Trip to Kansas City

Bob and I took a trip to Liberty, MO to visit with his daughter Jenny and her husband Stephen. They bought a house last June that we hadn't seen yet. The house is in a nice neighborhood and it fits them well. Jenny is a biology professor at William-Jewell College. Stephen is a graphic artist. Jenny wanted to map some trails at Isley Park, so we took an afternoon and did a little nature hiking there. Jenny had a GPS to map the trails, but it didn't pick up a satellite signal, so she couldn't do any mapping. We enjoyed a long hike in the beautiful woods, however. The weather was in the 70's and so perfect to be outdoors. They took me to four bead stores and we also went to a couple of real record stores to hunt for a Leonard Skynard album that Bob was looking for. Bob's best friend was Steve Gaines when they were young boys in Miami, OK. On Sunday, we went to a KC Royals baseball game. We sat in the hot sun and we all came home with a little bit of sunburn. It was a wonderful weekend! If you would like to see photos, you can go to my Shutterfly website:

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Easter & Corbin's Birthday

Bob and I had a wonderful weekend in Tulsa for Easter and Corbin's 34th birthday. We drove up on Friday and checked into the Hampton Inn hotel for the weekend. We had some dinner, then we went to Joy Lutheran Church for the Good Friday service. We had to get up early on Saturday to get to Caty's soccer game at 8 a.m. She did really well and scored a goal! The only goal that her team received. Then, we went to Carson's soccer game. The five-year-olds don't have goalies and they don't keep score. But, her team won, hands down! Bob and his brother Nick was to drive to Claremore to play golf, so I took Bob to Nick's house in Broken Arrow. I then drove to Redeemer Covenant Church for the egg hunt. I missed the hunt, but I did get a nice photo of the kids with their filled Easter baskets! Then, I met my friend Rhonda for lunch at P.F. Chang's at Utica Square. While I waited for her to arrive, I found some bargains at 40% off at the Ann Taylor store! Rhonda and I enjoyed getting caught up on each others lives. We do write emails now and then, but we had a good time looking at some photos and spending the time talking to each other. Her daughter Jaime had gotten married and I saw the pics she brought. After lunch, I went to a couple of bead stores in Tulsa. I then drove up to Nick & Sandra's. Thank goodness for the GPS in our new car! I usually have to drive on the city streets and to get from the northwestern part of Tulsa to the southeastern part of Broken Arrow, which only took me 20 minutes via the expressways. It would have taken me at least an hour on the city streets. The new expressways around the city have been built since Bob and I left Tulsa in 1996 and I'm not used to driving on them. Sandra and I had a little time to go to another bead store. I taught Sandra how to do the bead work, so she also enjoys looking at and thinking up projects for the beads. After I picked up Bob, we had just enough time to get cleaned up before meeting Corbin and his family at Joe's Crab Shack for his 34th birthday dinner. We all had a wonderful time and the kids enjoyed doing the Hokey-Pokey dance with their dad and watching him sprinkle "fairy dust" on everyone in the restaurant while we all sang "Happy Birthday" to Corbin!! The kids had a good time feeding the ducks on the pond too. We all had to get to bed early as Sunday morning came really fast. Bob and I met Corbin and his family at their church for the Easter service. After a yummy brunch with all of Christy's family at Corbin & Christy's beautiful home, Bob and I drove back home. What a wonderful and busy weekend with loved ones!

A Clear View of Downtown Dallas

When we moved to The Mondrian in November 2009, we had to look through the poles and nets of the Hank Hankey Driving Range to see the Dallas skyline. A few weeks ago, the nets and poles were removed. It took a while to get the poles removed and the last of them were pulled out and taken away this past week. We can now see the Dallas skyline with little obstruction. We don't know what will be built in this space across the street from our apartment building, but Bob and I are hoping that whatever it is, the buildings will not be too high and block our beautiful view of downtown Dallas!

From the Goodwill Store to Brand New

Today my beads have been calling me. I had several ideas in my head that I wanted to get made into new pieces of jewelry. I should be cooking soup for the Lenten soup supper at the church tonight, cleaning the apartment, exercising or doing something more useful, but I ignored what I SHOULD be doing and decided to do what I WANTED to do. I wrote earlier about buying some jewelry at the Goodwill Stores last Saturday and I wanted to make some new jewelry with the components. I used the pendant from one of the necklaces and made a necklace that I named Miss O'Flarity. When my sister and I were little, we used to dress up in Grandma's clothes, put the kitchen chairs together in a straight line, put our dolls on the chairs and we took our "train" to many unknown parts of the world. Our grandpa called us "Miss O'Flarity" and Miss "McGillicutty". For some reason this necklace looked "old" and reminded me of my Grandma Purdue and of the times when my sister and I were Miss O'Flarity and Miss McGillicutty.

The other necklace I named "Feathers & Stone". I bought this much-too-expensive long, oval Jasper bead from an online source just because I liked it. I had no idea what I wanted to make with it, but I wanted my necklace to be very special and unusual. This necklace really doesn't look anything like what I first had in mind, but I like the outcome much better than my original idea. And I certainly like the gold charms better on my necklace than on the gaudy, old, gold one!

My Goodwill Store Finds

Just like that old saying -- "One man's junk is another man's treasure." Bob and I decided to go to some Goodwill stores in the Dallas area, as I was looking for some specific items. I plotted 10 of the Goodwill area stores on a Google map and we got into the car and programmed the addresses into our GPS. At the first two stores, I really hit the jackpot! I didn't find the items I was specifically looking for, but I found some really neat jewelry that I can take apart and use the components for making my own jewelry. Also, when we had our last dinner party, one of the strong-armed men who was here, broke our wine cork screw. Last week, I priced the cork screws at Williams-Sonoma at the mall, but I didn't buy any. Today, we found and bought one of the pricier ones that I saw last week at the Williams-Sonoma store and we only paid $.99 for it as compared to $25. All in all, it was a FUN Saturday!

I was inspired by the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue!

Don, Bob's friend at work, told Bob that he had seen a TV program about the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue and how the magazine uses jewelry from small business owners for their swimsuit models and photos. Don knows that I make jewelry. I bought the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue and brought it home to look at the jewelry on the models. Bob told me that I am a "Good Wife", bringing him a girlie magazine! I am sure that he was NOT looking at the jewelry, however! I DID look at the jewelry on the models and I found a lot I liked. There was one beaded necklace that I fell in love with. I found a website with the necklace on it and it was priced at just under $10,000!!! I am definitely out of this league! I won't be making any jewelry for the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue any time soon. I saw another beaded necklace I liked on one of the models and when I looked at the website, I didn't find that particular necklace, but I did see a beaded bracelet that I liked. I decided to try to copy it. In the description, it listed the materials used. Last night after we went out to dinner, I asked Bob to take me to Michael's Crafts so I could buy the materials so I could make this bracelet. I started right in on making it when I got home and I was up way past my bedtime, but I am pleased with the results. I bought the hemp, but I already had the beads that I used to make this bracelet. I used 27 DIFFERENT kinds of beads. I was going to list them, but I will spare you. The bracelet took me nearly three hours to make and I won't be selling any of them on my Etsy website. If you MUST have one of these bracelets, contact me and we can discuss it. I won't be making any of them for FREE!

I like "Decorates"!

I am like my niece Tarah. I go for the "decorates" on the sweaters, blouses, dresses and such. My sister enjoys sewing for a hobby and when our nieces, Tarah & Chelsea, were little, Cindy made them clothes. Cindy makes clothes for the whole family. I have a drawer full of vests she has made for me -- at least one for every holiday and then some. One time she made a dress for Tarah when she was little, but Tarah said she would not wear it because it didn't have "decorates" on it. She is like me. We like the ruffles, buttons, ribbons, beads and such on our clothes. I was shopping at the mall today and I noticed that nearly every item I picked up to look at had "decorates" on it. This is a sweater at Forever 21 that I fell in love with. I love the "decorates", but not the color. I will have to get my sister to make one like it for me!