Crafty Creations...

Boy, it's hard trying to get traffic to go to Etsy...Not sure how people do it, but I'm working on it. Reading online stuff, checking in with the Etsy community. Etsy is a tough site to sell on. You post an item, then it almost immediately moves down in the search process as people post umpteen more items similar to yours. Something you are selling gets buried very quickly into the depths of more than fifty pages of photos of people selling the same thing. But I have not been able to find local craft shows with reasonable table rental costs, so I'm still working the Etsy angle for now...

A lady wrote me and asked if I could make flip flop luggage tags...I said sure, not knowing if I could find a pattern, but I did, and here they are....

These are not to identify who the luggage belongs to, like a traditional tag with your name and address on it, as much as they are a way to identify your black bag going round and round on the luggage carousel because it looks like everybody's else's black bag. They could be key rings, too, for that matter. Or an ornament for a Florida tree!

Wouldn't you know? I never heard back from the lady that requested this particular thing, but that's ok, I had fun making them, and I'm also going to make a colorful bunch for my Christmas tree this year. I've had several compliments on my things, but it turns out people are fishing for how and what you used to make things to turn around and make it themselves to sell! Phooey!

Next up, a little owl...because of the buttons, can't put it in my shop as a toy for kids or a little lovey, but maybe this will be an ornament as well. He just seems like he has a lot of personality. Maybe somebody who collects owls will like him! Might put some wire feet on him and he can perch wherever...

Brian's son is here for the weekend...the guys went out and played 18 holes of golf yesterday...Eldy's first full round since we moved here in June. Eldy had an absolutely wonderful time. He listens well to his son, who advised him on the finer points of the game, and Eldy had the best golf round of his life yesterday! He was so happy, it made me really happy that the two of them bonded over golf and had so much fun together. Wish we lived closer to them, (they live in northern IN) but it's just not possible right now...

We took Brian to our favorite place to have breakfast, the Gulf Drive Cafe and Tiki Bar on Anna Maria Island....another beautiful day there and BIG dolphins swimming out in the ocean...He loved it......

The weekend came and went way too soon...back to quiet days of making things, waiting for the weather to cool down again. It got really hot and humid all of a sudden once again, so back indoors I go...sigh....I see it's in the fifties during the day up north and the low thirties at night..Winter is coming for them, but not for us...I'd settle for a cool down of some sorts down here.....Guess that comes in November.....

We have a plumbing problem with our shower head handle. It's starting to leak more and more. Brian and Eldy tried to get it off, but it's frozen in place. Time to call Angie's List for a plumber. We think it's going to be expensive... It looks like maybe a hole will have to be cut into the back of the plumbing wall to access the repair safely. UGH!  Time for Eldy to do what he does best--research!

Later......

The Tale of Bert Blevens

Sometimes I sit in my pretty house, content to rest upon my laurels of having painted and decorated three bedrooms, cleaned the grout in all the rooms with a toothbrush on my hands and knees, and I think to myself, time to get moving again and get some regular exercise. So I think about it, and then go help myself to a Gigi's cupcake, and think, maybe tomorrow....

Or, I go craft and make stuff....Here's my latest...for little boys--a tooth fairy pillow, up for sale in my little Etsy shop, JeanBeanGifts:

A fall mini pillow to hang on a doorknob:

After a couple of days of crafting, I wake up and think today's the day, I'm going to ride my bike, swim some laps, do my water exercises and I do...(but just ONE of those things, don't get too impressed!  :-)

Or I think about my aches and pains, commiserate with Eldy about getting older and slowing down because of those aches and pains, decide to do nothing but make stuff and then I read about Diana Nyad, 64 years old, the swimmer who swam from Cuba to the Florida shores in a 110 mile swim after 30 years of trying, four times previously, she didn't make it for a variety of very good reasons. If that's not enough to get me off my butt and get swimming or doing some kind of exercise, there's Bert Blevens.....

Bert is a 90 year old guy who decided to get from Louisville to Siesta Key this year not by flying, not by car, but on his recumbent bicycle. He made the trek on his TRIKE BIKE. He rode 930 miles on three wheels in 21 days...This was his SECOND time, he did it 10 years ago at the age of 80!

Blevens couldn't ride on interstate highways, so he rode the byways, the back roads, the side streets and  even some parking lots to get here! And, he plans to do it again, in 10 years when he is 100! His son and daughter accompanied him on different parts of his journey, so he had some support as he rode...But no sag wagon....wow! At one point, the only big problem he had was the love bugs were bothering him. At the end of his journey he said, he felt great, he felt relaxed, maybe a little tired, he might take a little rest. And then, he'll probably go ride some more to see some friends of his. Quite the guy, a Purple Heart, a Silver Star from WWII, and a great dad and granddad, it sounds like....Way to go, Bert!

So no more excuses for me! Time to go work off that cupcake! I shudder to think how many hours of exercise it's going to take to work off that mountain of frosting that was on the cupcake. It was half and half--half frosting and half cupcake! But boy, was it good!

Speaking of exercise, I went down to the clubhouse today to talk to the golf pro about signing up for once a week ladies' golf. I asked her if they had any beginner groups, and she said, "Oh, sure! There's one group called the 'Lites'. They pretty much play golf just to eat at the end."  So I said, "Sign me up!" So MAYBE I will be starting to play in a couple of weeks when the ladies start their Thursday golf group. First I better hit the course with Eldy a couple of times. I have no idea what club to use working my way to the hole!

This "Niners' Club"--Sounds like a win-win situation for me--play nine holes, get some exercise and then a reward at the end--lunch!  :-)

Nothing Like a False Alarm to Scare the Pants Off You!

Went out to the garage this morning and smelled GAS.....We usually go through the questioning process first, so that's what we did...I called Eldy out to the garage...But first, I opened up the garage door (that was dumb, it's electrical and could cause a spark to ignite gas). I wanted it to air out....

"Eldy, I smell gas in the garage. C'mere...Do you smell something?"
"No, I don't smell anything."
"Are you sure???? You don't smell that?"
"Nope." He goes back inside. I shut the garage door..... If he doesn't smell anything it might just be my imagination or super sensitive nose to any kind of odors, or that the open garage door dissipated the smell... He goes back out in a few minutes...
"I do smell something now... Better call the gas company."

They came out within the hour...the guy said he smelled something, but it smelled like fertilizer, he said. He checked the in ground propane tank that our home USED to use for its fuel system but had been converted over to natural gas. There was a slight leak there. Apparently, the old tank buried in the ground was so old, it might be starting to rust. There was a little propane in it he said, enough to make his $5,000.00 sniff-a-meter go off. Nothing to alarm in the level, he said. But he didn't think that was causing the smell in the garage, the tank is not connected to the house and is quite a few yards from it. After lots more investigating, checking the pipes, the water heater, the lines, he said the smell is probably coming off the golf course! With all the rains we've been having, the golf course is having to adjust their fertilizing schedules, changing the PH of the greens, etc., and new applications of fertilizers are wafting through the neighborhood with the up tick of the winds blowing now that slightly cooler air has moved into the area. They've had five "smell gas" calls in the last two days from people living in homes on the golf courses in the area. So the fertilizer smell was the smell we were smelling! Whew!

It turns out that in our neighborhood, built in the 1990's, many of the homes still use propane. We are one of the lucky houses in the area that has already converted over to natural gas for heating. But the propane storage tank is still in the ground with a very small amount of propane in it. The gas company guy said to make it totally safe, we should call a propane company or heating company to come out and do a "burn off"....haven't had a campfire in so long, that might be kinda cool to see that!  :-) Have to find out the cost first.

What else is new? Finished my witch's hat to sell in my Etsy shop, JeanBeanGifts. Lots of hand embroidery on it and I had a lot of fun making it. If it doesn't sell, it's our hall table decoration for the month of October.

Made another item, but not to sell...This is a counted cross stitch pillow, and it's now hanging on the guest bedroom doorknob.

Found a lovely crocheted table runner or "dresser scarf" as my mom used to call these...for 3.00 at an estate sale. It looks just like my grandma's that she used to crochet! And, it fits the hall table we got at another estate sale (75.00) perfectly!

I'm running out of decorating and painting projects for inside the house! Time to make a tooth fairy pillow for my grandson and get back to working on my daughter's running tee shirts quilt. Bye for now...