Tuesday, September 30, 2008

I made a funny...
















I just finished these key chains yesterday, along with some jewelry. I will post the jewelry tomorrow!

Monday, September 29, 2008

Ouch!

My knee hurt pretty badly when I woke up this morning. Not only did I scrape off the top layer of skin, but I now have swelling. I didn't notice it yesterday, but apparently I also twisted my other ankle and thumped my arm pretty good too. I am such a dork.

I have been working on some more jewelry this afternoon, and have some autumn scents and lip balm flavors on the way for Embrace. So, this is a short one for today. I will check in later, when life gets a little bit more exciting....in a good way.

Sunday, September 28, 2008

Slip Sliding Away...

Heck, after today, I don't know if this clutz should even THINK about riding a bike. Today was an off day. We all have those. You know...the kind where you just should have stayed in bed. I got 7 hours of sleep last night, but as is the case with my strange undiagnosed fatigue, I was still really tired when I woke up. I felt groggy on the way to church and then got really upset when I saw some cops cleaning up road kill and realized they were kittens. By the time I was to church, I was already holding back tears. I was listening to my Paul Simon CD, and the song "Slip Slidin' Away" was playing as I turned the car off. I slung my purse over my shoulder, picked up my scriptures, and stepped out of the car. I don't really know what happened next, but somehow, I just fell. I was parked next to the curb and sidewalk on the driver's side, so I hit the pavement first, then landed in the grass. I landed on my knee, which was all scraped up and bleeding. Someone pulling into the parking lot immediately asked if I was okay. Then the tears came. I got bandaged up when I went inside and stayed until church was over. It wasn't till I turned on my car that I heard what had been playing right before I had stepped out of the car and fell. I busted out laughing. I needed a good laugh. So, after eating lunch I went back to bed for a long nap in hopes I would be less "out of it" when I woke up. I hope everyone has a safe week. I will pay more attention to where my feet are going tomorrow!

Friday, September 26, 2008

On a scale of 1 to 10, how geeky is this bike?


So, last night, we had a mechanic come and fix the Neon. Then this morning, we notice there is a tiny amount of oil that leaked from the Civic. Good grief. It must have been jealous of the Neon getting so much attention. We just had the oil changed a few days ago, and they didn't notice anything. So, I went back to looking at the bikes on Craigslist. All of the stores I normally go to (Target, Grocery, Michaels, Office Max...and more) are 2 miles down the road. So, if I get a bike with a big 'ole basket in the back, I can just ride it down the street, do my shopping, and tote it back. I found this bike on Craigslist, and part of me really wants it. It would be perfect. However, another part of me would feel like a total geek riding around on this thing. What do you think? Seriously!

Thursday, September 25, 2008

New Wire Wrapped Necklaces!




















I finally was able to take pics today. Boy did it rain yesterday! Here are the pieces I have been working on over the past 2 weeks. Let me just say that wire wrapping is a tedious and painful process!
Hope you like them!

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Reoccuring dreams....

For some odd reason, lately I keep having dreams...er...nightmares that I have to go back to college and stay in a dorm. I had it again last night, and my dorm was filthy, and I had forgotten to sign up for any financial aid. I had no books, no bed, nothing. They usually end with me realizing that I have my cats with me, and I can't have them there. Silly, huh?

I finished some new jewelry pieces and I had hoped to get some photos taken to share with you, but yesterday it started raining when I went outside to take pics, then my battery went dead. Today, it has rained most of the day, and has been so windy that a few of the trees in the neighborhood actually blew over. I had to get out of my car and remove a large piece of palm tree bark (about 4 ft long) to even get out of our housing edition. Not good picture taking weather. Hopefully I will be able to do so tomorrow.

I had to laugh when I went to the new "10 minute oils change" down the road with the Civic today. If you have ever been to South Florida or lived here, you will totally get where I am coming from. My 10 minute oil change turned into a 30 minute one (which is still short at least). You see, the odd thing about South Florida (and maybe the whole state) is that when it comes to customer service, everything is S...L...O...W. When it comes to driving however, everyone is FAST. My neighbor (who is from Wisconsin) said she was flipped off by an 80 yr. old man last week because she didn't immediately take off when the light turned green. She followed him into the Home Depot parking lot and asked him why. She then told him he should be ashamed of himself. She said he acted very embarrassed and quickly left the scene. I have been flipped off by an old man too, and I did nothing to warrant that. I shook my head like I was ashamed of him and his wife hid her face. Glad I'm not married to that guy!

Monday, September 22, 2008

I got derailed....

I tried my hardest to get everything on my to do list done today, but alas....I was derailed. A neighbor I had never met stopped to talk to me for quite a while when I was leaving this morning, Rob's wallet was located and I had to go pick it up (this was one of the few good things that happened today), the Honda dealership wouldn't make an extra key for me (Rob lost his) because I am not listed on the title, then when I asked them to check why our SRS light was on, they said it needs a $300 repair to fix something affecting the airbag system. So, my quick 1o minute planned key making pit stop turned into an hour. I never got lunch. I finally got home and exchanged cars and went to Tire Kingdom with the Neon, and they refused to touch it. I won't even go into that. So, the Neon is still "broken" and the Honda needs repairs. If only I had a pair of sparkly red shoes I could click together and go wherever I needed.....that would be perfect. They wouldn't require gas, deplete the ozone, or result in expensive repairs. There is a possibility I could upset a nasty witch, or end up on What Not to Wear. Now THAT would be a tough decision....a new $5000 wardrobe, or my currently small and depressing one but I would keep my sparkly traveling shoes. I think I would pick the shoes....

Sunday, September 21, 2008

Look out! Monday's around the corner waiting to pounce!

I am hitting the sack early tonight. I usually stay up until at least 11 and surf Etsy, catch up on blogs, and read the news. Tomorrow is going to be a bit more action packed than this gal likes, so I will need all the energy I can get. It will be a "How many errands can we cram into one day" kinda day. A traveling mechanic came to the house today after church and took a look at the Neon. He thinks it isn't the pump at all....it is the oil light/switch. He said if it had been the pump, I would have fried the engine driving home the other day. The engine revs just fine. So, he made a list of the product and a funny little drawing of what I need to go get at Auto Zone, and he will install it. That is just one of the things to do. I sure hope this guy knows what he is doing. Rob really wanted a second opinion. So, if this works, we won't have to get a new car just yet, but we will probably need to in the not so distant future. I refuse to drive that thing. It scares me.
I am working on some jewelry pieces, but it honestly has been so crazy that I haven't been able to finish them. Everyday I plan to, and everyday something else sneaks in and takes up my "creative time."
I found my dream job in the paper today. Ah....if only I had gone to school to be a writer, I might actually have a chance. Other than blogging, I have no experience. The local newspaper is looking for a food critic to write for their paper and online reports. Rob and I always joke around that the perfect job would be a food critic. We LOVE going out to eat, and always make note of different things about each restaurant. We have been attempting to go to different restaurants in the area since we got here...although we do sometimes get sidetracked by our favorites. I will pretty much drop everything to go to Olive Garden. We also finally found a Chinese restaurant just down the road that fills my never ending craving for Happy Family Lo Mein. They give you such HUGE portions, that I always have lunch for the next day. Amazingly, it tastes even better on day two!
Well, hope everyone has a great week....I will check back in when my colossal list of to do's is done.

Saturday, September 20, 2008

Why did we leave the house today?

So, the saga with our crappy Neon continues. Rob took it into our mechanic (who is wonderful...open on Sat, squeezed us in, and only charged $10 to look at it). He said we need a new oil pump, and since that costs $425 or more, he suggested to Rob that maybe it was time to just get rid of the car and get a new one. Not exactly an expense we were planning on. Business has been slow at Rob's dental office because of the economy, and my sales have slowed too. So, then, we got the bill for my skin surgeries from this summer, which was a whopping $930. Yikes. My insurance stinks. So, we head out to eat at our favorite Indian food restaurant, and while we are there, Rob leaves his wallet in the booth, and by the time we go back to check, the owner swears no one there saw it. We know for sure he lost it there, so either some people after us found it and kept it, or the owner or his employees are not being honest. Rob lost all his keys, his cards, and driver's license. We canceled the cards and there were no charges on them. We decided on the way home that maybe we should just stay at home on Saturdays. We always seem to have bad luck. Anyone got a nice used car for sale?

Friday, September 19, 2008

How many times have you called 911?

In most of the places I have lived, you still have to call 911 even for non-emergency things like wandering animals. I had to call in again this morning on the way home from visiting teaching someone from church. I had a male pit bull (who also happened to not be neutered) and a cute Chihuahua mix run out in front of my car. They both had tags, so they belonged to someone. I pulled over and they came up to the car. You could tell they were buddies. I would have called their owners had it not been for the pit bull. The chihuahua looked harmless. So, I called the police and gave their descriptions and location while they rolled in someones trash. This is one of the reasons I don't like to go for walks by myself anymore. I worry someone's large dog (Florida is brimming with pit bulls) will maul me. There are too many irresponsible pet owners out there.
After I called the cops, I noticed that the oil light had come on in the car I was driving (Rob's car that has given us nothing but trouble since we got it) and luckily I made it home. I already spent a lot of money and time dealing with the tires on the other car this week. Our mechanic is about 30 minutes away, so I have no idea if it is safe to drive over there. Man, if SUV's are called gas guzzlers, they should call Dodge Neons money guzzlers. We have put more money into that car than the purchase price. All the seals leaked last year and Rob's car smelled like the worst funk for a long time. I had to caulk all the windows on the car. It has always had oil problems. It is always leaking out of somewhere. The steering wheel is always crooked and the car shakes like it is about to fall apart if you drive over 65 mph.
So, it looks like a wonderful start to the weekend. I planned on finally working on some jewelry today, but now I am in an awful mood. Hope everyone's day is going better than mine.

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

The shadow person who lives in our house...

Okay, so ya'll might think I am crazy, but when we first moved into this house, I kept seeing what appeared to be a person walking by out of the corner of my eye. It was shadowy and happened once or twice a week. It increased, and I didn't say anything to Rob about it because I thought he would think I was nutty. I have never really believed in "ghosts." Then one night, I woke up, sat straight up in bed (was completely awake) and gasped when I saw a dark shadowy figure sitting at the foot of my bed. My heart stopped, and I nearly screamed. As soon as I gasped, the "figure" seemed to float up and away into the ceiling and disappeared. I couldn't go back to sleep, and finally told Rob about it the next morning. He actually didn't think I was completely wacky. We haven't really had anything else go on much since then. Until last night....
We had an incident with our shadow friend again. It was around 11:30 and I was coming out of the bathroom on the far end of the house. What looked like a figure went rushing by me, towards the living room (which is on the way to the master bedroom where Rob was sleeping) and I literally almost lost my balance because I stopped so fast. I thought for sure there was a person in the house, but no one could run that fast. It made a rustling noise too. The cats were both in my computer room at the time, and the "shadowy thing" was tall like a person anyway. Well, after recovering from my freak out, I went back to the computer. A short time later, my husband started yelling "hey, Hey, HEY!" from the bedroom. He has a tendency to talk and yell in his sleep anyway, so I didn't think anything of it, except that he actually sounded lucid and awake. This morning he asked if I heard him, and I said yes. He then told me that he was yelling because he had woken up and saw someone in the room walking towards him. His eyes were open and he kept repeating it as the person got closer, and eventually disappeared. After I told him that my shadow person had ran past me in the hallway (in the direction of his room) right before he started yelling, we were both a little weirded out!

Saturday, September 13, 2008

Hey chicken head!




Cari, this is your fault, just so you know. After I saw your pics last year for your chigwen in funny hats from Target, I couldn't resist when I found this one at Target in the Halloween pet section. So, without much ado, here is Tiny in her chicken head costume. She wasn't too happy when it was on her, and then proceeded to attack the chicken head once it was removed. Now she thinks it is a game. I try to put chicken head on her and she tries to bite it and take off with it. I tried to put it on Pudgie, but she is just too tenderhearted and got her feelings hurt. She also got the hiccups afterward. No more chicken head for her.

Sale is over....

Well, our TGIF sale is over, but we will have one again in the future if you missed it. Hope everyone has a nice weekend. I am out the door to go chaperone a youth volleyball tournament at church. Unfortunately, I think I am also coming down with a cold. My allergy pills aren't touching it, and I started to get it last night. I woke up with it this morning. Yay. I will check in on Monday! Bye!

Thursday, September 11, 2008

TGIF Sale starts Friday!

OUR TGIF SALE IN MY EMBRACE BATH & BODY STORE ON ETSY.COM STARTS FRIDAY AND ENDS AT MIDNIGHT! I WILL TAKE 25% OFF YOU ITEM TOTAL (NOT INCLUDING SHIPPING AND EXCLUDES GIFT CERTIFICATES)! ALL ORDERS OVER $20 WILL RECEIVE A FREE LIP GLOSS SAMPLE! PLEASE WAIT FOR A REVISED INVOICE BEFORE PAYING VIA PAYPAL. HAVE FUN SHOPPING!

CLICK HERE TO VISIT THE SALE!

What's cookin' hot stuff?

EDITED TO ADD: The dish turned out lovely. I adjusted the amount of curry and apple juice for the recipe below. We served it over egg noodles and it was yummy. The meat was soooo tender. I think I am in love with my new crock pot!

Rob bought a crock pot last weekend. I have never cooked with a crock pot, mainly because I don't like to leave my house with appliances (especially heated ones) running. I am one of those people who is always worried I have forgotten to turn off a burner on the stove when I leave the house. I usually have to run back in and check. I used to do the same thing with my mother in high school. I would call home often to see if I had left my curling iron on. I think I did once, and after that always worried about it. So, I agreed to the occasional crock pot meal, but it would have to be a day when I would be home all day. So, I have my first effort cooking right now. It is 10am and it should be done by 6pm. I will let you know how it turns out. Here is the recipe I used, if you would like to try it yourself! Feel free to change the amount of curry to your liking. We eat curry regularly and like a lot in our food!

Curried Beef Stew Crock Pot Recipe:
1 cup small whole onions (I substituted sliced green onions, as regular ones make my belly very upset)
1 cup fresh baby carrots
10-12 red potatoes cut into quarters
2 pounds boneless beef chuck steak, cut into 1 1/2 inch pieces
1 14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes, undrained
1/2 cup apple juice
3 heaping tablespoons of curry powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
Dash of garlic powder (or use some fresh garlic)

In 3 1/2 to 4 quart slow cooker/crock pot, layer potatoes, onions, and carrots. Place beef over vegetables. In medium bowl, combine all remaining ingredients and mix well. Pour over the beef. Cover, and cook on low setting for 8-10 hours.

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

My new favorite Lip Tint Color...Inspired by Twilight!




Vamp: A sexy cool toned red with a hint of wine that was inspired by my favorite book series at the moment...Twilight! One of my favorites colors yet! ** See the pic of it on my lips for an example. I am fair with warm skin tones, and blonde hair, unlike Bella. LOL!**

I seem to be behind again this week. Yesterday I spent most of the day cleaning and preparing for dinner guests that canceled last minute, then wasn't feeling well and conked out on the couch around 7:30 and didn't wake up till almost 9. Went to bed. This morning I spent taking pics, then got derailed by a flat tire when I went to run errands. Hopefully tomorrow will be more productive. Thanks for stopping by...make sure to check out my Embrace Bath & Body Etsy store to see the two new lip tints! I also added some lemon cream Whipped Body Frosting.

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

The ideas are piling up...


I have Stick It notes all over my computer desk right now, with jewelry design sketches on them. My muse was gone for a while, and now that she( or maybe it is a he....) has returned, I don't have the time. I did order some beads online last night and hope I have time to get to them once they arrive. I spent yesterday coming up with two new Lip Tint shades and part of today taking pics of them. I need to take pics of the product itself and the swatch. I took pics of them on my own lips today. Do you have any idea how hard it is to take pictures of your own face? I felt like a dork. I need to find myself a real model....someone who has nicer lips than me. So the new shades should finally arrive in our Etsy store any day now. They will also be added to our wholesale line.

The rest of the day I spent cleaning. Rob informed me last night that were are having company tonight, so I had to quickly come up with a menu and start making the house look more presentable.

Anyway, here is a pic of one of the pendant bead I ordered that I intend to wire wrap into a super cool necklace!

Monday, September 8, 2008

Another good reason to move back up north...


In Florida, it is too dang hot to wear cute hats! I miss looking for cute hats to wear when it was cold, or if I was having a bad hair day. I have been meaning to share this gals hats, and finally remembered. My favorite one was sold the other day, but here is another cute one. You can visit her shop on Etsy by clicking the picture.
Melissa Happy Stuff

Ike took a Hike

Thank goodness! We keep having these super scary looking hurricanes that appear to be headed for us over and over again, and amazingly another one has been steered in another direction. Supposedly, Josephine was right behind Ike, but she seems to have disappeared or fizzled out. We have actually had some nice weather, and little rain for this time of year. Still hot and muggy though. This weekend wasn't anything spectacular. Rob had a bunch of church stuff to catch up on, so he spent all morning and up till about 2pm working on that. We then went and had a late lunch, early dinner at Olive Garden and went to a movie after that. I had a church lesson to prepare so I worked some more on that when we got home and then watched some TV. I did manage to clean the whole house Sat. morning though.

Yesterday after church we went to one of Rob's co-worker's house for dinner. They are from Romania, so we got to sample some traditional Romanian food. I have to admit, I was a bit terrified. When I looked up dishes online, some included pickled fish (which I know my mother is allergic to..so I probably am too), Cow tongue, intestines, and pork "jelly." Thankfully, they didn't fix anything really odd. In fact, it was really good. I don't remember the name of it, and even if I could, I wouldn't be able to pronounce it correctly.

I have a lot of business stuff to catch up on that I am behind on, so hopefully I will get some stuff done today. Hope everyone had a nice weekend!

Thursday, September 4, 2008

I have Goth toes....

So...yesterday I bought this nail polish that said Mocha Brown on the bottle. Under the lights in Target, it appeared to be a dark brown, like I wanted. I bought it and put it on yesterday, and after two coats, I now have "Goth toes." Rather than looking brown, it looks like I am wearing black nail polish. I know that is all the "rage" with the teens right now, and I have avoided it like the plague. Now, I am too lazy and/or busy to take it off, so it looks like I will have this look for at least a week. If by some accident, I die during this time, I ask that someone PLEASE fix it. I wouldn't want to be buried with black toe nails.
I had a good time playing volleyball with the teenage youth at church last night. They have a tournament coming up in a few weeks, and didn't have very many people there to practice, so I hopped in and joined a side. I haven't played volley ball for a very long time. I was surprised that I actually hadn't forgotten how to serve the ball, and managed to score a few points for the team. The funny thing is that I don't really remember most of the rules, and could never concentrate on playing AND keeping score.
We have yet another hurricane that may be headed our way. We have been spared the last two, so we are lucky. Now Ike is plowing across the ocean and is gaining strength. I told Rob this morning that we need to be prepared to get the heck out of here this time if it comes. It is already a catagory 4. Not good.
Well, I have to make yet another trip to Office Max. Take care everyone, and stay safe!

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

New Jewelry Pieces Listed....including PEA POD AND CUPCAKES!





For some odd reason, I have noticed a lot of google searches for Pea Pod jewelry leading to my blog lately, so if you came here for that, I have one available on Etsy right now. This weekend, I felt icky, and spent it at home, making jewelry, sleeping, and eating ice cream. My sore throat is gone for now, so my home "remedy" must have worked! LOL!

Here are the pieces I finished. Hope you like them! The stamped sterling silver cupcake earrings are a favorite! Please give them a home! I don't have pierced ears, and looking at them is making me sad. : (

Monday, September 1, 2008

I have a funny!

I found this online and had to share. This is totally me to a "T."

Question:
How many women with PMS does it take to change a light bulb?

Woman's Answer:
One!
ONLY ONE!!!! And do you know WHY? Because no one else in this house knows HOW to change a light bulb! They don't even know that the bulb is BURNED OUT!! They would sit in the dark for THREE DAYS before they figured it out.
And, once they figured it out, they wouldn't be able to find the #&%!* light bulbs despite the fact that they've been in the SAME CABINET for the past 17 YEARS! But if they did, by some miracle of God, actually find them, 2 DAYS LATER, the chair they dragged to stand on to change the STUPID light bulb would STILL BE IN THE SAME SPOT!!!!! AND UNDERNEATH IT WOULD BE THE WRAPPER
THE FREAKING LIGHT BULBS CAME IN!!! BECAUSE NO ONE EVER PICKS UP OR CARRIES
OUT THE GARBAGE!!!! IT'S A WONDER WE HAVEN'T ALL SUFFOCATED FROM THE PILES OF GARBAGE THAT ARE A FOOT DEEP THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE HOUSE!!
IT WOULD TAKE AN ARMY TO CLEAN THIS PLACE! AND DON'T EVEN GET ME STARTED ON WHO CHANGES THE TOILET PAPER ROLL !!

I'm sorry. What was the question?