The Goddess.. Or I Must Be Crazy

Today starts my sale. My super duper no holds barred, finally try to get rid of all the scrapbooking stuff from my shop sale. I am a bit freaked out. I had held on to a slim hope of reopening my store with this stock. But in a few short months it will be two years since I have closed and stock gets stale and worn. If I have any hope of getting any of my money out it of I need to try and have a sale now. It is hard to let go, though. Hard to see your dream die. I need to move on to new dreams now. What they are I have no idea. I need to work on that I guess. I will, just as soon as I get this dang shoulder fixed. At least I still have the faires and my sewing. I did love scrapbooking though. I loved having a store too. I know I will again, but it is not going to be now. So if you are in the area and looking for a great bargain in scrapbooking or papercrafting supplies, look me up! I will be the one sitting in her yard with her head in the clouds.

Scrapbook Yard Sale
12579 Sugar St
Boron, CA 93516
760-608-1422

I've been Bitched!

Imagine my surprise to find out that Etsy Bitch liked one of my comments enough to quote it on their front page! Yes, I have been bitched about! The Etsy Bitch blog says what we all want to say about Etsy and have not been able to out of fear. These ladies and one guy are ballsy and let Etsy have it in the chops. If you haven't read it yet I highly recommend it and offer up this link.


This is the link to the comment: Quotable Quotes

I also found out I can use this cute graphic if I want too. Isn't it adorable? It is for people who have been banned or muted in the forums. I was muted by Danielle when she was running riot in the forums and was unmuted by Matt himself and given an apology. He is a seriously nice guy and what a headache Etsy must be giving him.


Too cool huh?

A Cause To Sing About

One of my favourite bands has ceased to exist, technically. I have adored The Actual ever since I heard them play at Warp Tour in San Diego 2005. They were old school and had a sound that I loved. I played the demo CD I got at the concert until they released their In Stitches CD. I loved all the songs and waited for more. But there wasn't anymore. They disbanded at the end of 2007 and the members have all moved on. I just found out though that there is a new group, Max and the Marginalized with the same sound as The Actual, since it seems to be the lead singer that started it. They have a political message and all their songs are free for download. What a cool concept! I am a political kind of gal so this type of music is right up my alley, can we say Midnight Oil? So here is a the widget to their site. Enjoy!

A River Runs Through...... My Booth?

So I am back from War and what a War it was! Friday set up was a nightmare. We got there early hoping to beat the rain. There had been tornadoes, yes tornadoes in Southern California, on Thursday and the weather reports said the conditions were ripe for more of the same for Friday so to say we were worried was an understatement. So we hurried and about halfway through the heavens let loose. Here is a link to the video I took of the inside of my booth.
Video
Are we having fun yet? NO!!!
Saturday was not much better in term of weather, but we are SCA, are we going to let a little thing like water get us down? Definitely not. People were out in droves and they were buying in droves. I have amazing sales and made new friends and had a wonderful time all while shivering so much I nearly came down with hypothermia! Thank god medieval and renaissance clothing consists of wool and multiple layers!



I sold many wool Irish dresses and one of my customers kindly posed for this picture. Doesn't she look amazing!

Then the gods took pity on us and Sunday we had glimmers of sun. It almost got warm. Notice I said almost? I am sure it would have been considered a fine Summer Day in Elizabethan England. They were in the middle of a Little Ice Age at that time! All in all it was quite the experience. You can click on my Facebook link on the right to see more videos that I took, we did manage to have fun, I swear we did!

I am looking forward to warm weather now. I promise not to complain when I am sweating in my garb, I cross my heart and hope to die!

Remembering..... WAR!

Next week is coming up fast. So fast I am almost breathless! It is WAR! Yes, time for Potrero War again. I am not ready, I am soooo not ready! I have too much to still sew and there are things to be packed and orders to be finished and, oh my. I am NOT READY! So I am sitting here remembering the years gone past when I was not ready for War and how great it all turned out.



Here is Chloe at a War gone past, eating her handchurned ice cream!

I have been doing this War since 1996 and it is a homecoming to us. A place where my kids have grown up almost. Tarah was only 6 when we started doing this event and now she is 18. The other merchants are my friends and we have had the same spot the whole time so my customers know where to find me. I guess Potrero is the one event I would mourn the loss of like I would an old friend if it ever folded. It means more than a place to make money, it means family, and memories to us.



Alex and Ian tied to a tree by the side of my booth by Tarah and her friends in 2005 at Potrero.



Moiren, my youngest granddaughter from last year.

On the Wings Of Faeries

So we went to Tulare. Yes this is a wonderful faire for us. We did not vend there this time, but we still had fun. We brought our granddaughter as we usually do. She is of that special species, the "faire brat". Now that may sound like a derogatory term, but to those of us who do faires it is anything such. Faires brats are those children born and raised to the Renaissance Faire life. She is such as was her mother before her.
She goes to most events with us and charms everyone she meets. There is something fae about her look. Almost as if the faeries left a changeling child here for us to raise. I love her dearly. I remember one clear Potrero night as the gypsies played their music how she danced in front of our booth. She was only three, but her rhythm and grace was spellbinding. Soon we will be going back to Potrero again. I can't wait to hear the music and to see her dance. She will be wearing her faerie wings!

When it Rains it Pours

So faire season is in full swing and the sewing is too. I have been working on my website as well. It seems there is a never ending list of things to do between family and work. I did manage to get new pictures taken of some of the new items I made. I think they turned out pretty nice! Tarah was the model this time and she did a wonderful job. I also put a shop on my facebook page along with a nice little slide show. It is looking really spiffy. I will have to make sure I add a button with a link here so everyone can check it out. New pictures taken at Tulare Renaissance Festival and a video were added too. The video is pretty silly. My husband is not the greatest when it comes to cinematography!

So life is continuing on under the onslaught of orders and now I must get back to that dreaded machine. People count on me for their costuming needs! Just make sure I get out for a little fresh air and sunlight now and then will ya?

Working Hard Or Hardly Working?

So the party is over and the house is settling down a bit. I have sewing to do which is good, but trying to juggle working at home and taking care of the house and the teenagers is starting to drive me crazy. You would think that they could clean up after themselves, right? After all they are adults, or nearly so. Yeah, think again. I spend most of the day redoing their chores that they gave a half-assed attempt at and then I am exhausted, but I still need to attend to MY business! It was easy when I had my store. I could just leave in the morning and close the door on all the mess and clutter and not have to deal with it until I came home in the evening. Not so now. If I want to get any work done I have to clean first or there is no way I can sew. The mess stares me in the face. It mocks me at every turn. I have to sew in the dining room at the present and that is the worse mess spot. I am at my wits end some days when they leave it in an especially awful state. And to hear them talk to their friends they act as if THEY slave at home doing all the cleaning. I watched one child wipe a counter missing all the crumbs and not lifting a single appliance to wipe under it. Yeah, that was slaving in the kitchen for her.
So here I am not able to work on my business as I should, which is really important to me and to the financial stability of our household right now, because I live with slobs. Slobs who really could care less, I might add unless they want me to buy them something. Looks like the purse strings are going to be knotted closed for a while.

Whoever Said It Was Going To Be Easy Gets A Punch In The Eye

Tomorrow is my daughter's birthday party. She will be 18. Yes, technically an adult, but far from mature. Far be it from me to impart any pearls of wisdom to this child though because honey, she knows it all! I am so out of it I may as well be in outer space. Soon she will be thrust out upon an unsuspecting world and I cringe for both of them. She has moxie, that I'll give her. Intelligence too so hopefully she will swim and not sink in this dog eat dog world. In a way I sort of worry about the world and that she may just end up taking it down a notch. Did I tell ya she has moxie? Sigh. But she is my baby and she will be leaving me soon. She will be off to live her own life and she will not rely upon me anymore. My heart hurts a bit at the thought. I look through pictures of that little girl with the blonde hair and remember how she followed me everywhere and always looked up to me. She now dyes her hair black and has a lip piercing (shudder). She now chooses her own path. And I have to let her. I never thought this would be so hard.

Brushing Off the Dust

After a long illness I am brushing the dust off my blog and attempting to start it up again. I can't promise that it will be overly witty or pity, but I will try my best to be at least semi-sporadic. Is that good enough? Too bad, that is what you will get. (grin) I have three teenagers and a husband who might as well be one, 14 cats and three dogs. What do you expect from me? The Great American novel? Not going to get it. This is as good as it gets guys and that is not saying much. Now move over while I sweep up the cat hair, brew up a fresh pot of coffee and get comfortable. I feel the urge to sit a spell.