Drawing in Sanguine

Or in other words, general pointlessness because my own angst is wearing me out. (I can't even imagine how bored you're getting.)

From thefridayfive: Favorite Foods

1. What is your favorite vegetable? Since it's on my mind every time I pass the garden, I'll say fresh TOMATOES. Mmmmm. (Yes, I know tomatoes are technically fruits.)

2. What is your favorite salad dressing, sauce, gravy, or condiment? Homemade ranch dressing. Or sour cream.

3. What is your favorite culture's food (American, Chinese, Creole, Indian, Italian, Mexican, Soul Food, Southern U.S., etc.)? I love any kind of Mexican, any time, and it's easiest to make at home. But oh, sushi. I'm longing for some sushi.

4. What is your favorite beverage? Really good coffee or tea.

5. What is your favorite food? *blank stare* I don't know. It depends on context.

From enjycellist: Top Fives (of all time, like stuck-on-a-desert-island-top-fives)

Top Five Albums
1. Pure – Hayley Westenra
2. Kandukondain Kandukondain – Soundtrack
3. Lo Que Te Conté Mientras Te Hacías La Dormida – La Oreja De Van Gogh
4. A Mighty Wind – Soundtrack
5. Simple Gifts – Christopher Parkening

Top Five Books
1. Mansfield Park – Jane Austen
2. Chronicles of Narnia – CS Lewis (Yes, I cheat and say all seven! Yep!)
3. The Blue Castle – LM Montgomery
4. Jane Eyre – Charlotte Brontë
5. Fire and Hemlock – Diana Wynne Jones

Top Five Movies
1. Lord of the Rings
2. Casablanca
3. Persuasion (95)
4. Star Wars (the original trilogy – if I have to pick just one it would be Empire)
5. Galaxy Quest

Top Five Poets (Oh boy. I am not a big poetry person.)
1. Shakespeare
2. John Donne
3. Emily Dickenson
4. Edward Taylor
5. John Keats

Top Five Composers
1. Brahms
2. Handel
3. Tchaikovsky
4. Chopin
5. Bach

Check out this gorgeous handmade journal:

Brown Book Journals

It was created by my uber-talented brother mualphapiper, who is a little more advanced in the bookbinding arts than I am. In fact, he is selling journals similar to the one above, as a small business. He individually custom-binds them for each order, so you can get them with extra ribbon bookmarks, elastic bands, pen loops, pocket pages, ruled/unruled paper, etc. etc. at no (or very little) extra cost. And he's selling them for less than the price of the name-brand journals commonly found at big-box bookstores and such *cough*moleskine*cough*.

If you're interested, visit his website or email him at brownbookjournals AT gmail DOT com. He asked as a favor, if any of you do decide to order from him, please identify yourself as a LiveJournal friend so he knows how people found out about him.

When I have a bad cold, I can only feel like a real human and not a zombie when I'm mainlining herbal tea.

Celestial Seasonings Mandarin Orange Spice is the flavor of the day.

Although, peppermint was also nice and gave me the momentary illusion of not possessing sinuses.

These are the highly interesting things I ponder when I'm trying to focus on doing some actual work. The fact that I uploaded one profile to the printer and did five cover designs for another makes me feel quite accomplished. I might give up for the day and curl up with knitting/girly movie/another cup of tea.

I was inspired to do something I haven't done in a long time – make some userpics, with text from Jane Eyre. I just chose a couple of Jane's most awesomest speeches. Feel free to take if you're interested at all, just credit me please.

Went garage sale-ing with MIL and Grandma T and S (Ryan's cousin) and I scored the following loot:

• Tan cable knit pullover sweater (nylon/angora blend), $1
  
• Abercrombie corduroy jacket, super cute, $0.50
  
• Soft dusty blue wool jacket/sweater, possibly unravel to recycle the yarn, would be great for knitting socks if I can, $0.50
  
• Bag of fairly unappealing stuffed animals, destined to be dog toys, $0.50
  
• Ugly painting in very pretty wood frame - may also recycle the stretcher bars for new painting, $2
  
• Big ol' box of random knitting and needlework stuff incl. half dozen sets of straight needles, two sets of double pointed needles, and one cable circular, plus several skeins and odds and ends of yarn, and ancient, very amusing pattern books c. 1960, $10
  
• Antique folding wooden ruler/tape measure, missing one segment, $0.10
  
• Black leather purse, stamped Gucci but almost certainly knock-off, not that I care, v. cute, $1
  

That totals $15.60. Not bad. I'm pretty satisfied, just wish I had argued the price down a little on the box of knitting stuff. Still a good deal, but I bet I could have gotten it for $8.

What is it with summer and me getting a ton of freelance work? Apparently adoption is a seasonal thing like the real estate market because no sooner is it June than I get like five adoption profile jobs at once. It happened last year too!

Plus, I just finished another logo for borboletalanna's company, I have a minor flyer job for the college, a brochure job for Ryan's employers (the stained glass company), and ebienic asked me ages ago about designing some stationery for them, which I haven't gotten around to doing yet. (Ooops.)

I am really grateful for all this paying work – and also really irked because my brother inspired me to try learning bookbinding and now I am right in the middle of a brand new obsession which is more interesting than actual work.

And there's always the necessary knitting time, and I need to do more painting and ink drawings and pastels and DUDE.

I need to stop wasting so much time online, that's what it comes down to. *hangs head*

When I was in Brazil I learned the Portuguese word "saudades," which means longing for someone or something who is lost/far away. It means a lot more than just "I miss you" in English – it has the connotations of deep heartache and yearning. All in one lovely word.

I am really irritated right now about the lies Christians tend to tell each other without even realizing it.

For instance, this one: Life experience makes you a better Christian. Don't regret the things you did before you became a Christian (or after) because they just make you a richer person. You should never say you have "wasted your life" with wrong choices, because God uses them all.

Like a lot of Christian Lies, there's some truth behind this. It's true that God can bring good from evil and it's true that most people's lives are not completely "wasted" even if they've done a lot of bad things. And you shouldn't get so immobilized by guilt that you can't move forward.

But the part about not regretting mistakes, because they just make you a richer, better person? That's crap.

Life experiences, by themselves, mean absolutely ZERO. The fact that X happened you is a predictor of NOTHING except that you experienced X. It does not make you a better Christian by default. It doesn't make you a wiser person by default. It doesn't make you anything by default.

This is akin to what I call the "Really Cool Witness Story" lie – the idea that it's a lot more fun if you can tell a really dramatic conversion story usually involving drugs and sex, and sometimes things like prostitution and gangs as well. People with Really Cool Witness Stories are generally applauded in church, a lot more than people whose story (like mine) goes something like this: My mommy taught me about Jesus, and I've been following Him ever since.

Anyway, let me illustrate what I mean about life experiences. Suppose you survive a horrible car accident. According to the theory, being a survivor makes you a better Christian with a richer history upon which to draw. Actually, having had a horrible accident can mean any one (or more) of the following things:

You are mad at God for letting the accident happen to you.

You are putting it all behind you.

You are depressed because of your medical bills.

You hate driving.

You are angry at the person who caused the accident.

You are more compassionate toward hurt people.

You are grateful to God for having saved your life.

In other words, having a richer faith life depends on how you REACT to your life experiences, NOT the experiences themselves. It's entirely possible that I could have had a fender-bender and learned more from it than someone else who survived a serious accident.

This is just an example, and I'm not trying to be mean to people who have had a car accident, because I'm sure it's more horrible than I could possibly imagine, but the point is still valid. I'm tired of hearing Christians glorify the messed up lives of people who have made terrible, hurtful mistakes, and say that they are better Christians than I am, just because I've never been a prostitute.

(Yes, I exaggerated there for a minute. So sue me.)

PS - I was going to filter this post, but I think I'll leave it public, because actually I've seen the same attitude outside the church too. People who have done really stupid, messed-up things are way more interesting and cool than people with common sense who live happy, calm lives.

Inspired by a conversation with my brother (who is teaching himself bookbinding) here is a list of SuperAwesome Skills I would like to learn someday:

Bookbinding
Soapmaking
Growing herbs for medicinal tea and homemade scents and such
Spinning
Weaving
Dyeing
Painting/drawing with chalk pastels
Letterpress printing
Engraving/etching
Pottery
Knitting a traditional sweater to such a tight gauge that it is totally waterproof
Basket making
Cheese making

ETA: Winemaking (possibly with other things besides grapes, like berries?)
Sewing (I might as well add it, I have all the other fiber arts)

Feel free to make your own list. :-)

We have been watching more movies lately, since I find it relaxing to knit and watch tv in the evenings. (Speaking of which, I started my first sweater and it's coming along wonderfully! *bounce*) So anyway, on to the reviews...

1. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Not as good as I had hoped. It wasn't a bad movie, it was just meh. Movies that get really self-consciously Arty and Deep usually end up being too long because they are impressed with themselves – which is true of this. A good half hour of pointlessness could have been cut and this would have tightened up the storyline. It was a little unfocused, as it was. Raised a good many interesting themes without developing them much, and couldn't seem to decide – was it about time? Living a good life? A Great and Tragic Undying Love?

However, it did have some fantastic acting. I still love Cate Blanchett, and notably this is the first movie I've ever seen in which I found Brad Pitt somewhat hot. Probably because he makes such a funny-looking old man so when he is finally revealed as the Young and Totally Hot Benjamin it's like WELL HELLO.

2. Little Dorrit

We finally watched the tapes we made when it was airing, just in time for the library to get a copy of the DVD. *headdesk* Anyway, it was good even on poor-quality tapes. It's one of my fav Dickens stories to start with, and the acting was excellent all round. Soooo many good characters, really well portrayed. Matthew McFadyen really impressed me. I thought he was not bad as Darcy (despite the Shy!Darcy interpretation) but I haven't seen him in much else. This is a keeper – I definitely want to watch it again (which will be easier now I can get the DVD *headdesk again*).

3. The Brave One

Super derivative revenge/vigilante thriller with Jodi Foster. It was bad in many ways: Tried to be artsy but wasn't, so many holes in the plot it looked like a knitted lace scarf, totally unnecessary and fairly creepy nudity/sex, so many stupid crime cliches you could cut them with a knife, etc.

Also I don't care for Jodi Foster. I have tried to like her, because I think she's a very good actress but... I can't. For no particular reason.

Speaking of writing, I forgot to announce (for anyone interested) that I started posting my NaNoWriMo story at the DWG a couple of months ago. I'm up to chapter 11. I just started posting from the beginning at my writing journal, everingham, as well.

It might be easier to follow at everingham, but if you go to the DWG you get to read the disputes among "my essayists" as lise_lise called them. (I have a couple of readers who post long, involved, and sometimes contentious analyses of my characters. Mostly, they get it wrong. Heh.

This is for chestnutcurls, and everyone else who wonders if she's really accomplishing anything although she's not "successful" according to the world...

"Her full nature, like that river of which Cyrus broke the strength, spent itself in channels which had no great name on the earth. But the effect of her being on those around her was incalculably diffusive: for the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs."

~George Eliot, Middlemarch

I was going to write a philosophical post, but I'm too tired. So instead you get the following easily-diagrammed sentences:

We should not let Lewis's coat get so long. Trimming his feet today was torture for both of us, me and Lewis.

I transplanted some small tomato plants, did a load of laundry, swept the bathroom floor, and made rhubarb cake.

I like rhubarb cake. I also like rhubarb scones. You can make rhubarb scones by following the America's Test Kitchen recipe for blueberry scones and substituting rhubarb for blueberries. Just FYI.

Ryan made us a perfect dinner. It was piles of steamed asparagus with two fried eggs on top. Weird? No, yummy. I like simple dinners.

My first handknitted sock is progressing. It has a heel.

I must fold the laundry.

One day I go for a walk in the woods and everything is brown. The next time I walk back, the ground is covered with Spring Beauties, tiny and delicate.

This morning I woke up, looked at myself in the mirror, and grabbed the hair cutting scissors. I didn't even feel nervous. I just started chopping stuff off. I don't think it's even too terrible, but I'm not posting pics until Ryan sees it and fixes it if necessary. Heh.

It's 81 degrees! I can't even say how happy that makes me. I did some laundry, hung it up on the line, and then sat down to read Pride and Prejudice and Zombies in the sun.

Happy.

Where are my flip flops??

... is pretty much our motto for the next year at least. Or possibly the rest of our lives. Anyway. The budget really hit home for me over the weekend, because I got the automated email from LiveJournal about renewing my paid account. And yeah, a paid account is only $20 a year, but we made a commitment to ourselves not to indulge in unnecessary luxuries. If I asked Ryan, he might let me keep my account, but once you start letting in one small thing and then another... well, it adds up. Total commitment is total commitment. And a paid account at LJ is really nothing more than a convenience.

So here goes. *sniff* Bye, polls (which I almost never use) and lots of userpics!*

I meant to post anyway about things we're doing to save money. If you all have great budget ideas, comment and let me know! You might think of something we're not. And so far I've found the secret to tight budgeting is two things: creative thinking and an attitude of skepticism. Question everything that you just assume you need, especially if society/culture/advertisements tell you it's impossible to live without.

So far we've done the following:

1. We made a rule that we can only go to Walmart once a month. This does several things. One, if you walk into Walmart regularly, you will regularly spend money. It happens. Two, if we make a list throughout the month of things we THINK we need at Walmart, we are more focused when we go, and we might find that we don't need everything on the list after all.

2. I just called T-Mobile and dropped Ryan's phone line. Question assumptions. In our culture, it's assumed that you need a cell phone to survive. What about emergencies??? Well, you can always do what people used to do before cell phones. Find another phone somewhere and use it. Anyway Ryan uses about 10 minutes a month and he never goes anywhere without me other than work. I would drop my line too, but I do need a business long-distance line. Even that is up for consideration in August because that's when my contract is up.

3. We revisited our car insurance, did a few more online quotes, and found a way to get insurance for about $100 less over six months. That saves $200 a year. Which isn't much, but it'll pay for several Walmart trips.

4. I'm trying to think of ways to make people gifts. We have several graduations coming up, AND Mother's Day. AND in August we have five family birthdays. FIVE. If I can either knit people things, or make them calligraphy or stationery or photo albums or something, we can probably save a fair amount.

5. We teamed up with sis-in-law Carina and MIL and made our own heartworm medication for a fraction of the cost. This is safe to do if you have someone like Carina who has experience as a vet assistant and is good at math. You can buy ivermectin at a farm or vet supply store, and mix it up in dosage according to the dogs' weights. Carina made us a year's supply for Duncan and Lewis both, for about $20 total. I would pay $200 to buy commercial heartworm stuff from the vet for a whole year.

6. I already never buy makeup or expensive hair stuff. I'm set with conditioner for a while thanks to a Walgreen's rebate on BioInfusions brands. Woo! Rebates! I'm also trying to check coupons for anything I do have to buy, and personal care things or cleaning supplies are easy to get coupons for.

7. Instead of buying ourselves treats like nice tea, wine, or microbrew beers, we put them on our birthday lists. Family getting us yummy gifts instead of buying us useless decor items = win. And it worked, because we got all three of those things last week. Also chocolate.

8. Ooh, and we checked the discount wine shelf at Walmart on our last monthly trip (never thought to check there before) and struck gold! Local chardonnay for $3/bottle! It's probably not super excellent chardonnay, but it's sure drinkable, and it's almost as cheap as box wine. Buying local meets super budget, falls in love, gets married, and has quadruplets. (We bought four bottles.) We could even keep a couple bottles for hostess gifts or get-togethers with friends. Remove price stickers and no one will ever know. Oops, except for mualphapiper who does read this occasionally.

---

*Note: please do not take this as begging for someone to buy me either paid time or more userpics. Sacrifice builds character. I'm not really that sad about it.

This is for enjycellist who was looking for a citrusy dessert, but I thought I would share with everyone. The original recipe calls for key limes, but it is easier and cheaper to use regular limes. It also works with lemons if you prefer that. Also like a lot of America's Test Kitchen recipes, it calls for a food processor (they love them their food processors at ATK) but you could easily make the crust the old fashioned way by crushing the crackers in a bag with a rolling pin. ETA: oh yeah and since enjycellist is making for a crowd, I was also going to add that it can easily be doubled and then you use a 9x13 pan. I've done that myself for church events.

( Key Lime Bars )

I've been working on my Etsy shop all afternoon. Thanks, by the way, for the responses to my poll! I went with KatharineInk as my shop name, but with a subtitle that references Katharine Taylor Design, and I linked my website in my profile. I seriously thought about the branding consistency thing but I think I like at least a little differentiation between cutesy calligraphy things I sell, and graphic design services I sell.

So anyway, the shop is up! Take a look and let me know if you have any constructive crit/suggestions/ideas.

Etsy Buy Handmade KatharineInk

I finally watched Becoming Jane last night, for lack of something better to do. (Don't worry, we taped Little Dorrit, but we didn't want to stay up till eleven to watch it. Stupid eastern time zone.)

So anyway, it (BJ) was about as bad as I thought. Not only insulting to women and artists (you can only be a good writer if you are sexually enlightened by a knowledgeable MAN) but even as a fictional love story it was extremely cheesified.

Me watching sounded something like this:

[Mr. Wisley steps on Jane's foot while dancing.]

ME: *snort*

[Lady Catherine Gresham wants to talk with Jane and comments about her "pretty little wilderness"]

ME: *eyeroll*

[Symbolic Thunderstorm of Despair and Sadness]

ME: *snicker*

[Jane and Tom LeFroy run into each other's arms while violins soar]

ME: *massive snort while rolling eyes and snickering*

[Resigned old lady!Jane reads from Pride and Prejudice in a prissy voice]

ME: *is busy counting knitting rows*

In conlusion: I have decided that what's his name, James McAvoy, is overrated.

Also, fake!Jane/Mr. Wisley is my new OTP.

*technology geek squee!*

I'm getting Adobe Creative Suite 4. At a discount. Not as big a discount as I would get if I were still a student, but still cheaper even than upgrade price, because I am a PROFESSOR. And the college bookstore is ordering it for me so I don't even have to bother with the details. Haha. Awesome.

I need to buy a router for our new wireless service so we can all use it. Is our USB modem compatible with the cheapest routers? NO, NO IT's NOT. *Scowl* However, I found a decent router about as cheap as I think I can reasonably expect to get one, so onward with the wireless home network, huzzah!

Wow, I haven't used the word "huzzah" in ages.

A local farmer just brought us a whole trailer full of manure for the garden. YAY! Hee.

Meanwhile I am BUSY BUSY BUSY being very businesslike and updating my website and designing logos for people and ordering envelopes for people.

Oh and I watched an episode of Firefly. For um. Design inspiration. Yeah.

Why do I get all this business junk mail now, though? Speaking of manure. And none of it involves free ballpoint pens with my name on them! Annoying!