School is in full swing, soccer is in full swing, and now Maggie’s dance class is underway and in full swing…… You’ve never seen something more cute,,, than 4 -four year olds gettin’ their groove on with their tap shoes on. Pictured here is Maggie, sporting her new ballet/tap outfit and her tap shoes tappin’ it up!! At first I thought it was going to be a total bust. But going the first time, I was shocked at how “into” it she really was. How she listens so intently to her instructor (who calls them all princess, sweetheart, cutie pie and a few other endearing terms). She’s the youngest of my two, and let’s face it, the 2nd child always gets the shaft when it comes to extra-curricular activities. Seems like the world has always revolved around Anders Anders Anders….. and when my hubby said, “let’s sign Maggs up for dance class”… I was like, yah… let’s do it.. poor thing.. Yesterday was her second session, and again, I am amazed at how well she stays focused for being just a 4 year old. Here I am, coaching Anders’ soccer team. 11- eight year old boys,, and half the time they are all so busy running their mouths that it’s hard for me to get a word in edgewise!! Girls are VERY different than boys…. that is sooooo true. Looking back at when Anders was 4, almost 5, like Maggie here, he couldn’t give two squats about learning his letters, or writing out words, or “how do you spell this mommy?”…. he was off in his own world, where Woody from Toy Story was his idol and everything revolved around bikes and skateboards and hurt knees. Now … I’m not saying Anders is DUMB or anything… just saying that the difference between boys and girls is so huge. Black n’ white. Yesterday, in fact, Maggie asked me what our belly buttons were for. She says, “Mommy, do you have a belly button?” and I said, “Yep” and then she proceeded to ask me why God gave us belly buttons if they didn’t do anything but get dirty. So I explained to her that blah blah blah,,, about being in mommies tummy and the umbilical cord blah blah blah… nutrients yadda… and then she asked me how long is an “unbiblicaler” cord is… ”Is it as long as a jump rope?” She’s just so curious, and so kind, and so inquisitive, and growing up WAYYYYYYYY too fast. She’s even getting little boobies already… which is freaking me out!! And when I point them out to my hubby…. he just shakes his head in denial and says, “NOOOO those are NOT little boobies!!” The other day she asked me when she was going to get hair on her “pee pee” like mine… and I was like EGADS!!! But when I choose to give her the time and energy and answer her off the wall questions in a serious way…she actually listens to me… which is scary, because Lord knows she’s listening to EVERYTHING I say, even when I don’t think she’s listening. Smart cookie she is…. smart as a whip. Just like in this little dance class she’s taking…. the other girls are all swinging their feet and tapping their toes too many times and are way out of rhythm, and so is Maggie I guess,, but I can see that she’s trying soooo hard to keep on task. And when the instructor gives her praise, “Very good Maggie,, I can see you’re really watching my feet!!” She just smiles from ear to ear… with her tongue still sticking out of course. When she’s concentrating on something really hard, you can guarantee her tongue is sticking out to the side.
Somewhat big news for MGS this week. Last week I got a call from some gal here in Portland. And at the time, I wasn’t really in the mood to talk business. I think I was getting ready to head to soccer practice or something.. And this gal is going on and on about how they are hosting some author and it’s a huge event and would I be interested in making 250 pieces as gifts for all the attendees at lower than wholesale cost. For whatever reason, when people order big quantities like that, they are certain that it costs me less,, so it should cost them less. Little do they know that busting out 250 pieces is just as much time, work, and effort. Granted,, there is a price cut on supply cost, as the more you order (from some suppliers) the less you pay per piece. But with how unbelievably expensive silver is per troy ounce right now….. these sort of phone calls just make me cringe. So I told her what I was willing to do, and at what cost. She said she’d talk to the gal in charge and call me back if they were interested.
So on Monday, she calls me back and said that the gal in charge wanted to move forward with things, and they were really interested in 250 of my patty ovals with different words stamped on them in the papyrus font. Now… I’m not a reader… never have been. I can probably count on two hands the amount of books I’ve honestly read from cover to cover. So when she said that the author ALICE HOFFMAN was coming to town for the gathering of the BELLA VOCE BOOKCLUB… It was like she was speaking Chinese.. I was like, “Uhhh huhh,,, okay,, yah sure…. ” So then I called Daneen, as I knew she would be stamping 1/2 of these ovals along with me. And I told her who it was and what it was for,,, and she almost pooped her pants. So then, naturally, I fed off her excitement and now I’m all excited…. ha ha LOL… She’s the reader… not me… So I’m hoping I can score some signed books from this thing….. The gal said they are going to have their graphic designer make up nice little cards to put in the bags with the ovals saying that the ovals were made by a local silver stamping company comprised of two sisters. .yadda… because the book she’s signing at this event is called “The Spirit Sisters”… kinda cool.. ;c) But I’ll be honest,, when I get those initial phone calls for orders over 100 pieces…… or even over 50 pieces… my eyes get all big and I stare out into space just envisioning all the stamping that needs to be done. Not sure if anybody really knows… but each letter is stamped individually. We don’t have a machine that we put our stamps in to spell out a word, and then push a button and wah lah… it’s done.. We pull each letter individually from our stamp sets, put it on the silver in it’s right place, pick up the hammer, swing the hammer, put the hammer back down, return the letter stamp to it’s proper place, pick up the next letter, line it up where it’s supposed to go, pick up the hammer………. you get the idea… It’s tedious. So 250 words, almost all of them are 7 characters… that’s picking up the hammer and swinging it ONE THOUSAND SEVEN HUNDRED AND FIFTY times… Stamping ain’t for the weak!! ;c)
When you go to a jewelry/beading show, see a vise and a mandrel at said show, immediately rush home to teach yourself how to stamp rings, and within 20 mins… wah lah….. success!!! I love stamping new stuff……… it’s like Christmas when you’re a kid. The “be.you” ring here was my first one,, and I think it turned out pretty darn good, but I still must practice before I start putting them on the website for sale. But man o ‘ man…. launching new products is like my favorite thing ever. That, and getting new fonts. Over the years, I’ve had sooooo many people email me and call me inquiring if I stamped rings,,, and I’ve always had to sadly tell them “no”…. because I couldn’t for the life of me, figure out how to keep the ring steady enough on the tools and resources I already had to stamp them with any confidence. Yah sure,,, I tried and tried, and failed and failed over and over.. But today… today….TODAY I found my method!! So rings will be stamped. I need to now figure out what sizes to carry and what to charge. I don’t, however have the capability to stamp the inner surface, just the outer. So unless you have a honkin’ finger, chances are I’m not going to be able to get the whole fam damily on there. ”be.you” happens to be my favorite long sleeve I wear these days that I ordered out of the Sundance catalog. If you google beology.. you’ll find them. Be. You… just be you. Don’t try and be anyone else but yourself…. being you is the only way to be………. seriously……
