Rebecca Homecca

Since the book I want to read for my Business BINGO square refuses to come in to the library, I had to move on to another square.

I have been wanting to check on Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin (you may recognize her from TV). I had read good reviews and Goodwin is a very knowledgable historian.

I have recently been interested in past presidents. Partly from a show they had on the history channel a while ago. I think the recent election and general political climate also has me looking to the past.

Anyway, it was on shelf at a near by library so I went and picked it up today.

The thing is huge! It weighs a ton, my bag was so heavy (and had nothing to do with the 4 magazines, 1 book, and 4 cds I already had in there.) Even with all the notes at the end, the actual reading part is still 750 pages.

This one might take me a while. Luckily, BINGO is over (I’m just filling out my whole card for fun. Yes, I am a nerd.) If I had this book at the beginning, I wouldn’t have had time to get any more squares!

I’m excited to read it though. I like expanding my horizons and learning new things.

I finished my Animal category book this weekend, which gives me my second bingo.

Word on the bingo street is 2 of the ladies have 3 already.

The book was Walking in Circles Before Lying Down by Merrill Markoe.

Note to self: “Irreverent Humor” equals Swears.

Swears aside, this book is actually very funny. The main character, Dawn, is going through a rough time and all of a suddon dogs are talking to her, mainly her dog Chuck.

If you ever wondered what your dog is thinking, this book gives you a little insight.

And yes, sometimes they are saying “food, food, food…” over and over again.

Chuck has a lot of advice for Dawn particularly when trying to find a boyfriend. His choice at first was a butcher, and you are not quite sure if he has her interests in mind or his own.

There are also conversations explaining each other’s world. These are the funniest parts. The dog explains why he pees so much (it’s all about real estate) and why they eat your shoes (yes they are mad at you).

This book was a fun, crazy, light read which I needed right now. There are a ton of random 90’s references that I also loved.

Becky’s totally scientific rating: 3.5

My boy AJ Allmendinger got a top 10 finish today! (That’s NASCAR, for those of you not in the know)

I should point out that my main reason for chosing a favorite driver stems from how wierd their name is.

I used to like Travis Kvapil but he’s not a very good driver, and Allemendinger is waaaay funnier.

Since AJ came around and  started driving so well, I  am rooting for him for serious.

He’s kind of an underdog, and everybody loves that!

Some loser Scott Speed took his ride (seriously, SPEED? Is that even your real name?) and now he is basically going week to week looking for sponsors.

I would also like to point out this Speed fellow finished 39th. Which is NOT speedier than 9th, thankyouverymuch.

The Dinger is dangerously close to being in the top 12 overall standings (which is a huge deal). I think it would be so awesome if he made it.  Certainly then someone would step up to the plate to pay for his ride.

This is the year of the Dinger, I just know it!

PS- It SNOWED today. I’m so over it.

The Tree Dude was here tonight (although I think he prefers “Arborist”).

We have four trees with bright pink ribbons on them, all dressed up like they are going to a party.

Except, they’re not. They are being chopped down instead.

Lucky for us our backyard is such a mess with tree debris everywhere, we were able to save some money on the tree cutting. Basically, we decided why bother having them clean up the trees they cut down?

I mean unless we got lucky and they got confused and accidently cleaned up some of the mess.

But I doubt that would happen, so we decided what’s a few more trees on the pile?

Oh, and we will be having a bon-fire starting now and ending about the time O bama is out of office. Hmmm…Is that 4 or 8 years? Guess you’ll have to stop by and see how big our wood pile is.

Speaking of which, he has a lot of guts bumping American Idol. Lucky for him it’s still early in the season, otherwise that approval rating would be in trouble.

I finished reading Water for Elephants over the weekend. It’s about an old man who is reminiscing about his past. He is re-living a time when he joined a train circus during the depression.

It was really good. You meet a lot of different characters (and they are characters) and here is a seedy side to the train circus life (which went into a little too much detail at points).

I really liked how it went back and forth from his current state (he is 90 or 93, he can’t quite remember which) to his young naive self of the past. It not only gives you a glimpse into circus life, but also a heart wrenching tale of growing older.

Becky’s Totally Scientific Rating: 5. I have been thinking about these characters all day.

I went to the library with the intention of picking up Life of Pi because I need an animal book. Actually, I had intended to read Dewey next, but it did not come in yet and I am running out of bingo time. So anyway, I was in picking up Pi, and saw Walking in Circles before Lying Down. Curious, I picked it up. It’s about a lady going through a tough time and her dog starts talking to her, so she is trying to figure out if she’s crazy. I thought that sounds interesting and dumped Pi.

I’m hoping my Business Related book comes in soon, I only have a week and a half left for bingo!

We think we had a pair of these Sharp-shinned Hawks in the trees yesterday. The description matches pretty close and the call we heard sounded the same too.

It was definately some kind of hawk, but not the ones we usually see. It had the squared  of tail and what I believe to be the female, had a brown breast like in the picuture.

Here is the finished piece from the pouring project. I’ve been hyping this thing all week, so hopefully it does not disappoint!

Here’s the step by step

First you draw out your image. Then you use Miskit to cover all the areas you want to stay white. Miskit is masking fluid, kind of like rubber cement (which also works) but is more fluid and easier to apply.

Then you mix up some paint in a cup and literally pour it on your paper. We have a plastic bin below to catch the drippings (which we sometimes scooped up and re-poured).

You can either let that color dry or pour another color right on top. I let the yellow dry before adding another layer. You then add masking fluid to any areas you want to save your color. You can also remove if you want.

For my next layer I first poured red then immediately blue. I poured way more blue than I had intended.

After letting the blue/red mix dry I added and removed the Miskit in various areas. Then I poured some red. In order to keep it more controlled I used a large paintbrush to direct it.

It was pretty wet at this point, so I ended it there. I went and picked it up this afternoon so that I could bring it home and remove the maksing fluid. It probably would have been ok until Wednesday, but the longer you leave it on, the harder it is to get off.

Here is what it looked like when I got it home, all dry.

Here I am removing the Miskit masking fluid. There is a special hard eraser that helps get the little bits.

The final product was the first picture.

There are more pics on Flickr of my art friends working on their projects.

It is quite a process, but it was fun. It did not quite turn out how had planned. You really have to be thinking three steps ahead. It’s also a lesson in patience, as you have to wait for it to dry in between steps. We have 2 hair dryers in the studio that got their use that night!

This would be a fun (and messy) project to do with kids. It takes planning and patience, but the reveal at the end is a fun reward.

Now that I understand the process, I already have an idea for another pouring project that I would like to do. In 2 weeks we are trying another new technique that I found on the internet, so stay tuned for that!

Here is my first layer of color being poured on my painting. The steps are kind of complicated. There are more pics over at flickr. Explanation to come when I have a few more minutes.

One of the ladies in Art Studio took a class in a technique called “Pouring”.  She shared the technique with the group tonight.

I took lots of pictures so I will be sharing that with you all later this week!

Since it was so nice this weekend, Hubs and I went for a walk around the neighborhood. We went just under 3 miles on Sunday. I had walked 3 miles the weekend before at the Gilda’s Club walk, so I knew I could do it.

I guess that walk and the nice weather energized us, because we went on a walk last night (almost 2 miles) too.

Tonight we decided to take a different route. There wasn’t really a good turn around point, so we decided to do the loop. That turned out to be almost 4 miles. An hour and a half later, we are back home just slightly before dark.

The “blocks” out here are a little longer than back in town.

Tomorrow we both have outside activities, so we will be taking the night off.

I even went and bought new shoes today. My old shoes were ok, but my feet kind of hurt at the end of a long walk.  I found online shoes that are for trail running. They have big nubby tread to keep you from slipping.

Since our road is essentially  a trail you can drive on, I thought this might be the way to go.

I am partial to New Balance, so deciding not to mess around, I went to their store front here in town.

I walked in and told the kid I was looking for running shoes for trails. He showed me the different shoes available and says

“I don’t know how much running you do, but if you do races, that would be these ones.”

To which I responded, with a little laugh

“OH! I don’t actually plan on running.”

He looked at me weird and I explained.

‘They are for walking and hiking. I read on line that if you are not carrying a pack, these are more comfortable than standard hiking shoes.”

Again with the weird look, “um, that makes sense I guess”.

I don’t think it did.

P.S. the inagural 4 miles in the new shoes was awesome. It actually makes the hills slightly easier.