Happy Thanksgiving &Hubby’s Handicrafts
Happy thanksgiving! We have the house clean, got six pies made, have the turkey almost done precooking (I cook it most of the way the day before then I don’t have the problem of it not being done in time the next day) and…. And with the weather forecasts everyone has cancelled. Boo. So it will be the five of us, plus I think my aunt and uncle who live literally three houses up from us. But that’s okay. Well have enough pie for seconds. And thirds. And maybe fourths.
One good thing about us hosting a holiday is I can finally get hubby moving on things that need done. He built the bathroom basket storage tower:
Finished and installed the kitchen cubby.
And then knocked me out some little pie shelves so we could stack everything in the fridge.
It may be crazy but I am in love with the little pie shelves and plan to paint them and use them again and again. They are so friggin cool.
Anyway, not much else. We finally got something for that blank wall in the bathroom:
It’s from Hobby Lobby. There was a wreath there I really wanted, and may get if they still have it later.
Also the brother and I moved shelves in the fridge so that the tiny stupid shelf is now at eye level.
Before it was the bottom shelf above the drawers and no one could see what was there and stuff went bad. I’ve always hated it and then I had this aha moment where I realized it’s OUR fridge, not a landlord’s, and we can adjust it. Holy smokes. It’s sad how renting for 16 years engrains things in you.
And now I must pull the turkey out and pop it in the fridge, then it’s bed for me. The deep house cleaning had worn me out.
Have a good one!
Jo 🙂
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How I Ended Up in Villisca
Kay Kauffman had an awesome – and creative – post on her blog that gave the “directions of her life” to tell you how to follow the path she took to end up where she is. I liked that post. In fact I liked it so much that I am stealing the idea. Enjoy.
- Start at the Methodist Hospital in Omaha in the sick baby ward because your mom is sick. As the only healthy baby in the ward make so many friends that the nurses cry when you leave.
- Go home with said mother and father to Shenandoah. Get a little brother. Learn your ABCs and how to draw noses.
- Move to the outskirts of Coin on a dead end road. Lose your cable and all your favorite TV shows (like Battle of the Planets). Go to a consolidated school. Make a best friend. Watch her house burn down and then watch her move away. Repeat this every year (sans the house fire), for seven years. Become known as “the girl who can draw”.
- Become best friends with a girl you have ridden the bus with for six years. Though you don’t know it, you will still be friends with her years from now. Have some crushes, none of which pan out. Write your first “book” and follow it up with seven more that only three people ever read.
- Wear combat boots and flannel and learn to be really sarcastic. Take lots of art classes and go driving around until all hours of the night. Be encouraged by your awesome Creative Writing teacher.
- Visit Mt. Pleasant with mother, but stay with father in Coin. Finally get a boyfriend. Break up. Have girly sleepovers. Go cruising at midnight. End up at Junior prom with a guy in his twenties. Start smoking. Start drinking. Get new boyfriend from Omaha (also in his twenties, but at least younger). Start your “masterpiece” novel.
- Finally move to Mt. Pleasant for your senior year because you “know you are supposed to”. Discover that it is like living on a TV show and that no one KNOWS you. Shed the “girl who can draw” label and make new friends. Get a boyfriend. Meet his much better looking friend who you “know” you should date, but still take several months to get him to figure out that you like him. Hang out at the square, throw ice at cars, play CB tag in the freezing cold.
- Graduate. Skip college. Get a job. Move in with the hot friend/boyfriend. Almost set first apartment on fire with a good luck candle. Get a new job. Get pregnant. Miscarry. Get engaged at a Halloween party. Finish “masterpiece novel” which you later realize is horrible. Move to bigger apartment. Enjoy the biggest, best kitchen you will ever have. Get married. Hang out with crazy friends. Enjoy having company at all hours. Buy your first computer.
- Visit Fair Play, Missouri to meet hubby’s estranged father. Realize that you are “supposed to” move there. Pack everything you own. Take twelve hours to drive the six hour trip, and arrive to find that the house you rented was trashed by the people who were supposed to clean it. Swear never to move long distance again. Learn to use Paint Shop Pro. Get online for the first time. Make your first website. Get cat.
- Have landlord sell house out from under you. Move to a three room apartment outside of Bolivar. Get another cat. Let your writing and drawing fall off except for computer art.
- Start going to Iowa to stay with the mother. Hop back and forth so much you’re not even sure who gets to claim you on taxes. Play Roller-coaster tycoon. Finally get mom to move in with brother.
- Make friends in Bolivar. Spend lots of time at their house. Get another cat. Have mom and brother move nearby. Enjoy family time, though father refuses to move to Missouri. Barely get on computer.
- Discover Yahoo groups. Join a paper doll group and start drawing again. Make friends in the Harry Potter group. Start writing again so you can join the RP thread with the “cool kids”. Help your mom get disability. Become computer addicted.
- Discover NaNoWriMo. Write a vampire novel. Join MySpace. Start blogging. Get diagnosed with Sjogrens. Go to Virginia on vacation. Have a friend offer to edit vampire novel. Edit. Edit. Edit. Query Agents. Get turned down. Have another friend talk you into self publishing. Get scared. Research a lot. Finally dive in. Answer Mark Coker’s call for book cover artists.
- Write a second book. And a third. And a fourth. Make lots of book covers for people. Go through cats. Get a couple of dogs. Say goodbye to your father in-law. Write another book. Realize you have been in your apartment for twelve years. Discuss buying a house. Get refused for a loan. Have your water heater explode and get “kicked out” while your landlords redo the place. Find a better apartment in Bolivar and move in your mom and brother. Look for a house to buy together. Write another book. Say goodbye to your mother-in-law. Find a super cheap house in Villisca, Iowa. Buy with inheritance and brother’s settlement money.
- Move to new house. Start learning DIY. Finally start NOT killing plants. Try to juggle renovations, book covers, writing, cleaning, and family. Get frustrated a lot. Hang out with best friend from #5. Rediscover the joy of cornfields and small towns. Celebrate sixteen years married to that hot friend from Mt. Pleasant. Start writing another book. Never forget that you are blessed in a million, billion ways. Bore people with a long winded blog.
I think that about covers it. I tried to leave out all the missteps and wrong turns because I wanted to save you time (It will already take you almost thirty-six years to do all of this), but then again it’s the mistakes that make us who we are.
So where did you end up in life, and what would the directions to follow in your footsteps look like?
Laptop is back
The windows update loop has been vanquished – for now. I’m worried it will do it the next time it updates, but we’ll see.
Meanwhile, not much to report. Bought the turkey for thanksgiving. We’re having family over, so that will be nice.
I sold some of the cards and a few ornaments via Facebook. There’s plenty left so feel free to check them out. The main reason I am bummed over the craft failure is I’d hoped to find a paying hobby that was offline and off of the computer. Yes, I know if I stick with it I could build an audience etc etc but I don’t have the time to do that right now. Maybe at a later date. No more fairs though. Might try a Facebook page or something eventually and just make something occasionally when I have spare time (ha ha!) So there won’t be pressure to sell… I dunno.
Watched Survivor Series. We guessed correctly about Shamus but we thought Kevin Owens would be the winner he took it from. Owens seems to beat everyone. Also thought the Wyatt/Brothers of Destruction match fell flat. All in all worth the 9.99 a month fee.
Started installing dragon on my restored laptop but haven’t finished it. Need to write but I dunno. Need to catch up on blog reading. Blah, blah. A boring post, so I’ll end it.
Have a good one!
Jo 🙂
PS. A couple photos:
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Bleh
Well today was the craft fair. My first ever craft fair. I went with high hopes that were dashed on the rocks of reality. In total we made 54$… I don’t mean 54$ of profit, I mean 54$ period. Less the 25$ booth fee that’s 29$ and I’ll give you a hint, the crap I bought to make an this cost a LOT more than that.
*sigh*
People looked but almost no one was interested in buying it. I had one lady who bought 3 sets cards (sold in sets of four) for $7 a set exclaim in amazement how cheap they were but evidently no one else agree. That or they thought they were crap.
Sure, I can try to unload the crap on Etsy, but I find the site confusing, especially the shit of paying their cut at intervals. What? Sorry, but I prefer a consignment arrangement where they just take their cut to start with. Plus you only get to sell a handful of items with the free account and I’m not looking to be a crafter for life, so not interested in paying. I get that some people make money but it’s not me. I’m too slow and even when I practically give the stuff away no one wants it anyway.
Yeah, I’m depressed over it. I’m allowed to be. I don’t need to justify it, or shrug it off, or pretend I don’t care because it’s “silly” or because other people wouldn’t be depressed. That’s more aimed at me than anyone else because when ever I interact with others I dismiss my feelings because they are “stupid” and people will think I’m “stupid” for them. But I am depressed. I’m upset because I already felt like it was junky crap and that sort of proved it – but even so I expected to sell more than one ornament, two bottles, and a handful of card sets. And I had to reduce the ornament to 50% off to get her to buy it.
Anyway, I won’t do that again (burned me once, shame on you. Burned me twice…) I don’t have the time out money to invest in it to come out with a negative balance. And I didn’t enjoy sitting at the table with a fake smile trying to think of chit chat and silently praying someone might look at my spread (desperation much?). I hate chit chat. (Frankly I hate deep conversations, too, and unless someone wants to take about anime, books, TV, movies, writing, house renovations, or organizing closets I am just tired of it all. ) I’m not good with strangers, and I’m lousy at selling things (this explains my book sales) and then to push through all of that terror, anxiety, etc etc for nothing…
I dunno. Anyway, the crap is on my Facebook in a crafts album with prices listed.
The pics aren’t the best because they weren’t meant as sale shots, but I can take better ones….
https://facebook.com/joleene.naylor/albums/10206654744020829/?_rdr
Hopefully that works. Anyway, I’m going to bed now. Have a better one than me.
Jo 😦
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The Last Crafting Blog
We are done making crafts – sadly the doilies did not arrive in time so I did not get the snowy candle holders done. Tomorrow we have to spray the house and go shopping in CB, so even if they come I don’t think I’ll have time. Also won’t have time to make more of the autumn leaves candle holders because even if I bought jars tomorrow there’s not enough time to get them done before Saturday. Ah well. We have 47 sets of cards, 46 bulbs, 5 candle holders, and 9 little bottles. Now let’s just hope this stuff sells.
I did sell a set of 8 Christmas cards via facebook, so that’s something.
Anyway, today and yesterday’s:
I wish I had time to get the lightbox out and get some good shots, but I doubt it will happen.
Now I must go to bed because I have to get up in the a.m. to spray. Have a good one!
Jo 🙂
Crafts, NaNo, and Update Loops
I’m caught up on NaNo – or was before midnight – despite being stuck in a windows update loop. This is where windows fails to configure the updates for whatever reason and then says it is reverting changes for five hours, then says it is shutting down for roughly ten hours, after which you manually restart, only to be given the “windows has failed to configure… Reverting changes” screen again – with the same results. I’ve googled this extensively, and am of the opinion that I’ll let it sit until the weekend when someone who knows what they’re doing can hopefully fix it. In the meantime I had luckily emailed the book I’m writing to my mom, so I downloaded a copy, and can write either on my phone or on someone else’s laptop if they’ll let me. But it means no book cover work until it’s fixed. So, I’ve gotten some crafts done for the craft fair this weekend instead.
I still don’t know what to charge. Prices seem to be all over the place – anywhere from $.75 a card to 7$ a card, in some cases for the same quality. And ornaments… Yeah. It’s the same thing. I don’t want to cheat myself, but I don’t want to charge so much that no one buys. Ahhhhhhh!! This is why I like to do lots of research on things first.
Either way. I’m tired of typing on my phone so I’m outta here. Have a good one!
Jo 🙂
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NaNo and Christmas Crafts
I haven’t done a real post in awhile. I don’t know why I always fall off in October. It’s when I actually start to do things worth sharing. maybe that’s why – my extra blogging time is taken up with other stuff.
I’m doing NaNoWriMo this year to try to get most of book 8 (Masque of the Vampire) written. I was already on 23,000 words when it started, and have managed a total of 16,359 as of this moment. Unfortunately, I am supposed to be at 20,000, so I’m behind. One of the problems I have with naNoWriMo is the getting behind – I was sitting at almost 16,000 earlier today and needed just 18,000 to be caught up. So I stay up late and – bam! At midnight ti rolls over and now I’m 4,000 behind instead of the 2,000 I was just an hour or two ago. It makes it feel kind of hopeless, like no matter how much you put out you can never catch up.
Really, I’m not sure NaNo is a good thing anyway. I use it as an excuse to get to write – I tell authors/friends/fellow writers wanting book covers or favors that I’m working on a book the rest of the year and they say “Okay, but can’t you do this?”. But, during November you use the words, “NaNo” and they say “Oh! No problem! See you in December!” So in that respect it’s good, but it’s encouragement to just vomit as many words as you can might not be the best. For instance I like to write a bit, then instantly re-write it, cull it down, tighten it up, then go to the next bit. NaNo discourages this because by deleting even one single word, I am taking away from that precious word count that is o, so very important, meaning that the time I spent writing that word is now irrefutably wasted in terms of the end goal. This means a LOT more editing when NaNo is over, because since I’m not doing it now I’ll have to do it later.
It’s a vicious cycle.
Anyway, not much else. My website has had a graphic redesign – though none of the content or navigation changed, just a bit of cosmetics. I haven’t had time to keep up with blogs because besides NaNo and book covers I have also stupidly signed up for a craft fair, meaning I need products to share. Sadly, I haven’t managed very many. Please enjoy a bunch of my crafting photos. (note these are ALL I have gotten done. Eek!)
And it’s late, so I am outta here. Have a good one!
Jo 😉
Most of the photos and art on this site, by Joleene Naylor are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
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