Torrefaction

The playroom/study/library in the front of the basement has a big metal vertical pipe right smack in the center of it, holding up the main I-beam that runs down the center of the house.  In pre-Charlie days I jokingly called this my stripper pole--it's about 3 times as big around as a conventional stripper pole, just as I am 3 times as big around as a conventional stripper.  Hrm. Anyway, now it is called the pole of doom, because while the floor has foam tile all over the place [ToysRUs has these alphabet tiles, BTW, in case you're looking to pad your kiddo's floor], the pole has just been a big head-bump hazard.  Nothing bad has happened thus far, but it's been a source of worry even when I had it kind of boxed in with cubes of foam floor tiles.

So today I went and got foam pipe insulating thingies, covered the bottom yard of the thing with 2 layers of foam, and then put a nice piece of quilted fabric around that and sewed it shut. With an actual needle and thread! And I am not collapsing into bed immediately afterwards! W00t!



This evening's activities were made possible by the generous support of the Never Touching Zyrtec Again Foundation, in partnership with the Better Sleep Through Esophageal Health Foundation, the Blood Pressure Meds Only Make You Tired For About Six Months Foundation, the Depo-Provera Can Halt Your Endometriosis Foundation, and Mobil Corporation.

I'm still feeling a little blue, so I planned to cheer myself up by doing something creative tonight. However, the computers at the office had other plans for me, so I didn't get home until 10 pm. Work cheers me up too, though, so it's all good.

Anyway, since I didn't get to do anything cool, I'm posting a picture of something I made a couple of years ago. They were a gift to my friend Emma on the occasion of her getting her M.A. in Psychology.



How: They're made of Crayola Model Magic clay. The first step is to take a large wooden bead (about 1" across) and loop some wire through it - the wire is what they hang from. Then form the head around the bead, with the wire coming out through the top. Use glass beads for eyes and other beads and stuff for decoration - if the clay doesn't encase the beads you'll probably need to glue them in place once the clay is dry. Which will be soon! This clay dries very quickly, and also doesn't really blend much, so you get a kind of chunky, marshmallow-snowman look to the finished product, as you can see. But it's very light and airy and fun to work with--I tend to overthink things a leetle bit, so working in a medium that forces me to move quickly is fun. Anyway, once it's dry, put some bundles of yarn together and knot them around the wire, and glue them into place for a nice topknot. Voila, creepy mojo-filled trophies for your friends.