Showing posts with label no whining on wednesday. Show all posts
Showing posts with label no whining on wednesday. Show all posts

No Whining on Wednesday but maybe a status update since I'm sure you've been wondering

My latest projects - I've been working on new linesheets and a series of new mini lockets,

but more importantly I am currently on Day 4 of my Crest white strips program.

I'm not sure there's any actual whitening going on, except for about 30 seconds immediately following their removal (maybe) and I think they are making my teeth more sensitive.

This sensitivity might be how they actually work. Maybe after a week of not eating or drinking, people are too disgusted by your prominent ribcage and distended abdomen to notice your coffee-stained teeth.

(I'll stick with it though because I am not a quitter, dammit)

This is reminding me that there is a kiosk in my local mall with tooth whitening where a girl in a dentist-like lab coat,

(that just screams medical professional, I think she also sells the $200.00 ionic hair curlers)

does something to you that resembles some kind of dental torture while strangers stare and point and laugh,

(not that this has happened to me)

because I do my tooth whitening at home, like a normal person who has spent way too much time with coffee on her teeth.

My latest injury - I tumbled off the front steps while hanging a hummingbird feeder and smashed my kneecap onto a cement birdbath. I then broke the world record for cursing out hummingbirds with 20 curse words in 20 seconds

(Ripley's is coming out next week; I think the hummingbirds are planning a protest)

What I'm reading - I am on a Swedish detective kick, brought on by The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series. I ran through that author too quickly and moved on to Henning Mankell.

(I am more convinced than ever that I should be doing detective work in Sweden; I think they need me, plus I want to learn how to pronounce all these consonent clusters)

What I'm listening to - Hubby snore and Olive "dream chase" a squirrel while I eagerly await my new Macy Gray, expected on my door step next week

What I'm watching - Life on the Discovery channel but somehow Oprah's voice is ruining it for me- I miss Sigourney ...

I was planning a post for today on pricing our work and will pop one out soon, but the weather was just too nice for me to settle down with something serious- I write my weekly posts on Sundays and it is just too gorgeous here to work today! Happy Cinco de Mayo!


1. Nobody cares about your status updates tee by herrohachi
2. Fingerprint men's tee by nonfictiontees
3. Smile pretty print by thelittleprints
4. Imprintme silver fingerprint necklace by AliBaliJewellery
5. Sherlock Holmes paperweight by Ephemeralogie
6. Hummingbird TTV photo by theeye

No Whining on Wednesday or why are people in Nevada searching for mosquito dunks and ending up here


As part of my SEO immersion I have been checking out (while watching American Idol) .. carefully studying .. my google analytics to see just what it is that I am saying that helps people find me on here.

(for anyone not familiar- google analytics is a service to see what kind of web traffic your website, blog, etc is getting, where that traffic is coming from and the kind of things that people are searching for when they find you)

So, although these search terms seem a bit strange, I am going to trust Google and the googlers and work these search phrases that people seem to have found me with into today's post in hopes of drawing even more traffic in here.


(traffic with credit cards and paypal accounts hopefully, because baby needs a new pair of shoes ...

<------ and by baby I mean me and by shoes I mean these Ciao Bella's - aren't they cuties?)


1. Squirrellicious - Actually this is an easy one because squirrellicious is a word I use alot ... really.

In fact, people who know me are all like that girl is totally squirrellicious.

(it could be a hair thing)

and there is a totally adorable Etsy shop called Squirrellicious

(coincidence? I think not, squirrelincidence? ...maybe)

2. The Race to Wear Plastic - Now this makes total sense because I have been in a race to figure out more ways to incorporate plastic into my wardrobe since I lost my Alice in Wonderland wrist watch in the 1st grade...

(on the playground during recess and my teacher Miss Rehak(?) refused to search my classmates pockets and lunchbags; a situation that left me crying and demanding a Nazi-like siege on the school grounds and fostered a growing distrust of authority figures and inability to work a wrist strap)

3. Ivins Reservoir Itch - I think I am just going to leave this one alone- I am not sure what the people at my local reservoir have been saying about me, but I can assure you that I only did this that one time and well ... I just don't want to talk about it.

4. Mosquito Dunks for Sale in Las Vegas - This is my favorite. I did do a blog post on mosquito dunks once and have probably mentioned Las Vegas

(although I've never been, but hear what happens there stays there, kind of like the fast food fries in my car that Olive just can't quite reach)

and I have almost certainly used the word 'sale' many, many times.

(as in hello- this is a sale, please buy something, baby really, really needs those shoes)

And I am certain the person in Nevada searching for those mosquito dunks was very happy to stumble in here and find some recycled jewelry he didn't even know he was needing.

Of course, there are also plenty of searches for more relevant things, but if I can draw 'em in here with Ivins Reservoir Itch and Squirrellicious and The Race to Wear Plastic and Mosquito Dunks for Sale in Las Vegas

(best to work these all in one more time)

then I think I can do pretty much anything, right?

**Special in both my shops Uncorked and Polarity for the next 10 days - just say one of these search phrases or something similar, no penalties if you say groundhoglicious or the race to wear aluminum foil- I'm just not that kind of seller

(unlike other businesses out there that ignore you if you don't cross every t and dot every i or actually mail in one of their entry forms- damn you Publisher's Clearing House)

in the comments to seller section of your order and receive a free set of earrings with any purchase**


1. Amazing ivy aid - natural poison ivy relief from B. Noel Aromatics
2. Stunning rainbow punk plastic necklace by DarklyngStudios
3. Fun toteBag by GoldieFawn
4. Beautiful red bird cardholder by Squirrellicious
5. Adorable mosquito card by SouthernPestPrints

Whining Wednesday - a few things that are freaking me out this week


I know I decided to turn Whining Wednesdays into No Whining on Wednesdays and I have been good for the last few weeks, but every now and then we all need to whine

(just a little)

freak out #1) Hubby reading in the bathroom. This really, really bugs me. And I haven't blogged about him in a long time

(at least a week)

but this has gotten so out of control.

I am constantly finding strange things in the bathroom - like flashlights and drill bits and unopened mail

(I know this has nothing to do with reading, but these things freak me out, too)

and I am totally yucked out when I find a book in the bathroom. I mean, is it just me, or should nothing be in the bathroom that doesn't belong there.



this is how it starts folks -------->


Soon George will be taking the book into the restroom at the library before bringing it home so he can test it out; see how it feels on his lap, how well it rests on the back of the toilet tank, etc.

This so freaks me out

(of course, this does not apply to bathtubs or parents escaping their children- both valid "book in the bathroom" scenarios)

freak out #2) Amazon - Remember when Amazon was the internet's go to place for books, music, and movies?

Then they somehow collaborated with every other website ever created and now you can also purchase wholesale servings of organic juice drinks, a dog sled, a 200 pound drillpress, my own cemetery plot under a shady tree in Nevada and frankly, I don't like seeing those items as suggested purchases next to my shopping cart with my Snowdogs II Anniversary Edition DVD in there.

(Olive claims to be a big fan of Cuba Gooding, Jr although I suspect she has a little crush on snowdog number one)

freak out #3) That Tiger Woods talking listening to his dad Nike ad (ala Hamlet?). I have read this advertising called brilliant branding. I am just calling it C-R-E-E-P-Y.

(remember when Nike had that great ad with all the little girl babies throwing off their pink nursery caps- what the hell has happened to them?)

freak out #4)
- An 11 year old girl super hero (YAY), but wait a minute, an 11 year old girl super hero who uses the "c" word (not so YAY) - I don't think I am a prude

(in fact some of the reviewers of this movie want me to feel like a prude for objecting, but I object anyway)

if women let this word become acceptable and part of normal conversation I resign from my race, really truly .... let's boycott this movie - I'm not even going to say its name.

freak out #5) SEO - I have immersed myself in this stuff over the past few days, so I can pass all the wisdom I have accumulated on to you guys next week

(and maybe sell a few things)

"So is it all about the Benjamins, baby?" you may be asking yourself

(because in my head you all talk like P. Diddy)

and yes, it kind of is, actually....

and speaking of immersing myself (freak out #6) I did take a break this morning from my SEO education to liberally baste my face with some new organic skin care products, because I think this is something I need to start thinking about and because I really don't want to be able to use the folds of my face as a coin purse anytime soon.

I realize someday this is going to happen and I will probably be happy to have the extra storage space, but for now I still have a couple empty shelves in my pantry...

Now here's where I insert the disclaimer that I have been advised by my sister (who moved to Portland, Oregon a few years ago) that people on the west coast consider "freaking" a bad word, as if it were the real "f" word (and yes, I think the "c" word is way worse than the "f" word) that we use all the time here on the east coast and no one bats an eyelash.

She claims that when she says "freaking" to people they look at her as if she said something really bad, so she has stopped saying it.

(she is back to using the real "f" word and giving them the finger)

So, if you are a west coaster and this word is like fingernails on a chalkboard to you, I freaking apologize, sincerely. And if you are a west coaster and think my sister is freaking crazy let me know that, too (I think she is actually saying frigging, which is gross actually).


1. Calming and Clarifying Facial Cream by DressGreen
2. Reading photography by A Life Through the Lens
3. Freak Out and Throw Stuff notebook by Earmark
4. Eager Husky print by ToxicGuineaPigs
5. Toilet Paper on your Neck by LiciaBeads

No Whining on Wednesday or keeping things balanced and maybe even easy to quit


When I was growing up my mom didn't work.

Now, I say it this way because I know you will know what I mean, and of course, she did work. She did the hardest work of all.

She was not a good example of a "happy to be at home raising her family" kind of mom. She was bored.

This boredom led to depression and some other negative stuff, but it also led to alot of fun, crazy good stuff which came from her innate creativity and forced isolation.

But, I grew up thinking that working (and being out of the house) was probably a good thing.

When my daughter was very little I was working for a bank. Her good friend's mom took a job as a crossing guard, but because it was a pain in the neck going back and forth to her crossing guard stop all day long, she quit after a few days.

Now, this was all at a time when I was working alot and probably lacking a certain balance and my daughter would ask me sometimes often to quit my job.

So, anyhoo, she was with me at the bank one day (maybe a take your daughter to work day, I don't remember) and a bigshot vp was visiting my branch and she was asking all the daughters what they wanted to be when they grew up. And Sue's daughter said, "a doctor" and Theresa's daughter said "a lawyer" and the vp was nodding and smiling and then she asked my daughter and my daughter said "a crossing guard"

and when the startled vp asked her why, she replied, "because it's easy to quit."

(gulp)

Now, years after I ditched all that (or it ditched me, truthfully), I am working long hours again and feeling that lack of balance, "not easy to quit" thing creeping back into my life.

Yesterday, I had a rather lively debate about this exact subject- yes, with another person -

(Olive was sleeping)

who believes that because we are doing what we love (and hoping that the money will follow) there is almost no such thing as working too much.

(of course, this guy was also eating a box of raisins at the bagel shop and I haven't seen an actual person over 24" tall eat raisins out of the box like that in a very long time, also I should mention that the box was gigantic)

but, I don't get out much- maybe raisin popping is the new thing.

I have a feeling (and a knowing actually) that work that you love because your soul needs to do this thing and work that you love because you can make the payments on your cute little Prius can both become ... too much

and this "too much" thing can happen very quickly and soon you are not doing the things you used to do (and you loved those things, too) - no trips to the library, no long bike rides, no painting your peeling wicker porch chairs, no trying out those new recipes, too many no's for a life where you are committed to saying yes.

So, I am re-balancing again and thinking this is just another process without an endzone and knowing that being so far left right now means I may need a very big push right to swing back to center.

(does anyone have an extra ticket to Hawaii they won't be using?)

So, after our lively debate, which consisted in quite a bit of raisin flinging on his part, I was finally able to extricate myself from the conversation by maneuvering toward the condiment counter to get a lemon slice for my tea.

Suddenly, someone next to me was announcing, “Well my daughter had her baby.”

(surely she wasn't talking to me because I didn’t even know she had a daughter, but, yes, I turned around and there it was- eye contact)

My response was something like, “Hey, do you know where they keep the straws?”

and she continued, "She wasn’t plannin’ on having a baby but she was takin’ medicine for her urinary tract infections and that messed with her birth control and she got pregnant.

Me - smile, nod, *crickets*

(I sometimes go pre-verbal when forced into an actual face to face conversation involving the word urinary and infection and yes, this happens to me quite often, I live in New Jersey, remember)

"The labor was quick though. She was already real dilated by the time she got to the hospital. That baby pretty much just dropped on out."

and then she grabbed her crossing guard stop sign and headed out the door.

I guess some people just don't know when to quit.


1. Vintage children in crosswalk pic from TheVintageMode
2. Quitter card by RedLetterInk
3. Cinnamon Bagel Earrings by 3Squares
4. I am an artist, not a waitress ring set by KathrynRiechert
5. Get a job dress by PaulaLaFargue

No Whining on Wednesday or to bee or not to bee, that is really the question

I am a semi-retired almost-spelling champion.

well, I got 2nd place in our school spelling bee in the 4th grade and maybe that doesn't exactly spell c-h-a-m-p-i-o-n, but I really was just one letter away from the title ... (c-h-a-m-p-i-o ?)

and yes (I can hear my sister snickering right now) I am going to tell that story .... again

now I am not just randomly mentioning this fact (and I will get to my 4th grade devastation in a moment) but several things have happened to me in the last 48 hours that have brought all these sordid memories back to me to deal with ... again

(and maybe finally get some closure ... maybe)

#1 - I collect Trixie Beldon books.

(it's kind of a sickness)

Trixie was my childhood heroine. She was sort of a younger, spunkier Nancy Drew. My aunt gave me an old collection of Trixie books when I was eight or so and I fell in love with her.

She was a horse rider and mystery solver and I was a bike rider and mystery solver.

(well, my sister and I did once figure out that my brother was allergic to plums by secretly stuffing him with a huge amount while my mother wasn't looking ... it wasn't pretty, but we solved the mystery of his itchy rashes once and for all)

Anyhoo, flash ahead to Ebay and I started bidding on and collecting a particular series of Trixie books (in the style that I used to own) - I had collected maybe 18 of the 30 or so volumes. I bid on one every month or so and picked up a few at flea markets, so my little collection has been slowly and steadily making its way across my bookshelf.

Then, yesterday morning I accidentally typo'd Trixie Belden instead of Trixie Beldon (e for o) when doing my monthly Ebay search for my missing treasures and ...

there were hundreds of them! Like 1600 and something instead of the 20 or so I usually spot.

My heart started racing and I thought I might need medical attention, so I started motioning for Olive and she jumped in my lap ready to perform whatever kind of medical maneuver this situation required

(I've said before how smart she is. Please take this seriously)

All the books I could ever want to own were right there waiting for me, but wait a minute how could all these people be spelling Trixie's name wrong ...

(I am a bit slow on the uptake sometimes)

After dropping Olive and racing to my little Trixie collection to confirm, I realized that I had been misspelling my beloved Trixie's last name ... for 2 years! for 24 Ebay searches! for an almost spelling champion like me this was a devastating blow!

Of course, now knowing I can get any book (almost) at any time if I am just willing to spend enough money, has taken the fun out of my collecting - so I have decided to just keep searching among the mis-spellers- they are my peeps after all and ignore all those know it alls who think they can spell everything ....

(yes, like you Carole Bober who may have beat me by spelling "disappointed" correctly - can you imagine the humiliation of blowing such a simple, just sound it out for pete's sake, word - ugh! - ok, family I am really over it this time- although I do have to add there was a bit of trickery involved on Carole's part, but I am not going to go there in case she googles herself one day and this post appears - my sister is right now burying her head in her hands)

So anyhoo again- the other strange thing about this incident (and the subsequent spelling bee memory which I have not thought about for years- well except for the annually televised National Spelling Bee finals which I watch and am forced to remember that I was CHEATED OUT OF THAT TROPHY -yes another trophy rant, sorry)

is that the past 48 hours have been filled with synchronicities for me having to do with BEES ....

Let me explain - 1. (or is this 2?) Last night I was going to make a banner for a new Etsy team called the Artisans Collective and I am thinking banner, banner, banner - you get it - my head was pretty much empty, then I remembered my own rant post about how you need an identity before you have a banner, duh, what was I thinking, so I start thinking identity, collective, collection, herd, flock of birds, school of fish

(well, actually some of these things were thought by my daughter before she said them out loud and then they were thought by me and since she might read this, I better throw her in here for copyright protection)

then I thought bees, hive, collective, women, community, working together, the ability to play with the words bee and be- perfect fit. I start to get excited. Then I think maybe a quote will help with a branding statement and I have a quote book somewhere and it's not really much of a quote book (maybe 20 quotes in it, more of a picture book), but I look for it and it is right next to me

(and believe me nothing I need is ever right next to me)

and the paper cover has been long lost and the hardback cover has just one word pressed into the cover ... and the word is ....

be

(this was not the name of the book)

and I open the book to a random page and it says ...

"there can never be good for the bee, which is bad for the hive" ... emerson

(this is not a book of bee quotes, I promise you)

and again my heart starts racing and I motion for Olive and she just looks at me this time, like not this again and I motion like, no, I am really serious this time, and she is like ok and jumps in my lap

so, I make the logo and am so flipping happy with it (plus I got to buy a new font and I love a reason to buy a new font)

and I sign on to Etsy to send my "just meant to bee" little banner to Cindy (marysgranddaughter on Etsy) and there is a convo

from a seller I do not know named Lianne and she wants to trade something in my shop for something in hers and the name of her shop is (I am totally serious here) Lizzie's Bees! and she wants to trade me for a dog collar and I just look down at Olive and Olive is all like - don't you even think of saying no to this one, Cat!

And I then realize the movie on the tv in my bedroom at that moment is called The Secret Life of Bees.

So, what does this all mean, you may be asking yourself, well, of course I have absolutely no idea except that something is clearly "meant to bee" about all this (I just can't stop saying that- sorry)

I am just hoping I am not about to be attacked by a swarm of angry bees or repeatedly stabbed in a freak quilting bee incident and linger in some kind of bee coma before I pass away because of bee-lated medical attention (note to self- get that collar and keep Olive happy), but you know, it would almost be worth it because that would wrap this all up so nicely.

well, not so nicely for me, I guess ...
1. Toddler Honey Bee T by CritterJitters
2. Bumble Bee Pincushion by SeaPinks
3. Dilkabear Magnetic Recycled Locket by Polarity
4. Honeybee Earrings by UnJardinDeHilo
5. Bees In Love Card by YellowCakeCrafts
6. BumbleBee Charmer by LindsayArt

SPECIAL THRU 4/15 - FREE PAIR OF EARRINGS WITH ANY NECKLACE PURCHASE IN EITHER OF MY SHOPS Uncorked or Polarity - JUST NOTE 'the bees knees' or some such something in the comments to seller section of your order!