Wednesday wonders

Wednesday morning, after the night of a big meeting. My brain is still muddled and full of ideas dancing around. It was the monthly meeting of the Artists' Studio Association, I had to run the meeting, the president was ill. The meeting is due to start at 6 p.m. with a potluck. My last customer came in 5 minutes before closing time and left at 2 minutes before 6. Then I have to do the paperwork to close up shop. Needless to say the potluck was well underway by the time I got there. The meeting was an exercise in frustration. It was good, and we got a lot accomplished, but I know nothing about Roberts Rules and didn't really care. Our new (since we kind of insisted she take the job) Sergeant at Arms kept it pretty well on track and we actually kept the members kind of on task. One member, who will remain nameless, kept interrupting after every comment. I might have to kill her before the next meeting. I finally banged on the table and said, "You are out of order!" I don't know if that finally got through to her, but I don't think it hurt. She makes me crazy, and extends the length of the meeting by at least double.

Today I am running away from home for a few hours. My daughter, Tess, my granddaughter, Athena, and I are going to Newport for a few hours of fun and play time. I can't wait. We leave in about 15 minutes, so I suppose I better get dressed and get ready to go. Hopefully I will have more to report later.

TTFN

I love Etsy,com

The following are a few of the reasons I love Etsy, some of the others are found in my shop on Etsy, Cassandradesigns.etsy.com
I have yet to make my first sale, but haven't been listing for very long and am just trying to build up my inventory. I love making jewelry and have no plans to stop. I am also going to post some of my paintings, but think I should post them in a seperate shop perhaps to keep from confusing my customers. Will have to think about it for a while.

I had an interesting day at work, not too many customers, but busy. Tomorrow will be busy, too. I have several computer "projects" lined up, and get to play in the antques again. I have a pile of stuff to get priced and put out. But first I have to continue transferring stuff from the Mac to the PC. Oh, joy. The mac is so old it doesn't have USB ports, so I can't use my Jump drive to transfer data, have to use the lovely old zip drive which only holds 100 megs. I can't believe I once thought that was a lot of space. LOL. My friends stopped by and made me smile. I hope he got to grin along with me.

I found a great little gift I had bought for Tess on Etsy when I checked my mail today. It is a Snape, "Devoted to the Potions Master" pendant. She is so much a Snape fan. For those of you who are not "Harry Potter-philes" I am sorry. You are deprived. I was hooked on the first book, and have read them all and seen the movies multiple times. I love the books and wish the movies could show all the things I miss when viewing them. There is no way to explain it to those of you who are not readers. There is magic in the pages, and somehow bits of it get lost in the translation. Not to mention each book would be several days worth of movie if done line for line. There are just many unanswered questions in the movie versions if you have not read the books. And if you have read the books many of your favorite parts are just missing. Many of the visual effects are spot on, and some even better than your imagination. But many are totally lacking. If you haven't read the books and don't intend to, and you enjoy action adventure stories, you really ought to grab a "Potter-phile" and watch the movies. There may be unanswered questions, so you really need someone with the answers.
I am in the midst of painting a friend's cat. No, I haven't started painting on cats, just another forray into the world of art. I think this is the seventh cat I have painted. When it is finished I will post a picture. It should be ready for public consumption next week some time.
Well, I am out of here for tonight, will try to add more tomorrow night. Sleep well!!

Why I love Etsy.com

Etsy Buy Handmade ritazart

Thursday Night Slump

Well, finally back to post after a couple of hectic run my butt off days and nights, I am taking a little me time. Worked Tuesday afternoon like usual, then ran home, fed dad and ran to art class for open studio time. Made it home and worked on a couple of jewelry items. A pair of earrings and a bracelet from beads matching a necklace I recently made, then a wire wrapped goddess pendant for me. All done in varying shades of purple. Think I have a run on purple lately.



It is so cold here, I hope we can afford the heat we have used this month. If anything happens to dad I will be destitute. Have started my SSA disability application again. Started it in 2005, but lost my log in info, so had to start again Monday night.
Tuesday night at open studio I worked on laying out the mural I am going to paint at the glass foundry. I have a vision in my head if I can just get it to translate to the wall I will be fine.
Yesterday I went to open studio in the afternoon and worked on it some more. I didn't get a whole lot done, but the vision is getting clearer. Maybe I will try putting the basics down on the computer, then blocking in on paper.
This morning I finally finished my Valentines for my artsy/beadsy friends. I went to my cousin's house to wait for the VA rep to come help him fill out his paperwork for getting his illness service connected. That is the first step toward helping him out financially, and getting him to feel better about his life in general. Then I dropped off his bills and mailed out the Valentines to everyone except one special one that needs a box. Will have to go to bigger PO to do that. The little PO in Otis didn't have any mailing supplies. Then on the way home I stopped and picked up sandwiches and cheesy tots at, as Cassie says, Gurger King. Dad and I devoured them while I waited for Tess. Took her to the store and back home, then headed out for art class. We painted cats tonight. I love painting cats. They are probably my favorite subject matter, well, I like painting chickens and frogs, too. I have painted at least seven different cats. Some realistic cats and some whimsical. I have had a great time painting them all. I think I will be able to finish it up next week. It is done from a photo taken by my friend Gwen in Texas.
I am so tired, I haven't sat and read a book in weeks. I think tomorrow morning I will do just that. Tonight I am going to play some brain games on the computer and will head off to bed. (Just typed bead, I think I have jewelry making on the brain.) Good night!!

Monday afternoon funk Jan. 21, 2008

Well, dad is fed, and I am off to take my daughter lunch, shop at Ace and visit my cousin in the hospital. I think I figured out why he quit taking his meds. He hated dealing with the VA. He had to go to Portland on a shuttle, then take another shuttle clear across Portland just to see his Dr. He then had to do the reverse, and half the time the shuttle back to the coast had left him behind. Nice. How since his income is so low and he is so disabled he will finally get a local doctor and the VA will have to pay for it. I am going to go meet with the social worker who says she can make all this happen. He is also eligible for the Oregon Health Plan, so no matter who has to do it he will have coverage. Whew!! I may be back later tonight and add to my day. I also hope to get some me time since this is my supposed day off, but who knows if that is even a possibility. I drove my daughter to work this morning and helped her rearrange part of the shop she works in to allow for a new display table. Arrgh! And this is supposed to be my "Saturday." Ha!

Sunday Morning blahs

I guess I shouldn't have complained about the weather. I am beginning to think we will have some of everything before the next week is up. We have had sunshine, rain, frozen steps following wet nights, hail, snow mixed with rain, sleet, and now . . . they claim an arctic front is moving in. Wonderful!! NOT. I hate cold weather. It causes me to ache from head to toe, and I just don't like to be cold. But then, I don't like to be too hot, either. I guess that is why I love the central Oregon coast. It is moderate. There hasn't been a whole lot of moderation in the weather this year, though. Horrendous wind, torrential rains, now a cold snap. Well, all righty then. We shall deal with it in the way normal Oregonians do. Go back to bed. Snuggle up with a warm cat and a good book and read our way through the rest of winter.

Yesterday was a good day at work, considering the cold and damp. It was busy enough to keep me going, but cold enough to make me wish for my warm home. I actually slept well last night, got about 8 hours of sleep for once. I might have a good day based on that alone!! My cousin is in ICU again, for not taking his meds. I don't know why he does this. It always seems to happen in the winter time. He just stop taking them and stops checking his blood sugar, goes into congestive heart failure again and ends up in the hospital with me yelling at him. He always says, "I don't know." When asked why he stopped taking his meds. I guess his brother, who lives with him, is going to have to monitor his meds from now on and make him take them whether he wants to or not. I asked him if he was trying to kill himself and he said NO. As if I was evil for asking him. It makes me so mad at him. He is like a big brother to me and it hurts me when he tries to hurt himself.

Well, I guess I better get dressed. Tess will be here soon and off to work we will go.

Another day, another 49 cents.

Are you Psych-ed Out

Love them!!

Bubba gets married, Jan. 18, 2008

The wedding day started out with me getting up, feeding dad, jumping in the shower, driving 15 miles to pick up Paul, my son, driving back the 15 miles and picking up Tess, Cassie and Athena, driving another 2 hours down the coast (we got held up by construction for nearly ½ hour in the middle of the trip. I thought Paul was going to lose it, we were running so late. Cassie was entertaining herself with a dog that sang an old Elvis song, and her "puter" which makes obnoxious monkey sounds and keeps saying Choose and activity.
When we finally got to the park, there was no one there, and we arrived about 15 minutes late for the start of the wedding. Fortunately, the rest of the wedding party was even later than us. The guests were clustered in an entirely different location. It was nuts. I had reserved the meeting room/Yurt, and we had to get the key to get in. We also had to figure out where the guests were. Someone arrived after about 10 minutes and said they would round up the guests and bring them there. The mother of the bride arrived next, followed shortly by the rest of the bridal party. The wedding was held next to a covered picnic area on the shores of the lake. It was a spectacularly beautiful day. Athena and her new cousin Elias were in front of Cassie and I on the way down the aisle. Natane’s uncle-in-law sang and drummed during the entrance and exit. The service was beautiful. Cassie had a cute little basket of potpourri and tulip petals to toss. I was pushing her in a transport wheelchair. She didn’t want to be in the wheelchair until she heard she would get to throw flowers. Her little butt slid out between the seat back and the seat about halfway down the path, so I to stop and pull her back out and get her rearranged. The father of the bride said, “It’s okay Rita, they have to wait for us." It was cute. When we got to our spot and I sat down, Cassie wanted to sit in my lap. I held her and she started to cry because she couldn’t see her mommy. Mommy was officiating so she was behind the bride and groom. I calmed her down by getting her to focus on how beautiful Natane’s wedding dress was and how happy her uncle Bubba was. Then she settled down until about 2 minutes from the end when she started asking where her mommy was. As soon as Paul and Natane kissed, she could see her and everything was good again.
They got down the “aisle” and led the way back up to the reception. The food consisted of Indian Fry-bread made by the bride’s uncle, a turkey and stuffing, some sort of green whipped cream and fruit concoction, potato salad, pumpkin and apple pies, celery and dip, potato chips, and of course wedding cake. It was a beautiful spice cake with white icing topped with leaves. It was three square layers at different angles. Natane made it herself. Several of her aunts and uncles were there, Paul’s dad, step-mom and little sister were there. Not bad considering most everyone didn’t even know about the wedding until a week ago. Her grandpa and grandma didn’t even know she had been dating Paul. It was kind of weird, by it was really nice, too. Our families all seem to get along together well. Her mom is half Siletz Indian, her dad is 100% white, our family has a little native American blood, and a lot of other things as well. Spending time with my ex and his wife was fun. We have always gotten along really well, and we don’t see each other very often. It is amazing sometimes, though, how much alike Paul and his dad are. I told his dad it was sad that the dad has more hair than the son. We both had to laugh about that. Paul’s hair started thinning several years ago. His dad still has at least 90% of his. I can’t wait to see wedding photos. I have no idea who will have some we will get to see. Several people took video and photos, but there was no actual photographer.
The drive home was long and exhausting. Cassie wanted a hagurger so we went through McD’s and then she wanted to know where her chickem was. So on our way through the next town we stopped at Gurger King and got her the chickem. She had eaten at least half of her burger, then ate all the chickem. She had also really stuffed herself on fry-bread at the wedding, so I am not sure where she was putting it all. I can’t believe she only weighs 26 pounds with as much as she stuff in. Athena, Tess and I got food at Taco Bell, since we don’t have one in Lincoln City we take advantage of it when we can. We dropped the girls off at Tess’s ex’s house to spend the weekend. I came home and promptly fell asleep and took an hour and a half nap. Boy, did I need it!!

Monday, Monday, Jan. 14

Another Monday over with. Not that it is really like a Monday to me, more like a Saturday or even a Sunday. I got a lot accomplished today, maybe not the stuff I was supposed to, but a lot of stuff done anyway. Took my daughter to the store to pick up a few items for both houses. She is now ill with whatever URI it was my granddaughter had last week. Poor thing can't talk out loud without it hurting badly, so it was like talking to myself in the grocers.

Came home and fixed my mom's old-fashioned macaroni and cheese. Used this fabulous Vermont Seriously Sharp cheddar which my cousin sent us for Christmas. Wow, it was great!! I told dad we had better eat the rest of it before it had a chance to go moldy on us. I hate when theat happens. Dad even had seconds, a rare occurence for him.

Finished some heart charms, purse or cell phone charms and a purple project. I think I may still need to rewire one of the purple Swars. Dang it all, anyway.

Off to bed, tomorrow is another day.

Sat. & Sun. Jan 12-13

My littlest grandgirl had to go to the doctor yesterday. Her coughing machine kept the family up most of the night Friday. She would fall asleep from sheer exhaustion and then wake up in 1/2 hour or so due to the cough, guess it was just an upper respiratory infection. No fever, but quite a bit of congestion in her chest. Dr. at the ER turned out to be her pediatrician which is a total relief. The local hospital staff, for the most part, won't even check for the usual childhood ailments. They usually assume it relates to her Spina Bifida and want to send her immediately to the children's hospital in Portland. It is rarely related to her ailment, they are just so afraid of being sued they won't even try. Fortunately her pediatrician realized she is a child, she gets childhood ailments like other kids. She is usually just like any other 3-1/2 year old. She just can't walk and had some physical problems relating to her paraplegia. She went home from the hospital with an expectorant, an antibiotic and is already feeling a lot better. I am hoping everyone at her house got some rest last night.

My daughter went off to play some sort of word game with her dad last night. It turned out the only game available was Boggle, and she kicked his butt good. He is always very upset if he doesn't win. So I had to snicker along with her when she stopped by to tell me about it. We are all having dinner tonight. Should be interesting.

Off to work. Hope today has a few more sales than yesterday, and I hope it goes well. I have a few projects to work on, and some hearts to visualize.

Friday, Jan. 12

Well, I fell asleep last night and didn't get this posted, so here goes.

It was a pretty uneventful day until I got home. I went to my mailbox and discovered a nice package from a friend in Texas. She had sent me the most amazing assortment of her handmade lampwork beads, in a variety of colors, shapes and styles. I was totally blown away by her generosity and fell asleep in front of the TV with the bag clutched to my chest. Reminded me of my granddaughter clutching her pretty pink princess dress to her chest throughout Costco while we were shopping.

Dad is doing okay, a little tired and itchy. I am still trying to recover from having driven for five hours on Wednesday. Cassie still has a bad cough, no sniffles, or fever thank God. The rest of the family is fine.

Went and paid first month of a new storage unit to put my stuff in. My son is moving into my old place, and he is going to put the rest of my stuff in storage for me. What a nightmare. The best thing is, the storage unit is within 6 blocks of me so I will be able to pop in for an hour or two several times a week and get this crap sorted threw so I can sell off what I don't intend to keep. He and his wife are very excited about having their own place, so it is a big relief to me. I think there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Hopefully today will be a busier day at work than it has been for a few. This time of year is always down, but it has been really bad. Weather is a little better today so it might help. There was actually a tornado about 100 miles from here a couple days ago. Amazing!!! Glad it wasn't here, much as I feel sorry for the people where it was.

I will make an attempt at another report later.

Thursday Night Rambling

Well, this morning my adorable grandbaby has turned into a coughing machine, according to her mother. She says a few words and coughs, says one more and coughs again. She is in a really good mood for a sick girl, but she has no fever and is still eating and drinking. She is not eating much, but doing better than we thought she would be. Guess part of yesterday's melt-down might have been related to her getting sick.

I had planned to accomplish all sorts of things today, like really getting started on my heart project. Instead, I went shopping with my daughter, finished a project for the local visitor's center and delivered it in person to the print shop, sent out a secret Valentine to one of my friends, and arrived home only to find one in the mail from her. It had a beautiful lampwork heart on sterling silver wire with Swarovski crystals in pendant form. It is lovely pinky purply colored with darker spots. It is really beautiful. I love it!!! If I could find a picture of it I would show you what I am talking about. Dad had a problem with his urostomy bag tonight, and wouldn't let me take care of it until bedtime. He seems to forget he has to empty it every couple of hours and let it overfill and the bottom pops off his belly and pees his pants on him. Which sets him up for another infection or raw irritated skin and he tries to hide this sort of issue from me. He thinks it makes me a lot of work. He just doesn't realize hiding it makes me a lot more work. He gets skin damage, and then it takes weeks to get it back under control again. Dammit all anyway. I realize he tries to be independent about it, but he usually realizes he really can't take care of it himself anymore anyway.

Oh well, at least he is still here, and living in his own home. More tomorrow. After all, it's another day.

Wednesday, Jan. 8, to hell and back

Just a quick Cassie report. She has a little cough and sniffles kindly passed on by her sister, so she started the day a little touchy. Not a good beginning. At our usual half-way stop off point, McD's, she was just fine, not interested in eating, but fine. Okay all the way to Portland, a side trip to Costco with a new pretty princess dress for Cassie, and on to Shriners Hospital, but as soon as we got in the elevator to go up from the parking garage she knew where we were, and started a slow spiral toward the worst melt-down she has ever had. We checked in and set her on the floor to play. A toddler about 1-1/2 walked over to her, she started crying and said, she's scaring me. Tess took her to the bathroom to change her diaper and calm her. She alternated between fussing and laughing, then started crying in the hallway. One of the office aids asked her what her name was and she replied, baby. I am the baby. The gal took her to find a new toy. She got two horses with a bucket and brush for their soft tails and manes. She played okay for a little while. Then we had to go get her weighed and measured. For the first time ever, she let the aide measure her head without crying. Tess and I were both thinking, wow, maybe things will be okay. She had to take her to another room or weight and height. Weighing went fine, and she had gained 4 pounds since last appt, Yippee!! Then when they tried to measure her height, she started hysterically crying. Tess carried her back into the exam room and she got even more upset. She was sobbing so hard after the nurse practitioner came in that she threw up on Tess. We had to do the nurse interview over a screaming Cassie. They said we will leave you alone for a little while so she can calm down before the doctor comes in. When the medical personnel had left she wanted to get down on the floor, was there about 30 seconds and wanted back up, all the while still crying. Tess told her you have to calm yourself down Cassie, so I am going to make you a bed to lie down and pretend you are sleeping. She laid her shawl on the exam table and Cassie laid down on her tummy and pretended to go to sleep and whimpered for at least 5-10 minutes. She calmed down and eventually sat up. The doctor came in and she was just fine. But, the doctor is a man, and for some reason they can get her to cooperate better than any women except, Tess, me and her Aunt Kori. She almost started to cry when he started his exam, but Tess said, “Cassie, he wants to see your skin.” She is totally fascinated with the fact that she can feel the skin on her legs, but that her legs can’t feel her touching them like her arms and her belly can. He had her pick her up and let her legs dangle so he could see how her hips are doing. He says she will have to have surgery at some point on her hips, and ankles to release the muscles so thy don’t contract so much. He says for now it isn’t bothering her or causing her problems with sitting or using her wheelchair so it is nothing to worry. He says a lot of times they can wait until 7 or 8 sometimes even a little older, but sometimes 5 or 6. She will be four May 1, so we shall see. We don’t have to go back for a year unless she has a problem. We still have our quarterly appts. At Doernbecher (the children’s hospital next to Shriners), where she attends Spina Bifida clinics and sees speech, occupational therapists, pediatrician, urology, neurosurgeons, social workers, physical therapy, etc. all on one day. I am done for another day, another night, and due for some much needed rest and sleep after 5 hours drive time, a trip to the fabric store and out for dinner on the way home in addition to the time at the hospital. Whew! We are just glad we are done for another year.

Dad's 88th BD

Well Monday was dad's birthday. Big 88 today. I wasn't sure how it would go, or if anyone would remember but me. He had already receive cards from some nephews from New York, he is the last survivor of his siblings. I guess being the baby does have some advantages. My daughter stopped by on her way to work and told me to stay inside for at least a couple of hours. She had to use the rails to get to the front porch of our house, having stepped from her deck to her yard without touching her front steps. She said, "Mom it is a sheet of ice out there." It wasn't really a surprise to me since I had looked out the window earlier and seen my car encased in ice. Dad had her take salt out and sprinkle on the ice 10 minutes before she left. It was a good thing since it had started to melt by the time she headed for her car.

I made a run up to pick up my meager paycheck and popped in to help her pick out our gift for my dad. We got him a beautiful crystal eagle carving on a lighted base. He has always loved glass and he has a real affinity for eagles. I think it is our native blood which ties us to the magnificent birds. I found the funniest card for him. It showed a woman, probably in her 70s, with a large flower pot and big flowers, in her birthday suit. It said she caused quite a stir at her garden club luncheon, and it hoped he would enjoy his, too. I was laughing out loud in the midst of the card racks, so I thought he would enjoy it.

I picked us up some yummy lunch and after we had eaten, I made a bead store run to pick up supplies for an upcoming exchange on Wet Canvas - wearable art. It is a Valentine's Day heart exchange so I needed to get some heart shaped beads. I wish I was a lampworker, then I would make them, but I found some interesting ones anyway, and some cool stuff for the purple show and tell. Actually I have a beautiful focal dichro fused pendant which will be the centerpiece of my purple entry.

When I returned from bead heaven I stopped by my daughter's house and picked up my adorable youngest grandgirl and brought her to my house for the afternoon. She is such a doll. She will be four in May. I thought we would have fun here today instead of having a fun time at her house. She loves coming here and helping Grandma with her beads. The first thing she wanted was some jewelry. She loves to wear layers of necklaces and bracelets. I gave her some little cups of beads, a big metal lid to put things in, and a cute pink purse. She played very well on her own for a long time. Eventually my son called to find out what we were doing for dad's BD. I told him nothing formal, but they should stop by since my daughter would be coming to pick his niece up later. He and his soon to be wife and her boys, age 3 and 5, came to wish grandpa a happy BD, and when my daughter and her soon to be hubby came in with a birthday cake. We sang and ate german chocolate cake. The kids were in heaven. I know my older granddaughters will be upset because they weren't here. Oh well, ya snooze ya lose.

All in all I think dad had a nice birthday. Gotta go. Obviously I slept through this posting last night. So I popped in early to put it up now.

Sunday, another rainy day in paradise

I suppose there a lot worse things in the world than rain, but I get tired of it really fast. At least it is quieter than the wind. I can actually sleep through rain. I suppose that is because we get so much of it here on the Central Oregon Coast. Not that I want to live anywhere else. I have lived here most of my life, and love it!! Rain and all. The winter's aren't too cold and the summer's aren't too hot. We have the best of all of it, and it's really green. You know, mold from the rain. LOL

It is already midnight, and I am just getting around to this. About 10 minutes ago I heard my dad moving around and asked him if he was okay. He asked if I was okay. I said, of course, and asked him what he was doing. He said he was getting up he figured it was about time. I laughed and told him to go back to sleep, it was 11:30 at night. He said he figured if anyone was up it must be morning. I had to laugh. He goes to bed somewhere between 8 and 9 pm and I am a night owl. He can't figure out how anyone can be awake after 10 p.m. I doubt if he has ever seen late night TV. He has no idea what he is missing.

I love late night TV, I have to watch at least part of Jay Leno, or Craig Ferguson if I sleep through Leno. My daughter is a David Letterman addict. I find Leno endearing, where I find Letterman funny but irritating. Ferguson is probably the best comedian on TV. I love his crazy personality and his willingness to poke fun at absolutely anything.

I guess I better give it up for tonight. Tomorrow is time to finish bill paying, take stock of my beads, organize and play with Cassie in the afternoon time. It should be fun, challenging and entertaining for dad. He will be getting up in about 6 or 7 hours so I better get some sleep while I can.

There's always tomorrow!!

Saturday Night Blues

Tess turned her ankle by stepping on a sippy cup first thing this morning, so that started her day off with a boom. She was still limping tonight when I dropped her off at home.

Dad is doing okay, a little tired today. He said he made at least a dozen trips to the bathroom. It really wears him out to walk that much. I think it may be good for him to exercise more, but it does tire him. His pulmonologist says his lungs are just like they were, so nothing bad is growing in there. We will recheck in another 6 months. I was relieved, I had been a little worried. I know he had too when he remembered it. She had said it was possibly lung cancer, but at his age nothing they would operate on, and chemo would just make him miserable. So the latest scan results are a big positive. Got him fed, changed, changed his bedding and tucked him in. I can hear his cute little snore. (It is hardly more than a heavy breath, but it is comforting to hear in the middle of the night.) The cat, Baby, was laying between his legs asleep, too. Dad loves him so much, it is almost as if he had lived with him his whole 10 year life. Dad calls him his cat. He sneaks him little meaty treats from his meals, and he gets a real kick out of watching him play with his catnip toys. The funniest thing Baby does is growl when he sees a stranger outside. He thinks he is the watch dog. I don't know if he realizes he is a cat~LOL.

Tired. Oh yeah, I am beat, done in, ready to call it a night. And yet, I am not really very sleepy. More just plain tired of being up. I think mostly it is caused from the lousy night's sleep I got last night. It was stormy with wind gusting upwards of 75-85 mph for a lot of the night. There had been intermittent hail showers, thunder and lightning, and RAIN!! Lots of rain.

Day at work today was pretty boring. Not many customers, I think the weather kept them either in their motels, or away. One couple said they loved the weather. I thought they were nuts, but they said they loved the sound of the wind and waves hitting the seawall where they were staying. They were excited about seeing all the water washing over the seawall in Depoe Bay today. I used to live there, so all I could think was, holy cow the rust their car is going to have by this time next year. There is so much salt in the air there you can almost watch your car disintegrate.

Signed up for a fun "heart" exchange on the wearable art section of WetCanvas. I can hardly wait to see what I will get, leave alone what I will make and send out. I found a cool heart item at the antique shop today. I bought it to send off to a secret Valentine. I hope she likes it. We have a Valentine wish list on the wearables forum and we all put actual wishes, wishful thinking, and things we love we would like to have relating to valentines day. It will be interesting to hear what people get from each other. The holiday exchange was awesome, and I am sure this will be great, too.

Well, I better get to bed now. I do have to work again tomorrow. Just tried to get on WetCanvas to check things out and couldn't get on. Will try one more time, then call it a night.

Friday in the life of a weekend worker

The day started out with my dad waking me out of a dead sleep by flipping the hall light on right next to my bed, nothing like a slap in the face to wake you up. I stumbled into the bathroom and checked to see if he was okay. He said, "Will you help me take a bath?" I said sure, wondering whether it was safe with me not even being awake yet, but I was glad he was wanting a bath. At nearly 88 he doesn't always cooperate with bathing things. It went a lot better than I thought it would. I am not that strong, and neither is he, but we somehow got him turned around backwards and butt first into the shower on the shower bench. He had always faced the shower. Sitting down with the water hitting him in the head, or so far away from the water didn't make sense to me. He was amazed at how great it felt to have the water hitting him in the back. We both ended up pretty wet. I told him next time I wasn't going to keep my robe on. It was soaked. Oh well, we got him all cleaned up, and put a new urostomy pouch on so he should be good hygiene-wise for a few days.

We ate leftover pork roast, potatoes and peas for lunch and I was off to work.

I always look forward to working, well, not the work part, but the being in the antique shop part is great. Today I priced a huge pile of stuff to put out. Hopefully I can find somewhere to put it. Don't tell me. I could have figured that one out on my own thanks. Amongst the pile of stuff I found a couple of things I had lost and was a little relieved to discover their hiding place. My boss had given me a beautiful Irish Galway crystal hurricane lamp to give my daugher. She is obsessed with our Irish heritage and is having a Celtic Renaissance wedding next month. I had set it aside to take home and one day I came into the shop only to notice that all the stashed items had been moved somewhere. Every once in a while my co-worker gets the cleaning bug and sorts things out, rearranges stuff and it takes me a month or two to relocate things. This lamp had been missing since October. I packed it up and brought it home so it wouldn't disappear again. I also bought a couple of items from a lady who stops by from time to time to sell me stuff. Depending on what it is, my boss will buy stuff. At other times I buy something if I think I can either make money on it, or if it something I want to keep. Today she brought in just a couple of things, a broken pearl necklace and a pair of pearl earrings. They had gold findings, so I bought them. I will remake the freshwater pearls into something else, and keep the earrings for one of my granddaughters.

I am going to have to get busy. I just signed up for a heart bead exchange. I have to make from 1 to 5 heart beads or heart charms or a combination thereof. Then I send them to the host of the exchange and get back the same number I sent in, or more depending on how it goes. It started out as a Valentine wish list, and so many people put down hearts it spun off that into an exchange. I love it. It is in the wearable arts forum on wetcanvas.com a great website for all kinds of art and artists, crafters, too.

I am hoping to get some more of my paintings scanned and put some of them on our Etsy site, as well as our jewelry. Wish me luck!! I am going to look and see if i have any usable images on my computer.

Night all!!

Thursday, A whole new day

Boy do I feel like a bad cat owner. The indoor cat had been staring at me for a while today when I realized he was all out of cat food in his dish. I realized I hadn't looked at his bowl for a day or two. I hope he had only been out today. His dish is one of the battery powered self-feeder specialy for dry food. It pushes out a little bit every 6 hours. I guess I ought to check and make sure I cleaned the kitty litter boxes, too.

Didn't get a bit of beading done today, but I did get my Etsy shop open. Yeeeehaaaw!!! I have a whole three items listed. It took me several hours, but I finally did it. Now, I plan to add a few items every week, so I better get busy and make some stuff to list! LOL

I have some practice copper wire to try out some new wire techniques. I will list that stuff, too. You never know what people will want to have. Then if I can master it in copper, I will make it in silver. I also want to try out some gold-filled stuff. I know some people really prefer gold. I am not one of them, but I think I ought to have some in my shop. I shouldn't just say my shop, it is a shop for my work and the work of my daughter, Tess. Hopefully, we will get a lot of work done, and a lot more listed.

Dad seems to have settled back into our daily routine. He was a little down yesterday and not getting around so well. He is happier today. I am not sure what was getting him down. Hope it wasn't me. I have been so tired lately, I am sure I am not helping the mood around here.

If you want to see my work, check out my Etsy store at www.cassandradesigns.etsy.com
There aren't very many pieces listed yet, but it is a start.

More tomorrow. I am off to read a good book, or play a little solitaire, or at least find something distracting to relax me.

Starting a New Year

I am a 54 year old grandma, living on the central Oregon coast. The photo shows me at the art studio I hang out at. It is a non-profit group with awesome classes and free open-studio time. Something is going on every day of the week.

My fabulous daughter and her two girls live nearby and I share a home with my 88 year old papa. He is awesome, getting shorter by the day, but still as cute as he was 15 years ago. My mom always said he was so handsome, not homely like some of the guys she knew.

She said he might have been six years younger than here, but he was so much more mature than they were. He had been out on his own since the age of 15, so at nearly 21 he really was more mature than the "boys" here age.

Hopefully this will be a more productive year. I had plans for last year, too, but they were kind of pushed aside amidst all sorts of family angst and turmoil. Not to mention the bad boyfriend.

This year I am going to be much more proactive. I am going to do something creative everyday, whether it is just read about art, jewelry, beading, or check out other people's work on the web.

I am also going to get an Etsy store up and running if I can ever get through the hoops they make you jump through to get everything up and running. I have to find my digital camera so I can actually photograph more of my work. I have paintings and jewelry just waiting to be posted. I keep thinking there ought to be an easier way, but the only one I can think of involves spending money I presently do not have.

My jewelry work gives me a lot of pleasure, and as an added bonus, if it doesn't sell I get to wear it. I have had a love of jewelry since I was a little girl, and as I got older my folks gave me some beautiful vintage pieces. My daughter and I design jewelry together. She has great designs just pouring out of her head, and I like to just sit down with piles of silver wire and beads and let it happen. So, she does the very formal compositions and I go free-form. She loves my work, but says there is no way she could ever do it. In her OCD head everything has to be symetrical. She cracks me up. She is so meticulous about so many things, but her house is not one of them. Of course with two girls it is kind of hard to keep up with everything. She is a good woman, and a great mom and daughter. She took care of my dad before I moved in with him last April. I did drive bys several times a week, but she was there for the day-to-day. Now she fills in if I am not able to be here. She has a paraplegic child, so she needed a break. I also help her with the girls. They are both awesome. The 8-year-old is hyper, funny, and not so good at entertaining herself. The 3-1/2-year-old has Spina Bifida, she also is funny, very independent, and loves to have her own space and do things her way. She adores her big sister, but she doesn't want her to touch her things.

More tomorrow.