Happy New Year

Yesterday I watched a new movie called "What the bleep are we thinking?" It is a good documentary type movie telling you how important positive thinking really is. So in the interest in making life even better, before I got up I reinforced some positive thinking. ie: How great my day was going to be, How I am going to make someone elses day better...blah blah blah
So I got up, took Joey out for our morning walk, she seemed Happy, and came in to do some printing for the shop. I get some signage done and simultaneously I am printing and laminating the printed items. Well that was my plan, because I am happy!! I get one thing printed and I'm out of ink...now I just bought this ink, how can I be out..(remember I'm happy) So OK, I am out of ink, after I close I will go get some...life will go on. So I feed a sheet of verbage into the laminater that is blinking it's ready, only to jam that puppy up? So I have hot plastic sitting in between rollers that you can not possibly get at, because they made it that way. I am now digging into, with a fingernail file, a plugged in, hot laminater!!! Later I am going to close up the store and I pinch the fat part....well it's all fat parts of my pointer finger in the sandwich sign out front. I swore a blue streak, inside my head and rubbed it thinking that will defer the pain....but I'm happy...Then carrying some big freaking box down the steps the cardboard ripped only to end up on my toe....that resulted in Ow Ow Ow..But I am happy..I think my life was better the day before I watched this movie? This has been a great year for me...it can only get better next year!!! I hope all of you, enjoy yourselves in this coming year!! Remember positive thinking!!! Bah hum bug!!!

Sharing

Sometimes I think I am pretty selfish. I am selfish with my time and space and things like that. But...when I retreat to my home, I find I really am not selfish at all. I share every aspect of my life with none other than my animals. I sit in my recliner and I can almost guarantee, I will have two furry creatures, one by my arm, one by my feet, purring and snoring. I take a bath and I have a cat that likes to be rubbed down with warm water sitting on the edge of the tub and the dog is hoping I will let her lick the soap. I cook and I have to watch where I walk, I have two animals circling under my feet. Anyone that has used my bathroom will attest to the fact that the cat seems to lurk by the door waiting for a new sucker to go in, and then he starts his ritual of looking as sad as he can into your eyes while you are perched on the commode. Reaching up with one arm like he is begging for you to pet him. I go to bed and I share that too with both of them, to the point that if I happen to move during the night the dog growls with disgust and annoyance, that I should bother her sleep. I guess when I look at it I am not selfish, just lucky!!! Lucky they let me live in thier house!!!!

My website is fixed!!!! Hurray!!!!!!!!

So Sorry!!

I want to Thank everyone that came to my Open House. It was fun and I got lots of flowers!!! Thanks! Also my website is down, not on your end, but on mine, I can't update it. Of course when I need it most I don't have it. It happened with the move. Tomorrow the IS guy is coming to figure it out...I hope. So when it can be updated I certainly will be doing some serious updates. Until then, I am standing at the top of the basement steps...peering down into a vast sea of brown. Brown cardboard boxes!!!

Mission Accomplished!!

Many of you have met my SIL Cheryl. She is the best Sister in Law anyone could have, she deserves a better name, she is more my friend, supporter, favorite critic. She has NO hobbies!! I know I said it...no hobbies!!! She is a hard worker, likes to shop and grocery shops more than anyone I know, but....no hobbies. While helping me move and carrying bags of yarn around for weeks, I think something rubbed off? Saturday during my open house, she was helping me and I had a pair of square knitting needles with some yarn on it, for people to try. She asked me about it and I showed her and she is addicted. I gave her a book and she is eatting it up....then she has the nerve to ask me, why I never told her it was so addicting? I guess she doesn't remember schleping the million bags of yarn and fiber up from my studio?? So now she is digging through drawers looking for more yarn!! I am so happy, she is finally hooked!!! You will now be seeing her at my Meetups and whatever else she can go to for her addiction!!

Take a deep breath!!!

The time is nearing....Only two more days...till O day!!! Will the Stockings be hung by the chimney? Will the chestnuts be roasted? Will I comb my hair? Probably not..but who cares, while time is flying past me, I am in my recliner, feet up, toe nail polish drying, playing on my laptop? This is how Jan works, wait till the last minute, then work your arse off. Have a panic attack and wonder what the hell is wrong with me? Go and graze in the kitchen...a little Attention Deficit Syndrome here...!!! OK, I'm going downstairs to work as soon as I am finished. Have I told you how much like Christmas it is around here? Oh my the UPS guy and I are on first name basis...I love him, he brings me gifts!!! I think he is a little worried about me, I heard him whisper "Stalker" to his coworker...as I stood in the door of his truck...What can brown do for you? Let me tell you!!! Well it's time to get dressed and assume my position at the window watching for a brown truck!!!

I'm dreaming of a brown cardboard box....

the ones that used to be so fllaaaatttt...While the dumpsters brimming, the store is gleaming with yarns and all my antique stuff!!! I'm dreaming of a.....HELP ME!!! Wake me up from this nightmare!!! NO more boxes!!! I am getting quite creative with them though. NIghtstands, window seats, lampshades..litter boxes. Did I mention ovens, add a lightbulb and by supper time I can have a semi warm TV dinner. Only 7 more days till the opening!!! For my fiber friends that are being kept very busy with Susans Fiber retreat it will be the following weekend!! I wish I could be two places at once. OK so I am checking out the new Louet Victoria wheel....I want to try to spin on it. It fits in a back pack how cool is that? Not that I am hiking anywhere these days. Unless of course it's up and down the stairs. I am sitting in my recliner, with my feet up sipping a cup of Alterra fresh ground coffee and to my left squished in beside me and my laptop are the dog and cat, co-existing side by side, actually head to head.....peacefully....for now. "Joy to the World"!!!!!

My new Open House!!!

For those of you that are getting, switched over to my blog, I better update it!!! I have made the move to my new Store/Home. That does not mean that I have sold my house, so if anyone knows anyone that wants to buy my old house...please help me!!!! I still am not totally settled into the new place, nor moved totally out of the old place...but I am working on it!!!
December 2nd is the Opening day, with the Christmas Stroll in the Market Place. There will be Santa and Carolers and a String Quartet, games for the children and lots of Christmas Cheer!!! That is from 10-4. Then my big Christmas Open House will be December 9th, from 2:00-8:00pm. I will have music, and refreshments....door prizes and Good Cheer!!! I sure hope you can make one of the two events!!! I will have weekly hours to be announced...I know I will be closed on Mondays, no one here at the mall is open Monday. Please stop by!!!
I am located on Hwy 32& Puetz rd. in Oak Creek. My address is 8615 S. Market Place....I can't wait to see you all!!!!

St. Joseph and the Home sale

This is the day, the D-Day....I am signing for the closing on my new store. I am having the POD delivered and I asked for an afternoon delivery but I guess they didn't read the detail instructions and are delivering it between 7-10:am. Let them find it by themselves then. I had dreams last night that they put the POD next door by Bob the dog walker!!! I'm sure I have met him once and he will be thrilled to open his garage to a POD!! This sounds kind of eeiry?
So to St. Joseph...I buried a statue of St. Joseph in the front yard facing the house and had a good Catholic pray while I kind of giggled, thinking this was hypocracy at it's best. Well my theory was I buried St. Joe and 10 minutes later, I would be signing papers to sell my house. After he was deep sixed, it rained and that night I had a dream he was floating out of the ground and down the curb to the sewer. (too many horror movies) It has been two weeks since he was divinely put head first into the ground and I think he suffocated? He isn't doing his trick? Maybe I should go pour some coffee on the sight...a little wake up call? I will be up to my elbows in alligators for a while, so posting will be sparse.....but there will be moments of collapse, so keep in touch.

Fiber Withdrawl

I am sitting here having fiber withdrawl. I have my wheels looking at me, but no fiber, in a house that is full normally? I am about to start digging open boxes looking for some fiber. The cat is even staying away from me for fear I may start spinning his fur. I have been cooking up a storm....real dinners!! I'm talking beef roast, mashed potatoes, gravy and corn....I even baked a cake!!!!! I am drawing close to the closing and not a bid on my home yet? I have St. Joe buried in the front...I guess it has only been a week since we deep sixed him. That thar is a photo of Betty Voodoo felting some dreadlocks for Toy Boy!!!

Too funny!!

I don't know if it was that I was at a wedding, or that I was overcome by the fumes of alcohol. But this photo says it all...I look at it and just crack up. My son stood up for his best friends wedding, and it was so good to see all his friends in the wedding party. It made me cry a little to see the kids that used to run in and out of my house, all grown up. It's not that it makes me feel older, even though I am, it makes me think how fast time goes by. I don't know where the years went from then till now. I look at them and they are all late 20', 30ish, they were just high school kids a moment ago. I was spending Saturday's watching wrestling tournaments, Fridays were football games. Now I am watching them get married off, one by one and soon they will have kids of their own. They were certainly good kids, I never had problems with them. All of them funny, witty and to verify that, they stopped before the wedding at a Magic shop and had all sorts of goofy pranks including a spring loaded microphone to interview people with, an exploding bouquet of flowers, that popped up from a hand full of paper. It was a good time, speaking of time it sure goes by fast.

Missing?

Last time I saw Toy boy, he was head first in a knitting bag. His feet were sticking out with his new black loafers on? I think I saw the bag, hanging on a chair in my now defunct kitchen? Another male in my life, thrown aside, discarded with out a care? But Ken I do care!!! I just didn't need you at the moment, my joy was temporary. You were not being attentive, caring, not to mention, monagomous. Yes I saw the photos of you, leering at other woman, deep diving into the breassstttssss of another. Showing your "Treasure Trail" to unfamiliar females. And the touching...it just kept going on and on....!!! Meanwhile you grinned at me with that frozen smile of yours...daring me to make a comment. Taunting me with that "What are you going to do about it?" look.... And you expect me to care? You expect me to miss you? Well, it is that time of month again...no Toy boy, not that one, the one where I take you to the Fiber Fanatiks. Where you get handled and sometimes new clothes....you really are a whore. See, I miss you when I need you...at least for a good laugh!!!!

Sorry to say Toy boy may be in a box? Have you seen him?

Remember my sewing room??

I just thought I would show you just how much I have busted my butt!!! This is the sewing room...now the show room. I am putting packed boxes into it, against my will but, they have to go somewhere!!! The showing is Sunday and I have the Sewing room and Living room done. You could say I am behind schedule. But I do have 1/2 of my office done, 1/2 of my bedroom done....and the kitchen is a disaster. The basement is a total wreck...and so am I !!!! Calgon take me away!!!!

Speak like a Pirate!!!

Tomorrow is "Speak like a Pirate" day!!!! No it isn't mandatory, but it is kind of fun. Let loose you mangie mongrels and shiver yer timbers. Have a good day!!! News flash!!! I have an open house on Sunday!!!! This is going to be ugly this week. I have a list of stuff to do, and, and, I need another year!!! Maybe I have been watching "Sell this House" too much. I am just so excited about moving that I don't want "Not selling" to steal that thunder. But aaarrrrrrrgggggg, I am pulling up mi boots and grabbing the ship by the wheel. I will be ready and mi crib is gewn to sell. Remember to Speak like a pirate!!! I miss knitting...

Click on me!!! yes right here.

Check this out wenches!! Knit like a Pirate!!! Yer all know about Speak like a Pirate day...don't chew? Well September 19 is official Speak like a Pirate day with a link to Knit like a Pirate. Now mind you, I can't even think of picking up knitting needles, due to increased muscle mass in my upper arms from packing boxes. I would break metal sticks for knitting at this stage of the game. I have also made my knee go into spasms from trying to carry too much at one time, because why make two trips when you can carry it all in one and kill yourself....no need taking all the crap off of the stairway walls when you can wipe it out, carrying two huge garbage bags of yarn, fiber, yarn, and more yarn and fiber. I want to play, I miss playing. I want to knit a black wool hat for a Soldier, I want to knit a pirate bag...for speak like a pirate day. When in reality all I can do is pack schtinking boxes, and speak pirate, in a week...Oh and I have a wonderful story about dog hair, being in the last place you can think of...no kidding

This is how I go, when I go like this...

When ever I go anywhere and it isn't hot out, or freezing, this is my co-pilot. She is intent to see where I am going and how I am driving. She is great company. I have some photos of my stalking victims ex home. In the honor of privacy I am not putting them on the Internet. But now I can stalk them from the privacy of my own living room. They have impeccable taste and I found out the colors I have been bouncing around in my head, for the living room is actually the color they have painted!!! Ha!!! Anne, I won't have to paint!!!!! Also Peggy, is a watercolor artist and I have been ogling her work, she gave me a painting of some red hot chili peppers for a house warming present. How cool is that? I am putting them in my kitchen. I didn't box anything tonight...I was a slacker...besides it was Cheryls birthday so we went out for dinner. I will hit it hard again tomorrow....after work!!!

This is what you can find!!

There are many, many acronyms for cleaning. I think they are SPACE, CLUTTER, STOP, DROP and ROLL all the crap up and wiggle your nose and maybe it will go away. So in taking a break....me mum, did some modeling. Yaaa Vooolllll mum!!!! It's a funny thing, my mom sits in judgement, overlooking each box that is getting stacked up. She has this way of letting you know she "can't believe, all the things you have?" Where do you have all this STUFF? After unpacking this sewing room, to pack it up. I am, myself in amazement on the amount of items one can have in a 9x12 room? I never thought of myself as a good packer, but I must be. To have 400 boxes come from one room, and still be able to move, maybe my mom thinks I'm Houdini. On the other hand, my mom has clothes she wore when they used to go to cocktail parties. She is saving this for some reason and maybe she isn't telling us? As a family we don't want to open any of her closets, she probably still has her first communion dress somewhere. So let this be a lesson to me. It's easy to sit and watch someone haul box after box of crap out of a small room, but be careful of what is behind your own closed door.

Calgon take me away!!!

What the hell was I thinking? How did I think this would get moved from on place to another? Moving fairies? Little elves that come in the night and pack and dust meanwhile I'm dreaming of my new little shop? I already have plans for my sign!!! The boxes in that photo are nothing!!! I have more in my living room, and upstairs. The realtor lady said just get it ready to show! I have to move to do that. I have a system worked out...3 boxes, 1 garbage, 1 goodwill, 1 move. So now I have to run to Goodwill to get rid of a bunch of bags. Not even a dent.....I can see a wall in my sewing room...a wall that I will have to paint in order to sell....so see Annie, I still have to paint. Thank God the weather is holding out, it is cool and I am working up a sweat. I have polished off two pots of coffee and have the shakes. My phone is ringing but I can't find it. Peggy and Bruce, oh yeah, I am on first name basis with the condo owners I bought it from. I am sure they have me pegged as a stalker. Peggy did catch me outside the window taking photos? They get a reprieve from me this weekend they are out of town. They probably have the neighbors keeping an eye out for me. I rented a POD, which is coming Tuesday so anyone interested in lugging boxes, I get home by 4:00pm. Actually my son is coming to help move the looms. I told him, he should consider helping me a whole bunch because this will insure he won't have to do as much when I croak!!!! Well my break is over, back to packing.

I can't contain my excitement

Through a series of unfortunate events, I have a dream come true. I am the proud owner of a little shop/condo, in a quaint little 1880's replica village. It has a bunch of little retail shops, and living quarters above them. I have drooled over this little village for many years, thinking it was an ever elusive dream. By a series of fortunate events, I happened to see an ad in the paper by owner and bid on it and it will be mine in October. My head is swirling!!! Now I have the undaunting task of cleaning the crap out of my house...18 years of it. I have to wear a mask with all the dust I am removing....oh excuse me the "Protective coating"
I have boxes all through my house one in each room and garbage bags one for Good will and one for garbage, the boxes are for packing. I have one box packed and now I don't know where to put it? When I look around I don't know what I packed? I need some chocolate!!!

Stonewood Village show

This is how my booth looked last year. It was 90' in the shade and I of course was sweating like a horse. You know when people say "I sweat like a pig?" Pigs don't sweat.?..now horses really sweat and need to be cooled down, I can relate. So now my story goes like this, it is too humid for muffin here to set up and sit in a booth all day. Needless to say I had to cancel the show and stay home, I am grounded. So I am playing beautician and coloring, highlighting and cutting my hair today!! That's one of my favorite boredom pass times. Now for the real story, my sister asked if I was taking mom along to the show today with me? Uhmmm...she said it would be nice so if you have to go to the bathroom or walk around mom can watch your booth.....hhhhhhmmmmmmm. That would be a "NO!!!!!" One time I took her and she was explaining to the people just how expensive my things were....not good. The last, and I mean very last time, because sometimes we never learn. I was at a very elite show, with very wealthy, shoppers. A very nice woman was making a purchase of a turquise neckscarf, but fondling it at the counter. Dear mom says "Isn't that a beautiful color?" Ok that was good....the lady replies "It's my favorite!" As I take the scarf to wrap it up, mom pipes up with a little story....I had a work out suit that color and I told my friends it was my POLISH (that is not what you do to your nails!!! It is a country in Europe!!!!!) workout suit!!!! The lady looked at mom as I was crawling under the table and said "I am Polish!" I gave my mom, one of those...looks...you give a very bad child...kind of like...I am going to KILL you!!! She looks at me with total surprise and says..."Whaaaaaatttt???????"
What did I do?" I kindly told that lady to please excuse my mom, but I just took her out of the HOME, and I couldn't get a sitter. The lady gently nodded and smiled, paid for her scarf and left.... last time she came along!!!

Joeys wanna be!!

My little fur niece, is very standoffish, but.....she loves Joey. So whatever Joey does, she does. If Joey sits on my lap, as soon as she leaves up comes my niece Maggie, and sits just like Joey and lets me touch her and pet her...a rare occurance. So I had to show this photo, as Maggie sets on my lap and gloats over Joey!!! I have another one showing her red collar for proof, but it looked more like I was restraining her. I am off tomorrow so I am going to go make myself a cappacchino and stay up late!!!