July 2006 The StudioKat Designs
Newsletter HELLO and
Welcome!- WOW, June has been an incredible month for me. Firstly, I have been slavishly trying to complete my new design, The Abraca-Niche, for a July release, and secondly, I spent the better of this month overseas on a trip with some fellow musicians to Volgograd & Moscow, Russia! (Want to see some pictures from Russia? Click here.) Consequently, I haven't been able to spend the usual amount of time, surfing the net for cool stuff to include in the newsletter. I've tried to make up for that with a tongue-in-cheek travelogue, which you may enjoy! (see below)
Feline Quote for July-
Quiltshop
Spotlight- Surfside Quilting.Com New at StudioKat
Designs- The Abraca-Niche A View from the Other Side of the World- Notes worth considering- From Russia With Love!
1) Learn as much Russian as you can before arriving. Russians seem to REALLY enjoy it when you speak Russian to them. (as evidenced by the hysterical laughter that often follows such an exchange)
2) Russian women only come in 2 sizes. Size 0.... or Size 20..... there are no exceptions, and NOTHING in between.
3) The main agricultural product in Russia is cabbage, closely followed by beets and potatoes, which are often combined in a special dish which is required eating for every adult, on EVERY day! It's called Borscht and it's actually quite good, but as a steady diet.... no thanks.
4) When ordering off a menu... Just because a food dish has a name that you recognize, this absolutely does not mean that the food itself will be recognizable, when it is placed before you. Case in point- Spaghetti Marinara sounds like a safe choice doesnt it? Not so my friend, because it's really egg noodles, tossed in garlic butter and topped with fish pieces and red caviar!
5) Under no circumstances should you EVER take a picture of a uniformed individual, or an ATM machine. NOR should said objects even be in the background of the picture you are taking. To do so, will probably result in your detention and questioning. (this actually happened, but not to me!)
6) There is more than one type of drinking water, and I do not mean Perrier or AquaBlue. Russians choose between "still" water, and "gas" water. If in doubt, ALWAYS choose still water, and under no circumstances, should you try to swallow a pill before verifying the type of water you have. Because believe me, it is quite impossible to swallow a pill using "gas" water. The result is something like Mt. Vesuvius!
7) Not all toileting hardware is the same, in fact not all people "toilet" in the same way. In the outlying areas of Russia, you will often encounter "Squatty" toilets". Even under the best of circumstances, Americans just don't do the squatty toilet thing well, so my advice would be to avoid them, especially if any of the following circumstances apply!
a) you are wearing pants, and you are female- this is pure logistics and should be fairly obvious.
b) your knee(s) don't have full range of motion- presenting balancing issues that are only complicated by condition A.
c) the squatty toilet is a UNISEX squatty toilet- need I elaborate?
d) the squatty toilet is in conjunction with a BAR! Believe me, unisex & drunk is a really BAD combination, avoid this at all costs.
e) you are wearing sandals or stiletto heals (God forbid you are barefoot!)
8) Not all showering facilities are equal. In Volgograd, living space is at a premium, so there often is no shower stall or tub. There is a handheld shower wand on the wall, and when you are ready for your shower, you simply stand right in front of the commode, draw a curtain around you and shower away. Does this mean that the toilet paper gets wet and absorbs 47 times it's weight in water? Of course it does, as does the contents of the garbage can if you don't apply the lid tightly! It also means that the shower curtain wraps itself around you, the very second that your body gets wet, and you have to fight it off for the rest of the shower. Thank goodness I never saw a shower facility like this in conjunction with a SQUATTY toilet!
9) Apply the code word... TINA, (this is not America).... to any new situation your group encounters. It will help you to collectively maintain your sense of humor, and also remind you that the American way is really not the ONLY way to get the job done.
10) Click here to check out some pictures from Russia .
Love Handbags?-MoonaLeeBags.Com SKD Promotions Update- The Design Shop Hop! Monthly
Trivia- Ah July! The month for picnics, vacations and goofing off! How fitting, that July 1 is National "I Forgot" Day, a day to makeup for all the birthdays, anniversaries, new births, & graduations that you forgot to acknowledge with a greeting or a gift this year. YIKES! But before you whip out your cellphone to start catching up, remember, July is also "Cell Phone Courtesy month", dedicated to encouraging the increasingly unmindful corps of cellphone users to be more respectful of those around them, Wow! Did that one hit close to home as well? Then maybe you'll feel better knowing this is national HotDog month, celebrating America's #1 handheld food. Click here for some fun hotdog facts, trivia and recipes! And speaking of dessert, (and who doesn't), how about a big slice of blueberry pie, since July is also National Blueberry month . Well, that's it for now, so until next month,
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