American Craft Guide

http://americancraftguide.ning.com

Check these folks out. I have already signed up for their upcoming online craft fest. that starts in March. By checking them out, and then blogging about them in the specified time, then you can follow the rules and instructions to be included in their drawing for a free registration to one of their 'I heart handmade' shows. You pick the show from our 2009 schedule.

I'll have to let you know how much I enjoy my first online craft fest afterwards. :)

Mignon

Cake Mix or Store-Bought????

Our oven was put in our pre-civil war home back in the early 50's when all the sinks and commodes were replaced. So, the Frigidaire oven has hot spots and cold spots and near the oven door is a gurantee burn. I put my cookie sheets and cake pans in sideways and then change sides halfway through whatever it is I am cooking or baking short of my juicy oven-roasted marinated turkey, which falls off the bone when I'm finished with it. Cakes, however are another discussion altogether. I do bake my own from scratch, but not every time. I've baked two Betty Crocker super moist cakes in my hot and cold oven in the last two weeks and both came out dry and lopsided. I'm currently finishing up the baking of a Pilsbury Funfetti cake. I have 3 minutes to go and the cake is already light, fluffy, and evenly shaped on top. Prior to baking the Funfetti tonight for the family birthday party tomorrow, I was going to have to buy a store-bought cake for our son's birthday party next week. I had decided that the oven was just so old that baking a cake in it was impossible, but no, I can stand by a Pilsbury cake and bake one for the party and not spend a small fortune on just the cake! The Funfetti is great with it's rainbow colored candy cooked right in the cake. They actually have a Funfetti icing, but we already have a nice cream cheese icing and sprinkles. :)

Wow, just pulled the cake out using 36 minutes for the baking time at 350 and voila - perfect cake. Great shape, thick, fluffy, and even the top is properly shaped. I am a happy mommy. :)

Thanks Pilsbury!

Twitter Mom's Widget

If anyone can tell me if and when they ever see one of my blog titles in the Twitter Mom's widget, then I would appreciate it. Otherwise, I have to figure out what app. I must follow in order to make sure it is there.............


Have a great weekend folks. :)

Mignon

Help

So, if anyone can tell me how to move my twitter mom's widget to my side bar, then I would be most greatful. I might actually count it as your mom if I am successful in following your instructions.

:)

Mignon

Congrats Gina B. and who's next???

4 more slots available for the claiming, submit your poem, and no you don't have to be Emily Dickinson either, just be you. :)

I guarantee you will like what I do. :)


Mignon

Fine, fine, fine, here's your revision

You do not actually have to have a giveaway on your blog if you don't want to, so I have one person who has won, simply by writing me a poem, a rather good poem, I might add, and all she has to do now is give me her address and birthday month and/or day, no year needed. We're all 29 and holding. :)


So, congrats to Gina Bee, my first winner and you are quite the creative poem writer - I love it!!!!


Mignon

Going back to incompetent dr. today..........

Well, maybe the doctor's office I am going to will have their act together enough where they can handle getting me scheduled for a shot in my back this go around within the next couple of weeks and then, just maybe, we are praying hard here, the shot will work and I get finally trade pain for numbness and go on with my life. I have missed out on so much this year and this crackpot doctor's office I am having to go to is ridiculous. I love my regular specialist, but the specialist I have to go to for the shot is incompetent to put it mildly. I was supposed to have a shot in October. It's February folks.


More later.


Mignon

Scroll Down for the Crazy Giveway

I still need 5 folks willing to do the giveaway on their blog. :)

I gurantee your prise will be worth more than $25 and you will enjoy it. :)

Twitter Moms: The Influential Moms Network

Twitter Moms: The Influential Moms Network

Twitter Moms: The Influential Moms Network

Twitter Moms: The Influential Moms Network

Great Jewelry Supplies Seller

http://www.rosemarybeads.etsy.com

The shopowner behind this shop on Etsy will take care of you if you take care of her. She went out of her way to make sure I have been taken care of, so I thought it only fitting to blog about her fantastic customer service and great products. You can't go wrong with buying from Rosemary's Beads. What I especially like is her shipping as when I buy from one of my larger suppliers, I have to justify the shipping, but her shipping is reasonable enough to get just exactly what you need and then some. :)

So, for my fellow jewelry designers, here's a shop worth trying. :)

Mignon

Welcome People!!

Ok, so folks are visiting from around the world.

Obviously the U.S. is the top visiting country, being it is my home country, but......

hello out there to

Canada

Singapore

China

Romania

Turkey

Thailand

Sweden

Mexico

and

France

Do come back and visit again and please say hello. :)

Yoplait Bag and more Giveway!

Here's the site to enter the giveway. http://monkeygiggles.blogspot.com

Here's what she's up to:

Win it! Win one of THREE Yo-Plus gift bags to share with my readers thanks to Yoplait! Included is a mini notebook, a BPA free red water bottle, a zippered insulated tote and a coupon for a FREE package of Yo-Plus yogurt - any flavor!

Hurry, hurry, the giveaway won't last forever!!!

Mignon

Great Shop for Stationary, Monograming, etc.

Really, you just never know what might catch my eye and put me in the mood to blog. I came across this shop today and I just love it, so I'm blogging about it. Check it out for a great source for more than just stationary, but they have some great stationary. I especially love their monogrammed napkins!!!! I'm a napkin girl. I really love pretty napkins!!! I love stationary too, so you see why I'm blogging. :)

http://kimscustomcards.wahmart.com/store/Default.asp

http://kimscustomcards.wahmart.com

Mignon

For All the Ways You Care Contest By CVS

http://www.forallthewaysyoucare.com/

Ok, so go to the url above, which is sponsored by CVS, you know the pharmacy. The basic rules are to blog about a caregiver on their site, and it can be yourself even. In return, you are entered into a contest for a trip to New York, sponsored by CVS, as I understand it. I am entering a side contest from the larger CVS contest by blogging about this on my blog, which technically, I've already blogged about my hubby, so this was not a far stretch for me as my thoughts were already front and center and the man really does deserve a trophy, medal, or something.......

ALSO, PLEASE LEAVE ME COMMENTS AFTER THIS POSTING AS IT GIVES ME A CHANCE TO WIN A GIFT CARD IF I HAVE THE MOST COMMENTS, WHICH MAY BE A LONG SHOT SINCE I AM NEW TO BLOGGING AND NEW TO GETTING FOLLOWERS..........

So, yes, I'm a mom, and I went to grad. school, coached cheerleading, taught special education, all the while , pregnant, then nursing and raising a newborn, who is now 6 today. I finally graduated for the last time when he was 4.5 years old and at almost the same time of graduation, aka just weeks later, my injury happened and rather turned my life upside down. But, I don't want to blog about me for this entry. I want to blog about the person who stood behind me through all of the above and more - my husband.

My caregiver giving started many years ago when we were just neighbors. He became my boyfriend. I really had very few clothes and they were ones I had gotten either cutting grass, babysitting, or not using my lunch money at school. Kevin took me to the mall and bought me real clothes, something I had not had for many years. Then, when I would get sick, he took me to the doctor and then bought my medication and then made sure I took it. My senior year, I stayed at my father's, but they had 3 kids and expenses out the yin yang, so I had a place to sleep on the living room couch, but not much else. I was saving my money for a car as I had been working at a fastfood restaurant since 11th grade, but in the meantime I didn't have a lot of food as my meager income had to cover all my needs, whatever they were. So, Kevin would drive in from the country at midnight any given night to bring me dinner after I got off work - my system wouldn't allow me to eat much fried food from work or I would get really ill. After I graduated, I got my own apartment and was heck-bent to make it, so I worked at the restaurant, went to college full time, and all I would buy foodwise was greenbeans, spaghettios, teabags, sugar, and rice (rice by the multiple pounds) and I was completely and utterly happy paying my bills, driving my nine year old '83 Subaru, eating carefully, and working until the wee hours of any given night. My tips were fantastic and my customer following insured my success in keeping my apartment. However, my choice of food was not good enough to satisfy Kevin, so he decided that our dates would consist of going to my beloved Kroger and buying me groceries. I was determined to make it, he was determined I ate better than greenbeans, spaghettios, and rice - which I thought covered vegetables, breads, and meat with those options, lol.

We married 3 1/2 years after I got my apartment. We had many happy times there. :) I've had many health problems over the years before this year and he's taken care of me, time and time again. He still sees to it that I take my medicine.

So, 6 years ago our son was born and I was in the middle of grad school. I sat down with Kevin and asked him what he thought about me continuing graduate school as this was clearly a family decision as sacrifices would have to be made and I would probably be nonexistent outside of our nuclear family for a few years because of everything I would be doing. Kevin agreed and felt that God was calling me to get these degrees for a reason - a reason that hasn't been revealed yet, I might add. So, I taught high school special education and tutorial classes, coached cheerleading (some of my favorite teaching occurred while coaching :) ), nursed our newborn miracle child, and went to grad school. Now, who do you think kept me going, supported me, and made sure I ate, took my medicine, and took breaks - you know. :) The last degree near about broke me, literally. I slept about 4 nights a week, maybe, and there was Kevin taking care of me and taking of our son.

more to come, I have to go get J. from school...................

back :)

In the last 18 months or so since I fell ( I lose track of the exact months), Kevin has taken me to countless doctor visits as I couldn't manage it by myself. The medication was so horrific that I could barely remember my own name much less drive. I tried driving a few times, but every time I got more than 20 miles away from home, I would get lost in a city I had known my whole life................Kevin's been there for each surgery and there were 4 surgeries from Dec. '07 through Oct. '08. Imagine the waiting and worry that you go through when someone you love goes through one surgery. I can only imagine what this year has been like for him. I know it took me quite awhile to get over our son's simple surgery of having tubes put in his ears. Instead of focusing on himself, Kevin continues to focus on me. There have been many many days that it hurt too bad to even go to the restroom unless he was home to help me get there, so I definitely wasn't eating. So, Kevin figures this out and starts stockpiling me food and bottled drinks by the bed and the couch, so that wherever I managed to be, there would be something to drink and eat through the day while he worked. Once Kevin would get off of work, he would go get our son from his grandma's and would get home about 7, only to cook us dinner and wash our clothes. Some clothes changed colors and/or shrank, but he washed them nonetheless. This was not the year for us to go anywhere, we are a two income family and we've been on one income for quite awhile now. Somehow, Kevin would come up with a way for us to go somewhere as he knew what I could not see until now looking back - he had to take me somewhere, had to find a way to make me smile, had to find away to help me get through this horrible time in my life. Even the investment in me making jewelry to sell was viewed by Kevin as something I had to do, not something that was frivolous, but something that was necessary to get me through this time. I worry I still may need a wheelchair before this is over, but I can walk a bit now and I don't fall down quite as much and some days I go a whole day now without falling. If you met me on the street, you might not know anything was wrong now, which is cool.

Kevin is my hero. He's gone from having this woman who is so driven and so independent and so dominant to having this woman who he has to make sure she eats and sleeps as the insomnia from everything and the surgeries too is something to be reckoned with. Even now, with the injury issue STILL going on and I'm still waiting on a miracle in the form of a shot in my back to swap pain for numbness, there is yet another surgery looming for a painful tumor I have acquired this past fall, and yet, Kevin is still here, still standing by my side, still taking care of me, still coming home and fixing me dinner, still making sure I take my medicine, still finding ways to make me smile. I don't know your version of a hero nor do I know who will win this contest, but I can tell you who my hero is and that he was my hero long before I read about the requirements for this contest with CVS. See my 'Unsung Heroes' blog that is dated well before this contest started I would think.

http://www.forallthewaysyoucare.com/

Mignon

Gas Companies and Us

I paid a $1.40 a gallon today at Kroger. I love Kroger, especially our new one with the sushi bar and 50 different flavors and brands of salsa and a whole aisle dedicated to international food like specifically Thai food is one of my favorites................I do at least buy my gas from Kroger as with every $100 I spend, I can get 10 cents of a gallon and the sign price is usually less expensive than the other gas stations in the area.

Since the gas shot up to $4 around here I stopped driving anymore than I had to when I could drive, remember I wasn't driving much in 2008, but even what I did do, I did less. Even now, I don't like to leave the house unless it is for a list of things to do and I try to do my errands in relation to picking up J. from school. I drive the golf cart to the post office or wait until I am already leaving to drive by the post office to drop off a package to be mailed. I flat out do not trust the gas companies. I realize there is more to it than gas prices being high getting us into this mess, but it is one huge factor that greatly impacts those of us who did not buy houses we could not afford in the first place. I blame the gas companies first and foremost. They got greedy and with no means to control them or regulate them, then they will continue to do just what they want and charge what they want. So, I may not be able to change them, but I can change me. I shop online, I limit my driving, I drive slower, I do whatever I can do that will lower the amount of money that the gas companies get from me. Oftentimes it is easier and less expensive to buy online anyway - between free shipping, online sales, comparison shopping with several websites pulled up, and even with shipping as long as it is reasonable, then I fare better to stay at home, off my foot that hurts, and shop from home. If I could have my groceries delivered to me from Kroger, then I'd only have to go into the city to pick up J. from school. Even to go see a relative, I try to schedule it around doing other things, running errands etc. I am as obssessive about not giving the gas company any more of my money than absolutely necessary as I am about having germ-x and papertowels in the car.

At the same time I didn't want to leave the house I found Etsy. I LOVE the idea of supporting individual families by buying their handmade arts and crafts. Folks, support your local artisans and crafters - you are our stimulus check, as a matter of a fact, you are our check period. How are we the people going to get out of this hole our country is in???? We must support one another as individuals. Buy from private shop owners, shop Etsy, buy from moms selling their kids secondhand clothes on Ebay. Hey, I bought J.'s school clothes on Ebay last summer and for $91, including shipping, I got the equivalence of $1500 of namebrand and boutique clothes for him - I had to put a stitch in one of the Polo's. The box was 3 ft. by 3 ft. and slam full. After saving all that money, then I bought him namebrand jeans from Nautica and Macy's - yes, online, onsale, and with a shipping discount. :) Of course, we shop the outlet mall, so I don't do full price anyway. :) I went out North to the regular mall a few years ago in search of a new denim jacket and a namebrand denim jacket from several different shops I checked would have ran me anywhere from $80 to $140. I bought a namebrand denim jacket at the Gap Outlet for $22. Speaking of which, if you don't support your favorite outlet shops, then some are going to have to close due to lack of business.

I even started a second Etsy shop for vintage and supply items. We have to get creative and use what we have and we can change the world - our world - the way we live - how we choose to spend our money - we can choose not to give the gas companies any more than we have to as they are not in the business to help us, they are in the business to make money - i.e. they want our money.

It was a soapbox moment...........

Mignon

Art Bracelet

This is my first metalsmithed bracelet - all hammered, wire wrapped, shaped, designed, and put together by me including the 'S' clasp that you cannot see in the photo. :) I'll have to take some better shots of it, but you get the picture. :)

Herding Cats

I don't know how many of you are cat folks or have ever had a cat, but getting one cat to do something you want them to do is the equivalence of talking to yourself in most cases. We've taught them a few words, but their obeying is debatable - it rather has to be their idea. So, you know there's no way anyone could have convinced this many kitties to pile up on the sofa together and go to sleep for a few hours, but that is just what they did...........and the cat saga does continue. In the extra sweet one with just the two kitties, the black baby misses her daddy very much and our orange tabby has politely stepped up to be her adopted daddy. The blanket you see is supposed to cover the sofa, but the sixsome managed to pull it off and pile it up and lay on it..........

One Of My FAVORITE SHOPS!!!!

I got permission from my new acquaintance/new artisan friend to post pictures of some of her work that I have bought. She's working on a custom order for me that I want to buy a piece here and there before Christmas as one of the trees for next Christmas will be decorated in cats and shotgun shells and no the shotgun shells are not for the cats. :)

So, I will have to shoot some pictures of my purchases and share. She's a great artisan and you would do well to check out her work.

Mignon

http://www.willowwilder.etsy.com

Want A Cool Purse? Need A Cool Purse? Get A Cool Purse!

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5384537

These purses were so beautiful that I had to share! I love the yellow!!!!! Hubby wants my next vehicle to be a yellow FJ and there's one purse in particular that would just go perfectly!!! Not that I'm getting the FJ anytime soon, get me off of medical leave, please!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In the meantime, check out these purses!!!!!!!!!!!!

ME

Retro T-shirt Company - WAY COOL

Ok, so I'm living up to my word that you would never know what I would blog about next - well, I must live up to my name :) I can't always talk about jewelry, well not completely always. Check out this T-shirt company - Altru. They have great vintage style shirts for the whole family. And, check this out, their women's sizes only go to size large, BUT I found my favorite T also in the men's and I think the XL would be just fine. Here's my favorite shirt and you'll see why, artsy and all that.

http://altruapparel.com/peek-mens-p-312.html

Here's their homepage, just click Altru's entry button. The kids shirts are just adorable!!!

Don't forget, no one has actually followed the directions properly for my weird, strange, may take all year giveway for 5 lucky people. GinaB. is close, she's wrote a really cool poem, but she hasn't emailed me her address yet, and I have to check her site to make sure she's doing the giveaway on her site. :) So, GinaB. get that email to me!!!

Mignon

The Tooth Fairy

Yey and sniffle sniffle, our little boy's first tooth came out last night. :)

So, in proper Mignon and hubby style - the Tooth Fairy left a 5 dolllar bill and two very old old coins. Considering our home predates the civil war, this is par for the course around here. :)

So, he wants to go spend his allowance and his Tooth money today. :)

:)

Mignon

The Weird Giveaway - See Original Posting

1. I make no guarantees that you will like what I make! (Though I hope you will!)

2. What I create or find will be just for you.

3. It'll be done this year {might be a little while}

4. You get no clue what it's going to be. It may be jewelry. It may be poetry or maybe even some creation I haven't even invented yet. I may draw or paint something. I may bake you something and mail it to you. I may mail you another artist's piece. Who knows? Not you, that's for sure!

5. I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.

The catch? Oh, the catch is that you must repost this on your blog and offer to do the same to the first 5 people who do the same on your blog.

The first 5 people to do so and leave a comment telling me they did win a FAB-U-LOUS homemade gift by me or not made by me or made by me! PS: Please leave your address in my email at Etsy in case your surprise finds you via snail mail - we don't want you leaving your address on my open blog for the world to see:)

So how do you qualify? You know there are some serious rules to this game.

ONE- you can't have won anything from me at any point.

TWO- your willingness to pass on the love must glow in the dark. That part is so easy since computer screens do just that in the middle of the night when people are blog reading due to lack of shut eye. So, that means you have to be willing to do the exact same thing! Blog it baby!

THREE- you have got to leave a comment on this post. Actually, I'm going to make it more interesting, since we are already going to be breaking all sorts of rules here. I want you to write a little poem in my comments. Poems don't have to rhyme remember, but they do have to have flow and have rhythm. So bedazzle me people!

FOUR- I will get this done within the year 2009 which means as long as you get it before you kiss someone at midnight on the 31st of December I have done it well. Of course the little procrastinator that lives in my head most likely will not allow for that, even in being a queen procrastinator, so it may be sooner.

FIVE- This is going to be a blissful surprise. You have no idea what my little gift to you is going to be until you get it. I reserve the right to make something totally awesome of course, OR I may be really squirrelly and send you a piece of art made by another artist and if you don't like it, whatever it may be be - mine or someone elses, I promise to take no offense and give you 100% permission to white elephant it at your next work Christmas party.

SIX- Now this rule rocks as far as I'm concerned. It should be number one really. I RESERVE THE RIGHT TO DO SOMETHING EXTREMELY STRANGE. Now I have to start greasing the turn crank on the front of my brain with some WD-40, as I'd love to do something strange for each of you. Will I? Depends on how thinky I get. And because I need to know your address so I can properly hunt you down if I have something that can't be sent via email I will need you to email me your snail mail address (email it to my shop at http://www.jewelrybymignon.etsy.com/ -which guarantees your email doens't get deleted on random delete day for my regular email, considering I get up to 100 emails on any given day on my regular email and some days I just hit the delete button without reading - do you really think I'm reading 100 emails a day, rukidding). I promise not to send you all my junk mail, or to forward you my unpaid bills, however any takers would not be turned down. I will also promise to not show up at your home ever, lol. Point is, I'll behave myself when it comes to having the 5 winners', of something, addresses.

Mignon

OtLite Giveaway

http://quiltingonabudget.blogspot.com

The sweet lady behind the above blog has been given an OtLite by Otlite to use in a giveaway. See her blog for the details.

You'll love her blog too!!! ;)

Mignon

ART STATIONARY GIVEAWAY

OH, LIKE I WOULDN'T BLOG YOU FOR FREE, LOL.................

The shopowner of http://www.knotaway.etsy.com is having her first giveaway. She will be giving away a set of her art cards. I would suggest framing one card before writing and mailing out the others. My zebra cards sit on my work table so that I may enjoy them. :)

See her blog for the giveaway rules. :)

http://knotaway.blogspot.com


Mignon

A Weird Sort of Thing Here

Alright. So here is the deal. I am still so stuck on this lovey dovey feeling I got from my blog giveaway recently that when I saw a recent post on a a blog I follow, I HAD to do the same thing, and my brain isn't functioning at 100% capacity today either, much like the person behind the original post. :)
Don't you love breaking the rules? *snicker snicker* Here we go people. If you are one of the lucky 5 you will be fully allowed to pat yourself on the back as long as you don't dislocate any shoulders while doing it. I won't be responsible for any of that kind of stuff. I can't come and drive you to the ER and blog about it for you just because you can't type one handed. So how do you qualify? You know there are some serious rules to this game. ONE- you can't have won anything from me at any point. Because then people will start getting all jealous, feeling like I'm playing favorites and such. That's just no good I'm telling you. So previous winners, you're on the bench for this game. Sorry. TWO- your willingness to pass on the love must glow in the dark. That part is so easy since computer screens do just that in the middle of the night when people are blog reading due to lack of shut eye. So, that means you have to be willing to do the exact same thing! Blog it baby! THREE- you have got to leave a comment on this post. Actually, I'm going to make it more interesting, since we are already going to be breaking all sorts of rules here. I want you to write a little poem in my comments. Poems don't have to rhyme remember, but they do have to have flow and have rhythm. So bedazzle me people! And if there is no poem your comment (ie entry) doesn't count. I'll have no breaking of my rules here peeps (have you noticed my do as I say, not as I do moment here?) FOUR- I will get this done within the year 2009 which means as long as you get it before you kiss someone at midnight on the 31st of December I have done it well. Of course the little procrastinator that lives in my head most likely will not allow for that, even in being a queen procrastinator, so it may be sooner. FIVE- This is going to be a blissful surprise. You have no idea what my little gift to you is going to be until you get it. I reserve the right to make something totally awesome of course, OR I may be really squirrelly and send you a piece of art made by another artist and if you don't like it, whatever it may be be - mine or someone elses, I promise to take no offense and give you 100% permission to white elephant it at your next work Christmas party. SIX- Now this rule rocks as far as I'm concerned. It should be number one really. I RESERVE THE RIGHT TO DO SOMETHING EXTREMELY STRANGE. Now I have to start greasing the turn crank on the front of my brain with some WD-40, as I'd love to do something strange for each of you. Will I? Depends on how thinky I get. And because I need to know your address so I can properly hunt you down if I have something that can't be sent via email I will need you to email me your snail mail address (email it to my shop at http://www.jewelrybymignon.etsy.com/ -which guarantees your email doens't get deleted on random delete day for my regular email, considering I get up to 100 emails on any given day on my regular email and some days I just hit the delete button without reading - do you really think I'm reading 100 emails a day, rukidding). I promise not to send you all my junk mail, or to forward you my unpaid bills, however any takers would not be turned down. I will also promise to not show up at your home ever, lol. Point is, I'll behave myself when it comes to having the 5 winners', of something, addresses.

Now here are the boring rules you'll need to post on your own blog to qualify for my fabulousness being sent to you. Are you one of the Lucky 5? Lucky you!

The first five people to respond to this post will get something made by me or not made by me! My choice. For you. This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:

1. I make no guarantees that you will like what I make! (Though I hope you will!)

2. What I create or find will be just for you.

3. It'll be done this year {might be a little while}

4. You get no clue what it's going to be. It may be jewelry. It may be poetry or maybe even some creation I haven't even invented yet. I may draw or paint something. I may bake you something and mail it to you. I may mail you another artist's piece. Who knows? Not you, that's for sure!

5. I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.The catch? Oh, the catch is that you must repost this on your blog and offer to do the same to the first 5 people who do the same on your blog. The first 5 people to do so and leave a comment telling me they did win a FAB-U-LOUS homemade gift by me or not made by me or made by me! PS: Please leave your address in case your surprise finds you via snail mail:)


Mignon

I Made Another Sale, yey!!!

These just sold yesterday. :) I find myself continuing to be humbled when someone chooses to spend some of their hard-earned money for one of my designs, especially in times like these.

I like to imagine when and where the person will wear my designs that they purchase. When it is a little girl set, then I can envision some princess wearing them to school. :) When it is a cool men's necklace, then I can imagine him wearing the piece on Sunday afternoon drive, maybe even on a motorcycle. Then, with a set like this, I can imagine these going perfectly with classy designer suit in caramel, but I can also see upswept hair and a beautiful wedding dress that would be compimented by a set like these. I can just imagine the sweet child whose mom won the lapis earrings giveaway sleeping in her lapis earrings that she claimed out of her mom's hands. My first buyer informed me her little girl sleeps in the sweet earrings I sold her as well. I wouldn't encourage it, but I do find it brings me a smile to know that there are princesses of all ages enjoying themselves wearing my jewelry designs.

crashslamboombangrattlecrackthud

So the average person would get up to check, right?

................................... thump thud crash rattle roll tha-thunk........nah, not around here, if no one's crying, then we're good. That's what happens when you invite 4 cats to live in your house full time, plus 2 part-timers, so that the wild dogs we have yet to catch don't chomp on them for fun. Hey, as long as they go in their litter boxes, the rest is easy. We just go around and rehang the curtains, pick all my jewelry supplies back up, locate the sterling silver hammered collar we had just finished for a neighbor, put the dirty clothes back in the laundry basket - you know its about the same as having a son and a husband to pick up after - I'm good - rather like adding messy family members who get into everything i.e. my son and husband do the same thing, lol. Except hubby and son don't ususally fall in the toilet if the toilet lid is up................yeah, it's not ever boring.......

The photos are of some of the cats. I'll shoot some shots and upload the others later. Jasmine claims the front porch, Wilbur claims the back, Psycho Sylvester stays in the house to keep Tigger company as Tigger is allergic to wasps as we found out when he was young and went into anaphalactic shock (sp??). Tigger is really the traditional sweet barn cat, but he can't be outside with his severe allergy. Sapphire and Mousey took to being inside like flies to syrup. Sylvester is our teacup cat and he's too small to be outside and too crazy be inside, as he teaches Tigger bad habits, but too late now. :)

Mignon

Hammering Results

I haven't hammered in 6 years, our son is 6, hmmmm. Here's a completed pearl pendant I designed today and made freehanded with pliers, hammer, anvil, and a roll of copper wire. :) How many women do you know that talk about their anvil.........Pop says I have more tools than he not only doesn't know the name of, but has never seen before. Of course, I'm the girl who went into a marriage with her own tool box and I'm the one who's fiesty about her tools being moved, so I suppose hammering on metal isn't a far leap for me. :)

Mignon

Innovative Tile Solutions - A New Mississippi Business

Facebook has allowed me to reconnect with old friends and one of these folks is starting his own family business with his wife of many years. They're like my hubby and me, we've been together so long that you feel like you've been together for literally forever. I bet they can communicate just like we can without ever saying a word. We can be at a gathering and have a complete chat about leaving without ever uttering a syllable. Then there are the complete chats that involve nothing but holding hands with different levels of pressure and no one around us is none the wiser for our inaudible chats. I don't have a big following yet, but I am seeing where folks from other countries as well as the U.S. are checking on the blog, even if they aren't signing up to publicly follow, so you never know if my little blog might help send some business to a friend's shop. :) We small business owners must support each other as we understand more than anyone else what it is like to start something with nothing and turn it into something worthwhile. It takes stamina and perserverance, which is why I follow blogs and blog about blogs and shops. We can either choose to support large conglomerates or we can support each other as individuals. For many of us the stimulus plan won't ever be felt, but we can feel other individuals supporting us as individuals in our business endeavors. It takes God, prayer, lots of prayer, and individuals supporting other individuals' businesses to get a business off the ground and I know this personally just from my online website on Etsy. I am so thrilled over my 10 sales that I don't know what to do with myself. Here's to 10 more. :) and good luck and lots of prayers to http://www.innovativetilesolutions.com

Mignon

Winner of Lapis Earrings

Alrighty then, here's a Happy extra Valentine's Day to the shopowner of Knotaway.etsy.com. She's the designer of the wonderful zebra cards in an earlier blogging. :) So,

will she keep them for herself or give them to say a daughter perhaps?????? We shall see. :)

Thanks for entering the drawing and look for a new drawing to come very soon. :)

Mignon

Valentine's Weekend - shooting and skating :)

Friday night: We had the Valentine's Day Dance/lasagna dinner/senior prom fundraiser at J.'s school. That was hysterically fun. The senior who D.J.'d was a comic. Then, the high schooler who took Valentine's Day photos got on stage toward the end of the evening to thank everyone for all the tips he had gotten in his 'labeled' tip jar - he got a quarter.

Saturday morning: J. went to grandma's for the morning and we went to the shooting range. Not quite my idea. We got J. his Valentine's happies and picked him up at Grandmas and took him for his first trip to the skating rink. I hope the shot in my back happens soon and works - the doctor's office I am having to deal with is incompetent to put it mildly, but I really am trying no to have to start the whole process all over again with another doctor, but it is getting to the point by now where I could have had 5 different new doctors to have given me a shot in the time it has taken the one specialist office to NOT give me one shot. Anyway, if the shot works and takes the pain away, then I could skate with J. when we take him so I can break something that isn't hurt or broke yet. :) I just want to be totally Mommy again, you know. There was this one fella who had to have been 60 and what that man could do on skates I couldn't do in shoes at 20. I can only compare his skating to the way parents have repeatedly described my going through special education law and explaining an IEP to them - parents say when I start on discussing an IEP that they in awe as my speech becomes like water. I don't know about all that, but I do know that watching this gentleman skate was just as fluid as water. I kept my eyes on two things - hubby walking J. around the rink and the 60 yr. old moving like water. He could even dance in his skates and it was just amazing. I hope he has grandkids as children deserve to have a grandfather who can be just as much as a kid as they can be - I am sure he would be a blast to have as a Pappa. I thought that perhaps it was just me since walking is such a special thing for me now, but no, another mom was just as amazed as I am. It wasn't totally in our budget at the moment, with all the medical bills, but we did go to one of my favorite Mexican restaurants for an early dinner. I cannot get enough of the salsa at Margarita's and their white cheese dip is beyond words. :)

Just 2 more days 'til the tv goes to grey. Will we survive???? :)

Mignon

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day to the folks who follow my blog already and to the folks who will be checking out my blog in the next few days from my invites to do so and from the drawings I entered. I've been wanting MORE blogs to follow. I follow a few very interesting ones and I'm really enjoying becoming friends with folks from all over. In one of my other networking groups, I am making friends from around the world, and I'm loving it. It's funny, but the whole marketing aspect of my shop continues to lead me to meet so many wonderful people that I would never have known without my deciding to take the voyage into actually selling my jewelry. You have to market and it is time consuming and it does take hours and hours, but when you get up from the computer, you don't feel like you've been working, you feel like you've been chatting with new and old friends. How cool. I can honestly say that even with the blogs I went to for their giveaways I have come away with a very enriching experience simply by reading what they kindly have shared about their lives and I have discovered that there are a lot more random people out there around the world who pray than I ever imagined. I have lost count of the social networks I have joined and have lost count of the friends I have made and keep up with now. It is truly enlightening to be able to ask for prayer and/or give prayer to people around the world.

Happy Valentine's Day to all the people who are touching my life and know it and to the ones who don't realize the positive impact they have made on me already.

Good night all, I have to work on my hubby's Valentine's Day card. I made the 'error' of painting him several cards for different occasions and the spoiled man has requested me not buy his cards anymore. :) I'm no Picasso, Monet, or Van Gogh, but my family enjoys my dabblings in painting.

Mignon

Wow! Blogs galore!!!!

So, after like 4 1/2 hours of sleep, I spent the day marketing, learning about marketing, finding blogs I like, coming across giveaways I like and my mind is on overload, so I will have to share the main blog that listed all the giveaways from all these different shopowners and their blogs in a different post. I definitely made some progress. I have about 10 completed jewelry pieces to upload, but I was so engrossed in discovering fellow Etsians and fellow artisans in general and their shops and their blogs, that I flat ran out of time. Then, our son reminded me of his school fundraiser/Valentine dance for K4 - high school and parents. It was a blast, but that will be another chat. :) Check out the shops/blogs I blogged. You WILL love them. I think I covered all the blogs I intended to cover for one day. :) My mind continues to absorb all this marketing info like a sponge. The more I learn the more I am amazed at how much there is to learn. This is definitely a fun ride. Ride with me and lets see where this goes. :)

Mignon

Children's Books Giveaway

http://movingforward-amanda.blogspot.com

Ok, so I'm a book-aholic, so you know I'm entering this drawing. RUkidding. The book addiction goes way past being a teacher. I'm been addicted to books since childhood. Knowledge truly is Power!!!!

I'm also following the fascinating blog that is behind the book giveaway. :)

Mignon

Yes, another giveaway I am entering :)

http://shellinyourpocket.blogspot.com/2008/10/on-road-my-giveaway.html

This blog, which has a delightful family arts kind of feel to it, has a giveaway for a free magazine subscription to Family Fun. Considering we just turned the room across from the kitchen into our new family arts and crafts room, then I could definitely use a subscription. :)

I'm also following this fun blog and it is definitely one to follow if you are a parent of children. :)

Mignon

Lamp Giveaway

Ok, so for me to get an extra chance to win this lamp, then I have to blog it. :) I love blogging. Of course, what the shopowners don't know is that all my blogging notes are then imported to Facebook......................so they're getting a 2 for 1. ;)

http://www.simple-finds.com/2009/02/turn-out-lights.html


LOVE THESE LAMPS!!!

MIGNON

New and Easier Way to Enter for Free Jewelry

I just made it easier for you to enter my free jewelry drawings. :) The drawing still ends tonight at midnight. ;) Winning once does not exclude you from entering the next drawing.

How to enter:

Please remember to include your email OR ETSY SHOP ADDRESS in all comments for, no email OR ETSY SHOP ADDRESS, no contact, no winner.Make it easy on me , thanks.

1-Visit my shop at http://www.jewelrybymignon.etsy.com/ and choose your favorite item and come back here letting me know which it is, one entry.

2-Blog about this giveaway on your blog, and comment about it here, an extra entry.

3-Post my widget on your blog, and comment about it here, an extra entry.

4-Follow my blog and comment about it here, an extra entry.

5-Subscribe to my blog and be included in subscribers only giveaways, and comment about it here, an extra entry.

6-Blog/mention my blog/shop, including the URL, on Tweeter, or post a note on Facebook, on your Etsy shop's homepage, and any other family-rated online location that has traffic, come back and comment about it here, an extra entry.

Must be 18 years of age, be Us and Canada residents to participate in this giveaway. Please reade complete rules before entering this giveaway.Thank you and goodluck to all.

NOTE: When you comment, leave a way for me to easily contact you. The winner will have precisely 7 days to contact me to give me their address or I will redraw a name. Email is the easiest, but you may also give your shop on Etsy as a way to contact you.

Purse Giveaway - Totally Don't Read This

http://simply-b.blogspot.com/2009/02/great-funk-giveaway.html

Ok, so in order to get my name in the drawing an extra time, I have to post this on my blog, but don't read it, 'cause I want the purse. :) I'm a purse fanatic. I've gone from using one purse a time until it is worn out to using a purse until I find the next great purse. So, I have a stack of purses to choose from. Getting new purses also insures I will clean out my collection of stuff in my purse - i.e. that's a great excuse to get a new purse every so often so that I can collect all the quarters from the bottom of the current one................... :)


Mignon

My Early Valentine Present

Yes, I am rotten and yes I got a Valentine present early. My husband does really well with presents etc. about 95/98% of the time. There's a few oddities that I'll share another time, but all in all, he does good. So, what could it be that I got early??? Roses?? Chocolate?? Artist-created jewelry - he torches remember?? Tickets to something??? Dinner plans??? Some clothing article maybe??? All I'm saying tonight is that it is green..........I like it..........wanted it..................and I'll let you stew over what it might be first. :)

What I'm Up To........... :)

I've just uploaded some new earrings to my shop. I've been having to make orders this week and one order that I should finalize today includes more beading wire, so I've been designed pieces that don't require beading wire this week. The polymer clay earrings are my latest for girls, and they do hang nicely, the picture doesn't do them justice - may have to reshoot those. I love the pink set and the aqua blue set. ;) Hope you do too. I have 4 more sets of earrings that are ready to get shot and also a lariat corded turquoise necklace is ready.

I wirewrapped the beautiful purple heart in copper wire as the gold flecking in the glass was so pretty that I wanted the warmth of copper wire to accent the gold flecking in the heart. I think I've decided to put a sterling silver bail on the heart. I had started out thinking I would hang it from a cord........but, I've just about changed my mind.

I'm also ordering some stones today that will be relevant to a man's bracelet as I've had a request.

It is really going to be a fun ride to see where my jewelry designing goes in the oncoming years. Thanks for taking the ride with me. :)

Giving Up TV

So, will we miss the tv once the stations convert to dtv next week???? Our son loves Hacker on PBS, I like the art shows on Saturday on PBS, we can halfway watch some of the Nightrider shows - I have to keep my finger on the channel changer at all times, but J. enjoys the parts we allow him to watch. We do watch American Idol and Survivor, but that's about it. Oh, and we like Antique's Roadshow. There are some law and police shows I like, but we can't watch them as family as J is too young and we aren't corrupting his mind with most of the mess on tv. The more you watch of blood and gore - the more conditioned you are to that type of graphic scenery.

So, we'll likely get the converter box eventually or get a package that includes faster internet, but for now, we're trying out something different. We want to know what we will do without tv. Will we be closer as a family?? Will we read more books to J than the standard one at bedtime?? Will we make more crafts?? Will the house be cleaner??? Will we play more board games, like Operation, Monopoly Junior, and such???? I guess we will see. I was talking to an artist on our last trip up to Eureka and he told me he had not had a tv on in 10 years and that he became much more artistically inclined and really became serious about his art. I'll keep you posted. Oh, I'm also considering a second blog where I pay a fee for it, but can sell on it, and cannot be shut down whereas I am reading blogspot can shut you down at will. I would imagine that would be more for rude, illicit sites that we don't want up anyway, but it is something to think about.

Oh, I must share - in my ramblings through Etsy, I found a site last night that sells spells...........I found that most fascinating that someone out there is selling spells on Etsy. So, the person does some spell casting on their end and then sends you your spell box with proper ingredients and spell instructions relative to the specifics in your case...............things that make you go - hmmmmmmmm.

Mignon

Think Art - Walter Anderson Type Art!!!!!

So, the dear sweet shopowner of http://www.knotaway.etsy.com/ is quite pleased with her purchases, her thank you pair of earrings, including her custom orders. In return, she sent me a set of her blockprint cards in one of my favorite colors and in one of my favorite themes - animals - specifically safari animals. I can't go to the zoo without shooting shots of the same animals as I have all the other times we have taken our son to the zoo. You just never know when you might get one of those extra special shots. Of course, with zooming and cropping, and antiquing and converting color photos to black and white, the likelihood of shooting an extra good photo has increased tremendously.

So, imagine my surprise when I had a surprise package in the mailbox with these fabulous cards inside and matching envelopes!!! It made my day! :) So, of course I had to ask how the cards are made.........

Ok - in layman's terms...This print is based on a photo I took last Spring. I "posterized" it in photoshop and then sketched out the outlines from the photo and transferred them to the linoleum block. I worked with a really soft block for this print, rather than a harder linoleum. Once the design was transferred to the block I began carving out the negative areas, leaving the design you see raised to pick up the ink in printing. The cards are printed with water based blockprinting ink, which is applied with a brayer, then I position the paper on top of the block and use a barren to transfer the ink from the block to the paper. The prints are then hung to dry. Each card is individually scored to prevent cracking when folded. I follow the same process for the print for the envelopes. (Except they don't need to be scored. :D )
6 February 2009 10:09am EDT

So, my layman's terms - she does what Walter Anderson did, but only she is sane and doesn't live on a barren island off of the MS coast like Anderson did, nor does she feel the need to strap herself to a tree and experience a hurricane firsthand, while on the island - which is what Walter Anderson felt the need to do. I am so tickled and impressed to have found someone who is keeping the type of artwork Anderson is famous for alive, especially since many of his pieces were damaged with Katrina. Many collectors actually gave some of their pieces back to the Walter Anderson museum and/or loaned pieces to the museum in Ocean Springs so that the museum would have a decent amount of Anderson's original work that is not ruined. The last time I went down, it was a mixture of water-damaged work and pieces that had been donated back to the museum. I find it astounding that collectors of the artwork realize it is more important for Anderson's work to be appreciated and admired by many versus them keeping it in their private collection. This is but one of many reasons why I love calling Mississippi home - we are kind people as a whole.

Check out the shop http://www.knotaway.etsy.com and no you won't have the web address on the cards you buy. I did this to prevent stealing of the print out of respect for the artist. We artisans and crafters take a risk putting our art pieces online, but either we put them online and realize that some dishonest people will steal or we don't and then we don't get to share our work with people nor do they get to buy it properly.

I am truly touched by the generosity of the shopowner by mailing me a set of her zebra cards. How very thoughtful. Do check her work out, you won't be disappointed.

Migon :)

Another Happy Winner and Happy Customer, yey!!

Don't you just love it when you have the ability to make people smile??? I know I do. My first customer won the first drawing. So, I'm dropping some little girl earrings in the mail for her daughter. How fun. See the below convo. :)

How cool! Thank you so much for doing that! My daughter actually LOVES the earrings you made. I got her a couple pairs from different people on here for Christmas but yours are by far her favorites! In fact, I don't even think she has worn the others! They are really well made considering she sleeps in them and she is hardly careful...only 4 1/2! I will no doubt at some point need to get her a back up pair. Thank you, again and congrats. on getting so many sales in that last month!

I am by no means suggesting anyone sleep in their jewelry considering I had a $2600 diamond get knocked out of my ring about 10 years ago, but it is quite fun to know just how much one little girl loves my jewelry and at least they are affordable enough to be replaced. :) If you haven't won yet, never fear, I'll be keeping up my little giveaways. :) Don't forget to sign up for the Lapis Earrings. The current giveaway ends Saturday.

Mignon

Lose Tooth

Our angel has his first loose tooth as of this past weekend!!! He's so excited. He came and showed me and just threw his arms around me for the biggest hug after I confirmed that it was indeed lose!! Sweet! Then, of course, I had to focus on something else really quickly or I would have had to explain why mommy's eyes were not so dry.................my baby's growing up. Wah!!!! I am so thankful everyday that God allowed me to be a mom when the doctors had told me when I was still in high school that I would never have children. I worry so much that I let him down this year with my injury. I lost a year with him in a lot of ways...........Oh, we're so excited around here, discussing tooth fairies and how a fairy gets in your room to take your tooth and leave you a happy. "What is a fairy?" "Where do fairies live?" "Is a fairy a girl or a boy?" "What if I lose my tooth?" Don't you just wish fairies, Easter bunnies, and Santa were real??? I already have the book picked out for the 'discussion'. It's a book at the Christian book store that covers the history of Saint Nicholas from a few hundred years ago, which will be a better answer than I got and won't be as traumatic. Yey!!! A loose tooth!!! And, we still believe in Santa for now. Hopefully we have at least another year to go before some of the magic is gone.

:) Mignon

My Weekend

Apparently our new routine is to go to the shooting range and practice shooting on Saturday mornings when hubby isn't working. We went by Home Depo and picked up a solar powered motion light and you have to charge it for 48 hours, so it will be ready to be mounted on the side of the house and tried out tonight. We really needed some more lighting outside anyway and I would think that solar powered batteries leave a smaller footprint on the environment than electric motion lights.....you just have to buy a new solar light every few years. Then, we went and rented a large dog live trap from CARA. You can rent this live trap for $25 and keep the trap as long as you need to and then when you return the cage, then you get your $25 back! The trap is in our yard, baited with plain ole dog food, and we're keeping our fingers crossed that we catch the wild dogs that way, and no the food isn't poisoned. Wouldn't that be fantastic if the attacking dog saga ends soon!!!!!!!!!! They've already threatened me, so we worry about our son's safety, even though he isn't allowed outside alone. We, aka as my husband considering I'm the pep squad in this endeavor, are so near completing the fence, but money just does not grow on trees when you have been on medical leave for 13 months. I saved the two outside cats twice from being killed within 12 hours of each other last week. I'm nervous about sleeping and nervous about being gone from home. I know people think, oh that's just an animal or two, but what they forget is that when a child loses a pet, that some of their innocence is taken away for ever. I must protect our son and I choose to protect his innocence at all reasonable and safe costs. I truly want him to enjoy his childhoood and he's already been impacted by my injury and losing two cats in January. We had a nice Saturday and then on Sunday afternoon, we went target practicing again on a neighbor's property. He has a few hundred acres. Once we got home, my husband set up a blanket on the ground outside so I could sit and play with him and J. as a family. J. got these sponge shooters for Christmas from Santa and we call them shooters rather than guns. We don't allow him to play with anything that looks remotely like a real gun and his foam shooters cannot be called guns either. We had a blast shooting foam pieces at each other. I even finished off the day fixing a pineapple upsidedown cake, which totally isn't good for my diet, but it works for my tastebuds just fine. :) I think I could sit in a rigid chair long enough to make it through a sermon now, so we will have to be trying that soon. When the church built the new church, they put in this stadium seating and for the average individual, the new seating is more comfortable, but for someone is handicapped or injured in some way, then the chairs are impossible to sit in for an hour. I thought it was just me, but I met a dear sweet elderly lady who also has not been able to go to church since the church opened up in its new location. Plus for someone like me or someone like her, it is intimidating and unbelievably stressful to feel like you have to leave the sanctuary as fast as possible so that the members of the next service can enter. But, I think I'm to the point of trying being able to sit gracefully in a dress in one of those uncomfortable chairs with the rigid sides where you can't turn to shift pain points, so we will see. We may just have to change churches, but we really don't want to...........

Anyway, I started taking a new multivitamin from the natural vitamin store a week ago and it seems to make a tremendous difference. It is a $20 bottle labeled something like a multivitamin for women 50+ and it listed the added benefits. It is the difference between night and day and no I'm not 50 for another 14 years, but I talked with the vitamin store manager and figured why not, considering the surgeries and injuries etc., and it seems to be worth getting before I eat from what I have seen in 8 days of taking it. I still hurt, but I feel better inspite of the pain.

So, we had a very pleasant weekend and enjoyed the weather immensely. I started on some new jewelry designs, have some photos to shoot soon, and hope to get that shot in my back in the next few days, so please pray. I'm a bit nervous about agreeing to a shot being put in my lower back. There is a chance that the shot could work and eliminate my pain just like that after all these months. We are praying for a miracle that it works as the doctor doesn't believe it will, but he wants to try it as a maneuver to rule out what doesn't work until he finds something that does.

I'll be adding new photos soon. Don't forget to enter the drawing for the earrings. I should have a new upload or two for Etsy soon. I'm working on getting an order together for a couple of my suppliers, so new supplies will be here within the week once I finalize the order.

Have a great week!

Mignon

Who Wants Free Earrings?????

So, one person has followed the instructions to get their name in the drawing for the free earrings. If you want to enter, then you still have time, the drawing ends on February 13, 2009!!!!!!!! :) I have a friend who is just enjoying hers. :) What better friend can there be for a mutual jewelry addict than a jewelry designer....... :)

Mignon

What I'm Working On

This piece was fun to design, but an aggravation to finalize. I do like the end results though. It pulls from 3 different jewelry genres and comes together as something a bit different and unique. I really liked using brass, particularly the antiqued brass chain - it just brings it all together. The earrings will be posted shortly in my shop as well.

If you haven't checked out my favorites in awhile, you have certainly missed a few additions, lol. I can honestly say that I can do nearly all my shopping for gifts on Etsy now. Of course, they end up being my gifts. :) My family tends to get handmade jewelry from me unless you are a guy, and then you get handpainted cards. :0-) Of course, the downside is that the men get spoiled to the cards and then, my husband, in particular has requested that I no longer buy him cards........l0l, i.e. he wants his Valentine's card to be handmade and painted by me. :)

Mignon

Modern Art In The Making...........

This is where the dirt road led and it actually turned into a paved road at some point, but nonetheless, we were pretty much in the middle of nowhere. Then, we come across this artisistic expression, which I had to load here with the large photo option so that you could really get some detail. We investigated with friends until we found someone who knew something and found out that the structure is indeed lived in by a man who has been building his home out of other people's leftover parts for apparently many years. Most of the windows did not match and it was really something you could have just studied all afternoon. My college art professor would have had a fieldday with this structure and I can see him getting permission for taking college art students out there for years had he known it existed. We were somewhere between dumbfounded and just completely and utterly amazed. The irony of the whole structure is that while it has clearly taken the gentleman years to collect left over tin or secure demolished barn tin or whatever means he has done to collect the parts for his home - well, now, in today's economic times, this is actually something that is more likely to happen than ever. I really find it fascinating what one person can do with creativity and old barn tin.

I wish I could find the old bus photos I took a few years ago. There's a family not too far from here who had this bus, this old school bus, and it was outfitted to take to the car races as their motor home and the favored drivers' numbers were spraypainted on the outside and there was some spraypainted statement on the outside like, 'Talladega bound'. The roof had some sort of railing system/rebar attached so that you could haul your lounge chair to the roof and watch the race I would assume. The family got rid of the bus, but I found it fascinating. I mean, I wouldn't want a yellow school bus to spraypaint and use as an rv, but I thought it was rather unique......................and shows that people can make do, can live well, although their idea of living well may not be your idea, but live well just the same. If I come across the photos, then I'll share, but there are a few thousand photos on my computer and who knows which file it is in........So, in the meantime, enjoy some photos that I haven't misplaced of a recent roaming.

Mignon's Roamings

I don't roam by myself right now, since my injury, but as a family, my hubby took us roaming over the last week a couple of times. On Thursday, he was off, so after we went target practicing and joined so we can target practice as often as we like now, yey!! Well, he and our son wanted to show me a very neat train bridge that runs over a river that is near here. The road was flooded just a few days before and yes dirt roads still exist. If you look really hard at the bridge, then you can see a flag on the bridge. After much discussion and analyzing, we decided that the only way the person could have done the grafitti was to have rapelled down from the top of the train bridge as going up would have been near impossible. We then proceeded down the dirt road to see where it went and that will have to be the next post. :)

Mignon