How I'm keeping my sanity during the fires & smoke....

A couple weekends ago we got a new to us nifty file cabinet. It has 3 drawers on the left & a door on the right. Open the door & it has a small safe & 2 shelves. We snatched this up for $15 from a yard sale. It needed to have the safe combo picked. Well, to have that done by someone would have cost around $50 & done some damage to the door. We figured out how to get the door off, losing only the 2 hinge pins. We took apart the door/combo lock & got the combo to the safe. 

Put it all back together & now all we need is new pins to use that part. The drawer side had a stuck slider & no key for the lock. No biggie, as we just disengaged the slider & lock. The door also had a lock with no key. That one was easy to repair with a new lock for $4.

It now sits comfortably in the closet of the spare room.

not filled yet but working on it.

Having this new place to put files of course leads to going thru our files … which led to finding old papers from when the girls were in school. So before just re-filing them, again, I asked if they would like to have them so I don’t have to keep them anymore. My oldest responded with a yes. No word from my younger one yet. Now, as I pulled the papers out I knew there were more somewhere. So this led to me pulling containers of keep it stuff down from the top of the closet in the spare room. 

Holy cow what did I get into? What I got into was the past … lots of cards exchanged between me & hubby, cards & letters from my Omi to me & the girls, letters from my older daughter when she had to spend summers with her dad, and so much more. This was on top of all the school papers, report cards, award ribbons & certificates & old pictures & a couple year booklets. So there I sat, going thru it all just enough to make 2 piles, one for each of my daughters. I could sit & go thru them again enjoying some of the memories … but I think the girls are old enough now to maybe appreciate some of this too.

kids stuff - 2 piles & 2 big folders w/artwork

It’s funny how attempting to organize one new thing leads to re-organizing several other things. I now have one file box under my desk area that has paper, labels & all the extra file folders I have left over stored neatly away, within reach. One drawer of the cabinet has all our personal file stuff while the middle drawer has all my business stuff. The bottom drawer will house all misc stuff. Feels kinda good to once again be a bit more organized in this area. While going thru the kids stuff & several containers from the closet I managed to repack some things into fewer containers. So that was a plus as well.

misc files let to sort

I have a small stack of misc stuff to go thru & file into some sort of organized system. I know I have plenty of folders for the task!

Next I really need to organize some of my misc business *stuff* better. I have several containers full of … stuff. Stuff to mount & mat some images but I want to use these things in a different way now. Stuff for packaging product. Stuff for … making things (parts) and just more … stuff. Of course its also the time o year where I really need to get moving on making new 2013 calendars for the upcoming holiday show as well as anything else new for the holidays. I think being a bit more organized might help me focus better on the next things. We’ll see. Here’s hoping the organizing of the biz containers goes quick!

late babble & weekend updates

It’s almost 11 & the place is quiet. Tim & Connie are both in bed. I can hear the fish tank & the fan. That’s it. It’s kinda nice.

Our weekend was rather nice. No hurrying out the door early Saturday morning. We headed out mid morning to wander the main street downtown. I had seen that the businesses were having a sidewalk sale on Friday when I drove that way. We got home for lunch & relaxed a bit. We ended up doing a bit of running around in the afternoon. Home for dinner and just hanging out for the evening. Saturday night was … yeah. I hate having to be quiet or trying not to make the bed make noise. I know we don’t have to, but it’s just weird. Now, if she’s not home … that’s another story.

Sunday was quiet too. No major anything happening on the first weekend of no market. I didn’t mind either. Oh wait …. Sunday we got a new to us fish tank, complete with fish. My friend Cindy felt she could no longer care for her fish the way they should be so she was offering up the tank & fish on Freecycle. I saw it & we talked about it. That was Saturday evening. Next thing ya know, Sunday morning we’re picking up the fish tank. We got it home & boy did it need a huge cleaning. Now it sits in the dining area, all clean & pretty. Let me tell you what … those fun plastic resin statues & tank decorations that we think are so pretty … are outrageously priced. We shouldn’t have, but we splurged & got 2 that were not too badly priced. Well, not bad alone… but together were still $55. What would have been really cool would have cost $120 for the two pieces. She had a half a castle in there, which she said she would really like to have back. Ok, no prob. That’s why we went ahead & got new things. Add some more gravel, & a few live plants … next thing ya know, there goes a small fortune. But, the fish seem happy & the tank looks cool.

So we now have a reed fish which looks like a Japanese dragon or snake, depending on who you ask. He is the surviving male of a mating pair. His name is Haku. The female died recently of ammonia burn. Then there is the ghost knife fish. He’s cool looking, when you can see him. I’ll have to work on getting a pic of him. His name is Ghost. She’s had the tank & these fish for about 4 years now. Says she got the fish as little ones & has watched them grow. There is also a nice large pleco (like the one in our tank) & a little catfish. I'll work on cool pix of everyone.

Tuesday I need to do some around the house stuff. I think a load of laundry is in order. Need to change the sheets. Have some clothes to fold & put away too. Have lots of “stuff” that has been put in our bedroom that needs to be organized & put somewhere. Gotta water the outside plants, & the houseplants. I’m sure there are several other little things to get done too. Like my nails. I really should file & shape them since they are actually long enough to do that again. You know, before I do something that tears one, which then causes a few more to tear & then ya just gotta cut them all the same length again. So yes, time for nails would be good.

Ok, I’m losing focus. Must be time to unwind & get ready for bed. Seems I have set up a busy day & week for myself. So, it’s 1130 now. Guess I should be done.

Bleh

Well, after the 3 posts yesterday, I'm back again. This time I feel like crap.

I dont know where this came from but it needs to go back there. As if having that girly time isn't bad enough, I get a sore throat & body ache something or other. Eww. I woke up this morning feeling a little stuffed up & with a bit of a sore throat. I figured it was just cuz we slept with the window open & perhaps it was a bit damp. It's happened before. Well, I was kinda ok this morning. We went out to run a couple errands & I was still fine. Got home after lunch time, & it hit me like a brick wall. It's just gotten worse as the afternoon & evening went on. My body feels so icky. You know that feeling when your skin is so sensitive if something touches it, that you wanna tell whoever is touching you to get lost? Yeah, that's me today.

I made some herbal root tea & drank 2 nice big cups of it. Not noticing any changes tho. I also took a couple Aleve. Still nothing really. I even tried chocolate. Yup, broke off some pieces & brought them over to the sofa with me. Half are still there.

This feeling like shit is only one small thing in this lovely retrograde Monday. Tim went out to start his car & head to work. Nothing. Called in to let them know he might be late. He took his motorcycle instead. When he got home he put the bike back in the garage. While he was showering I had to go down in there to grab something out of the fridge down there. Holy Hell it smelled like gas. I told him. He went & checked it out. He has another fuel line leak. So the poor guy gets dressed & heads out there to see whats going on. Mind you this is after he'd worked an 11 hour day. Seems it's more than he can fix on the spot.

So, tomorrow I'm stuck at home unless I take a bus or walk. I told him to just take the Escape. I had really wanted to go up to Leavenworth to take some pix of the opening day of the market there, but feeling like this, I think I'll stay home.

On a different note ... our weather is crazy here.

It has been so much more windy here this year than before. The temps have been lower. The crops are coming in later. We had 2 feet of snow on our mountain pass!! This is June. What the heck? Yup, things are going into motion for 2012. Global warming is most certainly real.

Ok, I go zone out for a bit now. I'm staying up long enough to take the dog out one more time since Connie is working & the honey is in bed.

the house

Multiple posts in one day .. look out !!

So Kati finally called about 6ish. I was just getting ready to make some dinner. Well, it’s not good news. Seems the people in the house don’t want to let anyone come in while they live there to see the house. WTF?? It’s not their house, it’s hers. You would think if she wants to let the next renters see it, she should be able to. We don’t care if they are messy. We just want to see the layout of the house, the rooms, the yard & get a feel for how much space we have to work with. Ok fine. Whatever. Next issue is they now wont be done with their house until maybe September or October. So we went from it should be done by the beginning of June, to maybe as late as October, or even later. Lovely. You know, we really don’t mind the waiting as much as not being able to see the inside. If we could see inside, I would chalk it up to whatever, and move on. But without knowing, I cant. We cant. I didn’t really get into things with her on the phone, but I will have to get my point across via email or something. I’ll need to let her know we’ll have to begin, again, to look for something. If we can get in that house, cool. If not, let’s hope we find something more affordable.

Tim & I were both so deflated after that. Our bubbles had been popped. Both of us are wishing she was a teeny more assertive, but we also try to understand some of what she’s going thru. I only wish we could help her get out of her crap.

So I grabbed our weekend classified section & tried looking. Crap. Nothing we can afford, on this side of the river. There were a couple places in Wenatchee, but they were in truly less than desirable locations. With some of the construction getting ready to happen on our bridge, there is no way we’d want to move to the other side. Tim would have to cross it everyday, twice, just to work. Sooo not worth the hassle. I’ll have to start putting feelers out to see if we can find anything.

Any constructive juices I had now, are gone for the night I think. Bleh. Maybe I’ll play games or something.

Rambling

Well, it hasn’t been quite a week this time. Wow. I feel better writing about my dad. It doesn’t change anything or fix anything, but I can move on & think about other stuff.

So what the heck am I doing sitting in front of the computer on a beautiful Sunday afternoon? I don’t know exactly. We’re hoping to be able to finally see the inside of the house we’re supposed to rent soon, today. She was supposed to call about noon. Nothing. Not surprising, as she is rarely punctual. I called her at home about 1230. Left a voicemail. Called just after 1pm, on her cell phone. Left voicemail. About 130, I sent her an email. That about covers the bases with her. I don’t really wanna plan anything because you know we’d be out somewhere & she’d call. So, Tim went to visit with Joe for a bit. Before that, we watered all the plants inside & out together. Then we weeded around the hollyhocks, which are taller than either of us now! One bloom has actually finally come out. Looks like another will be soon too. There are tons of buds, about 95% of them still closed tight. I cant wait for them to really start blooming. Before the plant watering … we took a nice shower together. Kinda the only way to get some when the unwanted visitor is here.

Not too much to talk about this week. It just kind of went by. We launched our big Green Bag program at the market yesterday. That was cool. You can read about it here if you want. The day in general sucked ass. It was windy all morning. Lovely gusts came thru randomly all morning long. It was not fun for several of us this time, not just me. My display in general held up rather well. Much better than lasts years would have. People came by ooh-ing & ahh-ing all day. I sold one bookmark. Yup. Cost us $5 to be there again. I don’t think it’s anything I’m doing or not doing. I think it’s a little of the supply & demand bug. It doesn’t explain why other people sell, but I don’t know what else to tell myself. I’m hoping the tourists will come down & find me soon.

Oh, I went & got my hair redone on Thursday. I feel so much better. Tim likes it better too. And Connie says it looks nicer this time too. I washed it for the first time today so we’ll see how it holds up now.

Not a bad way to end a month, aside from the lack of sales today.

What am I doing sitting here at 9 on a Saturday evening when I could be spending time with my honey? Well … it’s TMI but we spent our time together earlier … & all I can say about that, is wow.

So afterwards, we decided to go out to eat & walk the mall after that. Funny how things come together sometimes. A short time ago, our little mall got an actual “out in the mall” customer service “booth”. Up until tonite, we had not seen anyone manning it tho. Tonite we saw Jodi there. She is the wonderful lady who always came to check on all us artists while we did the mall thing. So we chatted a bit. I think she likes me, as a small business person/artist. She knows what my financial picture looks like. She is not the type of person to try to push me into something I can’t afford. Earlier this year, the mall was sold, & the new owners have the means to sink some money into this mall to make it again, what it could be. One of the smaller things they have done so far is get all new kiosks. Admittedly, they do look much nicer than the old ones. They have added Wi-Fi to the mall. They’ve made an effort to make things inside look nicer with small changes. But anyways…

Jodi was asking what they could do to get me into one of the new kiosks. We talked about how I just can’t do the all day, everyday, thing right now. She has been tossing an idea in her head & told us about it. She would like to see a possibly year round “Artist Avenue” type “store” happen. They have several vacant stores right now. A couple of them would work. So I added my views to her ideas. I told her if there was a way to be able to be closed when we needed to be, that would be great. You know, have the different sections be covered &/or roped off when the artist cant be there. It would be better for allot of us who work alone & just can’t be there open to close 7 days a week. We went into several details & we both like the ideas that came out of it. So, she’ll be putting the bug into corporate’s ear ….

Then … she also offered another venue to help get me some advertising. The vacant store fronts have been curtained off & made to look nice. They have also used the protected side areas on either side of the “doors” as places for advertising. Well, soon, one of those places could have a display of my stuff with contact info & all that cool stuff. She is confident the pricing would be very affordable for me. So, we’ll see what happens there.

And then …. She is also looking for part time help manning the customer service booth. Again, she said she’d love to see me there. We talked about that a bit & she printed me out the job description. She is such a good & honest person. Nice, real, person. Someone who would be great to be a team player with. So, it’s a lot of stuff to think about. It would be great connections for me, no matter how much or little I get involved. I’m certainly glad we stopped to chat with her. I now have a stack of her cards to hand out to artists whom I think would be interested in being in the mall at an affordable level, & perhaps even with flexible hours.

I walked away from that with a good feeling. It’s certainly a better ending to a day than the beginning.

Today was a market day. We still don’t have much produce, due to the weather. We finally got Lek, the lady who sells flowers today. Still, we are mostly craft people. Several people did well today. But in the same respect, several people didn’t do squat. Me included. I sold one bookmark for $3. My stall fee was $8. So it cost me $5 to be there today. At least I wasn’t the only one who had crap sales. That helped me feel better. I think we all know that once the produce comes in, sales should rise a bit all over. That’s what we tell each other anyways.

I had a lady stop & chat with me today. She is the mom to one of the newest craft people. She loved my work & gave me a few new ideas of who to approach that may be interested in the type of stuff I have. So, that’s cool too.

Ok, I’m done rambling for now. I think. My beer was really good. Not sure what I’ll get into next. Honey is watching some weird serial killer stuff on TV. Not a bad way to end a month, aside from the lack of sales today.

Friday afternoon thoughts

It's just after 1pm on a sunny Friday afternoon & I’m sitting here in front of the computer, wondering what to get into, if anything. My mind has been going a mile a minute lately. What’s new tho. My soaps are on. I’m not sitting there watching them while doing nothing. They’re on, & I kinda watch.

I was going to take my framed pictures & take pictures of them. But, the glass glares. I’d have to take them apart, take pix, & put them back together. Right then, it was more effort than I wanted to put out. Sad. Might have to bite the bullet tho, & do it. I’d hate to sell one & not have a picture of it. I’m weird like that, wanting pix of my stuff, even after it’s gone. MI may never again mat & frame it the same, but I like having a record of things.

I need to take new pix of my finished coasters too. I want to list them on Etsy & such. I’m not quite totally happy with the pix I have taken. When I use a black background, they turn out to dark. When I use white, the colors wash out too much. I want a solid something, so when I put them on my new site, they will look good. Maybe I need to find a neutral something & just color the background black to match the site. I dunno.

Thursday Connie had the day off. We spent some time together & went back up to Leavenworth. It’s fun to go see the river in all it’s fury. We walked along a path for awhile, took several pix of the river from the bridge, & generally had a good time. We brought the dog, & she too, had a blast. It was a nice afternoon.

On the way home, we stopped at a local bakery, known for it’s yummy treats. What are the odds, that as we sat down to enjoy a snack, Lorie & her daughter should walk in? It was awkward. We hugged, but it was weird. No mention of anything said via email, which was the right thing to do of course. But it was just strange. The last time I hugged her, was when she came to see me at the market. Then, as this day, I hugged with all of me. It’s the only way I hug. They didn’t stay long, just long enough to get something & be gone. It’s such a weird feeling. I still don’t know what to say to her. If I should say anything at all. I still think about her, & us, everyday. I wonder what to say. What to do. I know we’ll never be the same. I can only hope that the answers come.

Tuesday I spent some time planting stuff. I cleaned out containers, replanted some plants & it felt so good. I swept up around the bottom of the steps, the steps & the walkway leading to the door. That’s where a couple baskets now hang, and several pots sit. It looks nice & I hope we have somewhere just as nice to move everything to when we move.

Speaking of that … I got to talk to my friend Kati, who owns the house we’re going to move into. She feels confident that the current (extended family) people living there will have the house finished (& be moved in) that they are building, by mid June. So now we just need to see if we can be in there by July 1 or August 1. That will depend on whether or not she has anything that needs to be done to the house that cant be done while we live there. I’m hoping we find out some of that tonite. She is supposed to come into town after work, so hopefully, she’ll have a chance to stop by here & chat with us too.

Ok, now I’m losing focus. I guess I need to wind this up for now & find something more productive to do. There is after all, a long list I can choose from.

plans foiled by weather suck

Another week is gone. I meant to sit & write several times this past week. One thing or another has gotten in the way, or just plain old distracted me.

I don’t even know where to start. I guess where I left off? Might be good. That was last Friday evening. Wow. Saturday at market was ok. Not super exciting, but good. Visited with some of the vendors, & a couple friends. Tim went up on the foot bridge & took a few pix looking down on the market. I’ll get those posted … somewhere. We were supposed to have a board mtg afterwards, but since we were missing a few board members, it got postponed until this week. Right now, I don’t even remember what we did the rest of the weekend. Sad huh?

The beginning of the week was … not very memorable either. I usually jot down stuff in my planner, just for this reason, to help me remember. It’s blank until Friday. I slacked. I did some cleaning around here. You know, basic stuff & plant watering, vacuuming, dusting. Fun. Right.

Oh, I know… Tuesday Connie & I went out & about. It was her day off. She went & got her food handler card, while I took the dog to get her nails trimmed at Petco. Then I wandered thru the mall. Stopped in to get my hair trimmed & talked to my girl about my perm. I got it right around my birthday & it’s pretty much fallen out already. Well, the girl I let do my hair last time, didn’t use a strong enough solution. So, we’ll do it again, but I’ll have to pay again too. At least this time I know it’ll last.

Wednesday I went into Fred Meyer to pick up a couple things. I saw Leah there. I don’t know who recalls me talking about her last year & especially last fall. At any rate, we have been actually chatting a bit when ever I see her working in there. Well, this day we started to actually get into some conversation. Then we decided to get together Thursday since it was her day off. Well, we never did. Dunno what happened either. I’m hoping we connect next week tho.

Friday I went out to the Dam to bring Colleen some of my stuff. I brought her note cards, book marks & a couple smaller prints. It’s a start. Over the next month, I’ll work on getting her a few other things too. Then I need to do a bio for me, & a nice price list too I think. After I dropped the stuff off, I went out to the garden area & took a few pictures of flowers. I hope they came out nice.

Friday morning tho, I made some money. I got a call Wednesday from my realtor girl. She liked the pix I did for her just back on the 8^th, but hated her hair & the top she wore. So, we needed a retake, at her expense of course. AND … she was bringing a friend. Works for me!! So we set things up for Friday morning. I spent about 30 minutes or so, & made $70. Then, there is the editing time at home, but still, not bad money for a quick shoot.

Friday evening the weather here was crappy. We hesitated even loading the car for market. So, we didn’t. The forecast was for icky morning weather. Teach me to listen!! Tim woke me at about 530, to take the dog out cuz he was hurting. What did I wake up to? A friggin blue sky !!!! I was pissed. I took the dog out. It felt so nice out. I told Tim if I hustled, I could get there, but I didn’t wanna do it alone. And I didn’t wanna ask him to help since he was hurting. We opted to play hookie. Oh well right? He tells me I made money Friday, so it was ok. It felt weird. We ended up going down there, since Connie had not been yet. So, we stood around & visited with some of the vendors, got some rhubarb, and left. We stopped at a couple yard sales on the way back, but didn’t find anything good. Followed that by getting gas at Costco & then lunch. That was after doing some sampling of course. And they worked too, we bought a couple things.

We headed home, Tim went off to Joe’s, & I turned around & went to my meeting. Connie headed off to work while we were gone. I went to Joe’s after the meeting, & hung out there for a bit with the family. Afterwards, Tim & I went out to eat. It’s nice just us two, doing whatever.

Since about the 14^th or so, Lorie & I have been going back & forth again with emails. I cant see our friendship being saved. I wont bore you all with her endless ramblings either. I am seeing a whole new side to her, & seeing it is certainly not just me who has hurt our friendship. Wow. It still amazes me at the things she wrote. I’m sorry to see this happen too. But, we all move on. It just saddens me that it seems she wont be part of my life anymore. Too much has been said between us. If things change, I’m sure I’ll make note.

So, other than this boring babble, not much new here. I’ve been working to make my site better again, with Connie doing the actual online part & me giving her the content. I have a long way to go, but its going. I’m trying to see what online groups are worth my time & effort for networking, & which I can do without. I’m also slowly trying to get various things organized around here. Both in real life, on the computer (like my endless photos) & with business stuff. I might be getting somewhere, but I wont say that too loud just yet. But now, I think it is time for me & my honey to go take a shower, & go to bed …..