It's OVER!

YAY! The yard sale is done! As of 4pm yesterday, I am officially done with the big merch warehouse and yard sale...for now. We're doing it again in October, but let's not dwell on the future! Now I can get back to stressing about centerpieces and fashion shows. Hooray!

When it rains...

WOW!

I have been massively busy for the past month and a half. It's all so very exciting. I have met new people, possibly made new friends, and really branched out. I know that this was a goal I set myself this year, but I had NO idea it would start happening this fast. "This fast? Sasha, it's April" you may say. For me, that's fast. I figured it'd take at least until Fall for me to establish friendships and find something to get me out of the house. I figured out the secret to making new friends...look amongst acquaintances of old. I'm the type of girl who simply barges forward to shake a worthy looking person's hand and suddenly latch on like a barnacle if they reciprocate one tenth of my interest. This has almost always ended in disaster. Ever since an unfortunate end to a unequal friendship a few years ago, I've become reclusive and wary of making friends. I'm still friendly, but I'm hesitant to let anyone in to my life. I know that this can't be healthy. A girl needs friends, and while my husband is my one true friend that's always there for me and knows me best, it's nice to be able to girl talk with other girls.
So I've managed to re-connect with someone who's also a married mom in the same situation I am, but she's far better connected and so much more organized. I've been helping her with a really cool yard sale to benefit a local music resource center for kids. Musictoday (www.musictoday.com) has been awesome in donating old merch that's no longer viable on the site. There's a HUGE warehouse of the stuff. For the past three weeks or so we've been sorting through the stuff and organizing it and boxing it up for transportation. It's been interesting and sometimes boring, as all repetitive tasks can be, but it's gotten me out of the house and made me feel useful. I've also had quite a lot of fun hanging out with B. The yard sale happens on Saturday and we'll be happy to see the tail end of that.
Immediately after the yard sale ends, I'll be diving into making centerpieces for a charity dinner that coincides with the fashion show I'm doing makeup for and the wedding the next day that I'm also doing makeup for.
I also got a really cool call yesterday from a really talented photographer. Check out her site at www.andreashirey.com . Her stuff is AMAZING. She's looking for a couple of makeup artists that she feels confident in working with for some projects. This is why I need to get my portfolio together. I kept the poor woman on the phone for an hour just yammering on. I need to be careful of that. I just get so excited!
So yeah, excitement abounds. Oh yeah, and then there's J, who is an amazing crafter that I try to get together with once a week. She's fantastic. I'm hoping a friendship grows out of that too. Ok, my laptop is running out of juice and I need to plug it in, I also need breakfast and I seriously need to do laundry. I'm off at breakneck speed!

OMG!

Today, I fulfilled a high school fantasy of mine. I met Henry Rollins. Yes, the Henry Rollins of Black Flag. Yes, the Henry Rollins that does spoken word. Yes, that Henry Rollins, the one who did guest vocals on that Tool song, you know "I'm naked and fearless,and my fear is naked!". That Henry Rollins.
I'm sure I don't seem like a Henry Rollins fan, but I am. Why? Because he's funny, intelligent and HARD CORE about rock. Actually, he's one of the few people in the world whom I believe to just be plain old Hard Core. He happened to be at the same business establishment I was at and my husband and the receptionist were cool enough to get me to meet him. I've got a pic on my cellphone. As soon as I remember where the cable went that allows me to sync my phone with my laptop, it's SO getting uploaded onto my machine and posted absolutely every bloody where. I'm probably going to scrapbook about it too. I'm just that jazzed.
I was so excited to meet him, I actually kissed him on the cheek. Embarrassing but true. After that i managed to keep from totally geeking out. He talked to me for like, fifteen minutes. In all that time, did I manage to say anything cool? Probably not. Does it matter? Not really. Why? Because the guy has probably already forgotten about me. And you know what? I'm cool with that. I'm just happy I got to meet him.
Of course, in all my girlish daydreaming about meeting Mr. Rollins, I imagined myself well groomed, good smelling and intelligent. Instead I'd just come from the bat cave (my nickname for the warehouse attic where the sorting for the big charity yard-sale is happening), I was covered in dust and filth, smelled like a hot sweaty mess, hair all sticking up everywhere, no makeup and wearing flip-flops with my leather jacket. Um...HELLO?! Flip-Flops and a leather jacket? Really? I knew I was going to regret that decision when I left the house but I was too lazy to find a pair of socks and sit down long enough to get my sneakers on. Oh well. I still met Henry Rollins.
What an awesome day.

In which someone tries to turn my home into a drive through.

Emergency crew gossips
Originally uploaded by The Paper Doll

So...we're sitting in the living room, all kinds of mellow, trying to get Em to bed when we hear a revving noise. Then there are a set of headlights glowing into the window to accompany the revving noise. Now when you live on a street with some car traffic this isn't toooo unusual. When the revving and headlights are coming from the direction of your side yard, the one that doesn't have a street associated with it...that can't be good.
M called 911, I got the kid settled and then went out to see what was up, what with having had minor EMT training in HS. When I got there she was seizing. I did what I knew to do. The crew got there quickly and stabilized her, the wrecking crew was there shortly after to remove the car. I hope she's ok.
Our stone wall is cracked a bit but really, I'll take a cracked stone wall over no living room wall any day.

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day
Originally uploaded by The Paper Doll

to you and yours!

In which the bodily functions of my cat are discussed (Disgusted)

Daniel is a stinky boy. A really really really stinky boy. Even the vet says so. So now, in my home, reside 1 really smelly kid with bowel issues, 1 really smelly dog with no bowel issues but gas that curdles the nose hairs, and 1 horribly smelly cat with bowel issues. I don't think they make candles, sprays, or air fresheners strong enough for what I'm up against. Perhaps I should call in an exorcist.
M and I were sitting quietly, watching TV when he suddenly winced and complained of a terrible stench. I just looked at him and simply said "Oh, Daniel must be down here" and sure enough...he had just walked out of the kitchen. M is still laughing. I'm not sure how he can laugh with a cloud of horror floating in the air, but he did and he is. Tomorrow I get the meds from the Vet to start Daniel on. He's going for another bowel test this week. I don't envy them. Nor do I grudge them the money to do it. It beats having to do it myself.

Someone please pray that I make it through the next month without being disgusted into vomiting by the emissions coming from my loved ones.

-S

In which Daniel is settled and I visit the dentist

He's officially settled. He is now happily spazzing around the house, eating, sleeping, chatting and all the other things happy cats do. He doesn't hide under the beds as much as he did. I took the time to finally read his medical records (very slim pickings indeed) and discovered that he's 1.5 years old. He's small and slim and probably won't grow any larger than he is now. I'm sure if he's anything like Molly he will grow a bit wider. M has taken to calling him the "poop monster" because he has some seriously loose bowels. I spoke with his foster parents and they said that he's always been like that. Tomorrow he'll be going to the vet for his booster shots so I'll talk to them about it.

I went to the dentist today and you know what? It wasn't half bad. I have really bad teeth. I think I had a total of five cavities, they filled two today. Usually I'm the most anxious patient you've ever met, but these guys use Nitrous to gas...erm I mean sedate you so that you're not wigging out. That stuff ROCKS. I can see how people wind up being addicted to it. It was like a vacation from all my racing thoughts. Everything sloooooowed down. I was capable of processing one coherent thought per every 30 seconds. I just chilled and drowsed and let the dentist do his thing. The funniest part was that there was music playing, but I could never identify what it was. I was playing this guessing game with myself and then I'd ask the dental assistant what was playing, she'd tell me, and it wouldn't be ANYTHING like what I thought it was. For me, this is unheard of. M likes to play "Stump Sasha" by trying to find songs that he thinks I won't be able to recognize and he considers it a success if it takes me over 30 seconds to identify something. I giggled quite a lot.

Anyway, now that the anesthetic is wearing off, I'm in a bit of pain so I'm going to find some ibuprofen and stare at the walls some. Ta!

-S