…smoothie on my hands…
About half an hour ago I was sitting in the doorway of my apartment sobbing my eyes out. You guys know me, I never cry unless something’s bad wrong. I bottle everything up- plus, I hate crying. I’m not one of those women who can cry and look pretty. No, when I cry I look like this. My face scrunches up and my makeup dissipates into faux black eyes.
So what devastated my world tonight? The whole day had me bottling up bad stuff after bad stuff, but the straw that broke the camel’s back was my big ol’ evil blender eating my sweet little spatula in the middle of blending a smoothie. Sickly pink strawberry banana yogurt goo went EVERYWHERE, joined by a few colorful metaphors. It looked a lot like this. I didn’t know there were so many crevices in this little kitchen. At first I tried to clean it up but then I moved the blender base and saw puddles of glop coating the counter. I dropped the spatula back into the puddle and stumbled out onto the stoop for some fresh air. I looked up at the twilight sky and the tears just came. Funny how one little explosion can just release so much tension. I sat on the stoop and sobbed my eyes out, which brought Cameron out to see what was wrong. (He doesn’t really know yet how to handle me when my eyes leak.) I croaked out, “Go…see….the kitchen! buahhh huhhh huhaahhhuuhhhh!” *sniff* He came back a minute or two later with my dad on the phone. When in doubt, call Dad, right? Dad managed to calm me down and talked me through the day, and helped me understand that it’s all going to work out. He convinced me that the blender eating the spatula is not the end of the universe and that life will go on and get better. My sweet neighbor heard me wailing on the steps and came to see if I was OK, and she hugged me several times and soothed me as well. I’m a blessed girl to have such good people in my life. Sitting there on my stoop, my hands covered in smoothie, I realized….Life has its good days and bad days but it always goes on.
And yes, there actually has been plenty of crap going on for me to get this tense. It started on Friday, when Cameron woke up with intense pain on his lower right abdomen. I freaked out, thinking it was appendicitis, and rushed him to the ER. They did tests and scans, poked and prodded on him, and decided it’s not appendicitis but they don’t know what it is. Because the ER sources are limited, they sent him on home and we crossed our fingers that the pain would go away. It hasn’t. On Tuesday we saw a GI specialist, and this morning had a colonoscopy. It’s not Crohn’s disease, thank God, but now we really don’t know what it could be. We decided to try to cut down on gluten, to see if that helps him, and it might be IBS. We’ll know in a week or two after pathology comes back. I swear, he and I have more health issues put together than a normal group of 10 people.
So because of all the medical stuff, I’m really worrying about money. I know God always provides, and I’m thankful Cameron has insurance through his dad’s job, but that doesn’t stop me from worrying about what we’re going to do when the bills come rolling in during the next few weeks. Cameron is not feeling too great about himself because he’s not been able to work, but I keep telling him it’s not his fault he’s got these stomach issues and he just needs to get better. As it is, his boss is having to stick to hard-ass policies about it, and is making noises about needing to find someone else if Cameron can’t get better. I can understand where he’s coming from, in a business sense, but seeing as I come from 7 years experience in a family-owned-and-operated company, where medical issues are handled with grace and dignity and certainly no belittling or threatening of job status, this is all foreign to me. I worked my butt off today getting him retroactive doctor’s notes, since the ones we had weren’t good enough for the bossman (again, something I’ve never had to do.) Thank heaven we don’t rely on his income but it certainly helps. We went and talked to a friend of a friend who just took over a company here in town, who we had heard was looking for help, and he said he actually didn’t need help but would keep his info. Back to the classifieds for a better job, I guess, and here’s hoping he can keep the current job long enough to have it as a decent reference.
And then, as if all that wasn’t enough, we’re trying to buy a house. I’m tired of renting and putting my hard earned money towards someone else’s mortgage, second car, or whatever. We found out there’s really nothing in our price range up here, so we’ve been looking in Lenoir. We absolutely fell in love with a house down there, but I got the call from our Realtor today that the selling agent wanted our highest and best offer, and she’d done some research about monthly payments and discovered that the payments on our initial offer would be more than we can safely pay. Because of that, we’ve withdrawn the offer. That hurt- we kind of fell in love with the house. It was a 4br/2ba in a great neighborhood, pretty private, and was upgraded. So now I guess we’re back to looking at homes we could eventually fix up. I know our Realtor has our best interests in mind, and even more than that, God has the best house for us out there, but I’d really love to find it here in the next few weeks seeing as how we have to be out of this apartment by July 28th at the latest.
The right house will come along, God will help us handle the money for all these procedures Cameron has had to have, and He also has the right job for Cam. It’s just a matter of me actually remembering that and putting shoes to my words.
To Pill or Not To Pill: My Take on the Birth Control “Issue”
As the political race for the Presidential nominations gets faster, so does the mudslinging and the taking of stances that really aren’t, in light of the bigger picture, such a big deal. One of these issues, a very important one to me and thousands of women like me, is the issue of birth control.
Now let me say here and now that I was raised in a conservative Christian home. I still hold many of those conservative values. However, I believe the issue of birth control has been blown way out of proportion and has been focused on a little too much in light of other social issues.
As I think I’ve mentioned on this blog before, I found out last year that I have PCOS, short for polycystic ovarian syndrome. Basically that means I have cysts all over my ovaries, which will make it hard for me to have kids one day, and it also means that without medication, I get the most horrific cramps known to femalekind at any time of month, among other unpleasant symptoms. It’s not the most unusual affliction out there; according to my ob/gyn, about 10% of women have it. Ladies who have it can attest: it’s no fun! The good thing is, the cramps and other issues are kept under control by birth control, usually the Bayer line called BeYaz. I was barely able to believe the improvement in that aspect of my health when I got on the medication.
So when I heard that some well-known conservative politicians and pundits are focusing on access to birth control, rather than much more important issues like fixing the economy, I became upset. I do agree that there are some who abuse the fact that they’re on birth control, but what this means for countless women like me is serious.
It seems to me that a big part of the controversy is whether or not insurance should cover birth control for women of reproductive ages. One side says yes, one side says no. I’m in the middle. I believe that birth control is a choice, not a requirement, for a lot of women, and if it’s not medically necessary, then insurance should not need to pay for it. But if a doctor discovers that a woman has some medical condition with symptoms affecting her day to day life, and said condition would be improved by taking regular contraceptives, then insurance should cover it, as it’s in their best interest to keep the woman from needing more complex and expensive procedures if possible. That being said, my insurance won’t cover it, but I think that’s more due to the type of insurance I have as opposed to their policies in general. (Note: This post is not about whether or not all people should have insurance.)
I honestly don’t know why so many people are blasting it. I’ve not seen one argument in a public forum based around women needing it for health reasons- I’ve just seen arguments made by middle aged and older men that, when boiled down, basically state “Women today are having too much sex! Now get off my lawn!” If they’d actually stop and talk to healthcare providers about the women needing the pill, I suspect they’d find a rather surprising number are using it for health reasons, rather than for contraceptive reasons.
But then, when have politics ever been based around logic and common sense?
My Review of Rosewood
Originally submitted at Diamond Candles
Long lasting roses and a woody, earthy blend of sandalwood touched with a hint of musk and patchouli make for an exotic and complicated fragrance that those with distinguished tastes will really appreciate. Who do you have special in your life that deserves something that will out last and out smel…
Love it!
Pros: Long Lasting, Pleasant Scent, Easy To Clean Up, Durable, Safe, Attractive Design
Cons: Burns Too Quickly
Best Uses: Ambiance, Scent, Gifts, Decoration
Describe Yourself: Budget Shopper
I was a little worried that the scent would be very strong, as I have fragrance insensitivities, but it was just right. The scent isn’t too “old lady-ish” either- the sandalwood is the perfect complement to the rose. The fragrance filled my little apartment after just a few minutes of burning. The ring inside was a lovely silver and blue ring. Not a mega-bucks one, but it’s one that I’ve worn nearly every day since getting it out (and for those worried about the ring being covered in wax, no worries- it’s in a little plastic bag wrapped in gold foil.) My only complaint was that it seemed to burn a little too fast. Love it and have already recommended Diamond Candles to several friends!
(legalese)
Update on life
Disclaimer: I’m postig this from my phone; please forgive any typos of which there are sure to be many.
So anyway, merry Christmas and happy new year etc etc. My holiday season was wonderful, and the best part easily was connecting with my new love on Christmas Day. I was randomly browsing POF that evening, clicking a big fat NO on most guys, when Cameron’s profile showed up. He’s got striking dark blue eyes so I read his info, was impressed, and clicked yes. The next day he sent me a message and we just completely clicked. We met two days later, on Dec 28, and we’ve been inseparable ever since. We became official on New Years Day. He’s sweet and funny and very intelligent- I can actually hold a decent conversation with him without feeling dumb or like I’m being talked down to. I’m very excited to see how this one will turn out….I got no plans to let him go, and he says he won’t let me go. (Understandably, after what happened with Ceec, I’m skittish still.) I think Cam is a better guy all around, though.
And of course I’m still cooking up a storm. Last night I made toasted ravioli for dinner, and I’d made homemade peanut butter cups Thursday for Cam. Both were a huge hit. It gives me enormous satisfaction and pleasure to see the man I love eating and enjoying something I created.
And my biggest news….I launched a website for my photography. Www.memoriesbycassandralea.com is the address. It’s actually another wordpress site, but I’ve set it up gallery style with themed posts. The first day I launched it, I had 189 views- that is incredible! I put up two posts yesterday and have gotten about 130. For the site to be one week old and already getting traffic like that is unbelievable. Tells me I’m doing something right.
An open letter to guys on POF
Well, really this letter applies to any man on an online dating site.
Dear Guys,
Clearly some of you need some tips on what makes a profile successful on an internet dating site. Keep in mind that your profile shows you to a potential date- so why again did you not put effort into making it good?
Please be aware that if your profile makes any of the following mistakes, I’m not going to be interested enough to click “Yes” on you.
1. No picture
2. Picture of you with other girls- and yes, I can tell when you’ve cropped them out. Somehow I really don’t think your arm has long curly hair.
3. Picture of you turned 90° the wrong way (Seriously- this is an easy fix!)
4. Bad grammar, especially in your headline
5. Next to no info in your profile- how am I supposed to learn anything about you?
If you want a decent girl (such as yours truly!) to click that she is interested in you, please look into fixing the afore-mentioned items. Kthanx.
Love,
Cashmere621
Lazy Ruffled Scarf
What’s a girl to do with an old t-shirt? Well, if you’re like me, donate it to Goodwill. But some brilliant woman somewhere along the line decided to get crafty with them and turn them into scarves. I was (as usual) wasting time browsing on Pinterest one evening when I ran across this delightful idea, and promptly pinned it to my Crafty Stuff board.
Now anyone that knows me, knows that I don’t generally gravitate towards ruffly things. But the caption caught my eye- “3-4 no sew scarves made out of old t-shirts”. I had to know more. The link on the Pin led to a blog linked to an instructional video on just how to accomplish this. I watched the video that night, and made a mental note to look through the clearance rack next time I was at the store.
Sure enough, Sunday afternoon found me at the Wal-Mart, and by some fluke I actually remembered to look through the clearance rack to see if they had any cheapo knit tees. Sure enough, I found two 2XL chocolate brown tank tops for $3 each. Done! I used one top last night to test the method, and sure enough it worked, so tonight I documented the steps to do it as I could not find another blog listing the steps out for people like me who learn via reading, not by watching a movie.
What You’ll Need: A big T-Shirt or tank top (I went for a 2XL), scissors, fabric glue, and a circle about 8-9″ diameter. (I cut the flat bottom out of a 10.25″ styrofoam plate.)
Cut off the bottom seams of the shirt. Cut off the top of the shirt just under the armpit seams.
This will leave you with a stretchy tube. If you want, you can just stretch and pull on it like a saltwater taffy machine and call it an infinity scarf. I’m not a fan of that look so we’re going to keep going.
Cut the side seams completely out of the tube. You should now have two panels of fabric.
** This is a good time for me to mention how essential it is to make sure you’re working with jersey knit fabric. Why? It’s super soft, won’t wrinkle, is stretchy, and best of all won’t fray! That’s why the original pattern calls for use of an old T-Shirt. I go on closet cleaning sprees every 2-3 months, donating the castoffs to Goodwill, so I didn’t have any broken in shirts to use, but the new bought items worked perfectly.
Set aside one of the panels. Take your circle guide and figure out where to cut to get 4 or 5 portions out of each panel. I was able to get four out of each panel of my tank top. If you notice, those are not circles just yet- I didn’t have a light colored pencil to trace around the circle, so I cut out the square around it.
Make certain that you end up with a long rectangle from one side of one of the panels. Set it aside- you’ll need it later.
Next, round off the corners of the squares. (See why not tracing the circle pattern earlier was not a big deal?) You should end up with one pile of scrap cloth and one pile of 8-10 circles. Don’t sweat it if the circles are not uniform and are a little lopsided. It won’t matter.
Now comes the fun part! I was distracted talking to people on Facebook during this part, so I forgot to get a photo, but we’re going to take the scissors and cut each circle into a spiral.
(Sorry the photo is a bit blurry! I shouldn’t pick up a camera after having a beer!)
When you hold up one end of your new cloth strip, it should look something like this. See how it naturally wants to curl around itself? Help it along by stretching. You heard me. Hold one end and run your other hand down the strip while stretching it. It’ll curl even more- and it’s kind of fun to do!
Repeat that for the other circles. You should now have a nice pile of curly cloth strips. If you cut your spirals like I do, you’ll have one pointy end and one blunt, rounded end. This is perfect.
Take two strips and glue the pointy ends together, one right on top of the other with the long curly ends going in different directions. Essentially, double the length of the curlycue. Repeat for the other pairs. You’ll probably have to hold together the glued part for a few seconds to set up the bond, and be careful when moving the newly glued pieces around until the glue sets up.
Not quite the Golden Arches…..but you get the point. Because I had 8 circles, I ended up with 4 pairs of strips.
Next, stack the glued parts on top of each other, bing bang boom done. Remember that rectangular piece I had you hold out earlier? Now is its time to shine! Round off its corners into a big oval and put a spiral slice into it as well. It won’t be quite as curly as the others, but that’s OK too.
Take this new short strip you just made and tie it in a Larks Head knot around the four glued pieces. (If you need a reminder how to tie a Larks Head knot, click here.) Gently tug the knot tight.
DONE!
Scarves really don’t get easier, cuter, or more eco-friendly, folks! I rocked mine today with an aqua shirt and a denim jacket as needed. With my baked marble earrings and nerdy glasses, it was the perfect fall look!
Supplies Needed (and my cost to buy them)
1 old T-Shirt or a cheap tank top ($3 at Walmart but this could well be in your closet!)
Aleene’s Fabric Fusion glue ($5 at Walmart)
Scissors (If you don’t have these on hand already there is a problem)
Paper plate (pennies)
Video for the original idea here.
All photos and text in this entry copyright 2011 Cassandra L. Hartley.
Because I Can!
November 21, 2010 was the last day I suffered with horrible, debilitating back pain from that hiking accident in 2008. The difference between where I am now versus where I was one year ago is incredible to me. A year ago I couldn’t even lay on my back without knives of pain shooting down my legs, forget sit in a chair. I had to take my meals laying on the floor (and hoping the cats didn’t help themselves if I turned around for a minute.)
Waking up in the hospital after my surgery and being able to move a leg without waves of intense pain is the most wonderful feeling I have ever experienced.
I told a few close friends that once my back problem was straightened out, I would chase some dreams. And chase I did! In the last year alone, I have:
1. Started in college, mostly just taking classes for my own enrichment rather than in pursuit of a degree
2. Gotten my first aid certification
3. Started my own website about this area, a site that is slowly gaining recognition, and would gain more if I would get off Facebook and actually write more info about it once in a while
3. Gotten my CWP and something to carry with it 
4. Went on my first solo semi-extended vacation- 10 days of driving the Blue Ridge Parkway and documenting it for those back home, under the Cherokee to Skyline banner
5. Successfully got my Real Estate Broker license. I never saw myself becoming a Broker, but it’s something I can take with me no matter where I go in NC….plus you better believe I’m keeping it up after as much as I busted my butt to get it!
6. Moved out on my own in a perfect little apartment, starting to spread my wings and fly
7. Made a lot of wonderful new friends- some in person, some online, but all are valuable to me and I am thankful for each one.
Why did I do all this?
Because I CAN!
I had two years of living to catch up on, and by golly I’m working on it awful hard!
Simply put, this has been the best year of my life, as much of a cliche as that sounds. It’s not been all sunshine and roses, but I’m once again looking forward to what is in store for my life and loving every second of it- before surgery I was dreading the future. Now I can’t wait to see what’s around the next curve in this walk I call Life.
Baked marbles!
I recently got hooked on Pinterest through two lovely friends of mine, and I’ve quickly managed to spend way more time on it than necessary. But it’s not time wasted! One of the first pins I found was for baked marbles. No, that’s not a euphemistic term for a new cookie recipe or something. Quite literally- baked marbles. Like a child’s toy or the things you put in a fish tank or flower vase. Here, I’ll walk you through the process.
First, find your marbles. (If you’re like me, you lost your marbles years ago!!) I found three different kinds at three different stores: classic round ones at Michael’s, large flat semi-spheres at Dollar Tree, and small flat semi-spheres at WalMart (in the fish tank section.) You want translucent ones, not opaque. I got the best results from the small round ones and the large flat semis, but pictured below are the smaller semis, since I didn’t really photograph the process yesterday.
Second, preheat the oven to 350°.
Third, spread the marbles out in a rimmed cookie sheet or a 13×9 pan. I do not own a rimmed cookie sheet so I had to use my cake pan.
While the glass is in the oven, get a metal bowl full of ice water. I keep a pitcher in my fridge filled with filtered water (yes I know how pretentious that makes me sound; however, the well water at my apt is just nasty) so I used a bunch of that since it was already chilled.
As soon as the timer goes off, remove the pan of glass and pour the marbles into the water. The cracking marbles will make a hissing and popping sound like Rice Krispies- very cool and I don’t fully understand how they don’t shatter. (Side note: Cracking Marbles would make an awesome band name. I have dibs on that if I ever learn to play something.)
Dip the ice cubes out of the bowl with a spoon and strain the marbles into a colander.
Spread them out onto a towel to dry and you’re done!
Then that begs the question…..what to *do* with such beautiful items? Well, as anyone who knows me can attest, I am a jewelry maker at heart. But how do you turn a piece of glass without a stringing hole into a beautiful piece of jewelry?
Simple, wire wrapping.
Here’s what I did.
Start out with the piece you want wrapped. Since I’m not the most experienced wrapper out there, I started off with one of the large semis.
Cut two pieces of wire about a foot long each. I used 24ga wire. Twist them together in the center like shown.
There’s no real rhyme or reason to wrapping the wire around the stone- I just crossed and twisted and wrapped enough so it wouldn’t fall out one side. I did not want to make the wraps symmetrical, as I felt that would take away from the organic nature of the piece.
End with two of the wire tails together as shown. (You’ll have a total of four tails- wrap two of them around the other two and snip them close. Make sure you don’t have any sharp ends.) Now how to hang it?
Easy! Wrap the two sticking out tails around something pen-sized. (I didn’t have a pen so I used the clicky part of a highlighter.)
Wrap the wire around the pen and back on itself to secure. Make sure the two piece of wire in the loop stay the same size (I found it’s best to keep the pen in the loop until you get the wires secure.)
Voila, done! A beautiful, one-of-a-kind pendant! I love making these because none of the pieces will ever look perfectly alike, no matter how hard you try- that’s just the nature of cracked glass and wire wrapping.
They make lovely necklace pendants or Christmas ornaments. Give as gifts or keep them for yourself and most of all, have fun creating!
Supplies Needed (and my cost to buy them)
1 bag of florist’s translucent marbles ($1 at Dollar Tree, about $4 at Michael’s)
Spool of 24ga wrapping wire ($3 at WalMart)
Credit for the original idea here. Credit for the instructions I found on wire wrapping here.
All photos and text copyright 2011 Cassandra L. Hartley
This is what I do.
I spent about 3 hours outside yesterday afternoon, happy as a clam all by myself shooting whatever I felt life. I don’t get to do a lot of shooting with other people unless they are fellow nature photographers, because other people (ie my sister and my boyfriend) get fed up with my camera ADD and start griping about me taking pictures of everything in sight. Hey, it’s what I do! I can’t help that I see the world through a camera lens and want to capture it for others to enjoy.
I’ve also softened in my stance regarding post-processing edits. I used to think that if it wasn’t good enough when I took it, it wasn’t good enough at all. Now I upload my raw images, find the ones with the most potential, and edit from there. I don’t do anything super crazy, and I don’t even own Photoshop. Shoot, until I get my photography software from my parents’ house, I’m using picnik.com! I just crop a little, correct the exposure, straighten it up if needed, maybe sharpen it a tiny bit, and put my business name on the bottom. It still looks like a regular picture when I’m done with it. Now when I’m artistically editing a shot, that’s entirely different. I’ll customize the snot out of an image and it’s barely recognizable- but still beautiful- when I’m done.
And I have to say this and get it out there: I don’t do so well shooting people. People who don’t completely understand my photography often see my work on Facebook and go “Ooooh would you photograph my wedding/engagement/_____??” And I have to let them down. See, just because I’m a half-decent nature landscape & macro photographer does not automatically mean I’m a good people photographer (and vice versa, portrait photographers are not automatically good landscape shooters.) I’ve actually never been good at photographing people- when I do it, they almost always look stiff and fake. I don’t have the talent of making them look soft and natural like so many others do. I’ve had to let down several friends over the past few years by telling them that I just couldn’t do their big day justice. I would rather tell them that and have them momentarily disappointed, instead of going ahead and shooting their wedding and have them disappointed for a lifetime. I’ll be happy to attend your wedding, and I’ll give you the names of some friends who are great wedding photographers, but please don’t ask me just because I’m your friend and you like my flower pictures online. Apples and oranges.
(and that paragraph is absolultely not directed at anyone in particular- I’m putting it on record now before I get asked again.)
OK, now that I’ve blathered on for 3 long paragraphs and probably put half of my readers to sleep (the half dozen I have, anyway) I’ll share my favorite shots from yesterday. You know what, I’ll post the original and the edited so you can see what I was talking about two paragraphs ago. Originals on top, click on any image to open it larger in a new tab or window.
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See, nothing too dramatic- just enhancing the beauty of the subject. I love what I do. To see more of my pictures, check out my Facebook page for my photography.
All images solely belong to me, please don’t copy them without asking me first.
Copyright 2011 Memories by Cassandra Lea, Cassandra L. Hartley.
