Nothing quite like writing a long thoughtful blog entry and trying to post it and it just never shows up. Even though I got the message "blog 100% published" Funny thing is I was writing about being challenged in the tech world and having to learn as I go. I have learned all of my posting and photo skills from reading and applying what I have read. Sometimes it doesn't work or the info wasn't complete and I retry and reload a lot. If I don't do something often enough the new skill gets lost in my memory and I have to relearn it :)
It is finally cooling a little bit here and I am grateful. I am sorry for the people suffering in other parts of the country though.
Global Warming or Earth Cycle?

Ahhh finally a break in the weather. I awoke to a cloudy sky this morning and I am enjoying the delicious cool air. My puppies will be feeling more comfortable as well. The heat doesn't agree with them and they have been a bit off all week. Well more than a "bit" but hey I won't go into that here.
Me and the computer, ugh somedays I am so tech challenged. It kind of sucks, I have learned on the fly just picking up info wherever I can and trying my best to put it to good use. If I don't do something day in and day out I forget how. New info replaces the old I guess? Does that mean your mind can only store a limited amount of information? Darn I am only forty and my head is full already. I feel like the "PC" in the PC / Mac commercial I have been seeing lately. Was I doing something?
Have a great Day~

Some of todays beads.
All better. I think I will go swimming now~

I don't know if my computer is having a meltdown or what This is my second attempt to post today. I went out this morning and made beads before it got too hot. My Etsy link isn't working so if you went to see my five minutes of publicity and couldn't get there from here I apologize. They must have changed something it worked last time I checked. Well I am going to post now o my fingers are crossed that all goes well this time :)

Somedays a girl can't help but love a little extra attention. I just surfed over to see how things are looking in my Etsy store and somehow one of my pieces has ended up being featured on their home page :) Made my day!
Sue and I did a home party this afternoon and had a blast. The hostess is a friend of hers and she is just the neatest gal. Lucky for us she has A/C or I am sure the party would have been a bust. It is at least 100 degrees out here at my place right now. I was anxious to get home and make sure my dogs were allright. Of course they are all fine and clueless because we have A/C at our house too and it is located in their room. I let them out and Sparky (doofus) went out and laid down on the brick patio in the sun. He's black and has longish hair and you cannot tell me he was cold. He was reluctant to come in and I had to offer him a cookie, sheesh... Do you think it was a ploy? He is really the smartest of them all and it wouldn't surprise me if he has learned to reason and think logically, maybe I should change his name to Spock? Thank God he doesn't have thumbs or he would probably steal my car keys and go to Burger King.

The Hot days are here! It is supposed to be upper 80's low 90's today and tomorrow. I don't do well in the heat, who does? At least it isn't terriby muggy here like some places. Mugginess is just plain oppressive. It is like moving through hot thick wet air. Oh wait a minute that is what it is, LOL So I am preparing to go to my "real job" we have no AC but on the upside it is Payday. My vacation will start in about three weeks and I can't wait, we are going camping at the lake with friends and we will also be hitting the Frantz glass partay~ Woohoo!

Morning! Thought I'd say "Hi' before I take off today. What can I say in five minutes or less? I am exhausted Matts' back went out sometime in the middle of the night so we were up most of the night with his pain. I wish there was more I could do for him. Where did I leave that magic wand anyway? He had surgery on it several years ago and probably needs another surgery or a new spine :) He is a man and is behaving like one. Doctor I don't need no stinking doctor. Right before he had the surgery he collapsed on our front patio while building a deck. He was using an electric drill at the time and there was water on the patio. I thought he had possibly electrocuted himself so I didn't want to touch him. He wouldn't answer me because he was in such great pain and couldn't speak. I was yelling at him to tell me if he was okay or I was going to call 911. He finally answered and it was his back not electricity. We laugh about that now, my son even poked him with a stick I think. It was NOT a bit funny at the time.

Well it is working up to a really hot weekend and I am not looking forward to it. Who wants to fire up the torch on a ninety plus degree day? Probably me because I am crazy and driven like that. Besides it gives me an excuse to hop into the oversized kiddie pool we picked up last summer. Twelve feet across and thirty inches deep ahh bliss... perfect for cooling off. I am almost looking forward to the heat just so I can have a "swim"

I have been out in the garage tonight sorting out some of my Bullseye glass. I got some heavy duty cardboard tubes at work and Matt cut them up for me. So I got some free glass storage who could ask for more? It was motivating ... a little :) I got all of the opaques sorted, now I just need to get some pvc for the transparents. The frantz Bash is coming up in August. It is such a great time and I can't wait. I am really going to make more of an effort to talk to people this year. It seems that is the one thing I always feel like I missed out on when I get home. Last year my dad came along as well I am hoping to get him to come again this year too.
I have a few new auctions up here : http://www.justbeads.com/search/search_results.cfm?search_text=mattskiss99&search=GO go see~ I am off to bed now, sleep tight I know it's early but I get up at 5:00 am most mornings

Matt and Samantha stayed at Matts' grandparents house last night and I hardly slept. Coupled with the heat today wow I am ready for a nap I tell ya. I had a fairly productive day at the torch and will probably be up at midnight when the kiln is done running so I can snatch the beads out and look at them. Getting the beads from the kiln is almost as much fun for me as making them. Nothing quite like seeing the end results :) There is not enough coffee in the world to keep me from taking a 10 minute nap right now I really think I am going to go take one. I will list some new auctions in a bit at least one small one anyway.
Enjoy your night
Kris

Morning! Just thought I'd come in and say "Hi" while I have that last cup of coffee before I go to work. It is cloudy this morning and supposed to clear up later. I hope it doesn't get muggy before the sky clears. We'll see :)

I recently started putting items on etsy.com that would be under mattskiss99.etsy.com I am enjoying the newness of it and have really been working some long hours with photos and descriptions. I hope some of you can find me there. It is really an awesome sight everything is handmade except for some supply items. Just amazing how many talented people are in the world.

We went blackberry picking last night! When we first arrived we stopped at the usual spot. Now bear in mind a spot is only good until the trees start to get tall and the clearing fills in again. The trees in our spot are about seven or eight feet tall now. Matt and I were both walking along the edge looking and he got into the brush a little. He kept trying to tell me that the berries weren't ripe yet. I was almost ready to pack it in when this guy drives by sees my milk jug (berry holding device:) He said something out and out of his car window he was waving a berry stained hand. My hope soared I told Matt and Sam to hop back in the car. We went up the road and found some power lines and a gated road. Of course we went around the gate and up the road. Matt and I picked more berries between the two of us then we ever have. It was amazing. I hope the berry stained guy doesn't mind, that was probably his "spot" berry folks are a little territorial. Sammy had a great time too she said it was her best berry picking ever. Of course just as we are really getting into it she had to go potty. No way was she going in the woods. So off to the park we went. Almost two gallons of berries! Somebody is getting pie this winter!

My sweet Reba! She always looks like she is crying because she gets hair in her eyes from shedding. If I could only get her to stop shedding :) She is the dog of my heart. She won't give kisses except on the most rare and special of occasions. She doesn't take food from strangers no matter how good it is. She is my appointed watchdog. when she came to our home we were literally full up. I was busy working and my daughter came trotting in and said "Daddy got another puppy." I said "No way you are kidding" she said it again "Daddy got another puppy" Now bear in mind that he has sworn to me "I am NOT a dog person" yeah right... He picked up the second dog we let in. Anyway I just couldn't belive he had gotten another dog~ puppy no less. we had barely gotten Gloria house-trained She was our third. So in comes Matt (sworn "NOT dog person") with this stiff scabby puppy. I was a little horrified. He was on his way out right away so he just kind of dumped her in my lap and took off. She had a collar on and as I took it down to the second wrap around her neck I could see it was really a cargo strap held on by a safety pin. She had a sore between her shoulder blades from the fleas that covered her sweet little body. Ugh... I just couldn't get over it. I put her in the sink and scrubbed her. She just stayed stiff she wasn't liking that at all. (She still hates a bath and will sit down right away.) So these days she lays around wags like mad if I so much as glance in her direction. We joke that she wags like a fish out of water, she gets her whole body going and you can tell she is so full of joy she could just burst. Oh and the topper... she will drink my coffee if I leave it unattended, she loves it. I couldn't believe it the first time I caught her because she is our picky dog. Yep she is my secret favorite~ don't tell the others.

Well life is really happening now. Heidi, my cousin just gave birth to her first child, a girl and I can't wait to see them both. I am sure she is little and pink and beautiful. Her middle name is Grace, my grandmothers name she passed away in April of this year. When my son was born if he had been a girl we were going to name him after both of my grandmothers Francis Eileen their middle names. Jamie, Heidi's older sister has a daughter named Gracie. I think it says an awful lot for the way we all loved her so much. She was an incredible sweet and noble woman and she absolutely lived up to her name. I miss her every day. She was the family glue and it has been difficult trying to fit back together without her. She left an empty space among us...
look no coffee talk? What am I coming too?
I will do better in a day or two.
Wish my name was Grace :)
or Joyce :) another story for another day~

High expectations. I have them it is like I am hard-wired to have them. I wonder if it has something to do with the desire to have hope? No matter how many times I try if I am successful once I will continue to Hope and try again. Is it like that for everyone? I may just be the only pessimist eternal optimist I know. So how does one become a success? By doing the best you can and learning how to market that. This little piggy will be off to market soon. Boy my mind is a busy place this morning I may have had too much coffee today. There is just so much going on in my life right now and sometimes... wow is it like that for everyone? Still waters run deep I suppose.
Hey has anyone noticed I refer to coffee at least once in almost every post? I may be caffeine addicted?
No, I just love a good cup of java~
Off to ready myself for work
Have a great day!
Kris

What a fourth! My neighborhood has a huge celebration almost every year. One neighbor does the day long party complete with all the traditional dishes and barbecue and games galore. We also have a few resident pyros with friends at the fireworks stands. Serious noise and light let me tell ya. I wanted to hide under my pillow and peek one eye out. It was almost a sensory overload the fireworks were really spectacular. I am so ready to sleep peacefully tonight without all the noise. I think everybody started "practicing" fireworks about five days ago and I don't know how others do it. I have to work in the morning and if I don't get my sleep I just feel yucky no matter how good the coffee is :)
Just wait til' Halloween~

What a wonderful time at Dad and Diannes. Dianne made enough food for an army and all of it was wonderful. It was hard not to stuff myself. They live on a cliff overlooking Hood Canal. We saw orcas yesterday, just a brief glimpse but it was enough to get everyone excited. The hike to the beach is tough. There isn't a direct path from the house. You have to hike up the long steep driveway walk a ways on the flat and then another hilly hike. Down an even longer and steeper incline. Mosquitos clouded the few hot rays of sun that managed to stream through the forest canopy. Getting back up that second hill is really hard My poor little girl, I thought she was going to be sick. The heat and the long uphill hike wasn't easy for her but she made it and I am proud of her for hanging in there.
The weather is considerably cooler today so maybe I will feel more motivated to fire up my torch and melt some glass. Funny how a few clouds can make such a dfference in my overall outlook.
Off to motivate myself.
Kris

With the fourth looming ever closer I realize two things, Life flies by faster and faster as we age and I am so glad to be alive and have the freedom to choose my path.
It is absolutely glorious out this morning. I have been up for a few hours already. I did a little cleaning up outside and got a good start on my morning coffee. As soon as my son TJ and his wife Kendra arrive we will be heading out to dad and Dianne's place on the canal for an afternoon barbecue. Me I would love to run out to the foothills this morning to see if the blackberries are ripe yet. I know they must be as I usually try and celebrate the fourth by picking wild blackberries. It does kind of sound like work but I tell ya if I can whip up a blackberry pie in the middle of winter it is well worth it. Convincing my family that blackberry picking is fun is another thing. I love to be outside and the more remote the better I think my daughter has inherited this gene but my hubby can be a bit of a stick about it sometimes. Ahh well Love him as he is :)
Enjoy your day~