it's a land of ice and snow

[I wrote this days ago but forgot to post it..]

today it is colder in Ann Arbor than it is at the south pole. Next week it will be even colder here. It's not really a fair comparison because it's summer at the south pole. But I like to say "even the south pole is warmer than this place!"



Today I video taped college students watching and discussing one of our animations. It's my very first video for my very own dissertation. It was fun and interesting and I'm excited.

Click here for full screen version

batty

the bat is back in the bedroom, so our bed is back in the living room.

sigh.

My throat hurts.

see?

I've been up for two hours and I think it's time to get back in bed.

two years later...

My Scholarly Paper has been sent to My Committee!

I know that might not sound like a huge deal, but this means that it has been approved by advisor.

approved.

the rest is technicalities.

it's about freakin' time!

photo dump

Today, I had a doctor appointment at 8a with the neurologist and then nothing else on my schedule. I planned on being in slacker mode all day. After my appointment, I was preparing to commence slacking when I got an email asking me to attend a meeting this afternoon. This shattered my mood and sent me under the covers of my bed to ignore the world. When I woke up there was an email saying the meeting had been canceled. Sweet. I really appreciate the universe for understanding that I could not handle a last minute meeting today.

It's possible that I should work on dealing with last minutes changes to my schedule.

Anywho, the neurologist was fine. She gave me a new prescription that's supposed to keep away headaches. I've graduated from drugs also used to treat depression to drugs also used to treat seizures. I would like to graduate to drugs that actually work.

Here's photos of the cats. I really love the shot of all their feet entwined. Even if they spend hours chasing [maus] and hissing [roja] they still fall asleep together and end up a mass of fur and toes.





This is the ceiling of our bedroom. The post-its mark where we heard the bat.



This is our bed in the living room because I don't want the bat to suck my face off while I sleep.



This is last week. Two days down due to headaches.



Sunday should also say "finish s.p." with a great big CHECK!

perhaps he'll die

This is maus swallowing a fly.

a joke in progress...

in ten years...
me: hey, remember those obnoxious rainbow spinners on the macs?
you: heh, yeah, those were the worst. they act all cheery and friendly, but really they make your head roar.
me: seriously. I think I could have written a dissertation in the amount of time that I spent watching those things.
you: I can't believe we had to deal with that, it's almost as ridiculous as world hunger!
me: Ha! World hunger! I'm so glad those days are gone!


It's still pretty rough. Feel free to edit or give suggestions.
I think it might be trying to be a joke about too many things at once.
It grew out of the anger that I feel toward my computer. Then somehow morphed into world hunger.

what? you're not ready for winter? well, too bad for you.

Winter has arrived and kicked fall out on its ass.




Is this a better photo? [thanks, you!] I may still need to perfect my lighting technique.


I made this messy note two nights ago when I was searching for good luck charms on etsy.
I think any legibility issues steam from my penmanship (and lighting), not the camera.

I think Garry Trudeau reads my blog

I'm so ahead of the times, I've been listening to pandora for YEARS

this is my brain on paper

I've decided to start posting some of my lists. My world is wallpapered with lists on post-its. I think I might explode if I had to stop making lists. If I can take whatever is bouncing around in my brain and put it on paper then I feel less crazy. I'm able to relax a bit because I don't have to hold it anymore, this friendly post-it will hold it for me.

I think I may have inherited this from Dad. He always has a list in his shirt pocket.

I have "to do" lists, "to bring" lists, lists of songs I like, lists of food in the fridge, lists of things to read, lists of interesting conversations to analyze for work....

A billion years ago, when I broke up with Randy (y'all remember Randy, right?) I made a list of all the things that reminded me of him. It was the best thing I could have done for myself. I put them on paper so I didn't have to hold on to them anymore. I did it because I just had a need to, I didn't realize how cleansing it was going to be.

My mantra has become "PUT IT ON THE LIST!" If we're out of toilet paper, "PUT IT ON THE LIST!", if I need to do laundry, "PUT IT ON THE LIST!", if I'm worried about getting work done on my paper, "PUT IT ON THE LIST!" If I can put it on a list, then I'll be able to take care of it. I think it gives me some space and lessens the urgency of things. I don't have to do it right now, because I can put it on a list, and then deal with it when the time is right.

This first list is just a list of things that I wanted to remember to bring to Thanksgiving.


I clearly need to find a better way to photograph post-its. The camera doesn't know how to focus on handwriting.

The first three things on the list are presents. The rest is food. I made all of it except the chapstick, water, and pumpkin bread, which was a gift from Amy.

thank god thanksgiving is over--i can start bitching again

Don't live on the top story of an old house.

There are mice in our walls and our heater doesn't work. We moved our bed to the living room so we can't hear the vermin trying to claw their way into our bedroom. Also, I'm thinking about baking cupcakes. Not because we need more dessert--the pumpkin pie and pink fluff is more than enough, but the oven might take the chill off.

The biggest problem, from a practical perspective, is that maus will not stay off my keyboard--it's apparently the warmest spot in the house.

Happy Thanksgiving!

we went to our friends' house for thanksgiving







we are thankful for the good friends (and random guy from Spain) we have found

pandora and FreeRice

So, I just wanted to tell y'all about two websites that you probably already know about. But they kick ass, so I'm going to tell you again.

First is www.pandora.com
It's an internet radio site where you get to customize your stations and there no commercials between songs. This first thing I do when I turn on my computer is load up pandora (well, after I check my email, of course). We could be pandora buddies. We could share radio stations. The only draw back to that is that I like some pretty crappy music.

The other website is freerice.com
So, I don't really enjoy this website. It makes me angry about how few words I know. See, it's like a vocabulary quiz, and for every word you match to its synonym they donate 10 grains of rice to United Nation World Food Program. So I make sure I go there once a day.

because the alternative would be getting work done...

Ok, one more post, but this really better be the last for today.

So I have this cool silk screened fabric, but I don't know what to do with it.



Right now it's hanging on the bedroom wall, but I think it deserves more. Also, there are actually two of them (right now it's folded in half).

The fabric is linen, and the poppies are kind of scratchy, so I don't think it's suited for a blanket or pillow or clothing.



What would you do with it?

because it's fall

And here's some fall color. It makes me gloomy. Snow is in the forecast for next week. For brief moments, I'm a bit excited about the first snow. But then I just get gloomy again.



I do, however, like my living room/office. It may be a little cluttered, but I'm ok with that.



and now, no more posting. Because three posts is enough for one day.

t-shirt blanket

Here's the front (or back):



and here's the back (or front):



and here are the cats (and fish):

leave your boy so far from home

Here's me on Halloween:



I'm like Dorothy before she went to Oz.
Somebody took my kodachrome away. (Actually, I heard it was Alpha who took it)

I sorta stole the idea from 3-hole-punch Jim

I'm very proud of myself.

I found my low-key, oh-so-clever, halloween costume: Grey Scale Wendy.

I make sure that everything I wear is a shade of grey. I've got silver jewelry, black hair clips, grey tights, black shoes...

This year I don't have a wig, but next year I plan on adding a grey or white wig.

If you don't like Grey Scale You, you could do Sepia You. Then you could wear gold jewelry.

Maybe I'll find someone to take my picture, then you could see just how clever I am.

crafty

I made a quilt yesterday. Well, it's not actually quilted, so maybe it's just a blanket.

I cleaned out my drawers and I found over 20 t-shirts that I never wear but can't part with. So I turned them into a blanket.

I started by cutting two 14"x14" squares out of the middle of each shirt. Then I sewed the squares in to strips of 5 squares. Then I sewed the strips together into two panels of 20 squares each. Finally I sewed the panels together, back to back.
So I have a nice sized, two sided, throw blanket.

[I'd show you pictures, except my camera is out of batteries.]

If I was to do it again I would put all the squares with designs on one side and all the plain squares on the other, so that one side was all soft.
I would also try to put the shirts in chronological order.

I still might do some sort of quilting to connect the two panels.