Bari J.

Work Play

Weekend synopsis:

When there wasn't some of this...

Or some of this...

or this...

There was some of this...

And I loved this...

And I know I promised you some of this...

Ahhhggghhhhhh! (Ok, it's not that bad, I'm just prone to drama.)

La la la. What a week. I have no idea where time went off to. Kids were out of school on Monday (teacher's work day... can there be more of those???), I had a little disappointment on Tuesday which hosed the whole day. Then Wednesday, Thursday and today I spent playing catchup. (Note to self: limit pity party for self to one or two hours minutes not the whole day.)

I found myself sitting here last night at midnight creating a sign for Farm Chicks. It's a really big document and while it was saving in Photoshop, I was falling asleep. Head bob. Head bob. Oy. After about the fifth time my head went bob-diddy-bob, I realized it was time for bed.

Today it was cut cut cut cut cut bags... drive drive drive bags to seamstress. I usually send a big package of fabric and cuts to her on Wednesday via UPS, but missed that deadline, then missed the same deadline the next day. So today I was forced to drive it there. Needless to say this didn't make me very happy.

Plus, I meant to take some pictures to show you of the artwork on the front of the bags, and totally forgot. Poop. And, I'm absolutely convinced that there is something missing from the box. Did I forget a side or bottom to a bag? Am I going to find a straggler handle somewhere in this mess tomorrow???

I want to show you a picture of the floor in this room, but I have a strict rule about only posting pretty pictures. No dirty laundry, or some a pot full of goop that I'm cooking up for dinner. ((I see a lot of pretty dinner pictures here in blog-land, and I always wonder how you got the light so good when pointing the camera down into a pot. Someday you'll have to explain that to me.))

So, I leave you today with this banner. It took forever and a day. For whatever reason I was having a brain fart about how to do the scallops. I shall share this with you some day because I had a serious light bulb moment and figured out how to do it. It was painfully obvious... I guess that's why I missed it. Like I said (or do you know this by now?), I'm always looking for a way to create drama.

Good night.
~b

Mood Enhancing

Is anything better than a vase of tulips?

Only a vase of pink and orange tulips.

To Do

Take more bike rides with my kids. Read more Great Books. Craft just for me. Take more pictures of the kids. Go to the Beach. Go on a Date with Super Husband. Drink a glass of Wine. Sleep in. Make great meals. Take a VACATION. Dream. Take a Hike. Read with the kids. Buy Flowers. Make a skirt. Finish a Quilt. Go Antique Shopping. Take a ride with no destination. Make some stationery. Write letters. Plant a Garden. Go to France. Try new Teas. Enjoy the Sunshine. Drink Lemonade. Take a Walk. Listen to Music. Be Silly.

Happy Weekend!

The Funky Dunky Arm and The Ladies in Waiting

I preface all of this with the fact that I am accutely aware that things could be worse, and that I am truly blessed and all that good stuff.

Buuuuut... all things being relative,I gotta' do my little whining routine and get it out of the way.

I've got all these pretty fabrics waiting to be turned into aprons and low and behold the workload (or my own carelessness) finally caught up with me.

I'm not complaining, mind you. Oh, no, not me. But Super Husband is "Sick-And-Tired-Of-Hearing-About-It", so it's your turn now.

This will sound silly, but what's happened is I have a "repetitive motion injury". Whaaaaaat???? Uggch. Sounds easy enough to get out of the way... but no... I have done quite the number on myself.

About two weeks ago, I woke up with numb fingers, which isn't unusual. I do every day (carpal tunnel, don't we all have that?). But that day, on the ring finger and pinky of my left hand it didn't go away. Still hasn't. Tingle, tingle as I type away. Must type with right hand.

Now, most things, I'll ignore. In fact, it's my habit to get on Web MD and I look up things it might be. Then I find the most benign possibility and decide that's what it is. My Plan is to Forge Ahead in Bissful Denial. (Note: this never applies to my kids and dogs, them I drag to the doctor on the first sign of trouble. Super Huband is on his own, because he's impossible to drag.)

But my plan did not work this time. Web MD didn't quite let me get away with it. Numb fingers means "go to doctor". Phooey!

Don't I have better things to do with my time?

Apparently not. Because it turns out I've done a little damage to Miss Elbow, hand, wrist, neck et al. And if you touch that funny bone area it sends me straight to the moon. And I mean just slightly touch. Not tap, not knock. Lightly touch and there I go...Zing-diddy-zing.

This means a bunch of trips to physical therapy (which, btw, are not seeming to work) and possibly a trip to Scary Doctor with shots in the elbow. Or worse, the neck, which is apparently where most of this mess started in the first place.

Ugggch! This is all very unappealing.

Honestly, I've never had anything that stopped me from doing the things I need to and want to do (aside from little surgeries here and there). I'm very fotunate. So, this is causing me some distress. I realize I'm almost 39 years old, but it really feels like high school was about a week ago. So, this just seems down right silly. I couldn't have repeated a motion enough to injure myself. I'm just 18... errr 38 years old. Not enough time to do that.

There it is, folks, my whining quota for the year has been met. No more! And Pretty Lady in Waiting Fabrics, I'm going to find a way to get you made into aprons, with or without me.

PS... On a funny note... To sleep, I have to wear this great big splint on my arm... along with a wrist brace on each hand because it apparently isn't good to wake up with numb hands... And to top my lovely outfit off, because I grind my teeth, the dentist has me wearing a mouth guard. Oh, and because it made me laugh, I decided to wear old sweat socks to bed too. Really. It's a sight to behold.

The Never Ending Quest for Organization

I was near a Container Store today, and I had an urge to go in. This is nothing new. If ever a place lured me, it was a Container Store. Zombie-like, I am drawn in like a magnet. But today I resisted this urge. And this is when it all started.

You know how when you try to resist eating a cookie it sometimes leads to a feeling of deprivation... which then causes you to eat the whole box (I've never done that ... ah-hmm... I'm just saying...).

That's what happened when I resisted the urge to go into the Container Store, open my wallet and pour out the contents. It caused me to return to my studio and literally tear the place apart in my never-ending-quest-for-organization. Curse the Container Store!

I wish I could show you the mess, but alas, I am so appalled by it, this can not be done.

I will however show you the one and only drawer that is finished while the rest of the room is in shambles. Isn't Hello Kitty cute? I put her there just for you. She belongs in the back.

You do know that I can't go to bed with this mess here or I'll never get anything done tomorrow, don't you? The mess will weigh on me. I'd stay in my pajamas, aimless all day.

I know you don't believe me, but it seriously looks like a bomb went off in here. You'll just have to trust me on this one. Super Husband walked in took one look and turned around and left. He knows better.

So here goes nothing... I'm off to clean up this disaster. There is a lot of coffee on the horizon in the morning.

What's your Mantra?

I've been thinking about the things I tell myself. Some of them are not so good...You know, "You're never gonna' make it." "What were you thinking?" But these I am training myself to let go of.

There are other things that I tell myself often that ... well.. they work.

I've been having a bit of a good run with these lately so I thought I might share some them with you...

The very first one is from my dad, who probably doesn't even remember saying this to me. It's, "Never take 'no' for an answer from someone who doesn't have the authority to tell you yes." I say this all the time to Super Husband... especially if he's on the phone with customer service for something or another.

I'm famous for saying, "Can I please speak to the supervisor on the floor?" When the Supervisor says "No". I continue with, "Is there someone else that might be able to help me with this?"

That has often lead to being disconnected... but other times, baby, I get what I want.

It has many-a-time impressed the heck out of Super Husband who didn't think it was possible. He once had a air conditioning guy say to him, "I'll be over in five minutes, Mr. Ackerman. Just please don't let your wife make any more phone calls."

That was a good one! I'll be proud of that for the rest of my life. This particular air conditioning guy, because of my phone calls, was forced by our city to rewire hundreds of homes because they had used a phony permit to install. Muhahahahahahaha!

My other mantra is (I think this is from my mom)... "You don't get what you don't ask for." It's definitely along the same line as the other mantra, but it is totally affective for whenever I'm scared to death to take the next step. It has also gotten me flight and room upgrades while traveling. There's nothing wrong with that, I say.

Another one that I like is "You can't win unless you play." Well, hello? Duh. But then on the other hand, I often find myself saying "I never win." Yeah, but did I enter to win?

So, what's your mantra? Do you have one? Is it negative like my meanie voice sometimes is? Or did you have you managed to kick that meanie's butt?

I'd love to add some positive ones to my repertoire. If you share them, I'll compile a list for a future post!

Reoccurring Dreams...

You know how sometimes you wake up and you've just got to tell your dream? I told Super Husband this morning about a dream I had right before I woke up and his response was sort of lack-luster. It annoyed me. I'm not sure he was even listening. So, now I've got to share. You may even relate, who knows?

There is a caveat. You have to promise me that you will share a reoccurring dream with me too... You may feel like commenting below, yes? (Talk to me... please talk to me... I work all alone in this office and I'm talking to myself half the day, so when you don't comment I think I'm writing to myself too).

I have a bunch of reoccurring dreams.

There's the quality "Flying over Everything" dream. I like that one.

There's the "I'm searching for a clean toilet for hours only to wake having to pee like nobody's business"dream and the "I'm swimming in the ocean, down a river, floating in a never ending water park only to wake having to pee like nobody's business" dream. I don't like those.

Then there's the "I'm on the Oprah Show" dream. These are usually pretty fun. Sometimes O and I are even friends.

The last reoccurring dream is going to confirm my lack of sanity. This dream made it's way into my regular Oprah show dream last night, and it was mostly disturbing when I woke up. But when I was dreaming, I was quite content.

I've had the dream that got mixed into the Oprah dream for the last 14 years. It's about my grandfather, and may be due to the fact that he passed away when we were on our way back from our Honeymoon. He had surgery that we all thought he was going to get through while I was away, and unfortunately that wasn't the case.

I dream that it was all a big mistake. I come home and I tell them they were wrong, that Grandpa is not gone. They bury him anyways because they think I'm nuts. Only to find out later that I was right. I know ... this is gross. Grandpa is then exhumed and is alive and well. He's with us but in this really tenuous kind of state, and of course then I wake up and realize it was all a dream and I'm really angry and sad all over again. When my grandmother passed I started dreaming the same dream about her.

Last night... or early this morning... Oprah's producers were setting my Grandparents up on a trip to Napa where we were all going to meet them at a spa resort. In my dream I'm telling the producers that my Grandfather is an amazing man, that he was buried alive and survived. I'm going on and on, and they're just taking what I say at face value.

At some point during this spiel I realize in my dream that I'm dreaming, but I don't want to know that I'm dreaming. So, I somehow manage to keep it going for a bit. And then suddenly I'm awake and totally disoriented. I start telling Super Husband something about my grandparents miraculously coming to life to be on Oprah. I'm not sure the words made it out of my mouth all the way before I realized again that I was dreaming. His response... "Sounds like you miss your grandparents."

Uh, yes. But "wasn't that a weird dream?"

What's my point in telling you anyone who has access to the internet and floats by my little bloggy about these dreams? Nothing really. Just had to get it out.

I do hope that my Oprah and Grandparent dreams do not get mixed up again. And if I had my druthers, tonight I'd dream the "Flying over Everything" dream.

Oh my gosh! I forgot to tell you about the "I'm in my childhood home and all the doors and windows are open and all the lights are on dream." Oh, and what about the "walking through a house of doors dream"? My mom has that one too. Oh dear. I do have a lot of reoccurring dreams.

So, now, fess up... what have you been dreaming about?

I'm feeling philosophical tonight... going with it.

I was going to make this an edit to the other entry about blog headers, but then I started having a lot to say so here goes...

After asking you all for your input I realized that the reason I couldn't decide was because I didn't really like any of them. But this one, I'm keeping. I'm not even asking.

I think it's much cleaner and I like how it pops when the window opens.

The background is a pattern I recently created in Photoshop. You see, it's not really an obsession with banners, per se. I'm fixated on the idea of designing patterns for fabric and paper.

I almost hate to admit it, really. So many people want to design fabric etc... it seems like the new trend. It's like saying "I'm a handbag designer". Yeah, yeah. So's everyone else.

Do you have this feeling? Deep down in the pit of my stomach there's always the question... "What makes me special?". I ask myself, "Is this the path I'm supposed to be taking?" "Am I meant to be doing this?"... Are we "meant" to do something anyways?

Some days, I think I'm totally on the right track. Other's ... oy. I just don't know. But I do know that when I get an idea in my head I just can't let it go. The idea goes something like this to self: "You can do that. I'm sure you can do that. You just have to do it."... and on and on.

Here's the deal though... my real philosophy... if I have one: I think that in our lives doors open and shut. Sometimes they open and we decide to walk through them ... or we don't. What was beyond that door that I didn't walk through? I'll never know. So, maybe the idea of doing such and such is just a door opening. So walk through, I tell myself. You never know where it will lead.

Wow... deep. I must be exhausted.

~b

The ice cream is gone? Wasn't me.

No, no... wasn't me. That was my evil, self-destructive, alter-ego. I can't believe she got into the ice cream again. I can't tell you how many times I've warned her about that.

Alter-Ego has been very naughty lately. Just last night she posted the list below on the Women Take Wing forum, and since she had such fun writing it, I thought I'd share it with you all. It might clear up Alter-Ego's foray into the freezer last night.

Signs that you have been over-working...

• You wake in the middle of the night sure you left the iron on.
• While you are up you write down that fabulous new idea that you just thought of while you were dreaming (of work) only to discover in the morning that it makes no sense at all.
• You forget birthdays... even your own.
• You forget your dentist appointment.
• Your hair, which is normally cut in a neat bob, hangs in strings that can be mistaken for very cheap yarn next to your ears. In order to prevent this, you convince yourself that headbands are your new look.
• Your butt is saggy... So you sing the "I like big butts" song to make yourself feel better.
• Your tummy is bulgy, but you tell yourself it's just baby weight even though your youngest is 10.
• Over-reacting becomes your middle name.
• You have four junk drawers in your kitchen.
• Laundry is overflowing out of the laundry room, down the hall and into the kitchen.
• You leave the house with masses of thread and other craft/office supplies (pick your poison) on your sweater and in your hair ... and don't really care.
• You believe that every item on your list has "A" priority.
• You refresh your email far more than you'd like to admit.

If this is you... there is help. Go take a long bath with your favorite magazine and a cup of tea. If that doesn't do the trick, polish off the carton of ice cream and claim that your diet starts tomorrow.

See! It was all her idea. I would NEVER eat all that ice cream.

Super Tuesday, The Biggest Mess Ever, & A Must-Have Tool... All of which have anything to do with one another.

Super Tuesday:

I feel obliged to say get your rears out there and vote if you are in a Super Tuesday state of the U.S.! I did my civic duty right after kid duty (morning drop off). I left with a big smile on my face, and am wearing my, "I Voted" sticker proudly. For some reason, this election seems really exciting to me... more than in the past.

The Biggest Mess Ever:

That done, I got myself right to work and made this mess... with-in about 30 minutes.

There is another picture of what is on the floor that I was too embarrassed to show you. So, I'll let you imagine.

A Must-Have Tool:

As I was sewing up the creation that was made in this hurricane, I was delighted to use my new Purple Thang (yes, that's really what it's called). I lost the other one so I bought a new one. And when I bought it I said, "I just know I'm going to find that Purple Thang when I get home.". And guess what? I did. Now I have two Purple Thangs which makes me happy because there is one ready and available for backup when I drop the first one behind the desk again.

As a good citizen, I also feel obliged to tell you that Purple Thang is the most wonderful tool ever. It has prevented me from sewing straight through my finger on many occasions. Purple is a most perfect tool for these collage type sewing projects where I have a million little scrappies sticking up all over the place and the free-motion quilting foot does not make a good barrier. Trust me, I know... thank goodness it was only the plastic that came down on my finger becaue that sucker hurt!

You can get a Purple Thang here... I have no affiliation with this website... just sharing. It seems to be a good resource for all sorts of goodies.