New Doll for My Doll Collection

I have a new doll to add to my doll collection. My friend Aly Goodno came over to my apartment a couple of months ago to help me put new tags on all of my jewelry. I gave her a tour of our apartment and she saw my doll collection. Aly went home to Mexico for a vacation and she brought me this beautiful doll from Queretaro. I will add this doll to my collection.

My doll collection started when I was ten years old. My grandpa Smith was a doctor and he loved to travel. The year that I was ten in 1959, Grandpa Smith went to Europe and he brought me a doll from each country that he visited. I received those dolls for Christmas that year. These dolls started my collection. I LOVE dolls! I have been adding to my collection ever since then. I don't collect any specific kind of doll. Just ones I like. Actually, I haven't bought very many of them. Friends and family give them to me. I also inherited my grandma Purdue's doll collection after she died. I have a Raggedy Ann doll that my first husband gave to me when we were dating in the 60's. And I have my Barbie & Ken dolls and all of their clothes that I played with as a child. Barbie is the second edition and Ken is the first edition. I have a Betsy McCall doll with all of her clothes. I own a doll that was purchased with Rice Krispies cereal box tops. I have many more dolls. Someone asked me how many dolls I have. I have never counted them and I couldn't even guess.

My cabinet that I keep my dolls in was also my grandpa Smith's where he used to keep his medical journals.

I still love my dolls and I plan to pass them onto my granddaughters some day if they want them.

How I Cope with Crazy Weather in Dallas

Last night we had crazy weather in the Dallas area. The sirens were going off for tornado warnings and Bob sat glued to the TV weather forecasting and watching it on his computer at the same time. He told me to put my shoes on in case we needed to run for cover in our trash closet in the parking garage. I sure was hoping we wouldn't have to do that! Too smelly in there! What I did was make new jewelry. This is how I cope with pressure and stress. I plan to go to a bead swap on Thursday night. As I went through my boxes of beads, looking for some to take to the bead swap, I decided that these turquoise beads and these two lampworked glass beads would look good for memory wire bracelets. These are the pieces of jewelry I made last night during the crazy weather in Dallas. And we didn't have to run to the smelly trash closet either!

Adjustable Cord Bracelets

When I was in the Target store the other day, I saw a display at the jewelry counter that had some adjustable cord bracelets. Since then, I have seen these bracelets in nearly every store I went into at the mall. I inspected them closely, came home and Googled "adjustable cord bracelet instructions" and VOILA! I found some very simple instructions and made these three bracelets. They were fun to make, so I plan to make more of them. They will be for sale on my website for $15 each or you can contact me if you would like to buy one of them.

Necklace with Beads from Renaissance Bead Show

I had my beads put away for over a month, as I got a bit discouraged after I was a vendor in the Uptown Trolley Stop Market and I didn't sell many items. I also lost money from the exhibit at the Clique Gallery. But, today I got inspired again! My friend Mary Kulpon, who is also a beader, and I went to the Renaissance Bead Show in Grapevine. On the left is a photo of my purchases I made at the bead show. On the right is my necklace I made from some Borosilicate azure glass teardrop beads, azure wire lace, blue glass seed beads and a sterling silver toggle clasp. This necklace will go for sale on my website - www.neeneeandcheechee.etsy.com I have a few more projects that I plan to get made this week.

Adjustable Cord Bracelet

I went to the mall today since I had the car. I LOVE to walk at the mall, window shop and look at the jewelry in particular. I get a lot of my ideas from the styles of jewelry I see in the windows when I'm doing my exercise walking at the mall and around West Village. Today I noticed a lot of these adjustable cord bracelets for sale in the stores. All of them are very simple with a minimum amount of beads on them. I came home and tried making one after looking up instructions on the Internet. Here is my first attempt at making an adjustable cord bracelet. They are a bit difficult to pull the slide by yourself, but if you have someone to help you, then you will be fine to wear one. I think I will try making some more of them. If you are interested in owning one, let me know.

Mother's Day 2011 at the Harwood 609 Jazz Club

A few weeks ago when I was walking in downtown Dallas, I walked past the Harwood 609 Jazz Club. Two men were outside chatting and they asked me if I had had lunch yet. I told them that I was on my way to meet some friends elsewhere. They motioned towards a menu board and told me the Monday through Friday lunches were $5. I looked at the menu board advertising lunch that day -- turkey, mashed potatoes, salad, dessert, etc. It sounded yummy! One of the men asked if I would like to see the inside of the club and I had a few minutes to spare, so I went inside. The jazz club is very beautiful with a large dance floor and a huge grand piano in the front. One of the men handed me a card advertising the Harwood 609 Jazz Club and I decided then and there that I MUST try it as soon as I could! The jazz club has brunches on Sunday, so I decided to get a group from church to go after a Sunday service. Seven of us from Emanuel Lutheran Church went to the Harwood 609 Jazz Club today for the Mother's Day Brunch. There was a lot of food to pick from and it was all very tasty. And the jazz from the guitar and piano player was TERRIFIC! Another outing with members from the Emanuel Lutheran Church is planned for Sunday, May 29th. I can't wait! As Bob and I were walking out of the restaurant, I told Bob thank you for a nice Mother's Day brunch! He told me that he would send my son Corbin the bill!! I only had my cell phone camera to take some photos and they were taken with shaky hands, but if you would like to see the photos, here is my Shutterfly album link -- http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8EbMmLJq3aKO3w

My Favorite Photos I Have Taken

Around the year 1991, when I was living in Tulsa, OK, I read in the newspaper that a man by the name of Bill Walker was offering some photo classes. In 1985 I started taking some photo classes basically to learn how to use an SLR camera that my husband and I had bought many years prior to that, but we had never used it since we didn't know how to operate it. I talked my friend Steve King into taking this class from Bill Walker with me since he also was interested in photography. Bill's first class was on how to photograph outdoor Christmas lighting. This is one of the photos that I learned how to create. This photo was shot from the Rhema Bible College parking lot. This decorated Christmas tree was on top of a building at Rhema. I used a one second exposure and zoomed my lens at the same time. Steve and I ended up taking about two years of photo classes from Bill Walker and we learned a lot. If you would like to see more of my photos that I took while I was in those classes, here is the link -- share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8EbMmLJq3aKOqA Some of these photos were not from the class, but they are definitely some of my most favorite photos that I have taken.

I CAN HEAR YOU NOW!!

Do you notice anything different about me? Probably not. Even if you looked at me closer, I'm sure you won't see my new hearing aids. Yes, I finally got two new hearing aids today! They are very tiny and sit behind my ears with clear wires running into my ear canals. I've needed them for many years, I'm sure. While I was in the audiologist's office, and as soon as he turned them on, I heard a bird! I looked around the office expecting to see a bird flying around the room or maybe in a cage that I had missed seeing somewhere in the corner. But no! The bird was outside . . . sitting in a tree. . . across the street. . . on the other side of a glass window!! Right now EVERYTHING seems VERY LOUD! The audiologist told me that the sounds really aren't that loud. They are just audible to me now. So don't try to whisper behind my back. I CAN HEAR YOU NOW!

Linda the Song Writer

You probably never knew that I was a song writer, did you? Not many people know this about me, unless you live in Sarasota and attend the St. Paul Lutheran Church there. Our church had a once a month get together called a Coffee House. People took turns entertaining or sometimes we just played games and ate snacks. In August of 2002, I received a reminder that the Coffee House had planned to have a song writing contest. I had no intention on entering this contest until the day of the Coffee House! I had never written any songs or even THOUGHT about writing any songs! As I was driving to work that day, I was thinking about how discouraged Bob was about the cleaning company we had bought in May 2001. It was not doing well financially and Bob was really down about it. I decided to say a prayer right then and there and turn it all over to God. A tune and words just popped into my mind! It was just the craziest thing that had ever happened to me! By the time I got to work, I sat right down and wrote my words out on my computer. I hummed my tune over and over in my head so I wouldn't forget it. When I got home that evening, I picked out the tune on my old, $100 piano that I had bought in Dallas and taken with me to Sarasota. I know a little about song writing, chords and such since I played the piano and flute when I was in junior high and high school. I also took music theory then, intending at the time to teach music. I wrote the melody line to my song onto a piece of lined paper. I hadn't played the piano in a long time and I had forgotten how to actually play with my left hand. If I had the time, I'm sure I could have put chords with the melody line, but I intended to SING my song, "Say a Little Prayer to God" THAT NIGHT at the song writers show! And I did! I got up on that stage all by myself and I sang three verses of the song that I had written that day and picked out the melody with my right hand only, on the piano! I didn't win, but I was very proud of myself for doing this. I wrote two other songs after that one, but "Say a Little Prayer to God" was the winner! My dad who is a musician, helped me put chords to the song and he and his wife Susan performed with me for a church service later that year. Here are the words I wrote:

Just say a little prayer to God. He listens to what you say.
Just say a little prayer to God. He will help you through your day.

If you're having a hard time coping,
And your problems get too much to bear,
If you toss and turn and cannot sleep, but you really do care.

Just say a little prayer to God. He listens to what you say.
Just say a little prayer to God. He will help you through your day.

If you're sinking beneath life's burdens,
And you don't have time to rest.
If you're taking on all life's problems,
And you're trying to do your best.

Just say a little prayer to God. He listens to what you say.
Just say a little prayer to God. He will help you through your day.

If you're tiring by so much to do
And your days are wearing thin,
If you think there's no one there to help,
But you want to try again.

Just say a little prayer to God. He listens to what you say.
Just say a little prayer to God. He will help you through your day.

Bob & Linda's Parasailing Adventure - Aug. 2001

This is a photo of me with my friend Michelle. I met Michelle when she was 13 years old. She, her mom and her brother lived in the apartment building across the sidewalk from where Cavan and I lived in Tulsa in 1993. Whenever I went to get my mail, Michelle and her friend would be there waiting to talk to me. Michelle and I became very good friends, although there were a lot of years between us. She was like the daughter I never had. We shopped, went to movies and just hung out together. Michelle is now married with three children (and another one due in October) and they live in Minnesota. Thank goodness for email and blogs, we keep in touch with each other.

Michelle came to visit Bob and me when we lived in Sarasota in July 2001. Bob and I wouldn't let her pay for anything when she was there, so for a thank you gift, she gave us a parasailing trip! Besides my hot air balloon ride, this was one of the most exciting things I have ever done in my life! Bob and I took our trip from Anna Maria Island in August 2001. If you would like to see our photos, here is my Shutterfly link -- share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8EbMmLJq3aKOig