We Interrupt this Mania for a Moment of Beauty

I cleaned my house all day today, and sat to take a break and watch my LOTR DVD. As I did so, I noticed the sunlight lighting my curtain. I have this sheer curtain to separate my bedroom from the living room without shutting the door; it catches the setting sun in a special way. I hung it for this reason. See for yourself! These are pictures I took from my vantage point on the couch. I love my little house.

Magnetic Poetry Time

Long ago I told you about the wall I painted with metallic paint for the purpose of posting magnetic poetry. I even composed some soulful, emo pieces and asked you to compose works to post. Today I noticed that the same poems that some of you wrote back then are still hanging out on my board. It's time to update! Would you like to help me? Take a look at the image above, and compose a masterpiece that I can post. This way, it will be as if you live in my home! Without the added benefit of walking by and smacking my booty. Have fun. Expose your emotional innards for us all to rummage through and discover the gems of your soul. Or else, you know, just write something dirty.

House of Toys

So what do you play with when you don't have a lot of toys in your house? Yesterday my niece and nephew came over, and while I have a few children's toys, they are pretty lame. We soon improvised!

Tupperware and spice jars

Spice rack

Acorns from the back yard

They are designed for lining up!

Buttons

Voodoo toothpick holder

Corks

Spinning Girl Deep Cuts: Time for a Good Old-Fashioned Slumber Party

Originally posted: 7/17/05

It is just too hot & sticky to do anything today, so my friend Leigh Yung Li (henceforth LYL) is coming over for a visit & sleepover. We are both in our 30's, and it's been a while since we had a girls' sleepover, so I made an agenda. Here it is:

The Super Semi-Annual Sleepover
Sunday, July 17, 2005
1 Prickly Heat Place, Hotnhazy, Connecticut

AGENDA

4:00-5:00 PM

Arrival and check-in; unpacking
Familiarization with grounds
Establishment of routines and expectations

5:00-6:45 PM

Gossip about people we hate
Tea (SG) / Coffee (LYL)/ cigarette (LYL); dinner
Examining and analyzing neuroses
Gossip about people we like
Talk about my messy house: how messy is too messy?
Talk about the hot guy

6:45 PM

Depart for AA meeting or Starbucks

7:00-8:00 PM

AA meeting or 2 double shot venti extra whip mocha lattes

8:15 PM

Arrive back at the manse

8:30-9:00 PM

Tea / coffee / cigarette
Discuss & choose next activity from list below

9:00-11:00 PM

Engage in activity/activities from list below

11:00-11:30 PM

Begin thinking about bed
Braid hair / pillow fight / massage / quasi-lesbian hinting /

put in retainers

11:45 PM

Bedtime (separate rooms); quiet reading time

12:00 AM

Lights Out

Monday’s schedule: Flexible, depending upon wake-up time, but should include coffee, breakfast, and closure on unfinished items from Sunday’s agenda.

Possible Activities
Tarot Reading
DVD: the Incredibles
Watch midget porn (nod to badgod)
Play Bullet to the Head ©
Top Ten Game ©
Gossip about people we don’t know very well
Watch TV; channel surfing
Watch TV; fixed station
The Cube: a game of enlightenment
Look at old yearbooks

Make Magnetic Poetry ©
Crank calls
Help me organize my house
Look at Slang Flashcards ©
Scattergories ©
Plaster of Paris cast of hands / feet

A Life Begins

Somehow

at this instant

nothing seems

quite as momentous

as this wee eggplant

pressing its way into the world

from the first of the dying blossoms

here in my patio garden.

At my house, it is like this:

I know, power lines do not enhance.



I thought you might like to see. Yes?

I did more stuff.

Today I celebrated the last day of my spring vacation by painting my Yoga Room.

Here is the original color & clutter:

And now ... allow yourself to be drawn into the new greeny sereney:


Does it evoke impressions of the hush of bamboo and deep, living forest? It's supposed to. Shut up.

When I dim the lights, the quiet invites meditation and contemplation.

Om.

I did stuff.

I painted my bedroom.

I also stained my shed, which I did in the fall on the 2 sides facing the house; now that I have new neighbors and more stain, I did the side facing their house.

I went to the beach. it looked ... not like this:

This is Newport Bermuda. Where I was not. My beach was very beige, with assorted families and angry Hispanic people (in that their primary conversation consisted of yelling, "that's fucked up!" at each other). I done forgot my camera.

Next I played "you show me yours and I'll show you mine" with my new nighbors. They oohed and ahhed over mine. Theirs needs a lot of work, especially inside. Mine just needs a little bit of trimming on the outside.

I made pretty polka dots in the dining room, courtesy of Pier 1's gigantic clearance sale. I love slash hate Pier 1. Here are the dots:

I had a little bamboo planting project, in hopes of getting my yoga room all set up sometime soon. Here are some of the bamboos:

Pretty!!!

Then I rested and made the following funny for ICHC, out of my sister's cat Sussu:



I must credit Tits with introducing me to this most wonderful site. Which reminds me, before I can relax I need to go get muh bacon on.

This was my day. An ordinary, homey kind of day.

What I did not do: call my daughter a thoughtless pig. At least there's that!

Sundays are for Dad & Daughter Projects

We installed my new chandelier today:

I think it is pretty.

I am freaking out, but I can still be fabu while doing so.

So we are still in the throes of the midyear madness here in Spinnerland. It will soon be over, for better or worse! I can hardly move, having force-fed myself an entire jar of relish and a tube of anchovy paste. But I will soldier on!

I thought you might like to see how I do my hair:

I hope you are at least as excited about this as I am! It's all about the hot rollers, girls. Here is the hair routine as I have come to live it:

1. Wash at night
2. Saturate with leave-in conditioner (Aveda Elixir and only that, ever)
3. Wrap in super-absorbent hair chamois
4. Sleep on it
5. In the morning, comb and style with hot rollers.

I also wanted to share with you that even though I am psychotic, I am still trying to be fun! Here are my kids taking their midterm:

We have these boxes to make a perceived "wall" between neighboring students. They are old, beat-up keyboard boxes, some of which said things like "Maddie is a slut" and "I am so BORED" and had holes punched in them, so I covered them all with wrapping paper to make them pretty. I do believe that this also adds to the already fun testing atmosphere, giving it an air of frivolity. What is missing from the photo, besides the kids' faces, is the two boxes covered with cabbage-patch kids wrapping paper. It is so heinous that it must be seen; I promise to take a picture. The kids always fight over those.

And why oh why didn't I think of you all when I found the naked Barbie on the hallway floor during end-of-term "locker cleanout" today? She had the worst haircut, and some sort of semi-destroyed "outfit" made of cotton balls. I thought of you people too late, after I had already deposited her in the nearest receptacle, which was promptly whisked away.

Grading is not fun. What is fun is arranging citrus fruit in bowls, thusly:

And decorating my new home with rugs:

Sigh. If I could but curl up and sleep on that cozy little rug, but no. 3 more days of this madness.

Pile On

Could anything be more fabu than the Spinning Bed in this photo? I wish I could duplicate this wall color in real life -- I was experimenting with colors that would look good behind my bed, and I found this color in a piece of art. How can I achieve this with paint?

Also -- my Amaryllis bloomed on New Year's Day. Lovely!

These are the things that matter, at the moment.

I don't like tinsel

... so I used white ribbon all over my tree, and now it looks like a giant present. Hung my Sleep Goblin Ornament on the tree, as well. Now I'm finally in the Christmas spirit!

I'm so grown up now.

I have been so very very busy trying to make my house look like a grown-up's house, instead of a patched-together dorm room. I am getting there, so I thought I would show you all my progress, just so you'd know I haven't been resting on my ass.

... a garage, with tools and plywood

and a real-life extension ladder!

... this is my yoga room; really the third bedroom, but since I do more yoga than I have sleepovers, there is no guest bed. That's what the aerobed is for! Also, here I tinkle the keys. This rug, which I love, came from Pottery Barn along with a rug pad that was soaking wet and growing mushrooms! It's true. Big ups to P.B. customer service, who agreed that the mushroom-free variety is much more desirable!

This is a cozy little sitting area in the den, with these really old chairs, and chess, and etch-a-sketch. Here I sit and etch and sample the Halloween candy.

... for quality, you know.

I feel so adult when my

silverware is neatly aligned.

whoops! You weren't supposed to see that.

Let's just shut this door, shall we?

Here is my office, which I have painted light sage.


Here is where I sit and talk to all you freaks.

(I'm allowed to say that, being a freak myself)


My fireplace, painted dark red (it was white before)

No more meals on the floor.
Bummer.



My grandmother's piano lives with me now.

The living room too has been painted.

My house is finally ready for guests.

(hint hint)