The Wigglebutt Blog

I think I'll do another Random Wednesday post...

2012-01-18T18:40:00.000-09:00

I had to drive to Anchorage today for a "parts run" and office supplies and since I had quite a few Office Max rewards points built up I thought I would treat myself to a new camera.

I wanted something itty bitty that I could carry around in my small-ish purse so

that I would have it handy for the occasional 'awesome sunset' or 'beautiful mountain view'

that I get rewarded with on my way to or from work because I have learned that I am apparently incompetent when it comes to taking pics with my phone.

Which is not a smart phone, by the way, because smart phones

are apparently smarter than me and I get annoyed.

Sooo, anyhoo, I found the cutest itty bitty Nikon Coolpix s6100 and I love it.

So far I seem to be winning in the smart department AND it fits in my purse☺

And since the battery had some juice I took a few pics...

Snow-zilla

This is the pile of snow in the lot of the building next to the shop.

They have already had snow hauled away once this year

(we've had ours hauled away twice SO FAR)

Duke
Walmart has their greeters and we have Duke☺

His eyes aren't really that scary, but look at the size of those precious ears!

Duke 'owns' one of our technicians and insists on coming to work everyday

so he can keep us and the customers company.

He has got the sweetest and most mellow temperament I have ever seen and

there is nothing, and I mean NOTHING he likes better than chasing

a 'shiny' (a laser light).

(We didn't have one at the shop, so we got him one for Christmas).

I tried it out on the way home.

This is part of the view you get while driving across "The Flats"

Absolutely beautiful, not a cloud in the sky, but it is cold.

Me, my new camera and the temperature gauge in the rear view mirror.

Yes, you DO see a little MINUS sign in front of the 12.

It has been below zero for days now and they don't see an end to it any time soon,

and since February is traditionally the coldest month of the year,

I. am. frightened.

(Have I mentioned I hate being cold?)

Why I should NOT be taking pictures while I am driving.

The last 15 or so miles of the road on my way home still looks like this.

( I wasn't looking in the view finder BTW, I just held the camera up and clicked a few times)

Like I said, I'm liking the new camera, so far☺

I have been getting back into the clay

(I have missed it so much)

I have been working on filling a special order.

I love the way they turned out, and considering it is my first day

with this camera the pics turned out OK too☺

Also been working on some new pendant sets.

Been working on different colors and finishes.

Not thrilled with this pic and I don't know yet how I feel about the

'white-wash' on the one on the right,

but the experimenting can go full throttle

now that I have finally finished all of the pins for the order☺

Well, I do believe this post was pretty random.

YESSS!

SUCCESS!

Have a great rest of the week☺

HELLO 2012

2012-01-01T00:00:00.000-09:00

I have a really GOOD feeling about 2012.

Yep.

A really good feeling☺

just wanted to say....

2011-12-24T18:17:00.000-09:00

what I've been up to.....

2011-12-18T19:24:00.000-09:00

Russian Tea Cakes / Italian Wedding Cookies

I tried making these last weekend for the first time.

They are easy.

They are awesome.

They are kind of like potato chips, one is not enough.

Last week I made a bunch of awesome holiday earrings.

And took some really crappy pictures of them;~)

I also bought myself a Birthday present.

I love this earring holder!

Love ~ Love~ Love!

You can get one here.

Baklava

Yesterday I made this for the first time.

It is baklava.

I got the recipe here and it is awesome!

It was very simple but a little monotonous.

Snickerdoodles

And today I made these.

I have to say that photographing jewelry is difficult,

but photographing food is an art and boy, do I need some practice☺

cuz Honey luvs me☺

2011-12-03T16:14:00.001-09:00

because the Nascar season ended

and the Golf tournament doesn't really get exciting until the Final Round

and because I have a boat load of things I needed (and still need to) do

this weekend

including laundry, paying bills, bottling homemade Kalua

(recipe to follow)

changing the sheets, baking pumpkin bread, finishing and listing

some earrings

reconciling the checkbook and hopefully starting some little penguins.

and because Honey loves me.....

he volunteered to take the kids on their afternoon walk,

which is usually my job.

Thanks Honey!

You need to make this.

You will not regret it☺

Homemade Kalua

Ingredients:

3 cups sugar

3 cups water

3 Tbls instant coffee

2 Tbls vanilla paste*

4 cups vodka

Mix sugar, coffee and water together and simmer for 1 hour.

Do Not Boil.

After an hour turn heat off and let cool.

Once cooled, add vanilla and vodka and bottle it up.
~Make sure that you mix well before you pour into each bottle
cus the vanilla bean goodies try to sink, and you want to make sure each bottle has some☺

Totally freakin YUM!

*I use this paste because I have become addicted to it, but you can use

~ 1Tbls pure vanilla extract and 1 vanilla bean

new goodies in the shop....

2011-11-27T14:37:00.001-09:00

I haven't listed very many new things to Etsy in a while

and I forgot how much work it really takes☺

Today and yesterday I listed

some of these....

SOLD

Some of these....

And....

some of these......

I have a ton of other things I need to get listed but I just can't stand the thought

of sitting in front of the computer another minute LOL!

I think I will grab a snack and wander over to my clay table☺

Oh... and Happy Anniversary Honey!

18 years and counting♥

the aftermath

2011-11-05T19:02:00.001-08:00

When you finish a project do you immediately

clean up and put all of the left over bits away?

Or are you like me

and totally lose interest as soon as the project is complete?

I'm embarrassed to say that this

is still sitting...patiently waiting to be put away....

since Sept. 12....when I finished by bead soup project;~(

Obviously I see no reason to rush into anything.

Wandom Wednesday...that's how it sounds when I say it so I decided to go with it

2011-11-02T19:48:00.002-08:00

gotta love a nasty cold;~(

Anyway on to the random.

-->EDIT:

And, apparently, there is alot of random in my life right now.

And did I mention that I have a cold..... and that I am

medicated for said cold....?

If you are hanging around for this post,

might I suggest a cocktail? (it IS evening as write this)

or possibly a Mocha (if it's morning in your neck of the woods)<---

I figured out a way to corral the ump-teen colors of beads I needed to use

in my new beading project and still be able to curl up in my recliner and

watch (listen to) TV.

It works out really awesome and it's very comfortable.

This is how far I've gotten...so far.

It may not look like much but if you knew how many times I have

had to tear it out and start over, you would know that I

would have almost an entire cuff by now, beading-wise.

......Still plugging along.

Last fall, when I was "putting my garden to bed"

I decided to re pot one of my pepper plants,

(the ones I grew from seed and got ab-so-lute-ly

no peppers from because it never got warm enough)

and bring it into the house. I liked the look of the plant.

Well, a couple of days ago Honey says,

"Did you know you have peppers on this plant?"

They look just like leaves if you just glance at them.

They may not get very big, but I think they are cool just because they ARE.

I got these in the mail on Monday.

I was SO excited to see them in person and even Honey

had to admit that they were REALLY cute when he saw them☺

What is it??? You may ask.

He TOTALLY is "The Keeper of the Sponge"

He makes me smile every time I walk into the kitchen,

and that's saying something☺

This one occupies a currently crowded space on my work table.

He holds tools and grins at me everyday.

(I didn't know he had the opening in the back, but very glad he did.

I was wondering if I would be able to put very many tools in

without obstructing his view☺)

I got them HERE. just in case you need a monster in your life.

(FYI: The shop is on vacation until Nov 7.)

Meet the twins.

Long story short (yeah right)

In 2006 Honey says to me, "I want to buy a new Tahoe."

I say to Honey, "There is no way. We can't afford it."

(In his defense: We had just finished paying the last of his child

support payments and he had never owned a NEW vehicle...ever)

A week later a Tahoe came up my driveway,

brand new... loaded...driven by Honey.

I was informed that he had finalized the purchase

and there was no turning back.

He figured out VERY quickly how close he was to

becoming my 'former' Honey.

(In my defense: My job had been very stressful from the beginning

and was getting progressively worse, but it came with great insurance

bennies,... long hateful hours...working every holiday...

and the all too frequent calls at midnight telling me someone hadn't

shown up, so drag my ass out of bed 2 hours after crawling in

and haul my ass into work to work the shift of the missing employee

and then the shift I was already scheduled for.

I was 14 years into this particular job. And, now that we didn't have to make his support

payments, I was 2 seconds away from quitting the job, thinking that now we could afford to pay for insurance and I could look for a job that was a little less stressful.)

Sitting in the Tahoe in my driveway that day

I realized I was stuck with my job and He realized he had to take MEASURES.

He said 'I got this for YOU to drive, because I want you to be safe

when you are driving to work.'

'I just need it to haul the trailer on the weekends.'

And from that moment on it became "my wife's Tahoe"

Which left him driving my car, which I 'lovingly' referred to as

"The Moose Scoop".

It is a Pontiac Sunfire. That vehicle is the perfect shape if your

goal is to have a moose land in your lap in the event of an unfortunate encounter.

Fast forward SEVERAL years:

I worked several more years at my job, quit, bought a new business with Honey

(TOTALLY FREAKING SCARY)

and now, three years after buying the business,

I was finally comfortable with another car payment.

'Permission to look for a vehicle'

was his Anniversary/Christmas/Birthday present for this year.

After almost 6 years, Honey is now driving a Tahoe☺

(His is the one on the right ☺)

This was the sunset last night.

I took this while standing on the deck in a flannel shirt, sweat pants and no socks.
Did I mention the wind chill was 15°......

and I have a cold......

I will turn 48 next month......
I have high hopes of growing up then....

Still working on the pendants with matching accent beads.

Hummingbirds, dragon flies and starfish waiting for glaze.

Those black bits to the right are the top of top hats for snowmen.

You'll see what I mean.......I hope...... Later this weekend.

I'm hoping to accomplish more this weekend than blowing my nose while

holding onto the top of my head so it doesn't explode.

Did I mention I have a cold?

I ♥ spiders

2011-10-19T18:48:00.000-08:00

I made this using this awesome tutorial.

It's large...like 4" from tip to tip.

I love it!

Then I had to make a purple one for the young lady that works with me

that is terrified of spiders, but loves purple☺

She still has it on her desk. I think it's growing on her☺

Then I had to go out and buy a ton of beads in a whole bunch of

different colors to make a whole bunch more spiders.

I figure they would be good for Halloween AND for Christmas.

What??.....

Never heard of the Christmas spider?

Well, here goes.......

'One December, a mother was busily cleaning the house for Christmas.

She swept every corner of every room completely clean, for she wanted

everything bright and shiny in time for Christmas Day.

The spiders fled upstairs to the attic to escape the broom, for they knew she was far

too busy to follow them up there.

On Christmas Eve, as soon as the house became quiet, the spiders slowly crept down for a peek.

They scuttled into the living room and oh what a sight they saw!

A beautiful Christmas Tree!

In their excitement they scurried up the trunk and out along each branch. They were filled with

happiness as they climbed among its glittering beauty.

Alas, by the time they had finished climbing, the tree was completely covered with dusty gray spiders' webs.

Midnight came, and Santa Claus came with the gifts for the children. When he saw the tree, he smiled to see how happy the spiders were, but he knew how heartbroken the mother would be if she saw the tree covered with dusty webs. So he turned the gray spiders' webs to silver and gold.

The Christmas Tree sparkled and shimmered and was even more beautiful than before.

That is why we have tinsel on Christmas Trees, and every tree should have a

Christmas spider in its branches.'

See... if I don't get ALL of those beads used on spiders for Halloween,

I still have Christmas.

TOTALLY a wise investment☺☺

some new beady stuff

2011-10-18T19:15:00.000-08:00

In addition to the owls I've been working (and reworking & reworking) on,

I have a few new pendant and bead sets.

The little 'bee hive' beads.

Cute huh?

The little birdy beads.

Cute too huh?

Who doesn't love humming birds?

And I finally decided on THE owl design(s)

The large ones (approx 1 inch tall) and the small ones (approx 3/4 inch tall)

are slightly different designs.

I like both designs and of course each bead has it's own "personality"

since each one is made by hand.

I'm hoping to start listing all of these in the next few days☺

*(coming soon...star fish and dragonflies☺)*

And since I ONLY have about a gazillion unfinished projects in the works,

I decided I should add a little something.

Something simple...

just to keep my hands busy...

when i am just relaxing...

We all know how much I LOVE seed beads

(OMG they drive me CRAZY!)

Nothing like starting "simple"

when trying something new;~)

Is there a cure for this type of thing???

This is a pattern for a cuff.

(At least I'm not starting with a wall hanging! LOL!)

As you can tell by the photo, I haven't gotten very far yet.

But once I start getting farther into the colors, I am afraid I will start getting confused.

If any of you 'seed beaders' out there have ANY suggestions for how to

keep the tiny little buggers organized by color number, I would love some pointers.

Really.

not my favorite way to start my week;~(

2011-10-17T05:26:00.000-08:00

This is what greeted me this morning....

on a Monday...

this wasn't here when I went to bed...

Even though this will probably be gone by the end of today,

it will be here for my morning commute.

And since everyone in Alaska seems to forget how to drive in snow

over the summer months, I hope you'll wish me luck.

allow me to introduce you to Dorothy

2011-09-27T12:33:00.000-08:00

I HAVE been doing more than just blog hopping over the last week or so;~)

I have made another batch of salsa.

(My third since my canning addiction began)

This one - I tweeked a few different recipes

and came up with one I can actually call my own ~ and I like it☺

I have made (started) some cute (at least I think so)

Owl beads

seen here amongst the paper beads still needing sealer☺

As soon as I started making these, I started obsessing about making them two sided,

so there was a face on both sides, in case they should spin around.

Well, I'm forming each of these by hand, so when I go to try and make a face on the backside,

I smoosh everything on the front side, Sheesh! I guess I could make a mold?

Holy Cow! Just Shoot Me!

Why do I obsess about everything?

After about half a kit (which is actually ALOT) of

Amazing Mold Putty (which I love!!!) later,

I realized using the mold made them look ... well.. .molded.
And I totally prefer the more rustic look of the handmade ones☺
Now I just have to decide how I want to add the color ~

ink, paint, stain or maybe all of the above☺

The next few days will tell.

I also (almost) finished this

The picture could and will definately be better, and I show it mainly because I have

found a way to finish the ends that doesn't annoy me.

I love making these tubular peyote necklaces, mainly because they are pretty much

'mindless' once you get the first few rows going,

and I can curl up in my recliner in the evening and watch TV.

(I can't just sit~ my hands have to be moving)

But, when I get to the end I always have a problem finishing them.

When I try to close them off I always end up with 'puckered' ends.

Until I found a solution.

Obviously the inside of the "tube" is hollow, so you just thread a small bead,

that fits inside the "tube"

(in my case, a wooden tube bead)

on to an eye pin or head pin, stuff it into the end of the necklace

and 'gather' the end around the 'pin' with the line used to string the necklace

and tie off.

Make a loop in the wire and add your clasp☺
Easy~peasy and there is NO pucker! Love that!
I'm sure all of you beaders out there knew this trick already, but I was so excited
about it I thought I would share anyway.

This wasn't my idea. I got it off the internet,

but I can't remember where right at this moment.

When I remember, I will share;~)

My favorite accomplishment this last week is this~~~

Dorothy

I have been seeing ALOT of photos of jewelry, scarves, etc.

being taken on some the coolest dress forms and, of course,

~(surprise)~

I found myself wanting one.

I couldn't justify buying an awesome, vintage, to die for dress form

that I had NO room for (but desperately wanted),

so I started looking for something a little more affordable.

I found this!!!!

And I made

Dorothy

The fabric is not what I would have chosen had I gone out and bought it.
It was part of a stash of fabric I inherited when my Grandma passed,
quite a few years ago.
(Grandma's name was Dorothy)
It is heavy duty and pretty neutral-ish and
I'm pretty sure I am going to do some 'antiquing'
to it anyway.
If there are any ideas out there on how to add
an older vintage look, I'd love to hear!

BSBP Reveal

2011-09-17T01:00:00.001-08:00

As you may remember, this is the gorgeousness that I received.

The Bead Soup I received from Mary Shannon Hicks

Nephrite jade, jasper, pearls, glass and copper beads.
A gorgeous jasper heart focal and awesome copper clasp.

I used copper wire to add a wire wrapped 'bail'

and added copper bead and wire dangles.

I added some swarovski crystals from my stash for some sparkle
and did a little more wire wrapping on these gorgeous pearl sticks.

I also added these coral cubes for a pop of color, and a couple of
handmade paper beads then mixed some coiled copper wire beads in
with the jade, jasper and copper beads to finish it out.

I made the clasp using copper wire for the 'hook'

and copper tubing for the 'eye'☺

I'm very pleased with how this came out.

Now, the rules state that each Bead Soup participant

must use the focal and the clasp included in the soup that they receive

but they don't have to be used in the same piece.

The clasp that came in my Bead Soup from Shannon was

so pretty that I wanted it to be a visible part of the design not just

'the clasp in the back'

and the SEVERAL different designs I tried with it in the front

just didn't float my boat.

Sooooooo....

For my second piece I used a gorgeous lampwork glass 'bone'

made by Juls

added several strands of seed beads, jade, swarovski crystals,

czech glass, jasper and copper beads

and this gorgeous copper clasp.

I was amazed at how much work goes into making something look

casual and random☺

I was really terrified to sign up for the Bead Soup Blog Party,

this kind of thing is SO far out of my comfort zone,

but I am SO glad that I did.

This was so much fun and my blog roll

(blogs I follow) has nearly doubled☺

And it has helped build confidence in myself.

Please stop by and visit my partner

Mary Shannon Hicks at falling into the sky

and see what she made with the soup I sent to her.

This party has been huge!

A map of all the participants
(I'm up there in Alaska☺)

You really need to check out these fabulous jewelry artists!

There's no rush, take your time.

I have found some wonderful people through this experience

and you could too.

And for a complete 'clickable' list of all 362 participants

CLICK HERE

and while you're there, poke around

Pretty Things

and get to know Lori Anderson,

the hostess of this wonderful party.

She is an awesome jewelry artist,

a very intelligent, caring and just down right sweet person.

The amount of work that she puts into this "Party" is really amazing.

If you have time, you should take a moment to say Hi☺

Where I belong

2011-09-16T05:45:00.000-08:00

I'm back home now.

Where I belong.

The "kids" missed me and , apparently so did the hubs☺

It was awesome to see my sis and her hubby
and of course, my Dad. It has been a while.
(Plus it was in the nineties both days ~ LOVE LOVE LOVE it)
I'll have to make sure I go down there more often
and maybe stay a little longer than two days next time☺
It was kind of a whirlwind adventure and I'm glad it's almost the weekend.
I'm kinda tired.

I uploaded the photos of my FINISHED (yay)

bead soup projects before I left

(thinking that I might have a chance to put some words with them

using the laptop while I was lounging at the hotel in the evenings ~ NOT;~)

So after work I will have to finish that post so I am ready
for the 'big reveal' tomorrow for The Bead Soup Blog Party

Since I can't show you my finished Bead Soup until tomorrow
and I haven't had a chance to upload the pics from my trip
AND I hate having a post with no pics,
I will show what happened while I was gone ~ for ONLY 4 days.

I took this the day before I left.

Took this yesterday when I got home from the airport.
I REALLY am not ready for winter yet,
but I don't think I really have a say.

Leeeavin' on a jet plane

2011-09-12T07:00:00.001-08:00

Today I am on a plane.

It was a spur of the moment kind of trip.

Trust me, the last time I left the state was 2006.

The "Fam" 2006 Montana

And I got to see these people.

I am actually going to Idaho this time.

(I was born and raised there)

But these three people will all be in close proximity for about a week

so I booked a flight and a room and a car.

I am so excited!

I will only be there for about 2 1/2 days but I am so excited!

I am on my way to see (and hug) my best friend in the whole wide world!

And her husband.. and our Dad☺

The funnest part ~ Dad doesn't know I'm coming;~)

Always remember

2011-09-11T01:00:00.001-08:00

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America,

and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God,

indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

There are very few days in my life that are as clear in my memory as that day 10 years ago.

I remember........

I weep.....

I hope....

Have you ever wondered why American Soldiers wear the flag patch

backwards on just the right side of their arm?

The basic answer is: they are brave!

This flag is symbolic of the men who used to march into battle with an actual flag.

So steady and strong that the flag would blow behind them.

On the arms of our soldiers, the flag faces as if being carried into battle, blowing behind them.

To all of our servicemen and women ~

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE

To your families~

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SACRIFICE

To all of our Police and Firefighters~

THANK YOU FOR BEING THERE

I remember.

New Listings

2011-08-28T09:45:00.001-08:00

Just listed these.

If you are interested you should go here☺

There are quite a few different steps involved in these but the actual

'rolling' of the beads has turned into quite a good stress reliever.

I see more of these in my future☺

Little Update: The red ones were actually included in an Etsy treasury.
My first time EVER in a treasury!
But since I am TOTALLY not techno-savvy enough to figure
out how to post a pic of the treasury you will
have to click here to see it☺

it's happening again and there's nothing organized about this chaos

2011-08-26T12:07:00.000-08:00

Now that the weather has turned ~ less than nice, I am spending a lot more time inside

and apparently I decided to trash the place......again.

My Bead Soup is back there in the corner on that bead board on top of that box
behind all of those open drawers.
Apparently I have forgotten everything my mother taught me about
putting things away when I am done with them.
But since I am not done with them I guess it's OK.

I have started on my bead soup project, but I have to admit that I am glad we

are doing a 4 day weekend over Labor Day so that I have some quality time to spend.

I really want it to be awesome;~)

Work table is also trashed.
I've been working on some faux ceramic pendants and beads.

I've been mixing alot of different colors of liquid clay that I

use for the 'glaze' on the 'faux ceramic' pendants and beads.

I learned the hard way that depending on what I use to color the liquid clay,

the color can change dramatically once they are in the oven.

So I made up some 'paint chips'

"Paint chips"
The backs are all numbered along with the little corresponding container of liquid clay
and then I have written a list of what was used, (ink, mica powder, oil paint)
to mix that color.
All chips are baked and varnished so I know what the finished color will be.

Some sample pendants fresh from the oven.
Some I really like and some will never again see the light of day.
But that is what experimenting is for.

And....... since I don't have enough things going at one time,

I wanted to try my hand at paper beads.

I used some paper that I have had for years.

I painted it years ago after watching Carol Duvall demonstrate

the technique on her show.

(see what I mean about years ago;~)

Paper beads

I liked the way they turned out so much that I decided to

make up some more of the paper.

So my dining table became the paint station......

for three days☺

It's actually kinda fun to make.
You can use just plain brown craft paper.
(Carol used brown paper bags)
I used craft paper for the darker colors and drawing paper for the lighter colors.

Soak the paper in a water/glue mixture, then crumple it up.

Smoosh it back out flat, carefully, you don't want to tear it.

Then start squirting paint on it and smear it around. (I used a sea sponge)

Once it dries it will be very, very stiff.

It will be so stiff that if you try to bend it it will actually break.

Not good for making beads.

So at this point you have to perform the Top Secret Magic Trick

to soften it up.

You need to iron it;~)

With steam;~)

The transformation is amazing.

Now I have enough 'painted' paper to keep me busy for a while.

Once you get a bunch of strips cut it's a great thing to do while curled up in a chair

in front of the TV in the evenings.

That's my plan;~)

This weekend I hope to at least put away the things that are piled on the floor

in the loft so I can stop stubbing my toe on the box of polished rocks;~)

Have a great weekend!

Look what I got!

2011-08-20T14:52:00.000-08:00

Let me just say that these are.... totally. my. colors!

I love these!

My Bead Soup from Shannon Hicks

I love that jasper heart focal and the toggle is awesome.

I DO love me some copper;~)

There is nephrite jade, more jasper, pearls, glass and more copper.

These arrived yesterday, I was able to pick them up at the Post Office on my

way home from work and I was so excited when I saw them

that I have already started coming up with actual ideas of what I'm going to make.

For me that is HUGE.

I might actually have a finished piece by reveal day☺

In other news, we have arrived at "rainy season"

so sunny, warm days are going to be few and far between.

The one plus side of that is that I spend a LOT more time inside

at my clay table. And I miss my clay table.

The flowers that I planted in my perennial garden did well.

Especially well, considering they were baby plants that were shipped throught the mail.

If they make it through the winter,

I may be well on my way to actually having that perennial garden☺

I got these lilies from my Mom a couple years ago,

they seem to winter well.

This recent visitor didn't seem very happy to have his picture taken.

It took quite a few shots to get him, he was so busy eating that he was constantly moving

and every shot was just a moose blur☺

Oh, and I finally got some little green baby tomatoes.

There are actaully a TON of them on all four plants.

I am determined to have red ripe tomatoes before it gets too cold.

The first frost last year wasn't until mid September, so there is still time.

And since they are actually growing under the deck, I can 'tent' them if necessary.

I WILL have tomatoes;~)

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

BSBP ~ what I sent

2011-08-19T09:16:00.000-08:00

They arrived!

I just read that the Bead Soup that I sent to

Shannon of http://uptwnsh-fallingintothesky.blogspot.com/

has arrived, so I can now reveal what was in the package.

I wanted to make it as special as I could so I made everything myself.

Polymer clay "Succeed" focal and beads, paper beads, itty bitty beaded leaves.

Two clasps (the 'toggle' is reversible, the other side is stamped "try again") and various

links and doodads all made from steel.

Bead Soup Sneak Peek

2011-08-14T19:26:00.000-08:00

My Bead Soup partner is Shannon Hicks

and until she receives the package I am sending out tommorrow,

this is all I can show you;~)

I started working on this on the 4th of August and just finished it TODAY.

And I can't explain why it took so long until after

Shannon receives the package.

Shh..... it's a surprise☺

Bead Soup Blog Party

2011-08-01T15:26:00.002-08:00

OK.... The last couple of "parties" I visited every single blog and saw
some gorgeous, GORGEOUS jewelry designs, and the whole time I was going from blog to blog I was thinking to myself,

"I wish I wasn't such a chicken. I could do this...I think....maybe".

Then...

"Yah right, you don't have the guts to do this.
You struggle to come up with a design for something when you pick out the materials yourself and you usually end up making and re-making it a dozen times, then you're afraid to show it to anybody for months!"
"Not only that, but what would you send your partner? Would it be good or would they think it was lame?"

I can be kinda mean to me sometimes.

So this last month when Lori announced that sign up was coming I decided that this time I was going to face my fears and just DO IT!

Then five minutes later I promptly decided that there was NO WAY IN HELL!

Well, today was the first day for signing up and I am pleased (and terrified and a little nauseated) to say I signed up!

I know at least one thing that is stronger than my fear of putting myself 'out there'.... My NEED to follow through on ANY kind of commitment.

I've commited .

So...Let's DO THIS☺

Love to tumble;~)

2011-07-28T19:05:00.000-08:00

For your viewing pleasure~ ~ ~ ~

A super duper random post☺

Did I mention I got a rock tumbler this past Christmas?

(Thanks Honey!)

I. LOVE. MY. ROCK. TUMBLER.

The colors are even more awesome in person.

I'm thinking wire wrapping;~)

An update on the liqueur.....

It's awesome!!!

But only after I ~re-fruited~ with frozen fruit.

I totally recommend using the frozen fruit!

It has a much stronger fruit flavor. YUM!

I did take the time to play with some copper wire.

Since finishing up with the 'jam-fest'

I have also canned two batches of salsa,

16 jars of "dilly beans" (pickled green beans☺)

20 jars of hot, pickled cauliflower (LOVE that stuff!)

and so far, 6 jars of "Mom's" pickled beets.

(I am completely addicted to this canning thing)

Oh,

And the alien has hatched;~)

The Alien

Alien Hatchlings

They are calling for rain this weekend and

I actually hope they are right this once.

I really miss my clay and a rainy weekend would be the perfect time to play.

I think I have gone totally insane

2011-07-05T19:57:00.000-08:00

I am 47 years old and have never 'successfully' canned anything in my life.

Until now.

In the last month I have canned over 100 jars of jam.

I made Blackberry Jam,

Strawberry Rhubarb (good strawberry flavor, a little sweet)

~~then after altering the recipe for my taste~~

Rhubarb Strawberry (more rhubarb than strawberry and not too sweet)

Outside of strawberry rhubarb pie, I never really had any use for rhubarb

until I found this recipe for rhubarb butter.

(You may have guessed that I have an excess of rhubarb.

When we bought the house, it came with rhubarb;~)

Anyway until now I always considered rhubarb to be pretty much sour celery,

but the rhubarb butter is AWESOME.

I've made two batches...so far.

(FYI: If you try it, it calls for 4# of rhubarb, the research I did says that

1 pound equals approx. 3 cups, she says you'll end up with about 15 -16 cups.

I settled on 14 cups and called it good.)

Then after getting a case of apricots from these very sweet people.

I made several batches of Apricot Pineapple Jam

and a couple batches of Apricot Blueberry Jam.

Apricot Pineapple Jam, Apricot Blueberry Jam

I had a lot of apricots and I had blueberries in the freezer so I 'made up'

the Apricot Blueberry recipe and I think it is KILLER.

I was kinda worried while it was cooking cuz it kept changing color☺

but when it was finished and we tasted it I was SO glad I tried it!

And the color turned out pretty too,

as you can see by the nice wine colored jars in the back there.

(If you want to try it I'd be glad to send you the recipe,

just be warned that every recipe I have tried for jam,

I have had to cut the amount of sugar called for pretty much in half.

So my taste in jam isn't overly sweet)

Even after the many batches of Apricot and *insert fruit here* Jam I made, I still

had enough apricots to can 7 pints for later.

~Note to self: A CASE of fruit is a LOT of fruit! ~

The only thing my Honey said after seeing the massive amount of jam

we have accumulated is ~

"I hope you are planning on giving some of that away."

Luckily that is the whole idea behind this canning craze.

Instead of making candy and baking like crazy, (cookies, applesauce cake etc, etc) during the last two weeks before Christmas this year, (like I have the last several years),

I will be lazily plunking jars of homemade jam into baskets.

Oh and now that I am finished messing with the 'fruit stuff',

pickling can begin!

The Christmas baskets will also contain one or more of the following:

Pickled Beets

Pickled Cauliflower

Pickled Asparagus

Pickled Green Beans

(If I can wrestle them out of Honey's grasp, he does love pickled stuff)

Oh and I thought I would try my hand at liqueur while I was messing with fruit.

Raspberry, Blueberry, Blackberry Liqueur in the works

It is crazy simple, the recipe is here and so far it's going great.

The recipe is for Blackberry,

but I figured I would give it a try with raspberry and blueberry too.

You can use fresh or frozen fruit, so you can make this pretty much any time.

(I think I'm in love.)

In gardening news, I have a ton of blossoms on the tomato plants

I have strawberries growing on my strawberry plants

(I only have 5 plants, so I don't exactly have a bumper crop,

but Scoobie and I get a little snack every couple of days)

I have some of the cutest little teeny tiny cucumbers ever!

The perennials are doing great, the rabbit repellant seems to be working great.

(I still have rabbits and I still have plants☺)

And the flower in the pic at the beginning of this post is growing right next to this:

Hen with chicks?

That one ( up there) looked just like this one ( down there) when I bought it.

Hen with chicks

The only difference was the color. Now there is a big difference.

(Both of these pics were taken today. The reddish one still looks like it did when I bought it,

the other one; not so much)

It makes me think about the Alien movies everytime I look at it,

but I'm excited to see what the flowers look like when they finally 'hatch' LOL!

Soon, all too soon, the weather will turn crappy and I will be stuck indoors

and the clay and jewelry will begin again.

But until then I hope I don't bore you too much with the summer activities☺

Oh yea, I need to mention that I just recently found out that my Mom has started

reading my blog, ("to find out what's happening in my life", obviously I don't call enough)

HI MOM!

LOVE YOU!

busy, busy, busy

2011-06-11T19:38:00.000-08:00

(As usual my 'Summer Blogging' is proving to be very erratic☺)

But, I'm sure no one is going through Wigglebutt Withdrawals;~)

I finished filling and planting my pots for the front of the house.

I have the usual flowers, but I also am trying tomatoes in two of the pots, strawberries in one,

pablano peppers in one, cucumbers in one and herbs in another.

Hopefully my gardening skills have improved over last year

(Lily says "Hi")

View from the side of the house.

Usually I put a pot of flowers on top of my whiskey barrel, but I made this

Fairy house,oh, maybe four years ago?

And it has been living in the shed this whole time, I figured it was time to bring it out.

Maybe it will bring some magic for my crops;~)

I also replanted a slew of perennials in my center garden.

I ordered them from a wonderful company, Bluestone Perennials.

They are wonderful!

This was my second time ordering from them.

This time didn't go quite as smoothly as the first time due to an OOPS their shipping dept.

Apparently instead of sending my order priority mail, which is the norm,

my order and approx 89 other orders to Alaska were inadvertently shipped

Parcel Post.

Let me just say, Those poor, poor plants didn't make it:~(

Of course when I called to tell them that I hadn't received my order after almost

two weeks they immediately reshipped my order (at no charge).

Both orders showed up the same day (one looking much happier than the other)

They are all looking pretty happy so far, none have been eaten by the rabbits yet

(I think my rabbit repellent is working, Yea!)

and only one has been stepped on by a big moose foot and I think it may actually survive.

These two were lucky

On the indoor creative front,

I finished the beading for this a couple of weeks ago but I was having a heck of

a time figuring out how to actually finish the ends.

Finally came up with an idea today, so it is now complete.

Seed beads, beaded beads and JulsBeads focal

Some earrings to match.

Check out those little gun metal spacer thingies.

Aren't they cool?

They are cool for the ends too.

Want to know what they REALLY are?

They come in a package of 500 for about 7 or 8 bucks.

At Sportsman's Warehouse☺

2011-06-05T16:16:00.000-08:00

a little cuteness

2011-05-30T12:00:00.000-08:00

nothing but legs☺

still kinda wobbly

one of them was a real go-getter

Oh yea, and in yesterdays post I referred to our visitor as "she".

Well, he came back later in the afternoon and we noticed the beginnings of his horns;~)

I had wondered why "she" didn't have any babies with her;~)

So far, the male has found the garden but didn't eat any of my newly planted perennials as he

WALKED RIGHT THROUGH the garden.

Momma and babies haven't yet found the garden. So far they have stayed to the side of the yard.

Wish me luck☺

Sprinkler 1 / Moose 0

2011-05-29T08:37:00.000-08:00

It's that time of year again.

Time to be outside.

The last couple of weeks I have been planting, weeding, watering and,

on a couple of occasions, I was able to just chill in my lawn chair.

The weather has been absolutely awesome.

Warm and sunny.

After last summer having almost 40 straight days of rain,

I'm hoping for a little more sun this year.

And so far it's been great.

In the planting department, I finally got all of my containers planted

and the shipment of baby perennials I FINALLY got (long story)

should be hardened off enough to plant tomorrow.

Once I get everybody in the ground I will take some pictures so

I have some before and after shots;~)

It's also that time of year for visitors.

Once she spotted the sprinkler

she had to check it out

she got within about two feet then turned and ran

Ok, we're gonna try this again

here we go

Oooohh, what do we have here?

oh wait, I was heading over there

"Oh! It got me again!

I'm otta here."

never to be duplicated

2011-05-15T17:37:00.000-08:00

at least not by me.

Not any time soon.

I absolutely love the way this necklace came out

but it was the biggest pain in the butt.

Granted, I have to fight the urge to be a perfectionist and sometimes I lose,

like with the components of this necklace.

Which means a lot of the time consuming part was me tearing out

and re-doing the seed bead parts.

(Seed beads. I hate them but I am addicted to them. Go figure.)

This necklace started with the focal made by Juls of JulsBeads

(if you've been around a while, you know I am also addicted to her work

or should I say her art)

Each one of her beads is a work of art and whenever I make a piece of

jewelry that contains her beads I always feel like it "needs to be worthy".

That's when the perfectionist kicks in.

Juls focal, swarovski crystals, black onyx, polymer clay disks,
tubular peyote and spiral rope stitch

I had a vision of the finished piece before I started and this came pretty close.

I like it☺

Spring is finally springing

2011-05-14T11:52:00.000-08:00

I know some people are already getting into full summer but we are just entering into Spring.

Rhubarb

a slight hint of green on the trees

just starting to leaf out

So far the weather has been awesome but it's still too early to do much planting.

Still getting a little cool at night. (28º yesterday morning)

Last weekend I spent prepping my garden area.

I got it weeded and fertilized and ready for planting the 57 perennials

that the post office was supposed to deliver Thursday that still haven't been delivered

that hopefully are still alive when they do finally get around to delivering them.

This weekend I am getting my new pots ready to go.

A few years ago, my husband decided that he wanted to put

in a garden area at the front of the house.

So he hauled rocks and dirt and he shopped for plants

and he did all of the planting himself.

(He's not exactly a green thumb kinda guy)

It's done quite well and I only have to nag a couple

times each summer for him to weed it.

Ever since he put the garden in (to one side of the deck)

I have been undecided about how to deal with the other side.

It just didn't make sense to do the whole "raised bed" thing UNDER the deck.

And apparently when I am undecided about what to do, I do nothing☺

I usually just let the fireweed take over.

This year I have decided to do something.

I'm going to try to do a "container garden".

A few new pots

I love these pots. They look like ceramic but they are light as a feather.

These are a good beginning. I have a couple other containers

that I will use this year and I hope to add a few each year until it is really full.

As everything else around here it is a work in progress.

I'm going to try growing a few strawberry plants,

( to go with the aforementioned rhubarb)

and a few herbs and some tomatoes along with a few flowers.

Hopefully, with them being close to the house they will have a better

chance of not getting eaten by the wild rabbits,

whose numbers have obviously increased over last year.

(My honey said he would "take care" of them.

I don't want them eating my garden but as yet, I just can't stand the thought.

I know. I'm a wuss.)

Hopefully the awesome weather continues into the summer cuz we have

quite the to do list.

PART of the list for the OUTSIDE of the house☺

Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend!

finally figured out why I was making all of those little beaded beads...

2011-05-01T18:23:00.000-08:00

Apparently I was planning on making these.

Beaded beads, yummy lampwork glass beads by Juls.

And these.

Beaded beads, focal by Juls,
Australian jasper, swarovski crystal

They are currently residing in my Etsy shop.

you may now commence drooling and wishing you were me

2011-04-24T17:22:00.000-08:00

See?

The photo stinks but the beads are

definately drool-worthy☺

All of these gorgeous beads made it all the way from Juls in Alabama

to Alaska in pristine condition.

I spent a couple of hours one evening,

opening tons of little bundles of bubble wrap.

(It was better than Christmas morning!)

When I went to bed that night I left the box of beads on the table next to my chair.

Said box of beads also contained tissue paper - I know better.

Lily-girl has a little addiction to all things paper.

She can eat a half a box of kleenex in 10 minutes flat.

Paper towels, napkins it doesn't matter, she can have

a roll of toilet paper strung down the hall and halfway up the stairs

in no time. And apparently the addiction includes, Yep, tissue paper.

The next morning when I went back upstairs there was a giant pile

of gorgeous glass on the floor.

After picking everything up and assessing the damage I found that there was

only one broken bead.

I'm sure that was due to the workmanship involved in making the beads

and not the care in which Lily dumped them on the floor!

After calming down I decided I could still use this.

I mean, come on, look at the color.

There has to be some way to use it.

So....

Some pearl clay and pink mica powder...

All better☺

new babies.....

2011-04-18T19:10:00.000-08:00

the clay kind☺

I have a really nice customer at my day job

(Honey and I run an auto repair shop - yes! we work together,

have for almost three years and we haven't tried to kill each other! yet.)

Her and her husband have been coming in since they came to Alaska via

military orders almost three years ago.

She was originally nicknamed "The Jag Lady"

since she drives an older Jaguar that she treats like her baby,

but she quickly became "The Dragon Lady" cuz

I couldn't make baby dragons fast enough.

She would buy every one I could make.

(Honey suggested I put a small display case in the lobby of the shop, smart guy)

Well, I have been distracted by numerous pursuits lately and I haven't been

working on my favs, the dragon babies.

Well Kathy and her Hubby are being shipped out of Alaska in a couple of months so when

they were in for a tire swap last week there was a request made and then a promise made,

(all of which was much to the chagrin of Kathy's Hubby)

so over the weekend I did nothing but dragons☺

We called Kathy this morning to let her know that her dragons

were ready to go to their new home and she said she would be in tomorrow

to pick them up and about

an hour later her Hubby strolled in with a

"You are in so much trouble" look on his face. LOL!

One of the many other pursuits I have been caught up in lately are these

For someone whose eyesight is getting worse and worse every year,

you would think I would have the sense not to START

working with little teeny tiny minuscule little teeny tiny

FREAKIN seed beads.

Apparently it doesn't matter how old I get,

good sense is still a future fantasy.

this last weekend

2011-04-04T20:18:00.000-08:00

I was planning on cleaning up so I could find some room to do some sculpting.

What happened is what usually happens... distraction☺

I liked the color combo of my last necklace so much that I wanted to make a set of earrings to match.

Yeah... I thought it would be easy to just throw together a set since I

already had the colors worked out.

Yeah RIGHT!

It was HARD to figure out how to string together that many shapes and

colors in earrings and not have it just look like a mess.

And I should know cuz I had about 30 different "messes",

(**~~mourning a gross of head and eye pins~~*)

but I finally ended up with a pair I like☺

They are funky but I think they have the same 'feel' as the necklace.

And can somebody tell me where this stuff has been all my life???

I am in love with memory wire! Who knew?

After the initial distraction, which lasted almost a day and a half, between jewelry and laundry;

I was able to accomplish this.

There really is a table under there. ☺

If my helper at work isn't sick again tomorrow I hope to get home early enough to

start on a special project.

More to come on that later;~)

not much

2011-03-31T18:44:00.000-08:00

...getting accomplished this week besides the occasional random spontaneous happy dance.

And this...

Actually this isn't what I ended up with, it's just what I started with

(after 4 tries)

I usually don't use a lot of different colors in my designs.

It's not that I don't like color,

I LOVE COLOR!

It's just that I am not comfortable with my ability to put a lot of

colors together in a pleasing way.

Well, once I stood back and really looked at this I thought,

"I like it but I think it could use some yellow."

and since I didn't have anything in the yellow I was wanting,

I had to make some.

I made two different shades of yellow disks.

So after curing, varnishing and re-curing, I started adding the yellow.

Then I thought that maybe the focal looked kinda small with all of the others I was adding,

so......................

I changed out the focal for a larger one,

and I am SUPER-duper happy with this.

To me it says "light, airy and happy".

And it is so much different than my "comfortable"

earth tones, maybe that means I am making progress towards

breaking out of my shell.

I'm feeling the need to create some dragon babies,

hopefully this weekend I can concentrate long enough to make

some room to sculpt☺

I hope everyone has a happy Friday!

obsessed..... again

2011-03-27T12:00:00.000-08:00

Since learning the circular peyote stitch,

I have completed two necklaces using it.

the first one you can see here and here.

Then I was over visiting Dawn's blog

As she was talking about learning a new technique making the "chain"

part of the necklace, she mentioned that she used a stitch called

a "russian spiral"

( Thanks Dawn☺)

and since I love the spiral look, I had to find out how to make it.

I hunted around on the net and finally came across a video tutorial.

To me it was totally worth the cost, I learn so much quicker if

I can actually "see and do".

Step by step photos in a printed tutorial are good, but

it is much easier for me to 'get it' if I can work along with the instructor

as they explain each step. Especially when it comes to seed beads.

That was two weeks ago and I fell madly in love with this stitch.

Once you get past the first three rounds you can do it without hardly thinking about it.

It is the perfect

"curl up in the chair and watch TV in the evening"

kind of thing.

My progress so far..

The blue one on the right is the second one I made using the tubular peyote stitch.

(I wore it last week and it is so comfortable and looked great with a denim shirt☺)

The green and gold one on the left was my first try with the russian spiral.

I used #6 and #10 cuz that's what I had;~)

Of course I had to make a quick trip to the bead store (poor me)

and pick up some 8/0 and 11/0 cuz that's what the instructor was using in the tutorial.

I was worried that using the smaller beads would make it more difficult.

Nope.

It's still 'curl up easy'.

The one up front is my 'in progress' one using the 8/0 and 11/0 beads.

I was able to tear myself away from the beading yesterday long enough

to pay bills and organize my office area.

With the last several weeks of "retreiving this information" and "looking for that document"

for our re-finance the area has really suffered.

(Those of you who have been here awhile may have wondered

"Why all the frustration with a simple re-finance?"

We were in a 8% ARM that was getting ready to adjust.

It wasn't going to be pretty.)

We FINALLY closed on Friday afternoon.

We are officially re-financed.

LOW FIXED RATE! Yippeee!

(There was "Patron" at my house on Friday)

And to continue the celebration today,

I will be cleaning and organizing my studio area so that I can remind myself

that there really is an attractive wooden table there somewhere.

I'll be aiming for something close to this.....

Wish me luck!

not much

2011-03-20T18:45:00.000-08:00

I have spent the weekend feeling very busy but I'm not sure what I accomplished☺

I've been on a jewelry kick lately and I worked on a couple necklaces over the weekend.

One I have re-worked more times than I care to remember and it still isn't what I want

so I'm not going to show you. Yet.

And this one happened very quickly.

It is very simple but I really like it. It makes me think of summer.

(I've been reading on some blogs how the crocuses are blooming

and in some cases where the gardens are being planted, and I am SO jealous.

We have had a lot of sunshine in the last week or so but the high has still

been in the low to mid thirties)

I am REALLY ready for summer!

Also this weekend, when not hunched over 'the devil necklace that will not cooperate',

I started playing around with the "pages" on blogger. If you click on the tabs you will

see that I have learned how to make a page but I haven't put anything there yet. LOL!

So you can save yourself the trouble for now cuz there's nothing to see there folks.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot to mention that I was able to get the water and septic info

to our 'guy' on Thursday morning.

You may or not recall that I mentioned the fact that he said this was the last thing he needed,

"To get this done".

Then on Thursday afternoon he called to say the adjusters needed one last thing.

Some more info from the bank and we would be done.

I faxed it off Friday morning.

Done.

Saturday morning, SATURDAY MORNING, our guy called to let us know

the adjusters needed one last thing.

I emailed that "ONE LAST THING" a few minutes later.

Then I told Honey that I had totally lost count of how many times

our 'guy' had actually said "one last thing".

He says he wants to "Get this done Monday".

I'm telling you right now, I am SO FRICKING glad I haven't been holding my breath, cuz I'd be dead.

And I probably have "One Last Thing" to do.

I couldn't find cinnamon chips

2011-03-19T16:42:00.000-08:00

The other day on this blog I saw a recipe for Cinnamon Chip Scones,

and since I have been absolutely dying to have a Cinnamon Chip Scone

ever since my Starbucks stopped carrying them,

(I don't know if it is rotational or seasonal thing,

all I know is that when I'm craving one they have none)

I figured I would bake some.

So I print off the recipe. In her post she says the cinnamon chips are

on the grocery aisle right next to the chocolate chips.

Not if you live in my neck of the woods.

After checking all three of the large stores we have,

Walmart, Fred Meyer and Carrs/Safeway, and coming up empty

I decided to try toffee chips in place of the

(non-existent in the state of Alaska) cinnamon chips.

I was kinda bummed until I came across this

Isn't it the coolest thing you ever saw?

Well maybe not THE coolest, but pretty darn cool.

It is a 3D wooden puzzle. It is 10"x10"x5"H

After I put it together I glued all of the pieces in place.

After it dries I plan on making this fellow quite colorful.

Oh, and the toffee chip scones aren't half bad.

Not cinnamon, but not bad.

you said we were going for a walk, why are you just standing there?

2011-03-17T17:16:00.000-08:00

(Photo taken today - 2 days after Scooby's 9th Birthday)

A quick update on my baby Scooby Doo.

We got into the vet on Tuesday morning and after a good exam

the vet said he seemed to be doing well.

Didn't seem to have any residual effects from his seizure and since this is

the first time he ever had one it could have been an isolated incident.

The vet said he couldn't say it would never happen again but if it did

we could treat him with phenobarbital,

the same thing used in humans for epilepsy.

They did blood work just to make sure there weren't any underlying issues,

and all they found there was that he is a little low on phosphorus.

So the boy gets to have a little milk with his food every morning

for a week. He seems to like it☺

The vet also said that he was a little heavy,

OK he actually called him obese but we all put on a few

extra pounds in the winter don't we?

long week behind and ahead

2011-03-13T16:45:00.000-08:00

Have you tried to refinance your home lately?

OMG what a pain in the butt!

I don't even think we had to jump through this many

hoops when we bought our business three years ago.

The filling out and or gathering of paperwork (lots of paperwork),

the faxing back and forth.

All of it has been stressing me out a little;~(

But apparently we are now on the home stretch.

The last email we got from our mortgage guy said all we have to do now is have our

water tested to make sure it is drinkable (HUH?)

and have our septic tested (?)

It's not like we are just buying this house (and water) or selling it,

we have lived in this house for 10 years and drank the water every single day

and we're still standing, but if that's what they need I'm all over it.

And I'm not sure how they test a septic. In my experience it either works

or it doesn't (eww). And ours does.

But I guess I will see if I can find out who does that kind of thing and have it done.

On top of all of this crap, I woke up this morning at 5am

to this strange thumping noise coming from the dining room

which is directly above the bedroom.

I could hear this thumping and then the sound of my Honey's

voice. I couldn't really hear anything he was saying just

the tone of his voice and it wasn't good.

I tore out of bed and ran upstairs to find Honey sitting

on the floor with my baby boy Scooby Doo.

Scooby was in the middle of having a seizure.

It was terrifying.

After some research today I found out that it is not uncommon

for dogs to have seizures but he is nine years old

and this has never happened before.

He seems to be OK now but first thing in the morning I will calling the vet

to beg for an appt. ASAP.

On the creative front...

I finished my tubular peyote necklace and

I strung a necklace with my favorite "orphan beads"

that I got from Juls.

Bet you'd never guess I like earth tones☺

I am now off to have a nice stiff drink while I make dinner.

ok... I can show you now

2011-03-10T18:25:00.000-09:00

Well, the little fellow that I mentioned here

has arrived safe and sound at his destination in Munich

so I can show him off now.

This fellow went to Germany to live with Birgit

She named him "Sutton" after the name of my home town.

I think it fits nicely☺

And I am still plugging along on my "tubular peyote" thing. lol!

Someday I hope it turns itself into a necklace.

I know it's not 'perfect' but

LOOK!

IT'S TUBULAR!

and it's WAY longer than the totally deformed 2 inches of completed

bead crochet that I disgustedly threw out after 'thehellishtwoweekordeal'

of trying to teach myself how to bead crochet.

(for some reason some of those beads want to look purple

but they are lying, they are brown)

I haven't been feeling overly inspired lately,

(it could be weather related - ie. winter sucks!)

but I did try some experimenting last weekend

with tinted liquid polymer.

I was going for a 'faux' ceramic look.

I used blue because it was already mixed for another experiment

that didn't work out and will never see the light of day☺

But I'm kinda likin these ones☺

I'm feelin kinda 'beachy'.

I drew a face ☺

2011-03-06T13:03:00.001-09:00

Let me start by saying

--> I CANNOT DRAW <--

I've always wanted to be able to draw, but I am just not artistic

in that sort of way.

I do a lot of doodling but in more of zentangle way,

not actual doodles of people or things.

Then this morning as I was having coffee and perusing my blog roll,

I came across this post by Donna at

Doings of Doone

She wrote:

"Give yourself a quiet calm undisturbed Hour. Listen to your most lovely music whilst you draw - and do NOT listen to any thoughts in your own head - for this one hour You Are Mine, and you will enjoy your love affair with Art .... I Say Do IT.....Do It Now - you can always curse me for the wasted hour later...."

And:

"Get sketching people,

it ain't hard girls...

Art is not the preserve of the 'talented' "

So I figured OK.

What the heck.

And guess what...

I drew a face ☺

She is NOT the face I was supposed to draw.

She is NOT proportional.

She is NOT shaded properly.

She is also NOT hideous;~)

She IS recognizable as female.

And I think she IS actually kinda cute.

And I drew her.

Awesome☺

don't know what's up with the pink

2011-03-05T18:46:00.000-09:00

I have been busy.

I have been busy making myself frustrated:~(

I saw this necklace and I really liked the look of it. It was a bead crochet necklace.

Well..... I love to crochet so why not teach myself how to bead crochet.

I spent every evening for two solid weeks trying to figure it out. I would get about three rounds into it and loose track of where I was and that would get torn out and I would start over. Once you get 4 or 5 rounds in you can better tell where you really have to go next but I could never get that far. At the end of the two weeks I decided to try ONE more time and I actually got a piece of work that was almost 2 inches long and it was so NOT RIGHT that I gave up (for now) on bead crochet.

Since I felt like I hadn't accomplished anything in two weeks I decide to do something with some pendants I made ages ago☺

This is the third try for this FINALLY simple necklace.

I knew I wanted to use the pink turquoise square beads,

(I don't know why but I really like the odd shaped beads. The nuggets and chips and squares.)

but then I added a whole bunch of other stuff that just tried to make it look too fancy.

So I finally took away almost all of the other crap and now I think I like it.

The jury's still out on this one.

I like this version WAY better than I did the first 4 tries.

It's pretty long and doesn't have a clasp cuz it just goes over your head.

It had a clasp in the first 4 versions☺

Looking back, I notice that I have had a lot of pink in my life the last few weeks.

I don't dislike pink, it's just that it's not exactly my favorite color and I seem to be

immersed in pink. I'm not sure what's up with that.

I did make something that is more in my color comfort zone.

I made a lanyard☺

(Let me start by telling you that I didn't have any gold colored clips)

Also I have to say that this is my first lanyard and

there are some things you need to take into consideration

when making one of these. Lanyards are long, it's the nature of the beast.

Lanyards can end up being VERY heavy if you don't pay attention

to the fact that lanyards are very long:~)

So I ended up using some wood beads and some acrylic beads

along with some copper and semi-precious.

The main bead is (if I remember right) a petrified wood bead.

I bought a string of them at a bead show

(my very first ever and only one so far)

that I went to in Anchorage last summer.

It was awesome.

I went alone cuz ..

1. Honey doesn't go to Anchorage

2. Honey wouldn't go to a bead show

even if you tried to drag him there cold and dead☺

I was good though, I took cash only and when it was gone so was I.

I could easily get myself into trouble at a bead show!

Ok, so getting back on track here☺

After finally accomplishing something that I could actually touch,

I decided to try something different with the little DEMON beads.

I looked up info on the peyote stitch and found out about the

!! TUBULAR PEYOTE STITCH !!

!! TAH DAH !!

This time I was going to be very careful not to fall for the

"Oh, this is SO EASY, you'll love it"

Two weeks of frustration H*LL is plenty!

But I did try it and I actually LIKE it.

I actually got through about 6 or 7 inches. I'm not doing a specific pattern,

just using a random pattern of browns (surprise) and

I don't know if it's cheating, but I'm using a knitting needle as

kind of a 'core' to work around.

I told Honey, at one point, that I needed to maybe get a little dowel

to work around.

Then I remembered that I had probably every size of knitting

needle ever made and I don't knit! LOL!

(I inherited "all things crafty" from my Grandma when she passed

years ago. Including several unfinished crochet afgans,

that I am in process of finishing and a couple of quilts.)

I would love to show you a pic of my 'in progress'

tubular peyote "non disaster"

but I took it to work with me on Friday when I found out my helper

wouldn't be able to make it in and I would be there from 7a to 6p and I wanted

something to do if it was slow and I forgot to bring it home with me.

Which is causing me a little distress, cuz I seem to be a little obsessed with finishing it.

But I guess that will give me something to post on Monday,

since I have been so "regular" with my posting lately☺

Precious Pup

2011-02-25T12:39:00.000-09:00

I got these pics in an email -

(photographer and source unknown)

They made me smile

so I thought I would share the Love☺

My Scoobie Doo looked just like him as a baby.

And yes this boy would have definitely climbed right on in.

In other news...

I did finish up a new baby dragon this last weekend

but I can't show you just yet.

He is on his way to Germany and the

recipient hasn't seen him yet.

Don't want to ruin the surprise.

Latest weather & THANK GOD IT'S FRIDAY

2011-02-18T18:39:00.000-09:00

Just thought I would share our latest weather. AAARRRGGGG!

If you've been around a while, you know I love Alaska.

I just love it ALOT MORE in the summer;~)

Keep in mind that we had NO snow on the ground

when I went to bed last night.

Not because it had melted, mind you.

It has been in the single digits or minus for the last week.

No. We didn't have any snow because it blows

away almost as soon as it stops coming down.

In our neck of the woods in the winter the wind BLOWS.

So...when I got up and looked out the window this morning we had

about 10" of new snow, by the time I got home from work the snow

was trying to blow up over the hood of my FULL SIZE Tahoe

as I was coming up the drive way.

Honey estimates about 15" so far and it's still snowing like crazy.

They predict another 4" before it "tapers off" tonight.

I'm just very thankful that I don't have to drive anywhere for the

next two days, today was horrible.

On the other hand Honey is quite excited about the snow.

He gets to go riding tomorrow without having to haul

his snowmachine somewhere else, he's just going to takeoff

from the house and do some exploring.

When he gets back I will get to giggle a little

when he has to dig this out and clear the driveway enough

for us to get to work on Monday.

I am going to light a fire in the wood stove and

keep it burning the entire weekend, not because we need it

for heat necessarily but it makes me feel COZY.

AND I NEED COZY!

~And I'm not going to look out the window!~

some new things

2011-02-18T08:00:00.002-09:00

I have accomplished a few crafty things in the last few weeks,

just haven't had much chance to post cuz Honey has recently

found a "Snow Machine Forum".

Alot of chatting about and photos of snow machine

(or in most parts of the country - snowmobile) adventures.

So he has been spending a bit more time on the computer

than he used to, which means I spend less☺

The good part - more crafty accomplishments.

The bad part - less show and tell.

I was really getting in a funk about winter and I was crocheting

neckwarmers and wristwarmers like mad,

so I decided maybe I should stop the winter wear for a while

and think summer.

I found this pattern for a summer "Straw Hat" and knew it would

be perfect for my sister. She loved it so much she sent me a picture☺

Isn't she cute? I want her hair.

I also found a pattern for a bag that looked cool

First let me say, I didn't think it would be so hard to take a picture of a bag.

This was my experiment so I followed the pattern exactly except I didn't

add a zipper. I love the body and the flap (except my next one will not be as wide)

but I don't know how I feel about the handle. I think I will do something different

next time with the handle.

And I have been practicing with resin, not the fancy UV resin that

a lot of people are working with now, just the regular epoxy resin

like you get at the hardware store.

It's kinda fun and I definately like the way it looks on polymer.

Some pendants waiting for bails

(Can you guess how I did the pictures on the pendants?)

And a couple of finished pieces.

I made the hearts to mimic the ceramic beads.

With the resin, I think it works.

Have a great weekend!

OWOH Winners!

2011-02-17T11:22:00.003-09:00

Ok, I used the random number generator

and this is what we got;~)

The first number picked was
Comment #153
Mila of Bellbookandcandleseason
will receive this

The second was

Comment #119

Kim Dellow of Crafty Makes

will receive this

Third was

Comment #49

Regina of Southern OOAKS

will receive this

Fourth number drawn was
Comment # 38
Brigit of Swapping Howdies
will receive this

And the final number chosen was

Comment #34

Tanya of 3Cats Creations

will receive this

This turned out to be quite the International event for me this year.

If the profiles of all of these wonderful people are current,

there are 2 prizes destined for the UK, 1 for Germany, 1 for Italy

and 1 for Alabama USA!

How cool is that?

I has so much fun again this year

and I want to thank everyone for their wonderful comments☺

Congratulations winners!

You should be getting an email in mere moments ☺

Update on OWOH..

2011-02-06T11:18:00.000-09:00

I honestly hoped to have photos of my "door prizes" much sooner that this.

Sometimes having a 'day job' can be so inconvenient. LOL!

So here they are...

(I have added them to the original post also)

In honor of this being the fifth and final OWOH, I am drawing five names.

The first name drawn will receive this guy

He is holding a little plaque commemorating the event, but

it is removable. Then he just looks like he wants a hug☺

The second will receive this

A "steampunk" heart pin and a sterling silver wire-wrapped lampwork glass ring.

(Lampwork by Juls☺)

The third person chosen will receive this

A little collection of polymer clay leaves and buttons.

The leaves are perfect for jewelry making, scrapbooking, mixed media

whatever! And the buttons are great for... well... button things. LOL!

The fourth person will receive this

Polymer pendant with glass beads and freshwater pearls.

And last but not least, the fifth person drawn will receive

Little "Wip"

(Despite what you may think, I do make baby dragons that AREN'T blue~)

Each of the five will also receive one of these.....

PLEASE NOTE...

IF YOU WANT TO BE ENTERED IN THE OWOH GIVEAWAY FOR

A CHANCE TO WIN ONE OF THESE,

YOU MUST GO TO THE ORIGINAL POST

HERE

TO LEAVE A COMMENT.

Thanx ♥♥

One World One Heart 2011

2011-02-02T12:18:00.013-09:00

As usual I don't seem to be able to follow simple

directions. LOL!

Apparently I am supposed to announce the winners on the 17th.

It shall be done. ☺

~~ Comments are now closed. ~~

So I may draw the winners!

It's here again!

This is the fifth and final

One World One Heart.

What is OWOH you may ask?

It is one GIANT blog party hosted by the very talented, energetic and gracious

Lisa Swifka of "A Whimsical Bohemian".
The idea is to travel around the blogosphere and visit
new people and possibly make new friends
with the added bonus of possibly winning a "door prize" from one
(or more) of the blogs you visit.
Click on the links above or the one on the side bar to visit the
VERY LONG list of blogs participating this year.

Just a little about me...
I live in Alaska with my husband and our two fur kids,

Lily

and Scooby Doo
(They are a little on the hairy side, but the are my babies;~)

I love to create things, anything.
My current passions are polymer clay, crochet and jewelry design.
I spent the majority of my life being a perfectionist, I felt for the
longest time that if it wasn't perfect, it wasn't good.
As I got older I realized that if I enjoyed making it, it was good.

~~I will be giving away at least two items.~~
~~The first one is not quite ready for his debut and he is very shy.~~
~~I will post a pic as soon as he is feeling photogenic.~~
~~What is the mystery prize?~~
~~I will give you a hint...~~
~~It starts with~~
~~little. baby. dragon..~~
~~And the other one will remain a mystery for now☺~~

**UPDATE SUNDAY FEB 6.**
I honestly hoped to have photos of my "door prizes" much sooner that this.
Sometimes having a 'day job' can be so inconvenient. LOL!

So here they are...

In honor of this being the fifth and final OWOH, I am drawing five names.

The first name drawn will receive this guy

He is holding a little plaque commemorating the event, but

it is removable. Then he just looks like he wants a hug☺

The second will receive this

A "steampunk" heart pin and a sterling silver wire-wrapped lampwork glass ring.
(Lampwork by Juls☺)

The third person chosen will receive this

A little collection of polymer clay leaves and buttons.
The leaves are perfect for jewelry making, scrapbooking, mixed media
whatever! And the buttons are great for... well... button things. LOL!

The fourth person will receive this

Polymer pendant with glass beads and freshwater pearls.

And last but not least, the fifth person drawn will receive

Little "Wip"

(Despite what you may think, I do make baby dragons that AREN'T blue~)

Each of the five will also receive one of these.....

Now for the rules...
All you have to do is have an active blog,
leave a comment on THIS POST ONLY and make sure that either your email
is activated on your blog profile or leave your email address
in your comment so I can contact you if you are one of the winners☺
~~Comments will be closed as of 9pm Feb 17.~~
~~( Cuz my bedtime is 9pm)~~
~~And the winners will be drawn the morning of the 18th.~~
Happy traveling!!

from my sister☺

2011-01-25T17:53:00.000-09:00

Today was definately not my day.
Considering the mood I've been in the last few weeks,
I could have done without being on hold with customer support at
Quickbooks Online for 1 full hour this morning just to find out that the only people
that could fix my issue, which they caused, was the Advanced Support Dept.
and they only work 4 hours a day and I was told to call back this afternoon and since it involved filing my 940 form which is due by the end of this week I had no choice but to call back.
At 2:35 I started holding for customer support, they picked up at 3:10
just long enough to put me on hold to wait for Advanced Customer Support to pick up,
which they did at 5:15!
Yep, great service there at Quickbooks Payroll.
I did take the time out of my busy schedule of waiting to send them
and email reassuring them that I was using my 'hold' time
constructively by spending some time researching which program
I will be using when I cancel their ass!

Sorry, just a bit frustrated...

As I was cruising around the World Wide Web
I stopped by my email to find this from my psychic sister.
She always seems to know when I need a lift.
(She must be psychic, 'cause I know she doesn't read my blog☺)

"I don't care if you lick windows,

Take the special bus

Or occasionally pee on yourself....

You hang in there sunshine, you're special."

Every sixty seconds you spend angry,

upset or mad, is a full minute of happiness

you'll never get back..

Today's Message of the Day is:

Life is short,

Break the rules, Forgive quickly, Kiss slowly,

Love truly, Laugh uncontrollably,

And never regret anything that made you smile.

I think I will just go with it;~)

Control?

2011-01-23T16:06:00.000-09:00

Ever feel like life in general is just spinning out of control?

I have been feeling like this for a couple of weeks now.

I don't know if it all of the 'Year-end closing' I'm doing at work or

if it has to do with beginning the new year thinking about all of the things

I wanted to accomplish last year and didn't.

We are also checking into a refinance, remodel, add-on thing

with the house and that continues to get more and more complicated

with the proposal, appraisal, building plans and proposed "as built" appraisal,

etc., etc., etc.

I get this feeling now and then (thankfully, not too often).

I'm not a control freak by any means, I just like to know that I have a say

in what direction my life is taking, and organizing something,

ANYTHING, seems to help when I feel this way.

I guess it's kind of a way of being in control of SOMETHING.

So this weekend I spent my time organizing (and cleaning).

VIGOROUSLY!

I am actually quite sore but I feel a little less out of control.

♥♥♥

T.G.I.F.

2011-01-14T20:45:00.000-09:00

Rough week.

Definitely ready for the weekend.

you would never guess in a million billion years, so that's why I'm gonna to tell you

2011-01-10T18:06:00.001-09:00

Aside from crocheting a summer hat, because I am in

total denial of how much winter there really is left to come,

I've been feeling very 'uncreative' lately.

So this past weekend I decided I would just take the

opportunity to clean up my 'area'.

As I was putting away some of the items I had brought upstairs

when I was in one of those

"I could probably do something with this" moods,

I had an idea.

Don't you just love hoops?

I love hoops☺

betcha can't guess where I got these perfectly lovely,

perfectly round hoops.

These even have a little texture.

They are super duper lightweight

and I just love them.

Where did I get them you ask?

TAA DAA!!!!!

Yep, I bought several of these for stocking stuffers at

Target in the $1 bins and I had 1 leftover.

I cut a section leaving about an inch overlap,

curled the ends in opposite directions

and then snuggled them together.

I really like the way they turned out.

They spin nicely and you can get like a kzillion of them

from 1 Slinky.

By the way, I didn't get my 'area' cleaned up,

in fact I think I made it worse.

I told my Honey that I don't know why I torture myself by

working smaller as my eyesight gets worse and he asked why I wasn't using

my lighted magnifier (which I love!) and I had to tell him the truth.

I have so much crap (supplies) piled up on the table in front of the magnifier

that I can't get to it right now☺

What exactly is a Snarf?

2011-01-03T18:48:00.000-09:00

A little bit of random.....

My babies spend a lot of their time patrolling the floor for ANYTHING edible,

( then there is Lily who usually goes right for either paper towels, toilet paper or kleenex,

it doesn't matter which, just whatever is accessible )

but I digress...

My baby Scoobie Doo

Anywhoooo..

when they are patrolling they make this sound. It's not a simple sniffing sound,

it's more of a snort. It's almost as if they have discovered something edible on an anatomical level

and if they sniff hard enough they can separate it from the floor.

The word I immediately think of is "Snarf" and

yes it has a capital "S" in my brain.

And you may be asking yourself "Why do you think of the word "Snarf" with a capital S?"

Well, 'cause it's actually a brain-tumbling-over-it's-self domino effect.

The actual first thing that comes to my mind is Dr. Seuss, 'cause the sound that comes out of the kids while they are patrolling is something I imagine a Dr. Seuss character would make and

I imagine that a sound a Dr. Seuss character would make would be called a

"Snarf" with a capital 'S'☺

More random....

Last week it was 7° with a wind chill of -17°

This morning it was 42°

I'M SO CONFUSED!

Happy New Year!!!

2010-12-31T11:56:00.002-09:00

my date with Hugh Laurie... or how I spent my ME day

2010-12-27T17:01:00.000-09:00

Sunday morning Honey left early early to go

snowmachine riding with friends, which left me

and the kids home to hold the fort.

Since the cleaning was done on Friday,

the celebrating was done on Saturday,

the only thing left to do was.....

NOTHING!

After doing one final load of laundry I started

a nice fire in the wood stove, curled up in my recliner with

crochet in my lap and proceeded to watch a

"House" marathon.

It was an awesome day!

I didn't feel guilty that I wasn't being somehow productive,

I just sat and crocheted and watched.

Honestly, who wouldn't enjoy spending the entire day

looking at this.

2010-12-25T01:00:00.001-09:00

And for those of you who don't celebrate Christmas,

HAPPY SATURDAY!

Finally done

2010-12-24T09:43:00.000-09:00

The last of this year's penguins

Gift boxes for the parts guys & gals

A little something for everyone at work

For Mom and her Hubby

Also Scooby wanted me to give you the recipe for the

ABSOLUTELY KILLER

Apple Dumplings I found here

He's keeping an eye on them for me so I don't lose them;~)

Isn't that sweet of him.

Ingredients

■2 whole Granny Smith Apples
■2 cans (8 Oz. Cans) Crescent Rolls
■2 sticks Butter
■1-½ cup Sugar
■1 teaspoon Vanilla
■Cinnamon, To Taste
■1 can (12 Oz.) Mountain Dew Soda

Preparation Instructions

Peel and core apples. Cut each apple into 8 slices each. Roll each apple slice in a crescent roll. Place in a 9 x 13 buttered pan.

Melt butter, then add sugar and barely stir. Add vanilla, stir, and pour entire mixture over apples. Pour Mountain Dew around the edges of the pan. Sprinkle with cinnamon and bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Serve with ice cream, and spoon some of the sweet sauces from the pan over the top.

If you haven't already tried these, you need to.

*** Now. ***

********* Right now.*********

The Spirit of Christmas

2010-12-08T16:02:00.000-09:00

I originally had this little story tagged on to another blog post,

but after some thought I decided it needed it's own space☺

I wanted to share this with you.

This tree is in the middle of the loop of the off-ramp leading

from the Glenn Hwy to the Old Glenn Hwy.

It is the ONLY tree inside that loop.

And believe me when I tell you this tree is in the middle of no where.

For about 10 miles around there are no buildings,

no homes , no businesses, no street lights, no nothing but

commuters commuting, and it is DARK.

Photo by Bill Roth / Anchorage Daily News

This first happened about 3 years ago, right around Christmas,

I'm driving along and all of a sudden, OMG LOOK AT THAT!!!

Someone has been lighting up this tree every Winter for the last

three years, and that person has chosen to stay anonymous.

Radio stations, local television news shows and the Daily News

have all asked the question "Who lights the tree?"

Obviously, the person or persons in question do not

want to be known and not a single person has blabbed.

The lights are battery operated and it is set on a timer so that it shines

only when it's dark (which is alot this time of year) and

it is maintained, if any lights burn out or there is wind damage you can

bet that within a couple of days it will be good as new.

This is not a short tree, this is probably at least ~~8 - 10 feet tall.~~

(I have been informed that the tree is closer to 20 feet tall. WOW!)

Someone out there takes a lot of time and effort every year

to make a whole bunch of strangers smile.

And it literally makes me teary eyed

EVERY SINGLE TIME

I see that tree.

It just makes me feel good inside.

Whoever you are THANK YOU!

Wouldn't it be so awesome if everyone could be that selfless?

Penguins on Parade

2010-12-07T17:43:00.004-09:00

I haven't gotten them all dressed yet

I still have a few to do

These will remain in sets

For obvious reasons (I hope☺)

Next up......... it's skis, skates and snowballs!

in my window

2010-12-05T09:03:00.000-09:00

For years, I had these 2 strings of christmas lights,

the lights themselves looked like candles.

I loved those lights.

I would run 1 string along the bottom of each window in my living room.

I used little clips on little suction cups so it would hold

the 'candle' upright, then I would put silver tinsel down to cover

the wire that held them all together.

The lights would reflect off the window and the tinsel

and it just made the windows glow.

I absolutely loved the way it looked, so much so that even if I don't have time to

or just don't feel like decorating for Christmas, I still did the windows.

Well the bulbs all slowly started burning out.

The light bulbs in them were not replaceable, and come to think of it,

I'm pretty sure I bought them at the Salvation Army, so as

Christmas decorations go they lasted a LONG time.

Well they finally died about two years ago and I have

never been able to find anything close.

The last two years I have just run a couple of strings

of the small white lights with tinsel. It just wasn't the look I wanted.

Well, as I was shopping at Target I checked out the Christmas

decoration section. I always do in the hopes of finding something

candle-like and I found these.

I didn't think about taking a picture of them when I took them out of the box

because I had no intention of blgging about them.

This is a photo from the world wide web☺

These are actually outdoor lights.

They come with ground stakes, they stand about 2 feet tall

and there are three to a string.

You may be asking yourself

"What in the heck do lighted yard twigs and candles have in common?"

Well this is what I did with the lighted twigs.

(As you will notice, once again I took a picture of Scoobie's futon without fluffing first.)

And if you think the lights in each window are a

different type of white, you are correct.

I had actually planned on getting 2 of the kind in the

second photo but since I wasn't wearing my glasses

when I grabbed the boxes , out of the same box I might add,

I didn't see that they were two different kind of lights.

I'm kinda glad it happened though, cuz I kinda like the lights

above the unfluffed Scoobie futon best.

Now I have to go back to Target and get a box of the soft white

twigs before they run out, cuz you know if I try finding them

next year, they won't exist;~)

What I've been up to

2010-12-04T15:50:00.000-09:00

Besides work, which ended up being 5 Mondays in a row this past week=(

I have been working on a few things.

Penguins

A little dragon baby in back there, waiting on legs☺

Some simple little Christmas earrings

I am also crocheting some wash cloths for my Mom's husband

(to go in his newly remodeled bathroom)

and a neckwarmer for Mom.

These will go in the giant gift bag of goodies

we give them every year.

They each get their own large gift bag full of wrapped gifts,

even the smallest item is gift wrapped.

The first year we did this Mom absolutely loved it!

She said it was so much fun to just

spend the morning "unwrapping".

So it's pretty much become a tradition☺

"On November 3, 2002, a 7.9 earthquake hit the area near Denali.

This was North America's largest inland earthquake in almost 150 years.

Alaska is so sparsely populated that the damage from this quake was relatively mild."

"More bald eagles inhabit Southeast Alaska than anywhere else in the world."

"There are more active glaciers and ice fields in Alaska

than in the rest of the inhabited world."

The Great Land of Alaska

Shhhhhhh....

2010-11-29T17:24:00.000-09:00

Sissy

sleeping~

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

2010-11-25T14:01:00.000-09:00

FROM........

Rufus

Tickles

and

Me;~)