Oh NOES! Curse that passionfruit seed!

Oh noes.  Fortunately we are still well stocked with oil of cloves (it’s the only thing that worked to get rid of the mould that came with last year’s rainy season and floods) so I can make a temporary poultice if it starts hurting too much…

The big thing is NOT TO PANIC.  Mr Beloved is helping, reminding me to “Notice… observe….” and I’m doing my best.

Journal page

I’ve been trying to get back into more regular art journal writing and collaging.  Keeps me out of the pubs and picture shows, as my Dad would say…

Happy New Year girl collage

(as always, clicky images for bigger)

(collage uses bits from  Tumblefish Studio, Paula Kesselring, and some magazine I had lying around.)

It’s hot here today, 34 degrees as I write this.  We don’t have aircon but we do have pedestal fans.  Now that we have a ceiling that can support them, we might one day think about ceiling fans… but for now the pedestal fans do the job.  My poor family over in Adelaide sweltered in some much hotter temperatures this week.

I’m very glad I cooked zucchini slice the other night – it’s nice straight out of the fridge, no need to heat up the kitchen! Oh, and as a treat we bought sausages from the butcher, so Mr Beloved will probably cook those on the barbie tonight.  I popped out to the greengrocer earlier, and the sweetcorn has been lovely, so I grabbed a couple of cobs.  I mainly went out to get some more grapes – I’m having a thing for frozen grapes again at the moment, yum.

Also bought some sugar free gum to have on hand as a temporary  fix for the broken filling – I don’t normally do chewing gum because I have TMJ issues, and after watching an episode of Jimmy’s Food Factory where he made his own gum (plastic pellets!  PVA! yuk!) I’m even less inclined to put it in my mouth, but needs must.

Journal page waiting for writing...

(Collage contains more bits from Tumblefish Studio plus others that were lying about…)

The flea saga continues – the cat is speaking to me again (after being bribed with milk) but the poor dog continues to get bitten – we suspect the fleas are in the grass, so every time she goes outside they jump on again.  The new medicine seems to be working, though, because the fleas that bite her DIE (muaaa haa haa) but of course she gets itchy with each new bite, so she’s still unhappy, poor little thing.   I spent HOURS vacuuming the lounge and the lounge room and the bedroom, enough to make my back ache – I’ll have another (less intense) run at that tomorrow, probably.

Tomorrow is the official unveiling of the Toowoomba Flood Monument – and perhaps fittingly, thunderstorms are forecast.  Supposed to be another hot day beforehand.

And even though it’s still hot, and Mr Beloved isn’t feeling up to it, I’m going to take the dog to the park for a quick walk.

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Scanned journal page; digitally layered with a text page (by Amanda Sexton, in Art Journal Caravan Parcel 46 from Scrapbookgraphics.com) glitter stars (from the 2010 Art Journal Caravan Steamer trunk – no longer available) and alpha (from Amanda Sok‘s package that was the Scrapgirls.com Jan 2010 offering.)

I printed this out onto textured cardstock and it came up quite well.  Just like a bought one.  Wouldn’t want to do that often since printer ink costs more than Dom Perignon or caviar… but my hands were too sore to cut out and paste In Real Life, so GIMP to the rescue! (GIMP is the GNU Image Manipulation Program, and it’s FREE.)

I use GIMP because it’s freeand fully linux compatible,  but I admit there are times I wish I had Photoshop Elements* or (dream on!) the full Photoshop works to play with- just because there are some groovy things (actions, styles) that you can’t translate into GIMP.

*DO NOT tell me there is a free trial version  -I know there is; the other part of the story is that we are primarily a Penguin (linux) household, because Bill Gates wants too much money for his Windows OS. :-pppp

ANYWAY, the birthday girl liked the card. I also gave her a Pitt Artist’s Pen in GOLD – love those pens, and had to get a gold and silver for myself – yum!

and a wee journal for her to Zentangle in.  (Something comes to mind here about buying pressies that you’d really like for yourself… hmm!)

My hands are slightly improved after a week back on the Celebrex.  Problem is, that’s not a long term solution (anti-inflammatories greatly increase the risk of stroke, as this ABC Health article points out).  I have an appointment to see a rheumatologist down in Brisbane but that’s not until the end of February.  (The wait would be several YEARS if I was trying to see one in the public system…)  Still no oboe of flute practice and I missed the concert band’s end of year concert and two rehearsals so far… hoping (I would cross my fingers if they didn’t HURT so damn much!) that I might be able to play in the carols gig on Monday night… we shall see.

Apart from that – I’m really enjoying reading a series of novels set in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.  Woods Cop mysteries – but they’re far more interesting in letting the wilderness and the people who interact with it star in the stories.  The main character is a Conservation Officer named Grady Service, and they’re written by Joseph Heywood.  Deer huntin’ , shootin’, and fishin’ is DEFINITELY not my usual cup of tea but I’m loving these books.

And now it’s past my bedtime.  It’s raining here again (wettest Spring on record, anyone?!) and we have to get almost all our sheets through the wash because they’ve developed a musty pong. Ick.  There are times I wish we had a clothes-dryer…

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Yes, that is Constance J. Woodle  – but no, that’s not really me, LOL! Connie is in her full winter coat – I think next time she sees the groomer she’ll have a close shave – her hair starts to get knotty at this length.

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The bottom line that the scanner cut off says “I am really looking forward to bed!”

We see the doctor again in a fortnight and I’m determined that I will have lost at least a couple of kg by then.  I’m back to using the CalorieKing.com.au website to count calories and record  exercise: that really helped last time when I managed to lose weight.  I’m aiming for around 80kg as my final goal – heavier than Weight Watchers or CalorieKing recommend for my height and age, but more achievable than their estimate  – 60 kg? I don’t THINK SO!!Last time I was that weight I was 20 something years younger and caught any flu/cold/lurgy that was going. That’s when I got the glandular fever that is still effecting my life NOW.

And here’s a journal page I started at Social Cre8te at Tammy’s shop yesterday:

There’s some stamping in the background using one of the new ($4!) Kaisercraft texture stamps (the one called “Flourish”, CS759) – I’m looking forward to using the same stamp in wet gesso to give more texture to backgrounds – I forgot to take the gesso with me yesterday!  The buildings are made from a book I bought for $2 on British plants -  a very good buy because the paper is such beautiful quality, no foxing at all, and very sturdy, even though the book dates from the late 1930s (from memory). (No, it wasn’t worth anything as a book, but it’s lovely as art material.)

In other news: Mr Beloved hired a slasher (what a beastie!)

yesterday, and did the yard.  First time in about (mumblety… 5?) months, and the !@&*^!* kikuyu grass ( Pennisetum clandestinum – if you do a search on google images you’ll see just how invasive it is!) had grown into knee high, tangled mats that an ordinary mower  had no chance of defeating.  (And our mower still needs to go off to be repaired anyway…)  At least we can see the dog when she’s in the yard now!  We’re pulling up runners and trying to poison the rest of the kikuyu, it’s awful stuff.

And now it’s time to hang the washing  – such a beautiful almost Spring day here,  blue sky and the birds are turning over the drying “hay” left in the yard…

(frame from Kitschy Digitals Fabric Covered Buttons kit)

Little Rex is now the size of a big house sparrow – quite intimidating to his parents who are both small for their breed.

(And what a great shot of my stress rash, eh?  The only thing that makes it go away is  – duh – getting rid of the stress. Not a lotion in the world will fix it.)

Credits: Kitschy Digitals Vintage Camera Kit (background paper, Box Brownie, Polaroid frames); Lesley Grainger‘s Birdie ABC Alpha; Doodled Edge from Laurie Anderson – Heaven’s Gate Designs.

We’ve heard the little one saying “peep peep peep peep PEEEEEEP” for over a fortnight  now – but we didn’t want to do anything that might endanger him/her.  Well, S/he has open eyes and is finally big enough to start to stand.  I think you have to be a bird person to truly love the little ones when they’re this ugly/cute!  Bollinger and Dorian, the parent birds, are spending increasing amounts of time out of the nesting box, but both are still on feeding duty.

I’m trying not to get too attached, as it’s still early days, but young Rex is over the most vulnerable phase, we hope.

BTW – Mr Beloved called the chick “Rex” because it was able to make a fierce hissing noise when disturbed – sort of like what baby dinosaurs might have done. (And how much do I love the look of adoration on his face as Mr Beloved holds Rex?!)

We went to the Nice Psychiatrist today, and I feel like I have a little more control over what’s going on.  She listened to my whinging about side effects and gave me the option of changing meds or sticking things out  – she thinks that a lot of the symptoms I’m struggling with are signs that I’m actually getting better.  So – knowing that it really takes at least 6 weeks for new medications  to settle,  I now have an action plan,  possibly at half hour increments, of How To Cope with panic attacks, rage, hunger, etc.  It feels a bit silly filling in the day in such small wedges of time, but apparently I know this makes sense and stops any one problem becoming OVERWHELMING.

And tonight I baked.  It smells sooooo good – let’s hope THIS one makes it out of the tin without any disasters!  It’s the banana variation of Rose Levy Beranbaum’s Cordon Rose Cream Cheesecake.  Mr Beloved beta beater(!) tested the mix before it went into the tin and pronounced it Good.  It’s been at least 6 years since I made it last  – I had to buy a new springform tin to replace one that didn’t survive the move from Canberra.

I must get to bed: Social Cre8te tomorrow, and we’re celebrating my birthday, so I have to be there (with the cheesecake!)  I should point out that I didn’t HAVE to make my own cake, I just wanted an excuse to bake.  Especially since part of the new regime to cope with the side effects of the medication will be a CARB FREE HOUSE (or as close as we can reasonably manage) – so that I don’t end up the size of a house again.  Lots and lots of veges and vege soup in my future.

BED!

Photos of cake etc tomorrow.

Credits: Art Journal Caravan Parcel 8 (Scrapbookgraphics); K. Pertiet Basic Journal Spots (Designer Digitals); brushes from A Rockwell’s CU grunged pattern brushes (Scrapartist); font is Academy Engraved

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Background: Studio Alana “Before Dusk” paper turqmetal (from SBG Welcome Wagon)
Digital Scrapbook Place “The Haunted” creepy chequered floor element
Curtain from a freebie by Freubel (site may be considered  NSFW, be warned!)
Tangie Baxter’s “Journal Anthology” kit fish(“Pinkfishiefoo”, love that name!),banner and frog
font: Beyond Wonderland
Crown from Ztampf! ARTiStrokes Heart to Heart
Studio JenU door (from her “Doors” pack)

I’ll be printing this out at standard ATC size (2.5 x 3.5 inches) later this week.

No big plans for Australia Day – popping round to friends for a cider in the arvo, that’s about  it.  Don’t like yobby crowds so we’re avoiding any official “celebrations”.

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The verb of the week was “Accept” and one of the tasks was to make an illustrated calendar.

Background is my own watercolour paper scanned in; most of the elements are from Studio Tangie and/or the Art Journal Caravan packages at Scrapbook Graphics; grassy alpha from MissBehaving (link to come).

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!)

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Credits:  Fonts: CK Ali’s Hand, ShangriLaNF Small Caps; Pink and grey plane “sticker” from the “Greetings from Paris” digital collage sheet by Itkupilli; Page Border from the KitschGarden Brushes set by Studio Berna; all other elements and papers from the Studio Tangie Steamer Trunk, part of the Art Journal Caravan.

I’m planning on printing this out at 8×8 (well, getting it printed on an 8×10 sheet at somewhere that does nice photo prints and cutting it to 8×8) and binding it with about 30-40 pages as the first month’s journal.  There’s no point trying to use the one book for the whole year – I know I get BORED, and I know that the book would get hopelessly fat and ratty over that time frame.

I really like the overlay on this page – that KitschGarden Brush set was something I Just Had To Have as soon as I saw it – luckily I was able to grab it on Christmas Day as my last bit of the quota free download.

I’m off to the respiratory specialist on Wednesday, just the two year checkup to see how I’m doing with my sleep apnoea and tolerating my CPAP machine. I’m about 25 kg lighter than the last time he saw me, so I’m hoping he won’t rouse on me too much!  I find it almost impossible to sleep without the mask (connected to the machine) on; although apparently I can still fall asleep enough to snore if I put the mask on and forget to restart the machine if I get up in the night.  No, it’s not particularly romantic, but neither is having Mr Beloved lying awake, tense, waiting for me to start breathing again!

Steamy here today, after the lovely rain (4 mm yesterday – we’re not getting the wonderful (flooding) rains they’re getting down South, but 4mm isn’t bad!) and I’m off to get bread, milk, and the post.  Oh, and of course the new Sacred Hot Water Bottle of Happiness…

(ETA: D’OH! Boxing Day is Mondayised this year, TOOWOOMBA is SHUT!!)