Kreativ Blogger Award

I received this blog award from http://christiecottage.blogspot.com/

The rules for accepting this award are:

1) Copy the award and post it on your blog.

2) Thank the person that gave it to you and link to their blog.

3) Write 7 things about yourself we don't know.

4) Choose 7 other bloggers to pass the award to.

5) Link to those 7 other bloggers.

6) Notify your 7 bloggers.

Ok so here goes:

I passed this award on to:

http://moeart.blogspot.com/

http://jdfootloose.blogspot.com/

http://oldsoulphoto.blogspot.com/

http://kayzkreationz.blogspot.com/

http://aneedleinthehaystack-debbie.blogspot.com/

http://feliciakramer.blogspot.com/

http://2goodclaymates.blogspot.com/

Please be sure and visit these blogs where you'll find their shop links.

Here goes 7 things you probably don't know about me:

1. I am a role playing video game junkie-Morrowind, Oblivion, and Fable are my favs (and although I rarely have time to play them anymore, I will beg the hubster to play them while I fall asleep at night)

2. Mostly I eat with chopsticks; I love the challenge!

3. My favorite places to be are at the beach, the woods and the desert. I'm sure that heaven has figured out a way to combine all three for me!

4. I like learning about things paranormal- since nothing about my life has been normal.

5. I love trying weird foods; I'm pretty sure I could keep up with Andrew Zimmern.

6. I'm obsessive about my hair-it's a Leo rising thing- I cannot/will not leave the house with my mane askew.

7. I lived homeless for 7 years, and oh the stories I could tell....

So there you have it, more factoids about me....had you guessed any of them already?

XOXOXOXOXO,

Cindi

Are there ever enough hours in the day?

I know it has been forever since I last posted here...so here goes:

I got a full time permanent job! I am glad that I got the job; but I am also wondering how in the heck I am going to be able to keep up with everything?

I got the job with a trucking company, and the best way I can describe it is this-they were about to go belly up and a 'restructuring company' came in and took over the finances and saved it from bankruptcy. The gal who is playing office manger needed help, so I was hired. As soon as all the finances are all straightened out, she will be leaving and I will be the office manager. She wants to be done in 3 months or so, and I am happy to not have all the responsibility of figuring out the financial messes they have.

I am still writing for HandMade News, although there doesn't seem to be anyone else writing in the Featured Artisan Dept. I was going to resign; but my resignation emails all bounced back to me(no longer valid emails)...and since I am still getting interviews back from people, I figure it must be a sign to keep going as long as I can.

The hubster's garden kept the neighborhood in tomatoes, squash, and zucchinis all summer. I have the last of the pepper harvest to pickle... of course I keep saying that, but the peppers just keep growing and going, even through the freezes we've had...unbelievable! Even last night, more freezing temps, but the peppers are still standing tall! And the carrots are still going strong, too.

As for the hubster's health-the cancer/organ donor meds the Dr. had him on (Cytoxan) began giving him brown spots (like birth marks) on his back and they grew bigger(like HUGE) and began spreading around to his tummy...also began to make his bladder burn and hurt. So he stopped taking the meds a few days ago. His breathing has been easier since, the brown spots are beginning to fade, and he no longer has pain in the bladder. Of course, the meds have killed his immune system so badly that he now had rhuematoid arthritus pretty bad. To which they recommend a RA specialist...what a racket, huh?

He has decided to start going back to our acupressurist (I call him 'House', because he can fix anything) and taking whole food supplements. This guy 'House' cured hubby of acid reflux/gerd simply by putting his body back in ph balance...huh, who would've thunk? So in a couple of weeks we have an appointment with an RA specialist( we are expecting RA Dr. to tell us that hubster has rhuematoid lung) and the next day we go to the acupressurist, House.

On a brighter note I won a blog contest that I entered awhile back and here is what I won from DZFantasy. She has the cutest fairies ever! They are all

soft sculpture and she has all different colors; some with specialty fabrics and all are absolutely gorgeous. I have been lusting after one of these for almost a year, and I had actually forgotten that I had entered her contest! DZFantasy has monthly drawings on her blog. Check out her Etsy shop

I think that pretty much brings you all up to date. Next post, I will show you a salsa bowl I made, and it is hot, I tell ya :D

Take care everyone, and until next time...

XOXOXOXOX

Cindi

I've Been Hiding Out

I haven't posted for over a week now...did you miss me? ...I've been hiding out and giving myself some time to think...

I have spent alot of time writing for HandMade News these past months. I was so elated when I got the job writing. I figured I had found work I could do from home and still be here to take care of the hubster. (update on him, in a few) The trouble is, that it hasn't been a paying job....at all. Word has come down the pipeline that it will now be a non-paying job for the forseeable future. I have stopped sending out interviews now and will only submit til I run out of the ones I have in reserve.

As much as I love to promote other people, I need to be able to make $. So, I will be focusing my efforts on my shops and concentrating on getting them stocked for the holidays.

Now on to the hubster's health-We had a check up at the pulmonologist this week and his breathing is still the same-about 1/4 breathing capacity. It appears the heavy doses of Cytoxan have slowed the disease's progress; nothing new on the x-rays, and blood tests are ok so far . So, I have nothing new to report-he has good days and bad days...and I have found a whole new level of patience ;)

I've been slooooowly, but surely, getting my studio cleaned up. I promised my Guildmaster that I would do a studio walk through. So, I found a few things hiding this week that I had forgotten about. Here they are:

While cleaning, I have found some supplies that I had completely forgotten about, and also some extras that I want to destash. Look for those to be listed soon.

Our weather here took a turn towards winter for a few days and we had our first freeze last night. We covered our garden hoping to extend it's life til it warms back up. The tomatoes still froze even though wrapped and covered. The squash, zucchini, and peppers are still going. So we covered them again tonight as we prepare for the 2nd freeze. This is the first time we are attempting to do this. I'll let you know if it is successful.

Til next time, I'll be pickling peppers amongst other things :D

Just Another Manic Monday

Well, this morning, I was just getting ready to go pick peppers (me and peter piper) and I get a call asking me if I can come to an interview this afternoon for a full time permanent job. Yay!

So, forget the peppers, I throw all my laundry in the washer and get ready for the phone call to tell me what time to be at the interview. Laundry gets done, peppers do not :(
And I got no second phone call telling me what time to be at the interview...

By the time I could safely say that I wasn't getting a call today, it began to storm. And no peck of peppers got picked or pickled. Grrrr

Just another manic monday....

I got Featured!

Yes I got featured, but that's later....I simply just can't believe how fast the time is flying! It's already half way through September! Our garden has really begun to produce, and even though this garden is tiny compared to years past we still have more than we can eat. We have made several trips to our neighbors unloading tomatoes and zucchini and yellow squash.
This week I canned/pickled sliced jalapenos and cherry hots and froze 4 quarts of roasted and peeled anaheim chiles. I also made a batch of chocolate chocolate chip coconut zucchini bread(not a misprint-it IS double chocolate!) and Mr. Clay and I had fun delivering our 'dessert' bread. Maybe I should give you all the recipe. If you'd like it, leave me a comment and I'll get it on a future post.

Sorry, the pictures Mr. Clay took of the garden highlight his tractor more than his garden:

I will get some better shots tomorrow morning when I harvest another bucketful anaheim chiles.

Other than the garden stuff, I've been real busy this week writing. An article that I submitted to HandMade News a loooooong time ago was published in between my regular column days. And it just so happens that the article is a polymer clay mosaic project I did. (I'd post a picture, but they are with the article.)

So I had three articles publish at the end of this week. Thurs, Fri. & Sat I have been busy promoting them. And one of them got the highest votes of any article in our section! Way to go Christie...she sent the word out to a gazillion peeps and she has the most votes.

I have now written 17 articles and 9 of them are on the top articles list. Thank you everyone for all the thumbs up votes. I really appreciate it.

So my articles this week were:

Sarah of BellaSweet who loves to work in gemstones

Christie of ChristieCottage who has varied artistic interests

And saving the best for last..ME ! :P My Mosaic Planter It's really a cool planter ;)

As always, I would appreciate a thumbs up vote (at the bottom of the article just above the comments section)


Until next time, have a great week!
XOXOXO
Cindi