50 odd things

I received this email from both Dawn and Lindsey.
I have nothing etsy to blog about today. My kids have been not feeling well, so I really have nothing tinteresting to write about. This seems a perfect opportunity to bring in the wuss out post:

50 ODD Things about you! Learn 50things about your friend, and let them learn 50 things about you!

1. Do you like blue cheese? Not especially. Even after living in France I STILL couldnt stomach it.

2. Have you ever smoked heroin? Do you think I am a complete idiot? NO!

3. Do you own a gun? Does a super soaker count?

4. What flavor do you add to your drink at Sonic? I dont eat at Sonic. If I do, I get a milkshake. Usually one involving chocolate of some sort.

5. Do you get nervous before doctor appointments? A little. Usually because I know they are going to weigh me and the doctor is going to jump on my back about complications from being overweight, especially with my family history blah blah blah. Dont really look forward to that.

6. What do you think of hot dogs? Chiciago style, fully loaded. But they have to be REAL Chicago Dogs, not some cheap Mall imitation.

7. Favorite Christmas movie? The Bishops Wife with Cary Grant and Loretta Young. Although I do LOVE the kids Rankin/Bass movies like Rudolph, frosty, santa claus is comig to town etc. Oh and the Charlie Brown Christmas is a tradition. This is a hard question.

8. What do you prefer to drink in the morning? Juice of some srt. Usually I juice oranges, grapefruit and strawberries. YUM.

9. Can you do push ups? I used to. I have poor upper body strength. I always have. I have never been very good at push ups to be quite honest.

10. Age? 31. Although I usually tell people I am 29. Not to hide how old I am, usually I just forget my real age.

11. What's your favorite piece of jewelry? My 3 stone past present and future ring. White gold with 3 round cut diamonds on a filigree band. It is gorgeous. I love it. Even more than my wedding ring.

12. Favorite hobby? Crafting of some sort. Scrapbooking, soaping, making body products, crochet, beading. Anything involving trips to hobby lobby or Michaels.

13. Favorite Actor? Christian Bale...established in 1992.

14. Do you have A D D? Nope.

15. What's one trait you hate about yourself? Hot tempered with a very short fuse. Guess it is the redhead in me.

16. Middle name? Lynn

17. Name 3 thoughts at this exact moment

• I cant wait for spring break to be over. My kids are driving me nuts
• I need to work out in the garden while the weather is nice today
• what am I going to make for dinner tonight?

18. Name 3 things you bought yesterday/today.

• Tomato Plants
• Jalapeno Plants
• Zucchini Plants

19. Name 3 drinks you regularly drink?

• Water
• Orange Tang
• Hot Chocolate

20. Current worry? Paying the bills, having enough money...you know, usual things.

21. Current hate right now? The construction workers redoing the roads in our subdivision. All day every day. I feel like they arent making any progress and our roads are going to be all broken up and rocky for the rest of forever.

22. Favorite place to be? Nags Head or Disney World.

23. How did you bring in the New Year? Well my husband and I have this tradition, and it is none of your business 'cause a lady never tells...

24. Where would you like to go? I have always wanted to go to Madame Tussauds House of Wax. Ever since I was a little girl. We finally went to London when I was 14 and my dad said we could go. We saved it for the last day. When we got there the line was wrapped around the building twice. So we weren't able to do it. So that is still #1 on my list.

25. Name three people who will complete this? Probably none. I am doing this on my blog instead of sending it out as an email anyways.

26. Do you own slippers? Nope.

27. What shirt are you wearing? A Sage Green V-neck cotton Tee shirt.

28. Do you like sleeping on satin sheets? No, they conduct static electricity like you would not believe.

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29. Can you whistle? Well I can, but I used to be able to whistle a lot better when I was a kid and had bad teeth. Lindsey, yes there are people who cant whistle. Like my mom.

30. Favorite color? Pink

31. Would you be a pirate? YES! Although I am not sure it would be as cool and sexy as Johnny Depp makes Piracy look.BUT, All that booty and jewels and Gold. I would be right at home.

32. What songs do you sing in the shower? I usually dont sing in the shower. If I do, it is usually some stupid song that I heard that I cant get out of my head.

33. Favorite girl's name? Jillian Sarah.

34. Favorite boy's name? Peter Wallace or Charles Finn.

35.What's in your pocket right now? Don't have pockets

36. Last thing that made you laugh? Adam Corolla on Dancing with the Stars.

37. Best bed sheets as a child? Holly Hobby

38. Worst injury you've ever had? Broke my toe on a side table when it jumped out and bit me.

39. Do you love where you live? LOVE IT! I love the mild winters, the early springs, the hot summers and the beautiful fall. I love being halfway between the mountains and the beach. I love being southern. I love Charlotte.

40. How many TV's do you have in your home? 2

41. Who is your loudest friend? hmmm, I have so many loud friends. It is a toss up between lindsey, Kelly and Dawn.

42. How many dogs do you have? 1. A pit bull boxer mix named Jake. he's so sweet.

43. Does someone have a crush on you? Yep. My hubby. We have been together for 11 years and we are still in love.

44. What is your favorite book(s)? Morning Glory(LaVyrle Spencer), Harry Potter Series, Anne of Green Gables Series, Autobiography of King Henry VIII(Margaret George), Work and the Glory Series(Gerald Lund), Little House on the Prairie series, anything by laurie Notaro, anything by Barbara Kingsolver, Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer, Wayfarer redemption series(Sara Douglass). I read a lot. I Love to read and have many favorites.

45. Where were you born? Cleveland, Ohio

46. What is your favorite candy? Skittles

47. Favorite Sports Team? Carolina Panthers

48. What song would you want played at your funeral?Ding Dong the Witch Is Dead. Just kidding. Probably Beethoven.

49. What were you doing 12 AM last night? sleeping

50. What was the first thing you thought of when you woke up? Darn kids, why are they so freaking loud in the morning??

We've got Owl's

Charlotte, NC is home to a booming Owl population.

The Barred owl (a.k.a. The Hoot Owl) has been making its home here in the Queen City for years, despite steady growth, development, urban sprawl and deforestation.

There is an interesting article here.

Ecologists can't figure it out. Usually in growing, booming cities the Owl population decreases. Not here. Charlotte has an abundance of owls.

We bought a house in an old neighborhood with lots of trees.

One of the older neighborhoods with big yards and lots of trees. Tall trees, small trees, Pines, Oaks, Maples Elms etc.

We have all sorts of birds, bats, squirrles, rabbits, insects...and of course the owls.

Right outside the master bedroom window we have 2 very tall, old trees.

Every night, without fail the Owls let loose. I know we have at least 2.

When I first heard it, I thought it was a goat, eating a cat, stomping on a chihuahua. It was the wierdest thing I had ever heard. I told my mom and dad about it and they said "Oh we have those too, they are owls!".

I thought owls were the soft little who-who-who, like you hear on TV and in the movies.

WRONG! Nowhere near that. (some are, just not MY owls)

These Barred Owls (hoot owls) screech. It is the wierdest thing. You can hear it here. Click on typical call, or variation call. Now it sounds pretty close, just imagine shorter yippier hoots, with a bit of a bleat added to it.

I guess I can get used to it, I kind of tuned them out, sort of like the train that passes through town and blows its horn at 3am.(But thats another blog...)

These owls may be nocturnal, but they definately are NOT shy. they roost wherever they feel like it, many times out in the open for the world to see. At night they will just come down and sit on out driveway, they will fly to the end of the streets and roost on the signposts. They have no fear and dont care.

So despite the fact they scared the crap out of me when I first moved in they can stay. I havent had to set out mouse traps for 4 years! Thanks to my little friends who live outside my window.

Some Moo Card Ideas

As many of you know, I am now obsessed with Moo Cards.

So I have been messing around in my photoshop and Illustrator, trying to come up with some cool Moo Cards for my shop. I just havent been able to come up with any. I will probably end up just taking pictures of my products and use those.

But while messing around I had an idea for a "Landmarks around the world" idea. I only have like 5 of them done so far. I am going to take recognized landmarks from around the world and photoshop them in cool ways. I dont know what I would do with them, but I had fun playing.

Here were just a few that I did.

Big Ben, Eiffel Tower, Leaning Tower of Pisa, Parthenon .

I am thinking about doing Taj Mahal, Statue of Liberty, Golden Gate Bridge,

St Louis Gateway Arch, Colosseum in Rome and a few others.

Like I said I dont really know what I would do with them. I just thought it would be cool to have little cards with different world landmarks on them.

But obviously I am not going to spend 20$ plus shipping for cards with landmarks. I will use that money for cards that are relavant to my business.

But I had fun making these and it isnpired me to save my money so I can go and visit(or revisit) some of my personal favorite landmarks.

Turn on the Water Works, dear

I am a crier. I am famous for shedding tears at things that are not even remotely sad.
My Best Friend, Lindsey, drew a charicature of me one at various movies with my varying degrees of sobs. Little tiny tears, more tears, bawling and Niagara falls.

But here are some things that I cry at, and have cried at in the past:

1. Harry and the Handersons. Yes the stupid movie about Bigfoot. In the end when they had to say goodbye and let him go back into the forest and he was back with his own bigfoot-ians. I cried. I was happy that he was back with his own. I was sure he missed them and rejoiced to be home.

2. City Slicker. Bad guys...gun...Norman the cute little calf. Need I say more? "Noooo! Not Norman!!!"

3. Romeo and Juliet (The old version with Olivia Hussy and Leonard Whiting). Cried because it was true love and they killed themselves. Now thats passion.

4. Titanic...well in all honesty Lindsey, Pam and I were all bawling like little girls in THAT one.

5. Lady Jane Grey(with Helena Bonham Carter and Cary Elwes). Historical romance about the ill fated Lady Jane Grey and her husband Lord Dudly. Cried when they were executed after just finding love.

6. Hallmark Commercial: Take your pick. The one I cry the most at is when the young student comes in and gives his teacher a hallmark card to tell her thank you for all the extra hard work in helping him with his reading...and he is reading it to her. GAH!

7. A Baby Story. Every time a baby is born I cry. The mother is relieved and crying and happy, I am am crying because SHE is crying.

8. Extreme Home Makeover Home Edition. If there is a widow or a sick child, forget about it. I am toast.

9. A Kodak Picture: Kodak was running a photo contest and they had a whole slew of photographs blown up and on display at Good Morning America or the Today Show. There was one picture of a boy on a tire swing over a lake. The sun was setting, he wa swinging out over the lake and his fingers were kind of trailing in the water. Cried like a 2 year old.

10. Tombstone: Yes my favorite rock em sock em cowboy movie EVER. Cried when the brother got shot through the Billiard Hall Window.

11. Boys in the Hood. I had to watch this for my "Americans in Film" class in college. Cried when Ricky got Mowed down by a gang shooting. He had his whole life ahead of him and a football scholarship and a baby at home. He had just received word that his SAT scores were good enough to go to college. Then at the end of the movie find out that his brother was killed shortly thereafter as well. cried cried cried. Did I mention I cried?

12. The Nanny. Yes Fran Drescher sitcom now on syndicated reruns on Lifetime. I LOVEd this show and I DVR them and rewatch them. Well yesterday they had the Mothers Day Episode (from the 1st season). As you know the Sheffields mother died and a few years later Fran becomes the nanny. Mr Sheffield doesnt like to talk about his dead wife and kind of tries to keep the kids busy and otherwise occupied over Mothers Day weekend. Well they joined a country Club and Fran joins a mother daughter contest with The youngest and one of the contestants finds out that Fran is the Nanny and not the mother and makes a big stink about it, thus upsetting the little girl, Grace. Well Grace wasnt upset that she was remembering her mother and it was making her sad, she was upset because she DIDNT remember her mother and Mr Sheffield would never talk about her. So in the end Mr Sheffield puts in a video tape of old home movies of the mother with the kids playing Badminton together and Little Grace and the mother are hugging and waving to the camera and she remembers. I was BAWLING. Shoot I am crying right now as i type. Charles was like "Are you CRYING??? At the NANNY???"

Ok there you have it. I wear my heart on my sleeve. My emotions run high and I cry at the drop of a hat...and this is only the tip of the iceburg!

Moooooo, Mooooooo...Moo

I have heard nothing but Moo on etsy and in the etsy forums.
I found out they were a printing company and something about mini business cards or whatnot. i didnt think I would have any use for them.
Then on Etsy Resources they have a section specifically for Moo.
MOO IS FREAKING AWESOME! You can read about them here.
I INSIST upon you reading this article.

There is even an announcement that Moo and etsy have teamed up for a promotion.

The ideas that the etsy labs used for moo blew my mind.
My mind has been working overtime since I discovered this article.

i am thinking about applying for a spot in the upcoming crafting patch show here in charlotte.(thanks socaligirl!) I also have a show in October I am doing. I already have business cards that I love, but i really love the idea of stickers and using mini cards as garlands.

I am going to have to get my camera busy busy busy and get cracking!

Moo also has photos and designs already done for those who dont want to mess with their own photos.


You can get a pack of mini cards and have up to 100 designs! How awesome is that?
Sticker books are the same.

The prices are super reasonable.

So follow the etsy promotion link to Moo.
decide what you want to do and click on your product
it will ask you to enter your etsy username and password
then it will pull up all of your pictures in your listings and you can choose from those which ones to upload and print off.

IDEAS for moo:(on the etsy article)

garland
Hang Tags
Stickers
trading cards
playing cards
place cards
Backgrounds for your jewelry products
freebies
holiday tags
postcards

and more.

If you read the article, you will be so inspired. I am just amazed at the awesome things they did with the moo!


Dont have etsy?? You can go directly to http://www.moo.com
upload and fire off at will!

Well i am off to update some pictures so i can join the moo revolution.

Can i speak to Mrs McBridge?

My name is Sarah McBride. MICK-BRIDE.
How hard is that? Honestly?

Growing up my name was Sarah Koch. (any takers on the pronounciation of that??)
It was pronounced "Cook".

Growing up I heard Sarah Kotch, Sarah Couch, Sarah Cock, Sarah Coke, and a few other ones that some nasty boy in my neighborhood called me.

I went to College at Utah State University. I went to a church ward there and the ward clerk couldnt read his own handwriting when I said my name and spelled it for him. On the church roster I was immortalized as Satach Coch. SERIOUSLY??
To this day 14 years later my roommate and dear friend STILL calls me Satach.

How hard is it? S-A-R-A-H space K-O-C-H. try spelling your last name for any reservation agent and it takes ages.for example. Booking a flight from Salt Lake City to Chicago O Hare:

agent: Last name?
me: Koch. K-O-C-H.
agant : C-o-c-h.
me. No. K-O-C-H
agent: sorry K-o-c-k
me: NO! Koch. It is spelled K-O-C-H.
agent: Cooh?
me. K as in kangaroo, O as in octopus, C as in cookie H as in Harry. KOCH
agent: koch
me. yes.
agent: ok miss kotch...

But when my tickets arrived it was spelled Coch.Had to get them changed.

We would get phone calls from telemarketers looking for the Couches, the cocks, the Cooches, the Kotches. One day one man called and asked to speak to Mrs. Knock.
I said " I am sorry, there is no onw here by that name" and hung up.

A few years later I met my husband, with a nice easy last name. McBride. I though "woo hoo! an end to the misery and constant name correction."
WRONG.

Not long after I was married The phone rang.

me: Hello?
other person: Can I speak to Mrs McBridge?

I have heard Mc bird, Mc bridge, and my fave Mrs Mac Birdie.

oh well. I guess it never ends, no matter HOW easy your last name.

ETSY, It's all about YOU!

1. I was sad to learn about the closing of etsytools.
There is always one idiot who has to ruin it for someone.
So whoever sent the death threat because you couldnt get your way on a FREE site, you are an asshat and I hope you get hit by a bus.


2. I am listing some of my photocards on Blueboygifts. I have one listed but will be listing more.
They are a 5x7 card with envelope. They can be framed or used as a card in general.
they sell for $4
Blank on the inside they are a wonderful all occasion card.

3. Why is it so darn hard to snag a treasury?



4.I found this little number from momscott over at etsy. Isn't it FABU?!?!?!? I put it on my fave's and am watching it with an eagle eye. It is Hill Tribe silver. I can see this on my wrist for casual, dress up and every day. I LOVE this bracelet. You can see the listing here.


5. Please buy 68$ worth of products from me so I can buy said bracelet. HAH!




6. Sew Gracious has done it again. I am sitting here having purse lust. I LOVE the purse I bought from here back in February. I take it everywere, I get compliments on it every day. I want one of each. So beware Sewgracious, you have a customer for life. Listing for this little beauty is here.


7. Now go buy $40 worth of products from me so I can buy said purse.




8. Check out The Storque. Their Etsy Success Stories are very inspiring. Makes us realize we can ALL be etsy success stories. They featured Moop, and I am ready to go gung ho!



9. No go buy all my stuff so I can be an etsy success story!

P.S. On a personal Note, HAPPY 40th BIRTHDAY to my brother Patrick (sunshine)