Reason #36 why cleaning is not my idea of fun

So in getting ready for our shin-dig at the end of July - we're tackling the remaining boxes. It's not bad actually - but we're wanting to attempt to not leave all the cleaning/prep until the week before. Wish us luck.

Anyway while putting books away I backed into a corner then rediscovered why dust bunnies (ehem cat hair), wood floor and wearing socks is a bad idea. Thankfully I managed to catch myself before I had a really ugly (ie funny) but my arm/shoulder and right hip are tweaked from catching myself.

Good thing I went to the chiropractor earlier today. Go me.

Well now I'm dumbfounded

The bike short/skirt combination I reordered arrived today. See based on my measurements I should be between two sizes. I'd originally ordered the larger because well that's what you do. It was huge. Reordered the smaller and it was wasn't as tight as it needed to be. Actually for anything but biking gear I'd say it fit perfectly, well except the skirt still had 2-3" of play in it, but the bike shorts part weren't tight but fit.

So we're going a size down. Again.

Discovering Art

I don't really remember the moment when I became aware of ART around me. It wasn't really until about 5-6 years ago that the collections of friends I'd gathered started opening my eyes to the world around me. How ART is all around me in everything. How it's fleeting and dependent of factors that it can't quite control. How now I'm settling in to what suits my eye, my ears and sensations.

Which got me thinking this weekend in many ways my family didn't do ART. Museums weren't our thing. Our walls were covered with run of the mill mass produced items, flanked by pictures of the family. Nothing with craft. Nothing with weight. Nothing that would catch the light and make you hold your breath by the beauty of it. The only exception were my aunt's paintings in my grandmothers house.

We found a home for the stained glass Mr Red's family gave us for our wedding. It's a stain glass representation of the artwork from our invitation. It's been in storage since we moved out of the Portland house. And now it's sitting in the kitchen window catching the afternoon sun. I see it and it transports me to the moments that bound Mr. Red and I. Is it ART - it's more craft, but it's beautiful and amazing.

I'm also missing the prints and what not we've collected over the years. Some of them are 1950's dress pattern advertisements that amuse me for there contradiction to who I am. There is the bunny-wave print we have rolled up waiting to frame. Of course my new favorite way to ART shop is etsy. I'm adding things to my favorite list so I can go back and add to our collection.

The best part of all of this is months ago I'd found a painting that was simply perfect for us but it sold out before I'd confirmed with Mr. Red. Then the artist went on holiday. Yesterday I followed up and found out she was back and producing. Instead of a 4" X 8" single panel she'd progressed in to compilation of two 4" by 8" panels, that she'd customize for us. I'm so excited as its the perfect birthday (yes late) gift for Mr. Red. Best part - no framing required.

I now understand even more the grip ART can have on you. How once bitten it seeps into you. How personal ART is to the artist and to the owner. How finding just the right thing for someone can take a lifetime, a moment or nothing.

Yard work sucks

Now I love playing in the dirt. I don't like mowing the lawn or the requisite care it takes to have a pristine swatch of green grass. Thankfully Mr. Red mows but I'm out there edging and atempting to rid the yard of big icky weeds.

But with the on-slaught of rain we've had all the weeds are huge, but my poor little garden plans are still the same size. Grow dammit.

5.7 miles and I didn't die

We went for a bike ride today. Mostly to fine tune our bikes to us. I'm still trying to learn how to clip in. I can do it accidently - which yes included me tumbling over because a half second before I stopped I didn't know I'd clipped in. Over I went on my left side, knee, elbow, hand and shoulder all caught pavement. Had I'd been 2 feet to my left I'd of fallen on grass, but nope I choose my first fall on asphalt. Lee heard it but didn't see it. He had to come rescue me from under my bike. Thankfully no one was around to see me. Thank god Lee insisted I buy bike gloves. I was also in capris so I actually minimized my road rash, at least for my hands and knees - can't say that for my elbow. It's turned kinda bruised and angry.

Overall I felt good. I've got duck feet which means my heels catch on my bike, especially if I'm not clipped in. Which I haven't figured out how to do intentionally. I have noticed that my feet are happier clipped in.

I came home and actually played in the dirt. Planted more radishes and carrots as well as a few replacement seeds for corn. Something had decided digging for bugs is oh so much fun. I'm not amused. Factor in the continual rain things aren't growing much. My corn is about the same size from 3 weeks ago. Kinda sad. Poor corn.

Yeah Butcher

So I think I'm in love with our local Butcher- Doug's Quality Meats . Really cool family owned business just up the hill from us. Really good meat including smoked stuff. Great customer service. We're in there at least once every two weeks, if not more frequently. In fact I think all our meat but our sea food comes from his shop. And yeah it maybe a 15-20% increase over the grocery store but I'll gladly pay that for something local, with less additives and preservatives and most importantly way better tasting.

Today after my venture to the small local farmers market I got a text from the Mr that we were out of bacon. In our household on a Saturday morning that's a bonafide crisis in the making. We did have sausage but bacon is our go to weekend food. So I drove up the to the butcher shop. He had just made a batch of bacon patties but the smallest ready to go pack he had was 10 patties - way to much for us right now. Oh bacon patties - basically some of the left over bacon ground up with hamburger. I mentioned we didn't need 10 - he asked how many - my reply was 4 - and then went back to the freezer and bundled me up some. I know that's what he's supposed to do but then he called me sweetie and I didn't find it at all obnoxious. Which means I'm either softening with age or his demeanor was spot on because it was no way a put down.

We at the bacon patties today and it was way better than just plain hamburger.

Good for the ego...

Well I ordered some cycle shorts w/ an attached skirt. (Spandex may be my friend but I'm not going to make the world look at me in it).

Surprisingly I thought I ordered the right size for me. Wrong. It was too big. Not just a wee bit too big way to big. Now I need to go find my measuring tape instead of going off what I thought was my size.

And in something that some may consider animal cruelty we added to Cat TV. We added a bird feeder out one of the windows. So far the birds aren't convinced there is glass between them and us.