No Strings Attached

Posted By Kathleen David on June 11, 2016

As in we are all home for the weekend pretty much for the first time in five weeks.

And most of what we have planned for today revolves around either being home or at the gym.

Can someone ask Death to take a holiday? This year has been unreal with the number of people that I know shuffling off this mortal coil.

Inky continues to try to meld with my hip. It has become her favorite spot to nap in the morning while I am working on this and other writings.

Not as much as I would like to have done yesterday but things did get done. I will just have to slot in what I didn’t get done yesterday into today.

Grammar check and I are having a debate about punctuation. Spell check is not set up for arcane words.

Yes, this is pretty Random but I am into my second cup of coffee.

I remembered last night why I don’t drink anything with caffeine after 7:30.

Don’t write the Cavs out but I think the Warriors are going to walk away with the trophy.

Apparently Matt Harvey can pitch a gem and get either a loss or a no decision. He gets no run support but seems to have his pitching back to its razor-like qualities.

Opened the window to let some air in and the cats are sniffing for all they are worth.

I am contemplating Sam and Dean puppets this year for Dragon Con or maybe a hand puppet set with various characters from Supernatural.

That is something that I am seriously considering, doing sets of hand puppets that one could do a show with.

But first the 24 puppets I need to have done by DragonCon most of which I want to have mostly done by Shoreleave, which is 4 weeks away at this point. Yes, I am crazy. I have come to the point that I am going to do some generic puppets I can re-dress

I think I am going to crank out some bodies today.

I like that I haven’t heard a lawnmower this morning but know that as of 8 AM I will be hearing them since that the local ordinance. It has been mostly bird song this morning and a couple of joggers with their music/talk radio turned up rather loud.

Caroline has taken over doing laundry. I pay her for her work and she is doing a great job. There are times that we do it together because I need to start it while she is at school to make sure everything is ready for packing for the next adventure.

And we have a few adventures awaiting us this summer.

I am grateful for this pause before the convention season takes off again.

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Posted By Kathleen David on June 10, 2016

I have been rereading, thanks to the Facebook Memory button, a number of the web log entries that I wrote while we were dealing with the stroke. We are still dealing with some of the fall out from the stroke but not the stroke itself anymore. Right now we are at the point where life was getting pretty much back to normal and we were glad for it. Still glad that Peter is Peter. I have a friend who has been going through much worse after her husband had a stroke and he is, apparently, in a locked in state, which could have happened to Peter.

I need to sit down and write out the puppet schedule for the next sets of puppets. I have five weeks to get about 20 puppets total (maybe less) done before Shoreleave. Plus costumes for various things. Plus two short stories and continuing on my novel.

Good thing my new wake up time seems to be 6 AM after going to bed around 10 PM for the second night in a row. I do feel pretty clear headed right now and able to put thoughts together without something slipping.

Mornings are when I am at my best which is a serious switch from my 20s and 30s where night use to be when I was at my best.

Caroline has four more days of school and then it is off to final exams and the like. After that we get to work out our Summer Schedule. She is happy to discover that the gym hours expand for her over the summer. Now we just have to get the pool schedule and we will be good.

Inky is trying to meld with my hip.

My back has not been too happy with me for the past couple of days. I figure that the long periods of sitting led to this. I passed on the gym for a couple of days to let it rest. I went yesterday and was able to do a limited workout. I figure that is better than no workout. This morning it is more of a twinge than a stabbing pain so I am going to take that as a good sign.

I am going to have to sit down and figure out the next couple of weeks. I have the materials for most of the projects on hand. What I don’t have at this point will be recreated by some clever method that I will come up with on the fly.

I know what I can and cannot do now I just have pull the pieces together and do it.

I am grateful for my back allowing me to workout again.

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Posted By Kathleen David on June 9, 2016

With all the travel that Peter has been doing and all the travel we have been doing with him, the days of the week are a bit of a blur. It feels strange that he is not going to some airport to get on a plane and go some place today. But don’t worry, that’s for next week when he is off to the Denver Comic Con.

I have been feeling a bit like I have been in a brain fog. Thoughts don’t stick and I have to write things down to remember. I have been very tired too.

Last night my body finally told me that it had it and I went to bed at 10 because I was falling asleep on the couch. I slept pretty solidly with only a couple of wake ups during the night until 5:30 AM so that’s 7 ½ hours which is really good for me these days. I actually feel awake rather than just walking around because my eyes are open.

Caroline is gearing up for finals. She has been going over her notes and making flash cards for certain subjects. She has been going over her tests and working through math problems she got wrong. She has been reading through packets to glean the information she needs for her social studies and English tests. She has been working very hard and next week she starts to take those tests.

The Mets broke their nine game slide by actually putting together some runs to beat the Pirates so they don’t get swept.

The Cavs came back against the Warriors and it was not the LeBron show the whole time.

I am working out the next 5 weeks until Shoreleave and then SDCC and then Tampa Comic Con and then DragonCon. I have a lot to do and a little time to do it in and less than most years.

Most of my puppetry tribe is at the O’Neil this week. Some year I am going to have to join them.

I need more coffee.

I had a friend tell me that another friend decided that having a puppeteer as a friend was a cool thing. Yes, it is a cool thing to be friends with a puppeteer. We are such IN-teresting people (Image Bugs Bunny said that).

Back is better but still twingy. I am going to go to the gym but pay attention to what my body is telling me about the exercise I am doing.

It is beautiful outside this morning and, so far, no lawnmowers.

I am making a couple of puppet bodies today to start up the next part of the process. Aquaman is on deck next for his clothes and extras.

I am grateful for a good night’s sleep.

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Posted By Kathleen David on June 8, 2016

I am putting this behind a cut and warning for a frank discussion about rape and the effects on the people. Along with a lot of rage about the whole situation of again proving how our justice system is broken and if you are male, white and privileged, you can get a pass that will send a poor minority to prison for years.

(more…)

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Posted By Kathleen David on June 7, 2016

If you are a regular reader of this web log, then you know the story about how this past weekend I got Pupaldi as we started calling him to Capaldi.

(for the VI: This is my Doctor Who puppet based on Capaldi’s Doctor. He is sitting on a very colorful carpet. He has grey hair and eye brows and blue eyes. He is wearing a white shirt buttoned up to the top, a blue sweater vest and a blue jacket.)

Now I have no record other than the official Epic Op Photo that I posted yesterday. And this is true of most of the puppets I have given to people because usually it is on the fly and not an appropriate place to stop and take photos. But I did see his expression of joy at the puppet so I know it went to a good home. Now let’s see if we can get a puppet show with his puppet and Michelle’s puppet.

Last Tuesday I got the following done the body and the face.

(for the VI: this is the puppet with no clothes. His hair and eyebrows are grey and his eyes are blue)

Then Wednesday I patterned and made the clothing for him.

(for the VI: same puppet now wearing a white shirt closed to the top)

The vest was next

(for the VI: Same puppet now with a blue sweater vest)

And then I took him out for drinks after adding his ring

(for the VI: Same puppet with sunglasses on. He is “holding” a beer glass in his left hand and had a ring on that hand)

After we returned from the pub, I made the jacket including a fiddly lining that was a PITA but looked great after I got it done and in the jacket.

(For the VI: Same puppet with sunglasses now wearing a blue jacket with a red lining)

I put on the buttons that night and he was ready to rock and roll.

Now onto DragonCon and Shoreleave and SDCC not necessarily in that order. Shoreleave is 6 weeks away so I want to get a majority of what I am going to do for DragonCon done by then since once Shoreleave starts we are running a gauntlet until after DragonCon.

Figuring out DragonCon Art Show now. Any requests of puppets you might like to see me do?

I am grateful for the response that Pupaldi got at Awesome Con.

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