy to say that I am not freaking out. It is not because I am such an amazing person. It's just my personality. Last year, the company decided to shut down for Christmas week, meaning that every one had to use vacation days for that. Some people freaked out because they were being told when to use their vacation. Not surprisingly, these are the same people who are freaking out now. They just don't deal well with change.

We should know what is going down by the end of October. I know it's looney, but part of me is excited. What will I do next??? Possibly rot on unemployment until it runs out. I hope that is not the case, but what I do know is that I am not "screwed" as the freak out people are describing themselves. I would guess that my good paycheck days are over, but they aren't going to kill me. I can still enjoy life. Joe and I were talking about how much we could live without. Plenty. Glad I went to Italy when I did!

Joe is at a motorcycle rally this weekend. I don't have a whole lot to do apart from turn in an essay about how Philadelphia should promote tourism during the 150th anniversary of the Civil War. (I'm struggling, because Philadelphia is pretty much all about the Revolutionary War) I have been unable to sit down and make art for a long time. A couple times I sat in front of a bunch of half finished Journal pages and pretty much just spaced out. I need a lot of time to get creative. Maybe I will drink a lot of wine tonight and stay up very late.

The person I work with has been on vacation all week. I am here doing all the work by myself and it has been heaven. She really stresses me out. If I lose my job, one big plus would be never having to hear her bitch again. I'll have to hear an hour of why things went wrong during her time off when she gets back Monday.

Hey, check out these postcards. These are ones that I have sent:

Postcards from the World

2011-07-28T17:28:00.000-04:00

from China

Germany

Netherlands

Finland

At Least I am Getting Postcards

2011-07-17T08:14:00.000-04:00

I'm sitting here on a beautiful summer morning, contemplating my life. Why would anyone do such a thing? I'm doing it to avoid doing my US History homework. I am such a jackass for taking a course during the summer, that I can't stand myself. I skipped a semester in the spring when I went to Italy, so I figured I had better take one now. I'm stuck in some terrible ruts in my life. I ask myself the same questions over and over and never come to any conclusions, I can see the way to make my life easier, but I'm loathe to take action. I just hate disappointing people. My husband has encouraged me to take these college classes, my boss is happy that I decided to go back to school, and the company I work for pays my way. The final clincher is that I ENJOY the learning experience. But, it's killing me. Am I being a baby? Should I just tough it out? I will get a degree, when? I'm not even sure, but it is many years. I am 50 years old now. GROAN! I have been over this so many times. It's horrible.

Meanwhile, I am having fun with Postcrossing. A great diversion. I find the group to be divided into 2 very general catagories: Those who are in it because they collect postcards, and this is a way to get more of them, and those who think it is neat to get postcards from any random place in the world. I think I might enjoy sending them slightly more than receiving them.

Postcrossing has what I consider a very sophisticated website. It's an interesting combination of snail mail and current technology. Every participant is registered. You can supply an avatar and write yourself a profile where you let the community know what kinds of things you are interested in and what kind of postcards you will like to receive, You cannot make any demands and other Postcrossers are under no obligation to send you what you ask for. Despite that, I have seen many people write long lists of what they don't want. Most people seem to hate homemade cards. I guess home made could mean almost anything. I am imagining collaged and rubber stamped creations, but I have read on forums that some folks will cut a picture out of a magazine and glue it to a piece of card stock and send it. I actually find that idea interesting. To see what clipping they chose to use. Also, people hate ad cards. I think I mentioned this before, some of them are pretty interesting. As I have no expectations, I guess I m happy to have some anticipation of what will be in my mailbox when I get home. I do look at everyone's profile and see if I have anything that matches what they like. I came into this with a very big collection of cards. I just love postcards and would always end up with extra ones after a vacation. Sometimes I would buy them jut because I thought the picture is cool. I seem to be having no trouble letting go of them now. Of course, I am also buying new ones. I am buying what ever local ones I can find. Frenchtown is not a big place. The local drug store has this one view of the Frenchtown Bridge over to Pennsylvania, that's it. Of course there are historical landmarks all over the place around here. I just sent someone a Washington's Crossing postcard.

Anyway, here is my favorite postcard so far. It is a handmade one from the Netherlands. This guy just cut the top of a candy box and used it as a card. On his profile he specifically asks for that kind of card. It is his way of being green, plus, again, I think it would be cool to see what people come up with.

Well, here is what this guy managed to get through the mail. It was in very good shape, too. Wouldn't you think that it would get bent or crushed or something? I requested his address so I can send him a similar card. Understand that your address is not just listed on your profile. When you are eligible to send a postcard, you are given a random address to send a card to. At this point in my membership I am allowed to have 5 postcards traveling at one time. When someone receives their card, I am "rewarded" by being allowed to send another. Each address comes with a number. You must put this number on your postcard. When the person gets your card, they go to the postcrossing website and they register it. At that point your address is in the pool to be given to someone else. Currently I have 5 postcards traveling. One of them has been on it's way to the Ukraine for 24 days!!!! for cryin' out loud!

Here is the question I am not answering right now:

Question #1: Slavery existed in North America for centuries before the founding of the United States, and for many most of a century afterwards. Many of the "founding fathers" owned slaves. The United States before the Civil War was truly a nation "half-slave" and "half-free." How do you explain the longevity of slavery in America? What were the forces that kept the system in place? What events before 1861 signaled that the end of slavery might be coming, or that a serious national conflict over the issue was more and more a possibility?

I know the answer t this question, but I need to formulate it in to a coherent answer with citations by midnight tonight. Crap! I really think I am not going to take classes anymore after this. Maybe this would be somewhat feasible if I did not have a disabled child to deal with. Life is too short to be so frustrated all the time.

A Minor Obsession

2011-06-23T14:20:00.000-04:00

I'm kind of addicted to Postcrossing now. I am allowed to send out 5 postcards to start, then I have to wait for people to register them. When the postcards are registered, my address will start popping up for people who want to send postcards. I have sent 3 cards, and I have a 4th address. Every day I am requesting one address. Tomorrow will be my last address, and then I have to wait wait wait. Here is what I am obsessed with. When I get an address, I click on that person's profile and read what they have written about themselves. Usually they will tell you some basic info about themselves, but then they usually write extensively about what kind of postcards they want to receive. It can get very specific. So many people want lighthouse cards. Also, cards with specific animals (Cows are popular) and cards with food. Many people say they don't want ad cards. Have you ever seen racks of those cards, say by the entrance of a restaurant? I think some of those cards are cool. Some folks request stamps, lots of them, making sure they get canceled, some people want their cards sent in an envelope. There seems to be just 2 minds about hand made postcards; people love them or hate them. I said i would be happy to get any card. I don't especially collect them, for me I think it is more about contact with the world out there.
After you read the profile of the person who's address you have, you can look at the wall of postcards they have received. (Members can scan and upload the pics of their postcards, if they want to) From there you can click on any postcard and read the profile of the person who sent it. Then you can look at their postcard wall, and click on one of their cards and read another profile. Repeat again and again until you have wasted a lot of the day, and finally you have to get up and do some real work.
Here are the countries I have sent cards to in the last few days: Netherlands Ukraine, Sweden and now Belorus. I wish I could get cards from Italy, but it is random.
I have a big stack of postcards hanging around. I'm hoping I can use a lot of them up.

Postcrossing

2011-06-21T13:42:00.000-04:00

I've been all about Art Journals lately. I was looking at a website for the 1000 journals project. Someone has 1000 journals wandering around the globe. Should you be lucky enough to get one, you are supposed to add to it and then it gets sent back when it is finished. A lot of them are AWOL, no one knows who has them. The person who started the project says they would feel fortunate to get 50 of them back.
There were other links on the site, one of them for Postcrossing. It is a site where you exchange postcards with random people. I used to be involved in a pen pal zine a long time ago. I don't remember what it was called. Anyway, since I have nothing else to do (joke) I signed up for it and I have sent my first postcard. Once that card is received and registered, I will be eligible to receive postcards. A nice diversion.

I also started my American History class (1815 to 1900) yesterday. Looks like that will keep me busy. Tonight Kate has some kind of tie-dye class, I will chill at Borders while she is there. I am at work, and I can barely stay engaged. Someone put me out of my misery here (I know, be careful what you wish for) I've kind of given in to my ADD for now. No point in trying to stay focused on any one thing.

Reenactment of the Battle of Monmouth, NJ

2011-06-20T17:23:00.000-04:00

On fathers day my family and I went to see the reenactment of the Battle of Monmouth. It was cool because, not only does my dad love history, but my son has joined the First NJ regiment. My son is the guy in the tri-corner hat.

Journal #2

2011-06-12T16:57:00.000-04:00

The Great Hamster of Alsace

2011-06-10T13:38:00.000-04:00

I'm not kidding, there is an article in the NY Times today about this. It is about a very large wild hamster (10 inches) that is losing habitat in the Alsace region of France. France has been ordered by the courts to do more to protect this hamster.

It's a classic summer Friday where I work. Most everyone participates in the summer hours program, where you work an extra hour every night, but then get a half day on Friday. The nature of my job requires that someone be available in the department at all times, so my workmate and I take turns having Summer hours. It is her turn today, but I've had a whopping 5 e-mails so far today, so I'm just chillin' over here. This is why I have time to blog.

This morning I took Kate to the College of New Jersey so that she could compete in the Special Olympic Summer games. She's been doing this since she is 13. (She will be 28 this year.) I've given myself the Saturday of Summer Olympics off for years now. I'll go back on Sunday morning to watch her play her last matches and then hang for the awards before we all go out for lunch afterward.

My extremely social husband has already lined us up to go to dinner with a couple we know. I personally would rather just hang around, maybe make some art, but, whatever.We don't get a lot of Kate-free time. I would like to finish up an art journal I have been working on. My method is to prepare a number of sheets for the journal, and then work on filling both sides of those sheets. When they are done, that's a journal, and I bind it together. I have finished one other. I generally don't enter contests or try out for juried shows; it usually is a lot of work and I get hopeful but it ends in rejection. I did send my first journal to "Journal Arts" Magazine. Maybe they can use a couple of pages. We'll see. The thing is, I bent one of their many submission rules. I was supposed to send a check sto cover the cost to return the journal if they didn't want it, but instead I sent a pre-paid UPS envelope. Is that acceptable? Will they now throw it into the trash with no comment?

At any rate, I hope to take pictures of the journal I am working on now, this weekend. I've been meaning to do that for weeks. How does time pass so quickly? Why do I feel so busy all of the time? I haven't been bored in 20 years.

Joe went riding too fast on his motorcycle, a couple of weekends ago, so Kate and I went to NYC. There isn't a lot of Joe-free time, either. We went to the Museum of Folk art and saw a great quilt show. They also have a lot of other stuff in their collection, such as some of the coolest weather vanes you are likely to ever see. One thing we do every time we go into the city is go to a store called "Conway's." Conway's has the cheapest clothes I have ever seen. It is a giant guilt trip, because you know slave labor made these throw-away clothes, and, like I need anything? One thing that helps me not buy nearly as much as I might is that they have no dressing rooms. You are flying in the dark there. I did manage to buy a Indian style skirt in bright orange. I was really struck by the color. And the fact that it was $7. Now I spend my spare time looking for shirts to go with it. Dumb, dumb, dumb. After that we went to China town, just because we had not been there in so long. Kate and I both bought $3 sandals out of a bucket there. I bought soap just for the wrappers. (The soap always smells terrible, but the graphics on the wrappers are so cool.) I bought the plastic for shrinky dinks. I always wanted to mess around with that stuff. (I haven't done it yet) Maybe I can do that this weekend?

Well, when I start writing stream-of-consciousness-style, I know it is time to give it a rest.

New Work on Etsy

2011-05-23T15:09:00.000-04:00

For what it's worth, I put a couple of things on Etsy. These items have been finished for months. The art journal work I have been doing is notably darker... in content. Pictures of that tomorrow.

Today is a Good Day

2011-05-21T12:57:00.000-04:00

For one thing, it is sunny! That's a big deal in NJ right now. I've completed 3 journal pages. I have, I think, 3 more and this journal is done. My journal method is to prepare a set number of pages all at once, but then wok on them until they are used up and then bind the whole thing together. I managed to salvage the messed up journal page, and did 2 more. I am mostly using things from italy: photographs that I have taken, wine labels, cheese labels, pan forte labels, business cards, stamps, etc. I'll take a couple of pictures.

That reminds me. I have 2 items that I need to photograph to put on Etsy. I haven't added anything new in months. (Etsy, charming hobby, right? Is anyone selling anything there? Actually, I just sold a $4 collage. I guess I'd better dig that up and ship it out, too.)

You Women are So Awsome

2011-05-20T15:41:00.000-04:00

I blog in spurts, but just the same my followers hang on. And when I manage to post, they Comment!!! Thanks for the comments coming from the following fellow bloggers: Idaho Beauty , Kim Hambrick and This Girl's Art.

Thanks for your words of encouragement and commiseration. I guess life is just a bunch of crap most of the time. It's 3 pm at work, 2 more hours and I am out of this hell hole! I had a little surprise yesterday when I got home. Kate said that social group had been canceled due to the weather. It was raining. I guess it was raining pretty hard, but, it's been raining pretty much since March, so, big deal. I ran with it, though, and did a whole journal page. I desaturated one of my Italy photos, (the angels with the flaming heart. Didn't I post that yesterday?) and I went over it in pen and ink, and journaled over the negative space. When I was finished, I really liked it, but I realized that I did not leave a margin on the side for binding. I hate do-overs, but I think I am going to do this over. Also, I was using an old nib pen, I could not believe how badly it was performing. I kept using it for the sake of consistency. When I was done I threw it out.
Your reward for listening: More pictures! This time, it's Venice. I am posting views from our hotel room. The guy, of course, is Joe.

I Try To Do Too Many Things

2011-05-19T11:23:00.000-04:00

I was sitting in Borders the other night, (thankfully, this one is not closing) looking through a stack of books and magazines.I often hang out at Borders while I wait for Kate to be finished with this or that activity. Joe and I decided to re do the walkway through our backyard that leads to the garage area. It is made of concrete and it is a broken, sunken-down mess. I was going to buy a book about laying down a brick walk, but decided that the public library is a better bet. So instead of books about walks, I was looking at books about art journaling. I started getting a minor anxiety attack. First of all, I was looking at the books and thinking, what is the point of looking at this stuff? It does not bring me any closer to making my own art, and further more, it tempts me to buy ever more cool supplies for art I don't have time to make. Why don't I have time to make art???

So, I start to play that movie in my head again. I have to take Kate to... everywhere... at least 2 nights per week. My parents come on Wednesday, and I food-shop one day per week. My car is a disgusting mess and I need to clean it. I need to order another seat cover for the driver's seat, because the current one is shredded. (What would the actual seat look like if I had never covered it in the first place?) I've gained 16 pounds and I look fat again. I should exercise more. I need to live a long time and take care of Kate. I like to garden. When I got back from Italy, the lawn was knee high and the various beds were taken over with weeds. I have been trying to catch up ever since. I have some more to do before I am ready for summer. I am trying to re-create the gardens of Italy... mainly artfully arranged terracotta pots. I looked into buying the huge Italian pots I saw. I may as well just save a little extra money and just go back again. My suitcase is still in the living room from my trip to Italy, from which I returned on May 7. I want to sort through all of our trip photos and do something really cool with them. I signed up for another college course. I usually take the summer quarter off, but since I took the Spring quarter off for my trip, I am taking a course, History again. (1815 to 1900) I drink too much wine. I need new glasses. Our garage needs to be painted. We have an ant problem in the kitchen. We have 2 trees in the front of our house that need to be taken down. My son isn't doing that well. Not awful, but not great. He seems kind of lost and unfocused. He and Joe have some friction. Joe gets mad because my son eats all of the corn chips, I'm worried that he will never get off the ground to real adulthood.

So, I have this movie playing in my head, and I start to quietly freak out. I realize that I can't focus on anything. I guess it is because I try to focus on too much. So, I look at art magazines as the next best thing to actually making art. (I wonder how many people do this?) I think, what thing can I cut out out of my life? I started this "shop from home" thing with my supermarket, but it has become so popular that often times I can't get the time slot I want! I want to pick up the food on the way home from work. Well surprise, so does everyone else! The last time I ended up just doing the shopping myself after all. I am definitely reducing the number of garden beds I have now. I can ask my parents not to come on Wednesdays any more. But I don't really want to do that, they seem to look forward to it all week. I can cut down on Kate's activities. Well, that is her whole life, all of her social interaction. Yikes, I forgot to mention, I am having some health issues! There is a "procedure" in my future. There is something that will clog your brain. Maybe I should stop taking college courses?

FYI these images were taken in Florence

I Was Just in Italy, Wasn't I?

2011-05-18T13:07:00.000-04:00

Of course, I'm kidding. I surely was there. I just got dumped awfully fast back into my regular life. Joe says that, ultimately, it is a mistake to do things like this, because it sets up in you a yearning that cannot be satisfied. (At least, not for us. Not right now.) the man has a point, but I don't regret going, even if my life is... not in Italy. I have so much to say about this trip. Mainly I can say it was a visual feast. Rome was our first stop and we were blown away. Joe really summed it up, as we were laying in bed that second night, unable to sleep. He said, "I feel like I am vibrating."

We would get up every morning, have our hotel breakfast, and start walking. We walked every day from the Trastavare neighborhood in Rome, over one of the bridges to the main area. Every street had some interesting thing. A cool doorway, a door knocker, a statue, a Madonna shrine on a wall, a cafe, a tiny Italian car, a fountain, a church, an alley, I mean, it was endless. And on several occasions, we rounded a corner and were confronted with ancient ruins! Joe and I each had our own cameras. Between us, we took around 2000 photographs. (digital images?)

The pictures here are from a tiny town in the Chianti region of Tuscany named Montefioralle. We visited a number of these walled towns. Some are big tourist destinations, they usually have extensive shopping. (Radda and San Gimignano come to mind) These towns are fun, but Joe and I visited 2 that were really just small towns where people live. The other town like that we visited was Monte San Sovino. We were enchanted to say the least. These pictures are at hand, so I am posting these now. I am sorting through everything, I've narrowed it down to about 1400 good pictures. Someone at work said they would help me make a DVD out of it that could be "played" on our TV.

There was a long traffic light at both ends of Montefiralle. That was because the road was so narrow, 2 card could not fit. Everyone had to take a turn. The guy on the motorbike is waiting his turn, but he is holding a large branch of flowers. I just liked him.

Altri 3 giorni fino a quando le mie vacanze

2011-04-19T16:12:00.000-04:00

This means, "3 more days until my vacation." In Italian. I'm at work right now and quite frankly I could not care less. I'm extremely distracted. Joe and I are out of here Friday afternoon, arriving in Rome Saturday morning. After all these months of dreaming and planning, it is going to happen. Car is rented, museum vouchers in hand, train tickets, Euros. I even figured out how to use that i-pad thing. I needed to download a special app to upload pictures to face book. I still don't know how to get them onto the blog, so I guess it will be about facebook on this trip. It's weird, I have no clothes to wear right now because I am saving everything for the trip, even my best underwear. My husband says you should really wear your worst underwear and just throw it away as you go. We also considered not bringing any clothes at all and just buying a wardrobe in Rome. (That was a joke.)

I am spending a lot of my time today looking at restaurant websites and putting the menu options through Google translator. Coniglio in umido is rabbit stew. Cinghiale is wild boer. I've also discovered that gas prices in Italy are the third highest in the world, at about $6 per gallon. (The most expensive is Norway, at about $6.50) The cheapest gas? Venezuela, at .12 per gallon. No kidding.

Anyway, we have rented a little tiny Italian standard shift car. This does not confront me in the least, I feel most comfortable in a small car, and I understand you can feel a lot safer because there are virtually all small cars there. No SUVs to run you over. Of course, all of this is cancelled out by crazy Italian driving. At least, this is what I hear. I'll let you know my impressions.

I-pad?

2011-04-14T19:52:00.000-04:00

They lent me an I-pad at work to keep everyone posted about my trip (8 more days!)
I could upload pics from face book or to this blog... Except, I can't. apparently, since I-pad does not use flash, you can't upload photos in the usual way. Let me try it...

No, you can not do it! to be continued

100th Anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

2011-03-21T11:27:00.000-04:00

Read the story of this tragedy here. It is awful, but has fascinated me for years. It could have been one of my relatives there, I know a number of them worked in sweatshops.

Italian Lessons

2011-03-16T10:08:00.000-04:00

Clarification on Italian lessons: It is an online thing called "Mango" and we do it through the county library. You go at your own pace. There have been some cuts at our library, I hope they still offer it.

Kim Hambric has offered me some advice based on her recent trip to Barcelona. She feels that it becomes easier to communicate in a foreign country after drinking a glass of wine. This is the kind of practical information I am looking for, thank you very much!

I am reading a guide book about Venice and becoming overwhelmed with choices. Really, you could spend 2 weeks in any of the places I will be in; Rome, Tuscany/Florence, Venice. I want to go to the Arena Chapel to see the works by Giotto. Giotto is pretty much the first renaissance painter and I have always loved his work. Some rich guy commissioned this chapel to get his father into heaven a few hundred years ago.

I understand that it is in Padua, which is a half hour train ride from Venice. Seems crazy not to see it while I am there.

Countdown to Italy

2011-03-15T19:59:00.000-04:00

I just handed in my final paper for American History to 1815. I had to write an essay about an aspect of David McCullough's book 1776. That was a really good book, a page turner, even. My husband read it and found it very interesting. Here is a quote from the book that I love:

"It was an army of men accustomed to hard work, hard work being the common lot. They were familiar with adversity and making do in a harsh climate. Resourceful, handy with tools, they could drive a yoke of oxen or "hove up" a stump or tie a proper knot as readily as butcher a hog or mend a pair of shoes. They knew from experience, most of them, the hardships and setbacks of life. Preparing for the worst was second nature. Rare was the man who had never seen someone die."

So that's it for another quarter. I now have nothing major to think about except our trip to Italy. We leave in 38 more days!!!!!!!! On Sunday we came across a doomed Borders Bookstore and purchased two guidebooks and a map of Florence @ 30% off . We are going to pick up our online Italian lessons again. I figure if we can ask for a glass of red wine we are OK.

As for art, I haven't touched any in quite a couple of weeks. I have some sheets of paper prepared for the next art journal. I used water color paper and did various water color washes on each page as a base. I can already see it isn't for me. It looks nice but you can't go over it with any kind of liquid as it smears the color. As they say, there are no mistakes, so I will just push on. I have been messing around with some photographs I took myself to avoid that copy right thing. I have pondered the question of what I have learned from making an art journal, and I still don't have much to articulate. I loosely put pages together based on theme, not date, but then I was pleased to find that they somehow went together aesthetically as well. That might just be serendipity. I learned that when stamping out words with rubber stamps, no matter how hard I try to concentrate, eventually I will space out to the point that I will stamp a letter sideways or upside down. Working in little chunks like that suits me. This is all I got right now.

Here is a picture of a stump that I see on my walk along the old rail bed in town. I took the heart shape in the middle and grayed it out in Photoshop. Someday I am going to paint that part of the stump pink.

Have I lLearned Anything?

2011-03-07T06:47:00.000-05:00

I've been away for the weekend, just visiting with friends, and work has been so busy. I just dumped all of the photos of the art journal on Friday after work and ran. Idaho Beauty has asked me if I have learned anything from this project. The short answer is yes, but I'm going to have to ponder that for a while. It will give me something fun to think about while I toil away today. I'll report back later. One thing I will say is that I already have the next one started.

Art Journal Completed

2011-03-04T18:03:00.000-05:00

I'm Hot...

2011-02-25T16:06:00.000-05:00

...still.
As you can see from the collage in my last post, I am having hot flashes and night sweats that prevent me from sleeping enough. I also feel cranky. I haven't busted out crying yet, I feel more on the angry side. I work with someone who is lame at best, and I am not able to deal with her well these days. I feel like screaming, "What the fuck, you've been working here 10 years!" She tends to act stupid about things in an effort to get you to say, oh, never mind, I'll do it. Often, it works.
But anyway, Art. It's about art. I've been working as much as I can on my art journal. I'm enjoying it very much. I'm usually too busy to do much during the week, but I try to slip into the cellar-studio and stamp a word on a collage, or iron a piece of fabric I know I will use soon, or file some color copies I made at work. I came across the absolutely cutest picture of a dog in the newspaper. I'm going to use him in at least one collage and maybe on the cover of my journal book, but I don't like using news print. Not sturdy, not terribly archival. I generally don't worry about that, but newspaper is over the line. So, I took the clipping to work to copy it to better paper. I'm also not usually a fan of cute, but this dog is too much. The headline of this article was, "Who are you calling ugly?" but that dog is so not ugly. Here, let me show you a link:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/13/fashion/13DOGS.html?scp=2&sq=mexican%20dog&st=cse

Look how worried he is! Don't you just want to hug him and tell him everything is OK???? I think his main problem is he has no hair, otherwise, he is fine. Anyway, he is my new buddy/ icon and I will use him in collages. I was thinking about submitting my art journal to one of those magazines for consideration when it is finished, but they warn you not to use copyrighted images or words. What constitutes that? I mean, someone took this picture, and it wasn't me. I don't think that there is a problem if I cut this out of the newspaper and use it, but what if I make a color copy? What happens if it appears in a magazine? Is it OK if I haven't made any money? These are my questions. I will go ahead, but I don't know what it all means. There is a long tradition of artists using clippings in collage.

Meanwhile, keeping the idea of copyright images in the back of your mind, it does compel us to make and use our own images. We can take our own pictures, alter them by hand and by hand, and we can draw. Or, I can try to draw. I think that even if my drawing is kinda sucky, it is authentic.

I have a lot of finished collage, but I keep forgetting to bring them to work for scanning every day. Pictures soon.

New Journal Work

2011-02-17T14:26:00.000-05:00

Traces Left Behind

2011-02-14T13:36:00.000-05:00

Joe and Kate and I went to an antique mall yesterday, Gristie's in Buck's County. I was excited, because, not only had I never been to this place, but I had been itching to go antiquing for a while. I wanted to find some interesting ephemera for my collages. I found this little book with the name of a club on it, kind of like an record of dances with people. I believed that I had something from a country club, maybe with some record of this archaic ritual. The handwriting looked old, and the graphics in the book looked old. When I got home, I realized that the entries in the book started in 1982. That's not too old in my world. It has to be from before I was born to be considered old. I was reading the entries, and some of the people who signed the book had rubber stamps of themselves! One guy had glued a mini picture of himself. He seemed to be on stage with a microphone.
I Googled the name of the club, which is The Century Club in Westfield, MA. So, get this. The century club is a square dance club. Here is a quote from the website:

"The Century Club was introduced to Square Dancers at Ralph Sweets Powdermill Barn in Hazardville, Conn. on August 26, 1960. It was the idea of two couples who had graduated in May of that year. After having danced to twenty callers already they deemed it possible to dance to 100 different callers and perhaps get other dancers to circulate and dance to other callers at different clubs."

So, you send them a couple of bucks and they send you this little book, which is like a passport, and you get signatures of the different callers. It is designed to encourage people to travel and meet different square dancers. It says on the website that after you fill one book with 100 callers, your next book is GOLD! Well, my book is gold and it does indeed start with number 101. It's got the couple's name right in the front of the book, Lyle and Helen. The first 2 pages have signatures that were written on a separate piece of paper and glued in. I am thinking that this was done because they had to wait for their new book. I pulled one of the separate pieces of paper off, it was Lyle's business card. He was a travel agent. When you look through the book you can see that these people did indeed travel far and wide to square dance. Milner, North Dakota, Aurora Colorado, Bethlehem, PA, Los Angeles, California, Abilene, Texas, Altoona, PA.

At the bottom it says, "Song about a Pig."

The entries stop abruptly in 1992, at number 175. I was wondering what happened, so I Googled Lyle. I did not find an obituary for Lyle, but I did find one for Helen. She was a school nurse at Metuchen High School, and she died in 2008 at 85 years old. Lyle died in 2002.

I find this fascinating. First of all, that you can find this little thing that someone left behind, and that you can discover a little snippet about their life just with a few keystrokes. I wish like hell I had a picture of these folks. As it is I am excited about making a collage with these pages. I've also figured out that this is why I am so interested in old things. People used them in their lives. Everyone dies, life is so short, what is left of us? Just these little traces. If we haven't done anything amazing, there is maybe a tombstone, some photographs, and now digital records.

Happy VD!

2011-02-14T09:56:00.000-05:00

2011-02-10T13:19:00.000-05:00

Here is another Journal page. I have had the pictures of the shells running along the left side, I am not kidding, for probably 8 years. See that blue circle grid thing? I've had that at least as long. I have about ten more of those. Here is the story about those.
When my son was still in high school, he was fascinated with industrial ruins. We had a huge abandoned GAF factory in the town we lived in at the time and he was always trespassing in there. I was afraid he would fall down a hole and we'd never see him again. One time we were driving somewhere down a back road, and we came upon an abandoned quarry. I agreed to stop and look around. I must admit I am also interested in ruins. We explored all of the buildings and in one room was some kind of recording equipment. By that I mean people must have punched something, or a mark was made on these circular sheets of paper when "something" occurred. As you can see a circle represents a 24 hour day. I have used these things in a number of collages over the years. I feel happy about using stuff that I have had around so long. I've maintained a rather precious attitude about these things in the past. In other words, I've liked some of them so much, that I didn't really want to use them. Now, if it is the perfect item for a piece of art, no hesitation, I am just going to use it.

One More Thing...

2011-02-09T15:19:00.002-05:00

Here is a little addition to my recent post. Someone sent me this link.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20110209/us_time/httpnewsfeedtimecom20110208smartphonesinscatholicchurchapprovesconfessionbyiphonexidrssfullnationyahoo

I find it rather amusing.

Pray, Hope, and Don't Worry

2011-02-09T13:29:00.001-05:00

I uploaded this picture and I'm thinking of how I am going to explain it. It is the story of Our Lady of Guadalupe. How does this fit as a journal entry? I don't know. When I started this collage, I just had the background. I have 8 boards for this project, and I painted and/or put transfers on the front and back of each board right at the start. So, I took this one background and started looking for an image. Wait. Maybe I had the image and started looking for a background? I forget, but these two were meant for each other. So now what? Something made me think religion. These people look like they don't have it too easy. I would bet they pray for help. So, I began to look through my saint cards. Some of them are in Spanish. I was thinking Padre Pio. It turns out that though the card is in Spanish, he was Italian. In the end I chose OL of G. She is just so colorful, and what a great story. You simply cannot beat Catholicism for colorful stories and saints. So in the end, I wrote out a condensed version of the story on the collage. There is no direct connection to the imagery, but I feel OK with that. I feel like it isn't hard for someone to make a connection by themselves.

Back to the beginning, when I was thinking of how to talk about this collage, it occurred to me that I could do a book of Saint collages. I'm all over the place with this, no telling where it is heading. But seriously, if you click on the Padre Pio link and read his story... amazing. I could do a book just on saints that had the stigmata! If that isn't enough, Pio is the "unofficial" patron saint of stress relief and the January Blues. WTF??? (You've heard? January 22 has been declared the most depressing day of the year. There is significant research behind this) This is because of his famous saying, "Pray, Hope, and Don't Worry."

Art and Fear

2011-02-08T13:14:00.000-05:00

Art and Fear is a book I read a long time ago that talks about the realities of being an artist. I highly recommend this book to anyone who makes art. One thing they bring up is how it is possible for you think your art doesn't look like art. It doesn't look like other people's art, therefore, it isn't right. I suffer this a lot. I have been working on an art journal. I'm not sure what I want it to be exactly, since I have never made one before. I've been all over the internet looking at examples of Art Journals and have come across videos on techniques. I made 2 pages and I liked them very much. But, now, a few days later, I'm not sure. The problem, I believe, is my handwriting. First of all I'm not even sure I have anything to say. Also, how much do I want to reveal? It's hard to envision any piece of art I could make that would not be seen by anyone. I could not imagine what kind of art I would make with the idea that no one would ever see it but me! But, I digress. My handwriting looks like my handwriting. Not what one commonly sees on this type of work. Sometimes it is old handwriting from some piece of ephemera. Sometimes it is rubber stamped or printed. So, when I see my own handwriting on the page it doesn't look right. It doesn't look like art. I'm resisting the urge to not use my own writing. Of course, it is unique to me, and where else can you get that?

Joe was away all weekend skiing, so I spent a lot of time art-making and some time watching TV. Joe and I never watch TV. When he is not around, and I am doing hand-work, I like something on the TV that I can listen to while I work, like a documentary. At any given time, there really is almost nothing I am interested in. Often times I will land on Discovery Health. On Sunday I caught this show about some clinic in NYC for morbidly obese people. Generally what finally gets these people into the clinic is some other disorder that no surgeon will operate on until they weigh 400 pounds or under. That gives you the idea of how big these people are, typically 500 or 600 pounds. One guy had some kind of tumor on his leg that was absolutely huge, like, it took over his whole leg. They kept showing close ups of it and him trying to move around with this thing. It was so disgusting, yet you could not look away, know what I mean? He had been in the clinic for 2 years and had gained 36 pounds! I'm watching this and thinking that it was almost like porn, it was so strangely titillating (Not in a sexual way for me, but I understand there are people out there like this) that it really was exploiting the people on the show. There are so many overweight people in this country, I'm thinking part of an appeal of this show is so that you can say, "At least I'm not like that!" and feel pretty good about yourself. On top of all this is the commercials that repeat over and over again. If you don't watch TV you aren't used to this and it drives you crazy in a hurry. I probably won't watch TV again until Joe goes away for a weekend again.

Back to art, I found a web sight that lets you download images for free. I believe it is called The Graphics Fairy or something like that. Then I found another connected to Art e-zine, which is out of the UK. I downloaded some stuff, but I'm kind of unsure about all of it. I want images that no one else has. That means going into an antique store and finding you own ephemera and photographs. Maybe this weekend? My art journal will have 8 boards, which means 16 pages. I need Joe to drill them for me. I have a seashell on one of the pages, and I should have waited until he drilled first, but I was too impatient. I wish he would do this tonight, but we already have a date to go food shopping after work. We are in code white as far as food goes. Code white is when you open the fridge and your eyes are blinded by the whiteness--- emptiness of the thing. We'll probably spend $250 minimum.

Journal Collage #2

2011-02-04T16:41:00.000-05:00

Floor Plan: Attic Studio

2011-02-03T11:59:00.000-05:00

Here is a little floorplan I worked up just for the heck of it. All I can think of is my little studio.

Ice Day

2011-02-02T18:12:00.000-05:00

Today I "worked from home" rather than brave the ice and snow. A lot of trees down and traffic lights out. I mostly monitored my e-mail and calmed the fears of people that want their posters printed on time.

Joe also had the day off, the plumbing company he works for shut down. Unfortunately, he will not be paid. He made the most of the day, however, BY WORKING IN THE ATTIC! I had the idea that this could be an art day, but when I wasn't responding to e-mails, I was helping Joe. He was putting up insulation (a multi-step process) and I was helping by holding it up while he stapled it. It is terribly awkward for him, here is a picture:

But we got one whole side of one end finished. We aren't even working on my end of the attic yet.

Meanwhile, here is a picture of my new desk space in the cellar. I can't wait to mess it up with a project

Here is my sewing machine on the desk. Really not cutting it. Notice the shower curtain hung up in front of the wall. It keeps the constant crumbling grit from getting near the machine. *sigh*

Transformation of my Wretched Studio Space

2011-02-01T17:01:00.000-05:00

Kim says thank you for permission to throw out her own fabric scraps and thread trash, as I related in my previous post. You're welcome. Here is the dilemma. We throw away too much. Recycling is a noble act. At the same time, if we save everything, not throwing away because the item is perfectly good, we will be consumed by crap. I've gotten to know a number of annual and bi-annual rummage sales in my area and I give the "perfectly good" stuff to them. They'll make a couple of bucks and I am relieved of the item and the guilt of throwing it away. Some things are more tricky. I burn a lot of candles. What do I do with the stubs? I could save them in a bucket, melt them down and make more candles. I even have molds from my candle-making days. But seriously, when am I going to make candles? And, will they be any good? Maybe if I was unemployed this would make sense. Also, I read about a project where someone was making tote bags out of the material that encases a brick of coffee. I thought, now that is cool. I was saving the coffee brick wrappers for a while. One day my husband asked me why I was saving them. As I began to explain it to him, I realized how crazy it was. At least, for me. This is also part of the ADD thing I have going on. I have so little spare time, Should I spend it sewing together trash? Maybe I will someday, but not now. I try to remain focused. I try.

My studio is in our cellar. Our house is very old, and the cellar is made of stones. It is extremely damp and very cold this time of year. There is virtually no natural light, because my evergy-nazi husband has blocked the tiny windows with insulation. Most people I am sure would consider this intolerable, but this is my space and I make the best of it. There is an on-going project to finish our attic and make my studio up there. I expect this to take another year.

So, in my recent switch over to more mixed media than art quilts (Which is not a big leap, really) I began rummaging around the studio and then reorganizing. I had my sewing machine on an old kitchen table, and a storage "thing" on top of a desk where I was supposed to do other work. The space left on the desk was small and usually cluttered with stuff. So, I decided to switch the sewing machine to the desk. I really like the new space I made for myself on the table. But the desk really is too small for the sewing machine, too. It's OK, because I see now that what I need for the future attic space is two tables, not a table and a desk..

Joe, my husband, has been actively working on the space lately. I go up there to help him when it is feasable, and we have discussions about what I need. He is going to replace the crappy windows up there and cut a skylight into the roof. We have talked about the placement of my different workstations, what kind of outlets and storage are possible. Of course, in an attic, the biggest challenge is the lack of straight walls. As a joke, I asked him if I could get a sink up there, but he said it was possible! Like a little stainless steel prison sink. Ijust want a water source. Joe is also going to install electric baseboard heat up there, and we were in Home Depot talking to someone about the gage of wire that was required. The man at the Depot asked how big the space was, and ha ha, we didn't know! I need to go up there and measure it. I want to sketch up a floor plan and make little furniture pieces and move them around. Maybe I will get to do that tomorrow, as we are expecting a wicked ice storm around here and maybe we will get another weather day off!

Mixed Media is a Curse

2011-01-31T12:28:00.000-05:00

Check it out, this is how I felt cleaning out my studio this weekend.

I copped this picture from this blog

It started with making greeting cards, and morphed into mixed media collage. I started looking for tools and materials that I had not used or seen in some time. That led to cleaning out the studio. This led to a re-examination of the way I work, and that led to throwing out a lot of things I don't use. It was mostly scraps of fabric. I mean tiny shreds that some people use. I've read articles about people making collage and art quilts using tangled threads... I think they called it thread trash. I looked at the plastic bin of tiny scraps and thread trash that I never touch, and realized that I just don't work that way. I went through it and rescued a few things, but chucked the rest.

This brings me to my subject, that mixed media is a curse. When you are a knitter, you have yarn and needles, maybe some books. When you embroider, it's the same with the addition of the fabric you will embroider on. When you are a painter, you have more supplies; paints, brushes, canvas, easel, some tools, a palette, some chemicals. When you are a mixed media artist, you have ALL THAT AND MORE! You have everything, and you need to figure out a way to store it. Add found objects and upcycling to the mix and it's really over the top. There are entire magazines devoted to it. Cloth Paper Scissors Studio is about space and organization porn. Not only are these studios vast and amazingly decorated, but they are neat! I would defy them to show a messy studio, but I guess no one really wants to see that. We are not interested in reality. We want the fantasy of a neat studio.Or, at least the possibility of it. More about what I did with my studio this weekend in my next post.

New Work

2011-01-31T07:54:00.000-05:00

I'm Probably ADD

2011-01-29T10:34:00.000-05:00

I've always found it hard to focus on just one thing. It's not really a matter of not being able to,. I could be down in the studio for hours working on something. It's more a matter of there being so many cool things to try that I can't stop myself from trying them. Case in point. Over Christmas, a group of local crafts people got together and had a show of their work in a gallery in town. (I'm going to try to get in with these people next year.) anyway, there is a person who was selling greeting cards. She had sewn contrasting paper onto a blank greeting card and rubber stamped something over that. They were very nice, yet I said to myself, "I can do better." So I went home and gave it a try. Next thing, I am going through magazines looking for mixed media ideas. I am looking through piles of supplies that I haven't looked through in ages. Then I started making valentines. Then I was looking online at videos artists made of themselves demonstrating mixed media techniques. So now I'm making mixed media collage. Yikes! My head is all crammed up with stuff, but I am enjoying it.

I was thinking, "Should I sell these on Etsy?" Then I decided, "To hell with that." I'm just going to share them with friends and family.

What Does ARC Stand For?

2011-01-15T11:06:00.000-05:00

I only post, like, every 3 months, but I act like everyone who follows this blog remembers the details of my life. Someone asked what ARC stands for, Association of Retarded Citizens. Even though "retarded" has become something of a slur, that is the name of this organization.

I have just finished my college work for the week. I have wised up and only take one class at a time now, instead of two. I'll never graduate at this rate, but who cares? The world is ending in 2012. This term I have American History to 1815. It is an excellent class and I am really enjoying it. I recommend actual university learning as opposed to Glenn Beck "university." What a clown that guy is.

Anyway, I will now work on some mixed media greeting cards! Have a nice Saturday.

Kate's Yearly Trip

2011-01-14T19:00:00.000-05:00

Kate usually goes on a cruise with the ARC every year. This year they are taking a Disney cruise, and it is kind of expensive, but, it looked pretty cool. They were supposed to be seeing Mayan ruins. However, Kate, her boyfriend, and 2 other friends have decided to stage a mutiny. They are doing their own trip. I was a little leary about the whole thing, thinking that the ARC will go on their cruise no matter what (almost), but anything can happen with this private thing. The reason they bailed is that someone they don't like is going. When you have a disability like this, you are kind of forced to get along with some people, and just because they are disabled doesn't mean the aren't capable of being mean and annoying. The real problem here is that this person's mother is coming, too, so that makes it more awful. This mother runs Kate's social group, so there are veiled threats, that if you aren't nice to her child, no matter how obnoxious she is being, you risk being asked to leave the group. That is why they have decided not to go.

But, moving on, that "anything" that could happen to the private trip happened pretty quickly. One of Kate's friend's mom, who was one of the organizers, was diagnosed with brain cancer. I told Kate to forget it, that this would send the family into a tailspin, and this trip would most likely not happen. Then we got word that one of the Moms had dropped out (not the one with brain cancer) I should explain right now that I was never going on this trip. These two families planning it, and if they wanted to invite Kate, that was fine.

So now, one mom has cancer, the other one doesn't want to go. But The daughter of one of the moms stepped up and would take them all to Disney World. We had a meeting at a restaurant and it turns out that the daughter, I'm guessing her age at mid to late 30's, has been a Special Olympic volunteer for 20 years AND has been to Disney world 22 times. 22 TIMES!!! I went once and I'm good. But anyway, this trip is on, despite everything. So now the fun begins, I have to hustle ID, payments, phone calls, signed forms and whatever else. I expect it to be less onerous than an ARC trip, which requires paperwork you would not believe. I'm taking Kate to an ARC dance in a few minutes, she looks really pretty. Too bad it;s so freakin' cold out there.

Neighborhood

2011-01-13T16:13:00.000-05:00

I haven't been able to post very often, and when I do I find I am less and less able to control the looks of a post. My pictures are all over the place. It just gets harder and harder.

I'm going to post a couple of pictures of neighborhood. I can only post one picture at a time. I post a picture. Then I save and close the post. Then I re-open to post to edit it. Then I can post another picture. It might just be a quirk that is happening today, but it's a pain.

So here it is. These kind of wonky houses are pretty common, but each one is different. I did not use a pattern, I just sewed strips and cut it freehand, roughly square.

Diversity Project: Update

2011-01-13T15:08:00.000-05:00

I ended up making 2 different fiber art projects for this assignment. The assignment came from work; we were to make art with the theme of diversity. The corporation a work for makes a big deal about diversity, which I think is fine. However, we are all to include some kind of diversity thing in our objectives. This year we are making a piece of art. Understand that my department is the graphics art department, so supposedly everyone is an artist. My job is more technical and I am not a designer. Therefore, I'm not that wild about creating art on the computer. I'm also not that good at it. I do like using a computer to support the art I make. For instance, printing on fabric from the computer is the best thing since sliced bread. Anyway, I made two pieces of fiber art. I brought them in and got the hairy eyeball. As if to say, what are we supposed to do with that? You should look at my previous post and see what I was thinking of doing, the weird self-portrait. I think I made the right decision by going in a different direction. So here is one of the items:

I guess you don't need to be a genius to figure that all of the different fabrics signify diversity. I took some other pictures of the piece that they may be able to use somehow.

A Different Direction

2010-12-12T12:17:00.000-05:00

I started messing around with this today. Kate had a look and said, "That's weird." Yeah, it is weird. I know it's weird. I still want to do it, but maybe not for the work project. It's hard to explain, but I don't think it would do anything for me there.

So I decided to do a "Diversity Banner" for work. I cut a panel of brown upholstery fabric I have, and on it I will sew many streamers of fabric in different colors. I'll embellish it. Kind of neutral, easy to understand. I have the dining room strewn with a million different fabrics. It's noon, and Joe is still sleeping. Wait until he sees this place.

Another

2010-12-09T16:27:00.000-05:00

2010-12-09T13:14:00.000-05:00

Ideas

2010-12-09T11:06:00.000-05:00

I started messing around with ideas for the diversity art project. I was kind of sketching in photoshop. Now, I need you to understand that I was drawing with a mouse, which is not unlike drawing with a bar of soap. Awkward, to say the least. But, it's ok, I am just messing with ideas. I rarely sketch before I make a piece of art, I figure it out as I go. I did need to take a picture of myself and get it ready to print on fabric. As you can see from the sketch, I want to put my face in the middle of a flower or sun-type form. I want to have the rays or petals in different colors, patterns, or embellished in different ways to represent diversity. The working title is, "Self Portrait Showing the Effects of Diversity on Me." I posterized my face in photoshop, and I kind of like that effect. The problem with the photo I used is that I had a lot of hair around my face. I don't want that in the picture. I think I will take a different picture, or something, with my hair pulled back off my face.

This reminds me that I went to the salon last night for my usual hair thing. I was able to read junky magazines instead of a text book. This article caught my eye:

"LOSE WEIGHT WITHOUT TRYING; Your weight loss grocery list: Yes, chocolate's on it!"

Hey, kiss my ass! Chocolate is not on it! I lost a lot of weight this year, (Last year?) and now I am in the danger zone. By that I mean, it's time to gain it all back, and I HAVE gained some of it back, sorry to say. About 6 pounds. And, when I eat chocolate, or ice cream, or something like that, I see an almost immediate upward trend in the scale. It's just terrible, and I really resent these people who print this crap. This is simply designed to catch your eye and get you to buy the magazine, with the hopeless hope that somehow you can eat chocolate and lose weight. I've been around long enough to know that it just ain't happening.

I have a couple of more vacation days left, and I took tomorrow off. Yay! I will work on my diversity art quilt thing. It will be really crazy, and will stand out like a sore thumb from anything else anyone does. But, I really like the idea.

A sudden challenge

2010-12-06T17:06:00.000-05:00

So, in the midst of shopping and decorating, I've been thinking about what kind of art I should be working on. As I mentioned, it's a little hard to get started out of nowhere. I was thinking that the UFOs I have around would be an obvious place to begin. I was even fantisizing about the related blog posts. Now all of a sudden, there comes a challenge, from work, no less!

What does DIVERSITY mean to you?

We'd like to get your unique perspective on that question – and, in the process, create a work of art that represents all of us.

You are invited to share up to 3 reflections on diversity, whatever form they may take:

Image

Graphic

Word

Phrase

Link

Video

Your ideas, together with those of your Media Services colleagues, will then be combined into a one-of-a-kind mosaic capturing diversity in its many interpretations. Feel free to include a very brief caption for each idea as well.

Please submit your reply to (My Boss) by EOD December 23. Your participation in this project is greatly appreciated and valued.

"The true potential of all people . . . can only be achieved through the equal acceptance of all in our society. Allowing people to confidently share and express their ideas, thoughts and strengths without fear will only improve productivity on both a personal and corporate level."

- Gary Guller

This is the e-mail I received today. I already have an idea of what I'd like to do. It will involve many fabrics, some unexpected... diverse. I'm not really great at working with concepts. I usually ignore quilt challenges when I see them. I can't exactly ignore this one. I will bet that every single person in my department will do something digital, except me and maybe one other person. I also bet that they are groaning right now, at being forced to make art. We'll see how it goes. I'm kind of excited about it. And, it will keep me off of ebay.

Now What?

2010-12-03T20:01:00.000-05:00

Now I need to make the most of my free time this month. I will do some Christmas shopping on Saturday. (I haven't even thought about it) But I also need to think about some art. I have some worthy UFOs that need finishing. Maybe that is the way to go? I'll take some pictures tomorrow and see what I think.

Another Semester, Out the Door

2010-12-01T13:05:00.000-05:00

OK, so I took 6 college courses in 2010. And I've decided that I can no longer go at this pace. I signed up for just one class, next semester, US History up until 1820. I just don't feel like killing myself any more. I want to enjoy my classes, and my life. If I graduate, then I graduate. If I don't, then I don't.

I took Philosophy this time, and I really enjoyed that. I would recommend this to anyone. Philosophy is basically thinking very deeply about a variety of subjects. The most difficult subject I had to think about was what is being? Different philosophers had different takes on the subject, and many were genuinely hard to wrap your head around. Good brain exercise, that's for sure.

But enough of that crap, it's Christmas time!!! I've already bid like a fool on vintage ornaments on ebay until my husband started looking askance and using unkind words to describe my interest, such as "obsession." The nerve of that guy.

The entire time I was going to school, work was really busy. Like a miracle, that has suddenly let up. That is why I am posting today, because I can! I really feel happy right as this moment. Now I think I will create the return mail address labels for this years christmas cards. It kind of looks like I am working when I do something like that. But first, I will look at what everyone else has posted. Oh, what fun!

One half Century: That went quick!

2010-10-06T12:59:00.000-04:00

OK, so I am 50 years old today. For some reason, I feel great! My husband threw a party for me over the weekend. Last night I went to a woman in town and got a henna tattoo up my arm. It's major league cool. Here, have a look:

I'm in school again, taking Public relations and Philosophy. Whoa, that philosophy is dense stuff. Or, maybe it's me who is dense. I can read an entire paragraph in a text by Descartes, and realize that I did not understand it at all. I start again, and try really hard to concentrate, and next thing you know, I'm thinking about what to have for dinner. It's tough. It's a lot of re-reading.

I sold something on Etsy a couple of weeks ago. That seems to strike when I least expect it. I almost forgot how to complete a transaction.

On Sunday I went to a quilt show run by the local guild, The Courthouse Quilters. They have the show in a historic mill, which is cool. I was kind of disappointed. I try not to be too judgemental, but, I have these ongoing gripes about modern quilting. There were many really nice quilts, but, I can't be impressed if you made it from a kit, or you just bought a line of fabric that is all coordinated. To me, it is very exciting to find my own fabric. Quilts made from coordinating fabric have a slickness that I find unappealing. My next big gripe is that 95% of the quilts were not quilted by the person who made the top, and were quilted by the same 5 people. OK, so you don't pick your own fabric, and you don't quilt it yourself, am I supposed to be impressed? Our great grandmothers used to make really cool quilts using whatever they could get their hands on. I know we are past using scraps, but there just does not seem to be any soul in it anymore. What do you think?

Printing on Fabric and Other Stuff

2010-08-13T12:05:00.000-04:00

Cathie over at This Girl's Art asked me how I print on fabric. It's a piece-O-cake! Of course, you need an ink jet printer. I have included a link, with instructions that recommend treating the fabric. I have to admit, I've started skipping that step. I guess you can't wash it. I warn people not to wash my art quilts anyway. I think that gets me off the hook. If anyone has any compelling reason why I should treat my fabric with Bubble Jet Set before printing, I would like to hear it.

The main thing you need to do is stabilize the fabric so it can get through the printer. I use a 8.5"x11" sheet of sticker paper. I peel off the back, stick it onto the fabric, and then I trim the fabric to the edge of the paper. I have access to this kind of paper cheap. I've also heard about ironing on freezer paper, but I have not tried it. One thing I would recommend, before printing on your prepared sheet, print on a regular piece of paper to make sure things are centered the way you want them, or not too close to the edge. Just set that weird fabric that you've created paper in the print tray and print. I'm amazed at how well it works.

Out of several awful pictures of me, this was the least awful

So summer is almost over. Damn it! I love summer and it always goes so fast. Last weekend I went to Cape May to hang with friends that rent a house every year. It's really nice of them to invite us, and we always have a great time. At Cape May, one of the hot spots is a bar called the Brown Room at Congress Hall. Congress Hall is a large, old-fashioned hotel that was amazing in it's heyday, then hit the skids, then was bought by investors and restored. All the hippest ($$$) people stay there. So anyway, I like hanging out at the Brown Room. Drinks are expensive, but you get some superior people watching. There was a wedding taking place at the hotel, (there almost always is) and that makes it double fun. Sometimes when it is very crowded, we go outside and drink on the veranda.There is plenty to see out there, too. I really love to wear dresses, and I was wearing the nice one my husband bought for me this year. I keep buying more dresses. I just bought one today from a vendor that was at work! It was only $15. I was powerless to resist. There are just endless pretty dresses, I wish I could somehow discretely take pictures of the dresses I saw others wearing. Then I could "collect" dresses. Really, it's high time that I started making art quilts about dresses. That reminds me, I just registered for Fall classes. I begin on Sept 20. I'll be all jacked up until Dec 11. I took Public Relations and Intro to Western Philosophy. I've always wanted to take a philosophy course.

Really rambling here.

The next day:

As you may be able to see below, I have the same picture in here 3 times. It took 3 tries yesterday to get this picture to load. Now it is there 3 times, and I can't select any of them, or any picture on this page, to delete them. I really think that Blogger is dreadful and difficult to use. I'm not going to let them reuin my blog post. I'm going to post this anyway. What's the diff, really? Are you put off?

I'm leaving work in about an hour. I work an extra hour Monday through Thursday and get a half day on Friday. It's called Summer Hours, and it is a stroke of genius. Why can't they do this all year, all over the world? Anyway, I'm going fabric shopping. A couple of weeks ago my husband went on one of his ride a motorcycle like a crazy person weekends, and I redecorated our bedroom. I want to make a new quilt. One of those quilts that are more about blocks and strips of gorgeous fabric than about any real patchwork. (In other words, easy)

I'm also going on a date tonight with my husband. Tonight is an anniversary for us. It marks when we started "going out" the first time, when we were kids. That was THIRTY SEVEN YEARS AGO!!! I might wear my new dress.

<><>

Quiet my ass

No New Job for Me

2010-07-28T17:19:00.000-04:00

My interview was not so great. Within 15 minutes both myself and the interviewer knew the job was not for me. I wish they had done a better job of describing the position; it could have saved all of us a lot of trouble. I sat down and looked at this job posting with my current manager, and he agreed that it would be a good fit. Then it was revealed to me that I would be doing financial forecasting and, although the job was called "Associate Production Manager" it became apparent that the position really is that of an account executive. Even if I thought I could do it, I'm not into that kind of responsibility and pressure. I apologized for wasting the person's time, he did not seem the least bit annoyed, and said I should keep the interview appointment with the next person. He called it an informational interview. That actually turned out great. The person already knew I was not suited for the job, but we spoke for an hour. She gave me good career advice and we talked a lot about the state of the company and employment in general. I felt better after that.

I did have a hard time going to work today. I am so burned out and now there is no hope in sight, for the near future, anyway. I don't even care if I make more money, I just want to do something different.

Fairy of the Woods, now on Etsy

2010-07-25T20:33:00.002-04:00

Fairy Quilt in Progress

2010-07-24T07:39:00.000-04:00

So here is Kate's quilt. We've got a big space to fill at the top, I believe it will be text. I think she wants the words "Fairy with Mushrooms." across the top. I said we could think on that a while. Mainly I want to think on how to go about it.

In other news, my son turns 25 today, happy birthday Drew!

Also, The nice folks at the Schweinfurth Art Center left a message on my answering machine and told me that it really was just one side of the quilt that needed to be 20", so both of my entries are eligible. I wonder if I will get in?

Fashion Diet

2010-07-23T16:58:00.000-04:00

I read something in the NY Times that I found intriguing. It's about people who have taken this web challenge where you pick six items of clothing from your existing wardrobe and only wear those pieces for a month. (underwear doesn't count) Can you imagine? One of the things I liked about the article was that they showed the people they interviewed and the clothes they picked and their different combinations. I can admit to you that I have a stupid amount of clothes. I lost weight this year and I found that, rather than finding a piece of clothing that looked good and thanking my lucky stars and buying it, I now find many, many things that look good and have trouble not buying them. I am starting to get out of that famine mentality and getting more sensible. Just the same, I think I own about 7 summer dresses, 10 skirts, a million tank tops and t-shirts etc. Even when I've gone on Motorcycle trips with tiny side bags as luggage, I've managed to take more than 6 pieces of clothing. I just went shopping today, as a matter of fact. I applied for a job within the company I work for and I have 3 back-to-back interviews on Tuesday. I don''t own a suit. I hope no one expects me to wear one, because our company went casual years ago. I do have a black blazer and a black skirt. I just bought a blouse that seemed a little more business-like. I wonder if I will get the job? I wonder if I really even want the job? Whenever I think about getting a new job, I think, "What if I really hate it?" That's just an excuse for not making a change. We'll see what happens.

In other news I have been quilting Kate's Fairy quilt a little every night. I used metallic thread in my sewing machine for the first time. I tried it once and it became a dreadful tangled mess on the back. At that time, my sewing machine was new and I was kind of intimidated by it. I tried the metallic thread again and it is just fine. And sparkle-y! Pictures soon, I swear.

A Very Productive Weekend

2010-07-19T15:54:00.000-04:00

I did a ton of art work this weekend. That means I spent way too much time in the basement, where my sewing area is. There is a project going on to make the attic my new work space, but it is all contingent on my husband, and whether or not he feels like working on this project. The summer is a complete loss, he only wants to ride his motorcycle(s) and his bicycle during the summer. He lives to be outside, and he is not wasting any summer day being inside. Unfortunately, he starts getting depressed during the fall, so that also stands in the way when the summer is over. But I digress.

The fact is, I work in the basement. It's dark and damp and here is a new twist, we have CAVE CRICKETS lately. I don't think they hurt you, but they are really scarey looking. The icing on this dreadful cake is that I am a terrible slob. My space generally just gets worse and worse, until I can't take it anymore and then I clean it up. It takes hours and it is hard to spend that much time down there, even doing fun things, much less cleaning a hellish mess.

Despite everything, art was made. I wonder what I would be like if I had a lovely, well-lit space? The really good news is that I got Kate to make a quilt. It is hard to get her going, and she does not seem to be able to get it together enough to self start a project like that. I began by inviting her to make something. I pointed her to her small stash of fabric. She has some novelty prints and a few otherr fabrics that she has picked out. She also has unlimited use of my fabric. She picked out a fairy themed fabric, and she was off and running. We chose some background fabric. I usually make suggestions like, "You will need a fabric for the background. " and let her pick, then I will say, "What else do you want to put here?" She decided she wanted mushrooms with her fairy. So we went through the process of picking fabric for those, then she drew mushrooms in her sketch book, and we copied them to the back of the Wonder under and she cut them out and ironed them on. Then she decided she wanted logs with moss. I did not think it was such a great idea, but she definitely wanted it. She also angled the logs in a way that I would not have done it, but I have to let her have her own way, because otherwise, I might as well make the thing. In the end, I think it turned out great. I will do the machine quilting, but I will get her to do some hand work. She has sold three little quilts in the past on our etsy site, but hasn't sold much lately. I have no pictures right now but I will see what I can do this week.

I noticed that I have a couple of new followers on this blog (which is a miracle, since I hadn't posted for 3 months) so, for those who don't know, my daughter Kate is developmentally disabled. She is a member of the ARC and a Special Olympic athlete. She is nearly 27 years old, has a job and travels to it on public transportation. She doesn't read or write very well, but has really taken to Facebook. In some ways it is like having a young teenager in the house forever.

Garden 2010

2010-07-16T15:30:00.000-04:00

QAQ entry

2010-07-15T12:01:00.000-04:00

Today I am shipping a CD with images to QAQ: Quilt = Art = Quilt. I have never entered a quilt competition before. Someone at work gave me an entry form months ago, but I had until August 20 to enter. Usually I find out about these things two weeks before the deadline, and I don't have anything that meets the criteria.

So, I got my act together and prepared an entry. Right as I was about to ship, I read over the entry form once more and realized that the requirement for size, 20 inches, must mean that each side of the quilt must be at least 20 inches. At first I had imagined that at least one side must be 20 inches. Looking back, I have no idea why I thought that. I'm pretty sure that if I stopped and tried to find something else to submit, I would end up just not doing it. I wrote a letter to the judges explaining that I realize that one of the entries is not eligible and thanked them for considering the other. That's it.

Where to Begin?

2010-07-12T12:02:00.000-04:00

I was finished with college classes on June 11, but it has taken me a long time to get "back," so to speak. I have 2 draft posts that I never finished or published. I really jacked myself up but good this past spring. I took 2 college classes and one of them was very intense. Also, it is very busy at work that time of year. And, it's hard-core garden time, at least if you expect to enjoy flowers over the summer. So, long story short, I was busy. But, things are good. I began easing myself in by reading whatever I wanted, not text books. I had 2 Quilting Arts magazines that were still in plastic. Then I went to the library and got random, interesting-looking books. Then I started looking at my sewing machine. I started poking around in the unfinished project pile.

I went on vacation. Joe, Kate and I went to the Adirondacks and did some hiking, swimming and kayaking. We also visited good friends that live up there. We had a blast.

This is us on top of Porter, one of 46 high peaks in the Adirondacks. If you climb all 46 peaks, you are a 46-er. Joe has decided we should be 46-ers, but as of now we have climbed 2, Cascade and Porter. That took us 8 hours. We were so whipped at the end, but I am happy we did it.

We came back on Wednesday, and everyone went back to work on Thursday, except me. I had 2 delicious days to myself! That's when I started to sew. By the weekend I had 2 new pieces to put on Etsy, plus something I finished months ago and never got around to putting up. When I posted, I got a message asking if I wanted to post directly to facebook. That must be new, right? So I did.

Now I am back at work. It is some kind of gift that this place is dead quiet. Usually, when I go on vacation I am greeted with chaos when I return. I have virtually nothing to do. OK, now here is a very cool thing. I met someone in the hall here at work that I am friends with on facebook. She saw my Etsy stuff, went to my site and bought something! I haven't sold anything since March. Today is such a good day, and it's only noon.

New Work

2010-07-12T07:02:00.000-04:00

THE purse

2010-04-07T16:46:00.000-04:00

Here it is, the one creative bright spot in my current life.

It was fun making this thing. I wish I could make a bunch more, but, schoolwork takes precidence right now. That's going ok, I guess. Thanks for looking at the blog!

Can it Be One Month Since I Posted Last?

2010-03-22T16:38:00.000-04:00

I'm in the middle of a short break between quarters. (Drexel has quarters, shorter than semesters.) I went to post the othher day, and I didn't know what to say. Weird. I still don't exactly have any kind of theme for this post. I saw that I got an A+ in one of my classes, no grade posted yet in the other. I am all signed up for Psychology 101 and Principles of Communication. That starts up again March 29. Then I am taking the summer off.

Anyone living in the Northeast is aware of the incredible weather gift we received recently. It seems like one week we were buried in snow, the next we had crocuses blooming. This is weather I'd be happy to get in May, much less in March! We did a lot of yard work, patio and porch cleaning. We bought new patio furniture. Now it will snow.

Work is weirder than ever. Now that our merger has been in place for several months, the big layoffs are immanent. Get this, I have the job of scanning and formatting electronic signatures so that they are available for the separation letters! For those not hip to corporate speak, being separated from the company means, your fired. Suppose I see my boss's name? It's such a giant drag, all of this. I was joking around about that patio furniture, saying maybe I should take it back. Then I realized, I'll need it while I'm sitting around all summer out of work! Ha Ha.

My creative life is very thin right now, but I started making a purse. I was using the random patchwork method I used for the St, Pat's bags. I have a commercial pattern I'm working with. I used all repro feedsack patterns and some other fabric that seemed to be in the same spirit. I'm pretty excited about it. I think it will be cool for spring. I guess I'll post pictures, if I get around to taking them!

One last thing, I have to do my taxes, yuk. When that's done, I will indulge myself and look at everyone elses blog!

I Have Free Time Today

2010-02-20T17:20:00.001-05:00

I got a lovely little gift last week. The supermarket where Kate works asked that she switch her day off from Tuesday to Saturday. That means I suddenly have Saturdays FREE!! So, today I cleaned, tried on all of the clothes in a bin marked: Summer-too small (it all fit!) prepared a chicken dinner, and completed and submitted a homework assignment. (Go ahead, ask me about Abductive Reasoning. It has nothing to do with kidnapping.)

I finished my second Irish bag that is part of a commission, and the requester has purchased them. I will ship on Monday. I used this spontaneous and random way of piecing together fabric I gathered based on color. I don't think it is innovative, but I had not worked that way before and I really enjoyed it. I want to make a bag for myself, maybe in reds, maybe in multicolor.

Brush with Fame
Here's a good one for you, I was at a Valentine's day party in town last weekend. The author who wrote Eat, Pray, Love was there. Elizabeth Gilbert was standing by the sink when I went to wash out a wine glass, talking with 3 other people I don't know. I'm not much of a celebrity hound, plus I really didn't like the book that much, so I just said hi and that was it. I might have asked, so how's the new book selling? or something, but I could not really bring myself to do it. I've always known that she lived in Frenchtown, but I had never seen her in the almost 4 years we've lived here. Back to the party, it was really fun, and when the crowd thinned out later, we were dancing! My husband is a fab dancer. People were coming in to watch him. Well, one of our neighbors took a video with her iphone and posted it on Facebook. Next thing, people at work are telling me they saw it! Joe was kind of pissed. He thinks you can't really do anything without someone posting it on the web. He has a point. There is virtually no privacy anymore.

Joe has been obsessing about getting a convertible for months now, ever since he decided our future epic trips would be more comfortable in that, rather than on a motorcycle. (amen) Without going into the trials and tribulations of finding the exact right car, I will only say he picked it up yesterday.

Ain't it sweet? I love the color. He says to me, "Baby, you'll look great in this car." Funny, how he tries to make it about me. Anyway, this little cupcake is a 1999 BMW M3 with 77,000 miles on it. It looks like new. I hope it makes him happy. Now he is going to sell his Ducati.

Work has been so incredibly busy, and the one person that works for me is getting more incompetent by the second. This, with the college work added on, plus the fact that our cable TV and our internet connection (DSL) all went wacky this week, I thought I would lose it. I never have time for blogging, so I think I'm going to indulge myself and have a look at what you have all been up to.

St. Pat's Quilted bag

2010-02-05T10:22:00.000-05:00

Two Days in a Row

2010-02-03T14:19:00.000-05:00

Another post, can you stand it? It is just so slow at work. Already today I wrote a one page paper for a class and posted it, and I have posted to the discussion boards for both classes. I just peeked in on the blog again and I had a lot of comments. Thanks!

Yo, Mom to Fat Dogs! You crack me up! Yeah, right, that's my room! What my husband and I liked best about the room was that it wasn't loaded up with our clutter! It was nicely decorated, right? As the innkepers put it, it is low on the doiley factor. (FYI, you accidentally posted the same comment twice. Just so you know why I rejected one of them.)

Marty, whassup? Yes, people watching, my favorite sport. Where is there good people watching where you live? (Everyone?) One of the premier places to watch people around here is any boardwalk on the Jersey Shore. I know there is some kind of TV show on right now called Jersey Shore. I hear it is loaded up with stereotypes of Italian Americans. Whatever. New Jersey gets such a bad rep. I think there are people like that running around, but where I live you rarely come across them.

Jeana Marie, I just take it day by day. What else can you do? I just paid off my credit card. I have one more year to pay off my car. My main fear in losing my job is of burning through the small nest egg I managed to accumulate.

cconz! My soul sista. Yes indeed, what about that dining room? I didn't take a picture of the part of the ceiling that had fallen down. The ceiling was also dotted with these metal things that were stablizing it. The innkeepers say that they got an estimate of $9000.00 to restore that ceiling. Ouch. The original price of that house in 1905: $20,000.00! Most people spend more on a car now.

Aside from everything else, I am working on a commission I have from Etsy. Someone bought one of my Christmas stockings, and she asked if I would make something similar for St. Patrick's day. Apparently it is a tradition of her grandmother that she wants to carry on. It seemed like such a cute idea, I said yes. What the hell was I thinking??? I did get myself down the cellar to sew this past weekend and I cranked out a stocking. Really, it is more of a patchwork sack. It was so much fun to make. Great to sew again, even though the cellar is so cold it is barely tolerable. I have the entire month to do another, so I should be OK. I'll post pictures when I can.

Damn That Punxsatawney Phil!

2010-02-02T12:55:00.000-05:00

I don't think I can take six more weeks of winter. I say that every year. HA!

So what's up? I'm having a slowish day at work, so I can peek in and say hi. Yesterday late afternoon we got word that the director of our department got the ax. She had been here for 31 years and crawled her way up from nothing. My company merged with another in October, and we know the big layoffs are coming. We believe our department, which has nothing to do with the actual business of this company, is a target for being turned contractor. The reprographics department went down last year. This means we will stay at our desk and do the same job, but we won't work for the corporation any more. We will work for some other company. Our wages will stay the same, but the benefits suck. So, everyone is speculating by the water cooler.

Meanwhile, my online classes are going fine. It will be just my luck that when I finally decide to go back to school, I will have to work for a different company that won't pay. Can you get a student loan when you only go part time? I use every spare minute for school work. (except for right now.) I often stay after work to get things done. The on-line aspect is very convenient for me.

Joe and I had a fabulous time when we visited Hudson a couple of weeks ago. The B&B was glorious, the innkeepers were fabulous, the town was fun, we discovered a great bar, the Red Dot. We were disappointed with the antique situation. There were tons of places, but they were way too high end for us. We are used to paying NJ/PA prices, but here we saw New York City prices. Hudson is on the train line from NYC, so there were many city-looking people there. I don't know how to explain it, you can just tell. They are way hipper than you in some intangable way. It was weird because there are plenty of other people in the town that look rather unprosperous, locals I presume? I wonder if they ever clash with the city folks? I'm going to post some pictures.

Cruisin'

2010-01-14T16:25:00.000-05:00

Here is a picture of Kate and some of her friends, waiting to leave on the cruise this morning. The other picture isn't so good, but it shows a line of luggage that is a block long! She's got so much clothing, formal, dress up, dress down, hot weather, cold weather, 100 pairs of underwear, i-pod, phone, journal, hair bands, jewelry, makeup, and get this: I needed to write up an inventory for every bag!

Well, at least now I can chill a little.

Thanks for the comments on my previous post. I am liking the textbook for my "Mass Communication and Society" class. I just read about the history of the book. Fascinating.

A Minute to Breathe

2010-01-12T17:01:00.000-05:00

Well, my online classes have started. Needless to say, it takes up quite a bit of my time. I am already learning so many things, and I haven't gotten into any real subjects yet. My Mass Media and Society class is a little slow to start. The first week"s assignment has basically been to get the book. The UPS man just delivered it. The Professor should start posting lectures tomorrow. My other class is Strategies for Online Learning. This class has tons of articles to read, lectures to view, mini papers to write, and discussion boards to post to. I've been introduced to the concepts of critical thinking. Something we should all be doing more of.

I find my motivation is high, and because everything is online. I can view the course materials whenever I have a minute at work. All those times when I was goofing off on etsy or looking at blogs, I am now doing school work. I think it will be OK.

Kate is leaving for a cruise with the ARC on Thursday. She looks forward to it all year. Quite frankly, it is a pain in the ass for me, all of the preparations. Today was the day I had to drive to the ARC office and deliver her spending Money, her medications along with a detailed description of how and when the medicine is to be administered, and her medical form. We just went this morning for the physical, because that is when I could get an appointment. Kate was supposed to have today off, but she was scheduled at work, I guess because she is taking the next 10 days off. I had to rush her over to work after the appointment. I was to deliver the drugs and cash, as I just mentioned, between 2 pm and 5 pm. I was gathering everything, when I noticed that she only had 10 pills left of her allergy medicine. I know they would give me a hard time at the ARC, so I called the pharmacy, who informed me that I was a couple f days early to have the prescription refilled. You see what I mean? These little annoyances just grind you down to a nub! When I went to take money out of the ATM in town for her, the thing was broken, jeez.

I am happy to report that Joe and I are going away this weekend. We will be staying at a B&B in Hudson, NY. We came upon this town accidentally while on a motorcycle trip, and it looked so cool, I decided we should stay there someday. I'm pretty excited about it!

Young Victoria: Violence!

2010-01-01T09:06:00.000-05:00

Apparently there was an attempted assassination on Queen Victoria early on, and in this movie, Prince Albert dives in front of her and takes a bullet. Don't worry, he was fine, plus that never happened in real life. Assassination attempt, yes, Albert getting hit, no. Otherwise, the movie was pretty much everything I want in a historical costume drama. We enjoyed it very much.

We had Thai food, which was great. At first we were afraid we wouldn't even get any food. Quite a few places in Doylestown were closed, and many more were booked up! I had no idea. Shows you how I never really get out on New Years Eve. I went and picked up a calzone for Kate at our local Pizza Restaurant, and they were turning people away because the tables were booked!

Tomorrow we are hosting a big holiday family party. It was supposed to be December 19th, but was canceled due to snow. Let me tell you how done I am with the holidays. I should be taking my tree down, but no, not till this party is over. I had to shop all over again, now I have to clean all over again...

Got Any plans?

2009-12-31T10:07:00.000-05:00

I picked up this quilt recently, it had been half-done for at least 2 months. I still want to add some beads to it, kind of as a way to quilt the parts that are still puffy. I had not done any sewing in so long.

I am home today, using my very last vacation day. I'm glad, because it has been SO boring at work. Next year they are going to shut the whole place down between Christmas and New Year. It makes a lot of sense, because they are heating and lighting a giant office complex, mostly for nothing. There is hardly anyone there, and no one
is really doing anything. Just hanging around, surfing the internet and eating cookies. The down side is that you are forced to use your own vacation days for the shut down. Most of us have a lot of vacation time, but some do not. Those without are unimpressed. Who knows if we will even have jobs by then?

I start college on Monday! I'm scared and excited. It's hard to guess how much of my time this will take up, but I assume I will have less time for blogging and such. I have already completed an on-line orientation which is designed to teach you how to use the software and the online library. I'm impressed with it so far. I hope all this makes a difference in my life, maybe opens some doors. I'm so burnt out on my job that I can't quit, it's brutal.

Kate has had her laptop for a week and I just figured out how to hook it up to our wireless network THIS MORNING! The first couple of days after Christmas were very busy and I didn't even get to look at it. Then I started the process. I am so friggin' lame at computer stuff. When there is a problem, I am usually stumped. Fortunately I have a supply of young tech geeks at work who can listen to me try to explain a problem and figure out what the heck it is that I am missing. Then I go home and I can't find the thing they told me about, or I misplaced the piece of paper with the instructions, or it just won't work... anyway, that is behind me now and Kate can do all the things she wants to do.

I am going on a date tonight! This is what my husband told me. He has a friend whose girlfriend broke up with him because he never wants to do anything she does. I think this sparked Joe to offer to take me to the movies. I love to go to the movies but it is so hard to find one that he is willing to see, that we rarely go. Get this, I am married to a man who hates violent action movies! I can take a certain amount of violence for the sake of the story, but he can't stomach anything. It really rules out quite a few good films. On the other hand, he is very willing to see all manor of art house-foriegn-costume drama-chick flicks. Tonight we are going to see Young Victoria. We are also having dinner, most likely Thai food, which I love. I think I will get dressed up, even though it is freezing out.

It occurs to me that it is New Years Eve. I keep forgetting. We don't generally attend any parties. I assume we will be home in time to have some champagne at midnight.

You got any plans?

Longwood Gardens at Christmas

2009-12-28T11:48:00.000-05:00

Here is what I did yesterday. Longwood Gardens is one of my favorite places in the world. I have been several times, but never at Christmas. My husband knew I wanted to go, and he suggested it. This is a big deal, because he hates the drive (90 miles to S. Pennsylvania) and he assumes that since millions of people go, it will suck. He did this for me!

The drive is long, but the place was wonderful, he even had to admit it. We had fine weather considering it is the end of December, and the beauty surpassed the experience of shuffling around amoung the unwashed masses. I've never seen so many wheelchairs and motorized rascals in one place before. i think most folks in wheelchairs don't really need them. I think that since there is a lot of walking, people just rent these things so they don't get tired. I saw children that had to be 8 or 9 years old in strollers.

Anyway, great fun, and it got even better once the sun went down. Pictures can not do it justice. How do you get that many lights on a tree? How do you get that many lights on hundreds of trees?

An Interesting Diversion

2009-12-17T10:31:00.000-05:00

I was just visiting the Idaho Beauty blog and she sent me over to the Smithsonain Institute website to look at artist's home made Christmas cards. There are so many to see and I was fascinated!

I feel inspired to make my own, but I will wise up and do it all year. It's just folly to think that you will do this at Christmas time. For me, it's enough just to get the cards written and out the door.

City Scenes

2009-12-16T12:15:00.000-05:00

Here are some scenes from The City yesterday. I'll be damned if I can figure out how to format with Blogger. I think it is really weak.

Anyway, we had fun, we began our march up 5th avenue and systematically saw all the store windows. We especially loved the Bergdorf-Goodman windows which were positively surreal. Kate and I are stamding in front of one of them. Unfortunately it is difficult to really get a decent picture of a store window. You usually end up with a better shot of the reflections behind you.

We are having something like 15 people over my house on the 19th and I am so not ready. I just can't get that worked up about it.

Big City Day

2009-12-15T07:45:00.000-05:00

Time has been whipping by lately. Cookie making, party going, shopping. Nothing that you haven't been doing. Today, however, I have a day off and Kate and I are going into the big city to see the tree at Rockefeller Center, and all of the store windows, and whatever else we come across. The schedule is loose, some excellent girl time. I'll take pictures.

In other news, phase one of the attic project is done. Just in time to get bins of stuff out of the porch. Now when people come over for Christmas it won't look so slummy.

It's been really slow at work, and, as you know, an idle mind is the devil's playground. With me that took the form of eBay. Wow, just in time, because I really needed some more funky old Christmas decorations. They now show up every day, plus I indulged some of my other collections, namely Hull Mirror Brown. Pictures of this stuff soon.

Finally, I had an Etsy sale. Sometimes I am amazed at what I sell. None of the little Christmas ditties I made, but a weird collage from way back called Saint's Breakfast. I should get it together to take picture of my older collages and get them up on Etsy. I need to make room for more Christmas stuff.

White Christmas

2009-12-08T12:00:00.000-05:00

Here are some pictures of our tree. I like how you can see that it has snowed outside. That snow came heavy and wet on Saturday, but it is mostly gone now.

You can't really tell that the tree is turning yellow, right?

I used a flash on this photo. It doesn't look so nice, but you can see some of my fave ornaments.

Christmas Cards

2009-12-07T09:18:00.000-05:00

Here is a post from Sunday that I never finished. Now it's Monday and I may as well just post it.

Hello! This morning I am writing Christmas cards. I bought my cards last year, on sale. I have Frank Lloyd Write Christmas cards, that are very cool. I was happy to find them. However, now that I am looking at them, I think that most of the people on my list will be baffled. They are not really all that traditional. Oh well! I actually went out an bought my parents a separate card.

Kate and I were talking about the big tree in Rockefeller Center in NYC. Her and I are going in next Tuesday to see the lights and windows and, of course, the tree. She has the day off and I am taking that day, so it will be a mother/daughter extravaganza. We just googled the tree to see where it came from this year.

A lot of people commented on my last 2 posts. THANKS! It seems that many of us don't care much for malls. I'm thinking that it is something in us, whatever makes us want to make art, makes us... I'm lost for words. Can't wait to start taking those communication classes in January! We are a little out of the main stream, and the mall represents the main stream... with a really strong current?

I liked hearing how everyone does their decorating. I remember it being a way different thing with small children!

Doreen asked me if I went to college for art. Yes, I did. I wanted to go to college for art when I was finished with High School. "They" wouldn't let me. I didn't understand how I could make that happen for myself at the time. I went to college for art when I was 32 years old. I have an AA degree, plus a few credits. It would be great to finish that degree, maybe some day.

Christmas Decorations

2009-12-05T07:47:00.000-05:00

I know that some people hate Christmas. I understand that. There really is a lot to hate about it. I went to the mall yesterday after work. I believe that much of what there is to hate about Christmas is concentrated there.

Understand that I haven't been to the mall in maybe 2 years. Don't get me wrong, I shop. I just don't travel too far to do it.So, I get to the mall, and traffic is awful, but I park and run in, through Bloomingdales. I am immediately dazzled. Sparkley dresses. Skinny black jeans. Women wanting to spray you with perfume. Out in the mall, there are giant ornaments hanging from the ceiling. A lot of the stores have changed. More upscale than I remember. Fancy Shopping Bitches everywhere. I make my way to the Apple store, and buy the computer, plus a wireless mouse, plus a electronic drawing tablet. (How lucky is Kate?) I also buy an external hard drive for the family computer, since it is groaning under the weight of so many photos and MP3s. $1200 lighter, I'm back in the mall. I should look in these stores, right? I won't be back here any time soon. But you know, I couldn't bear it, I was overwhelmed, over stimulated. I did stop at Aldo Shoes, where I saw the most delicious boots. But no, I had to go. Joe was waiting at home with wine and cheese.

I have to laugh, what kind of person have I become that I can't stand to even be in the mall?

Here are some decorating pictures. I know some people don't decorate at all. That's cool. You should not decorate if you don't feel like it. Or, conversely, you should put lights on every square inch of your house if you want to. In fact, thanks for doing that. It's so entertaining as I drive home from work every day in the dark!

Guerrilla Knitters

2009-12-04T23:36:00.000-05:00

http://www.cnn.com/2009/LIVING/12/04/knitting.irpt/index.html

Check this link out, it is really fun! It makes me want to do some Guerrilla Art. When I was in college I had a sculpture class. One of our assignments was to create something in a multiple of at least 100. I took 100 fist-sized rocks and covered them with pink knit fabric. Then I put them in a spiral pattern on the banks of the Raritan River, where you could see them from a bridge. I would walk by every day, and I noticed that people were messing around with them. They were making new patterns and moving the rocks around. That was cool. I live near the Delaware river now. I could do that again.

I want to put up my Christmas tree this weekend. This is my fake-ass white Christmas tree. If you are going to have a fake tree you may as well not even try to pretend it's real, you know? Did I ever tell the story of this tree? If I did, sorry.

My parents are city people, and I grew up with a fake tree. As I got older, that became the height of tackiness. My first husband grew up with a real tree, so we always had one. The year I separated from him, I went out on my own and bought a real tree, and struggled to get the thing home, drag it up the stairs, set it up, etc. I decided I didn't really need to do that anymore. I found a 7 foot fake white tree for $40 the following September. That was 1998. I got it up from the basement last night and noticed that it looked yellow. YELLOW! Perhaps it was the culmination of an annoying week, but this sent me spiraling into a bad mood. Now what was I going to do? I was planning to decorate the next night! (tonight) Joe had a look at it and said it looked fine, that no one would notice. I decided he was right. I set the tree up, the branches are color coded, you know. I think it is over for this tree after this year.

I have so many Christmas ornaments, that I break them out by color and do theme tees. Last year I did pink and gold. This year it is blue and green. I have big mixing bowls full of ornaments in the LR right now. The problem with a white tree is that you need to get lights with white wires. I have them, don't you worry, but we also have icicle lights with BLUE lights. I think I am going to put those on the tree this year. It's gonna be spiffy.

But, that is tomorrow. I was going to go to the mall tomorrow, but I decided that would suck, so I am going tonight. I don't live very close to any malls, so I rarely go, but this year Kate asked for a laptop computer, and there is an Apple store in the Bridgewater mall.

Art Club Christmas Project

2009-12-02T11:31:00.000-05:00

Check it out, here is one of the ARC clients with a bunch of others in the background. Kind of gives you an idea of how many of these things we cranked out! (13) I gave everyone the choice of sewing buttons to their snowmen, or drawing the eyes, mouth and etc to the snowmen with markers. A distressing amount of people chose to sew! It all worked out and I think they enjoyed themselves. Go to my other blog for more pics.

Tonight I am going to another one of those Department of Developmental Disabilities meetings to find out how difficult my life will be as a result of new proceedures. I guess that's not a very good attitude, is it? I was thinking how it might be nice if Kate's father took on some of this responsibility, but he is such an amazing DICK, he is incapable. He is chronically unemployed and doesn't even have a car. Don't worry, I'll take care of everything!!!!!!!!!

How are you all doing?

I'm Feeling Quiet

2009-11-24T12:19:00.001-05:00

I haven't been posting, or even commenting on the posts of others. I feel a little exhausted. But it's weird, because I don't feel bad, just like being quiet.

I have been pretty busy. At work, there are things to do to get ready for the end of the year. I just finished my personal performance grid. How corporate is that? This is the document that states my goals for the year, if I completed them, and how I accomplished everything, and why I deserve a nice raise and bonus. Everyone hates doing this but there is no way around it. It is due December 1st and I have had several people sneer at me with envy and disgust when I announced I was finished. Also, I've been acquainting myself with all of the websites I will need to use in connection with Drexel University. I usually end up confused at first, somehow screwing up or forgetting my username, password, ID number, etc. I am already on a first name basis with one of the tech guys.

Over the weekend I dug out and reposted on Etsy some things I did for Christmas last year. It would be nice if I could sell them. I also made more prints of antique Christmas postcards on fabric. I will make something out of all that soon. I'm almost done with another woodland postcard. I did some experimental stove top dying over the weekend. I used RIT cocoa brown. Man, is it ever brown. I have no idea what I am doing with all that.

I'm feeling a little bit Christmassy. Looking forward to digging into the decoration boxes. I agreed to go to Cape Cod over the weekend with Joe. He used to live there and has a lot of friends he misses. Thanksgiving weekend is normally decorating time, but I guess I'll just do it when I get back.

Woodland Postcard Number 2

2009-11-19T09:19:00.000-05:00

New on Etsy

2009-11-17T10:44:00.000-05:00

(Catchy Title Needed Here)

2009-11-16T13:17:00.003-05:00

I just have some scattered thoughts to put out there today.

First of all, the question was put to me, what are you going to do with the snake? Well, I was thinking I would make a hundred of them, all out of different fabric, make up little stories about them and put them all on Etsy. It will be the next Beanie Baby-like craze, and I will make millions. Cool fantasy? By the way, did you notice I put a rattle on his end? Made of stacked buttons.

On Sunday, we worked on the attic. Joe is still working on the small section over the addition. This is the section that you can't stand up in, but will create a lot of new storage space. He was building out the studs on the wall, because they are too shallow to contain the insulation. If that doesn't make sense, don't worry about it, it is just a dreary detail. Next he will put a moisture barrier over the whole thing, then sheets of particle board so that no holes accidentally get poked into the moisture barrier. I expect this stage to be done sometime in December, because Thanksgiving is bound to interrupt.

While he was doing that, I was prying "cymbals" out of the roof joists in the main part of the attic. You may remember me describing the weird, old, filthy insulating paper someone had put up sometime during the last century. Well, they nailed up a hundred or so of these metal disks, that look like little cymbals, to hold up that paper. I already ripped off the paper, but these things remain, and they need to be removed before Joe can do anything else. I was bending the edges with a pair of needle nose plyers, and them prying them the rest of the way off with a claw hammer. It was miserable. I had emptied out this part of the attic, but it is now partially filled again with building materials, such as giant bundles of insulation, so I could not get to every "cymbal." I must have pulled 50 of them, and this is just one side of the attic!

In other news, I started feeding my Christmas addiction again. I've decided that my favorite part of Christmas is decorating for it. I've been collecting old ornaments. I have some that are very old, but mostly, I'm collecting 40's, 50's and 60s. I can actually afford the things from that era, and I don't have to get angry if they get broken. I like the old glass Shiny-Brites, but I've also become intrigued with some of the plastic ones. I like to see how designers started playing with these new materials. It would be hard for me to describe exactly what I look for, but it does need a certain quality, I don't know... naive space age? I guess I will need to post some pictures at some point.

Anyway, we had another nice day yesterday, so after working in the attic, Joe invited me to come along for a motorcycle ride. I went, even though I would rather we just worked longer in the attic. I find that there are rewards for indulging him. Like as we were riding past one of my favorite antique stores, he said, "You want to stop?" You bet I want to stop. This place was just starting to put out their Christmas stuff. I found a couple of good things and I started my routine: "Oh my God, I have so much stuff, I really shouldn't. It's crazy, blah blah blah. Joe then responds, "Awe, come on honey, go ahead and enjoy yourself." "Nuff said. He's an enabler for sure. I added an ornament with a funky shape, but the paint is not shiny. These were made during WWII, when they would not spare the metal for Christmas ornaments. I also got a funky as hell blue tinsel tree. Oh, I also have a collection of little trees, and little houses (the made in Japan kind) and little plastic deer...

SNAKE!!!

2009-11-15T13:24:00.000-05:00

New work by Kate on Etsy

2009-11-15T13:23:00.000-05:00

Here is Kate's latest art quilt, finished not one hour ago. Hot and fresh!

No Snakes, Yet

2009-11-14T22:21:00.000-05:00

I was all set to make snakes today, then I thought that maybe I should start working out the next project I have planned for Art Club. I decided we could make snowman wallhangings. I am scheduled to do it December 1st, and that is coming up in a hurry. I made a sample today to be sure my ideas were sound. I intend to do most of the work up front. I'll have the background ready, I'll iron fusable onto all the different fabric components. I will draw the shapes and let the artists cut them out and fuse them. I 'll let people decide whether or not they will sew buttons or use fabric markers to put on the details of the snowman. Hopefully we can manage this in the 2 hours we'll have.

I actually did start a snake today. I need to figure out how I want to do the eyes. It's not in the pattern, but I want to make a tongue. I think my snakes will all have rattles. I'll show you tomorrow

Making Snakes

2009-11-13T14:58:00.000-05:00

This morning I became aware of Drew's alarm going off. His alarm is an i-pod, blasting the most insane music. He wakes up at 4:30 am to go to work, and he needs nothing short of a bomb to get him up. He tells a story of sleeping through a rocket attack once when he was still in the Marines.

Anyway, sometimes I don't hear it at all, but this morning I did. When he didn't turn it down after a while, I thought maybe he wasn't waking up. I went to his room, but he was awake, and he said to me, "Do you know we have no milk?" Being out of milk in the morning at my house is like a tragedy. Everyone NEEDS milk for their coffee. So I left $5 in the bathroom and told him to buy it. He did.

I was glad the exchange took place, other wise I'd have woken up to no milk, but just the same I remained awake from then on. I was laying in bed thinking about making snakes.

Yesterday evening I was to take Kate to social group, as is normal on a Thursday. This week it was cooking, and it was Kate's turn to bring a guest. Usually I end up being her guest, but this time she invited her job coach who still checks in with Kate at her job at the supermarket. Joe mostly does his own thing on those evenings, but this time he wanted to come with me and offered to take me out for Thai food. AWESOME! After a delicious dinner, he and I went to the Library to chill for a while. He took out a biography of Groucho Marx. I took out a bunch of books, a big one about fabric designs, an art quilt picture book, a book about piecing techniques and one about making stuffed toys. I previously had no interest in making softies, but I was flipping through and came across a pattern to make stuffed snakes. I don't know, they looked so funny, and so simple to make, that I decided I needed to take out the book. That brings us back to me lying in bed thinking about making snakes. I have some ideas about how to make the snakes "Mundy style." I showed it to Kate and she is down with that, but she also pointed out a little bird pattern. I would not exactly call it difficult, but way more involved than that snake. She thinks we should sell them on Etsy

I'm looking forward to another weekend with nothing particular to do. Joe plans on working in the attic some more. Slow but sure, I guess. I've been having a fantasy about having an open studio when it is finished, and inviting people like it was a party. I'll have plenty of time to plan it, apparently.

My Son, the Veteran

2009-11-11T14:33:00.000-05:00

Today is veteran's day, so I thought it would be a good day to talk about my son. When he was 5 years old he began to request military haircuts. At that time it was popular to not let your children play with toy guns. Drew would make his own gun, out of a banana, his LEGOs, a branch from a tree. When he was 6 years old he would make me read him articles from Time magazine during the gulf war. He had wanted to join the Marines since he was 12. I honestly did not think he was the type; he was one of those people that just always marched to a different drummer, so to speak. I tried to buy him any books I could find that I thought would give him a realistic idea of what he was getting into, but, it didn't change his mind, so, in he went, 2 weeks after his 18th birthday. I remember the recruiters picked him up at some ungodly hour, like 3am, to take him to Paris Island. My parents were there to say good bye.

I downloaded a chart that showed you what he would be doing every day for the three months he was at Paris Island. I wonder if I still have that anywhere? I would think, today Drew will be rappelling off of a 20 foot high wall! I didn't speak to him for all that time, but we did have a lively exchange of letters. I still have all of them. If I had thought of it, I would have scanned one to show you, some of them were down right hilarious. He's a good writer.

When he was done with Paris Island, we went to see him graduate. It was a great proud moment. Especially considering there were people in my family that had doubts that he would make it. After Paris Island he went to North Carolina for infantry training, then to Fort Sill in Oklahoma for MOS training. Finally, at the end of January he arrived at Camp Pendleton where he was to be stationed. As soon as he arrived he called and told me he was being deployed to Iraq. I told him it had to be a mistake, he just got in! No mistake, he was going in early February.

This picture is from his first deployment. We would send him disposable camera's, and he would send them back and we would have them developed. I remember seeing pictures like this one and not being able to believe it was my son!

He ended up going to Iraq three times during the 4 years he was in the Marines. Slowly you hear stories of the things he had seen. Some funny, some some really painful to hear, knowing how difficult it must have been for him. If the stress of deployment was not enough, he really didn't fit in that well. In the end he decided not to re enlist.

Even though my son was shot at, had a convoy he was in attacked with a roadside bomb, even though he had to shoot someone, he actually believes his service was unremarkable! Anyway, on veteran's day, I salute my son, I am so proud of him!

Here is a picture of Drew watching his sister Kate play tennis for special Olympics. He has been home over 2 years now. I can honestly say that he was not quite right until maybe 6 months ago. It was not anything really obvious, nothing where you would say, he's got PTSD. He bombed out off college, couldn't hold down a job, had no direction, seemed restless, had trouble sleeping. I was pretty worried, but slowly he is coming around. He has had the same job for a year, he trained to be an EMT and did really well and now volunteers for a local rescue squad. He is talking about going back to college.

New on Etsy

2009-11-09T16:30:00.000-05:00

Here is a quilt that has been hanging around for a while, waiting for more shell beads. I could not really describe this when I was putting it up on Etsy. It really is about an archeological discovery. This is an ancient grave site. That little whale bone doll is the body. I've used this little guy in a number of collages from back in the "old days." That would be the late 1990s.

Pokeberries: Don't Bother

2009-11-07T14:18:00.000-05:00

I performed my final pokeberry experiment this morning. I had a variety of alum-treated fabrics at hand, a small bucket of pokeberries simmering in an enamel stock pot purchased for this purpose. I put lace, muslin, and cotton prints into the mix and cooked them for a couple of hours with soda ash. The result? A bunch of fabric that looked vaguely dingy. Do yourself a favor and don't waste your time natural dying with pokeberries. They look promising, but you get nothing for your efforts.

I did have a couple of boxes of good old fashioned RIT dye on hand. I know this stuff isn't great, but it is easy to get your hands on. I cooked up a mess o' that on the stove and put a bunch of fabric in this new dye bath. I happened to use pink again and I have some very pretty fabric drying on the line right now. It came out very uneven, which I think is a problem with the stove top method, except for me it is exactly what I wanted. I over-dyed some blue and white and black and white checks and they look great. I have brown dye that I plan to use next. Some of it will go over the pink.

Book My Ass

2009-11-06T15:04:00.001-05:00

I e-mailed the book editor and she has not e-mailed back. This is the part where I feel discouraged. This is the part where I think, that was just a dream. Even if she never gets back to me, I think I will send them a pitch for the book idea this all sparked me to think up.

Here is my latest feed sack quilt, now on Etsy. It occurs to me that I have enough art quilts made with feed sacks that I might make it it's own catagory.

Here is another example of my flower pounding experiments. I really like the colors on this one. I'm not sure what I will do with this fabric. I've been looking at ATCs lately. I see some people sell them on Etsy, but when you read about ATCs on the web, they are supposed to be traded, not sold. I thought briefly about joining a trading group and then snapped out of it. The thing about joining a group is you end up with some kind of obligation.

Last year I made a few things for Christmas, but did not sell much. I was thinking that I could make ATC size items that could be thought of as ornaments. I have 2 half finished pieces going right now. I'd like to finish them before I start up something new. Unfinished objects make me a little crazy.

Joe and I are going out with friends tonight. The National Hotel had it's grand re-opening in Frenchtown on Tuesday, and we are very happy. The National Hotel is a very old establishment. Naturally it has gone through a number of owners, but the place closed down a year or so ago and they boarded it up! It really looked horrible, like a crack house or something. Maybe I'll take some pictures if I think of it.

Crazy Good Things

2009-11-05T16:33:00.000-05:00

I can't even think today. I haven't been too busy here at work, and that makes it hard to get anything done. I realize that might sound crazy, but that's really how it is. There is enough free time to mess around on the internet, and I get distracted by interesting things.

Anyway, today 2 things happened to make that situation double worse. Remember how I have applied to Drexel University to get a BS in Communication? Well, I signed up for an online seminar where one of the professors spoke about the course, what to expect, and where you can use a degree like this. (Answer: anywhere) When I was finished, I ran down to get lunch, came back and had an e-mail saying I was accepted! I'm excited and scared.

If that's not distracting enough, I had a convo on my etsy site from a woman who says she is the acquisitions editor for C&T publishing. I looked that up and found it is a ligit publishing house that concentrates on needle arts and mixed media books. She says she loves my work and wants to know if I had ever considered writing a book. Well, not up until now. She offered to chat more if I sent her an e-mail. I did, but haven't heard back yet. Meanwhile I looked at their book propsal form, and started writing a book proposal on the spot! It's a pretty big deal, I have to write a sample chapter and a complete set of instructions for a sample project.

How could all this happen at once? If somehow this book thing really happens, I'm going to blow off going to Italy this year. How many things can one person do??????

Plant Pounding

2009-11-02T20:44:00.000-05:00