Day 227- 365/2014 (just barely late!)

Day Two Hundred Twenty-Seven

Oh Bother!!!  Blogspot called 12 midnight Saturday instead of Friday tonight...oh well.

Coolness -- I arrived home tonight to find my set of Jason Limon "Cryptidibts" waiting for me in my mailbox! 

I got the set that is 31-35 -- here they are, with the text from the back(s):

No. 31:  Guageface likes to wander around touching every object it comes in contact with to see if they make its dial move.

No. 32:  The Pygmy Bugler Goat can't grow horns so it finds a delicious substitute to stick on its head and then eat the rest.

No. 33:  In an effort to defend itself from salty assaults, the Mocking Mollusc uses every day objects to create a disguise.

No. 34:  Rob the Bleach Guzzler pretends to be a high school maintenance worker so he can chug all the free bleach and cleaning solutions that he can get his hands on.

No. 35:  The Nicotine Bird has developed a taste for cigarettes.  Continuously smoking them and using the butts to build a nest.  As its young hatch and grow they foster the same addiciton.

I love them all, though numbers 32, 34, and 31 are the ones that made me order the set.  They are 5"x7" (postcard style with glossy fronts).  I see that this set has sold out -- I ordered mine just in time! 

Day 226 - 365/2014

Day Two Hundred Twenty-Six

I did not go to Sue's house today for several reasons.  One of the reasons is that I am having a really hard pain day.  I was hoping to be able to eventually work a bit on a project but it just didn't happen.  I managed to try a few stitches on the big blue creature collage but I am not at all happy with the results and I will end up putting another layer of papers over the creature area to cover it up.  As I've said before...there is just no point in pushing things when they are not coming.

These are photos from yesterday, on the way to Sue's house:

Maneuvering between those two missing concrete chunk areas at the foot of my driveway...luckily, my car just fit in between them.

Looking down towards Eight Mile after pulling out of my driveway...it is not as far as this picture makes it look.

The barricades at Eight/N Center...I can access Eight Mile from the school's parking lot...turn right at the steam roller thing.

Heh...of course!  Eight Mile is being worked on from Taft to Beck...no through traffic...detour over Taft to Nine Mile.

Sue lives in a lakey area...lots of fishing spots.  MOST of the little party stores sell Walt's Crawlers -- I keep seeing the signs for them EVERYwhere around Sue's house.  As I got closer to Sue's look what was in front of me.  I thought that maybe Walt's Crawlers was a very local business that was supplying the bait to shops...apparently the crawler farm is in Vanderbilt, MI -- I have no idea where that is.

This is in front of one of the shops near Sue's house...it cracks me up everytime I drive by it.  And yes, they sell Walt's Crawlers there.

This place is actually pretty busy most of the time I go by it...someone had just pulled up as I was pulling in.  I kept driving around the side of the building to use the exit over there to get back on the road and I was amazed by the vending machine...

...yep -- a bait vending machine -- I have never seen this before. 

The machine is currently out of order.  I didn't get out of the car to check it out...this is a zoom from the car.  What an odd vending machine...but I suppose it comes in handy when the bait shop isn't open.

Day 225 - 365/2104

Day Two Hundred Twenty-Five

Gah -- posting updates to the blog about roadwork and laundry is not exactly what I had in mind, but that's all I've got right now.  My section of N. Center Street is totally blocked off and the only access to my house is through the school parking lot onto Eight Mile.  Dodging machinery and missing concrete in the dark (when I am returning home from Sue's) is a little challenging but I can live with this...it won't be forever.

Slow progress is still progress.

The concrete eating machinery sounds like gigantic battling robot dinosaurs.

The holes from the chunks of missing concrete are actually pretty deep.

Looking across the prep holes you can't really tell.

At least they mark the deepest ones...hard to see which ones are serious in the dark.

Last load for today -- towels!

Day 224 - 365/2014

Day Two Hundred Twenty-Four

Okay...so I am slightly more on track now.  I've written down some deadlines on a calendar page that I printed out.  Now I need to try to "plan" a few daytime errands during the week before my shift at Sue's.  Today Sue has a dental appointment...add insult to injury kind of thing...and she begins physical therapy later in the week.  We will get through this. 

Day 223 - 365/2014 (oh man...missed another one!)

Day Two Hundred Twenty-Three

Oh man -- I am very sorry that Sue broke her leg but we are spending a lot of time together over it.  A side effect of going back and forth to Sue's house (with her husband's constantly changing work hours) is that my usual routine is really thrown off, too.  The two of them are kind of used to it but I am feeling a bit like "what day is this?", "did I miss something?", "when was that deadline again?".  

Anyhow... I am just checking in to say wow...I thought I posted to the blog yesterday before I left for Sue's. 

Day 222 - 365/2014

Day Two Hundred Twenty-Two

Gah -- I did it again...what I said I wasn't going to do anymore.  I agreed to do something that I had already planned to not do...I know I have the ability to say "no"...and at first I did...but then I got soft and said "yes" but what I meant was "I really don't think I want to do this"...but then the "you really could/should/ought to do this" started kicking in and I was mostly hooked.  But I have been avoiding getting started on it for a few days (even though I bought some supplies for it...even today)...but I am starting to resent it a bit and I don't want to feel like this and so I am going to undo my "yes"...and not allow myself to guilt-trip myself any longer.  I am moving on and going back to my original plan(s).

So I started to work on the big blue guy canvas.  I was considering outlining him in stitching (something else I was avoiding) and tonight shortly after I started piercing the canvas with that really sharp tool and a hammer -- the tip of the really sharp tool bent.  Figures.  Maybe this is the canvas's way of saying no, it's too much stitching.  I don't know.  

Okay -- so I am done for the night now.  I am frustrated and sweating and trying not to allow myself to beat myself up.  I really REALLY hurt from the other day (walking in the deep sand in the horse arena) and my allergies are also killing me...horrible throbbing, pounding, pulsing headache.  I am putting everything away for the night and I am going to calm down and relax and let go of stuff.  Exhale...

Day 221 - 365/2014

Day Two Hundred Twenty-One

Quite unexpectedly, I found myself with a day totally off...plans changed and I didn't need to go to Sue's today.  I jumped at the opportunity to get some running around taken care of and get some errands out of the way.  I apparently needed some sleep because my afternoon dose of Benadryl knocked me out until late evening.  Man...so much for a day off.

I was hoping to get a good start on stripping the paint off of the chair I am going to work on for the chair auction, but this is as far as I got.

But...here are some photos I took at the arena at the barn where Sue boards her horse.  I took some of them in hi-res thinking I might be able to use them in collage work sometime.