Chilli Dog

So Isaac took some chilli last night to work with him for dinner. He really likes this canned kind and, as far as canned chilli goes , it's really not too bad. Well he threw the can in a small shopping bag next to the trash can because the can was full and I needed to run it out real quick. He took off for work and my mom and I were outside trying to figure out how to set up my new EZ Up tent for the show this weekend. Let me just tell you people, it's not EZ. Whomever created their "instructions" needs to be shot. So while my mom and I were outside wanting to throw the tent off my balcony, Napoleon was apparently in the trash. I ran inside to go on youtube.com and see if someone had posted a how to video for this stupid tent and, when I came back outside, I noticed Napoleon had something on the side of his face. As I bent down to look at him I saw that he had a ring of chilli all around his head. He had stuck his entire head in the can licking it out and got it all over him! What a lunatic. I snapped some quick pictures to show Isaac today when he wakes up. (Sigh) Dogs.

Scrapbook Yardsale

Yesterday I went to a scrapbook yardsale in Manassas, VA with a couple of girls that I crop with and my mom. Holy cow were there a lot of people. I was feeling very uncomfortalbe and my heart was beating pretty fast because of all the people pushing into you and wanting you to move so they can see what's on the table. That was the one thing I didn't like. I don't like feeling that uncomfortable. I thought about just giving up and leaving but then it wasn't THAT bad so I just stuck it out. If a table was mobbed then I just went on to the next few and came back later.

I got some really good deals on some chipboard albums. I got some for .10, .25, and .50. Awesome. I plan to alter them for the Apple Blossom Festival this weekend. Let's hope I have enough time :) My biggest and best purchase for the day, however, was the long desired Zutter Bind-It-All! I'm so excited to finally have this tool. It was a really good price on it too. They had them for $60 with 20% off so that made them $48. I know that you can get them from between $35-$45 on ebay but then by the time you're paying shipping of like $10-$15 it comes out to be the same or more than what I paid. I also picked up a few packs of the bindings for 20% off her lowered price.

The really funny thing that happened though was that, just as I was purchasing the machine, two ladies walked up behind me and asked what was so good about that machine. So I starting telling them all about it and what it can do and how fabulous it was and what a good price it was and all kinds of stuff. I bet I talked to those ladies for half an hour at least! The one lady was wanting one and her friend was trying to talk her out of it. In the end, the BOTH bought one!! How funny is that?! They each got a machine and some bindings. Then we were talking in the check-out line and it turns out that they live in Winchester. What a small world. So I tell them that I'm going to be in the Festival this weekend and they say they are totally going to stop by and see me. I also tell them that I am going to be teaching classes for the Parks and Rec Dept. this fall and that I will be doing a class with my machine and they should take my class.

We finished up and parted ways and my mom says to me that I should have given them my business card so that if they had any other questions they could contact me. I had my CTMH cards in my bag so I wrote my new number on them and found the ladies outside and told them to call me if they needed any more help. The one lady says, oh did you used to be a Close To My Heart consultant? I said, oh I'm actually still a CTMH consultant. Well then she got so excited and started talking about how she loved out clear stamps and there hadn't been a consultant in our town in forever and she was so excited to have met me and on and on.

How awesome is it that I just happened to start talking to these ladies about a machine that I was excited about and it turned into making local contacts?! I just think it was such a God thing. They were so super nice and I'm extremely excited to see if they do in fact come out and see my booth.

Red Velvet Cupcakes

So tonight my Bible Study is meeting in our house. I'm pretty excited as this will be the first time we've had people over. I decided to make red velvet cupcakes for this special occassion. The last time I was home before my Grandma passed, I got her recipe for her fabulous red velvet cake. I hadn't tried to make it yet as I had been told by other family members that it can be tricky to make, especially the icing. I made sure I followed the recipe and instructions to a T and everything came out wonderfully. I know that she would be proud of me :)

They smelled so yummy that I just had to have one. And then I had to have another, shhh. The rest will go to work with me and Isaac in the morning so that I don't get tempted to eat all the rest of them. Go Grandma with her fab recipe!

Hmmm...

I've been meaning to update my blog for awhile now. I've been taking all kinds of fun photos of different things just for the purpose of adding them here but, alas, time has gotten away from me. I know you're shocked if you've read any of my previous posts. I'm so good at time management... I've written out an hour by hour time-line for myself today to make sure I stay on track and get as much done today as possible.

I can't believe I haven't even posted pi ctures from my craft fair two weekends ago! It wasn't the greatest show I've ever been too but I did okay. I met some really fun etsy girls though and so I think that made it worth it. I came nowhere near my goal and bet with Isaac though so that was sad. So I guess he gets to dictate which shows I do from now on as that was the deal. That probably means that I won't get to do any more than I already have booked.

I have the Apple Blossom Festival in two weeks and I'm getting super excited. I'm hoping that it will be the $1000 show that I was hoping that last show would be. Isaac says it had better be and I agree. I had to purchase one of those vendor pop-up tents and let me tell you, those babies are not cheap! So I'm already really in the hole with overhead for this one. I am also suposed to be done making things by Saturday. My mom is coming to visit and she said that she doesn't want to be home watching me make things at the last minute. She wants to go out and explore, go to DC, etc. I'm not really sure what there is to do around here but we'll find something I'm sure.

So here are a few pictures of my display from the show

Bella's New Collar

Last week I went to the Coach Outlet and bought Bella a new collar. She totally deserved it. I mean Napoleon has a nice leather collar and she has a cheapo Wal-Mart collar that is coming apart. It was a must! It's all brown to match her coloring and everything. She's such a spoiled little pooch. Oh well, what are you gonna do?

Robot Album

I spotted this paper about a month ago. I fell in love with it as soon as I got it home and was thinking of so many things I could do with it. I've made up several pocket albums with the paper and today I finished this accordion album. I just LOVE how it looks. I cut out the big robot and then glued it to 1/4" thick chipboard and then cut that out. The giant blister on my finger says that this will not happen again, lol. Then I cut out lots of gears and some chains and mounted then on thinner chipboard and cut them out. I finished it up with pewter brads to look like the bolts. I REALLY like this one. It will be going with me to a show this weekend. I sure hope some one takes it home with them, but, if not, it will be posted on etsy early next week :)

Please Don't Get Infected!

Last night we had the dog fight to end all dog fights. Our dogs, Bella and Napoleon, get very tempermental when we go to bed at night. It has to be some kind of territorial thing or Napoleon tests her alpha dogness when we're going to sleep. We went to bed extra late last night because I was working late. Isaac was already in bed as were the dogs and I came in a started playing with Napoleon. He had a sock in his mouth and I was tugging on it and he was growling at me. I couldn't see because it was dark but I'm sure it was a playful growl. He never growls at me otherwise. He knows he'll get kicked out of the room and that's worse than death for him.

Well, all the sudden Bella starts growling and comes flying across the bed. They start attacking eachother and Bella won't back down in a fight. She bites Napoleon's ears and neck and the longer it takes for us to break it up the more bite marks and little bleeding spots Napoleon will have. Just by the tone of the fight you could tell this was way more intense than their normal disagreements. So Isaac and I are trying to break them up but it's dark and really hard to see. I reached out to push Bella to Isaac and grab Napoleon to toss him off the bed but I reached straight into Bella's mouth. She bit down as hard as she could and I swear I thought she ripped the side of my finger off. Now I've accidentally but a finger off before so I know what it feels like. My first thought was OMG I can't believe this is happening. Then I thought, I've got to stop the blood. Then I thought, I don't want to see it so I shoved my finger into my mouth. Isaac got the fight broken up.

I jumped out of bed and said I'm hurt, with my finger in my mouth, but I'm afraid to look. I think she may have ripped my finger open and I don't want to have to get stitches. And did I mention that we don't have any medical insurance yet? Yeah, Isaac's cool employer likes to make you wait two months before giving you insurance. Awesome. So Isaac turned the light on and I pulled my finger out of my mouth and shoved it in his face. I couldn't look. He asked which finger so I knew it couldn't be too bad. I told him the middle one and he said oh my gosh! So then I of course look and there is one puncture mark on the bottom and a very deep indentation on the top.

What had happened was that she actually bit down until she hit my bone. She bit my right on the side of my knuckle but got just were the vein and nerves are. I couldn't feel half of my finger, which is why I thought it was torn off, because she hit the nerve bundle. I can't believe my dog actually bit my bone! This morning I've got the feeling back in my whole finger but it hurts like crazy. I'm seriously worried that it will get infected. I washed it with anti-bacterial soap last night and put neosporin on it but it is seriously sore. Stupid dogs. Maybe they need to just start sleeping on the floor in their beds they got for Christmas. I can't have them continuing to do this, especially when we bring a baby into the mix.

I just took the bandaid off and it doesn't look too bad but I can't fully bend my finger. It feels a lot worse than it looks which I guess is a good thing?

Amazing Artwork

I never open forwards but my mom sent me this one about amazing artwork and I thought it might be something she wanted me to see for inspiration. This guy is totally amazing. I can't even imagine doing this. It'll take him four hours to do a hand, and I'd like to point out that he paints both the left and the right so he is that good with either hand. Then he photographs it for posterity. I cannot imagine how he does the eyes so remarkably lifelike. It took him 10 hours to do the two-handed Eagle in picture #2! Amazing.