Goals Update/Keeping Busy

(Here's the post of the original goals)

My health goals have slipped. I've been better this week, but it's still a bit of an uphill climb to get back on track. I seem to do well during the morning/afternoon, but when I get home I lose all sense of restraint and I'm like "EAT ALL THE CARBS". Urf. On the plus side, we have tried to eat out less this week, and next week our schedule is a little more predictable and stable so we should be able to cook at home more.

No pumpkin-carving party this year, so I'm going to start thinking about an optimal time for a gingerbread bash! I haven't made a gingerbread house since I was a little kid, and Xmas is my favorite holiday of the Holiday Trinity, so I'm pretty psyched. Of course, I need some of that pesky thing called spare time before I can plan anything. *sigh*

Volleyball is moving forward in that I've found a local open-gym night on Thursdays (that of course was closed the first week I'm free) and joined a Meet-up group (that of course has no current scheduled games). I think XOSO's next season starts in November, so come hell or highwater I WILL PLAY VOLLEYBALL SOON.

Finally, my crafting by hand has been on semi-technicalities, but I'll  count it because at least it's making me be creative and take a moment to work with my hands. I technically missed the second week (although I did create some very cute bulletin boards for my classroom, even if my T.A.s technically put half of them together), but last weekend I drew my RPG character for the new campaign my friends and I are playing. (Yes, I'm one of those nerds!)

Guevana, a gnome Rogue. If you don't know what that means, you were probably popular in high school

Tonight I prepped my possible costume for Wednesday - IF it's cool to wear costumes at work. I would think it is, and my costume is perfectly acceptable for teaching (I'm dressing as a "citizen of the Capitol" a la The Hunger Games - I couldn't find an Effie Trinket-style wig, so I settled for a platinum bob wig), but I want to double-check first. I didn't really have to make anything specifically for the costume - heck, the only money I spent was for the wig, because the rest is from my closet. I had a feathery-thingie that's been in my crafts cupboards for years, so I attached it to a bow headband I had from my New Year's Eve dinner party costume (I'm also using the same dress, belt, and earrings). Et voila:

It's gonna look AWESOME with my wig. Very Effie, I think.

I wish I had more to do for Halloween - this year our usual crew was busy helping our friends move into their new house today! Whooo! Unfortunately, though, that means we don't have any plans. Might see if my cousin and her partner will let me come over and pass out candy - that way I can still wear my awesome costume if I can't wear it to work, haha.

Other than that, my schedule is still crazy but I think it might be slowing down and I can catch up (famous last words!). This is in reference to work schedule, of course - the next three weekends are booked solid as well. Oy. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy to be so busy, being unemployed drove me NUTS; I think I just like having the right to complain about it. ;D

4 simple goals: Week 1

A reminder of what those goals are (Full post here):

• Meds and healthy eating regularly
• host a pumpkin-carving/gingerbread-house-making party
• join a volleyball team or league of some sort
• craft something once a week

Progress:
I had a rough week, so rough that my body finally went, "Ya know what? EFF THIS, you're taking a day off" - and I ended my week with a head cold and took Friday off so I could rest, ugh. When I get stressed, I resort to old habits out of comfort. So my eating was not very healthy. The ironic part of this is that I should be eating healthier when I'm stressed, because it makes me feel physically worse. Fortunately, after a few days of eating like this, it loses its novelty and I crave the good stuff, so I usually find my way back, which is nice. It's a small step back as opposed to several steps. Meds are on the reg, though, which is good.

The party will happen; of course, the next party I'm having will not have pumpkin carving or gingerbread house construction, it's for my birthday! We're keeping it simple this year, because last year was just a clustereff in that it left me emotionally destroyed and set me back in my insecurities for really STUPID reasons. Ugh. Don't get me wrong, my birthday ended up being awesome, but fretting over the guest list and how many people weren't coming or were only coming to the dinner kind of ruined it for me. Still ended up having a good bday weekend, though. This year is simple: Game night at our apartment with food and adult beverages and friends, and the actual day of the birthday has my parents coming here for lunch, which is nice.

I found a volleyball group on MeetUp.com, but it's only bi-weekly. I plan to join the soonest one after my volleyball coaching ends, and I'm on the email list for the XOSO social league so when the next "season" starts I'll hopefully sign up in time.

And crafting! I actually hadn't gotten around to making anything (as Friday and Saturday was mostly resting, although Saturday I did catch up on work and go see "Looper" - really good movie, btw), so this morning I decided to do some art journaling.

"The older I get, the more I like myself "

Granted, I'd previously stamped the background and apparently never did anything with it, so this wasn't terribly difficult. Took about half an hour, but it was nice to just sit there and decorate something to (hopefully) make it pretty. It's not my best work, but it looks nice and gave me some tranquility while I made it. Next weekend I want to make a button monogram in a shadowbox!

One bonus about these simple goals: They're not overwhelming, and it gives me a reason to update. Whooo!

30 before 30 - Martha Screw-Up: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGGGGGGHHHHHHH.

OMG.

This poster will be the death of me.

Ok, 3 years ago, my husband bought me a really sweet, thoughtful anniversary gift: A poster with all of Shakespeare's sonnets on it. Romantic 'cuz they're all about love, and thoughtful because he figured I could use it in my future classroom. This was when I'd just finished my credential program and still had that thing, what's it called... oh, right, HOPE. *eye roll*

I decided that I'd hold onto it so I could frame it - didn't want it getting all bent up, even if I DID put it up in my classroom from the job I was sure to have and keep. (NO, I'm not bitter, what makes you say that? ;p) So I left it in its package, as it was in a plastic mailer around a poster mailer tube, so I figured it was safe, and I shoved it in our closet.

THIS WEEK I saw that Michaels was having a sale on frames, so I figured, FINALLY, perfect timing! I pulled the poster out earlier this week to get a look at it, remove the plastic wrapping... and the poster tube had been dented so hard that it had knocked one of the plastic ends INTO the tube.

WHAT. THE. F***.

Of course, because it was 3 years later, it's not like I can call the post office or poster company and get our money back. So I take the poster out to analyze the damage... and it's not torn, but it's really noticeably wrinkled and bent all along the left side. I show it to The Hubs, heartbroken, and he convinces me it's not THAT bad and to still get a frame for it.

Then I measure the poster this morning with a retractable tape measure this morning, and get distracted - it snaps back into the holder and tears a little hole RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE of the damn poster. I was able to do a little clear-packaging-tape surgery, but still. ARGH. First the wrinkling, now this?

It only gets worse.

So we go to Michaels, pick out a frame that has a thin black metal look. It says it's $30, but we have a coupon and a gift card, so we go for it. Turns out, it's actually only $10 so we figure, score! We ask the frame specialist dude how to hang it, he tells us to bend the little metal tooth-comb thing in the back out and put it on top of some nails.

I get home, I open the frame... and it's a cheap POS. The frame isn't together, it's 4 separate angled bars that you snap on and off the PLASTIC and corrugated cardboard frameback. *sigh* It takes me 30+ minutes to get it in between the two pieces, then get the nails up in the wall where I want it (which is just high enough that I can reach it on my tippy-toes, but I can't quite see if I'm pounding in the nails straight), then bend that stupid metal-tooth-comby-thing away from the frameback.

I pick up the frame, get it on the nails, and it's on but it's wobbly.

So I grab the side to see if I can straighten it, and it CRASHES DOWN AND TO THE LEFT. I let out a primal expletive scream and pick it up... to see that the upper left corner is now bent. The frame corners are bent, the cardboard frameback is bent, and the plastic has also cracked and broken off. It's noticeable.

At that point, The Hubs (who is already in an inexplicable MOOD that he doesn't really want to talk about) comes in to see what's up, and I'm sitting on the bed trying not to cry. He says I should take it back and get our money back, but I know they won't take it back; the wrapping's already removed and the metal thing's already bent. So I decide to make it work... but it just looks so crappy and I keep having to stop and whimper. No tears actually fall, just lots of deep sighs and whimpering noises.

I JUST WANT TO HANG THIS POSTER THAT HAS SWEET MEANING TO ME AND MAKE OUR HOME BEAUTIFUL BUT ON A G-D BUDGET. WHY IS THIS SO HARD.

So it's up, it's hung, and frankly, as long as you don't stare at it like it's the "Mona Lisa" in the Louvre, it's FINE. I'm just frustrated and dealing with a grumpy, upset husband and pissed that a cheap frame turned out to be a cheap frame.

So what did I learn from this adventure in idiocy?

1. Open your damn packages as soon as they damn arrive. *facepalm*
2. A cheap frame is exactly that: a cheap frame. I should've bought the bigger, heavier, more expensive one. 
3. The closer to the wall the frame is, the better, apparently. (I un-bent the metal hanging bit a little, and pushed the nails in a smidge closer to the wall, and it's sturdier now.)
4. No one is going to pay as much attention to the little details as you will. And when you're a perfectionist, that can be a really stressful thing to deal with. 

Trying not to make a big thing about this, but OMG it was the most frustrating ordeal. Now I hate this stupid poster. GRR. 

Free downloads: I made art!

"What is art? 

Are WE art?

Is ART art?"

    ~ Lisa Turtle, "Saved By the Bell"

I figured out how to use photoshop brushes in GIMP (the free version of Photoshop). They are seriously SUPER-EASY. 

This is the most pedantic form of art I could possibly make, IMHO. To call it art is insulting to artists. I just wanted something pretty to hang on my walls that had some semblance of purpose, sooo... pretty colors, fancy shapes, and a nice quote! DONE. I made them 11"x14", but they could be resized as needed, obviously. Click on them to see them full-size.

Feel free to steal!