Strange Days

I'm not normally one to complain about the weather. It is what it is. It's hot in the summer and cold in the winter. I am used to much colder and longer winters, being from Pittsburgh, so the mild and non-extended version here in Virginia Beach is awesome to me. I do however get very confused during the fall here. I love that up until now I haven't yet had a reason to wear a coat. Wearing cardigans and jeans has been a uniform for me since the age of four so the weather has been all kinds of perfect for my geeked out wardrobe. I love that there are two parts to fall here starting with "Autumn" and then becoming "Fall". I love that last week the leaves finally changed, and as I was driving down a very tree lined street on a lovely sunny day, that the leaves were swirling all around me and as the sun broke through the clouds the street glowed in reds and oranges. I, however, do not love that yesterday and its three older sisters were lovely, sunny and 75+ degrees and today it's ugly cousin came to town and she's 54, grey, rainy and has freeze warnings. Having dogs and living in a neighborhood with poor drainage makes me like the rain even less. I used to find it a lovely excuse to stay in my house, curled up reading. Now it means I have muddy creatures creating more work for me. But we can't very well get stationed in the desert so I need to learn to live with it. I am curious to see what they do when it snows.

Henry got out of his harness the other night on our walk. I was having a heart attack. I was kneeling in someone's yard trying to get him to come close enough to me so that I could grab him, while still trying to keep a hold on Molly. It was insanity. He thought it was a game and was running and jumping all over the place. Luckily the person driving by in their truck saw what was going on and slowed way down and kept and eye on him so that they didn't hit him. My nerves were a mess after that and now I'm afraid to take them out until I can figure out how to secure his harness. I know they are supposed to be able to get out of them but he's so squiggly (actual term) that he gets out of everything. I might have to keep putting his Halloween costume on over it until I can make him something that he'll wear that will help secure him into the straps. I can't mentally survive an injured or dead dog on my watch.

In other news, yesterday I became addicted to cucumber water.

My mom gave me this pitcher before we moved here. It's for infused waters and it has a little section in the back and lifts out that's for your fruits and whatevers. It reminds me of those things you put in your fish tank to keep the baby fish from being eaten. I was making a salad and figured, why not? Why not indeed. Why have I not made this before! So I made three pitchers of it. And I only had three or four glasses. That's when I learned that cucumber water is a diuretic. In addition to the 10-20 minute intervals where I has to take a break, I woke up four times last night. My bladder was not happy. But I'm still drinking it. It's refreshing and after one glass you just want more. It's cucumber juice flavored crack. I emailed it to everyone I know. Which pretty much includes Mike on the ship, Alyssa and Scott. But I'm branching out and telling you!

Another strange this is happening right now. I am cleaning like an insane person. And not just straightening up or laundry type of cleaning. Pulling everything out of the cabinets and rearranging and purging type of cleaning. This doesn't happen often so I am trying to take full advantage of it. It's a very bizarre feeling for me to go to bed disappointed because I ran out of time and didn't finish something. I just couldn't stay awake anymore. My usual theory of cleaning is, why should I do it, it's just going to get dirty again. I clean when its necessary. Mostly when I've run out of forks and am too tired to go to the store and buy more or when something smells. Then I am like, oh, it's time. So this is strange indeed my friends.

I am not going to work on any projects until the house is done. Which should be on Friday. I plan on sewing for seven days straight starting Saturday to get things completed for the Etsy store launch the weekend after Thanksgiving. If you look over on the right -------->, no....higher, you'll see that I have the link to the store up. It works, there's just nothing listed yet. I'm really nervous about this. Having my work judged on a scale that people will be paying money for it is a lot of pressure. I know everyone tells me they like the things I have been making and I have taken special orders for things but having a stock of items and giving people options to choose from, it's just a lot mentally to wrap my brain around. Right now the people who have my bags are people I know. This will be complete strangers from around the country carrying them and hopefully loving them as much as I loved making them.

I saw something yesterday that I thought was not so much inspiring as it was encouraging.

It was posted on another blog which she took from someone else. And I was just oh! and copied it for myself and now for the life of me I cannot find or remember who posted it. So if this is yours, please let me know so I can give you credit.