2008 Resolutions (finally!)

1. Get back to goal weight.
I’m so ticked off at myself for backsliding in this area, but I’m determined to get back on track with it. I will NEVER go back to the way I was before. Other than Ryan’s safety and well-being, this has got to be the number one priority in my life right now.

2. Keep blog updated on a regular basis and figure out some way to drive readership.
It’s only February and I’m obviously not doing so hot with this one yet. I started this entry the first week of January and am only getting around to finishing it now. Obviously, improvement is needed here, but in my defense, I have been sick, had crazy amounts of work and am still doing about 90% of the parenting. I may also be dipping my toe back in the dating waters ;-)

3. Get back to writing regular book reviews.
I’m still reading, but finding the time to write about it has been tough. I’m going to try to post the year’s first review by this Friday, though.

4. Finish the re-decorating project in my bedroom.
Is it bad that there’s still a strip of painter’s tape on my ceiling from last summer when I painted my “accent wall?” How about the fact that I haven’t re-painted the other three walls to cover up the accidental splotches of “accent” color that got on them because I am NOT a good painter? Yeah, that’s what I thought. I need home decorating help. But it needs to be free!

5. Get new flooring and couches for the downstairs.
Have looked at flooring and couches for months now until I’m sick of the whole thing. Cannot find what I want. The search continues…gag.

6. Cull the book collection until it’s down to a reasonable size.
Got the boxes to do this. Need the time.

7. Ride the bike once a week.
This has been going well with the following exceptions:
-Rain
-Flu
-Serious knee injury this weekend (and by serious I mean that my right kneecap is no longer visible due to swelling). Lovely.

8. Take a trip somewhere I’ve never been before.
This one I’ve at least made some progress on. I’m going to Scottsdale, AZ in March. Of course, it’s for business, not pleasure, but at least I get to stay at a really fancy-schmancy resort! AND I will hopefully get at least enough free time for a side trip to Scottsdale Bead Supply. YUMMY! Other ideas are a long weekend in New York complete with a Broadway show and lots of touristy stuff (and shopping of course) or maybe the Tucson Bead Shows in 2009. The latter will require a LOT of saving up between now and then…not sure I’m up to it because there will probably be many, many cute shoes that need buying and 2009 is soooo far away. Of course, I will not get to actually WEAR any of them (see #7 above regarding serious knee injury…and no, Sparkle, knee injury was not CAUSED by cute shoes…just my natural lack of grace).

Cute shoes…always my downfall. In fact, cute shoes are probably the underlying cause for the decline of Western society. I bet there was some early A.D. equivalent of Jimmy Choo right before the collapse of the Roman empire.

Seriously.

KJ

Music: "London Bridge" by Fergie

What I did this weekend...

...which may or may not be a good thing...I haven't decided yet:

What I obviously did not do was write up my resolutions so I could post them as promised in the previous entry. I suppose this means that my first resolution ought to be "write more blog entries on time."

I will get right on that.

In the meantime, it's come to my attention that there may be certain people reading this blog who are not the intended audience. All I can say is...you're welcome to read (it is posted on the internet after all) but just realize that you may not like what I have to say. This is live and uncensored and my place to vent sometimes. Not everything in here ought to be taken literally at face value...it may be an expression of a temporary feeling or exaggerated as I tried to work through something.

Anyhoo, I guess my point is...caveat lector.

'Nuff said.

KJ

Music: "Dreams" by Fleetwood Mac

2007 - A Year in Review

I’m a little late with this, but I thought it would still be a good idea to write about my resolutions for 2008. First, though, let’s take a look back at 2007’s resolutions:

1. Spend more time with the kidlet.

Definitely achieved this one. Not only did I spend more time with him in general (cutting back on some of my own goals and activities in order to do so), but due to some unfortunate behavior (and the consequences thereof) of his father, I’ve pretty much had sole custody since September, 2007. Hopefully, the ex will work his way out of his difficulties and will be able to take up his role as a more involved dad later this year.

2. Lose another 20 lbs. Even though I met my weight loss goal back in October and have kept the weight off, I feel like I can go further in this area.

Mixed results on this one. I was halfway through losing those extra 20 lbs. by July and looked to be on track for achieving my goal by December. Then, my life and schedule changed radically (see #1 above) and that really had a tremendous impact on my ability to keep aggressively pursuing this goal. Plus, like all dieters, I backslid a bit. So, need to re-double my efforts in 2008.

3. Expand my social horizons – both romantically and platonically. I took a couple of stabs at this in 2006, but I need to focus more attention on it in 2007 and explore more options.

Did pretty well with this. Joined a couple of singles groups at church and joined Parents Without Partners. The only downside has been that with my schedule changes, I haven’t had the time to take full advantage of attending events put on by these groups. Still pursuing the internet dating as well. Results are mixed.

4. Clean up, re-organize and re-decorate the house.

Definitely made progress here. With the help of some friends, I cleaned out and re-organized the garage (including getting rid of the bulky shelves and work station that the ex built in there without my input or agreement that took up half the damn place). I spent Labor Day weekend re-decorating my bedroom including painting one wall all by myself, getting a new bed and all new linens and pillows and getting the rest of my grandmother’s antique bedroom furniture set out of storage and into the room. I still have a lot more to do to not only finish that room, but get going on the rest of the house as well.

5. Add more outdoor activities to my workout schedule. I’m finding the gym is getting a bit boring so I’ve hit a couple of bike stores to price bicycles and want to start taking walks at the beach on the weekends.

I did really well with this. I made a point of walking on the beach at least once a week – either after work or on the weekends and it was great. I bought myself a bike for Christmas and have been hitting the road on that as often as I can.

6. Be thankful every day for my family, my health and my FREEDOM.

This was a no brainer. I am so grateful every day for how well my life is going and how much happier and at peace I am. It doesn’t mean that there aren’t some really painful memories and some work I still need to do to complete the recovery process, but I have an amazing kid, a truly wonderful and supportive family and I know God has a plan for my life that will make all of the events of the past couple years into a process that ultimately made me a better, more mature and happier person.

All in all...I think I did pretty well considering this was the first year I've ever made actual resolutions.

Stay tuned tomorrow for my 2008 resolutions.

KJ
Music: “Poems, Prayers and Promises” by John Denver

A picture is worth a thousand words...

...or in my case, it's a perfect substitute for having nothing to write about and/or no time to write about anything.

So, my excuses appropriately made, time to move on to the pictures:

I found a great site for an artist who will custom-design lampwork bead sets for you and she really makes the cutest things. I bought this set with the idea of doing something for Ryan's teacher at the end of the year.

And then, as I shopped around her site, I came across these cute baby bugs:

Maybe they'll make a cute summer necklace or bracelet. I know, I normally think bugs are icky, too, but how can you resist those faces?

I was telling a fellow beader about the site and she went and looked and found this darling turtle bead set for herself:

Then, I loved my Clay River porcelain pendants and beads so much, that I had to go back to that site and pick up a few more things so I'd have enough materials to work with:

Continuing the porcelain kick, I picked up these pretty pendants from Marcia Neal:

And lastly, these darling "beach" themed clay beads from Earthenwood Studio:

I wouldn't be me if I weren't thinking of summer-themed jewelry in the dead of winter.

And, of course, just to prove that I do actually MAKE stuff with all the things I buy, here are a couple of recently finished pieces:

This pendant reminded me of the sun for some reason and I'm thrilled with the way it came out. I still have to design a necklace to hang it from, but in the meantime, I thought it was too pretty not to share it. It's especially nice that it's in a color scheme that I rarely work with - being that I'm more of a cool blue/green/purple kinda gal.

And then there's this poor disaster:

I was really happy with the cab and the bezel beading. Then I tried to do the edging...several times with several different designs and didn't like any of them. Finally settled on this design and finished it and then did the necklace and now I'm not happy with it at all. The edging design is still not right and I think I pulled the tension too tight on it because it seems to want to "roll" up on itself. The necklace doesn't have the right proportions of bead sizes and the clasp is the wrong color and size. I think this baby is headed for another round of re-do...just as soon as I figure out what the heck the RIGHT design is for it.

That's it for tonight. I promise a real post made of actual words and stuff soon. Honest. It's half-written...I just have to finish it. Which may not happen until next week as I am headed into a weekend of what can only be described as "birthday hell." Two parties to take the kid to on Saturday and then the kid's own party on Sunday.

At Chuck E. Cheese.

For 2 hours.

With 14 children (so far).

Note to self: stock up on Extra Strength Tylenol prior to attending party.

KJ

Currently listening to: "Truth No. 2" by the Dixie Chicks

P.S. I apologize for the spacing in this entry. I do actually know how to separate paragraphs appropriately and in a grammatically correct fashion, but for some reason, blogger.com has decided that those grammar rules do not apply tonight. I've fixed the spacing and re-posted this entry about 5 times now and it keeps reverting to being all smushed together. So, I am giving up the fight and going to bed.

**SALE!!!**

To kick off the New Year correctly, I thought it'd be fun to have a sale. Starting tomorrow, January 7, 2008, all orders over $20.00 will be 20% off!


I've updated the site to add a few new things and here's a preview just to whet your appetites:



This is my latest pair of bead embroidered earrings. The center cabs are labradorite.

And, of course, Santa was nice enough to bring me BEADS this year:

These gorgeous pendants are made by an artist out of porcelain and hand-painted. I can't wait to incorporate them into my designs!

These beads are clay - fired and glazed. I guess I'm on a clay/porcelain bead kick lately. I just thought the colors were so lovely and rich. Can't wait to work with these materials! Now...if I could just find the time...

Happy 2008, everyone!

KJ

Santa been berry, berry good to me..

One of the great things about the holiday season around here is the annual "Day After Christmas" sale at my LBS. 60% off the entire store (except lampwork...damnit!)!! Plus, this year, my family finally clued (I've only been doing this for, like, 10 years or something) in that I like beads and got me a gift certificate to use at the store on sale day.

I had limited time so didn't end up waiting in the mammoth lines for Swarovski, wire and chain like I'd planned, but still managed to get some other great stuff:


Got two strands of this gorgeous Jasper - one in coin shape and the other in diamond shape. I'm envisioning mixing the shapes together in a necklace, but haven't fully fleshed out the entire design yet.

These four strands are African Blue Jasper - 2 in coin shape and 2 in square shape. One of the great things about this sale is that it allows me to get enough of a particular type of bead to really play with design ideas. Usually, when it comes to stones, I have to limit myself to one strand only or I blow my entire budget on just one kind of stone.

This strand of Labradorite coins has some beautiful, but subtle, chatoyancy going on in nearly every bead. It's tough to scan, but trust me, these beads are absolutely stunning in real life.

I'm not usually a big fan of Rhodochrosite, but I thought this strand of coin-shaped beads was pretty and well matched in size and shape and I do always try to pick up something that I wouldn't normally get when I hit a show or a sale. Otherwise, I'd end up with nothing but turquoise, amethyst and blue opal when I shop.

Just to round out my stash and fill in some projects I'm currently working on, I picked up a large selection of Czech crystals. They make great filler beads when you need to add color and flash without the expense of Swarovski crystals. The store had some new and unusual color variations I hadn't seen before so I picked up multiple strands of each - this picture is just a small sample.

Other purchases included some size 6 and 8 seed beads in various colors for beading edges around cabs, some Lacy's "Stiff Stuff" (also for cab beading), some polishing cloths, glues and replacement tools.

I also spent part of yesterday on-line doing my major bead ordering for the year. Some of it was generic supplies like head pins, filler beads, earring wires and jewelry boxes for shipping orders, but I found some really different and unique stuff at a few websites so I'm looking forward to watching the mailbox over the next few weeks.

Pictures, of course, will be posted ;-)

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and I wish you all a Happy New Year! Looking forward to a fun and exciting 2008!

KJ

Merry Christmas!

Was everyone nice instead of naughty this year? I sure hope so! It's so totally worth it - Santa was VERY good to me.

I got a great new bike and so did the kid so we can start riding together. At least, we can start as soon as the HURRICANE FORCE WINDS die down! Who ordered Santa Ana's for Christmas, anyway? I protest!

I especially protest the part where I came downstairs this morning to find piles of black dirt blown under my front door and all over my entryway by the wind. Too bad I didn't find them before the kid had walked through them and then tracked them all over the carpet.

However, Santa was so good to me, I can't complain too much.

And since it's Christmas, here are a couple more pictures I never got around to posting:

Furnace glass with pearls and Swarovski crystals.

Venetian lampwork from Murano with pearls, Swarovski crystals and 14k gold filled beads.

And now, I think I hear pecan pie calling my name - or else I just had too much champagne at brunch.

Nope, definitely the pie!

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

KJ

And one more picture...

...because I have nothing more interesting to write about.

Cane glass, Swarovski crystals, freshwater pearls and sterling silver.

Site Update & Pics

Whew! Did a major site update today and added lots of new items for sale. Also updated the gallery pages with items that have recently sold.

I need a nap now, but before I go, here are the Christmas presents I've finished so far. See? If you people read the blog, you'd know what you were getting for Christmas. I'm just sayin'..

Fairydust Stripe Earrings - cane glass, Swarovski crystals and gold vermeil accents.

Black Cherry Rosebud Earrings - Murano lampworked beads with vermeil accents and Swarovski crystals in rose satin.

Raspberry Stripe Earrings - cane glass, Swarovski crystals and gold vermeil accents

Purple Suede Earrings - these look blue and green, but are actually purple and turquoise enamel and sterling silver findings with sterling silver accent beads and Swarovski crystals in my new favorite color - purple velvet. Yummmm.

These are for someone special on the kid's Christmas list and he helped pick the beads, colors and design structure. Cane glass with Swarovski crystals in blue topaz and chrysolite.

Ruby Slipper Earrings (the kid and I watched the original "Wizard of Oz" last week for the first time) - red Murano glass beads with sterling silver accent beads and Swarovski crystals in siam.

I just love earrings - so quick and easy to make and so much "bang" for the buck in terms of eye candy and adding the perfect touch to finish off an outfit. I always say you don't have to have a ton of jewelry for every outfit as long as you've got THE perfect pair of earrings!

Oh, and no nap for me. Time to go make Christmas cookies with the kid and my nephew.

Happy Holidays, all!

KJ

Nights in Black Onyx...

...perhaps I shouldn't listen to The Moody Blues while I'm trying to name new pieces...

This set just DEMANDED to be named "Nights in Black Onyx."

And yes, another sub-par scan. This new scanner has about 10 times the bells and whistles that the old one did and is smaller and lighter, but the old one was SO much easier to use and end up with good pictures on a consistent basis.

Sigh.

KJ

Thank you, Merci and Muchas Gracias!

Thank you so much to everyone who has placed a jewelry order recently! Given that I'm now a single parent trying to support what was a dual-income lifestyle on a single income, every little bit helps. This extra income means that Santa can be really good this year to a kid who really deserves it.

Now, a bit of housekeeping...

If you've ordered something from the site and I've shipped it, its picture has been moved to the Gallery Pages of the website so if you want to show someone a picture of what you've ordered, that's where you'll find it.

And, of course, pictures...

Just finished this set this weekend.

The scan is absolutely awful as it has turned everything that is bright gold to a very dark, tarnished-looking color, but it's the best I was able to do. The cab is some kind of miscellaneous agate that I got in a grab bag full of stones from Fire Mountain Gems. I actually think the stone is not very attractive on its own, but with the addition of some bead embroidery, it has really come alive.

There are two pairs of matching earrings:

Also finished this custom order today.



Once again, seriously crappy scan...sigh. A customer ordered a similar item off the website because some dippy blonde website owner (me) forgot to take that item down when it sold. So, I spent the weekend frantically trying to re-create the original which is nearly impossible given that the beads are furnace glass which makes them very unique and individual. Plus, I bought the original beads probably two years ago so no way my suppliers still had any of the same lot left. Still I was able to come pretty close, I think.

You be the judge...here's the original:

And then I finished off a couple of pairs of earrings which I've posted before, but never had time to put the tops on them. They are now actually DONE!

And yes, the really bad scanning continues...

And now, to bed. The bills and laundry will just have to wait until tomorrow...or longer.

KJ

Split personality

No matter how many times I've taken various versions of the Meyers-Briggs personality index throughout my life, the first two letters are ALWAYS the same: I and N.

The second two letters change every time I take the darned thing. Sometimes I'm an INTJ or an INTP.

Today, apparently, I'm an INFP:

Your Personality is Very Rare (INFP)

Your personality type is dreamy, romantic, elegant, and expressive. Only about 5% of all people have your personality, including 6% of all women and 4% of all men You are Introverted, Intuitive, Feeling, and Perceiving.

How Rare Is Your Personality?

I wonder if this is a Gemini thing? Today the INFP twin has the controls, but tomorrow, the INTJ twin might be running things?

Scary...

KJ

I iz smart

You paid attention during 91% of high school!

85-100% You must be an autodidact, because American high schools don't get scores that high! Good show, old chap!

Do you deserve your high school diploma?
Create a Quiz

Frankly, I think I would've gotten 100% if I'd paid more attention in geometry - HATED that class.

KJ

Quick...hand me that firehose!

A friend sent me this picture of the recent fire in our area:

This is the fire that was known as the Santiago fire. The lake in the foreground is Mission Viejo lake. The fire originated north and east of this spot (that would be off the left side of the picture) which is the area my son's school is in. Just about everything around his school burned although the school itself was fine. It did close for a week because of the fire danger and the poor air quality.

I hadn't realized until I saw this photo how close the flames came to the very populated areas of Mission Viejo and Rancho Santa Margarita. Very scary and I hope they catch the freak who set this fire and when they do that they lock him/her up and throw away the key.

KJ

And my check would be where?

My blog is worth $2,258.16.
How much is your blog worth?

Dude, seriously, I have a credit card bill that needs to get paid off. Send the check already!

KJ

Almost forgot...

...to mention that the items on the Dollar Sale page on the website are no longer available. They've all been sold. I just haven't had a spare moment to take the page down or update my shopping cart to show those items as sold out.

Note to self: time to update website and shopping cart.

Self to note: will do it right after the laundry is all folded and put away - estimated time of completion is sometime in mid-2008.

I hate writer’s block.

It’s such a strange, thing, too. Some days I can just write pages about, essentially, nothing (those who’ve been reading this blog from the early days already know this) and yet on other days it’s like I have to lasso each single word and drag it out of my brain using all my strength.

The “blocked and dragging” days (as I have creatively chose to call them) seem to happen more frequently when there’s a lot of crap going on in my personal life. You’d think it would be the other way around – isn’t emotional drama supposed to be the most potent writer’s brain fertilizer there is?

Apparently, I don’t respond well to fertilizer. Or, maybe the problem is that I’m over-fertilized these days? I suppose too much fertilizer can be just as bad as not enough.

Although, why I’m using gardening metaphors, I’ll never know. I am the absolute owner of a certified “black thumb” when it comes to gardening.

And now writing, too, it seems.

And jewelry-making – I feel like my latest work has been very rote, simple and totally uninspired. I don’t remember ever having been as unexcited about finished designs as I’ve been lately. Each project feels like it is taking eons to finish and by the time each is done, I’m so “over” the design that I don’t even want to put it up on the website.

I haven’t touched either of my other two favorite hobbies – cross stitch and rubber stamping – in several years. Some of that is just due to lack of time – there just aren’t enough hours in the day to work full time, be a single parent, get all my chores and errands done, deal with the fall out caused by the irresponsibility of the kid’s other so-called parent, and also do necessary things like eating, sleeping, exercising, etc.

See, anything creative or hobby-related didn’t even make that list.

Sometimes I think I should just give up on the art stuff, but how are you supposed to have an enjoyable, balanced life if you don’t make time for the recreational things you enjoy? What kind of life is that?

On the other hand, if I carve out the time for the fun stuff, it invariably means that required stuff such as, oh, I don’t know, 18 bazillion baskets of laundry, doesn’t get done. Or rather, it gets washed, but doesn’t get put away.

Is that really bad, though? I mean, is there some cosmic rule that says that the laundry police are gonna put me away for life because it took me two weeks to get the laundry put away by which time there was more laundry to be done?

But it’s one thing when I make a conscious choice to ignore the laundry in favor of something “fun.” It’s a totally different thing when I make that choice and the resultant creative effort is…less than inspiring. Not to mention that there’s this whole guilt battle going on in the background of my brain that tells me that I’m wasting time and should really be attacking the giant laundry monster instead of waiting until it’s large enough to take on a life of its own, rampage through the local area and cause widespread chaos and destruction.

Guilt sucks, btw. In case you didn’t know. Sadly, giant guilt capacity apparently comes standard from the factory with my model and I haven’t been able to find a mechanic competent enough to uninstall it. Not that I haven’t tried…

So, I suppose all of this is my long-winded way of saying that today I find myself tired, out of time, overwhelmed by both household chores and creative projects, and totally uninspired to tackle any of it.

Oh, and feeling guilty for not being able to overcome all of that.

On the bright side, I’ve managed to turn whining about all of it into a blog entry of decent length even if it is of totally non-sensical and meandering structure.

Go, me.

Is it a bad sign...

...when you wake up to your clock radio playing R.E.M's "It's the End of the World as We Know It"?

I'm just sayin' is all...

KJ

I'm ALLLIIIIIIIIIIIVVVVVEEEEE!!!!!!

Okay, so that was the closest I could come to a Halloween-related Blog title. Since it's been such a long time since I was able to post, here's a quick re-cap of the last month:


1. Computer died.

2. Computer replaced.

3. New computer incompatible with old...er...ancient...er...pre-historic scanner.

4. New scanner purchased.

5. New scanner looks lovely sitting on floor of office for a month waiting to be installed.

6. Ex-husband arrested for domestic violence against his new wife of 3 months (yeah, THAT marriage was a good idea...not).

7. Fun (not) adjustment to becoming completely single parent with no time off for ANYTHING.

8. Discover I have ONE white eyelash on my right eye for no apparent reason. Wonder how long it's been there that I haven't noticed and how long it will be before the rest of them turn white.

9. Stomach flu (kid, not me)

10. FIRES! Our house safe, but kid's school at "ground zero" for Santiago fire and closed all week.

11. Despite items 1-10 above, find time to meet goal of finishing Halloween jewelry BEFORE Halloween. Have had this goal for the last 3 years, but have never been successful with it until now.

12. Got new scanner installed and scanned the new jewelry.

13. Gave the website a much-needed overhaul and posted the new jewelry for sale.

And here are the pics to prove it:










Whew! Are you sure it's only been ONE month since my last post? It feels like at least a year. And of course, Halloween is always a mixed blessing for me now. My second-favorite holiday (after Christmas), but also the anniversary of the worst 24 hours of my life. At least I will have the kid with me again this year which will help give me something positive to focus on. I was concerned about how I would handle being alone on that date without him.

Well, that's about it. Hopefully, it won't be another full month before I have anything to post again! Hope everyone has a wonderful "trick or treat" time this week!


KJ

Clever Blog Post Titles are the Bane of My Existence

Today, at least. Tomorrow, I'm sure there will be other banes, but for today, clever blog titles are it.

Sorry for the lack of posts lately. The home computer crashed so on-line access has been extremely limited.

Also, not much to say. Not much happening, lately. But, I have pictures:

It's hot. Or at least, it WAS hot two weekends ago when I took this picture. It's excellent the way I posted it in such a timely fashion ;-)

New lampwork beads.

More new lampwork beads.

And yet more beads.

And yes, try to contain your surprise, more beads.

Other than that, I've been busy trying to get the computer fixed and taking the first few steps towards redecorating my house. The kid and I are each getting new beds which are being delivered tomorrow. I re-painted an accent wall in my bedroom and moved some furniture around. I bought new bedding and accent pillows to match the new wall. Next step for that room is to buy a media center to house the TV and components and finish the window treatments and possibly re-cover the dressing table chair to match the new decor and that room will be done.

The kid's room got new bedding, too. Transformers. Duh.

Moved the furniture around in there, too. I have to change out the window treatments in two tiny accent windows, put in more toy storage and empty/remove a couple of bookcases (going to work on that part tonight) and that room will be done, too.

Next after that is new carpet and furniture for the living room. I'm looking at carpet samples right now but haven't picked a color yet. Also still need to make a run to IKEA to check out some furniture I saw in their catalog that I think will be perfect, but I want to see it in person.

The family room needs a couch - I've already selected a brown leather sectional with a recliner on one end, but have to save up the $$ for it first.

The rest of this weekend will consist of trip preparation for a big family reunion that the kid and I will be attending soon. It will be the 75th anniversary of the founding of the family farm in southern New Mexico. Can't wait to go and see all my cousins and their kids! I wish it wasn't going to be 95 degrees and rotten with mosquitoes the size of airplanes, but oh well, not all vacations are to lovely tropical destinations where cute cabana boys in very revealing clothing bring me an endless round of foofy drinks.

Sigh.

That's it - I got nothing else.

Have a great weekend!

KJ