kattitudes

Oh my, it was LOVELY!

I have not seen my only uncle and his wife, my dear aunt, for almost ten years. And my only remaining Grandmother – my precious, dear Grandmother – whom I absolutely adore and I do believe that the sun rises and sets upon her – visited also.

And yes, my Mister and I were able to wreak amazing transformations upon our home (now it is a home, no longer a house). Amazing. In fact, we are currently most of the way through a most unique infection that oh so many of you will recognize.

We have been calling it the “as long as we are here fever”. And that is truly the best description. I admit I suffer from a significantly higher degree fever than poor Mister, who simply has to keep up with the ever increasing list of “do you think we can get this done by tomorrow/this weekend/Thursday/March?”

“As-long-as-we-are-here fever” symptoms are varied from case to case, but all involve an invocation of differing varieties of the namesake phrase. Victims fall sick most commonly during a flurry of home improvement activities, and if proper precautions are not taken, inevitably, one or more of the participants will be heard to say, “you know, as long as we are here, we might as well (fill in the blank, which could include anything. Literally anything, including something innocent like changing the curtains in the room, or, in our case, painting the entire three floor house, steam cleaning the floors of all three levels of our home, changing all the window treatments, getting new furniture and rearranging through the house the furniture we did already own, and creating an entire new in-law suite for my wheelchair bound father on the first level of our home).

Yes, I believe that in retrospect I actually did achieve all my goals. I even recovered said ottoman I originally mentioned.

Lest I believe for one moment that I let crafting and creative pursuits slip by the wayside, I am proud to say that I finally (and I do mean finally) re-opened my eBay store. Tonight I am in the process of listing a number of the jewelry pieces that I have been making over the years. But I admit, I am having a new and unusual problem.

Does anyone else suffer from this problem? Having used so much of our budget to update the house, it is definitely time to contribute to the household budget as much as possible by selling some of my larger budget creations. But I am finding that as I prepare to list these on eBay, I just do not want to let them go. I have easily sold the smaller pieces without issues, but some of these pieces I just adore myself. There is the problem with making things that you love. It is hard to let them go!

On the flip side, if we do not let our creations go out into the world, then we would never have room for the next creation and the next, or the next challenge. So I guess it is just as well that I bid these pieces farewell and hope they go to a home where they will be as loved as they were with me. Oh, but I hate to see them go. Anyway, there are only so many pieces of jewelry one human being can logically (or tastefully) wear anyway (or so I keep reminding myself).

Now that the house has been internally remodeled, there is a new sewing place, so I hope to start listing some of my sewn creations along with the jewelry. My baby sister-in-law is preparing for her wedding in July, so we are still working on making so many of the things for that event. She has asked me to make the jewelry for all the bridesmaids and the groomsmen, along with her jewelry and whatever her groom will wear, so that is a combined total of jewelry for 22 people. I will have a lot of pictures to post for jewelry suggestions!

I hope you all had a fantastic Easter and the Spring season has sprung for you and yours in a wonderful way. There is a lot to do this time of year. Are you keeping your head above water?

The idea is that green tea leaves are hand sewn into a bundle with a flower wrapped inside that “flower” as they steep.

Listen, I know it is all. the. rage.

I am sorry, but it looks like an alien in a glass waiting to reach up and grab me by the lips and suck me into the world of the pod people.

But hey, what the hell. If you are looking for an incredibly unusual gift to put in your gift basket during the holiday season, I am thinking that a blooming flower of green tea and such might just fit the bill.

Honestly, it is probably very tasty and quite lovely, but I will take my tea in good old fashioned dried dark leaves steeped in an old fashioned Brown Betty thankyouverymuch. The alien flower is just too much for me. Besides, tea is part of my past life now anyway.

Starting today, you will find a very handy page over there on the right hand side of the blog (it is listed under the pages). I have created a page that lists pretty quick and dirty some of my favorite shopping places online.

It is a first draft, so not all my bookmarks are up there by any means. However, some of the multitudinous places I wander online are up there so that you too can wander in and find some of the remarkable bargains I’m finding.

If you have places that you love, please – by all that is holy – let me know. I am always looking for a new place to shop. Send me a note, leave a comment, and I would love to check it out. I live to comparison shop (must. comparison. shop. It is in my blood).

Keep in mind, these are not places to purchase finished products. These are stores for you to purchase supplies for you to make your own gifts and wonders. This is for you to get your own crafty on.

Honey, if you are feeling up to more carpentry work, I could really use some of these bookshelves in the kitchen dining room by the stairs.

It would make a wonderful Christmas gift, quite honestly. And whilst I really do need the jewelry tools we talked about for the business and I have fun listing all the big girl toys you always ask me to list, if we don’t get some bookshelves in the house I am going to be reduced to burning books.

I know it is not the romantic gift that you prefer to find, and it is one of those practical type gifts that you abhor having to purchase, but nonetheless, see the above paragraph about burning books. Desperate times call for desperate measures.

See, here is one of the categorical drawbacks of being a bench jeweler. There are no more surprises. When you know the outrageous prices that jewelers charge for their jewelry, you know that there is no way on God’s green earth you are going to send your Mister, unescorted, out into the world anymore for anything even marginally related to jewelry.

Now granted, my Mister has purchased for me some of the most gorgeous jewelry this side of our budget that has ever been seen. I finally own a few antique pieces I grew up thinking would perennially be out of my reach.

But now that I am, as the vernacular states, in the know, I cannot let him out anymore, knowing that I can put together a ring for literally a fraction of what the bloodsuckers will demand from him.

It stinks!

The biggest part of this stinking is the demise of our Christmas Tradition.

Now you have to understand, the Christmas Tradition came about wholly and completely on the part of my Mister, with no prompting and completely unbeknownst to me.

It was the Christmas two months and thirteen days before our wedding day proper. At the conclusion of our Christmas morning festivities, my amazing Mister reached into the heart of our fourteen (yes, fourteen! what a challenge that was to clean up after) foot Christmas tree and pulled out a tiny blue box. If you are a female and breathing, you *know* what that means. (Note: I originally wrote the tree was 12 feet, but my Mister read that and corrected me. Apparently it was 14 feet. We lived in a loft at the time and the clean up was staggering. I tried to blank that part out of my mind. My brother in law {the monkey} had to shimmy up a water pipe to put the star on top. It was a massive tree.)

Nestled inside was the first of what has come to be known as our Christmas Tradition. Simply put, every year, I get a piece of jewelry for Christmas. The Mister told me early on that our Tradition reflects our year; feast or famine. If it was a good year for us, it is an extraordinarily lovely Christmas Tradition. If from a budgetary standpoint, it was a famine year, the Christmas Tradition reflects that. But regardless of our feast or famine status, my wonderful Mister has always pulled out that small box.

That amazing man can pull all types of misdeeds and stumble through endless misnomers all year long, but everything becomes water under the bridge come December 25th when he reaches into that tree and pulls out that tiny box for the year. He’s a smart fellow, you know? Born diplomat, that one.

Jewelry just fascinates me. It is one item that mankind absolutely does not need, but one item that we will literally start wars over. Jewelry. I finally decided to make it a profession when someone (I can’t even remember who now) pointed out to me that the first thing I noticed on a person (always) was their jewelry!

I love jewelry. I don’t care what type, what it is made from, where it has been recently, if it is plastic or paper or real or not, I just love adornments. I love the whole kit and caboodle.

And so now that I know a little more about jewelry and how to make it and how to find it a little less expensively than the Average Joe…well, the thought of sending my Mister out for my Christmas Tradition almost breaks me out in hives.

Gone are the days I can dream about these. Now I try to aim my Traditions as low as possible. I don’t want the Mister taken advantage of. And knowing what I do know now, if he’s in a jewelry store and breathing, well – there ya go.

And now, as I am working on making more of these type of pretty toys, rather than dreaming about waking up Christmas morning on a feast year, I wake in the hopes that this is the year that my Mister didn’t go overboard. It is just too easy for me to find and make the pieces myself.

So, it is with a heavy heart that I, in good conscience, bid my Christmas Tradition goodbye. I cannot let it continue, knowing that I can save the family budget so significantly.

However, if there are any bench jewelers out there that would be willing to work out a reciprocal Christmas Tradition agreement, I would love to talk.

This year, I am hoping for a simple white gold lever back basket set (or bezel set, either works) pair of pink stone earrings. Sapphire, topaz or kunzite. I need something that I can put in and leave in that are safe through daily workout sessions (including swimming sessions). And yes, I know we are supposed to take out our jewelry, but I don’t.

That is what I hope to find in my little blue box this year. I will admit, I have received what I hoped for in my box only once in all the years. That is because my Mister has developed quite the reputation as the independent thinker when it comes to choosing the jewelry that he wants to give me. I have never had cause to complain, so if he decides to go with something different, he is very knowledgeable and fun to work with.

This is the man that researched diamonds for months before he bought my engagement diamond (sans setting), then took another year to pick out just the right setting. (For those that understand jewelers speak, he ended up designing a Tacori style with an emerald cut center, with both trillion basket set and round bezels on each side, then had the wedding band with baguettes made to match. Very one off and I obviously adore it).

So, if you are a bench jeweler that would be interested in keeping alive our Christmas Tradition and want to work out an exchange program (I am interested in finding someone that is willing to deal with a like exchange. I can work on your surprise [if you have one] at or near cost in a like for like exchange).

I understand it seems silly, but it’s the surprise that I will miss the most. The moment between seeing that box appear and wondering what will be in it right before I flip that lid open. And if I can find someone that will help my husband keep that surprise, all the better!

I know you asked me to put some Christmas items on my wish list for you.

And I know that you just got me a new laptop this year for my birthday.

But honey.

I didn’t know that Sony came out with this.

Did I mention that it is a Viao?

And I don’t know if I happened to mention this part but… it’s pink. Quit rolling your eyes. They are going to get stuck that way.

I know the color doesn’t make a difference, but it’s pink, Bean.

Pink. And a Viao.

I just wanted to mention that, in case you had any questions or problems or issues that you needed to resolve. Like that little nausea issue that I know is plaguing you from the second you started reading this. Honey, quit rolling your eyes.

via things that I know will cause you physical pain to have to purchase but there is still the very minuscule slightest possibility because you know I would adore it. And because you know I use the hell out of my poor beat up trashed little baby Viao still even though you already got me a new laptop. And just as a little fyi, the laptop is $1,250 and is available on SonyStyle.com and Sony Style stores.

Do you remember in the airport in Germany, when the security screener kept asking me if I had anything unusual in my bag and I kept insisting that I didn’t, and it turned out that the lead crystal dressing jar I was carrying had put her in a panic? What a mess.

Well, of course to me it wasn’t unusual! She should have been more specific. (You know, you have so much patience to be traveling with me, dear).

I already have two of the round

and the dressing jar

upstairs, but I never did purchase the cylindrical.

I could use another dressing jar as that is a handy little number, frankly, used for all sorts of things (I was using it to tote a chunk of jewelry back home to Germany at the time of the mixup in the airport).

I’ve been keeping it downstairs lately at my desk to capture all the bits and pieces that come off the jewelry I’m working with, but only because earlier I had used it as a vase for a special birthday bouquet.

I really am in love with this particular dressing jar, which is why I am beginning to think I could easily use another, frankly. But originally, this post started out to tell you that I had never purchased the cylindrical shaped bottle.

So there you have it. I bought them at Penhaligon’s, in that fantastic red store right outside Covent Garden up from your work? The tiny one that you always said smelled (which made sense, being that they were a parfumerie). But somehow, I don’t think you meant it in a positive manner. I don’t mind. In my old age, I’ve noticed that they smell, too.

via Penhaligons

Remember this? Yeah, I cannot decide between the two.

These things are a charm! I have two or three dozen, if not more. Sounds crazy, right? Well, they are amazing.

First of all, they work miracles when it comes to keeping accessories together with the correct outfit. Belts, clips, pins, jewelry, scarves and all that sort that go with one particular outfit get stored with just that outfit when hung together. And if you have to pack and go in a hurry, talk about a time saver! Store your underthings and the like for each outfit with each change and bingo, you can just grab the hanger and go.

Children’s closets are simplified down to socks and undergarments into the zippered section and then there is never again a question about what matches which outfit. Just grab and go.

The construction of this safe is absolutely insanely easy. Literally you are sewing what amounts to a square with a hole in the top for the hanger hook to emerge, plus you need to leave a large seam open on one side so you can access your goods. In this particular example, the seam is closed with a zipper, but you could use velcro if you aren’t proficient with putting in zippers, or you could just leave extra fabric and create a large fabric flap (but I do not recommend this method if you plan on storing valuables in these).

I have so many of these particular hangers because I use them when I travel. I store my accessories and my (non-valuable) jewelry pieces in each individual outfit. This way, when I grab the hanger to get dressed, I literally have every last thing I need to complete my outfit from head to toe.

These hanger safes are one of my favorite hidden treasures. One of those items that I never thought I would end up loving, but have discovered that they have made my life so much easier and so much more organized. With a little forethought (putting away all the accessories when the clothes first get cleaned and hit the closet) I don’t have to search and try to find anything again. There is a place for everything and everything is in its own place. Talk about organizational peace.

If you can pass this type of organizational peace along to a friend, by all means, do it! I wish everyone could feel the peace of a well organized home!