Temporary Hiatus

Casa del Chaos has been busy living up to its name, I have been rather understandably distracted caring for Mr. CPA after his bladder cancer surgery, a subsequent post-surgical infection requiring IV antibiotics and hospitalization for possible heart attack (fortunately this turned out to be Pericarditis with Pericardial effusion and not a heart attack, for which we are both exceedingly grateful). Accordingly, things have been a wee bit too busy for blogging or gardening of late.

With all the waiting room, urgent care, ER and hospital time, I did manage to get some productive knitting in on the second Cedar Creek sock, that is right up until the time that I actually became too overwhelmed to even knit. (note to self: it might be good planning to always have a straightforward stockinette sock at the ready for times such as this!)

Let's just say that this was a week that I'd rather not repeat anytime soon.

Mr. CPA is home recuperating now and things look on track to be back to normal soon.

A long overdue update!

For now I'm blogging here:
Suburban Sodbusters

I may be back with knitting sometime after September.

Suddenly Spring!

When Spring Appears

Meadowlarks give lusty cheers
when spring appears
when spring appears.

Buds and seeds prick up their ears
and blades of grass show eager spears.

And only icicles weep tears
when spring appears
when spring appears

Aileen Fisher

Spring photos from around my yard
(if you prefer puppies to flowers, scroll down to the bottom)

Rhododendron

Ajuga (bugleweed) and daylilies

Japanese Maple (acer palmatum)


Dwarf Fothergilla



Bleeding Heart




Japanese Cherry
(okay I cheated with this one it's not from my yard - it's from the mall parking lot)

Another sign of Spring:

Our neighbor stopped by yesterday to show us her adorable new puppies (only 10 weeks old). They are a cross between a Boston and a Pug - a Bug!

These were the best shots I could get, these little rascals are a bundle of energy and don't really hold still.

Brindle Bug (Brin for short)

Lady Bug and Brindle Bug

These photos are about the sum total of what I accomplished this weekend, with the exception of a bit of spinning and knitting (photographic evidence soon).

Mr. CPA has been quite ill this last week with a nasty virus courtesy of the rather ironically named Dept. of Health. I held out hope that my alleged immune system would rally this time since I made it through an entire week of close contact without displaying any signs of viral activity. But, ummm, no.

You've got mail!

Let us be grateful to people who make us happy: They are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.
Marcel Proust

What’s better than yarn in the mail? Unexpected yarn (and treats!) in the mail!

I was picking up the mail Friday and there was a note in my mailbox informing me that I had a package at the front desk that was too large to fit in the box. Hmmmmm, I didn’t remember ordering anything recently. Had I ordered something awhile back and forgotten about it?

As soon as I saw the return address on the package I knew it was from my friend Jacqui! I raced through my remaining errands so I could hurry home and open it up. (LOL, that sounds like I’m so self disciplined! I really don’t have that much self-restraint. I likely would have opened it in the car if it hadn’t been well-taped! Note to self: must keep extra pair of scissors in the car from now on).

Inside the box was an envelope marked ‘Open me last’. I dutifully set it aside and one by one pulled out several nicely wrapped packages (in a pretty Asian-style wrapping paper – I really wish I had thought to take a photo before opening all of them) .

Jacqui knows about my extreme addiction fondness for coffee so she sent me some delicious French Roast (and a fair trade coffee too!) ground for my ultra low-tech Melitta cone:



An autographed copy of Stephanie’s most recent book (from her visit to see Stephanie speak at the Tattered Cover):




But wait! There’s more! A treasure trove of treats:


Isn’t the frog bag adorable? Jacqui couldn’t have known this ahead of time but that is one of the frog designs I looked at when trying to find tree frog samples for my graphic designer while we were working on my business logo!

And sock yarn! I love Opal and I’m looking forward to trying the Knit Picks sock yarn too. A new Chibi in blue (one really cannot have enough of these). The journal is perfect too. I always have at least one journal or notepad with me at all times because it seems that these days if I don’t write my thoughts down they’re gone for good! The kitty stickers are so fun – very retro.

Lastly, I opened the envelope to find a lovely note from Jacqui.

The timing couldn’t have been better. My morning had been spent trying to collect money from three stores that haven’t paid me for merchandise delivered in January. It was a bit discouraging to realize that there are some people who evidently do not feel at all bad about ordering and taking delivery of merchandise to sell in their store and then not paying for it.

But here was the other side of things – a kind, thoughtful friend who mailed off a fun package of treats for no reason except to surprise me.

And I was surprised. And delighted. And grateful.

Meow!

Behind the Scenes

(Or, Even more excuses about why there’s no new spinning or knitting content …)

Just a quick shot to show you how I spent my last ‘Entrepreneurial Fridays’ day.

Here’s what I learned last Friday, in no particular order:

• One can fit a rather amazing amount of yarn, props and small furniture into a Honda Civic. This was all the more amazing because the person packing it was me and not, say, Lisa’s amazing husband with the Tetris-like spatial skills. I really wish I’d gotten a photo of the car packed to the top!


• Photographs without live models are actually much more challenging than those with live models. Who knew?


• Photo setup will take longer than you think. (well, maybe just for me…)


• Four hours at a go is too long. Both party’s interest and creative energy were flagging a bit at the end of the session.


• I am not going to be quitting my day job for employment as a photo-stylist anytime soon (okay, admittedly I knew this one already, but let’s just say it was brilliantly clear after this session)


• If you schedule a photo session (or anything) in Washington hoping for a bit of good natural light, it will rain like the proverbial cow/flat rock interaction.


• Some good ‘on location’ places to shoot photos are going to be needed, because studio shots in the same studio will all have a similar look.


• It’s not a good idea to schedule an important business meeting in the afternoon immediately following the conclusion of the photo session when one has been on the go since 6:00 am and has had nothing but coffee and water all day
  (Also? You’d think this sort of activity schedule would result in weight loss but you’d be wrong. ::sigh:: Evidently my metabolism is made of sterner, stubborn-er stuff than that! It just laughs at constant activity and zero-calorie intake.)


• Trying to limit coffee intake for health reasons and working 70-hour weeks seem to be mutually exclusive situations.

The post title refers not just to the photo above but also to some rather stressful business-related situations that have been going on in the background consuming much of my time and pretty much eliminating any creative energy on my part. Let’s just say that I’m big on contracts now. Really big. A lot.

Anyway, I think I may be close to resolving most of these issues soon. It’s not an ideal resolution for me business-wise but it’s at least workable and mutually acceptable.


PS – if anyone in the Puget Sound area knows of any great locations where I could shoot photos let me know! Private houses, historical houses, museums, farm locations it’s all up for consideration. Thanks!