Gearing Up

Got some good news on Friday that our items were approved through a jury process for the 2013 Round Lake Arts and Crafts Festival in Round Lake, NY.  Its a two day event Sat. August 17 and 18.  Its track season in Saratoga, NY, which is only a few miles up the road, so I am hoping for good weather and a good turnout.  Since my daughter and I are relatively new to the whole craft fair thing we are planning our space to try and draw buyers in.  Our first craft fair experience was not so good since we honestly had no idea what were were doing.  Our booth set up instead of drawing people in kept them away, I think.  We just had too much stuff crammed into one space.

This is how not to set up your booth, way too busy and we sat in the front because there was no other room for us inside.  We probably scared people away.

 So this time we are brainstorming ideas and colors.

Since one of the things that I do is design and make jewelry I have been rolling around ideas how to showcase them.  Our spot at the Round Lake Craft Festival is much larger then this one so we will have some room to spread out but that also means we need to make sure its eye catching from a distance.

This is what I came up with early this morning.  Its only in the planning stage so we will see how it progresses.

I stated by drawing a sketch of what I wanted to do.

I thought if I could cut heads out of heavy cardboard, paint each in a coordinating color and them attach them to each other.  Each head would display one of my necklaces and then on the table below would have more of my jewelry.

I even created a cardboard head that I could use as the template.  It needs a bit of refining but the size is exactly what I was looking for.

Because of my obsessive personality I will need to take a trip to Michaels in a bit to get my supplies.  If it turns out the way I am thinking it should, I will share.

Mary Ann

Saying Goodbye To Miss Kitty

Well I have blogged before about my odd cat Kitty.  She had a really sad start to her life but in the last year or so she seemed to be coming around.  Well yesterday when I woke up Kitty was nowhere to be found.  This was totally unusual because Kitty really only lived in a few rooms.  After a thorough search of her usual spots I ventured downstairs and found that my poor girl had died during the night and there she laid in the basement, a place that she normally would never ever go to.

I was devastated and sad in addition to being really scared that I would have to get her to the vet to be cremated.  I am really not good with anything dead not even a mouse or bird that I may find outside but I knew I had to do it. So after the initial shock, I carefully got Kitty into a box lined with her blanket and took her to the vet and where I said my final goodbye.

I am still feeling her loss this morning.  She would always get excited when I opened the blinds in the morning and immediately demand a pet to start her day.  I miss her doing her crazy laps around the kitchen when it was time to eat.  I will even miss her hogging my blankets in bed on a cold winters night.

I will never know what caused her death but I am hopeful that the years that she spent with me were happy ones.  I know they were for me.

I will miss you Kitty

Mary Ann

Back In The Swing Of Things (I Hope)

So I have been away from blogging for two weeks.  I think the back to back month long challenges really did me in, along with trying to do some updates and decorating to my house.  I have mentioned before that my husband has Parkinson Disease and at some point we will have to move to a one floor house.  Right now our bedroom is upstairs.  I have to say I will not miss the stairs either since my laundry is in the basement and there is lots of stair climbing for me on wash day.  So I am trying to take it room by room.

I started with our forth bedroom which before had really bad old stripped wallpaper.  I decided it would make a perfect office space. I did not take any before pictures so you will just have to take my word for it that it was really, really ugly.  Pulling off that awful paper was my first step and it was a bear.

When I was done I decided to go with a textured paint which had not done before but had seen it in a few open houses that I had been to recently.  I used Valspar paint in a gray color call Beachstone.  Applying it was worse then ripping off the wallpaper.  You could not roll over it at all because it would take off the texture that you just rolled on.  Its a small room and it took two gallons of paint.  I hated every minute of it but when it was done I do like the way it came out.

Its a bit hard to capture the texture on camera but you can see it a bit in the middle. The gray is a  bluer then I had wanted but that is kind of what happens when you pick a paint color. Its not always what it seems on the paint chip.

I also decided to paint an old desk of my sons yellow using Valspar Tea Room Yellow.  The stool is a grey plaid and I was excited to find it on clearance in Target.  Love a bargain.

Still need to get some curtains, a chairs and accessorize but the worst is over and I will soon be on to the next room.

Yikes I am really too old for this.

Mary Ann

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A Childhood Memory

Today we have to talk about a childhood memory but honestly I have tons going on today.  I had my aluminum siding pressure washed yesterday and today it looks about 100 times worse then it did before I had it washed.  I have a call into the guy who did it and hopefully in my lifetime he will call me back.  NEVER, EVER A DULL MOMENT.

So I am just repeating a childhood memory that I have already blogged about.  Sorry for those who have already read it before.


 I was brought up in Queens, NY which is a stones throw away from New York City.   On special occasions, as a family, we would trek into the city.  Some of those special occasions for my sister and I were going into the city with my parents to attend live TV kids shows.  For whatever reason my mom must have thought my sister and I deserved to be seen on TV because she would get tickets for all the local NYC TV shows.  We were on Romper Room, Wonderama, Little Rascals with Officer Joe Bolton and my favorite appearance for my sister and I was Kartoon Klub.

Kartoon Klub was a local live TV show that was on everyday.  The host was Ted Steele who at one time was a very famous band leader.  For the hour preceding the Kartoon Klub, Ted hosted a live American Bandstand type show and when it was over it went right into him hosting Kartoon Klub, a kids show.  Now poor Ted must have done something very wrong in the universe because he was stuck with a bunch of teenagers for an hour and then he was thrust into a world of screaming kids for an additional hour.  I was so little but I remember how cranky he was.  The only time he smiled was when the camera was on him.

Just before the American Bandstand type show was over my sister and I and about fifteen other kids were led into a large studio with bleachers that faced a big screen.  I was so little and my mom that day had put my blond hair in a huge array of banana curls.  Very stylish at the time, I guess.  They sat me right in the middle of the bleachers telling me to make room for Mr.Steele.  From a distance I could see the teens dancing to the last song of the teen show.  Ted Steele came toward us as his first show ended looking none to happy to have to spend the next hour with us.  He climbed up into the bleacher and sat right next to me saying nothing to any of us kids.  I heard one of the guys yell, "we are on in 10 second,  10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5 ,4, 3, 2, 1" and pointed to Ted.  Ted immediately went from grumpy to Mr Happy.    He started to explain who the shows sponsors were, one of which was a Baby Ruth candy bar.  He announces "every kid loves a Baby Ruth bar and all the kids here will get one to take home with them".   Now, little did poor Ted Steele know but I had some issues with eating nuts of any kind and was forbidden to eat them.  So as he was talking I tugged on his suit jacket, he did not respond, I tugged again and again.  He finally looked down at me not looking very happy and I said "excuse me but I can't eat  this candy bar".  He says "well little girl save it for later" and starts talking to the camera again.  That answer obviously was not good enough for me because I continued to tug away at his jacket.  He finally looks down at me again and with gritted teeth he says "yes little girl" and I quickly tell him that I can't even eat it when I get home because it has nuts in it and it will make me constipated.  Now remember this was live TV and none of this could be edited.  The entire staff was horrified, constipated was not a word that was said on TV back then.  My poor mother and father sat in the green room watching mortified as the other parents let out a collective gasp at my bold, bathroom, problem, confession.

Not sure if poor Ted was ever the same after that. My potty talk may have been the straw that broke Ted Steel's back because not long after that the show went off the air.

Mary Ann

Picture Day

OK so for today we are supposed to post our favorite picture of ourselves and why.  Well I have no favorite picture of me.  I hate to have my picture taken.  In the generations to come my great great grandchildren will have to wonder what I looked like because there will be so very little trace of my existence.

So I did find this one which was taken last year.  A friend and I went to see the Long Island Medium Theresa Caputo at a local venue.  We paid extra for a meet and greet which we thought would be a reading to hang with our dead relatives but instead it was stand and pose for a picture with her.   So this stinking picture cost about double the price of the actual tickets.  YIKES SUCKER!!!!!!!!!

My friend, Theresa not doing a reading, and me.

This picture of me on the right is about as rare as the Hope Diamond although I am a bit taller, but not by much.  The sad part of it, is that when I posted this picture on facebook, friends from long ago said that I had not changed a bit.  Wow I had not idea I looked this bad in high school.  No wonder I did't get any dates.

Can't wait to see what humiliation is in store for us tomorrow during this lousy blog everyday in May debacle :).

Mary Ann

Ten Things That Make Me Happy

Today I need to list ten things that make me happy.  Hmmmm well I know for sure that my kids and grandkids make me happy.  If I listed those individually that would be a quick eight but that seems way too easy.  So here goes.

Family - There are so many ups and downs along the way with families but when all is said and done the most happiness in my life comes from them.

Friends - Talking, laughing and visiting with friends.

Pets - I have had lots of pets in my life, dogs and cats and they never fail to give me unconditional love.

Home - My home to me is my haven and sanctuary.

Reality TV - OK this is showing my shallow side.  I love to watch competition  type reality shows like Survivor and Amazing Race among many others.  I love TV in general it totally makes me happy.

Sunny bright days with a warm breeze - Nothing like the sun to make me smile and breath easy.

Food - Love, love, love food.  So I sound a bit food addicted but I am.  I love food.  Give me a bowl of pasta and a cupcake and I happy.  Sad but true.

Mowed grass -Watching the guys I hire to mow my grass.  Its makes me happy that I don't have to do it.

Creating something new- When I think of a design and turns out just like I envisioned it. Celebration time.

A babies smile - Not much needs to be say about this.  A babies smile makes everyone happy.

Mary Ann

I'm Sorry, So Sorry Please Accept My Apology

Ok, so I am still plugging along on this challenge on day 13.  YIKES and I wanted to quit day one.  For today we need to issue a public apology.  So here goes.

To my daughter.
I am so sorry that I never got you a stinking Barbie Dream House.  It was just too big to fit into our apartment back then and it was lots of money that we did not have.

To my son
Sorry that I ever bought you that Bee Bee gun.  I know all the boys had one and I succumbed to the pressure but you used it irresponsibly and it goes down as one of the worst decisions that I have ever made as a parent.

To my dad
Sorry that I stole that .75 cents from your dresser when I was twelve.  Its all I needed to get into the movies with my friends that day and its kind of your fault because you told me that I could go if I could come up with the money.

To my mom
Sorry that I really hated everything that you ever sewed for me but you would always made the dresses way too long and in awful prints that I hated.  You got back at me though when you cut my bangs way too short and crooked .  Wow did it take a long time for me to look normal again.

To Reggie, Jake, Al, Ollie and Tanya, my cat and dog kids
Sorry that I had to put you down when it was your time  You all seemed to be suffering so I needed to make the really hard decision to say goodbye.  Still miss you all.

Lastly I am sorry for always saying I'm sorry when it wasn't even my fault.  Its my Catholic, Italian, guilt that kicks in. I can't help it, its in my DNA.

Mary Ann