Friday, January 28, 2005


This one is so new that it's not even on the website yet! Pale blue lampwork beads with darker blue roses for accents are paired with sterling silver and Swarovski crystals. Posted by Hello

Thursday, January 27, 2005

Rant 'n Rave!

I'm up in arms over a couple of things so thought I'd spew about them here before my head explodes!

Last weekend, we had a birthday party for our 2-year-old son. It went well (no food disasters or kids whining/crying/fighting, etc.) except for one incident. For the "entertainment" portion of the party, we took all the kids over to the large neighborhood park to play on the playground equipment and we also had a
pinata filled with candy and stickers and little toys.

All is going well and the kids are politely (considering they are all age 2 - 4) waiting their turns to take a whack at the pinata when these two dogs WHO ARE NOT ON LEASHES come racing through our group and jump all over one little boy.

Now, the dogs were only playing, but they were completely wild and romping around and in the process knocked the boy down and jumped all over him before any of the adults could react to pull them off. I look up to see the idiot owner halfway across the park WATCHING THIS HAPPEN AND NOT DOING ANYTHING ABOUT IT!! Finally as he realizes that we have grabbed his dogs by their collars and are dragging them back over to him he finally stops conversing with whoever he was talking to and comes ambling over meet us and
demands to know what the hell we are doing with his dogs.

DH says he always thought the whole "Exorcist head spinning thing" was a movie trick but he swears up and down that I accomplished it for real at that moment. Now, I am a serious dog lover and will go to a lot of lengths to keep dogs out of the clutches of the dog catcher, but I told this moron that if he didn't leash his dogs right that minute that I was going to be on the cell phone to
animal control faster than he could say "lawsuit." He has no idea how lucky he is that the child was only frightened and not injured in any way...although I would count it as an injury if the poor kid ends up being phobic of dogs for the rest of his life. He also tried to argue that the leash law didn't apply to the park...dumbass apparently can't READ as there's a giant sign right at the park entrance explaining that dogs must be on leashes or owners are subject to tickets and fines.

OK..that's one, now here's the other...

We have a 2002 Saturn VUE (our other car is also a Saturn) and we've been loyal customers since 1997. Now, our VUE started behaving a bit strangely in November in that it would just not start or else would lose power while being driven. So, we took it in to the dealership (still under warranty at this point) to have it fixed. They (supposedly) looked at it and said they couldn't find anything wrong with it but that they had been having similar
problems due to the "winter additives" that are put in fuel to keep it from freezing during this time of year. Uh, okay, yeah, whatever.

Take the car home and drive it a few more days and problem happens again. Take the car back, pitch a fit and demand that it be fixed. So they keep it for 3 DAYS, replace 1 damn sensor and tell us it's fixed.

Okay, fine. Drive car for another 3-4 weeks which brings me to last Friday night where I'm in rush hour traffic w/ my little one in the back seat and the car TOTALLY dies in the middle of an intersection. Not only does this put us in danger of being smashed by all the traffic around us, but now I have to worry that some pissed-off wacko is going to do more than honk and scream obscenities at us for being stuck in the intersection.

DH is an hour away stuck on the freeway coming home from his new job and my parents (who live nearby) have ONCE AGAIN forgotten to turn on their cell phone so I can't contact them either.

Miraculously, after 20 minutes of sitting there while I'm frantically calling tow trucks and friends to try to get help, the
car finally starts (thank you, God!) and I make it home.

Now DH has to take time Saturday morning while we are in the midst of party preparations to take the car down to the dealership again. He calls them to find out what time they open and gets their normal greeting with their hours listed. So, he heads down to the dealership and what does he find when he gets there? Our dealership is GONE...as in skedaddled, vamoosed, slunk away
like a thief in the night.

There's no sign saying they've moved or providing info on another dealership to contact, etc. DH is now incredibly pissed off...which is the mood I want him in as a horde of toddlers are
about to descend on us for a birthday party...uh, NOT!

So, we decide we can't do anything about the car today, come on home and we'll handle it on Monday as car does now seem to be drivable. Sunday he takes it to put gas in it and the damn thing dies at the gas station. We call Saturn headquarters to find out THEY DON'T EVEN KNOW ONE OF THEIR DEALERSHIPS IS GONE! They refer us to the next closest location which is 40 minutes away (oh joy) so he calls them and they say it will be an hour to get a tow truck to him. I can't go pick him up because I've got the kidlet
and the car seat is...you guessed it...in the VUE.

He finally gets the tow up to the new dealership and asks them for a loaner car (which our old dealership always provided as part of the warranty) only to be told "nope, sorry, we don't do loaners, but you can go to Enterprise tomorrow and rent a car and we'll reimburse you for it). Now how the hell is he supposed to get home?

I end up having to call my poor dad and send him up there to pick up Dean and bring him back. Great - everyone's day has now been totally ruined as this pretty much took the entire day to get worked out. Plus, now dad has to come over at 7 am on Monday
to pick up the kidlet and I and take him to daycare and me to work. Dad is thrilled about that.

Get a call from the dealership around noon today that car is fixed and I should come pick it up. Dad drives me up there where they tell me that our full warranty expired 11 days ago and that we are now on the extended warranty that we bought and therefore we have $100 deductible and can I please whip out my credit card and pay them the $100.

I flip out. I'm normally pretty meek and mild-mannered and in a lot of situations I probably would've just said okay and paid the damn $100 but after the dog incident and all this other crap, I've reached the end of my fuse. It's a long fuse, but trust me, you don't want to get to the end of it. Dad actually had to take me out into the service bay to calm me down and tell me he's never seen me behave like this before and do I need to get a drink or something.

I calm down enough to go back inside and explain through gritted teeth that no, I'm not paying $100 for something that is a recurring problem and that it's not my fault the other dealership never fixed it properly and that at this point I'm a very unhappy customer and what can they do to make me a happy customer. The service manager actually has the guts to look me in the eye and tell me that he can offer me a free oil change next time we come in.

WHAAAAAATTTTT?????!!!

Yes, that's right, this dimwit actually thought that the privilege of driving 40 minutes for a free oil change (which my DH does for free in our garage at home anyway) would make up for all the crap we've been through for the last couple of months. Uhh...don't think so, Sparky! He had NO IDEA how close to total death and destruction he was at that moment but fortunately for him, my dad intervened and said "I don't think that's going to do it for us. You've got 5 minutes to think of something else."

I have no idea what was going to happen in 5 more minutes besides me going even more insane, but I guess it worked because Vince skedaddled his big, fat hiney back to his boss's office while my dad continued to try to talk me down off the ledge of insanity I was on. They finally agreed to call Saturn corporate to see if
they could waive the $100 which Saturn agreed to do but "not because the problem was re-occurring...only because you're just a few days past your warranty." Yeah, whatever, just give me my car keys, asswipe. Oh, they also tried to charge me $30 for the rental car that I never even had time to go get...got that taken off, too.

Needless to say I am no longer a Saturn proponent, but one thing I can say about them (at least for this week anyway)...Saturn's ma bitch :-)

Normally I wouldn't make a big deal out of this, but since I'm usually not someone who stands up for herself too much, I'm kinda proud of this (maybe you could tell?) Anyway, more jewelry news to come, shortly!


KJ - don't mess with me!

Wednesday, January 19, 2005

New Pics

I promised a few new pics and just uploaded them. One of my goals for this year was to stop hoarding all of my gorgeous lampwork beads that I've spent the last few years collecting and actually USE some of them! I'm so glad I did because I think the results are pretty spectacular (even if I do say so myself). There really are some fantastic lampwork artists out there and I just love having the opportunity to create with some of their work. I've taken a few lampworking classes myself and would love to do my own beads some day...but since it requires quite a workshop set up for safety as well as a kiln...well...a girl can dream! LOL!

Enjoy the new pretties and of course, everything is for sale at http://www.silverparrotdesigns.net

I'm sure everyone wants to come buy and make some purchases to support my kiln dream, right? LOL...yeah, that's what I thought!

Take care all!

KJ

Fire Roses bracelet - lampwork glass beads mixed w/ 14kt Bali vermeil beads and Swarovski crystals. Posted by Hello

Hawaiian Breeze Bracelet & Earrings - lampwork glass beads in island shades of turquoise, teal, peridot and jonquil mixed w/ crystals and Bali silver. Posted by Hello

Tuesday, January 18, 2005

Much ado about nothing...

...'cause that's what's happening around here...a whole lot of NADA! Which is why I haven't written in *gasp!* 8 whole days! Nothing to write about :-) I was going to continue ranting about the Minnesota Vikings, but since they lost this weekend (and good riddance) I suppose it's rather pointless. I did read something today that says perhaps there's a chance they might trade Moss for some decent defensive players (which heaven knows they REALLY need) but I'm still not sure I see them giving him up because of his talent. Even if they're sick of him there...not sure they'd want anyone else to have him LOL!

Lessee...what else? Ryan turned the big 2 years old last Friday! Can't believe the time has gone so fast, but he's really a big boy now! We're having a party for him this Saturday...should be fun. I'm going to try to get a "Thomas the Tank Engine" cake design for him as that is his favorite.

Made a sale on the website yesterday...goody for me :-) Also got a few more new designs up and will post a picture here shortly.

That's it...oh, except Ruth Warrick who played Phoebe Tyler Wallingford on "All My Children" died over the weekend...very sad!

Take care all!

KJ

Monday, January 10, 2005

Another week, another website!

The website is all up to date for 2005 as promised. I've gort an entire new section devoted to all the holidays/seasons of the year starting with Valentine's Day. I did a lot of work with pink, white and red getting ready for the upcoming "day of romance" and now I'm working on a whole "green" series for St. Patrick's day. Here's the link to the site: http://www.silverparrotdesigns.net

It's soooo nice (and amazing) to be ahead of schedule for a change. It helps that kidlet has managed to stay well for a while now (knock on wood!)

And....we haven't washed away yet, either, despite essentially a week of relentless rain. I don't think I ever remember so many days in a row of rain with no breaks the entire time I've lived here. Thanks, El Nino!

Despite all that, I took kidlet to the Aquarium of the Pacific on Saturday and we had a great time. He really enjoyed looking at all the "big fish." And he was such a good boy, too. Slept in the car on the way there and back and never whined or cried or caused any problems at all...even when I accidentally bonked his head on an exhibit window as I was trying to lift him up to give him a better view. Poor guy. Here he's such an amazing kid and yet mom is such a lame-o LOL!

On a sad note...I'll have more time to put in on jewelry-making as my two post-season teams in the NFL BOTH lost their Wild Card games this weekend. ARRRGGHH! San Diego and Green Bay are both out :-( Minnesota is still in and normally I would root for them (except when they are playing the Packers, I root for the Vikings to support my DH who is from Minnesota) but after seeing Randy Moss's idiotic behavior the last couple of weeks, I think I'll be rooting for whoever is playing AGAINST Minnesota. Take the 'fro and go, Randy! You are an immature, classless brat and I have NO IDEA why your stunt yesterday didn't earn you a flag for unsportsmanlike conduct. Brett Favre has more class in his pinky toe than you have in your entire body! Such a nice example you set for your younger fans...NOT!

Okay, rant over.

Don't forget to go check out updated website at http://www.silverparrotdesigns.net

Take care all!

KJ

Thursday, January 06, 2005


One of my new designs - just in time for Valentine's Day! This and much more to be up on the website at http://www.silverparrotdesigns.net soon! Posted by Hello

Tuesday, January 04, 2005

Happy New Year!

Hmmm...got kind of behind in posting over the holidays, didn't I? Oopsie. Between vacation and company holidays, I was lucky enough to have a nice, long Christmas break, but I spent most of it in a flurry of preparations (cooking, cleaning, gift wrapping, etc.) We hosted Christmas Eve at our house and then went to my parents' house on Christmas Day.

I got to hit the 50% off sale at the local bead store on 12/26 and that was lots of fun. Super crowded and long lines, but the deals were worth it. I stocked up on lots of the "essentials" such as wire, chain and findings. Then I came home and placed a few on-line orders with my favorite vendors to get me set up for the coming year. This included some more of the great bead storage boxes from http://www.beyondbeadery.com I just love them, but am starting to bust out of the ones I already have and need more storage. Or, I could stop shopping...naaaaahhhh....no fun in that LOL!

DH and I made it out to the movies once to see "Ocean's Twelve." Not as good as the first movie, but still had some funny moments so worth seeing, I guess. Some of Ryan's friends came over and had a play date with him and we all went to a New Year's Eve party at my brother's house. One of his friends is a gourment cook so we had excellent munchies! Ryan kinda ran out of steam around 8:30 PM, though, so we headed home. DH had an early tee time for the next morning so he was in bed by 10:00 and I crashed before midnight as well. We continue in our efforts to be the dullest family on the planet LOL!

We all managed to stay fairly healthy through most of the holidays, but Ryan finally came down with some type of stomach thing on Saturday night and was quite sick all day Sunday but seemed to rally and be a lot better by Monday. Unfortunately, by then he'd give the bug to me and I've been struggling with it since yesterday.

But, in amongst all that, I did find quite a bit of time for beading and will have new items up on the site as soon as I can get them scanned and get the webpages updated. I lost some time as DH used the holidays to completely wipe our computer and re-build it and this put the scanner out of commission until late last night when he finally got it running again. I did a lot of pink and red stuff for Valentine's and some pastel stuff for Spring.

I also tried to have more of a range of prices so there are definitely some bargains for those who are looking for them. In general, I prefer to work with higher quality materials (14kt gold and sterling silver, etc.) but quality costs $ and I know that I need to have something to appeal to the "bargain hunter" as well. Pewter is an excellent alternative as it is cost-effective and wears MUCH better than "plated" items. I use very few "plated" beads, findings, etc. because they don't wear well over time. The plating wears off and you're left with whatever base metal color was underneath. Even bargain hunters shouldn't have to put up with that! So, I made some items with pewter beads and findings - watch for them in the "Bargain Basement" section of the website. Just follow the "Mr. Piggy Bank" icon at http://www.silverparrotdesigns.net !

I'll post an alert here when the new items are up. Going off to work on the updates right now.

Happy 2005 everyone!

KJ