Category: work

Posted on

gone baby gone

…the girl is gone. I’m syncing my iPod, writing my last story for the week, washing laundry and trying to pack, before falling asleep. Off to NYC tomorrow and can’t wait to sleep on the plane. Mostly because I still have a lot to do tonight and will doubtless be tired tomorrow anyway.

Note to non-fan: Stop reading. No one is forcing you to read. Take a hint. Go away.
Note to everyone else: I’ll miss you.

Big news in Sun on Thursday: watch for it. Rather feisty school board this evening. I enjoyed it. Kids are prepped, lots to do still but anyway, I’m out of here and will be back late Sunday — and doubt I’ll have the juice to write when I get just home. It will be 2 a.m. for me by then, I think.

Anyway. I’m procrastinating. Story calls me. Must go, must pack, etc etc.
Love u. Mean it.

Posted on

news of the world

Cat on the lap and it must be blogging time. I guess my sitting here with an open, available lap is nothing but an invitation. *I* think it means I’m working. Clearly I am mistaken.

The Governator came to town yesterday and messed with our production schedule. We held the paper back by two hours in order to hear his speech — in which he attempted to blame others for the budget crisis, because it’s always someone else’s fault, isn’t it? Getting the stories done, the paper proofed and sent took longer and the press was so mad and we were actually an hour later than all that, but we made it. There were also two fires the previous night, drama, adventure, you name it. It’s all there. Check it out in the Sun, today.

It’s Earth Day this weekend, at least here in Alameda, and we’ve got an event planned. It’s the Man’s idea: we’re gonna have a neighborhood cleanup of our little filthy beach here at the Point. It’s right on the edge of Seaplane Lagoon, which sounds so pretty, unless you consider the nickname for the place: The Navy’s Toilet. There are signs warning of toxins in the fish. Don’t eat it! Apparently there is airplane and ship fuel, probably fun stuff like dioxins and PCBs and mercury — all just waiting for us. However, there is also a lot of broken glass, plastic, an old mattress and more, so we’ll do our best to clean those things up and see how it looks afterward. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a little stretch of beach that was not covered in trash? That we could sit on and smell the mercury once in a while? I think so. Kudos to Mr. Husband for thinking it up. We made a flyer and passed it to all the nay-bors and we’re all set to clean up, then potluck afterward here, on Saturday. Join us, if you’re free. Wear gloves.

I had the Tiger Cub Scouts in the newspaper yesterday afternoon, working on a merit badge, and they were so cute — but um, energetic. Very much so. I was thinking they’d be older and was unprepared for six very high-strung 7 year olds. But they were all very eager to know more and so I did my best to show them what we do and how we do it. Later I took their photo (getting them to sit still was a challenge). I told Mr. Husband that it was like dropping a jar full of marbles, trying to keep the “lesson” going. Crash, rattle, roll…but that’s how it is. Fun stuff. Look for their photo in next week’s paper. Very cute boys.

I posted a call for interns on Craigslist, sent the flyer to UC Berkeley, SF State, CSU East Bay, College of Alameda, Ohlone and I think a few other places. Laney, too. I hope to get a couple of good candidates to come onboard for the summer. I also have an eager high school intern who wants to learn the ropes. It will really help me a lot to have some interns. I just can’t keep all the plates spinning these days. I expect to spend the next few weeks interviewing and figuring out who is right for us.

Last night Ana and I baked a cake from scratch — she wanted to surprise her boyfriend for passing the proficiency exam. Good for him — yay, Vinny! I realized how easy it is to bake a cake from scratch — literally just five more minutes than baking from a mix, and the flavor is so much better that it is hardly worth it to get that nasty chemical taste and extra sugar — for five minutes’ saving? Yuk. I can’t wait to taste this one. The batter was delicious. Ten times better, no, twenty, than a box mix. A good lesson: The old ways are often the best ways.

On the list today is a meeting with a freelancer, a couple of calls to women friends from my group, continuing to clean up in prep for the Saturday Earth Day potluck, planning what I’ll prepare for that (probably a couple of salads, maybe a cake — from scratch!); water the veggies outside, and in the front, all the potted plants (they look wilty). A load of laundry, perhaps. Husband says we have to go to the gym tonight. Ugh. We just got a membership to the Bladium in trade for advertising — so it’s “free” — so I guess I’d better go (creak, moan, groan…) I guess that’s why I NEED to go, huh? To stop the creaking?

Dinner tonight: Vegetarian feast. That means salad. One daughter is sick. It’s a quiet few days at the White House (La Casa Blanca), out here at the Point. Potluck this weekend.

Next week: New York.

Posted on

wind and its effects

Very windy out here, and so cold. How could it have been so sunny and warm over the weekend and then so chilly for a few days? Hard to keep up. Wear shorts? Wear parkas? Wear both and hope it evens out? One never knows.

The gardeners are watering the lawns outside, because that is what they do on a Tuesday in spring through fall. But the wind is howling. So how much lawn is getting watered? Not much. But at least the cars and houses and streets are getting washed…! Pour some more water down the drains, friends…This seems to me a classic example of bad management — because it’s Tuesday, it must be meatloaf. Or Rome. When it windy, can’t we pull weeds or aerate the lawn or mow something? Trim the hedge? Must we waste copious amounts of (precious fresh) water and still not get the job done? The lawns go thirsty (that we even have lawns is a whole different topic and another bad management issue, but we’ll leave that for another day). But tick it off the list. Tuesday, watering. Done! Regardless of actual results achieved.

Who’s got her crabbypants on? Um. Hmm.

Good news: the lawn tix (lawn!!!) for Jimmy Buffett in October at the Shoreline have been purchased. Want to join us? Buy them now, online, today. They’ll go fast. Parrotheads don’t waste any time. We’ll have a pre-party in the parking lot or nearby hotel room, most likely. Wear your beach gear, and hope it’s warm. Shoreline in October? Not likely. OK, so wear your parka over your grass skirt and coconut bra.

The kittens caught a mouse yesterday. All three of them together. Teamwork! They all took turns licking it, tossing it and losing it to the others. We were so disgusted, watching from the window. Good for them. It’s what comes naturally. But I can’t watch — yuk. Later, they were huddled around my seed basket, which I keep on the patio with all the various veggie seeds and flower seeds, garden gloves, etc, to keep them handy. Something was up. I put on gloves and started pulling items out of the basket. Until EEK. There at the bottom was their little dead mouse friend.

“Bad kitties! Bad! Don’t put your dead mousie in Mommy’s garden basket!” I took the basket out onto the empty space behind the house and tossed the mousie far away. Eeeeew. Yuk. It made my skin crawl. Poor mouse. It wasn’t its fault it was a mouse or in the wrong place at the wrong time, or that the kittens buried it in my basket. But still. It made me squeal. Dead or alive, I’m not a big mouse fan. They can go live happily over there. But stay away from me, and my food.

I’m having trouble typing with a kitten (Norma Jean) on my lap (it was two, but Ophelia got mad and stalked away). Now I’m being licked. Makes me wonder about the mouse germs. Ack.

We are set to cover the Governator Wednesday, and today we’ll kick booty and get the rest of the paper done. My women’s group meets tonight in Hayward; I am begging a ride because (a) it saves gas, (b) it’s smart to carpool, and (c) I had a flat tire yesterday from a nail I apparently drove over, and AAA put on the donut tire, so I don’t want to drive to Hayward til I buy a new tire. So there you go.

Happy Tuesday, all.

Posted on

this week

tomorrow’s paper done, front page coverage of fire, taxes, task forces and development. Same as it ever was…;-) more to come next week.

The sale at Hank Hooper’s Hootenanny went well, although we sold practically nothing. I say it went well because there were lots of ooohs and aahhhs over the merch but there were so many kids there and we had virtually nothing to buy for kids. That helps to know. Aprons, etc., in smaller sizes to come.

This weekend I have “nothing” on the agenda, which means it will be filled with something. Maybe more crafting. More merch. We’re looking ahead at a possible move, as I think I’ve mentioned, for the business. When that deal is settled there will be much hullabaloo about moving and then a fiesta to celebrate the new digs and expansion of…the all-new Alameda Sun World Headquarters. Woo hoo!

Getting excited about our visit back to NY in mid-April — Husband is coming along. We are very excited. We’re gonna tour Yankee Stadium, even though the Yanks are not in town. It’s the one thing on Husband’s list to do in NY (and no, he doesn’t want to see the Mets play). Other than that, he’s content to see whatever we see along the way. And *no* Broadway shows for him, thanks. That’s reserved for chicks-only junkets.

The weather has been so chilly lately — I just heard that the El Nina phenomenon will keep temps down this summer. Bummer — I like a good hot season. I hope my tomatoes and such will grow. I don’t mind cool weather — but the wind. Ack.

I keep adding items to my calendar; this week has gone crazy. Dental/orthodontic appointments, etc. for the kids, my sister’s birthday which I missed, Chamber of Commerce mixer, photo ops at various sites around town, meetings with mucky mucks and nabobs, plus a meeting to continue planning our product line and Big Move. Then I do believe there are more school budget protests in the works. Watch for photos tomorrow.

And the adult softball season begins Friday night with beloved Husband’s team, The Pack, hitting the diamond at Upper Washington Park at 8:50 p.m. Look for me there on any given Friday night through October. See you there, rain or shine, fog or freeze…brrrrr.

Over and out.

Posted on

monday monday monday

spent the weekend working, I mean WORKING. Idle hands and all that…Got going on some recycled products for our upcoming show at Rhythmix next weekend (see http://www.blacknwhitenredallover.blogspot.com/ to know what the hell I’m talking about). I got to work on an apron pattern and spent considerable time this weekend figuring out how to piece, trim, and streamline production of said apron. These are adorable — cute found or vintage fabrics with vintage trims, in saucy combinations of pink and black, fun fabrics from the past, or retro prints, rescued quilt pieces, etc. Saved from landfill! Very cute, and I will have about a dozen for next week.

Come to Hank Hooper’s family fun CD release party at Rhythmix Cultural Works, Sunday 2-4, and check out the arts & crafties for sale. That’s where we’re holding our first outing of recycled/recrafted objets d’art. If I can get it rocking this week, we’ll also have purses, frames, trays, and a selection of recycled paper products. IF being the key word.

This weekend I also did the East Bay wine tour, visiting several urban wineries for the story I’m writing for the EB Monthly. Met some very enthusiastic wine aficionados, passionate about their craft. I sense that hanging around with these winemakers would be a very cool thing. Watch for this feature in the May issue.

So I was sewing madly, and also touring wineries, and no, I did not have even one sip. Nadda. I also stopped at Laci’s Museum of Lace and Textiles in Berkeley, which is an extremely cool place to go if you are into any kind of needlecraft, from knitting to costuming to lacemaking, etc. Saw their dazzling collection of fashion items for the past 200 years — from false sleeves, embroiderie anglaise, the black mourning shawls popularized by Queen Victoria, christening gowns, mens’ embroidered and brocade vests, and more. Quite awe-inspiring. And so very sturdy, most of them. As the wondrous shop manager and costumer, Erin Algeo, will tell you, these garments were meant to be worn, and then boiled, mangled and pounded on a rock. I imagine that few of my current clothes were made to withstand that: dry clean only, hand wash, lay flat to dry, do not wring…

That will become another story for EB Monthly, for June or July, as long as the exhibition is open (till August 2, if you want to go, and it’s free). It’s at Adeline and Ashby. With free parking afore it, too.

Then I stopped in at the East Bay Depot for Creative Reuse, where I had to park around the back, grumble grumble, and I could see right into the donation area. And I swear to Buddha — there, stapled onto the wall, was a Peanuts needlepoint kit that I swear I did myself in about 1972. It’s Snoopy walking with his bowl on his head and a hobo stick over his shoulder, with Woodstock behind him. I remember how long it took to do that eternal green background — like years, it seemed. Hundreds of stitches! Even though the whole thing is just 6 x 6 inches, I remember it taking forever. And also, the weirdness of the shape of the red bandana on the stick. Red with white spots that I remembered, when I saw it, as vividly as when I did them — because needlepoint canvas isn’t perfect, and a circle shape might be kind of square. And I remember being frustrated by the weird shape of the polka dots, that were not regular and round or square, but totally odd, each of them. I saw that picture stapled to the wall through the back door and I thought, I know that piece. I remember that. I made that.

There was no one there to ask. Truly. I would have asked for it, or about it. Maybe there were many of those kits, but the weirdness of the polka dots just struck me. I think it was my own work.

Isn’t that strange?

So as you can see, it was a very full weekend, with self chained to the sewing machine and running around and then chained to the computer as well. PLUS I drove to Pescadero to pick up my beloved Husband who was camping at Butano Creek with the fellas for the weekend. Lovely, long drive and then he didn’t expect me and almost drove off with the guys. Luckily he and I caught each other in the nick of time. Nice drive home, too — Highway 1 without the fog: a rare sight. Beautiful ocean waves. With these little Bay waves at our door, I forget how vast and lovely the ocean is. How blue, how green.

Back into deadline mode again, and heading into a week of prepping for the crafty fair, and then meeting some other deadlines, and then — in two weeks, New York to see My Mia graduate from AADA. Yay!