7 Random Facts About Me

I was tagged by Lindsey to do this.

Seven Random Little-Known Strange Facts about Me:

1. I've been as far EAST as Egypt, but never been to Cape Cod. I would like this to change this summer. And I want to go to Montauk too (see reference to Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind here). And I've never been farther WEST than Honeoye, NY, which is a little bit east of Buffalo. (And to complete the directions, farthest north I've been is Cap St. Ignace, Quebec, and farthest south I've been is Kissimmee, FL)

2. I am currently driving my dream car, a 1984 Saab 900 that I paid less than $750 for. The only things it needs to be perfect is a rocking set of speakers, though it currently has the factory issued 1984 originals...usually I'm a sucker for history and originality, but when it comes to my music, baby I need BASS. lol (wait is that two facts?)

3. I can spend hours digging for bottles in the woods (I haven't since 1998 but I probably will this spring), or hours combing the beach for sea glass (which I started less than a month ago).

4. I've logged way more driving miles than you can imagine for someone my age. Coming up on 117,000 miles total for roughly the past 5 years (I've had my license for 6 but couldn't have a car on campus during my first year of college so...). We're talking trucker miles. lol. That said, I'm the only person who thinks I'm a really good driver :D.

5. Packrat for life. There is no cure.

6. I eat tri-color pasta one color at a time-- white, orange, green. THE ONLY EXCEPTION is Wacky-Mac, which has the pasta flavored like beets and they taste like dirt to me, so I have to eat them with other colors, usually white.

7. I used to collect Barbies.  I used to have 257 of them.

And the 7 people I tag are the 7 people who feel like doing this. No hurt feelings :D

TERRORISTS OF THE BEACH

Scarborough Beach, again.
OMG TITANIC VICTIMS WASHED UP ON THE BEACH. I mean, these are college students. I totally want to do this one day, take a bunch of blankets to the beach in almost-winter and stick my bare feet out. lol


I went to Newport, too

Too bad Brenton Point was really cold, otherwise I would have stayed longer. Instead, I went to some other beach in Middletown (no idea, but there's a wildlife preserve out there and when you turn the car around there's a HUGE CHURCH that looms on the horizon that you have no idea you drove by lol.) And that's where these pictures were taken :)

Jonathan Livingston Seagull

SO what did I find while hunting for sea glass, anyway?

153 pieces!

My first piece of RED sea glass! It's shaped like the United States LOL!

And an awesome piece of shipwreck pottery, but this isn't all that old-the back reads CHINA. IT'S STILL AWESOME!

And the following, because I feel zany.



Auction tonight! Leone's Auctions

My great-aunt's jewelry DESTASH!

My grandfather stopped by today to work on the remodeling of our apartment, and he dropped off a whole box of jewelry from my grandmother's sister. There is some crazy stuff in there... Powder compacts you can wear around your neck, sterling silver rings and one that's GOLD (anyone seen the price of gold lately?) I haven't really gone through it with a fine tooth comb, but there are some awesome goodies in there.

In unrelated news, I finally got wireless internet broadcasting through the house. (!!!) Is this a new era of the internet? Only time will tell...

I sold a copy of the first issue of Mannequin Reject for the first time since 2005 today. lol. I really should work on a new zine.

Time to work on some ACEOs, maybe.

Victorian Destash

My obsession with all things Victorian began over 10 years ago, but 1998 was the year where I raided yardsales and antique stores for all things made between 1870-1915! I remember standing in an antique store in the summer of 1998 holding an old ostrich feather fan that was $45 and thinking it was absolutely exquisite. I didn't have enough money to buy and even if I did I probably still wouldn't have bought it, but to this day that feather fan stays with me in my memory.

Anyway, I have to get rid of most of my Victorian stuff before it gets ruined in storage. I want to send it off to another loving home.

Check out my 1881 Algebra book, or 1907 French book...or any of the other goodies I've been hiding in a box ever since we left Sterling!

http://mannequinreject.etsy.com

Good Friday, Good Afternoon...

Oh, this week. I left my ATM card at Newbury Comics in Warwick, RI on Tuesday and had to go pick it up yesterday. I ended up driving 180 miles total, yesterday. The more I drive Sophie Saab, the better she runs!


From Newbury Comics, I headed to Beavertail in Jamestown, RI. It was windy and the water was choppy & dangerous, so I didn't hunt sea glass there but did get some nice photos.

From Beavertail I went to --where else?-- Narragansett! I found an amazing lot of sea glass once again, so that's 2/2 for Narragansett & Point Judith. Can't wait to hunt for sea glass when it's more safe at Beavertail or the Newport beaches.

Finds of the day!

My first broken bit of dinnerware with a pattern! It's not that old but still cool.

Large bit of a coke bottle. I have yet to figure out why Scarborough has huge bits of very weathered glass, while the rest of the beaches just have the small standard-sized shards.

This bottle was also a Scarborough find--what a surprise when I held it up to the light! Can any bottle collectors out there identify it for me?

I was very happy to find this "black" piece at Narragansett...

...because according to its color, it's older than 1860!

They say that 1 in 200-300 pieces found will be cobalt blue.

Total sea glass finds for the day! 120 pieces. My collection has grown from 6 pieces on March 6, to 420 pieces today.

I didn't stay long at the beaches or make it a day trip--I had so many other plans for the day! I left Newbury Comics at 9:55 and left the beaches at 12:45.

ACEOs...new addiction OH NOES

ACEO: Art Cards, Editions and Originals. Main rule: Flat-ish art must measure 3.5 x 2.5 inches.

As I've been on Etsy for just about three months, and selling for two, I've seen ACEOs for sale but for the life of me couldn't figure out what the attraction was. I saw someone say they were addictive, not so much to collect, but to MAKE. I can see this. Restrictions on art which therefore makes it a challenge and possibly more fun to create.

After reading this topic in the Etsy forums, I realized that many of the photos I took with my Sony Cybershot DSC-P31 which don't have a high enough resolution (2MP!) to be made into decent photographic prints could be sold in this fashion. Many abandoned house shots I could never take again (house demolished, collasped, etc) can still be considered art even though they look downright DREADFUL as 8 x 10!

And before I realized what I had done, in 2003 I resized about 200 of the original files and no longer have the originals. I just never thought it would matter; I cropped and resized and photoshopped, and that was it. Many of my late 2002/early 2003 digital photos are ruined in this way. Now they can find new life as an ACEO! (Wait for them to start appearing in my Etsy shop...)

Never made it to the beach today...wanted to because it is a BEAUTIFUL day, but we just started remodeling the last room of the three rooms in the basement that make up my apartment. So I helped my grandfather with that, he took me to lunch, and then I went to Salvation Army and beyond for job hunting.

Job hunting is discouraging. It destroys every bit of your ego and comes back to take your soul.

:-/

So I came home and posted new items on Etsy. I mean, at least it's a job, even if it pays 1/4 what Yankee Retail did for 500% more work and is 1000% more satisfying.

-sigh-

Feeling lazy lol

Ok, maybe not so lazy, more like overwhelmed.

I have so much to do and today was a lovely beach day but...BUT...

1. I didn't finish my massive Etsy upload last night. Nor will it be finished before I take off for the AUCTION. It's ok, there's always tomorrow morning. lol.

2. I'm trying to catch up in my journal, but that's like pointless because I'm a month behind and can't remember like anything from before the accident.

3. I had a dr's appointment which tied up the morning. And auction in 1/2 hour. Besides, I've been to the beaches 3 times in the past week.

4. GAS IS $3.35. FAIL. $3.11 in Richmond, RI. STILL FAIL. I mean...5 years ago gas was what, $1.36 and we started whining about the price when it went over $1.59. In fact, the BP station in Sterling CLOSED when gas was $1.59 because it was too high and no one bought it. The sign is still by the road. (Click on pic for full size, I was lazy and didn't photoshop this at all because it was taken on November 29, 2006 on my way to the My Chemical Romance concert in Providence and I forgot I took it TILL THIS VERY MOMENT. lol)


So anyway I went to Salvation Army and picked up a watch to dissect as well as some different shaped wine glasses to store my sea glass in, especially pieces I don't plan on getting rid of. My collection is 300 pieces strong now, after my trips to RI this week.

So here's pictures from this week's trips to the beach!

MONDAY
I returned to Charlestown Town Beach and found this reminder of the Hurricane of 1938. This topic has been an obsession of mine for the past two weeks (especially pertaining to Napatree Point (read: last post where I found the two boats)). Finding sea glass and other remnant of houses brings this natural disaster into focus, even though the worst hurricane I remember was Hurricane Bob. It's been 70 years since the Hurricane of 1938 this September.

From Charlestown, I drove up to Galilee to some beach where I found two kite surfers, some guy with a metal detector, and two dueling sea gulls. Didn't find much there overall, and went to Scarborough Beach where we found the majority of the day's glass, as well as this little car.


And here's my total finds for Monday!

At first, I thought this piece was a rock...but something told me to pick it up.

And I'm very glad I did! lol

TUESDAY

Went to Misquamicut in hopes to find stuff similar to Watch Hill & Napatree. Barely found anything at all. Drove to Weekapaug, and didn't find anything there either.

Yet another return to Charlestown Beach...and only found THREE pieces of glass and a kitchen knife.

This payphone is rotted & corroded, amazing since it's obviously not very old.

Charlestown Breachway looks so desolate in the winter.

Lunatic Sophie Saab is a very good little car. Very good on gas, too!

So after dismal finds at Misquamicut, Weekapaug, Charlestown, & Jerusalem (East Matunuck), I went back to Scarborough, where I had all the luck the day before. Still not much found, except a Coke Bottle piece that says "Co" (yeah...rock!), and this barn, which I hadn't taken a picture of the day before.

After Scarborough I headed to Narragansett Beach where I had the best find of the day, a blue cat's eye marble!

The white marble was one of the three glass finds at Charlestown that day.

That is SO a Coke bottle.

All sea glass, sorted in the bottom drawer of an old jewelry box (today I put them in jars & wine glasses)

Other beach finds, like this murder weapon, piece of porcelain, some bricks and fishing garbage. Well whatever. lol

And now that I'm done with this post for now, I'm off to the AUCTION. Please pray that I don't buy another 25 boxes of stuff. LOL

Etsy, "show me how you rock it" feature #1: spongetta

As promised, I'm featuring the work of fellow Etsian, spongetta! I can't believe so many days have gone by since she sent me pictures of what she did with this lovely old fabric that she bought from me a couple weeks back. I went back to link to the purse she made from it, and she already sold it! Well this warrants a congratulations :D.

Before

After! Sold already!

So I picked a new favorite, and this Easter Parade Purse is it!

More rare than red sea glass...

After this, my mom is hooked.

Remember that piece of sea glass that I said I was dying to get under a black light? IT GLOWS. omg. omgomgomgomg. Now I want to get back to that beach ASAP. According to this site, Vaseline sea glass is even more rare than red sea glass. omg. It doesn't glow as bright as his samples, but it glows a lot more than any other suspected Vaseline glass we had (a few yellowish-green plates which Mom was using under her house plants...), which didn't glow at all. It glows a lot brighter when wet ^_^.

I was going to go back to that beach in hopes to find more after Ramy went to work today, but then it started really pouring and I got busy making jewelry for tomorrow. I don't have much time to set up at the flea market in the mornings before people get there (like I'll be running on time tomorrow morning missing an hour's worth of sleep, right) and I would like to be able to set some clock hand earrings out for the people who come and go before 9. I made a couple new kinds of experimental earrings and pendants out of large watch springs from deconstructed pocket watches.

The paint isn't quite sticking to my secret beads, as I learned today when I went to pick one up. This is a disappointing setback, but hopefully they will dry soon.

I picked up a couple of cool things from some indoor yardsales...one of which appeared to be a school project miniature guillotine, complete with a razor blade. I would have taken pictures of it but we left all the yardsale finds in the car since they're just going to the flea market anyway tomorrow. It's a conversation piece, for sure. We also picked up a really nifty candle holder for our porch picnic table made out of glass ashtrays. One yardsale we went to was in the bottom level of a 3-story chicken coop; the chickens were upstairs and the people were chain smoking so it smelled terrible and we didn't stay too long. There were some awesome things in there but we couldn't breathe normally. lol.

Flea market tomorrow, beach MONDAY! Back to making jewelry, or making a mess...

Rain, rain, go away

So it's raining. This means no huge Boy Scout yard sale.

I don't really care that it's raining. This means there will be less people and more stuff on the BEACH!

A part of me is wondering if I am really crazy enough to head back out there today for round 2. I really wish the beach was closer--it's at least 35 miles away and that's if I go to Watch Hill again (not happening). If I go to another beach it will be Misquamicut, or Charleston and those are farther.

Or I could just stay home and prep a massive Etsy upload of those crafting magazines and the secret beads, which I finally painted a couple of days ago.

I'm really just dreaming of the beach, though.

More than you or I ever wanted to know about sea glass.

Remember my last entry where I was climbing the walls because I wasn't at the beach looking for sea glass? My collection till today was rather pitiful because I had never gone out collecting it before.


Well my 9AM doctor's appointment was canceled, so I filled my gas tank (ouch) and bought a kitchen strainer, grabbed a bunch of CDs and some Mountain Dew, and took a drive to Watch Hill, RI.

Weeeee!

On the way, here's two things I noticed.

1. You can see the Newport Bridge (actual name: Claiborne Pell Bridge) from Ekonk Hill (Rt. 49). I lived in Sterling 13 years and never noticed this before till one night when I realized I could see two white solid lights on the horizon. I really didn't think it was the Newport Bridge till I actually could see those huge suspension towers. I would have taken a picture but it was a little too hazy for my camera to pick up. Here's what wikipedia has to say about the bridge: "The main span of the Newport Bridge is 488 meters (1601 feet), ranking it number 64 among the largest suspension bridges in the world, and making it the largest suspension bridge in New England. The overall length of the bridge is 3,428 meters (11,247 feet). Its main towers reach 122 meters (400 feet) above the water surface, and the roadway height reaches as high as 66 meters (215 feet).^[2]"

2. There's a bricked up root cellar far down Rt. 49 in North Stonington. I've driven by it several times and only today did it click what it was. lol.

And so I went to Watch Hill. The day was beautiful and the beach was deserted, sun was out, etc etc. The reason I chose Watch Hill was because that during the Hurricane of 1938, 36 houses washed into the bay and every once in a while artifacts turn up from them. I also figured some of them went in the drink with Depression Glass, which would possibly turn up the some of the rarest colors of sea glass (red, orange, black, milk white, electric blue, etc.) In fact, the electric blue piece I have was from 2003, when Zack, Brandon, and I went to Fort Mansfield and I found it. Zack was jealous. lol.

This marks one of the few times I went to Watch Hill without intending to go to Fort Mansfield, but every urban explorer knows the one thing you should never do is explore a place like that alone.

August 12, 2006

It lies 2 miles out at the end of the beach, and no ambulances can reach you if you were to fall two stories off the roof. I've been there a dozen times, no need to go alone. (Wikipedia entry on Watch Hill/Fort Mansfield here).

So I spent the next 4 HOURS there, combing the beach. I walked up one end and down the other side, collecting little bits of glass that glistened in the light. And I picked up a few other odds & ends, and found some things that I WISH I could have taken home...

Like this boat, for one.

What's this white thing farther down my path?

Another boat!

Ok, I'll fess up I knew about this second boat, that's been here more than two years, but I never saw it in person till today. Insane Bunkers originally hosted the photos from the person who discovered it, but they had a hard disk failure and lost all the pics. This boat apparently broke free from Stonington Borough (across the bay) and ended up over here. I wonder if its owner knows? lol

I left this for a child to find :).

After leaving Watch Hill I debated heading to Misquamicut (sp) but I couldn't find a place to park that wasn't fenced off for the season. Besides, I was hungry so I stopped at McDonald's (rare for me, but it's cheap and fast) and headed up Rt. 1, not really sure where I was going to go. I saw the signs for Charlestown Beach and decided to go for it, since it was only 2:45. I haven't been to Charlestown Beach since 1995 and had no idea how to get to it, but I found it anyway. It had become overcast and a lot more cold since I left Watch Hill, so I only stayed at Charlestown till 4:00. I ended up going to a third beach but I have no idea where it was and it was freezing at 4:30 so I took a quick look, found a large dead fish (gross!), and called it a day.

WATCH HILL FINDS:

In this lot you can see some kind of piece of bottom jaw of something with teeth. Above that is a piece of a slate shingle from one of the 36 houses. There's some other stuff there but most notably is a piece of BLACK sea glass. It's not as beat up as it should be, but I couldn't just leave it, lol. I also found a milk white piece, which is crazy in itself. I also found the thick bottom of an old Coca Cola bottle and this shell.

Charlestown BEACH FINDS:

In this lot you can see the rubber sole of a very old shoe, a metal label of some kind, a grey bird bone of some kind, a fishing thing, a large rock, and another piece of a coke bottle. There is one piece I found that I'm dying to get under a black light because I think it might just be Vaseline depression glasss (!!!), and then there's two olive green glass pieces.

All sea glass found today!

All sea glass is one big happy family.

Meanings of colors of sea glass and possible history (this is why I love it!):

BLACK: Possible origin: Tableware or flasks dating back to the mid to late 1800s. Its rarity is due to the obscure materials that were used with glass to make the bottles, which increased its rate of decomposition.

MILK WHITE-- Possible origin: Milk jars or Ball jar lids made between 1910 and 1936.

OLIVE GREEN-- Possible origin: Wine bottles pre-1900.

ELECTRIC BLUE-- Possible origin: Tableware, antique flasks or art glass. This makes sense because there's some kind of design on mine.

SEA FOAM GREEN (Coke bottles)-- Possible origin: Coca Cola bottles, ink jars, fruit jars, baking soda, and other soft drink bottles.

COBALT BLUE (3 pieces)-- Possible origin: Old medicine or poison jars, Vicks Vapor Rub, Bromo-Seltzer, and Milk of Magnesia products.

Clear, Brown, and Emerald Green are colors of common glass and beer bottles.

More info? Wikipedia's entry on Sea Glass. And this place, which helped me out with info for the colors.

So....did I mention I want to head back to Charlestown tomorrow? lol

EDIT: Yours truly just discovered that she has a SUN BURN. In WINTER. This, my friends, is a first.

Also a first: I made Thai sticky rice with coconut sauce, peaches, and custard. A+++++++++.

Sea Glass & Shipwreck Pottery

Whilst bouncing around Etsy today, I came across a shop that features sea glass & shipwreck pottery. And after looking at every item in their shop, I want to go to the beach. Right. Now.

I'm going to make myself some coffee instead. I have a lot of magazines to go through. Right now my sort piles are as follows:

-Craft magazines & stuff I want
-Stuff to research for eBay
-Books to donate to Salvation Army (3 boxes donated yesterday)
-Stuff to go back to the flea market

-Craft magazines I don't want

I really would like to make all the craft magazines I don't want available to the crafters and artisans in the Etsy community, but I'm unsure as to how to go about it.

I snagged a book learning crochet basics. I have no idea why I want to try this. I'm a person that doesn't like super long projects, and I can't imagine knitting an afghan...but little things like crochet flower pins and cool things like that. What's wrong with me? lol.

I still think it's completely ironic that I have made dozens of pairs of earrings, yet I don't have pierced ears. Of course I've made some clip ons (custom) and a pair for myself, but the ones I made for etsy haven't sold yet. But still...I make TONS of earrings. And I can't wear any of them. (Maybe that's a good thing?)


Can't believe it's Wednesday already. Where is the week going?

It's a beautiful day!

And by beautiful I mean probably about 50°F (I almost guessed 11°C, close! 10°C), overcast but who cares!

I woke up this morning and the bedroom was really hot, so I got up and retrieved a bottle of diet Mountain Dew (I have this like what....once every two months?) from the Saab, and I just stood outside because it was so refreshing, and the birds were out...

I'm going to spend the day driving around and posting flyers in all the local post offices :). And of course, prep a massive Etsy listing upload. Maybe paint my secret beads. Or sort all the boxes of crap now in my "apartment." (Side note: my apartment is 2 rehabbed rooms in the basement, and we'll be rehabbing the 3rd as soon as we clean it out. I still share the kitchen/bathroom/most of the house with my mom.)

I went to the flea market yesterday to move those 20 boxes of crap--they're in the Jeep. Some boxes (5 or 6) are going to be donated but we haven't decided where. I was thinking Salvation Army, but maybe a local school would have a better use for them? I have about three boxes of Family Circle and Woman's Day (World? forgot) magazines and some boxes of children's books. I got a load of Berenstein Bears books, but I'm keeping those for my future kids.

There are a LOT of crafting magazines (3, 4 boxes?). I actually do plan on flipping through each and every one looking for ideas and whatever I don't use either I'll sell or donate.

There are 5 boxes of COOK BOOKS at the flea market. Whoever collected them was out of her mind.

Anyway. I have a lot to do today. Ideas welcome on the mags since I don't really want to inundate Salvation Army with them.

Let's ROCK!!!!!

Ok, so whatever fluke bug thing I had yesterday is now gone

Here's my flea market booth!