I'm a city gal now

Yes folks, I have exited Hooterville.

I now live in town. It's an area of Hotlanta much like Greenwich Village - hip, sort of bohemian, easy access to everything. I am a happy camper.

It was a tough move - the movers were still at my place at 10 pm on Thursday night. And I was at work bright and early Friday morning! I still have boxes to unpack, but I'm getting there.

Theo is getting used to being a cool city cat.

The cats are adjusting. They were traumatized for a few days, but they seem to feel better now, and play with each other or spend time gazing out the many windows.

My living space is looking better. Still need to paint and hang pictures, but it's comfy! (BTW - that big overstuffed chair is a recliner!)

And oh what a view I have - sunsets every night. This one was on Sunday evening.

And soon I'll be tatting again....
 

UFBS project

Not a UFO - a UFBS! An Unfinished Blinged Shuttle project!

You may remember that a sub-set of the Palmetto Tat Gals has gotten together for an overnight or two to tat and chat and giggle and other things. (Like eat.) And you may remember the occasion when we blinged shuttles. Note - this was also the event which resulted in The Lamp Shade Photo.

Well, when I returned home after said outing, my stash of partially blinged shuttles was put into a bag. Where they stayed for months and months. Unfinished. Sad, really. A waste of good shuttles.

This past week, those six sad unfinished shuttles were found. And they are sad no more. For I broke out the Mod-Podge and my x-acto knife and finished those suckers!

I trimmed up the edges and slapped 2 coats on Mod-Podge on both sides. They're all shiny and cute now! If you look (click on the picture), you'll see that the middle one on the right has a teeny-tiny Stumpy on it. Most are embellished with paper, but the one on the bottom right is cloth.

And here are the reverse sides. Some have sparkles too. I'm happy with these! I'm not ready to sell any, but I'm perfectly happy to use these myself. And I have no UFBS projects left. For now...

I did tat a little something, earrings for my friend SC's birthday. She was delighted....

Revisiting the Stacked Dimpled Split Ring

I had a lovely email today bringing me back to a technique I taught at last year's Palmetto Tat Days.

I heard from Claudia de Formosa, who's in Argentina. She has two lovely blogs on tatting - one for her own tatting, one for teaching. Both are in Spanish, but her pictures are so very clear that you don't need to know the language to understand them.

Claudia asked me about stacked dimpled split rings. I taught how to make stacked dimpled split rings last year at Palmetto Tat Days 2011, and also mentioned them on my blog.

Claudia didn't get to come to Tat Days, as it's a looonnnggg way from Argentina and really expensive to come that far north. But she's a smart tatter - she figured out the technique by looking at my pictures!

See what Claudia made! Doesn't her bracelet look great?

HA! Stickin' it to The Man!

Curly and I had to go to traffic court today to deal with a ticket that was wrongly given him.

Back in April, DH and I were awaken by a frantic call from Curly.  It seems that a local county mountie had pulled Curly over while he was riding his scooter home, ticketed him for not having a drivers license, then demanded that a parent come and pick up Curly and his scooter.  What a pain.  Curly didn't (and still doesn't) have a driver's license, but he had a legitimate learner's permit, which is kosher for driving a 50cc scooter.  I tried to explain this to to the cop, but he would hear nothing of it.  So DH went to retrieve Curly and the scooter.

Fast forward to today.  I realized to my horror that Curly had to go to traffic court today (I thought the date was this coming Monday), and so I had to scramble to make arrangements to miss work.  I wasn't going to let Curly be fed to the wolves alone.

So before I went, I did my research.  I'm not an attorney, but I'm not afraid of digging through the codes and finding what I need.  What I found was O.C.G.A. § 40-6-351, which you can look up here.  It a subsection of the state of Georgia code, deep into the Motor Vehicles section.  Basically it states what I knew - that Curly could legally ride his scooter.  I printed it out.

So we appeared at court armed with our copy of the code.  We made our way through security, Curly filled out some forms, we waited for while in a crowded (but air conditioned and pleasant) courtroom, and finally he got to talk to the prosecutor. The prosecutor was a grumpy guy who didn't believe Curly when he showed the law printed out.  Then the grumpy guy grabbed his bulky copy of the current GA code and started thumbing through it.  And he thumbed through it.  And he looked some more.

After about 10 minutes of digging through the law, said grumpy guy scribbled something on a piece of paper, spoke to Curly, and Curly walked out of the courtroom.  I caught up with Curly, and he said that the prosecutor had dismissed the charge.  We were free to go.

So - HA!!!!  We fought the law - and we won!  Victory! Curly is free of anything that might hinder him legally.  Now if he can get his head on straight, we'll really be making progress.

FYI - Curly is living inside for a few days, just on a trail basis.  In this heat, he's motivated to do whatever it takes to live in air conditioning and not be in the hot tent.  He's scheduled for a full psychological evaluation late next week, which will help in his treatment.

On another subject, two weeks from today, Moe starts 8th grade.  I've been needling him about this.  And today I bought the first school supplies - a big new binder for Moe.

Mr Kitten is enjoying the cool of the guest room...

Oh - I almost forgot!  I have registered for Palmetto Tat Days.  I'm taking classes with Shraren, and Martha, and Wally and Nina.  I'm excited about it - Tat Days is a blast!  If you can, GO.  You won't be sorry.  And if you can't go, look at this great thing you can win and help someone attend - a gorgeous quilt with tatting all over it!

Stay out of the heat!

Graduation weekend

Well the weekend isn't over, but I'm over the hump.  The graduation hump, that is.

Yes, Curly graduated last night.  HURRAH!!!!!!!  DH and Moe and I all witnessed the event.

We are proud and grateful.  And much of the weekend was great.

The good:

• My MIL came into town (with her husband, who's never come here) and took us out to eat Friday night, along with graduate Amy and her family - my husband's sister, her husband, and Amy's little sister Tricia.  Larry didn't come - he was sleeping, but all the rest were there.  My MIL took us to a local Japanese place, the kind where they cook on the table.  We all had a really nice meal and enjoyed visiting.  This was the most generous with money I've every seen my MIL be - this was not a cheapie restaurant.  It was a really nice thing for her to do, and I'm grateful for it.
• My mother, my sister #2, and surprise! my nephew (son of sister 1 - he goes to UGA) came to our house prior to the graduation.  We had a nice meal here, pretty casual.  I fixed a sprial sliced ham, corn on the cob, broccoli, rice, whole wheat rolls, and tea.  Mom & S2 brought good cole slaw and a lovely fruit salad.  Plus, S2 went to her favorite bakery and brought a terrific chocolate and mint layer cake for the occasion. Mmmm.  It was good to see everyone, so nice that they went out of their way to come.  A good (if brief) visit was had.
• Amy graduated - she will be going to our state university on an Air Force ROTC scholarship, which should pay for everything, including room and board.  Good for her.  She deserves a break.
• Curly graduated!!!!  We're all so relieved.

The bad:

• The graduation traffic.  It was simply unbelievable, worst I've seen ever, and I've lived in this county since 1986.  Out of control, very little police presence, people parking everywhere.  Obviously no one planned for the enormous crush coming for 504 kids graduating from a high school on a two lane road.  We sat in traffic trying to get to the high school for a long time and then parked at a day care center a ways down the road.  The campus is huge for a high school (it's over 2300 students) and the stadium is at the far end, behind everything else.
• The crowd at the event.  It was full of mongrels and people with no regard for the event or for parents who were trying to view their children at this important time.  I swear, most of the crowd was absolutely feral.  I made my way down to get a picture of Curly getting his diploma, and was trying to set up my camera (I was still a long way away) when some idiot blasted an air horn right next to the only ear I have that works.  When I turned to fuss at this thug (who seemed amazed that someone would EVER say anything to him, what a jackass), I heard Curly's name called.  And I missed getting the picture.  I got a blurry picture of him walking back to his seat.  I was furious.  See what I got?
• My mother and sister.  They came over and were visibly uncomfortable in my house.  The last time either one came over was Larry's graduation in 2007.  They didn't really talk and were very stiff.  They left was soon as possible.  I'm very hurt.
• And last - but most incredible - the weather, and the decision of the school to hold the graduation outdoors.  Because it POURED almost the whole event.  I've never seen anything like it. It was pouring before the ceremony, yet they never went to the rain plan (ceremony in the gym).  Imagine, a high school graduation outdoors in the middle of a torrential downpour.  I felt so sorry for those kids.  Everyone was in their good clothes, good shoes, hair fixed.  Drenched like drowned rats, wading through the mud.  When we parked and it was dumping, my mother decided that she couldn't both walk the very long way and be drenched, so she and my sister (who was driving her) missed the ceremony entirely.  I ended up in mud up to my ankles with ruined shoes.

Want proof?  Here are pictures straight from my camera.  If you look past the umbrellas, you may see people in caps and gowns.

See - I wasn't kidding.  It was awful.

But the important thing happened - Curly has now graduated from high school.  Whew!

And another miracle happened today.  He asked to take his medicine.  I did my best not to jump up and down, and instead I dosed it out with little comment.  But this is a good sign.  We'll see if it continues.