My desk*, as of a few minutes ago. The only difference now is that there is less tea in the cup, on account of I drank some of it.

Oh, and as of today, I'll blogging at The Needle. I haven't personally put anything up yet, but don't wait to check it out. There are a lot of people there, and they all have great work on display.

*My desk, as opposed to my work table. I do most of my work at the work table, but right now I'm just doing small sewing, and if I sit at the desk I can play with the internet at the same time! I'm multi-tasking! And realistically working a bit slower than I would be otherwise, but sometimes this is just how things need to be.

I do a ton of drawings I don't share. Or that I share, but just with Charlie, or just with family. Drawings I don't do for a project, drawings that aren't done carefully. Drawings that I do just for the sake of drawing, because sometimes you just need to draw. These are two of those. I decided to share these because even though they aren't the best drawings I've done by a long shot, they make me smile every time I come across them in my sketchbook. I hope they make you smile too.

Does it make me a big nerd, that one of my biggest daydreams is about opening my own art school? Not a big degree program style school, but more of a empowering people to make art sort of art school. Art for the sake of art sort of thing.

Ah, what do I care? I like being a big old nerd.

Well, we got to spend almost $800 today fixing Charlie's car, and we've been having (and will continue having for a day or two) unseasonable thunderstorms. I've spent most of the day cleaning the house, particularly the guest/catbox bathroom, as Charlie's dad arrives tonight. That said, I'm pretty happy right now. Because Charlie's dad is coming to visit! And also, I like rain. It screws up some of our plans for the weekend, but the world smells so nice and fresh right now. And with nature watering my plants, I can continue to ignore them! I like how nice the house looks, so the dreaded cleaning has paid off, even if it wasn't fun to do.

There's no fun upside to spending $800 on fixing Charlie's car. I mean, I'm glad he found out the issues with it via the mechanic, instead of via horrible fiery accident, but it's still a lot of money.

Oh well. Not the end of the world, and as my art stuff starts to take off, we'll be doing better and better.

It's a cruddy day for pictures, and I'm still tidying and what not, but I should have some more art to share soon. And also soon, a shop update! For real this time!

Crafty Giveaway!

Holy crap is it hot here. I mean, it was hotter last summer, but it's only May! May! I don't think I am entirely suited to these southern climes.

In other news! This is Post# 200! Yay! To celebrate, I'm doing something I was meaning to do ages ago-

I was commenter number two for this meme over at Bird Ahoy!, and a bit later I got an awesome package (which, speaking off, go check out the amazing stuff that Lesley makes). Then I sort of sat on my part for a few months, because things got busy, blah blah blah, essentially I'm easily distracted.

But! The first three people to comment on this post will get a handmade gift from me! The catch being, if you get the gift from me, you have to send handmade gifts to three commenters via your blog.

So yes! Comment away! I will send you presents! Presents!

This Monster Is Sad

I don't have much to share today. It's gray and drizzling, (I cannot use any word ending in -izzle now without thinking of Snoop Dogg. We saw him once, driving the car next to us when we were stuck in traffic. It's probably the best celebrity sighting I've ever had in LA that wasn't through work.) so there are no pictures. And really, there wouldn't be a ton to take pictures of anyway, because I've mainly spent the day doing house work. Which I'm getting to an okay stopping point with, and I may go have a cup of tea and enjoy the gray and the drizzle, because later in the week it will be ungodly hot. Which is all to say, nothing much to see here today, so go read this article about the amazingly awesome Lynda Barry. She rocks an awful lot.

Ooo! Editing to add the link to the slideshow about Lynda Barry's new book. Which is probably linked from the article above, but I had missed previously. So I share it for people like me, who miss things sometimes.

If you remember way back, when I finished my first Hedera, you may have wondered whatever happened to the second one. The answer being I never got around to making it. But I felt guilty! Very guilty. I kept waffling on whether I should go ahead and knit the second sock, or as more and more time passed, whether I should just start over completely.

Yesterday, Bert made the decision for me.



Of course, he didn't bite a hole in the easily darned stockinette portion of the sock. He went straight for the lace. Because he is evil.

Luckily, he's a very lovable evil.

Ooo, and I am fast approaching my 200th post. I have some fun ideas of how to celebrate. Keep an eye out.

The cat is sitting on my lap while I work. He has discovered the mouse, and the fact that it makes a "click" if he hits it. Super helpful.

Nothing much going on here. Busy busy busy. Today I've made this half of a bird (the rest to come later today or tomorrow), folded laundry, scrubbed down the stove, washed dishes, vacuumed the sofa, made more candy. Normal sort of stuff. This weekend we had friends for dinner two nights in a row, and saw Iron Man. Awesome abounded, in both of the dinners, and the movie. I'm a big life-time comic book nerd, so to see a nerdy movie done fairly well warmed the cockles of my heart.