Fringe-less

Here's my newest 11 x 14 colored pencil artwork, titled "Bright Macaw", finally got it finished!


I've been super busy handling local craft fairs, my full time job, baby sitting my niece and trying to catch up sleep. Plus I somehow pulled my right thumb causing pain during most normal, daily tasks so I've been trying to rest it as much as possible the last few weeks; hence no typing-no blog posts for over a month.

You just don't realize how important seemingly minor parts of your body are until they hurt all the time, lol!

But it's slowly improving so I'm trying to post a short update and I'll be trying to do more update more often. Meanwhile I'm also dealing with my mild depression at the summer break of my favorite TV show FRINGE! It starts it's 3rd season this fall (already been picked up, woohoo!) and I can hardly wait to see what JJ Abrams crew dreams up for us next!

Blogging...

I haven't been a very good blogger lately. Between medical complications in my life and prepping for and completing my 2010 Spring craft fair season I just haven't been in the mind set to write. I guess that's a big reason why my vague writing aspirations of high school never took off, lol! I love to write but I get so easily distracted from it. Not so with my other artist ventures. When I'm focused on an art or jewelry project then obsession is the name of the game.

Writing always seems so nebulous I guess, it's easier for me to compose an essay in my head and then I'm frustrated when it doesn't 'appear' on my computer. I have a lot of great essays and such that never get written. Or at least they seem great at the time. That's not to say I don't have self discipline. I can sit for hours working on minute details of a 11 x 14 colored pencil piece of work; each line individually sketched and smudged. I occasionally forgo lunch when I'm at my craft table working on new jewelry pieces; and I'm not the type that usually skips meals.

But writing...the drive sometimes just escapes me.

And it's not the lack of topics. Just about any day on the unit throws something strange, amusing or sick my way. Of course I'm very cautious about how I phrase such events due to privacy issues and such but still...you can say a lot without saying anything sometimes.

Like the time a guy tried to break into a convenience store after hours through the grill exhaust/heat pipe and got stuck so bad he ended up asphyxiating himself- complete with feet, legs and torso dangling over the grill and upper body and arms stuck inside the pipe.

Or the very large male who was suffering in pain from a kidney stone so badly that he continuously moaned my name over and over in the back of the unit while we drove him to the ER. Meanwhile my partner can barely keep from laughing his ass off in the front seat at the pseudo-sexual scene it created.

How about the patient that experienced such a bad Gastro intestinal bleed that the hotel room floor was LITERALLY covered in bloody feces which we had to cross to get to the patient in the bathroom. Our boots continued to smell of human waste for days even after several washes.

The fear and anxiety of pushing a large IV needle through a conscious patient's neck vein for the first time because it's the only good peripheral vein they have left and they really, really need an IV and meds now or they just might die. Said a little to prayer to God before that one...please, please, please, God don't let me screw this up...

The physical pain of being woken up repeatedly throughout the night. Yeah, sometimes it really does hurt, bad. And no you never, REALLY, get used to it as I've had patients tell me. "you look tired...but you're used to being woken up..." yeah you try it for 20 years and see how used to it you get. Some nights I can actually feel the years being knocked off my life.

The joy of getting everything right, especially when you meant to, and saving someone's life as a result. You learn to realize and accept at some point that as a human you have very little control over anything and at most you try to do your damnedest to be perfect and hope that God can work through you every day to get whatever he needs done. Unfortunately, most of the public and admin think you're supposed to BE perfect and easily forget that you're human and will shred you at the slightest provocation. And not bother to thank you at all.

Being a paramedic is basically the best job you'll ever love to hate.

Why do I love being a paramedic?

In a word....interesting!

What other job could this happen...at 6pm we're responding to a breathing problems call which is actually back pain which is really an Aortic Aneurysm rupture which is fatal and we quickly realize that the back pain is the primary symptom of this poor patient's largest artery ripping open and flooding insides with blood. Blood which is supposed to remain intravascular not extravascular.

That's bad...very bad. Unfortunately, when an Aorta completely ruptures there's not a damn thing anyone, anywhere can do for you. You can be flayed open on the operating table with the best thoracic surgeon over priced insurance money can buy and you're still dead meat. Yeah, you guessed it, this poor patient did not survive.

Immediately afterwards we respond to another breathing problems call and this one is an anxiety attack. Yep, some anxiety and hyperventilation caused this patient to feel dizzy and experience numbness and tingling in both arms. And, yep...had to be transported by ambulance to the hospital as a placebo to make them "feel better". Which worked because I'm damn good at my job, lol!

I wonder...do you think this patient's anxiety would have been worse if the knowledge that someone had been dying on the same stretcher just an hour ago had been shared?

Nooooo, I didn't but it sure does put things into perspective for you doesn't it?

Yes, I love being a paramedic...where else can you experience such extremes and get paid for it?

Plus it gives me great party stories.

Chicken Breath and Helium

I'm back to work or at least I was yesterday. My lungs sound like I'm blowing bubbles through a straw and I'm coughing up enough phlegm to feed a small country; eewwwww, nice thought huh? Ok, yes I'm coughing and yes, my lungs are fluidy but only at the very bottoms so it's not like I'm drowning in my own fluids just yet. But do I feel 10 times better than a few days ago when I had a fever and my remote control arm was too weak to hold said remote control up for more than 10 secs. Can we say dog crap anyone?

So my partner and I run several calls yesterday; not too crazy just steady and serious enough to not feel guilty about earning our paychecks. Well...until we got off shift 2 hours late this morning but I digress. One particular call set off my paramedic humor alarm. We responded to a difficulty breathing call. I walk up and a family member tells me~

"Chicken breath! Her helium no work!"

This was a Hispanic family that barely spoke English and what he was trying to say was:

"She can't breath. Her inhaler didn't work." The chicken breath part is just badly accented English but he actually said helium instead of inhaler. That was a first for me. Never heard anyone call it helium before! LOL! Me being me I made him say it a couple more times just to be sure it really was what I heard before I corrected him. I know I'm evil, hehe!

Busy Christmas season and family stress

Whew, I just realized today that's it's been 2 weeks since I last posted. Doesn't seem that long. It's been a busy 2 weeks. I've had 3 craft shows, 1 jewelry repair/making class at a Terrace location with CCtexan and I've been keeping up with my full time job and family issues.

What issues you ask? Well! My grandparents are at that stage in life where they don't need a nursing home but they can't really live independently anymore. Grandma would love to move in with my parents (her oldest daughter) and have my mom take care of her and grandpa full time so that she wouldn't have to mess with taking care of things herself anymore. Thing is my grandma is a beotch and not in the good way and grandpa was a bastard (now he doesn't even know who I am so his former personality is mostly gone). I was scared shitless of him all of my childhood and he used to beat and verbally abuse all 9 of his children. Grandma has always been manipulative and weeny-whiney (always playing the victim) and she wouldn't regret sucking the life out of my mom to serve her own needs.

Now my mom is awesome, giving to the point of having no boundaries; which is something my dad and I have been working on with her so that Grandma doesn't take advantage of her anymore. And she would, trust me on this. One night she called mom wanting her to drive over to help her undue her bra strap even though Grandpa was there and perfectly able to help her with it! That's just a small, ridiculous example of the lengths she'll go to get Mom to jump. My grandparents on dad's side aren't much better, unfortunately. I never had the wonderful childhood experience of loving grandparents wanting to spoil my brother and I. Usually we hated visiting them cause we were always uncomfortable or scared.

Anyhow, so we moved them into a higher level care retirement apartment complex which is both farther away from my parents and a social "step down" since they can't afford the nicer place. The staff is very nice and the place is clean and maintained but old and what some people would consider a lower socioeconomic level. Two of my aunts fly in to help my mom (their sister) and it's lots of fun had by all.

Picture it. We all hate moving. We all dislike spending time with my grandparents. Grandma doesn't want to move there. Grandpa is clueless, in a wheelchair and mostly in the way. Grandma hasn't helped pack any small personal items which she is capable of prior to move day but chooses to sit back, watch us pack and give snippy directions to us all. This side of the family is of ALL GERMAN DESCENT just 2 generations removed. My aunts have been living alone too long, don't want to be here and have never really learned how to compromise. So they're busy trying to boss everyone and each other around because we're not 'doing it right'.

Thank God my dad's side of the family is mostly Polish. Dad says I got the best of both sides-German enough to be organized, motivated and have a good work ethic but Polish enough to know when to say Fuck It! it's good enough and chill out. Plus I've learned how not to be bossy and annoying (well, mostly, lol) I really believe in personal autonomy and responsibility and that means not trying to run others' lives.

Up shot, we got them moved without killing each other or anyone else but it'll probably be awhile before we have any family reunions or holidays together. We were suppose to have my aunts visit the Feb and other family but now they're saying that they're probably not coming cause they had such a miserable time. Nevermind that the whole week was a set up for misery! They're going to turn it into relationship issues between us when it's really about dealing with the crappy move and my grandparents. Normally we all get along great (minus grandparents) but I think we all need a break for a bit.

Crazy calls

Just when you think you've seen everything a new experience comes along to "shake you up". And I mean that literally! So we respond to unconscious/unresponsive call which can sometimes mean cardiac arrest. We gearing ourselves up for maximum effort and arrive on location to find a fully conscious patient who denies any complaint. Family assures us that the patient was not breathing and had no pulse; and this time the family seems reputable with their knowledge. A little assessment and a little convincing and the patient is loaded up in the ambulance. Not a few minutes later the patient experiences a pacemaker failure. No major physical symptoms but the heart rhythm is a major abnormal rhythm which is a couple steps away from death.

Now as if this wasn't interesting enough, right? Suddenly the ambulance starts bucking like the proverbial bronco. WTF? The patient complains how awful the ride is and I quote "They shouldn't allow these on the road!" I'm bouncing around so violently that I can barely administer care, my boobs are being whiplashed (not fun!) and I feel a part of my spinal column in my neck jar badly! I realize that not only is this bad professionally but I'm minutes away from a compression fracture in one of my vertebrae.

So I get on the radio and make an executive decision. Another unit nearby is in service and I have them meet us down the road and we quickly switch the patient and necessary equipment into the functioning unit and skeedatle onto the hospital. Which was a really good decision because the patient became severely altered a few minutes later, we started heart pacing but unconsciousness soon followed and the patient was intubated later at the hospital.

Our malfunctioning truck showed up at the hospital about 10 minutes after us. The air ride shock system failed in our usual truck which creates a very, VERY, rough ride!

Early the next morning we're called for the flu, of course! Upon arrival we load the patient on the stretcher and the patient's spouse demands that a blanket is used to cover the patient who is already, red faced, hot to the touch from fever and bundled in a winter coat. We find out that the patient had stopped taking Tylenol early that day because they were on Tamiflu now (Hint, tamiflu DOESN'T treat fevers just helps kill off the virus causing the flu but nothing for the symptoms, der!) No Tylenol + lots of blankets creating more natural insulation = high fever which is what the patient had 103+ and why they called 911.

I attempt to explain to the spouse that the patient definitely does not need a blanket and that a few minutes of cold air will do the patient lots of good. I try to explain basic science of heat+insulation and the spouse says to me, "Use a blanket! I read an article and....blah, blah" at this point between my sleep deprived zombie state and my utter disregard for his insane advice and decided to shut up, turn away and leave before I strangled him; meanwhile the spouse is still trying to argue with me and repeats behind me "I read an article that said...."

I'm sorry! My paramedic experience trumps your stupid article! And if you know so much:

A) why does your spouse have such a high fever
B) why did you call 911 since you've got it handled

You only called 911 so you wouldn't have to drive and your spouse could be coddled since we're (afterall) morons compared to your EXTENSIVE medical knowledge.

ARGH! BTW, we dropped the spouse off in the waiting room per the hospital direction because there's no cure for the flu!

Be careful what you say on Facebook!

An interesting call happened yesterday...an young female- who shall of course remain nameless- decided to get a 'rise' out of her boyfriend for some reason or another and posted on her Facebook wall that she was going to "take a bunch of pills" and "end it all" and various other suicidal phrases. She then turned her phone off so when he called he got no answer; thereby escalating his emotions. He was so escalated that he called 911 and once we arrived she was quite stunned by the response. She repeatedly stated that she "didn't mean it" and that she "never took anything" but it was too late by then.

At this point I should explain a couple of legal issues. In the US (it varies somewhat state to state) if anyone makes any statement to the effect of wanting to hurt or kill themselves then they temporarily lose their right to refuse medical care. The logic being that if you want to hurt/kill yourself than you're not in a rational state of mind since rational persons don't wish to hurt/kill themselves. Ergo~if you're not rational than you're not legally competent and can't make decisions for yourself until evaluated and cleared by a physician. And if you're a minor then you can't make any legal decisions for yourself at all; that's your parent/guardian's job.

So when persons make fake, dramatic suicide threats then they get to be legally (sometimes forcibly) taken away against their will to the hospital until it can be determined whether or not they're actually rational. So when she posted on a potentially INTERNATIONAL site she effectively told the world that she wasn't rational and since she's a minor she never had a choice after she made those threats.

Even if we decided to allow her parents to keep her at home what if she had been serious and had taken something or would do so later? I don't want to be that worldwide mascot for negligence because some teen wanted to piss off her boyfriend.

Hopefully, she's learned a lesson about what NOT to post on FB and her parents get to spend several thousand dollars to remind themselves to keep a closer eye on her internet usage. It's the internet age people~ if you choose to forfeit your privacy then be careful what you wish for!

Head colds suck

I haven't posted all week cause I've been dealing with a bad head cold which has been stubbornly trying to turn itself into a chest cold (haha! Zicam and Tylenol severe cold and flu syrup- take that evil virus!) So I've been a bit fuzzy headed must of the week fighting this cold since my immune system still isn't back to it's usual vigor yet.

In addition I've been prepping for 3 - count'em 3 shows starting on Halloween morning. UGH. 3 in one week, what was I thinking? 1 is a normal craft show and the other 2 are at business locations so those shouldn't be as complicated but still - 3 in 7 days? It's going to be a busy week. That's also why I haven't listed anything new in my shop right now because I want to have enough for all the shows. Whatever doesn't sell by the last show will get listed in my shop. I may also have another show 12/5 but I'm not sure if I'll be off my usual work shift or not. So that another show to prep for....But good news! Whatever doesn't sell at my shows this season before Christmas not only gets listed online but I'm thinking of having a Christmas sale after 12/5 for a couple of weeks. Maybe 25% off? Whatda think? Comments, concerns, questions?

3zArt Texas Artfire Promotion

3zart on Texas Artfire Promotion, read about here!

2 Belles and a Bead Texas Artfire Promotion

Sorry folks! I meant to start this promotion last Monday but some personal issues tripped me up and it had to be delayed. But here we are! The first Texas Artfire shop to be promoted is:

2 belles and a bead
Pictured is a beautiful lariat necklace listed in their shop along with many other gorgeous items.
This very lovely shop is run by a mother and daughter team, Karen and Crystal.

In their own words: We started about five years ago (wow, has it really been that long?!), and our passion for the art gets deeper every day. We especially love working with gemstones and metals.

We have a wide variety of items and also do custom jewelry orders of just about any kind. So if you're looking for something specific, ask away and we can probably create it for you. :o)

If you're looking for jewelry supplies, check out our other shop: http://BellesBeadsnThings.artfire.com

Family - Can't live with them...

I'm sorry I haven't posted lately but it's been an usually emotionally stressful week. Last Friday my brother wanted to meet with our parents and I. There is a long history of broken promises, verbal abuse and manipulation from my brother towards all of us for most of the last 20 years. The last few years he has been working his way back into the family trust and even I, the most suspicious, had reached point earlier this year that I thought he had been really making progress. I was wrong. I was so wrong that I began to not take his phone calls because I couldn't deal with the emotional stress during my medical recovery as well this summer.

That's what this meeting was about, his attempt at damage control. He attempted to manipulate me with a greater amount of covert force then I'd ever seen before from him. A multi-layered verbal attack with a phrase of "You didn't fail me." while using a forgiving voice to imply that I did fail him and fake to to imply that he forgave me anyway. Never mind that the conversation had been about him. He had attempted to twist to around to me.

I immediately jumped to my feet and yelled at him that it wasn't about me it was about him failing himself and him failing his kids. More happened after wards but the upshot is that in all the years that I've been screwed over by my brother this is the worst I've ever seen him. I've been dealing with the physical and emotional stress results all week.

New coupon code

Haven't had much time to post this week. Been busy dealing with numerous business and non-business related issues.

1. Had my first ever customer complaint - bummer.
2. Artfire started their Facebook Kiosk and coupon codes - yeah! Go to my facebook page become a fan to get the coupon code to use at the facebook kiosk to get 15% of your total order!
3. Trying to makes lots of stuff for my upcoming 4 craft shows this fall.
4. Been dealing with crappy family issues.
5. Can't seem to get enough sleep.
6. Chocolate milk is my new best friend.
7. Have had several custom orders - yeah!
8. Probably am spreading myself too thin., may have to reevaluate some things.

Crazy numbers in my jungle

I'm finally starting to get some of my stamina and stride back from this insane year of medical issues. You know when you think you're functioning normally, you think "yeah I'm doing okay, maybe not great but I'm hanging on to my life." I laugh in the face of past perceived lucidity!

This week two things happened that made me realized just how fubared my life has been this year from my earlier medical problems. I sat down to balance my check book and realize that there is over $2000 missing from my account. Holy Mother of God and WTF!!!! How the hell did this happen and why did I not notice before now??????

Long story short - I go back to the beginning of '09 and check every entry, every penny. I realize that I had moved that large amount to my savings at one point and forgot to enter it so that wasn't really gone. whew! However, starting around the time of my major bleeding and the accompanying brain fog my check book become rather - weird. I'm normally very meticulous about my money. It's not that money is all that important to me in theory but where it is and where it's going is important. It's a tool and it damn well better be working full time for me!

Well, my basic arithmetic became very, very wrong, I entered deposits and withdrawals that apparently never existed. The entries that were there were correct but everything else was really screwed up. It's a good thing I wasn't on the ambulance during that time because who knows what the hell I would have done and not realized it.

Also, my usual chores are trimming and landscaping while my husband does the mowing and edging. Since I hadn't been able to do that for awhile and this was the first week that I had both the energy and the lack of a headache; I decided to tackle the job.

Holy crap! The climbing roses in the backyard were staging a coup on the lantana, the plumeria tree, the bbq smoker, the patio roof and the back door. I hadn't been in the back yard for a couple of weeks so I was quite surprised to notice that as soon as I stepped outside the door I was confronted by a large, thorny, reaching rose branch. Kind in mind that the rose bush is 10 feet away. I schooled that bush with my combat trimmers and leather gloves and am happy to report that it is now back to a modest rose bush.

Both of these things made me realize just how blitzed I've been for the past several months. Not that I could help it. As my mom said: "Honey, you're in survival mode right now." Boy, was she right!

Migraines suck!

So I was supposed to work on Saturday but instead I got to have one of my mega migraines which started about 6 pm Friday night and lasted until about 6 am Saturday morning. Fortunately, I only get this really bad migraines a few times a year. Usually I just get low grade annoying headaches sometimes monthly, sometimes weekly, sometimes daily. Lately they've been daily until they peaked with a big one this weekend.

I've been suffering with migraines for most of my life. The first bad headache I remember was when I was in 6th grade. The stress of learning to deal with the locker lifestyle was apparently a bit to get used to. The first migraine I remember that presented with serious neurological side effects was when I was 20. My left hand and the left side of my lips went numb and my right eye had a blind spot; these symptoms lasted for several hours and I was freaked that I was having a stroke! Doctor at the time diagnosed me with stress and told me to relax. Over the years my headaches have varied and the symptoms have changed and I learned to cope. I've taken different medications to treat and pre-treat the pain but nothing seems to really help.

When things are really bad you'll find me completely still on the couch, ice mask on my eyes, heating pad behind my neck, bottle of pain killers and a vomit bucket nearby. My husband hates seeing me suffer like that. He's so great about keeping the house very quiet and dark when I'm the worst.

While I certainly don't enjoy the pain it has given me a certain perspective on life. I definitely full in the category of 'chronic pain sufferer' and I can't predict the really bad ones. Those bastards just happen; although I've learned to avoid my triggers. Loud sounds, smells, lights - especially when my head feels a 'certain sensitive way'.

Having this chronic pain makes me very grateful for the days when I feel good. When I'm healthy and active and able to tackle the world. There may never be a cure for migraines but until then I'm taking it one day at a time.

My good day is your bad day

When paramedics say they've had a great call that means that someone else has had a really bad day. That being said, I had a really great call yesterday morning. For the first time in months I got to be a real medic again and saved someone's life. A patient was experiencing a major heart attack (otherwise known as a myocardial infarction) and not only did I bring him back from the brink but we got him to the hospital in time. A short while after we arrived at the ER and while they were taking him to the cardiac cath lab to fix the blockage he went into cardiac arrest! The ER staff shocked him once and brought him back. He then was able to continue to the cath lab. Had my partner and I not treated him as quickly and appropriately as we had he would have gone into cardiac arrest sooner and probably would not have made it to the cath lab; hence his heart would not have been fixed in time.

Those are the calls that paramedics train for and while we realize that it's good they don't happen everyday it gets to be a real drag to be used primarily as a medical taxi cab.

On a lighter note I've added a new jewelry design to my shop: ear cuffs. What's really great is that I listed my first ear cuff (check the link for a pic) Tues night and sold it Wed morning! How awesome is that? I wasn't sure if anyone would be interested so I'm very happy to be wrong.

Back to work

Tomorrow is my first day but to my usual full time duties on the ambulance! I haven't been on the truck since the beginning of April; that's 3 1/2 months. I haven't been off the ambulance for longer than 3 weeks at a time since I started working in EMS 16 years ago. It all seems strangely distance right now but at 8am I'll be getting my groove back. I'm also going to be working out again which I haven't been able to do since the beginning of March - 4 1/2 months.

Fortunately I haven't gained any weight but my tone and strength are diminished and my body shape just isn't what is was 5 months ago. Oh well, thank goodness that the human body is so adaptable. I'll be kicking back into shape the rest of '09.

Starting tomorrow I should have more interesting crazy work events to talk about. ;o)

Drum Roll Please.......and the Winner is......

Okay, so the copied web page isn't all the clear but it can be read. To the right of the page is the random number generator with the numbers 1 - 40 as the range. Below the range is the randomly generated number of 13. Woohoo, lucky number 13!

Prior to using the number generator I assigned numbers to each person based on the amount of entries they submitted. Entries were gained by three options: posting comment about a favorite item from my shop = 1 entry, blogging/posting about my giveaway = 2 entries per blog post, purchase = 3 entries per purchase.

Listed below are all the persons who entered and the numbers which I assigned to them. Since all numbers have equal chances to be drawn regardless of position I just assigned them sequentially to ease tracking.

Silver River Jewelry - 1 entry - 1
Evil bendy - 3 entries - 2,3,4
Carapace - x 1 entry - 5
Redcrow x 1 entry - 6
Amber x 2 entries - 7,8
Jerri x 3 entries - 9,10,11
Gym Mama x 5 entries - 12,13,14,15,16
Aik x 3 entries - 17,18,19
2 Virgos x 3 entries - 20,21,22
Patrice x 1 entry - 23
Beadlady x 3 entries - 24,25,26
Larry Hamm x 1 entry - 27
Jennifer Anderson x 3 (purchase) - 28,29,30
Karen White x 6 (purchase) - 31,32,33,34,35,36
Jazzy Jems x 1 entry - 37
Bon Bon Babe x 2 - 38,39
Marion x 1 - 40


If you are unable to read the random screen capture (it is blurry...sorry) The winner number is:

13

Congratulations Gym Mama aka Brandi!!!!!!!!!

Contact me as when you can and we'll discuss the custom aspects of your bracelet!

Awesome Feedback!

So I just have to brag this morning. I sold this necklace and these earrings to a seller a couple of weeks ago and have been eagerly awaiting feedback of some sort. She finally left feedback yesterday and WOW! I'm so glad she loved them! The choker was one of my favorites and I'm glad it went to a great home. The earrings had been admired by several people; one lady who suggested that they would be better without the feathers. I offered to removed them but she didn't buy anyhow. I considered removing them later but decided they were they design I started with and I would stay with that idea. A month later this buyer loved them and they're now a matching set. Just goes to show you shouldn't change your designs to suit someone unless they're actually buying the product. Here's my awesome buyer's feedback which I cut and pasted from Etsy.

Superlative! I love this necklace -- it is beautifully executed. Quick delivery, safe packing, A++++++

Talented and imaginative seller, these are great earrings. Delivery was quick, packing terrific (fragile items, feathers). A++++++

I'm cleared for duty!

Just saw my doctor today and she gave me a clean bill of health and clearance to resume my normal life, woohoo! I have my written clearance to return to full duty at work July 11 and I can do everything I'm used to doing without restriction. Of course, I still have anemia but it's improving everyday. I know I'm now 100% yet but I feel like my old self more this week than I have in months, almost years!

I had originally decided to have my giveaway contest run through July 15 but I'm thinking I'll bump it up. So I'm going to give everyone a few more days to enter and do the drawing July 5 for the holiday weekend. So make sure you have all the entries that you want cause you've only got 3 more days!

Who likes steampunk? I do, I do!

I got these great vintage optical lenses last week and have been excited to play with them. I came up with this cool Steampunk Feather Charm Necklace which is long!! Hangs 14 inches from the neck so that you can use the monocle which has a .5 magnification strength. It's a real optical lens used for vision testing. I added some cool macaw feather (of course!) and a nifty photo frame charm which is ready for your personal photo. Just pop out the plastic and paper insert, size your photo and pop back in with plastic protecting it.

How cool is that?