I'm letting go and scraping the barrel...for your pleasure!

Today I have decided that I am going to publish the unfinished/self censored posts on here. It's stupid to have all these drafts...i mean, really.

This goes to say, if you see clutterbrained, unfinished posts from now on, I did it for you, my babies. YOU!

It's getting crafty in here!

So, now that the weather's getting cooler, I find myself delving back into my 'winter crafts' as AK47 likes to call them. You know, crocheting, knitting, embroidery, anything with a needle of some sort and thread. The thing is, I've been addicted to making resin pieces all summer; I've even been turning a profit off of them! Needless to say, the whole time I'm crocheting I'm thinking about resin, bails, bezels, and on and on...

That turned my mind to winterizing resin! I have saved thousands and thousands of feet of approx 28 gauge fine copper wire from work, and decided it's time to start with the crocheting already...

Here's the first try. I've got that bitch laced in like there's no tomorrow. Yet I love her:

Then I tried working smaller...pretty, simple, yet somehow not pretty simple:

Then I tried silver, which seems to be more appealing across the board:

Then I got friggin fancy, cause that's how I roll:






I love getting my craft on! Now don't go getting fussypants about the picture quality. I am well aware that they are mediocre at best, but I was getting antsy about sharing. It seem's that I am becoming more and more the instant gratification type.

You wish I had gas!

Well! There's all sorts of excitement going on here in the AVL: some good, some bad, some eh.

The good:

September 12, As soon as I got off work, I hurried home, changed and showered, tossed our shit in the car and drove to Gatlinburg, TN. Some of you may recognize that date. September 12. Read on, and I'll get to it. So we drove to Gatlinburg (on the way out of town, we noticed that there were people piled into every gas station in town (foreshadowing, see The Bad) Sooo, we roll into GBG and up to the house that our soon to be new friends had rented for the week. Walked up the stairs and received the warmest welcome we've had in a damn long time. Hugs, Kisses, Shots, Smokes, you name it! The reason for this excursion? CashOut*08. Yes. Our 5th annual memorial party for Mr. Johnny Cash. This is the date he died. So a revolving bunch of our friends get together at various places (the venue changes every year) for a bender of epic proportions. We get Tshirts, Liquor, Fantastic Food! I'll not go into details, but let me just say we listen to JC for a minimum of 24 hours (collectively we own it all, I think) and ATTEMPT to do a shot every time someone gets taken out in song.

The Bad:

As you all know, Hurricane Ike rolled thru the Gulf the weekend of the 12th. On our way out of town, we noticed the gas stations were filled to the rim with people trying their damndest to get gasoline for their vehicles, lawnmowers, buying all the cans off the shelves and filling them, going from station to station to get more. Having never ha

Mmmmmm, Dinner!

My girl has been laid up, out of commission, gimpy, etc for about 8 weeks now. (fell wrong, tweaked knee, drs can't figure out what's wrong and don't seem to be looking too hard, whatevs.) Honestly, it frickin sucks, but some good has come out of it. We've been together almost 6 years and in that time, I've gotten pretty used to her spoiling me in the kitchen (as evidenced by the recent addition of some grrrl fluff.) Anyways, her being out of service means that I've been cooking all the time now.

I have always prided myself on my prowess in the kitchen, especially since I've been veggie since before it was easy to get veggie foods anywhere but at home. (1991 to be exact) But damn oh damn can that AK47 cook like the dickens, so I let her do it. Well now I get to have the fun again...and tonight I made the MOST delish pizza.

fresh thin cracker crust lightly coated with olive oil then sprinkled with nutritional yeast (if you have never had nutritional yeast, I strongly recommend it, mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.) Nutritional yeast is my secret weapon in the kitchen, nutty, rich, savory, it 'cheezes out' when wet and warm. *amazing on popcorn*
anywayse, nutritional yeast sprinkled on crust, the toppings were shredded carrots, little broccoli florets, rainbow chard (chopped including stems), and raw pumpkin seeds. For 'cheese' I used vegan alternative mozzarella style (it melts!)

HOLY. SHIT. I am, in fact, done writing so that I may run to the kitchen and smorg my last two pieces.

Nutritional yeast can be found in the bulk section of most decent health food stores. you won't regret trying it, i assure you.

New Tattoo!

As you can see by the above photo and title of the blog, I got a new tattoo! Back in April, the 9th to be exact, I bought my sweetie (AK47) a tattoo machine. Up until recently, she's been practicing on grapefruits, her skin, and shading old outlines of mine. This is the first tattoo she's given me from stencil up.

This is a design of mine, simple as it is. I used an Iron Maiden inspired font, 80's metalhead that I am, it seemed quite fitting. Probably when we touch it up, I'm going to fill in the lettering with the color of the star. I love light outlines and dark filling.

The word veg*n is a play on vegan/vegetarian. It shows my veggie struggle toward veganism. I try and try, but it's a commitment that I haven't been able to throw myself into long term (stupid shitty coffee creamer and delicious goat cheese.) I am trying to come to terms with my constant struggle, tell myself that it's okay to be veggie and lean toward vegan. It's the small steps that build up to the giant leap, right?

Anyways, I'm probably going to be getting another tattoo today, well tomorrow since it's not after midnight yet...

AK47 makes purty art.

So, I petered out after one post...Sue Me!

I believe, if I'm not mistaken, I did mention in my first post that I am sporadic about this bloggy stuff at best. Right? Right?!

So, why do I feel so guilty about not doing this thang after the first time? Perhaps I feel like I let myself down? Like I was on the verge of some sort of breakthrough into the dark corners of my psyche? Like maybe, just maybe, I was going to write again and that was going to lead me down this new path I desire so fully? Probably it was all of those. Assuredly it was even more than the sum of those parts.

Today's topic, my babies, is...see that's the danged problem. WHAT IN THE DAMN HELL IS THE TOPIC?

Let's go with art. Art, artists, and the outsiders who love arting around. If I had any damn idea as to how I would go about embedding a photo right [here] of anything, you can bet it would be Antony Gormley's work. I just got turned on to him today. I then spent somewhere in the neighborhood of about 2 hours looking around.
I am in awe of his Feeling Materials series. And Waste Man. and on and on and on...and on infinity. Wait a minute...I believe I just figured this shit out... I am so s.m.r.t. What the shit? I seriously just had a photo of my grrrls art down there\/ And now I can't get anything except a photo header.

RRRRRRRRRRRRRRr...i am irritating myself. Time to go to bed.

Last night, I fell asleep on the floor watching the olympics. I cannot remember the last time I fell asleep while lying on the floor - seriously it has to have been years.

It goes to show you never can tell.

We've been talking about getting a dog lately. You know, a little dog. A starter dog if you will, a chihuahua, a chinese crested, some other little muttly thing that doesn't need to walk for miles a day or eat as much food as us. Not that we've done anything other than discuss it and look at ads in the paper, mind you. But our friend A called us last night in a fit. Her boyfriend S was outside digging a hole to bury their dog in. He was planning to shoot the 1 year old lab/pit mix because he had eaten a loved hat. A hat?! I understand that this may have been the last straw, but come on now...really? So, anyways, we took him without a second thought with the understanding that we were just fostering him. A sighs with relief and packs up the big lug and hauls him over. I'm reclining on the porch with a ciggie pondering this latest rash decision when her big ass buick rolls up blaring cannibal corpse, or something equally gruesome. Moments later a 75 pound monster pup bounds out of the back seat and trips over his own doofy feet and smacks his chin on the ground. I didn't even think to ask about his size. Not once.

We took him for an hour long walk last night, although for the most part he walked me more than I him. He dropped a load in my neighbors yard and after an embarrassed search of my person, i lowered my head and slunk away, the dog leaping and nipping the whole way. Fuck! I am so not prepared for this dog owning shit.

Today we woke up and took him to the pet store. After a tense 10 minutes, we decided on a nose harness (the brand is Halti), and almost instantly he was a new dog. Still nervous, excited, and stuck with strangers, no doubt, but easier to control. We snapped up some treats, some food, and a pair of nail clippers and took him to the most secluded spot in town. The unused dog park. We worked with him a bit and now he's sitting, staying, laying down, and going to 'place' well. Only one day and already I'm thinking about telling A to stop the search for a new home.

But I digress, what really has me going is that S, A's man is someone I don't know well, but I did do some freelance work with him last summer. We worked side by side a lot and inevitably got to talking. Conversation turned to convictions as it often does with me. We have much in common, organics, permaculture, alternative powers, rainwater collection, music, humor, a massive list of commonality. What I never expected was that he would take this guy into his life,( yeah, he was a cute little black puppy and all) and then when it got inconvenient, kill this lug that depends on him, trusts him. Especially when it's apparent that all pup Het needed was a routine, some attention, a walk now and then, and discipline rather than beatings. He's responded beautifully.

It just blows my mind. Why make a promise like that if you haven't the wherewithal to follow through?

Today is the Day

I have been thinking about starting a blog for some time now. It seems like the perfect way to to process. It's quite fitting, really, as I spend all day with machinery (I am a field service tech) and rarely do I interact with people. Therefore, I work out my quandaries using productions/conversations/monologues for and with the pieces of machinery on which I work. Seems absurd, but once the inevitable world robot domination happens, at least I'll be able to speak the language of our captors.

A little about me...I am a 30-ish dyke living with my sweetie of 5 years, a depressive (read: not depressing) artist who inspires, infuriates, worries, and captivates me every day. I am an artist in my own right, or so she tells me. Outsider to the extreme, I say. I cannot draw, paint, I have barely an eye for photographic composition. I make. Sew, build, weld, fold, tear, churn, hurl, nurture, and train. I used to write, but I stopped some time ago when an ex found old journals, stories and poems and used them violently against me. Stopped cold.

This blog is an experiment. Hope we enjoy the ride.