My New Back Yard

I've been moving stuff from my beading workroom to the new house's converted garage studio over the past week. It's slow going because I can only cram so much stuff into the Mustang. On top of that, just getting it from the condo to the car is a hassle since there are two very inconvenient steps leading up to our door, which means I can't just put everything on my trolley inside the condo and roll it straight to the elevator. Nope, I have to haul everything down the inside stairs then take it all outside to the trolley. If the steps were just a little broader I could ease the trolley down, but they're just narrow enough that doesn't work. Oh, well.
Anyway, this morning I took a car load up to the house, unloaded and fed the kitties. Then I remembered I hadn't shared any shots of the back yard, so I grabbed a few on my iPad.

Here's the view of most of the back, that's a fountain and pond in the corner

A closer view of the pond and curved bench beside it

on the other side of the studio (converted garage) through some nice french doors is a little patio 

In the first picture (top left foreground) you can see a bit of this tree
I got a closeup of the flowers on it - maybe one of you knows what it is?

The little yard is really lovely and shady all day, quite cool to sit in even when it's very hot outside. Last weekend we had a little Father's Day/open house party out there and the temps were in the 80s but we were all cool and comfy in the shade.

I really can't wait to get all moved in, especially to set up my studio. It's going to be really wonderful to have such a great workspace (and there's a full bathroom in there, too!)

More New House Stuff

Made a couple trips to the new house today to get ready for a little family gathering tomorrow. Bought a portable Coleman propane grill so we can bbq, some lawn-chairs and also a few carloads of stuff to stash in the studio.  While I was there I took a couple pictures inside and out front. I'll try to get some good ones of the back tomorrow.

Front of the house

I have roses! (There are other bushes out back, too)

The previous owners tell me that one of the rose bushes out back was from the Huntington Garden. They have rose & other plant sales there every now and then. There are a lot of plants & trees out back, it's going to be interesting figuring out what to keep and what to pull. Besides the plants the back yard also features many feral/semi feral cats, young (maybe a year, maybe less, old) cats and a kitten. I'll try to get some pics of them, too.

Living room west wall

Living room east wall 

The living room is a pretty good size and I look forward to figuring out what I want to do with it. Our current living room furniture is very den-worthy and will be put in my husband's 'man cave'. 

Dining room - window to the front yard (east)

 The house very obviously used to have a side entry. I like how they turned that into a niche with the narrow windows beside. Not crazy about the chandelier but it'll be fine until I decide on what kind of look I'm going for in here.

Roomy kitchen with granite counters
(finally have an icemaker/water dispensing refrigerator, too!)

Above the stove is a vintage fan & hood - the fan is noisy but I think easily fixed. Range is a bit dated and there's no microwave, so we'll need to get a countertop one. There are so many possibilites! Floor is travertine tiles (I think). I love the green in the granite, I'll probably decorate in the kitchen around that color scheme.

I'm beat, gonna rest now.

John Scalzi Stepped on My Toe!

I went to the local indie bookstore, Vromans, tonight to see John Scalzi and get a few of his books signed, including his new one Redshirts: A Novel with Three Codas. Photographic evidence follows. Except for evidence of him stepping on my toe. The aisle I sat in was narrow and he was chatting with a friend sitting nearby. When he finished I didn't get my foot back quite fast enough and he stepped on the very tip of my shoe (I barely felt it). I'm just glad it didn't trip him!

Anyway, when he took the stage,  the first thing he did (saying that he had to get it over with) was sing the wonderful Redshirts theme, written by Jonathan Coulton, and self accompanied with a borrowed ukelele.

My dear husband joined me about an hour before the event and was on hand to take the pictures below with his iPhone.

John was fun and charming and the reading had some special "bonus material" that I am not allowed to talk about as John made us swear not to.

Side Note: There were a handful of folk, who like me, wore red shirts to the reading and one fellow had an official Redshirts tee-shirt (you'll see him behind me in line in one of the pictures). Unfortunately, mine didn't get here on time or I certainly would have worn it. I should have ordered it earlier than I did, as it was from Zazzle and they make 'em after you buy 'em so you need to remember to add the manufacturing time to the shipping time if you have a deadline you want to meet.

Captured just before John took the stage

Note the Coke Zero :-)

I thought this would be a tighter shot, so I leaned in,
but I'm glad it's wide enough to show the guy in the  "official"
Redshirts red shirt

John was so nice to pause and listen to me blather

And there I am with my signed copy!

BTW, I loved Redshirts: A Novel with Three Codas - it is quirky and clever and a darn good read. If you want to buy it, why not click the link here so you'll go to my Amazon Affiliate link and I'll get a penny or two for your thoughtfulness :-)

Another in My Series of Lazy Person Recipies

You may recall my Apple Thing post some years back. I think I may have also mentioned other really lazy recipe ideas here like Snack Pack Chocolate Pudding Pie (buy a chocolate crumb pie crust, fill with Snack Pack pudding, top with Cool Whip, voila). So now I am pleased to introduce a new easy, lazy, Food Thing, Chicken Rice Thing.

My husband and I used to enjoy having a chicken and rice dish that was super easy to fix thanks to Lipton (now Lipton/Knorr) Chicken Flavored Rice. Comes in a packet and all we did was follow the directions on the packet plus add a can of cooked chunk chicken. I am avoiding gluten as much as I can, having recently found some stellar personal health benefits to doing this. The chicken rice packet has these tiny rice like noodles in it which, of course, are pasta made of wheat. So much for that easy meal.

The other day, though, I came up with a pretty good wheat-free imitation. I'm having some now and was inspired to share.

Chicken Rice Thing

One can chicken (whatever size and type you like)
One to one and a half cups cooked rice (I make a pot of steamed rice in a small steamer every few days, so I always have it handy - you can substitute instant cooked rice or boil-in-bag rice for a quick substitute)
a packet of Chicken Flavor Boost
Poultry seasonings
butter or margarine to taste (I think the recipe on the packet called for a tablespoon, I always use more because I like it butter-y)
two tablespoons of water

Put the flavor boost (I guess you could use a bouillon cube), water (stir those two up a bit), butter and poultry seasonings in a small cup or bowl and nuke until the butter is melted. Stir that into the rice, stir in the can of chicken and nuke the whole thing for 2 to 2 and a half minutes. You can also add other flavors like soy sauce, sesame seeds, red pepper flakes - you name it. That's it, you're done. Have another veggie on the side, some fruit for dessert and it's a fairly balanced meal. Kinda carb heavy, though. Quinoa has fewer net carbs, but because quinoa is not flavor neutral like rice, it significantly changes the flavor of the dish.

The New Casa!

In a couple weeks my DH and I will be moving to our new home. It was a rather nerve wracking experience buying a house, but I'm so happy to finally have a place to call my own again where I can put up whatever kind of curtains I want (there's a story about the HOA where we currently live behind that) and put up pictures and paint the walls purple if I please.

The house is a smidge under 1,400 sq. ft., not counting the studio which is a converted garage with a full bath and french doors to its own private patio.

This is the picture from the brochure - the little inset on the left is the studio in back, converted from a garage.

floor plan

I can't grab a good enough shot of the back yard from the brochure, (the ones above were taken with my iPad) but it's very nice with a little walkway to a fountain in the back corner, a very nice patio area and lots of shade from mature trees.

Needless to say, I'm counting the days!

Yes, it's been awhile. I am well, just haven't had much to share. Since St. Patrick's day is coming up I thought I'd put up my seasonal banner and say hi.

"Hi!"

Beannachtaí na Féile Pádraig oraibh!

 

P.S., I will be up in Walnut Creek, CA at the end of the month for FOGcon. If you're attending, please come visit me in the Dealer's room!

It's Here! A Girl and Her Fed (Rise Up Swearing) In Print!

A while back (2008?) I sponsored some revision pages at A Girl and Her Fed. I got some beautiful art in return. Didn't really think about it much after that.

Today I checked my mail and there was a package for me from the artist...

I tear it open:

Ooh! Woot! It's the print edition of A Girl and Her Fed!

Here's the back cover

Here are the goodies I found inside the wrapper.

Here's the donor's page - I'm the name to the left of reflection...

Signed with an original ink sketch. Thank you, thank you!

You can get your copy at the AGAHF Store. That links to the standard issue, but there's a special Artist Edition which "comes with a personalized message and inked sketch of the comic character of your choice. Please describe your message and which character you want sketched in your book on your order form."

I don't get a commission or anything - I just really love this artist's work and hope you will too.

Thanksgiving, LosCon and the 'New' Mac

I'm going to begin with the 'new' Mac. My husband bought himself a brand new MacBook Pro and I got his old one (which isn't that old and is quite robust enough for my simple needs). I'm slowly adapting to the things that are different from a PC.

What I'm a bit sad about is the loss of the simple photo editing & previewing features I was accustomed to using on my PC. I'm sure that the Mac can do the same (and probably better) things than my PC, but as yet I've not uncovered these features.  The thumbnails I am seeing are too small to sort through and the photo editor I have has some quirks I'll need to figure out. I'm sure I'll adapt fairly soon.

So, this post is my first (on this blog) with the Mac. Now, about Thanksgiving.

l-r: my dad, me, my husband at my brother's
beautiful home for Thanksgiving

It's been years since our part of the family (my daughter, my husband and I, at least) could be with the rest of the family on Thanksgiving. The logistics of traveling over 350 miles without a couple days off before and after the holiday made it impractical for us. Now that my husband and I live in Pasadena and my daughter in parts just a bit further south, we were able to join the rest of the family this year.

I've been on a gluten free diet for about a month now, ever since I read Wheat Belly by William Davis, M.D; there have been some interesting, positive results, too. My sister has a gluten allergy, so she is definitely off the stuff as well. I've been experimenting with various gluten free recipes, so I brought my cornbread stuffing and some pumpkin muffins, along with gluten free turkey gravy (thanks Trader Joe's!) to the feast.

Dad helping me at my table at the con

Los Con is held at the Los Angeles International Airport Marriott on the Friday, Saturday & Sunday after Thanksgiving. This year was my 3rd year in the dealer's room there. The last two years I've driven down on Wednesday and stayed through the Monday after with my dad. This year I still ended up staying at Dad's place for two nights, but since I only live about half an hour away from the venue I was able to drive home for the night on the other days. The con was a lot of fun, got to see some familiar faces and meet some new ones, too.


I didn't dress up on our first day, with setting up in the morning, I needed to wear comfortable clothes I could move easily in. That didn't stop me from dressing up on Saturday & Sunday, though:

On Saturday I wore my Victorian(ish) Shopkeeper outfit with a new hat (I've since found my original hat) with wonderful purple feathers and lace.

On Sunday I succumbed to temptation and purchased this Renaissance(ish) ensemble.

I've got some pictures of costumed folk who wandered near the table, too:

 Buy More (from the TV show Chuck) couple

 Festive Pirate

LosCon 38 Klingon Crew

All in all, a really great weekend. Thanks for dropping by!

Come to LosCon38 and See Dawno's Stuff! (Crossposted from my beading blog)

The reason why I don't blog as much is that I'm hunched over my workbench making jewelry. Right now I'm trying to get out as many new pieces for LosCon38 this coming Friday as I can, as well as for a holiday event where my husband works in early December. 

The first piece below is an assemblage of copper floral bits on a copper oval with a copper cuff bracelet base. I'm very happy with how it's turned out. 

The next set are a few of the assemblage pieces in steampunk style that I'm going to make pins and necklaces of.

Finally, here's a necklace with some gears on the chain, delicate antique watch face, a really lovely engraved vintage watch part with ruby jewel, brass filigree and brass chain.

Of course I'll have my usual lanyards, bracelets and a few other steampunk pieces on display as well. If you're going to be near the airport (LAX) Marriott the weekend after Thanksgiving, check out LosCon and come see me in the dealer's room!

Random Stuffs

Hmm, new Blogger posting interface - too soon to tell if I hate it or just am uncomfortable with its newness.

If the living room, downstairs bathroom (which I have used for every part of my 'getting ready to go out' routine except showering, so it's not just two guest towels and some dusty dish of soap), the kitchen, the dining room and 90% of my office/bead workshop are packed doesn't that mean I'm almost done? Doubts have been raised - probably because I have huge amounts of clothes and shoes left to pack in two upstairs bedrooms.

 look at this happy fellah taping a box...hey, look who's carrying the heavy one in the background

I probably need to join Clothes Hoarder's Anonymous. I haven't quite hit bottom yet,  I guess. Yes, I do have things I haven't worn for over 2 years. No, I am NOT going to give up my 3 sizes too small classically tailored suits just because I can't fit into them yet!

 If this were my closet and not clip art it would represent barely a 10th of 1% of my stuff....

Know how you follow a link somewhere and end up not only spending hours on that site but following other links out to other new and fascinating places on teh intarwebs? Yeah, you know. Boing Boing linked to a place called Popehat which was posting about a scam they were hunting down. Then I read other posts and got to one about the TSA agent whose "pat down" was tantamount to rape.   This is a site I now have on my reader, you might find it interesting, too.

 hey, it was the best free clip art I could find, ok?

If you are familiar with me from the Absolute Write forums (which, I swear I'll be back at soon as this damn moving epic is over) you may also be aware of the "blame Dawno" phenomenon. I won't say much except that there has been a hashtag on Twitter and now there's a Facebook page. If you're on Facebook, do come join the Blame Dawno community.

                            Dawno

Again, free clip art - we do what we can....

Oh, last thing - if you are the slightest bit OCD, ADD or just getting older and sentimental - moving is going to set off  Every. Single. One. of your quirks. I have found myself tearing up over finding old school photos of the kids (she was so cute in that dress, why is he glaring at me in that picture?). I have sat for half an hour reading through old papers. I have left one room to get something and spent two hours packing up another room before I remembered I'd just come down to get some tape. I have meticulously arranged by color or alphabetically organized things that could easily have just been tossed into a damn box, ok?!? *ahem* sorry about that....

My sister gave me wonderful advice: "dare to dispose". I just wish I could follow it better!

Next post will probably be from my new home in Pasadena, sitting amidst numerous half unpacked boxes wondering why I didn't follow my sister's advice more closely.

Isn't Packing for a Move Fun??!1??

Short answer, "NO."

Longer answer - my office/beading workshop is not an easy thing to pack up. Fiddly little beads - even in bags and bins need to be organized in their boxes just right or they'll end up all over the bottom of the boxes and, perhaps, even leaving a trail from here to there as they're hauled down to L.A.

I still have a lot of miscellaneous stuff to figure out how to pack - including the loose beads in the drawers of a craft cart that can't just be taped closed - it's very open sided and all the beads would just fall out of it. They're going into these giant Ziplock(tm) bags. I love Ziplock(tm) bags, by the way, great for dumping teensy fiddly bead stuff into. Also these plastic cover thingies that look like hotel shower caps that I'm fitting over the paper plates I use for beading lap trays. Cover the plates with them, stack 'em up and pack 'em up. I believe two more large boxes and a couple more mediums and I'm done in here.

I think a majority of the books have been packed - I don't even want to tell you how many boxes full. The DH is currently packing the china, crystal and glasses from the kitchen in the special dish and glass boxes he picked up from U-haul today. That leaves all my clothes and all the bathroom stuff. I don't actually belong on "Hoarders" but I do have several shelves full of toiletries, makeup (some of it way too old to ever be used again), soaps from hotels, sprays, potions, lotions and ghu knows what else that I simply have to be strong and throw away.

Then there are the clothes. Um, I really love to buy clothes and shoes...and purses. I've gone from one rather roomy walk-in closet to taking over another in my daughter's room and the one that was my husband's. He had very little actually hanging up in there and I just ended up migrating stuff into it. I know I should give a lot of it away to Goodwill but I really do wear most of it - at least when it's in season. Very little of what I buy is what one would call trendy and easily dated so it can be worn year after year. Since I have no idea what kind of job I may end up getting down in L.A., I don't dare toss out anything, yet.

Well, that's the long answer to the title question...and it still isn't fun.

Farewell, Jello

Jello

2005 - 2011

Jello was a "grandkittie" who my son adopted and then left with my husband and I when he joined the Army. She and her brother (Pudding) had been guests here when they were very small kittens but they were a good size when they came to live with us permanently, so we missed a lot of the tiny kitten playfulness.

Jello was always rather stand-offish with my husband. She never liked being held but deigned to let him scratch her occasionally. She was a bit friendlier with me, often sleeping near by at night. As shown above, one of her favorite spots was up on a small shelf above the mantle where the stairs turned for the last flight down. It was a great vantage point from which to disapprove of all the folderol going on downstairs.

Sunday night when we got home from Reno, Glenn noticed she was very lethargic and lying in the kitchen, which was very unusual for her. He took her to the vet on Monday and the xrays showed that she either had a very enlarged heart or a large tumor. I took her to the cardiac specialist vet on Tuesday and the diagnosis was grim - final stage congestive heart failure. The right tricuspid valve had failed, the right atrium and ventricle were hugely enlarged. She had tachycardia as well. She might have lasted a few more months on medications or might have gone in her sleep at any time. Regardless, she was short of breath and just wanted to sleep all the time, so we decided it was best to let her go.

Home from Renovation (World SF Convention)

Back from WorldCon. Had a wonderful time, have posted on LiveJournal and G+ with pictures on my beading blog. Today I need to rest up and catch up. I made my househunting appointment with the relocation specialist down in LA for next week. Hubby is at the vets with Jello who doesn't seem herself today and he's worried.

My son is still in town, will be taking my car to Carmel for the next couple of days so I hope I don't need to be anywhere. I do need to go to the bank and deposit my earnings, but I guess that can wait until he returns.

I'll leave you with a link I got while scanning my Google Reader and saw posted by Regretsy: http://www.amandarynda.com/?page_id=10 Engagement pictures with a zombie twist!

Yesterday was a Great Day!

Yesterday was a great day - my son has returned safe from Afghanistan!

The 525 BfSG marching in

Waiting for speeches and songs to end

Finally! Mom gets to hug her soldier!

After he'd gotten a chance to rest and shower he, my DIL and I went to dinner and saw Captain America.

An aside: I recently switched to Chrome so I could use a Google + extension that's only available on Chrome. When I tried to post this yesterday the photo uploader in Blogger refused to work. I was tired so I gave up and went to bed. Today I'm using Firefox and it works just fine. Anyone know why Blogger has this problem with Chrome? I find it odd that two Google owned things don't work together.

Dawno Has "Retired"

Today was my last day at Cisco. The company offered an "enhanced early retirement" package and I accepted.

What's next? Not sure - I know I'm going to take some time off to relax, visit with family, go to World Con in Reno...after that I'm not sure. I will have time for blogging, beading and catching up on my reading, though!

Happy Anniversary, Patrick and Teresa !

As part of a surprise anniversary gift to the hosts of the wonderful site Making Light, some of the folk from the fluorosphere put together this tribute. I'm in it at the 28 second mark:

Beannacht Lá Fhéile Pádraig

Image from Wikimedia Commons, by George McFinnegan, Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 3.0 License. Official license


Sláinte!

Hey, Lookie What I Got!

Wow! The kitty video I posted on my other blog, Dawno's Beaded Badge Lanyards was noted as a post of the week by the very talented and lovely Hilary of The Smitten Image. As I commented there, I'm so thrilled! I feel like I just won an Oscar. Here's the icon:

I'll be adding it to the sidebar on my beading blog soon - will have to save it somewhere on the web so I use my own bandwidth for it and I'm too tired tonight. But I had to share right away. Thank you, Hilary!