In my mind I'm drowning butterflies/broken dreams and alibis/that's fine.

Whoa, I've let some days go by but it's not because I had nothing to be grateful/thankful/happy about. Au contraire; and apparently I was so happy I forgot about blogging until now. Believe it or don't, but it's the truth.

Friday was a lovely day all around. Fantastic conversations, Steve had the day off, the weather was bright and sunny and, to top it off, a new (and A+) episode of Battlestar Galactica. I suppose I should give some trenchant summary here, but I don't feels it right at this moment (thank you, Nessa). Soon, I promise.

Saturday greeted us with gorgeously warm and sunny weather. I could smell spring in the air though I know it's silly to hope the cold weather is gone for the season. I woke up hoping for some thrift store mojo and since Steve didn't work till late, he accompanied me to Vincent DePaul's and Goodwill where I did find two versions of what I was looking for - small glass tumblers for wine drinking. Unfortunately that's where my mojo ended as I found nothing else. A quick trip to the vet with Lydia and I was home to get ready for Dana and Roy coming over to watch the last two BSG episodes, which basically meant making tiramisu, cleaning up a bit and spending a good deal of time chatting with my Scottish Correspondent. The evening was lots of fun, with pizza and a rather large amount of pinot noir being consumed. And before we knew it, it was 1am and R&D headed home and Steve and I took Foxy Brown out for a walk. I didn't wear a coat. It was nearly 1:30a in February and I went out without a coat. Heaven.

I ended up not going to sleep until 3am so when I awoke before 8am I was a little unhappy, but I got up anyway because I knew sleep was over for me. A couple hours later I got a text from Allison alerting me to a nearby estate sale and we headed out soon after. Even though it was sunny today, I was disappointed to find that the temperature had dropped quite a bit since the wee hours. I knew it was asking too much (though word is we can expect 6oF tomorrow...). The estate sale was in a corner storefront and when we stepped inside were immediately assaulted by a strong mildew smell. I breezed through the bric a brac, finding the prices too high, but then I poked around some random piles of clothing and linens upstairs until I found a pretty gorgeous vintage cotton bedspread.

When I put it down on the floor, Foxy Brown inexplicably went crazy, circling and circling, digging, and finally, as you can see, rolling around hysterically with a crazed look in her eyes. By the way, the embroidery on bedspread is done in a thick, punch-embroidery style. I think it's very Anthropologie.

As I attempted to pick up the spread, Foxy planted herself squarely and for the first time ever, posed for a picture for me, holding perfectly still.


I found a couple more items and then we escaped from the mold and mildew - a couple books (vintage BSG novelization!) and a pair of copper enamel earrings that I intend to make into pendants.




An afternoon spent chatting and finishing up preparations for tomorrow's edition of Emotional Rescue, led to a viewing of the previous night's Saturday Night Live, which was not a good episode save a very few bits and a fabulous performance by TV on the Radio. And if you missed it, here's the second song they did, the slightly chaotic, but mesmerizing "Dancing Choose."



Tomorrow afternoon I have a job interview. Yikes.

It's an asserveration, all right

Well, I got a call today from a potential, sort of, employer. While not a response to any job I actually applied for, it was a response to my resume being posted on Monster.com. The sort of part is that it's a staffing company. I know I tend to be fooled by overly positive seeming interviews, but this woman seemed ready to send me on a job. I suppose I will know more by Monday, after my interview with her.

So, that was a good thing. And Skype, while not as good as Google voice chat, was my friend today.

I fell in to a burning ring of fire/I went down down down and the flames went higher

Oh yes, it's been a couple of daya. There was nothing good about Monday (well, that's not entirely true, but I'll get to that) and I was in no mood to try to wrench a happy thought out of my mope. Because I was impetuous and mentioned here, and to friends, that I submitted some pieces for an art show, it was perhaps more painful when I found out I didn't get in. So, my embarrassment is very public and that just made it feel a little worse. Pile on top of this the fact that the organizers didn't actually bother to inform me of receipt of my submission nor my exclusion from the show (they just posted the accepted artists on the website. contrary to their call for art in which they specified they would contact prospective participants by a certain date). And on Monday morning, Steve asked me to redouble my job search efforts before we go broke.

So, it was quite a day. Unemployed and a failed artist. *sigh* I spent a lot of time crying. I think I got dehydrated. I went through about 20 tissues. It was a hoot.

The bright spot was that I have friends and loved ones (wait, aren't those the same thing?) who don't judge me based on my failures or successes but who continue to support and encourage me no matter what (well, I won't actually test that 'no matter what' part, or at least I don't intend to). Yesterday was much better. More friends, more support and the kind of chat with the Scottish Correspondent that can steer the tenor of the day in a more blissful direction.

In the meantime, I've applied for a dozen or so, maybe more, jobs ranging from something to do with pets in Illinois to temp agencies to a 'jack of all trades' posting that I think is for some sort of religious publication (only found this out after the fact) to regular secretarial gigs. If I throw enough resumes out there, will something stick?

Estate Sale/It's a Good Day

I suppose I should be slightly ashamed that today was the first day I seriously left the house since Monday morning. Rather, I consider myself lucky. Normally, I would have gone somewhere during the week, but I did have the excuse of a car covered in snow and surrounded by sadly non-melting snow. Even today I had a touch of trouble getting Schug (yes, my car is named Schug) out of my parking space. Here's a photo of Schug from earlier this week.


And you can see that the sun basically never get to our side of street. So that today, even after two days of basically 50 degree weather, we are still covered in snow while across the street all is nearly melted and gone.


At any rate, I was happy to be out and about today, first to an estate sale in Brentwood that looked promising. It was a teeny, crowded house (um, how about telling the person who bought the GIANT refrigerator that they have to wait until the sale is over to pick up the thing?) and I wish I'd had more opportunity to check out the jewelry, but I managed to snag some good stuff. First stop, the kitchen where I pawed through one of my favorite kitchen standards: the container full of random gadgets, implements and knives. I snatched this right away, despite the fact that I really don't know what it is.

This vintage chopper was irresistible. Eat yer heart out Pampered Chef. A few other odds and ends later, and I moved out of the kitchen. I snatched this pristine American Tourister train case and was thrilled to see the tray and mirror still intact inside.




In a bedroom I was immediately drawn to a black leather coat (all right, I have a thing for vintage coats), but I didn't think there'd be a chance that it would be a ladies coat and vintage, as that's a rare find. Wonder of wonders, it was vintage, it was a ladies and it fit me. This doesn't give the whole picture, but it's a little longer than mid-thigh, a nice soft and thick leather and again has those handy high slits on the side to make it comfy in the car. And check out the close up of the vintage Wilsons label.




As if this wasn't enough, on the floor of the other bedroom's closet I spotted a tangle of shoes that looked tantalizingly good. I could hardly believe it when I pulled them out and saw that they were so good.

I believe these were custom made, judging from handwritten lettering on the inside and the nature of the labeling on the insole. Here's a close up of the medallion adorning the bottom pair.

Oh, and they fit me.


As if that all wasn't enough to make it a good day, we headed over to Euclid Records to hear Chris Stamey and Peter Holsapple of the dB's play a set. While there I got to partake of some delicious home made Indian food hand delivered by Patrick Hawley (thank you Patrick!) and visit with some friends I don't get to see very often.

Then, once we were home, I was confronted with this image.

Lydia claiming her spot atop the clean laundry. Is that some kind of cute face or what? I think she looks like a lemur here.

A Year in Music - A Useless Exercise That Made Me Slightly Crabby

I found this exercise somewhat unpleasant, but once I had invested over three hours I had to keep going. It's clear in looking over my list that I invest in certain artists and stick with them. I have my obsessions, there is no doubt. Some years it was a stretch finding something. In 2006, for instance, I was losing interest in music and didn't find anything released that year that I actually loved that year; so I inserted a 2006 release that I didn't hear until 2008. However, for some years I have listed two, three, even four things because I couldn't nail it down. It's my list and I'll do what I want.

So, you know the drill. A significant album (or more) for every year of your life. Obviously, you didn't have to listen to them in the release year, particularly in those early years, though mine are pretty much accurate after 1975 or so.

1963: Please Please Me - The Beatles
1964: A Hard Day’s Night - The Beatles
1965: Beatles ’65 - The Beatles/Rubber Soul -The Beatles/Bringin’ It All Back Home - Bob Dylan
1966: Revolver - The Beatles
1967: Bob Dylan’s Greatest Hits - Bob Dylan
1968: The Beatles - The Beatles
1969: Tommy - The Who
1970: Let It Be - The Beatles/New Morning - Bob Dylan
1971: Every Picture Tells a Story - Rod Stewart/Greatest Hits Vol. 2 - Bob Dylan/Meaty Beaty Big and Bouncy - The Who/Ram - Paul McCartney
1972: Honky Chateau - Elton John
1973: Goodbye Yellow Brick Road - Elton John
1974: Planet Waves - Bob Dylan
1975: The Who By Numbers - The Who
1976: Desire - Bob Dylan
1977: Never Mind the Bollocks…- The Sex Pistols
1978: The Last Waltz - The Band/Street Legal – Bob Dylan
1979: Eat to the Beat - Blondie/George Harrison - George Harrison
1980: Psychedelic Furs - Psychedelic Furs
1981: Talk Talk Talk - Psychedelic Furs
1982: English Settlement - XTC
1983: Murmur - REM
1984: Let It Be - The Replacements/All Over the Place - The Bangles/Reckoning - REM
1985: Suzanne Vega - Suzanne Vega/Tim - The Replacements
1986: Atomizer - Big Black/Lifes Rich Pageant - REM
1987: Pleased to Meet Me - The Replacements/Document - REM
1988: Green - REM/Eight Legged Groove Machine - The Wonder Stuff
1989: Hup - The Wonder Stuff/This is the Hour…This is the Day…This is This! - Pop Will Eat Itself/Pretty Hate Machine - Nine Inch Nails
1990: Bellybutton - Jellyfish
1991: Doubt - Jesus Jones/Nevermind - Nirvana/Godfodder - Ned’s Atomic Dustbin
1992: Comfort - Failure/Congregation - The Afghan Whigs/Dry - PJ Harvey
1993: Spilt Milk - Jellyfish
1994: Diary - Sunny Day Real Estate
1995: Sunny Day Real Estate - Sunny Day Real Estate
1996: Trailer Park - Beth Orton
1997: OK Computer - Radiohead
1998: Rufus Wainwright - Rufus Wainwright/How It Feels to Be Something On – Sunny Day Real Estate
1999: Magnolia S/T - Aimee Mann
2000: Bachelor No. 2 - Aimee Mann/Stories from the City Stories from the Sea - PJ Harvey/Teddy Thompson - Teddy Thompson
2001 : Asleep in the Back - Elbow
2002: When I Was Cruel - Elvis Costello
2003: Cast of Thousands - Elbow/Want One - Rufus Wainwright
2004: The Delivery Man - Elvis Costello
2005: Leaders of the Free World - Elbow/Twin Cinema - New Pornographers/Separate Ways - Teddy Thompson
2006: Black Holes and Revelations - Muse
2007: Release the Stars - Rufus Wainwright/In Rainbows - Radiohead
2008: Loyalty to Loyalty - Cold War Kids/The Seldom Seen Kid - Elbow

A bunch of stuff including a big dose of gratitude

A caveat: Blogger was not cooperating last night when I tried to post this. Apparently my paintings had too many pixels and they refused to load. Or something. Seriously, I wasn't going to let two days go by without posting. However, I have already found the thing that made me happy today (see way down below) so we get three days in one!

OK, so I'm not writing everyday. Sometimes having a good day means not stopping it to blog about it. I will say that this week has been a very good one. It has flown by (not necessarily a good thing, I guess), my considerable carnal needs have been met in various ways (always an indicator of a good week), I got some painting done today and I am this many days closer to hearing about my Naughti Gras submission.

Also on tap today was creating my version of the Bacon Explosion, a pork-centric roll of bacon and sausage also known as a sausage fatty. The process is as follows:

















So yeah, bacon wrapped in sausage, wrapped in bacon. It was pretty damn good and really didn't seem all that fatty.

This evening I painted a little with acrylics rather than watercolors. It was an interesting experiment and I'd definitely like to do more and see what happens.

First I explored my lonely building theme, which started with the idea of the yellow sun and the swirly blue sky around it. It seems clear to me that I am heavily influenced by, yet again, mid-century modern and the illustration styles from that period (though I don't suppose that that is the official art term for it, it is from that time frame). I'm too lazy to do it now (and this post is going to be big enough I'm sure), but I will soon look for some examples from among my children's books that exemplify what I mean.


Then I decided to do one of the skinny cats. Working with acrylics is so different and I was painting on paper which doesn't necessarily do it justice. I think I'm still figuring out which brushes to use as well. It makes a big difference.


I love hearts. I don't know why except that I like the curves and the shape and I, of course, love what they symbolise.




Last night was the third episode of the last season of Battlestar Galactica and it was the best yet. Overwhelming, shocking, completely frakking amazing. It had me shouting at the TV -- pleading, cursing, encouraging. But that is all I'll say so as not to be a spoiler for anyone.

This morning I woke and turned the radio on to Weekend Edition Saturday on NPR as I always do. I was happy to catch a fabulous interview with Liza Minnelli about her new Broadway show. Liza was maligned by that unfortunate reality show with the hideous man she married and that took the focus away from the fact that she's a gifted singer and performer. Though it probably didn't help with a mainstream audience, her stint on the late, great "Arrested Development" reminded a lot of people of her comedic gifts and her fortitude as a celebrity who has had her share of misfortune. This interview was funny and moving and the song snippets were just great (the interview won't be posted on the NPR site until after noon EST today). Oh, and her cameo on Saturday Night Live a couple weeks ago, in a Penelope sketch, was delightfully daffy and adorable. I love Liza Minnelli!

It's a cashmeracle!

I am well aware that I neglected to write yesterday. It was not because it was a bad day or even a neutral day. It was a perfectly good day (despite the fact that the satellite dish people never showed up or called to cancel - seriously, three inches of snow stops everything?) but I didn't get a chance to post and then I opted to go to bed at the same time as Steve so I didn't keep him up too long or disturb his sleep with my light. So, it was a very good thing to go to sleep spooning him with Mr. Baby spooning me.

Another good thing was the Martini Chicken I made for dinner. Boneless chicken breast sauteed with gin, vermouth and olives! Genius!


Today we woke to many more inches of stupid snow. The only good thing about it is that it's not the usual kind of snow we get here. Rather than the heavy, wet stuff, this is again the very dry, very light fluffy variety. I shoveled our walk in just a few minutes, nearly effortlessly. Whole shovelfuls weighed nothing and were easy to toss to the side. If I was a completely different person, sledding or skiing in this stuff might have actually been fun. But I'm not so I did neither. Tomorrow I may need to dig my car out and drive, just because.

Weeks ago I bought an ugly men's mock neck gray sweater at a thrift store for a couple bucks. Since it was cashmere and in perfect shape so it was worth having for the fabric alone. I had intended to felt it and make it into a cardigan but I kept putting off washing it. It was so soft and felting would spoil that.

Today I decided to forego the felting and simply convert the icky mock neck into a nice pullover for me. This is what I started with:


First I cut off the ribbing at the next and added a little slit right in front. Next I removed the band of (overly tight) ribbing at the bottom and finally I got rid of the ribbed cufffs, leaving me with this:


It's already much improved, right? Finally, I added a turquoise blanket stitch around all the raw edges.




And now I have a cute, comfy, slightly oversized cashmere tunic. I'm debating the addition of some other embroidery -- perhaps a leafy vine and simple flowers? But simple may be better.

Otherwise, life is good. My desires were exceeded in various ways, putting me into a bit of a satisfied haze. I'm a lucky, lucky, LUCKY girl.

Ooooh, and I discovered two new bands: Modern Skirts and Sounds Under Radio. Considering I just pulled them off the New shelf at the station, which is always a crap shoot, it was surprising to find two in one week that I actually really liked.

Tomorrow I vow to draw and paint. And I will hazard a hope that I hear from the Naughti Gras people early.

D.A. - Monday, January 26, 2009

My first little rush of pleasure today came when I started cleaning the snow off my car in the dark of 6:30am. Much to my surprise, the snow was that lovely fluffy and dry stuff -- powder it's called, right? -- it just swept right off the car.

I got a good deal of pleasure today from a caller to my show who had called last week as well to inquire about the Cold War Kids. Last week I told him their newest was my favorite album of the year. Today he told me he went out and bought it and on the first listen he wasn't convinced, but that after a couple more times through he was converted. I love that! And I've had some really nice comments lately about my mix of music -- old and new, familiar and not. It's satisfying to know I'm not playing into a void.

And this evening Facebook was a source of goodness yet again. It is current fashion to post notes containing 25 random facts about yourself and Steve wrote his own today. It contained two really sweet items about me and I was reminded, again, of just how lucky I am.

As always, I am extremely grateful for the daily contact I have with my friends and loved ones. I go on about how I would be happy never to leave my house but that is only with the giant caveat that I would still have the Internet to stay in constant touch with everyone I care about.

It is snowing like crazy as I write this and the only reason I don't care is that Steve is off tomorrow and neither of us has to drive in it. Really, though, I am over snow. I'd be perfectly happy never seeing it again. Yes, that silence of a snow-covered night is lovely, but I would trade it for a sweltering, insect-buzzing summer midnight in a second.