Ze ball, iz a rolling

This is going to be a super quick post (so unlike me, i know!) but i finally put up some of my photography on etsy!! Woohoo!! I plan on putting up a bunch of photos every day or 2, until all my stock has been posted. Hopefully they're good enough to buy! I hafta say though, once printed, they look amazing! The colours are much more vibrant than what shows up on the computer screen! I'm so excited! And i just can't hide it!

Now that i've gotten flowers pretty much down pat (and mushrooms! for some reason we have a shit load of mushrooms!) i want to expand to buildings and other such subject matters. Plus i want to learn much more about my camera. Since i'm a visual learner, reading a dry manual doesn't seem to be helping me understand what the crap they're talking about. So, Friar bought me a dvd for my camera which visually goes through how to do absolutely everything my camera is capable of! I'm so excited again!

Okay, gonna fall asleep. It's been a productive and busy day. But i'll end it off with onna my fave pics i took. Again, you want it? You buy it! It can be found at my Etsy shop - there's a link at the side! Have a great night peeps!

Look up, waaaay up

Thanks to my ma'am, things are looking up! First, she made me realize something.

After reading my last blog, she called me up and said "I see you're getting frustrated not being able to find a job. But look at all your past jobs. What didn't you like about all of those?" So i thought about that for a minute. I hated retail in general, being a cashier, being treated like dirt by people who assumed they were better than me just because of where i worked. I either loathed the people i worked with (ie *Puke) but liked the job, enjoyed the people i worked with (ie *Misha's and *Smavey Smee - with exception to a choice few), but disliked the job, or after I had learned everything my job entailed, it got freakin' ass boring. Not to say I *hated* every job, but there were always problems. A lot of them were fun, I had a lot of really great customers which for the most part always overshadowed the jerks, but none of them were quite right. There was never a happy medium. When I was in retail, i longed for an office job. When I had an office job, I longed for retail. But what it came down to was, i still needed something challenging.

So then my mom asked me "So what job is truly going to make you happy?" I didn't have to think very long before i piped up with "Working for myself".

My mom told me once when i was a little girl, that I'd never be able to work for others. I questioned that, was a tad offended. Was I mean? Did i not listen? Did i not take direction well? Those words were always stuck in the back of my mind. What exactly did she mean? I was much too young to ever have a job when she said it to me. But job after job, task after task, i finally figured it out. No, i wasn't mean, yes i could listen, yes i could take direction very well. But i didn't agree with store policies. I constantly fought for change. I got frustrated with rules that didn't make sense. I quit over managers not caring about obvious discrepancies. When i could no longer trust what my managers said, I'd move on. To me, so many things in the work place just simply made no sense. And my parents agreed, that's right, they don't make sense. But that's the way it works. And you'll never change that.

My mom was right. Again.

"So then why are you bothering to find a job which you'll end up hating anyways? If working for yourself is going to make you happy, if that's what you really want to do beyond anything else, don't stress yourself out trying to work for other people. If you need money to print your pictures, or cards, or for supplies, I'll lend you the money for that. That's what's going to make you happy, so that's what you have to do."

How much do i love my mom? I couldn't even put it into words. And it brings me to tears that i have to wait until September on her next visit before i can hug her.

But mom, don't take that as you shouldn't have moved away!! :) I'm very proud of your accomplishments, and you did the right thing accepting the job overseas. Now on a lighter note, here's a pic of my mom getting stuck in a really small, fast closing doored elevator.


Love you Mominska!!

I think i'm a clone now

There's always two of me just a-hangin' around
I think I'm a clone now
'Cause every chromosome is a hand me down


I've never had to work that hard at finding a job. (Although I'm *apparently* a dead ringer for Weird Al. Don't know if I could make money dressing up like him... I'd constantly be buying brown eyebrow pencils to reapply the chest hair as it has a tendency to rub off. Plus this look ruined my hair. Seriously. My hair's been a frizzy clump of shit since the "Weird Al incident".)

I applied to Alan Thicke's *Smellers, and was offered the job a few hours after the interview. I applied for "what the heck is a rutabaga" *Basic Foods (no more, no less) was offered the job on the spot and made an office personnel as opposed to the cashier position i had applied for. I put in resumes at *Home Hardonware, *Shmooze Company (mediocre shoes for not so much money) and *Homesenseless. *Home Hardonware offered me a job without interview at another location as a supervisor, but that other location was farther away in an area without a bus route and i didn't have a car, so i had to decline. I was offered and accepted the job at *Homesenseless, only to have *The Shmooze Company call me later that day and offer me a supervisor job as well, but i stuck with *Homesenseless. I quit *Homesenseless, and a couple of days later was working at "thanks for making a gigantic mess 'cause you knew we were coming, and for the record we're NOT impressed by the used condoms stuck between the couch cushions!" *Jolly Jaid. I quit *Jolly Jaid and took a hiatus off of work for a bit as i was dating someone in Toronto and was there most of the time. Once that relationship crumbled (whaddya mean you ATE while i was in the shower?!) , i applied at *Misha's arts and crafts and instead of the cashier job that i had applied for, got lead sales of the general arts department. While still working at *Mishas, i applied for a position at "hey she learned all the parts really quickly she MUST be sleeping with her manager" *Hell on earth Puke equipment, got the job and after 2 months of being a parts shipper i was promoted to parts counter. I left *Puke and 3 days later was hired on the spot for *Smavey Smee.

(*obviously the names have been slightly altered to protect something or other... )

And now I've applied for 7 jobs and haven't heard back from one.

I realize there's a bit of a recession, there were a lot of people laid off and are searching for jobs as well. I know that it's tougher than usual to get a good job these days, but despite knowing all this, it's incredibly frustrating! I keep wondering what's wrong... why aren't i atleast getting calls for interviews? Is there something wrong with my resume? Does it stink!? Do they not like the fact that i left work in May of '08 and hadn't worked since? Was i just always lucky and now the luck has run out?

I've never been this broke in my life. (well, my parents wouldn't agree with that statement. They had a certain nickname for me - which i won't divulge here - for many years) Yes, my husband makes good money, and we're still able to get by, but i can't stand not contributing. So i still contribute in small ways here and there, even though i can't afford to. We have lots of money locked up in GIC's and RSP's (and TSFAs, TGIFs and BYOBs) to save for a house, so we're okay in that department (and I'm glad it's locked in, or we'd have dick all for a house when my parents come back!) but I'm still freaking out. A year has passed already since we've been in my parents house while they're in The Netherlands (soon to be Vienna, Austria, as my mom was transferred again unexpectedly) and i haven't saved one penny. Not only am i freaking out about being able to afford a house in 2 years, but what about something sooner. Christmas! I know it's still 5 months away, but unless i get some income incredibly soon, there's no way i can give anyone anything... unless i make it. I hope everyone has a swiffer! 'Cause they'll be all getting my reusable swiffer cloths!

And still not having sales on Etsy is bugging me as well. I'm starting to doubt my work. Is it not good enough? I know i don't have any spectacular items on there, but when i see new people (even newer than me) already making 5 or more sales, it's a tad disheartening. Crochet was the only products i could put on right now. I'd love to put all my photography on there, they're all ready to be posted, but i need to print a bunch first before i post them, but i need money to do that. I desperately want to put my Christmas cards on there, but i have to print them first and again i need money to do that. I'd love to start painting and put those on there, but i don't have any canvas, and i obviously need money in order to buy it. So I'm stuck in a rut. A big huge one.

Deep breaths. I think i need that huge creepy doll that the guy on the Inventors show a few years back had made. You press its belly and it says in a soft male voice "everythings gonna be oooooookaaaaaay". I shiver at the thought of that doll. Maybe that's because I've always believed that soft talking males are all serial killers?!

But i can't let it get me down, right? One step at a time. Can't let everything get too overwhelming! This too shall pass... I just wish it would stop taking it's sweet ass time and pass already!




Copyright Sassmowth Designs. You want it? You buy it! :) (Please buy it!)

Crochet or not crochet? That's not really a question, 'cause I'm gonna do it anyway

What to say, what to say. I have no clue! All I've been doing of late is crocheting... (is that a word, or is the plural of crochet crochet, like moose is moose.. although I'd call more than one moose meece cause I'm just strange that way)

With my etsy, I've had lots of views of my wares, but still no sales. I'm thinking (read as: hoping) the reason being is I'm new and have no feedback, therefore people don't trust me! I wouldn't trust me either.. I'm kidding, seriously. At the age of 5 I accidentally stole a piece of licorice from the candy store because my impatient sister was yelling at me to hurry up, so i rushed out with it still in my hand. I couldn't sleep for days, finally bursting out crying to the man behind the counter that i had stolen a 5cent piece of licorice and he laughed and said it was something he would have given me for free anyways. I got a lot of free candy 'cause i was apparently really cute (in an odd, cross eyed, red cheeked, messy hair and dirty face kinda way). So really, how can you NOT trust someone that looks like this?


Now that I'm done with that tangent (and most likely on to my next)... So I'm thinking I'm going to have to purchase something from someone else on Etsy to get some positive feedback and then walla! I'll have some sales. D'ya think it'll work?! We'll see i suppose. I thought for sure my duster mitts would sell. Anyone want some duster mitts?? They're not only cute, they work really well! Funny story that is... Making these duster mitts, taking quite a long time because as per usual i think of something to make that's completely different from any pattern i may have. So i make it up along the way. (remembering to write down key points so i can make them again e.g. how many chains i started with, when i increased and decreased.. before i realized i should do this, ya, it was barrels of fun making another one to match the first! yeesh) Anyhoo, so I'm on my third pair of duster mitts when something hits me... will they work at dusting or just smear it around?! So i threw my crochet(ting) down, ran upstairs to grab a spare square using the same yarn and dusted our room furiously. And lemme tell ya, that was quite a good test as i hadn't dusted our side tables since... hmm.. don't remember. Let's just say there was a hell of alotta dust, and these puppies picked it all up!

Thing that sometimes pisses me off is while I'm feverishly crochet(ting? now see that sounds right) one thing, in my head I'm thinking of something different and new to do (which I'll most likely have to make up) and then i either a) can't wait to finish what I'm doing so i can start the project, or even worse b) finish it, but not completely - no ends tied in and things of the sort- and start on the new thing. I have so many not completes in my pile that it's driving me crazy. So today i sat down and tried to rectify the problem.

Okay I'm laughing, because i almost wrote "rectify the building". Probably because words that start with "rec" make me laugh and remember that time in high school whilst on a field trip to Waterloo University. Our bus pulled into the parking lot and as it sped through the driveway i caught a glimpse of the sign and said aghast "RECTAL BUILDING!?". It was this point in time that my old friend Gab sighed, plunked her head into her hands and said "Kat... it's RECITAL building". Whoops. And yes, I can read... i just tend to misread. Often.

Alright enough nonsense for today kids! Bake to Hork.

Etsy etsy bo betsy

This is just a really quick blog to say i FINALLY have a bunch of stuff now up on Etsy. And people who become fans on my Sassmowth Designs on Etsy facebook page, you get 10% discounts, and of course i'll probably have cool giveaways and stuff when i have a large enough fan site!


Check out my etsy shop at www.SassmowthDesigns.etsy.com
and just search for "Sassmowth" on facebook and the page will come up. Note that Sassmowth is with a "w" instead of a "u"... this is the reason i don't get most people's emails!



In other quick news... we need to fix the toilet 'cause it's leaking, we had a "smart meter" installed by hydro (they say it's smart for us, but me thinks it's smart for them, meaning they can charge us more for things), we saw Harry Potter today (in the VIP theatre of course), and uh... that's about all i can think of! Well, we're also outta dog food, but who needs to read about any of that!

Later kids!

I finally Poka-my-head-out

Hey, has anyone else noticed that whenever i say something like "I'll be back in a couple days!" or "back tomorrow!" or even "back soon!", it takes flippin' forever for me to write again?! Yeesh.. maybe i should stop saying that.

So, this part is LOOOONG over due. I received an award from Margaret over at Margaret's Ramblings and I'm supposed to pass it on to 3 other bloggers! (Sorry for my tardiness Margaret!!)

Now, I'd love to give it right back to Margaret, since she deserves many many awards, but since she already has this one, I'll have to give her a different one! (but I'm not gonna say when, because as we're all aware, i have no concept of time)



First award goes to... Well, i might be a tad biased here, since it's my Daddoo's blog! But it makes me laugh every single time, plus it's informative as well!The blog is called The Caretaker Chronicles and it's all about the madcap life of a previous caretaker in Canada, now living in The Netherlands !

Secondly... Ashley at Ash Illustrations. She's an absolutely amazing artist and a great person to boot. She also has a shop on Etsy (which is linked on her blog) so you can check out all her work, and maybe even purchase something if you so fancy!

And third, but certainly not least, Diana over at Scale Junkie. She's an absolutely wonderful woman who's trying to lose weight, putting it all out there for all the fellow bloggers trying to reach the same goal. She's a true inspiration and has already helped so many bloggers by sharing recipes, strategies and just down right bearing her soul. Her blog has become a community of support, motivation and again, inspiration. Big virtual hugs for Diana!


Okay, so more apologies for that taking so dang long.

Too much to update though.. running out of time. But here's a bit on the down low. (That probably doesn't make sense right there, but it sounded cool at the time)

Parents came home for 2 weeks (so the previous 2 weeks were chock full of cleaning and renovating a bathroom!)
Had an 80's party that ended up with dancing in the street... pictures to follow!
and... wow, that's not much. BUT i do now have items up on my etsy site!! The link's at the side, so check it out! Woo hoo! Now I play the waiting game... for orders that is.

Going a little early, but off to pick up the hubby!!!

Givin' a little thanks

I would just like to write a short blog to give thanks to those who have commented on my last post, and especially to Margaret from Margaret's Ramblings for appointing me an award!! (Which i will be passing on to 3 more people in the next couple of days!) It's a great honour to have my little blog recognized, especially the last 2 posts. They were the most difficult ones to write, but I'm really glad i did. My baby will forever live on by touching the hearts of others.

And now for something completely different, a goofball and his new toy.





Thanks again to everyone! Hope you all have fantastic weekends!