And it’s baa-aack!
I have done something to my back ARRGH! I can hardly move. The worst part is that it’s in a totally new place, one where I haven’t had severe pain before. DAGNABBIT! Off to the chiro tomorrow (I missed my usual Monday appointment because I was too sick to go.)
In happier news: remember all the hassles we had getting our solar panels and solar hot water installed? Well, they’re starting to pay off. For the same time last year our electricity bill was around $350. This year? FORTY EIGHT DOLLARS. Holey moley shoot the pony, what a difference! Mostly down to getting rid of the old electric hot water heater (which we now know would have made heating water by burning currency look cheap); but the almost $80 rebate from power our solar panels put back into the grid was lovely too.
And the gas bottle saga continues: When Origin came and filled the bottle, they discovered that it was too close to the solar panel inverter box. *sigh* (Why the various officials who signed off on the solar didn’t know this I don’t know, but I am MAD AT THEM!) So we have to pay for a plumber to cut the gas line and move the (now filled) bottle to comply with the regulations, and reconnect the gas. Good news: we picked a plumber and phoned them on Friday- they offered to come round and do a quote – and they did! And he called before he arrived! And he’s coming back tomorrow to do the job! So if it turns out well, I’ll let you know who it is, in case any Toowoomba readers need a plumber… the rest of you can just grit your teeth and weep in envy.
Art tomorrow.
Happiness!!
One of the Neighbours from Hell – the one with the Houdini Rottweiler (who beats up his other dog frequently); the one with the suspected drug connections (one day a week with lots of short trips out in the car then returning to base… just a BIT suss!) the noisy car driven like a madman, and who in the past has been quite troublesome – has MOVED THE DEAD CAR FROM HIS BACKYARD! It had been there over two years. He’s also moved another dead car from his carport. And I just saw him – for the first time EVER – spraying the weeds near our fence.
HaPpY DaNcInG – I reckon he’s moving out, don’t you?!
Yeah yeah, I know, better the devil you know – but at least a DIFFERENT devil will be a change. And I won’t miss him being self-important on his mobile phone in the backyard at all hours of the day or night; nor will I miss him screaming across several house blocks at somebody else’s dog to “SHUDDUP, YA MONGREL!” while he nurses his breakfast beer.
Now, if we could just get the other annoying lot with the psycho (and notified dangerous) dog to move…
Linky Dinky Dooo!
Just a quick list of some of my faves:
Teesha Moore (THE Goddess of art journals)
http://www.teeshaslandofodd.com/1/temp.html (main site)
http://www.teeshascircus.blogspot.com/ (her blog)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1z6qmXGRrsE&feature=related (Her you
tube videos start here with making your own journal – but the collage
and lettering ones are AWESOME!)
Kelly Rae (Very different style, very cool – you’ll need to scroll down
to get past all the Christmas stuff and see her art)
http://kellyraeroberts.blogspot.com/
Dina Wakley – QUEEN of stencils and masks (and very cool scrapbook
pages, too)
http://dinastamps.typepad.com/ponderings/
Marsha Jorgensen, Tumble Fish Studio (her stuff looks so complex you’d
think it’s digital but it’s ALL hand cut, coloured, and glues. Freakin’
amazing. I wanna be her when I grow up.)
http://tumblefishstudio.blogspot.com/
Nancy Baumiller (Crowabout) – I did a class with her in November and
she’s a cool teacher! She also gives away a free collage sheet every
week (via Flickr) – the link is in her sidebar.
http://crowabout.blogspot.com/
Different style again (and she’s been in a lot of scrapbooking mags:
Julie Fei Fan Balzer, very cool art journals
http://balzerdesigns.typepad.com/balzer_designs/
Samantha Kira was featured in the most recent issue of Art Journaling
mag and I love the way her stuff is messy
and honest!
http://www.journalgirl.com/
And the digital/hybrid year long “Art Journal Caravan” class I’m doing
via http://scrapbookgraphics.com has a gallery here:
http://www.scrapbookgraphics.com/photopost/showgallery.php?cat=3500
(I’m rather intimidated by everyone else’s work there, to be honest!)
