Wow, it's been a while, hasn't it

Geez, I can't remember the last time I logged in to this blog.  No big deal really, since no one sees it anyway.

The world is a bit crazy these days, and no one needs me to explain it to them, so I won't. I hope if you are reading this that you are safe and healthy and doing what you need to do to deal with whatever you are going through.

I don't actually know what made me log in today.

Originally, this blog was an outlet for my thoughts and my crafts,  and I'd like it to be that again. 

Unfortunately, what I am crafting these day are fabric face masks.  They aren't fun or interesting, they are practical in todays environment, so I'm not going to post much more about them. 

In the future, as I get back into crafting Christmas Spiders and beaded jewelry or whatever else my creative mind decides to produce, you will be seeing more posts.

I need this, even if no one else does

Even if no one else ever sees this

I need this

Moving to Burbank

Five months to the day.

On September 6th, 2012 we put a bid in on a short sale in Burbank.  On February 6, 2013 we got the call from our realtor that we were home owners.  It was a long 5 months, waiting and hoping and annoying our fabulous realtor Norma, and I have high hopes that the wait will be worth it.

The plan was, as soon as we got keys we would start demo work, and get moving on getting the place ready for us to move in.  But, as life doesn't always go the way we would like, we hit a few bumps in the road. This past weekend was supposed to be spend readying the place, but due to the bad weather back east, my cousin got stuck here in CA so we had a house guest.  It was wonderful to have family here, and we did drag her around to Home Depot, the Container Store and back and forth to the condo a few times, but we also hung out, went to dinner, drink wine and strolled the board walks of Santa Monica and Venice.

Lots of ripped up carpet

We didn't get approval in time to do the concrete floor we were looking forward to, so we are going with carpet tiles, and we did pull up the old carpet ourselves to save some money.  I hate painting so we hemmed and hawed and finally ending up hiring someone to do it for us, thanks Danny.

Still have a lot to do; packing, moving and all that kind of stuff.  I'll do my best to keep you updated.

I think it is funny

Nothing important, this just made me laugh

Itsy Bitsy

SPIDER

I forgot how much I LOVED making these.

Supplies ready to make my spider.  Do not pay any attention to the fact that I only counted out enough beads for 7 legs, I figured that out and fixed it

Body together, but his legs are still naked

Half of his legs done

All done and sitting on the balcony wishing it was sunnier so I could get a good picture.

Need a kick start

Part of my messy Creative Space

I did nothing creative this weekend, unless you count looking at carpet samples.

So, I have to find my motivation.  Unfortunately, I need to find the motivation to even start looking for some motivation. I am quite the Queen of Procrastination.  If there is something I can do to avoid doing something I will do it.  With all that said, I am going to start my week ...

I've been trying to stay busy...

In the last 2 or 3 weeks, I have been doing more crafting than I have done in the last 4 or 5 months. It feels good to be creative again. Currently I am obsessing over making a certain style of bracelet, and I ran out of the silver tubes I use to make them.

I sold one of the bracelets (Yeah!) so I decided the best way to celebrate was to spend my "earnings" on more supplies.

Two problems:

First problem was my car is parked in the scariest underground parking lot. I don't like driving into or out of that lot. Long story why it is there and not parked in the apartment building, but that is a tale for another time.  Not having a car was a problem because the fashion district here in Downtown LA is a far walk, and no one walks in LA. But I resolved myself to the fact that I would be walking, which was ok, it really is just a bit over a mile to get there.

Second problem was, it was raining.  Don't get me wrong, I LOVE the rain.  The reason it was a problem was that it doesn't rain often in LA, so people don't know how to drive or walk in the rain.  So my 1.2 mile walk to the fashion district to buy supplies would be an adventure, dodging skidding cars and umbrellas that seem determined to poke out my eye.

Now that I think about it, there was another small problem.  To get to the fashion district I have to walk through a neighborhood called Skid Row.  Pretty sure the name is self explanatory.  I did think about that prior to staring my walk, but I told myself it was early in the day and it was raining, so I am sure it was safe.  The "locals" should all be taking shelter from the weather.

I made it there and back, safe and sound, soaked to the bone, but otherwise, unscathed.  By the time I got home, the rain had stopped and the sun was doing its best to be seen.

I spent the rest of the day making bracelets.  Wish I had better pictures, but I didn't get outside to take any.  Today it is raining again, and it will be all weekend.  So until I get better pictures, this is what you get.

I'm never going to get this blog thing...

So, it has been almost a year since I visited my own Blog, lol.  If I cant be bothered visiting it, how can I expect others to?

But in reality, I don't think I expected people to visit. Just like I don't expect people to visit my ETSY page and buy the things I make.  Odd, right?  Why would I bother making thing and putting them on a selling website if I didn't expect to sell anything and why would I bother writing here if I didn't expect anyone to read it?

I wish there was an easy answer but I do not believe there is.  There might be, and I just don't want to see it.  Sometimes when you are too close to a situation it is difficult to see the truth.

So, once again I am going to start this up again, and see how it goes.  I am not making any promises to myself or anyone else who may stumble upon this.  Let's just see what happens...

With that being said, I have been making some jewelry and actually sold some stuff through Facebook. Thank goodness for friends. Here are some pieces...

The Saga of the Abandoned Flip Flops

It is supposed to be a beautiful day here today in sunny Los Angeles, California.  Being a New York girl, I'm not used to 80 degrees in March.  So, doing my best to try to get acclemated and "fit in" to my new surrounding, I decide that since it is going to be such a gorgeous day out, I will do something crazy.

My idea of crazy was dressing in flip flops and a sundress in March.  Seemed like a crazy idea considering it is early March.

When we visited California back in September, I purchased these fun flip flops.  It was September, already cold in NY, and I said to the girl selling them, "I'm not going to get to wear these until next summer," at which time my husband chimed in with "Unless we move to Los Angeles."

So I now live in Los Angeles, and I was breaking out these flip flops for the first time. Standing in my closet, I grab my blue sundress and my flip flops.  But it's March, and it should be cold out, so I decide the blue sundress is too "summerish" and I put it back and take the black one instead.  I put the sundress on, and then the flip flops.

Oh, my, my feet look naked.  It's only march, I can't go out with naked looking feet.  So off with the flip flops and on with more season sensible shoes.  Sundress looks funny with the new shoes, so off with the sundress an on with a pair of dockers.  But it's LA, and it's 80 degrees, so why not wear the flip flops with the dockers? Seems like a decent compromise, right?

So back on with the flip flops. Geeze, my feet still look naked.  Back off with the flip flops, and on with a pair of shoes that are a lot less pornographic on my feet.

I tried, really I did.  Still seems unnatural to be this warm in winter.

Does this mean I'll never get used to 80 and sunny when I think it should be cold out?  Will my poor flip flops ever actually get worn?  Who knows...

Officially Unpacked

Today I unpacked my last box. I don't know what took me so long, maybe I was thinking as long as that box stayed packed I haven't officially moved. Maybe I was just lazy.

I'm not saying I am officially settled in, not at all. After over 37 years of living in the same place, it would be impossible to be settled in to a new apartment this quickly. I have a bit of a fear that I will never feel settled, not 100% settled at least. Will I get used to living in LA? Maybe. Probably. Hopefully. I'm doing my best to keep an open mind about living here.

It is hard because I keep thinking of the negative things. Most obvious is missing friends and family. Being in one place for so long, you get comfortable there. I knew where to get the best bagels, Chinese take out, Thai curry chicken, pizza and Italian pastry. I could get to almost anywhere without directions. I knew what neighborhoods were safe, where you didn't want to park your car at night, where the dog parks were. I don't know that stuff here. I will, eventually (at least that is what I keep telling myself.)

So, until I know these things, I will be a little uncomfortable with my new surroundings. As for missing family and friends, I don't think I'll get over that, but there are airplanes, so I can visit and they can visit me. I'll be okay

West Coast

So, we moved to the west coast. Got to Los Angeles, California on December 31st 2011. Unfortunately I only got to spend 10 days in the new apartment before I had to rush back to New York because of a family emergency. After 5 weeks in NY, I came back to LA, and have been trying to settle in every since.