Another Dragonfly

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April 2, 3, 4 - 10:00-6:00 & April 5 - 10:00-4:00

26th Annual Signs of Spring

Powers Farm Market

161 Marsh Road, Pittsford, NY

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Bailey, Play Dead

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Uncle John sent me this video - isn't it hilarious?

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So I took today off and I'm proud to say that in the last 3 days, I have added embellishments to 351 Sticky Notes. That is the most I've ever had on hand at one time. I have a feeling I have no other product prepared for this week's craft show, but by God, I've got Sticky Notes.

I ordered the most perfect free-standing display unit for my Sticky Notes and was told it would very likely arrive early this week. Today I received an email from the company saying it's been discontinued. Poop. I'm very disappointed. But I'm taking this as a sign that there must be a better solution out there. This company does have a bunch of other pieces so I'm sure I'll find one that will work out even better. My goal is to display the Sticky Notes one-deep, not 3-4 deep like I have been.

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I started taking Mucinex again and it's helped my stupid cold/voice thing, just not fast enough for me. Mostly I decided last night to ignore the whole thing and move on. You shall not hear me speak of it again.

April 2, 3, 4 - 10:00-6:00 & April 5 - 10:00-4:00

26th Annual Signs of Spring

Powers Farm Market

161 Marsh Road, Pittsford, NY

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Dragonfly Card & No Voice

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I couldn't face going into work early yesterday so I made this instead, for a work friend in another office. Much more fun than stooopid work.

I felt the return of a little cold a few days ago and then I lost my voice the last couple of days, off and on. I never knew if sound would come out when I opened my mouth. It was one of those things where I sounded way worse than I felt. The novelty of it wore off yesterday - it was very annoying. I felt like I was a little sleep deprived, a little dehydrated maybe, pooped from a busy week at work and now no voice?? Not fair. Thank God it was Friday, is all I could say.

I stopped to pick up dinner at the new Salvatore's near us - their calzone (I always choose ham & pineapple for my filling) has turned into one of my favorite comfort foods. Steve and I watched a little TV and when he switched over to the Syracuse basketball game, I really started to fade. I managed to hang in there until 8:00, then went to bed. I admit I watched craft videos on my iTouch for a little while but I was still asleep by 9:00.

Naturally I woke up early this morning, Saturday, feeling almost right-as-rain. My voice has returned - still a little froggy, but much better. It will be a 3-day craft-focused weekend for me and being a morning person, I love getting an early start. I'm off to meet Pam for breakfast at 8:30, stop by Mom & Dad's for a minute, then back to my studio.

April 2, 3, 4 - 10:00-6:00 & April 5 - 10:00-4:00

26th Annual Signs of Spring

Powers Farm Market

161 Marsh Road, Pittsford, NY

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TGIF

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I already posted this note on Facebook but the last few days, I prepped so hard for a conference call with The Bully, that after the call on Thursday, it suddenly felt like Friday. Must be that relief / light at the end of the tunnel thing. Today? Definitely feels like a Friday - and I'm ready for one.

At the end of the day yesterday, I Googled The Bully - and found a page with a picture and a bit of business biographical info about him - from when he joined another company. He looks like a normal, nice dude! Because I've heard he's short, I was expecting him to look all Danny DeVito-ish, maniacal, spitting when he talks, that sort of thing. In fact, during our conference call, he was f-bombing all over the place. There were 4 of us on the call, it was not directed at anyone, that's just how he talks. Effing loser.

His LinkedIn page also popped up but I don't want to be his contact. That's the kind of bell you can't unring. Bad karma. Something. No effing way. (Ruh-roh, it's rubbed off!)

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I received a postcard yesterday announcing the Christkindl Market, a holiday craft show that I was interested in. I ask to be put on the mailing list of various shows, but when I don't get a confirmation that they've added me, I'm always a Nervous Nellie that I'm going to miss the deadline. Turns out they always add me when asked.

Also turns out this show is Nov 13, 14, 15 - the exact same dates of the Junior League of Syracuse Show and the Brighton Show I've been fairly involved in - as in I maintain the mailing list for them. When it rains it pours. Both the Christkindl and Syracuse show are expensive, big deal shows. There's obviously even more expense with an out of town show (Syracuse is about an hour away). The Syracuse is way bigger, will reach a new audience, but they allow non-handcrafted items, (I think). I have to give this serious thought - pros and cons and application deadlines, etc.

I could apply for both and see what will be, will be. I think the application fee is non-refundable in one or both cases (because the shows are fundraisers). Hmmm.

Oh my.

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Blue & Gold

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The other day in the comments Bonnie asked if I was entering menopause, what with the sudden tears and all. I had noticed I'd been teary lately but honestly, it didn't seem out of the ordinary. In the Too Much Information Department, I haven't had a period since January so the menopause thing was on my mind. But I never connected the dots with the tears. I think there just might be a connection. Duh!

Last night I was in bed, about to go to sleep, doing as I do - checking Facebook and Twitter on my iTouch. I keep my family Twitter accounts in my favorites so I can check them easily. My mom's and dad's accounts are both private (I think) so they pretty much Tweet for Gretchen and me - and it's fun for them, I think. I love it, because it's like checking in on the old folks without any actual human contact, ya know? :-) Last night, I was reading about their days, Mom, Dad & Gretchen, and it was just their usual everyday things, and I teared up because I love them so much.

See what I mean??

Oh crap, I teared up just writing that! Is that what happens?? How long will this go on??

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Time to start pimping the next craft show!

April 2, 3, 4 - 10:00-6:00 & April 5 - 10:00-4:00

26th Annual Signs of Spring

Powers Farm Market

161 Marsh Road, Pittsford, NY

I feel woefully unprepared but if I stay focused this weekend, I can do it. I'm taking Monday off for show prep too. The promoter allows non-handmade things at this show, which is not my preference of course, but I always do surprisingly well at this show, so I continue. I have some cards left, handmade by someone else actually, from my days at the store in Fairport. I want to get those priced so I can unload, um, I mean, share some of those with the public.

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Watch Your Language

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Watch Your Language
by Christine Kane

A few years ago, I was in a car with the promoter of one of my performances. He had picked me up at the airport and was driving me to my hotel. On the way, we talked guitars. We got onto the subject of Olson Guitars, arguably the best guitar in the whole world. At one point, the promoter said, "Yea, well, in my entire life I'll never own an Olson guitar."

There was a time when I'd let a remark like this slide on by, even adding my own "me either" to the mix.

Now, I can't. Yoda steps into my head and says, (in his Yoda voice) "So certain are you. Always with you it cannot be done."

So, I turned to the promoter and said, "You are NOT allowed to say that!"

This is because I know the power of language. When you know that words become things, it's hard to let language slide.

I can't help it. I have a rule:

Friends don't let friends speak crappily.

Language is powerful. Words can create reality. Even if my promoter friend doesn't know how on earth he'd ever get his guitar, it doesn't mean he should cut off the possibility with his own words.

If you're wondering how to begin watching your words, here are 7 practical language principles for becoming a better creator of your life.

1 - Eliminate "never" and "always."

Never and always are words of hysteria. "I always mess everything up!" "I'll never figure this out!" "I'll never get an Olson Guitar."

First off, it's not true. If you always messed everything up, you wouldn't have made it out of the womb.

And second off, extreme words are designed to hook you. It's just your emotions taking a joyride. You're more powerful than that.

2 - Use AND instead of BUT.

"But" dismisses the statement before it. "And" includes it. For instance, "That's a good article, but it needs some editing" isn't nearly as encouraging as "That's a good article, AND it needs some editing."

"I love you, but..." is another great example of the dismissive power of "but."

3 - Avoid "Should."

Should is a heinous word for many reasons. It is victim-speak. It disempowers its object. It negates desires, thereby making it harder to make choices. It adds a nebulous energy to the decision making process. Use empowered language instead: "I could..." "I would..." "I am choosing to," "I would like to," "I don't want to," or "You might consider..."

4 - Stop calling yourself depressed.

Also stop allowing anyone to tell you that you are depressed. When you call yourself "depressed" or "obsessive compulsive" or "ADHD" or whatever - you're claiming this thing. You're calling it forth with the most powerful two words in our language: "I am." That creates very little option for the transformation of this condition.

5 - Delete the word "hate" from your vocabulary.

"Hate" has lots of energy. When you use it, you send lots of energy out into the very thing you "hate." Even if it's negative energy, it's still a powerful force, adding its charge to that thing. You're also depleting this energy from your own spirit as you say it.

6 - Be "great." Or "wonderful."

A disease of the creative temperament is a belief that we must be authentic at all costs. So we can't answer a simple "How are you?" without delving into an in-depth scan of our emotional temperature.

Try this instead: When people ask you how you're doing, just say, "I'm great!"

I used to think if said this, then I better have a good reason for saying it, like I just won the lottery or something. I thought it would make me look suspicious, and people would start to wonder if something was wrong with me. But then I did it. And you know what? Most people don't care why you're great. You're saying it for you.

7 - Pay attention to the music of your speech.

You know how some people? They talk in question marks? And you have no idea why? But it makes you think you shouldn't really rely on them? And it makes you not want to hire them?

The music of your language says a lot about you. If you let your sentences droop like Eeyore, ("Thanks for noticing me.") or if you do the uncertain question mark language, take note of what attitudes are causing this. These patterns are created for a reason. Even if it feels like faking it at first, generate confidence as you speak.

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Performer, songwriter, and creativity consultant Christine Kane publishes her 'LiveCreative' weekly ezine with more than 4,000 subscribers. If you want to be the artist of your life and create authentic and lasting success, you can sign up for a FRE*E subscription to LiveCreative at www.christinekane.com.

Barclay Waterslide

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Sorting, embellishing, pricing, oh my.

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Friday at work I was feeling very frustrated by two time sensitive big deal deadlines. I ended up staying until 6:00, mission accomplished. Even after I got home, ate dinner and was stitching while watching TV with Steve, I told him, "This is weird, especially for me. Work is still in my head."

Enter Simon. I was trying to explain a concept to him, didn't think he was listening properly, and started to cry while talking to him. I immediately said the tears were from a stressful day at work, blah, blah, blah.

After he left the room I said to Steve, "I was going to say those tears came out of left field, but " - and Steve finished my sentence, "But we pretty much saw that marching down Broadway." Oh yeah. With lights flashing and sirens blaring.

Got that out of the way. And the weekend began. Mom and I made a new custom fitted tablecloth for one of my craft tables, now that I use it with risers. Looks great! Last night I bought more fabric for the other table so we'll put that one together on Sunday. Mom thought I was going to wait until the last minute. Ha! We will have the 2nd tablecloth completed a full 3 days before the next show.

This is a slightly longer version than the video cousin Scott sent out to the family. I think it's interesting, in the version Scott sent, Barclay edited out the part when he goes through the children's bedroom, for example. I agree with their decision, it had a unintended slight creepiness to it.

Then and Now

.I am having such fun with this new pattern.


And now for something completely different:

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I don't want to even post his name here (hi Googlers!) but I think you know who this is. I found this new photo fascinating in how unrecognizable he is except for the giveaway swastika he carved in his forehead decades ago.

I was very caught up in this case when it happened, back in 1969-ish. I read the book, Helter Skelter by Vincent Bugliosi. For people around my age, this stuff is very much a part of our pop culture.

Edited to add: There's a lengthy entry about him over on Wikipedia, more than even I want to read, but here's something I never thought about: He has 3 children, all with his last name, two with his same first name. Googling brought me to this site, which confused me even more. Charlie would never, ever give a straight answer. I did read that the son who is a junior, committed suicide. Poor thing didn't have a chance. There are a couple of very interesting videos with some of his other children.

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Loose Ends

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I promise to stop with the iPod talk already - soon.

I gave my lime green iPod Shuffle to my dad yesterday. Dude's going to turn 80 this year and has 259 iTunes downloaded. (He's been making CDs with them.) And he joined Facebook yesterday! (Mom joined the week before, you may recall.) The family that Twitters & Facebooks together, stays in touch!

Check out the new Shuffle! Wow, that's small.

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A little clean-up from previous entries:

Yesterday afternoon I added a bit more to yesterday's review of the Fleetwood Mac concert. I don't expect anyone else to be interested enough to go back and reread it, it's mostly for me (as if I go back and read old entries). Oh well.

In answer to Vickie's question in the comments a few days ago, I wanted to post a few of the craft-related podcasts I listen to, because I know I have a bunch of crafty readers who might be interested. Good stuff to listen to while you craft away. :-)

These are the videos I've been watching: Crafted by Us . Monday was the first day I used my iTouch on my lunch hour. I forgot my ear buds so I just listened "through the air". But I was cracking up because I'm watching a video on felting on a 2" x 2-1/2" screen, yet I have not one but two 17" monitors on my desk I could be using. But I am cool, dammit.

This is my favorite podcast: Craft Sanity. Jennifer interviews all sorts of professional crafters - some you've heard of, some you haven't.

Allison Lee interviews some of the same crafters on her Craftcast.

CraftyPod is one I've been meaning to subscribe to so I'll go do that now. I follow Diane on Twitter and Facebook. I see she has a whole list of craft-related podcasts on her site too. Not enough hours in the day...

It's from these podcasts that I've been introduced to a bunch of the artists that I've friended on Facebook and/or follow on Twitter. I love listening to the podcasts when I'm in front of my computer because I can look around the artist's site while they are talking.

I see I have some Etsy podcasts, haven't listened to them yet. I had a bunch of onesy-twosy podcasts too - must be the podcaster quit after a short while. You can subscribe to any of these from the sites listed above or on iTunes. Searching on the word craft is how I found some of the other more obscure ones on iTunes. And they are free, I should mention. You can listen on your computer - you don't need an iPod or any MP3 player.

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Monday Evening You Looked So Fine

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Fleetwood Mac was excellent last night! We had great seats.

We were almost under the Jumbotron.

We could see them walking into the arena which was cool - there was a ton of people walking with them - like 30 or something. I would have thought it would be the 4 of them, plus flashlight holders - shows what I know. They hit the stage, lights up and Monday Morning was their first song. It was perfection. I knew all but about 3-4 songs, I think. They really seemed like they were having fun. They played for almost 2-1/2 hours which is about 30 minutes longer than I expected. They did 2 encores.

They had 2 additional musicians and 3 back-up singers. They really need to upgrade their background singers, in my humble opinion. They stood almost motionless the entire time. I've been to concerts where the back-up singers are as much fun to watch as the main performers - like when I saw John Mellencamp, Stevie Wonder, to name a couple. (Steve pointed out, unobtrusive back-up singers may have been by design.)

Not from our concert, but definitely taken on this tour. Or recently anyway. She had bangs last night. Cute as a button. She only changed outfits 3 times, I think, all in her dark flowy gypsy style, with boots. (I say only 3 times because one of the (young) guys on the radio this morning said she changed 7 times, which he obviously said for comedic effect but I found myself feeling a little defensive, oddly.)

And may I say, Stevie Nicks looked really good! Her very straight hair is down to her waist! (She could use a quick trim to tidy up the ends.) I single her out because I expected her to look a little rough around the edges but she - they all - have aged gracefully. I told Steve, I've never been a big Stevie Nicks fan, I don't think her voice is very good and all that twirly gypsy stuff doesn't do much for me but I must say, I came away a fan.

I had seen Lindsey Buckingham interviewed on Private Sessions last year. To be honest, I expected him to have a huge ego but he was very humble and likable. So based on that, I really liked him last night. Had I not seen that interview, I would have thought he did a lot of fake rock star posturing last night but I think he truly feels the music that way. He was cool.

Our only complaints were I really, really wanted to tell the girl in the couple to my left to shut the eff up. She yammered the entire concert, even when the band was talking. It seemed to mostly be about the band, so I thought, "If you know so much about them and apparently like them, shut up and listen, you flaming moron!" Steve's only complaint was the screaming from the girls behind him was more piercing to his eardrums than Lindsey's guitar solos.

I really wanted to Twitter live during the concert but I'm way too much of an In the Moment person to do that - didn't want to miss a moment of the concert. I did send my first public Tweet from my iTouch before the concert though. Gosh, I love technology.

This must be an out-take because Stevie is smiling. Try finding a photo of the band smiling, I dare ya. Before they loosened up last night I thought they were going to perhaps not let their (stage) personalities show. I remember thinking, "Well, if they showed up just for the paycheck, I'm okay with that because I get to hear the music so they've done their job."

Much was said about the stormy interpersonal relationships within the band, back in the day. I bet never in their wildest dreams could they have fast-forwarded in their minds to see themselves back together, touring 30 years later.

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Can't Touch This

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Apple is right. It's the funnest iPod ever! Steve and I both had Shuffles, which were fine for our purposes. I use mine to listen to craft-related podcasts while I stitch during my lunch hour. Never even had music on mine.

I've been coveting an iPhone since they came out but we're Verizon users and didn't anticipate making the switch. A few weeks ago Simon told me about the iPod Touch. It's everything an iPhone is, without the phone. Apple is so smart, aren't they? Hook, line and sinker, baby.

When Mom & Dad gave me a check for my birthday, Mom told me to buy something nice for myself. As I put the envelope in my bag at the end of the day I thought, "Extra car payment? Something responsible? Wait! I can buy an iPod Touch!!"

So after our Vera Bradley shopping last Thursday, Simon took me to the Apple store. I've never been there before and he stops in every day to play with the "toys" - as do lots of other people apparently. I actually bought 2 Touches, one for me, one for Steve - because I knew he would love it too and he is totally generous with his money so giving him a gift was as much a gift for me as it was for him.

The thing was, his mom was in the hospital for a few days (she's home now, she's fine) so I didn't get to give it to him until Friday night - and it was killing me not to play with mine. But I gave it to him just like I planned.

Stefani: Can I show you my Touch?

Steve: Sure.

Stefani, reaching into the Apple bag: Wait, this one is yours . . . here's mine.

Steve: What?? Are you kidding me? This is so cool!

And we've been geeking out all weekend.

Turns out some of the podcasts I've subscribed to - have videos too! I can check my mail, Facebook, Twitter - still setting up my calendar. I've only started exploring the gazillions of apps available - all dirt cheap, by the way. I did buy one for a grocery list. You can categorize, arrange in store-order, move things from the list to the grocery cart so it keeps a running total, tax included.

And I have to brag on Simon just a little bit. He didn't buy one for himself. He was sorely tempted and it's killing him that I have something cooler than he does. He's holding out for an iPhone but that means he'd have to leave our Verizon plan and pay for it himself so I don't see that happening any time soon. Even if he buys an iPod Touch tomorrow, he has shown restraint I didn't know he possessed.

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I'm on Fire!

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I finally got the stitching right on the new design. Switching to white paper for testing definitely opened up the color possibilities. And stitching the green in the center really makes it look like the red is floating on top of the green. It's finally a keeper!

And remember how I said I felt that the "background" stitching might end up having more possibilities than what I started out to do? Ta-da! I am really digging these and I haven't even scratched the surface with color variations.

One of the things I love about these is how few holes I have to punch to create these complicated looking designs.

Busy day ahead . . .

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Stefani Goes Designer

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I don't know who was more excited about going shopping last night, me or Simon. He has always been the shopper of the family, into clothes, fashion, designer labels. Apparently a few years ago I mentioned that if I was ever going to care about owning designer anything, Vera Bradley was right up my alley, all colorful and quilty.

This is the year Simon decided I needed to step up my game., as he puts it He was going to buy me something that's part of their pink ribbon program which donates something to breast cancer research because he knew I'd like that. Then he decided I should pick out my own thing.

So last night we went to The Olive Garden for dinner first.

Holy crap, these Lasagna Frittas are good. Parmesan-breaded lasagna pieces, fried and served over Alfredo sauce, topped with Parmesan cheese and marinara sauce. I had manicotti, which was delish, but a little too much ricotta. I like a lower pasta to cheese ratio, if you catch my drift. But it was all good, including a chocolate dessert thing to freakin' die for.

Then it was over to Eastview Mall, Crabtree & Evelyn for the Vera Bradley shopping.

I chose the Little Betsy. There was another purse I liked the shape of a bit better because it was more unusual, but Little Betsy won because of all her interior pockets.

I couldn't find a good close-up of the design - but check it out. Is there any mystery as to why I chose this?? The only thing better would have been if it was a bit more lime green, than Kelly green. Still. It's Stefani all day long, don't you think?

Simon also insisted I buy a wallet of some sort. Confession: in my former purse, because I could never find a wallet small enough that worked, I kept my money and coupons in a snack size Zip-Loc bag. No one ever saw it - it functioned perfectly! So I upgraded to this Hope Garden Wristlet. Love the pocket for my cell phone. The other side has a window for one's driver's license. (When I've had a driver's license window before, I've usually inserted a photo of Simon instead but I realized last night that my most recent photos of Simon are from high school, 3 years ago. Guess I should take some new ones, huh?)

You'll be proud of me - I never once checked the price tags of this stuff. (Though I had been on the website, gathering a little pre-shopping intel.) Simon kept telling me to pick out whatever I wanted, saying to the clerk helping us, "It's my mom's birthday and she never buys anything for herself so I really want her to step up her game." The woman, a bit older than me perhaps, said several times, "Wow, we don't hear that from boys very often in here and never from girls! That's quite a son you have there."

She offered to wrap it in a gift bag with tissue and ribbon and as she was doing that, I felt sooo in the moment and how much I love Simon, that by the time she handed me the bag, wait for it . . . I had tears in my eyes. Yeah, I know, big fat surprise, right?

There was more to our shopping trip but I'll save that for the next post.

We came home to find these flowers from DJ. You haven't heard me mention him in a while but he is Steve's nephew who became Simon's best friend. He spent a ton of time with us during his high school years, practically lived with us for the summers. He and his former girlfriend had a baby last December. DJ moved in with us a few weeks ago. We love him. He left me this card with the flowers, which included an iTunes gift card.

C'mon, altogether now: I teared up at his thoughtfulness.

Yesterday I remembered to take a picture of the flowers Mom brought to my office on my birthday. (My phone takes remarkably good pictures, I'm always amazed.) When she gave me the card with the check enclosed . . . ha! No, I didn't cry! Fooled you! Okay, I did get a lump in my throat. Maybe if I hadn't been at work I would have teared up.

I don't know what's with me and the waterworks lately. (Lately??) That's just how I roll.

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Birthday in Review

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This is what greeted me when I walked into my studio when I got home last night. Simon has always been a great card picker-outer. Usually they are mushy, but this one was mushy in a funny way. The front says:

Mom. All year long you hear nothing but . . . (through the window) Me! Me! Me! Me! Me! ... but today ... (open card) - it's all about - and all the Me!s change to You! You! You! You! You!

(Can I get an Amen from other parents!?)

The whole thing made me cry. I know, what a shock. I was already on the verge though, driving home from my massage, which my therapist gave me for free as a surprise birthday gift. Mom had stopped by my office with gorgeous flowers and a card with a generous check. (I didn't have my camera at work or I would have photographed them too.)

At work, Jenifer baked me chocolate chip cookies, the department gave me a card that my other friend Jen made and we had ice cream treats. Sherry D gave me a candle & beautiful card and Chris gave me a box of chocolates (which I'm not sharing - already squirreled away in my studio).

And our CEO and a few others took me out to lunch.

Steve brought home dinner for us.

My sweet nephews called to wish me happy birthday.

Steve's daughter and Simon's friend DJ texted me Happy Birthday.

After the tear-fest at Simon's card & flowers, I said to Steve, "You know how I'm all full of myself?" (I love to throw him with these trick questions!)

Steve, never sure how to answer, "Uh, yeah?"

Stefani: Sometimes I don't feel worthy.

We both laughed at my foolishness and I got over it.

Because really, if anyone knows how to milk a birthday, it's me. Because wait, there's more!

• Thursday: Dinner & shopping for my gift, with Simon.
• Saturday: Breakfast with Pam, dinner & movie with Steve.
• Monday: Fleetwood Mac concert with Steve.

The fun never ends!

And thanks for all the nice comments and birthday wishes yesterday. You guys rock.

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New Pattern

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This started out as a variation on the overlapping layered spikes I've done before. When I don't overlap them though, I'm not happy with the bare space between. So I tried filling it in with stitching, which you can see more clearly (the white) on the bottom one. I tried more stitching but it became too cluttered so I backed it off to what you see here.

I did the top one on my lunch hour yesterday - you know I love my variegated thread. It's okay but not distinct enough. So this morning I stitched the bottom one. I'm definitely on the right path but I'm not sure the dark pink thread was a good idea.

I'll give this another go, probably on lighter paper so I have more thread choices until I get the pattern worked out. And what I love happened again - another happy accident. On the bottom one I stitched the white "bottom" layer first - and my brain started thinking up ways to keep going with that. I love when that happens! What starts out as a new pattern could end up being 2 or 3 new patterns.

Little Reggi is fine. The vet will have the lab results later this week, for the growth he removed yesterday but he felt good about it - cut out a wide margin he said, so he was sure to get it all. He cut out that other cyst that kept refilling - said it was like a water balloon. (Hope you're not eating when reading this!) I spared you seeing her incision - it must be 6"-8" long, poor thing. She was pretty wiped out last night, as you can see. She's definitely doing better this morning, though not 100% yet. Sweet girl. I love her.

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So yeah. I turned 53 today. So far so good. :-)

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Parts

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Clean Table

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My table is so rarely clean, I decided to take a picture of it for posterity. That's my Cadillac of paper trimmers on the right. (It's really a Dahle, not a Cadillac.) My old Fiskars trimmer is on the left. I keep a scoring blade in that one. My wall of paper is cool! My stacks of clutter on the other flat surface in the background to the left - not so cool. Note the fan in the upper left - to keep me cool during those middle aged power surges.

The floor is clean and the table is clean but the other surfaces are still too cluttery. Still, I find myself coming into the room again and again, just for the joy of seeing a couple of clean surfaces.

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Remember my dissatisfaction with Applebee's and the 4 small onion rings that were in my to-go dinner? After giving it more thought, I filled out a form online letting them know of the situation. Friday night I received a phone call from the manager of the restaurant, with an apology. She seemed very sincere and gracious. Get this, she said the dinner should come with . . . 5 onion rings. Wow - 5! In fairness she did say they should be 5 large onion rings so I guess there is a big difference between 4 small and 5 large.

She offered me a do-over (my words, not hers). She said we could come in when she was working or she'd be happy to mail me a gift certificate so we could go anytime, which is the option I chose. That was pretty nice - it's what they should do. I sincerely just wanted them to know about the quality of the dinner I received so they could fix it - - but I'll take the gift certificate too.

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I went to Geva Saturday with Lynn & Linda to see Sweeney Todd. It was really, really good. I had to laugh a bit at myself and my short attention span, as so many of us have now, "The plot sure moves slowly in a musical!" It tempts me to rent the Johnny Depp version but I'm not sure I can sit through a Tim Burton movie. I know people love him but his movies are just not my thing. (I did enjoy Edward Scissorhands though.) However, I just watched the trailer and maybe I'd like it.

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Catching Up

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This is a thank you card I received from Kathy for sending her a birthday card. (What's the protocol - do I owe her a card, thanking her for her card??)

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I updated my Facebook status yesterday to say:

Stefani Tadio

is in the best mood she's been in, in WEEKS, at work. Should be auditor-free for 3 whole weeks. It's Friday and in the 50s. Lots to be happy about.

Mid-morning at work, I checked my home email to find a response from a co-worker in another department, who posted, "you apparently have not heard the latest", which freaked me out. So I immediately IMd her to find out what happened. She came over to my office and shut the door. Ruh-roh.

One of our colleagues in sales support has been laid off. He was given the opportunity to work part-time but declined, though he is working until the end of March. He's close to retirement age, and if the economy were different, might even retire now. But obviously things have changed for a lot of people. He's been with the company for 13 years.

I confirmed with my boss that all that was true, as I knew it would be. (I have zero reason to question my friend's words one iota, don't get me wrong - just being official.) I then told the 2 women who work with me because if it's one thing our company does poorly, it's communicate, especially in a time of "crisis".

I know that no one likes situations like this, not the decision-makers, not the "survivors", no one. But not addressing it simply allows the rumor mill to kick into overdrive and morale to plummet even more. Still no official word, not even an email. Management should call a quick meeting to announce it in person and field questions. (Even though I don't think people will ask questions or trust the answers anyway. Nature of the beast.)

In the interest of full disclosure I should confess that I told the 2 women I work with about this latest layoff via email - because I wanted them to know but I didn't want us to be seen whispering about it because that looks bad and adds fuel to any existing fire. If I had it to do over, having said what I said above, I would do it differently - in person.

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Last weekend I mailed two applications to outdoor craft shows - a one day show in Syracuse and the other one is Letchworth - a really big 3-day show. I received my acceptance letter yesterday from the Syracuse show so I guess it's official - I'll be buying a tent and doing outdoor shows. I'm happy and nervous about that but this one day show in June is a good way to get my feet wet (not literally, God forbid!) before I hit the big leagues.

I received a phone call from a woman with the Letchworth show this week, telling me the CD I sent with my application, with my 5 images - was blank. Crap - how embarrassing! She was very nice about it - said it has happened to other people. I thanked her profusely and promised to mail her a new CD the next day, which I did.

Turns out you have to BURN the images onto a CD, not just drag & drop. Oops - I didn't know that. I had checked the first CD on my computer and the images were there. I was making the new CD and kind of stumbled upon the burn option. Duh - I've burned a music CD, so it makes sense. And I checked this new CD on Steve's computer, just to be sure. Live and learn.

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Steve and I took Reggi for a walk in Ellison Park this morning and on the way home picked up breakfast at McDonald's, my new place to get a good smoothie.

This afternoon I'm off to see Sweeney Todd at Geva Theatre with my friends Lynn and Linda, followed by dinner at a restaurant of Lynn's choosing.

Hope you have a nice weekend!

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Little Stitches

I can't stop stitching these little cuties! They are 2-1/4" diameter and I make them into little gift tags that come with a transluscent vellum envelope. I always start out with the intention of stitching an entire batch identically to make assembly with other parts more efficient, but as soon as I start stitching, I start fiddling, "What if I stitched it in this color?" In the the long run, it's more interesting for me and more importantly, my customers to vary the colors. At shows, I tell people that I can almost say no two are alike. Even if I stitch pieces in the same colors, invariably I end up embellishing them differently.

This one is supposed to put one in the mind of a flower. Get it? Pink flower with a green stem? Kinda? Doesn't matter, the colors look nice together anyway.

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The other day I saw an email come through the Fold-It Yahoo Group list with the writer mentioning the Finger Lakes, a region near us. I emailed her, offering her my blog address, thinking she might be interested in seeing some more paper art. Turns out she lives in Fairport. A few days later she mentioned some people are putting together a new group, the Book and Paper Arts Guild, and maybe I'd like to consider coming to the meeting.

I glanced at the email and went on auto-pilot in my head, too busy, thanks anyway - when I put the brakes on. What?? A group of paper artists right here in Rochester? I'm in! I especially love getting in on the ground floor of something. This has Stefani written all over it. I'm usually kind of a lone wolf, but this is definitely worth checking out.

I asked Marie if I could post the invitation here in case any of my vast local paper-loving readership :-) is interested.

You are invited to attend the inaugural meeting of Book and Paper Arts Guild of Rochester on Tuesday, March 10^th , to be held at the Genesee Center for Arts and Education (old Genesee Co-op), 713 Monroe Avenue, from 7 to 9pm. We hope you will consider joining our group of experienced and novice book and paper artists. During this organization meeting we will share our ideas for learning, sharing and programming.

Please bring your ideas and enthusiasm, meet new friends and enjoy a simple project with you.

If you want more information please contact Diane Chichelli at bookarts@rochester.rr.com or Marie Warda at mwarda111@gmail.com

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Color My World

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You must see this entire collection of colored pencil photos on Photoposts Blog! This specific photo came from Flickr, a 21 year old student, rideracelive. As of today, it's been viewed 23,336 times and called a favorite by 955 people.

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Tina is a Fake!

You know I loves me some Twitter. And I wrote about stumbling across some celebrities who Twitter. I mentioned how funny Tina Fey is. Yesterday I read it's a fake Tina Fey. Still funny, but fake. And "she" wasn't tweeting often enough to suit me. So I stopped following her. Harrumph.

Then I Googled celebrities who Twitter to see what else I could find.

50 Most Popular Celebs on Twitter. I was surprised Ashton Kutcher wasn't on this list - he's pretty prolific. I'm not very familiar with his work, other than glimpses of That 70s Show or knowing he's married to Demi Moore. I actually seek out his tweets now. I didn't find very many on this list I was interested in except Michael Phelps and Yoko Ono. And Jimmy Fallon.

This link has a list of celebrities who Twitter, stating whether they are fake, the tweets are by their staff or by them. I would think knowing if the Tweets are by the celebrity or their staff would be difficult. Oh well. We're not curing cancer here, it's just fun.

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In yesterday's comments, Vickie asked about the paper quilt that I posted. My reply seemed to go on forever, shocking I know. So I'm reprinting it here in case anyone else is interested. (I'm never sure if people go back and check the comments for answers to questions they pose there or not. I do, when I read other blogs. Quite often I'll answer the question within the comments and email the answer to the person if I can.)

That quilt image was rubber stamped - multiple times on different papers, cut apart, then reassembled. So that one is actually 3 layers deep - the 9 "patches, glued to a whole white piece, glued to a whole turquoise piece.

The Prairie Points are a nod to Gretchen who used to love the Prairie Points with which Granny would bind her quilts. Gretchen would love those points to shreds!

As much as I like tedious - they are even a bit much for me. I punch a whole mess of tiny diamonds with a hand squeeze punch, then apply them to double stick tape on the back of the quilt with tweezers. So you are only seeing the top half of the diamond. Once they are in place, I secure them with a piece of regular tape over the top. Like I said, pretty labor intensive.

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The vet thinks one of Reggi's lumps might be cancerous so he's going to remove it next Tuesday. The cells look suspicious he said, which I guess is better than last time when the other lump was Stage 2. (Only 3 stages in dog cancer I guess.) What really got me is he's going to x-ray her chest because he said if it were to spread, that's where it would go.

I really thought I was going to be fine after my cry-fest of a few nights ago - got it all out of my system. I thought Steve didn't even really need to go with me. But as we waited and waited, I found myself pretty nervous. Then the vet is so nice and funny and upbeat, I was really feeling good. He withdrew some cells for a biopsy, saying how optimistic he was. Later, he came back and told us some of the cells looked suspicious and he should remove the lump.

The good news he's also going to remove the fatty cyst right next to the hard lump that keeps filling up - they've drained it 3 times now. Not worth surgery in itself, but since he'll be right there - it's not huge or visible or anything but I'll feel better when it's gone.

As is our custom when Steve or Simon goes with me to the vet, Steve took Reggi out to the car while I paid. Oops. Should have done that the other way around. I must have had a look on my face because when I saw the two women behind the counter looking at me worriedly, I teared up. It was embarrassing but nothing they haven't seen before or won't see again in their line of work.

So that's that. I'm really very confident Reggi will be fine and live the 2nd half of her life with us very happily.

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Now I'm off to stooopid work early today. I had decided I was pretty much not going to do that anymore because it's more important to me to focus on Pine Tree Designs in the hours before work. But sometimes, it's just better in the long run to bite the bullet. I've been trying really hard not to become Whiny One Note about auditors - but jeez Louise. I feel that's all I do anymore is boring, tedious, unfulfilling audit-related stuff. (I'm grateful to have a job. I'm grateful to have a job. I'm grateful to have a job.)

The audit we're undergoing now is what used to be quarterly with the old flooring company - and is now just every 6 months so that's better. They will only send the same auditor 2 times in a row, I think, so I was convinced we were due for a new one. I was wrong - we got the same guy again because he'd only been with us once before. I was so relieved. He's a good guy, easy to work with - and I was really not in the mood to "break in a new guy".

And here I thought I wasn't going to whine!

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Paper Quilt Greeting Card

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Hand Pieced Paper Quilt Greeting Card, $7.00

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Blues

.Lucky for you I wrote Mom a long email about the joys of Facebook this morning, so I have no words left for here. Yep, my 76-year-old mom Facebooks! I could not be more proud.

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Swimming Turtle

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I should have been working on other stuff last night but sometimes, you just gotta try something new, know what I mean? I bought the die to make this turtle last year and had played around with it a little bit. The only way I could see it, involved copper, black and turquoise. I was just about to toss it all and start with brand new colors (greens and browns?) when I hit upon this triple layer of turquoise. Water! The turtle is swimming!

I have had thoughts that I want every piece I sell to have stitching on it of some sort. But my pins sell pretty well without stitching so I think I need to get over myself and realize that sometimes a nice graphic image is nice in it's own right. I'm happy with this.

Hey look - my name made it into a blog title - that's a first! My crafty friend Leslie gave stitching on cardstock a go the other day. Go see what she made - I think it turned out really nicely. (Thanks again, Leslie - you rock!)

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