I didn't need that finger anyway...

Mood: Pouting

My husband wanted me to come watch TV with him in the living room earlier this evening. I've gotten to where I can't just sit and watch TV - too much I could be doing. I was painting at the time and since I had my little "paint on the new couch incident" I'm no longer allowed to bring paint into the living room. I decided I could to go through all of my craft magazines while I watched TV. I like to tear out complete articles for future reference and pictures for inspiration then recycle the magazine itself. You know those nifty little yellow and black scissors used for arts and crafts? They have a lovely little holder you put them in because the ends are supposedly sooooo sharp. Here's a pic in case you're not familiar with them. This is what I use to get the pages out when I need to be careful of the edges...

Well, the good news is I don't need stitches! For some unknown reason instead of laying the magazine flat to cut out a page I decided to try to cut the page at an angle and managed to slice open my index finger from the top most bend to the tip. After about an hour it started staying closed on it's own. I'm REALLY happy about that because we can't afford a trip to Care Now for stitches. I'm hoping it seals itself up tonight enough for me to paint tomorrow (I tend to use my fingers a lot). I have several pieces I have been working on today. I want to get as much done as possible this weekend.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Mood: Good

I hope everyone is having a great Thanksgiving! Ours is going well. Today is Cory's birthday too so he's pretty much been on the phone nonstop before and after my mother and brother were here. We didn't do the traditional feast. We had tortellini, salad and garlic bread instead. It always drains me to spend time with my littlest brother. He and I have completely different personalities and we are ten years apart. We end up arguing more than talking. Mom is mad that I got Martin from an adoption agency instead of from the strays she has. Whatever. It was purely an impulse buy when I got him. Besides, I shouldn't have to be forced to get her cats just because they aren't fixed and keep having kittens. I ran out of Claritin so we have to find a store that's open tonight. I think Wal-Mart should open up soon. If I remember right they opened up last year.



I posted a few more items in my Etsy shop. I got my third sale last week! I'm really excited. I have been working on these guys for a while. I just started drawing them and they appeared. I like the way they look on the wood too. Teri is the one that got me drawing them. She had done some really cool mermaid atcs on the same wood. I wanted to try drawing on it as soon as I saw hers! I love the feel of the wood. The clown is an atc for trade on AFA.

CATastrophe

Mood: Jittery

So many updates since my last post! I have a ton of new artwork I need to post. The kitten is driving me absolutely crazy! We decided to name him Charlie but I think since I was caling him kitten while I was waiting for Cory to name him he recognizes that as his name. Also, when I call Charlie Hailey comes so I think it may be too close to her name. We decided to name him Martin instead. It's the closest we could think of to kitten.

I came home on Thursday to two huge messes. Apparently he had knocked off my FULL pencil sharpener from the kitchen table and found a loose roll of toilet paper. Friday I came home to Cory vaccumming the entire living room which is odd for a Friday night. He said he sat down on the couch to watch TV and noticed he was sitting in glass. Somehow the cat managed to get on top of the fireplace and knock of a clock with a globe on it. I've had that thing for probably 15 years. It was a gift from my mother. I'm guessing since it was so old the glass was brittle and it just exploded when it hit the brick. Cory said glass was even in our formal dining room (aka the office).

We didn't have this much trouble with Hailey when she was a kitten. I don't know if it's because he is a boy or if he is just going to be a wild cat. He shreds all the toys we buy for him. I woke up yesterday morning to find him attacking a towel that was on the bedroom floor. Good news is he seems to be getting along with Hailey a little better. They play together a little bit now. Actually rip and tear through the house describes it a little better. They run at full speed from one end of the house to the other taking turns at who is chasing whom. I found him yesterday trying to chew Hailey's collar off of her. She was just letting him do it. We do have to watch out for when they play. He tends to get really rough (imagine that) and we are afraid he will hurt Hailey since she doesn't have any front claws. We couldn't tell if they were playing or fighting the other day. We finally decided he was playing and she wasn't so we broke it up. Then we had to lock them in separate rooms because they were still trying to attack each other. Sheesh!

WIP/Some great news!

Mood: Hungry

Cory went bowling tonight so I'm left to fend for myself as far as dinner goes. Ramen noodles it is! Easy to cook, bad for you and very tasty! I wouldn't have it any other way. Work went really smooth today. C. was out of the office to take her little boy to the doctor so I was pretty busy. It's nice because it helps the day go by faster. I didn't get talked to today and I'm not going to push the issue for a while at least. My boss has more pressing issues at hand right now. You can see the stress and worry in her face and I feel really bad for her. You know she must be absolutely miserable right now.

As I mentioned before I have a bunch of WIP pieces I am working on. Some are turning out okay and others need a little more work. I'm smack dab in the middle of the workshop for Wyanne. I'm really enjoying it. I've got three pieces half done. She said they should all be done by the time the workshop is over. I kind of like that I joined at the end because I can view all the videos at once. On the other hand I kind of miss doing everything at the same time as others and talking about it.

Great news! Actually I found out about it a while ago but I've been a little preoccupied lately. I got an email from a friend (S.) and one of her friends is opening up a salon. She needs some artwork to hang up on the walls and asked S. if she knew any other local artists aside from herself that would be interested. S. said she immediately thought of me! The owner is willing to sell our stuff for us in exchange for letting us use her artwork on the walls. How cool is that!?!? I don't even particularly care if I sell anything or not. I think it will be really cool just to be able to say I have artwork somewhere! I need to have several pieces done by mid December since I'm going on vacation at the end of the year. I hope I can get some pieces done that I'm happy with!

Today was better

Mood: Okay

It took a while before I decided to post the previous post. I edited it A LOT before posting. I wrote it while I was upset and saved it as a draft. Sometimes I do wish there was a private button for some posts. Not everything going on in my head is meant for public view. Today was better. I wrote an email to both of my supervisors after I had calmed down stating some concerns and needing clarification on a couple of things. I'm not sure if I will be talked to tomorrow. I am pretty much expecting it though. You can't write an email like that and expect it to be shoved under the table. We'll see. Geez, I hope I don't start bawling again. I always do that and it frustrates beyond belief.

On a happier note I got a really special package in the mail today! I can't say who it's from or what was in it just yet since it was from my Secret Santa. I don't want to give away the surprise for anyone. I got some AWESOME gifts! Cory was laughing at me when I was opening them. I just LOVE presents!

I have several WIP pieces I wanted to post tonight but it's going to wait until tomorrow. I have a killer headache tonight (damn cold front!) and I think I'm going to just hit the hay. I'll try to post them tomorrow.

More good news

Mood: Depressed

Two more people go laid off from work yesterday. We were all called together to be told more would probably join them. Not a big surprise there. Today we all got a "talk". Basically reviews to keep our jobs from my point of view. I'm still not sure about mine. I got "Your performance is great but we had some complaints from some of your coworkers". I'm not going to go into detail. I've been crying all evening. I'm going to look like a frog tomorrow my eyes will be so puffed up.

I'm still here

Mood: Drained

Boy what a week it has been! Between work and refereeing the two cats I feel completely frazzled. I cleaned up the house a bit yesterday and decluttered my craft room and I am feeling a little better now. I wish we had one more day to the weekend so I can relax a bit.

Last weekend we got a new kitten. Not super young, six months, but still young enough to attack anything that moves. We thought since we are always at work Hailey would benefit from a companion. I don't think he got too much attention at the place he was at. He ate like he hadn't been getting enough food. The first couple of days he would eat so much at one time it made him sick. Oh, and not to mention he constantly wanted attention. Hailey could not stand him! We had them separated for a while but allowed "supervised visitation". What's sad is it was for Hailey's protection and not his! He's a pretty big cat and still has his claws. He plays really rough. I worried he would try to play with Hailey and she wouldn't be able to fight back if it changed from playing to fighting.

Hailey is tolerating him now. She'll allow him to be in the same room and has returned to coming over to me and Cory for pets. She's still not back to her normal routine though. I think it will take a while before that happens. At least I'm hoping she goes back to it. I don't want her to lose her little quirks just because we got another cat. The kitten is adjusting now too. He's not as skittish and no longer requires constant attention. He still eats quite a bit but he doesn't wolf it down anymore. I've been trying to keep food in his bowl so he knows some will always be there.

We took him to the vet because he had worms. Ick! He checked out okay other than that. The vet did have a concern about a lump on his back hind leg. She said it feels almost like the lumps they get after they get their shots but vets don't give shots to cats in that location. She said we need to watch it to make sure it doesn't get any bigger. I hope it's not a tumor or something. He's really young for that. We haven't named him yet. We weren't sure if we were going to be able to keep him at first since him and Hailey were fighting so much and we didn't want to get too attached. I need to figure out one soon or he's going to end up thinking kitten is his name. At least now we have a little bit of a personality to go off of.

Work has been an absolute pain. We are working on getting a new computer system running so we are working half on the old one and half on the new one. The new one at first wouldn't be ready until next week but our old servers crashed for two days and we didn't really have a choice. Sometimes I truly worry about some of the people in my office. They act like they are completely incompetent. "Well I was never told that", "No one said anything about that", "I didn't get that" all after they've been given the correct information multiple times. I swear sometimes I just want to pull my hair out and scream! Then they talk about this conspiracy where only certain people get the information and that's why they can't figure it out. It was sent to the entire office via email people! READ IT! Argh. On top of that I couldn't check a loan for all the interruptions between the phone, getting asked questions, having to call home office and trying to find a computer that has the new system (I don't have a drop line for my desk yet) on it to fix loans. All week long I felt like I was being pulled in ten different directions at once. Thankfully we have been excruciatingly slow so we didn't get behind on our turn around times. Of course, that's not a good thing when we are that slow. It means trouble is coming.

Good news is I am almost done with my first present for my Secret Santa! I can't show pictures yet though. I have to wait until we have all exchanged them so I don't give away who it is. I'm very happy with how it's turning out! The second little present I was making didn't turn out at all! I need a little more practice with what I am working on.

The Bog of Eternal Stench

Mood: Okay (Can't get rid of my headache)

I think something died under my house. We can't find anything else to explain the smell that turned up yesterday. It literally smells like a stale dumpster at the front of my house and I have people coming over tomorrow. How embarrassing!

I smelled it when I left for work but there are always funky smells in the air on cold mornings. One day I could smell cigarettes so bad I could swear someone had just smoked one on my front porch. Anyway, I figured the smell would be gone by the time I got home but it wasn't. In fact, it was just as bad as when I had left. So I figured maybe a wrapper or blood from raw chicken or hamburger got out of the trash bag and into our trash can . Nope, not the trash cans.

The smell is not coming from the garage. It's coming from OUTSIDE the garage. There is a hole in the ground right at the corner of the garage. I'm wondering if that's where it's coming from. Granted I'm not about to stick my face down there and try to find out either. Who knows what's in that hole! Cory said he's try to figure it out tomorrow morning. He worked today and had a birthday party to go to this evening. I really hope it's something we can fix. I really don't want to have to wait that out! Blech!

WIP/Good News

Mood: Anxious

With all my doom and gloom last night I forgot to post pictures of my latest project. I'm really excited about it. I found this little wooden house in the Christmas section of Hobby Lobby. I forgot to take a picture of it before I started tearing it apart and marking on it but you get the idea. I kept the wood where from where it broke but I haven't decided if I want to leave the hole above the door or not. It took forever to rip the front door off. I had to go through two layers of wood.

I'm not quite sure where I'm with this little house. I want it to have a raggedy run down look but that's where by vision fades. I found this really cool owl at Goodwill that will sit on top of it perfectly and help with the run down look. This is where I am at now. I doubt I will have time to work on it this weekend. I want to finish my curtains, Saturday evening I have a birthday party to go to and I need to bake a couple of things for that before I go. Then I have people coming over Sunday afternoon. I will probably work on it more the following weekend. Maybe by then I will have some more ideas on what to do with it.

I sold my first thing on Etsy the other day. Yea! It was only a five dollar print but you have to start somewhere right? I'm impatiently waiting for it to arrive at it's new home so I can get some feedback. Right now I have no feedback and I look like those iffy flyby night people where you don't know if you can purchase stuff from them or not. I need to add my originals to the shop. I've got four ready to sell. I'm just trying to decide on prices now. That's really hard too! You have to make a profit for your time but at the same time not scare people away. I haven't quite figured that part out yet so they sit on my computer waiting.

Blondie Bars

Mood: Okay

I bake when I'm in a glum mood. So, tonight I decided to make some Blondie Bars. If you have never had them I challenge you to make them and try, just try, to eat more than a one square inch piece without making yourself completely sick to your stomach. I have yet to find a person who can do it. I've been making this recipe for a while now and absolutely love it! Here's the recipe if you're up to the challenge.

Bluesky's Completely Awesome
Chocolate Chip Blondie Bars

1 cup packed brown sugar
8 tbsp butter, melted (do not use margarine, it will not taste anywhere near the same)
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 pinch of salt
1 cup flour
1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease an 8 x 8 pan.
• Mix melted butter with brown sugar and beat until smooth.
• Beat in egg and vanilla
• Add salt, flour and chocolate chips
• Pour into prepared pan and bake for 20 - 25 minutes or until the middle is set.
• Let cool before cutting

I have seen some people add other ingredients such as cherries, raspberries and chopped nuts. You can even leave out the chocolate chips if you prefer. This recipe is one of those that you can't really go wrong.

It really comes out looking nothing like the picture above but hey, that picture sure looks good right? If anyone can figure out how to make them look like that please share the secret! Here's what it will really look like when you are done. Oh and it will always look like the center isn't done when you're pulling it out of the oven. I give it the "shake test". If the center is jiggly when I give it a shake it's not done yet.

Let me know if you use the recipe. I'd love to hear what you think about it!

A Long Day

Mood: Drained

Today was a long day. Apparently my boss was mad at me so I got my head bit off every time I turned around. She wasn't like that when she first came in so something triggered it. I think the thing that bothered me most was I was trying to do something nice for her (and another coworker) today and I got my head bit off when I asked what her preference was on something and said she didn't care. Then, when I went to lunch, her, that coworker and another coworker went ahead and discussed it all and decided on it and didn't even have the decency to tell me about it even though I'm the one that organizes everything. That really hurt my feelings. I went into the bathroom and cried. It was a silly thing to cry over but there is no reason to treat people that way when they are just trying to do something nice for you.

I'm not sure if she's mad at me in particular, the fact that layoffs are pretty much no longer avoidable or if she's upset with something else completely. I assume it's the first one rather than the latter two because I'm the only one she's treating that way. I know it's not my imagination or that I'm not being overly sensitive because two other coworkers asked me why she was treating me like that. I wish she would just come out with whatever it is. I hate walking around on eggshells around people. I feel completely exhausted by the end of the day.

Sew Proud/Etsy

Mood: Thrilled

I did it! I am so proud of myself! After two, no three, years of owning my sewing machine I have FINALLY learned how to use it! I am a little embarrassed to say it took me an entire afternoon (and part of the evening) to complete my curtain panel door but I did it! I plan to do curtains in the same material. Hopefully it will take me a lot less time especially since I know how to follow this pattern. I am very pleased with how my first project turned out too! The panel is fully lined with mitered corners and ribbon accents. My seams are pretty straight too! I practiced a little bit on a scrap piece of material before I worked on the panel. I found I have to use one of those chalk pencils to keep my line straight but I am okay with that. Hopefully I will complete the curtains this next weekend.

I didn't get my bulletin board or the atc holder I wanted to make done this weekend. I wasn't planning on taking so long with the curtain project. Well, I wasn't planning on that to begin with so I guess I just traded one project out for another.

I am also happy to say I finally got my Etsy shop going! There isn't too much in there at the moment and I need to get the banner done but it's open nonetheless. I have a ton of items I need to upload pictures for. I plan to get more of that done this coming week.