…but seriously, folks….

It is amazing to me how fast a semester seems to fly by after midterm.  I mean, here it is four weeks before the end of the semester!  Where did all that time go?  I always feel a little panicked—have I covered everything I wanted?  Do I have enough time to cover everything else?  Of course, it depends on the group of students, as well.  This semester, I’ve had pretty good ones.

 

On the home front, we are hosting a little get together tomorrow night for some of my colleagues.  David invited some of his colleagues, but none were able to make it.  Bummer.  I’m making the famous Julia Chicken Melon and a veggie patè.  Everyone is bringing stuff to share, so I doubt we will want for food.  I hope it is cool enough to have a fire in the pit.

 

Right now, I’m off to take a long bath and watch “Love in the Time of Cholera”–  I’ve never read the book–so if the movie is not as good, I won’t be disappointed

The day after Halloween…

I like Halloween.  I love to see the kids dressed up and so excited about getting candy and I love the jack-o-lanterns and candles and general spookiness associated with the holiday.  I’m not so big on dressing up myself anymore, although, I do like to zombie or witch my face with makeup occasionally.  D and Z went trick or treating with friends last night.  Z was a “serious business woman who is your worst nightmare”  She came up with this costume literally about an hour before she left the house.  She wore a beautiful black and white houndstooth cape lined in red satin (made many years ago by my grandmother) and carried a briefcase to put her candy in.  I gave her some makeup (serious business woman makeup with really red lips) and she was happy.  D opted to be a night elf (from W.O.W.)  We had ordered the fake ears and they came on Friday, so that was a relief.  She also had a sort of medival woman’s costume from Target with a skirt and a little lace up vest that she wore.  I made her up with pink skin and purple eyes and false lashes.  She was pleased.  David and I stayed home and ate pizza and watched THE LIFE AQUATIC which I thought was pretty bad.  The best thing about the movie is Bill Murray and the soundtrack.

 

Today, I’m loving the luxury of beginning daylight savings time. Gaining an hour is nothing to sneer at, my friends.  It makes me all warm and fuzzy just thinking about it.  I got on FB this morning to look at all the posted photos of my friends’ Halloweens and their kids….adorable.  My goal today is to post some photos of D and Z in their costumes and some of my NY pics on Flickr.

 

Right now, however, I’m off to get dressed, do some laundry and tidy up the house a bit.  Exciting.

If you can make it there…

The trip to New York was needed and enjoyed.  Shout out to Mr. Neno who was the epitome of himself this weekend–accommodating and fun to hang out with.  Shout out to Mr. Bill, AKA Harrison, who was oh so billish and still a crazy, sweet guy.

Dianne and I arrived on Thursday and took a cab to the St. James Theatre where Finian’s Rainbow http://www.finiansonbroadway.com/(Neno is the Associate Costume Designer) is in previews.  Neno had gotten us tix for the preview that night, so we got to see the show with Bill, another of my friends from undergrad school.  The show was great—we were sitting on the 2nd row however, and had to explain to Di at intermission what the lumps and bumps on all the actors’ faces were (microphones and wig lace:-))  That night, we hung out with Neno and Adrienne (our hostess) and Bill and Dante at the bar located on the ground floor of Adrienne’s apt building.  (Adrienne is a patternmaker and has a funky, fabulous apartment encrusted with art and sculpture and voodoo paraphenalia)  Tommy, the bartender who is a friend of Adrienne’s and Neno’s, was a smart-ass hoot from the get-go and kept us all entertained….Neno and I closed down the bar and stayed until 4:30am catching up–long past when everyone else with any sense had gone to bed:-)

On Friday, Di, Bill and I visited the Museum of Sex.  Very interesting place.  http://www.museumofsex.com/ Check it out….I’m saying nothing except that I think that reciprocating saws and sex toys should remain separate items…..  We also visited 2 yarn/textile stores that Dianne was mad to check out.  This one:  http://www.habutextiles.com/home.htm was my favorite.  I got some great fine silver to crochet and some linen yarn that is like paper….  Went shopping at a couple of Indian groceries and stores and then that night, Bill took us to a great sushi place in Chelsea near his apartment.

Saturday, all day, was MoMA.  Di and I still didn’t see everything, but boy we saw a lot.  I loved the Pollocks–all in one gallery– and the Matisse reliefs in the sculpture garden.  It was also pretty great to see a bunch of art that I had only ever seen in books—Giacometti sculptures, Warhol paintings—overwhelmingly delicious….

Adrienne had a party on the roof of her building that night….Luke put up the tents….AND.as we had heard that Adrienne’s parties often last 24 hours, we opted to spend the night with Bill that evening.  Bill has a great apartment and he even cooked up breakfast…Another friend from undergrad, Jeannette, came over to have breakfast with us before her call that morning for Ragtime (she’s a wig/hair/makeup person)  Later Di and I headed over to the Guggenheim to see the Kandinsky exhibition.  The Guggenheim was perhaps my favorite stop for the trip.  We walked through Central Park to get there.   The park is much smaller than I envisioned it…..

Monday saw us running around grabbing souveniers for our kids and checking out fabric and trim stores…did I forget to mention that Adrienne lives right smack dab in the middle of the garment district???  Very convenient.

Anyway, I am tired and that is the gist of the trip for those of you interested.  It was much more fun than it sounds from my perhaps poor description.  I have to say that Dianne was a great travelling companion and that we had 2 packed but pleasant flights—-and many fun (to me) and scary (to Di) taxi rides.  I;LL TRY TO POST PICS ON MY FLICKR PAGE SOON….

Home is where the heart is….

Well, after much ado, we have finally closed the sale of our house in TN.  Apparently not a moment too soon, too, because David got a call from the county codes officials today saying that a lien was going to be placed on the property if the RV that has someone living in it in the backyard isn’t gone in a couple of days….yikes.

We saw our favorite folks while we were there and it makes me homesick….don’t get me wrong, I like where we live now and I like our house and I do still love my job, even though some days it makes me want to loll out my tongue and drool…..but I also love spending time with those nearest and dearest to our hearts.

Speaking of hearts, mine is breaking a little for my BFF Trace as her trusty companion CC stuggles with kidney failure and now blindness…..They have both been brave for each other and now I think that CC is going to leave this world soon and it makes me very sad.  It is a hard thing to accept the inevitable.  I am thinking of them both and hope for a peaceful transition.

I will be leaving on Thursday to visit my friend Neno and others in NY.  Di and I are going to go see Neno and the sights and the show he is working on right now.  I’m very excited, but also a little stressed because I can’t seem to get my act together packing-wise…..hopefully I’ll get it together by the time Dianne arrives.  It will be my fall break from school and Di’s first leg in her whirlwind of travel, as she will return from NY and leave a week later for France.  Jealous?  I am.

Artsy Fartsy

There is such pleasure in experiencing art.  Making it, looking at it, diving into it, relishing  it.  Maybe this is a moot point to be making, but I think, when you are in the business of art, in any of its forms, that you maybe get a little immune to art.  That you begin to take it for granted or not appreciate it quite as much.

This happens very seldom to me.

If I’m not making some kind of art (drawing or crocheting or writing or making books or creating clothes or painting or dyeing, etc. etc. etc.), I am looking at art and commenting on it or I am reading or listening to music or seeing a film or flipping though a book with art or art techniques or thinking of doing some combination of the above. Maybe this is why I am exhausted so much of the time, because I cannot get enough.  It wears me out, but as Harry Chapin said “It’s a good tired.”

Of course, on top of all this, I am dealing with committee matters and writing letters to prospective students and attending meetings and trying to convince students that it does matter if they learn to do something the “right” way.  That’s the work part, but I’m grateful that my work deals with art at least some of the time.  I’m also doing things that I consider somewhat tangential to the art thang—making dinner–which can be an art–or playing Yahtzee with my husband (that is not code, we actually play Yahtzee and talk the trash while we do it) or talking to my kids about their day or chatting with friends or doing yoga.  All these experiences probably add up to the art that I eventually make or think about making.  In fact, Drew and I often talk about HER art–which is a whole ‘nother can of worms…and I would say that at least half of my friends are artists or partake of some type of artistic endeavor as a major part of their lives…

I certainly am reflective tonight.

Overall, this life of art, or art of life, makes me happy and grateful.  It is a place to come back to when everything seems weird or difficult, it is a haven and a release.  It feels good to do it.  It informs and underscores my existence.   I wonder what people do that don’t have art?

Simplicity: It’s the new complex….

I don’t know about you, but the older I get, the simpler I’d like my life to be.  I know that life is by its very nature, complex, because, well, we live in a complex world.  Unless you are a hermit, living in a cave (which some people do, by the way http://men.style.com/details/features/landing?id=content_9817 ) then you are living in the complex world.

Complexity, of course, comes in degrees, and it is possible to live a simpler complex life or a more complex complex life.  There are things that we have control over, which add or subtract complexity—like children or automobiles or pets….or conversely–wearing only uniforms or one type of clothing, eating the same thing day after day or traveling only by public hovercraft……and there are things we have no control over that add or subtract complexity—-sudden unexpected illness, a failed economy, or getting an unexpected raise or hug.

Most of the time, lately, I opt for the simpler solution to problems that present themselves to me.  I think that usually, the simpler solution is the more sustainable solution–that is, the simpler the action required to solve the problem, the more likely it will be that you can repeat or continue the action for as long as it is required to solve the problem. I have not always chosen the simple solution.  I can tell you from experience (listen up all you whippersnappers) that choosing the more complex of solutions is often easier, but in the long run, not as sustainable.  Put that in your pipe and smoke it for a while.  I really think it is true.

OK, so mumbo-jumbo aside, what does this mean in practical terms?  It means that I elect to decide what is the most important, in my estimation, thing or things that my students need to know for any one class or subject, and I design assignments around that.

It means that I bake bread from water, salt, yeast and flour (thanks to Dianne).

It means that I try to be there for my family and friends, listen and empathize, but not take their problems on as my own and try to solve them.  This last part is very hard for me, as I am a life-long motherish type who used to get satisfaction out of telling everyone what they ought to be doing–while not taking my own advice and ignoring myself pretty much completely.

I am giving this a lot of thought of late.  This and other bits of my personal belief system.   What is your code by which everything you do is governed?  Do you have one?  Maybe you have several.  I’m finding it interesting to observe myself and my actions through this filter.  If you believe something or come to some realization about something, does it really affect you practically?  Does it make a difference in your day to day existence?  The way you deal with life?  I think it should, but sometimes I think there is a disconnect.  Do we have a default setting that we revert to when we are not at our best?  Do people really change?  Maybe you will find this an interesting point to ponder or maybe you will see this as a complexity that you don’t really need to bother with in your life.  Let me know what you think:-)

Everybody’s working for the weekend…

OK, I’m going to start off a bit snarky here, so if you don’t care to deal with that, then skip this paragraph.  Why in the world do people have to make things harder than they have to be?  What is the point in increasing something’s complexity for the sake of taking more time to arrive at the same result?  Pair this talent with one for little to no communication and you have a recipe for disaster.  This is how I feel about a couple of “projects” I’ve been a part of at work lately.  Others involved making things more difficult than they have to be.  People “in charge” not communicating adequately to the people trying to help them out, and then making assumptions and bad-mouthing the people who were just trying to help because we did not read this person’s mind.  OK–enough.

Yoga class was great today.  I have been feeling bulbous and clumsy.  I get back my real body when I do yoga.  I should do it every single day, and I do just a little bit every morning, but I should do more.  I know this would be good for me.  I’ve been trying to figure out a lot of things about what is good for me and what is not.  Trying to reduce drama and trauma and BS in my life.  I don’t want it and and I don’t need it.

The lake here looks so beautiful.  It is the fullest I have ever seen it.  When I moved here, it was really down—there being a terrible drought and all in GA—but now it is lovely and full of water as a lake should be.  I reckon there will be many boaters and jet skis on the lake this weekend.

I try to live my life everyday, but let me tell you, I am chomping at the bit for this day to be over so the weekend can officially begin.  I’m going to see a couple of my girls this weekend—we are trying to get together on a regular basis, but seeing as how we all have families and jobs and all, about once every couple of months is all we’ve been able to muster.  I’m thankful for that!

Happy weekend.

List of things DONE

Instead of making a list of things TO DO, I decided today to make a list of things DONE and be grateful for them.  Here they are:

 

1.  I have succeeded in doing a sun salutation every single day this week after I get up out of bed.

 

2.  I have made all copies and handouts for my classes for the next couple of weeks.

 

3.  I threaded and fixed all the machines and sergers in the Fashion Lab, ordered extra thread and needles, and even located a manual for one of the machines that I did not know we had!

 

4.  I am over feeling sorry for myself because of my CA (Collapsing Ankle) and have decided to go on with my life, treating my ankle and myself with a little tenderness and understanding (actually treating myself as I try to treat others–there’s a new idea!)

 

Hope you have a DONE list to be grateful for!

A Lifelong Struggle

I am a fortunate person.  I have always felt that way, even in the darkest moments of my self-pity and teenage angst.  I have always realized that I have it so much better than so many other people.  This does not mean that I don’t have problems—-of course (and many of you know a bunch of them) I do.  It’s just that I guess I tend to shake down on the upside of things.

Today, I have been less than optimistic and not really able to make that leap.  You see, I have an ankle that insists on giving me problems.  It is kind of misshapen and hurts quite a lot sometimes.  I deal with it.  Sometimes I know it makes me cranky and sort of pissed off.  I have been to the doctor about it, I have done exercises, I have seen therapists and podiatrists.  All to some effect, not always good.  David, who is one of the reasons I count myself fortunate, convinced me to see Dr. Davis Market about my ankle.  After all, he is getting really good results and making good progress with his shoulder.  David felt that this doctor really could help me.  Get me going with some therapy and advice and aleviate the pain.  So today, I went to see him.

Let me just say here that I have not been in the best of moods for the past couple of days, so my attitude could be such that this made a bigger impression on me than it normally would have—the doctor, after examining my ankle and my x-rays said that my ankle and the condition affecting it (Posterior tibial tendon dysfunction–read about it here: www.footphysicians.com/footankleinfo/pttd.htm) would be a “lifelong struggle” and that my ankle was collapsing therefore causing my tendon to work too hard.  As if that were not quite enough to absorb, he then showed me the x-rays they had taken of my knees and told me that I have “significant arthritis” in both of them.

Haruumph!  Insult to injury.  I suppose that I knew and really expected the arthritis since just about all the women in my family (at least on my mom’s side) have had run-ins with arthritis in some combination of joints.  Also, since my knees get stiff when I sit for long periods of time, I kind of figured this was the case.

Oh, and on top of the “lifelong struggle” comment, the doctor told me it was a stuggle that I was going to LOSE.  Just like that.  Gonna lose that struggle, honey.  Period.  The end.  He of course did not say what would happen when I lost the struggle (which he hopes to postpone by 15-20 years with physical therapy and exercises)–surgery, ankle-replacement, all of my mobility replaced by 2 cute boys and a sedan chair????

It sounds like I am crabbing on the doctor—I must say right here that he is quite a realist, and not really into putting scenarios into one’s head one way or another.  I know this from David’s dealings with him.  When David broke his arm, he forced us to take it one step at a time—no suppositions.  So, I know this is the way he is.  No bones about it (pardon the pun).

But, anyway, here I am feeling less than expansive about my diagnosis.  I suppose one way to look at it is that many of us have many lifelong struggles to deal with.  My weight has been and continues to be a lifelong struggle.  My predisposition to take care of others before I take care of myself.  As a matter of fact, I know several people who have lifelong struggles that make my ankle deal look like a bowl of candy and a carousel ride.  On this day, for sure, I remember that there are people out there whose very existences have been smashed to bits by the events that occurred 8 years ago.  But, unfortunately, today, knowing that does not make me feel substantially better.

Look, I know we are all gonna die.  I got it.  Some of us sooner rather than later.  I am 46.  This has crossed my mind.  I want to live while I can and I guess that I don’t want to do it in pain if I don’t have to.  This man just told me, I have to, pretty much, just suck it up and deal with it.  And today, I don’t wanna.  Selfish, I know.

Maybe, when David gets home, I’ll beat him in Yahtzee and then I’ll feel better.  At least I don’t roll the dice with my ankles….yet.

I get by with a little help from my friends…

Thank goodness for Dianne.  She is here in GA to help teach my students to knit.  Actually, not help, but really do it all herself.  Because folks, I am no knitter.  I will crochet until the cows come but knitting is not my bag.  I have knitted exactly one thing in my life.  A very slim little scarf that took me over a year to complete.  So, thank you, Dianne, for coming all the way down here to teach my students the knitting magic.

This week is going to be interesting…..knitting and crochet in Children’s Wear and Apparel Construction.  Also, we are going to be exploring post-consumer materials and non-traditional construction techniques for a sustainability project.  Making stuff out of trash is one of my specialties, so I’m excited about this aspect of the classes.  We also have a convocation tomorrow and I have to get all dressed up in my academic garb and sit stil and look all brainy for an hour.  Not really one of specialties.

It is always good to have friends visiting or go visiting friends.  Tracey was going to come down next week, but our rendezvous got postponed because of her mom’s knee needs:-)  The Bead Extravaganza Excursion will have to be postponed until a later date!

We are hoping to see friends this next weekend when, hopefully, we will close on our house in TN.  Prayers and crossed fingers welcome.