update
I've been so busy I can't believe this week has flown by.
I've had a chest cold since the day after Christmans and just when I thought it was clearing up, I woke up with my sinuses completely blocked and a massive sinus headache. What else is new?

I spoke with Amanda last week from CC Lowell and arranged to have the Artisan Women of Worcester host a gallery show at their "First Show Gallery". I first thought this wouldn;t work, but after talking with Dharia (www.skeintilyclad.com) we both thought this would be an exciting way to explore the artistic side of each of our crafts. The show is scheduled for March 30 - April 19-ish.
So, for that I have been working on a few projects...a felted human heart in a shadow box frame, 2 different contrasting dolls in contrasting frames, a felted Starry Night collab with Dharia and possibly more collaborations after meeting with everyone next Sat for the Artists At Work event and the AWW "holiday party".

I wanted to mention a great new makeup product I found, and I am totally not benefitting from promoting it - Lauren Hutton (the model and actress) represents (what she says is_ her own line of makeup made for older women. The makeup has less pigments and works more with contouring your face with different foundation colors. I decided it was time I wear less of the awful stuff I have been using since I was a teenager, full of Mica and heavy pigments. Anyway, it was well worth the initial investment and after 2 weeks, I have learned to apply all the makeup with the brushes and I think my skin looks better for it. www.laurenhutton.com

my last month+ in pictures
Now Playing: Disappointment" The Cranberries

This is made by Erica Saladino. We traded the "aardvark" creature for a beaded necklace.

Here is my 2nd attempt at making flat pieces of felt, much more successful than the 1st attempt! These are all about 10"x12" and will be used to make a series of free-form dolls.

I traded a bracelet with Hilary Treadwell for this photo.
She has some great baby clothes and cool images printed on onesies - too bad Ethan is too big!

This gorgeous scarf is from a vendor at Craftland - I wish I could find her card - she didn't have a website yet, but the fabrics she used were really gorgeous!

This cool monster was made by Voz of Fishcakes . She makes ultra neat monsters and graphic images! The stripes on the body are glow-in-the-dark. I bought this for Ethan for xmas, but he is freaked out by fuzzy textures, so the hair gave him the heebie-jeebies. That's OK because I wanted to keep it for myself!!

NO TIME
OK - I am so pressed for time I will list the items I need to blog about so I don't forget...in the next few days I will get back to updating:
DM rose shirt
Lauren Hutton makeup
Trip to Florida
Frida necklace
mittons from Mom (Dharia's yarn)
skull & crossbones
AWW update
Artists at Work
NE Crafty Chicks craft day
IKEA
Ethan & Santa
stained glass panel
Craftland goodies
Heather and Twigs necklace

Back from New York Part II
So I didn't finish my story about my New York trip, although it's not so exciting.
We left the DM show at MSG. There was an afterparty for the Bravery at Luke & Leroys, but it was in the Village and it was way too cold to walk AND we had to meet up with Dawn. So instead, we met her at a bar called Molly Wee's around the corner from MSG. Dawn was at the bar talking to a guy she introduced as "Steeg" (Steve with a G). I thought they were friends but he was just trying to pick her up (He actually called at 2am...the nerve...).
We settled in to the bar which was just finishing up serving food and the ultra bitchy waitress was none too happy to wait for us to decide if we were hungry or not. The table next to us was SO STINKING DRUNK, one of them actually tried to order beers from ME, thinking I was their server. One girl was barely conscious - I could hardly believe they were still serving her! They were quite entertaining so I was sad when they tried to stumble out of the bar.
Dawn and Andrei and I swapped war stories and talked about Dawn's recent marriage that has ended but they are not yet officially divorced. She told us about one guy she was dating, but she was undecided whether he was actually gay or not...
I quickly realized what a different world I was in...
After a few hours, Andrei started getting tired, but instead of asking to go back to Dawn's, he just fell asleep. At 2am, we decided to go to 170th to Dawn's apartment. We took a cab as it was late. Instead of going to Dawn's, we decided to go to a bar called Coogan's across the street from her building. There were about 10 people in this family restaurant/pub and it was 2:30am on a Wednesday night. You'd think the place would be empty...
There was a nice couple sitting next to me, Crag from England (Liverpool) and Annie from Ireland. They were working in NY, recently moving here from the Canary Islands. IT was nice to talk about England and funny to get a native's perspective. There was a drunk extremely talkative man named Brian who was so irratating, I ignored him. The bartender was a young student, John who Dawn thought was cute, but he had a girlfriend. We ended up staying there until the bar closed at 4am and John let us stay and kept making us drinks until 5, which was quiet enough. Of course, Andrei was fast asleep in his bar stool and we dragged him home.
Dawn's apartment was larger than I had expected, and it was nice and hot - so hot she kept the windows open all the time. I woke up about 10am and because it was sunny, I could hear the birds and street noise outside (and because I was still a bit buzzed) I thought it was summer for a minute. Andrei passed out on the couch and I slept where I lie on a chair. I took a shower at 10:30 and wanted to get going to the bead district. Andrei refused to even return to consciousness so I read the Ikea catalog and some other magazines Dawn had. About 1pm, I made Andrei wake up and was going nuts - I HAD to get going otherwise I would never get back to MA until it was late. We decided to have something to eat so Dawn took us to a diner near her building. It was so old and cute - the prices were DIRT cheap and I had a REAL turkey wrap with feta and veggies that was delish! I probably could have eated cigarette ashes and enjoyed them, I was so ravenous. We said goodbye to Dawn after lunch and Russia and I were off to the bead stores!
The subway ride back downtown was long, about 20 minutes and we had to walk quite a bit to find a specific store I was looking for. It didn;t help we kept going the wrong way, forgetting if we were going up or down, looking for 38th and 7th, around there somewhere. Did I mention it was about 29 degrees and my ankles were killing me - the swelling had returned yesterday...
We stopped to get a drink and I bought Ethan a funny little reindeer toy that "pooped" out jelly beans when you pushed on his back - crude, I know, but Ethan really belly laughs at potty humor...such a boy!
We FINALLY found Wonder Sources, at 48 West 38th St. which is wholesale only and you have to be buzzed in. As soon as I walked in, it was like entering a holy place...it was a HUGE store with about 10 employees bustling around. OMG - I could have bought one of everything they had - I was in Heaven. Poor Andrei was left reading some magazines and waiting VERY patiently (Thank you, A!). I got a bunch of stations, some assorted pearl strands, some rondel strands and 2 more expensive strands of graduated leaf shaped rhodonite and some silver leaf jasper pillows. One of the stations was a Peruvian opal marquis shape - so nice!! I was expecting the total to be around $200 and I braced myself, but it was only $125. The prices seemed to be better than at the shows I have seen them at. They are the vendor that had the strand of Imperial Jasper that I fell in love with that was $110 at a show...I still regret not getting it, but I wasn't sure what I would do with it...
Anyway, after I finished there it was kind of late to shop any more so we tried to figure out how to get to the garage. After a few more wrong turns, we made our way. I bought Dan some candied cashews from a street vendor that smelled so good.
We had to pass MSG, which had the DM show listed on the marquis, which I think made me realize I will not see DM again, maybe for years, maybe NEVER again if they don't tour again (bite my tongue...).
Backing out of the parking spacem Andrei forgot about the column next to the car and smashed into it...we both got out thinking the entire rim was bent but there was not even a scratch anywhere...neither of us could believe it.
Anyway - off we went trying to get out of Manhattan at rush hour around 5pm.
It was getting dark and I was so nauseous from the hangover and from being a passenger. The Saw Mill Parkway is SO curvy and stop and go the whole way - I was glad he wanted to stop for a break because I was ready to be sick more than a few times. I had that claustophobic feeling where I feel so trapped and sick. I so wanted to snap my fingers and be HOME but I knew I still had at least 2 more hours that I had to drive myself...miserable.
It took 3 hours to get to Danbury, and I was actually glad to be in control of the car to ease my nausea. I said goodbye to Andrei, hoping he would vist for Xmas and spend some time with my family for the holidays - it never occurs to me until after the holidays are over that I should have invited him to come stay with us. We are very simple and don't really make a big deal of Thanksgiving or Xmas, so I never think to ask him to join us. I told him to ALWAYS consider himself invited!
I had a difficult time driving in the dark with the headlights blinding me - I am so sensitive to light, I wore my sunglasses most of the way event though it was dark out.
I was sad listening to DM and regretted not being able to see the 2nd show. I now regret it more as I learned they changed 2 songs of the setlist to 2 songs I like better...
Anyway, it was nice to be home. I realized how dirty New York is and I like my nice, clean (although ususually untidy) house. I have become such a bizarre person, set in my ways, over the past 10 years!

Today, I had a craft show at a UMass property in Shrewsbury, that I had high hopes for big sales, but it was almost a TOTAL bomb - I made ONE sale to another vendor, that just covered the purchases I made...and the fee for this was $45 so I am pretty pissed. Between the vendors we talked to we figured out there was NO advertising done, just the sign on Maple Street in Shrewsbury. Obviously not enough. I had 3 people recognize me from the HGTV show which was funny. I talked to a few vendors about AWW and ANT so it was not a total loss.
I purchased a lovely woodcut frmaed picture of the skeleton of a tree with a crow/raven by Jaqueline Bacon for $30. I bought a cute bowl from Cheryl to replace my broken dip bowl, for $12. I traded a pair of earrings for a mini painted wood sleigh for Ethan and the woman on one side of me, who gave me a migraine with her old perfume and moth ball smell, REALLY wanted a necklace of mine so I traded it for 2 of her woven scarves, although I was not in LOVE with them. They were nice, but I wanted to buy one from Saori, as Mihoko's weavings are more my style. Oh well. No great loss.
Even though I was exhausted, we decided to drive to Ikea in Stoughton when I got home at 5pm.
We bought lots of stuff for the house and considered a platform bed and new mattress, as well as a bathroom sink and cabinet. We'll see. Maybe after Xmas...

Back from New York
It has been a long time since I've blogged - I had no idea the holiday season would leave me so busy, in addition to the HGTV show being aired mid-November...at the beginning of my busy time.
So anyway - I am back, just in time to write about my 2 days in New York and my Depeche Mode show...

Here is the story, with the pics: (keep in mind I am lousy with the camera...)

I drove from Worcester to Danbury to pick up Andrei at his office. We left Danbury at about 4-ish, with him driving (I hate driving at night). We got so engrossed in conversation, he lost his train of thought - I won't go into details, but let's just say we REALLY went the WRONG way. By the time we got into Manhattan, we were stuck in bad rush hour traffic and we had to get to 54th to have dinner at a Russian restaurant called Uncle Vanya's. I think we got there at 6:20 or so. It was tiny and quaint with about 5 tables, a few full. We ordered borscht, kasha with mushrooms and a smoked fish platter. Also, we sampled some flavored vodkas, cranberry, lemon, dill & garlic and horseradish. The horseradish one was by far our favorite, especially with the fish. We stuffed ourselves and I rushed Andrei out of there at 7:30. I kind of wanted to see the Bravery (the opening act) but if I missed them it was OK too. By the time we found a parking lot that was open 24 hours, it was 8:15. We collected our stuff and made our way to Madison Square Garden, one block away. It was COLD and really windy!! We walked to the entrance and I couldn't find the tickets. I really thought I put them in my bag, but I was so concerned with "hiding" my camera at the bottom of my bag, I didn't know where the tickets were. SO..we walked back to the car and luckily they were there...PHEW!
Back to MSG...here is a pic of the marquis. Please keep in mind, I played around in Photo editor to make these pics a little clearer and brighter, so they may seem a little distorted...

See the clock on the side - 8:35.
We walked in, went to the rest rooms and I wondered why the music I heard sounded like recorded club music, not live music from the Bravery...
We made our way to the seats...I knew they would be on the left side of the stage but I wasn't sure if they would be too far behind the stage to be any good. I sold my floor seat tickets in section 6 for these two tickets so I prayed they would be good! Section 61, Row K...as we neared the section, I got excited as they were really close, probably the closest I have ever been at a concert (besides Paper Monsters, but that was a GA show). I mentally said a "thank you" to the i-Tunes pre-sale. There were 2 girls in our seats who said they had the same seats, but before I got an usher they figured out they were in the wrong section. There were only 6 seats in each row, with a nice couple to my right and some guys to Andrei's left. I saw the "orb" on stage and asked the girl next to me if the Bravery had played yet and she said they played a short set and were done - oh well...first time I can remember a show starting on time...
Before I even settled in, the lights were lowered and the show was starting.
Here is the first pic I took when I remembered I had the camera...

Were were in the 11th row, with the mixing board in front of us. The "orb" was level with us and the only bad thing was a column and some cables you can see a little to the right of the center that blocked my view sometimes.
I was so excited and screaming my head off...I was definately the loudest in our section.
Martin came out with the funky hat and I barely recognized him. Almost the same with Dave - he looked so thin and lithe...more than I remembered from Paper Monsters. He wore the traditional black pants and vest with the heeled boots. Martin had black feather wings, a la the feather boa T-shirt from Exciter tour. And in place of the "Exciter" half skirt, he had a pleated (seemingly) leather half skirt over his butt. Thankfully he had regular black shoes, instead of the sneaks in 2001, whicj I didn't like at all...we were on Martin's side so I was able to see him better and ever guitar switch, which there were a few.
Here are some of Dave I took in the beginning:

A Pain That I'm Used to and John the Revelator were good but I think because they were from PTA, people weren't going nuts. Of course I was, singing every word and dancing around. I kind of ruined any suprises I could have had by knowing the setlist and prayed maybe they would make some changes but, it went pretty much as planned. The crowd got excited for A Question of Time. There was a group of guys behind me that were dancing around for the whole show, as well as some in the aisles that were crazies, but otherwise, the entire section around me were in my market segment: 30-40 years old, wearing predominately black, but otherwise, properly dressed in jeans and the like.
Policy of Truth, Precious, a little slower than the album version, but my favorite so far. And then I heard those beginning cords from Walking In My Shoes and I was jumping around like mad!!
The projection screens were difficult for us to see, but I took one of the chicken lady:

Toward the end of the song it all started to get surreal for me - with me thinking it would all be over soon and I better absorb as much as I could. I got a little weepy and teared up...
I saw some people walk down to the stage level and take pics from the aisle - there were no ushers or security, so I did also. Here is a good Martin pic:

There's this other guy in that pic, too - he was there on the other keyboard clapping and dancing around strangely. Once in awhile he would tap the side of the keyboard display. I wasn't really sure who he was or what he was doing there, but he looked kind of familiar.
(HA HA HA - poor Fletch...I never give him any credit...I did see playing during QOT and was rather impressed...)
Suffer Well was next, but the crowd didn;t get into as much as I thought they would (maybe that was just my section...)
Then the middle of the concert...Damaged People, which I really didn't think belonged there at ALL. It was so quiet, I could hear myself singing it...Then Home, which I had another surreal moment during the "I thank you, for bringing me here, for showing me home....". My seats gave me a clear view of the people in the awesome seats in the front - my People...my fellow Moders...and I regretted not being able to spend $300-$400 for the floor seats I wanted. I could see them all singing every word and also feeling Martin sing the words I know they had heard live before. Anyway - I digress...
Here is the view of the stage I had through most of the show...kind of obstructed, but thankfully Dave moves around a lot:

I Want It All - doesn't work. Not my favorite song anyway.
I Feel You was next - one of Andrei's favorite songs, although I never really warmed up to it. It was good, though and I liked the version.
And then was Behind the Wheel, which I really anticipated as one of my favorite live songs from them. Such a simple song, I think it really represents that era of DM and the things I like about them. Kind of dirty. Simple layers, but it works so well. "come...pull my strings...watch me move...I do anything".
World In My Eyes, Personal Jesus, ETS...awesome. I called Dan during ETS and let him listen for a few minutes. He later said he could hear it well - knew right away what song it was.
Martin sang Somebody, which I expected would seem hoakie, but I really enjoyed his voice which sounded angelic.
Then Just Can't Get Enough, which I never cared for, especially since the Gap used it in an ad campaign. I don't know why but it doesn't appeal to me.
Then Everything Counts, which has a "chills down the spine" kind of feeling for DM fans at the end. No disappointment here.
NLMDA was great.
I knew Goodnight Lovers was the closing song and I waited for the non-fans to ruin it for me, which they did. The guy behind me said, "What a buzz-kill". I blocked out his complaining and tried to enjoy Martin and Dave singing next to each other which is pretty rare. It was an interesting way to end the show and I "got it" but I know the effect was lost on the average fan.

Here are other random pics during the show:

Now would this person be from DM.TV, because I recall some conversations a few months ago consisting of "I fucking love Depeche Mode" and I took some pics of this Moder. Please identify yourself...

And that was it. I was sad and felt like crying, but Andrei is intolerant of my DM sentimentality so I let it go. I bought a tour book for $15 and we left.
I held up the camera for a pic of Andrei and I - of course I'm all red cheeked and sweaty - funny pic:

I had some thoughts while driving home...
I had a feeling of not being fully satisfied...Are DM shows becoming like the Rocky Horror Picture Show? Throw toast and bring a newspaper...(know what I mean?). Sing "reach out and touch faith" while pointing at the stage in time during PJ, Dave introducing MG as "Mister...Martin...L...Gore" during ETS. Dave, while singing Everything Counts always says, "Sing it..." after Martin sings "it's a com-pe-ti-tive world". The arm waving...
Now, I watch the Devotional DVD pretty much once a week and know most of how Dave moves throughout. I noticed at the show yesterday, he made the same movements, even the subtle ones. Is this all just a routine, devoid of feeling for them to perform every night????
I really wish that Dave or Martin had talked more, OK - talked at all...besides he saying he was glad to be home. I want some connection...
And I wish they introduced everyone on stage...I know we all know who everyone is, but it would have been nice to have given Peter and Christian their due.
I would have liked to hear some more old music...Lie to Me, Shake the Disease, Blasphemous Rumors...the oldies...even Nothing's Impossible...

BTW, I did scream as loud as I could to Dave that I loved him, (as I did during the PM show) to the enjoyment of section 61 and to the embarassment of Andrei, I think after I Want It All, when it was eerily quiet. (PS - I know he heard me and the voices in my head reassured me the plan is in place and I will have him locked in my basement cell where he will entertain me by singing In Your Room (Zephyr Mix) while he paints in the nude, before the year is out). Hee hee, just kidding. NO, REALLY, I'm kidding.
I don't care if it's the Zephyr mix or not.


Otherwise, I enjoyed it entirely and am really sad I didn't figure out how I could see the 2nd show. I was still driving home at 9pm Thursday, crossing the MA state line and I was weepy and sad.

Now it's back to normal. It snowed over a foot here Friday and I have a show Saturday at UMass. Not looking forward to setting up all my stuff and I hope I make a little money. I will tell the story about the rest of our night in New York and my quick shopping trip to Wonder Sources, a delicious bead store on 38th that I could have spent much more money in...
Andrei, be happy I didn;t post the pic of you sleeping in the bar...

So Busy
OMG - I have been so busy since the Tower Hill show, 3-days last weekend so I haven't been able to update.

I've been to the doctor it seems like 10 times, but just some routine check-ups for Ethan and myself. Also, trying to determine the cause of my mystery swollen tendons in my ankles every couple of weeks.
Ethan had a yearly check-up with the plastic surgeon who treated his plagiocephaly. She was impressed with his measurements - his eyes are perfectly spaced now, where they were a little asymmetrical a year ago. She asked if we could return to see her every year for meaurements, as he was one of the first babies she treated and wants to follow his progress as he grows. We also discussed different ways of getting the word out there to new expectant parents that plagio is preventable!

If you know someone who is pregnant or who has a newborn baby (especially a boy in the 95% percentile), forward them this link for Capps Kids !
I dug and found some pics of Ethan with his helmet and one of the flattening of his skull...you'd never know it now, thankfully...

OK - enough preaching...

I've been trying to make lots of jewelry - lots of shows coming up. Heather suggested I make a felted zipper pull, so a new item is born - the Zipper Ball! Pics to follow soon!

Cat Wars Again
Now Playing: One Caress, Depeche Mode
I guess the Cat Wars just aren't as much fun because they are a daily occurence. But they still crack me up:
Look at the determination on her face!

I can't even tell where Belly is under Max...just her legs sticking out - LOL!

Ethan had his yearly physical today - all is well. She felt bad about the blister acid, telling me that she was hoping they would not treat him with that. I told her I was very disappointed with just about our entire experience with the Dermatology Dept at Umass/Memorial.

Today I'm playing with ATC's - a nice break from jewelry. I made a bunch of stuff to bring to the Shades of Autumn show at Tower Hill and the PulseFest should be interesting!

ATC Friday
Now Playing: I Am You - Depeche Mode
In celebration of my tickets to see Depeche Mode at MSG in NYC on 12-7-05, here is another DM themed ATC:

If you don't get the DM relevance, I'm sorry you are not in the CLUB. Oh well - move on...

Very cool site & project
I stumbled on a cool site about a glass artist who drops his glass marbles from his provate plane in remote locations...called Project Infinity

Ethan's Dinosaur Birthday Party!
Ethan's 3rd B-day was yesterday!! It was lots of fun with a small group of people at our house.

Here are some pics:

Ethan, Donna and Kylie

Ethan, Melina, Kylie and Bryna

And Ethan at the end of the day...

Thanks to everyone for coming to the party and for the wonderful toys and gifts!

ATC Friday
This ATC is a familiar Depeche Mode image.

IYR

Cat Wars '05
Dan got up so early this morning - 5:30 - and I actualy woke up at 4:15 because I couldn't sleep.

I went downstairs to bead and the cats were hovering around me. Let me explain that Max weighs about 15 pounds and he can inflict some serious injuries. Belly the kitten weighs about 8 ounces and has littly tiny claws. Belly was ready to take on the Big Cat and I grabbed my camera just in time:
Let's get it on!!!!

The stare down...

Belly gets in the pounce position...

Max goes in for his first strike (note the folded ears)

He goes for the jugular...

Belly kicks him off with her hind legs (known as the "rabbit kick")

Max finishes her off with one last bite...

Max wins Round 1 !!! (Suprise, suprise...)

Let me add that although Max looks pretty content in these pics with his eyes close - he is actually just squinting from the camera flash - he was pertty annoyed with Belly, who instigated the attacks!


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***WARNING*** gross injury picture below...

Monday, Ethan was treated for mulluscum, a wart-like virus that is common in kids up to 2 years. Sometimes they can cure themselves within a year, but Ethan has had these probably from 10 months to a year anyway. I originally thought they were skin tags or something, but they turned red and multiplied. So it took 2 months to get an dermatology appointment and that was on Monday. It was such a pain to get through this appointment, making it was difficult and then whne we finally got there they said it was cancelled and no one called me. Grr... They fit him in with another Dr.
Her resident and the Doctor both agreed that we might as well treat them because we were there. He had "blister acid" applied, as this was painless, we were told. Tow on one leg and six on the other. The acid is left on over night and becomes a small blister than absorbs into the body in a few days. Well the treatment was fine. I was told to wash the acid off the next morning, but the leg with two was irritating Ethan, so I washed it off that night. The next morning I was shocked to see the biggest blisters I had ever seen - about the size of a quarter each, and really swelled up. He managed to break one before I bandaged them up. By the time he had sat down on the couch, be broke the rest of them on the trim of the couch cushion.
I left messages all day Tuesday with the doctor's office with no call backs, until 7 pm. I was pissed. The doctor who treated him called Wednesday and I told her I was not happy that the acid I left on overnight caused such large blisters. She told me "this sometimes happens". But there was no mention of this at out appointment or on the information sheet she gave me. So now Ethan has these huge open sores on the back of his knees. One leg is much worse. I can't imagine how this will cause less scarring than if we didn't treat the
molluscum at all??

I think it's worse because he can actually tell me "Mommy, this hurts me...".

This is on the back of his knee

ANd some other good news - lots of songs from the new Depeche Mode release (on October 18th) are leaking on the Internet...they are awesome!! And yes - I purchased a digital copy from iTunes, so I don't feel guilty...

Craftlister no more!
A few weeks ago Jenny contacted me about participating in a show in Attleboro that was 2 weeks after the Salisbury show. Because the rain made us delay the Salisbury show, I really didn;t make much $$, so another show was a good dea.
The Attleboro event was on craftlister.com and the organizer seemed to have herself together and was advertising well.

Dharia and Mia also wanted to go, so Jenny arranged for the 4 of us to share 2 booths.
I drove there early Sunday morning, as Dan took Ethan and Danny to his cousin's wedding on Cape Cod. It was at a Shrine and luckily they had signs on how to get to the Shrine itself. Of course, once I got there, the HUGE parking lot was empty. I decided to drive down the street and further up the road was a 2nd parking lot - I spotted Jenny's Scion and pulled in. There were about 6 or 7 other vendors waiting. Jenny told me someone called the planner and she was running late. It was madness as no one knew where to go or what to do.

When she finally arrived an hour late, she kind of pointed people as to where they should go, but there was no real organization so the event looked haphazard. Some vendors had nice tents and professional set-ups. Many had a just a table. There were a few flea market type vendors as well - Sand Aart...ugh!

So we all had a good attitude setting up. We knew we wouldn't make any money, but had fun anyway. The lot was next to an elderly home so there were many nurses pushing patients in wheel chairs. Otherwise the traffic was an odd mix of people looking for a bargain. Definately no bargains to be had in my booth!

Another selling point for the event was, supposedly there was a Portuguese festival happening next door. I intentionally didn't bring any food because I love ethnic festivals, especially the food tent! But there was no fetival to be seen!

About an hour into the show, I heard a really loud truck in the lot. I soon realized it was a BACKHOE driving through the tents, picking up concrete barriers in the lot! OMG!! I was laughing so hard - how bizarre to see a piece of construction equipment at an art show...here's a few pics:

Anyway, we survived until about 3:00 when the sun disappeared and it got windy. We decided to pack it up and get the heck out of there. When we were about done, the organizer approached us and asked if we were OK. Dharia explained the weather was getting bad and this just working for us. I added that the traffic flow was not high we all did not make the both fee between us. She said she had good sales at her table - she had junky jewelry from $4 -$30 - but our stuff is TOO GOOD for this flea market. We explained how if the signage was better perhaps we'd get more street traffic. She went into an explanation how she had to move this past week to Marshfield and wasn't able to dedicate time to signage. We hadn't yet paid the table fee and she did not bring it up. Neither did we. She offered to email us vouchers for shows she was hosting next year. Yeah, OK.

Here's a pic of all of us upon departure:
Mia, me, Jenny with Henry and Dharia

So, weak with hunger, Dharia, Mia and I drove to the Naked Fish in Westboro and had a nice dinner. We had coconut calamari which tasted so good, partially because I was ravenously hungry.
After, we stopped by the co-op farm that Dharia belongs to and I want to join next year. She gets an obscene anount of veggies and herbs and my property is so small here I am not able to grow anything edible!

I finally got home at 7:15-ish and my Mom was here with Ethan. I hadn't realized how much I missed him until the moment I walked in the door. He had fun at the wedding.

This past Friday night I started to feel some swelling on my eyelid. By Sunday morning it was definately swollen and red. I went to the doctor Monday and I have a sty or a chalazion. I don;t know - I've looked up chalazion and learned it is supposed to be painless, but this is definately painful! I guess it's a big pimple deep in my bottom eye lid - I just want to get a needle and pick at it but it's so deep! GROSS! And I have a show Thursday night and I don't want to look like an alien!

It's not that bad I guess:

Lots going on
Whew!
I am on Day 2 of a hellacious traditional migraine that has me on the couch and useless! We decidede to move the Salisbury Sampler show to Sunday which messed a lot of stuff up, but ended up OK. By the end of the show my head was pounding and I was ready to do nothing!
Monday is a blur as I felt the full brunt of the headache but was unwilling to give in. We even tried to go to dinner but I was holding my head in pain through most of it. I took 2 Relpax and a bunch of Ibuprofin. This morning I woke up to and realized this was a hormone headache and took more Relpax. I wish I had filled the Tigan script because the nausea was awful! I had to drive to pick up Dan in Shrewsbury and barely made it. I slept on the couch from 10:30 until 1:30. Dan drove me to the coffe shop to meet Heather and give her back her ornaments she dropped off Sunday. We had a nice chat but was glad to go back home and crash on the couch. Now it's 9pm and I feel so useless, I am trying to get some little computer work done. I can't event bead - I tried to make some catnip felted cat toy balls yesterdy but only got through 4 of them.

ANYWAY...Saturday we got a birthday kitten for Ethan from the rescue league! It is probably more like a kitten for Sarah disguised as a B-day kitten for Ethan but he thinks it is his all the same. The problem is, Ethan the Terrible is scared of cats because he and Max the Brute haven't hit it off. And it is totally mutual. I didn;t want Ethan to grow up without a pet of his own, so I thought a little kitten would be harmless enough. He still won;t event try to pick it up, but that will come in time. He will pat it, but only if I prompt him.
Here's a pic:

She is so ugly, she's adorable! Her name is Bella, or as Ethan calls her, Belly!
Max DID NOT like her the first few adys but I think he is coming around. He realizes she could be fun to play with, compared to Maty who just wants to hide. He even tolerated her sitting on him today:

She is a really cool cat!

New Hair
I got my hair cut & colored today, a much more intense shade of red:

Whew! I should blind a few people!!

I have a raging headache - I stayed up and watched "Inside 9/11" that was re-playing on National Geographic and couldn't shut it off. I was up until 3am and I woke up at 8:30...I'm running on fumes today.

Wednesday
I haven't blogged in a few days.
After 4 or 5 days of constant monitering what was going on in the Gulf coast area, I decided I had to STOP watching it. I was starting to have lots of dreams about losing everything and getting separated from Ethan. So I only watch a little bit every day. I'm glad to see that it seems to be getting better and most of the living people have been removed from New Orleans.

I donated a beaded doll to a craft DIY site with the proceeds to go to the Red Cross. It hasn't sold yet but I feel like I am helping just a little.

I started taking Cymbalta on Sunday for my headaches. What a miserable time I'm having adjusting to the med. It makes me so hot - like I'm in a hotel room with the heat on 85 and no humidity...like I'm cooking from the inside out. Like a hot flash - not that I know what one feels like, but I can imagine this is it! The heat makes me sweat on my face. Then I have the chills and all my hairs stand on end. Then there's nausea...

Anyway, this is supposed to make me better?? The med is approved for depression, but I can't imagine that when I am depressed, I'd want to physically feel like shit, also.

I starting to plan for Ethan's birthday in a few weeks - the party will be on Oct 2. I can't decide on a theme - maybe dinosaurs, but then I saw a cool theme that was based on alphabets - the invitations have the first initial of the birthday boy and the whole party is decorated with letters of the alphabet. We'll see what I decide on.

dreams...
I woke up this morning with a dream fresh in my memory, of me packing up things I owned in a clear plastic bag. I was in a parking lot of a resort town with a row of hotels in front of me and a rough ocean beyond them. I wasn't afraid, but I was hurridly packing up things for Ethan so I could keep them safe. I had the sense I was with a group of people, but they weren't with me in the parking lot. All the people I could see were rushing around preparing for something, although I wasn't sure what. Almost all the people were black.

I wonder how much all this is affecting me...

Hurricane Katrina
Now Playing: CNN
The past few days I have been obsessively watching the news about the hurricane aftermath. It is absolutely unbelievable that this many people are not being cared for. In the beginning it seemed realistic Monday and Tuesday that no help was being sent into the devastated area - they had to assess the damage and accessability. But now it is almost Friday and I an beside myself as to why no water and food is being dropped for the thousands of people patiently waiting downtown where they were told to seek shelter. I want to fill up my car with water and just drive down there. I watch these press conferences about the troops that are being deployed but this is DAYS later - I just don't understand.
What a helpless and sad feeling it is watching this horrible situation.

The end of Summer si near
Now Playing: Nothing because Dan lost all my iTunes playlists...
Dan's been messiang around with where to store my stuff on the computer; I have my own hard drive but he's been moving it around on the network - networking stuff is kind of over my head - so I just let him do it.
Tonight I tried to play some music and all my playlists were gone, my purchased music file was gone, my recently played songs file was gone and there were 2 songs in my library (where previously there were well over 1,500). So I'm pissed.
He got the songs back - I think but all my playlists and history is gone. GRRRRRRRR!!

ANyway, Tuesday we took Ethan to the Museum of Science, mostly becasue Dan had to work on a clients' computer a few miles from there. We had lunch at Flour - a great bakery/sandwich shop. We ordered Ethan a BLT and although he just picked at it, it was an awesome BLT on their own grilled white bread, applewood smoked bacon...it was delicious! I got a bunch of sweets - creme brulee, homemade butterscotch pudding, homemade oreos and a double chocolate cookie that was at least and inch think! And homemade raspberry seltzer that was awesome!!!

The Museum was packed! We went right away to the butterfly garden, which was probably the coolest museum thing I've ever done...it was a very hot & humid "tropical" garden, probably 40 feet long and about 15 feet wide with trees and lots of foliage. There were TONS of butterflies all over the place - on flowers, on the floor - they occassionally tried to land on the people. It was really neat. I think Ethan was kind of terrified of them swooping down on him so he and Dan left the room and looked at the other exhibits while I took some pics.

This moth was HUGE:

2 girls came in with newly "hatched" butterflies and released them:

Here's Ethan posing in one of the exhibits...I think the look on his face is so cool...

And the Big E again:

Whew! I made those last few pics too big!
Ethan had fun at the museum, but if it weren't for the fact that they had the token dinosaur displays, he would not have gotten excited about it. There was a huge T.Rex and a few others. We walked past one and Ethan said, "Look Mommy! Parasauralophus!!" I laughed because there aren't many 2 year olds that can say that mouthful!!

After the museum we drove to Watertown to the Crystal Blue Bead store;. They have some great seed beads and sometimes I just can't pick them out online - I need to see them in person!

Wednesday was my Dad's birthday and we had a really casual dinner of BBQ and my Mom bought a cake from Crown bakery, which is almost a SIN in our family but we are a little busy this week to bake. Maybe I'll make one over the weekend to make up for it...

Also Weds, my right ankle flared up really bad so I called Dr. Wolf, (who answered his own office phone!!! - I asked if this was the answering service, in disbelief that a doctor would stoop to answering his own phone!)who told me to come right in. He had me push my foot against his hand, using different muscles and he determined it was a tendon sheath that was innflamed. He prescribed a prednison taper (just what I need - to gain more weight) and said he wanted to know how often it flared up. Later that night, I was frustrated not being able to determine why a tendon would flare up every few weeks and actually switch ankles, because last month my left ankle was bad. SO I spent some time on the Internet and found this was the peroneus brevis tendon and really the predominant injury of this sort is caused by sprained ankles or other blunt trauma. The last cause listed was rheumatoid arthritis. I was kind of miffed because Dr. Wolf did not request more lab work and did not recommend some type of rheumatoid medication. Just some extra prednisone for future flare ups.
I guess if he doesn't worry, I shouldn't.

And I am having trouble with adding some code to this blog for the "Bead artists that blog" webring I am in. I will have to do some more research or have someone who knows what they are doing sit down and help me...I am clueless sometimes.

I received my doll from the Face First exchange from Andi. It's really cool - the face I provided for her was pretty bizarre so I am impressed she could make heads or tails of it...she felted the whole form and also added the hair and outlined each curl. SHe added a spiral in the center of the belly and I can't figure out how she added it. Also, she gave me a bunch of her gorgeous faces, pendants and some great twisted daggers.

Also in the mail came my big sterling silver findings order! How exciting! I also bought a bunch of crystals in all different colors and sizes. I can always use them! I'll have to post some more pics of all today's treats!

Update
I was away on a mini-vacation last week and got so wrapped up in that I haven't posted in a long time.

The vacation was fun - to Charlestown, RI, near Watch Hill, Misquamicut and Westerly. The cottage was located just off a brackish pond that was really warm to swim in and had rights to a GORGEOUS private beach about a 3 mile drive away.
Here is a pic of the beach. It's difficult to realize the scale in this pic, but because there was a hurricane off the Atlantic Coast, the waves were BIG.
Wednesday was really nice and we spent some time at the ocean beach. The lifeguard at one point got on her surfboard and started paddling out into the sea. I didn't really think twice about it until I got out of the water and sat down to take a break. My Dad was watching way out and I guess there was something that looked like a shark fin flapping around in the water. I mean - this was really far off shore - I kind of wished I had binoculars - but I could still see it. It was definately something alive and really did look like a shark fin. I couldn't understand why on earth she was paddling OUT TO SEE IT - remembering all the TV shows that said a person on a surfboard looks a lot like a seal from under water to a hungry shark - what was she thinking?? Eventually she came back and I noticed of the 40+ people on the beach, everyone got out of the water. When she paddled back, there was a crowd waiting for her to ask what it was. We were situated near her lifeguard chair so she kind of stopped in front of us and explained it was a sunfish and that they liked basking in the sun to warm up. She said it was definately larger than her and she didn't get too close, but it was harmless to humans.
When I got home, I couldn't wait to Google "sunfish" and learned some facts about it:
The sunfish, called Mola Mola, is the world's largest bony fish, with average adult fish being around 6 feet long. They have a tiny beak-like mouth and scoop food in their mouth while they are swimming; jellyfish, shellfish, starfish, etc.
They like to sun themselves and are often mistaken for sharks. They have a thick sandpaper-like skin as opposed to scales and can jump up to 10 feet out of the water. In this country, they are caught accidentally by fishnets - sometimes as much as 25% of the catch - and die, because they are useless as eating fish. So sad.
Here is a pic I found online:

Tuesday was overcast and a little rainy so we took a day trip to the Roger Williams Park Zoo. It was sunny and pretty hot but Ethan was SO excited to see the animals and especially the dinosaur exhibit, with 18 robotic dinosaurs that moved and made scary sounds. Ethan thought they were real, especially after seeing the zoo animals in exhibits. He was so scared he hald his hand in front of his mouth the whole time, saying "I'm BRAVE!" as he forged on the trail. So funny!

Next project: Sunday we decided to rennovate Ethan's room as he had outgrown the blue sky and dragonfly theme that has been there since he was born. Here is a pic of the paint going on:

Bye Bye clouds and sky...

I love how the indigo contrast with the asparagus green of the hallway and the white trim!

Here is his twin bed - it is easier than the big boy bed with the crib mattress because at least now we can lie in bed with him and read a book. We wil be building a platform for the bed that continues into a bedside table. I decided to add big colorful free-hand panted circles with different designs. The ceilings are pretty tall and the room needed somethig to make it not look like such a "tall box" so I onlt painted the circles as far as I could reach, that way the ceiling doesn't appear as tall.
The bedding is Esprit from Home Goods that I found today. I LOVE the green and orange against the blue walls.

The Big E:

I made some plain straight curtains from a freeform striped orange fabric - it took me hours to find something suitable at JoAnn's. That place is such a rip off!! Fabric Hell!

We moved most of Ethan's toys into Danny's room, which will become Ethan's playroom. Danny, when he visits, can stay in the basement office on the futon since he spends most of his time down there anyway...and I'm sure Dan will have a fridge down there soon enough..