Okay, I’m back. Again. Where have I been?

After a site implosion last month, I’ve been busy rebuilding the old sites and building a new one. or two O.o (I did manage to salvage this site, thankfully.)

Then life interruptions that seemed to keep popping up rendered my stores orphans, so I’ve been trying to get caught up with that, too.

Right now I have about 20 minutes for a breather; thought I’d post something, anything, just to get back into the motion. So humor me while I think out loud here for a bit ;-)

Since my artistic side joyfully (thankfully!) returned to it’s position of dominance, it’s been really hard to concentrate on anything else. But… that hasn’t been helping any with getting rid of all the piles and boxes of vintage and newer collectibles and books and stuff.

We won’t even talk about the boxes and bags of books that well-meaning friends have sent my way… Oh, not complaining! Love books! Would love them even more if my obsessive side didn’t insist on reading them all before offering them up to customers :/

Anyway, it’s really beyond time to clean up this mess and get it outta my way. So have been trying to work my way through the piles and widen the paths that wind through the house. It’s a slow process: Research, clean, photo/scan, measure, weigh, calculate shipping, write description, list. Not too bad once a rhythm is established, but still time-consuming. Also a bit disturbing when I yearn to be at the workbench or sewing machine instead…

So Incredible Clutter inventory has been getting the majority of attention – some stuff listed, about 100 books ready to go, a kitchen table full of great junque waiting for photos.

Also been getting quilting magazines and books and some craft kits ready to go, with some quilting stuff listed now at CraftCottage.

Etsy shops have unfortunately been put into neglect mode until I get caught up a bit.

A new site almost ready to launch: Lizurdz-N-Lace.com & LizurdzNLace.com (Ya, I know that’s two, but they’re going to be all hooked up together.)

Lizurdz-N-Lace is my photography line. With about a bazillion photos (some that are actually good… heh), I figured it was time to do something with ‘em.

So Lizurdz-N-Lace is the main site with galleries and stuff, perhaps a shopping section though I do have an Etsy shop for that, too. LizurdzNLace is tips & tricks for photos and Photoshop, and images I’m releasing to the public domain (yeah! lots of em!). It’s going to be tons o’ fun!

dancingspirit.us has been put on the back burner for a bit. It’s more of a personal site, and must get business going again before rebuilding this site.

incredibleclutter.com has never been a real site, but is in the works. If I could quit arguing with myself about how I want it to look, it’d be up and running last year…

Working on dancethemoon.us and dancethemoon eCrater store for spiritual and metaphysical books, tools and accessories. The store is ready to launch, hopefully that happens this weekend. Site will take a bit longer.

Then our local water co-op, of which I’m an active member, has approved a token pay for running the site I had up for them. It was one of the imploded, have been getting that rebuilt and ready to launch.

*WHEW* No rest for the wicked!

Okay, it’s been a long time since I’ve posted and here I come with a gripe. Well, hell…

I’m flattered some people like my photos enough to put them on their blogs. I don’t mind that a bit. What I do mind is when people not only use my photos, but they also use my bandwidth in the process.

I know there are people who aren’t aware that they’re doing anything wrong by doing this, so here it is:

Directly linking to images on another site is known as “hotlinking”, which is considered by many as stealing. You are using someone else’s bandwidth that they’re paying for. (This of course doesn’t apply to photo hosting sites…)

In case you’ve come here trying to figure out what happened to the photo you had hotlinked, I’ve enabled hotlink protection.

Want to use a photo? You can ask, I don’t bite. Matter of fact, if I know the photo’s out there, I most likely will link to your site or blog or at least give it mention, unless it’s a spammer site or something like that, in which case I don’t want the association but thanks anyway.

All I ask is, just give me credit: photo by CRSpeed (or something to that effect), or visibly link back to my blog or the post it came from.

Thanks.

I have been trying to understand just what it is that you signed that is supposed to be for the good of the American People.

Ummm… with all due respect, sir, I resent it.

Now, I’m only speaking for myself here, but you can be sure there are a lot of people like me out here in the real world outside the Oval Office.

I don’t visit doctors’ offices. I take care of myself. Therefore, I don’t do prescriptions. The strongest drug I take is aspirin. I think I can afford that without having to fall back on insurance.

My “preventive medicine” is good ol’ common sense, along with a healthy lifestyle. I’m quite capable of taking care of the occasional sniffle without running to ER.

I don’t visit dentists. I got rid of that problem several years ago. My $5,000 teeth are holding up splendidly, thank you.

So you see, I don’t need your insurance. I certainly don’t need you and the rest of the Government Gang to tell me what I need for my health when, in reality, you don’t know.

I have a few years on you (8 1/2 to be almost exact) and for you to say you know what’s good for me in this respect is really hard to swallow – especially when it will cost me money that would be better spent on things that will actually help me stay healthy, like healthy food, vitamins, supplements, and seeds for my garden.

You are in effect telling me that I have to instead spend that money on insurance. So I won’t have it for healthy food, vitamins, supplements, and seeds. So I will end up going to the doctor and getting pumped full of drugs that, if they don’t kill me, will cause other health issues and/or dull my mind. I’ve experienced all three of these effects on friends and acquaintances throughout the years. It’s ugly.

The medical profession, big pharma, and the insurance racket have been allowed to run amok. They have become money-grubbing industries who really don’t care about keeping America healthy. Their concerns are bleeding people’s bank accounts and doping America’s brain cells.

Now I have to pay because the whole medical-pharma-insurance scam has grown out of control??? Now I am being ordered to have insurance coverage???

Yes sir, I resent it. I resent you telling me that My Right to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness is Null and Void. Because that’s what you have said by signing this Health Care Fiasco.