Favorite Kitty Pic Friday!

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Happy Halloween weekend!   :)    In the spirit of the holiday, I found this photo on I Can Has Cheezburger.  I wish I had good photos of my kitties all dressed up or having some Halloween fun, but no kitty costumes here.  We dressed Cody up as a Devil once, but the picture came out awful because I had too much stuff in the background.  Maybe I’ll share that one next year…

see more Lolcats and funny pictures
Hope you all have a safe and Happy Halloween!
(PS – If you want to join in on this post, you can create your own post, grab the button at the top, and leave me a comment with the link to your post, or even just a link to your photo online!)

Favorite Kitty Pic Friday! (The late edition…)

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 Didn’t get to do this post earlier and schedule it for today, so it’s coming in a late edition.  Happy Friday!  I had a pretty good day today, especially with hubby off.  We did some running around, ate yummy soup and salad at Olive Garden (if you have not had the Lasagne Fritta yet, you must try it!  So yummy!), and I spent the evening at a neighbor’s house chatting and ordering some new Pampered Chef stuff.  So, then I was sitting here going through my e-mails, and I get a daily pet calendar picture via e-mail…this was yesterdays:

I thought this was just too adorable!  It reminds me a little of my boys when they were only that big and actually used to like cuddling up with each other.   :)

I hope you all have a good weekend planned!  I’m hoping to make mine somewhat productive, and relaxing all at the same time.  I’m going to Hershey’s Chocolate World with some family tomorrow, and there’s a few things that need to be done around the house tomorrow, one of which is getting our basement window screen fixed.  Don’t know what tore that up, but it’s pretty much destroyed, and letting in monstrous crickets and spiders.  My dad just shop-vac’ed the entire basement this morning – gross…

Anyway – have a great weekend!

Monday, Monday – so good to me…

Please Note: This post was supposed to go up last night, but the internet went out and I couldn't add my pictures and get it posted, since it was very late, and the internet didn't come back on until 2:00am or later...sorry if it seems confusing!

Those lyrics just popped into my head when I was trying to start this post. The rest of the lyrics don’t really pertain to me or this post, but it just struck me as a good title. (If you don’t know this song, it’s “Monday Monday” by the Mamas and the Papas)

So, as much as I was against it before, last night for some reason I decided to sign up for Twitter. The name “Twitter” actually annoys me a little, and I always thought it was kind of ridiculous, especially since I have Facebook and really like that social network. But, I know so many bloggers who have Twitter accounts, so I thought maybe it was about time for me to give it a try too. Expand my horizons and such… I don’t really understand it all yet, and I don’t really know if I like it. I’m only following 4 “people” so far, one of which is Dr. Oz, lol! So, if you would like me to follow you, let me know how to find you, and if you’d like to follow me, you can find me @SSgherza.

I made today as productive as I could. I had to call my doctor to try to get them to order a blood test to check my thyroid. My hair seems to be falling out a lot more than my usual hair loss, or even my typical season changing hair loss (I swear, I’m like a cat!). Hubby says it didn’t really feel thinner to him at all, and I had a hair cut on Thursday last week, and my hairdresser didn’t seem to think it was much thinner, but when I told her I felt like I was losing a lot of it recently, she suggested I have my thyroid checked. I have definitely thought about it recently, and taking into consideration that thyroid issues run in my family (my mom had Grave’s Disease, and both her mom and brother are currently on thyroid meds), and my hairdresser even recommended what I had already been thinking about, I decided to call today and try to get the test ordered. I had it tested 2 or 3 years ago when it was brought into question then, along with diabetes testing, and everything came back normal then, but now I got a little worried about it again. So, hopefully I will find out tomorrow what’s going on with that, and hopefully there’s no problems! But after spending a good portion of the afternoon even trying to get through to the nurses due to their phone line issues, getting the blood test, and then stopping by my Grandmother and uncle’s house to drop off some cookies, I finally got home and got started on my to-do list for today. I got all my Halloween stuff up now (finally!), my kitchen floor all cleaned up, vacuumed the family room, and dealt with some laundry. I had some other things I wanted to accomplish today, and didn’t get to, but there’s always tomorrow, since it’s late now and I'm feeling pooped!

Jasper is finally feeling better today it seems. He sneezed a lot less today, and when he actually did sneeze, it was just once and done – no more sneezing fits of 10 in a row! His eyes were a lot less goopy and watery today too. He even got feisty with Dusty for the first time in a week, ran around the house, and played with a couple toys for a little! He still isn’t quite 100% yet, but he was definitely better today, and that made me feel a lot better. Looks like we won’t need to call the vet now anyway, thankfully.

I had a really good weekend. I know I totally skipped Scrapbook Saturday this week again, but I didn’t think to create it earlier in the week and schedule the post, and I was really busy this weekend, or when I wasn’t busy I was tired and didn’t feel like doing much. We went to the PA Renaissance Faire on Saturday with my dad. That always makes for a good day. The weather was a bit windy at first, but the sun was bright and warm, and when the wind died down it was beautiful. I froze after the sun went down though, and was getting very uncomfortable on the benches at the Globe Theater, so we had to leave before the finale in song was finished. We never stayed that late before either, so it was nice to see at least some/most of the finale for a change. The best act of the day: The Dandy Pirates. Two guys singing hilarious songs, some about “being a pirate sucks”, one about being gay (one of the pirates was supposedly gay, but was sleeping with the other pirate’s girl), one about a girlfriend who ended up being a guy…definitely not a show for the kiddies! They were the funniest act I ever saw at the Ren. Faire though! Another funny show was a new one this year – The Duo of Woo’s Quest for the Perfect Wife. Definitely another show not suitable for young ones! They did it like a game show and took 5 women from the audience as the contestants. The women had different things to do, and each “level” eliminated one until they had only 1 left – and she ended up with some gift certificates for some of the fair vendors totaling $35! We have been going free every year, courtesy of my dad’s employers. I look forward to laughing hysterically at the Dandy Pirates again next year!

Sunday was a performance for the baton group. The small group of girls I teach now (which started at 5, went down to 4, and now will be up at 6, possibly 7!) performed the routine I taught them for the very first time yesterday. It’s to the song “Fame” from the 2009 version of the movie. I was nervous for them, they were nervous, but overall it wasn’t too bad. They still have a lot of work to put into perfecting it more, and the routine isn’t even completely finished yet, so they have more to learn, but for a first time with some girls who have never twirled before this summer, it was pretty decent. I still have to review the recording, since I didn’t get to watch the entire show, so we’ll see what I find on playback. They have another show coming up in the beginning of November, so I’m hoping for an even better go at it then. I love being a part of this group – I joined as a member when I was 5, and they are like a second family to me, always have been. The group has changed somewhat over recent years, but it still feels great to be a part of it, and I absolutely love being able to teach now that I can’t really perform anymore. I also have picked up private lessons on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, so I get to do what I love 3 evenings a week now! :) I’d love to post pictures, but I don’t really have their permission or parents permission, so I will refrain from upsetting anyone, just in case.

Hope you all had a great weekend too! Looks like we might have more rain tomorrow and Wednesday…wonderful.

(PS – I actually typed this post out much earlier today, but wanted to add the photos, so I didn’t post it right away, and now that I was ready to post it I had to change a lot to reflect on my day, not list what I wanted my day to be like. I also didn’t think Jasper was better earlier, and thought I was seriously going to have to call the vet today – but luckily that changed too!)

Favorite Kitty Pic Friday!

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Happy Friday everyone!  Here is my pick for this week:

I don’t think I used this one yet.  This is Dusty as a baby – cutest kitten ever!  Look at how scruffy he is, and isn’t that face just making you melt?

Hope you all have a fun weekend planned.  I will be going to the PA Renaissance Faire (for free, courtesy of my dad’s employers!) and the baton group has a performance – the group of girls I teach will be doing their baton routine for the first time ever!  I’m hoping it goes well!

Thursday Thoughts

1. I have a sick kitty.   :(   He’s been having sneezing fits since yesterday, and you can just tell he doesn’t feel well.  My poor baby, I feel bad for him.  I don’t think it’s time to call the vet yet, since he’s still eating some and drinking, but once I see that he’s not eating, I will put out the wet food (they can smell it better and will eat more when they are sick) and call the vet to see if he needs any antibiotics.  See, not feeling well:

Hubby put his blanket in the corner by the bookshelf in the office, and I know Jasper likes blankets, but this is a little unusual for him.  It doesn’t help that it’s chilly, and and the heat hasn’t been on yet.  2. Speaking of heat and chilly weather – I’m so tired of the rain now!  I know we had quite a dry summer here, and needed some rain, but I’ve had enough of it now.  I have outdoor things to do – fertilize/weed kill the lawn, plant my daffodil and tulip bulbs so we can finally mulch the planting bed around the patio, and I’d like to use my brand new fire bowl some evening before winter hits and make some s’mores.  We’ve had some nice days, but the nice days have either been too warm to plant the bulbs (I was waiting until the temps got cooler and stayed consistent – now that we’re there, I feel like I can’t get enough dry days to plant!), or busy with other tasks and errands, and lately we’ve gotten a late start to dinner, so it gets a little too late to sit outside around a fire for a couple hours.  I was supposed to have a baton lesson today, and that got rained out.  Tomorrow is supposed to be nicer, but windy, so I can have the lesson tomorrow, but the wind might be too much for a fire.

3. Oh, and as I was typing this post, the heat did get turned on.  Everyone is warming up, and so far I haven’t heard the clicking from the vent in the bedroom.  I don’t think it’s quite cold enough for the clicking to start yet.  Yet another stupid issue with our brand new house – the vent coming up through the garage/family room wall, running along the floor of our bedroom and coming to it’s opening in the back of the bedroom is made of aluminum, and expands and shrinks when we use the heat.  So, the result is we hear a clicking/pinging sound on really cold days when the heat kicks on.  When there’s no heat blowing, the vent “shrinks” since it runs through the one garage wall, and gets very cold, and then when the heat blows it starts to warm up the vent causing the metal to expand, which creates the noise.  Kept me awake and irritated soooo many nights last winter.  We were told that it sometimes is an issue in these houses, and they need to fix it by cutting into the garage wall, replacing the aluminum duct with a plastic flexible duct, and fix up the garage wall again.  If it’s a known issue, why don’t they make these houses with the flexible duct in the first place???  But no, I have to deal with the noise and have them cut holes in my home to find the problem and fix it.  My issue is that I don’t think the expansion problem is coming from the garage wall area, but where the duct runs between the family room ceiling and bedroom floor.  If that’s the issue, they might have to cut open my whole family room ceiling!  Really not looking forward to dealing with all that this winter…

4.  Back to my sick kitty – if you’ll notice in the above pictures, he is quite a tubby cat.  We have tried switching to light food, and now even strictly measure out his daily amount of food.  We don’t regulate the food bowls overnight, because if we did, we wouldn’t sleep at all!  But we are trying to get his weight down, and I don’t think we have been successful yet.  So, I saw this fun little toy, and thought it would be a super success!:

Not so much…  I figured I’d fill it with some of his regular kibble (not treats, as if he needs anymore of those ever!), and make him work a little for his food.  He’d get some much needed play and his food would be the reward.  He would still be able to eat a lot of it from his regular bowl, but I was trying to incorporate some mental and physical work into his feeding.  He hasn’t figured it out yet…  He looks at me like I’m playing a cruel trick on him.  Maybe someday he’ll finally figure it out.

5. I have things to do that I just don’t feel like doing.  I have to hem a pair of costume pants for one of the girls in the baton group.  I offered to do it so I knew it would get done and hopefully come out well, but I really never feel like hemming pants…  It’s tedious and boring.  I don’t want to fertilize the yard.  It needs to be done, and seems pretty easy, but I just don’t want to do it.  The basement and garage need some major cleaning, and I really don’t want to do that!  I have some crafts I really want to finish up, but I’m at a tedious and boring part of the process for some of them, so I keep pushing it off.

6. Along the lines of crafts, I made these on Tuesday as well: 

Swirly Blue Chandelier Earrings:  I have not added these to my Artfire site yet, because I have to figure out their cost and selling price.  There we go again with the tedious part of a craft that I really dislike to do!  Hopefully by tomorrow I will have them priced and added.  The ear wires are a different style for my typical selection, but I really like them and think they make this pair look more elegant.  The blue beads are leftover from my Beachy Blue set, and I bought the swirly chandelier parts a while ago, but just got around to using them.  Look for them there soon though!

7. I’m a little disappointed about some things.  I have yet to make a sale from any of my shops, and I hate to admit that to anyone reading this, but I don’t get it.  I think I make/create some cute stuff, and my jewelry and other crafts are priced right around what other people charge, if not less, but yet still no takers, no orders…  The stuff on my Cafe Press shops are slightly expensive, but I promise I don’t mark them up a whole lot – most of the cost for them is Cafe Press’ base cost for the item.  I even have my Breast Cancer Awareness items that I’m donating profits to the American Cancer Society, but sadly no takers on that stuff either…  So, I hate to do this, but I’m going to be a little shameless here – go check out My Style Crafts on Artfire, My Style Crafts-Photography Gifts on Cafe Press, and My Style Designs on Cafe Press (currently all breast cancer awareness designs on this shop with ALL profits going to American Cancer Society – changed from a portion as stated before) – if you like anything, buy it!  :)  Christmas is coming.  ;)   If you have any questions or would like to make any special orders, feel free to contact me!  I love to craft a whole variety of things, and I have some cute ideas for future projects, but struggling to get my dance business going, and not working otherwise, it gets hard for me to spend money on more supplies when I haven’t gotten any returns from previous projects.  It just makes me feel disappointed that I can’t seem to get anywhere with this stuff, and I have no idea why.  I know people are looking at it – if you have comments about anything, please send them to me!  I don’t know how to better my products or services if I get no feedback!

I think that’s all for today…I’m very tired because I hardly slept last night.  Jasper woke me up with a sneezing fit, and then there was just no going back to sleep after that.  So, at 5pm, I say goodnight!

HOPE Wine Charms

I said in yesterday’s post about my Cafe Press shop that I would have these posted either last night or today – didn’t happen until today, but they’re up and ready for orders at my Artfire site!

I made my first set of wine charms, in support of Breast Cancer Awareness month.  During this month, ALL profits from the sales of each set will get donated to the American Cancer Society.  I am taking custom orders for these too, where you can request a certain bead color in support of a different cancer awareness or change the lettering to someone’s name, nickname, initials, etc. instead of the word “hope”.

Here are my sample photos:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Please check them out here and buy by the end of the month to show your support for breast cancer awareness and cancer research!  HOPE for a cure someday!

Support Breast Cancer Awareness Month!

If you didn’t already know, October is Breast Cancer Awareness month.  Since I know people who have either conquered breast cancer or are currently fighting it, I decided I wanted to create things this month that I could donate profits from to the American Cancer Society.  I am currently working on some wine charms that I hope to have finished and posted by the end of this evening or tomorrow, but for now I opened up another, different Cafe Press Shop where I can put designs I create on other merchandise.  It is separate from my Photography Gifts site, and currently has 1 design related to breast cancer on a variety of products ranging from clothing to mugs to buttons/magnets.  Depending on the item, I will donate anywhere from $0.25 to $1.00 for each item sold (amount depends on the item), so the more I sell, the more I can donate!  I created this design using the obvious pink ribbon, the symbol for breast cancer awareness, but also with the yellow flowers because they were the closest looking flowers to Pear Blossoms, which is apparently the flower representing “hope”.   

You can visit the shop here:  http://www.cafepress.com/MyStyleDesigns 

And here is a preview of what you’ll find in the shop: 

   

      

So, hurry up and show your support for cancer research!  Cafe Press currently has a sale through Oct. 13th – get 15% off all orders $60 or more – so while your checking out my shops, you might find some cool Halloween stuff while you’re there! 

I would like to start creating more designs, so after October 31st, 2010, the items and designs are subject to change.  I will most likely keep a few “Think Pink” items in the shop, but I will be working on other designs as well.  Unfortunately, I only have a basic shop, so I can only have a product listed with one design, meaning I can’t have coffee mugs listed with 2 or more different designs (once a design is put on a coffee mug, you can’t create another coffee mug with a different design).

Check it out!    :)    More to come on those wine charms later…