Aug 31 - Pretty Little Flowers

It's not a new hobby, just kind of blends in with my earring making. Pretty little flowers caught my attention on YouTube and thought I needed to try it before I went to bed. Instant addiction! The first video I watched demonstrated using glue but my glue was thrown out a couple of weeks ago after it leaked all over the place. Then I found another video but it was in Spanish. Needless to say, language is not a barrier in love nor in arts. Here are my new flowers made solely of wire and fingernail polish:

 

Actually, the leaves on the one flower were made with clear fingernail polish because I didn't have any green fingernail polish. Dollar Tree isn't open at almost midnight so I used permanent marker. It worked. the flowers are pretty rough looking but can you imagine what they will look like after I make a hundred of them. There are some pretty beautiful necklaces, earrings, and displays made with these delicate flowers. Here's the site I learned how to make them: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NUy6QAl4fU

 

Now I am going to bed. Tomorrow night the centers will be glued on using the beads I have on hand. Wow, what fun!!!

Aug 30 - Walls around United States

Looks like we have a lot to look forward to in the United States. A wall between US and Mexico, a wall between US and Canada... We're going to have to put walls on every shoreline too when you think about it. Kind of reminds me of Germany's wall. Was it to keep people in or out? China's wall, on the other hand, has become a great tourist attraction. One of the quotes on Wisconsin presidential candidate Walker wanting a wall between United States and Canada was pretty good "

Franksta 2 hours ago

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Scott Walker is not very smart, but every once in a while he does something that you would have thought was far beyond his cognitive capacity, like when a horse does simple arithmetic problems by tapping his hoof" http://news.yahoo.com/walker-says-wall-canadian-border-worth-reviewing-132533027.html;_ylt=A0LEVykkYONVkWMAaNyl87UF;_ylu=X3oDMTEyZ3AyZXY3BGNvbG8DYmYxBHBvcwMxBHZ0aWQDQjA4NDdfMQRzZWMDc2M-

 

Granted the purpose of the wall makes sense but does it, you know for security reasons (terrorism) ? We would have to put walls around everything. Maybe we should build a prison for those who a want to build these walls. They can feel safe and sound within those walls and not have to worry about illegal immigrants, etc. Isolation is not the answer. People get weird when they become isolated and become even more paranoid. Maybe United States should think of doing something in cooperation with Mexico to make life better for Mexicans so they want to stay in their country. Of course, that could sound like a possible war situation, which is probably some politician's idea already but he hasn't said it yet.

 

Again, Walker changed his mind about something and what will happen if he got into office? "Walker, at one point, echoed Trump's call for ending birthright citizenship, but later said he's against any such repeal." (same source as above)

 

My apologies to my nephew, I wasn't going to pick on his governor anymore but it's hard not to do when it's so easy to do.

 

Time to work on my earrings. Made about 30 pair last night and have about 20 more to put together. Pretty soon I'm going to have to make more beads. Love going from making beads, designing the earrings, and then putting them together. All putzy stuff that keeps me entertained!

Aug 28 - Really Cool Email

One of the things I've learned while writing my blog is that if you read a blog or a book and write to the author, they respond. I was so moved by the audiobook I completed today that I wrote to the author. The book is "The Great War of Our Time" by Michael Morell. Realizing you can't believe everything you read, I put my faith in God when I read this book. He is going to lead me to where I need to be. I believe Michael Morell is a good, honest man and that he told truths while he was serving his country. Someday, I will shake his hand and give him a Minnesota hug - this will probably happen when we meet in heaven. Even though the book was not pleasant to read and I surely wanted to keep my rose-colored glasses on, I read the book and many of the chapters were repeated. Mr. Morell responded to my email and I'm glad that he was able to keep a sense of humor and not darkened by the knowledge he had had. Again Mr. Morell, thank you for the work you did.

Ironically, the person who I did trust was Michele Bachman but after reading Morell's book and her jumping on the bandwagon without truly listening to him, my opinion of her has changed. It appears that she, along with others, had already formed their opinions about Mr. Morell and it probably wouldn't have mattered what he said. United States was very fortunate to have Mr. Morell serve in the different capacities that he di.

Now I'm reading on Mark Antony and another book on Cicero. However, I don't think either one of them would respond to me. It would be really neat if I could spend some time with Cleopatra though!

Aug 25 - Fall Weather and a New Pair of Earrings

We are having fall-like weather this week. The nights are cool and the days are warm. The trees should have beautiful color this year if this keeps up. Next week we're supposed to have temps in the 80s again but I would prefer today's weather. Kind of feels like we are in Colorado, not in Minnesota. Was surprised by the amount of birds flying south already - or they appear to be flying south. Besides geese and ducks, there have been a number of smaller birds flying in large, very large, flocks. Last night, there was a flock of birds in our little apple trees and on the lawn. It was kind of funny to watch them because they would fly in as a group, leave as a group, and then fly in again. They did this for a while. Must be a lot of insects in the grass. You can tell the peregrines aren't around!

Still listening to the audiobook on Al-Qaida. ISIS is a part of them but not because ISIS uses a lot of different tactics and does not have the intelligence of Al-Qaida. ISIS depends on rogue terrorism a great deal. I was learning about the one person in ISIS who has been training others in his field to make weapons that are basically invisible to dogs and security equipment. The terrorist on the French train was captured by some fast-acting people otherwise that scene could have been a lot different. From what I am learning, there will be a lot more people killed in numbers of 1 to 100 rather than large groups like 9-11. I'm probably getting some facts confused here but it doesn't make a difference which group it is, terrorism is just that, terrorism. Maybe we need to start watching YouTube videos on terrorism to know how terrorists are going to act. Mom always said know your enemy. She also said be friends with them too so that you are prepared but I know I don't want a terrorist as my friend.

When talking about watching the videos promoting terrorism sounds like a bad idea, I remember watching a video on adults committing sexual crimes against children. By watching the video, we learned signs to watch for to protect children. Think the same principal can be used. Being proactive instead of reactive has its benefits.

Last night about ten pairs of beads got matched with other components. Going to do the same thing tonight and then tomorrow night, I'll be able to assemble some earrings again. Have only about 40 pairs of earrings done and on hand because I've given so many away. November craft show isn't far away so the earrings aren't going to be given away any more for a while. Have my stock pile too to give to my parish jewelry sale coming up.

Have to admit I love the newest pair of earrings I made tonight. Couldn't wait to show them off...

Considering the main bead is made out of paper and not a composite, I think they're pretty neat!

Aug 22 - Last week's trip photos

These are the earrings I wore today. Sure like how fabric beads look with crystals.

Had such a good time with my brother, his wife, and their son last week. Was able to spend time with my other brother, my nephew's wife, son, and his mother-in-law too. We get along so well. My sister's son went home on Tuesday. Parting is such sweet sorrow and I've always hoped he would move back to Minnesota but California has his heart (maybe someday he will find "the one").

Here's photos from last Saturday and Sunday. Sometime when the sun is out, I would like to go back to the garden and take some more photos. These are all from my cell phone so they aren't the best but still worth keeping. Can you believe I forgot my camera at home!

Aug 20 - Shout Out to North Korea - Kim Jong-un Fearful of Citizens Hearing the Truth?

Wow, North Korea taking action against South Korea for South Korea playing propaganda (which I believe is truth, not falsehoods). Kim Jon-un must be afraid of his people hearing the truth. That could be the only reason for the retaliation of the North against the South Korean broadcasts. He's definitely afraid of people believing that the South is correct; otherwise why bother. I thought he was going to be a good leader instead he is full of himself and not caring for his countrymen. Jong-un is going to go down in history but not in a good light. Someday North Koreans will know and understand that there is more to life than what they have. To live in terror is not something I want in my life. If I lived in some other country, I could be facing some other fate than my current outlook. Glad to be an American. http://news.yahoo.com/south-korea-fires-tens-artillery-rounds-north-korea-084136508.html#

Speaking of being an American, I'm still reading (audiobook) on the CIA. I've decided that whoever is the next president needs to have experience in foreign matters. which excludes Scott Walker. In fact, I wonder if Scott Walker even understands United States and its different cultures and people. Sad to think about it but Hillary Clinton would be a much better choice. She's proactive when it comes to foreign matters and experienced! http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/scott-walker-foreign-policy_55abd414e4b0d2ded39f3fd7  A quote from the link "Walker's foreign policy miscues included a statement earlier this year that his fight against the unions in Wisconsin had girded him for the battle against Islamic State." How can anyone compare the unions to ISIS????

Will be working on my earrings later tonight. Might have a photo later. Made these earrings the other night and now they belong to my sister:

My sister and I both agree the bead reminds us of Russian stacking dolls, matryoshka dolls. Years, and I mean years ago, one of my bosses went to Russia and brought back me a set of dolls. I still have them and value them as much as I did back then.

Aug 19 - Viewers

The one thing I look at everyday is where my readers are located. To me, I find it fascinating to have someone living in a place where I've never been or probably ever will be, reading my blog. If it wasn't for Donna, this would not have happened. Without Donna and her earrings, there would not have been a blog.

Here's were my readers are from this week: (Might just post a new screenshot every time there's a new country).

Vacation helped me be more tired so off to bed I go.

Aug 18 - New Readers: Moldova and Slovakia

Kind of scary when I knew where both of these countries were without looking them up. Knew it without the information I've learned on my blog. Must have been paying attention somewhere along the line. Typically, I would do an egg recipe from the countries, which I will try to do but it won't happen until this weekend. Lots going on in the next couple weeks with company coming and going back to work from my time off.

Did you see the aurora borealis that was taken from the space station? The article said it was a once in a lifetime event to see the aurora borealis but I've seen it often. More often as a kid than as an adult and less often over the last ten or so years. What I've seen isn't as pretty as the photos you can find online but still it's a spectacular sight. https://www.yahoo.com/travel/you-have-to-watch-this-amazing-video-of-the-aurora-126955632987.html

Contemplating starting a business selling my earrings. Don't want to make it work so it is something that I will think about thoroughly. Love making the paper beads and putting them together to form earrings. Here are a couple that were finished within the last few minutes (tomorrow's outfit is the same colors so there may be another photo tomorrow.

The cell phone does not take good photos but you can kind of see the colors.

Aug 17 - Family

Spent the weekend on the road with my family. The heat was pretty intolerable especially with the high humidity so a road trip was nice. Much of the time was traveling from one destination to another. All along the way the scenery was beautiful. My camera is somewhere mixed in the with my nephew's stuff so I forgot to bring it with me. Thank goodness for cell phones so I was able to get a few photos.

Tomorrow is another big day with lots of "stuff" going on. Glad the week will only be three days long and then we have Labor Day right around the corner.

Going to keep this short tonight.

Aug 12 - First Reader from Nepal

Had my first reader from Nepal, which means time for an egg recipe. Found two recipes but think I can only make one of them. The first recipe is a "Nepalese Scrambled Egg" - great recipe but crappy photo http://allrecipes.com/recipe/nepalese-scrambled-eggs/; like the idea of fried red onions. The other recipe was the one I would really like to make but it calls for mustard oil. It took a lot of mustard oil to make the pickled egg but it looks like a winner https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kWcKBIo5a4 Might have to look for mustard oil when I go to Minneapolis this week.

When I was looking up Nepal, the CIA's website came up https://www.cia.gov/index.html . That was interesting in itself. Will have to explore this site another time. Ironically, I'm listening to an audio book written by someone who used to work for the CIA. The book I'm reading is pretty interesting and scary. The title is "The Great War of Our Time: The CIA's Fight Against Terrorism From al' Qa'ida to ISIS" by Michael Morell. Thought I needed to know more about "religious" terrorism since I figure someday my life will come to an end when I'm beheaded for not "wearing the mark." At least, I hope that I stand for my faith and not fall.

Spent a couple of hours tonight sorting the beads that I had made the last two weeks. Felt bad about the beads that I wrecked last week. There are so many single beads left that I like that are left from that batch. Will have to figure out what I am going to do with them. Got my jewelry making suitcase all packed and ready for my trip!!!

Aug 11 - Celebration?

Today would have been my wedding anniversary of 42 years; instead it was my divorce anniversary of 14 years. Time flies. I would have never divorced my husband and would have remained by his side through whatever came our way. Instead, I asked for a divorce because of him fooling around once too often. Yet, if he would have said "let's try making it work one more time", I would have given him that time. It would have been part of my marriage vows to forgive, move on, and improve. Didn't work that way. Now the celebration of living life without the verbal abuse is in its 14th year. Finally feel like I did when I was younger, even thought physically my body feels much older. I can't wait to see what's around the corner in the next couple of years. Had I not gotten the divorce, I wouldn't be where I am now. Don't get me wrong, because of my beliefs in marriage, I would have preferred staying married if effort had been made to keep it a marriage. I miss my son, his wife, and my grandsons. That is the worst part of the divorce. Even though I wasn't the betraying my vows, my son leans towards his father. Guess that what mom meant when she said the sons leave the house and the daughters remain. In heaven, I will have my time with my son and his family.

Haven't been posting lately but have been working on creating paper beads and make the process better. When putting on the varnish, a sponge brush is used. It's so slick to roll the paper bead over it (while it's on the toothpick). About 15 minutes later, it is dry and has to be loosened from the toothpick. This is done at least a couple more times to get a nice solid bead. Tomorrow night the beads will get matched up and ready for earring making.

Going to be spending time with my brother and his wife again and guess what my sister-in-law and I are going to do...Yes, the obvious answer is make earrings and you are correct on that. Will enjoy my vacation time from work with the two of them. Good times coming!!!

Aug 6 - European Visitors

"European Union laws require you (me) to give European Union visitors information about cookies used on your (my) blog. In many cases, these laws also require you (me) to obtain consent.

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You (me) are responsible for confirming this notice actually works for your blog, and that it displays. If you (me) employ other cookies, for example by adding third party features, this notice may not work for you (me). Learn more about this notice and your responsibilities." Quote from Blogger.com

Well, I don't use cookies, however, I'll warn you that some of the websites that I post could use cookies. Guess I'll add a disclaimer that cookies are not always good for health, that is of your computer. I looked on my blog but Blogger.com didn't put any such notice on my blog. The only thing I do is watch where viewers are reading my blog. It also tells me what kind of system is used and the browser. It doesn't tell me anything else. I do not know where you live, how old you are, what sex you are, what nationality you are, etc. It just says that I have 1 Portugal view, 3 US viewers, 1 Vietnam reader, 2 Russian readers, etc. Knowing where my readers are located helps me keep doing this blog; otherwise I'd be just talking to myself and I do enough of that already.

Since I'm in the United States, I wonder how European Union laws can affect me. I'm not under the European Union laws. If someone doesn't want to read my blog, they don't read it. Big brother is everywhere anyway.

Aug 4 - Mistake on Bead Making

Got bored tonight and wanted to speed up the varnishing of my paper beads. Learned the hard way that shortcuts are sometimes not the answer. So I dipped my beads into the varnish instead of brushing the varnish on the beads. Hey, it looked great especially after I wiped up the excess varnish with a brush. Only wanted them to dry a little while to make sure the beads would come off the toothpicks. Guess I waited too long. Lost about 1/3 of the beads because they came apart. Had to pull so hard and ripped them to pieces or they wouldn't come off at all. Wasn't worth the time and effort and I lost a lot of beads. Out of the whole group there may only be 10 to 12 pairs left. Bummer and lesson learned.

Now that I'm looking at the beads, I lost about 67% of them. Darn, some of the ones that got wrecked were the ones I really wanted.

Aug 2 - Family Day

We were going to go to a play today but played instead. Went for a road trip. It was so hot out that the birds were pretty much in hiding. Did see a couple of sand cranes fly in but they disappeared between the bushes between the road and the pond. Saw a lot of monarch butterflies hanging out in the milkweed. Milkweed is making a nice comeback in the area. I can remember as a child, milkweed was everywhere. It was a cool plant because of the "milk" that came out of it when you broke a leaf off or broke them stem. Back then we didn't know monarchs needed milkweed.

The day was just great. Now next weekend my nephew (sister's son) comes home for a couple of weeks. Our family is going to meet at a place we all have to drive to but it's a central location. That way he gets to see everyone that is able to come. He hasn't been home for a couple of years so it will be good to get a hug from him.

Worked on some paper earrings made from scrapbook paper. After I spent time trying to roll the paper into beads, I realized magazine paper was much easier to roll plus the beads are prettier.

Today's paper bead start

The other thing that I like about the beads made out of magazines is that they aren't as stripped as the scrapbook paper. Compare the two and you'll be able to see the difference - the beads below have more of a geometric design to them and it would be difficult to make four identical beads.

Aug 1 - First reader from Isreal - How about Skshuka Eggs?

http://toriavey.com/toris-kitchen/2010/07/summer-2010-travel-blog-shakshuka/  At Tori's website, I found not only the recipe for shakshuka but also a restaurant that looks like I want to be there to try everything in it...Dr Shakshuka's in Israel. When you first look at the photos of the restaurant, you might think it's not a good place to eat but look closely at the floor and look how clean it is! I'd love to eat here and try their shakshuka. I think it's pretty close, if not identical, to another egg recipe from a different country that I posted not long ago. Just last week, I opened my container of cumin and wondered what I was going to use it in and now I know. Looked at the price of eggs today. You can buy eggs at the local grocery store for $3.69 or you can buy them at a local convenience store for $1.29. The convenience store is family and employee owned. I'm not worried about the eggs from them at all because they go through so many of them.

Isn't it kind of ironic that we hear about the killing of Cecil six weeks after it happened and yet today, within hours we hear of the killing of his brother. Wonder why it took so long to hear the story about Cecil. And why with all of the publicity, did someone poach his brother. At least now Zimbabwe has stopped all big game hunting. However, according to a news report, many people there make their living from legal big game hunts. They are limited by their resources for what they can do. Vicious cycle.

Today gave me the opportunity to make some more paper beads. It wasn't as fun as it was when I was at my brother and his wife's making them. Even though it is something one person does, it's nice to have conversation while making them.

Doesn't it look like a birthday cake?

Going to start putting new earrings away without wearing them. That way I can decide later what to do with them. Still going to give the majority away but I think I want to start wearing Donna's Diamoniques again.

These are fabric earrings made from some Oriental-looking fabric. Got my Silhoutte's sheets today but the glue on them doesn't hold fabric together. Too light weight so now I'll have to go to Michael's, Hobby Lobby, and JoAnn Fabrics to get the small sheets on sale. Need to find a place that I can order them and not pay an arm and a leg for them. Going to check out Dick Blick's to see if the product they sell might be less expensive than the other places - plus I can save 18% by ordering online. It's typically less expensive to order online than to drive 80 to 100 miles.

July 31 - Big Game Hunting - Bet you Palmer would like

Arnold Schartzenegger wants the killing of big cats stopped. Id' like to see married men keep their marriage vows. Arnold has a much better chance of his wish. I wish a "hero" like him wouldn't have cheated on his wife. This story about the poaching will die down quickly. There's so much poaching going on in the United States but very little is done. I'd like to see Betty White and Bob Barker stand up against poachers in the United States. On another thought swan killing is illegal in one state but legal in another. By the way, you can kill lions in Zimbabwe if you do it legally. If Palmer had killed the lion legally, you wouldn't have heard this story. Don't get me wrong, poaching is poaching and it should be illegal. Also, I don't approve of big game hunting. http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/cecil-lions-killer-walter-palmer-contacts-authorities-n402081 Most people would like to have a chance to live one day over to do it the right way. I wonder if Palmer would have not killed the lion or if he would have also killed an elephant on that day.

On a side note, I'd like to see Zimbabwe make female genital mutilation illegal. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prevalence_of_female_genital_mutilation_by_country#Zimbabwe

Today's earrings

July 30 - Planned Parenthood

Gave little thought to Planned Parenthood until the July 30 after watching the video from the Post Bulletin in Rochester MN. So many families are already so torn apart and values discarded. The State representative from Rochester is lucky her mother didn't abort her. Remember Michael Crichton's book about the suspended bodies kept alive for parts? Now we have baby parts and experimenting with fetuses. Wouldn't you think PETA would be in the front line on this??? They protect animals but not their own kind?  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPfE5yOgh20

http://kimt.com/2015/07/28/abortion-issue-hits-rochester/

Today's earrings