I got a nasty bugger … flying pig flu or some mess! Totally sucked the life out of me like a giant mosquito. It was horrible and a good reminder to take better care of my health. Cutting refined sugar and most processed foods out of my diet seems to be helping greatly. I have been in bed for longer than I can say for sure, and have very little recollection of what happened. My short term memory is still shot. I feel like I’m an egg splatted on the sidewalk. Still, in other ways, I am feeling better than I have in eons. Some underlying illness made me quite dead-feeling for a long time. I am Glad to be back, though not fully recovered, so I have shut down any sites and pages that I feel may have been compromised or hijacked while I was very ill. If I have time, I will recover those, but more than likely I will just start them over from scratch since they were never quite what I wanted anyway. I have learned about some new tools and am wanting to rebuild old sites into something better … what I always imagined they could be. I look forward to being of service in small ways. Let me know if I can be of help. If I said or did anything that hurt you personally, please let me know or let it slide and don’t mention it. I can be rude sometimes, but generally am a very nice person. I guess we can all get really cranky if we’re sick enough that we don’t know what is dream vs reality. That is a scary thought when you think of what kinds of things my evil twin might try! I told her I’d rather she not come back for a visit, though, unless she’s got a fruit basket for me and everyone she slighted and an apology. 
Life is funny. People are funny. We all have annoying quirks and many of us are not aware just how annoying those bad habits and poorly chosen words are. It must be a safety mechanism built in because most of us would either become depressed at the realization, sweat profusely from the embarrassment, or nearly die from laughter. I have had these reactions and many more, proving that it can be quite dangerous to think about one’s own actions too much. Probably better to just focus more on what other people do, ensuring that your own ego survives. Sure, sure you can correct things and just do better if you know what needs to change … but maybe it’s better if the little things stay ingrained in your personality without you ever knowing they’re a problem. Ignorance really is bliss.
Each day, after replaying much of the day in my mind, I realize just how much I goofed up. Sometimes, it doesn’t even take that long. I often know before I even finish the sentence that I just said the wrong thing or at least used the wrong tone to say it. The worst is realizing the sending off what should have been a deleted draft of a letter that never got sent. Some people hit me with a clue-by-four and just flat tell me any time I mess up. I know they figure they are doing me a favor. Most are, but some are just those kinds of people that like to go around correcting everyone else instead of themselves because it makes them feel better. Some are more subtle, using only their facial expressions and tone to show their disgust at my stupidity and social awkwardness. Hopefully they’ll forgive and forget soon enough. It’s too late for me to correct ya know, especially since I don’t have a time machine. I just laugh, awkwardly or maniacally. Wait, I am suddenly getting tired and I have no idea where any of this was going before the thought train derailed. I mostly just right — I mean, “write” and then sometimes remember to “right” — this junk for one of my brothers to read.
Do you ever have those days you really just can’t say or do anything right and you have no idea what happened to the person you were so annoyingly confident you were? You don’t have to answer that because I am just typing this because I’m trying to put myself to sleep. Attempts to bore myself into seeking rest are working so I will keep this shorter than most previous posts. Wow, maybe I am onto a cure for my insomnia. Nah.
Ok, I have to go try to beat nightmare difficulty of the Trololololololo Endurance Test.
I’m back from trying and I failed. Why do I even bother? Oh, because it wastes time. I should have gone to bed when I lost the ability form complete thoughts. Shutting down for unscheduled maintenance in 3, 2 …
Skunk spray smells much worse, especially if it’s permeating your living space. Let me give you a little background before I tell today’s story. We live near what surely must be a skunk migration area, and are now somewhat used to the smell. We still aren’t fans of it, though, and perhaps it’s because we rarely get a break from the scent. In fact, I’m not sure you can travel through the valley on any given day without smelling it once or twice or more. One of the biggest things I miss about living in other places … the smell of green or rain and not much else. I’m used to rural smells, and even kind of like to detect a very light tinge of manure in the air now and then, but it seems there is less to balance things out here. I mean, in other places, you don’t smell the pigs or the cows until you’re very near them. Trees seem to block the dairy air reasonably well. In the South, honeysuckle and jasmine were common scents in the warmer months. Skunk sprays were a rare, unwelcome accident. A skunk on the road was to be avoided, not something to target fixate your car towards.
There are worse scents to be found, even locally, although that’s a matter of opinion. Unfortunately sometimes the wind blows them our direction. Most of the sources employ a number of people. I guess skunks do, too if you consider animal control and products to deter skunks or remove their calling cards. I have even met people that weirdly like the smell of polecat, as they’re known in other locales, because “it reminds them of Cache Valley”. One was a German lady that had never smelled skunk before living here. It was a novel thing for her. She travels the world and lives in other places most of the time, but every year she visits and likes to catch a whiff while she enjoys the gorgeous mountain scenery. Personally I love it here, too, but the high skunk population is part of the “pros” column when it comes to advantages and disadvantages of moving elsewhere. By the way, we might have to leave for work, so I’ve been trying to make my peace with our potential migration … and while this recent incident could have happened almost anywhere in The States, I think the odds are exponentially higher here. The cons look a bit smaller on days like today at least.
So now that I’ve explained all that, here’s what happened …
My dog wanted out at 2 am this morning. I have been thinking we need to cut back on letting her in and out so much since it’s tampering with our limited sanity. Unfortunately I’m not the best at enforcing my own ideas, especially if they seem like rules. Besides, dogs can do a nice job of deterring critters that might otherwise get into places we’d rather not have them. I could do without having raccoons living under the roof again. I decided to be nice and let her out for a sniff one last time before we called it lights out. She’d already been out not long before, and I really should have denied her request. Let’s just say, she got a nose full, and so did we.
When I opened the door to let her back in, the aroma of skunk perfumed the yard as it often does … only this time, my dear puppy was near the bushes, frantically rubbing her face in the grass. My assumptions were confirmed, although luckily it didn’t seem she’d been sprayed at full strength. Though I never saw it, I imagine the skunk was in the bushes when it sprayed and perhaps the branches diffused things a bit, thankfully. She does have a medium to longish white coat, and I’ve never been so thankful that it sheds so easily. I’d even have been tempted to shave her, but the hair on her face is pretty short as it is, so I don’t think it’d help. I remembered once seeing a skunk smell removal product for pets at Wal-Mart a while back, thinking we might one day need it. Wal-mart is open all the time, and there are two in town. Of course after we piled in the car, already tired, in hopes of picking up such a product … neither store had it in stock and nothing else was open. Yeah, that’s just how our luck goes most of the time.
Keep in mind this is an indoor dog, and our town is working on noise ordinances that include barking dogs and related fines, especially for those running loose. I also love my neighbors, and like us, many of them have chickens or other small animals that bored dogs don’t play nice with, so letting her run around unattended isn’t an option. We’re on a main road, and even if she stinks, I don’t want to see my dog run over … though some might consider it a mercy killing in this situation. She has a tie-out cord, but it gets caught on everything, and her barking about it would wake the neighbors (as if the roosters crowing isn’t enough). Our attention-spoiled dog does not like to spend much time away from her people, either. She barks to be let in, louder and louder until her wish is granted. We have no outside kennel, and no money to build one she could not escape from.
This dog also really hates baths, and tried to run away from us when she realized her torture was far from over. Honestly, I’d planned to wash her earlier, and I would have been pretty annoyed if I’d done a good job only to have this happen. See, procrastination has an upside, too! That’s my new excuse, by the way. We ended up bathing her with what we had … baby shampoo. Baby shampoo contains citric acid, which many others recommend for reducing skunk smell. Some even say to wash your dog with soda pop. Wait, people drink something that can possibly remove skunk smell???
Unfortunately, we’ve been heavily avoiding and cutting back on the fizz, so there was none in the house to try. I suspect it wouldn’t have done that much, though. I’ve also heard some combination of peroxide, vinegar, baking soda, lemon juice, and tomato juice can help … but googling revealed that most remedies could only do so much, and at best, you’d probably wind up with the smell of skunk mixed with whatever you used. Weirdly enough, the baby shampoo did help temporarily, but not enough to prevent me from associating it with skunk smell from here on out. Some people claimed a product called TECNU would do the trick, but I’ve never seen it before. Hopefully while J is out running errands today he can find something better than what we already have on hand. Surely the farm & outdoor stores have something.
Honestly, it could be worse, but I still feel like everything in the house, including us, stinks! I think it may last a while. Good thing our carpet is raggedy and old, so I won’t be sad if we have to strip it out. This, after washing the dog, ourselves, and our clothes … and keep in mind, we and the house did not get sprayed directly! Skunk spray is powerful stuff, and it can spread to other things pretty easily. I’m glad the weather is warming up. We can at least air things out and there are plenty of excuses to get some fresh air during the day while those black and white striped kitties are less active. Hopefully Pepe Le Pu will avoid our place, too, but I’m not holding my breath … OK, maybe I am, for obvious reasons!
We finally got the raised beds full enough with dirt to start planting. Hopefully the new beds will allow us to grow a few things in one of the most rocky areas of the yard. If not, we could always move them and have more driveway I guess. I think the late frost the other day was the last one, so we put the poor little tomato and pepper plants in, finally. They’ve been suffering in the house or drying out on the porch because things just keep coming up when I intend to plant them! Now, if we can just manage to keep things watered. Actually, J planted most of them and I just observed. Among them, I planted some old seeds I had for parsley, onions, and two kinds of basil. I did those because J couldn’t take the mosquito bites any longer. They were particularly nasty tonight, but I had things to get done!
Hopefully the plants will do well. Nothing like fresh tomatoes, pesto, so many things! I have two more kinds of basil, plus lots of other herbs, veggies, and flowers I hope to scatter. The garden’s probably not going to be the tidiest. A bit of this here and there, but if it grows well enough that I can pick it before the cold sets in again, I will be happy. I’ll cover it (until it finally just dies) if I can! The onions and a few greens might winter over, though, and some herbs and flowers. Right now, I have poppies and columbines blooming, two of my favorites!
How is your garden growing?
I’ve been busy, really busy … and I can’t describe it all. It mostly involves selling chicken eggs for eating and hatching, helping run a farmers’ market, and trying to learn some new things while expanding my circle of friends. I am going to leave out lots, but yeah … just busy and tired … appreciating the process.
I’m taking a couple sewing classes, and let’s just say, I’m having fun, learning a ton … and drooling over that $5,000 artista embroidery machine in the Bernina store. Oh … some day … it shall be mine! Muahahhaaa!!! OK, going off soon to laugh maniacally and look at sewing sites because I only have one spool of good thread, and one can always use more bobbins, right?
Take a look at Burdastyle. The site stemmed from a trendy sewing magazine. They not only offer free patterns on their new beta site, but allow you to upload your own to share with the world. Some people also upload the alterations they made to the patterns, especially those from the magazine. Pretty fun, huh? They have some kind of difficult or extreme patterns that wouldn’t be for everyone, but also many vintage, simple and classic styles that flatter a wider audience. I will have to upload some of my own soon as I figure out how to sew well enough to contribute something useful!
I’ve always wanted to sew well with a machine, but this recent mania stemmed from trying out for a job a didn’t even get. It almost forced me (OK, the looming fear of losing my house forced me) to try using a wonderful new-to-me sewing machine … a machine I’d let sit in a box for a shamefully long time … but wow did I learn a lot from being bold … and for going after something rather unfamiliar.
Interviews need not be a waste of time, people! Make the hunt an adventure and take the time between jobs to work on yourself a little. You might make some new friends along the way, or get to know some familiar faces even better.
Anyway, that sewing site link for you again is: Burdastyle
I decided I better post again, before my sad little blog died from neglect, like so many house plants across the world.
In my defense, I have been really busy, like everyone else! I have friends, family, Church, service projects and other things going on. I’m helping run the farmers’ market again. I’m already starting to sell eggs from the little ducklings and chicks I raised to adulthood last year. I’m planning and putting in my garden, and hopefully it will do great. I don’t have kids, but I have over 50 furry and feathered critters that think of me as their mother … or at least the lady that puts food out for the birds.
I’m happy to say that part of my blogging neglect is also because I’m working for pay again, at least part of the time. The cool lady I worked for the past 2 summers came back early from California. She called and said, “I’m in Nevada and I hope you want to work again!” … and so now I’m working again, suddenly and without much warning. I’d already planned my week and it was packed with things to do … take 20 or so hours out of it, and yeah, I’ve been far from bored.
I’m so very glad to have any income at all right now, and this job is one of those where you usually come home feeling better than when you left. I can, clean house, do errands, feed animals, garden, sew, just whatever she needs or wants me to do (within my power of course). Whether I worked there or not, I’d encourage others to apply for this or a similar job if you see it advertised, or hear about it from a friend. This lady is disabled, through no fault of her own. She has many challenges to overcome every day, things most of us take for granted. She’s paying you to work for her, and she still thanks you for all you do. Her doctors told her family that if she lived, she would be a vegetable. She’s worked hard to walk and talk again … and be anything but a vegetable. She’s genuine, and has a good attitude about things, even those that upset her. She’s just amazing to work with. I could talk about this all day, but you really have to meet her and spend time with her day in and day out to understand. It’s good to have her back in Utah for a few months.
So yeah, I’ve been busy, but its all the good kind! I’ll try to catch up and talk more about it all … but expect me to be a bit of a blog slacker for most of the summer and fall. Perhaps winter, minus the holidays, will allow more time for typing.
Many of you know that I help run a small farm and garden market in the friendly little town of Paradise, Utah. We just got started last year, and we threw everything together in a very short amount of time, but it all turned out pretty well, despite our worries about time, money, and whether or not anyone would even show up. We have some new ideas for this year, but mostly we expect things to be much the same, only we won’t be running around quite so frantically. Well, at least we hope not!
Here’s a recent article Paul Siddoway from USU Hard News Cafe wrote about Paradise Market. I’ll just give you a small portion, then you can click to read the full article if you’re interested.
Paradise Farmers’ Market Proud of “Small Town Feel” – Hard News Cafe May 4, 2010 By Paul Lewis Siddoway
“Residents of Paradise pride themselves on the small town feel, Christy Holmes said. “I like the atmosphere here. It’s a community thing. Everyone in the community came out to visit.” … The market wasn’t only friendly toward Paradise residents.”
See Full Article Here.
To learn more about Paradise Market, please visit our site.
I got my button maker from Button Biz I think. It was a long time ago. Get a heavy duty model if you can afford one. I haven’t heard many good things about the cheaper ones, just that they’re good if you can’t afford a nicer one. There are also electronic ones that do them faster, but they are too expensive for the average person. Otherwise I’d have one. Those are better for someone starting a business that can profit enough to justify the costs.
I also advise you invest in a punch to cut out the size and shape paper you need, or you can be creative and come up with other ways to get the picture on the button.
I only have the 1-inch size, but I would love to get other sizes/shapes. I got the smallest one to make sure I liked it, then moved, and was without my button maker for months … and then when I got the crimper out here, I didn’t have the circle cutter. You can cut the circles out by hand, but it’s much faster to use a punch of some sort. Thanks, Mom, for sorting through my Alabama junk and sending these out!
I have also used round stickers that are the right size. You can use very small stickers and just leave the metal showing in the background. I like to do this with glitter stickers especially. Making buttons is so fun and easy! Even the few mistakes can usually be made into something cute! The medallions can be used for all kinds of craft projects, not just pinbacks. I will try to make some other examples to show you what I mean and post them here.
Here is an Etsy YouTube video link to someone using one similar to mine:
Etsy Video – How to Make a Pinback Button
Also, if you would like, I can do custom buttons for you. Let me know and I will try to set up a custom order for you on Etsy. That way, it gets reserved just for you!
OK, so on the sunny days here, it can be really really bright outside. Also, there are plenty of bright, cheerful spring flowers starting to bloom in Utah, finally. In Alabama, sometimes it seemed the greens were so bright and glowing, that they hurt my eyes with their awesome color! Are you making any arts, crafts, or photos with bright colors? I’d love to see them if so! These are some buttons I made with a button maker. The paper was wrapping from a live plant I got a long time ago.
There’s this girl that I’ve been watching on YouTube. She’s helping me learn to scrap by posting her videos, as I have no clue about all the tools and stuff the seasoned scrappers use. She reminds me so much of myself at the same age, only I think she’s less nerdy, and has way more cool craft stuff than I did. Oh, and believe me, I had some cool art stuff (Thanks, Mom). Some of this stuff wasn’t even invented back then, though!
You can watch her 50+ videos on Youtube by searching for Malu G Design. I’m amazed how clean she keeps her workspace! I am a packrat first and foremost, a neat freak rarely or never!
Helpful video about cleaning acrylic stamping blocks: Malu G Design.
