Attitude of Gratitude

Live with an attitude of gratitude!

I don't want to sound trite, but I am welcoming this new year with an attitude of gratitude. God has so blessed me in 2013! I am excited about life, having fun each day, and accomplishing goals I never realized I could meet.

So what did 2013 present to me?

•  Early in the year, I experienced great difficulty.  In March, I took a fall that has not been explained yet.  One moment I was walking on a perfectly flat surface, and the next I was down on the ground.  No ice, no cracks in the pavement, and no memory of how I got there. I was so banged up because I did not protect my fall, that they called an ambulance and took me to the hospital.  I had a dislocated wrist, broken ulna, my face was bruised from top to bottom, and to me the worst was the hematoma of my brain.  I was off work for three months to recover and went through every test in the book to figure out why I fell. The outcome is that I received outstanding care, had great support from family and friends, recovered and feel better than ever.  I did a lot of praying and thinking about my life, and what I want to do.  Life is a blessing!
• As I went back to work I found less satisfaction in my job with the hospital system.  I didn't have my heart in it.  My desire was to work full time developing my Plum Beadacious shop here online.  I knew I did not earn enough from my Etsy shop to live on.  So I seriously set goals and was able to increase my revenue from that source every month.  In addition, I started putting one of my two paychecks from my full time job into savings, to see if we could meet our bills with a lesser income.  Most importantly I prayed to the Lord each day for guidance and blessings on my little business.  The business grew immensely, and by early fall I had doubled my monthly sales.
• Next I got the wild idea that I could quit my day job and work the Plum Beadacious jewelry business full time.  I was 63 at the time, and knew I could collect Social Security.  My IRA was growing and thriving as well.  The big monster in the picture was health insurance.  So just for grins I called our benefits department to ask what COBRA would cost for the plan I have with the hospital.  I was pleasantly surprised.  I also went through the hoops of checking out the insurance exchange plans offered under the new Obamacare.  The COBRA was the better deal for me. Can you believe it?
• I turned in my resignation in late October, and my last day of work was December 6.  I actually had time to make Christmas cookies without doing a marathon baking session.  I went to my grand-daughter's preschool Christmas concert during the day.  I attended a performance of the Messiah.  I enjoyed Christmas with my daughter and her family.  Best December ever, and my jewelry sales went through the roof.
• Here I am in January planning a trip to Taos and Santa Fe NM.  Plus I am working hard to learn more about ecommerce, to create new products, and to enjoy the experiences along the way.

Happy New Year to each of you!

A Hidden Gem in Northern Colorado

Poudre Canyon - Nice Drive Any Time of the Year

Tucked away in northern Colorado just north and west of Fort Collins, Colorado is the Poudre Canyon.  I am so lucky to live about 45 minutes from this gorgeous area.  Bill and I enjoy driving through the canyon several times a year.  We were able to do that on Friday, December 27.  It was a bright sunny day, and the temperature in the sunshine was just over 50 degrees.

As we started on our trek to the west, the first place we stopped was Picnic Rock.  This is a beautiful area on the Poudre River that is very popular for picnics.  In the summer, people swim and frolic in the water here.  Snow is on the ground now but it is great looking at the peaceful river here.

After walking around there for awhile and talking to a man and his daughter who were also visiting this day, we got back in the van and started back up the road.  The further up the road you go, the more rapids you see in the river.  The road runs along side the river.

We had brought a picnic lunch, and since we started our journey late morning, we searched out a good picnic spot.  It took awhile to find one in the sun.  Most of the picnic benches located along the Poudre River are in the shade.  That makes lots of sense for when you are there in the summer.  However, it was dramatically colder in the shade than it was in the sun when we were there last Friday .  We did find a wonderful sunny picnic location and set out our sandwiches to eat.  The river was beautiful there with small rapids.  It was running fairly quickly with light and shadows on the river.

Much to my surprise there were two stellar jays flitting among the pine trees by our picnic spot.  These birds are incredibly beautiful, and being a native of Missouri, I was not familiar with them.  They are a teal green/blue with a comb on the head similar to a blue jay.  One of these jays was very accommodating of me and sat still in a tree for quite some time while I snapped lots of shots.

After our lunch and visit with the birds, we continued up through the canyon.  The rock canyon walls keep the river in constant shade in many areas, and the ice was thick on the river.  Yet there were always areas where the water bubbled up.  This was quite impressive as the ice was several feet thick, and the water was gushing through holes in the ice.

Boot Scootin' Jewelry

Boot jewelry - my newest jewelry creating passion

I first became aware of boot jewelry when I was coming home from visiting my son in San Jose. At the San Jose airport I kept passing by a young lady in the security line who was wearing boots and a bracelet/anklet on one of them. At one point when we were stopped, I asked her about it. It was beautiful, made with stones and a bit of bling. She told me she had purchased it at a shop, and that it is a boot bracelet made for wearing over boots.

I was intrigued and when I got home started a search on Etsy and the world wide web for boot bracelets. There are lots of different ones. My favorite are those made with a double strand of beads and a charm dangle. I now have made a number of these.

Green and Tan Stone Boot Bracelet

The picture at the right is one I made for a gift. The charm is a cute silver boot.  Then I used some silver beads, pearls and green twist beads to complement the larger stone round disc beads.

The side sports a large flower clasp and ring.  I added an extender chain after I took the photo. Since I already gave the gift, I don't have a pic with the extender chain.

Turquoise, Silver and Pearl Boot Bracelet

This is another gift I made.  You can see the extender chain on this one.  Again I have incorporated a boot charm, pearls and silver.  Turquoise is the stone.  It looks so southwest!

Turquoise Blue Boot Bracelet

The boot bracelet to the right is one I made for my daughter.  I think it has a bit more of a delicate feel to it.  She is a petite lady, so I chose turquoise blue elongated beads, pearls, small round turquoise blue coin beads, elongated decorative antiqued silver beads, and a leaf charm.  Very feminine!

I am selling these in my Plum Beadacious shop.  Although I have a limited stock right now, I always enjoy custom orders.  I am also making more, so check back often for different ones.

Eyeglass Leashes are a Solution for your Reading Glasses

Where are my glasses?

If you wear eyeglasses, you want to be able to lay your hands on them at any time. It is not fun to squint at a book to read it, to wrinkle up your nose with the needle and thread mere inches from your eyes trying to thread the needle, or to use a magnifying glass to see the important fine print on a medicine bottle. For those of you who have reading glasses that you take on and off all day, consider using an eyeglass leash to keep them with you at all times.

I wear my Walgreen’s reading glasses quite often when I work on my beading projects. Wires and beads can be tiny. It is quite frustrating to try to place a wire through a seed bead just to miss the hole. No matter if you have drug store reading glasses or fine spectacles from the eye center, they deserve a place of honor to hang on an eyeglass leash.

How Eyeglass Leashes are Put Together

Eyeglass leashes are a simple design consisting of a piece of beading wire, an assortment of beads, eyeglass holders, and crimps.  Eyeglass holders are not very glamorous, but they come in a variety of styles.  Some are a rubberized loop with metal around the middle.  One end of the loop is attached to the eyeglass leash, and the other attaches to the glasses frame at the temples.

Another style of eyeglass holders is a round corrugated metal ball with a tiny metal loop and a small cord loop at the opposite end.  The metal loop attaches to the eyeglass leash, and the small cord loop attaches to the glasses frame at the temples.

Here are some photos of eyeglass leashes I made.

If you would like a custom eyeglass lease, please contact me.  I would be happy to design something for you.

If you have made an eyeglass leash, send me a photo of it.  I will post it on my blog.

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Tomatoes - from Garden to Marinara Sauce

We grew lots of tomatoes this summer.  One of the plants we grew were Roma tomatoes.  These are the long tomatoes used for Italian sauces.  We kept harvesting them until I had enough for a pot of marinara sauce.   I had 4 1/2 lbs of these tomatoes to make the sauce.

Earlier this year I purchased a Juicemate at a garage sale.  This is a juicer type of machine that is hand operated (no motor).  It looked like fun, and it actually worked very well.  Bill and I worked together to create the tomato puree which was the base for the marinara sauce.

I sliced the tomatoes, and Bill turned the handle to crush the tomatoes into a puree.  We used the pumpkin sieve to do this because we did not want tomato juice.  We wanted a puree.  Using the pumpkin sieve allowed the seeds to go into the puree.   It was fun to see the skin come out one side of the machine, and the puree come out the other.  When we were done we had about 2 quarts of tomato sauce/puree.  It was thinner than tomato paste and thicker than tomato juice.

 I then sauteed two chopped onions and chopped garlic, added the tomato puree, added one cup of chopped basil and cooked over a medium heat with no lid for 45 minutes.  At that point I added some sugar, salt and pepper to taste.  Mmm! Good!

This, a salad, and some garlic bread made a yummy dinner last night.

Magnetic Badge Reel - Plain

Sometimes I look way past the obvious.  I have over 40 badge reels posted for sale in my shop.  But today a man contacted me about making a plain black magnetic badge reel.  He works at a gym and likes the idea of a magnetic badge reel, but doesn't want a fancy cabochon on it.

It was easy-peasy for me to provide him with a plain black magnetic retractable badge reel.  I will start carrying these in my Plum Beadacious shop on a regular basis.  This is a great gift for a man or woman, and is smart for wearing to the gym on an outdoor hike or other activity where you want a magnetic retractable badge reel, but don't want anything fussy.

Stones, Pearls, Gold plated Beads and Birds on a Wire

I really enjoyed putting this combo together to make this beautiful lanyard.  The birds on a wire in a hoop are so sweet, and the small square beads that are a mottled purple and tan are intriguing.  I bought those at a bead show in Denver and did not keep track of what type of stone they are.  I think they may be dyed turquoise or dyed agate, but not sure.  Overall this is a beauty!