5 posts tagged “random musings”

Today would have been my parent's 47th wedding anniversary.  I say 'would have' because my mom died 4 years ago.  No, not on their anniversary which would have really been unpleasant.  It was 3 months later.

I called my dad just to let him know I was thinking about him.  I didn't bring up the event, the significance of the day, or anything else but he knew why I called.

Mr. Rastl made the mistake of asking how I felt about him leaving it on the calendar.  Funny thing is that I have it on my personal calendar and I was fine.  His asking made me atypically weepy.  It didn't help that I've been corresponding with someone and Christmas came up.  That was her favorite holiday.  So the two rather combined with predictably results.

The thing that really brought it home was a small, well-taped box my grandmother gave me many years ago.  It contains a relatively inexpensive sugar and creamer set.  The only significance to it is that it was on the table for my great-grandparent's 50th wedding anniversary and has the '50th Anniversary' on it in gilt.  She gave that to me so we could use it for my parent's anniversary.  That's packed well away and I don't know exactly what I'll do with it.

Granny couldn't use it because she never made a 50th anniversary.  She knew she wouldn't due to having lost 2 husbands so she gave it to me because my parents were going the distance.

Happy anniversary mom and dad.  43 years is damn good even if it should have been a lot more in a more fair world.

I've got a variety of unconnected updates so I'll just use Rob's Bullet Method(tm).

• I'm a complete painting slacker.  My arena pieces and the leezards are just sitting on the paint table collecting dust.
• My friend is making a swing lamp holder like the Illinois painting group uses (which he also made) so there's a good chance of getting decent light at paint night soon.
• My friend likes to over-engineer so there's glue, epoxy and wood screws in the swing lamp holder.
• Thanks George.
  
• My hope is that better light at paint night will bring in more painters.  And help the ones that show up all the time improve their skills.  Everyone can always improve their skills.
• I'm a communication junkie.  I've been corresponding with a few people and when I don't have at least one e-mail waiting for me in the morning I get sad.
• Overhead lights + halogen floor lamp + iron set on high = room gets hot.
• I've been sewing.  Check out the FashionAeons blog over to your right if you're at all interested.
• Roomba is modified but the battery hasn't liked the on again-off again usage.  New battery is in the mail.
• I have absolutely zero willpower when it comes to new hobby tools and fabric stores.  None.  Nada.  Zip.
• The new version of Reaper's Warlord rules is at the printer and I need to rebalance my demo armies.
• Math is hard.
• Planning has started for this year's RastlCon.
• I need to redesign the RastlCon website.  I'll probably go WordPress.
• I got additional XP in our last game because of role playing.  I guess I need to start drinking early every game!
• I might go to the renaissance faire in costume if one of my friends wants to go that way.
• I need to find my old renaissance faire costume.
• I hope I still fit into my old renaissance faire costume.
• This year is the 25th anniversary of the Court at the renaissance faire.  I was in Court for 5 years.  Odds-on money is that I'm not contacted/invited.
• I want to try learning to use the roller blades I bought for my first midlife crisis again.
• I'm afraid to try learning to use the roller blades I bought for my first midlife crisis again.
• My friend Kris is responsible for me wanting to try to learn to use the roller blades I bought for my first midlife crisis again.
• Thanks Kris.
• I was able to get rid of some of my enormous stash of foamcore recently.
• I plan on dumping some of the remaining foamcore at the gaming store.
• I'll need more foamcore after I reduce my stash.
• I have no current plans to make anything with foamcore but I know I won't have enough when I do.
• I have too many hobbies.
• I have too many projects started.
• I will probably start a new project yet this month.

I could probably go on but that's enough for now,

There's a really stupidly obvious 'nutrition blog' on Yahoo that is supposed to help you make healthy choices when dealing with restaurants.  Instead of ordering one thing, they suggest another one.

I say it's stupidly obvious because they're going to suggest things like 'small dinner salad' instead of the 'smothered potato skins'.  ~sigh~

Being me I always get insanely hungry for the 'naughty' menu items.  As a matter of fact I think that's what I'm having for lunch today.  Several of the bad items from one of my favorite fast food places.  Because I can.

Obligatory lolcat because of the subject line.

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

I don't expect there to be a coherent thread throughout this post so don't try to find one.  As the title says, these are random thoughts.

The 'charity'
I used to contribute to what I suppose could be considered a charity.  After reviewing some of their practices and their agenda I decided to stop my contributions.  I had joined their 'executive club' which really meant that I did automatic payments.  Oddly enough, right around the time I did that they stopped sending the free stuff like address labels, umbrellas, etc.

So I canceled my membership and never looked back.

Who's surprised that I'm getting all the freebies again?  I use them because, well, they're useful but I don't give them a dime.  I'm rather pleased that they're spending money to send me things because that's less money they have to do other things, such as forwarding agendas that don't match with mine.

Clutter
I'm guilty of letting clutter build up around here.  I've always been this way and I really do try to be better about it.  No towering stacks of things in the living room, clear off the dining room table, etc.

But I looked at the living room and there's quite a stack of stuff on both my table and the chair where I keep my notebook case and other luggage-type items.  The dining room table is pretty much covered and needs a replacement tablecloth.  The cats have had far too much fun with the cheap one that's on there now.

There's also a growing pile in the office that needs attention.  That one is more difficult because there's really no good place to put these things.

So today I'll make a determined effort to reduce the piles and put things where they belong.  That's something I've been improving as well.  I don't just put things where they can't be seen.  I put them where they belong and solve the problem.  If I don't keep on top of it I get things like I have today.

Cleaning
I've also not quite kept up on the cleaning.  Things aren't dirty, they're just not clean.  Dust, streaks, things like that.  All the 'tidy up' work that needs to be done regularly so the house doesn't look untended.

One problem is that Mr. Rastl doesn't have a lot of time to help and I really don't like asking him to do work on the weeknights when he has so little time.  But then he's got his own list of things he needs to do on the weekend so I can't add to that in good faith.  I suppose I could but I don't.  Maybe I should.

Maybe as part of the clutter reduction I'll try to get some of the more visible cleaning done.  I know I have robot servants but they can only do so much.  And the vacuum robot needs a modification.  Which requires an internal part to be removed.  By Mr. Rastl although I don't doubt that I could do it he wants to help out.  That was on the list for this weekend before the plans radically changed.

Sewing projects
These keep piling up.  They're all things I want to do and one or two things I need to do.  One lame excuse is that my ironing board is being used to house the finished arena pieces and I'm keeping them out because they're not varnished.  I've also let clutter take over the sewing machines a bit so that's another lame excuse.

I can come up with excuse after excuse but it all comes down to motivation.  To cut out pattern pieces I need to set up the cutting table in the dining room.  Mr. Rastl says he doesn't mind but he's still sleeping in his chair (his back doesn't hurt when he does that) and he goes to bed early.  That doesn't leave me much time on the weekdays to do cutting out and weekends tend to be busy.  No cut pattern pieces means nothing to sew.  And cutting out takes quite a bit of time to do right.  Depending on the pattern I'm lucky to get 2 dresses cut out in one session.  Things like tailored jackets have far more pieces than you would expect.

I also have some patterns I want to modify.  Those take even more time since it involves tracing out pieces and reworking them.  I have one dress that's mostly fitted and I can use that one as a guide since the style is a classic one and I have several variations of that dress I want to make.  But every pattern will need alteration and to do it right takes time.  And tape.  I've got tape.  I think.

Which brings me to ...

Doll and miniature projects
I still have these projects on my 'want to do' list.  Mostly I can do these in my existing space since the pieces and parts are so small.  Mostly.

Time and inclination are my current enemies on these.  I sometimes wonder if I have too many hobbies but they all overlap so well that I have a hard time thinking that taking any one or two out will make a significant difference.  I've actually pared down my hobbies so that there aren't any outliers and have gotten rid of the supplies and tools to make room for the ones I actually use.

So I'm postponing some of the the projects that have been wandering around in my noggin until I finish other ones.  It's much more fun to start a project than to see it through to the end.  I know this and try to avoid the situation where I have 27 things started and nothing finished.  That's another reason why things are piling up.  I'm in the 'start something new' mindset and not the 'finish up those projects over there' one.  I'm reordering my thinking and working up the enthusiasm to finish off some of those that I have started.

The last item of note regarding doll and miniature projects is what to do with them when they're complete.  Miniatures used to be easy - I would send them to my mom.  But that's not an option any more so I get one almost done then get caught up in the conundrum of what to do with it when it's complete.  That thought generally stops me cold.  I have very few people on who I can dump these now and I'll probably end up selling them on eBay.  I like making them, not collecting them.

Collections
I'm quite proud to say I'm not a collector.  That is, I don't have a 'collection' of anything.  I'm not looking to get all the figurines that were created by Company X in 1987.  I do have a few collections of items but every one of them is packed away doing nothing besides taking up space.

I'm hesitant to get rid of them.  Many of the items were gifts from my mom and we all know what happens when you start thinking of getting rid of such things.  I used to have/make display space for them but this house doesn't lend itself to that and the cats make it nearly impossible.  And I don't like to dust.  Displayed collections of any kind tend to be dust accumulators.

So I leave them in their boxes and try to forget they exist.  There's nothing of any real value there so selling them isn't worth much of my time.  Donating them to the thrift store is the same problem.  No value.  We haven't had time for a yard sale and there really isn't enough variety to make it work.  Who wants to go to a yard sale with just a few types of items?  And see those 'no value' comments above.  My time is worth more than what we can reasonably expect to get back in yard sale revenue.

Socialization
No, not the political kind.  The 'get out and meet people' kind.  I don't do that nearly enough.  I have a very small circle of local associates and that's about it.  I have plenty of online friends but that's not enough socialization.  I need to be around people or I start to get withdrawn and odd.  That's one reason why I go into my office far more than I work from home.  I need the people.

My lack of time precludes me from joining most clubs, even if we had any around here that interested me.  The clubs/organizations for my hobbies are in the cities far north and south of me.  Figure it would take an hour to get there and an hour to get back, being generous and good traffic.  That's too much driving just to hang around with people I only see once a month.  And if the weather's bad or things don't work out so I can make the trip, then it's that much more difficult the next month.

I do host miniature painting once a week at the local game store but that tends to have a very regular crowd.  So again, not much in the way of new people.  Technically it is socializing and that's one reason why I work hard at showing up there every week.  That and I'm the host.  So that gets me maybe 2 hours of person-to-person contact per week.

Conclusions
I think my spell checker gave up about half-way through this post.  I don't blame it.  I've been rambling for a while.  I don't know of any conclusions to be drawn here except that I have too much stuff, too many hobbies, not enough time and need to get out of the house more.

Some thoughts from the last few days.

• Epoxy is great but it stinks
• 5 minute epoxy is great but don't decide to try to make changes while you have it mixed
• Dixie cups are multi-use.  Rip them short to use the bottom as a palette and then use the sides (ripped in pieces) to mix epoxy.
• Separate epoxy components are still sticky
• Acetone cleans sticky
• Make sure your superglue is set (dry) before trying to paint over it
• Paper sucks up paint.  Plan accordingly
• Paper gets pliable when wet, such as from painting.  Plan accordingly.
• Straight pins are difficult to cut and the cut ends go 'ping' all over the room.  Stick the pin in a piece of foam and then cut.
• No matter how careful you are, you'll forget and try to use beads directly out of the open container.  Beads hurt when you step on them.
• When you put something "where it will be safe" you'll never find it again. I guess that's one definition of safe.
• Completely prepping for a 'make and take' will ensure no one shows up.  Forgetting half your stuff will ensure a ton of people show up.
• Always look where you have your puddle of epoxy.  Don't put it where you normally put your elbow, brushes, tools, bits, cats, media player, your other elbow, the phone, the cell phone, another finished mini, etc.  Not that I've done any of those things.  Nope.  Not me.
• Research other paint jobs before slapping paint on an unfamiliar type of mini.  Or terrain.  Or cat.
• Don't paint the cat.
• When your spouse is on a roll of "Honey!  Come look at this!" feel free to ignore them after the first three if they're all about things that aren't going to happen, don't concern you, don't interest you, or aren't going to suddenly show up on the porch.

Yep.  That's about it for tonight.