This That and The Other Things

I went on line the other day and Googled "Lip Balm Addiction". I had to laugh when I saw that there is a support group. Hopefully it was a joke. I did find an interesting article that suggested a product called, Aquaphor. I ran out and bought it immediately and globbed it on my red, chapped lips. I really don't like petroleum on my lips, but it is actually helping.

Irv and I are thinking about having our grandchildren call us Mimi and Papa. It sounds so strange to even say that. Our Thursday e-mail from Tresa said that the baby is the size of a lime this week, and it's reflexes have developed! Unreal!

I have tons of ideas swirling around in my head of things I want to make for the consignment shop. Irv purchased a drill bit for drilling through glass.....I can't tell you what I am going to try, but it's something I've wanted to do for a while now. Let me just say that I am bouncing off the walls with excitement.

I can't believe I have a craft show in a week! I am so not ready for it, and I am so not worried about it! What an awesome feeling!

I got these darling earrings from Cathryn over at Chile Cats. She makes beautiful jewelry and sent me these because I am a regular reader of her wonderful blog! I couldn't wait to wear them!

Temps in the 50's means bare feet to me. They aren't pretty after being covered all winter, but they sure are happy!

What are you up to on this fine Saturday?

NO GO

I was walking along just minding my own business....walking....walking.....love my treadmill so much....walking.....

I reached for my little hand weights that I use when I walk, and oops....I pulled out the safety key. I've done that before. No big deal. I popped the key back in and punched in my speed, hit GO and uh oh....NO GO!

Hmmmm....must have done something wrong so I tried again....NO GO! Uh oh.

Yep, my brand new treadmill that I have only had for one month died on Monday morning! I got a hold of the company and they are sending out a tech to fix it, but I must say I am really, really not happy....but I am trying to take it in stride.

The biggest concern for me, besides the fact that a brand new treadmill should not be breaking down, is that I had not missed a single day of walking since I bought it. I was on such a roll...and this is the exact kind of thing that messes me up. If I miss one day, it becomes two days and then suddenly it's a week and then before you know it, I'm not walking any more.

Well in an effort to keep that from happening, I told Irv to kick my butt right out the door when I get home from work...even if it's raining. I am happy to report that on Tuesday he did just that. I was kind of debating if I really wanted to go outside and walk. It was drizzling and I didn't feel like walking outside. Irv said, "You are walking!" Since I always listen to Irv and do everything he tells me to do....I went out and walked. I also walked Wednesday and yesterday and in all honesty, it's been awesome. People are outside enjoying the warmer weather and the birds are chirping like crazy!

So, for the next week or so, I am going to have to walk outside, rain or shine....but I will do it!

Darn treadmill!!

Kickin' The Habit

I've decided to kick the habit. I have to. I am so tired of feeling dependent upon any substance. I hate having to grab for it first thing in the morning...before I go out....before I go to bed. I hate panicking if I don't have any. I hate spending the money. I hate that I am so addicted that it doesn't even work for me any more. This has been going on for years and years and it has to stop.

My name is Kathy and I am am a lip balmaholic!

I can't even tell you how awful my addiction is. I have three of them in my purse right now and three more in the drawer at home. I keep them in my pockets, on my bedside table, in my car, at work...wherever I am....they are!

I can't tell you how many tubes have gone through the dryer....along with my clothes. Not a pretty sight.

I know I am not alone. Two of my children are addicted too....it must be some mutant gene that runs in our family or something like that.

It use to be Chapstick, then it was some Eco Lips, then it was Burt's Bees and now it's back to Chapstick. Why? Because none of them work anymore!!

I am 58 freakin' years old and this week I look like one of those little kids that constantly lick their lips until they are so red around their whole mouth that they look like little clowns! That is me this week. I'm not kidding you!

I will never be able to quit cold turkey. I would hyperventilate and keel over if my lips felt dry and I didn't have a lip balm, so I am trying to wean myself off gradually.

I did pretty good yesterday, but the lip balm still won. I can't even tell you how many times I applied it to my red, dry chapped lips. I will try to do better today. I'm going to start counting how many times I "use" in one day. Then I can challenge myself to do better the next day.

My lips are so dry right now that I want nothing more than to smear them with that ooey gooey waxy petroleum. Please tell me that one of you....just one of you out there understands.

:)

Opportunity Knocked

A couple of weeks ago I received a message through my etsy shop FourDogDay. It was from a couple that are opening a consignment home decor shop in Chicago in May. They said they liked my fabric clocks and asked if I might be interested in selling them in their new store when it opens.

I've received a number of similar requests through my etsy shop, but none of them really interested me...until this one.

We have been conversing back and forth a bit, and I've decided to give it a try. I'm really excited about having another option for selling some of my things. I am going to do the clocks and some cake stands.

I've never sold on consignment before and I know there are some crafters that won't do it. I think if I can price my items right, it could work out well. Their store is in the Andersonville Neighborhood. It's a wonderful area with a ton of foot traffic. The people that live in a lot of the neighborhoods in Chicago also shop in those neighborhoods.

The owners sound very laid back, but very organized. They have some wonderful merchandising consultants that will be helping them along the way. This isn't a shop where you rent a space and have to maintain it. They take care of everything. I received their contract yesterday and it was pretty straight forward and easy to understand.

If you are an artist or a crafts person, have you ever sold on consignment? What kind of experience did you have?

Terrific News Tuesday

So, how do you like to share good news? Do you like to just blurt it out all at once? Do you like to tease people and feed them little bits and pieces as you work your way to "the main event"? I like to be clever and string people along until they just can't stand it any longer, but normally I'm the one that can't stand it and I just yell it at the top of my lungs, kind of like this....

I AM GOING TO BE A GRANDMA!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, it's true. I am going to be a Grandma. My daughter Tresa and her husband Chris are expecting their first child and our first grandchild in September. I can't even begin to tell you how excited we all are.


It has been SOOOO hard not to tell you, but Tresa wanted to wait a little bit. She was at the doctor yesterday for her second check up and everything is looking good. Little baby was so active that the doctor called him/her a jumping bean. He/she also had hiccups and even put his/her little arms up over his/her head! Doesn't that just blow your mind when the little chipper isn't even two inches long yet?

Every Thursday Tresa sends us all an e-mail she receives from a baby website. It tells us what the baby is doing and how big it is and what is developing. It's just so amazing to read. In the beginning they compare the size of the baby to a common food...like a kidney bean or a prune. It does help you to visualize the size, but made it difficult to eat kidney beans one week. This week the baby is the size of a fig....so when we text or e-mail about the baby, we call him/her "the fig".

We had a bit of a scare last Monday when some guy driving way too fast during the morning rush hour tried to cross all of the lanes of traffic after getting on the expressway and slammed into the back of Tresa's car. She got an ambulance ride, an exam and an ultra sound and thank goodness everything was okay. We were so worried. She was on bed rest for a couple of days as a precaution.

Tresa being pregnant has brought back so many wonderful memories for me. I loved being pregnant...all three times. It was the most magical of times. What a wonderful year this is going to be.....we are so blessed.

Tresa asked us what we would like to be called. I have never really thought about that. If you are a grandma....what do your grandchildren call you?

Monday, Monday

What a great weekend it was. We had our wonderful family get together Saturday night and then Sunday I almost finished 5 clocks for the show. I'm waiting on some new hands from the clock shop and then I can finish them up. I don't even think I will get them listed in my etsy shop, FourDogDay. No time!

I made a few more of the cell phone cases too, so things are going well.

I got my new external hard drive back from the techie guy. Now I just have to find out how to get my pictures and stuff off of it and into my new computer. There is a lot of stuff I don't want in the new computer that is on there though, and I have no idea how to do that. I had a lot of bugs in the old one and I sure don't want to transfer those to my new computer. UGH!

Sorry this is short this morning, but I still have to get my lunch and snacks ready for the today. Did you have a nice weekend?

Have an awesome day today and be sure to do something nice for yourself.

Family Night

Yesterday was our second "official" scheduled Family Get Together!! You can read about my decision to do this HERE. This month it was Michael and Bernadette's turn. We arrived at their house around 3:00 so Irv could look at some things they are repairing around the house. Tresa and Chris arrived around 4:00.

We did some chatting and then enjoyed a fantastic platter of grapes, cheese, hummus, crackers, pita bread and tapenade. Oh yum!! A while later we filled up on delicious pita pizzas.

We spent the next couple of hours playing games and laughing so hard that by the time we called it a night my stomach and my throat hurt.

One of the games we played was Catch Phrase. It kind of like Password and I was trying to get the girls to guess the word weedwhacker. I said, "Something you use to trim the grass," and Tresa yells, "machete". Are you kidding me? When was the last time you used a machete to trim your grass?

That is the kind of night it was...just one good laugh after another. I am so looking forward to our next get together in April. This time we will be in Chicago by Tresa and Chris. I am already thinking about what we might do in May when it's our turn again!!