Recent Creative Projects

So, yeah, it's been quite a while...  we got to talk to Emily on Christmas Day, and she reprimanded me for not keeping up the blog and posting pictures of the fun stuff I've been doing -- not that missionaries can read blogs anyway -- and even though she's my baby sister, and I'm the one that's always right, I had to admit she's got a point.  ;)  I've had other friends asking when I'd be updating the blog, too, so here come lots of pictures of the fun I've been having lately with clay -- and since I don't have the time or desire tonight to figure out how to create a slide show...  I'll post them as small pics, but I'm pretty sure if you click on them, you can see a full size version if you'd like.

These first two are the front and back of a little pin I made for Emily to put on her scriptures or something.  I was thinking kind of like a guardian angel, but I'm not that fond of those little winged figures, and besides, a missionary is an angel, right?  So there's the "Oh, that I were an angel..." scripture reference on the back, and her name and mission.  She wrote and said she really liked it and would keep it pinned to her scripture case for her whole mission, which naturally made me feel happy and appreciated.  :)  I think she's doing a wonderful job, and I miss her.

Here's a little elf man I made with movable arms and legs and his head swivels around.  I need to make him a little girlfriend but I haven't gotten around to it yet.  He sits on my desk at work and makes me smile.

I introduced my friend Brianne to clay, and she took off with it.  She made herself a set of mini-ornaments for a Halloween tree that she had, and then our other friend at work, Randa, wanted a set too.  Brianne made her one, but when Randa went to the craft store to buy the tree itself they were out.  So I volunteered to try to make a tree.  Here it is with Brianne's ornaments decorating it.  It's got a rock in the bottom for stability, and the limbs are all foil wrapped wire under the clay.  This isn't the best picture, but hopefully you can see it okay.  The eyes I did with glow-in-the-dark clay -- ooooo, spooky!  ;)

Randa's birthday was at the first of this month and she really loves giraffes, so I made this picture frame for her.  The pictures really aren't the best (kinda blurry), which is a shame because I put gold clay in the mix, and each orange spot has a strip of more gold around it, and the mica in the gold clay gives it some cool depth.  I thought the giraffe had a sweet expression, and Randa was thrilled with it, which made me really happy.  The photo inside the frame is all her friends at work just being silly.

I wanted to bring a little greenery to my desk at work, so I made this pot (vase?) for some lucky bamboo.  I did the basket weaving and the flowers both out of clay, right onto the glass, and baked it glass and all.  You can't really tell from the picture but the flattened marbles inside that hold the bamboo are colored ranging from clear to lilac to dark purple.  I was pretty pleased with the end result, and it looks nice on my desk.

And finally, my Aunt Linda remembered the hand bound journals I used to make and decided she wanted to get some for her family for Thanksgiving for gratitude journals, hoping that keeping a gratitude journal would help improve everyone's mood and attitude.  She thought that a personalized, hand made journal would encourage everyone to actually use them.  Apparently they were a big hit -- she ordered 3 more for Christmas presents for friends.  These pictures are only of the front covers so you can't really see the stitching on the spines, but all the names on the front are done in clay.  I've wanted to try combining clay with the books, and this was the perfect opportunity (not to mention some much needed extra spending money for Christmas).  :)

 

In other news, Christmas was great because it was really nice to spend time with family and talk to Emily on the phone.  My newest nephew, Stanley Sanders Lund (picture below) was just born on Dec 20th and he's absolutely adorable, of course.  Christmas was also miserable because I got a stupid sinus infection and now I have to take the most disgusting, bitter tasting pills until they're gone so it won't come back.  Blech.  But, I did get a Wii! Yay!  I'll be able to do some boxing and sword fighting and tennis to exercise.  I'm very much looking forward to that -- I start as soon as the infection is really gone.  The doctor advised I should probably wait until at least Monday.  Hopefully I'll be able to get into some kind of better shape this year -- the family is planning a cruise when Em gets off her mission, so I've got approximately 14 months to get myself ready to go.  It's a race with the clock, and I think it will be a lot of fun, too.  :)

Here's my sweet nephew!

Two months!

Well, I've been getting used to a new job, remember?  Yeah, I know, not much of an excuse for two full month's absence, but it's all I've got.  :)  I wish I could say I have tons of great projects to post pictures of, but I've only got two.  Hopefully, there will be more in the near future.


My sister, Emily, is leaving on a mission in a couple weeks and as a good-bye present for her two roommates, she "commissioned" some work for them.  I made Em some dragon bookends for Christmas this last year (that I still haven't gotten pics of to post...) and her roommates really thought they were something cool, so she asked me to make some for them.  Actually, only the one roommate got dragons, the other -- well, pics are below.

 This roommate loves pink and bold, bright colors.  I took Emily at her word and went super bright!  When I delivered them, Em's roommate really seemed to like them, so I guess it worked.  I had fun with the rainbow backdrops -- they remind me of thermo images.  You know, the one's that you need special equipment for that show differences in temperature through color.  Pretty cool, huh?  I made them using the same technique as for the faux abalone I used on the bottle I gave my mom (see earlier post).  It's all clay -- no paint -- and they have hematite beads for eyes.

Emily's other roommate apparently prefers more mod-ish looking things, and her favorite flower is a tulip.  Emily asked me to do a scented oil bottle basketweave like the one I had done for Rachel (see earlier post).  I thought black would be nice, but a single bottle didn't seem like enough when the other roommate was getting two pieces.  So I did this matching relief sculpture -- it's got a picture frame stand back on it to hold it upright.  You can't really see it in the picture but both the flowers and the leaves have gold clay in them which gives it a really cool sheen and depth.  I was really happy with the way these turned out, and I'll have to do some more.  The bottle is a flattened sphere rather than an actual sphere like the ones I did before, and the craft store had all sorts of shapes of bottles for only a couple bucks each, so my mind is buzzing with ideas.  Whether or not I'll ever actually get to them....  well, we'll see, I guess!  :)

Oh, and that's a nice glimpse of my really cluttered creation station, don't you think?

Stories and Art

Through a polymer clay email list I subscribe to I was directed to this wonderful post by writer and artist Luann Udell.  It really resonated with me.  I left a comment, and decided to copy my comment here.  I recommend reading her post first, but if not, that's okay too.  Here's what I wrote back.

Luann,

I don't think I've ever cried reading a blog post before.  It especially started to pour when I read the comment by RK.  I struggle, not with not knowing my story, but with believing my story could be worth anything to anyone but me, and because of that (admittedly illogical) belief, I have a hard time finding the courage to really jump in and purposefully try to express something meaningful with art.  I'm not a professional artist but I love to create.  I've jumped around from medium to medium, craft to craft.  I love trying new things, and my current obsession is polymer clay, which is how I found your blog -- but the part of this post and its replies that really resonated with me is the idea of believing in oneself enough to willingly lay your heart bare, to share one's story without (or in spite of) fear.

I've always had a hard time believing artists who claim they only do art for "art's sake" and don't care what other people think of it.  What's the point in engaging in communication (which art undeniably IS) if you don't want a reply?  The fear of negative, derogatory responses to one's work must be something every creative person has to deal with.  It can't possibly be just me, can it?

Writing has always been my first and most terrifying dream.  I'm trying to finish a novel that my family has been pressuring me about because they all want to know how it ends (which is gratifying).  Of all the creative forms I've played with, writing is the one that makes me the most vulnerable because it's the most important to me.  My story will best be told through the stories I write, like yours through the horses you create, and I'm frightened of opening myself up like that -- I let that fear stop me from reaching for my dream.

Understanding, BELIEVING, that the importance of expressing one's own story is greater than any technique mastered or possible financial gain, is a wonderful, inspiring concept that I think all creative people struggle with remembering.  I know I certainly do.  I thank you for reminding me so beautifully, and encouraging me to express what's in my heart.

Happy Memorial Day

It's nice to get a three day weekend, and I have been thinking about the freedoms we enjoy and those who fight to protect them.  I'm grateful for them, because I know I wouldn't have the courage.

I got up this morning to walk -- oh yeah, I guess I haven't mentioned that yet, but I've been walking every morning with a lady who lives a couple houses down.  Started the same day I started work.  We walk for about a half hour, which at my speed is only about a mile.  Still, it's good for me -- no matter how freaking difficult it is to get my eyes open all the way and push my body into motion every morning.  I am SO not a morning person.

So, anyway, I got up to walk and then I spent three hours out in my garden.  I found some big black plastic garbage bags so I cut them open for a ground cover to hopefully cut down on the weeding I'll have to do.  I have six plants each of cabbage, broccoli, and cauliflower that I got in, and my two tomatoe plants.  I still need to plant the cucumbers, squash, and zuccini, but it's starting to get a little muggy outside and I'm really low on energy.  I just realized I haven't eaten yet today, so that might have something to do with it...  Either way, though, I'm bushed, and feeling really discouraged at how little I got done in three hours -- I am trying to listen more to the part of me that is glad of what I did get done, but it's hard not to swing back and forth, especially when my legs and back ache and I feel so heavy.

I might have to spend the rest of today working wth clay.  :)

Just Checking In...

I've been out of the loop for a while because I started a new job last Monday (the 17th) and it was completely unexpected that I'd be starting so soon (if at all) so I've just been adjusting to having a full time job again.  This is also a test to see if this post will import into Facebook like I just set it up to do.  I've got so many friends on Facebook, but I'm really bad at keeping in touch that way, so I wondered if this might work.  :)

I'm excited about this new job, mostly because the company seems really cool and it's a noticeably more positive atmosphere than anywhere else I've worked.  Today the other two trainees and I left formal training to join our teams for the first time, and I'm really excited about the team I'm on -- they're really nice with a great sense of humor, and I already feel pretty comfortable with them.  I'll be getting a plant to put on my desk as soon as I can, and I'm working on a neat plaque made from clay that I'd like to have sitting on my desk.  When I get it finished I'll post pictures.   

I got my corn, beans, and peas planted last week.  Those were all seeds.  I've got plants I need to get into the ground too, but it's been too cold and rainy.  I'll probably get those in this weekend.  I'm really looking forward to seeing how this garden experiment of mine works out.  I kind of wish I'd done more flowers than vegetables, but it's still not too late and there's always next year anyway.

Well, that's about all the new news.  I haven't had time to do much.  Yay! for employment, though, right? 

Garden is all ready to go!

I spent today getting compost spread on my garden plots, putting up a fence to keep out the neighbor's free range chickens (Heather actually did most of the fence, I helped), and cutting down branches from the crab apple tree so my garden won't be in the shade all day.  It's pretty much all completely ready to plant and I've got all the starts or seeds I need.  Yay!  But I'm also completely worn out, so even though there's still a few hours of sunlight left, I'm calling it a day.  I really wish I were more healthy and in shape so I could get more work done.  :(  Then, again, that was part of the whole purpose behind growing a garden this summer -- a way to get me outside and active, and it's working so far.  Hopefully by the end of the summer, I'll be able to do a lot more in one go. 

Here's a picture of my garden area.  You can see there's still a small area of the closest plot that will be in shade during the late afternoon.  I'll just have to plant veggies that don't mind so much in that area.  :)  The tree is really pretty right now with all those big pink blooms, and standing under it is like standing near a beehive.  I couldn't believe how loud the buzz is!

Heather and I also went to see Iron Man 2 today.  It's my second viewing, but she hadn't seen it yet.  Awesome movie!  I love it!  I'm really such a nerd.  ;)

Yay! Presents!

I didn't go to Manti until this last weekend for Mother's Day, so I didn't get to give my mom and sisters their presents until now.  So here are the pictures of them.  They are bottles for scented oil and diffuser reeds.  I encountered this new company, Cierra Ashley, at a craft fair a few weeks ago and I splurged on one for myself because it smelled so nice (and was less expensive than a candle).  Then I decided to play with decorating the bottle with some clay before adding the oil and this is what I ended up with.

It's a really basic polymer clay technique but one I hadn't tried before, so I thought it would be fun.  I just sandwiched a sheet of gold foil between a sheet of dark blue clay and a really, really thin sheet of transparent clay and sent the whole thing through the pasta roller a few times to crackle the foil.  I painted the glass with PVA glue and let that dry so the clay would have something to grab onto, smoothed the sheet in place, and then added the gold accents.  I was so pleased with it that I decided it would make an excellent gift for Mother's Day and for my sisters' birthdays, so I called up Heidi from Cierra Ashley and ordered 3 more.  I wanted 3 more round bulb-like ones like this one, but she only had two, so I had to get a square one.  That one went to Mom.

This is supposed to be faux abalone, so I was really thrilled when -- with no prompting from me -- Mom said that was what it looked like.  I thought the pearlized clays and pretty pastels really suited her.  For my sister Rachel, I made a clay basket, which was a great idea but took forever.

I textured the horizontal strips to make it look more like a straw basket, so before adding the final sealing coat they all got, I added a patina with some burnt umber acrylic paint to emphasize the texture.  There are three flowers around the rim of the "basket" and when I set out to make them, they were going to be sunflowers, but I just couldn't get them to look right, so I just made up these.  I call them "Rachel Flowers."

The idea for Emily's came from a turtle shell (she collects turtles) and is made from an extruded hexagonal cane.  The hexagonal shape didn't survice the process of making the pattern sheet very well, but I'm still pretty happy with the results.  I had a bit of that pattern sheet left over so I made a couple of cabochons that now only need a head, 4 legs, and a tail to look just like cool little turtles.  Not sure what I'll do with those yet...  I have a lot of the abalone cane left too, so I'll probably try to do something cool with that as well.

Family Visit

Here are some pics of my nephews when they came to visit a couple weeks ago.  They wanted to feed the horses, but didn't want to get too close.  More hay ended up on the ground than in the horses' mouths! :)

Sore, Sore, Sore -- but Productive

Tons of great exercise today -- I mowed almost all of our yard, probably 80% of it, and for those who've been to my house, you know how huge our yard is!  Couldn't get the mower working at first (yes, checked the gas and oil, and we put some winterizer stuff in it last fall, it just hasn't been started yet this season) but the neighbor had some starter fluid he sprayed somewhere in the engine, and then it started up just fine.  I was out there nearly two hours and was completely bushed, so Heather finished it off when she got home from work.  Then we went to Lowe's and got some 2x6 lumber to make boxes around my garden plots so they'll be raised, and some grass seed.  We spent an hour or so after that spreading the seed on some bare areas in the lawn, and then we had a mini bonfire, burning up the stump of a big ugly bush that I had hacked down a couple weeks ago.  I was on hose duty and got soaked down one leg from the leaks.  Now I'm hobbling around the house like an old woman, barely able to stand up straight, but I do feel pretty good about how productive I was today -- and we saved all those grass clippings to use for mulch when I plant my garden.  I also feel pretty good about finishing off some presents for my sisters' birthdays and for Mother's Day, of which I will post pictures after this weekend when I visit Manti to give them.  :)  All in all, a pretty great day.

Clay Pendants and Beads

I found some batteries for my camera (yay!), so here are the pictures of some beads and pendants I've made.  All of these were done with translucent Kato PolyClay with alcohol inks, PearlEx powders, and colored chalks mixed in.

Obviously some of them haven't been made into necklaces yet, and the dark purple one doesn't even have a hole -- I was intending to use it as an embedded cabochon, but I haven't had a chance to work with it yet.  The yellow one is the only one (so far) that includes glass and stone beads too.  Only the yellow beads are clay.

I've been asked to put up a tutorial for the long-stitch hand bound books I took to demonstrate at our last mid-week RS meeting.  It's been a busy week so I'm hoping to get that up this weekend.

Chicken Worries

After spending three and a half hours preparing my garden plots yesterday, I was feeling really proud of the work I'd accomplished only to look out an hour later and see the neighbor's free range chickens scratching the hell out of all that nice new loose dirt.  Since I haven't planted anything yet, it's not that big of a deal right now -- but I'm positive it will become one.  I've been doing some google searches, trying to find tips on keeping chickens out of a garden, but I just don't know what will work and what won't.  The neighbor's have a really huge garden every summer, so they must do something to keep the dratted birds out of their garden... I've never minded the chickens.  I love that they keep the bug population under control -- especially since there's a horse pasture in my backyard -- but I'm worried about them digging up my new seeds and eating the sprouts and munching on the growing veggies.  I'll have to ask the neighbor what she does...

So I got some great exercise yesterday and this morning I'm all sore and achy, of course.  Brother Williams from across the street came over this morning and offered to use his tiller on my garden.  If only I'd talked to him yesterday!  He's still going to till up some areas that I didn't get to, and I spread manure over my plots that he's going to till under for me -- thank heaven for wonderful neighbors!  Then I'll need to rake out the walkways again, cover them with cardboard so we can put wood chips down on them, and figure out a way to keep those stupid birds out.  If their wings have been clipped, a pretty short fence might be enough.  Then I could still reach to weed and harvest, but since it's such a small area, I don't want to try putting up bigger fencing because I won't be able to get in to my plants!  I guess I could try enclosing the entire area, walkways included, but I'm not sure how that would work with the horse cleaning pad which is cement and can't be moved...  Grrr.  I wish they'd built that thing just a few feet east of it's current spot!  Of course no one at the time had any idea that someone might want to try a garden out there some day.  And since the whole backyard is pretty much built around the horses, there's not really anywhere else to put my garden.  :(  Besides, I've already put too much work into that plot to want to move it now, anyway.

My Creativity Sharing Stymied

I've been browsing polymer clay stuff and have found some really cool products and inspiring blogs, and I thought, it's been way too long since I posted stuff about the clay things I'm making.  In particular, I made some pendants and beads that I think are pretty unique and I thought I'd take some pics and post them on here.  So I dig out my camera ... and no battery power.  I go searching and I've only got 2 fresh batteries and my camera takes 4, so ... nope, that rechargeable battery thing I bought is completely useless and the batteries don't work.  I'm going to have to buy new batteries before I can take pictures, so I guess I won't be posting any pics of clay or jewelry OR garden any time soon.  ~sigh~

Well, anyway, I've been working on quite a few things for hopeful income, and I just got a short term job that will be probably be incredibly dull, but will at least bring in some income.  As soon as I can, I'll post some pictures of those pendants and beads. :)

Discouragement & What To Do About It

Last week in church (not day before yesterday, obviously, since it was conference), I sat in a row behind two little girls.  The younger sister was drawing on a blank pad and the older was writing on a 5"x7" spiral note pad.  I happened to notice the first line read "Once upon a time."  Immediately intrigued, I tried to inconspicuously read more, but could only make out a few words here and there in her large, childish handwriting.  Among them were "princess" and "talking cat."  This was certainly a little girl after my own heart!  She was interrupted once by her sister who gave her a drawing that included a heart and the words "I lov u," which she accepted with a smile. She wrote studiously for several minutes until the page was completely full of words, fitting in the end of her last sentence by turning the page sideways and writing the last couple words perpendicular to the rest.  Then, after tearing the page carefully from the notebook, she held it out, beaming, to her mother.

Those girls reminded me so much of me and my sister at that age.  I remember turning the page sideways, too.  After the meeting, I asked the mother how old the girl was.  Seven.  Seven years old and she's already writing stories.  When I mentioned that I used to do that, of course the natural response from the mother was   "How did that work out? Do you still write?"  I was embarrassed to admit that I haven't pursued writing as aggressively as I once thought I would.  But if there's one dream of mine that I've always had, as long as I can remember, it's being a writer, publishing a book.  I started my first book around age 11 or 12 -- never finished, of course.  The one I'm currently "working" on, I started at least 12 or 13 years ago.  My natural inclination is to beat myself up about it, but I must grudgingly admit that the last few months, I have actually worked on it -- mostly by starting over, but it's still the same story.

So, I'm discouraged.  I'll be 29 for the fifth year in a row this summer and I haven't accomplished anything I'm really proud of.  Listening to conference this last weekend, I thought about this a LOT.  I don't think that's what the talks were really about, but that seems to be all I heard -- doing something to make your life worthwhile.  I think my garden is a good start, and Janette, my RS President has been thrilled with my new activity at church -- I'm getting involved with the mid-week RS meeting committee, and that's been fun so far -- but the one thing I keep coming back to whenever I wonder what I really want to do with my life, is write.

Getting to the point... The garden will be good for me physically, I've made a good start at going back to church and being more active spiritually, so my mental well-being goal will be to finish Twin's Magic.  Hopefully I'll have it done by my birthday, but if I think of it that way, I'll put it off until it's too late.  Instead, I'm going to write at least 2 pages a day.  I won't limit myself to 2 pages -- if I have time or I'm on a roll, I'll write more, but I'm going to do at least 2.  So, here goes!  Good luck to me!

April Fools A Day Early

Well, now I know what April Fools is really all about.  It's about Mother Nature giving you a sweet little taste of Spring and then saying "HAHA, never mind!"  It's snowing today.  A lot of snow.  It's really pretty, but I think I shouldn't go outside at all when it's cold because I'm very stuffed up and having a hard time breathing. :(

I had to go out, though, because I'm volunteering at Bridgerland Literacy, an organization that works with functionally illiterate adults, teaching them how to read in a one-on-one basis.  Right now I'm helping Cari, the Literacy Coordinator, get the tutor training program online so it won't take so much time before she can match up a volunteer tutor with a student.  It's really interesting work, so far, and I get to interact with some great people.

I'm sad that I haven't been able to work in my garden this week, and definitely won't now for the rest of the week, but I'm doing a graphic design project that will be finished next week, and if I get paid promptly, I'll be able to use that money to go buy all my seeds and stuff that I'll need for the been tepee and the herb planter I have my eye on...  :)  That'll be fun!

What A Beautiful Day

The Weather Channel online told us it was supposed to be rainy today, but it was really very pretty out.  A few random fluffy white clouds and really deep blue sky.  It was maybe a little chilly, but when you're working hard out there, it still feels pretty nice.  I got each plot marked off and they're a lot closer to the tree than I thought they were going to be (I guess I'm not that great at measuring) and it looks like we might not be able to get rid of that tree this year so I may need to plan around it better.  Shorten one plot and create another smaller plot somewhere else.

I really wish I could just get the tree cut down, because I'm not looking forward to picking up the crab apples that fall into my garden.  But we want to put up some fencing and do a few other things and even though our landlord is a really generous man, we can only ask him to pay for so much at once.  At least it's all improvements to the property that will benefit them if they ever decide to sell.  The house belonged to their parents, though, and Heather doubts they'll ever sell Grandma Stefen's home.  At least they're good enough to let us make all these changes!

Once I've got the plots figured out for certain, I'll take a picture before I do anything to it so you all can watch the progress from the very beginning.  Well, I guess not the very beginning, because I've already raked the area and pulled out all the weeds and chopped down a big ugly bush that was in the way, but still... close enough to the beginning, I guess!

I hurt all over, especially my ankles and lower back, but mentally I feel more like myself than I have in a very long time.  It's kind of weird because I always hated working in the garden when I was a kid.  Maybe it's like Rachel says and it's just the thrill of a new project, researching and learning and trying something new.  Unlike most of my projects, though, this one requires a lot more physical work than I'm used to and I think that might have something to do with it too.  It would really be nice if working this hard made me start losing some weight -- but I'm not going to think about that as a goal right now because I don't want the numbers on the scale to start taking over my excitement in the project.  It's just nice to think about.

I'm Gonna Have A Garden!

I literally cannot remember the last time I spent so much time outdoors in one day.  I got home from Manti at about 4pm, and spent from 4:30 to 5:30 raking yard refuse into piles to get rid of.  Then I was inside for maybe a half hour to have a sandwich when Heather got home from work.  Then we both went out to load piles of dead leaves and pine needles onto her trailer for later hauling to the dump (I kept 3 big black bags full for mulch).  Finally, we measured and staked out the areas for my garden plots.  I'm going to have one 3'x10' strip against the fence with blueberry bushes and then two 4'x10' plots for vegetables, all separated by 3' wide strips of wood chips for walkways.  There's a crab apple tree that we're going to get cut down, and I'm planning a little herb garden around the stump.  Actually, I'll probably mix herbs and flowers in with the vegetables too.  I found an awesome book at the library called Edible Flower Gardens and I'm going to see what I can plant of those, because doesn't a flower salad sound seriously cool?

Anyway, we didn't come indoors until nearly 8:30, and while I realize 3 to 3.5 hours outside in one day is not that long for some people, for me, it's a major accomplishment.  One I can feel all the way from my sore neck muscles to my throbbing feet, and I'm pretty freakin' proud of it.  I'll try to post the progress of my little garden experiment.  I'm thinking this will be a project that can ultimately help me with all three aspects of the original purpose of this blog -- my physical, mental, and spiritual search for happiness.

I can't believe it's February...

That's crazy!  I thought there was another week of January left.  Of course, I spent a whole week in bed sick, so I guess it's not surprising that I'm losing time.  Oh well. 

I spent a couple hours this morning job searching -- still no luck so far -- and then I came to the public library, thinking that if I'm here, there won't be any distractions and I can get some writing done.  So, I get here, and then remember that since my computer had a massive break down and I had to completely reformat the hard drive -- restore it to factory condition -- I hadn't reinstalled my word processing program.  I remembered to put everything I thought I would need from my ancient desktop onto a usb drive so I could bring that with me, but I can't access any of the files!  And I left my installation CD for Word at home.  I really don't want to install the trial versions you can download from the internet, so this idea was kind of a bust.

Until I remembered I hadn't updated my blog in quite a while.  I didn't realize how long it had been, though.  That's one of the problems with being unemployed, I guess.  And being sick.  The whole situation stinks.  I have gotten some cool stuff done, though.  When I get home I'll have to remember to take pictures so I can post them and show off a little.  :)  I have been going to church, though -- and reading the Book of Mormon, which I think makes my days more calm, less completely stressed out.  It's almost like the difference when I don't take my meds, only not quite as drastic.

Maybe I can just write some in notepad and copy into Word once I get that installed...  I'll give it a try.  Bye for now.