note to self: photos printed at home do not hold up to dog licking.
Something fun I saw on TV yesterday that I thought I'd share. For a long time I've had this fascination with being able to create molds and working with polymer clay - separate thoughts. Yesterday on DIY they had an episode where a prototype toy maker used polymer clay to create a bobble head of her own and then created a mold from it to use over and over again. She then showed how to use the mold to make a resin figure of her polymer clay creation. It was AWESOME! I have no idea how I will use this information but someday I will. My wheels are a spinning! Here's a link to the show. I think I need to put Silpak silicone molding material and Bresin casting compound on my wish list - seriously.
Photo courtesy of DIY Network.
This type of thing just gets me going. I think about all the absolute cool jobs that are out there that I know nothing about. It's all so intriguing and fun to think about. I had (still do as a matter of fact) an idea for an invention which lead me to looking into creating a prototype several years ago. One of the ways to create a prototype is by creating your own mold - as explained above. It's awesome that we live in this age where technology is everywhere. Having seen this done opens up all sorts of possibilities that I was stuck in by just reading the information. It's awesome.
CathyZ's blog is back up and it's ironic that I should visit it this evening. Cathy's blog today was about a friend and neighbor of hers that passed away from cancer (melanoma). It's a beautiful tribute to her. I decided to visit her friends blog that is still up and was touched by reading her words and thoughts as she went through the last months of her life. It saddened me because I look at her two boys and I understand exactly what they are going through at this very moment, having lost their mom. Words absolutely cannot describe what they are feeling right now.
Same evening, few moments apart, I visit FORCE's website for our annual fundraising, awareness raising chat-a-thon. Our chat room is open and active 24 hours a day for two days straight. It's a unique and fitting event for FORCE. FORCE is a website about hereditary breast and ovarian cancer. It's for individuals that are interested in learning about how family history can play a part in breast and ovarian cancer and how there is a link between the two cancers. I'm a veteran of FORCE and have been on the board of directors of FORCE for many years now. Unfortunately I've had to take a break from active participation outside of my bod responsibilities for a couple years as my focus has had to be on our families business but I will be back in full FORCE soon enough. This evening at the chat-a-thon, conversations were being had about some dear FORCE friends who have passed and one who are currently ill. Just brings up a lot of feelings.
Ironic that two sites I go tonight are expressing those same feelings and thoughts. Of course it all makes me think of my mother, what I went through (which I will blog later about), family and friends. I've known way too many people who have been afflicted and affected by cancer; lymphoma, breast cancer, ovarian cancer, lung cancer, melanoma, throat cancer - to name only a few. Cancer is such as horrible disease. It robs people of so much. It sucks.
Ok - enough of that. To bring me back out of my zone I hear Oscar boy SNORING away LOUDLY in the other room. LOL! I have to say he makes me smile and giggle absolutely every day. He reminds me to slow down and enjoy the little moments. The way he sits on us, the way he holds his head. The way my boys (and dh) interacts with him. My dh asked Oscar to jump in his lap the other day while he was sitting in his new chair. That just doesn't happen! I just look at him and laugh. Someday I hope to capture in a picture what I see - so far I have been unable to do it. Then I move to Zoe and think just how pretty she is. Chad made a comment about how different they are and I told him we have beauty and the beast (a cute beast but one none the less). LOL! We laughed. I've always looked at my kids this way but it's fun to see animals in a new light. I'm think I'm turning into one of those crazy dog people. LOL!
I have been advised that it's time for an Oscar update so here goes:
Oscar likes to sit by our feet, to be more specific - on our feet. I'm in my craft room frantically wrapping gifts and making cards prior to Christmas and he is patiently sitting at my feet. I heard him chomping on something but didn't think to look down because I was content that he was not running around the house getting into mischief. Finally after about five minutes I couldn't take the sloppy chomping noise and decided I better check out what he is chewing on because I didn't see a bone anywhere. When I opened up his mouth he had a huge wad of gum he had gotten out of the trash can. He had been chewing on this for awhile! I couldn't help but laugh. I had to tell him firmly that if he was going to chew gum he had to use his manners and chew with his mouth closed! LOL! Too funny...
The picture above was his Christmas gift from Alex. He loves it. He can pick it up and carry it around. He gets it in the middle which is funny because he gets stuck a lot of the time.
Oscar is awesome and (knock on wood) is doing really good with potty training. It's been 3 weeks since an accident - maybe 4 weeks. We are starting to give him more freedom in the house and so far so good.
I'll upload more pictures soon.
look what i got! it's awesome. it's a color puzzle i spotted online about a month ago. although my dh doesn't quite "get-it", i love it! as i put it together today it helped remind me about color that i learned so long ago. what i love about it is it was fun to put together, it's a learning tool, it serves as inspiration and it reminds me of my mom. all really good things. i'm going to hang it in my create room to look at all the time. i can't wait!
what a good weekend and a good day today. we are in hanging out mode this entire week. i've remained in my pj's and sat near the couch the entire day. it's going on 5:00 pm and i have to get changed because we are continuing our fun times by going out to dinner this evening with good friends and neighbors.
this has been a tough year for a lot of people we know and we've done our best to try to make this christmas 2006 a special one for each of those close to us. i hope they all know how much they mean to us and i wish nothing but the best for everyone (including us) for the upcoming 2007 year.
happy holiday and new year everyone!
Ok, so I really should be stressing at this point. I am no where close to being done with Christmas shopping. Seriously. But, I put in a major push at work today and I'm off now until the New Year (so I heard my dh tell his Grandpa this evening on the phone. Patti - do you really think it's true?!). I am making a full charge ahead attempt at finishing my Christmas shopping in the next three days - like I really have a choice. I'm supposed to be upstairs right now updating my Christmas shopping list but I'll admit I'm procrastinating. I really have no idea why. I started updating it but then I realized I needed my daytimer which was in the office. That led me to sitting at my desk to reach for my daytimer and I got sidetracked by my computer. It made me check some blogs I frequent, then check my personal email, then check my business email and then update my blog. Ugggh. No wonder I only have a few gifts purchased. Even with all of this procrastination, I really am not stressing. Even with the pending Christmas Eve event happening at my house where I'm cooking dinner for nine people. My house has to be clean and presentable. I absolutely refuse any longer to stress these things. It will all get done. May not be perfect but it will be great none the less. I'll let you know how it goes.
I hope anyone who reads this is leading a stress free holiday season. We all deserve it!
Happy Holidays to all. Merry Christmas!
Update: Ok, so the snowball "play" ended up with less play and more hard feelings - as they usually do. Older boys were being mean, younger boys got hurt and upset. Nothing serious but still a reality check. They did have fun in the beginning!
Oscar, the skateboarding snow dog. It's one of his favorite things but he hasn't quite figured out how to do it just yet. Too bad he can't meet up with Tyson the professional skateboarding bulldog. Maybe someday they can meet and Oscar can get a few pointers from him. Like Tyson, Oscar is drawn to the skateboard. Good thing Alex isn't interested in it anymore because Oscar now calls it his own.
What is he thinking? No one can skateboard in the backyard - let alone in the snow! These minor facts don't stop him from trying however.
Here is a better picture of him trying on the front walk. This is the first time he's been out in the snow and so far so good.
Now this is really what snow days are all about - prepping for a huge neighborhood snow ball fight (in our backyard no less). Notice the fort of protection being built on the left. I've been informed that a team of boys (7) from up the street were coming down for the action. My boys are not the only two on their team - they were however the only ones out there at the time I took this picture.
Enjoy the snow day boys - we don't get too many of these anymore!
Oh my... just saw boys from the other team walking with a saucer filled with already created snow balls. This is getting serious! I think I'm going to peek my head out there so they all see me and know I'm watching. Want them to have fun but not get crazy!
Love this picture. It shows determination, team work, tradition. Awesome. Wish the lighting would have been better but it still captures the moment.
Today is Monday. I wish I had a better grasp of what this week is going to bring. I usually like to have Mondays open so I can clearly and cleanly plan for the week. Today is going to be different. Oscar has to go to the Vet this morning. Poor dude. We found an area that needs special attention that we have overlooked - under his tail. His tail is all cork screw like and he has an infection because it wasn't dried after his baths. He is miserable and that has to be fixed immediately! After that I will get some work in but then my dh and I are taking his Aunt to the "boat". It's another tradition for her birthday we always take her. We go to lunch and then she picks a slot machine or video game of some sort and she plays and we watch. She just loves it and she is important to us so we do it. My dh likes to go once a year and this is it. We go during the day to beat the rush. You would not believe the number of people that go during the day - and you can tell they are the real deal (probably there multiple days during the week).
This weekend was good. House Christmas lights are up. Tree is up. Miscellaneous Christmas decorations and front door stuff are not done. Maybe this week. Dh's birthday - done. He got his own iPod Nano. Yeah! I spent a good amount of hours trying to load and unload his songs. Love iPod but initially it's never as easy as it should be. Watched a lot of movies; Click, The Break Up, Larry the Cable Guy Health Inspector, part of Brokeback Mountain. None I would really recommend but glad to get them off my "am interested in" list. The family liked Larry the Cable Guy Health Inspector, I did not. Rarely do I leave the room to do something else during a movie but this one I did. Brokeback Mountain only made it through maybe half. Take out the controversy, it's just a slow boring movie and disturbing. People say it's a love story. ? For the record I have seen the full movie. My dh hadn't seen it and we tried. Anyway...
Another thing I did this weekend was look into a new sewing machine. I can't believe how expensive these things can be. Unbelievable! One I saw was $3000. $3000. Ouch! Of course I don't need one like that but still. I need to get a new one and I've learned that I need something better then the one I got at Walmart. I'm really interested in a lower end computerized model. I've been fighting with the tension on the one I have and am very much interested in the models that set the tension automatically. They even cut the thread and thread the needle for you. Awesome! I'm a home dec sewer. I don't want to have to buy another sewing machine ever so I want to make sure I get the right one. I have made a couple quilts in the past and would like the ability to do it again in the future so I am leaning towards some of the quilting features. I did find one that was a store model - slightly used but a full warrenty. Cost is less then new since it was a floor model. More then I wanted to spend but would give me everything I want and then some - room for growth. I'm bugged that my window treatments aren't made yet but I can't finish them with the sewing machine I have. That's why the push this weekend on shopping for a new one. Holidays coming up, people coming over...
I still have to prep for the Ali class this weekend and get going on my Christmas list and shopping. So much to do - no time to do it. I can do it all, right?! Tonight my dh is taking my sons to Hockey practice so I'm focusing on my Ali class pictures. I will get it done!!!
Best wishes to everyone that you can accomplish all you have and want to this week. We can do it!
Our tree is now up with lights and minimal oranments on it. The boy have found their old BRIO train set and have put it up around the tree. They are well above the age to get back into BRIO train set but it's cool that they found it. We are considering getting a set for the boys youngest cousins. Got to LOVE BRIO. I guess our conversation of this potential gift sparked a/some memories for them and when they were digging out our Christmas decorations and they stumbled upon their set they decide to pull it out. I told my dh it's quite interesting because when they were young they really weren't that into it. I decided to keep them for our grandkids - much in the future mind you. I'm glad they have a new life right now. It's funny how things end up.
Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We did. Got to spend it with my family and my best friend. Was a lot of fun and the wine was good! Happy shopping to all!
Sorry for the delay but here's the proof of our scrapbooking weekend. What a fun time we had. The biggest challenge was hauling all our stuff in there and then trying to decide if we wanted to keep it there overnight while we slept for a few hours. Here's a link to more photos. I tried to embed the photo album here but it didn't work like I had hoped. When all else fails, create a link I say! What's so exciting is Patti, Tammy and I have another scrapbooking adventure in a couple weeks. We are taking an Ali Edwards class in Illinois which I can't wait for. Only thing is I haven't done a thing on my homework and some of my pictures that I want to use are on slides. I need to get working on that because it may take some time to get prints from slides!
Nothing else blog worthy going on here. Starting to get geared up for Christmas. Excited about Friday because that is when we get our Christmas tree!!! Love that! Also, can't wait until tomorrow because Thanksgiving is always wonderful. Can't wait to eat some turkey and mashed potatoes and sit and talk with my family.
To everyone - have a very Happy Thanksgiving!
Scrapbooking. I've been busy working on setting up my photo albums and getting ready for a going to be really fun crop this weekend - a first for me. I did finish two quick albums showcasing my youngest son's artwork from birth through fourth grade. Don't get too excited, the artwork was just placed in the albums. Little to no journaling and little to no embellishments. The purpose was to get the items from piles off my floor into albums. I also scanned approximately 150 school papers of his that I'm printing wallet sizes of and placing in 3-ring photo albums in baseball card holders. Again nothing too special added. Soon my large lingering piles will be gone and I will begin creating fun artsy pages with all of my photos. I'm hoping to begin that this weekend at the crop. FUN!
Working. Not exciting but none-the-less something that is taking up my time. It helps that I have fun while I work - thanks Patti!!!
Designing our home office. I have been given the green light to order cabinets for our home office. We are in here A LOT and I'm embarrassed to say we have piles of paper in here as well. Do you see a theme here? We all are sick and tired of it so it's time I address this issue. My dh is quite funny though because he thinks I can just go out and get some cabinets as if I were going to Target to pick up a new CD or something. This is where my designer thought process kicks in. So, I'm in the planning, design and product research phase of the project. This leads me to think about a design business for *moi*, see below:
Design business. Should I or shouldn't I? Since I'm not in a position to get or want clients now it would make sense to say no. I've decided I have a lot of behind the scenes work to do to refresh my design skills and learn the business side of design so I should focus on that first. I have begun this research and I'm finding out that more doors would open if I did have a business set-up surprisingly. I would be able to research trade only resources which is huge. The product and information available to the trade is so much more then to the average Joe. Fun!
Well that's it for now. Soon I will post some more interesting bits of information and some updated Oscar happenings. Until then, have a good day!
Happy Halloween from Mr. Santa Dude. Oscar did great, although he kept trying to sneak a sucker from the candy bowl all night. My other boys had a great time as well. I'm a bad mom though. I was a bit overwhelmed with everything and Alex got away without me getting a picture of him. As soon as he got back he stripped his costume off so it was too late. He might be recreating his costume in the next couple of days as I can't have a blank page in his album!Last night the boys sat on the floor going through all their candy. They have decided again to donate their candy to a shelter in exchange for a thank you gift. This is something we have implemented since Alex was diagnosed with diabetes. This way he gets to still have the fun of trick-or-treating without having the lure of eating all the candy. The boys donate their candy and we take them out to buy a gift of their choosing, within a set price range. It's a good compromise for us and works well for our family.
Hope everyone had a great Halloween. Now it's time to think of Thanksgiving and Christmas. Have you started your Christmas lists yet? I have!
This weekend we went to the local pumpkin patch - the only place we go to get our pumpkins. It's was Oscars first visit. He loved all the pumpkins, the other dogs and the extra attention from everyone. Good thing Oscar wore his sweater - it was so cold!!Normally we spend a long time trying to find the perfect pumpkins. This year we were all more relaxed and decided to go for fun and funky. The more lopsided and crazy looking the pumpkin the better. I should have posted a picture of our final selections but looking at Oscar is more fun then just a bunch of pumpkins. If I would have planned things better I would have taken a picture of Oscar next to our selections but by that time I was ready to get inside to get warm.
Hope you have a good pumpkin day!
This post is for Patti as she is one of Zoe's biggest fans. 
Although Oscar is the newest member of our family, Zoe remains the princess of our family. She is a ragdoll breed cat and is the most WONDERFUL cat ever. I highly recommend anyone interested in getting a pure bred cat to look into ragdolls. The only negative is she does shed. She has a GREAT PURR..SONALITY.
Zoe and Oscar get along really well. Ragdolls are extremely laid back cats and this trait serves her well with Oscar. He will want to rough house and play so he will jump and lay on top of her. The normal reaction from another puppy would be to play, the normal reaction from a cat would be to fight back and run away. She just lays there. LOL! Seriously. It's awesome. Oscar immediately gets bored because there is nothing for him to do so he gets up and leaves her alone.
The first picture is Zoe sitting on her perch. She is not allowed on our kitchen/dining room table or our kitchen counters but this table is acceptable. Zoe is my cat and my dh doesn't get to into her until that is I place things on this table. He gets upset because I'm messing around with Miss Zoe's space!
The second picture if of Zoe drinking her water. Yes, this is really how she drinks it - laying down. She is honestly the laziest cat ever. It's awesome.
The third photo is of Zoe in a grocery bag. She loves any bags or boxes!!! 
So see Patti - I still love Zoe. She's so beautiful and sweet how could I not?!!!!!!
I wish I could have taken a picture. When he first started going down he was literally hopping down the steps like a rabbit. It was so funny to watch. Eventually he got the hang of front paws, back paws, front paws, back paws. He's so awesome.
The last few days I have been trying to get things done that have been hovering for awhile. I was able to finish all of our laundry - YEAH! The best part is it is all put away - at least mine and dh's. The boys are old enough to put theirs away themselves or live with the mess. Doors close so I'm ok with that. Tonight I was able to wrap and mail three different family gifts (birthdays and babies from last month). I've even taken Oscar to the vet for his monthly check-up. (Oops forgot to schedule next appointment... ok done). I'm now getting ready to run to Michaels to use my 50% coupon on some adhesive - thanks Patti for telling me about today's coupon! And hopefully my dh, son and I will get to go out to dinner. Our youngest is at 5th grade camp this week so the rest of the family needs to do something out of the ordinary.
The good news for me is my scrapbook room is now picked up and organized. The presents are wrapped and gone which means my table is near empty. It might be time for me to begin getting some pages done. Such an interesting idea since I've been back into scrapbooking for maybe nine months but have yet to do one page. LOL! Will post results once available.
My photos for this post are of two totally different things. First is my new closet. It's not totally done but I don't care. I love it!!! It's amazing how great it feels to work on different projects and know what you have and where it is located. I have scrapbooked and done crafts and projects for many years now. I started out in boxes moving from room to room. I then used the dining room table. I moved it to a small closet that I converted to a scrapbook area. I've been in the basement and now for the first time we've devoted a room to it. I should have tried to do this earlier!! It's a great feeling.
The second photo is of trees. Have I ever told you I have this thing for trees? I love them. Someday I will live in the middle of trees. I grew up living in the woods and I miss it terribly. Trees give me a major sense of peace and calm. They remind me of my mom, my family before. Trees are beautiful and are my thing. I think I should do a page about that on my new clean table with stuff from my semi-organized closet!
Oops. Photos are in reversed order - you get the idea.
"On behalf of the American Society of Interior Designers, I am delighted to inform you that you have been granted Allied Membership (Practitioner) in the Society and will be entitled to all rights and privileges of this classification, including the use of the designation Allied Member, ASID after your name".
It's official - it came in the mail today!!! I think I need to write a letter today or something so I can use my new designation. I can't believe I didn't do this years ago with my degree. Today has been a good day!! To make it even better I just checked the website under Search for an ASID Designer by Name and I was in there!!!! Awesome!
I didn't know what picture to use to accompany this post so I quickly took one of my new couch. I was wanting to wait to post a picture after I made the decorative throw pillows and finished the curtains but this was too important to wait.
I'm not very political and I usually don't get involved in controversial issues but this is different. My family believes in stem cell research as it offers a chance and hope for a cure for many devostating diseases.
My family could greatly benefit from stem cell research:
- My son is Type 1 Diabetic. He is faced with a life most of us don't understand. Children on shots living into their sixties will have close to 75,000 shots in their lifetime. Think about this, 75,000 shots in their lifetime. I use this example simply because this is something us non-diabetic people could identify with or attempt to grasp. But reality is diabetes is much more then shots. He is faced with a future of debilitating issues that I as his mother can't bring myself to fully internalize. Diabetes on numerous levels sucks and I want it gone. Stem cell research provides a hope for a cure.
- My family has been directly impacted by cancer, deeply. My mother died when she was only 35 years old of breast cancer. I was 12 years old at the time and an only child. It was a lonely horrible time in my life. I was at high-risk for both breast and ovarian cancer myself due to hereditary predispositions. There are numerous other cases of cancer both in my family and my husbands family. Stem cell research provides a hope for a cure so other children don't have to experience a loss of a parent to cancer.
I know that when we hear the words stem cell, the first things that pop into peoples minds are embryonic stem cells and human cloning issues. Important issues but what do you really know about those topics? Is that all there is about stem cell research? It has been my experience that those that don't agree with stem cell research really don't know much about it. If you fall into this category (and that's ok if you do) all I'm asking is that you open minded and do some research on the subject. Don't just say you are against something if you haven't educated yourself on the topic. And, don't just let others tell you what you should believe - no matter who they are. I challenge you to read up on the initiative and Amendment 2 in Missouri. Educate yourself to what is really going on. Understand it. Take the information you have learned to the sources that disagree with it and discuss it further. Get all sides of the issue. I challenge and ask you to then and only then to make an informed decision on your position on stem cell research.
To help get you started on your research, check out The Missouri Coalition for Lifesaving Cures. This is a great site with a lot of useful information about the subject. The site also contains links to additional sites with even more information - the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation is one of those sites. Use this information. Take the time to learn about it. You owe it to yourself and to others to make an informed decision.
That's enough of that for now. I've got to go because I"m in the process of doing my research. Afterall I need to be able to speak intelligently to others about the issue to those who ask questions or state inaccurate facts. Education is the power we have. No matter what your final decision - that's what it's all about!
Color Paper
About
-
About me. Edit this in the options panel.
About Me
Search
