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Thursday, January 16, 2014

Entropy, Bunnies, and Life


It's already mid-January, the new year is already more than 2 weeks old, and I've yet to post anything about goals.  I'd love to say I've been so busy happily creating that I just haven't taken the time to post, but instead, life is getting in the way, as usual.

A long time ago, I read a definition of life in a physics journal (I was a copyeditor) that took me years to understand, but once I got it, it stuck with me.  In scientific terms, life is defined as "the temporary reversal of the universal tendency towards disorder."  In other words, when left to themselves, things tend towards chaos and disorder.  All living things are organized systems, making them temporary exceptions to entropy, the universal tendency towards disorder.  As my children grew into toddlerhood, this really became apparent, as I would work as hard as I could all day, but the house was never any neater nor the laundry pile any smaller.  If I skipped a day, things fell into complete disarray rather quickly.  And so sometimes it seems you spend your life fighting against entropy, trying to maintain some organization and order, and if you stop for even a short respite, things just tend to go kaput all by themselves.

Take this morning, for instance.  I bought the Epson printer below last September (yes, you read that right - I've had it more than 4 months) and I just took it out of the box today.  I bought it because it was a great price (only $35) and it uses pigment inks, which are permanent when printed on fabric.  I finally had the day free to set it up and get it running.  But life had other plans...


First, when I went down to my creative space this morning, I noticed sand was strewn all around the floor (yes, sand).  I bought the sand a few years ago when my daughter had to make a model of a pyramid and we glued it to the outside to make it look more realistic.  I've kept it around and have used it for various things, including using it as a prop when photographing beachy jewelry.  I had it in a plastic bag tucked inside a box on a shelf under my sewing table.  But the bag had been chewed open and the sand strewn all over the floor.

I swept up the sand, as well as the chewed papers and fluffy pet hair all around the floor.  The same varmint who got into the sand is attacking my paper stash, and the cardboard box I keep it in!  I had to take some extra time to vacuum and Swiffer everything.


 As I cleaned and straightened, I got a good look at some of the many power cords near my work table. One is for the sewing machine, one for the iron, two for lights.  Nibble marks!


Who is wreaking havoc in my studio?  I managed to catch one of the culprits on film:

I wouldn't let her get away with all this, but she is one of my daughter's beloved pets (and very sweet and cute when she isn't wrecking the place!).   We actually now have two of these pests pets living with us and we are still working out the kinks.  I tied up all the power cords and moved them up onto the shelf below the window.  Luckily, because the cement from the foundation goes up about 3 feet from the floor, there is actually an outlet that high off the ground, so my power cords are now safe.  But I think I will have to replace the one to my sewing machine.  Swine rabbits!

I did finally manage to get the printer out and turned on, but when I tried to install the software onto my laptop, there didn't seem to be any more storage space.  I'll have to wait until my DH, the IT expert, comes home.

I'll only list one of my goals for 2014 here:  To get my new Epson printer up and running and to make at least one piece of fiber art using it!

How is your new year shaping up?

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