It Has Been One Year Now

A year ago this month, Bob's doctor told him his cholesterol numbers were out of whack and he needed to lose weight. My doctor had been telling me for the past few years that I also needed to lose weight. I was beginning to have aches and pains due to being overweight too. Instead of taking medication for his bad cholesterol, Bob had heard about "The Spectrum" by Dr. Dean Ornish, so he bought the book and we both read it and started our new LIFESTYLE CHANGE. You do not have to give up any food you like to be on this plan. You just eat that food you like less often and in less amounts. We changed from eating white pasta to wheat pasta, white rice to brown rice, limited baked goodies made with white flour and white sugar (I gave them up totally!) and we switched from white potatoes to sweet potatoes. We have been eating more vegetables, fruits and less meat. When we eat meat, it is basically chicken and fish. And of course, incorporating exercise in our day. Within a year, Bob has lost nearly 30 pounds and I have lost a little less than 20 pounds. And when Bob had his doctor visit, his cholesterol was back in line where it needs to be. Dr. Dean Ornish states that you have to make a LIFESTYLE CHANGE to lose weight. "Diets" do no good. Most people who go on "diets", end up losing weight initially, just to put it all back on and a little more besides. I believe that "The Spectrum" is the way to go. This is one "diet" that Bob and I will stick to for the rest of our lives.

Bob & Linda's Wedding - Aug. 27, 1995

In scanning my old photos, I came to the box that had Bob's and my wedding photos in it. Bob and I were married on August 27, 1995, after we had dated for only six months. The pastor asked us what was the rush. Bob told him he didn't want me to get away!

Bob and I met on February 24, 1995, at a photography collective showing at a mall in Tulsa, OK. A mutual friend of ours introduced us. Bob and I started dating a couple of weeks after we met. Bob proposed to me at lunch one Friday in April. I was a bit hesitant, but I finally said "yes" and we planned a wedding in October. On Thursday, August 24th, I was getting very anxious about the wedding and Bob asked me what I wanted to do about it. I told him that I just wanted to walk into the church and get married! No fuss, no muss! We talked to Pastor Sappenfield at Joy Lutheran Church where Bob was a member and I had been going with him since we met. Pastor Sappenfield said he hadn't printed up the bulletins yet, so we could get married that Sunday. I already bought a suit and hat and we picked up a cake on the way to church that Sunday morning. We walked into the church with our five kids and Bob's sister and two brothers who lived in Tulsa on that Sunday, and right before the Peace was shared, Bob and I were married. People who came to church that morning had no idea that they would be attending a wedding! If it looks like Bob's right eye is swollen, it is because the weekend previous we had been on a canoeing trip and it started raining. We found shelter under a tree, but little did we know, there was poison ivy on that tree! Bob got it in his eye. He told people that I socked him in the eye so I could get him to marry me! Here is the link to the Shutterfly photos -- share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8EbMmLJq3aKOG4

Redo of Aquamarine Necklace

I want to thank all of my friends who commented on what I need to do to help sell some jewelry from my website. Five friends said that I need to photograph my jewelry on a neck and against a color that I would actually wear the item with. A couple friends suggested that I use sterling silver components and findings in my jewelry. My budget doesn't allow me to use sterling silver with ALL of my jewelry, but I think I will try it on some of my more expensive pieces. I am going to start with my aquamarine necklace. I just ordered a sterling silver clasp and sterling silver daisy spacers and round spacers. I have already spent nearly $20 to make this necklace. The sterling silver pieces I ordered is another $30. So before I even add any time that it will take to remake this piece, plus the time it took to go get the beads, time on the websites ordering the beads and gas for the car, this is going to be an expensive necklace! I will remake this piece, photograph it differently and then I plan to start a new line of jewelry for my more expensive pieces. I need a name for my new line. Any suggestions? And I will need a name for this new necklace too.

Thanks for all of your help! I will keep you posted on the progress.

What is wrong with this picture?

Bob and I are having a running battle over prices of our jewelry on our NeeNee & CheeChee's Beaded Things website. He says my prices are too low and I think I have set the right price. Yes, some of the prices might be a bit low, but I don't feel justified in setting what I think are HIGH prices since we do not use sterling silver or 14k gold in our jewelry. So, I have decided to ask my viewing audience, friends and family to help us settle this battle. I have been posting new jewelry to my NeeNee & CheeChee's Beaded Things website for the past couple of weeks. When I was adding a new item this morning, I noticed that some pieces of our jewelry have over 100 views, but no buys! So why is that? This particular necklace has 144 views!! So why have people decided to view this necklace and not buy it? Here is the description and price I have listed on my website:

This 18" bronze chain has a unique bronze metal pendant that hangs another two inches below the chain. There are two bronze metal word charms, a bronze metal key and two charms made from bronze metal beads and smokey Czech crystals that hang from the pendant. The bronze chain has a bronze lobster claw clasp. $15

I would like your input please as to why people are looking at a particular necklace and not buying it. Are my prices too low that they think it is too cheap? Are my prices too high? Do the prices enter into the factor as to why they don't want to buy it? Do I need to change my description of the item?

Please send me an email or comment on Facebook or comment to this blog, as I will seriously consider your opinions. Thanks!

This Is the Day that the Lord Hath Made

This is the day that the Lord hath made. I shall rejoice and be glad in it. Psalms 118:24

Bob and I drove to Tulsa on Friday afternoon. It was terrible weather, raining most of the way going north on 75. There was even hail at one point. It was gray and cool (low 60's) when we arrived in Tulsa. Bob and I checked into the Hampton Inn hotel and we took his brother John out to dinner.

On Saturday, the weather was still gray, cool and drizzly. We thought we would have some time with Bob's daughters who were also visiting in Tulsa, but they were tied up. Bob and I went to Savoy's for breakfast. They have the biggest, yummiest cinnamon rolls I have ever had! It had been a long time since we ate one and it tasted so-o good! I have been on a mostly sugar-free diet since last July, and the icing on the cinnamon roll was way over-the-top sweet, but I ate it anyway. Since we had the day to ourselves, we decided to go see the movie, "Water for Elephants". I read the book which was wonderful and I wanted to see the movie. I highly recommend both! The movie followed the book and it was wonderful. Bob enjoyed it too. We had dinner at Genghis Grill. Bob's daughters, Jenny, Amy and Amy's husband Jonathan and three boys, Samuel, Jezreel and Daniel, came over to our hotel to visit that evening. We had just been to Bentonville, AR to visit Amy and her family, but it was good to see them again.

On Easter Sunday, I got dressed in my new pink silk blouse, skirt, pantyhose and heels and when we stepped outside to get into the car, it was raining HARD! I told Bob that I thought it was an "icky day". That brought to mind the Bible verse from Psalms 118:24 -- "This is the day that the Lord hath made. I shall rejoice and be glad in it." I was so glad to be alive, with my wonderful husband and in Tulsa with our families, regardless of the rain.

We met Corbin and his family at church for the Easter service. Corbin had gotten in the night before from a 12-day trip with Young Life in Bulgaria, building playgrounds for kids. He said there were around 30 leaders, of which he was one of them, and 200 kids. I was so proud of him! After the church service, we went to Christy's parent's house for brunch and for Christian's 3rd birthday party.

Bob and I drove back home in lots of hard rain. I was happy when we got home and so glad that we were able to enjoy our families too. Here is the link to the photos I took -- share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8EbMmLJq3aKNug

Linda's Hot Air Balloon Ride - Oct. 1991

I'm back to scanning photos to put into my Shutterfly albums. I just scanned the ones of my hot air balloon ride, so I thought I'd write about it and share my photos. This was the most exciting thing I have ever done! There is a group in Tulsa called the Down Syndrome at Tulsa (DSAT) and a friend of mine, Gary, is the president of the group. The DSAT had this hot air balloon event to raise money for the group and in October 1991, Apache Corp., where I used to work, helped sponsor this event. Gary got me a FREE ride on one of the hot air balloons! All I had to do was show up at 6 a.m. to help get the hot air balloon ready. Of course, all I did was watch and take photos. The pilot asked one of his college fraternity brothers to go on the ride also and Art, lived across the street from me. The three of us went up in the balloon and we were in the air for over two hours! We landed in a sticker bush and had to wait to be pulled out by the pilot's crew. Being first time passengers in a hot air balloon, Art and I also had to take the initiation. Here are the photos from my ride.
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Uptown Trolley Stop Market

Today I participated as a vendor in the Uptown Trolley Stop Market. I have never participated in any of these kinds of events and I have never wanted to participate in any of them, but this was in my neighborhood, so I decided to try it ONCE. Well, today just confirmed my thoughts that I have always had about these fests, markets, etc. It is a total waste of time, effort and money for the vendors. It was a gorgeous day in Dallas with a light breeze, sunny and only 73 degrees, so I didn't mind sitting outside all day long. And I got my Vitamin D for the day! Bob sat with me. He's the BEST HUBBY IN THE WHOLE WORLD!! Also, some of my friends -- Kathryn, Kem, Dennett and Mary K. -- stopped by and they bought a piece of my jewelry, so that was nice too. It was a nice day, but I won't be doing any more of these kinds of events to try to sell my jewelry.

Trip to Bentonville, AR

Bob and I hadn't seen his daughter Amy, her husband Jonathan or their boys, Samuel, Jezreel and Daniel since Christmas, so we decided we needed to take a trip to Bentonville, AR to visit them. We left late on Friday and we didn't arrive at the Marriott Hotel where we stayed in Bentonville until 12:30 a.m. Much too late for us, as we are NOT night owls! On Saturday, we moved at a snail's pace, but we finally got over to Amy & Jonathan's house around 11 a.m. We had no specific plans for the day, but Amy wanted to go to the Compton Botanical Gardens. There was a parking lot near the Compton Gardens in a beautiful wooded area with walking trails, so we decided to walk the trails leading up to the gardens. The boys, of course, wanted to take the most difficult trails and us adults wanted to stick to the easier ones. Bob took the boys and off they went to explore the difficult trails. Amy, Jonathan and I stuck to the easier trail. We had planned to meet at the entrance to the gardens. I received a call from Bob less than half an hour from the time we split up and he said the boys were tired and that they were going back to the car. We never made it to the Compton Gardens, but we had a nice walk anyway. After lunch at a Red Robin restaurant, the boys wanted to swim in the Marriott Hotel pool. We had sandwiches for dinner at their house and watched "Tron". After Bob and I said our good-byes this morning, we made the six-hour drive back to Dallas. It was a wonderful weekend and as always, way too short! If you would like to see more photos, here is my Shutterfly album link -- share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8EbMmLJq3aKNZw

New Jewelry from Beads from Tulsa Bead Show

A couple of weeks ago when Bob and I drove up to Tulsa, OK for the weekend, I took Bob's sister-in-law, Sandra, to her first bead show. I taught Sandra how to do the beading a few years ago and she also enjoys making jewelry for herself and the women in her family or for gifts. I took a photo of all of the components that I bought at the Tulsa Bead Show. A couple of the items are pieces I bought at the Michael's Craft store there, as the Michael's store here doesn't carry those pieces. Here are photos of the jewelry I created with the pieces I bought in Tulsa. I will be selling these pieces of jewelry at the Uptown Trolley Stop Market (among many other pieces I have made) on April 16th. If you are interested in one of these pieces of jewelry, send me an email and I will give you a description and price.

NeeNee & CheeChee's Beaded Things Featured on Beading Times

I received an email from Sandy at Beadpeddler on Etsy asking me if she could use one of my photos of my Tibetan Red necklace as an example for her website called Beadingtimes.com. Of course I said, "YES!" If you are interested, you can view her Beadingtimes website and my necklace as her example of using silver in the necklace to bring out the silver in the pendant at http://www.beadingtimes.com/design0411.htm

Happy Birthday to My Son Corbin!

On April 2, 1976, I spent the day walking down Broadway and shopping, near where Corbin's dad, David, and I lived in Chicago, IL. I went into a candy store and bought a huge hunk of fudge. I even rode my bicycle. David and I went out for pizza that night. About 1:30 a.m., my water broke and labor started. I called my doctor right away and he told me wait awhile until I was in transition before going to the hospital. David thought I was in transition with my first labor pain! About 6 a.m., we went to the hospital. My doctor came shortly after we arrived, then he sat in the doctor's lounge to watch Saturday cartoons. David thought he was going to have to deliver the baby himself! Corbin was born on April 3, 1976, at 11:43 a.m., weighing in at 6 pounds, 15 ounces and he was 20 inches long. Today, Corbin is a very successful petroleum engineer in Tulsa, OK. Corbin is married to Christy and they have three beautiful children -- Caty, 9; Carson, 6; and Christian who will be three in three weeks. Here is to a wonderful birthday, Corbin! And I wish you many, many more!

Clique Gallery Artist Reception

Tonight was the Clique Custom Jewelry/Fine Art reception for the artists who have their jewelry, paintings, statues and other pieces of artwork on exhibit and for sale at the gallery. There were a lot of people at the reception and I hope that Yael, the owner of Clique, sells a lot of the pieces that are for sale. (And I hope that Cindy and I sell our pieces of jewelry that are for sale at the gallery!) Four of Bob's and my friends attended the reception tonight. It was a wonderful first experience for me in the world of art exhibits! If you would like to view more photos that Bob took tonight, here is my Shutterfly link -- share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8EbMmLJq3aKNXI