Rambling

I know. My blog will never be one of those successful blogs. Why? Because my blog is like my life: I have too many interests. People do not like to read one paragraph about cooking then suddenly jump to watercolor painting techniques, then in the next paragraph talk about global warming and the effect on the Great Plains tornado season.

I know that for a successful blog, one needs to stick to one subject (or at least one category of subjects) and beat that baby until it doesn't move. And the next day, when it starts showing signs it might be breathing again, beat a little bit more on it.

Well, I can't. My life doesn't revolve around one thing, it revolves around many. I am interested in the latest metaphysical discoveries, in quantum theories, in ghost stories, in successful "green" gardening (that doesn't sound right but that's the word of the day), in one of a kind jewelry making, in one of a kind sculpture, in making tribal artifacts, in health and nutrition, and many more things.

That is not to say that I am some kind of "Jack of all trades and master of none". The areas that I am really involved in, areas that bring me the meager money I make, put food on my table or are very important interests of mine, I do master them. I am, though, interested in many other fields and subjects in which I am not a master of, but I like to learn more. And days are always too short. Sometimes even nights are too short.

So, getting back to my interests.

1. I am very very behind in my gardening. Not my fault. Last year we had a very mild winter, and by the 1st of April I already had things blooming in my garden and my tomatoes were at least 7" tall. I DID, though, have to battle all spring pesky earwigs and pill-bugs trying to devour all my seedlings - just because the winter had been too mild and there wasn't enough freeze to kill off most of the bugs.

THIS winter though doesn't want to let go. A few days ago we had the normal Spring severe-thunderstorms that were followed by... freezing rain and a temperature of 21F. On April 17 and 18. Got better after, but then next week, in three days from now, there will be a night low of ... 34F. So I am still busy moving seedling trays in during the night and out during the day, and a few more plants get moved in during the nights of freezing or close to freezing temps. And that doesn't happen just because they're still in pots (and they don't have the benefit of being in the ground and thus being more insulated so they'd withstand the frost) because I was too lazy to shovel the dirt and make new flower and veggie beds. No. I COULDN'T shovel as, due to so much rain, the ground out there is mud. Pure mud. Where there is grass, when you walk, it squishes under your feet, and you have the feeling that you're walking in a swamp, and you will start sinking soon.

So, yeah, very behind in my gardening. I had planned my seeds and plant deliveries for a normal spring. Which obviously this one isn't.

2. I DID manage to catch up on most of my pendant-making. I do have a few necklaces that are still in the stage of beads (that is, need to be put together) but I did get caught up on the Dragon's Eye pendants and mostly on the Little Goddesses pendants. I was severely out of merchandise to sell and people kept requesting them.

Aren't they pretty? Of course, these are not all that I have made, but you get an idea. I did find a new way to apply mettalic powders on certain colors of the clay, and I love the effect.

3. I seem to not be able to catch up on my spirit dolls and on my sculptures. No matter what I do, it seems that as soon as I make one it sells and there's someone else wanting one, so I never have time to make more. Don't get me wrong, I shouldn't complain about my stuff selling, right? The issue is that I have a few new ideas, that I don't seem to manage to bring to life because I keep making the same styles over and over (of course, never looking the same) because people like the "Garden Guardian" or the "Shamaness" or the "Yemaya" or "Kuan Yin". You get the picture.

4. I'm slowly catching up on my new websites. Probably that is the reason why I didn't write too much in the blog lately, but when you write article after article after article, by the end of the day you're kind of... spent.

5. Health is ok. Just ok. I got new XRays to see how my neck is actually doing (PcP ordered several views) and I'll get the result next week. ObGyn declared that my ovarian cyst didn't change in a year and 4 ultrasounds so, unless I start hurting, he will stop the follow-up for now. The neurologist said that my head CT scan, B12 and folate levels all came back normal, so the only thing that causes my memory issues is either the thyroid messing up (PcP ordered bloodwork) or, simply, still long-term side effect of chemotherapy. I saw the Great Poobah two days ago and he said the latest research shows that chemo-brain doesn't go away in two years, but in 4-5 years so I am in normal levels. Phew.

6. I didn't paint in ages.

7. There's more, but some other time. Yes, I wrote articles today.

And to bring some smiles to you, I discovered this website that makes me laugh. Hard.

http://joyreactor.com/

Not raining

.. and it won't be raining for a few days. Considering the old world "weather forecast" with onions that we did last year, this year is supposed to be dry, dry, dry.

The Wild Wolf got a new car today. Photos maybe tomorrow. He's very excited about it. Me - not so much. The darn dashboard is way too high and I don't like the way the stick moves. Car is pretty, but honestly? I prefer my old 1997 Hyundai to this new 2012 one. Maybe because we've been together for so long.

Anyway, was thinking to expand on the idea of these pendants (in the series of the ones with crocheting)

Just because the one that I did without crocheting looks so good. See?

We'll see tomorrow (actually today). Monday I wasn't able to clear even half of my to-do list due to the "let's buy a new car" waste of about 5 hours.By the time we were done, I had to take one of the dogs to the vet (follow-up appointment for her skin allergies) and then by the time I got back home I was so darn tired I wasn't able to do much. what was that saying? "Tomorrow is another day". yeah.

Oh, I did manage to put in two orders for my garden for this year. Plum trees, elderberry trees, some muscadine vines, and lots of vegetable seeds - well and some flowers. Garden looks so sad now, and I can't believe there are still leaves on a lot of the plants - mainly lilacs, roses, grape hyacinth, and irises. I miss my garden.

The new "13" year

So, it's time to start working again on my polymer clay jewelry. I have two fairs to go to, a two-day one on January 26-27, and a one day Art Market on February 9th.

Lots of stuff and ideas. I am definitely almost out of my pretty Goddess pendants (or "moonface" pendants, as my friend J. calls them). I definitely need to finish a beautiful heart-and-cherubs sculpture. And I have a lot of ideas for a new mokume-gane line. Tribal looking. And a few other tribal looking ones. I still have a few of the polymer-clay-plus-hand-crochet ones left, so no worries about that.

Like it?

Anyway. Still dealing with the pain and no pain-killers until Thursday. Doesn't help much when one would like to do a little bit of work-out as well as I definitely can not. Not without something to buffer the pain. I am still trying to hold hard to my diet. Not a hard diet (yet), I don't want to go through gall-bladder-going-berserk like it happened last January.

But still, I was able to: take down the Christmas tree; cook twice (well actually three times as dinner was separately for The Wild Wolf and me); take care of some dishes. The rest? I was lazy. It's freaking Sunday, for goodness sakes.

Filed for future use: Japanese chili peppers are hot. For me. For The Wild Wolf look for those darn round itty-bitty Mexican ones. Maybe finally he'll find them spicy enough!