Wednesday's musings (4/01/09)

Well i had put it off long enough, so todays goal was to call Dell and deal with getting this laptop back in action. after an hour and half on the phone with him, my laptop is working again! (wahoo, happy dance!) the issue was corrupted software and we only ended up doing a partial system restore which didn't take as long (he originally said it might take us about 3 hours) and i didn't loose any of programs or documents - which was a bonus! he also gave me a couple of great programs to use for free to get rid of malware not detected by my spyware program (and it picked up 12 infections.....) and a great program called "Clean up!" to delete all unecessary temporary files (we ended up removing enough files to fill 10 cd's!). i'll share with you:

malware removal - do this monthly: www.malwarebytes.org

and Clean up! - do this weekly:

www.stevengould.org, then in the top right hand corner, click on the Clean up! 4.5.2 download. then in the middle of the page, click on Primary download site CleanUp452.exe and run the program.

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Randomness

some goodies from my working stash

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i was working with some resin and i thought the coloring looked cool. so i took this shot looking down into the glass. i like how it distorted things in the background.

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miss kirby got a haircut, but she's been a little chilly. so she's wearing a t-shirt til it warms up more.

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my studio mascot, miss lily. as i working the other day i felt like someone was watching me and when i looked up, there was lily behind my screen staring at me!

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yesterday i met an old college friend, Jeanine, in Red Bank for lunch. we haven't seen each other since 1988 when i graduated college and headed west. we reconnected through Facebook and realized we were both in NJ. we had a nice time catching up and laughing about college days, sorority stuff, old boyfriends. it was fun.

Lemoncholy's Easter Swap photos

I invited 16 of my friends to participate in an Easter ornament swap. it was alot of fun and i love how different everyone's ornaments are. mine have been hung on my tree and now we are just waiting on the Easter bunny.

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fabric collage by me

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polymer clay frame by Laurel Steven

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paper mache lamb by Pamela Huntington

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soldered charm by Amy Huff

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wire nest "home" by Kim Boehm

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recycled lid frame with clay flower by Denise Mares

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collaged egg with flowers by Allegra Smith
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"Blessed" by Danielle Green

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fuzzy chick in egg by Vivian Neroni
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hollowed egg with bunny inside by Lori Guerin

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Easter egg hunt basket by Melissa Merrill

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fuzzy chick sitting in crepe paper basket by Heather Bluhm

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fabric egg by Keli Hansen

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paper bunny inside flower by Zhulia Abrok

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faux scrimshaw by Brenda Bliss

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sewn little blue bird by Lonnie Jenck

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sewn bird with fabric dyed like an Easter egg by Joanne Thieme-Huffman

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here is miss lilly helping me with the packages.

Being a salesperson

We all know by now that i love to create art. but i really dislike the business end of it all. This is where i want an agent (aka my husband) to come in and do the rest of it. a few days ago i answered an ad seeking handmade items for a new store opening up. we made an appointment for today. i showed up with by bin full of goodies and put them on a table for her to see. her mother was there too and the mom looked at my stuff and said "oh, how different". this is the type of comment that i can not stand. what it really means, is "huh, i don't get it". the daughter didn't say much and didn't write anything down as far as my merchandise, etc. she then says to me, "we already have someone doing mixed media work", which i thought was funny because when i originally made the appointment, she had no clue what mixed media was. now here she is throwing the word around like she's an expert..... she then said, i love your mosaics and we don't have anyone doing them.

but i'll have to tell you that the minute the mom made her comment, i was done. it's not so much that maybe they didn't like my stuff, because everyone has their own tastes. it's just that they didn't pick up anything, no examining, no realizing the materials used/recycling involved - no appreciation - and i knew that was not a store for me.

the most important part of today? is the fact that i ventured out and did something i hate doing.

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now on another note. i'm sure you noticed i changed my background again. i really like the other one, but a few people mentioned to me that they felt it hard to read some of my posts when the lettering fell over the darkened areas of rust. i think this one if the perfect solution! thanks goes to gail.

Lemonade award

A blog reader that i 've recently met, sent this award to me. Misa sent it to me and it is called "the lemonade award". cute huh? so what is the lemonade award? A Lemonade Award is given to bloggers that show a positive attitude and gratitude. Sort of a list of bloggers who not only write for their own fun, but share the sunshine and help others in the cyberspace. i 'm passing this award onto Joanna of Moss Hill Studios. Joanna has faced more than a couple of crisis in the last few years and yet she allows her faith to carry her through. i admire her for that.