nick burns

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this is why i would never be a good teacher, ask aaron. i'm a total nick burns when it comes to computers. thanks, gotshoo for the 2008 update on how the IT world really works.

where the elk falls

monday chad, jennaya and the boys ventured up to the high country to do a little camping. unfortunately it started pouring a little after they set up camp. we offered up the house as a shelter until the rain passed, played a little mariokart and had a little dinner. a couple hours later we all headed back over to their campsite. everything was a little damp, but we managed to get a fire going with a little boy scout recall. tepees and chimneys. aaron and i spent a couple hours chatting and catching up before we braved the heavy fog back home.

yesterday we decided to check out elk falls. chad had been there when he went to app. state years ago and we all thought it'd be a fun trip with the kids and dogs. we were quite surprised when we pulled up and cars were spilling out of the parking lot. including a church camp bus. apparently this quiet place has become a local hot spot. we all had a good time despite the crowds. it was a perfect day, even a little on the warm side. it was so great seeing jennaya and the boys. we'll have to make a trip over to greensboro soon! elk falls flickr.

just my type

a few great finds this week. hit up three thrift shops, the humane society's rummage sale and an antique mall. of course i never find too much to my liking. mostly craft findings: zippers, fabric and an occasional home accessory. i found these old press letters at the antique mall. didn't purchase them but i may return and make a "westphal" purchase. i like the look and feel of the type. i already have a place in mind.

i should be updating on sunday. busted out the polymer tonight and have a few sewing projects close to done. hopefully the weather cooperates this weekend. we've got plans with the moores and i need a sunny day to take decent photos. fingers crossed.

how to get along...

...with difficult people.

for the last month aaron's had a rash of difficult patients. pushy, overly emotional, unsatisfied. you name it, he's probably encountered it. he really hasn't had any problems til now. which is somewhat surprising since he's been there almost a year. he's not used to dealing with such fussy people, so he's been a little stressed.

on our drive home from charlotte tuesday we were discussing a bulk of them. why they act the way they do, how they're effecting his attitude/demeanor, what's the best way to handle them, etc. at the end our conversation he commented, "they should offer a course or something on dealing with difficult people."

today, on my thrift store hunt i found his answer. "how to get along with difficult people" of course the edition i found was from 1984 but it pretty much carries the same information. people are categorized into different personality traits: bob bossy, gilda guilt, sally spiritual and so on. i don't know if it will offer any sound advice, but i thought it was a funny find and so appropriate given his current situation.

the book right beside it, "health professional/patient interaction." yeah, he can add this one to his library as well.

bag lady

latest additions to the shop. although this one is already sold! i've got to freshen everything up. my goal is to have five of everything and i'm already behind. i guess that's a good thing.

while my mom was here, she asked if i could make her a tote. i let her pick out the fabric and she gave me the specs on what she wanted: pockets on the sides, slit pocket on the front and sturdy enough to stand on it's own. i started while she was here, but decided it'd be better to finish after she had left. (i don't work well with someone standing over me). i finished and it's already in the mail. hopefully she's happy with it. a couple of firsts for me: using piping, batting and making a slit pocket. i think i love piping now. watch for it in the next installment of new items. here's some more photos of the bag.

we just got back from seeing the new batman flick. more about it tomorrow, the dogs are starving for attention and i'm starving for some mint chocolate chip ice cream. yum!

tonic living

i've put the master bath off long enough. after ripping down all the green wallpaper the room has been sitting in disarray for a few months now. today i ordered some "tonic" fabric which the rest of the room will be loosely based on. instead of wallpaper i've been thinking about using vinyl wall art similar to the image below.

i came across this in my search yesterday. completely awesome and completely out of my price range. it's about $1200 a panel and consists of seven panels. there's a few others i found at velocity that are more in my budget. hopefully it's easier to handle than wallpaper. i've learned that job should be handled by the professionals.

sweet mountain

brian and irina arrived friday evening and we had waited to eat dinner with them. they arrived around 7:45 and we were out the door by 8. we decided to treat everyone to makotos, a japanese steakhouse here in boone. it was the first time for most and everyone had a good time.

brian brought his wii wheel and we played a little mariokart after dinner. it was the first time we played with three players. really not a fan of the four-split screen. a little too chaotic for my taste. we did get to play angela and family for the first time. we kicked a little butt, i'm not bragging at all! ;)

saturday the weather finally cooperated and we were able to enjoy the mountains in full force. aaron had read in the paper that sugar mountain resort opened it's ski lifts for scenic summer rides. you can either hike or bike the trails. the lifts are rigged to carry bikes up. it was crazy seeing them float by. well, after a 20-25 minute ride up we decided to hike down. even mom managed to keep up, she even passed us at one point. here's the sugar flickr set. as you can see we all had a great time.

after hiking we headed over to sugar grove for their annual music festival. we caught the carolina chocolate drops and the kruger brothers. it was brian and irina's introduction to bluegrass. and i think they both enjoyed the music. when we arrived home, the weather was still great that we decided to get a little fire going. we sat outside, cracked open a bottle of wine and enjoyed the evening chatting.

so that's how our sweet weekend wrapped up. we didn't plan everything around sugar, it just happened. and before i forget, my mom picked about 10 gallons of blackberries. literally. our counter tops were barely visible, she had bowls and jars everywhere. luckily she took it all with her. poor brian had to haul it all back to maryland. another sweet item.

friends 4 eva

a blast from the past! yes, these were all made recently. luana asked me if i knew how to make friendship bracelets and if i did, could i teach her. i only knew how to make the simple stripes and the V shape from back in the day. ahhh, the power of the internet. i found this great tutorial with detailed instructions. once you master the forward and backward knot, it's pretty easy to branch out and try the advanced designs. so these are what we've been crafting for the past week. from far left: made by mom, luana and the rest were made by me. mom is now sporting her creation.

the house quiet again. everyone has finally left the building. things should be getting back to normal shortly. more about the weekend tomorrow. i'm dead tired!

eat at cho's

i'm amazed at what you can find at a asian grocery store these days. you can now get kimchee on the go. and not just one type, but a huge variety. if we lived close by, i think i'd be there weekly, if not daily.

we've had five straight days of rain. and i think we're all getting a little cabin fever. it hasn't rained continuously, but it has daily. planning an outing has been difficult. tomorrow i think we'll brave the forecasted downpours and get a little site-seeing in.

tonight aaron ran in the bear. the race was all uphill and the elevation changes 2000 ft. he finished 377 out of 897. (not sure if that's the correct number of people that participated.) for his first time, he did great. one of the nurses finished 8 minutes behind him and there were about 200 people who finished between them. (gives you a better idea of how the numbers work) not sure if this is gonna be an annual thing with him. i have a feeling it will since he did so well.

screamtime

can you guess where we went today? with family visiting we decided it was the perfect opportunity to get a little fun in between the rain showers. it's rained the past few days and it's forcasted to rain the rest of the week. we've been cooped up playing video games, watching movies and doing a little crafting. (i'll be posting what we're making tomorrow). hopefully by the time brian and irina arrive friday afternoon we'll see some sunshine.

here's luana a little too happy to zip. she was a bit nervous at first, but she ended up being a natural. unfortunately we couldn't convince my mom to give it a go. i'm sure she would have had a ball too!

the terrain was quite different from our jamaican canopy tour a few years ago. instead of trees we pretty much zipped from hill to hill, dodging the occasional cow. and yes the mountains were "smokin" today. we were pretty much the only locals who took advantage of the ride. not that it wasn't busy, but everyone we met including the 10 others in our party were from florida up for the summer. i'll let the pictures do the talking. zipline flickr.

miss maggie

been a little incognito this week. entertaining a 17-year-old and my mother has been somewhat time consuming. hopefully by the end of the weekend i'll be able to post photos from the past week. i'm playing a bit of catch-up too, hopefully i'll be able to chat, email, comment with everyone soon.

here's the answer to my dad's question today: "How many time have you had to chase her down the road so far?" we've also got maggie (brian's yorkie) with us. last time she was here we ended up chasing her down our driveway and up the road. we decided to try the shock collar on her but with the shock feature disabled, (it would just beep when she got too close to the electric fence.) i did one training session with her and she pretty much picked it up. such a smart pooch. happy fourth everyone!

hanging with my gnomies

i'm about to add these little buggers to my shop. i had made these bottlecap pincushions a few months ago and decided they needed a little pizazz in order to list them in my shop. what better way then adding a few polymer stick pins. being they were mushroom in nature, i thought a gnome would compliment them perfectly. they turned out to be an adorable combo.

i also did a coffee mug pincushion with matching flower stick pins. it also turned out great. i'm having a hard time parting with them, but i'm sure they'll find a good home. hopefully, when i'm in maryland this weekend, i'll be able to find more retro-looking cups, i haven't had much luck around here. i had fun making these and am looking forward to my next batch.

on that note. i've updated today instead of tomorrow. i'm heading to maryland for few days tomorrow. flying solo again. my main agenda is to give my mom a little company while my dad is in iraq/qatar. tomorrow night we'll be hitting up insubordination fest where the copyrights will be playing. (no, my mom is not going to rock out with us! just brian and luanna) saturday we'll be partying with cole as he turns one. sunday getting a little shopping in, checking out the local thrift stores and ikea. pretty jam packed weekend. i'll be bringing my mom back with me so she can get a little mountain air this summer. i guess i better get packing.

hunka-hunka burnin boston

what marley looks forward to on our daily two mile walks. bosco's the same way but he's in and out, no lolli-gagging, he's all business. i honestly think she'd stay there all day if she could. i don't blame her. i'd do the same!

mary's gone wild

when we were at holden beach a couple of weeks ago, we passed by this crazy house on our way to get haircuts. we all did a double-take and decided we'd have to stop by on our way back. it definitely wasn't a disappointment. we walked in and there wasn't a surface that hadn't been painted with some sort of image or color. it looked like the "trash heap" from fraggle rock had exploded and mary had decided to paint what she could. she had mentioned something about being on t.v. and after doing a little research i found someone had actually made a documentary about her.

most of the artwork were old windows that had been painted and the average price for one was about $100. of course i kept thinking, "i can do that." and in fact i had. a couple of years ago i had painted a window for aaron's dad. he had gotten a winter scened window at a craft fair and wanted a spring scene to swap out when appropriate. it turned out really nice and i'll have to get a picture of it next time we're back there.

anyways, i didn't buy any artwork but i did buy an old scrabble game for $2. (she also has her house jam-packed with antiques/junk.) it's funny cause i couldn't remember her name, but "crazy mary" kept popping up in the back of my mind when i thought about her. if you're ever in the area check out mary and her "wild" house!

Recycling the unwanted goods of others with a fun-lovin' sense of humor, bright colored paints, and great faith, Mary has built a magical garden for all to enjoy, and to help feed the hungry children of the world.

yard sailing

this morning we got up fairly early to hit up a few yard sales in the area. beech mountain was having a community one, so we headed up there first. didn't have too much luck finding anything. it was more like people got a card table, put five things on it and they were ready to sell. i did manage to buy 13 zippers for $3 which was a fairly decent score. other than that, we didn't have much luck at any of the others we checked out. i couldn't believe aaron suggested we hit up yard sales today. i have to drag him to antique shops and thrift stores so i was a bit surprised he wanted to go. it's probably the last time since he didn't find what he was looking for. a small table to put in his bathroom at work. he's dead set against paying $60 for one at walmart, hence the yard sale shopping. maybe i can find something for him when i head to maryland next week. i think a trip to ikea is in order.

made a few more checkbook covers today. it's funny how things get better the more you do them. i'm pretty happy with how these turned out. i'll probably list them tomorrow. i've been trying to do at least five different versions of one thing. and i'm probably making them more difficult than they have to be. oh well. i'm also open for suggestions on what people would like to see in my shop. i like having a little motivation/direction so suggest away. and thanks for all the custom orders and thanks amanda for buying some charms today! i still get all giddy and yell, "i just sold something!" to aaron when it happens. he thinks i'm crazy but i can tell he's happy for me.

how 'bout dem apples?

i've been hoarding a bunch of japanese fabric i got last year. i didn't have a particular plan for them, but they were too cute to pass up. they're fairly expensive, so i wanted to use them sparingly or at least have a craft i've perfected before i put them to use. today, i finally made the cut. luckily this project only used 1.5" squares, so i barely used any. i listed a few and will probably list more next week. i have a red apple set that i wanted to try and attach rhinestones to. things didn't go according to plan, a little too messy for my taste. i have to figure out what glue to use and get a pair of precision tweezers.

on a fabric note. when i was in carbondale i saw that jo-ann's started carrying alexander henry fabrics. maybe they've always been there, but i'm just now noticing. i picked up some cute apple and pear fabric and a bold floral print as well. no plans yet, but i'm sure something will come to mind. i guess i need to replenish my checkbook covers this weekend. who knew they'd be so popular.

blue sky

another jam-packed weekend is finally over. i honestly don't think we could have fit any more into our weekend. graduation, vineyards, cardinal game, geocaching...etc. or i should say carbondale, springfield, carbondale, st. louis, carbondale, boone. it was a lot of fun and we both had a blast but it always takes a few days to recuperate. which mainly means housework needs to get done, groceries need to get bought, and laundry needs to be washed.

i've had my cell phone for over a year now. mainly using it for talking, texting and picture taking. a few weeks ago, while i was bored at a crawdads game, i figured out how to check my email using it. welcome to technology, susan. well, on our way back to illinois i was completely giddy i when i found out i had sold things from my shop via cell phone. even had requests for custom items. i wake up saturday morning with another sold message. how neat. of course, i have a standard phone, no special keypad for texting so i can't really respond but it's nice to be in the loop even when you're out. i do love technology. and thanks betsy and jen for shopping with arudegirl!!

skulls and spiders and cozies, oh my

i only listed a few new items today. i had to run a bunch of errands before leaving for illinois this afternoon and it's eaten into my update time. these were my attempts at ipod nano cozies before they got even smaller than they were. they're perfect to carry small items (lip balm, single tampon or small change) in, so they weren't a complete waste.

my pictures are all over the place. i can't get the lighting i want to be consistent and it's bugging the heck out of me. when i get back, i'm gonna be spending a lot of time figuring this out. at least you can see what i'm selling even though the pictures look like poo! oh well.

where in the world is JDR?

my dad left early monday morning and headed to qatar. this is the second time he's been there, at least that i can remember. he travels a lot with his job so half the time i have no idea where he is. this stint will be three months long, so we were all briefed before he left. i'll probably make a few trips home this summer. i just thought about the heat and humidity in the dc area *cringe*, maybe i should have mom come here!

on a crafty note. i'm gonna try and update the shop every friday. since we are heading back to illinois this week, updates will be done tomorrow. and thanks to kirsten for being my first "friend" buyer!!

art-o-mat

this past weekend aaron and i went to the wedding of the son of aaron's boss. it's weird to go to a wedding when you've only met the groom in passing and you've never met the bride. it was more of a courtesy attendance than anything. we got all dolled up and had a good time nonetheless.

the reception was at the turchin center for the visual arts here in boone. a really nice venue with modern art and exhibits surrounding us. when we entered the lobby i spotted the art-o-mat immediately. i had heard of them but this was the first time i'd actually seen one. what is the art-o-mat? they are "retired cigarette vending machines that have been converted to vend art." unfortunately i didn't have any cash on me to vend some art. but next time i'm in the area, i'll have to give it a go.

surprisingly there are two vending machines located in boone. which is crazy since there are only 82 throughout the whole country. i'm actually considering submitting something for vending. it'd be great to have somebody by your art on a whim!