Tricky Wires and Pliers

My cousin Tricia makes pretty jewelry from sea glass that she finds beach combing with her boys. My boys and I did a lot of beach combing too. My guys found me many heart shaped rocks and lots of sea glass. I still have it all. Tricia invited me to her place to make jewelry out of some of my sea glass last night.
Truthfully, I did very little except layout a design(really just copying Tricia's designs) and drill the holes. Tricia did the tricky wires and pliers parts.


Tricia will have her sea glass jewels, including bracelets, at the Holiday Show at LHS on November 14th in Lynden.


I'm excited to wear the pendants we(and I use the 'we' very loosely) made, they turned out so pretty and will remind me of good times at the beach with my guys. So many great memories.

Speaking of good memories, I just love little boys fresh from their bath wearing their jammies. Kinda made me miss those days...

It is very difficult to get a picture of Clayton and MOMO because they don't stop moving.


Tricia needs a name for her jewelry business. Any ideas?

Just Another Day

I went into my office this morning and there were body parts coming out of my desk.

People had fun asking me if I'd finally gotten myself out of the drawer. Very funny, people, funny, funny stuff.
I got things tidied up and looked to the right side of my desk where someone gave me a/the finger.

Just another day in Paradise, I mean the office, during the Halloween month.

You wouldn't believe what goes on at the museum on April Fool's Day.

Mom Job is Overrated

That's just dumb.
Every time someone says, "I don't like to complain."
Seriously, the next words out of that mouth are always a complaint. Every. single. time.

Heard it from Max this morning.
"I don't like to complain but I gotta be honest here." -Max
Uh oh.
"There are NO baked goods in this house and I don't like it." -Max
No. Don't do it.
"No, cookies from the freezer don't count." "I want fresh." -Max
Mmmmm
Too bad kiddo. Mama is on an Eat Less, Move More...

Then:
As Max pulls his smelly jersey out of the duffle bag...
"Who is the lucky one doing laundry today? MOM." -Max


I think Max should GO to school before he gets in serious trouble.

Ever Been Ghosted?

Such a nice surprise at the front door tonight. I was paying bills at the table when I heard a knock at the front door. When I answered the door I had been ghosted. A bucket of fun! It is more fun to pay bills with a jiggly light up pumpkin pen! Thank you to whoooever you may be...

Hubby worked this weekend, I had the museum open house on Friday evening. I spent a lot of the weekend scrapping, playing with paper, and finishing projects. I finished the paper bag album that we made at our family reunion at Silver Lake and worked on some Christmas gifts.

Max was recovering from the flu. He had returned to school but was still wheezing and coughing and feeling a bit puny. You know it's bad when Max loses 7 pounds in less than a week. If Max isn't eating there is something wrong.

Sam called this morning. He spent sometime in the sick bay with strep throat. When he told me I immediately visualized him laying in a hospital bed, sunlight streaming through a window and a pretty nurse with her hand on his forehead.

Apparently, that is not how it is in the U.S. Army. He was happy to get back to the barracks. Also, had the gas mask drill this week. I can't imagine that with strep throat. Inspite of being feeling sick he still, "really likes it." He has met some great guys and they have devotions every night. I am so thankful things are going well for Sam.

I am ready for everyone to feel better. Hope Hubby doesn't get it...

Groovy Flowers

Jodi, Paula, Becky and I started our day of scrap and snack with a field trip to Paper Zone and Stampadoodle in Bellingham. Fun, but so not the same without TOM. Then we went back to my place and got busy.
Paula and Becky brought show and tell pumpkins. They carved the night before and those pumpkins were cute.

I brought in guest designer, Julie. We were missing TOM so it was nice to see a TOM girl. I had seen these groovy flowers on Julie's blog and LoVeD them. She graciously led us in a tutorial. I have no pictures of Julie, we were sidetracked by the flowers and the snacks were just coming out of the oven.
Paula used a flower on a page. Cute stuff!

I made tags. So, if you invite me over for dinner I'll write a snappy little thanks and tie it to a bottle of wine as a hostess gift.

This tag has black velvet leaves and is so pretty that you may want to call me as soon as possible to invite me for dinner.

Paula brought make and takes for everyone and we all made several notebooks.

The flowers and tags were a little obsession with me and I never did actually scrap a single page. Maybe next time. Kathi stopped by to say hello and made some flowers too.

A Sisters' Scrap and Snack

My sisters and I are having a scrap and snack today. We have a field trip planned, projects to finish and snacks to munch. We plan to go into the evening. I made some artichoke dip and this Fall Mix.

Fall Snack Mix

1 box of peanut butter Ritz
1 bag of mini-pretzels, any shape
1 large can of peanuts (really you can use any nut variety)
1 bag of m&ms
1 bag of candy corn
1/2 c. light corn syrup
1/2 c. butter
2 T. vanilla extract
1 t. baking soda
1 c. sugar
In a very large, sprayed roasting pan, mix together the pretzels, crackers, and peanuts.


In a medium saucepan, mix together the sugar, butter and corn syrup. Over medium heat, bring to a boil, stirring constantly for 5 minutes.

Remove the mixture from the heat and add the baking soda and vanilla. Pour the hot mixture over the pretzel mix and stir to coat everything. It globs a bit.


Bake in a 250 degree oven for 30 minutes, stirring every 15. Pour contents onto wax paper immediately upon removal from oven. Let it cool for just a few minutes, and then start breaking apart the pieces that are stuck together. Some pieces stay stuck together and that is fine.
Let it cool completely. Put into a container, like a lotsa bowl, and add in the m&ms and candy corn (when the mix is cooled). Mix together with your hands. Keep in an airtight container.

Weiner! Weiner! Chicken dinner! Yep, I won again! I commented here, not even knowing it was a contest, on a post involving one of my past students, Becca and her sis, Kris. Love those girls and their esty shop.