lisaviolet's diary

Monday, September 29, 2014

craftstuff
05:21 PM - 09/29/2014

The topic: The carousel
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Got the photos up over on the album (there are twenty) and I'll share some of them here.

First, let's see the little video:

The "tent" portion, the top portion and the mirrored center:

Keeping the mirrors clean while I add embellishments:

It took me over four hours to put these little beads along the edge. I got them on eBay, they're only 2mm wide. I had no idea they'd be so small, I've got plenty of rulers around here that have millimeter on them, you'd think I'd have checked. But I like how it turned out.

All parts are assembled and attached:

Time to add the horses and poles. For some reason, the length between the top and the bottom wasn't equal at all holes. I had to do each one individually. On my next one, the holes that are on the bottom two pieces for the "poles" will have matching holes on the top so the pole will go through both the top and bottom.

Horses and poles installed (I used black stirring straws I got on Amazon and wrapped curling ribbon around them for the gold), lights are added. I added holes for the top for the lights, except for some reason I had in my mind there were thirty lights on each strand. I was wrong. There were only twenty. And after it was finished Brian said it would look even cooler if there had been some lights in at the inside top, over the horses. Thinking it over, I can do this and it will probably be a lot easier. Tape doesn't stick too well to that paper and I tried three different types of tape.

As I said, you can see more of these photos over on my album. Clicking on a picture here will open up a new window over there. And to see the photo even bigger, click on it on the album.

This carousel is part of SVGCuts Carousel Ride Kit. As with all of their kits, you can find the instructional video over on their YouTube channel.

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otherstuff
10:15 AM - 09/29/2014

The topic: All these years I’ve been telling Brian
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When the water bill comes "we need to cut back, you need to quit watering the lawn so much". He always said "it's only on for a few minutes in each place, do you want a brown lawn?" No, but I don't want to have to pay $200 a month for water, either, and they just keep raising the rates and we're in a drought and and and....(I always have a lot of ands).

So, a couple of months ago he pulled the majority of pine needles the neighbor has been so graciously dumping on our bank for the past fifteen or twenty years and spread them over the front lawn. Voila! No need to water this area.

You might also recall the water backup in the laundry room after I got the new washer and dryer. It wasn't draining properly because there's a blockage in the line at this end of the house. Dishwater and laundry water weren't making it out to the sewer at the street. Instead of paying a couple of hundred bucks to get the line unblocked, Brian bought some pool hose and the water from that end of the house, the gray water, empties onto the lawn. This results in needing to water this area less than we had been watering it.

You may also recall my numerous complaints of the heat this summer. I'm sure there have been one or two.

Well, the water bill got here. It's down almost 25% from last year's usage.

Brian said "all these years you've told me to cut back on watering...."

And the lawn? It's not all brown.

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entertainmentstuff
08:57 AM - 09/29/2014

The topic: Advanced screening: “The Equalizer”
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When we were waiting for the movie to begin, Brian asked "wouldn't it be cool to see a movie where the trailers were the worst part?" Because so many times, the trailers pick up all the good parts of the movie and there's nothing left.

Well, guess what? He got his wish. The movie was WAY better than you'd get from the trailers.

Bob (Denzel Washington) is a quiet guy, personable, helpful, doesn't seem to have much of a life outside of work and the people he deals with on a day to day basis. He works at a Home Depot/Lowe's type of store, lives alone and has insomnia. He has a little diner he goes to when he can't sleep and he reads his books and he has ongoing conversations with the fellow diners.

A quiet man, a quiet life.

Until one of the late night diners answers her phone and tells the person on the other side, she doesn't want to go with this guy. See, she's a prostitute, the guy on the other end was her pimp. They spoke Russian. She leaves the diner and gets into a limo outside with the pig of a man who is paying for her services. Bob watches from his regular seat by the window.

Then one of the cashiers at his day job gets robbed and the thug wants her ring, the one that belonged to her mother.

We begin to see that Bob isn't as laid back as it seems.

Bob has a "before" life. And it was a well trained life. Bob doesn't carry a weapon, but he's very aware of his surroundings. And you'll cringe. And you'll cheer. And you'll never look at Home Depot the same. I shouldn't say much more, I don't want to spoil the surprises. But they're all good.

Despite all of the violence (none of it gratuitous, these guys had it coming!) it was a great movie, a fun movie. A very fun movie.

Rarely do I see so many smiles when we leave the theater, but this time? Yeah, there were a lot of happy people.

Check it out. See it on the big screen. You won't regret it.

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