Tiny Update...

...Ok, I haven't put the resin away yet. YET! But I will. I'm gonna!!!

Yesterday I went to a bead show. Now I am jonesing to bead... heeheehee.

Can I Do It?

Ok, I think I've come to a conclusion...

I just need to put the resin away to where I can't get to it...

I have so much to do to prepare for putting this house up for sale, yet I spend so much more time foolin' with my resin! Not like my shop sales can make up for the time I spend.

Yes, I do love it. Yes. But there are THINGS to be done!! I have some pieces to finish. Then AWAY it goes. I still have items to list on etsy--I make them faster than I can list (because it is more fun to make them than to list them!! ha ha!!)... so I think I just need to put it away and list what I have. Then maybe I won't get so distracted by the glitter, what-not and hoo-haws scattered about.

Not that I can TOTALLY stop with any jewelry. I just mean the resin. Because it draws me in and keeps me there!

Because then I'll have more time to pack and, urg, clean... So resin, by this time in two days, you're packed up and hidden (I have to hide my chocolate, too, for the record. It does help, even though I KNOW where I've hidden it from myself!)!!!

Can I do it?????

Is it Wrong?

You KNOW I love my children. Truly, I do. They are my world, pretty much.

So is it wrong that I am so happy that my sister just took them away for the night? I caught myself smiling as I was walking back indoors after helping everyone settle in the car.

Not just a little smile.

These breaks are so precious--if only we knew how much time alone would mean BEFORE we had children, right? I wouldn't have spent so many Sundays in my pajamas watching dumb movies on Lifetime.

Or maybe I would have... but I would have APPRECIATED it more!!

I have a lot of housework to do. PLENTY to do to get ready to sell this house. Certainly there is jewelry to make. Resin to sand. Yes indeedy.

But I have a pretty good book from the library. And my bed isn't made. So I am going to go "waste" a little time. And keep this smile going a little bit longer....

WHEEE! My New Etsy Shop

Yay!

This has been on my mind for a while! I've been wanting to set up this new etsy shop and today is the big day! My husband has learned to make the frames, and I've learned to cut mats (previously done by my dad--but we wanted to take over before I started an actual shop). I set up shop, listed some sample names...

...Now I wait! :-) But that's ok... I am working on a couple of framed name gifts right now, which are keeping me busy. Plus the jewelry, there is always the jewelry.

I just love doing these names, and have been so pleased with the feedback I have received. I started doing them... oh, maybe 12 years ago? They look very different now! I used icky little frames from Walmart (the only place I could find decent panoramic frames!), without mats back then. They've metamorphasized into something more professional-looking. Even if I don't make a sale, I am really glad that I am trying. Well, I do WANT to make a sale, ha ha... I guess it is just that I DID IT!!

To be able to make a little money doing things I love--I mean, HOW GREAT IS THAT? I'm tryin'! :-)

Oh, I almost forgot! Here it is: It's All in a Name

Home Sweet Home

Well, we've been trying to get our house ready to put up for sale! It is an exciting time for me, as I planned to live in this "starter" home for about three years before moving on. Well, nearly fourteen years later, here we are...

I must admit, after 14 years in one house, inhabited by a major pack rat (me) who has raised little pack rats (also me)--getting things cleared out is a major challenge. ESPECIALLY when you are a pack rat, and it is hard to get rid of stuff. And your little pack rats are biting at your heels, not wanting you to get rid of any of THEIR stuff, either.

We are also making improvements that we would have enjoyed living with (like carpeting the room with the old tiles--previously mentioned in this blog--it looks so good now... I would have enjoyed that room looking like that!! And a future date of getting the bathtub reglazed!)... but that is also a challege for those of us that are home-improvement-challenged. And a bit financially strapped as well.

Despite those challenges (a word I keep using, but it fits!!)--it feels like a very good time, not an easy time, but like dreams coming together.

Funny, too--how those dreams have changed over the past decade-plus-four. I don't yearn for a gorgeous, large, new home anymore. With a giant yard in a fancy suburb. We are looking for a very modestly sized ranch (and I mean modest!) in a nice little neighborhood. A yard big enough for a swing set and a place to plant tomatoes. My husband wants unpainted molding (his pet peeve in this house!). I want to be near to school, and to have a dinette space. A driveway instead of an alley. A rec room in the basement--or room for one. Trees. Or tree. A picture window. Most importantly--and maybe this is where I've become older and wiser--my little family cozied up with me. A place to call home, where I plan to stay. A place where my kids will grow up and bring their spouses back for dinner. A place where I will have my grandkids open their Christmas presents. I guess the difference this time, this many years later, is what I am looking for. Last time, at the young age of 24 I was looking for a house. This time I am looking for a home.

Happy Birthday

I have been thinking of my friend today because it would have been his 38th birthday. He died almost five years ago (can't believe it is that long!) after a failed bone marrow transplant in an effort to cure his Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia. He left behind two young sons, (ages 3 years and 4 months), and his brave wife--also a friend. And of course the rest of us, bewildered and sad.

His wife asked everyone to please write a letter to the boys about my friend--a memory, a story, something to help these children know their father. I thought it was a splendid idea and I took the task very seriously. Truly, I felt my friend was guiding me as to what to put into the letter. I fought it (we fought like siblings!!), but in the end he won, and I am glad he did.

I asked for permission to post the letter here, and it was given. I think his message, through my words, is important to revisit now and again. (I have edited the letter to leave out real names and specific locations for the children's privacy.)

Rest in peace my friend, we miss you, we miss you, we miss you.

May 5, 2004

Dear Boys,

I went to college with your dad. I met him freshman year when he shared a dorm room with someone I knew from high school, and I knew your dad for around 13 years at the time he passed away. After that first year, for the rest of his time at college, in some capacity, he roomed with a friend that I would later marry. I had the dorm room next door to your mom, and that is how I met her and became friends. We were all a very close-knit bunch, like a little family. We hung out and ate together and fought and made-up and helped each other with homework and debated and laughed together, we got on each other's nerves, and knew we could always count on each other, much like a real family does. Some of us went on to marry each other, like your mom and dad, T.D. & A.D. and my husband and me. I always felt so lucky to be part of our group at college. I don't think it was such a common thing to have such a close bunch for the entire time we were there, and I feel so fortunate that we remained close throughout the years, although I know we did not see each other as much as we all would have liked. We have seen each other at our best and worst, and accepted one another despite our faults and more positive traits. We all have a history together, and that is something to be valued. It is something that will always bind us together no matter how many years pass.

I spent a lot of time trying to decide what memory of your dad that I wanted to share with you. Let's face it, some of the memories will have to wait until YOU are in college to hear, ha ha! And how does one choose from the years and years of memories? What one memory would embody who your father was to me? These were some of the questions going through my mind. As I searched my memories, one kept surfacing and coming to the front of my mind.

When we were still in the dorms, your dad and I had some time in the afternoon when everyone else was still in class. I would go up to his room and we would watch Bugs Bunny cartoons. Sometimes we would chat a little, it was never anything monumental, it was always quiet and restful. We just unwound together and sat, they were rare quiet moments in loud dorm and busy life. Well, that is not a very exciting memory to share of all of thirteen years, so I spent some time thinking why it kept coming to my mind, and didn't want to be shoved aside, when there MUST be something more exciting to share with you. I think now that your dad was trying to send me a message.

I think the reason for the memory coming back to me again and again is that maybe some of the best moments with each other are those "non-moments" when nothing very exciting has to happen. They are those quiet times when you are just with someone you care about, when you don't have to say anything, when you can just be, which are some of the best times. Maybe those are the kinds of times that make up a life, the moments between the funny stories and crazy incidents. Maybe those "non-moments" are really the moments that mean the most. Since your dad has left this world, I am finding myself recognizing and taking pleasure in these non-moments instead of waiting for the next "big thing" to happen.

I am pleased that I was able to share some of those moments of your dad's life with him, as well as with your mom and pleased to call them my friends. I miss him dearly.

I will count my blessings tonight, both large and small, as I have almost every day since my friend passed. It is my way to honor him, my way to show how much his life did matter to me.

Our Voices Were Heard (At Least for Now!)

A STAY OF EXECUTION

Great news!

Exerpted from the CPSC Press Release:

CPSC Grants One Year Stay of Testing and Certification Requirements for Certain Products

Washington, D.C. – The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission voted unanimously (2-0) to issue a one year stay of enforcement for certain testing and certification requirements for manufacturers and importers of regulated products, including products intended for children 12 years old and younger.

The stay of enforcement provides some temporary, limited relief to the crafters, children’s garment manufacturers and toy makers who had been subject to the testing and certification required under the CPSIA. These businesses will not need to issue certificates based on testing of their products until additional decisions are issued by the Commission.

The stay will remain in effect until February 10, 2010, at which time a Commission vote will be taken to terminate the stay.

A huge thank you to everyone who signed the petition and who raised their voices in regards to amending this law!!! However, the last line states that our work is not done!! But we do have a year to create, sell as well as convince the CPSC to save handmade!!!

Click here if you'd like to read the etsy notice which also prints the press release in full.

Almost Finished

Well--after yesterday's frustrations, today I got more done! :-) I finished my beadwoven bracelet last night as we watched an interesting and very sad documentary called "God Grew Tired of Us" about the Lost Boys of Africa. We got it from Netflix (which I love, by the way. We have this instead of cable). My husband said this morning, "You just want to hug those boys and men." True. Some people have amazing strength within them which is very inspiring. Sometimes it is so painful to realize how blessed I am while others around the world suffer so.

My husband took girlie to a birthday party, so I sanded my resin while my son played GameBoy. Tronsgirl's package is going out tomorrow, yay!! I put away my resin stuff for now--as much as I love it, I want to get to my other mediums--it keeps sucking me back in when it is out! I still have to clean up my bead stash, as well as photograph and list some etsy items... but I feel in control of my little mess of stuff here now (or maybe it seems quite a bit less important in the big picture)! :-)

Tomorrow is Monday, a new week dawns!