Friday, January 23, 2009

Sunday's Class


For those of you in the area, check out Sunday's Stampin' Up class projects. I'm particularly fond of the Skully one and the cherry one, but they're all pretty fun to put together. You can't see some of the details in this pic, but I got out some of my favorite wheels and since "Pirouette Pink" is such a pale ink, I played with a lot of layering stamp designs. I really like that one with the little seed packets on it. That's just darn cute.

For those of you who aren't so close, you can still play along with a kit if you like. For $15 you get all you need to assemble these cards, stamps sold seperately, of course. For $5, I'll include the current catalog in that package--a $9.95 (plus postage!) value.

You know how to reach me: http://veronica.stampinup.net has all you need to send me a message.

Now that the commercials are over, take note that I am feeling less horrid today. I've been in a feisty-craftin' mood all week. I've been actively embellishing everything I come in contact with. I would have photos for you, but I've been busy trying to clean the house for Losar* and that's got me a bit distracted.

*Losar is the Lunar New Year celebration most of us know primarily from reading Chinese restaurant placemats. It's the day when the Zodiac flips over to a new animal (from Rat to Ox this year). Chances are you have seen pictures of people running around in dragon costumes on TV, and I think the post office usually issues a stamp for the holiday, which is very nice of them. What most people don't know is that we Buddhists spend the week before Losar taking their houses apart and cleaning them. We try to make a lot of noise to scare off bad spirits that might be hiding out in all those dusty spots and sweep and clean in all those places we usually forget, because that's where stale Chi builds up.

Being a bit cleaning compromised thanks to my decrepit spine, I do my best, but I've come to the conclusion that I just can't do it all myself anymore. If I try, I end up stuck in bed for a week afterward, feeling like I'm going to break into tiny pieces. So, I'm scrambling to get as much done as I can so I can make the most of my fabulous housekeeper/selfless assistant Kate when she arrives in the a.m. That way I don't have to waste the precious limited time I have her for on basic neatening up.

Therefore, I am off to lug stuff up and down stairs, glad that I'm able to move today. Hopefully on Monday, the house will be sparkly clean and I can devote myself to the celebration--an Asian feast followed by ringing bells (I skip the part about setting off firecrackers indoors for the sake of my poor terrified dog), sprinkling water, and hiking around the outside of the house with flaming juniper in hand to complete the final purification for the new year. I'm sure my neigbors think we're nuts, but they should just be glad I decided not to burn effigies at the crossroads in favor of *not* freaking them out completely.

Thursday, January 22, 2009

52 Weeks...for when 365 Days looks just too tiring.



I have this hope that if I start writing shorter entries here I might actually post more often. Part of my new attitude toward blogging is purely a matter of self-preservation. You see, I recently discovered why my nice, gentle heating pad, set on low to softly warm my disks much like the mother hen ever so carefully incubates her fragile eggs, would randomly turn into a blistering, sweat-producing, skin-gripping red-hot-stove-burner slapped against my already tormented spine.




Apparently due to some kind of bizarre electrical anomaly, if my computer (or cel phone charger, for that matter) is plugged into the same circuit as my heating pad and turned on, I end up with the flames of hell strapped to my back. Therefore, in an effort to avoid completely destroying the lovely Edward Gorey tattoo on my back, I now must work on my computer in (relatively) short bursts throughout the day, relying upon battery power.




This kind of fits with my theme for the year. Theme may not be the right word...maybe mantra? Focus. Or better yet, "One thing at a time." Having a brain doused in OCD, this is one of the hardest things for me to do. I have spent my entire life piggybacking simultaneous thoughts one atop the other in fear that I will let my guard down and somehow cause the Earth to fall out of orbit. I know I get more things done (and done better) when I focus. I know my stress level goes down when I only do one thing at a time, and when my stress level goes down, so does my pain to some extent (and I'll take any reduction I can get.) As a Zen Buddhist, I have spent countless hours (hey, ten minutes-es add up) in practice, training my mind to do this--yet, it rarely lasts because that creeping fear of not having a hook in every pond (forgive me fish, for the un-vegan metaphor ;)). Well, I'm taking this flesh-cooking coinicidence as a sign that I need to try again.
But none of that has anything to do with the title of this post. What I'd like to draw your attention to is a fun little project on one of my fellow Fiskateers' blogs. If you're on pretty much any papercrafting message board, you've probably heard about the crazy blackfridayish lunacy surrounding Becky Higgins' 365 Kit (I must note here, fearing raising my friend Jen K's ire, that this is not Ms. Higgins' idea, just her kit. You can read in the post before this one about my prior attempt at 365ing and it certainly wasn't new then either.) Well, whether you just can't get enough year-round projects, or 365 is just too darn many entries to deal with, take a look at Debby's Blog. Once a week she will be posting a question/page theme so that at the end of the year you have a fun little scrapbook cataloging your thoughts on a variety of subjects. Do other people also do this kind of thing, sure. But Debby's always got fun challenge ideas and she even holds a weekly drawing among the participants for nifty goodies. One more reason to visit her blog on a weekly basis? She also participates in Fiskars Friday, posting a new Fiska-centric project every week if you're into that kind of thing.

So, enough for today. My battery wanes and I need to head over to the rescue account to see who wants to adopt some spiny mice.