Mama's Got a Brand New Bag!

Cindy and I decided we needed matching tee shirts with our logos on them for our Jewelry Yard Sale that we had in Illinois last week. We tried to get her husband to do them for us, but he did not find the time. So, I decided to try putting the photos on the transfers myself, while figuring out how to use Cindy's Mac Computer. I got the photo of Cindy and me when we were about three and four years old with our first cat, Cassyput, on the tee shirts. I ran out of time to put our logo on the backs of the tee shirts, however. I also bought a bag and today I put the logo and photo on it. I'm carrying it with me everywhere I go!

CheeChee's Jewelry

When I was in Illinois last week, I photographed Cindy's (a.k.a. CheeChee) jewelry for the NeeNee & CheeChee's Beaded Things website. All of her jewelry used to be with my jewelry when we had our own personal website, but her jewelry had not been featured on the Etsy website. I added a few of her pieces of jewelry to the Etsy website today. Very soon, I will add other pieces of hers and some of my new pieces with the beads I bought on my trip to Illinois. So, keep your eyes glued to www.neeneeandcheechee.etsy.com for the new items. And you still have three more days for the Buy One, Get One Free offer.

Fabric Bracelets - Louis Vuitton Copy

Would you like to own a Louis Vuitton knock off bracelet? It can be yours for only $15 and not the $185 that Louis Vuitton charges. The $15 bracelet is a NeeNee & CheeChee's Beaded Things bracelet. Much nicer, less money! You choose the colors of fabric and the charms (provided I can find them). Let me know your order!

2010 Art "Works" for Transplantation Contest

On June 8th, I asked all of my friends and family to "think positive thoughts", say prayers and to wish that my sister wins the 2010 Gallery of Hope art contest so she could fly free to Dallas for the National Learning Congress (NLC 2010) and have the distinction of winning. She received an email today from the HRM Group that judged the artwork. Unfortunately, Cindy did not win. She is still planning to fly out for the NLC 2010, however. She wants to see all of the artwork that will be shown in the Gallery of Hope. The contest took place in Denver at the Division of Transplantation NLC Faculty Meeting on June 10th and 11th. A painting by Cindy Christian Rogers, a transplant recipient from Maple Grove, MN was selected as the winner. I plan to attend the NLC 2010 with Bob, Cindy and hopefully DeWayne and Michael, and if I can, I will take a photo of the winning piece of artwork and include it in a blog. Thank you all for your prayers and positive thinking that my sister win the contest. She is still A WINNER TO ME!!!

The Inspiration Cafe in Chicago

Last Sunday when I was in Illinois visiting friends and family, I got to experience helping out at the Inspiration Cafe in Chicago. The Inspiration Cafe is a place that feeds the homeless three meals a day. Cindy's husband Mike is in a group that goes to prepare Sunday breakfast once a month. Cindy, her son Eric and her granddaughter Saffron, help out also. I met some wonderful people while I was there. You can see a YouTube video on the Inspiration Cafe at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3AOzj7mVNQ&feature=email

Jewelry Yard Sale in Illinois

NeeNee & CheeChee, a.k.a. Linda & Cindy, decided to have a jewelry yard sale when I was in Illinois visiting last week. Cindy's husband's (Mike) ex-wife and her husband live a few blocks from Cindy & Mike and they live on a busier street, so that is where we held our jewelry yard sale. We did no advertising, but we did post a couple of signs at the ends of the street. I sold over $270 and Cindy sold close to that. She sent out an email to some of her friends in the area who came and a friend of mine also came. Lots of people stopped by to look at our jewelry. Cindy and I were shocked that we made so many sales! It was FUN! I photographed all of Cindy's jewelry that was left over and they will be added to the NeeNee & CheeChee's Beaded Things Etsy website soon.

Making Resin Beads

When Cindy and I were at the Milwaukee Bead Show, I found some Ice Resin, used for making jewelry. For a long time I wanted to try this product. We put the Ice Resin on fabric shapes, stamps and princess stickers. It has to dry for a few days, so I will blog more on this when we get back from southern IL.

Milwaukee Bead Show

On Saturday June 12th, I flew to Milwaukee to meet my sister and to go to the biggest consumer bead show in the world. It was definitely overwhelming with over 1200 vendors! Cindy and I decided to start at one side of the Midwest Airline Center and walk up and down the aisles to view all of the vendors. I had also made a list of my favorite vendors that I wanted to visit. After walking and shopping for three hours and getting about 1/3 of the way through, we needed to take a break and have some lunch. Then, we decided to hunt for the remaining vendors whom we had not seen that were on my list. Of course by then, we were tired and out of money. Here is a photo of some of the beads I bought. I will be posting photos of the items I make with these items.

The Parrot Necklace

In my Thursday, May 20th blog, I wrote that DeWayne, who lives in FL, sent me a box of beads that he found at a garage sale. In that box, there were 14 of these wonderful bone pendants and Mother-of-Pearl buttons. I got inspired yesterday to make this necklace using those bone pendants and the buttons. I thought it needed just one more "extra touch" and I remembered the brass parrots that my sister sent me. I added the parrot and the oriental coin that I thought gave the necklace that "extra touch" it needed. I had intended to put this on my website for sale, but I like it too much and might have to keep this one. :-)

THINK POSITIVE THOUGHTS!!!

On Thursday June 10th and Friday June 11th, I want EVERYONE to THINK POSITIVE THOUGHTS that my sister Cindy will win first place when the artwork is judged for the National Learning Congress 2010. This event for the recipients of organs received through LifeQuest and the donor families will take place on November 3rd and 4th this year in Grapevine, TX. There will be a Gallery of Hope of original pieces of artwork displayed at the National Learning Congress 2010 (NLC2010). My sister painted this watercolor painting with Cavan, the two organ recipients, DeWayne & Michael, and me in it to be displayed in the Gallery of Hope. The first place winner of the original artwork will be flown in for the NLC2010. The winning artwork will be displayed on all Donation and Transplantation Community of Practice document headers, signs, meeting materials, medal of honor medals and certificates and displayed in the Gallery of Hope at the conference. So, PLEASE think POSITIVE THOUGHTS that Cindy will win!! Thank you!

Peace, Love & Flowers

On Tuesday May 18th, I blogged about a friendship bracelet I made that has peace symbols and silver flower beads on it. When I went to the Renaissance Bead Show in Grapevine, I saw this yellow peace symbol and I thought that would make a great pendant on a necklace to match my bracelet. This will be for sale on my Etsy website, providing I don't sell it in IL at the jewelry yard sale or to family and friends we will be seeing there.

Triangles Times Three

This is one of my beading projects that I was going to take to Illinois with me to make when I'm visiting my sister. I got bored today, so I decided to get out the beads and make this necklace. I bought the blue triangle dichroic pendant at a bead shop in Tulsa. I decided to buy some triangle connectors and a triangle toggle clasp to complete my necklace. This will be for sale on my website, providing I don't sell it in Illinois. Cindy and I plan to have a jewelry yard sale and we also plan to sell our jewelry to the female family members.

Menopause The Musical

A couple of girlfriends and I went to see Menopause The Musical at the Majestic Theater this afternoon. It was hilarious to say the least! Since March 2001, Menopause The Musical has entertained and inspired women from coast-to-coast and internationally. Menopause The Musical is the work of writer Jeanie Linders. This uplifting 90-minute production includes parodies from the ‘60s and ‘70s and ‘80s. It culminates with a salute to women who are experiencing The Change.

Set in a department store, where four women with seemingly nothing in common but a black lace bra meet by chance at a lingerie sale. The all-female cast makes fun of their woeful hot flashes, forgetfulness, mood swings, wrinkles, night sweats and chocolate binges. A sisterhood is created between these diverse women as they realize that menopause is no longer The Silent Passage! It is a stage in every woman’s life that is perfectly normal!

Menopause The Musical has entertained audiences across the country in more than 250 U.S. cities as well as internationally in Australia, Canada, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea and United Kingdom. Women of all ages and stages find their spirits lifted by the show’s light-hearted look at menopause. It is estimated that nearly 11 million women in 14 countries have attended a performance since the show’s opening in Orlando, Florida, in 2001.

Menopause The Musical encourages a healthy dialogue about issues of aging and women’s health and provides a unique opportunity to raise awareness with female audiences. Recognizing the show’s great potential to engage and educate women on health issues, writer and producer, Jeanie Linders, took the show on the road as Menopause The Musical Out Loud™: Breaking The Silence Of Ovarian Cancer. The 2005 – 2006 tour raised nearly $500,000 for ovarian cancer research and awareness. The 2008 – 2009 awareness tour visited more than 50 cities on the cross-country tour. A portion of the proceeds are slated for local and regional ovarian cancer chapters across the U.S. to raise awareness and educate women about ovarian cancer.

For all of you women out there, if you haven't seen Menopause The Musical yet, find out when it is playing in your city and don't miss it!

Curried Chicken Salad with a Story

In VA on August 24, 1991, my best friend Cathy Cornman, was married to Clayton Hill. I flew out for her wedding, as I had known Cathy since I was 13. My family moved to Springfield, IL from Lovington, IL when I was in seventh grade. The counselor at the school introduced me to Cathy (probably because we both played the flute) and we became inseparable throughout high school and beyond. When I was in VA for Cathy's wedding, I had some free time to shop at Tyson's Corner. I went into the Neiman Marcus store and there was a lady who was introducing her new cookbook. She had samples from her recipes for the customers. I tried her Curried Chicken Salad with Grapes that was delicious! I was going to buy her cookbook, but I didn't buy it at that time. I wrote the name of the cookbook and her name on a piece of paper and put it into my wallet. I carried that in my wallet for nearly 10 years. When I lived in Dallas around 2000, I went into a Corner Bakery and ate some of their chicken salad, which reminded me of the chicken salad I had sampled at the Neiman Marcus store in VA. I decided that I wanted to buy the cookbook after all. I looked and looked for that cookbook, but I didn't find it. I tried Amazon.com and I found out that the cookbook, "Picnics" by Marilyn Myers, was no longer in print. Amazon.com said they could hunt for the book I wanted if I wanted to pay whatever price it was. They found the book and I paid around $25 for it. So far, I have only made the curried chicken recipe from the cookbook, but I have passed along the recipe to many friends and I have used the recipe many times, so it was well worth the money I paid for the cookbook. Here is the recipe:

Curried Chicken Salad with Grapes

4 boned chicken breasts, cooked and cut into pieces
1/4 cup slivered almonds, toasted
1/2 cup good quality mayonnaise
3 Tbsp. whipping cream (I use nonfat milk)
1/2 teaspoon curry powder -- I use a Madras curry powder from a Middle Eastern grocery store
Salt
2/3 cup seedless grapes

Mix the mayonnaise, whipping cream (milk) and curry powder in a cup. Pour over and mix with the chicken, almonds and grapes. This is good on croissant rolls or just alone as a salad. Enjoy!