Home Sick

I caught cold from the MR. so I have a day  home to rest.  The landlord came over to fix the heater that went out night before last.  Don't fear!  It's not the only one in the house, and it hasn't been so cold that a pair of long underwear and socks couldn't send you into a sweat.  I know, because it did last night!  Or was that fever?  Regardless, I've managed to take a shower and put the soap dish on the wall for the chalk board.  I should have taken a "before" photo... as the soap dish was a bit rusted and had a kind of iridescent glaze on it that was really pretty, if it weren't for the rust.  So this week-end I took some primer and RustOleum spray paint to it.  I think the black is much more handsome with the yellow walls.


















Now I just need to finish collaging all the light-switch plates!  But that will be a task for another day.  MR. came home on his lunch and made me a grilled cheese sandwhich and that's about all I have the energy for.  NAP-TIME!  Maybe I'll do some knitting later.

Stay well!
-L

PS: eraser is a cotton knit square I made in seed stitch.  It works great!  I made a whole pile of them in different bright colors to scrub my face with, but they are serious multitaskers!  Sometimes I use them to polish my silver jewelry with baking-soda toothpaste!

Windfall: Books!

Walking past the "free pile" is a dangerous decision for me.  I'm sure you can relate.  And it's not just books either.  Any "FP" is likely to result in another pile in my house or my studio... while I procrastinate what/whether to do with the newly acquired objects.  That being said, the exhilaration of a good score is the most happy accident/conspiring of the universe feeling of a true and utter windfall!  This particular grouping includes (in the order that I spied them):

• The Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon.  If you haven't read the "Outlander" series yet you should get to it!  A word of warning, the books are super long and the author doesn't waste anytime re-introducing any of the characters, places or plot.  If you get involved it's good to pick up The Outlandish Companion for a quick reference.

• Paradise Lost by John Milton.  I haven't read it but instinctively heard "CANNON" in my mind so I grabbed it.  I aim someday to have read all the books in the imagined literary canon, but frankly many of them are tiresome and boring to me and my ADD.  So we'll see if this turns up collage material or no!

• After Innocence by Brenda Joyce.  Mostly this was inspired by a recent blog post by my dear friend, Dumpling, over at ain't nothin'.  Turns out it's the VERY SAME AUTHOR that Dumplin' has been chronicling with doodles.  I picked it up for her as a present.

• Prisoner in Paradise by Marjorie Lewty.  This one is a real-live "Harlequin Romance" woot woot!  I have a cover of one of these books that my dear studio-mate Elizabeth had given to me years ago, and it's posted in our studio, so I was able to immediately recognize it's sister!

• Young Nurse Payne by Valerie K Nelson.  Another "Harlequin Romance"!  The cover of this one is incredibly specious, and frankly has SEXUAL HARASSMENT IN THE WORKPLACE written all over Phillip's downcast gaze... but it's okay, because from lovely Linda's open-eyed smile it's clear that she wants it!  We'll see how that one goes!

• The Dark Gondola by Virginia Coffman.  I couldn't resist the cover/title combo!

• Of Civil Government by John Locke.  People love to (mis)use quotations in their (political) arguments... I figured for free, I get a good look at the context from the author himself!

• The Roots of Counter-Insurgency: Armies and guerrilla warfare, 1900-1945 by Ian F. W. Beckett.  The anarchist inside could NOT pass it by.

Can you tell that the books are organized on the sidewalk in a specific order?  Here's hoping you have your own excellent windfall come your way!

-L