Tooting SR's Horn

Major w00tage!!

The Sword Review did well in 2005!

http://theswordreview.com/item.php?sub_id=446

Good-bye to a Good Man

Good-bye, Aquila -- gonna miss you something fierce!

http://www.mystembassy.net/aquilamemorial/

Vacuums -- nightmare revisited

If anyone remembers my rant on vacuums from some time back, you'll understand this post.

It started out as any other night cleaning the church until I heard an ominous rattling sound about the same time that the handle of the vacuum twisted sideways. Uh oh. I turned off the vacuum and pulled on the handle a bit -- sure enough, the bottom pin holding the handle to the vacuum had come off. And in the absence of it being on the floor, the rascal had been sucked up into the vacuum (amazing since it won't even suck up lint on one pass).

With a sigh I started to unzip the cloth bag and a huge puff of dust came out. Uh oh. I peeked in side and sure enough, the inside of the cloth bag was full. The problem is, all that dust and dirt was supposed to be inside the paper bag INSIDE the cloth bag. *sigh*

I unplugged the vacuum and rolled it toward the side door and the dumpster outside. Once there, I unzipped the bag and whoooaaaa! Puff balls and curling, roiling greyish-brown masses exploded out.
I unhooked the cloth bag from the vacuum and carefully began to dump onto the top trash bag in the dumpster. I saw a silver glimmer and found half the missing pin. I kept dumping but the other half either wasn't in there, or eluded me. I had to pull out the inside paper bag, and then turn the cloth bag inside-out and bang it against the dumpster to try to clean it, while billows of greyish stuff filled the air.

Long story short -- vacuum works, although the handle needs a new pin (my husband is going to take care of that), but I am covered in nasty, greyish dirt.

This incident could be related to the kind soul who, until the vacuum started smoking, tried to vacuum the three tons of pine needles up when they took the Christmas tree down, but I doubt it.
That incident was cured by replacing the belt and cleaning out the long tube that was packed with needles. Hm, then again, the bag was replaced at the same time...

A friend's website

I just discovered that a friend of mine who is an illustrator and author of children's coloring and sticker books has a site now! Unfortunately she only has a few black and white prints on her site, I'm hoping she will add some color illustrations soon (you should see her dragons!!).

http://christyshaffer.com/

Check her out -- she's phenomenal!

Gymnastic Meets

Tomorrow we're off again. My daughter doesn't seem much bothered by the meet -- but my stomach is in knots. Her only concern is getting a medal -- I want her to get a qualifying score so she can go to the state championship.
*sigh*

Prayers appreciated....

Remodeling -- a few photos

Okay -- they aren't the greatest; I haven't figured out how to take stills from the movies, but the camcorder has the ability to take still shots, so I utilized that. LOL
However, it used the flash, so the room looks brighter than it really is, which I think takes away from the Myst-ishness of it. Oh well.

Hopefully you can see the 'flower' lights, the leaves on the ceiling fan, etc. As I've said, perhaps others won't think this is Myst-ish at all, but I do, and I guess that's all that counts.

http://loriendil.com/graphics/LR1a.jpg

http://loriendil.com/graphics/LR2a.jpg (with dog LOL)

http://loriendil.com/graphics/LR3a.jpg

http://loriendil.com/graphics/LR4a.jpg

Remodeling - done!

Yes, really! w00t!

Now to get the camcorder out (errr, where did we put that amid all the moving of stuff to get this project done???) and take a little movie of it all. Then I can pull stills and upload.
I might try that later tonight -- right now my daughter has the floor littered with DVDs and VCR tapes that she's sorting and putting away. LOL

Remodeling - part 5

Almost done. Finishing touches be taken care of tomorrow. Except maybe the rug. I do hope we find one. The poor dog slides all over the wood floor and she can't even jump on the sofa now. LOL

Once it's done, I'm going to take pictures. :D

Remodeling - part 4

We only have to paint the hallway, put the floor down there, and the molding. So one more day of work and we should be done.

We still have a rug to buy and some odds'n'ends to figure out where to put, but most of the work is done.

*whew*

Remodeling - part 3

We now have newly painted walls and ceiling (3 coats -- sheesh!) in just over half of our living room. We have the new wood floor installed in that half, and the base molding and crown molding stained and nailed in place. The furniture is in that section and even without the finishing touches, it already looks beautiful.

To set the mood for my new Myst-ic living room, we put on my Myst soundtrack while working. Oh yes!

The only thing that could make it better would be if I could have some artifacts from D'ni (anyone going down the cavern, can you snitch me a little souvenir? *grin* -- Hey Bill, if you're reading this, can you get me something? You gotta know where a few interesting leftovers might be stored since the DRC left the cavern... *bigger grin*).
Hm, perhaps "Home Sweet Home" in D'ni -- that would be lovely. If my husband had the letters, he could make a beautiful wooden carving with that in it (he does gorgeous work!). I'll ask on The Lyst, there are quite a few who know the language well. If the words exist to say that, I'm sure they could let me know.

I do dearly love my husband -- how many men would let their wives redo the living room in a particular style, especially when they themselves have no interest in the topic? And wear themselves out working to complete it?

Perhaps Myst fans won't think it looks like something from Myst (not just from one Age or even just the first game), but that's all right. I think it does.

Remodeling - part 2

Well, despite broken rollers when trying to paint, and a few other snags, the one part of the dining room is painted and the new china cabinet (the one I've waited my whole married life for -- now my few beautiful dishes can be displayed instead of in boxes *grin*) in place. All stuff other than furniture itself is moved and the living room ready.

Tomorrow, furniture gets moved out, baseboards get pulled up, ceiling fan gets taken down, walls get painted, carpeting gets taken up, then we start putting down the new wood floor.

With all this taking place, why oh why am I getting such great ideas for the story I'm writing? *sigh*

Remodeling - part 1

Murphy has not been kind...

Remodeling

Well, it's time...

We're been preparing for it, and I've been dreading it, but conversely, knowing the end result keeps me looking forward to it.

We're going to remodel the living room. Officially we're starting tomorrow, but prep work will begin this evening.

We're hoping to be done before the week is up, if Murphy is kind. So I doubt I'll be doing any writing or blogging for the next few days. :(

Belated Happy New Year!

2005 wasn't bad -- I got a few short stories published and feel I made headway in my writing in general.

Both my sons moved out and started life on their own. One is now engaged. I became a grandma again. My younger daughter moved up to become a Level 5 USAG gymnast.

But on other fronts, 2005 could have been better. One of the best things I know I can do for myself on some of those other fronts is educate myself. I just received several books I ordered on scleroderma and fibromyalgia. Here's hoping I can help myself, since most of the doctors around here seem either unwilling or unable to.

So I'm hoping and praying that 2006 is great in all areas! *grin*

Commitment

Anyone who is a writer, thinks they might like to 'try' it, or who thinks writing is a quick ticket to Easy Street, needs to read this article: http://www.committment.com/writers.html