Wednesday, August 12, 2009

It's Back!!!

My oxygen generator is back where it belongs!!! Yeeah! That's the good news. I won't be able to put it to use until we get back from the ocean. That's the bad news.

Summer is coming to a close soon and you can feel it in the air. Just a bit of a nip. Band camp is this week and registration for the high school will be the week after we get back. All the boys are feeling a bit nervous about going back but they are always glad after that initial first day is over. So am I, for that matter.

I'm taking some clay (and yarn) with me to the ocean. We'll see how far I get with creating. We spend A LOT of time at the beach, the river, the pool and the play ground (depending on the weather) and I try to get a bit of reading in too, while I'm there. I read a lot at home but it's more of a self educational purpose, except for the books I hide in the bathroom. Those are the ones I read at the beach.......Nora Roberts, Dean Koontz and a few others.

Also on the home front we are working on a serious diet change. Less red meat and meat in general and more veggies, fruit, whole grains and fish. I have been trying to stay along this track for awhile and can easily cross the line into complete vegan but the boys (all of them) are another story. However Jimmy hasn't been feeling all that great these days and has decided it's time to change his diet a bit. I have been gently suggesting this for years but, of course, he has to see some show on Discovery or the Science channel to finally convince him that it might be a good idea...Oy! Anyway a week at the beach is a good time to start and since Dakota has also been thinking about nutrition (he wants to run track this year) he said that if I change "all" the food in the house, that they really won't have a choice one way or the other. Damn smart thinking for a 14 year old! So here we go and we'll see how much resistance I meet after a week or so : -D

Wednesday, August 05, 2009

The $5 Bouquet & A Spinning Wheel

The local Farmer's Market has a wonderful assortment of bouquets for $5 and up from several farms. As you can see they are well worth the $5. The hardest part is picking one.

After a couple of adjustments the spinning wheel is done. Yeah! Now I just have to learn how to use it. The yarn that's on it now is actually a regular store bought skein that I'm using to get the feel of things. Then I can actually move onto fleece.

My Oxygen generator should be back sometime next week. Double YEAH! I wasn't missing it too much last week when we were in the triple digit temperatures but now we've dipped back down into below normal temps hovering in the upper 60's and low 70's. I'm NOT complaining! I can hardly wait to get back to melting some glass!

My desk is almost done and looks MUCH better than it has in a couple of years. The trick is to keep it somewhat mess free. We'll see how that goes since I'm changing/improving my organizational skills. I've also moved my metal working tools down to the shop to free up space for "other" activities.

On a last note......this is a picture of a cool green moth hanging outside our front door today. Pretty cool, huh.

Saturday, August 01, 2009

Re-Arranging My Desk

It's hindering everything else I need to do so it was finally time to bite the bullet and get it done. I know I've posted a couple of times over the last year that I was cleaning my desk. This time I have a specific "idea" in mind. I want to make it more productive space for when the boys are back in school and I need to get things done more effectively. Do you think I can do it? At the same time I'm trying to get my brain in order to function more effectively too. That's harder than the desk, aack!!! So I'm organizing my desk while I try to "train my brain".

On a totally different note.......Jimmy is building me a spinning wheel. I posted about it in my CrochetChar blog but decided I need to make note of it here too. It's too cool and almost finished! Do I know how to use a spinning wheel......no.......but I'm going to be learning.

This is a bit of the progress from the book to the almost finished product......I can hardly wait!!




This is a basic "mock up" of the instructions from the book. Learning the process and taking what he can from the directions. Keep in mind that Jimmy is a skilled wood worker. I was going to work with him on it the first time around but we decided that it would be best if he worked through it once on his own, since he had to figure out the dynamics of it first. I need to get another picture of it now that he's to the point of making bobbins, unfortunately he injured himself yesterday working on it. I wasn't in the shop at the time but something about "bouncing" a piece of wood off his hip and that he can barely walk this morning makes me want to post "Be Careful!" signs around the shop. Now I will have to wait a little longer to try it out....Darn!!!