This is what is going on right now........

Dinner is blackened swordfish, zucchini, yellow squash, and brown rice.

I ran around and snapped pictures while the rice was cooking.

I went into the bathroom and lookie lookie here.......

It may not sound like a big deal, to me it's a lil piece of heaven compared to.......

new floor!!

Ah, the living room. Of coarse, the TV is on and no one is watching it.....

Hi LuLu

And the new beautiful piece of marble Chris brought in for my soldering station.

studio......



I better finish making dinner, the natives are getting restless!

Just a bunch of junk.....

If you sat through all of that, you deserve a great big piece of cake.

Saturday is shopping day

My Saturday mornings start with coffee, prayer/bible study yes in that order, God does not want to hear mumbling half asleep grumpy prayers now does he? , log into Etsy and check the shop/ thank you's & feedback, work out, shower, pick up the house, go grocery shopping. This takes up most of the day.
I turned the heat on this morning for the first time since early spring. It was 31 degrees outside. Yup, winter is right around the corner. We need to purchase our family seasons pass for skiing/snowboarding soon. It's $1200, that's why I am dragging my feet a bit.

Deep thoughts keep creeping into my mind this moment about honesty and truly being yourself. As I grow and mature, I become more and more honest about my thoughts, feelings.... everything. This is a good thing. Do I care what people think? Ummm, a little bit, yeah. BUT not like I used to in the past. Long ago my entire identity was based on what others thought of me, therefore I had absolutely no sense of self. I mean none. Being alone was excruciating because I had no idea how to feel about me because there was no one else around to tell me. It is a very sick way to think and live. I was NEVER good enough. I made up everything about myself to impress others. By the time I was a teenager I had told so many lies about myself/family/anything and everything that I did not know what the truth was. I was a chameleon. I would act, dress, talk like anyone I thought I wanted to be like.
Gaining an identity for the first time as an adult is pretty crazy. When I almost completely destroyed my life and everyone around me emotionally, it happened. I was not even sure God existed and if He did, He sure would not want to have anything to do with the likes of me. I was desperate for anything, so one morning I woke up (darn) and went downstairs. Chris and the boys were in SC visiting his mom. I got on my knees and screamed to God (or whatever) for help. I would do anything, just make it stop!!!

Ya know what? He did. My screwed up mind, absent of honesty, reality, love, or any non selfish thought began to heal. I was NEVER normal. In the next couple of months I felt all of these defects of character being taken away and replaced with gifts such as a sense of self, honesty, love, and more than I could ever list or describe. I was reborn, brand new. Yeah, no kidding. This is real friends. I mean real.

It has been years since this happened. God is making me new every day (everyday I ask Him to, that's the important part). Don't get me wrong..... I don't just sit back and do nothing. I must be constantly vigilant in seeking Gods will and doing the foot work. What is the foot work?? Showing up to church on Sunday is not foot work. I believe I must get involved with a community of Christians, continue to learn through bible studies, outreach, eating together, etc. I must attend regular AA meetings to take care of my addiction to alcohol. I think the most important thing is to LIVE IT. You can talk talk talk but it means nothing if your life is not backing it up. I mean nothing, it is B-S. I fall short every day, but I try. We all will fall short every day, it's okay. I think God wants us to love Him, have faith in Him, and live keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus. LIFE is the prize. No matter how hard life is, I need to keep my eyes on the prize ..... Jesus. I am GARUNTEED eternal life through Jesus. There is NO OTHER WAY. Accepting Jesus is the first step. How do you do this????

PRAY NOW...

"Lord Jesus, I believe you are the Son of God. Thank you for dying on the cross for my sins. Please forgive my sins and give me the gift of eternal life. I ask you in to my life and heart to be my Lord and Savior. I want to serve you always."

That is the easy part. Living it is challenging because life still happens. You are not guaranteed an easy life if you follow Christ. Actually it may be harder. Persecution takes many forms. I have experienced it and it does hurt. When you are able to rise and handle situations in a Christ like manner, it will change your life, thinking, and other lives as well. I can't say strongly enough that this must be lived out, not talked about. When folks go around preaching wonderful words but how they live their lives does not reflect what they are preaching, ya lost me. I know quite a few folks like that. I get angry at first, but then I stop and pray for them. It is so hard to not be resentful with people who misuse Gods words/scripture etc. I find it spiritually abusive.

I better wrap this up. I had no idea all of this would come out of my head this morning. It started with ...... Saturday is Shopping day..........

I saw......

"Julie & Julia" last night with about 20 ladies from church. It was absolutely delicious!! Meryl Streep deserves an Oscar. She was hilarious, you instantly fell in love with her and her marriage. I can't tell you what a wonderful time I had. If you have not seen it, SEE IT with your girlfriends! The last time I saw a movie in the theater was when the 1st Harry Potter movie came out, Chris and I brought the boys to see it. Chris and I are patient and we wait until all movies come out on DVD.

This will probably be a 2 post day as I have 3 rings I will be setting this morning and listing in my shop. I don't think I will be taking part of the Weekend Deals this weekend. It's getting a bit stale doing it every single weekend. The decrease in sales are becoming a concern. I called the State Board of Nursing yesterday to have them send me test sites so that I may activate my LNA license. I may need to work a nursing job and Lisa's Lovlies for awhile. I can't imagine doing both. As slow as it is, Lisa's Lovlies takes many, many hours a week to run. I just need to take it one day at a time and do the next right thing all day, every day. Things will happen and I will be ready (with God's help). I simply want to do whatever God wants me to do. Even if that means my business takes a back seat to a "regular job" for awhile. I need to remember to stay out of the way and not force MY will on anything. I have seen in the past where MY will gets me, and it ain't good.

Old Chester Hammond used to say....

The ONLY thing in life we can count on is change.

See ya in a bit !

How flippin long does it take????

I have lean muscular arms. I also have chicken arms when I hold them out straight and relax them. What gives???? I do TONS of tricep exercises, and millions of push ups (all varieties) and much of the fat on my body has turned to muscle. My size 4 Tommy Hilfiger's are baggy on my behind for goodness sakes. I think it just takes a REALLY long time to tighten this area for woman in their 30's. Or maybe I have mutant flappers and they will always stay this way. Maybe I sound foolish and vain, but I work sooooo hard every day to achieve a very healthy body, I should not expect less. I WILL NOT settle for less. Maybe Michelle http://www.flameworks.etsy.com/ will have some insight on this. (yells) MICHELLE!!! HELP! She is not only a chef of soaps, but a personal trainer as well.

I am patiently waiting for some answers........

Don't make me jump through that screen. I'll do it!

good morning, good morning I am trying to decide?

a lovely pj shot taken 2 minutes ago......

I went to church with Chris yesterday. It was a last minute decision, I wanted to be with him. It was really great seeing Reverend Dan and many others I have not talked to in awhile. I did not feel very well after church. I felt like I ingested a bunch of cold medicine, but I didn't. Fuzzy and nauseated. Weird. I put on my comfiest hoodie and lounge pants then took to the couch with some tea. I napped and relaxed. I went to bed last night at 7:30pm and woke up this morning at 7:45am! I still feel weird. Not really bad, I don't know. I can certainly work today and attend Alpha this evening. I talked to my ma yesterday. She won't be attending Alpha with me, this was not a surprise. I am not really sad, I asked many folks to pray for her in this decision, so maybe it is not her time yet. I'm good with that. I trust God. He does not need to follow my wants and wishes, it is exactly the other way around. I will just continue to pray that if I am to help in any way my family coming to Christ, that God make it plain to me and give me courage to do his will. It may be a complete stranger or some horrible tragedy that accomplishes this, the point is that I trust God.

It is a Yoga day today. I think I am up for it. I hope so, perhaps I can sweat the funkiness out of me.

When Chris and I think we are not working out hard enough, we call it "doggin' it" ..........

This is the epitome of "doggin' it"

I love the ideas Chris has for these 2 stones. The first one is the piece of picture jasper I was telling you about the other day. It looks like a Chinese mountain scene. I snapped these pictures quickly against white paper, so excuse the quality and lack of white balance.

I have a very long list of orders to create today. Hopefully I will be able to begin the necklace early this week, we'll see.

Have a wonderful Monday!

Splendid Day....

Saturday was such a beautiful day. 66 degrees and sunny, perfect for Antrim's Home and Harvest Day. It is a pre-fall festival my little town puts on every year. I really need to think about setting up a table for my jewelry next year, I just never have time to create any kind of inventory (I do realize this is a blessing as well). A parade went down main street featuring our tiny towns businesses, children, and community events. there is one thing our town supports and that is skateboarding. Our skate park is impressive for a small town. Skate board competitions were being held after the parade. Chris and I were going to help with the snack table/raffle, but they did not need us so we took pictures and really enjoyed the afternoon. Danny was milling around with his friends and Will skated all day long. Will was awarded 2nd price in the skate competition. This comp gets larger and larger every year. There must have been 80 kids at the skate park this year, some hanging around, some in the competitions.


Will & Tucker getting ready, listening to the announcer

Will


Will

Me keeping an eye on Danny

To top the day off there were terrific fireworks at the farm down the road. I brought LuLu, IO don't know what I was thinking, she did not like the booms and blasts. I am glad I had her because she kept me warm, it was freezing when the sun went down.

It is now time for me to get showered for church. I have no plans after that. How lovely :)

WEEKEND DEALS & NEW ITEMS!

♥ ♥ ETSY WEEKEND DEALS ♥

♥BUY 2 GET 1 FREE *of equal or lesser value*

♥ ALL ITEMS ♥

Please notify me via MESSAGE TO SELLER or CONVO which item you select as your 3rd (FREE) item.

I will be listing these in the shop after my workout and shower.

Chris's necklace. He has not named it yet......... he has 2 hours to give me a name.

*edit* no name needed, it's sold

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=31147826

Senora Sunset and malachite ear bobs
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=31148301



Senora Sunset and Sleeping Beauty Turquoise Ear Bobs
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=31148656



If anyone is interested in purchasing any of these items before I list them, shoot me a convo on Etsy.

Can't stop!

I did not want to go another day without at least a quickie blog post. I won't bore you with the details of my day, but it's been another busy one! I will be listing a few more new designs tomorrow including Chris's design. That's about all, I gotta run.

Good gracious it's been a busy couple of days!

It feels like it should be Friday already! The first official night of the Alpha course was last night. It went very well. I feel blessed to be helping out this time around. Chris had a meeting at his church as well so we got to bed rather late. Up at 4:30 am this morning to finish my home work for my woman's bible study, do my plyometrics workout, and shower. To the dentist at 8am for my "crown prep" an hour and a half in the "chair" then time for women's bible study until 11:30am. My printer pooped the bed on Sunday so after bible study I went printer shopping and finally arrived home famished at 2pm. I ate, hooked up the printer, set stones, took pictures, and listed these lovelies.........

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=30984476



There is a heart cut out on the base plate allowing that light to show through on the bottom behind the tree.

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=30985132

The band is as pretty as the setting!

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=30985519

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=30985977

Whew. The turkey breast is in the oven and the clothes need to go in the drier. Ah, my sweet husband says the coffee is ready. I'm going to have a cup while visiting your blogs :)

later taters

Look what I found in my studio!

Chris has made an incredible design and base plate for a dazzling piece of shattuckite I have had for a year and could not think of what to do with. The stone inspired him so he drew a sketch and I loved it. He asked me where my silver was and transferred the drawing and began sawing. He saws like a silver smith. He is a carpenter who specializes in detail work so he has a natural talent. The rest is now up to me (gulp). Chris also sketched another design for a piece of picture jasper that I have been literally afraid to set because I was waiting for an idea to hit me. This stone is worth $100 by itself and it is spectacular. The design is perfect, I can't wait to begin creating it!

Our bathroom has been smelling not so fresh for months. I am somewhat of a neat freak, so it is very clean but there is still the smell of mildew and pee. Yeah, nice.... I know. I bleach around the toilet every other day. I have tried everything. Chris pulled the toilet up and removed tiles to find the toilet has been leaking under the tiles and the sub floor is moldy and rotted. So, Chris will need to replace the sub floor, tiles, and we need a new toilet. Boy howdy.

He put the old toilet back in until he has time this week to basically remodel the entire bathroom. The good news is....... there is none. Well, new tile and a new throne. I'd much rather spend our hard earned money elsewhere. Life on life's terms. Isn't it grand?

If this is the worst of my problems than it has been a darn good day.

Church was AMAZING today. Pastor John was on fire! (don't worry, not literally. I don't go to that kind of church ;P) The Holy Spirit was in that place and in those people, me included. I am not worthy, but I sure am ecstatic that God is so incredible.

WEEKEND DEALS! FREE world wide shipping!

It's Friday! Etsy's Weekend Deal is FREE WORLD WIDE SHIPPING.

♥ No shipping costs will be charged at checkout♥

Some very exciting news! I am offering a variety of large gauge posts in my shop. These are all made to order so you have a choice of many stones and gauges.

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=30759767

One last thing. Yesterday afternoon Chris and I noticed about 50 big ole turkeys crossing the road into out yard. A great big HUGE turkey was leading the way. I wish I could have snapped a better picture.

okay, I must go. My bench is full of unfinished bezel settings.

Later Taters

FREE HOOPS & yoga day

I was browsing through my inactive items in my Etsy shop this morning and came upon those cute little .5" hoops. I decided to give them away today with every purchase!

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=21582450
Very cute........ a necessity if you ask me.

In other news..... it's a yoga day.

I am attempting a quick prayer twist pose for you. This yoga program is extreme. I sweat more doing 1 hour 40 minutes of yoga than when I do plyometrics. It's my FAVORITE!

Normally I would be finished, showered, fed, and swinging a hammer or melting something by now, but I went back to bed for a bit after rising at 6am due to a nasty tummy ache that would only go away if I lay down on my belly. It worked, it always does. I have a nice haul of jewelry to mail today. I will be extra busy due to my late start.

The second and last Alpha training night is tonight from 6-9. After that the course will begin Monday the 14th. I am a "greeter" along with one of the nicest gals you'll ever meet. So we have to make name tags for every night and greet, do registrations yadda yadda. I am so glad to be doing this again and helping to boot!

Oh nonono don't funk with my heart.......

Yes, I actually did name this necklace after a Black Eye Peas tune. Don't shoot me.

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=30595274

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=30595770

Friends, these are not your run of the mill chrysocolla stones, no way. They are unbelievable with vibrant color. Say it like Ma....... "WoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooW"

And these super shiny studs are a great addition to the shop!

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=30596276

I had my first day of women's community bible study today. It's a 30 week study on Genesis. I was not really thrilled when I left. This happens to me periodically when I start something new. That ole devil of a Satan does not want me to improve my life one bit, so he likes to throw a nice knuckle ball into the mix. Well my worthy opponent, I am going back next week, so there!