And now for the News…

Our lead story tonight, is the storm of the century, bracing for the onslaught of what the media defined as a record breaking snow fall, already wreaking havoc on the mid Atlantic coast, the NY area prepared for the worst.  Supermarkets were cleared of anything necessary to weather the storm through the Super Bowl on Sunday, and then there was nothing to do but wait.  And wait…  And wait.  At dawn this morning, as the sun began to lighten the sky, there was, what’s this?  Not a flake?  Not a single bit of snow from the Storm of the Century?

Even an hour south of us, there was snow.  My mom called in from the Baltimore area, they had 30″ and it was still coming down.  We had nothing but brown grass.  It was almost disappointing.  My sister in rural northern Maryland still can’t get out of her street, and life as we know it has stopped from about a half hour south of us, all the way to the Carolina’s.  My husband and I kept checking out the window, thinking we were probably dreaming.  Alas.  The strong arctic cold front pushed down from Canada and pushed the whole storm just south of us.  So all we got was a bunch of wind.  C’est la vie…

In other news, my son wrote his third letter today from boot camp, clearly loving that I am writing daily, “Don’t stop writing mom”… and telling us of his grand adventures.  They are spending their days shooting in the field, and will soon engage in hand to hand combat.  My son reports that he likes the structure, having his days planned out, and eating three meals a day.  The only thing he really really misses, is Taylor Ham, Egg and Cheese sandwiches.   A staple of all NJ diners.  We buy 8 pound rolls of Taylor Ham.  Some call it Pork Roll, but it is a real NJ delicacy. He use to get up at 2am and make Taylor Ham sandwiches.   Gotta love it.

I wish I could tell you all the wonderful creative things I’m doing in my studio since I last blogged.  Truth is, I haven’t done anything creative, all I’ve done is print, bind, organize spreadsheets, print some more, pack and ship handouts and materials for the workshops for the next couple of weeks.  That and entering shows, writing proposals, and fighting with a bookkeeping program which I hate.  (I really loved Microsoft Money and since they stopped supporting it, and we switched to Quicken, my really flexible personality is having a meltdown).  And it isn’t like I have all the time in the world to figure all this out.  I am bleary eyed, and have a sprained wrist from all the binding.  Actually I sprained my wrist last Tuesday trying to do a hand stand in yoga, but it makes for more drama if I say its from the binding machine.  That’s probably just aggravating the situation.

So this is the best I can do for photos.printer Here is my workhorse of a printer, which I adore, and don’t know what I’d do without.

bindingAnd here is my cutting table, nothing colorful and creative on it, just lists, handouts, binding combs, and monographs.  And pattern paper, and interfacing, and whatever else has to go in the box ahead of the class.  Two boxes have been shipped, one is ready to go, and the next one just needs another dozen packages of interfacing.  The last one will be the nightmare, it is a huge guild and there are four different lecture/workshops.  And lots of participants.  So I have Staples shipping me another 5000 sheets of paper, and I’ve ordered another $450 worth of ink.  🙂

To all of you who are spending the weekend digging out, my heart goes out to you.  Stay safe, and don’t overdo it.

A Snowy Monday

I’m writing this update, to check that all is working with my laptop, and provided I find an internet connection, I should be able to keep blogging while in California, assuming I eventually get there!

snowymondayBefore I went to bed last night, we got the Honeywell Alert calls that the schools would be closed, which is a good thing, otherwise, we get a call around 5:30am telling us not to get up.  So we all got to sleep in, which is a luxury, and when I did get up, this is the scene that greeted me out the sliders in our bedroom to the upper deck.  As much as a late winter snow is a pain in the butt, it really is beautiful.

It is still snowing, and suppose to continue until dinner time.  I will just go about my business, packing, and at somepoint I have to go into town for some last minute errands, but worst case is I walk.

My husband made waffles this morning, and now I’m off to do another load of laundry, and begin to pack.

A quick note, if you aren’t already a subscriber to Weavezine, Weavecast or Weavegeek, Syne Mitchell’s trio of online weaving mania, she has just launched a new site that will incorporate all of her productions, into one great format, easy to access and stay connected.  And Weavezine, the online weaving magazine will now publish a new article weekly.  Yippee! www.weavezine.com And if you didn’t catch my podcast, I am episode 26 of Weavecast!

Sunday the First

I can’t believe it is March already.  Unfortunately, it feels like January.  At least in the north east.  We have a snow storm on the way, up to 12″, depending on what forecast you listen to.  This is making me very nervous.  I know what Newark airport is like the day after a snow storm, and I am flying to California on Tuesday.  If I miss my connection in Houston, I am most likely going to miss the start of the conference and my class.  But my brain is famous for running amok with just a little bit of information.  It makes me really good at what I do, but miserable to live with…  🙂

So, I am in overtime drive here, trying to calm my frayed nerves, remembering this is all out of my control, and that what will be will be, and that it always works out.  Weavers are really flexible, and know how to get out of difficult tangled messes!

The show last night was a lot of fun.  We attended the musical Footloose at a local private school, this is the show where I altered 33 dresses for the production.  Back in early February I was asked to so some alterations and dressmaking, and I did have a lot of fun with it, but now that I’ve seen the show I have an interesting perspective here.  The dance scene is the final scene in Footloose.  Most of the dresses I altered were for that scene.  The scene was maybe two-three minutes long, tops.  The entire ensemble was on stage, so many of the dresses were in the back row, and couldn’t even be seen.  I have to wonder if all the work I did was really necessary for two minutes of time on stage.  That’s the funny thing with costuming.  Always weighing, how long will this actually be seen, versus the cost of the alteration and will it even be noticed.  I was sort of sad the cast wouldn’t stand still long enough for me to inspect all my hard work!  But of course, it wasn’t about me and the alterations.  The girls looked great, colorful, and much more current than some of the original dated dresses.  The show was fun, and I enjoyed watching the kids sing their hearts out.

Today I spent updating my laptop in preparation for the trip, that meant 13 Windows updates, and virus definitions updates, and 329 emails off the server, and moving over all the updated presentations, and realizing I didn’t have Photoshop Elements 6 in the laptop, only version 4, I had to install that as well.  I also backed up my Palm organizer, and other critical things along with the access codes to my blog.

This afternoon I had a real treat, I headed over to the local County College, the one where my son is a theatre major.  They were having a retrospective weekend of their 40 years in the arts, and Friday night we attended an overview of the entire fine and performing art department, theatre, gallery exhibits, dance, and some beautiful music.  This afternoon was a two hour Dance retrospective, some really terrific original modern dances, some award winning, and all of it current, thoughtful, colorful, and even humorous.  It was a wonderfully spent $15.   I think if I had unlimited funds and nothing else to do with my life, I’d attend the theatre daily, all sorts of things, living in the NYC area, we have access to so much it can be overwhelming.  Montclair State University has a fabulous new performing arts theatre, it is 7 miles from my house, and I could attend some event weekly and not break the bank.  And there is some fresh new original work being seen at some of these colleges and universities. So little time, so much to see…

Well, there is nothing to do now but ride out the storm, pack tomorrow, and hope I get out of Dodge on Tuesday!  My intent is to blog while I am on the road.  Since I haven’t done it before, and we are trying to locate my travel camera which mysteriously disappeared off my desk (could either of my two teenagers have anything to do with its disappearance?), I can’t guarantee there will be posts from sunny southern California, but I’m going to try.  Speaking of ‘sunny’, Continental sent me my trip notes, and it isnt’ so warm there, in the high 50’s and low 60’s.  I think I need to change what I was planning to bring for clothing…