New Year and New Goals ?

I love the new year. I like the thought of a clean slate. I find myself busier than ever - tidying things up, organizing, cleaning, and making resolutions and goals that I will never achieve. Then comes the reality that I have failed. This year was no different. It started with the removal of all things Christmas - except for the tree - the day after Christmas. The tree came down New Years Day. However I did make a resolution to not make any resolutions. So with that I am ready to take on the new year. I will be 50 in 6 days. I need to do something BIG while I am still in my 40's.
I had wanted to take a birthday trip to Monterey to see the Monarch Butterflies, go whale watching and visit the aquarium. However with my husband's shoulder recovering from surgery, and the lack of spare cash as a result of the injury, I have decided to let that plan go for a while. I don't even know what I want.

So with my almost clean house, and my clean slate I begin the new year with a clear conscience. I am going to let go of some of my unfinished projects and relax more this year. We will see where it takes me.

The Bucket List

While all of my friends are making their "bucket lists" I have created a list of instructions for my family.
Things you CAN NOT do if I die
1. If I die suddenly, say in a car accident, you CAN NOT put flowers and a cross on the side of the road.
2. You can not advertise my memorial service on the electronic marquee at the Citrus Fair
3. Please do not list my cats as survivors in my obituary (especially by name)
4. If you don't want my craft stuff please burn it. Don't donate it to Goodwill.

#4 came about when we started collecting Owl "stuff" to hand out at our Soroptimist meetings. There was a needle punch owl in a frame. Debbie gave it to one of the members, and she in turn donated it to our end of year auction. During the auction she said some old woman had made this and when she died her kids just donated it to goodwill (very likely). We all laughed at her description and her comments about if she dies and her kids don't want her stuff.....and I thought OH NO! This could be so true. I have so much crap that only means something to me. I am a collector.
I Can Make That! and so there are the piles. Pin cushions, jewelry, greeting cards, quilts, hats, all in various states of progress or planning, and if I were to fall off the face of the earth tomorrow I am pretty sure there is nothing there that anyone else would care to have!

So I started thining it out. I cleaned and organized and packaged up some of it and sold it, and donated some of it to goodwill (it's okay if I do it...but not if someone else does it for me) and then I have the rest of the piles left. There is for example that bag of 50 ties to make hats with. I am not yet ready to part with those. My son needed a tie the other day and I drug that out and he looked at me like I had lost my mind. Maybe I have.

My sister had my dads jewelry making kits and she went through them and then asked me did I want them and I said yes please. I came home one day and here on the porch were 3 boxes. One of them was a large fishing tackle box. I spent a lot of time sorting through his stuff. I bagged some of it up and sold it. I kept some. The fun part was when I got this brilliant idea to share all of his rocks. His grandkids called him Pop. So I purchased some small bottles and sorted rocks and filled the jars with them. Then I made labels - "Pop's Rocks" and each grandchild got a jar of Pop's rocks for Christmas in 2009.
Maybe I should make my own jars for my stuff - Mom's Marbles......buttons, threads, glitter, rocks, odd pieces of jewelry.....:)

I have to go finish some of my projects now.....

Hot Hot Hot

We went right from winter to summer. whatever happened to spring? It was 105 yesterday. When Debbie and I went for our walk, it was still nearly 90. Too hot for walking in the sun. As we were tooling along I realized Debbie was at least a step or two behind me. So I slowed down. Everytime I slowed down, she did too. We were dragging in the heat.
I reread my posts, pledged to write daily, and wondered if I ever finished those Halloween projects. I think I did, but I am not sure. The Block of the Month sits unfinished, too. And it's been 9 months since I decided to make a hat and bought a bag of ties. I sold several of them in my booth.
I've been thinking about giving my booth up completely. While Debbie is expanding to 2 booths, I am thinking about packing it in! I enjoy it, but think of all the free time I would have if I wasn't hauling crap around - buying it, cleaning it, pricing it, hauling it to the store, arranging it, rearranging it. And I'm barely breaking even! I could go back to just selling my greeting cards on commission and making the same amount of money. So I thought about this and decided perhaps I would wait until after the holidays. Or at least the end of February, because December through February are usually good months. Then I could give it all up. Have a big sale - keep the stuff I like, and move on to finishing my quilting projects.

It's the toilet paper!

I was reading a recent issue of Good Housekeeping and came across a consumer test they did for toilet paper. The toilet paper I have been using was tested and the results were interesting. The paper does not break down very well. It now occurs to me this could be contributing to our ongoing septic issues. At this writing I have switched from Charmin Ultra soft to Kirkland (from Costco) and things are working very well.

Debbie, my business partner, and I have divorced. We were sharing a booth at Antiques and Uniques and we decided due to space issues (I think she was taking up too much space, and she thinks I was taking up too much space) we decided to strike out on our own. Debbie got a space on the isle. Prime real estate! Antiques and Uniques is not really just an antique store as the name might indicate. The business owner has a variety of mechandise, new and used - glasswares, jewelry, furnitue - a little bit of everything. It's a great place to find a gift. Part of the store is stocked by mall vendors - we rent "booths" and we stock them with our merchandise. You might find antiques, hand made items, clothing - a wide variety of merchcandise. In my booth you will find my hand made jewelry, my hand made greeting cards featuring my Trailer Trash line, and various second hand items - glass wares, stuffed animals, craft items, men's ties - whatever happens to catch my eye when I am out shopping for merchandise. Right now I have a variety of Easter decorations, along with a beautiful punch bowl, a selection of gravy boats, glassware, and beannie babies just to name a few of my items.

My Easter cards are on display in the front of the store. Soon my Mother's Day cards will be in stock, and I am hoping to create some new and unusual jewelry.
Stop by Antiques and Uniques in Cloverdale and check it out! There's something for everyone.

PS - I haven't finished the Block of the Month Quilt - although I did make a bit more progress since my last posting.

Rainy Days & Mondays

When it rains non-stop our septic gets saturated. The house begins to smell. Like a butt. The only one who doesn't mind the odor is the dog. I think he actually enjoys it.
Of course it's fair time. For Cloverdale that means rain. The forecast changes moment to moment. Right now it appears there may be some decent weather Saturday. The weather is actually changing moment to moment too. It's cold - and it's snowing just north of us. I went to the store, and I could see the moon and stars. I came out of the store and it was raining. Karl came home from the gym and said you could see the moon again. As I sit here writing this I can hear the rain beating on the roof.
I am afraid to wash any laundry. With everything so saturated, the toilet begins to gurgle when you are in the shower. It's rather disconcerting.

So hoping that we have some good weather for fair, and so I can wash the laundry and flush the toilet without fear.

I did it!

I pulled out those unifinished Halloween projects and yesterday I sat down and finished them! Well.....almost. I just have to finish the binding on them. I got one completed. I will have them finished this week. What a feeling of satisfaction and pride. I will be keeping at least one of them to use as a table runner. The others I will sell. Or maybe use as a gift. I am not sure yet. But the satisfaction of completeing a UFO certainly feels good.

I have a few more of those projects. I cut out 7" squares from every pair of discarded jeans in sight and my intention is to make a jean quilt for Erik. I have strips of fabric I cut out (several years ago) for a quilt for myself. I am going to complete these projects! Soon.

As I sat in the back room hand sewing the binding on the little table mat yesterday, I watched the leaves falling from the trees and realized that fall is really just a blink away. Our next big adventure will be our Disneyland trip in October and our Fall Pumpkin Harvest Party.

I guess it's time to start that To-Do list!

Skunk!

Our dog provides us with hours of joy and entertainment every day. Every day is a new adventure, every thing a game for him. He digs, barks, runs and plays all day. He will bring home sticks (some of them are really tree branches) and pile them up on the lawn. Of course the gophers are already doing damage to the lawn, but Loki wants to "get them" so he digs. He barks at squirrels in trees and he won't let a bird's talons touch the soil - not on his watch. He is on duty.
And tonight when he disappeared I said to my daughter, "where is your dog?"
Her reply, with a shrug, "I don't know".
When he came in the back door, happier than hell, he just pranced on by me and suddenly I got a good whiff of him. SKUNK!
So off to the bath he went. I don't think he was very happy about having to have a bath. But we were all relieved. My goodness that dog can find more trouble in one day.

So while I was keeping him busy outside, waiting for his bath to be ready, he was certain he saw a squirrel in the tree over the house. We spent the next 10 minutes looking up (yes both of us), and barking (well - that was only the dog). I think it was a false alarm - I think it was a bird. While looking up, trying to locate that rogue squirrel, I saw a couple of bats swooping around over the house. I tried to tell Loki, but he was really fixed on this non-existent squirrel.

Finally it was bath time for Loki and as I settled back into my chair in front of the Boob Tube, I realized that life really is more interesting with Loki around. And because of him I take a few minutes every day to stop and smell the roses (or the skunk).