Distraction

4 kids wrapping up the school year.

Backyard garden bursting with veggies, and demanding harvesting.

Family vacations to Disneyland.

Looming Mexico trip for just the adults.

A bright coral-red nail polish that catches everyones eye.

Online classes

A child support battle going to court.

Life is complex right now, and some things are sliding to the side...my blog, my jewelry, my ebay resell business. I intend to return to them all - hopefully soon - but please understand that right now there are just too many distractions.

So Life's Been Busy...

Once again, I find myself apologizing for my 'radio silence' of late. It's been a rather busy week yet again, and I have little time for blogging! So much is going on in my life...

For one, my kids are leaving for the summer. My family is 'blended' - meaning all of our kids have other, non-custodial parents. (My husband and I are blessed to have primary custody at least!) Our youngest daughter flew out with her dad last Saturday, and the sons and eldest daughter leave today for Wyoming. (I'll freely admit, I'm going to enjoy being kidless for a little...a quiet house, a much smaller grocery bill, the ability to eat whatever the ADULTS want) Getting the kids ready to go has been long and painful, however. Not just in the sheer volume of clothing to be washed and packed, but also the time spent with friends before leaving, the summer-vacation-type activites that we've tried to cram into our 3 scant weeks, and the overall emotional tones to everything we've done. Frankly, my husband and I are exhausted!

Adding to all the stress, I've been working on TWO custom orders. I finally finished the first - a lovely coral necklace - last night. The second, a jade ring, will take another week or so. 'Cause I've got SO much free time.

Of course, my biggest stressor right now is my job. (Which I generally enjoy, don't get me wrong) To simplify things, let's just say I'm an engineer who makes computer chips...really small ones lately. In fact, I spent a large part of my morning trying to move TINY little 4mm x 4mm parts from a small tray to an even smaller tray so we could test them. They are this tiny...

So you can see why I'm not only stressed, I'm headache-y too. On the plus side, however...things are wrapping up with these tiny parts, and next week should be much, much easier.

Hope you all enjoy your 4th of July holiday - me, I'm sleeping through it. Catch you on Monday!

Why Yes, I have Been Busy

For those who have noticed a decrease in my posts (and my Etsy posts, and my blog-reading...) - yep, I've had other things to do.

*gasp*

First, I took some vacation time with my family. No email access. It was like cutting off some vital part of my body - yet liberating in a way too.

Part of that vacation time has involved taking time to create for my sake, and for my family's enjoyment. I did quite a bit of sketching, and even made a pendant for my mom out of a shell we plucked from the beach (plus a pearl, some copper wire, and one big cuss word when I almost broke the shell). It's been fun and liberating (yep, that word again) to simply do what feels good, and what makes people around me smile.

Now, I haven't completely slacked off - I have 3 custom bids I'm working on right now, thankfully all at different stages. I'll be sure to post pictures of those completed projects, once they reach photo stage.

Will my posting get back to normal levels? Maybe, but not for a while. I plan to keep busy, enjoy the lovely weather...and bellydance.

Yep, bellydance! I've signed up for a local community college class - once a week for 8 weeks. I have many years of dance experience - mostly ballet, and mostly pre-puberty - but still, I have high hopes of good things.

Or at least, of not being the worst dancer there. How bad can it be?

So wish me luck - and I'll sure try to share the experience with you soon!

Welcome Back to Reality

I know it's Tuesday and all....but ugh, feels like a Monday! I'm swamped at work - big problem brewing, unfortunately. After a nice, quiet, relaxing weekend - it's back to the reality of work again!

I've reached two inescapable conclusions this weekend - one not too terrible, the other kinda expensive.

It was a rather productive weekend leading up to these conclusions. My eldest and I spent a good two hours finishing a charm bracelet for her mom's wedding in August. I think we reached a good middle ground of "real jewelry" and "designed by a kid". I promised not to post pictures (although the chance of her mom reading my blog seems small)...but I can tell you it's a nice sterling chain with pendant freshwater pearls. The pearls were picked out by the kid, and are mauve, cobalt, lime green, champagne, lavender, and orange. (That kid-design aspect) They are spaced out with silver beads, which helps make it more multi-color adult looking (less crayon-box)...and finished with a heart toggle. I really, really hope her mom understands the amount of work that went into this!

On top of the charm bracelet, I also recreated a pair of earrings that I'm totally in love with. (Wearing my own pair right now actually) I made the first pair as a gift, loved it so much I decided to make one for the store - but then had to keep them for me. :-) Finally made a pair to sell on Etsy - you can see them here.

Yesterday I also spent considerable time on a project I've been planning for a while. It's a braided wire look...and while I'm not happy with the "braid" itself, I did get some spiral wrapping done that I'm pleased with, and created one ring with it. I suspect I'll need an actual clamp, probably in the garage, to make my braid work properly (sitting on the couch watching CSI didn't work)...but it gives me some new possibilities for jewelry beyond my current abilities, so I'm stoked.

Which leads me to my discoveries. The not-so-bad...I'm not happy with my plain-jane white backgrounds. I've been thinking about this for a little bit, but my unhappiness really reached a peak this weekend. Time to start experimenting with solutions - something patterned a colorful, but that won't distract! Perhaps I can do a few drawing of my own....

The other - I really, really need a light box. My current arrangement just isn't working well, especially on overcast days. We have LOTS of overcast days in Oregon too. No matter how much extra light I have in the room, and how much photo-tweaking I do...I'm just not happy with the results. I know you can make your own lightbox, so will be looking into that - but since I do much more than just etsy jewelry, it will need to be a sizable box I think. Pooh.