Random thoughts

Since Isaac decided to come barreling (crawling) through here today, it's looking like I'm not going to meet my goal of having the night stands done by September 1st. I spent the first half of the week doing more deep cleaning in the living room, and by the time I considered getting them out yesterday evening we were anticipating rain so there was really no point.

For some odd reason, I decided that I am going to go all out with Halloween decorating this year. (If you follow me on Pinterest, you probably noticed a surge in pins added to my 'Halloween' board.) I'm not normally that big on seasonal decorating, I mean we always have Christmas lights up, but other than that I tend to keep it pretty mellow...however, Halloween has always been my favorite holiday, mostly because I love dark, twisted things, horror movies, and so Halloween has always made me feel a little more normal. If you were to come into my house, you'd see skulls are a major part of my decorating scheme, along with black roses, and a rather large collection of rusty weapons. My absolute favorite is an old scythe that a friend bought me some years ago at an antique store. Unfortunately it's kind of hard to display, and seems to make people uncomfortable when it's hanging over the guest bed, so until I have a proper way to hang it, it's sitting in storage. Well, point is, today I started making props and promptly stabbed myself with an exacto knife and bled all over the styrofoam knife I was cutting out at the time.Authenticity is key, people.

Despite have countless pairs of boots to wear for the upcoming fall season, I cannot get my mind off a gorgeous grey pair (with a blue zipper!) that I saw at TJ Maxx a couple of weeks ago. I passed them up at the time, but regret doing so now. I'll be heading back there tomorrow, hopefully they're still around. I will be devastated if they're gone, and will probably end up with something half as nice for twice as much and then be angry with myself. I'll try to avoid that, though.

I won a giveaway!! Awesome. :)

Sometime last year, right after I got the phone I have now, I found all these sound files that NASA has recorded, sounds from all kinds of different things recorded throughout the galaxy, and of course I thought it was crazy awesome so I downloaded them, all of them, and then proceeded to put them on my phone as ringtones, and set them for things I didn't consider important (the sounds are very low, in volume and frequency). Well, I forgot that I had done so, and for the past 6 months or so I have been convinced that aliens are sending me messages, because for no apparent reason my phone would suddenly make these weird, crazy, alien sounding noises. It wasn't until I got into my ringtone folder to change things up that I realized what was happening.

I managed to completely ruin a seat cover for one of two of these chairs that I have...they're not in the best condition, they're each missing a foot, and they haven't been white for a while now, but they've been getting progressively dirtier, and now the dog is tall enough that when I'm sitting in one, he can come up and lean his body against me, because his torso goes right over the top of the chair! (I'll try to get Josh to take a picture of him doing it) Anyway, I have been wanting to re-cover them since I got them (they were given to me) but I have so many other things that I have on my to-do list that are far more pressing, so I wasn't that worried about it. But then, last night, I just got so tired of them that I ripped the seat covers off and threw them in the wash, and sprayed the rest of the chair with Resolve. (I don't really have a furniture cleaner...I should probably look into that, though.) The chair part looks a lot better, but the seat covers didn't fare so well in the wash...one of them separated from the zipper and is a mess of strings, and the other is in tact, but somehow managed to come out looking dirtier than when it went in! So I'm trying to decide whether it's worth it to try and save them or whether I should just let them go...and I'm leaning towards the latter, because, honestly, they weren't all that comfortable to begin with!

I've been struggling this past week to keep my anxiety from flaring up, but I can feel it growing, like a tumor on my soul, getting heavier and pulling me down. The things that keep me sane are my words, and getting out of the house so I don't drown inside of myself. I'm trying. Normally it doesn't hit me like this until October, but I can feel fall coming in early and so apparently my mood is dependent on that. My heart is resilient, though, and despite this being the hardest time of the year for me, it has never failed to be my favorite. Everything about autumn fills my very soul will joy, and I will emerge on the other side another year stronger. I'm ready. Bring it.

Weekend deep clean

Well I actually got more cleaning done this weekend than I expected to...most of it on Saturday, granted, but still, I'm quite proud of what I accomplished. I even got down on my hands and knees and bleached my baseboards in the kitchen! (If you look at the sixth picture in this post, you can see Belle inspecting my work.) It was beyond exhausting and I actually passed out on the floor in my craft room while I was trying to get some more done in there on Sunday!!

After my nap I did manage to get some more done, and then worked in the bedroom today. I work best to music, and Josh got all the new DJ equipment he'd ordered for his birthday today, so he's been playing with it all afternoon and I've been getting stuff done! I'm parting with a few clothing items, not many but definitely more than I can usually give up at one time, plus a pair of shoes. I also ruined a few things that I was on the fence about (sort of on purpose, actually, I threw them in with bleach 'to see what happened' knowing full well what would happen, but now I have no choice but to scrap them.) They weren't nice or anything, I just had a hard time parting with things, and making them unusable is virtually the only way  I can force myself to do it. Anyway, now they're going to get cut up and used as rags and then tossed out!

The rest of the things I'm giving up are nice, and they're in a bag for Re-Store...now I just have to actually get that bag in the car and to Re-Store and I'll really be making progress!!

I'm determined to finally get my nightstands painted this week, I sort of knew that by banishing them to the storage room I was setting myself back like a month because 'out of sight, out of mind' right? But, in all fairness, it had to be done to save them from the rain, and once it started it didn't really stop...plus there was that smokey week of the mountain fire...so I don't feel too bad about it. I will, though, if I don't meet my goal of getting them done by this weekend.

Oh, the show on Friday night was really good! Joshs cousin plays trumpet and keyboard in a band, Blue Screen Skyline, and since it was a CD release party they actually played the whole album! It's like...post-rock, electronic, new age with a hint of smooth jazz...I guess? It's all instrumental, and it's pretty. I wasn't really expecting that, I was expecting it to be...harder. More rock n' roll. I don't know why. Either way, you should check them out, they're really good...and I'm not just saying that because I know one of the members, either! I was truly pleasantly surprised.

Pictures from that night...this is one of the opening acts, a band called Water Liars. They're also really good, just different...and SO. LOUD. I know it's a concert and all but holy crapptastic.

Here's Blue Screen Skyline

and Josh and Juzeh afterwards

And here is Josh playing with his new equipment today :)

My little loves!

I was going through, re-reading some of my posts and I realized that although I mention my animals often enough, I rarely ever share pictures of them! (well, on here at least, my facebook and tumblr both get a pretty hefty load of pet pictures.)

And so, I give you...a picture post, featuring Belle (6 years old) and Orion (9 months old)!!!! (and except for the last one of Orion, all of these were taken today, just to give you an idea of how many pictures of them both I actually take on a day-to-day basis...)

Belle (aka Bella Boo, Snow Belle, and Cat)

Orion (aka O, Big Dog, and Happy Puppy)

HERE IN MY CAR...

We've had the TV on the 'Flashback New Wave' channel all week...AND IT IS SPECTACULAR.

I can't believe it's already Friday again. After I realized that I rushed off to the post office to mail the necklaces that I gave away on Facebook last week, lest people think I promise things but then fail to deliver. Now it's in the hands of the post office. If they don't deliver, at least it's not on me.

I made a lot of things this week, and also (tried) to clean and rearrange my craft room. It's like 80% done but I already started in the kitchen so this weekend is going to be interesting trying to finish them both. In reality, though I'll probably do nothing for the rest of today, then start on the bedroom tomorrow morning, and then have three half finished rooms for the rest of the week. Eh. As long as it gets done before the third week of September.

Oh, the things I made, right...I think I posted pictures of a few things, mostly the leather bracelets...I also made this:

And while it may just look like another boring Chan-Luu style bracelet, there's actually a much more in depth story behind it...see back in 2004, when I used to get Lucky magazine (the first time around) I saw a bracelet like that in there. I don't remember the brand, but it was pretty much exactly like the Chan-Luu ones that have recently soared in popularity. Anyway, I knew that I could make one very easily, so I did. But the beads I used weren't all that great and before long the color rubbed off of them and they were clear with just flecks of color left on the insides of a few of them, and that looked crappy so I scrapped it. I started to make another but it's a rather time-consuming process, and it was around that time that I finally made some friends in Arkansas and started going out and so it sat, half-done, in a box of craft stuff for the next 6 years. (Not even kidding.) Then, two summers ago, I found it, and started thinking that I needed to either finish it or make another one...and as you can see, it took me two years to do that. And now everyone will think I did it because of the Chan-Luu craze, but I DIDN'T. I WAS EONS AHEAD OF THIS FAD. Just...not consistently.

Not that it matters, really...

Moving on...

I also started working on party favors for my second annual pumpkin carving party. (We missed last year because we were in the process of moving at the time I normally would have thrown it.) A few years ago (like 4) when I worked at Joann's for all of 3 months (if that) I bought a bunch of packages of Halloween themed Christmas ornaments. (Surprising that they didn't sell out, huh?) I wanted to make jewelry out of them but after gluing earring backs onto a couple of them I lost interest and they too got banished to the Craft Box of Shame. But, like I said, recently I've been in a crafty mood and I pulled them out and started making them into necklace charms. Here's my process (sort of):

This is what they look like originally, with the string:

I pulled that out using tweezers (I just grabbed it tight, then twisted it around and around until it popped out - pulling it would usually resulting in it breaking off at the edge, and leaving part of the string in there.) Once I had an empty hole I would dip one of those tiny rounded top screw things in (E6000) glue (they're actually made for picture frames) and then screw it down into the hole.

And then, after those were dry, I could attach a jump ring and string it onto a necklace chain!

Now I have a box full of cute things to give away!

Tonight we're heading downtown to watch Joshs cousins band play at our local bar/live music venue, and as I mentioned, I'll probably be cleaning a bunch over the weekend, but once I get my craft room 100% organized I'll try to post some pictures! It is much more comfortable to work in now, and I have it set up to be inspiring and easy to get at all my stuff.

Clearance and crafting and leather OH MY!

Oh man. What an awesome weekend. Friday I had to take Orion to the vet because he had his last heartworm pill last month and he needed more by today. (Yay procrastination!) Actually I kind of waited this long on purpose because he's a growing boy and he needed to get weighed so we'd know what size to get him...and of course he needs two separate sizes. Two pills each month, two boxes every six months...because my 9 month old puppy has passed the 100 pound mark! Anyway, I took him by myself while Josh was working, then we went to Pet-co where he got two new toys and a treat for being a good boy. He (I) picked out a giant rubber gummy bear and a triangular frisbee looking thing. He loves them both.

Once Josh finished up his work we (tried) to take his brother and friend to the card shop but found it no longer exists...so we headed to Michael's where I got some clasps that I needed (since I've been making jewelry non-stop for the past week!) and then, while looking for the leather scraps, I got sucked into the clearance bin. (I think they put it across from the leather just because they saw me coming.) I ended up with all this:

Pretty sure this was the best deal. Not sure what I'm going to use it for, yet, but I couldn't pass it up!

After we came home the guys spent most of the evening outside playing ping-pong on the new table and I managed to pass out early.

Saturday, after Aaron and his friend left, Josh and I went to the floral convention! It was really fun, and I got a lot of awesome pictures but I'm not going to post any until I'm done editing them (which is not something I usually do) and have them uploaded to an album where the florists who invited us can see them first.

Yesterday I spent most of the day lounging around the house, playing ping-pong, and making jewelry for Josh and me...I used the black leather that I got in the scrap bag and made four different bracelets...here are two of them:

And then today I made these for Josh and his friend Riquo:

And now, my desk is a giant mess, with glue and bottle caps and pieces of leather everywhere, but it feels like fall and I couldn't be happier. :)

P.S. Joining:

Fun with zippers

A few months ago (more than a few? I lose track of time occasionally) my mother-in-law gave me a Giant Bag o' Zippers. And by a Giant Bag I mean a Giant Bag. I have zippers out the wazoo. (I guess that's how one would spell 'wazoo' - spell check doesn't seem to have a problem with it.) Anyway, I've been pinning zipper crafts for a while now, and the other night I finally sat down on the floor, emptied the GBoZ and started picking through them. I found that I had four 7 in. zippers, which seemed like the perfect size for bracelets, so I started brainstorming ideas on how to get from point A to point B.

I have an eyelet kit, which seemed like it would simplify things, but I soon figured out that the hole punching side wasn't sharp enough to punch through the heavy duty zipper fabric. Then I found a way to make the hole using one of the attachments, but it only worked making the largest size hole, and that wasn't working either because then there wasn't enough fabric left for the eyelet to grab onto. Luckily I figured all this out on one zipper so it wasn't too much of a waste. I finally managed to devise a system that worked (I honestly don't even remember exactly what I did. It was a combination of the eyelet hole punch, and an exacto knife.) I made two bracelets, then removed myself from the situation before I went insane.

I was fairly satisfied with the two bracelets I made (one of which I gave away on facebook) but the thought of that failure still bothered me. Mainly because the zipper that I had started out with was a gorgeous light turquoise, absolutely beautiful, and I really didn't want it to have been wasted. Then, yesterday morning while browsing pinterest, I saw this a photo series of a zipper folded into a hear and made into a necklace. (No source, it was just a series of pictures made into one long photo.) It looked really simple, so I took the basic idea and kind of fiddled with it a bit, and came up with my own take on it...and now I'm giving that away too! (I'm not big on necklaces. I have two that I wear interchangeably, when I remember...I just feel like they draw too much attention to my chest, which doesn't need any help, really.)

So here are the pictures...they were both pretty simple to make, using supplies I had laying around the house, especially the heart necklace...you could even recycle a broken zipper into one of these! And the yellow bracelet is the full zipper, so it can be worn either open or closed. :)

An abnormally exciting Wednesday...

I am in desperate need of a couch. I've actually taken to laying on our exercise mat and using a couple of slant (? I don't know what they're called) pillows (like for old people or people in hospital beds to sit up with...at least I think that's what their purpose is, I really don't know) when my butt gets tired of being in a chair and I feel the need to stretch out. Wait...that wasn't my point.

Wow, I didn't start this anywhere near the point. I mean, I do need a couch, but I was really trying to explain why I'm bleaching two really nice, kind of expensive looking extra-large throw pillows I picked up at Restore today. I probably should have taken a picture. Oops. Anyway, I bought them, and then tossed them in the wash with a lot of bleach. Why? Because I have a very strong aversion to buying used when it comes to things that I might lay my head on or sleep on at any point in time.

Which is why I don't have a couch.

Well, actually, no that's not the whole reason. It's part of it, sure, but for the most part the real reason we don't have a couch, or a nice bed, or a dining room table is because I don't want to buy any of that stuff until I own a house. I wouldn't mind too much if we got a cheaper dining room table in the meantime, but I just don't want to buy things that fit in the space we're renting, and then have to move it into a new house and hope that it works in that space too. Do you know what I mean? For example, I really want a sectional couch, the kind made to go in a corner, but at our current house the extended piece would need to be on the left...and what if we buy a house in a year, and we would need a couch with the extended piece on the right? Maybe I'm just getting ahead of myself here, but I just don't see any reason to buy things twice, and since I refuse to buy a used couch (bedbugs! dog hair! dog PEE! Other bodily fluids I won't even mention!!) I'm destined to sit in a chair who has a 'leg' made up of a stack of boards. Because it's the most comfortable of all my mismatched, thrifted chairs. (Chairs are ok to thrift. I don't sleep in them, have my face near them, or bring them inside without a thorough vacuuming/Resolving.)

Moving on. The whole reason I even wanted to go to Restore today is because Erin announced the first item for the Random Acts of Craftiness challenge, and I wanted to scope out the board game selection there to start getting an idea of what I'm going to do. I didn't buy anything, it's too soon, and besides, the dingy toy corner of Restore didn't exactly cause the inspiration fairy to strike. But I did pick up a couple of sweaters, a pretty black and gold long sleeve shirt, and a seer-sucker button down. Because I can never resist seersucker. Josh got a ping-pong table. Well, I should say Josh bought a ping-pong table...we won't get it until tomorrow, though, when his brother comes up here with a truck to pick it up. I'm really not a ping-pong person, but if it means we can do something together than I'll give it a shot.

After that we went to the bar for a beer (our usual post Restore activity) and ended up sitting next to these two guys who are in town for a florist convention...and even though it's not open to the public they're going to get us in! Since I had my camera they asked it I would come take pictures, and of course I said yes! So excited. :)

(Oh, also, if you're my friend on facebook, you should go check my page, I'm giving away a zipper bracelet that I made!)

Geez, I was kind of all over the place with this, wasn't I? Oh well. THIS IS HOW MY BRAIN WORKS, PEOPLE. ACCEPT IT.

Shoe re-do!

Remember those Converse shoes I showed you the other day? I probably should have taken a better 'before' picture than that one, but oh well, it'll have to do. I mean, they are Converse, who hasn't owned at least one pair in their lifetime? (Fair warning here - if you haven't, go buy a pair, lest people think you un-American.) Just kidding. Sort of. ;)

Anyway, as I mentioned before, I've had this pair for 7 years. SEVEN YEARS, y'all. That's a long time for a pair of shoes, and they've held up well, as Cons are apt to do, and so I thought it was high time they got a make-over! ...okay, actually the truth is I just got tired of the green. I don't wear much green, and the past two years I've only worn them on Halloween, when I also wore a $2 glow-in-the-dark skull shirt that I got at Wal-mart three years ago on the day after Halloween clearance sale. (Don't you judge me.) And since they're fairly comfortable, I wanted to make them more versatile. And I did.

Here's the breakdown: (Sorry, I didn't take pictures while I did it.)
First of all, I washed the shoes, and took out the laces.
I mixed up the remainder of the glow-in-the-dark fabric paints that I had bought for the galaxy shirts, (they're very light and dry almost clear on black) along with three kinds of glitter. (two acrylics, a folk art clear base with iridescent glitter, a Martha Stewart clear base with blue glitter, and some a ton of regular dry glitter.)
Then I painted that sludge ALL over the shoes. Just slather it on, tongue too, and once you're done with both, put another layer on for good measure. (My second layer was kind of thin because I put too much dry glitter and then ran out of glow-in-the-dark-paint.)
I let that dry overnight, and then took black fabric paint and painted over the green leather chevron thingie and star, and the green line around the bottom of the shoes. Then I let that dry overnight.

Here's the final product:

Ahhh I love them! I wore them tonight, and they're so much more fun now. I can't wait to wear them somewhere dark so I can see how well the glow-in-the-dark feature works! Also, if you're wondering, the paint didn't make them too stiff or anything, they're just as comfortable as they were before, and I didn't really notice any glitter loss.

Things insomnia has taught me...

- I can name pretty much every murderer, ever, thanks to ID.

- Letting the dog out to potty is an adventure that involves having a knife hidden behind the door, and a plan of attack based on ninja skills I do not possess. (I have ID to thank for this one, too.)

- EVERYTHING is louder after midnight. Everything.

- After 2 a.m. the choices of TV border on intolerable, and you're forced to choose between bad 70s movies, infomercials, or murder.

- There comes a point in the night when all the roly-polys, spiders, and crickets that have managed to slip through the cracks get really bold and start just walking across the floor like they own the house. Then Belle and I collect them all and Willow gets a midnight feast.

- Between 3 and 5 a.m. facebook gets really quiet, and twitter gets really weird.

- You can go to wal-mart and pretty much have the entire store to yourself, save for the workers that are stocking and cleaning. They're always nice, though, since they don't have to deal with the crazies that come in there during the day.

- When Orion gets into a deep sleep, he rolls upside down, his tongue pokes out, and he whimpers.

- When Belle gets into a deep sleep, she grunts and grumbles.

- 3 a.m. showers are the best, especially when followed up with a cup of tea.

- It is far easier to lose track of time when it's dark outside.

- Having an anxiety attack when it feels like you're the only person on the face of the earth is THE WORST FEELING EVER. Ever.

- The only thing that comes close is falling and hurting yourself. For some reason it just evokes an overwhelming sadness, to sit there and try to cry inaudibly.

- Great ideas should always be written down. Always, always, ALWAYS. Because you won't remember it tomorrow, no matter how much you think will.

Being productive

Woke up feeling much happier today, and ready to tackle a few things! First off, here are the galaxy shirts I made. Mine is the tank, Joshs is the tee, and they're just waiting to hit their 72 hour mark so I can wash them and we can wear them!

These I made for us today...we bought a 4 pack of Hanes shirts for me to make Josh the galaxy shirt, and this is how I used up two more of them...

cut them in half...

sewed them back together...

and we have matching shirts! Well, sorta. The one on the right is mine, and I'm going to make some adjustments to it, I think (cut off the collar, and stitch up the sides a little because it's very long on me).

This is what I'm working on next...updating these converse that I've had for...oh, 7 years now. I think it's time for them to glow...and sparkle. :)

Down

For some reason I've been down the past few days, sleeping a lot and feeling sad and lonely the few hours that I am awake. I have no desire whatsoever to leave the house, and I've lost track of what day it is. I feel like I'm watching life through a fog, like I'm just a bystander watching my own life pass me by...

I didn't intend for this post to be all depressing, I was going to talk about how I made galaxy shirts for me and Josh, and how I'm also going to make us half & half shirts (hard to explain, I'll just post a picture when I'm done) and I really wanted to post pictures of the galaxy shirts but I'm posting from my laptop and I don't have any pictures on here. Tomorrow, maybe, if I feel up to finishing the other project and posting them altogether.

And no, I'm still not done with the nightstands because once the smoke finally cleared from the fire up on the mountain, it stormed a few days in a row...so hopefully I'll get to that by this weekend.