World’s Slowest Blogger

Yes, okay, it’s been a very long time since I have written a post.  I want to thank my faithful readers for always checking back to see if there are any new posts!  It’s been a long crazy hectic Spring and Summer.  I went from unemployed, to partially employed, to now I am over employed!  I have been working two part time jobs six days a week since April.  So, it makes me the World’s slowest blogger I guess!  But that’s okay, for so long I complained about the economy, and my job searches that turned up nothing.  Well, now I am so busy!  I have launched my Warm Woolies of Maine business, and it has been slow going but hey, it’s summer, what can I expect?? 

A little highlight of the time since my last post, the weather has been great!!  We have had such a great season here in Maine that the raspberries and blueberries are becoming ripe and ready for picking earlier than expected!  Our blackberries have exploded all around our yard, last year, they didn’t even ripen, and rotted right on the plants!!  My peach tree, well, I had a couple of wee pieces of fruit on it, but they fell off, I guess my tree is concentrating more on growing strong branches and leaves than fruit, but what can I expect, it’s only a yearling?  So this summer has been great!  The last couple of weeks we have had record breaking temperatures for record breaking times, and since then it has been really humid and rainy here and there, I am patiently waiting for the humidity to go away!

I have been able to get out and enjoy some weather but not as much as I have wanted to, with only one day off a week, and hit or miss weather, we have only gotten out a couple of times this summer.  We went to Bar Harbor, and did some hiking, it was really nice!  That has always been my favorite place, since I was born there, I guess it should be!   The Obamas will be visiting there this weekend, for their own personal vacation, that is so wonderful.

Speaking of Obama, I know there has been some disappointment regarding his Presidency.  I say, hey, it’s going to take a long time to clean up after the terrible messes George Dubblya made, seriously, he caused a lot of damage!! The situation with BP is absolutely heart breaking!  I just about bawled my eyes out when I found out that they were blocking efforts for rescuers to go in and rescue sea turtles from being burned alive in the burn boxes.  I can’t believe that one company could $%^# up so royally as to cause such a large spill, and all the mistakes they have made, and all the time they have just let it continue!!  Unbelievable!!

Anyway, I really would like to try and write more posts up here, but I just don’t know.  I have always been a slow blogger, sometimes I post a lot all at once, and then nothing for months.  Maybe I will just stick with being the world’s slowest blogger, or maybe not!  I enjoy writing while I can, and sharing my experiences from up here in the Land of the Pines.

Sea Smoke and Mists of the Woods

So, normally, April is so dreary I don’t really even bother taking photos at all.  I woke up this morning and looked out my window and saw mist all around our house.  It was so pretty I took a couple of pictures, here they are:



Than I was on my way in to work a little earlier than usual, and was just at the end of Route 141 going down the big hill towards Belfast and was so excited to see gigantic billows of sea smoke that I decided to take a quick detour down to our beautiful new walking bridge and took a few shots:

This next one shows how thick the sea smoke really is, the one above looks nice but my settings were set to see what was behind and through the sea smoke.



Our big bridge, it was built after our little bridge to accommodate the increasing traffic through our area.  The little bridge was left for foot traffic, and than later fell into disrepair for several years, it was crumbling and falling apart.  Despite that I have many fond memories there before (and during) it’s time of disrepair, I once watched a seal drifting lazily underneath the bridge late one night, which is an extremely rare sight so close to shore.  It was than restored recently and it has all these bricks dedicated to many very special people that influenced our community, and it has a really fancy drawbridge to use for sail boats with tall masts that want to come in towards the river.
I love our little town, and I love being close to the ocean, I couldn’t bear to part from it.  Somehow I just can’t imagine my life without the tides coming in, and going out adding to the daily rhythm of our life here in Waldo County!

Wild Weather Mood Swings and Environmental Faux Pas!

So, this winter has definitely been a strange one!  In march we saw sun and 60 degree weather for several days!  We are currently having some cool wet weather but we’re expecting sun and near 80 degree weather starting Thursday of this week.  Usually April is a mix of snow and mud, taking so long for the snow to melt.  That is usually followed by a month of 30 to 40 degree weather that is gray and dreary and drab.  I keep hearing “global warming'” every where I go.  I also hear it’s an El Nino year too, that it has been kicking up all kinds of warmth and blowing it our way.  I know a lot of people are skeptical with the whole global warming thing.  I am not.  Honestly, we are really polluting everything around us, how could it not affect our environment?  If people are really worried about it (or not), why don’t we just do something about it already.  I know that a lot of people are already doing something about it, but honestly, can’t we do more?  There are so many things that people can do to help out, simple things, that we can incorporate in our daily lives.  We can recycle all our goods that can be recycled, that includes paper, plastic, cans, and batteries.  We can eat less meat, just by cutting meat out of your diet can really have a seriously good impact on reducing your carbon foot print!  You can use re-usable bags for shopping and groceries, sometimes I don’t use a bag at all!  you can dedicate one or two days of the week where you don’t drive anywhere!  I have cut our detergent use more than half of what I used to use.  I read an article recently about the fact that most detergents portion sizes are twice two big, and using so much can actually ruin your machine!  So, I have been using only a couple of tablespoons of detergent for a load.  I have found a great way to sanitize my kitchen without the use of bleach or antibacterial cleaners.   I mix white vinegar and hydrogen peroxide together, the vinegar alone is acidic enough to kill any germs, with the peroxide it makes for a double whammy, I use this for my counter tops, and sink and anywhere I feel the need to disinfect! 
I am definitely tired of seeing trash on the ground everywhere.  Every week, I see a fast food bag somewhere between the Smart Road, and Baker Road going to my house.  I am convinced it’s the same person, because it’s once a week, and it’s always between my house, and the Smart road.  I don’t understand how anyone can throw their garbage out like that!  Throwing garbage and food out like that is dangerous because it attracts wildlife to the sides of the road, increasing the chance of poor animals becoming road kill.  I see people throwing massive amounts of trash on their property all around the area near where I live, and just don’t understand why people want to surround themselves with their own garbage, it’s nasty and gross!  Some properties in Waldo County are so bad, with literally mountains of trash, and it seems that some people like to keep every car they’ve ever owned in their life.  I never understood why people feel the need to surround themselves with their own filth.  The worst, by far, are cigarette butts.  I have quit smoking a few years ago because it made me feel sick all the time.  I was usually really responsible about keeping my cigarette butts contained in butt cans, and trash.  Since I have quit, I notice them everywhere.  Sometimes I see piles of them in parking lots, where people have just dumped their ash trays.  Where do people get off doing that anyway?  I see people throwing them out of their cars, that’s how forest fires are started, by careless individuals!  Cigarettes are really such an epidemic, and should be made to be so expensive, only people who are wealthy should be able to afford them! 
Anyway, I am going to step off of my soap box now.  I tend to rant and rave once in a while, about things that bother me. 
Here in Maine, we have such a short growing season, and because of last years’ terrible rain, I think it’s being made up, with all this nice weather.  But we should definitely not get used to it, as long as us humans are willing to pollute and rape our Earth for it’s resources, we should just enjoy it while we can, because at the rate we’re going, it won’t last long!

New Website for Warm Woolies of Maine!

So I have finally created a new website for my business Warm Woolies of Maine!  I really felt like I wanted a website dedicated entirely to my new business!  I think that with the new website, hopefully I will draw in more business and hopefully be more successful.  My items haven’t been selling as fast as I was hoping so, but it is such a new business.  I also think that the biggest challenge thus far with launching this business is to bring my items to the buyer.  People just don’t know I’m out there and the website I hope, will provide a means to do just that!

I started my business out of lack of employment.  I have been knitting since I was 11 and I started selling here and there since I was 19.  I lost my job last year and decided to pick it up again seriously.   I had been interested in starting a small business, and it was really one of those duh moments.  I had dreamed I could open a restaurant in Belfast, Maine where I lived and thought, how do I do that?  I even went to a career center and gathered as much information on starting a small business as I could carry.  I kept reading the same thing about starting a business, what do you love to do?  Than I realized, wow, I could do what I love to do and create a business around that.  That was my duh moment!  So I started up again, I was used to gearing up for a Christmas Craft fair where I had used to work every year, so I decided I wanted to get into the Mt. View craft fair in Thorndike, Maine.  I had last gone when I was a teenager and remembered how busy it was.  I was overwhelmed when my boyfriend and I walked into the school where the fair was held.  Both the middle school gym and the high school gym and the cafeteria in between was just crammed!!  I sold a few things and was actually pretty successful!  I will definitely be back there again next year.  I also heard a about a huge fair in Houlton, Maine.  Since Houlton has no real shopping venues for the holidays, they hold a huge craft fair, and everyone does their shopping there.  I hope to be there this coming year, it will be fun driving up there.  It is a two day event so we’ll need to stay in a hotel.  One person told me they made $2000 just on the first day!!! 

I decided I wanted to open up an ebay store, I already had the etsy shop but had not been so successful there, there’s much less traffic on etsy as there is on ebay.  I like having the ebay shop because I am not limited to just handmade items, that I could sell anything on ebay.  I have had some sales there and I am hoping business will continue to pick up.  If you are interested in seeing my shops here are some links:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/Warmwoolies

http://stores.ebay.com/Warm-Woolies-of-Maine?_rdc=1

You can always find these links under my links section under my main page!

Aye, The Ides of March

Aye, the Ides of March are almost upon us.  What a weird winter we’ve had.  With El Nino pulling the Jet Stream South, our snow got sent to the wrong areas of the country!  Washington D.C. and Virginia got hammered.  No more skiing for me this year, there just isn’t enough of the white stuff to do so! But, that’s okay, I have been so very busy building my business anyway.  I have a two day arts and crafts show to prepare for here in March, on the 20th and 21st.  For more information on times, location, and all the artists that are going to be there, follow this link: Spring Arts and Crafts Show.  I have so much to do to prepare for it!!

The economy is still bad, people will be struggling for a very long time.  I think things will be different from now on with employment.  Jobs have disappeared and we may not see those again for a long time if at all.  Employment is still like trying to find a ghost, it’s there but can’t be grasped.  I am still looking for that second part time job, but have not found the right one yet.  I keep hoping that the job I have now will increase in hours, that would be nice, I love that job! In the meantime, I keep working on my business, in hopes of it’s success.  Creating my own work for now, is all I can do while searching for other work.  I know Spring is a hard time for woolies, but I am hoping that purses and wine bags and such will be a hit this summer.  I will at least be ready for the next winter season.  I am not going to give up, I can’t give up.  I sense that all this hard work and persistence will pay off eventually, I just feel it!

Our summer season is almost upon us.  I have so many projects planned for growing things.  We’ll see how that goes, I will post how things are going when I get them going.  For now, we are suspended in that state of cold, snow, and mud.  Here in Maine we joke that we have three seasons, Winter, Summer, and Mud Season.  It is so true!  For now, the Ides of March are almost upon us, and St. Patrick’s day is always something to look forward to.  I am aware of it’s rocky history, the “snakes” that were driven out of Ireland by St. Patrick were really pagans.  But, I also realize that the face of religion is always changing, and although it seems people don’t want to admit it, but religions tend to merge and evolve, depending on societies’ needs.  I still celebrate St. Patrick’s day with drinking and merriment, that is what it is all about, celebration, and Lord knows we need more of that to keep the darkness at bay! 

February

So, here we are in February.  I always thought February was the hardest month of the year especially here in Maine in such a rural area.  It’s slim pickings for both animals and people.  Our deer herds are diminishing due to the overwhelming snow we got the last couple of years, it made it hard for them to find food in such deep snow, inevitably they starve. 

For people, it’s hard too.  Families are struggling to stay warm with the high costs of heating fuel.  It’s so ironic that people are working less and making less money, yet costs of living are ever inflated.  How are people supposed to keep up if they’ve taken deep cuts in pay and hours??  Wall Street continues to be greedy and major companies are still handing out huge bonuses, what a great job you guys, you single handedly almost brought our Global Economy down, you get rewarded with billions of dollars!!  It makes me so mad!  I see our economy as an over inflated balloon, inside are our American People struggling to get by, it’s stretching and stretching, it’s going to pop if things don’t change soon.  What I wonder is, if all these major corporations rely so heavily on us people, why is it that they are making it impossible for us to survive?  Without us good little consumers, they would be no where and have nothing.  Soon, no one will be able to afford anything, what will we do than?  What will they do, when the bubble bursts?   it’s kind of like Jenga, everything is going to come crashing down on these greedy corporate entities. 

I hear people saying in the news, the economy is getting better.  I ask, for who?  I don’t see the economy getting better. All around me I watch my friends struggle to get by, I am struggling to get by!  I am working only part time, and I have been looking for that second job, but no one’s hiring!  I launched a small business doing what I love, knitting, in hopes for the future.  I don’t know where my business is going to take me, but I keep hearing from everyone, keep doing it, keep making things, it will work out.  I have determination to continue but I am but hanging on a thread here!  I have bills that are months behind, and I honestly don’t know what I am going to do!!  But it’s like Dori says from Finding Nemo, keep on swimming, keep on swimming, keep on swimming.  So I will. 

I think that this is only the start of the bad economy. I really think it will get worse before it will get better!  But I still have hope.  Hope is all we have I guess.

My New E-Bay Store

So I have finally done it, I have opened up a brand new E-Bay store for my Warm Woolies of Maine business! I have been talking about doing this for a long, long time. I have had a shop on Etsy for some time now, almost a year but it doesn’t seem to get a whole lot of traffic there and I know for a fact that E-Bay has lot’s of traffic.

For anyone who is not familiar with my hobby turned business, I am a knitter, and it has become almost a profession for me. It started off as a hobby, I enjoy doing it and I get a certain satisfaction from making my own garments. My grandmother taught me how to knit before she died, she taught me the knit stitch, and the purl stitch. The rest of my skills I self taught myself or from other knitters I knew. I design all my own creations either completely free style like my felted bags or what not, and I take existing patterns and change them to suit my needs and the garments I am working on. I make hats, socks, scarves, and felted bags mainly. I have knit four beautiful sweaters with beautiful patterns, but they are so expensive to make, I just don’t make them. I started learning how to make mittens last year and will continue to learn the techniques.

I especially like my felted items, felting is new to me and I hope to have some other things for sale other than bags. I have a prototype made for a really nice head band for skiing, and hope to make more. If you are interested in taking a peek at my shop click here. Or you can view my shop on Etsy by clicking here You can access these stores under my links section on this page anytime as well!

In this economy I have come to realize what so many others are realizing. We have outsourced so very many jobs over seas to other countries. We have become so dependant on products that come from these factories in other countries. The products we get from them are so low grade, low quality and some of them have proven to be harmful like toys with lead paint from China, or toothpaste and baby formula contaminated with poisons. Whatever happened to “Proudly Made in America?” Why is it that the American People have gone from the “American Public” to “Consumers?” We really have lost site of value, and what it means to be self sustaining and independent. I feel strongly that everyone in this country needs to make a stand and say hey, we want our jobs back, and we don’t mind paying just a little bit more money for something that is a quality product made right here in America as long as we have good jobs that make it possible to pay for the cost of living and just a little bit more. It is because of greed that there are no jobs, it is because of greed that our Global Economy has almost been completely crushed.

And so, these are the reasons I have wanted to start my own business right here in America, because it is the American way, the American Dream. It is to make a good living by providing good and quality work.