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

I’ve always thought of myself as a total opportunist…  Being a rebellious child under my parents wasn’t easy… always trying to find a way to either convince them, bribe them, treat them like crap until they caved, essentially doing whatever I found effective to get what I wanted. I distinctly remember my dad calling me a “con artist” when I was around 12 or 13. I didn’t know what the hell that meant. I thought, at the time, that it meant I was crafty and cool, and he admired me for something I guess…  Afterall, artists are cool right??  ha   Okay, so there has been soooooooooooooo much deliberation and arguing and fighting and total chaos in my life and in my house these last few weeks. Bought a house, faced with moving, other house has no workshop (yet), which obviously leaves me feeling a tad full of anxiety. Unfortunately I can’t just stamp and make jewelry off the tailgate of a truck or a kitchen counter for that matter. I need my space. My space has to be good. It has to have natural light, it has to be opened to the world outside, it has to have outlets and stuff so that I can blare my music so loud that the dudes next door mowing the grass can hear it thru their ear muffs.  Now typing this, I have the totally wrong idea about how I want my workshop. I’ve got an opportunity in front of me that, now in retrospect, is going to allow me to mold and create my workshop from scratch!!  I need to seriously start thinking about drafting up some pictures or something. Maybe a disco ball… I don’t know.. I don’t know how much time I’ll have.  Anyways, back to my original thought here.   So my husband has continuously told me over and over and over , NO, WE CANNOT GET ANOTHER CAT OR KITTEN IN THIS HOUSE!!  With no real good reason mind you….  it’d be different if he was severely allergic to the dander or whatever and a cat would put him in the hospital. But that’s so not the case.   I’m a cat person… yep.. I’m a crazy cat person that talks to her cats and like kisses their faces, and calls them nicknames and all that crazy cat lady crap…  The stigma of a crazy cat lady bothers me actually….  but as I grow older, I’m learning to accept the crazy things that I really am, and just roll with it.  You’ll never see me tho’, with more than sayyyyyy  8 cats. That might be too much. I currently have three…  Choppy (my fourth) recently ran away or something, or got eaten by something..I dunno.. I miss him and all, but he was sketchy from the get go. I guess I should’ve taken the hint when I went to go pick him out at a horse stable like place out in Estacada, Or and when I decided that he was the one (out of ohhhh, ummm about 200 cats running around) he took off and ran out into the horse stable dodge-ing horse hooves like he was dodge-ing traffic or something in Manhattan..   And at that moment, I thought ahhhh maybe I should pick another one… but not me.. when I have my heart set on something.. I totally stick to my guns.  Rest in Peace Choppy….  I still miss you and your goopy eyes and scabby head..  

So yesterday, I had an uncontrollable urge to check craigslist and the classifieds for kittens. I do it from time to time when I’ve finished the crossword puzzle and I’m sitting there at the table with my husband trying to look smart and interested in the daily news..(which I could give two craps about)…  But on Craigslist I found that the first ad was for a litter of Manx kittens. Daneen has a manx, and we had a manx as kids, but he (Gumby) got eaten by a coyote and that was the end of that.  My love for cats probably stems from the fact that my dad LOATHED dogs, and we never had a dog as kids…  beside the point. So I read this ad and like a lightbulb goes off.  I’ve recently found a new sense of self, and thought to myself, “self, why don’t you just do it!! Just do it… get a kitten… you want a kitten… you’ve wanted a kitten for a long time now, so just get yourself and the kids a kitten”..  which might not be the wisest decision or the most responsible decision at this time in my life with everything else that is going on…. but nonetheless, when it comes to cats, I’ve never really shown or exhibited in anyway a restraint.   So I emailed the gal on craigslist to see if she had any photos. And can I just say, that if you’re going to post a post on craigslist…  people only like to open the ones that say “pic” next to it. So if you really want to sell your stuff to people like me who buy stuff, then post a pic for cryin’ outloud!!   In her email she claimed that she didn’t know how to work her digital camera and that I’d have to wait until her husband got home so that he could upload them, which could’ve been wayyyyy into the evening.  I clearly couldn’t wait that long. So I emailed her back and said,, “Don’t you have a camera on your cell phone?”  and she writes back and says,, “I don’t own a cell phone”…  and I was like… okayyyyyyyyyy..  But God love her, she figured out how to take a picture and uploaded them flawlessly, and sent them off to me. Little does she know, her determination to conquer the camera fiasco helped with my determination…    I finally called her after she gave me her number, and when I made it perfectly clear (with my crazy cat lady voice) that I was serious, she emailed me her address and we agreed to meet at 10am this morning…

Kids and hubby are still asleep. We have to be up there in La Center, Washington at 10am. It’s roughly a 45 min drive from here.  Backing up a bit tho’, hubby heard my crazy cat lady voice when he turned the corner after coming upstairs from the basement and after I hung up he says to me, “What are you doing??”  Not in a mean way, but in a tone that hasn’t really settled with me lately. I looked at him, and said, “Give me ONE good reason why we can’t get a kitten?”  ”If you can give me a legitimate reason why I shouldn’t do this…..”…   He stared at the ground for a second or two, and then looked at me with pursed lips and a defeated demeanor and said,, “I can’t give you a good reason..”    SUCCESS!!!  

Maggie just hobbled downstairs, you can hear her coming down the stairs every morning long before her feet hit the floor because of her jingly, rattly-like, stuffed lovey she’s had since birth. Typically she turns the corner here on the couch and moans and groans and the demands start flying out of her mouth like saucers..  but she just came around here this very second and says with a smile, “We get to get a kitten todayyyyyyyyyyyy”    And now she’s currently on the floor with Trotter (our oldest cat) telling him that he’s  going to have good reason to piss everywhere now…   in her own sweet 4 year old words of course.   Soooo   as a family, we are going to forget about house A , house B, chores, stamping, attitudes for a few hours, and as a family, we’re headed up to Washington to pick out and bring home a manx kitten….    They are a different breed. Not like a foo foo breed. I printed out, from a Manx website last night, and highlighted this and handed it to my hubby when he was sitting here in the living room feeling totally defeated…..  and I quote..

“Manx are sometimes called a man’s cat. If you are a dog lover, the Manx is a good cat to purchase. They are more dog-like in their behavior than any other cat we know. You can teach them to fetch, they usually love rides in the car (truck drivers love them as companions), and they are drawn to water like a duck. They are easily leash trained and you can teach them to come by name or with a whistle. Loyal and people-oriented, most Manx are also easily reprimanded and learn the “no” command quickly”……   

I’m so excited……    With all the other things going on in our life.. all the friction, all the decisions, all the nasty remarks, I think I’ve got him convinced that a kitten is EXACTLY what this family needs right now. Secretly I know he knows I’m right….   for once ;c)

If you happen to have someone that you know in your life that has died of cancer, or currently has cancer, fighting cancer…….even someone who has fought cancer and WON the battle, like our friend Gage Dole here (pictured to the right)… then you know exactly where I’m coming from right now.  You can read about his whole battle here at http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/gage  …   He’s a trooper man.  Just read today’s journal entry, and it has left me feeling so … I dunno… I don’t even know and can’t even pinpoint a word for how it has left me feeling. Just hopeless really. Hopeless and grateful. But typing “grateful” makes me feel selfish…. Before we moved to West Linn, we lived in Lake Oswego, and Gage and my Anders were little buddies. They played in the park, we had mutual friends, we had birthday parties, playdates, just hanging out. But then we moved to West Linn, and when you move, (even just a few miles), it feels like a thousand miles……  distance grows. It’s just the way it is……     Long story short…….   Gage was diagnosed with Ewings Sarcoma when, I believe, the boys were 4 years old.  Ewings is a pretty rare form of cancer in which masses grow on the spinal cord.  Gage had surgery to remove what mass they could remove w/out getting too close, and then went thru chemo therapy, and proton therapy (they flew and lived in Boston for the best treatment possible for him). Beat Ewings with flying colors. Gage was in remission.  Shortly thereafter, they discovered that he had AML, which is a form of Leukemia….  Not great news. So when the community found out about the leukemia, we rallied and held a blood drive to test all local people for the possibility of finding a donor. I set up a table, sold necklaces, took custom orders and donated 100% of proceeds to the Gage Dole fund.  Seriously the LEAST I could do. Not specifically thru our blood drive did we find a donor, but through the organization which held the blood drive, a donor was found. There are so many elements (my memory is severely lacking at the exact number) in which someone could even remotely be considered a bone marrow donor, but Gage found someone.  Upon finding out, said donor flew to Seattle, did the procedure, Gage and family moved to Seattle, transplant took place, and we all held our breath.  Transplant totally successful…. by the grace of GOD….  he was (after many months and thru many hurdles) in remission from the Leukemia.. (and I hate to even capitalize the disease)…..    he was in remission.  Shortly after returning to a regular childhood…. meaning…. going to school again… frolicking in the pool, playing like a normal child plays….   they find yet another mass around his spine which was believed to be another recurrence of the FIRST cancer he had… the Ewings Sarcoma.    At this point….  you just sit there and stare at the sky and throw up your hands and just shout “WHY???”  why does this little boy have to endure such a crappy shitty hand of cards??  WHY???   In removing the mass, they had to take out part of his ribs…….   he’s in a brace…..  he’s hindered….. but still plugs along like little boys do. He’s got determination….. he’s going to beat this….    and if you read the journal, you’ll read that he was just recently diagnosed with a mass on a totally different part of his body… in his ribs.  An 8 year old boy….  dying of cancer….   Miracles do happen….  If ANYONE can beat this thing… it is GAGE DOLE….   He has overcome so many daunting things in his short life, and he continues to fight…..   But if you read the journal, you will read that every neurosurgeon is telling them the same thing….. “there is no hope”….   “what’s the point”…   His little body probably can’t handle the rigorous treatment that is necessary to kill this stuff off. They are headed to Houston to meet with an oncologist this coming week to get his point of view……   They are parents fighting for their son’s life.   And so I sit here this afternoon, after reading the journal, and Anders blows thru the door from school like he always does with the loud,, “HI MOM,, I’M HOME!!”  and all I could do was get up and run to the entry way and just hug him until he couldn’t breathe.   In life… we have trials, and we have tribulations, and we have problems, and we have hurdles, and we have shit we have to deal with…..   and sometimes we just sit there exasperated and mope and him and haw over all the crap we have to deal with, and then you read about Gage’s story, and it really puts things into perspective.  If you have healthy babies today….. be sure to give them an extra strong hug..   Notice their sweet little annoying voices tonight when you are bathing them as they piss and moan over the little things……   remember that you are blessed.  And man… if you have lost someone to cancer… especially if you’ve lost a CHILD to cancer…..  read his story.  And know that my prayers are going out to you tonight.  Life is always hard and unfair, but just remember, (and I know it’s really hard to remember in the heat of the moment), that things could always be worse… and you gotta count your blessings each and every single day…….  EVERY DAY!!!!  And if you are a person of FAITH… tonight… when you are going to bed, looking forward to your three day weekend, say a prayer for Gage Dole ,,, who happens to be fighting for his life…. fighting RIGHT NOW… this very minute … for his life.   And pray for his parents, Lauren and Trux Dole… to give them the strength and the ability to make the right decisions for Gage. As a parent, I wouldn’t even know what to do in their situation…..   PRAY!!!

Lame blog title I know… but when you are PRESSURED (muggs) to blog,, you are left with this void of creativity….  blank fields…  It’s Friday… my brain is fried anyways.  Sooooooo many things on Sooooooo many levels that I could write about. Had a fab visit with my folks. 7 days goes wayyyyy too fast when they are here. We golfed, we ate well, we laughed, we celebrated my Anders’ 8th birthday, we drank, we swore, we enjoyed awesome weather together, they got to see the new house, they approve, daddy fixed the timing on my carb on my bug, adjusted the distributor, it runs like a champ now, mom did all the laundry in the house… AND folded it, she scratched my head, we laughed some more….   it was good,, really good..   I was happy that I had something fun to do after dropping them off at the airport. …  my weekly podcast on iphone applications.  Here to the right you see me, Jen and Emily… the slutty trio.  I’d tell you the link to the podcast on itunes, but then you might go and find it and listen to it and then learn how crass and sailor-mouthed I am. Then you might not ever order jewelry from me again, and that would make me sad. Not saying I drop the “F” bomb every other word, or talk about vulgar things…. it’s just that we don’t sit there and chat about butterflies and cupcakes… It’s super fun…  I always wanted to be a radio DJ when I grew up. Never thought I’d be a jeweler….  I have a lot of fun on the air.. and the chemistry that the three of us have.. we make a damn good show.   But then I was totally pissed off when I called my folks after my show, assuming that they were already home and found out that their flight had got cancelled, they had been re-routed through Seattle, had a two hour layover there, then flew into Sacramento late, putting them at their house around Midnight…..   Could’ve killed em!! Why didn’t they call me, I’d have cancelled my show, turned around, picked them up, brought them back here, had some more laughs and one last meal, stayed one more night and they could’ve flown out the next day…    Mom…   if you ever do that again, I’ll smack ya!!!   I’d have dropped anything to have had one more night with mom n’ pops…   

Anyways,, gotta get assembling this morning…..   going out to lunch with my cousin this afternoon…. and it’s FRIDAY BABY!!  Some beers will be consumed this fine evening!!!  Have a good three day weekend!! We’ll be packing and cleaning and painting and all those sorts of things you do before you move…….   ick….

WILL BE HERE IN JUST A FEW SHORT HOURS!!!!  I know I’ve posted about their trip up here, but really, I get so flippen giddy and excited when my parents come to visit. In fact, I get giddy every time ANYONE comes to visit, but when mom and dad come, I get overly-giddy….     

I ventured off into the military, the USCG, right out of high school, and have never lived close to home since graduating high school. I guess you could say I was an adventurist as a wee lad… I just wanted OUT of my home town, AWAY from my parents, and GONE from the place that I knew. I needed to explore, I needed to roam, I needed to be free from any thumbs. And boy howdy, joining the Coast Guard, it gave me all three of those things. It wasn’t until I received my orders to Keokuk , IA after TC school in Petaluma, CA, did I realize just how far away I was going to be. I mean, I went to bootcamp in Cape May, NJ, but being in bootcamp feels like being on another planet, and quite frankly, there was no time to even miss your family, and even when you had a few spare moments to ponder your own thoughts, all I really did was think about how nice it would be to take a nap!!  Back to my point tho’…   when I got orders to the midwest, I was so naive at how much I would desperately miss my parents. I wasn’t the easiest child to raise, and fought the rules till I was blue in the face, but I realized, during my stint in Iowa, that I loved my parents so much and ached in my heart everyday because I wasn’t near them.  I see those commercials on T.V. where the soldiers from Iraq are returning and seeing their loved ones at the airport or on the dock awaiting the tie up of a ship….    those are the commercials that really hit me hard….. I know what it feels like…    The feeling you get inside when you know you’re less than 24 hours away from home port…..   it’s the most amazing sense of excitement, and it’s hard to put into words exactly how you feel at that moment when that first line is heaved over the fantail or the bow.  There is no other place on earth you’d rather be…. at that very moment.  You feel excited, you feel proud, you just feel so alive…….

And when my folks come to visit me and stay up here at my house, a similar feeling grows inside. There is a comforting calm that comes over me when they are here. All is right in the world. The anxiety I suffer from subsides, Erika can be Erika essentially….   They raised me, I moved, and now they come to see me…   I’m so pumped….  just a couple more hours….

On a funny note…  went to pick Maggie up from school today. I was one of the last parents to arrive, because I was in the office BEGGING the director to allow Maggie to do the “Nature Walk” camp this summer even tho’ she’s going to be a couple of months shy of the age requirement. I was told since the class isn’t full yet, it was probably a good chance, but she’d have to talk to the teachers running the camp.  Anyways,,, so I get down to her classroom and one of her teachers, Bri, comes out and informs me that they were in the gym earlier in the day and Maggie decided it was a good time to find out exactly what happens when that little red knob on the wall that says “FIRE” is pulled.  Curious little thing she is…    So she pulled it, and the fire drill began.  Typically, as most of you know, fire drills are always part of the day’s schedule. All the staff and faculty know about them weeks in advance so as to not be off guard.  Well no one but Maggie knew about this fire drill….. and wonkkkkk WONKKKKK WONNKKKKKK… the school was in complete chaos,, everyone headed outdoors in their respective places…    Now in retrospect, it was probably a good idea for it to happen, to see how the teachers would react in a real situation, not having the luxury of knowing about it… ha ha ha ahahaha…     Walking out of the school after I picked her up, I heard a little boy tell his dad that they had a fire drill today and it was really loud and everyone was really scared, and that they had to run outside…   And all I could do was just smile and chuckle…..   Maggie Georgia…. keepin’ it real….

Enough blogging… I need to get this house straightened up before the folks get here……. I’M SOOOOOOOOOO EXCITED!!!!!!!!  wing ding ding…..

HAPPY FRIDAY PEOPLE!!!  Seriously…. I swear,,,, I woke up on MOnday morning at my usual 5:45am wake up time. It’s funny how I wake up anywhere between 5:40am and 5:47am EVERY MORNING,,,  no matter what time I go to bed the night before…  but I swear it was Monday morning and now BOOM.. it’s Friday evening..  I’m sittin here in my office, having just returned from our third walk-thru of the house we are buying. (escrow closes on the May 29th) waiting impatiently for the slew of people who will be arriving any minute now to pick up their last minute orders.  Fortunate for them, they are all local, and they were willing to come pick up their orders (having placed them yesterday ehem), and so I feel compelled to help out the local yokels..  Now,,, the folks that called me this morning from wayyyy across the country wondering if I did overnight Saturday delivery…  well.. YES,, I do in fact do Saturday overnight delivery, but what people don’t understand is the process in which it takes to hand-make a necklace. I don’t have a drawer full of already stamped disks that I rummage through just hoping that what they want exactly is just sittin in the drawer. Hand stamping and making something start to finish takes me 24hours.. step by step. Yah,, there are ways to speed up the process for an emergency.. but my girlfriend, Betsy,  bluntly put it to me yesterday when I was bitching about procrastinators was.. “Erika….  lack of planning on their part doesn’t necessarily constitute an emergency on your part..”   and then it hit me….   What it boils down to is that Mother’s Day rush is almost as big as Christmas, but Christmas shoppers usually start around mid-November… it’s spread out for two months..   Mother’s day shoppers cram it all into a two week window, so essentially we are going non-stop for two to three weeks….  It’s exhausting.  But the bottom line is that we love it…  we love the rush… we love the adrenaline pumping thru our veins…. we love knowing that there are going to be hundreds and hundreds of smiling mommies on Sunday morning when they wake to a MGS necklace or bracelet sitting next to their orange juice on the tray that is set upon their royal lap as they turn over from a long deep slumber….  at 10am…   It’s a beautiful thing…     And just that mere image makes all the stress these last two weeks totally worth it. This is why we do what we do here at Mountain Girl Silver.  We are all moms…  we know what it means to be a mom…  mom’s deserve cool jewelry… nuff said..   My husband never reads my blog, but I’m soooooooooooooooo crossing my fingers for a new lawn-mower for Mother’s day.  I’ve begged for about 5 years now for a new mower. I do all the yard work, not because he makes me do it, just that I like my yard to look a certain way, and when he starts to do it, I stand there with my fists on my hips critiquing him like a nagging bitch, so he just gave up and opted to let me do it myself.  The kicker is that he GAVE AWAY THE LAWN MOWER I BOUGHT WITH MY OWN MONEY WHEN I WAS IN THE COAST GUARD to one of his fellow co-workers because he felt like their yard was much bigger than our yard and our yard could probably get away with using an old antique push mower that he bought off of craigslist….   eeeehemmmm…     So yah.. a new lawnmower would make me do backflips….    doubtful …

Now… MY mommy…   what a gem.  And I’m so excited that my mommy and daddy are flying up on the 12th for a week .. just a few more days and I get to wrap my arms around my very own mother.  In the picture above, you see Maggie (my youngest) sitting on my mom’s lap (my mom is laughin) and then you see my Aunt Jeri sitting next to my mom. Maggie must’ve said something funny…   But this happens to be one of those pictures that I’m going to cherish for the rest of my life.  I took the photo, and I remember vividly that the mood was so happy and light in my house when everyone was here to visit. My mom and I, (with the exception of this past week because I’ve been so inundated with work) talk just about everyday or every other day, and sometimes we get to laughing to the point that we have to hang up on each other to gather our composure so that we can continue talking. Laugh till you pee sort of laugh. And when she gets the giggles, it’s got to be one of my most favorite things.  To see or hear her laugh so hard that she starts coughing and can’t catch her breath…. it is priceless.  It’s contagious…..   It’s her…     To me, she is the best mom anyone could ever have.  She has always supported me and backed me 100% in everything I do or have ever tried. She cries when I cry, she laughs when I laugh, she gets pissed when I’m pissed. It’s amazing the connections we have with our moms..  They carried us in their wombs…  or they adopted us and dedicated their lives to raising us, or they are our grandmas who raised us… or our fathers who took place of our mothers…..      But Mother’s Day is definitely a day not to be excused for just another “hallmark holiday”….  it is a real day… a day to take seriously…   Because think about it… if it weren’t for your mother, you would not be here today reading this. Despite the things that may have happened in your childhood, the tragedies that you may have suffered through, the fights you may have had with your mother, whatever the case….. take the time to let your mom know that you appreciate the fact that you are here…..  Honest to God, it will make her day…….       

HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY!!   I love you MOM!!!  I love that you love me unconditionally… today and forever….. And I can’t wait to see you so soon…….    let’s play cards !!  lol

Is almost over!!  Yah,, it’s not even here yet, but mother’s day starts a month out for me and Neen and Heather.   What a month it’s been… busting our humps to make mom’s all over the world happy as clams this coming Sunday……   And in case you don’t know… MOTHER’S DAY IS THE 10TH OF MAY!!   Yah,,,,   a week from tomorrow…. honor your mama….  let her know that you are grateful that she carried you in her womb for 9 months and then raised you to be an upstanding adult……   But if you order from me today.. or tomorrow.. or the next day,,, you’re running the risk of it not getting there…..   only because the USPService can’t guarantee that sort of crap….   I do however, ship fed ex for those of you that are procrastinators….  yah,,, you’ll have to pay extra, but if you’re waiting this long to order something for mother’s day.. then you should have to pay extra….. ehem….

So .. crazy thunderstorm warnings all day today.  While in my studio stamping, and listening to my radio station, the beeeeeepppp burrrrrrrmp… beeeeeeepp national weather service broadcasts came over like every 30 mins warning us that a severe thunderstorm warning was in effect for my county and the surrounding counties…..   I don’t know about you…. but I LOVEEEEEEEEEEEE thunderstorms.. they are my favorite.  I hear a rumble of thunder and feel like shouting “Yeah baby”.. like some red neck at a demolition derby…  And Daneen has been known to take off all her clothes during a spring/summer rain storm and run thru the hills…….   noooo we don’t frequent demolition derbies either……   

Was just playing around with my photo booth application on my mac book here .. and just had to post the latest self portrait I took,, simply because the way my face looks in the above picture pretty much sums up how I feel at the moment.  A little coo coo .. a little nutzo.. a little whacked in the skull…   I’ve been going a million miles a minute today. I started stamping around 9am and didn’t stop but a couple of times for lunch and water. I finally finished stamping around 5:15pm. It was one of those days where I got to the end of stamping all my online/retailer orders, and then stared at the pile of the projects I’ve been putting off for months….. i.e.  gifts for old friends, gifts for new friends, I had to stamp a sample disk of numerals for a grass-roots organization down in the bay area that gives solid silver coins marked with serial numbers when someone does a good deed for the environment. I don’t really know all the details about the organization, but know that it is an upstanding one, one that I’m willing to donate labor to…..  So they are starting out with 50 coins, and I will be stamping the serial numbers on them after they have been minted. Pretty cool.  I’ve tried to attach a picture of them to this blog, but I can’t seem to figure out how to do that …  and I dare not replace my mac photo booth shot with a picture of a coin with a tree on it……  no way…  

So.. Anders is staying the night at his buddy’s house tonight. Oliver.  Anders isn’t very good at staying the night at a friend’s house. He’s tried and tried about a dozen times this last year. He’s been successful about 3 of the dozen times. 10:30pm rolls around, the phone call comes in and Eric and I bo-sham-bo for who’s going to go pick him up. I have a sneaking suspicion that he’s gonna pull it off tonight. He was soooooo tired when he went over, that falling asleep isn’t going to be a problem…… and even if he gets to bed at midnight, we have nothing going on tomorrow of importance, so he can be tired and a grumpy butt and I really won’t care. 

I’d like to write about the conflicting feelings inside my heart of moving…  but I wouldn’t even know where to begin with that one. How can one fall in love with 4 walls and a roof?  As Neen says, “It’s just WOOD!!”…  This house might be just wood to some people,,, but the vast horizon it looks out upon isn’t just wood……..  it’s a whole friggen forest that God put here…..  All the financial crap and all the loans and the payments and the interest and the “what-ifs” of the market and blah de blah blah….    Bottom line is that we put our earnest money down on another house the other day, inspection is scheduled for this coming Wednesday, and we are running a million miles a minute in our heads about whether or not we are making the right moves, the right financial decisions, if we are taking advantage of the shitty housing market, whether or not to rent or sell our current home (THE HOME IN WHICH I’M SO EMOTIONALLY ATTACHED AND IN LOVE WITH) …..  I know I’ve posted in the past some pictures of the view from my house.  It’s a great house, but not in the best neighborhood. It’s like a diamond in the rough. We love the house, we hate our yard (as it’s the size of a mousehole), not big fans of some of our neighbors, and just feeling the need for a change. I just wish we could put this house on a fork lift and hike it up the street about a mile……..  That would make both of us happy…..  

Tomorrow will be assembling all the disks, cuffs, affirmation circles and key chains that I stamped today. My ass will be in front of the computer listening to itunes most of tomorrow………. in other words……..    I’m sure it will be raining…..