CALLING ALL YOU OPINIONATED FREAKS OUT THERE… Hey there doods. I am having some difficulties with damn paint colors for my new craft room/office. I like too many. I’m just curious what you like. Ultimately, I will choose what makes me happy, not what makes you happy. But I am just curious as to what you think about these colors and if you think I am nuts. Well, we all know I’m nuts, but…. I mean, as far as paint colors go…..

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE COLORS I LIKE and tell me if you like any of them.

I chose these colors because I am looking to be uplifted in this room. I know the plum one isn’t THAT uplifting, but I fell in love with it. The other ones are bright and cheery though.

This post is going to be half rant half “HELP!”.

I am having a hard time understanding what is going on with selling handmade goods. I see a ton of people making things and selling them for prices I could only dream of commanding. They are making things I can make. Yet I cannot seem to sell them, even at much lower prices. Perhaps I haven’t branded myself correctly or enough? I don’t know what it is, but its driving me nuts.

Could it be that I price them so low that people might think they are not made very well?

The problem lies with the fact that I am afraid. I need money so badly that I am afraid of charging too much and driving people away. I myself am… whats the word…. CHEAP! I tend to price my own items at a price that I myself would pay for them. I seem to forget that not everyone is as poor as I am and can afford to pay outrageous prices for things simply because they just HAVE to have it.

Also, I am used to Ebay. People are used to looking for deals on Ebay and won’t pay what they would if they bought the item elsewhere. But I need Ebay. I need it to pay my bills. So I end up pricing low enough to make a small profit. Now I joined Etsy.com and have barely had any sales. (Don’t just go by what I have for sale in there now. Its not stocked properly because I am in the process of moving.)

Take ribbon key fobs as an example. I made a shitload of them. I mean hundreds of them. I put them up for sale at half the price others were selling theirs for. I sold 2. I have a big fucking box of them sitting here. At this point, I don’t even think I could give them away. People who saw them in person loved them and at first I thought that was the problem. I thought that it was because people weren’t seeing them in person, but online. But then that theory was shot to hell when I see other people selling them for double! Also, I had a few wholesale customers who stocked my stuff in their brick and mortar stores and it sold very quickly. They sold it better than I could. WTF? I don’t get it. It’s very frustrating. I just saw some fabric doll on Ebay selling for over $100. I could make that doll. In an hour or less. Huh??

And this problem is also the reason why I make so many different things. Maybe I am putting too little time into so many things. Maybe I need to just focus on ONE thing and make that my niche. But I don’t want to put all of my eggs into one basket. This is a matter of survival for me and dammit, if my ship is going to go down, at least I will have tried many things instead of just one.

I don’t know anymore.

So I’m supposed to close on my new house sometime next week. My realtor gave me this packet with information about utilities, etc. One sheet had the web address for Family Watchdog, which I had heard about before but never checked out.

The purpose of Family Watchdog is to locate registered sex offenders in your area. Their About Us page gives the following info:

1. 1 of 5 girls and 1 of 6 boys will be molested before their 18th birthday.
2. 90% of all sexual assaults against children are committed by someone whom the victim knew.
3. The typical sexual predator will assault 117 times before being caught.
4. The re-arrest rate for convicted child molesters is 52%.

Well, Jeff and I both know all about #1 on that list, personally. It was very hard for me to go to this site. We all know sexual predators are everywhere, but to actually see them on your street and to see pictures of their ugly, fucked-up faces. Here is the little map that pops up for my new address:

There’s my little house in the middle and there’s all the motherfuckers who like to touch children. Their names and faces will be burned into my brain and if I ever catch any one of them next to my children…. well lets just say I’ll be writing my blogs from prison.

I made a little video of my daughter Samantha. She’s 18 months old already. Crappy camera. Not very exciting for non-family people to watch (maybe).

I was off to Target today to spend the $ on a gift card I received from Jeff’s mommy for my upcoming birthday. The card was intended for the purchase of the Hello Kitty sewing machine. I figured Target would only have it available online, and I was correct. Its not in the store. But thats okay because I decided against it last week anyway. The reason is because its turns out its not a full-size machine, but a smaller “portable” type machine. The whole purpose of getting a new one was because I am ready to upgrade to something a little more advanced than what I have now. Although its looks darling, I’m not quite sure its as functional as I’d like it to be. Since its not in the store, I can’t really see for myself. I ended up buying another machine instead, but I’m not going to open it until after we move into the new house.

These were waiting for me when I got home! Its some Japanese fabric I ordered and I can’t wait to use the new sewing machine to make some cute stuff!

My mom in law sent me a funny b-day card with dumbo Bush on it:

So whenever I have a lot of work to do, I find other “important” things to do. Its 5 a.m. and I’m still awake. The kids are sleeping and I LOVE this time to myself, even if it means I’ll feel like crap after getting a few hours of sleep. A little while ago, I made another soldered glass pendant, but this time I used those glass marbles used for floral displays, etc…





I’m excited because I’ve never soldered anything round before and I only burned myself three times. The pain is fine with me. I will suffer for my art!

[ x-posted at Craftster ]

(I’m so dumb. I accidentally deleted the last post which had pics of sammy on the drums, etc. I’m too lazy to do it over again.)

I was finally able to get her hair into a ponytail, although it didn’t last long. What a pretty princess! I never thought I’d have a little girl. Its the best thing ever!

So we signed the papers today for our new house. We close on the 20th!!! We are having the house inspected tomorrow and hopefully everything is okay. I can’t believe we’ll be moving so soon. I am not prepared.

After much research, I have given myself a psychology degree and have diagnosed myself with Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder. If you look at that link, the things that pertain to me are:

1. “anxious about delegating tasks for fear that they won’t be completed correctly”
2. “tend to stress perfectionism above all else, and feel anxious when they perceive that things are not ‘right’”
3. “unable to complete a project because his or her own overly strict standards are not met”
4. “Excessive devotion to work and productivity to the exclusion of leisure activities and friendships”
5. “Preoccupation with details, rules, lists, order, organization, bodily functions, or schedules to the extent that the major point of the activity is lost”

Extra extra bold there on the “lists” part. I have a list for everything. And they end up being completely useless.

If you wiki “personality disorder” you can see the other disorders. There are several other disorders that pertain to me, but really… I think they pertain to almost everyone. But this OCPD is the one that really describes me. There are a lot of things listed in the anti-social personality disorder section that describe me in a nutshell too. The fact of the matter is… I hate people. Plain and simple.