What's Shakin? (please let it be bacon...)

It's so hot today, my skin feels like it's burning even though I've been inside nearly all day. (Minus the walking of pixies to school and taking laundry off and on the line.)

Today is my beloveds LAST official day at his current workplace, and I am very excited for this! I'm happy he'll have a bit of time off, but I'll have to keep reminding myself to keep to my schedule. I'm getting into a pretty good routine with work, crafting, tarot, and housework. (yeah, I'm definately no Martha, but there are the everyday messes that keep me just busy enough to keep me away from the big messes. Whut Evah. There's always January.

This Sundays market was much much better than the first market day - I'm pleased with the days sales, considering the amount of traffic that was through. I cannot wait for summer to pick up, though! (The only thing I'll be able to write come July is "MUST MAKE MORE MONKEYS!")

Not sure if there's any more to update. Been keeping busy with phone availability for the tarot, keeping up with Watkins orders, and crafting like MAD.

Oh and the garden... Food is coming up! Yay!

Must eat.

Lori.

Itty Bitty Little Dentist Rant.

I spent the day in the garden. Other than the beginning of it which I spent at the dentist with the pixies.

One is going to see an orthadontist, and they figure what we'll need to do is "Planned Extraction." Over the next months and years pull out the teeth that are trying to come out so the adult ones can come. Oh, this is the child with the too small jaw and the monstrous sized teeth, and who's wisdom teeth are already showing. Yes, the 8 year old. They are impacting her adult molars, and THOSE molars are impacting her last baby molars.

It's going to be AWE-FRIGGIN-SOME.

The other pixie (9 going on 18) is getting an "appliance" in a few weeks (and not the good kind that mixes stiff drinks, either... which by the way I feel like I could use after today.)

so, I opted to spend the day in the garden instead of spamming my friends with desperate pleas to go to any one of my business sites so that I can pay the dentist... yeah. Goodtimes.

SO. Got 2 rows of tomatoes in, and some zucchini to guard them. Put my spinich in the garden bed and some containers. Put Eggplant in containers and then later looked at my "garden journal" to see that I had intended them for one of the boxes. Oops.

Banged some former garbage tent poles into the ground to support the tomatoes. (they are all around 5' tall, so they SHOULDN'T fall down this year. )

My melons are getting FLOWERS in their newspaper pots... I'm going to have to uncover the side bed (it's covered in the sides of my old metal shed. Yeah, functional garbage. ) and get those babies in soon. I need to figure out what I'll surround THAT plot with to keep critters out.

blaaaa blaaa blaaa. I'll be reminding my daughter that she HAS to eat the eggplant, and NO there will be no takeout. We have bunches of teeth to pay for.

Thankfully I have exhausted my body today. Hopefully this will let my mind rest.

~Lori

What day is it again?

So, we went and set up for the first Farmers Market Day. Figured I had to go, even knowing that it was most likely going to rain. It was awkward and just-the-same all at once. Pulling up to "my spot" it felt like it had only been last weekend, instead of 7 months.

It was a dreary day, up until the last half hour. It was overcast all morning and rained till about 11:30 or so. Then, around 1:30, the sun beamed out and it was beautiful.

My sales were minimal. Didn't even manage to share a Watkins catalogue or Tarot business card. But, it was a good practice run.

I so ache for a studio to work in. With summer coming, the idea of having a place anywhere OTHER than my house makes no sense. I'll have 2 pixies to watch after anyway. But, it would be nice to have somewhere other than the livingroom to destroy with crafty goodness.

Today, I am contemplative. I am thinking too fast. I am getting NOTHING done. ehhehe.

Happy .. what day is it again? Dang long weekends make it confusing...

~Lori

My Honey is Going Back to College!!!

So, the BIG secret that I couldn't blab wasn't really my secret to tell - It was my beloveds. My sweetie has given his notice to his work, and is going to college to become a Chef! We are SO very excited! (He put it out there on Facebook yesterday, so I can say it outloud now, too!)

He's been talking about it for EVER. And everything just fell into place beautifully to allow it to happen. I'm really excited for him to be able to pursue this, because he wants it so badly.

This means some big changes in our lives - challenges that we are both feeling good about facing. This is why I've been pointing to my business websites so frequently lately. I'll be supporting us, for the most part.

I love supporting him in this - He's always supported me 100% with a big smile and a "you go girl!" attitude with all my crazy hair brained ideas, no matter how outlandish they may have seemed to him. My support for him will be as limitless as his has been for me.

Excited!

I'm also very excited for all the AWESOME cooking that will be happening in our kitchen.

*Squee!* So, that's the big secret news.

~Lori

Rental inspection day

Today I am waiting. I have a rental inspection - I can't take calls while I'm waiting for them, because my luck they'll walk in while I'm reading.

There are a happy little collection of monkeys and critters ready for market on Sunday (pleasedon'trainpleasedon'train) I should probably make a few more necklaces and ..oh, the inspectors are here. Fab.

Anywho, I want to take pics of all the critters, but SOMETHING is wrong with the camera. This makes me cringe. it most likely means I did something to it. My beloved will forgive me. But I still feel bad. Hopefully this will be something that he will take one look at and fix for me.

I'm hoping they'll be through soon, so I can get on with my day!

But now I feel weird because there are 5 people running around my house...

Ag arg arg arg arg arghhhh (The Sound of Laughter.)

Little conflicted today. Not in a bad way, really, I guess. More in a "I'm releaved, but What the hell is going on?" sort of way.

Recap: March 3rd, Lori has what is now and forever more to be called "The Big Floppy". If it feels like a stroke and looks like stroke, then it must be a stroke right? Off to the stroke clinic and a bazillion tests.

Today: All the tests are compiled (accept for apparently my blood tests, which are M.I.A.) and the brain scan shows I'm normal (this makes me LAUGH like a horse in the doctors office. I have lost my inner editor. It's partying somewhere with my 20's.) None of the tests showed anything. The doctor turned to me and said: "Maybe you were just tired." Which also made me laugh.

I'm a jerk. (To be fair, the doctor was having a bit of a difficult day - her nurse was a stand in who didn't know how to rightly use the machine to take blood pressure, or the computer system. I felt for everyone there today - despite not getting in to see the doctor until 45 minutes after I should have... I digress.)

So, the GOOD news is everything is ok with my brain (**snork-guffaw**) and if there's anything wrong, the only place left to show it is in my bloodwork. My spidey senses say it's going to be a sugar/dehydration thing.

The other news, I guess, Is that I can stop being afraid and feeling fragile now. Because this whole time I have been. I quit everything, because I was a total mess. I had been taking it so easy that I don't rightly fit into my pants. Now I can feel good about looking a little into the future (no tarot-reader pun intended.) and make some plans.

I really really think this was all about the Universe (in what ever form or name you give it.) telling me I had to slow-the-heck-down, and that I had strayed too far from my path. Things were happening in my life that felt out of control. Taking some time to refocus has put my family on a brand new exciting path - made me open to it and ready for it. (This ties in with the "big secret" that I can't SHARE yet!!! I think sometime next week I should be able to say SOMETHING.)

Life is good. I'm listening.

~Lori

test test

this blog is only a test. Because the last 2 have slipped off into some sort of blog vortex in which they may be lost forever.

Happy Saturday.

~Lori

Secret Secret, I gotta Secret! (you gotta sing it like Styx.)

Something VERY exciting is happening RIGHT NOW, but I cannot give details... another week or two and I'll be able to spill ALL.

However, this very exciting thing has me shoving some new life into an old career. Not really old, I just haven't done it for money in a while...

It's Tarot Reading. (what were YOU thinking??? Although to be fair, I can't say I've done THAT for money in a while, either. I digress...)

So, I'm still doing everything else.

My Watkins business is pretty much on autopilot. I do an order once a month, occasionally do a training call with one of my team mates (or help them build their team with calls.)

My Coaching business also almost runs on autopilot. I put some stuffs on Facebook every now and again with it, and do emails and ads.

The Farmers Market is starting soon. So, during the week while waiting for calls, I'll be sewing goodies to bring down with me on Sundays.

that ties in with my etsy stores.

And, to that, for the extra cushion, I've set up my tarot reading business again. It's unfortunate that I have to build my rating up again, but the bonus is that the first people I do phone readings with are gonna get a super low price (and free minutes.) If you're curious about it, you can come by my Lori-Grace Reads Tarot Facebook page.

And that is all! I'm super stoked with all the INSANE energy that has been swirling around here. But AMAZING things are happening, and I STILL have to wait another week or two before I can tell you about it.

SECRET SECRET!

~Lori

I Wanna Be Sedated By Hobbits.

I was having a good hair day on Friday, and wanted to mark the occasion with pictures. Unfortunately, I don't think I was having a good face day. BWHAHAHAHA! Anywho, me with NO glasses. I used to hate my glasses, and when I'd go out dancing at 19, I would take them off and be blind, never knowing exactly who I was dancing with. hahahaha.
And then me with my new Geeky Girl glasses. My scholarly, mysterious woman glasses. I flippin' love these.
I have a problem, and it is that I lust all things geek/nerd. Watching The Big Bang Theory is a guilty pleasure because I find it slightly pornographic. Popping in the disc with the newest episodes of Fringe is secretive dirty, toe curling happy stuff. Watching my beloved type 120 wpm while programming makes me chew my nails. Reading books alone in public is hot. I'm antsy for The Hobbit to come out.

Man, 37 is HARD. (but, the funnest hard EVAR!)

~Lori

p.s. These posts are really degrading into something alluringly dark. I should go put my seedlings on the front step and get step out of my own head for a bit.

OVERLORD Award - It's About Flippin Time.

I've just been given the Overlord Award from Andie from over at Inspiration Strikes. In the Kneecaps. (Have I mentioned lately how I adore her words? Really, she's got one of those mysteriously sensual brains that I want to just BE NEAR. Not is a zombie way. We should arrange more play dates. Oh, and I have a bike for your littlest, if you want it, too, btw.)

Three things that are gonna change now that I'm calling the shots:

First order of business:
The recycling guys are going to TAKE the friggin clamshell packages and have a way to RECYCLE those damn things, as well as ALL the other plastic they leave behind in my blue bin. OR, the great conglomerates that be are just going to STOP manufacturing the *bleep bleepin'* things. RECYCLING is one of those things that DRIVE ME MANIC. The house is a flipping write off, but that damn RECYCLING had better be divided correctly or there will be HELLZ to pay! (sometimes I get intense about...things. Mad Hatter Intense.)

Second order of business:
It will be MANDATORY that all children between ages of 8 and 17 will take various and pertinent Home Economic courses. Cleaning and cooking REAL FOOD and learning how to budget are mandatory skills. And although self expression will be encouraged, they will be required to PULL UP THEIR BOY PANTS/COVER THEIR GIRL PARTS appropriately in the workplace/kitchen for health and safety reasons.

Final order of business:
The gathering, amassing, and sharing of Love will be far more important than the gathering, amassing, and spending of money in ALL areas of life. I was going to suggest that maybe love should be replaced as currency - but that could get misinterpreted, and then teenagers may all decide that leaving their pants loose and barely covering their girl parts are the way to get new cars and gadgets... *aherm..*

There, that was pretty simple. I may be adding more to my list of overlordly ideals. But, it's mothers day, and I must shower before making the Tour of Mothers.

SO, here's breaking the RULES:

You wanna be an OverLord? I grand YOU the OverLord Award. Let everyone know where it came from, and what you'd do. Pass it on if you like :)

Have a most fabulous day!

~Lori

Sh*t I Found In The Junk Drawers.

• A Tampax coupon for $1 off - that expired June 2005.
• Raffi - Singable Songs for the Very Young cassette tape. No cover.
• 2 child-don't-put-knives-in-the-outlet safety plug plastic doolallers.
• A paid reciept from a cartoon the pixies father got paid for.
• A "Judical Interim Release Order" against the pixies father - July 2004. (Oh, memories of being terrorized by the one you love.***)
• 2 undeveloped instant cameras.
• 80 kabajillion rubber bands.
  
• A welfare stub from Feb 2005.
• Many "moist toilettes" with Colonel Sanders smiling face.
• Many packets of soy and plum sauce.
• 6 different fairy themed temporary tattoos
• a little black crawly bug. (uuuugh.)
• The plastic lid of a toddler sippy cup.
• 3 books of cheques with my former-married name on them.
• 26 metal curtain hooks.
• A handful of penny and nickle paper rollers.
• Dusty candles.
• Loose and random batteries.
• 4 rubber Christmas placemats that I used to be SO proud of.
  
• So. Much. More. Crap.

No bloody wonder It's taken me 6 years to get around to cleaning it out. Who knew so much joy and pain and baggage was hiding in there? (Yeah, I probably subconsciously did.) But, as I write, the kitchen table still looks like this:
So I had better get my arse in gear.

~Lori

*** To be completely fair, he would probably argue that I wasn't particularly loving and that I terrorized him just as much. However, I finished with playing fair about 2.5 years ago. Not bitchy about it. Just indifferent.