3-06-07

So apparently we DIDN'T have a computer virus per se....it was "MALWARE". Ten times worse.

If you don't have a resident computer guru, I suggest you hang out at Best Buy on the weekends till you find a member of the Geek Squad you can stand to start inviting over for dinner on Sunday nights. Just in case. No? Well there is also much information that can be found about all things computer "geeky" , including live help to questions such as: WHY I have to have "mallacious content" imported onto my computer while looking at homework help sites or God forbid--NICKELODEON! You'd think that the hackers and jackers could better put their "talents" to work with say....the gorvernment? Ah well, one word--Karma. (And just so you know, this was my HUSBAND'S Karma that caused our computer problems.)

In other news....I made a "Better Than 'Anything' Cake" (you do know the original name for this right?). I only really ever make cake for Birthdays. Cake DONATIONS, however are excepted year round. Quentin kept asking me, "Are you SURE it's not somebody's Birthday?" I let the boys smash the Heath bars with a hammer. What fun.

Matt (DH) said he wasn't sure that my cake was better than that ONE THING....maybe not even better than French Silk Pie! Pffft! I have to admit, Christy's cake was way better than mine, but Matt didn't know that.

Well that's all I have (probably way too much anyway!) for now. Tune in next time when I show you my NEW BOOTS!!

3-05-07

Just a little update, we had a SERIOUS virus on our computer. There's one in my email as well. My husband literally worked all this weekend to try to solve the problem--which I believe he has. Prior to that, the weather made our internet service sketchy at best. If you've won beads, they are already on their way--I've just had no way to email to tell you. If you've emailed me in the last week and have not heard back, you might want to try me again. I apologize for the inconvenience .

3-01-07

Holy flying time Beady People! It's MARCH?? What's the RUSH???

Well, anyway, how are things going with you? Enjoying this winter weather I hope? Here is the view the other day from the back door of my "studio". This is after two days of melting.

We're being hit now with more winter storming and there's a snow drift out the back door that's probably two feet! Many people still don't have their power back on from LAST weekend. Geesh!

In other news...I got really tired of cleaning my young boy's room (Search -6 and Destroy-4) and really haven't done it much at ALL since probably Christmas. Because this didn't seem to phase anyone else but me, the non-janitorial approach would have probably gone on until possibly puberty (you know, then they start leavin' milk glasses and pizza rinds in there--you gotta intervene!) save for the sock shortage. Even with all the laundry done--at least that which made it to a basket and then to the laundry room, Quentin (AKA Search) kept running out of clean socks by mid-week. I knew it was time for me to start to work my magic in the Room of Doom. Mind you, this is a chore that can last two days--especially if I start REALLY cleaning and sorting. But I had to start somewhere.

I took an empty plastic box and put everything in it that was out of place. So pretty much everything . It didn't take long to fill the box before I had to start sorting. Ever sat down and sorted 45 gallons of Legos? It's like sorting beads I guess--which I love to do--only not nearly as colorful, and I don't get NEARLY the sense of satisfaction.

Anyway, two talk shows and one movie later, I did manage to find quite a few socks, but also, quite a few BEADS! Owen (AKA- Destroy) had them stashed EVERYWHERE! Every little Playmobile suitcase had beads in it, all the toy car trunks were full of beads. There were beads in the Thomas the Train roundhouse, beads in the marker box, beads in the Fisher Price garage elevator....he even had just a BAG of beads stashed under the dresser! He had a whole handful of hollows in the pocket of a pair of pants that was shoved under the bed too! Yeah, and you didn't even know I MADE hollows did you?

I'm not even sure if I should be happy that I FINALLY have a child that likes beads, or if I should be concerned that I might have a mini klepto on my hands! When questioned, Owen said, "I love them and I was just saving them from you. " Saving them FROM me. I thought that was pretty darned cute. What can you say to that? I ended up giving most of them back. They were promptly loaded onto a boat and taken into the bathtub.

2-21-07

Well, I meant to post here after Valentine's day...

Did everyone have a nice Valentine's day? Did you get chocolate? Flowers? I always have chocolate anyway, so it's not that big of a deal for Valentine's day for me--unless it was some really expensive fancy dancy chocolate. HA--that's not going to happen. I think a lot of that chocolate tastes like dirt anyway! What I DID get was an AWESOME new toilet seat and a new shower head! Oh I was so excited! I know, sounds terrible but listen to this: this new toilet seat has like hydraulics or something, so that even when I get really mad for having to put the lid down on the toilet for the UMPTEENTH time in one day,(four boys in the house--you do the math) I can SLAM it and it will still close slowly. Yeah, I know--and that's not all! The whole thing comes OFF of the toilet with just a little twist of a button and can be cleaned in the shower with my new removable shower head. It's also the most comfortable toilet seat I've ever sat on. Wow! I'm just in heaven! Enough about toilet seats.

***I've been instructed to inform you that indeed the toilet seat was NOT my Valentine's day gift!! Yeah, that would be weird huh? The SHOWER HEAD was my gift! We just NEEDED the toilet seat--which we did!***

I actually got my husband something this year too! He got a Valentine Tiki from Bodhi Boy and some chocolate golf balls. Fun stuff!

The Bead Fair was a success again this year! It's so nice to see familiar faces and meet new people. Who doesn't love a good bead show?! Thanks to Pilar and Lorna --you girls are great and your help is so valuable! Thanks too to all of the volunteers--the show would not be NEARLY what it is without you!

1-26-07

Here's some of what I've been working on.

It has been another long time since I posted in here. There probably aren't too many of you who visit here often tho are there? I know YOU, Mom. Hi! haha.

My mother just got her first computer for Christmas. She's VERY funny. She checks my website every day for some CHANGE. I told her she should watch my auctions... they are a little more exciting. She's discovered "Smiley Central", and apparently some other site with attachable email graphics. She emailed me tonight to say that 'Reunion.com can find ANYONE'S email address, should she sign up?' Geesh. Like a kid in a candy store. I've got to get over there and install some serious virus protection!

Anyway....what's new with you? For those of you keeping track, we're almost through Lego Star Wars II. I'm "True Jedi" several times over and I think I'm definately feeling 'The Force'.

Snow. We got some. Quite a lot actually. Now it's going to be COLD. VERY VERY COLD. Quentin (6) asked me today after school if he could just stay home from school until the "cold snap" broke because he was going to have inside recess for at LEAST the next week. They have already forewarned the students. All the snowpants and boots have been sent home-- I used to LIKE inside recess! It was much easier for me to compete at the Crayon/Paint table and board games than it EVER was for me on the monkey bars or tetherball!

I had some other things on my mind, but I've lost my train of thought thinking about inside recess. Maybe I'll spend a day up at school next week and bring some beads for stringing. Hmmmmm...

1-4-07

HAPPY NEW YEAR! Wow! What a frenzy the holidays are huh? Do you get the after-the-holiday-blues? I sometimes do, especially when I've had family here that has to leave and go home. This year we didn't have my husband's family here, so I'm actually past the holidays and looking forward to spring break when we get to actually go a visiting.

While the "rest of the world" is playing their PalyStation 3 and their Nintendo Wii, here at our house, Santa brought our first PlayStation 2. I remember when Nintendo 64 was the IN thing--and that's the last thing we had. I don't want you to think poorly of me for playing video games, understand that I grew up in the 70-80's. Ok, so I haven't really actually GROWN UP...all the more reason to play video games. Really, it's something that ALL of my kids and I love to do and we can do it together. That darn Lego Star Wars though. Geesh. I think the week after Christmas I changed my clothes twice and MAYBE unloaded the dishwasher once. BUT, I've made true Jedi several times and I'm about played out. Good thing because unlike "ZUMA", I can't seem to come up with any beads that could be named after anything Star Wars. Maybe Jabba. Who wants a Jabba the Hut bead? Well, probably a lot of people would actually. Hmmmm....food for thought.
ANYWAY, in unrelated news, I found this on You Tube after hearing it on the radio one night and in case you haven't seen it on my MySpace (and why would you?) I thought I would post it here:




Happy 2007--it's gonna ROCK! :-)

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12-25/26-06

Merry Christmas all! I hope you all had a joyous, healthy holiday! Things are just winding down around here, the presents are open (from two different houses!) the food has been eaten (and eaten and eaten), and I thought I was going to get some video game time with the new PS2 that Santa brought. With three boys and one man-boy in the house I guess it just wasn't in the cards for me. Who knew that you could only play two players at a time without an adapter. Obviously Santa didn't know or he DEFINATELY would have gotten an adapter. An adapter will have to be one of the things we purchase tomorrow as the kids are out spending their bouquets of gift cards. I have a feeling I will be doing more shopping now that Christmas is over than I ever did BEFORE Christmas. Even the little boys have a ton of money to spend on gift cards! It's crazy!

Well, now it's officially the day AFTER Christmas as I'm writing this. I was called away from the computer earlier on Lego detail and somehow ended up falling asleep on the sofa with a 6 year-old on my chest. It's not quite the same as when they are babies. For one thing--they are MUCH heavier now!!

I guess I don't have a whole lot more to say. I am hoping that I will get some beads made before everywhere wakes up again for the day. It's almost 4am. I should have a couple of hours. I usually don't GO to bed until this time, so it'll be interesting. Have a great day!

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12-12-06

Happy Birthday Edvard Munch !

We finally got our 4-foot, table-top, hand-me-down (from Grandma) "Charlie Brown" Christmas tree put up last night. It's older than any of my children and well, it LOOKS it. It was quite the process removing the old lights (they finally gave out!) and adding the new ones. After much anticipation-the little boys danced around me the whole time- I finally plugged the darn thing in. When I did, Quentin (he's 6) sucked in his breath and he said, "OOoH Mom! Can I have a HUG?!" To know Quentin, you'd know that this in itself may have been a little Christmas miracle. It's not that he's not an effectionate child, if you hold him DOWN, you can kiss and hug him all you want! haha! But I don't think he's EVER asked ANYONE for a hug. I think even my husband was teary eyed! And then Quentin goes on, "Mom, it's so BEAUTIFUL! Santa is going to LOVE this tree!!" it was all very sweet! And no, in case you were wondering, we HAVEN'T been out shopping anywhere where the boys could have seen a "REAL" tree! ha! Not YET anyway! Procrastination....it has it's pros!
Ok, enough of that.
If you're in my bead class, please check out the

Student Center

section for info about tonight's class.
That's all for now folks, I've got the Christmas music playing, and I'm starting to get a little excited! Is it too early to wear red and green?? I know I'm quite the fashion Queen, so whatever I do, other's will follow! (Oh ha! I got a good laugh from that--did you?)
Have a great day!

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12-05-06

Well, I really thought that since I have already had "THE CRUD" this season, that I wouldn't get it again eventhough everyone ELSE in the whole house has it. HA! My head feels like it's under water and my throat feels like someone has been scratching it with steel wool and bleach. I won't even mention the amount of snot that has come out of my nose in the last two days. Hey! Maybe I'll loose some weight! :-) I should buy stock in Kleenex. I think all this cold and flu stuff is a conspiracy anyway, so it probably isn't goign to go away any time soon.

On a LIGHTER note...my 14 year-old son is on the Lincoln High School Railmen Dance team and last weekend they won 2nd place in their class at State competition. 270 schools comepeted--the largest in the NATION! I'm pretty proud. Go figure, the boy played every sport possible his whole little life and then gets to high school and winds up on the dance team. Works for me!

Here's a pre-state performance at Norwalk High School.

That's all for now. Hope YOU are feeling well!

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11-27-06

I really don't know how some people can update and have something new to say every day. I guess my life just isn't that exciting!

I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving. Ours was rather fast and furious. Quentin turned 6 last Wednesday. SIX!! We were supposed to leave Wednesday to go to Boulder (to the in-laws) for Thanksgiving, but just after I dropped the kids off at school on Wednesday we got the call that my husband's paternal grandmother had passed away. We were kind of expecting it, but had made travel plans anyway. So instead of us going to Boulder, the in-laws (sisters too) set out on the 10-hour drive to come to OUR house for Thanksgiving. While we were waiting for the Grandparents to get here, being as it was Quentin's birthday, we thought we might as well do the obligatory trip to CHUCKIE CHEESE. Wow. Who knew that on the Wednesday afternoon before Thanksgiving that there would be SO MANY people there??? Everyone else was probably thinking the same thing! I took all four of my children amd while the birthday boy and his older sister were off "racing the streets of LA", Owen, Alex and I had some fun in the photo booth!

It's not everyone that can roll their tongue you know! Can you!?!

That's all for now. I'm still kinda wiped out from the weekend. My husband has a LARGE family on his father's side and I think I shook hands or hugged all of them. It's kinda sad that funerals are often the only time families reunite. I'm glad that they were all there though. Grandma would have been happy about that.

Rest in Peace, Mary Yoder.

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11-10-06

Happy Birthday Dad!

I want to mention the Treasures Bead Expo from last weekend--it was GREAT! For a first time bead show, I think it came together quite nicely and I think all involved, vendors and shoppers, were very pleased! Just wait, NEXT year it'll be bigger and better!!!

It's official, our first snow fall of the year! I wasn't NEARLY as excited as the kids! It was just too darn cold and windy! I like it when it's a huge white fluffy snow, and about 30 degrees with NO wind. I'm going to order that for next time. Two days ago it was 80 degrees here! There were mosquitos out again! We also had a special visitor to our garage door:

I've never seen a spider like this before! Not the best picture....I could only get so close you know!

In other news, I think that "CARS" is possibly the best movie I've seen in a VERY long time! Aside from "BRAVEHEART", it just might be my favorite movie of all time! Since it came out on video Tuesday, we've watched it like 10 times! That's on top of the time we saw it in the theatre!

One last thing-- my daughter bought this shampoo gift-pack thing the other day (meant for holiday gift giving--you know the ones) and the tag on the shampoo said, "Your hair will look so good, you'll have to shave your legs!" I just thought that was SO funny.

OK, that's all for now. More than I've had to say in a long time. :-)

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10-31-06

Happy Halloween!!

Joke: What kind of ears do Trains have? ENGINE ears!! (get it?)
(That was Owen's joke!)
Joke: What did the momma train say to the baby train? Don't forget to CHOO CHOO your food!!
(Quentin's joke)
I didn't have a joke. Either did dad. Hmph!
That's all for now. I know it's been a long time.... sorry! Be sure to check out my upcoming events page!

09-25-06

Happy Birthday to my mother Mary! Once again it's been a while since I've been here. I've been really busy. I had forgotten that I put those wasps pictures on here. Gross. I'm going to MOVE those.....if you want to see them, you'll have to go to the past posts. I should post some pics of Owen's first day of pre-school too huh? He's so cute. Every day when he gets to school he makes a b-line for the Play-Doh.

I don't think he was COMPLETELY sure that he wanted to go.

But he WAS proud to be there!

Hey Owen, maybe after school we'll get ice cream!

I know, quite the "coiffure" huh?

Yeah, so school is going well! Quentin is in school ALL day. I get almost 3 hours all to myself 4 mornings a week. It allowed me to get a lot of work done for my last show. Then last week I had to try to make up for lost time with the house cleaning. UGH. What to do first? Should I turn on the TV? Something NOT Nickelodeon might be cool. Maybe some music? Something with explicit lyrics that I can't play any other time when the kids are home? Do we HAVE any of that? OH! I know, I could just watch MTV! HA. About 3 minutes of that and I had a HUGE kootie! Nick Jr. is way better!

OH! I saw a "shooting star" Saturday night. Well, yeah, it COULD have been an alien ship......but you can't wish on THAT so I'll say it was a shooting star! I've seen a couple before, but this one was SOOOOOO close. And it was very green. It took me until it was almost gone to realize what I was even seeing. I was thinking to myself, "Make a wish! Make a WISH!" So I immediately wish for PEACE...then I'm like OH no! I mean MONEY! No....good health always.... I realize you have to go with your first choice anyway, and really if you think about it, "PEACE" covers all things good. WOuldn't you say? (I know, the MONEY part is questionable.)

ANYWAY....I think that's enough outta me. If you're here without first having checked out my new stuff for sale, you should go. There's new stuff there. Yeah. :-) Oh geeze..I almost forgot, DH Matt is builing a GO-KART. I'll post pictures soon. He's just so hamn dandy! :-)

Hey.....PEACE!

08-30-06

OK so, over the weekend Quentin ran into the house yelling for me to come outside "QUICK"! His father was out there working on STUFF, so of course I was scared to death that something had happend. I think I lose a year off of my life every time one of the kids does that to me. Just like when we're driving in the car and from the back seat I hear a huge gasp and sucking in of air--like someone's just lost a limb or something (*knock on wood that that never happens*) and I stop the car immediately and practically jump in the back seat to see what has happened. I'm then to find out the real reason for the sounds, "MOM! Did you see that TRACTOR??" UGH. But I digress.
So I run outside to see what is the deal, and Quentin proceedes to show me this wasp carrying a Cicada, climbing up a huge tree. Mind you, this was no NORMAL wasp---it was a " Cicada Killer Wasp"! What? I didn't know there was such a thing either. It was the biggest wasp I'd ever seen! It looked like it was wearing a costume.

It looked something like this. (I totally stole this picture off the interenet--sorry. I was too dumbfounded to take a picture of our actual wasp. I just stood there and stared with my mouth open)



The tree it was climbing is a HUGE flowering tree. I think it is like the fourth tallest in Iowa--it was almostin a book! I was just amazed that this wasp could carry this Cicada up this tree. We all stood there and watched it go up until we couldn't see it any more. The wasps suck out the Cicada body and then throw down the shell.
Aren't you glad I shared?
Nature.... WOW.

08-26-06

Geeze! Where has the month GONE?!?! I should be making beads right now, but I burnt my fingers pretty bad the other night and then when I sat down to work tonight, I burnt myself AGAIN! Is it some sort of sign??
Anyway.... so the kids got off to school. Here's Quentin on his first day of the BIG K!:





Doesn't he look all grown up and happy? And to think, last year at this time I had to leave him in tears clinging to me everyday at pre-school! Owen will be next, he starts pre-school next week. WHAT am I ever going to DO with my "free" time!??!!? Whoo hoo!

Lavender is a senior and Alexander is a freshman, so it's a big banner school year for us! (Sorry, no pictures of those two--you know how they are!).

What else? Well, I told you I would keep you posted on the Iowa State Fair results (were you waiting with baited breath??): My beads won first place in their catagory (handmade lampwork) and my bracelet won second place! I've never won a blue ribbon before!!!! You know what the prize money is for 1st place? $7. Isn't that funny? I'm not complaining or trying to sound ungrateful, I wasn't even entered FOR the prize money, I just think it's kinda funny. It is especially funny to me because my kids were somehow under the impression that because I won PRIZE MONEY, that they were going to get something really good out of the deal. HA! They got McDonalds.

I'll have to get some better pics of the beads that I entered and ALSO of my dear friend, Christy's beads. She entered like 10 things and I think she brought home a ribbon for everything! Way to go, Christy!! :-)

Well, that's about all the blogging I can do for right now , I'll try to chat with ya later. Hey, who knows, maybe after Owen is in school (only 1/2 day) next week, I'll even do daily check-in! WOW! Won't that be fun???

It'll probably go something like this:
1-took kids to school
2-did some laundry
3-cleaned up the kitchen
4-Tried to decide what music to listen to (What--no Sesame Street?)
5-Flossed teeth....
I bet you can't wait!! I wonder if I'll make any beads during that time, I have only ever made beads during the day like a handful of times!
OK.....I'm outta here. Talk to you soon!

08-08-06

I'm such a bad blogger. It's not that I don't care...it's that I'm extremely busy, and in PAIN as of these last few days. GRRR! Guess I should maybe re-think swinging from the monkey bars at the park without stretching properly huh?
ANyway..wanna sneak peak of my Iowa State Fair enteries?

We'll see how it goes. I'll keep you posted.

Oh! Here's another bit of excting news, the talented and famous Lori Peterson somehow stumbled upon my little website and was inspired to make these WOW! I feel like a celebrity! Thanks Lori!

Here's one more thing I feel worth mentioning cuz I think it's funny--this is from one of my auctions this week. True story!

Yesterday I got an email from a "williamszuma" and the subject of the email was, "ZUMA". Before I opened the email I thought maybe I was in big trouble for doing all of these "Zuma" beads. OR possibly someone who was searching for his last name on eBay (what--you don't do that?) came up with my beads. As it turns out, this Williams Zuma is the bank manager of a reputable bank in Johannesburg, South Africa. He has " an urgent and very confidential business proposition" for me. Apparently there are some 18 million dollars in question that he needs MY help with! Whew! And here I was worried about some sort of copyright infringement--turns out I'm going to be RICH! :-)

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Wanna see my Gathering pictures? I knew you would! CAUTION: heavily commentated!

Get me to the Gathering (pics)

08-01-06

Well, it's August already. I think time flies wether you're having fun or not!
I don't really have anything new and fascinating to say..... The boys finished swimming lessons. Quentin passed, Owen did not. Poor Owen. We've been spending a lot of time at the beach, trying to practice our skills. Well, I myself don't really HAVE too many swimming skills, but I can build a mean sand castle!
What am I entering in the fair?! I should be trying to figure that out right NOW. I have to get moving on that. I think tomorrow is the deadline. I'll let you know what I come up with. I know you'll be waiting. Haha

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07-30-06

Well, today has been a lot better. Just got back from the beach. It's still 120 degrees outside, but at least there's a nice breeze. haha

Have you ever seen the show "Dirty Jobs"? I had no idea that the Rose Bowl parade floats had to made out of all organic material. Yeow. Good idea though! (UNless you're the one that has to clean it up!)

Oh, and by the way, anyone ever seen anything like THIS:
Luftwaffe Quezon bilks hugging monotonicity aloud equivalences!distributions regrettably.fictitiously texas holdem [url=http://www.last-poker.com/] texas holdem [/url] maggots chlorophyll.flossed!interpreted: internet poker [url=http://internet-poker.all4 Email/Web address: poker tournaments live online poker Comments/Questions: Luftwaffe Quezon bilks hugging monotonicity minister!passions. poker odds free online texas tightpokercom holdem [url=http://poker-odds.only1-poker.com/] poker odds free online texas tightpokercom holdem [/url] shed?rested Duffy sheriffs empire poker [url
???? I've been getting post after post like that one in my guestbook! IT'S MAKING ME CRAZY!

07-27-06

I didn't get all the Gathering pictures loaded last night as I fell asleep right here at the computer! It's hard WORK trying to make good beads and battle the flying bugs at the same time. More on that later--I apparently you can actually get a LOT of dots on a bead while batting June bugs!

07-26-06

Ok, so how many dots CAN you get on to a regular sized bead? Well, I don't know, ask Brad Pearson. But how many dots can you get on to a regular sized bead with a huge JUNE BUG (isn't is July now??) flying around your head?!?! I'll be able to tell you tomorrow when I open the kiln. I think I feel a contest coming on--one of those, "how many jelly beads are in the jar" type of thing. ANYWAY...I'm uploading Gathering pictures as we speak. I'm gonna devote a whole new page. Yeah!

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07-25-06

Happy Birthday sister (in-law) Sarah! Just have a minute to "chat". I just wanted to say that I really wish the SPAMMERS would stay OUT of my guestbook! Geesh! WTH? I'll be back later. I think I'm ready to post pics from the Gathering! Whoo hoo!

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07-23-06

Some people do really well updating their blogs. (Blogs?) I guess I figure no one ever really comes in here anyway, so it doesn't matter too much. That and I usually don't have too much to say. I have a LOT to say NOW! I just got back from The Gathering!!! I'm still star struck and realing! I'm not going to go into it all just yet....I've got to revel in it all just a while longer, and then I'll post pictures and EVERYTHING! :-) See you soon!

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06-09-06

Well I really missed my mark for the once a month blog update huh? Busy busy busy! I don't know how some people update like every day! ANYWAY...the Artfest Midwest show is coming up!! Only only 15 days in counting! I wish I had a full-time nanny and laundry washer...(again I put the call out to anyone willing to work for beads!!)

We're also busy working on advertising etc. for the Treasures Bead Expo coming up in November. I will have some shows between now and then, I will have updates on those later.

What else? No new food in the garden this year--just some left-over rogue carrots from last year. It's funny, above ground they looked BETTER than the ones from last year, below ground, they looked WAY worse--which I didn't think was possible! I can grow flowers with the best of the green thumbers--with FOOD I'm not quite as accomplished! Aw who needs veggies anyway right? Beads, flowers and some really good chocolate--you're good to go!! Speaking of "going".....I should. Hope to se you all at the Artfest. Be sure to sign my guestbook or send me an email if you're interested in fall classes at the Art Center (there's a whole page on that from my homepage too.) See you soon!

04-13-06

Wow, well for those of you wondering what I've been up to....I guess it has been a long time since I've updated. Time really FLIES around here these days! :-)

Baseball has started....school's almost out....flowers are blooming, we've gotten our fall physicals out of the way (Quentin is starting Kindergarten! Owen will be in pre-school), and I'm trying to get ready for a big show I'm doing in June. I've also been substitute teaching the lampworking class at the Des Moines Art Center. That has been fun! What a great group of girls! I'm also on the advertising committee for what we hope to be considered Des Moines' first BIG BIG bead show (November 4th, 2006). More on that as the details emerge! My youngest sister-in-law just got back from a two year stay in Africa with the Peace Corps. I am in awe of that girl! She even brought back her dog that she got for a companion while she was there. Isn't it funny, you can't even bring a BANANA over the state lines from California, but you can bring a DOG back from Africa? Well, I'm glad for her, she loves that dog. My mother-in-law is a Doula in training, her first delivery will probably be within the week! That's pretty cool too. We're all excited for her!

I think that's about it in the proverbial nutshell for me for right now.

How's everybody out there? Any American Idol fans? That and the Sunday night HBO shows are what we do for our "adult" entertainment.

OK, well HAPPY SPRING! Happy Easter too!

02-28-06

Well, I guess I should just resolve myself to posting and updating once a month here huh?

My thanks to all of the people who came out to the Living History Farms Bead Fair. I think a good time was had by all --I know I had fun!! It was great to see some familiar faces (Bead Groupies!) and meet some new people! I think over all the show was a success!

A lot of new things are on the horizon for me right now, but I'll wait to mention them until everything is set in stone. (Hint: upcoming shows and teaching schedules--possible publications)

What else is new? American Idol...do you watch it? Ugh! I'm hopelessly addicted! Last week on Tuesday, I sat down with a new glass shipment to sort, a bag of chocolate, and a quiet house while the show was on. I thought I had gone to Heaven!! :-) See, I AM easy to please!

Well, beady people, I've got a long list of STUFF to do tomorrow, a terrible head cold and a torch that's calling my name. I'll try to get back in here sooner than later. My "goal" was once a week. Really, that's as much of me as anyone really needs! Haha!

Oh, one more thing....Owen likes to see his "name in lights", so I thought I would post these here!

Is he so cool or WHAT!?!?

(Hmmmm...yeah, I know you see the sticker on his coat--what can I say!?)

01-31-06

Is time flying or is it just me? Wasn't it just Christmas? I think I've been in a fog of paint fumes and flooring!

Once again, I don't know that I have a lot of new news to report.... I will say that I've had a lot of people signing up for the Birthday Beads ! Great! Keep 'em coming!

I'm also busy trying to get ready for the 7th Annual Iowa Bead Fair . There will be quite a few new vendors and there will be something for everyone.

Ok, well, I guess I had less to say than I thought. I'm going to go shake my KRAGG! ( Hands up if you get that joke! I think I want a T-shirt that says, "Shake your KRAGG"! My friend Christy says, "NO".... But I think it's funny!)

01-16-06

Oh for the love of laziness! I just can't seem to remember to come IN here! How about you? Are you here? Really it's that I have nothing new to report. I guess I did paint the Torch Porch this weekend. THAT was exciting! I'll have new pictures soon. I swear, I should NOT be allowed to try to pick paint colors! It's kind of like the bathroom paint story (see below) only at least I still ended up with purple! Three colors and 6 coats later....I have a rather tye-dyed effect. And that was just for TRIM color! Ah well.... This summer we're going to paint the house, I'm not even going to go ALONG to pick paint. As a matter of fact, I think we should just RE-paint the same colors!

What else? See, nothing! Pretty exciting huh? I guess I did watch CINDERELLA MAN this weekend -- I thought it was pretty darn good. I also saw MILLION DOLLAR BABY. It was good too.....I guess I just didn't think it was as great as everyone else thought it was. Maybe I was just out of the boxing mood.

Ok, I'm off to make some more beads. :-)

01-08-06

Well, Happy New Year!!! Geesh, just when I thought we were over all the bacterial infections, strep throat, scarlet fever and just general malaise at our house.......along comes the 24 hour flu! Whoo hoo!!!! Nothing like a lotta vomit to keep you up all night! I'll spare you the gory details, only two out of the six of us have had it so far, maybe the rest of us will be spared. I hope YOU are spared! Not fun stuff.

ANYWAY....what else? Over New Year's weekend we decided to "remodel" the bathroom. Even in a house with 4 males, we somehow STILL had carpet in our bathroom. I know.

So after numerous trips to Menards and Home Ddepot, we decided on linoleum. Tile would have been ideal, but all things considering, I really just wanted that darn carpet OUT of there and I wanted to replace it with something cheap and easy. OK, so we got that..then there was the issue of the tub--which I'm perfectly fine with, but DH wants a new one. Well, he wants a surround--which I HATE with a passion for some reason. We finally compromised and decided we would get a one-piece tub/wall combo dealy... (I think I used to have one of those for Barbie...) alas, it's not going to fit into the house with the turns we would have to make to get it in the bathroom etc. etc. Pffft! Go figure. Ok. At this point you may want to go back to the BEADS, cuz I'm basically just venting from here on out!!

So, forget about the tub for now, just do the floor. Do the floor or SOMEBODY is going to have to move out. That's my final answer. And paint. I wanted new paint. Something OTHER than white paint. Yeah, well, four coats and two colors later, I STILL don't like the paint! It's somewhere between calamine lotion color and nicotine stain. Nice huh? All I wanted was something BROWNISH! Is that so wrong?? ANYWAY.... The linoluem was laid PERFECTLY by my DH, (nice to have a handy man eh?) and just about the time he's putting the toilet back together, he spills a spot of PURPLE plumber's primer on the new floor. In case you don't know what that is, it's meant to etch into plastic plumbing so you can tell where the pipes go or blah blah.....whatever. I don't know. All I know is that I've got a big dark purple spot in the middle of my new linoleum! Of all colors it could have been , at least it's purple! And you know what, it's better than that old carpet!

Ok, next project, the vent fan. This new one, will actually VENT. Very novel idea! Pffft. Ok, so when DH takes off the old fan, he takes the vacuum into the bathroom onto the new purple-spotted linoleum to clean out the hole in the celing where the old fan was. Makes sense right? Well.....yeah, but not if the front wheel thingy has fallen off of your vacuum. You know the thing that keeps the beater bar/roller brush from hitting the floor. Apparently when you set a fastly spinning brush down on linoleum (I don't even think it would have to be new OR purple spotted!) it will first buff it to a shine, and then, if left long enough---will burn a hole through it. You see what I'm getting at don't you? Ahhhh....maybe we just can't have nice things.

Ok, that's all I'm going to say for now. Thanks for listening to my rant! Our submission to "Better Homes and Gardens" will have to wait--but it's STILL better than that darned carpet!!!

12-11-05

How about me for being the anti-blogger? I guess since there's no international scandal that I've taken part in lately, and all of my animals seem to be safely corraled.....

Well anyway, if I start "blogging" off all the time, you'll get to know how truely WEIRD I am, and then where will we be??

Here's one thing you might like to know, if any of your small children start to look like this:

He might be a red neck. No joke. This is a kid with the beginnings of scarlet fever. I thought it was only in the movies too! We can laugh about this picture now, because he's all better. It is hard to keep a good man down. Quentin attributed his sickness (first day--headache vomiting etc.) to the fiber optic santa that plays music that I have set up. Hey--it was a gift! It was also on the first day of decorating so of course we had to try out everything!

While we're on the subject, thought I might add this here:

LOOK MOM! NO MORE STRAWBERRY THROAT! (Scarlet fever makes their tounges and throat look like a strawberry...)

So yeah, everyone's back to "normal", back to bouncing off the walls etc. etc. etc. Did you know, that you can make a pretty "good" weapon with a rubber band and a Christmas ornament hook? Yeah, so, stop on over to my house if there's just not enough havoc at the mall for ya! We're all germ free now!

11-15-05

Well...it's official. Our first snow of the year. Wet and cold and damp. Aw but you know, watching it fall, it IS really pretty! Big HUGE flakes. Maybe I will get in the Christmas spirit and MAKE some stuff! Maybe some hot chocolate.

11-14-05

Quentin changes his favorite color from red to GREEN! Red has been his favorite for like three years.

11-13-05

I haven't been much of a "blogger" here lately huh? Well, I'm here now, and I KNOW you've been waiting with baited breath for updates right?!?! HA! Anyway...just got back from the Two Rivers Art Expo where one of my oldest and dearest friends, Bruce Wilson his paintings on display (and for sale!). It was nice to visit with him a bit and do some cathing up. I also got to see some other FABULOUS art as well as meet some other fabulous artists. I left my credit card at home, so I didn't have as much fun as I COULD have (*evil grin*!) but I did come home with a few tokens.

What else? It's WINDY here. No, I mean...it's REALLY REALLY windy!! I don't remember it EVER being this windy! And it's been going on for hours and hours. I guess that's one way to clean up stuff and air it out huh?

Oh yeah, and this happened today too. I picked up a hand mirror and the mirror part fell out of the frame. I watched in horror--like in slow motion as it fell to the hardwood floor and rolled to a stop, like a quarter would. Unbroken. WHEW!! I get kind of weird about things like that. Broken mirrors, black cats.....although, the last black cat that crossed my path is now sitting right here by me waiting for me to go to bed! More on that later.

That's really all I have for now. Not too exciting I know, sorry! :-) I'll try to come up with something really clever and deep for the next entry!

*** a little later... Just a couple more things. Tonight when I was going outside to turn on my propane, there was a HUGE spider on the doorway!! HUGE! I think the WIND blew it in! And to further stress the level of the wind, after I got the spider DEADened and the propane on, I turned on my exhaust fan. Safety safety! The wind was blowing so hard, that it was blowing my exhaust fan BACKWARDS!! Hmm...ok. That's all from me for REAL this time. I'm going to bed. Bead dreams!

11-03-05

Well, I thought maybe I better jump on the ole' BLOG Bandwagon. Not that I have much to say I guess.....funny how I never seem to SHUT UP anyway! Hmmmmmm....well, okaaay. So this is fun. I'll let you know when I come up with something good! Right Now I'm just making some updates and eating chocolate! :-)

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