DAMN! After all of this time, you would think I would know to open a Notepad document and save it instead of typing directly into the stupid "Add an entry" interface on Diaryland! I went to "upload images" and lost everything I had written so far! AAAAAARGH!

As I was saying, things have been hectic as of late - household drama (calmed down a bit), cleaning up, organizing the ba-zillion projects I have conceived and not yet completed....

I think that I have so far culled about 70 books (to be taken to a bookseller to see if I can get anything for them!), four garbage bags full of clothes - that was tough! - to send to Goodwill, and a BUNCH of paper items that I have taken from my files and caches of crap.

I am one of those people who cannot resist picking up business cards, flyers, maps, brochures... I guess that I think that I am going to put them in a scrapbook or something. The only scrapbooks I have completed since adulthood (college does not count!) are of my trip to France with my husband-to-be. and of the 9 - 10 bridal showers and celebrations I was given before my wedding. Of course I haven't done a thing about the wedding pix themselves: it took two years for me to get up the courage to order prints for the family!

I have boxes of ephemera representing trips to Quebec/Montreal (with Mom), Mexico (both the solo trip to Morelia where Mom met me and the trip last summer with my Dad and husband) and trips to Charleston and Seattle/Victoria with my husband. I guess that I am not a scrapbook person!

I have been working on projects for my new business - packaging, marketing, and I even attempted for an hour and a half this morning to register for the Avondale Artists Market, only to find out that the final four have been cancelled. However, the organizer said that she would put me on the mailing list for the Little Five Points Halloween Festival, which she also organizes. I really need to work on getting pictures of my merchandise and completing my booth concept so that applying for these things will be easier.

I am currently writing a small set of recipe cards to go with some darling bakers that I found. That means that my husband and I are on a "diet" of recipe tasting, which is not great for the waistline. Fortunately, I have been more consistent in my walking, and my hubby says that he is going to join me and the dog tomorrow morning!

It was because of my morning walk in Norcross that I acquired valuable information. I have this picture in my mind of how my crafts show booth set-up will look. Currently, I have had two tables with bright Mexican blankets on them, and my frames and other stuff just laid out. I toyed with the idea of pegboard, because it would be so easy to hang things from it, but both of my parents (mother with art fair experience, and my dad with flea market experience) said that pegboard could blow down and be a disaster.

So, I thought about old window screens. I decided that I could nail some together or prop some up some way and hand things from that. If I don't put too much on them, being screens, the wind would circulate instead of blow down. At least that's what I hope! Still, I had been to several places, and had no luck finding old screens - and, in particular, ones that didn't cost a fortune.

Lately I have taken to going into one or two shops after I have walked all over (and my dog has pooped all over) Norcross. Yesterday, I went to A Taste of Britain. Today, I went to the two antique stores. I had already been to the first, and was just checking in. The second store was run by a friendly man in his forties. We got to talking, and I asked him where I might find some old screens. He told me that the only place he could think of was a giant barn of an antique store near Little Five POints called The Wrecking Bar. I have been past the place many times, but have never stopped. He added that they were going out of business, and everything was 50% off, meaning that things might actually be affordable!

So, I went home, dropped the dog off, got back into my car, stopped to eat at the sushi buffet, and headed south. I had two and a half hours before my therapists appointment, and I figured that would be plenty of time. When I got there, the first things I saw for "half-off" were huge pieces of furniture, stonework, and mantles that were running from $700 to $2000. I wandered through the store into the annex, and saw that there were literally hundreds of old wooden doors and almost that many window, but it was a while before I located one lone rusty white-framed oblong screen.

Luckily for me, one of the employees came in just at that time, and I asked him about screens. He took me off to the side of an area that I had bypassed, and showed me all of the screens that they had. There were screen doors, and VOILA! wooden screen windows. Each was $10, meaning $5 with the 50% off. I picked out 10, and two other guys helped me with them. Then, I asked about a pile of more modern (but infinitely lighter) aluminum-framed screens. There were 9 of them in two different sizes, and I talked them down to $20 for the lot.

Here's the clincher. When I got to the checkout, the girl told me that there was an extra 10% off! The next part, I am not too proud of. As I reached for my checkbook, she told me that I owed $18.95!!! Aware that some miscommunication had occurred, I kept my mouth shut and paid the lady. I had as many put in my car as I could, and am asking Anthony, the guy who sealed and repaired our deck, to haul the rest. I haven't heard from him yet. I may go back Friday or Saturday and see what's left.

After my therapist's appointment, I went by the Viking Kitchen store and found a lovely Jello/Ice Cream mold with a fleur-de-lis on top of it. It is oval in shape and was only $10. I also bought two full-sized round pie crust shields - I had had this set of four that supposedly overlapped and were always falling off.

Then, I went to Forsyth Fabrics to check out Provencal fabric samples for packaging on one of my items. I was there, cutting samples until the place closed. Then, I stopped by Star Provisions, the gourmet store, to see what they had. I also went to Hancock Fabrics to see if they had any promising fabric, but they didn't.

I got home at about 7:30, in time to eat dinner. My husband took one look at the screens that I had in my car and said that he had no idea what I was going to do with them. He doubts that soldering or any other means of joining them will work. But I have some ideas. Duct tape, for one! ;-)