It's getting close!

The website has landed!

The Author's Attic

deSignet just sent some final drawings to be approved before they make the samples, some of my designs and some of theirs. It's pretty neat to sit here and make a graphic up and then seeing the final product all finished. I'm anxious to see my "Mrs. Darcy" bracelet.

They basically have given me full reign on picking what to sell, coming up with any designs I think people would like, and best of all I get to make my own webpage and graphics. And if it does well, we will just keep adding more, there's a whole library to explore!

I'm starting out with jewelry relating to these authors/books:

Charlotte Bronte-Jane Eyre
Anya Seton-Katherine
Jane Austen-Pride & Prejudice
and the gracious Diana Gabaldon, my favorite you know. :-)

Here's a litte quote bracelet...


Can I hear a little Woo-Hoo please! :-)

M

Li'l Lola Update!

The mornings have been cool, so Lola and Lego go out and sit a spell. I took this through the blinds, if they see me they get up, but you can see how big she is compared to Lego.



She's losing that little puppy face.



But still looking still looking like a baby compared to Lego. She's five months old and about 45 pounds.


She's been really good! Not one accident in the house since about 6 weeks old, we can leave her alone in the house and doesnt chew a thing.

Oh and I have to tell you.....way less hair in the house since The Furmintor came! :-)

M

The Horse Hair Bracelet Lady was Right!

That would be Angela! :-) She told me I needed "The Furminator" and asked if I had one, I didn't know what the heck she was talking about, she explained it was the best shedding tool ever! So, I said a have a shedding blade that works pretty good, and she said it wasn't good enough!

So a couple of days later in the mail was "The Furminator". I made and help Angela with her websites and she spoils me. *G*


So anxious to use it, I get Lego outside.....and I have to say it works much better than a shedding rake. I got a ton of hair off her, and lots less the next day. And her coat is really really soft. She's always had a nice shiney coat, but its nicer!

But I wanted to see how it worked on a long hair dog. So Lisa, the next door movie going neighbor lady, has a Brittney Spaniel Maggie and I sent it home with her yesterday.

Maggie before


She said it worked great and she is off to buy "The Fuminator"!

Maggie after

(Okay thats not Maggie, that's one of those Mexican hairless dogs, I don't have an after picture. No worries, Maggie still has hair.)

I didn't want to recommend it till I knew it worked on longer haired dogs! It does! It's great! It does seem to cut down on the hair!

Speaking of Maggie, she is about to get a little sister. This weekend Maggie and family are going to check out some puppies. They are five weeks old!



Okay, I did ask if could go with! I'm officially a Puppy Whore!

M

"Indulge your imagination in every possible flight."

A long time ago, in a place far far away... well, it was a year ago August right outside of Niagara Fall in New York. I went to visit a jewelers that I have been working with for a couple of years now with Claire's Ring.

Claire's Ring
is a ring, a friend (Hi Janice) and I wanted to have made from a favorite book. We got permission from the author, and started on a labor of love. I found a jeweler who I really liked their Celtic jewelry they made and they agreed to take it on. One year and hundreds of rings later, I finally got to meet Marie, who I was talking to on the phone and in emails for over a year.

I also met Reg, who is the owner, and they gave me this really cool cuff bracelet based on the ring design to say "thanks".



I began to tell him how there are so many people out that love books, and there is nothing made especially for us, with the exception of bookmarks and a piece of jewelery here and there. Reg said, "If you put some things together, I'll make them and we can sell it." Sounded good to me.

So I drew some designs up, and added some things they had already made. I asked permission from my favorite author and one of the nicest people around (even before she gave permission *g*)Diana Gabaldon to make the jewelry mentioned in her series, and even the cool cuff bracelet.

So here is the first piece of jewelry I have ever designed. They are little bracelets to put quotes from favorite books on. Right now there are two.

From Jane Austen's "Pride & Prejudice"
Indulge your imagination in every possible flight.

From Charlotte Bronte's "Jane Eyre"
Make my happiness - I will make yours



I thought they turned out really cute!

Right now I'm in the process of making graphics, a website and getting prices from the jeweler for a few pieces we're ready to sell now.

Here's my logo I made...


Hopefully it will all be done and uploaded in a couple of weeks!

M
...who is always amazed when she does spellcheck and doesn't find something!

Just in case you are wondering....

...which side I am on this video explains it. :-)


It's a bit bland but it will answer your questions. It's the first time I've seen anyone in this campaign discuss womens issues in such depth. It's long, it's a half hour but it discusses health care, flex time, equal pay for women, securing pensions for everyone in detail.



Also taxes for seniors, no taxes for seniors making under $50,000. One of the reasons I wanted to post this is it explains about Social Security and privatizing it. I am so against this for the simple reason that people cannot manage a credit card, how the heck they going to manage the funds for their future, especially with the market the way it has been the last couple of days. Not only would the gov't have to bail out companies they would have to bail individuals that can't handle money.

If you knew my mom and her story...social security saved her. That is all the income she had, if it had been privatized all those years ago, she would of had nothing. Because she worked as a waitress and every quarter she earned was used to provide for her children. She didn't have a savings account till she left my father at age 42. When she died at age 71 she had 2000 in her account, and around a $700 monthly social security check, thats it, and she was thankful for it. Thank God my dad died early otherwise her monthly SS check would of been hundreds a month lower. You see it's based on your income, as a waitress my mom made $1.25 an hour.

Even me, the news junkie learned two things new: McCain wants to tax your health care, meaning the services you receive, in my case since I had outpatient surgery, it was easily over $12,000 last year with surgery, meds and Dr.s visits, and this is nothing compared to some I know. So don't get cancer or have major surgery because that would easily add $100,000 for you to be taxed on. I also didn't realize that McCain wants to get rid of companies buying group insurance for their employees and that employees would get a tax credit and pay for their own. I know people who pay for their own health care, it's expensive and it sucks, and there isn't a tax credit in the world that would cover it! Universal health care scares a lot of people, but what people don't realize is that your employer will still be providing your health care if you are that lucky now. It's for the waitresses, the part-timers, children, the small businesses that can't afford health care for their employees. Private insurance will still be there.

One of the things that piss me off about elections, is that people vote for the candidate with the personality they like and not the issues, at least 30% of the population votes this way. You're picking a president people, not a friend. I have quite a few friends, a lot than I can relate to, do I want them as president......no f'in way! Sorry guys there isn't one of you I want to be president, or myself for that matter. Gives me the heebies just thinkin' about it.

I'm an issues person, and I also vote for who will make a better world for my children and my future grand children.(Oh man, I'm getting old!) You know were doing okay, and my life is most likely half over, I'm using my vote for my children.

Here's a site to see where you stand with what candidate on the issues...
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/MatchoMatic/fullpage?id=5542139 I hope it sides with the candidate you have chosen, otherwise you have a lot of work to do.

I'm fully aware I can't change anyone's mind on which way you will vote. But I want people to vote knowing what issues they aren't voting for as well as for, and take responsibility for that vote.

All I really want to say is educate yourself! I know you all don't like watching news all day, but there are things you should do because you have the privilege in this country to vote, and that is to educate yourself on the issues and candidates. Don't pick a candidate on little tidbits or sound bites of campaign crap. If you see something hokey, go to snopes.com or factcheck.org and that will clear things up for ya.

So next time you are on the net, go to a news site that brings together articles from all media, print and video, and in a non-partisan way. I like politico.com for that. Just don't watch one biased cable news station, flip the channel. I cannot stress enough to watch the debates and see who knows their stuff, don't vote because the person running is someone you want to have a beer with. That's how the last president was elected, and proof is in the pudding...or ale for that matter.

I once again turned the comments off for this post, because I know if you are committed to your candidate I can't change your mind, just like you can't change mine. :-) Just asking you to make an educated vote!

Phew, I had to get that all off my chest!

Truer Words Have Never Been Spoken!

Yep, you read it right, "Hand over the chocolate and nobody will get hurt."

I was thumbing through a magazine and saw a little ad for Wall Words in the back, went online and browsed. I've been looking for something to put on this blank spot on my soffet (sp?) for a while. Yes, Gretchen there is a blank spot on one of my walls. :-)

If you watch Devine Design on HGTV, she uses these decals quite a bit. Take a look at the website they have some really cool & fun ideas! Every phrase imaginable, or you can make your own.

http://www.wallwords.com/

As far as price, with an online coupon and shipping this phrase was about 30 dollars.

It was pretty easy to put on the wall, and looks just great, clean and neat. Hardest part of the whole process is centering it.

That's all she wrote...or decaled.

M

How do you say "sucks" in German?

Let's say it was used in the sentence "The Indianapolis German Ocktoberfest sucks." or "Never have I seen another festival that sucks as much as the Indianapolis German Ocktoberfest.", or maybe in question form,"Truly is there an Ocktoberfest in all of America that sucks as much as the Indianapolis German Ocktoberfest?"

Ian was home for Labor Day weekend, in which he took some time both Saturday and Sunday for some labor of his own, he worked. We think he came home to visit with the dogs though, it was ruff on us.

So Sunday we decided to go to the Indy Ocktoberfest for dinner, it was held at the State Fair grounds, so we thought it might be pretty good. We have since decided that everything we attend at the State Fair grounds usually sucks.

So 6 bucks a head to get in, and we had four bratwurst and two Pepsi's for a total of $26.00, add that to the $24.00 to entry fee, and we were there a whopping 30 minutes, spent $50.00. Yes we saw all of the Indianapolis Ocktoberfest is 20 minutes, it took us ten minutes to eat.

We thought there would be a German music stage. There was but the lady was singing a Frank Sinatra or Dean Martin song, I can't remember which.


(Brian hanging out with Dean & Frank)

Then there was another music stage and that band was singing an Elvis song.

(Okay, Elvis is lederhosen is just wrong!)

For the life of Brian and I, we can't understand why people diss Disney food all the time for being too expensive. Brian usually says, "They have never eaten at an airport.", but I'm guessing his new reply will be "They have never eaten at the Indianapolis Ocktoberfest."

So we get into the little shuttle to take us to our car, and I say to the boys, "How do you say 'sucks' in German?" It seems in Ian's five years of German and Collin's one year "sucks" was never used or taught. I guess that's a good thing.

Okay so let's go to an online translator and put in the sentence:

"The Indianapolis German Ocktoberfest sucks!"

Appearantly there isn't a word for "sucks" in German, since this is the translation that popped up.

"Die Indianapolis Deutsch Ocktoberfest sucks!"

Okay, or we can translate that to:

"Die Indianapolis German Octoberfest, it sucks!"

So we stop at Dairy Queen on the way home, for the incredible value of $11.13 we enjoy three medium Blizzards and one chocolate covered waffle bowl turtle sundae! All is right with the world.

Auf Wiedersehen!

M