A Case of the Mondays

Blah.

I stayed up too late last night. then I had horrific dreams all night long. It was not fun. Therefore, I am delighted that it is now threatening to rain because that means I can destash more! I have officially listed the first few cabs, and and i have four more left, and then it's onto books! You can buy my crap in my Etsy store! Please buy it. Please.

Now I gotta get to work listing tool stuff before Marsha kills me!

And I really truly will cast on that scarf tonight. Really. Oh and I will also do another inch or so of the body of the bag that is becoming the bane of my existence, even prior to learning the a new stich to finish the bottom. The day I felt that bag will be the best day ever. Then it will be onto something new. Like learning how to hold the yarn right. I still haven't gotten the hang of that, and I think that is why I truly am the slowest knitter of all time.

Enough of this. Time to list, price, do laundry and wash the dog.

Beauty School Dropout......

....no graduation day for you. Maya didn't really drop out. As a matter of fact she did surprisingly well today. She was able to complete everything for her exam except for laying down on command. Still not really getting that. I think she will still pass though- she's learning to have an interest in strangers, she is doing so well at loose leash walking, and she can do her 30 second sit-stay with no problems. I am very proud of her for accomplishing what she has accomplished in such a short period of time, including snapping at the poodle that tried to take her toy from her in class. Nonetheless, we will not have the highly sought after graduation hat pic for two more weeks. Sigh.

In Great Destash news, I have gotten through my books and have a whole bunch up for grabs if anyone wants some. They really are great. Here they are, with links to Amazon so you can see a bit more about them. All of them are in great condition. I imagine that they will be up on eBay within the next day or two or four- whenever I can get around to it. Here's the list

Metal Clay and Mixed Media Jewelry    $10
The Art of Metal Clay    $11
The Art of Resin Jewelry    $11
All Wired Up    $10
Altered Books Workshop    $9
Bead and Wire Art Jewelry    $10
Mosaics for the First Time    $5
Collage Unleashed    $9
Fundamentals of Metalsmithing    $15
Making Beaded Jewellery    $10
Silver Threads    $10
The Art & Craft of Making Jewelry    $15
Making Metal Jewelry    $6
Woven Wire Jewelry    $10
Making Metal Beads    $12
Creative Silver Chains    $9
Celtic Knots for Beaded Jewellery    $9



Alright, and finally, in things on the needles news, I didn't really even get around to casting on that cables scarf. And I am still working on that blasted purse, with like another inch and a half of body to go before I can start on the bottom. I cannot wait to have this thing done. It is starting to haunt my dreams.

Well, that's it till tomorrow. It's raining here, and I have tons of laundry to do, tons of housework, some cooking, and some tool destashing. All I really want to do is take a nap. Boooo.

Cabs!

Okay, this is the first OFFICIAL destash post I guess. Here are some cabs that I am destashing. Anything unclaimed goes on Etsy Monday! Luckily all the unclaimed stuff was already posed in one group shot:



aquamarine 26x20x9mm $7
sponge coral 25x18x6 $2
malachite 13mm round 10mm tall $2
green kyanite: both are roughly 29x9x6mm and $2 for both of them
rhodocrosite 16x15x6mm $2
crysocolla 28x20x11mm $2

I will be back later, maybe tomorrow, and I should have some books!

Here we go

I offered up some cabs (undrilled stones) to some friends just now. I am really starting to do this!

It feels good. I forgot what beautiful stones I have, and that just means that I am doing the right thing in getting rid of all this stuff.

I did keep some things that I want made into peices for me, so I do feel good about that.

Anyway, I would not mind trying to get rid of things in lots or groupings of stuff. I hope that works becuase having to list things 80 million times at 35 cents a pop is sort of counterproductive, and a lot of work, especially for beads. So this weekend I would like to get my pearls listed, and my shells, and my books. Yes, that's great.

When the Going Gets Tough

the tough go window shopping on Etsy.

I am so bored at work today. I have very little to do, and although I should be doing it, I just don't want to. Recent (and hopefully temporary) changes at work have morale somewhere down around none whatsoever for me. So, on a beautiful and hot summer day I would rather be either at the pool in my new swimmy suit, or hiding in the AC under a pile of wool. Anyway, when I feel like I hate everything and want to projectile vomit on someone, I just go to The Magic That Is Etsy and just window shopping cheers me right up. Anyway, I have always been a fan of all things handmade (except for cozies for things- I think that is strange, oh and doilies too) I obviously spend a lot of time looking at the handspun, hand dyed, beautiful yarn. Cue the cheesy 70's porn music please!



That beautiful pic is from jocelyngermany's shop and her beautiful hand painted recycled yarn. Good for her! I just think her yarn is beautiful and I love that it was once an ugly sweater that has been upcycled. I want!



::in best Homer Simpson voice::MMMM. Yaaaaaaaarn. From WildFireFibres' Shop.



And finally, some handspun yarn, because it is soft, squishy, irregular, and beautiful and I love love love it. This seller, HandSpunandDyedToo, is one of my faves and I adore her yarn. I can't wait to get some of it. It's beautiful and whatever I make I am sure I will be the only one that deserves it. Yum.

I feel better now.

Crazy Cat Lady

Yay!

Where's the Beef...Stroganoff

Okay, just so you know, this post may be a bit disjointed because i want desperately to blog right now, but I have a beef stroganoff on the stove that is ALMOST done, and I am dying to have some. I would love to say that I am starving, but the truth is that i have been tasting the stroganoff regularly for the last half hour and I am really just going to eat at this point so that I can feel like I finished what I started.

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Well, that was delicious. And cheap! I am SOOOO over the craving so I froze the rest. Here's how you can tell that times are getting tough and I am trying to be less foot loose and fancy wasteful- i have taken to cooking things for just me in bulk (when you Live Alone and/or Cook For One, 4 or more servings = bulk), and freezing individual servings in freezer bags. Right now I have about three chicken, vegetable, and rice soups, a container of the pasta salad I took to work for lunch this week. It will be there a while- four days in a row of pasta salad you didn't really like but felt compelled to eat all of because it contained expensive ingredients like feta and sun dried tomatoes- yeah that's enough for now, thanks. oh and now there are five beef stroganoffs in there. I realize that I sound like I came from the generation that lived through the great depression, but squirreling away healthy food makes me feel like I am being smart. Wow, when did this turn into a post about stroganoff and freezer bags?

Anyway- I have been thinking and strategizing all day long on the best way to go about doing the great destash. Luckily I have some very talented friends who are interested in some stuff, so I can at least sleep at night knowing that the things have gone to a good home. So! I am gonna start with altered book stuff first and what I can get listed. You know, just to kind of ease into the process of getting rid of all this stuff. That, and maybe some books too. We'll see.

The Great Destash of 2008

I think that the picture explains the title, don't you?

the time has come. I accept this, but the time has come to start letting go. It's time to start selling some of the stuff that I have here that's just taking up space and breathing my air. It's time to sell so I can buy more! Well different stuff this time, maybe send a penny or two to the credit card company, maybe just use it all to buy gas, who knows. But hey, other than the fun yarn (with more yarn on the floor, weeeeeee!) not a bit of that stuff is getting used at this time, and hasn't been in like a year! OUCH! So yea, time to say farewell, I think.

I think that some of it I barely gave myself time to play with, so that stuff I reserve the right to still mess with, or maybe buy more of. But first I have to find it and figure out what the hell it is!

Anyway, the goal is to try to get a few things listed every Monday, starting next week. Heh. Still gotta procrastinate a little ya know. Anyway stay tuned, because I will post updates, announcements, and the emotional anguish I go through as I attempt to part with the things that I both love and want to be free from. Wahoo. I figure that between Etsy (how I love thee) and Ebay, and Craig's List and Freecycle, I have to be able to get rid of some of this crap at some point, right?

Terrible Mom

I am a terrible, awful, horrible dog mom. And NOOOOO, it's not because I LET (not made) my dog wear a dress. That makes me a cool dog mom.

I took Maya to dog school- an hour late. Yeah we showed for class at 2, and the class is at 1. And yes, this was the 7th of 8 weeks, so this is not really a new development. I am a moron, I know. Luckily she can still graduate, according to the teacher. Even though Maya has made huge improvements and is kick ass at sitting, I was worried that she would not pass because there is a lot that she won't or can't do. I think it's that she won't do them, but whatever. But hooray!- Maya will have her picture taken with a graduation hat on, and get her picture on the bulletin board. It's very important to her.

I mean, I don't care if I have the only dog in the class who stays glued to the corner. It's cool that the only time she comes out of the corner is to snag a toy that another dog clearly wants, take it back to the corner and either sit on it or hold it in her mouth and wave it around, like she is bragging. I like to say she is remedial. I think it sounds nicer, and not like she is retarded. I mean she isn't, she is just different and has lots of potential, despite her hard knock life. She is like a girl who goes to the special high schools because she got knocked up in 11th grade and wants to get her GED or something. But still, she makes me feel like Sally Field in Forrest Gump, going through life trying to politely insist that her kid is just as good as any other. I draw the line at sexing up the principal (which i guess would be like the manager at PetSmart in our case? I dunno.) so she can be admitted. No sir, if our $109 is not good there, then we will just take our dollars elsewhere, thankyouverymuch.

However, sometimes when we are out and about in the store during class, performing little exercises to teach the dogs manners and stuff, I feel the need to justify her to everyone that we pass. I mean, they may not be sitting there judging the two of us, but in case they are I like to clear the air with things like, "She's a rescue.She really used to be much worse. We're trying goddammit!" and, "I just can't believe that SOME ONE ELSE, NOT ME, could make this poor little dog so upset that she has to act like this" or "Hey, at least she isn't foaming at the mouth right?" I think that sort of thing makes people feel guilty for being such judgemental pricks. I love guilt trips; they rule.

Solitary Saturday

I love Solitary Saturdays. I am sure they are a foreign concept to a lot of people, but i really love having a day all to my self where i only have to do what I want to do, and that includes limiting human interaction to check out people.

I hit the new Goodwill with yesterday's four dollars, and left with them too. Saw a few wooly things, but they either weren't sewn right, the yarn was painful thin, or they were just so awful i couldn't even over dye them to make them useful. On the upside, I may have to go back some day and actually....gasp....shop there. Everything was color coded (I just love organization) and the store didn't have that Used Things smell to it. You know the one. ANNNNND, i didn't even go back for the sewer stapler thingy.

I almost bought a sewing machine today at Wal-Mart. I didn't though, thank God. I almost bought it because i have wanted to learn to sew for a while but I didn't have a sewing machine. This one was $40 too. I even picked it up and carried it around for a bit because it was the last one and I HATE when other people take the last of something, thereby precluding me from the one thing that matters in life- Getting A Good Deal. So as I am debating, I got to the question: "Well, what will I sew?" When I realized I didn't have a fucking clue, I put the damn thing back and resolved not to think of it again till after I win the powerball.

In shit I knit news, I am still working on that blasted purse. It is easy, but jesus i must be the slowest knitter alive. I am glad that I started now on Christmas presents....for Christmas 2010. I sure do love me some wool though, and purses are small enough to not feel miserable while sitting underneath a pile of wool in June. That does seem silly doesn't it? Oh and naturally, I am still gazing at all the handspun, hand dyed, sometimes hand painted beautiful yarn on Etsy. It's like yarn porn. Bow chicka wow wow.

Okay, this internet interaction with the outside world is making me uncomfortable. I want my solitude back. I really enjoy my own company, and my this the third blog post it should be no secret why. I do believe that I will nap with either the dog or the cat, contemplate shaving my legs and then decide against it, and maybe go work out. Or watch a movie. Or all of them in an as of yet undetermined order.

One more thing! MAYA POOPED! Hooray! Good work, hound dog. Mom is very proud.

Are you there, God? It's me, Maya's colon

Well, how long is too long for a dog to go without pooping? Maya's bowels have been either feast or famine since Monday when we had The Crate Incident- you know, not coming to work with me, starting on fish oil (i am sure too much and I take full responsibility for that) and shitting her pants in her crate TWICE, most notably the time at 3am when I awoke to both the sound and smell of diarrhea.

Well! thanks to lots of hugs, kisses, canned pumpkin, yogurt, boiled chicken and steamed rice, the digestive pendulum has swung the other way. Yep, she seems to not really be giving me anything of value to pick up these days. A small turd on Wednesday, a smaller turd on Thursday that was mostly hair and pumpkin (hair? yep, hair. I know- don't ask me I just work here) and nada since then. I am giving her till Sunday, and then I am feeding her a Numero Quatro from Senor Tequila. That should loosen things right up.

And today in thrift store news- I have $4 and I ma not afraid to use it. I have recently come across a very nifty tutorial on unraveling old sweaters to salvage the yarn. Well, first I scoured my closet and while i have lots of unworn sweaters, I can't unravel them because I am certain that I will in fact fit into them again one day. No really, I will! So anyway I thought i would go to thrift stores and find hideous, shoulder padded, mock turtlenecked monstrosities in fun wool and perhaps a nice cashmere or something- shut up, a girl can dream. Anyway, I hit the Kidney Foundation store, and came up with nada. Turns out they put away their sweaters already this year! Why ever for? You are really not making the best use of your store when you don't have sweaters available for purchase in a south carolina summer, if you ask me.

I did find something nifty that would probably be an utter disappointment (one of those sewing things that looks like a stapler) for like $3.99. I will most likely not get it, but i hid it behind a bunch of other crap just in case.

Tomorrow I hit the new shiny Goodwill that has recently opened up. If I don't at least find some sweaters to paw through and silently judge, I am gonna be pissed.

the Kidney foundation taught me a very important lesson though- from now on I will keep my camera with me at all times- you never know when something awesome will show up. For instance, if I had brought the camera with me today, I would have a picture of a box containing something called The Kegel that was perched way high on a shelf. It looked really strange. I wonder if it was like a thighmaster for your lady parts. Oh and also there was a bin of barbies at the front with a sign on them that said "Please Do Not Undress." Well obviously that made me want to run over and strip them all naked and pose them in some sordid plastic orgy type fashion, but I didn't. It still would make a great picture though. Oh well, there's always next time.

I Can Change, Really!

this time will be different, I swear. I know that I have always started off so strong, Blogger, and then I just sort of gave up on you. I stopped telling you that you are pretty, I stopped taking you out- I let the magic between us die. I'm sorry, blogosphere.

I have let you down in the past, blogger, but I can change. Really, I can. I can and I will. I will be better to you and not neglect you this time.

This time will be different. Take me back, please.