Israel’s Neighborhood

I've been a tad on the distracted and negative side lately and anyone who knows what's going on is being pretty understanding.  For those who don't know just bear with me for a while longer and I'll be my normal cheery (hah!) self again.

Today was an unexceptional day.  I got some stuff done, I gave away some things (the last one is still sitting on the front stairs waiting for a new home), I packed up the car so I can stop at the thrift store on the way to work and give them more stuff, got the shopping done, and then came home to make cherry jello, brownies and tidy up the kitchen afterward.

Doesn't sound like an exciting day, does it?  Well that's kind of what I'm after for a while.  I've set myself a deadline for getting things done around here and that's done a surprising amount to perk me up.  I think having a goal to achieve is going to help.

I'm still not doing any hobby stuff but I'm ok with that for a short time.  With any luck I won't have to use down time to do hobbies since it will be UP time.  I know that doesn't make much sense but trust me, it will.

On a funny note one of the dogs has finally learned how to 'play'.  Mimi never really seemed to know how to play but in the last couple of weeks she's started taking squeaky toys away from Muffy.  Then the two of them play together seeing who can take the squeaky toy and run away.  It's fun to listen to but I can't go watch because as soon as Mimi sees me she stops playing and wants me to pay attention to her.  Hearing the squeaking, the growling and the skittering feet makes me smile.

The purging process I've been going through has been mostly good.  All kinds of things I've been hanging on to for so long I really don't need.  I've found boxes that haven't been touched since we moved into the house 7 years ago.  And many, many things that I kept out of habit.

Craigslist has been my friend in all this.  I've gotten rid of so many things to deserving new homes and it's still going on.  The free items have been quickly snapped up and the other ones are moving well.  Work has an internal posting board as well which generates a lot of interest and a few sales.  Some things do hit eBay if they seem like they need a wider audience and can be shipped relatively easily.  The rest of the stuff goes into the garbage or to the thrift store I like.

The no-kill cat shelter (where we got Popeye) got 2 garbage bags of unneeded linens since they do need them.  I can't contribute much but I know that they can always use towels and the like.

I've also found long-lost items that have made me smile.  I'm taking almost all of those with me even if they are completely useless except to make me smile.  Purging can only go so far before it becomes regretful.

One really odd thing that has come out of this is a slightly better relationship with my brother.  He stopped by this weekend to pick up an old radio and I gave him a few other things he'd appreciate.  Then he offered to help me move things to the garage and into the moving truck if I need him.  I think this is the first time he's ever offered to help me in any way.  It made me feel good and I'm going to take him up on that, looking at the stack of boxes in the dining room.

I'm progressing on packing little by little.  All the easy stuff is done and now it's more a case of trying to keep the items in the boxes similar and actually filling the boxes.  Balancing packing with what needs to be out for daily use is also interesting.  Slows stuff down now and will make for frantic packing later.  That much I know.

It's been almost a month since I last posted something.  We went to Florida over Thanksgiving and so Val could run the Space Coast marathon.  It was cool down in Florida, but we were able to take the boat out and have some fun.  On the whole it was a really nice visit.

Yes, I used the fancy word for 'a variety of things I felt like posting'.  Kinda girly, now that I read it over.  Oh well.

There's a radio commercial I end up hearing at least once per day and I find it completely annoying.  I don't mind naming the company and product - AT&T Uverse.  I'm not sure if it's playing in all markets but here's the summary:

Mother wants to let the kids watch TV in what is assumed to be the living room.  Father is just sitting down to watch 'The Game'.  Mother's justification is that they can record games and watch them on any TV so Father should watch his game in the basement.  He refuses to leave his lucky couch and Mother peevishly takes the kids to the basement to watch their show.

Here's why this annoys me.  Obviously Father watches his games in the living room.  So why should Mother expect him to give up his spot just because the kids want to watch something?  When I was growing up Dad owned the TV and if we wanted to watch something when he was in control we were SOL.  When did it change so that kids got priority?

My packing slowed down considerably as I fell into limbo and just couldn't get up the motivation to continue.  That changed last night (for a few reasons that aren't worth noting) and I got a few big boxes packed up.  I can't move them to the garage until the weekend but they're stacked mostly out of the way.  I was working in the craft room because the reading room hasn't been completely cleared for me to finish.  I might hit that tonight.  The hardest part will be pulling things out of the storage cubbies since they were meant for long term storage.  Which means 'things I put away so I wouldn't have to think about them'.  No longer.  That means it will probably be a bit of a morose evening but it will be done.

The house is now cat free.  This saddens me.  I haven't been without cats for 20 years and the house is very, very quiet without them.  One of the dogs seems very happy they're gone, the other is still looking for them.  They went to a very good new home and hopefully Mr. Rastl will get his feet under him and be able to reclaim them soon enough.

I've become a texting fool.  I finally got a phone and plan that has unlimited texts so I can send them whenever the mood strikes.  I've found the instant communication is addictive.  But I have not and will not Twitter.  That's just insane.

I gave up and joined Facebook and have been having fun playing a few games and keeping up with friends.  Turns out that every picture where I've been tagged I find to be a terrible shot.  I don't feel I take good pictures so I'm not that upset about it.  Oh well.

If I actually do things in a coordinated manner I might have 1 room and 2 closets completely cleared out and packed this weekend.  The thrift store has been making out like crazy and I've been using Craigslist a lot as well.  I plan on posting a bunch of furniture in the near future because I'm tired of dragging it around.  It's time to pare down my life and these are things I'm just tired of having.  I really don't need a dining room table that seats 10.  It takes up a lot of room and makes an apartment look really cluttered.

I have way too many office supplies.  I'm finding them all over the house.  I'll split those into 2 sets so I don't have to take them all so that should help.  Standard pens don't even get tested.  They get tossed.  It's not worth my time to test every pen and find out if they work.  It's amazing how many pens pile up.

I do have to do some sewing before the machines get packed up.  I need to make curtains for the downstairs bathroom, an apron from a kit as a present for a friend, and a zippered, padded bag for some of Mr. Rastl's personal electronics.  Nothing difficult and it should be a nice break.  Once they're done I can pack up all the sewing supplies that haven't been packed already and that whole corner will be done.  The craft room closet is currently empty so that's where I'll store the sewing machines.  I don't want to put them in the garage, especially the embroidery machine.

Really I do.  But right now packing up stuff is taking priority over things like having fun.

Luckily my painting supplies are "portable" so I can keep them out while everything else is packed away.  This should let me paint up a bunch of the minis that have languished on the shelf for so long.  I'm not going to try army painting when I'll have to keep putting the paint supplies away so single figures it is.

I'm giving away all my partially completed buildings and my partial modular dungeon.  Two reasons for this.

1. I don't want to move them.
2. I'm not that interested in building set pieces any more.

I really like the arena style pieces since they're even more modular than my modular dungeon and they can be arranged into anything.  I can still make all the accessories I want but I'm not limited to room size or shape.

My FLGS is going to luck out/get dumped on for this and I'll be glad to do it.  I know they'll either keep them to use in the store or find a good home.

I still say I have too many hobbies.

Chrome is sleek and quick and I like using it, but its one drawback is its "homepage" option, which lists the eight most commonly visited sites.  As a result of this running tally I'm reminded constantly how many times I go to Facebook or Huffingtonpost or The Miniatures Page.  And no, clearing your history doesn't reset it.  I suppose it'll keep me honest and on track.

Ingredients:

If you say in  your sermon, "I'm not going to win the raffle," then you'll win the grand prize, in this case a $250 gift certificate to Home Depot.  That gift certificate will probably become our emergency home repair fund and allow us to finally get an artificial Christmas tree this year.  We've considered one for a while but never could quite bring ourselves to pony up the cost.

Having not won a gaming-related prize means that the field is either wide open or completely shut, depending on your point of view.  I really, really want to get the Marauders finished, but for some reason have become bogged down.  Last weekend, when I thought I'd get more done, I ended up spending time doing other unplanned things.  I did manage to squeeze in a lot of casting, though.  Not too much hope for this weekend, since I'll be at Diocesan Convention, but I am gaming on Sunday which should be really good.

In other news, our houseguest had a promising job interview on Monday.  The job wouldn't pay well I suspect, but it'd be money.

I brought the camera to OshCon but didn't get to take pictures since I was playing in the demos.  Oh well.

And I can't really take pictures right now because the minis aren't accessible.

I promise that as soon as I can I'll get them posted.  They're way cool.

But progress is being made!

I'm too busy painting to take pictures right now but between the stuff I had already done and the new miniatures I have enough for 4 demo armies.

I'm still finishing up the last ones.  5 of them need lining.  4 of them need shields attached.  All 5 of them need to be sealed.  The last one got a base coat tonight but he should be easy enough to paint.  Simple monster.

The 2 new factions aren't based, much to my shame.  I'll try but won't kill myself to get it done.  They're painted and that's most important to me.  The official rules say paint is optional but for demonstrations a painted army is best.

I will have to use some proxy figures but that's OK.  I need to remove some abilities since I'm sticking with straight melee.  I can still use the same figure, I just put a different data card with it.  Technically I'm breaking a rule with one faction by having the same data card and 2 figures but I'll deal with it.

I had to lower my demo armies from 400 to 350 points because of my own mistakes but that's still a nicely sized army for a demo.

The terrain is complete and I need to pull out 2 pieces of felt in 2 foot by 2 foot sizes.  That's the game board size.

I forgot that the round counters I wanted to use kind of belong in the gaming group and they are gaming this weekend.  So rather than take them out I'm making new ones for myself.  The first half of construction is done (drying) and tomorrow morning I should be able to do the final construction.  That will let me paint and seal in a timely manner.  Even sealing is optional for this time but I'd like to do it if I can.

I'll try to get pics of the demos in action since those are always cool pictures.  And I will get pictures of all the things I've painted up recently.