O M G, can we say lazy....

I'm on day 4 of a 17 day stay at home vacation.  How many ways can we say lazy?  However many there are I have been them since Thursday evening and I feel no guilt!  I was ex--haus--ted.  I passed tired on Wednesday and Thursday I entered the zip code of FRIED.

I'm feeling relaxed now and somewhat human again.  Yay and the pups are enjoying Mom's undivided attention.

I have some moments to share from last week, first of which is cooking.  I do cook when the inclination hits me and I'm fairly competent with ingredients I'm familiar with.  On Monday I went crazy and went to Wally Mart and stalked the produce section: walked out with onions (can't have too many), big green bell peppers and half a very large red cabbage head!  I was planning 2 meals minimum.

On Tuesday evening at a sweltering 90 degrees (felt like 190') in my kitchen I decided to cook.  I sauteed chicken pieces with onions and bell pepper (a little garlic, some basil).  I then sauteed some red cabbage with onions and butter (fake butter).  I finished up with couscous made very simply.

Voila, yumtastic and left overs for two lunches!

Not the greatest photo, but trust me the smells were amazing and yummy.

Come Saturday, I was in the mood for picadillo, a local favorite that I have gussied up to my tastes.  Locally it included jalapenos, but my old stomach can't handle that so bell peppers are a nice sub.  Anyway, couldn't be simpler: sautee onions, bell peppers, spices (garlic, salt, pepper, oregano, touch of basil), toss in some browned ground beef, top off with some canned diced tomatoes(drained) and plain canned pinto beans (drained), let simmer 20 minutes.  Crazy good.  I paired it with some tortilla chips and shredded mozarella.  Munch, munch....

in the pan

On the plate!

Yesterday evening saw a much needed thunderstorm.  There is absolutely no greater smell, in my opinion, than rain on dry, desert dirt.  I would wear it as cologne.  Prior to the thunderstorm we were treated to "fire on the mountain" in the form of a sunset.  I'm so blessed with my view.  This is the reason I bought my house.  Enjoy.  Beading stuff coming up later on this week.

Gorgeous!!

Peace and love to all.  Stay well.

What if you threw a bead give away and no one claimed it...

What if you threw a bead give away and no one claimed it?

I guess Tatty Tiara did not want the beads.  I've emailed and posted on her blog, so I'm going to the next person in line, as I think 9 days is a fair wait time, (check out the post on the 15th) who is....#2031 Cathryn of Chile Cats!!  

Can  you hear the roar of the crowd???

Woohoo.  I already have your info Cathryn so I will mail the beads tomorrow! 

Congrats!!

Amazing Bead give a way!!

Denise Yezbak Moore's Give-away hoard!  Yumm and E!

WOWSERS!!

Check out Denise Yezbak Moore's AMAZING give away.  Beads and Beads and MORE Beads, oh my.  Over $350 worth of beads!  A must see.

Enjoy!!

In memory of my dad!

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY, DAD!

Happy Father's Day, Dad!  You laughed, you loved and you made a difference for so many people.  I still miss you all these years later (1972).

Love, your Punkin

Etsy faves

On this hot Saturday (ugh!), I thought I would do a shoutout to some of my fave Etsy sellers.  So here goes!

C bar j Crafts is a wonderful destination for customized animal figurines.  So reasonably priced as well.  I happened upon one of my bracelets in her fave items.  Thank you!

Handmade by L and L are wowsers.  Who knew that paper beads could be so sturdy?  I went a little crazy a little while back ordering some sale items and boy am I happy that I did.  They are yummy and LIGHT!  Perfect for summer.

Ivy Koehn (pronounced "cane") makes "to die for" canes.  I could crazy in there quite often, so I allow myself limited peeks.  I'm not a cane maker and do not strive to be one, so Thank Heavens for Ivy and those who do like: Tami Shvat from Israel, Elaine Robataille (dba Clay Chicks) in Canada, and the amazingly gifted Naama Zamir out of Israel.  These talented artists make polymer clay more enjoyable for me because I don't have the patience for that process.  I just wanna make beads.

Then there are the ceramicists (sp) who boggle my mind: Ms Carroll has a unique sensibility with her clay.  Each set different from the next and so smooth to the hand in person.  Jennifer Heynen is sooooooooo colorful.  Vibrant is another word.  Prolific is following close behind. 

My favorite polymer people can't be forgotten:  Heather Powers is an amazing polymer artist and BLOGGER!  Her painting inspired polymer is so original and powerful. Hande Burdg is stunning with color.  Her beads are simple to let the colors do the talking. Terri at TLS Clay Designs proves it is "hip to be square."  So much color and fun! Genevieve Williamson at Jibby and Juna takes polymer clay in a new direction that is very conceptual and yummy.

Hope you enjoy Etsy hopping.  Have a great weekend!

Peace and love to all.

AND THE WINNER IS..........................................

Entered military times into random name picker on line

Pulled the lever on the lucky machine!  Winner is 1224.....

(This person posted a comment at 12:24 PM on June 12)

Lucky number/name machine link  GREAT TOOL!!

(TATTYTIARA)

Hi Tatty:  Please contact me at my email on the sidebar with your shipping address and I will mail this on Friday!  Congratulations.

I have another giveaway July 26 in celebration of my birthday (me and Mick Jagger, LOL he's older by 10 years, so you do the math).

Details will be forthcoming on July 1st.  This is so fun.

Thanks also to Cathryn at Chile Cats for being so generous in blogging about the give away.

Peace and love to all!

Give away window now closed

Hi all:  The give away window is now closed.  I'm tallying the results for the generator and will post the winner shortly.  Good luck everyone!!

Bead give away update! The beads and a surprise

Hi all, just been having a lazy weekend, didn't make it to the computer yesterday.  Here is the bead give away preview. Above is the overall give away.  I think this should make for some very nice beading.  And there is a surprise inside the tin (middle), which is also part of the give away.  This was so much fun to put together.  I'm really eager to see what is made.  Please blog your creations.  Below are more detailed images of the individuals sets.

Various gemstone chip beads, my new fave, includes flourite, autumn jasper, sodalite and others.

Some coconut shell and some kind of seed pods.  These are fun and exotic.

A polymer clay covered tin with a surprise inside!

Some recycled, sandblasted glass beads.  The colors are divine! Pale, pale green, medium mint green

and a gorgeous blue.  Yum-tastic, for sure.

Here is a set of polymer clay beads I made for someone who ended up changing their mind about the colors, so I'm passing them on to someone to enjoy.  There are eleven of the small, button-type and one large-ish pendant. 

These are some polymer clay "loner" beads I have made and they need a new home.  Some of them are large.

Lastly, here are some jasper and onyx beads.  You might recognize the tiger jasper donut that I used recently in a bracelet.

The dogs and I sat in the back for a while this morning enjoying a relatively cool morning (only supposed to hit 92 today and there is a cool breeze.

"oh, yeah, you and what army are gonna make me?"  Tess is a sassy little thing.

Someone with white fur and spots smelled like wet dog after a romp with the tennis ball through the sprinkler.  Hmmm.

Well, Tuesday at 7PM MDST will be the drawing.  So get your comments in!

Peace and love to all.

El Paso and the Border

(climbing up on my soapbox) Please indulge me because I feel I have to delve a little into the politics of my city due to the recent shooting by a Border Patrol agent of a teenage Mexican national.  The 15 year was killed and apparently as a result of a rock assault by a group of Mexican nationals.  The video from CNN is disturbing to say the least and I won't be linking to it from here.

My city (I'm a military dependent transplant) is wonderful.  Our sister city of Cd. Juarez Mexico is amazing with wonderful, hardworking, beautiful people.  The cat and mouse game of border crossing has gone on since the border was established, but for various reasons it has become very violent. As a teenager in El Paso it was a right of passage to go to J-town and raise a little hell.  Can't do that anymore because you could easily die, just standing on a street corner.  Never fear though, teenagers still go, afterall they are immortal.  That was always my worry at the high school level of teaching, was everyone going to come in on Monday.

I used to live about a mile from where the shooting happened and I have actually seen Border Patrol agents chase people, on foot, down I-10 East.  I'm very torn about the issues here.  Do I believe we have a right to secure our borders?  Do I think people have a right to come to America for a better life?  Is this an unwinnable situation?  These questions are rhetorical.

Here is what I KNOW: we have, between the two cities, over two million people who are for the most part good, honest people who just want a little slice of a good, solid life and to celebrate the goodness that is life. So I just want to emphasize how much I love this goofy, wacky, gorgeous part of the globe and wouldn't want to be anywhere else, but we are all apprehensive and more than a little sad.

Beading will be back tomorrow!

Peace to all and love to everyone!

Give away details

Got a little tied up with work today, so the links will come tomorrow, however here are the details:

• Between now and June 15, I will collect all comment names and number them according to the time they appear on the blog. 
• I will use the random generator to choose a number based on the time (if you comment at 4 PM I will assign the number 1600 (military time), if 1:00 AM, 100 and so on) of the comment.
•  
• Yes, you can leave more than one comment over the week as the number is generated from the time of the comment.
•  
•   HOWEVER, only the 1st comment from a person will be counted per day.
• I hope this makes sense.  If anyone can help clarify it would be appreciated.
• I will post a picture of the basic giveaway package by Saturday.

Have fun!

Peace and Love to all.

The babies say Good luck and Heeeeey!

My Muttley Crew!

Just had to

I was rummaging and found these tiger jasper donuts in my stash.  They screamed (screamed I tell ya) to be paired with these turquoise shell beads from Happy Mango Beads.  This was fun to make and, I think, very handsome on the wrist.  That is my freckled arm, thank you very much.  EEK.

Sunday, PM and watching the heat climb higher and higher.  I have a feeling this summer is going to be a hot one.  Well, it's gonna be what it's gonna be, right?  Right.  The babies are feeling the heat.  They have lots of clay tile to lie on in my house, so they find a cool spot and sleep.  They love ice cubes so I give them some a couple of times a day.

I need to go get my car washed, but I don't want to venture outside.  I think I'll settle in for a movie instead.  Tomorrow is work, so I need to relax anyway.

Hope everyone is having a great day.  Peace and love to all.

Happy Mango Hoard

This is a shot of my recent bead score from Happy Mango Beads.  All were on sale, so 5 sets of beads came in under $15.00 including shipping.  I'm excited.  I allow myself about $10-20 per month for bead shopping so naturally I have to look for specials.  Some months are more successful than others of course.  Anyway, wanted to show you all what was in my mailbox today.  The Happy Mango people are amazing.  What a great little company.  I find it a great source for more unusual choices if I'm in the market for such.  The above will be incorporated with and without my polymer into whatever takes my fancy. 

With my link post on Tuesday, I'll be having a give away of some various beads so "bead" on the lookout for that. I'll give the requirements for the give away on Tuesday so "start spreading the word", please. I couldn't participate in the Bead Soup Party, but I can still give away some beads.  So enjoy.  Have a great weekend everyone.

Peace and love to all.

PS:  If you are in Texas, keep cool!!

Linkie Lookie Loo Tuesday

I want to share what is happening on my favorite blogs and the "people" who bring joy into my life a moment at a time.  Enjoy!

ABS (art bead scene) showed off a beautiful interpretation by Kell's Creation.  Come to find out she is just up the road in New Mexico.  Too cool.

Polymer Clay Daily (the wonderful Mrs. Tinapple) shares ancient stories in polymer.  I love faux old.  Wish I was faux old, LOL.  Check this out.

Julie from Polymer clay Craftgossip shares a link to Eugena Topina's leaf and bulls eye cane tutorial if you want something to make.  I love a good leaf cane.

Iris Mishly at http://polymerionline.blogspot.com/ tells a wonderful tale about a recent TV spot she filmed.  Also, her miniature food expose is to drool over!  No calories, yay!

The incomparable Naama Zamir has a wonderful door sign (not sure what it says) and new how to book.  Her cane work (which I indulge myself too often) is divine.

Jennifer Perkins at Naughty Secretary's  Club is spinning a yarn about yarn bombing.  Hey better than the real thing anyday.  Also, her plant people are not to be missed!

Genevieve from Jibby and Juna is destashing experimental beads through her Etsy.  Check it out and her other work is amazing.

Lisa Crone of A Bead a Day waxes philosophically about beading and calls to the magpie in each of us beaders!

Andrew Thorton is having a Thursday give a way each week (he actually picks on Monday).  I was the lucky winner a couple of weeks ago.  The beads I won are deluxe and delightful.  Check it out 4 sure!http://andrew-thornton.blogspot.com/

Lisa Clarke of Polka Dot Cottage has a great post on a mutant caterpillar.  He definitely has inspired a bead on my end.

The wonderful Mary Ann Moss traisped around the city with her visiting sister in tow to do a grafitti tour.  What an inspiring journey.  http://dispatchfromla.typepad.com/dispatch_from_la/

Cathryn from Chile Cats tells of a close call with some recent hail.  Yikes, these desert storms can be a bear!

The Lanyard Lady is inspired this week by snow cones.  Who isn't this time of year?  She turned her's into a lanyard.  http://lanyardlady.blogspot.com/