seattlejo.com

 The postcard in the mail was a followup to Christmas card. The email was similar to one recieved last week. A pointed request for assistance, a concerend query regarding my disappearence.

 I’ve not been to church since April. It was shortly after the Mexican Market Extravaganza. We started ramping up at work with the new incoming Freshman and my overtime spiraled out of control. Add 2 college classes to that and it was a busy summer. I havent even seen the Pastor proper  since he got back from his sabatical last spring.

 Part of the problem with being away is that the problem continues to compound itself. I feel guilty for being away, and  even dread the warm welcome I’ll get. I understand that it is a community that embraced me expressing concern for me, I understand and I apreciate the concern, I like that people are asking after me.

 But there is still that big ball of guilt wadded up inside my tummy. I feel bad for not attending . I feel bad for not making the time in my schedule, I feel bad for not being a better christian, I feel bad for not taking my turn at coffee hour, for not stepping up as a worship leader. I feel guilty for abandoning my  women’s group.

 I do not feel guilty for mainting my end of work during the summer. I do not feel guilty for taking and passing two classes the past two quarters. I do not feel bad for persuing my faith journey in a personal manner and maintaining my schedule, as crazy as it can be.

 I do feel guilty for losing the closeness of some of those connections at church. I do feel bad that I’ve let people down.
 I’m still here, I’m still  persuing my faith. I’m still investingating the emerging church, and still exploring my personal connection with god.

 If this is UCC guilt, I’d sure hate to see Catholic guilt.

From Cats

I ran out of Tiffas nummy food and had to stop at Mud Bay on the way home. I ran in and was picking up her normal treat food. Since Conner passed on we’ve been feading her a mix of wet and dry food. 3.2 ounces of wet every day / day and a half, and then as much dry as she cares to eat.

I like the Merrick food for the fun names I’m a sucker I’ll admit it. California roll? Turducken? of course Tiffa needs it.

I’d seen “Fresh” cat food from New Zealand at whole foods before, and laughed it off. After all if there are fossil fuels in my breakfast , why not in my cat food?

Today I caved and bought her a small can of ZiwiPeak wet food and treats. They come straight to us her in Seattle from New Zealand by way of Ontario Canada?? They hype is funny though. For a land that has no native land mammals they are producing a venison catfood that promise to reduce my cat’s flatulance.

Can’t you just see where the human is on the 100 mile diet and the cat food comes from a different hemisphere?

She’s really cute, but I dont think I need to be wasting fossil fuels on her cat food. Good old American food is a-ok for her.

Merry Christmas Everyone.

I spent some time  this morning reading the account of Jesus’s birth in the Gospels this morning. A very nice Christmas thing to do.

What are all these women doing on a Saturday morning waiting in the cool for an hour?

Waiting to attend the Urban Craft Uprising. I  attended last year at it’s gallery location and didnt have a great time. My review of it  last year wasnt very positive. We were crammed into a tiny gallery and literally had to wait in line to get in and to get in line to  to shuffle around and peer at the tables.

This year the location has changed and the event itself exploded. More space , more vendors and more of a chance to walk around. The event opened at 11 and I arrived at 10 in plenty of time to be the 50 some odd person in line.  This meant I got one of the goodie bags available. I ignored the contents of the bag, and concentrated on looking around as soon as the doors opened.

The vendors who were there had a variety of items. Here is a sampling of the ones who were there and what they had .

Fern Renville : Fantastic felt bags in plain and argyle. I’d have bought one but the  price was out of reach for today, and the  straps are a little short.

Anna Perrone Designs: Fantastic Jewely, for a resonable price. The website is crap, so if you are in Seattle you’ll do better to just go to I heart Rummage and see her work there.

CynCity pendants: Nifty little pendants  with maps inside. I loved the ones highlighting Chicago and the different neighborhoods of Seattle

Orange Peel Enamel : Very spiffy enamal  necklaces.

Le’ album: Another riff on  the LPs repurposed. There were two shops onsite with something like this, but these were the best. Purses made of LPs cut in half or 45s.

Domestic Bias : Custom books meant for mini scrap booky/photo albums. Very nifty.

I’ve saved the best for last. These are the ones that i particularly liked.

Paper Chatter : Books with images on the front  and quotes from classic ettiquette books.

Attic Journals : Making Journals from discarded books.

And lastly, Estrella Soaps , which was the only booth I bought from. 5 soaps for $ 20 and the scents were incredible.

And that gift bag. Wow. It was chock full of nifty bits of swag. From jewelery to offered discounts to a coffee mug and pins. My favorite pin was the one encouraging imaginary friends.  There was an issue of Craft  and an issue of Bust as well. Craft was fantastic, and I think I’ll be picking up the issues in the future.

All in all I had a great time wandering around. Remember those concerns from last year? well those were still there.  A number of the items I saw were either rip offs from other designs or were poorly engineered and over priced

One that particularly bothered me was one booth selling stupid sock creatures. They were clearly from the Stupid sock creatures book. 

I don’t understand how those who are so into "Indie Art" can be ok with this sort of thing. How can it be Indie and full of the independent female spirit to copy a pattern  in a book and sell it. I dont think there is anything revolutionary about copyright infringment.