2001-08-11
feeling kinda
birthday countdown: 8 days.
what, not enough pictures in the last entry? h'okay, fine. how 'bout a few more? i spent enough damn time wrestling with the freakin' files. they should go to good use. note: while these pages look okay to me, it would appear that i haven't quite coded things up right. if they appear wonky to you, wanna drop me a line and let me know what you're using? i'd appreciate it. that being said... onward!
you walk from the living room into the kitchen, which is sinfully large. it's got a fair amount of cabinet space, which is lovely, and not so much counter space, which is not so lovely, but at least the way i have it set up, the table is right there as alternate work space. when i get into Christmas cookie insanity, every single flat surface in the room is covered with racks and trays and containers of cookies. my landlord was nice enough to paint the place ivory before i moved in. otherwise the place would have looked like a cave, the woodwork was so dark. the two windows are pretty well shut off from any direct light, so that wouldn't have helped at all.
notice those curtains? they're the only ones i have. don't ask why. i like blinds better. but for some reason, the kitchen had to have curtains.
not that i'm compulsive much, but pretty much every bit of my fridge is covered with magnets. some people collect shot glasses when they go on vacation. i collect magnets. the current set of word poem magnets is a therapy set. i don't exactly remember putting 'repressed animal' up there, but it got there somehow. perhaps one of my friends did it when i wasn't looking?
i've also gone thru the standard poem sets, two of them (which covers a much bigger fridge), and an erotic set that i forgot to cover up when my parents came to visit. oh well. when in Rome...
the blue pokey thing is a cat toy that apparently exists mostly for my entertainment, as they never play with it.i've got a white board around the left side, and a bunch of postcards and illustrations around the right. it's organized, in its own way. :)
so you don't get to see the bedroom, really, as that's my personal space. i know, i know... i can hear the collective groan from here. live with it. what i will show you is my altar.
it's on top of a bookcase (yes, another one) at the foot of my bed. each of the things on here represents an important moment, or goal, or image for me. some of the pieces, like the Chinese box in the back corner, i've had with me since childhood. others, like the small rocks which say 'dream', 'hope' and 'believe', are more recent additions.
i'm not particularly regular (i nearly said religious) about any rites or ceremonies, but just having that space for my dreams is sometimes enough. it provides some centering for me.
and right underneath the altar are some family pictures. i have family photos everywhere in the house, actually. these particular ones ended up here... why did they end up there? well, not why there, but why those? um... huh. i think it's because they represent the core, for me. they're my mother's parents' families. most of them i never met; i've heard stories about all of them, tho, and Albert is sitting on a rock in one of them that used to be on a beach we summered at. small connections...
i don't suppose they'd be very happy if they knew about the collection of erotica books on the shelf underneath them. *shhh* don't tell them. then again, who knows?
so if you read the blog much, you might remember my little girly moment a few weeks ago, when i protested loudly that i wasn't girly at all. jon's response? reading off all the jars and bottles until i caved and pouted and stamped my feet. in a fetching manner, of course. :)
so i looked at all the stuff i have on these shelves. damn, i have a lot of stuff! an entire basket of nail polishes, various and sundry bath things (oils, milks, salts, you name it, i probably have it), bleaches, dyes... gah! okay, fine. fine. i'm Girly.
it's funny, i don't think of myself that way because most days i run a comb thru my hair, toss on jeans and a t shirt, and head on out. no makeup, no primping, just functional. and yet, here are three shelves chock full of sundries to contradict my internal image.
and as if *that* weren't enough, here's the final straw. i even decorate the inside of the shower. i picked up this reproduction of an old ad at a county fair years and years ago. let's not even talk about how many years, shall we? it was a lot. i've had it hanging somewhere in my bathroom in the last three places i lived.
here, there wasn't really a good place to put it on the wall. i went with the nautical theme instead; i've got a lovely landscape shot of a beach cottage in a driftwood-y sort of frame up, because it fits the space better. this left the Colgate lady without a home. so i hunted down some huge suction cup hooks, and added her to the shower.
i didn't take a snap of this, but there are little adhesive non-skid thingies in the tub with green frogs and blue lily pads. hey, it makes me giggle. and i'll take my humor where i can get it.
since we've just spent an inordinate amount of time in my bathroom together, sharing a few personal moments, it only seems fitting that i give you a shot of myself in the bathroom mirror. i took this with the thought that i'd send it to The Mirror Project. and it wouldn't be a bad entry. but it's so 'been there, done that' that i think i'll look around for some more creative ideas. it's addictive, really, once you start looking. amazing how many shiny, reflective surfaces there are all over the place. now whenever i catch a glimpse of a reflection, i wish madly and desperately that i had the digi cam with me.
oh, i see a new toy coming soon. the current digi cam is a generous loan from earl, and i will have to give it back, despite my baldly hinting that it would make an excellent birthday present. it's just too much fun, this messing around with framing photos and the instant gratification of seeing just how the shot came out. yep, it's definitely another toy for the list. :)
so there you have it. glimpses of my life. that was a ridiculous amount of work, much more than i was expecting. phew. and i'm going to do it all over again in a day or so, with some pictures from New Hampster, after we get back from the cabin.