Simple Abnormality

It has been an adventures start to the season here. The equinox came and so did the snow storms with many days offering both falling snow and frozen rain. Bonus is that we are good for water, which is important in a dry state.

Then there were the world wide tragedies and close to home tragedies. Sickness, death, sadness and stress. The end of winter has certainly taken it’s toll, not just on me personally but on many family members and people across the globe. The first half of 2011 has been challenging so far.

I thank that is why hearing the birds sing this morning was such a gift. The sun is shining, the weather is temperate, flowers are now starting to bloom and you can hear the sound of children’s laughter as they play outside. I’ve opened all the windows in the house and there is a slight breeze that just seems to be sweeping the staleness of Winter’s energy right out of here.

This day, this final start of Spring is so much sweeter for all that we have been through.

I know that it has been a while and good ol’ SA has been neglected. We were going to switch blogging platforms and there was a wait on that. Course, as you can see we haven’t done that yet. It’s not that posterous isn’t awesome and convenient because it is... it is just that it features aren’t fitting our needs.

Right, so what happens now? Well, now I get back to blogging here using the platform that we have and then just switch accordingly.

New to the Simple Abnormality Etsy Shop are a variety of handmade jewelry designed by Marcella Bowen. The selection features both jewelry sets as well as just earrings. Her brass wire work adds a special touch to each piece with glass beading used as the main medium.

The following is a sampling of some of her work. To see the entire collection online, click through here: Simple Abnormality Etsy Shop

As you can see, I haven’t updated in a while. I’ve been busy, as usual and over scheduling myself as I often do. I really need to get back on track and am on the look out for free tools that will keep art, writing, editing, family and work all organized in one place. It’s a bit of a challenge and is often why I ended putting more things to do on my list than can actually be done in one day.

There are things that need to be done every day and then there are the things that I want to be done everyday. My issue comes by trying to put it all in one day. I know logically that I’m just one person and I cannot do it all...but dang it, if I don’t try anyway :P

So, I think that I will start with a late resolution and go with getting organized but no being over scheduled. How does one accomplish that?

I was taught to sew by hand. I’m good and sewing by hand, though it takes quite some time to do. Terry got me a refabbed Project Runway Edition Brother sewing machine and it is awesome. It’s easy to use and maintain, it has a ton of great stitches and has been a big help with making our youngest daughters quilt. Her quilt is still unfinished as I need to get more thread and ribbon but the machine is awesome none the less :P

That being said, the last time I made anything from a sewing pattern was back in HomeEc class. Yet our oldest daughter has faith in me and has gotten a pattern for a Jessica McClintoock full on gown that she wants me to make and adjust in time for the Naval Ball...in a few months. I am fully freaked out.

Reading patterns for me comes across as harder than reading a map...but I need to figure it out. Thankfully, she has some a-line gowns that I can rip up. My plan is to rip up those old gowns and use the fabric to make a dry run of the modified McClinktock pattern before we go out and buy the good fabric for making the final run of the dress.

I’ve been lurking in the background on Craftster for some time now and have finally decided to take up one of their challenges. This time around the challenge is to go to a thrift store, spend no more than $20 on something that is the ugliest thing you can find and then remake it into something awesome.

I want to do this challenge but I haven’t even made it to the thrift store yet. The last possible due date to have the project submitted is February 8th. My plan is to go out over the weekend and see what ugly I can find that will inspire me to remake it.

I’ve remade or repurposed a lot of things around the house but haven’t purposely gone out and bought something with the intention of remaking it. I have no idea what I’m going to find but am really looking forward to it. Must think ugly...and seeing something as ugly can be subjective so, we’ll see what happens but I think I may focus on something from the 70’s or 80’s as those decades produced a lot of fabulous ugly things.

These are just some great crafty and stylish stuff that I’ve come across on the web this week. Click through the links to see more on each one.

1. Wendymoon Designs's Awesome Scarf

2. HELLO, My name is Heather's Valentine Ornaments

3. Vanilla Joy's Valentines Chains and Frames

I’ve started to rotate my days through the seven day week cycle. One day I write and edit, the next day I focus on art and on all days I have the house, cooking cleaning and keeping up with the family. Needless to say, like many women...I’m tired :P I am in good spirits though and that is what counts I think.

I did notice this week that Facebook has forced everyone to switch to the new profile. I don’t like the new profile and am on the look out for a better managed and more user friendly social network without all the added games and apps. I know a lot of people enjoy the games and that’s great but I just don’t have time to hang out on Facebook and play games who try to get me to buy credits or points or upgrades or whatnot. If I’m going to pay for a game it’s going be a good one like Minecraft or Sims.

The following are some samples of the art that went live today on Etsy. The Out of the Flame is my favorite piece and I will be a little sad to part with it but as all my artwork for sale each one OOAK and has not been reproduced in anyway for mass production. You can see all my art work at various angles in all their glory here: Simple Abnormality Etsy Shop.

Sometimes the days just wash into such a blur that by the time I look at the calendar I’m amazed at the time that has gone by.  

In the New York Times, they run a column called Freakonomics who have covered this topic really well. They asked readers  “Does time pass faster as you climb the age ladder? “

Logically, I know that time moves as it always has. Subjectively though, the older I get the more time I seem to be running out of :P I’m not sure if this is because I’ve filled so many items into time slots at a higher rate than I did when I was younger. I do know that at 16/17 years old time felt like it moved at a crawl and there were so many things I wanted to do but couldn't because I was to young. Now though, I am facing that age bracket where there are so many things that I can’t do because I’ve gotten older.

When you are younger, you look at life and think “Oh, I’ve got plenty of time to accomplish things” then as you get older you think “Oh, I’m running out of time and haven’t accomplished much”. And just who sets the bar on what is acceptable to have had things accomplished by? Society mainly but we still set that bar pretty high for ourselves too.

Just some random thoughts today...

Still working on getting the hang of things here at Posterous. There are some great blogs here and making the switch over from WordPress has been easy.  I just haven’t had the time to sit down and check out the system more.

I’m going to try to do that today, you know go try to get back to the time where I’m not in constant work mode or being online long enough just stay updated on Redditt and play Minecraft :P