Thursday the 22nd I went up to Rosamond to one of my friend’s house to do some more woodwork on both her projects and some of my own. I also added two coats of protective sealer to the underside of the entertainment center and by this next Monday, it should be ready to go into the house. I worked as usual until about 8:30. I got there really late this time around – I think it was about 3pm when I got there, but still got enough done! Before I headed there I had been doing some changes to one of my websites, while also uploading and checking the digital photos I took of the Relay For Life Cancer Event that happened the previous weekend from Friday evening set-up, to Sunday morning’s take down. I had also been checking some patterns I had while seeing which ones would be easy and inexpensive enough to make while posting them as soon as I got each one done. When doing research and finding that there’s plenty made elsewhere and in factories, it makes me cringe at how much money so many people toss away while they could buy American made, while making sure it was ‘made by an American’! Easy to do, just ask and look for tags or markings of the creator!
Friday April 23rd. I stayed home all day while the first part of the day I worked on two of my websites while making some much needed changes, while also adding to my Etsy.com account, plus giving another check to my PayPal account. I was told that I really need to add some PayPal buttons to my website, which is another thing ‘in the works’! The latter part of the day, or after 1pm, I cut out the material for a couch cover and it wasn’t easy! I didn’t have enough room in my sewing room (converted from a bedroom), so I had to take the fabric downstairs to the living room, and after vacuuming, I set out one of my two cutting boards, then laid out the material, and started cutting. Again, not easy and when I got done, I could have used a Hot Tub Spa to relax my muscles and joints! I relaxed for a few minutes, then started sewing. It was 10pm before I realized that I had been sewing for a few hours, so had called it a night, then went to bed and watched some more commercials along with a few clips of movie, then turned off the television and went to sleep! I can take so many commercial interruptions before I give up on my curiosity of how the program ends, while I know that 90% of it is going to be commercials of some foreign made crap that’s peddled to the public by means of ‘pulling the wool over their eyes’!
Saturday was the Poppy Festival at Lancaster City Park and this year I was able to go. It was my very first time too! As far back as I can remember, which is around 2000 just after I moved up here, I wanted to go, but either didn’t have the time due to taking Saturday classes at the college, or didn’t have the money, but the worst part of it was the AVTA schedule! You could never rely on them or their schedule, while far too many drivers were rude and disrespectful, and especially to the elderly, anyone in wheelchairs, and college students! Many times drivers would pass up college students when they’d have high school students on and were too lazy or just couldn’t be bothered to tell the high school kids to ‘move back and make room’! I’ve experienced that far too many times, and especially one day when a male driver refused to pick up a frequent user female who was in a wheelchair. His excuse was that he didn’t want to waste his time while making the passengers (bratty high school kids mostly) move, nor did he really want to have to hook and unhook the straps, while also tying up the passengers from their destinations! Now how sad is that? And so many people are out of work, while at the time as well, and would love to have his job! AVTA also practices discrimination though!
I spent two hours there while walking and taking a lot of pictures to make a photo montage of for posting, though I am not sure when I’ll get around to it since I’m so busy with sewing, woodwork, and computer work! There were quite a few booths with nice ‘hand made’ items, while more that had mass-produced junk, which even seems the norm at one Arts & Crafts Show I go to! What ever happened to the ‘juried’ shows where you had to show proof in pictures of some of your work? I remember one Arts & Crafts Show promoter had made someone who called themselves an Artist, leave when she sat up her booth and was immediately told to leave when so many of us complained that it was all a scam and she was selling some mass produced imports! Why do some folks just let it go? It really harms the ‘true’ Artists who go out of their way to create their product by hand, then pay the fees while possibly sending in photo’s of their work, only to end up next to some con-artist who has junk and sells it at such a ridiculously low price while the ‘true’ artist struggles to keep going!
I did enjoy several booths, plus there was one band playing called the ‘Phat Cats’! I stood watching for about a half hour while they sang and some folks stood up and danced! A lot of the pieces were from before my time, and even some that were before my mother’s time, but they sang them as if they had just been written, and were great! If I could give them stars, I’d give them at least ‘5’!
There was one booth where a guy was playing a really cool instrument, which was originally from Sweden and it was something like an Autoharp and a Fiddle all made into one instrument. He’d press some keys or bars on the side like what an Autoharp would have on the top, then he’d use the bow to play the instrument while making beautiful music. I asked him if he had a website or flyers or business cards, but he said ‘no’ that his tapes are his connection! I wondered then how he made any sales otherwise, unless he just goes to a few shows and sells CD’s of his music and has an email contact or phone, but at the time he said he had nothing but his CD’s to promote his work. Puzzling, but I guess he didn’t care about any ‘word of mouth’ or website link sales!
Some other vendors were upset when I’d try to take a picture of their booth, and when I told them or anyone who came to me asking, I just stated that if they didn’t want their picture to be taken, I wasn’t the only one for starters, while I also stated that they shouldn’t come if they didn’t want their booth to be represented in a commercial or documentary or news broadcast. The one gal that waved to me not to take a picture of her booth, sent some goon after me to ask what I was doing, then stood there watching as I deleted the one picture I did take with their booth in it, but not really recognizable!
Everyone else was so busy with customers and their booths, that they really didn’t say anything to anyone who was taking pictures at all, though that one booth looked as well like they were passing off some foreign made merchandise or made cheaply and brought into the U.S.!
By the time I got home I was tired, but after relaxing for a ‘few minutes’ I went right to work sewing, which was around 4pm, then to bed again around 9:30pm!
Sunday April 25th. Started out working on one of three websites since I really do need to upgrade them, while changing some information as well! A process that is time consuming, but important for business and connections! I almost worked myself past Church as well! Like usual, I get going on my computer, and no matter what it is, I can so easily lose track of time, then pull a ‘Dagwood Bumstead’ while rushing around to get ready and leave!
When I got home from Church I changed into some shorts and a t-shirt, ate, then relaxed for a few minutes before deciding what to do, which was woodwork at first! I worked on a few projects that needed doing here, and one was a hardwood breadboard or cutting board. I love to bake, but when I try to roll out cookie dough or knead my bread dough, the tiles on the countertop make it impossible to do much of anything since noting stays still! So one day I decided that I was going to purchase some hardwood lumber and make a nice sized cutting or work board, but not too long back another friend that lives in Rosamond had given me some hardwood planks along with some other lumber which came in handy. In pricing the Maple, Red Oak, and Popular at Home Depot, I realized that it was going to cost me about $25.00 for the materials alone, though I had the Gorilla Glue already. That’s the best glue to use when you’re making something that’s going to be used around food, though it’s great for other uses as well! I broke one ‘cheap – made in China – drill bit made especially for doweling and had to end up using a regular drill bit. I used it three times longer than that one bit and it didn’t even break! Not all cheap crap made elsewhere is good!! Got my four boards drilled, then glued and clamped, and by tomorrow afternoon it should be ready to start sanding! It’s got bumps where the boards come together, but there wasn’t much I could do without some pipe clamps, and at least four 4” ‘C’ Clamps, or four furniture clamps that I purchased some time back at Harbor Freight (same place as the cheap bits)! Those furniture clamps came in handy, but I noticed that they were bending with the strain of clamping the hardwood boards together! They did to a decent job though and in looking close, the gaps between the boards were closed, though the Gorilla Glue expands, which is great as it will fill any openings that I couldn’t really get the boards to come close exactly. Tried cutting them on a table saw, but didn’t have the right jigs to cut them straight, but it’s done! Next time I make something so big or wide, I’ll know from the ‘get go’ how difficult it is, while what tools I’ll need to do another job like that one! While that was drying I cut out some Cowboy Boots out of wood to paint and sell as Trivets. They’re going to be detail painted on one side with a sealer put on, then pictures will be taken of them in use and used for promoting them on my website, as well as Etsy.com account, and possibly sell through Ebay. I almost had two Cowboy Boot Trivets done when I makeshift worktable crashed to the ground! The one’s legs were wobbly, but the screws would only tighten so far, so I opted to go ahead and use them. One is still good, but the other I’m not sure about, even though I put in another screw. I then picked up my mess, put everything away, then cleaned up and did some sewing until about 9:30 when I was getting tired! I was working on a ‘Billboard’ Vest that I decided I needed to help promote business, and was able to do only so much more until I had to quit! Printed out the design I wanted which is actually wording and had to transfer the words to the front from the back by way of ‘carefully’ sewing between the lines so the lettering and numbers would transfer through to the front of the vest – well, they transferred, but it doesn’t look as good as I thought they would, though it doesn’t matter! Once I’m finished doing that, I then turn it over and start doing a ‘Satin Stitch’ with glossy Polyester thread where I have the stitching. I know it’s my first one and I’m just as proud of it as I am of my very first shirt, though I don’t have that one anymore!
Tomorrow it’s picking up some missed items for the custom couch cover that I’m working on, then off to Rosamond to do some more woodwork for both Sheree and myself, while I’ve got to check the entertainment center to see if it’s ready, then I’ve got an end and coffee table to seal the undersides yet! Got some more sewing as well from Church today, while I’ve go ‘on-going’ sewing of the seat and back cushions – possibly another 6 weeks or 24 seat and back cushions, though it all depends on the board members of how many they want.
Well, down to get a glass of ‘fresh goat’s milk’, then watch some commercials along with clips of movie or whatever, then to bed!
