No Strings Attached

Posted By Kathleen David on January 13, 2018

This Saturday is a day of activity for all at Casa David. Caroline has a day of Model UN that she loves to participate in. Peter has a store signing at <a href=http://www.goldenmemoriescomics.com> Golden Memories Comics </a> from 1 to 3. I am going into the city to partake of an art brunch that some friends of mine host and try to get my mojo back on track.

Creative to me is like breathing. I like to work my way through creative problems be it a puppet or writing or a costume idea. One of my favorite panels I do at conventions is “So you want to build a Puppet.” People bring us their ideas and we give them various ways to make them a reality. I always love seeing what people do with the information.

I have had people ask me how I think so fast. I have always thought at this speed. I have told Caroline from an early age to never apologize for her brain. I got that from my parents. In my family being smart was praised. My parents were both college professors. They are great examples of the American Dream. Their parents came over to have a better life and provide opportunities for their children they didn’t have. My parents did the same for my brothers and sister and me.

I graduated from the Yale School of Drama with a master’s in Stage Management and Direction. I have done a lot of interesting theater and through that met a lot of interesting people. I am proud of my theater career and the friends I made along the way. I tell people that I learned my organizational skills from my mother. I had a knack for stage-managing and have used the things I learned from that in other things I have done in my life.

My puppets have brought me a lot of joy. I would not be sitting here typing this if I didn’t build puppets. I met Peter because of a puppet I built. The puppets have been the key to a lot of adventures I have had over the years and continue to be so. Puppetry to me is another thing that is like breathing. I can’t remember any time that were not puppets in my life.

Right now, however, I feel sluggish both mentally and physically. Part of that is recovering from being ill. Part of that is being back in caretaker mode to help Peter deal with the fall out from wiping out on a set of steps. Part of that is the time of year since I do suffer from seasonal affected disorder and that can be a bear to deal with.

Knowing that I am giving myself permission to not be creative for a bit. To go do something else so I can reset things. Of course the minute I did that, my brain started going into overdrive as to things I could do/make/create. I have to quiet my brain down and remind it that I am trying to not stay in constant overdrive.

I am grateful for friends to bounce ideas off of.

Category: Uncategorized | No Comments »
Tags:

Posted By Kathleen David on January 11, 2018

Well we need to replace the toilet. While doing that, we are replacing the leaking faucet. Now we just have to keep things in balance for no further damage to the house. The kitchen has dried out and, other than some cosmetic damage, we look fine. The basement has escaped so far.

I am hoping that because we have been above freezing for a couple of days now, we are done with this water issue. But I am not holding my breath.

Peter is pain free for a second day except when he stepped on a Lego that the cats were playing with. He’ll take brief Lego pain over the excruciating pain he had been suffering from for over six weeks.

Caroline has picked to be an engineer on the robot project at her school. She is learning how to use all kinds of tools and the ins and outs of pneumatics. She is grooving on the whole creating from concept to actual object. Takes after her mom in so many ways.

I seem to finally have recovered from the nasty virus that has been going around. I can breath through my nose and the cough is no longer ruling my life. My brain doesn’t feel as fuzzy. Now I need a decent night’s sleep to finish this off.

I think I will be making a couple of lists to get my mind back on track. I am hoping I will not be depressed by the length of the list.

Right now it feels like a slight pause before the next part of our lives.

I am grateful that we have a plan to take care of the water issues.

Category: Uncategorized | No Comments »
Tags:

Posted By Kathleen David on January 10, 2018

Yesterday I took Peter to have a procedure that had been prescribed to help/cure the pain in his hip which really wasn’t his hip but an over active nerve. For the first time since Thanksgiving, he could walk without pain. The look of relief and amazement on his face when they finished and he stood up is one that I will treasure. He was a bit stunned the rest of the day because he could stand up and it was not a herculean effort to do so. He could walk without support. He could be himself again or rather Peter without the pain that has been making his life pretty miserable.

We have a plumber scheduled for the other leak. This one is not as critical as the first one because it is a slow leak and we know exactly where it is. We have taken steps to prevent further damage. Just had to pull everything out of the closet again and put it where we don’t trip.

Today I am planning to write and finished recovering the kitchen from the events on Monday. Puppets are on hold until the leak is fixed.

I read an interesting article on paper planners and how it is different to write something down then type or speak it into your pocket computer (Ok phone but really that is a misnomer). Like the studies that have found that cursive turns on other parts of the brain not used by typing or printing, apparently the act of writing caused things to become more cement in one’s brain. I make lists of things that I need to do or projects I would like to do. I had stopped making them on paper and putting them in the note section of my phone but now I think I am going to go back to writing things down.

The cats have each found their warm spots this morning and are settling down to a catnap. Some how Mewlan found more paper and that’s the first thing I have to deal with.

I have a lot of things to deal with right now. Guess I will start with A and work my way down the list.

But first my second cup of coffee is calling my name.

I am so very grateful that this procedure worked and Peter can walk without pain.

Category: Uncategorized | No Comments »
Tags:

Posted By Kathleen David on January 9, 2018

Whelp after the start of the clean up from the water that came pouring down, we have discovered yet another leak but it is in a place where we have had a leak before. We know what it is and how to deal with it. Just got to get a plumber in and make the repair. The rest of the house seems to be fine and I really hope it stays that way. I am doing everything I can to make sure it does.

Water always wins.

Creatively I have two projects at the beginning stage of their creation that is I am thinking about how I might attack the project. I am keeping some ideas and discarding others.

I am also going to build a couple of bodies after I finish this clean up from the flood. I have found it useful to just have a couple of blanks around that I can turn into what I need. Also really cuts down the amount of time needed for building a puppet in a crunch.

I am still working on some writing projects that are due to various editors at various times. This week is a little complicated between the flood and clean up from the flood to various appointments for Peter to deal with the overactive nerves that are causing him so much pain. I am in caretaker mode. When I am in that mode, my creative chops seem to go dormant or I am using them to deal with the mess/crises at hand and not for anything ethereal.

I also have to deal with our new cat’s ability to get her paws either in or under something like the couch and pull forth all kinds of objects along with shredding paper all over the floor. Each morning the living room floor can look like a battle field. I remove all the tissue boxes and other forms of paper that she likes to play with and she can still find things to shred. I may be getting ahead finally because I am seeing less mess each morning. She is still technically a kitten.

So today is clean up and get the area ready for the plumber so they can get to the leak.

Tomorrow I am really hoping that we are done with water going places that we don’t want it to.

I am grateful for pipes that don’t leak.

Category: Uncategorized | No Comments »
Tags:

Posted By Kathleen David on January 8, 2018

Yesterday morning when I woke up it was 0 degrees Fahrenheit with a wind chill factor of -14 degrees F.

This morning it is 30 degrees F with a feels like 22 degrees F. The furnace is not going into overdrive and the living room feels warm again. I can feel my fingers and toes.

We are going to get above freezing for the first day in about two weeks. Considering all the snow that is in shadows is either there or turned to ice, this is a good thing. We need a good thaw to get rid of all the dangerous ice patches that aren’t melting because it has been so darn cold.

My health is improving. I am at the tail end of whatever was kicking my immune system. No fever and I can breath through my nose. The cough is less in both frequency and force. Also I can put two thoughts together and keep them together.

Peter is doing better but still is in pain. This is now going on two months. We have an appointment for the next step but that is not happening until Jan. 15^th. He is muddling through but it is still hard on him.

We are going to ChattaCon. We did get the clearance for that. So see some of you there.

I know that I am going to write my New Who Review sometime this week for ‘Twice upon a Time’. I think I am going to watch it through once more to solidify some of the things that I have been pondering since the episode aired.

Tomorrow will be Crafty Tuesday that I hope to keep going for the rest of the year. Right now I am sorting out what I want to do next since, for the first time in five years, I haven’t got anything that MUST BE DONE. Just a couple of ideas that I am screwing around with trying to figure out which I want to do. I have no idea if photos will be involved this year since Photobucket wants to be paid for its services and I haven’t found anything else to replace it.

Today I am writing on three projects that I need to have done for various things. Unless I get up to something else that either needs to be done or comes up…

Much later: Me and my big mouth

OK so as I typed those fatal words, I heard water dripping. Then Peter called for me upstairs. We had a leak that was rapidly flooding our bedroom along with pouring into the kitchen. It first looked like it was coming from behind a set of bunk beds but that was not the case instead it was against the wall to the outside of the house. I turned off the heat and the water to the house to stop the water from flowing.

I spent the day trying to keep up with the water pouring into my kitchen and cleaning up the mess created by the water. I have the bedroom back into shape. The kitchen is on the list for tomorrow.

Apparently this repair solved a heating problem we have been having so now the whole house is warm rather than pieces of it.

I do have a burn on my foot where I stepped into the boiling water that came out of the pipe. But that’s the only injury.

Cross your fingers that nothing else breaks as the world thaws out.

I am grateful that the problem was solvable with minimal repair damage.

Category: Uncategorized | No Comments »
Tags: