Mountain Girl Silver - Hand-Stamped Customized Silver Jewelry - Portland, Oregon

I’m probably one of the most excited people to be saying HASTA to 2008. I’m hoping that this new year will bring many things…..  The list is long, especially the personal growth one. I have many things to work on…… The business growth is already in place and growing beyond what I ever expected. And I’ve just been riding the train with it,, leaving my personal self and soul on the back-burner. Completely fixated on my daily doings, things that MUST get done, neglecting my husband, my kids, and more importantly myself. A good friend of mine, and someone I turn to often for business advice told me this past year that those are “growing pains”, and it’s how you handle them is what determines if you are REALLY successful. Thank you Richard ;c)  …   It’s one of my new years resolutions to really put to use the great advice. I started touching on it this year, but 2009 is going to be a totally different story. I can’t thank my sister, Daneen, enough for helping me with the workload this year. She has been the best, so quick to learn the trade and the artistry, and the business part…. the invoicing, the communication with customers.. Awesome.  And my friend, Heather. Always greeting me each and everyday with a smile (most of the time..ha) when I drop off or pick up the day’s load. Her work ethic and devotion to MGS is well….  all I can say is that I’m DAMN LUCKY to have her… as an employee AND a friend.  And my parents… always there for me… thru thick and thin… Always there, right behind me giving me that supportive shove when I feel like giving up. And to Muggs…. my little sister, my little sister that I look UP to. My biggest cheerleader, always there to listen to my gripes and my stories. I love you…   And….. to Eric….  this is going to be a NEW YEAR for us especially. I miss us,, I miss you…  I hope we can come together and get into that groove again…  we can get there together, with the grace of God, more kindness, less tension,  we can do it.  And to my kids, you aren’t going to read this or anything,, but just know as I’m typing this, you are both in the room driving me to absolute distraction, but I love you both, you are an inspiration to be a better mommy, and I’m really going to try this new year to soak up every minute of your childhood and to not let a minute go unnoticed.  And lastly to GOD…  My spirituality has been sorely neglected…  when all along, you have been right there carrying me along, and me taking it all for granted. Without YOU, nothing matters….. 

Happy New Year!!!  I’m open armed and waiting for a great year….. a life changing year!!!

Really…… all of Portland, Oregon, and the outlying metro areas are just bewildered by the mad amounts of snow we’ve been dumped. They are saying that it hasn’t snowed this much in a given week since 1968.  Crazy. If you read past blogs, you’ll see that I clearly state that one of my Christmas wishes was to get snow and to have a white Christmas……… well… I’m blessed, and my wish came true.  The kids (AND Loosha, pictured)  have been having a hay day playing endless hours outside. Sledding, building snowmen, drinking pepsi slushies (for you Muggs) and just having a grand time with their little rosey cheeks and runny noses.  My parents, on the other hand, are sitting here looking at us like,, “Okay,, is it EVER going to stop snowing?”  And I’m just laughing my ass off at my dad that didn’t bring any other shoes besides his sneakers that he got at the Goodwill for 25 cents……..   I managed to get out today and finished some last minute shopping. At this point I’m convinced that most, if not all of my customers got their orders that ordered up till the 12th.  I’ve had quite a few phone calls today and yesterday, and anticipate getting some more tomorrow with inquiries as to where there orders are. And thank GOD I began shipping with track n’ confirm with the USPS this year…. because I can actually TRACK and CONFIRM where the orders are….   Whereas before, I’d send them out the door with the proper stamps, and just hope n’ pray that they made it….  Evolution of business. 

On a more personal note…..   Day before yesterday, my sister and business partner, Daneen found a lump in her left breast.  Coming from a family where cancer runs like water, stuff like this isn’t taken lightly, and we all have been a little edgy and worried for her. So she went to the doctor yesterday and was immediately given an appt for a mammogram and an ultrasound. That was today at 2pm. After the technician was done with the exam, she told Neen that she was going to get the doctor. Now, when someone just exams your breasts and then tells you that they are going to get the doctor,,, and the doc comes in 5 mins later,,,, you KNOW that that HAS to be the LONGEST 5 flippen minutes in the history of minutes…..  Well the doc came in and re-examined her breasts and told her, and relieved all our worry by saying that they were indeed just cysts.  THANK YOU JESUS!!!!  Best Christmas gift anyone could ever ask for……. Can I get an “AMEN” ???   ha ha I don’t know what I would do if either of my sisters fell ill…..   new subject…….

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve. I’ve got most of my wrapping done, but now am sitting here thinking “Where in the world did I stash THAT gift??”  I’ve got so many nook n’ crannies in this house, that I can honestly say that I’ve misplaced a couple of gifts, and know not where to even start looking for them.  I know they are somewhere…….   And I’m sure I’ll find them tomorrow once I go on a gift hunt. The crapper, is that my husbands Christmas gift never arrived. I’m sure it’s floating around the area somewhere, but there’s no way that a truck could make it to my house. Mail was actually cancelled yesterday and today due to road conditions. So….  the only thing I could do for him at this point, is to print up a picture of it, throw it in an envelope, and wrap it and throw it under the tree.   I’m sure there are a lot of people in my shoes right now. I-84 has been shut down for like three days now for cryin’ outloud…. so there isn’t much that’s coming from the east coast to the west coast (specifically Portland).  I just hope that it makes it sometime w/in the next month.   ;c) 

I wish you all a Merry Christmas, and wish you all reflect and have  that moment during these next few days when you really stop and think about what it is we are all celebrating. So many people celebrate “Christmas” (as it is a world-wide tradition)  but the REASON for the celebration is the birth of Jesus……..    People just didn’t up and say,, “Hey,, let’s have a holiday called Christmas…”….    There is indeed a reason……    Peace and goodwill!!!  Gnite….

Welp,, all the pending orders from up till the 12th are out the door …. a.k.a.  OTD..  I promised that orders placed up until the 12th would be in the hands of the recipients by Christmas Eve…..   I shouldn’t say “PROMISE”,, but I said, “To ensure timely delivery”..  Well, there have been things w/in the last week that I’ve sent just right across the river to Oregon City that haven’t even made it there…… and we’re talking, as the crow flies, about 1000 yards…. so I dunno. I’m sure I’ll get bombarded with calls on Christmas Eve, as I always do.  Those are the phone calls that I love. As I don’t know what the heck to say. I guess all I can say is that we have done what we can do, and have put the power in the hands of the United States Postal Service and GOD to get them where they need to be. Priority shipping to anywhere in the continental United States is 2 to 3 days.. MAX…   and we have sent them out SIX days earlier, just to be on the safe side.  Needless to say, I’m sittin on pins and needles, and I know Neener is too.  The waiting game and the tap tap tapping of the fingers, just hoping that everything makes it to it’s rightful destination on time………….

So today was theeeeee  ummmmm  6th day of the “POTENTIALLY” three week Christmas vacation for my kids. I find myself snapping at them over the littlest of things, which makes me feel totally guilty. Anders even said to me today after a fit of rage (me), “Gosh mom,, why do you have to be so ugly?”..  ”Ugly” is a term I use quite frequently when someone is acting nasty or bratty.  So not only is he picking up my lingo, but he’s also calling me out on my glorious mood swings during this ARCTIC BLAST!!!  Today was the first day I decided to get them the hell out of the house. Being the CRAZY person that I am, I opted to volunteer to take Maggie’s class rabbit, Harvey, home for Christmas break. Cute little rabbit. So we get him home, in his cage, and place him in the perfect spot underneath the sofa table behind the sofa. Nice n’ secure, perfect fit.  Well,, then we let out our Weim/Lab mix dog, Loosha, and you have never seen a more eager dog want to snap the neck of a small helpless creature. She was shaking and paw up in a pointing position when she figured out what exactly was in the cage. We were sitting at the dining room table eating lunch, and let me just say that Loosha is like the most begging dog when it comes to food. But we were throwing french fries at her (which she would typically jump 5 feet in the air for on any other day) and she was so fixated on Harvey, that the fries landed and sat on the ground untouched. WILD!!  SO,,, needless to say, Harvey’s cage has been moved up to Maggies room, behind closed doors, and it’s going to take a family effort to make sure that Lu Lu is in HER crate if Harvey is OUT of his crate. Just what I needed.  I did manage to get my Christmas cards out this morning. I wish I would’ve taken a video of my husband licking the envelopes last night. I think the grand total was 80 cards……….   reminded me of that Seinfeld episode, where George’s girlfriend dies from envelope licking poisoning…….   “She licked too many envelopes!!”….   ha (not funny)

So back to the SNOW DAYS….   it’s been flurry’ing off and on all day, but there isn’t anything sticking to the ground. My folks left California this morning and they are on their way here. They are stopping somewheres near Sacramento for the night at some casino, and then heading up here tomorrow the rest of the way. I’d assume they’d be rolling in around 5pm tomorrow. Gosh darnit,, I wish they’d somehow preserve an In N Out burger for me. I’d even take a frozen one right about now…  Nuke it,, tomatoes, lettuce and all…   yummy!!

I need to get down to the basement to get in the deep freezer and get some chicken out for tonight’s dinner before I forget…….     But at the rate we’re going,, we might be eating RABBIT!!   (not funny)

Okay okay okay,,, yes,,,, I was BEGGING for it to snow…. and it did. I got one of my Christmas wishes early, but now we shall suffer staying at home all blessed week!! It’s something like 21 degrees outside this morning, very gusty winds, blowing snow all around, but the sky is blue and clear. Portland Metro area is a very “hilly” area, so even if the highways and the freeways are clear of snow and ice, the surrounding roads (MY road) is not clear, and very iced over. Yesterday when it started snowing, I told Eric he better get his booty to the store and get all the necessities. He came home with all the stuff for stew, which I whipped up in the crock pot yesterday…. yummy.  But now it is Monday (and as I’m typing this, I’m watching a local news station, and this dude is saying that it’s going to snow again on Wed… 1 to 4 inches.  The mere thought of being homebound for a week really isn’t something I need right now. That means that the mailman won’t be able to get to my house, which means orders won’t be able to get out….. UGH…  I guess I just might have to start up the MGS vehicle (my 1970 VW Beetle) and hit the road to at least get the disks and the cuffs down to Heather so that she can polish, as well as taking the finished, ready-to-ship orders down to the post office. UGH!!!  So if you don’t get your orders before Christmas (those placed up to the 12th), then it’s ReALLy not my fault ;c)  Thank the ARCTIC BLAST 2008…… This city shuts right down when there is snow…..  which, is totally funny to me. Where I grew up, in the Sierra Nevadas, school didn’t get cancelled unless it snowed more than 5 feet on any given night. I remember times when we would have to dig our way out of our house,,, let alone the car and shovel the sidewalk. “Come on kids, time to get all bundled up and go shovel off the roof so it won’t cave in”….My poor poor parents.  Called my mom yesterday when it started snowing here and she told me that it was supposed to snow where they live, and I said,, “Oh,, see you’re lucky too!!”.. and she started bitching and moaning about it. She hates the snow,, and now I can rightfully see why.

Mt. Hood looks gorgeous this morning tho’….. It is white all the way down to the base and then some…  I will be stamping the 12th today and will be finishing up a few more cuffs. Glad I stocked up on supplies, because had I not, no UPS man or USPS man would be getting to my hilly street today anyways….  And if anyone decides to come down our hill and hit our fence again this year,,,, you’re going to see my husband literally beat the crap out of them. Every year,, never fails,,, some idiot will come piling down the hill that T-bones our house,, and BAMMMMMM  right into our fence (which has been rebuilt, ohhhh, I dunno, like 6 times in the last three  years)….   We’re starting to laugh about it anymore….. sort of…

Today was NUTZ!!  I hate to admit this,,, but I didn’t get out of my pajamas (nor did Maggie), up until I took a shower about 20 mins ago,, and it’s 4:45pm….  N I C E… I know I know. That’s one of the beauties of working from home…. don’t need to get all foo foo and frilly to get stuff done. But I didn’t leave the house all day either. I sat fixated on the task at hand…..  tackled the 10th today. Got it all done. AND… my wire shipment came in… so that is a beautiful thing… so tomorrow will be cuffs cuffs cuffs.  If you are reading this, and you have a pending cuff order,,, it WILL get stamped and done tomorrow!! ;c)  Such a relief. My UPS man, Sean, what a guy. I think he’s read more “pleading” notes on my gate than anyone he’s ever served. Today’s note was,,, “SEAN….  I AM here…. I’m just down below in my workshop, so POUND on the door, as I NEED that wire!!!”  Fortunately Loosha, our dog, is the barking kind when there is a knock at the door, and it cracks me up that Sean is STILL scared of her… She’s still a puppy and barks at her own farts.  Needless to say… all is good, wire is here, and stamping will resume. I don’t know what the final count was today. I know my sister Neen got all of her orders stamped today and they are drying. I will be dropping off today’s load with Heather here shortly, and then WE are going out to dinner to celebrate the holiday cutoff. Now…. a part of me really wants to get all crazy and let caution fly with the wind and like dance on top of the bar,,, but I know that I have much work to accomplish tomorrow,, so I will keep myself in check tonight. Dinner, a possible cocktail or two, a run to home delay for grinding bits for my dremel and homebound and bedbound. 

Just may have to hop in the hot tub tho’ when I get home,,, because my right shoulder feels like it’s been lit on fire. Slap on a heat patch,, and hit the hay. I don’t know WHY I don’t just break down and schedule a massage. Lord knows I need one.  Next week fersherr!!

They are calling for snow this weekend. I stacked the porch with wood last night in anticipation of the cold. They say that an ARCTIC BLAST is headed our way via Canada. Typical airstream from Canada gets stopped by the Rocky Mountains… but this weekend, it’s supposed to blow right over the top…. Fine by me. There is nothing I love more that to be sitting inside my living room, on the couch, with a roaring fire in the stove, a crockpot full of chili or stew, cornbread in the oven and the snow falling from the sky. Watching the flakes, and following that ONE flake from as high as my eyes can focus, alllllll the wayyyyyy down to the ground… Takes me back to my childhood. Smiling at the thought. TGIF… hope you all have a safe and happy one… CHEERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I swear…. it’s this week every year that I sit here and contemplate,,,, “MAN,,,, I think I need to be on some sort of medication!!”… Pictured to the right was a pic I took last Friday I believe of the days worth of work I did in a very small window.   Such a feeling of accomplishment to get soooo much stuff done in one sitting. Currently I’m waiting on a shipment of cuff wire, as I have like 30 cuffs pending, and sadly, NO wire. Had to mark my Klassy Key Chains “Sold out” because my lovely supplier of those opted not to stock up (for whatever reason) for the holiday season… ehem… lame…   But don’t get me started on those people. But tomorrow is my deadline for Christmas. You know… I get all worked up the first week of November, in anticipation of the huge rush, and this year has proved to be no different. So here I am, a day away from putting the “closed” sign up, and diligently working to get all orders done that have come in up till now, and get them out the door for Christmas…..  unfortunately,, once they leave OUR hands,,, the USPS has them, and what they do with them, and in what timely manner they deal with them is sooooo not in our control. We can only hope for the best, expect the worst and cross our fingers and pray that they get to their destination on time. I love the phone calls of the people who I have promised they will get their orders on time, and then they don’t show, but the orders had gone out WAY in advance w/ plenty of time for shipping and they still don’t show. It’s like,,, it makes me want to start up my own shipping business. Maybe call it “GUARANTEED GOODS”….  You win some you lose some. I’m a human being, with only two hands, ten fingers, two shoulders, two kids, a high energy dog, a messy house, and I can only do what I can do. I mean,, I’m not trying to invite you to a “pity party”,, but seriously,,, this time of year I feel like Wonderwoman.. and I know Neen and Heather do too. We eat, breathe and sleep silver for 8 weeks straight. And I can tell you that we are VERY excited that tomorrow is drawing near. That’s not to say that we are totally done stamping,, as we still have to catch up from the orders, but incoming orders after midnight tomorrow won’t get done until after the holidays,,,, UNLESS I’m suffering “Holiday Rush Letdown”… (which is prone to happen),, and then maybe I can whip them up.  MAYBE ;c)  

Ebay happens to be my best friend at the moment. I don’t get much time to shop this time of year, and all those people that call me in like Sept or October with orders for Christmas… those people are my heroes. I mean,, why wait until the last minute to do your shopping? I’m a loser in that regard. But here and there I’ll hop online and have the gifts shipped to ME…  it’s a beautiful thing indeed…  I need to get my Christmas cards out the door. Finally got done with the infamous family letter, but now I need to sit down and get all the addresses and whatnot, and buy the stamps. It will be a miracle if those get out in due time. And… I REALLY wanted to bake this year. My mom and dad are coming up here for Christmas, and I know my mom will be my biggest cheerleader when I say I want to bake some goodies. They will be up here on the 19th or 20th.. I CAN’T WAIT to have them here,, in my house, with my kids, staring at my Christmas tree and drinking many adult bevvies and reminiscing about old times. This is going to be one of those Christmases that go down in the memory bank…………one I will cherish for the rest of my life. 

So I hope that whomever is reading this, is all caught up on their holiday “to do” list. I’m wayyyyyy at the top still. But I finally feel like I’m in the holiday spirit….. as there is a light at the end of the tunnel. I love what I do, and I love creating silver gifts for everyone who wants them. And I LOVE sitting there on Christmas morning, as I’m opening my gifts, but also thinking about alllll the gifts that we have made for so many people that are being touched by our artistry at that very second. I wonder if people are just smiling ear to ear from what they received. It really does make me feel good…. The thought of the mom receiving her first “mommy” necklace, the grandmother getting her charm bracelet with 14 disks on it….. it’s a good good feeling.

But another good feeling is the feeling I get when I can turn that “Open” sign to “Closed” tomorrow at midnight….  that is a good feeling. For at that moment, I can turn focus away from the business, and turn my attention towards what is most important, my family…   My family who has painstakingly supported me thru these daunting hours and days of such hard work. I THANK YOU!!

   At this point, the move is OFF!!!  And some people might ridicule us and tell us what a deal we’re letting sift through our fingers, but we have both come to understand that this move is all about the kids, and not us. Financially, it would be a risky move. Who’s buying houses right now? Who’s spending any money period?? Not many.  Soooooo, considering all the many factors and weighing all the pros and cons of our existing home here and the potential home there, the list of pros here outweighs the pros over there.  Granted, it’s an awesome piece of property, but both of us are not very “wowed” by the house itself. Needs too much work to make it work.  And the work wouldn’t get done until our home here actually sold.  UGH…   it’s bittersweet. I guess if the kids were a tad older, it would be a no brainer. If they were a little more independent and a little more responsible, it would be easier to send them outside w/ no boundaries. But while they are this young, and so heavily involved in the many things you are involved in when you’re a wee lad, it just makes sense to stay put, or stay close(r) to town.  Calculating the driving we’d have to do, just for the day to day necessities, is really really scary. Do I drive into town to drop Maggers off at school, and then drive all the way home to work? Only to turn right around in like 45 mins to drive another 20 to pick her up, then head back home which would be another 20 mins….??    I dunno… I know there are people out there that driving is one of the things that that they just have to do in order function in their lifestyle. The poor people that commute from suburbs of cities an hour to get into work, and an hour back home. That’s how I grew up, but since I’ve become a “city mouse” (some people ehem would argue that I’m totally NOT a city mouse) well…. I’ve grown accustomed to just running up the hill, a mere 4 minutes in the car, to the grocery store, or the pet store, or the bank, or Fourbucks (starbucks).  I mean, I can visualize living out of town on property when the kids are older, but it took getting into flippen contracts and home/pool/septic inspections, and potentially losing our earnest money, to realize that we might not be cut out for country living quite yet in our lives.

It’s all good, because it’s made us realize that the kids are what’s most important in all of this. Our kids, (4 and 7) would be totally secluded from other kids. And trust me,, we’ve driven out there and around the community out there scouting out play structures and swing sets and bikes in the driveway enough to know that there aren’t that many. It would definitely give my two kids room to grow closer to each other, as that is all that they would have, and that’s all that I really had as a kid, were my sisters, but, well, but,, well,, we’re just not going to do that to them quite yet. Geesh I sound so wishy-washy…and that I don’t totally appreciate the way I was raised….. I do.. I totally wouldn’t be who I am today had I not been raised in the mountains and just with my sisters…….  Times are different…. point blank.. 

Enough of this…..  it’s been such a consuming thought in our lives lately…..

On a festive note…. put on the old Clark Griswold hat yesterday and busted out all the Christmas lights. House, from the street, is looking more dapper than ever. When we got married in the Sierra Nevada’s of California, we opted to give out sequoia seedlings to our guests as our ‘favors’ …  i.e. plant the tree of love sort of mentality…. yadda yadda cheesy yadda….  But the tree pictured here all lit up is in our front yard, and it is one of our seedlings from that day. Has travelled from central California, all the way down to San Diego, back up to Seattle, to our rental in Lake Oswego, OR, and now here to our house in West Linn, and I’ve transplanted it into the ground each and everytime we’ve moved.  We’ve been here 6 years, and in those six years, it’s grown 12 feet. 3 and 1/2 feet in the last year. Thriving…..   and so I look at that tree, and take comfort, as if that tree is thriving here, then maybe we can just rest easy here and thrive right along with it……..   for now…….   and when we do move,,, I’ll pay whatever fee it takes to uproot it and move it along with us!!!