Our redneck wine glasses, champagne flutes, and martini / margarita / cocktail glasses have been selling faster than I can make them over at the Etsy shop, http://www.etsy.com/shop/BellyAcresAlabama, but y’all know me well enough to know that I won’t sell an item on Etsy unless I’m sure it’s good and sturdy. 

(The redneck glassware takes over a week for the specialty glues to set to my satisfaction.)

…and rather than let y’all imagine just what I’m doing to test how sturdy the glasses are, I thought you might enjoy watching the video.  😉

I certainly don’t recommend rough housin’ around with glassware, but at least you know the stuff coming from Belly Acres has passed our own “it ain’t gonna fall apart” test. 

Wow.  The lender essentially bought back the 55 story tower at $250 million when the previous buyer couldn’t pay the mortgage at the 2006 purchase price of $436 million.


The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has the full story here.

Well, specifically, I love Mike Rogers.  I can’t say the say for all our elected officials, but this man has earned my respect over and over.  With SOPA and PIPA looming, he has earned my respect again.


Anytime a truly controversial bill is introduced, specifically if it will affect me or mine, I actually DO look it up and read it.  For those that deserve the attention, I DO, as I’ve been taught, contact my representatives, House, Senate, or other applicable elected official.  


The very few times that I’ve actually needed to contact my representatives, Mike Rogers and his team have listened.  I know they’ve listened because they’ve always responded with a response directly addressing my concerns.  

Even when my opinions and requests have contradicted others, the response from Mike Rogers has always been intelligent, well-informed, and personally helpful.  


IF I’ve received responses at all from senators and the like, they’ve been meaningless form letters.  I can’t emphasize enough how much I respect Mike Rogers for his consistently insightful responses.

I contacted my representatives about SOPA/PIPA yesterday via email and twitter.  Thus far, Mike Rogers is the only one to respond…with the following:

Just as I’ve been taught to contact my representatives regarding important bills and other relevant matters, I’ve also been taught to look at voting records just before election time.  I think many of us will be watching to see how our representatives vote on these bills.  It will be a factor in voting decisions.


For now, I’m just a very proud Alabamian to have a congressman who actually listens.

After the holiday break, it’s back to crafty goodness at Belly Acres.  

…seems that the redneck or hillbilly champagne flutes, wine glasses, and martini glasses may show increased demand soon for upcoming rustic wedding plans.  I like making them, though it takes 1-2 weeks to thoroughly glue/cure and quality test them before I’m willing to sell them.  So, it looks like the toasting glasses may be my etsy focus for a while.  

Twig Pencils and Twig Pens will also enter the “to do” list. among quite a few new crafty endeavors I’m eager to try.

It’s gonna be a fun year in the esty shop!  
🙂  Keep checking the shop and the http://www.BellyAcresAlabama.com blog for upcoming transformations and treasures.
  🙂

Seriously, though… what do you think when you see the following symbol?  #

• Honestly, my first memory of this symbol was the game, tic-tac-toe.  …and that’s just a background… a board for Xs and Os. 
• Since I was raised by a math teacher and voracious readers, my next interpretation was a number symbol.  #1.
• No teenager, or semi-communicative American could misunderstand the “pound” sign.  Phone systems STILL use the term.
• Now, however, the symbol is commonly recognized as the first part of a hash tag. 

It’s all symbolic.  It’s all communicative.  Mostly, it’s just really danged impressive that one itty-bitty symbol can mean SO many things to native English speakers, and we still, generally, understand the meaning from the context in which it is used. 

Without context, though… if you just see the symbol, # …  what do you think?  What comes to mind first?  I think the answer might actually say a lot about us.  🙂

• Since when is “reasonably” concrete enough for legal language?  …unless it’s defined in writing…reasonably, by who’s standards here?  By the way, I searched the bill text for “reason.”  It popped up 43 results.
• “Internet site dedicated to theft of U.S. property” is used many times, but “dedicated” is still VERY subjective.
• “notorious foreign infringers” – really?  THAT’S what you’re going with in a US Bill?
• “if such person knew or should have known that the work was intended for commercial dissemination.” – should have known?  Oh, so we CAN punish the ignorant or stupid.  Good to know.  I thought that in this country, there must be PROOF of guilt…or at least enough charisma to convince a jury.

Well, this is one of the easiest comparison/contrasts I’ve ever done.  …two new fall shows based on fairy tales/stories.  …two very different pilots.  The bottom line comparison is as easy as asking which Florida theme park you prefer…Disney or Universal?  Yep.  They’re THAT distinct.

Once Upon a Time

• Apple cider
• Whistle While you Work overheard in the jail scene with Grumpy
• Archibald Hopper aka (also known as) Jiminy Cricket
• Mr. Gold aka Rumplestiltskin (who could spin straw into gold)

Grimm

 

The Airstream trailer could be a character, itself…if it weren’t so annoyingly “loose.” 

(Anyone who’s EVER used a trailer knows that everything has to have a secure spot.  Come on!  The desk chair has wheels!!!  …and when Nick sat at the desk, something immediately wobbled from even that mild impact.  Yeah.  LOVE the Airstream.  …NOT buying the interior stuff.  …Cool, but not buyin’ it.)

• The house across the stream
• The bridge
• The girls with red hoods
• Crying wolf
• The song, Sweet Dreams

The Books

 

For another clear comparison/contrast – both shows even have “a book.”  Again, there are very distinct differences.  The book in Once Upon a Time is a color storybook chronicling the fairy tales of all the characters trapped in the modern world of Storybrooke, Maine.  The “book” in Grimm is a hand-written and drawn collection of images and information of all the stuff the Grimm family might see.

Yeah.  Note to self: do not apply polyurethane in the dark.

…and in answer to your question…  Yes, I did.

The short of it is that I have 20+ small wooden projects that I need to complete tomorrow, but they needed a coat of polyurethane first. 

Well, rather than laying them flat, spraying from one side, waiting to dry, rolling and spraying from another side, etc., I figured out a jig to stand each of them on end (by the tip), so I could spray them from all angles and leave them on the jig to dry.  Problem is… I didn’t have all the supplies I needed to make the jig.

I got all the supplies from town, but by the time I got home, put the jig together and got all the pieces on it, it was dark.  …and I was in a hurry.  Ooops.

I took the jig outside (mounted pieces and all) and (since it was windy) I moved a decent distance from the house.  …in the dark.

I opened the can of spray polyurethane, but couldn’t quite make out the red dot on the push button.  50/50 chance of directionality, right?  Ugh.  I SO should have known.  (There’s a reason I don’t gamble much.) 

Polyurethane — straight into my own hand…all over my trigger finger.

(((Sigh)))

Well, I did manage to turn the can and spray the projects, but once I got back inside, I was afraid to look at my hand.

hmmm.  Clear satin spray polyurethane…doesn’t really “show” well on skin, but I knew I needed to clean it off!  …off to the sink!  Apparently, fingernail polish remover doesn’t work all that well on polyurethane.  At least, it didn’t FEEL like it worked well enough.  I still couldn’t SEE what I was trying to remove. 

To be on the safe side, I pulled out the denatured alcohol.  THAT’s good stuff!  I still can’t SEE if the polyurethane is gone or not, but I FEEL like I’ve melted away anything that could possibly be on my skin …as well as a layer or two of dermis, I’m sure.

Oh, well.  LOTS of Oil of Olay to be applied liberally.  🙂 

What do you think?  Is it a pumpkey or a turkin?  🙂

Happy Fall, Y’all!

Well, a spider’s butt makes more sense than the sow’s ear thing!   …and even the movie trailer for Children of the Corn creeped me out as a kid.  Creepy, weird, and October definitely put me in a rare frame of mind, but it’s the cotton that started all this!

The cotton fields on the road home had me thinking about people and their strange objections to materials made from “living” things.  Honestly, neither a sow’s ear or anything from a spider’s butt sound particularly like something I want to hang from my shoulder, but I do dearly love cotton.  …anyone else remember the first time you made that connection between that white, prickly stuff in the fields and the majority of the clothing on our bodies?  J