what? Only 30%?!?!

You Are 30% Weird

Not enough to scare other people... But sometimes you scare yourself.

How Weird Are You?

Surely that can't be right. I'm the wierdest person I know, well, next to Andy and that's saying quite alot. I'm really not trying to be an elitist or concieted...but I'm an odd bird, no bones about it. I don't even have to try for those odd looks and akward silences that can only come from a true miscommunication. I say something I think is smart, appropriate, or even witty...and then it gets all quiet and I realize I've done it again.
Of course that could be because of some recent news I found out. I've almost always suffered from clinical depression but on Wed. I found out that not only do I suffer from depression, I'm actually severely depressed. News to me and some of my closest friends! Everyone but my husband was surprised. On top of being severely depressed I have . OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder), >ADHD(adult attention deficit disorder), and a few other pretty little mental issues with long names. I mean seriously. I think people should offer you dinner before they heap crap like that on you. I don't even believe in ADD (please...no hate mail, I'm just dubious not ignorant) how can I have it? Then again, tons of people don't believe in God but that doesn't change the fact that He's large and in charge. So yeah...whatever. I did a bit of research with the help of a friend who works in the neuroscience department at Cambridge in NY. He let me know that as of now they believe that OCD is triggered by an overactivity in the ACC (Anterior Cingulate Cortex in the brain), which is partially responsible for evaluating and monitoring the exterior world. So from there I did a bit of dabbled research and found out the ACC is also believed to be responsible for something akin to precognition...it's the place that has you putting on the breaks long before you ever see that Semi running that red light. It's been called the "Accidental Black Spot" of the brain. If it goes wonky it can cause depression, bi-polar/manic depression, schizophrenia, autism, OCD, Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome, and possibly a host of other boogiemen. Guess how many of those I have? Ok now can you guess which ones? Maybe one day I'll let you know. So you know what? I'm going to do what I always do in situations like this, I'm going to wear it on the cuff of my sleave and reach out to anyone in my situation who needs help because I know I can't do this one on my own. Of course I know I'm not alone, more than family and friends, I have faith. So there it is folks, I spilled my mess all over you. If it sounds familiar, check out the links and get yourself or a loved one some help. Be glad we live in the 21st century and not the 13th...back then you could wind up with a nice exorcism or burning at the stake for thinking a little crooked. YAY for modern science, as shifty as it is.

Mile Marker 5

This is NOT me
Today I finally returned the CPM (continuous passive motion) machine that was sent home with me after surgery. I'm going to miss it, but with that action I can officially kiss my bedridden days goodbye. That's the 5th indicator I've had that I'm really going to come out of this ok and be able to walk again. Physical therapy sessions are broken down into two days a week now but they've started lasting longer. I'm really enjoying the time I spend at PT because my knee always feels better after AND most of those guys are a hoot. I spend most of my time there smiling and laughing in between winces. Today they showed me this horrible yet hilarious email called Who Brought the Nearsighted Kid to the Pool?. It's funny because it's so bad. Sadly the reason they showed it to me is because they were comparing me to him. Did I mention that I'm a total spaz and a klutz? Because I am.

The Adventure Book of Needlework page 29

The Adventure Book of Needlework page 29 

This is one of my favorite illustrations from a book called The Adventure Book of Needlework by Betsey Bates, the book was written by Dorothy Dunbar Graef and was published in 1958. Apparently ISBNs were implemented after that date because this book has a Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 58-8460. There are some really cute projects in here, but mostly, I just LOVE the illustrations. I love them so much in fact that I scanned them and added them to the Flickr group
Inspiring Images from Craft Books so that it could be shared and loved by many more. Apparently this little gem is selling for $40 online but I was lucky enough to find it for $2 in a used bookstore. It was one of those unexpected finds and I truly am loving it. I hunted around trying to find more illustrated works by Betsey Bates but all I found were some really pretty collector plates. Maybe one day I'll start a collection, but until then, I'll just enjoy the heck out of this book.

Most Prodoctive 24 hours this week.

Yay! Last night and this morning have been the most productive 12-24 hours since Oct. 20th. I finally finished the applique and quilting on a halloween wallhanging I had started last year....or maybe it was the year before...I can't even remember. Now all I have to do is add the binding and it will be done. Hoooray! This is my first machine quilted quilt effort ever. Usually I'm just plain old lazy and make do with ties. Now when I say usually, maybe I should state that for me, usually means the whole two quilts I've made.
Emily and I have also started on our Halloween decorations for the windows of the front door. Since I can't do the whole climbing on ladders and railings this year we don't get to have the traditional creapy front porch littered with gigantic spider webs and bats. I guess I'll just have to make do with the home grown spider webs. Maybe I can coax the black widows out from under the porch for a day. Yes that's right, I have an infestation of black widows at my house. They've resisted Orkin and cleaning so I figure I'll just default to my usual attitude toward spiders. You don't come in my house and I won't actively look for you and squish you. It's worked rather well. The brave spiders that do violate this intrisic rule die a sad and squishy death. But they sure come in handy around October. Maybe I'll just stop cleaning up after the one's living on the front porch and let them do all the decorating.

Walking Wounded

Ok I think I've got this thing down. Had some minor misshaps with the meds, went from Darvocet to Ultracet to emergency room to Atavan to Alieve and a nap. All the the space of 48 hours. But, now I know that all narcotic pain relievers are RIGHT OUT for me. So hey, that's one less habit to kick right? They only removed 4 staples the last visit, but I will be getting the remaining 9 out tomorrow, finally.
Physical therapy is going extremely well and much less painful than I thought. I'll be walking without krutch assistance next week if all goes well. YAY!
During all of this convalescing I managed to finish three detail oriented, time consuming projects AND get a few sketches for future projects done. I hope to get those scanned and uploaded this weekend. I'm still pretty limited in my every day activities. Just the act of finding the camera, taking pictures, uploading them and scanning paper stuff takes a whole day now instead of the half hour to hour it used to take before the surgery. I try not to think about it to avoid depression. This limited capacity thing is only temporary. I DID remember to take pictures of my knee post op and time lapsed this week to show improvement and recovery, so I can actually make a small scrap book about it to remind myself of how far I've come.
Really other than that there's not much going on. I don't like to write about the boring, depressing negative stuff because it doesn't really help me or anyone else. Bad enough that my last two posts were so...dirge like. I'm doing so much better than the last surgery, it's almost unbelievable.
My dad's coming back from Europe next week and I can't wait! He's supposed to be bringing me all kinds of textiles from Montenegra and Italy. Mostly I just can't wait to see him. It's been a few months and being the daddy's girl that I am I miss him something fierce. Here's to praying that his return trip is safe and uneventful.

Slightly more alive

Well,today I woke up and decided it's time to toss the meds and do my best to get the heck out of bed. Tomorrow I see the Dr. to get the 13 staples that are holding my knee together removed. They're driving me nuts. My knee looks like some kind of combination roasting chicken/Frankenstien. The bruises go from my ankle to the inside of my upper thigh. You'd think I got hit by a truck.
I'm totally frustrated and fed up and having some kind of reaction to the Darvoset they prescribed for the pain. I'm having auditory hallucinations and twitches, and crap mood swings because it's interacting with my sanity meds. Not Good. So tomorrow I ask to talk to pain management and do something about not taking any pain meds. Let it never be said that I'm addicted to pain meds. Paper, yes. Relationships, yes. Shopping, yes. But pain meds, absolutely not. I hate the stuff, hate the way it makes me feel, hate the way I zone out, hate what it does to my stomach, hate what it does to my poor liver...hate it all. So here's to tomorrow, may it be a staple and pain med free day.

Post Surgery day 5

Not much energy to type. This is the first time I've logged on to a computer since Monday the 19th. Just checking my mail has wiped me out. Been pretty much binging on DIY and HGTV, sleeping, eating an sleeping for the past 5 days. Will write more when I'm not drugged into a stupor. All I can say is that I'm in so much pain it's not worth being awake. bones on fire...agony, itching, drowsiness,and more bone deep agony. At what point is this supposed to help? discomfort no matter how i sit or lay. Nothing brings lasting relief...not even sleep. I refuse to speak to my knee ever again.

Another post without pictures

Well, I've gotten started on the Basic Grey challenge. I'm not sure if I'll get it done on time but I think it really needs to get done either way. This is going to be one of those cathartic projects, I can already tell.
I spent an hour slicing and dicing with my nested file folder Coluzzle template. Man, that thing is so cool. Since I'm not allowed to have a die cut machine until after Christmas (this particular restraint having been mandated by the hubby) I rely on my various Coluzzle templates to mass produce pretty paper items like tags, library pockets and cards, and nesting file folders. I also have some hearts, stars, and puzzle pieces that I love. So I've knocked out about 7 file folders of various sizes. I think I'm going to go with a 8"x8" album format. I want this album to be simple, stark and striking. Ooooo Alliteration. I want the focus to be on the subject, not the art. Usually I'm pretty artsy fartsy and fuss with composition, framing, color schemes and all kinds of other persnickity details. Since I'm limited in my paper and embelishment choices I'm going to rely on the journaling and photos to carry this project.
So I'm playing with paper actively again. YAY. Did I get any of the stuff I was supposed to get done at work done? Um...no. I did spend a few hours at the sizzix machine pounding out felt shapes...and then I promptly FORGOT THEM at work! I won't be going back for them until either this weekend or Monday. That burns my nerves because I really wanted to get some packages ready before my surgery so that I'd have to do a minimal of moving during my recovery. I'm sure I'll get impatient and head into town tomorrow or Thurs to get the stuff because it'll drive me nuts!

So that's all the news for today...I'm off to go pass out for the night.

Being Remiss

Not only did I not post this weekend, I also have not been posting any paper work on here. What a sad state of affairs. I have a good reason though (notice the lack of the word Excuse here). So here's the deal. I was sick all weekend (some kind of medicine mixup) so I pretty much slept Saturday and Sunday...so no posting there.

I have also been completely uninspired where the papercrafting goes. So I'm taking a hiatus for a bit. Now when I say hiatus I mean that I'm not going to be embarking on any really big paper projects, but that I'm still sketching, still handling paper, and still in love with it. I just don't get any itchy fingers when I look at it at the moment. Right now I'm engrossed in making dolls for Emily and other crafty items involving fabric, scissors and needles.

At the moment I'm preffering Bienfang's Notes Sketch Book because of the divided sketch/writing space and the fact that it's made of recycled papers. The paper has very little tooth so I get alot of gliding action with a pencil. Erasing's easy on it too. I've been in love with these for quite a few years and found it super helpful when planning my wedding. I'd cut magazine clippings and stick them in the sketch section and make notes in the notes section. The recycled aspect is an added bonus. It's hard to find a really good recycled sketch book other than the ones made of kraft paper . Both are wonderful and serve different purposes.

And speaking of Kraft paper, my desk here at work is covered in the stuff in order to allow me to sketch with abandon whenever the whimsy strikes. At first I got funny looks from my co-workers (I'm currently working at a tech. company) but I've also recieved compliments on my creativity. When it gets jammed with sketches and notes I'll take a pic and post.

What are YOU doing to help?

I've been holding back on this post because of how emotionally charged the whole subject is...but I just can't do it anymore. Forget all the political and personal opinions, we're all human here. It shouldn't be a matter of wether or not you're going to help, but what you're going to do to help. That's all I have to say. Here are some links. Do something.




A blog with live feed of downtown NOLA and pretty good daily updates.

Swap Blog is up!

click here to check it out. Over the next week or so there are going to be a whole lot of items on there, but I can only do 1 swap a week due to my absolute lack of time. I'll process the swaps in the order I recieve them.

In all the rush to get stuff done I forgot to mention that I figured out how to cut felt on a Sizzix die cut machine. How nifty is that? I think it's my new applique trick. Never heard of a Sizzix? Click here to check it out. Scrapbookers LOVE the thing. I don't have one personally, but I do have access to the one at the art store and let me tell you, that thing is AWESOME! I wind up using it for all kinds of projects, not just scrapbooking. And speaking of which...when was the last time I posted anything about paper on here? Isn't this supposed to be a papercentric blog? How embarassing.

To Hoard or not to Hoard

Ok so here's a jumble of stuff that I need to add to the list O things to do

Basic Grey submission
Take Ten submission
Clean out ribbon/scrap/fabric stash
Write documentation for work (Found documentation stored on server 9.09.05)
Take pictures of felty shapes (done! 9.08.05)
Take pictures of bear kits (done! 9.08.05)

Ok so I'm trying to clean out my stash so I can make some space for...well for all the stuff that's piling up. I'm running out of room for my paper projects, or my sewing project...it's one or the other at this point and that's no good. I want to be able to access all of it. My greatest fear is that I'll rid myself of a scrap or piece of fabric and then...months down the road go looking for it because it's the perfect print or texture for a project. I'll be in my drawers or bins digging around and then suddenly, like an epiphany gone wrong, I'll remember that I gave it away. I know your stomach is dropping in sympathetic horror at the thought. Some of you may even be groaning. Be brave. These are things we all have to face at some point or another. To keep or not to keep, therein lies the crux of the problem. Do I hoard on the off chance that one day I'll need that 3" length of puce ribbon, or do I make it go away and revel in the space I've freed up?
Here's what I'll do, I'll go through all of my stuff and start a swap pile. I'll take pictures of all my swap items and I'll start a swap blog here. Maybe then I'll be able to swap for all the cute little creatures I see online. No more bags though, I have a trunk of those that's taking up space in a rarely opened closet.

Fall's almost here

So I decided to make a little color scheme change. How do you like it? I think it's rather appropriate.

To Do

I have a thousand unfinished projects and I keep forgetting about them as I get inspired and start another...so I'm putting a To Do list up here to keep me on track and for accountability's sake. They're not in any priority order.

Church Dolls
Bunny Doll
Doc Litchfield's book
The Paris book
Mail off Paula's tags (still!)
Cut up lace and fabric for swaps
Felt Card holders
Trim/Accent tags
World's Wierdest News Day book
Studio Art Sign
Paper List
Paper samples
Paper storage

I should probably put the sewing projects off until after my surgery so that I have stuff to do while I'm laid up. So...yeah. UGH! I may wind up adding to this list and removing things from the list as I update and go along. Stay tuned for further procrastination from yours truly.

The Forced Vacation

So this labor day my husband told me that I had no choice, I was GOING to his parent's place. And you know what? I'm glad he did. Visiting the inlaws is never a burden for me. They have a guest house that we crash in and they keep Emily in the main house with them, so it's like a mini vacation every time we go. Labor day is always an anticipated event as well, because of the Labor Day Flea Market and Gun Show in Hillsville VA. You can literally find ANYTHING there. I managed to net the haul above with only $11.50 USD. There are more pictures of the flea market and detailed pics of my find on Flickr. Click here to check 'em out. Em and I had a great time. I'm also offering up 3 yards of the lace and a fat quarter from each yardage of fabric/ lace shown for swap. First come first serve. Just leave a comment and let me know if you're interested. Ok, now I need to go eat.

Fantastic Mail Day!

Yippeeeeee! I recieved my swap from Fiona, the crafty creator ofhop skip jump. Look at all the fab stuff! I'm especially fond of the cherry ribbon and polka dot ribbon. Cherries! On a Ribbon! LOVE IT! Of course the prize of the whole package was the lion pincushy, which immidiately got snatched away by greedy little Emily hands. She then proceeded to squish and squeeze it while jumping around eccstatically singing "Squish squish squish squish!" over and over again until we finally had to get her to simmer down. It was really cute though. When I finally managed to reclaim the pincushy it was after bedtime and I didn't get a chance to post the picture of the swap package. Oh I can't wait for Fiona to get my package!

The beginnings of yet another project

ColorTest 

These are Dr. Ph. Martin's concetrated watercolor samples. They're not all that true to life, but they're close. I'm using the peacock blue, coffee brown, wild rose, moss green and irridescent brass for a sign I'm making at work. It's going to be...very pretty. I've already got the basic design stenciled onto the paper (Stonehenge for those who care) and the bottom portion masked off with Dr. Ph. Martin's white masking fluid, which is a dream to work with. All I have to do is mask off the top border design, paint in the lower right hand edge of the border and the top. That's that hard part because there are lots of tiny little elements to the design. After that it's a matter of removing the first mask and remasking the design so I can do an overall background wash, add the lettering and then do the overall outlining with the brass ink. I'll take more pictures next week.

For the Love of Puppies.

Today was really really really hectic at work but I had a couple huge perks. One was Puppy No. 5. He doesn't have a real name yet, but I nicknamed him Little Man. We have a customer who comes in just to buy huge sheets of brown paper to line the bathroom floor with for her puppies while they're being house broken. There are 6 of them and they're ADORABLE. I got to meet their dad (his name is Tank and he's built like one too) last week. He's a pitt bull and extremely well behaved as well as friendly and helpful. His owner trained him to carry things and now he helps her lugg stuff around. When they left he was happily carrying a big roll of packing tape in his huge jaws. He sure does make cute babies. Little Man is only 5 weeks old and already super smart and really obedient. I really like his breeder because she makes all her customers sign a contract saying that no matter what the dog's age, if the customer is no longer able to care for the pet they are to be returned to her and not to be dropped off at the aspca. If she finds one of her puppies at the pound she reclaims them and takes the ex-owner to court. To me that says "I love my doggies and care about their welfare". I could be wrong, but happy puppy faces never lie and her doggies are super happy.
Little Man 

It's Gretchen! I made her myself. 

Apple Tartlets and the last goat cheesy croissant.