The temp is up around here again! Pacific Northwest types are mostly cool weather kids and the heat just messes us up. I am not complaining just stating fact. Air conditioning isn't in every home like other parts of the country although it is becoming more common. Usually we go to the grocery store and hide out or head to an air-conditioned movie theater. Ah well... It is supposed to drop twenty degrees by wednsday and lightning storms are expected. Nothing compared to what I have seen elswhere mind you. Monsoons in Colorado who Knew? that was a scary and exciting experience for a sheltered mild weather girl like me.
Time is flying and I have much to do. My girl goes back to school soon and I have beads to make and laundry to wash... work is chaotic right now because we are short-handed and folks are on vacation.
Gloria is snoring sweet little sleepy head dog :) Must be rough, all that playing she was doing earlier.

Vacation never seems long enough when you are working for someone else~ Mine is over already. There were three of us in my department, two full-time and one part-time. A few days before I went on vacation my awesome full-time co-worker gave his notice. I knew he would be gone before I got back from vacation. Just knowing that was stressful enough but I also came back at the start of one of our big yearly sales events. Whew, and you wondered why I have been so quiet lately hehehe... Gonna be pulling some extra hours here and there until my buddy is replaced so I won't be posting very often I guess I'd rather melt glass if I have spare time :) Speaking of which I got my hands on some of the Kronos glass everybody has been admiring. A bit of a learning curve to striking it but the extra effort is worth it~

The evening air is heavy with the heady scent of lillies rosemary and lavender. I went out into the back yard, my secret oasis. We have a portion of our yard that is fenced for human use only. It is here I have planted a small herb garden some flowers and occasionally vegetables. I also planted a rose here. Well lets get that story straight right off the bat, it planted itself. Yes really. Once upon a time there was a farm in the valley (My Grandparents) They had a large pink shrub rose that her mother had given her. It grew and grew out of control and beyond belief. then the interstate came (I-5) the neighbors across the way "sold" their farm. Somewhere here things get fuzzy either my grandpa got tired of tending this particular rose and pitched it over the freeway fence or the fence went right over where the rose grew. Either way it was always there growing on the fence year in and year out. Grandpa passed away and Grandma finally sold her home. My mom took cuttings from the rose. She passed me a styrofoam cup with a stick in it. Of course I thanked her. All the while thinking "are you out of your mind this will never grow." So I took it home waited a few weeks and had space in a strawberry pot so I stuck it in there. It grew a few spindly little branches and she always asked about it so being the good daughter that I am I took care of it and watered it. Matt and I moved into our home and eventually sat the spindly rose in the strawberry pot out in the oasis next to the brick patio with the bench. The radiant heat from the patio must have been what that little squatter was waiting for. Suddenly (I am not kidding) It burst forth with all these huge healthy canes and I said to Matt "We better get that thing planted it is huge and outgrowing the pot. " I tried to lift the pot and it wouldn't BUDGE. The rose grew right into the ground in two months flat after squatting in that pot for four YEARS! We broke the pot up, put lots of soil around it and gave it a good downward shove. Then we built an arbor for it. It is really immense~ I was just out trying to toss the errant vines up and over or at least head them in the right direction. Now I can see why Grandpa might have tossed it over the fence. Boy it sure smells good out there.

Upper 70's all week~ Thats Vacation weather.
Sorry I disappeared for a few days. There was a comment posted in my blog trying to sell something I don't know what? So I deleted that post I may not continue doing this if it happens again. It really bothered me and I don't know how to prevent it :) Anyway this is the week of vacation I have been looking forward to for a while so~ Seeya!

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