OMG What A Game!

We're still marching toward Super Bowl Sunday, which actually will be held in Minneapolis this year in US Bank stadium. Our home town team, the Minnesota Vikings, have played in the Super Bowl before, but have never won. Since the last time, the league has expanded (a lot) and the competition has also expanded (a lot). But we have a really good team this year with an unknown quarterback who stepped into the job and took off running. It's been a bizarre year for us, and yesterday's game was just one more example of how bizarre it really could get. 

I love this shirt. Don't own it, but almost wish I did. Of
course, both Green Bay and Chicago are already done
with their seasons, and we're still playing! Go
Purple - Go Vikings! 

As a Vikings fan, you wear your purple and gold, you know how to do the "Skol" cheer, and you enter every game hopeful, but knowing it's the Vikings and we'll lose. Especially as we climb the ladder toward the Big Game. we'll lose. It doesn't stop us from cheering ourselves hoarse, it doesn't stop us from dreaming, but we've been there before. We've done the higher ranks - the Divisional Playoffs, the Divisional Championships, and the Big Game itself. We've done this dance before, and always had our feet stepped on. 

New Orleans didn't play well until the second half, but then they
really pulled it out and made it a game. The final three minutes
of the game will be watched for years to come. 

Yesterday we played the New Orleans Saints for a chance to get to the Divisional Championship. In the other games around the league, two winners were upsets - the Jacksonville Jaguars over the Pittsburgh Steelers 45 to 42. A very tight game, but I was pretty happy - I'm quite fond of cats. The Philadelphia Eagles over the Atlanta Falcons 15 to 10, which was a surprise and a very well-played game, and finally, the New England Patriots over the Tennessee Titans 35 to 14. The Patriots are going to their seventh consecutive Divisional Playoff Game. For some great highlights and a nice synopsis of each of the four games, check out this link. 

On the last play of the game, Case Keenum threw to his favorite receiver,
Stefon Diggs, hoping to get enough yardage to allow a field goal to
win the game. But Diggs ran with it, and made it to the end zone.
Touchdown! Victory! We're going to the Championship round! 

If you missed our final three minutes of play, you missed football at its best. The Vikings had the lead, then the Saints did, and on the final play of the game, with no time-outs or other options left to use, Case Keenum threw to Stefon Diggs who ran it into the end zone for a touchdown! We won the game! With zero seconds remaining on the clock! It was a miracle play, it'll be in highlight reels for years to come, and we actually did it! We're going one step farther along, to the Divisional Championship game next weekend where we'll meet the Philadelphia Eagles in Philadelphia for a chance to play in the Super Bowl in three weeks. 

I don't dare look too far ahead, but damn! Damn! We're going to the Divisional Championship game! Damn! I'm SO doing the happy dance. Enjoy your Monday, I'll be smiling all day. 

Tree and Flower Awards - Thank You!

I am sending out a huge "Thank You" to the organizers of the 2012 Tree and Flower Awards held on MPTT. I was thrilled to have several stories of mine win either Third Place or Honorable Mention and doubly thrilled to have my artwork "And Maedhros Stood Aside" awarded First Place! Here are the stories and links to where everything can be read or viewed on MPTT for those of my friends who may be interested.

First Place:
"And Maedhros Stood Aside" - mixed media on black

Third Place:
Awaiting the Death of the King
The Burning Cold of Snow
Tales from the Other Side - It's Not All About War

Honorable Mention:
Wind Song
In the Darkness of the Moon
Gifts from the Black Gate

HUGE THANKS go out to all of the organizers of the MPTT Tree and Flower Awards who have worked so very hard behind the scenes to make this possible. I am absolutely thrilled and humbled to have been nominated in the first place and to have actually won for some of my work. To those who voted for me and for the other winners, thank you for taking the time to do so. Recognition by peers is always a joy!

Basketball, Lottery and Poetry

Well, I had wanted Kansas to win the basketball tournament, but Kentucky was just too good. It was a fun game, but not as good as the semi-final games which seemed much harder fought, and certainly had been right down to the buzzer. It was still fun to watch, though, while fighting with my poetry.

The LOTRO Community assignment for this month is the 'Beauty of Arda' and should be poetry. I wrote three poems yesterday, and although things are starting to get there, it's much more of a fight than I usually have. I have written poems since I was a kid, and I'm comfortable with metered rhyme. But this time I'm trying free verse, and my theme just isn't allowing me to really peer into the 'beauty' part of Arda. So it comes down to a question - do I go with my muse? or do I go with the theme? So far my muse is winning. It's a good thing this isn't due for a while.

So one of the MegaMillions winners is in Maryland, supposedly this single mother of seven who works at McDonald's. So far so good...but...her fellow workers are claiming that the ticket was part of the store pool, not just hers, and now she can't seem to find the ticket. Hmmmm. What a bunch of bullcrap. I tell you one thing. If I have the winning ticket for a jackpot like this, I lock that ticket up quickly! Duh! I don't think she has it at all, but if she does, she'd better split that money with her co-workers. Shame on her!

24 Hours of Happy, Then Back to Normal

I actually won an award in the Middle Earth Fanfiction Awards for 2011. So I'm going to take today and bask, and tomorrow I'll be back to normal - working hard. My drabble "Morning Song" (that's a story of 100 words) placed second in the Drabble-Elves category. OK, that's enough about me, many of my friends placed numerous times and their wins were far more deserved than mine. So my sincere CONGRATULATIONS go out to all of the winners as well as all those stories that were nominated. Well done!

Today is my studio day. I give a lecture in two months to the Upper Midwest Bead Society on "An Exploration of Beads and Stitches" so I need to start working on examples for that, I also have six colorways that I designed to pack up a colorway kits that I need to start making up. I guess I'll be busy with needle and thread as well as continuing my writing today. It looks to be a good day :-)

Looking for my Husband...LOL

So, the Isenguard Expansion for Lord of the Rings Online came live yesterday. He downloaded it as soon as dinner was over yesterday and started playing. I think he finally went to sleep around 1:30 this morning. He has today off, I'm sure he'll be playing for most of the day. He'll barely poke his head above water for days while he is playing the new areas and working at getting his characters back up to the new cap level. I'll be playing it myself this weekend with my old characters to get them capped up too. It'll be fun.

I am head-deep in writing right now. Bumed that I didn't even get Honorable Mention for ALEC in August, but, I knew I was going out on a limb with the direction I chose and I'm OK with it. At least I can bring my story "Love and Loss in Three-Quarter Time" out into the general air now and my September story was submitted on time. I'm busy with my October community challenge of "Outside the Box" which is turning into a much larger story that I had ever intended, I have a drabble to do this morning, and there were a couple of other things of interest. Additionally I need to invent a character for Game of Thrones. Although I already know what character I want to do, I have to find the appropriate graphics to go along with it. The deadline for this one is next week, so I'd better get going on this soon. Too much to do - but all fun!

Final Four

So, I'm a "Project Runway" groupie. Blame my DH - he started watching in Season 6 and got me hooked for Season 7. Last night the final four were determined for Season 8's finale. There are only two episodes remaining.

Michael C was the great surprise for us. His dress was loved by all of the judges when DH and I thought it was rather boring and non-descript. But, on the strength of that dress along with the other clothes he had developed during the season, Michael C is in the final four.

Mondo, of course is in. His gutsy work with patterns and colors and ability to always turn something fabulous up under pressure pretty much guaranteed that he would be in the final four. I think it is quite possible that he will win it all, but we'll have the fun of the next two episodes to see if I'm right.

Andy is in. Although he had some times when his designs didn't come through, he wasn't afraid to play with color and he is fabulous with construction. It's not that easy to put disparate fabrics together and not have the seams pucker. It's also not that easy to make the drapes perfect and pants fit exactly. He's got great skills.

Gretchen is not my favorite, and it seemed that her vision grew more cloudy as the season progressed, but she's a strong designer and just needs to remember to be on edge with her designs to avoid looking "off the rack" from your local mall store. She's got a shot at winning it all, but I doubt that she'll be able to pull it off. She'll do fine with her carreer, though. She's got a good sense for "off the rack" design.

And that left April on the outs. No real surprise there. She had done some very innovative design, but her pallette was black, black, and more black. She really needed to break out of her box and she didn't.

Why do I love this show? It is a show about creating under pressure, thinking outside of the box, and pushing one's creative limits to new heights (or lows). I enjoy any shows that celebrate creativity and Project Runway is a great example.

Getting Ready...

I leave for my conference next week and I suppose that I should start packing ...  I'm really bad about sitting down and getting things into my suitcases.  I have a pretty good idea about what I want to have access to at the conference, but that is followed by a workshop that I really don't have any idea about.  And I still have to finish my charms.   Oh - my charms.  There is a charm exchange at the conference. I really enjoy participating in it and getting a variety of wonderful charms from fellow jewelers.  I made my charms (after many difficulties) out of Art Clay Copper.  I had planned to enamel them, but time constraints made me shelve that idea.  Then I was going to darken the sigil on the front and paint some of the back - I scrapped that also because I wasn't getting the look that I needed.  So after having repickled the metal and tumbling the metal again, yesterday morning I decided to liver of sulfur the charms, then I can hit them with the polisher and get them assembled.  I was dipping the charms and they darkened well.  I had the acid in a glass bowl on my hotplate to keep it warm.  When I picked up the bowl to dispose of the LoS, the bowl cracked into two and LoS went everywhere!  What a mess.  Of course I work in copper a lot, and I had pieces on my bench for other items I was working on.  I had to rescue them from the solution very quickly, then mop up the mess.  The studio, of course, smelled like sulfur.  Today I start polishing these cursed items and I hope things work well on this because my patience is coming to an end (as is my time - LOL). 
 

Mark Cavendish wins again.  He's one of the highlights of this year's Le Tour de France. 

Today is the final time trial for Le Tour de France.  Mark Cavendish won the sprint yesterday - the man is simply amazing.  Show him a finish line and he will accelerate to cross it first, no matter what.  That kind of focus is a good lesson for all of us in life.  Show us the finish line - goals to be achieved - and then focus on crossing that finish line first.  Of course, he wouldn't be as successful without a team to make sure he is in a good position to make his strike.  So while you are focused on achieving your goals, don't turn down the assistance of those who will help you achieve your success.  Have a creative weekend and enjoy the final ride into Paris on Sunday.  Vive Le Tour! 

Looking Forward...

We have an off day on Le Tour today, so things kick off in the Alps again tomorrow.  Lance is basically out of contention for the podium due to three falls yesterday - tough day for Armstrong.  His strengths and talents now need to be focused on his teammate - Levi - to get him as far as possible.  The stage was won by Andy Schleck (happy me!) and the yellow is being worn by Cadel Evans (also happy me!).  All in all, Sunday was a great day on the Tour. 

Cadel Evans in Yellow.  He SO deserves this!

Sorry to all my friends from the Netherlands, but the octopus was right again (someone put that sea critter into Vegas - phenominal winning record).  Spain won the World Cup 1-0 in Extended Play.  I'm NOT a soccer fan, but this was a great game (even though I only caught the last half hour). 

The Octopus predicts Spain will win over the Netherlands.
It was right again!

And we tried to put the new cable boxes onto our televisions.  Oh - a REALLY bad idea.  Tempers rose, DH stomped around complaining about monopolies, and I'll end up phoning Comcast this morning and arranging for installation.  Since Chickie is off next week, it will have to be this week or a Sunday.  Comcast is usually very accommodating.  I need to pick up two surge strips before we can do this - we don't have enough plugs available to add anything else to it, and ideally I can get a Wednesday afternoon session, but that will almost eliminate my chances of getting my metal clay pieces done.  So I'll schedule myself some time at the shop to work on them, or work on them tomorrow night.  It's the enameling that concerns me, but I'm planning to do bas-taille, so it won't be as elaborate this year.  I also need to get the PPP completed for it, I can work on the master for that tonight.  Busy...busy...

Remembrances

Yesterday was Earth Day 40 - and 40 years ago I was in High School (yes...I'm that ancient) and participated in the very first Earth Day. My friends and I skipped school for the afternoon - we left at noon. It was a semi-allowed "holiday" because more than half of the school left. The school itself was more than 2000 students, so that was a lot of us. We walked a very long way - from south Denver where our school was, to downtown Denver and the Convention Center where there were exhibits, lectures, and information about the environment. This took us about two hours of walking, but at that time in my life we did a lot of day-long walks for charity, so a couple of hours wasn't a huge deal. The exhibits were interesting and started many of us on a road to more energy efficiency and awareness. I do recall that I phoned my Mom to come and pick us up late that afternoon - it was getting pretty cold and my friends and I weren't dressed for cold or feeling up to walking another two hours in the dark.

Those were the days of Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring" and Alvin Toffler's "Future Shock". It was the time when phosphates were pulled from our laundry detergents, when people recognized that hot effluence from factories were killing fish because of the temperature changes they made in rivers, and when reminders of what could happen without regulation like the infamous mercury poisoning in Japan were published in "Life" and "Look" magazines. By the end of 1970 legislation had been enacted to help the environment and the Environmental Protection Agency had been established. Those were the days when Congress actually worked. Nixon might have been a crook and embroiled us into the Vietnam war, but we had a government that actually worked for the people (in many respects) and actually accomplished things.

Today's Beading For A Cure auction items are by Pat Sohns (top) and Cat Albaugh (bottom). We're getting down to the last two weeks of the auctions for this year's fund raising efforts. Please take a look at the auctions that are up this week and bid high.

Olympics Wrap-up

The Olympics will end tomorrow evening and go away for another four years. The athletic performances have been spectacular, and the disappointments have also been spectacular. There is nothing like doing your best and having outside circumstances cause failure. But that happened to several of the athletes - just as an example, the Netherlands long-track speed skater who was told to skate in the wrong lane for the 10,000 metre race and ended up losing the gold medal that he was winning because of it. I really feel sorry for him and I'm fairly sure that his coach will be looking for a new job after the closing ceremonies. But we will remember these Olympics for many positive reasons and I will celebrate a wonderful 16 days along with the rest of the world tomorrow night.

OK, I fully admit that I am a curling nerd. My DH, my friends Chickie and Sharon, and I are just glued to the TV for the curling matches. Last night's gold medal play between the women of Canada and Sweden was a fantastic match - played with great finesse and skill with the lead transferring from one to the other and finally back again. In the audience were the Prime Minister of Canada as well as the King of Sweden. I don't know about you, but I'd be a little nervous playing in front of those dignitaries. Sweden won on the 11th end and the last stone - WELL PLAYED, SWEDEN. Well played. The men's final is today - Yippee!

And, of course, the other sport that my DH is watching without fail is the hockey. We're long-time hockey fans, and the games have been fast and well-played. It's been excellent hockey with the men's final scheduled for Sunday. Tonight we get the final runs of the 4-man bobsled and the skating exhibition. That'll be fun. Have a great weekend - see you Monday!

The Taste of Success

What a fantastic day for the US at the Olympics yesterday. Shaun White and Lindsay Vonn both pulled Gold, and Shani Davis got his repeat Gold - a very rare event in speed skating long track. We also had a Silver in the women's downhill, a Bronze in the half-pipe and a Bronze in the speed skating long track. All is good! Of course, our skips are really not doing well in curling. The men's team has had the same clutch button shot for the past two rounds and blew it both times to lose both games. The women's team also has lost two rounds now. They will have to win their third game and many others to proceed to the semi-finals and it's not looking good.

Tonight places me in a television quandry. I have the finals of the men's figure skating - something that I absolutely WILL NOT miss, but I also have Survivor - the one television program that I insist on watching. I have a feeling that I'll catch Survivor on "on-demand" and watch it on my computer instead, later in the week. I refuse to miss the skating.

And for those of you who are not tied up in the Olympics. So sorry that you're getting one more dose with my blog. But I love them, and I post about things that I love. I did continue progressing on my etching designs yesterday, and prepped a bunch of pieces for more enamel work. I have some firm dimensions now for paper templates, and I have more etching components on order because I was too low on stock (and also had a tough time finding my papers). Since I'm still awaiting my translations, I have time to get a new shipment of papers into my hands. Of course that costs money that I really don't have, but I'll spend for my art where I won't for other things.

And the Winner Is....

Like many of you, I enter my name into every drawing, contest, etc., that I come across while visiting art shows or reading posts on-line. Today I received an Email that one of these many entries and clicks actually paid off. I have won two tickets to Andre Rieu's concert on Saturday, May 23rd in the Target Center, downtown Minneapolis (that's Minnesota for those of you overseas). Andre Rieu is a unique musical director and it should be a really fun night. I would never have been able to afford these tickets on my own, so I'm thrilled. I doubt that my DH will want to attend with me, so after he turns it down, I'll think about who would be best to go with. Here's a link to a You-Tube on Andre Rieu.

I don't win things very often, although I could say that my entire life has been a win-win for me (I've really been very lucky in many aspects of my life). The last concert that I won tickets for was Neil Diamond and I went with my sister, Maja. We had a wonderful time and it was a great concert. My only difficulty with this concert is the fact that it takes place at the Target Center in downtown Minneapolis. I so rarely go there that the to and from is a challenge. I'll have to YahooMap it carefully :-) But I'm already looking forward to a fun evening of music, song and dancing. Yippee!