Still struggling...

I asked mein Herr to see if he could figure out a step-by-step process for me to move pics from my computer to Photobucket to this blog. Well, not so much. This MacBook is new for us, and he hasn't had the time to play with the iphoto or some of the other bells and whistles. So...I now have a slideshow. He doesn't know how he did it. Oh well. Life moving on. JJ and I put the left side of the warp through the heddles, then J and I finished the right side. I did sley about three sections through the reed, but it was 9:30 and I gave up. I don't know if there are a lot of weavers with RA, but your joints will only let you sit in awkward positions for so long before they rebel totally. They woke me up about 4 am to tell me they hadn't forgotten, and they were still mad about the whole thing. Thank God for Vicodin and ibuprofen!

Today we're getting two brand new chairs -- recliners that don't look chewed on! That's a real miracle for us. One of these days, a new couch, too! The sad thing is, our chair and couch really are in good shape, structurally, but they're 20 years old, and the tweedy woven fabric hasn't held up well. The cats haven't helped much, either. Mein Herr says that if Isabella puts a claw on the new chairs, she's going to be a rug.

Whoops.

Obviously, that last post was...not right. If you click on the pic, it leads to my photobucket album where you can see all the pics about my loom. All you can really see in the pic is a very large roll of masking tape, and cat butt. Very artistic. Isabella (Spawn of Satan) feels that the loom is hers, and when we work on it, she is not happy. If you've never heard the term, 'Basement Cat', it comes from www.icanhascheezburger.com, an immense timewaster, but very entertaining.

I just finished listening to a podcast from craftpod.com, and nearly had to use a box of tissues. The host was podcasting with her mother, and talking about how they have crafted together over the years. Maybe it was just because I had just been over at Mom's, but I really miss having her as a resource to bounce ideas off of, or to cook with. We both tend to be "cook-by-the-seat-of-the-pants" types, rather than sticking firmly to a recipe, and usually end up looking in the cupboards to see what would taste good thrown into whatever we're making. Mom is 97 (98 in June), and due to the macular degeneration, and the deafness/word loss caused by mini-strokes, she finds it hard to communicate. She also is forgetting a lot. It nearly broke my heart when she came over to help us warp us the loom, and we ended up warping it completely backward because I was following her directions. She's warped more looms than I probably ever will. I resolve to tell more stories about her in this blog, to help keep her alive.

The rush is over, and I'm toast

Mein Herr's cold is still going strong, both in him and in me. Didn't make much of a partying atmosphere, since I felt like crap at all the family gatherings. The in-laws gave me a huge tapestry sewing machine case on wheels, big enough for my Janome and half another one. It has oodles of pockets, so I can keep all my thread, scissors, etc. in one place. Mainly, it will really come in handy when I take my sewing machine back and forth to school for projects. Mein Herr gave me a Sizzix, which is a handy dandy little die-cut machine, and I'm looking forward to getting some parts for it so I can actually use it.

The loom is still naked, although I had J drag up the warping board and the tub of warp, and pulled out 24 tubes of white warp. K still wants to warp up all white, although J and I are bored with that, and want to experiment with some more color. The pale blue worked well, although I understand that it limits the weft you work with. She and JJ brought home two shopping bags of rag balls from Nana's, but I haven't felt like looking through all of them.

I did spend my birthday money already -- Amazon first, of course, from my wishlist, and just now from The Woolery -- warp and mop cord in browns and reds. I really want to get my ebay orders of fabric in and weave some place mats. The papers I have to grade are glaring at me, but they'll have to wait. S gets her wisdom teeth out tomorrow, and I'll be waiting on her hand and foot for a couple of days. Pray that everything goes well for her. I know she'll be terrified.

Why didn't someone tell me?

Somehow, somewhere, I figured that I had another week until Christmas. Last Friday, the awful news dawned on me: Christmas is THIS WEEK! My only excuse is exams are rotting my brain. I have one more day, and then it's Christmas Adam. You know...because Adam came before Eve. That's when my family opens their gifts...and I went nuts Saturday wrapping gifts because if I hadn't, there wouldn't be any to open. I just have my MIL's to finish. However, I have much more cooking/baking to do. I did do several food-in-a-jar gifts last night: Spiced Mexican Hot Cocoa, Sand-Art Brownies, and Christmas Soup. I do like giving soup mixes, because it seems you're overwhelmed with sweetness this time of year. And they're handy to have on hand for those cold, snowy days.
My husband has had a nasty cold for a whole week -- really, I think it was more like bronchitis, since the doctor said his lungs were congested. I made him hot tea, medicated him religiously, and in return, he gave me the cold. Four days before Christmas. sigh.
I do have all my sewing done, I think, and eldest daughter is finishing the firewood carrier she designed for her future in-laws. She has no fear of diving into ambitious projects, definitely. And speaking of ambitious projects, we need to get that loom warped. Today. Or tomorrow, for sure. Or Wednesday....it's such a huge and back-breaking task, I'm procrastining.

Giant sigh of relief!

We're done! And really it was a success...I just wish we could have had more foot traffic. It's hard for me to judge things overall, as I get caught up in the nitpicky details. (Who turned off the Christmas music? Do we have enough spoons for the cheese soup? Should we put a mint on the trays? What did I do with those mints?) I will say that every vendor that I spoke to had nothing but gracious words for us, and especially for the hospitality. That is our speciality -- serving lunch to them at their booths, bringing them coffee and tea all day long, and because of my claustrophobia, making sure everyone was not crowded elbow to elbow in the placing of booths.
I didn't do badly myself, although I never can predict what will sell and what won't. I really want to get some more weaving in for next time, and K is right now weaving a rug for her friend for Christmas, threatening J with death and destruction if he messes with it. Her OCD makes her stress about making every section perfect, even though I tell her it won't matter. I want to warp up with black and white next time, and weave up the old chenille blankets.