It’s finally time for solid food! Noah’s first lunch of rice cereal and smushy bananas. He seemed to like it… eventually.

Noah’s First Food Adventure from Chantelle Finley on Vimeo.

Our best friends Colin and Emily have lived beside us for years, either in the same house (before we were married) or just across the street, and people marvel that we survived the roommate thing and all still remained friends, but we did, somehow. For the past year we have lived across the street in the same complex and we are always seen carrying different combinations of furniture, food, cats, guitars, alcohol, workout equipment and electronics back and forth as we hang out at each other’s houses. It has been great having them so close.

Sadly, the legacy must die, as Colin begins his Master’s of Athletic Therapy at the famous University of Oregon. As they prepare for the move to the states we offered to let them to stay with us for a bit so they can be free to look for a place in Eugene without being hampered by needing to finish a lease here. To pay us back for the room, Emmy has been cleaning non-stop since she got here. It has been magnificent. I haven’t lifted a finger since she got here, and the house is spotless. She even organized my spices, streamlined by stovetop collection of seasonings and cleaned the backyard.

My only problem? Since she is so good at putting things away and finding a good space to put everything, can’t find anything in my house now if she’s not around to ask. What am I going to do once they leave?

I started woodburning 2 years ago with a walnut hollow “hobby” woodburner that I bought when I was 9. It did the job, but was rather awkward and sort of burned my hand after a while. 1 year ago Adam teamed up with some friends and family and bought me my first “real” woodburner – a Razortip with pen and replaceable tips (remember this post?). I loved it and used it everyday. It was perfect.

I don’t think the kids at Razortip intended the system be used everyday for about 5 hours, though. Actually, I don’t think anyone would recommend that, as I now have no feeling in the middle finger of my right hand. Eventually, I outgrew the little guy and there simply wasn’t enough power in it for me to finish some of the bigger projects I had. Since I do contemporary decorative woodburning, and not pictures of foxes or ducks, I sometimes have large areas I need to burn dark and the Razortip was having heart trouble.

So I upgraded and treated myself to a brand new Colwood Olympiad woodburner, complete with a couple new tips and even a nice wooden case. It came on Tuesday and I haven’t been able to put it down since, which has made me a bit of a fire hazard around the house. A huge temperature range and enough guts to finish the large pieces, I am really happy with it.

A better system doesn’t make me a better burner, but it will allow me to finish projects faster, which is important now that the shop has REALLY caught on and I am always working on something. Hopefully this will give me more time to start new designs, instead of steadily working on orders of designs I already have for sale. I just have to remember to stop every once in a while for food and sleep.

Adam: “So, I was reading about this new kind of dinosaur they found that would eat it’s food by sucking it up like a vacuum.”

Emily: “Was its name Ollie?”

You know when you were little and your Mom told you not to touch something because you might break it?

Yeah, I just did that.

I broke my blog, and it is showing up all goofy on anything but IE (which is weird and kind of backwards to the usual case) and I don’t know which part I messed with to weird it out.

I’m going for professional help. Luckily I just happened to have married the Professional Help and I can threaten to withhold food until he figures it out for me. Well no, I can’t, he does the grocery shopping. I guess I could just ask him nicely for his help.

Hang in there. We’ll get it back from goofy-looking to spectacular once more, but not tonight. For now, I am going to go to bed and dream of smashing my computer with a Louisville slugger. Or of taking web design courses so my ignorance doesn’t demolish another innocent website.

Following a recent “social gathering” I showed my friend Sue the bead spinner that I had made. I think I had a bit too much wine, or I was just dumb that night, but I don’t know if I made sense, so I am officially documenting the creation of my bead spinner for Sue, and everyone else who is curious

1. Accidentally break the hard plastic lid of a sample jar from the lab, rendering it useless for actual sample containment. Try to break the lid on a wide-mouth, fairly stubby jar. Take the useless jar home.

2. Take apart the dot matrix printer (circa 1980) that VJ kept for no conceivable reason. Retrieve metal rods from printer interior (note: a hammer and some re-directed bitter angst about something will be needed for this step).

3. Buy some “NuLustre 55″ resin from Rona, Deck Stain aisle. After writing to the company to point out how lame the product name is, read all safety precautions on the package.

(more…)

Ollie is staying at our house for a bit while we cat-sit for Colin and Em, and he’s learning a few things from our cat, Chuki:

1. Climbing up towels to sit on the towel rod is harder than it looks.
2. I don’t fit on Chuki’s window ledges.
3. Chuki is allowed in the backyard but I’m not because apparently I’m a “flight risk.”
4. My food is okay, but when I try Chuki’s food they say “No” and “Bad.” I don’t know what it means when your food is “No” and “Bad” but Chuki still keeps eating it. I hope he doesn’t get sick.
5. Dust bunnies don’t taste as good as you’d think.
6. Chuki likes to spoon, but only if no one is looking.
7. Chuki told me that if I lick the spilled beads from the dungeon studio floor, little colourful dots will appear in my poop.
8. I don’t fit under Chuki’s couch.
9. Apparently, no one meows while Uncle Adam is watching “24.”
10. If my head is under the bed but the rest of me is not, I’m still invisible.