I made it through Field day with 250 7th graders!

Oh yeah, Lisa - heart surgery? phooey, lame, simple, simple stuff, I say. You've never had to be outside for 6 hours with 250 7th graders two days before the end of a school year! Now that is WAY more traumatic than heart surgery! I would rather give birth with NO anesthesia and have bamboo shoots pushed up under my fingernails than to have to do that again soon!
Ok, it wasn't really that bad, the weather was great - not to hot, not to cool, overcast but not rainy and I didn't have to play any of the games, but hauling out equipment, getting kids to quiet down to hear instruction and standing all day in the sun is very hard on an almost very old woman! I came home, moaned "ice-cream" and plopped in a recliner. My dear hubby, sensing the emergency, came running with a bowl of raspberry sherbet and a granola bar. I slept for two hours (after eating my sherbert) before moving from the chair. I woke up with two cats on my lap - now that is living!
I did the sun-screen and long sleeves and hat so hopefully I didn't get too damaged other than my voice, it's suffering a bit, (I think I sound sexy). Just think, I only have to do Field Day ONE MORE TIME! - I'm planning on retiring from teaching June of 2009. Well, wish me luck for the next two days then I have the whole summer to play with grand-nieces and nephew and to make beads! Life doesn't get much better.
I will be selling every Sunday I am able, at the "International Peace Gardens" known as "The People's Market" So come on down and say Hello. The Gardens are beautiful to see also!

Dates and Times: Sunday, June 15, 2008 – Sunday, October 28, 2008 (20 Markets total)Sundays, 10:00 am to 3:00 pm

Where: International Peace Gardens
1000 South 900 West in Salt Lake City

My family.

This picture is of my family - minus one cat who would not have his picture taken. Meet Pollyanna Pennecoose the Abyssinian cat. If you have never had a cat of this breed, you owe it to yourself to have one. She is our main form of entertainment. She loves her Dad's lap - oh yeah, the good looking guy in the picture is my hubby.

My sister has had a bad year so far with health problems in her family. All her kids are grown but earlier this year her younger daughter (my Jewelry mentor deluxe) had her tonsils out, then a son had his tonsils out also (sibling rivalry?) then her husband had an operation on his hand and now today her older daughter is coming home from heart surgery! Good grief isn't there an extended warranty on those kids? And, way to go Stephen for being healthy! (at least so far this year!) My sister's kids are really my kids, she just birthed them and then I give them back to her for the hard stuff like raising them! I hope you are feeling much better Lisa! I bet you'll be running marathons with Jenny before you know it! - oh yeah, Jenny broke her foot and had to have it operated on .... she has been hanging out a lot with your family, hasn't she? Oh, I'm sure it is just coincidence!

I have another sister and two brothers and that is my side of the family with them suppling me a total of 11 nieces and nephews. The youngest of them all is graduating from high school any day now! Love you Loni! Come up and play with us... and maybe you too can get an operation!

But back to my "newly patched heart" niece, she deserves to know how much I love and respect her. She needs to recover fully because who else can give a chocolate party as good as she can? I love her and her little family so "GET WELL LISA" and no more doctors this year for any more of you, OK? Hum... I think all the sentiment calls for a LOVE NOTE necklace! I'll post a picture of it when I get it done.

And in case Jo-Lynne reads this, down there is New Zealand, I'd love to do a love note necklace for your Mom! We'll plan it when you get here this summer!

Ok, How about "love note" necklaces?

The "Live Green" Festival went stupendously. I sold a lot of jewelry and made new friends. It was fun being out and amongst people. I loved having my husband spend the day with me (even if he napped a lot). I realized people are extremely interested in recycling and anything else that helps save the Earth. One guy bought one of my Junk Mail necklaces "because", he said "I like your idea, hard to imagine there's a use for junk mail!"
I talked with several clients about making "love note" necklaces. They also thought the idea was great. A while ago, I had my husband write me a note, something sort of mushy please, so I could try cutting the words and making beads out of it. He wrote, "You're my forever sweet heart. Love T." I made six beads out of the note with his personal handwriting showing, strung them with beautiful beige and red (my favorite color) beads and I LOVE THAT NECKLACE! It actually makes me cry!
Imagine if I had only ask my mother (who passed away in 2006 from cancer) or my precious grandmother (who died at age 98 in 1996) to write me a personal note so I could have a necklace with their very own penmanship and words hanging next to my heart! I've got to have my father write something before I miss that opportunity also!
I had breast cancer surgery in 1997. Constantly since then I have wondered what I could do to make anyone in the future remember that I was alive, that I was a person and had thoughts and ideas. I just don't want to be forgotten - Could I write a best selling novel? I seriously doubt it. Could I become a famous person? I really don't want to. I could, however, write a personal note to each of my loved ones and make a necklace for them. Perhaps it would be handed down over time, through generations as an example of that really weird aunt there in that picture, "she really wrote this, that is her very own handwriting!" they'd say!. If you think this idea is something you'd like to pursue, let me know. I'd love to make some for you also. Give some surprise gifts to your children, grandchildren, sisters or friends! email me and I'll tell you more - look at the picture of my necklace above. Well, See you next time.

It's May and this will be a busy Month

Tomorrow is the "Live Green" Festival at the downtown SLC library. I will have a booth there selling Recycled Materials Jewelry. I think my paper beads are wonderful, most are made of paper that was headed for the waste can but amazing how they can be so beautiful in just a few moments.... makes me feel hope that I could dress up and actually be fancy too!
I love jewelry that you can wear with Levi's. Instead of looking grubby - you can actually look well put together with a splash of down-to-Earth jewelry. Well, wish me luck! I hope it all goes well!