Tastes Like Chicken

We have a new sandwich shop around the corner from the house called Heidi's Brooklyn Deli. Well, I'm a sucker for sandwiches that I don't have to make myself so on Saturday we went over to have some lunch. I love chicken salad-especially chicken salad that I don't have to make myself cause mine just doesn't taste that good-so when I saw chicken salad on the menu, I was right there!
It was delicious, big chunks of white meat chicken with just the right amount of celery and mayo on an Italian hoagie type roll that they bake right there in the store. MMMMM....good!

So, whenever I find a new salad or sandwich that I really like I get cravings for it and just have to go back and get more! Either that or they put some drugs or something in there to get you hooked so you HAVE to come back for more. Either way, I was hooked.

So, today, I went over to get another chicken sandwich.

The place was even more crowded than it was on Saturday-remember Bakersfield may be a big city but it was built on the backs of down home country folk who get excited when the new Wal-mart opens, so a huge line in a new sandwich shop is not unusual. Either that or everyone hates to make their own food, like me.

I got my sandwich to go and came home looking forward to that yummy white meat chicken and soft but chewy and substantial italian bread. And then, I realized that it tasted funny. And the bread was a lot harder, you know, the kind of bread that cuts up the inside of your mouth. I looked inside my sandwich and realized that there was...shudder...DARK MEAT CHICKEN IN MY CHICKEN SALAD!!! AAAACCCCKKKKK!!!!

I can't STAND dark meat chicken!

I was so disappointed in my chicken salad sandwich. I search far and wide for a good chicken salad sandwich and just when I think I've found one....DARK MEAT!!!

Free at Last!

I've always been told that cats are secretly plotting against you. Haven't you ever noticed that when they stare at you it doesn't seem to be with love in their eyes?

The cats like to sit on the bench that Keith built for the front bedroom/studio window and watch the world go by. The weather has been so nice lately that I've had the window open so that we get a nice breeze through the house and the cats can smell all the good outside smells and hear the birds singing. So, the other evening I was working on the computer in our bedroom while the cats were oh so innocently sitting on the bench at the window. I got up and went into the studio to shut the window just in time to see Lucy hanging onto the window screen which just happened to be half in and half out of the window. Buddy and Mimi were already outside the window in the front yard. I yelled for Keith and we both went running outside to round up the three kittens, me in my pajamas, and Keith in his tee shirt and undershorts. After a lot of chasing and grabbing, we managed to get all three back into the house, made sure that the window was shut, and threw the now useless broken window screen into the backyard to join the other junk out there. Whew. There is a little boy neighbor cat that likes to come into the yard and taunt the kitties with his freedom, and we think the kittens were just trying to get outside to play with him. Mimi and Lucy are not spayed yet and this boy kitty still has his getting bigger by the day balls so we definitely don't want them 'playing' together.

So, the next day, I have the living room sliding glass door open and come out into the living room to see the screen door open about 8" and immediately panic, running around the house to see which cats have escaped again. Lucy and Mimi were both out in the backyard but were good about letting me grab them up and get them back inside. I still haven't figured out how they managed that one, the only thing I can think of is that the screen must not have been shut all the way and they managed to get their little paws in there to slide the door open.

So, yes, they are constantly plotting behind those innocent eyes.

Cats also like to use your furniture as a scratching post even though they have two very nice expensive kitty condos COMPLETE WITH SCRATCHING POSTS! Our couch, which we only spent about $300 on about 5 years ago has been looking really ratty lately and we've been thinking about buying a new one. But, with all the other projects and expenses this year and last year, I'm just not ready to spend hundreds if not thousands of dollars on a new scratching post, I mean couch.

Each corner of the couch looks like this corner.

So, I had been thinking about trying a slipcover.

I went over to Target-love our Target here, always so nice and clean and not crowded-and found this slipcover. And of course, needed new pillows to go with the slipcover.

And presto magico, a new couch! It was lots of fun getting the two stretchy pieces onto the couch with Mimi jumping on it, biting it, and getting inside the big bag that you put the seat cushions in, but I did it , and Keith actually likes it!

Technorati Tags: cat,escape,plotting,couch,target,sofa,pillows

Hey Honey Pass Me Another Beer

Keith has been coming home with really sore tired feet from walking around on gravel in the railyard all day long, so I suggested one of those foot massager soaker things. Found this at walmart for $20.00 and the first thing out of his mouth when he tried it was 'oooooohhhhhh'. Guess it felt pretty good.

And while he was soaking he was watching one of his train videos and of course he catches the name of this building in the background. He's worse than a little kid when it comes to finding the dirty words somewhere.

Technorati Tags: feet,tired,work,massager

Keith the Builder

Keith's latest bug up his ass has been working on our backyard which for the most part is uninhabitable. Summers here are really hot and the backyard just bakes in the sun. He bought some packets of wildflowers last summer and of course couldn't find them, so he bought more packets of wildflowers and started building planter boxes for the wildflowers. He has a vision of blooms surrounded by pavers, a barbecue area, a wood some sort of patio cover, and us sitting in the backyard in the sunshine. Never mind that the house is still not finished and we have half concrete and half partially ripped up linoleum kitchen floor, lets get some wildflowers in the backyard!

The flowers are actually starting to sprout:

This is the beginnings of the planter boxes and patios:

This is what our backyard usually looks like. Sometimes I think we are hillbillies and keep extra sofas and car parts in the yard. Hey, honey, done with the chicken? Just toss the bones out in the yard for the dogs, and be sure to throw the empty beer cans out there too!

And this is the infamous million dollar tool shed that he built last summer. Notice it still hasn't been painted.

And please disregard the assorted piles of junk.

So, maybe by NEXT summer, we'll have a nice backyard.

Technorati Tags: backyard,flowers,planting,shed,hillbilly,beer

Pancakes in a Spray Can

I don't usually do much browsing while grocery shopping, since I hate to shop and want to get in and out asap, but, this caught my eye while I was getting eggs.

Batter Blaster Spray on pancakes! And it's organic!

Just spray into your pan or waffle iron and get ready to eat! I love instant food!!!

Cat picture of the day:

This is where Buddy sleeps every afternoon, down underneath the covers on the bed.

And now, time for the weather report. 75 degrees today, and I almost turned on the air conditioner. I did wear a sleeveless shirt today.

He is Risen

Bet you thought this would be a religious piece, right? Nope, I was talking about Keith, who just woke up from his nap.

So, today is Easter. Big brown sugar baked ham, new potatoes, asparagus-(blecch), and a bunny shaped coconut cake for dessert, right? Ha, not at MY house. We had pizza for lunch, mainly because it was either that or peanut butter sandwiches. I hate going to the store and hate cooking, so, no big holiday meal for us! Hmm, wonder if Denny's is serving a special Easter dinner today?

I've been reading The Other Boleyn Girl (soon to be a major motion picture) and it's a pretty good read. I love to read but lately have been so busy with my business that I feel like I am being extra lazy if I take some time to read other than the time spent on the toilet or while eating. I love to read while eating, it's kind of boring otherwise, especially when you are eating alone, and sitting on the toilet is boring too, why else did they invent People magazine? So you'd have something to read while on the toilet-and if you run out of toilet paper, it'll do in a pinch. So, anyway, a good enough book that I'll check out some of the writer's other titles later. What I wonder about is do they ever say 'soon to be a not so good minor B movie' on the front of a book?

I'll probably check out the movie when it comes out on dvd, I read some so-so reviews of it, but I really like Scarlett Johansenn so I'll watch a so-so movie just for her.

Oops, We Did it Again!

Keith put in one of those clear pet doors in the door to the garage so that the cats could go out there and run around in all the garage mess. The kittens figured it out really quickly, but the big cats are hesitant to use the door. Poor Little Bit goes out there and then just sits there looking through the door hoping one of us will see her and open the door for her. I've seen Pepper and Bear going through the door, so I know they can do it, they just don't like to. The kittens love it and when they get all hyped up they chase each other through the door at about 90 miles an hour-bang bang bang! They go through so fast that they sometimes step on the little latch and lock themselves in the garage. This morning I heard all the banging and came out into the kitchen a little later and saw three big kittens peering through the door at me. Oops!

Recession and Taxes got you down?

I'm getting a little worried about all the news of foreclosures and recession and the dwindling dollar. I've noticed a slowdown in my jewelry shop sales on etsy and don't know it it's because of people afraid to spend any money, the time of year, the recent influx of sellers jumping over from ebay, my stuff is crap, or what. We'll see, I guess.

So, we are supposed to be getting those tax relief or rebate checks or whatever they are calling them this year and we're supposed to run right out and buy stuff in an effort to keep the economy going, right? Well, we just had our taxes done (to the tune of $550 in preparation fees) and we owe the feds a little over $1200.00, which coincidentally is the amount that our tax relief check is supposed to be. Does this make sense that we are going to send the IRS $1200 and some dollars and then in a few months they are going to send it back to us? No? Didn't think so. Doesn't make sense to me either, but then what does the government do that really does make sense?

Actually, I was relieved that our tax bill was only $1200, we have a lot of income that is not W2 income and doesn't have taxes taken out. Plus, being self employed you have to pay your own social security taxes, which they so appropriately call 'self-employment tax'-go figure, that actually makes sense. I'm used to paying rather than getting refunds each year, it's been this way for a long time, but it still irritates me when people ask 'what are you doing with your tax refund?' Um, NOTHING, since I don't get refunds. But, somebody's got to help out all those people on welfare, why not me???

I guess that we are really lucky that Keith has a good pretty much recession proof job and my etsy shops make enough money so far that I haven't had to go back to walmart yet. Could be a lot worse.

Movie Review Tuesday

We hardly ever rent movies and have decided to stop buying them after sending bags full of movies to the Goodwill-movies that we bought, watched once or twice and were just taking up space.
So, we went on a little movie renting kick and here's my take on some of the not so latest-like I said it's been a while since we rented any and aren't up on the latest releases.

Die Hard or Die Trying or Die Living or whatever it's called from Bruce Willis:
Funny stuff, full of action, not sure if it was meant to be a comedy, but Bruce does tongue in cheek very well.

The Queen:
I was disappointed in this one, it was billed as 'the best movie of the year'. Not, but seeing what life as the Queen of England might be like was somewhat interesting. Somewhat. The story line is the week after Diana was killed and the bad press that the royal family got for going off to Balmoral and hunting instead of grieving with the rest of the country.
Planet Terror:
An instant classic? Maybe, it was the best and bloodiest zombie movie I've ever seen, but not scary like Night of the Living Dead. I felt like I was at the Drive-In movies watching this from the comfort of my big sixties sedan. The aging effects were great, especially the part where the film melts and the 'missing reel' sign comes up on the screen. Silly silly movie but lots of fun! A little bit too long, they could have cut about 30 minutes from it and been fine. The extras on how they did the stunts and all that was actually pretty interesting, I don't usually watch any of that stuff.

American Gangster:
Excellent low key performances by Denzel Washington-does he ever give less than his best?-and what's his name-the Australian that likes to throw phones at people.
Good movie! I'd watch this one again.

And a few others that obviously were not very memorable since I've forgotten what they were.

And now, we have no toddlers in the house, why do we have toys all over the living room?

What's in a Name?

A recent thread on the etsy forums asking how people came up with their shop names got me thinking about how my shop name came about.
I had done crafts for years on a part time basis since I worked full time to feed those pesky kids of mine. I sold at a local shop for a few years making cloth dolls that were very popular, then started doing two local holiday boutiques. I used to make a nice wad of cash just in time for Christmas after months of making little ornaments and such in my spare time. I started doing a few more craft shows and got to thinking about a name for my little business.
I wanted something that incorporated my legal name, Elizabeth, so I played around with that and the first initial of my last name G. ElizabethG, LizG, LizzieG, nothing really sounded right and I figured that there would be lots of usernames already on the internet like that and I'd end up being ElizabethG5015 or something. So, I turned it around and came up with geelizzie. Nobody else on the internet has that name as far as I know, it's short and easy to remember, and so far it's helped make me known on etsy and is usable for pretty much any other online venture too. I just started on a new Canadian website, icraft.ca. The website is free right now and has a really nice clean look to it. I'm kind of hoping that it will get off the ground and become the next etsy. None of the other sites I've tried even come close to etsy. Dawanda is nice but you have to list in euros, and mintd has so few buyers that your stuff just sits there. Same goes for lov.li, the site is okay, but nothing sells there either.
Oh, my icraft address is: http://icraft.ca/geelizzie. I've got 2 things there so far and will just be putting soldered glass pendants on that site rather than all the variety like on etsy.

Spring Comes Fast in these Here Parts

And goes away fast, too. We had beautiful 75 degree weather here yesterday and today it is in the low 60's and chilly out there. Okay, I know it's still snowing in parts of the country but here in California we are spoiled and anything under 70 and we're freezing!
Our trees are shedding their blooms already-looks like it's snowing with all the little white petals blowing around.
The tree is almost all green now.
We went out for breakfast at Coco's this morning-yeah, I know, we eat out too much. Yeah, I know, we could eat at home for much less money. But, we are lazy and don't like to cook or go to the store, so...Coco's it is.
Of course, a big breakfast makes Keith sleepy, so...
Any time Keith is horizontal, Buddy feels like it is his duty to keep him company.

Would You Buy This?

Seriously, who in their right mind would spend $69.99 on a 'simplehuman' dish rack? A simple minded human? No way would I spend $69.99 on a dish rack unless a simple human CAME WITH IT to wash my dishes for me.


I've said it before: why buy expensive cat toys when you can just give your cats TRASH to play with? Yes, trash, the cheap recyclable alternative to those costly cat toys that are so quickly lost under the couch and behind the refrigerator. Just give them a wad of crumpled paper, the ring off the water jug, or this new toy, the plastic seal from a carton of cottage cheese! Hours of fun guaranteed!

Cat's in the Cupboard

An open cupboard door is not necessarily an invitation, kids!

When I was discussing quitting walmart and doing etsy full time last year with Keith, I told him 'think how much more stuff I'll be able to get done if I don't have to work at walmart?'
And he bought it! HAHAHAHAHA!
I promised him more home cooked meals and a cleaner, more organized house. HAHAHAHAHA!
I bought some fancy lock together drawer organizers for the kitchen. Did I immediately take my fancy new organizers and go clean out those kitchen drawers? NO!
They sat there on top of the dryer for oh, about 3 weeks or so, and last weekend I finally took them out of their plastic wrap and ORGANIZED MY KITCHEN DRAWERS!
It's amazing how much crap you stuff into your drawers just to get if off the counter.
And it's also amazing how many little labor saving kitchen utensils we buy in the hopes that we will enjoy cooking a little more. Those little corn holder things shaped like ears of corn that you stab into the ends of the corn on the cob so you won't burn your fingers? But you still burn your fingers trying to stab those little holders into the corn? What a pain in the ass those are-you reach into your jumbled kitchen drawer looking for a melon baller and instead get stabbed with a corn shaped corn on the cob holder. And why do I have a weird little cheese slicer? We buy our cheese pre-sliced. Always.
So, into the trash went a lot of these little not so helpful kitchen helpers, and my drawers got organized. We put our silverware into a different drawer so now I keep opening the wrong drawer looking for a spoon.

Sleeping Cheek to Cheek

I came into the bedroom last night and just had to take pictures of Mimi and Lucy sleeping together. I'm wondering if the kittens' bond will still be strong as they get older, it will be interesting to see how they interact when they are adult kitties.

Remodel This!

We have been living in an in the middle of remodeling house for...oh, maybe six months, a year? It's hard to remember when Keith started all of these projects, it seems like we have always lived this way. We have living room carpet, but no hallway carpet or studio carpet, or kitchen floor. The kitchen is halfway painted and there is no door on the pantry...although that does make for easy access when you need a snack. This is the breakfast bar that Keith had in his head ever since he bought this little house-1000 square feet of it. The island was originally turned around parallel with the window wall and just sat there like an afterthought. It was almost as if the builder said: 'hey, these people may need a little more counterspace so lets just stick an island in the middle of the kitchen so they have to go around it every time they want to get from the sink to the pantry'. So, Keith turned it around and built this breakfast bar/room divider. The kitchen feels a lot roomier now, and it is handy having a place to sit for breakfast or lunch.
He hasn't done much more for the past month, I think he has a little adult ADD-he will start a project and almost but not quite finish, and then he's on to the next, leaving a trail of unfinished projects in his wake. The backyard shed from last summer is still not painted.

ACEO's

One of my favorite memories of childhood is of cutting out paper dolls. I liked to play with them, but I think the cutting out was the best part of paper dolls. I remember making my own paper dolls and creating outfits for them to wear with crayons and paper.
No wonder that I like doing collage, you get to cut stuff up and glue it together. I hadn't done any aceo's in quite a while and got inspired to try them again. Aceo stands for art cards editions and originals-there are no rules other that the aceo has to be 2 1/2 x 3 1/2", after that it's whatever strikes your fancy. The aceo came about after artists began trading atc's amongst themselves-Artist Trading Cards, kind of like baseball cards for artwork. ATC's are not meant to be sold, so the aceo was born, because we all like to make a little money on our art if possible. There is nothing glamorous about being a starving artist. I get so tired of reading or hearing about art for art's sake-sure, that's fine, but I'm trying to make a living here.
So, anyway, here are a few of my new aceo's.

To Pee or Not to Pee

Bathroom privacy? What's that? Every woman who's ever had a child knows that once that child becomes mobile there is no such thing as being alone to do your business. Just try shutting that door when toddler's are afoot if you want to see a total meltdown.

I don't have small children anymore and haven't had any for a long time. But, there is still no privacy with cats around. Little Bit hears tinkling and she thinks the water is running in the sink and comes in looking for a drink. The others will just casually saunter through the bathroom, barely glancing at you as they walk by. Mimi decides that since you are just sitting there, it must be time for some petting. And just try taking a shower, they all line up and watch you through the glass doors, sometimes trying to 'catch' the water.

Why don't I just shut the bathroom door? Our bathroom is very small and just too claustrophobic with the doors shut-it's like a hallway with a little toilet alcove just barely big enough to sit in and a door at each end of the hallway. The cats really like it because they can run in one door and out the other. And they like to hide the little treasures that they sneak out of my workroom under the bathroom rug.

Spring is Here and has Been for a While

I just saw on the news last night that it's still snowing and freezing cold in parts of the US. Well, not here in central California. We had temps in the mid seventies and even up to 80 on Friday this past week. Our trees and flowers are blooming. It's like one day there are bare branches and the next day the trees are full of flowers. This is the big tree in our front yard and the planter box and steps that Keith built.
This morning we went across town to Mimi's cafe for breakfast. We had eaten dinner there the other night and thought we should try them for one of our almost weekly weekend breakfasts. Their buttermilk spice muffin is delicious.
We stopped at the Barnes and Noble across the parking lot from Mimi's-hey they named a restaurant after our kitty!-and I picked up a book called Living the Creative Life-ideas and inspiration from working artists. I've been very uninspired lately and thought maybe this would give me a jump start on some new ideas. The jewelry shop on etsy was pretty slow this past month, although supplies were selling really well. I get real nervous when I don't sell much in the jewelry shop for a few days, thinking 'acckkk, it's all over with and I'll have to go back to work at wal-mart!'
I think it's going to get harder and harder to sell the jewelry, there are so many new sellers jumping onto etsy each day expecting to make tons of sales right away. A new listing gets buried in about 5 seconds. But, I'll keep trying and making new things and maybe this new book will get some creative juices flowing.

Vet Visits and Nasty Cat Bottoms

Poor Pepper. She and Bear both went to the vet today for their annual shots. They both knew something was up and I think they understand the word vet-Bear ran off and tried to hide under the bed, Pepper hid under the entertainment center and then ran around the living room while we chased her. We finally got them both into their fancy cat carriers that look like duffel bags with mesh windows. Pepper was up on the vet table first and needed her bottom washed off because she is too fat to clean herself. She's had trouble with her anal glands needing to be expressed, so the vet helper person washed her butt and got the glands expressed. That put Pepper in an even crankier mood.
Then, we had to wait and wait for the vet, there being some sort of emergency or something. He says she needs to lose about 3 pounds, which doesn't sound like a lot, but when you only weigh 16 pounds, is actually quite a big chunk of kitty fat.
Bear is fine and so very docile, she didn't complain too much, but her gums are looking pretty bad so she's going to go back for a cleaning. She has always had kitty gum disease, the vet said it could just be genetics. We're supposed to try and clean her teeth every few days, uh huh.
And, since Pepper needs to go on a diet, they're all going to be on one. The vet says with so many cats, if one has to do something, they all do. So now we are going to put food down twice a day, and then pick up all the bowls after 30 minutes. He says after about 3 days they'll get used to it and eat when it's offered or not at all. Pepper has meds that need to go on her food once a day anyway, so maybe this will help get those meds into her.
Poor old Bear has 2 different meds that are supposed to help with her gums that you squirt into her mouth. She sometimes tries to make a run for it when she sees me coming, but I guess the stuff doesn't taste too bad, one of them smells like beef broth.
Next we have to get little Lucy spayed, she has been in heat for the last few days and the poor thing just doesn't know what to do, she goes around mewling and raising her tail and bottom up in the air. Come and get me boys!
Good thing they don't go outside or we'd have every boy kitty for miles hanging around our house!