Our Saturday

Well, Dennis and I had plans to go to the ocean today and take little Dais Dais with us. I need a break from all the pollen in the air. I mean, my silver SUV is yellow. Yuck.

Ok, so it's Friday night and we're asleep. The Daisy alarm sounds around 2:30 am because these lame high schoolers that it would be a terrific idea to party in front of our house. Fine whatever, just shut the hell up so I can sleep. So they leave. Yay...or so I thought. The Daisy alarm sounds at 4:30 am because the same retarded children are outside partying again. Oh Lord! I thought about calling the cops, but then they left. Woohooo. Back to sleep.

I wake up at 10 am. Well, so much for going to the beach today. It actually turned out to be a blessing. Dennis was mowing the yard and putting around the garage when he came in to tell me that our hot water heater is done. Toast. Do not pass go. Great. Not only is it crazy tax month, but now it's crazy hot water heater month. Joy.

So, after a super fast hot shower...remember, not much hot water since the thing is leaking, and it's off to Home Depot. Praise the Lord!!! We got a 40 gallon hot water heater and new connectors for under $400. With the IRS checks out and the increase in sales taxes (Thanks Arnold), we did pretty good. The blessing is that this new hot water heater is bigger than our old one. I learned today that the old one is 15 years old! Dang! No wonder it died.

Right now, Dennis and my father-in-law are working on it. So, hopefully by tonight, we will have a new functional hot water heater. This is good news. It means I can take a bath in hot water. Before, the old hot water heater wouldn't fill our tub. Now it should! YAY!!! While they work on that outside, I sit in here updating FaceBook and my blog. Then I will continue in my work on Daisy Girl stuff for the flea market on the 19th.

So, despite the fact that I wanted to shoot the people outside...it was indeed a God send. If they hadn't kept us up, then we wouldn't have slept in, then we would have come home to a big mess. Dennis found the problem in time to not only save our house from a flood, but replace it too. So, thank you lamo high schoolers. Come back tonight and the cops will be on their way.

Talk to ya all later....

So it's been months...

I know, I know...it's been like 3 months since I last blogged. That's pretty bad. Well, here I am. I am blogging. I need to get all caught up on what is going on in my neck of the woods.

It seems as these last few months passed in a total blur. I have been busy with my job as an editor and conference organizer. I have also been busy getting ready for the First Roseville Antique Market, which will be taking place on April 19th from 8 am - 4 pm. Daisy Girl Creations (meaning me) has been busy with knitting new products and working on a few new things that will be unveiled at the Antique Market. This time of year is challenging for my type of business. Most of my items tend to lend themselves to the fall and winter seasons.

While I do have a few things that are for the warmer months, I just need to get some more spring and summer items. Any ideas? I have flower cuffs and purses, hats made from cotton yarn, stationery that is good for any time of year, but that is about it. Maybe I should look into those earrings and necklaces that are crocheted with wire. Looks pretty neat. Although, crocheting is out of the question for a little while. I hurt my right thumb tendons somehow that makes writing and crocheting difficult...especially with the thumb brace. Thankfully, knitting is still doable. Yay! So that is what I have been up to...knitting. Working and knitting.

Well, that about somes it for right now. I won't wait so long to blog next time. Take care everyone and enjoy this fabulous spring day...unless you are in North Dakota. Then, grab a boat and hang on.

Take Care!

Conference Junk

I love going to conferences for work since it gets me out town and out of the office. The one thing I really hate about it is having to get everything ready for it. Whether I am organizing the conference or being an exhibitor, there is always so much work to be done. For example, all the really, really annoying printing. Since I have a color printer that is my own personal printer, I get to print out all the colored items on that. Joy. It usually works fine until Murphy's Law kicks in. Inevitably some thing that can go wrong, will go wrong.

Take today for instance. I am printing out all our brochures for in house training to take with me this weekend to San Francisco. The first side goes smoothly. Do you think the second side would too? Oh no. Of course not. The pages stick together, thus having to feed them in one at a time. All 150 brochures, one at a time. Kill me now!!!

I still have to design and print out the info capture cards. Yay. I can hardly contain the joy. At least that is only one sided printing. Thank GOD! Wish me luck, I have 125 brochures left to be printed. *Sighs*

The New Year

Well, it's 2009. Wow. Where did the time go. 10 years ago I was in high school. Man, I can't believe that. As 2008 drew to a close, I always get a little sad. But, who knows what this new year will have in store. I predict a lot of traveling again. I say that with a trip to San Francisco for a conference where I am the exhibitor rather than the conference planner. So, now I will get to see it from our exhibitors perspective. Maybe this will come in handy for Italy. There's another trip. So that is two so far for this year. Who knows how many more there will be.

Well, this will be a short post since I am pretty tired. I wish you all a wonderful new year and blessings upon this year for you and your families.

Gym Time!

Ok, so I have decided that I have sat on my butt enough with all that fabulous knee stuff and decided that it was time to get into the gym and begin to shape a better body. The one I have right now is not too flattering. Anyway, I had been meeting with a trainer for the past 4 weeks and today, being the last of the free sessions, was torture day. I have to admit...I pushed myself harder on the elliptical machines than usual. But the weights! Oh the weights. I hate weight training. I would much rather be running on the elliptical machines, doing yoga or in the pool. I have to admit though, if I don't want that flabby arm situation that I have going on right now, weights is the way to go.

I was at the gym for about an hour and half; just going over all the machines we had used and what she expects of me when we're not meeting. Man, brutal. But I need brutal. I don't want a BMI of 28 which falls in between the "Fair" and "Poor" columns. Sad. I didn't know that you could be thin and have a bit of fat at the same time. Crazy! Well I want an excellent BMI reading by the time we go to Italy. Lets face it...the swim suit season is out until September. I am not going to kill myself like I did today. I got home, showered and a monster head ache showed up. You know the kind...the kind where not even Extra Strength Excedrin don't even touch. I love it! Can you feel the sarcasm yet?

Well, my problem with the whole gym thing is motivation. I want to go and work out and be thin and toned and all that...I just don't want to have to leave my nice warm house and do the work. Yeah, I am lazy when it comes to the gym. Well, Cal Fit has just built a brand spankin new gym not 5 minutes from my house. Now I have no excuse. That is where I have been going for the past month. It's going slow, but I don't want to injure anything...like my knee. If that goes, then the whole gym thing goes out the window. Don't want that.

Well, I figure that is enough griping about the gym. Other than the headache...I really like how I feel about an hour afterwards. Pretty good, minus headache. Well, that is all for me for now. I hope everyone has a great Christmas and a safe one too.

Christmas day is approaching fast!

With Christmas day approaching at what feels like record speeds, I am starting to feel that holiday stress. Between work, a crafting business and Christmas gifting...a girl could go grey in a hurry. Well, thank God for hair dye.

The marathon weekend of open houses and trunk shows behind me, I look at the last Christmas gift that I am working on...sitting there on the couch, beckoning me to finish it. Argh! And the knitting...going so slow. I hate the yarn I am using. It's too thick for the needles, but it will make a fabulously warm pair of slippers. I still have two orders to fill from the trunk show. Thank goodness they are easy things that make up fast.

I have discovered something though...if one crochets for too long, one starts to develop carpal tunnel syndrome. Yikes! That awful feeling in your arm, right above your wrist. It feels like your tendons are screaming out "Stop the madness!" Well, that is where I am at this moment. Thank goodness that knitting doesn't use the same motions. I sold out of a lot of items at both events that now I have a bunch of catching up to do. Well, I have the warmer months for catch up. But still, that is a lot of crocheting and knitting. I feel very blessed to have sold a lot of items between public shows and Etsy. I made over $300 between the two shows. That should do nicely for our trip to Italy. Yeah, I decided that all my proceeds from these events will go into savings for our trip in September.

BEBPA, one of the other organizations I work for, is hosting it's second conference in Rome! I am so excited. Dennis and I will be spending three weeks over there. Exploring, attending Formula 1 races, shopping. Can't forget about shopping. See why I need to save every penny I can? I am really hoping and praying that I can get us some tickets to the F1 race. Pray for us and cross your fingers.

Well, I hope that this hectic season finds you all well. Take care and God bless!

Christmas Time is here and so is all the shopping

I can't believe that Christmas time is here again. So fast too. All the stores are decorated and Christmas music is playing in the background, while we shoppers dig through mountains of sales to find that one perfect gift. That is why I make most of my gifts every year. For the people who don't get handmade gifts...that is why God invented the Internet. Hello online shopping. I love the beauty of it...point, click, pay and it's on its way. Don't get me wrong, I love going to the malls and shopping with everyone, but there comes a time when I don't want to have to be with all those people.

Anyway, here is a great idea for all those people who live near the Sacramento area. On Friday, December 12, from 6-9pm, there will be a holiday open house at the Design Well Live Well Eco-boutique in Auburn. I and a few other vendors will be up there selling unique and handmade gifts. Come on up and find that perfect gift for that special someone.

I hope that this fast approaching holiday season finds you all well. Don't forget to check out Daisy Girl Creations or A La Main for that perfect gift or holiday decoration. Take care and good luck finding gifts for everyone on your list.