CelticCatShop

I'm 38yrs old, married Aug '09, with no kids. I am an herbalist, CNA, amateur photographer (Nikon D40x) and cat-lover (black cats being my FAVORITE!) who loves learning new things & not afraid to try new crafts.

I'm living in the cold & rainy Pacific Northwest, but seriously miss my beloved sunny Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Even though we have a small apartment, I do a lot of square-foot & container gardening. I grow a lot of herbs and veggies to feed us.

I love ginger and green chile. MMmmmmm!

I do geocaching when I get the chance.

Dah Hubz and I are "streamlining" our lives, so to speak. So we are decluttering a lot of our small home. We are fans of minimal living (not living without tho!), so things that come in to our home must serve a purpose: useful (as is, or to be re-purposed into something else) or pretty (for display), in order to stay long-term. :)

I also really like researching old cemeteries and historic architecture. The older, the better. And, of course, I love to photograph them!

On tea: LOVE tea! I blend a lot of my own medicinal teas. I'm not a fan of fruity teas tho...esp not peach. Something about them just doesn't set well in my tummy.

Halloween and Easter are my favorite holidays, in that order. :)

On Religion: I am not "religious", and am much more eclectic. I prefer nature and animals to being closed into a church listening to people being hypocrites. I'm just not a "churchy" kind of person, so I don't follow one specific set path (ie Baptist, Catholic, whatever).

Oh, one no-no for me...I cannot have wheat gluten, so please, nothing bread, pasta, etc related. :) Even though I outwardly look very healthy, I deal daily with Crohn's, wheat gluten allergy, anemia, severe bleeding ulcer & a recovering liver. So I am cautious on what I take into my body, doing my best to keep out chemicals & synthetic stuff.

One of the few things I do collect are Squished Pennies. Hubz and I love to take off on obscure road trips, finding new, weird, and bizarre out of the way places. Instead of picking up a lot of touristy stuff, we like to grab the small, cheap squish pennies instead. We even have a little squish penny album book. Cheap, small, and easy. When we find them, we get excited (err...I guess we're easily amused! LOL)

My favorite colors are purples and silver. Blues and greens are close "runner-ups" too. I don't wear jewelry (not even a wedding ring) even tho I make a lot of it, but when I do it's silver earrings (I do have pierced ears).

There's not a lot I actually "collect". I think my only real "collection" would be black kitty things. I really like ChocoCat (from Hello-kitty), too. My favorite cartoon characters are Wily Coyote, Eeyore and Pussyfoot (yes, all obscure ones..lol). I am also a fanatical collector of maneki neko items (everything from chopsticks to figures). If I can't own a maneki neko, I always try to take a picture of it when I find one. Hubz, who used to travel, would take pics to send me of maneki nekos from all over the place.

Any questions, ideas, concerns? Do feel free to message me! I'll answer anything I can. :)

I am pretty eclectic on music, listening to a lot of everything. My favorites are trace music, 80's & 90's Alternative, Celtic / Irish / Scottish bagpipes, Techno, and stand-up comedy. Dave Gahan/Depeche Mode and Eddie Izzard are my absolute favs.

We don't actually own a TV, so this category is a bit harder for me. I do watch a few shows on Hulu when I'm able to squeak out a short bit of time. I always queue up Bones, Castle, CSI (the original, Vegas one only), Must Love Cats, Hoarders, X-Files, New Mexico's Top Chefs, Cops, Ghost Hunters, and a lot of documentaries

I am not really a movie buff, as my friends always point out, jokingly, to me. There are tons of mainstream movies I have never seen that a lot of people are amazed I know nothing about. My hubz and I do hit the second run theater about once a month (more if there is a few good ones out). I rarely watch a movie more than once tho, so it has to be REALLY great for me to buy (or swap for) a DVD to put in my collection.

My favorites are: Super Size Me, Evolution, Food, Inc, Romy & Michelle's High School Reunion. There's a few others, but can't remember them off the top of my head. :)

I read a LOT. My favorite author is Tony Hillerman and I have all his books. I love murder mysteries "whodunits", esp those set in the Southwest. I am always listing books on PaperbackSwap.com (find me under Lise W or "tartankitty").

I read a lot of books on herbal remedies, DIY crafts, sustainable living and living 'off-the-grid'.

I currently work with herbs (nothing illegal or "controlled"!!), aromatherapy, fabric, metal, beads, wood-burning and "re-purposed" items. I make candles & soaps. There's not much I won't try (heck, I just picked up some bottle caps to make jewelry with!). I have just started working with oven-bake polymer clay, too. Seems I have a knack for small scale sculpting.

I like to build things around the house: a dry bar for my hubz and his homemade liquors, shelving, misc craft items. My newest idea is a storage shed for our back porch built out of free wood pallets. Already have the plans drawn up. :)

Instead of saying it can't be done, I love thinking up new, unusual ways things CAN be done.

Unfortunately tho, I do not have a knack for knitting or crochet work. I admire it, but after years of trying, I finally had to face it that that wasn't where my skills lay. However, I do still occasionally do cross-stitch.