Before the Rain

Well, let's try this again! I was attempting to use my iGoogle gadget when my entire page refreshed and I lost everything. It is NOT going to be one of those days. I forbid it!

I'm trying to get some online stuff done before the rain clouds obscure the satellite signal. I like the fair to middlin' speed of the satellite internet but the inconsistency of the signal drives me nuts! It'd be really nice to live in a place where my $89 could be put to better use. Anyway, if I had to rely on the internet for a biz, I be broke by now. It only loses signal at the most inopportune times. Drives me insane! Ah, well, such is life in the black hole of the backwoods. Beautiful trees, time slows down a little, ambiance, it's all there but some of the opportunities are lost. Sad but true.

I went to visit my grandmother last week, as I stated in an earlier blog. We had a nice visit and I was able to help her get some of the harder chores finished. I'm not sure when they'll call me to go again but I have to get my housework done in preparation for it. I know they will call again sometime! While I was visiting with her, I learned how to do the fire wyrm chainmail weave. I am soooo stoked! It's a nice, heavy chain that holds it shape well and it's only 10.5" so far! I need it to be between 28 and 30 inches, I believe. Anyway, I am really excited about it and I will post pix on my chainmail site for anyone who wants to view them. You can click the link at the side of the page here and you'll go right to my chainmail site.

(Hold on a sec! Out of coffee and going for refill...)

My garden grows! It's alive! My anemones are sprouting up and I'm hoping to see the glads sending shoots up soon. My hydrangeas may not make it, though. Alas! It may just be too hot and dry. I'm hoping the rain (if it comes our way) will help matters but we'll just have to see. My butterfly and hummingbird garden is doing ok. I still need to do some work in it but it must be carefully done. There are ants involved. We bought some Arkansas river pebbles to make a walkway but we have yet to actually do it. I'm hoping we can get out there early one day and get that done. It'll probably take us about an hour or two. I'm going to let the kids make some concrete stepping stones. I thought that would be a great thing for them to add to our garden and porch. Not only does it add character but we will all have had a part in putting it together. Each person's creative stamp will be seen. Well, enough about that. I need to get started with my day. Dishes and laundry await! Schooling also awaits! See you all soon!

Just Blogging

Been a while since I last had a chance to blog here. Just finished watching disc 3 of the Robin of Sherwood series that aired on tv back in the 1980's. I'm not sure but I think it aired on public television here in the states. I only saw one episode back then but it hooked me and I couldn't believe Netflix had it! Now to see if I can locate a copy of it for sale.

Well, once again, my God has supplied all my needs. Isn't it wonderful to be able to rely on someone? As humans, we will all fail someone at some time but God never fails. I refuse to be cynical about that.

The above statement is my opinion and not meant to offend anyone. Having said that, I wonder why people do get offended at the mention of God. I realize some people serve a different god and I respect their decision, as I respect their person. I truly wish we could all get along though I know how hard that would be. But anything worth having is worth working for in my opinion. Boy! I'm sure full of opinions today.

I'm off to stay with my grandmother again this week. I'm glad she can still do many things for herself. I know it helps her to feel like she's still a person after half her heart is gone. You know what I mean? I know if I was in her position, I would never completely get over it and I would never want anyone else other than the man I have now. I wouldn't want to have to go thru all the adjustments all over again. Not saying it's not worth it! Not saying that at all! Please don't misunderstand. It's just a lot of work to have to start all that when you're middle aged or older. And I guess I'm just too serious of a person to feel as happy go lucky and carefree as some folks are blessed to be. Wish I was like that some time but then I realize it wouldn't be me at all...

If this doesn't make up a muddled and murky blog I don't know what would. I did warn you, though. It's the title of my blog so...

Well, guess I'll go for now. Laugh a lot! Remember to breathe.

Plants Planted

My bulb garden, my hydrangeas and my butterfly/hummingbird garden are all planted. The mosquitoes tried to eat us alive while we planted the last one but we got it done. All that's left is to edge and mulch and put in the pebble pathway. Yea! Short one tonight because it's so late.

Oh, NO! Not even... Time for the promised Murky Musings

First read this article... http://www.facebook.com/ext/share.php?sid=125048652288&h=_KMO0&u=5tvZb&ref=nf Sort Of A God Source: www.worldmag.com
How typical! How arrogant! Who are we to decide who lives and who dies? I agree that the family of someone living in a vegetative state with no hope of improvement should be allowed to "pull the plug" as it were. But if they choose to hope, who are we to tell them they can't do that? But it sounds to me as if our President, who should care about all his people equally, only cares about his own agenda. If he was so progressive, why doesn't he really care about everyone's ideals? Nope, he's an ashamed liberal hiding under that progressive label. And so we move closer and closer to a socialist government. Some of us were alive to see how that type of goverment failed miserably and caused misery in several countries where it was attempted. Yeah, maybe it survived for a little while but on a time line those few years are such a short period it would be laughable if it wasn't so awful. Are we so blind? Have we failed so much in teaching our children? People need to open their eyes wide and, if necessary, drink the entire pot of coffee! Good grief...I never thought I'd live to see our wonderful country fall so miserably short of the goals and ideals set forth by those who formed it. Maybe I am mixed up and all this really will work out well for me. Maybe the fact that I like to be in charge of my life (miserable though I make myself sometimes) is just a daydream. Maybe I do need someone who doesn't know me at all running my life, since they would be impartial and unbiased. After all, I can be rather lazy and having someone pay for all my food and my health care, too, means I don't have to work as hard. Nah, I don't think so. Whatever happened to "anything worth doing is worth doing well?" I'm done here.

Another Day, Another Procrastination...

Well, here's hoping tomorrow will see the finishing of my mosaic table top and tray. I finally finished the grouting today but it's such a large project, I couldn't finish entirely. I sincerely hope I haven't ruined it b/c it really looks like it will be a neat item to add to my front porch. The tray looks pretty cool too. I think I'm going to go for a Mediterranean feel with the decor. I guess we'll have to see.

My husband cooked an awesome meal of beef stew tonight. I'm so thankful to him since I spent most of the sweltering afternoon outside working on the grout for the aforementioned projects. He's such a great guy! What in the world I ever did to deserve, I may never know.

Tomorrow for sure, I'm planting my bulb garden. I may also be planting the hydrangea bushes but I have to determine location before we can actually plant the things! My hummingbird and butterfly garden collection is on the way and I can't wait to see everything come together.

Well, that's all for now. I'm plum beat...or is that "plumb beat"? Whatever...I'm tired! Goodnight all. Remember to breathe. Laugh a lot!

Aarrgghh! Can I Go To Sleep Now?

I'm back from a long week of visiting and cleaning at my grandmother's. All in all, we had a good week and we accomplished quite a lot. And most of all, she wasn't lonely during this past week. I'm so drained though! I'm not sure how often I'm going to be able to do this because, emotionally, it's such a drain on me. I should be able to enjoy the time I now have with my husband, right? Not so much... I wish I felt more alive at this moment. Having said all that, it really was worth it. I love my grandma a lot and I respect her, probably more than she thinks. It pains me that she is now without her constant companion, best friend, husband...my grandpa. I know for a fact that when my turn comes, I will not ever truly "get over it" but I do know that I will continue to function until my own time comes, just like her.

While cleaning, I discovered something! You can do sideways lunges using 2-quart juice bottles. Did anyone else know that? My inner thighs are shot today because I did that a few times yesterday. I was mopping and needed to move the bottles over a patch of floor that was still wet. So I straddled the mopped bit and trasported the bottles over. What a workout! Got the floor mopped and exercised, too! LOL Anyway, moving on...

I don't know who reads my blogs but if my list is to be believed, only one person. Boy don't you just love being popular! All those adoring fans... Anyway, I found a new website I'm checking out www.connectionsacademy.com and they seem to be a home school program that follows public school curriculum. So, if you are desirous of a home school program that doesn't get all "preachy", you might want to check this out.

During my stay at grandma's, I finished a neat snake chain necklace with a vee accent and a glass pendant. I also finished a Japanese 6-n-1 choker in pink and silver aluminum. I fixed a couple of the pieces my children wore and broke and I got pretty adventurous with a couple of new weaves that are so challenging I'm still trying to work them out. I might have my husband give those a whirl! He's pretty good at new stuff. I think maybe I go too fast or something. LOL

I'll be planting my bulb garden tomorrow and my other two garden collections are on the way! I'm so excited! I can't wait to see things growing in our yard. I hope they do well. I can also finish my mosaic table and tray sometime this week.

My husband and I have made the commitment to crack down on frivolous spending and to get rid of the clutter in our home. I really want us to have a welcoming home and right now, I don't even feel welcome sometimes! We still have a few boxes to unload from our move and it's driving me nuts! And we'll still have enough home improvement projects to keep us busy for many months (and paychecks) to come. But if we want to improve our home, we need to really budget for it so we're going to give it our best shot.

Well, I guess that's all the catching up I need to do. Talk to you soon...well, "soon", relatively speaking.
Laugh a Lot!

What a week!

Yesterday we made a trip to the closest city and went shopping for some necessities. For the first time, I shopped at a Marshall's store. What a find! I can't wait to go back. I found some of those really beautiful glass candle lanterns that look Turkish or Persian or something like that. Then we went to Hancock's and I got some rings to work more chainmail. These are shiny pastel and black iridescent. Can't wait to see how they'll look! We went to Tuesday Morning and found some items for a friend's baby shower. That's another place I need to go back to. We went to Bed Bath and Beyond just to look around. They have the nicest bamboo things for the kitchen. Maybe I'll add some to my kitchen some day. The last place we went was SuperTarget. Gosh! I love that store. They have such a wide variety of things to choose from! There's something to be said for shopping in a "college town" where many international students attend. Those international students bring the flavors and tastes of their homelands over with them and share them with us. It's fantastic! Well, I'll stop now. I have school to do with the kids, clothes to wash on this gorgeous day and much more to do. Maybe I'll finish that grout work on the table top today. Laugh a Lot!

Whiney Kids and Impending Doom

How is it that my children who are well provided for, can be so whiney?? I suppose I'll try playing a game with them later. Perhaps their spirits will lift with the fun of a game. Have any of you ever heard of or played the Munchkin games? They are absolutely hilarious! Even if all you do is sit and read the cards, you still have a blast. No, my son, got the medieval one for Christmas and then the western one for his birthday. We have yet to try to play them together. Maybe we should do that today. Goodness knows we all need some kind of happy break.

"Why do you need a break?"you may be asking. Hmmm...four funerals (all people we knew fairly well, one a close family member) within about 2.5 months of each other will bring everyone's spirits down and raise the stress levels pretty high. It's been rough enough trying to settle into a new routine after moving here (even though we've lived here before). I'm still trying to find more homeschoolers who are close by and willing to actually do stuff together. I'm curious... Is it necessary to spend money in order to do things with friends? Last I checked, not so. Granted, the places you can go to that cost money generally give you what you pay for but there are some really neat places to visit that don't cost anything at all! The Prarie Acadian Cultural Center in Eunice, LA doesn't charge an entry fee and their exhibits are extremely interesting and informative. On the other hand, going there with a 4 yr old can be an adventure in stress. Ro did well, considering everything is hands off at the PAC Center. I'm thinking it's time to do something fun but trying to do this within our budget is becoming more and more difficult.

I think I need some music today. There is still so much to be done. Talk to you later!

Busy, Busy, Busy

Well, it's been one long day for me. Didn't really accomplish much except school with the kids. I did manage to update my Rond Alainn website. I was selling chainmail jewelry that my husband and I make but decided to simply use my site for discussion and idea sharing. If you'd like to check it out, the web address is http://www.freewebs.com/chainmailbymelody/ and you can tell by the address, it's been up a while. Freewebs (for those of you who are unfamiliar with it) has now become Webs so they've changed the web addresses for newbies. I get to keep my old one (yea!) and that's good because my biz cards all have that web address on them. I might pass out 5 or 6 biz cards in a year so you can imagine my relief that I'm still able to use those cards.

Shi just brought me a lily from outside. How sweet! We put it in a vase. It's nice to have a flower instead of many little wildflowers. I love the wildflowers but they don't last very long once you've picked them. I prefer to watch the butterflies flock to the wildflowers while they're still growing in the yard.

I don't know about other parts of the states but we are having some hot humid weather down here in the south! Whew! I stood it as long as I could before turning on the AC. We have energy effecient window units, thankfully. I've been updating all kinds of my sites today. I have a MySpace page, a Facebook page, a Twitter page and a Freewebs page. I now have this blog. I also have a Piczo page that I haven't updated in ages. It doesn't help that I haven't got many photos on this computer. Sometimes it's really hard to keep up with all these! OK...not just sometimes. It's like anything else I tackle. I usually take on more than I can handle and then get really discouraged when I can't get it all done. Does that happen to anyone else or is it just me? Ah, well, I'm probably talking to myself anyway.

See you tomorrow, self. Remember to breathe!

What a Monday!

Yea, me! I have two custom orders lined up! I make chainmail jewelry. I'm now working on one of two knight's chains. I had to order brass rings for the job but Metal Designz never fails to amaze me. I started on one of them last night and it's coming along quite nicely. I hope the knight in question likes the end result.

I also need to get outside and paint Shi's rocking chair. I have to seal Ro's rocking chair and it will be complete. Ro's is leaf green with little scrapbook paper mice scattered around. I used Mod Podge to stick them down and I'm hoping the clear glaze will keep them on there permanently. Shi's will be canary yellow and have scrapbook paper cats scattered around. Maybe I'll post pix or something.

My mosaic projects are still in the works. Still haven't been able to get into town to buy grout. May just have to bite the bullet and order some online. My tabletop is just sitting there looking forlorn, wondering why I've left it unfinished. I also have a serving tray ready to grout. We'll see how that goes.

I'm going to be working on school with the kids today. I usually know what books I'm going to purchase for the next school year by this time but I'm awfully behind. Guess I'll have to stop by CBD later and check out their homeschool supply. They really are good about offering a wide range of stuff for homeschool. I'm determinded to get both of them through their respective books by mid-July so they can have a bit of summer fun.

Well, I guess I have enough to do today without spending overmuch time here. Talk to you guys later! Laugh a Lot!