The sealant dried too quickly, trapping liquid inside. I didn’t bother fully sealing it as I now have to plan on sanding, repainting, and sealing it again. This won’t happen before Halloween, but at least it looks okay for the holiday.
Once it was wired up, it still screamed spider. Most people who see it will never know how frustrated I am with the sealant, they’ll just think it’s creepy looking.
October 21st- The sealant is nice and milky looking, which really helped me see where I had already painted. I worked on the bottom first, but in one day I had the entire piece sealed.
October 22nd- Again I started on the bottom and painted my way around the spider.
I also began coating the spider legs. Almost forgot them! I did forget the bowl so it was only half done.
Once it was dry I took it indoors. I made a cut-out of the notorious hourglass mark and taped it on for size and placement reference.
Not wanting to start the next phase, I swapped over to my pet projection project. Earlier in the day, I had covered my windows with sheets of plastic. I spent some time running in and out of the house trying to choose what I wanted to project. I’m not sure, but I’m leaning towards the green with spiders. If I choose that, you can bet it’ll be blogged. The red looked too orange for me to like it.
October 23rd, today- I outlined my template and then started to fill it in. I chose a light color for the base so that the red could really pop off the black.
This really let me see the texture, and I’m entirely tempted to utilize it somehow. I just can’t decide if I want to depart from the solid black as it IS a black widow. I’ve already taken a few liberties, but still…
Using the same light gray color, I dry brushed the fangs. Then I took an extremely transparent blue and washed over the eyes. I intend to add more detail there when I figure out just what I want.
The hourglass got its coat of red, and wow was it bright!
While I let that dry, I moved to the eyes and carefully added points of red paint onto the eye lumps. I wanted to avoid a solid output, so I kept just the tip of the bristles wet.
Doesn’t look too bad!
I grabbed my can of brown paint and reworked the red mark. I’m intending to go back and dry brush the red highlights back in so they pop. The layered effect should add some depth while preventing the red area from looking plastic.
Yesterday, I went about adding texture to my spider through the application of paper clay. While my clay was lumpy, it worked for my project. For something else I probably would have wanted finer paper fibers. I mixed my shredded paper wads into the paper mâché clay mixture. I kept adding more until it felt more like actual clay. A word to the wise, wads of paper sponge up water when you least expect it, so be prepared to add some back (or just use better ground up paper).
Once I coated the entire abdomen, I smoothed some of the rougher edges with small bits of clay application. Then I added a little joint compound to help cover a few more flaws. A night of drying saw me through to the next day. I sanded a little here and there as needed and then I left the piece to dry even more.
Dinner that night was an amusing experience. I freed my food from the microwave (not exciting in and of itself, and usually not featured here on my blog), and what should greet my eyes but this?
The bottom of the spider got worked on today, as did the candy bowl. Nothing changed enough to show photos that will blow your mind, but I did stumble upon something that was delightfully surprising!
Newspaper strips blew across the yard a bit, so I went about cleaning them up when I noticed something on the vine.
Yep! Can you believe it?
How awesome is that? My lawn is randomly producing watermelons. One of them was yellow and dropped off the vine so I split it open. How nifty!
I mixed up the paper mâché and it was quite mucky.
As I coated the spider and the bowl, my hands started taking on a delightful social effects look…
It took hours but I coated the top of the spider and and the first layer of the bowl. There’s not much to say but it’s messy slow work. I figure a few more days of this before I can advance to the next stage.
Bobby and I are on a government sponsored separation (in other words, he has school and the school isn’t here). We plan to remedy that shortly, but in the meantime I’m rambling around the house alone. When I’m lonely and find myself with an overabundance of creative ideas (and no one to see the huge mess that happens simultaneously) then something awesome usually comes out of it. I’m getting a bit ahead of myself as this project is still in progress so I can’t say with 100% certainty that it won’t go bad, but the odds are in my favor.
We have to zoom back 4 days ago to properly cover everything. The idea to make something for Halloween started ages before that, but the actual creation process was a recent venture. Before Bobby left, we went to several hardware stores, picking up a variety of supplies. All that was left was to form the ideas and supplies into a plan. So naturally, I put that off to the last minute and played with a different pet project. I had purchased a flash animation with action codes attached, which allowed me to edit and tweak it to my needs. I intend to project a lot of spiders across my windows to give the impression that our house is infested. I found that taping a plastic bag to the window really made the image pop whilst preventing curious lookie loos from coming too close and peering inside my house. I’m hoping to gross out people just a bit with that. I may play with the background colors to see if I can’t make it worse somehow.
Then I decided it was time to work on my spider design. I figured a giant spider outside was necessary if the babies were pretty much in my house. It all started by cutting a mailer into strips of a similar size to my wood. I needed to find the angle that would give the legs the best spider feel, and rather than trying to saw my mistakes away, a snip of the paper let me see quickly what would work and more importantly, what wouldn’t work at all in any way. The next day I marked the wood and was ready to saw.
The sawing was relatively slow, so if you’re a computer savvy Amish person, you probably don’t want to invite me to help at a barn raising. I tried to attach the legs in a secure manner (it didn’t entirely work) with 2 nails and 1 screw per leg group. I think the wood glue is doing more holding together of the pieces than the metal bits. I also had to cut the nail that is pictured in half as it changed direction when it found the knot in the wood, and shot out the other side. I didn’t want a hazard, and I doubted I could pound a nail through again, so I spent some time breaking the nail off. Once all the legs were assembled it was time to let them dry overnight.
The following day was all about figuring out how the legs should line up and what the body should look like. I put wire between 2 legs and repeated that so the 8 legs became 4 units. This let me balance them so I could play with placement. Of course, if you looked at them funny then they would topple. I really got a sense of “spider” just looking at them lined up like that.
Next I fiddled around with the body. I started with a cartoon like arrangement but realized the cute factor would destroy my vision and waste my time. I sat down and looked at black widows online, and swapped some parts around giving me a defined thorax and abdomen.
Another day passed and found me ready to push conceptual shape into tangible reality. In anticipation of the next day, I began soaking newspaper that I intended to shred into a pulp for use in paper clay. With the slop floating, I retired inside and began stuffing a gallon sized plastic bottle that once had delicious sweet tea inside. So when someone goes “Ooh, that spider is sweet!” I will know it’s true. I will also know that the filler will help prevent the head/thorax region from collapsing during the paper mâché application.
The bottle went into the bag after additional paper was added around it as a cushion. Ultimately, this shapeless mass would be forced into a form as long as I added enough material around the solid mass of the plastic. As you can tell, the unmastered lump wasn’t really screaming spider.
A LOT of masking tape was going to help change that, and I suppose a dose of my talent too. Eight eyes, basic shaping, and the piece was coming along.
I mostly went for realism, but the fangs are a bit of artistic license. It IS Halloween after all. I added some shape near the fangs so it looked more natural.
I kept working the form and gave it another test drive. The head is no longer quite so round with the front being a bit skinnier.
I intended to stuff a plastic bag with paper to make the ball-shaped abdomen but I didn’t want to have to use that much paper just to achieve fullness. I took a very solid Atkins shake box and using it as a central point to build from I flanked it with halves from two 12 packs of soda. Then I started taping on strategic wads of paper to fill out the form. I originally planned on stuffing the bag as I had with the thorax, but I feared that I wouldn’t get the shape to come out right, so I opted for greater control.
One roll of masking tape was entirely finished off during this phase. I also put the spider together, so to speak.
I decided to further round out the abdomen and then I lined up the parts to work on the spacing. The parts needed to become whole, but I wanted the alignment established first.
I started with a few strands of tape, added some paper, more tape, and then started to reinforce the bond at the neck with strips cut from a paper towel tube.
With the spider looking potentially awesome, it was time to return to the tub of wet paper. Let me tell you, use a blender. Hand shredding wet paper takes ages and coats your finger nails in a somewhat attractive and monster like shade of black that shines like graphite. I stuffed the pulp into a bucket and called it a night. Tomorrow the next phase begins.
In utter Lyn fashion, we were cleaning up to the very last minute, although to be fair, cleaning isn’t really the right word but it’s the one I plan to use. Of course, as has become the theme of this blog, we need to back up in time just a bit in order to catch up to now. Days before my mother and aunt were to arrive, I was sorting, organizing, tidying, and generally going insane. Bobby would get home from work, often late, and then do his best to help me with things that were just too heavy or not mine enough to figure out. I know marriage makes the whole, all your stuff is belong to me thing a reality, but let’s be honest, there are just some things the other person should be the one to sort. We took a break from the crazy now and then, usually to eat. Snort was always on break, but he felt the cold shoulder of the timeline infringing on his play routines.
Cracker Barrel served up a couple of frosted root beers which gave us a decent respite from everything. But it wasn’t long before it was back to the grind, or in my case, the cut. I will freely admit that sitting down to cut mats was not really necessary to ready the house, but it gave me a little escape that was still for the betterment of our home and I got to ignore cardboard for a short bit. I am so glad we spent the money on a cutting system because realistically, it is going to pay for itself in short order. I had 9 mats to cut, something that would have cost 4 to 5 dollars to have done for me. (That would cover the cost of the portion of the mat I got to keep, plus the fee for having someone else hack it apart.) Instead, using coupons in conjunction with a sale, I scored 9 frames at about 4 dollars each. These frames had matting already, just the wrong size opening for what I wanted to frame. A bit of frustration later along with 36 cuts resulted in utter perfection and future savings!
Sadly, I could not simply immerse myself in the joy of framing everything laying around the house, and I had to actually go back to cutting boxes open. Wouldn’t you know it, I actually found a bag of garbage that the movers thoughtfully packed for us. Thank goodness it wasn’t anything that was going to rot.
Snort spent some time having a very serious fight with a dog that just would not back down. It didn’t matter how furiously he growled, how tentatively he snuck closer, or how loudly he barked. The dog just mocked him from inside of the mirror as though it didn’t even notice a thing. Unfortunately, the mirror did not make it through the move unscathed as somehow it had a piece near the top edge break. This flaw may have bothered me (we marked it on our damage report for the movers), but it didn’t hinder the war that was going on in my bedroom. Not even going in there to break it up stopped it. I think Snort just eventually realized that although that dog was sneaky, it wasn’t going to get him.
This is something I could sympathize with as I had a devil of a time getting a drink. Try as I might, I couldn’t get into the bottle of Mountain Dew. (Yes Mountain Dew, if you are googling yourself and accidentally click onto my blog, you are to blame for the following photo.)
I tried that cap until I swore my skin was tearing off, but nary a wiggle or a hint of movement was to be had. I eventually gave up and cut my way into the bottle. I can’t say it was exactly ladylike, but it did the job. I also had a blister on my finger the next day from my previous attempts to get to the sweet nectar of the mountain… Surely, that is worth a free case of apology pop? Hint hint robot crawlers that report back to Pepsi Co!
Wounded or not, I had to valiantly continue forward! I stitched up our fancy bedding that I wounded in the washer. (It wasn’t fully smashed into the barrel of the machine and the spin cycle ended up partially melting and burning a nice big slice into it.) I was displeased to say the least… although, now that I have mended it I can’t seem to find where it was cut so the bedding lives on and I’m ultimately pleased at the outcome.
Even though we have a fancy bed, I tend not to look at it and go, “Ooooooh, that’s sooooo girly!” My corner of the bathroom on the other hand is sort of a girl fest. I’d feel bad about it, but my bubble bath is pretty, my perfume is stacked adorably on decorative boxes, and it’s like my little corner of happiness before it all oozes into electric razors and utility.
So, with the house actually looking like a home (albeit one that has people still moving into it and perfecting rooms), my mother and my aunt arrived on the wings of a silver bird. That’s a bit of a stretch, they weren’t strapped to the wings, really. We do the grand tour and the vacation is off to a good start! My mother and I walked around the neighborhood some, and amusingly enough, I stumbled across a delightful bit of cement vandalism that was practically meant for Bobby and I.
Mother Nature, in a moment of irony, decided that the drought we were having needed to be paused so that everyone back home would think I lied about the lack of water we were getting. The sky darkened, and for a few minutes there, we had some fear of a tornado as the cloud circled above us. (They didn’t form a funnel, just spiraled directly above in a circle with that quiet threat of turning troublesome.) Being crazy women, my mother and I spent some time trying to grab photos as the lighting crackled across the sky. I never managed to snap a photo as it happened (it always looked like the sky lit up when I did click at approximately the perfect time), but I did grab a still from some video I was shooting. The lightning was awesome. I miss storms.
Both my mother and my aunt wanted to go to the grocery store while they were here. Silly people wanting food available in the house. Whilst my mother picked up watermelons and peaches, I got caught up in the seedy world of fruit gone bad.
Really, it’s not my fault. It was just sitting there… looking all… like that. How could I not take a picture? Exactly. I had to. It’s the law.
My home, storms, and grocery stores are all interesting, but I wanted to get the gals out into San Antonio to really see the sights! Bobby had to work, but he’s not overly excited about window shopping anyway.
The night before we began what would turn into a multi-day forray into the city, I stumbled across some great information on the public transit system here. Not too far from home and barely into the city congestion was a Park and Ride station. Parking was free and an all day bus pass was only four dollars per person. Parking downtown ranges in price from $2.50 to well over $30… and the cheap parking basically requires a bus pass to get anywhere good, or you have to keep moving the car and paying new parking fees. In other words, jackpot! No one had to drive into the congestion, worry about where to park, or generally give the car another thought until it was time to go home. An express bus took us right down into the heart of things, and streetcars ferried us between the main attractions.
We went to the Alamo and wandered around. They, like my father who visited it with us years ago, were surprised at how small it was. You build it up in your mind only to have it completely dwarfed by everything around it. From inside it’s walls I grabbed a shot of the Texas flag framed by the branches of a tree. Fear not, I eventually realized I had been remiss in taking a photo of the iconic building, and I did later in our trip… thus you will find those photos later.
From shops, to exploring the plaza, and wandering around the river walk, we spent the day just taking it all in. We hiked up and down the river, as each side had shops and restaurants butted right against the river’s edge. You can walk the same path twice in a row and end up seeing new things every time. Heck, go down it a third time and you will still find something new you didn’t notice before. Maybe it will be a little bit of tile work, or some architecture, or even a shop that randomly grabs your attention.
Every time we entered or left the river, it seemed we always cut through the same way, right past a glass shop with a huge decorative piece in the window. I lined two different shots up to give the basic representation of what we saw, but it doesn’t blend together perfectly. Then again, it doesn’t really need to… the piece is so busy your eyes are going to keep on hopping from bit to bit anyway.
Dinners were becoming tricky as Bobby was still trying to be healthy, and I was not. I wasn’t trying to eat a tub of lard or anything, but I left my options open while my family was in town so that they could taste all the deliciousness this place has to offer, rather than sit there and eat nothing but chicken wings with us. We ended up going to Longhorn Steakhouse because I had seen an ad on the tv for two 3-course dinners for $29.99 and thought that might be a good way to let Bobby stay on track, but allow everyone else to have options.
Each dinner came with two entrees, two salads, and either an appetizer or dessert for two. I had the 8oz. Roasted Garlic & Onion Sirloin and chose the Chocolate Stampede dessert rather than the appetizer. My mother and aunt selected the Wild West Shrimp. First, allow me to say that I was absolutely impressed by the quanity they served up. The salad never seemed to end, the shrimp came on a long platter and easily could have whet the appetite for four. Our steaks were all cooked to order with no complaints… but the coup de grâce was the dessert. Six different types of chocolate were featured with/in/on this cake, with a vanilla bean ice cream. There was so much we had to take some home, and I can assure you, it tasted just as divine the next day sans ice cream.
Well, even though by this point I’d taken them for authentic Texas BBQ (although I didn’t mention it in the blog, it’s the first place we all had lunch together) and brought everyone to a steak house, it just wouldn’t be Texas without some fried catfish. Now, I like catfish, but I had not gone out of my way to find a place here prior, but my mother was really hoping we could find a place that could rival the catfish she had on her previous trips to central Texas. I trusted in my google-fu and found a place a few towns over that boasted of catfish and had good reviews… so after a day of outlet mall crawling in San Marcos, we found our way to the Clear Springs Restaurant in, you guessed it, Clear Springs.
We learned this place is apparently famous for their onion rings and were a requirement for all guests to order at some point. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but sometime during the rest of your life you were obligated to try them. So try them we did, and they were great. Perfectly golden, crisp without being burnt, and with an onion just this side of sweet. Mom got her catfish, my aunt had a sandwich, and I went adventurous! I ordered up coconut shrimp and crawdads. Yep, crawdads… which while tasting how I expected were in smaller bits than I anticipated. They looked like little shrimp fried up golden brown. They had a jalapeno ranch sauce for dipping, and the coconut shrimp came with raspberry mustard (something I ended up also liking on my fries… which are buried under the rest of the food in that picture).
There was so much to see tucked into the walls and rafters. It would be an excellent place to play I-Spy if you were so inclined.
I don’t even remember why, but I remember we had another trip to the grocery store and I turned the corner and started laughing… I found a spirit in with the spirits you see!
Our next day began with another bus ride and a bit of a walk. The walk took us right by Hemisfair Park and the Tower of Americas. It’s very similar to the Stratosphere, although shorter. Some day I would like to go up there and see how overpriced the food is while taking in the view. This was not to be that day as we had plans, plans I tell you! We hoofed it down the street, eventually making our way to the tea house to meet up with a friend of my aunt’s. I had a discount at the shop, and therefore ordered a ridiculous amount of stuff. We had high tea for two, choosing two iced teas rather than a 3 cup pot to share (also, it was really hot and we didn’t need to get warmer). It came with spinach & chicken salad sandwiches, smoked jalapeno tuna salad sandwiches, and cucumber and cream cheese tea sandwiches, with a scone to share. There were also four petite fours. As I envisioned super tiny little cute sandwiches, I also asked for ham and turkey sandwiches and toast with strawberry butter. Mom wanted chips and salsa, so I threw that on the order as well as we figured we could share it with the everyone at the table.
My oh my, we had a bit of a surprise as the food piled up. My favorite sandwich was the cucumber and cream cheese, but I have to say the strawberry butter coated toast stole the show for me. The presentation was cute, but I think I will order a la carte next time.
From there, our group of 5 (my aunt’s friend brought her daughter along) made our way to El Mercado. It’s a market place with a definitive Mexican feel. We spent most of our time inside of the permanent flea market going from vendor to vendor. Mom bought me a gorgeous Christmas decoration, which I will share some time around Christmas so that I can blog about it in more detail.
After a good chunk of time spent shopping, our little group parted ways as the others lived several hours away and had a good drive ahead of them. We walked a bit through the park across the street before getting on a streetcar to get back to the central area.
I remembered that I had forgotten to get shots of the Alamo… so as the sun made the building glow I grabbed a nice photo… like I said… so much smaller in real life! Do notice that no shadow is cast on the building… the city developers have worked hard to make sure all modern structures do not interfere with the building, even to the point of managing height to keep the shadows off the building.
A short distance from the Alamo is a monument featuring important figures that were there. I loved the juxtaposition of the monument and the building behind it.
Our next day began by walking away from the Alamo on a similar path. We ended up catching a bus and driving by the tea place again, but our agenda was different. We intended to hop onto a regular (non tourist or express) bus, and see the missions. By the time we made it to the corner for the stop, we needed a restroom. Conveniently, for us, the Texas Highway Patrol Museum was on the opposite corner, so we took some time and looked through it (and yes, we used the bathroom). There is not a lot there, but it’s a worth a look. There is a section that displays the images of those who have fallen in the line of duty, which is a rather sobering area to be in. There was an (odd) green to turquoise plaque section that honored notable officers, and I still haven’t figured out if it was ceramics with an odd glaze, or what exactly it was, but it was striking. The most interesting part for me was that they had a newspaper from when Bonnie and Clyde were gunned down. And in fair warning, the second image here is somewhat graphic as it is a photo of a photo of the pair, deceased.
Although a bit of an odd transition, we were off to the missions next. The bus wasn’t as nice as the express bus was, nor as clean as the street cars. Then again, as the bus went on, we learned the same was true of the portion of the city we were going into. It was a bit more questionable to say the least, and if it had been dark, I would not have been very happy. We decided to make Mission Concepción the only mission we visited, especially because after that each mission required more walking to get to it… some of it on country roads that we were warned not to walk on in the dark… er…. yeah.
We walked through the door, into a small room that led into the chapel. The chandelier was a series of circles that cast a gentle glow.
I took photos from both ends of the chapel. See the chandelier above the painting? I loved how they went together and it was no doubt intentional, probably some reference to the fire of God. The other thing I loved about this chapel was the way the natural light cut through the shadows.
I grabbed a shot of the altar, and a view that was hidden from view in my previous photos.
The holy oils were kept near the altar, hanging there aglow in the light. It was really quite pretty.
Near the original public exit for the chapel is a room where a large crucifix is, and my mother thought it was all rather moving. As she walked into the room she gasped, then sort of grinned and half giggled. She had, on first glance, mistaken the bell ringing rope for a noose. Can’t say that I blame her though… it does look like a noose…
From the chapel, we walked out to an area that was set aside for prayer. The rocks were almost volcanic and somewhat reminded me of skeletal heads. Ignoring the odd imagery my words evoke, it still was a soothing place.
I grabbed one last shot of the mission, its walls in ruins, the rooms left open and unprotected. Then we were headed back for our city bus, and our return to the river walk.
Fountains and features are everywhere… like I said, each time you go there you will find something you missed the last time!
All this walking and travel left us with an appetite! So I brought everyone to the Hard Rock Cafe. We sat on the balcony overlooking the river. Drinking tea, having burgers (I convinced my mother to also try the local burger which had cream cheese and jalapeno on it. My aunt is not a fan of spicy so I didn’t send her down an unhappy path of tempting the pepper gods.) All that remained of my meal was a pickle… which I claimed in the name of Hard Rock.
Well, let me tell you… you can’t drink 4,000 glasses of tea and not need to use the restroom, especially while listening to the river flow by. I was so amused by the signage on the bathroom doors that I took a photo. Who knows what any passerbys thought as I’m there snapping shots of the bathroom door!
While we may have decided to avoid the mission trail, I knew of a cathedral that I wanted to share. It’s an active church that allows you to take photos and explore a bit, provided naturally, that you are respectful. I am a fan of cathedral architecture as they look so like castles to me.
The Cathedral also is said to house the bones of Travis, Crockett, Bowie, and other Alamo heroes. There is debate as to whether or not it is specifically their remains, or just the remains of others from the Alamo.
Now, this next picture probably requires you to click on it to really get the whole experience (just remember to use your back button to get back to the blog), but it is a 360 degree view of the altar area in the cathedral. Later, I may add the option to see it somewhat in 3d but it will require a plugin from microsoft and right now it is just too much of a bother test driving it out.
I mentioned we walked a lot, right? And that it was hot? Well, we decided the best way to remedy that was to sit down with a double scoop of gelatto while watching the river and the many people it attracted. Suddenly we could hear a band strike up, and just like that… we were attending a parade!
I am incredibly tired after such a great week (and all that prepping), but you know what… it was worth it. I loved spending time with my mother and my aunt, and they had a good time too (or so they say)!
-Begin Screaming- The only dark spot… or perhaps nearly invisible
scuttling icky spot, was that on the last night, my mother spotted a scorpion running along the edge of the wall IN MY HOUSE!!!! -Continue Screaming- INSIDE MY HOUSE AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH! I put it in the garbage disposal, and felt bad while doing it… but ICKA ICKA ICKA!!!!!
I have come here to say that I’ve been kidnapped by a rogue band of cardboard box dwelling evil elves. Every single day they require me to free their brethren from a tape sealed doom, which coincidentally unearths our belongings. It’s a fortunate side effect, and one that I will not point out to said elves, lest they require me to repack our stuff upon the realization that this is mutually beneficial.
I haven’t been keeping up with the blog which is a two-fold issue. First, I get tired at night and the ability to write deep, brooding, whimsical, and thoughtful prose fails. Secondly, most of my days are entirely similar and I loathe the idea of trying to make each new day seem exciting when it’s basically just monotonous repetition. That’s not to say that things haven’t been happening, see example one, and if that’s not a good enough reason then please consider the fact that the elves may take note and wreak havoc.
Things surely have been busy here. We are still unpacking, sorting, settling, and ensuring the house gets all those nit-picky things done that we agreed on before closing. Heck, there is still stuff being done to this house!
The elves are currently stuck to the tape I’ve been peeling off, so we can play a little game of catch up. Fair warning, there will be blood ahead… I told you the elves were evil.
We’ve made a few breaks from the work, but they’re not often nor are they frequent. We went out with a friend for dinner and a movie. Bobby and I have long pondered the potential deliciousness of mojitos and we finally have to ponder no more. They are absurdly wonderful. Mine was not purely traditional as it had pineapple, but oh my they’re good.
Although it may look like Snort had a couple, he’s just able to get comfy almost anywhere he sets himself down.
I’ve been trying to get the house sorted and ignore the finer touches like photos, paintings, decorative objects and the like. They’re not even the icing on a cake, they’re the dragées and pearls and pretty extra bits you add to put the confection over the top. That said, I stumbled onto a great deal and couldn’t resist having a fancy framed giclée print sent to me. (Pronounced zee-clay, it’s a fancy way to say printed with very high quality ink on a printer.) So I picked out a piece of work that I liked and ordered it. I wonder if Alexandre Cabanel would have been amused at the orientation of his Nymph Abducted by a Faun.
Thankfully, the customer service was superb and they replaced it with no fuss! Additionally, they let me keep the ever amusing faux-pas. I might even hang it for a giggle, and believe me, I need it. Sometimes, whilst freeing the wee winged beasties, I find our stuff hasn’t handled the move well.
Yes, that’s my provocative lady table turned into murder scene. The top half begs to be mounted to the mast of a ship, while the bottom seems as though it ought to be a planter of some sort. Regardless, I’m not thrilled.
To be a bit vulgar, it’s crappy. Which leads me directly into the next topic. I have a confession. I, and all other females, use the bathroom. I know that seems absurd, for surely women are composed of such sweetness that they don’t have to do something as debase as expelling waste, but it’s true. We do. I’m sorry to shatter your reality with that fact (or expose the truth if it was your secret too). So… while doing my business I perused the wall as though it was a sky full of clouds. I always see things in there; one could say it’s the fumes, but truly, it’s the random texture on the wall. In my guest bathroom, upstairs, I always see the same two things in the same spot…
Yes, I see a gnome by Jack (Jack-in-the-box’s mascot), but one can’t spend the day wall-gazing, food is a necessity. I mean how else are you going to legitimately return to seek new silhouettes? We went to Sushihana and began with the dumplings pictured above. They were delectable. From there we departed from our relatively safe choices delving into new territory.
Maki is what most people that I know visualize when you say sushi. It’s rolled and cut. Sashimi is what those people fear when they think sushi… raw fish. Nigiri is a slice of fish on a foundation of rice, often wrapped with a piece of seaweed. It was an interesting experience but I think it will take a bit more for me to really appreciate the sashimi. My two issues were that one piece tasted too fishy for me, and generally the texture for all three was out of the norm for my palate. A touch of wasabi for each and I was fine, but I’ll admit to not being overly eager to try it again.
Cupcakes, on the other hand, will always get another try in my book. Unfortunately for them, a certain baker in San Antonio will not. I had purchased a deal to get a dozen cupcakes at a discount, the only caveat was the requirement to call ahead with your order 24 hours in advance. I requested 6 lemon and 6 red velvet. When we arrived the next day, lo and behold our order was lost. We could either drive back waaaaay across town the next day or piece together an order from what was available. I was bummed and rightfully a bit angry! What’s the point of ordering ahead? Nothing was offered to make up for it other than a few apologies and the mention that they rarely lose orders… Between the irritation of getting the wrong cupcakes and the dense cake and dense frosting combo, I can’t say I’ll bother to return or recommend them.
Thankfully the same can not be said for our muddler. This object is used to muddle drinks, which is simply to smash and smoosh drink ingredients together… You know, like mint in mojitos. (I did mention they were ridiculously good, right?) Our muddler is no ordinary piece of wood, oh no! Not only is it ornate, but it was crafted by famous hands. Stephen Mines, an actor who has been in Soaps (As the World Turns, Days of our Lives), an episode of Star Trek, and a handful of other works now makes an assortment of goods including the muddler that now resides in our home. Hopefully it doesn’t feel too important to belong with our less famous goods, like the slightly melted spatula with no history outside of cooking.
While it may be steeped in secondhand fame, and a fair bit of alcohol (we made, not so surprisingly, mojitos), it’s rather durable. I have some fancy dishes that cause me to wince while grating my teeth every time they are stacked. The clinking just worries me. Therefore, I decided to put to use creative thought and domestic ingenuity in order to craft my own dividers. Also, I suppose I should fess up and throw in the word frugally. Pre-cut felt is surprisingly costly. We bought several yards of felt, I made a few patterns and copied one that had been in use as a cardboard divider already only to end up with perfectly customized protection. I am pleased indeed.
I’m also pleased that my toad keeps coming back. Yes, he’s mine. He lives in my yard and no one else better lure him from me. I’ve been plotting about making a faux rock to cover the pipe the toad is sitting on, and now I intend to make sure there’s a nice flat area for my outdoor pet. I enjoy critters that I don’t have to care for. It’s like a silly bit of joy to see him sitting there, as though we’re simply old friends who can nod to one another and go about our business. I keep an eye out for him, and I’m pleased to say that we often spot him.
More recently we’ve seen a different sort of critter.
The sun was setting and we were nearing an overpass when a stream of bats began flowing out into the almost night. There are caves here where you can see them in the thousands as they leave or return.
Many days later, and entirely unrelated, I went to the Cracker Barrel for my first time. The food was good and strangely affordable. I don’t mean this to sound like I thought it would be costly to eat there, but I’m not used to people charging reasonable prices. The dessert that we had was $3.49 and was big enough to share without feeling as though you barely had a taste. I’m so used to desserts being overpriced and mostly ignored (by me as I can rarely justify the cost) that it was a pleasant shock.
The restaurant is also part store with a nostalgic candy collection. I was all excited to find Nik L Nips and Bobby hadn’t a clue as to what they were. How was this possible that a beloved candy of my childhood could be a complete unknown to the man I married? That surely had to be rectified, and rectified it was!
The little wax bottles are filled with a small burst of liquid flavor, and the wax itself is oddly fun to chew. He even mastered the art of taking off the cap area on the bottle without inadvertently sealing the hole. The trick is in twisting it between the teeth rather than chomping as the wax will bend under pressure.
I wish all of my stories to relate were just about the finding of fond memories in sugary form, but there’s been a lot more happening in the realm of home repair and improvement. We undertook the task of staining our own fence. It took several days but now it’s complete and looking lovely, plus it’s protected from the elements. Hopefully all of the neighbors protect their sides as well. Can’t say that I like sharing a fence for that reason, but not much can be done about it.
Alternatively, weeds can be plucked easily without worry. Ironically, I keep finding weeds that are pretty. This ivy produces gorgeous purple flowers but it’s trying to climb everything it can get its tendrils on.
A job that we didn’t have to work on ourselves is the stairs. There was a carpentry issue that required some work and man, am I ever thankful it wasn’t “our” problem to fix.
I’m better with the joy of simpler stuff, like finding ways to turn fixing dinner into an experiment of cooking.
This steak was cooked for about 30 minutes on medium heat (resting for an additional 15 minutes). I’ve attempted this in the past hoping to see the Maillard reaction in action, but inevitably I could never resist turning up the heat and I neglected to let it rest afterwards. The food was good regardless, but this time it seemed like I got the hang of it and I’m eager to try it on a higher quality piece of meat. We had fauxtatoes and raspberry whip with it. Snort of course got scraps that he felt could not possibly be considered scraps as they were just that good.
What can I say? He’s spoiled and he knows it. On his birthday he picked out several toys (he actively ignores some seeking out specific ones that catch his fancy). Naturally, he destroyed them all. He hung out in the sunshine and basically had a fine day spreading cotton all over the house.
While that’s violent enough, do you remember how I warned you that there would be blood. Well, here it is.
Remember how I mentioned there were evil elves? Well, I’d swear they shoved a broken storage bin (moving breaks stuff) into my path as I ran to answer Bobby’s call. Yeah, that was fun. I cleaned it up and it somehow managed to look worse. I’m still healing and the pterodactyl lost its head. I’m left with two slashes that will eventually fade into flesh as well.
Rather than leave you with that all too real look at my life’s crimson essence, I’ll shift focus to Snort. He always steals the show anyway. He’s been having a great time glued to his newest favorite series. It’s called “Hey, you shouldn’t be outside my house!” Starring various construction workers, neighbors, joggers, and random bits of fluff carried on the wind.
We have so much left to unpack, which is partially our fault for taking it easy, but we were also running out of time in order to meet appointments for the house.
We got our dining room table in place and realized that if we centered it under the light that the chairs would be against the counter. In other words, something had to move. Fortunately for us the builder was willing to shift the light over!
The drywall repair guy made the process look so simple and mess free. He retextured the ceiling and was done lickety-split. We still are waiting for the paint touch up, but that’s on hold while we work as they’re gonna touch up a few other spots too.
We actually had some rain here which was so needed. Turns out I left a desert to settle down in a drought. Isn’t that how it goes? We’re supposed to get some rain from Tropical Storm Don tomorrow, so hopefully my yard rejoices.
It’s been so nice having Panera Bread available again. I just can’t gush enough about the yummy soufflés!
Snort has been enjoying having a fenced in yard to run around in. A few days ago he was out there and started carrying on so I went out to see what my buddy was on about. What should I find but Snort gleefully showing me the monster he had chased towards the house…
Today he had a bit of an adventure that fed into my paranoia. We let him out to pee and inhale the chlorophyll. Time passed and I hadn’t seen him come in nor was he barking and reassuring me of his presence. I looked out and didn’t see him, he wasn’t answering my calls, and when I ran upstairs he was nowhere to be found. Heart attack! Where was my Snorty-pants?!?! So outside I ran only to see the back gate wide open. I turn the corner, with frightened racing thoughts of squashed road puppies and adorable fuzzy kidnap victims, only to see my somewhat guilty looking friend standing with some dog between our house and the neighbor’s. The other dog seems skittish, and I’m calling to Snort who somewhat begrudgingly comes over while this other dog takes off. I have no idea if the dog was a stray, or if he too was simply scoping out the neighborhood after making an incredibly easy escape. Thankfully, it was friendly to Snort and didn’t maul him or try to turn him to a life of crime. I can tell you though, I was one worried girl!
In less exciting but far more irritating news, we found sone perfect bookshelves on sale, took them home, and couldn’t assemble more than one due to all the damage the boards had suffered in transit. It took two of the most frustrating and insulting hours of our lives to get the replacement parts. To make a really long story short, we needed enough replacement parts to -almost- build an additional shelf (we bought 4). Sauder, the manufacturer, didn’t want to send them all even though we were offering to send our receipts in. After an escalation to a supervisor, an attempt by the supervisor to get Staples to drive 2 hours round trip to swap, and a chat online running concurrent to the call they decided to send the parts, apologized, and are sending a rebate on a future purchase. Basically, I’m still ticked off about the intimation that I was trying to basically steal from them. Especially when it turns out that usually with multiple purchases, they ask for the receipt proof and issue parts without the grief. Here is to hoping it all arrives damage free!
Thankfully, life seems to pepper in amusing things to take the sting out. We’re driving along and ahead we spy this monstrosity traveling down the road.
I’m assuming they won it at Six Flags. That or it was simply the time of year to air out your monkey.
Yesterday, Snort let out a yip while he was laying on a chair. He flew off it and ran over to me for protection. I didn’t see any blood on him, and I checked the chair for creepy crawlies but again saw nothing (I did find the static electricity discharging keychain under the cushion). Today, post adventure and random dog meeting, I pet him and he jerked like I hurt him and made a yip sound. On closer inspection I found a bump… I’ll be watching his bug bite vigilantly. He seems to be suffering no other ill side effects other than local pain at least. Poor buddy.
And finally, we got Dominos today and had a blast from the past. I haven’t seen the Noid since I was a kid!
I’d love to tell you that I’m blogging from our new house in a bit of sleepless creativity, but we’re on the road! The days have been flying by and I need to back track a bit.
The movers filled an entire semi with just our stuff. Yes, a whole semi, oh my goodness! Ignoring the fact that we will be having a rummage sale, that’s a lot of stuff! We spent all night cleaning, no sleep for this girl. Carpets vacuumed, tiles steam cleaned, surfaces disinfected, and sleep deprivation were mine. Bobby grabbed a few z’s as he was the official driver. Whilst I cleaned, he slept in the garage with the door half down and thus I became a heroic protector as a curious dog named Red ignored his owner and sniffed his way in. I shoo’d him away, valiantly saving Bobby while simultaneously startling him awake. I scared myself at least three times with the same moving shadow, which was hilariously horrible as I knew what to expect after the first time. It was special. After a little stolen rest in the hotel room we booked that my dad and Snort were at, it was road time.
The miles rolled by and thankfully nothing of much interest happened to us. We saw an overturned car, tons of moving trailers (guess it was the weekend for it), and made the trip uneventfully. I found some candy that I should have bought for the packaging alone.
We arrived and checked into our hotel, unbelievably happy to get some rest.
They had the waffles shaped like Texas in the mornings, but it took awhile before I could even dream of being awake in time to chow down. We originally hoped the truck would be following us and the furniture would arrive the next day, and we were utterly thankful it didn’t happen that way. (Did I mention we were tired?) While we awaited the big unpacking, we checked out San Antonio exploring new places.
We checked out a park with a beautiful gazebo that was between where we parked and where we were headed. I found that there was an indoor Mexican market, El Mercado, and our plan was to go browse the goods.
I found some ceramic skeletons I wanted, but hoo-boy the prices weren’t friendly to my wallet so I grabbed a picture instead. So nifty, I’m hopeful to find them cheaper some day.
Our front yard had some new additions, while pretty they were officially declared weeds. The bright yellow flower rested atop a thick stem coated in thorns.
Dad got to see the house empty and full, but didn’t get to sleep in it. We stayed in the hotel as the bed situation would be questionable otherwise. The day he flew home we moved out of the hotel and found the sheets for the queen bed, as we couldn’t find the king size set. See, questionable bedding situation.
It’s still such a mental shock knowing we own this home. It’s really ours.
Snort loves the house, and I think he will love it more when we get fully unpacked.
Being new to the area, we tried a local pizza place and ordered a couple of large pizzas not realizing how incredibly big the pizzas would be. Awesome, and delicious! How terrible it would have been if we had two giant pizzas of questionable flavoring!
We have so much to unpack! We’re a bit behind schedule but we’ve got time aplenty to work on it. Bobby’s aunt was in the area, so she came over for a few days and that’s actually the reason we are on the road right now. Her flight leaves out of Austin in the wee hours of the morning. I am rather tired and I just know we have appointments for the house later. It’s going to be a long day.
