[Current Mood | drained ]

[Listening To | Pod making noise *again* ]

The day started with a bang: Podrick being launched off the bed and at the wall at about 4am. I don’t know what he did, maybe he jumped on Shawshank‘s legs or something while trying to reach me for the usual cuddles, but that’s how things started. Pod’s been active, which means he’s making noise, which means it hasn’t been a good morning.

Since we had a mini-vacation, I was determined that I’d be logged in and ready to stream on time yesterday. The replacement for my failing ring light came in on Friday, with loads more settings and options, and I expected to tinker a bit to find the “right” lighting. Fortunately, it didn’t take too long to find something that worked, and I was on at my regular time.

Stream went ok. I used the cell data for a while, then they throttled me and I had to switch to the wifi. My stream formats are pretty simple: I log in, I take the curlers out of my hair, and I start pulling/reading cards as people come in. The cards are still the cheater set I have, and while I’m definitely getting better at recognizing and reading them, I absolutely run on vibes.

I definitely don’t tell the dudes which card is for them, or what I’m doing. You come in, you get a card. Done. Sometimes I spice it up a bit. Card says they’re faced with a choice? Left hand or right. Card represents a loyal and devoted guy? Sounds like a simp to me. Signs point to a man ruled by logic and routine? Nope, sorry, looks like you’re a predictable, boring fuck.

I ended up streaming for about 5 hours. I’ve been making a point to take breaks every 90 minutes or so– long enough to pee, pet Podrick, and maybe take a couple of rips off the bong. Just getting up and walking helps more than anything, I think. Being able to put up the BRB screen and run off for 3-5 minutes is wonderful.

We’re off today, and we’re not leaving the house. Shawshank will do the laundry and make us brunch. Next week is going to be long.

Good morning, and happy fucking Saturday. It doesn’t feel like a true Saturday, not to me. For one thing, there’s no crime shows on TV. Real news was on when we got out of bed, surprisingly. Then a random anchor from the JV team broke in to tell us Iran had closed the straight again, but don’t pay attention to that, here’s a re-enactment of a Revolutionary War maritime chase.

Yesterday was nice. The weather wasn’t awful, just a little cloudy. Shawshank played “GTA: San Andreas” all afternoon while I stitched. Eventually, I crashed, and had a 45 minute couch nap. Late in the afternoon, we drove Shawshank‘s parents out to Slightly BiggerTown to pick up their truck from the mechanics. They treated us to dinner at a sit-down restaurant.

The rest of the night was pretty quiet. I put some dye in my hair and stitched while we watched wrestling and “Grey’s Anatomy“.

Project Updates:

• I finished the leaves around the bee, and I’ve moved on to the flowers. I take back what I said about the template the other day. Yes, it’s less complicated than the sunset, but the leaves were bullshit and the honeycombs are wack at the bottom of the canvas.
• For the last couple of days, I’ve been working on a template to put in the giant hoop I bought at the yard sale, and I think I’ve finally got it the way I want and ready to print. I can’t work on it yet– I have one kit and another template I’ve already traced onto fabric ahead of it in the project queue, and I don’t want to be that person with a bunch of half-finished projects and a shitload of “someday” things.

The sun is out, and we’re both back to work tonight. We’ll see how dry my hair is by lunch time, decide if it’s a wig day or not, and get back on the bean.

[Current Mood | okay ]

[Listening To | more news because the world is on fire ]

Good morning, y’all. Welcome to the morning show. We’re sitting under a gloom warning today, with dreary skies and wet ground. I woke up early, reset some sleep noise, and dozed between cuddle-visits from Podrick. When he started fucking with things on the TV stand, I got out of bed to deal with it.

We left the house yesterday. I put on real clothes and we drove out to BiggerTown to check out their secondhand shop. I’ve said it before, but I love that shop. It was probably a small business with a few offices at one point, and now every room is filled with treasures. I found a couple of nighties. Shawshank found a hoodie at the store across the street, then we picked up lunch and went home.

BUT WAIT! THERE’S MORE!

It was Thursday, which meant TonyTown’s secondhand shop was open! TWO THRIFT SHOPS IN ONE DAY! After a break to eat lunch and let Shawshank start “GTA: San Andreas“, we went out again. I found another set of hot curlers, and a tiny robot that doubles as a bluetooth speaker and dances with music. According to what I’ve seen online, there used to be an app available to control and program dance routines for it. Whatever. For $1, I was happy enough making it dance to “Mr. Roboto” for three minutes.

We spent the rest of the day doing our own things: Shawshank playing video games, and me scrolling through Reddit and working on my needlework. I finished the bee and its honeycomb, then moved on to the leaves. Sorry, you don’t get an updated picture. The light sucks this morning.

Stuff is happening today. It’s Shawshank‘s last day off, and I think we’ll be doing some vehicle shuffling with his parents, then driving out to Slightly BiggerTown later to pick up a loaner truck.

[Current Mood | overstimulated ]

[Listening To | birds ]

The sun is up and we’re unwilling participants in its madness. I was up at around 4am and dozed for an hour between Podrick‘s visits to be cuddled. Around 5am, I woke the household up coughing, and so we’re up 1+ hour earlier than he’d have liked and drinking coffee on the couch.

We were lazy yesterday. I bleached my roots, and should have let it sit longer on my head because it’s not light enough to make my shit real bright. I never have a plan for what color(s) might be next, but would have liked to add some pink to the mix.

Deku Deals alerted me that the “Grand Theft Auto” collection was on sale again, so I snagged that for Shawshank. “Vice City” finished downloading first, so he started that one. By the time we finished lunch, “GTA 3” had installed, and he switched to that one. I haven’t played them yet, but I loved seeing what Saints Row: the Third came out of.

While Shawshank played, I spent all day working on my current project. The bee’s body is finished, and I’m almost done with the wings. I’m enjoying playing with the textures. I noticed the kit is missing a thread color, but I have other colors I can use.

The sunshine continues, at least for the time being. We’re going to put sloth-mode on the back burner for at least part of the day, and drive out to BiggerTown to look through their secondhand shop.

[Current Mood | accomplished ]

Hello, world. Happy Hump Day. Today, we’re continuing the trend of bullshit gray skies and general wetness. At least the birds are happy, they’re enjoying the refilled feeder this morning.

I stitched all day, and finished my first embroidery experiment yesterday afternoon. Needlework isn’t new to me. My grandmother, her sister, and several of my aunts were always working on some sort of needlework, and I had my first project by the time I was 7. This was a very boring day of stitching, at least in terms of this piece, since all I had left was the border (and my initials).

But until yesterday, I’d only finished one project, and that was a counted cross-stitch for a Christmas swap that I hated every second of making. I like this sort of thing better, because I can not and will not be contained by a grid. On the other hand, this is like painting, but with a different medium. In this case, the fabric had a template printed, but to be completely honest, it sucked. The color key was bad, and I think I decided to use things as a rough guide a day or so after I started it.

It didn’t take long for me to begin another kit. Compared to the first piece, where I used only one type of stitch, this one is slightly bigger, and will use a few different stitch techniques. Is it an intermediate piece? I guess. The third kit is still in the drawer, since I didn’t know how to deal with applying the fabric stabilizer with the template.

I can’t even consider starting my “I have an idea” projects yet. I want to finish the kits first, then I can determine what colors I have, and how much more I need to acquire. Shawshank‘s mom told me I can raid her stash. She has all of her stuff, plus Gran’s. When I said something about buying thread during the yard sale, she sternly admonished, “don’t you dare“.

We have no plans today. I’m going to bleach my hair, but that’s as exciting as my shit will be.