Progress is good

This is what my studio looked like when I woke up yesterday. Holy jalopy that thing is a mess.

Here's how it looks now:

Aside from the two bags of trash, a VAST improvement. I spent the better part of 7 hours in there yesterday douching the whole thing. I found some things I had "lost" and some things I had forgotten I owned in the first place. Very nice. We had already taken out the closet doors to make a sewing niche (aww, how cute) so I added some shelves:

Here's the sad state my "desk" was in:

Here's how it is now:

I can actually see the surface. Imagine!

Jeff's side of the room is still a pit but that's his job so we'll just focus on my side, mm-kay. I had planned on starting at the front of the house and working back so in keeping with said plan, today's agenda involves the dining room, which looks like this:

Holy. Crap.

Well, that's not good, is it. What kind of animals live here?! Oh yeah, US!

Viva la renovation!

Mr. Clean, where art thou?

I just got back from lunch with some of my former co-workers. I used to temp for a big giant corporate machine (ick) and the only bright spot was the fact that the ladies in my department were awesome and made it fun. Well, most of them anyway. I try to keep in touch as much as I can but I am scatterbrained and easily distracted by shiny things so I'm not as diligent as I should be. I miss them all alot and I had a blast with them today even though we had limited time. You ladies ROCK!

Since today is day one of my break, I decided that since I am unable to relax, I am going to begin my organization crusade, starting with my studio. I took pics as it is now so you can really see the trashpit I try to work in. I am highly unorganized on a day to day basis and it shows. Jesus H Christ, what a mess! I'll post an update later today to show my progess or lack thereof since I am basically hauling everything into the dining room and starting over so I'm making a HUGE mess to try to clean up the ginormous one I had to begin with. Well done, me.

Ahhh

If you hear a giant whooshing sound, don't be alarmed. It's just the pressure releasing from my noggin because today was my last day of school for the semester. Hooray! I still have to go up on Friday to pick up some stuff but that's it. I have a nice 4 week break but I know that it'll be gone in like 2 seconds and then I'll be all like "DAMN, school is starting ALREADY?!" Today was kinda fun because we had a little luncheon at a restaurant near campus for the PR group I was in. I have to say that I've befriended more people this semester than ever before and I actually feel like a part of the art department. I'm still the old lady of the group, but no one treats me like that until they ask about my MySpace or something and then I'm like "huh?". I wanted to give them a "back in my day....." speech but I'll save that for next semester. They have, however, turned me on to the wonders of You Tube and we watched a video today called "My Hands Are Bananas" and I almost wet myself laughing. Those crazy Germans.

I'm spending my break putting the house back together and finishing up all the little art projects I started but abandoned in favor of homework. I'm also planning on making a few fancy cakes, starting with a Christmas cake in the shape of a gift. It's going to be a bit wonky and crazy and I hope it looks as good in real life as it does in my head.

Fishsticks

It's freezing in my house right now because it's COLD out and if I turn the heat up the bedroom, which is directly above the furnace, will suddenly become 85 degrees and I can't sleep if it's too hot in the bedroom. I mean, who sleeps when it's hot in the bedroom, WINK WINK! Oh yeah! Just kidding. Anyway, I have the house cold so I decided that instead of wearing a sweater with my sweatpants and t-shirt, I would use a shawl. I feel very glamorous in it. I feel like if Gwenyth Paltrow were to be in her flat in London and she would get a chill she would go get her shawl and wear it casually and look all cool and chic which I am not but am trying for. I don't know why I said Gwenyth Paltrow. I don't really like her. I don't hate her. I don't really have an opinion either way but she is who popped in my head when I decided to wear the shawl. Anyway, what the hell was I going to talk about?

Today was my last official day of class. I still have a couple of classes next week but it's all critiques so it isn't a normal class period. I'm still not done with all my projects but I'm hoping to finish tonight so I can actually have a weekend. I'm really glad to be out of school for the semester. I have all the same people in most of my classes and many of them grew tiresome. There is a joke at school that the 4th floor (the art department) is where all the crazies are and it's kinda true. There is one guy who began the semester really quietly and he has turned in to the most annoying fellow. He's got a slightly creepy vibe and I swear to god the guy retains NOTHING. He constantly asks questions and I know that's a good thing but he does it excessively and he asks the same questions over and over and over. He will basically hear the instructions but retain nothing and then have to ask about every detail of the assignment that we JUST GOT but he has forgotten already. He also interjects in other conversations and makes idiotic jokes. The other day the happened:

Instructor: "Okay, your assignment's due at 10am, in whatever state you have it in."

guy: "So if we're in Maine, we still have to turn it in?"

Instructor: "What? I don't understand."

guy" You said to turn it in in whatever state it was in so if it's in Maine we still have to turn it in, right? HA HA HA HA"

This is what I sit next to. I mean sat. YEAH!

UPDATE: I have now dunked my shawl in the sink 3 times and the toilet (it was CLEAN) once. And it's not really keeping me warm. I'm putting on a sweater. Dammit Gwenyth, how to you manage?

Facts & Figures

My friend Gwen has a blog called Everything I like Causes Cancer (see her link below, read it, she's awesome) and there is some thing called a meme or something and basically you get "tagged" by other bloggers and then you have to write 8 random facts about yourself and then tag another blogger and so on. This is cool and I will tell you why in.................

Fact #1 - I like to fill things out. Especially my pants! ba dum CHING! No, I mean those emails where there's a long list of questions like what's your favorite smell and are you wearing pants and stuff and then you send them to your pals and then you all send them around and you find out lots of cool stuff that is usually forgotten in 6 minutes but it really fun to read anyway. This is like that.

Fact #2 - I save receipts. Any receipt. I find them in my pockets, in the middle thingy in my car, on the floor in the car, under my bed, in random plastic shopping bags laying around, in my dresser drawer, in my purse, in my wallet, I could go on. Some may call this a "compulsion" but my grandma instilled in me that you NEVER throw away the receipt lest you decide in 3 months that you need to return it. Apparently I have applied this to everything from lattes to shoes to a Del Taco burrito.

Fact #3 - I hate coconut. This is no revelation to anyone who knows me but it is one of the few characteristics I have kept my entire life. I hate coconut a great deal. I also hate when people find out that you hate something and want to convince you that THEIR version of said item is THE BEST and you will LOVE IT. They usually guarantee this claim as well. Let me explain this to you people. I have spent 33 years hating something. I've had LOTS of practice and I've been around the coconut block a few times so it is insulting that you would think that YOU and your coconut shrimp or your pina colada are what will change this. You are not and just typing the word "pina colada" make my stomach lurch. I don't care if you dip it in gold, I don't want it and no I won't just "try a tiny piece" so stop asking. However, I will eat certain foods that contain coconut milk but NOT coconut pieces. I also dislike people who see me eat it and then they're all "HA! You just ate coconut! SUCKER" as though I was totally unaware of the contents of my peanut sauce. It's like they win or something. This is a very limited clause and it really only applies to peanut sauce which is delicious but for everything else I will always ask if there's coconut in it. Even like casseroles and stuff. Weird. Anyway, just in case you don't believe me, my grandma used to make the most beautiful coconut cakes from scratch. She would sit and grate the coconut forever and they were like these perfectly white fluffy snowballs and I LOVED it when she made them and I wanted to grab them and hug them but I never once in my whole life EVER ate a piece. Not even a crumb. I used to cry because I wanted to like it so badly but I just couldn't bring myself to ever eat it. That's how much I hate coconut.

Fact #4 - I have used the "firming" variety of body lotion every day for like 4 years and I still have saggy cellulite. I don't use it because I think it works but rather I'm afraid to see what will happen if I stop. I keep imagining I will wake up the day after I switch and I'll be covered with 7 layers of blubber. Well played, Neutrogena, well played indeed.

Fact #5 - I love the Lord of the Rings movies and I will always watch them when they're on no matter what point of the movie. Wizardry!

Fact #6 - I overuse the words "awesome" and "apparently". I will continue to overuse them.

Fact #7 - I know ALL the words to the song "We Didn't Start The Fire" and the song is just him listing off world events in rhyme. dumb. For some weird reason my 10th grade social studies teacher used the lyrics for some lesson or something and we got a copy of them and they've been lodged in my brain ever since. I can't remember birthdays and I retained nothing from any math class I've ever taken since about the 9th grade and yet I know all the words to a mediocre late-eighties Billy Joel song. Sad.

Fact #8 - When I was in second grade, my school was having some kind of talent show type of thing and I decided that I would do a "dance routine" to Olivia Newton-John's smash hit "Physical". My memory is fuzzy but it was basically me in a headband and leotard with an old cassette player doing jumping jacks and various "aerobic moves" to the music. I do not believe I put on a good show. This memory is really funny to me because I have no idea why I would have done this nor do I ever recall practicing a routine or anything and yet I still picture it happening. I even remember asking a girl on the bus going home if I did okay and she told me it was boring. I wonder if anyone else remembers this? I wonder if it really happened. If anyone was at Clayton Woods elementary in 1983, let me know if this is real.

That's it. I'm supposed to "tag" someone now but I don't know if my skills are up to it. Dang this post was long. You're probably tired now.

The Grand Finale

We finally finished fondant class and here's the end result:




I'm REALLY in love with my cake. I usually pick my stuff apart and point out every flaw but I'm just gonna enjoy this one. There is a cake show in February at the Botanical Gardens and my instructor wants me to redo this on a dummy and enter it. It isn't juried or anything but it would be pretty cool to have my cake in a show. Class was spare and the ladies that showed ended up with really nice cakes. Some were better than others but one girl did a blue cake with royal icing snowflakes that was SO cute. I'm gonna spend the next couple of months practicing fondant stuff and then I'm taking gum paste in the spring. MAN, I am so down with this cake stuff. ANNOUNCEMENT: I HAVE LEARNED A SKILL. Go me.

My Mii looks like me. Really.

Tonight is the grand finale for my cake class. I have spent the past week mulling around different designs in my head and I finally decided on branches with pink blossoms and a pink bow around the sides. I wanted to forgo a bow entirely because I'm not really a bow kinda girl, but it's good to practice and I think I can make it work. I'm a little nervous because I think that the ladies are gonna pull out all the stops tonight and I don't want to get laughed out of class. I'll post a picture tomorrow of the final project.

We had a pretty good weekend despite the crap weather we had. We had to order edging for our countertop and it hasn't come so we haven't been able to make much progress on the kitchen. I'm hoping it comes this week because I have two weeks of school left and then I'm on a mission to get the house put back together. I have a ginormous list of all the stuff I want to do but we'll see how much of it actually gets done. I have high expectations for myself but alas, the call of the couch is deafening.

My sister got her Wii on Saturday so we went over there to play and HOLY LORD IT WAS SO FUN. We played tennis and bowling first and then my sister and I went to town with Guitar Hero. Jesus H. Christ, that is an AWESOME game. I've never been into video games aside from the Atari I played when I was a kid but I might be a convert at this point. I'm hoping Santa can find a Wii in his bag for us, too. I feel like a rock god playing guitar hero and I'm only on the practice mode which is only like three notes and I played Foghat over and over. It was SWEET.

To Liz, I understand now.