Totes and Tries (includes 6 photos totes and nests)

[feng_shui_house]

Woke up to cat poo AND erp up on the floor. Not an auspicious start to the day, but it was motivation to get up and go outside with the trash to face the burning rays of morning sun. ARGGH, MY EYES...

I'm up and dressed in yard rags and have even brushed my hair, what more could you ask of me, World?

Packed up one tote, with a few assorted other things (including one repurposed face mask to hand warmer)- sudden drop in energy levels so I'm not ready to go the webshite to fight the USPS site to label and pay it- read a fic update... put 7 more designs for sale at Spoonflower.

Paid 2 utility bills on line via my bank checking account. I'm getting used to this. The bank doesn't charge to do it and there's no middleman 'service' to rip me off. Once I put a payee in, they keep the info so I just scroll to find the repeat stuff and put in the amount. Just have to keep my check book up to date, and it's all good.

There's still room in the flat rate box with the tote- let me check to see if I have any other goodies to include. Maybe I'll let the box mellow for a day while I think about it.

Took the latest tote out to photograph it. Only one more to do before I start thinking what else... I do have a print of southwestern stuff meant to make a vest-- but no one would want a cheap cotton vest.mmm wonder if I could somehow make it into a BBQ apron? Hmm... must dig through the heaps again. Hmm... I found another cut and sew vest with farm scene and cattle. Hmm...

Went out front to check for flung trash. While picking up a beer can I noticed gray clouds moving in, so I decided to Max the pool now. Went out back and found an exhausted adult male rainbow lizard clinging to the wall in the pool. Lucky for him I went out early. He was fine, I netted him and he opened his eyes and watched as I walked him to the nearest bushy habitat and then he leaped off.

After Maxing I tried to use the new charger- it's NOT identical to the original and it was a pain getting it to hook up and the indicator light is a TINY thing that stayed green on a much smaller charger instead of turning red. I don't know if it works, impossible to tell- I hadn't run Max down to no charge so even if the charger doesn't work, Max will still run for a while... not worth fretting about. Just keep in mind- I'll try to keep using the same charger and eventually if it doesn't work, Max(s) will stop functioning.

After looking through 3 stashes of commercial sewing patterns (in 2 different rooms) the very last pattern in the 3rd group (I didn't look in the collections of stuffed animal patterns or quilt patch patterns or it would have been a LOT more) I found a pattern for various types of aprons, so yay. Something else to procrastinate doing the things I don't want to do.

I FINALLY got around to checking out the Senior Citizen real estate tax exemption that I was old enough for several years ago. Buried in the fine print (after I found the city documentation on my home and started printing, but had to stop to feed the printer ink) among all the other limitations/required proofs was the 'market value' of the house, which they say is well in excess of the limit. They also have listed as value something that was blown away in a hurricane years ago (a screened in patio- all that remains is the cracked tile over cement slab). I doubt it's worth asking them to reassess the value of the house for fear that they'd A) charge me more for the assessment than they'd take off B) decide the house is worth MORE taxes than it already has and C) decide to fine me for some code violation or other. So, let it lie. I couldn't have got it submitted before the March 1 deadline even if I HAD all the paperwork.

Also I found another pattern for making swimsuits. If I get around to swimming more often I should look to see if I have the right kind of fabric- mostly I bought fake fur for soft toys, leather clothes to cut up for making badass teddy bears, and printed cottons for quilting, but I may have rummaged some stretch knit out of bargain bins that might work.

I didn't cut my hair today, but I DID go back to my stash of hair cuttings that I keep on the off chance I'll ever want to make a traditional pincushion or stuff a small toy with my own hair. (wash, cut, dry on paper towels, roll up and put in plastic bag) and filled up a small wicker basket (about the same size as the mockingbird nest that got cut down) and hung it by a wire in the loquat tree. Maybe some birds will see it and use the hair to make a nest. Maybe. :^)

'Tasha demanded combing-- and I thought... well, most birds don't have a sense of smell and the undercoat combings from 'Tasha are incredibly soft... it wasn't much.. I added it to the hanging basket. And later I hung some dried grass on a nearby branch, and a few short pieces of wool yarn. Have a choice, birds.

Dug up some weeds in the back- still surprised a few zinnias grew from seeds dropped by the last bunch I had planted. I have seeds, just need to prepare everything before I start them.

Not that I'm going to buy any flower seeds but I'm annoyed by the subject line on this email (I USED to buy stuff from one flower company, but gave up because it all died really quick, but I like getting the emails because sometimes they have nice photos of flowers I can use for photo reference when drawing)....

The subject line was:

Double the blooms, Half the Price! -BOGO 50% Off!

BUT it is A LIE-- It's buy TWO get half price on the second one- which means 75% of the price!

I've seen this for a while- it used to be BOGO meant Buy One Get One Free- which would be half price overall.

Now instead of BOGOF a lot of the time it's BOGOH... YOU DO NOT FOOL ME.

EDITED to add- I went to the Pool Blaster Max manufacturer's site and bought a replacement charger- it's twice the price (but they DID allow me free shipping if I went with slow USPS) but it IS the same thing. The manufacturer warns that using other chargers can mess up your Max- Hope I didn't wreck my brand new Max... will try it tomorrow and HOPE.


Thanksgiving Tote- this one wound up with a pocket inside because I had a few cut outs left over.






Christmas animals Tote





The downed mockingbird nest.


Hair basket I hope the birds will like.

Comments

[feng_shui_house]

I just stick them in the corner. Some I'll give as gifts to the few people left on my Christmas list but mostly I have no plans for them.

IF someone on my dream width wanted something and was willing to give me PayPal *Friends* (so it isn't added to my income tax) to cover the mailing cost I would consider doing that- but it's expensive even just within the US since I don't drive. I'm sure no one would want to give me mailing cost *plus* what the item is worth, but for a friend, I would consider it.

I did look into eBay and ETSY and even yard sales, but nothing would be worthwhile for me for my few, and not professional, products.

[watervole]

Sadly, I've already got stash of tote bags given me by a creative Ukrainian friend. And, as you say, international postage is a bugger...

It's a sham it isn't worth selling them on Etsy and Ebay.

There's a lady locally who makes bags for a shop raising funds for a local hospice.

I don't know if you have a local charity who could do something like that?

they are lovely bags, and you plan the designs really well.

[feng_shui_house]

Even US postage is high- I don't trust anything less than Priority (had a few first class that either took so long we thought they were lost, or else actually disappeared & there's no way to claim the insurance for something hand made with no proof of the value).

Maybe one day I'll find a good home for the things I make- either as gifts, or donations to a charity that really IS a charity (I refuse to give anything to these fundraising *companies* that barely give the charity anything) or maybe I'll find a reasonable alternative mailing service & a way to sell them.

In the meantime at least I got the fun of sorting through old treasures and playing with ideas, and the exercise of back and forth doing it, and pleasure sharing the photos.

I also managed to get rid of enough trimmed off fabric to fill a trash bag which pleases me out of all proportion to its actual impact on the mountains of STUFF. I haven't even got into my other crafting mountains, beads, oven bake clay, etc. etc. :^)