checking in, cleaning house & touching base

i know, i know--- i totally left you all hanging. i am such a bad blogger. i really am. why do i have one? i am too busy to maintain this thing... well, if you're reading this, thank you for not giving up on me. i will say that YES, the calf was born; yes i have pictures, and yes, they are amazing. And there was so much else that was awesome. The problem is the pictures are all gigantic and i just can't justify the time it'll take to re-size them (and a hundred other pictures for a hundred other blog entries i want to post) when i have the following on my plate for the next two weeks: one on one portfolio prep for 10 homeschool middle school-aged boys, 2 different classes of 2-5th graders, training someone to cover my shifts at the museum while i take on the aforementioned classes, an adult drawing class (teaching, not taking), a mural proposal, two art festivals (one of which i wont be at, because i'm teaching... thus opening up another realm of "AAAAAAAAH" as i figure out how to delegate the set up of my space to another person), cleaning the studio, 3 commissions, battling with my insurance company & allergist (my main question being: "do you seriously want me to pay you for services rendered 4 years ago? i can't even remember if i actually GOT those tests"), sewing 10 new knitimals... 2 of which i intended to post on etsy by Saturday (they're autumnal), making a hundred billion things for the upcoming shows... and i'm sure there's more that i am willfully pretending aren't happening.

They're good things... like the TWO Young People's Studio Classes i'll be teaching at MICA--- "Real & Fanciful Landscapes" and "Draw a story, Tell a story" for grades 3-5 & 2-4 respectively... i'm a great teacher, so if you're local, let me teach your kids. I'll show them the pictures from the fair, how bout that? Oh, and there's video too! I have to figure out how to post video (that'll actually play). Anyway, i have to put the computer away now and focus on sewing, because that's what is necessary right now.

oh, and also, i can't go in my kitchen for, oh, ever, because i spied a giant roach in there and i would rather do any of the top 10 things you might list right now that you would never, ever want to do, than to go anywhere near a roach... my poor AJ is in there right now whacking at it... either way, this might be a new weight loss plan because even if it is "proved" dead, i'm staying far away.

ugh.
(shiver)

anyway... i've procrastinated long enough.
i have sewing to do... tonight! and, well, we're FINALLY going away this weekend and i'm HOPING to bring the computer along, so we'll see. BUT, look for new stuff in the shop on Monday, and some very worth-the-wait posts coming up. really. in the mean time, here's a current favorite picture of my favorite 4-legged boy. (such a cop out, i know).
xo, danamarie

the best laid plans...

so, THIS is what my day was supposed to look like. On Friday i was FINALLY able to procure book 7 from the library (i know, i know, but when it came out last year i was teaching summer camp and all the kids were reading it--- i needed some distance from some of the spoilers i over heard. And of course there's that pesky expense of hardcovers... i thought for sure it would be out in paperback by now) and i came home with the plan of using my "week off" (HA HA HA HA HA) doing nothing but lying about reading Harry Potter in the air conditioned splendor of my living room. I'd only take breaks to rest my eyes and knit a few stitches on this lovely, pale colored knitimal i've been dreaming of. and my whole day would be fueled by multi-grain cheerios™, blueberries and skim milk. these are trader joe's blueberries and they are SO big and so sweet, a sleepier me might confuse them for candy.

this plan of harry and yarn and blueberries lasted all of 20 minutes and then something, some small, stupid thing, toppled from heights unknown and landed with a crash behind me.




might it have fallen from THIS? this tragic mess i've created over the course of i dont even KNOW how many months. it's primarily stuff i've filed into the "already dealt with but needs to be sorted and filed" category, which btw, is my most loathed category. plus, sorting it (which i DO like, because its like a trip down memory lane... oh, remember when so and so bought that knitimal? oh and remember when i participated in THAT show?) would ultimately lead to putting it somewhere, and in this case, somewhere is a stuffed to the seams filing drawer, just brimming with other stuff that needs to be sorted and filed and worst yet, recycled or shredded. i'm not into shredding. and when i make a to do list, those kinds of tasks always fall way at the bottom (far below reading for pleasure, which happens like... never, or even cleaning the dog's teeth, which i am proud to say, happens at least twice a week).

so, of course, having an 8 month old puppy, i had to leap to my feet to find whatever fell and put it back right... not "put it away", but shove it back into the pile again.


and doing THAT only made me look around and realize that THIS was a problem too.


what's even going ON here? i'm almost positive that there are 3 rolls of cling wrap in there because i just kept buying more, rather than actually look for where i had put the first one. or the second. baggies, paper towels, opened tubes of paint, tissue paper, padded envelopes, customs forms, sculpey... insanity. this is what crazy people's houses look like. yeah, i can use the whole "i'm an artist" thing, for a little bit, but eventually, i'm just a crazy person.

i spent some time near the desk, which meant looking at my planner, which lay open (i had MEANT to hide it this week) and reminded me cruelly that i had several phone calls to make, at least 2 bills to pay, and a whopping 5 different "places i am supposed to be, if only they are actually confirmed" events, classes, workshops, and such that i needed to reconcile. thus, i spent the next 3 hours making calls, moving piles around, checking email, sorting papers, erasing-rewriting-erasing-rewriting-cursing-erasing-and rewriting dates and events in my calendar as various pieces of half information floated in and out of my inbox. and after hours of rediscovering things i'd saved for various projects (like, oh, knitimal halloween masks, for example), i ended up with this:


lovely, but only a start.

and of course, as i am just reaching the boiling point of frustration, i hear the familiar sounds of mason literally racing up and down the hallway, slamming into walls and charging through doors. he does this sometimes. like a weird solo man relay race. he just goes nuts.

and then i realize i'd left the bedroom door open...

ok, so last week we finally retired the 10 year old mattress that has been destroying my spine for years. look how sad and bare springed and uneven it is. poor sad old mattress. here it is awaiting is death in the hallway.




and HERE is the B-E-A-U-t-i-F-u-L new mattress (a sealy posturepedic parker grove pillow top, if you must know, and you must, because it's glorious). this "limbo" place i'm in with planning my autumn has been making it hard for me to fall asleep, but ooooh, once i'm out... i am O U T.




the only trick is... mason.


this bed is much taller than the last one, and even though he has "his steps" to get up to the bed, even with his steps he's still inches off without leaping... which, as i'm sure you know, is not the best idea for dachshunds (and is, naturally, his most favorite thing to do in the whole entire world). so, we have to watch him around the bed now... because he's a dachshund (nature's perpetual teenagers) and he just loves being stubborn, headstrong and physically daring.

when i go into the bedroom, i find this:


also known as EVERY SINGLE TOY THE DOG OWNS; the quilt in a bundle, the pillows on the floor, his steps pushed perfectly up to the side of the bed and bits of kibble hidden beneath the sheets. the dog has spent the last (let's see... when WAS the last time i saw him? when i unearthed that 4th roll of cling wrap, was it?) 2 hours, running each and every one of his toys, ropes, dolls and bones up the steps and has made a little nest of craziness on our beautiful bed.

of course, every time i throw one off the bed, he runs down the steps and grabs it and runs back up.
i gave up after 3 tries.
he looked so happy.

i broke two frames.
ate way too many strawberries.
nearly choked on a lemon seed that had been hanging out in the bottom of my water bottle (darn you squeeze of lemon in my water!)
and then spent 2 hours curled up in a ball on the couch nursing a headache.

even still. i managed to read through nearly 200 pages today and wow. (DON'T SAY ANYTHING), but wow. harsh.
**********


regarding the rest of the week: i DID have a plan to unveil both a new project and a related new charity for the month (notice my monthly causes tend to start 2 weeks into the month? what the hey, it's still 4 weeks, right? but i am just BEAT. i NEED to take the next couple days for myself (i won't even get into how long its been since i've had anything close to a vacation, and with the cost of gas and whatnot, i'm thinking a 3 day siesta on my couch is really very little to ask for). SO, i will be away from email & blogging until Saturday at the earliest, but don't worry... i'll come back with great news to share; an updated etsy shop, a wonderful new charity to support; refreshed, re-energized and renewed... like a phoenix.

speaking of phoenixes... mr. potter awaits me.
xoxo, danamarie

how we embroider

I'm juggling quite a few projects these days (which, in order to maintain sanity, I am only discussing one or two at a time... Conversely, I am working on them all at once. And I wonder why I had a migraine last night?). Anyway, todays highlighted project is rebuilding the sadly diminished knitimal collection. For months the pieces have been knit but balled up into little "pre kinitimal" packets... Like knitimal sushi rolls, waiting to be sewn. Yesterday I managed to sew up 2 dolls (have I mentioned before that sewing all those seams by hand takes HOURS? And why did I have that migraine last night?). Today, however, I'm embroidering. Yet another entry for the softies, this little guy is (as the category requires) "embroidered to death!).

Little mason has taken up residency on my lap (he's not feeling well and was up all night crying. And WHY did I have that migraine last night?!?), SO this is how we embroider today.



Stay tuned for new project updates like: painting the butterfly, mocking up the mural color and new coloring books.



Oh, also, if you're local... You can pick up a drawing of mine, entitled "at the door" at the MAP (Maryland art place) "out of order" silent auction this evening. Tickets are $40 and serve not only as donations to this wonderfully necessary organization, but also get you music, food and open bar! Plus a chance to bid on and take home some local art!



Xo, danamarie

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