THE NEW PROJECT…

and it’s going swimmingly…

my hand-sculpted rose rings have proven to be quite popular.  it was very unexpected, but i’m reveling in the fact that they have been a warm addition to my b4b collection.  my mom would be oh so proud!

some of these and some others can be found at www.braceletsforbetty.com (click shop to get to the etsy site). custom orders are always welcome.

ps.  real post coming soon…

BEST DATE EVER…

silly monkey and i have been starved for some one-on-one time, or as he likes to call it… “just the two of us”. 

the weather has been super cold, so we can’t play outside for longer than a few before we start to shiver & shake and wimp out and run back inside.  i hesitate to take him places like chuck e cheese’s b/c ewww gross food and too many people.  and movies are hit or miss – if he enjoys it, he’s great and if he doesn’t, he wants to talk. 

so last night, we opted for an ice cream date where we talked and talked over cotton candy ice cream sundaes (with candy eyes), from graeters. 

the topics of conversation ranged from curious george being the “third wheel” to him becoming a big brother.  mostly he talked about things he wanted (ie. charlie the train, which by the way is $26, no thank you), but the biggies were:

BUSY BEE…

so i promised myself i would blog more regularly since my december posts were a bunch of… well, crap.  but things have been oh so crazy with people and things and work and opportunities that i’m just a bit overwhelmed.

my days…

up early to get silly monkey up for school and/or pick him up from M’s to re-get him ready for school, then head to work for, uh, work…

home to make dinner and play with trains and play doh and read and bathe x2 and read some more, followed by at least 3 “out of beds” for silly monkey to get a drink of water or to pee or just “tell me something”, after which i pull out all of my beads and clay and start orders for the night.

phew!

lather, rinse, repeat if desired.  and i do so desire.  i’m having a great time doing things i oh so love (mostly).

my sister thinks i am obsessed with my new passion for clay, but hey, it’s all for a good cause.  in fact, 90% of the stuff i’m using for my clay work (love nooses, donut rings, beads, etc) were my mom’s.  she was so darn crafty and artistic, but she often started things and never finished.  i could probably open my own little craft workshop with all of her supplies and tools, but for now they’re dedicated to b4b and raising money to donate in her memory.  i think she’d be proud.  and a little giddy that her clay tools are finally getting good use.

and the clay work is also something silly monkey and i have been doing together…he with his play doh and me with my sculpey (or fimo, whatever suits my purpose).  he regularly requests that i make him a cake a or pie b/c he just wants to “hold it”.  we even put together a bracelet with a turtle that he wore for exactly 2 minutes before he decided boys don’t wear bracelets, but i couldn’t take it apart b/c my gah, he had already gone through the painstaking procedure to pick out each and every bead to string and was his so STOPitMAMA, it’s mine!!  (and it means a lot to me that he is interested in something that i love doing… something that didn’t involve trains, really. )

my days are full.  my nights are restful.  and everything in between is filled with silly monkey noises.  what more could this gal need?

BRACELETS FOR BETTY…

so it’s back up and running.  what, you ask?  well, the bracelets for betty website is back up.  and i… i am running like crazy, cranking out fabulous jewelry in the name of brain cancer awareness.

there are only three reasons why you wouldn’t know what bracelets for betty is:

1.  you’ve never clicked on the “b4b” tab on my home page.
2.  i don’t personally know you.
3.  you are severely annoyed by my incessant linkage on facebook, so you have “blocked” my status updates.

if you fall into one of these three categories:

1. wow. really?  (#2 excepted)
2. you must, immediately, click HERE to check it out. (of course, after you finish this post)

b4b is a labor of love. i started it back when my mom was first diagnosed with GBM. we had no idea what we were dealing with. i did a TON of research and found very little. perhaps it’s b/c i’m not that internet savvy. or perhaps b/c there is so much about the disease that is unknown.

i would give just about anything to be able to turn the clock back and have my mom here. fly back to july 2006, when we were laughing with each other on our way to concerts. and i would give just about anything to have her given a prognosis that was anything but death.

brain cancer, like any cancer, has no cure. but unlike the strides we have seen in breast cancer studies, brain cancer treatments are nearly nothing.  and i want to help.  i have to help.  b/c i can’t bear the thoughts of other families feeling the pain i have felt in my heart for almost four years.

so b4b is my way of helping.  we are a fundraiser, not a charity.  we don’t have preferred tax status, so you won’t get a big ol’ write off.  what you will get is a fabulous piece of handmade jewelry and the warm fuzzies associated with knowing that we have used a portion of the sale to donate to brain cancer research.

ok, now click HERE…

YOU’LL HEAR THIS ONCE, AND ONLY ONCE…

i was wrong…

hmmm.  so i didn’t melt.  no flesh is burning.  the world did not implode.  ok, seems we’re good.

i ran across this old post.  i got an “i can’t believe it’s THAT easy to take sides when NO side should be necessary to take” twing.  it made me feel like i had been lied to.  it annoyed me that i valued a relationship that was disposable.  at least on one side, anyway.

so needless to spell out, but i’ll briefly state…

i no longer have a relationship with that family.  why?  b/c i am apparently no longer part of their family.  why?  b/c someone made a choice to play the “loyalty” card, when in fact the only loyalty should have been made to silly monkey and his safety.  why?  b/c no one wants to walk on egg shells when it comes to certain people who disrupt other’s lives and make other’s miserable for the sake of their own misery.  why?  oh, who the hell knows…  perhaps just be they can.

i guess i held onto that “family” b/c i always felt like i was part of it.  i made the effort and they usually met me halfway.   in fact i made the effort for two, b/c lord knows i didn’t have a partner in anything.  i clued them in – they looked at me pitifully.  but they continued to look the other way, perhaps afraid of someone yelling and screaming that a choice had to be made, and although promising that no choice would ever be made, they made their choice.  quite frankly, i’m pretty certain they got the short end of that stick.

(funny enough, after proofreading this entry, i almost deleted it.  you know when you get that “who cares” feeling?  like you’re talking just to talk and nothing that comes out of your mouth makes you feel much of, well, anything?  that’s about how i just felt.  nothing.  i suppose it was no big loss.  who wants conditions on love and family?  raise your hand… no one?)

CARPET VS RUG…

ok, silly monkey, let’s go over the school rules…
no.
yes.  you keep your hands and feet…
to myself.
you don’t say…
i don’t like you.
when the teachers say “line up”, you…
line up.
when the teachers say “sit down”, you..
sit down.
when the teachers tell you it’s story time, you sit nicely on the…
i don’t know.
story time carpet.
it’s not a carpet, mommy.  it’s a rug.
ok.  when it’s story time, you sit nicely on the…
why did you call it a carpet?  it’s a rug.
silly monkey…
rug.  i sit nicely on the rug. 

EDUCATION IS AN ADMIRABLE THING, BUT IT IS WELL TO REMEMBER, FROM TIME TO TIME, THAT NOTHING THAT IS WORTH KNOWING CAN BE TAUGHT…

i was a good student.  i excelled in all subjects (minus PE, b/c seriously?  why is that even a graded class?!  and unless i’m going into pro badminton, why do i need to be a fabulous player?).  i loved going to school – loved math and science (even won a science fair) and loved being part of a collaborative effort to make our schools better (go-go school coalition).

when i started attending college (ohio state university – go buckeyes!), i thought i was on top of my world.  nothing could stop me.  i had all i needed to know and anything i didn’t, i would learn there.  in college.  where your life is supposed to begin and end.  sort of.  figuratively, anyway…

MAULED…

a friend of mine sent this to me.  said he thought of me when he saw it…

now, that is the perfect compliment.  i am so making this into valentine’s day cards!

HOW’S IT FEEL? CONSTANT DENIAL OF EVERYTHING, QUESTIONS ANSWERED WITH A QUESTION…

i ask myself many questions and when i ran across this “survey”, i thought i would actually take the time answer some…

NEW YEAR BLOG-OLUTIONS…