I'm excited about my etsy store

I'm really looking forward to opening up the shop. It's going to be a grand new adventure and I'm sure it will do well. I figure if I list a few items a day it will keep the cost down and I'll have a great selection in no time. I will also finally get a good price for my jewelry and paintings. Selling them in town to re-sellers doesn't get you much. A few times I was so insulted I just walked out. Once I get settled I'll even add ogham sets, wands, and other magical accompaniments. I really love creating things with my hands.
   If I'm lucky this shop will take some of the financial pressure off and I will be able to breathe easier. Then I can spend less time in the parking lot fishing for clients and even more time writing. It's a win-win. I hope when it's up you guys and gals will come check it out and let me know what you think.
   Does anyone know how to add a link to my shop in the side bar of my blog? I haven't been able to add any custom links over there yet.
    Thanks for your patience as I whined and cried these last few days. Life is looking up and the clouds are moving in.

Today would have been Moms birthday.

Today would have been her 61st birthday if she was still alive. I miss her and still want to punch her at the same time. Instead I'm using the baubles and beads she left behind to make my rent and trying not to let my anger cause me to do something bad.
She was a complicated woman who would give a friend all her money and then ask her kids to pay her bills. She wanted so badly to make and design jewelry; and she was really good at it; but she never had the follow through to make a name for herself. She had more important things to buy.
She always tried to make you accept gifts but never wanted to just be with you even when she cried she was lonely and no one loved her. I loved my mom even if I didn't always like her.
She had a rebellious streak and she lived to pull one over on anyone she could. That is probably what killed her.
You could never trust her words, but you could always trust her heart. She was a kind, violent soul. She usually had the best intentions, at least when it came to best for her but she never hurt anyone she thought needed help. She would open her home to druggies and homeless then cry because they stole from her.
She was finally responding to therapy for her throat cancer and when I saw her two days before she died she was jabbering on about how good her eggs and toast had been for breakfast and how she really loved the egg salad sandwich she had for lunch but wished she could have chips with it. She even looked better than I'd seen her for months. When I left the final words were "I love you, see you on Easter."
She didn't make it. On April 6, 2012 at 7:55pm her heart stopped. Twelve minutes before that I had given the order to pull the plug. She had been non responsive for over an hour after she had been found at the nursing home with no pulse.
She had managed to flip me, cancer, my siblings, and her brother off in one fell swoop.
Mom didn't die of cancer. She overdosed on meth. She went out thumbing her nose at the world, but I don't think she meant to die. She just wanted to have fun.
I miss her, but at least I have her cat. Zelda hates me. Mom's probably laughing at that right now as she eats more eggs. She really liked eggs.
Like I said Mom was complicated.

Help coming up with a store name please.

I've decided to open an etsy store to supplement my income and I need help with the name if you please. So far the options are:
Wild Betty's Witchy Wares

Wicked Betty's Things

Betty's Witchy Wares

Slivers of Magick

I had the best dream!

Last night I had the greatest dream ever. In it I had the stick I'm saving up for and we went everywhere. I was walking through forests thick with giant trees and fording a stream. Then I was hiking up a rocky desert trail while little lizards ran across in front of me. Next I was in a big city crossing a street filled with people. Then I was in an orchard knocking apples down so I could eat them and the grass was waiving in the field behind me and I could hear the bees. I could walk forever. It made me feel so good. I can't wait to go to sleep again!
 So far I've got $11 saved up. Soon he will be mine and we can go on real adventures together! With the husband sometimes too. ;)

Another day at Slivers Salon...

(Warning: Shameless Whining and Self Promotion Ahead)

      Today is another slow day at the salon. I'm grateful to have the time to write until my hand cramps and my thumb falls asleep, but I need more clients to come in. On the plus side I'm way ahead of schedule on the first draft and need to figure out how to install word on a computer with no disk drive. I wonder if any place rents them. I love writing long hand, but I'll be glad when I can start typing it up and changing things a bit.

  I'm such a whiner. I'm living the life of my dreams and acting like a full-time writer. It's exactly what I asked for when I told my husband I wanted to quit my job at the hospital and stay home to write. He said no so I went to cosmetology school. The only job I could get after school was part-time at CC and I was grateful until the corporate crap chased me off. Now I'm living the dream I've always had and I'm still not satisfied . Of course in my version there was no $237 a week rent to wrangle up.

   

My desk rocks!

All I need is five clients a day and I will be set. So if you know anyone in Tucson who needs a cut, color, or facial wax send them my way and I promise to be nice. 

www.styleseat.com/sliverssalon

Now I need a butt in my chair please!

When I was Younger...

I wanted to be many things when I was younger. A writer, a police officer, a wrestler, a pastor and so on. There was always something that stopped all those dreams from being to small (wrestler) to not being Christian. All of them but one. I am a writer. I have never been published...yet, but it's what I AM. I spend any downtime at the salon writing or researching. I've also become something of a confessor to my clients. My salon only holds me and the client so they are really opening up. I'm starting to think about going to a seminary school. Now if I can find one that's cheap, online, and nondenominational. I feel that if I'm passing out advice on everything from sex, to cheating (don't), to what to eat for dinner I should get educated.
   When my mom was diagnosed with cancer I got my online minister license so I could speak for her at her funeral, but this is different. I feel the urge to actually help some of these people instead of just smile and nodding at them. I'm doing the best I can, but I want to do more.
   Maybe this was touched off by that video I watched, but learning never hurt.

My prayer beads make me happy.

Over a year ago I made a set of prayer beads based on the mala crossed with the paidirean of the Céile Dé. It has 108 wood beads split into 3 sections by tigereye and with a drop of garnet and tigereye beads. It ends with a small stone goddess. I strung it on steel beading wire to make it last. As the wire stretches with use I close the slack with tiny silver crimp covers.
There's something soothing about slowly working the beads through my fingers as I breathe. It's a great way to start and end the day. It helps me to recharge my batteries. It's also my favorite act of devotion to Goddess.
Do you have any practices that work well for you?

What have I done lately?

To cheer up I decided to watch a documentary on Netflix. My husband was out of town and I was feeling a bit blah about things. The one I chose was "The Saint of 9/11". All I wanted was an uplifting story to  cheer me up a bit. I got more than I bargained for.
   Goddess must have been guiding me even as She laughed because usually I would pick a horror movie but something about the cover picture made me stop and watch it.
  It's a good movie, if a bit sad. It's a homage to Fr. Mychal Judge who was the first official registered death of the twin towers. It's a story of a man who served his firefighters and his community literally to the end. The people who knew him told stories about him such as the friend who gave him a coat only to have him give it to a homeless person on his way home. One of the parts that touched me the most was when they showed the clip of the sermon he gave the day before he died. That really hit home.
   So now I'm wondering if I personally do enough to help others. Am I staying true to the entire purpose of starting my own salon? I left CC because they wouldn't let me help others the way I felt I should. I wanted to do in shelter free cuts and things like that and they wouldn't do it.
Slivers Salon is founded on the fact that people need a sliver of hope in order to keep going. Now I ask if I am doing enough. I haven't done a free cut in over two weeks and that is sad, I haven't had anyone come in who needed one and I've been to busy trying to get people in that pay to go out and get them.
   Maybe I was guided to that movie to wake up and realize that I may be straying a bit off center and I need to get back on track. So the questions I ask now is who have I touched today? How have I made the world a better place? What can I do next?
   I'm glad I found that movie.

Sad About my Magic Stick.

On Sunday my husband and I took a quick trip to Summit Hut to look at the hiking sticks.
A little background. For my birthday I got myself a beautiful yet flawed walking stick because I have a knee and an ankle that bother me occasionally. I only paid $7 for it so the fact that it was quite C-shaped didn't bother me. i figured I could steam it straight. After several attempts to steam it; including catching it on fire; I went to an expert. He looked at my beautiful stick and told me that he could get it straight but there was no guarantee that it wouldn't break or that it would stay straight. It was an old stick and wood goes how wood wants. The nice man told me how to do it myself and so I traipsed home and did it.
    I soaked it  in hot water for 8 hours, adding more every 30 minutes or so. Then I padded it with a towel and clamped it flat between 2 boards. I left it that way for 3 days in the backroom. When I opened it up my beautiful stick was nice and straight.  I was so happy with it I used it everyday.
   It's been about a month and slowly my stick is going back to the way it was. It's already about halfway back to the original shape, so now I'm looking for a new stick.

It's melting!

I will be the first to admit I'm picky and I didn't think I would find anything, after all it had been a bad week and I wasn't buying anyway. This was for therapy only. 

   So of course I found the perfect stick at an insane price. It's the Brazos Safari with ebony stripes. A solid shaft of strong hickory accented with exotic wood stripes. I want it!

It is $80. It's so worth it, but it's going to be a while before I can even hope to get it. The top feels weighted, and it swung with my stride in such a way as to make me stand up straighter. It had a great swing. It felt so perfect in my hand that I spent so long playing with it the clerk probably thought I was going to steal it. Sadly, I have morals so all I took with me is the memory of it's perfection in my hand. 

   I will definitely be scrimping all the pennies I can spare to get it. Until then I can go visit it.

Last Week Was HARD!

I haven't blogged because I've been trying to get my weekly rent for my salon studio together. For the first time since I opened I have failed. I failed by a lousy $20. I had to ask my landlord to postpone my rent and charge me double the next week. He said he would and I'll know if he did tomorrow. If he forgot and charged me I will have the joy of an overdraft, not going to be sleeping much tonight.
   My week started falling apart on Thursday, most of my scheduled clients needed to reschedule and no one I called could come in. The train wreck kept up through Sunday. My only client on that day, the one that would have given me what I needed didn't even bother to show up. So I did what I could and took a day off. On the flip side next week will be busy, so that's a plus. I never want this to happen again, it's a horrible feeling.  So I did what I could and took the day off.  
   This will be a better week!

A Sad Fact of Life Today.

I saw a story today on yahoo about a woman named Angela Prattis may be fined $600 a day next year if she continues to feed underprivileged children. Here are a couple of articles I've found about it:
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/trending-now/woman-could-fined-600-giving-children-free-lunches-192644564.html?_esi=1

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/08/14/philadelphia-woman-faces-600-day-fine-for-feeding-needy-neighborhood-kids/?cmpid=cmty_twitter_fn

 I know she's not paying for the food herself, but she's still getting it out there where it's needed and she's donating her personal time to do this. I personally feel that she should be given money to help with her goal and not charged, but maybe I'm crazy in my belief that we should all look out for each other.
  What kind of good deeds can we do to get threatened for I wonder?

I finished "Blackout" by Mira Grant

I think I read this one the slowest of all three because I didn't want it to end. It had even more twists to the plot than the others and curiosity kept me going even when I was cringing from the words. It even has a zombie bear to keep it interesting.
    I liked the twist of bring in a character from the first book, but some of the story got lost in searching because of it. A lot of the book seemed trapped in character angst, but it worked for the story and there was still enough action to keep me going.
   The end of the story was really action packed with a jarring twist that almost made me cry. The very finally chapter was a bit of a let down though. Every thing was tied up to neatly for my tastes, but at least it got tied up.
    All in all I think it was a very good series and I hope she comes out with more set in that world. I definitely think everyone should check it out.
 

Our Trip to Agua Caliente Park

Yesterday my darling Z took me to his new favorite place to take pictures. I was a little skeptical seeing how it was 108 outside, but I'm game for any new adventure so off we went.
It's a really beautiful park with its own pond and a mini mesquite forest. The information/museum building was closed for the weekend which was too bad. I wanted to learn more about the place.
  There were a ton of butterflies and ducks everywhere I looked. Z even saw a crane. I got a cool picture of some butterflies mating though so that even things out. I really wanted to go poking around off the paths, but Z pointed out the signs and wouldn't let me. next time I'm going when it's cooler and he has a model to keep him busy. I would go by myself, but I fell asleep on the way and have no idea where it is.
    It was to hot to stay long even with the water we were carrying, so we are going back when it's cooler and the buildings are actually open.
 

It's almost like a tropical paradise!

This turtle ignored us while its friend fled.

Butterflies doing what comes naturally.

Keep out signs are the bane of my existence. 

The pond is one of the largest I've ever seen.

Maybe it's just what I've been reading lately, but CREEPY!

It's too hot for the ducks to run from me? Nope.

I almost made it off the path!

I finished "Deadline" by Mira Grant

I finished the book yesterday and it was as good as the first book. The whole "Newsflesh" series is really well written. I'm so glad my husband urged me to read it.
This one starts off with a bang. They pretty much blow up Oakland. It's the bloggers against the government round two and the CDC isn't playing fair. The introduction of some new characters helps keep the story fresh, and the zombies are still a nice background for all this. At the end of the book there was a twist that made me buy the third one right away from Kindle.
So far this is the most engaging series I've read in a long time and anyone who likes zombies, corporate intrigue, and action will like them too.
I'm about a third of the way through the last book and will let you know what I think soon.

Princess Caught a Mouse!!!

The other night I was dozing in my bed when I got to have a new experience. I had the window open to the back room so Princess (the cat in my photo) could come in. My cats don't go outside, but the backroom is the next best thing and they all love it.
   I felt her land on the bed and was slowly rousing when she walked on my chest, normally she just runs for the door to be let into the rest of the house. I opened my eyes and there was a tiny slobbered on mouse! I thought it was dead, but it soon ran at my face. Poor thing was only about 1" long and had to be a baby. Princess pounced and picked up in her mouth. She was chirping the whole time. She's such a proud cat, and this was new for her. She was also very gentle, I don't think she wanted to hurt the little thing. She just stared at me with the tail sticking out of the side of her mouth and I could see it moving.
   I reached over the side of the bed and grabbed the first thing that I could, an old shopping bag that I use for trash. I dumped it and got it around Princess' head. Thankfully she spit out the mouse to yell at me and I let her head go. Now I had a tiny mouse in a plastic sack and a pissed off cat. By some miracle the mouse was still alive, I really don't think she was going to hurt it, but it was soaking wet and terrified.
     I got my clothes on as fast as I could; the last thing I wanted was to kill it in the bag. Princess tried to trip me when I opened the door, she was yelling the whole way to the front door. The mouse was scrambling around trying to get out of the bag. We must have been a sight.
   I went off the porch and opened the bag thinking the mouse would run away. Of course not, it just stayed there looking scared, but there was no way I was taking it to the back room. I shook the bag gently and it just looked at me. After a few minutes of staring I did the mean thing and dumped it out onto the ground. Then It finally ran off. I hope it's safe out there somewhere.

Not the actual mouse, just a look alike I found on Wikipedia. Cute little thing.

   Now I need to find the rest of its family and gently evict them, that's going to be fun. Cute little thing though. I now check all the cats mouths before I let them in from the back room, and there's no more bedroom window for them either.

Life Moves at an Amazing Pace!

I can't believe that my salon has been open for a full five months. It feels like I just opened. On the one hand I can't believe I've managed to last this long and I thank Goddess every day for hanging in there with me. On the other hand I keep wondering when I'll have people lining up to get their hair done by me. I know it takes at least a year to get going really strong and I haven't even been open half that, but patience has never been my virtue. It's coming though; this is the first week ever I've had at least one person scheduled every day and that feels great!
  On the flip side my writing is coming along so well I love it. I finally have a relatively quiet place with no animals crawling all over to just write for hours and it's a dream come true. If I keep this pace up I'll be down with the first draft by the end of October. Then I can start putting it into the computer and that's always one of my favorite parts.
   I just wish I could slow time down somehow to really savor this time.

A New Start

I'm starting another blog to get a fresh start. It's really exciting to start a new enterprise like this. Here's to fresh new beginnings!

A Neat Pic of a Scorpion!

I don't know how I failed to include it in the last post but here's a scorpion under black light!

A Great Trip to the Desert Museum

On Saturday after work my husband and I went to the Desert museum. I love going there and seeing all the animals and displays. I always learn alot whenever we go, and now that they are offering reduced rates on Saturday evenings we are going a lot more.
   This time they were offering education on bats. I love bats so much I even have a tattoo of one on the back of my neck so you know I had to be there. Z wanted to go for the photo class they were offering and that made it a no brainer. Z is a great photographer, and like any great he tries to learn as much as he can anywhere he can. He brought his camera and I brought my magic stick and off we went.
   The photos are from my phone so please excuse the quality.
    The first place we stopped at was the hummingbirds, they move so fast I had trouble getting any good shots. Finally one of them took pity on me and perched on a branch two feet away. Then we wandered around while we waited for our respective classes to start. I love when the cactus is in bloom, and even though we got there a little late in the year there were still some beautiful flowers left for us.
    I learned a lot from Dr. Karen who was teaching the lesson on bats. Did you know that less that .5% of bats have rabies? Your dog or cat is more likely to give it to you than they are. Also one tiny little bat can eat 60 gnats in 30 minutes. That's a lot of bugs. Now I just need to figure out how to make a bat house that the cats in the neighborhood can't get into.

It let me snap several before it got bored and left.

Then we went to the butterfly area and I got really lucky again!

Who says the desert is boring?

Just a couple of the beautiful birds in the aviary. The duck didn't move even when I got close enough to touch. Not that I was going to touch it really, uh huh.

This is Leta, She's the bat ambassador of peace. She's really cute, but I wasn't allowed to pet her. That's the only problem with this place. I can't touch anything.

Here's a few beautiful flowers. I really like the spiral cactus.

Birds of paradise grow wild here. 

A storm that fizzled before its time. 

A Day for Thinking.

You'll probably have days like today yourself. I got up excited to go to the salon and do some hair. I was happy to be going to work. Then I get to work and my first client is late. She calls and I tell her it's ok, because it is really. I don't mind waiting the five minutes it takes her to get here.
   The cut goes great and she loves it. That makes me happy, as does the fact that she gets to go start her new job today. It's an exciting time in her life and I'm grateful to be a part of it. She gives me a hug as she leaves. I turn to clean the studio in preparation for the next client.
    This client is also late, but seeing as she's the only other one I have today I give her a while. I'm still in a good mood from the other lady. Finally I call her. Even though she had been sent a reminder by text and by email she had forgotten and couldn't make it anyway. I felt my day sliding downhill from its great start and grabbed hold to keep it on track. I rescheduled this lady for next week and hung up shaking my head.
     Sometimes people confuse me, maybe the second lady really had forgotten. I thought about it for a while then realized that it doesn't matter. In the grand scheme of things her missed appointment didn't matter. I got a lot of things done that I wouldn't have had time for if she came in and still managed to make what I would have made if she had come in by selling a necklace. It all worked out in the end.
   It made me think about how often I let another persons actions affect my mood. I have no control over her so why did I let it bother me? I need to not let others affect my mood and get back to enjoying my ride.
 I suggest you do the same.

Feed by Mira Grant is a Great Book!

I just finished the best book I've read in a while. It's "Feed" by Mira Grant, and it is definitely a book to get. Not very many books can have me laughing and crying, but this one does. It was so good I read the 2 novellas she has out in one go right afterward. They also rock.
"Feed" is a story about what happens after the Zombie Apocalypse and follows a group of bloggers around. The group gets the chance of a lifetime and hit the road to make their dreams come true. They run into trouble almost from the start and end up solving a mystery that has life changing results for everyone involved. The moral that I found in it is stay loyal to those who love and believe in you no matter what. Otherwise the results will be tragic.  
It's actually what got me back to blogging after such a long absence. Yes the book is that good. It also made me want to fortify my house and stock up on staples like toilet paper. It's a book that really makes you think about what we are doing here and where we are heading.
   The question is can we really change the future before it's to late? Do we want to?

It's Been a While! it's Been Wild!

A lot has happened since I last logged on. life has been Wild! It's been over a year and this will be my first post in a new vein. I may even end up changing the name of this blog to something else, although it still fits nicely.
    I can't guarantee that I'll be on here with any true frequency, but I will try to make it interesting for anyone who reads this.
    Keep in mind that this is just my little rant and file place and if it bothers you there are plenty of other things to read/do in this world so move along.
    I am not always politically correct and I do have a tendency to be overly blunt, but i due try not to be rude. Please do the same.
   Enjoy life, because there's no guarantee of tomorrow!