365 Days Handmade

Making life a better place, one day at a time

Category Archives: Adventures with Sean


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Day 61/365: Working in Prison Has Ruined Movies for Me

3.2.2015

Sean and I were hanging out in the living room after dinner.  “I’m going to put on a Netflix movie,” he said.  “Do you have any preferences?”

“Not really,” I said.  I was knitting and wouldn’t be looking at the TV screen anyway.

He chose a movie called The History of Future Folk.  It had something to do with a guy who was an alien and landed on Earth with a mission to wipe out the human race, but then he heard music for the first time and changed his mind about obliterating the population.  I guess he decided to stay on Earth and met a woman, and they had a child, and somewhere in between he learned to play the banjo and played what were apparently popular nightly sets at a New York bar.

I sat there knitting my sock while the movie played out, and I didn’t make any comments or really start paying attention until there was a scene that involved the main characters going to jail.

I looked up at that point and stopped knitting.  I noticed something about all of the men who were supposedly arrested and were now incarcerated in the jail.

“None of them have tattoos!” I said.  “That’s so unrealistic.  That wouldn’t happen in real life.”

“Really?” Sean said.  “That’s the part of this movie that you’re going to find unrealistic?”


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Day 53/365: Beach Striped Socks (4th Completed Pair for 2015)

2.22.2015A

A view of the Ventura Pier. That water is cold.

Today was overcast with sporadic rain, the kind of Sunday where you just stay inside and do things like read and knit and stay warm and dry.  At about 4:30 in the afternoon, Sean and I picked ourselves up off the couch and went down for a walk along the Promenade.

2.22.2015B

Meanwhile, Sean’s feet are nice and toasty in this 65-degree weather.

We didn’t have any real adventures, except on our way back home down a side street, when a little brown Chihuahua came running out of nowhere, yapping and barking and making a beeline for my ankles.  I thought it was going to sink its little teeth into me.  (As you’ve already probably figured out from this blog and my lifestyle, I don’t keep pets or children.  I can barely keep a plant alive.)  Luckily, the owner appeared and called for the dog to come back before any real damage could be done– to me or to the dog, depending on your perspective.

2.22.2015D

Interesting rock formation near the pier.

2.22.2015E

View from another angle. All I need now is a panoramic lens. And maybe a more expensive, professional camera.

I saved this photo for last.  If you click on it and look closely at the larger image, there’s a rainbow in the center of the photo, right above the pier.  It also occurred to me how much the colors of the socks work nicely with the overcast-day-at-the-beach thing going on here.  That’s some nice synchronicity.  Unlike me and the Chihuahua.

2.22.2015C


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Day 52/365: Luckily, Sean Has Big Feet

2.21.2015A

Almost done with the second sock!

Yesterday I realized that I’d left my sock knitting instructions back at the Morro Bay house, and I was pretty bummed out about that.  Then, last night I remembered:  Those same instructions were typed on a Word document that I’d saved on my laptop.  Hooray!  (It doesn’t take much to make me happy, apparently.)  So I was able to knit the gusset, turn the heel, and start the ribbing for the cuff on the second sock this morning.

When I’m in Morro Bay, I just take photos for the blog by staging my work-in-progress on the back deck or front porch, usually.  Since I’m at the Ventura homestead this weekend, I had to get creative with my photo shoot locations.  I took the above photo by placing the socks on a low hedge outside.  I also tried photographing the in-progress sock on the sidewalk.  I like the way this one came out, so I have to share it:

2.21.2015B

See? Pretty, right?

I originally started knitting this pair for my older brother, who may or may not be reading this right now.  As I was knitting the second sock this morning, I had a feeling that this pair might be a little too big for my big bro.  So I asked Sean to try it on.  My brother wears a size 9 men’s shoe.  Sean wears a size 11.  He pulled the sock onto his foot, and it fit him perfectly:

2.21.2015C

This photo tells you a lot about us. Skateboard. Dolls. Books. And I’ll admit that mess on the floor is all me. I’m too busy being creative to bother with cleaning.

So it looks like Sean just got himself another pair of socks.  Tomorrow I’m making him be a sock model again. (Remember the first time?)  I’m thinking the Ventura Promenade will make a nice backdrop.  Stay tuned.

 

 


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Day 46/365: One Person’s Trash…

Remember this old bureau that I rescued from the landfill yesterday?

I spent most of today fixing it up, with Sean’s help.

2.15.15B

Click for a closer look of the dirty, dusty details.

First, I pulled out the two remaining drawers and discovered dust and a spider and a few other tiny bugs and crawlies.  So Sean and I carried the empty dresser out to the driveway, where I gave it a major powerwash with the garden hose.

2.15.15C

See? Much cleaner.

Sean got started measuring the space where I wanted a shelf, since one of the three drawers had been missing its front panel and was beyond repair.

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Measure twice, cut once.

In the meantime, I started painting.  I went with two coats and thought that was a good place to stop.

2.15.15E

Wet paint!

It was foggy in Morro Bay today, so it wasn’t the best day to be taking photos in natural sunlight.  But I think you can get a pretty good idea of where this project is heading.

What do you think so far?

2.15.15F

P.S. The name of this paint is Good Life.

Which is kinda appropriate, ’cause that’s what we’re living, baby.


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Day 45/365: Happy Valentine’s Day to Me

Sean and I were taking a shortcut to the Embarcadero by way of a side street off Main.  We were passing a parking lot of a commercial building when I noticed some furniture that had been put out near the dumpster.

“Hang on,” I said to Sean and ran across the parking lot to check out the furniture—or more specifically, a bureau that caught my eye.  It had exactly the kind of curves that I like.  At the same time, the front panel of the bottom drawer was missing, along with every single drawer knob.  Still, it had potential.  I could remove the broken bottom drawer and rearrange the remaining two drawers so that the top section could be an open shelf.

I ran back to where Sean was waiting on the sidewalk.  “Can we go home and get the car and come back and take that dresser home?”

“What do you want that old dresser for?” Sean asked.  “It’s all jacked up.”

“Please,” I said.  “Humor me.”

So Sean, being The Most Patient and Best Husband in The World, went along with my plan and we walked back up the hill to our house.  Then we got in The Rental and drove a half mile back to the dumpster in the parking lot, only to discover (when I went to lift one side) that the bureau was coated in grime and filth, and there was no way that The Most Patient and Best Husband in The World was going to agree to slide that dirty old bureau onto the clean carpeted trunk of his car.

So we got back in The Rental and drove the half mile back up the hill to our house, where I ran into the garage and grabbed a bunch of rags and an old bedsheet, and then we drove back down the hill to the commercial building’s parking lot, and this time we successfully loaded the bureau into the back of the car.

The Most Patient and Best Husband in The World drove us back home and unloaded the bureau into the garage.

“This is your project,” he said.  “It’s all you.”

“Okay,” I said, already thinking about my paint color choices and whether I should go for Shabby Chic off-white or Beach Cottage aqua/turquoise.  I also thought it best not to say any more, because I was still going to need his help to get the job done.  Someone’s going to have to build a shelf in that space where the missing drawer should be.

2.14.15

Click on the image to get a better look!

 


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Day 40/365: Broken Wing’s Wife Feels the Pain

Okay, so remember the story of how Broken Wing broke his wing riding his skateboard?

Well, I guess it would be hypocritical of me to tell that story and then not share mine, which I’m embarrassed to say happened for pretty much the same reason:  yesterday afternoon I tried to ride a board that was faster than I expected.

Anyway, it’s not much of a story.  We took the skateboards out and went riding with some friends, and I was cruising on my longboard and having a pretty good time.  One of our friends had a shorter board that wasn’t really suitable for his build, so he was having to work harder to make it go.  I offered him the use of my longboard, and then Sean suggested I try his other board, which seemed like a perfectly good idea until I stepped on it and the thing quickly slid out from under me.  I tried to break the fall with my left hand and landed on my palm with the full force of my body weight.

Luckily I didn’t break anything, but goddamn, it hurt like a sonofabitch.  But you know what?  I got back on my board as soon as the pain subsided a little, because you can’t let shit like that stop you.  No point in sitting around, crying or sulking or blaming the board or your husband for suggesting you try something new.  When you fall down, you got to dust yourself off and get yourself back up.

And anyway, I still had to roll my sorry ass home, because sure as shit wasn’t nobody gonna be carrying me.

 

2.9.15

See? Nothing broken. Maybe a little bruised and swollen.  That hand will be punching again in no time.