Sick Kids....

2 out of 4 of my kids are sick.....ok, so one of those sick kids is fluffy. That's ok, cause it's just like one of your regular kids. The furry one (Cocoa) has seem to come down with some kind of flu. As of tonight she is doing better. I gauge my animals like children and she is drinking water and peeing (as long as we follow her out) like the kids. She has no desire to be alone, that was my first clue that she was sick. We'll see what the morning brings.

The other is Dakota (my 13 yo) got himself hit in the eye with the barrel of an air soft gun. Had he been wearing eye gear like he was supposed to.....this would have never happened! As that goes he has a bruised eyeball and retina. That could change at any time. If the retina proves to be more than a bruise they will have to do surgery. We will be keeping a close eye (no pun intended) on him for the next week.

In general my kids have been really healthy for the last 8 years with the exceptions of shots. I have now been into the Dr.'s more time in the last 4 months than I have been in the last 8 years. Infections, injuries and the like.......geeze......could this be a boy thing? I hope this isn't a sign of things to come.

First day of school is next Wednesday! I have some new lampwork that is being cleaned and ready to go! It's different from my past work so I'm going to give it a little lag time. The Goddesses are the coolest yet!! I love them!!

I also have an Owl named Coral (A necklace) that is ready to go, but I haven't gotten her photographed yet. She is a fun piece! There may be some more wood pieces in the future.....we'll seee!

Messing With My Page....

So I had to post.

I'm getting back into the swing of things for Fall. The weather even has a Fall feel to it. The last few days have been down in the 60's with a mix of rain, sun and some thunder.

Got up early both yesterday & this morning and will be hitting the torch again today. I'm trying to motivate for torching in the afternoon, though I'm doing my thing in the morning. My energy level seems to take a dive right around 2-3PM. I'll have to see if I can work around that.

I'll be taking the boys out Friday to get there school shopping done. They are all excited to be going back, or starting. Connor used the worked psyched, yesterday to describe his feelings about starting school. Funny!!

It's always amazing when Summer comes to a close because it seems like you just blinked and that's it, it's done, the kids are another grade older & bigger. Dakota passed me up in height this Summer too. I knew that was going to happen because the kid has probably grown no less than 6" this last year. Every time I walk by him I wonder what happened and how the heck did he get so big, all of a sudden??

I'm adding a picture of who will be my daily companion now, when the kids are away. Cocoa is my constant companion most days, when she's in the house, anyway, and tends to be at my feet or back depending on what I'm doing. She's a great dog!!

Enjoy your day!

The Count Down Begins......

So it looks like my youngest is going to be in afternoon kindergarten. I have to say that I'm a bit bummed about it since morning is my best creative time when it comes to glass. I have 2 weeks to re-think my thinking. Morning will have to be jewelry & wire, with my boy, and afternoons will be devoted to lampwork. If I had given it any thought I would have realized that all the kids were in afternoon kindy due to the bus route we're on but, of course, thinking is not one of my top priorities these days.

I haven't been able to get near my torch for the last couple of weeks with the count down on but maybe I'll be able to squeeze some time in before school starts.

I'm back to sorting through "stuff" and have listed some patterns on both Etsy (Your Creative Side) and my Other Ebay. You wouldn't have believed the huge amount that I ended up having to trash. Boy, was that hard to do! The rest with a few tucked away for........something, I haven't figured out yet, have gone up for auction or sale. All of these are in "uncut" condition. I think at some point I had a serious addiction to patterns........ohhh WAIT!! That would be in combination with the "she who dies with the most fabric wins" addiction. Hopefully I'll get to listing fabric within the next few months....ackkkk!

The only real creativity I've been tied up in lately has been wire. No pictures to show for my efforts but I have been keeping a creative log of my designs so I don't forget them. Bracelets & rings seem to hold my fascination at the moment but tomorrow it could be pendants & earrings.

That's it for now. I will do my best to starting posting more consistently. I know, you've heard that before!!

Enjoy your evening!

Computer Issues....

kept me off the computer yesterday. Today I have loads of things that I have to get to. Will try to post more later.

Enjoy your day!

I'm just too boring.....

Ok......so I've been watching to see who comes to visit and it looks like, maybe........, I need to add a little more to my life. Daily would be great but I need to get into the swing of things.......Probably should be that I update first thing in the morning but sometimes my brain is just too foggy to get going. Got to have my green tea, then Earl Gray! Then I will try to post! In the mean time , check out my latest profile. This will give you a more up-to-date profile.

A Lot Has Been Going On....

With school just around the corner. Things have been busy to say the least. My brother's wedding was wonderful. Probably the coolest wedding I've been too. I didn't get to see the brides ring but my brother had the coolest stainless steel ring I had seen yet.

People, if you are going to get married, DO NOT, feed the diamond industry, instead go for something other than gold and diamonds. If you haven't realized it yet the gold & diamond industry is what has been dictating the industry for the last 20 years or so. Go with something DIFFERENT!! My personal favorites are sterling and emeralds along with amethyst and garnets (do you see my children in there somewhere??). Diamonds are my least favorite on the list unless they are black (colored) or otherwise.

I don't have any good pictures of the wedding, sorry! Maybe I can get someone to forward some cool ones to me.

This has been a great Summer for the boys and Jimmy took them out for one last weekend before he heads off on a hike with his cousin. I would have to say that this has been one of the best Summers as far as the kids go!!

Visiting with his cousins wife, last weekend, left me with a few more things to do. Since she has one of the best bead stores right around the corner from where they live. More on that to come in the future!

I hope you're enjoying one of the last weekends of Summer!!
Take care!!

The Shirt Looks Like This.....

I actually finished the shirt on Monday (score 1 for the anti-procrastination department) under normal (previous) circumstances I would still be working on this shirt I didn't make anything for me and decided to go with a black (lined) halter top and some denim shorts. Biker (casual) weddings really make dressing easy when you consider that jeans and a t-shirt work just fine.

I love the shirt JImmy is wearing but that's cause I made it and am a little prejudice. If you want to know where I got both the pattern a fabric, check out your local Walmart.

I haven't had even the slightest chance to work on any glass this week. Next week it will be much more back to normal. I have realized that being a driver (my fill in job for my sis) is probably not up my alley as a line of work. I like it, OK, but for the most part I miss being at home with my beasties (kids)! Although filling in anytime is always an option!

Saturday we are visiting Jimmy's cousin and his wife (my buddy) from the family reunion. I'm really looking forward to our visit.

I have ton of glass ideas going but it looks like Sunday (probably Monday) will be the soonest I have to "play".

Friday my 2 youngest boys will get the last of their shots for the new school year. Yeah, they will be all caught up for the coming school year. Another score for my anti-procrastination side!

Hopefully I will have some wedding pictures for you to see in the up coming week.

Enjoy your weekend!

Soooo......

what a Summer it has been!! The kids are already complaining about being bored and I'm starting to look forward to September.

My brother's wedding will be next weekend and then we are going to visit Jimmy's cousin and his wife (my kindred spirit). Before that my sister from the East coast will be in town, for the wedding, but hopefully we'll be able to hook up sometime in between.

Things are arriving in the mail for registration and that reminds me that we need to get on the ball with school clothes shopping and supplies......boy does time fly!!

Keep any eye out on my lampwork. My style is changing and I'm looking to clearance a lot of my old things. In fact a lot is changing but it won't be pronounced until the end of August, (I think). My other artistic style may change too (a little), but my Etsy things are all over the place. Just keep in mind how much I love nature!

The coming week will be very busy. Between trying to squeeze in lampwork, finish up Jim's shirt and fill in for my sister at her work while she helps finish with the final touches of my brothers wedding, I think I probably won't be back until next week but I'll try to poke my head in before then.

Enjoy the Dogs Day Of Summer!!

All I Want To Do Is....

Another Flower Pendant
More Aromatherapy Earrings
Heart O' Flame

Create, creat, create.....It took the whole week to work around to getting back to lampworking. While I would love to continue tomorrow, I have a long standing date with my girlfriend (who's 1-1/2 hrs away) from 3rd grade to get together. This has been a long time in coming and I'm really looking forward to it but sometimes it seems like I should be creating instead, especially after taking such a long hiatus after camping.



Besides lampworking I cleared my old cutting table for Jimmy's shirt. Sewing awakens some old, not so good, feelings in me. That could be the reason that I haven't done it in so long. The last time I sewed was shortly after my divorce (and during). I'm glad I'm divorced, but it just seems to stir up some old sh*t. Once I'm done with the shirt it will all be past me, yeah!!! And I should be able to sew with a clear head again. The fact that this shirt is for my current and past 9 year soul partner will make a huge difference, plus that I'm making it for my brother's wedding will be even better!!!



The clay is calling again! Leaves & petals more then ever. I just need to start making some and incorporating them wherever I can. I haven't touched polymer in months and have been really yearning for it. I still have some silver clay hiding somewear and have some cool ring designs collecting cobwebs in my head.........too many ideas......too little time!!!!

Summer is quickly approaching the end...I know....It's only half over but if you blink the rest will be gone, like that!!!

Enjoy your weekend! The last one for July!

Back In The Swing

New Aromatherapy Earrings

Another Pendant

A Pretty Ring

Of things, is slowly but surely coming. It took a day to get most of the camping gear put away, but we still need to set up the tents and air and sweep them out. The weather has cooled off a bit and it felt down right chilly yesterday in the cloudy 70's.

Tomorrow I plan to get back to the torch. Today I need to work on business cards and at the very least get the pattern cut for Jimmy's shirt. I do NOT want to wait until the last minute and have to rush to finish it. That used to be par for the course for me, procrastination was my best friend, but as friends go, this was not a healthy relationship so I'm working on ditching this one.

I spent sometime this morning experimenting with copper wire and solder but things didn't go quite the way I'd hoped. Back to the drawing board.

Enjoy your day!

I'm learning to love.......

My Buddy

New Friends

The Pinata

Packing for home

Camping! We had a blast at the camp-out family reunion. A HUGE Thanks to my in-laws who
loaned us a tent we could stand up in, and a wonderful (queen size) fold out bed and mattress. It made things much more comfortable. We are going to look into investing into one of those solar showers for next year. In fact we are already looking forward to next years reunion. The last night, there are raffle drawings and pinatas for the kids. The site is next to a river for easy cooling off. The kids always make new friends or renew old ones. Best of all, everyone is great to be around!

That was our last big outing before the end of Summer. There might be some small weekend camping trips for Jimmy and the boys but that should do it for anything major.

Soooo, it's back to work. Today won't be much of a creative day since I've been working on unpacking and putting things away but tomorrow will be more back to normal.

It's hard to believe that Summer is half over. This really had been a very nice one even the weather finally got back to a more Summerish feel.

Up coming things......

A camping trip and a biker wedding. These are things I'm looking forward to. The camping trip starts tomorrow so it will be a few days before I post again and the biker wedding (my brother's) is going to be at the beginning of August. I'm making a shirt for Jimmy, by special request, to wear to this event. I'll photograph the fabric when I get back from the woods. I haven't sewn anything in ages so this will be fun and I'm sure it will inspire me to sew more.

I didn't get much lampworking in this week because of the preparation for camping but, boy, am I looking forward to getting back and picking up where I left off.

You can see a couple of my carved jewelry pieces on Etsy. There will be more to come!

I've given up on trying to narrow myself down to any one thing or any 5 things for that matter. Instead of getting stressed over all of my interests, I've decided to just enjoy each for what it is (a wonderful creative outlet) and continue to bounce from project to project. The most important thing is that I'm finishing things!

I'm off to bed. We are getting an early start tomorrow.

Enjoy the rest of your week!!

I'm Lovin The Flowers

Lately that seems to be my thing in the glass world. I need to make some frogs too now and then but just haven't been in the mood for the little guys.

I finished a couple of carved necklaces and have been making aromatherapy earrings. I haven't seen anything like them and think they are too cool!! I'm really enjoying the flower (glass) pendants I've been creating too!

Summer is a bit of a slow time for sales since the weather's nice and I think people are on vacation or staying out of the house and away from their computers as much as possible. I really can't blame them.

With the weather warmer my mind turns to flames and I came up with the "Hearts a flame" aromatherapy vessels. My latest items will be spread out between Ebay, Etsy & Just Beads over the next few days. Check back often.

On another note I have to mention a movie we rented. I was totally sceptical because I'm not a fan of Adam Carolla's (radio) but I have to say that I really enjoyed his movie called "The Hammer". I would recommend it to anyone, it's one of those feel good kind of movies and hilarious. It's not a family movie but how it earned an R rating, other than a couple of swear words, I haven't a clue. So Jimmy wins the bet. He thought I would like it and he was right. He's a big fan of his radio show and likes the fact that he used to be a carpenter, which is reflected in this movie. Just my 2 cents for what ever that's worth.

Enjoy your evening!

Thunder Storms & Fire Works

In the couple of weeks since I've posted we've seen thunderstorms and fireworks. My guy spends some of his time working out of town so we got a heads up to the thunderstorms. The kids loved them but also thought they were a little scary (the ones they didn't sleep through) . The 4th was spent at my Aunt's and Uncle's with a a lovely get together, with a bit of my family and Jim's too. A great time was had by all, even with the stress at the beach with fire works going every which way. No one way injured, thankfullyl. I even got to brush up on my cribbage skills (it's been awhile). We will be taking that game with us (camping), so that I can teach my boys (the math wizzes) how to play.

I will try to get some pics up of my current work or who knows what, tomorrow.....

Have a lovely evening~

Adjusting To Summer....

Does anyone really think it takes any time to adjust to Summer? I don't really think that way and I ALWAYS look forward to it.

This Summer is a little different than ones of the past in that, I'm trying to build my art base with lampworking and a few other things. Lampwork seems to be my "bread & butter", at the moment. I'm trying to work regularly at it (ie...at least during the week). I'm also trying to keep some "fresh" listings in the mix. I need to add to my glass stock but haven't quite gotten around to sitting down to get an order together.

Morning is usually reserved for lampwork time since it's cool enough to be somewhat comfortable to sit in front of the torch. Afternoons are for the house (work) and then either wirework, polymer or whatever happens to strike my fancy, along with listing things. Sometimes (ok, a lot) I have a hard time trying to decide what to do and waste a lot of time "thinking". I've decided to put an end to this monumental time waster and just pick something up and start working on it. I did that last night and found that it helps a lot and then I feel like I'm getting something done.

The kids seem to be enjoying Summer (don't they all) and I took the 2 youngest boys in to the Dr.'s yesterday for their boosters (and check-ups) before school starts again in the fall. It's closer than you think.

Hope you're all enjoying your day!

Back To It......

A week hardly seems like enough and now that we're back home it seems like we never left. A great time was had by all. The week started a little on the chilly side but by the end it was beautiful! All got a little sun and wind burn and spent tons of time on the beach and in the pool. The picture of the clock is what hangs in the master bedroom. That was pretty much the attitude the whole time we were there. There were lots of deer hanging around and we have a picture of the boys for future reference for (growing) size next year.

Now that we're back home Summer has finally hit with the weather in the 80's and 90's. I've still got some beads to clean and list from before I left and I'm looking forward to hitting the torch again. I'm also starting some of my auctions at .99. Only a select few though. Our next trip will be later in July. Just a short camping excursion (have I mentioned how much I hate to camp). It's my Honey's yearly family reunion so I'm obligated to go, plus the kids absolutely love it. That will pretty much be it for the Summer runs. Jimmy and the boys might squeeze in some weekend camping but that's not my bag and I get the fun of being home "alone" which I adore!!!

I'm off to bed for now. Check back tomorrow for some new listings.

Have a wonderful night!!

No STRESS.......

I promised myself that I wasn't going to get stressed about this years trip, but in the end it got to me anyway. Having Internet issues didn't help in the least. I have replaced everything that needed to be replaced and even upped my dsl but in the end it looks like my computer may be failing me again.........I think that people should begin to think that the norm is, you should replace your computer, at least, every 2-3 years. Waiting longer than that will cost you endless aggravation in one area or another.

It should be an interesting week with out access. Kind of like a withdrawal only without the sick feeling.

The boys are acting like tomorrow is Christmas. I think we will be on the road fairly early. The dog will miss us more than the daughter but the drive should be a little quicker on Saturday than on Friday afternoon/night.

I'll be back in a week to post an update (camera packed).

Take care!!! Sorry no pictures the computer/internet.....whatever, doesn't seem to to working at the moment.

Trying To Decide......

It's down to the wire for our trip to the ocean and I'm having a hard time deciding what projects to take. In the end it won't really matter because I'm usually way too busy to do much of anything so..... I'll quit stressing about it and pack up a few goodies and see what I come home with.

I'm running extra long auctions on both Ebay & Justbeads. I want to maintain a presence on both sites while I'm gone. I had to let it go for one day on Ebay because the longest auction of them is 10 days.

The house is almost clean and between the daughter and the dog things should pretty much stay that way.

I will try to bring back pictures and keep your fingers crossed that it's not raining the whole time although we still have a good time no matter what the weather looks like.

It's Almost Here...

Summer that is, though I think we've missed Spring, for the most part, altogether. The kids will be out of school in a couple of days. I got my littlest one registered for fall but still need to get his boosters done.

The weather is sunny today with the occasional cloud or 10 moving through. A little warmer (60's) but a bit of a cool breeze blowing through.

I've been wrestling with internet problem over the last few days and think I'm finally going to have to give in to upgrading my service for a new modem. Of course it will speed my connection up a bit, too bad it won't work for my computer.

I sqeezed in a good couple of days of glass last week. I'm experimenting with writing on them. It's going well but I definetely need to work on it.

I've also been carving some small jewelryish items. Along with my shrink plastic. Polymer is on the back burner since my oven went on the fritz and I have no way of baking them at the moment. No matter what I'm working on it always ends being some sort of sculptural item, be it glass, wood or clay.

We are heading to the ocean next week. I will try to keep some auctions running while I'm gone and a bunch of stuff made to list when I return. My daughter will be here but she has no interest in helping to up keep by stuff. I understand since she's busy with work and such. Hopefully I'll have a laptop by next Summer. I will also be bringing some projects along to work on between the beach and the pool. My fingers are crossed that the weather will be nice and warm by then.

Hope you're all having a wonderful day!!

Rain, Rain, Go Away........

So I was wrong about Summer being in the air. It's more like Fall all over again. The rain can be almost relentless at times. I suppose on some level I shouldn't be complaining, after all I live in the Pacific Northwest and aren't we known for our rainy weather?? However with Summer just around the corner and the very occasional nice sunny day. Most of the days lately have been in the 50's and pouring down rain. The weather people are saying that we are 10-15 degrees below normal (global warming, maybe??). Oh well, I'm keeping busy, at least.

I'm registering my youngest son for school today. We are both very happy about it. I was going to enroll him in full day kindergarten but I don't think the cost is worth it. Instead I will request for him to be in the morning program, because that is my most productive time of the day.

Have I mentioned my band (saxaphone) boy. He's 13 and LOVES his music. He loves a wide variety which is wonderful to see at his age and he's also developed a passion for neckties. How cool is that!!! He's going to try out for Jazz Band next year too. I hope he makes it although it will mean I have to drive him to school every morning because they have to be there and hour earlier than everyone else for practice but I love Jazz and it would be a blast to watch him play.

On the art front I have been busy, busy, busy! I have been trying to pull off 2-3 morning a week on lampworking. This week I was only able to pull off one but that's ok. Once the kids are out of school I should be able to get a better scheduale going. Plus since the weather has been cooler my time is a bit more productive. I've also discovered the world of books on CD or MP3. I love it and only allow myself to listen when working. Right now I'm on a Nora Roberts binge, though I love all types of books from Sci Fi, to Mystery, to edge of your seat Dean Koontz.

If you have some time check out what I have up in my Art Ebay and Just Beads. Nothing new in Etsy lately but I should be adding some things within the next week or two.

I hope you're all having better weather than me.

Enjoy your weekend!