Addicted

That’s Mr. Motts being silly. My favorite picture from his site.

I just discovered Opacity. It’s a site on “urban exploration”. Mr. Motts and friends go into abandoned buildings and take pictures. He does not leave behind graffiti or otherwise deface the properties, and he takes nothing. He gives a little history on the buildings and sites that he photographes.

I find the whole thing fascinating. The pictures are marvelous. That one to the left is my favorite, but most of them aren’t silliness. A lot of the viewers find the images haunting, especially the ones of the old insane asylums; I don’t. I find them sad for 2 reasons: the beautiful properties have, by and large, been left to rot and, in the case of the old hospitals, the lives of the people who were there must have been very bleak, not to mention difficult. The properties are beautiful. Some were built at the end of the romantic period, and the architecture reflects the attitudes of the day.

I don’t know why the pictures aren’t loading. Both are clickable, so if you click on them, you will be taken to Opacity.

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What's Your Pumpkin Face?

You Are

A Scary Pumpkin Face You would make a good pumpkin and liver sandwich.

What’s Your Pumpkin Face?

Depression

Ugh! I had a breakdown today. I hate this apsect of changing medication. We’re trying to get out of the house to go to one of Pulguito’s friend’s house for a birthday party. Chunguita slams Pulguito’s head in the doorway to her room while trying to keep him out. So, he’s crying. She is, of course, contrite. She didn’t want to hurt him, just keep him out of her room. I scold her for trying to slam the door; it’s more of an “this is why I tell you not to slam the doors” lecture than anything, but she knows that I’m displeased. She hides behind the door and crys. I drag her out of there to try and get her dressed, but she fights me, screaming, yelling, and kicking. I put her down on her bed.

Pulguito immediately climbs up on her be. I think he was trying to comfort her, but who knows. She kicks him in the head. She’s crying, he’s crying, and BH is no where to be found. When I finally find him, he’s sitting in the garage eating a bagel. WTF! I manage to hand off a crying Pulguito to him, but shit! you think he could have stirred his ass to help us get ready. It’s 10:55 am; the party starts at noon, and he’s eating a bagel! WTF was he thinking?

I get Chunguita dressed, and go get Pulguito who is poopy. On the way in, he manages to crack one of the skulls on my just made calavera necklace. I don’t lose it, but I tell Pulguito that I’m upset that the necklace is broken. BH finally stirs himself and comes in to get Pulguito ready. DH asks what happened, and I tell him about the necklace. He says nothing. He knows that I just made it.

Then as we are getting in the car, DH decides to ride in the back with the kids. He had opened the front door and left it open. I asked him to close the door before he climbs into the back of the car. He’s pissed. Fine, I’ll close the door. No, he climbs out and closes the door. Why is he mad? And, of course, I think he’s mad at me. I blame myself. I started to cry on the way to the party.

Now, looking back, I know that I am in no way responsible for his reaction over closing the door. It’s just one of those things that he’s jerky about. It would have been nice if he had offered condolences over the necklace. However, when I was in a depressed place, I was unable to handle those things. Everything swirls around in my head, and I dig myself deeper and deeper into the depression.

I didn’t use self-talk to buck myself up. Instead, I told myself that I had to be presentable for the party. The self-talk came after the party, and it is still useful.

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For your viewing pleasure:

Dia de Los Muertos at the Oakland Museum

Making Kites

I took Chunguita and Los Abuelos to the Oakland Museum for the Dia de los Muertos festival. It was fun. Chunguita was afraid of some of the costumes; the skulls seemed to really freak her out. But she liked the Ensambles Ballet Folklorico de San Francisco a lot. There was a flower curtain with Our Lady of Guadalupe that intrigued her.

She must not have noticed the boy with the face paint next to her while making the kites. I wanted to get my face painted, but she wouldn’t let me.

Mr Pumpkin Head

Mr. Pumpkin Head

I bought some Halloween Mr. Potato Head sets at Target. The kids loved them, but I needed to use one of the carving knives to get the pieces in.

Flower Fairy Costume

Detail of flowers on dress

The dress is done, and Chunguita wore it to Livermore’s downtown event on Thursday. She promptly ripped it. She seems to like it. Sometimes it’s hard to tell.

I modified the overskirt slightly. Instead of cutting out a front and 2 back halves, I cut the 72 inch tulle at the proper height and used one piece to make the skirt. I converted the tie-on, gathered waist to an elastic waistband.

Flower detail on overskirt

Overskirt

Pumpkins

Fabric Pumpkins

These are the easiest things to make. Take a rectangle (mine was 9 inches by 18 inches) and sew the short ends together making a squat cylinder. Gather the top and bottom. Sew bottom shut. Stuff, and wind with twine.