The Friday Five

The other night I went to the sink to get a cup of water to nuke for tea. Except the portable dishwasher was connected to the sink so I had to get my water from the bathroom. Five things I believed as a kid:

1. Since the bathroom sink and the toilet were on the same wall, I was convinced the sink drew the water from the toilet. To this day, I don't like getting a glass of water to drink from the bathroom.

2. Having attended parochial school, the nuns and their mysterious lives were a good source of fascination. The nuns still wore a wimple and veil when I was in grade school. We were convinced they were bald.

3. The nuns also wore floor length habits. This was because they had no feet. They just seemed to glide across the floor. Though they fairly flew if they were coming at you with a ruler.

4. I thought I would be dead by the time I was 30. 30 just seemed so old.

5. When I was 5, I was convinced an alligator lived under my bed. I wouldn't sleep with my arm hanging over the side or I'd be grabbed and pulled underneath the bed. This also meant I couldn't walk into the room if the light wasn't on. I'd have to run down the hall and take a leap for the bed from the doorway. This would cause my bed to bash into the wall. Then my dad would yell, "What the hell are you doing?!"

What were some of the things you believed when you were a kid?

Knot Working

I'm knot working. That is, I'm trying to weave Celtic knots. This is a 4 x 4 King Solomon's knot made up of 4 strands. This one actually turned out. Usually I get lost in the weave and have problems with left/right. Looks a little like a quilt square. I can barely sew on buttons so this will be as close to quilting as I can get.

Have you worked at something that isn't your strength?

Amazing Feat

On our walk along the Blackstone Valley bike path, we were able to be in two places at the same time. (Psss, it's pronounced Wistah)

How's that for an amazing feat? (-;

The Friday Five

This week I had a routine dental check-up. Got me thinking how different dental visits are now. When I was a kid:

1. The dentist had only one operatory/exam room. It was tiled a lovely shade of puke green.

2. You sat in a barber chair and had to spit into a small, white porcelain sink. It was gross! Mr. Thirsty was unheard of. ( I always feel dorky with Mr. Thirsty hanging out of my mouth.)

3. The dentist didn't use Novocaine or any kind of pain killer to fill a cavity. Just used the drill powered by his foot like the treadle on a sewing machine. As I recall, it didn't hurt much either. Maybe we were tougher back then.

4. The dentist didn't have a technician to help him out. He had to get his own tools and prepare the fillings himself.

5. As a special treat after getting a silver filling. I'd be given the left over mercury to play with. Yup, he'd pour the tiny BB size  mercury into my hand and I'd roll it around. Then he'd give me a cigar box so I could take it home. I'd tilt the box till the bead smashed into a wall and scattered into tiny balls. Then I'd tilt the box and collect all the little balls into one bead. Who knew it was toxic?!

Has going to the dentist changed much since you were a kid?

Invite

I finally got the invites for the Young One's graduation party finished. Found the poem To A Red Kite by Lilian Moore. Wrote that out using the old Palm Pilot alphabet called Graffiti. Wanted a playful look to the invitation. Scanned in the calligraphy and turned the cards around using Publisher. The cards were printed on a white linen finish paper I had hanging around. The cards are a French fold, that is a standard sheet of paper folded into quarters. The outside of the card was embellished with string and a scrap of red paste paper to make the kite. Some small butterfly stickers were used for the kite tail. The kite theme was carried through for her name on the inside of the invitation.

Names on the envelopes were written out with a red kite, too. (Just in case you're wondering, red is The Young One's favorite color). I was hoping to find cloud stamps, flags with clouds behind them stamps, or just plain old flag stamps on a trip to the post office to complete the theme of a kite flying in the sky. My post office had no flags! Imagine that! No flags! Liberty bells, puppies and kitties, and the new pansy stamps which are quite beautiful, but didn't fit my theme either. Deep sigh. Forlorn look. My fault, I should have planned ahead of time where I could have had custom stamps made. And in the scope of things, this art is ephemeral. No one will really care. I chose the puppy and kitty stamps because The Young One loves animals and the black kitty looks a little like Ink.

The Friday Five

Once a month, usually around the 15th of the month, my PC bogs down when trying to boot up. It's as if the machine is performing a disk defrag. I can't for the life of me find out what update it's magically doing. I've turned off all auto updates and perform them manually overnight instead of updating when the machine boots. Yesterday, a few days into the beginning of a new month, the computer just decided to take it's sweet time to boot. I'm talking over 30 minutes. It's frustrating to say the least. So, five things I do while waiting for the machine to boot up:

1. Cuss, swear, or speak in tongues.

2. Doodle

3. Read a chapter or two of a calligraphy or web design reference book

4. Make a cup of tea (sometimes done in conjunction with #3)

5. Perform some percussive maintenance. This technique used to work great on televisions in the olden days. Doesn't seem to do much now except it makes me feel better.

What do you do to keep your blood pressure from soaring while you're waiting?

Wed Letter Day

The Young One's graduation hoopla had me a little behind. This week 2 letters to catch up to finish the month of May.

Wondering what letter to make while looking at the bathroom tile. Gee, great idea! (-;

And a "P" a la Sherrie Kiesel.