Love, Lydia - Notes from a geeky, plus sized artist.: February 2015

Thursday, February 5, 2015

Pins!

Hi everyone,

So, I'm geared up to show you some new Pins and give an update on older Pins too.

4. Bryan and I put away all our Christmas decorations and used this method for keeping our light strings untangled.  It bends the flexible plastic hangers, but they're just the cheap ones so it's no big deal.  Not a bad Pin!

5. I'm already thinking about the new house and what moving will involve, so I made of list of things to do at/before moving based on this Pin.

In fact over the past few weeks we've picked out what colors we want to paint the walls (pictured below)!

Plus we've also chosen the cabinets, countertops, carpet, linoleum, sink, backsplash, and tile colors.



6. I tried out this quick little cleaning idea using a dryer sheet to swipe at the floorboards, catching the dust bunnies and supposedly keeping away future dust.  I'll update you all about whether this works.

7. I've been cleaning out my fridge and setting it up along the lines of this Pin to try to make things easier to find.  So I'm grouping items in ways that make more sense and keeps things visible.  Which will hopefully cut down of waste too.  Picture to come!

8. Since I've been doing so well on my 52 book challenge I'll be tackling this themed book challenge as well.  Starting the the Pulitzer Prize winning book The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon.  So far it's really great, I recommend it to any other comic book fans as it really seems to catch the spirit of the Golden Age comic book era.  It covers some heavy subject matter compared to many books I read, but I'm really enjoying it and keep finding excuses to go off and read a chapter or three instead of whatever I should be doing.



I'm editing the photo challenge together, so expect to see that in the next week or so.  And now it's time for feedback on the month of no shampoo.  Overall it was a pretty good experience.  It took a little getting used to in terms of getting the right amount of baking soda and handling it right, but after the 3rd wash I figured out a routine (for my small hands a palmful works about right, with a bit of water dripped on it to get the consistency just right.)  So, I felt like it was ok for my hair, but not optimal.  My hair tangles a little too easily to do it long term, and the lack of body and so-so shine wasn't helping.  However on the good side of things it made my lavender hair color last twice as long without as much frizz when blow drying!  So in the future I'll be alternating baking soda/vinegar washes with shampoo and conditioner ones.  Here's some shots of how my hair looks with the baking soda washes (taken several weeks apart with little variation in color):



And this is how my hair looks with shampoo and conditioner for reference.  I can tell the difference with frizz, but not shine usually:



Thanks for reading, if you have any great Pins to share let me know!  I'm open to ideas for new projects.  And I'll see you all again soon!

Love,
Lydia

Monday, February 2, 2015

Books!

Hi folks,

Thanks for all the kind words and responses to my last post.  It really does mean a lot to me as we try to be patient about the timing of having kids.  And I'd be happy to talk to anyone else dealing with infertility; I find it's really important to be able to talk to someone outside of your husband about it, or else feelings can get bottled up.  I tend to find people online through message boards (Babycenter) and other groups, though I'm less involved lately.

Anyway, I've been reading like crazy and have lots of additions to my reading list so far.  I'm up to 10 books finished so far this month, with a half dozen more started.  Apparently I'll be knocking out the 52 on the early side if I keep this up, though in some ways I'm not surprised.  There was a summer around 6th grade when I read nearly 100 books thanks to a fellow library patron who decided to challenge me more than the reading program at the library was.  I feel awful that I don't even know that woman's name, but perhaps soon I'll challenge a young reader myself and make it a tradition!

The books I've added are Injustice: Gods Among Us Volume 1 and Injustice: Gods Among Us Volume 2, which are comics involving the Justice League characters (Batman, Superman, Wonderwoman, etc).  The storyline was written as a prequel to a video game (I didn't know this when I read it or I might have hesitated), but it was so well received as a comic that more volumes are being published to continue the story.  Most of the story revolves around the idea that the superheroes with all their power are nearly gods, and to some people are as one group takes over ruling the earth.  It's really well written and I highly recommend it.

Wildflowers and Plant Communities of the Southern Appalachian Mountains and Piedmont is a great guide to the natural trees, shrubs, and small plants of the south grouped by how they're found in nature.  It was a fantastic read (if you're into plants like me) and I'll be using several of the plants I found in here to craft my garden with.

Midnight in Austenland by Shannon Hale was a light read, that was fun and a follow up to her first Austenland book, with more of a mystery twist.  These books aren't as well written as the YA books she's known for, but I enjoyed them anyway.

The Permaculture Handbook: Garden Farming for Town and Country was a book that I had high hoped for, but was mostly disappointed by.  It had a lot of information that wasn't useful to me interspersed with a bit that was.  It read more like a textbook than anything though, making it dull enough that I skimmed it for what was interesting and finished it fast despite it's large size.

Unlocked: An Oral History of Haden's Syndrome by John Scalzi is a prequel to Lock In, and more of a novella than a full book.  It's available to read online for free here, which is how I read it.  I thought it was definitely as good as Lock In, if not better in some ways.  It reads a lot like World War Z by Max Brooks, giving a great historically styled narrative.


So, that's a bit of what I've read in January and I have so much more to update you all on regarding the Pins, but that will have to be in a follow up post.  If nothing else this post shows just how eclectic my tastes in books are, and it's just the tip of the iceberg!  More interesting book choices to come, including a Pulitzer Prize winner and more gardening books, plus a new comic choice.  I'll see you all again soon.

Love,
Lydia