Ten on Tuesday

1. What is your favorite brand of shoes?
I don't have just one as usual. I will only buy New Balance sneakers because I have wide feet and they the only brand I have found that fit me well.  I am loving Crocs dress shoes. Yes, I said dress shoes.  I have two pair I bought about a year ago and they are so cute and so comfy!!

2. How old were you when you learned to tie your shoes?
5 I think. I'm pretty sure I knew how to tie shoes by the end of kindergarten.

3. How do you feel about freckles?
Love/hate. I have about a million so I'm kinda stuck with them.  I don't mind the little ones it's the big mole like ones I hate.

4. I can count to ten in ___ languages.
2 languages. English and Spanish.

5. What is your favorite store-bought ice cream flavor?
Ben & Jerry's Phish Food.  SO good!

6. Were you in ballet or gymnastics as a little girl?
I took one year of ballet.  I'm just not cut out for dancing. Coordination is kind of essential and I am not coordinated at all.

7. Who is your favorite Sesame Street character?
Grover. He's not very popular these days but I love him!

8. What’s your bedtime?
Anytime between 10 and 11 on week days and usually around 12 on the weekends.

9. Do you have any jewelry that you wear every single day?
My wedding ring, engagement ring, a ring my mom gave me and a necklace with my kids names stamped on it.

10. Who is the bug killer in your household?
Me. James is a baby about bugs.

Ten on Tuesday

1. Do you listen to the radio in your car?  If so, what type of station do you like?
Yep, I do listen to the radio in the car.  I like the local top 20 station  and the mix station (meaning plays hits from the 80's, 90's and today).  I also happen to like some talk radio.  I LOVE Clark Howard!   He is a financial talk show guy and he comes on a local talk radio station from 1pm-3pm everyday.  I catch the last part of his show on my way home from work.  But he can be found on CNN or HLN too doing segments.

2. What is the best concert you have ever attended?
It's a tie between Eric Clapton and Tom Petty.  I saw Eric Clapton when I was in high school right after he got HUGE with Tears in Heaven.  But I loved him and grew up listening to him so I was super excited when he was going to play in Chapel Hill, so my boyfriend and I went.  I then saw Tom Petty in college during his Wildflowers tour. My best friend Jennie and I went and of course anything I do with Jennie is fun. Awesome show.

3. What is the most embarrassing concert you have ever attended?
Again it's a tie.  I saw New Kids on the Block twice (yes twice ... shut it) at their height of popularity.  I was in middle school people and they were HUGE.  And yes I was in love with Jon the gay one....
But I also went to a Motley Crue concert during their Dr. Feelgood tour.  Their warm up act was Warrant (you know the Cherry Pie band).  I have much more appreciation for them now but I wasn't then and am not now a huge metal fan.  They were free tickets so I went but it's not something I would have paid to see.

4. If you could have the singing voice of anyone in the world, who would it be?
Well I'm going to have to go with Adele.  I think she has an amazing voice.  It's not all that mainstream but amazing none the less.

5. You’re auditioning for American Idol.  What song do you sing?
Three Little Birds by Bob Marley.  Strange choice I know but I love it and I sang it to both my kids as babies and I have my own little take on it.

6. If your previous weekend had its own soundtrack, what would be a few of the songs?
The Lazy Song By Bruno Mars.... really we didn't much at all this weekend.  Oh wait we finally replaced the exhaust fan in our master bathroom that's been broken since we moved in (9 years ago).  But I can not think of any song for home repair.

7. Most annoying television show theme song ever:
I'm gonna go with The Love Boat.  I hated that theme song ... it gets stuck in my head and I hated the show.

8. Are you and your significant other music-compatible?
For the most part.  We share a love of classic rock and 90's rock.  He really doesn't get my reggae love or my 80's music obsession.  I like wise don't love Whitesnake or metal bands in general.  I like Cake (it's a band not actual cake ... but we do like cake too) but don't LOVE them till the end of time like James.

9. A song that brings me back to middle school:
Pour Some Sugar on Me by Def Leppard.  That song played at EVERY middle school dance I went to and I went to their concert in jr. high .... oh and again in 2003.

10. A song that brings me back to high school:
Today by Smashing Pumpkins and  Crazy by Aerosmith.  As usual couldn't choose just one.  

11. A guilty pleasure song (or three):
Jessie's Girl by Rick Springfield
Bad Touch by The Blood Hound Gang
I Want it That Way by The Backstreet Boys

What is something that you would love to get paid for that you think no one would every pay you for?

My most favorite mobile & most popular! Bright Punch Mobile

Mini flower origami ornament

There was a question on last week's Ten on Tuesday that really hit home and made me really think about what is going on in my life right now. The question was 5. What is something that you would love to get paid for that you think no one would every pay you for?

Custom Mobile I did this month 

  In The Red Frame

It didn't take me but a heartbeat to answer the question.  Running my Etsy store and making art and crafts that people buy for their homes.  I still can not believe I have sold one thing let alone close to 100 things between Etsy and here locally.  That may not sound like a lot and in terms of a full time seller it's not.  But if you had asked me a few years ago did I think I would selling my mobiles and frames and be getting more and more business?  I don't think I would have thought it would be going this well.  Granted I still have a lot to learn.  I've got to figure out this whole marketing thing and a little bookkeeping while I'm at it.  But I LOVE making my mobiles, frames, origami and clocks, talking to customers and making custom mobiles to match new baby nurseries.   It's challenging and fun and creative.  It gives me something that no other job I've been paid to do has given me.  It doesn't feel like work ... EVER.  I will admit that bookkeeping is daunting but because it's for me and my shop it doesn't feel like so much of a chore.

The Blues Frame

 Another Custom Mobile

It's honestly really hard to put into words how I feel when I a make a sale or I get amazing feedback from my customers.  At times it has made me tear up because I am so happy. Sappy ... yes I know but it's just nice to do something I love and get money for it.  Maybe one day I will have enough business to do it full time.  That would be the end all be all I think ....

Another custom mobile

Puzzle Piece Clock

I don't know you full time business owners may think differently!?!?
                                                  

Custom Mobile 

Blue Squares Frame

Purple Haze Frame  

Custom Mobile

 Custom mobile

Ten on Tuesday

1. What do you do for a living?
In reality I have 3 jobs.  Teacher, artist and mom.  I love all three dearly.  At my teaching job I teach adults with mental retardation or traumatic brain injury.  My class focuses on basic skills and life skills. It's under 30 hours a week so I also still have a few days home being mom too.  And on top of that I have an Etsy shop.  Business has been good lately and has been taking up more of my time.  But that's great news.  In fact I want more so go by and check it out here.

2. What’s your favorite thing about your job?
I love my students.  They are a fun group and some times a challenge.  Of course I love my kids so being home a few days with them is awesome.  I love the creativity outlet of my Etsy shop and lately I have LOVED being part of the process of decorating a new baby's room through custom mobiles I make for customers.

3. What’s your least favorite thing about your job?
It's a job for money and it's a big college so there is paperwork and some politics that aren't a lot of fun to deal with. And it takes me away from my kids and is making me deal with child care issues.  My Etsy shop is a challenge in the fact that I have to self promote and I am slowly learning about that.  Oh and then there's the whole book keeping part... yuck.

4. If you weren’t a teacher, what would you be?
My other love in college was psychology.  So I might have gone that route.  But if all pressures were off and I could have chosen what I really wanted to do and not been practical I would have been an art major.

5. What is something that you would love to get paid for that you think no one would every pay you for?
I am actually doing it right now! I still can not believe that people love my mobiles and ornaments and frames and actually buy them to put in their homes.  It still blows me away.  I am honored when people choose my mobiles for their new babies rooms.

6. If you could have any job for exactly one day, what would it be?
I would love to be a back up singer in a big band like No Doubt for a night at a huge sold out concert.  That would awesome! 

7. If you had to do manual labor, what would you do?
Wow... I have no clue.  I suck at cleaning, yard work and measuring.  So that throws a lot of things out for me.  I'm a decent painter when I take my time but I don't like to do it at all.  I will have to give this one some more thought.

8. What is something you were forced to learn in high school that was supposed to be super important, but you never actually use?
Geometry, algebra, pretty much any math higher than addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.  Even though I actually liked chemistry (thanks to an awesome teacher Mr. Rucker at CHHS) I never use any of that either.

9. Who was your favorite boss?  Why?
I've had the good fortune to have had a few great bosses in my time.  But my most favorite is a guy named Michael who was my boss when I worked at Barnes & Noble in the Cafe as a barista.  I worked with him for almost 3 1/2 years in college and then went back for a Christmas season (and a little longer) after my son Noa was born to make a little extra cash.  He was always fun to work with and never abused his power but was a genuine nice guy who cared and worked with my crazy vacation schedules (but I always brought him back a key chain).  I just liked him and working for him.  He never asked us to do anything he wouldn't and again his sense of humor made working an insane job more tolerable.

10. Where would you rather work: Dunder Mifflin Paper Company (The Office), Wernham Hogg Paper Company (The Office, UK), or Initech (Office Space)?
Hmmmm good question.  I am going to have to go with Initech just because I love that movie so much!  

Ten on Tuesday

1. Mac or Windows? (Or Linux for you super geeks!)
Mac.  I was actually thinking about doing a post on this sometime in the future, so my short answer is Mac and has always been Mac.

2. What drew you to that operating system?
Grew up using it and never changed and I hate Windows.

3. Mice – Wireless or Wired? Mouse pad or none?
I have a laptop and I have a wireless mouse but I use the touch pad pretty much all the time.

4. Other than the Internet – What do you use your computer most for?
Photos, music, work (word processing, spread sheets).

5. What’s one computer-related thing you wish you were best at? (CSS, Photoshop, Excel, etc.)
Trouble shooting when things break and then being able to fix them.  I suck at that.  But that's what I have James for.

6. Describe the first time you ever used a computer.
Wow, well it would have to be either when I was in elementary school and we got to go to the computer lab and do the little turtle program where the you made the turtle (triangle) move around the screen with basic commands or when my mom first brought home our Apple Macintosh.  Man that answer just showed my age.  Does anyone even remember the turtle program??????

7. How often do you upgrade to a new operating system?
When I can afford to, or my brother lets me borrow the latest Mac upgrade he bought.

8. Are you a short-cutter (CTRL+C) or a right-clicker?
More of a short cutter.

9. Is computer-use a constant thing in your life (such as using it both at work and home) or do you get a break (because you don’t use them at work)?
I don't use them while I am at work because my location doesn't have any.  I was promised some computers for my students but I have yet to see them.  I would LOVE to have some computers at work.  But I am on my computer at home a lot.

10. Where do you think the world would be if personal computers did not exist?
Oh man who knows!!  I don't want to think about a world with out Facebook!