Rant Rant Ranty Rant

So much for no news being good news.

I just got a call from the car repairers.  Apparently there's some "dodgy" repair work from a previous accident which the insurance company is not willing to pay for.  Joy.  Wouldn't have even known it was there if their client hadn't hit me!

Actually, I tell a lie.  I suspect that previous accident/repair work was all that hard work N did when he bought the car, in order to get the car roadworthy and running smoothly.  I knew he'd fixed it, but it wasn't dodgy "filling a hole with a potato cake" repairs, like someone else I know!  As long as the price is right (or at least tolerable), I'll be happy to pay to get the "dodgy" part of the car fixed.  As long as the insurance company coughs up more to get the bulk of it repaired.

Gah - it's always something, isn't it?

Between that and the office politicking ("I want you to move desks" "I'm not sitting there!" "well X will move and you can sit there" "But I want to sit with YYYYYYYY!" "hang on, why am I dragged into this? I like where I am!") going on today, it's unproductive and frustrating.

is it hometime yet?

Need a good book to get your teeth into?

(The movie was better)

And remember... there is no spoon:

Painting (Part 2) and craft #3

Aside from a few touch-up spots, like where the colours join and fixing the ceiling, the painting is DONE.  No more vilebeige, just a lovely soft lilacy-grey instead.

 It's hard to tell, but this side of the pillar of DOOM is Silver Gum as well.

The colours look so much nicer in real life - photos don't do them justice at all, and the bright window doesn't help.  Is it wrong that the bit above the pelmet is actually the neatest bit of cornice, and I was pretty much painting that by feel?

And here's something cute I whipped up night while watching FOTR, all hand-stitched because I didn't feel like getting out the machine:

Ninja PillowCat is watching you.

Painting (part 1)

I'm covered in paintsplats.  But at least the bulk of the loungeroom is a cool, fresh green (Taubman's "Silver Gum"), and no longer vilebeige.

Before on the right; after on the left.  There is still one more wall to paint, as well as the central pillar, but I can't do much until the brushes and rollers are dry.  The remaining wall will be painted Taubmans "Galloway", a lovely light stormcloud-grey:

I'd also like to paint the woodwork (and not just because I ran out of painters tape and am bad at staying in the lines) - I think crisp white woodwork will look really lovely with those two colours.

But we'll see.

Sunday baking with Silicone Goodness

OK, I cheated - those last two were from two weeks ago, but I realised that I hadn't actually shared them yet.   Top ones are the giant cupcake moulds, middle are the regular size, and bottom is one of the super-mini-hearts.  Baking is fun!  :)

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I got utterly soaked bringing in the washing earlier, but the sparkly, sunny aftermath of the rainstorm was a perfect opportunity to test out the new monopod:

(and who doesn't like raindrops on roses?)

Anxious Moments

Around 10pm on Wednesday night, I had an anxiety attack.  The second one I've ever had in my life.  This was no hyperventilating let-me-out-of-this-situation attack, this was a fullblown, "OMG, I think my heart is exploding" attack of pain, which of course exacerbated the anxiety ("Am I dying?") which made it all worse.

Fun night.

I think I know why I had the attack.  I've been trying to get a hold of the guy who hit my car in order to get it fixed and back on the road.  And now I think I understand why it took so long for the police to interview him - he's not answering his phone,  not returning voicemails, nothing.  And it's getting frustrating.  It's been over three months since he rammed my car and drove off into the night, and I'm sick of seeing that sad little vehicle sitting folornly in my garage.

I even called to tell him I'll sic lawyers on to him if I have to, but still radio silence.

Enough is enough, I think.  I need to call the insurance company and get their lawyers on to this guy so I can be independently mobile once more.  Is getting insurance details really too much to ask?

[edit] Good News! As I was about to pick up the phone to get the lawyer's details, I got a call from the other driver's insurance people, and my poor little sad car will hopefully be at the repairers on Monday or Tuesday! 

Craftyness Week 2

This week (being Sunday 10th)'s craftyness was a super-quick top to keep the sun off.  I used a basic t-shirt pattern that I've used HEAPS already, but in a non-stretch silver-grey from The Bungalow Stash.  I was also going to make it in the yellow crinkle cotton, but the overlocker had Words to say about the thread I was using.

The top worked well on Monday's day of Infinite Hotness, and between that, my floppy sunhat, and long skirt I remained unburned.

However.  I suspect I forgot something vital (or just sewed badly) because I managed to develop a rather large hole in one arm-seam in the process of wearing it.  Note to self: adjust stretch patterns for non-stretch fabrics!

No pics (yet).

I want to make a sunhat that folds up small and fits into my handbag when I'm not wearing it, like envirobags, but finding inspirations (or patterns!) is harder than it seems...

The best laid plans oft go awry

Resolutions broken in the first week of 2010: Two. Not a good start. I'll blame being back at work.

The 365-photos failed because I kind of, sort of, ran out of time. Oh well. Maybe I'll do a week's worth of photos each weekend, or something, instead.

The wearing-a-pedometer-and-recording-steps one failed because the pedometer died. Who'd have thought that such a clever piece of technology would fail because of a bad clip? First it fell into the (clean!) loo, then it randomly loosened it's grip when I walked and smashed on the tiles. I'm not sure if it's salvageable or not. I hope so - I liked being able to track progress on my computer and see the graphs.

Oh well.

In other news, my resin is wearable and getting spiffy compliments from strangers.  I still need to make it super-shiny (it's got a dull matte finish which is annoying): I've read that super-fine-grain sandpaper followed by car wax and elbowgerase will help.  We'll see.

Craft 1/52

Is it cheating to include my first pieces of resin, given that I started them on December 30? They weren't cured and able to come out of the molds until today...

Clockwise from top right: (1) Glitter and red dye. Unfortunately the resin dye evaporated before I could use it, so I tried red food dye. Not a good idea. I'm not terribly happy with this piece as the glitter sank in the resin - I was hoping for a more "floaty" effect. (2) Glitter and green dye. Same as above, except I kind of like how the green dye hangs in the resin. I need to seal the back, though, so I don't wear the dye. (3) Just glitter. Which sank. I'll know for future reference that it's not a good idea. Not too thrilled with this one, but it may be salvageable. (4) Some cute bead findings I found. In hindsight I should have kept it simpler and not tried to add the yellow flower/blue sequin in an attempt to layer. (5) I really like how this one turned out. The pigment is actually a cheap eyeshadow I use for dancing. It's all swirly and irridescent and the glitter chunks work. (6) Another eyeshadow-used-as-pigment, irridescent reds/blues, and another one I'm really happy with. (7) Cake-decorating fissshes. I like how clear the resin turned out with these, and the levels/layering they did on their own. I'm thinking this will make a really cute pendant. (8) Beads. Are. Not. Good. Inclusions. Especially when the resin is a bit spotty with an attempt to get dye flakes to blend. (9) Feverfew flower. Did you know flowers float even when drowned in resin? It turned out really cute, although I will need to seal the back to stop it going icky (the stem-bit rose to the surface) (10) 100's and 1000's. I'm really happy with how this turned out - super clear and colourful. Just needs a trim and a polish and then... what will I do with it? (11) Another one I'm really happy with: hard to go wrong with buttons, right?

So out of my first attempt at resin-making, I'm super happy with 6 of them, can salvage 4, and have give up on 1. Not bad at all.