Equally as wicked as the blank page is a blank screen.  I had sufficient inspiration to set up a blog...and now what do I do?  I have so many interests and quite a few are already well represented in the blogisphere.  However, in any writing class or workshop I've attended, the cardinal rule when one has nothing to write is to just write anyway. 

So...here is a little bit of what you might find here over time, an appetizer if you will.  I do love needlework, though I'm not that great at garment construction.  I love to embellish, to bead and to embroider.  I might share some how-tos and tutorials as I find them or even compose them.  I enjoy papercrafts and discovered Artist Trading Cards (ATCs) a couple of years ago, so you might get to hear about my ATC swaps.  I have been taking belly dance lessons for about 4 years now, so you will probably get some shimmylicious posts upon occasion. 

One of the bigger excitements in my life is the Renaissance Festival, or Ren Fair as we cast/participants call it.  I first joined it in 1999, having already gone for some years as a patron.  I live in SC, so the Carolina one is where I headed.  I met my first husband that very year.  We ended up with two daughters.  It has been about 10 years since we got married. 
Which brings me slightly to the next tidbit.  We divorced in February, 2011.  I will hasten to say that it was extremely amicable and we worked to evolve our marriage into a sustainable friendship, or at minimum a kinship (depends on the day).  We both found our 2nd spouses at the festival.  I have said it often, Ren Fair is great for spouse-shopping.  And if you did the math, you would realize that I got divorced and re-married this year.  So did he.  Personally, I don't recommend it.  It wreaks havoc on the waistline.  However, we are all 4 friends and a parenting committe to the daughters, those poor doomed creatures.  I hope you can imagine the sound of wicked laughter in your head...b/c we laugh a lot. 

I will occasionally talk about my ex (like I said, we're friends), but I also like to talk about the rest of my family and especially my new husband.  My ex and I met him almost 4 years ago (3 or 4?) at the festival.  I will give my ex these props - he is one of the best improv performers and stronger street/cast characters at the fair.  There are a handful of really great performers, and he's one of them.  'Christof,' my beloved fool, is one of the others.  We noted him b/c he was one of the few performers who would 'throw down' w/ my ex (I really should give him a name, no?).  By the last weekend of the season, we were all laughing ourselves silly. 

One of the more curious things about Christoff, character name of 'Lickspittle,' is that he can't swallow.  He is a throat cancer survivor.  By the time he and the doctors got coordinated, his cancer was growing very fast and was a single centimeter from both his carotid artery and his brainstem.  They proceeded to nuke him w/ radiation, 5 times a week for 5 or 6 weeks.  While giving him chemo.  They killed the cancer (he happily remains cancer free).  The doctors admitted afterwards that when he first came in they didn't think he'd make it.  However, such intense radiation to his throat messed up his throat muscles.  He'd been given a feeding tube b/c they knew the radiation would blister his esophagus and he'd not be able to swallow during the treatments.  The tube was supposed to be temporary.  He had his last chewable meal 5 years ago. 

When the ex and I first met him, Christoff had just gotten to the point in his recovery that he could come out and play.  His voice was weak and sort of high-pitched.   He has very few salivary glands. He was very nervous of being noticed when he pulled out his tube, attached a funnel to it and poured in a Dr. Pepper.  We have since gotten him to where he will actually go to restaurants.  I puree fruit and veggies for him to supplement his formula.  I do a lot of massage on his throat to loosen up the permanently tightened muscles and his voice actually sounds pretty normal now.    I am proud to say he lives a mostly normal life. 

Christoff is a fascinating person.  The cancer/tube part of it is an interesting side note and is sort of hard to completely ignore, but it is so not the totality of him.  He is wickedly funny, charming, sweet, very considerate, generous, a talented and graceful performer, a keen IT computer geek, a Whovian in the first degree and a total cinemaphile.  We have such a good time together. 

I'll probably get around to talking about my mother, my original crafty inspiration.  And my dad, who seems to have been adopted from the Addams Family.  And my respective steps... I probably won't get too much into the daughters - not that I'm not proud...but I'd rather they not be too public.  Say hello to the paranoid parent. 

I will mention, brag about and highlight my crafty friends.  In the Rennie circles and the belly dance community, creativity are an absolute necessity.  And many of them make things that are awesome, cool, different, fun and sometimes just odd. 

For someone who didn't know where to start...I seem to have filled up some space rather respectably.  I hope you'll enjoy, maybe pass it on and encourage others to find me.