Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Random, Scatterbrained and Flustered

That's how I've been feeling recently and I'm blaming it on the heat. The air conditioning is working, but the extra warm weather means that it doesn't get all that cool upstairs where my office is unless the ceiling fan is also on. The constant draft is drying out my eyes and making me feel too tired to work and just plain cranky. I sit at the computer and something that should take 5 minutes seems to take hours. I'm at snowflake 25 of the 30 plus snowflakes and I can't seem to whip up enough enthusiasm to just get the last bit done. It's taking so long to pull things together that I'm starting to feel like I'm describing things differently from what I did at the beginning and I hate feeling like I'm cutting corners just because I want it DONE.

I've hardly held a shuttle in weeks other than to re-do several snowflakes in colour and there's this little bit. I was intrigued by the anklets I've seem on several blogs and thought I'd do one of my own. I thought it would be a good way to showcase tatting, but once I had it finished I remembered that I mostly wear socks and running shoes so that for me it's kind of a waste of time. The 25 Motif Challenge is beginning to take more time than I want to spare. Quite a few of the new participants don't blog in English so it's added another step having to translate the blogs. The translations sometimes don't make sense on key words so it requires getting creative. The heat has zapped my creativity so that adds to my frustration.

We're missing the bird and strangely, hubby is missing her more than I. Of course I'm not missing the hours of cleaning cages and caring for her, so maybe that's part of it.

We've had the Wii for about 3 weeks and I've lost 6 pounds which is good. Of course working up a sweat and then sitting in a draft from the fans has resulted in back aches, So I go around the house turning off fans and hubby goes around turning them on because it's hot and I think that brings me back to where I started.

We're in the process of changing our domain name which will change all of our web site, email addresses, and PayPal set ups so this should be fun. I may suddenly look like I've dropped off the face of the earth, but trust me, I'll be back.

7 comments:

  1. Do you have to have 30 snowflakes? 25 sounds like a good number to me! The one pictured sure is attractive.

    I'm afraid the 'muddled' brain problem is part of getting older. I've been fighting inertia for many years now, and the heat (esp. humidity) is also affecting me.

    I wondered how you were managing without Dusty. I'm sure it's been a period of adjustment (but you know she has a good home!), and you have so many other things to take care of. The 25 Motif is certainly one of them. You have been updating constantly, and it must seem like a 'job'! Please know we all appreciate your hard work.

    As fabulous as the 'instant' translation is (kind of like Star Trek), it's obviously not perfected! I often wonder what our English looks like when translated to another language!

    I do wish you could get away somewhere on vacation - even for just a short jaunt. It might give you renewed energy. I know it's not that easy to get away, though. Good luck on that 'domain name' thing!

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  2. Love, love, love that motif! So very pretty!

    I assume the anklet is shuttle tatted? Am so used to seeing these larger items done in needle tatting.

    I a sitting here pondering your book. I am trying to pick one to tat with some gorgeous HDT of Heather's...

    Bonne chance avec le I.T stuff!
    Be cool - literally!
    Fox : )

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  3. Kathy, while 25 would be OK, I have in mind enough snowflakes to tat one a day for a month, so I need the rest of them.
    Fox the anklet is shuttle tatted with size 20 thread. Most of the larger items are not only needle tatted, they're done with size 10 thread, which in my opinion is too clunky looking besides being a bit of a cheat.

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  4. Beautiful! Love that motif! Can't wait for the book to come out!

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  5. Sharon, I hope you get relief from the heat soon. Even though we have the air on, I still can feel the affects of the outside heat and humidity.

    I wish I could help you out with the 25 Motif Challenge, but I know that I am over-committed as it is. I appreciate all your hard work, but I would completely understand if you put limitations on the challenge. I know someone suggested that only posts that specifically show the challenge # be included. I'm not sure if that would help, but it sounds like a great idea to me.

    A loss of any kind seems to take its toll on us. Good luck with your new venture. It sounds like even more work to me!

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  6. I noticed Sharon that you said that larger items are not only needle tatted but done in size 10 which is a bit of a cheat.
    I would like to point out that some people do not have perfect vision and size 10 is much easier to see; some do not have the manual dexterity and size 10 is easier to manipulate; and some are just beginners and size 10 is easier to learn on than size 80.
    My husband has Glaucoma and he is severely visually impaired. He has just learned tatting and prefers size 10 because he cannot see well enough to use size 70/80 and if it werent for sizes like 5/10 he would not be enjoying the pleasures of tatting. Yes, size 80 is absolutely beautiful but there are some in the world who may only be able to work with the "clunkier" threads and still would like to enjoy this art....

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  7. Oooh, I love that snowflake motif with the dusty rose shades.

    I can commiserate with that last part of getting a book done. It's like the finish line of a marathon that seems to recede each time you think you are getting closer. We all need a cool spell; I hope your local weather will be kinder.

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