Impossible Class update.

A short update + some pics from the kids over on the Tumblr.

The Impossible Class

[Polaroid SX-70 Model 2 + PX70 Cool film]

I'm teaching a class on Impossible film at a private school for the next six weeks. First class was yesterday. Read more about it over on my Tumblr where I'll be posting updates about the class and hopefully some of the kids' work. So much fun!

The Big Day.

At long last, my Etsy shop is up! Please check out the Mad Orange Shop. I have loads of felted handbags and bowls, plus a few one off things and some postcards printed from various Polaroid images. The selection will always be growing as I am always making new things. I have lots of ideas in the making and now the "getting it started" part of the shop is done, perhaps I will have more time for experimenting.

This shop has been a long time coming and I am not sure why it took me so long to get it going. A bit of fear, I would say. And I'd like to say that now I have breathed a big sigh of relief, but not so much. Now my shoulders are all tensed up wondering how this little shop will be received. I know, I know, I need to just let it go and carry on. But this is what I have been doing for the past year. Knitting and felting and hoping to get an online shop going. And, well, what if nobody buys anything? EVER. Then what? But better to have tried than to have not taken the risk, right? Right. Always better to take that risk.

*Big sigh*

So I hope you will take a peek and even if you're not in the market for anything now, maybe keep it mind for down the road. I know times are tight for most people these days.

I will probably be posting updates as I add new things and you can always find the shop link over there in the sidebar.

Cheers!

Odds and ends including the search for jeans.

I just read that Chargers wide receiver Vincent Jackson was picked up for a DUI early this morning. Dude, you're in the play-offs, why are you even out drinking?!

So, the search for jeans. I have two pairs of jeans that I wear constantly (not at the same time) and that fit well. One pair is from Gap and I've probably had them for 8 years? Maybe more? At any rate, they're getting pretty worn. The other pair I picked up at a second hand store about five years ago. I have about 5 other pairs of jeans that I don't like so much. Too tight or too big. Too long or too skinny. And since I am not working, I live in the aforementioned two pairs of jeans which is causing me to get a wee bit sick of them. Thus started the search for a new pair. Preferably cheap. But good lord, it is totally impossible to find jeans that are not geared toward a 14-year old girl. I don't want them up to my belly button, but I also don't want my ass crack showing. Not a great look for a 38-year old. No luck whatsoever at Target where the small sizes are two inches too long for me. I always thought I was average height, but apparently not. And the legs are either too bell bottom-y or to skinny. Whatever happened to somewhere inbetween? Today I finally gave in and went to Gap. I must have tried on 10 pairs of jeans. They actually have some mid-rise jeans which fit my waist well, but nothing else worked. Super boxy. I finally settled on a pair of "curvy" jeans. They are the perfect length but still a little too low-rise for me. I'm wearing them around the house with the tags on until I decide if I can live with them. Please tell me where I'm supposed to find jeans these days!!

Yesterday I found out that one of the purses in my old shop sold!! Very exciting news. I've never sold anything out of an actual store before. A gallery on Canyon Road no less! One sale certainly isn't going to pay the bills, but it gives me hope that more will sell. It also gives me reason to keep making more!

Okay, time for Total Access and some more scanning. I've gotten next to nothing done today and it's been extremely frustrating.

Insomnia & Polaroid Silent Auction

Two totally unrelated subjects for this post!

The Polaroid Silent Auction is happening at SPACE Gallery in Portland, Maine on June 6th. You can preview the prints here. Lots of awesome work. I am delighted that I was invited to submit a print (although they spelled my name wrong). Pretty neat-o and I wish we could be there!

As for the insomnia...well, it's kind of gotten better the past two weeks in that I have been feeling more rested and less irritable even though I still don't sleep through the night. I don't know what that means really, I guess that I am "managing" my insomnia.

I went to see a Doctor of Oriental Medicine yesterday and it was a very positive experience. I've never actually had a massage before nor acupuncture and both left me feeling very relaxed. Plus we talked a lot and I have some new paths to follow as far as working out the insomnia issue goes. So of course I proceeded to have the worst night I've had in a long time last night. Arrrggghh!

My insomnia is typically not staying asleep as opposed to having trouble falling asleep. But nope, not last night. Could not sleep for the life of me. I just kept getting more and more agitated and I swear I felt like I'd had a dose of speed or something. Finally I got up and took a Valium and even that took forever to relax me. I had a big day at work today and being exhausted sucked. The dark circles under my eyes look fabulous too.

So I don't know, it probably is just a fluke that I couldn't fall asleep rather than being directly related to the D.O.M. experience. I guess there was a part of me that hoped for a miracle...that I would sleep through the night. Alas. The suggestions that were given to me all make sense, but they are all things that will help me over time, not instantaneously.

I am keeping the hope, for sure. And crossing my fingers that I sleep tonight.

P.S. We really need someone to house/cat/garden sit for us in July. For a week. If you are not a complete stranger to me and have some interest in spending a week in Santa Fe, let me know. We can't fly you out here, but once you're here, you'll have a nice house to stay in, two cats to keep you company, satellite television and a wireless internet connection. Oh, and there's all that art stuff here too. And hiking.

(Not that I really think this request will work considering that about five people read this blog! But hey, you never know.)

Los Gatos

Rocky and Simon went to the vet this morning for their annual check-ups and shots. Rocky was quiet as a mouse and looked rather forlorn. I think he recalled that he was just there last week and that it wasn't such a fun place. Simon cried the whole five minute ride and cried a good bit in the waiting room. He was angry about being in a cage. And boy, you should have seen how wide his eyes got when dogs passed by. I can only imagine what he was thinking! In Pittsburgh they had a house call vet so it's been awhile since they've had to deal with an actual clinic.

Anyway, Simon got a good report. He's gained about an 1/2 pound since last year and weighed in at 13 pounds, 6 ounces. The vet didn't comment on the weight gain so I guess it isn't a big deal. He's bulking up for the winter. And he's just a big boy.

Last week they weighed Rocky and came up with 13 pounds, 3 ounces which was totally shocking to me. He weighed 16 pounds, 4 ounces last year so that's a little too much weight to have dropped. But today when they put him on the scale he weighed in at 14 pounds, 6 ounces which sounds more reasonable to me. The vet said the scale may have been off last week. At any rate, because of the heart murmur, she was concerned about the weight loss. Rocky had to stay at the clinic for about an hour and it nearly broke my heart thinking of him back in the lab, wondering what the heck was going on. He had x-rays and an EKG. The vet said that his heart is on the large side and while she's not super concerned about it, she would like us to get blood work done and an ultrasound in the next 3-6 months. (Total cost about $450.00) We'll probably get it done sometime in January, after we recoup from today's visit! AND both cats were told that they need to have their teeth cleaned in the next year or so, a procedure that costs about $300 per cat. Holy moly!

So yeah, we're going to be spending more money at the vet for the cats health than we do on our own health, but that's okay. We don't have kids. The cats are our kids. And they are worth every penny. I suspect that Rocky is fine, but you know, I'd rather know for sure. If he isn't fine and needs to be on a special diet or heart medication, I want to know that now, not when it is too late. He's my baby boy and I can't imagine life without him.

And for the record, Rocky used to weigh twenty pounds. He did not like living in NYC so much.



He's done a great job of slimming down.



Pretty crazy, right?! He looks so good now and he's so happy. The vet also said it was fine to keep them on the R/D for now...but really, I don't think Rocky needs to slim down much more.

Heart Murmur

Will took Rocky to the vet this morning to get his chest wound checked out. He got it last week and it wasn't bad so we let it be. It started to scab over, but then yesterday I noticed that he was licking and licking and licking. All the licking re-opened the wound and it was looking really raw so we decided we better take him in. No swelling and no infection fortunately. The vet put him on antibiotics so the cut will heal more quickly and he got one of those cones things to wear if he keeps licking. Poor guy.

Anyway, while he was at the vet, she checked him out a bit and apparently he has a heart murmur. Will called me at work to give me the report and of course I freaked out immediately. But apparently it's not that uncommon and it does not always lead to congestive heart failure. Rocky is in good health, his appetite is fine, he runs around a lot...so hopefully everything is fine. We're supposed to take him back in for x-rays or an ultrasound or something so that they can determine what exactly is going on. Guess I am going to be spending all my Christmas shopping money at the vet! Anything for my boy Rocky though.

So yeah, it's not necessarily anything horrible, but nonetheless, I am worried about him. The sooner we can find out more, the better.

moving sale!

Yep, we're actually going to do it tomorrow even though the weather is not going to be very cooperative. It's not supposed to rain until later in the day, but with the way things have been lately, who knows what kind of weather we'll find in the morning. We do have a garage though so we don't have to set up anything outside. I have no idea what kind of success we'll have; we have tons of stuff to put out though. Clothes, jackets, bags, shoes, books, games, kitchen wares and small appliances, PlayStation 1 + games, music, bric-a-brac and who knows what else I have stashed in the basement. I suspect that any Pittsburgh folks that read this blog know me and know where I live, but if there is anyone out there who doesn't know the location, drop me a line at madorangefools [at] gmail [dot] com and I'll give you the details. Here's hoping that Will and I don't freeze to death!

News Item #2

Will and I are moving to Santa Fe! At the end of April! (Yes, that's less than THREE months from now. Good lord.) And I apologize for not reporting this item sooner, I just kept putting it off for no good reason. (Because it is not a secret by any means.) It's going to be a huge change for us and we're looking forward to it. The actual moving part...well, not looking forward to that part so much, but I am excited about heading back west.

So a lot of what I have been doing lately, like shredding all my old files and cleaning out closets, is all because of the upcoming move. Moving to Santa Fe is practically like moving back to New York City as far as real estate goes and our apartment in Santa Fe is...well, it's not a three-story, four bedroom house with a basement and garage for starters. It's a two-bedroom apartment. So we have to downsize our belongs quite a bit. Initially this made me panic, but now I am looking at it as yet another way to have something of a fresh start. A challenge. Don't get me wrong, I am a pack rat, through and through, so I'll be moving plenty. But I am doing my best to put some of my sentiment aside as I start to clean and pack.

For those of you who don't know, I grew up in Santa Fe, but I have not lived there since I was 18. I went to NYU for two years, then finished school at UNM and lived in Albuquerque for 4 years before moving to Pittsburgh. I lived in the Northeast for the past 12 years. Santa Fe has changed a lot since I was 18! And I have changed too. So yeah, even with the annual visit, living there again is going to be a totally new experience. I am super excited about being near my family again. I miss them greatly and it will be so wonderful to be able to be a bigger part the lives of my nieces and nephews. I've missed seeing them grow up so much! A visit once a year just doesn't cut it.

We are also looking forward to more sunshine, mountains and green chile! I love Pittsburgh, and I will always have Pittsburgh in my heart. Always. I love the rivers, the architecture, the people and sometimes even the gray days. Oh and let's not forget the Steelers! Football season just won't be the same, but thanks to satellite television, we won't be missing any of the games. Over the years, Pittsburgh has really become my home. It is just not where we want to spend the rest of our lives. Santa Fe might not be that place either, but we want to give it a shot.

So there you go. I have more to say on this topic and I am sure it will spill out over the next couple of months. And some of the spillage will probably be stress because not matter how excited we are, moving in and of itself is a major cause of stress. And this time we're not moving 400 miles but closer to 2000 miles away! The cats are going to LOVE that drive.

Stay warm this weekend and have fun!

news item #1

I have been stressed out all day, mostly due to the insomnia that I experienced last night. Insomnia is not fun. But I am optimistic about a good night's sleep tonight and a better tomorrow. It's hard not to feel optimistic when the sun is shining brightly while snow flurries are flurrying!

I haven't forgotten about that news that I want to share. The first bit is that for the first time ever I am participating in a group photo show!! I am very excited (and nervous) about it. The show is in March at the Werehouse in NC. I'll be sharing the space with two of my favorite artists, Liz and Laura. And I am incredibly honored that they asked me to do this show with them. It means so much to me, for so many different reasons. One of my 2006 goals was to have a photo show. A goal that was not accomplished, but I wasn't too upset about it as halfway through the year, I realized that I just wasn't ready to do it. Plus I ended up participating in the Handmade Arcade which sort of made up for the lack of a photo show. But now in 2007, the photo show dream is finally going to happen! And it is going to happen at a place that is probably one of my most favorite places in the world. The Werehouse has always brought nothing but comfort and inspiration to me. So yeah, very excited.

I have to admit, I rarely even call myself a "photographer", but I have been taking photos practically all of my life. If anything, I am a snapshot photographer, a documentarian of sorts. So to do this show, I don't know, it's really a huge step for me, whether or not I ever do another show again. I'm very happy that this is happening. I have a lot of work to do, picking out photos and what not, but I think in the end, it will all come together nicely. I'll keep you posted.