I'm moving everything here over to dreamwidth, if that function will just start working, and then I'll delete it. Please chime in here with your user name over there! I'm ShadesOfMauve.

Since I made the giant house To Do list here in April, I've been almost non-stop busy -- and still haven't struck much off the housey list. Here're some of the things I DID manage, so I can put it all in a bit of perspective (and try to remember it):

• Designed, laid out, and made maps for a 150 page freelance project document, which meant working three or four hours after my regularly scheduled 8.5 hour work day an 10 hours on weekends for basically the entire month of May. There've since been lulls of a few weeks at a time while things are reviewed by my client and the head contractor, and we're just now finishing up... though more edits will come after community feedback, as part of a new contract.


• Did a logotype/business card freelance project for far too little money, and learned the valuable lesson that I shouldn't give people quotes face to face because I don't ask for enough then.


• Designed and printed invitations for Kiyoko's bridal shower, including a vector illustration of her favorite type of teacup because why not. ;)


• Technically this was done before the giant to do list, but I'm proud of it, so: did a charcoal and chalk portrait of a friend for his new album cover, then did all the album cover design/layout. I did every step from original art through to production, and it was the first project done in my new studio!


• Performed at the Couth Buzzard in Seattle, twice at the Olympia Farmer's Market, at Dupont's 'historical' (ha!) festival, and for the Batdorf & Bronson 30 year anniversary party (B&B are Erik's employers).


• Wrote a 3 page summary of my weird health issues dating back to when I was in college, with dates and medication trials, and organized a medical binder that impressed the heck out of various office staff. I think there were at least four doc visits in this time frame, and one of them lasted six hours. (No, we still have no idea why I'm itching everywhere).


• hosted a studio celebration / yard party


• finished and posted a chapter of the aStSHB sequel fic


• Was Maid of Honor in Kiyoko's wedding, which was three days of festivities as well as all the dress buying and shoe fixing and planning things. Oh, and the speech! I managed a sentence in Japanese and thankyou in Tagalog, so got both her family and aunties in the Phillipine American family she's marrying into to cry. \o/


• I got the partial path in back redone in sheet mulch with a recycled wood border. The path isn't done, but the section of it that I made once with gravel and then dismantled is done, so it's no longer an ankle breaker. WIth the help of the neighbor's kid I also got a sheetmulched wide path to the compost bins.


• I painted a mural for emony42's baby Benjamin, and I'm quite pleased with it.

I saw the list I posted last time I popped onto LJ, so I decided to copy it and see how much I'd gotten done!

Almost none of it, it turns out.

I got an extension on the Fake Driveway, so it's not due until November 11, which is good because the giant freelance project that was supposed to be done in May is STILL going in August, and there was another one in that time, as well as several gigs, Kiyoko's wedding, and ongoing health issues.

Fake Paver Driveway / Patio (must be done by June 1!)

• Finish digging driveway hole (mom helped)


• Order & spread gravel ($125 and mom's help)


• Form 'pavers' ($200, halfway done)


• pour driveway ($$$, requires dad's help)


• get inspection!

Other Yarden things

• Build short  retaining wall + steps in front ($$$$, hiring friend Tom to do it)


• Take down ~50' of old fence (the neighbor had that done with a backhoe but now she's super antsy that I haven't built a new one yet), build new fence ($$$ and work party)


• cut old fence boards down for border (borrow or buy saw)


• take down cherry tree (requires dad's help or $$$ to hire someone)


• limb up / clean up maple ($$$$ to hire arborist)


• redo back path with fence-board border & sheet mulch


• edge existing south bed with fence boards


• continue sheet mulching back yard (made progress, nowhere near finished)


• build raised beds in front yard ($$$ for materials, probably soil)

Exterior House things

• install ridge vent ($$$, dad's help)


• exterior trim for new windows ($$$ for material)


• wire in extra porch light from outside


• siding patches on new areas ($$$ for material)


• final inspection and off permit!


• remove alumnimum siding from front


• clean & paint front of house

Interior House things

• studio window trim


• studio chimney trim & shelves


• sand & finish studio door


• finish drywall mud in laundry room


• replumb laundry room ($$$, dad's help)


• floor laundry room ($$$)


• patch living room drywall


• paint living room & hallway (already have paint!)


• replacing living room fan


• replace living room baseboard & door casing?


• replace living room heater


• paint dining room


• rewire master bedroom for wall sconce


• paint master bedroom

NEW things

• Pay a plumber one thousand dollarses for a new main water line

I realize those still in LJ land haven't yet seen pics of the progress I've already made (if anyone can recommend a free image hosting service that isn't a pain in the ass, please do!), but it's time for me to do another giant to-do list.

I have end of May/beginning of June deadlines for both a big ol' freelance project AND getting my fake driveway done, so that basically accounts for all of May.

Fake Paver Driveway / Patio (must be done by June 1!)

• Finish digging driveway hole (easy except that I've had health issues, so may require help)


• Order & spread gravel ($$$, plus extra for fence)


• Form 'pavers' ($$$, requires dad's help. The 'how' part is somewhat of a mystery)


• pour driveway ($$$, requires dad's help)


• PROFIT get inspection!

Other Yarden things

• Build short  retaining wall + steps in front ($$$, hiring friend Tom to do it)


• Take down ~50' of old fence, build new fence ($$$ and work party)


• cut old fence boards down for border (borrow or buy saw)


• take down cherry tree (requires dad's help or $$$ to hire someone)


• limb up / clean up maple ($$$ to hire arborist)


• redo back path with fence-board border & sheet mulch


• edge existing south bed with fence boards


• continue sheet mulching back yard


• build raised beds in front yard ($$$ for materials, probably soil)

Exterior House things

• install ridge vent ($$$, dad's help)


• exterior trim for new windows ($$$ for material)


• wire in extra porch light from outside


• siding patches on new areas ($$$ for material)


• final inspection and off permit!


• remove alumnimum siding from front


• clean & paint front of house

Interior House things

• studio window trim


• studio chimney trim & shelves


• sand & finish studio door


• finish drywall mud in laundry room


• replumb laundry room ($$$, dad's help)


• floor laundry room ($$$)


• patch living room drywall


• paint living room & hallway (already have paint!)


• replacing living room fan


• replace living room baseboard & door casing?


• replace living room heater


• paint dining room


• rewire master bedroom for wall sconce


• paint master bedroom

...so that's not so much!

Mind you, these are the 'little things' -- the finishing-up parts of my major project, before starting any new major projects, like the kitchen or bathroom remodels. :P

The exciting part for me is that there are a bunch of things in both the yard and the inside of the house that don't require (much) money or external labor. Patching, painting, trim, edging, replacement of lights and heaters -- those are all really cheap and things I can easily do on my ownsy. There are just a few big-ticket items where I have to figure out if I have any friends left whom I haven't already hit up for manual labor!

I knew E's mom was having to step up and stretch to be a caregiver for her husband, but I didn't realize how much. She never balanced her checkbook. She's never pumped her own gas. She worked part time as a hair dresser for awhile once, and buys and sells stuff on consignment, but her world is amazingly small (the town 15 miles away from their home in Connecticut was 'all the way over THERE?!'). It's kind of neat to watch her grow, but kind of terrifying to realize how stunted she was.

My grandmothers are both very near her age; definitely the same generation. My paternal grandma has a college degree and worked as office manager in her husband's law firm up until she retired a few years ago. My maternal grandmother is STILL the book-keeper at the town hospital, took five children on a cross-country road trip while pregnant with twins, and spent a summer living so far up the Elwha with those same kids that the weekly groceries were delivered by pack horse.

Granted, maternal grandma's life is pretty strange by many standards, but even my paternal-grandma's country-club/shopping/ladies-luncheon world is broader than E's mom's to a mind-boggling extent.

E and I have been in Wake Forest NC since Saturday, visiting his parents, who moved down here from Connecticut. By every real measure it's a great visit, and the move was a great move for them. I'm usually pretty skeptical of people moving AWAY from their established communities after they retire, but they had a hub of family down here and moved into a much more friendly neighborhood -- luckily, since the health problems E's dad had been having got even worse pretty shortly after the move. There's an undercurrent of tension in the house, as his mom tries to be the nurse to his dad, who now has a VAD, requires wound dressing care morning and night, and is having short term memory issues.

For E and I, used to going about and spending a lot of time doing our own things, it's a very cooped existence. Fine for a few days, but we've both reached the point of feeling mildly anxious/stir-crazy.

On the bright side, it turns out his dad has headphones for the TV, so we're no longer listening to hard-of-hearing-volume Fox News whenever his dad is awake. That shit is terrifying.

Hopefully tomorrow the weather will clear and we'll be able to go for a long walk at a park or nature preserve, and we can get some wiggles out.

It's very strange to wander back onto my LJ after just under a year and realize that my last real journal-type posts were from back when I thought two weeks of work missed due to illness was excessive. Back before I knew that particular crud would last three months.

And be followed by allergies to grass that swelled my eye shut.

Followed by whole-body mystery urticaria.

Hello, Livejournal! Last time I talked to you I was just getting into the illness and emotional crap that would eventually help trigger a new stage in my undiagnosed autoimmune disorder!

And now, a year later? I'm finally seeing a rheumetologist on Wednesday. WHOO!

ALSO I HAVE AN ART STUDIO AND I'M SITTING IN IT.

A thing expected, and certainly more to his preference than a more drawn-out decline. But still a very hard thing to hear.

"In the Ramtop village where they dance the real Morris dance, for example, they believe that no one is finally dead until the ripples they cause in the world die away -- until the clock he wound winds down, until the wine she made has finished its ferment, until the crop they planted is harvested. The span of someone's life, they say, is only the core of their actual existence."

Very brief update:

Still have cough, but it's better.

Pinniped has three gigs next weekend.

The following paragraph is one I want saved because it perfectly describes what's going on with my brother:

MOTIVATED OR DEFENSIVE DELUSIONS. Some predisposed persons might suffer the onset of an ongoing delusional disorder when coping with life and maintaining high self-esteem becomes a significant challenge. In order to preserve a positive view of oneself, a person views others as the cause of personal difficulties that may occur. This can then become an ingrained pattern of thought.

Read more: http://www.minddisorders.com/Br-Del/Delusional-disorder.html#ixzz3U7l436FS

The doc said that whatever infection or parade of infections I had before, right now I have Post Crud Fake Asthma,* so I’m getting not-quite-asthma meds until my lungs stop constricting for no freakin’ reason.

Which means now I can finally inhale my drugs like all the cool kids.

*Those were not his exact words. He would probably concur, however, since his exact words to define my earlier symptoms were "A staggeringly bad case of the crud."