Art & Life of SwarDrawS

got over my fear of cutting a bevel mat with my *new* (yeah in December) mat cutter. Every mat I ever tried to cut sucked and aggrevated my wrist. With this new doohickie, it should go easier but I was afraid that when all is said and done, the mat will still suck.

Mom bought this water color print she wanted me to frame. What a perfect opportunity to try out that mat cutter. She gave it to me the end of March.

On Sunday Carroll offered to come pick up Hollace up for a playdate. That left me with 5 hours of free time! RAW was in Indiana. I got that darn mat cutter out and after one minor mishap, I cut a perfect mat! I was so excited.

Today I picked up the old Subaru. I have been driving around the loaner car, a 06 Hyundai Sonata and parking it under the messy tree which is the only place to park a car around here. Anyway I got the call today at work the car was ready. I wanted to wash the loaner quickly first but didn't want to pay for a car wash, I was kind of embarassed on how bad it looked with sap and seeds but I am still a cheapskate and know the dealer has a car wash facility. I go to fill it with gas which I needed to do and the gas pump kept asking over and over if I wanted to buy a car wash. No. I get to the dealership and they ask me if I wanted them to wash the Suburu before I left. Sure. In the end however they didn't wash the Subaru because my attenna doesn't go down and they said their washer will break it off. I guess it is karma car wash since I didn't wash their car first.

The bill was exactly what they estimated. I guess that is a good thing nothing else was found wrong with the transmission.

I noticed immediately though that it takes a bit longer to start it. I thought originally it was because the loaner must of been more responsive to turn the key but now I am not so sure. I have a feeling my starter is now going out. How odd that it starts to go out the moment I get the transmission fixed. Now I still have the fear that car will strand me in a parking lot.

Posted by swardraws at 11:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

That is what I am and so is RAW for the most part even though he hates the house.

Right now we should be in Wisconsin camping but we are not. I already paid the $63 to do so but blew it off.

I value my stay at home weekends and while I just had a few in a row, the next three coming up won't be. Next weekend is Memorial Day and we usually go to Appleton then the next two weekends will be part of vacation. We are going to North Carolina and the homebody in me isn't really looking forward to it but I am forcing myself to be happy.

I don't know what exactly is wanting to keep me at home but it is. If I would just get out more then I would have more opportunity to see things to photograph. That alone should get me out but last week I broke the rut in my photography by walking around the neighborhood and seeing things I hadn't seen before.

I should really try to do something different this weekend since we are staying home. I supose I should start my list on things I want to do or accomplish this weekend right now.

Posted by swardraws at 12:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I finallly am getting the darn transmission fixed on the Subaru. I have been dealing with the fact that it doesn't go into drive too easily for nearly 4 years now. It was getting worse and on Tuesday while already in drive it pulled its shenigans. While I had no problem being stranded by my trannie in a parking lot, totally unacceptable to be stranded on the road at a stop light. I was able to shift my weight (knew obesity had its good points) forward and get it back in gear. I finally bit the bullet and took it in last night. I also knew it was time when I would see other people go right into drive with their cars and think wistfully, wow what a concept.

To rebuild the trannie it was going to cost $4,500. Fortunately it doesn't look I need to have that happen. With the $2,200 however, it looks like it will be basically rebuild so what a deal! ;-)

They also found a lot of other things wrong with the car unrealated to the trannie, probably another $1500 worth of goodies. None of those seems critical being centered with oil seals and such. I am not losing oil, we will keep an eye on it.

I had to drag RAW and Hollace out of bed an hour early to get me to work this morning. I had a client who was suppose to have a critical change for their time sensitive website first thing in the morning. RAW gets me to work and I quickly realized once in the building that I didn't have my keys so I couldn't get in the office. I emptied my purse in the hall looking for those keys and was surprised to see one lone spare key for the office in there. Totally bizarre and perfect.

As for that time sensitive change? I am still waiting for it and it and lunch is almost over.

Posted by swardraws at 12:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I signed Hollace up for summer activities at the park district. I probably got carried away because when all is said and done, she has only 2 free weeks left! Beside the 2 week all day day camp, the other activities are only a few hours and maybe M-W-F. Actually I have a conflict. The second round of swimming lessons clashes with Nature Camp. You know nothng can class with Nature Camp.

Hollace lately has become obsessed with saving endangered animals. She made a shrine in her room of a bunch of them. She told me she doesn't like art anymore, only endangered animals.

Today her teacher told RAW that Hollace really wants to go into saving endangered animals but first she has to learn to read better. The kid don't care, she is very one track minded.

The living room is still in disarray. Tomorrow I finish painting and RAW hopefully finish the floor. In the meantime our bathroom faucet broke. I stepped in a puddle the other morning. I was afraid it was cat pee but it wasn't. On Sunday we are suppose to go to a water park with the Brownies. Dad wanted RAW to come down there to help him chop up a tree. He tried doing it on the way back from Ft Wayne last weekend but dad said it was too wet. Now he expects him to make the 100 mile one way trip with gas around $3 a gallon to go down there

I had a challenging week this week. I had two jobs that were keeping me guessing. I think both will work out ok but it has left me drained. That and the fact today was Corey's last day kind of have me in a funk tonight. We all went out to lunch for Corey. While I knew everyone and talked to everyone, I still felt disconnected and blocked and really had nothing to say. Then later that day I had a meeting with the AS picnic group where we sat around and cut out daisys (we have a groovy theme). I didn't know any of them and still feel disconnected.

As soon as I finish this entry, I will put the computer to sleep and mediate or something. I feel like I need to defrag my brain

Posted by swardraws at 10:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)