Monday, December 17, 2012

Monday’s Muse = I Got the Point—and It Hurts!

I stabbed myself in the hand yesterday. Yes, this takes amazing talent, I know. Let me explain my stupidity. A few months ago, I purchased one of those forever sharp knife sets. Yesterday I decided to open it. I took out all the knives, but still felt something in the box. I put my right hand under the opening so whatever was inside could fall into my open palm and not onto my glass stovetop. I tipped the box upside down and shook it a little to dislodge the object stuck inside. Out came the fillet knife--yeah, the real sharp, pointy one—and straight into my hand. OUCH!!

It came right back out again, so I’m not sure how far it actually went in, but it hurt and bled quite a bit. I imagine it wasn’t too far in since the stab wound is small (about 1/8”), but the pain begs to differ. At least it’s off on the fleshy part about an inch beneath my pinky finger and not in the center of my palm. For some reason, thinking this makes me feel better.

In my defense, all of the other knives in the box were also in their own individual boxes so I had no idea there was a box-less instrument of pain awaiting me. Also, there were orange juice drinking things in the box. So I really wasn’t expecting to be wounded by whatever would fall out of the box. Still, I should have at least looked inside before shaking the box over my hand. S-T-U-P-I-D.

So, I’m in pain and it radiates out from the wound to share the agony with my pinky finger and on down my wrist, but I refuse to let it win. And, after reading this Monday’s Muse worthy post from Dawn Metcalf, I’m inspired to hope I can use this pain in my writing someday (though I admit it wasn’t something that crossed my mind before reading the post—the only thing on my mind in relation to the incident was PAIN! Owie, owie, owie).

I’m still typing in spite of the aching (though a bit more slowly with lots of breaks). And I still graded the spelling papers for K’s class last night (that hurt much worse than typing—something about the way I needed to hold the pen, I guess). And today I’m going to (hopefully) finish up a critique I’ve been doing and then dive back into my own writing again.

So, how has your week before Christmas started? Hopefully not with any stabbing pain.

 

Write on!

Thursday, December 06, 2012

Thursday Things

Here’s what I’ve been up to the last three days.

after taping ceilingbefore painting walls

We hired someone to do the tape and texture on the walls. I had researched how to do it myself, but since I hadn’t ever done it, I decided it might not be the best idea for me to try. The professional we hired finished up on Saturday so I started working (you can see some of my work in the picture showing the textured wall.

Tuesday I painted the ceiling—it’s a very deep purple color.

after painted ceilingafter painted celing close up

On Wednesday I painted the walls.

after painted walls

They’re a lighter purple color—yes, my favorite color is purple.

Today I put down the floor. I used the brown paper floor method—except I didn’t use brown paper. I saw some awesome colored paper at Home Depot and couldn’t resist using it. Not only is it pretty, but I don’t have to stain the floor so I save some time.

Glue for floorpaper for floor

These are the supplies I used. Elmer’s Glue-All and the pretty mauve paper. I mixed the glue with water (3 parts water to one part glue) then used a paintbrush to apply the glue mixture to the floor. I tore off pieces of paper and wadded them up. Then the crumpled up papers went into the glue and were spread out on the floor. I used the paintbrush to smooth it out (I overlapped the pieces) and apply a topcoat of glue.

And here’s the result of my day’s work:

finished floor

Tomorrow I start adding the water-based polyurethane and once it’s all dry my floor will be finished. Then I’ll need to add the trim around the base of the walls and get the ceiling fan installed. Once that’s all done, I can start moving in my craft and writing stuff. YAY!!

Create on!