TGIF!

I can’t believe its Friday already! Seems like the week just FLEW by – probably due to the Labor Day holiday, I guess. So, that means it’s time for the Friday Book Recommendation, but I’ve got a few announcements first.

I’ve definitely decided to do two hurricane relief auctions – one to support human refugees and one to support animal refugees. Really, the situation with the animals is just so appalling. I’ve had to stop reading the reports because I couldn’t take it any more.

I hope to get both auction pieces finished this weekend and put them up on eBay on Monday. I’ll make an announcement here when I do. I realize this is taking a bit of time, but my take on it is that that’s okay. Firstly, jewelry isn’t something that you can just crank out in a spare 15 minutes. Well, okay, you can get crappy, poorly made jewelry done in 15 minutes, but that’s not what I do. This is an important cause and I wanted to create something that would really encourage bidders to open their hearts and their pocketbooks for the relief effort. Secondly, the people and animals affected by this disaster are not going to recover for quite a while. While there will initially be an outpouring of donations, I can’t help but think that the flow will taper off over time. As Dennis Miller once said “the attention span of the American public is that of a rabid ferret on double espresso.” Which reminds me…I soooo miss Dennis’s HBO show. Yeah, yeah, I know he’s still on TV somewhere (Fox News channel or something) but it’s not the same.

Okay, on to the books. A while back, I mentioned my not-so-fondness for trying out new authors because I usually end up disappointed. However, that’s not always the case. This past weekend I picked up ”A Brother's Price” by Wen Spencer and LOVED it. This book is a terrific example of social science fiction (as opposed to spacecraft, robots and techno stuff) with a world where polygamy has become the norm due to an extreme shortage of healthy males.

In Spencer’s world, polygamy is the accepted social system. Unlike modern-day US polygamy, however, all the power resides in the hands of the women. The men are the ones expected to cook, clean, and take care of the babies all while maintaining a fabulous appearance. Basically, they’re Donna Reed in drag. The women are the soldiers, merchants and political powers. The few men are guarded zealously by their powerful (and heavily armed) sisters and then sold or traded to another family in exchange for either money or another adult male. The entire social system and economy centers on the selling and trading of the men. Each group of women knows that the only chance they have of ever reproducing is if they can afford to purchase or trade for a healthy male who isn’t too closely related to them.

The author has plunked this social and economic system into a frontier-era, Mississippi-river type background (complete with pearl-handled six-shooters and paddlewheel boats) and added both a romance and a murder mystery to it. Spencer’s pacing is absolute perfection as this book was one which just rocketed me along until I finished it in less than a day. I couldn’t stand to put it down!

If I had any complaint, it would be that the scarcity of the men is never really explored or explained. There’s some mention of high levels of venereal diseases among the adult males which explains why virgin males are so prized and so zealously guarded. However, the author never addresses the low birth frequency of males compared to females. I also thought that a couple of the secondary characters, like Eldest Whisper, could’ve been developed a bit more, but I still highly recommend this book and I’m looking forward to picking up Spencer’s other series of books about a feral child turned detective named Ukiah Oregon.

My other venture this week into new fiction is Michelle Sagara’s ”Cast In Shadow”. I’m not quite done with it yet and I hope that it manages to pull out a terrific ending, but so far, I’m rather disappointed. It’s a serious pet peeve of mine when an author is successful at creating a fascinating background world and a terrific main character, but then doesn’t DO anything with them. I’m ¾ of the way through the book and so far the plot (it’s a detective story) consists of go to slums, come back, go to slums, find body, come back and have autopsy, go to city, come back, get in fight, get put on suspension. Oh and there’s a lot of “getting yelled at by superior officers” interspersed with all the comings and goings. There are a ton of conversations that lead nowhere and have nothing to do with helping the storyline unfold.

And yet, I LOVE the background world and the main character. I want desperately for something exciting and interesting to happen here. Sagara has been successful at grabbing my attention and making me wonder and care about who her characters are and what happens to them which is one of the most difficult things for a writer to accomplish. Then, she’s left me hanging. There’s nothing behind the curtain. GRRR! Now, perhaps all will finally be revealed in the last ¼ of the book I have left to read, but there’s going to have to be a serious show-stopper of an ending to make up for all this dragging around accomplishing nothing. Stay tuned.

Lastly, this week I also finished the latest installment of Simon R. Green’s “Nightside” series, ”Paths Not Taken.” I’ve been in love with this series and its main character, John Taylor, since the first installment and all the books have been equally fantastic. Until now, that is. Sadly, “Paths” just doesn’t live up to the promise of the earlier books. It seems to exist mostly to tie up some loose ends and develop the relationship between John and Shotgun Suzie, which seems rather pointless since Suzie would rather shoot anything that moves than have a relationship with it.

I suppose this book does help steer the series towards its conclusion, but I’m not sure that’s reason enough for a book to exist. Shouldn’t it be an enjoyable read in and of itself and help move the series along at the same time? It made me wonder why this book and the inevitable series conclusion book couldn’t just have been one big volume. This probably has something to do with the publishing industry and what Marion Zimmer Bradley used to refer to as the “inelasticity of typeface.” Oh, and corporate publishing greed…I’m sure that’s in there somewhere, too. Speaking of Ms. Bradley, it occurs to me that I’ve been remiss in featuring her in one of my Friday entries. I’ll have to make up for that in the future since she is one of my favorite authors of all time. But for now, you’ll have to just be content with her website 

But, as usual, I digress…

Still, I recommend the series as a whole. The Nightside is a truly fascinating world as is the character of John Taylor – a man who is far more than he seems to be. Just read slowly and maybe the final book will be out by the time you get around to “Paths Not Taken” and the whole thing will make a lot more sense.

Whew! As you can see, I read a LOT this week, especially when you consider that three of my beading magazines arrived over the last few days and I’ve been perusing those as well. “Bead and Button” has a whole section featuring the winners and selected entries from the recent Bead Dreams contest and holy cow there are a lot of talented people out there. Sherri Serafini alone is truly amazing. I just don’t have any clue how she has enough TIME for all these massive beaded projects. It takes me a few weeks just to do a dinky pair of embroidered earrings and here she’s got purses and collars and oh my! I’m so jealous. One of these days I’ll be able to bead full-time instead of fitting in a few minutes here and there on my lunch hour and after my son goes to bed at night. Sigh.

On that note, I’m off to Toy’s ‘R Us to buy a gift for a 4-year-old’s birthday party tomorrow. Somehow, when pondering whether or not to have children, I forgot to include that whole “having to socialize with other people’s kids” on my Pro/Con list. ROFL! Oh well, they’re going to have a real fire engine there for the kids to ride on and since fire engines seem to be THE thing in Ryan’s world now (well, except for snails, those are still big, too), I’m sure he’ll have a good time. I can hardly wait for the cake-induced sugar high to hit. Not.

Have a great weekend everyone and watch for the announcement about the hurricane auctions coming soon!

KJ

Blah, blah, blah

Not much new to report around here except that my neighborhood raised over $700 for hurricane relief this weekend which will be turned into $2100 via a local company that's going to match our donation 3-1. So, way to go Harvest Neighborhood!

I'm working on my own design to be auctioned off for hurricane relief. I'm actually hoping to get two auctions up so I can send the proceeds from one to support people and the other to support animal rescue. I can tell you that one of the designs I have planned is prehnite, citrine and gold...well, that's what it is right now. Sometimes I change my mind mid-creation LOL!

This weekend we're taking Ryan to the birthday party of one of his friends from daycare. They're supposed to have a real fire engine and firemen at the party which I'm sure will be a thrill for the kids. Especially Ryan - he is ALL about anything fire engine related right now. Every morning we have to locate and call out each fire hydrant we pass on the way to daycare. There are a LOT of fire hydrants in our area ;-)

See, I told you nothing much was going on. Sometimes my life even bores the snot outta ME.

KJ

P.S. Has anyone else been watching Kathy Griffin's reality show, "My Life on the D-List?" I'm totally addicted to it and can't wait to see the finale tonight...

P.S. Comment Spam

Okay, I've just enabled word verification for comments on this blog as the result of some truly disgusting spam that was just posted (and which I have now deleted). This means that you'll have to enter a word given to you by blogger.com whenever you make a comment. Sorry for the extra step, but I refuse to let spammers hijack my blog.

KJ

Oh and one more thing...

Here are the pictures of the earrings I made earlier this week. "Ancient Treasure" is African prehnite and Bali silver and matches the "Ancient Treasure Necklace":

Then I made two pairs to go with the "Mermaid's Treasure Necklace":

Everything is up on the website and available for sale as of today.

I am now IN LOVE with these shell disks. I must have more of them. And the vendor isn't selling them on their website (boo! hiss!) which means I have to wait until the October Gem Faire to get more. I may not be able to take the stress...

Oh, and now a random, "pondering the existence of the universe" type rhetorical question. Why is it that I can wear a shirt of any color except white and NEVER get a stain on it, but if I wear a white shirt, I spill something on it EVERY SINGLE TIME! Is there something about the color white that interferes with brain function to the point that I become a walking spill-a-thon? Seriously, I must know why this happens! And dude, the answer sooo better not be that it's due to the same mysterious force that steals one sock out of every pair that I put into the wash or my head my spin right off my neck and go bouncing down the hall.

By the way, you have not REALLY had to deal with this phenomenon of missing socks until you have leetle, teeny kid-sized socks in your wash. They don't just disappear one at a time. No, they disappear in packs. I'm thinking of stapling each pair together prior to washing in the hopes that I might get ONE functional pair back out of the machine. Oh, and I could insert a whole rant here about a certain male parental unit who thinks it's okay to take the leftover single socks and put them on our kid and send him out of the house looking like Rag Boy, the Motherless Wonder, but I won't. Because that would be mean.

Happy laundry day, all, and keep an eye on those socks! They're sneaky li'l suckers!

KJ

P.S. Please don't anyone think that the silly post above means that I'm not tuned in to what's happening in the hurricane areas. I just thought we could use some levity and distraction in the light of all the bad news. I hope to announce an auction of some of my jewelry items for funds to be donated to hurricane relief soon. Stay tuned for details.

Friday Book Recommendation

It was tough to come up with a recommendation this week. There was nothing new in the "to be read" pile so I'm re-reading Tanya Huff's "Keeper" series, but I already profiled her several entries ago so no luck there. Then I started watching the hurricane aftermath coverage and thinking about the city of New Orleans and how much of an effect it's had on a lot of things I've read. With it's associations to voodoo and vampires (among other things), it's been a rich breeding ground for stories from some of my favorite authors. This lead me to think about one of those authors, Barbara Hambly in particular.

She's based in Southern California, but has always mentioned New Orleans as being her "second home" and her ex-husband lived there until his recent death. She's used the city's colorful history as the background for her "Benjaman January" series. She hasn't posted an update on her site since the tragedy occurred, but I'm sure it's going to have an effect on her writing.

Although she's lately turned to historical fiction with not only the January series, but also "The Emancipator's Wife" and "The Patriot Ladies", she's written prolifically in both sci fi and fantasy. She's created her own universes as well as dabbling in both "Star Wars" and "Star Trek." She's even got a couple of vampire books.

My personal favorites are the Windrose Chronicles, the Darwath Trilogy (which is actually 5 books, not 3), "Stranger at the Wedding" and "Bride of the Rat God." Her "Winterlands" series has been popular with fans, as well, althought it's not my personal favorite.

Anyway, there's enough variety here and such a huge volume of work that just about anybody can find something to suit their tastes. Her latest fantasy novel, "Circle of the Moon," comes out in the fall.

Have a great weekend everyone and stay safe!

KJ

Katrina's Aftermath

Well, I was going to post some new pictures today, but with all that's going on in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina, it seems kinda lame. Maybe I'll save them for another day. I can at least report that my brother-in-law who had recently moved to New Orleans survived okay. He happened to be out of the country in Mexico at the time of the hurricane. He doesn't know anything about whether his house or boat survived, though, and as of yesterday, he was still stuck in Mexico. He had planned to catch a flight to Houston and try to rent a car from there, but that's the last we've heard.

I also got an e-mail from my sorority's national headquarters stating that they were activating our emergency fund to support both the collegiate chapter houses and members who were affected as well as alumnae in the damaged areas. They gave a run down of most of the major colleges in the area and their status. I think it gives a good idea of which areas were hit the hardest and what the status is so I'm posting it here in case anyone is interested:

Chapter Updates

Louisiana State - Baton Rouge, Louisiana
The chapter has reported that they are aware of at least 35 members from New Orleans, Kenner, Metairie and River Ridge whose families and homes have been affected. The chapter facility sustained some minor damage due to flooding. Classes will resume on the campus, Tuesday, September 6.

Louisiana/Lafayette - Lafayette, Louisiana
Some chapter members will likely need assistance. Classes appear to have resumed. No official university statement was available.

Millsaps - Jackson, Mississippi
Students may report back to campus Monday, September 5. Several chapter members will likely need assistance. The chapter reported that there was no damage to the chapter lodge and the power is back on.

Southern Mississippi - Hattiesburg, Mississippi
Tri Delta has not been able to establish contact with representatives from Southern Mississippi. Several chapter members will likely need assistance. At this time, the university's Web site is not accessible.

Mississippi State - Starkville, Mississippi
Classes on the Starkville campus resumed Wednesday, August 31. Some chapter members will likely need assistance. The chapter facility sustained minor wind damage.

Mississippi - Oxford, Mississippi
Classes were not interrupted. Some chapter members will likely need assistance. The chapter facility sustained minor water damage.

Delta State - Cleveland, Mississippi
Classes were not interrupted. Some chapter members will likely need assistance.

Spring Hill - Mobile, Alabama
Tri Delta has not been able to establish contact with representatives from Spring Hill. Several chapter members will likely need assistance. The university statement reports that Spring Hill College will remain closed for students until Sunday, Sept. 4, at noon and classes will resume Monday, September 5.

Alabama - Tuscaloosa, Alabama
Classes resumed Wednesday, August 31. Some chapter members may need assistance. The chapter facility was not damaged.

Auburn - Auburn, Alabama
Classes were not interrupted. Some chapter members may need assistance. The chapter facility was not damaged.

Other chapters
There will likely be other chapters in the Southeast and South Central regions that have members who were affected by the hurricane. Chapter officers, advisors and collegiate volunteers will be advised on how to work with these members and these chapters on a case-by-case basis.

I am considering putting some items up for auction to raise funds to donate to either the Tri Delta Crescent Fund (emergency relief fund) or a general relief fund such as the Red Cross and I will post details both here and on the website if I go forward with the plan.

I hope everyone out there is safe and dry today and that the area recovers as quickly as possible from this disaster.

KJ

Anatomy of a Design - Part III

Fortunately for me, the darker of the two colors of pink disks has a little bit of brown in it and what happens to be sitting in my “go back” pile of stuff from previous projects that I haven’t put away yet? I see some faceted smoky quartz rondelles which will add the perfect touch of depth and sparkle.

However, something is still missing. The piece needs a highlight of some sort. Well, the shell disks are, well, shells and that made me think of pearls and I had some pretty, white freshwater pearls in the “go back” pile also so I added those, too. I just love the “go back” pile. It really saves all that nasty wear and tear from me walking back and forth to the bead storage area. See, I told you laziness is an effective design tool!

With the addition of the pearls and smoky quartz, “Mermaid’s Treasure” is just about finished. I zapped on a clasp and it was done. I chose a hook clasp that can be hooked anywhere on the chain of the necklace which allows the finished piece to be adjustable in length. As usual, the scan doesn't quite do justice to it because you can't see the smoky quartz or appreciate the flashing reflectiveness of the silver disks, but trust me, in real life, it's FABULOUS! This is probably my favorite thing I've done since November of last year!

So, next time someone asks you what sunken Spanish galleons, high silver prices, Disneyland, bellydancers and laziness all have in common, you can tell them: “Mermaid’s Treasure.”

Anatomy of a Design - Part II

At the same show, I also picked up some strands of dyed shell disks in two shades of pink and two different sizes. Those went into the same shopping bag with the silver disks, although at the time, I had no thought of using them together. I just bought the pink shell disks because I like pink and hey, they were only $2.00 a strand!

So, this brings me to last night. I’ve already gotten out the large metal disks and I know I’m going to hook them on to chain. I start matching the disks to different pieces of chain I have in stock to get just the right look and all of a sudden the word “bellydancer” just pops into my head. Yeah, weird, I know, but bear with me here.

There have been a lot of what I call “bellydancer” influences in fashion lately from ethnic printed tunics and tops to lots of gold and chain pieces. I’m starting to picture the edge of a dancer’s veil with all the disks on it clanking with smaller pieces intermixed. Coincidentally, I had to get the pink shell disks out of the shopping bag to get to the metal disks so I had a chance to see them together. I liked the way the shapes were similar and hey, circles are hot in fashion right now, too. Plus, I haven’t made anything pink for a while so okay, I’ll mix the shell disks in with the large silver disks.

I start wire-wrapping the shell disks onto the chain in between the larger silver disks and I sprinkle in some of the smaller silver disks as accents. I like the mixture of elements but I quickly realize I’ve got a serious problem. The large silver disks are so big that they’re obscuring the pink shell beads. Rats!

Now, here’s my most very secret trick – how to turn laziness into a design tool that works for you! I’ve already wire-wrapped half the necklace and I really, really, really don’t want to have to re-do that. Not to mention that it means having to cut up and waste all those sterling silver headpins. But, the large silver disks are not wire-wrapped onto the chain. They’re hanging from jump rings. Which are easy to open and won’t be destroyed by being re-used. Hooray!

I quickly replace all of the large disks with small ones and now the design is coming together. Still, it’s just pink and silver and seems too monochromatic which is a design trap I often fall into. So, I need some other colors. But, I don’t want this design to get TOO wild in the color dept. thus the need for something fairly neutral. It seems to need a bit of “sparkle” as well.

Truthfully, I tend to think MOST things need a bit of sparkle. That’s probably why I used to use a hair mousse with gold glitter in it when I was in my 20’s. And yes, I wore it in the daytime, too. {Hangs head in shame} What can I say? I survived the 80’s, but the scars run deep ;-)

But I digress…

See Part III

Anatomy of a Design - Part I

Recently, on an internet jewelry forum, there was a lot of discussion on how designs evolve from concept to finished piece. Some people start with a sketch and then edit it until they have something they like and then they select the materials to match the sketch. Others pick a focal bead or color scheme and go from there. Sometimes a completed design “vision” will just flash into someone’s head! And, of course, there’s all the influence from fashion, entertainment, nature, etc. that can all contribute to the creation of a specific design. Anyway, it was an interesting discussion so I decided it might be fun to figure out just how I come up with my designs.

When it comes to the creative process, I think there are several things going on. The first is that our brains are constantly taking in input from the world around us: colors, scents, sounds, sensations, etc. Everything we read or hear, pictures we see – they all go into our brains and get processed behind the scenes. We’re not consciously aware of the process, but somewhere in the gray matter, things are percolating and melding in strange and wonderful ways.

Remember the movie “Weird Science” where the two boys use a computer to create the “ultimate woman?” As part of the creation process, they scan photos and articles from various books and magazines. They take hair from one picture, lips from another, add in an article about Einstein, etc. and eventually the computer processes this all together to create Kelly LeBrock ;-) This is sort of how I visualize the creation of a particular design happening.

Sometimes the input I work from is provided by a particular focal bead. Usually, large stones or lampwork beads make the best focal inspirations. I take the focal bead and look at it under sunlight as well as indoor light and ask myself what colors I see in it and what those colors remind me of. I usually get sounds and sensations as well as the actual color. For example, cool blues and greens always make me think of water. I might picture a fountain which has sort of a light silvery feel and splashy sound. So, for a “fountain” design, I should look at blues from icy to aqua with silver or white accents. Once I focus in on a color group, I start rummaging through my bead stash to see what I have that matches. I play around with the focal beads and the accents beads I’ve pulled and they usually tell me where they want to go and how they want to be used.

Usually, however, the process happens in a different way…the “Weird Science” way. Lots of disparate elements come together from various experiences and combine to create something new and unique. That’s how “Mermaid’s Treasure” came about.

Recently, I attended a bead and gem show in Costa Mesa, CA. I wrote about it a few blog posts ago and shared some pictures of what I bought there. One of my most exciting finds was a new silver vendor who had some really unusual pieces. Oddly, I almost passed him by because his prices were on the high side and I have other tried-and-true vendors I shop from at this show who can do better on price. But, I was shopping with my mother and she (not being up on the current price per gram of silver) insisted I stop and take a look at his merchandise.

Wow.

It’s tough to find something new and different at these shows where it often seems like vendor after vendor is selling the exact same stuff so I love it when I come across something I haven’t seen before like these hammered silver disks.

As soon as I saw them, I immediately had a flash of the treasure cavern at Disneyland’s “Pirates of the Caribbean” ride. That’s always been my very favorite ride and I used to try to figure out how I could jump off the boat in the treasure cavern and just roll around in all that shiny stuff. See, it’s not my fault I’m a bead addict…I just got exposed to too much loot too early in life ;-)

The more I handled (okay, fondled) those disks, the more I kept thinking about the treasure cavern and then I started remembering this documentary I watched years ago (probably on the Discovery channel) about divers searching for sunken Spanish galleons and their lost treasures. They found a lot of silver coins that the disks reminded me of and also lots of crosses on heavy chains of gold and silver. Now, I’m picturing these disks all jumbled together on chain like ancient coins. Then I realized they came in two different sizes and that the smaller size would either make great accents on the necklace or be okay for matching earrings. I bought some of both sizes and put them in my bag and the whole pirate’s treasure thing went outta my head as I got distracted by whatever neato thing was at the next booth I went to.

See next post for Part II.

KJ

Monday, Monday...

...okay so I need to stop listening to my "The Mamas and the Papa's Greatest Hits" CD on the way in to work on Mondays LOL!

This weekend was jam-packed with activity for a change from our normal, boring, nothing-worth-mentioning happened type of weekend. Firstly, Ryan seems to have recovered from his mystery illness of last week and is actually (shhh...don't tell anyone) healthy right now. Saturday was our neighborhood's annual summer block party so DH took Ryan out to play with the other kids in the all the wading pools that everyone had set up. It was 98 degrees out which is a bit too toasty for me and plus, I had work that had to get done so I didn't make it out for the party.

I got the kitchen cleaned up and lots of laundry taken care of including actually putting the clean clothes away (which is the part of the laundry process that I suck the most at). For some reason, I just have a tendency to let baskets of clean laundry sit around a little too long. But hey, it's hard to concentrate on such mundane things when beautiful beads are constantly calling your name and asking you to come over and play.

Once the laundry was done, it was time to get down to real business. I had a custom order that had to get finished and in the mail on Saturday. Normally, I'm not in such a rush, but Ryan's illness caused me to lose 2 whole weeks! Although my customer was very nice and patient about it (thank you, Cathi!), I still don't like to be late on things. Here's a pic of the finished piece:

The colors are fairly subdued in the scan, but they are pastel lavender and pink peyote tube beads w/ black edging. The accent beads are Bali silver and Swarovski pearls in pink and lavender. Total length is 17" with a 2" extender.

Since I was already working, I finally dragged out some of my bead show purchases and got working on a design with them. I used some mint green prehnite rondelles and mixed them with Bali silver and some gorgeous glowing pink freshwater pearls. The focal bead is one of those fabulous sterling silver pendants I got at the show two weeks ago. It reminds me of some kind of pirate treasure so I named this 19" necklace "Ancient Treasure":

After that was done, it was time to go check on the boys at the party and get lunch and then get Ryan down for his nap. I got another new necklace partially designed while he was sleeping, but it's not done yet. I'm hoping I can finish it tonight.

After that, my mom came over to babysit Ryan so DH and I could go to the movies. We had planned to see "The Brothers Grimm" (hey, whaddaya want, the pickings at the movies are pretty slim right now) but it was sold out so we ended up at "March of the Penguins" instead. I'd heard great things about it, but it really exceeded my expectations. These animals are truly magnificent and the ordeals they endure are really unbelievable. Plus, the scenery and photography are quite spectacular.

There was an extra added mystery to this experience for us, though. As the previews got under way, theater personnel came in and blocked off the two rows of seats in front of us to allow a special group to enter. This group is a mixture of men, women and children and of multiple races and they are accompanied by one uniformed security guard and one plainclothes guard with a Secret Service-type radio in his ear and a weapon in the fanny pack he was wearing. Another guard arrives with bags of take-out food from a nearby restaurant (and since when did a theater let people bring in their own food?!) and serves it to the group of people in a very deferential manner. In fact, some of the people in the group were quite obviously acting in "servant" role to others in the group. There was a lot of bowing and subservient body language. After the movie was over, they made all the rest of us wait to exit the theater until this group had gotten out of their seats and was on their way out. Once we did make it into the main hallway, I saw two more plainclothes security people with ear radios and concealed weapons.

I don't know who these people were or why they were in our little rinky dink theater, but I'm not sure I'm crazy about being in the same place as people who feel it necessary to have that much private security! It was kinda creepy. And of course, the mystery of not knowing what was going on still bugs me LOL!

Sunday was a girl's day out as my friend, Laura, came to visit me. We went out to lunch at The Stadium Brewery and then we went to see "Must Love Dogs." It's been so long since I got out to a movie and I actually got to do two in one weekend! I didn't know much about the film except that it has John Cusack in it and I just LOVE him. "High Fidelity" and "Grosse Pointe Blank" are two of my favorite movies of all time and I will pretty much go see anything he does. The movie was funny and overall really good (although the plot meandered a bit at times). I was impressed with Diane Lane's performance as well. After the movie, Laura and I went and got pedicures and then it was time to head home where Laura was nice enough to purchase the "Enchanted Evening" bracelet I posted last week. So, if you were interested in that design, sorry, but it's gone. Thanks, Laura!!

I picked up the boys and we also picked up my mom at her house and then it was off to my brother's house to see the newly decorated nursery before we all went out to dinner at Claim Jumper. Did you know they've done away with their salad bar??!!! Neither did we! Horrors! We're not sure if it's just that location or all of them, but it really messed us all up because most everyone had planned to order the salad bar (it was kinda the reason we went there LOL). But, we muddled through and then hit Coldstone Creamery for dessert. It was okay, but it ain't no Maggie Moo's ;-)

Ryan sang all the songs he knows in the car on the way home which was incredibly cute to us, but I'm sure no one else cares LOL! Then it was time to tuck him into bed and I got to settle down with two of my favorite HBO shows - "Entourage" and "The Comeback." The perfect ending to a pretty fantabulous weekend if I do say so myself.

Now, if I can just get that other necklace finished tonight...

KJ

Friday Book Recommendation

Whew! Sorry this is a bit late but what with Ryan's illness and a sudden overwhelming demand (okay, 2 people) for my bracelets, I'm a bit behind. So, to catch up, Ryan is better. I knew when he ate FIVE BOWLS of cheerios and milk for dinner last night (what? your mother never let you have cereal for dinner?) that he must be feeling better. I was just so happy that after two weeks of almost non-stop illness he'd finally gotten his appetite back. The poor kid has lost five lbs. and (unlike his mother) didn't have the lbs. to lose!

For item #2, the bracelets are now up on the website and available for sale. Tell your friends and call the "Times!" LOL!

Now on to the books. I'm just starting S.L. Viehl's latest book, "Afterburn", which is set in the same universe as her "Stardoc" novels, but follows a different set of characters. I highly recommend starting with the original series to get a feel for the universe and then branching out into the subsequent books.

Dr. Cherijo Grey Veil, the heroine of the "Stardoc" series is a really fascinating character (despite what some of the reviewers on Amazon who OBVIOUSLY didn't read the same book have to say) and I really enjoy the wide variety of aliens that people this particular universe. It's like the Mos Eisley cantina scene from "Star Wars" only on a much broader scale. S.L. Viehl puts her experiences as a real-life medic into play when describing the medical scenes. Of course, I've always been fascinated by all the "Life in the ER" type shows on the Discovery Health channel as well, so maybe it's just me, but it's really amazing to think of a doctor having to know not just human anatomy and how to repair it, but also having in depth knowledge of all the alien anatomies she comes across. And yeah, she's got some technology around that helps her out, but she's still pretty impressive. Of course, if you keep reading you find out that there's more to Dr. Grey Veil than just her medical skills...

There are several books in the original series as well as two branching-off series, the latest of which is "Bio Rescue" and "Afterburn." As far as I'm aware, all the books are available in paperback except these last two.

Okay, and now something I just have to get off my chest:

Dear Megan McTavish and other idiot writers at "All My Children",

JONATHAN IS BACK FROM THE DEAD? WHAT THE EFF???!!
I mean, dude, seriously. I get that those of us who watch soap operas are supposed to be drooling imbeciles (apparently) and that the "back from the dead" thing is a tried-and-true soap opera gimic, but COME ON! Not only was the guy shot in the chest but he had a freakin' bomb strapped to his back which BLEW HIM AND THE CAVE HE WAS IN TO SMITHEREENS! Somebody did a helluva cut and paste job on him because he doesn't even have any scars! Not that that would make this any more believable but still! I need the number of his plastic surgeon immediately!

And, if I'm to be forced to accept him (and his overdone really crappy acting which I could overlook if he was hot like Ethan or Ryan but he's not) back then why can't Princess Gillian come back? After all, she only got shot in the head and had her heart cut out and donated to pyscho-Laura. Her return is FAR more plausible, don't you think? Let's see, we get Dr. Death (aka David) to find her grave and dig her up (because he's looking for a substitute daughter now that Babe has told him to stick it) because he's come across psycho-Laura in a hospital somewhere and realizes that she's not been making good use of the transplanted heart he gave her (what with the whole psycho-freak-stalker thing and the fact that she NEVER calls her mother) and that the heart really belongs back with Gillian. So he puts the heart back and undoes the five or so years of decay she's undergone with one of his "designer" drugs. He leaves the bullet in because, let's face it, Gillian was never a brain trust anyway so what's an extra hole or two? Eh voila! Gillian is back from the dead more or less and now that Greenlee is exiting the show anyway, Gillian is perfect as the third leg for a love triangle with Kendall and Ryan.

See, even *I* could write this shit and I'm not getting paid for it! PLEASE, I'm begging you, couldn't we have just a LITTLE bit more intelligence in the show? I'm not asking for quantum physics or anything but just stop making me want to stick an ice pick in my ear. Otherwise, I may have to give up on your show even though it would mean doing without my Tad fix which would be really, really, really hard. I mean, how can you not love someone who works the expression "jinkies" into a soap opera.

Sincerely,

A loyal (but not for much longer) watcher since 1983

Okay, back to the regular programming now. I just couldn't hold that in any longer. But, for the first person who can tell me where the expression "jinkies" came from BEFORE Tad started using it on AMC...a free pair of earrings. And no, I'm not kidding.

Take care everyone and have a great weekend.

KJ

Rainbow Bangle Bracelet

Well, glory freakin' hallelujah, it worked this time! Maybe the file size was too big for the last post? I dunno...some of the mysteries of Blogger are just beyond me apparently. Anywho, here's my "Rainbow Bangle Bracelet". It's a brick stitch tube over sterling silver frame with a sterling silver star charm. I'd like to take credit for this concept, but I can't. It came from an article in "Beadwork" magazine. I've got a lot of ideas to take it in a totally new direction, however, but wanted to make this first one as per the instructions in order to get the technique down.

The other piece I finished is a more typical furnace glass bracelet in shades of black, royal blue, purple and gold. It has Swarovski crystals, glass pearls and a few vermeil beads thrown in for good measure and I call it "Enchanted Evening":

Casa d'Illin' Strikes Again

Y'know, I think I'm going to just start out each post with "Ryan is sick...again" so we can just get that out of the way right off the bat. Or, maybe I'll only post when he's NOT sick as that seems to be the more newsworthy event. I would insert a big ol' heavy "sigh" right here, but I've sighed so much lately I'm starting to hyperventilate so I'm trying to cut back on that.

So, without further ado...

Ryan is sick...again. He's had a high fever off and on since Sunday and I spent Monday and Tuesday home with him. Of course, he managed to be fever and symptom free for the hour that I took him to the doctor's office on Monday so I'm sure his chart now says something like "nice kid...too bad his mother is a paranoid hypochondriac." Hey, you'd be paranoid, too, if half your brain had leaked out your ears from 48 straight hours of children's television programming. I can now sing the theme songs to "Dora the Explorer" and "SpongeBob Squarepants" from memory and sadly, I know how to find all of "Blue's Clues."

The only bit of excitement during the last 48 hours was provided by a wackjob from a neighboring community who decided that Monday was the day for his psychotic break. The first I knew of anything being wrong was a helicopter that kept hovering right over our house for about 30 minutes. We live relatively close to a freeway so I thought there might either be an accident or some kind of police chase going on. Still, the 'copter was circling right over our heads and low enough to make the walls and windows rattle which is very unusual. Turns out that said wackjob had run his car through our neighborhood at high speed, smashed into several parked cars, wiped out some mailboxes and a fence on my neighbor's property. He then drove THROUGH one of our greenbelts, and down into our park where he abandoned his vehicle and escaped to his house. He barricaded himself in the house and had a standoff with police. The SWAT team was even called in!

And where was I while all this was going on? Upstairs changing a poopy diaper and wrestling with Ryan to get him to let me take his temperature. I eventually got both accomplished (although it cost me 2 stickers and an extra story) but I guess his howling drowned out all the car-crashing and sirens. I miss all the good stuff.

The good news is that he did take long naps both days so I was able to use that time to finish a couple of projects:

Well, normally there'd be two pictures here, but for whatever reason, Blogger has decided that today, there will be no pictures in this post. I'll have to post them separately. GRRRR!

KJ

A li'l something extra!

Check out the template changes! I actually figured out on my own how to add the links section to the sidebar. Woo hoo! I just knew it was going to pay off not having my hair re-blonded this month. 3 cheers for less attractive but surprisingly smarter roots!

Okay, so I still haven't figured out how to add a graphic there, but it's progress and now I can stop sending pathetic "help me" e-mails to my poor friend, Jenie. Speaking of which, her beautiful jewelry site, Dragonfly, is one of the links so be sure to check it out!

I also added a link to my friend Laura's blog about her bazillion Siberian Husky dogs. It's just getting started but the doggie adventures are quite funny and surprisingly drool-free.

And, of course, I just had to add the delightfully sarcastic and evil Go Fug Yourself website because I'm now addicted to it and I believe everyone should share my addictions so I don't have to feel so guilty about them. Donut, anyone?

KJ

Friday Book Recommendations (or UN-recommendations)

Can't remember if I've mentioned this before or not, but I sorta have a thing about avoiding new authors. I like to stick to the tried-and-true because, let's face it, books are $(*)&#&&*!! expensive and it really sucks to get home and find out you've plunked down your hard-earned moolah for a total turkey. But, then again, every once in a while, I get a yen for something new and so against my better judgment I go out and pick up a new author. There is a bit of a thrill to it as I open the first page and hope for the best...but the thrill quickly turns to despair when I find something like C.J. Ryan's first novel, Dexta

Having worked for a couple of very large companies and therefore having a lot of personal experience with "bureaucracy" at its finest, I was really interested in the background world of this book and thought the descriptions of the different corporate "types" (Lions, Tigers, Sheep, Dogs, etc.) and their various functions and tactics were all fascinating.

Unfortunately, the really excellent "world-crafting" here is totally overshadowed by the fact that Li'l Kim and her propensity for boob-baring in public have both apparently been re-incarnated for the 23rd century as the heroine of this novel. I get that there's no nudity taboo and that sexual politics and control are part of the Dexta way of life. I get that the main character is a futuristic Helen-of-Troy type and that her beauty is irresistible, blah, blah, blah, but I think even Helen didn't hang her bare boobs over the walls of Troy and scream "come get me, boys!"

This gal bares her assets more than Hugh Hefner's flava-of-the-month! She wears clothes that have little auto-controls in them to set the garment's opacity/translucency amount and she's constantly turning them more and more and more translucent. In fact, I'm sure if I went back scene by scene and added up all the percentages by which her clothes get sheerer...I'd wind up with about 3000% translucent (which is impossible...can't get more visible than 100%) Ditto for how often she's pushing her jeans down. By the end of the book I think they're around her ankles.

I'm dying to know if C.J. Ryan is a sadly misguided woman or a never-got-over-life-as-a-frat-boy guy. Either way, "Dexta" could've been a really great book if he/she had just dialed the overexposure down a few thousand percent. Or maybe the hot male co-star could've gotten naked a little more, too and balanced things out. How come that never happens?

In contrast, my other new experiment, Charles Stross's The Family Trade was a much better choice. It's garnering a lot of comparisons to the Amber books and it definitely has that same parallel earth/worldwalkers feel to it. I liked that the main character is smart as well as sexy and likes to take action. I did think that the romance wasn't quite set up properly which gave it a bit of an "unrealistic" feeling. Also there are some choppy intrusions from other characters that interrupt the flow of the novel. Still, it's a good and enjoyable read and the second book in the series is already out (albeit in hard cover...boo!).

All in all, though, if you want a REALLY fantastic reading experience, just go for the original, tried-and-true :-) genius of Roger Zelazny's Chronicles of Amber . Not only are there enough books (now all collected in one complete and convenient volume) to keep you busy for quite a while, but Prince Corwin is one of the best characters of all time.

Have a great weekend and take care all!

KJ

New Li'l Pendant

Although most of what I did over the weekend ended up getting ripped out because I hated it, I did manage to complete this new pendant. It's perfect for stringing on a favorite silver chain.

It's all done in Czech glass and seed beads using the Japanese flower stitch (which is, I think, sort of a version of right-angle weave).

I am working on a new project, too, which I'm fairly excited about. It looks like it's going to work out (at least so far). It involves a brick stitched tube of seed beads over a sterling silver wire armature to make a bangle bracelet. The original technique comes from an article in "Beadwork" magazine, but I have some ideas for changing it around and making it uniquely my own once I get the basic technique mastered. I've done brick stitch before, but never on quite such a large scale or over any kind of armature. Plus, this is the project that originally called for 11/0 seed beads and for which I accidentally bought Delicas instead...and then decided to go ahead and use them just to see what would happen. So far, so good.

And of course I'll publish a picture when it's done...assuming it looks good :-)

The pendant will be up for sale on the website later today or maybe tomorrow depending on how busy I get.

Take care!

KJ

Website Updated!

The latest earring designs have been added to the Website and are available for purchase. I'd hoped to have more to add, but didn't accomplish as much over the weekend as I'd hoped. I got two bracelets done, but then hated them and felt compelled to rip them up. Same goes for the pendant I did last night. Lately nothing's been working for me. Of course, perhaps I shouldn't be trying to design while all of us at Casa d'Osborne are recovering from stomach flu. Sigh...I'm thinking of renaming us Casa d'Illin' as that seems to be all we ever do. Even DH got hit with this one and still had a fever of 100 degrees last night.

I did get one new pendant finished which I think is kind of cute, but I haven't gotten it strung yet and can't do a scan til that's done. I've got all the components finished for a new peyote tube bracelet, but am still on the hunt for the right clasp. GRRR! I just hate it when I can't find what I'm looking for at the right price. I did find a couple of nice ones, but that company wanted $7.00 for SHIPPING! Errr...I don't think so.

In the meantime, I'm starting a new project that I hope will turn out better and pull me out of my recent bout of suckiness. It's not off to a great start, though. I went to the beadstore yesterday to get beads for it and for some reason by the time I got there I'd convinced myself I needed Delicas and proceeded to buy rather a lot of them. Then got home and realized that I really need just regular 11/0 seed beads. And OF COURSE, I already HAVE a ton of those and seriously don't need any more. Don't you dare ask me if I want some cheese to go with that whine! I'm nauseated enough as it is.

Maybe I'm still feverish? I think I need to go lie down. Could someone bring me a daiquiri and a cold cloth for my forehead?

KJ

Nothing says "party" like an ovarian cyst.

Last bit of news for the week is that I had the extrememly un-fun experience on Wednesday of having an ovarian cyst rupture. One minute I was walking around just find and dandy and the next I was doubled over in pain in the ladies' room and trying desperately not to throw up. The pain continued through Wednesday night and part of Thursday until it finally started to subside Thursday afternoon at which point I finally got in to see my doctor and she gave me the diagnosis. A subsequent ultrasound confirmed it. So, just as a public health announcement, I thought I'd post a link to the website for Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) If you or anyone you know suspects they might have this condition, this website is a fount of useful information.

That's all for now. Have a great weekend!

KJ

Ryan's Snails

Now that the Friday Book Review is out of the way, I can move on to pictures of my latest creations. This is actual work, not "cheater" pictures of stuff I bought but haven't used yet ;-) My little boy, Ryan, is just absolutely bonkers about snails. I have no idea why, but he is endlessly fascinated by them and so we have to go on "snail hunts" nearly every evening around the neighborhood and we have books on snails and stuffed snails and songs about snails and snail movies on DVD and pretty much if it's slimy, gross and has to do with snails - we've got one. So, when I was doing my usual weekly bead perusing of a favorite bead auction site, I was thrilled to find these cute little sets of snail beads by Ginger Sanders. They've been sitting on my work table for a while now as I tried to decide the best way to make them up. And so, without further ado, here are Ryan's snail earrings:

And here's the second set:

Being borosilicate glass, they don't scan all that well, but the colors (as usual) are prettier in real life. Lots of deep greens and blues and ambers that seem to "glow" from within the beads. Hmmm...glowing snails...I better not mention that to Ryan or we'll have to go look for those and when we don't find them I'll get the "why, Mommy?" ad infinitum.

Happy Snail Hunting!

KJ

Friday Book Review

The last couple of books I've read have been crapola with a capital "crap". Sooo, I decided to go with a favorite author of mine, Patricia Briggs. I've really enjoyed her earlier works, especially "When Demons Walk." The heroine, Sham, is a personal favorite of mine. I wasn't quite as fond of the Dragon's Blood series, but the new Raven series seems to be a lot more enjoyable. Raven's Strike is book two of the series and is out now, but I haven't been able to pick up a copy yet (stupid Barnes and Noble!)

There's supposed to be more to this post, but blogger.com is freaking out and screwing up all my HTML and links and formatting so I'm having to split today's post into a couple of sections.

KJ

Costa Mesa #3

Here's my final picture of "goodies" from the Costa Mesa show. I've been resisting the whole "shell bead" trend up until now, but I finally found some things I just couldn't pass up. The disks on the left are from the same vendor where I bought the pink shell disks in Monday's entry. It's a little late in the summer season to be going for these colors, but I just loved how bright and cheerful they are so screw the "rules." ;-)

I also just fell in love with the sweet little flower and leaf shell beads on the right. They're just so pretty and delicate that I couldn't resist. I'm looking forward to figuring out what the heck I'm going to do with them LOL!


That's it for today. I'm off to finish up my latest peyote tube project which is all in shades of turquoise and aqua. The beads are done and I'm on the prowl for the perfect clasp. I'm hoping to start a new embroidered butterfly pendant today, too. In case anyone wants one...

Take care!

KJ

Costa Mesa #2

First a little announcement - I've had to put some controls in place on the comments due to spamming. Apparently, some loser out there thinks I need tuition assistance to go to college. Guess I didn't hang my diploma from UCLA prominently enough. Legitimate comments should still come through, but let me know if you have any problems.

Now, on to the goodies. Here's the second picture of my treasures from the show this weekend:

I found this great sterling silver charms and castings vendor and wanted to buy out his entire stock, but I restrained myself to just what you see on the left of the picture. The fleur-de-lis and key charms are for a design for my mom. She wanted something to represent her Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority. The other items, like the stamped disks and large flower pendant, are just things I thought were really cool looking. And no, I have no idea what I'm going to do with them yet. I'm percolating some thoughts and making some sketches so we'll see what happens. The big shell pendant on the right didn't scan so well - in real life it's just rippling with iridescent streaks of green, purple, blue and even some violet and red. It's a lot bigger than the type of thing I normally go for, but I thought it was so outstanding and unusual that I just had to have it. And that was BEFORE I saw what a fabulous price it was being offered for. I should've got several of them, darn it!

I also finished the "earrings from hell" completely last night and I should have them up on the website for sale later today or tomorrow.

Take care!

KJ

Costa Mesa Show #1

I have a feeling that the stupid photo function on blogger.com is only going to allow 1 picture per post so bear with me. Here's my first set of goodies from the show:

The lovely deep teal beads on the left are apatite. I got a great deal on these and so got several sizes and shapes. In the center are some Thai Hill Tribe silver beads I found in a brushed silver finish. Not only were they affordably priced, but I don't have anything like this in my stash already and I'm always on the lookout for something new and different. Lastly, I got these lovely pink shell disks in two different sizes and two colors (the scan doesn't show it well, but one is a much darker pink than the other). My friend, Jenie, and I saw these at the Santa Monica show along with an entire table of a zillion colors and I've been kicking myself ever since then for not grabbing them up at the time. The same vendor was at Costa Mesa this weekend, but the stock was sadly depleted. A lot of the colors I was looking for were just totally gone.

Note to self: do not pass up beads that scream out "buy me NOW" because you'll regret it!

KJ

Too good to be true.

Well, it's over. I knew it couldn't last forever, but I was still hoping we'd at least make it to November. No such luck - Ryan is sick. Again. Sigh. Poor kid started sniffling Saturday afternoon and just went down hill from there. I wish I could figure out where he picked it up this time because no one else in the family is sick and, miraculously, no one at daycare is sick right now, either. Just our luck, I guess.

Still, since he waited until Saturday afternoon to show any symptoms, I was able to get some work done. I finally finished one of the "earrings from hell" that have been driving me crazy for the last month or so. As I mentioned previously, I don't think they're my best work due to funky color combo, but at least I was brave enough to try something new and different, right? Yeah, that's what I'm telling myself anyway. Here's a pic:

To be totally done, I just have to put the fringe on the other earring and the tops on both and then I never have to touch these again. Woo hoo!

Now, for the real fun. Mom and I hit the Gem Faire at the OC Fairgrounds on Saturday and shopped ourselves silly. She got a really fabulous Larimar pendant set in sterling silver and a pretty silver chain to go with it. Larimar comes from a dormant volcano in the Dominican Republic and is only found in one square kilometer on the entire planet. It's a beautiful sky blue stone that shades to deeper blues and teals and often has striations of white or translucent areas. It's somewhat similar to turquoise in appearance but paler and w/o the dark matrix. Mom also peeked over my shoulder while I was digging through a bin of really pretty abalone pendants and grabbed the best looking one of the whole lot while I was still trying to decide whether I wanted one or not. But hey, she provides a heck of a lot of free babysitting so I can't complain too much.

Besides, I got some pretty stuff, too. I'll post my pics in the next entry.

Take care all!

KJ

Friday Book Review & Misc. Announcements

First off, thanks to everyone who e-mailed me about one of the projects in the latest issue of "Bead Style" magazine being a rip-off of my Shimmering Leaves designs. I appreciate the heads-up, really. However, after checking out the project in the magazine, I don't really think it was an intentional theft - simply a matter of two designers having access to the same beads. The magazine design is also a lariat style instead of a multi-strand necklace like mine and it also features wire and crystal charms which are not part of my design. Lastly, the magazine design is done on either an antiqued gold or a copper chain/wire and mine is done on gold-filled chain. But again, I do appreciate everyone who took the time to alert me!

Next, I'm sorry there haven't been any new pictures for a while. I'm still struggling with that same pair of $()%&*#! embroidered earrings. The tops are finally done and I just need to do the fringe to finish them off. I'm afraid they are not my best work and you'll see why when I finally can post a picture here. I just could never get the color combination quite right and honestly I finally got tired of ripping out beads and re-doing them. So, I just went with the last combination I came up with and while it's "okay," it's not spectacular. I don't have so much beading time that I can afford to keep fiddling with one project (and yeah, okay, so I'm just impatient, too). I hope to get them finished this weekend and get them posted. However, I also have a custom order that I've been working on for about a month now that HAS to get done this weekend and I'll TRY to get a pic of that one before it ships, too.

It's going to be a busy weekend at our house. Of course there's Ryan to be watched/entertained/parented and the grocery shopping/laundry/errands to be done. I have the two projects mentioned above, and also have a customer coming to the house tomorrow morning to pick up a repair and (hopefully!) order some more things. She's bringing some clothes to match - let's just hope the "right" beads are on hand! It's also a bead show weekend so I've got to find time to run up to the OC Fairgrounds to pick up some things I'm out of (and maybe more if things go REALLY well with the customer that morning LOL). Then Sunday, Dean has to go help my brother and my sister-in-law paint the nursery at their house for the baby they're expecting. I'm going to be an aunt in November! Then there's church and our usual Sunday night dinner with my parents and I'm sure there are several other things I'm forgetting, too.

Which brings me to this week's book review of Julie Kenner's Carpe Demon : Adventures of a Demon-Hunting Soccer Mom It's billed as what would happen if Buffy got married, moved to the suburbs and became a mom. It's also a disturbingly accurate portrayal of what it's like to be a mom to a 2 year old including the mentions of "Dora the Explorer" and dealing with poopy pants while shopping at Wal-Mart. While I enjoyed those aspects of the book, I'm afraid I can't give it a top-level endorsement because the plot and writing style are quite simplistic. They aren't bad - just not very sophisticated. I'm not sure if this is Ms. Kenner's first book or not, but it sure reads that way. It also really bugged me that Kate (the main character)'s husband is IMO kind of a creep. I would absolutely go nuts if my husband called me at 4 PM to have a cocktail party ready by 6:30 the same night. Not to mention the fact that I'd never agree to do it (and he'd never ask me to begin with because he KNOWS I'd never agree to do it). I was also somewhat disturbed by how blithely Kate drops her toddler into the first daycare that has a spot open...just because it's the only open spot. I didn't find that realistic from someone who's always been a full-time, stay-at-home mom up to that point. I also didn't find the save-the-day, watch-the-kid-and-have-my-back portrayal of the best friend (who conveniently lives in the house behind Kate) to be even remotely believable. I just don't know anyone who can drop their entire life at a moment's notice to watch someone else's toddler for a day (much less for three or four days). Apparently, Laura (the BF/neighbor) has no other life except to be around when Kate needs to free herself of her family responsibilities so she can go demon-hunting.

Still, it is quite humorous and, as I mentioned, the "day-in-the-life-of-a-mom" moments are dead on. I loved the 14 year old daughter and her sarcastic dialogue! So, all-in-all, I'd put this in the category of beach reading. It's light, funny and appropriate for a time when you're not going to be overly picky about perfect plotting and characterization.

Happy weekend, all!

KJ

It's Football Time!

It's time for Al Michaels and John Madden. It's time for hail Mary's and wicked blocks. And, most importantly, it's time for Brett Favre in tight yellow pants! That's right - it's time for the NFL 2005 schedule to begin THIS WEEKEND in Tokyo with the Hall of Fame game. I, for one, cannot wait. And yeah, okay, so pre-season is always kinda lame, but still it's better than no football at all or worse...the slow, painful hell that is baseball. Who decided that a bunch of overweight drug addicts standing around spitting and scratching themselves is a sport? Yes, I know, OCCASIONALLY, someone throws or catches or hits a ball, but by then I've usually lost interest and gone to get another beer or I'm stuck in the 18-mile-long line to the women's restroom where we're all waiting to get rid of the aforementioned beers. And besides, baseball doesn't have Brett Favre. Have I mentioned how good he looks in tight yellow pants? Yummm. Dear God, thank you for football. Amen.

Oh, and in addition to the NFL, it's only a month until my beloved (but beleaguered) UCLA Bruins return to the gridiron. I can only hope they've solved the problems that beset them last year and that we can beat the Trojans this year. It's been too long and it's time to end the drought. Go Bruins!

Now, if LA could only get an NFL team, my life would be complete...

KJ

A banner week!

(insert sounds of trumpet flourishes here) It's been a banner week in the Osborne household! Ryan has used the potty every night this week successfully!! Da da da DA! I can finally see a faint light at the end of the diaper-changing tunnel. And, of course, it's great news for YOU, dear readers, as it means you can look forward to blog entries free of the mention of pee and poop in the near future. I KNOW! It's just so exciting!

And speaking of blog entries, a thousand and one thank you's to my friend, Jenie, for introducing me to the hilarity that is Go Fug Yourself Don't be put off by the slightly scary name - it's not dirty...just uproariously funny.

And now for the Friday book review:

I just finished the latest in Kim Harrison's "Witch" series which starts with Dead Witch Walking and is the tale of Rachel Morgan - surburban witch and bounty hunter. I like Rachel (despite her more questionable fashion choices which could definitely land her on the "fugly" website listed above) because she's very "human" despite being such a powerful witch. She's impulsive, she makes mistakes (sometimes big ones) and things in her life aren't perfect. Plus, she has this wonderfully sarcastic pixy named Jenks as a partner and he is small enough to ride around on her earring. That's just sooo cool - I want a pixy on MY earring Wow, that sounded SO Veruca Salt. I guess I should re-phrase. I'd very much like to have a pixy on my earring if one would be so generous as to grace me with its presence. Anyway, if you like the first book, there are two more out in paperback.

And that's pretty much it. I wish I had some finished jewelry to show today, but since I've spent all week on a pair of embroidered earrings that aren't finished yet, I got nada. And WHY aren't they finished yet you ask? Because they are not co-operating in the color department. I've ripped the darn things apart no fewer than FIVE TIMES already. I think I've FINALLY got something that works even if I'm not 100% crazy about it but I'll be pixed if I'm going to rip them apart again. I can't take it any more. I have NO IDEA how Sherri Serafini does this (especially on her larger pieces) without going completely insane. Still, her work is incredible and I'm in awe of her talent.

Take care everyone and try not to melt this weekend!

KJ

Santa Monica Ain't So Cool After All...

...but I still had a terrific time at the show. My friend, Jenie, and I braved traffic, lost keys, exhorbitant parking rates and lack of air conditioning in search of beads on Saturday and we had a great time. However, if I were a vendor at that show, I'd refuse to pay up for next year's spot until I was given an absolutely iron-clad guarantee that NEXT YEAR the hall will have air conditioning! One end of the show had the doors open and was doing okay, but the other side - whew! I have no idea how those poor vendors hadn't passed out from the heat. In fact, I'd've bought more at one booth except I just literally couldn't stand there any longer without melting. I was already terrified I was going to "drip" onto the beads - yikes!

Saw some great new stuff, tho. Sadly, I didn't have as much money to spend as usual so I had to be content with getting business cards and looking instead of buying. Rats - that just sucks! Anyway, some of the highlights included beautiful shell disk beads dyed every color of the rainbow. I've never seen such a variety and I wanted a strand in each color to come home with me (well, okay, MAYBE not the orange ones)! Also saw some really gorgeous African ceramic beads from Kenya which I discovered (after a little judicious research and googling) are produced on the ranch that formerly belonged to Karen Blixen. You might remember her story from a little movie called "Out of Africa" starring Meryl Streep and Robert Redford. Fortunately, that vendor is coming to Costa Mesa in the fall so I still have a chance of getting some of those yummy beads. Another place was selling really unusual vintage Swarovski components (filigreed flowers, disks, etc. all set with crystals) that I could see would make up into some really pretty, feminine designs with an antique feeling. I think they'd be especially great scattered on a charm bracelet with other pieces. Sadly, those folks don't have a website and only sell at shows, but said they might come to Costa Mesa in October. I can only hope.

I was only partially successful in my mission at Glasscapes. They didn't have the red/green/gold combo in furnace glass that I was looking for, but did offer to custom make it for me (I feel so honored) if I send them a picture of the existing beads. Of course, while we were talking, I got hypnotized by all their beautiful glass which I can only say looks JUST like candy. I bought a couple of sets to make up into future pieces - one all in bright pinks and yellows for summer and one in darker jeweltone colors for the holidays.

After nearly melting inside the hall, Jenie and I were on a desperate hunt for an air conditioned restaurant in which to eat lunch and talk over our show experience. Unfortunately, we discovered that a dismayingly high proportion of the 3rd Street Promenade restaurants don't have A/C! Yucko! Which is of course, why I titled this entry "Santa Monica Ain't So Cool After All."

Finally, we did find a fun little French bistro/creperie where we had yummy sandwiches and a really wicked chocolate crepe for dessert. Things did get a bit weird when I headed off in search of the ladies' room only to discover that it was a PAY toilet! You either have to pay or, if you're a customer of the restaurant, the waiter will graciously slip you a "token" to put into the lock instead. I've never heard of such a thing!

So, I've added pay/token toilets to my list of things that are different between LA and the OC (where I live). I have an ongoing discussion with a friend of mine (who is really just jealous because she lives in the 909...sorry, Sparkle LOL!) about how life behind the "Orange Curtain" differs from life in the rest of So Cal. I've got some new things to add to the list after this weekend. OC's restaurants HAVE AIR CONDITIONING (with the exception of Avila's El Ranchito which I learned to my disgust on Friday night), OC's restaurants do not make you beg "pee tokens" from their waiters ('cuz that's just CRAZY) AND as what I think is a direct result of this policy...the sidewalks of OC DO NOT SMELL LIKE PEE! Oh, and in OC, you can find a damn parking spot without having to spend $8!! Even in Laguna on a Saturday night!

So, all in all, I think I'll stick to the OC bead shows from now on. The vendors are nearly identical, there's free parking and no pee which really ought to be their advertising tag line "OC Bead Faire - Free Parking and Fresh Air." Okay, I'm just kidding (because as everyone knows, I'll suffer through just about anything to get beads). I had a terrific time and it was great to get to know Jenie better - the girl is absolutely hysterically funny in addition to being a great jewelry designer.

I'm still slogging my way through custom orders and repairs being as how I didn't accomplish anything this weekend so no new pictures yet. Maybe later this week (yeah, in my dreams).

Take care all!

KJ

Friday Book Review, etc.

Okay, seriously, ENOUGH with the heat already! And yeah, I know, other places are 113 where we're only 98, but I don't care. I don't live there, I live HERE...where it's freakin' HOT!

Thank God for AIR CONDITIONING!

Okay, on to the book review:

Firstly, I finished reading the new Harry Potter book last night. It was pretty much as predicted - lots of revelations of "background" info and *SPOILER WARNING* the death of one major character. And yes, it was darker and more adult than the previous books. It was a good read, but honestly, I was left with the overall feeling that it was 600 or so pages of set up for the NEXT book. Which, of course, is probably 2 or more years away so that's kind of a bummer. I thought it was better than the previous book, "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," but still not as good as I was hoping and somewhat repetitive in spots. Still, I don't feel like I wasted my $ buying it (note - I got it at 40% off).

So, on to new recommendations. This week, I'd like to introduce one of my all-time favorite authors - Tanya Huff. From urban fantasy to space opera to vampire detectives, she does it all well...and with a wicked sense of satirical humor which is always a plus for me.

I first discovered Ms. Huff's work through her Vicki Nelson, vampire detective series (note - she was doing this genre WAY before Buffy or Anita Blake came along). The first book in the series is Blood Price

Then, I moved on to her "Quarters" series which begins with Sing the Four Quarters This series involves a common "universe" where bards control one or more of the four "quarters" (air, earth, fire and water) by their music, however, each book follows a different character or set of characters in the universe so you can easily read one without having read any of the others. I will warn you that this book (like most of Huff's work) contains some homosexual characters and homosexual situations. If you are bothered by that type of thing, then Huff (and this series in particular - as the mentions in other works are much less blatant) is probably not for you.

Her space opera "Valor" series I think is truly outstanding and I very much enjoy the strong female sargeant protagonist. The first book in the series is Valor's Choice

Finally, there's her "Summoning" series which is just pure cotton candy fun. Huff provides hilariously funny, sarcastic dialogue well mixed with traditional fantasy elements. Who knew Hell had such a potty mouth? If this is your cup of tea (or wolfsbane or whatever), then start with Summon the Keeper Warning: this series gives a major part to a talking cat so avoid it if that kind of thing bugs you ;-)

And finally, here's a tantalizing picture of something I just won on e-bay:

Coming to Silver Parrot Designs very soon!

Have a great weekend everyone and try to STAY COOL!

KJ

It's H-O-T...

Okay it was 80 degrees at my house at 7:30 this morning! Who authorized this big "heat up" is what I want to know. We're melting around here and I *shudder* to think what the electric bill is gonna be like after all the A/C running we've been doing. I know some people don't even HAVE A/C and I honestly have no clue how they are managing to survive this! Can't wait til the weekend so I can head to the pool or the beach.

Hopefully it'll be at least a LITTLE bit cooler at the Santa Monica Bead Show where I'm going to meet my friend Jenie (who, btw, has THE coolest jewelry website of her own going - Dragonfly Jewelry ). I'm just crazy about her Butterfly Lariats .

I have a customer interested in some furnace glass from Mingo and Asho and this is the last local show they are doing this year so I've got to make a run to their booth. Then, we're going to find some place fabulous to have lunch - yumm! Won't be doing much other shopping because this month was sales tax month (blech) and that soaked up a lot of my available fundage (not to mention WAAAYYYY too much time spent on e-bay lately - I need a 12-step program (seriously).

Drink lots of iced tea and stay cool!

KJ

In defense of "30 Minute Meals"

Rachael Ray - Why food snobs should quit picking on her.

I just thought this article was interesting as I really enjoy Rachael Ray's shows on the Food Network and own one of her 30-minute-meal cookbooks. I like the fact that I can FIND all of her ingredients at the regular grocery store. While it's nice to make something unusual and special on occasion (like during the holidays when I'm on vacation from work and have TIME!) but normally, I just don't have the time or the resources to go to two or three different stores looking for specialty ingredients. I've got a full-time job, a side business and a toddler (not to mention a husband and a house and two parrots) - I need quick, easy and inexpensive!

The other thing I like about her recipes is that they are relatively healthy. Sure, there are a few fried things and desserts here and there, but they're usually paired w/ lower calorie items so you get an overall healthy experience.

I had no idea that there's a whole "anti-Rachael" movement out there but I suppose it's a measure of how popular you've become once people start taking the time to hate you (in print no less).

If I have any complaint about Rachael it's that I've never successfully completed one of her meals in 30 minutes, but I think that's more due to the layout of my kitchen and my serious lack of knife skills (plus, I don't have that super-cool knife she always uses which DH won't buy me because he KNOWS I'll cut off a finger with it).

KJ

Okay, so I lied...

...when I said there wouldn't be any new pictures for a while. I actually managed to get this set done over the weekend in addition to working on custom orders and repairs. But, it's only because it was basically done already and just needed the clasp and the earrings. I decided to call it "Canyon Road" after the street in Santa Fe with all the galleries and boutiques. The turquoise color of the lampwork beads reminded me not only of New Mexico in general, but also of the traditional blue doors in Santa Fe. I added smoky quartz to pick up the brown "matrix" in the lampwork beads along with some freshwater pearls and Bali vermeil beads, spacers and clasp.



I should have the set up on the site later today or tomorrow. I still have to figure out the pricing on it and edit the appropriate web page before uploading it.

In other news, I got my business taxes done only to realize that I can't mail them in yet because I have to write a check for the amount due and I'm out of checks! Or rather, I should have two books of checks left, but I can't find them anywhere. I hate it when I lose stuff - especially important stuff that ought to be right where I left it the last time. So, had to go on-line to the bank's website and order more checks only to find that they're going to charge me $20.00 for even the BASIC, no-frills design! I guess I'm just old, but I remember when checks were FREE! GRRR!

I spent the rest of Saturday working on a custom order and then DH and I went down to Balboa Island for our "date night." We had dinner and walked around for a while then got Balboa Bars for dessert (yummmmy!) We had planned to take the ferry over to the peninsula and go to the fun zone for a while, too, but both of us kept yawning all during dinner so we finally decided to just head home instead. We'll save the ferry for another time.

Sunday we went to church and then took Ryan to the pool at my parents' neighborhood club house. He had lots of fun playing in the water and we talked to one of the lifeguards about signing him up for swim lessons. Then we went to my parents' house to get cleaned up and hit a new Japanese restaurant nearby for dinner. We hadn't gone there before because we thought it was ONLY sushi and not everyone in our group will eat sushi. But, turns out they have lots of other stuff on the menu so we had a great dinner. And, of course, Ryan charmed the staff by saying a few words in Japanese for them, LOL!

Take care all!

KJ

Friday Book Review and Announcements!

I had planned to announce this back in June, but, well, what can I say? Life happens ;-) Anyway, Silver Parrot is proud to introduce its new Bridal Collection! I recently did a custom order for a bride-to-be and generated several additional designs in the process so I decided to give them all their own special place on the website. If your or anyone you know is looking for elegant, feminine accessories for the "big day," then feel free to send them to:

Bridal Collection

And now, on to the Friday Book Review! I know everyone is all focused on the release of the latest Harry Potter book today, but I thought I'd go a different direction. Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge HP fan, but I figure he's getting enough attention on his own. I'd like to introduce you to a less well known series, but one which was influential in shaping my love of fantasy and sci fi: Susan Cooper. I first read "The Dark is Rising" during the summer between 6th & 7th grade and I was utterly enthralled. I couldn't put it down and wound up getting in trouble for sneaking it into my summer school classes and reading it instead of the assigned work. I also snuck a flashlight out of the garage at home and took it up to my bedroom so I could stay up reading long after "lights out." Although the series really begins with "Over Sea, Under Stone," each book is complete unto itself and they can definitely be read separately. Cooper deftly weaves Celtic myths with the modern day lives of children and adds in her own creation of the "Old Ones" - beings who appear human but who are immortal and are charged with battling evil down through the ages. The entire series is now available as a boxed set:

The Dark Is Rising Sequence

It's also worth noting that a later book in the series, "The Grey King" won the Newberry Award.

Lastly, I just wanted to mention that there might not be a lot of new pictures here for a while. I've gotten in a lot of repair and custom order work that is going to suck up my jewelry time for a while. PLUS I have to hunker down and get my business taxes down this weekend - oh joy! SOOO not looking forward to that.

Hope everyone has a fantabulous weekend and that you can stay cool! It's been awfully hot here these last few days and looks to stay the same over the weekend - maybe I'll head over to Surfline and check out the local beach conditions and surf report. Cowabunga, dude!

Take care all!

KJ

Pleasant Valley Sunday

My life is just so darned typically suburban that I'm pretty stuck with "Another Pleasant Valley Sunday" by The Monkees as my theme song. This weekend was another example. DH took the kidlet for a haircut and grocery shopping on Saturday morning which allowed me to do laundry (blech) and actually get some beading done! Woo hoo! I'm so pathetically behind schedule on planned projects that this puppy was actually meant to be done in February in time for Valentine's Day LOL! I call it "Tangled Hearts."



It features furnace glass heart slices in cherry and white by David Christensen and I've added accents of Czech glass and Swarovski crystal and wired everything to sterling silver chain. I wasn't quite sure where this design was going when I first started out, but I'm rather pleased with where it ended up. And, I've got enough of the heart slices left to do a coordinating necklace if I ever have time to get around to it. For some reason, I've had lots of repair orders come in these past few weeks which is great, but really messes with my schedule.

So then, in the afternoon, we took the kidlet to the beach for the first time and we all had a ball. It was really fun to re-connect with all of my own summertime beach memories of building sand castles and playing in the waves, etc. Of course, we may have created a monster as now Ryan will not stop asking to "go to the beach." I have not yet managed to get across the concept of "you have to wait til the weekend." Sigh.

Sunday I met my mom and two sisters-in-laws down in San Juan Capistrano for tea. Yep, we went to a real, honest-to-goodness, old-fashioned type tea house in the historic Los Rios section right by the train station. The weather was perfect and we sat out on the verandah next to the fountain and had our tea and scones and sandwiches and just had a wonderful, wonderful time. I highly recommend The Tea House on Los Rios if you're looking for something fun to do with your gal pals someday (they also do weddings and showers!) If you're looking for more substantial fare, then head across the alley to Ramos House Cafe for some truly outstanding cuisine. Absolutely fabulous beignets!!

After our tea, we walked around downtown San Juan for a while and looked in various galleries and boutiques - it was lots of fun.

Then it was home to more laundry and watching "Dora the Explorer" with Ryan while we waited for pizza to be delivered because Mommy was too lazy to cook. Then later I watched "Entourage" and "The Comeback" on HBO (two of my new favorite shows - although I DO miss "Sex and the City") and after that I went to bed.

Really, can you STAND the excitement LOL! Hope you all had a good weekend and I'll try to get the bracelet up on the website later today or tomorrow. I've got some new bridal designs coming, too.

Take care!

KJ

Friday Book Review

Amazon.com: Books: First Channel

What would you do if the life of someone you've known and loved suddenly becomes necessary to your own survival? Either they die or you do - how do you choose? What if your child suddenly turned from the sweet kid you've raised and loved into a ravening monster whose merest touch can now kill you? This is the world that is Earth's future as the human race has divided itself (through evolution or genetic manipulation - no one is sure) into two types: Simes and Gens. Gens appear as what we would call a "normal" human except that they produce an energy field called "selyn." Simes appear mostly human except they have a set of tentacles on each forearm and they require an infusion of selyn each month in order to live. Simes also have extra "senses" and are stronger and can move more quickly than Gens. They are the ultimate predators. Unfortunately, the process of taking selyn from a Gen each month results in a dead Gen. In addition, no one knows whether they will be Sime or Gen until they hit puberty. The world is divided into two territories - one controlled by Simes where they raise Gens as livestock in pens and feed off of them each month and the other controlled by Gens where they live in fear of Sime raiders and the constant worry that a child may suddenly hit puberty, turn Sime and kill the first Gen it comes into contact with.

"First Channel" is the original book in the series and its main conflict centers around Rimon Farris who discovers one day that his intended fiancee, Kadi, has suddenly become a Gen. In Sime territory, she is now considered a non-person and must be turned over to the nearest Gen Pen where she can be purchased by a Sime, fed from and killed. But Rimon only sees her as the woman he loves and is desperate to save her - despite the fact that he is a Sime himself and in a month will need to feed on a Gen just like every other Sime.

I've always thought this was one of the most original sci fi premises I've ever come across and I've been addicted to the series ever since I read the first book back in the 70's. These may be somewhat hard to find since they've been out so long, but Meisha Merlin publishing is in the process of re-issuing some of them (combined in large single volumes) and they can also be found at used book stores in the meantime.

One thing to keep in mind is that there are actually two authors in this series. Jacqueline Lichtenberg (who rose to fame as the author of "Star Trek Lives!") originally created the series and wrote most of the books, but her partner, Jean Lorrah wrote the volume "Ambrov Keon" and has been involved in the creation of some of the other books as well. In fact, if you decide you like the Sime/Gen universe, you might want to check out Jean Lorrah's "Savage Empire" series.

Finally, since Lichtenberg and Lorrah got their start through fan fiction, they've got a very involved website dealing with Sime/Gen fanfic as well as background to the universe, technical details, and writing workshops for those interested in pursuing fanfic and/or professional writing. They often post Sime/Gen fanfic stories and other types of fanfic for free on the site, too. Here's the link:

SimeGen

Lastly, a new Sime Gen book has been in the works for FOREVER, but I believe that Meisha Merlin has finally set a REAL publishing date for summer of 2006. The working title for the book is "To Kiss or to Kill."

Have a great weekend and zlin you later (and if you want to know what that means - read the books LOL)

KJ

Friday Book Review

Amazon.com: Books: Cordelia's Honor (Hugo Winners)

I'm trying to make the "Friday Book Review" a regular thing so let me know whether you enjoy it or not. I suppose if EVERYONE hates it, then I can stop ;-)

This book is actually two books in one: "Shards of Honor" and "Barrayar" and it features one of sci fi's best written female protagonists: Cordelia Naismith-Vorkosigan. In addition, it provides the kick-off point for the author's famous "Miles Vorkosigan" series which is an absolute MUST READ if you are any kind of sci fi (more specifically space opera) fan. I won't provide a lot of other details in my reviews because 1. they're available via the links to amazon.com and 2. I like to let the books speak for themselves.

Another great thing about this series is that it's been out for a while so all the books are available in paperback and plus, there are like 10 or so books in the series so you're set for quite a while if you haven't started reading them yet. Be aware that some of the books have now been reissued in "compilations" (2-3 books combined in one new volume with a new name) so check carefully as you're buying to avoid duplication.

And finally, if you make it all the way through the Vorkosigan series, you might want to check out Bujold's foray into fantasy which begins with "The Curse of Chalion." Now this book, I will admit, starts of SLOWWWWWLY. But once it finally gets going, it's EXCELLENT! The two follow-ups, "Paladin of Souls" and "The Hallowed Hunt" are enjoyable as well. "Hunt" just came out in hardback, but the other two are available in paperback.

Enjoy and Happy 4th of July weekend everyone!

KJ