Art Update

Good way to start the day.

I hates acrylics a lot less last night...




... than I did the night before...





... but I hate all those photos equally. Must set up lightbox...

These aren't serious painting attempts by any means, just playing with the medium to burn off the last hours before bedtime. Doodles without sketch prep.

Speaking of sketching, I've done none at all in the past week. Hardly any in the past month, much to my chagrin, but the house is set up now, as is my desk



... so drawing days will soon return. Yay! Perhaps today!

In the meantime, Reagan's started scanning some of my art from this year...

Really Reagan? Rum and YooHoo?

Yeah, he's doing that on one side of the scale, and I'm researching aromatic bitters and interesting cocktails on the other. Lucky for me, there's some blog event about vermouth this month, so I have something to do with our bottle besides martinis, which rarely appeal to me. Hence the bitters research.

But this isn't a post about cocktail hour! (Half hour, really, or more like 20 minutes because I use it to bribe Reagan into a second episode of Arrested Development.) No, this is a post about expectations. And things I've made out of spare cardboard.

When I left Savannah, I hoped my era of cardboard furniture....

.... was over.

Between Reagan joining the Marines and us saving up money this year, I thought a little cash for real furniture was a sure thing. Boy was I wrong.

Sure, we have chairs and a table of real wood, plus clothes storage that isn't piles on the floor and cardboard boxes, but...



Aside from our bed (two flights of stairs above our studio), that's the most comfortable seat in the house. Here's a shot without me obstructing the view:



I had a bunch of cardboard boxes to break down after we bought Ikea furniture and ordered other things online. I have a cardboard box fetish or something. The smaller ones are piled in the workshop. I had planned on breaking down those too destroyed to reuse (or too big and flat to be useful) to see new life as canvases. How I happened on the idea to fashion it into a lounge... I don't remember. But lounge it is!




The base is made of strips of cardboard, each about 3.5" wide and of lengths from 18 to 30", rolled into spirals and fastened with scotch tape.




The back is two big pieces of rolled cardboard, the lower one stuffed with a bunch of paper that was helping pack our scanner.



Not the most comfortable seat ever, but with another blanket and a couple pillows, it'll be a nice place to rest. And big enough for two!



More about that scanner business and the tender red buds of poetry when I've lost and regained my focus enough to write again.

Three things that make me happy

Most nights Reagan and I have a nightcap, or other small after-dinner-drink. Tonight it's a half bottle of Steaz Green Tea Root Beer, a half can of Hansen's Creamy Root Beer, and an unknown quantity of Sailor Jerry's Rum. And a twist of lime, as you can see.

It tastes mostly of root beer (unsurprisingly), but there's the notes of True Sugar (from the Hansen's), the spicyness of rum, the tart hint of lime, and (best of all) an aftertaste of green tea.

Reagan's concoction. He did very well! (He usually does.)




Fruit on our counter. Fruit and garlic.

I am amazed by how quickly those bananas went from green to brown. They didn't even pause at yellow, if they ever saw it. Speaking of seeing, I see banana bread in our future! Hopefully there's a pan to bake it in also in our future.


Unpictured happy-making thing: new Mustek flatbed scanner. It's an affordable 11x17 instead of the usual 9x12 (or 8.5x11).


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Footnotes:
I am nearing both the 400 mark for posts (402, but that includes drafts), and my eighth year on Blogger. Maybe I'll do something special for November to commemorate that. NaBloPoMo is an option, but too easy. NaNoWriMo is also an option, but not quite thematic, but who's counting?

Lazy Sunday Tuesday

As long as Reagan's here, I'm sure every day will feel like a weekend. :P

It's only 2pm, but we've gotten not-insignificant amounts of organizing and relaxing done, plus there's a car acquisition happening in a couple hours. But I wanted to share this favorite part of my day so far.



Today is chilly, so I had to eat it before I could get the perfect picture.

Simply

I didn't get much done today between helping Reagan get stuff done on Base, workmen doing stuff to our townhouse (termite guy, and a new kitchen sink)... and buying (!) Reagan a new (!) car. (One of these in blue.)

We left home at quarter to five and didn't get home till nine thirty. I'm a little worn out.

Instead of all the fanfare and hoop-de-dah of showing off our new place* I'll just leave you with one of my favorite homey little details:



Here you see Reagan's shaving towel (bottom right) and my old (oooold) bath towel (bottom left) hanging inside the door to the master bath, paired with bright and soft hand towels from Ikea. On the floor is a navy blue bath mat that has a nubby texture that is delightful underfoot in the mornings.

I also like the bathroom's silver switchplate. I may need to get a silver doorknob at some point. :>


(Talked to my mom on the phone tonight for the first time in a couple weeks. Brief, but nice.)

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*At one point I'd thought it would get significantly better in furnishings and decor, but the car payment is a bit steeper than expected, so until I start earning the dough, certain projects and details around the home will have to wait.

That's obvious, isn't it?

This blog, specifically its title, i what I refer to as obvious. Not that the game of naming a blog should be to confound and confuse the reader. In fact, Laura is refreshingly straightforward in how she names her blog.

The reason I tilt my head and sigh a bit is because I made an excellent G&T a while ago I've been thinking quite a bit lately about what kind of blogger I'd like to be. (Wow, that sip was lime-y. In a good way.) Laura (the cooking photographer) announces front and center what her blog is (and delivers on the announcement, if I may say so).

In the past five years or so blogging has become a way to "make it". Posting on the internet (usually with photos) is a new way to success, measured by ad revenue, pageviews, merch sales, and bookdeals. Not everyone who finds their spotlight on this global stage sees career-level success like Ree Drummond does, but not everyone quits their day job once they've found their revenue stream (which may or may not be sufficient for bills/rent/car payment/new treat from time to time).

Once again (I'm sure this topic has been broached in the past several years I've been coming to Blogger to make real my thoughts) I ask myself "what kind of blogger will I be?" I find myself at the end of a road, again, and many possibilities spread before me.

I'm in a new town, I'm in a new home, I'm in a new state and a new time zone, in a situation I can't begin to fathom the depths of. Next week Reagan will go back to work, and even if home-making continues, it surely won't occupy all of my time. What will? I ask myself.

"Pursue your interests! and blog about them!"

My current interests include writing fiction, drawing, painting, photography, DIYing our house, furniture building, cooking/baking, and sewing. I think that pretty much covers it. But when I think about the blogs dedicated to any one of those things, I'm not particularly inspired to emulate them. Especially crafting/decorating blogs, and cooking ones, to an extent.

I think what I've come around to in the past week or so is that I don't want to pursue online status like I have in the past. Even though I'm in a position to jump into spheres with a vengeance and build my time around social networking (and content) it doesn't appeal to me right now. I could redesign my blog, wordpress it up, come up with a new and classy title... but it wouldn't be authentic Me.

No, I'm going to stay broody and pensive. Maybe write more poetry. (It is that season, donchaknow.) Broody, pensive, capricious, prolific, honest, and with a background I've had for almost three years.

Maybe not the last one, I guess.

Home alone

*pulls covers up to her nose*

I just dropped Reagan off for a special work day shooting the Marine Corps Marathon.

His alarm woke us up at 2:15, but I woke up about twenty minutes before that from a dream that we overslept.

Despite successfully going to sleep at 8pm yesterday, I think I'm going to try to get a few more hours. This home making stuff is exhausting!

Yesterday I put together one of these, one of these, and six of these in various sizes. The wire racks took lots of hammering. The table and wire racks involved lots of screw-driving.

Dad, of all the tools you've gifted Reagan and I with over the years, why couldn't a battery powered screwdriver been among them?! ;D

Speaking of Dad and things I'd normally post to twitter, phone reception here sucks. Calls get through, but texts don't seem to. And I haven't been carrying my phone, or taking time out to post status updates anyway.

Mmmh. more sleep.

Quick morning post

Feels good, doesn't it?!

I slept in a few hours past Reagan's get-up time, and while I was sleeping our big order from Ikea showed up.

Yesterday was our BIG SPENDING days at both Ikea and Costco, so now in addition to a lot of things, we have a lot of places to put things! I have a big weekend of putting things together ahead of me, but I'm looking forward to it. Maybe I'll take "in progress" pics today so you can see furniture in boxes, then assembled. :>

I'm awake and in a good mood! that is all.

The only way to describe it...

... is weary.

I've had an exhausting couple days, and there are a few more ahead.

Monday... I can't remember what I did Monday. Stress out, I think. But some of it involved going on Base and getting paperwork squared away.

Tuesday was almost a day off. We went to Fredericksburg, VA to browse antique stores. Found an amazing tea and spice shop, but Reagan wants to make a special trip for stocking up on teas. Silly.

We signed papers Wednesday, listened to the landlord tell us about different stuff. After moving the first carload of stuff into our living room, we hurried back to the motel to check out and get the rest of our gear.

Our first trip to a grocery store was minimal, food for the moment and a couple indulgences. Ikea buying trip #1 yeilded a mattress and two chairs; Costco trip #1 was similarly (that is, minimally) fruitful. (I was too tired and cranky to get a cart after we'd paid for our membership.) Putting together the chairs was satisfying, though.

Today involved waking up early for the Internet Guy, waiting for the plumber who never came, hurrying on Base to find out plans for Sunday, then mass quantities of shopping at the PX and the commissary. The latter resulted in a very full shopping cart.

In store for tomorrow: waiting for the plumber who will show up, and a second trip to Ikea! We'll be getting a worktable and something to keep clothes in, plus start collecting those things that make a house function like a home... like shower caddy, hand towels, the thing in your silverware drawer that separates the forks from the spoons. Also: more time at Costco, and storage for surplus non-perishables.

Previously we'd planned to go to a building surplus store in Maryland on Saturday, but I'm not sure I'll have the energy. I want tools for a couple woodworking projects I have in the pipeline, and they're having a sale.

Then Sunday... Reagan has to be at work at 3am to work the marathon in DC. I'll take him there, and pick him up again late that night. I have the whole day to myself to.... ?

Monday is another early day on Base to do some administrative stuff (motel refund, household move), then come six blissfully planless days.

Now, despite still being too worn out to game, much less write, I'm going back to some well-earned sloth. The clever and thoughtful posts come later.

Dates, they are Up-ing

I'm doing my best to resist the mild panic that's setting in, re: the monumentality of things going on right now.

Typing is not easy right now, my space bar is occasionally failing me. Just frequently enough to be distracting. I think I need to clean my keyboard.

Reagan has had to go in to work all this week, and I've had to drive him since we haven't had a good opportunity to teach him the ways of the manual transmission yet. Tomorrow may be the last day of that, may not be; Monday he has to make a brief appearance for his MstrSgt to sign off on his paid leave.

We're in the process of renting a townhome. Hopefully tomorrow we'll be able to sign the lease and get the keys. So much stuff in transition, it's radical.

Also, today we seriously discussed a second car. As much as I'd like to be hip and awesome and made of public transit, I'm a tad too spoiled by the many years of having my own car to be happy with the bus system out here in the 'burbs.

May things calm down soon to assist me in getting back to business.

and for my final trick...

I'm in my old room.

There wasn't much floor space in the room I usually sleep in, and the bed is already stacked with boxes (sheets and bedspread neatly packed in my car, too).

Sleeping on a couch downstairs was an option, but it seems more fitting to spend this last night in the room that was my home through my childhood.

I've done this before, contemplating the familiar geometry while the purpose and look of the room have changed many times over.

Today had some rough spots, but I don't want to remember those. No doubt my brain's etched more strongly with them than with the good moments, but I shall give it no encouragement.

The best moments were the dreaded goodbyes, first to Carol, then to my mom. I don't like to believe that things are really changing, that I won't see them on a regular basis anymore.

Carol really is my best friend. It's so hard to say why without sounding clinical. We, along with her boyfriend, went to California Pizza Kitchen where we have shared many a meal (and few a sangria), and spit the usual waldorf chicken salad, plus a pizza and these wonderful sonora egg rolls (I've gotta learn how to make those). Afterward we went to the Cheesecake Factory for dessert and hot drinks, and made sure to have Brian take a few photos of us. It took several tries to get it right, but I'm glad we did.

I tried not to say goodbye to my mom. Not that I avoided her, or avoided talking about leaving. I just tried not to make it feel final in any way. Sure, I want to be moving out for the final time, but, in terms of the relationship I have with her, I don't want moving out to be indicative of any kind of ending.

Earlier today, while I was creeping through the 80s (in terms of percent-ready-to-go), I asked Mom for some help packing kitchen things into my car. I showed her the space available in my car, and the items I'd pulled out of boxes. She helped me consolidate pots, pans, bowls, spices, utensils, glasses and my tea kettle into perfectly packed parcels.

Another time I thought of my mom today was on the drive to dinner. Within close proximity to each other, I saw license plates that said "8B48488" (and got to teach Brian that trucks have different kinds of plates than cars) and "B R A S". Talking license plates with Mom is always good times.

But the award for best times today go to Reagan. He calmed me down when I was slipping over the edge of meltdown tantrum, without making me feel like I was being completely irrational. Phone calls between us are rare, but a nice treat. Later in the day he was simply online to chat back at me when I was between heavy trips with boxes. One exchange went something like...
"Should I bring a space heater?"
"Yeah, it's getting pretty cold (for us)"
"Well, space heater or rice cooker? I only have room for one"
"RICE COOKER!!!"

I loves him so much. Can't wait to see him again. Something else Reagan-related that made me grin: Since much of our communication happens over text message, when he's going to the chow hall or out with friends, he says "I'm keeping you in my pocket". Normally on weekdays he's not allowed to have his phone with him (or really anything in his pockets), but I asked if he would make an exception tomorrow, so I can contact him from the road if need be. Reagan agreed to bend the rules for my peace of mind, saying that no one was going to search him, and they're eager to get him processed out of the detachment anyways.

While his integrity is something I admire about my husband, it makes me feel very loved that he'd occasionally pick keeping me happy over strict adherence to the rules.

Now I should seek out sleep because large unknowns and adventures await me at (after) sunrise. I take my final rest of life in Upland in my cross-country-travels sleeping bag, on top of the mattress Reagan and I shared in Savannah, in my childhood room.

:)

Right! This thing!

Hopefully I'm going back on the road soon. Cross your fingers that it also means coming back to my dear old blog again.

Reagan finally got his orders today.

Instead of being somewhere in San Diego like we expected, we're moving to Quantico, Virginia. Holy smokes!

The good news is that if I could pick a base in the lower 48 to move to, it'd be Quantico. The bad(ish) news is that we're not really prepared for it, as all the diagrams, budgets, and schedules I've drawn up over the summer were for living in San Diego. The good news is I can throw all that out the window and start over! I love planning stuff like this.