Ok here we go again....try these:
Get your free fairy name here!

My fairy is called Hex Goblinwitch
She is a bringer of riches and wealth.
She lives in places hexed and tainted by black magic.
She is only seen in the enchanted moment between sleep and waking.
She wears black feathers and rose petals. She has gentle green wings like a butterfly.

....not sure I want the word hex or goblin in my name. I have, at times, been known as the Wicked Witch of the West.....or should that be East. LOL


This is the other quiz going round blogland:
what's your names hidden meaning quiz ....use your first & last name for better accuracy

Here's what my name means:
You Are Smart and Curious oh I like this already!
You are a seeker of knowledge, and you have learned many things in your life.
You are also a keeper of knowledge - meaning you don't spill secrets or spread gossip. ah...but gossiping is fun!
People sometimes think you're snobby or aloof, but you're just too deep in thought to pay attention to them.
You are usually the best at everything ... you strive for perfection. how true!
You are confident, authoritative, and aggressive. .....I'd prefer to be assertive!
You have the classic "Type A" personality.
You are wild, crazy, and a huge rebel. You're always up to something. totally NOT true!
You have a ton of energy, and most people can't handle you. You're very intense. YUP!
You definitely are a handful, and you're likely to get in trouble. But your kind of trouble is a lot of fun.
You tend to be pretty tightly wound. It's easy to get you excited... which can be a good or bad thing. YUP also. My kids know to wait 24 hrs before speaking to me when I get wound up.
You have a lot of enthusiasm, but it fades rather quickly. You don't stick with any one thing for very long. You have the drive to accomplish a lot in a short amount of time. Your biggest problem is making sure you finish the projects you start. story of my life!!
You are very intuitive and wise. You understand the world better than most people. I'm always telling people how smart I am & nobody ever believes me...
You also have a very active imagination. You often get carried away with your thoughts. ....which is why I currently have 4 projects on the go
You are prone to a little paranoia and jealousy. You sometimes go overboard in interpreting signals. sputter sputter sputter
You are loving, compassionate, and ruled by your feelings. You are able to be a foundation for other people... but you still know how to have fun.
Sometimes your emotions weigh you down, but you generally feel free from them. X wrong!
You are well rounded, with a complete perspective on life.
You are solid and dependable. You are loyal, and people can count on you.
At times, you can be a bit too serious. You tend to put too much pressure on yourself.
You are the total package - suave, sexy, smart, and strong. ooh....ya baby!
You have the whole world under your spell, and you can influence almost everyone you know. nudge nudge wink wink
You don't always resist your urges to crush the weak. Just remember, they don't have as much going for them as you do.
You are a seeker. You often find yourself restless - and you have a lot of questions about life.
You tend to travel often, to fairly random locations. XX wrong....I hate travelling alone & Ken is a home body
You're most comfortable when you're far away from home.
You are quite passionate and easily tempted. Your impulses sometimes get you into trouble. bingo!!
You are friendly, charming, and warm. You get along with almost everyone.
You work hard not to rock the boat. Your easy going attitude brings people together.
At times, you can be a little flaky and irresponsible. But for the important things, you pull it together. .....a little flaky! Boy did they underplay that one!
I've read everyone else's name meanings & thought them sort of generic but wow mine blows me away! How did they do it?

I have to go now & help Ken cut up some big branches that we've limbed off one of our pines to make room for our new hydro line. But I promise that my next posting will be about roomboxes...

I challenge you........

Here's a quote from Katie of Katie's Clay Corner:
"I challenge you to write a blog about the jobs you've had in your life. *Just make sure and leave me a comment telling me you did, so I can come read it....or you can do a short version in my comments section...... Either way, I'm just curious to see what everyone does or has done..... Just another way for us to get to know each other."

So Katie, here's my list:
I went straight from high school to being a file clerk for a trucking company, where I met my first husband.
Then during my married life, I worked in a Sara Lee factory, in a chicken hatchery and as a retail clerk. Also did a stint as a donut store manager.
When my husband died, I cleaned houses....couldn't find any other work... until I decided that my back wasn't up to it. So I went back to school and spent 3 years learning to be an mechanical engineering technologist by day and a mom to an eight and a five year old by night. Never did finish the last semester as I met husband #2 and we started a house building/renovation company and I spent 6 years learning to be a jack-of-all-trades, master-of-none builder.
Marriage #2 flopped and I fell back onto my schooling & spent 12 years with the same company first as a CAD draftsman and then as a how-to manual writer.
Got laid off, met Ken and worked a few years as a technical help, telephone assistant for Comcast, and then Nextel.
Gave that up to retire and sell antiques on the side.
......and if the economy doesn't soon improve, I'll soon be only retired.

So now, tag you're it.
Oh, and if you take up the challenge, leave me a comment too pls.

solving the worlds problems.....

I've had an email this morning that I thought I'd pass along, dealing with our current economic crisis:

Last week in a small town on the South Coast, holiday season should have been building - but it was raining so the expected business was just not happening. Everyone in business locally was in debt.
Luckily, a rich tourist arrived in the foyer of the small local hotel. He asked for a room and placed a $100 note on the reception counter - by way of a deposit, took the key and went to inspect the room located up the stairs on the third floor.
The hotel owner immediately took the banknote and rushed to his meat supplier to whom he owed $100.
Quick as a flash, the butcher took the money and raced to his supplier to pay his debt down by $100.
The wholesaler ran to the farmer to pay $100 for pigs he had purchased some time ago.
The farmer triumphantly gave the $100 note to a local prostitute who had given him her services on credit and who was becoming too obvious in her attempts to collect.
The prostitute immediately went to the hotel, as she owed the hotel for her hourly room used to entertain clients.
At that same moment, the rich tourist returned to reception and informed the
hotel owner that the proposed room was unsatisfactory and took his $100 back.
There was no profit or income however everyone had eliminated their debt and the small townspeople now look optimistically towards their future.

COULD THIS BE THE SOLUTION TO THE GLOBAL FINANCIAL CRISIS ? ...if only it were that easy!!
But wait a minute.....isn't that how the entire global mess got started anyway?

I've had the Fergus Mini Show marked on my calendar for some time now. I like these shows as they allow me to see what other people are doing....rather than just looking at photos on the net and they're an opportunity to find supplies without having to pay the dreaded shipping & handling fees.
As the weather was cool-ish & overcast & it seemed likely that showers might also be imminent, Ken agreed to come with me. We took Luna as well since she'd already spent all of yesterday pining for her absent mummy.
Fergus is a one-way distance of 135km from us, so we planned this as a day-trip. We started with a breakfast brunch at Luna's favorite take-out "restaurant": Timmies!
Let me pause here & explain that to most of the driving population of Ontario, Tim Horton's....or Timmies, as it's commonly referred to, is an almost national institution that we can no longer do without.
Because so many people in this province commute long distances to & from work, a lot of food is eaten or drank in the car while driving. You only have to look into the car one lane over to see someone holding a coffee in one hand while driving with the other. We all drink & drive!
The Tim Hortons franchise is possibly the leading Canadian fast food drive-thru restaurant known for its coffee & doughnuts....now speedily being replaced with the supposedly healthier muffin. They serve breakfast as well as simple lunches and soups, all geared to mobile consumption but at the same time they also serve as a local hangout for friends to sit & chat. Few towns are too small to have at least one Timmies & generally you don't have to go too many city blocks before you find the next one.
The first shop was opened in 1964 by Tim Horton the hockey player. Since then they've grown so much that they have twice as many outlets as McDonald's, account for almost a quarter of all our fast food revenues, 3/4 of the Canadian market for baked foods and 2/3 of our coffee market.
......and as I mentioned, they are Luna's favorite since she invariably gets a Timbit (donut hole) served with our coffee.
We traded the 6 lane highway as soon as possible for more scenic roads. Everywhere the grass was bright green & lush. In every field containing a water puddle, sizable or not, there were geese & ducks paddling around. Buds on the trees were ready to burst into leaf. A drive such as this is a great time for quiet conversations, reflections on the passing countryside and in our case, comments on roofs...their condition or lack of it, the color, if metal etc. It was a lovely drive.
We finally arrived at our destination. Walked into the building and...........

.....talk about feeling stupid! The Fergus Mini Show is scheduled for May 3rd! May third is on Sunday! Amazing how easy it is for retired people to lose track of the calendar.
But the day wasn't a loss. We stopped at some antique shops. We found a store that rented landscape harrow rakes that Ken'd been looking for. We had a fun day.
And as for the Mini Show.....well, the next is in Aurora which is a lot closer to drive to.

Freebies, Give-aways & Contests

It is Stéphanie's very first etsyversary, having been completed one year on Etsy as a seller and having sold 568 items. She specializes in mini food that looks authentic enough to be real. I just love the postings of new food that she's created and if I can someday make clay food that looks half as good as Stéphanie's, I'll be ecstatic!

>

Go over and take a look at her other creations and be sure to enter her contest:

She is giving away 35 USD that you can spend at her shop whenever you want in 2009 in one or more times!

This give away is open until the 10th of May

RULES:
To enter this give away you have to live on Earth and be a mammal which doesn't live in the sea......unlike other contests that I've mentioned!

You may have several entries:
1 entry: Leave a message telling of your 2 favorites items in her shop
1 entry: Tell her what you would like to see in the shop (must be a new idea so verify if this isn't already shown)
2 entries: Blog about this give away (with an image from the shop)
1 entry: Tweet this on twitter
1 entry: Join her facebook page
1 entry: tell her a joke

For every entry leave a comment !
The winner will be chosen randomly!
Good luck to everybody!

Projects

I've been away for 4 days helping my mother clear house. After living in the same house for 45 years, this will be the third house in the last ten years that she has moved to. It's absolutely awesome what a person collects in a lifetime. When my father-in-law died, it took a month & a mountain of garbage to clean out the house. Being a packrat myself, I hate to think what my kids will have to go thru.

I'm going to take a break from finishing the Orchid interior to make some roomboxes, two of which will serve as a birthday present. My daughter-in-law's birthday is the end of August & since I work by gosh & by golly, I figured that if I start now, I might finish by then. As she's travel crazy, I'm making a travel roombox inside a suitcase for her. As well, I need to work on one baby, one gardening & 2 birthday roomboxes.

At the same time, for the past month, my house has been turned upside down due to a roof revamp. The new roof is built, most of the metal cladding is up & all that's left to do is the ridge, soffit & facia but half the kitchen ceiling needs to come down so it can become vaulted, 2 skylites still have to be installed and the new mud room enclosed & finished. What all that means is that half my kitchen is being stored in other rooms and since we had already downsized to move into this house, I really, really can't find anything.

At least the weather is finally cooperating; it was 27 degrees today. Last year we missed the fabulous fall weather, waiting for our building permit. When we finally got started this year, we had to deal with rain that managed to invade & leak thru every ceiling that didn't need work done to it. Ain't renovations grand!

On a happier note, my purple hyacinth & white anemones are in flower & looking great together, and our dock is back in the water. There is nothing nicer than drinking your morning coffee on the dock overlooking the lake.

So now that I've brought you up to speed with my real life, let me tell you about my mini life:

What you're looking at, are my first attempts at making clay fruit. Since I'm going to need 2 birthday cakes and several clay makings for the garden room, I figured I'd better get learning. To my way of thinking the easiest fruit to create has to be apples & pears.
I know, I know.......what's that got to do with cake? Nothing but it's better to start slow.
I worked from a CDHM tutorial by Barbara Dezza & I can't remember being this nervous doing something new before. I'd read so much about noxious fumes if the clay burns and about underbaked clay crumbling that I got myself a toaster oven & baked the clay outside.
I'm pleased with how they turned out and if I ever want to stage a fruit stand, I'd have enough apples & pears even if every doll in the neighbourhood went on a buying spree.
I'll have some roombox photos soon.....

contest addendum

Doreen, after reading the contest rules for the Zoolabees Dollhouse Miniatures, mentioned that this contest is open to US residents only. So I contacted Heather to ask why. Here's the response I got:

Thank for contacting us with your concerns.
We certainly understand that the interest in our products is not limited by national boundaries. We know there are many customers around the world, not just in the United States and we regret not being able to allow everyone to participate in our giveaways.
In order for us to hold a giveaway or sweepstakes on our site we must comply with the legal requirements in every territory in which the contest is available (on the Web, this means virtually the entire planet).
However, it is simply beyond the scope of our group to comply with contest laws around the world. Thus, our posted rules satisfy the requirements for U.S. participants only. When Canada and other countries simplify their requirements for on-line contests, we will be able to allow our giveaways to cross international borders. Thank you again for contacting us.
Best Regards,
Heather Collier

So I guess that our collective governments should get on the ball & update their rules & regulations to reflect our current world situation...... and quit trying to come up with new ways to grab more tax dollars out of our already economically challenged pockets.