jeliza

It used to be, when I was a bit more hale but still a massive procrastinator/artistically blocked that when I need to make a bunch of stock for an upcoming show I would do massive amounts of cleaning. That stopped, not only because of many fewer shows, but lacking the physical stamina for the endeavor (which also meant that the blocking piles of stuff that need to be cleared are even bigger.) 

I am still significantly lacking in stamina, but have hit a decent rhythm today of 5 minutes clearing, 15 minutes doing computer work (mostly low-brain effort things like testerup (my biggest source of clickywork/microwork? revenue this year, it is in fact stupidly easy and not actually proper user testing. Just ... getting paid to play mobile games I, at least, would have been playing anyway. Yes, that is a referral link, but I'm just sharing the love in general, not campaigning.)

I hadn't really grasped the psychic weight my piles of stuff was inflicting -- it certainly isn't gone, but looking around now I can literally feel like I can take bigger breaths and my shoulders have lowered a touch.

(Still haven't found my most critical painting supplies, though. Might be a different balance of boxes etc to paintings than I was aiming for at this rate, because they aren't trivially replaceable locally or quickly or inexpensively.

We've decided to start on the 12 days of yule kind of ... half-way. Because we aren't ready for Christmas even though it is the 24th, and while my paganism is distinctly half-assed, half assed is better than no assed. Or something.  

Being stuck at home continues to wear on the entire household. Being semi-snowed in really shouldn't have made a difference to that vibe but, well, it did.

I got two lessons into the first drawing class I bought at udemy and realised it was *not* what I needed, and then was pleased that the $125 course I decided to take instead went on sale right after I made that decision.  It's still pencil and therefore not remotely intuitive, but has a lot more specific exercises, and I will suck it up and deal. (How to draw from beginning to master)  So far I'm making value scales and practicing blending techniques, which isn't exactly fun but *is* necessary, and feels like learning scales for piano.

Am I actually going to use this in my art business? (Am I going to re-open my art business?)  I don't know. Fanart is a strong possibility because fandom has been such a source of comfort and I like the idea of giving back. Whether I use the same pseud I make bookmarks with IDK, because I don't think I want anyone to be able to connect some of what I read back to my real life parent-ness. Or have the kids be able to make the connection, but if I make anything good I want to be able to share it here/instagram/ao3.

I've also been mostly managing to keep up with the cardio portion of my attempt at establishing better habits, which is awesome because I can already feel the difference in that it takes me longer to get out of breath, and I've been able to slowly bump up the speed (the treadmill we bought 15 or so years ago is finally getting really consistent usage between me and the kids PT.

I finally figured out one thing to do with lemon curd that doesn't require baking (I put it on a waffle) but I'm still kind of floundering. I know it's basically jam, but putting it on regular toast just seems wrong, and I really don't think it would pair well with any of my normal sandwich fixing. (chicken and jam or turkey and jam, with or without cream cheese, rocks.)

I guess that isn't entirely sameness after all. Nice.

So much more important things I should be journaling about, but I lack the attention span to write about anything emotional or complex, and lack the time to go through London pictures yet.

I have gotten the towers of hanoi moving in my room again, helped by the realization that the plan I'd been working from for several years was all about working in a medium I no longer do regularly, and my new needs are much simpler and cheaper to accomplish -- but still, everything in my space is moving, and woooooow it's amazing how much crapnel accumulates under beds. It's all rather terrifying looking right now, and there is a chance I will have to sleep on the couch tonight, but at least there is movement on something I need and that is under my control, and that counts for a lot right now.

I've got an external deadline for once, because I need to make a LOT of stock for my show on the 6th and then TONS for GeekGirlCon, and the space I was attempting to do it in has become basically impossible; when I finish this, which should happen by Monday night, my workspace will be waaaay more effective and ergonomic and have more storage suitable to art supplies.  I'll have a significant drop in privacy as a result until a not-in-my-control piece of furniture assembly happens, but I can live with that.

UPDATE: the furniture that was supposed to be here Monday will actually be here Thursday. And after moving the bed (piece #3) to its new position, I have discovered that I apparently mismeasured, and this plan will completely not work. Damnit.

Soon these fence seeds will sprout curiously uniform branches and shelter our yard. I hope the fence-trees will like living with climbing roses.
http://ift.tt/2imum3b


And I have become so lazy that I posted this instagram so it would post to dw/twitter with no effort, and then I deleted it from instagram because it isn't pretty enough of a picture to be part of my business presence. lol.

My last pair of un-holey jeans joined the rest of the crew yesterday. And I don't care about a ripped knee for most things, but the inseam of the upper thigh is really not a good place for a while. So, mall. Where I tried on every pair of size 22 jeans JCPenny had, with no luck. Their "ana" in-house brand used to fit me perfectly, and now it ... super doesn't. I think they switched to a fit model who is more apple-y.  (This is especially sad because I have a gift card for Penneys.)

I ended up buying jeggings at Torrid. I don't really like jeggings, I mean, they are nice and soft, but they don't feel like jeans. But the only other cuts the saleswoman thought would fit my waist they didn't have any 22 regulars in. (However, if you wear Torrid's Short range, the northgate store is very well stocked with the S sizes, and a fair sprinkling of Ts.)  It is possible, given what meager selection was left at JCP, that some other 22 had rolled through earlier and bought all the jeans.

The mystery of the water coming from the ceiling of the downstairs bathroom has been resolved, hence I concluded my day by rolling up to Fred Meyer at 9:30pm and purchasing wd-40, all the towels on the clearance shelf, and a mini shop-vac. (Also chocolate, and cinnamon bears. because stress.) Woo!

But we know exactly what's wrong, and might be able to short-term fix it ourselves, and long term, we already knew we needed to tear the bathrooms out and redo them, we have for about 8 years now. I am not looking forward to our first real remodel, but having more than one entirely functional full bathroom get more important as the kids head into teenagehood anyway.

There is still something really cool about being able to buy an appliance at 11 pm on a Friday night and arrange for its delivery without ever talking to a human or needing to change out of jammies.

That we have one more full week of living without a working refridgerator is way less cool.
Pun ... accidental, but appropriate.

I just did the Home Resource Profile at Seattle City Light, and am both pleased and appalled that we, in our five person monstrosity of an 2-story ranch in need to of some updates, apparently use less energy than the average Seattle household.