Springtime!

I just had someone ask me what I had planned for this weekend (Easter weekend), and I realized that we don't have anything at all planned. Maybe we'll wait until Monday for our grocery shopping, so we can get a good deal on a ham or some Cadbury cream eggs.

But just because we don't have anything planned, doesn't mean we won't be having fun! Spring has sprung here, and we've been soaking up the sunlight and warm breezes. Rupert is extra talkative, since he chatters at all the birds outside at the birdbaths, and howls at any bugs found indoors (or any speck of dust that might resemble a bug). We had the windows and doors open for a few days last week, and the freshly-aired-out apartment is energizing. I even found time to powerwalk around the track today. When the back door is open, Rupert just parks himself there for the entire day. Sometimes neighborhood cats walk past the door, and he gets the full sun.

Sean's been checking on our garden every morning, and we have some little sprouts! He bought a young pea plant, and we've been watching it explore its new home with its little vines. The tiny sproutlets in the photo below are going to be broccoli.

We finally had new neighbors move into Caitlin and Joe's apartment (diagonal from ours). It's a young couple, who appear to be expecting a baby in a few months. They've been really friendly so far, and planted some little flowers of their own, next to some tulips that just exploded red a few days ago. Of course, I went out and took these photos as the sun was setting, so the colors and lighting are pretty weird, but I think you'll get the point.

Business has been sort of busier than I expected, which is great! I've had a lot of custom requests recently, so I've been doing a lot of drawing (both digitally and with pens). We had to pay about $700 for worker's comp insurance for Sean, which was unexpected. It's a real bummer to find out that we have huge bills like that very suddenly, and it's keeping us from saving any money. But we're still making money, so I'm sure it will work itself out soon.

I had a really successful craft fair last weekend, which was a bit of a relief (since I've done that event a few times last year and barely made a few dollars). I got to meet some crafty celebrities, and a few of them have set me up with projects, like Garth Johnson who is going to publish some of my photos in a craft book this November ("1000 Ideas for Creative Reuse"), and Jennifer Worick who'd like me to do some illustration for t-shirts and her blog, http://thingsiwanttopunchintheface.blogspot.com.

Despite all this excitement, I feel like I'm finally able to take some time to relax, which hasn't happened much recently. I've started knitting again, and I have a stack of books that I'm working on, instead of just listening to audio books while I work some more. I still listen to the audio books, but I'm able to take a break too. I think this is going to be a really great weekend!

Gardening Day 1

Sean's been reading up on the gardening, and decided we should have a little 4x4 raised bed in our yard for veggies. He put this together on the one non-rainy day this week! I helped a tiny bit with the frame construction, but he did all the shoveling and laying the dirt and mulch. Plus, he's doing all the research, so this is really his big project.

We also dug up the plot that I'd been using for basil last year, to get it ready for another season. It's not a very big spot, but it's the only area behind our apartment (it's really behind our neighbors apartment) that gets any sun.

We'll try to keep you up to date on the garden's progress, since there's sure to be some excitement. I'll let Sean talk more about the details, since I'm just the helper.

Oh--I found a big stand of blooming daffodils behind the hedges in the backyard! Since no one can see them, I picked a bunch that I could reach and brought them inside. They've made our kitchen very sunny!

I miss you...

...I really do! Sean and I have been really busy, especially with this Etsy feature and the resulting orders, plus tax stuff. I've been meaning to write a post over here for a while, but haven't had the time. I've been updating Badger Sandwich pretty regularly, so don't forget to check over there if you want to stay up to date.

Actually, are there still friends/family that read this blog here? It's nice to keep a more private place to talk about personal life stuff, but I don't know if anyone checks here for news. Just curious! I'm still planning on posting something when there's a little more time.

Special Day

Not only was yesterday Valentine's Day, but it was also the one-year anniversary of our arrival in Portland! We left Massachusetts on Feb. 5th of last year, and it took us 9 days to drive across the country in our Uhaul.

We decided to celebrate by cooking a big, impromptu meal, since we're not really the restaurant reservation types. I made spinach and sausage calzones, which turned out great, thanks to our pizza stone! Sean put together a key lime pie (with regular limes, not key limes), which was also fantastic. He should make those more often! We also watched Sweeney Todd, which was really fun.

I think our first few weeks in Portland were a total blur, since I can't remember anything specific about this time last year. I remember going to by first Tea Time, and being thrilled that I could bike there (even though I was unexpectedly sweaty when I got to Lea's house). I remember being prepared for spring snow which never came. I remember flowers blooming almost immediately, and not knowing quite what to make of it.

There are already flowers poking through the ground in our garden. They look like tulips, but it seems really early for them, right? Maybe not. I thought I'd see crocuses, but I haven't seen any yet. I'm getting ready though.

It's strange to look back on the past year. So much has happened! Sean and I are in a different place than I expected, but we're also sort of in exactly the place I'd hoped for. It's a little hard to reflect on the past when you're looking ahead so brightly, but I can tell that we've had a good year here, and we made a good decision to come.

Sleep is for pussies

I don't ever make new year's resolutions. Sure, I should eat healthier and exercise more. But "resolving" to do those things never changes the fact that I like fried foods and sitting down. I like healthy food and exercise too (luckily), and I go through periods where I'm completely on top of things.

This year, however, I'd like to try to sleep in less. As a chronic insomniac, I can't say that without some qualifiers. Since I sometimes go for days or weeks without sleeping more than an hour a night, I clearly need to allow for some catch-up time.

This January, I seem to be catching up in advance, for nights that I won't sleep in the future. I decided to start setting an alarm for the morning (set to one of the many obnoxious PDX radio stations with morning DJ's that I want to stab in the eyes with a fork--these guys have a "party bus" that is perpetually taking "winners" to a casino or similarly depressing locale, and the one guy calls all the lady-callers "beautiful" even though he can't see them). This morning was the first day of waking up within 8 hours of going to bed. Rupert couldn't quite handle the early wake-up, so after his (first) breakfast, he went straight back to bed--lion pillow and all. But I'm planning on going out for some exercise!

Snow Days

I know everyone hear talks about the snow like it's the end of the universe. Everyone who isn't originally from Portland complains about how Portland drivers forget how to drive as soon as the first flakes start falling. But let me tell you something. THEY DO NOT SALT THE ROADS. At all. And they barely plow, sprinkling light gravel on the major arteries when they get around to it. A day after the entire city is covered in hard-packed ice and half the drivers are stranded on the side of the road or partway across one of the many bridges. Good times!

I have never driven with snow tires on my car, even in blizzards in Massachusetts. It probably would have helped, but I've gotten through some tough, slippery days by driving slowly behind a plow or sand truck. People here have been driving with chains on their tires for about a week now, even after the snow had melted!

They either drive at 5mph, or fly around corners at 35, both with bad results. I know it only snows here about twice a year (we've gotten two light snowfalls already, and it brought the city to a screeching halt both times), but this is ridiculous! If they'd just put a little salt down, we'd all be able to get on with our lives!

Some of us had to brave the weather last weekend to vend at Crafty Wonderland, which was supposed to be the biggest craft event of the year. Somehow, Sean and I got a little lost finding the convention center in the morning, and accidentally had to cross two bridges over the river while everything was covered in an inch of slick ice. Our little Scion made it just fine, but it was scary to see 50% of the other drivers (which, admittedly, was only about 4 people) spinning out or sitting with their hazards flashing.

I can't even believe that 3,000 customers came by the show that day, which was totally sweet! It would have been at least 4 times that, if the weather had been nicer. We made a little money, got some shopping done, and got to hang out with some crafty friends. So it was a pretty good day, despite having to lug our heavy glassware around so much. I hope next year we can use a rolling cart for our stuff, since the parking lot felt like miles away from the exhibition hall, and we had to carry it all ourselves.

[I'll try to post some pictures soon! It's snowing again right now, but it's too dark to take photos.]

Busy Busy

In case you're wondering how busy things really are at Chez Badger, I'll try to paint you a picture. I should first point out that over the weekend, we sold 96 pint glasses (plus a lot of other stuff) at Urban Craft Uprising in Seattle. Normally, I don't even bring more than 24 glasses to an event, and they never sell out. I can confidently say that we could have sold more if we'd brought them to UCU, but our tiny car just didn't have any more room.

Today, Sean and I sandblasted over 200 items--mostly pint glasses, but also spice jars, soap pumps and small tumblers. It took us two days to mask them all, and we weren't able to ship anything out today because we were so busy.

You want to know the real kicker though? Almost everything we made today has been pre-sold online. And that doesn't even count the 40 or so orders I received today and haven't even had time to look at.

So, we're a little bit busy, you could say. ;)

Tomorrow is a ship-only day, where we'll pack up everything we can and take as many trips to the post office as we need to. Everything ordered before the 12th will get to its destination by Christmas, though our shipping schedule is a little out of whack from where I'd like it. And we'll be bustin' ass to make sure we have at least another 96 pint glasses for Crafty Wonderland this Sunday. At least our 13 hr. work days will pay off when we can pay all our bills next month! :D

On a totally random note, I somehow managed to stop by Queen Bee Creation's studio/shop today to work out a trade. I ended up with a fantastic new purse, in the design shown above, only I think the colors are reversed. It's a big "truckette" satchel, which I will love and cherish for always. Or until I get another of her bags, since deciding between them was so hard!!