Yesterday’s Wordless Wednesday was my 100th blog post (for this blog anyway). But since it was, well… wordless I didn’t mention it. For post 101 I’ll share a few things I have learned about blogging since my first post.

1. Posting anything controversial will get a eleventy billion hits and comments… and most of them aren’t nice. But it will also get your blog the #1 spot on google for those search terms.

2. Creating a tutorial that seems to be missing from the intertubes also earns eleventy billion hits and a #1 spot. Even if the pictures do suck.

3. Posting any pictures of your kids will results in pervy search terms leading to your blog.

4. Putting google ads on your blog will make you a jillionaire… in about 40 million years.

5. Eye candy + sarcasm = a winning combo.

6. Almost any topic you can think of can lead to side stories about your childhood.

7. Ranting blog posts are therapeutic, but you better know your audience… and hope your boss doesn’t read your blog.

8. Ironically, writing about failure to write has resulted in some really long posts.

9. Re-reading old posts can make you cringe, but it might also make you smile.

 

Today I have for you another drafted post come to the light. Excuse the crummy photo. Also excuse the rambling that is about to commence.

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Back in my experimental art days (you know ages ago in 2007?) I drew this sort-of self portrait based on some doodling in my sketchbook. I started the whole thing by enlarging one of those silhouette profile thingys that Chris and I had done on our honeymoon. Then I started doodling in pencil. The whole thing is really just several evenings of doodling. When I’d filled the entire area, I spent another week of evenings inking. That was BORING. Boring. Did I mention it was boring? And it made my hand hurt. I think I forgot to mention that this thing is something like 16″x20″. It is not small.

For the most part I really like how it came out. There are, however, a few areas I’m not crazy about… the eye, for example, just seems off to me. Or perhaps it’s really too cliché. Gears turning in my head, light bulbs popping in the forehead and all that. But you can tell how much I like organic lines and shapes. Especially fractalish circles. Probably my inner math geek showing through. So in that respect I think it’s a decent representation of myself from the inside out. For a perspective from the outside in, you can refer back to my headless self portrait.

I don’t think it’s finished. I’ve gone back and forth on adding color, but can never figure out how… Watercolor? Marker? Coloring in specific areas? Or a general wash over the whole thing? Maybe something entirely separate from color? Maybe more stuff on the “outside”? It’s just so black and white. Not like me at all.

Anyone have any suggestions, critiques, jokes, comments, accolades, rebukes or side stories?

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This is how we spent the evening last night. We made a jack sandwich! (And I cut my finger) After we made a huge mess on the kitchen floor, we roasted the 10 lbs of seeds that Alexis meticulously picked out of the pumpkin guts. Yum!

I love Halloween, and not just because it’s my birthday. All Hallows Eve marks the beginning of “family season” to me. It’s tradition around here for Chris to make his non-award winning chili* right after the first “cold” snap. Then we invite everyone and their dogs, babies, kids, sisters, and grandmothers over to eat it. No matter how much he makes, it’s never enough.

I love the feeling that the holidays are coming. Not that I particularly like consumerized holidays, but there is something about ending one year and starting the next that is very satisfying. The time between Halloween and New Year’s Eve goes by so quickly these days. Turn around and it’s gone.

I love the weather this time of year. The leaves don’t change colors in Texas, they just sort of turn brown and fall off one day. It doesn’t really get cold, but I love the crispness of the air. It just smells different.

I love the decorations in grocery stores. Though, admittedly, they aren’t as good as when I was a kid, when the grocery stores would cover the Halloween aisle in black plastic and light it with black lights. It was like a mini haunted house. My brothers and I would run from one end to the other countless times while our parents tried to pretend we weren’t their kids. And by parents I mean my mom; My dad is a Halloween nut.

I look forward to lower energy bills, long sleeved tee shirts, warm soups and cold nights in front of a fire. I like sitting in my chair in the loft with a big blanket or quilt in progress on my lap while the new episodes of my favorite shows are playing (summertime TV sucks!).

What I don’t love, is getting another year older. But, I guess all the other stuff makes up for it. And presents don’t hurt either.

*And we mean that in the most Rudy’s-is-the-worst-bar-b-que-in-Texas kind of way.

My cow-orker* and friend always says “Twice nothing is still nothing.” And that’s what I’ve got for you still. No new FOs.

So in lieu of pretty finished projects, I give you the tulips my mother gave me as a “hostess” gift on memorial day. Aren’t they pretty? Tulips are my favorite flower. I’ve loved them since college, when there used to be great big beds packed with tulips in the spring. They’re just fresh and simple and perfect.

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The baby quilt is ALMOST done. 4.5 more 4 inch squares and I’m done with the quilting! I can’t tell you how happy that makes me. I really regret the quilting pattern I picked as it was EXTREMELY boring to implement. I do actually LIKE doing quilt binding. (I may be the only one in the world who does.) There is just something about stitching the binding to the front and watching the quilt edges becoming encapsulated by fabric; seeing it come to completion one stitch at a time. It’s a bit like watching a flower unfold.

Or maybe it’s just the light at the end of the tunnel.

In other news, I actually started writing about a particular episode of my life. I’ve only got the middle of the story so far, with no idea how I’m going to write the ending, and only an inkling of how to start the whole mess. All in all, I like what I have so far, even though I know it’ll have to have a few tweaks on names, etc. I’m also debating whether it should be written in first person, or third. Of course, I haven’t touched it in a week. I have got to get past this block. I don’t understand how I can have so many ideas, but procrastinate and procrastinate and procrastinate.

I’m also putting off working on the Diamond Fantasy Shawl. I’ve only got one pattern repeat left, but I keep coming up short on stitches, and it’s irritating me. It doesn’t matter that when the whole thing is stretched out, that there is no visible mistake, coming up short is just frustrating. So every time I pick the dumb thing up, I only get two rows done, because at the end of the next right side row, I want to throw it across the room and scream. Frogging is not an option. I tried doing that way back at the begining, and I couldn’t find the stitches and ended up ripping it all back and starting over.

I’ve got at least 3 more knitting projects on my plate. I ordered the yarn and pattern for the Rowan butterfly dress from KnitPicks and because I’m boring (and because it’s my favorite color lately) I got the same turquoise yarn their sample is made from. Then there is the silver merino/lace shawl/stole thing that I haven’t picked a pattern for yet. And finally, that stuffed toy that Susan said I should do. I found the perfect pattern, but that’s a see-crud (did anyone else read Trixie Belden? Her brother always said “see-crud”).

So, yeah, all that stuff, and nothing to share. Whatever!

*Yes, I meant to put the hyphen there…

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