Month: February 2024

Posted in Fiber, Law, Photography, Quilts

30

Posted on by debthumanblog

When I was in college majoring in journalism, -30- meant the end of the article, story, commercial. That’s not exactly what the 30 at the top of this post means. February 14, 1994, I was admitted to practice law in New York State. I had graduated from law school in May 1993, took the bar exam July 1993, got the results the day before Thanksgiving, and finally got admitted to practice more than two months later.

What has happened in the last 30 years? I ran my own law practice and practiced law not knowing what I was doing. I did it anyway. I got admitted to practice in Federal District Court in 1996. In 1997, I appeared before the Supreme Court of the United States and was admitted to practice. I figured if any of my cases went up to the Supreme Court, I wanted to go with them. Later that year, I did my first felony trial and won. It was one of the cases that came out of The Trooper and Indian War where the governor declared a tax war on the Native American tribes. I moved 2000 miles across the country in 1999 to work for the New Mexico Public Defender Department and retired 16 years later. During the last 30 years, I’ve done more than 120 trials, handled at least a dozen appeals. Argued before the New York State Supreme Court Appellate Division twice. Argued before the New Mexico Supreme Court three times. I’ve represented kids and adults; misdemeanors and felonies; custody and visitation. Twice, I had cases that had the potential to be death penalty cases. On February 14, 2024, I surprised myself when I said I had been a pretty good criminal defense attorney. Past tense. Except I’m not ready to quit.

I have a Spoonflower shop here: https://www.spoonflower.com/profiles/deb_thuman and I’ve got collections for Judiac, Irish Chain variations, Log Cabin variations, Panels and Whole Cloth. The panels and whole cloth are single yards of fabric with the design in the middle of the piece of fabric. Great for when you want something quilted but don’t want to make a pieced quilt. There’s also designs for yardage. Spoonflower will make linens and pillows using my designs.

Those are some of the panels/whole cloth designs. I used Text Mask along with a manipulated photo – these were done using a winter scene – and chose dingbats rather than a traditional font. Some of those dingbats are fascinating.

My store, Deb Thuman Art is here: http://www.DebThumanArt.com

I’m linking with Nina Marie here: https://ninamariesayre.blogspot.com

I’m linking with Finished Or Not Friday here: https://alyciaquilts.blogspot.com

Posted in Fiber, Photography, Snow

It’s Worse Than I Thought

Posted on by debthumanblog

We had snow this morning. Once every year or so, we get snow here. I’m in southern New Mexico about 30 miles north of the Mexican border. Snow doesn’t last long; it’s usually gone by about 10:00 AM.

I woke up at 7:00, looked outside, put on shoes, a jacket, hat, left my pajamas on, and went outside to photograph the landscape. I took 111 shots, deleted 2, and edited 49. I dislike all of them. I doubt they are all bad, but none look exciting to me. I wish this malaise were gone. Normally, I find photography exciting and I find photographing snow in the desert to be particularly exciting and challenging. Snow does weird things to white balance and exposure. Snow requires a whole lot of editing to look natural and properly exposed.

Snow on red yucca seed pods.

We don’t get icicles here but sometimes there are ice drops on the ends of twigs, leaves and cactus spines.

Claret cup cactus.

What caused this malaise? The horrors of war in Israel? Maybe although I’m less emotional now than I was in October. Depression? I don’t think so. I’m well medicated and the ketamine sessions are helping me be more stable than I’ve been in a very long time. I feel as if I were running through Jello.

A requirement of my painting class is to submit work to the Juried Student Art Snow at NMSU. My art is so far out there and so different from anything that is taught, that my work is never accepted. Maybe it’s the thought of yet another rejection that’s contributing to this malaise. Maybe the snow on the yucca seed pods above is good enough. Maybe someday, I’ll figure out what really matters is do I consider my work good enough. Judges tend to be blind and judges for school art shows tend to reject anything that isn’t taught at the university.

I’ve been working on fabric designs including panels for my Spoonflower shop. 

You can find my shop here: https://www.spoonflower.com/profiles/deb_thuman

Looking for a Post-Valentine’s Day gift for your sweetie? My online store, Deb Thuman Art, contains one of a kind jewelry and bandanas for your furry sweetie. My store is here: http://www.DebThumanArt.com

Posted in Peripheral neuropathy, Photography

Banging My Head On My Desk

Posted on by debthumanblog

Our TV is 15 years old and starting to circle the drain. So, we went to Best Buy to buy a new TV. I wear hearing aids and was told that having a sound bar would help me to hear clear dialog. I didn’t understand how that was possible until the sales clerk demonstrated a sound bar. And so we bought a sound bar, TV, qualified for free delivery, and set a delivery day for this past Wednesday. The sound bar and TV arrived.

Tinker guarding the box containing the TV.

Everything was fine until we unpacked the sound bar and TV. The sound bar wouldn’t attach to the TV because the screws were too far apart. Jim called customer service and, after a lengthy hold, had to argue with a customer service rep. He took the sound bar back to Best Buy, and again had to argue that the sound bar couldn’t be attached to the TV we bought. We got a refund.

Jim then proceeded to hook up the TV. After getting everything attached, we tried to turn on the TV. It wouldn’t turn on. Jim did some online trouble shooting and tried every suggestion he could find. None worked. The TV was defective. It went back to Best Buy and we got a refund.

Jim then proceeded to hook up the TV we’ve been using for 15 years. The fun started when I had to put in a password for: Roku, Hulu, Prime, Discovery +, Paramount +, and Peacock. 

Eventually, we will go back to Best Buy and try again to buy a TV and sound bar.

A few weeks back, Craftsy had a major sale and I could buy $50 DVDs for $5. I bought 17 DVDs. I watched one about making bras. That DVD alone was worth what I paid for all the DVDs. Lots of little tricks – like using stay tape on the top of the cups and sewing stay stitching on the bottom of the cup. I learned that for those of us who are convinced only hydraulic lifts will keep our breasts from sagging, the solution is simple: double power net in the band. I learned how to adjust the cups to move the straps closer together. In short – all my fitting problems could be solved with a few simple techniques.

I’m not finding myself in a mood to sew. I have fabric to make a pair of leggings. I have fabric to make two fancy bras. I have two quilts to quilt. I need to make a few pairs of pants and dye them winter type colors because I’m almost out of pants. Yet I don’t feel like sewing.

I’ve been having pain in my hip when I walk. Finally, I’ve been forcing myself to do exercises designed to relieve the pain. The exercises work well, it’s just getting to do the exercises that I have problems with.

Jim and I are participating in a research study wherein we get paid plus we get an Alexa we can keep. If Alexa is the state of AI, then we’ve nothing to worry about. It took a few days to figure out all the things Alexa can’t do. The contraption plugs in and there are no batteries. That means if I want to take it from room to room, I have to unplug, schlep, replug. No thanks. I’ll stick with my iPod. Plus, telling Alexa to play Tom Rush gets me one Tom Rush song followed by other artists. My iPod plays what I want it to play. Alexa has a camera, and I’ve covered the lens. One frustrating thing is Alexa won’t sync with my MacBook Pro, iPad or iPhone unless I use the cloud. I refuse to use the cloud. You don’t own the cloud, so the feds don’t need your permission or a warrant to go through whatever you have stored. Anything, including the cloud, can be hacked. Good luck explaining to the Feds that the child pornography tucked between your photos didn’t come from you; it came from a hacker.

We had a storm blow in last week. This is what the impending storm looked like.

About the only thing peripheral neuropathy is good for is causing me enough pain that I wake up early and can go outside and photograph the sunrise.