down time

in which our plucky heroine is mightily determined...

This was going to be yesterdays post, but within several hours of returning home from outpatient surgery, my arm was so annoyed with me that I chose to avail myself of the medication prescribed by Dr O. Which then did the thing that pain meds do, which is to not actually make it stop hurting, but rather make me so dopey that coherent activity becomes impossible. So I slept the afternoon away, woke up when the medication wore off, ate dinner at almost midnight, and took another pill so I could sleep without wrecking my sleep wake cycle.

Ugh, I so dislike not being functional enough to read or write. Fortunately, my experience tells me that in a day or two the pain will abate to a dull roar. In the meantime, I delayed taking another pill long enough to get this post put together; I use my blog as a personal recording journal (aka my external brain) in addition to being a medium of sharing what I find to be a modicum of everyday beauty, whimsy, and now "time in the tinyworld".

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time in the tinyworld:

(edited: I had intended to finish and photograph this project yesterday... but that will have to wait a day or two... it is already looking most adorably fire-y)

Day 6 - "all that glitters" ... just might be glitter! After seeing various inspiring images, my plan to add a wee fire pit to the mini encampment took shape. I already had most of what I needed: flickering LED tea lights, cardboard, glue, black gesso, a scrap of black felt, and goodness knows I've more than one box of rocks.

The real star of the firepit, that adds that "glowing coals" look, is something I don't keep on hand - glitter. So I ordered the tiniest jar of red/orange/gold sparkles that I could find. Yesterday while riding my bike, I found some gnarled tiny roots, dug up when road improvements were happening, that were just right for firewood..
`
Most of the time involved in this project was spent waiting for glue to dry.
- building the stone surround: shaped/glued two layers of thin cardboard around the tealight base, just loosely enough to allow it to easily slip in and out. Glued the cylinder to a scrap of black cardstock. Painted the cardboard base flat black with black gesso. Glued small pebbles around the outside of the base, one layer at a time, allowing each layer to dry before adding another layer, building up to just above the edge of the cardboard...
- covering the LED: Since I had already added extra "flames" to the tealight (using RTV silicone caulk as the fire, and once dried, coloring them with red and yellow sharpie markers) all I needed to do was to cut a piece of black felt to cover the upper surface of the tealight around the flame. I decided to also paint the sides of the tealight flat black, to help it visually disappear.
- adding glitter coals: I dabbed droplets of glue here and there on the black felt, mostly closer to the flames and a few actually on the base of the flames. Carefully scooped out tiny amounts of glitter onto the glue, and let dry. This really looked quite splendid!
- adding rooty coals: some of the roots I cut into small pieces to give the effect of coals. I rolled them in some black paint, for a blotchy black and grey effect, then once dry, glued them around the base of the flame, close in
- adding firewood bits: almost finished, I cut longer bits of root to look like firewood sticks, and wedged and glued several rounds, building up the campfire effect. This had to be done really carefully, as until the glue dries, the wood is easily moved out of place.
- last glitter bits: finally, a few more droplets of glue in spots where hot coals might be visible, and another careful sprinking of glitter, and my glowing fire pit will be completed, to be the hearth and center of the tinyworld encampment

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Today Yesterday (Wednesday July 6) was the surgical excision. Glad this part of the process is over. Arm is already sore (unlike punch biopsy which the local anaesthetic took hours to wear off) Pleased with Dr O and Medic E who were excellent about explaining what was happening, giving me feedback during the surgery etc. Medic E brought me a pillow for my knees because surgery chair is not set up for short people. I have layers of stitches, some of which dissolve over months and some of which will be removed in two weeks. No robust arm use for two months at least. Pathology results in one to two weeks... with luck, all I will end up with is a diagonal scar on my upper arm, and a twice a year whole body scan.

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~ creativity challenge ~

One of the prizes in my gift box was this Very Odd holiday ornament, which was immediately dubbed the "Recombinant Reindeer". Indeed, at first I couldn't quite figure out what it was meant to be. The assorted tool that were its legs were removed from the body, and I now have a miniature flashlight, a hand axe, what appears to be a small entrenching tool? and something that looks vaguely like a tent stake. Next step was to remove the head-and-antlers from the body, as I very much wanted the little red cooler as a miniature camping accessory. I was quite surprised to find out that the entire thing had been cast as one piece, not bits glued together as it appeared. This minor complication was dealt with using my beloved Green Lion jewelers saw. Now I am layering some white gesso over the cooler lid, to smooth and texture the cut away area, and once that is done, the abominable recombinant reindeer will have been butchered out into some helpful camping gear (and some discarded wires and plastic antlers stuck all over with marshmallows)

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July SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	wee fruit basket	recombinant reindeer	yard waste bin
2	-	shelf for router	excisional flesh
3	-	-	-
4	-	-	-
5	-	-	-
6	x	x	x
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x
10	x	x	x
11	x	x	x
12	x	x	x
13	x	x	x
14	x	x	x
15	x	x	x

today's gratitude - I have medical care, I have good practitioners that are both careful and kind, and there is medication to ameliorate the worst of the pain. And I can be grateful as well that my life currently allows me to take a day or two off.

Time of Isolation - Day 840