Have a great Memorial Day weekend everybody and don't forget what Memorial Day is really about. Be safe!

This Memorial Day, while enjoying friends, family & drinks, please remember what it's all about! My wonderful step-father served in the Korean War and 2 VOLUNTARY tours in Vietnam flying spy planes. He passed from Pancreatic Cancer due to exposure from Agent Orange.....he paid the ultimate price serving his country. Luckily he had a fantastic well lived life and loved my mom, my sister and I like we were his own!

Sparkly Wheels

Well, I am hooked! I LOVE making these....and I have NO idea yet what to do with them! Can you see me? Sitting here surrounded by all of these sparkly beaded wheels wondering what-in-the-world to do with them!

You know what I love best about them? My 5 year old daughter can help me make them. After making and tying the first initial circle, I hand her the needle and tell her, for example, "Five tiny brown ones"......and it takes her about 15 minutes to get them, but she does it! AND she LOVES it! AND, if any of you out there know me as a parent, handing my 5 year old a beading needle is not something I do lightly. I actually was near controlled hysteria....but I kept it cool and kept my mouth shut. She only stuck herself one time, and she just put her finger in her mouth and kept on beading! Mama was sweating bullets! Anyway, then I weave it where it needs to go and hand her back the needle. Teamwork!

Hope you enjoy them! Let me know what you all think. Give me some ideas on color combinations or what you would do with them! Thanks!

Random Thursday Thoughts

*I miss having a kitty in the house

*Can NOT wait for our vacation to Perdido Key Florida!

*Lost a total of 26 pounds so far

* Got to get this house cleaned up before our vacation...nothing worse than coming home to a
house that needs to be cleaned

*I have SO many beads, but nothing is inspiring me

*The picture is of my moms cat Houdini....yes, he is an escape artist

*Seriously...how can one little 5 year old have so much stuff?

*I need to be making "lists" instead of being on the computer

*Need to get outside and get some sun before the storms come this afternoon

*Our grass needs mowed....but with the rain coming....

*Can NOT wait for the FOOD we are having for Memorial Day.....it is the same every year.....YUMMY!

Vacation.......Where Are You Going?

Hello! We are trying to decide......and QUICK, I might add....where we want to go on vacation! It occurred to me that I go back to work June 16th so if we want a family vacation, we better hop to it! We are contemplating Pensacola/Perdido Key area (my favorite) or a Disney cruise.....which might be too complicated without having passports!

Where are you going or what are you all doing for your summer vacation? Got any great ideas, favorite places to go? Let me know! I could use some ideas! Thanks!

Button, Button, Who's Got the Button?

Hello! Happy Tuesday to you all! Maybe it is because I have not had the energy to make a whole lot of anything lately, but I absolutely had a BLAST making these new wooden buttons!

I bought some 25mm wood buttons from Etsy....oh, who knows how long ago.....and there I was standing at the kitchen bar listening to my hubby gripe talk about how messy the bar was and I had this idea! Ok, so really, it was an idea on how to REALLY show him what a mess was! But none the less and idea was born! And behold! Embellished wood buttons, sealed with resin! Perfect for using in, well, whatever your little heart desires! I saw them used in jewelry designs 'cause that just happens to be where my brain leads me!!

I could, of course, use some feedback on these and if you could see them used in anything. I am secretly hoping you like them and you have this great epiphany and fall in LOVE with them, as you see.....I really want to make MORE!

Hello! Happy Monday to you all! I just thought I would show you all....with a little risk of spoiling it for my dad.....what I made this weekend for Father's Day presents! I went with something easy, but personal!! The top pics are of the key chain I made for my father-in-law (whose birthday just happens to be today!!!), and the bottom pics are of the key chain I made for my dad!

My father, who hails from St. Louis, but resides in Oklahoma, is a HUGE Cardinals fan!! GO CARDS! So he is receiving the STL Cardinal bottlecap key chain. Now, my father-in-law likes to watch sports on TV, but we can not actually say he is a huge fan of any particular team, for him we made a key chain with the initial of his last name and of course a pic of our little cutie!

The bottlecap was purchased from Etsy already made.....yes, yes, I know...I should have made it myself, but it was already made and ready for shipping from a seller here in Missouri and was in my mailbox within two days of purchase!! How about them apples?? Better than I could have done!

Both men will be receiving other gifts along with these handmade ones, but THOSE are being kept secret!! Shhhhhh.....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PAPA JIM!! We love you!!

Again and again, the impossible problem is solved when we see that the problem is only a tough decision waiting to be made.... Robert H. Schuller

I have a tough decision that has to be made today before noon central time.......blogging will resume at it's normal scheduled time following this break!

I Am Intrigued

Ohhhhh, I really wanna try this! I need another craft media to try like I need a hole in the head! But.......I think I am gonna have too!

Beadwork June/July 2010 Magazine

Hello! Good morning! Well, it is morning here! I had time while taking care of my little sick gal to check out my new issue of Beadwork June/July 2010 magazine. I must say that I am not a seed bead weaver....actually, I am not even sure if that is the correct wording! But....I like the magazine so I subscribe! Years and YEARS ago I saw how to make the neatest bracelet on the Carol Duvall show (oh how I miss THAT show)! Evette Potts was on and she showed how to make a DNA Bracelet. Tried to find a link and of course I can not! I made so many of those bracelets....I was a bit obsessed. At that time I had no idea what I was doing, weaving and such, all I know is that I had fun!

Anyhoo...I think that I might have found at least one or two projects in there that I can do! Usually, I am SOOOO lost reading the "how-to's" that I just end up browsing the pictures. But this time something clicked! And I understood! Woo Hoo! Bought the supplies yesterday so I am anxiously awaiting the mail!

I have a secret! I fell in love with a jewelry artist after my mother brought me a postcard from the artists table at an arts and crafts show in St. Louis.....Clayton, Mo. I think. Anyway, after getting online and looking her up I found that she had an Etsy shop. At that time I had NO idea what Etsy was, so it is this artist who introduced me to the site. Also, she did things with seed beads that I feel IN LOVE with! I have been looking, researching, Googling, and buying instructions on how to make these same type of "beaded beads". I guess I keep hoping on day Beadwork magazine will post a how-to!!

In the mean time I will be still subscribing and still hoping and maybe now actually trying some of the projects! Wish me luck, and maybe I will be back with some pictures......

Random Tuesday Thoughts

Glad that my little one can find some joy in her bubbles while still feeling under the weather!

Happy to see the blue sky....been weeks!!!

Wishing that antibiotics worked a little faster.....for ALL of us!

Happy that today is Tuesday and is an "early home" for daddy (4pm instead of 5:30pm)!!

Started a new necklace design....do not like it, so I will be starting over.

I need to learn to say NO, or at least No Thank You.....just sayin'.

Need to clean the house, do laundry, make lists, finish some custom orders, but yet, here I sit!

Have a 20 year high school reunion at the end of June.....need to start exercising to move this weight loss along!

I NEVER get tired of hearing "Mommy...I Love You"!!!

Giving Garrett Hope

Hello! You know my daughter Madelyn just turned 5! She has been attending the same daycare/preschool since she was 16 months old.....and pretty much with the SAME group of children since she started.

One of her friends is Garrett. Garret is autistic! His family is trying to get a service dog through Wilderwood Service Dogs......but they need some help! Please check out the new Facebook Fan Page Giving Garrett Hope to learn more!!!

Here is some funny trivia! Garrett's dad and I worked together, and Garrett's mom and my husband STILL work together!

Garrett has a brother, Morgan....who is also autistic. Can you imagine caring for one child with autism let alone 2? Our local newspaper did an article on the two brothers, you can read it HERE! His parents are FANTASTIC! I know that they are not alone in being caregivers of autistic children, let alone multiple children with a Spectrum Disorder! All of those caregivers deserve our love and respect!

When a diagnosis of Autism comes to your family, your entire world changes. Hopes and dreams have to be rearranged. New schedules and family activities seem too revolved around the autistic child. Often social isolation becomes as crippling as the financial burden of a special needs child. Therapies can be slow and frustrating. One begins to wonder that if there are 1 in every 150 children diagnosed with Autism, how the people and our health care system can be so limited?

Please help enrich a little boys quality of life with the help of Wilderwood Service Dogs and your donation! At least check out the new Facebook page and "Like" it, and PASS IT ON by sharing it on your page!! We CAN give hope and support for a better life for Garrett!! Thank you!

A Tale of Two......Journeys!

Hello! How are you all? I am very well thank you! And that is a statement that for the last 5 years was never heard from me! I have decided to catch you all up on the last months of my life. This might get lengthy...so you can either check out now and browse the internet some more or grab a cup of coffee and read! If you decide to stay and read....thank you, as this was a struggle to decide to let out!

In a nutshell, or as I see it in my own mind, a timeline....Monday after Halloween I went to the doctor because I was not feeling well. They did a flu test and I came back positive for H1N1. No big deal, just had to be off work for a week. But it was that week that changed everything for me....specifically the following Monday. I can't really put it into words but, to use the old saying that "I was at the end of my rope"......with what you might ask? Everything, is all I can say. You know people tell you, if you are at the end of it, hold on. But, see that was the problem....I did not want to anymore. So, I let go.

Back up to April 2005.....I was diagnosed after having my daughter with post-partum depression. It never went away. The doctors put me on Lexapro for three months and then took me off.......not.a.good.thing. I was put back on it by my general physician and took it for all these years. Every year that I went back for my yearly check up I said the same thing to my doctor.....I feel ok, but I still cry all the time and am tired to the point of exhaustion. Every year I sunk lower on the "rope" and every year I told him the same thing. But you know, I can just about justify or come up with a reason for whatever feelings I was having during this time.....new mother, husband who worked nights, Madelyn being diagnosed with medical problems, starting a new job, putting Maddy in daycare for the first time......you know....LIFE! The summer of 2009 I had had enough and my doc decided to try an addition medication....it worked for 4 weeks....so upsetting! Also, I found out I had a REALLY bad (and still do to this day) vitamin D deficiency. If you read up on it, you will find out that it can mimic the signs of depression, so my doctor thought he found the "problem".

Fast forward to Monday in November 2009. I got up, took a shower and got ready for work. Put my nightgown back on, sat in the recliner and called my manager and quit my job. Did not give notice, did not talk to my husband, did not get advice from anyone in my family.....just did it. And......I saved my life. Call it burning bridges, a bad career move, selfish, rude, whatever......I have a name for it. I call it self-preservation.

I took a stand! I called my sister...we both had just read Eat, Pray, Love. She gave me great advice, and love! I called a psychiatrist and got an appointment for January. I made an appointment with my general doc and asked for a referral to a surgeon for the Lapband procedure. I was making changes in my life that I had wanted FOR SO LONG, but I had let my friends, family, husband and doctor influence my in another direction.

I am now seeing a FANTASTIC doctor who diagnosed me with MDD with anxiety disorder. I am taking a new medication the has flat out changed my life!!!

On Friday April 30th I had my Lapband procedure and have already lost over 20 pounds, including some weight during the pre-op diet phase.

It is a "slow and steady wins the race" life with me right now. I take one day at a time, because, in truth, I can't think too far ahead or the anxiety kicks in!

So please come along with me if you like.....I am on a new journey in my life. I have not decided to open up my Etsy shops yet, as I am not feeling that "well" yet. One of the big "signs" that I had was my loss of interest in designing and making jewelry. It was not fun for me anymore. One day I hope to get back to a time when it can bring me joy again and not anxiety!

Well, thanks for reading....hope I did not bore you all, or worse, lose a couple of you as friends or fans! Stay with me....I promise I am trying to do better!

Much love!

Hello??? Is Anyone Out There?

Hello! I know...I know! Did you all think something had happened to me? Well, it did in a sense! But, I hope to be back! Yay! I missed you all! I have been debating about telling you all what has been going on since December, or just starting anew?? Still thinking about it!

Take care!