Feeling Punk

Feeling punk today.
Not this punk

www.layoutsparks.com

but this one:

Yesterday, I came down with Mr. dP's cold!

In the morning yesterday I awoke feeling a little off, but not anything to worry.
I promptly started The Great Org of the deposit/study/studio, as Hubby bought the new steel shelves. It was supposed to be one, but as he brought two, I decided to put the studier one, already in the room, into the Chaos Corner #1. Thus, I had to take the two small white steel shelves OUT, that I had just put in there. They weren't doing the job, as too small to hold the dinnerware, etc, that have to be in here till more cupboard-room materializes.

So, that meant talking everything OUT, and into the living room:
1) everything from the white shelves, AND the white shelf-units, + whatever else had already accumulated, hiding in the chaos corner #1
2) everything, and clean dust-of-ages, from sturdy grey shelf-unit in Chaos Corner #3, to living room
3) remove everything along Chaos Wall — from corner 3 to 4 — to be able to get unit OUT, and put units IN
4) clean wall, floor, spiders from CC Wall 3-4
5) Clean Sturdy Grey shelf unit. Move heavy (as good) unit into CC#1, body-shoving the chest of drawers a bit, to get past
6) Bring back stuff and organize on shelves in CC#1
7) reorganize stuff in living room so possible to have lunch, move around, not be buried by avalanche

... and LUNCH!

What, you may ask, is in Chaos Corners # 2 and 4?
#Two: the door, which had stuff hiding behind, but was cleared, cleaned, and only the excersise mats were returned (yea!)
#Four: Aahhh! Well, yours truly, braving galactic-disorder at the shelf-cum-computer-and-artwork-desk. Chaos.

By lunchtime, already feeling crappy & punk.
Hubby and Potts, Honorable Son², came for lunch, and the boys' surprise for their father's birthday arrived!
A HUGE BOX ... with a 42" LCD TV!!!!!

I knew they had said the present would arrive on Tuesday (which I had forgotten) but had no idea of what it would be. Totally unexpected.
Papi Hubby thrilled!

After lunch, with the new member of the family resting in its... its... MANSION, I cleared a space in the "hallway" of living/dining to assemble the new shelves.
Then I saw that the holes are all misalighned... Talk about and El Cheapo! And they weren't cheap!
Today, feeling awful, I still don't know if return them or not. Hubby not too keen. Will ask help of the boys.

Last evening, Good'Ole'TV (with fantastic sound) was removed from its place, and Newbie-LCD installed.
Now, only have to reorganize that wall also!
And pack up oldie, as still goldie, and send to "attic".
I have planned some new units also to be made by the carpenter. But will have to reorganize before they come as the situation not too stable right now — shelves behind the tv: not good!

A Rare Before Photo*

tv, TV, mess, BOX

*Before what? Actually a Now, but before what I'm planning to do to this room!!!
There won't be too many "before" pictures, especially of my cave, er, studio/study, as my self-esteem would be totally mortified!   ... cringe....

"Mothering"

The title above is from Jane's post at her blog, Posy, and below is a bit that I found beautiful. She had been musing on her life and that of her dear Grandma who had passed away very recently.

"My wish is that when it is my funeral and if I have been privileged enough to have the same roles as Grandma; that my children and my children's children will know quite simply, whatever my failings, how deeply they had been loved."

A beautiful post, and a good reminder when the "children", whatever their ages may be, are making us pull our hair out! And, most important, I believe that it is what mothers wish to say, but often don't, or can't.
So, thank you, Jane, for putting this into words and sharing with us.

tweaking

The grey background was rather depressing, albeit elegant.
Rather than modify the image background, I tweaked,
and tweaked,
a-a-and twe-eee-eaked
the template to change the color...
then I had to change the width...  then the padding... *sigh* ... till something relatively decent was appearing... AND worked!!!

BUT, but, a good way to learn!

I now looks like this (for future reference):

Tweaking Vincent

I chose the green from one in the abckground, then lightened it some.

Funnies

,I enjoy things that tickle my funny bone.

“The noblest of all dogs is the hot-dog;
it feeds the hand that bites it.” 

Laurence J. Peter (1919 – 90) Canadian educator and writer

Sometimes a little dark humor also.
"Light" dark...    ; ))))

I also have a collection of the ones below...
May they be called "women's exasperation", for those tether's end days?
Or when we tire of unbridled domesticity...
(and although pictured with women, due to the last 6000 years or so of training, they also apply to all who suffer the constraints of sterotyped straightjackets, which end up becoming the apparel of use whether of cloth or chemicals)(that means men, too, dearies!)

Trying to do it all

(with your happy-face ON!)

And Baby makes three

 

Men!

(for when you're particularly exasperated!!!)

(there are more from this section, but will leave to another post)

Can't leave these ones out!

And, to say goodbye...

 

Note: The images above were culled from myspace and photobucket. The images belong to their rightful owners.

New Background

While I'm working on.... trying to get something to work! ... on making my own template, I just couldn't resist the loveliness of this background, with Blogger Minima template.

It's from Itkupilli, a Finnish designer, from her site, from a painting of Vincent van Gogh
I love the colors, and the work of van Gogh, who I was drawn to as a youngster and greatly inspired me on in the formation my personal art work theory.

Sunrise & Flowers

Hello here, again!

Ages since last blogging!

But then, doing quite a bit of New Year organizing&cleaning.
So much so that I was hors de combat for two weeks due to left arm&shoulder aching @##$%!! After 3 sessions of healing (chiropractic, deep shiatsu, and massage&energy), today I finally got back to shoving shelving and boxes around.

This week I was able to do compwork, reviewing my cad projects of the closets (wardrobes/brit) that I do hope we'll be able to have made this year. Last year due to the financial/economic crisis, these plans had to be set aside.

Also, hassling and getting hasled by Firefox, as IE6 has a death warrant on it, and doesn't work with Youtube anymore! So, working with both. (Shall getting a later version of IE... this week, I hope)

Finally took down my "blog-tree" or rather, my Christmas background, here at blog-corner. My "real" tree and decorations I amazingly got down on the right day! This, by tradition, is Jan 6th, the "Reis Magos" Day, Dia de Reis - will find translation and add later.*

Sometime soon, I have to review and upload the "posts" I did offline: Christmas ones plus. I just discovered a cool function: I can "back-date" the post, so they should appear on the day I wrote each! We-e-e-elll, I think that's how it works!

* Hmmnnnn, weelll, that would be the day the "We three Kings of Orient are..", of the Christmas carol, and Bible, arrived to visit baby Jesus, and bestow on him some frankincense, myrrh and gold. Also called the Three Kings, the Three Wise Men and Kings, or Kings from the East.
Ok, ok... the last I got from Wiki:

In Christian tradition, the Magi (pronounced /ˈmeɪdʒaɪ/; Greek: μάγοι, magoi), also referred to as the (Three) Wise Men, (Three) Kings, or Kings from the East, are a group of distinguished foreigners who are said to have visited Jesus after his birth, bearing gifts of gold, myrrh and frankincense. They are regular figures in traditional accounts of the nativity and in celebrations of Christmas.

Here in Brasil on this day, in the areas where folk traditions are still observed, you have groups that visit the households, the Folia de Reis, with their typical and traditional songs and instrumental accompaniment.

**Aaahhhhhh! Here it is: "Epiphany"!!!

New Year!

... and a rainbow on New Year's Day!

Luck, health, love, peace and happiness for all!
(... and a pot of gold is always welcome!)

My Own Private Idaho...

Wandering among my music folders, here in my Pongaio, I found this song of the B52s.... does this take me back! I quickly went to Youtube and found some great videos.

The quirky, funny, mocking, sharpness,... those marvelous, what were then corny, but now is vintage, my dear, getups... and the energy! The faaabulous 80s, with that hint of irony!
And to believe I was at Rock in Rio in 1985 and saw them live!
250 thousand people all dancing along!

I do believe I've been in my own private Idaho a bit too long this year!

You're living in your own Private Idaho
Living in your own Private Idaho
Underground like a wild potato.
...
You're livin in your own Private Idaho. Idaho.
You're out of control, the rivers that roll,
you fell into the water and down to Idaho.
Get out of that state, get out of that state you're in.

...and this:

Always thought there were quite a few someones partying&printing in basements in Brazilia in those astronamically-high inflation years!!!
So much legal tender flooding the market place.
Aaah! Must've been the in same unsavory "porões da ditadura"!

Just love the charrming, that certain simple life granny-canning-in-the-basement touch:

Livin' simple and trying to get by
But honey, prices have shot through the sky
So I fixed up the basement with
What I was a-workin' with
Stocked it full of jelly jars
And heavy equipment
We're in the basement...

Importing... II

Well... I did it!

... and, doing something wrong, it actually came out right!

Since I wasn't able to read those weird, horrid, confirmation-text letters correctly, I had to do the process again, and this time I forgot to mark the "import and publish" box.
So, they weren't. (duuuhhh!...) (... I'm a bit slow to understand all these instructions!)
As this is exactly what I wanted to do for this "new", mainly English, Pongaio blog, all I can say is: yea!!!

Now I can go slowly choosing and translating (if needed) the posts to add here.

Importing... I

I'm going to try "import other blog"... hope it works!
Huh... ... ... maybe not? ["medaaaaaa"... acared, mama!]
Aaaaah, why not!

Ugh-y

Not so good a day, so far. I think result of the bodywork on Wednesday. Sinus-y, nauseous-y, and generally ugh-y.
Buuut... happy that I got this blog up and running!

December Already!

My birthday has come and gone, this year falling on the Thanksgiving weekend. I'm still going to post some photos of my lovely presents from family.

The year continues to zoom along: already almost the middle of December!

I brought the little Christmas tree to set up. The connector of the top and bottom parts is damaged. I'll have to figure a make-do solution... and quick! Before Christmas has come and gone!

This little tree is so small   : (  
I like a taaalll tree, but the circumferece of my parent's old one (that's about 40 yrs old!), is too big for the space in our new apt. Everything has to be the little-footprint-type of thing! I'll put on top of something to get greater height, but what?

Minutinho Blog — "Christmas-y"

A minutinho here today, a little minute, to write something, and try out this blog background, Dear Santa, from The Cutest Blog on the Block that has great tips, and lots of goodies.

The images seem to float!... Hmmmnnnn... actually the text moving, and the transparent effect fooling the eye!

The loading of the background takes a rather loooong time, though.

For a better appearance, I'd have to adjust the margin of the posts, and change font/link colors. (done... with blogger-post-format)

Update: I modified the background image, for a better placement of the text. I uploaded it to my Photobucket, but the linked image too small! It seems freebie account limited in size!?
So, uploaded it to Picasa... after a bit of a fight to get the right html tag, it finally worked! Never thought I'd be back, but: yea, Picasa!!!

Duo Siqueira Lima

Lovely!

Also at (better image and sound, but can´t be embedded): Duo Siqueira Lima at the Brazilian Music Institute, 2009

Great find: Posy!

Off and on, checking out helpfull blogging sites, and gaining ideias and info about making a new template, or at least, a new background. I don't know if I'll go with my orignal ideia of a rose floral patchwork... or what.

On my searches for my recent obsessions:
cottages, roses, miniatures, skies, ... ,
I've como across some inspiring blogs.

A favorite is Posy , Jane's blog from Devon.
From her's onwards, a whole world of mother-of-three (coincidence) creative, crafting, home-loving women's blogs. Enough to make one learn how to sew after all these years!

Little House in the Woods

   Casinha no Mato

Here is a cute little house, could be from a fazenda — a farm!
A little cottage, one of my passions.

I found here in my computer, songs by Victor & Leo that my Son² had uploaded.
I'm now listening to one of them: the house dances and chugs along in the same rhythm!

The song is cute also... something about a "frog in the lake... what a good life"...
{in Portuguese it rhymes: "sapo na lagoa... que vida boa"...!}

When I first heard it on the radio, I would understand
"kibes das boa" instead of "que vida boa" —
"goood meatrolls (kibbehs*)" instead of   "goood life"!...
Didn't make any sense at all. Perplexity abounded.

Son², when asked what were they saying?, of course thought his mother completely ridiculous, as I had , also of course, propounded the kibbeh theory — hey! I read a lot of fanatasy fiction!
With that resigned shake of a child's head when confonted with a parent in her dotage, he informs me of The Truth of the matter.

Completely apart of mother-child relations, feeling that strong desire to head for the hills, or rather, to the countryside, attacking me! (even without no meatrolls!)

*link to Youtube (can't be embedded)

Here are the lyrics from the internet:

Vida Boa
Victor e Leo
Composição: Victor Chaves

Moro num lugar
Numa casa inocente do sertão
De fogo baixo aceso no fogão, fogão à lenha ai ai

Tenho tudo aqui
Umas vaquinha leiteira, um burro bão
Uma baixada ribeira, um violão e umas galinha ai ai

Tenho no quintal
Uns pés de fruta e de flor
E no meu peito por amor, plantei alguém - plantei alguém

Refrão:
Que vida boa ô ô ô
Que vida boa
Sapo caiu na lagoa
Sou eu no caminho do meu sertão

Vez e outra vou
Na venda do vilarejo pra comprar
Sal grosso, cravo e outras coisa que fartar, marvada pinga ai ai

Pego o meu burrão
Faço na a estrada a poeira levantar
Qualquer tristeza que for não vai passar do mata burro ai ai

Galopando vou
Depois da curva tem alguém
Que chamo sempre de meu bem, a me esperar - a me esperar

Refrão

* Kibe, quibe; English = kibbeh: "is a dish of minced meat with bulgur and spices with many variants, both raw and cooked"[Wiki]; here, when spoken as just "kibe" refers to the cooked meatroll version

>: (

Very windy last night, with a metal gate booming closed intermitently... waking me up.

Everyone slept poorly I believe, so humors this morning at breakfast pretty much nil-to-bad.

Aaaargh!

Third time trying to post!
Aaaargh!
Let's see if it'll now work...

Compassion

Morgana Silversealeon 30 Sep 2009 at 12:55 am
Not only do many folks have to come out of what is literally a comfort zone of a living room and remote control, people they consider beneath them would supposedly be the primary beneficiaries.
A related thought appeared in my email box today, courtesy of Tricycle’s “Daily Dharma”:
“Compassion is not condescension, but a leveling of the playing field, a recognition of yourself in others and an acceptance that their stress is your stress, that their happiness is your own. The gulf between us all is imaginary, born of insecurity and fear.” (- Stephen Schettini, from “What to Expect When You’re Reflecting,” Tricycle, Fall 2008)
I have really struggled with this teaching today. And actually, a lot of days before today. I guess ridding myself of the illusion that I’m compassionate would be a step in the right direction. [moue]

— Planetwaves blog