blog neglect and news

Oh my poor, neglected blog! But I've been busy!!!

And I got rid of my kid!!!

Well, unfortunately, Holiday on Ice did not work out for my daughter - it ended up that they could not use her this season... So when she got that news, she sprang right into Plan B. Her other interest had been in teaching English in foreign countries. So she applied to take a CELTA course (creme de la creme of teaching certificates) in Prague. They wanted to take her, but the last two spots were already promised to others. Then, the Thursday before the course started, they contacted her and told her she was in if she wanted. So everything got thrown in the suitcase and she flew out the next day! It was totally crazy!

The next month was an extremely intensive course of study and teaching. She and her classmates were all exhausted, but she still thrived on it. She's a little strange that way - give her too much to do and she's happy as a clam - especially if it's challenging!

Now, she has been in Moscow for a week, and started teaching this week. Once again she is tired, but happy. She has been wanting to return to Moscow ever since she came home two years ago - so Moscow is where she wanted to teach. We were all very excited for her when she got the job.

And the best part is, I got rid of my kid! Oh, and I get her room now, hehe. I'll be spending time over the next month or so shifting my workroom to her room, which is larger and has more light. And then my room will become the guest bedroom which she'll use when she comes to visit.

So Cheers to getting my kid out of my house, and to her starting a new phase of her life - love ya, kid!

water, water everywhere

It decided to rain earlier. Let me rephrase that... it decided to flood earlier. We looked out our side windows, and saw puddles in our lawn. We decided that we'd better check out our downstairs (actually, I wasn't quite ready to, but hubby decided not to wait). Well, that turned out to be a good decision - water was just starting to get into the house.

So we decided to go outside to see if we could stop it (every time we think we have it licked, we're proven wrong, after a brief reprieve...). Cleaned leaves out from the drain, and hubby started bailing out the stairwell. Which only worked for a little bit. Meanwhile, the rain is coming down in torrents, with thunder and lightning attached. We kept trying to figure out how the water was getting into the stairwell, but nothing we did was successfully blocking it this time.

After a bit - I realized that I'd better check into what was happening in the basement. And I kicked myself when I got there for not having come inside sooner. The water had gotten past all the newspaper I had put down to absorb it... So I pulled out our trusty wet-vac, and spent the next hour? vacuuming up water. Luckily the rain finally slowed down, and even has stopped for a while - so hubby got to stop bailing, and I got to stop wet-vaccing.

So now my back and my arm hurt! And I doubt that hubby is in all that much better shape...

I really hate it when it rains too hard for the ground to absorb the water..............

Not what we thought we'd be doing today! I really think I need to find something fun to do now!!!

Edited to add: well, no wonder - just checked the Weather Channel, and there's Flash Flood warnings for the area... :-(

sorry for not posting...

so - I've been learning a lot about probate, estates, and trusts...

'nuf said?

~please excuse my exploding head~

byhand.me

I just spent the evening getting set up on this interesting website for handmade artisans. I knew a bit about it from the forums on ArtFire, and I've seen a few of the Artisan Spotlights that you can create there. Well, I found out it's quite a bit more than that.

I decided to join because I want to play around with making some Spotlights - I've done a few treasuries on Etsy, and it's fun showcasing other peoples' work. But there is so much to do and see on byhand that I didn't get around to setting up a Spotlight yet. First, I had to enter all my information. I love that you can so easily list everywhere you have a presence on the web.

I also discovered new people and their work - always fun to do! I may not be able to afford any of the things I see right now - but I definitely love looking!!

Something to check out - you can find out where on the web you can buy all kinds of wonderful things :-).

edited to add: Wow! byhand is definitely up there in the Google rankings - I had one Google Alert last night on my byhand listing, and another this morning. That's 2 Google Alerts in less than 16 hours. I do think that this may indeed help with my Google ranking...

50+ free promotional sites for crafters

I came across a great list of free promotional sites from a fellow ArtFire member's blog. She started her list with 50 sites, and people are adding to it in the comments - so be sure to check out the comments too! And her cute t-shirts as well!

Anise Mouette: 50 Free Promotional Sites for Crafters

Thank you Anise for sharing your list!

Taxes are DONE!!!

So maybe now I can get back to something a bit more fun and creative - like making new stuff? And actually finishing the redo on my website? (Boy, but it can take a while with shopping cart links and all...)

Enjoying today's nice weather, not enjoying listening to the cat asking over and over and over and over again for me to take her out - so she can eat grass, and throw up... Actually, that doesn't happen every time.

I guess I have a new after-doing-the-taxes resolution for the year - no new supplies until I sell more stuff! (Yeah, right - isn't that what we all swear we'll do?)

Off to take the cat outside - there is a nice side effect to that though - she gets really lovey - so I guess it's worth it ;-)

a good day

Today was a good day -

It started out well, it ran well, and it's ended well (please tell me I'm not jinxing myself by putting that in writing!).

Never had the feeling, "It's what time already?"
Woke up to an order (yay - a tiny bit of money! - I'll take it, I'll take it!)
Actually wasn't tired when I woke up, which is a lovely change of pace... (Me? I slept well? Such a rare occurrence...).
Cooked dinner, cleaned up the kitchen after (don't laugh! Those are accomplishments!!!).

Best of all, videotaped my daughter's audition tape for Holiday on Ice - she skated beautifully, I taped well, we had a good day at the same time - it's a nice feeling. I'm very proud of her and how she's pursuing the next phase of her life, which not coincidentally means I'll have my house back to myself (and hubby) at some foreseeable point in the future!

redos (redoes, redo’s)(I’ve found support for all three spellings!)

Can I start the year over again? Please? I'm not sure I even remember January, and February had so many things wrong in it (major health issue for a family member, food poisoning [did that one to myself – can't blame it on anyone else's kitchen, lol], did a good job on my back [couldn't drive for over a week, couldn't do much but lay in bed for a few days…], and I'm sure there's a few things I'm forgetting ;-)… And I'm also sure you're getting the picture by now….

Okay, so there's been a little blip at the beginning of March, but since it's related to February – I'm ignoring it. So here's my pronouncement: March is the new January. Hmm – good thing I didn't make any resolutions back then, hnhh?

My New Year Resolutions:

Finish the redesign of my website, turning it into a fully functioning ecommerce site. (I'm getting closer, making all the product pages takes time!)

Finish the redesign of the Pennies in Action website, so when we get our official 501(c)(3) status, I'll launch the tweaked version of that.

Keep up with things (okay, that's probably pushing it…)

Stop coming up with new designs, and actually execute the one's I've already dreamed up!

Stop sitting around on my butt? (okay, that one's probably not going to happen either…)

And hmmmm – maybe blog a little more regularly?

So – here's to starting the year over again. Anybody else game?