Early On a Sunday Morning

I have had a full week of activity and discovery.  It's been quite fun actually.   Today, I wanted to share a little bit of what I've been up to! In my room, I have two potted plants that were in dire need of some tender loving care.  

With the expert help from my Mom who's been gardening for years, we were able to spruce them back up and give them new life.

I think James Dean would approve. 

Admittedly, I am a thrift store junky.  Mind you, I don’t buy oodles and oodles of pointless stuff.  I have a rule to only walk out of a thrift store/Goodwill with no more than two items.  I absolutely have to either really want them or really need them.  Each items gets a full trial in my head as to whether or not it is guilty of becoming a possession of mine.

Once in a while, I come across a true find.   This week I stumbled upon a vintage gem amongst a dusty and weary heap of old gadgets and gizmos.  I found a tiny vintage Casio keyboard.

OMG.  It wreaks of bedazzled awesomeness.

The Demonic Ducky is not included.

So portable.  So pretty.

On the reading front, I have to admit that I've been keeping things kind of light.  I am still completely enamored of this:

I love this book.  I love this book.  I love this book.  Did I mention that I love this book? Out of a total of 24 Chapters, I have only reached 17.  I am seriously dreading getting to the end.  I wish it could go on forever.  Anybody who has ever played a piano and loved every second of it, bathed in it's depth, richness, suppleness, and power, will LOVE this book.  It's gonna be in my top ten for sure.  On the day I finish reading it, I may just weep.

On random mornings here and there, I've been dabbling in this book also.

I’ll never pretend to know everything.  In fact, I most definitely do not; however, I take great pleasure in always learning new things, even when I am actually re-learning things I should have remembered.  Small doses of wisdom are a tasty remedy for the occasional madness that might ail us all from time to time.

Temper the madness by knowing it better than it knows itself.

I await the incidental arrival of a really good book.  In the past, the best books I’ve ever read were ones that I stumbled upon or were given as gifts.  I found The Piano Shop On the Left Bank while rummaging through a small bookstore in Alabama last year.  It’s title intrigued me, and I’ve been hooked ever since.  One of my favorite books of all time, The God In Flight by Laura Argiri, was found on a library shelf when I shoved it over to get to another book.  I don’t even remember what that other book was.  Another great book, The Time-Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffeneger, was a sweet birthday gift from my friend Leigh out in Seattle.  (One of several books she has recommended that I loved.)

So, I wait, ever so patiently, as one will soon bump into me on its path.

On the knitting front, I completed two small baby scarves for boys.  There seems to be a shortage of great clothing items for baby and little boys out there.  Girls have massive VOLUMES of options to choose from.  For the boys, eh, not so much.  (Though I must say that toys made for boys are pretty badass.)  I hope to do my small part to change this.

Here’s a tiny, adorable step.

Uncoiled.

I am a cheesy, blubbery sucker for a splash of color and mood lighting.  Quite rarely, I get to achieve both of these ends.  I happened to do so this week.  I've been wanting to add a more modern reading lamp next to my bed.  The one I had was more sculptural and traditional than I wanted. 

So, I found a small lamp on the clearance rack at a craft store near my house.  (Paid less than ten bucks for what was originally closer to $25)  I grabbed some yarn from my yarn basket.

So, who's your lamp-making Asian Daddy?

One strand of yarn to rule them all.

Maybe there should be more blue lamps in the world.

And here, my friends, is the intended effect, Oreo and Buttercup OOh-ing and AAAh-ing all the while.

Wow.  This blog post is pretty darn long.  I guess I had a lot to share.

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that this blog will be changing.  Later this week, it's going to undergo some fairly sizable construction.  More on this later as I won't be able to blog much due to all of the construction.  It'll all be back to normal within a couple of weeks.  (Though it's gonna look infinitely cooler.)

Happy Sunday, folks.

P.S.  Feel free to leave me a comment if you like.  I'd love to hear from you.  An Asian gets lonely once in a while.

Comments

[Chris]

I LOVE the lamp!!! That is so cool!!!!

[rus stewart]

that blue lamp is soooo cool. brilliant. looks fantastic beside that little model piano. you are so creative, something i had recognised when we first hung out and jammed together back in samoa. love the little casio pt-100 you stumbled upon. i have one of those also. i modified mine with a 1/4" output (wired to an audio transformer inside the keyboard, with an audio level knob to control the output) and a guitar strap. played thru a flanger and echo, it is wicked! i've recorded entire tracks with just a casio. sometimes, a funky little keyboard is all u need.

[Gordon Roque]

Thanks you guys!!!! That lamp turned out great.

Wow Rus,a 1/4" output on this Casio would be sweet. I should look into that.

I'm loving this little Casio.