Finally!

The weather is finally cooling off! Today is only supposed to be around 82 and right now it's positively chilly at 63. Yesterday was 99. What a difference!

Did you know that the White House is on Flickr? Neither did I but I'm thinking that this is the first presidency to do so, along with tweeting and blackberrying and all that stuff.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/whitehouse

We've been watching the Ken Burns National Parks film on PBS. It's been a while since I've seen one of his films and I'd kind of forgotten about his style of including interviews and lots of still photos but it's pretty interesting so far, except that we don't get that channel in all that clear so it's like watching it on TV back when all we had were rabbit ear antennas, which is about what we have, the picture rolls a little and is kind of staticy. We've all heard of Yosemite and Yellowstone but not how they became National Parks and how they probably would have been completely ruined if they hadn't been protected. Watching it makes me hope that someday I can go visit all of them. I've been to the Grand Canyon and Yosemite and Sequoia but would love to see more. We were watching a commercial for a local RV seller and talking about how fun that would be to travel around the country in a little RV, staying in Walmart parking lots for free, and the best part is having a toilet RIGHT IN YOUR VEHICLE! Someday, maybe we can do something like that.

Speaking of TV, after they all went digital we lost CBS for some reason, the channel here that used to be CBS is nowhere to be found when we browse for digital channels on our fancy digital TV. So, our choices are limited to NBC and ABC and FOX. We're probably not missing much and we're not about to pay for cable. We rented a couple of movies last weekend including the first part of the HBO mini series Generation Kill about the war in Iraq. Great show and we can't wait to rent the rest of it. We also rented Seth Rogen's Observe and Report and it was so stupid I couldn't watch all of it. Don't bother with that one.

One of our trees was destroyed overnight by caterpillars. Keith went out into the backyard on Sunday and our little non flowering plum looked like it was dead and then he sees it covered in big fat green caterpillars. He sprayed it with some oily bug spray stuff and all the caterpillars started dropping off the tree, kind of like bungeeing with strands of their silk cocoon stuff coming out of the ends of them lowering them to the ground. It was really creepy. He checked the other trees and found more on our plum and peach trees, they were just little tiny ones and were preparing to eat those trees so that they could also get big and fat. Ick.

And, if you have been thinking about trying out Artfire but didn't want to pay the 12.00 a month for unlimited listings, they are offering free unlimited listings for the holidays. I was debating whether to downgrade my account, I had upgraded it the beginning of the month just to give them another try and see if things worked out there, but the main reason I upgraded was just to list more, I don't care about the 'perks' like facebook kiosks and customization, so I am going to go with the free account for the rest of the year and see what happens. $12.00 is way less than I pay on Etsy, but Etsy also has way more traffic and customers.

And that's about it in our exciting world here in Bakersfield.

Bored

We are trying to think of something to do today. I've even googled things to do in Bakersfield and come up with a whole lot of not much. Apparently one of the biggest highlights of Bakersfield is the museum at Buck Owens Crystal Palace. It's going to be 102 today, so we are thinking that an outdoor activity maybe isn't such a good idea. And everything we can think of to do outdoors involves lots of driving to get there.

Drive up to Tehachapi and wander around? Drive over to Lake Ming and wander around? Drive up to the Sequoias and wander around? It's too hot to drive anywhere and we don't have the gas to waste, so I think we'll wait until the weather cools off and we can afford the gas to go somewhere. Damn, this town is boring.

So, Keith is napping and I'm going to share a Zibbet shop with you.

This is ValZderoArtJewellery, and no jewelry is not spelled wrong, she is from Australia and that is how they spell jewellery down there.

She paints and makes jewelry/jewellery with her artwork. This is called Woodland Spirit.


So pretty!

This necklace is made with her artwork, she puts it in a silver pendant tray and seals it with a glaze.


You can find her shop here:
http://zibbet.com/ValZderoArtJewellery

It was Pepper

Who left the poop on the bathroom rug. Keith also found some in the garage and not in the litter box, either. I was wondering which cat was the culprit and was sorting some laundry on the bed when Pepper jumped up into the clean laundry and got really really cranky when I tried to move her, hissing and snarling at me. She's kind of cranky all the time, but this was extra crankiness along with trying to scratch me. She scooted along the bed and as she scooted she left a trail of runny poop. Ugh. Well, I needed to wash the sheets anyway, but I would have rather not had to wash them because of cat poop. Then out in the living room I found Pepper poop on not one but both of our chair pads on our metal dining chairs. Ugh. Good thing the pads come off and are washable and they're kind of old and stained and I don't really like them much anyway.

I didn't find any more poop around the house, but could tell that she wasn't feeling well and she spent a lot of time trying to clean her bottom, licking and licking, I think her bottom is a little raw and sore. She also hid under the entertainment center most of the rest of the day and night, only coming out to eat because no matter what she never misses a meal.

So, today she seems like she feels a little better, and I haven't found any surprises yet, so I'm hoping it's nothing that needs a trip to the vet and she'll get back to her usual just a little on the cranky side self soon.

And Keith's doctor just told him that his arm and elbow are basically just worn out and there is not much they can do other than resting it, icing it, and taking motrin. He went for an x-ray just to make sure there aren't any fractures or whatever else and the doctor gave him a shot of cortisone, but there isn't any surgery or anything else that will really fix it, he's just going to have to live with it. He's supposed to be on light duty at work for 2 weeks, ha ha, there is no light duty at his work, and he'd like to get into another line of work that doesn't screw up your elbows as much, but there is no other line of work right now, so...

He's taking it easy this weekend and we'll see if the cortisone and motrin help.

And, other than that another hot boring weekend around here.

This Morning

I wake up and stumble to the bathroom to brush my teeth and go potty and see some brown stuff on the bathroom rug and realize it's runny cat poop and then as I'm picking up the rug to go throw it in the wash Lucy is in the other part of the bathroom vomiting. I'm trying to get her to vomit on the rug since it's going in the wash but of course she vomits on the carpet instead. I always enjoy cleaning up poop and vomit before I've even had my coffee.

Then as I'm getting my coffee Buddy is running around the house and slamming through the cat door into the garage like he's on fire, slamming back through the cat door and around the house again.

Good morning!

Keith is staying home from work today to go to the doctor and see why his arm has been hurting for the past few months. I'm pretty sure it is tendonitis and am pretty sure that is what the doctor will tell him too, but he thinks it's old injuries that have been aggravated by the work he does, constantly using his arm to sledgehammer and weld stuff. The pain got so bad yesterday that he finally called the doctor from work to make an appointment and told his boss he wasn't coming in today. Unfortunately they don't have sick pay at his job, hopefully he has some vacation time saved up to pay for the missed day since his next paycheck goes to the house payment (the entire paycheck) and a day's missed pay will definitely be missed on his check.

I've been working on soldered pendants the past few days.


And, I've found some more strange stuff on Artfire, both of these were in the newly listed yesterday. Their front page is a treasure trove of what the hecks.

I thought this was some kind of tube top because it looks like the bottom part is a skirt, but it is actually a neck warmer. Maybe if they used a live model?


And these glass crack pipes look more like something other than a crack, I mean pot, I mean tobacco, I mean for decorative use only, pipe. They look like something you would see on one of those websites that you get in trouble with your boss or spouse for looking at. The ones that sell toys and I don't mean ToysRUs.



The weatherman is promising us that after one more weekend of scorching 100 degree plus weather we will finally start cooling off into the 90's and maybe even the 80's next week. Finally.

Why

Is it so easy to gain weight but so very hard to lose it? Have a few cookies after dinner each day and before you know it you've gained ten pounds. Don't have a few cookies after dinner and you just stay the same.

I'm trying to lose some weight and am eating carrot sticks right now because I am freaking STARVING! Breakfast was wheat toast, lunch was a rather dry turkey sandwich with no cheese and just a little mayo and an apple. I did splurge on one of those 100 calorie snack pack things that everyone has out these days, it was one of the hostess cupcake ones where they give you three tiny tiny little cupcakes. Very tiny, but at least it was something sweet. I was full for maybe an hour and have been hungry ever since.

Someone needs to invent a vegetable that tastes like chocolate and we'd all be happy, don't you think?

I'm one of those people who has always been overweight, not hugely gigantically overweight like the fat lady in the circus or the people on The Biggest Loser, but always overweight by about 50 pounds. In elementary school all of my dresses came from the 'chubby' department and I still remember the humiliation of being weighed in front of all my classmates in 5th grade and being 20 pounds heavier than anyone else. Why the gym teacher had to weigh us in school I don't know but he seemed to take a perverse pleasure in calling out your weight loud enough for the whole class to hear. I still hate that man. We had to wear our school clothes for gym class and back then girls weren't allowed to wear pants to school and if you forgot your shorts for under your dress on gym day it was even more humiliating than the weight thing, because you would always have to play sports where your dress might fly up and all the boys would see your underwear.

Anyway, back to the weight thing. When I was 35, almost 20 years ago, which just astounds me that it's been that long, I went on a diet that actually worked. I counted every calorie that I ate and I went hungry all the time but I managed to lose about 60 pounds. Which has since slowly come back on over the last 20 years. Gain 2 or 3 pounds a year which you don't really notice at the time, but damn, that adds up after 20 years, and you're right back where you started from.

For those of you who are naturally skinny, I don't want to hear about how if you just eat right you don't have to worry about gaining weight and blah blah blah. Some of us are just naturally fat, all right? Just like some of you are naturally skinny and can't gain weight no matter how many pints of Ben and Jerry's you eat, some of us are just fat no matter how many calories we count and how many carrot sticks and apples we eat instead of the Ben and Jerry's.

So, anyway, I have lost a few pounds so far but it's hard, really hard, and I hate to be hungry and diet food is boring, and damn, Ben and Jerry's sounds really good right now. I especially like the Chubby Hubby flavor, and if that's not a fitting name for ice cream I don't know what is.

What in The World Wednesday

I've been working on getting my Artfire shop filled up lately. I did finally get my first sale there since I re-opened my shop and I like that you can see in your stats what search terms people are using when they happen upon your shop through google. The front page is nice in that it shows all of the recently listed items, but it also looks kind of junky and jumbled and you see some things that are definitely not front page worthy. Things that just leave you scratching your head.

Things like this steampunk Christmas ornament. Now, I don't really get the whole steampunk thing, but apparently you can slap some watch parts on anything and call it steampunk.


And these are called boot covers, why you need to cover up your boots with sasquatch legs I don't know.


Hmmm...

And, in other news, our county fair is set to open up today. I don't think we'll be attending this year since we really don't have the extra money and it's supposed to be in the 100's for the next week or so and going to the county fair when it's 102 outside doesn't sound like something I want to do. Although we will miss out on seeing Rick Springfield, Phil Vassar, and the Hansons. I guess you can make a pretty good career from one hit song and the county fair circuit.

Oh, and our drug dealers down the street finally got busted. Here's the background on this story:

First, we live in a pretty normal middle class neighborhood, it's not in the poor part of town, we have a country club and a golf course up the road and lots of gated housing tracts around, we certainly aren't living in the slums and don't have gangs running our streets shooting each other. What we did have was a normal looking family down the street that has been running what appears to be a very lucrative little business selling drugs to teenagers for the past few years out of their home. You would see cars going to the house, stopping for a minute, then driving off, or you'd see groups of kids walking down the street and then back up in just a few minutes, or you'd see what I saw out the front window one day. A car with two teens in it stopping in front of my house, the girl drug dealer walking down the street to meet them, and the quick exchange of money for drugs.
Why didn't the police stop them before now you may ask? I've wondered about that because it's not like they weren't aware of the problem, people on this street have been calling on a daily basis about the issue, our neighbor Justin repeatedly called and then finally asked the police operator if he shouldn't just start selling drugs out of his house, too, since the police didn't seem to care all that much. He was told 'well, that would be your choice, Sir'.

But, finally, and damn I'm upset that I missed all the drama, they got busted a few days ago by DEA. Keith was talking to a neigbor down the street who had been calling the police every day about the drug dealing that he watched every day, and he got the scoop on what happened. Apparently a couple of unmarked vans pulled up in front of the house, DEA agents got out, and armed with a search warrant, went in and arrested the girl drug dealer and her father. It's about time!

I'm sure they'll be back and up and running their little business again in a few days, but we have noticed a definite decrease in traffic up and down the street and the kids that I used to see walking up and down the street are gone.

If You

Get an envelope in the mail from Nielsen that looks like this OPEN IT!


Because there are two one dollar bills inside! Whoo-hoo!


It's from the Nielsen Family TV research people and they want you to fill out a short survey about how many TVs you have and what demographic you fit into and they give you 2 bucks for your time. Hey, these days 2 bucks is 2 bucks, right? Of course Keith grabbed those 2 bucks and put them right into his wallet. Wait a minute, I'm the one who opened the mail!


So, I'm going to answer these generic survey questions and maybe we'll get to be a Nielsen Family and they'll send me more envelopes with 2 bucks in them? It's worth a try.

We were wondering how many people just toss this envelope thinking it's just more junk mail and how many dollar bills are in the landfills or mulched up in the recycling centers. We were thinking about dumpster diving in the neighborhood this trash day to see if we strike it rich, 2 bucks at a time.

And on another subject, we've been watching the new Sunday night football and I've actually enjoyed watching it. I've never been much into sports on TV, only watching the super bowl each year to see the commercials, but it's kind of fun to sit on the couch on a lazy Sunday and watch the game. Especially when they do things like pan in on the team owner and he's PICKING HIS NOSE! Then they show Laura Bush in the crowd and I'm all well at least SHE isn't picking her nose and Keith says yeah, but the guy behind her IS. So, when the game is slow and they pan around a second sport can be made out of watching for people picking their noses. Two sports in one!

The nose picking video is all over the internet by the way, and was even on Jay Leno last night. How embarrassing.

First Day of Fall?

You sure wouldn't know it around here. It's still HOT and will be HOT all week.

We had a rather dull weekend, but we're kind of getting used to being king and queen of the dull. Keith worked in the yard messing around with planting our bargain plants from Target and digging holes to move two shrubs that just don't want to grow where they are in the front planter to maybe a more sunny or better spot or something in the back yard. I'm trying to remember what these shrubs are called, it's not magnolia but something like that with white flowers or maybe it is magnolia but I thought those grew on trees. I don't know, but the shrubs have been in the same spot since we moved here and they just don't grow at all where they are. He ended up not feeling good because he was out in the hot sun too long. So, the project didn't get finished of course.

We were trying to think of things that we can do on the weekends if the weather ever cools off, there are a couple of parks with lakes here that we could go have a picnic by or just take a walk around them. Of course we have to drive to the lakes and use up gas to get there. The closest lake is the one where everybody drowns, so we could take a picnic lunch and sit and watch out for drowning people I suppose. Like I've said before, there really isn't much to do in this town.

We were also talking about supporting our local minor league baseball team and going to see some games, admission is cheap as far as I know, and that would be a fun getting out of the house kind of thing to do. So, I went on their website to check the schedule and of course they are done for the season, so we'll have to wait for next year. If we remember.

Hockey season is probably coming up, so maybe we'll go support our local hockey team this fall. At least it's cool inside the arena, what with it being played on ICE and all. We'll see, even the $5.00 seats may be out of our budget at the moment.

So, anyway, happy Fall, I am really really looking forward to some cooler weather.

Cats in The Bedroom

I was going to try and do a zibbet seller feature this weekend, but you know what? There are so few sellers on zibbet that it is really hard to find someone to feature, so I'll try again next weekend. I did finally get my first sale on zibbet, though, so that's a good sign I guess.

So, instead I will talk about cats.

We usually only let Harri stay in our bedroom at night, partly because she is so freaked out by the other cats all the time that we give her some sanctuary in here, and partly because the kitty window seat is 'hers' and she's usually there when we go to bed, and partly because she only rarely disturbs us by getting in bed with us, and when she does get in bed, she lays down and only stays for a little while, and partly because I just don't have the heart to throw her to the wolves and kick her out of the bedroom at night.

Friday night, there were a couple of other cats in here when I went to bed, so I decided to leave the door open so that they could come and go. So, I'm sound asleep and hear the strangest banging noise and wake up to find Buddy and Lucy jumping on and rolling around in the plastic laundry basket, crashing it into the cabinet door under the bathroom sink. I get up and toss the laundry basket out into the hallway and go back to bed.

Then a few hours later, Buddy is biting my toes, so I kick him off the bed, then a few hours later Buddy is biting my toes again, so I kick him off the bed again. Then some more crashing sounds from the laundry basket that they are now rolling around in the hallway, and then a whole bunch of cats are running around in the bedroom because it is now 5 am and they are used to Keith being up and they are hungry and it's time to FEED US! NOW!

But, I'm too tired to get up and feed them, so I kick them all out, shut all the doors, and go back to sleep. Then when I wake up at 7:30, they are all waiting outside the door because they are starving and FEED US NOW!

So, last night I made absolutely sure that no cats were in here when we went to bed and had a good night's sleep with nobody biting my toes or chasing each other around or jumping on laundry baskets or banging their favorite toy against the bathroom walls. I had a much more restful night's sleep. But they were still waiting outside the door this morning for me to finally get my lazy self out of bed and FEED US NOW BECAUSE WE ARE STARVING HERE LADY!!

Only in Bakersfield

I'm just wondering what the argument was about and why you would bring a gun and/or knife to a funeral. Just in case, I guess.

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. -- Police say a man was shot and stabbed at Greenlawn Cemetery Thursday evening.On Thursday around 6:35 p.m., officers from the Bakersfield Police Department responded to Greenlawn Cemetery at 3700 River Boulevard for a shooting that just occurred in the area.Investigators said a disturbance happened among family members during a viewing at the cemetery.Police said Raymond Martinez Sr., 32, is suspected of shooting James Calderon one time, causing minor injury.Police said that a 15-year-old also stabbed Calderon one time, also causing a minor stab wound.Calderon was transported to a local hospital by private means for treatment for a minor single gunshot wound and was in stable condition.Martinez and the 15-year-old voluntarily turned themselves in to the Bakersfield Police Department.Martinez was charged with assault with a deadly weapon and the 15-year-old was charged with assault with a deadly weapon and possession of a dirk or dagger.

I Almost Forgot!

Happy Birthday Son!

I was sitting here at the computer paying the bills online and had to write out a couple of doctor bill checks and realized what the date was. September 18! It's Joe's birthday! And I'm a lousy mother because I almost forgot!

Then when I realized what the date was I wrote 9/18/81 on the check that I was in the middle of writing out. Good thing I caught that before I put it in the envelope. 9/18/81 is a very convenient date to have your birthday on, isn't it? Today's date works pretty well, too, 9/18/09. So, Happy 28th, Joe! Damn, I feel old now!

So, 28 years ago today a little mostly peach fuzz headed baby was born. We didn't realize we had a redhead until that peach fuzz started growing in a little. Back then, we weren't warned about putting our babies on their stomachs, something that I guess isn't done today, but as you can see by this picture, they even did it in the hospital.

We didn't have a camera back then, so the official family photographer, the only one of us that did have a camera, was my sister Linda, and she took this photo through the window to the nursery. None of this having your baby in the room with you and letting family in your room to see the baby back then, they kept those kids all bundled up and sterile and only brought them out at feeding time.

Joe was born by c/section, so we didn't go home until he was 5 days old. Here's big sister Jennifer with her new baby brother.

I don't have very many baby pictures of either kid, like I said we had no camera and digital cameras had yet to be invented, along with home computers to do your digital pictures on. If you had a camera, you still had to take all those rolls of film down to be developed and it was always interesting to see if any of your pictures were even worth keeping.

Here is Joe on his first birthday, I think the cake was chocolate.


He was a happy little boy!

Drugs and Morning Glories

We went to Target the other day to get our DRUGS. Remember back when drug stores were still called drug stores, not pharmacies? You'd see a big sign that just said DRUGS and you knew you could get your prescription filled, shop for all the little things that you need like toothpaste and bobby pins, and then get an ice cream or a coke at the soda fountain. Now the word DRUGS has an entire new meaning and you just don't see DRUG stores anymore.


Anyway, we got our DRUGS and wandered over to the garden section to take a look around because I had seen some plants on clearance. We got this HUGE morning glory to put along the fence in the back yard for only $6.00! Even the original price of $14.99 was a pretty good price for a plant this big, it's at least 4 feet tall and is supposedly drought tolerant once it's established. As I've said before, it never rains here, so we definitely look for that drought tolerant on the plant tags.



It's sitting out front still, but I'm hoping Keith will get it planted in the back yard this weekend. If not, I'll just have to nag him about it.

Oh, and I'm so glad that the chicken catcher Kevin Skinner won the show last night on America's Got Talent! I had a feeling that he might win after seeing his audition and it's nice to see a simple country boy win, unless that was all just an act of course!

Etsy Seller Wednesday

I have a whole lot of Etsy sellers saved in my favorites. This shop is one that I noticed when I first joined Etsy back in 2006, and it's still one of my very favorite shops. I love collage and I love retro fifties illustrations, and this shop combines both for all sorts of one of a kind affordable fun little treasures.

The shop is dadadreams on etsy, go here to take a look:
http://dadadreams.etsy.com

One of these days I will learn how to do the clickable thing, but I'm just too lazy to figure it out right now.

This little paper and wood 'I like nuts!' pendant necklace just makes me laugh, and is only $8.50.


The paper is mounted on the wood, sealed with varnish, and the sides of the pendant are painted black. So much cuter than all the generic scrabble tile pendants, and one of a kind! You get the ball chain, too, no having to buy it separately like all the scrabble tile people make you do.

These refrigerator magnets are only $3.50.


And, this necklace is just too cute, it's called Best Friends.

Aww...sweet, isn't it?

Strange Indeed

Yesterday's weather? It never really rained down here in Bakersfield other than early in the morning even with the clouds all day, but it rained for a few hours up in Wasco where Keith works. Then on the news last night they said that it has never rained on Sept 14 in Bakersfield before. At least not since they have been keeping records anyway, who knows what happened around here before that. The first settlers came here in 1858, so it's been at least that long since we had rain on yesterday's date. I thought that was interesting. I know it doesn't rain much here, and it does sometimes feel like it's been 150 years since it last rained. Here's hoping for a wetter winter this year. It would be nice to see some water in our river.

And, who stayed up last night to see the new Jay Leno show? I don't know about you, but I liked it. The best part was The Dan Band singing in the car wash. If you've never seen The Dan Band, google them and watch a video or two, they are hilarious!

And, of course I watched the finals of America's Got Talent before Jay came on. This is the first year I've gotten hooked on a show like that, I don't usually watch any of the reality type shows because they are just too annoying. I am very curious to see who's going to win on Wednesday, it's a tough call because all of the acts are really good and they all deserve to win as far as I'm concerned. The opera lady might get it because she's got the cancer sympathy thing going on, and the chicken catcher guy might get it because he's got the I'm just a poor boy from Kentucky thing going on, and Grandma Lee might get it because she's got the I could be your grandma I'm just an old lady and this is my last chance thing going on. The dancing sisters from Utah are probably Mormon, so they'll have the whole state of Utah voting for them.

There is one thing they don't really advertise much about the million dollar prize, you have to read the fine print, because you don't get a million dollars all at once, it's an annuity that pays out over 40 years. If Grandma Lee wins, I'm sure she won't live another 40 years to collect it all, so she's really going to lose out on it.

Anyway, can't wait for Wednesday to see who wins. Yes, we are boring people if America's Got Talent is the most exciting part of our week.

Now, That's Weird

I knew today was going to be cooler and cloudy because I watch the weather reports on the news and all, but looking outside this morning and seeing wet streets was strange, indeed. Our sprinklers were on but they don't get things *that* wet, so what do you know, it must have rained early this morning but only enough to just barely dampen things.

Our respite from the heat will only last a day or two, back into the upper 90's by the end of the week, though. I'm so ready for fall and cooler weather, if only so I can start complaining about how cold it is instead of how hot it is.

The sky looks rather ominous, doesn't it?


As I was taking the above picture I felt like someone was staring at me.


These are just two of our neighborhood feral cats. The one on the left looks as ominous as the sky, doesn't he?

Zibbet Seller Saturday

I want to try and showcase some zibbet sellers once a week, so I was browsing zibbet by seller today, seeing what caught my eye. There aren't a whole lot of sellers on zibbet yet, just 620 as of today, a far cry from Etsy's 150 thousand or so. A lot of the shops don't have much inventory yet so it wasn't as easy as I thought it would be to find a shop to feature here.

But, I found one. Fun, colorful, affordable, and the big mouths on these crocheted puppets for little kids just make me smile.

The shop is LaurelsZoo and she makes these cute puppets sized for 18 months to 10 years, machine washable, and very affordable at 7.95 plus shipping. Totally cute!

Puppy Dog


Red Bird


This lamb reminds me of Lamb Chop


She has lots more in her shop, it's fun just to take a look: http://zibbet.com/laurelszoo

Mice

Keith pulled all of the assorted mice toys and jingle balls out from under the stove yesterday, so now we have mice all over the house until they once again get knocked under the stove.

Mice in a sandal.


Mice in the bathroom.


And one conveniently located by the food dish.


Mice all over the place.

Awesomeness on Etsy

I don't browse Etsy as much as I used to, it just seems that everyone is making the same types of things and all the shops tend to start looking the same. Scrabble tile pendants, anyone? How about the personalized stamped silver or metal pendants? One person starts selling something, they start to sell a lot of them, and before you know it, there are hundreds of them all over Etsy.

Like this:


Search handmade on Etsy for personalized stamped metal pendant and 50 pages of these come up. They are nice, and a great idea, but will soon become the new scrabble tile pendant. Not to mention the plethora of moustache things on Etsy.

Everyone needs a felt moustache disguise, right?


Come on, it's only $13.00!

If that's not your cup of tea, you can wear your moustache on a chain.


Anyway, I think my point is that Etsy is just like any other retail mall, certain styles become popular and trendy and all the shops start to carry the same things.

So, when I saw this shop on Etsy while looking through Pounce at the recently sold, I was immediately fascinated by the uniqueness and originality and style. Each piece is truly one of a kind and I love the way the artist photographs the clothing with the illustrations from the original vintage patterns that she has used. I've always liked vintage textiles anyway, and the way she uses them in these fashions just makes me smile. So much fun!

The shop is bettyoatmeal, with the tag line 'where art is worn'. Very fitting, these pieces are indeed works of art!

This is a dress for a little girl made with one of those 'days of the week' embroidered tea towels, those ones that told you to bake on Monday, clean on Tuesday, etc. This one tells you to sew on Wednesday.


I really like the pattern illustrations along with the finished items in the pictures, they just add to the overall retro vintage feel of the whole shop.

This one is called Danger Bonbons and uses a tea towel that lists the calories of food on it. I just love the way this is made.


And this is total awesomeness, a jacket made with a vintage souvenir Los Angeles (and environs) table cloth. The vintage pattern she uses is just perfect!


If you'd like to see more, and I highly recommend checking out this shop, go here:
http://bettyoatmeal.etsy.com

What's That Noise?

Keith went up into the attic crawlspace on Monday to look and see if he could move the phone wire from our bedroom into the workroom so that we can move the computer. We don't have a real attic, just enough room up there for the heater/air conditioner thing and a bunch of blown in insulation. Anyway, he was crawling around up there because you can't even stand up (must be why they call it a crawlspace) and Buddy was totally confused by what in the heck that noise was and what the heck is in my ceiling. He was up on the entertainment center trying to see in the vent.


Well, moving the phone line would be a big pain in the ass job, so I don't think it's going to get done. I suggested just running a line inside the house along the ceiling or under the carpet, so we'll see. It would be nice to have the computer in the workroom because as it is now I can't use it after Keith goes to bed.

In a totally unrelated subject, I was browsing Craftjuice, a site where you can upload your latest crafts and hopefully get someone to look at your creativity, and came across these spirit doll things. I'm not into this kind of stuff, so I don't know if these are good or bad, I just thought they were a little creepy.

This one is the goddess of fire and immortality or some such nonsense, and the other one is the goddess of something or other. I guess if you have these laying around they will empower you or whatever.


Do you feel empowered?

And what the heck is up with this bib necklace that was on Etsy's front page? I can't see anybody in the real world wearing deer antlers around town, maybe you wear it when you are eating venison? It is a BIB necklace, after all. Maybe they also make this with lobster claws on it.

A Very Lazy Lunch

The way Bear eats never fails to amuse me. She is so lazy that she will lay by the food bowl and scoop one piece out at a time.

As You Can See

I have a shop on Artfire after much deliberation. Is Artfire the new Etsy? Is it cheaper than Etsy in the long run at $12.00 a month regardless of how much you list or how much you sell? Are there any buyers on Artfire? Who knows, but I've decided to give them another try for at least the rest of the year and see what happens. My monthly fees on etsy are more than 12.00 a month even when not much sells, so...

I also have a shop on Zibbet, which doesn't and won't ever cost me a dime. I'd listed things there on and off when it was free to list, fees only if you sold something, and not much happened there, but they sent me a survey about new changes that were in the works and promised me a free upgraded shop for life just for answering the survey, so free shop it is! Now all they need are buyers, so if you want to shop handmade in a much less junky and crowded environment than etsy, give Zibbet a look. The front page is a little boring, but you can shop by search or category. (or just click on my little zibbet thingie on my sidebar and you'll be magically transported right to my shop!)

We Are Boring

I'm beginning to think we are the most boring people ever. Here we are on a holiday Monday and I've cleaned the house, done some laundry, and am now (obviously) on the computer. Keith has eaten breakfast and sat on the couch and was on the computer looking at Bob and Tom stuff for a while. He'll probably be ready for a nap soon.

This whole city is boring, it's been too hot to go outside the house for the last month, and the air quality has been bad so you're not supposed to go outside anyway, and if you do risk going out, there is really nothing to do once you're out there. I really miss Ventura where if you were bored, you could always go wander around downtown or go for a bike ride by the beach or drive up to Ojai or Santa Barbara. There is nothing like that to do here. Unless you count the bike path by the river, which is nice, but there is no water in the river. What WERE we thinking when we moved here?

It is a little cooler this weekend at least, there is a nice breeze and we were able to open up the windows and doors and turn off the air conditioner. The cats get all excited when the windows are open and line up to smell all the new smells that are coming in with the breeze. I have to watch them so they don't crash through the screen like they did last year, all ending up in the front yard.

So, another weekend where I'm going to end up nagging Keith to GET SOMETHING DONE! I want to move the computer into the work room so we can have our bedroom back to being just a bedroom. He needs to go up in the attic and do something so that there is a phone line in the workroom, why there isn't one already I don't know. So, we'll see if he does that or not. And that's about it for today.

Of Course it Happened in a Walmart

Niece Meghan sent me a link to the peopleofwalmart.com site yesterday, which I had read about on yahoo, how these two kids started a website with pictures of people seen in neighborhood walmarts. It's hilarious, go check it out!
http://peopleofwalmart.com

Something about walmart brings out the hillbilly in all of us, and we don't care if we go shopping in our fuzzy slippers and too small stretch pants. Underwear optional. Not just the shoppers at walmart, some of the employees are a little scary, too. When I worked there one of my assistant managers had a mullet. A girl mullet.

We had a woman who worked in health and beauty who's fingernails were like this walmart shoppers, pictured below, only more curled up. The last time I saw her, she had cut the nails on one hand short, but still had the curled up claws on the other hand. Yes, she was able to stock shelves and open boxes with the claws, but I always wondered what kinds of nastiness were lurking under those years of fingernail growth and was amazed that management didn't tell her to cut them because she was grossing out the shoppers. Not to mention getting nasty fingernail germiness on all the products she touched. And, yes, I always wondered how she took care of personal issues with those nails. Ick.

Warning!!! This picture is disgusting!!!


And in other walmart related news, how about that story we all heard about the man who slapped a crying toddler after telling the mom she'd better shut that kid up or he'd do it for her? Horrible story, and a horrible thing to do, but haven't we all had times when we were so very tempted to do the same thing? Silly man, don't you know that slapping doesn't shut them up but only makes them cry louder? Duct tape is the answer.

I don't think there has ever been a time when I was in a walmart and there wasn't some kid crying somewhere in the store. It's even worse when you work there, after a while you learn to kind of tune out the crying child, but every once in a while you get a screamer that you really do want to slap. Now, I'm not talking about crying babies, the sound of an infant crying doesn't bother me at all because infants can't talk yet and only have crying to express themselves and usually only cry when they are hungry, wet, or tired, they aren't crying because mom won't buy them a new toy or a candy bar. It's the bigger kids that annoy me. What annoys me even more is when mom or dad gives in and buys the toy or candy just to shut the kid up. So the kid learns that crying and whining is the way to get a new toy or candy. Works like a charm every time.

We Have Ice

The new fridge got here yesterday morning and is now up and running and making ice and dispensing water. The only thing I don't like is that the water thing drips after you fill up your glass. And the cats were totally perturbed and perplexed at the noises it makes when dumping out the ice. They were all like 'what the hell is that noise and why is it coming from that big thing over there OMG it's a monster!!' Hopefully they will get used to it but it even startled me a little last night.


It looks nice in the kitchen, but as I told Keith (hint hint) it would look much nicer IF WE HAD A KITCHEN FLOOR!


The water and ice dispenser even lights up.


Note the huge box of beer, that was the first thing that Keith brought home and put in the fridge.
Priorities, priorities.

It's Always Something

Let's see, this year we had two broken cars and had to buy a new car and a broken shower and had to fix that. We've been wondering what else would break that would end up costing us lots of money. Dishwasher? That I can live without, you can do dishes by hand. TV? That I can also live without, it's not like you need to watch Jerry Springer or crappy reruns of shows you were bored by the first time around. Air conditioner? That happened a few years ago, so, knock on wood, we should be good there for a little while. Washing machine? There are always laundromats for washing clothes, and if the dryer breaks, you can always string up a clothesline. Refrigerator? You kind of need one of those unless you want to live out of an ice chest. Which is what we are doing today.

Yes, yesterday afternoon I go to get some ice for my iced tea and what the heck? There is just water where the ice should be. And everything else in the freezer is melted. The refrigerator that Keith bought at Lowe's in their scratch and dent sale for $275.00 six years ago decided that we had gotten our money's worth and it was time to go to the big refrigerator dump in the sky. Yes, our refrigerator died yesterday. Along with all the food that was in it.

We used to have two refrigerators but gave the old one that I had brought up here with me to one of the neighbors earlier this year to make more room in the garage. And the neighbor moved so we can't ask for it back. So, no spare refrigerator and we're not calling a repairman on a $275.00 refrigerator because any repairs would probably cost more than the thing is worth. So, over to Home Depot and Lowe's last night to look at refrigerators. We were laughing about how we would get the thing home since we don't have a truck anymore and I suggested getting one of the big trolley things that they have for putting your lumber on and just pushing it home, stopping traffic so we could cross the street with it.

We priced the fridges at Home Depot and didn't see anything for under $1200 or so that we felt was worth the money, so over to Lowe's where we found a side by side with an icemaker in the door for $698. And it's an energy star whatever, too. They had other fridges for about the same money that weren't as nice so we decided to go with the side by side with the icemaker in the door thingie, which I've never had before. By the time they added on sales tax and extended warranty and all, it came to just under $1000, and good thing we have a Lowe's credit card with what was a zero balance on it. So, now we'll be doing the 'easy payment plan' on our new refrigerator which of course makes it twice as much by the time you are done paying for it. Eeeek.

They do offer free delivery and free haul away of your old fridge, so we didn't have to push it down Rosedale highway at least. But, that might have been kind of fun.