For once I have some real news!!!! YAY!!! Yippee!!! Yee-hah!!! I finally got a (non-legal) article published on line!! The mag is a crafting mag called WhipUp.
Here's my article: Bicraftual Bliss - or, how to make beautiful heirloom art on the cheap in just a few easy steps. I can't even keep a title short!!! ;-)
Back to reality...... now for something completely different (and only tangentially craft-related):
I was very pleasantly surprised when I was in the office kitchen the other day and a co-worker pointed out this artistic tribute to my combined Hallowe'en costumes:
The anonymous artist had even captured what may well be the first recorded image of me wearing my pink cowboy boots!
As you know, I am a true lover of fine art. This image was up since 31 October, however, and I did not notice it until 2 November when it was pointed out to me. Why not?
Because it was on the kitchen bulletin board, which I tend to avoid looking at. 
The board is most usually reserved for a use related to our latest kitchen system, to wit: if you want to leave a plate/cup etc. on the counter for more than 10 minutes, you must write this down on the board. If not, something secret yet drastic happens to said plate/cup/etc. (and then to you?!? I'm not sure. I don't think anyone has offended the Rule as yet).
Actually, whatever happens to you if you offend the 10 minute counter rule is probably no secret, given that we are an office of lawyers and legal adminstrative people and have drawn up a comprehensive compendium of the Kitchen Rules and Regulations:
Kidding. Really. They look like this, actually:
Note that they do go on ... and on... to a second page. There have also been very, very many Emails related to recent topics.
If you work in a traditional office environment with shared kitchen (or, for that matter, if you have to share kitchen space with anyone, you are also no doubt familiar with this sort of sign. 
I wrote "...or else" at the bottom but that version only lasted a day.
These additions to the kitchen all result from I can only refer to as the Kitchen Wars 2007 - it inflamed while I was on summer vacation, and by the time I returned the kitchen situation had been topic of a staff meeting and the Rules had been introduced.
To top it off, I was asked (as the office Social Convenor) to provide a training for those who had missed the festivities (so that, I gather, they would not be antisocial in their kitchen habits). I demonstrated proper operation of the dishwasher and handed out little sponges. Fun was had by all.
(I must tell you that JJ was actually virtually speechless, perhaps a first, when I shared this news with him. When he stopped laughing, he then looked at me and said, "YOU?!? Teaching people how to keep the kitchen clean?!?" and started laughing again. I chalked it up to the whisky. It certainly couldn't have been a commentary on my housekeeping habits!SIGH. Well, as I keep telling him, there are two adults in this house. Note that I'm not showing you a photo of the kitchen, which is, I assure you, spotless! Really!)
At any rate, since then, things have been fairly uneventful on the office kitchen front, which is a blessing. I am a veteran of many past Kitchen Wars where things nearly came to bloodshed. The most notable: I was a manager in an office which shared space with another office. I came in on Monday morning to find that my counterpart in the other office had put a huge and very insulting sign over the sink with photos of pigs, expletives, etc. - pointing at a stack of dirty dishes.
I told him that I felt the sign to be over the top and that I did not want the people I worked with to be subjected to it - and took it down. He put another one back up. I took it down... and so forth. By the end of the day I could have clocked him. However, he obviously finally found his medication because the following day everything was forgotten.
I hate to say it, but sometimes things one brings in for oneself go missing in communal kitchen. So, these are the essentials I keep stashed in my office for my personal use:
Breakfast (and lunch, and early dinner) of Champions!
On the craft front, in addition to hacking away on knitting design and the ugly argyle UFO in progress as a blankie, I'm also in the midst of a sewing (ack!) project:
Since I can't sew and don't have a machine, this is a very big challenge indeed. Stay tuned...
Oh, and even more excitement today! Not only do I have a copy of the new Food and Drink in my hot little hands - but the new Insider's Report is out! Respecting the latter, this one's theme appears to be "Memories of Italia".
I was, however, disappointed, to find that they didn't have any Memories of Hallowe'en available yet. Isn't Hallowe'en a holiday? SIGH.
And, in signing off, I'm very disheartened to report that on this date in 1940, Walt Disney began serving as an informer for the FBI to report on Hollywood "subversives". SIGH. Perhaps he just needed a good kitchen war to distract him.
|