Shhh, don't tell Piz!

My dear friend Piz (and yes, there's a long story behind that nickname) accidentally left one of her watercolor paintings behind at my house...a painting I happen to love, love, love. If I were a really GOOD friend, I would call her and let her know that. Instead, I am secretly "borrowing" her art to enjoy for a while. I've named this one "Mischief Girl"...

Altered 2010 Calendar

Becky, my good friend from WAY back in the day, always sends me a Missouri Botanical Garden calendar each year for my birthday. I absolutely loved the Garden and used to visit it regularly when I lived in St. Louis, and the calendar is a such a treat. This year, the images were gorgeous as always, but I couldn't help but notice a certain shortage of...birds. Of course, given my obsession with all things aviary I proceeded to alter the calendar, adding some sort of bird image(s) to each month.

Using a template from an art friend, I cut birds out of old text pages, taped-together paint chips (check out the name of the color under the crown...perfect, isn't it?) and translucent colored vellum. For fun I used my crown punch to mark everyone's birthday. Let's all wish Judy "Happy Birthday" on August 9!



I also put my trusty bird punch to work and popped out entire flocks of tiny, colorful birds. And then I had to doodle some yellow trumpet vines. OK, I sort of made up that name, but you have to admit, it fits.

Take care of your peepers!

I had a weird thing happen this week. In my left eye I started noticing a new floater thing and I swear I saw little sparkly lights in my peripheral vision a few times. I knew that those are symptoms of a retinal detachment which is no joking matter, so I got in right away for an eye exam.

Turns out I had a vitreous (not retinal) detachment which is a much smaller deal. As the doctor explained, as we get older (I get the feeling I'm going to be hearing those words more and more) the jelly-like vitreous that gives our eyeball its shape can become more watery and contract a bit. The floaters are little strings of that material that come loose. The little flashes are caused when the vitreous glob bumps up against the back of our eye (the retina) where the optic nerve connects. Usually in time the floaters and lights become less noticable, but it's not necessarily problematic if it doesn't.

About 1% of the time, a vitreous detachment progresses to a retinal detachment, so chances are there's no need for concern. If I notice any increase of symptoms (more floaters or flashes or loss of vision) however, I need to go in right away, even if that means going to the ER.

Thought I'd share what I learned so if anyone else has this happen, they'll know what to do.

OK, that's the end of my public service announcement. Back to our regularly scheduled programming...

10 Seconds, $10 to Help Haiti

We've all heard about the devastating earthquake in Haiti and I think most people want to contribute in some way. During his show last night Stephen Colbert clued us in on the easiest way in the world to donate.


Simply send a text to "90999" that just says "Haiti" and $10 will automatically be added to your cell phone bill, and that $10 will automatically go to the Red Cross. I just did it and within 10 seconds I had sent the message and gotten a reply confirming my contribution. It literally could not have been easier.

Lovely images to download

During a brief excursion through cyber-blog-land, I came across this very cool site that offers free images to download. Thank you Roben-Marie Smith for your beautiful photographs of old doors, windows, textures, people...and more.

Crazy Crochet Class on January 30!

Hey there, groovy yarnsters. The Crazy Crochet class I had scheduled for late last year was postponed. The new date is:

Saturday, January 30th from 11:00 - 2:00

It will again be hosted by the urban trendsetters up north, Nancy and Sherri, at their Arthouse Mosaic Studio, this time at their NEW location:

610 5th Ave. S
Edmonds, WA
(next to Petosa's Grocery at 5th & Howell)

Here's the scoop:

Let your creativity explode! This is NOT your grandmother's crocheting...no worries about reading complicated patterns, counting stitches, or making edges line up, no stress! This is free-form crochet. Choose yarns and fibers in colors and textures that blend or contrast. Get wild & wacky with it, mix thick and thin yarns with smooth and textured yarn. Class fee is $45. A variety of luscious yarns and fibers included in class fee. Bring any yarn you'd like to use, scissors, a few crochet hooks of various sizes (between Size H and N).

To register email me at pestkaca@yahoo.com.

So wrong I don't even know where to start...

At the risk of cursing 2010 by starting off with something SO horrific, I just had to post this. My friend Tracie dropped off homemade caramels (which, no, I did NOT share with anyone) and this little dorks-in-aprons-pseudo-birthday-card which yes, I AM sharing with everyone.

In the name of all things holy...can you actually imagine ANYONE a) making one of these aprons or b) wearing one of these aprons? I especially like the red rick-rack "steam" rising up from the black cauldron on the left and the polka-dot red bow tie on the right. I wonder what these guys are up to today...maybe they were so humiliated they had to go into the Witness Protection Program. Have you seen these men? They must be stopped.