Artsy Fartsy

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.

Merry post-Christmas.  I’m alive, I’m tired, I’m good.  Christmas Eve traditions, Christmas day visiting and present opening, day-after Christmas traditions, and a cold I’m fighting off are keeping me busy.  That, and the fact that Luke ended up with THIS week off, not next are keeping me from keeping you all updated.  I only have a minute or two right now as Luke takes a shower so I wanted to say hi, and check out my Flickr photos for my Christmas in pictures.  I’ve uploaded a bunch and I’m in the midst of uploading more.  Go here to see them, or click on that bar on the right with the photos in it.  And be prepared for an onslaught of “look what I sewed” photos to come - Luke bought me a shiny, new (quiet) sewing machine for Christmas!!

Today I have to stop into work to deliver paychecks, then lock up my office and walk away for TWO. WEEKS. I can’t even believe that’s true.

The university closes for the week between Christmas and New Year’s so (shucks) I have to take those days off. Then I threw in three extra vacation days and made it a solid two weeks.

Of course the first week is already chock full of plans, but Luke will be working and I’ll be home most every evening, so I’ll be here to update you on my thrilling post-Christmas life.

The second week Luke will be home, and you may remember from our last vacation at home, it drives him nuts when I use the computer while he’s home, so I’ll have to sneak it and blog from my phone if I have to.

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend, a fantastic Christmas, and I’ll catch you all next week.

(Festive Christmas pictures, by the way, brought to you by my kitchen walls.)

Merry Christmas!!

Each year I seem to make one Christmas present that nearly kills me.  It’s usually a present for someone in my family, and it’s usually a much bigger project than I dreamed it would be.  One year Luke and I built a funky bookshelf for Cameron which still had glue drying on it as he unwrapped it.  Last year I was painting jungle animals on a rocking chair for Alex on Christmas Eve.  This year, it was the floorcloth.  The recipient of this lovely floorcloth doesn’t read this website and has somehow figured out how to go days at a time without even touching a computer.  I can’t imagine.  So anyhow, I feel pretty safe showing this off, figuring that he/she won’t see it.  But just in case, I’m not going to mention their name.  Is it you?  Maybe.  If you’re lucky.

I’ve been fascinated with floorcloths since I heard there was such a thing.  Its basically a thick sheet of canvas that’s painted on and covered with polyurethane so you can walk on it.  This canvas was made to be a floorcloth and has a sticky, grippy type backing on it to keep it from slipping.  I knew I wanted to make this Christmas present for a certain someone, and I looked for designs all through November trying to get inspired.  It was a little overwhelming.  I usually paint things that are smaller than 12″.  This baby is 8 1/2 feet by 5 feet.  I found this rug on Urban Outfitters that I liked, so I used it as inspiration for my own design.

Before I painted my design, the floorcloth needed to be primed and since I prefer the casual method to the “you must use specific brand X primer” method, I just used flat white ceiling paint.  Easy, cheap, rolled on nicely.  Four coats of ceiling paint rolled out on the floor using a long handled roller.  It went quickly.  I did it all down by the wood stove so the drying time was cut down drastically.   The over the course of two evenings and about six Christmas movies, I painted the circles using two different sized plates as my template.  Then five coats of acrylic polyurethane and I was almost done!  But then I needed to bind the darn thing.

Most websites suggested turning the canvas under and ironing it, then stitching it or using an adhesive to make a clean edge.  That sounded fine, but my canvas was a bit narrow to begin with and I didn’t want to loose any width by folding it under.  Instead, I thought it would look cool with a black border.  I looked everywhere for rug binding already made, but found only satin blanket binding or skinny quilt binding.  Rats!  Instead I bought some thick black cotton fabric and spent Monday evening making 36 feet of 3″ binding.  Not fun.  I hate to iron and this job was nothing but ironing.  I wanted to try using Stitch Witchery (I love that name) to attach the binding to the canvas, but was having inconsistent luck getting it to melt and stick.  Last night I spent two Christmas movies ripping out the Stitch Witchery and replacing it with industrial double-sided tape meant to hold down vinyl flooring.  Hopefully that means the binding isn’t going anywhere and I can finally wrap the darn thing and get on with Christmas!  There are still some smaller crafts I have to finish and this big lug has been taking up all of my time and worrying.  I do love it though, and want to make one for myself once the holiday rush is over.

The funny thing to me as I type this is that I can remember each movie I watched to pass the time as I worked.  Let’s see if I can list them all:  Sons of Mistletoe, Single Santa Seeks Mrs. Claus, A Christmas Story (three times), Jack Frost, Papa’s Angels, A Charlie Brown Christmas,  Holiday in Handcuffs (twice), Little Drummer Boy, Santa Claus is Coming to Town, Snowglobe (twice, painfully), It’s a Wonderful Life, Deck the Halls, and A Year Without a Santa Claus.  Phew!  So that’s roughly… 25.5 hours to make this thing.  Boy, I hope he/she likes it.  And hopefully everyone in my family will be naughty next year so I can just buy their presents instead of making something so big.

This year, to thank the nice mail delivery person who has to drive up our long driveway to deliver over-sized mail, and the nice maintenance man at work who vacuums my office (you have to work here to appreciate how rare it is that I get my office vacuumed almost daily), and anyone else who has done something nice for me, I baked thank you cookies.

These are gingerbread cookies from my Gooseberry Patch cookie book, and they’re mostly made of butter which means they’re delicious. I cut out various sizes of circles, and then with a simple thinned down buttercream frosting, I piped out “thank you” or “thanks” and even a few “gracias” when I got tired of writing the same thing a hundred times over on the big ones. On the smaller ones I made snowflakes, which was way more fun. I also made a few batches of pumpkin butterscotch cookies, put them all in clear bags and tied them with silver ribbon. Ta-da! Delicious Christmas thanks.

I wish I could send one to each of you who reads this sometimes lame, sometimes boring, always chatty website every day. Thanks a bunch!

Since I’m sure there are a few people you still need last-minute gift ideas for, let me offer you this one: Blokus. My sister bought Blockus for my half-birthday (something everyone should celebrate) and it’s a ton of fun. We played it on Thanksgiving and we’ve all been talking about playing it again ever since. It looks simple, and in a way, it is. My five year-old nephew came very close to winning against three other adults last weekend (I came in last), but still, it’s fun for everyone. It’s much like Tetris, with the stacking of the blocks and all, but it flexes your spatial arrangement muscles, trying to figure out how to fit the pieces in to win. The object is to get rid of as many pieces as you can, you put one piece down on each turn, and you have to touch your pieces together at the corners only - not the sides, just the corners. It’s fun, easy to learn, and the whole family will love it. It’s a little pricey (in my book). I just picked up one at Barnes & Noble last night for $29.99. Amazon shows it for $24.99. It’s definitely worth every penny.

So yes, I’m still not bitter about the weather.  Unlike Amanda who is already planning her move to San Diego.  Give me two more weeks, though, and I’ll be packing my bags, too.  or now I’m happy.  It’s Christmastime.  We’re supposed to have snow.

I’m confident in my car, the two of us do well in the snow.  Having a reeeeeally long dirt driveway can be scary, especially now that I don’t have a tall 4-wheel drive SUV, but the Yaris does surprisingly well.

Molly and I went for a ride to the post office on Friday afternoon, but first we had to run around to show how happy we were that there was snow on the ground.  Well, one of us ran.  The other took pictures.

Zoom!

Zoom!

Zoom!

Time for a rest.  Phew!  Now how can you be grumpy about the snow when you see pictures like that?  Or like this one?

Aahhh… so pretty.  (Ave Maria just burst out of the Christmas playlist on my computer as I posted this picture.  Ha!)

Well, happy, happy, snow, snow.  For this week, at least.

This picture just cracks me up.  As I said on the Flickr description, I was tempted to Photoshop out the evil green eye effect from the flash, but with her crooked mouth and her angry glare, the eyes just seemed to fit.  I think someone’s on the naughty list…

Phew!  I’m beat.  It’s been nonstop craziness since last Thursday night.  From events at work and the holiday sale, to my mom and dad’s b-day celebration, and Wicked at The Bushnell last night.  I’m exhausted.

Thanks to everyone who braved the sudden winter weather on Friday night to come out to the holiday sale.  The slippery roads kept a lot of people away, unfortunately, but there were a few die-hard shoppers who came out and we all had a great time.  If you weren’t able to make it and would like to buy some Christmas gifts, I’m hoping to update the Etsy shops this week with all the new inventory so you’ll be able to shop to your heart’s content.

Saturday we had a combined birthday celebration for my mom and dad at their house.  Their birthdays are only a few days apart and my dad doesn’t like the attention of a birthday celebration aimed directly at him, so we do a combined party each year.  Mom insisted on making dinner - a huge birthday rule breaker - but since whatever the birthday girl says goes, and she insisted she wanted to cook, technically it wasn’t breaking the rule.  I guess.  My sister made this carrot cake, which was FABULOUS. So fabulous I had it for breakfast this morning.  It has carrots in it, it must be healthy.  Right?

My grandmother, (the great-grandkids call her GG), even came out for the celebration.  in case you don’t remember, GG is ninety (can you believe it?) and horrified at the thought that her picture is on the internet, AGAIN.  Hi GG!

Then on Sunday night, I went out to see Wicked at The Bushnell with my mom, my sister, my aunt Holly, and my cousins, Mandi and Stacey.  Mom and Andrea had bought my ticket for my birthday, how nice are they?   My cousin said they got our seats in the front of the mezzanine, but I didn’t realize they got our seats in the loge!  That’s the best place in the mezzanine to see a show.  It was great and I’m glad I finally got to see it.  It’s been so long since I’ve been back to The Bushnell, it actually felt magical again.  When I worked there, the magic seemed to fade away and I didn’t feel that awe I used to feel coming to see a show.  That awe was definitely back last night and the hall looked beautiful.

So, wow.  Now it’s back to normal.  I have boring and ordinary things planned for the rest of the week - grocery shopping, keeping the wood stove going, making Christmas presents and sitting on my butt - it’s going to be hard to live up to all the excitement of this weekend.  I think I need a nap.

Flickr has this neat, new service called Picnik that allows you to edit your photos right in Flickr.  You can also add things like text and pretty little hats.  I had some fun with it this afternoon.  I suspect that Molly will be sending this one out to all of her four-legged friends this season.