Why I’m not an Olympian.

I’m going to try to photograph and list some new items of jewelry today. I’ve been a bit behind in everything since my dad is visiting, which is absolutely fine by me. Priorities are everything, right :)

Been watching some of the Olympics. Loved that the Brits got a bronze in gymnastics. I didn’t even know we had a team! And the synchronized diving. Good grief. How good are those guys. I really enjoyed watching the Mexicans. Wow is all I can say.

So, today is going to be more of the same. Just kicking back, enjoying my dad and enjoying the Olympics.

Does this make me wish I’d tried harder at P.E.?

Not on your Nelly!

I was never that good at sports. I remember being fairly good at making up time as the fourth leg in the relay. I had a good eye for tennis and squash and really liked javelin – don’t ask me why, could have been something to do with sharp pointy things and anger issues. But I just couldn’t cope with the jumping sports. I suppose the long jump was O.K. and the triple jump somewhat fun, but the high jump was just freaky. God only knows how those people do the pole volt! I do enjoy watching that on t.v. though.

I was a complete failure at field sports. Especially when it was my turn as goalie. The anxiety from waiting for someone to whack the ball at you in field hockey was just too much for me. And it hurt! What was that all about! They give you that little stick and you’re supposed to defend your goal with it! That’s almost like using chop sticks to eat. The pressure of letting your whole side down as they watch you jump out of the way of the ball was unbearable.

Not a good time in the showers after that I can tell you.

Gym was awful. I had, and still have, no upper body strength. It was humiliating not being able to get up that rope and to top it all we had to wear those silly black knickers.

Diving – I couldn’t even get up the ladder to the platform, and swimming … I want to be near the water, not in it. All that stuff up your nose and in your ears. It’s not normal people!

I would opt for badminton, thinking it was an easy option. No it wasn’t, and volleyball just meant bruises all up your arm.

I remember thinking that I’d never make it back to school alive when we did cross-country. That would teach them when they found me dead from exhaustion in a ditch somewhere. And I can only thank god we didn’t have horses on the school ground.

Non stop cricket rounders (don’t ask) was fairly fun though.

On the whole I think it’s fairly safe to say that sports were definitely not my thing. Some might think I’m somewhat a wimp – but I’m still alive.

How smart is that …

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Kitty Fashionista.

Here’s Wally, waiting for his nails to be painted.

I took all the cats in for their yearly this week, and yep, while dropping them off mentioned the doggy pedicure – again. I couldn’t help it, I think I’m still in the baffled and amazed stage. S, who helped me with the cats, gave me a swift kick to the shin. I think I embarrass him. He told me I was being rude. Oh well.

I thought I had heard it all on animal bizarre-ment. Nope. The assistant then told me that some kitty owners also get their cats pedicured! What the @%^*#$$!! Problem is, she went on to tell me, because cats claws are retractable they have trouble drying them so it’s not so popular.

Not so popular. There’s a clue. I just can’t imagine why.

Anyhow I got to thinking about it and, obviously, Wally’s been thinking about it too – he was probably kennelled next to a feline fashionista while he was waiting for his shots. He’s been giving me the, here are my nails, go on, do it, hint, every time he sits next to me since.

I suspect he’s always wanted to try out the transvestite thing. I think that’s why I love him.

I just don’t get it …

Yesterday we picked Willow up from the groomers. Yes, bless her heart, she was shaved again. I know she’s a girl, I know she’s a cocker spaniel and should have all that cocker spaniel hair, but – we live in Houston, and it’s hot. She also loves to ditch swim. Yep in the ditch. She doesn’t like clean water. She will not go in the pool although we think that’s a depth perception phobia rather than a cleanliness phobia. No, she has to frolic in the muddiest water out there. And she ends up stinking. She is a stinky dog. So, I get her shaved. I actually love the way she looks when she’s shaved. She looks fit and lean. With all her fur on she looks podgy and grimy.

Anyhow, we picked her up and as we were waiting a lady, who looked quite sensible and normal, was there picking up her two dogs. Cute dogs. As she took them out to the car I noticed that one of them had red on its nails. I just got a fleeting glimpse but it was definitely red and it worried me. What manner of nail eating disease could result in such a vivid, horrific, colour? But I knew it was too red and too uniform to be anything normal. I turned to the girl at the counter and admit I felt a little stupid, as surely, surely, it couldn’t be nail polish. But yep, it was. I asked, what on earth?! I asked, why?!! I even had my incredulous and amazed face on. The girl looked at the dog’s chart, and, honest to god, answered as though this was not the strangest, most bizarre thing on earth. With a straight face she told me it was a ‘female’ dog. End of story. She all but added the word, duh! at the end.

And? I wanted to ask, but obviously the female thing was answer enough for her.

Who was I to question the madness.

I just don’t get it …

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I’m sorry Willow that I didn’t get your nails polished.

Maybe next time I’ll treat you to a blue rinse.

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Florence Nightingale and the fluoride thing.

I found Pickles.

Blending into her surroundings.

It’s obviously her turn in the orange chair.

I don’t have an orange chair. This one came home with one of the kids and, just to jar me out of my aesthetically calming environment, somehow made it downstairs to the living room. Still, if it helps Pickles blend …

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You haven’t heard from me as I’ve gone into one of my hypochondria dips.

It could have been the fluoride thing. It doesn’t take much.

I haven’t exactly gone into a fetal position but now I have this weird feeling in my chest.

I just know it’s bad …

I feel doom lurking. All the things that I love to do are potential death traps.

When I talk to P about my worries that I’m dying, he just says, we’re all dying. That doesn’t help. When I talked to the doctor about my ominous chest feeling, he just says it’s a mini panic attack trying to get out. He could be wrong.

Florence Nightingale was a hypochondriac. Apparently she spent 50 odd years in bed thinking she was going to die at any minute. She lived to be 90.

Oh the irony …

I don’t want to be a Florence Nightingale, but it sure as hell is hard to get out of bed some mornings – especially if one of the only things that you want to get out of bed for is to go into the studio.

The Death Trap!

So, I’m just going to have a little pity party here. Better out than in – right.

And then I’m going to get up and pretend I’m not a hypochondriac.

It doesn’t work but I’m going to go with it anyway.

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O.K. Pity Party Over …

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 Now, I’m going to list this on Etsy, and post the pair of earrings I sold last night :)

I think I’m up to $300 now. Going for $500 before I send it off to charity.

Oh, and look what I found yesterday.

They sell for $5 and they say that every $5 spent goes to Africa – so I guess that means all of it :)

You can find them – HERE.

Great gifts for young people. Or even old people.

Maybe they’ve got one for hypochondriacs …

It’s going to be a good day :)

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While it’s been raining.

Here’s what I’ve been working on while it’s been raining.

I finished this

and this,

now they’re waiting to be fired.

I made some of these,

these are also waiting to be fired, after they’ve been cleaned up. They are going to be little triffid plates.

I made one of these

But I think I’ll only make the one. It’s huge! and it’s one of those pieces that I like but am not too sure why I like it.

I also made one of these,

which is sweet in comparison.

And one of these,

While making all these I listened to,

The girl who played with fire – Stieg Larsson.

and

The scarecrow – Michael Connelly

and am now listening to

One step behind. – Henning Mankell

and

I’ve  also been loving these

Spencer chillin’ as only Spencer knows how to chill.

Wally trying to casually hang out on the mantlepiece but giving himself away with the, I’m keeping my eye on you, stare at Willow who is obviously annoying him.

And here they are later

Doing some more chillin’. Wally has to sit with some part of his body on you at all times.

My new stones came :)

and so I’ve been sketching.

And I finally made this.

which is kind of weird, and reminds me of some kind of tribal woman.

And then I found this.

In the store room. It’s kind of wow and … bright.

Nonetheless I feel a painting moment coming on …

_

Rain, computer trauma and hypochondria.

It’s raining – again. The pool has overflown. It’s been raining for days. Last summer the most water the garden got is if we spat on it. Terrible times for lots of areas that lost homes to fires here in Texas. This year no doubt there will be homes damaged by flooding. I haven’t checked the news yet but I suspect this might be the case for some homes today. I hope not.

That said, I love the rain. Not the drizzling, every day the same, grey, dismal kind of rain, but, the black skies downpour with thunder and lightning kind. Not so keen on the pool overflowing though.

Dropped my computer.

Placed it on the table and it slid off.

Fortunately it still works and the power cord still fits. Wasn’t really sure what that screwed up socket is but am told its the ethernet. Don’t use that so I guess I’m o.k. The screen is a little off it’s hinges but so far seems to work. Been pushing for a new one but the people who think they’re in charge say no. I have to learn to look after my things, they say … I might have to ignore them but we’ll see. On the whole I think it gives it some kind of character, at least I know which is mine.

Just found out that the flux I’ve been using contains fluorides. Now, I’m not too sure what this means. I know from the warning on the tube that its perhaps not good, but, my hypochondriacal self doesn’t want to find out the specifics. I tried looking on the internet but just couldn’t bring myself to click on the articles.

NOTE: If you’re reading this and know – please don’t tell me as I’ll have to curl up in a fetal position and not come out again.

I do know that my thyroid has been off and I’ve had to up my meds for it. I also know that fluoride affects this. Whether it’s the same kind of fluoride, I don’t know, but I’m now on the look out for a good, non fluoride, flux. I’ve found a few but am holding out for when I’m sure. I’m also looking into a better extractor fan for over the solder area. P set up one for me a couple of months ago but I don’t think it works. I haven’t the heart to say. (O.K. I do and I did, but I appreciate that he made it for me). I don’t really want to spend the $800 or so price for the one I found on the jewelry sites, so I’m going to see if we can’t explore different versions of the one P made. Just bigger, better, stronger – without the six million dollar price tag. S is home from school now so I might set him on it. He’s pretty good at figuring things out.

Other than that, not a lot going on really. Been doodling. Been making stuff. Put a ‘0’ on my ruler – finally. Been moping around trying to find the next book to read. I think I’ve settled on, House of sand and fog, by Andre Bubus, although I can’t hold my breath on it. Been trying to lose weight but have put on five pounds. Think that’s my thyroid thing, at least that’s what I’m going with.

Same ol’ stuff really.

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Monday gloom.

Dentist this morning :(

Only a cleaning but the trauma of dentistry in England in the early seventies has left its toll. Our local dentist was a Mr Hoolian, aka, (o.k. only by me), Mr. Hooligan. Hated him. I’m sure he was a nice man but he had all of those sharp whirring tools, and all that smelly gas stuff.

I’m freaking myself out now.

Think of fairies, he would say with a sickly grin as he put the big black rubber gas mask on my face. Sure I thought of fairies. Big, grinning, evil fairies, hovering around me, thinking evil, vicious, stuff of nightmare thoughts.

Freaking fairies. Never been a fan since.

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Oh the problems …

I only rocked the world a little bit yesterday. P came home early from fishing. No fish he said, which I think is code for, I had nibbles galore but couldn’t catch a thing. But, to give him the benefit of the doubt, there were no fish … in the whole lake, or sea, or wherever he and S went.

Because they came home early, and because I got out of bed late – not my fault, Spencer needed company – I didn’t make it into the studio until 2-ish. I didn’t paint as it was worrying me. It’s like I’m scared of it or something. Another strange but true fact. (I might have to start listing this phenomenon of weird, doesn’t make sense, ness for research purposes). Instead I put chains on all the pendants I’ve made. That’s something else I tend to put off as it really bothers me in case I get the length wrong. I know, how difficult is it? We’ll just have to mark it down as another strange one.

I have a couple of rulers but I also marked out a ruler on the table in front of where I cut the chain. It was annoying me that the thing kept moving as I worked so this is a great solution – except I forgot the ‘0’. Man, I need a whop to the head sometimes … or maybe that’s what went wrong in the first place.

So, even though I thought they looked suspiciously short each time I cut a length of chain, nope, I didn’t double check. You know, the old carpenter’s adage, measure twice, cut once – didn’t do it.

So, all my chains are now 16” instead of 18”. Not a terrible problem to fix but more a slap the forehead, for heaven’s sake girl, what on earth is wrong with you, kind of problem.

One thing’s for sure, I definitely have a reason for listening to my strange truths.

These are the victims,

and here’s a little something else I’m working on,

but I can’t figure out how to fix the clasp yet.

Oh the problems …

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Friday. Again.

Do you think Spencer One Eye could be more comfortable?

I can’t make the bed until he gets up.

O.K. that’s not true. I probably wont make the bed anyway.

Soooooo, it’s Friday. Again. I’m not up either – only because I don’t want Spencer to feel the odd man out. I’m a good pet parent like that. Always aware of their psychological health.

I have a bit of a headache and I’m still tired from P waking up at 4:30 to go fishing. You couldn’t get me up at that time of day to meet the Queen. She’d have to wait – at least until after I’d had my first cuppa of the day. Also, Spencer has rearranged himself closer and is purring loudly, a cosy feeling not to be taken lightly – I have to soak up the love else it be wasted.

To be honest, I spend a fair bit of time in bed in the morning. I generally wake up at 7 ish. (Recently more like 6 ish, which is a bit of a bummer but what can you do). I try to go back to sleep, but eventually realise that my brain has started to work overtime on all the things it wants to do. I try to ignore it and pretend I’m asleep, but eventually have to give in to the fact that that’s it for me, even if I am tired – which seems like always.

 I really need to stop playing wordfued until midnight.

But then I drink the cup of tea that P has made for me, I love him for making my tea, and check my e mails, which are all junk mail!

How is it that I’m getting mail from the scooter store?

At first I thought it was a real scooter, you know like vespa scooters, and mods and rockers and quadrophenia, and all that.

From Jolly Edition – HERE.

and I thought, ahh, they must know me.

Then, when I clicked, I found out it was this scooter. (I can’t even post a picture of it, it’s too disturbing).

And I thought, what the #&*%@$! only I used real letters (in my mind) and felt really old and that maybe I would stay in bed for the rest of the day.

A helpful tip here – don’t click.

After the e mails I either surf for a while, or read, or make notes, or just continue thinking until I’ve sorted out the whole universe thing and am ready to start the day. Sometimes I might write a rambling blog post on anything that comes to mind, or a paragraph of a new book I’m thinking of writing, or sometimes I just dwell, in that droopy way I’ve talked about before, on things that are usually not worth dwelling about.

Today is a bit of all of them. But now, I’m ready for the day to begin and I’m thinking I might do some of this

But, yesterday I made this,

which I’m kind of loving …

so I might have to touch these instead.

From Silurian Era
click photo

I also bought a new rivet making tool which, as an aside, reminds me of my dad as it smells of grease. My dad was a mechanic and it’s a smell I like – strange but true.

From Forgeron on Etsy
click photo

So, I might end up making rivets instead.

What ever it ends up being I’ll not know until I get out of bed.

So, Happy Friday you people out there. It’s time to rock the world.

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To wholesale or not to wholesale …

Still working on this one …

And also found an old one to work on …

I’m really enjoying the finger painting.

I also made a few more pieces of jewelry. I’ve been wondering whether to approach some shops or galleries with my jewelry, but after figuring out material costs and the time I’ve spent making the pieces, I wonder if it’s actually worth my while. It’s getting to the point where I’ll have so much finished jewelry hanging around that I wont know what to do with it.

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