I'm jumping on the band wagon!

Many blogs I visit have cool ideas like Tuesday's Tidbits and Wordless Wednesdays. I know there are others but I've not had quite enough coffee this morning to remember them.

Here's my Wordless Wednesday, a photo of Q-tip boy, Blake the explorer and the king of dirt, read this post to discover why.

So if it's Wordless Wednesday, I suppose I should stop now. I need to save my energy for the 100th episode of "Lost" tonight at 9pm est on ABC. And, no, I do not work for ABC or Lost, but if they are interested, they can email me.

It went like this...

Blake: (yelling in a muffled tone) Mom! I need you!

Me: Yes, Blake (speaking loudly, well alright, yelling back).

B: I need you.

Me: What for? Where are you?

Erika: (snickering) He's in the bathroom.

Me: (at the bathroom door) Blake, are you okay?

B: No, I need you.

Me: (trying the door, its locked) Honey, can you open the door?

B: No, can you get one of the fluffy things... and just... (more words that I cannot make out, is his head in the toilet?)

Me: What fluffy thing? (what the hell is going on in there?)

B: You know the stick with the squishy white stuff on the end?

Me: (Good lord, this could take forever) I don't know what you're talking about. Can you open the door?

B: You know the stick you put in your ear. You take one and take off some of that white fluffy and put that in the door.

Me: Huh? You mean a Q-tip? (Where in the world is he going with this?)

B: Yes, take some of the white stuff off and then put it in the door.

Me: I don't understand. Why do I need to do this? You want me to place it under the door?

B: No, in the little hole and push it in. Hurry, I need you.

Me: (Finally! I'm beginning to see where he's going with this). Oh, okay. Hold on, I gotta go get one. (I run to the kitchen, turn down the stove so our dinner will not burn, ask Erika to watch it, race upstairs with the dog chasing after me, and find a Q-tip). I get one, remove most of the white fluffy from one end, and insert it in the hole in the doorknob and ta da! the door unlocks. I go in to see him sitting on the toilet moaning about his tummy. I say "Are you alright?"

B: Yes, but I just can't move, my tummy aches. Can you carry me?

Me: Carry you? Are you kidding? You're 7 years old. You need to wash up and come to the table, dinner is just about ready. Do you need me for anything else.

B: No, I think I can do it. What's for dinner?



All that because he wanted me to unlock the door, go into the bathroom and see him? Or did he want to see me?

Boys are little men in need of a female's attention. They can't seem to do anything by themselves. I'm trying to raise my son to be independent. Where am I going wrong? Are we suppose to read their minds?

Pirates, Skulls and crossbones, oh my!

I just saw the cutest pirate stamper over at Purplepinkandorange.com, and its only $3.99. What a neat idea, my son and every other little boy, loves pirates, skulls and crossbones. Yesterday as we drove home from his baseball practice, he asked me to make him a necklace. Then he described the necklace, it was not what I had envisoned. I asked for a drawing, but haven't received anything, yet.

After clicking on the pirate stamper link, it took me to what I think, may become my favorite website, Perpetual Kid.
These gloves caught my eye and would be a cute Mother's Day gift or a cute hostess gift.

I could get this organizer for my mom because she hates to cook.But wait, she already said she wanted Amazon Gift Cards to feed her Kindle habit. If I don't get her the gift card, she'll disown me and adopt Beth.


I honor of all the cool moms who've become taxi drivers, this mug is a must! And when you need to jot down something that your kids are telling you while you're driving, here's something to put your notes on, talk to the hand sticky notes! Then file it in this total crap file folder! LOL.

I could get these for my brother's upcoming birthday, keytar key covers. My daughter would love these as well, but who am I kidding, she's 11. No need for these, any time in her future.


Can you guess? I am the perpetual kid!

My first award, no wait, my first two awards!

Yesterday morning, as I frantically went around fixing a glitch on my Dee-Zigns website, I received an email about my very first award! Okay, it was from my mom, Jane at Gaston Studio, but she doesn't hand these out lightly! I must say, she follows many, more deserving bloggers than myself. But my mom has always (well, mostly) been my number one fan! I I mean, come on, there have been times in my past, when she hasn't been supportive of some of my decisions (with good reason, I might add) but that's another story.

So she awarded me One Lovely Blog ... so thank you... thank you very much (my silent Elvis impression!).

The rules are: Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award, and his or her blog link. Pass the award to 15 other blogs that you've newly discovered. Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award.
Here are my 15 favorites that you really should visit if you haven’t already discovered them:

1. The Power of Housewife word of mouth
   
2. One Krusty Mama
3. Just a Girl
4. A Daily Dose of Toni (not me, another Toni)
5. Confessions of a Moody Mommy
6. Be Diffirent...Act Normal
   
7. City Mouse, Country Mouse
8. Connect with your teens through Pop Culture and Technology
9. Gorgeous and Green
10. What I should have said
11. Facts are strictly optional
12. Blah, Blah, Blah
13. KV Creative Designs
14. Fabulous After 40
15. A Southern Daydreamer
    

"Grab" these awards and place them on your own blog... and don't forget to share!

So just when I thought I'd completed my list above, I got another email that I had another award! Woo-hoo! Yes, Jane at Gaston Studio, awarded me the Zombie Chicken Award, but give her a break, I am her first born (read favorite), after all.

Warning, the following award might scare you! Ha, it did me, not a fan of "real" zombies, although I always watch movies with zombies in it. Go figure.

The Zombie Chicken award which is described as follows:

"The blogger who receives this award believes in the Tao of the zombie chicken - excellence, grace and persistence in all situations, even in the midst of a zombie apocalypse. These amazing bloggers regularly produce content so remarkable that their readers would brave a raving pack of zombie chickens just to be able to read their inspiring words. As a recipient of this world-renowned award, you now have the task of passing it on to at least 5 other worthy bloggers. Do not risk the wrath of the zombie chickens by choosing unwisely or not choosing at all..."

Crap, no wrath for me! I have enough wrath to keep me busy for a while, thank you very little.

Here are my five, and they totally deserve as do many, many others!

Purplepinkandorange
Confessions of a Moody Mommy
Be Different... Act Normal
The Power of a Housewife Word of Mouth

A Southern Daydreamer
Dooce

So go forth and check out all these bloggers. Some are inspiring, some are informative, some are entertaining, some keep you busy, some are just down right hilarious, and I mean fall off my chair hilarious, not just a "lol".

If you give a cat tuna fish ...

If you give your cat some tuna fish, he'll want it again the next morning.
If you don't give it to him the next morning, you'll wake up to find him staring at you.
If you find him staring at you, you may also find the dog jumping around because he doesn't like the cat on the bed.
If you push the cat off the bed, then the dog is going to chase him down the hall.
After the dog chases the cat down the hall, he'll come back and bark to get you out of the bed.
If you don't get out of bed immediately, the dog will thrust his 80 lb. body halfway upon the bed and give another bark.
Once you get out of bed, you'll see the dog and cat sitting somewhat close to each other, waiting and staring at you!
When you stumble down the stairs, the dog might trip you on his way down to beat you to the bottom. Same with the cat.

After you catch yourself and let the dog outside, the cat will begin to circle your legs and meow, loudly.
While ignoring him and getting your first cup of coffee, you notice there's no milk. As you walk to the fridge, your cat stands boldly in front of you.
After you trip over him to get the milk, you pour it into your cream pitcher and place it beside the coffee maker.
As you drink your first cup, you hear the dog scratching at the door. Walking to the door, you let him in and are relived the cat is no longer bugging the crap out of you.
After the dog comes barrelling in, you notice something out of the corner of your eye.
It's the cat on the kitchen counter, drinking milk from the cream pitcher, soy no less!
While racing to the kitchen and yelling at him to stop, he jumps down and the dog chases him up the stairs.

Feeling like your head is going to blow off, you dump the cat contaminated milk from the cream pitcher and put it in the dishwasher.
While searching for another cream pitcher with a narrow opening, you hear the cat meowing, again, loudly.
Finally, you break down, give him the bloody tuna fish, feed the dog and get another cup of coffee.

So ... if you ignore your cat and don't give him the tuna fish, he'll drink your soy milk out of your cream pitcher.



P.S. No cat was mistreated in this scenario.

Wonder Woman Cuff.

Maybe its because I feel powerful when I slide this cuff bracelet on my wrist that I refer to it as "the Wonder Woman cuff". How I wish I had Wonder Woman's powers or her body, for that matter. Maybe I'll name this piece Linda, for Linda Carter the star of that cool tv show.

Who knows, all I know is that I'm not finished setting the stone, but I'm loving the look. It's a long process setting a stone of this size, at least for me. I'm not a perfectionist, but I want to be pleased with the finished piece and be proud of my design.

When I purchased this stone, I imagined a chunky pendant. I soon changed my mind when I began thinking the stone looked like various things, from a wedge of cheese to a slice of turtle cheesecake to other things I dare not mention. This musing began in my metalsmithing class at Spruill Center for the Arts. A few of the girls (T and J), made cracks about this stone, so finally T suggested I mount it on the cuff bracelet I had been working on! Brilliant idea! So began the process. Interesting how you purchase a stone with thoughts of one design and then the finished product is nothing how you envisioned. Hence, handmade jewelry that is one of a kind, because its hard to duplicate errors.

Another example, the turquoise stone in this pendant setting (below right) was going to be a ring. It would have been a beautiful ring, but I began setting the stone, BEFORE I soldered it to the ring shank. No, no, no! You must finish the setting, solder it to the ring shank, then set the stone, because you cannot solder a piece with the stone already inside, it will break or shatter the stone. Duh! the stone is not invincible to heat.

This is called problem solving or fixing screw-ups. I have to say, every time I've "problem solved" I've been super happy with the results. I'm working on two ring settings and have sticky notes on my workspace reminding me to solder, clean-up, then set the stone.

This, my friends, is why I make one of a kind jewelry and wouldn't want it any other way.

I was tagged!

Two days ago I was tagged on Gaston Studio's blog to play the 8 tag game. This was a lot of fun and quite interesting when I read back over my responses. Join in if you're game!


8 things I'm looking forward to:

1. Completing my taxes now that I filed the extension.
2. Finishing my new studio!
3. School being out.
4. Sleeping in a bit over the summer.
5. "Lost" episode in 2 weeks.
6. Going back to visit my mom and sister in NC. Last time was not long enough!
7. the beach
8. making new jewelry for Summer
   

8 things I did yesterday:

1. Had coffee with Kim.
2. Shopped for a new blouse for this weekend's party.
3. Frantically tried to complete my taxes!
4. Filed an extension for my taxes.
5. Finally talked to Kirsten, it had been weeks, no months!
6. Went to my son's baseball game and froze it was so cold.
   
7. Vacuumed.
8. Watched "Lost".

8 things I wish I could do:

1. Make enough/steady money with my jewelry business so that my husband doesn't feel so stressed about money.
2. Go back to Italy.
3. Take my kids to Italy!
4. Live at the beach year round.
5. Twitch my nose (like Bewitched, and move my mom and sister's house only 4 hours away, instead of 8.
6. Visit my family in Phoenix more than once a year.
7. teach my dog Collins not to bark constantly at anything and everything he sees at the front door and/or windows.
8. go on a girls trip for a week with a great group of my girlfriends

8 shows I watch:

1. Lost
2. Dancing with the Stars
3. Castle
4. Greys Anatomy
5. The Weather Channel
6. Oprah
7. Whatever is on the Disney Channel (not by choice)
8. Dog Whisperer
   

8 people I tag:

1. Life in left field
   
2. Blah Blah Blah
3. The Furious Five
   
4. Gorgeous and Green
   
5. Ziggy's Blogs
   
6. Miss Gina Designs
7. Confessions of a Moody Mommy
8. Be different...Act normal

Post your own answers to the questions in each category, including 8 people you want to tag.

Tip of the day.

If you are running late for a hair appointment, do not eat a piece of chicken while running around your house, no matter how small the piece of chicken, or how moist it is. Inevitably, it will get stuck and you'll spend a lot of time you don't have coughing and drinking water trying to clear your throat. Just go hungry until after your hair appointment or until you calm down, whichever comes first.

This tip applies to people in the house by themselves, with only the dog to turn to.

My kitchen, my other office.

I don't think I ask for much in the kitchen, well maybe I do. It drives me completely crazy having piles of crap sitting on my kitchen counters. I say "my" because, after all, it is my other office. I gave up counter space when we moved into this house. My kitchen in Charlotte had lots of counter space and lots of cabinets to hide crap in. Now I must adjust to this new kitchen and cooking in this new kitchen. It hasn't been easy. Maybe its because I miss all the counter space I gave up. Maybe its because I don't really cook like I used to. Maybe its because there's always so much crap on the counter tops I'm constantly removing that I become so annoyed afterwards, I'm not in the mood anymore.

By the way, who (husband) tied the ribbon to my kitchen cabinet knob? Yes, I would someday, like to replace my cabinet knobs, but not with decorations. Don't do this again.

When I cook, I like to spread out and control everything. After all, it is my kitchen and my other office. I like my kitchen neat, pretty and orderly. To have those things, I declare I must live alone, and since that is not an option (because I love my two adorable children and my sweet husband!) I must adjust and adapt. I am always looking for ways to do this. But everyone needs to be on board. I set up "systems" and tell everyone, but no one follows the system. People, this is not difficult. Am I unreasonable?

System #1. The coffee station. Everyone who knows me (and you really should get to know me, lol) knows I'm a coffee freak! This photo from yesterday, when husband worked from home (see previous post) really freaked me out! I cannot walk into the kitchen mid morning and see this horror! Especially when I am working on the computer. I was only freaked, until I whipped out my Senseo coffee pot and made a one hitter (husband's term for one cup of coffee from this particular coffee pot).

Sorry, got side tracked with no coffee, on to system #1, whoever makes coffee, either me or my husband (since kids haven't been taught how to make coffee, yet), is suppose to use a coffee spoon rest and take the artificial sweetner container from the cabinet and put it by the coffee pot. This artificial sweetner container does not live on the counter top while not in use. And when using artificial sweetners, if you empty one, you throw it away. Simple enough? Then why is it someone (husband) never does this. Look at the evidence in the picture I took yesterday.

Those yellow Splenda wrappers are all over the place (picture on right)! This can affect the start of my day!
Picture below left, illustrates how it should appear, IMO. Peaceful, neat, tidy.

I have tried asking husband for suggestions on systems and what he would like to see and use. Sometimes he offers suggestions, but when I put them in place, he doesn't comply.

All you organized people out there, help! How do I get my husband on board with these little systems? And why does he fight the systems in the first place?


Its like people say, "husbands, you can live with 'em, you can't live without 'em!" or its like I say, "husbands, you can't live with 'em, you can't kill 'em!". I always get a lot of eye brow raising from others when I say that and sometimes they slink away from me. Their loss.

Invasion of my WAH space.

I love my husband, don't get me wrong, but he's been working from home way too much lately. I mean, come on, before spring break he was in the house most of the week. Doesn't someone need him at the office? He's probably more productive here with no interruptions and the peace and quiet. But now, my peace and quiet has been interrupted.

Not to mention he's taken over our sunroom, setting up (what I hope to be) his temporary workspace. He has an enormous office downstairs (I will not embarrass him by posting a photo) in the basement that I graciously offered two years ago when we bought this house. Okay, it is an unfinished basement with no central heat or air conditioning. The ac is not an issue for him. It's the lack of heat. He's always cold. (Note blanket on chair). Husband is from Michigan, so buck up baby, and deal with the space heater I bought for you! He has a lovely view of our backyard with the kids trampoline and most likely piles of dog poop. Note to self: clean up dog poop today.

I'm moving my studio downstairs to a room with no bloody windows, therefore, no view of the yard, trampoline and dog poop. Am I complaining? No. Will I miss the bay window overlooking my beautiful yard ( in my current office/studio)? Absolutely. Am I upset? No, because I can do whatever I want in my studio and keep it anyway I want. Messy, neat or a little of both. I bet anyone a $1 that once I move downstairs in my new, cool studio, husband will be downstairs using his office. Do I care there is no heat? Hell no! I'm warm most of the time.

I took over the front room in our house because I thought it was the best place at the time. Things have changed. I need a place to hammer, drill and solder. Sometimes I like to hammer at night after the kids are in bed and the daughter has told me to please stop, she can't get to sleep. Not good! Hence, the moving downstairs. I'm constantly stressed about keeping this room tidy, these pictures are my feeble attempt.

Whether you like it or not, I will take you on my journey to finish my new jewelry studio. My brother put up the drywall and showed me how to "mud". Now I must sand, mud again, sand, clean up all the crap in the room, prime and finally - paint!!!!

To be continued ....

Honor thy Mother.

After spending the last few days with my mom in North Carolina, I thought it only fitting to mention Mother's Day is May 10th. Please remember to call your mother, send her a card and /or a gift this year. Honor your mother and let her know she is loved and appreciated. Don't take her for granted.

Amy over at Purplepinkandorange has put together a Mother's Day gift guide featuring a variety of gift ideas to honor moms, mommys, mother-to-bes, and mother-in-laws. This guide offers new selections from independent artists you should know, or get to know. Many of the shops are offering special discounts - look for them on the right side of the page.

Using Gaston Studio's computer.

Okay, for those who don't know, Jane of Gaston Studio is my mom. So when I posted a comment earlier today on Beth's blog, I posted as Gaston Studio! GAAKK! Quickly deleted, logged her out, and logged myself in. Yes, I'm at my mom's and using her computer.

A few days ago, I packed up the van with the kids, my 82 lb. dog, and all our crap, and headed to eastern North Carolina to visit mom and sister. It's spring break, in my neck of the woods, so what better time to visit family, right!? Also, my husband moved us 8 1/2 hours away from his mother-in-law, our children's Nana and Aunt Sandi, so we must plan this bloody long trip when the kids have more than a long weekend.

This time, we stopped over in Charlotte to visit friends, and break up the trip. Brilliant plan! I felt well rested and daughter got her BFF fix. With only 4 1/2 hours, I took 2 pitstops and downed only 1 Starbucks. FYI, Starbucks has very clean bathrooms.

So here we are, freezing in NC, I think it went down to freezing last night. My sister, very disappointed she couldn't go the month of April with no heat or no air conditioning, turned on the heat. Jeez, we could've stayed in Atlanta to be cold. I was looking forward to relaxing on their big ass porch with my coffee and putting puzzles together with the kids.

As I sit at mom's computer typing this post, mom and sister, are working my kids to the bone spreading bag upon bag of pine mulch. I escaped this task because my kids are being paid a nice little sum to do yard work and I don't want to steal their thunder. I'm taking advantage of the peace and quiet, only occasionally listening to a very pitiful yelp from sister's eldest dog Loki.

Well, darn, Loki set off the others, now all 4 dogs are barking like something has them by the tail. Better go investigate.

No April Fool's jokes this year.

Yesterday was the first April Fool's day I didn't play a joke on my husband. Maybe its because he's been a bit stressed at work like many people these days. Maybe its because I've been so busy making jewelry and getting ready for the market I'm participating in this Saturday. Maybe its because I haven't finished our taxes and I'm stressed about time running out. Maybe its because I had a lot of updating to do on my website. Maybe its because I was looking for my to do list and haven't found it. Maybe because I was anticipating "Lost" coming on that evening and was wondering what cool thing we'd discover. Or maybe it was because I couldn't think of anything really good this year.

I believe it was the first year of our marriage, I played a good one. When we married, I had a dog and cat, both fixed, of course. But my cat had the low hanging extra baggage that would shake as she walked. So while husband was showering, I told him that when Cookie (top right picture is her several months before she died at 18) escaped from the house, that she got pregnant. She was an indoor cat and it ticked me off that husband allowed her to escape. He said he thought she was fixed. And I said, well the vet said, sometimes it doesn't "take". I told him how excited I was to have kittens and started wondering who we could find to adopt some, but I wanted to keep one. Oh, trust me, it went on and on with my exurberance. I could sense his unhappiness and stress level rising over having kittens. For goodness sake, we didn't have children yet, what's the deal about another kitten!?

When I finally confessed and let him off the hook, he was relieved and said all he could think about was more vet bills and mouths to feed. I looked at him blankly and said, I'm not pregnant, its the cat, with a few kittens. Jeez, louise! He did like it though, said it was very creative .

Game on!

Okay, there's no game, really. And this is not an April Fool's joke people! Go to my website and sign up to enter the 2009 Happily Handmade Giveaway (click on the official pretty green badge - each sponsor has one on their home page). All you have to do is sign up with the entry form on each and every website of the Indie Sponsors for the Happily Handmade Giveaway. There are 25 glorious baskets brimming with handmade gifts valued at over $300 each. No kidding! This basket to the right includes a pair of my earrings.



This baskets to the left contains a pair of my earrings! To me, the game is entering through all the Indie Sponsors websites. There are so many talented artists, so I get side tracked looking at all the goodies on their websites.

Let me know what you think of this giveaway.