Heartless

Posted on June 28, 2009 by Michelle

Last night, a young man who had just graduated from our local college, who had overcome the odds growing up in one of the worst neighborhoods in Houston, was shot multiple times in an attempted robbery at one of our favorite restaurants. He died.

The one who did it? One of my former students from two years ago. This is a kid who got under my skin. There is usually about one a year that does. He would always disrupt my groups in a really infuriating, mean passive-aggressive way, and although quite intelligent, talked about how he would live off the system and never get any job doing anything legal, that is. He was quite adamant about that. He had a chance to go to college for free, and he turned it down flat.

So this kid is 20 now, and he is going up on capital murder. With this kid’s mindset, I’m sure he’ll find a way to blame what he did on someone else.

Now, I live in Texas. You know what we do to capital murderers here. This was my student. I should perhaps be sad for what will most likely happen to him. But I’m not. I hope they absolutely throw the book at him. I’m so angry at him, so sad for the many people in my community who are grieving for this other young man who was killed for the money in his pocket.

I feel pretty heartless too.

Lust and Fluff

Posted on June 25, 2009 by Michelle

I ran across this Ralph Lauren bedding in Elle Decor, and I’m absolutely drooling. However, I did the math on the comforter, four pillowcases, a fitted sheet and a skirt and came up with close to a thousand bucks. And it’s on SALE. Ack.

And then I saw this one, by DKNY. Slightly more affordable, but not.

At any rate, any bedding I will buy will be off of my future SIL’s registry, and have I mentioned that she has Bad Taste? She’s a wonderful person, but it will pain me to buy almost any of the home decor objects she has selected. Perhaps I’ll just go with towels and washclothes.

Speaking of the wedding, my mother, a former professional wedding consultant, is in a bit of a nit because future SIL does not want her input. At all. This seems politically dicey, at best.

I know everyone will end up getting along in the end, though. I’m having everyone over for the Fourth of July, so that ought to be interesting, and FUN!

Sage has been getting bitten by things. His new nickname is Bug Bite. Here is the worst of them. Upon advice from his doctor, I have drawn circles around the swollen parts. It is going back inside the circle, not outside, so we’re good.

I’m just trying to figure out which hands to put on this clock. Yes, I’m still not done with it. I’m waiting for Greg to bring home something rusty from the floor of the metal shop…

Today is not a good day for Wile E. Today he is getting neutered. Sage just cringed when he found out what that meant, and I can tell that Greg doesn’t want to have a thing to do with it. I think as a woman, though, I have too much empathy for all of the female dogs that could reap the consequences.

Creativity Plus Bravery Equals a Mystery

Posted on June 23, 2009 by Michelle

I saw this ADO (Art Dolls Only) challenge when I went to one of my favorite blogs and saw it mentioned. Now, the blogger who had it up is a total expert at this sort of thing, while I am, well, pretty much piddling around, trying to learn.

But, sometimes I need the pressure of a deadline to really get going, and I like the “prompt”, which is to create a doll using one or more of the four elements as inspiration. I can totally groove to that.

So…I have until July 17th to make something that is hopefully wonderful, and also hopefully not embarrassing…

Wile E.

Posted on June 21, 2009 by Michelle

I’ve taken some pics of Wile E. He’s very photogenic, don’t you think? Here he is with Sage.

Yawn!

I just love his big, fuzzy ears!

If you saw this, you wouldn’t break into the house, right?

Especially when he’s this alert!

Of course, Wile E. is more than just good looks. Check out the things he can do!

Turn the doorknob to let himself in if no one responds to the knocking.

Watch, and apparently enjoy, subtitled movies. Or perhaps he understands Chinese.

Chew nonstop on a rawhide bone for FIVE hours.

Pick up the outside water bowl and parade it around when it is empty. (Must get big autorefilling water bowl for outside!)

Put the water bowl back down exactly in its place later on.

Play fetch by himself. (He has no interest in playing it with his people yet.)

Attentively listen to my singing.

We are having a blast with Wile E. However, I’m sure you notice that “outside” was mentioned a few times. When he is inside, he has to be supervised, so we close all the doors to the living room and dining room, which is where we usually are, and let him hang out in there with us. At night, he is crated in his “den” in Sage’s room.

Before we started the supervision/door closing routine, Wile E. hauled EIGHT pairs of sneakers/boots/sandels into his den for a midnight snack. Fortunately, Sage saw them and saved the day.

He fits in well. Salsa, Wile E. and Varmint the cat are currently passed out on the living room floor in the air-conditioning.

New Dolls and Old Chaos

Posted on June 18, 2009 by Michelle

Wile E. and I spent a while back in the ~~studio~~ porch, very comfortable in one another’s presence. Soon, Varmint the cat joined us, and they were both lying at my feet. Wile E. is still a bit trepedatious, but not so much that he had a problem stealing a bag of potato chips from the pantry and depositing them in his lair for later.

I finished these today, and started on seven more. It’s become a bit of an obsession. Besides learning not to cook them too long, I’ve also learned that I need to make friends with some sandpaper, and get some finer brushes–I’ve ordered a set of manicure brushes that are used to paint little flowers on toenails and so on. Hopefully, those’ll do the trick.

Here’s whatshername, a dancer. She has the dark brown eyes I wish I had.

This one I call “Aztec Thug.” Greg says he looks like Willie Nelson?

I also tried making a head today. It’ll be, um, interesting to see how it turns out after I paint it.

Look how lost the organizer drawers look in my work space. Greg and his brother designed a shelf that they are going to make for me at the metal shop. There are two tables that go on in this manner for a total of twelve feet. If I was making one item, such as the cats, it would be really awful. As it is, though, I like how items that don’t usually “go with” one another make friends and give me new ideas. Still, ideas or not, it is getting put up and organized.

So it looks as though I’ll be teaching ESL on a volunteer basis once a week, starting this fall. I may get trained as a trainer, as well. I think it will be really refreshing after a day of teaching reluctant learners to teach adults who want to learn. And that is all. Besides continuing to take Sage to piano and Boy Scout stuff (which Greg mainly does anyway), I am not committing myself to another thing. I hate the “busyness” that seems like the thing to do to raise social status in our culture.

But I love sitting and making a huge mess.

What I Did Between the Horns of the Day

Posted on June 15, 2009 by Michelle

I believe in coyotes and time as an abstract
Explain the change, the difference between
What you want and what you need, there’s the key,
Your adventure for today, what do you do
Between the horns of the day?

It turns out that one of Sage’s scout friends lives…get this…three houses up from us around the corner! His parents are good people–the mom is the director of a huge ESL program in town that I’d never heard of somehow. We hung out with them last night and ate yummy watermelon and made friends. I think I’ve also found a good volunteer opportunity.

Sage and I brought Wile E. home today. One minute after we walked in the door, my mom knocked at the door. She came in and sat down, and Wile E. chose that moment to have an explosive attack of nervous diarrhea on the carpet. My mom started screaming, stood up and left.

Well.

Poor Wile E. He’s very nervous. He’s shaking. He is outside now, although after he literally knocked at the door a while ago, I let him in for a few minutes until I could see that he was getting too nervous again. The photo I took is basically him hiding out in the landscaping.

I hope everything turns out okay. I’m wondering if he’s been abused. Greg says that he doesn’t want him if he won’t act like a guard dog. I have a soft spot for Wile E., though. He at least looks mean!

Here are some photos I took of the dolls I made from those clay faces I posted earlier. Unfortunately, I put the tray up too high in the toaster oven, and caused a couple to get a boil on their face. Next time, I’ll watch that…

This is my Mongolian Warrior. He hasn’t told me his name yet. He is pissed.

This is Robert. He’s a musician with a spiritual side. Think Bob… He’s wearing cashmere, for what it’s worth.

This is everyone hangin’ out on the steps. The woman is a bit suspicious of the others, and of me. She’s older, and she’s seen a lot of things happen in the rural mountainous area that she’s from. Blue is wearing a Kufi. I need to give him some pants.

Here’s a moment in the garden. Robert especially likes the garden.

I can’t begin to describe the freedom I feel making things that do not have to be “cute” in some way. Making these faces/dolls has really grabbed ahold of me in that way where time just disappears when I’m working on them. I’ve always wished for that feeling with writing, but it’s never been that way. Perhaps I’ll just work on getting better at this.

The Joint is Jumpin

Posted on June 14, 2009 by Michelle

The weekend has gotten off to a great start. It started for us on Friday, when we went to Sage’s Boy Scout Camp award ceremony and got to hear our local representative, Wayne Christian, speak. He said that the difference between liberals and conservatives is that “liberals like to spend all of your money and make more laws, and conservatives like to keep that money in your mommy and daddy’s pocketbook.” Um hum. Yeah. It was all I could do to keep from standing up and screaming something about Bush and bailouts and war and so on but it wasn’t an appropriate time. I’ll probably have to go to the doctor and get stitches in my tongue, though.

Sage did great at camp. He got 42 shots out of 50 with the BB gun, and made three bullseyes in archery. They also made some horses. Here he is with his.

Then we ran by and ate cake for a friend’s birthday and came on home and had dinner with some friends we don’t get to see nearly enough of. We were all gabbing, and before I knew it, it was 11:30 and Sage was still up playing the Wii. He was haaaappy! I made the cake again, and Greg had a sad look on his face when I sent it home with our friends! We kept some, but I can’t keep it in the house because just looking at it makes me gain weight!

This morning, we went to our local Blueberry Festival, and I bought twenty pounds of blueberries! I love to cook with them, so they’ll definitely be getting put to good use. More importantly, they had the local animal shelter out there, and we found a dog that we just love! He looks like a coyote (heeler/shepard mix) and I’ll post tons of pics once I’m able to pick him up on Monday.

We’ve been talking about getting another dog for a while (unfortunately prompted by people continuing to case the house…) and this was very serendipitous, as we were able to take Salsa over to the park where the animal shelter set-up was (across from our house) and make sure that everything was groovy. The dogs got along great, although Salsa sulked some when we got home.

I’ve still been on a creative roll, starting with this Tyvek purse I threw together Thursday night, sorta as a joke. It’s lined with part of an old red sheet.

I also made Sage some pajama pants (my first piece of clothing from a pattern–ever!) from some material that he picked out. The cuffs are from that same sheet. I have to wonder with Chinese characters printed on fabric…how do I know what they say? I don’t. It could be something awful, lol.

Today, I really went crazy and decided to try sculpting faces, another first. I bought some Sculptey Studio, and went to town. Here’s what I ended up with:

Obviously, I need a lot of practice, but this was really fun, as in, I could sit there and do it all day long. The smudgy look is from India Ink and alcohol–the India ink was on the brush I dipped in the alcohol to smooth out the clay, and I liked the effect. I’m going to “fire” them and maybe paint them later. We have some metallic powders that Sage insisted on buying, so I may put some of those on them. Sage made a couple of really cool ones as well, but the picture didn’t turn out. Later.

Sometime in between making the faces, I covered some cans with paper. Big whoop, but I think they’re cute. Greg came in there, and thinking I was working with clay, said, “You’re so bipolar!” I think he meant ADHD…something like that…

I REALLY need to clean that window.

Sage spent a long time today teaching himself how to draw manga out of a book we bought. It’s cool that he’s picking up on the whole creative vibe around here. I wish I had a scanner!

Varmint’s all chilled out. I have a feeling that will change when our new friend Wile E hits the scene this Monday…

Love These…

Posted on June 10, 2009 by Michelle

And check out this sculpture by Adam Reeder of Pan listening to an iPod…

Ordered some great Noro yarn from Wooly Ewe, which is having a terrific yarn sale. This silk yarn is one of the things I got. I also scored some cashmere!

I’m making pretty things…

But Who Was the JERK??

Posted on June 9, 2009 by Michelle

A customer used the drive through at a Starbucks in Moline over the weekend. That person paid for his or her drink and the order of the person in the next car. That started a chain reaction of people paying for the next customer’s drinks.

Before it was all over, 160 customers took part.

I Stumbled upon this story, and while it is very nice that 160 people got free drinks and good feelings, what the heck was happening with the 160th person who didn’t pay it forward?

For me, that would be the real story. Someone who simply said, “Cool! Free drink!” and left it at that? Someone who was scrabbling for change to pay for a simple short coffee and who really needed the money? If so, why were they at Starbucks? A complete jerk who could care less about breaking the chain?

Thread Unleashed

Posted on June 8, 2009 by Michelle

I’ve never been all that into watching YouTube videos, but I’ve seen the light. I LOVE how you can type in the name of a stitch that you need to learn (today it’s a ladder stitch) and a nifty demonstration comes right up. Bless these people for doing this!

I’ve made another cat. Once again, it made my family laugh. That is my criteria to judge whether it is a good cat or not. I intend to be a cat lady of sorts, it seems. I’ll post a photo of that one once it has clothes. Right now, we are in cat body assembly line mode. Sage gets paid $2 to turn and stuff the arms and legs. Nothing like having a bit of child labor at your disposal…

I’ve also made a couple of other things. Another bag…

It is made out of some 60′s vintage fabric that I purchased on eBay a few years ago, some fabric I bought in Mexico ten years ago and yet more fabric that I scored at an Austin thrift store. It’s about time I started using some of my stash!

I also bought some more Amy Butler fat quarters and made this little crochet hook organizer. I can never keep track of my hooks, in part because I keep giving them away to people I have taught to crochet. (Hurricane refugees, students.) Now I can tell if I’m missing one in a particular size. By the way, does anyone else think that this fabric looks like the Internet?

I found something pretty amazing in American Craft magazine. One of those things that I absolutely wish I had thought up myself, because it’s totally up my alley. I found a link to it–just click on the photo to read about it. Unfortunately, the photo is too small to do the work justice. The entire background of this work is made of tiny baby dolls. Seeing this just hit me in the gut…

The artist is Gyongy Laky.

On another note, we watched Inside Man last night. We’re still catching up on movies we haven’t seen… What a cast. What creativity. What cool film noir tweaks. I absolutely loved this song, also used in the Bollywood movie Dil Se. (Here’s another reason I’m loving YouTube…)

I am just now realizing that quite a bit of Indian music has that Eastern sound that I had thought was only associated with the Middle East specifically. What a pleasant surprise!

Singing the Sky

crafty goodness

Monthly Archives: June 2009