Not long now!

It won’t be long before all that snow is gone – oh please, oh please, oh please!! It’s raining like crazy here today, and that’s just fine by me! The only drawback is that the snow in the back yard is giving way to mud! Large amounts of mud! I’ll have to get a video of the mud dogs when they get going. Dh put out some cockatiel bird seed the other day, feeling sorry for the little finch type birds that were flitting around in the snow. While we were out shopping yesterday, we found a long tube bird feeder that he could hang from one of the trees (safe from the darn cats!), we picked up a big bag of wild bird seed, and now we have this cute little feeder covered in little birds!! Love it! We could watch it for hours. Oh wait – we do!

Speaking of endless hours of entertainment, we got our fish tanks all sorted out – ended up getting a different filter for my little one from the boys (the other was way too noisy and the poor fish couldn’t have been enjoying it). I still need to get a different backing for it, and we need a cat fish (or loach!) for the goldfish tank in the living room, but as Petsmart was a ZOO of post-Xmas shoppers, we decided that things will be just fine for a few days til it cools off in the retail sector!

I haven’t been in my studio for days, it seems like weeks!!! I am thoroughly enjoying having Randy (dh) home during the holidays. That hasn’t happened in years and years. He’s always had a day or two extra off (like a four day long weekend) but this year, he’s off until Jan. 5!!!). We haven’t spent this much time together since he was unemployed a bunch of years ago (at least 10 yrs I thinK). We’re both more mature, there’s no kids in the way, and I gotta say, he’s AWESOME!!! I really like this guy! Quirks, idiosyncrasies and all!! He cooks (way too well!), he cleans, he gives me countless hours of comedic relief (my friends know all too well that Randy-stories are usually dotted with silly things said or done!), he never ever complains when I bring home yet another stray or end up with yet another tank of reptiles or fish (hmmmm, haven’t tried Craigslist for fish yet! LOL!). Not too shabby after 25 years together – I am one VERY lucky woman.

Hope your year is coming to a comfortable close. I think I’m ready for 2009 and whatever it has in store. Cheers!!

Snow Dogs!!

Here’s a VERY short video of Jessie & Bailey playing in the snow the other day. It’s much deeper than this now though! Doesn’t stop them from playing like little kids though!!

Happy Boxing Day!!

Oh how I wish it would STOP snowing!!! I LOATHE snow, remember?!?!? Here’s my back yard yesterday (we’ve had a few more inches added since these pics were taken!)

Now, it doesn’t look like much, but it’s WAY more than we’ve had since 1996! I think it might even beat that record (but I’m not watching the news to find out! LOL). Here’s a corner of the deck where dh shoveled the snow into – the snow on the railing is one night’s accumulation!! ARGH!!

Too freaking much snow for me!!!! On another note, we went to Langley (next town over) to drop our oldest (Chris) at the bus stop – not driving him to Surrey as it’s too far and I didn’t want to deal with stupid Boxing Day drivers on the Highway!! Anyway, we ended up at Petsmart, shopping for proper colored plants for my new little fish tank. Well, unfortunately dh was with me……. we now have two fish tanks. And three gold fish for his tank. And two more neon tetras and a betta for my tank. The reason we ended up with one for him is because I was going to let him keep the little one in his tattoo studio and I was going to get the new tank for me – it’s got a lighted lid, more space, better filter, etc – then once we had everything in the buggy, and fish in bags, we agreed that 1) the kids’ feelings would be hurt if I gave it to him and 2) this thing has to fit on the back of my workbench. Anyway, I’m keeping the blue gravel for my tank, but getting rid of the hot pink plant. We got a little cave type thing for the clown loach fish that Mark bought for me (those freaking things are $20 each!! What was he thinking?!?!?). I’m hoping it survives as new tanks can be kind of iffy at first. Okay, so we had to buy decorations and gravel for his tank. Oh and can’t forget the different foods for tropicals and gold fish. We also figured we might as well get meal worms for the bearded dragons while we were there. Let’s just say that my little 5 gallon fish tank Christmas present cost us an additional $200!!! ROFL! You know, many years ago, we ended up with over 20 fish tanks of varying sizes and types – dh has issues with impulse control and I have issues with saying no to him!! ROFL! Oh it’s a slippery slope……….

Okay, I’m begging you guys to bug me if I start talking about adding more tanks to the family. PLEASE?!?!? If you read that we’re going to go look at more or bigger or anything like that, you’ll know we need an intervention!!

Well, better go help dh set up the second tank. Tee hee!! I also have to clear a spot on the back of my workbench for my little tank. I’ll take a pic once it’s all set up and happy!!

Hope you’re enjoying your day – and sure hope you’re not having to shovel this white crap!! Cheers!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Hope you all are having a wonderful Christmas!! We’ve had a great time – despite the freaking snow!! We have TONS of snow – nearly two feet! Anyone who knows me, knows that I loathe snow!!! This white Christmas fairly tale is a royal pain in the patooty!! Dh is cooking a wonderful smelling turkey, the stuffing smells awesome too. He even whipped up a batch of homemade bread pudding for dessert! I am too spoiled! Or maybe just spoiled enough!! My fabulous kids got me a long narrow fish tank for the back of my workbench. They got me some fish too, but most of them have kicked the bucket (they didn’t prepare the water properly! poor fish!). So tomorrow dh and I will go to the pet store and get some water conditioner and maybe a new fish or two. I need to get some real plants. The tank has a neon pink plant in it and that is way too tacky for me (says the woman with the purple Xmas tree! ROFL!). Oh, gotta get some pics of the tree! Sorry! Will do that today and show off a bunch of pics for you. I have some snow pics too. Did I mention how much I HATE snow!
Have a very Merry Christmas!!
Cheers

Two more sleeps!!

Any one who has kids or has had kids counts the days down by sleeps! LOL Santa arrives in two short sleeps and I’m kind of glad I don’t have a house full this year. I have most of my shopping done, dh & I are heading out shortly to finish it off completely. We will need to hit the grocery store too, as I do not want to have to do it tomorrow!! I think dh wants to go to the liquor store at some point so we can have a bottle or two in the house – though neither of us drinks and I think it just feels like the ‘right’ thing to do. In case guests come, don’t you know. Like we would ever have guests! ROFL! Okay, we do get guests, but no one we know drinks – except our kids. And they’re more than old enough to buy their own booze! Tee hee!! Maybe I’ll talk him out of the liquor store run and bribe him with a hardware store run!! We love the hardware store! LOL
But enough babbling!! It’s two days before Christmas Eve, I should be frantically getting ready, but not so much this year. Much like many, we’re keeping it much more realistic this year. For so many years, we would spend every penny we have on buying things for the kids for Christmas. I would stay up way too late on Xmas Eve wrapping presents and stressing about having enough for each one, making sure they all had a good balance and I didn’t over buy for one or the other. It’s kind of surreal not having that kind of stress at this time of year. I think I like it. Though there are moments where I wish the house was full of kids and noise. I tend to squash those moments by turning on all the tv’s and chatting online!

Anyway. I better get going. Once the shopping and wrapping is all done, I’ll post some Xmas pics. The purple tree is in mid-redecoration, so I’ll finish it up and show it off. It’s going to be so pretty!!

Happy holidays everyone!!

Words of Wisdom

Wow, 6 year olds can be soooo wise sometimes! LOL Freya was here yesterday, helping me decorate my purple Christmas tree (no, there’s no pics, it needs serious HELP! LOL will get it done this weekend for sure!), and for whatever reason, we got talking about being famous. Oh yeah, there was a Brittany Spears commercial on the tv, and Freya told me that she would lke to be rich some day and being famous would be all right, but she didn’t want to be a super star. Because when you’re a superstar no one leaves you alone, they follow you everywhere and it would be no fun, you can’t do anything because people will bother you. Smart kid, huh?!

Anyway, just wanted to share that – dh and I are off to town shortly to pick up some building stuff (he’s working on the laundry room – getting all his ’stuff’ behind built in cupboards). And a quick trip to Costco, and possibly some Xmas shopping. I need to get a few more decorations for my purple tree (see note above!), and lights for our upstairs tree which we will pick up tomorrow. Gotta get white lights with white cord for my purple tree if possible. One strand of white LED with green cord just doesn’t work! Blech! LOL This Christmas stuff is a lot of hard work! LOL Have a great Friday!!

Pics at last!

Okay, I’m back!! Here’s couple of the pics, for those that don’t get Flickr.

A pair of autumn earrings

And an autumn necklace

These ones are kind of a very pale brown – and I mean VERY pale. They kind of look like a pewter color maybe? Very subtle, and gorgeous. There’s a necklace to match too.

A green leaf pendant (I wear one of these all the time – love it!!!) Oh, that’s a cubic zirconia bezel set on the leaf. Just cuz I can!

A set with long narrow green leaves

And just for fun, here’s a blurry pic of the display I set up at the library in White Rock.

Oh, A HUGE thank you to Naaz for coming to my rescue to help me set up!!! I’ve told her before, but I’m saying it again – she’s awesome!! It took us a while, but we managed to make it look half decent (of course it took us a bit to even find how to get into the building! The parking access is messed up! LOL). We did a quick written inventory for them, and made sure everything had prices. For those of you who have helped out at my booth at the bead show in previous years, I know you can appreciate how nice it is to have everything priced!! LOL!!! See? I can learn!! I’m notorious for not having prices on anything when I get to a show to set up – I’ve been like that for YEARS!!! I used to do craft/art shows about 8 – 10 times a year, and each time, I would have a ton of stuff to price! I think my poor booth partner wanted to strangle me most days!!!

Anyway, I’m off to the studio for the day. I have a bit of custom work to do, then tonight Freya is coming over to help me decorate my purple Christmas tree – should be good for a laugh! She didn’t believe I had a purple tree, she’s in for a surprise!! Which reminds me I must dash out this afternoon to the hardware store for a couple of strands of lights. A grandma’s job is never done! Have great day!!!

Jewelry Pics

Sorry, I’m toooooo tired to post them here!! Click on my Flickr Pictures (little box to the right on your screen) and that will take you to the new pictures. I’ll post properly here with some of them tomorrow.
Cheers!

I’m starting to feel Christmas-y!!

I was going to change my banner to something to reflect the holidays, but I really love Goofy’s grumpy face up there – sorry, he’ll have to be my Christmas Grinch! LOL

Well, I am feeling VERY Christmas-y today! I dragged one of my best friends to Potter’s Christmas Store – OMG!! It is the most Christmas-y place I’ve been in a VERY long time!!! Christmas is Sue’s very favorite time of year, and I saw an ad on tv for this place and just knew I had to take her there!! Breathtaking, absolutely breathtaking!! And I have to admit that for the first time in a VERY long time, I am really feeling the Christmas spirit. (quick sad background story, then back to happy – just to warn you! My father passed away on Dec 11/99, nine very long years ago. That was the start of separating Christmas from good feelings for me. The very last present he ever gave me (in freaking October no less!!) was a porcelain angel Christmas tree topper! Then when my mom passed away in 2005, it really became a melancholy time for me. You see my mom collected Santa Clauses (that isn’t spelled right, is it?!). Anyway, she kept her Santas out and on display all year long. My kids and I would search out new and different Santas for her every year. So once she passed away, they all came to me. And for the longest time, it would make me very sad to put the angel on the tree (it was 3 years before she even came out of her plastic storage box – just couldn’t do it!). And then it was really hard to put the Santas out on display. Mom died in March, so by Christmas that year, I did put them out, but it was more to keep the kids happy than wanting to look at the darn things. But time has a funny way of making things easier and this year, for the first time in a long time, and even though the kids won’t be here but for a few hours, I am looking forward to turning our living room into a festive retreat. Thanks Sue, for helping Christmas be a happy thing for me again. And OMG Thank you SO Much for my purple Christmas tree!! That’s right, people, Sue bought me a purple tree for my studio!! See how easy it is to thrill me!? LOL! It’s a 4 ft artificial (duh!) tree, that is currently standing on my teaching table, waiting for it’s beautiful decorations. Which will have to wait a day longer as I have to go get some clear lights tomorrow (didn’t have time today). Once the lights are on it though, I’m going all out!! Black & silver decorations! I bought some beautiful little black balls (that does NOT sound good! LOL) and some smoky grey crystals. It’s going to look awesome! I have a few other little decorations I’m going to put on it, just have to make them first – you’ll see! I’ll post a pic of my beautiful little tree once it’s done!! Can’t wait!!!

Oh, and if you came here for jewelry pics, I did actually finish a BUNCH of jewelry and set up a display at the Semiahmoo Library in White Rock today. I just have to upload the pics to the computer later tonight, then I’ll post them. I promise!! But for now, I have to wake dh up from his after-work nap and get dinner going. Hope you all are having a fantastic day!! Happy holidays!!

Wow, December already?!?

You know, I think I blinked at some point! Wasn’t it just July?! Sigh! Won’t be long before Christmas sets in! I think we’re going to get our Christmas tree this weekend. Although I’m not sure where it’s going to go in the living room? Dh will do a major furniture rearrange which will make him very happy (he HATES the way it is now!). But whenever he rearranges the furniture, it stresses me out – big time! Not that he’s incapable of coming up with a good layout – it’s me! I hate change!! While the layout doesn’t really work well now, at least it’s what I know! LOL I’ll just have to remember to take a deep breath and deal with it! LOL
Oh, and this is the very first Christmas with just dh, our youngest son Cody and I. Just the three of us! Last year at this time, we had Kevin and Claire with us (second son and g/f – their apartment burnt down), plus Mark, Cecili and Freya (3rd son, g/f and granddaughter), so in all, there were 8 of us!! We had such a good time – didn’t have a lot of money or anything, but with a house full, it was wonderful. So this year is going to be a bit melancholy for me! I’ll be fine, just going to find it a bit weird. Though Kevin and Mark have assured me that all six of them (Kevin, Claire, Dayton, Freya, Mark and Cecili) are going to come for Xmas Day breakfast as they are all going to different in-laws for Xmas dinner. I guess the years of having my entire family with me for Xmas dinner are over. Though I’m sure dh will be happy! That’s less turkey he needs to cook! LOL So for dinner this year, it will be dh, Cody and I along with our oldest son Chris who will come out by bus for the day. We’ll still have a great time – it’s just what we do!
Anyway, enogh whining from me! Here’s a pic of a ring I finished the other day – it’s a gift for a friend’s daughter who is going through a rough time right now. Hope she likes it!

It is a hammered silver band with green and pink tourmaline.
I’ve also begun a very gradual de-stash of my studio. Check out my Etsy for some goodies I’ve posted – nothing wrong with them. I either have too many or will NEVER use them! Might as well find them another home!! Plus I could sure use a few extra $$ at Xmas time!
Have a great week – I’ll try to stop by again before the end of the week!