What's New and Murphy's Law Redux

I've been working on some new pendant ideas. I found these plexiglass tiles at the local scrapbook shop, which is a treasure trove of papers and other fun things. My first thought was of course to solder around these, but the solder is a little too hot and made the paper inside all weird, like maybe the plexiglass was melting a little. So, I had the idea of mounting the paper on the tile and sealing it with my favorite gloss, diamond glaze. I love sparkly things, so the rhinestones were a given.






























Oh, by the way, these pendants are currently available in my etsy shop:
http://geelizzie.etsy.com.


A new job, a lapse in insurance coverage, and a holiday weekend means someone is going to need to see a doctor, right? Of course!
So, a week or so ago, Keith was saying that his... ahem...balls were kind of hurting, and then Friday night he was, um, scratching his you knows, and he finds this huge lump in his testicle. Of course our first thought is cancer, what else do you think when you find a lump in your body that wasn't there last time you checked? And of course, this is a holiday weekend and I'm sure all the medical offices in town are all closed and everyone is in Las Vegas for the weekend. Did we want to wait until Wednesday to call our regular doctor? No, yesterday morning we went to a new urgent care center nearby and got in to see a doctor who said the first thing was to get an ultrasound. Of course nobody's open until Wednesday for an ultrasound, but he eased our minds a little because he thinks it may be a cyst. It's in the area where Keith's vasectomy clamp is and Keith says the clamp has always bothered him a little, so we are hoping something is up with the clamp and it is just a cyst and it can be drained or whatever easily. The last thing you want when you've only been on your new job for two weeks is having to be out for surgery or something. So, tomorrow I'll call the imaging center hoping they'll actually be open to make an appointment and find out how much it costs without insurance. We've signed up for cobra coverage but it won't take effect for 30-60 days and the paperwork says you may just be shit out of luck if you need to see a doctor in the meantime. You 'may' be able to be reimbursed, but I'll believe it when I see it.
The urgent care center is great, though, they are open 7 days a week from 8-10 M-F and 8-7 on the weekends. Really nice to know that there's someplace close by for emergencies.

HEAD ON APPLY DIRECTLY WHERE IT HURTS!

A testimonial.

We've always laughed at the stupid head on commercials, and even made up our own product for hemorrhoids: ASS ON APPLY DIRECTLY WHERE IT HURTS!

Well, since we painted the living room on Thanksgiving weekend my neck had been hurting on one side and then was hurting all across the back of it a few weeks later. I was having a hard time sleeping because every time I moved I was waking up in pain. I couldn't turn my neck so it was really interesting trying to drive to the store and look to see if any traffic was coming. After a few days of extreme pain and crankiness we went to get something, anything, to try and get rid of some of the pain. We got ACTIVON APPLY DIRECTLY WHERE IT HURTS and some Bayer Back and Body pain pills. I don't know if it was the combination of the two or the activon or the bayer, but by the next morning I was virtually pain free.
However, our big cat Pepper is fascinated by anything menthol smelling and was up on the back of the couch trying to lick this stuff off of my neck. That's a weird feeling having this kitty mouth and tongue right up against your hair sniffing and licking. She also likes bag balm which I put on my feet at bedtime. She can smell it two rooms away and comes running.

So, next time you have neck or body pain try ACTIVON and apply it directly where it hurts! It works, but Pepper may come and try to lick you.

On another note, we went grocery shopping today trying to think of something to fix for our little two of us Christmas dinner. I was suggesting we just go to Denny's but we finally settled on a small ham and some ready to go mashed potatoes and green bean casserole. Vons makes these tubs of side dishes that are really good and just perfect for me, the lazy cook. I keep telling Keith that maybe I'll like to cook again when we finally have a kitchen floor.
We were coming out of the store and saw this girl wearing pink sweatpants that had the word 'pink' in letters across her bottom. I didn't know these pants were still in style, but I had a great idea for all of us big girls. Pants that say 'WIDE LOAD' or 'FAT ASS' across your bottom! I'd wear them!

And, every time we come home on interstate 5 through Castaic, there is a huge billboard for a hotel that advertises 'free WiFi'. I don't know what WiFi is since I am technologically challenged, but every time I see that billboard I read it as 'free wife'. So I have these visions of traveling salesmen checking into the hotel and getting their free wife for the evening. She could nag him all evening and he would feel like he had never left home!

I Told You I Was Going to Work on Collages!

And here some are. The first one uses vintage sheet music, the second one is using the vintage dictionary text. I spent quite a few hours putting these together yesterday and getting them ready to solder. I used to make a lot of collages under glass with soldered edges and then kind of got into other things and left them behind for a while. I really like the look and feel of these, they are between two sheets of thicker glass so they have a good weight to them and have fairly heavy chain for the hangers. I used to make these with chains and beads on the bottom, but I think I like a little more simple look now.

Today I worked on soldering these and some of the pendants that I had ready to go. I'm excited about how the new year will treat me on etsy. This time last year my shop was just getting off the ground and January and February seemed to really get the ball rolling. Now that I've made a niche for myself I'm hoping that things will get even bigger and better this year. Last December I hit the 100 items sold mark, and this year I am closing in on 1600 items. The number amazes me until I look at littleputbook's shop and see over 5000 items sold or theblackapple and see over 10000 items sold. That's truly amazing!

What To Do Today

I haven't been working on anything for 2 days now and it's time to get back into my studio-I love saying that word, makes me feel like a real artist-and start something up.
I spent the last 2 days doing some major cleaning, I swept and mopped all the bare cement parts of the floors in an effort to get some of the dust and cat hair up, I sorted my studio and got some things together and took pictures for the supply shop, and I even washed the cat beds.
You can actually see the floor in our bedroom now, all of the boxes of carpet are gone and the boxes with all of the things that go into the cupboard in the living room are back in the living room waiting for Keith to patch the baseboards so we can shove the cupboard against the wall and fill it back up with all my cupboardy stuff.
I vacuumed the floor and then got out my little green machine carpet steamer and steam cleaned the carpet. I guess the vacuum didn't work that well because all of this cat hair was being pulled up out of the rug by the steamer. I had a huge handful of wet cat hair by the time I was done. The carpet looked a little better but not much, it's just so old and stained. We will be replacing it and even have boxes of carpet to do it, but I'm sure it will be quite a while before that gets done. I don't even want to think about repainting the bedroom, but it would make sense to do it before new carpet goes in.
So now my house is a little more liveable and after reading a forum post on etsy about ACEO's-artist cards-I'm inspired to do some little collages. I have a little old dictionary that I found at the antique store and I think I'll try some collages with dictionary words as the inspiration for each piece. Also, with Valentines coming up, I want to get more heart things into my shop.
So, time to get to work!

Murphy's Law and Cat Stuff

My living room carpet is not finished yet. Why? Because five-count them, yes FIVE-boxes of the carpet tiles were defective! The padding on the back of them was missing in the center of every single tile which would make a perfect sunken line running through the carpet if you laid them on the floor. So we had to take five boxes of carpet back to Home Depot so they could order us five more. Which will take a few weeks. Aaarrgghh!

Now for cat stuff.

We probably have spent a few hundred dollars on little cat toys to entertain our kids over the past 3 years. Lord knows when we move the couch about 20 assorted mice and balls and fluffy things are always found under there. So what entertains Mimi the most besides my rubber bands for my hair?
Wadded up paper.

Two Posts in One Day?

Unheard of for me but this is just too exciting to not write about it right now right here!
After weeks and weeks and weeks of uncarpeted living room the floor is being laid at this very moment! We painted the living room a few weeks ago, but please ignore the trim around the slider that isn't done yet, and now finally finally finally the carpet is going in! We put all the furniture out in the backyard this morning, Keith got the baseboards cut, and now it is almost 8 pm and after much figuring, laying, thinking, etc., he is actually putting the carpet to the floor!
YES!
This carpet is for do-it-yourselfers, it's not unlike the tile squares that you peel and stick. It comes complete with padding on the back and just locks together and doesn't need glue.

I told him he has to finish it since all the crap that was in the furniture, including the tv, is ON OUR BED and we can't go to bed tonight until the furniture is BACK IN THE LIVING ROOM!
This is our furniture out in the back yard-please excuse the reflection of the window in the window-it's dark outside and our furniture looks cold.

And this is our bed. The kittens think it's okay for sleeping but I don't think I'd be very comfortable sleeping on the tv.

Please note the Dexter book on top of all the junk. We bought the show Dexter on DVD and just loved it. I had to read the book, which was pretty good, there are 2 others that I need to get and read. Everyone's favorite serial killer!

Okay, wish me luck that I actually get to sleep in my bed minus the tv sometime before midnight!

Why am I So Tired and Cranky this Morning?

Last night I worked until about 11pm on a special order while Keith was painting baseboards. Not the first batch of baseboard that he bought. He brought home two bundles of baseboards for a total of about 200.00, started measuring and cutting, went back to Home Depot, came home again, bundled back up the baseboards, took them back to Home Depot, and came home with more bundles of different baseboards. Seems that the first batch were not tall enough and we would have parts of the walls where the old baseboards were that would need to be patched.
Okay.
So, he's painting baseboards in hopes of actually installing them today and getting our carpet finally finally put in the living room. We're both getting tired as it's now about 12 pm, so he says 'I'm ready for bed'-and proceeds to sit on the couch in front of the tv.
Me: 'Are you coming to bed?"
Him: watches tv
I give up, tell him to turn down the tv so I can go to bed.
I left the bathroom door open thinking that the kittens wouldn't bother me too much since Keith was still on the couch and they could bother him.
12:30pm: I'm almost asleep, feel little kitty paws on my pillow and look over to see Lucy about 2" away from my face staring at me intently.
12:35pm: Feel more kitty paws on my pillow and look over to see Buddy and Lucy standing on my nightstand staring intently at me. Realize they have knocked over my full glass of water.
12:40pm: Try to round up kittens to throw them out of the bedroom, grab Buddy and Mimi while Lucy runs under the bed to hide.
12:45pm: Go into living room to get more water, see Keith still watching tv with his eyes closed. Yell at Keith: TURN THAT OFF AND GO TO BED!!!
12:50pm: Back in bed trying to go to sleep.
12:55pm: Once more feel kitty paws on my pillow and look over to see Lucy once again staring intently at me from about 1" away.
1:00am: Get up to kick Lucy out of the bedroom.
1:05am: Keith finally comes to bed, now I have to get up for aspirin because my neck is hurting.
1:30am: Finally fall asleep with no kittens staring at me.

5:55am: Wake up to Buddy nuzzling and purring, nuzzling and purring. Wake up Keith yelling 'What the hell is he doing in here?' Seems he snuck in after Keith got up to go feed kittens.
6:00am: Kick Buddy out of the bedroom, go back to sleep.
7:55am: Wake up, drag out of bed to go make tea. Kittens are lying in wait outside the bedroom door ready for their daily stampede into the bedroom. It's kind of like watching rats fleeing a sinking ship when they do this, as soon as you open the door, they go QUICK MAKE A RUN FOR IT!!!
They run into the bedroom like something really exciting is waiting for them in here, look around, jump on the bed, realize nothing exciting is in here, then follow me out to the kitchen.

So now I'm finally awake but my neck still hurts and I have to do the dreaded grocery shopping this morning as once again, we have a refigerator that looks full, but there's nothing to eat.

Ice Hockey

A few weeks ago we went to our first ever Bakersfield Condors ice hockey game. Bakersfield is a fairly large city, 300000+ and has a big huge arena where basketball, ice hockey and arena football games can be seen. There is also a huge theatre next door where some really big names come to entertain. We got free tickets from Keith's work for 'Teddy Bear Toss' night. This is an annual event where everyone brings a stuffed animal and you 'toss' them onto the ice after the Condor's first goal.
Of course I forgot to bring the camera to take pictures of this once a year phenomenon.
Our seats were almost at the very top of the stands, about 3 rows from the top. The stairs were so steep that I had feelings not unlike when you stand at the edge of the Grand Canyon and have that sense of a neverending chasm. I told Keith that I would need to hold his hand on the way back down for fear of falling.
I noticed all these people in the stands had little white cheerleader pom pom things that they were waving, and when the lights went out before the game, all of these white pom pom things lit up in red. That was something to see, all of these red lights all over the stands. The lights came back up and the game began. Sitting up way so high gives you a good overall view of the game, and having never been to one live before, I was enjoying watching the players. Our home team started out strong, scored their first goal, and then for about 10 minutes, all kinds of stuffed animals rained down onto the ice. I did manage to take a picture of the picture from the newspaper, but really wished I had remembered to bring that camera!
Okay, now see waaaay over on the top left hand corner of the picture, waaay up high, that's where we were sitting.
It took about 15 minutes for all the toys to be loaded up into huge trash bags and dumpsters and hauled off the ice. These toys are kind of like toys for tots, but I think these ones go to kids year round who are traumatized in accidents or house fires, that kind of thing.
So, after the ice was cleared, on with the game. The home team got 5 goals but ended up losing the game by a couple of goals, I'm not sure exactly how many since we left about 10 minutes before the game ended.
One of the best parts was after the first quarter or third or whatever they call it, all of these ice hockey kids came out onto the ice and played hockey. It was so cute to watch, all of these small kids skating around trying to score a goal, there must have been about 50 of them out there.
They even have a blimp at this arena, it's an inflatable remote controlled blimp about 6 or 8 feet across that flies over the crowd. It doesn't have the flashing lights in the sides like the Goodyear blimp, though.
Our first ice hockey game was fun, we were glad we went. We have been so busy with the house remodel and Keith is always so tired from work that we hardly ever go anywhere except out to eat-remember we both hate to shop for food and even worse have to take it home and cook it!

Tastes Like Chicken!

What is a big goldfish cracker doing in my package of frozen breaded chicken breasts?

I Really Hate Grocery Shopping...and cooking

Today we absolutely had to go to the grocery store since I was almost out of my french vanilla flavored creamer and can't have my coffee or tea without it. I know the fake creamers are not good for you but I just don't care, nothing makes my tea and coffee taste as good. So, off to Vons even though they are a little more expensive, they have a Starbucks inside and some Starbucks can help make grocery shopping a little more endurable.
Since I really hate to cook and our kitchen is still torn up waiting for a new floor and I really don't want to spend any more time than absolutely necessary in it, of course we end up buying a lot of ready to cook frozen stuff.
Here is the absolute in hate to cook, want to eat now, want it as easy as possible food:
Fully cooked microwaveable hamburgers and 4 minute microwave french fries!!! This is about as easy as it gets, folks!
Okay, well, going to McDonalds may be easier, but you have to actually leave the house for that. These frozen burgers are right there in your freezer ready to pop in the microwave and eat in about 2 minutes! And they actually taste pretty good! Now, the french fries leave a little to be desired, they kind of taste like the ones at McDonalds that have been sitting under the heat lamp for a few hours. Those I won't buy again.

After about 150.00 and an hour or so, we got back home and put all the food away. Then my husband opens the refrigerator looking for something to eat and of course says 'there's nothing to eat!'

We both want to live in the future like the Jetsons where you just push a few buttons and a fully cooked meal of your choice pops out of the wall. The ultimate in laziness. And we need the robot too!

Aren't They The Cutest?!

Today we are having our first major storm of the season. We had been warned of the impending storm by the weatherman on TV and I woke up this morning expecting a deluge and flooded streets.
Nope.
It has rained but mostly just a drizzle making it a day you want to stay in and drink hot tea or take a nap.
Buddy and Mimi think that taking a nap is a good idea since they don't really like hot tea.
They don't sleep together much now that they are getting so big, but when I saw them curled up together in the cat bed I just thought it was so cute!

The really bad horrible weekend

Last Saturday Keith and I packed up the car with our easy up canopy, tables, chairs, and boxes of merchandise and drove over the mountains to the coast to show at the Ventura Holiday Street Fair. We've done this show for the past 4 or 5 years, usually selling between 500-800 dollars worth of stuff, which is a lot of merchandise when you consider the average price of my things is about 10.00. Usually we drive down the morning of the show, getting up early and leaving Bakersfield about 6am. This year we decided that the kittens were old enough to leave plenty of food and water out for and go down and spend the night so we wouldn't have to drive both ways in the same day. I made online reservations at a Motel 6 thinking it would be affordable but not too junky. For some reason, maybe a premonition that I should have listened to, I really wasn't too eager to do the show. If we hadn't already paid the 175.00 fee I would have just stayed home this year or maybe just have gone down as tourists. So, we get to the motel, check in, and go to find our room. Right outside leaning against a wall are about 6 used nasty mattresses and box springs. The room was maybe 10x10' with one saggy looking bed and two little flat pillows. We went downtown, did a little antique shopping, had some dinner and visited with Keith's daughter who was working a bartending shift at what used to be the second diviest bar in Ventura, the Star Lounge. The Star is much nicer after a major remodel to try and attract the tourist crowd that visits Ventura. We got back to the motel about 11pm and tried to sleep on the lumpy mattress. About 2 am someone in clunky high heels went clomping up the stairs next to our room and went into her room and took a shower, waking Keith up, who usually can sleep through just about anything. About 6am we both woke up, got dressed and went looking for breakfast. We went to the Vagabond and had some pretty greasy eggs and hash browns served by your typical 60ish coffee shop waitress.
We were all set up for the street fair by about 9am and ready to do some business. The first hour we sold about 100.00 worth of things, so I'm thinking hey this may be a pretty good day after all.
Not.
That first hour was the high point of the day. Lots of shoppers but I didn't see a whole lot of buying at all. This show is huge, too, about 6 blocks of Main Street with hundreds of vendors. Maybe it's the shaky economy or maybe the crowds are getting tired of seeing the same things and the same vendors but they just weren't buying much this year. I took a turn around and saw a few booths with things that were really nice, but also a lot of booths where the handmadeness of the items was questionable to me. Too perfect, clothing with tags in them, etc. The clothes may have been handmade, but not by the 'artist', by a bunch of kids in China or somewhere.
So, after a disappointing day, we packed up and got on the road to get back home. About halfway home, the car started making weird noises and losing power, and next thing we knew we were sitting on the side of the interstate up in the mountains. Luckily Keith had his work nextel phone since we don't have cell phones, got his AAA card out and called for a tow truck. We waited maybe 20 minutes, shivered on the side of the road while the car was loaded up, and went back to the town of Castaic. The tow truck driver dropped us off at a motel, we got a room, and spent the night in a much nicer motel than the motel 6 but still didn't sleep very well. I woke up about 5am, got coffee, and called the towing company at 7am to get rental car information. I called Hertz in Valencia and they came to pick us up about 30 minutes later.
We finally got home about 9:30 this morning to 6 cats who probably thought we had abandoned them, and some very stinky cat boxes.
Turns out the timing belt on the car broke, which is about 500.00, maybe 800.00 by the time labor is added in. They can't get a belt until tomorrow, so we'll drive back down to pick up the car on Wednesday.
So, after only making about 230.00 at the craft show, paying for another hotel room, and car repairs, we're definitely in the hole on this show.
There are a few silver linings though, we hadn't gotten completely out in the middle of nowhere yet when the car broke, we have a credit card that we used for the motel and car rental, and we didn't have to sit too long on the side of the road.
But, I think this is the very last craft show that we're going to do. It's so much easier to stay home and sell online in my pajamas.