And believe it or not, tonight I have a deadline of 5:30. No, I still haven't written a poem including the word "woolgathering," but strangely, I think I will be able to draft something while I am sitting in the car waiting for my true love around 10:00 tonight.
But wait a sec -- how will I get from here to there, and what has any of it to do with 5:30?
As many of you are already aware (especially since I keep telling y'all about it!), I have an Etsy shop. Oh, and incidentally, in case you were unaware, Christmas and Chanukah are coming up in a month or two. I hate the obligatory gifting, so I'm conscientiously not telling you that you can find rocking great gifts at my Etsy shop, or at any of the ones listed in my favorites, or that there's still time to have me make something especially for you or someone you feel obliged to give something to, hopefully out of love not duty, because shoot, it's not even National Shopping Day yet, and besides, I hate the obligatory gifting.
The reason I mention my Etsy shop is to explain why I am taking jewelry making classes at the DeCordova Museum's little art school. It's because my knowledge and skills up until just last month have been fairly primitive and I want to learn to do more.
There's stuff I won't learn much about, I'm afraid, and it includes anything to do with fire or scary chemicals. There's a reason for that. Note the number of legs I ended up with just doing photography while having cancer. I'm really not the most graceful, ept, dexterous person, and am easily distracted. Can you imagine how much damage I could do to myself and others with a blowtorch in my studio?
My true love can. That's why he forbids me to have a blowtorch in the house. Oh, and while we're at it, all protecting the rental property and the other humans and animals who live in it and stuff, yeah, okay, I guess it makes sense to stay away from acids, too. Fine. My cancer didn't really want to mess with those all that much anyway.
One of the classes I am taking, the one I have to attend tonight, in about 45 minutes (half an hour early because the instructor was ill last week and had to cut things short), is called "Tiny Mechanisms and Moving Parts" and taught by the sweet and ingenious Alison Bruun. It is so cool. Last week, we learned how to make rivets without even using fire.
I am bursting with ideas, and tonight I expect to learn even more new skills. But class is starting early tonight, so I have to leave in half an hour, then run over to pick up my true love after his class at Harvard Extension in epidemiology. Then tomorrow morning, I am in another class, "Beginning Jewelry" taught by the sweet and ingenious (but in an entirely different way) Yehudit Schorr.
At some point, I hope to have some class projects to show you. Maybe tomorrow I will finish one of the Rings from Hell that I have been working on -- well, that's unfair. Only one is a Ring from Hell; the other one is actually coming out quite nicely. Instead, today, I will show you laundry. (Click to enlarge.)
For your information, this counts as clean. Yes, still.
Don't argue with me when I'm about to pick up sharp tools.
Sara, my laundry is actually possibly worse. I am glad you like your class so much.
As for an ice cream maker, I know two people with the Cuisinart 1 1/2 qt. maker that prices about 70.00. (Not the one with the built in freezer-- the one with the insert you freeze ahead of time) However, my dad has a 1 qt maker from Deni that does the trick, although the ice cream does seem to be a little softer and looser than the Cuisinart results. I'd spring the extra 30.00 and get the Cuisinart, personally.
Posted by: Bipolarlawyercook | November 05, 2007 at 07:01 PM
Ha! I can't tell you how much it changed my life to get a washer and dryer in my kitchen. I sometimes get impatient because I don't have enough dirty laundry to justify running the machine. I love doing the laundry. I used to have to go to the laundromat (which I confess I did not entirely hate), or over to a friend's house to do laundry; I repay the universe for the latter by inviting my friends who do not have laundry facilities in the house to come over and wash clothes whenever they want to.
If only I felt this way about the rest of the household chores.
Posted by: alphabitch | November 05, 2007 at 07:08 PM
Why not just call it a a kitty bed? Then it's fulfilling it's purpose ;-)
Posted by: TheAmpuT | November 05, 2007 at 10:19 PM
BLC -- Thank you. I was looking at the Cuisinart; I think you can get pretty good deals on it online.
There's an interesting discussion about professional ice cream making/makers over at Eggbeater, but that's all way out of my league...for now. More on that in another post.
Alphabitch -- The sad truth is we have a washer and dryer in the bathroom, and in our previous domicile had a set in the basement. We went from whining about having to go to the laundromat to whining about having to go all the way downstairs into the basement -- which wasn't entirely unreasonable, because it wasn't finished and got viciously cold -- to now whining about having to haul our laundry half the length of this apartment, a three-room-plus-kitchen-and-bath affair that is the top half of a hundred-year-old house.
The problem is we have too much stuff, too little closet space that isn't being taken up with tools, books, and office supplies, and only the one laundress -- me -- who has other interests.
AmpuT -- Oh, but it's so much more than just a bed. It's more like a kitty recreation center. ;)
Posted by: Sara | November 05, 2007 at 11:13 PM
That's pretty cool with the taking classes - I think I would take a classes call small moving parts just because - and all I have to say is that I saw the pile of laundry and said "Holy Crap!" followed by, "Hey how come she has a shoe tree and we don't?"
Hope the classes are good and see ya tomorrow!
Posted by: Elizabeth | November 05, 2007 at 11:59 PM
Oh, Elizabeth, the over-door shoe organizer is an absolute gift from the gods. I don't know if I would ever manage to wear matching shoes if I did not have it.
You can get your own here.
Of course, they have others, too...
Posted by: Sara | November 06, 2007 at 08:16 AM
I agree about the over-the-door shoe organizer. I have one, and then also several over-the-closet-bar units as well. There are two closets in my bedroom, and one of them is given over entirely to shoes and handbags (and a couple of off-season coats). But I don't have all that many clothes, so neither of the closets is completely full.
My kitchen is another story; every corner of every space is tightly packed, and if I get so much as one extra item, it sits on the counter for ages. Along with everything else.
The jewelry classes sound so totally cool. Can't believe I haven't looked at your etsy shop. I'm off to check it out.
Posted by: alphabitch | November 06, 2007 at 08:27 AM
Oh, thank you, Alphabitch.
It's a little depleted right now. I hope to have lots of new stuff in there within the week, but that's only if I don't meanwhile suffocate under an enormous pile of fallen laundry or something. ;)
Posted by: Sara | November 06, 2007 at 08:33 AM
It really shouldn't have come as a surprise to me that you and I have several identical favourite Etsy items, should it...?
Posted by: Lady Bracknell's Editor | November 06, 2007 at 03:46 PM
Heh -- really, no. :)
I have no idea how many of mine I first saw among yours.
Posted by: Sara | November 06, 2007 at 04:08 PM
Sisyphus had it easy compared to my attempts to stay on top of laundry in my house.
Have favourited your Etsy shop but, strangely, it is the bag with the lizard head on it that is calling to me the loudest...
Posted by: laurie | November 06, 2007 at 09:14 PM
"Sisyphus had it easy compared to my attempts to stay on top of laundry in my house."
Yes, but you have children!!! What's my excuse? Oh, right, other interests. But geez, who doesn't have other interests?
The original painting that the lizard head came from can be seen here. It's another crazy synthesis of growing up in Los Angeles, reading fashion magazines as a young woman which included articles advising against facial expressions because they could cause wrinkles, etc.
Meanwhile, Redneck Mother recently alerted her readers to the existence of a worker-owned maquiladora in Mexico that makes organic cotton canvas bags and organic cotton T-shirts. My plan, as soon as I figure out why my printer is sucking all of a sudden (or replace it), is to order a bunch of blanks and do my own iron-on transfers, then sell the products through the Etsy store. Until I can do that, I guess CafePress is my best option, but stay tuned for further, more ecological and otherwise conscientious shopping choices sometime in the next few months.
And hey, meanwhile, congratulations again on your most excellent news! Here's to years and years of more Laurie!
Posted by: Sara | November 06, 2007 at 09:57 PM