More Seashells

This is for a framed piece I'm working on. I found some great square frames that hang from a ribbon at Michael's the other day. I also found some great 3" square frames for which I was working on those pieces I posted yesterday.

~ ~ ~

Vaguebooking is an Urban Dictionary word for posting an intentionally vague Facebook status update, that prompts friends to ask what's going on. What I'm about to say is not that. I really just don't want to rehash how horrible yesterday was. It started out being a cluster of bad decisions on my part and ended with becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy because I was hyper aware of other stuff piling on.

Here are two lowlights:

I ran out of gas in Steve's car and had to call AAA to bring me some. Who does that?? I'm 53 years old, not 16! Idiot! (There were extenuating circumstances, but ultimately - I'm an idiot.)

I got teary at the pharmacy counter in Wegmans because I'm so tired of dealing (for weeks now) with my new high deductible health insurance and my expensive Effexor (I could write a volume). I got teary because I was finally waited on by a highly skilled, effective, customer-service oriented, my-new-best-friend employee who fixed everything. I even wrote her name down so I can send her a thank you note and write to her boss about her. That good.

Here are two highlights:

My Prius is back in my life. Simon's been driving it for the past, I don't know, two months, because his car has multiple things wrong with it and he didn't have the money to fix it. This is actually a lowlight within a highlight because he didn't quite have all the money so I did loan him the rest, something I swore I wouldn't do, but I'm sick of the inconvenience of having to carpool with Steve. I need my independence and my Pretty Red Prius.

I received notification that I was accepted to the Riesling Festival in Canandaigua, in August. I participated last year so it wasn't exactly a surprise to be accepted again, but I'm happy and grateful to have received my first confirmation of the year for a multi-day festival.

Thank goodness today is a new day. I got the best night's sleep last night. So did Reggi, or Sneezy McBeagle as we like to call her. She's had a cold which was first a cough then turned into a head cold, poor girl. She's on the mend now though.

I Can Do Oval?!

This is part of a new something I was working on a lot this weekend. It's tiny, only 1-1/2" x 2"". More to come!

I never seem to get to the things I intend to do on the weekend. Join the club, I know. I intended to embellish dozens and dozens of Sticky Notes. Instead this new project I wasn't even planning on working on, took up lots of my time (and I learned a new function on the Groove!) That must have used up the major portion of my brain because here's what else I did this weekend:

I drove home from the gas station with the gas cap dangling and the little door wide open. (In my defense, I received a call as I was finishing pumping and I was intent on grabbing my receipt and getting back in the car because it was windy and the music was kind of loud at the pump and I knew that would make it hard for the other person to hear me via my Bluetooth.)

I didn't run the water long enough after putting a bunch of unidentifiable food from the refrigerator down the disposal and now both sides of the kitchen sink are clogged - for about 24 hours now. (It's happened before, we'll keep working on it. But now it's Steve's responsibility because he has today off and I don't. And the dishes are piling up.)

I finally got around to hemming two pairs of jeans for Steve and as I was working on the 2nd pair and I cut on the WRONG side of the ruler. So now his choice is to wear denim (insert here: capris, pedal pushers, clam diggers) or we'll cut them off to be shorts. I feel way worse than he does. Sigh.

To quote Dad: Good or bad, it won't last.

To quote Mom: This too shall pass.

~ ~ ~

In other news, Reggi goes to the vet today for another chest x-ray. I'm pretty worried because she's been coughing a lot lately - that inverted sneeze, the vet calls it. It's usually due to allergies so unless there's something going on in the house with the heat being on so much lately - I'm worried that white blobby thing is back and pushing on her trachea. And she has at least 3 new lumps but two feel benign (unattached and squishy - sorry, were you eating breakfast??)

So this means no food or water after midnight last night so I haven't fed any of the animals this morning and they are meandering around me like I've lost my mind and forgotten the morning routine. Even harder is not doing one of my favorite things with Reggi. Every morning after she eats her breakfast, we play a round of hide and seek with a treat. She sits and stays in my studio while I go hide. Then I call her and she runs around trying to find me. It literally makes me laugh out loud. I'm not sure who has more fun with this game, her or me.

I know they are just animals, not children and Steve will feed the cats in about an hour after he gets home from dropping off Reggi at the vet's. Actually, I do usually feed the cats anyway, even if I can't give Reggi any food. But I guess I couldn't bring myself to do it this morning. Those puppy dog eyes kill me.

So I'll call the vet after 2:00 today and make the appointment to pick her up after work so I can go hear the news from the vet with Steve. I hope I'm over-preparing my mind and it's not bad news.

~ ~ ~

I was so looking forward to the opening ceremonies of the Olympics Friday night. I understand they had to go in a completely different direction than last time because the Chinese set the bar so incredibly high with their precision human movements. But I thought it was dull and slow this year. It's weird, I love computers and graphics and color, and there were some amazing effects - but overall, it bored me. And each act/section went on forever! I liked the music - love barefoot k.d. lang and the fiddlers and tappers with their feet on fire. But could someone please tell the other female singers to lose the ugly contortionist cloddy shoes??

But Apolo won a silver! I admit, I got to know him from Dancing with Stars - but I'm glad I did. Cute as a button he is. During one of the first heats, when he skated at the back for almost the whole time, then pulled ahead by a large margin, at the end - fantastic!

And so . . . I'll leave you with a little beefcake!

It's Up to Me

My new Epson all-in-one is scheduled to be delivered tomorrow so here's another golden oldie Sticky Notes cover. That circle is a leather-look paper I had - probably a report cover I recycled I bet. Wish I had more!

I had kind of a downer weekend. I "wasted" almost all of Saturday trying to come up with stitched heart designs. Nothing worked satisfactorily. I later remembered I had this problem last year, although I didn't have the Groove to work with last year. Last year I decided to go with my strengths and stitch some of my original circular designs in Valentiney colors. Yeah, that works.

Maybe I'll even get those Christmas cards in my Etsy shop replaced with Valentine's Day cards. What?? It could happen.

Sunday I decided I needed to erase that failure feeling by designing some new circular designs. I came up with several, which I'll be able to show you when my new scanner is functional. So see? Go with your strengths!

I also did some paperwork, in particular, I updated the two mailing lists I maintain - my own and the Brighton show. I cleaned up my workspace a little. I've been feverishly working on finishing up assembling piles of Christmas pins but I've decided I must put them away in favor of spring designs. I have applied to 4 shows - more about that at a later date.

~ ~ ~

In mid-December I found myself actively waiting for the new year to start because I love the fresh, clean slate it brings. Then I guess I found myself waiting for our Vegas vacation. I realized in the shower this morning, that I was still awaiting that January feeling. I thought it happened automatically! Bummer. You mean I have to do something about it?? Fine!

I think part of my problem is that work remains the same - no change in sight just yet. The Illinois sales tax auditor returns tomorrow and I still owe stuff to the New York sales tax auditor. And the other situation I can't talk about remains stagnant. But I purposely took a nice break between mid-December and now, doing more of my actual job, fulfilling stuff I like to do. That was nice. This other stuff will end at some point so now I'm ready to help push it along.

I've been thinking I'd like to rearrange my office or my studio in some way but I'm not sure that's do-able. Still pondering that. See what I mean? I'm craving change!

Christmas Gift from Wilma

Look what Steve's late mom gave us for Christmas yesterday! These are two bookshelf units that were lined up with two more in her living room. Steve's brother & family are taking the other two. Sister-in-law Sue brought her truck over yesterday so we moved ours to our house, even though it was raining a little bit. It's a work in progress but this is the first go-round at arranging. And I didn't notice until I posted this photo, Reggi's tail in the lower left! Silly dog, she follows me everywhere.

We have an interesting dynamic about books, Steve and I. I go pretty minimalist, not buying or keeping many books. Steve has kept every book he's ever owned, I swear. We're both major Internet users so our books are rarely touched, honestly. I'm sentimental about some books, he's sentimental about every book. Books have that effect on people, I know.

The upper left shelf contains my books - a few novels but mostly personal development books, what used to be called "self-help" books. It's the usual collection of subjects that any self-respecting 50-something woman would own - relationships, weight loss and finance.

The noteworthy items on the next shelf down on the left are two very tattered, held together by tape, books on television shows - everything that's now contained on IMDB.com. Steve uses imdb.com pretty much daily, I'd say. When I pointed out that everything in those 2 books is contained in his left pocket (where he keeps his iTouch), he insisted he wanted to keep the books.

I on the other hand, filled a re-usable grocery bag to the brim with books I'll be taking to the Freecycle table at work tomorrow - mostly gardening, canning, bread baking and other types of cookbooks. My life has gone in other directions now.

And there's another level of books that I'm almost ready to let go of but not quite. Same thing happened with old record albums - took a good two or three go-rounds to purge to what I have left now.

Next to the old TV books are home repair books which we used a lot when we first bought this house 9 years ago, but now our time is more valuable and we hire professionals for anything beyond painting, putting up shelves, minor repairs, etc.

The big books on the bottom shelf are all sports-related, arranged by sport. They are "coffee table" books for the most part and while I never see Steve look at them, I understand why he wants to keep them.

My dad made the wood mushrooms on the left and the shaker box on the right. The basket is a Longaberger basket I bought years ago; it holds books of matches.

Second shelf down on the right - the right side is Steve's collection of yearbooks. He has his sister's year books too, I think. I'll add mine to that collection someday, they are currently in a box in the basement. Steve and I went to high school together so there will be a few repeats.

To the right of the yearbooks are all cookbooks. A surprising number of them belong to Steve. We both seem to be a bit sentimental about cookbooks - must be because food holds such strong family memories for humans. It's interesting because Steve never cooks and I always look for new recipes on the Internet, not in a cookbook. But now that my memory has been refreshed, I might peruse those books now and again. Trouble is, I rarely feel like cooking anymore these days.

The two boxes on the shelves are recipe boxes - the white one is Steve's and the little wood roll-top one is mine. I don't know if that white one was Steve's mom's at one time or just his - I think just his. He's had it as long as I've known him. His and hers recipe boxes - aren't we cute??

The stacking trays on the bottom are our mailboxes - one for each member of the family, whether they live here or not - and for DJ, our nephew who does live here. We just gave DJ his own mailbox recently - he knew he'd been accepted when that happened. I'm kidding, he's been a member of the family for ages, of course. But that mailbox system is perfect for sorting the mail as it arrives each day. Steve and I tend to "process" our mail our weekends. Simon empties his mailbox several times a year after I've asked him to about 5 or 6 times, because it so full.

There's nothing behind the doors on the bottom of the units yet. It's a work in progress, like I said.

Merry Christmas Eve Eve

I was so crabby yesterday! As I walked out to my car after work, I asked myself, "Self? You have to fix this. What would make you happy?"

So I reviewed why I was grumpy.

My perception, completely overblown, of a bit of rudeness the previous day at work. (Stef, get over it already.)

I hate the commercialization of the holiday season. I worry, yes worry, about people spending money they can't afford to spend. (Stef, worry about yourself.)

I was annoyed by hearing parents talk about their smarty-pants kids being home from college, when I would just be happy if my smarty-pants college kid would remember to keep his cell phone charged. (Stef - those other kids have plenty of foibles too; the parents just don't talk about those.)

I realized I really had nothing to be grumpy about. So I stopped. Wow, that was easy.

Then I had a wonderful massage.

Steve brought home dinner.

Life is good again.

~ ~ ~

Here's a note to future boarders about one of the quality services offered here at Chez TaCo. (Tadio Comstock - get it??)

If your car runs out of gas on the way to work, not to worry. We will give you a ride to work, then go to where your car is, call AAA to bring gas, drive said car to the gas station to fill 'er up and then deliver the car to you at work.

Yep, that's my boy I'm talking about. He was closer to work than home when he ran out of gas so he was going to walk to work since he was already late. He was unable to call me because his cell phone was out of juice (see note above). A nice woman stopped, let him use her phone, and then drove him to my office, where he wanted to take my car to work.

Steve was working late that night or I would have let Simon take my car - but instead, I left work to drive him to work, for which he was an hour late.

After work, I went to his car (which was safely off the road on a quiet back street, flashers flashing) and did what I said above.

My only regret is that I wasn't able to wash his vehicle and detail it properly. Maybe next time.

My email to Steve about this was titled: "Hi. My name is Stefani and I'm an enabler."

I really was prepared to let Simon deal with his car himself but he wasn't going to get out of work until 11:00 that night and I worried about his car sitting there for hours into the night. As it was, the AAA guy had to jump it too.

I did all this with the help of DJ, our other tenant. As he drove me back to my car, there was a tag tied to the door handle. I thought for sure it was a ticket - that Simon would have to pay, of course, but it was just an "abandoned vehicle" tag left by the police. I guess they do that so people know it has been reported. There was nothing I was required to do about it. Whew!

Oh - the other thing that annoyed me at work was how cheerful and social people were being while I was trying to work, dammit. How dare they?? Even at our office-wide Monday Morning Meeting, people were in an unusually good mood. That was another thing that snapped me out of my misery - I can't let all the good times pass me by while I'm pouting about nothing.

Woo-hoo - here's to a brand new day!

Neat & Tidy

Steve finished the Sports Illustrated Relocation Project. I bought 9 bins the other day, then we went to a different Lowe's yesterday and bought 4 more. He was able to fit 3 years per bin, but mama, those bins are heavy! I had envisioned them on some huge wood shelves we have but stacking them on this giant pallet proved much better, due to the weight. (I'm a little hinky about storing anything, even in plastic, directly on the basement floor, for fear of a malfunctioning water heater. Ask Mom and Dad about how much fun that is to deal with.)

Stefani: So what is Lizz going to do with all these Sports Illustrated when you die? Because I'll be long gone, unable to help her.

Steve: No, remember, we had a deal, I have to die first because I can't live without you.

(Insert sappy music here.)

Stefani: No, seriously.

Steve: I guess maybe she can sell them, at least the older issues.

Stefani: They're worth money?? Hell, let's sell them now! I want to go on a really nice, long vacation. On your dime! C'mon man!

Like I said before, they make him happy.

And the pool table is uncovered! The Buffalo Bills comforter (made by yours truly) that usually covers it, is in the washing machine at this moment. (We have a cat who pees on stuff, so for some wacky reason she was less inclined to pee on the comforter than the cover. I know some cats have a preference for hard surfaces, while others like soft surfaces, but our wack job (or is it whack job?) is an all-surface pee-er. I can't explain the comforter phenomenon. And after ages of trying to cope with this cat, whom we love dearly otherwise, she's now on chicken flavored "Prozac". It was either her or us, we told the vet.)

Note the shelves above the SI tote bins - largely bare. The rest of the room is still a work in progress - that's what I worked on while Steve boxed magazines. I Freecycled 2 TVs, a box of stamping magazines and some magazine file boxes. Oh - and a bunch of candy making supplies (molds for chocolates) that I had tons of responses for! I'm taking a bunch of small stuff to work to put on our Freecycle table there - it's easier. If stuff doesn't go there, I may toss it or bring it home and give it a go on the Freecycle list. I love Freecycle!

We also put stuff out to the curb that is mostly gone now, just some broken bamboo blinds remain and a (formerly) working vacuum cleaner. The guy who took the Hibachi, cut the electric cord off the vacuum cleaner and took just the cord! Two kitchen chairs and a quilt rack were taken under cover of darkness last night. I'm still amazed how long it takes people to take curbside stuff on this street. When I lived in the Village of Fairport, the stuff would barely be out of my hands and it was gone. But now we live on a rural road with not that much traffic. I'm always happy when stuff goes to a new home.

We have 3 blue recycle boxes full of cut up cardboard - and lots of Simon's high school work. Apparently, he is or at least was of the mind, when I ask him to clean his room, his solution is to dump everything in a plastic box and store it. Until Mom finds it and ditches everything. Problem (for him) solved. Kids.

That bed that's on it's side in the 2nd photo is one of the bunk beds that Lizz's grandmother bought her when we moved to this house. Our friend DJ is using one in his "room" in our basement. We've been at a loss where to store them - plus the mattresses, so when DJ moved in months ago, that solved half of the problem.

Now that Steve's mom has passed away, his sister will stay with us (half the time, the other half with their brother) when she comes back to visit so we're fixing up the 4th bedroom, which is tiny and closet-less, to be both my Pine Tree Designs gallery and her room. We'll make the bed kind of look like a day bed/couch. She has a bad back so she'll love the like newness of this mattress (second bunk, barely used). We'll have to cover it with something attractive when she's not here though; that area (now holding a futon) is one of Reggi's favorite spots to hang out in during the day, giving her a good view of the driveway. The black futon that's in there now is actually tri-colored, beagle-colored.

Of course, I didn't accomplish one tenth of what I intended to this weekend - but enough so I feel good. Ever since Simon moved back home last year and his stuff took over the basement, I've felt like things have been out of control. The phrases I use all the time are, "I'm taking our house back," and "This is not who we are, or how we live." Steve and I are both tidy and organized people so it kills us that our house is in disarray. You have to remember that when we moved here, we combined the contents from 2 two-person homes so we had a shitload of stuff at one point. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Just for a Week

If I could clone myself just for a week, I could get reasonably caught up, I swear. Thankfully, I'm feeling very motivated in all areas of my life in need of attention (not in order): day job, Pine Tree Designs, Stefani paperwork and basement re-org.

The basement re-org is an ongoing project that keeps getting put on hold for shows and well, life. But now we have 30 (?) years of Sports Illustrateds to deal with. Steve saves all of his WEEKLY Sports Illustrateds - for what I'm not exactly sure but it makes him happy. He still had some boxes at his mom's house, which he and his brother have been continuing to clean out.

Now those boxes cover our pool table, which annoys the cat no end, since that's one of her favorite spots to hang out. (The pool table is covered by a comforter which is over the pleather cover.) He said the other day that he was ready to take my suggestion of putting them in plastic boxes instead of cardboard. So I went to Lowe's the other day and bought all they had of the right size. I even took a Sports Illustrated (1978, Pete Rose on the cover) to measure.

So that's the Saturday morning project, after my 8:30 haircut. Steve can box them up, I'll print labels (of course!) and make room on the existing shelves for these boxes. I'm in a huge purging mood so that should be easy.

Every so often I've been taking stuff into work to put on our Freecycle table and that stuff is gone within the day, usually. Most recently was a perfectly good black plastic pot that held flowers from Wilma's funeral. I've taken some of Simon's old Disney videos. (I don't even care if someone is taking them and selling them on eBay, which I doubt they are - they're gone from our house.) Knick knacks, all gone. I'm going to take some books in today.

I do worry that I'm so not sentimental that I purge too much. I do save some stuff, as I talked about here. Love to purge. (Have you seen this TV show, Hoarders on A & E? Fascinating!)

~ ~ ~

I took my car to the dealer for an oil change and NY State Inspection yesterday - dropped it off the night before. The whole thing cost me $27.38 because the inspection was free. I used to take my Saturn to a Jiffy Lube type place and never got out of there for twice that. (And I said no to most of their suggested add-ons.) Say what you will about car dealers, they have really upped their game over the years in terms of customer service. This Toyota dealer just moved into a new building or newly remodeled building I guess it is - it's all so shiny and new. I told Steve it looks like the lobby of a swank Las Vegas hotel. I exaggerate, but it's nice! The waiting room is huge and offers a couple of big high def TVs, a little kitchenette area I think, comfy chairs and free wireless connectivity. I would not hesitate to take my car there for an oil change and wait.

~ ~ ~

So last weekend's craft show produced by the Jr League of Rochester was a success for me. I would have sworn my sales were higher than last year, but turns out I was down 15% from last year. That's still one of my more profitable shows and I definitely hope to do it again.

I had plenty to say on their vendor survey. Two things are my traditional complaints about any show: vendors who leave early and vendors who park in what I consider customer parking. Some jewelry vendors near me left 30 minutes early on Saturday and on Sunday, they started packing up an hour before the end of the show. I would just never do that. Ever. And I always park as far away from the building as possible. Each day, there was one other car next to me.

This show is billed as a Holiday Market, not a craft show. My guess is it's a 50/50 mix of hand crafted items and wholesale/resale items. I understand their rationale - it's a fundraiser and they want as big a show as they can. But I wish they were more selective.

Near me was a Billy Mays dude that had at least a double booth - filled 3/4 with cashmere scarves, which he ignored. The other 1/4 was a table full of colorful plastic cones used for removing snow from your windshield. He had a looping video showing how they worked. And he was selling the crap out of those things! Another vendor and I figured he must have been accepted at the show based on the scarves, then slipped in those ice scraper things.

I went in early on Sunday to have some time to look around. A vendor at the other end of the hall was selling packaged bedsheets! I think their hook was high thread count cheap sheets.

Call me a snob, but I'd like to see a higher end selection of product. That's the one comment I hear repeatedly about my work, "Wow - this is different; I've never seen anything like this." But bedsheets and ice scrapers? C'mon!

Oh - here's another one. I saw a print of a painting that I really liked and decided to buy but the artist wasn't in her booth, though her lights were on. I went back two more times and she still wasn't there - and the last time was 30 minutes after the show started! I decided she didn't deserve my business so she lost a $30 sale and I saved my money. (I did sneak back over to take a peak at her at the end of the day, so presumably she wasn't MIA earlier due to an emergency or something.)

On the other hand, I had at least two customers who asked me if I was a local artist because they like to buy local whenever possible. One woman told me that's a stipulation of the gift exchange between her extended family from around the country - all gifts must be created in their locale. That's cool!

And I reconnected with some vendor friends, which is always fun. I ran into a friend from high school I haven't seen in 35 years - loved seeing her!

In spite of these things, I think it's a good show and one I hope to do again.

I am Woman, Hear Me Roar

The colonoscopy was a breeze. Are you ready for this? I did it with no sedation! I didn't even know that was an option until today, did you? I have lots to do today including setting up for the weekend craft show so I asked, "I don't know if it works like this, but could I have as little sedation as reasonable?" They said absolutely, and that some people go without sedation at all. Really?? I said that's definitely what I want - let's go!

(I also said, "If you had wireless access here, this would make a great Facebook or Twitter update!" The nurse looked at me like I was more weird than funny (duh) but said, "We do have wireless..." My iTouch was in my purse but that idea seemed ridiculous, even to me. Though Gretchen and I got a lot of mileage out of the possibilities, including a photo of my colon.)

They said I could ask for sedation during the procedure if I wanted it. But if you think about it, there's really no pain involved. I felt a little pressure from the gas they inflate your colon with but that ain't nothin'. I watched the entire procedure on the screen, even the snipping of a tiny polyp. I could not take my eyes of the screen. It was fascinating!

I remembered later that I had my last dental scaling done without Novocaine. It was very do-able. I think I'm on to something here. I actually kind of dread the pain of Novocaine shots or the drowsiness of sedation way more than the procedure. I'm more like, let's do it and move on. Sweet!

Hint of the day: Blueberry Pomegranate G2 (like Gatorade) tastes great, even with the prep powder in it. Super sweet, even for me.

Yesterday, the day of clear liquids, I sent this email to Steve at lunch time, titled, "It's so not fair."

The vent on my Corning cup of broth was apparently open - and 3/4 of my broth spilled in my lunch bag. Hungry much? Nah, not me.

Good thing I brought 3 green Jell-Os - my least favorite flavor ever.

All for a good cause - I'm not complaining much.

He didn't reply right away so I figured he was out of the office doing something fun for lunch, but I never expected this:

Then, I won’t bore you with the details on the Bushnell’s Basin Pub Roast Beef on Kimmelwick rolls that Lisa provided for our all-day manager’s meeting. In addition, Lisa baked a cake for my birthday. Also, during our all-day meeting, I got called to my office for an important meeting…which turned out to be my team surprising me with Apple Pie & Apple Crisp.

But, because you are in Pre-Colonoscopy-Mode, I won't bore you with those details.

Harrumph, I say.

But I treated Gretchen and myself to breakfast at the Tip Top Diner after the procedure. By the way, the look on Gretchen's face when I walked into the waiting room, ready to go, was priceless! She had barely started her Starbucks coffee. She had just booted up her Netbook. She thought they could not do the procedure for some reason. Nope, I'm done - let's go eat! Even the other people in the waiting room were asking me about having no sedation.

Yeah, life is good.

~ ~ ~

I had a rude awakening when I went back to work on Tuesday. I asked my friend Jen, who runs HR, if I could change the previous Thursday and Friday from Paid Time Off to bereavement days. She said, "No, I'm sorry you can't. Those are for family and you're not family."

Now Jen is my good friend and I know she didn't mean it the way it came out. But it did hurt my feelings because you know how everything is personal with me. Also I was very embarrassed that I'd asked because I should have known better. Honestly, I think I forgot that Steve and I aren't married. I know, that's weird, right?

Then I started thinking this is how gay couples feel. You know how Brad & Angelina (reportedly) say they won't get married until everyone can get married? So now my stance is that until all gay couples and domestic partners have rights equal to those with a piece of paper, I don't want no stinkin' bereavement days. Ha! Guess I showed them, didn't I??

I'm just being silly but it really did bring the point home for me. I'm strongly in favor of allowing gay couples to marry. Not sure what the criteria would be for "domestic partners". Prove you live together, no matter how long? Food for thought.

Saturday, October 17, 10:00-6:00

Sunday, October 18, 10:00-5:00

Junior League of Rochester Holiday Market

The Fair & Expo Center, 2695 East Henrietta Road, Rochester, NY 14467

Wilma

Wilma Read Comstock, 1927 - 2009

Steve's mom passed away last Thursday. The funeral was yesterday. I'm so tired, I could cry. Not sleepy tired - I slept 9-1/2 hours last night. Just emotionally tired to the bone.

My life has been so overflowing since I last posted an entry here 8 days ago. I took off from work last week to prep for the biggest craft show of my career, as I like to call it, at Letchworth Park - a huge 3-day, well-attended show. So the first part of the week was nose to the grindstone.

I hardly saw Steve at all because he went to the hospital every day after work, getting home around 11:00, when I was fast asleep. He didn't ask me to go with him until Wednesday. I had tickets to see the Rochester Broadway Theatre League's performance of The Color Purple with Lynn and Linda that night so I didn't go to that. (Lynn told me later they tried to sell my ticket for me. Can you picture 2 middle aged women trying to scalp a Color Purple ticket!?)

There was never any change in Wilma's condition and it seemed the end was near so Thursday morning, even before she passed away, I had emailed the show co-ordinator to see what my options are for withdrawing. I did not want to be fully set up at a craft show 90 minutes away if Wilma died. The co-ordinator replied that she was sure we could work something out - so we'll worry about this next week, after the show.

Steve's mom has been dealing with vascular dementia for the last year and a half or so. She eventually needed round the clock care so "the kids" (Steve and his brother and sister) set up 24/7 home health care. That was working out really well, though they also had applications for nursing homes for when that time came. In the end, everyone is pretty grateful the time for nursing home care never materialized. Her overall health decline happened pretty rapidly, especially at the end.

Steve's sister Barbara flew in from Colorado last Saturday, on a prior arranged trip. That was the same day Wilma's home health aides took her to Urgent Care because she was having trouble breathing. Urgent Care sent her to the hospital, for further assessment and treatment. She was admitted and eventually determined she had pneumonia in both lungs and some heart failure.

She just never got any better, really. I heard Barbara say her heart was working at 30%. She was on morphine to help with the pain. She was on forced air oxygen to breath - Wilma hated that mask (who wouldn't?). But on the few, short occasions they could take the mask off, she was smiling and saying I love you to her family. So that was nice.

But overall she was in a lot of pain and things were not going to get better. The family was called to the hospital Thursday morning. I asked Steve if he wanted me to go with him (he was at work) and he said no, let him see what's going on first. Shortly after he got there he called me to come so I flew up there. I wasn't in the room 5 minutes, when she passed away. I know she waited for me to get there, mostly so I could be there for Steve. I was so glad I could be there for him.

Later that day I went to Wilma's house to help get it ready for the reception to be held there after the funeral. I worked with Steve's sister-in-law, Sue and cousin Ann and we had a good time actually. I especially liked getting to know his cousin better - and not just because she owns a gift shop in Brevard, NC and placed a wholesale order for Sticky Notes and greeting cards. The house didn't need all that much work - the home health aids and cleaning service took good care of things on a regular basis.

Steve, Barbara and Dave made the funeral home arrangements and when they came back to the house we ordered pizza, beer and wine and then the fun really started. We watched old family movies, told stories, lots of laughing. Steve's Uncle Bill had driven up with the aforementioned Cousin Ann and tells great stories. He reminds me of my dad in the dry way he phrases things.

Friday was spent running errands. It was also Steve's birthday, which he and I had already agreed to celebrate later, between craft shows. His family felt way worse about the timing of his birthday than he did. Not only did his mother die the day before his birthday, his dad had died in a car accident 2 days after he was born, 53 years ago. Ann bought Steve a birthday cake so we went back over to Wilma's house for a short party. Everyone had food to prepare and remembrances to write, so no one stayed long.

The funeral was Saturday - very well attended, as we thought it would be. Wilma was a life-long teacher and a principal, so there were lots of teachers present, even former students. One man introduced himself to us being in Wilma's first grade class - and I think he was a little older than us. Childhood friends of Steve's and Dave's came, "kids from the neighborhood" - that was nice. A bunch of people who currently or formerly worked with Steve came. My sister came with my nephews and niece-in-law. My dad made chili for the reception. (Dad, it was all but gone by the end!) Mom house-sat during the funeral.

Steve, Dave and Barbara each spoke as did several other people, mostly relatives. In fact, the only non-relative who spoke was a woman who was a former colleague of Wilma's but her story was about how Wilma saved her son's life, as she put it. He was having lots of trouble in school until he was moved into Wilma's class and she got through to him. Lots of great stories. We laughed, we cried. Steve had me read his piece after he wrote it and I bawled my eyes out. (Mom and Dad - he said I could email it to you. You'll like it - get the hankies.)

Simon and DJ were pall bearers. Simon, of course, got a major kick out of driving in the funeral procession with a police escort allowing us to run red lights.

I know all of Steve's extended family from the annual Read family reunions held the day after Christmas each year. We haven't had them in a few years though. But they do feel like my family - they treat me like family. Steve and I have been together 16 years so I have no idea why I would still feel surprised by how nice they are to me and Simon. They are all super nice, very loving people. They remind me of my family - really, really love each other. They are nice to be around.

In fact, I decided in the shower this morning that from this day forth I'm going to start calling them my family. Like instead of saying Steve's sister-in-law, I'll say my sister-in-law or my cousin. Yeah, 16 years. I'm not real quick about stuff. Heck, Steve and I were "dating" for 7 years before we lived together. (Wilma always called me her daughter-in-law, by the way. And this week I've been calling her my mother-in-law.)

A bunch of the family members are at Wilma's this afternoon watching the Buffalo Bills game, but I needed a little Stefani Time. I envision my time being divided between sitting on the couch reading, cleaning up my studio and taking a nap with my furry friends.

Since I didn't do the craft show I had decided to go back to work Monday and Tuesday, but I feel so drained today that I decided to take tomorrow off after all. I hope I perk up soon - I like me better perky. I am getting a 60 minute massage tomorrow so that should turn my mojo around.

35 Years? Really?

.My high school class's 35th reunion was held this weekend. I was asked to join the organizing committee to help with the website, originally a Wiki page. It was surprisingly not very user friendly. It was about that time I got into Facebook so I suggested we set up a group page there. So I handled that, invited all the classmates we had email addresses for - and it was a rousing success. Some people were already using Facebook, bunches joined for the express purpose of reconnecting with classmates. Some are power-users, some barely use it at all.

Mostly, I consider it a great ice-breaker for this weekend's reunion. The last reunion was only 5 years ago and before I got involved, I wasn't really planning on going to the next one, whenever it might be. But then Facebook happened. So I did go to the Ice Cream Social Friday night at Shadow Lake. It was very casual and relaxing. The weather was so perfect we sat outside for most of the night, eventually heading indoors to eat our ice cream. We felt like we knew each other in our present selves even better because of Facebook. We'd seen photos of each others' families. "Hey Stef - when's your next craft show?" Lots of fun, it was. I really had a good time. For me, it was so much better than last time which was held in an art gallery and it was loud and hard to hear - and kinda weird, in that I had a lot of reunion-jitters heading into that one.

I did have a moment Friday morning, driving to work, trying to figure out how much weight I could lose in 12 hours. Then I thought, "Screw it. They've seen my picture on Facebook. I like me. I like my life. It will all be just fine." I let it all go - and had a lot of fun as a result.

There was a dinner dance Saturday which I did not attend, just not my thing. I hope someone posts some pictures on Facebook. We had a relatively low turnout for both events. In retrospect we think it was too soon to have another reunion, since we just had our 30th five years ago. Now what do we do - wait 15 until our 50th? Dunno. The people organizing it are a little burned out on the subject, I think. I bet they'd be happy to let someone else take a turn. I'm good at the virtual reunion stuff but haven't a clue about a real reunion.

I just know that I say the words 35th reunion because I know that's what it is but I cannot begin to imagine any of us who were there, are old enough to be out of high school 35 years. Blow my mind.

This is what a bunch of 53 year olds look like sitting around chatting. That's the thing I love best about being with any of these high school "kids" is that we have the same memories, culture-wise. That's pretty cool.

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Emotionally Exhausted

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I started the basement re-org this morning. It's been a big fat mess since Simon moved home last September - yes, that long! I need to make room for his stuff on a wall of shelves. Every time I go through my personal stuff on those shelves, I get rid of a bit more. This sort of surprises me a little bit because I'm not all that sentimental and I'm pretty big on purging.

Simon is more Mr. Slap Dash; it's easier to throw everything into boxes than actually sort out the stuff that can be trashed or recycled or donated. So I was feeling pretty good, sorting out his stuff, throwing away stuff, all proud of myself.

Then I came to one of my boxes on the shelves, of his artwork from elementary school. I was immediately reduced to a teary mess of sentimentalism. Who, me? Yep.

I love these 4 pieces! I was very proud of myself for keeping just the stuff I love, not every little thing. Then I came upon another box with a lot more stuff from his elementary school years. There were report cards and other "important" things but way too much every day stuff. Oh. Guess maybe I am a little bit one of Those Parents.

So I pulled a Simon and shoved it all back in the box to deal with another day.

Then I came to the box of his baby things with all of his adoption paperwork and mementos. I knew Simon hadn't seen most of that stuff and would totally appreciate them now, at age 21. As the universe sees fit . . . Simon came home just as I opened the box. You think I was teary above? Forget about it. I had not looked at most of this stuff in probably 19 years.

Simon was blown away, especially by the Korean stuff that arrived with him - books and trinkets. "This stuff is priceless, Mom!" Priceless to us, anyway, definitely. He read the paperwork from the Korean adoption agency telling us what kind of baby he was. I showed him the monthly reports I had to write during his first year with us. I'm sure our home studies are in there too - didn't really look for those. I know someday he'll go back and read every word of that stuff.

Mostly I think he felt shock & awe that I had kept so many things relating to his earliest years. He kept saying, "Mom - don't throw this out!" As if.

It was such an incredible experience, going through that stuff with him. I had no idea that was going to happen like that. (I would have started reorganizing the basement a lot sooner if I knew there were gems of moments like that awaiting me!)

The basement doesn't look that much better yet, but I did significant work behind the scenes. We threw out 2 large garbage bags of crap - even Simon threw out stuff including an old Super Soaker and an old remote controlled car, neither of which works. (That's pretty significant for him, he doesn't part with stuff easily, broken or not.) I cut up lots of cardboard for recycling. I turned on my mail for the Freecycle group I belong to so I can get rid of some stuff that way. And Simon took a few things into his room to "play" with. (I warned him I better not see those things reappearing helter skelter back in the shelving area.)

To show that I come by this purging thing genetically, just yesterday Mom emailed me to ask me if she could donate some leftover fabric we had from the tablecloths we made for my craft show booth tables - just 3 months ago. Waste not, want not. :-)

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Before & After

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The Before photo is one you are familiar with - I use it for everything. This is actually just a photo that Simon took with my digital camera because I asked him to and it turned out so good that I've been using it for years. Alas, I'm not so young, thin or curly anymore.

Here's the after - in my new cute glasses. I wanted a better picture in which to debut them but I could not resist playing with the laptop webcam after I finished my breakfast on the deck this morning. The dark part of the glasses is sort of a dark tortoise shell, outlined in light green. I love them. When I bought them I worried I'd get sick of them whenever I get out of my lime green phase but resistance was futile. Besides, if I get sick of them eventually, maybe that will motivate me to update my frames more often than I do, cheapskate that I am.

It was after I got my glasses that I realized my hair had gotten a little long so I made an appointment and told Maria that I needed a haircut to go with my new glasses to take me from cute to super cute. (I stopped perming my hair a couple of years ago, I think it was.)

The glasses look really spectacular when I'm wearing a green shirt. Simon told me I can't wear a green shirt every day, to which I replied, "Watch me." Turns out I was right in that green goes with pretty much everything I wear - turquoise, purple, red mostly.

This webcam kills me, by the way. I never would have gotten it except heck, it was only $25 additional - and I'm glad I did. Do I see a webcast in my future? Perhaps - but I sure can't think of anything interesting to talk about - or write about evidently.

If you look closely you can see Verona's green eyes staring out from within her black case. She loves coming outside with us. If I sit on the deck with the glass door open, just the screen door closed, she'll meow all day long. So the other day I decided that maybe it was time to try letting her loose on the deck to see what she would do. We never let our cats out, largely because we live on a rural road but cars that do go by, go by fast. Which is silly to say because even a slow car could kill an animal. They are indoor cats.

I thought, what if Verona takes to staying on the deck as well as Reggi took to being off leash at Ellison Park? So a couple of weeks ago, I opened the door and let Verona out. After she got over the shock, she strolled around like she owned the joint. She was way more bold than I thought she would be. She was originally a barn cat at Steve's sister-in-law's horse farm, but that was a lifetime ago. I let her roam around for a while then scooped her up. We won't be doing that again - too much risk. Surprisingly, she has not been trying to scoot out every time we open the door, which is what I feared - that once she got a taste of the good life, she'd be a rascal to keep inside.

I tried her on a leash a long time ago but that's never very successful, is it? Once we pulled Reggi's crate out on the deck and let Venus hang out in there - she liked it. So we'll probably do that for Verona sometime because these days she seems to like being outside far more than Venus does.

Meanwhile this black case works well. Verona started meowing the moment I pulled it out of the closet. I opened it and set it on the floor and she ran in. She sat on the table next to me meowing the entire time - until I took her picture. Now she's quiet as a mouse. Hmmmm.

By the way, I'm thrilled that this new laptop has whatever type of screen that I can use outside. It's a cloudy day but still, I could never do this with my old laptop. I always thought when I saw commercials or whatever of people using their laptops outside, it was bogus. Have I mentioned out much I love this new laptop?

One last thing, then I'll (mostly) stop being goofy with the webcam, I promise. When I first got the laptop I was setting things up, poking around. Hey, here's the webcam button - I wonder how this thing works?

A window not unlike this one popped open and scared the bejesus out of me!

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Back in the Game

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Perfect timing for $600, Alex.

On our way to the show in Syracuse on Friday, I received voice mail from the owner of Artizanns in Naples, for an order of 20 Sticky Notes. Saturday, I received an email from the order of Heron Creek in Corning, for 15 Sticky Notes. (And she's opened another store in Watkins Glen and wants to know if she can carry my Sticky Notes there too.)

These are their first orders in 2009 - and how funny is that they practically came in on the same day!

The next show is mid-August in Canandaigua, the new Riesling Festival. I think it's weird that I haven't heard back about my application, one way or the other. Usually shows work pretty far in advance. So Sunday afternoon I checked their website. I looked under Arts & Crafts Vendors - and there's Pine Tree Designs! I recognized a friend's company name too so I emailed her to see if she'd received official notice. She has not. There are only 9 craft vendors listed and the site says they are adding new vendors daily. Guess that's just their process. It is a new festival, though it seems to be very well run (other than the late notification thing).

If you Google Riesling Festival - one of my blog entries about it is the 2nd site listed! That happened the other day too, but now I can't remember what I was Googling that time. That always surprises me for some reason.

And if life isn't grand enough - I get my new laptop today! That's always a project, getting a new computer set up just how you want it - but I'm very excited. A new feature of this current laptop that's limping along - every once in a while it will go into hibernate mode for no apparent reason. Yep, time to retire this baby and move on.

~ ~ ~

I woke up Sunday morning feeling so totally exhausted. It was mental exhaustion more than physical exhaustion. I got up, fed the animals and sat down to read the newspaper. One of the first things I read was an article about President Obama spending time with young men, some fatherless, talking about fatherhood.

I felt sad that he grew up without his dad. I felt sad that his parents died without knowing he became President. I felt sad that his grandmother died the day before he was elected.

I burst into tears. It was the trigger, but clearly, I was exhausted by the stress of the unknowns of this last craft show.

I proudly reported to Steve when he got up that he missed my "non-specific post traumatic stress letdown" cry.

Except during breakfast, we started watching season five of 24 and 8 minutes into the first episode, the black president is assassinated. I covered my face with my napkin and sobbed some more. Whew - guess I've got some stuff to get out.

So we watched something else. And I took a 90 minute nap.

Yep, Sunday was Chill Out Day. Felt good, having no pressure. Except it's days like those that I worry that I'll never climb out of it and have renewed energy. But I felt normal by the end of the day, nicely recharged.

Steve and I are about to leave on vacation on July 2 so this week will be my week to bust ass at work and get lots accomplished. I admit I was very distracted last week.

~ ~ ~

Hey, guess what? Another loony has commented on the Bruce Jenner entry:

what kills me with you haters is this.....he weas all that over 40 years ago....dont you think he look different at that time of your life???//damn........true enough he was a gread looking man when he was young.....now he is just a older man.....get over it.......why dont you goo liik in the mirrow....and you tell me what YOu see?

So yeah, I have something against excessive plastic surgery, especially bad plastic surgery. But I really have something against illiteracy. Would it kill you to, minimum, reread what you've written before hitting enter? I know it's beyond reason to hope for punctuation and capitalization - but spelling isn't that difficult, people.

Okay Punctuation/Capitalization/Spelling Haters - bring it on!

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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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??

~ ~ ~


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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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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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??)

~~~

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.

~ ~ ~

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.

~ ~ ~

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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Thread Dispenser

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I want one of these in my studio!

~ ~ ~

I'm not going to waste another entry whining about work but just a quick update in case anyone saw my Facebook update yesterday that I hated my life - - - life is good again, just like I knew it would be. I used to say that I really like the work I do and the people I work with, but it just feels like I can say that less and less. That has become more true over the past few months. I hope it's an aberration and things turn around. I don't think it's just me - I think a lot of my co-workers would say that and a lot of my fellow human beings would say that too. Very seriously, I'm happy to have a job I don't hate (all the time).

I must say I'm looking forward to President Obama's address to Congress next Tuesday night. Listening to that man speak always cheers me up and gives me hope. Even just Generic General Hope is good.

I've been IMing the programmers at work this morning and the system upgrade is going well so we're on schedule to begin testing at 1:00, after our take-out from PF Chang's of course. Everyone was very receptive to that idea so I'm happy to make them happy. I have 4 hours blocked out in my head for this work thing, but I'm confident it will take way less time. And Steve has already agreed to either go out to dinner or maybe we'll pick up something to bring home.

Off I go to craft for a while before heading out.
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Best Gift Ever

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A donation of one Poly Resin Bed was made in your name to The Humane Society at Lollypop Farm, Fairport, NY by Steve Comstock. Happy Valentine's Day!

I saw the return address on the envelope containing the above card and thought it a little strange since I'd never heard of this company and Steve was the one who recently bought a dog bed for his office here at home, so from what mailing list did they get my name? I tossed it in my mail tray and planned to open it this weekend when I "process" my week's mail.

The next morning, Steve brought me the envelope and said, "Open this."

Stefani: This the BEST gift you've ever given me!

Steve: I know it is.

Stefani: I'm so blogging about it tomorrow. And I have to show this to Sherry at work. (We talk pets all the time, she loves animals.)

Steve: Damn straight. That's part of the gift, you bragging about my mad gift giving skillz.

He cracks me up. He said he always sweats gift giving occasions because he knows I value creativity above all else. That's true, I do - but I thought we were way beyond the gift giving thing. We haven't given each other Christmas gifts in 14 years. And I was pretty sure we were over the Valentine's Day thing too. And birthdays have traditionally been a dinner and a movie for years.

So I accused him of making me sweat because now I have to come up with something for him for Valentine's Day. And he says what he always says, which is something convoluted about it being a holiday for a man to give a woman a gift but not vice versa. Like it's a woman's holiday or something.

At this moment, I'm considering giving him back this cold he gave me.
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Purple Heart

.I wasn't sure if pink, purple and red would work together like this but I rather like it. More cards here.

That Illinois sales tax auditor was with us on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday this week. We made some real progress though. He'll be back in two weeks for a full week, for what he and I both hope is his final visit. He's likeable and has really made it as painless as possible but it makes me yearn for my regular work. I noticed on Friday that my brain checked out about an hour before quittin' time. I worked a little, shuffled papers, checked my home email. I was burned out, not in a gonna-cry-any-minute way, but more of the :::run your fingers over your lips::: b-b-b-b way. Know what I mean?

He told me about another audit he did, similar to ours, in that we've never filed in IL before so he's catching us up to present - that lasted 2 years. He said the woman he worked with had only been with the company a few months and had no experience with sales tax. I'm sure I would have quit if I were her! I'm used to this stuff and find it tedious, boring and unfulfilling. I can't imagine wading through this crap and being out of my element. What a trooper she must be.

I picked up dinner from Salvatore's Pizza on my way home so I could have my new best comfort food, a ham & pineapple calzone. (Bought subs for Steve & Simon.) It was delish!

The sun is shining brightly today and it's going to be above freezing for a few days, so that's good news for sure.

I'm going to finish the order for those gift tags so I can ship it on my way to my friend Kim's house for lunch with Nancy & Kathy. Then I'll swing by Mom & Dad's to put them to work for Pine Tree Designs. Mom is going to help me lengthen my tablecloths and Dad and I are going to talk about him turning some spindles on his wood lathe to serve as perches for some of my glass plates that display my paper jewelry pins. They do good work - and the price is right!

Enjoy your weekend!

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Cheesey Art

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I follow Demi Moore on Twitter and her tweet led me to this video.

FYI - I found her by following Ashton Kutcher, who I found by following Tina Fey, who tweets a bunch of hilarious one-liners. I'm turning into a regular Celebrity Twitter Stalker. I found these 3 the day before Ashton outed Lawrence Taylor about being on Dancing with the Stars next season. I've now seen that bit in the news twice so I know Twitter is pretty darn mainstream these days. And I felt terribly in-the-know since I'd already read his tweet and come to the same conclusion.

Heck, my 70-something parents both Twitter!

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I just received an email from CraftyCoach and thought I'd pass along this resource to my art/craft business friends. I'm a new subscriber so I really can't vouch for the site just yet but the topics look right up my alley.

And that Start Your Arts & Crafts Business online class I'm taking at Ed2Go.com? So far it's a bit disappointing because I really haven't discovered any new material. But there are 3 bits of good news. 1) The twice weekly lessons don't take up much of my time because I can skim each one fairly quickly. 2) It confirms I'm on the right track already. 3) She provides good resources at the end of each lesson so I think I'll find those useful as I have time to explore.

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Newseum and a Day Trip

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My cousin Joni sent me this to The Newseum. Hover your mouse over your city and your newspaper front page pops up. Click on your city and the front page enlarges. Pretty cool. You can check headlines around the world too.

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Steve and I spent most of the day in Buffalo yesterday, for the Jr League of Buffalo jury day for their 2009 Decorators' Show House. I think I wrote about this last week - they have a carriage house behind the Show House that serves as a boutique where they sell the work of area artists (on a consignment basis). It's in April so I'd really like to do it - good time of year, presumably a successful venue, out of town - seems right. So it seemed worth the trip to take my stuff there, rather than ship it.

We had to be there at 8:30 so we got an early start, found the place (different from the Show House location) without problem. It took 5 minutes to set up so we headed out to find a Bob Evans for breakfast. As Steve commented, buying that GPS seemed a bit frivolous last year but it's more than paid for itself in convenience. Betty Lou (the voice) provides a little humor as well. I was cracking up the way she kept pronouncing Exit 52E as Fiftwee.

We then went to 2 movie theater complexes, hoping to find a movie that would fall perfectly within our time frame because we had to go back and pick up my stuff between 1:30 and 2:30. Nothing worked out so we walked around the Galleria mall. We were cracking up because we're not shoppers by any stretch of the imagination. The only stores we went into were Yankee Candle (my idea) and the RV store (Steve's idea) to tour a bunch of the RVs. We finally went back to the car to pick up our reading and stitching materials and sat in the food court for a couple of hours.

I will be notified by email if my work has been accepted. I didn't have a chance to look around because a woman from the Jr League was with us at all times (to prevent theft? not sure) but I did notice at least 2 other vendors with greeting cards. I doubt there was any other stitched work like mine so I suspect they will want my Sticky Notes, little tins (more on that another day) and paper jewelry (pins) - but maybe not the greeting cards. My sense is, not based on any fact, is that they probably want a little bit of a lot of different things.

I'd never done one of these jury-in-person things before but here are two things I learned yesterday. Take a moment after set-up, "Do I have everything?" I meant to leave a stack of business cards on the table - had them with me and everything! Now I'm worried the jurors didn't know my work is HAND stitched. It says so on my labels, but still. Secondly, I need to make a smaller version of the big sign I use in my booth, that states that my work is hand stitched. I didn't read anything about this being blind juried so I guess it would be okay if my name and website name were on there too, like on my big sign.

I wasn't sure how elaborate people would get in setting up their area (which was about 2' x 1' deep) so I over-prepared and it worked out fine. I used a black tablecloth, which set off the colors nicely. I took a short card spinner but didn't use it - I put the cards in a tiered acrylic rack.

Overall I'm happy enough with how it went and Steve and I had a nice day together. Nothing overly exciting but we got to do what we do best, eat, read, stitch and spend time together.

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We were supposed to go out to Steve's brother's house for dinner but that was canceled because their daughter hurt her back. We were fine with that since we'd had a long day. I napped on the couch when we got home, but we still went to bed at 9:00!

Today is definitely a studio clean-up day - and I'm off to Geva shortly. Then Simon is having friends over to watch The Super Bowl. Poor Steve is having a routine colonoscopy tomorrow (his first!) so he'll be eating green J-ello and chicken broth for his Super Bowl food. He was already taking tomorrow off is why he picked tomorrow for the exam - but the day after the Super Bowl? Who does that??

He's so stoic that the smell of Simon's pizza and wings will bother him only a little. Me? It would put me in such a foul (fowl?) mood, I'd have to spend the time in my studio or something.

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