Look How Big They Are!

Look how much they've grown in just about 3 months! Buddy is the orange little lover boy, he just loves to snuggle, Lucy , the grey tabby, is a little sweetie, she likes having her face rubbed, and Miss Mimi is still struggling to get away. She likes to be petted but doesn't like to be picked up. Put me down now!

Torn Up Kitchen

This is the latest home improvement project that my husband is beginning. Now, when I say beginning remember the garden shed and the craft room that are still not finished. Our house is very small with one of those great room floor plans, meaning that the kitchen is part of the dining room which is part of the living room. Yes, one 'big' room. Or small, considering our house is 999 square feet. The island in the kitchen originally was parallel to the counter with the sink, making it necessary to go around it every time you wanted to get to the other side of the kitchen where the pantry and trash cans are. Meaning that you would either sqeeze in between the end of the island and the refrigerator or step out into the carpet area of the 'great room', or as we like to call it the 'not so great room', usually leaving a trail of drippings from whatever it is you are trying to get to the trash can. Now why don't you put your trash can under the sink you might ask? Because it doesn't fit!
So, anyway, my husband decides that he wants to see if he can turn the island around to make more floor space in the kitchen and also make it look a little more like the room is separate from the rest of the not so great room. Amazingly enough, it worked.But moving the island required tearing up some of the nasty dripped on carpet and the lovely stained linoleum. So now part of our kitchen floor is concrete. With a big crack running through it.
His idea for the island is to make a breakfast counter on the side that faces out with posts and shelving running up to the ceiling to give the illusion of the kitchen actually being a separate room. After using my visualization skills, I think this is actually a good idea. The kitchen already feels larger and some extra shelves would be great for my little kitcheny doo-dads that currently are sitting in a box somewhere in the garage because right now I have no place to put them.
So, maybe in oh, six months to a year, we will have a new custom built island room divider breakfast counter thing. Someday.

Pulp Fiction Pendants

I'm always working on soldered glass pendants; right now I have a basket full ready to be soldered. I usually work on a lot of them at a time and sometimes get on a roll with a particular theme. These are from reproductions of the pulp fiction steamy novels that were read secretly and a little shamefully back in the day.

Next on my list of themes for these pendants will be 'Dogs Playing Poker'.

1000 Items Sold on Etsy

I keep going to my etsy shop and looking at the total items sold, cause I still can't believe that I've hit the 1000 items sold mark. When I first found etsy in May of 2006, I was amazed at some of the sellers who had sold over 1000 items. I found that inspiring and the main reason I opened my etsy shop was seeing that there were actual buyers on the site. I started out very slowly, selling a few things here and there, but as I learned the ropes the orders started increasing in number. Reaching the first 100 in Dec 2006 was a huge thrill. Then reaching 500 a few months ago called for a celebratory dinner out. And now, over 1000 items sold!!
I am starting to feel like a success!

Driving Aimlessly Around Bakersfield

So, this morning I asked my husband, Keith, if he wanted to go to the swap meet at the fairgrounds and look for junk. Since anything is better than him doing his list of things that need to be done, he says okay.

Me: We need to stop at the bank and get cash.
Him: Yes, I only have about $1.00 and they charge to get in.
Me: (Noticing well dressed people knocking at my neighbor's door.) Well, then, let's get the fuck out of here, because here come the church people.

So, we get in the car and drive, drive, drive, about 10 miles down the road.

Him: We forgot to stop and get cash.
Me: Well, maybe there's a bank downtown, but I'm not sure where.

So we turn towards downtown and start driving through seedy neighborhoods, admiring the views of dirt yards, trailers-no, not trailer parks, just trailers-, houses with their Christmas lights still up-it's August, and lots of run-down liquor stores and motels.

Me: We could just stop at an atm somewhere, but they charge you to get cash.
Him: Turning down another street.
Me: Oh, let's just go home and try this another time. Hey, why are we going down this street, we're heading out of town.
Him: Turning down another street. Because I don't want to go down that other street.
Me: We could stop at walmart and buy a pack of gum and get $100.00 cash back.
Him: That's an expensive pack of gum.
Me: No, they don't charge you, if you buy something you can get cash back with your debit card.
Him: Turning down yet another street and reaching over and patting my knee. I'm sorry I got us lost. Turning down another street.
Me: Lost? I thought you knew where you were going!
Him: Where ARE the fairgrounds, anyway?

So, after about 45 minutes of driving around, we end up back home. Hot, cranky, and with no junk. And still no money.