Rooted in Mississippi

I had a wonderful day with my siblings and their families. I was able to give my sister Janice a ruby ring that I knew she would like and that I never wear any longer. I gave my sister Vicki a needlework lavender sachet I bought for her in Provence. Plus, while we were out shopping, I was able to buy my niece a Dooney & Bourke duffle for her graduation. Lucky for me, it was on sale and I they gave me an additional 20% as part of my “reward” program. She seemed to think it was just great!

When we were all back at my brother’s house, my sister Janice, the one who makes the fabulous quilts, pulled out the jewelry she has been beading and let us all pick out some pieces for ourselves. I took too much, but she is like me, she really just wanted us to have it and wear it. I was thrilled to find a few necklaces that did not seem to touch the part of my neck near my thyroid! LOL

Please feel free to “ooohhhh” and “aaahhh” and tell me what a cool sister I have. It really is the truth. I can not express how much I wish we all lived closer and saw one another more frequently.

The older I get the more I realize how lucky I am to have great siblings. It is an added bonus that their kids are not only good looking and smart, but they are nice to their crazy Aunt Rissa!

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I admit it, I have an enviable stash of threads, beads, and material. I rarely buy anything anymore, but I still love to look. Anyway, on our first outing to visit with family, I decided to take a small detour and try to find a needlework shop. The shop had baskets of marked down threads in a back room and I could not resist. Most of it is silk thread and ribbon, but there are also some cotton and linen threads in the mix. At three skeins for a dollar, I felt like I was stealing from the shop owner, so I decided to buy a cool pair of readers and some funky thread clippers. Then my mom offered to pay me back as my birthday present! Can I get a woo-hoo?

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I am headed to Atlanta for an informal family reunion. All of my mom’s kids will be there, some of the husbands, and most of the grandchildren. Too bad the boys do not like long drives or I would take them too! Instead, they get to stay home with daddy.

Speaking of the boys, Oscar is doing much better, but his stool privileges are still revoked. He has to take the dachshund elevator (aka mom) to get on the sofa now. Sometimes he likes to make me do the chicken run…you know walking bowlegged because you are squatting, with your torso bent toward the ground and arms extended toward the floor…like you are chasing a chicken.  We have been talking about adopting a senior or special needs dachshund, but Oscar’s trip to the vet was a wake-up call.  Neither of them has ever been alone and this is probably the best time to bring in a companion dog.

I spent a lot of time looking at dachshunds who need placement and some of the stories are just heart wrenching. It never occurred to me that so many dachshunds would wind up in need, but there are a lot of them.  I found two males (Bart and Sam) at the Humane Society in Greenwood and contacted the shelter, but they are not neutered. I also found a female Katrina dog from the coast and a male in Baton Rouge that was surrendered because he did not like children. I am really interested in finding a good match, a dog that will fit in with the boys and be a good companion. The foster mom for the Katrina dog has already called me, so we could talk about her some more. She is about seven years old and a little overweight, but otherwise in good health. It is a long process, made longer by the fact that I am heading out of town shortly!

Oh, and thanks for all the birthday wishes.  I was an early summer birthday and the youngest of five, so it tended to get lost.  When Minnie was alive, she always made me a cake.

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Deb at Red Shoe Ramblings posted what should be the last of these little games. Just cope and paste, then come up with answers using the first letter of your name.

Scattergories 4

Your name: Rissa
A good name for a new rock band: Rabid Rabbits
Something you’d see out a car window: road
Ten-letter word: resistance
Something scary: rage
A super-hero or super-villain name: Racer X
Two ingredients that should NEVER be in the same recipe together: remoulade and raspberries
Something you’d find in a purse or wallet: ringing phone
A reason to break up with a lover: recklessness
Something that irritates you: razor stubble
A reason to celebrate: Rissa’s Birthday, which happens to be today

I have all this boring crap to do on my birthday, like take the car in to be serviced and get a tune-up on my hair cut. At least that is going to be broken up by lunch with Lisa at Sal & Mookies. The electricity went out last night, so I grabbed a needlework book and decided to read it Abe Lincoln style. By the time I finished, I remembered that I had loaned several blackwork books out and called Lisa. Not only did she have them, she wanted to bring them back to me before I go to Atlanta, so we planned the whole lunch thing. Woo hoo, a ray of sunshine in my dull day! As an added bonus, the power finally came back on while we were talking.

I am preparing to update my Blackwork Embroidery Primer, which always means a lot of reading. I don’t have Blackwork Embroidery on the MSNA Education Calendar for a few months, but it looks like I might get the opportunity to demonstrate for a local SCA group, which will push up my schedule.

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The TVR Seminar, Share-A-Stitch XXVII, in Knoxville was just wonderful! I really enjoyed my class; the project and the teacher were both great. I highly recommend Carolyn Standing Webb to anyone thinking about taking one of her embroidery classes. It was great to get a hands on class in Blackwork, since books and experience had been my only teachers prior to this class. The Knoxville Hilton was great and well situated. We walked to Market Square, walked through some cool shops, and ate at The Tomato Head a couple of times.

It was surprisingly economical for a needlework seminar and endlessly enjoyable. I made lots of new friends, caught up with folks from past seminar, and chatted up CyberStitchers at every turn. Everyone was so welcoming to the Mississippi NeedleArts Chapter; it was our first seminar since becoming a member of the region. There were some stunning projects for SAS XXVIII in Memphis and Lisa and I both preregistered.  Interestingly enough, we both signed up for the Barbara Jackson crewel embroidery class. It is only the second time we have  picked the same class!

Oh, and the icing on my red velvet cake? Several people commented on my weight loss with absolute sincerity.

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Deb at Red Shoe Ramblings decided to do more of these little games. Just cope and paste, then come up with answers using the first letter of your name.

Scattergories 3

Your name: Rissa
A type of tree or shrub: Redbud
Something an astronaut would study: Rocket Science
Eight-letter word: resistor
A sports team (any sport): Rangers
A character in movie or play: Rizzo (Deb started the whole Grease thing)
A nickname (or endearment) for someone you like: OMG, I absolutely can not come up with a single thing
Something that could get you arrested: robbery
Something you’d take to a picnic: raisins or maybe rhubarb pie (not really, but they start with r)
A reason someone might get an award, medal, or trophy: road race
Something that makes you smile: roving

Also, I found this on Zippi’s blog and thought I would play along.

You Are: 50% Dog, 50% Cat

You are a nice blend of cat and dog.You’re playful but not too needy. And you’re friendly but careful.And while you have your moody moments, you’re too happy to stay upset for long.

Are You More Cat or Dog?

Speaking of dogs, Oscar has been feeling bad lately. I ended up taking him to the vet yesterday and they did xrays, ultrasound, and blood tests. The doctor thinks that he has a soft tissue injury that does not show up on the radiograph, like a bulging disc. At least it is not serious back trouble, which is common in dachshunds. The vet gave him a steroid shot yesterday, which really helped. Starting today he is on a daily dose of Rimadyl, a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory for dogs. We also moved the stool so that he can not jump up on the sofa. Oscar is still a little resistant to letting me pick him up and put him on the sofa, but his desire to sit with me eventually overrides his fear and resistance. It makes me nervous that the boys are showing frailties, especially since they are getting on up there in years.

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Okay, so I do a lot of yoga. I try to attend four classes a week and have a little bit of home practice. I have been looking at the yoga lift they have at Butterfly Yoga for months and finally got the courage to try it out. Once I was up there, I loved it, which meant I had to get one for home, so I could practice getting into position. The one I bought is not exactly like the one from the studio, but it is a close approximation.

My form leaves something to be desired. I have to stop and rethink once I am up there, especially when it comes to the position of my feet, but I am getting there. I have already worked up to staying upside down for two minutes at a time. Hopefully, I can improve my form and stay up longer. Either way, it is a really cool toy. Even my husband has been playing on it.

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I have spent the last few days burning individualized labels on the “Most Successful Programs” CD for every chapter of the Tennessee Valley Region of the EGA. It has taken way longer than I thought it would, averaging about twenty minutes per CD for LightScribe to do it’s thing. The finished product is worth it though; the CDs look great and each copy has the chapter name inscribed on it. My husband’s computer is the only one that laser etches the labels, so I spent a lot of time upstairs in the studio.

I finished needle felting a dog, ostensibly a dachshund, that I started a while back. When I picked him up, he was just a rough shape, with no detail and no personality. I suddenly remember why I stopped working on him, he was just a blob, not yet a dog. This was my first project where I used waste wool inside, to conserve the amount of expensive wool on the outside. Some of the white came through, which I thought was a nice touch, since red dachshunds really do go white as they age!

His legs are still too thick, but hey, this is not really about realism. You can certainly look at him and see clearly that he is a dog! He sort of looks like a red dachshund, so I went ahead and named him Oscar. Once I worked out the details on the body and face, I added a little wool embroidery for the eyes, mouth, and toenails. The final touch was to needle felt pads on his paws. He is a little hairy, so I might have to employ a tiny bit of wet felting to smooth his coat down completely. We’ll see if he ages any better than his namesake.

While I was upstairs, I also finally got around to putting the waistband into a pair of harem pants that we started at Trish’s ages ago. However, I still have to finish the legs before I post a photograph. I am working out the details of putting cuffs on them, so it is taking longer than I expected. The pattern is surprisingly short waisted, maybe I did too deep of a turnover for the waistband. I might have to try them again with less slick material and see if they turn out any differently.

I also wanted to include a photograph of my two dogs nestled on their favorite dog bed. Yes, this is the same dog bed mentioned in a previous post. At least whatever got Oscar upset seems to have passed, so maybe I can go for a few months without having to wash it again. Hard to believe such cute little babies can cause so much trouble.

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These are the questions from today’s Getting to Know You post over at Create a Connection.

When did you begin your first blog and what inspired you to do so?

I put it off starting a blog for a long time, but finally gave in about two years ago and started it as a forum to share some of my experiences with spinning and dyeing wool. It changed course along the way, but it is still a craft blog at heart.

Do you have more than one blog? Why? How are they different?

I only have one, although I started out with Blogger and moved to WordPress, changing the URL along the way. Both blogs were hosted on my own website, but I discovered I liked WordPress better and stuck with it.

How would you characterize your blog?
Creative
Political
Informational
Community-oriented
Or something else?

Self-indulgent frippery.

To paraphrase Oprah, what is “one thing you know for sure” about blogging?

Hmmm, that is harder than I thought.  The one thing I know for sure is it gives me a window into the day to day lives of other people.

Is it important to you to get feedback in terms of comments or pings? Why or why not?

Yes, I like to get comments and track backs. It lets me know that people are reading and it makes my blog seem a little less self-serving.

What 3 blogs would you recommend to our readers and why?

For someone who channels my same fiber-y passion, I enjoy reading Madame Purl.
If I am looking for a good read, I check out Red Shoe Ramblings.
For a little bit of catty meow-meow, I check out Go Fug Yourself.

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What is going on lately? Have any of you noticed the fraying of the social fabric? I mean the small things, not the near apocalyptic things like people flying planes into buildings, school shootings, or the sexual exploitation of children. I am shocked by the small things. Specifically, I have been witness to more people taking a leak in public in the last six months, than in the six years prior.

I was complaining about the urine in the streets in Paris, but I can not deny it is a growing problem here too. A few months ago, my husband and I were walking around a lake near our home and a young man whipped it out. He did not face the woods and water the tree line, he faced the road where we were walking and let it rip. I chalked it up to the remote location and too much beer; there were Bud Light cans in evidence. I also thought he was an over privileged little prick and, given my perspective, he sort of put me in the position to judge.

Anyway, today I was walking out of a Tuesday Morning in Jackson and there was a young man trying to oil the hinges of his mother’s SUV. This kid, who looked like a young teen, was peeing in the parking lot, obviously with his mother’s approval. She was probably the one who told him to open the door, because he did not seem clear on the idea that it was meant as cover. He could have been the younger brother of the putz at the lake. All I could think was, WTF?

When did we become a society where it was okay for men and boys to whip it out and urinate in public? I mean this was the middle of the day in a shopping center parking lot, not Bourbon Street after dark during Mardi Gras. Sorry for the rant, but this is just one more concrete demonstration of how we are failing our kids. Guys, unless you are deep in the woods, keep it zipped. Keep your private parts private. What kind of primal marking is going on when people think it is acceptable to whiz all over the pavement in the Deville Plaza parking lot?

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