Well Now….That Stings a Bit….

Do you know what is worse than the pain? The smell of baby butt coming from my back! This tattoo really wasn’t that bad.  The body hurt a little and the shading on the wings was pretty intense but other than that it wasn’t so bad.  It’s stinging pretty good at the moment though but it was worth it. I think he did an excellent job of working the Reiki symbols into the design I found on Pinterest.

I wore an old t-shirt and brought a pair of scissors with me. I’m not big on the removal of my clothes so he cut out the back of the shirt for me. Why is it always bigger than I thought it would be? I wouldn’t change a single thing about this one though, it’s perfect to me.

Last night my little buddy and I took a bullet journal class. I tried to start one on my own but I really didn’t know what I was doing. This class filled me with inspiration and the time flew. I couldn’t believe how fast two hours went.

Today is half day Wednesday and while I was running my errands PT called me and asked me to stop over. It’s been a while since I was able to make breakfast and now that it’s Summer she doesn’t have breakfast every Sunday.  I’m glad I went, it was a beautiful day so we sat outside and talked. I always feel so busy until someone says “so what’s new?”  I really didn’t have anything new to talk about, maybe it’s because I put so much time and energy into the girl’s graduation party? I guess just because I’m busy doesn’t mean I’m not boring. Other than that I cleaned, I’m still behind from lettings things go while I worked on the party. I think it’s safe to say that housekeeping will never be my strong suit……Zia

Torn

Torn…..I let myself get pulled in so many different directions….Truth? I do it to myself. I stopped at a Farmer’s Market after work because a girl I met at one of the craft shows had a booth set up. She has a new all natural bug spray I wanted to try and she needed more of my deodorant so we did a trade.

I began my canning season last night with a batch of peach vanilla butter and I tossed a jar in with her deodorant and my new experimental vitamin c serum. She said “you really do it all.” I do it all alright and I have no focus….I am torn between too many different things. Maybe if I focused more I could be out there peddling my wares with her?

I think that it may be a possibility that I am having a post mid life crisis?  I am way past the mid and I don’t know if I have enough time left to learn all of the things that I want to learn and do all of the things that I want to do? Jack of all trades….master of none.

Saturday night I had a doozy of a dream…..it was a double header. In the first dream I am walking through the woods. I have been in these woods before in the waking world so I recognize some things.  I am walking down the path and out of the corner of my eye there is a large buck. I freeze. I have no idea what to do, I know I shouldn’t run…or is that bear only? So I just stand there because I don’t know what to do next. He walks up to me and starts talking to me….not in a Disney movie way but telepathically. I don’t remember now what he said only that he was kind of a bully. So as he is standing there with all of his points in my face a large owl screeches and swoops down at the deer and he trots away. I fall to my knees in relief when a man comes up and says “are you okay” he witnessed the whole thing. “here take my hand.” “thank you I am fine” I said and there was no way I was giving him my hand. Boys only lead to trouble….

The second part of my dream I was in a large tree house. This was a fancy tree house with windows on all sides. The sky was red and burnt orange which made the dark silhouettes of the trees stand out more. I walked to the window on my left and floating through the air like it was a moving slide show were Native American chiefs….lots of them.

They all had the big headdresses like this so I am only guessing when I say chief. I ran over to the window on the right to see where they went and there was the biggest bonfire I have ever seen. A powwow maybe? I am honestly not sure and then I woke up. When I have dreams like theses, full of symbolism, I feel like they mean something. I am at a total loss on these, except for the trusting a man thing and I don’t believe I will ever let myself make that mistake again.

Speaking of Native Americans I made myself a smudging fan yesterday. I took the one feather that Force of Nature Girl’s son found and gave me and the rest are from BV’s granddaughters first kill last year. I am pretty proud of how well it turned out considering I have never made one before.

It works very well, much better than the palm of my hand. I tried it out last night, much to the dismay of the girl….she hates when I burn sage. I don’t use the bundles, I prefer the loose leaves. Maybe I will try and mix some lavender and bay leaves next time? Then maybe it will smell a little more herbal….in theory.

I didn’t go to bed until almost midnight last night which led to a long nap this afternoon. Lucky for me….falling asleep is rarely an issue…..Zia

Books and Cookies

The girl and I stopped at a local library today. I don’t frequent this branch very often. They tore down the old library and built a new fancy one in it’s place. All building and no books…They do have one nice feature, a used book store in the basement. The girl will be with her dad next weekend so she won’t be with me when they have their 50% off sale. She will miss all of the local authors as well. I always go so I took her today so we can scout out the books. Hopefully the few she pointed out will still be there next weekend. I parked by the creek in hopes that I might spot a dragonfly or two. I did spot a dragonfly but it was closer to the building.

I sent a photo to Walgreen’s of the girl in her cap and gown with a cute thank you quote from Pinterest attached. I told her “Now I have helped you get out of writing most of the thank you cards but some people will still require the hand written note. That included the chef from my waitress job. This is what the girl wrote….

It made him bust out laughing. I know he doesn’t always feel appreciated so I made sure the girl thanked him. I always say “don’t die and don’t kill anyone” every Saturday night before I leave. Today he said to me after I spoke the words “you didn’t say that to me last week?” crap…he noticed. “You were worried you would jinx me and I would be dead and couldn’t heat up your food for you?” He thought that was funny too. He laughed and laughed…honestly I didn’t think he would notice.

My party at work tonight was a small wedding reception. The paid for 42 but I would say only 34 showed up. I loved the “Zen” feel of the centerpieces.

The bride told me that they found all of these rocks together at one of Ohio’s biggest lakes.  They had lots of nice touches like this.

It turns out the groom is the brother of my friend little K. She was there with her husband and son. I don’t know if you remember me talking about her….she was the one who adopted a baby at almost 50. He is four now…where does the time go. As parties go…they were fairly easy. I go there at three and left at nine and that’s not so bad. 

Here’s the thing….I have a boatload of cookies leftover from the girls graduation party and little K insisted I take some cookies home. Now our cookies have cookies! I think I might freeze some, that way I can save the best for when a craving strikes. I have a lot of cookies, did I mention that?

It’s been a rough week over here and this girl is tired. I am looking forward to tomorrow where I plan on doing as little as possible……Zia

As Parties Go……

As parties go I would say this one was a success. If you asked me what advice would I give to someone planning a graduation party I would say “buy extra forks.” Yes, I ran out of forks. The last nine people had to “spoon” their food.

The weather was absolutely perfect, the pavilion was roomy and well maintained, the food was warm and tasty, and there were plenty of sweet treats. The amount of cookies that I had versus the amount of friends and an aunt that baked cookies was incredulous. If this is any indication of the future cookie table at the boy or the girl’s eventual wedding…I may need more than one table. I should have taken  pictures.

The only cookies I did take a picture of were from the lady at work who was trying to bully me into buying cookies from her. I heard they were good? I don’t eat her baked goods, every time I do I end up with a headache. I still think my office manager said something to her because one day she was charging me and the next day she wasn’t. As free cookies go I would say “how cute” because of the time she spent. If I was paying for them I would say “what is this mess?”

Maybe I wouldn’t be so harsh if these cookies weren’t tainted with bullying? If she was trying to drum up business….this was not the way. My little buddy made a ton of cookies! They were awesome and made with love. The girl has a friend sleeping over the rest of this week and she is hoarding the snickerdoodles. My brother took some of the pizzelles and I made a plate to take to work with the massive amount of brownies I made. I have cookies everywhere.

Still blushing over here with all of the compliments on the food. Yes I cooked it but I couldn’t have put it all together without the chef from my waitress job. I give him all of the credit for my calmness in the early stages of the party. That and my office manager showing up early to help me.

Now can we talk about behaviors? My ex husband came to the party. I invited him…the girl is his daughter too and he should be there. I think it took courage for him to show up by himself and stay for as long as he did. I had to make myself stop feeling bad for him. He chose to not sit down and talk to anyone. He basically followed the girl and hung out in the background by choice. I had to keep saying that…it was his choice. He works in restaurant management, he knows how to talk to people, he chose not to interact.  My oldest friend from childhood showed up and she mentioned that she was going to say hi a couple of times but every time she headed his way he walked away. Was he trying to draw sympathy? My peeps from work didn’t feel sorry for him. It was very weird all the way around. I have only seen him a few times since the boy acquired his drivers license….it’s so weird. I feel like that really was in another lifetime. I look at him and think “I was married to you? It just seems so foreign to me.

My brother and sister in law were late because my super sport nephew had a baseball game. The girl and her friends were playing volleyball and that left my office manager, her husband, and my dad and his wife. My office manager did not abandon me, she stayed till my brother came.  While we were sitting there I heard a ruckus and saw a wing off in the woods. Me being me…I had to investigate. It was a red tail hawk and an owl that were having the dispute. I walked back to the pavilion and said ” a hawk and owl are having words, I’m going to try and get a picture.”  They were deeper into the woods by the time I got back, I wish I would have taken my phone with me the first time.

During my moment with nature my office manager and father had a conversation.  I’m a good kid blah, blah but then he said “she sees the world differently than the rest of us.”  So somewhere in the midst of all of his cluelessness there is a teeny tiny part of him that is actually paying attention. I think that might be the nicest thing he has ever said about me. I always feel like my dad is going through the motions like he is completely disengaged with the world around him, at least emotionally. That’s just my opinion.

Those were the weird parts. The party on a whole was a success and I’m glad it’s over. I will be cleaning things up for a few more days. I took most of the food to work because I want it to be eaten instead of thrown away. I think I will have the girl wash and dry all of the mason jars tomorrow….after she dumps the wildflowers. They came out pretty cute, I ended up purchasing two small bunches of baby’s breath from the grocery store for $4.00 a bunch. They were an odd color that happened to match perfectly!

Now that this party is all said and done I am itching to do two things….I want to can some peach vanilla butter and I want to try my hand at making fairy houses. I really have an itch to make something….I can’t help it. Today and maybe tomorrow I am giving myself a break and doing as little as possible. I think I will use this rest as fairy house research.

BV came to the party and brought me a secret stash of her famous peanut butter chocolate chip cookies as well as the turkey feathers she has been saving for me. They are from her granddaughter first kill and they are beautiful. I will take the two nice big ones and add it to the one Force of Nature Girl’s son found for me and I am going to find a way to add the smaller ones with the stunning copper stripe. It’s a good thing I had copper wire in mind to bind these together already….

I have always fancied the smudging feather fans, making one myself from gifts will make it more valuable than anything I could but in the store. I just have to buy some copper wire…..Zia

I Think I’ve Got This?

I am not freaking out yet…..that’s a good sign…right? The newest thing I added to the do not forget list is ladle. I need to remember to grab a ladle so I can toss the salad with the homemade Italian dressing from my waitress job. Now in my head is playing ladle, ladle, ladle to the tune of one of the little Southpark kids singing dreidel, dreidel, dreidel…..I may have officially lost it!

Today I embraced my little old lady and went to my hair girl to wash and style my hair. No I didn’t get a wash and set for the week, I just can’t straighten my hair like she does. I am old and now my youngest has graduated from high school and there is proof that I am old…..I thought at least I should have good hair for tomorrow. Vain…I know.

Right after work I stopped to see my tattoo guy. He will work in the master symbol for me, I knew he would.  One week tomorrow is when I have my appointment with him.

I changed my screen saver on my phone to this….the wing thing is more prominent now. I can’t explain it?

I stopped at the store and picked up some peppers and onions to take to the chef from my waitress job. He will chop and add those to my Italian sausage. He really is a lifesaver, if it wasn’t for him I would probably be stressing right now. I will pick up the food tomorrow on my way to the park. My office manager is coming an hour early to help me set up, between her and the kids we should be fine.  I just have to remember to bring everything. That’s where I am stressing. Cheese….shake cheese….is that on my list? People need that for the cavatelli….this is what my brain is doing. I am doing my best to make check lists. I really hope I remember everything.

I have worked so many banquets with food like this so this isn’t foreign. It’s the remembering and didn’t I just establish that I was old? Tomorrow is do or die and here’s to hoping I pull this off…..Zia

Wasted

You guys know how I feel about my time, it’s precious to me. When I waste a whole day I feel cheated. Yesterday at the university was mandatory. Not a single freshman, no matter the age is allowed to skip orientation. There were three times that the kids went off without the parents and two of these times there were lectures for the parents. I skipped both lectures and according to the dad that was sitting at our table who obediently followed directions….I missed nothing.

The first time it was still early so it wasn’t terribly hot outside. I went outside and sat on some steps in the shade with the flowers and the birds. There was a chipmunk headed my way until I said “you might want to rethink your current path.” He stopped, turned around, scurried away from me and jumped under a bush. Good thing he listened…..I’m not Snow White! The finch were all around me, I saw a red finch, a house finch (only a little red), and the little brown ones that are all around my house. The only finch I didn’t see was a goldfinch. There were daisies, lilies, lilacs, and hydrangeas.

When I think about the old house it doesn’t bother me that it was torn down. I do wonder if they saved my lilac bush, my hydrangea, and my weeping willow that I planted? I hope they did.

The girl and I arrived at the university at 8:15am and we left at 3pm. I was lucky, there were lots of parents still waiting. I had to go to work, we had to leave. Her classes are scheduled, she has her student ID, and I will make an appointment at the financial aid department at a later date. The girl said the important things lasted less than an hour.

It gets even sadder….I made it to work just in time to do busy work. I waited on one table…..another waste of my time. If I knew that I would have just stuck it out at the university. 3:45-7pm…more wasted time. The only redeeming part of the day was a bonfire later that night.  The girl’s friend, the one that I was hoping she would reconnect with was celebrating her birthday. We had missed her graduation party earlier in the day so I wanted to make sure we made it to this one.

I miss being able to have a bonfire whenever the mood strikes me. I learned something new at this one. Have you ever heard of hobo pie? I never have but let me tell you …peanut butter, bananas, and a Hershey bar toasted over an open flame is pretty darn tasty.

We made it home before midnight….it was such a long day.

Today I had my Reiki master class. This was my first class with this teacher but not the first time we have met. In a lot of ways she reminded me of me….in the way she said things. I have no immediate plans to teach but I know eventually I will, when the time is right. I want to spend some time with the new attunement. When I was looking at my certificates I noticed that my first one was a year ago. There is still so much to learn so this isn’t an end to classes or workshops. I am curious to see how this goes….what will this new attunement bring? I’m glad I chose to take the next step.

My Holy Fire Reiki teacher sent me some information on a fairy workshop next month at one of our local parks. I am very excited for it. I passed along the information to PT, I think she would like it as well. Either way I’m going to go check it out.It was a long weekend, the girl has a lot to process, I have a lot to process, and the next three days are full on party prep. I just have a few little things to do but I know that Wednesday afternoon I will be a frenzied whirlwind trying to put it all together. Unless I’m not, I am hoping I am not…..Zia

Not So Bad….

The girl’s photo board for the graduation party is finally done. I didn’t admit to myself until today why I was dragging my feet……Cockroach photos. It really wasn’t so bad. I am not sure if it’s because I was mentally prepared for it or if it was just time? The important part is where it didn’t have any effect on me.

Yesterday it was just a glance. I turned the page with the photo over and went about my work. We were missing two pictures so I had to wait until I picked those up from Walgreens today to finish. I use “we” very loosely. It was all me unless the girl voiced an opinion.  I am not crazy about the snapchat photos but she wanted them and there are only a few…..disturbing little things. I didn’t go crazy pulling out the baby pictures and there is only one board. The two parties last week each had three. I take that back I have a photo collage I am bringing that I took out of a frame I gave away. I made that years and years ago. I made a photo book of the pictures from volleyball when the girl was in junior high. They won the championship so it was a big deal….to me it was like they won the superbowl. I couldn’t find that thing anywhere. I really had to dig through boxes of pictures and in between scrapbooks.  Once I went through everything three times I made the girl go to her room and check her bookshelves. It took her three seconds to find it. 

We came across quite a few Cockroach pictures in our search. I have a whole scrapbook from when SB and I bowled. She brought her husband and I brought Cockroach. The girl looked through it too when I was searching in another room. He smiled in one out of fifteen pictures….I was so clueless. Oh well it’s over and done with now.

Now the only thing I need for that table is a few Sharpies for people to sign the Jenga pieces. I have enlisted some help with the food. My aunt is making the green beans and my sister in law is making the salad. My aunt backed out of cooking the pasta so I have my fingers crossed that the chef at my waitress job will do it for me. I get that she was nervous about it….so was I, that’s why I was trying to give that one away. I have a couple people who volunteered to make cookies and Negative Nancy is making a roast beef for sandwiches. I need to buy some red skin potatoes and ice the day of the party. I had the girl ask her dad to buy some pop and water which he agreed to do so now he is bringing that in a addition to the cake. I don’t think that is too much to ask since I have done everything else.

I called around for prices on baby’s breath yesterday and holy cow is it expensive. Maybe not for one bunch but I need to fill 18 mason jars. I am not spending $60.00 on centerpieces….I am not that person.  Force of Nature Girl suggested wildflowers, meaning the ones wild at work that line the parking lot. We have a ton of crown vetch and I grabbed some to sample their hardiness in water and they are still going strong today. I only need them to last a few hours.

Last night the girl and I had turkey burgers on the grill. Not the frozen kind…. I bought the fresh ground patties. There were so white? How could they possibly have an flavor? I wasn’t convinced that this would be a tasty dinner. I grabbed a jar of roasted red peppers took one big pepper out, put it in my Nutri Bullet with a couple of tablespoons of mayo and whoa was that sauce good. There were no leftovers last night, another happy accident.

Tomorrow is a very busy day. The girl has orientation at the university and it’s all day. Fingers crossed that we get out of there in time for me to go to work and then we have a bonfire to go to after work. It’s going to be a long day and the forecast says it’s going to be hotter than Satan’s balls in leather pants…..Zia

I Believe!

I have spent the last two nights reading this book…..

This book had it’s moments where it was difficult to read and I played the “skim” card often but the bones of the story were good. I found it very coincidental that I was reading this now considering the one girl I met at the Holy Fire Reiki 2 class will be going to some of these places next week.  I told her I would be living vicariously through her. Stonehenge on the Summer Solstice…..does it get better than that? The story has stuck with me, I have even had dreams about it….it definitely struck a chord.

I have always believed so it was foreign to me to read about someone who struggled with believing. There is some truth in all fairy tales, how can these creatures not be real? I believe in fairies and unicorns, Bigfoot, the Lochness monster, UFO’s, and Santa Claus. Did I leave anybody out? I have been ridiculed for as long as I can remember over it. The alcoholic gambler that used to live next door to me at the old house used to tell everyone how I wouldn’t mow over mushrooms or the tiny flowers that grew around the base of the tree. Who cares? It was my yard. Cockroach always made fun of me as well and I believe one of the tattoos he got after he was removed involved a fairy being stabbed. Disturbing, I know.  I am who I am and I don’t want to change that part about me. I think everyone should look for a little magic everyday, it makes things brighter.

Today after work there were little butterflies all around some wildflowers over by where I park my car. There was a goldfinch (fairy bird) darting in and out and all around. He was way too fast for me and when I walked over to take a picture all of the butterflies flew away except for a tiny one.

Speaking of the finch, I saw that little bird again, the one who knocked on my door and I think he may be a regular finch. I played a finch singing on a youtube video and the cat went crazy. Yep, I think these are the birds that taunt him through the window.

Remember that pup that the girl and Negative Nancy rescued? It turns out that  he was accepted into a prison program and those dogs always have a long line of people wanting to adopt them because they are so well trained.  I am so relieved and happy that he will no longer be scared and skinny.

I stopped by the park today to get a better idea of what I am working with next week for the girls party. Every time I stop there there is a picnic going on, today it was one lone man eating his lunch. I apologized for disturbing him, promised I wouldn’t take his picture and left him to his lunch.

I think I will put the cake, cupcakes and cookies here….

I will put her photo board and jenga guest book over here…..

The food on the table over to the left and I decided against table cloths. We will just scrub these big old tables down with soap and water.

I really hope I can pull this off….I have never planned a party this big or cooked for this many people. Fingers crossed…

I met KB and her mom for lunch down at the vault restaurant, her mom had never been there before. I love their lunch menu, I prefer it to the dinner menu and would always order off of it if I could.  Then we went to my witch store, it was fun watching her mom in there. She loved it and I bought her a little bracelet she liked with saints on it. I don’t have a mom so when I get to hang out a little with a friends mom it’s a treat……Zia

 

Something to Talk About

How did your day start? Mine started with “only me embarrassment”. Remember yesterday when I mentioned the huge amount of wine bottles in my car? I went to the recycling center at the police station which is about 1.2 minutes away from work early this morning. This is not my first trip here, I come at 7:40am and never see anyone. Today I passed a group of men chilling by the salt dome. Here I am removing massive amounts of wine bottles from my car in front of an audience.  I will never see them again in my life but at that moment I was very embarrassed. I should have taken a picture so you could see how many trips it took me to empty my car. Only me….

Work was ….too much. I know I have said it before but ever since they started scheduling the OD every ten minutes instead of twenty, every day is out of control. Between both doctors we had well over 100 patients today. I try to never schedule anything for Mondays, they are too rough. I had just enough energy to come home and heat up the grill for dinner. I did take a picture today so you can see how nicely it cleaned up.

Today was a blue heron day for me. This time of year I usually see one per day, on a good day I see two. Today….I saw seven. I saw the last one when I went out to light the grill, he was soaring right above the garage. Strange. Sometimes I think these are signs and that a more intuitive person would know what it meant. I, however do not.

My office manager told me about a house she passed the other day that looked like me. It totally is me. The chances that this house will still be around in December are almost laughable. I text my realtor anyway, at least she will know what I like.

I am not sure why they are wasting their time painting it white, the yellow is more interesting. I certainly wouldn’t keep it yellow that is true but this house has too much character to slap some white paint on the walls and call it a day. I like old….I like interesting, I don’t find new houses appealing at all. The one exception to that rule is a log cabin and my tastes are running too French Provincial these days to live in one of those. I was going to take the girl for some ice cream and do a drive by….until I sat down.  So maybe another day……Zia

Party On….

It’s been quite the busy weekend over here. Friday had it’s moments with work and home. We left late but it wasn’t horrible. The boy took the girl to a graduation party and while I was getting ready for book club the girl sent me a text that said “come get me.” Thankfully the girl that I hope she reconnects with offered her a ride to the next party and brought her to book club. It all worked out but my kid needs to get her license already.

Book club went well and nobody cried. Of course I was the one who came close but I didn’t so there were no tissues involved. While at book club I learned that my little buddy was bit by a spider. I peeled the bandaid back and looked at the bite. I just looked at her…..”how did you get bit by a brown recluse, you don’t even live in the woods?” She lives like six minutes from me…how?  I liked not having to worry about country spiders in the city, I guess I was wrong. This is her second bite, now both of us have been bitten twice. She didn’t get any super powers either….I asked. Hopefully her antibiotic does the trick and she starts healing quickly. She will have a decent size crater from this bite.

Later Friday night my neighbor sent me a text asking if I wanted their grill? His dad was buying a new one and was giving them his old one. Heck yeah! The girl was super excited, she has been after me for a while to buy a new grill.

I scrubbed it thoroughly today, it cleaned up nicely. It’s well made too, much better than what I would have purchased in my price range. I used it tonight, the girl wanted burgers and hotdogs. I know it’s cliche but that’s what she wanted.

Yesterday when I stopped at the ReStore I found these wings….

I have seen these in the retail world from 7.99-11.99, I picked this up for $0.50. Wings, angels, birds, dragonflies…..it’s always wings for me. The girl saw an eagle today, that’s the third or fourth sighting since we moved to this house. That’s more than the last  house. When I came out of the garage and started looking for him he was gone but I saw a dragonfly fly up and over the house. It’s always a good day when wings are involved. On a different subject I also found these mason jars….

$4.00 and they were brand new…never used. I opened them to clean them and they were new.  Eventually I will use them for canning but first they will hold baby’s breath for the girls party. I stenciled numbers on these tags Saturday afternoon.

We had two graduation parties yesterday. The big doctor’s son and the optician’s son. I learned more from the second party. I brought my apron and helped in the kitchen and babysat the food making sure everything remained full. The little old Italian lady who has been a surrogate mother to her since she was in the third grade was adorable. I want to adopt her as my surrogate grandmother. She made the cavatelli from scratch and there are no words to describe the deliciousness that I encountered last night and will again for my lunch tomorrow.

I was able to observe the plates and what people ate first hand.  I have been debating on the heavier duty clear plated from Sam’s club and after last night I will spend the extra money for a better plate. She had a little bit of everything left except the chicken…she had three pans of that left over. It’s not that the chicken wasn’t tasty, it was…people really wanted the cavatelli. I didn’t get home until after 11 which is way later than I get home from work on an average Saturday. It was still a good day.

I had every intention to work on the girl’s photo board for her party today but it never happened. I did a little bit of organizing instead.  I have been meaning to take the excess wine bottles to the recycling center, I just never got around to it. I have really good friends and coworkers. I make a project with wine bottles and say I need more and my friends made it happen. When I was making the literary bottles for the craft shows it was helpful only they kept coming. Finally I said I had enough. I kept about two cases of bottles because I had already scrubbed the labels off of them. I have a full trunk and a box in the back seat….I had no idea there were so many? They kept bring them and I kept stashing them in the garage.  I needed to make room for the grill. I will have more room after garbage night, for some reason I have quite a few empty boxes as well. I need to organize what’s in there and go through the stuff. I really haven’t touched it much since we moved it here. Today I made a little dent…it’s a start…..Zia