Farmer Dave's Journal

Twitter Account

2009-09-21T12:25:00.001-07:00

Hi All -
Follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/DavesBeads.

I'm getting ready for Portland Open Studios....should be fun. If you are in Portland on October 17th or 18th drop me a line. Our studio will be open to the public. I'll be doing demonstrations and have tons of beads available.

Some New Pictures

2008-11-21T23:07:00.000-08:00

Here's what a kid and her playdoh looks like. I'm not sure these pictures would have changed much in the last 50 years...just the kids. Although I will say that playdoh has a lot more "extra" things that come with it now. For example, Devera has a haircutting stand and a birthday set. I think when we were kids they just had the playdoh and that was about it.

The second picture is for Grandma. Every time Devera makes this face we think of the "incident". One day when Devera was staying with Grandma, she called with Devera crying like crazy in the background. Apparently there were some discussions about what faces were allowed to be made and not made. I think Grandma was laying down the hammer because she was afraid Devera's face was going to "stick" like that. That has to be the Best Baby Boomer's Urban Legend I can think of. I'm positive there wasn't a parent alive in the 70's and 80's that didn't utter the words, "stop doing that - - - if you're not careful your face is going to stick like that forever."

It's been a little while....

2008-11-18T21:49:00.000-08:00

Hello out there!
My "Year of Simplification" has had a few casualties as well....including my blog. For those of you that didn't know, my New Year's Resolution last year was to simplify things so that I would have more time for fun things. So in addition to cleaning a ton of things in my glass room, I also had two additional glass cabinets built for me this year. So all of my glass is now off the floor and organized for easy use. The downside of all of this cleaning and taking on some big projects here at the house is that I haven't been making many beads the last month or so. Fortunately I set up an auction to kick off on Ebay on Thanksgiving afternoon. If you have some time between football and turkey hopefully you'll take a quick look. Have a Great Thanksgiving!

New Pictures

2008-07-28T22:23:00.001-07:00

How are these for cute? The top picture is my interpretation of Devera and her cousin Riley in their princess dresses. The bottom picture is their castle that my sister drew for them. That's a pretty good looking castle if you ask me. Devera was pretty proud of both of the drawings. I have a feeling it's not always going to be this easy.

Hope you are having a good week. New Ebay auction should be coming soon. Keep in eye out for it if you are interested.

2008-07-02T21:22:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone -
A little Ebay news....there's an auction ending tomorrow (Thursday) and about the same time a new one will launch. The new set going up is really nice. It takes a lot to impress Toby and even she was pretty excited about them.

Since I haven't posted a picture in awhile....here's a new one from our visit to the beach this weekend.

Website Back Up & Running

2008-06-25T19:44:00.001-07:00

Whoohoo! It's fixed. New Special is up now....one of Toby's creations using my beads. I'll be working to get a new Ebay auction up soon too, hopefully in the next day or two.

Trouble with Website

2008-06-23T23:16:00.001-07:00

Hello Everyone -
I'm having some technical difficulties with my website. For some reason I can't update it, which is impacting not only the site but also my Ebay auctions. So for now I don't have an Ebay auction up and the Special on the homepage is actually sold. I'll let you know when I'm able to reach technical support and my site is updated. Until then...have a great week!

BeadHive is Back!

2008-06-02T21:13:00.000-07:00

How fun is this - - I got an invitation to join the old Ebay group (the BeadHive) that I used to enjoy looking at. It was discontinued a couple years back and I remember it was sort of sad because it was a lot of fun to see what other lampworking and jewelry artists were doing. And it was a nice site in that it always had a kind of "teamwork" feel to it. Anyway, even though I know I don't have as much time to invest as I used to it will still be fun to check in from time to time.

Funny how things end up coming back around sometimes huh?

Checking In

2008-05-30T00:37:00.000-07:00

Good grief it's been a long time since I posted something on here. I got super busy with a bunch of major house projects but the last few days I have been back on the torch. My plan is to put up an Ebay auction towards the end of next week.

Hope things have been going well for all of you. Things have been good here. Today Devera picked her spinach that she grew in the garden and we had it for dinner tonight. I don't remember really liking fresh spinach as a kid but she loves it. I'm pretty excited that she will just eat it straight off the plant while we are walking around the yard. And today we noticed the first green strawberries...shouldn't be too long before those things are going crazy with fruit!

Have a great weekend!

Trip to San Francisco

2008-03-10T22:09:00.000-07:00

Just got back from San Francisco - that was definitely a lot of fun. Devera loved riding the cable cars and horses on the carousel. We did manage to eat at one pretty good restaurant, although it was surprising that it was very empty. ...and similar to everything else in San Francisco was pretty expensive. None the less it had some great food - - the name of it was Roots.

Here are a couple of new pictures of Devera. Also - new auction kicking off at 10:30am PST tomorrow morning.

Election Coverage

2008-02-10T21:40:00.000-08:00

Wow, this has been the most interesting primary season I can remember. I'm pretty excited about how things are going to be honest. As I've mentioned before, I consider myself to be a pretty moderate person. So seeing Obama, Clinton, and McCain as the final 3 is awesome. It was probably over a year ago that I wrote that I was hoping this year would be a McCain vs. Clinton election followed by Obama running in 2012 or 2016. Ok, so Obama is way ahead of where I expected him to be but I was pretty close. Of the three, I'm actually leaning toward Obama. I'm convinced all 3 will do a good job, and will bring back some respectability to the country. But Obama brings something special, he actually seems like a guy the entire country could rally around. Reagan & Kennedy are the two I think had similar traits, even if their agendas were entirely different. A couple things about Obama strike me as optimal. First, he's extremely positive in his message. He's not nearly as polarizing as say someone like Bush. Second, he's not telling each state a different story just to get votes (which was the problem with Romney). Obama was the only one who went into Detroit and said, "we need to put restrictions on cars so that they get, at minimum, 40 miles per gallon". The autoworkers hated hearing this. But he at least was honest with them. His argument is reasonable, he points out that if all of our cars got 40 mpg then we wouldn't need to import oil from the middle east. So we wouldn't need to be fighting wars there. How nice would that be? One thing I've always wondered is - since when did not fighting wars with other countries become a bad thing? He also argued that getting 40 mpg from our cars would actually make them competitive with foreign competitors. And getting to that number would require new technology that would create new jobs. ....I'm buying it. Finally, I think Obama is energizing younger people. His program to give college scholarships to students but in return require them to put in a year of social service (i.e. - peace corps, food shelters, etc.) is awesome. College educated kids that feel tied to the country and feel a desire to help others is a good thing.

So all in all I'm pretty excited about how things are going. Too bad it couldn't be Obama as president and McCain as vice president. Some day maybe we won't have these silly political parties but I realize that is way, way too much to ask. For now I'll just settle for one of these three to set us back on the right track.

Funny Article

2008-01-15T22:40:00.000-08:00

Ok, to show that I can take it as well as dish it out - - there's a great article on the last page of Time Magazine this week that talks about how buying food that was produced locally is really dumb. It's definitely tongue and cheek but the main point is that it pokes fun at people like me...and actually the writer too. The guy is so funny, he basically goes out to Whole Foods and tries to make a meal out of ingredients that come from as far away as possible. Cheese from France, wine from Italy, nuts from Spain, etc. While a little loose with the facts (the claim that packaged goods from other countries weren't as bad for the environment as the gas used to drive to the local farmer's market was a little far fetched) it was definitely entertaining. My favorite quote from the guy was something like, "buying food from foreign countries is the only way I really learn about any other countries...except when we bomb them". Obviously this guy could poke fun at himself as well as others. Ok, maybe I should stop reading so much and start making some beads! I've got two sets on Ebay that are ending Thursday morning if you are interested in taking a look.

A Good Sign

2008-01-14T21:20:00.000-08:00

How great is this - - the Toyota Prius sales just passed the Ford Explorer...which has been the top selling SUV for more than 10 years. It's awesome to see people starting to downscale away from the monster trucks that were so popular. The article listed some of the possible reasons as rising gas prices and increased regulation. While I really don't care what the specific reason is, I can't help but hope that some of it is just people caring more about the environment. One of the most ironic placement of a bumper sticker ever is the "Support Our Troops" stickers plastered across the Enormous Monster Trucks. I always think, "hello, we wouldn't be in that war if Americans would drive more fuel efficient cars". I actually think that it's better to support our troops by trying to do everything possible to consume as little oil as possible, including driving a car with good gas mileage, taking public transportation whenever possible, and buying locally grown food that isn't shipped across the country or continent.

So while Prius sales aren't going to single handily change the world, it's a step in the right direction. Kind of like the first time I heard that McDonalds was now selling salads. ....baby steps! The other thing I really believe is that companies that don't figure out how to keep up with the the world's new focus on caring for the planet, don't deserve to stay in business. That's one of the main reasons that Toyota is dangerously close to completely bankrupting Ford and GM. I've been following these companies for some time now and it's just hard to imagine Ford and GM really competing with Honda and Toyota since both of those companies have been making smaller, more fuel efficient cars for so long now.

Here's the article if you are interested in taking a read: http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/Extra/ToyotaPriusSalesPassFordExplorer.aspx

Christmas Day

2007-12-29T13:12:00.000-08:00

Hope you are enjoying the holidays!

I took a couple weeks off from beadmaking to just enjoy the Holidays. That's the good side to not making beads full-time, since I'm not dependant on the income from lampworking I can take some much needed breaks. The flip side is that sometimes I'm really motivated to make beads and I might have to wait a few days to make them.

Here are some pictures from our Christmas Day:

Craigslist Post

2007-12-04T21:26:00.000-08:00

One of the fun parts about being a lampworker is collecting different types of glass. Sometimes you really connect with a specific glass type and can become one of the main people working with it (for me, Bullseye's Luster Glass is that glass). On the other hand, sometimes you spend a ton of money on a specific glass type and you can't get a single good looking bead out of it (for me, Double Helix is that glass). At any rate, I've been trying to get me to build a couple more of these glass storage cabinets for me. So I posted on craigslist that I was looking for someone to help me build these and would like to know how much someone would charge me to build them. Surprisingly I haven't gotten a single person to respond. Surprising because when I had the first cabinets built I had several people respond with different pricing that would do it. Anyway, I hope I can find someone to build these for me. Now I'm starting to wonder if maybe you can't find everything on Craigslist.

Snow! We'll, A Couple Flakes at Least

2007-11-28T21:04:00.000-08:00

It's finally starting to feel like Christmas now....Thanksgiving is officially over and we even had a few snowflakes tonight. We had a nice Thanksgiving - - I think Devera just likes saying the word "feast." We also watched Little Mermaid a few dozen times...or maybe it just felt like it.

I'm getting ready to put a new Ebay auction and special up but the camera is recharging so it might have to wait another day or two...we'll see. Keep an eye out if you are interested.

Getting Excited for Thanksgiving

2007-11-15T23:05:00.000-08:00

For some reason it seems like Thanksgiving weekend should start tomorrow but we are still a week away. I can't wait to have four days to spend with family.

I took Devera to the mall tonight. She likes going to get a piece of candy from See Candies after we eat dinner and also to walk around and look at all of the stuff - - basically playing with the dolls and fire engines at the Children's Pottery Barn. I have to admit, it was such a bummer to go to the mall and see Christmas decorations out. Hello....it's not even Thanksgiving yet. There was a great little write-up in Time this week about how the blurring of the holidays is ruining the whole season. I couldn't agree more. When I was a kid it was so neat to look forward to Halloween and all the things that go along with it. Then Thanksgiving was always a time to have a big family feast and celebrate my Dad's birthday. And when that was over, it was finally time to start thinking about Christmas. I was sad tonight when Devera was so focused on all the Christmas decorations that she didn't even really think about Thanksgiving at all. One rule we stick with at our house is that we try to only focus on one holiday at a time.

So hopefully this weekend you are getting together that shopping list for the grocery store and not the list for presents - - Have a Great Weekend!

New Ebay Auction, Special, ....and phone carrier?

2007-11-07T21:05:00.001-08:00

Ok, as promised, tomorrow at 10:30am PST I'll have a new Ebay auction launched. Also, I just put up a new on-site auction so if you are interested just shoot me a quick email.

So what's the phone carrier part about? So here it goes. Basically, I'm not really much of a complainer. First, I think life's too short. Second, most people don't enjoy hearing about it, and third, I'm generally a happy person. So as I tell this story keep in mind that it had me laughing almost all the way through. So awhile back I noticed something on my MCI bill that said "paper billing fee - $1". Fair enough I thought, if they have to send a paper invoice each month that would cost about a dollar, and an email is basically free and helps save the environment. So I was on board. So I called MCI and said, "yes, please start sending my invoice via email so I can save the dollar each month". There response was this - - "I can only remove the fee if you tie the payment to be automatically deducted from your bank or credit card each month." I told them that I've had trouble with that in the past because my credit card company has changed my number numerous times and I dislike having to call all the companies to tell them the number has changed. So I repeated again that I would like to have the fee waived and that I just wanted an email sent. They said "no". To be honest, I was a little surprised. So I made sure I had the story right. "So what you are telling me is that I have a paper billing fee, but an electronic email statement is not offered." Their response, "yes, that's correct". I tried unsuccessfully to get them to realize how insane that is to no avail. Then I remembered all of the other times MCI has screwed me in the past - - like when I owned their stock and they declared bankruptcy....all my money was gone - about $1,500. Then they just re-issued new stock after bankruptcy court. Why society doesn't pressure Congress to stop giving corporations welfare and direct that money towards our schools and infrastructure is beyond me but that is a different story. Then I remembered the time they just stopped offering internet service mid-stream. One day I just got this strange letter that said MCI was no longer offering internet service and that they would shut off my service on day X.

So how does the story end? I've got Comcast coming over next weekend to change my phone and at the same time save $50 a month over what MCI was providing. I've always believed that poor companies should be punished by consumers and good companies should be rewarded - - and the best way to do that is with my own purchasing. So I did promise MCI that I would make sure I blogged about my awful experience(s) with them and hopefully that would drive some customers away. Ultimately I would love to see the company go bankrupt.....again! God they are embarrassing. If anyone has anything to say about MCI, good or bad, feel free to post to the link. You get bonus points if it's a funny (read: assinine) experience.

Coming soon, my Verizon story which is even sillier!

Princesses on Ice

2007-11-04T19:53:00.000-08:00

Hello Everyone -

I've been sick for the past week so I haven't made any beads or posted. Bummer because I'm all fired up to make beads after the 3-day Michael Barley class. I did do a couple really fun things this week though (maybe that's why I'm still sick!). Today Devera and I went to see Disney's Princesses on Ice. I think Devera was most excited to see Tinker Bell and Aeriel. Oh, and she also liked Moulon a lot. All evening she's been showing us how she can ice skate in the living room. For Halloween Devera was a princess....surprise, surprise. The picture at the top is of Devera in her costume with Toby. Have a good week everyone. P.S. - I'm hoping to have another special up on the website this week.

Michael Barley Class - Day Two

2007-10-27T22:34:00.000-07:00

Back at the hotel tonight. My head is spinning from all of the torch time I've had over the last 2 days. I hope I can remember it all. I spent some time looking through all of the glass at Frantz Art Glass - - the place is absolutely huge! Worth the trip if you happen to be around Shelton, Washington.

It's been really interesting to be around other lampworkers all weekend. As anyone who reads this site knows, I don't really know what's going on in the lampworking scene or even what's popular or not popular. Especially in the last year or so, I rarely look at beads besides the ones I make myself. I'm not saying that's good or bad it's just the way it is. Anyway, it was really interesting to see what everyone focuses on. It's fun to sit by other lampworkers who have different strengths and weaknesses. For example, since I never make barrel-shaped beads it takes me forever to work on one, and even then it needs help. Some of the people I take the class with could make them in their sleep I bet. However, when it comes to the technical dot placement type work I can tell that I spend a lot more time focusing on that kind of stuff. So I've really enjoyed watching all the other students make their beads....super fun.

So tomorrow is my last day in the class. I can't wait to get back home and start messing around with all these new techniques. I also miss Toby and Devera and can't wait to see them. I think they took a ferry ride today while Daddy was at "Glass Camp". ....funny huh?

Michael Barley - Day One

2007-10-26T23:31:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone -
I'm sitting in my hotel room after day one of my class. It's been fantastic so far. There are 8 students in the class. Most of the students have been making beads for 5+ years which is kind of fun. It's nice to see what other people are in to.

The class itself has been even better than expected. It's been probably 3 years since I've seen another lampworker make beads so I'm picking up all kinds of things. I should have some good pictures when I return home. ....these beads look a LOT different than my usual style. I'm hoping to blend some of what I learn into some new stuff when I return.

....stay tuned.

Fast Turnaround Time

2007-10-22T20:42:00.000-07:00

How funny is this? I left for the airport last night at 9:00pm for a red-eye flight for work. Went to my meeting in Chicago at 9:00am and then turned right back around and hopped on another flight back home. So I went to Chicago from Portland and back to Portland in less than 24 hours. So needless to say I'm a little tired. I figured out that I've only slept 30 minutes since Saturday night. I'm headed to bed now, but tomorrow there will be another auction up so stay tuned.

Also - this Friday I am going to Frantz Art Glass to take a class with Michael Barley. Usually I teach classes so it will be fun to be a student again....I'm pretty excited. Hopefully I'm have some new techniques/styles to show off next week!

Triceritops Piggy-Back Ride

2007-10-08T22:06:00.001-07:00

We bought this Triceratops (a dinosaur) pinata a long time ago but Devera has really taken a liking to it. Yesterday she decided that her mousies (the second picture) would take a ride on Triceratops. I'm a big dinosaur fan so I thought it was pretty cool. Especially when she let out the big "Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr" because of course dinosaurs growl. Anyway, lots of fun these days!

New York, New York

2007-10-07T12:37:00.000-07:00

Just got back from a quick trip to New York this week. You know, I have to admit in the past I've never really enjoyed it as much as most people. However, it was kind of fun to walk around. My hotel was pretty close to Times Square and I must have walked about 5 miles over the course of three hours or so. It's great to see all those people in one spot. I'm always so amazed how huge that place is!

Ending Summer....

2007-09-11T21:41:00.000-07:00

Isn't a nice, messy ice cream what summer is all about? We took this picture at Toby's company picnic which just happened to be at the Portland Zoo. Devera thought this chocolate ice cream bar was the greatest. Mom looks pretty happy too....maybe it's because most of the ice cream actually stayed on Devera...or at least Devera's clothes.

Out Sick

2007-09-10T22:38:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone -
Sorry about no response for a few days...I've been at home sick. It's been a real bummer but I'm starting to feel better now. I should be back with a new special and new Ebay auction in a few days. Hope the week is treating you well.

The Fair & Dahlia Gardens

2007-09-03T13:53:00.000-07:00

What a fantastic Labor Day Weekend! Yesterday we took Devera to the Fair and Swan Island Dahlias - - which is this dahlia farm that has acres and acres of dahlias. Devera loved the flowers but was so excited about going to the fair that we weren't there for more than an hour. The fair was full of the usual suspects, cows, rides, elephant ears, ice cream, and free-range pulled pork sandwiches. Ok, that last one surprised us too. The last bastian of complete unhealthy food now even has a somewhat healthy, hormone-free, free-range offering. Anyway, Devera liked riding all of the rides by herself, and with Mommy on the rides that they could both go on (like the Ferris Wheel). She was pretty wiped out at the end of the day, but it was definitely one of the highlights of the summer for her!

Multnomah Village Parade

2007-08-19T19:44:00.000-07:00

How fun is this? Our little city center has a one-day festival every year called Multnomah Days. Devera's daycare center marches in the parade each year so we all marched down main street together. We saw all of our neighbors, friends, and store owners along the route. The cleaners that I take my laundry to each week really love it when I bring Devera into the store. When we were walking by his store he ran out from the crowd and handed Devera a bunch of candy...how cute is that? It feels good to live in such a progressive place but still have a totally community vibe! Here's a picture I took from the beginning of the parade...people as far as you could see I tell ya...

Devera's Buddies

2007-08-16T21:44:00.000-07:00

Devera decided that she would surround herself with all of her buddies this morning. Isn't that cute? If you look closely you can see Elmo, Shamoo, Tresa the Moose, Pink Kitty, and the rest of the gang.

Las Vegas!

2007-08-12T21:21:00.000-07:00

Wow, that was a fantastic trip! First of all, that Venetian Hotel is probably the nicest I've ever stayed at, and we've stayed at some real winners over the years. The rooms are split-level suites, super comfy, and have 3 flat screen TVs...obviously a little overkill but it just wouldn't be right any other way for Las Vegas. We also caught a couple shows - - Jerry Seinfeld and Penn & Teller. Both were lots of fun - - good to see Seinfeld since his show is no longer on. Gambling was fun too. Toby was the big winner...it seemed like she just couldn't lose this trip. The best part was when she put $5 on a roulette number and it landed....$180...that was pretty fun.

Devera had a great time at Grandma's. She even got to see her first movie. I think they went and saw Rattitoui. Grandma loves movies so I think they watched a ton of them at home in addition to the movie theater.

Ok, more to come later this week. There's also a new special if you are interested in taking a look. Also, a new Ebay auction coming soon....

Vacation Time

2007-08-01T22:53:00.000-07:00

Sorry it's been a little while since I've written - - we've been super busy the past few weeks. We're heading out to Las Vegas for the weekend....minus Devera! She's at Grandma's. I should have lots to talk about when I get back. Also - I have a bunch of sets, both for Ebay and Onsite Specials, to put up when I return. So have a great weekend and I'll see you early next week.

Devera's New "Butterfly"

2007-07-19T22:18:00.000-07:00

Here's Devera's first pet...meet Butterfly the beta fish. We told her she could get a fish tank and pick out a fish when she was out of diapers. We'll, it must have motivated her because after just a week I think we are done (except at night, I think that comes later). She's gone a week without an accident now so I think we are good. Anyway, she was super fired up to go pick out a fish. She named her Butterfly, which makes sense when you see the picture above. Since I've had aquariums all my life I think it would be pretty cool if she liked fish....but who knows. Right now she's just excited to feed it in the morning.

Kind of a Boring Weekend but for a Good Cause

2007-07-15T21:22:00.000-07:00

We didn't do too much this weekend, a walk down to the candy store, a birthday party for one of Devera's classmates, and a bunch of playing inside the house. All for a good cause though - - Toby and I were both recovering from colds, so neither of us had any energy. We also used this weekend to potty-train Devera. Her school is trying to do all the kids at the same time so we decided we would spend the weekend doing it. To our surprise, Devera is all over it, no accidents all weekend so we think we are just about there. It's kind of cute, she's super proud of herself. I can't believe that my time changing diapers is about to end!

So that's definitely more than you wanted to hear about that I'm sure. On to some fun stuff - - new 3-day Ebay auction starting Monday and ending Thursday morning. Also, another On-Site Auction just for you guys that check in on my site from time to time.

Happy Monday!

How Strange is This?

2007-07-09T21:39:00.000-07:00

I got into work today and the CEO of my company wrote an email to everyone (and it's a big company across multiple locations in the US and other countries) that said he'd pay for anyone to go see the movie Sicko...how weird is that? I guess people are pretty moved by it. Anyway, what are the odds?

New Movie Review: Sicko

2007-07-08T19:41:00.000-07:00

The last Michael Moore movie was just ok, alittle over the top but generally kind of funny. His new movie, Sicko, is about the health care industry. I have to admit I had low expectations going in, but it was fantastic. As usual, he's a little loose with the facts, and it's pretty one-sided. However, his main push that everyone should have health care in the U.S. seems pretty reasonable. A couple points that I thought were worth repeating if you are interested. The first is that we are the only first-world top industrialized country that doesn't provide it's citizens with free health care. The second thing that was a good point is that we have already socialized some of the other important things, mainly our fire departments, police departments, and education through high school. Here's how it works, even if you don't have a child that is going to go to school, or who's house never ends up burning down, you still have to pay taxes that go for these services. Like most people, I don't have a problem doing that. See, I kind of feel like a somewhat reasonable person - - I'll easily forgo a little extra personal spending so that everyone, not just me and my family, can have health care. Somewhere along the way we as a society have forgotten that our neighbors and neighborhood are also important too....not just us. This is where I always appreciated how my Dad would try to help others, even if there was nothing in it for him. So why don't we demand health care for everyone? How frustrating is it that you can get better health care in Cuba than in the United States. The problem is that everyone thinks they are covered by their HMO but those that actually have to use it for life threatening diseases end up getting the run around. I do know one thing, this coming election I will be looking at all of the candidates and will weight their answer to health care higher than the rest. And I will make this promise, the first one that says there is not a problem or that it requires only minor adjustments to the current system or that not everyone deserves health care is not going to get my vote. Because I do my best to make sure my actions reflect the things I really care about. So here's my idea - - a compromise for the Republicans and Democrats - - universal health care for everyone (Democrats will love that) and HMOs can then try to convince people that they provide better health care than the government and people can pay extra for those companies (Republicans would love this). There - it's a little more complicated than that of course but that's the general idea.

The end of the movie was awesome. Michael Moore finds out that an Anti-Michael Moore website has said it will have to shut down because the guy's wife is really sick and he can't pay for the medical bills unless he gets a different job to pay for them. Michael Moore actually sent in an anonomous payment of $12,000 to the man so that his wife could get the treatment she needed and he could keep writing is anti-Michael Moore retoric. He said health care shouldn't stop people from exercising their freedom of speech, even if it was negatively directed at him. Yes, he did it to make a point I'm sure - - but I still thought it was pretty cool that he could put aside his differences and help someone else. It was a nice touch.

So enough ranting about how we are so selfish that we can't even take care of old and sick people - - go see the movie and see what you think. Hopefully it will at least raise awareness about the issue. And go do something about it - - at minimum vote for the people that share your beliefs.

One last thing - I'd be interested to hear if anyone else saw the movie and if they liked it or not. Feel free to disagree, any comments welcome. If you have and want to post your comments below, I'll send the first person who does it a free bead (a focal and a couple accent beads). All you have to do is make some reference to the movie so that I know you actually saw it.

Have a great Monday everyone!

Check Out This Flower...

2007-07-02T22:14:00.000-07:00

Aren't these flowers crazy? They are called Passion Flowers and they grow on a tall vine. We've had the plant for about 4 years and it hasn't bloomed until this year. I think they take a few years to get established before they can generate enough energy to create these enormous blooms. They're as big as my palm! The colors are awesome, I should probably make a set of beads in these colors. I'm working in some different colors this week but maybe next week if I remember.

Onsite Auction

2007-06-30T00:56:00.000-07:00

Happy Weekend!

Just a quick note - - I've got a new onsite auction up now and it ends on Saturday, July 7th. Send me an email with your bid amount if you are interested in the beads.

I think Devera and I are going to the zoo tomorrow morning. She hasn't gotten tired of that place yet!

Fish Flies

2007-06-26T22:08:00.000-07:00

How strange are these pictures? The top is a close up of what a fish fly looks like - - my sister found the picture on the internet. The bottom is a picture of the post office a couple blocks from my sister's house. Yes, those are the dead fish flies on the ground! Holy Crap, they are everywhere! Apparently they only live for a few hours and then they die. Kind of sad when you think about it. Don't they remind you of those old "locusts" films they would show back in the 70's? Anyway, I'm glad that I got to have the experience of seeing the things first hand, but I probably won't be making any specific visits to see more fish bugs.

Pictures from the Trip

2007-06-25T21:54:00.000-07:00

Ok, so no fish bug pictures yet but here's a cute one of Devera (left) and Riley, one of my sister's daughters (right). This was before Devera caught the flu....happier times for sure.

Fish Fly Festival

2007-06-24T16:07:00.000-07:00

I'm back from Detroit. My sister lives in a town called New Baltimore and every year they have the Fish Fly Festival in June. The fish flies were a total disappointment....Until the Last Night! They came out in droves and were all over the place. It was a pretty neat scene....kind of like those locust documentaries you see on the Discovery Channel but have never come close to observing in real life. My sister promised to send me some pictures so I could post them here later this week. Here's the link if you are interested in going and taking a look at what else the festival has to offer...including the best Elephant Ears on the planet (Toby and I had 2 each!): http://www.bay-rama.com/. Visiting with family was awesome - - the cutest part was watching Devera and her cousin Riley playing with each other. Other than the occasional squabble over toys they had a great time. My sister and I make a point to visit each other at least once a year at each other's house - - meaning the girls see each other at least every 6 months so they are really starting to get attached to each other - - super cool! Hopefully I'll have some fun fish fly pictures for you in a few days....

Good Reading...

2007-06-20T22:41:00.000-07:00

I've said it before and I'll say it again....Time Magazine offers some great articles for those of you who like to read but don't have more than 30 minutes at a time. This week there were a couple of articles worth reading. The first was about Arnold Schwarzenegger (Governor of California) and how he has really been one of the leaders to bring measures to combat global warming to his state (and others!). The most interesting part is that he has gone completely away from the party line (Bush just started even acknowledging there might be a problem this year). What I loved about him was he basically said, look, the federal government just isn't getting anything done, so I decided I would do it. How can we get more of these guys in office is what I'm thinking. The second part of the same article was about Michael Bloomberg (Mayor of New York City) and how he had also gone against party lines to draw up gone control. I can't imagine how hard it must be to go against the NRA as a Republican but he has done it - - and violence in New York City has gone down since he's been in office. Coincidentally, today he left the Republican party to go Independent (presumably to run for President). I like the sound of that, another qualified candidate!

The second article was one writer's perspective on what things we should look for in picking our next president. I won't give away the whole story but he basically tackled 5 issues and talked about how one might go about solving them. For example, education. His basic thought was to take the school system away from the local districts, manage it at a state level, pay teachers who want to work in poorer neighborhoods more money, pay teachers by merit instead of across the board raises, and make them work year-round (like every other job in the country). Gotta tell ya, I've got no complaints about any of that. But the part that sold me on his entire article was not all the specifics...the best part was that in most every case neither Republicans or Democrats liked the ideas. I'M SOLD! One things I've learned so far in life is that more times than not if both parties don't like something, then the idea is right on target. The education example holds true. Republicans hate it because well off students can't get better treatment than poor students (they wouldn't phrase it like that, but that's the gist of it). And Democrats wouldn't go for it because the Teacher's Union is so powerful and they want their workers to be treated entirely differently than just about every other job in America (they would phrase it differently too but that is really what it comes down to). So there you have it - - just like so many issues, the 2 major parties are out at the extremes and it leaves moderates stuck in the middle. Thankfully, the candidates for both parties seem pretty reasonable this go around.

So back to the point, if you want to read about everything from terrorists in Africa to what Paris Hilton is doing in jail, you won't be disappointed with Time.

I'm visiting my family this weekend but I'll still have an Ebay auction start tomorrow. Have a great weekend!

Dream Girls

2007-06-19T23:24:00.000-07:00

Toby and I rented Dream Girls the other night. Gotta say, I wasn't too impressed. I didn't really like it the first time I saw it when it was called Chicago. The one thing that did strike me though was they had some old clips of Martin Luther King speaking in it. Wow, that guy had such a commanding voice. It's such a shame that he didn't live longer - - I can't think of anyone else that had such a strong message and such an easy delivery. It's so strange that those speeches are just as relevant today as they were then. If you want to know about Dream Girls it's basically a story about Diana Ross. The story itself could have been interesting but the whole thing gets kind of lost as many of the film's most dramatic scenes are sung instead of spoken. Kind of left me with a Variety Show feel. If you are going to see a movie about a star and their music go rent Ray or Ring of Fire (Johnny Cash movie) instead, those were a lot better. Or better yet, go see Borat if you like to laugh out loud!

Because a Little Bug Went Ka-choo!

2007-06-18T20:59:00.000-07:00

Toby's friend gave her a bunch of children's books for Devera that have been keeping us super busy reading this week. I think Devera's favorites have been the Cordoroy the Stuffed Bear books. But one was really funny....Because a Little Bug Went Ka-choo! It's all about how a little bug sneezes and the connected events that follow. For example, the bug sneezes which blows the seed off the plant which falls on the worm which ..... So I told Toby that I was happy that Devera was getting her first lesson in Chaos Theory. If you don't know what that is it is sort of a mathmatical theory that every action impacts the rest of the world...usually described as a butterfly flapping it's wings in Alaska causing a hurricane in Florida at a later date. Obviously it's a little more complicated than that but that is the general gist of the theory. I can't wait until Devera starts learning math. She already surprises me sometimes when she lets me know how many things she's holding. She's like a little sponge these days!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Picnic!

2007-06-08T20:12:00.000-07:00

Today when I got home from work Toby had a little picnic ready for us to take to the park. we put out a big blanket and spread out our big feast on it...what a great way to start the weekend! Devera always loves walking down to go on the swing set and jungle gym - - so she was really excited too.

Also, in case you didn't see it, I put 2 new auctions up, one on Ebay and one on my website. I hope you enjoy them.

Ok, I'm off to soccer....

A Day in the Garden....

2007-05-26T23:39:00.001-07:00

What a nice way to start off Memorial Day Weekend. We gardened up a storm today. Tomatoes, hot peppers, bell peppers ..... tons of vegetables. Devera loves these new poppies we planted this year. The color is amazing and the you wouldn't believe the size of these things...they're as big as my hand!

Have a safe weekend!

New Onsite Auction

2007-05-23T23:00:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone -
If you haven't checked in on my homepage you can take a quick look at a new auction I'm running this week on my website. Everything you need to know is right below the picture of the beads. Please email me if you have any questions. ....or post to the blog if you have any comments or other ideas.

I'll plan on posting again this weekend with an update.

Back From Mexico...

2007-05-13T15:33:00.000-07:00

Mexico was beautiful - - sunny and perfect. Here's a picture of Devera and me playing in the sand. Turns out this was the only time we really played in the sand. I thought she would love making sand castles but she wasn't really into it. However, she absolutely loved playing in the pool. ....so a week of playing in the pool drinking pina coladas wasn't too bad. Of the whole trip, Devera liked the little evening performances the best. She really liked the fire dancers that did their routine outside one night after dark. But she REALLY loved the traditional Mexican dancers in their super frilly dresses. She kept saying, "look at the beautiful princesses!" Toby and I even found the neat little restaurant in the central district that we had been to 10 years before - - mmmmm....lobster and shrimp kaboobs drenched in garlic butter....it doesn't get better than that! All in all it was a fantastic vacation and really nice to not have to do a think for an entire week.

One last note - check out the new Special if you are interested...more to come over the next few weeks.

Mexico....here we come!

2007-04-30T21:38:00.000-07:00

So we finally got our passport for Devera and we are all set. Our flight leaves at 6:20am so we have wake up at 3:40am...yikes. Devera will be a mess I bet. But she's all set up for her little DVD player and headphones so at least we have some relief. How's this for a rough thought....it's 9:40pm....even if I went to sleep in the next minute I would get less than 6 hours of sleep....doh!

I'm looking forward to making some great sand castles with Devera....with a pina colada in hand!

On the bead front, I've got an Ebay auction that is set to start on Thursday and a Special that is already to go on my site when I get back from vacation...so check back after May 8th if you are interested in trying to get it.

Have a great week everyone!

Quick Update

2007-04-23T23:37:00.000-07:00

Wow - it's been a little while. Between the new job, working through the nightmare of getting a passport issued before our trip to Mexico, and sending a bunch of beads down to San Luis Obispo to Naturally Jennifer's, I've been swamped. Jennifer is awesome, she is the only store that I send my beads to...I love how easy she is to work with. If you are down there stop in and take a look if you are interested. Ok, I'm off to get some sleep now. I've got some great pictures of the garden on my camera that I have been waiting to post. ....hopefully in a few days.

Happy Easter!!!

2007-04-08T19:54:00.000-07:00

Devera loved Easter this year....this is the first holiday I can remember that she actually seemed like she got the whole story. All 3 of us decorated eggs this year. I think Toby used the Widmer (local beer maker) plastic cups to put the dye in to make it seem somewhat adult. It definitely reminded me of being a kid and coloring eggs with my sister and mom. She woke up loving the Easter Egg hunt. Some of her eggs had little parachute men in them so we spent the whole day carrying them around the house, to the coffee shop, and out to our friends' house for dinner tonight. Unfortunately the Easter Bunny (read: me) forgot where 1 of the eggs was hidden. We still haven't found it. We are hoping that the ants don't find it before we do! Anyway, the highlight for Devera was getting the princess outfits. Toby found a dress-up box that had all the Disney princess outfits in it. I guess there is no way to escape Disney if you have kids huh? One thing is for sure, Devera likes dressing up!

Little Princess

2007-04-01T22:20:00.000-07:00

Isn't this a great little picture? Devera has been talking about being a princess recently so she decided she would get her wand and princess dress out. She was busy walking around the house and tapping Mom and Dad on the head with her wand. I'm not sure what was supposed to happen next but we all had a good time.

Seattle Trip

2007-03-22T08:06:00.000-07:00

Looks like I've been a little tardy with my updates. The last 2 weekends we took trips so we haven't been around that much. We went to Seattle this past weekend which was a lot of fun. After dropping Devera off at Grandma's house for the weekend, Toby and I went out on the town. I have 2 recommendations for Seattle: (1) stay at the Inn at the Market if you get a chance - - the rooms are very nice and it's right in Pikes Market, and (2) go have dinner at Andaluca, you won't be disappointed if you like Mediterranean food! Another fun thing we did was take a ferry over to Bainbridge Island. The ride was a lot of fun but we didn't spend too much time actually on the island, maybe an hour or so. There is a cute little town with lots of shops on the island, but I'm not sure I would schedule a weekend there or anything. Downtown Seattle on the other hand is a lot of fun with a million things to do. One of the things I like best is all of the specialty food stores there are - - we bought a bunch of cheeses one day, as well as some spices for cooking.

The other news I have is that I'm starting a new full-time job on Monday. I had taken some time off from my main job a few years back, and had been consulting for the past couple of years. But it was time to move on and I'm pretty excited to be doing something new. I'll be helping other companies with their marketing programs. I'll let you know how it goes once I get started on Monday. I don't think my bead work will be impacted too much though, considering I only make a set or two each week anyway.

Alright, off to meet a friend for some coffee - - have a great day!

Little Buddies

2007-03-09T11:19:00.000-08:00

Devera and Riley had a great time hanging out with each other all weekend! They played together, held hands together, and ate meals together....definitely cute little buddies. My sister's youngest daughter is now walking so they enjoyed playing were her as well. The weather was unbelievable while they were here! The bottom picture is from our garden...we've got at least 20 "little bunches" of crocus (like the picture) that are really amazing.

Also today - - I finally got around to putting up another special. It's first come, first served so send over an email if you are interested.

Have a Great Weekend!

Visitors!!!

2007-03-02T21:59:00.000-08:00

My sister and her 2 daughters are here today. We've had a blast so far....and who knew that 3 little girls could make so much noise! They had a blast though. It was so cute to watch them when they saw each other again (my sister lives in Detroit so they only see each other a few times a year). Devera (age 2.5) and my sister's oldest (age 3.5) ran to each other and gave each other a big hug. It was fun to have a huge dinner tonight with all 6 of us around the table. The best part was at the end of the day looking at the sea of toys across the room...wow, they sure were busy. Funny thing about little kid toys though, it literally takes less than 2 minutes to clean up an entire room. The weather is supposed to be nice this weekend so hopefully we will be able to get out a bunch.

Home & Garden Show

2007-02-27T11:46:00.000-08:00

Toby and I took Devera to the Portland Home & Garden Show this weekend at the convention center. Devera absolutely loved it. Her favorite part was the bee exhibit where they were selling little tubes of honey. She mentioned that it was "sticky" and "yummy". They also had a little part where the kids could pick a plant, put it in a pot, and take it home with them. One of the nurseries sponsored it so it didn't cost anything....pretty cute huh? The oddest thing was that she loved the gazebos. I'm not sure if it was the smaller space or that it looked like a little house but either way she just kept wanting to go back to the displays. Toby and I talked about the idea that if we ever moved to a place with a bigger lot it would be neat to build a separate little structure for the glass and jewelry studios. That's a long way off but it was kind of fun to think about while we were there. The outdoor structures/sheds were actually less than we thought they'd cost. It seemed like most were about $2,500 or so - - not bad for an extra room.

Vacation - San Diego & Los Angeles

2007-02-20T20:24:00.000-08:00

Just got back from a week in Southern California, and wow, what a blast that was. Toby had a conference to go to on Thursday so Devera and I spent the day at Sea World. The top picture is of Devera running around at what Devera called the "park", which was actually just this grassy area that she thought was fun. The second picture is also from Sea World - - Devera keeps talking about how Shamu kept splashing and doing tricks. When Shamu started out she was pretty scared, but then she really enjoyed it once Shamu started swimming around and jumping. She was clapping like crazy! She also loved the manatees - - they happened to be eating lettuce when we stopped by - - Devera kept saying, "the manatees are eating salad!"

The next day Toby was off too so we decided to go to the San Diego Zoo. Toby and Devera really liked riding in the sky tram - she kept calling it the "buckets." I was a little less excited since it was about 100 feet in the air. After we left the zoo we went to the cemetery where my father is buried. That was kind of sad but also cool to bring Devera there. She had fun looking at all the lady bugs around the place. Kind of poetic since I could remember my Dad always showing me all the lady bugs in the garden when I was a kid. After the cemetery we stopped by a winery called Callaway. That is where Toby and I got married 12 years ago. The third picture is of Toby and Devera by the wine barrels. The place has grown a little since then but it was still as we remembered it. We all had a great time! We finished the day by driving up to Los Angeles to stay with our friends.

The next day we started by heading out to a park. The kids loved running around like little maniacs. We had lunch at our favorite fast food place in the U.S. - - In-and-Out Burger! In the afternoon we had a mini-reunion with some of my classmates from my Landscape Architecture program. There were about 12 or so adults and a bunch of kids as well. Devera had a great time playing with everyone.

So how's that for a 4-day adventure? Devera was so exhausted that when she came home she went straight to bed. I didn't help things out any when I dragged her out to the Oregon Museum of Science & Industry (OMSI) on President's Day. She loved that place! It took all of my energy to drag her away!

My Little Valentine

2007-02-13T09:34:00.000-08:00

It was cookie decorating day at our house....I took the easy way out and bought this little pre-packaged set complete with cookies, frosting, and sprinkles. Devera thought it was fun to just shovel the sprinkles straight into her mouth! The bottom picture is of the completed "masterpieces."

Movie Review: Night at the Museum

2007-02-12T13:03:00.000-08:00

Toby and I went out for a movie and dinner on Saturday night which was a lot of fun. Both of us were finally feeling well after a rough January. We saw Night at the Museum with Ben Stiller. I have to admit, I was pleasantly surprised. It's definitely not a classic movie by any stretch, but it was nice and light entertainment. Toby loved the 2 boys sitting behind us giggling through the entire movie. This movie is great for kids, I can't imagine a parent finding anything objectionable in it. Devera is still too young for movies but if you had a child in the 6+ years old I bet they would think the movie was funny.

After the movie we went to one of our favorite restaurants in Portland, Lauro. As I've mentioned before on this site they serve up fantastic Mediterranean food. You just can't beat it! If you are ever visiting in Portland it's definitely worth the wait....and since they don't take reservations, be prepared. If you come in prime-dining time (7-9pm), prepare to wait up to an hour for a table. ....but keep in mind that you won't be disappointed! Bon Appetite!

Pulled-Pork BBQ Sandwiches

2007-02-12T10:56:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I decided I would try a new recipe that I saw in a magazine. I love BBQ so I decided I would make BBQ pulled-pork. After cooking for 6 hours I was very pleasantly surprised....it turned out fantastic. Although it made enough to serve 8, so I think next time I'll try it in the summer when we have a bunch of friends over. The highlight was the seasoning rub - - here are the ingredients in case any of you want to give it a go: brown sugar, salt, paprika, black pepper, ground coriander, dry mustard, and onion powder. MMMM....good!

First Signs of Spring....

2007-02-09T08:53:00.000-08:00

Aren't these great? These are the first bulbs I've seen this year - - little patches of white Snow Drops are popping up all over the garden. I hadn't really noticed them and then all of the sudden I walked outside yesterday morning and they were all poking out looking for the sun! That means it's also time to get out there and set the snow pea seeds. I can't believe how fast winter has gone by. I'm really looking forward to the garden this year because Devera is so much more interested in these types of things than last year at this time. She loves picking, and especially EATING, all the ripe fruits and vegetables out there!

A Little Delayed....

2007-02-08T10:40:00.000-08:00

I've been a little delayed in putting up the next set of beads for auction, but don't worry, they should be up tomorrow (Friday). My mouth is just about back to normal and today I go back to find out if I can start eating solid foods again...definitely looking forward to that!

I rested a bunch this week, which let me catch a few more movies. I saw Lady in the Water by M. Night Shyamalan the other day. Wow, was that ever a poor movie. ...and I'm a big fan of his! I loved Unbreakable and The Sixth Sense was pretty decent as well. I even liked The Village which most people thought was pretty bad. Well this one was worse, by a long way. I almost felt like I was watching an argument between Shyamalan and his movie critics about how his movies always have to have a twist at the end. The "twist" of this movie was that there was no "twist". I bet some people thought it was pretty ingenious but I was just bored.

Devera was very disappointed today to wake up and find out she had to go to get a flu shot at the doctors. She kept saying, "no shot" and "I want to go to the park today." She was pretty upset when we went into the doctor's office but as soon as she was finished and I told her there were no more shots she was very excited. Even more so when she found out she got to have a sticker of "Chuck E. Cheese"....which was actually Mickey Mouse but she doesn't know who that is yet. I was informed by Devera that Chuck E. Cheese came to her class and gave her a big hug. Ok, that's pretty cute. Disturbing that she knows who Chuck E. Cheese is but not Mickey Mouse but cute none-the-less.

Alright, I'm off to take some pictures for tomorrow's Ebay auction.

Have a Great Day!

Dental Surgery

2007-02-01T13:11:00.000-08:00

You know, sometimes in life you underestimate things. Like today for example. I went in today to get a dental implant for a tooth that had cracked in the back of my mouth a few months ago. I had the tooth (and all 4 of my wisdom teeth) extracted about 2 months ago and today was supposed to be the "easy" surgery. Easy in that they wouldn't be knocking me completely out for this one like they did last time. Anyway, it took about an hour and a half for them to do something called a sinus lift, root tip removal, and implant. Thankfully, these 3 things weren't painful at all. However, do you know how uncomfortable it is to have your mouth wedged open (and I mean wedged in the most literal sense of the word....with a little block that keeps your mouth wide open for you) for more than an hour? They sent me home with prescriptions for penicillin and vicodan, and told me to take it easy for a few days. What surprised me the most was the ultra-limited food options I have for the next week. Not only am I restricted to soft foods, but I can't have any dairy either. No exercise for a few days too! So I'm taking this as a great opportunity to just stay home and rest so I can beat this cold. Did I mention the cold? .....what a year this has been so far! This is when I realize how lucky I am though - - the last 7 years have been about as great as they could be for a person, so I guess one bad month isn't that big of a deal huh?

Movie Review2: Talladega Nights

2007-01-30T08:18:00.000-08:00

It was a weekend of watching videos with Toby still recovering from her cold - - we watched Talladega Nights starring Will Ferrell. It was pretty much as I was expecting, very middle of the road, what you would expect from Ferrell. I did like it better than the first time I saw it, when it was called Anchorman. I don't know if it's just me but I keep hearing what a comic genius this guy is supposed to be but I just don't see it I guess. The movie is basically a goofy story about how a guy becomes a famous Nascar driver. The movie pokes fun at all the usual suspects in Nascar which is entertaining for not more than a few minutes. I guess one part that I did find pretty funny was when he decides he's going to sell additional advertising space on his front windshield, even though he can't see around it. If Little Miss Sunshine was a B or B+ this one was probably a C. Highly recommended if you are looking for a mindless movie that won't make you think too much or expend any energy talking about it after.

Movie Review: Little Miss Sunshine

2007-01-27T13:23:00.000-08:00

I finally got around to seeing a movie that I had heard was pretty funny - - Little Miss Sunshine. Basically it's about a dysfunctional family traveling out to California to one of those kinda-creepy Children's Beauty Pageants. The first half of the movie made me laugh out loud a number of times. The guy who plays the boss on The Office was fantastic. The second part of the movie was also good, but not quite as hilarious as the beginning. It was a little too close to Chevy Chase's Vacation to be considered perfect. However, if you enjoy movies like Welcome to the Doll House & Best in Show then this one will be right up your alley. I was definitely entertained and enjoyed it quite a bit.

Toby is really sick now - - the doctor said she had a 102 degree temperature when she went in to get checked. Devera and I have been keeping busy while Mom is recovering. Since Toby is so sick it might mean renting another movie tonight. I don't think I've seen this many movies in years....at least not after Devera was born!

One other note, I should have a new special up over the next couple of days so keep checking if you are interested.

Have a Great Weekend!

Cute Little Story

2007-01-25T10:36:00.000-08:00

Last night I had an indoor soccer game at 6:00pm so Toby took Devera out to Peanut Butter & Ellies for dinner. For those of you that don't know, Peanut Butter & Ellies is a local restaurant that really caters to little kids. There are tons of toys everywhere, including chaulk boards on the walls and a large train track right in the middle of the place. The upside is that the food is very good, most of it made with local ingrediants and the meat is all from free-range, sustainable farms - - so it's a huge step up from the other options for kids like Red Robin or Chilis.

When Toby got home she mentioned that Devera was playing with 2 other children and there were only 2 mini-chaulk boards for 3 kids. She said that after Devera got done playing she took her chaulk board over to the other child and said, "here you go". Isn't that cute?

Job Search Update - Lots of Excitement

2007-01-24T10:13:00.001-08:00

While everyone knows that searching for a new job can be stressful, I'm finding it to be very enjoyable so far. For one, I'm excited to start something new. It's nice to evaluate what you are doing every so often and make sure it fits into your life goals. Another thing I've noticed is how many business contacts and friends I have made over the years. It seems like everyone I talk to points me in the direction of someone that they know and so on.

On the bead front I've got a couple new sets that I need to photograph and then put up for auction. I'll probably shoot for tomorrow sometime. I play indoor soccer tonight so it might be a little later in the day tomorrow. We'll see what happens.

Have a great day!

Job Search Delayed

2007-01-21T21:14:00.000-08:00

Last week was kind of funny. I was all excited about beginning to look for a new job. Monday was MLK Day and Devera's daycare was closed so I knew I would be starting on Tuesday instead...or so I thought. Devera and I went to the art museum downtown and had a great time on Monday. But Tuesday and Wednesday it snowed so Devera's daycare was closed again! So definitely no job searching was happening...and we were kind of stuck at home since my car is front-wheel drive. Then Thursday Devera went back to daycare.....for 45 minutes. Then I got the call that she had pink-eye. I took her to the doctors and they said she couldn't go back until Monday. So that was my week. Devera and I spent the whole week together. I was sick too so that was a little tough. We had a fun time but I was pretty exhausted by the end of the week.

Then the Saints lost today...that was the big bummer. Oh well, what a great season they had! I'm already excited thinking about next session.

Aren't These Interesting?

2007-01-20T22:55:00.000-08:00

This is a picture of 300+ clear Swarovski crystals that I just ordered - - aren't they nice? They are so sparkly when they are in the giant pile! I've got thousands of these things in all different colors laying around - - I use them in most of the sets that I sell as they kind of tie the set together.

Snow, Snow, & More Snow

2007-01-16T20:03:00.000-08:00

Before I went to bed last night I heard that we should be expecting less than 1 inch of snow with this current storm....4 inches of snow later and it looks like the snow is over but there is tons of fun to be had out there.
Devera's daycare was closed today (and will be tomorrow) so we decided to go for a sled ride down to the coffee shop. She laughed the entire way but decided on the way home she would rather walk home. She looked like a little bundled marshmallow moving in slow motion....VERY slow motion!

Saints Win!!!!!!!!!!!

2007-01-13T22:15:00.000-08:00

I can't believe it...the New Orleans Saints are in the NFC Championship game. Tonight was only their 2nd playoff win in 40 years. I cooked up a big pot of Jambalaya complete with shrimp & andouille sausage to get us in the mood. ....it was delicious! I also went out and got one of the local New Orleans beers (Abita) to wash it down. Ok, it was more like 3 beers but whose counting? We're actually considering taking a trip to New Orleans if they make it to the Super Bowl. Either way I think we are going to try to take a trip down there before the end of the year. Whenever we go it will be our first trip back since Katrina. I'm sure we'll have a lot of mixed emotions.

Out of Work....

2007-01-12T23:54:00.000-08:00

Well, my consulting gig ended this week so now I need to figure out what I'm going to do next. I'll probably be a little more productive on the bead front over the next month or so but I'll also be focusing on getting some other work. I'll keep you posted. While I'd love to do more consulting I may end up working full time again. Not to worry though, the beads won't be stopping. I've always made most of them at night anyway.

On the bright side, this weekend is shaping up nicely. Tomorrow night I'll be watching the Saints game. I've been a fan since I was in the 5th grade....Toby tells me that's about age 10. In 28 years of being a fan they've only won ONE, yes one, playoff game! So it has been rough sledding being a fan all these years. Even when we moved to New Orleans and I used to go to the Superdome and watch games they were lousy. But this year they've been pretty solid, so I'm excited to watch the game. I'll even be cooking up some Jambalaya to get in the mood. On Sunday we are taking Devera to a playdate, so that should be cute. And Monday is MLK day and Devera's daycare is closed so I'm going to take her to the Art Museum that day.

Hopefully my next post will be a happy one after the Saints have played. Go Saints!

New Special & Ebay Auction

2007-01-11T00:28:00.000-08:00

Just a quick note letting you know that there is a new special up on the site now. Send me a note if you are interested...it's first come, first served. If you miss out but like the reflective beads, I'll have an auction up Thursday at noon that is in the amber gold color that a lot of people seem to like. Good Luck!

Start Making a Reader Today (SMART)

2007-01-09T23:22:00.000-08:00

I can't remember if I mentioned that I signed up for SMART again this year. It goes from September to May and this year I signed up with a partner so I read every other week for an hour. It's pretty fun - - basically I get to read to 2 children for 1/2 hour each. They also get to pick books out that they get to keep and take home...they always love that part! The girl that I read with always picks out books with Princesses in them and the boy loves dinosaurs. I think SMART is a Portland thing but if you've got something like this in your city it sure is rewarding. Plus, before long you will be an expert in just about EVERY children's book out there - - I think I've read, "If You Give a Mouse A Cookie" 1,000 times!!!! Do I sound like a monster if I admit that I'm really beginning to hate that book? No matter how many times I try to steer them towards "Green Eggs & Ham" it just never happens....sigh.

Superman

2007-01-06T22:17:00.000-08:00

Ok, how cute is this - - this morning Toby and Devera headed to the coffee shop about 20 minutes before I started walking down to meet them. When I got down there Toby said, "Devera, show Daddy the picture." So Devera walks over and points to some artwork on the wall that is an abstract portrait of Superman. And then Devera goes, "Look, it's Daddy!" Ok, that was pretty funny. I asked Toby if she prompted her and she said no, that Devera just thought it looked like me. Anyway, I thought it was pretty damn cute. This kid thing has been a lot funner than I was expecting!

Playdoh!!!!!!!!!!!

2007-01-04T00:09:00.000-08:00

This kid loves playing with playdoh! Tonight Toby brought home the "Haircut" one where you put the playdoh in and squeeze the hair out. She thought it was the greatest. She actually likes going to get her haircut so I think that made it even more fun for her.

I'm still amazed by how cheap playdoh is compared to all of the other children's toys. It's like $10 for the playdoh and the whole hair styling set. This one even comes with multiple "heads" that you put on top to make different hair styles.

One last note - - I've got a new auction that will be going up on Ebay at 10:00am on Thursday...happy bidding.

Happy New Year & Go See This Movie....

2007-01-01T22:17:00.000-08:00

Unfortunately the weekend is coming to a close, however, it was a lot of fun! This morning we got up and watched the Rose Parade. Devera wasn't as interested in it as I thought she'd be. In fact, it wasn't 30 minutes in and she was already playing with her toys not even paying attention to the floats.

Last night Toby and I watched the ball drop on TV. Dick Clark was hosting for like the 100th year. However, since his stroke he's not hosting it by himself anymore. We also watched Al Gore's movie "An Inconvenient Truth". Wow....now that is a worthwhile thing to watch! This is one of the few movies around that can actually change your life in a positive way. It's too bad Al Gore didn't win when he ran for president. I think he just didn't get his point across very well during that campaign. I did vote for him but I also remember thinking, "oh, they are both about the same, it doesn't really matter who wins". It's a lot easier to see something clearer after it's happened but I didn't realize what a great person this guy is. I hadn't heard the story that his father was a tobacco farmer and that his sister died of lung cancer from smoking and then his father got out of the business. He did a good job tying his thoughts about tobacco and the current issue of global warming. Basically he said, "look, when I was growing up we didn't all know that smoking caused cancer, but after it became clearer and clearer it was easy to say we were wrong." Then he said that he wished the current administration would just come out and say, I'm changing course, the planet getting warmer is a big problem and I'm going to solve it.

It was also interesting to see how our own country, the U.S., is by far the worst polluter per person in the world. And while most Americans think of countries like China and Japan as being big polluters, Americans actually produce over twice as much carbon as those countries. We are 30% of the total world's emissions! How embarrassing. He did have some humor too - - it was funny when he showed a picture that Bush Sr. had presented that had a scale with one side showing gold bars and the other side showing the planet and the tagline was something like, we need to balance these out. Gore was quick to point out that without the planet there would be no gold. Also quick to point out that the importance of the planet was slightly higher than that of gold bars. It was funny seeing one of the most stiff speakers in politics show that even he has a humorous side to him.

For me the part that stuck most was when he said, "when your children are older, do you want them to ask you why you were so self-absorbed that you wouldn't even change your consumption patterns to preserve the planet for my generation?" Since my daughter is two years old I could relate to that statement. I would rather say, here were the things I did to try to make the world a better place and be a better person. ....I think I could live with that.

So go out and see the movie - - you won't be disappointed....maybe sad, but not disappointed. In fact, for those of you who haven't seen the movie yet, the first person to see it and reply to this post (I think my blog is set up to do that) with what you thought of the movie will get a focal bead from me....you can even pick the colors that you would like. The only caveat is that you can't have already seen the movie yet...scouts honor.

Michael Barley Class in October

2006-12-30T22:37:00.000-08:00

Christmas was a lot of fun this year. Devera had a fantastic time opening her gifts and playing with her new toys. She's been singing all the Christmas songs like Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, Frosty the Snowman, & Here Comes Santa Claus constantly since the beginning of December.

My big surprise was from Toby. She signed me up for a class with Michael Barley in October. I've been wanting to take a class with Michael Barley for years now. I think he only teaches Intermediate and Advanced classes and I definitely consider him to be one of the Masters of Lampworking. I tried to get signed up last year but our schedules didn't allow for it. But now I'm all set....in October I'll be going up to Washington to take a 3-day class with him at Frantz Art Glass. Even know it is not until October I know it will go fast. It's always nice to get a fresh perspective on beadmaking. I'm also looking forward to seeing someone else's teaching style since I teach so many Beginning Lampworking classes myself. ...I can't wait!!!!!!!!!!

Cookies for Santa!

2006-12-24T22:30:00.000-08:00

Devera and I made cookies for Santa tonight. I think she enjoyed it, but in reality she enjoyed eating them the most. Snicker Doodles are so easy to make so they are great for kids to help with. However, I did make the error of using a glass measuring cup used for liquids for the flour - - I ended up having to throw the first mix out...how embarrassing. Oh well, it was still lots of fun. Good thing we had Mom around to make the catch! ...and to keep Devera busy when she got a little bored. The thing I've learned this Christmas is that Devera is about 1 year away from totally getting Christmas. ....at least she sings a mean tune of "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer!"

Happy Holidays Everyone!

More Cupcakes....

2006-12-23T21:30:00.000-08:00

I was sick today so Toby took Devera out for the afternoon so I could rest. They brought me back a super tasty cupcake....and of course some for them. I decided I'd snap a couple of pictures of the 2 of them. Now you see where Devera gets it from - those 2 love cupcakes!

Click here if you want to see some of the Halloween cupcake pictures from Toby's blog.

One last note, I think I'm going to take a week or two off from Ebay auctions just to have some time off. However, I've been going crazy on making beads this past week so there will be tons to look at in the new year.....stay tuned.

Santa or no Santa, that is the question?

2006-12-20T13:56:00.000-08:00

So I had an interesting conversation with one of my friends from the office the other day. I asked him if his kids were into Santa Claus or not. He told me that they don't believe in Santa, that they've taught their kids that he's more like Mickey Mouse...make believe, but fun. He mentioned that he hated the idea of on one hand telling his kids "never lie" and on the other telling them that you've lied to them all of these years about Santa. So I thought about it a bit and I thought, that actually makes sense. While I like the idea of Santa Claus for other reasons, I could at least see his point. Who knows, maybe some day people won't tell their kids to believe in Santa because it's found to be harmful or something. It's not like the world stands still or anything. However, here a couple reasons I like the Santa story. (1) Tradition- isn't it great when things can be passed down from generation to generation? Both my sister and I buy 10 little presents for our kids to be opened one-at-a-time every day for the 10 days leading up to Christmas - - just like our Mom did with us when we were kids. The story of Santa Claus has been passed down for ages now right? (2) Imagination - a lot of the benefit of Santa Claus is that kids get to imagine what's going on, how the toys are being built, how the reindeer fly, etc....and in a world of TV and video games I'll take all the imagination I can get.

So I know what you are thinking, isn't being able to relate to the other kids important too? To me, this is a cruddy argument because there are so many different religions, beliefs, etc. - - kids are all exposed to a million different ideas and beliefs, many of which don't include Santa. And when are we going to stop trying so hard to be like everyone else anyway?

So there it is - - a little random thought on Santa. I appreciate my buddy telling me how they talk about Santa at their house. As a parent, it's pretty awesome to be able to talk to other parents about what they do with their kids. It's nice to hear some other ideas every once in awhile. ....and the thing I'm looking forward to most this year.....Devera and I are going to make some Snicker Doodles to leave out for Santa on Christmas Eve. Devera loves talking about Santa and how he brings presents....super cute!

"Here You Go"

2006-12-11T21:30:00.000-08:00

The last couple of days have been fun around here....and super busy. We had our holiday dinner on Saturday night. Toby made turkey this year and everyone else brought something. Great food, spirits, and conversation - - you can't beat it. It was a big turnout...13 adults & 4 kids, which made it all the more fun. So I bought a DVD for Devera that I planned on playing at the party but didn't get to it - - it was The Grinch that Stole Christmas. However, we've played it for her a couple times since. As expected, Devera loved it. She's been going around the house pretending to give us stuff and saying, "here you go" - - just like the Grinch did when he gave back all the toys and his heart grew 3 sizes...which she also talks about constantly. This is such a fun time of year!

Holiday Season

2006-12-08T08:51:00.000-08:00

There are always some nice things about the holiday season that you just don't think about that often. First, there are lots of parties to go to - - which is great to catch up with friends and have a nice meal with people you might not see every week. And the other thing that really gets taken for granted is the number of shortened days from work and/or days off that usually go along with December. I think I've mentioned before that I consult for a local financial services company 3 days a week and make beads around that work. So my schedule is pretty flexible. However, Toby's is not as much....she works the typically M-F, 8-5 schedule. But today is a good example of the holiday hours - - they are letting everyone off at noon today so we are going to spend the afternoon together and go Christmas shopping downtown! Then next week she's off on Thursday and Friday so that will be fun too. ....and of course she's off on Christmas day and the day after...so that's a lot of days off! ...definitely looking forward to it!

What a Nice Surprise

2006-12-02T22:53:00.000-08:00

Wow - was it ever sunny today! For many parts of the country this is no big deal. But sunny days from November - May in Portland can sometimes be far and few between. Devera and I went to see Santa this morning down the street at a Pancake Breakfast. She had one bite of pancake and wouldn't get near Santa. He did come by and pat her on the head but she wasn't impressed.....oh well, they'll be lots more chances to see Santa....this year and next!

I also managed to put up another Special on my site. The beads are really spectacular - - super shiny. If you are interested in the beads just send me a quick email.

Hope you are enjoying the weekend as much as we are!

Borat, the Movie

2006-12-02T01:03:00.000-08:00

Tonight Toby and I had date night - - super fun as always! Our daycare is so great - - about once a month they will keep the children until 10:30pm at night and let the parents go out. Now of course you have to pay (the same price as a babysitter - $8 per hour), but it's so great because the kids love their teachers and they usually get to do something special that they don't get to do during the day. On my way home with Devera tonight I asked her what she did and she said, "I watched a movie...Barney". Before tonight I think I was actually more familiar with who Barney was then her.....but she seemed pretty excited to have seen it.

Anyway, Toby and I saw the movie, Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan. If you are easily offended then this is definitely not the movie for you. ....but Toby and I thought it was pretty funny. It's basically a mockumentory about a guy who pretends he's from the country of Kazakhstan and talks to everyday Americans in his pursuit to meet Pamela Anderson. Some of the scenes are super uncomfortable but that's kind of the gyst of the movie....that while it's always easy to point out what's wrong in other countries it's just as obvious to other countries that America has it's own issues....and the people aren't all good here either.

There were plenty of funny scenes that actually had me laughing so hard I was crying, the one that comes to mind is when he is learning to drive a car and his drivers education teacher tells him, "you can't just marry any woman you desire in America....they have to like you too - - that's a good thing right?" And Borat answers, "that's not good for me!" So I give the movie an A if you like satirical movies ala Roger and Me, Best in Show, etc. I give it an F if you like summer blockbusters or romance movies ala Independance Day or Pretty Woman. There you have it....watch at your own risk.

The Lost Package

2006-11-30T12:32:00.000-08:00

I got quite the surprise in the mail this week...and what a story it is:

About 2 years ago, right after Devera was born, a woman who I had met in a lampworker/jewelry designer Ebay Group (called the Bead Hive) said she was going to send a bracelet for Devera. So I gave her our address and didn't think about it again. Since Devera had just been born, you can imagine that Toby and I were pretty busy and pre-occupied at the time. Anyway, last week I got the package in the mail, complete with a Sept. 15th, 2004 postage stamp. 2004 - - isn't that crazy? It's even stranger because in all my years of doing Ebay, online sales, and basically sending anything in the mail I've never had anything lost, stolen, or damaged. I wrote an email to the woman thanking her for the bracelet and she thought the story was pretty funny.

Anyway, I wish that package could talk....I wonder what happended to it.

Thanksgiving Weekend in Seattle

2006-11-27T12:49:00.000-08:00

We went to Seattle for Thanksgiving to spend it with Toby's Mom. On Friday, we went downtown and had a super fun time. Yes, there were definitely crowds (see top picture), but it was all worth it seeing Devera on the carousel (that's her in the pink coat and matching pink soccer hat) and enjoying the little trains in the windows!

My Little Pilgrim

2006-11-21T20:46:00.000-08:00

Aren't these guys cute? Devera made this little pilgrim hat at school and was sure proud to show it off to Mommy and Daddy. Devera's teachers always tell me there are 3 things Devera loves doing at school: doing art projects, singing, and playing playdoh. Hey, what do you know, those are the 3 things she likes to do at home too! Have a Great Thanksgiving Everyone!

The Elections

2006-11-19T21:49:00.000-08:00

For a person who considers themselves in the political "middle" this was probably the best election result in years. That sounds a little weird when you consider that the democrats kind of ran away with the evening. Here are a few things that I thought went well:

(1) Ok, I have to admit it, when Arnold Schwarzenegger first got voted into office in California I thought, "Oh my god, he's an idiot". He'd been known to be pretty chauvinistic and his "acting" abilities smelled of another Jesse Ventura (I actually lived in Minnesota when he won - ecarumba!). But I have to eat crow, because I think he's been pretty good so far. His wife, Maria Shriver, really balances out his agenda for one. He's also awesome on the environment...he's actually figured out how to go around the president. Other countries are dealing DIRECTLY with California....that's pretty cool. And he actually admits when he's wrong....that's pretty refreshing these days.

(2) The democrats winning now puts some restrictions around how much power the president has. Say what you will about Bush, some love him, some hate him....but he's pretty polarizing no matter how you look at it. At least now he can't push every hard-headed desire through congress.

(3) Many of the democrats who won are much more toward the center than in the old days. These "Blue Dog" democrates are actually focusing on balancing the budget...something neither the old democratic agenda used to care about and something the new republican agenda is not currently caring about.

(4) I'm actually excited about 4, yes FOUR, of the possible 2008 candidates! I've always really liked John McCain...he's a genuinely good guy, Hiliary was instrumental in Bill Clinton's presidency and he was solid, Rudy Giuliani did an awesome job leading NY through 9/11, and Barack Obama is super dynamic on the democrats side and actually seems to want to make good decisions, even if it means going against his own party.

So what does all this mean? For me it means that instead of the 2 outside fringes of society pushing all their agendas through, now it's the moderate middle (otherwise known as a compromise) gaining a ton of steam. So I'm actually kind of excited again about where things are headed!

The Wheels on the Bus....

2006-11-19T00:36:00.000-08:00

Toby and I had to go down to the coast for a quick trip this weekend, so we spend 5 hours in the car roundtrip. My Mom was visiting last week and brought Devera a CD of all her favorite songs....like Wheels on the bus, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, etc. Devera listened to this CD non-stop the entire trip! We even tried to get her to listen to a different CD but that caused a minor meltdown in the back seat. So she's pretty persistent when she wants to be. Fortunately, that can be really fun some times too. Like whenever I ask her what coat she wants to wear out (she has like 6 of them), she always says, "football jacket" - - which is the New Orleans Saints jacket I bought off of Ebay about a year ago. So the downside of all this is that I absolutely cannot get rid of that stupid "Wheels on the bus go 'round and 'round song!"

Little Buddies

2006-11-11T21:39:00.000-08:00

Aren't these guys cute? This is Devera with her buddy Livvy. Livvy loved doing Devera's hair - - I can't believe Devera actually stood still this long! We're headed out to breakfast tomorrow with Livvy and her family for crepes....mmmmm crepes!

The Whole Manly "Truck" Thing...

2006-11-10T16:07:00.000-08:00

So Toby and I were talking a few weeks back about how car companies had done such a great marketing job with truck sales. It started when we were just casually talking about the United States' dependence on oil. That conversation is interesting enough but we got to a point where we were talking about how in the U.S. our cars get such crappy gas mileage. So it's no secret that our love for big cars is a big driver of this. Anyway, at the end of the conversation we were both pretty amazed by how well the big car companies have marketed trucks. It's Amazing! Basically, they've sold the concept that it's not masculine to drive anything but a truck! Think about that for a minute. How many guys really need a truck? I know, we need it for hauling stuff. ....not really. Let's see, one trip to Home Depot to buy oversized stuff once per year. Maybe I could just pay $50 to have the stuff delivered to my house. Ok, buying a truck for hauling is a pretty lame excuse unless you are a general contractor. Maybe we need it to drive the kids around. Again, oversold. Think about it, kids do actually fit in cars. Ok, but I definitely need it for off-roading. Oh, I guess you are right, I haven't gone off-roading since I was 16. And it's not just the stereo-type of the football/nascar-watching guy drinking beer on the couch all weekend. It's sold just as hard to the guy working 60 hours a week for an internet start-up company. So even though it's a total sales job, you have to hand it to the auto-industry, they've done a remarkable job of selling.
BUT, now I'm starting to see some "anti-truck" commercials...I believe the first ones in my lifetime. I think it's passat and/or jetta that are running them. Basically, it's people driving around in monster trucks and other fancy cars with blow horns saying things like, "I drive this because my parents didn't pay enough attention to me" and "I drive this to show you that I make more money than you". The tagline is the funniest - "Lowest Ego Emissions". There's another one where a couple are sitting in their car and the wife honks the horn at the big truck in front of them because they don't go on the green. A huge guy gets out of the car and starts heading back to their car with an obviously furious look on his face. But the guy walks right by their car and goes to the monster truck in back of them (not so subtly hinting that meaner people buy trucks). Anyway, after seeing 25 years of commercials with scantily-clad women ohhing and aweing over the guy driving the monster truck after he's just returned from his off-roading trip with his buddies it's nice to see something different for a change. So tomorrow when I drive my base model Honda Accord I might just take it off-roading to see how it holds up. And if I get stuck in the mud I'll have to call one of two dozen guys I know that own a truck. Maybe I'll find a real use for them afterall.

The Pineapple Express...

2006-11-06T22:24:00.000-08:00

Wow - we have had an amazing amount of rain the past few days. My Mom has been visiting from Detroit this week and I think she is surprised by the non-stop rain. I have to admit, it's been a pretty crazy amount. I heard we had 3 inches in the last 24 hours. I guess the rain is coming from a jet stream out of Hawaii...hence the name "pineapple Express". Our trip out to the coast this weekend was filled with, you guessed it, more rain. In fact, many of the rivers towards the coast are now overflowing their banks. The beach was awesome though, it was fun to go to the aquarium while we were there - - they had a special crab exhibit. At our house, the basement has a little water in it and our roof has a small leak too....but nothing to get too excited about. I'll keep you posted....

2 New Auctions - Paw Prints & Elegance

2006-11-03T12:49:00.000-08:00

My Mom is in town visiting this weekend so Devera is getting tons of time with Grandma & Grandpa...she's having a fantastic time! Tonight we are headed out to the coast for the weekend, definitely looking forward to that. I did get a chance to put up 2 new auctions today. The first is my annual paw print set - - with a brand new color combination, and the second is a beautiful set created using the gold reflective glass that I enjoy so much. I think of all my sets, these are the 2 that I always get the most questions/interest in. Good luck to those of you who are bidding - - I really appreciate the support! If you are interested in taking a look at either of the auctions CLICK HERE. I'll try to post later in the weekend and let you know how the coast was.

Halloween

2006-10-31T22:13:00.000-08:00

Devera started the evening a little freaked out by the whole Halloween thing. She definitely didn't want to go outside, that was for sure. But after we told her that we were going to the neighbors house and that the dog would be there she was ok. She liked seeing the next door neighbor and didn't have any problem reaching for the candy. However, she had to have Toby hold her up the whole time. After about 4 or 5 houses she was starting to get more comfortable. She finally decided to walk around herself a little but was still pretty shy. It was pretty fun to hear her say "Happy Halloween" as we left one of the houses. Something tells me she'll be a lot more into it next year. Given where we started the evening we chalked it up as a success....with this parenting thing you just take what you can get.
One other funny note - - yesterday was my birthday and we celebrated with these super tasty cupcakes from a local bakery. Devera's cupcake had a giant spider made of frosting on top. After she ate the spider off of the top of the cupcake she said, "More Spiders Please"....that made me laugh!

Pumpkin Carving

2006-10-29T22:16:00.000-08:00

Hope you all had a fantastic weekend. Tonight we carved pumpkins (well, actually Devera painted hers). Toby got her these neat paints that go right on the pumpkin. Devera made a huge mess but had a great time painting her pumpkin all different colors. We carved the big pumpkin with a "surprised" face that Devera learned at daycare. I'll try to get a picture of if up tomorrow.

The Great Pumpkin Patch

2006-10-24T22:19:00.000-07:00

We took a trip to the pumkin patch this weekend. Needless to say, Devera had a fantastic time. She rode the tractor, held baby chicks in her hands, and thought about riding the ponies. Here she is racing around the pumpkin piles! For me, since my mouth was still swollen from all the dental work, I really appreciated the "melt-in-your-mouth" homemade donuts that they had. MMMMM.....donuts!

New Ebay Auction & Special

2006-10-21T21:22:00.000-07:00

Hope the weekend is going well for you. Today was the first day I've been out of the house since Thursday when I had my dental work. I actually played soccer today - - I was kind of worn out just because I haven't been running or anything for a couple days. I bet that goes away in a week or so. I did manage to get a new Website Special up today if you are interested. In addition, I also posted a new Ebay auction....which you can CLICK HERE to take a look if you are interested. Tomorrow we are planning on taking Devera to the pumkin patch....sounds like fun! Have a great Sunday!

Feeling Better...

2006-10-20T17:40:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I had the dental work done and was pretty out of it on pain killers all day. However, today I woke up and felt great. I did sleep until 11:00am so that may have been part of it but I was pretty excited not to have to take the pain medication anymore. Today I've kind of been taking it pretty easy, watching a movie, doing some laundry, and eating incredibly soft meals (oatmeal & pudding). Toby said she was going to make some scrabled eggs for dinner so I'm looking foward to that. I did get an auction all set today that will start on Ebay tomorrow around noon. It's a set of 16 beads in really nice mocha & raspberry colors. I've also got another special that I plan on putting up on my website in the next day or two. Please check back if you are interested. Have a nice start to the weekend!

Some Dental Work....

2006-10-17T21:44:00.000-07:00

Uhhhh - Thursday I am getting my 4 wisdom teeth pulled plus another one that will be getting a dental implant (with bone graft). From what others have told me, I'll have a couple days of sitting around the house on pain killers not feeling overly comfortable. When Toby got hers out I remember she was kind of out of commission for a couple days. That doesn't sound like too much fun but I'll probably get to watch a movie or two. I'm thinking of renting Lady in the Water. I've been wanting to see that for some time. It's by the guy that wrote Sixth Sense & Unbreakable....two movies I really enjoyed. We're also hoping to take Devera to the pumpkin patch for a pony ride this weekend. Not sure what she'll think....she loves horses but is also kind of afraid of really big animals. I'll keep you posted on how all this goes...

Daddy & Devera Day

2006-10-14T01:28:00.000-07:00

Devera's daycare was closed yesterday so the two of us hung out all day. We took a trip to the zoo in the morning. Devera thought the monkeys were fantastic. I think her favorite thing to do was to ride these stone statues they have. She particularly liked the snail, which looks remarkably like a camel for some reason. She kept saying, "I rode the camel" for the next 3 hours. After the zoo we kind of played around the house for a couple hours. Then we went to watch the University of Portland Women's soccer team play during the evening with a friend. It's crazy that this little school is the home of the National Champions. It was pretty awesome last year when they were blasting through all the big schools like North Carolina, UCLA, etc. on their way to the championship. I'm pretty psyched that Devera can sit through an entire soccer match without getting bored....this one even went into 2 overtime periods. I was pretty tired by the time we got home (8pm) because she didn't take a nap during the day (which is extremely rare) since the roofers were pounding nails all day....sounded like buffalo....loud ones!