Flowersbyfarha

    It's always nice when someone appreciates my work.  It's even nicer when someone tells others.

    Colorada of Delight Destinies recently commented in her blog article, "Flow with Flowers":

    ...perfect for many occasions,... Silk Road Flowers by Far'ha is the place to find your dream flower accessories.

 
    Back in April, Anitra Cameron, of Coffee Pot People, also had kind words to say:
     
    This first flower* just wowed me. It looks like something you could frame and hang on the wall:

    *blushing*

      Full comments and photos can be found at

http://ddskies.blogspot.com/2008/06/flow-with-flowers.html

and

http://www.coffee-pot-people.blogspot.com/search/label/flowersbyfarha

*see photo above (soon to be listed here at SilkFair)

    Are you squinting at your monitor?  Experiencing eyestrain, dry eyes, neck pain, headaches, and a permanently furrowed brow?

    Relief is just a click away!

    In my last blog post I shared my consequences of ignoring a change in vision and bad desk ergonomics combined with too many computer hours.

    Dry eyes?  Blink more.  Seriously.  We all tend to stare intently at our computer monitors, rarely blinking.  Artificial tears provide only momentary relief as they are quickly washed away with our natural tears.  A few lubricants, such as Systane, offer longer lasting relief.

    Eye-strain can be alleviated by taking frequent breaks (every 20 minutes is recommended).  Look beyond your computer, preferably look out a window!  Get up and move around.  Do a few stretches. Pull your shoulders back using the long muscles that sweep across your shoulder blades and attach to your spin at your lower back.

    And my favorite, just learned tip for how to avoid the wrinkles and headaches of trying to read the increasingly popular web design trend towards ridiculously small font sizes:

    "Ctrl +"

    Press "Ctrl" and click the plus sign (+) as many times as it takes to enlarge the font to a comfortable reading size.  It's easy and it's free!

    To return font to "normal size"  or even more ridiculously small, click "Ctrl -" (minus sign) until the type disappears altogether.

    Have fun and work in good health!

    (Kudos to SilkFair for responding to our early feedback by enlarging their fonts!  Another example of our responsive SF is to all our needs.)

    When I was interviewed recently, the question "What do you do for fun" stumped me for a moment.  I realized I don't necessarily separate work from fun.  Self-employed multiple ways, I often feel  like I'm working 24/7.  Some aspects of my "job" are tedious but necessary things like bookkeeping.  Some are indeed fun-- like creating flowers.

    It is often said among self-employed people that you have to love what you do--or you might as well be doing something else.  When you work as many hours as we do, that is so true.  Whether you "punch a clock" for someone else or are self-employed, when work starts to feel like "work" instead of "fun," it's time to look at things.

    Opening my online shops and diving into a very deep pool of the Unknown resulted in even more hours at the computer, fewer hours at the (fun) "work bench."  Work had become a pain in the neck--literally.  Sometimes the learning curve has been overwhelming, reading so much in this blog here, that forum post there, that I felt like I was seeing double at times.  Work has been exciting but not so much "fun."

    A trip to the optometrist revealed a change in vision.  It also revealed that my eyeglasses had been sitting slightly crooked, causing one eye to shift to find the focal "sweet spot" and that this was the cause of the occasional blurring/double vision.  <whew!>  

    What a relief!  Adjusting the frames brought immediate relief on that issue.  A change in prescription takes care of the overall eye strain that had been developing.  And a prescription for computer lenses is making reading the monitor so much easier!  I no longer have to hunch forward and tilt my head up to read the screen.

    However, having been caught up in the excitement and workload of developing two online shops and ignoring the oncoming symptoms until they developed into a pain in the neck and elsewhere, now I have some major bodywork to do to undue the damage and get back on track with proper posture, exercise and remembering to take breaks.

    This has been an uncomfortable reminder of something I learned a long time ago:  when a person is caught up in ongoing stressful situations but not dealing with it directly, the mind is very good at getting the body to "act out" to the degree it takes to get the person to take notice.  Whether it be a minor illness, an injury or the proverbial "pain in the neck," the mind/body will find a way to force a person to deal with it.

    For me, it was a case of becoming consumed with new projects and losing touch with posture, ergonomics and "common sense."  Fortunately, the fix is a relatively simple, only semi-expensive round of new glasses and bodywork, and paying attention to ergonomics, posture and exercise.

    For you?  If your job is a "pain in the neck," you may need a different job-- or maybe it's just time to get your eyes checked and/or change the height of your desk chair.

    Work in good health!

    This flower is one of my favorites-- reminds me of dogwood and springtime although it looks more like an oversized apple blossom.  And it has absolutely nothing to do with this post's topic other than it also reminds me of pollen all over blossoms like butter on bread.

    Or muffins.

    And what to do with those bananas that ripened too fast in our recent heat wave.

    I tend to be a creative cook.  When it comes to recipes, I throw in a handful of this, a sprinkle of that, without worrying too much about precise measurements--except when it matters because of the chemistry.  So, like my flowers, my muffins are never exactly the same way twice--but somehow always fabulous. And here's my secret--

    I start with a fabulously simple recipe  from a friend's mother.

    Mary Jane's Banana Bread

1/2 cup oil
2 eggs
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
2 cups mashed ripe bananas (~ 4 bananas)
1/2 cup oatmeal
handful of chopped dried fruit.

Bake at 350 degrees

  Only what I do is something more like...

    Oh heck-- I have 5 super large over ripe bananas so....

     Add another 1/2 of the 1/2 measuring cup of oil;

    Throw in another egg (remarking out this recipe is so 2 - 2 - 2 easy to increase by 1/2);

    Don't bother to pack the brown sugar-- use less if possible, but DANG! this is rock hard... let soak in egg and oil...that didn't work... pull out and drain as best as possible... put in small bowl with a bit of water to dissolve.  (20 minutes of smushing, dissolving, crushing sugar lumps).
   
    Stir egg, oil, sugar (now plus water) a lot--until almost frothy this must be important because these muffins were the lightest muffins ever--especially considering what comes next!

    Mush the bananas and stir in... or forgetting the order dump in bananas and then try to mush but that's harder.

    Dump flour (remembering to add a 3rd cup) onto wet ingredients (this time using Bob's Red Mill Whole Wheat pastry flour because that's what was handy); and baking soda (adding a 3rd tsp, but you could use the tablespoon spoon instead).

    AND now is where I really tweak it:

    Throw in some oat bran.  (I never measure but probably more than 1/4 cup and less than 1/2 cup.)  Thrown in some more because I'd added some water this time in trying to dissolve the brown sugar.

    Add the 1/2 cup and then some of oatmeal.  Hmmmm... throw in some more.

    Fluff the dry ingredients to distribute the baking soda then stir it until reasonably well mixed.

    --And then toss on some dried cranberries (fruit sweetened not sugared up kind)... how much?  Until it looks like a good distribution you'd like to sink your teeth into.

    Sprinkle in a mess of sesame seeds.

    Throw in a handful of sunflower seed.  hmmm.... toss another handful on.  (If I felt like bothering to chop nuts, I would as easily added cashews, pecans or whatever else I had on hand.)

    Line muffin tin with cupcake papers (because I hate washing out muffin tins).  Fill and bake in 350 oven until done (20-25 minutes depending on your oven.)

    [Note: tooth pick test for done-ness.  Insert toothpick in center.  If it comes out clean they're done.]

    Remove from oven and (diet permitting) slather with butter, eat with a glass of (soy, rice, cow...) milk or cup of tea--and think of my flower.

    Happy Eating!

    Ok... I finally did it!

    I joined Twitter.  I'm still a little boggled about how it works, but getting the hang of it.  Its a good challenge to keep messages under 140 characters! If you Twitter, do give me a Tweet!  My username there is the same as here:  flowersbyfarha.  

    Apparently to Tweet someone, you can either send messages to a particular user directly or send them a public message by using "@" in front of the user name, eg @flowersbyfarha to tweet me.  Or just type your message for the tweeties at large.

    Customizing the background was another challenge as I'm trying to create a uniform look with my graphics where possible.  Part of the challenge was  in trying to manipulate my graphics around a changing obstacle course so it would look nice, enhance but not distract--or be chopped up too badly by the windows and other site graphics.  Thought I had the arrangement and then realized--this is going to be different on everyone's monitors as people size their windows differently.

  The other challenge was trying to find colors that worked.  Although I'm using files from my printers--thus in CMYK color system--I'm working with color code numbers from my website which is RBG color system.  If that isn't fiddly enough, I discover that in PhotoShop Elements 5.0, I can input a color code but then the selector seems to default to some sort of not really near enough look-alike "stand-in" color.

    This is very frustrating for an artist--wanting creative control--as well as for a business person--wanting control on creating consistent branding imaging.  But the reality is, even if I tweak it on my monitor, it will still look like who knows what on your monitor!  

    --adding a new layer of meaning to the phrase, "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder."