Ahhh, Jasmine!

Hi out there!

It's been awhile since my last blog, not much has been going on..
I have just been getting my yard together and getting some flower beds dug...
Before... there was a big Rubarb plant in the corner..














After














This is my Lilac bush, not yet in the ground. It had 2 really nice blooms and my puppy ate them! ugg, she eats EVERYTHING!!!!

nice little fencing to keep the dogs out!

My beautiful Jasmine, my favorite, this plant has such an intoxicating scent!!



















In other news, I finally had a sale.. a cute necklace. I hear some of the blogs I follow talk about how slow there shops are when they haven't sold anything in a week.. my sales are few and far between... but I have only had my shop open since Jan of this yr.. I figure if I just plug away at it eventually I will start to get more sales... So this lovely gal said that if she likes my necklace as much as she thinks she will, she will be back to purchase a pr of earrings she has been eyeing.. I'm sure she will like the necklace, I try to be as accurate as possible with my listings and photos..

Sometimes it is hard to be creative when I'm not selling any thing, and I know I'm not a failure but I have those thoughts of self doubt... you know.. "what if my stuff is no good" "what if no one likes it" those nasty little thoughts that creep into your mind.
But I am trying to get better about my self doubts and just know that what I put out there is good quality workmanship. I'm a bit of a perfectionist also and that tends to bite me most of the time.

chow for now!!

Dirt and Dogs!!!

Hi,
Hope everyone's weekend was great!!

It's beautiful here and I'm hoping that summer is FINALLY here to stay!! probly not but a girl can dream! Today we got out into the yard. I weeded my flower bed and will continue to set my bricks and fence.

I really need to think hard about what I want to put here... I'm thinking maybe something that can climb the lattace in this area, and in the others maybe roses??? See my problem is that I kill everything, it's like a plants death sentence to come live at my house.. Every yr. I buy flowers and every yr. I kill them.. but I really want a nice yard with pretty flowers! So I will need to do my research and think about this for awhile.. If any of you greenthumbers out there have ideas let me know.. it gets a lot of afternoon sun!

While I did this my honey bunny and son cut back some branches, mowed, and weed wacked!!

corey is wrangling those branches! They were cut from the tree behind him, they start to grow over the fence onto the side walk and pretty soon your ducking to walk under the tree itself....

the dogs enjoyed there time also.. and played ball..Now when I say played ball I don't mean like we throw it and they retrieve it, which Marley will do and he brings it back to you everytime.. he will drop it and sit so patiently waiting for you to throw it again, then when you reach down to get the ball he will grab it and want to play tug of war, so you must give him the command... "leave it" and things well go smoothly.. Roxy is just to small (about 5 mos) to get the concept yet but we are working with her.. anyway back to my story.. so Marley is a crazy nut job and he LOVES any type of ball!!!!

Outside he plays soccer.. his soccer ball is destroyed so for now he is using our old slightly flat basketball... he will wrangle that ball all around the yard and back to you so that you may kick it again...the whole time barking at the ball like he's givin it the what for.... he does this over and over and over.. the dog is amazing.. you tell him to "get your ball" and he knows exactly what you want him to do.. then you tell him to "backup" and he does that and sits so patiently waiting for the ball to go flying so he may run hells bells after it and bring it back to you for more...

He is a fabulous dog.. we have had him since he was 5 mos old and he will be 3 in aug... I swear the dog knows english.. you tell him to do something and he does it, he has always been this way. Marley is our first Boston Terrier so I'm not sure if the breed is like that or if we just got lucky and he is great.. the best $350.00 we've EVER spent!!! He is our boy!! and has totally sold us on the breed, we will forever be Boston owners.. In fact we always said we wouldn't own any other breed.. That changed this winter when I saw Roxy sitting in an alley, shivering and looking lost and scared. She was only about 6 wks old when I found her so she really is our dog! That was a shock when I took her to the vets 2 wks later and she was huge, the vet says "oh she's just about 8 wks old, she hasn't dropped her 2 mos. teeth in front yet" YICKS!! that's how she got her nickname.. keep reading!

Then theres Roxy, gotta love her.. she is very smart and will be a great dog someday.. she is just a totally different breed! working breeds like her, need jobs, companion breeds like marley are just that, for your company only!! Everybody has nicknames for their animals and theirs are Roxy aka Miss Moose, she is huge! Marley aka Little Mister... and here they are.....

(I will get him playing ball on video sometime and try to post. It is hilarious, we always say we need to send it in to funny animal videos and we'd win some money)

they both came in after this and are crashed out as I'm typing this!!!

well this is my reward for today's hard labor in the yard, I love this wine! What do you reward yourself with when you deserve it??

Sherice

Smithing Questions??

Hi out there in blogger land!

was getting ready to purchase a few things to get the ball rolling on trying to start silversmithing... so can any of you smithers out there help me out and let me know what you think I should purchase to get started....

Things I already have....

butane torch (thank you lisa!)
pickle
pickle pot
copper tongs
flux
magnesium soldering block (is this a good one?? should I try a charcoal to hold the heat?)
regular long tweezers
The complete metalsmith by Tim McCreight (not the pro addition, I think it is an updated version with a green cover and binding like a notebook)
Step by Step jewelry workshop by Nicola Hurst (a lot of good info in this book and easy to follow)

I think thats about it!!!

I really wish I could find a class in my area but no luck so far. I'm still going to keep my eyes open for one and hope one comes round... I know it would be so much help to me, but this is what I really want to do, when I started wire wrapping and making jewelry I new that this is where I wanted to end up!!! So there is no stoppin me.. even if I have to be self taught....

a few things I know I will need...

tumbler
vice
benchpin
saw, blades and lube
solder
bezel wire (any suggestions on sizes & gauges?)
sheet metal (gauges?)
polishing equipment ( what I'm not sure? was thinking about getting a dremel)
protective wear (glasses and masks)
cabs (suggestions on where I can get them? I have a few places already and I know etsy has some nice shops, but names and resources would be great!)

of course I will be doing my research and I know what works for one might not work for the other.. but some input and help would be so awesome and I would be eternally greatful!! I know a lot of the smithers I follow are self taught and there work is wonderful!!!
now I'm drawing a blank and I need help!! So what else, I know there are some tools in there also what would they be??
Last but not least who do you shop from??? (Monsterslayer, Rio etc..)


I hope I'm not asking to much!

Thanks to you all in advance!!
Sherice

Typing!!

Wassup!!!?

I'm typing this from my computer!!! yea!! Finally got it back yesterday! here is a fun picture from about a month ago!!

This is the group photo we had taken with the other winners of the meet and greet with the band TESLA!!!! Yes old school rockers!!! They have a new album out and so far sounds good.. Im the blond and my husband is beside me with the hat! If you click on the photo it should bring it up for a better look.... If you can see the tall cute guitar player is touching my shoulder... he was my eye candy for the night!!! I think the guy taking the pic said something funny! Ron and I look like we are laughing....
We had a great night and really needed to let off some steam!!!!

later........ Sherice

HAPPY MOM'S DAY!!!!!

Hi

I hope all you moms out there had a great day today!!

I made a wonderful quiche and spent some time with my sis, we had wine and laughs! Seems like we always laugh when we're together.

Then my honey bunny (my term of indearment) bbq'ed chx! YUM!!!then we watched the Amazing Race finale! I was bummed that luke and margie didn't win but victor and tammy were my next choice!

Still no computer, soon, soon!!!! I'm so sick of my bl.berry but I guess I'm lucky to atleast have it. Its just without my comp. I feel like things are on hold in my shop, even though I can still keep track of things!!

Everyone have a good evening and I hope the week is good also!!

Later!

HiYa!!

Hey, hey,

first off I must say how thankful I am that my husband has a job and is bringing in an income. there are so many people that have been uprooted by the economy. My sister and her family have been having an extremely hard time. I won't go into details because it's not my place but they are really struggling. I feel really helpless, I want to help her but there's really nothing I can do but just be there for her and love her unconditionally.

I'm looking forward to taekwondo class..I haven't been there since sparring class on thurs, there was no class on sat due to Bl.Belt testing, which My friend did great! But I must say that little green guy named envy did rear his ugly head!! I have been doing TKD for 6 yrs, and if I did not take my "breaks"I would have been a second degree black belt by now! without breaks you can get your bl.belt within 3 yrs. You see it goes a little like
this...

there are 14 color belts that you go through and then you get a first degree bl.belt, then there are 6 levels you go through, testing for each level every 6 mos, you get a level patch that you put on your dobak (uniform) for each level. when you have all 6 patches your next belt will be a 2nd degree bl.belt a nice new black belt with your name in english and korean with 2 gold stripes on it!! The 1st dan is the same but has 1 gold stripe or no stripe depending on the school. The testing goes like this up to 9th dan which is a grandmaster title, at 4th dan you get a master title, after 3rd dan the requirements my vary slightly but that is pretty much how the system goes!! Each school is different we have high belts like high blue, high purple etc.... At my school but some schools only go to red belt and then to black, and I do WTF (world taekwondo federation) which is the same TKD they do in the Olympics!

There are lots of different federations with there own requirements. so now you no what I mean when I say that TKD is a way of life and after 6 yrs it is a part of me. My son and I are red/black belt now and will be getting our Bodan belt in Aug, that is the belt before black and it is a mandatory 6 month belt, after the 6 mos. We will be eligable to start bl.belt training classes, and then testing!! I'm starting to realize that I have a ton of preparation to do, not that I didn't no this before but it is starting to become a reality.

I'm really hoping to get my computer back tomarrow, but I won't know until tomarrow, after I pay some bills. Sorry no pics recently but it's hard to get to my moms to load them. I'm excited about getting my comp back and it will be virus free!!! Yahoo!! Keep your fingers crossed and hopefully tomarrow I will be blogging on my comp instead of my bl.berry and I will be able to leave comments on ALL my favorite blogs! :)

Okay now that I have really bored you with all my martial art talk I will leave you!

sherice