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Wednesday, March 21, 2007

purple bird



This little guy makes me happy.

Made on a recycled wool sweater I got at Goodwill, I shrunk the wool at the laundromat (on purpose, for once!).

This fun little birdie is felted wool and embroidery thread. I got a felting needle tool at Hobby Lobby and let loose–it was great fun!

May I just say, crafting is good for the soul.

Sunday, March 18, 2007

Crashing back down to reality ...

I hate being broke.

Just when I was beginning to get comfortable with my new life, I run aground ... AGAIN.

May I rant for a minute?

My business, the one that I poured every spare cent into, has not done well. I did recently sell a shabby-chic mirror, but the things I thought were cute are still sitting on the shelves. I'm still excited to even be doing this, and I don't regret it, but I'm beginning to realize that doing this while being broke and yet full-time employed is not going to work.

My car, the one that broke down twice in the span of one week last year, has broke down yet again, leaving me stranded on the side of a busy intersection, without my cell phone, and making me very, very late for work Friday morning. To make matters worse, when I went to look into buying a newer car yesterday, I quickly found out that I can't afford one. Period. The one 2002 Ford Focus I found that was in my price range had just as many things wrong with it as my tired old 1996 Toyota Camry. I'm sorry, but I'm not going into debt for four years AND have to fix my new car right off the bat. I'd rather just fix the problems I know my current vehicle has-without the car payments.

I had a bad week at work. I love my job, and thoroughly enjoy the people I work with, but it was just a bad week. One that isn't made any better by the realization that burger flippers in Connecticut make the same amount per hour as I do here in Tennessee.

Speaking of Connecticut, my brother with whom I shared a house just moved there. Connectictut, that is. He got a good job as a pilot at a private charter jet company that wisks the uber-rich to work in NYC every morning. Imagine that-commuting by jet. Sure cuts down on rush hour traffic-something else I hate.

The traffic for my commute is driving me crazy. What is normally a 30 minute drive sometimes stretches into an hour and a half.

One last rant ... Housing. How does anybody afford it? With my former roommate/brother moving out of state, I'm left with the rent. Our family is putting the house up for sale this week, leaving me to hunt for apartments. I had a sweet deal with my parents to be able to live in such a nice home. Now, I have to find the impossible: a cheap apartment within driving distance to downtown Nashville, in a safe neighborhood, that allows dogs, with washer/dryer hookups. Do you know how impossible that is?

Oh, and I've got to start saving for a car. This is just getting ridiculous.

Thursday, March 01, 2007

Rainy Days

It's raining in Nashville as I type this. I woke at 5:00 to the BOOOM of thunder, and we have a tornado watch in effect.

I was out of portable lunch food when I left for work this morning, so I ate at the place across the street. Macaroni and cheese–good rainy day comfort food. If only I was at home, lounging on the couch in my pj's with a mug of coffee and a good book!