Fragmented...

[merimask]

I'm thinking in sentence fragments.  Urge to write as such simply overwhelming.

Busy.  Finished the stupid belts.

There they are.  Dumb belts.  That's all I'm going to have time for, too.   Seven.  *shakes head*   Pennsic will just have to fight it out over 'em...I have priorities now & they don't involve accessories.  Still, they did turn out nicely.  I always do my best.

The plaques are coming along...coming along.  I've been at them all weekend.  It's all those tiny LEAVES that are tripping me up...so damn many of them.  Also I started the beading (pearls are simulated mistletoe berries) and the pearls are being hateful & ugly.  They're too irregular...I hate them.  I got as close to round as I could afford, but they still look too potato-shaped to me & so I've ordered some new nice regular glass-core pearls.  They'll be here by Friday so that still leaves me plenty of time to get other stuff done.

The other plaque is also having its share of bead problems (carnelian beads simulating holly berries), because the carnelian was exceptionally orange.  Not much I can do about it; they're a natural stone & sometimes they just look that way.  *shrug*  It's still pretty though.

Crazy stupid weekend.   My daughter wanted to throw a party for her best friend's birthday.  Our yard is small, the neighbors are old & mean, and we have only one bathroom so my Mom kindly volunteered HER backyard.  What a nightmare.  Can you imagine...13 teenagers in a backyard?  I don't know how we managed to survive.  It was too frustrating & exhausting for me to want to revisit the horror by writing it down...let's just say I'm never letting her do that again.  :-/

It occurs to me that teens are like ferrets.  They LOOK cute, & they seem like they'd be great pets...but they're just a few clicks short of wild animals.   They're domesticated only in the broadest sense of the term, they're smelly, & if you don't know how to handle them they can bite.  *sigh*  Really, no fun at all.

Happier stuff:  Look!  Look at what 

moonphased made!   Naruto onigiri, or something like that.  Isn't it adorable?    If I ever get to Tokyo I'm going to BEG her to teach me how to do that.  My sushi is pretty damn good, but that's just freaking amazing.  It's too cute to eat!

Back to glum:  My weight loss is still going really well.  I feel pretty good, my miles during my bike rides have increased (oh yes grasshoppers...even though I'm terribly busy I am STILL making time to exercise.  I'd go nuts without it) , my clothes are getting ridiculously loose.  But.  I have a problem.  My belly is freaking ugly.  :-(  It got like this the last time I lost weight too, only now it's even worse.  Having Charlotte stretched me all out of shape & nothing I do helps worth a damn...it's a saggy ugly thing.  I need a tummy tuck in the worst way.  They cost between 5 & 7 thousand dollars. 

Thing is, insurance sure won't cover it.  Certainly, my HMO won't.  Know what's obscene?  If I was on Medicaid it'd be covered!  Grr!  It's like I'm being punished for having insurance.

Anyway, it's really making me sad.  The more weight I lose, the worse it looks.   :-(

 

By the way, Harry Potter is in da house.  Mom brought over a copy of "Deathly Hallows".  I sure don't have time to read it though.  Charlotte...I'm not sure she even reads anymore.  I think all she does is slouch & sulk & think of new ways to make my hair go gray.  It'll come with me to Pennsic, I think.  I'll catch up on my reading there.

So yeah.  Pictures of all the plaque work coming soon.  They'll be spectacular, I think.

Comments

Belts and Potter (comment is not a SPOILER)

[bonnietognetti.livejournal.com]

I like your belts. I can see where you could easily sell dozens if you only had the time. My fav is the blue dragon. Nice photo, too. It show's some of the 3-dimension-ality of the heads.

I have finished Potter #7. So has my daughter, your sis-in-law, Marya. I called Marya. Said, "Got your book?" She replied, "On Chapter 8." So the race was on! At eleven this morning I called her again, "I'm done!" She replied, "You pulled an all-nighter, you cheat! I'm on Chapter 30." She called when she finished and we agree, to use a "Potter-ism" that the book is "bloody brilliant!" Don't read the chapter titles through. Makes it lots more fun. Love, Bonnie

[kls-eloise.livejournal.com]

As always the belts look great, even if you do hate making them. Look at it this way - there is a whole population of people who specifically come looking for your stuff. If they haven't learned by now that they should buy early... too bad for them.

Tell me if I owe you more for pearls. By the way - are you pleased with how it's looking? It was kind of a weird idea, the whole mistletoe thing. I'm still ruminating about spring, by the way.

Finished Harry Potter last night. Way late last night. The problem was that I found that I had NO recollection of book 6 and had to re-read it. I was pleased with how she wrapped it up.

Teenagers are strange creatures. But trust me - you'll get past it.

[ramblinsuze.livejournal.com]

The belts are beautiful! They may suck to make, but they look great. :)

I'm having the same skin issues with my weight loss...except it's EVERYWHERE. I hate it. Not enough to stop losing weight of course, but...yuck. BTW, I've been meaning to ask you what this tea is that you've been drinking? I saw tons of weight loss teas at the local health food store, but have no idea which one are semi-worth it.

[zannachan.livejournal.com]

I know you hate making them, but I always love your belts. I get a lot of compliments on mine.

I'm probably taking Harry Potter to Pennsic as well. I'm rereading the series, because I haven't read the whole series since book 4 came out, and I wanted them fresh in my mind. But I wasn't able to start them until recently, so I'm still on book 3. I think Calum is almost done with the new one, though. Which is good, because I'm taking it with me and I'm coming to Pennsic earlier than he is (he doesn't have the vacation time for 2 weeks of Pennsic).

[golden-meliades.livejournal.com]

My tum looked super bad after I lost weight too, especially having that major surgery on it. Some skin types won't bounce back after weight loss...my best's is PERFECT even though she lost about 40 lbs herself. Not a single stretch mark on her and no loose skin. She's half Greek...her skin is browner and thicker than mine, more stretchy and stuff. Lucky her :)

I did have the extra skin removed when I had my surgery scar revised to lie horizontally rather than vertically...which amounts to a tummy-tuck. It's that much where you are? It's 3,000 here. Was for me, anyway.

Certain types of massage can restore skin elasticity...I saw a woman on a weight-loss type series (10 Years Younger, I think) who had an ugly lumpy loose belly who had it returned to basically perfect after a bunch of weird kneading-massage type sessions. Pretty specialized though...reckon you can't find that sort of treatment very easily.

[pzb.livejournal.com]

The belts do look wonderful, even if they are the world's biggest pain sometimes. (And I'm speaking in terms of knowing what it's like to have to do the smaller stuff for a con....bookmarks are hellish for me.)

Hrmm...sounds like loads of fun with the teenager. I can safely say that's one more piece that's convincing me not to have children.

I hate HMOs. Hate Hate Hate Hate Hate.

[rumdiculous.livejournal.com]

What ya making plaques for? (I may have missed if you mentioned it before. Scatterbrained am I.)

Also birthday parties for teens = oh hell no. Really though, anything involving a large gathering of young teens just spells disaster unless the National Guard isn't involved.