Eye candy can do what you do do well, boyz & girlz

I bought a trumpet today. It's been eye candy-ing me every time I walked past the antique store that windowed it. The antique store that's going out of business here & being reborn in another form in Charleston. The antique store that drew me in today on my way to & from doing some other work & the asking price -- cash only -- was $1 less than I had in my wallet. (The reason I had that particular cash in my wallet anyway was because I'd already gone to the bank to get cash to buy a display shelf for $20. Now that was a great deal, too.) So, now, I have $1 & a trumpet. (Okay, I have far more than $1, but now I have a trumpet, too.)

So funny, because the trumpet was the one thing Derrick wanted from that store, although he had only walked past it when it was closed. (I'll let him use my trumpet. He actually kinda sorta from grade school days knows how to play.)

I was going to show you my trumpet -- or at least its shadow, for I took pictures of me carrying it home -- but I don't see, in this very second, the cord that hooks my camera up to my computer, so the trumpet picture will have to wait. To stay with the musical theme, though, I have a picture of an old piano that lives in an art gallery that is attached to a wine bar.

I've been having fun with 750words.com still. Here are my Frequently used words from 27 February 2012 (see, I do do dates that way).

already also art back car cool could derrick door ex go going got he just little might mirror my not now paper piece show somewhere still stuff trumpet up

Blog alternative:

226. Think about some eye candy you've seen in a window. Imagine a place for it in your home or office. Or, imagine it displayed in a restaurant or coffee shop that you frequent.

Warm-alicious, do the dishes

dandelion & little blue flower

February has been warm-alicious. Things are blooming & popping up. The birds are happy, if confused. Today it is a bit more seasonal, with wind & a high of 46, but that's still warmish rather than conformish.

I shall art today, of the visual sort. Walk, at least a bit. Perhaps play a bit of poker at Buffalo Wild Wings. Straighten up things. Do laundry. Maybe even some further closet cleansing. (The urge to purge.) Assemblage. Collage. Photographage.

So many things. Time to get to 'em. &--throwing in the kitchen sink--I've already smoothified some fruits & vegetables & imbibed the resulting elixir & washed up the dishes.

Blog alternative:

225. (Which is fun, because it's 2/25, if you happen to do dates that way. I don't. I like to go from most changing-y thing (day) to medium changing-y thing (month) to least changing-y thing (year) as in 25 February 2012. The other great thing about doing it that way is that it gets rid of commas in dates.) (But, I digress...) Ahem, 225. Search for signs of spring, even if it's just the idea for spring cleaning in your own space.

Hub Cap Champagne

in the kitchen, a bag of light

This is where I explain that I've gotten back into 750words.com habit & somehow that feels "write-y" enough that I blog less. Perhaps I will find the balance soon. Also, as you may see if I don't catch them all, I have the habit of not using capital letters (except for I) as I merrily type away on my daily 3 page equivalent. Ah well.

The spelling bee this month was an informal affair that involved dollars not at all, as the only participants (I shall not even call us competitors, as there was no eliminating) were myself & my ex-doctor-pilot friend Joe (from Buffalo Wild Wings, where he watches sports & has a drink or 2 while I play poker & have a beer) who is a very good speller & Mary, who has fun with it while she bartends at Olive or Twist. We just sat around & spelled. Joe is definitely going to give me a run for my money if we end up in actual competition mode.

The other new news sort of thing is that we had our first ballroom dance class on Monday night in Black Mountain. Very stimulating. Plus you get incredibly tired just moving your feet in the same step pattern over & over. Although it was billed as a four-session beginning waltz & swing class, there were quite a few people there who had taken it one or more times & the instructor moved pretty quickly from one thing to another. We looked at each other & moved back into practicing the basic box. That was enough. Get at home inside the basic box & THEN you can move out into the world of turns & such. It was fun & also included an exploration (solo & tandem) of various Black Mountain shops.

I believe I shall pop out for another bag of light soon. Return a movie to the post office (The First Olympics: Athens, 1896 -- part 2 to Blockbuster Online) & one to the library (Coco Before Chanel). Life, she be so good.

Blog alternative:

224. Pick up some free art supplies from the ground. Yesterday I found pieces of a broken cup, several mardi gras feathery boa bits with grass & mulch & dirt added, & who knows what all else. Use them in a collage or even just put them in a wine glass in a sunny window. (Unless one of your art supplies was a hub cap, as I found a couple of days ago. I do not recommend putting a hub cap in a wine glass.)

The Kudzu Wrangle rides off into the sunrise

the "before" picture of my closet

after the closet shelf had fallen down, with all inhabitants

The end of February's first week. Feb is excited (we're close friends, so I get to call her Feb) because she gets an extra day this year. She's a little sensitive about her duration -- it's called "short month's syndrome" -- so she tries to pack things in. Snow. Warm spells. Valentine's Day. When none of the other months were interested, she even bid on (successfully!) Groundhog's Day.

We have groundhogs here. We call them beavers, because that's what the little boy who used to live here called them (his last name is Beavers). The little ones are so cute. They are eating machines, which is good, since there's a ton of kudzu around. Kudzu is a very underutilized creature. I'm thinking of adding Itinerant Kudzu Wrangler to my job description & wandering around into people's yards, offering to train their kudzu into a gazebo.

Time for coffee & a shower & trying on a bunch of clothes. I bought a Groupon for Picture People in the mall & am going to be photographed.

Blog alternative:

224. Make up a strange job from bits & bites of your life, or the life around you. Imagine the resume.

Bloggy the Gremlin strikes again

Howard rears his ugly head

(looks almost classy in sunglasses

& a hat from the Solar Decathlon winner

(Appalachian State!

We saw it in person before it got disassembled

& shipped off to DC for the competition))

Floppy looking cute

A quick little post just to remind myself how easy this is. (Plus it's the last chance to blog in January...)

So, the closet. Much good work done today on it. Not that much more to do. & it's been fun. Even better.

The other thing I've dealt with recently is my car, which started making LOUD mufflery noises when I was pulling out of my parking space at Home Depot during one of my closet parts forays. I took it to the dealership (Harry's on the Hill--I'm telling you the name because they rocked!) & the guy said I could get a new muffler system (it wouldn't pass the NC inspection, which is due for me) for $1100+ or--& he actually recommended this--I could take it to a little muffler shop & have a piece of pipe cut out & a new one welded in. So I took it to this great little shop in Candler I went to for catalytic converter work last year (Budget Muffler, in case you need a shop) & they did in less than half an hour & charged me--get ready--$25.

Okay, so that's bloggy enough for today. The weather is just too too amazing for the end of January in the mountains. High of 60 degrees today, with 63 (my favorite temperature) expected tomorrow. I'm going to go walk in it again now. I do have more to say, so expect another post soon. I'm standing at my computer, which is on a lap desk perched on top of the printer. Me & Hemingway...

Blog alternative:

223. Think of some business that gave a great deal or great service or good advice & recommend them to someone.

Fortuitous Disaster, the creamy underbelly

Little-horned Bighorn Sheep

(not) swimming in tailings pond

Nye, Montana, at the mine

It is now almost the last of the first of the current. I tell tales of fortuitous disaster: it begins during the last of the previous.

During December, prior to Montana-ing, I got my bedroom/office/art studio spiffed & spick & spanned. The art supplies were organized on the closet shelf & on the book shelves in the little secret room created by placing my pencil post bed at a diagonal & draping a sheet (& some decorative elements) over the posts at the head of the bed. Oh, how lovely & ready for art action!

Then, at the end of week the first, year current, I returned home & began to leisurely use said supplies. During one of my recreation breaks, I was watching Star Trek: Deep Space Nine downstairs, catching up with the episodes watched during my absence.

I heard a crash.

You probably know what I'm going to say. Ah, yes. I went upstairs to find I had exceeded the load-bearing capacity of my closet shelf & all my art supplies & all my clothes were galumphed together on the floor of the closet.

I went back downstairs to finish my episode. (Alas, now all the episodes are watched...)

After some research at Lowe's & Home Depot, we chose ClosetMaid, the new superhero, to take on the duty of holding all. I tried to use their online design tool, but it doesn't work with Chrome, only Explorer, so I did it the old fashioned way, with lengths of pink string & bits of masking tape to represent shelves. I measured some clothes to determine hang-length. I decided how many clothes I was going to permit.

I call it a digital closet, an upgrade from analog, for I decided to hang clothes in the little slots at the edge of the shelves, rather than let them slide together on a closet rod. The clothes are particles, not waves. In, or out. No maybes. No scrunching. I still have some evaluation to do & some clothes to eliminate, but it's a lot of fun--& the shelves for supplies! Calloo, callay. I am indeed chortling in my joy.

My firm nothing-on-the-drafting-table-but-active-art-&-a-beverage (okay, the cell phone gets to occasionally park there, but nothing else!) has worked so well I am extending it to my desk system. One shelf in the closet will be my staging area for papers. Another new rule is this: chairs are not tables. A chair should be a useful place to sit things on, not set things on. We'll see how well that one goes...

I'm still sorting & organizing, but I have come far in this first of the current. As I progress, I shall share details--& even a picture of the closet. It has already spawned an art project idea. Fortuitous disaster indeed.

Such a long saga. More to talk about, but another time.

Blog alternative:

222. (what a lovely number) Count the pants in your closet. I am pretty sure you have more shirts than pants, so that would be a lot more work. In the counting, it is possible you will find you have an embarrassment of riches that cover your ass--err, mmm, assets. You may find that you have pants you do not wear, or cannot wear, or do not want to wear. Consider de-pantsing yourself.

The Ecluse says goodbye to the old year

au revoir, dear year

I sit here in Montana, the 29th of December, which is my sister Tracey's birthday. I doubt I will blog again in 2011. So many lovely experiences for the year. I would be hard pressed to list them & I would rather be soft pressed this late in the year.

If you email me & don't hear back right away, it may be because I am not in any sort of wi-fi zone & it may be for the same reason that I don't get into the whole social networking thing. I've come up with a great term for the condition--which is a surprising one for someone who used to check her email every 30 seconds or so. I am an ecluse. Perhaps it would be better hyphenated. E-cluse?

To all of you, I bid adieu to the 2011 versions. May the 2012 version be even more peaceful, loving, imaginative, creative, productive, intentional. May your new year be a masterpiece of clarity & dreamfullfillminting.

Blog alternative:

221. Say goodbye to your old self. Give yourself a day or two to just become. Say hello to the new.