Mac'd

Lemme just say R is good to me. Like, spoil me rotten good sometimes (uh, but don't tell him that). My old ASUS laptop has been in the repair shop for nearly a month now, and I have been pretty much computer-less since then, save for a few sleeting moments on a borrowed laptop, or what few I sites I can access on my smartphone (thank goodness for that smart phone!).

Today, though, I have my computer-ly-ness restored, with a brand spankin' new Macbook courtesy of R. Seriously, he spoils the heck outta me, and I'm not gonna complain! Now, pardon me while I play.

No End in Sight

Lemme just say to you productive bloggers out there: Where do you get the energy? With all the blogging, amazing projects, holiday madness, and having a real life n all...seriously, how do you people sleep?

Still having hinky computer issues, and I'm lazy so check out the post about it on the official jewelry blog:http://bluedartdesigns.blogspot.com/2011/12/no-end-in-sight.html

Hoping to be back in business within a couple of weeks, woohoo! Happy New Year folks!

Computer issues (AGAIN!)

(For those of you who follow both my blogs, I apologize for the double post in your streams!)


A quick note (using an old rickety laptop with a usb keyboard since the laptop is missing half its keys) to mention computer issues....again. My laptop crashed for no apparent reason, and R's laptop (same model as mine) is also broken-the power pin ripped out when he unplugged it. Awesome. Mine had that problem on three separate occasions. We are not happy campers, and plan on raising a fuss to have the laptops returned and our money refunded. We bought the laptops in April of this year, and this will be the 4th time mine is going in for "repair." It wouldn't be so bad if the customer service rep didn't try to tell us it's our fault every time. "Oh, your power pin snapped off? You'll be charged for that!"

Apparently, one is never ever ever supposed to unplug a latptop. Ever.

Crankypants.
If R's desktop (from the same company as the laptops) hadn't crashed a few months back, this would be slightly less of a crummy situation. He's only had the desktop for a couple of years, and it's DOA. Guess who we're never buying computers from again? These guys! Ranty blog regarding how crappy this company is, coming soon! When I have a better functioning computer to use, that is....

If only MAC's weren't so expensive, and could run our sizeable collection of games & software without needing to shell out even more $ for software compatibility programs.

Fortunately, I have a smart phone and can at least access email (though, sadly, not Etsy at the moment) so I can keep up with any sales and mail out packages quickly. Just no fancy pants printed invoices at the moment. Grumble!

So Close

I feel like a neurotic Jack Russel Terrier hyped up on caffeine pills! Yes, that anxious. And, yes, I relate most things in life to dogs. You should know better.

My love is coming home SOON! So soon. Not soon enough, but, I'll take what I can get. This week has been a flurry of activity! Cleaning, chasing dogs down for baths/grooming, trying to stop said dogs from rolling in dirt, getting the car serviced, personal spiffing up, etc etc I am one lazy housekeeper if nobody's around, apparently.

An amazing WONDERFUL neighbor that I wanna hug until her eyes pop (in the happy, cartoon way of course) came by yesterday to help out with a few things, and I ended up monopolizing her whole day with car issues. Thank goodness for Sears Auto, lemme tell you. The dealership wanted $180 to replace the car battery. Before tax. I dun think so. Sears saved me a lovely little hunk of change which will go straight to the "beer n pizza dinner night" fund. Ok, I lie. It'll probably go towards the dogs...but, still! That's a lot of treats.

Now that I have the official date & time for his arrival, it just can't get here fast enough. I'm nearly finished with my to-do list, and the rest of my time will be taken up with obsessively detailed cleaning, trying to vacuum off a dog (hey, YOU try living with a Husky in Texas!), and/or playing computer games to pass the time. Oh, and planning the short-notice Thanksgiving dinner for 15 ish people. Wooohoooo! Good thing I like cooking :)

Bah Humbug

Halloween is my favorite holiday (next to my birthday). I have never skipped a year of dressing up and being a little ridiculous. Until now. I just don't have the energy, or the inclination. Of course it doesn't help that the 4 people I know in the state already have out-of-town plans, or are too busy to celebrate, and the fiancee is all deployed n stuff. So, bahhumbug! I barely put up some half-assed decorations this year (though I did score a pretty sweeeeeet entry mat from target!).

It's glittery and has rats...how could I resist?

I don't even have the excuse of handing out candy, to dress up. Without a large, strong metal gate blocking off the entryway, there is no chance I could keep the beasts from barreling towards the door and barking their heads off every time the doorbell rang. By the time I would be able to usher them into a room and answer the door, the poor kids would probably have fled.  

Which, I'm ok with. Past experiences of handing out candy show that kids are rude little monsters. A few times they've tried stealing the candy bowl from me! 

Which reminds me...I should probably bring that awesome mat in before tonight.....

Happy Halloween, folks!

Crafty bits

I admit, I'm a little wedding-obsessed. Instead of focusing in on the dress though, I'm all about the decor. I'm also a little too cheap to pony-up and by the schmancy pre-made stuff. So, in a fit of madness and mostly boredom, I started in on way too many projects. One of which has great results, but is taking forever. I am not a patient person, so it's slow going on this right now. I also kinda suck at taking photos of the whole process...my bad.

Materials:
Fine grit sandpaper
Container (Glass votive, old drinking cup, etc)
Sticks of varying length & width
Glue gun & several glue sticks
Branch snippers


Start with a container. In this case, I'm using a cheapy paint can. It was used as a flower pot in a previous life...

Grab some fine grit sand paper and give your container a once-over with it. If using glass, skip this step. Whatever you use, make sure you give it a good wash & thorough dry before hand.

Warm up the glue gun! I like to use sticks about an inch longer than the container itself. Make sure the bottom of your sticks are cut level with the ground, then go wild! I'm using dried branches from the sunflower jungle I finally cut down. 

Grab a stick, then look at where the stick meets the container, and put a dab of glue on the top & bottom of the container to secure. When placing the following sticks, put dabs of glue along the sides as well as the top & bottom. Hold in place until fairly secure and move on. 

It should like zis.

There comes a time when you may find yourself with a gap, like so.

Grab a wonky little bit of branch, and snip the top at an angle to match up with the gap.

Glue in place, like zis. 

Then cut to length, like zis!

You may notice the sticks tend to lean after awhile. You can fix this by going around and gluing them straight up and filling the gaps in later, like above, or just go with it. 

Which is what I did below...

Did I mention I was bored, and a little crazy? Yup.

Continue until it's covered all around with those larger sticks, then go back over it and fill in the gaps with the smaller bits left over from trimming. If you have a lot of stringy bits left over from the glue, take a hair dryer set on "high" for a quick blast to melt 'em away.

Yep, it's a little tedious if you're a fan of quick results. But, the results are pretty killer. So far I've stuck-it to a tea light holder, plastic nursery pot, and a little olive jar. I'm pretty stoked on how these are turning out, especially the plastic nursery pots! Our recycling center doesn't accept the recyclable pots (uhm, cuz that makes sense), so I have an ever growing collection if these babies just hanging out. The vague plan in my head is to eventually cover all those babies, and have a prettified stash of container we can use for the wedding and beyond. 

Fundraiser goodness

As I mentioned in a previous post, I'm holding a fundraiser via crowdrise for my birthday. Rather, using my birthday as an excuse to raise money for The Nature Conservancy.

So far, I managed to raise $90 of my $200 goal! 45% of the way there, folks! Thank you, again, if you're one of the three awesome folks to have already donated!

I admit I'm pretty bad at pushing myself out there-I don't want to be annoying with all the "HEY! Donate! NOWWWWW!!!!!!"

I do totally want you to donate, though. Pretty please? I don't want to be annoying, I really don't. All the money goes to a GREAT cause, and it's tax-deductible! Hey, if I can get 22 people to donate JUST five dollars, I would meet my goal! Awesome, right? It's all really easy, too. Just follow the crowdrise link to go directly to the donation page. A great quirk of crowdrise, is the writing is a little snarky. I like snarky.
It's just a few simple clicks to donate any amount ya want. Want to find out more about The Nature Conservancy?
Here's their home page. 

For followers of either of my blogs (and anyone you refer!) there's an extra incentive to donate! Anyone who donates any amount of five dollars or more to the fundraiser will receive a coupon for free shipping on orders from my etsy shop. $20 donations also receive a coupon for 10% off your entire purchase! $40 donations will receive free shipping, 10% discounts and a free pair of beaded earrings in your choice of colors! $50 and up gets all the previously mentioned goodies, plus custom earrings from a selection of styles, and a whole bunch of yet-to-be-determined goodies, depending on interest and preferences... If you like cookies, there's a darn good chance I'll make some for you.

Want to "join the team" and help promote the fundraiser further? You can do that! Check out the donation page for more info. I like teams, teams are fun. Hop on board the fundraiser-wagon, and we can raise even more for TNC! And I'll even let you think it was all your idea. Promise.

Just comment on this post after donating, to get the goodies rolling. If you'd rather not make a fuss on the webz about your donation, go ahead and drop me an email instead. Don't forget to share this post with friends! The more you refer, the more treats I'll send your way. I'm already stockpiling them. So, go go go!!