Best Christmas Present EVER!!!

This is my brand new Top of the Line Simmons Beautyrest Pillow Top Ultra Plush Fancy Schmancy Mattress. That's the technical name. This thing of wonder now belongs to me courtesy of my highly wonderful and generous Uncle Snake, the best uncle in the world. I am in love. I should have taken a photo of the mattress it was replacing and you would better understand my excitement. I believe it was older than I am. It had the stains of generations of children and a valley as deep as the Grand Canyon eroded into the middle by years of burrowing bodies. If this photo makes my room look about the size of your average dorm room, that's an exaggeration. It's smaller. I have lived in houses with closets bigger than my current room. There is literally enough space for the lovely and fabulous new twin size bed and about a foot of walking space around the edge, most of which is taken up with very small furniture. Like the wallpaper? I did it myself :D

Whew!

Since posting the last, I received a message from the lovely and gracious buyer of the second sculpture informing me that it arrived in beautiful condition. Yay! I didn't kill it! My shipping method works :) I could see you were worried about it. Now you can rest easy.

Woot Woot!

Miracles do occur! I finally sold 2 book sculptures on Etsy. These two beauties have found new homes :)

I hope their new owners are pleased with the real articles. And I hope they arrived intact :0 I sent them off last week and haven't heard back from either of them if they survived the shipping process or not. I've been toying with the idea of closing my Etsy shop, since I hadn't sold anything AT ALL since I opened. Now I'm not sure what I will do. I'd like to find a local venue to sell at. That way people are seeing exactly what they're getting and I don't have the hassle of shipping. But this pesky day job keeps me from having the time or energy to pursue it more actively. And I guess part of my reluctance is shyness about the validity of my craft/art. On Etsy I can post anonymously and no one can tell me what I do isn't worthy. If I go to the local art/craft places here and say, hey can I display here, they might look at my stuff and sneer... yeah, yeah, I know - man up. If I don't have confidence in my art I can't expect anyone else to.

Ho Ho Ho

After a marginal evening at work yesterday which left me crankier than usual, I decided to make an attempt at elevating my mood before going home. My long suffering mother deserves better treatment than I was likely to have given her had I gone directly home, so I decided to visit the Mario Pastega Pepsi Cola Bottling Company of Corvallis' annual Christmas light display. This is a staple of Corvallis wintertime festivities and it wouldn't be Christmas without it. I generally strong arm my family into driving through on Christmas Eve, much to their annoyance to hear them tell it. They love it and they know it, no matter how much they might argue to the contrary.

One can't help but be cheered by such a display.

Alphabet Soup

My niece's baby shower is tomorrow. They're naming her wee bub Henry Mason, so I made this for the nursery wall. I hope she likes it and it doesn't end up in the closet... as a door stop. I fortunately live right next to a sporting goods store, the staff of which very kindly allowed me to skulk around taking photos. My favorite is the e. I was pretty stoked when I found that. I think I actually clapped my hands and jumped up and down. Right handed mitts are rarish. I also really like the texture of the h photo. Unfortunately I have to work tomorrow and can only attend the first 20 minutes of the shower, so I probably won't get to see the unwrapping of this masterpiece. My mum has strict instructions to observe and report.

My bro moved into new digs this week so I spent two days in Portland packing and moving so he wouldn't have to do it all himself in the middle of his midterms at school. I am sore. I press ganged two friends of mine into helping and I have it on good authority that one of them cried in the shower this morning while washing his hair because it hurt to lift his arms. I feel you, my friend. I have a bruise the size of Wisconsin on my arm. But it's worth it to see my bro in a better place. And he'd do the same for me, right???

Adieu, my little friend.

OK, I know I'm the biggest goober on the planet, possibly in the universe, but I can't help it. My little pink blogger friend sheep is gone and a bit of sunshine has gone out of my world. I know she made it difficult to load my blog. But she was always glad to see me, so unlike most of the people I deal with in my work. I deleted her and I felt like a murderer doing it. I actually cried. Big tears. How sad is it that one of my most satisfying sources of validation is from an electronic sheep. I need to get a life.

Floor

For a good long while now, possibly years, the floor in our living room has been deteriorating. There were soft spots where I'm sure if I had stomped really hard I would have torn a hole in the carpet and gone right through. It was in dire need of fixing, thus - Cody to the rescue. Cody is a mate from work who is infinitely capable. Last year he painted our house and built new front steps. I felt entirely confident turning this project over to him, although I know him well enough now to double whatever he tells me in time and cost.

I should have taken more 'in progress' photos, but my camera battery was dead for the first day of the process. These were really just an excuse to take pictures of Cody, who I think is totally adorable ;)

It's done now and feels so much more stable :) I don't have to tiptoe around certain spots anymore. We still haven't put everything back where it goes. It's a process.