Holiday Cheer

I used to work retail when I was in high school. Right after Thanksgiving the Christmas music would start and it would not end till after the new year. I loved Christmas music till I listed to the same loop of songs for two Christmas's. I also hated working during the holiday season and grew to hate Christmas all together. The magic was lost on my 17 year old self.

I did not get it back until later in life. It still is not all back, as I do not enjoy wrapping presents as I once did, nor do I enjoy decorating for Christmas as I once did. I also dread shopping at Christmas time. I seriously dread going to the post office or stores in general.

This is why some relatives fail to get gifts in a timely manner.

This year as seen me making holiday theme purses. I have been up to my eye balls in the holidays since right after Thanksgiving. I should have been before, but I failed. I just could not get myself into the spirit. I actually started making the holiday theme purses before Thanksgiving, but I did not start soon enough. I guess at least next year I can get going before Halloween. I'll be in my own house next year, so I can get in the spirit with music. This year, my mom wasn't too keen on holiday music till after Thanksgiving.

I think I might have screwed up the iTunes installation. I might have to...make new play lists. Oh no. It might be good for me, in reality. I've had the same play lists since I got my first laptop, also known as Jess, when I was 20. I'm six years older now (Oh no!) and don't really need the play lists that are mostly centered around guys leaving me, being depressed or being over zealously happy. The lists are still on Jess, so I might just transfer over the useful ones.

Oh, holidays. I think I am tired of you all ready and you haven't even started yet.

major bust-a-mundo

Well, the whole sale was a bust. Only one person used the code, and that one person had all ready ordered a purse, thus I "technically" had the sale all ready. Such is life.

I spent the whole day running around from fabric store to fabric store in look for what I had in my head for the next custom order. (I heart custom orders, they give me a challenge!) I finally found what I was looking for at Hobby Lobby and happily told the cutting lady there. She guessed right away what I was making. I lost track of the people who told me they like my festive purse (which in all honesty is pretty crappy, as the interfacing I used wasn't thick enough for the size of the bag I made, but I was going to carry it, so it was okay. I think the print distracts people.) Anyways, I've been working on more purses, but I think the holiday ones aren't going to sell. I should have gotten them up earlier. At least they'll be around next year early!

A few days ago, my mom and I drove out to a near by suburb to go to a spice store (I can't remember the name, it begins with a P). We were shopping for sprices for my husband, as Pilot Boy likes spicy things. Also, the store had just come out with a taco spice, and we could use some taco spice. Who knows how our spices will be after spending all this time in a storage unit in the Dirt Hole. However, the highlight of the trip was the pet botquie I got my mom to go to. Called Two Bostons, it was SO COOL. I loved the place. The lady came right up to help us after she was done doing what she was doing when we came in. She was totally helpful with finding a toy for Basil Dog that would keep Basil Dog happy. I ended up getting Basil Dog a huge gingerbread man chew toy that is made for super chewers. O.M.G. Basil Dog LOVES IT TO DEATH. She even took it to bed with her last night. Later, she kicked out the Gingerbread man, but she loves it. And for a soft chew toy, its still in one piece, which for Basil Dog is real good. She usually unstuffs soft toys in a matter of hours. She did get a hole in the head, but she mostly just attempts to run with it, and fails because the toy is as big as she is. But she will play, and play, and play with it. And she loves when you hold it up above her head and she's gotta jump up to get it. God, does she love that! I haven't enjoyed the holidays for the past few years till this year. All sorts of doors open up when you've got a dog and you make purses. I also realize I love buying fabric today, but I sort of knew that all ready. Part of the reason I began making purses.

It sort of attempted to snow the past two days here and the cold weather is really here. Basil was rather confused by the snow, but for the most part she ignored it. She LOVES the cold. My parents took her for a walk today while I was shopping and she was SO HAPPY. My mo was worried about her little paws, but she didn't seem to notice the cold sidewalks or anything. I met her after she was done with her walk (she was pulling so hard, my mom let go of the leash to advoid another dislocated thumb, yeah, Basil dislocated my mother's thumb....) She ran up to me and was SO HAPPY. But, Basil B Dog has had a very good day in general.

We had roast chicken. Basil B Dog loves chicken. She is a chicken loving dog.

Black Friday Bust

Well, I got my sale notice up, posted several new purses and has hardly any hits. I know there are a few more hours left in the day (not to mention the weekend), but this whole Black Friday thing has been a major bust for me. And not just sale wise.

I've been tired and freezing all day long. I fell asleep on the couch for awhile, woke up groggier than before. My back aches (still) and I seem to have come to the end of the internet. I just don't know what to do with myself.

I don't do shopping on Black Friday. I have never really been shopping on Black Friday. I think maybe once or twice I've ventured out. Once I went to Carsons on Black Friday. I remember freaking out and leaving. Last year I went to Wally Martinos. There was like no one there. I cannot remember why we went there, but we did. I remember we had a large conversation about whether to go. And one year, the first year I knew my husband, I spent Thanksgiving in Indiana and was totally bored the day after. We went to the outlet mall and I bought a Coach Wallet for 80 bucks. I also did my Christmas shopping for the most part. Also, this time, there was hardly any one around. But I've never gotten up early to go shopping on Black Friday. I went to work early once. There was a huge line. For Best Buy. Where I did not work. We were busy that day at work, but not as busy as Best Buy. That was also my first day working the service desk. Someone threw a check at me. I can't remember why.

Well, my dog zonked out on the carpet in the family room. I'm thinking she's got the right idea.

Sparkling Diamonds

Sparkling is a thing diamonds do. Period. End. Stop.

In other news, I'm still trying to figure out what sort of Black Friday sale I should have. I've got less than a week to figure it out. Oh no. I made a total of three and half purses today. A half purse, because I didn't finish the fourth one. Though I guess it could be three, as the first one I worked on was a purse I had began a couple days ago. Anyways, I have four purses to take photos of tomorrow, all holiday theme purses. I am on over load getting geared up for the holidays. I feel like I am lagging behind, that I should have started this like two months ago.

This past week has also seen me selling purses! Wow, I know! Selling purses! I have made THREE trips to the post office! I was so excited. I actually ran out of business cards! I had to print more! OMG you guys! I'm also almost out of the tissue paper I bought in the Dirt Hole those many moons ago.

I ordered wipers. They were the wrong hook up, so I had to reorder those. So, I am still without wipers. Oh well. Such is life.

Rain, wipers and pressed rawhide

The past week has been rather cloudy and rainy here. On Monday, I ventured out to mail off my first international shipment (yay!), then to buy new wipers for the "new" car. My husband didn't think it needed new wipers and I knew they sort of were bad, but I thought they were okay. Well, while I was on vacation, my mom and my brother drove the car and complained heavily about the wipers, so I went to get new ones. Just to get them all to shut up and leave me alone.

Normal car stores don't sell wipers for s40s. I have to go to the dealer or some speciality store to get them.

Uh, no thank you.

So I came home (after ramming my knee into the auto shop door on my way out), and cleaned the wipers. I thought they were okay. Then I drove. In the rain.

They were fine at first. Then, as it rained more and I drove more, they began to suck to the point I could not even pretend I could see. I could not pretend. I had to pray I didn't crash. It was bad.

It was epic bad.

So, I came home and said I was going to order new ones.

Instead I went to the pet store. This only makes sense if you know what happened after I came home and annoucned I was going to buy new wipers. First, my mom was thrilled. Then went to get Basil B Dog a greenie. She was running low. Earlier that day, she had run out of "waste" bags. So I needed to go buy those. So I made some comment about needed those and greenies.

This excited my mom as she needed a Turkey and the local PetsMart is located near the food store that sold the kind of turkey she wanted. Also, I learned, my mother likes the pet store.

So instead of buying wipers I bought: a new collar, greenies, pressed rawhide bones, kitty litter and dog food. At the food stores we got: a turkey, pudding, organic lemonade, cheese, orange juice with calcium, lemons, pasta sauce, pasta, ice cream, and chipolte powder. I have been dying for chipolte powder since I got here and discovered the house failed to have any. I just kept forgetting to get it. But I've got it now.

Basil B Dog enjoys her pressed rawhide bones.

Posting purse

Just posted a new purse, the Teagan Limited Edition Tote. Whoo hoo! Check it out at Ireland Scott Designs!

This bag is made with heavy duty interfacing, so it is a very strong bag. The straps are also lined with this interfacing, so they are super padded! The straps are also a bit longer than usual, so they fit over bulky winter coats.

Black Friday Sales

Would you believe it had not occurred to me that the actual holiday season was upon us? I know this is hard to believe due to the fact that even before Halloween was over, the Christmas decor began to come out. And never mind the fact I've been doing my Christmas shopping since September.

But it had not occurred to me that the actual season was upon us and that I should have a huge sale. I joined the Etsy Black Friday fan page on Facebook yesterday and have been inundated with sales announcements. I should put one out there, I know. I am still only on my 3rd sale (which happened on the day my life took a direction north). The summer sale I began at the end of July or at the start of August has done nothing. I haven't sold a single sale bag. Due to money, I can't really afford the 15 bucks to put an add on Heartomatic through Craft Cult. I hate the forums, mostly because I never have anything to say. I have tried many times to become "active" in the forums, but that usually leads to me obsessively checking the forum and nothing becoming of it other than it takes up all of my time. I hardly ever get an opportunity to hand out business cards, as no one ever asks me where I got my purse any more since I began carrying my own designs. Seriously, no one asks. Before, I always got asked where my purse was from, even once what my purse's name was (when I carried a Coach bag, the Coach bag).

I am at a loss.

So, I guess I will have a huge Black Friday sale and maybe I'll just bite the bullet. I've been tossing ideas around on what to do. Free shipping, 50% off second purchase, 30% off all bags? I'm not sure yet.

exciting places

Last year I celebrated my first anniversary in the Dirt Hole. I spent a majority of the day at Wally Martinos. In keeping with my odd tradition, I am once again located somewhat in the middle of nowhere and once again I went to a Walmart today. However, this time it was not to buy my husband a present (or another present, which was the case). This time it was to buy things the two room flat he's living in currently lacked.

At first, upon my arrival here in southern Oklahoma where he is doing the final leg of his training before we ship off to Alaska, I was appalled at the little flat they gave him to live in. However, after spending two days here I have come to realize it is not that bad. The bed is bad, but the rooms themselves would seem spacial to someone say in New York City. The bathroom is good sized and the closet is large. The bed still sucks and the kitchen sink is too small for the facet its got, but other than that its fine.

I am currently planning my winter line. I created a new purse design before I left to come here and am currently carrying it. With the exception that the strap is way to long, the bag is great. It is a large hobo type of bag. Pretty cool. I bought some plaid print corduroy and wound up using it for the prototype, as I usually carry the prototypes and I like plaid. The bag actually turned out better than I expected, well except I over judged the strap length. I wound up making a smaller version of the bag with the remaining material and was really pleased with the result. I have been making the drop on the bags I've been working on recently a lot longer to be able to wear over winter coats and such, but the strap on this new hobo is just a little long. Well, unless you want to throw it over your body like a messenger bag, which it works well for, especially in airports. I am thinking of calling the bag the Dublin Hobo and hopefully, once I arrive back home, I'll get cracking on making more! (If my mother isn't quilting up a storm again, lol.)

Now, while I am here, Halloween is going to happen. My puppy, Basil Dog, is at home with my parents. She, due to her barking at doorbells and simply freaking out at the people on the other side of the door, is going to have to spend the evening in the basement, as we live on a very popular street for trick o treaters. I did, though, buy Basil Dog a costume, even though she will not wear it as my mother won't put it on her. She'll wear it for Thanksgiving.

trying to get ahead

I've been sewing up a storm these past few days (when I haven't been filling in a large hole with rocks). I went out and bought winter material. I cannot wait to start on the new designs! We'll see how that goes. The winter material is a mix of winter patterns and what I deem as winter like colors (reds, blues and greens).

I ordered more makeup from Sephora. I did this for an array of reasons. One, I needed a new foundation. Two, I didn't feel like leaving the house.

I needed a new foundation. So I ordered Stila Sheer Color Tinted Moisturizer. I searched for days until I decided on it. I have really pale skin (especially since I left the Dirt Hole and am no longer assaulted by the sun daily) so finding a color is hard for me. Why? Because none are "pale" enough. I had my makeup done at the Dior counter once and they lady simply couldn't find a shade pale enough for me and I looked orange when I left (I also had about a gallon of mascara on, but I digress). So, I am always sort of iffy when buying new foundation. However, this stuff is AWESOME. Seriously. It totally rocks. It is sheer, but has enough coverage to cover up my flaws. Perfecto!

I also ordered Two Face's Natural Eye kit. It is also awesome. I've worn it almost every day. I usually opt for the Day eye, but have tested out the Classic. I've worn only one shade of the Fashion line up, but it is glitter crazy for night time, and I'm just not into glitter. But the Day eye is all matte, totally cool. I'm all ready looking into getting more of the Two Face palettes because they are just such a great deal.

The other things that came with my order were samples. I chose three, one was a face wash, one was a purfume sample and the other was another foundation that I had considered. The face wash, Fresh Soy Face Clenser To Go, rocked. I totally want to abanonded the face care line I've used the past three years for this one, but I can't bring myself to pay 15 bucks for some soap. The other sample, the perfume sample, totally won me over. It was Michael Kors Very Hollywood. Man, does it smell good. And I think it lasts all day (Unless you go into Victoria Secret and spend an hour wandering the store while they are pumping in their new sent Amber Velvet or what not).

I also went to the Sephora store in JCPenny's to buy blush. I didn't like the colors I had, so I wanted something new. I got new. I walked in, got HELPED right away and told the lady what I wanted. She did not try to overtly sell me anything I did not want and I was out of there in ten minutes smiling with my small bag of Sephora brand blush (which was where she found me, she didnt' try to sell me an expensive one, just the Sephora brand) and another perfume sample, this one for Gucci Flora. I wore it the day after I got it. Basil Dog sniffed me all day. I guess she liked it?

Well, that is all the makeup reviews I have for the moment.

Books in Ten Sentances or Less

1. The Other Boyln Girl, by Phillipa Gregory - This book was awesome. I enjoyed the characters and how Mary evolved throughout the book. I liked how the book hinted at scandal and for the first time a book I liked ended when I felt it should end. I always had a mixed perception of who Ann Boyln was and I felt this book gave her a portrayal that was believable.

2. The Boyln Inheritance, by Phillipa Gregory - This book did not hold my attention as The Other Boyln Girl, but it was interesting nonetheless. I did find the take on the two queens, Anne of Cleves and Katherine Howard interesting. However, the character that was truly interesting was Jane Boyln, as what she did for the "family" and her own hide were what really drove the book. It angering the rate at which the Howard and Boyln families were willing to sacrifice its women in their quest to be related to a king.

3. The Virgin Queen, by Phillipa Gregory - I went on a Gregory kick. This book was good for it investigated and fictionalized the events between Lady Dudley and Lord Dudley. I liked how the twists in the book happened and that poor Amy was the only one never plotting and all she wanted was a simple life, yet even when she was resigned to have one, she could not for the situation she found herself in did not allow it because she was a women. Also, it is always nice to see the loser guy screwed over in the end by a woman.

4. Kane and Able by Jeffery Archer - AWESOME BOOK! It is a huge book, but totally awesome. The book follows two very boys and their journeys to become life enemies. One boy leads a very tragic life, but comes out stronger for it, while the other lives a privileged life, but it is still stained with tragedy. The book follows them as their paths cross and spite leads one to charge the other with the death of his friend, leading to a life long grudge fest that only ends when one dies, then the other finds out how he really helped him out and become the rich man he became. It is a really great book, especially if you like books told from two points of view and over long periods of time.

5. Twenties Girl by Sophia Kinsella - While I adore Kinsella for all she is and writes, this book did not hold my interest like her other books. I am not sure if I simply wasn't in the right mind set or wasn't in for the predictable nature of chick lit, but something wasn't right. The premise of the story, ghoast haunts down on her luck girl, seemed great when I read the jacket cover, but I just did not fall in love with the book as I have done with all Kinsella's other book. I will read it again, as maybe I am just all read out a the moment?

6. Baby Proof by Emily Griffin - Pretty good book. Was an interesting concept, as the fact the lead female character doesnt' want a child leads to a divorce from her husband. The book deals with self discovery through the fact everyone around her wants kids, but she knows she doesn't want one in the least. Even as she explores the reasons she doesn't' want a child of her own, she comes to realize that her love for her ex-husband trumps the fact she is afraid to have a child of her own. Good book and good topic to explore in a chick lit book I thought.

MIA for a little too long

I've been so bad lately keeping this updated, right after I made a promise to keep it updates. Oops.

So, what have I been up to?

Not making purses. I've stared at fabric a lot lately, itching to buy, but in all honesty I haven't made a single purse for awhile now, mostly due to my mother's quilting. There is just no room for me in the work room...tragic. Hopefully, I'll be able to get in there after she finishes the quilt for my brother. So, instead of making purses, I've decided to create a new line for winter. While I love the bags I make, it is getting somewhat tiresome (which might be why I haven't made any lately) so I need a new challenge. I've been brain storming lately trying to come up with new designs. I'm going to find a notebook and sketch out a few ideas. I guess I am looking for a challenge. I need to make some new patterns and some new fabric. If only I was made of money, lol.

In other news, my husband visited me for a few days last week and we went to Indiana to visit his family. The dog got all messed up by this and the fact her boy returned home. Now she's a complete idiot again. Today she peed in my parents bedroom right at my mom's feet. After we'd taken her outside like 8 times since she had gotten up and she never went. She'd do some sniffing then go to the door to return inside. She spent most of yesterday sitting in the front window, waiting for her boy to return to her. She is rather pathetic. She's been not eating when she will go potty and eating when she wont' go potty. Oi.

In other news, my husband and I are at odd on how to reach Alaska. To say the least, it'll be an interesting journey.

I've been doing a lot of reading as of late. I've turned into this reading machine. I read a lot of books and I will be doing some book reviews, as almost all of them were wildly good and I enjoyed them all. I just finished "Twenties Girl" by Sophie Kinsella. Yesterday I finished "Kan & Able." So good. OMG. I think tomorrow I will take a break from reading and write those out.

Well, that is pretty much it for now. Fall is in full swing here and my nose has set itself to rebel against me during the season I so love.

Reading till my eyes pop

I've been doing a lot of reading as of late. I am not sure why this is, as I've had over a year to read to read to my heart's content, but recently I have had this huge urge to just read, read, read and read some more. I'm staying up till 11 or midnight simply reading. I do not think I have done that since the Harry Potter books came out.

I have read a few library books, one of which was really good. "As the Crow Flies" by Jeffery Archer. My mom got it for me and said she's read all of his books, except his newest one. It is a huge book and I finished it in two days. It would have been one, but I couldn't stay awake any longer. I also read another Mary Queen of Scots book, which I felt went a little better than the other one I'd read, which seemed to make her life heavily romantic, which in all honesty I don't think it was. "Fatel Majesty" by Reay Tannahill was the better of the two. I cannot remember the other one, as it is packed away in some storage unit in the Dirt Hole. The other book was a bit strange, I read it in a day. "The Gossip of the Starlings" I think was the name. It was strange, sort of like the book "Prep."

Due to the fact my dad ordered yet another light for the backyard so we can see Basil Dog the Black Wonder, he also ordered the new Dan Brown book. I've been dying to read "Angels & Demons" since the movie came out, only I had no idea where my copy of the book was. Turns out my Dad ran off with it and it is still in the house. My mom gave it to me saying, "Its in micro print. I can't read it." I had noticed this, as it is a paperback. I also noticed, as I ran off with the hard cover copy of "The Di Vinci Code" they have another one on the shelf in my room. (Which I learned my brother had cleared off for me, only to have my dad invade with all his own books, so I have no room to put things on the shelves.) I am looking forward to reading the new Dan Brown book. More than likely will finish it in a day.

Due to all this reading, I haven't made a purse. I did manage to get all the redo pictures up yesterday and post one. I still need to edit the pictures of the bigger bag and make the one i cut out last week. I am just sort of lackadaisical about sewing thing together at the moment. I have all ready concluded I'm going to basically miss fall, due to this feeling and other things coming up. Oh well. Such is life, right?

gloomy last day of summer

Today is the last day of summer. And here, it is gloomy. Sort of rainy, sort of humid, sort of warm, sort of uncomfortable.

And I am wearing jeans and a long sleeve shirt, mostly because there is still a part of me that thinks 82 degrees is cold. Rationally, I know this not to be true, but the Texan in me thinks it is cold.

I retook a bunch of my purse pictures and edited them down to size yesterday when I had access to a working computer with Photoshop. My laptop, known to the world as Jess, is currently in a fued with Photoshop, so they aren't getting along. This is unfortnuate for a wide array of reasons, one being that my husband's laptop, also known as Merv, is dying a slow death. I all ready went through this, I believe but Merv only will deem to work if his battery is removed. The past two days I've been looking for laptops, talking to people and have decided for now to let go of my dream of Mac ownership (well I own one, but Milo Mac is old. He's like nine or something) and buy another Dell. That is if my husband decides to buy one, as of last night he deemed Merv worthy enough to go through phase three of training with him, when he needs a computer to read his pubs (don't ask, no idea what they are exactly in nature.)

Anyways, I've got a teacher sort of bag I will be posting this week. Its a large tote bag, basically. I took its pictures yesterday in the overcast skies in the green house. It turned out okay. I guess we will see...

I have been feeling pretty lazy as of recent. Also regretting not bringing my sewing machine with me, as I think I might do more sewing if I had my own machine and did not have to wait for my mom's machine to be free. Oh, such is life.

it all just got away from tony romo

So today, whilst watching football, I saw a commercial about GM. I had seen the same commercial a few days before, but I had forgotten about it. It is the commercial staring the new CEO of GM.

The first time I saw the commercial, I had to roll it back to make sure I had heard correctly.

I had heard correctly.

Ed Whitcare is the new CEO of GM.

Ed is back, back again, Ed is back tell some friends.

Now, why do I know who Ed is? I know who Ed is because he terrorized my family for awhile. And by terrorize I mean he drove AT&T stock into the ground, expanded the company too fast to the point it was much too large for its own good, and took away all employee benefits or limited them to the point where they were almost pointless. After Ed entered our lives, when SBC bought out Ameritech...it was pretty much all down hill from there. My senior year of college, I randomly decided I could do Ed's job better so I proclaimed I was going to become the CEO of SBC. Or AT&T.

I also concluded Ed as plotting against me, so everything that went wrong in my life, or in the world in general, was Ed's fault. Ed was plotting against the world.

And then he left. He left and left Randy in charge and Randy moved the company to Dallas from San Antonio, where Ed had moved it from St. Louis after Ed was told he couldn't play golf somewhere because he wasn't old school St. Louis. So he went where he was old school, San Antonio. We'll see how long he lasts in Detroit, before GM moves to San Antonio, though the government might not let him do that...

My brother just informed me I'm a week behind in my news. So what? I finally remembered to tell the internet world this random information.

No one cares, so why should you?

What I managed to do yesterday in relation to my current profession:

I cut out a purse and ironed the pieces.

This was all I did due to the fact after I finished I could barely stand to stand. I know that sewing the thing together would have required me to sit down, but I was also sweating a lot, so I figured I should go take a nap and maybe it'd all go away.

For the most part it did go away, other than my sinus headache, which I've had on and off today, so all I've done today is re-take pictures. Which I should go load onto my brother's laptop and cut them down to size and redo all the purses I've recently put up for sale.

Will I do this? More than likely not.

My mom and I ordered some stuff form this scrapbooking place online. I need a new blade for the paper cutter, as the blade on the on I found in the drawer of the room I live in needs a sharper blade. Somehow we managed to order blade scorers, not cutters. Not good. The site doesn't have any blades, just the odd score thing. The rotary cutter my mom ordered wont' cut cloth and barely cuts paper. It totally butchard the picture I tried to cut with it. The dull blade on the paper cutter is better. My dad gave me his old photo paper cutter he had for his dark room, which hasn't been used since 1992, thus its covered in rust and dust and has to be cleaned. It is also huge and I usually scrapbook in my bed. I know, not the best place, but I'm not one of those crazy scrapbookers. I just stick thing on the page in a haphazard way. Then I stick some stickers on sometimes. When I was on my game, I stuck random objects I had saved in the book, but so far that has only worked when I went to Scotland.

I've been doing more research on the whole going to Alaska in the winter thing and am thinking the ferry looks like a really good idea. I'm not sure its such a steller idea for Basil, but then again, she spends roughly maybe 8 hours a day in her crate when not barking, then about 12 at night in there. The 8 hours during the day is of her own free will. We've been closing the door so she won't hang out in there, but she's been super smart and nosing the door open. We try to keep her out of there at night because once she goes in there after she eats, she won't come out to go potty, which is an issue.

I ordered jeans from Victoria Secret. Finally. I got 34s because that was all they had, but I really need 32s to wear flats (or heels....it seems). They are a little long, but they fit. They are a size smaller than all the shorts I ordered because the shorts are all falling down. Least to say, my butt looks nice in the new jeans, especially when I've got my super heels on. I've also been surfing through White House Black Market looking at dresses. I'm not sure who runs their site, as there's always a bunch of dresses that they don't have any or they show up in the size searches when there are none of the dresses. I am confused. Last weekend I went with my dad to the mall and I hit up WHBM to see if they had the dress I wanted in my size. They only had a size 0. My dad told me to just try it on.

And I did.

I got it zipped up all the way till I hit my boobs. The waist fit. The lower hips fit. My boobs were just too big. Seriously, my boobs were too big! I knew they were huge. Well, huger than they used to be. I needed about another two inches of material around the bust area. I was so shocked. I stood there staring at myself wondering what was going on. The other dress I ordered back in teh dirt hole was a six. The boobs were a little big, so I thought I'd need a four. I never ordered it because I didn't like the dress all that well, but this dress I loved. It was gone from online when I went to look later that day. Then it appeared again last night. Only they only had a size 8. Then it was on there this morning only they did not have any sizes. Now it is gone.

Thus I have become obsessive in my search of the site for dresses. They don't seem to have any in a size two, which is what I'd need I think.

I think I might be wasting away. I'm not sure why. I don't have a gym to go to any more and I seem to eat more here simply out of boredom. I'm not sure what is going on.

Well, that is all.

Life getting in order

So, last night I began to read a guide book I got for my husband on Alaska and the highway we must use to get there.

And I freaked out a bit more. I did find the section of traveling with pets helpful, but most of the information is geared to the summer traveler, not those of us insane enough to travel in the winter (which if I had my way we'd wait till MAY to go, but guess what, the military has other ideas. Who tells someone to report to Alaska in February?)

I guess I need to do further research on the topic.

In purse news:

Been working on the fall line. I've got this 5 year old laptop named Jess that I use to run my shop. Jess, recently, decided he hates Photoshop. Thus, it is hard to edit pictures of the purses. This has hindered me greatly in my quest to update the fall line. (What has also hindered me is that I failed to realize the scope of my mother's quilting quest.) The other day I finally asked my dad if it was okay if I used his computer (Dellbert, yes we are strange in my family) to crop and resize my images. I had tried my mom's Mac, but her iPhoto doesn't allow me to resize the image. I can crop it to my heart's content and do everything else, but resizing isn't an option. This makes me sad. But, anyways, so I went up to the office the other day to use the computer. It was off, so I turned it on and then realized the screen wasn't on. There is no clear POWER button. The first one I hit did nothing and I was unwilling to hit more buttons for fear of screwing the screen up and incurring the wrath of Dad. I sat for a moment then realized my brother was at work.

So I picked up my camera and went into my old room, now my brother's Man Cave and room while I live here for the time being. I sat down at his computer and plugged in the camera to the UBS port on his screen.

Nothing happened.

I opened Photoshop (he's got the whole Abode suite. I hate him).

Nothing from the camera.

So I used one of the USB ports on the actual computer and WHALA! It worked.

And I breezed through what I needed to do in half the time it takes me to do the same work on Jess. Man, when you've got a new computer...Photoshop works wonders.

I then took the images back to Jess and spent almost a half hour adding a new purse to my shop. Part of this was due to the fact I forgot to mesure the purses, so I had to go do that, the other is that Jess is old (he's like super old in computer years) and the internet here is sort of whacky at times. You'd think living in a major metro area you'd have good internet, but ours has a mind of its own. The internet in the Dirt Hole got slow around the time work let out and everyone went home to surf the internet, but here it'll do it randomly in the middle of the day.

Anyways, the fall line is up and running. I'm going to expand into teacher bags! Basically large tote bags. I've got all these teacher friends, so I might as well use them. lol. My aunt also suggested I do dialysis bags. She has to go to dialysis regularally and always seems to need a bag for her stuff. Which is a good idea. New market! She said she'd have my uncle email the specs for the right size. I am uber excited. I really want to sell some purses so I can buy more fall cloth. The Hobby Lobby here has the best prints in the world. I see purses everywhere!

Well, I'm going to go be productive today.

I just want to wake up...

Something has been bothering me since I arrived in Chicago. For one, my mother has turned into a news junky, so now I am up on everything going on in our nation and all I can say...is everyone really stupid? Seriously? I understand no one is going to see eye to eye with me, but Obama is a communist? He's fascist? He's going to turn us into a socialist nation? Do any of the people who spout off this crap know what these things are?

Well, no. They do not. Take it from the girl who without meaning to studied communism for four years. I also studied fascism. I'm not too up to speed with what the hell socialism is, but I'm pretty sure we're not going "that" direction.

I think it is somewhat amusing when the right wing movements call Obama fascist. Fascism is a far right political movement. I learned this my first semester of college. Communism is extreme left. What most people call communism isn't actually communism in the least, but some for of dictatorship, which is usually more conservative in a sense than liberal. Political things are always murky, but let's get something straight: Obama isn't going for fascism. Forgetting the fact I concluded by the end of the History of Fascism course I took my freshman year I concluded there was no such thing as Fascism (I also concluded there was no such thing as Federalism too, but that's another story), I do know enough to know we're not heading towards Fascism, nor are we heading towards true communism.

What does "true communism" mean? It is the theory Marx came up with, which inspired those crazy Russians (as well as others at the time.) While communism in theory is great, it'll never work. Seriously, it will never work because, as Frank Zappa said, 'people like to own stuff.' That is why communism won't work: stuff. The thing the Communist were trying to do away with, Capitalism, was the thing that made the whole thing impossable to work: money and stuff. People in these countries still wanted it, the people in charge still wanted stuff and money, thus they got stuck in the dictatorship step for the most part. Because these regimes called themselves communist, we called them such, but they are not communist. There has never been an actual communist regime. China came close (spent three years studying China and they got the closet, they failed, but they got the closet to a true Communist system.) Thus, there are three different sort of communist regimes, all in varying degrees of, well, suckiness. Stalinist is the worst, highly repressive regime. This is the stereotypical sort of regime one things of, where the government goes after people and basically people have no rights or civil liberties. Moaism is, well I am not sure, as I was never really clear what Moaism other than the fact Moa's regime was Moaist. I guess that is the regime that clearly follows the leader and they are more "communist." Titoism is the "nicest" regime. It is where the people have more "freedom" but almost always leads to the regime turning into Stalinist. The Prague Spring is an exam of Titoism gone to pot.

None of these are actually communist. Trust me. National health care won't make us socialist or communist in the least in the sense most people seem to believe. Nor will it make us fascist, as under fascism one's ever move is controlled by the government and rights are repressed. No one's rights will be repressed under what is going on today. It irks me to no end that people are tossing around these political terms without knowing what they actually mean. That is all.

Fascism is an extreme right movement (Obama isn't right in the least) while Communism is the extreme left. No one is Communist because we all like stuff.

Okay, that is really all.

halfway across the world

i have left the dirt hole. I repeat, I have left the dirt hole.

For good.

There was a lot of drama in getting out of the dirt hole, but I am currently living in an area fully of things, people, cars, leaves, green and cold air. Basically, I am in heaven. Summer in the area my family is from hasn't been so summer like, more fall like. Today had a real fall feeling to it, other than the lack of color other than green.

My dog, Miss Basil Dog herself, seems to enjoy it here. She's happy to be surrounded by so many playmates (ie, my family) as well as the cool air. There are lots more things to bark at here than in the dirt hole and a lot more places to run around the house. All in all, she's one happy puppy.

I am still in the process of getting my shop back up and running. It is taking longer than expected for a few reasons. One only being the state paper work to charge sales tax, the other being my Hell Week of Fleeing from The Dirt Hole. I am utterly exhausted and sleeping on an expensive futon mattress my brother managed to dent with his butt.

Yeah, you read that right.

Last night saw me moving to the other side without the dent for the first time and ramming my knee into the wall one too many times, reminding why I slept in the hole for so long.

So, today I moved the bed. No one in my family seemed to believe I had managed to move it on my own. They all think it is heavy. I must be stronger than I know of, as I had little trouble moving it once I started using my legs. Maybe all that time I spent in the gym was worth it?

I am only part way to where I need to be in February, but in the end...hopefully it will all be worth it. Hopefully. Alaska better be pretty.

How I came to Heart Sephora

A couple weeks ago, I was sitting on the floor in the bedroom looking at my makeup. I realized it was all rather old and I ought to go buy new stuff. This did not excite me in the least, due to the fact I live in the Dirt Hole and the only place to get makeup is Wally Martinos. But I needed mascara desperately and I had an major life event coming up, so I put Basil Dog in her crate and went to Martinos.

Two hours later I emerged. Why did I spent four hours in Walmart?

I decided I wanted red lipstick. This was after I spent twenty minutes debating what sort of mascara to get (I am a Max Factor convert now. I used to only wear Almay. Nope, no more.) I ended up getting a soft black color and a brown for everyday use. On my way out, I decided for my outfit for a major event I wanted to wear red lipstick. I had the red shoes, red lipstick would complete the look. So, there went an hour. Seriously, do you know how many red shades are out there?! I had no idea what would look good on me, so I just sort of guessed. I all ready knew that a bright shade would make me look super pale, so I thought something a little lighter or something.

Least to say when I chose was wrong.

After I spent an hour forging for red lipstick, it suddenly occured to me that I'd need a darker shade for an evening event I had to go to, as red wouldn't jive with the dress. I needed a plum shade.

There went another hour.

And that shade looks a little better, but I still don't like it too well. I felt it was slightly tragic that this lipstick buying had gone so horridly wrong, as I sort of needed it for the coming weekend. I ended up wearing the nude color I usually wear, but I figured I'd find something for the other events in Civilization.

Before going to Civlization, I did some research on Red Lipstick. Casey over at Casey's Elegant Musings did a whole tutorial on red lipsticks. Seeing she's got a pale complextion like me, I figured I'd start with her favorites. I sent to Saphora.com to start my search for MAC.

Sephora doesn't sell MAC. However, Sephora ships for free if your order is over 50. That part was easy, as I needed new makeup brushes for the new eye makeup I had ordered from Etsy. (Orglamix, and while I love the staying power of the eyeshadow and blush, I'm still not sure how to get the color to be as intense as her pictures. But this is due to the fact I am an actual novice when it comes to makeup. I have come to realize that when I wear makeup, no one notices. Which can be a good thing, I guess...I told R my story about trying to find mascara, to which she said, "Do you wear mascara?" and I was like, "I have it on now." She stared at me intently, but I am not sure she noticed it or not.) So, after suring around Sephora's website, I came to the conclusion I needed to actually go to the store.

Fast foward two weeks, and I go into Sephora. I've only been in one maybe twice in my life, both times I was imediately asked if I needed help and given a basket if I had anything in my hands.

I stood in the store for at least ten minutes staring at lipsticks. No one spoke to me. I finally began picking up lipsticks and staring at them closer to my face. The testing tubes of lipstick always freak me out (as do most testing makeup things just open to the public), so I just stared. I finally picked two shades out and then some lip liner. I wandered to find the travel kits for brushes and found them. I stood there for a long while and no one spoke to me. I am not sure why this happens to me. When I desperatly want help, no one offers. When I am perfectly happy not having any help, everyone wants to help. (Similar things happened earlier in the day at Oakley, as I stood there for a long while before a salesperson came to my aid.)

I think I stared at the brushes for about fifteen minutes before I finally picked up a kit and was like, "Okay, I think this is what I want." The one I wanted, of course, had no price listed anywhere for it. I figured it was between maybe 32 and 36, so I went to check out. I just stood there, not really paying attention, then it was my turn and a lady checked me out, offered to sign me up for some club, I declined, then I paid. Later, I found out the brushes wer 44 bucks, and I was like, "Well, oh well. Let's hope they are better than Target brushes."

They are. I am not sure, having only used them once, but they are pretty good. I know they are better than the brush I bought at Kohls a month a go. And they are a lot better at putting on my new eye shadow than the old Target brushes. Though, I wish I had gotten the 36 dollar kit, as it came with more eye brushes. It lacked the angled blush brush, but oh well.

However, why I heart Sephora is not for their brushes. Nope. I heart their lipstick. I got two different shades. They were both the same type of lipstick, the Sephora Glamour Lipstick, which is semi-sheer. I got two different shades, the Romantic Rose and the Red Flirt. The Romantic Rose is the perfect sort of nude shade I need on a daily basis, as it is not so nude as it looks like I didn't put any color on, but its not in your face color. And Red Flirt is PERFECT red for me. It is sheer enough that it is not so in your face red that I feel like a clown. And they last pretty long (even after eating), they smell good (I hate the way L'Oreal lipstick smells, gross) and they feel GREAT on. And while 12 bucks a pop is a little more than I would usually spend, I did spend 30 on Dior Addict lip glass two winters and I never wear it because the "new" coral shade they have is all wrong for me. (This was another example when I wanted help and the lady at the Dior counter was like okay, what do you want? Okay, take it and pay get out of my face. I mean, I was standing there telling her that i used to wear this one shade and I had to toss it because of my eye infection and I was in the market for new makeup. She sort of thrust the new coral at me and lip liner and that was all she was willing to do.)

Anyways, after trying out the red shade, I decided I heart Sephora today. The lip liner I got, without aid, is the exact shade of my lips, go figure. It is a little darker, but it looks great with the Romantic Rose lipstick. I didn't try it with the Red, but I can do that later this week.

Moral of the story: If you are in the market for some lipstick, try Sephora. If you are in the market for good brushes, try Sephora. If you need good lipliner, try Sephora. However, if you're in the market for a long lasting, all natural, mineral eyeshadow, try Orglamix. If you want good customer service at any store, don't actually want any when you walk in.

Basil Dog and the Dog Park

Past two posts dog themed....hmmm.

Anyways, Basil Dog went to a dog park this past weekend. I have always figured she'd adore dog parks, as when she used to walk before it began to boil in the dirt hole, she constantly wanted to play and when her two friends would come over, she always wanted to play 24/7. So I thought: Dog Park=Happy Basil Dog.

Nope. I was wrong. Ever so wrong.

My husband and I went shopping in Civilization and left Basil Dog with her all time favorite person (other than us), A. A said he was going to take Basil Dog and Macie to the dog park. Macie usually doesn't like the dog park, but she likes being outside I guess, or something along those lines. So, we left Basil Dog with cranky Macie and A and left.

After we were done shopping (sunglasses, makeup and the biggest JoAnn Fabrics I have EVER been in), my husband called A. At one point he said, "That is when you just gotta throw her in. Pick her up and toss her."

COnfused, I asked, "Is A trying to get Basil to go swimming?"

Our old method to get Basil in the water was to toss her in. Evil, I know, but she liked it, I swear. Her ears would perk up like they do when she's happy.

"No. Basil won't play with the other dogs," my husband informed me.

We set off for the dog park. We arrived to find A sitting at a picnic table in the shade (it was a boiling 100 plus day) and Macie patrolling the area around the picnic table to prevent any other dogs from greeting her person. As we got closer, I came to realize that Basil Dog was sitting under the table at A's feet. She came out when we got near, but as soon as another dog got near, she darted right back under the table. Macie joined her. Upon getting tot he table, I came to realize my former clean dog, was now a dusty mess because she was sitting in an actual dirt hole.

"Did she dig that hole?" my husband asked. He had at first claimed that the reason Basil Dog wasn't playing was the fact she was still wearing her seat belt harness, so he took it off, but she just went right back to cowering in her hole.

"No," A said. "It was sort of there." He looked under the table and went on, "I am pretty sure she's made it deeper since she got in there."

To which, she used her formerally white paws and dug herself a little deeper. Both my husband and I tried to get her to come out and play, but she refused to do this for us. Macie and Basil were the only dog not playing at the dog park and a few times a couple dogs tried to come over and say "Hi" but Macie and Basil wanted nothing to do with these dogs, which were all larger breeds, but that never stopped Basil before....

"Has she had any water?" I asked, notcing the siz eof her tounge.

"I've tried to get the two of them over to the water bowl, but neither will move. Macie has no interest in leaving the table, thus Basil won't move."

My husband used the water bottle I grabbed and poured water on the dogs to lap up. Thus, Basil went from dusty to muddy. After about fifteen minutes, I was soaked through with sweat and wanted to get going. I lured Basil out of the hole and tried to get her into her seat belt harness. The reward I got for this was a bunch of dirt in my face. I later noticed she had managed to get it all over my white shorts, shirt and even down my shirt (I had mud in my bra). A got up and started across the park to the leashes, and oddly, Basil followed him closely. Macie suddenly decided to check out the other dogs, but Basil was having none of it.

I walked Basil back to the parking lot and as we were walking, SHE TRIED TO PLAY WITH A DOG ON THE SIDEWALK. I told her tuff cookies, you are done.

She slept all the way home. Seriously, she was asleep as soon as we loaded her into our car (after we had made a pit stop at A's abode so I could de-dirt/mud myself and allow her to roll around his all ready dusty carpet). She was out cold until we got near the dirt hole and didn't even bark when we drove passed people. She just stared blankly, completely nackered.

Upon reflection of her behavior, I think the heat was an issue. Basil Dog is a Diva when it comes to heat. Remember, she thought it'd be a good idea to just randomly end her walk in the middle of the street because she was too hot and I had to carry her home. She still does this, now usually if I try to walk her she gives up after a block due to heat, thus why I just save us both the trouble and we don't walk outside, we play hard inside now. (which my poor bare legs tell that story) I think maybe when we get to a cooler climate, we will try the dog park again. Maybe, just maybe, next time she won't dig herself into a dirty hole.

my dog eats pillows

Basil Dog seems to like to chew on pillows.

And not just any pillows, mind you, they must be ones she sleeps on in her crate. Outside of the crate, she has no desire to chew on pillows and un-stuff them.

She loves to un-stuff dog toys, but any pillow that goes on the floor or on the couch, she won't touch until it goes to live in her crate. Anything in her crate is fair game. She's chewed up rugs, door mats, and finally pillows.

I used to make her pillows. I used to think it was easier to make them and stuff them myself. She'd chew the corner off and then pull out the stuffing, I'd restuff it, sew it and wash it. After she would decimate the pillow right after I fixed it, she went a few nights with no pillow. She cried, whined and was basically a pain. So I bought her a 9 dollar crate pad at Walmart. She sure as hell did not like that too much, but she never tried to unstuff it.

I bought anti-chew spray and doused it in that. She did not want to go in her crate. She loves her crate usually, she is almost always in there sleeping if she's not staring out the window. Almost like clock work at nine pm, she is in there asleep. After we take her out at night, all we have to say is, "Go to bed, Basil" and she's in there, curled up asleep.

But not with that crate pad. She hated that thing. So, because I am a sucker for my dog, I went to Ross and spent an hour staring at pillows. Most were flimsy and I knew she'd chew right through. Finally, I settled for a 7 dollar circual pillow that was too small for Basil Dog, but was made out of the toughest material Ross was offering.

I can't remember how many months ago I bought that pillow, but the fact it was cicular seemed to stop the Master of Pillow Destruction. I always tried to remember to put her bone or something in with her at night to prevent the temptation to unstuff, but I guess she doesn't care. The bone was in there last night with her and she chose to decimate the pillow.

I did not notice when I first let her out, but at some point in the morning, I noticed green stuffing everywhere. I found her pillow with a huge hole in it and the plastic tag that was the name of the brand was in pieces all over the crate. I yelled at her, took the pillow out and brandished it in her face. Her ears fell, and she went into the crate. (When you yell BAD DOG at her she goes to her crate for timeout. I used to have to drag her there, but recently I simply yell BAD DOG and she goes. and looks pathedic while she sit there waiting for you to close the door.) She spent an hour or so in there (mostly because I forgot she was in till I went to get dressed and she wasn't there). She came out and was still acting like a repentant puppy, till my husband came home and she began jumping on us and I yelled BAD DOG again and she went in there again, looking pathedic. (We are trying to get her to NOT jump on us, we usually end up looking like mauled animals now that it is summer. We have been trying to do this since we got her 8 months ago, but she is still having issues.)

I think she knows she's pissed me off, though, as she's been looking pathedic all day, even when my husband is around. She stares at me with her pethdic puppy dog look, but it doesn't work on me. She is a bad girl, she should not chew on her pillow. I guess she finally forgot what happened the last time she chewed up her pillow.

remembering ragnar

This past Friday I learned I will be leaving the Dirt Hole for....the state you can see Russia from! This excites me to no end for various reasons, though I did not know how excited I was until I screamed and threw up my arms when the annoucement was made.

In public.

I screamed and pumped my arms in the air in public.

This is not normal behavior for me in the least.

I was confused after I realized I had acted this way.

So, due to all the hub bub on the forums as of late (i lurk usually), I decided to research what I'll need once I arrive.

Alaska doesn't have sales tax.

Guess how much MORE I love Alaska?

Of course, I might be spending 4 months in Chicago, which I know charges sales tax. I also know IL is a pain in the butt for most "government" type things. I guess I'll figure that out when I get to that road block.

But Alaska! Seriously!

My husband claims this is the last time he will get his first choice more than likely for anything, as he's managed to do it so far in his career.

In other news:

The guest room is set up! R said it looked really good for what I had to work with, so I love it.

R also left me. :( She told me since I am going to Alaska she'd come see me. I hope to get some $$$ together to go see her, as I have never been to our first state.

Basil Dog is a brat. She was over excited about the prospect of three dogs in the house, thus cried, whined and attempted to throw up when she should have been sleeping. She kept me up all night. After I was worn out from the excitment of the day. She's been sort of confused these past two days, especially since the guest room still reeks of the two other dogs. lol. She gets up on the bed and just sniffs it. I imagine if the bed was made of glass, it'd be covered in ever inch with nose smudges.

I accidently cleaned the mirrors in the bathroom with shower cleaner. I think I will do this from now on, as they do not get cloudy and more and there was no streaks. Amazing.

supposed I kept on singing love songs?

Last week I went to the pool. I had not really "been to the pool" since I was in day camp. I had not set foot in a pool since I was 16 up till a few days before I "went to the pool." My friend R and I went to the pool at 11 am, right when I opened and sat by the pool, getting in for awhile once we got too sweaty sitting next to the pool.

Two things happened the day at the pool.

1. I got tanned wearing SPF 70 or higher.
2. I got stung by a bee.

Yeah. I was just sitting by the pool minding my own business and a bee stung me on the leg. I am pretty sure I must have smelled like a flower or something due to the amount of sunblock I was wearing and he/she/it was just checking my legs out, but then I went and moved and it hurt. Not a lot, mind you. I was mostly just like, "Hey, that is uncomfortable." I looked down and sat this bee flying away from me and then looked at my leg. There was a black stinger in my leg. I pulled my leg up to investigate.

"What?" R asked.
"I think I got stung by a bee," I causually said, pulling the stinger out. "Yup, that's a stinger."
She recoiled from me.

We determined I wasn't allergic because I was just sitting there feeling fine, other than a minor hurt in my leg. The rest of the morning and into the early afternoon I was fine. We left the pool at about one, went to Sonic to get something to drink and then headed home. I proceeded to sit in front of my computer and surf around the internet (trying to get "active" in the Etsy forums and failing at life). At around four, I decided I needed to take pictures of my new creations to post to my shop, and I went to get up and I COULD NOT WALK.

I am serious. I looked at my leg and I couldn't see anything was wrong with it. It looked sort of angry where the bee stung me, but for hte life of me I could not see a thing wrong with my leg other than it failed to work. I hobbled to the dinning room and took some rather crappy pictures and managed to edit one before my husband showed up.

"So how was the pool?" he asked walking to the study.
"I got stung by a bee and can't walk," I replied.
"Really? That much fun?"

I hobbled around for awhile until he told me to lay down on the couch. I did this, but couldn't get comfortable. I took two Bendryl before bed and was out like a light. I was fine the next morning. My husband claimed my leg looked swollen, so I didn't go to the gym. I couldn't tell there was anything up with the leg in the least, but he swore to me it was purple and bruised looking. The next day he claimed it looked fine, so I went running in the gym.

Two or three days after the event, R and her husband A came over for dinner and we spent about ten minutes staring at my leg, which they claimed was still sort of green. Evidently R hates bees and is fearful of them and could not believe I did not have a massive panic attack once I got stung and I just sort of sat there.

Its been over week since I got stung by a bee. Today, it ITCHES like CRAZY and is RED and ANGRY looking. It is patchy and rather ugly looking. And I can see its is sort of swollen finally. It is crazy. I didn't think to take pictures of it, so there are none to show.

I had only been stung once up till last week. I got stung right by my eye while standing in my drive way as a kid. I do remember it sort of hurting and freaking out and running to my mom, who said there was nothing there and stop freaking out. I do not remember it swelling or anything in the least.

Well, Basil Dog is FREAKING out about something, so I must go stop her.

the date grows closer and closer

The time is getting near. I've been in the dirt hole for a year now and if the end is in site will be told this Friday! I'm totally crossing my fingers and toes to get out of here. There is a small possibility that we'll be stuck in the dirt for another four years, which is something I dread on many levels.

I am still trucking along with my shop on Etsy. I've only had two sales and one no-sale. I'm trying to do things to get my sales to pick up, but due to the fact I have very little drive, I have yet to do anything major. I told D about the shop, as well as his wife P. D informed me the other day he was telling everyone he knew. Tragically, the only people he sees on a daily basis are wanna-be fighter pilots. All male. They are not in need of purses, tragically.

I have an add running on On Scrappy Chic. She contacted me about wanting to run an ad for my shop. It was like the best day of my life when she asked about that. (Okay, I think getting married was the best day, but it was totally one of the better days in the dirt hole.)

As my time in the dirt hole grows shorter (crosses fingers, knocks on wood, does many odd things to assure she will leave), I need to get ready for guests to invade my house. We have a spare bedroom, which is mostly used to collect junk. My husband used it as his huge walk in closet for awhile, then it just started gathering random items after we got Basil. I walked in there this past weekend and was like, "Wow, its filled with pillows and things Basil's attempted to eat." Stuffing was every which where, there was a pilot helmet sitting on the pathetic table bought from Target that never did stay together, and two broken printer were on the floor. In another corner lives the four floursent bulbs we removed from the kitchen after they put in the new lights in our house and we were being blinded in the kitchen. It is still brigher than it used to be in there with only two bulbs. There are also piles of my rejected, too small clothing. I spent about an hour Sunday shoving things neatly into one of the closets (for unknown reasosn the smallest room in the house has two huge closets...)I still have not shoved enough in for the arrival of our new bed on Friday. After two years, we finally bought a guest bed (as well as new printer, but that is not that important except it cost 69 dollars and I acutally pointed with my elbows at it.)

And to end, I will share with you a picture of Basil with a bra on her head. It cracks me up to no end. She is a total modle when I get the camera out. She always poses for me.

poor, neglected blog

I neglect this blog. I am honest, and I neglect it. Poor blog. (not that anyone really reads it, so who notices its neglected but me....)

I have been working on making handbags. Few turned out very nicely. One bag I posted got a whole lotta hits in the first day I posted it. It was shocking. No bag I've posted has done that well. I've still only sold two bags, though, which in itself is tragic. I wish to sell more.

Been seeing lots of movies as of late, though I cannot remember them in the least.

I have a whole lotta nothing to say, so I'll just close here.

what the world is coming to

So, I just found out that Billy Mays is dead.

Via facebook.

Again.

Why is that lately every time someone dies, the first place I find out about it is not the news, the TV or any form of the media, but facebook?

In other news, I saw "Transformers" the other night. I thought it was good, my husband thought it was bad.

You must know, my husband things "Army of Darkeness" is a good movie. Seriously, he liked bad movies, but when he views something as bad it isn't a bad movie. Does that make sense.

I thought "Transformers" was good for a wide array of reasons. I thought it was funny in the right places, corny in the right places and had some nice explosions.

I've seen a lot of movies as of late. I saw earlier last week "The Proposal" which I also thought was really good. It was funny and touching, and only the ending was sappy. Plus, the guy whose name escapes me at the moment, had really expressive faces which just made the movie. Oh, and the fact the lead female character had a Berkin bag rocked. It was orange. She also had killer shoes. Which I totally noticed and spent the rest of the movie watching for the tell tail red soles.

Jumping the bandwagon

I first heard Micheal Jackson was dead from someone's facebook status update. Thinking it had to be a joke, I went to Google News, which only told me he was suffering from a heart attack.

At some point yesterday, he was dead. Declared dead, confirmed dead. He was dead.

Last night, BET was playing Micheal Jackson videos. For lack of better things to watch, my husband and I watched Micheal dance one last time, for as you well know, now that he's really dead, the music video is truly dead.

The music video has been dead for awhile. It died at some point at the dawn of the new century, when MTV and VH1 ceased to actually play videos and moved on to playing the dumbest, stupidest reality TV shows. Micheal Jackson made the music video into an art form. Have you seen "Thriller?" MTV was made into what it was supposed to be by that video. Jackson's videos all had plots in them. There was always a story in there, usually having to do with what the song was babbling about. His dancing was always perfect and went along with the music. I have seen many Micheal Jackson videos (I know I have not seen them all, as this morning when VH1 and MTV finally played some, I did see a few I had never seen before). However, I have seen many. I've seen them mostly on "Pop Up Video" which is one of my all time favorite things in the word to watch, as I could watch music videos all day long and having random tid bits of information is just all the better.

Last night, as I watched the "mini-movie" that "You Rock My World" and I began thinking, "There is a lot of Micheal Jackson in Justin Timberlake." I did not realize at the time, that video was from 2001, so it might have been the other way around, but as I watched this mini-movie music video, I realized the music video was dead.

When you think about it, what is the last music video you've been excited to see? When was the last time you stopped what you were doing in order to watch a music video? When was the last time you actually saw ALL of a music video? When was the last time a music video debuted on prime time television?

I think I might have been in first grade or second grade, when the Dangerous Album came out and "Black or White" premiered on prime time TV...I think on TGIF Friday maybe? I do not exactly remember, but I do remember everyone at school being excited to see it on TV that night, and one just had to watch. I do not remember much about watching it, I do remember it was the most popular song at the talent show that year. Of course, I had no idea what the song was about or why it was such a big deal until I saw the video when I was in junior high or high school on "Pop Up Video."

I also remember being shocked when I found out Micheal Jackson was black, as throughout my childhood as far as I knew he was a funny looking white guy. I think it was my mom who pointed out that the black child who was the lead singer of The Jackson 5 was the same Micheal Jackson who had the little nose and white face. I also really figured this out more when I watched the movie/long tv show/drama thing about the Jacksons.

As I entered junior high and the boy bands all started coming out, I remember thinking Micheal Jackson wasn't cool. I did like his song, "You Are Not Alone," which to this day is the only Micheal Jackson song I own, as it was nominated for a Grammy, thus on the Grammy CD I own. That was the music video with Lisa Maire Prestly and I couldn't figure out how they had made it when Jackson was showing so much skin.

There will always be an elephant in the room when we think of Micheal Jackson, because his crazy, mixed up personal life over shadowed his talent as a performer. However, that talent is perserved in the countless music videos he made. His crazy personality does show through in most of the videos, so he is not totally lost.

What is totally lost is the music video. The last music video I watched in full was Britney's "Have U Seen Amy." It casused a buzz because of its "dirty" chorus, which I guess I'm stupid becasue I don't get it. I also didn't really get the video. Most of todays videos I don't get. Most of them are tasteless and stupid. None of them are truely sexy or artful. While I have a hard time taking Michael Jackson as sexy, his videos are artful and thought provoking. There might be sexy, artful videos out there, but I'll never seen them because MTV, VH1 and the various other "music" channels don't play music videos, as they do not think people want to watch music videos. I used to not be able to live without MTV and VH1 for the music videos. Now, if I did not have these channels, I wouldn't notice, as I do not watch them any more. I think a lot of people feel as I do.

I believe Micheal Jackson changed music, he used music videos to do this. I don't think he would have become what he did, professionally, without music videos. He gave us the form of the music video that was copied for years. He created stories in his videos, they were not just him standing around singing, there was always a theme.

Some poeple out there think he's getting too much attention and he shouldn't get it due to the elephant in the room. Farah Fawcett died on the same day as Micheal. However, we all knew she was going to die, as she's been fighting cancer for awhile now and it was rumored she was getting worse. Micheal came out of left field and caught us all off guard. If you look at the two of them, I'm going to have to say that Jackson had more of an impact than Fawcett. She gave us a hair cut, one season of Charlie's Angels and a poster. Jackson gave us countless music videos, years of high jinks, and music that shaped a whole generation (and then some) lives. Everyone's got a memory linked to a Micheal Jackson song. I can't say I've got much linked to Fawcett other than the fact my mother told me she couldn't get her hair to do that Farah Fawcett cut. I'm not saying Fawcett should not be mourned, I'm just saying the world's reaction to Micheal Jackson's death is expected. At least, Fawcett will be at rest and her passing will be more peaceful with the world's glare focused on Jackson, who always lived for flash.

so you say its your birthday?

Today is my dad's birthday.

It also happens to be Paul McCartney's birthday as well. I bet it is other people's birthdays as well, but when I was 12 years old it only mattered that Paul McCartney shared a birthday with my dad.

I "discovered" the Beatles when I was about 12 (I think...I might have been 11?) when the Beatles Anthology came out. I watched it on TV with my parents, who had both grown up in a world dominated by the Beatles's music and presence. I think I managed to fall in love with them when we were watching a clip from the opening of "Help!" and my mother said something about George Harrison having nice hands and long fingers.

I was hooked on his hands. I was hooked on the Beatles from that moment on. It became my closet obsession for the rest of 6th grade. I did not want anyone to know that I liked the Beatles. I did not want anyone to know I listened to the oldies station rather than the cool station. I always had Beatles songs stuck in my head that I wrote in code all over my notebooks. People would always try to figure out what the things said, but no one ever caught on to what I was really doing. A few times I would slip up and say something about the Beatles, which would also cause the person I was talking to to get rather excited because they also liked the Beatles.

I failed to realize that everyone liked the Beatles and there was nothing to be ashamed of. Well, okay, no one liked them as I did, as no one could spout off the random information I could and I doubt no one carried a biography from 1964 around with them as I did. (To the point the book fell apart and the cover no long stayed in once piece, but those were such minor details when I was 12.)

Every Sunday my dad taped Breakfast with the Beatles with Kitty Lolley (or whatever her name was.) I went to church, he taped it and I listened to it constantly. When I was in 6th grade my parents would threaten to take away my Beatles tapes. It got to the point I bought a lock for the box I kept them in, so they couldn't take them away. I got my first CD player when I was in 6th grade and I would annoy the whole world singing along to the CDs at the top of my voice. I have always found it hard to listen to music and not sing along. I was always singing it seemed when I was a kids.

The manic obession with the Beatles really only lasted a year. By 7th grade I was branching back out into the real world of music. I knew what was going on again, though I still did not listen to the "cool" radio station. I just tended to watch VH1 and MTV a lot. The Beatles still ruled my mind, and I still recieved Beatle themed things from my uncle (I still do actually, so I am still collected Beatle music).

But today is Paul McCartney's brithday. It is also my dad's birthday. I almost can't wait till he turns 64 so I can send him the recording of "when I'm 64" by Paul McCartney. Paul McCartney's all ready turned 64, but my dad's got a long while before he hits that land mark.

sitting in the dark

I think it is sort of funny that most of the hits for this website come from the entry about Stargate Atlantis and how it ate my soul. That one entry gets almost every hit I get, and yet no one has ever commented on it, thus I can only assume that everyone who actually visits my website thinks it sucks.

Which is more than likely does as it more than likey only makes sense to me. Such is life.

I have been plotting, and this is my plot: Ireland Scott Designs.

I have become a handbag designer! Oh yay is me!

Anyways, come check me out and stuff. Always love selling things!

The hunt for the perfect lbd

Little Black Dresses.

It is said everyone should have one. It is said once you have one, you will always have a go to dress for all occasions.

I own a little black dress. I bought it over a year ago before I was condemned to this dirt hole. I have worn it once and felt really stupid in it. Since that time, I have never had an occasion to wear it again.

I could wear to an up coming event, but I have come to realize that the Little Black Dress I have (bought from Ann Taylor Loft Sale section) is actually a really crappy black dress that should not be worn when ones date is wearing a tux (a funny looking tux, but its a uniform tux...but its still a tux.) I really wanted to wear my wedding dress to this event (my wedding dress is actually a prom dress I bought at Macy's for under 200 dollars thinking, "This is perfect! I can wear it to the various (enter name) function's I'll be forced to go to!" I had not counted on the fact that two things would happen. 1) I'd suddenly put on weight for the first time in my life and 2) my boobs would grow two cup sizes. thus, not able to zip dress up.)

For the past two days I've been on a hunt for a formal dress to wear to this upcoming event. Living in the dirt hole, this hunt is hard pressed. Thus, I have turned my attentions online. At first I did not want a black dress, as my husband's "tux" thing is dark blue (please, do not call it navy blue you might end up dead), and I wanted to stand out against him (hence my thoughts to wear the ivory wedding/prom dress). However, after hunting for two days (and enlisting my mother's aid) I have come to the conclusion that I might just have to make do with a black dress. Most colors are either horrid looking or would look horrid on me. A lot of the dresses are not what I had in mind. A lot of the dresses have high front and backs. This is the sort of dress I was looking for when I was a sophomore going to homecoming!

Anyways, so after spending the day emailing with my mother about dresses, I have a few picked out.
The one at the left here is from White House/Black Market. I like that it is strapless and sort of swishy. Also, it is made out of silk, not polyester.

The dress at the right is made out of nylon. My husband claims it looks exactly like the other one. I think I like the first one more.






The last dress I am considering isn't a black dress at all, but one my mom sent me. It is not black, and it's got a high front. I figure instead of wearing a cool necklace, i could wear earrings that popped.

I don't know. I am at a loss.

plotting

I have been plotting and figured I should update this as when I am done plotting, this will be another way to get the word out that I am done plotting and have finished what I began plotting awhile ago.

In other news, I've seen a lot of movies recently. Here are the movies in ten sentences or less:

Knowing: Nicholas Cage acting sort of creepy. Would have been a good movie, except for how it ended. It was a cop out ending, lame to no end. The whole thing with the little girl, the numbers and the current kids hearing whispering would have made much more sense, and made you care more, if there was not such a cop out of an ending. It ended and I was like, "Hey, wait a minute..."

Ghosts of Girlfriends Past: I hate Matthew McConaughey. He actually annoys me to no end and I cannot think of a single movies I like that he is in. However, I do adore Jennifer Gardner, so I went to see this. For what it was, it was a very good movie. Interesting to see the lead guy go from total sleeze, to confused sleeze, to oh my god I love the same girl but I'm scared shitless to the point I'm lame. I did enjoy how all the "ghosts" came to him and were either past girlfriends or his current assistant. And the hall of girlfriends past was actually sort of creepy.

Star Trek: OMG! This was like the best movie I've seen in awhile. It had everything one would want out of this sort of movie. My husband enjoyed all the explosions and I enjoyed the whole time travel aspect. I am not really into science (nor do I understand it for the most part) so all the "wrong science" in the movie did not bother me. I've always liked time travel things, where characters are in a "different" time line, so I thought it was cool. It was also well acted. I never really watched the orginal series, so for the most part, until Spock showed up, I had no idea how the time line was different. I figured that it had changed in the first minute, but I didn't know for sure.

Night at the Musuem: Smithsonian: Funny movie. Cute funny movie. Ben Stiller did not totally annoy me to no end, the Hank Azaria did. Was he trying to sound like a gay British man on purpose? I also got highly annoyed by Amy Adam's character, Amelia Earheart. Could they carm any more twenties cutie lingo into her? Other than that, it was a cute movie.

Angels & Demons: It had been forever since I've actually read the book, but I don't think the book ended as the movie ended. Actually, I am sure it did not end as the movie ended. For one, Victtoria had a bigger role in the book than she did in the movie. Two, I'm pretty sure the priest did not die. But besides that, I thought the movie was beautiful. The way the Chruch was protrayed and shown actually caused me to see them not as a demon, which is how the chruch is sometimes betrayed in these type of situation. It was well wroth the two hours and two bucks I paid to see it.

Shopaholic: I adore this book. I adore the author of the book. The movie left me feeling luke warm due to all the changes they made. First, they seemed to have cramed at least three books together, randomly picking and choosing from the books. Second, the movie takes place in New York City as opposed to London. That pissed me off from the start. Also, I felt sort of strange as the movie seemed to just take the character of Becky Bloomwood, cram her shopping addiction in along with a few minor plot points from various books, and create a new story line and basically new story. Sort of like Gossip Girl the TV show.

Movies I saw on DVD in less than ten sentaces:

In Burges: My husband and I got this movie because he likes explosions and I was in a mood for a funny, non thinking sort of movie after spending the day watching over 8th graders for 8 hours. This movie had no explosions and required a lot of thinking. (I was really in the mood to see a movie like Star Trek when I saw In Burges.) I was rather confused and unfulled by the time the movie ended. Does the main character live? What the hell is going on? In the end, neither of us felt we had a clue what was going on, nor did we really care.

Doubt: A movie D invited us over to watch on his huge TV. The huge TV distracted me for the most part, but in the end I was not sure what the movie was supposed to do to me...make me doubt? I figured I would have understood more of the movie if I had been Catholic, as a lot of the things going on made little or no sense to me. In the end, I doubted if the movie was any good. The only thing that came out of it was now my husband randomly proclaims, "I have doubts, Ireland. I have doubts." I never had any idea what he is talking about.

No Country for Old Men: I have no idea what this movie was about. Drugs? Texas? Dirty men? This might be due to the fact I did not actually watch the whole movie because I had the flu and thought I was going to die, but my husband did not undrestand it either and he watched it all. His only comment was, "I have to watch that again."

The Departed: Another movie that left me feeling sort of unfilled. I hate movies where everyone is either dead or dying or you have no idea if they live happily ever after. Okay, I admit, I like movies that end with happily ever after. I don't mind the violence, but I hate trying to figure out who is the bad guy, who is the good guy, who is confused on to which side they are on. I did miss the middle of the movie because my husband did something that pissed me off, but I saw the start and end and have no clue how we got from point a to point b. I guess I needed the middle of the movie?

suppose i never met you

I've become one of those bloggers that doesn't blog often. The fact of the matter is I have nothing truely interesting to say in the least. I started this blog to get the writing juices flowing and then they did and I forgot to update here. Oops.

I still have nothing interesting to say. Sorry.

a detective without a case

First: Hotel Manners

First off, do they still exist? I am trying to figure out if they do or not. As a child I was told to be quiet in hotels. You do not run the TV loudly, you do not SCREAM in the hallway. You do not carry on loud conversations at two am in the hallways. You do not run in the hallway, no matter the time of day. In hotels, at all times of the day, someone somewhere is trying to sleep, so you always use a quiet voice.

This must have died in recent years. Or at least in the last year. The last hotel experience I had in Austin was terrible. Besides being over charged for parking and more than likely the room, I was awoke the two nights I was there at least THREE TIMES due to LOUD CONVERSATIONS AND SCREAMING at the wee hours of the morning. A few times these conversions were clearly caused by alcohol, but still. The Fancy Downtown Hotel is not a dorm room. If you wanted to stay in a dorm room, I have a feeling if you waked six blocks the other way, the University of Texas would have happily put you up. I remember nights like the ones I had this past weekend when I was in college. It annoyed me then, but it was weekends on a college campus, I couldn't expect any less. (Of course when people would stand outside my window and rap at two am on a Wednesday morning when I had to be up at eight for class, that pissed me off.)

So, in the future, please remain quiet when staying in hotels. They are not party dorms. Some people are trying to sleep so they don't look like the waking dead the next morning.

Second:

I bought the new Franz Ferdiand album. Before I bought it, I read some reviews. I had been unaware that the last album, You Could Do So Much Better, basically tanked. I was unaware of this. I guess it did not tank at Beloit College, as I heard it everywhere not just my own room. I really liked that album. Especially the songs "Walk Away" and "That Boy." Adored those two out of all the FF songs I know. Anyways, I bought the new album and enjoy it.

Third:

Is it bad I want Britney Spears to stop failing at life? I want her to succeed for some odd reason. I am not sure why. Usually, I do not care.

Failing to truely understand

Well, I've been rather busy of late, hence no update. I missed the year anniversary of Conrad Black heading to prison, 1 March I believe. I was working in St. Louis at the time and hungrily ate up every news article I could find online about Black going to prison.

Anyways, he is still in jail, with nothing to do except defend his beloved FDR and the New Deal. Now, I know I did not write a biography on the man, I am no FDR scholar, but I know that the New Deal did not get the US economy out of depression. Nothing really that FDR did before WWII "got the economy out of depression." He brilliant did give the appearance the economy was turning around. He poured money in through the New Deal, but what got the economy out of its rut was, in fact, the United States entering WWII. Shipping off every able body man to war (paying him to fight) and employing everyone else to build stuff for this war was what jumped the economy back onto the tracks and set it off and running again, until it crashed into another wall at some point.

Before the country entered WWII, the unemployment rate continued to go sky high, people were still loosing their jobs. The New Deal did nothing to change this in reality, it actually made it worse because it made it more expensive for companies to hire people. The draft was what caused the employment rate to decline. The New Deal was a government thing, the projects were government sponsered and thus did nothing for the private sector. Is this country built on the public sector? Huh? No. Its more built on the private sector. And the private sector continued to suffere and die a slow death of failing under the New Deal.

This is something, I guess, Mr. Black has failed to realize. He has bought into the wonderful news reels of the era that basically are propganda for the New Deal and its so called success. I guess he's living in La La Land in jail. It must be nice. I used to live in La La as well, when I was about 8.

like sands through an hour glass

Recently, almost every time I sign into Facebook, I get a round of names popping out at me from the past. Names I have not thought about in years, names that would never occur to me on a daily basis, or even a yearly basis.

There's a girl I had known since second grade when she appeared and became the best friend of a girl named Amy and they wore little, high heeled granny boots. I remember these boots clearly as day, as I wanted a pair quite badly but my mother said, "Little girls do not wear heels!" I had to settle for boots that had a heel, but not a high heel that made the clack, clack noise I wanted. Nor did my boots look Victorian, they look like boots. They were a poor, cheap let down from the granny boots this girl had. This was the same girl, many years later who had whispered conversations near by me about something so person I couldn't figure out why she was talking about it with someone in school and within hearing distance of me. The next year she had a total hissy fit and refused to speak to her "best guy friend" who sat next to me in English because he had made some sort of lude crack about her and her 'secret'. Two days later she had another whispered conversation with him, while I continued to sit next to him. I heard every single freaking word she had said.

I don't think she wanted me to know. But I do know. When one is writing, they can still hear.

By this point, I had realized that people thought I couldn't hear when I was writing. I could pretty much hear while I was writing, as I am one of those people who can do two things at once when I want to. By my senior year I was pretty sure I could write my stories and pay attention in class if need be. I usually would put away that stuff thought out of resecpt for the teachers. They had enough issues, I figured I'd remain the quiet, modle student people thought I was.

I alwasy knew more than most people figured I would know about the people at our school. Random bits of information keep popping into my head as these names keep popping up on the News Feed each time I sign into Facebook. I am also surprised by the amount of people my age who have children. As I told my husband last night, "I can bearly handle having a dog. I can't imgaine having two kids by now." He stared at me and made some off hand comment about kids that truely would only make sense if you knew him.

Each person, as their name pops up, I tend to click on their picture to see what it looks like. The profile picture tells me quite a bit. I can tell the high flying, still either single or dating types to the ones that have families and kids running around. The ones that still enjoy a good party, and the ones that would rather hug a kid. When I first joined Facebook, I remember scrolling through the people who graduated from high school with me in a search and being suprirsed when I saw there were people who were all ready married. Now that I'm married, I get shocked when they have kids. I guess this will only stop once I have a kid. Which won't be for awhile. As stated before, I can bearly handle having a dog.

Who is currently sitting in the doorway staring at me.