Halloween Party October 25, 2014 - Hosted By A Fanciful Twist

Hi everyone ... it's certainly been a while!  Now that I finally have a new and functioning computer of my own I am hoping to blog more often.  In fact it's a goal of mine - I find it so disappointing when I come across what looks like an interesting blog only to discover its most recent addition was more than a year ago.  I still have projects to show, experiences to tell, movies and TV shows to analyze, thoughts and opinions to discuss, political and world-views to push on people (just kidding) and socks to enjoy so I would to keep my blog from looking abandoned to potential readers.

Having said that, I am hoping to join in the upcoming Halloween Blog Party on Saturday, October 25, 2014 hosted by A Fanciful Twist as I love Halloween!  As far as I'm concerned Halloween is the most creative holiday that I know of.  Not only can you bake festive desserts and decorate your home inside and out as you would for Christmas, but you can carve Jack O' Lanterns, make masks, sew costumes, experiment with strange hairstyles, and try new makeup and cosmetics like false eye-lashes and fake tattoos.

While I'm rather late joining in, I really hope I can be a part of it, and I can't wait to see what other participants will post.  See you then!

Doctor Who Valentine

I've been meaning to do some fan art for a long time now, particularly Doctor Who fan art.  The other night I finally had an idea for a Doctor Who Valentine that only a Whovian will understand:



 

The front of this card, I based on an image from the Season 7 episode "The Power of Three."  Whovians should remember that Kate Stewart held a scanning device in front of the Doctor which showed that he did indeed have two hearts.  What better to use as the cover of a Valentine, than a scanning device showing the Doctor's two hearts?  They may be anatomically correct hearts inside a human body, but they're still hearts!

I found the image the hard way:  I put the DVD in the computer, clicked on the episode, and went directly to the scene in question and paused it at just the right moment.  I then took a picture of the heart scanner on my phone.  The picture I will include here, however, was taken from Tardis Data Core:

Image of Kate Stewart's Scan from "The Power of Three" taken from Tardis Data Core
http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Binary_vascular_system

On the back of the card I wrote "Happy Valentine's Day" and based the letters on the Doctor Who font.  In addition, I decorated the back of this card, with letters from the Gallifreyan alphabet.  As a guide, I used this image of the Gallifreyan alphabet from Science Fiction and Fantasy Stack Exchange, a "a question and answer site for science fiction and fantasy enthusiasts."


Image of Gallifreyan Alphabet Copied from Science Fiction & Fantasy Stack Exchange
http://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/4034/how-many-written-forms-does-the-gallifreyan-language-have

Well, I hope fans will get a kick out of it, and I'm hoping to do some more Doctor Who fan art in the future.  I'd love to read any comments, criticisms, or suggestions for future projects.  And of course, I'd love to see anything you've made as well.

Sylvester The Cat Gives The Finger ... Merry Christmas Children!

 

This is just a quick post to share some pictures that I thought were funny.

Recently I spent an evening officially putting away all things Christmas - late I know, but when you have Fibromyalgia you take longer to do things than you normally would.  The artificial tree was already disassembled and put away thanks to my brother, but the tree ornaments remained loosely in a single cardboard box.  You see, the day my mom took down the ornaments I wasn't feeling up to going to the basement and bringing up the proper containers for the ornaments, so my mom stored them in the box temporarily and set them aside for me to sort and return to the basement when I felt ready to handle the job.

When I finally did feel up to putting everything away the task took a lot longer than I intended thanks to the vile bitch that is Fibromyalgia, but through all the drudgery I discovered something new about a very old ornament.  While handling a very old, very beat-up-looking ornament of Sylvester The Cat I noticed he appears to be giving the finger to someone behind him!  Observe:

 

Now, I know you could argue that the picture of Sylvester's front below clearly shows that he only has 4 fingers (or digits, given that he's a cat) and therefore can't technically put up his middle finger, but I would argue that that doesn't mean he would never want to.  After all, if a character with 4 fingers has reason to give the finger, he or she would certainly do so in their own way.

And let's face it: what else could he possibly be doing?  Just randomly pointing upwards?  What makes more sense to you?

 

A) a cartoon character well-loved by children, now in the form of a Christmas ornament is pointing upwards for no apparent reason

 

B) a cartoon character who constantly gets his ass kicked by a bird for the amusement of children, now in the form of a Christmas ornament, is turning his back on the cruel, sadistic children and is flipping them the bird (get it?).

Study the photos, and his facial expression, and you tell me ...

 



DIY Christmas Ornaments From Old Toys

Since Christmas is only a few days away I thought it would be a great time to share some Christmas ornaments I’ve made.  As you will see, they’re very simple to make but I’m still proud of the idea and the finished product.  As a side note, I think this would be a great project for someone who is spending their first Christmas away from home and doesn’t want to spend a lot of time and money shopping for decorations.  Of course it would also be a great project for parents to do with young children.

Even as an adult I still associate Christmas with toys.  I still remember many of the toys I received from Santa Claus as a child and I’m sure many of you do too.  It is for this reason that I think old toys make wonderful Christmas tree ornaments – they are as much a part of Christmas as snowmen, reindeer, angels, and bells, and seeing them on the tree brings back memories of childhood.  In fact, just as I was describing my craft idea to my mom, she started telling me about how she loved playing with ABC blocks as a child.  She never had any when she was young, so whenever she would get to school she would go straight to the blocks and began building a castle.  She even showed me how she constructed it!

ABC Block Ornaments

For this project you will need the following:

 

-  a hot glue gun

-  assorted ABC blocks

-  scissors

-  butter knife (or other item to press ribbon onto the hot glue)

-  ribbon or string*

 

*  If you prefer, you can use metal Christmas tree hooks instead of the ribbon or string.

 

 

 

Step 1

Cut approximately 6 inches of ribbon and fold it so that the two ends are together.  If you like, you can even tie the two ends.

 

 

Step 2

Using the hot glue gun, add enough hot glue on the top of an ABC Block so that it will secure the ribbon to the block.

 

 

Step 3

 

Quickly press the two ends of the ribbon into the hot glue and use a butter knife to flatten the ribbon, ensuring that the glue will secure it to the block.

Repeat the process with the remaining blocks, or if you like you can make some adjustments.  Gluing the ribbon to the corner of the block as opposed to the top creates a slightly different affect.

 

 

You can also make some ornaments using two or even three blocks.  When I add a second or third block, I like to use different colours and I stack them so they are at slightly different angles.

 

 

You can follow the steps above using other kinds of toys.  I made more ornaments using Legos and I’m also happy with the result.  Again, I think this would look great using an assortment of colours and sizes.

 

If you don’t have any old toys that can be used for this project I would suggest looking at a dollar store or second hand store – after all, you are purchasing these items as raw materials, so it wouldn’t make sense to buy brand new toys.

 There are lots of other toys you can use to make Christmas tree ornaments, such as:
 

- puzzle pieces

- crayons

- toy cars

- toy airplanes

- small dolls

- small teddy bears

- doll house furniture

- toy tea cups (preferably plastic)

- action figures

 

 

The only other suggestion I can make to improve your ornaments is to have a special helper participate in your festive projects.  I realize some will not have the option of including a special friend, but with a helper like mine, I didn’t exactly have the option not to include her!

 

 

Well, that’s it for now.  I welcome any comments or suggestions and as always, I’d love to see pictures of your own crafts so feel free to send me a link.  You can also send me a link to anything similar you think I would like.  I hope everyone has a great Christmas and, if I don't write back for a while, a happy New Year!

 

Christmas Gift-Wrapping Projects

It’s been so long since I’ve posted anything I’ll be surprised if I still have any readers!  This last year has been pretty stressful and chaotic, which might explain the disappearance of my urge to write.  I hope to start writing more often though, since I definitely feel I have a lot to say.

For some people it’s still too early to start thinking about Christmas, but since getting a head start in November takes some of the pressure off shoppers, I think it’s a good time to start a Christmas post.

When it comes to special occasions such as Christmas, I take gift-wrapping very seriously.  I buy gift wrap that has just the right colours, colour-combinations, shades, designs, and sheen.  Bows, ribbons, and gift tags are also quite important, so I search for the unique and attractive in the right colours as well, but I also try to make sure they compliment the gift wrap.

 

In addition to ribbons and bows I started to add other embellishments to the gifts and I find that this creates an elegant effect.

The first present is wrapped in a shiny paper that I chose because it is multicoloured and contains the colours associated with Christmas: red, green, and gold.

 

I topped this gift with two artificial poinsettias, artificial red berries, and a metallic red icicle, all of which I purchased from Dollarama.  Since green is the dominant colour in the gift wrap, red decorations stand out and pick up the red stripes in the paper.  I believe the shininess of the berries and metallic ornament also compliments the metallic paper.  Since the icicle is a Christmas tree ornament I chose the gift tag shaped like a Christmas tree bulb which is red and shiny in keeping with the rest of the embellishments.

 

 

I used the same items to decorate the next gift, but wrapped it in a very different paper.  This metallic silver actually contains poinsettias in the design but very little red, so for this embellishment I used three poinsettias and slightly less berries.  Again, I think the shiny items compliment the gift wrap nicely.

 

 

To hold everything together, I strung the small ribbon from the gift tag through the red icicle and poinsettia and tied them to the wire stems of the berries.  It may be simpler to use a hot glue gun to attach the items together, and then to attach the whole piece to the gift.  Scotch tape will hold the piece to the gift, but as it is much heavier than a regular bow, it can easily come off.

 

For the next gift, I used a red gift wrap with gold swirls which I really love. 

 

To compliment the gold swirls I used three pieces of wired gold ribbon and a tiny bouquet of artificial gold roses and pinecones.  I tied each ribbon around the stems of the bouquet and carefully taped them down onto the present. 

 
 
I then tried to shape all six strands of ribbon, and attached a gold gift tag.  I was disappointed that the gift tag contained the colour blue instead of, say, red, but that’s what it’s like to be a crazy perfectionist gift wrapper.

The last gift might be my favourite.  I love this wrapping paper: it contains all the Christmas colours and is designed with colourfully swirled tree ornaments. 

To embellish this gift I used items to match every colour in the paper – gold pinecones pick up the gold swirled ornaments while the red berries, bulb, and gift tag pick up the red of the paper.  The white swirls of the round gift tag nicely set off the white swirls of the round ornaments, and the tiny green design on the bulb matches the overall green of the paper. 

 

 The piece is held together by two gold ribbons that I threaded through the ornament and tried around the stems of the berries and pinecones.  Again, taping it down may not be the most secure choice due to the weight of the bulb and berries.

 

As you can imagine, these were the only gifts I wrapped last year – the rest were deposited into gift bags and topped with tissue paper.  I don’t like giving presents in gift bags, as I believe seeing a wrapped present, ripping off the paper, and opening the box create a suspense that a gift bag can’t produce.  But when you are a creative perfectionist who can spend a whole hour wrapping a present and you also suffer from the chronic pain of fibromyalgia, you learn to alter your standards.

I’d love to read any comments on my gift wrapping and I’ll take any suggestions you might have for this year’s presents.  I’d also love to see pictures of anything nice you’ve wrapped or links you’d like to share about gift-wrapping ideas.

Okay, I know I was going to write in a lot sooner given my previous post.   To make a long story short, the following predictions from my previous post came true to some degree when my sister visited last:  5, 12, 17, and 21.  Claudia will be coming again for Thanksgiving in October, and the same predictions stand for this future visit.

Moving on now, this last week my family has been playing host to a guest, a small lady with blond hair, brown eyes, a white beard, and a constant desire to play in my backyard.  Her name is Nala, and she is a Jack Russell whom we are dog-sitting while her owner is away.  I should note that not everyone in my family has agreed to having Nala as a guest this week – to be honest, my Mom agreed to this without actually taking into account that the rest of us did not consent.  My brother voiced his dissent as did I, my father who dislikes animals to begin with actually though we were joking about babysitting a dog for a week, and my cat Madison wasn’t even consulted.

 

Anyways, we were told that this dog slept all day, didn’t need to be walked, and only expected to be played with for about five minutes per day.  Apparently the rest of the day this dog sleeps.  This information we were given turned out to be completely untrue, as this dog wants much more attention than her owner seems to be giving her, but the worst part of this week has been that our cat has taken refuge in the basement for almost seven days now!  Madison used to spend time with at least one of us when we would pursue our hobbies, as demonstrated by this photo in which she is has claimed my fabric, but we’ve hardly seen her at all this week because every time she hears the dog coming she runs back to the basement.

Today is Nala’s last day here, but unfortunately I don’t think Madison even realizes that Nala will be leaving at all.  It seems that the longer Nala stays, the more depressed Madison is.  Which brings me to the climax of this post:  it turns out that my cat likes to express her depression through song, particularly the piano in our basement.  This morning when Nala was playing loudly and violently with one of her toys, Madison could be heard playing very low depressing keys from downstairs as if to say, “Who do you honestly like better, that wild and unsophisticated dog who takes out her frustration by acting rabid, or someone who can use her frustration to compose?”

Predictions for the Week of My Sister Claudia's Visit

Tomorrow my evil sister Claudia will be arriving from out west.  She will be staying with us for Easter, from April 5^th – April 11^th.  Claudia has always been difficult from when she was little – even my mother would say so.  She has treated my brother Geoffrey and I like garbage all our lives, and whenever she visits it’s like a tornado of anger, rage, anxiety, temper tantrums, and guilt trips sweeps through our home.

I should clarify a few things right now:

1)  Claudia has recently become a psychologist.

2)  With any dispute we have, she uses her education in psychology to justify anything she does and make anything we say or do appear wrong.

3)  I’m positive that Claudia is a narcissist.  I’ve been reading a lot about narcissism, and I believe she has at least 8 out of 9 characteristics of a narcissist.

4)   Everyone in my family has health problems – me, my brother, my mother, and my father.  Everyone but Claudia.   And Claudia is the LEAST understanding person because she has never had to deal with illness or disability.  And because narcissists lack empathy.

5)  She has an extremely inaccurate view of our levels of disability and the challenges they can cause.  This may in part be because she hasn’t seen us for about 2 years.  Regardless, seeing us and seeing all that we can’t do will be a rude awakening for her.  Most likely though, she will accuse us of not trying hard enough.

6)  She has been pressuring us for years to go and visit her out west.  We try to explain how impractical this is given our health problems, but she refuses to believe it and/or claims that it is all due to not taking good enough care of ourselves.

7)  She is extremely controlling.

8)  My mother claims that Claudia has matured a lot.  This of course is based on phone conversations and nothing more.  That said, Mom is still very nervous about Claudia’s visit.

9)  When my brother and I talk to Claudia on the phone, we’ve both noticed that she is a lot nicer, yet we both get the sense that she is trying with all her might to hold back.  In other words, Geoffrey and I both think her agreeableness is just an act.

So, now that you are briefly caught up, the following is a list of predictions I am making regarding what will take place from the time Claudia arrives tomorrow till the time she leaves on the 11^th.  I am getting them in writing and posted online so that if any come true, I can prove to my family that I had predicted them before her arrival.  This is not to say that I anticipate all of my predictions to come true.  I am simply trying to cover any and all possibilities.

Predictions for the Week of Claudia’s Visit

1.  Claudia will object to me biting my nails and/or tell me that my nails are gross.

2.  Claudia won’t know how to turn on the TV or put on a DVD. 

3.  If me or my brother can’t sleep at night and get up to watch TV, Claudia will yell at me and my brother to turn down the TV.  This may lead to a fight.

4.  Claudia will talk, yell, or try to annoy me when I’m watching TV - probably during something good like a documentary that won’t be on again.

5.  Claudia will recommend that we eat organic fruits & vegetables and this could start an argument/fight when we try to explain that they are too expensive.  If she then buys some for us and we don’t eat them, there will be an even bigger fight.

6.  Claudia will ask me and my brother to go to dinner with her and when we say no due to legitimately not feeling well, she will:

 A)  start fighting with us and/or throw a temper tantrum

 B)  accuse us of not taking good enough care of ourselves

 C)  get mad and declare that we just don’t want to go with her, which will partly be true

 D)  tell us that the reason we don’t feel well enough to go out is that we are not motivated enough

7.  When Claudia finds out that I have pain in my chest and trouble breathing, she will freak out and won’t believe that it is actually related to my Fibromyalgia, which it is.  Regardless of how much I fill her in on the subject, she will secretly believe that I have some kind of heart condition, and thus my diet must be dangerously flawed, just like the rest of me and my life.

8.  If I’m able to go on a walk while she’s here, she will excitedly offer to come with me, as she feels that exercise and nutrition are her areas of expertise.  When I tell her as nicely as possible that I prefer to go alone, that it’s my “me time,” she will get upset and possibly start a fight.

9.  She will want to use my Wii Fit, or she will want us to do Wii Fit together.  If I don’t want to, this will start a fight.

10.  Claudia will either borrow my things without asking, or she will ask only to start a fight when I refuse to lend her my things.  Some things she might take include:

A)     my shampoo and conditioner

B)     my make up

C)     my socks – WHICH IS ABSOLUTELY FORBIDDEN!

D)    my shirts and possibly pyjamas as they will be very roomy

E)     my curlers or spoodles

F)     my hair-bands, elastics, other hair accessories, face mask, face soap

G)     sweaters

11.  When Claudia sees that my fatigue keeps me from helping out around the house or doing anything with her, this will start a fight in which she lectures me to stop doing things that she thinks cause my fatigue, even though said things are unrelated.

12.  Claudia will try to convince me not to repaint my room, remove the carpet, and refinish the hardwood floor.  She will want to know why it’s so important to me in the first place.  Since I will most likely refuse to tell her, this will start a fight.

13.  If Claudia notices that I neatly underline passages in books I read, she will wonder why and possibly try to convince me that I shouldn’t bother, because it’s not like I’m studying the book for school.

14.  Claudia may try to convince me to take distance education courses at the university, especially if she sees that I am able to read once in a while.  When I explain that my concentration is unpredictable and that I probably won’t be able to make deadlines, she will show very clearly that she isn’t satisfied with my explanation.  This could start a fight as well, as she will not understand why I can read some books and not do reading for school.

15.  If Claudia takes a shower she won’t clean out the tub and this will start a huge fight.

16.  Claudia will lecture me, my mom, and my brother Geoffrey about the amount of Coke we drink.

17.  Claudia will try to convince me, my mom, and my brother to get rid of stuff that we want to keep.  This could start a huge fight.

18.  Claudia will complain about how crappy our telephones are and nag us to get new ones.

19.  Claudia will either complain about my mother’s driving, refuse to let Mom drive her anywhere, or suggest that Mom’s license be taken away.  This will really hurt my mother’s feelings and, of course, start a huge fight.

20.  Claudia will start a fight about how much time my brother and I spend in the house, and won’t accept that it is due to our pain and fatigue.

21.  Claudia will get extremely frustrated with my mother for always falling asleep on the toilet at night.  Claudia will not be able to keep her awake at night and will get angry that the alarm Mom uses doesn’t work.  She may attempt to buy my mother a better alarm, but if this also doesn’t work, Claudia may suggest that my mom should be in a nursing home.  If not, she may suggest that this extreme drowsiness is due to one of my mother’s medications and try to convince her to stop taking something that she actually needs.

22.  Claudia will get extremely frustrated with my mother for falling asleep in front of the TV or while beading.  This too will cause a fight, especially if my mom refuses to go to bed.  There will be an even bigger fight if my mom is drinking tea in this drowsy condition, in which she can spill it all over herself.

23.  Claudia will want to use our digital camera, and thus will be angry when she finds out that the battery is broken and we have not yet bought a new one.

24.  Claudia will want to use my laptop and will be angry when I refuse.  She will ask why my brother is allowed to use it but not her.  I will explain that we’ve made an agreement, in which he will help me repaint my bedroom in exchange for use of my laptop, but she will still be angry.

25.  Claudia will be angry that our desktop computer in the basement is broken, and will nag us to plug in her old computer.  If Dad refuses, Claudia will nag me about this, as she feels I am the one in the family she has the most control over.  Since it is not my computer and I have my own, she will be wasting her time.

26.  At some point during her visit, she will be so exasperated with us for something, and will declare that she shouldn’t even have come.

27.  Claudia will try to convince my family to move out west with her.  Apparently she has already mentioned it to my mother before.  She will claim that the nice weather and scenery will help us with our health problems, and that if she lives nearby she can help us with things like chores.

Okay, that’s it for now.  After she’s gone I’ll try to write to let you know which ones came true.  Wish me luck, and wish my family luck as well.