Farmer's Market Success

Just a quick post to say that I had a very successful day at the Farmer's Market. My sister came to help out. The sun shined all day, we enjoyed the musician, and had some interesting things to eat. My biggest sellers today were necklaces and bracelets for children made out of stretchy elastic and colorful beads. I also sold:


2 BLUE NECKLACES


2 ZIPPER PULLS


some KEYCHAINS


1 BRACELET


many BOOKCLIPS


many ZIPPER PINS

And lots of other things. What fun! Then I came home and counted my cash. Congratulations to me! I will not be there next weekend but I will be the weekend after if it does not rain.

Yah! It's a three day weekend!

Fish Face!

Yesterday I received this VERY SPECIAL FISH in the mail from my friend Trish. She found this treasure at Recycle North in Burlington, Vermont. Recycle North is a very fun store that I haven't been to in a while, but Trish shops there every week. They save things from going to the landfill, fix them up, and help the community. I was so happy to get such a wonderful gift that I could have died.

After work today I went to the Open Door Mission thrift store and found a bunch of lovely old cards for ten cents each. And there is also a VERY special one that I got for my sister Amy but she will have to wait patiently for it to come in the mail. I also ended up with a cotton-knit sheet, a pair of shorts, a Lands End t-shirt, and a Bula wallet. What fun!

After that I went to Walmart to pick up a few things and found these Jelly Beans which are exactly like Jelly Belly. The best ones according to me are buttered popcorn, sizzling cinnamon, cinnamon, and coconut. It is hard for me not to pick out just those. This is what happens when you scan a plastic bag BTW.
I went grocery shopping and didn't get home until after 8 o'clock. When I arrived here the smoker, whose name is NANCY, was outside smoking a butt. That REALLY doesn't bode well in my book. She was nice but we are downright tense about the situation. Only 6 more days until the smoking nightmare starts. Note to Nancy-YOU NEED TO STOP SMOKING!
I watched a very interesting documentary on PBS tonight called Aging Out. It was about young adults who are "aging out" of foster-care and struggling to make it on their own. The ending was quite tragic and sad.
In other news, one of my favorite art professors from college, Bill Ramage, left me an answering machine message this morning. He's trying to find out what the graduates are doing now and how they are making a living. Maybe he will have some advice for me since he is such and interesting and talented person!
TGIF!

Don't Stop Thinking About Tomorrow...It'll Soon Be Here...

Here are some things I have been looking at tonight:
Nordic Section, what a neat collection of things! Which I discovered by reading Super Eggplant like I always do. I especially love the alligator pouch. I want one! And here is a funny as hell blog that I can't stop looking at, Amalah. There's just something about it...I laughed really hard at the entry in the picture section about making homemade peanut butter cups. This is always funny, as is this. Also LJC and Not Martha are my old favorites.
Here is some gloomy news that better reflects the state of things around here:
The landlord has been making a racket downstairs all day and half the night. We discovered that The Smoker (only eight more days until her arrival-GAG!) is going to have a washer and drier next to ours in the basement. The landlord built a special plywood platform for her and in order to get it to fit, pushed our machines over into the area where there are turdlets on the floor from the plumbing disaster that was never properly cleaned up this winter. Ours were put on pallets long ago but the washer was removed from it by the Sears repairman because it was malfunctioning due to vibrations from being on it. So it has been sitting in the said turdlet germs since the mess occurred. In the process our dryer must have gotten moved which makes the door keep flapping closed every time you try to load it up. I was down there two hours ago trying to adjust it on the pallet. Its little feet would not stay in place and kept slipping into the cracks. I was so angry, I had a swearing fit and called the pallet "FUCKER" more times than I can count. You think the landlord would have heard and come to my assistance seeing as how he was only a foot above my head. After 30 minutes of fighting with it ALONE, I came upstairs and had a good cry. Thanks a lot landlords...I WANT A PLATFORM!
Here is a showbusiness update:
Can you believe that there is going to be a Dukes of Hazzard movie with Jessica Simpson? And Burt Reynolds as Boss Hogg? What an incredibly trim and fit Boss Hogg!?!?!?!?! I am listening to Extra, or Entertainment Tonight, or Access Hollywood (pick one) in the background and I can hardly pay attention to what I am doing here. Boy is that show is trashy! Another trashy thing that was on tonight was the Rob and Amber wedding. That had to be the most ridiculous show that ever was. Also, the Nick and Jessica Tour of Duty special thing that was on last night. Ohhhhh, the Dyson vacuum commercial! "I just think things should work PROPERLY!" I can't stop eating Blow Pops...Ohhhhh that sounds so dirty. They are so fruity and delicious. SO SUGARY! I don't think I have had one since junior high, and now I have eaten enough to make up for all that lost time. Oh the Dyson ad again! It has a ball, and it still doesn't lose suction. An SMC infomercial. This is the pits. I really need to go to bed. Good night!

Where's the Fork?

This afternoon we went to Saratoga Springs, NY to get out of the house. We had a nice early dinner at Panera. That place is pretty darn good. It was fast, fresh, and quite yummy. Afterwards we hit Target and the Super Walmart. I spent too much of my Farmer's Market earnings from yesterday on food and new shorts. After getting home late I discovered it's supposed to be cool tomorrow and I have no clean clothes for work. I have to be there early and I need to get to bed right away. The landlord is still clunking around downstairs. Here's an update: The lightbulbs in the hall and on the porch have been replaced. It's a freakin miracle! I'm going to keep track of this. I just marked my calendar and we will see how long before these blow out. They ended up shutting off the water for most of the day to fix whatever they were fixing and when we got home half the stuff from the cabinet under the sink was moved and sitting next to the toilet. Here is something funny...I have an old, bent fork that I use to get the hair out of the drain hole thing in the shower. I looked and looked for it and couldn't find it ANYWHERE. Later on I went to use the kitchen sink and what do you know, there is was! Ewwwwwwwwwwwwww! I guess he just thought that it must have gotten misplaced. I just happened to be multi-tasking and eating a little snack while sitting on the toilet. And then he thought he'd do us a little favor and put it in the sink. Hmmmm? I hope he enjoyed seeing my giant, old bleach stained underwear/cleaning rag too. This isn't very interesting, is it? Ten more days until the neighbor-induced-second-hand-smoke torture begins.

Success, Stink, and Sickness.

I have been up since the crack of dawn today. I was happy that the sun was shining when I opened my eyes early this morning so that I could participate in the Farmer's Market. I wore shorts and sandals and even got a slight burn on my face. However, by the afternoon the ominous clouds moved in and it began to get quite cold. It never rained but the gusting wind knocked some of my displays over more times than I could count. Overall, it turned out to be a pretty good day and the sales weren't bad considering it is the beginning of the summer and not Holiday time. It looks like I will be doing it again next weekend *if* my Mom doesn't go away for the weekend and *if* it doesn't rain. We shall see...

The landlords have been clunking around pretty much all weekend doing renovations on the Smoker's apartment downstairs. Why bother? The walls are going to be coated with tar soon enough anyway. They are installing new bathroom fixtures. Have fun with that new low-flow toilet. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!! While we are enjoying our old-fashioned lazy powerflusheroo of an antique up here.
Oh, by the way...

Smokers still stink!

After only eating a donut and coffee all day long we decided to venture out the the newly renovated Ponderosa here in Rut-Vegas. Big mistake, let me tell you. Despite the lovely new interior, that place still sucks! They didn't have any of the things that I like up for grabs today such as rice pilaf, baked beans, corn nuggets, mini pigs in a blanket, or the whipped up mousse, or as I call it the "mound". I'm not implying that those are good, but they are some of the more enjoyable things according to me. Did you know that they have a "fish" night? At least on that night you know the food is supposed to be gross. Normally the plates that are in the clean pile are covered with liquidy, bleachy, food residue (cool whip or broccoli). They weren't bad tonight but after drinking almost a whole glass of diet Pepsi, my poor boyfriend discovered a huge and greasy red lipstick mouth mark on his cup. REVOLTING!!! Complaining to the manager did not make the slightest bit of difference, seeing that the manager in charge really did not seem to care too much about it. He swore that it never happens there, but I BEG TO DIFFER. I am left with a bloat in my belly and onion straws repeating on me. Don't you ever secretly like something and keep going back for it even though it truely disgusting and always a bad idea? I had trouble finding a picture of that hell pit, but I dug up some BONANZA pictures from my archive for your viewing pleasure.

This was taken two summers ago in Augusta, Maine. While passing through at dinner time we discovered this lovely hillbilly hangout. Once we were inside and ordered and paid for our entrees it was too late to leave. This place is left over from the 80's. I have since learned that there was once a Bonanza in Rutland, when the old mall was in its heyday. This is like Ponderosa, only WORSE! Like a ghetto Ponderosa. It was one of the most unappetizing experiences in my life. While the locals (as you can see from the parking lot, they love this place) were scarfing down their food, I hardly ate anything. The food buffet was just a bunch of large Rubbermaid buckets stuck in a bar with cut out holes in it. If I wanted to eat out of Rubbermaid containers I would have stayed home and eaten the leftovers in the fridge. The food was putrid and I left with an empty stomach. Thank the Lord we went on a grocery shopping expedition at Shaws on the way to the house. This next picture was taken out back. Not that you can see it very well. It was starting to get dark out. I couldn't get too close since they would either fly away or attack me. It is the dumpster with buzzards eating trash. Actually they were giant seagulls acting like buzzards. Besides, BUZZARD is my favorite word ever. It is fun to say and it can be used in a sentence like "My boss was buzzarding around work ALL day long." or "I'm going to buzzard around the parking lot until there is a spot up front."

Not TGIF!

Tomorrow is Friday and I wish it were not because I am stuck having to work ALONE with The Boss. Luckily it is only from 12:30 until 4 that I will have to see her. That doesn't seem like it should be bad, but try having to LOOK busy for that long at a place where there is really not too much to do these days. The Foto-Finishing business has gotten downright slow-ass in these parts due to the popularity of digital cameras. You can only "swiffer" things for so long, you know. Oh, and I better be punctual or I can look forward to getting the hairy eyeball for a good long time when I arrive. I can tell you right now I won't be able to fall asleep tonight thinking about the torture tomorrow is going to bring.

Oh a happier note...I found this really interesting "A Taste of Thai" Coconut Ginger Noodle mix at the grocery store. If you can overlook the fact that it cost $3 and is loaded with saturated fat and calories, it sure is FUN and easy to make. You just empty all of the packets and add water then stick the box in the microwave and four minutes later you have a tasty, creamy, and noodly Thai treat!

Farmer's Market, Weekend Update, and Monday Report.

I have some very exciting news! I will be selling my wares at the Rutland County Farmer's Market on Saturday 5/21/05. That is only if it is not raining because I am not yet the owner of a tent like everyone else. I will only have a small space to start out, but it will be good to get my foot in the door and hopefully make some sweet moolah. For sale I will have:
Wristlets

Pouches with key rings

Pins made out of ZIPPERS!

Bottle Cap Picture Frames

My very popular Bookclips

As well as many other interesting things from my stash including:
Key chains, necklaces, bracelets, button push pins, magnets, sun catchers, gift tags, cards, and many other things. If you want to buy any of these things please leave me a comment! ;)
*************************************************************************************
Here is a weekend update:
I didn't do much of anything this weekend. I only went out to go to Walmart and the grocery store. I fumed up the house with a spray paint extravaganza in the basement and spent all of Saturday assembling Bottle Cap Picture Frames, which was really fun. I also made a ton of key chains which was also very fun. We had our first cook-out of the year on the grill, hotdogs and cheese burgers. I am still trying to get over this cold and I am hoping that it is on its way out. Saw the movie Sideways. I really enjoyed the scene at Frass Canyon where Miles spazzed out and drank out of the discard bucket when the pourer there would not fill up his glass. I also saw The Notebook, which was really good but very sad. I finished the book Sammy's Hill by Kristin Gore and read most of a book called Perfect Circle by Sean Stewart. I'm halfway through Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer on CD.
I discovered some kick ass glazed walnuts made by Emerald at the grocery store after having them in the new Fruit and Walnut Salad at McDonalds. Here's a picture so you know what I am talking about:

What else? It's Monday again, soon to be Tuesday. Four more days of work until the weekend. Tonight I made chicken fajitas for dinner as well as some damn delicious chocolate chip scones, a recipe from a place I used to work at when I was in high school. I really outdid myself, and dirtied way too many dishes to wash afterwards.
Here's a funny story to end this post:
A customer came into work today and told us about her grandson who was two years old and could not pronounce "Captain Crunch" so he went around calling it "CAPTAIN CUNT" instead. Please excuse my crudeness, I swear I really hate that word, but I really think that is soooooo funny! Hahahahahaha!

Hello Amy, if you are reading this!!!

This post is a tribute to my sister, Amy! Amy is a 6th grade teacher at a rural school in Vermont. She loooooovvvvvvveeeeeeesssssss her job and she is very good at what she does. Amy was very thoughtful and generous last week when she had a lovely flower arrangement sent to our Grandma in Knoxville, TN. It was a Mother's Day gift and something she really appreciated after her second knee surgery last Monday. Grandma reported that she loved the flowers but the vase was broken when it arrived. Did those stones come with this too?

I am listening to the Cat Stevens mix CD that she made for me. It is totally from the 70s, as am I. Tonight I got dinner at the Michigan Man, an airstream trailer/snackbar that parks on the Cold River Road in North Clarendon every summer. They have hotdogs, hamburgers, fries, cremees, etc. This is a place that my sister does not really like, because last year she hit her head, very hard, on one of the poles that holds the awning up. Amy loves to talk to her cats Otto and Sophie and misses her cat KeKe, who sadly passed away two years ago. Amy enjoys playing the Sims on the computer. Amy's birthday is coming up on June 19th. What would she like for her birthday? As for me I am sitting here freezing with clammy, cold feet after enjoying a heat wave for the past two days. I am still battling this friggin, disgusting horror of a cold.

Summary of Tuesday.

Did anyone notice Paula Abdul's kooky behavior tonight on American Idol? The first time she spoke I could hardly understand a word she said. She could hardly get out the words she was trying to say. I'm sure she's had a rough week and she must be on some kind of crazy tranqulizers to deal with the stress. Two cheers for Bo and that Performance of For the Love of Money! That was really good! It seems that I have either come down with a cold or I have some big time allergies going on. I have a really scratchy throat and my nose is snotting up. It is just torture! It Sounds like there was just a domestic dispute next door as someone was yelling in the street and then slammed a car door about five times and peeled out of here. I searched all over for a five year old bottle of wood glue and it was no where to be found. Why do things disappear when I really need them? I never found it and by the time I got my wood ready to take outside to spray paint, it was dark out. The lightbulbs in the hallway and on the porch keep blowing out and I keep telling the landlords but no one bothers to change them but me and I am so sick of it. I have spent way too much money on lightbulbs for this house which keep getting ruined. So now that the smoker tenant is going to move in soon we will see how long it takes the landlords to do something about this.

Smokers Stink!

Well, it looks like the smoker woman is moving in downstairs...Along with her 12 year old son and a dog. The landlords spoke with her and she said she would be willing to smoke outside if it bothered us. I can tell you right now that will not be good enough. Regardless of where you stand outside, the smoke comes right in the windows when they are open. Another piece of news is that she has her own HEPA filter...ooooh boy, that is going to clean up all of the stink....NOT! We have a feeling that she is going to smoke inside, smoke outside, and smoke all over the place. Isn't that nice for her poor kid to be stuck in there breathing that in. I bet when he goes to school all of his clothes reek. I just can't see this working out. Get ready to gag in three weeks.
Moving right along...The Rutland Free Library now has music CD's, and quite an interesting assortment, I might add. I got
The Notebook on DVD which I have been wanting to see. I hope it is good. Time to get ready for bed and do it all over again tomorrow.

Rummage Sale Gold Mine

This was rummage sale week! As soon as I read in the paper that my favorite rummage sale at the Congregational Church was happening on Thursday, I jumped for joy. I anticipated the excitement all week long and once Thursday arrived I couldn't sit still all day at work. I could not wait for 6 o'clock to come! People line up around the church and the old ladies will not let everyone in until exactly 6 P.M. Friday afternoon there was also a smaller one at the Baptist Church, but that one really bit. At the Congo Church (as Mary calls it) I got a huge bag of stuff for only $7.50. It included an old GE kitchen clock, a spice rack, a coffee grinder, a small lamp, a bag of assorted trim, lace, and elastic, a bag of yarn, and about 60 zippers-old but still new in their packages. Here are some pictures of my marvelous finds. It took me so long to post these because I am one of the last people on earth to get a digital camera. I work at a photo lab and still use my old faithful camera. I get free processing so what the hell...I will probably have to continue this way until my birthday or Christmas, or until I get a better job where I actually get paid something.
Fun Stuff!

Bonus Iron-ons

Zippers!

Yarn-for only 50 Cents!

Foot Petals, Tip Toes, Flowers Everywhere!!!

This is my cousin Jen, who lives in California and does PR for a bunch of companies.
These celebrity pictures are from the
Foot Petals Website.
Here is Jen with Desperate Housewife, Teri Hatcher.

And here she is will Hal Sparks from one of my favorite shows, Queer as Folk.

The Bachelor Blues

I'm going to complain about that damn bachelor again...
He calls all of the grown women on the show "girls" which he proceeds to do about 1000 times per episode. If I were considering him for a possible life mate, I surely would not want him to do something as disrespectful as thinking of me as a "girl". Mister Charlie here is extremely cocky thinking that all of those "girls" should be so intersted in him. Please give me a rose!!! Oh how I hate this show!
In this picture it looks like:

• He is having a major stomach cramp and might puke over the side of the boat.
• The waves are getting a little bit choppy and he has lost his balance.
• He has to pee but must finish the photo shoot first.
  

Here he looks a little bit like Jason Bateman. I especially don't care for this fancy, beige 80s looking tracksuit top he has on.

Sunday's Adventures

Today was an extremely productive day for me. I guess it made up for the laziness of yesterday. I got up early on a Sunday. Can you believe it? I cleaned the litterbox, cleaned up a little bit, and got ready. Fran came over for a nice spaghetti lunch so I had to make ALL of that and do TONS of dishes. It seemed like we had to have a different plate or cup or utensil for everything. It was nice to entertain though and not have some random waitstaff trying to clean up our table. We ran into our neighbor and walked over to see their new house. Some of it was in rough shape but they have done a lot of work and those parts look great. They have a nice porch upstairs and can see the whole neighborhood, including a flabby-gutted shirtless guy who likes to play with his kids in the yard across the street. After eating some interesting foreign candy and helping them push their truck to the gas station/babysitting, we were back home again. I will really miss not seeing them as much! I went to Walmart tonight to pick up some things. I tried on 6 pairs of shorts. Spring is here and shorts weather is near! Some of them had pretty, bright-colored belts on them but the ones that fit the best had a gaudy, nasty, fake, toe-punk colored belt on it with the fugliest rectangular buckle with fake plastic rhinestones and metal embellishments that I have EVER seen. It made me embarrassed to buy them, also, they were in a size too large to mention. Oh well...That is why I am going to make my own beautiful belt very, very soon! But the very first thing that I have to do is make Mother's Day cards, right away.