Artsy Fartsy

Checking through my stats just now, I saw a search term that has to be my new favorite. Someone clicked over to LisaGaumond.com to answer the burning question:

“should we snuggle or ride a dirt bike?”

Too funny. I have to go Google that now to see how high up in the results I am.

(Update, I’m the first search result.  HA!!) 

Happy new year everyone! Wow, being on vacation has felt like being a million miles from my computer. I had 187 entries in my Google Reader to catch up on, and almost as many photos to upload to Flickr! It’s been a week since Christmas and I have yet to have the time to play with my new sewing machine, I haven’t blogged, I haven’t made anything, I’m feeling quite useless. What I have done, which I haven’t done enough of lately if you ask me, is hang out with my hubby. Luke had the week between Christmas and New Year’s off and we spent the whole time practically welded at the hip. Since he started working third shift we haven’t seen much of each other and it’s been a really long time since we’ve spent that much time together. It was really nice at first, and then the hermit in me started to get a bit cranky.

On New Year’s Eve, just hours before people were coming over to celebrate, I was desperate for ten minutes to myself! I’ve been forced to spend so much time by myself at home in the evenings, that I now realize that as much as I might complain, I like to be alone. Alone I had not been in eleven days. I hadn’t had the opportunity to read a book, go online, sew, draw, craft, or even sit in peace without being asked why I was quiet, or crabby. So I went to the package store. No, it wasn’t that bad, I had been planning to go for some party supplies, but I really wanted to go just to get out of the house. I felt like a shrew, and I still feel terrible. Luke was so helpful and perky and wanted to wash dishes and chop veggies and help however he could and I really just wanted to whack him with a spatula and tell him to get out of the kitchen. I didn’t though, I told my inner-wench to chill out and took a ride to the package store alone. I came back and prepared for a house full of new year’s guests, mostly Luke’s cousin’s gang, and mostly all kids. Still overwhelming for the one who yearns to be alone, but it was fun and I managed to stay up until midnight and drink champagne and actually play a couple of decent games of pool.

So what else has been happening? Let’s see… when did I last write? Well how about I start with the weekend before Christmas? The Sunday before, we went to my mom’s for a little Christmas breakfast with my mom and dad, sister and her gang, and my aunt Holly. Holly brought my cousin’s baby Bella, who was adorable. It was the first time I had seen her since she was born, so of course, I took about 97 pictures of the poor girl. But really, she’s adorable, isn’t she?

So are these two.

Christmas Eve we had a little issue with the Cover-It that houses Luke’s tractor (the issue being that the snow and wind ripped a big hole in it) so we went out in search of a tarp to cover it. While we were out, we stopped by Luke’s cousin’s house and watched them finish decorating their gingerbread train. It was very cute.

Then we went home to make a ham dinner for Luke’s mom who was coming to visit and exchange gifts. Luke had been up since 10pm the night before (he worked the Sunday night/Monday morning shift 11pm-9am) so we fell asleep on the couch post-presents, watching Miracle on 34th Street. Christmas morning we hung around and exchanged gifts. I already told you about my new love, the sewing machine. Luke got all manner of fun things (because I like fun things) and also a sweet pair of cowboy boots which amazingly fit AND he liked. Then we moved the party to my mom’s house. I was bringing the floorcloth (wrapped in a tablecloth) plus all sorts of other big things, like a coffee maker for my mom, and once added to the mountain of presents at my mom’s house already, this is what the pile looked like. It’s kind of embarrassing.

Once again, I couldn’t get a decent picture. The mustard color of mom’s walls just SUCKS the light out of the pictures. There was lots of paper tearing and laughing and squeals of delight. Andrea loved the floorcloth, and her husband Christian, who wins EVERY game he plays, got this handmade beauty from me. I am still a little sad that I didn’t “accidentally” leave off one of the “Ns” and make it say “winer” or even “whiner” instead.

After mom’s house, we went back to Luke’s cousin’s house to visit with that side of the family some more. We left there exhausted, stuffed, and ready for bed.

The day after Christmas my mom, sister, and close family friends get together for a Girls’ Day In-type thing. This year we had brunch at my house, then we all went to the movies together. It was so much fun, I love the movies. We saw P.S I Love You which was so good, but should be called P.S. Hand Me a Tissue. I loved it and still want to go back and see it again. And I’d really like it if Luke could speak with an Irish brogue but he stubbornly refuses.

The next two days were hilariously identical. Thursday we went to Home Depot to get supplies for a project we’ve been dying to finish and I’ll tell you about in a bit, and then we went to the new Cabella’s store where Luke had a shiny, new gift certificate. Friday we had to go back to Home Depot for something we forgot, then we stopped to visit a friend in South Glastonbury who said, “hey, let’s go to Cabella’s!” so we did. Again. And again we came home without spending the gift certificate. It’s just too overwhelming. It’s like Disneyland, but pretty impressive anyhow.

Saturday we got to work on our project. Here’s the finished product, can you guess what it is?

Stumped? It’s the ceiling over the bar. Here’s another view. About a hundred years ago when we started building the bar/playroom in the basement, we talked about making the ceiling above the bar something different than the acoustical ceiling that’s everywhere else. We wanted something cool and different and we came up with the idea to make it a basket weave of tin flashing. And two years ago we bought the flashing. See the amazing pace at which we work? It took two years to finish the epoxy on the bar top, and now two years for the ceiling. We’re speedy. But hey, it looks awesome no matter how long it took. Luke did an amazing job, as always, making one of my “wouldn’t it be sooo cool if we could…” ideas come true, and it looks exactly the way I pictured it would.

We had to stop the ceiling project midway because we had some other plans for Saturday night. Our neighbor Roland bought tickets for the fights at Mohegan Sun and I hate watching people beat the crap out of each other so much that I don’t even know what fights they were. IFL? Is that such a thing? I think that’s what it was. Either way, Renee and I went along for the ride, and to drive to boys home after the fights. We spent the four hours (can you imagine watching people hit each other for FOUR HOURS?) of the fights playing the penny slot machines. Laugh if you want, but the money disappears slower that way. We played for a couple of hours, lost $20 each, and went to the pub for a drink. Our luck turned while we were sitting at the bar when we found $20 under Renee’s stool. Fantastic! Our drinks were paid for and we had extra money to go put in the penny slots again. We went back to the same area, picked new machines, and two hours later both walked out $80 richer than we had arrived. Not a bad night.

Sunday we lounged around, finished the ceiling, cleaned up and got ready for New Year’s. Which brings us right back where we started. Tonight life goes back to almost sort of normal. I’m still on vacation until Monday -I’m not sure I’ll even remember how to go to work, I’ve never been off for so long - but Luke’s in bed now getting some shut-eye before he goes back to his normal (crazy-weird) work schedule tonight. And wouldn’t you know it, we were lazing on the couch watching the perfect brainless New Year’s Day movie, Dude Where’s My Car, and I had a sudden panic thought that made me so sad I wanted to cry - he’s going to work tonight. I’m going to be all alone. I know, hypocritical crazy woman, this is true. But at least I have you. And, wow, 216 Google Reader entries to read now. That should keep me busy. So happy new year everyone! I wish you all a great 2008. It’s good to be back, I’ve missed you.

The internet seems to be having a dry spell on fresh blog posts today.  I’m not feeling the creative urge to share anything particular and it seems that most of my other favorite bloggers are feeling the same.

I stayed up late last night checking over my inventory and seeing what needs to be photographed and listed on Etsy.  Looks like I have a lot of work to do.   About half of what I have made isn’t listed and I’ve run out of necklace boxes.  Half of my totes aren’t listed and it’s almost time to list the Snowkids again.  I took a million pictures and now they all need to be looked at, cropped, edited, etc. before I can list them.  Phew!  I had better get to work!

I’m at a loss for something to blog about today, but I’ve been noticing that every day I get hits from people searching Google for information on two major areas. The first is epoxy bar tops, Kleer Kote Epoxy, and making bar tops out of bottle caps. The second is hoya bellas and rooting hoya bellas. Folks, if you’ve got any questions or need recommendations, please leave me a comment, I’d be happy to share the knowledge! If you have any other burning questions for me, leave those in the comments, too. We could have a Q & A!

Karen tagged me to write eight random facts about myself, and since I was honored to be tagged, I figured I’d do it.  What the heck.  I promise not to write about my back pain.  Oops, I just did.  Anyhow, onward, shall we?

1. I have panic attacks if I have to stand in a line. 

I have no clue why.  I’m not claustrophobic, I’m about as patient as they come, I can’t explain it.  I don’t think about it, it just happens.  The first one happened when I was in college, standing waiting to go on a ride at Universal Studios while on spring break.  I couldn’t breathe, I got hot, I started to pass out.  It was so strange.  Now it happens everywhere there’s a long line.  It happened at Jo-Ann Fabric one day while I was waiting to have fabric cut.  I kept squatting down and pretending to play with my shoe so I could avoid passing out and losing my place in line.  If you wait in a line with me, you’ll see me sway a lot or move around, shake my arms out, etc.  This seems to distract me.  Drinking water or talking to someone helps, too.  So weird.

2. I’m firmly rooted.

I married the boy I dated when I was 15, I chose the college I attended because it was closest to home, my house is only 4 miles away from my parent’s house, and if given the choice to go out or stay in, I would always choose to stay in.

3. I wish I could sing.

I think it’s genetic (sorry Mom) but I don’t think that singing genes run in my family.  The problem is that I know this terrible fact, so I won’t sing when anyone can hear me and I desperately wish that I could.   I think about taking voice lessons every now and then but the thought of singing in front of even a voice teacher makes me sick.

4. I can’t stand repetition.  I can’t stand repetition.  I can’t stand repetition.

It flips my irate switch when someone repeats themselves.  Especially when you don’t understand something and someone so generously attempts to explain by repeating the exact thing they said in the first place.  All repetition bugs me.  Kids in the grocery store, the seatbelt alarm in my car, that Outkast song where he sings “alright, alright, alright, alright……..” Uh!  Just replaying it in my head makes me angry.

5. I can’t stand repetition. (Just kidding) 

5. If I can’t get paid to make artwork and jewelry, my dream job is managing a Starbucks.  I’m not kidding.

I love Starbucks.  Even if I didn’t drink coffee I would still love Starbucks.  The stores are designed beautifully, their merchandise is gorgeous, the atmosphere is welcoming, the company is generous and thoughtful of the employee.  I also sort of miss the retail industry.  Call it brainwashing, but I miss the public contact.  I just think I could kick some butt managing a Starbucks.  I wonder how much that pays?

6. I’m afraid of the dark.

More specifically the invisible movie-type scary things that might lurk in the dark and want to get me.  Especially in the basement.  File it under irrational responses with no explanation, right after panic attacks while waiting in line.  I’ve seen too many horror movies.  They’ve spoiled the darkness for me.  That combined with the fact that I can’t see a thing in the dark, I have weird, peripheral vision only in the dark, so I think things are jumping out at me all the time.  I’m also afraid of sharks and alligators and finding dead bodies in remote locations, like down by the river on our property.  Perhaps medication is in order?

7.  I think if the calssification was around when I was little, I would have had Asperger Syndrome.

[A little side note here, I worked at Borders in the late 90's and got a phone call at the information desk one morning by a man who said "I want information on Ass Burgers".  Or at least that's what I thought he said.  I thought it was a prank call and asked him, snidely, how to spell that before realizing that it was actually Asperger and it wasn't dirty, it was a disorder.  Ha!]

Although I don’t have the repetitive thing (thank god), I am extremely sensitive, easily overstimulated, focused on the little details of things, and my favorite symptom: clumsy and uncoordinated.  I have a tough time with social interaction, too, but I’ve worked on that and I can at least fake comfort in a group of strangers.  On the inside, I’d rather run and hide than make small talk, but I know that well-adjusted adults don’t do that sort of thing.

8. I love to play with kids but imaging having kids of my own gives me a sick, choking feeling (sorry again Mom). 

Since babysitting as a kid and working at Borders in the children’s section, I have loved to play with kids.  Any kids.  Kids at the grocery store, my sister’s kids, friends’ kids.  You can be silly and creative and weird and make faces at them and they love it!  It’s fun to pretend to be a pirate on a couch-ship surrounded by carpet-water, but having to jump ship to make the rules and be with kids 24/7… see number 7, section: overstimulated.  No thanks.  I can’t do it.

So how was that?  Random enough for you?  I’m supposed to tag eight others now but I’m averse to all things chain letter-ish so I’m going to leave the tagging up to you.  Paula? Amanda? Flann? Melissa (if you’re still alive)? If you feel like writing, go for it!

Are you sick of me yet? I’ve got bloggarrea. Gross. Part of my recent wordiness is that I spend all day in an office alone, then I go home to a quiet land of Nod house where I tiptoe around all night while Luke is sleeping. I have no one to talk to except for Molly, and she’s sick of me, too. The other part is that I’m leaving on vacation and since we’re planning to pretend we’re away somewhere, I think Luke is going to consider the computer off-limits. I’ll get that “you love that thing more than me” glare if I so much as check my email, so I don’t think I’ll be able to blog.

I know how annoying this will be, me not updating, because I’m currently feeling a bit of pathetic annoyance toward those blogs I visit everyday which haven’t been updated in ages. Can you hear me MELISSA? I get disappointed when the same pages come up day after day after day, and then I feel like a complete dork because these people are probably too busy to blog, what with their lives to maintain and all. Maybe they’re seeing actual people and talking to them in person. How dare they?

So this is it, one more day of blogging for a whole week. I’ll try to leave you with a pretty picture tomorrow so you won’t be irritated when you check back every day, hoping for some reason that maybe Luke is napping and I’ve snuck back to the house for an internet fix to update my blog. We can all hope.

What do you think?  Flannery inspired me to spiff up my dusty old template which meant tweaking my header and a few other things.  I think I like it.

In my quest to change and streamline, well, everything in 2007, I have decided to not only change my website, but also to change blogs. I’m combining the online portfolio and pretty pictures of my website and the chatty blogging capability of my blogger blog into one happy (and free) new blog over at WordPress. Go check it out.

The new address is: http://lgaumond.wordpress.com and hopefully over the weekend the change will be complete and you will be able to get there by also typing in www.lisagaumond.com.

I’ve been playing with it for about a week now, customizing and trying out the new features. I posted a few entries, too, to see how it worked. I’ve been talking to no one, according to my stat counter, so head on over there and make me feel better. I think you’ll like it. You can still comment, and I hope you do. The comment link is at the top of the message instead of at the bottom, but it works just the same. Let me know what you think.

It’s been a virtual blog ghost town lately. No one seems to be updating their blogs this week (Amanda… Flannery… Melissa…). I’m even feeling uninspired. I couldn’t muster up the creative juices to write anything yesterday and today I’m feeling the same. Blah.

My last post was my 200th. It took me a year to reach 100 and two months to reach 200. Have I been chatty lately?

Have I mentioned how much I love my car? I love my car.

Luke’s Jeep has decided to hold a sit-in in our driveway. It’s refusing to not only let him open the doors, but also to start. I blame this on Luke’s talk of buying a new truck lately. I was still in my bathrobe, making coffee this morning when Luke tried to leave and couldn’t. I had to throw some clothes on, dunk my head in the tub, toss some makeup in my purse and hop in the car to take Luke to work. I left in such a hurry that I had to take mental inventory of my outfit before I got out of the car at work, just in case: shirt? check, pants? check, two matching shoes? check.

Molly goes for a haircut tonight. She gets her hair cut more often than I do and her haircuts cost more than my salon visits do. What does this say about me?

I’ve been crafting lately but I can’t share the details with you because they are top-secret crafts for a certain someone who might be reading this blog. Stay tuned and maybe I’ll eventually be able to reveal what I’ve been up to.

It’s going to snow tonight, I’m so sad.

Crap. I blew it. Artsy Fartsy’s one year anniversary was last week and I forgot. One whole year of blogging. Ya-hoo!

I’ve been busy lately but I don’t really have anything finished to show you. I’ve been trying out some new ideas and playing with new paints. I started a few little acrylic paintings on clayboard. Here’s what I have so far:I love patterns. This is just the first step of the idea I have in my head. Hopefully I’ll be able to show you the finished version soon.

I’ve been trying out a lot of new things lately and they’ve all been tanking. I tried to make a felt flower pin a friend had described to me. I worked for days on it and it looked awful. The same friend described a pair of wire and bead earrings she saw and I tried to make those - nope. Those came out lousy, too. I tried to knit Luke a hat and got ahead of myself, tapering it in before I had made it big enough. It’s a lovely, wool, hand-knit beanie.

I did manage to make some cute yo-yos like these which I turned into a little decoration to sit my Yankee Candle jar on top of. I have to finish sewing buttons on it and then I can show it off.

Well happy blogiversary-and-a-week to me and thank you all for reading!