30
year old Pagan female who lives in Florida with her guy and two
cats, loves Disney, reads fanatically, tinkers in photography and
believes growing up is overrated
Help support Pet Cancer Awareness
I lost my beloved cat,
Kush, to cancer in 2003. Cancer is the #1 disease-related
cause of death for cats and dogs. With your support, together we can
find a cure
ASPCA
The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
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"welcome spring -
daffodils" ver. 20
originally created 03/20/08 and designed for 1024x768 or larger,
CSS capable browser Like
There are people on
the net that have nothing better to do with their time then be nasty
to other people online. They post rude comments, spend hours a day
talking about sites they hate so much, that they well, spend hours a
day talking about them. (lame) They mock the owners and posters for
their opinions and their right to free speech. They expect everyone
to fit into their narrow-minded little world view or else they throw
a temper tantrum.
To these people I
say
grow up.
Here's a bit of
info people...the web is a HUGE place. If you don't like what I say
here, or who I am, or what I do, or talk about, or what I look like,
or the color of my hair, or whatever asinine thing you dwell on,
go somewhere else. It's really, really easy. Honest. You just
click the little "x" in the corner of your browser and *poof* the
offending, big, mean and nasty site has disappeared.
I pay for this
site. It's mine. That means I can use it for whatever the hell I
want to. Don't like it if I'm bitching about something in my life?
Oh fucking well. Go somewhere else. Think I'm stupid for expressing
my thoughts? Too fucking bad, don't read them. Somewhere along the
line, someone forgot this simple fact: Live and let live
Don't like me, cool, fine, whatever, I don't care. This
journal is NOT for you. It's for me. I'm not in it for popularity or
fame or anything stupid like that. I write it because I need to
write and express myself and get things out of my head sometimes. So
read or don't, it doesn't matter, but don't waste my time (or yours)
bitching about it.
*gets off soapbox*
: : w e l c o m e s p r i n g : :
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donations through paypal with balance, checking account, savings or
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M. Turner
Po Box 1484
Elfers, FL 34680
win with me on blingo! I can vouch it really works. I've won
already.
Love knows someone at work who's partner is involved in Tampa Theater. Eddie Izzard is coming to Tampa Theater in June. For two sold out shows. Said person has access to get reserved tickets. Like first or second row reserved tickets.
So guess who's going to get to see the sold out Eddie Izzard show next month? *SQUEE*
Temping I'm over at the temp job this afternoon, covering for poor Kelly who's been sick all week. She came in this morning but just wasn't feeling well enough to make it through the entire day, so she called and asked if I could come in. Which of course, I totally did not mind at all. I was already alert to the chance she might not make it today, or all of today since I knew she was sick.
So it's weird being back here again. Haven't been for some time now and it's funny when people come by and say, "Hey! You're not Kelly!" The old-timers of course remember me as I've been working with them here on-and-off for something like three years now, but anyone newer is just more confused than anything. Heh. It's just funny though the double-takes you get. Happens every time too. :)
Alright, well, I didn't really have anything earth shattering or monumental to say, just wanted to kinda say hi from a new location. Since Kelly is so efficient, even being sick and out for a couple days, I don't really have anything she needs me to do, so I'm the warm body in the chair manning the front desk and phone.
Tried to vacuum this afternoon, only to find the brush wasn't spinning. No biggie, this happens a lot when it gets tangled with hair or something. Open it up, cut out anything clogging it, put it back together, turn it on...and still no spinning.
Love takes a look at it too. We both look over it but can't find anything wrong. It just literally will NOT spin. So, enter Google-fu. Turns out the brush assembly has ball bearings inside it that can just randomly seize up. If they do, no vacuum and no visual clue as to why it's not spinning.
The brush assembly is available online through their site for $17.95. I'm going to run to Tarjay and Hel-Mart tomorrow and see if I can't find it in person (and thus get it sooner) first. Because opening up one's vacuum cleaner to look for problems makes a mess. On a carpet you can't vacuum up.
So, to any of you with a Bissell Cleanview PowerTrak that experience a random roller brush stoppage (and possible nasty burnt rubber smell) you might need to replace the whole brush assembly like I do. At least it's apparently a $18 fix versus a $200 new vacuum purchase.
Just means I have crunchy carpets until I get the replacement part. (Ew.)
Random Observation #2 I just got back from a quick trip to the local Tarjay (to return the aforementioned shrunken shirt) and the library. And though it's not an uncommon observation, I'll state the obvious anyway: there are way too many bad drivers out there. I won't get into the cell phone driving scourge today (though we all know the epidemic that's become!) but rather something a little more basic. People who drive too quickly and too impatiently because apparently the whole world will blow up and DIE if they don't go faster than me.
I'm not a putzy driver. I don't drive as slow as my Grandmother car might indicate. But, it IS an 18-year old 4 cylinder with 127,000 miles on it. One can't "gun it" from a stop. So, yes, it may take me longer than average to reach full speed. But is that extra 15 seconds really that horrible that you must endanger everyone else on the road to violently and crazily swerve around me?
And, once I do reach speed, I consistently do five mph over the posted speed limit. No more, no less. I'm not going "slow" I'm going whatever is permissible by law. And yes, if that means it's only 30mph speed limit, you'll see me doing somewhere around 34 or 35. Why? Because (a) I'm not a dumb kid anymore who speeds just for the hell of it (b) I'm aware of the speed limits because as an attentive driver, I, ya know, pay attention to that sorta thing and (c) it's not worth a ticket. Been there, done that, grew up and learned better. So what's the excuse of the people who are as old or older than I am that blaze past me in this well-known, well-policed neighborhood? Shouldn't they know better too? And look, when you go hurtling past me, don't give ME a dirty look as if I'm the one doing something wrong. Hello? Which one of us is breaking the law again...? Oh yeah, that's right. It's you.
I'm just so blown away with the rush-rush-rush, me-me-me impatience of drivers these days. Given the ever increasing price of gas, it's in your best interest NOT to guzzle a ton of it gunning as hard as you can off the line and maintaining an even speed that's appropriate to the speed limit of the road you're on. If you're not into driving like a decent human being because it's the Right Thing To Do, at least do it because it's the Right Thing For Your Wallet. The rest of us will still thank you for it.
Random Observation Clothes which shrink weirdly and wrongly resulting in a misshapen and ill-fitting sack after one washing suck. Thank goodness I kept the receipt.
Mystery Bruises I'm shaving my legs this morning and I see something on my left knee. What's that? I think. Is it a bruise? *poke* OW! Yeah, I guess it is.
What's up with that? I'm always finding mystery bruises, mainly on my legs, that I never know how I got. I don't recall bashing my left knee into anything in the last couple days and yet, there it is. So I must have done something at some point. This seems to happen with annoying regularity too. I don't know they're there until I bump them, discover them while shaving or otherwise accidentally observe them.
Is this just a weird me thing? Do you guys find random mystery bruises too? (Even if you don't, please just fake it and say that you do so I don't feel so odd. ) I normally have to bash myself pretty good to get a bruise, but I clearly don't recall smashing around into stuff but just as clearly, I guess I must be doing it more often then I realize.
Good, Not Good It's like a game show. Saturday there was some Good and some Not Good. Let's go in order.
Good Headed out to our favorite theater to see Iron Man. Had two freebie tickets left. (Won through Blingo friends.) Movie was really awesome. No, really. It was funny and well worth the theater watch. Quite enjoyed it all around. (Oh yeah and stay until the end, past the credits. They've hidden a sneak teaser setting up for a sequel.)
Not Good The theater had these new "shake" flavors for your popcorn. So I added the caramel one to mine. The popcorn is kinda notorious for not being very good and I thought a little caramel would be better than the faux butter oil slick product they try to pass off as the default topping. Wasn't great but wasn't horrible. Ate about half the bag. (Everyone gets a bag of popcorn included in the ticket at this theater.)
Get home and start not feeling well. Not feeling well progresses into, "OMG please shoot me now I think I'm going to die." Hours of being in absolute agony and taking everything I can think of to try to make it better (Pepto, Tums, etc.) I finally tossed the cookies. Or Pepto and Popcorn as it were. Seems that there was clearly something wrong with the caramel shake on seasoning I added. I know this because {a} it was the only unique item I ate that day (everything else I ate was eaten by Love and our friend Rand as well) and {b} the heartburn "tasted" like the caramel popcorn. (Yeah I know, gross, but you know what I mean.)
So I think it was contaminated in some way. I even picked up the container and read the ingredients to see if it was safe and there was nothing scary listed. But apparently....no. It had somehow gone bad or something had been added to it to make it bad or something. Because I may have a highly delicate and sensitive stomach that makes me ill most days of the year, BUT I don't throw up short of food poisoning. (I just hate it so much I simply refuse to do it unless I don't have a choice.)
And thus my Saturday was full of Good and Not Good experiences. Anyway, go see Iron Man. I never read the comic (much more of an X-Men fan personally) but it wasn't one of those movies where if you don't know the characters you're lost. The whole thing was highly entertaining.
But if they offer you shake on topping, I advise you walk away slowly and don't look back.
It's May! Ok, so I've got several subjects to cover in this entry. I've been so busy with the jewelry lately, I haven't been posting other things. Let's get started.
First off...Happy Beltane! Or May Day for everyone else. I just feel like using this little emoticon here so: It's just cool. Anyway, have a beautiful Beltane (or Samhain for those of you in the southern hemisphere) and enjoy the beauty of Spring and life.
Secondly, I'm a bad kitty momma. Mika, my big, fat, tubby tabby celebrated her five year anniversary with us (and celebrated her eight year birthday) on Sunday, April 27th. She was three when we adopted her so I use her adoption date as her "birthday." I totally forgot to post something until now.
Happy Birthday Mika!
Third, speaking of birthdays - eep! It's now May. That means we're T-minus fifteen days until I turn 31. I'm just getting used to being 30 and now I'm going to be 30-something. Oh dear. That was show from a long time ago featuring OLD people! How can I be in that category now?
Fourth....um....damn. I think I've forgotten what else I wanted to post about. My poor stomach's been total ick all week. Haven't been terribly productive as a result and in fact, have been feeling really bleck and dozing in the afternoons a lot. Sucks when my stomach gets on a run where it's just non-stop bad for days/week at a time.
So, yeah. Ok, well, I guess this entry is going to be shorter than I planned only because I can't remember what else I was going to write. Oh well, if and when I remember, I can always post again.
I Can't Stop! I'm telling you. I'm now officially addicted to making the Tree of Life pendants. I just can't seem to stop. And why should I when I finally feel like they're getting good and they're coming out more like how I envision them to be. I'm telling you, I'm downright giddy making them these days!
I promise I'll start posting something other than jewelry soon. I've just been on a kick and enjoying myself too much not to share my excitement at my recent creations.
Today and Tomorrow So...I'm going to Mom's tomorrow instead of today. I'm tired today and just couldn't get going early enough to get there. Instead, I uploaded all the new pieces to PhoenixFire Designs and then I think I shall take a nap. Heh.
So for anyone interested in larger images and pricing information on all the stuff I posted yesterday, here it all is...
Whew! That's a lot of updating all at once. Heh. Well, not really but kinda. It always seems like it takes longer to do all the photos, photo editing/readying, description writing, site updating and uploading than it does to make the damned jewelry in the first place! Oh well, it's all live now.
As always, let me know if I can make something custom for you or if you'd like to modify anything you see or order another of something that's sold. I'm always happy to work with you.
(Speaking of custom orders, I still need to update to show off the custom bridesmaid necklaces I made for my friend Kjersti who's getting married in less than a month!)
I did my work, so now I think I shall reward myself with a light doze. Then it's to the post office later. Ta for now!
Busy, Busy Beader I spent several hours today beading. I made a bracelet, a pair of earrings, a necklace and several new (and I think, improved) Tree of Life pendants. It was nice to bead so much like that. It's been so long.
I've got photos of everything but I don't have time to update the site right now to share them. I need to hop in the shower so I don't have to do it in the morning. I'm running to Mom's tomorrow and the less I have to do before I leave, the easier and faster I can get out of here.
Teasers....
So....a bunch of great stuff coming. Just not right now. Oh yeah and I'll have to share the story about my nasty "burn" on my forehead. It's great fun. For now though? Shower and sleep. Hope everyone had a nice weekend!
PhoenixFire Designs Update Just a few little things but I thought I'd update.
First off, in case you missed it, I've added a new page for Unique, One-of-a-Kind and general items that don't fit anywhere else. http://phoenixfiredesigns.com/unique.html I'm listing a few of my Tree of Life pendants there. I've also been working on new ones so there will be a few more in an expanded selection there shortly as well.
Two similar styles, but both very lovely (if I do say so myself.) They are similar, though daintier, than the Multiple Shades of Purple ones I made a little while ago.
I've had the beading bug lately, so hopefully, I can get some more new items listed shortly. And we have juuust enough time if you were interested in ordering something for Mother's Day.
Always When There's Things You Need To Do Within ten minutes of waking up yesterday, I knew it was going to be a bad day. I just woke up with a migraine. Hate that. It's to be expected as it was a hormone-based migraine and since I get them every month, it's little surprise, but still...it's miserable. And of course, it happened on a day when I already had plans and absolutely had things that needed to Get Done.
I don't know if I've mentioned it previously, but our friend Rand is helping a friend of his start up a not-for-profit organization setting up kids soccer programs. Last week, I assisted Rand in taking photos for their website and by also taking digital video they can use for promotional materials as well. Yesterday, they enlisted my help to record all the voicemail greetings for the company. Everyone always loves my speaking voice and while I've been desperately sought after to record people's messages before, yesterday was my first paying gig doing it. So I guess I can now officially add, "voice over talent" to my list of odd jobs.
I actually really enjoy doing that sort of thing and would love to figure out how to do it more regularly for pay but it's not exactly something you can just say, "hey, I have a nice voice. Anyone need me to record something?" It's a lot like acting and other forms of talent. You need to Know People, have a Demo and most likely an Agent. None of which is easily obtained. Oh well. Still, it was fun being the "voice" of the organization yesterday.
Sadly, the migraine never went away despite taking stuff a few times. It just kept slightly receding only to come back stronger in waves. By around 10:30pm, I couldn't take it anymore and I had zero ability to concentrate at that point, so I took a final batch of Excedrin and went to sleep. After about 20 minutes of staring at the black room, I nodded off. Unfortunately, when Love came to bed, he made a noise and it startled me badly and I woke up. Unfortunately, I couldn't get back to sleep, so after futility laying there for like an hour, I got up around 1:15am and watched tv for an hour. I was finally able to get back to sleep after 2:30am and stayed asleep that time.
Today when I woke up, the migraine had broken fully so I feel good today. Whew. There's few things worse than a migraine that won't dissipate. I've been trying to catch up on posts from yesterday and I went back skip=80 on my Livejournal friend's list but I'm not sure I got everyone. I had read some yesterday morning but, with my head hurting, I don't really recall fully what I read and what I didn't. So I might have missed something. If so, sorry. It wasn't intentional. Migraines though = very little concentration for me and no focus.
Oh! On similar note, little Gracie was so sweet last night. She just cuddled up next to me all evening while we watched tv. She tends to know when Love or I aren't feeling well and she always sticks with us. So it was adorable that she was so cuddly last night with me. She really is such a sweetheart.
Alright, well, I need to blow dry my hair and run over to the library. I've got a book waiting for me (which is good because I've been out of a novel for like a week now.) Hope everyone's having a nice Thursday.
In Other News... First off, thank you to everyone who took the time to comment or email their support and thoughts on my post(s) about the loss of Panda. It greatly moved me to have such a kind group of friends share in my sadness.
A Delayed Cold Realization But in trying to catch up beyond that point, I'm finally starting to feel better. What started off last week as a sore throat for about 36 hours, then turned into a itchy throat and then five full days of non-stop sneezing and running noses was apparently a cold and not just really bad allergies. By about day four, it dawned on me that this was exceptionally bad and there's no way my allergies would be this consistently evil. The sad thing is that I'm always so fatigued because of my chronic health issues that I wasn't actually able to identify being ill based on being "tired" or "run down." I just feel that way normally. It's a strange realization that I can't always actually easily identify the difference between something like general fatigue and a few days of bad allergies versus having a full-blown cold.
Today though, I woke up and could finally breathe after what feels like an eternity. Even yesterday - which was slightly better than it had been - was still plagued with far too much sneezing. This morning I didn't even have to take an allergy pill and I've sailed through the day. I should have realized sooner that even at their worst, my seasonal allergies are NEVER that bad.
The Neverending Rash And continuing the health updates, we're now at eight weeks I believe of my current PMLE outbreak. (For those who don't know: My skin reacts inappropriately to UV light such as the sun and my forearms break out in a rash due to a condition called "Polymorphic Light Eruption" or "PMLE" for short.) It was almost gone a few days ago. I was so thrilled because my skin, while still bumpy in texture, was no longer red at all. Today? Back to being bumpy AND quite angry red. I swear, I feel like I'll never have my arms look like a normal human being again. Sometimes I look at it and I feel like I'm just going to cry. It's not the rash itself, but just how ugly it makes me feel and my helplessness that it simply will NOT go away. Is it so much to ask that I can just go back to normal...? I guess so.
No Sew I've had my sewing machine for two weeks now and I've still yet to even turn it on. *sighs* I keep wanting to, but there's always something else to do or some reason I say I'll do it "later." So far though, "later" has yet to manifest. I just need to do it but...well, it's like anything. I've also been meaning to write an entry for several days too.
Budget Deficit Still absolutely zero luck in finding a part time job. Hell, I can't even get a retail job to call me for a damned interview. It's terribly upsetting and frankly disgusting. When you know you're MORE than qualified and all you want is a chance to earn a few damned dollars a week to help keep food on your table and gas in your car and you can't even get a call back, meanwhile the new crop of employees at stores you've applied to can't count change to save their life....ugh. It's frustrating. Right now, everything will be able to balance out - after May 9th. Of course, before then, I'm still trying to figure out how to manage power, cable AND rent. I've been so depressed about it all lately. I mean, deep, blue funk depressed. Like, nightmares and crying myself to sleep depressed. I've been trying not to let it show but, I don't know. Sometimes I just don't know what it's all for anymore. I really don't.
The End Ugh. Now I want to just go back and delete out the whole last section. I don't want to hear the troll comments and I just don't feel like dealing with defending myself to assholes who don't know what it means to live in the real world with the rest of us who struggle to get by in the day-to-day.
Fuck it, I'm not deleting tonight. This is MY journal and if I want to say I'm frustrated about money, that's MY right. Don't like it? You know how to close the page.
Anyway, this is going where I didn't intend. It's just that I'm so down right now. It's hard for it not to color my entry. So I better stop here.
The Original Three Back in 1990, I was 13 years old. We had a dog named Rocky who had moved down to Florida with us from PA. But in that year, one after another, we wound up adopting three special kitties who came into our lives. First was Kush-Ka, then came Panda and finally Socrates.
Kush was an all-grey cat and clearly a Russian Blue in breed. Panda was (as you can probably guess by his name) a fluffy, poofy, black-and-white kitty. Socrates was a silver/white tabby. We used to laugh that we wound up with three kitties without color, all suited for a black and white film.
Kush was my kitty and when I grew up, lived with me most of his later years. I lost him almost five years ago from cancer. (I had to put him to sleep April 22, 2003) And in July of 2006, my mom had to put Socrates to sleep after he lost his battle with cancer as well. Yesterday, April 18th, 2008, Panda also succumbed to cancer.
Panda was the last of the original three boys. He hung in there for almost 18 years. (We celebrated his birthday in June.) And it's like the end of an era. It's weird to think that they are all gone now. There was such a finality to Panda's passing yesterday. It's just so hard to think that the three boys who've been in our lives for so long are no more. It was so hard for me to lose Kush. And terribly painful for my mom to lose Socrates. But, I don't know, in some way, it didn't feel quite as complete as when Panda went yesterday. Because it still felt like, in some way, there was still a tie or a connection to the other two. Now, that's gone.
Panda had developed a host of tumors. And he was too old to operate, so Mom just kept an eye on him and unfortunately, he started losing weight and just wasn't doing very well. She had scheduled an appointment for him on Tuesday the 22nd (ironically, the 5th anniversary since Kush's passing) but when Mom's husband got up yesterday morning, it was time to let him go. He called me and I came up. My sister came over too and the three of us went to the vet. The vet was very sweet and gentle and Panda passed very softly and easily. We then transported him to a pet crematory. I'll go back up to Mom's on Tuesday so I can go with her to retrieve his ashes.
This is the first time in 18 years that there's been no kitty at Mom's house. She has a dog, Kylie, who's a sweetheart, but still. It's not the same. It was so hard when Mom got home yesterday afternoon after it was all over because it really hit her in that moment that they were all gone.
Panda Bear (as we called him) was a sweet kitty. Scared of his own shadow sometimes, he was also a brave and efficient hunter. He used to bring mom "gifts" of birds and squirrels and place them on the rug in front of the sink for her. He also used to eat roaches but leave the heads. (No idea why!) He had a very whiney meow and got very loud when he was waiting to be fed. He had a puffy tail and tufts of fur between his paw pads. We used to call him a "Clydesdale" because of how fluffy his feet where. He had half a mustache on his face and soft, soft fur. He was a nice cat and he - along with the other two - will be missed.
So, goodbye boys. You were loved and we thank you for the gift of your lives. I don't think there'll ever quite be another group like you three. Thank you for all the years and all the love and all the good memories.
)
) I normally have to bash myself pretty good to get a bruise, but I clearly don't recall smashing around into stuff but just as clearly, I guess I must be doing it more often then I realize.
It's just cool. Anyway, have a beautiful Beltane (or Samhain for those of you in the southern hemisphere) and enjoy the beauty of Spring and life.
Happy Birthday Mika! 
I'm just getting used to being 30 and now I'm going to be 30-something. Oh dear. That was show from a long time ago featuring OLD people! How can I be in that category now? 
So I guess I can now officially add, "voice over talent" to my list of odd jobs.
Kush was an all-grey cat and clearly a Russian Blue in breed. Panda was (as you can probably guess by his name) a fluffy, poofy, black-and-white kitty. Socrates was a silver/white tabby. We used to laugh that we wound up with three kitties without color, all suited for a black and white film.
Panda had developed a host of tumors. And he was too old to operate, so Mom just kept an eye on him and unfortunately, he started losing weight and just wasn't doing very well. She had scheduled an appointment for him on Tuesday the 22nd (ironically, the 5th anniversary since Kush's passing) but when Mom's husband got up yesterday morning, it was time to let him go. He called me and I came up. My sister came over too and the three of us went to the vet. The vet was very sweet and gentle and Panda passed very softly and easily. We then transported him to a pet crematory. I'll go back up to Mom's on Tuesday so I can go with her to retrieve his ashes.