Jewelry Affaire

Memory Markers are in a magazine! My friend Angela Cartwright asked me to encase her artwork in my jewelry. I made pendants and earrings for her. She wore them to Stampington Publications and they wanted to put them in their magazine. We collaborated on the article and along with photos of the jewelry and it was published.

Frustrated

I have never liked politics. I have always been too busy raising my family, getting home from work, making dinner, getting my kids ready for bed and by that time, I had to go to bed...or do ironing. I never thought much about what the politicians did for me or didn't do for me.

Now that I am retired, I have time to read the local paper. I have time to watch CNN and Fox news and boy are they different. Fox news is reporting all day long, as is CNN. The difference I see between the two is that I see things on Fox news that I don't see on CNN.

For instance I read in the Oregon paper that Hilary Clinton was in Pakistan warning them to act against militants. She had meetings with President Hamid Karzai and sounded quite firm in her statements in the paper. Fox news showed a tape of her sitting down with the same President Karzai and his aides and she was dissing Herman Cain, a Republican candidate running for President of the United States to President Karzai. She used a very demeaning tone when speaking about Herman Cain...."he's the pizza man running for president" and President Karzai gave a nervous laugh. She didn't say that he once worked for the Federal Reserve or how he had made a success of Godfather Pizza. Hilary sits there with a Pakistani president laughing about Herman Cain when Karzi was the one who okayed Osama bin Laden to live within their borders. It's all crazy to me. Herman Cain was a front runner for the Republicans and it's very suspicious to me that now he is being slandered. What difference does it make if he is accused of "sexual harassment"? Bill Clinton had an affair with Jennifer Flasomething, disgraced the oval office with his affair with Monica, which he lied about in front of the public, exposed himself to that other woman....so why does everyone look over that and he is still adored by movie stars, TV and politicians? Double standard? The Clintons get away with anything?

I suppose Hilary feels better about President Obama who used our money to make a bet on Solyndra, without researching the solvency of the company, that was facing bankruptcy when he decided to give them 0ver $5 million dollars. Now they can't account for it and it's GONE. All our hard earned money, down the green tubes...and Mr. Obama called it a "bad bet". Gambling with our money. President Obama and his cabinet know nothing when it comes to making business decisions. What about his shovel ready jobs when he first took money from us to get the stimulus bill going? How many jobs were made and where is that money and now he has a new job bill that is going to take another trillion dollars of our money, which Washington doesn't have (but can print if he needs it I guess). Our country is going down the tubes. The Democrats need to raise taxes so they can keep spending. It's like they have hit a bottomless well that keeps pouring out the money. We can't make it fast enough for the government to spend it! Thanks President Obama for the terrible changes to have made in this country and taken away any hope we had for the future. Aren't there any other Democrats who can run?

Keeping Busy

I haven't been on here in awhile. Yard work came late this year because of our traveling and so we have found ourselves out there every chance we get. We are still waiting for the wild flowers to come to full bloom. We did get a small cluster of tiny, hard, green grapes on the grape vine. I hope summer continues until at least October first!

Things have been really great here. The weather has been gorgeous, being outside spectacular, getting together with people we care about, caring for each other and our four furry girls, times of laughter, creating in the yard and on our new deck. Sedona is talking now in full sentences and she is 25 months old. Nothing is better than viewing the videos of her that mommy and Papi keep updated on their site and of course Skyping.

The Quail have been busy making baby Quail and we had a total of 34 babies between three pairs of parents. I have no idea where they go when they get big. I wonder if they have some type of GPS system that helps them find new territory. Hopefully they all weren't carried off by some hawk or eagle. Can't think of that.

Thought for the week (or month or whenever I get back here).

This world is one big mystery. It hides behind the fabric of our poor, browbeat days, shining brightly and we don't even know it. We are given life and everyday, no matter how small, we need to find something beautiful within our life. So, let's celebrate the uniqueness of ourselves and keep our attitude positive as best we can and each day will be a great one.

GETTING READY FOR SUMMER

That's right, getting ready. I was down in San Diego, California for two and a half weeks and it was lovely there. Everything was in bloom. Sedona wore her sunglasses every time we went out for a walk (which was every day). I got over my spring blahs quickly that I seem to get every year in Bend. That is because there is NO SPRING here. We are still waiting and it's June 6th! So I guess it does no good to complain, but just enjoy whatever the day brings. One gets so excited if blue skies show up in the morning, you almost want to put on your bathing suit! Well, maybe not go quite THAT far, but shorts for sure. We have had a little sun over the weekend and I was outside redoing my flower beds, getting them ready to harbor some color. It will be more of the same today. I think we are ready to downsize. Where to move next, that is the question.

THE POWER OF CONSCIOUSNESS

NOTE FROM THE UNIVERSE

There is always something to be happy about. Truly happy.

And if you have the audacity to find it and the courage to
make it your focus, in spite of the countless temptations
to do otherwise, you will have learned well, your life will
be transformed, and all things will be added unto you.

"End" game,
The Universe

Now, do you feel better?

Welcome to my world.

What a day! Actually what a two weeks it has been! I got home from Hawaii and kept on relaxing for three more days and then had to get myself out of the vacation mode because I had to make some jewelry and get my house back in order. My desk is happy because it's been busy....my mind is a mess because the desk is happy.

I have not had time to call anyone, so my friendships may be in jeopardy. I'm not feeling too good about that. I don't know where the day goes, and I know that sounds like a trite saying, but it is so true for me, especially today.

I got up to my phone going off and laid there for awhile thinking it was the clock radio, when I realized I don't have a clock radio. Jumped out of bed to talk to Tiffany for about 15 minutes. Went back into the bedroom and Jim had gotten up, so I climbed back in, thinking I would maybe get a couple of more winks. Guilt came and tapped me on the shoulder, so I threw off the covers, after all, it was 8:10. I made the bed, cleaned out the cats eyes, gave them medicine, cleaned the cat box, took my pills, put lotion on my face to get rid of the pillow marks (yeah, like that is going to work), fed the cats, got dressed, came downstairs. Took a breath, since I didn't do my yoga. Packed up the cookies I made for mom that needed to get shipped today along with a jewelry order, which took me awhile since I kept misplacing the packaging tape and my glasses. While retrieving a tin can for the cookies in my closet, a basket fell off the shelf and now I will have that to clean up. Chair pads decided to join in the fun and tumbled down on top of the flipped over basket. Cat's came to investigate. Had a small breakfast while I petted Sadie, our needy cat. Fed the birds and filled the bird baths with water. Folded a load of laundry. Checked my email and checked out jewelry supplies that I need to order. Made a sample charm for an order I have. Concerned that I don't have enough PMC for the order. Stressed about that for five minutes. Cleaned out the downstairs cat box. Talked to my step son for 20 minutes about his children. Thought about going outside on the upper deck for some fresh air, but changed my mind. Reorganized my metal stamps. Called my Aunt Marie who is 91 to catch up. Feeling bad about not calling my friends. Wondering what I will wear out to brunch if we go on Easter. Are jeans acceptable? Got back on line to see a lesson on stamping. Forgot to eat lunch so reheated leftovers in the microwave and walked out to Jim who is rototilling the wild flower bed to see if he wanted any...it's now 3:00. Jim is taking the cookies to Fed Ex for me and I need to get back to work now.

This has been a typical day for me lately. Now, don't you feel better about your day? Glad to oblige.