The morning report

It appears that the LJ style roulette has finished spinning. Maybe. Man, I hate a serif font on the screen. I think I got them all gone from my views. Hopefully.

Yesterday's meeting with Sheri was very good. We got a lot of decisions made and I do not think there is anything now that we do not have either a completion date on or a next step date on. Whew. I may yet see the bulk of this done in my lifetime! And... It looks like much of it will be done by the time rsc and jwg are here in July. Wohooo!

I have a good bit of work to do this weekend - some sewing, some furniture assembly, some cleaning and some ironing. Sheri is coming back with John next Tuesday to hang curtains and install stuff.

Mom sent me an email this morning!! She called last night - again strange. It's the second time she's called before she goes to bed 'I just wanted to say goodnight.' The first time was last week sometime. Strange, but ok. Anyway, she reminded me then that she had a doctor's appointment this morning. So this morning, instead of a call, I got email! Once she gets back into the email habit we can stop the phone calls which will be good. We're more email people.

Thanks to the internet, I have friends around the world. And we talk sports. Well, kind of. I only have one sport - baseball. My friend, Scott, in Wellington, NZ has tried - in vain - to get me even mildly interested in his rugby. (He abandoned any hope of my having an inkling of caring about cricket years ago.) He keeps me posted on the progress of his favorite teams - mainly Ortago (since he's from Dunedin).

My friend, Robert, is a huge Seahawks fan. He rarely missed a daily visit to my website during the whole tear-down-the-Kingdome-build-the-new-Seahawks-stadium years. He made his first airplane ride ever when he brought his family from England to Seattle to see ... The Seahawks. I'm still not clear on how a nice boy from Bradford, England gets all jacked up about American football, much less picks the Seahawks for a team to be passionate about, but I loved meeting him and his family and did manage to convert his youngest - Joe -into an Ichiro fan.

And all of this is leading up to... Mike. From Aukland. Mike is a Phillies fan. And has been for years. Since the Phillies are in a different league, we rarely (I think maybe this is the second time) play them. Plus this year, they really don't suck. And we do. And they are in town for a 3 game series and we have won the first two games.

I so love talking baseball trash with a Kiwi - when we are winning. I have the poor bastard begging for one run in this morning's email. Bless his heart.

And, finally... The condo association finally got their resident directory online and there's a place to put pictures of your pets so I made headshots of Betty and Jake. They are soooo pretty.

The morning report

It appears that the LJ style roulette has finished spinning. Maybe. Man, I hate a serif font on the screen. I think I got them all gone from my views. Hopefully.

Yesterday's meeting with Sheri was very good. We got a lot of decisions made and I do not think there is anything now that we do not have either a completion date on or a next step date on. Whew. I may yet see the bulk of this done in my lifetime! And... It looks like much of it will be done by the time rsc and jwg are here in July. Wohooo!

I have a good bit of work to do this weekend - some sewing, some furniture assembly, some cleaning and some ironing. Sheri is coming back with John next Tuesday to hang curtains and install stuff.

Mom sent me an email this morning!! She called last night - again strange. It's the second time she's called before she goes to bed 'I just wanted to say goodnight.' The first time was last week sometime. Strange, but ok. Anyway, she reminded me then that she had a doctor's appointment this morning. So this morning, instead of a call, I got email! Once she gets back into the email habit we can stop the phone calls which will be good. We're more email people.

Thanks to the internet, I have friends around the world. And we talk sports. Well, kind of. I only have one sport - baseball. My friend, Scott, in Wellington, NZ has tried - in vain - to get me even mildly interested in his rugby. (He abandoned any hope of my having an inkling of caring about cricket years ago.) He keeps me posted on the progress of his favorite teams - mainly Ortago (since he's from Dunedin).

My friend, Robert, is a huge Seahawks fan. He rarely missed a daily visit to my website during the whole tear-down-the-Kingdome-build-the-new-Seahawks-stadium years. He made his first airplane ride ever when he brought his family from England to Seattle to see ... The Seahawks. I'm still not clear on how a nice boy from Bradford, England gets all jacked up about American football, much less picks the Seahawks for a team to be passionate about, but I loved meeting him and his family and did manage to convert his youngest - Joe -into an Ichiro fan.

And all of this is leading up to... Mike. From Aukland. Mike is a Phillies fan. And has been for years. Since the Phillies are in a different league, we rarely (I think maybe this is the second time) play them. Plus this year, they really don't suck. And we do. And they are in town for a 3 game series and we have won the first two games.

I so love talking baseball trash with a Kiwi - when we are winning. I have the poor bastard begging for one run in this morning's email. Bless his heart.

And, finally... The condo association finally got their resident directory online and there's a place to put pictures of your pets so I made headshots of Betty and Jake. They are soooo pretty.

Obits R Us

I love obituaries. Especially those of non famous people.

My first real job was as a newspaper reporter and my first real assignment was writing obits and I sucked at it but I loved doing it.

My ex-husband was (he's not dead that I know of but no longer works at a newspaper) an excellent obit writer and he had a very important talent to go with it. He was able to cut through the grief and anguish and get amazing facts and memories about the dead person - usually on the day they died or the day after - AND make the person from whom he was extricating this info feel honored to have shared it.

My Dad wrote obits for himself and for Mom.

In the olden days, obits in the newspaper were a big deal. Today they have mostly fallen by the newspaper wayside. They have been replaced, at least in Seattle, mostly by paid death notices. The really famous people still get headlined obits but most everyone else gets nada unless their family writes and pays for it. In my Sunday paper there is a small list of notable or interesting dead with a sentence about them but that's the extent of it.

So, I've now turned my addiction to: The Blog of Death. It's actually a beautifully done website that respectfully chronicles the passing of the great, the not great and the you-probably-would-never-have-known-anything-about-this-person.

Today's two entries are perfect examples. Percy Arrowsmith died at 105 (cause unknown - I have to admit amusement there). He and his wife, Flo, were married for 80 years. And Lucy Richardson who died at 47 from cancer. Not only was she THE Lucy of Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds but she was also went on to win awards as a movie art director.

Obits R Us

I love obituaries. Especially those of non famous people.

My first real job was as a newspaper reporter and my first real assignment was writing obits and I sucked at it but I loved doing it.

My ex-husband was (he's not dead that I know of but no longer works at a newspaper) an excellent obit writer and he had a very important talent to go with it. He was able to cut through the grief and anguish and get amazing facts and memories about the dead person - usually on the day they died or the day after - AND make the person from whom he was extricating this info feel honored to have shared it.

My Dad wrote obits for himself and for Mom.

In the olden days, obits in the newspaper were a big deal. Today they have mostly fallen by the newspaper wayside. They have been replaced, at least in Seattle, mostly by paid death notices. The really famous people still get headlined obits but most everyone else gets nada unless their family writes and pays for it. In my Sunday paper there is a small list of notable or interesting dead with a sentence about them but that's the extent of it.

So, I've now turned my addiction to: The Blog of Death. It's actually a beautifully done website that respectfully chronicles the passing of the great, the not great and the you-probably-would-never-have-known-anything-about-this-person.

Today's two entries are perfect examples. Percy Arrowsmith died at 105 (cause unknown - I have to admit amusement there). He and his wife, Flo, were married for 80 years. And Lucy Richardson who died at 47 from cancer. Not only was she THE Lucy of Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds but she was also went on to win awards as a movie art director.

The Eyes Are In!!!

"This is Diane at Pacific Fabrics and your eyes have come in - noses, too."

And it's all because last night I figured out a way to finish a bear and then add the eyes and nose later. The way I'm doing them now, the eyes and nose get sewn on before the head is totally finished because they have a stabilizer that needs to be sewn from the inside. I figured out that I could sew in the stabilizer and then, when I got the goods, sew them eyes and nose on from the outside.

But, now, I have 20 sets waiting for pickup and another 24 on order!!

The eyes and nose drought has finally ended!!

The Eyes Are In!!!

"This is Diane at Pacific Fabrics and your eyes have come in - noses, too."

And it's all because last night I figured out a way to finish a bear and then add the eyes and nose later. The way I'm doing them now, the eyes and nose get sewn on before the head is totally finished because they have a stabilizer that needs to be sewn from the inside. I figured out that I could sew in the stabilizer and then, when I got the goods, sew them eyes and nose on from the outside.

But, now, I have 20 sets waiting for pickup and another 24 on order!!

The eyes and nose drought has finally ended!!

Action in the 'hood!

I was coming from from picking up my coveted eyes and noses when as I came down the side street - remember this is downtown Seattle - to the entrance to my garage, I saw a Clydesdale with is nose in the take out beer window of the bar next door. Then I passed a hummer limo and a mounted cop. This was all within 50 yards of my back door. Here are the pix to prove it...

Action in the 'hood!

I was coming from from picking up my coveted eyes and noses when as I came down the side street - remember this is downtown Seattle - to the entrance to my garage, I saw a Clydesdale with is nose in the take out beer window of the bar next door. Then I passed a hummer limo and a mounted cop. This was all within 50 yards of my back door. Here are the pix to prove it...