Happy Halloween!

We were swamped but it seems to have tapered off a little bit. I wasn't as into the trick or treaters this year as past years, it really drives the puppies nuts and it's a huge production! Mostly I wanted to play in my studio and head to bed early since I stayed up too late last night baking and watching "Dirty Jobs" re-runs. :)

This is the piece I made for the Halloween Swap I hosted on MMCA. I thought it was really cute and my swap partner really seemed to like it. I made a charm only one for my friend Mark who gifted it to his wife, she's an October baby. It was also very cute.

I know the glass looks cracked but it's not, I promise, it's just made to look old and bubbly!

Update and a new Halloween pic

Okay, so apparently my last post freaked out my in-laws (I would've called if I knew you would read it before the update!) anyway, here's the update from the ENT visit. There's a small, tiny something on my paratid gland (between the results and the ENT reading the thing went from 5mm to .5mm which is a significant difference!) that I have to get checked in 3 months. If I notice anything before now and then, I'm to call him and come in. Mostly, it was a big no progress visit so I'm not sure how good I really feel about it. Apparently if it were bigger he would biopsy it but it's a big giant pain in the ass to get to and it's not that big (hopefully it won't get bigger). Eh, I guess we'll keep an eye on it and then worry about it again in March.

So now for more fun Halloween stuff. This is a little vignette that stays up year round in the bedroom just for a little touch of Halloween spirit all year round! The domino necklace was a fun piece I made while working on some pieces a while back and I love the contrasting colors and the chunkiness of the beads. I'm going to have to find the perfect outfit for this necklace!

This weekend was also a big accomplishment for the London trip. The Eddie Bauer outlet will never be the same after we stocked up on the sweaters, down vests and lightweight jacket I picked up for the trip. It's awesome to be able to buy clothes in a variety of stores, not just the plus size options. I got some great sweaters plus a down vest with a faux fur collar.

We also got new phones so I'm texting up a storm now! :) And, I now have a set of these on my studio day bed since I just couldn't resist. We got the bats and I have a white one, blue one and a black one plus a tiny pink one for work. Rolland surprised me with the black one on Thursday and now I have the set so he's not lonely!

This is my 200th post and it's not what I had hoped!

So, I have to go to the ENT today as a follow-up to my MRI. Turns out, there are somethings outside my brain the neurologist wants to have checked and the ENT reviewed the results and wants me to come in to go over them. Because, the results which showed several abnormalities including some things in the 5mm range. Now, my husband's a nurse and he's trying to appear as if this isn't a big deal while I try not to freak out about what you have around you brain (but not in it... OY! The jokes I made here) that are 5mm and not serious. So, I'm wasting my 200th post on this sort of scared rant.

Now, if it turns out to be nothing why couldn't all of these specialists just say so and not have me come into the office to tell me that. OH, and I called about this uhm, yesterday and they are getting me in today at 1:40. Not good when I'm already nervous since last time I had to wait two weeks.

Okay, freaked myself out enough and I'm moving on so as not to panic. I'll update you later on how it went. As well as, hopefully, a more fun post for 201. With pictures. :)

My Fair Day!

We had a lovely Thursday at the fair, including lots of tasty fried goodness, and a ride on the very tall Ferris wheel. I've included a picture. Although it turns out that once you're in your mid-thirties you max out on the fair after about 2 hours. Here are the major highlights:

1. Fletcher's corny dog

2. Ferris wheel ride

3. Fried Frito burrito

4. Fried Latte

5. Auto Show

6. Dept of Agriculture building (we thought it was the petting zoo :(

7. Salt water taffy

8 Ride home with zero traffic!

BONUS: Gorgeous blue Texas skies!!!

Note: Skyline photo is from the ferris wheel. The building with what looks like a rocket landing on top of it is where I work everyday!

Fancy new camera footwork!

So here are some of the results of the fancy new camera including a new Halloween vignette!

The gray puppy looking ever so slightly crazy and adorable is Maya while the more dignified and above it all puppy is Abby. And by puppy, I mean 100 lbs each but they will always be my puppies! :) We took these on the first day of the new camera. The Halloween vignette, however, is of my very spooky candle village in the living room and was taken tonight in the very dark living room with the fancy new flash.

Seriously, if we had kids they would not be going to college! But, we go back to London our pictures will rock!

Tomorrow we are off to the State Fair of Texas and I am super excited to get all manner of foods that are on a stick and deep fried. Plus I am taking a bunch of pictures - maybe of said food on sticks deep fried! We've lived here for over 12 years and have never made it to the fair so tomorrow we're taking off at noon and going... I'll give you the skinny with pics!

Also, Happy Birthday Scot! My wonderful brother's birthday is today so send good thoughts his way. Now I have to go since getting up at 5 makes this my bedtime!

Swamped.. and yay, me!

I've been super busy at work all week. I mean super busy as in 12-13 hour days busy but finally, this weekend is a time to slow down. Well, not so much today but I have high hopes for tomorrow! We did a bunch of holiday shopping and some browsing for luggage for our upcoming London trip. I was also more than pleasantly shocked to find I can buy clothes at the Gap now. Long story, but for years the store sizes were not in my range and now they are so whoo hoo! I am now the proud owner of khaki cargo pants, a black military jacket and a green t-shirt with a crown on it (sucker, for anything with a crown). All for the reasonable price of $44 bucks. Seriously, this is not a price point I'm normally familiar with for all of these items!


We also bought a fancy new camera which then required more lens browsing, searching for bags, OY! Expect to see some great new candid puppy shots and odd test pics appearing. Okay, that's it for tonight. I'm catching up on the TIVO and then to bed!

Introducing the Remarkable Miss Frankenstein!

I've been working on this collage off and on all week as I've had a few spare minutes. I started by gessoing the canvas then applied absorbent ground to make the canvas seem more like paper and it worked! Although there's a huge warning label on this product that made my husband a little twitchy! Next, I went with the background and used a bright purple (dioxazine purple) layer that I blotted up with a paper towel then applied a bright yellow - green (thalo yellow green) that I also blotted up. Both were thinned out with acrylic glazing liquid. Then I was ready to apply collaged words to the edges of the canvas to make it seem more finished ( I also added a bat, a moon and a crown just to have more fun!). The words tell the story of Miss Frankenstein who was a little frisky in her younger days - and maybe now for all I know!

Finally, I added the front images and decided I needed another layer and added the gel transferred layer of text to the background. I love the effect of peeling wallpaper this seems to add - this isn't always a successful technique for me so I'm always especially happy when it turns out. She may find her way onto some holiday cards.

The other photos is another one in the line of our Halloween photos. This one is our front porch.

First of the Halloween Pics and latest commission piece

A friend at work asked me to make a necklace using an image with a travel/Moroccan theme. She's also switching jobs so this is what I came up with for her. She had originally requested really bright colors but I just kept coming back to more earth tones because she's just such a grounded and down to earth kind of woman that I think that's what the piece kept screaming for so the color was all in the central image. She really seemed to like it and hope she does really well in her new gig.

The next one is a bead charm I made at Art and Soul last year and I just got around to soldering it. I'm still practicing on soldering the rounded stuff and if there's a trick to it, I'd love to hear it! This one went better than my first attempt but not by much. I will conquer this!

We had dinner on Saturday night with some friends - first time to meet the spouses. We're actually good work friends but it's the first time we've all gotten together. It was really nice. Today, my friend Mark brought me a bag of goodies his wife had put together for me filled with costume jewelry, odd trinkets, bits and bobs, let me tell you, for only having met me once, she's got my ticket! I loved my goodie bag and I've got big plans for it!

Finally, the first of many Halloween pics. This one is the lovely beaker of eyeballs in the guest/hubby's bathroom. He likes the more creepy icky parts of Halloween that I normally veto but somehow this one spoke to me so he came home on Friday and had the eyeballs as a surprise!

New Goodies, but not yet

Okay, it's been a rough migraine weekend so this is a short update. We finally got the house all "halloweened" and it looks great. The front porch looks wonderful and we just have to add the outside lights. I'll post pics, probably over several posts, just to spread the October love!

I do have to say that I recently got two new art books Jane Wynn's new book and it's awesome! I love it. I can't wait to try everything in it. I also got Imperfect Lives which has a very fresh take on scrapbooking so there is new inspiration for me on my London/Paris scrapbook. This would be the trip we took in 2005. I'm really hoping to at least start it before we go back to London in November! OY! I may have gotten a little behind in those projects.

Okay, that's the short and sweet version as I head back to bed.

Collaborative cave project

My husband and I worked on a collaborative cave project for our Halloween village. We started the decorating this weekend in hopes we'll be ready for outside next weekend so by Oct 1, we'll be set for spooky good times! The idea was to build a box, cover it in spray foam insulation, sand, paint and then add to the village.

Okay, Rolland built the box out of scrap MDF and then we covered it in the foam. So far so good except the foam really expands and really doesn't spread so you have to have a lot of it. Also, it's better to do the inside first. :) We only did the top before realizing our (really my) mistake. Each foam side takes an hour to dry so we started Friday and by today, Sunday, I was able to spray paint the base coat. I then did a wash of grey and iridescent silver. Viola, we have a cave!

You'll notice the sanding didn't work out. We smoothed the rough areas out with a drywall saw. This worked like a charm and is a must have tool.

Finally, we added the rest of the houses and you have a finished village. I know it's still early but he's out of town and it's going to take me the rest of the week to get all the other decorating done! I've added before and after cave pics plus the overall village pictures. Also, Rolland gets full credit for the awesome addition to the car climbing up the cave!

Lost and Found

I originally made this charm as a pin but I never really wear it and I love it so I popped the back off and converted it to a pendant. I added two smoky quartz strings - I had to do a little re-counting to make sure the beads worked out right. Turns out that even when counting, I still can't do math! And in about 45 minutes (add in the soldering time for the two jump rings) I got a new necklace that I'll add in to the regular rotation. :)

In a non-jewelry update, I had my MRI today. It went well, no results just the test. Turns out the tube was much smaller than I remembered and I was packed in there like cotton in an aspirin bottle! I did get a warm blanket though. It was not the most comfy I had ever been but definitely not the worst either. I treated myself to Mexican food and ice cream and I was all better!

Maya puppy had to also get more medicine from the puppy dermatologist for another skin outbreak. She had been doing great but this one we think is from a flea bite (by we, I mean the dermatologist). We're blaming the dog next door that we discovered sneaking into our yard since we've never had fleas in 7 years. This is the same set of neighbors who keeps getting a new dog every time they get tired of them. They're on the fourth dog and every time they make their way into our yard. We, of course, being dog lovers try to be nice about it but after this last outbreak where our dog is actually seriously allergic - patience is gone. We even volunteered to adopt the last dog. That one disappeared and we have no idea what happened to her. Everyone, please keep up with your flea/tick medicine. We had let it go since Maya was having all her issues and she got off her bath schedule and OY! Clearly, it's time to get a new fence.

Rolland is currently in the wilds of Wisconsin and has promised to bring home more cheese. Including more cheese curds. Tasty goodness. He has learned, in his many visits, that the test of true fresh curds is that they squeak. No idea what's up with that, but that's what they tell him and we can verify that it's true. If anyone's got any info on it, you know we love the foodie tips!

Weary

Okay, this is a two part blog entry. The first part is where I whine about how tired I am and my follow-up visit to the neurologist. Your reward for listening to this rant is the second part of the blog where I finally give up the goods on the visit to Jim Neely's from our Memphis trip. OR, I suppose you can just skip to that part but it's not stopping me from whining.

PART 1: So, I go to my follow-up like the good little patient where the doctor, for the second time, is convinced I have made up ever having had a previous MRI because the hospital has lost the results. Nevermind that my husband accompanied me to said MRI, he's clearly in on the scam, we spent 30 minutes on this. Again. Before he finally admitted maybe I should just go have another one. And, again, most of this visit was spent on random discussions on how it's all just guessing and how am I sure I feel the same. OF COURSE I FEEL THE SAME! HE HASN'T DONE ANYTHING BUT CALL FOR MY "IMAGINED" MRI RESULTS!!!

All of this leads me into how tired I am. Not just tired but weary, exhausted from all the doctors, and tests and medicines to tell me I need to lose weight. Done it. Now lose more weight. Ok, working on it. Now take this pill. No, wait, the blue pill. No, wait, I meant these 4 red pills, but only at night with bread. If you still get migraines, and feel dizzy then try the pink pills, two red ones and no blue ones but try this orange one instead. Seriously, I hear Jefferson Starship playing "White Rabbit" in the background but without any of the fun trippiness. Mostly, I'm cranky, snappish and more than a little moody which is asking a lot for my husband to deal with but he does. And I start to feel like maybe I am a little bit crazy, I mean maybe my head hurting and feeling terrible is all in my head somehow - you know what I mean here. You almost wish they would find something on the MRI just so you could go "Ah" see, I told you! But then, clearly there's something wrong with you and you don't want to have a horrible illness just for validation. Seriously, I'm stubborn but there are limits here people. Anyway, 9:45 tomorrow MRI. You all are my witness and if need be, I'm calling all you asses if have to, 'cause he's really pushing it with this imaginary results business. Clearly, I've reached my limit!

Part 2: Jim Neely's is just as tasty as I hyped it up to be. It deserves all the Food Network attention and then some. Now, in the order of full disclosure I have to admit that we had less than desirable service and some of my crankiness begin to show through when I was not kept to my regular scheduled lunch timing - we went in around 1:15 and got food about 3 and thought ourselves lucky to see it. Bo mentioned his last visit it was prompt service so it could've been a holiday weekend thing.

Here's the thing. There were plenty of people who appeared to be working there but only one woman who was truly running the show and she was busy. Also, the quality of your service was clearly equal to the quality of your attitude. Bo and Rolland being nice southern boys, and me keeping my mouth shut, got us our food and drinks eventually. They got the Sampler Platters with pork and beef served in a variety of styles - ALL GOOD. I got a BBQ beef sandwich and sides. Also, tasty! Most important take away is that even with the wait, I would still go back and wait for it again, it was that good. And, that entertaining. Several people put on a show in terms of their styles. One table, not going to wait and made their feelings known. Our waitress responded in kind. The table behind us gracious and loved the place. Our waitress also responded in kind. Jim Neely's Interstate BBQ in Memphis is worth the visit for wonderful BBQ and truly wonderful people watching.

I can't sleep earrings

Other people drink warm milk. I solder. I couldn't sleep so I went ahead and finished up my soldering tonight. The husband thought these would make especially cute earrings and he was right. Little mini-dominoes with soldered edges and a jump ring make great earrings! I have one piece that needs new glass, the previous glass got cracked somehow so it has to be unfoiled, re-glassed, re-foiled. You get the picture.

Anyway, here's a fairly late night post and if you need a new trick for not being able to sleep. I highly recommend these. Also, if you need some fun light reading I just finished Victoria Laurie's new mystery today. She's a terrific author who also happens be a professional psychic living in Austin.

Busy, busy day!

I put in my Eureka DVDs and got a head start on Halloween. Tomorrow is solder day and then a few will get made into larger pieces with beaded necklaces, others will be stand alone charms. I'm also making a piece where the central charm is Rolland's pic from when he was a little boy. I ordered some great red beads for this one. Once I'm finished, I'm finally going to post back to my ETSY store. I need to get back up and going on a schedule again.

Taking Care of Business ... Memphis Style

We had a great weekend in Memphis in our extremely mini-version of Feasting on Asphalt that morphed into an homage to Elvis, although I'm not sure those two things aren't related. Our friend Bo came along as another fan of both Alton Brown and Elvis - he was also a terrific road trip guide, and came prepared with all things electronic so Rolland didn't have to worry about anything he may have left at home. We were clearly covered in the way of things that plugged in. In fact, the quote on the road was that it was like riding in the "firefly" - again, you guys have to watch it. I'm not going to keep babying you with the link, well, just this once. Go here.

Saturday we got into Graceland bright and early. The pic is of Bo and Rolland (he's in purple in case you wondered), in the hallway heading for the jungle room after having left my favorite room and the other pic, the TV room. The TV room could hold up today with a few tiny changes (and I covet that monkey!). The jungle room, however, was more than a little disappointing. It had very little in the way of a jungle and didn't live up to all they hype I had built up in my mind. After much more touring and shopping at Graceland we headed for lunch at Jim Neely's Interstate BBQ. More to come on that on tomorrow's blog - yes, it requires it's own entry.

After lunch, we hit the road heading for Sun Studio as a nice compliment to the earlier Graceland visit. Let me just say, if you ever get a chance to visit, you should. I thought the tour and the studio were awesome and really give you a sense of the history of the town as the birthplace of some of the most amazing music in the world. It really was wonderful.

A quick stop at the hotel and then we headed to Beale Street, apparently, the area has undergone some major revitalization and it showed. The neon signs on the restaurants, bars and clubs were whimsical and lovely. One of my favorites, of course included the crown. There were tons of places to satisfy the craving for "big ass beer" - what's up with that by the way? And there was some terrific music. We had an amazing dinner at a fantastic restaurant where we were drawn in by a lovely man in a truly one of a kind blue suit, alas, no blue suede shoes, but it did seem to fit the theme pretty closely anyway. You can see the waffle I still envy that Bo ordered, along with his chicken. I stuck with the chicken fried chicken while Rolland had the fried chicken and greens. All of it, was very tasty! We were not led astray by the blue suit. This was a fitting end to our feasting tour of Memphis.

I encourage everyone to take to the road and their own adventure - ours paid of in spades. I have some great memories, and ate some terrific food, plus I got to see Graceland before the monstrosity of a visitor center goes up! So hit the road people - there's tasty goodness out there.