AaaaaaCHOO! sniff

Hooray for good health, a blessing I take for granted except on the rare occasions that it desserts me. I just spent an uncomfortable 5 days curled up on the couch with tonsils swollen to the size of Easter eggs and muscles aching like I'd run a marathon, (as if). Yes, I was visited by the streptococci fairy, who left me a colorful basket of germs that my body found irresistible. Bless you Alexander Fleming. Bless you a million times over.

"But wait!" you say... "You don't have a couch!" Too true, very observant friend. I was cat-sitting at my uncle's at the time of the infection - another source of gratitude. No one was in danger of catching it from me except the cats, and they're antisocial enough with me that even if strep liked kitties there would have been no danger. I'm quite happy none of my family, friends or colleagues can have possibly been infected by me. Of course the downside is that there is no cable, no internet and no cell phone service at my uncle's house, so I was bored off my nut. I spent the ENTIRE time watching dvds and sleeping. I think I watched a minimum of 50 hours of entertainment. And what was the first thing I did when I got home?... I turned on the computer and watched the 2 episodes of House I'd missed while I was away :D

I did fold a few pages while I was there, but I mean a very few... like 10 maybe. I had such big plans, alas. This photo is of one of the first books I ever folded which I am just now getting ready to list. I love how it turned out :D

What up?!

By the way... I know new posts from me have been pretty thin on the ground this year... but I'm not the only one. Every blog I follow has slowed WAAAAY down from last year. What's up with that? Has the novelty worn off? Is blogging giving way to some newness that I'm too technologically disinclined to know about yet? I miss all my daily communion with my artistic sisters of the world. Now it's more like a monthly communion. One of my favs hasn't posted yet this year!!! Come on peeps! I too will try to do better.

Peter Piper Perfectly Painted Pleasant Purple Pots

I've been spending a lot of time at the pottery place lately and I'd love to be able to post photos of everything I'm making. Unfortunately for my blog, but fortunately for those who read it, most of what I make is for gifts and I don't want to spoil the surprise by posting before gifting. I might not be able to wait, in which case I'll just post without disclosing the intended recipient. Then it will be a guessing game :) Although I run the risk then of friends and family being disappointed that they got piece A instead of piece B...

This piece has already been gifted, so I can gloat publicly about it now. This was the most last-minute, haphazard piece I've ever done, but I like how it turned out, more especially since I don't have to look at it every day :) The photo in the frame was taken with my wonderful friend Gail at Crater Lake. (Poor Gail still hasn't received her birthday pottery from me. She's moving. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!)



In other news, the display case which was going to house my ninjapony works has disappeared from the building with no word of explanation from the owner. I don't know what's up with that, but poo on him for poor communication skills. Just as well. I haven't posted anything to my shop in months, possibly due to the amount of time I spend at the pottery place. Heh heh. Christmas is just around the corner, folks. But really I have a dozen or so book sculptures ready to post, I just don't seem to do it. The photographing is daunting for me. I never feel I do it well. Suck it up Simmons. Time's a wasting!

Welcome Henry!

I have been totally remiss in not informing the world of Henry's arrival, over a month ago. My great-nephew. That sounds so odd to me. My great-aunts and uncles were all in their 80's when I was a kid. I don't feel old enough to be anyone's great-anything. Of course, I'm sure my SIL and bro didn't expect to be grandparents in their early 40's either... Isn't he a dear? Last time I saw him he was dressed in a little plaid button up shirt and khaki's just like his daddy, and he had started to lose his hair on the top of his head, like many babies do, so he looked like a little old man. It was awesome! I hope his Grammy got photos because it was too cute.

Happy Birthday Kimi... 2 weeks ago...

I sent my wonderful and highly gorgeous friend Kimi a birthday package and now that it has finally arrived, (no thanks to me - I sent it to the wrong address,) I can finally post a photo of what was inside :) Naturally, I made her a plate :) And again, I went to take photos, got one shot, and my battery died, so here is the one and only photo of my lovely plate. This is my fav so far :)

Gloat, gloat.

My other wonderful and highly gorgeous friend Gail's birthday is tomorrow, NZ time, but as I still haven't posted her package yet you'll have to wait for photos of whatever it might contain...

In other news, I met with an acquaintance today who happens to own the old JC Penny building downtown which now houses Starbucks and Noah's bagels, among other things. He has display cases in the main lobby/hallway/entrance of the building and starting soon, Ninjapony Paper Arts will be there for all to see, admire, love and purchase :) Yay me! lol.

Charity Never Faileth

I just returned from a very frustrating weekend away. I went out of town to help someone who had requested assistance and ended up feeling totally taken advantage of. The assistance was monetarily costly and basically ineffective. The people being assisted were disrespectful of our time and resources. I generally try to give people the benefit of the doubt regarding their motives when I feel hard done by, but in this situation it almost feels like a con, like the things that I'd like to chalk up to absentmindedness were, in fact, deliberate attempts to put me in the position of being long-term financially responsible for something they couldn't afford. I hate feeling like this. I don't like to think someone I love could be capable of such calculation. But either way, whether it was deliberate manipulation or egregious disorganization, the end result for me is the same. I'm out a chunk of change, I've lost respect for someone important to me, and I am that much more cynical about helping those in "need". I'm sure in a week or two I'll have talked myself into a more softhearted state of being, but right now I'm pretty pissed.

Happy New Year!

The year started well. I slept in and had a lazy breakfast which was interrupted by my brother ringing to say 'meet me at the theater across the street in 10 minutes and we'll see the new Narnia movie'. Lovely film, lovely company.

After we got home I took a tumble down the stairs and sprained my ankle, (yes, again! Left ankle this time. Could have been MUCH worse) followed by a trip to the vet to have our sweet little pet rat Bella sent to rattie heaven. She had a HUMONGOUS tumor and was starting to have mobility issues, so it was time for her to go before life became too painful for her, but I still cried like a baby. I don't even kill spiders or houseflies. It was very difficult to say to the vet, 'yes, go ahead and kill her'. I firmly believe in animal heaven and I know she's happier now and thankful we did what we did, but it was still sad. We buried her in the flower patch out front. In the spring she'll be surrounded by fragrant blooms. Man, I'm all teary just writing about it. Silly. She was just a rat, and she only lived with us for a month. And it was for the best. Yes, for the best. Humane. Sigh.

I wrote this bit a couple of weeks ago:

This last week was the 9th anniversary of my divorce. I kept my husband's last name after the divorce, mostly because I couldn't be bothered with the paperwork of changing it back. I had just finished getting all my ID and accounts changed over, it felt like, but I always said if I were still un-remarried 10 years after the divorce I would choose a new name for myself and keep it forever. That will be next year, which incidentally will also be the year I turn 40. Seems like as good a time as any for reinvention. And I do feel like I need to reinvent myself. I don't like myself much. I mean I guess I'm nice enough on a superficial level, but I'm not a dedicated person. I skate by on pretty minimal effort. In order to really approve of myself as a person I need to be more actively engaged in bettering myself, spiritually, emotionally, socially, financially. I need to cultivate more discipline in my life. So perhaps as a 40th birthday present to myself I will take for myself the name of one of the kindest and most industrious people I know; my grandfather Elmer Hansen. That's right. From now on you can call me Elmer. Just kidding. I'll keep Leah, but I'm serious about the Hansen part. The new me will not wait for the life she expected which hasn't occurred, and will attempt to cease repining for what she doesn't have. The new me will go forward with her life as a single person who has contributions to make and who deserves a full life, not a life of continually disappointed expectations. Not a life of waiting. I'm done waiting. My life is what I make it now, independent of anyone else.

Since writing the above I've made some specific resolutions for the coming year. Just two. Number one - I would like to take to heart the advice I heard in General Conference and become an early-to-bed-early-to-rise kind of person. I think I will feel better physically and be more organized if I get more sleep... so I'm going to try to go to bed and get up at the same time every day. Since my new work schedule starts at 6 am that means I'll be arising at 5 am every day Gah! And going to bed at 10 pm.
Number two - I will try to be nicer to people. I realize that's very vague, but I mean to try to be of good cheer, particularly at work, not to let little totally unimportant things get to me, not to let little annoyances ruin my whole day. I'm going to try to smile more, even if I don't feel like it. We'll see how it goes :)

And lastly, just because I can: Some days at work I think deep and meaningful thoughts. Those are few and far between. Some days I think frivolous thoughts. Those are many. Sometimes my frivolous thoughts amuse me to such an extent that I have to share them and today you are the lucky recipient of my confidence. Yesterday I witnessed an altercation between a driver and an unruly passenger who's language left much to be desired. It got me thinking about this poor young man who has yet to realize that profanity doesn't earn you respect, it marks you as a particular kind of person - one who can't hold their temper and has a limited vocabulary and therefore a limited intelligence. I started to think about the art of insulting intelligently... is there such a thing? Anyway, this is the result of my ruminations. Judge me if you dare: "If my canine companion were as unpulchritudinous as your mother I'd use a depilatory on her gluteus maximus and instruct her in the art of hindward perambulation". Bah hah!