Progress Not Perfection

Turns out that my Sweet Hubby had no desire whatsoever to give me his laptop in exchange for our dishwasher. In spite of his blathering on about our DW's digital controls and sleek black appearance in the comments of my long ago (and yet most recent) post, he declined the proffered trade. Sad. But ultimately probably a good thing as the lack of computer access spurred me on. I FINALLY FINISHED MY STUDIO!!
Now....it's not perfect. And technically it's not really finished as the shelves that will house my fabric stash aren't up yet and my sewing "table" is still in the design stages (so the return on my desk is going to serve in the meantime). Still, my studio is finished enough that I have a desk with a (real) computer on it (and wires strung all over the floor - the wireless portion of the home-improvement-project-from-hell not having panned out yet). Back to the plus side, I also have an entire wall of shelves with books all over them and my crafty things organized in a now open-faced closet. My white fan is being installed by Sweet Hubby at this very moment (which is a VERY good thing as the brass and dark, fakey wood one that was in here is puky looking and was making me crazy!)

I had planned to show you FIRST THING the 'before' and 'after' pictures so that you could be AMAZED by the transformation. Alas, disappointments abound (firstly) in the form of no 'before' pictures to be found (ANYWHERE) of the studio even though I was sure that some had been taken and (secondly) in the fact that the 'after' pictures which I do have are stranded on the memory card with no way to jump to my computer. The memory card reader "just died". That's SH's technical explanation. It looks fine (ummm - well SH says it still looks fine - but to me it looks rather pathetic now that he's pried off (and broken) its plastic case and fiddled with its flat innards). It worked until the very moment I wanted to use it to show off what I've been painstakingly doing for the past freakin' ever. And then, at that instant, it "just died". If it hadn't already hotfooted it to the Great Electronic Beyond, I would have had to kill it for deserting me in my time of need. That would still leave us with no pics (yet) of all the transformations of 2006, but poor SH might have been spared some venting of my spleen!

Well, dear friends, spleen has been vented (offstage and in SH's general direction) and I'm ready to move on to the bragging portion of today's blog. My studio looks fantastic! Imagine if you will my starting point: a room with bright, glossy green walls (on the lower half), bright blue walls with white clouds (top half and ceiling), glaringly yellow chair rail, trim, & slatted closet door, and tired, yucky, old carpet. From that starting point, imagine me not boring you with the tedious details of heating issues, technical obstacles, and six coats of paint. Yes. Six. Coats. Of Pain(t). And, Lord, just shoot me if I ever again insist on decorating with interesting (=expensive) and textured (=impossible to use) paints. Now jump with me to the finished product (and ignore the fact that I don't have the wherewithal to do a thing about the yucky, old carpet for a while). Here's the view: gorgeous, clean, white trim and chair rail; opalescent, metallic lavender walls above the chair rail; darker lavender, perfectly-even, granite-textured walls below; white fan (almost installed), a bank of white book cases, white shelves and plastic storage bins in the closet and a picture window looking out over the courtyard. I LOVE my new space. The left over desk caused me some angst as it is birch and gray. But... it works and since most of the time it's going to be draped in half-finished quilt projects and manuscripts - I have made a decision to be happy with its non-conformist appearance. Hip hip hooray for my gorgeous studio. (Now it's time to make some quilt art and write, write, write!)
Second on my list to brag about is my hair. I told the gal that I wasn't particularly worried about how it looked as long as she cut nearly all of it off my head. I'm happy to report that she managed to cut it almost as short as I wanted it and ALSO made it look good. It is very short on the sides and the back (swirling not quite into a DA) with longer, proto-curls on the top and in the front that fall just the tiniest bit into my face.
I must digress here and say that SH has just finished installing my fan. At my request, this good man pulled our lovely white fan out of the ceiling in the bedroom and put it up in here. So really, I should not complain (should I?) about the fact that he 'improved the design' during relocation and threw away a handful of 'spare parts' that he explains are (somehow) no longer needed. Eeep.
Back to the bragging. My hair feels great and looks pretty darn cute too. Alas, the same cannot be said of Wasabi's coiffure. It's a teeny bit better now, three weeks later, but ....
He came home from his first visit to the groomer looking like he was wearing furry pantaloons. Furry. Pantaloons. And he had a poodly mop on the top of his head. (He's a TERRIER for goshsakes!) And he had no eyebrows. They shaved his face and his back so much so that he looked skinned. But they didn't shave his lower half. They left his fur long there. But not in a way so that the long fur hung down. Oh no. Instead of a dog 'skirt' he had an MC Hammeresque, furry, bubble-butt look going on. And they shaved his ears. He looked freaky. And he smelled very... wrong. Not that I'm so concerned about his masculine image - but this was like my dog had been hosed down with Wal-Mart brand, little-girl targeted perfume. Cloying, powdery, insanely flowery, not-so-clean-smelling perfume. Ickity ick ick ick. Chaos took one look and screamed, "What did you do to my dog??!!!!!!!" We had to bathe him and tell him we still loved him even though he looked weird. [Him = the dog, not the boy. Chaos is required to bathe himself - although I often have to remind him of this fact. And um, while we do tell Chaos we love him even though he looks weird (to us) - it's not as cruel as it may sound at first glance. Err.. Anyway, Chaos' goal (at age 13) is to please us without pleasing us. Poor Wasabi, on the other hand, wants to please us without smelling so bad that he (as a dog with an incredibly acute sense of smell) has to snort dirt to block up his nose. No lie - that's what he did when he got home. He whined and snorted so much dirt up his nose that he was sneezing mudballs for days. Hence the bath and the extra love.]
We've switched groomers (duh) and we're all trying (very) hard not to dread Wasabi's appointment (this coming Thursday). This new groomer comes highly recommended. And she darn well better be FANTASTIC since she charges more than my hair salon does!
So there you have it. OH OH OH! EXCEPT that I almost forgot an important brag. (Did I mention that I'm training for the Music City Half Marathon? Well, I am.) I am not built to be a runner. I'm short and um, top-heavy in a way that SH loves but that is not so comfy for the running. Nevertheless. I am training. I am S-L-O-W but I'm steady. And I love it and feel great. Powerful even. I'm up to five miles (for the first time in ten years) and I've got 11 weeks to add six miles to that. (I'm not going to do the full thirteen until the day of the race. All the training books say that a good solid eleven in training is plenty to get you through the race. I'm choosing to believe them!) NOW you have it. So far, my 2006 is all about progress but not perfection. For studios, hair, fur, and training plans. No more three week hiatuses (hiati?) for me. I'll see y'all tomorrow.
Peace.