Martha Stewart of infertility

If you're going to give yourself three shots a night, one of which burns like the fire of a thousand suns, you might as well take the time to arrange your medications artfully in a natural cane brotform (a basket that I usually press into action while making naturally-shaped rye loaves).



I think Martha would be proud of me. Notice how the hazardous waste container picks up the red tones in the Gonal-F pen?

San Francisco Turkey Gobble

our hotel room was tragically hip

Oh, what has happened in the days since my last post!

I went on a brief jaunt to San Francisco, where Charlie was attending the annual GDC conference. I spent about half of my time wandering aimlessly around SF, and the rest of the time lurking in the Valve booth trying to be helpful. It was loads of fun, actually, because I got to hang out with my friends and absorb some big-city culture in the bargain. SF MOMA was fantastic. I'm not typically such a fan of modern art (my tastes lean more toward the brothers van Eyk or Sargent) but I found lots to like at the museum. I also stopped in at a mecca of fabric shopping, Britex. Didn't buy anything, but four floors of chromatic mayehm was enough to set my head spinning and my creative spirit on fire.


When I wasn't soaking up culture or fondling fabric I was trying to act all nonchalant (The! Harmonix! Guys! and The! Blizzard! Guys!) while chatting with people in the gaming industry. And oh sweet nellie, I talked to Jonathan Coulton. He wrote the end song for the Portal game, but I have been a fan for a long time. He played a set during the Valve party and afterward I sidled up all innocent-like and tried to play it cool and just say "hey, great job!" Hopefully he didn't feel my sweaty palms or see the stars in my eyes. The Portal song? It is awesome.

The first thing that made me love him long ago? This version of a Sir Mixalot song:


The portal song? It is awesome, as stated previously. But what makes it more awesome? The Harmonix people made it Into A Rock Band Song And They Played It At The Party. Swoon!

Being a bootleg video of the party, it's not the best quality. But this way you can feel like you were there! Trust me, it was fantastic. If you haven't heard the song, here is the official version sung by Ellen. She is the voice of GLaDOS in the game and I want to kiss her cheeks.

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AND when we got home Harold greeted me by the front door by puffing himself up and full on gobbling. He sounded like a cartoon turkey. The stereotype is spot-on. Spring has sprung, and I can hear our neighbor's rooster crowing in the distance while Harold is strutting around the yard alternately flirting with Marian (the turkey hen) and myself. It is quite loud, and I am hoping that the neighbors find it as amusing as I do.

Harold in fine form (with Marian hiding behind the tree trunk)

sunny skies

the chair, at midday break during class

The chair, she is not complete. There were five other students in yesterday's class, and that meant that I got a little less individual attention than I had gotten previously. Luckily I did all of my sewing homework and was able to get the lion's share of the chair finished. By the end of the day I had put on all of the interior foam and stuffing in and got most of the fabric on. There's still some edging that I need to do, and there's the seat cushion to finish. Plus re-attaching the skirt. I just need about an hour or two more with the guy and his staple gun and he's letting me swing by next week's class to finish up. I was not looking forward to having to sign up for another complete set of classes. So, more homework this week and next weekend she will be finished.


While I was toiling indoors Charlie was helping friends assemble their new enormous playset. It's got a slide, swings, climbing wall, picnic table, even a little chimney on the roof. He and Matthew worked all day getting just the beginning of the frame together. Not only is it in a bazillion pieces, you also have to drill a great many of the holes yourself. I can see why, because when you're assembling it you may not always have a perfectly flat surface and making the holes yourself allows for a little bit of give, but man oh man is it a lot of work. We went over again today and got a bit further but by no means done. Good fun though!

who could mind working outdoors on a day like today?

Valentines, I has them.

I must have paid well into the Valentine karma bank. Yesterday I made a few dozen citrus shortbread cookies and dipped them in shimmery pink sugar for the holiday. So tasty, they can't stay in the house so they must be given away. I brought a smaller plate of them to my doctor's office since I had an appointment this morning, and I can honestly tell you that a little cookie goes a long way where health care is concerned. Let's just say that I was pants-less reclining on a table receiving a brief exam when a nurse cracked the door open and said "I'm not peeking---I just had to tell you that your cookies are super!" I tried not to laugh, since that would have jostled the attending doctor.

After the appointment, I came home and checked the mail to find one of my mom's greatest valentin-ian achievements yet. Every year she makes a valentine, and it stays on the refrigerator until it is replaced by the next year. Right now I think there are three year's worth on the fridge since I love looking at them. After six months or so the glitter stops dropping off. It's a sad day when I no longer have glitter on the kitchen floor :) I have to say that this year's is one of my absolute favorites. Yay, mom!


Charlie took the rest of the cookies with him to work. I don't know if it was the cookies or his undying love for me (you can choose) but I baked him a homemade pizza for dinner and found a snazzy bottle of wine and he proceeded to completely out-class me in the gift giving department. Good grief! There are a lot of jewelry store commercials on the radio these days, and entirely not enough commercials that advertise electronics for your loved-one. I will take an i-phone over diamonds any day.

Romance

For much of last summer and into the fall Charlie was in a flat-out run at work. The game industry tends to heave itself around in manic cycles of reasonable amounts of work and then "you are staying here until everything is finished" stretches. Euphemistically called "crunch time" it has nothing to do with delicious sugary cereal and everything to do with an entire company of people pouring their creative energy and skill into a crucible that eventually, finally produces an awesome video game.

I was also working a gig at microsoft and the result was that for a few months we really didn't see each other. I'd be gone from 7am until 5pm, and Charlie worked from around 11 am until one or two or later in the morning. We had one mode of communication: The Daily Blood Pressure Pill. Every morning on my way out the door I would leave a glass of water and his pill on the counter along with a note reminding him to take the pill.


In the evening when I returned, I'd find an empty pill dish and the note flipped over to give me my message.


Keeping the love alive, even when we don't see each other. Extra nerd points for our Blizzard notepad. That thing is ancient, because I know it came in an old Diablo box.

Today? Today I'm driving Charlie to work and then going to cook him his requested dinner, a homemade pizza. Things are so much nicer when it isn't crunch time.

Homework

I've been down in the basement all day, trying to finish up homework for my upholstery class on Saturday. I need to get all bits that need to be sewn done so that only stapling remains. There are some sewing machines in the classroom but I'd rather spend my time using that sweet air compressor stapler gizmo.

I dismantled the back pillow and figured out how to make a new one and put it back together again. Mimi did some fancy thing with stuffing and cheesecloth so I just re-used her stuffing. I got plenty of use out of one of my best "make it look crafted and not just homemade" items: cloth covered buttons. You can buy these little guys at any fabric store in many sizes. Each package comes with button fronts and shanks and a little snap tool to put them all together. You just cut a circle of whatever fabric you are using (lightweight is best---I wouldn't try velvet or heavy wool) an follow the instructions and you have an instant tailored button. It looks very classy.

Henry surveys from atop the old pillow, with buttons in the foreground

The back pillow needed TWENTY buttons and that pushed my fingers to the limit. I was a bit sore after all of those, not to mention having to sew each one on with heavy thread. I totally guessed at how to get the dimpled-button effect and used heavy brown beading cord to tie each button shank to it's mate on the back as tight as I could. I think it looks right.

Henry likes any project that involves pillows, and thinks that for my next project I should re-upholster a seraglio

Bee Chair Project

moments into demolition

I signed up for a "bring your own chair" upholstery class at a local fabric store (Pacific Fabrics). I picked a format that was two all-day Saturdays and yesterday was my first class. I took along one of Mimi's bee chairs. They've been a fixture in our living room but the fabric was getting a bit thin and worn. Covering furniture has always sounded interesting but definitely not something I wanted to try to make up as I went along. This class sounded like the perfect format. You bring in your chair and the instructor works with you on how to re-cover it.

I'm not going to leave the class with a broad knowledge of how to upholster but I will know exactly how to take apart a bee chair and re-do it. The first step was dismantling the entire thing down to the bones. For the first two hours of the class I did nothing but pull staples. Hundreds of them, holding on layers of fabric and batting and burlap and welting. Only one blister though!

Once the fabric was off I started sneezing, which was a good indicator that the stuffing needed to be replaced. It looked aged and not terribly beat up but on the instructor's tip I pulled it off and we're going to re-pad the chair with a bit more cush to make it even more comfortable when it's done. I also learned that the price of the class is totally worth it because the instructor brought his air compressor and staple gun. The amount of staples you use is astonishing, and using that gun requires almost no effort.

stripped down completely, ready for new work

Next came off the webbing that compressed the springs. It got replaced with new webbing and I used a nifty curved upholstery needle to tack the springs on with knots so that they would absolutely positively not slide around.

Mimi had used cardboard to form the armrests and I took that off to modernize the structure a bit using burlap and padding. It will look pretty much the same when finished but will be more comfortable.

Mimi's curly handwriting

Then I carefully ironed flat all of the fabric I had removed from the chair and used those to cut out replacement pieces on the new fabric. Didn't get any sewing done, but that is my homework for the next two weeks until my final class. There are a few pieces that I can sew (the rest are stapled to the chair and I'll do that in class) and I need to make ten (!) yards of welting. I think I'll also try to make the replacement back pillow, since that will be an exact reproduction and is all sewing no stapling.

New spring ties, webbing, and burlap. Looking good so far!