Why We Need to to be Organized!

Why do we find ourselves needing to be organized?  Basically it is because we need to maintain a well balanced life.

What would we do if we just let our laundry pile up, leave clothing all over the floor, toys everywhere, trash left not picked up, food left out to go bad, dishes lingering in the sink to smell really bad, paperwork just tossed all over the desk, empty soda cans tossed everywhere, our bucket lists unfulfilled, things never finished, vacations shot to kingdom come because it was unplanned, phone calls not made, lawns and gardens not tended to, cars left cluttered, things not weeded out, things left hoarded, plans not completed, friends left out of the loop, and on and on and on?

This is when we would all go to pot.  Which is the fundamental reason that we try to be as organized as we can be on a daily basis.  It's a big juggling act.  How can we keep doing this every day?  We really do try and yet at the end of the day there always seems to be some things that we wished we could have accomplished.

Now what if I had been more organized?  Could I have done something about the things I didn't get to?

We need our daily routines organized.  Some of us keep a written list of what we need to do and others need to have it in their heads.  I am usually the one who keeps it in my head, but sometimes I do find myself occasionally writing it down.  I used to keep a written list all the time when the kids were younger and then I just found myself just doing it instead of writing it and finding it not crossed off on the page.

Sometimes we do forget to do some things we wanted to do.  So then it is helpful to come back to it the next day and make that one a priority.

Basic daily things to do to keep a balanced life:

Pick up after yourself and have your kids learn this too.  A cleaner house is a must.

Try to constantly clean up the clutter.

Keep a well organized desk so that you can always find things.

If you craft like I do, try to keep everything in containers so that you can find things.  I like to keep things in pretty bags or pocketbooks.  And I try to keep certain things in each place, so I always know where to go to look for things.

Sometimes I like to keep things in ziploc bags too so it's all contained.

Label things.

Keep a bucket list so that you can try to maintain it and do the things that you want to do.

Try to stick with a plan so that you can carry out all your endeavors.

Keep in touch with your friends and don't keep yourself out of the loop.

Keep connected with your online communities.

Keep up with the internet as you can always learn something new.

Clean up your clutter.  Think about what you really need in your life.  If it sits around and collects dust for a year and doesn't get used, chances are you don't need it.  Unless it is something pretty and decorative and sentimental to you, it should stay.

Have a yard sale or sell your stuff on Ebay.  You can make money on the things that clutter your life.

Less is more.  The more you maintain your house and your daily routine, the better it is going to be to function and do the things that really matter in your life.

Keep appointments and make your family a priority.

Stay organized.  You will be a better Mom, Dad, parent, friend, family member for it.

And you will feel better that things are where they should be, that you are accomplishing your goals and that things are getting done and you can see your Bucket list diminishing.

But you know your Bucket List is going to get bigger, as there is always something new to add to it.  We're always wanting to do new things.  There are so many things that we still haven't done.

And we never know how much time we have left to do all that we want to do.

But if we're not getting ourselves organized, all the clutter and unnecessary things in our lives are going to drag us down.

Organization is key, whether it is in our lives, making our blogs better, or anything else we set out to do.

Jennifer Jo Fay

Copyrighted August 9, 2012

Why You Need to Learn to Social Bookmark your Blog?

You're a blogger, right?  Like me, you like to blog and attract your readers.  Which is why you need to learn to social bookmark your blog and figure out how things work.  Your goal should be to gain your readership and make your blog the best that it can be.

How do you do that, you say?  Well, it won't happen by sitting on your laurels.  You've got to get yourself out there and promote yourself.

I know there are paid places to help us do that, but most of us don't want to fork over any money to someone else if we can help it.  The Internet is filled with places where we can promote for free or for a very small fee.

I did pay to participate in one blog hop.  The fee was a one time charge of $3.  Not out much.

But most of the sites I go to are free.  And I'm sure there are many out there that I don't know about.

You have to shop around and see where you want to promote your blog or website.  Figure out what kind of traffic you want.

I try to go all over the place.  Keep a small journal to jot down all the places that you have signed up an account with as it can get crazy.  I sometimes just keep them in my emails too so they are there and one click away.  And I use google chrome and it memorizes my searches.

I keep a little notebook of a list of my favorite places to post my new blog posts.

Here are some of the places I use:

Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin
Linkytools
Pinterest
Stumbleupon
Blogaholicnetwork
Bloggymoms
Circle of Moms
Societyofsocialprenuers
Tumblr
Wordpress
Pinspire
Pinstyle
Triond
Wikinut
Myspace
Blogher

A few new places I'm going to try

LadyBloggers
Divablogger
Picketfenceblogs

and I'm sure there are lots of other places yet to discover.

But usually with this list, I write my post and then go down the list and promote it to those sites.  Sometimes I linger at each site to see what is new.

I'm still learning about some of the sites like Blogaholics, Blogher, and a bunch of the others.  I'm trying to figure out how to become more active on those sites.  On Blogher you have to learn how to use your chatter box to communicate with the community and with all the sites you have to comment often and find ways of connecting with others to grow your audience.

So, I figure I will post and then need to spend a certain amount of time at each site to gain friends and followers.

I also decided to delete my Linkshare and Clickbank products and ads on this blog.  I don't think it was really working out and I've just tried to get my blog with Blogher to earn revenue with them and they won't accept my blog if I have paid/sponsored ads on it.  I'm not sure about Google Adsense.  I'm leaving that regardless as I have an account with them and have accumulated some funds there.  And I've told Blogher that I won't delete my ads for my handmade stuff.  That's mine and it's staying.

I tried to earn revenue with Blogher earlier this winter but the blog wasn't old enough.  Now it is and they are saying that I could qualify.  So I will wait and see.

But you really need to be active in your blog community.  Find blogs you like.  Follow, follow, follow.  Comment often.  It takes a lot of time to build a successful blog and it certainly won't happen over night.

Stay faithful to yourself and your dreams and good things will come.  Do it for the love of it first, and maybe money will follow.

Go back and refine old posts.  You want quality stuff and maybe sometimes we need to look at old posts and change things to make it better.

Always read about how you can change your blog to make it better.  I love reading tips and advice about this topic.  I have quality writing, but I can still be better.  There is always room for improvement.

As long as we keep trying, that is all that matters.  But please stay active.  Don't just wait for it all to come to you.  It won't happen that way.

Jennifer Jo Fay

August 8, 2012

Don't be a statue and think that your blog will be successful.  It doesn't work that way.

This chair is beautiful, but don't wait in it for good things to come your way.  Get off and go for a walk and find new discoveries.  You're worth it.

A Week Without My Kids!

Saturday marked the first day of my kids going camping for the week with their Dad.  Right now they are having fun in Maine.  They've gone to a campground near Bath, Maine where the deer roam parts of the campground.  Sean has borrowed my good camera for the week.

I got to the kids house early Saturday before they left.  I woke up early and went for my morning walk in my neighborhood and got there as my kids were getting up.  I managed to get a hold of my laptop for a few minutes before Julia woke up.  She discovered I was on and was upset as they would be leaving within the next few hours.  So, she lucked out as I only was going to be on for five minutes to check my Ebay.

Later they left and all was quiet.  I have been planning on camping out at their house for the week and escaping my cats for the week too.  Of course going back and forth during the day to feed them, etc...  I love my cats, but sometimes it is fun to spend some nights at my kids house when they are on vacation.  I also tend to their pets while they are gone and get their mail.

So, I began the day thinking and planning out my week in my head.  What do you do when you have quiet time to yourself?  You do whatever you want!!!!

I started out the Saturday by finishing up on my yard saling.  There was a neighborhood yardsale with sales up and down all the streets.  I started out by finding a pretty basket with lovely handmade placemats and a tea cozy.  I ended up listing the placemats and tea cozy on ebay but have kept the basket.  At first I was thinking of cutting up the pink floral fabric but it was much too pretty to do that.  Someone has already bid on it.

Then, I didn't find too much for a little bit.  My money just didn't want to part with me.  I get very selective when there is nothing I need or can sell. Finally, I found things and my money did part with me!!!

I only allow myself a certain amount of money for yard saling each weekend and when it's gone, I am done.

I got back and started listing and uploading my pictures.  I had a delimna for a little bit as I couldn't find my uploaded pictures, but sure enough, they were there.

Later, I decided to cut up more yo yo circles for a while and then towards later afternoon and evening I started watching Shark movies all night on Syfi channel while I deleted lots of digital images.  I have lots of clean up to do with my digital photography.  I ended up deleting 1500 photos that night.  I had for several months found my photo files had about 5 or 6 of the same exact photo.  I think  this was because I forgot to erase them off the memory card and they kept duplicating.

And then I've started to edit my photos in Picasa and I name those photos and save them.  Which in the process creates a new file and I suddenly don't need the original uploaded photo.  But it's going to be worth it to fix all my pictures eventually and delete unwanted stuff.

Then I think I should be trying to save them slowly to a disc or some sort of back up.  I would be crying if I lost all my photos.

As it is, last fall I lost about a month's worth of photos that I took while visiting my Maine Haunts, my sister's kids birthday party and lots of other stuff.  A barmitzpah that I photographed and got some lovely photo overlays of got lost too.  Partly this was when my laptop crashed last year and I had a memory card that went bad and had to be thrown out.  But, when it crashed, I had all my photos saved to a backup hard drive, so one of these days, I need to check to see if they are on there.

Then, Sunday, I was going to walk and I got up from the couch and couldn't walk on my knee.  It hurt so much, I felt like having crutches to walk around all day.  So walking got scratched that day.  I mostly cut out yo yo circles that day and watched some movies.

Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Gladiator, Bladerunner, The Fifth Element and a short segment of The Twilight Zone.  I guess I was hoping for more shark movies that day. 

I had watched one stupid shark movie, Super Shark, where the shark liked to walk up to the beach and chew up unsuspecting people.  That was the most stupid one.  You know when a shark walks all the way up a beach, you should stop watching.  But I didn't.

Monday, my knee felt so much better.  I couldn't believe it.  I woke up feeling no pain the whole day.  So, I got in Monday's walk.  Got back and started getting excited that I could watch the Today Show like I did during the school year.  Started cutting up more fabrics that I have.  I've had a big pile of fabric that I hadn't wanted to cut up.  I originally bought them for photography backgrounds.

Finally, Saturday and Sunday I decided to cut them up for my yo yo circles and also cut up some large squares so I can still use them for photography too.  It's going to turn into a large photography quilted blanket.  It will get big quick as the squares are really large.

So, middle of morning my boyfriend called and wanted me to come down to his house for a few days.  He wanted me to help him move his couch.  His cats have fleas so he wanted me down there to help with stuff.

His cats got the Frontline a few weeks ago, yet there is still fleas lingering.

What a job that is to spray everything down to kill all those eggs.  I never realized that ever single egg can hatch about fifty fleas.  And we found hundreds under the couch cushions. 

So literally the whole house got a cleanup and daily vacumning and being extra careful.  And I need to be careful that I don't bring it back to my cats.

Even a human can bring in a flea and start the whole nasty process going.  And they are fast at spreading themselves in the house.

But, we got lifting the couch and the chair yesterday and at first I thought both were so heavy.  The chair was worse than the couch.  He's tempted to buy new furniture later on and get rid of the old.  His chair is quite large and the lever for the foot rest is inside the chair.  I told him, he'd do well with a smaller lazy boy chair where the lever is usually on the outside.

So, his cats are doing good today.  I treated them to a cat toy when I went out for extra flea spray.  I tried to put a small amount on my debit card afterwards.  I have recently noticed that some stores will not let you use your debit card if you only spend one or two dollars.  They want you to at least spend five dollars and then you can use your debit card.  So the cats got lucky!!  They got a new mouse toy and my cats are going to get the other one that came with it. 

I almost was going to let them play with both, but then I confiscated my cat's toy.  I got thinking that you never know if a flea egg gets attached to it, then I've brought it home to mine.

And I'm typing now, but I've got a sore pinky so it is a little tricky to type.  I think it was from lifting the chair.

This morning, I got another walk in early on before things got hot.  It's not humid today, so it wasn't bad, but I could tell it was starting to get hot.

I hopped on my kids scale on Monday and I'm down to 190.  I was at 200.  It's a good jump from before kids.  Before kids, I was at 140-150.  I don't know if I'll get back to that but it would be nice to get back to 170.  I don't look super big everywhere except for the belly and I'm sure a lot of the weight has probably settled into the bones or something. 

So, it's been cool to see ten pounds shed so far.  I've got a way to go though.  I'm just going to keep walking.  I want my metabolism increased so it will lower my sugar levels.  I don't want to have to stop eating things I like.  I'm not a big sweet eater, but I do like to eat for nourishment and I do like to splurge with the sugar in my coffee and have a snack once in a while. 

Walking and drinking water and changing the diet all helps and is a good thing.  Right now, I could be pre diabetic.  But that was predicted by tests done earlier in the spring.  A time when I was drinking several cans of soda during each day along with my coffee intake and the extra snacking.  So, I would be curious to see what all the tests would say now after a big change in my diet and everything.

I can already tell the difference in my ankles, legs and butt and a little bit in the stomach.  It just looks like the weight has all shifted and I'm looking better.  My goal would also to be able to see below my stomach and to not look pregnant.

I've already cooked up my pasta salad for the next three or four days.  Yum.

PASTA SALAD WITH FETA CHEESE

one package ziti noodles (cooked)
cut up half a green pepper and one half onion
(chop finely and saute with butter or margarine and a tiny bit of salt to taste)
I also sauted with a little bit of a bell pepper spice mix
I also added about one tblsp lemon juice and balsamic vinegar to the pepper mix.

When noodles are cooked, drain and rinse.  Add the sauted mix.
Add 1-2 tbsps French's mustard
1 cup mayonaise
2-3 tblsp sweet pickle relish
A small amount more of the balsamic vinegar ( not much as you don't want to kill the meal)
A small amount more of salt and the bell pepper spice
1 tbsp oregano
1 tsp pepper

Mix it up. 

Well, this is when my salad looked a little bare.  Seemed like mostly noodles and my sauted mix seemed to disappear.  Needless to say, a trip to the grocery store for extra things to put in.

Add two can's large olives (chopped and drained)
Add one can of mushrooms (yum)
Add one small container of feta cheese.  (To die for!)
And chop up half a bag of baby carrots.

Mix it all in and there you have it.

So this is my meal until I get sick of it.

I guess some of it isn't the best for you.  There's probably unwanted carbs in the mayonaise and salt in the olives.  And the butter and margarine isn't the best.

But, you can't sometimes not add a little bit of these things.  It's very hard not to include none of that in the daily diet sometimes.  You can't watch every little single thing that you eat.  As long as you eat in moderation.

I think it is better if you can make meals yourself.  All that canned food isn't good.  But sometimes we do need to add some of it to some meals. 

And those store boughten soups are probably bad.  Tons of salt.  I like to sometimes make my own soups and then I can monitor what I put in.

Well, today is Tuesday and I'm still going to plan out the rest of my week without the kids.  I've got the laptop until Friday and then my boyfriend and I are going camping for the weekend.  Which means no laptop.  But I will be doing the crafting and small things I can bring with me.

Wednesday and Thursday will be hangout days at my kids house and visiting my cats.  I guess that's why they sleep on me all the time when I am there as they miss me.  Luna will climb up and kiss me.  She's so affectionate.

So, I'll let you go for now.  Enjoy the rest of the day.  I'll probably be doing more crafting and hoping that my pinky finger feels better soon.


Jennifer Jo Fay

Copyrighted August 7, 2012

The start I got on sponge painting my hutch.  The blue has kind of disappeared now and it kind of looks like one color.  It's got a ways to go as I want to do collage work to this piece and I'm not sure what I want to do with the inside shelving yet.

My knobs I am putting on the hutch.  I ended up having seven of these left over and have listed them.  Someone is watching them on Ebay right now.  And the wood filler in the background.  The cats did a number to the tops of part of the floorboards in my hallway so I had to fix it and decided to paint the floorboards.  Next month or October, I will be painting the living room and my hallway.

My cool card rack I got for $25 at a yardsale before my kids were born.  It has been used for all my craft shows.  Although, this fall time, I just want to use two card tables for a change instead of lugging this around.  It's not too bad to lug, but my car trunk is filled up with stuff and I don't want to bother putting this in the car for the one craft show this year.  I might do more than one next year.

This rack is great for my paper dolls and my cards and artwork.

Some of my cool ribbon yarns.  The burgandy color is being used right now.  I'm mixing it in with an olive green ribbon.  Not this green one.  Those green ones are a very thin metallic yarn (more like string).  It looks pretty blended in with other yarn.

A cool flower arrangement on one of my walks near my apartment.  I like walking into a neighborhood nearby.  But I think I get a better workout doing my walk at the kids house.  There's more inclines and I think it's longer and there's a big hill on the last leg of it.

My pretty honeycomb cabled headband I whipped up last week.  I want to do more of these.  I like this mannequin.  I'm considering getting her some new wigs next month.  Possibly a red head in Avengers style or a flapper girl wig or Gibson Girl style.  And one of these days I should try to draw her.

Below is a hat I got at a yardsale.  I'm selling the hat on Ebay and someone is watching it.  I will take a photo session of her with the hat before I sell the hat.

Having a mannequin head is a great way to display things.  I would like to eventually get one or two more mannequin heads.

Last year, I was considering getting a full body mannequin (really pretty), but then I thought it would be so big and where would I put it?

Fun idea though.  It's a good thing we don't act on every single impulse buy.  It's  a good idea to wait and figure out if you really need it before you plan to buy.

What Do You Think God's Plan Was?

What do you really think that God's plan for us was?  Did he plan for Eve to eat that apple and sin?  Do you think he planned out all these awful murders that keep happening in our world?  Or did he just decide that it all has to happen anyway and we have to figure out how to live in a world full of mayhem.

Did God expect for a woman to become commercialized and plan for men to want a "skinny stick figure" that pops off the page of a magazine into their beds at night?  I don't think that he could have ever planned for all that.

Did God plan for everyone to want money and greed?  I don't think that was in God's cards.  Did God want a society to crumble like we are now?  Toddlers wearing tiaras.  Moms dressing them to look like Pretty Woman.  Hookers walking the streets in the skimpiest barely there dresses. 

He certainly didn't ask for burglars to go prying into the homes of others and looting their stuff.  Men with guns killing wasn't in his plan either.

But God certainly had to know that nothing was ever going to be perfect.  He didn't live in a perfect world either. 

There's been murder and sin in the world since time began.  It's just gotten a lot worse over time.  It was like a wound festering and nobody tended to it, so it got bigger.  Well, there were and always are the people that stand up and take a fight for justice, but it's not all of us and the wound doesn't heal.

Crime continues to happen.  Women continue to eat hardly anything so they can look like that beautiful stick that they are jealous of because they think their man would rather have that than all the meat that is on her body.

Women continue to get anorexic, bulemic, and all kinds of other diseases.

People steal, cheat, and lie their way through life.  Not because God planned it, but because they have chosen to defy God.

What do you think God planned for us?

I think he definitely wanted peace, love and harmony in this world.  And right now as always he is up there preparing a special place there for us because he loves us.

God's plan was a fate that probably has already been mapped out for us yet we haven't seen the whole thing yet.  We will when our time is up.  He'll show us what our life has meant for us and we will finally see the whole picture to this beautiful life that is like a feather in the wind.

Jennifer Jo Fay

Copyrighted August 6, 2012

The Well Seasoned Yard Saler

Well, another year of yard saling is now into full swing.  We patiently wait every spring for the early signs of a good yard sale and hope to find new treasures to display for a new year.  And now we are into August and there have been lots of good sales and bad yard sales.

And we still have September to find what we want.  Here in Vermont there are yard sales all the way through September and sometimes we get surprised to find one in October.

Down in Florida, the sales last until 4-6pm.  I've got a best friend down there that once told me this.

I've been yard saling for years and would have to say that now, I am a well seasoned yard saler.  I learned at a young age the fun past time of yard saling.  I had a great aunt growing up who loved to go yard saling every weekend.  She would often spend all day yard saling and would show up for a visit later in the afternoon. 

Sometimes we would patiently wait for her to show up.  Sometimes we would go yard saling with her, my Nana and my mom.  We would often get lost and have some good laughs as we asked people for directions. 

In later years when I would talk to my Dad about yard saling he would call me, "Aunt Mary."  I always loved visiting her house.  She had lots of pretty china dishes, a piano, granny afghans, dolls and other stuff.  It was a fun place.

Later in college, my sister and I would have fun yard saling and finding cool items.  I'm sure I don't have lots of the items any more.  But I still have these antique silver tea spoons that I love from yard saling with her.

The well seasoned yard saler learns to collect all kinds of different things.  When I was first married, I started yard saling more and as a young mother, it was my Saturday escape from the kids.  I often would come back with lots of stuff.  Clothing and toys for the kids, cool items for me and ocasionally finding something for the husband.

A well seasoned yard saler learns from her mistakes.  How many times have we come back with things we know we are going to be putting in our next yard sale?  I can't tell you how many things have ended up in my next yard sale, the trash or Goodwill.  Too many to count.  The one thing I do remember that ended up going straight into the trash was one of those old Snoopy tooth brush machines.

And I used to come back with small pieces of furniture and bigger stuff.  Things I thought I could use for photography, storage for my many dolls I had at the time.

I used to accumulate lots of stuff and was probably the yard sale queen (alias;  the hoarder).  When I first moved into my new apartment three years ago, the movers said that I should be put on TV.  I literally had no bare space and they made a path for me to get from one room to the next.  I had two much furniture for my little apartment and too many things.

Goodwill has seen a lot of me over the last three years, and this last year I finally smartened up and started selling stuff on Ebay to make some money.  And now, I have cleaned out my apartment and am yard saling to find other items to sell. 

But, I sure used to not be careful with what I would bring back from yard sales.

And I think that every year we yard sale there are going to be some things that end up going to Goodwill, the trash or EBay.  Sometimes we see a sale and think that we want it and then later realize that we didn't really need it.

How many times have you boughten something at a yard sale several times because you bought something once before and got rid of it and changed your mind when you see another one again at another yard sale?

And we usually like to stop at all yard sales in case there happens to be that one treasure that we are looking for.  Or sometimes it ends up being too small and we drive on by.  And sometimes we don't like the drive down a certain road to find the sale.

There's nothing I hate more than seeing a yardsale sign and then get sent on a wild goose chase.  The yardsale is just not there like it said it was or you're yardsaling on a Friday and the sign said Saturday.  But we don't always read the sign.  We just see a flash of flourescent pink or orange and know we're headed in the right direction. 

After that fact, we cringe as we know we have wasted gas on that one.  And then there are the yardsales where we stop and look, but there is nothing that we need.

I don't need sheets, dishes, vases, old VCR tapes, tons of books that will collect dust, baby toys, etc.....

Sometimes we see things we like, but the seller is asking too much for everything and we choose to walk away with our money in our pockets.

I'm always on the hunt for crafting stuff and dolls and of course the outfits and things to sell.  I try not to get too many big things now.  I've been busy getting rid of lots of furniture and big things.  I try now to get just what I need.

I did end up getting rid of a few things I got at some yard sales.  Earlier in the season, I got luggage for reinventing and chose to get rid of one as I thought I got too many of them.  And some little odds and ends ended up at Goodwill.  And things that don't sell on Ebay go there.  And sometimes things get cut up for crafting.

One man's trash is another man' treasure.  I always remember this saying and heard it so many times.

We scour the yard sales for so many things that we want for a cheaper price and love that we got a great bargain.  That is the love of a good yard sale.  It's a great way to have a whole new wardrobe for a cheaper price.  I honestly shouldn't need to shop at a clothing store for many years.

But of course we do see an outfit once in a while that we absolutely must have.

I love finding things that are going to be useful in my creating.

I also love it when you go to a yardsale and you find exactly what you were looking for.  Like today, I was thinking of buying in a store or on Ebay some decorative knobs to add to my hutch that I am painting and collaging.  It would have cost me more money and low and behold, I found a bag of porcelain flower drawer knobs for $1.  What a bargain.

So, you never know what you will find at a yard sale.  Whether you are a novice, collector, buyer and seller, and of course the well seasoned yard saler, you learn to be selective with what you buy so you aren't bringing back all kinds of junk to fill your apartment or home.

The yard sale season is slowly coming to a close, but I'm already looking forward to next year's yard sales to buy and sell again.  And when the season is done this year, I will have to look for other ways to buy and sell until the next year roles around.

I guess that is when my crafting skills come in and I can also attempt to sell what I create too.  That's a selective thing and you never know who is going to want it.


Jennifer Jo Fay

August 3, 2012

Wow.  Another post today!  Julia is playing Skyrim instead on the PS3 so I have control of my laptop this afternoon.  Now, what do I want to do next?  But, I will probably still spend some time cutting out more yo yo circles.

And another thought about yardsales.  Watch out for the Estate sales.  The prices are sometimes sky high and once in a while they charge you sales tax.  And this morning, I was at my kids house early writing a post, checking my Ebay and getting two packages ready to mail.  My son and I looked out the living room window just as I was ready to go to some yard sales and were so surprised at all the cars lined up on the street.

I couldn't believe it.  Cars were everywhere and tons of cars were lined up in the court across the way.  We saw people walking out of a certain house with stuff and Sean said they are cleaning out the house.  We knew that earlier this year the woman living there had passed away and now figured they were cleaning it out.

Well, I went outside and got in my car and slowly waited for my turn to carefully pull out of the driveway.  Once on the road, I didn't get too far as people were walking across the street and more than several other cars were trying to get up from the other side of the street, cars behind me waiting and one car had the nerve to try to pass me on the right and I kept honking at him to wait his turn and that he could not pass me.  What was he thinking?

Well, what it ended up being was an Estate sale with the green signs all over the place.  I almost wasn't going to go after I was done yard saling but I ended up going in.  The prices weren't as bad as the other one I went to.  I ended up coming out with some bangle bracelets and yarn.  I was curious to see what the lady had in her house.  I don't really remember too much about her as she kept to herself.

I imagine the house might be up for sale at some point.

There had to be at least 50 or more cars there early this morning.  And I think by the time I got there, everything was picked over.

And whatever happened to Friday being the popular day for yard sales.  I still manage to find some, but nowadays people mostly have them on Saturday due to working.

And usually everyone is tired by a Sunday and just want to close up shop.  And it's no fun gathering everything and spending hours cleaning up.  That is the biggest chore of actually having a yardsale.

My last yardsale I had was last summer and I swear I took about  2-3 hours to set up and close down.  And nine bags of kids clothing ended up going to Goodwill as I gathered things that didn't fit them from their house too.  That was the biggest yardsale I ever had.

And I had stuff in my hallway the night before and when I woke up in the morning my big framed art print of those two angels thinking got stolen.  Someone came down and saw it.  I wouldn't be surprised if it was my next door neighbors as they would have been the ones that would have seen it when they were walking into their apartment.  I forget who did it.  Some famous artist.

Today's pretty drawer knobs.  This was the yard sale gem of the day.  I need four four my hutch project and then I will decide if I want to use them on my armour.  I might not want them on that.  I might decide to save the rest of them and look for more drawer knobs at sales.  It looks like they are selling pretty well on Ebay and maybe I can get a little collection going and then sell them.  Or you never know when you're going to find a little piece of furniture that might need one of these.  Or some wooden container that would be nice with one of these attached.

A purple top that I am ending up keeping instead of listing on Ebay.  I was going to keep one other top instead of this one but the other top was too tight in the sleeves and this one ended up looking really nice on me.  And the purple polka dots could be useful with the photography still life photos.

A pretty girls Bonnie Jean dress that I am selling right now on Ebay.

The wooden bracelets and yarn I got at the Estate sale this morning.  I came back with three bangle bracelets and Julia was like, "What did you get?"  I showed her and immediately both girls wanted one.  So I got thinking there goes my painting these idea I saw from Modge Podge Rocks website and blog.  Below is the one that Julia has started painting with the cheap Folk Art paints.  Mollyanne ended up not wanting to paint one, so I still get to paint two of them.

Some free fabric remnants I got at a yard sale today for the yo yo circle cutting

A new pile of fabric ear marked for the fabric stretchy bracelets that I cut up over the last few days.

Here is my old flower pattern I started to sew five or six years ago when the girls were younger and I was living in their house.  Maybe about four years ago actually.

I'm going to attempt this again with some fabric sometime.  Maybe I can play around with the petals and make bracelets out of them.  Seeing as I've been on a big bracelet kick this year.

Right now this looks like it would be long enough for a scarf, but I think my plan had been to make a blanket throw out of them.  And one flower was a baby teether with the tissue or tracing paper inside it.

Here is my big pile of yo yo circles that I have cut up from now to last November.  I had them in ziploc bags for a while and decided to switch them to this earlier this week and have them all in one place.  This is about a 12" X 12" basket.  I've got a bunch of these baskets I bought from JCPenneys years ago.  I used to stack them on top of each other and they held my dolls, artwork and any thing I could think of putting in them.  I once had a big drywall shelf that I would situate them on too.  I always liked finding things that were going to create more storage space for things.

As you can see with this growing amount of yo yo circles, it will take me a while to sew them all up, seeing as I've got lots of other crafting projects lined up too and the novels and the art.  All in good time.  It's not going to walk away.  But I'm sure a few of these will get cut up by the girls for their Pet Shop Characters or the Webkinz.

This afternoon's snack.  I'm dipping it in Ortega Guacamole dip today.  My favorite thing to dip them in is Hannaford's french onion dip, but that is gone now.  I wonder if they would be good dipped in mustard.  Hmmm...

I added some to a hamburger helper meal yesterday (tomato basil with out the hamburg)

What has been your highlights of the summer?

Summer just seems to come and go.  Seems like the school years just seem to fly right by.  That was one thing my Mom always used to say, "Enjoy every moment as once they get in school it fly's right by."  And she also said to never wish your time away.

And it is so true, that once your children are in school, it just seems to evaporate and at the beginning of summer we find ourselves thinking, "Where did the time go?  The kids are another year older and going onto the next grade.

I've got two in high school this year and my girls are in the last year of their in between school before they head on over to the Middle School.  Mine go through four different schools.  They go to the grammar school up until second grade and then head over to another school for three years and then onto Middle School and High School.

For me growing up, it was just Grammar school and then for Seventh grade we moved to the Junior High.

I loved being a part of my children's schooling.  I was more active in it when they were in Grammar school, dropping them off every day for their preschool program that was in the Elementary.  It had the EEE kids and then 8 other kids.  Because of Jake, all my kids got to go.  Now it's just the EEE kids but my kids got lucky.  When Sean was little, he was the only kid that didn't have a disability.  Because of Jake, they let Sean be a part of the preschool class room.  Some of those teachers became some of my best friends and one was like a mother figure for me after mine passed away.  She was there for me, through lots of things.

I need to go back for a visit at some point.  Last time I went was to drop off the manuscript to my first published novel so they could pass it around and read it.  Maybe next year I will be dropping by with The Glorious Money Tree when it is done.

But anyway, school just comes and goes.  Sean has two years left of high school and then it is on to college. That is hard to believe that I will have one leaving the nest in a short while.  I won't wish it to come here yet, but it will.  He's already thinking that he wants to go into Biology or something along that lines.  He would like to be a part of finding new species and all that stuff.  Last year he was really into photography.  Although, I think he would continue with the photography too as he would be wanting to photograph new species, etc..

I think this interest of his is partly because he will be taking a Botany class this year and is excited about that.

But their interests do change and very often, they don't know what they want to do until they are a Junior or a Senior.

I knew what I wanted to do early on.  I knew that I wanted to go to Art school.  But I did also look at freelance writing with my guidance counselor.

So what have been your highlights to the summer, now that it's here and in three more weeks school will be kicking in again?

I'm not sure what my highlight has been for me.  Of course visits to the pool have been fun and trips to my boyfriend's house.  But every day seems to be a highlight for me just being around my kids every day.  That's fun.  And selling on Ebay has been lots of fun.  I'm loving a job that will allow me to be home with my kids.

I would also have to say The Girl's Birthday party.  I always look forward to that every year.  It always means that I get to have some of my family visit for it.  My sister always comes with the three kids and my Dad rides with them.  This year was a treat as her husband was able to come.  And some years my brother and his wife come too and we have a full house with all of them and my ex's parents come over too.  We had such a blast this year.  I love having a good relationship with my ex and his parents.

And when everyone gets together, it just seems like old times.  It's nice to have the whole family remain friends.

And it's such a great time to have my kids get to see their cousins.  It's always a special time.

And another highlight was getting to see Jake's reaction to the new Spiderman movie.  That was classic and was definitely his highlight of the summer.  That was his birthday treat.  And a Macdonald's trip for supper one night and a gluten free birthday cake on his actual birthday.

Other highlights are always a fun trip to Maine to visit family.  We usually stay at my sister's house.  Last year I had to have a special trip to stay at my Dad's house (the childhood home) for a few nights and visit all my old haunts.

I've got to check my backup files to find some of those pictures as they got erased from my laptop for some reason and all those pictures luckily got saved onto one of those little hard drives or backup gadgets.

I'll have to make myself look at that as I think about a months worth of pictures went missing.

But now, summer is almost over.

Tomorrow is almost here.  My kids are going camping in Maine with their Dad all week.  Which means I will get to have full control of my laptop all week while they are gone.  They are coming back next Saturday, which means when they get back Julia will have full control of my laptop for a few days as I will be camping with my boyfriend for the weekend and we're going to a big car show.

I will be charging up one of the little cameras as Sean wants to bring my big camera on their camping trip.  I'm going to let them bring the rest of my marshmallow bag with them camping.  I bought a bag earlier this summer for one of the other camping trips and after two toasted marshmallows, I had had enough.

I can't believe they sell those jumbo marshmallows.  Those things are sickly sweet.  Even just popping one into my mouth, I have a hard time getting the whole thing down.  I guess mini marshmallows are more my speed.  I used to love the assorted colored ones.  And thinking of this brings back memories of those big circus peanut candies.  Remember those?

I'm looking forward to posting on my blog more often and maybe writing another chapter to The Glorious Money Tree.  I have the rough draft hand written and will rewrite that one later.  I've got to go back to the previous chapter as I couldn't remember the names of the mom, Lara's two scrabble guests.

I'm also looking forward to doing more blog hopping and commenting and keeping up with promoting the blog and other stuff.  And it's always fun to surf the net to look up things.  Last night, I started searching for cable knitting stitches and found a free site with the stitch patterns, so I want to go back to that.

And of course later today is the beginning of yard sale weekend.  It's 8am now and the morning is still young.  I've been at the kids house for a little bit this morning already and am getting lucky to get this post in before Julia wakes up.  She's sleeping late this morning.

Last night, I watched Quantum of Solace while I finished painting the floorboards in my living room.  I got quite a surprise when I pulled out my hutch away from the wall.  Of course lots of cobwebs, but also a pile of junk that has been festering there for a few years.  An old piece of bubble gum, probably some remains of some food as I could see those little squirmy bugs that resemble silverfish.  I hate those things.  So I found myself squooshing them before attempting to see what was there.  Most of it was junk, but I managed to dig out a few toy mouses for the cats, pens, a thimble, a kids pair of scissors, one of those toy Chinese finger traps of Sean's, an old buck tooth mouth piece (Halloween), and a piece of fabric that I was working on years ago, and a few other little odds and ends.

The fabric piece I found was my template for this flower petal.  Four or five years ago, while I was still living at the kids house I started this flower blanket using these petals.  I finished one row and never finished the whole thing.  It was pretty and later on I should find it and take a picture of it.  It resembles the yo yo throws where they are attached and there's holes in between.  It's a set of six flower petals that I sewed up and attached.  And each flower got attached to each other.  I probably finished about four or five flowers to the row.

And another cute little thing I made with them was baby teethers.  Those are fun.  For those, I added a layer or two of tissue paper inside.  And then, I embroidered around the middle of each flower.  I think I had sold one at the time and a while ago I found one Halloween baby teether left.

So maybe that's another project later to re do the flower idea.  So maybe I will be cutting a few petals later today too when I'm cutting up more yo yo's.  I've got quite a large basket of the yo yo's now.

And I've been saving all the scraps as I go for use for the bracelets.  Maybe crazy quilt bracelets or very small nine patch squares.  It's good to save your scraps as you never know what you can use it for.

And today, a shirt that didn't sell is getting cut up for the yo yo's.  I listed it more than several times and it didn't sell.  I bet it would sell in the fall as it's pretty, but I want the fabric for my yo yo's.  It's a small yellowish beige fabric with tiny red flowers on it.

Well, I guess I will finish up this post as the girl will be waking up soon and I'm going to jaunt out and see if there are any Friday yard sales.  Sometimes there isn't a lot of Fridays.  Saturday tends to be the big day for it.  And it looks like it's going to rain.  But maybe I can fit in a 20 minute walk this morning.

I didn't walk yesterday.  I was sneezing and blowing my nose all day.  I think my allergies are acting up.  I've been sneezing all week.


I've got to make myself walk more days.  I like when it is cooler out.  Some days, it's been so hot and it's not as fun to walk in the heat.  I hopped on the scale and have lost a few more pounds.  Yay.

I'm also looking forward to doing some blog hopping this week and other stuff that I haven't been able to fit in while sharing the laptop.

Well, Julia is up and waiting now.

Jennifer Jo Fay

Copyrighted August 4, 2012

Where does your time evaporate to?  There's never enough time in a day.

 a yellow rose to remember all that are gone.

Kind of what it looks like outside this morning.

My azaleas earlier this spring or summer.

I need to take new pictures later and take some tonight over to my house so I can share what that hutch looks like now after getting creative with it.  I should do a little more painting to it tonight.  I might have to sand the bottom drawers before I paint that.  The cats did a little scratching to that one.

Next month, I need to treat the cats to a new scratching post.  Last night I treated them to a new cat toy with the cat nip in it.  I can't really tell if they play with all those balls.  But the other night one did decide to play with a whiffle ball in my studio.  I almost was going to throw it out and then, I got thinking a whiffle ball would someday come in handy with grandchildren.

Honeycomb Cable Tutorial and more

This week, I have tried out a new pattern for my bracelets that was hand written in my old knitting journal.  It   is the Honeycomb Cable stitch.

(multiple of 16 stitches)

BC (back cable)  slip 2 sts to cn and put in back.  Knit 2 sts and knit 2 off the cable needle.

FC (front cable)  slip 2 sts to the front of knitting, knit 2 sts and knit 2 off the cable needle.

Cast on 16 sts

Row one (WS) purl 16

Row Two:  BC,FC,BC,FC

Row Three and all WS rows:   purl 16

Row 4 & 8:  Knit 16

Row 6:  FC, BC, FC, BC

Continue until desired length, bind off and sew together.


My ribbon bracelet follows this.

I am currently working on a headband with this pattern only I have added another part to the pattern.  Instead of casting on 16 sts.  I cast on 22 sts.

3 sts for each end.  Work this part of the pattern in garter stitch so you will have a border to the honeycomb pattern.  You just have to keep remembering that you knit the three stitches first and then follow the honeycomb pattern.

I bet you could add another pattern for the border too if you want to do that instead.  You just would have to figure out what pattern you want to add and cast on the correct extra stitches for that particular pattern.  And just know that with any pattern, you are working it separate than the other pattern.

You could play around with creating your own patterns.  There are so many possibilities.  You just have to do your math to get the correct amount of stitches.  And it's a good idea to write down your pattern so you can follow it to the exact.


So that's the cool knitting pattern stitch.

Still sharing the laptop with Julia.  She's watching Animal Planet's Big Cat Diary right now.  I'm making her wait a little bit today as I need to write a post.  I've kind of been slacking on the blog posting while she's been playing on the laptop, but I'm going to have to make her wait a little more sometimes for it.

Of course, this Saturday, I am going to get full control of the laptop as they are going on a week long camping trip with their Dad in Maine.  My brother might meet up with them.

Over the last few days, I have been sewing up a few more bracelets, making a few knitted headbands and working on the yo yo's.  Then yesterday, I decided to go gather my fabric that I haven't cut up yet.  I've had a little stack of uncut fabric that I have been letting sit there as I felt it was too pretty to cut up.

Finally, I decided to tackle it and cut up more yo yo circles, some more strips for the stretch elastic bracelets, and then I also decided that I would cut up some large squares for photography.

Each of these large squares are about 15" wide.  I am going to sew a bunch of these together for my photography quilt.  That way, I will still have a large piece of each fabric for my photography needs.  That size should be fine for my still life photography and also could be nice as a background for taking pictures of my kids.  I have one of those metal set ups for draping large backgrounds onto for portrait photography and my lights.

So, now I have a new pile of stuff to sew up and have multiplied the amount of yo yo circles.  And one day, I got sewing up more yo yo's so the pile is increasing.

I am going to wait before I sew them together for a blanket as I might want to use some for something smaller.  I got thinking the yo yo's would be cute on a bracelet.  I've got pretty pink stretch elastic that is about 1/4 " thick.  I could either sew it right onto that or the black elastic same width or I could cover up the elastic with fabric and then sew the yo yo's on.

And then this week's other projects when I get home at night have been to touch up the apartment.  I've repainted two doors, the floorboards in my living room and hallway, filled in a few floorboards where my cat's had fun clawing the top of it.  Then painted.  Last night, I got mostly done painting the floorboards.  I've got one more wall to do tonight and then a small section behind my TV.  I didn't want to tackle all the cords.


And then, I'm thinking I might have to go all out and paint the walls in the living room and hallway next month.  It will make my favorite room more livable looking at nice white walls instead of a darker grayish color that maybe once was white.

And then, I have been repainting my old wicker chair over the last week and finished up last night.  It's now all blue and looks so much better than it was.

And then last night I looked at a nice wooden hutch (unfinished) that I got when I got married.  It has seen better days but is still too pretty to part with.  The cats have clawed the very top and part of the two drawers at the bottom.

Last night, I gathered this light green paint that someone had gotten rid of on the side of the road.  I started to paint the bottom of one side of the hutch the full color as it had darkened over the years.  Then, the top side, I started to sponge paint with the brush, so you can still see part of the wood too.  And then later, I brought in the blue paint from the wicker chair and started to sponge paint a little of that color in too.

It's going to take a while to completely finish, as I am going to want to do other things to it too.  I'm not sure what I want to do with the inside shelves yet.  And I'm also thinking that I might want to bring over my acrylics some night and do some more sponge painting with different colors and maybe add some more little photos to the sides.  It will have to wait as I want to print up new pictures next month for this project.  It will probably be a project that will take several months to do as I will only be working on it here and there.  And the knobs on the bottom drawers are crooked and old.  I might shop around for new pretty knobs for it.

Well, I will let you go for now as she is patiently waiting for her turn on the laptop.  My other daughter has the PS3 on and is playing Skyroom.  So pretty soon I will be hearing that and Ferohearts.

And tomorrow is the beginning of another yard sale weekend.

Jennifer Jo Fay

Copyrighted August 2, 2012

A blue double stranded ribbon bracelet.  I combined the first cable pattern I learned and another pattern.

Some flowers on an earlier walk this week.  Probably Sunday.  I walked yesterday, and need to make myself go today too before it gets too hot.

I love the veins in these flower petals.  Petunias are awesome too for this.

Here is the bracelet with the honeycomb pattern that I am now trying out.  It's very easy too.  Once I learn a pattern it is in my head.  But another thing I like to do is get a little spiral index card notebook and jot down the patterns so I don't always have to lug around the bigger notebook.  It's also a good little notebook to jot down what row you left off on.

a few more felted bracelets that I have yet to wash.

The two finished ribbon bracelets with cable pattern.

Cabled ribbon headband.  This is using the blue ribbon and that pink trellis ribbon.  I don't like to use the trellis ribbon by itself.

Cool wooden birdhouses.

The yo yo pile is getting a little bigger.  What I should do is find all the yo yo's yet to be sewn and put them in a basket and take a picture of all the circles I have cut out.  There is a good amount.