Participating in the 3/50 Project

I feel that small business is important to community and in the past I made a commitment to patronize small businesses when possible regardless of where I was at the time.  I've kept to that commitment in a way that makes me feel proud.  While I would prefer to spend my money in my neighborhood, city, county and state, when I am out of town I don't think twice about making the purchases I need at the local small business.  In an effort to share this enthusiasm I am going to add these purchases to my blog.  Besides, it is fun to share the eye candy.  :)

I recently learned of the 3/50 project which asks people who are actively employed to spend $50 at each of three locally owned small businesses.  You can learn about why this is a great thing to do at the following link.  http://www.the350project.net/home.html  The information there is better presented and more complete than I could ever hope to describe here.  While I don't agree with every single principle in the project, I do agree with the general philosophy.

For the last three weeks I've been visiting Evansville, IN.  I haven't had much opportunity to explore the area, but a friend came to visit me and we did get to do a little shopping.  Yay for local bead stores!

The first store we shopped at was The Bead Angel store.  It is a combo metaphysical/spiritual/bead store.  My friend and I had a friendly competition going on to see who could spend more money in the store.  I was clearly in the lead until I pointed out a display of magnetized "pearls" in the back corner of the store.  After ransacking the magnets Beth beat me by a small margin, but I still managed to spend $65.20 before tax.  Not bad for impulse shopping in a store that stocks less beads than I have in my personal stash.

Our next stop was to a store called Busy Beedz.  It was a lovely store filled with unique hand made jewelry with something for everyone from the baby to the bride.  I managed to spend another $16.88 there.  I admit that there wasn't a lot for me to choose from though the store held a good amount of pearls and semi-precious stones.  I, however, am a seed beader and there is only so much I can do with a lump of kyanite regardless of how pretty it is in the bowl.  I did leave with a nice handful of lampwork which I will turn into necklaces for my Etsy store.

We had a trip Killer Skate Park & Shop, LLC where our third member decided to spend his time.  He not only purchased a skating session, but in an extra effort to support the business he bought a skate deck that he didn't really need.  I love to see young people (Dan only just turned 18) making a difference.

Not Enjoying the New Dairy Beverage She Purchased

I love milk, but don't really care for skim and the last time I was at the grocery store I saw a new (to me) product in the dairy case.  It is called Dean's Over the Moon Fat Free Milk.  It is skim milk fortified with more of the calcium and protein that is naturally found in skim milk and it has the bonus of being packed in a cardboard carton so it retains the vitamins found in the milk. On the carton they compare this product to 2% milk and it does look a bit like 2% when it is poured from the carton, but the resemblance ends there, at least for me.  To me it still tastes like skim milk so I won't be purchasing it again.  It is quite a bit more expensive than the same amount of skim milk.  The nice thing is that Dean's gives a money back guarantee and an 800 number to call if you aren't satisfied.  I won't be calling, because I will use the product up, and while I will continue to purchase other Dean's products, this one won't find its way back into my shopping cart.

Having a Hard Time with a Counter

Everyone has a really cool hit counter on their blog.  Of course, even though I don't have any readers yet, I still want a hit counter.  So I did a bit of research.  There is no option that I could find within Blogger to place a hit counter on a blog.  Blogger's gadgets allow me to place a random photo of a "hot" Hollywood star on my blog (refreshable with every click), or a photo of Mr. T of A-Team fame, or even a random tip, quote, fact or advice about love.  Alas, the lowly hit counter has been locked out.

So I Googled hit counters and came up with several sites that have many varied counters to choose from.  I selected one, went through the registration process and received my HTML code for the counter of my choice.  All this work only to find out that it isn't supported in any way that I can see.  The site I chose recommended that I embed the code where ever I would like the counter to show up.  What they didn't tell me was that Blogger doesn't allow this. *sigh*

So, in my fantastic ignorance I've been forced to place it just below the description of my blog.  Never fear, I'll continue to try to figure it out.  But if anyone out there would like to offer me some advice I'm not too humble to accept. 

Thanks for reading.  Have a great day.

Trying to Update More Regularly

So, I am going to post 25 things about me. Maybe they will inspire me to write more. Maybe not. We'll see how it works out.

1.) I turned 40 this year. It was harder than I thought it would be.
2.) I am one half of the happiest marriage I personally know of, and have been for the entire 12 years I've been married.
3.) I never wanted to get married until I met my husband. I was 26 at the time.
4.) I just finished knitting my first real project. It is a toddler sweater for my friend Beth's great nephew Joel. I hope that he likes it.
5.) I have a pet stingray. He's a really cool pet. I don't clean his tank enough.
6.) I am both excited and nervous about the bead seminar that I'll be attending in Lake Tahoe later this month.
7.) I really enjoy staying up late/all night long. And my husband really doesn't enjoy when I do.
8.) I am hopelessly addicted to the internet, and I have no desire to attend a program for it.
9.) My dream vacation spot is Ireland and I am really afraid to go because I am afraid that after I get there I won't want to come home - ever.
10.) I'm a Chemo-Angel, and currently enjoying writing to my third buddy. She's a 9 year old girl who has bone cancer.
11.) I love water, and the creatures that live in it.
12.) I am very hot blooded.
13.) I have a son who is the light of my life.
14.) I could spend an hour a day for a month tweezing my eyebrows and they would still need more work.
15.) My hair has been greying since I was 16.
16.) I have the best friend any girl ever had. Hi Beth!
17.) I like emoticons.
18.) Ice cream is my favorite junk food.
19.) When I am in a high place and look down I feel a compulsion to jump. It isn't suicidal, just the urge to leap.
20.) I am a foodie.
21.) I typically do not enjoy the food of any country that I am aware of having ancestry of (before we came to America.)
23.) I miss my grandma every single day of my life.
24.) My most strong desire right now is to know that my existence makes a difference somewhere.
25.) I really want to write, but I'm afraid because it has been so long that I might not be good at it any longer.

Finally finished with her Bead for a Cure Kit!

I am so excited to have this project completed. I am even more excited that for the first time ever, I am absolutely thrilled with the project. I think it is beautiful and am even thinking about attempting to win it back. My best friend says that she is going to win it but that I can borrow it any time I like. She's great like that. And to ensure that I get my article back, I'm not going to tell her when the auctions are. I'm sneaky like that.

I am also looking forward to beginning a new project. I haven't quite settled on one, but I am enjoying myself while I browse through about 40 bead magazines I have at the ready.

Anxiously Awaiting her Beading for a Cure Kit

It should mail to me on the 15th. You can check the link above to the Layne's Legacy Beading for a Cure website. Once there you can view all the projects from years past, and best of all, the projects that are going to be auctioned off in March.

I'm really hoping that this year's beads will speak to me as I remove them from the box. I'm afraid that is wishful thinking, but a girl can dream. Regardless, I am very excited to get my kit and begin my project.

Wishing everyone a Happy New Year

and a year of peace, joy and prosperity.

I think that I've finally decided that this blog is going to be about the projects that I am working on. Most of them are charity work and I am going to dedicate a lot more time to my Etsy store, so there should be plenty to see.

Hope to see you around

Karen

Trying to figure out which way to take this blog

I have a feeling it will be a link to my artistic endeavors or to my charitable contributions - or possibly both as they are usually one in the same.

Karen

really disappointed

Today I made a mistake that lasted for less than a minute and will cost me at least a whole day to clean up.

I made a trip to the grocery store today and somehow I managed to leave my purse in the cart when I returned it. About 30 seconds later I figured out what I did and ran back for the purse that was already misappropriated. In less than a minute, literally.

The police were called, panic ensued and as of just a few hours later someone has been arrested and I have my purse and ID back. Of course the cash was gone - Merry Christmas, and I'll have to spend an as yet undetermined amount of time trying to figure out which credit cards are gone and cancelling a bunch that I should have cancelled a long time ago. But even worse than the cash, which was not a tiny amount is the feeling I have that just isn't right. It feels awful and makes me nauseous.

I'll post more as soon as I figure out how I really feel about the situation. My emotions are conflicted right now.

Actually making good on the promises I made below

One down and one to go. Today I learned how to add links to the blogs I read. For me this is quite an accomplishment. Wander over and have a look at what Beki, Marilee, AJ and Lora are doing. And have a wonderful day!!!

Karen