A wild post appears!

Um. *scratches head*

So this is what happens when I work and try to do ALL THE THINGS every day...I don't have time to do much that I really 'want' to do, like blog. Or take pictures. Oh well--tonight I'm doing both!

First, a general update...my schedule for the last several weeks has been get up, eat breakfast, clean a house, go to work, come home and eat dinner, troll FB and Pinterest for a couple hours, and eventually go to bed around 11:30. Then get up and do it all over again!

Last week I decided to do something a bit different...this involves getting up earlier and tightening an already pretty tight schedule to fit working out, riding the horse, playing music, drawing, and reading in there somewhere. 

Have I mentioned that it's been busy lately?

This week has been going pretty well though. I worked out every day except yesterday (due to soreness), rode the horse every day except for the past two days (fixing that tomorrow by getting up EARLY to beat the heat that strikes around 7 AM--I've ridden her while she grazed, though), and working a bit on art. This is the work in progress so far:

This is about 2 1/2 hours of work. *headdesk* What can I say? I'm obsessed with details! *sobs* 

And now I've noticed a mistake with the eyes....O.e 

Anyway. Moving on. So many things, so little time!

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For about a week (from last Wednesday to this Tuesday) there was a dude coming into work that invited me to go 'hang out'. Every. Single. Day.

I know his name, but in my mind he's 'Bandanna Guy'. Basically he said 'wanna go dancing/clubbing?' and offered to get ahold of some alcohol (after he learned that I was underage). Major tip-off there. Then the offer was 'hanging out'. Then pizza. Just to be ornery I proposed a deal of 'you come to Bible study on Wednesday, I'll consider it' because I knew he'd say no. Big surprise, he said no and hasn't come back in for three days. I'm breathing sighs of relief and fielding the flak from my coworkers when they ask 'has your boyfriend come in today?'. 

The unfortunate side effect, however, is that I'm realizing just how deep the February trauma has gone...I'm not interested in anybody and am not 'looking' either (intentionally or non). But just the thought of going out with anyone makes me burst into tears. It's startling and a bit embarrassing, even if no one is around. I don't know if it's a matter of having to turn people down, or feeling a misguided loyalty towards the previous failure, or just remembering what it was like. I don't know. But it's really aggravating because I have no idea when going bat-poo crazy and upset at perfect strangers just for asking is going to be a thing of the past.

Is there a time limit to these sort of things? Because I'd really like to know when I'll be able to stop all this. *headdesk*

 

(Seriously. I think I went insane for a while because one day I'd be all 'I can do this! Who needs an emotionally stunted lying jerkwad?' and the next day I'd be a non-functioning wreck who could barely move and the next day I'd be lashing out as hard as I possibly could. The only thing keeping me functioning now is work and keeping days so tightly packed that I don't have time to think. But even tonight--I got a message from a friend saying 'wish you could come to this thing I'm having!' and it took all my effort not to send a message back saying 'no you don't, because you and he are best buds and I'm just the ex'.)

Blargh.

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Have I mentioned how helpful the horse has been lately?

"There is something about the outside of a horse that is good for the inside of a man."

I mean, friends help too. But going out and sitting on her back while she grazes and watching the dog and cats wander around is like some kind of relaxing therapy.

She really likes this grass here. And ignore the mud on her ear--she's taken to rolling whenever she gets hot, which is all the freakin' time.

Plus she's there every day, and is always up for a ride or grazing. I'm so glad I didn't sell her last year.

In that same train of thought, is it a sad thing when the most loyal beings in your life (family and very close friends aside) are animals? And the people you thought you could count on and almost sacrificed your most loyal companions for turn out to be false?

Ugh. Sorry. I'm trying to get out of that rut....tonight is not a good night. I'd 'thank' the Bandanna Guy but it's really not his fault. He just happened to poke at a very tender spot and it decided to flare up tremendously.

On that note I'd better quit for now. Just know that I'm keeping busy, trying to look ahead is possible, and trying not to bite people's heads off when they're completely oblivious as to what's going on.

Herbal Update

Remember my Vinegar of the Four Thieves babbling from a few weeks ago?

Well. The vinegar is done soaking and I strained it off today. I now smell like a lavendar/vinegar/wormwood combination. *coughs*

I had to strain the stuff twice--once for the large bits, and once for the wormwood/lavender powder. The one on the left is the un-strained. Imagine how quickly that would have gunked up a spray bottle.... 

And old t-shirts are wonderful for straining. Just sayin'. 

Yum. O.e

And the finished clear version! 

I was invited to go camping with some friends in a few weeks, so I'm going to test this out then. Mwaha. Mwahaha....

So after messing with the vinegar, I was inspired to run around and take pictures outside. So please bear with the random pictures of plants. XD

Echinacea! The flowers are blooming and taking off...it makes me happeh. 

Oh! Remember my lemon balm that I transplanted? After being in shock for a few weeks it snapped out of it and is officially taking over its little part of the yard. I think it'll do well. 

And the herb garden is taking off as well...the dill and fennel in particular are loving their spots.

With today being Farmer's Market, Mom asked me to pick some dill and basil to try and sell....*plots for ways to keep them fresh*

Oh hey, wasp... O.o 

He was pretty focused and didn't seem bothered by me. I used the zoom function just to be safe though.

It seems that the drier and hotter it gets, the more the sage likes it. Go figure. I've only watered it a few times since planting and it's taken off as well.

And then there's the thyme...slowly but surely taking over its part of the garden...I looked it up yesterday and found out that it can be invasive. Some harvesting may be in order.

And now I'm off to work, to fight through the crowds and discourage the recent flirtation attempts of random dudes. I think an invitation to church should do the trick...hurrah for reverse psychology!

Evening Ride

So. After *counts on fingers* 10 weeks of failing at riding the horse at ALL, much less several times a week, I took her for a ride. It lasted for maybe an hour...but by the end she was completely soaked in sweat, and I was moaning and groaning about chafing and back soreness and generally being a pansy.

Colletta, on the other hand, is a freaking Determinator when it comes to GOING PLACES (my phrase for 'anywhere that isn't meandering around the yard'). For example: today, some distance past the halfway point (she was already quite damp and blowing but still wanting to trot) we came across a hill. She RAN as fast and hard as she could up the hill and then kept loping along a straightaway until we came to where the road sloped down (a couple hundred yards), and then I had to make her slow to a walk to go down the hill. She acts like she's made of iron, man...

Me? I'm kind of a pansy when it comes to long-distance stuff. I mean, I like thinking about it and planning trips and I'll see them through...but I don't go as fast as I can through them. And I complain mentally a lot. XD

So after the ride I tried to sponge her off, but she didn't like that at all. So while I cleaned out the trough and re-filled it with fresh water she meandered over to roll, and I took pictures in between trough-filling.

She had been rubbing her head and neck against the hitching post while I untacked her--I swear, this is her favorite part of being ridden. (Well...maybe second favorite after GOING PLACES. But I digress.)

*flail*

And then she turns around and looks at you with this face like 'Problem?'

And this, ladies and gentlemen, is the quintessential Colletta face. If I ever draw/paint a portrait of her, this is going to be what I use because it's HER expression.

So fat...this is what happens when I don't make time to ride. >.<

And this is what happens when I do make time to ride. There's repercussions either way, I suppose.

Looking for another spot...

"Problem?"

I really do like my horse though. Like...more than people sometimes. <.< >.>

I've sworn to keep her til she dies, because I can't imagine someone else owning her. And it may sound silly, but you know that 'bond' thing that the typical horse-novel-writer blathers about in books aimed towards teenage kids? There's definitely something of the sort here. I mean, I know how she thinks. She knows how I'm going to ride and react (and quite possibly knows how I think too). And if I fall off (which has happened, though infrequently) she's the sort that will stop in her tracks and look back with an expression that clearly says, "What the heck? What are you doing down there? Get up and let's go!"

She's inspired a book/graphic novel idea. But I'm kinda scared to write it. ^^; Maybe someday.

78 Pageviews? (And Bats)

Okay, I don't usually bother about my pageviews--I'm used to getting a handful a day, maybe around 10 or 15 if I'm lucky. But 78 today? Really? Where the heck are ya'll coming from? Why the sudden interest in the blog?? O.e *suspicious*

In other news, I found a bat today!

He was not a happy bat.

He probably didn't like all the close-ups I was doing.

But he got over it.

Sort of.

Am I the only who who is inordinately fascinated with his wings? I guess I always figured that bat wings had these nice little folds where they wrinkle together, but nooooo.....they look like shirring. 

See the resemblance? Freakish wrinkliness! O.o

He's kinda cute, in an 'I'll bite your finger off if you come any closer' sort of way. Look at those teeth....

Ahem. Anyway.

And in other news, I have my echinacea tincture going. I took about 8 flower heads, chopped them up, and packed them in a pint jar. The plan is to let those soak for several weeks, strain them off, and then add echinacea root to the existing tincture in the fall to get a really strong version. Mwahaha. 

Yes, I mercilessly hacked up these flowers. I've been plotting their demise for weeks. <.< >.>

Not Myself

Twice I asked this question:

"Would you want me when I'm not myself?"

Twice the answer was 'yes'. 

But when the time came that I wasn't myself, the 'yes' turned into a 'no', and in a blink of an eye you turned out to be a liar.

The next time I ask that question, I won't be so quick to assume the truth.

Fitness Goals n' Stuff

I'm noticing that a lot of my posts have the word 'stuff' in the title. I need a larger vocabulary. Or to not write when I'm tired and low on nouns. (Weird thing: the more tired and taxed I get, the less grasp I have on nouns and am reduced to calling objects 'thingies' and 'stuff'. The words just won't come.)

In January I made some fitness goals involving going on the Paleo diet and working out/getting stronger. I started off very well, and even remembered to take a 'before' picture for reference. (Today I took a 'during' picture and there's definitely a difference. It were highly inspiring. :3) In February my efforts crashed and burned and in the depths of depression I could barely function as a human being, much less work out.

Last week I worked out for the first time since February. And promptly died. (Fine, I exaggerate--I just lay on the floor afterwards and dribbled sweat for about 10 minutes.) And after the soreness wore off (yesterday) I'm back in the swing of things.

I was down to 130 in February, but that's crept up some in the past few months. I love food, what can I say? And being upset/depressed makes me eat more. So here are the current stats:

135-137 lbs (last weighed about a week ago)

BMI (body mass index): 23.2

BFP (body fat percentage): 25.8

Overall I'm about average. I'd like to get my BFP down to 19% or 20%, into the 'fitness' range rather than 'average'. If I'm going purely by fat lost, that would equal about 127 lbs...which doesn't factor in muscle gain but hey, it's a start. 

I might start logging those efforts here. Most of my workouts are Pinterest-inspired, so posting a picture of what I did for the day should be a better visual than 'I just did such and such amount of exercises'. Or something. I dunno, I'm just rambling here now.

Hopefully those efforts won't go the way of the endurance riding, which crashed and burned after I got a part-time job. I need to manage my time better. *slaps wrist*

So today I roller-bladed for about 20-25 minutes and did this (from Pinterest!):

This may not sound too hard, but MAN. I've done this 1x in the mornings (only twice so far), and I'm dripping by the end. It's wonderful. 

So that's about it. I may go over diet stuff (*makes note to log intake*) but at this point I'm eating TONS of meat and protein and need to up the vegetables intake. I like veggies...it's just that eggs are so much easier to fry up and eat. ^^;

Until next time!

Swimming....

...in butter! And sugar. And cinnamon. Guess what I was making tonight?

Man, these things are rich. So much sugar.... *twitches*

I have 7 pans of these things in the house. And none of them are for us...four are for the nurse that helped with my grandma's recent stay in the hospital, and the other three are for Farmer's Market. But there was lots of finger-licking going on tonight. ;) Plus I have to make another double batch later this week! More stickiness!

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This week I got a pair of roller blades (after pining after a pair for months), and I stinking LOVE them.

And when by 'love' I mean 'they make me want to skate to the point of collapse'. I wish we had more/better pavement in town. Sigh. 

The only bad part (aside from the poor pavement) is that I have terrible stamina, and while skating I feel amazing. Then after stopping I feel like absolute crap and have to go lie down for a while. XD Stamina shall be gotten though...eventually. 

Speaking of stamina, I started the year off rather well with exercising/keeping to a relatively clean (mostly) Paleo diet and feeling great. Then in February those efforts completely crashed and burned, but not until I had lost about 10 lbs. And now, as time goes on and I don't exercise and the diet backslides the weight has been creeping very, very slowly back on. I've gained about 4 lbs back in the past 4 months (a pound a month? Maybe that's not as slow as I thought. >.<)--which may not sound horrible, but the new clothes I've bought that used to be comfortable and somewhat loose are getting tighter. I HATE that feeling.

So for the past few weeks I've been riding my bike to work (only about 5 minutes one way, but hey, it's better than driving) and today worked out for the first time in months. It hurts, and I'm one of those people who feels like absolute crap after working out (endorphins, where are you?). But I don't want to keep that creeping gain going and going--shifting to a Paleo diet again should help too.

Plus, if I do fun stuff like skating and riding the horse, it'll be more enjoyable. :D

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Today I got a book in the mail called Practical Herbalism. I'm loving it already--by the second chapter it covers the evolution of herbal medicine (from sometime around 1500 BC to 1945 AD) and 'Practical Herbalism 101' (which covers how to make teas, decoctions, tinctures, etc and how to gather stuff). The cover looks a bit schmaltzy and New-Agey, but the inside is very scientific and pragmatic in nature. I like it.

I love this one line from the gathering section:

"Clothing appropriate to the quest"..."Knife"..."Pruning saw". That makes herbalism sound like an adventure...heh. :3

Though sometimes it CAN be a bit of an adventure--or at least a detour. Yesterday I was walking home and took a shortcut across an empty lot to check 'my' patch of mullein and gather red clover. I don't think normal people do that...do they?

Root Beer!

My aunt sent me several sections of sassafras root last week...and they arrived today. *glee* I've never had an opportunity to use sassafras before, hence the glee. :p 

Before I begin, a slightly disclaimer: though it's been used for centuries as a spring tonic/flavoring, the FDA has banned the use of sassafras commercially, due to testing that revealed the active component safrole as a 'known carcinogen' in rats. Considering that a person would have to isolate the component and take enormous amounts of said compound in order to get cancer from it, I'm not too worried about it. However, if by bringing it up I've given cause for concern, feel free to research it and draw your own conclusions. I'm going to exercise my herbal freedom and take my chances. XD

After getting the sassafras, I looked up some recipes for ideas on what to do with it, and settled on this one: Sassafras Root Beer Syrup. And it turned out amazing.

(Blurry picture, but oh well)

The basic recipe is: 

sassafras root

 burdock root (which wasn't on hand, so an omission was necessary) 

cloves

 anise (again, not on hand so fennel was the replacement ingredient)

molasses 

water

sugar

The dark stuff is the syrup, and 1-2 tablespoons of that to a cup of club soda makes a pretty amazing concoction. :3 It tastes EXACTLY like root beer too. I'm rather impressed with the results, to say the least.

The other herbal concoctions I've been preparing are still steeping and not quite ready. And I've been waiting for the echinacea flowers out in the garden to fully bloom in order to start a tincture with THOSE. *sighs* Grow faster, plants!

Bloomers!

Remember that dress I dismantled? Well, I finally went ahead and made those bloomers. They were ridiculously easy when it came down to it. 

I really love the crocheted bit before it flares out--it's kinda like wearing fishnet, but not really. ;)

I also love how the flared bit was built in and I didn't have to sew it on separately. Because let's be honest--flares and ruffles look pretty, but they're a pain to sew.

All this needs for now is an elastic waistband (considered a drawstring, but I don't have a string and have read that they're a hassle when trying to use them in costume). 

I'm finding that if I leave my serger or sewing machine out, I'm much more likely to actually sew with them. I repaired 3 shirts before making these (they've been on the 'to do' list for months). Maybe the machines should be out on a more permanent basis. Hmmm.....

So anyway. There's the nightly project...I'll see about making a slip in the next few days. Or draft a corset. Or something.

Bread Failure, Impossible Music, Stuff

Yesterday I was trying to make bread for Farmer's Market. (When I say 'trying' I mean 'trying to keep from having a PMS conniption fit while making bread'. It was a rough day yesterday.) The first 3 loaves of white bread turned out somewhat gnarly--they're fine texture-wise, but they had a lot of air bubbles and have weird cracks and stuff so they look meh cosmetically speaking.

The wheat loaves are hardly even worth mentioning...I have no idea what happened, but when I say 'hard as a rock' I'm not kidding. If a person knocks on them, the dog goes running to the door to see if someone is there. It's that bad. (And he did it 3 times, so at least he's consistent.)

All three were like this. O.e I think I forgot the salt or something. But I was so out of it yesterday that I have no idea what really happened. 

Fortunately two of them went into making croutons, and one went into something called an Apple Brown Betty (courtesy Pioneer Woman). So they weren't wasted...but they're still HARD. Ugh.

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Today on Tumblr I found this song:

WHAT IS THIS I DON'T EVEN. 

Yes, it's a midi...but someone DID write that music. And it's completely impossible unless someone had 20 piano players doing different parts at the same time. It's also very catchy, which has resulted in my listening to it several times today. Heh.

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I made a corset mock-up last night. :3 No picture...but it's made out of denim and a zipper because that's the most fabric I have on hand. It fits pretty well--though if I make a 'real' one it'll have a shaped top instead of looking so much like a tube top. O.e There's a bag of blue and silver Japanese-looking brocade in a bag (I've had it for ages but never tried making anything with it--too scared, I guess) that would look really pretty in a real corset...hmmm.

Why did I make a corset? Well. The steampunk genre has me captivated, and I'm trying to making as many things costume-related as possible. The bloomers/skirts are next. >:D And, should I get good enough, I'd like to make a librarian costume based off of this:

Not EXACTLY like this...but I love the bag, and the belt, and the coat, and the earrings, and...and.... *splodes*

Ahem. So yes. Plans and ideas....they are stewing in the brain-pan. More as things culminate, I suppose.

Some more projects

I think I mentioned in passing the other day something about some other projects I've been working on...well, new pictures haven't been taken but that's okay. You can still see what they are without a total visual revamp.

Last weekend there was a city-wide garage sale (so I heard, anyway, but I only saw 2 in my ride around town), so I stopped and grabbed this dress that caught my eye. It's simultaneously huge and, while technically not hideous, it's not flattering at all on me. (Hence no pictures of THAT.)

 (This is the front.)

The woman I bought it from says she used it for an angel costume. I just thought it looked interesting and repurpose-worthy.

There's crocheted stuff all around the bottom of the skirt, along with around the sleeves. I'll figure out a way to incorporate it somehow.

The back has this long train with a faux bustle-type thingy--interesting insofar as figuring out how bustles are made, but thoroughly unflattering when actually worn. 

Thus far I've dismantled the entire thing--the skirt was so long that I was able to separate it into two sections horizontally, and the bottom section is so large that I can wrap it, doubled, around myself twice. I have plans for some bloomers...a slip/shift...something along those lines. 

The bodice had a green velvet lace-up thing on the inside, but it was unsalvageable. The outside of the bodice could be worn backwards like a cropped vest, as long as one doesn't mind having a forest of lace ruffles on the back. And the sleeves might be able to be reused...I don't know. So far, I plan on using every bit in one way or another whether it be in clothing or even quilting fabric. This stuff seems pretty versatile (it's made from a heavy cotton overlayed with lots and LOTS of lace).

It's currently lying in a heap on the edge of the piano. But it WILL be used.

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And the other project! I've wanted to make one of these forever, but preferred teetering on the edge instead of plunging forth and DOING it. (Partially because I didn't have a suitable book.) But now it's done (mostly), and here are the fruits of my labor.

It just looks like a normal book, right? Well, that's the idea anyway.

Ta-da! It's a book safe! Originally it was going to be a normal rectangular hole, but while planning out the dimensions of the inside I remembered that I didn't have a place to put my iPod (I'm forever putting it down and forgetting what I did with it). So here's the solution.

Am I the only one who cracks up at the 'Best of luck, old boy!' quote in the middle?

The little half-moon thing is a finger hole so I can pull it out without turning the entire thing over. The circular hole is for a magnet (I have one, but am not sure how to insert it). And the rectangle at the bottom is for cords and a pair of earbuds (if my pair ever shows up again).

I used the tutorial over at the Art of Manliness website (minus the green felt) with some inspiration from various tutorials on Instructables and looking at pictures of other people's book safes.

I used the book 'Memoirs of an Infantry Officer' because it's supremely dull and probably would have been donated if I hadn't saved it. It's a blah book but it makes a great safe. (I do love books. But boring ones have other uses besides being read.)

So there 'tis. That's what I've been up to, more or less, when not working etc. Here's to more creativity!