Stewart Creations

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It was SOO hot in Ajo this weekend, over a hundred. That it was ten degrees hotter here in Phoenix was small consolation.
Painting didn’t go too badly, I patched in the morning and painted in the afternoon, and got most of two rooms done. Next time, I will texture all the living room and kitchen space walls and ceiling. We may stay an extra day, so I could go paint right away, but I have sheers to put up, too. So I will take down a set of rods, etc. and maybe the sewing machine, the existing blinds have to come down to finish the paint job.
I got huge roll of wide scalloped-border lace at SAS for $2.00 (!!), so that will be the hem and add enough weight to make a good ‘hang’, if you know what I mean.
Oh, and I bought 11 or 12 yards of printed sheer material at a dollar a yard! I’m real proud to be such a good shopper, so I can’t help but crow a little, (yes, I know it’s crude).
The print carries some of the dark color that I’ll use for trim, and some of the peach.

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Not this trip, but probably the next, we will take the new TV down. We won’t need plasma mounts because it’s not that fancy of a TV, but we’ll figure out something.
Our neighbor in Ajo does agility with her border collie and has invited me to do it with her this winter. I might just take Reddy Kilowatt since he’s been to school so much. Annie Oakley has that hip thing, and Hank has never had formal training, also, “old dogs, new tricks” may apply here, at his age, he’s pretty set in his ways.
If I don’t take Reddy to agility, that would leave Fea or Pnut, both too short to get over a jump. Pnut would look pretty cute trying, though.

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We are going to Ajo this weekend. I have a huge bucket of peach paint. Everything will be peachy! (LOL)
After I paint every surface that light peach, I will come back and do some contrast in a dark barn red, oxblood, cinnamon coffee, something like that. I want to do one whole wall in the great room. That’s pretty funny to call it the ‘great room’, it’s such a small house, but there you have it.
I’ll bring back pics.

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My plans for a business are getting organized. I will make gourmet doggie treats, crock-pot cooked and then baked, so they will not need refrigeration and will ship easily.
It’s pretty exciting. I have been making dog treats for my own dogs for over a decade now, and haven’t had any complaints.
As soon as the business gets big enough, I will shop for office furniture. But in the meantime, my own little desk and ‘puter will have to do.
I can’t help but dream big, though. There is no reason I can’t do this for a long time.

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It seems like I’ve been sitting in a lot of classroom chairs lately.
Tuesday and Thursday are my favorite days this term, I start out with Yoga and end up with Ceramics. Business classes in between.
In the Developing Small Business class, we got back our first graded assignment, and I am right on track. You really can’t tell what a professor is going to be like until the first graded paper or the first test.

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Very interesting course. I found a chart (Hofstede’s Model) that rates countries on four points:
Power Distance: This pertains to how closely management traditionally works with line workers, it also relates to how much distance from power the masses in a political system have from the government. Think USA vs. China
Uncertainty Acceptance: relates to how a county’s people perceive change (welcome or not welcome). Cultures with a high uncertainty avoidance crave more structure in their workplace and more rules and laws.
Individualism: (vs. Collectivism) measures how likely entrepreneur-ship will develop. Relates to whether a society rewards collective behavior or not, think USA vs. Japan.
Masculinity: (vs. Femininity) Rates how likely a society is to promote or respect a woman in business.
I have to tell you, I was not really shocked to find that in order to dip below 40 on a 100-point scale (100 being totally intolerant to womens’ rights) you had to go to Norway, Sweden and Denmark.
What in the he11 were we fighting for in those ‘burn-your-bra’ days? We still earn only $.60 to every dollar men earn right here in the good old USA. And the percentage of female CEOs in the Fortune 500 companies is single digit. That’s why 98% of new business start-ups are woman-owned businesses. We’re just lucky we have the opportunity to start a business, some countries don’t have free enterprise.

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but at least I think I’m catching on. We have a big test in International business on how to rate a country’s potential for doing business in by looking at the religion, politics, societal norms (to shake hands or not to shake hands???) and stability. There is also a chart to measure how business-friendly the country is to women.
Pretty interesting, but also a lot to study. Guess I’d better get to it.

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I will also start prepping the wall for paint. I think I want to do a very light peach with dark barn-red for accent. We’ll have light-colored tile on all the floors.
We intend to have it totally done by Thanksgiving, and have the holiday celebration at our place.
The holiday invitations are already starting to be extended.
You can probably tell I’m pretty stoked about having this project house, it’s like ‘playing house’. It feels like a toy. It is a very small house, maybe that’s it.

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In Ajo, we need to get the fence dog-proof. We also need to install dog ramps at the back of the house so they can come and go as they wish. These dogs are used to their freedom.

I’ll be using my own dogs on the packaging for the doggie snacks before the end of the Fall 09 term.
The small dogs for the small biscuit package, and of course the large dogs for the large cookies.
I even have a beautiful middle dog for the medium snacks.

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I’m making dog biscuits for my small business class project. The business looks so feasible on paper that I am seriously considering doing it. To that end, I am looking for packaging that is earth-friendly. Found a couple of options. Celestial Teas has a nice cardboard box with a waxed paper liner that would work.
My artist friend sent me this idea, which looks good, and she also sent the template. I could even put in a place for the barcode scanner in case I get big enough for grocery stores.
I will be using my own beautiful dogs on the label.

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My sweetie, my spice, my one and only, he’s gone off to motorcycle nirvana in LA. They (he and a fellow motorcycle-ophile) headed off this morning, and now that it is time for him to be home from work, it really feels like I’m alone. (Except for the five dogs).
It’s kind of nice, but I know I’ll like it only in small doses. He will be back tomorrow night, and next week we plan to go to Ajo and finish up the bathroom. So I’d better enjoy the solitude.
I have been looking for new sinks, found some fancy stone sinks, found some not so fancy. Mister wants a vanity in there, so maybe I will beg a new vanity for the ‘other’ bath and we can drag the old one down there.
I think we will be staying in the house sometime in October.

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Dave and Kurt are going to the vintage motorcycle swap meet in LA somewhere, it’s an annual thing and they always haul a truckful of bikes and parts and magazines, etc. and usually come home with a truckload of whole different stuff! Dandy! I stay out of their way, but am so happy they get to take Bertha.

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I am really enjoying my Development of a Small Business (mgt 253). The business I am developing for the class project is an online-only gourmet dog treat business.
It looks so feasible on paper I wonder why I haven’t done it sooner. I need to get the .com address yet, so I don’t know what the name will be.
I have been cruising the online pet supplies people to check out the competition. Found some good ones, but I think I can sell the dog biscuits at as low a price as any I found and still make a profit. I know they’ll be tastier and better for the intended audience, the canine gourmand.
I will use my own dogs on the label.

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I tore up the carpet at the Ajo house. There’s a perfectly good handyman there, he needs the work because he’s on social security disability, but I thought it was going to be easy.
It wasn’t that hard, but by the time Beto and Dave carried it off to the dump for me, I was really grateful I didn’t have to touch it any more.

Next time I will take the shop vac and a scraper. The floors are pretty good, some stick-on tiles have to come up, but we intend to do ceramic tile all at once, and slight variations in the floor will disappear under the tile goop and tile.
Spackle is next. I’ll prep the walls next time and paint. Then the tile, and by that time Dave will be done with the bathroom the dog fence
and we can move in.

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Oh yeah, I meant to talk about the VFW. We went there for burgers and sat out on that back porch I like so well, I’ll get pics next time.
We had a beer, looked at the beautiful cloudy sky (sigh, clouds at last), and visited with the cook, Freeman, and with whoever else went by. It’s a small town so between us, Mom and Beto, and our neighbor, we knew at least half the folks we saw. It was a funny feeling.
Joe Ann, our neighbor, went with us. We had a beer and a burger and a real good visit.
It is so nice to sit outdoors again, it’s been a long hot summer.

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We were in Ajo over the long weekend and got rain.

I walked in it between Mom’s house and our house.
The moisture felt so good on my skin, it was as good as a wrinkle cream. My hair actually felt smooth.
Of course the dogs loved it.

We caught up to a squall on the way out of town and stopped to play in it. The wash was starting to get scary, so we kept the dogs away. You never know when a big gush of water and debris is going to come downstream like a wall.

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A couple of the Mata Ortiz potters visited our ceramics class Tuesday. Look at the beautiful pottery they brought. I take good pics with digital cameras.

These are all hand-built using the pinch pot method, not thrown, and then fired over a small fire using either wood or cow pies.

This black finish is achieved by carbon and smoke.

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