Did you break your kitchen window today in a completely mundane way? I sure did. Now tomorrow will not only include a mammogram, but also calling people to come replace our crappy window pane. I also plan on taking Wikus to our local hobby store for paper stock for our Annual Chicken Holiday cards, and for me to pick out glass for my new project. For this project, I will chronicle it AFTER the fact, since it is a surprise for some people we know.
And...
The seahorse is officially finished. The grouting went very well, and I just finished polishing it. Since it is dark, it is kind of pointless to post a picture. Will take some during the day tomorrow when it is all grey and rainy. Stupid weather.
I'm very proud to have at least accomplished 2/3rds of my goals in November. Bring on December!
Showing posts with label mosaic. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mosaic. Show all posts
29 November 2009
26 November 2009
Grout!
The set-up:
The supplies:
The grout:
The result:
Now the grout has to cure. I brought it inside (it is still very dirty) and it is on some cardboard. I occasionally go and scrub at it a bit to get any stray grout and glue bits off the glass. I will do this for about 3 days, while also spraying water on it a few times a day. That is how the grout cures. The whole thing already seems sturdier having the grout in it.
When I have it framed, I will show the grand finale photo. I'll also finally be able to post a picture of what it looks like with light shining through it. I don't even know how that will look yet! I imagine booootiful.
The rest of the afternoon was spent stressing out for no particular reason. I hate Thanksgiving (here's what I wrote on FB when a friend asked why: I have lots of things against Thanksgiving. I don't celebrate any nationally recognized holiday. I feel I can be thankful for what ever, when ever. I also don't like manifest destiny. Even if you want to overlook the fact that we made all nice-nice with the native Americans and then did a really good job of almost killing all of them and stealing their land (Hey, we gave you a nice dinner, now shut up and be grateful!), and go with the it's-about-being-with-family approach, that still doesn't work for me since I had a rotten family. I am not thankful for them, and can't wait to dance on their graves. I hate the stress of Thanksgiving and all the expectations. I can have a good time with my friends, and do have a good time with them, without all the pomp and circumstance that's surrounds it. I also pretty much hate all the traditional foods that people serve for Thanksgiving dinner. Except stuffing. I do enjoy me some stove-top stuffing!).
The Boy had agreed that we'd bring some corn-pudding for the dinner we are going to tonight; unfortunately, he swears he bought the cheese, but no cheese could be found (maybe it is in the plastic-bags cabinet and we'll discover it months later stinky it up fiercely). Luckily, Walgreens was open, and he found some mild cheddar cheese, which I feel is basically butter, but it is all they had. So we accomplish that, but come to find out, he also told the people we'd bring rice pudding. Which takes a good 40 minutes to make from scratch, and we had no milk (I asked him, if you thought we were making rice pudding, didn't you wonder why milk wasn't on the grocery list? To which he responded, "I don't know what goes in rice pudding."). So back to Walgreens he went, and then I made him do the 20 minutes of stirring. Sucker.
I squeezed in a shower somewhere, and am now stressing out about what to wear. I don't think my meds are working today. And the Orange Lover peed on the couch. I just don't think I can handle much more. Still have to write about 2000 more words for today's NaNoWriMo count. Blargh.
The supplies:
The grout:
The result:
Now the grout has to cure. I brought it inside (it is still very dirty) and it is on some cardboard. I occasionally go and scrub at it a bit to get any stray grout and glue bits off the glass. I will do this for about 3 days, while also spraying water on it a few times a day. That is how the grout cures. The whole thing already seems sturdier having the grout in it.
When I have it framed, I will show the grand finale photo. I'll also finally be able to post a picture of what it looks like with light shining through it. I don't even know how that will look yet! I imagine booootiful.
The rest of the afternoon was spent stressing out for no particular reason. I hate Thanksgiving (here's what I wrote on FB when a friend asked why: I have lots of things against Thanksgiving. I don't celebrate any nationally recognized holiday. I feel I can be thankful for what ever, when ever. I also don't like manifest destiny. Even if you want to overlook the fact that we made all nice-nice with the native Americans and then did a really good job of almost killing all of them and stealing their land (Hey, we gave you a nice dinner, now shut up and be grateful!), and go with the it's-about-being-with-family approach, that still doesn't work for me since I had a rotten family. I am not thankful for them, and can't wait to dance on their graves. I hate the stress of Thanksgiving and all the expectations. I can have a good time with my friends, and do have a good time with them, without all the pomp and circumstance that's surrounds it. I also pretty much hate all the traditional foods that people serve for Thanksgiving dinner. Except stuffing. I do enjoy me some stove-top stuffing!).
The Boy had agreed that we'd bring some corn-pudding for the dinner we are going to tonight; unfortunately, he swears he bought the cheese, but no cheese could be found (maybe it is in the plastic-bags cabinet and we'll discover it months later stinky it up fiercely). Luckily, Walgreens was open, and he found some mild cheddar cheese, which I feel is basically butter, but it is all they had. So we accomplish that, but come to find out, he also told the people we'd bring rice pudding. Which takes a good 40 minutes to make from scratch, and we had no milk (I asked him, if you thought we were making rice pudding, didn't you wonder why milk wasn't on the grocery list? To which he responded, "I don't know what goes in rice pudding."). So back to Walgreens he went, and then I made him do the 20 minutes of stirring. Sucker.
I squeezed in a shower somewhere, and am now stressing out about what to wear. I don't think my meds are working today. And the Orange Lover peed on the couch. I just don't think I can handle much more. Still have to write about 2000 more words for today's NaNoWriMo count. Blargh.
22 November 2009
Chicken Day is Less Than One Month Away
That's right, my version of a winter holiday is coming up on December 17th. It should be a fairly good event this year since The Boy's big choir performance is actually before the 17th (usually it is right around it, so he's all stressed out and can't even think about Chicken Day). Even better, I was able to use my two personal holidays at work for 12/17 and 12/18--thus giving me a 4-day weekend. Our next Family Urban Gathering is on 12/20, so I probably won't have a Chicken Day party. Maybe I will have a small private dinner. Maybe a Quelf night! We'll see.
Today I spent many hours on the couch working on a special Chicken Day project for three important women in my life. I am not going to detail it anymore than that, but it was time-consuming work, and I hope it comes out well. I'm really excited for it, since it is something I made but not a mosaic. That would make one more thing I accomplished in November.
My Chicken Day shopping goals are always to try and have everything ordered by 11/30. I have instituted a no-buying-anything rule in effect this Friday for The Boy. He is terrible about getting a wandering eye right before his birthday, our anniversary and Chicken Day. Always giving me panic attacks that he is going to buy what I already bought him. He's such a jackass like that. I said it twice, so I hope it sticks.
I have finally made it to the halfway point in NaNoWriMo, but that means I am still a week behind. Ugh. But that's what work is for, right? To catch up on my writing in a very distracting, negative atmosphere. Should I file a complaint of toxicity in the work place? I can't get my writing done, there's a Twit in the office! Her belly is totally insulting me but being there. Grrrr.
The weather seems to be clearing up for the rest of the week. So back to the mosaic. Time to grout it, buy a frame and hope that the thing is sturdy enough to hang without any bracing along the back side of it. Thankfully the 3-day work week will give me some time to work out these details.
I'm watching a commercial for the movie "Elf." And this reminds me of the time when a friend of mine (one of the ones I went to see Precious with yesterday), who called me and asked if I wanted to go out with her and some other people to see Elf. And I totally thought she said, "A.L.F." My laughing was out of control. I was flabbergasted that they made a movie out of A.L.F. My friend was totally flummoxed over why I was choking on my tongue and practically having a seizure on the other side of the phone--you could hear my feet pounding the floor. Anyway, she cleared up the miscommunication, and then we didn't talk for awhile after that. Not because of that I think, we just run in slightly overlapping circles. Anyway, I think of her every time there is a reference to that movie. Maybe I will watch it one day. It has to at least be more uplifting than Precious!
Today I spent many hours on the couch working on a special Chicken Day project for three important women in my life. I am not going to detail it anymore than that, but it was time-consuming work, and I hope it comes out well. I'm really excited for it, since it is something I made but not a mosaic. That would make one more thing I accomplished in November.
My Chicken Day shopping goals are always to try and have everything ordered by 11/30. I have instituted a no-buying-anything rule in effect this Friday for The Boy. He is terrible about getting a wandering eye right before his birthday, our anniversary and Chicken Day. Always giving me panic attacks that he is going to buy what I already bought him. He's such a jackass like that. I said it twice, so I hope it sticks.
I have finally made it to the halfway point in NaNoWriMo, but that means I am still a week behind. Ugh. But that's what work is for, right? To catch up on my writing in a very distracting, negative atmosphere. Should I file a complaint of toxicity in the work place? I can't get my writing done, there's a Twit in the office! Her belly is totally insulting me but being there. Grrrr.
The weather seems to be clearing up for the rest of the week. So back to the mosaic. Time to grout it, buy a frame and hope that the thing is sturdy enough to hang without any bracing along the back side of it. Thankfully the 3-day work week will give me some time to work out these details.
I'm watching a commercial for the movie "Elf." And this reminds me of the time when a friend of mine (one of the ones I went to see Precious with yesterday), who called me and asked if I wanted to go out with her and some other people to see Elf. And I totally thought she said, "A.L.F." My laughing was out of control. I was flabbergasted that they made a movie out of A.L.F. My friend was totally flummoxed over why I was choking on my tongue and practically having a seizure on the other side of the phone--you could hear my feet pounding the floor. Anyway, she cleared up the miscommunication, and then we didn't talk for awhile after that. Not because of that I think, we just run in slightly overlapping circles. Anyway, I think of her every time there is a reference to that movie. Maybe I will watch it one day. It has to at least be more uplifting than Precious!
17 November 2009
Seahorse Day 13 & 14
This sucker is getting really hard to photograph. I spent 3 hours on it last night, listening to Neutral Milk Hotel and a mix I made for someone whom I never ended up giving it to, which is good because she turned out to be one hell of a backstabber. Though, she was quite young and hadn't actually experienced the "real world" in any way. Now she knows, and she knows you lose friends over it.
Anyway. Here is day 13's progress:
Day 14 (today), 4 hours (or 5 hours with a 1-hour break for dinner and a new Mystery Diagnosis!), all Beat Happening:
My best guess is I have at least two more days to go. One to finish with the big pieces, and then a second to fill in all the small holes that you can't see very well in pictures, but are totally there annoying the fuck out of me every time I am working on it.
Tomorrow I will do my best to provide one hell of a fired-up rant regarding the new federal guidelines on mammograms.
Anyway. Here is day 13's progress:
Day 14 (today), 4 hours (or 5 hours with a 1-hour break for dinner and a new Mystery Diagnosis!), all Beat Happening:
My best guess is I have at least two more days to go. One to finish with the big pieces, and then a second to fill in all the small holes that you can't see very well in pictures, but are totally there annoying the fuck out of me every time I am working on it.
Tomorrow I will do my best to provide one hell of a fired-up rant regarding the new federal guidelines on mammograms.
27 October 2009
Pregnancy Rumor Update
I believe I was a little "snitty" to The Boy this afternoon. I had this grand idea, that was mostly self-serving, but geez, I thought he'd fall for it since it involved food. I was trying to trick him in to going out to his favorite restaurant ("modern" Mexican), and then running to the grocery store with me. I agreed to bring a fruit plate to my boss' "going-away" party tomorrow. I use that in quotes because she is only moving to the 8th floor, five stories up, so it's not like she's leaving us, but it certainly feels like it. I know she likes healthy food, so I thought bacon meatloaf would be inappropriate. Sadly, The Boy had some 4-hour budget-review meeting at work tonight, and usually he has no problem being late to everything, and always acts like I'm a moron when I'm anxious that I (or we) will be late to something. But today, oh no, he wasn't chancing it. I'm fairly certain we could have grabbed a fruit tray and eaten dinner and he would have made it on time. He suggested we just go in separate cars, and I basically had a panic attack, and just thought that was the most horrible thing in the world. I can't explain it, other than I am crazy, and sometimes things seem way more complicated to me then they really are, you know, in real life.
Even though I was bit short with him, he still made me dinner. How awesome is that? We had pumpkin raviolis and Quorn chick'n nuggets. So damn good. I swear those Quorn chick'n nuggets are like McDonald's, not at all like those dry wood chips Morning Star is passing off as food. Without that "e" and chicken, you know it isn't actually meat. I think McDonald's may want to get the clue.
I am currently typing with one of these on my arms between my face and the laptop:
(There's also a little smidge of the orange lover if you look closely.)
It took me awhile to get motivated, but once I made it to the garage, things progressed nicely. I am working on opposite sides each night in attempt to keep the Lucite from buckling and warping as much as possible. Tonight I worked on sea grass and water. When I close down shop for the night, I always gingerly lie the whole thing on the floor and put some MDF across it to keep it as flat as possible. I've never worked with such a long piece and I'm very nervous of the whole thing snapping as I get toward the middle. It is my hope that I am just being paranoid, and should pop an extra Celexa when I feel this way.
Day 6: mix of Atom & His Package (thinking of my dear Frijole and how I get to see her in 1.5 weeks), 2.5 hours
Twit Rumor Update: I spent the whole day attempting to get a glimpse of her stomach. She even caught me staring once, but I just squinted my eyes to let her know to not even ask what I'm doing. There is definitely a bulge. This woman is like 10-year-old girl skinny. She is so buttless, that her pants just ride up between the crack in her back. All I can say is I hope she has a benign tumor in there, because I will be shit-pissed if she is pregnant. I have zero interest in doing her work with no extra pay while she is out on maternity leave. Nor am I looking forward to her bringing her baby in the office, because I will NOT coo at it. No damn way.
Even though I was bit short with him, he still made me dinner. How awesome is that? We had pumpkin raviolis and Quorn chick'n nuggets. So damn good. I swear those Quorn chick'n nuggets are like McDonald's, not at all like those dry wood chips Morning Star is passing off as food. Without that "e" and chicken, you know it isn't actually meat. I think McDonald's may want to get the clue.
I am currently typing with one of these on my arms between my face and the laptop:
(There's also a little smidge of the orange lover if you look closely.)
It took me awhile to get motivated, but once I made it to the garage, things progressed nicely. I am working on opposite sides each night in attempt to keep the Lucite from buckling and warping as much as possible. Tonight I worked on sea grass and water. When I close down shop for the night, I always gingerly lie the whole thing on the floor and put some MDF across it to keep it as flat as possible. I've never worked with such a long piece and I'm very nervous of the whole thing snapping as I get toward the middle. It is my hope that I am just being paranoid, and should pop an extra Celexa when I feel this way.
Day 6: mix of Atom & His Package (thinking of my dear Frijole and how I get to see her in 1.5 weeks), 2.5 hours
Twit Rumor Update: I spent the whole day attempting to get a glimpse of her stomach. She even caught me staring once, but I just squinted my eyes to let her know to not even ask what I'm doing. There is definitely a bulge. This woman is like 10-year-old girl skinny. She is so buttless, that her pants just ride up between the crack in her back. All I can say is I hope she has a benign tumor in there, because I will be shit-pissed if she is pregnant. I have zero interest in doing her work with no extra pay while she is out on maternity leave. Nor am I looking forward to her bringing her baby in the office, because I will NOT coo at it. No damn way.
26 October 2009
After a Day's Rest
The weather is 55 and rainy. Which is just terrible if you have to be outside, but it is that time of year that is so nice inside. The cats are snugly, no one is calling me crazy for being under a blanket, and I can wear silly outfits to mosaic in the garage.
Check out that mighty-fine combination of pink-striped fuzzy pajama pants, red argyle socks and Converse. Seriously, this is the best outfit I've ever worn in the garage. Ok, I did run the space heater for the first hour or so, but so what? I'm allowed.
Day 5: mix of Luna songs, 2.5 hours
Some of you have asked about the tools I use. Here is most of them: WeldBond glue (best glue ever made, EVER), safety glasses (I really need to purchase ones that aren't as cheap), paintbrush (WARNING: do not use your hands to swipe glass bits off of table and mosaic), tile nippers (for chipping away very tiny areas of glass), glass cutter (scores the glass), and the thing I always forget the name of (breaks the glass along the score line). Not featured here is my grinder and ring saw. I have yet to break out the ring saw on this project, but probably will when I get to the seahorse. Also not featured is a green marker I stole a very long time ago from Wikus that I use to mark where I want to score my glass. Thanks Wikus!
Check out that mighty-fine combination of pink-striped fuzzy pajama pants, red argyle socks and Converse. Seriously, this is the best outfit I've ever worn in the garage. Ok, I did run the space heater for the first hour or so, but so what? I'm allowed.
Day 5: mix of Luna songs, 2.5 hours
Some of you have asked about the tools I use. Here is most of them: WeldBond glue (best glue ever made, EVER), safety glasses (I really need to purchase ones that aren't as cheap), paintbrush (WARNING: do not use your hands to swipe glass bits off of table and mosaic), tile nippers (for chipping away very tiny areas of glass), glass cutter (scores the glass), and the thing I always forget the name of (breaks the glass along the score line). Not featured here is my grinder and ring saw. I have yet to break out the ring saw on this project, but probably will when I get to the seahorse. Also not featured is a green marker I stole a very long time ago from Wikus that I use to mark where I want to score my glass. Thanks Wikus!
24 October 2009
One Hell of a Mess in the Bed
The allergies are taking one hell of a toll on my body. I slept past 11am today, which even for me is a bit late. It took awhile for a plan to be made, but it ended up being IHOP, fetching Wikus, going to Ikea, taking Wikus to the FedEx office by the airport (to pick up foam of all things), then home for me to mosaic and the boys to work on soldering effect pedals. They finally got a pedal to work, just in time to leave for the Built to Spill/Dinosaur Jr show. I absolutely dislike Built to Spill, and I saw Dinosaur Jr at a day show a couple years ago during SXSW, and just don't really feel the compulsion to repeat the experience. It was nice to just keep mosaicing until I couldn't physically do any more.
Day four: still listening to a mix of The Magnetic Fields, 4.5 hours of work
Initially, we went to Ikea to get a new feather comforter. Mine is quite old, and the orange lover had peed on it several times. It doesn't really smell like cat pee any more, but it smells mildewy, and has a strange greasy feeling to it. It was a bit overwhelming to figure out what I wanted at Ikea since they had so many different options of feather blankets. I settled on a true feather one (not synthetic) that had a warmth level of 4 (levels are 1-6). On our way out we went through the light section. I love light pretty much for the same reason I love glass. I just can't get enough of it. However, most of Ikea's light don't cast enough to make it worth buying. Then I came across this little guy:
It's a very direct spot light on an awesome bendable stand. It's not flimsy at all, and stays exactly where I want it. Since I mosaic in the garage, I have the crappiest light for what I'm doing. I've been compromising on different light sources to accomplish my work, including using a flashlight to do back-lighting. This lamp makes it so I can at least shine a pinpoint of light directly on the area I am working on, and that made life just a little easier. It cost $30, but it was well worth it.
When we got home, The Boy went straight to the bedroom to drop off a body pillow he had purchased (he loves body pillows, to the point I call them his "girlfriends"). He soundly howls out for me to get to the bedroom, not in the way that made me fear a cat was dead, but in the way that let me know that it was something gross. Wikus was trying to get the orange lover back in the house, and I dropped everything in my hands since The Boy obviously didn't think I was running fast enough to the bedroom
As soon as I got to the doorway, the smell hit me. Sour baby poos. Evil-smelling poos. Poos that could only mean one thing, there was diarrhea somewhere in that room.
Remember how I went on about the wonderful new mattress we had purchased and the fancy sheets? Well, they were covered in diabetic-cat diarrhea. It was so awful. We were quick to blame each other for leaving Whoopis in the room all day, but I know it was The Boy. He was the last one in the room. He was still getting dressed way after me. He doesn't want to accept that it is his fault, but it totally is. I forgive him though, because he's the one who scraped the liquid poos in to the toilet and washed the sheets. I cleaned the mattress then Febreezed the fuck out of it.
Tonight I get to sleep on clean sheets and under a new comforter. It isn't a terrible way to end a hard day.
Day four: still listening to a mix of The Magnetic Fields, 4.5 hours of work
Initially, we went to Ikea to get a new feather comforter. Mine is quite old, and the orange lover had peed on it several times. It doesn't really smell like cat pee any more, but it smells mildewy, and has a strange greasy feeling to it. It was a bit overwhelming to figure out what I wanted at Ikea since they had so many different options of feather blankets. I settled on a true feather one (not synthetic) that had a warmth level of 4 (levels are 1-6). On our way out we went through the light section. I love light pretty much for the same reason I love glass. I just can't get enough of it. However, most of Ikea's light don't cast enough to make it worth buying. Then I came across this little guy:
It's a very direct spot light on an awesome bendable stand. It's not flimsy at all, and stays exactly where I want it. Since I mosaic in the garage, I have the crappiest light for what I'm doing. I've been compromising on different light sources to accomplish my work, including using a flashlight to do back-lighting. This lamp makes it so I can at least shine a pinpoint of light directly on the area I am working on, and that made life just a little easier. It cost $30, but it was well worth it.
When we got home, The Boy went straight to the bedroom to drop off a body pillow he had purchased (he loves body pillows, to the point I call them his "girlfriends"). He soundly howls out for me to get to the bedroom, not in the way that made me fear a cat was dead, but in the way that let me know that it was something gross. Wikus was trying to get the orange lover back in the house, and I dropped everything in my hands since The Boy obviously didn't think I was running fast enough to the bedroom
As soon as I got to the doorway, the smell hit me. Sour baby poos. Evil-smelling poos. Poos that could only mean one thing, there was diarrhea somewhere in that room.
Remember how I went on about the wonderful new mattress we had purchased and the fancy sheets? Well, they were covered in diabetic-cat diarrhea. It was so awful. We were quick to blame each other for leaving Whoopis in the room all day, but I know it was The Boy. He was the last one in the room. He was still getting dressed way after me. He doesn't want to accept that it is his fault, but it totally is. I forgive him though, because he's the one who scraped the liquid poos in to the toilet and washed the sheets. I cleaned the mattress then Febreezed the fuck out of it.
Tonight I get to sleep on clean sheets and under a new comforter. It isn't a terrible way to end a hard day.
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