On Self-Improvement

September 9th, 2010 § 0

This year, I lost an unprecedented 70 lbs, putting me very nearly in the “healthy weight” category of the dreaded BMI scale for the very first time since at least 1993.

I’ll just let that sink in for a minute.

Seventy pounds.  My third-grade daughter weighs 70 lbs.  Seventy pounds is one and three-quarter bags of Kirkland Signature Dog Food, Lamb & Rice Variety.  However, the motivation behind this post is not one of self-congratulation or to pose myself as a braggart.  It’s that now that I have seen how much better life can be, I am less satisfied with some aspects of it.

For instance, watching TV?  Let’s face it, it was really just an excuse to sack out on the couch with some popcorn and licorice.  I watch my shows with my best bud and when I’m doing “butt work” as Great Grandma Jeannette used to say (laundry, etc), but that’s about it.  Of course, we can attribute some of the lack of interest to the fact that the fall episodes of Fringe have yet to appear on Hulu, or anywhere, for that matter.

Yesterday was the first day of school.  Usually I make something special for breakfast on the first day, and yesterday I made scrambled eggs with ham and cheddar cheese with some of these little dippy Jiffy muffins that Ruby loves.  The kids are not big eaters in the morning, especially if it doesn’t come in a shiny package with bright colors and a mainline of corn syrup.  The kids had actually taken showers/baths the night before (I know, shocker!  Thin mom doesn’t let her kids go to school dirty!) and I even flossed their teeth mommy-style (which means it actually got done right).  I went out and I actually knew where their bus stop was supposed to be.

Look, I know it sounds like I have just recovered from some kind of years-long meth binge, but to tell you the truth, I just didn’t have a lot of energy to tend to the little things.  Hugs?  Never ran out of energy to dispense those.  Never too tired to say “I love you, you are the best thing that ever happened to me, kiddo.”  But I could have been better.  Being tired all the time is depressing.

* * *

For a long time, I’ve been dissatisfied with our house.  Now, I don’t want to move but it is too @#^%@ing cluttered, and half-finished projects surround it in our yard.  So I dug out a copy of this book my sister got me a few years ago that has been gathering dust in my bedside table.  It’s called “The Queen of Clean Conquers Clutter,” and girlfriend and I are going to GO places.  I can feel it.  Yesterday, I knocked out the first paragraph of her first “to-do,” but it took a bit longer than I thought it might.  For instance, when she says to go out on your front porch and remove old dog dishes, skateboards, etc., I found myself pondering the box of coleus plants The Hubs bought a month ago.  Sitting on the front planter, it almost looked like part of the scenery.  Almost.

So I go back to the shed to get a shovel, I mean, might as well plant them, right?  That’s what The Queen of Clean would do.  She says to take care of the mess, not just move it from one place to the other.  So I arrive at the shed and on the way back, notice that the wing nut that holds the hanging chicken feeder together has come loose and the chicken feeder is now in pieces.  Alas, no wing nut to be found now… one of those little hens obviously appreciated it’s “SHINY!” quality and gobbled it up.  So I rig it up on the ground, grab the shovel, then give them some fresh water, then go back and plant the plants.

To make a long story short, my front walk way is now swept, de-cobwebbed, the porch light cover is freshly washed, and people, even the front door got a wipe down.  I should do before and after pictures.  That would’ve been something.

So, I think I might chronicle my transformation from Hapless Goofball to Responsible Adult.  I hope you enjoy the ride.

I Came. I Saw. I Applied For Funding.

August 16th, 2010 § 0

And I was granted said funding.  Now, we have a concert coming to WSU in just over a week.

I am actually very excited about this but I am more than a little nervous, since I have never scheduled a public event of this scale at the university; after all, I am just the arts tech (and that is okie-dokie with me).  I have a great committee so I think this event will be a great success.  You can check out our Facebook page here, although with all of Facebook’s ‘friend’ nuances, it may not let you see it.  Like I said, not a real experienced event planner.

I am playing my borrowed cello, designing an exhibit of antique photography for the local historical museum, teaching a new class this fall, and just generally plugging along.  I am eagerly anticipating tomorrow, because both the release of “Friday Night Lights” season 4 on DVD and my cello lesson happen that day.  Yes, I know.  Don’t ask me why I am in love with a show about football but my dad got me hooked.

I’m sure I’ll have some more news someday, right now life is really good and I am grateful.

I Guess I’m an Artist

July 9th, 2010 § 1

So, it’s been 9 months of nearly consecutive art shows.  Here’s my latest press release, it’s title is so fetching, don’t you agree?

Summer Exhibits Grace the Galleries at WSU Vancouver*

*this link is temporarily unavailable due to a snafu with the launch of WSU Vancouver’s new website.  Oops!

This show features two photogravures I made under the tutelage of Master Printmaker Russell Dodd.

Okeh-Noggin

July 8th, 2010 § 0

Last week was our long-awaited trip to Grandpa Sandy’s in Pateros, Washington.  It wasn’t as hot as last year, but we still had a great time.  One thing we did this year was visit Slide Waters in Lake Chelan.  I didn’t take many photos this trip but if I had, they would have looked like the ones at Constantly Vintage.  In fact, her whole blog is pretty neat.  I will have to add it to my list.

The lack of Nikon action wasn’t the most unprecedented thing about the trip — it seems like the kids bickered up a storm this year and I don’t remember that from last time.  The mosquitoes were out in force, as well.  Having the kids relegated to a tent outside was a brilliant move on our part, although it made me worry a little each night that someone might come and snatch them.  But after listening to them fight, they probably would bring them back.

However, even though all of those things are true about the trip, I still look back on it and think of how much fun it was, and how I enjoyed spending time with my best friend, our mix cds that we made for the trip, the funny things that her brother-in-law said, the craziness that was 7 adults (Grandma came to visit!) elbowing each other out of the way to get to the coffee pot and 7 children running around a small, modified ranch style home in a valley where two rivers met.  The happy cries of the kids when Grandpa Sandy had every implement imaginable to fortify their good time, including a fine mesh net to deplete the estuary’s minnow population.  The cherry trees with their strips of foil glimmering in the sunlight, their branches heavy with incredibly red cherries.  The little quails that ran across the street and woke us with the “Chicago!” call, as Grandpa Sandy so aptly put it.  We left earlier than planned, with a cello (also unplanned, but very exciting nonetheless), but that was okay and probably necessary considering the foul tempers of the children…

…but I still can’t wait to go back next year.

It’s a beautiful thing to be invited to a family event and be treated just like a member of the family.

So Easy a Semi-Literate Monkey Could Deploy It

July 7th, 2010 § 0

So, like, you guys?  Adobe’s CS5 Enterprise Deployment Tool?  I was so worried that I would be too stupid to use it but it is so easy.  In fact, not more than 5 minutes after installing the tool, my screen looks like this:

Plus it’s so pretty.  Adobe, you make everything beautiful!  Who cares what Steve Jobs says?

I can’t believe I wasted so much time worrying about this.  I also can’t believe how many other things in my life the previous sentence could apply to.  In the words of George Harrison: “All I’ve got to be is, be happy.”

And look!  I am happy!  More prettiness from Adobe!

Peace, people.

Dopey, Doc, & Sleepy

June 17th, 2010 § 0

I stayed up late last night working on some exhibit development for the local historical museum.  Fun, huh!  It was actually, although it took rather longer than I expected, and I was the last one to go to bed in the house at 1:15 am.  After I went to bed, I lay there obsessing over my last design choices until somehow, I fell asleep.

This morning I woke up and the hubs made coffee.  I poured my cup, and perched on my usual chair.  Enter the hubs.

“Where’s the coffee pot?”

I stare at him dumbly.  “Uhh… in the coffee maker.”

“No, it isn’t.”  Hubs starts rattling through the cupboards, then the freezer.  He knows me so well.

A dim memory forms, almost like an incredible dream, because surely, surely some alarm bell would have rang in my cotton-stuffed, sleep-deprived brain if I were to do something that addled.  “Umm.  The microwave?” I squeak.

Indeed.

She’s a Hurricane in All Kinds of Weather

June 10th, 2010 § 1

Before the advent of streaming radio, folks in the most western parts of the Columbia Gorge could count themselves lucky; a fantastic radio station by the name of KMHD calls Portland, Oregon home.  Being a current resident of the Greater Portland Area, I usually listen on the radio, and one show I never want to miss is Divaville, Wednesday nights from 6-9pm Pacific.  Last night’s Divaville prompted a trip to the iTunes store for Very Best of Harry Belafonte.

I was listening to the show in the background, while I was on a particularly harrowing tech support call, which was hampered by poor speaker phone technology and conflicting drivers on the client’s end.  However, as soon as “Jump in the Line” began, I put my bluetooth on mute, jumped up, and spun my 8-year old daughter around on the wood floor for a solid 2 minutes before the client realized anything was amiss.

You might not be the get-up-and-dance kind, but listen to this.  I challenge your toes to resist tapping.

The Deluge

June 9th, 2010 § 0

The weather in the Pacific Northwest is always remarkable; we went from a balmy 70-something day to an outright downpour this morning.  A glance out the window showed a deluge of water hitting the pavement with such force that it spattered into a fine mist, making everything gray, sodden, and rather un-summerlike.

On the upside, it’s great weather for fish and chips, which Oi!  Happens to be on the menu for supper tonight! Here’s the Formula:

I love Ina Garten’s cookbooks.  For one thing, she looks completely huggable, as well as being rather fetchingly pretty in my estimation.  For another, she reminds me of my mother-in-law, who is a wonderful cook and stylish entertainer, both because they look similar and the books were from her.

I also really enjoy being able to wield the cast-iron skillet.  As a vegetarian, I have always associated them with things of the meaty persuasion; also, getting the chance to use the skillet is something that I’ve always looked upon as being a hallmark of the domestic roles I find myself living these days.  I suppose that’s a lot of meaning with which to imbue a piece of metal, but there you have it.

The “chips” in this case are potato wedges tossed in olive oil, sea salt, and other spices.  And, instead of cod, I’m using halibut tonight.  Oh, what am I doing prattling on about this?  You’re on the internet!  Go check out the recipe for yourself.

For a Balmy Early Summer Day

June 8th, 2010 § 0

…I give you the music of English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams, particularly his lovely “Serenade to Music.”

The violin is heartbreaking, the hushed chorus… breathtaking.  It is said that when Rachmaninoff attended the concert he wept, overcome by its beauty.

Perhaps Peter Ackroyd wrote it best, in Albion: The Origins of the English Imagination:

If that Englishness in music can be encapsulated in words at all, those words would probably be: ostensibly familiar and commonplace, yet deep and mystical as well as lyrical, melodic, melancholic, and nostalgic yet timeless.

It’s lovely.  Here are the first three minutes.  Give it a listen.

Windows Into Art

June 7th, 2010 § 0

My first summer art show is up.  Whee!

Windows Into Art is… well, why don’t I just let them say it themselves:

Windows into Art is an exhibition of contemporary art installed in vacant windows and storefronts in downtown Vancouver, Washington, from June 4 through July 5, 2010. It’s an alternative means of viewing art—in an urban setting on public sidewalks—where anyone can discover art and come to it on their own terms. Windows into Art turns the street into a museum and connects people with art.

See, now, isn’t that easy?

There’s an interactive map there, my art is located at #3.  They are super brainy and techy and photographically inclined, so there are photos of my artwork and another guy’s there, along with a wandering minstrel and a lady hawking wine.  Okay, it’s really the other artist and the wine lady at First Friday.  My first description was better.

My next show is an alumni show, where I’ll be displaying two photogravure prints.  I’m also doing some exhibit design for the historical museum.  Photographs will follow.  Should be fun!

The end of the school year is fast upon us, and I am dashing from this program to that, sewing aprons, packing changes of clothes, volunteering to bring chips and soda, blah blah blah.  I’ve been reading a lot, and as such have felt a bit out of reality.  I caught up on my favorite TV via Hulu, and am smugly delighted about how House ended up, and am pretty peeved that old J.J. Abrams is going to make me wait seven million months to find out what happens to Olivia on Fringe.

My spring course is nearly over and I’ll have a break for a couple of weeks before we start summer quarter.  Life at the university is also busy as I received $9000 to put on a concert this summer, which I’m really excited about.  We also started a service center that allows us to interface with the public and offer workshops, etc.  Busy, busy, a lot of paperwork and blah, but fun all the same.

My heart is also broken over the disappearance of a local boy.  I happened to catch the news as this story was breaking.  It seems that since I have a 7-year-old boy, I notice more keenly when something happens to someone else’s 7-year-old boy.  Parents of other 7-year-old boys might want to bypass this story, but I include the link on the off-chance that someone might recognize him and know what happened.

Please, please be okay, little one.

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