October Rush

The end of October is fast approaching. I'm finally getting my glass work to become a regular part of my life. I finally realized that I will have to do some work on the weekends just to keep up.

Tonight we are carving pumpkins. I went and picked some up at Wal-Mart yesterday with the boys. My daughter even wanted to carve one, which surprized me since she is constantly on the go with school, debate & work.

Tomorrow we are off to a memorial for my Dads cousin. He passed away suddenly this week. It was a real shock but I think that with everything going on in his life he was running towards the light in the end. He was truely a great guy and will be missed!

The kids can hardly wait to trick-or-treat on Tuesday and it looks like the weather might just hold out. Yeah, I don't mind it being a little chilly but the rain sucks, especially when you have a little guy out there.

Well, I'm off to start my day! I hope you all are enjoying your weekend. Don't forget to set your clocks back tonight.

Aaaaah!

I thought I was going to do a little glass melting today but I'm going to be running errands instead. Post office, music store and probably a little stop at Ben Franklin (just cause I had to go out). I thought my package would fit in my mailbox but alas that is not the case. I could "wait" for the mail person to come by and give them the box but that is a pain so......the sax I rented for my son is proving to have some problems already so I need to take it in and have it looked at & Benf Franklin is just for my own pleasure :). Maybe I'll be able to squeeze some molten glass in later.

This week is flying and I can't believe that tomorrow is Friday. I'm glad and looking forward to sleeping in this weekend. The weather is starting to "chill" out. You can really feel fall in the air. I'm actually starting to adjust to the idea but also haveing a winters worth of firewood helps.

Ok, enough small talk. Time to get on with the day!

Growing Up

My daughter would kill me if she knew I were making this post. At 17 she is one of the most talented articulate teenagers I have ever met. I can honetstly say that I'm very proud of her. We have been through many ups and downs (with more to come, I'm sure). Right now she is learning about how to balance life, work, and school & I can honestly say that it isn't an easy lesson. The kids of today, no matter how we raise them are somehow influenced by the times. My Aunt (my other mother) gave me a time article about a year ago about how the teens of today are all about themselves....well I thought...."that's not my daughter, I've raised her different than all of those other parents".....well guess what, she is one of those kids. I have no idea how it happened but I do remember certain moments......her not wanting to work......her thinking she was entitled to something specific for "some reason" (I'm still not sure what the reason was).....anyway she is learning a hard lesson and it's not easy for me to watch her learn it. She knows that she has to continue working if she wants to continue driving. She also has to keep up with all of her school work if she wants to be on debate this year (her passion). The year has berely begun and it's becoming quite the challenge. At this point I'm giving her a shoulder to cry on but that's about it. I've watched her get screwed over by a co-worker and work extra hard to keep up with the school work. At times it's all I can do, not to say "quit your job and live at home forever" but ya know what. I DON'T WANT her to live at home forever. I want her to FLY on her own with the other birds. DAMN!!! It's hard raising kids. So far, so good! It's been a rough few years since her father walked out but she's finally figuring it out but BOY is it a tough road.
Even with my Art my kids are my life! I know....no one ever said it was going to be easy but no one ever warns you JUST how HARD it really is.

Charlotte

New Venues

I'm looking into new ways to sell my wares. Etsy is at the top of the list & I signed up with them today although I don't have anything up yet. Ebay sales are slow so I'll be dropping prices there. I have a wonderful fan/customer who keeps coming back for more and I appreciate her more than she can imagine. I'm going to add a link to her ebay & website this week. She makes the coolest jewelry and is a Reiki Master. I'm hoping to get to meet her next Summer when we make our excursion to the ocean since she will be living in that area.

I'm still working on clearing out my house. I know it sounds rediculous that I still have more stuff to get rid of but have you ever heard of getting rid of the old to make room for the new. A new house is at the top of my list. We literally have soft spots in parts of the house and I'm not sure why, other than that this mobile has out lived its time. I'm going to look into the logistics of what it takes to see about getting approved to build on another part of the property while this house slowly deteriorates. Older mobiles are tough to repair and this one is really not repairable without ripping the whole thing down. We have maybe.....1-2 years left & we don't want to leave the area with the schools (for the kids) and property values slowly rising.

I'm taking one of the cars in for work tomorrow and going to pick up a alto sax (rental) for Dakota to start band next week. These kids are growing so fast is scares me. Dakota can hardly wait to get this sax and apparently made up his mind last year (I didn't have a clue) that he was going to play. He has already decided that he's going to be in the Jazz Band next year. This will be interesting to watch. Jim thinks it's cool and would like to rent two sax's but I don't think he could squeeze in the time for pracitice. We're just going to see how Dakota does and go from there. Did I mention that I love jazz so this is going to be very cool!

My daughter is on her way home so I need to free up the computer. I hope you all are enjoying your evening.

Take care.

I'm such the Dork!

I just realized that my ebay was linked to my old blog. Damn!! I thought I had remembered to update everything.....oh well. I have taken care of it. I have new glass up in my arts one and a bunch of craft books in the other. I find that listing eats up quite a bit of time but I'm trying to start getting it done first thing in the morning so I can do other stuff (Art) during the day. The bummer about a computer is that you can get so caught up in going to these other sites that before you know it half the day is gone. Soooooo, I'm now limiting myself on the computer to mostly work and a little surfing. Easy to say, harder to do, but I'm getting there.

No glass work today with listing & I've been neglecting my clay for too long. Tonight is curriculum night at the school so I need to get ready for that also. The teachers explain what they are going to teach for the year and their teaching style. I haven't missed one yet since my daughter's been in school. My oldest boy wants me to check out the band program too since he wants to play the Sax. I love jazz so that would be really cool.

I'm going to try and shampoo the living room carpet next week. It's a cream covered in brown and black splotches. I know it's not wise to have that color with kids but I prefer to lighten things up with the carpet since it's an older mobile with dark (YUCK!!) paneling. I can hardly wait for a new house!!

I'm off to get a few things done before I have to head out. Our Fall has begun early with lots & lots & lots of rain. That's what I get for living in the Pacific Northwest.

Enjoy your day!

Reading

I ran into my first adult non-reader the other day. I'm not talking about someone who doesn't want to read but someone who didn't know how. I was standing in the foil, plastic & baggie section at Wal-Mart when this young man asked me which bags were the quart ones??? I'm thinking, "Wait, it says quart and gallon right on the box." He was standing in front of the gallon bags and pointed right to the word gallon but didn't know that's what it said. I pointed out the quart bags to him and he thanked me and went on his way. I was shocked! I knew it exsisted but just really didn't think about it. I can't imagine not being able to read. All my kids read and I'm very strict that they (the younger kids) spend 20 minutes a night reading after school. My daughter is a voracious reader and being on debate, she spends hours reading about politics and whatever the daily news is to keep up on the current topics. Debate is run like a government so they need to know everything that's going on in the news. She's very frustrated that she won't be able to vote in this up coming election because she'll be a month shy of 18.

On the art front I have gotten back to making a few beads/vessels every (most) day(s). It took awhile to back in the groove but I'm finally there. I left another 6 bags out for the blind today. I bet you're wondering just how much crap one person could have in there house?? Well, I have to say that this stuff can hide well and yet be in plain view, especially when you don't feel up to going through it. Each area of the house is getting a thorough going through and if I really start restling with what to keep and what to get rid of I have a glass of wine and out the door it goes. You think the wine would make me want to keep up but that's not the case because deep down I want the house "livable" and not to be embarrassed when someone shows up. Call it preperation for a new house. It's both mental & physical. In some ways my life was a mess for while (after divorce & some other "stuff") up until a couple of years ago & things have been coming together nicely so it's time to get everything else together....does that make sense??

Anyway, I'm getting an early start today so I thought I would swing by this way and drop a line. I have some auctions to get up and running on both Ebay's so check them out if you get a chance.

Enjoy your day :)!

Lost The @#$% Post

I had a whole post dissapear into cyber space!! I'll be back tomorrow to try updating you again. My teen is patiently waiting for her turn on the computer.

Take care all!

A Little Space

Friday afternoon I began cleaning out my sewing area, which other than the occasional hem project had lain untouched since before my divorce over 7 years ago. I began to go through the piles of "stash" upholstery fabric that was taking up so much room I could barely move (first glass of wine). I figure if I "loosen" things up a bit I won't have so much trouble parting with this fabric that can be used for any number of projects that come to mind. I start sorting through the shelves that are overflowing with "stuff" (denim, pillows, various garment fabrics). Second glass of wine......My garbage pile and blind pile are growing. I have made enough space to move in a small table (my new claying area) from another part of the house. Now that I'm done (for the most part) I have a ton of stuff for the blind and a couple of huge bags of garbage. My sewing area is up for sewing again along with enough space to easily convert into a painting area and my new claying area are all set up. I did do some claying saturday and boy is it nice to have most of it nestled into one area.

However, I now have a bunch of boxes and bags that are in the way in the dining room waiting for the blind to let me know when they'll be in the area again. I do feel like I made quite the accomplishment.

I'm off to do some finishing up today and to get the rest of the house straightened up. I hope you all enjoyed your weekend. We are back to sunny, but cooler weather. There is definetly a Fall nip in the air.

School!!

They are back at it today. Almost feels like we never had a Summer. Dakota was happy to go back to school. Duncan however, I think had mixed feelings. He doesn't like change in the least and it's that fear of a new teacher and different kids that gets to him. After he gets past the first day he loves it but he is my child that's the most resistant when it comes to change. Connor is back to being "on his own". No big brothers to follow around. He'll be fine. We are going to work on getting him started at reading this year. He loves books!!

Today I'll be working on getting some more auctions up and getting a new area set up for my sculpting. I'm half way there on getting it set up. I have the table up and most of my supplies on it but I'm not quite finished clearing out that area. I need the Blind (GoodWill) to make another pick-up. They just came about 2 weeks ago and usually call once a month. I'm going to have another huge load ready for them.

I was so sad to hear about Steve Irwin (The Crodile Hunter). That is life. Makes you realize that you could be here one minute and gone the next. Make the most of it, he certainly did!! He will be greatly missed!

I'm off to continue my organization journey. Hope you are enjoying your hump day!

Labor Day

The kids are seeing the dark hole at the end of the tunnel. I think they refer to it as school :). Boy did this weekend fly by! We are heading out to visit one of my nieces who is in town from the Boston area. She'll be leaving at the end of the week and this is really the only chance we will have to spend some time with her. She's a couple of years younger than my daughter (15). Last Summer my sister sent out her oldest who's the same age as my daughter (17). Plus we will be stopping for the last clothes item, shoes & a quicky stop at Barnes & Noble. Just to browse...ok, so it probably won't be that quick but it's so much fun to stop there.

It's really hard to believe that Summer is coming to a close. I'm really going to miss the warm weather and yet I'm looking forward to a little cool down. It does make working in front of a torch a little easier.

I've finished crocheting two toy nets for my boys. I need to make one more. I used two different patterns and I'm going to make the third out of the tighter weave (pictures later). They are made from a heavier duty carpet yarn so they don't stretch as much. I tried making one from regular worsted weight and it had a little too much stretch to it.

I've just started scuplting with Super Sculpey and I love the feel. The color is a skin tone so I'll have to either paint it or add color another way but for scuplting it's excellent. It holds the form well and isn't too soft but it does take a little conditioning to get it ready though not nearly what regular fimo does. I still have some Kato clay that I need to try and I hear it's also an excellent sculpting clay so I'm looking forward to trying it plus it comes in several colors and is very economical. Fimo soft is too soft for almost anything, in my opinion (unless mixed) but the kids love it and they have a cool selection of colors. Good old scupley is right in the middles somewhere but their Premo is a great sculpting medium.

How did you like my clay assesment?? LOL....sorry I got a little carried away but who knows the information might be useful to someone.

Well I have the kiln heating up since I won't have time again until Wednesday to play with fire.

I hope you're enjoying your three day weekend.
Stay cool!!

Hot Again!

The weather has heated back up again. This weekend is the local Seattle Bumpershoot Festival. I heard on the news that this is the first time in a long time that it hasn't rained at the festival. Did you know that a bumpershoot is an umbrella?? Having lived in the Pacific Northwest for most of my life I have to say that the last couple of years have proved to be a little drier, at least it seems that way to me.

I got back on the torch today. Didn't get a lot of beads done but it did feel like sitting down with a friend that I haven't talked to in a couple of weeks. That's a great feeling to have! I have a few things up in my art Ebay. Some horses and flowers. And an assortment of stuff in my Dolphina Ebay.

I'm still re-arranging things around here but it's slowly coming together. I'm trying to consolidate more things into one area so that it's not spread so much throughout the house. My torch will stay right where it is (behind me) since it has ventilation and everything else I need set up already. A lot of things "follow" me around the house depending on my focus at the moment. The main chair I sit in at night has an assortment of things surrounding it...yarn, clay, sketch pads...various craft books (for learning new techniques & inspiration). Maybe when I get brave I'll snap a picture of that spot and you can get an idea of what my mind looks like sometime. I'm working VERY HARD to become more organized!! REALLY!!

The picture of the last hat I crocheted and my little guy too. I'm off to find a cold drink. Enjoy the long weekend~

Counting Down

Tomorrow they post the class lists for my boys so they get to find out about the teachers they are getting. Next Wednesday will be their first day back. I'm now trying to get back into the swing of going to bed earlier so that I can get up earlier....so far......it's a no go. At night I LOVE my quiet time after the kids go to bed..sooooo, so they don't usually get to bed until 10 or so, I end up staying up until 11:30 or midnight. If my daughter is working late I always wait up for her too. When the kids are in school my quiet time is usually in the morning, before they get up.

In all this my daughter no longer qualifies with the boys since she is working and will be a senior this year. She's almost reached adult status...arrrrg! It makes me feel old and scarred....wondering if I raised her well enough to be out on her own. I'm very proud of her and she really seems to enjoy her job.

Have I mentioned that I'm going through peri-menopause? Night sweats, hot flashe & the worst thing are the mood swings. They are BAD! It's strange because you know you have no reason to be angry and yet...you still are. I'm taking natural remedies for it and they seem to help a lot. Black Cohosh and a natural multi just for this. I'm 41 by the way and actually started having the symptoms before my last child so that would have put me around 37-38 when I started. It tends to run in my family to go through "the change" early. Why did I bring this up. I just figured it was a good idea in case I go on any off the wall rants. I'm very aware of my mood swings and getting unreasonably pissed but it doesn't always help. Enough about that!

I have the links working to my ebays. Just click on the links at the right to go to which ever you prefer. I'm getting a few vessels up on my art ebay, goddess, horses & flowers. Check it out when you have some time. I have a few more listings of glass today and then it's off to other things.

Enjoy your day all!

1 Week To Go

They kids head back to school in one week and I have to say that I'm a little excited. I adore my children but sometimes enough is enough when it comes to bickering and such. Life will go back to me and my 3 year old for another school year. Boy is time flying and I know he'll be in school soon too but I'm enjoying the moment since he's my last little one. Yesterday was spent shopping for school clothes at the local GoodWill and I can honestly say that I'm always pleased with what I aquire at that store. It's really a nice thrift store and the kids have no complaints whatsoever. I get a ton of nice clothes for a fraction of the store prices and am able to do it again half way through the school year. I do buy underwear, socks and shoes brand new though.

I'm slowly getting some of the glass items I made before I left for the ocean, up for auction and should have a few more up today. I'm trying to insert a link but it doesn't seem to be working. I'm sure I just haven't figured out how to do it right. I'll keep working on that....


Today the weather is showing signs of fall. It's cloudy and overcast and a little on the cool side. Last night it poured down rain. We haven't had a lot of rain this summer so it's kind of nice but I'm NOT looking forward to the cooler weather that's coming. Time to stock up on firewood!

I've got lots to do today so I'm outta here. Have a great day & I'll see ya tomorrow!

Blink

It seems like I blinked and the week was gone. I think we all know that feeling when it comes to vacations. The kids had a blast! We were busy everyday. Usually to the pool twice and the beach at least once. The pool was the favorite which wasn't a suprise being it was 85 degrees. We also went beach combing one moring on a minus tide. And canoing which I'm not to awfully fond of. I have this unreasonable fear of water that I can't see the bottom of and a rocking boat does nothing to make me feel better. I'm not a good example for my little guy.

I was able to complete one crochet project. A hat! Fits my little guy perfect. I'll post pictures of it tomorrow.

So now things are back to normal and we're gearing up for the kids going back to school. Tomorrow will be school shopping. I should have some new stuff up on ebay this afternoon. My two ebay ID's are Orchid65390 and Dolphina33. The orchid one is for my art and dolphina is for "stuff". So keep a watch.....

Hope you all are enjoying your week! It's good to be back to "normal".

Snakes, snails & puppydog tails......

That's what boys are made of, see pictures above...my middle son (the blond). He loves all wildlife. He picks up snails (as you can see), spiders (eeewww!) and snakes (I don't have a problem with those). My oldest son has a frog and my youngest...well he picked up a pet rock.

We are in the midst of a mad packing dash. Tomorrow we head out to the ocean for a week. I'm really looking forward to it. I'm packing clay and yarn plus some reading material. We'll see if I can get around to anything other than reading.....oooohh, that reminds me that I need to bring a sketch pad too. You won't be hearing from me again until, at least next weekend. Most likely next Monday.

This pretty much signifies the end of Summer and the beginning of me getting serious about business. I'm looking forward to the kids getting back to school and getting Connor situated back into a more independant (life without brothers) lifestyle. We are going to be working on reading for him (one of his favorite things).

I will be alotting a work scheduale for myself. Mainly in the morning for lampwork and then various other things that can be worked throughout the day with Connor involved (so to speak). I clay, he does playdough...things like that.

Mainly I just wanted to drop by today and let you know I'll be away for a bit. I'm looking forward to catching you up on all of my latest stuff.

Enjoy your week! I'll see you when I get back ;).

Teen Driver

My daughter's second day on the job and she hits a mailbox (commercial) and leaves. I get a call from a very nice police officer who says if we can get it all squared away (we fixed the mail box) before he gets back from vacation, he'll call it good. However he does want to speak with my daughter about responsibility, which is fine with me. It totally freaked her out when I told her she could have gotten a hit and run ticket. That's the thing about being a "new" driver is that they still have A LOT to learn. I think she is definitely going to be more careful. I was concerned about her driving on her own but now that she has a job she had to pay for her own insurance, which I think it fair. She says some of her friends have to pay their own insurance and some have to pay for everything else instead. Like shampoo, toilet paper, the little essentials that you can't live without and don't realize someone else paid for, until you are out on your own.

I lost 4 beads this weekend to the small hand feel. I had them sitting on the counter in the kitchen in some water. When at some point over the weekend on of the kids thought they sounded really neat clanking together.....Oh well...that will teach me for leaving them within reach of small fingers.

I'm preparing for my trip to the ocean next week. I can hardly wait! I will be bringing some artistic (crafty) stuff with me to do while I'm there. That will be in my free moments between the pool and the beach. I think the boys are really going to enjoy having a week of their Mom all to themselves.

I need to run and make up for the beads lost this weekend. Hope you all are enjoying the waning days of Summer.

She's Better

My sister is back home. It turns out she had viral pneumonia. Originally they thought it was a blood clot then maybe a heart attack. They have nixed both of those but the viral pneumonia can sneak up on you and kill you while you feel ok. She is younger than me so it seriously makes me consider taking better care of myself.

I'm making lots of glass but won't have anything up until after I get back from the ocean. I will be gone a whole week with no access to the internet so that pretty much makes it impossible to put anything up. I want to get everything up and running when I get back. Including a website. I have really been preparing for this so maybe by next year I'll have a laptop to drag along with me.

The pictures at the top are of my crocheted hats. The light blue one is the first one I made and the purple one is my cowgirl hat. I like the purple one the best. I'm going to make another one. You put wire in the very last edge row so that you can shape the brim. I need to use just a single piece next time so I don't have to worry about all of the loose (pokey) ends sticking out.

I'm working on finishing a poncho and making a better spindle so that I can handspin some cool roving into yarn. Along with some claywork and continuing to clear out my house. My main focus at the moment is one of my work areas which is overun by fabric. The blind are coming next week so I need to get another load ready.

My daughter works her second day today and she's loving it. The have her scheduale all over the place so she's getting a good feel for what working is all about, but when she goes back to school they will have her on something more regular. It's going to be interesting to watch her balance school, work and debate this coming year.

I'm off to clear out some fabric. Enjoy your Friday!

.......

My sister is in the hospital with a blood clot in her lungs. Waiting to hear the course of action.....Be back tomorrow.

Blah

Today is a kind of blah day. The weekend wasn't too bad. My honey and I went and saw The Descent. Pretty good for a horror flick. It had some definate scare value.

I made a few beads today but mostly just to keep at it. I finished my crocheted cowboy hat last night. I'm really pleased and have to get a photo of it. I'm going to make another.

For some reason I thought I had already downloaded some photos but after looking around I see that I must have dreamed (or imagined) it. Darn.....I'm going to get some photos and I'll be back tomorrow.

Have a good one.

A Few A Day

That's what I've been working on. A few beads everyday. I don't know when I'll start listing my glass again but I'm sure having fun creating again. I'm still crocheting. I have another hat in the works and am slowly working on finishing a poncho. I love ponchos! I love hats too but I don't wear those as often as I'd like.

The weather is comfortable. This is the kind of weather I could live with year around. 60-80 range is perfect. I don't mind if it gets a little cooler at night. I was born is Northern California & cannot tell you how much I can't stand the cold winters in Washington. Now I know that a lot of people would call me a weiny since Washington (the Western side) doesn't get all that cold in the Winter but I still don't like being cold. Cold toilet seats are a major thing with me too. I usually drink things room temp or hot.....you get the picture.

The kids haven't even started thinking about going back to school but it will be here to soon as far as they're concerned. I'm taking the boys to our family owned time share in about 2 weeks. It's at the ocean and I LOVE it! It will just be the little guys and me. Everyone else has to work. I will be bringing polymer with me since I can't stand the thought of not having some sort of creative outlet while I'm away. It's always a lot of fun but very busy. The kids go back and forth between the beach and the pool and I get lots and lots of exercise.

I'll work on getting some photos of various things up tomorrow. I forgot about it today...sorry.

Enjoy your evening :)