The Costco Crap Christmas Caper

We had a party last night.  We are LOOOONG overdue for this party.  Actually, we were supposed to have it almost a year ago when we finished our guest bathroom renovations.  So, we have this big roomy shower and decided it would be FAR too much fun to take pictures in it.  So, we finally got out you-know-what together, went to Costco where we bought lots of heavy pupus. For those of you not here... that's lots of appetizers. 

 The Bruce and Bhaltair had fun until The Bruce's Christmas Hat got broken.  He was distraught until I fixed it this morning and now he's all happy again.  Then one of our unnamed friends broke a glass of red wine on our white couch.  I am here to tell you that it all came out and you'd just never know the was ever a spill.  Who ever heard of such a thing?  But those were the only 2 disasters and happy endings were all over the place!  The Bruce and Bhaltair got into the shower pictures but Ipo was on the lanai and not too happy that she wasn't in at the party!  We relented and let her in, tho.  So, enjoy our shower pictures!  :D

The Cooking Christmas Crackers Caper

Hah.  My Hunnibunni went to California this morning so while the cat's away... the mice made crackers!  We are having a party on Saturday so I thought having homemade crackers sounded good.  YUM!  They came out great.  Golden flax seed/onion/Italian parsley crackers.  I never made crackers before.  I hope I don't eat them all before Saturday!  :D

Anubis the Red Nosed Jackel

We have a statue if Anubis and one of a griffin in our living room.  Brian decided they needed red noses to be festive.  So, I made them out of clay which I then rolled in glitter.  Too cute!  :D  I can only hope that the ancient Egyptian gods don't take umbrage.

Other Weird Things

While I am on the subject of strange things happening to my vacuum and other oddities of machinery, I just gotta tell you about Westinghouse.  Not only am I computer challenged but I'm also Westinghouse Challenged.  WHAT?! You ask?  This woman is crazy!  But... true stories.  

About college age I discovered that I was unable to use anything made by Westinghouse.  Now, this was a problem as things like light bulbs are made by them.  And stoves and things.  For the longest time I thought it was the problem of the appliance or bulb when I would think something was broken but a friend could work it just fine.  Ok, this is strange but not life threatening unless you own Westinghouse stock.  

So, it got worse and worse.  When I got married the first time I got several Westinghouse small appliances.  None of them worked.  For me.  My new husband had no problem.  Eventually we had to exchange them all.  

Years went by, I got divorced and for some odd reason was living in Omaha.  There was a brand new apartment building and I wanted to rent a unit so I made an appointment and went to meet the lady showing the units.

We walked into the kitchen and yep. Everything was Westinghouse.  I sighed and told the lady, I can't live here.  She asked why and I said, the kitchen is Westinghouse.  I can't make anything Westinghouse work.  She said... no, no!  it's all brand new, see?  She scurried around the kitchen flipping light switches and stove knobs and opening the fridge and stuff.  Yep, everything worked perfectly.  She is standing there beaming all over me.  I was bummed I had to prick her Happy Balloon but I said... watch.  I flicked the light switch.  Nothing.  No light.  She races over.  The light works fine.  We stood there like a comedy team trading, it works, it doesn't.  I showed her the stove, the fridge and everything else that was Westinghouse did not work if I used it.  She slowly starts backing away.  I can see in her face she now thinks I am possessed.  :)  I tried to explain it was Westinghouse that was possessed.  She wasn't buying it.  I left and found another non-Westinghouse infected kitchen.  Sigh.

Now, my best pal Annie (RIP, Annie) always thought it was a scream that nothing made by Westinghouse worked.  She used to entertain her kids with... Watch!  Moe can't make this work!  Toast.  Her kids could make toast but I couldn't.  

So, many years go by and I have mostly forgotten about my Westinghouse plague.  I am back in Buffalo for a visit and I am driving out somewhere near the airport where there is also a giant (shudder) Westinghouse  plant.  Oh boy.

Now, I hadn't thought about my Westinghouse malady for a long time so I am cheerfully driving along, singing a merry tune when BLAM!  The entire Westinghouse plant goes dark the second I drive past.  I have NO idea what happened because I hadn't been in Buffalo for years and had no idea what that plant was.  Then I saw the sign.  My nemesis!  Sure enough I blew out the Westinghouse plant.  

The second I got to my mother's place, the phone was ringing.  It was Annie.  First thing she says is...It was you.  I KNOW it was you.  Were you near the Westinghouse Plant?  You come to Buffalo and blow out their plant! She was hysterical laughing.

I confessed I was driving by.  I mean, do I have to be afraid that they are going to come after me?  Will they sue for all the money they lost while their power was gone.  Couldn't have been too bad, though.  I was only driving by!  Really Officer!  I didn't MEAN to blow out 10 gazillion square acres of Westinghouse!

I have recently noticed... the Westinghouse Curse seems to be dissipating.  I have no idea why but the other day I was actually able to use a Westinghouse appliance!  Not mine... naturally, but a friend's.  It worked!  I am still afraid of them.  :D

The Good News/The Bad News

We all like good news so I will start with that.  My friend had asked for some special beads and I couldn't find them so I was looking at every bead site in the world when I came upon a company called Brass Bouquet.  They had gorgeous brass beads, stations, ear wires, and more.  I emailed them to see if the shipping included Hawaii.  You just don't know how many times I get hit with.. Hawaii?  That'll be another billion dollars in shipping.  :(

Anyway, I got an immediate answer from BB and lo and behold... no hidden shipping costs!  YAY!  I ordered a bunch of goodies.

Today my order came.  Their stuff is wonderful!  Really!  Just beautiful brass beads and end caps and lots of cool things.  All of it is made perfectly and made me want to go order more! 

So, I say, go take a look!  www.brassbouquet.com.  They sent me a free present, too.  And you all know how I just LOVE presents!  I have to go and put them in my shopping list so anyone who looks here can find them here but first I have to give the bad news.  :(

I love mail order catalogs.  In all the years I have been ordering from them, I can say that I have rarely, if ever, had a problem.  And I NEVER had one totally ignore me.  Until now.  Acacia.  If you have even the slightest inkling that you might want to order from these people, I say... DON'T DO IT!  Never order from Acacia.  Here is what happened.  

I ordered 2 trays.  I paid for them and $9.95 in shipping.  About two weeks after I ordered, I received ONE tray.  I promptly called and spoke to a very nice woman who said she'd send me the other tray.  Fine.  Mistakes happen. That's ok.  Another two weeks go by and I receive my second tray.  Great.  Until I look at my invoice.  They are charging me $5.95 for shipping.  Yep. They made a mistake and are charging me for it.  I called.  I called and I called.  To date, I have spent a grand total of 23 minutes on hold waiting to talk to someone.  I sent emails.  All of which have been ignored.  Then today I get my Visa bill.  Yep.  You guessed it.  Despite all my emails, they still charged me another $5.95 for shipping.

So, to combat this deplorable service and attitude, I am telling everyone who will listen that Acacia is ripping me off.  If they do this to everyone, can you imagine the amount of money they make?  Acacia stinks.

Now, I know you are all saying, dispute this charge.  I will.  And I will take my invoices to the bank where I have written down all the information, including the name of the person I spoke with.  But, I do want you all to know that Acacia is a lousy company to treat a customer this way.  This is just my way of fighting back.  If they won't listen to a legitimate complaint, then I will announce their practices.  Please don't order from this company... Acacia.  They stink.

Missing Parts

Oh brother.  My vacuum cleaner is possessed.  Either that or Scotty has beamed up an important part while I was standing around looking stupid.  Should there possibly be anyone out there who doesn't know who Scotty is... Google Star Trek.  The original Star Trek.  None of these imposters.  :D

Back to my vacuum. We are having a party on December 20th, right?  Right.  Bright and big brained human that I am, I decide I will get out above mentioned vacuum and do some of the heavy stuff... like the baseboards and the upholstery, etc.  So, I am cheerfully vacuuming away. We also have wood floors with some rugs.  Naturally, the wood needs one kind of attachment that some perv in vacuum cleaner advertising decided to call  Maid In A Box.  Now... WHAT were they thinking?  Maid in a box?  Really.  That's its name.  Filter Queen is in dire need of a new product namer.   I will ask Santa to send them one.  Maid in a box.  Jeez.

Back to my vacuum.  Ok, I vacuum all the baseboards and the furniture and remove about 476 pounds of cat hair from every surface I can.  Then I put on the Maid In A Box.  I vacuum all the hard floors.  I take OFF the MIAB and put it into its bag that it lives in inside the utility closet.  

I did not go to the bathroom, I did not talk on the phone, I did not go out to lunch, I did not stop to chat with the neighbors, I merely removed the MIAB and put it into the bag it lives in. Then, I go to put the rug attachment (which, oddly, doesn't seem to have its own name) and lo and behold... it has transmorgrified itself and the metal tube thingy no longer fits into the non-maid in a box.  WHAT!?  

WHAT has just occurred?  This is some universal joke, right?  I already vacuumed with the non-MIAB.  I used it!  It fit the pipe, tube, metal thingy just fine!  Now, all of a sudden, it doesn't fit.  Really.  The two ends of the non-MIAB and the metal tube thingy are all of a sudden, mysteriously the same exact size now.  Why me?

Ok, I think... something is amiss here.  Perhaps the evil MIAB somehow ate part of the attachment and it is still stuck onto it?  I toddle off to look.  Nope.  MIAB is sitting in her bag doing nothing.  It has no odd pieces attached.  I search the bag.  Nothing.  I KNOW that this is SOS's fault except... for once, she is sound asleep in my closet and couldn't have done anything. But, being Ipo I think maybe she has osmosed herself through the wall and stolen a vital part of my vacuum cleaner.  Nope.  She is asleep.

I sit on the floor and take the whole thing apart.  I KNOW there is an answer.  Half hour later, there IS no answer.  My vacuum is possessed and has consumed part of itself.  Now I can no longer vacuum unless I want to get down on my hands and knees and clean our 1300+ square foot condo with the brush attachment.  Highly unlikely.

Now, I know there are any number of you who are thinking... oh, it just fell off and you'll find it. HAH!  I am the Anal Retentive Queen of the Universe!  A place for everything and everything in its place is my motto!  No spare vacuum cleaner parts will wallow unnoticed in my home.  I can spot a cat whisker where it doesn't belong.  No way a hunk of Filter Queen is laying around.

So, you ask... what happened?  Nobody knows.  It is one of life's little mysteries.  Up there along with Sputnik is now orbiting part of my vacuum cleaner.  My poor long suffering Hunnibunni will now have to drag me and the evil vacuum into town so the FQ guys can put on another part.  I will insist that they super glue it on.  Maybe some duct tape for extra security? 

I will take Maid In A Box.  She needs an outing. 

Awards and Other Fun Stuff

Katie, that little sweetie from Katie's Clay Corner, passed on an award! To me! Wow! I am so excited! If you will toddle over to Katie's blog, she will tell you about it. I'm not sure how to tell the whole story but the award is for cool things and cool people who create. So, I am to pass it on to, also. I can do that!

Ginger; www.gingerbellsgifts.etsy.com

Kathi; www.dragonsglass.com

Dawn; www.calyscreations.com

Chris; www.bubblyart.etsy.com

Jainnie; www.littlebear.etsy.com

Stormy; www. stormydesigns.etsy.com

I hope I have everyone's addresses right! If not... look over there>>>>>> they are listed. :) And Katie... thanks a million for changing your background! Now, not the one you grew up in... the one on your site. :D xoxo

Old Friends

A wonderful thing happened today!  My phone rang and it was a girlfriend I haven't heard from in years!  I can't begin to tell you how happy I was to hear from her.  We were best of friends for many years then life intervened and we lost touch.  Thanks to her diligence, we are now back in touch and I am thrilled.  Trish is the sweetest person you can possible imagine.  I missed her and I'm glad she's back!  We used to terrorize Omaha when I lived there.  :D  Grand fun we had!  And she is a cat lover, too!  What more could anyone want?  Hugs to you, Trish!

Pueo

I was trying to post this yesterday but I couldn't get the picture.  Maybe today will be better luck.  :)  Pueo is the Hawaiian word for *owl*.  Brian loves pueo so I made him an owl.  Except I put it on my Etsy.  :D

Pineki

Pineki is the Hawaiian word for peanut.  I thought that was a fitting name for my newest little being.  Isn't she cute?  I have more pictures on my flickr.  www.flickr.com/photos/moeart.  Thanks!

A New Flickr For Me

My clay friend Jainnie gave me a flickr account.  Isn't that sweet of her?  So, with much brain cell loss, I finally got the hang of it.  So, go look, please.  And, if you have one, leave me your flickr name and apparently we can link flickrs.  It's www.flickr.com/photos/moeart.  Thanks for looking!

More Koi

Hi Everyone!

Well, my commissioned koi were such a hit that I thought I'd make one and put it for sale on my Etsy and DaWanda sites.  And, if I EVER figure out how to use flickr, I'll put it on there, too. 

 Jainnie, the supreme sweetie, got me a flickr!  How cool is THAT!?  Now, computer doof that I am, I just have to figure out how it works.  I was trying to get my face on there yesterday and managed to do so, somehow.  I also got one of my fairies on there and have NO idea how that happened.  Flickr magic, no doubt.  Anyway, it's moe.hawaii.  But, I don't know if it's @flicr?  HELLLLP!  Who knos the answer to this?  Kathi, I KNOW you will tell me.  :D

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

And I promise to retake the picture of the necklace below.  I know it doesn't show up well.  :D

The Super Nova

Hi Everybody!

I took a break from claying and making coaster and did some beading.  I made a super nova using dyed fresh water pearls and Swarovski crystals.  A cool Holiday sparkler, what do you think?

Little Fairies

It's that time of year when people want to get something special for their grandkids.  So, I made these two little fairies.  I was thinking about things passed down from generation to generation.  I have an old doll that is now as old as I am.  :(  If I had kids I would have passed her down even those she's pretty fragile and probably wouldn't make it.  But these little fairies sit on garden rocks.  And clay is really durable.  Don't t you think a mom would pass this down to her daughter?

Koi

Hi Everybody!

A client wanted koi for gifts so, like a fool, I said, "SURE!  I can do that!"  Moron that I am.  I have never made anything like this before.  Beginner's luck held and here are the koi I made for my friend.  What do you think?  Should I make one to sell on ETsy?

Fun New Spot On Etsy

Etsy Treasury - Jewelry Peeps in Polymer

Janie, from the clay forum, has made all of us clay workers a dandy new spot on Etsy.  She did lots of work and showcased polymer clay jewelry!  Lots of friends on there.  Go look!  It's really nice to have a section just for clayers!  Janie did a super job.  Hats off to you, Janie!

Mahalo!

The Bruce Comes Out of Hiding

The Bruce and Bhaltair have been VERY quiet lately.  Far too quiet if you ask me.  So, I decided that they were feeling neglected.  As I am having my home craft fair on Saturday, I made the boyz Christmas hats.  Naturally, The Bruce wanted the biggest and the best hat.  He wanted snowflakes so I gave him flowers.  The little Pill thinks they are snowflakes so that's ok with me.  I told him they were Hawaiian snowflakes.  :D  Aren't they cute?  The Wee Cows, not the Hawaiian snowfakes.  :D

Happy Dance!

DONE!  I'm done!  I finished my room today!  Yay!  I painted and antiqued corners and cleaned and attached handles and I'm beat.  But it's all finished.  My beautiful new Hawaiian Sunrise room is all pau.  (that's Hawaiian for *finished*.  I think the paint looks like mango and papaya.  YUM!

Ipo had designs on making little kitty prints in the wet paint but I disabused her of that idea.  She was not best pleased but oh well.  :D  

I can't tell you how happy I am!  What do you think?  :D

Getting There!

Charlie came today and installed all my cool handles.  Meanwhile, I installed the last of my decorative corners.  Love the blue tape!  It's going to kill me to have to remove all those handles to paint but oh well.  It will be worth it!  And here are some pictures of my Happy Wall.  :D  And the kitties actually behaving themselves.  Well, there is probably some way to remove one of these duplicate photos but I don't know how.  :(

Happy November!

Does it feel like November?  No, I didn't think so.  Does it feel like Christmas is only a few weeks away?  How did this happen?  What were we doing?  

Well, I'm getting ready for it!  My first and maybe only home craft fair is November 15th so I'm trying to organize all the stuff for sale.  It didn't seem like I had very much but...yikes.  I have tons!

And, will I EVER get my craft room finished?  This is one of life's little mysteries.  Charlie is coming tomorrow so drill holes for all my pulls and knobs and to give me an estimate on putting up my ceiling.  :D  Then, I can actually start painting!  I may yet get this done before 2009!  Then I will inundate you with pictures of my fab new room.  And I will have no crafting friends left because I actually have cabinet space that is empty!  Yay!  

I'm off to vote.  See you later!

All Better

Well, thanks to all of your good wishes (in spite of the chicken soup thing) I am all better.  I hope everyone has great pals (like all of you) to wish them well when they are sick!  And, Stormy, I like the hot toddy suggestion the very best!  :)  Even though I couldn't have faced it.  I can now!  :D

So, I want to just say this about politics.  I have been reading blogs and stuff.  Everyone's got their opinions and wants you to think as they do.  That's ok.  But, here's what I have to say about the whole thing:  You love Obama?  Great.  Vote for him.  You love McCain?  Super.  Vote for him.  If you "hate" one of the VP's (and man, am I tired of hearing all the hate going around) get over it.  Hate is what's wrecking our planet.

 The VP is not running for Pres.  I don't really care about heart beats.  Every VP in the history of this country is the heartbeat thing away.  Most likely we are unable to tell you who the VP was 12 years ago.  It's not important.  Vote for the person YOU like.  Don't put it on someone else, just make yourself happy and vote for the person YOU want.  It's your country and your right.  Just remember to keep loving your friends no matter whom they vote for.  They are much more important in your everyday life.

That's why we live here.  So we can do that.  You are free to love whom you love, not love whom you don't and to vote for whomever you want.  So, go forth and do what makes you happy.  You want to vote.... vote.  You don't want to vote... don't vote.  It is your right.  Welcome to America.

A Sickly Girl

Oh brother!  You know how often I get sick?  Almost never.  It's been YEARS since I was sick. Now I am.  I am NOT amused.

Poor B came home last week with The Crud and for some weird reason, I caught it.  When we have some mysteriously odd malfunction we call it Euromycitisis.  I has it.  He was sick for a whole week!  I expect to be all better tomorrow so I can go to Lowe's for my new handles and get those cabinets done!

I thought I'd clay, too.  And/or knot.  MY knots were so awful I had to take them out and claying just wasn't working either.  I guess I'd need 3 hands to clay when I'm sick.  Two for claying and one for my hankie.  :(   TMI?  :D

Ok, then.  I'm off to drag my sorry butt back to my chair until it's bedtime.  Think back to health thoughts for me, ok?  Thanks!  I was going to take a picture but I decided it would scare small children.  

Still Wooohoooing

Things are getting better and better!  I sold those plastic things in the corner of my room and all that stuff fit into just a couple shelves.  Yay!  Charlie made me more shelves so I spent half of yesterday (with Ipo's help) putting in the new shelves.  One was too long but my nice maintenance man cut it to size for me.  I was all set to open that paint (thanks, Connie!) but I have to work for a living so I will have to wait until tomorrow's client leaves before I can start.

What is that sound?  It is S of S in the plastic drop cloth.  Our cats are insane.  Allie is making little noises and running back and forth at top speed then crashing into whatever is there to stop her.  Ipo is trying to suffocate herself in the drop cloth.  Maybe they will wear themselves out so they'll be civilized when my clients arrive.  One can only hope.

I have one client whom awakens some primordial instinct in Ipo.  Whenever my client gets here, Ipo sits up on her back legs and wants to box like a kangaroo.  So, we call her Ipo Roo.  I have no idea why Ipo has decided she needs to box Jean but it happens almost every time Jean is here.  It's really funny.

Ok, I have to go set up my table.  See you later!

Kitties vs Reorganization

Ok, you see that nice tall cupboard?  The top part is my new book case.  So far, so good.  Enter Destructo Kitty.  WHO ever thought reorganizing with cats was a good idea?  I have a drop cloth on the floor.  I have brand new floors, right?  They need to be covered.  Are the kitties aware of this?  They are not.  They think that paint stained plastic is there for them to play in.  

After Ipo figured out that she can't balance on the open door to one new cabinet, she decided that it would be ever so much fun to pounce her sister under the drop cloth.  I am carting books from one location to their new home when both cats decide they should hiss and spit and have a run at my legs.  Picture the mess:  Moe amide all the books on the floor, the wrestling cats and the drop cloth all messed up with captive cats inside screaming to get out. I am yelling that I will duct tape both of the little rats to the walls if they don't knock it off.  So, I release the little rats, pick up all my books and get them all put away.  

Oh boy.  WHAT a concept!  All the books in one place.  All the clay books together.  All the quilling books together.  All the wire books together.  I stand back to admire my work and almost fall flat on my backside because Destructo Kitty has snuck in behind me and is getting ready to try the balancing on 3/4 inch ply act again.  No, no, no.  This is NOT working.  I get out the duct tape and show Ipo who hightails it out the door like she is on fire.   HOW does she know about duct tape?  Must be genetic memory.

So, Ipo is MIA and I am glad.  I check to see where Allie is and find that she is laying on top of a cupboard watching out the window, halo intact.  Ok, I am safe to re-admire my hard work.  

Hmmm, what is this?  Exceedingly heavy books on wood.  This does not bode well for the long run.  So, I says, Self, you have to take all these books off and move the top shelf higher so all the heavy books can sit on the bottom of the cupboard.  Sigh......

Ok, I start taking all the books off the top shelf.  As I have my back turned to lay them down, Ipo decides that she can help.  So, she leaps from the floor into my cupboard which is not the sturdiest at the moment due to the fact that both doors are open and the entire bottom is empty with heavy books on the top.  The structure makes a weird noise so I grab little Spawn of Satan and forcible remove her furry butt.  For some odd reason I start thinking about the wine in my fridge.  ::::scratches head:::::::

And little did I know that moving the shelves was going to be a feat of engineering.  The degree of which, I do not have.  It turns out that with those cool European inside hinges, that moving shelves is practically impossible.  Used to be you could just tilt the shelves, right?  No, no ,no. The hinges are in the way.  

I wind up taking out those little metal thingies that snap into place?  Right.  You know... the kind you have to count the holes so the shelf lays even?  Of course I can't pinch them together. So, here I am trying to keep Ipo out of the cupboard with my foot, attempting to be Aaahhhhrnold and thinking I can pinch steel, counting holes and the ONLY way I can keep the shelf where it belongs is to balance it on my head.  And now, because I can't pinch them, I have to put everything down and go find a pliers.  Sigh...............

Oh yeah... did I mention that my dearly beloved left this morning to spend 4 days on the Big Island attending a board meeting of his company and playing golf?  No?  I didn't mention that he is off playing golf and staying in nice hotels while I am home duct taping cats to the wall? HOW could I have forgotten this?

So, the other thing I am doing simultaneously, is putting Varathane on the shelves.  Good old Charlie says I have to seal the wood.  Ok.  Because Charlie says so, it must be true so B and I hie ourselves to City Mill last night where I am planning on buying this nameless stuff Charlie says everybody carries.  

Naturally, there is not one person in City Mill who has even an inkling of what I am talking about.  So one guy says I can use Varathane.  Ok, that's good.  I have Varathane.  So, we trot home empty handed.  

This morning I go downstairs to our storage locker and find my Varathane.  I am anal.  I KNOW where my Varathane is!  :D

So, I am happily painting it on when I see all this crap in it.  What is THIS?  Looks like dead cockroach parts.  How gross is that?!  So, I remove all the crap.  It was some mystery substance that grew on the top of my Varathane can.  Now I have to repaint it as there are finger prints all over where I removed the mystery crap.  Sigh.............  My wine is now screaming.

I go to the kitchen to get paper towels.  You KNOW what happened right?  I am gone 4.6 seconds and S of S is sitting on the wet Varathane.  Now I have to clean her fur.  She LOVES that.  Jeez.  I hear my wine yelling my name.

So, I finish cleaning the little Spawn when she gives me... THE LOOK.  HEY!  I tells her...so, WHO sat her furry butt in wet Varathane?  Hmmmm?  And WHO walked across it necessitating the cleaning of all 4 paws, too? Hmmmm, *I* did not plant my butt in wet Varathane.  Do NOT give me THE LOOK.  She stomps ff in a huff and can't figure out why I won't give her salmon treats.  I hear my wine uncorking itself.    :D

WOOOOHOOOO!

Yippee!  Today I got all my custom cabinets and craft table put in.  Oh boy, I am happy as the proverbial clam.  I always wondered how happy clams could possible be knowing some evil biped is waiting, lurking above them with a big rake.

Sorry, I got sidetracked there.

Poor Charlie had a small senior moment and made one of the cabinets too big.  WAY too big so I told him I could live without it if he'd make me lots more shelves.  It's a deal and I couldn't be happier.  That means I can get rid of all that plastic in the corner!  Yay!  I'll give the plastic to Charlie and he can put it in his garage or something.  :D

So, here are the raw cabinets.  Kitty proof and wonderful.  I'll keep posting pictures as I get each step done.  I hope you like them!  I LOVE them!  :D

Addendum

I almost forgot.... HI, PEE!

A New Doily

My pal Angie made me a new doily so I can take pictures of my jewelry creations on it.  Isn't she a honey?  So, here is a picture of my new twisted tube bracelet on my new Angie doily.  And tomorrow.... I'M GETTING ALL MY NEW CABINETS!  YAY!  I can't wait!  Pictures will ensue.  A new craft room.  Sigh..... Life is grand.  :D

New Stuff!

Wow.  Between the upcoming Season scares and the new craft room happenings, it has been way too long since I chatted.  So, here's the good news.  Charlie is bringing my cabinets next week!  Yippee!  That means I have to get out the paint again and work away at getting them all set to accept all my craft goodies.  Of which I am ordering a bunch so I don't have any empty spaces. :D

The bad news is that I have decided to do a home fair on November 8th. Sure.  That's like....just a few weeks?  YIKES!  I have all this stuff I wanted to have ready.  Guess what?  I don't.   I think I better get my buns in gear.  WIth all this economic fear, I am hoping we all don't have an awful Season.  These are scary times.  I wish all of us the very best and I hope nobody is hurting!

Meanwhile, please take a look at a couple new goodies I made.  Thanks!

Just A Reminder

Hi!  Once again I have been ignoring you.  Sigh......... I don't mean to, I'm still in the throes of new craft room-ness.  Next week I'll be getting my new cabinets and stuff then I have to do even more painting and a zillion other things.  Then, once everything gets back in my room, I can get back to normal.  Relatively-speaking.

Anyway, I am thinking about having my first home fair on November 8th.  What do you think?  I go through this every single year.  I can NEVER decide what's the best dates for everyone.  I think I'll go ahead anyway and see what happens.

That means I better get my buns into the clay room, hunh?  :D

New Paint

Yay!  Derek The Floor Dude arrived and, as always, did a magnificent job.  I LOVE my new floor.  And I painted.  Heh, heh.  BOY, did I paint.  I can hear several of you fainting from the bright color.  Get out the ammonia salts!  I LOVE this color.  Doesn't even look like the same room, does it?

But, all the empty wall space you see?  The Ever-Wonderful Charlie will be arriving in the next couple weeks to bring me my new custom cabinets he is making for me.  And my custom table. And the book cases.  What a guy.  He even measured one of my clay books so he could make certain that the shelves would be high enough to accommodate it.  My hero.  And, everything will have doors so as to be Kitty Proof.  He is making things all different heights so our kitties can run and jump all along the top of my cabinets.  Do you think those little ingrates will appreciate this?  Harrumph.

Then, I have to start painting all over again!  I have a lighter shade of the wall paint.  I am thinking I will do some faux.  Maybe sponging off?  What do you think? And make clay knobs and handles.  I can't wait until it's done.  Naturally, I will present you with pictures.

And I will have to sell tons of stuff to pay for it all!  If I have any more fun, I will be illegal.  :D

The Before Pictures

I forgot to show you these.  Poor little Allie is lamenting the upset of her nice little routine being destroyed by her evil humans renovating.  :)

A Little Monologue On Redecorating

Well, you have probably thought I have forgotten all about you.  Not so.  I have been in the throes of craft room redecorating.  Oh boy.  I will give you some before pix soon.  I have this room about 10 X 10.  Crammed full of all my crafting essentials.  It has the original carpeting in it.  We will not EVEN go there.  The very best thing I can think to say about this carpeting is "revolting." 

But, before we could rip out the carpet, I had to move every single thing out of my room. Whoda thunk that all that crap could come out of ONE room? Really.  I move it all into the living room, the dining area, the lanai and a bit into the master bedroom.  I mean... our condo is over 1300 square feet!  It's like my room is in an alternative universe and crap just keep remaking itself.  Really.

So, the day came when it was time to start.  Brian takes 3 days off work so we can rip out the floor horror in anticipation of Derek The Floor Dude's arrival.  Poor B starts ripping up carpeting. He raced against the Opala Man (that's the garbage man in Hawaii).  He'd rip up a section and I'd run it out to the dumpster.  This was a seriously icky job for both.  We won the race and all the carpet went into the dumpster.  Then we started on the padding.  Gross.  We even found a 27 year old cigarette butt under the padding.  How skanky is THAT!  Eeuuwwww.

Ok, now we are down to bare concrete.  I am a happy girl.  But, now I have to paint.  Before Derek The Floor Dude comes.  So, I tape and primer.  I am happy.  I remove all the electrical covers because we are also changing out all the outlets to bring them into the 21st century.  B even buys me a dimmer switch.  I call the World Famous David, The Electrical Dude.  

This guy is great.  He's been an electrician for decades (more than 3 but less than 10).  But, everything can be done "Two Ways".  Picture Winston Churchill flashing the V for victory sign and you will have David, The Electrical Dude.  Only Japanese.  So, He shows up after I have primered.  He likes the color. Good.  I'm happy.  This is NOT the color the room is going to be. But, if David ain't happy, ain't nobody happy.  Never piss off your electrician, your plumber or your bartender.  So, he puts all the stuff in and the freaking dimmer switch is defective.

Swell.

Lowe's is about 25 miles away.  So, the Electrical Dude does the outlets and leaves.  He tried more than 2 ways to fix it, though. Today we hie ourselves to Lowe's and exchange it.  The new one's packaging looks like it's been savaged by wolves.  Lowe's is having dimmer switch issues. On Monday I will try to reschedule David, The Electrical Dude to come install the newest installment in dimmer switches.  He, of course, will know of Two Ways to do it.  

Now, time for pictures so I can go on to the painting.  :D

Goodies Galore

Hi All!

I have tons and tons of goodies that need a new home.  Most are fabric craft items like embroidery floss and fabric and paint on fabric paints and tons of bias tape, quilting stuff and just on and on.  Really ( REALLY!) good deals will be offered.  If you are looking for any fabric craft items, email me if you're interested.  I can better describe what I have and take pictures for you.

 There are dozens and dozens and dozens of never used brand new stencils, too.  Did I mention that I have LOTS of stencils to sell?  Again, I am going to give great deals to whomever is interested.  First come, first served.  Let me know if you are interested!  :D

A Snit

Usually I don't like to use my blog for a place to gripe but I'd like to do so now then counter it with a nice thing.  Today I received two orders of goodies, both from companies I have never used before.  

Snit: I ordered 2 very lightweight gouges from a well known PC artist.  I paid $6.00 for shipping for 2 small items that probably didn't weigh an ounce together.  When I got my envelope with them inside, the actual shipping cost was exactly $1.00.  You think I feel ripped off?  The envelope used cost $.69 RETAIL.  

Nice Thing:  I ordered a bunch of copper beads from The Jewelry Supply Company.  Everything came in 3 days!  All wrapped nicely , in a box, with packing material, WAY heavier than those two gouges and my shipping was $4.99.  Think I'm going to order from these folks again?  You betcha!

I suggest if you need beading goodies that you go take a look at JSC.  :D

Mr. Murphy's Law

Doesn't it just figure?  The second you want to have work done, all kinds of things happen.  I am redoing my craft room.  Totally.  Right now I have this bright yellow room with a Costco table and a ton of bins holding about half of my stuff.  Being the anal retentive girl that I am, this drives me crazy.  I am, "A place for everything, and everything in its place" person.  Every time someone posts a picture of their clay table disaster, I twitch.  

So, lucky me, I am having the ever-wonderful Charlie build me 3 walls full of stuff.  A brand new table that is long and narrower than the one I have.  A nice plexiglass top.  And tons of cupboards with doors, lots of shelves with doors, and a book case, with doors.  Can you tell I want to keep the cats out of my stuff?  He is going to make everything different heights so the kitties can run along the top and have a mini-playground.  

On Friday the floor guy will arrive to rip out our revolting carpeting and lay the same laminate that is in the rest of our condo.  Can you even imagine a clay room without clay all stuck in the carpet?  It will be a dream.

And when I drop a bead or something, it will bounce but I will be able to find it!  WHAT a concept! I am still looking for a bead I dropped several weeks ago.  It has vanished into the black hole of bead-dom.

This phenomenon reminds me of when I used to bartend.  If you dropped money on the mat behind the bar... it evaporated, never to be found again.  Where did all those quarters go?  I think they are circling the planet along with 5 billion tons of out dated and/or dead Sputniks.

I guess beads have now joined the eternal revolutions around Planet Earth.  

So, now I have to paint.  Because I painted my room bright yellow, I thought it needed some fun so I painted blue stars on the cupboards that are already hanging.  Naturally, this bit of insanity led to me having to take the doors off and sand away my stars.  :(  This was very painful.  I finished my last bit of sanding today.  

I am going to paint my new color... Yam!  Pumpkin!  Burnt Orange!  So, I am having a dilemma. Should I paint my walls the darker color and the new cabinets the lighter color?  Or, paint the walls the lighter color and the cabinets the darker color?  Convention says walls lighter, cabinets darker.  Naturally, I will do the opposite.  But... I can't decide.  Heeeeelp!  

And... do you think the Humane Society will come after me if I duct Tape Ipo to the wall to keep her away from wet paint?  SOOOOO many traumas!

Getting Ready For The Holiday Season

Oh boy, I love the Holidays!  So, i dragged all these glass ball ornaments out of my closet.  They've been sitting there because I couldn't decide what to do with them.  The I saw Stormy's cool ornament and thought I would use up all the ones I have.

First I made a filigree one with my brand new wonderful extruder that the good folks at the claystore.com gave me.  Works GREAT!  Then I covered this one with a black and white mokume gane cane I made.  The *necklace* is made of beads and crystals.  I made a pink mokume gane one, too.  Then I put a few ghost canes on it and promptly forgot it was in the oven.  Now I have a pink ornament with yellow flowers.  :(  When Christmas rolls around I will skulk out in the dead of night and furtively hang it on our condo tree in the lobby.  :D  Meanwhile, take a look at this one and tell me what you think, please!  I will putting ornaments on Etsy as the Season gets closer. Thanks!