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      Tuesday, July 05, 2016


catstuff
12:57 PM - 07/05/2016

The topic: Hangin’ in there
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Marco's remains came back the next Friday. I miss him. Mostly when I'm laying down on the sofa. He'd lay at my head and sometimes put his head on mine in such a way that one of his canine teeth dug into my skull. No other cat has done that.

We don't think Miss Elizabeth will be with us much longer. When she eats now, she's putting her whole face into the food, breathing in food or water, so her breathing is weird. The last couple of days her urine output has increased and it's clear. Like her kidneys are not filtering as they should (she's been on fluids almost as long as we've had her, over eight years now). Watching her walk this afternoon, she walked fine down the hallway, but once she got outside, she was stumbling all over. Her back legs are just getting weaker and weaker.

Brian said maybe a week. I know that she most likely won't be here by the end of this month. She's been a great cat, though, a trooper. Never had any problems with her at all. Over 22 1/2 years old at this point. We'll miss her and when she's gone, our lives will definitely be different. We'll be able to be gone for more than three or four hours at a time (we haven't been to Disneyland since last year, before we renewed our passes) and Brian won't have to get up to feed her a couple of times during the night (I sleep right through it).  He'll finally be able to get a good night's sleep again.

Right now I have her fluids heating up, hoping that they help her, but kidney disease isn't something that gets better.

Over the past month I've been able to get most of her mats off, hoping that would perk her up and I brush her well every couple of days, but it's been a long time since she did any grooming on her own.  Just tired.

And I know it's not going to end with her passing this year. I'm sure there will be more.

*sigh*

      Wednesday, July 06, 2016


otherstuff
09:23 AM - 07/06/2016

The topic: I’m bored
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It's not that I don't have a lot to do. But none of it makes me want to get up and shout "woohoo!"

I need to put a load in the laundry. There are breakfast dishes that need washing. Always litterboxes. I washed the floors yesterday because my feet got black when I walked barefoot (yeah, the bottoms actually get black from the fine dust that happens when Brian grinds out in his shop and vacuuming alone doesn't take care of the problem).

I've got the materials to make a lot of diffferent paper projects, but just don't feel the urge. A couple of days ago, I made identical stamps for the company.  Warranty stamps. Had to order new stamp pads because the standard ones aren't big enough. After all the invoicing I did last week and realizing that there were a lot of redos; our link supplier's last shipment from China wasn't made with the highest quality ingredients, which Brian didn't realize until the calls started coming in about oil leaks, so the past month has had a much higher volume of warranty work and I thought it would be a good thing to have some sort of notation on the invoice about warranty work. Right there, in your face. That didn't really take a lot of time, but I like making stamps.

I have the latest Stephen King novel almost finished. I'll probably read.

I sent a box to a friend, she should be getting it today and after she does, I'll post photos of what I sent. I was happy with it.

I have Sunday's episode of Ray Donovan to watch, but I don't want to listen to television noise.

Meh.

Guess I'll go put that load into the washer. It's not gonna do itself.
 


mrs. crankypants
09:36 AM - 07/06/2016

The topic: Company crap
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I got the latest version of Quickbooks last month. $189.00 for the 2016 Pro version. It included a year of the online version. No thank you, I'll just keep it here, in house.

So, yesterday, an update downloads. And now, every frikking time I access the software, here at home, on MY computer, I have to login. With a complex password. That needs to be changed every ninety days. What kind of fresh hell is this?

Do some research. They are doing this for our safety. Because credit cards.

Uh, excuse me? Credit cards? Any credit card information our customers provide is not through us, it's through a banking website. Same with Paypal. All we get is a notice that the customer paid. We have no clue what they used to fund their payment. There is nothing in our Quickbooks files that would compromise a customer's credit card safety.

And there's no way to disable it. There are a lot of people who are unhappy with this. I am and I made that clear on their facebook page.

"We're doing it for your safety" I'm told. Well, let me tell you that you aren't the boss of me and I'll take care of my safety. Seriously, all these precautions to guard a barn that has nothing in it. An empty vault.

We don't store credit card information and we don't use Quickbooks merchant services. I don't need to login to the stupid software everytime I access it.

Assholes.
 

      Thursday, July 07, 2016


catstuff
06:10 AM - 07/07/2016

The topic: Godspeed, Miss Elizabeth
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She crashed yesterday morning. I'd given her fluids the night before and usually they help, but she was stumbling and having a hard time getting around.

Her back legs were really stiff, she could barely walk and she kept tilting her head and bumping into things. I got her to lap some tuna juice, but she didn't lap much and she just lost interest. She was telling us it was time.

I think her kidneys had finally shut down.

She went peacefully.


otherstuff
05:39 PM - 07/07/2016

The topic: Brian is asleep right now
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He was asleep earlier today. He's beat. He woke up with his stomach in knots. He's not feeling well at all. He's gotten a few things done, but he's having a hard time. So, he wasn't that resistent when I told him to go lay down.

I think it's grief.

Miss Elizabeth's passing hit him harder than I thought it would.

He hasn't gotten a decent night's sleep in years. Because of Miss E. She slept with him, against him, next to him on the bed. When it was cold, she was under the covers. I'd wake up and he would have his feet on his side of the bed, his head next to my pillow. Because Miss E was in his spot and he didn't want to bother her. When she got up every three hours, then every two hours, recently even more often, during the night and she made her way into my bathroom, and she cried, he'd get up and make sure she had food. If she didn't, he would go into the garage and get her a new can of food and bring it to her. He'd shut the bathroom door so she could eat in peace. He'd go back to bed. When she was finished, he'd go back into the bathroom and cover the food and let her out. And when she got back to the bed, he'd move over to make room for her. If he hadn't carried her back in, that is.

I thought maybe he'd start sleeping better when she was gone. I asked this morning how he was and he just shrugged. He told me that his cousin was the same when his father died. He said "I didn't feel like this when MY dad died".

Miss Elizabeth was his heart kitty.

He pulled up the steps he had made for her, so she could get into bed. They were made of styrofoam, with short steps, but longer than normal so she could more easily navigate them. He pulled up the blankets from under the tractor, the blankets we've been putting out for a year, moving them with the sun, so she wouldn't have to lay on the ground, so the dampness didn't affect her.

He did some paperwork. Then he came into the family room, laid down and fell asleep. He was fast asleep when the company phone rang. He answered it, did some more paperwork, got a package ready to ship, took it down to UPS, came home and we were back in the family room. He fell asleep again.

He's tired. His heart is broken. It will heal. That's what hearts do.

He's concerned about the other cats. Sammy was howling last night. Sammy slept with Miss, he snuggled up against her. He headbutted her. He took care of her in the house. Spot took care of her outside. He was always closeby her when she was on a blanket.

It's hard. It's quiet.

She's gone.

And the tears come.

      Friday, July 08, 2016


otherstuff
08:53 AM - 07/08/2016

The topic: Aftermath
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Brian fell asleep early last night on the loveseat. I watched some "Alien Shit" as we call them (shows about extraterrestrial beings), volume low, and played a little Candy Crush, surfed a little internet on my tiny Kindle Fire.

About 8:55, I came back to the office and buzzed over to Meh.com, where I was hoping to score a Fukobukuro (it's their second birthday today). Refresh, refresh, refresh, new product comes up, it's a Fuko, I nabbed one. Turned off the computer and went back into the family room.

I went to bed around 9:30, leaving Brian fast asleep. He slept out there all night. He's feeling much better today, all of the sleep he got yesterday helped.

We even had a laugh at breakfast. Yesterday afternoon, while he was sleeping, the company phone line rang and he woke up from a deep sleep to answer it. He was clearly not thinking straight (or talking straight) to the guy on the other end of the line. This morning we were wondering if the man thought there was something wrong with Brian, because of his confusion. Drunk or drugs?  "Gee, do I want to do business with this company?" Yeah, we laughed.

I spent the twenty-five bucks that's been in my wallet for months on delivery pizza. Brian didn't like the way it sounded at first, but I said "I bet if I order it, you'll eat it". About a half hour later he said "yeah, go ahead". We ate around three, no dinner. He did some stuff out in the shop, then shut down early, turned off his computer and that was pretty much it for him for the night.

I have some card pictures I want to post, cards I made last month. Now that they've been delivered, I can do that.

I really need to take a shower. My bathroom is mine again, the food bowl has been picked up, the same with the water bowl. No more pee pads in the corner, pads we changed out a couple of times a day. Not that they always worked, if she got too close to the wall or tub, the urine ran down the wall and under the pad. Always fun to clean up.

But no clean up in over twenty four hours now.

Brian is concerned that Sammy misses the steps in the bedroom. "He doesn't like the step stool. I'll leave it for a couple of days, then maybe bring in the steps we used in the other room and just put them alongside the bed. They won't bother me."

Brian loves his kitties.

Right now, he's doing quotes. I think he'll be okay.

Sleep helps the healing process.

      Tuesday, July 12, 2016


mrs. crankypants
12:37 PM - 07/12/2016

The topic: Crabby day
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It started this morning, when I was making breakfast and it's just gotten worse. I have no patience with anything.

For instance, we don't have smartphones. We can't justify the cost for how little we'd use them. Well, he has a catalog that is in Italian. His brother told him that you can get an app for a smartphone that will read the page and translate it. I told him that smartphones aren't cheap and we'd have to pay more for data (and if there was a smartphone, I'd be the one using it). He said, irritated with me "just forget it".

So, I remembered my iPad. Maybe there's a translation app for that. And there was, After me coming close to hitting him in the ear, on purpose because he was being a jackass, I get the book from him and do the scan. It's not Italian. At all. I think French is one of the languages and German was one that I was sure of. I didn't pay attention, but after I scanned it, I took a closer look at the page.

WFT? You'd have to be a moron not to understand what was there. I mean, how many ways can you spell "spool"? I look at the other column. Type H.  Type G. Pretty self explanatory, no translation needed. The only foreign language is at the top of the page. Shaking my head, I take it out to him. "What don't you understand?" He mumbles something and I point to the word "spool". 

Me: Is it a spool type? 

Him: Yeah.

Me: And look here, where it says "type" followed by a letter.  I don't know what it is you don't understand. This page doesn't need translating.

Him: I can't deal with this right now.

I walked off. Back in the house. Put the catalog back on his desk. Just little things like this are pissing me off today.

Bleh.
 

      Wednesday, July 13, 2016


foodstuff
07:15 PM - 07/13/2016

The topic: Did you ever plan on something for dinner
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And then find out after the meat is ready for the sauce, that you don't have any of the sauce?

And then you think about how you could make your own sauce using ingredients you do have?

And then you start making your own sauce, but you can tell after you add the second ingredient that it's going to be a bust?

But you don't want it to be a complete loss so you add a little of this, a lot of that and let it simmer?

And it still doesn't taste, well, I guess the word would be "edible"?

So, you add some more of this, try a spoonful of that and taste it? And kinda, sorta, think it will be alright?

Then you call in the other family member because dinner is ready?

And you serve it with a warning: "this is pretty shitty"?

And he tries to eat it? And you try to eat it? And he says "you don't have to finish, you know"?

So, you don't?

You put your almost full plate on the floor, because there's all these yummy things that cats like on their own?  And the cats sniff it, try a lick or two and walk away?

And your husband hands you his plate because he can't eat anymore?

And you take up the plates and get a gallon freezer bag and start pouring all of the dinner makings into it so it will be easier to put in the trash?

And the bag is almost full of a cream colored vomit type substance with peas in it? And you take it out to the dumpster to throw it away?

Me, neither.

thumbs_downthumbs_down14110118thumbs_downthumbs_down

      Wednesday, July 20, 2016


otherstuff
11:54 AM - 07/20/2016

The topic: Do you ever wonder
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If your mind started wandering and didn't come back? Or even let you know it was going?

I'm having a bear of a time keeping focused. I'm sure the heat doesn't help.

The loss of Miss E has left me with more spare time than I even imagined. My body is finally starting to feel right again after the seven months of Lexapro. I've been off of it since the last week of May, so seven weeks? Crazy. I think the pain I was in kept me from moving much and my muscles forgot what they were supposed to do. We've been doing our short morning walk all along, but I think if we were able to get out of the house before 6:30 in the morning, I'm good enough to start on the hill. The two mile walk. I know that doesn't sound like much, but it's a steep incline, it's a long hill. It's a work out.

I'm just tired of being tired. I think that's why my mind wanders. I want to catch up with it. *lol*

So, with this free time I have now, this time that I'm no longer in pain, I'm bored with television and I want to do stuff. There's always paperwork, but I can't concentrate with this heat. (Yeah, that's it...yes, it's the heat.)

And speaking of heat, in the past few months I've purchased some patterns online for quick little shirts and dresses. And after turning off the television this morning and putting down the tablet since the most recent level of Candy Crush has me so frustrated I don't even want to try, and not wanting to start any new paper craft until I find out what to do with the ones I've already made, I thought to myself "I know! I'll sew!"

So, I go through the patterns and think "I'll make one of these and one of these and oh, one of those, and one each of a short and long of that...."  I head over to my cedar chest. The one in the dining room. The one under the window.

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I have it so stuffed, the back is coming off!  Wow, when did that happen? I start pulling fabric out.  "Ohh, I like that, I forgot about that one!" which went on for about a half hour. I pulled out enough lightweight cottons to make all of the things I wanted to make. It looks like I bought ten yards of each at a time. I bought a LOT! It must have been on sale. I don't care that I have so much of the same. I cut out the lengths I needed and they just got done in the washing machine, now I have to dry them (I always wash the fabric before I work with it because it smells weird and shrinkage). When I was cutting the lengths, with two different pieces I found that I'd already cut from them. Hmm...I never made anything. So, this puts me in search of the pieces cut out. I found them! Cute! Unfortunately, I'd cut them out about twenty or thirty pounds ago. It's been a while. I might try to add a panel to each side, they're just little tank top type things. Just to keep my mind from going off on its own again. Keep it busy.

Anyway, I showed Brian the back of the cedar chest (the dining room table and kitchen counter are piled high right now). I also found my other patterns, bugs have been at them, but it looks like they mostly got the envelopes the patterns are in. I put all of those in a plastic storage container. I don't think I'll be buying anymore for a while, there are a lot there. Geez...

So, Brian was kind of disgusted with the state of the lid and back. The hinge is ruined, he says it will need a new one. "And I just don't have the time to do this right now!"  That's okay, it's not going anywhere, I sweetly reply. And I look at the piles of colorful fabric....

My mind is happy.

Save

      Wednesday, July 27, 2016


otherstuff
12:48 PM - 07/27/2016

The topic: Have some crows hanging around
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I think one of them may not be feeling well, it was here all day yesterday and is still here today. I put out a roasting pan of water and I've seen the crow taking advantage of it.

Today, I saw it eating a beetle (there are a lot around the trees).  I did a short google search and found that you can give crows cat kibble, so I put out a bowl of kibble.

It's been hot and I don't think these birds have much in the way of water sources.

This should be interesting.


mrs. crankypants
01:34 PM - 07/27/2016

The topic: I don’t write about politics here, not much.
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But I sure do on Facebook.

Right now, I've turned off the television. I'm going to play with a new file I've gotten from the Silhouette Design store (.99 in the design store, $4.99 on the designer's website). I have a wall in the living room that I think it would be fun to print out some of my favorite photos and have them hanging in frames that I made out of paper. Oh, and put my photo viewer thing up there, too.

Because I need to do something other than think about the upcoming election.

Donald J. Trump makes me crazy in the head. I've never watched an episode of The Appentice because I always got the feeling that he was a self absorbed putz.  And now, he's running for president. Scary.

My in-laws like his financial acumen. I don't think he's good at financial stuff, I just think he does what he wants and doesn't give a flying fornicate about who gets hurt on the way. I don't like the way he talks about women, I don't like that he's a cheater, I don't like his bigotry and I reallly, really don't like him thinking he's a real savior. He's thin skinned and mouths off without thinking or checking the facts. Facts mean nothing to him. When called on his BS, he says "I never said that" or "that's not what I meant". Well, if you're running the greatest country in the world, you'd better damned well figure out what you're going to say before you say it. No take backs, yanno? And he shows no signs of having learned this lesson so far.

The bankruptcies really bother the both of us. Four bankruptcies. He had the money, he didn't need to go bankrupt, but he took advantage of his options. Options that left him with a crapload of money and the investors, and small companies empty handed. Was it legal? Yes. Was it ethical? No. But I don't think Trump cares at all about ethics. I just don't. I asked google "How many financial lawsuits does trump have against him?" The answer is "a lot". 

Brian has been self-employed since before we met back in 1984. In the construction business. And he was stiffed on more than one occasion by someone who declared bankruptcy then started up another business doing the same damned thing. Back in the late 80s, he went into a partnership with his cousin (same business) and they did this really large job, without a doubt the biggest they'd ever done. At the end of the job, even though there was a signed contract, the customer said "we'll pay you this much and no more". A couple of hundred thousand dollars less than the contract was for. The company said "sure, you can take us to court and you would most likely win. But we're a big company with lawyers. We can drag this out for years. You're a small operation. Can you afford that?"

We couldn't. Our suppliers eventually got paid. Our employees got paid.  The government got paid. Brian and his cousin? Different story.

And during Brian's last year doing business by himself, he got stiffed for close to eleven thousand dollars from the same contractor. Two different jobs. Because he screwed up, not getting the Ts crossed or the Is dotted. And we weren't the only sub contractors who got stiffed. And even though we lost money through no fault of our own, our suppliers still got paid. Because it was the right thing to do. This contractor could have auctioned off his gazillion dollar custom hotrods at Mecum, even talked about doing it. But he didn't. He just left his subs holding the bag and went on his merry way.

Just like Trump. Sure, he's got accountants and other people "taking care of business" but in the end, it's his name and his brand. And the buck stops at the top. With him.

Never liked him, never will. As far as I'm concerned, he's a scam artist. A con man. And God help the United States of America if he gets elected.


otherstuff
02:16 PM - 07/27/2016

The topic: Wow
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I've mentioned my love of mystery boxes in the past. I only have gotten them from a couple of places, Woot.com an Meh.com.

At Woot! they're known as BOC. Bag of crap. After Woot! sold out to Amazon, they really did start living up to the name. I got one and Brian got one a couple of weeks ago and there was nothing outstanding about either one. The best thing was a pair of women's designer sunglasses. And a thing of exercise cables, Lifeline brand, I think there's at least one of everything they offer, cable wise.

Meh.com, on the other hand, has stuff like the old Woot! bags had. Meh's are lucky bags or unlucky bags, you never know which. My first bag was during the Kickstarter phase and I got a brand new 64GB iPad mini. Two years ago.

I've gotten more since, but none as awesome as the iPad bag.

Until their second birthday Fuko earlier this month. I got Meh branded cheapo sunglasses, a cozy, and a sticker. I got an as seen on tv knife. A fuko bag. And one of these. Brand new. Never used. Nor a refurbished unit.

I am stoked. It got here last Friday and I've used it every day. Twice on Saturday and once a day since. I was so excited about what a good job it was doing, that on Sunday, I used the Floormate and washed the floors!

It will run for an hour, return to homebase, recharge, then, if it hadn't finished cleaning the house, will leave homebase and finish cleaning. 

It's really, really one of the best pieces of cleaning equipment I've ever had in my life.

Like Brian said "not bad for five bucks". That was the cost of the mystery bag.


craftstuff
04:21 PM - 07/27/2016

The topic: This’ll do
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This may seem silly, but I feel such a sense of accomplishment when I learn something about the Silhouette Design software that makes things so much easier.

I mentioned earlier that I wanted to make frames for my photos. This is the frame I snagged from the Silhouette Design Store.

I have some 13" x 19" proof photo paper that I've had for a long time. A couple of days ago, I printed this photo:

And I realized that this could be my first photo on my photo wall. And I'd like it framed, but no way in hell do I want to spend a lot of money on frames. And that's when I checked out the Silhouette store.

I could have sworn I had some 24" x 12" paper, but I do not. What I do have is 18" x 12". Not big enough. I shopped around at different websites and found where I could get two hundred and fifty sheets of 100lb card stock for a fairly reasonable price. I could have gotten it cheaper, but it needed to be inkjet usable because I want to be able to print on it before cutting. Lot of ideas rolling around in my head.

But I know that practice is a big thing for me, even though I love to just jump in before testing the waters, I know what a mistake than can be. I decided to do a test frame, with plain white paper.

I'm spoiled by the files I buy from SVGCuts.com and 3DSVG.com. They come ready to work with. Not so the files from Silhouette. All pieces are in the same file. This one needed to be split into five different sections. Not a problem, it's easy to do. But then there are the score marks, the marks where the paper will need to be folded. They're actually nothing more than perforation marks.

But I'm not fond of having the perf marks show in my work and the SDS software has a way to work with that. You can cut by layers or colors. I'm familiar with cutting by color. This file has everything the same color, so it will all get cut at the same depth. I don't want that. For the score line, I just want the paper lightly cut, so I can use that as a guide to actually use my score tool.

Well, waddya know? All I had to do was to highlight the part that needed the color change, then change it! And adjust the machine settings to match what I needed.  So, the machine cut the score marks first, then went on to the heavy cutting.

Yay! 


But wait! I'm not done yet!
I've got more to say!


catstuff
04:44 PM - 07/27/2016

The topic: Okay, who spilled the beans?
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Maybe?

There is a kitty that's been around since last month. I mentioned our first meeting last month.

Well, I started feeding him a few weeks ago. He didn't seem like he was feeling well, so I added antibiotics to the food. He didn't mind. He ate. Breakfast and dinner. After a week of feeding him, I was able to pet him. Then he started coming into the gated entryway for food, patiently sitting there. He'd hiss at me, but just waited until the food was down.

I started petting him more and he was okay with it. I left the front door open so the other cats could see him. Spot was very unhappy.

It became more obvious that this kitty has never been a feral cat, but an abandoned cat. Ferals don't let you pet them, even when they're eating. Ferals don't let you see their bellies. Nope, this boy has been abandoned. This boy, who we call Tommy.

I told Brian last weekend that I want to catch Tommy in the morning and put him in a carrier and take him to the vet for testing and neutering, then bring him in to his new forever home.

As soon as I knew it would work, I would make the call to the vet and make an appointment, I figured I'd give it this week.

Do you think I've seen him in the morning? Nope. Not since Monday. Sure, it's only two mornings and he's here at night, but damn it. Someone must have told him and I'm betting it was one of the cats.

Dude! I took a couple of pictures of him, but it was through the fence and I couldn't see what I was taking pictures of. I was just pointing the camera and shooting. If I can get any of them to look decent, I'll share them.

      Thursday, July 28, 2016


craftstuff
02:27 PM - 07/28/2016

The topic: DIAGONALLY!
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Der! Der! Der!

I love it when a solution to a problem just hits you right between the eyes like a mallot.

Der!

Okay, so I got my test box done. Since I didn't see any instructions and I didn't feel like looking for them online, I kind of muddled through the assembly and decided there's a better way to do it than I did. And since the paper I pulled for the next test is paper I printed out, I'd just as soon have a decent picture to put inside, just in case I loved it enough to hang it on my wall. The thing is, we're in a Flex alert right now, which means if you cut back on energy usage, take it below your average hourly rate, you'll get a little discount on your bill. Discounts are good. So, I'm on the laptop (the one I got for $125 on eBay, probably the best deal I've made on used electronics; I now I use it on a regular basis) and not the big PC and have no intention of running the R1900 printer today.  I'll do a photo in the morning when I usually have that system booted up.

Here are a couple of photos of the test shadowbox:

It was cut out of 12" x 12" card stock and, once assembled, it's a little under 11.5" x 11.5".  So, I lost an inch both vertically and horizontally from the original sheet of paper.

So, here's the problem. My photo paper is 13" x 19". The good stuff, not the Epson flimsy paper. Well, it's not the very best awesome mortgage-the-house good, but it's called "proof" quality and it's kinda heavy and it takes the ink nicely. And the prints hold up. Obviously, a frame will need cover some of that photo, right? A half inch off of each side isn't really that big of a deal. The thing is, the cut pieces are bigger than a half inch wide. I just measured and each piece is about two and a half inches wide. The tabs are a half inch deep.

Aw, geez, maybe I'm overthinking this...argue <--- my little head voices...

So, the paper I have on hand is 12" x 18".  I know, I have more on order, but I'm really trying to figure out how to lose as little of the photo as possible (and what really annoys me is that chances are, I won't make many of these - but I'll be sure I can if I want to!). Then it hit me.

Cut them out diagonally! Like how monitors and television screens are measured. My 12" x 18" paper is 21.5" diagonally. I could get at least one of the long pieces and maybe a shorter piece or two out of one sheet.  Deep in thought...

I'd love to work on this, but we have to go shopping. Eggo waffles for breakfast don't really cut it. Need eggs. And cheese. And other fine food offerings. Like frozen jalapeno poppers...

I can hardly wait to get started on the bigger shadowbox. First, though, I'll do another one like the one I did today. And have a purty photo for the center.

Oh! So excited!

smdance

      Friday, July 29, 2016


craftstuff
05:52 PM - 07/29/2016

The topic: Shadowbox photo frame…
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Yeah, buddy! 

14110205

And here are the pictures to prove it. Clicking on a picture will take you to a bigger photo in my family album; clicking on that picture will open a larger photo.

The picture I chose. One of my sunset photos.

 



The paper I picked out for the frame. If you go big on this, you can see it's actually little stars...

 

Trimming the photo to fit

 

The pieces

Starting assembly of the shadowbox

 

The back side of the box. I learned that if I use white paper for the outside piece, to color the edges, otherwise you can see the white when the box is finished.

 

The front piece glued on - this hides the corners

 

I used a blue marker to try to make the white not look so bad (probably no one would notice it but me)

 

The finished box/frame - I like it!

 

My photo wall. Brian said I could paint the room! Any color I wanted! Except pink, purple, red...I'll probably go with some shade of grey.

Turned out nice, huh?

 

      Sunday, July 31, 2016


craftstuff
03:07 PM - 07/31/2016

The topic: Well, let’s make work for ourselves!
----------------------------------------------

Shall we?

Brian asked me about the photo wall. Did I want to paint it?  Sure. What color?  Um, I guess a darker grey so that the photos would be brighter when hung. What about the whole room? The other walls?

Well, they could be a lighter grey.

He hands me this big thing of color samples. It didn't take me long. I picked out a fairly dark grey and one two shades lighter. 

He asked me if I wanted to fill in holes and sand before painting. "Can you do it?"

Yeah, I'm pretty sure I can.

I think back to when "we" (he) redid the bedroom. When I offered to help paint, he handed me the paint and a paintbrush and told me I could paint the inside of the closets.  doze

Anyway, this morning I tried a resize of the frame to see if I could still fold it with it that small. The sides to be folded were barely a quarter of an inch. I set it to be a third the size of the original. I think it turned out nicely. I just used white paper, which I stamped with a reddish brown ink. It's 3.75" square.

 

Something I need to do before I get serious about the photos is to calibrate my printer to my monitor. The little picture above looks like it has a green tint to it and is darker than how I see the photo on the monitor. Another thing to learn.

I'm looking forward to this, I really am.

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lisaviolet is seventy something, married with no kids, takes care of lots of cats, likes taking photographs, loves Southern California weather and spends altogether too much time avoiding her responsibilities.

In her spare time, she makes pretty things to sell in her store.

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