Sunday Update on Jerry

Hello friends!

I want to tell you how thankful I am for all the sweet comments to yesterday's post.  Your prayers and thoughts mean so much.  I read them all to Jerry.  He brags to people about my blog all the time, so I am so glad you are getting to know him.

Today has been lovely.  Hagee church on the internet this morning -- as always -- and then back to TRAINING CAMP for me.  Sadly, it has NOTHING to do with sewing or jewelry making.  Wish it did.

Some of you may not know that we own a Durable Medical Equipment business called Family Medical Supply.  We have two locations and a total of 19 employees.  Jerry is the brains of the outfit.  I am the bank statement and credit card reconciliation person, and I take care of our 60 boat storage units.  That business is called Affordable Boat & RV Storage.  I am also in charge of Personnel hiring, firing and training and keeping up with the endless paperwork required for us to be accredited.  I can do all that by working just one day a week, or two part days.  It is very nice.

Jerry, however, works 24-7 except for sleeping and watching some tv late in the evenings.  He usually starts in the home office in his underwear about 5 AM and later migrates to the store.  He does payroll and all the federal and state business that goes with it.  He manages all the 401K plans of our employees and each of us.

I JUST walked out and snapped this picture:

Working still, as you can see.

He also does all of the rehab wheelchairs which require an ATP (Assistive Technology Professional).  He had to study for months and take a 200-question test that took 4 hours in order to receive that designation.  If a DME business does not have an ATP, you cannot sell electric wheelchairs.  Since the main part of our business is electric wheelchairs, it is a HUGE problem if Jerry isn't there.

Maybe now you can understand the gurgling in my tummy and the "fear" I fight off constantly:  "WHAT if something happens to Jerry????????????"

All of that to say, I decided since we have these two days before the ball starts rolling towards surgery, I would have Jerry teach me all about payroll and the deductions and the reports, etc.

You should SEE my notes.  I'm up to 30 pages, legal size and still going.  I take really good notes though.  I have to!


This is a picture of Jerry TRYING to train me.

Doesn't look sick to me!

If it wasn't for the pain, we never would have known anything was wrong.  He looks like he always does:  like my True Love!!!

He totally tolerates me!  That is why I love him so much.  So many people don't.


Our good friends, Robert and Deanna, are coming over soon to bring Jerry some soup since that is all he seems to be able to eat.  Deanna asked me what I wanted, but I forgot to tell her to grab a nice cheesecake or chocolate cake with nuts on top.  Darn!

We had a lovely surprise visit from my daughter, Tammy, yesterday.  Tammy is a nurse and works at the Oklahoma Heart Hospital.  She has the "gift" if you know what I mean.  Anything wounded gets her immediate attention.  I always tell people that I hardly ever see my daughter, and we seldom get along, but if I EVER get sick or am in the hospital, she will show up with bells on!

And she did.  She had on her pretty nursing costume and she is wearing her hair naturally now with beautiful strawberry blonde (she will say her hair is NOT strawberry blonde, but it is to me) curls all over.  Wish I had snapped a picture.  She called me a while ago to inform me that she will be spending nights with her Dad in the hospital, and I can do days.  She will to.  I hope she knows how much comfort that gives me.  It makes up for all the missed birthdays, Mother's Days and Father's Days.  She always says that just isn't her thing -- UNLESS, of course, you happen to be hit by a car on those days and end up in the hospital.  (-;

I've got to go and watch Jerry work.

I keep hugging him and kissing him for some reason.

Actually, I do that all the time anyway.







Hugs, Joy

Update On Mom and Jerry

Isn't it amazing the people that God puts in your life?  There is a nurse that works at Countrywood (where Jerry's Mom lives) that is the most UNLIKELY person in the world to have anything at all to do with me.

I was raised in a family that did NOT like doctors.  My Dad thought they were all "in it for the money" and they WANTED you to be sick, or they wouldn't have tons of money to buy yachts with.  My Mother wasn't quite as bad, but she was always very healthy and seldom needed a doctor.  She is 87, and she is still perfectly healthy except for her mind.

When I was growing up with my two sisters and my little brother, we learned real fast that you NEVER said, "I don't feel good" or "I am sick" or "I have a sore throat".  If you dared to let any of these sentences slip from your lips, my Dad -- and his Mother, Hatti, if she happened to be visiting -- turned into doctors.  Think of Granny on the Beverly Hillbillies, and you will have a picture of my Grandma, who, by the way, I adored.

For a sore throat, Daddy would find 3 fat q-tip sticks with long sticks on them and a bottle of Merthiolate.  He would roll the Q-tips around in the Merthiolate, and then he would stick all 3 of them down your throat and roll them around while you gagged and cried .  If you had swollen glands, which I always did, you got the iodine/glycerine/sock treatment.  Daddy or Granny would smear glycerine and iodine all over my neck, and then they would wrap a sock around my neck and pin it on.  Back to bed I went.

Believe it or not, all of that really did work!  That was the good part about it.

If you got any other dread malady, there was one SURE-fire treatment that Daddy never failed to use.

An enema!

We had to bend over the bathtub, and Daddy took some black, rubber bulb with a pointy tip with a hole in it full of warm water and I don't know what else, and you know WHERE he would put it.  We HATED it to the max!!!  If you didn't get cured IMMEDIATELY, you never said so!

And THE POINT IS,
I'm not one to run to the doctor for every little sniffle.  And my husband, Jerry, like most men, never thinks he needs to go to one because he always assumes whatever pain he has is "nothing" and will soon subside, and I shouldn't be such a worry-wart.

On Thursday morning, we drove up here from our home in southern OK to take care of Jerry's Mom at Baptist Hospital.  She was having surgery on a broken hip, and also had a fractured shoulder/arm.  That was in my last blog post.  The whole way up here, Jerry kept saying his side hurt.  Since he is not one to ever mention pain or complain about not feeling good, I KNEW he must really be hurting.  Still.  We had to take care of Mom, and we kept ignoring the pain.

We arrived at Baptist Hospital and found Mom in her room.  She was being rolled away from her room to the 2nd floor surgery area, and we followed her there.  She was sound asleep, and she never knew we were there although we tried to talk to her and wake her.  The 4:00 surgery turned into the 6:00 surgery.  For two hours, Jerry kept saying his side was really bothering him.  When they took Mom away at 6:00, we went down to the Cafeteria in the concourse to get some dinner.

We got our "to go" dinners and went into the dining room to eat.  Jerry took a few bites of his hamburger, and he said he just could not eat any more.  He said it hurt his side.  He also kept complaining that he could not take a deep breath without severe pain.  We returned our trays and went back to the surgery area waiting room.  Jerry hurt the whole time.  We JOKED about taking him to the ER since we were already there at the hospital, but never thought seriously about doing it.  I didn't think you went to an ER unless you were just in a wreck or fell off a building.   We did decide to stop by the AM/PM clinic close to our home on our way back to the house.

There wasn't a single person in the waiting room of the AM/PM clinic, so we got right in.  We were told that a "provider" would be in to see us.  I asked what a "provider" was.  The rude nurse said it was Carla.  I asked if Carla was a doctor.  No, she was a P.A.  We waited, and Jerry kept hurting.

After 30 minutes in the exam room, I went out to LOOK for "the provider".  A lady was putting on a dirty white lab coat and informed me that she was ON HER WAY.

She listened to Jerry's chest with a stethoscope and pushed on his belly gently.  Then she stood across from us in a corner and informed us that she really DID NOT KNOW what the problem was, and she probably was NOT giving him the proper drugs, BUT -- just in case it could possibly be bacteria in his colon, she prescribed him two antibiotics.  We went to CVS and got them both filled.

We came home.  Jerry took the drugs.  We went to bed.

The next morning, Jerry was still hurting, but maybe not as bad.  He thought he was okay.  We decided he HAD to get a doctor appointment.  We spent the next 3 or 4 hours TRYING to get a doctor appointment.  Nobody would see us because we weren't REFERRED by another doctor.  Did he have a PCP?  Yes, Jerry has one, but he hadn't been to her for over a year.  We called her office anyway.  She wouldn't help us because she hadn't seen him.  She wanted him to come in.  Hard to do when she is 150 miles away!

At SOME point, the unlikely WONDERFUL PERSON I mentioned in my first sentence above texted me.  The text said, "How is Jerry"?   I texted back about the doctor issues and the pain.  She called me.  She asked me some more questions, and then she INSISTED that I get Jerry to an ER.  As soon as I hung up, Jerry and I followed her advice, and we headed to Baptist ER.  We got there about 1:30 in the afternoon.

ER wasn't busy, and we were waited on right away.  They put Jerry in Room #9 which was like a regular exam room in a doctor's office.  A VERY NICE nurse named Brandi came in to help us.  She was a "chatty Cathy" like me, and we talked easily.

We waited.  Eventually, a very pretty lady doctor named Taylor ??? came in.  She was congenial and patient.  She said she was ordering tests and a Cat Scan.  Brandi had a real hard time getting a needle into Jerry's veins, but she finally succeeded after three pokes -- the third one causing Jerry to squeal.  Poor baby.  Some time later, a guy came in to roll Jerry away for the Cat Scan.  He wasn't very friendly, but he wasn't awful either.  Off they went.  Jerry returned in about 30 minutes, and we waited some more.

In about an hour, Brandi came in to announce that Jerry's Cat Scan was being read by the Dr., and she would be in shortly.  Brandi's nose was red, which I thought was odd.  Then she did something else I thought was odd, but sweet.  She got a blanket out of a cupboard.  She opened up the blanket and laid it across Jerry who was lying on the hospital bed with his head elevated.  He was fully clothed and had his boots on.  I said to Jerry, "Something is wrong.  She has been crying and she feels sorry for you."  He just shook his head and rolled his eyes as he always does and said it didn't mean anything.  He doesn't "get" women's intuition at all.  

It was nearly 6 PM by now, and the doctor and Brandi walked in and closed the sliding door behind them.  The doctor looked at me and said, "I need a chair so we can have a talk".  I, of course, had my feet up on the chair she needed.  I always have my feet up.  She rolled the chair around to the other side of Jerry's bed and Brandi stood beside her with a very red nose and tears in her eyes.  I KNEW it wasn't a good report.

She explained that we had a SERIOUS problem.  She said that the Cat Scan showed Jerry's stomach, liver, spleen, intestine, etc.  She said it was a very clear picture.  She said the spleen is usually the size of a small fist.  She said the liver is the largest organ in the belly.  She said that Jerry's spleen was extremely swollen and was LARGER than his liver.  She said it is full of lesions, one of them being 10cm wide, and she showed the width of her open hand to show how big that was.

The doctor said, "I will leave you two to talk about this."  I said, "We don't NEED to talk about it."

"What is next.  Are you going to get him a room?"  She gave us the name of a surgeon and told us to call him first thing Monday morning.  I thought it couldn't be THAT bad, or she wouldn't send us home.  She said the spleen had to come out immediately.  Again, why send us home?

Poor Brandi was falling apart.  What a HEART that darling nurse had.  She had told us that her Mom was just diagnosed with cancer for the 2nd time, so she was obviously feeling awful about that.  I asked her what her Mom's name was.  She said, "Why?"  I said, "So we can pray for her."  She leaked more tears.  Her Mom's name is Alice.  The cancer is where her uterus used to be from what I understand.

The nurse from Countrywood has texted me several times and called to talk about Jerry.  She has been such a blessing and a comfort to me.  I never would have thought she would be that way.  She is nice to Mom, but that is her job.  She hardly knows Jerry.  She does know me though from all the time I spent at Countrywood when Mom broke her arm.

Another AMAZING person and the greatest friend to me is Phylly.  Because of Jerry and ER, we never got to Mom's room to visit her yesterday.  We did call several times, and I talked to the doctor and explained about Jerry.  Just as we were leaving the ER, Phylly called.  Guess where she was after working 8 hours at her job and 3 grandkids waiting for her at home????

She was up in Mom's room checking on her because she knew we hadn't been able to.  She then walked to ER and met us there where she gave me the biggest hug and sat by my side while Jerry explained what had been said.  Today -- Saturday -- her day off --  She went to visit Mom again and called me with a report.

THANK YOU, PHYLLY!!!

SOOOOOO, that is the current status.  Jerry and I still believe in the same AWESOME God we believed in when Jerry was diagnosed with cancer in his spine five years ago, but there was never a single cancer cell found in the large tumor wrapped around his spine.  The tumor was never removed either.  God removed it.

I have Jerry wearing very baggy clothes -- no belt -- and lying on the couch to leave room for that large spleen to rest in until it is removed.  I cooked supper, but he ate only a few bites before the pain intensified.  He is drinking Ensure Plus when he gets hungry.  I'm not hungry either.  I try to eat, but nothing tastes good.
God is the same yesterday, today and forever!, and we will serve Him and trust Him no matter what the outcome.  We are, however, believing for a complete healing.  Whatever is in Jerry's spleen -- it isn't bigger than our God!

Jerry is asleep on the couch next to me, and I am in my recliner with laptop on my lap.  Every once in awhile, he wakes up and says, "Joy???"  "Are you here?"  I say, "Yes, baby", and he goes back to sleep.  I love him SO MUCH!  He is a wonderful, amazing, generous person.  So sad his own daughter chooses not to be in his life.  He doesn't deserve that AT ALL!  Other than having a personal relationship with Jesus, the greatest blessing in my life has been being Jerry's wife, and I give all the thanks and praise for that to God.  There is NO WAY he and I would ever have even met except that God somehow, made it happen.  

We wait for Monday morning. Please believe with us.

Mark 11:23 and 24 says "We can have WHAT WE SAY!"

We believe and we say: "He will not die, but live, to declare the works of the Lord!"  Ps. 118:17

Special thanks to my reader who also advised the ER.  Wish I had seen it sooner.  You were so right!

Hugs, Joy

What a Difference a Day Makes!

Good Morning!  It is Friday, 10-18-13 -- I'm pretty sure.  This week has been crazy, and yesterday was a whirlwind and the looooooooooooooooongest day.

We got a call at 5 PM Wednesday from Countrywood.  That is where Jerry's 93-year old Mom, Nida, lives in the Alzheimer's unit.  Mom had fallen AGAIN.  She falls frequently these days.  THIS TIME, however, she was hurt and she was sent to ER in an ambulance.  She has broken her shoulder and her hip -- both on the right side.

Now, this is horrible enough for an elderly person in their right mind, but for a patient that doesn't even know who she is or where she is, it is so much more difficult.  The surgeon says she probably won't even be able to go to Rehab because she won't understand the instructions.

Jerry and I slept as much as possible Wednesday night before and after calls from the hospital, and yesterday morning we loaded up everything but the kitchen sink in our two vehicles, and headed 150 miles north to the hospital. Mom had surgery on her hip at 6 PM yesterday, and she did just fine.  BUT, the day wasn't over...

My super-healthy -- never sick -- not even gas or indigestion -- husband had a pain in his right side under his rib cage.  It hurt all day and kept getting worse.  He couldn't even eat all his dinner because that made it hurt worse.  So there we were -- in the hospital cafeteria while Mom was in surgery -- and wondering if we need to rush Jerry to the ER since we are -- after all -- in a hospital.

We decide we will take him to a Doc-In-The-Box (AM/PM Clinic) after Mom is out of surgery, which we did.  There wasn't a doctor on duty, but there was a PA there.  She told Jerry she thinks it is his intestine/colon or whatever that part of one's body is.  She gave him two prescriptions for antibiotics and informed him that they may or may NOT help, and he may or may not have to go to ER or a Gastroenterologist.

He doesn't have a fever, so it seems weird to take antibiotics, and she agreed.

It is to treat some kind of bacteria that may or may NOT be there.

We have been up for about an hour this morning, and Jerry is complaining that his side hurts worse.  We looked up a doctor on the internet who just happens to be right next door to the hospital where Nida is right now.

IF we can get an appointment, we will be going there today to find out why Jerry has a pain.  Otherwise, it will be ER.





Other than all of that exciting stuff, I am about to make a new top -- wonder if they allow sewing machines in ER??? -- to go with the new necklace I made the other day.  Poor Jerry.  I didn't realize he was hurting yesterday morning, and I had him haul ALL those boxes of beads and ALL my boxes of sewing necessities down the stairs.  He didn't tell me it was hurting him to do that lifting until hours later at the hospital or I would have just left the stuff there.  Right now, it is still in his van.  We may have to hire movers to get it into this house.  (For some who may not know:  We have two business locations 150 miles apart, and because of that, we have two homes.)

I have "been there-done that" with Nida several times, and I know it will require me staying here for weeks and maybe months.  That is why I needed my projects. Especially, the Christmas gifts.

That's it for today.  I'll keep you posted.





Hugs, Joy

Beads, Wires and Dowel Rods

HELLOOOOOOOOOOOO everyone!

I haven't posted since last week, but I have been preparing to.  I've been very busy lately in a good way.  I'm working on gifts for Christmas which MAY or MAY NOT even occur for us.  Some years, our family likes us and some years they don't.  We never know what to expect.  Since it is all about Jesus anyway, we manage to get through it.  Honestly, though, we don't look forward to the holidays.  I haven't seen Jerry's daughter or her kids for 6 years -- Jerry saw her for a few hours one afternoon.  It's heart wrenching all the time, but even more during the holidays.

When our girls were growing up, we ALWAYS had big celebrations for Thanksgiving and Christmas at OUR house, and our parents were ALWAYS included.  I wouldn't have dreamed of not including them.  It was just a "given".  The world has changed so much, and not for the better.

Were my parents perfect?  No!

Was I perfect?  No!

Were our kids perfect?  No!

What does THAT have to do with it?  Christmas is about Jesus.  You come together as a family to show God how much you love HIM by loving each other, whether or not they are perfect or have never screwed up.

OKAY.  I will get off my soap box.  That one is so hard for me to stay off of.  Somehow, I keep jumping back up there every year about this time.

WHAT HAVE I BEEN DOING ALL WEEK???

I'm so glad you asked because I made a video for you to SHOW you.  A picture is worth a thousand words, as they say.  It isn't too long.  Check it out:

Aren't you EXCITED!?

I sure am.  I made a new necklace for myself today, and it was so very easy to find all the things I needed.  I grabbed each object needed for my project, brought it to my table and began the new project while watching church on the computer as we always do.

Here is a picture of my "stuff".  Notice the gold beads that look like little cages.  I had to get those white pearls INSIDE the cages.  You can see that they do NOT fit though those bars in the cage.  Yep.  A new skill I had to learn.

The first few were very hard as I flung several up at the ceiling or across the room.  The pliers kept slipping and falling out of my hand.  I didn't know if I would be able to do it or not, but I finally got the hang of it.



 It took me about 5 hours, but it is done, and it is GORGEOUS.  All of the gold is "gold-filled" and quite expensive.  Much cheaper than solid gold, however.

I'm not about to pay for solid gold unless someone out there comes up to me, looks at my necklace and faints.

The pearls aren't real either, AND, they have a hole going through them.

I finished the necklace about 30 minutes ago.  It is REALLY hard to photograph a necklace.  I am wearing a gray tee shirt with large lemon and orange slices across the chest, and the necklace just would not look right on top of it, and I was too pooped to go downstairs and put on a nice top so I could photograph the necklace.

Next best thing?

Lucy, of course.  Here she is with some of my fabric draped over her shoulders modeling my latest creation:

 This is a really clever clasp.

It is a figure "8".  It opens up like a mouth, and you put one side of the necklace in one loop and the other side in the other loop.  This necklace is actually one very long loop.

Sorry the pics aren't that clear.

Not only did I make this necklace, I made another one this week.  It took me a VERY long time to perfect this one to my satisfaction.  It is a combination of "lessons" that I have bought or watched.  I am learning so much, and it is fun.  I LOVE to learn new stuff.

This project is called "captured beads".  It is not at all like the cages with the pearls inside above.  I had to put this all together from scratch.

I really like this one!

I am going to make a top especially to go with it.

The idea was to make jewelry to match my tops.

Now, I'm making tops to match my jewelry.

I am going to use that pretty green lace SOMEHOW on the top because it is so perfect with the green beads in the necklace.

I am still working on organizing all my wires and strings.  We bought 6 different sizes of dowel rods yesterday.  Two of them work, but we haven't figured out how to put them on the wall yet.

Here is what I have, so far.  Not too attractive, but it will be when I figure out what else to do.  Maybe some paint would help.

And the trashcan holding up the spools is lovely, don't you think?

I better go check on my hubby.

He is outside with our boat in the driveway.  He is going to start the motor to see if it remembers how to run.  We hardly ever use it these days since the grand kids all grew up and don't come visit much anymore.  He wanted me to go out on the lake with him today, but I didn't want to.  I wanted to play "jewelry".  I told him if he would help me make jewelry and sew Christmas gifts that I would LOVE to join him in his hobby.  He just laughed and left.

Hugs,
Joy

God's Masterpieces and My Jewelry & Fabric

That's right!  I am God's Masterpiece, and so are you!

That is what Pastor Hagee preached this morning.  It was one of those "Thou Shalt Not Worry" sermons.  I love to hear them, but it is hard to apply.

"Worry" is just "thinking about a solution" in my personal dictionary of definitions.  And I am ALWAYS doing that.

Here are the scripture references Hagee used today:

Matthew 6:25-34 

“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. ...

Matthew 6:33-34

But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

Right now, I'm "worried" about whether or not the yard man is going to show up tomorrow -- since he didn't show up Friday -- so I can go back home to my husband.

I'm "worried" about the holidays as I am every year because our family is so shredded.  Jerry's and mine too.  You never know who will be speaking to whom, and who will not be speaking to whom, and who will ban you from their home and/or their children.  It is just NUTS, and so NOT about the real reason for Thanksgiving and Christmas.

You know what I think is the NUMBER ONE REASON for all of the family turmoil?  I know, you really don't care, but I'm going to tell you anyway.  I think it is marijuana or "pot".  All of the people in both sides of the family that we have these issues with, impart in this nasty habit.  I truly believe it destroys ambition and willpower and the ability to make right choices.  Alcohol abuse does the same thing, of course.  And now, marijuana usage isn't even illegal anymore, from what I can tell.  Unless you sell it to somebody else, I hear you are allowed to have your own supply.  I can't preach from the "It Is Illegal" soap box anymore.

And HOW ON EARTH did I get off on that subject???

What I was going to tell you is that Hagee said that there will always be someone smarter than you,
someone prettier than you,
someone richer than you, etc.

He talked about people trying to be someone else and becoming a cheap copy of that person instead of the AWESOME ORIGINAL MASTERPIECE that God has made each of us to be.

God made us each UNIQUE.  We aren't somebody else -- we are ourselves, and we need to be the best we can be at being ourselves.

And, of course, we aren't to worry.  We are to trust God to provide all of our needs.  (Philippians 4:19)

This is a gorgeous Fall Sunday afternoon.  I am about to finish my "muslin" jeans from a previously-made SFD pants pattern.  I had to narrow the waist and hips a bit, but if I don't get UP off this chair pretty soon, I will be widening them right back out!

I WAS going to make some bracelets called "Captured Bead" bracelets, but I am having a terrible time getting jump rings and beads to go together, not to mention it takes 30 minutes to make one inch of this bracelet.  Here's a pic of what I made before I decided it was just going to fall apart, and quit:

You can see how several of the jump rings are pulling apart.  That is because the beads are a tiny bit too big, and the wire rings are a tad too small.  I love the look though, so I will try again when I get back home where the rest of my jewelry supplies await me.

And here is another project.  This is a "pattern" I purchased from Craftsy.

I didn't have the same size or shape stone, so mine didn't turn out perfect enough to suit me.

Here is what it was SUPPOSE to look like.
(Pic of green stones with silver wire.)

My stones were ROUND and my wire was gold.  The HARDEST part is to make TWO that look exactly alike.  Easy to make just one.

Here are the ones I made:

One spiral is round, and the other one is oval.

I figure as long as they are hanging on the opposite side of my head, one can't see them close enough to tell, however, if I was looking at them on YOUR head, I could tell.  I'm weird that way though.

I'll try these again soon.

I can only get better, huh?

I've gotta get.  Have to finish my "muslin" jeans, and then find a jacket pattern to go with the real jeans.  I found some real pretty denim with gold blobs here and there all over it.  BEFORE I washed it, there were a bunch of black leather-look blogs here and there as well, but they are all now clogging up my dryer vent.

Hold on....

I'll run and take a picture for you of this denim.

It is SO pretty!


I'll have you know, I did everything but stand on my head to get this picture.

This stuff just does NOT want to be photographed.

What looks like light brown in this fabric is actually shiny gold.

You will have to use your imagination.

I am going to make jeans -- a jacket -- and, of course, jewelry to go with.  I better get started!

This may look good enough to go out with my fancy friends.
















Hugs, Joy

Jewelry for Gifts -- Do You Like To Receive It?

I am still in Edmond with ALL of my jewelry supplies, and some of my sewing supplies.  I have started making Christmas presents for the girls, although the entire time I am making them, I am thinking:

WHAT if they hate this?

WHAT if they don't realize the many, many hours I put into this, and they think it is junk?

WHAT if they SAY they like it so they don't hurt my feelings, but then they throw it away?

I can't remember any jewelry I have received as a gift that I really hated.  Of course, I haven't received much.

I am NOT kidding when I tell you that I have now spent over $5,000 on supplies to make jewelry.  I imagine I COULD sell some pieces in my store, but I don't really want to do that.  In THAT case, I'm not worried that people WON'T like it -- I'm worried people WILL like it, and then I'll have to make more and more and more ....  I don't want to HAVE to make it.  That would spoil all the enjoyment.

Good heavens!  I would have to charge $100 or more for each piece if you count my time making it.  I spent EIGHT hours on one silly cabachon, and since I'm still not happy with it, I will probably spend EIGHT more!

Here, I'll show you.  FIRST, let me show you what a "cabachon" is.  I never heard of one in my life until I started ordering jewelry stuff.

I ordered a COLLECTION of various-colored cabachons.  For some reason, Fire Mountain thinks "various colors" means all GREEN!  I was wearing a blouse that had green in it the other day, so I decided to TRY to make a pendant with one of these green stones.  There is NO HOLE in any of them.

I found a "pattern" on Craftsy from some lady that makes jewelry.  I paid $6 for it.  It was 48 pages long and it was titled "ADVANCED".  I looked at the picture, and it didn't look that advanced to me, so I bought it.

This is what the pendant looks like if you make it totally according to the directions:

I TRIED to make it totally perfect according to the directions
BUT
if you noticed,
my cabachons are NOT that shape.










The lady that wrote the directions mentioned that you need to be a mathematical genius if you use some other shape.

GREAT!  As if bending all that wire wasn't hard enough.

I decided the worst that could happen is I could totally screw up the wire, but the cabachon would still be okay.






EIGHT hours later, this is the cabachon pendant I came up with:

Notice how great it matches the green in that blouse I made.  That was actually the ONLY thing I liked about it.

The spirals on the bottom looked pretty good.

Look at the ORIGINAL pendant up above.  Notice the curly cues at the top of the cabachon that hold it in the frame.

I MADE curly cues, but they would not hold this stone in because my stone is a different shape.

Duh!  Guess that is where the math comes in.

I needed 4 instead of two.  I decided to take some wire and just wrap around from here to there and over there and over there.  It made kind of a star shape.  I thought it looked pretty good until I took pics of it.  I could see I had deformed the frame so it stuck out on one side and not the other.  PLUS, the wraps around the bail look HORRIBLE!

This is the BACK.

It looks good enough for a back,
but I certainly would not win any awards.

The cabachon sure wasn't going to fall out!

So today, after I made a pendant for a Christmas gift,
I decided to cut the "star" wires off and try to redo it.

I didn't do much better.

I will probably start over again tomorrow while I'm waiting for the lawn man to bring dirt for my garden.  That's always fun to wait for.













ANYWAY,
here is take two.

I cut off all the little wires, and I tried again.  This time, I ended up with 2 loops that look like hangy boobs, but I did manage to get a little spiral at the top.

One wire goes over -- then under.

One wire goes under -- then over.

I think that is why the shape is not the same.

I wrapped the bail some more, and it looks a lot better.






That project is still in the works.

It is for me, so I have the rest of my life.

Another pattern I bought turned out really cute.  It is also a pendant, but much easier.

I have made a silver one for my granddaughter,
and a gold one for my daughter.

I think they are darling, but you never know what they will think.  I am going to make myself some.

Here they are:

Need to make earrings to go with, just in case, the recipients actually like them.

I've GOT to get out of this chair, and walk or jump or something!  Too much sitting.  I can feel my butt spreading like warm butter, and it certainly doesn't need any more of that!

Hope you are enjoying FALL.  I love it!  Our brand new Sam's Club opens tomorrow, and I will be there!  Thank God, they don't sell jewelry components there!




















Hugs, Joy

Road Trip with Phylly

Phylly suggested we go to Tulsa today to buy buttons before the doors of The Cloth Merchants (TCM) close permanently, and while there were still buttons in stock.  Everything was 30% off.  We awoke to pouring down rain this morning, and I was afraid we would have to cancel.  Phylly doesn't mind driving in a downpour, however, and she wasn't about to cancel.  I am SO GLAD because we had the very best time.  The rain was over by the time we headed back home.

It looked like this or WORSE the whole way to Tulsa!  Phylly was as calm as a cucumber.  She said it comes from living in Seattle and Oregon where it rains all the time.

We left home at 9 AM.  We drove an hour and 40 minutes to TCM where we met my sister, Janice, who lives in Tulsa.  I don't get to see her very often, so it was a treat to meet her there.  Here's a pic of Phylly.  Janice asked me not to put her picture in my blog.

Here I am next to Debbie, the owner.  I'm sure she made her pretty outfit.  Notice the button boxes and fabric swatches.  I made up a bunch of 4x6 index cards with pieces of my Edmond fabrics on them.  It is sure a good thing I didn't do it when I was in Kingston.  We would have had to rent a U-Haul!!!

Here is a picture of the button wall.  You can see how many boxes we had to go through.  Phylly and I were in Button Heaven!

That is Debbie on the left.  The other two are customers that we wanted to go home so we could have ALL the buttons to ourselves!  They did leave later, and Phylly and I took their place.  It was raining, so some of the ladies had to kick their shoes off at the door, including Phylly.

It quickly became lunch time, so Janice took us to a great restaurant.  It was called "First Watch", I think.  We all had breakfast, but not just any breakfast.  The choices were wonderful.  I took a picture of Phylly's scrambled eggs on top of potatoes, onions and cheeses.  YUMMO!  Mine was kind of like that but had spinach in it.

We left the restaurant and returned to TCM where Phylly and I immediately went back to perusing buttons.  Janice went back home because she didn't want any buttons, and she had bought some patterns and fabric earlier. 

Since the buttons were between $2 and $20 each, we decided we better quit.  Actually, the really big buttons were the $20 variety, and I didn't buy any single buttons.  Phylly did though.  When it was all over, we had each spent $200 on buttons.  Crazy, huh?  Next time you see me, you better NOTICE my buttons!

I spread mine all out on the table when I got back home, and I took a picture.  I will keep the picture where I can refer to it so I might remember WHAT buttons I bought.  I left all my fabric swatches in Janice's car, so I can't match them up with those.

This is what $200 worth of 30% off buttons looks like:

Maybe they will look more exciting closer up:

Well, maybe not.  I don't know WHY they are so expensive, but I can tell you this.  You won't find ANY of them at Hancock's or JoAnn's.  And since I live in a NON-fabric-button-store town, I am DElighted to have all of these in my stash.  I hope Phylly will post pictures of her buttons in her blog.  HINT, HINT!!! 

Gotta go.  Hubby isn't feeling good.  VERY unusual.  Hope it isn't contagious.  

Hugs, Joy