It's Center of the Earth Hot....

Yes, it really seems like it is...

Here in the Chaos, we've managed to not have the A/C on for most of the day. Once the highest heat of the day passed (I think we topped out at 106F maybe higher), I turned it on so as to cool the place off so we could sleep comfortably.

People always ask...but don't you waste energy or whatever by waiting? Not really. Either I have it on all day - where it's pretty much running all day, or I wait until around 6pm ish, turn it on, let it run for a few hours and that's that.

We don't really need it on all day - we are lucky. We are on the first floor immediately above the underground parking. The underground parking that pretty much stays cool year round. The concrete ceiling is basically our floor, only covered with a pathetic excuse for a pad and carpet.

In the winter, we're always cold. But in winter, it's very easy to put on layers of lovingly hand knit items to keep us warm...and those giant blankies I've just made will definitely come in handy once the mercury dips this winter!

In the summer, we are comfortable...only turning on the A/C at night - even during the hottest of heat waves.

In that we are lucky, cos there are only so many clothes you can take off when you are not the only one at home...and it's quite expensive to run our A/C all day long. This place is not well insulated - at all.

Little Princess Sammie has found a nice cool nook to hide in all day...only coming out for drinks of water and snackage. Spencer has been playing on his Xbox most of the day. I've been reading, playing addictive games on the laptop, or having a quick lie down. It's been pretty quiet round here as I suspect it's been for anyone else who is experiencing hot temps today. It's just the best thing to do.

Once dinner settles a bit more (we just had home made turkey burgers - YUM), Spencer and I will head out to swim. It was too hot to go to the pool today when it was in full sun.

I even hand washed the few items he'll need for his next week of being a Junior Counselor. There was no way I was going to trot up to the HOT laundry room and deal with laundry just for a t-shirt and a pair of shorts. I just did them here in the plastic tub thingy and hung them up - they are pretty much dried already.

So much for today. Not much exciting but I did manage to blab a lot, didn't I?

I am so excited for tomorrow. Claudia is doing her drawing tonight and will post about her ride and who won what from her prize basket tomorrow. I not only find out if I won anything (oh please let me win one of the AWESOME prizes!!!), I also find out who won the 3 items I donated.

One week until my classes start!

I'm going crazy - the wait is killing me.

Celebrating in the Chaos Today!

Happy B-day Oh Favored Son!

Spencer is 15 today. Goodness gracious where have the years gone?

One day he's Mommy's sweet widdle bundle of wuv...





The next day he's big and tall...and whining about having his picture taken...




and bossing around other kids! He's a Junior Counselor (JC) at a local Science Camp for a few weeks this summer.




Happy B-day Spencer! I love you and wish all the best for you. I'd better stop before I get all mushy and teary eyed and start blabbering...sigh...

It's not too late...

Hi Everyone!!!

While I go off and wait on hold for oh, an hour or so to argue the merits of "you have my money, where's my insurance benefits you bleep bleep bleepity bleep-bleep", please check out Claudia's Blog.

It's time for her annual Bike Ride for MS over on the East Coast. The actual ride is this coming weekend. For a donation of $10 or more, you will be entered into her raffle. People from all over the world have been donating some great stuff. Including lil' ol' me...the link above takes you to today's post which shows, among many other prizes, the 3 items I made especially for the give away. At the bottom of the post are the linkies you need to donate.

So hop on over to her blog, make a donation if you'd like and then stay a while to DROOL over all the wonderful knitty related prizes she's got stuffed into her prize basket...which should probably be the size of a large garden shed by now!

Latest news here, I signed up yesterday for a Jewelry Class. Same Adult Education place, only different day and location. Everything I know has been sef-taught - and there is nuttin' wrong with that! I'm hoping to hone my skills, and pick up some new ones as well. They mention wire wrapping in the class summary - YES! Have been wanting to try my hand at that for a while now. I can't wait for both of these classes to start.

I am hoping they'll give the creativity part of my brain a good kick start.

I am happiest when I am creating...and so far I haven't been able to do much creating since the job ended (palette cleansing giant blankies haven't worked - altho I am quickly burning thru my stash - and the latest one is over half done)...which makes for one unhappy Donna. Sigh.

Go...visit Claudia...drool, then donate...donate then drool, don't donate, just donate or just drool...

I'll be here when you get back...whining about how I've got artist's block and that all things insurance hate me.

GAH.

Art Art Art....

Yes, I'm going to drive you all bat shit crazy until this doggone Art Class starts...I'm not on the bus to Psychoville alone folks...I'm taking you all with me. Hee hee hee.

After my doc appt, I went down the street for some retail therapy. Oh, and it's not my fault that Ross is just steps away from the Art Store. Not my fault at all.

I found a set of 3 sketchbooks... 5x8, 8x10 and 11x14 sizes in a pack for $20. Can't go wrong there. Here it all is...





and yes...that IS my Buttercup pencil sharpener! Gotta have Buttercup along! :)

And YES...YOU CAUGHT ME!!! I bought a new tote bag to carry it all.



It was on Clearance! (Ross of course). It's Graphic! It has all my favorite colors! I can fit my largest sketch book in it! It's just SO. DAMN. CUTE. !!!!!!

It said "Take me home with you please!" So it came home with me. It said "please".

Oh, and it's got a pocket just the right size for Ms Cow to fit in...she's my creative partner, so of course she's coming along. :)

I am ready now for my first day of class. All my new and not-so-new supplies all packed in my new bag. July 7th can NOT come soon enough!!!!

Don't say I didn't warn you.

Oh, and there will be no - "what am I going to wear to school?" in the Chaos. I'll be riding my bike every week, so it will be the usual bike friendly outfits and the pre-requisite braids. Comfortable but not very fashionable.

Almost like a uniform. :)

It's addicting....

First off, I was successful in registering for the Drawing class I mentioned yesterday. I'm very excited to start and once Spencer comes back over from his Dad's, we'll hit the art store for a nice pretty new sketch pad for me. :) The rest of the supplies I need will come from Spencer's stash. There is also an "optional supplies" portion of the list, but we'll be ignoring that bit.

And now for the addicting part. And no, I'm not talking about my Viggo DVDs...altho I have to confess, Viggo III is currently playing in the background...sigh.

My current addiction continues with the Tunisian crochet stash blankies. I've decided to use some recycled yarn from 2 identical sweaters (a ton o' yards!) for a blanket for myself. Two strands of that held together with various other recycled yarns and yarns I've picked up from my favorite Thrift Stores and gotten from my various enablers (Mom) in the past. OH! And I'm finally going to use the 24 year old baby blue yarn I bought while I was a student in Seville back in '85. The base yarn is green (of course - this blankie is all M.I.N.E.) and I'll add the other colors as they run out, just like I did in Spencer's blankie.

Can't wait to see how it all turns out. I just loved the green yarn when I spotted the sweaters and it was always intended to be made into something for me. Now I've finally come up with something useful for myself. I'll have a photo of either the finished blankie at the weekend or it will be pretty damn close to it as these monsters work up lickity split. Guess I should go to Ravelry now and add the project!

Sammie on Sunday...

...no photos this time as we have been bonding on the couch...and I didn't want to ruin the moment.

Lately my little princess and I have been at odds...fighting over who has ownership over the laptop...or the office chair...or the mouse. She's been quite the little fuzzy white pill lately.

She's even learned where the delete key is on the keyboard, and has been having way too much fun sitting on the mouse and alternately right and left clicking by switching her weight.

The list of things she's been doing lately goes on and on, and I won't bore you, but let's just say, things are never boring when I sit and do the job search thing and chat to Honey in the morning.

Sigh.

Tonight we've come to some sort of truce...either that or she was cold... We sat together tonight watching crap on TV. Her on my lap purring, me dutifully petting and petting and petting. It was very calming for both of us and I've missed that interaction these past few weeks.

I'm hoping she'll hop up onto the bed tonight and sleep in "her corner" again. I've missed her. Where has she been sleeping? On the damn office chair! Gah!

Anyway, I finally checked the mail from Saturday as I came home from an afternoon out with my friend and partner in crime, Antonella...and there was the local class schedule for the Adult Continuing Education place. Kitty and I had a quick read thru and decided I should take a Drawing Class. It's on Tuesday mornings going for 8 weeks. Folks 55 and older have priority registration since it's a day class, but I'm hoping there's no rush on the class - please leave a spot for me...pretty please?

Several years ago, I signed up for a similar class in the evening and it ended up being canceled because not enough people signed up. I can't even tell you how disappointed I was! I had my sketch pad and pencils and rubber erasers all ready to go...I ended up handing them over to Spencer. Which only means, I get to go shopping for new supplies! :)

Fingers crossed this time it works. If I do find a job before it ends, well, I just stop going. It's not that much ($36 for residents for 8 classes) and it's something I've always wanted to do...and it'll keep me busy. Plus I get a really good ride in going to class...it's about a 7 or 8 mile round trip bike ride guaranteed once a week.

After my morning "job" of looking for work and then spending some time chatting with Honey tomorrow, I'm off to register...and if I get in, I get a supplies list and can go to the art store this week. I think I should probably wait until Spencer gets back from his Dad's. Going to the art supplies store is "our thing" and if I go without him, I don't think he'll ever forgive me.

Wish me luck!

Oooh! Have I mentioned that I've dropped 9 lbs since I stopped working? Can I get an "amen sister?" I'm also sleeping better...can you say I love not having a stressful job anymore?

Now to just find a job before the stress of not having one sets in.....sigh....

Totally Wierd Topic Thursday

Ready...set...go....release your 12yr old selves and let the comments fly...


* GUYS - If you are uber-sensitive to girl things...skip this post. If you've got a good sense of humor, join in. :)

I know, I've been absent...

I have enjoyed being semi-unplugged since I officially stopped working on May 15th.

Have been very busy as well.

There was finishing the Dress.




Really wish I had a dress form....this hanger does NOT do this dress justice...at all!

There was mad, crazy, almost all night gaming at KublaCon...

There was bike fixing, switching out of various and sundry bike bits and pieces.

There has been bike riding almost EVERY day! I've dropped 5 pounds so far... YAY!

And there was not much knitting or other crafting...except for Mom's birthday earrings.





I've been in a sort of a 'crafter's block' situation. My head is bursting with crafty ideas for knitting, sewing, crocheting, embroidery, combinations of all of the above...lots of prototypes for stuff to put out on my shop need to be made...the crafty list is endless.

Yet...I could do nothing.

Enter the craft palette cleanser...








Remember the "birthday balls" from last summer?

Well those 45, plus about 5-10 more, along with random balls found here and there round the Chaos, make up this BIG, HUGE, bad boy of a blankie (big enough to cover a twin size bed and then some - in the photos, it's on my double bed). Enter Size S extended Tunisian Crochet Hook, 3 strands held together, and Voila! Check out Stitch Diva for an easy Tunisian Tutorial - I also bought my S hook from them at Stitches West back in February. They also have a pattern for a stash buster blanket, but I just did my own thing.

The dominant colors in my acrylic stash were black and various shades of dark blue. I held one strand of black, one strand of blue and then just grabbed for colors. The balls were stacked nicely in the container according to color, so I attached one color, used it til it ran out, then started on the next and so on and so on. The photos don't do it justice as it's rather cool looking and flows pretty well from one section to another. Using the black and blue as the "glue" was a very good idea. Eventually I ran out of black and blue and then started in with the other base colors of green and dark red...and then found some more black, so added it back in... It was a fun project!

I started this sucker on the evening of June 1st...worked on it every night that week for about an hour or two, one or two hours over the busy weekend, left it alone until last night...DONE!

Insta-warm blankie, and the acrylic stash is G-O-N-E. At least I think it is....I'm sure more of that stuff will pop up...I swear, it breeeeds.

It's BIG, it's HEAVY, and it's Spencer's. He likes lots of weight and warmth on him in the winter while he sleeps. This should do it.

Craft palette cleansed.

Had an interesting last few days, but will save that for another post. I'll try not to stay away from the computer so much. :)