Half week- half weak

                  Last week has been a half week. Half of the time was spent in New Mexico and the rest catching up. Still, I managed to pull together a project. It was jewelry designing week.  A friend bought me some beads while she was on vacation and I combined those with the home made beads to interesting affect. Later once I can get a good photo I will show you. 

                I made two necklaces of blue, two or red orange and one of green. Actually, the green one had the ammonite pendant than Ben bought me for our anniversary, so it is extra special. Today I am wearing the blue one with the silver, fake, Mayan coin pendant. So far I have received two compliments.

                I have to confess, I am so far behind on everything I don’t know if I will catch up or give up. Either way it is catch up on reading week. I have a collection of things I want to read and I don’t really want to do something too involved this week. I want something that I can relax while doing.  But next week- anything goes.

I need some help coming up with new ideas for weeks.  Please send in any ideas you may have. I have covered quite a few suggestions so far. Why not yours?

Finish a project week

     Finish a project week was productive for me, but not interesting for you. I finished a lot of little stuff but nothing that makes for good reading. I finished making a fancy flower pot,Christmas ornaments (shut up, they are for this year now), mending my clothes, coloring a few leftover cartoons and hung paintings. I also finished making little one page books out of old calendars. They have orchids on the cover and contain a recipe. It is a cute, personalized gift.
    To keep you occupied I am adding a little more of my book for you to enjoy.

Chapter 2

“Manuel! Manuel!” I whispered, a little too loudly.


“Que?” He groaned, not wanting to wake up.

“There is someone moving through camp.”

“Angelita, it is probably just Guapo looking for a place to take a…”

“NO!” He did not understand, “The man was crouching. I think he is looking through our things. He is not one of us. He might be another villager trying to take our food and guns! ”

Manuel started to dismiss my anxieties by rolling back over to sleep but as he moved, he saw.

Not as I thought. Not a man. Men. There were at least a dozen combing the camp, looking over the sleeping soldiers, quietly going through bags and taking what they wanted. I grab my gun to fire a few shots in the air. Most of the time that is enough to scare away any thieving villagers, but Manuel had seen something I did not. He held me to the ground and then placed a shushing finger on my lips. His hand pressed into my back so hard that I know better than to fight back as I normally would have.

We lay as still as corpses. Even though we were not hiding in ambush or making an escape, we couldn’t help but hold our breath every time one of the men walked by. There were so many of them passing through that it felt we were hardly breathing. I can’t say exactly how long they lingered, but it felt like hours. They stayed so long that we began to relax into out our blankets. If they were here to kill us, they would do it quickly, not dawdle over each body.

Despite my remaining fear, Manuel’s heavy hand on my back began to feel less like a forceful weight and more like a lover’s embrace. The comfort of his touch and my own weariness overtook me. I fell back asleep. Morning would bring what it would bring. We were powerless to stop it.

The end of crafts week

    I really thought this week would be more fun than it was. I gave myself time to work on whatever projects I wanted to. In the end it was good to get some things finished, but it was not the week of inspiration like last week was. I did make a few new things that I like. The first project I worked on were bookmarks. You know I read a ton, often several books at a time so I made bookmarks that really wedge in the book and don't fall out. Also they don't have dolphins or fairies or anything corny like the ones at the bookstore. Here are my faves.

     I also made card books. I was fortunate enough to recieve lots of cards over Christmas, so I decided to bind them together. I just made a cute cover, laminated it, lined up all the cards and cover and then hole punched them. On the back cover I put information like where it was and important things I want to remember when I look back on Christmas. I like it so much I went back and made card books for my 21st birthday, graduation and surgery.

     Next week: All about fish. Cleaning, cooking, et. al.

Week 1: Read a classic

     I hate when I am watching a movie or in a conversation and do not understand the references. It is not as bad if the reference is from a bad TV show because you can say something snotty like, "I only watch programs of a scientific nature," or, "Television is the bane of the modern era." But, when it is a reference to a classic book- man that sucks. So I started the year with 'read a classic' week.
     The first book I picked was Lord of the Flies. It was interesting and I wish I had someone to really discuss it with. Is it bad that every time it talked of the boar's head on the stick I craved barbecue? The symbol of human fear and depravity made me want to run down to Jim and Nick's for a pulled pork sammy.
     Anyway... The book is fairly short and I have a little too much time on my hands so I decided to read another. This time I picked The Invisible Man. It was so engaging that I read it in a day. It is not a hard read if you can get past the British slang. Again, I would like to discuss the themes of the book with someone, but don't know anyone who has read it recently (I never thought I'd miss lit class). Second book done and it was only Wednesday.
     So, to fill out the week, I decided to read The Lost World. They don't make adventures like that anymore. If they do, I have yet to read one. Part of the reason I liked it so much is because I am enamoured with the fancy pantsy social rules of the time-period. Everything so proper. I don't know that I would like to live like that, but reading about it is fascinating. If you decide to read a classic this year, I suggest this one. I was never bored or overly horrified.
     I know it seems like I am being a show off reading three books in a week. I could have gone with something tougher. But I wanted at least to achieve the first week's  goal. Plus every time I looked at War and Peace I gagged a little.

Next week (actually this week): Write a novel.