Seven random things.

Leonie tagged me for this over at her blog, so I'll give it a whirl. I'm supposed to tag people and all that, but as usual I'm just going to say, if it sounds fun, go for it.

Most of this stuff is probably already known if you've read the blog for a while, but I'll try to come up with things suitably random and fresh.

1. As well as being an oboe player in symphonic band as a kid/young adult, for marching band, I played the tuba. I was the runt of the section, and have a chipped tooth from an attempt at tuba-twirling gone bad.

2. I am pantheist, meaning I think all religions are 'right', as are atheism and agnosticism. If it makes sense to you, it's the right belief. (Or lack thereof.) This somehow manages to offend extremists of all stripes. Oh, and I lean heavily toward Taoism, more by nature than deliberate choice.

3. When I was seven years old, I fell off a tractor onto a cement floor and broke my skull. The husbeast maintains this is the source of the 'you're not quite right' issue, though I say it goes back further than that.

4. I have a compulsive need to buy office supplies, even though these days I do not need more than the occasional pencil. So far I have resisted the scrapbooking sections at the craft store, and hope to remain strong.

5. Before I broke my hand I did calligraphy and had reasonably good drawing skills. After, I had to re-learn how to write and never took it further than all capital letter printing. I've been informed this type of hand-printing is the same type used by serial killers; pretty sure the person saying that was joking.

6. Because the husbeast works on submarines, he must have a security clearance. And because he must have the security clearance, I cannot run around the internet criticizing Certain Wars and Certain Presidents and Certain Political Systems, because in our current Certain Political Climate, he'll get his security clearance yanked and we will starve. I live for his retirement. No one will know what hit them, including my Beloved Blog Readers. (Big issues? Children's rights, gays' rights, freedom of speech, and copyright reform.)

7. With the above in mind, I consider myself a conservative, in that I think the Constitution should be either followed to the letter, or amended as the system gives provision for. However our current crop of 'conservatives' would not have me as a gift, and I'm told regularly that I'm a raving, bleeding-heart liberal. Whatever. Viva la revolution. A group of friends call me 'Che' when I get going. I'm more in line with Teddy Roosevelt, really, but Che has a nice ring to it.


There, I think that was pretty random, though I got a little political there at the end. Anyway, those wanting to join in, do so.



In other news, I don't know if I mentioned before, my mother-in-law and I went to the craft store Saturday. After I had half-filled the shopping cart (dear gods yes, a shopping cart at the craft store), we got to the cashier, and she insisted on picking up the tab for the whole mess. Including the impulse-purchase set of Crayola markers. So I figured she deserved something nice. Preferably made with some of the craft supplies. I made this.

It's sort of a mutant rose/gardenia hybrid thingie. There's a pin on the back for putting on lapels or hats. Hoping to get that part of the shop up and running sometime this week; I'm getting the hang of mass production. With this prototype, I figured costs and time spent, and these flowers are going to go for between fifteen and twenty bucks. I can't charge less and make any money. But I'll do on-request backings (pin, barette, hairpin, clip) and the prices will vary widely according to how much time they take to make. Basically, the more petals the flower has, the more time it takes.


Still knitting on the crown prototype. One more point to go, and a little extra. I've managed to work it so that there's no need for a gauge swatch and it doesn't matter how it felts, so long as it doesn't turn into a ball. I'd like to say it's idiot-proof, but I've destroyed several felted projects that seemed idiot proof at the time. But I'm doing my best.