geese are back and it's blowing like a stinker here

seems tuesdays are the day to howl...two weeks ago on a tuesday we nearly drowned and today we are nearly blown away with 45-50 mph winds - it always astounds me how much "junk" is blown around and how it always ends up (the trash) right outside my shop front door.  made two trips to the dumpster already with paper, boxes, trash, cups, plastic bags, uggy stuff - gave up - will do it all again tomorrow - hopefully it is going to stop blowing by then.  no rain - just huge wind.

the geese have come back again to the lake by the house - silly things - i think they might be staying here this winter - i love seeing them in the morning.  the walnuts are in harvest right now - have to get at least two pounds and put them away - they are so much easier to shell when they are a year old - make wonderful little pincushions if you polish the shell on the outside - but if you try to hull them fresh - the shell just shatters and you have lots of good walnut meat but lousy pincushion shells.

mama kitty and the babes are on their 2nd giant bag of kitty chow - we opened it this morning and this is the week to catch everybody - keep the babes safe in the unit next door while mama is off for surgery overnight...have to keep the babes safe - would never forgive myself if something happened to the little ones while i took mama away to the doctor.  we have a trap here but i actually think that we can lure them into the other unit...mama brings all of them to the back door in the morning if i don't get breakfast out the door quick enough (and two seconds is way too long as far as the family is concerned).

heading out to do baby present shopping - tomorrow evening have to run an errand over at cost plus and then i have to put my head down here and not look up for at least 17 days or i will never get caught up again. 

isn't exciting - halloween is just around the corner - we get zillions of little ones - they have a big party at the church just around the corner from us - and then everybody heads out - i think we are going to have bunches this year because it's saturday night...the doggers will be crazy with the doorbell ringing...rushing to answer it...they will probably give up after about 45 minutes of it...or i can just put the gate up and keep them in the family room...  they can watch the new toyota commercial with the squeekie toy and the liver spotted hunting dog that is loose - as soon as that commercial starts "squeeking" - off they go down the front hall looking for the toy...every single time the commercial comes on...i could say something about bright crayons in the box...but i will just leave it to your imagination.  at least they smell good - spa day yesterday - it lasts about 24 hours and then it's all done until the next time.  heading - enjoy the evening and the week - have a couple of pictures to take and post...just need to find that extra 3 minutes in the day...where does the time go?  does it go faster the older we get - yep - i think i have found the answer to the age-old question.

later to all.....

rain...rain...rain...and some more rain...

it started about 3 this morning - and it has literally not stopped and is continuing.  not seen rain in modesto like this since we moved here almost 10 years ago.  am sort of used to being a duck when we lived in marin - it rained all the time there in the winter - average rainfall was somewhere around 45 inches and we moved to modesto - 12.5 inches a year.  everytime somebody warns of doom and gloom and a giant storm that is going to eat us alive - we all quietly snore and it passes right over us.  NOT THIS TIME.  we have flooded streets, it hasn't stopped - every single window and door on the south side of our shop is leaking and i mean leaking a lot and bruce has already been down with the auxilliary load of towels when we have replaced twice and taken the soggy ones home to spin in the washer and throw into the dryer.  it just keeps on coming.  thankfully we're not leaking from the roof - just all the windows and it's seeping in between the window frames and the floors...somehow i don't think anybody chalked anything in this building...certainly not the seven foot windows - why would you need to do that??? 

mama kitty and babes have taken to the high ground somewhere - we have new food dishes in the sink ready for them tomorrow morning - their dishes have blown to the north somewhere...i hope they are safe and dry - they have to be hungry.  the spay/neuter place called yesterday and as soon as retreat is over we are going to trap mama and take her in to be spayed...the babes can't go until they are about 4 months old - hopefully we'll be able to tame them and make it a little easier.  annie has a trap so mama is our main concern before she gets herself into trouble again!!

anyway - didnot is fat and sassy and warm and dry in her shop (with the leaky doors and windows) and is quite happy...but i hear a lull in the rain so maybe i'll scamper now while i can and come in early again tomorrow and clean up the mess.  we are so trying to get ready for retreat and we are having such a tough time of it...it needs to stop raining now please!!!

and where or where have i been???

if i knew the answer to that - life would be good.  i'm tired - it has been non-stop for well over two weeks now - i meet myself coming in the door and heading back out - but we're good here - just moving and shoving and covering and sweeping and dusting and putting away and filling orders and generally getting ready for our retreat next weekend - it's all good...just a tad overwhelming sometimes. 

getting ready to do an update - i think i forgot how to do that too - it's just a bugger getting old...but the alternative stinks so i'll just watch a few more gray hairs pop out and be grateful.  turned cold here - literally a 25 degree drop overnight - we are definitely having fall and it's so nice - i just love it.

mama kitty and the 3 babes are good and eating me out of house and home.  need to make a decision about catching and neuturing - scares me to death because of the california law that if they are found positive for hiv or other kitty things - they have to be put down...i need to talk to bruce about it seriously - but i just can't have mama having any more kittens or have the kittens having kittens...that isn't a responsible thing to do...especially since i'm feeding them...where do the ethics lie in a case like this???  i just don't know.  in the meantime - we are finding places to tuck all our stuff in the backroom so people don't kill themselves on it next weekend.

more later - this was just an "after lunch yap" before i pick up the broom and dustmop again...but annie and kay tell me it's definitely looking better so there is hope...i will just believe there is hope!!!
back later...

mama kitty and a good pencil

i honestly don't know where the last week has gone - if you held a gun to my head...and you all know the rest of that story.  i can't believe it's been a week today that annie and i climbed on a plane to st. louis - it seems a million years ago and i feel like i haven't checked in with anybody - just had my head in the computer or printing or pulling orders...but i've been doing some thinking back and forth and in the early and late hours of the morning and evening as i come in and head out...stupid thinking actually because i'm tired and when i get tired i think like a stupid head.

anyway - for all of you who have been following either this blog or the one that we do somewhat weekly on the web site - remember mama kitty from the old store?  well, we have a new mama kitty at this store.  she (and her current brood) live on the other side of the now defunct railroad tracks over our side fence...she is a beautiful pale gray stripe and 1 baby looks just like her and another one has longer fur and the 3rd one has a bit of siamese in the genetic woodpile.  mama is quite tame and lets us pet her...and we give her water and some of didnot's dry food in big bowls.  i just went out and checked - and there she was - so family is now enjoying their second meal of the day...and the babies are very beautiful but just a little bit bashful.

it makes it feel like a real shop again - especially since we had the black mama kitty at the other shop by the dumpster for a very long time - i always felt so bad for her - she was very hungry when she found us - and when it was all over and done - she adopted a family down the street who provided food and a warm place to sleep and so it all worked out in the end.  we almost felt that we kept her going until somebody came to offer her a forever home - we were just that little boost she needed to make it thru the rough spot.

the other thing i was thinking about is pencils - have ya ever just found the bestest pencil in the world...but you really didn't want to use it because then it would be all used up and you wouldn't have it anymore?  isn't it just weird where the brain goes.  i found a BOX of that kind of pencil...and i'm going to target to buy at least 4 more boxes of them before they go away.  there is truly nothing more satisfying than a good pencil...and i had forgotten that...i was having a love affair with embassy suite pens...brought a bunch home from market - but i also love a good pencil!!!
i'm very tired and making no sense - full moon tonight - the air is crisp at night now - fall is truly in the air...THANK HEAVENS!!!  enjoy your evening...later!!!

market and other insanity

and so...new cell phone in hand - i'm ready.  everything packed, all counted, bins loaded, suitcases packed...and the phone - which is supposed to have a virtual keyboard (but only when it feels like it) decides to act up once again.  30 days to exchange it - 30 days is next wednesday.  everytime it misbehaves i threaten to take it back to the store.  everytime i threaten - it shows me the horizontal  virtual keyboard.  today i had had enough - had put the phone into time out about 4 times and decided enough was enough.  all the way across town and traded in the phone - he broke the hard case section that goes on the back of my phone - they didn't have any more.  he was supposed to transfer everything over - guess what - somewhere my calendar got lost so i have to recreate that. 

have to remember how to set all of the "stuff" up again because they no longer give out little booklets that you can sit and read - nope - you get a cd and you get to print out the 205 pages of instructions as to how to work your phone...problem is - that it prints right in the middle of the page in the tinest writing you could imagine.  so...here i am - trying to charge the new phone with the empty calendar and no music in it - because even though he seemed to have switched over the memory card - remember - i have to get out the 205 pages to figure out where the flipping music actually is and low and behold - i can't get a horizontal virtual keyboard (see the beginning of this rant).  now i call the store - i get "him" on the phone and his answer to the questions i ask is "well, maybe that's how the phone is supposed to work".  WRONG ANSWER.  he was with a client at the moment and i told him he really didn't want to see my face down there again and i am now waiting for him to call me back and at the same time, writing this and e-mailing with my dearest friend judy bielec in texas - she's trying to calm me down...

am i ready for market - i was until about 2 hours ago.  i actually went and had him destroy my phone, get a new flat iron, get gas in my car and be back in less than an hour - the girls were very impressed...but i still don't have a virtual horizontal keyboard...and he also lost the photo of daisy buchanan when she was a little girl...that was my wallpaper!!

kay has gone off to get us "happy meals" from micky d's...and it probably won't help - but there is nothing like a disgusting french fry to make me feel better.

off to accomplish the rest of my "here" lists before i go home and set the alarm for 5:00 a.m. tomorrow morning.

see you all when we get back...grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr - i hate new cell phones :)

isn't it amazing...

what can be done with a plain old spool of mettler 50/3 cotton thread and a straw needle?
just imagine what can be done with a spool of silk machine thread you can buy at the local fabric store.  it's truly a wonder.  top was stitched on 40 count over two, second row was 40 count over one and the third piece is 45 count over two.  yep, that's a #11 straw needle.  i'm off to find a spool  of weeks dye works quilting cotton...that will be fun to work with and it's overdyed so i'll get some terrific color play :)

we call this place "dirtville"

not even anything as remotely charming as "smallsville" - just plain old dirtville.  it rained/thundered/lighteninged over the weekend - totally unheard of the middle of september - and all that accomplished was to strike terror in the heart of poor nicky who absolutely hates anything that goes boom - thunder or fireworks - it makes no nevermind to him - if it booms - he's gone.

mud on the car (dirt/dust and water equals mud) and shakey dogs is not my idea of a good time but that's what we had.  then, tuesday - just for fun - we had both AC and furnace units replaced in our home - they even changed out the wall return in the family room - everything is all brand new - including the return and the thermostats and how anybody could possibly get a footprint (boot print) on the wall about 30 feet up in the family room is beyond me - but guess what - they did.  we won't even discuss the attic opening which is in the master bedroom closet...i do love painting walls - i really do - it could be my life's work if i accepted that job.

we are truly bustling around here getting ready for market next week - we leave on thursday morning at o'dark hundred - annie will be a vegetable until we are almost to the airport and then magically pop alive as i drop kick her to the curb with all the luggage and i go park the car.  we've been doing this for so long together that we don't even have to talk...and if we do - usually it's in shorthand - and i never have to worry about my back - she's always there to cover it...so despite the insanity before we leave i know that all will go smoothly because my annie is there guiding me thru the minefields.

i have at least 2 million more things to get done before leaving...and bruce is heading to orange county on monday evening and gets home about 9 on wednesday night and the alarm goes off at 5 on thursday morning so it's going to be yet another fun filled week and we probably won't hit any sort of calm for at least three weeks after we get back and then woops...it's retreat weekend...but it's all terrific.

and...with all this stuff that takes hours to accomplish  and there is nothing to do but think while doing it all - i have figured out next year's breast cancer piece to be released in mid-september and the designer is all on board and we are just way too excited - i love working with generous, kind and gracious people - they make it so easy to be creative and do good things - just their kindness buoys me along and we've had some amazing designers help us over the years...jackie du plessis, judy bielec, alma allen, barb adams and belinda karls-nace - i am indeed a lucky person to have these people be my friends...i am truly blessed.

so...because i've been here before six thirty every morning this week and because i have a pile of things sitting at home that need to get done before i head for st. louis next week - i'm going to head home - after i finish putting some kits together - try and figure out which lists i want to ignore and which i need to pay serious attention to and see if there is something on the television that will keep me entertained until i fall over. 

enjoy your evening...sleep tight and check back here again before i leave for market - there could be some pretty fun stuff -  just never know what might happen around here :)