My Latest Cafepress Design

Until next time.

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New Additions to My CafePress Shop

I decided it was time to take some time and add some more products to my CafePress shop, Herd Queen Productions.

I added new items yesterday and today - mostly paper products, rather than clothing for most of the items.


Take a look and let me know what you think about the new designs. I am really excited about my masculine card series "Hooked On You". I have more photos along that line.

Until next time.

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My Birthday

My birthday is the 25th.

My sister and I have talked about how we tend to start buying a few things here and there for ourselves a few weeks prior to and after our birthdays. See, we try to not buy every little thing we desire on a whim, but around our birthdays it's a great excuse to just get what we want. That doesn't mean I go out and buy $1000 stereo systems or a new computer. I'm talking fairly inexpensive things.

Although I tend to buy things for myself prior to my birthday, I would really prefer that those gifting me would wait *until* my birthday. But oh well. I'm not really complaining, but it's up to me to buy myself something for my birthday. Maybe my family will cook a special meal on my birthday. Friday the 25th of May.

So far my family had a surprise party for me, my mother gave me my card and $40 on the 3rd... with which I bought myself two shirts and maybe a baseball cap. I have been wanting to buy some of my Cafe Press shirts just to see how they look in real life and so I bought one of The Herd Queen and the other of LJ when he was a tiny little puppy wearing a sweater I'd crocheted for him. I also bought a baseball cap which I am planning to give to dh and ds2 and I picked out a shirt for dh that we thought he'd like.

I'm anxiously awaiting the arrival of those shirts. I really hope my shirts look good, the image, I mean.

I also bought myself a ironing board cover. A really nice one. It was regularly $11.99, but was on sale for $10.39. The scanner rang me up at $11.99, so I took it back to customer service. At this particular store, if the item is under $5, they give it to you free. If it's over $5, they give you $5 off the sale price. I told the lady it was marked down to $10.39 but I guess she heard me say $10.49. I wasn't going to quibble over a dime. Then another $5.00 off on that. I found the one I bought from my local store from Target online. You can see it here: Ultra Ironing Cover and Pad Set - Tranquil Leaves. It has this neat silicone pad where you can lay the iron down onto it *when it's hot* even. Neat. I haven't used it yet, but I did get it onto my ironing board.

I bought myself a book yesterday, having read an article shared with me by a friend on one of my non-dieting email lists. The article is here: Genes Take Charge, and Diets Fall by the Wayside by Gina Kolata and is actually an excerpt from Ms. Kolata's book Rethinking Thin: The New Science of Weight Loss — and the Myths and Realities of Dieting which I purchased from buy.com for $10.15, saving $10.00 by using the new Google Checkout.

I almost purchased this yesterday and may yet purchase it today: CERVINIA CALZETTERIA SOCK & FINGERING YARN.NEW.PRINT.. The link won't work forever, since it's an eBay auction. But here is a picture of the yarn:


I snagged the image from Smiley yarn. The color I like is Naples 904, which is the reddish colored yarn. Smiley's is selling this yarn for $2.50 per skein. Minimum order $40 though... and $12.95 shipping for however much yarn you order. I'm not sure I'm prepared to spend $52.95 on yarn today. ROTFLOL. I thought I'd get a better deal than on eBay and I guess I would get a better deal because if I ordered 16 skeins of yarn at $2.50 the shipping comes to only $0.80 per skein. But still! $50 is a lot of money to spend on yarn at one whack when I don't have much time for knitting to begin with *AND* furthermore I already have quite a stash.

And I do have some pink yarn asking me to please make socks with it.

Last but not least, ds2 ordered me a new keyboard and mouse. He researched both items some time ago and he does a great job researching to find good quality items. I can't wait for these to arrive: Logitech MX518 Gaming Grade Optical Mouse and Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000 M17-1844.

He ordered them for me from Amazon, where I had a $25 gift certificate so my total cost there was $35.00.

Now I must get to work.

Until next time.

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Real Men Eat Liver

My newest design over at Herd Queen Productions. Since I live with three men, I ought to know what "real" men can and should do.

I get a lot of opinions from the men I live with, just about how tough and manly they all are.

The story behind today's creativity... I thawed out the chevon liver and prepared to fry it for Monday night. I was supposed to soak it in lemon juice for several hours, to remove impurities and give the meat some texture. Only I never got around to frying the liver that evening. I asked ds2 to fry it for Tuesday's dinner, and for Wednesday's, but because I "didn't remind him" he forgot and I didn't have time.

I finally had time to fry it this morning.

You must know that I hate liver. I have hated it all my life. But according to Nourishing Traditions, organ meats are VERY good for us. So, I am trying to make myself eat it.

Note to self: Don't let chevon liver sit in lemon juice for four days before frying it.

It was not good. It was tolerable with the fried onions, but the taste was still coming through.

I asked dh to try it, and he absolutely refused. (He has tried turkey liver, and was surprised that it was not that bad tasting). He is usually a good sport and will try just about anything I come up with. And absolutely LOVES much of it, kefir for example. He LOVES it, while it makes my lips pucker due to the sourness. Even when it's mild!

Ds2 tried a bite and deemed it THE WORST thing he'd ever put into his mouth. Lucky chap. He didn't have to grow up as one of my siblings and then he'd know WORST from NOT SO BAD.

Liver in my family growing up, was HORRIBLE stuff. My mother would buy the cheapest cut, which was the mature beef liver, not the *baby* beef, which might have been good, properly cooked and served. It was my stepfather's FAVORITE meal and the side dishes were, along with the vein-ridden and dry tasting liver (sans fried onions):

• mustard greens (sans butter)
• cornbread (sans butter)
• black eyed peas (sans butter)

The four most driest foods you could put together on a plate... he was in heaven; the rest of us were choking and gagging down this torturous meal.

Found out some neat news today. My mother was married to the man for fifteen years but since she is currently unmarried, she is eligible for survivor's benefits. At the time of his death (a few weeks ago), he still owed her $25,000 in child support, and so she'll still get some compensation with the survivor's benefits.

I could never have attempted using Cafe Press with slow dialup. That is probably why I never even considered it before. But unfortunately, it feels nearly as slow as dialup with Cafe Press. They were having some site slowness problems, and it seems as if they still are. It takes better than half an hour to upload images for a new section, choosing items to sell, labeling and adding images.

Baby Sweater Update: I discovered yesterday that the 5 inches worth of sleeve I'd crocheted was missing two stitches from the foundation row. So I had to rip it out, and start over again. I'm at 6 inches now. I have to crochet even for 7.5 inches, then one sleeve is done and I'll be on to the next one.

Working with dh tomorrow, so I won't have much computer time. And I brought work home from my "real" job, so that means even less computer time. Waaahhhhhh

I was up at my regular time this morning, and was in bed late last night. I'm tired.

Until next time.

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Nice Day Relaxing

I had a pretty nice day today. I'm trying to get off this computer, so I can take a hot bath. I've been taking baths lately... I mean, as opposed to showering. I usually shower. I rarely bathe. But I find I want to bathe more when the weather turns chilly. Which is probably not the best thing to do, since it seems to dry out one's skin, soaking in hot water.

Let's see, what did I do today. I cleaned up in the kitchen and made enchiladas for dinner. Oh and I made a double batch of egg custard. That didn't work out too good. It took longer to bake, but I finally got it done.

I pulled a few weeds from the garden. Since I am working with dh tomorrow, I'm hoping to spend some time weeding on Monday.

I got a few rows done on the baby sweater.

I'm having a lot of fun working on my new Cafe Press shop. I've added two Christmas designs today. I have more to add and will as I find time!

I just wanted to touch base here.

Until next time.

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Wow, Time Flies

I honestly do not believe three days have passed since I posted last.

I'm feeling quite a bit better, but still not 100% myself. Ds2 and dh are working together tomorrow, so I'm supposed to have the day off. I'm looking forward to it, as my garden needs some serious weeding done and of course there are hundreds of other things I need to work on! I always have to remember to pace myself and don't get too ambitious for I can only get so many things done in a day's time.

Oh yeah. I posted last on the day I was off work. That's why I forgot. I went to work on Wednesday and tried to get three days worth of work done in two days, plus handle a crisis for a co-board member who was on vacation in another country, attend two board meetings, deliver invoices that were lost from July, and on and on! I was asked to attend an event today for a coworker who has won disabled employee of the year, and also was asked to attend a board/staff meeting tomorrow. But I asked to get out of it. I'm glad I did because I'm still tired.

The meeting on Thursday, we had a man come to speak with us. A man who I found, and who is going to be of great help to us in a project we are currently working on. He is volunteering his time to us, which is amazing. One of our group asked his motivation and he mentioned doing volunteer work through his church and I thought that was just really cool. I was thinking how lucky I got at first, then my coworker who is not a believer actually made a comment that made me remember that I don't believe in luck. I believe that God is in charge.

I've started a new business. Now I just need to find time to get some more images uploaded, and once I'm ready, I need to start publicizing. It's here: Herd Queen Productions.

It's 64°F out and by morning it will be very nippy, probably down into the fifties. I know. That's what I SHOULD do tomorrow. I should work on the milking shed and get it ready to milk in. Currently we are milking outside in the open, which is pretty awesome because I can see the stars in the morning, and can also watch the herd to make sure everyone is okay and not feeling poorly.

I will definitely wear a DUST MASK. I don't want to do what I did some months ago and kick up my asthma for days and days because of breathing in too much dust.

My little puppy, who is not such a little puppy anymore (he is 8 months old and weighs 70 pounds!!) thinks he is a big dog now and wants to sleep outside at night. Only problem, his hair is so short he freezes out there. The other dogs have long hair with thick undercoats. Not my LJ. I'd better see if he wants to come inside now.

Until next time.

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