Absence makes the heart do what?

I haven't been posting much lately which is not just due to laziness and being busy, but because Flickr changed the way they do their sharing code. Stupid Flickr. It's just another step to do when blogging.

First, we made it up to the Rapid City area a few weeks ago so I could attend a conference. It was beautiful, calm and fun. We managed to get to Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse and Deadwood but not much else. The conference stuff took up the rest of the time, plus it was about 11 hours each way. Sadie and Patton went with which brought down the cost of the trip (no kenneling.) My presentation went well and it was good to connect with an old buddy from graduate school. Perhaps I'll get more involved with this museum group in the future. It felt great to be treated like a professional!

Some photos:





















You can see a crap-ton more on Flickr.

Also we have been house hunting like crazy. There isn't really much rush other than we are tired of paying exorbitant amounts of money to live in this duplex. And our allergies have never been so bad. We made an offer on one house but the lady wouldn't pay any closing costs. We did find something, much farther south, that includes those costs. The house is in a new development and is only seven years old.

Here is the outside:



If the bank approves the final paperwork (which it should!) I will be posting plenty of photos later. We do have to finish off a couple parts of the fence so the dogs can run free. I don't think I'll have time to dig up a garden before it freezes but for sure next spring. The house is near a corn field, on the edge of town and about twenty miles from downtown KC. It's also near a small air strip and we can watch little bi-planes flying around. I'm pretty damned excited.

And finally, I went out looking for a new Rowdy. Silly me, you can't replace your pets. I mean, sure you can clone them now. But they have such unique personalities, which I don't believe can be replicated. So long story short, we looked at some Cocker Spaniels and came home with a giant Collie/Shepherd mix. His name is Tobin. That's what they called him at the shelter and I can't think of anything better to name him.



That's about all I can think of off the top of my head. It's been hella busy to say the least. Maybe things will call down next year??

A hippie by necessity

I've never considered myself a hippie, although I do consider myself "different" then a lot of women.  (Maybe "tomboy" is the correct term considering my love of shooting guns and playing video games.)  I like who I am and don't see a real need to change, except for any unattractive habits that may come up.  I don't have a problem with hippies or conservatives or anyone else, as long as they aren't in the extreme on either side of the spectrum.  But I've never considered myself a hippie until lately.

I have been changing our diets slowly but surely to a more organic diet.  We cut down on alcohol and caffeine, we are drinking organic milk and when I can afford to buy more organic food, I do.  I also bought a cast iron skillet finally because it will last longer and doesn't have Teflon or other non-stick chemicals all over it.  As we run out of household cleaners, I'm replacing them with "green" cleaners.  By the way, all this shit is rather pricey.

Due to the popularity of Facebook, I find myself talking to people from home/high school a lot more then I did when I actually went to school with them.  I can't believe how many people have some kind of autoimmune disease.  These are people my age - early 30's.  I'm getting pretty frickin' paranoid that even though some of the shit I have is inherited, that all the chemicals we grow up eating and breathing can't be helping.  In fact, I wonder if over the generations all the chemicals in our environment aren't causing some of this.  Anyone heard of Silent Spring by Rachel Carson?  I did a paper on it in grad school when I was studying integrated pest management.  She realized one spring that the birds weren't singing as much as they normally did each spring.  Basically through her research she discovered that DDT, a popular pesticide, had made it's way into our ground water and thus into our food chain.  Certain species of birds were dying because their egg shells were so thin that none of the babies were making past the incubation phase.   Her book and all the controversy that it made led to state legislation all over the nation to ban dangerous pesticides.  And how did she die? Breast cancer; the incidence of which has gone up considerably since WWII when more chemicals began to be regularly dumped into the environment.   Reminds me of Marie Curie and radium in some ways.

No one can eliminate his/her exposure to chemicals completely.  But I have to cringe whenever I see commercials for scented candles and oils and sprays that companies want you to spray around your house.  If your house stinks all the time, clean it.  Quit covering up the stank with chemicals for cripe's sakes.

On that note then, my resolutions to eat better are going well.  We hardly drink anymore (boo!!!!  beer tastes good dammit), I've had fried food once and am eating better overall.  Do I feel better?  Not yet.  I have a feeling that eventually I will.

I leave you with some KC fog shots.  It's been kinda creepy/romantic outside.  I think I'm ready for April but love that we've had snow and fog to change things up around here a bit.

Tschus.

Craft-a-frickin-roonie!

Here is my little recap for the last week or so:

Last week was hell as far as health goes but this is a new week!  I was a shit-load of pain from endo and arthritis last week but thankfully, these things aren't an everyday problem for me.  Shit could always be worse!

Ma Burley came on Friday night and we chilled out together on Saturday and went to the Harrah's casino Saturday night.  What a culture shock!  I did see plenty of casinos in Vegas but it just seemed different because it was here in KC.  I lost $50 in the slots which sucked and the drinks were $5, not free like Vegas.  Casinos are fun for a few hours but after that, I've had my fill.  It's loud, reeks of smoke and there are people EVERYWHERE.  Not a great place for recluses like myself.  Her visit was too quick but it was really great to see her again.

My Etsy hasn't sold anything yet however I think I have a few interested in "Ass, the other Vagina."  I have a couple private requests also that I need to get started on.  I'm excited about that because it's fun to make these but even more fun to know that people are going to put it in their homes soon.  As soon as payday gets here, I am off to the crafy store again to get supplies.  I'm geeked!

Speaking of stitchery, I finished my first photo-to-embroidery project.  Here is the result and a comparison of the original photo to the cloth and thread result:





I felt pretty good about the overall end-product.  This has been a complete learning experience for me and I see what I need to work on now.  I have ideas for the next embroidery project already!  I like the idea of taking my photography and doing something more with it.  My ultimate goal is to get a gallery show.  I think I'm on my way as *enter drumroll* I'm going to be featured in the near future on Stitchgasm.  ACK!!!!  This is exciting to me although most of you probably don't know what the fuck I'm talking about.  See the following website: http://www.mrxstitch.com/  I am not sure what day it will be, but one of the people who works on this newsletter is a woman known as Beefrank.  She is a witty, creative genius and her work makes me laugh a lot!  You can see her work on Flickr by going to http://www.flickr.com/photos/beefranck/.  If you appreciate humor, talent and witicisms, please check out her stuff!  Also, subscribe to Mr. X Stitch via the site or Facebook.  (He is also megacool and a Brit!)  This stuff absolutely feeds me inspiration as well as making me laugh.  I can't believe how creative people can be and it is freakin' awesome to see so many talented people out there producing so much stuff.  Ok sorry, I got a little carried away!!

Add that to a confirmation email I received about enrollment in a free digital photography course and I'm about to implode!  Whoopee!

All right, enough of that crazy shit.  As always, I hope everyone is well.  Catch ya later, tschus!

Funny blog, read it

My loving husband, sick and humorous as he is, shared this blog with me today.  If you are having a shitty day, pun intended, read this.  Read it even if you are in a good mood.  You will laugh your ass off!

http://www.zug.com/live/81557/The-Alli-Experiment.html

Not much new to report.  It is supposed to rain on Sunday, well thunderstorm, and we are supposed to participate in the Dog'N'Jog 5K that day.  We are taking Patton with us but he hates thunderstorms.  I hope it doesn't rain until later in the day.  Regardless, we have already paid the registration fee, thus contributing to the charity whether we go or not.  But hopefully all will go well.  I'm looking forward to it.  (By the way, we are walking it, not running.  I suck at running!)

Here's the facebook link to the fundraising page: http://www.firstgiving.com/rebeccamartzburley?ref=facebook&type=app

Feel free to contribute if you would like!