Last night my friend Diana gave undersea mah jongg a gift! It's a mug with dolphins on it, that says "Topsail Beach, NC." Her daughter Carina (who is my best bud) insisted I pour my iced tea out of my travel mug and into the dolphin mug, so I could drink from it right away. I told her I was going to glue the mug to my dashboard, so I could see it all the time. On the other hand, if I'm feeling wicked I might glue it to the roof, right over the driver's door. So people will think I left my morning coffee on top of my car, and wonder how in the heck it stays up there.
Speaking of gifts, when is undersea mah jongg's birthday? Is it the day it was first sold, back in 1991? (I know this date thanks to glorious Carfax.) The day I bought it from that guy in Sanford? (What was his name again? Note to self: find out that guy's name and send him a photo when the car is all fixed up.) Or the day it began its transformation? If it's the latter, that would be Saturday, when I got it back from Maaco. So I guess it is our birthday.
I've been sketching patterns to make with the carpet. I want some kind of swirly pattern all around the car, so it looks more wave-like. Also because I can't stand the thought of completely covering this beautiful paint (which was my original plan). This way swirls of New Beetle blue will show between swirls of blue outdoor carpet.
I've got this book of abstract designs by Mucha and a couple of other Art Nouveau artists, that's chock full of perfect designs for this. Trouble is, I can't find it. I've looked in the half-dozen places where I might have deliberately stored the book. And I've looked in several obvious places where I might have put it down and forgotten about it. And then a few un-obvious places for good measure. No luck; the book continues to evade me. This is the thing that really irritates me about living such a cluttered life: needing something, knowing it's in the house, but not being able to find it. On the other hand, if I were better organized, I'd never know the pleasure of discovering something beautiful or useful that I'd forgotten I owned.
Anyway, in lieu of the Mucha book I've been using op art designs from a Dover book (that I found while I was looking for the other book, appropriately enough). I'm off to the hardware store to buy the carpet after work. But I doubt I'll have time to attach anything tonight. I've still got to make full-sized templates on tissue paper, trace the swirls onto them, then pin them to the carpet and cut the designs. Then I can start gluing.
I'm going to have a fun weekend.
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