I'm a WHAT?!?!?

What Famous Leader Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com

Ok, I am not into politics except when I play darts and need to imagine a target, and I really don't think that I am much like Honest Abe here, but the part that made me post this to all of you is the "you are an ASSASSINATION VICTIM" bit!!!! What the heck???

Trust me, I'm not worth the bullet. If you want to throw a nice chilled lemon pie at me though, that would a)be far more appropriate, and b) WAY yummier than eating lead.

Yes, I think that all the sweat I am producing is BOUND to interfere with good fusing results, but I AM going to work on my IS piece today. No excuses.

BTW - I am officially 5 weeks pregnant today, and the Salmon dinner (yup - so good it has to be capitalized) by candlelight and long snuggles thereafter that Kevin and I enjoyed last night were VERY nice. I don't like that our schedules are completely at odds with each other now, but having 'dates' again feels very pookie and nice.

I'm melting!!!!!

Too darned hot and humid. Too many narcotics. Too much lovely company!! This is my lovely friend Cindy, who came and spent the day untangling my yarn, weaving on her little weavette thingy, and generally gossiping. Perfect company - I'm too out of it to focus on much, but my hands could gaily needlepoint and my brain happily blather, so all was good.And this is the gang - my lion Gunny, my turtle baby Tata, and their dear friend, Aunt Cindy's Blue Bear! They are snuggled up in a quilt made from scraps (some of them from Cindy in the first place) that Cindy played with when she was here last. Tata had a quilt, so Blue Bear wanted one too, and this is the result! Now if only I could count on my human children, when they get here, to play so nicely together and give me time for fiber dates with friends.... I should be so lucky!

Tonight is DH Kevin's night off, and, since we haven't really had any private time to celebrate my pregnancy (I had to tell him on the phone for heaven's sake, and then arrived home with my MOTHER!), he is making his *divine* salmon for dinner. Now if I can just nap, shower and be just medicated enough to enjoy it without being *too* out of it, all will be well with the world - as long as it *cools the heck down.*

At least we aren't our friend Salus - he flew to Houston to avoid being home when his house in the French Quarter flooded from Katrina. Yikes. Fingers crossed, my friend!

Advice needed...

My dear friend Barbara is having twins (lots of those in my life, eh?) and only has one Christening gown in good shape. There *is* another heirloom gown - 80+ yr old linen, but it has gone yellow. Any ideas for an heirloom safe whitener?

Thanks in advance!

Growing...

Today is Tra's twins' birthday, so HAPPY 1st BIRTHDAY KIRA AND AMELIA!!!!!

I am bummed that I can't go to their party, but driving and narcotics are NOT a good combination. Ah well. Maybe I will work on Kira's quilt more today to celebrate!

Anyway, I thought I'd show you all my progress on my IS piece, just so you know that I really *am* working on *something*!

Right now though, I am busy conquering the world (CIV3, at least until my meds kick in - I love being the Sumerians! Then, back to work!

Question for you...

What do you all think about work that is 'about' something?

Not representational, not necessarily obvious, but which is brought out by a certain something in the artist's life...

Or not - something completely abstract and randomly generated - 100% open to interpretation, if you can get a handle on it to do so.

I'm thinking about my IS piece (the leaves are going great guns, btw) - it is definately 'about' something (something so personal, in fact, that I wonder if I can/should put a price tag on it), but I also really enjoyed just playing with the 'frames' in a very abstract sort of way.

Personally, I find it kind of hard to stick with a project that doesn't hold me emotionally, no matter how artistically interesting it is. Likewise, even a fairly boring traditional pattern (not that they all are, obviously) can really keep me motivated if I am doing it for someone special.

I *can* really stay with a piece that is technically new or interesting in some way, but I wonder how most folks manage their motivation on pieces that are going to be judged (not something I'm great about when it comes to personal expression) or for sale? Just curious...

Progress

This is a *terrible* picture of my IS piece - *finally* in the works.

The ground cloth (painted weeks ago) is grey - for the neutral ground of my life. Superimposed on it are black and white squares and rectangles reflecting the good and difficult parts of my life healthwise - big white relatively healthy childhood, black brain infection, white recovery and rediscovery, black infertility. I've also added a mottled blue disk for my pregnancy, and a solid blue one for my own birth - blue being the color of potential for me... I'm madly cutting leaves now, to show the vine of my own growth through these phases, and I'm going to add smaller blue disks growing out of the vines, showing my personal creations - groups, ideas, etc, that have taken on lives of their own, as I have, and hopefully as my children will....

I'm really excited that this starting to come together - not in time for the judged bit of IS, but in time to make me happy, and the narcotics I'm on for the OHSS easier to deal with. All good.
This is an idea I was playing around with - not for my IS piece, but as a possible idea for future exploration. I do plan to use the 'frames' in my IS piece - I'm going to lay them over the vines to frame select portions of my life (maybe with tulle in them - not sure yet), but obviously not so that they cover the mottle blue disk representing my growing bean! (Gotta love having a blog to document the transient idea in though - more accurate and accessible than my plethora of disorganized sketch books).

And, last but not least, what I have been working on most of this week in the 20 minutes of lucidity afforded me by huge quantitites of oxycodone - Kira's quilt. It is the twins' (Kira and Amelia) 1st birthday tomorrow, and I want to at least have it 'envisionalbe' for then so I can send a picture to their mom, my dear friend Tra. I bought the really cool mottled peach fabric, and dyed the other salmon one to correspond, and I am very happy with it so far. I am also enjoying the ease of piecing with a 1/4" foot. A first for me, and WOW is it easier! Talk about doing things the hard way - never again!!!!

My visit to the Dr yesterday means that I am NOT being admitted for treatment of my OHSS, since it seems to be resolving on its own. Hurray! I have ovaries the size of saucers, and a 4" cyst in one, and they are floating around in lots of extraneous fluid, but I can actually see my waist today, so I'm happy. He said that he was sorry that I was feeling 'yucky', but I responded that I am pretty used to feeling that way, and I don't mind it nearly so much when it is actually accomplishing something - like growing my baby!!!!!!

I have an ultrasound in two weeks to see how many beans are growing, and where they are, then they officially kick me over to obstetrics. I am VERY excited! I'm also finally sleeping better (since it no longer hurts to rotate or bend at the waist), which always helps.

BTW - the IS exhibit is shaping up to be *awesome* - the work that I've seen so far is very moving - both artisically and psychologically. I love being part of a community where we can really *share* all of this stuff and feel supported in it... Thanks for being such a gracious and compassionate audience!

Fall is in the air

Melody wrote about the signs of the arrival of fall in her life...

Personally, I love it.
Falling asleep to crickets and waking up to geese.
Having long, leisurely morning light in my studio at a more respectable hour.
Everyone back at school so I don't have to hear the dang blasted ice cream truck for much longer.
Everyone *else* back on a schedule, so no one calls wanting me to change/make plans at the drop of a pin.
Getting to snuggle up with a good book and my blankets and loveys and while away the afternoon.
Actually *enjoying* ironing, since it no longer makes the studio into a sauna.
Having my ice cream stay solid while I eat it.
New CSI episodes coming soon.
Dodging getting morning sickness in the heat by only a week or two - yipee!
Apple pie season is coming, and I will actually have time to bake some.
Most of my cold weather clothes are baggy, so I won't need to buy/borrow any new ones for most of my pregnancy.
It is getting cool enough to spin again! Yeah! (I don't know how sheep stand July.)

Not bad, eh? Yeah, I miss the warm breezes, and I only got swimming in the lake once this summer (pa the tic), but snuggling is a favorite pasttime of mine, so I'm not *really* complaining.

I am, however, wondering if I should try and work this fall. For the last two years (in theory) I have worked for an afterschool program at the local elementary - arts, sign language, homework help, etc. I took a medical leave last November that lasted the rest of the year. I figure that I *could* work this fall, and then take the Spring sememster off (bad weather, ungainly belly, and hopefully not bedrest), but I am wondering if I am ready/willing/able to teach this fall. It would only be about 5 hours a week, but it is just amazing how so few hours can really make you schedule one's whole life, and I'm sort of enjoying/needing to follow only the directions of my body right now.

We'll see. I'm in no shape to do it atm, and I have no idea how this whole pregnancy thing is going to work out, so I think I need to take it one day at a time - no commitments, except to my self, my child and my family! (As if that isn't enough already!)

Oh, for Potter's sake....

Harry Potter Personality Quiz by Pirate Monkeys Inc.

*I* (bats eyelashes innocently) am supposed to be like those... hooligans!?!?!?

Yeah, ok. I may have gotten detention on occaision, but I would NEVER take advantage of my younger peers by testing Puking Pastilles and Nosebleed Nougat on them! Sheesh! I have scruples, darn it! The out-going, friendly bit, sure, but NOT their moral compass!!! Oi! I'm much more of a Hermione in that department.

Narcotics suck. I mean, they do a really good job on pain and all, but I'd really kind of like my brain back, please! At least my body seems to have decided that it doesn't need to send me an itching attack every time I take one now though, so thank heavens for small mercies!

I *should* be working on my IS piece, but it is in a fussy bit, and I don't trust my brain to get it right. Instead, I have been continuing to piece the first of the two quilts for the girls, and am even * more * pleased with the fabric that I dyed to coordinate than I was before assembly. These are going to look FABULOUS, and NO - that is not me oxycodone-goggling! Sheesh! Although I DO have to say that Phish Food frozen yogurt has never tasted so good, and that really IS saying something, so maybe I shouldn't get too excited yet.... Hm. Back to sleep for me.... Oh well. Enjoy, and thanks for all the well-wishing! You all are the BESTEST!!!

NO Partners in Clean this week

Want to hear my excuse? I'm sleeping every minute I can because I am itching too much to sleep. I am itching as a side effect of my narcotics. I am taking narcotics because my abdominal cavity is full of fluid and really #$# painful, something called ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS). I have OHSS because (insert drumroll here --->>> I'm pregnant! 4 weeks today, by all counts, and, thankfully, I managed to duck needing hospitalization for my OHSS. NOT how I wanted to start my pregnancy, but **at least I get to start it at all!!!**

Anyway, just wanted to share. I only got pictures of the garden this weekend in Western MA, but those can wait until tomorrow. Now I need to go sleep.

Enjoy!!!

+10000 steps a week

Yes, I know the idea is to walk a total of 10000 steps a DAY, but I am only counting the ones that are deliberately walk related. Since Sunday I have done 4280 additional steps, and that isn't even counting our Borders trip last night. Not bad for a start, but WOW am I out of shape. Between being pretty much housebound all winter, having a miscarriage in May, and then having my usually very active job fall through this summer, I haven't done much, and it *shows*.

I am wanting to be in better shape for pregnancy and childbirth, so I've started trying to rebuild strength and stamina - deep knee bends and getting out each day help! I even went by a Curves today, but a) the lady was really bitchy, b) I don't think that I could get up and down from a chair every thirty seconds for half an hour, let alone do anything in between, and c) did I mention that the lady was a bitch? I'm thinking that if I need to do something more formal, I'd be better off at a rehab gym. A longer drive, but adaptable to where my body is that day, and with staff that might actually know something about fibromyalgia and exercise during pregnancy. Meanwhile, I'm going to see if I can borrow my Mom's exercise bike again. I crank the resistance down *really* low and just go for movement, but it helps tons anyway.

Aside from my outings though, I haven't been spending much time in the studio - my abdomen is just too sore (hopefully implantation cramping!) to sit up for long - my computer time and bits of sewing and ironing here and there is about all I am managing this week.

And even if this week is sort of a bust in the studio, and even if I am in the worst shape of my life (I've been laid up worse, but not for so darned long before - basically since October 2004), I HAVE gotten lots accomplished on a personal level - my artistic work has made huge leaps and jumps out of bounds, and I have been doing lots of much-needed psychological processing. Not at all a wasted summer.

That said, my plans for fall are much more frugal - be/get pregnant, work on getting my house, my head and my body in shape, and hopefully do more art and teaching on the way. I'm happy with the progress that has been made so far, but there is always room for improvement!

BTW - I am spending the weekend in Western Mass with family, so I'll have lots of gorgeous pictures to share next week. Promise. Mea culpa that I forgot to take my camera to the lake for our walk today. Sorry!

Weird Quilt Wannabe

Ok, so this project has had way too many ideas thrown at it, and little execution that I actually liked. The finished idea isn't done yet, but also gonna-post-it-to-the-world interesting, so I didn't rush it. I *will* finish it, and post it here in obscurity, but that is it.

My dear friend Barbara is pregnant with fraternal twins, and just spent the weekend in the hospital bleeding with a possible partial placental abruption. She is only 20 weeks pregnant. Oi. 40 weeks doesn't honestly sound like that long a time, but WOW can lots go on during it. I get to find out if *I* in week four or not next weekend, and then whole new barrels of worry and excitement may come rolling in. Yippee! :\

Partners in Clean: Week 5

I'm figuring that once a month I should focus my energies on something different; this week it is my sanity. Hormones are, as we know, *not* very kind in this department. I've also been noticing the season's wane here in Vermont - dark by 9 PM, wet grass every morning and crickets galore.

What do these two things add up to? I need to get the heck out of my house more. When I'm in a funky, narfy mood, tend not to leave the house. At all. Not good.

So - I'm going to try and build a sanity habit this week - get out of the house at least 6 days a week. Better for my sanity, my health, and, yes, my organization. Eh? Who many errands do I have that need running, but never get done? The bank, the bookstore, the market. Yeah, food is an errand I put off, and fabric stores can get me out every time. Go figure. ;) Six days a week is my goal - my body is not always up to going out. We'll see how it goes.

So - yesterday I went to the mall and got my new bra (see last post), and today I am going to the market to buy supplies for friends coming to tea (yes, I live in the US, but tea fits our schedule today) and tomorrow? No idea. It will come to me.

One caveat to all of this? I live 2 miles from downtown, so running my errands one at a time isn't hard on the gas tank. I also consider walks around the block or even gardening (heaven forbid) as getting out of the house. When I have errands to do more than 10 minutes away, I will stack them so I don't waste gas, money and time.

BTW - the maintaining my order thing is going... ok. It could be better. At least Kevin is making our bed when he gets out of it at 3 PM, so I get to look at tidy there. I'll keep working on it.

A Bra story (and IS detours)

Ok - I've been on fertility meds for 2.5 years now, but hadn't needed to buy a new bra until now. I often didn't wear one at all in fact, but other times I needed to sleep in a sports bra because my breasts hurt so badly. That has been the case recently, and discovering that the only bra-like thing that I had that would a) fit and b) was clean was my bikini, sent me shopping.

When I started all of this trying-to-get-pregnant stuff, I weighed about 30 lbs less, and was a small 36B. Today? The lowest size that didn't feel tight and might actually have a smidgen of room to grow? 40D. I came out of the dressing room, having gone out and back again with bigger and bigger sizes several times, in complete and utter shock. Add to that the fact that the only one that really felt like it game me (the same me who just last winter went weeks without wearing one at all) enough support was a *nursing* bra!

So, here I am; morning-noon-and-night sick (albeit mildly), hot flashy, going through my welcome to Motherhood Maternity goodie bag in my new nursing bra. I can't get over this. My goodie bag has a bottle and a pacifier in it! Yikes! I joked with the ladies at the store that *mine* should have come with a pregnancy test!

Oh well. At least I have a bra that I ought to get plenty of use out of in the next few years, provided my breasts don't get any *bigger!*

As far as my artist's block goes, I think I figured it out - I had been trying to think how to show my connection to the Earth that I am tapping into for strength. I am still working psychologically on how I am going to do that, so I think that I am going to set the belly aside and just work on imaging Nature herself, and worry about how to relate my prego belly to it later. I just can't do big psychological processing on a deadline - go figure!

As it is, I have deadlines like mad coming up - weird quilts tomorrow (discovered that I LOVE my new beading technique with monofilament, but don't want to incorporate it into the piece after all), one of the trad quilts for the girls for their first birthday at the end of the month (they won't know that it is only Kira's and not Amelia's anyway), and the IS piece, newly reconceptualized and not at all designed yet, by Aug 31. Add to this that I am going to be visiting with my cousins and nephews next weekend for about 5 days, and my time is feeling *very* short. Too bad my body isn't up for marathons right now!

Baby steps. (Feels like my theme right now, eh?) Lol...

Artist's block

I repainted the fabric for the womb, so it should be clear sailing, right? Wrong - I can't get beyond the belly and breasts except to think that I want lots of leaves... NOT enough to go on! I'm playing with arms, but - eh. Not so much. I don't want a face, as it can be any of us, and I don't want legs since mine don't work very often, and part of the point of the darned thing is that I don't need my legs to be a good parent.

So. Now what. At least only the image is due by the end of the month, so I'm not under the gun as much as I thought I was. But. Hm. I think I need to sleep on it, but ideas are MOST welcome...

Idea for you

I know that I can't be the only person who has thought of this, but I got tired of losing all of my coordinated bits (leaves, petals, branches, etc), and equally tired of all of their edges getting ragged from rubbing against each other; especially unforgiving when they have fusible on the back.

So - I now fuse my bits onto backing paper - a petal sheet, a branch sheet, etc. To make it even better, I can use both sides of the paper - I have black branches on one side and white on the other of the big piece here.

Anyway, just thought I'd share. I've been working on a photoshop honey-do for my mother all morning - moving pretty bits of my nephew from one photo to another to cover for his irritability with having his photo taken as the clicking continued. It has only taken me about 10 months to do, and I still need to get it printed, but a start is a start. And oh yeah - I *did* paint up new fabric for the womb - but it takes time to dry. Thankfully. Can you tell that I am into sloth today? >;)

Good surprises

In looking for my wedding pictures (we got married in January), I discovered that one of my friend/photograhpers had NOT messed them all up, as I had previously thought. Hurray! Lots of them are still blurry from our moving around, but now we have twice as many decent pictures as we had before, so I am very glad!

That said, I decided to crop this one for my profile picture for this blog - this is me on my WEDDING DAY, so, for heaven's sake, don't EVER expect me to look this good again, 'cus it ain't gonna happen! I was walking from our suite to the ceremony, and I am looking at everyone looking at me through the windows. Yes, I was walking outside, in January, in Vermont. That is my amazing friend Sue helping me - she did my hair too. My mother knitted my mohair shawl and arranged my flowers. We had a handmade wedding - Kevin's tunic was made by his mother and everyone pitched in to do everything: hang lights, take pictures, set up our altar, iron my dress, and finish frosting the cake (which I made- torted pound cake with black raspberry jam - yummy!).

It was grand... everyone liked feeling some proprietary interest in it all, even giving us advice and blessings during the ceremony that Kevin and I ran ourselves (with a UU minister to put the legal stamp on it near the end), and it felt warm and homey, and very comfortable. It also cost us less than the cake alone at most other weddings. How can you beat it?

Ok - enough nostalgia for one day, I promise. Kevin was up all night, acclimating for starting to work 3rd shift tonight. His puttering around kept me from sleeping very well, it is a cloudy day, and my hormones are still doing the loop de loops, so I don't know how much I'll get done today. The bead work for the Weird Challenge is coming along great, so maybe I'll work more on that today - it is pretty mindless. My IS challenge piece is stalled out again, and semi back to the drawing board, and there is DEFINATIVELY no time for such nonsense. I think I need to paint up some new fabric for the womb bit, since the bit I have is a tad too small, and sort of cramping my style. Now if only I can get the colors right again! Probably not, but painting is good therapy anyway, and I finished off the only Phish Phood in the house last night, so I could use it... Wish me luck!

Indelible Spirit takes form!

I'm pretty happy with this - I am doing a piece based on the Birthing From Within idea of a Womb with a View. The dark blue is the body of the mother, the paler purple is the womb, and the lotus is the cervix blooming...

Can you tell that I am hoping that I am going to be pregnant? I should have ovulated yesterday. :) My big personal intention of the year is *trusting my body* and that is what prepared childbirth is all about, so, since my body doesn't always cooperate with me, and the challenge is called the Indelible Spirit, making a piece about my soon to be very pregnant belly seemed, well, empowered. I'm honestly very happy with the progress so far, but I am even more happy to actually have gotten from drawing to fabric - finally! The piece is due at the end of the month, so this is not a single moment too soon!

I made good progress on the beading for my Weird Quilt challenge today too, but the upshot is that my eyes are *done* right now, so CSI for the rest of the evening it is!<

Blink

Wowzer. I took yesterday off to be slothful and deal with ovulation pains (perhaps 5 follicles - oi!) and today I am back to:

* undoing the damage to my clean house that my husband, cats and guests have wrought in four days

* get back into the studio and WORKING again (weird quilts is due MONDAY!!!)

* having lunch with old friends I had lost track of before one of them moves to Arkansas on Friday! (stupid tenure system - they don't know what they let go of!)

But before launching into all of that, I thought I'd breeze by the SAQA site and WOAH!!!! I usually spend minutes on each and every image at museums or in catalogs. This 'now you see it, now you don't' format just overloaded my circuits this morning, but *what a treat*!!!

My brain doesn't know what to do with itself now, so I guess I'll let it be all floppy and paint me up some more greens and blues...

Partners in Clean: Week 4!

The out-of-towners leave today. It has been a great weekend, but I am just exhausted! I finished Harry Potter 6 last night too, so I am quickly going to revert to an empty house and no must finish this book motivation. Ah well.

This brings me to the habit that I want to create this week: Maintaing neatness and order where I have created it! The house only needs about 30 min worth of work to get it back to where it was on Friday afternoon, and it would be really nice to keep the place 'company ready'. I even have an impetus - friends coming for lunch tomorrow!

So - the bill basket is going nicely still, and hopefully I can maintain this level of order. Then maybe next week I will deal with some of the parts of the house that *weren't* in sight this weekend; my closet (yikes!) and/or my studio dresser! Ack!

In the meantime though, I plan to take lots of naps and enjoy not having a house over-run with folks I've just met. Best wishes all! Share YOUR PIC stories too!

He apologizes well...

Don't you think?
After all the kafuffle, folks were here Friday night, and again for a big waffle breakfast a la me that everyone loved (real VT maple syrup and all, nach). Then we spent all afternoon and evening here, at the park six blocks from my house. City skyline, NY in the distance, and Lake Champlain made quite a splash with our out of state guests. Swimming was perfect, cookout on the grill - they all played RISK, while I read Harry Potter and played with the baby. Joy!
Anyway, he is forgiven, and all is well with the world. Except for my kitchen - what a mess! Ah well - the rest of the house (even our bedroom) is now GORGEOUS, so I'm having more folks over on Tuesday. Now if I can just keep it this nice!

One teensy gripe though - 10 people parading through my house, including my studio, and not a *single one* even mentioned or glanced at my work, or asked any questions. Sigh... Good thing that I don't really care what they think! (except about my housekeeping, obviously!)

Hi ho, hi ho...

... off to cleaning house I go....

More naps, hormones, chocolate, heat, Harry Potter, and cleaning. Pretty much in that order. Enough of the last that I am feeling good about our house again, and it still has FAR to go, so that's nice. Plus, I can now walk from one side of the living room to the other without having to step *over* the futon. Hurray!

Bestest part? Kevin is not only not ticked at me for doing more, he is very happy that I have been doing as much as I have, considering. Hurray! (Do I know that I am very lucky to have him and that he spoils me rotten?? Heck YES!!)

Anyway, deadlines are quickly approaching: Weird Quilts on the 15th, Indelible Spirit on the 30th (and I haven't even chosen a design yet! Yikes!), and a year overdue paper for my MSW class on choosing to parent with a disability, due early in the fall term. So - next week I promise to get back to work on all three projects, while continuing to work on homemaking. Loading my plate a little high? Yup - with yummy dishes like those, why not?!?!

Am I having fun yet?

No. Hormones suck. I'm *so* tired, even with naps, hot flashes in Aug are NOT a pleasant thing, all I want to eat is Phish Phood and chocolate covered raisins, I'm crying at DS9 episodes, b!tching at my husband and mother bigtime, and generally feeling horrible since this has also cranked up the dial on my fibromyalgia.

I've been doing some spinning, and I stained a new cltohespeg/shelfy thing for our bedroom (so as to get clothes off the floor) and the grand quest for Clean continues, albeit at snail's pace. I would be much better with this all if we didn't have folks arriving on Friday - I'm *just* enough of an old-fashioned girl that I feel like my home reflects upon me, and, well, I don't like the image, so it is hard to relax with so much to do.

Ah well. At least I cleaned the toilet yesterday! It is amazing how much more willing I am to get in all the crannies when I wearing gloves - surprise!

Partners in Clean: Week 3 - Curb Appeal

Sorry folks - I only just remembered that it is Monday!

We have a bunch of Kevin's friends coming next weekend from all over the country, and they have never seen our house. Therefore, this week in PIC - Curb Appeal. He is in charge of the outside (since he wants to have a BBQ - ha!) and I get the inside. Our front entryway is, well, between mail, stuff piled up from Kevin cleaning out his car (ie the Big Dump) and stuff in there for an as-yet-to-be-scheduled yard sale, and medieval stuff that needs a home, and...

You get the idea. Last week's Bill Basket helps with the new mail situation, but the front door is where we both dump our stuff as we come in, so...

I have my work cut out for me. I'll even post you a picture of it - when it is clean! Meanwhile, the rest of the house needs doing too, so I am using the "If I'm leaving a room and see something that needs to go where I am going, take it with me" approach. So far I've taken enough dirty dishes into the kitchen to fill the washer. Now if I can just stop eating for the rest of the week so I don't make more dishes! Lol...

Happy Lughnassadh!

This is a picture of our altar under the Grandfather Tree (a REALLY big white pine - that is my weaving bench serving as our altar!), where we celebrated Lughnassadh yesterday. This is the celebration of the First Harvest, and falls halfway between the summer solstice and the fall equinox.

These are some of the folks that attended our ritual and post-celebration picnic! I didn't take pictures of our swimming adventures afterward because our camera isn't waterproof, but I wore my tankini even with my fertility-enhanced waistline, so no one can say I don't have a positive body image! Lol...

Anyway - that is my adorable husband Kevin in the front - he missed most of ritual because he had to work, but got there in plenty of time to eat - surprise surprise! He's got a nasty ear infection today though, so I hope he feels better soon - we have a LOT of house/yard work to do before friends of his arrive for next weekend!

Art? Yeah right. I've felt like crud these last few days, and spent all Sunday on my crutches. Gotta love fertility drugs! My left thigh is one big bruise from injections, and energy and stamina are now considered four letter words. I HAVE been doing some spinning though - I'm spinning the wool that my MIL is going to knit into a sweater for my husband, and hopefully have enough left over for our bean, should he/she get off his/her keister and *sprout*! Wish us luck!