My Favorite Things

Just a quickie post today - I promised K. that we'd go to the beach after we eat, so we need to hustle! I've been wanting to share a few of my Etsy favorites for a while, so here they are:

This is a carved ostrich egg by Eggstreme - this is just phenomenal! The shop is owned by Mike Sims in Huntsville, AL. Visit eggstreme.etsy.com to see all his gorgeous items.

This item fascinates me!! I have featured it in several treasuries. It's a pencil urchin by jenmaestre. She has them in different colors, or can do something custom.

My final favorite to share today is anything from ENUWBE's shop. This lady has made a commitment to (as her banner says)
organic, sustainable, eco friendly clothing. For example, this dress is, amazingly enough, made primarily from bamboo fiber. She has a lot of wonderful designs in her shop, and custom makes each order to fit her client. Visit her at http://enuwbe.etsy.com/.

Have a great Wednesday, all!

The Bird Feeder (AKA DH vs. the squirrels)

We are trying to make RV life a little more homey, since we're going to be doing this until the house in Orlando sells. So I bought an inexpensive birdfeeder so that we could enjoy watching a little of the feathered wildlife at our campground.

DH (being the family's resident engineer) took on the task of hanging the bird feeder from a nearby tree. He threw a piece of thick twine over a branch, fastened the bird feeder to one end about 6 feet off the ground, and tied the other end to a concrete block on the ground. The bird feeder was actually about 2 inches away from the trunk of the tree, which looked like perfect squirrel food to me, but I decided to keep quiet and watch the story unfold.

We spent the rest of the afternoon watching the squirrels hang by their back feet from the tree, while their front feet held on to the feeder and they enjoyed the bird seed buffet.

DH decided he would slide the line of twine further out along the branch to get the bird feeder away from the trunk. The next morning we found the feeder on the ground, its contents spilled out, and the cord still dangling from the tree.

Determinedly, DH refastened the bird feeder to the twine, and the next day, the feeder was again on the ground. DH said he was beginning to feel like Bill Murray in Caddyshack (remember the gopher?).

DH's latest ploy was to straighten a wire clothes hanger, and use that to fasten the bird feeder to the hanging twine. So far, so good - I just saw a squirrel sitting on the feeder, helping themseles, but at least the wire isn't breaking :o)














Just listed a new item on CellChic yesterday. I LOVE this bead that I picked up at the Rings & Things Bead Tour in Orlando recenly. It's made out of Black Lip Shell (that was a new one for me) and Mother of Pearl in a great checked pattern.

No Strap Holes? No Problem!

As you may be able to tell from my Etsy shop name, I'm crazy about cell phone charms. I love the way they add an individual's own personal style to their phone. A lot of people have told me that their phones don't have the strap holes to thread the charm straps through. After some research, I found a product that does a great job of solving this problem.

It's a little round acrylic strap button, which has adhesive on the back to stick to your phone. Once it's firmly secured to your phone, you can get your cell phone looking stylish by threading through the phone charm of your choice. Some people even put more than one on and hang multiple charms on their phones.

The button is approximately 9/16" in dismeter (about 14mm) and is about 7/32" high (about 5.5mm).



Check it out at cellchic.etsy.com!

Things I Learned Last Week

I learned a few interesting things last week I thought I would share:

1) Don't trust a Garmin when you are driving around Clearwater, FL...the roads are all smushed together and Lola (our name for our Garmin) really can't tell if we're on Hwy 19, a frontage road, or a SuperTarget parking lot. Hopefully your Garmin will get you in the vicinity; then you'll have to follow your nose and get really good at doing U-turns.

2) You can't really MAKE anyone else do anything that they really don't want to do. Well, that's really all I can say about that!

3) When your cat hides just before you leave for a car trip, think of the last place you would look for her, and then go look there first. Take reinforcements with you to help drag her out of her hiding place.

4) No matter how hard you try to pack everything you need, you will end up making a run to the SuperWalMart at 3 a.m.

5) Some people have small children at the SuperWalMart at 3 a.m.

6) A good night's sleep makes everything seem better :o)

7) Checking your Etsy shop 50 times a day will not help anything sell.

Donna's SkyVenture Flight

I had a great experience today - I visited SkyVenture Orlando, an indoor skydiving wind tunnel. I've always wanted to try it, and finally went. I had some trepidation about hurling my 54-year-old body into a 125 mph blast of air, but I worked up my courage and did it...it was great fun!

We had a training session with our instuctor, who showed us the basic belly down position and hand signals...the hardest part of that for me was climbing up and down off the practice table without hurting myself :o) We put on flight suits, goggles, ear plugs, and helmets, and headed off to the wind tunnel.

I had psyched myself up to put aside my fears and dive into the chamber like a stuntwoman in a spy movie - until we got downstairs and I saw paramedics working on a guy (about my age) who was clutching his shoulder and appeared to be in excruciating pain. Thank goodness my 14-year-old daughter was there, and I was trying to set a brave example for her - otherwise I would have made a break for the exit!

As you can see from this video, there was no reason to worry, my two 1-minute flights were great! I also included a little demonstration at the end by our instructor Chris, who shows what you can do with a little (or a lotta) practice.