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

So I was cruising somewhere the other day (probably to starbuckies) and I told myself that I really needed to do a blog entry…  as if I have 4 million readers and they are just dying until the next time I blog er’ something. Yah…    So then I drove there and pondered, well, what the hell should I blog about? My previous blog post sort of left me dumbstruck. Breaking your anonymity to the world is pretty scary, and sort of left me feeling like I needed to go crawl in my cave for awhile and not come back out until I got some reassurance that I did the right thing. For the record, I did consult my sponsor, and a few other peeps from my home group meeting for the greenlight that I wasn’t breaking any principle or tradition of the program. Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of my program, and well, it sat heavy on my shoulders since my post, if I was breakin’ any rules or anything. The bottom line is that I’m an “out-there” sort of person. When I’m sad you know it, when I’m happy you know it, when I’m pissed you know it. I’m not very good at shading the facts about my personal life anymore. Whereas about 3 months ago, I was damn good at it……   expert in fact.

Anyways, a good friend of mine recently pointed out that it seems like when my life is sort of in turmoil or ummm transition, or if something serious is going on, I have a tendency to run out and get a kitten. I hadn’t ever really thought of it like that. Honestly tho’… when I’m in the midst of Christmas Rush (yes it deserves to be capitalized) every year, I have this incessant urge to have something cute and fuzzy and playful and fun…  essentially something to take away my rough edge when I’m down…  like a kitten. Things are so monotonous and painstaking that time of year… my body hurts and my brain hurts… Now I know there are cat-haters out there, or people who may think that cats are lame pets because they can’t fetch the newspaper or sit on command, or leave dog shit everywhere…… bleh.. I feel bad for those people…   But I am, wholeheartedly, a crazy cat person. Sarah was right…    Getting Bruno (our new bengal kitten) 3 weeks ago has been one little component in my early recovery that has brought  me joy and happiness. My business has kept me busy, my hubby and kids and family and friends have shown me love, unconditional love, my program and therapist (whom I adore) have given me tools and support; even customers who have read my blog have written me with encouraging words, way more than I ever even dreamed of, God has given me serenity and peace, and well, Bruno has given me something to nurture…   It’s all pretty twisted if you really think about it. You’d think that someone in early recovery doesn’t need anything else to take on or take care of, but that’s just not the case with me. He is THEE cutest kitten (of course I say that about all kittens I’ve ever had) but he really lightens up my mood when I’m down in the dumps. He doesn’t know that I’m hurting in my heart at times. He doesn’t know or care…..  he’s just there to look at me and purr and be cute and rub up against my legs and love me anyways.  And his breed, a rare one, makes him so beautiful to look at. He is, honest to God, now that I think about it, the cutest kitten I’ve ever had. Poor thing has been sort of name-less since we got him, but “Bruno” seems to be sticking…..   anyone who’s ever skied Timberline knows why he’s got his name. ;c)

Another huge difference in my life as of late, is the willingness I’m experiencing. I’ve volunteered these last two weeks in Maggie’s classroom. You couldn’t catch me anywhere near a classroom about 3 months ago. Nope…   And the guilt that I’ve felt for so long for being so absent all the time…..  not physically per se’, but just emotionally absent from so many things runs deep. I’m learning to let it go tho’….   it’s amazing how the truth really does set you free…

Another cool thing that happened recently is that I got the disk of all the professional photos that Cori Derksen (crazy talented)  of Derksen Photography took of me and my entire family over Christmas break in California. It came in the mail. In fact, I actually had made online a 500 piece jigsaw puzzle out of one of all of us….  It’s going to be a doozey to put together, as we are standing under a very LARGE oak tree…   you know how when you do a puzzle that you try to get the outer perimeter pieces all put together first??  Yah….  that’s gonna be a doozey…  I’d upload the picture, but her pics are professional and my blog software won’t let me upload such a high resolution photo…..   I’ll post some of the pics to my Facebook Fan Page….   I tend to put some pretty cool photos on the fan page, as I don’t know how to change and edit the photos on my website. My website peeps only know how to do that…. they’re smart like that. ;c)

I’ve also started playing with the wax block I got. My dad is a wood-carver, so I know I’ve got some mad skills buried deep in somewhere to carve…    I’d like to eventually make a few pendants to cast….   like… MGS originals. I can picture, in my head, right this second what I want them to look like. I just hope I don’t end up cutting off one of my fingers…..  I can ALSO picture THAT in my mind…. it would be something from a Simpson’s episode I’m sure of it…  squirt squirt squirt…  ewwwwwww

I’ve rambled enough….  got things off my chest…..   if you don’t blog, you might wanna try it. When you get done with your rant, you feel better. It’s like free-therapy…..  Besides that… Bruno just walked, I mean, strutted into my office….. alas… my attention has been diverted…..

Laters ….

If you go and google “medical alert jewelry” or “recovery jewelry”….. just about all you’re going to find is stuff that makes you go.. “EWWWWWWWWW”…   I’m sorry,,, not a fan of dream-catchers and sterling silver Indian feather charms or big ol hunks of turquoise nuggets in the shape of the AA symbol….. or big ol stainless steel medical alert bracelets that are going to turn your wrist black… or green… or whatever cheap stuff does.  And so the lightbulb went off in my little pea-brain. There is a need in our world for classy, necessity jewelry. The need is there, and I’m not saying that ALL of the recovery jewelry out there is cheezy, I’m just saying that there needs to be more choices to the already existing styles. You can’t deviate very far away from the symbol. It is what it is, and the NA and AA symbols as well as the NEDA (National Eating Disorder Association) are symbols that mean so much to so many……..   including me…………

I started my journey into sobriety 68 days ago. The clarity that sobriety has given me, has filled me with the passion to make a line of jewelry specifically for those like me. I’m proud to be me, and I wear a necklace with a symbol on it, but I had to buy it online. It took me for-ev-er to find the perfect pendant to wear that fit my style, and then it hit me. I’m a jeweler, so why don’t I make my own stuff!!!!   So, I talked this afternoon with my guy who I work with in California to create 4 custom stamps. I spoke to a company in Colorado as well, and I will be casting a one-of-a-kind, simple pendant to stamp these symbols on. This is all very very exciting for me. When I get an idea in my head, I do whatever it takes to put it into play. And I really, truly feel that what I can create with my two hands is going to touch the lives of many. Some people who are members of AA or NA or NEDA aren’t hip on wearing big ol honkin’ symbols around their necks or wrists, but I feel that if I give them the opportunity to create their OWN style, with their own combination of words and sentiments, then there will be recovering individuals, and people with medical issues walking around wearing something they are comfortable with.  And when you have a medical issue, or when you are in recovery, every single ounce of comfort matters. Even down to the symbol you live by……….

It is my mission….. I feel that this is a simple way to service the fellowship and unity of people like me, and people who live with a life threatening medical condition.

All this being said, I have another announcement ;c)   The Mountain Girl Silver website, here shortly, will be undergoing a make-over. There’s going to be new photos, new colors, a new “vibe” if you will. It’s still going to function the same easy way, just going to look different and feel different. And I’m sure if you’re reading this blog, then your eyes are getting all jimmy jacked from the white on black writing…. not good.  My website is a reflection of me…….   I used to be bold and “in your face” and loud……   and, well,…  I think that all needs to change, as I have changed. The word “HUMILITY” hangs around my neck today…..    I’ve said this a million and a 1/2 times in my life… “Change is Good”….  and it is…

If there is something in your life that you’ve been thinking about changing…. but are scared, and don’t know how to go about it……   there’s help out there. There’s help, and a million trillion billion people in your same shoes. Feeling hopeless has got to be the scariest, worst, debilitating feeling that God gave us the ability to feel. Everything can turn around for anyone…….   I know this from first hand experience. There is nothing that matters more to me and my life than my sobriety. Because if it weren’t for my sobriety, then everything else wouldn’t matter anyway………..

Be well……

Secretly…. I’m stoked that the holidays are behind us. The new year is staring at us, and we are humbly at it’s mercy, with high hopes of good health, lots of hope and just all around peace and hippy love. We just got back from California on New Years Eve, and well… I was asleep on the couch by 8:45pm… NOT my typical style of ringing in the new year to say the least, but I was drained. Drained drained drained in the membrane.. Me, the hubby, and the kids AND the dog were in California for a total of 9 days. Oddly enough, I slept like a champ while we were down there tho’…. however, I don’t think my pops was too happy about getting kicked out of his king size bed thanks to me and Eric and Maggie….  Mom kept assuring me that they were “fine” in the small full bed in the spare room, but I still felt a wee bit guilty. Their bed is one of those pimped out high beds with that cushy top thingy. The crappy thing,, is now that I’m home, and slept two nights in my own bed, I realize that YAH,,, I want a new bed. But I got totally spoiled for Christmas, so I think I need to wait until a few months go by before I spout off things that I want, need, and hafta have. ;c)

While in California, went skiing a couple of times. Super nostalgic skiing on my old slopes. The slopes where I learned to ski as a wee lad. The resort has changed quite a bit since I lived there as a kid… they’ve added a few new chairs, tons more runs… but the same Sierra Summit feel was still there. I worked there as a teenager too, in the hotel and the lodge. Things are all different now tho’…  On the second trip up the mtn, we took my 12 year old nephew, Maxan up with us and I was hellbent on getting that kid up on skis. And while it was tough sacrificing a day shredding and tearing it up my way, to teach someone how to ski, at the end of the day when he looked at me and said, “Can’t we go up just one more time?”…  it was allll worth it. He got it….  and he craved more apparently, as my sister and her husband went up again yesterday…  makes me feel good. No bug bites harder than the skiing bug. For me anyhow….

I stamped all day today catching up on orders from the 16th of Dec. I had all these whacky plans of stamping while I was on vacation, but I just couldn’t bring myself to focus while we were down there. The weather was nice, puzzles needed to be done, food needed to be cooked and eaten, and  bonding needed to happen. So I just said to hell with it, and laid the hammer to rest while i was there. Neen got out a pretty big order for Stella E Luna in New Jersey, but other than that, shop was closed. And… it…. was….. soooooooo nice… needed and nice. It’s bittersweet tho’, because even tho’ I was enjoying the time off (as well as my joints in my hands and my knuckles) I knew that I was going to have to come home to a buttload of stamping to do. But I know that when I dedicate a solid chunk of time to my work, I can get it done efficiently, and that’s exactly what I did today. Ummmmm but my hubby got me the Mario Bros game for the Wii for Christmas and well… that friggen game is going to suck A LOT of precious time out of my day as soon as the kids go back to school….  ADDICT!!!  I should know better……  ;c)

But as soon as I get all caught up on orders, you can bet that I’ll be skiing most weekends now. There’s something about  flying down the hill on sticks, in my own little world, with Eddie Vedder blasting in my ear drums that trips my trigger and gets me high on life. And even when I stop in the middle of a run to take a breather, and I can see the people on the chairlift up above me, it doesn’t stop me from singing along to my ipod at the top of my lungs…..   good stuff… good good stuff. Clarity is good.

Hubby just popped in here in the office to ask me if I wanted to play a round of Mario…..    blog some more or go play Mario??

Doo do doooo do doooo dooo  duh…    ba bum bummm bu nuh nu nuh… doo do

laters….   and HAPPY NEW YEAR…   I’m choosing to say “twenty ten” instead of “two thousand ten”…   sounds more profound er’ something… more striking…

7 hours to go…….  I can do this….. or at least that’s what I’ve been telling myself all day …   Feels so good to be at the finish line. Not really at the finish line yet,, not splashing water on my face and putting a medal around my neck yet, but I’m right at that last turn. Orders that come in tonight after midnight may or may not get processed. There are a ton of pending orders that must get out (as promised)…. when am I gonna learn not to promise?  But they will get done, and they will be perfect, and I will put them in the mail, and cross my fingers that they get to their destination in time. I hope that the United States Postal Service is efficient. I ship everything out priority shipping, and that means 2 to 3 days, but this time of year, lets face it, it means 6 to 7 days. They work hard this time of year too, to make ends meet, and to keep us customers satisfied.

If you’ve stumbled across this particular blog post, and you are thinking about placing an order for Christmas, and it’s after midnight on the 14th, there is a slight chance that it will get done and out the door in time enough for Christmas, but I refuse to guarantee anything, and I refuse to use expedited shipping. The line at Fed Ex is just as long as it is at the post office, and I haven’t even started my own shopping and shipping yet…….

It’s been a great Christmas rush. It’s a “rush” because we rush rush rush to get stuff done,,, but in my mind, it’s also a RUSH… like a face flushing RUSH. A great sense of accomplishment. I’ll admit I haven’t been the best answering phone calls, or returning voice mails for that matter. But if I spend all day on the computer or on the phone, I wouldn’t have time to make all the jewelry. Bottom line,,,, I guess I need to hire an admin assistant. Yah,,, that would be so nice. Someone to answer all my phone calls, take phone orders, answer emails, do the invoicing and all the shipping…. that would indeed be a beautiful thing. Then I could feasibly stamp for another week and still help out the procrastinators.

I’m tired,,,, I’m tired and grouchy, and I’m neglecting my family … especially my kids. I haven’t even started shopping for anyone. Years past I could get away with giving everyone MGS stuff,, but that’s old .. and dumb.. and they already have something from me.

I just hope that when everyone receives their orders, that they are totally happy with them. We put a lot of heart into what we do. It drains us in fact, as we pour everything we are into every piece. Every disk is stamped with love and devotion, as if that kid’s name is our own kid. As if that particular necklace is the necklace we wore everyday. We strive for perfection, we aim to please. That’s the Mountain Girl Silver way of life (as Neen so eloquently put it around Mother’s Day)…..   And on Christmas morning, when everyone is opening up their little treasure in the organza pouch, my hope is that it brings to their face smiles and tears. I want the husbands who ordered for their wives to get serious kudos, and to be out of the dog house for skipping on Mother’s Day. I want all the Grandma’s to have all their grandkids around their wrists and necks. I want the dads to wear their dog tags with pride….. (dudes wearing silver is sexy btw)…   I just want everyone to be happy with everything we’ve created with our own hands…………

When we do get done putting out the door that very last order (probably the one placed at 11:59 pm tonight), I can then start wrapping presents, and baking cookies, and shop, and jam to Christmas music and breathe, and be calm, and enjoy the holidays. Christmas is my very favorite thing ever,,, and I’m looking forward to sitting down on my couch for more than 2 minutes and stare at my Christmas tree.

I appreciate all the business…….  I thrive on it……  it makes me feel good that Mountain Girl Silver holds a standard of quality that is sought after. We love what we do……..   But all good things must come to an end….  ;c)

Off to California I go…….   can’t wait to embrace my family down there. It’s a fresh year…….   there’s nothing better than nurturing neglected relationships. It makes me whole again……..

Well…… just a few more days and MGS hangs the CLOSED sign and our hats up!!  It’s definitely been a wild ride these last couple of weeks. Some of the fastest that’s for sure…  I haven’t done one dish, haven’t folded one towel, haven’t really even cooked one meal….. well…. maybe a couple…. but it was lame,, like taco night…. and baked fish….   We broke some records this month. I certainly wasn’t expecting it, but so very happy about it. Lots of love has gone into many a project. Christmas gifts for people, yes, but also a lot of orders for people who have recently been diagnosed with cancer, disks for mom’s who have lost their babies to sids or suicide…..   Just some random things that I’ve had to bump their orders to the front of the Christmas order line. And I’ve done so happily.  But I won’t happily admit how many times I’ve showered this last two weeks……….  scraggle rock is all I’ve gotta say.  ewwwwww  Who has time to shower??  I’ve grown a huge love for Pandora too. I take my laptop down to my workshop, plug it into my nifty new speakers, compliments of www.pdx.fm, and I just rock it. Sometimes I jam to the likes of the Sufjan Stephens holiday channel,,,,, and then other times I’m jammin’ to the Police, AC/DC, RUSH, Foreigner, Eddie Vedder, the Shins, COLDPLAY, Wilco, Jose Gonzalez, Modest Mouse, Beastie Boys …. I listen to it ALL. No country tho’….. or rap… no no no. It all depends on what sort of mood I’m in when I sit down to stamp as to which type of music I want to hear. Because if I’m in a bitchy mood, and I turn on AC/DC, I pity the person who calls with a dumb question…..   I’ve been listening to a slew of podcasts too. You can find a ton of good ones out there. You kind of have to search tho’… which can be time consuming and somewhat disappointing,, but if you head to www.pdx.fm, you’ll find a great variety… from online recovery support, to parenting unplugged, to some celtic broadcast, they do the local news, weather and traffic reports too…  WHen you have hours upon hours sitting there on your ass and trying to keep your brain engaged, you’ve gotta find something good to listen to. There is a method to the madness, and I was perusing through the photos I’d taken of our Christmas tree on my camera, and found this video that my hubby took the other day (I had no idea he was recording me)  I definitely get into a speed mode when I stamp. Sometimes I feel like a machine… you know…. how when you’re running a really long distance, and you reach that point when you say to yourself, “I can’t go another stride….  but I’ll keep on going..”   and you do. You just keep on going, and you don’t stop, even when you really want to. Or you set small goals… like… okay,, when I get to the end of this trail, I will stop, and then when you get to that spot, you just keep on going and you forgot you had told yourself you were going to stop. That’s how stamping this time of year is for me, for us. The zone. I have to be well caffeinated, kids have to be placated and full tummied, emails need to be answered, no phone interruptions (hence my lame voicemail message at the moment), and a window of time that will allow a substantial amount of disks. 

At any rate… back to my original thought…..   it’s almost time to say goodbye to Christmas Rush 2009…….   makes me a little sad… we’ve really kicked the ass of silver this year. Just wish we could buy it a little cheaper!!!  Anyways,,, here is the video,,, it’s pretty long,, like 3 minutes…  but it really shows how I get into the mode… Not a HUGE fan of Ozzy Osborne, but again, I was in the zone. ;c)  I’m gonna go to sleep now….. I can barely keep the lids up…

There are many factors as to why I believe this Christmas rush is running more smooth……   Everything has been consistent, I’ve been calm, the weather has been good (cold, but good), schedules aren’t conflicting, both my kids go to school all week, hubby hasn’t been traveling,  i have more clarity, I’ve had practice, and putting my practice to play is making a huge difference. Not to mention my stellar crew, whom, without them, there would be no MGS….

You see, it’s right around November 1st that the butterflies start fluttering in my stomach, and I start stocking up on silver. Which, by the way, silver has been at a steady-all-time-high these past couple of months. Which,, is bittersweet…..  it costs more to buy my silver (and I haven’t raised prices), but also, people are seeking silver moreso than they are gold, because, well, gold is just off the charts expensive right now. When the economy is in the shitter,,,, precious metal prices sky-rocket. People buy it up like it’s water…..  I recently refined all the silver I had accumulated over these last 5 years… i.e.  mistakes, mis-spells, scratched disks, ends of cuffs, broken chains, etc….  and the beauty of it, is that even tho’ I can’t use it again, I can still send it to Los Angeles to be melted down, weighed, and then given a check for the amount according to what the silver market is on THAT DAY….  I lose some money on scrap, but get enough back that I don’t feel bad when I stamp the wrong letter and toss it in the refining bag……. a.k.a as the “flicker” bag…    But back to my original thought..   Okay,, so then Thanksgiving hits, and everyone gets together at family gatherings etc….. and then black Friday comes, and everyone and their grandma is out and about shopping (not online) and then the weekend after Thanksgiving is picking up on orders,,, and then CYBER MONDAY hits!!!   As Lightning McQueen says,, “KA POW KA CHOW”…..   It’s a thrill.  Of course I love making money, but when the slew of orders start rolling in one after another, I get this cool feeling inside…. it’s a pride-ful feeling… like,,, look at all these people that want to buy MY stuff….. the stuff that I create with my hands. The stuff that WE create with our hearts and souls. It may sound cocky, but it’s the truth. God has blessed me with a talent, and a talent that I love to share. That’s not to say I’m not going to have to have carpal tunnel surgery by the time I’m 35, or wear a back brace the rest of my life, or need bi-focals when I’m 36..  it’s all worth it.  No pain no gain… 

Cut off is the 15th this year. Me and my family are flying down to California for Christmas…… sooooooooooooo excited!!!  Hubby is driving down, and me and the kids are flying down. He’s bringing the dog and our skis and all the gifts. Last year for Christmas, my mom n’ dad came up here, and we got snowed in for 7 days. It was a white Christmas indeed!!  And we all survived being home-bound by the skin of our teeth. No one left beheaded….. even tho’ it came pretty damn close…. ha

It is BITTERLY cold here in Oregon this week. They are calling for snow. Another thing that makes me giddy and child-like. Love love love the snow. So do the kids. And at our new home here, we have this huge huge steep hill right up the way that is going to be PERFECT for sledding. Unfortunately, the bottom of the hill is right at our driveway, so I hope no one does anything STUPID and plows right into our yard.  

Must get going for the day….  Maggs has field trip to some Veterinarian hospital today, and she keeps talking on and on about how she wants to be an animal doctor. Good stuff…..

Thanksgiving was awesome. My mom and dad flew up from California and spent a week with me and my family………   not only made lots of food, but made lots and lots of memories. Sometimes I really try to think back to my earliest memories as a kid. I can’t quite remember any earlier than 4 years old. That’s sort of where it stops, sadly. I hear of people that can remember when they were in the womb, but I think that’s a bunch of horseshit…    My point, is that I recognize that my kids, at their age, are remembering everything at this point in time. Maybe not everything, but I hope they remember the good times……. the good and meaty stuff.  Friday after thanksgiving, we all piled in the van and went to go cut our Christmas tree. Prior to this year, we didn’t get to have a real tree in our house because we used wood to heat the house, and anyone who burns wood in a woodstove knows that dry heat and a real live Christmas tree is a bad combo….. So every year over in the old house, we’d get out our ghetto fake tree. I’m not putting down fake trees, as there are some that are gorgeous and do the trick, but to get a real tree this year, I felt like I was 4 again.  The magic of the holidays,,,, that’s really something that always floods back in the memory bank. I seem to remember the big events… i.e.  My first day of kindergarten (or the day that my mom thought was the first day and we stood out at the bus stop for an hour until she realized that the next day was) , some of my Christmas play/programs, my birthdays, the first time I was able to hydro-slide behind our ski-boat, building our dirtbike trails up behind our house, building snow-forts in our yard, staying at the table till 10pm when I wouldn’t finish my mom’s meatloaf………….  you know…… the BIG things.  And no… it wasn’t all like we were bundled up like the Griswolds and carting the sleigh with hot cocoa in our hands and singing Christmas carols… nothing like that.  But it was a beautiful, clear day…. and everyone was in the best mood, no one was crabby. The Christmas Spirit is hittin’ me square between the eyes this year. I’m eating it up. I have more clarity to focus on orders and stamping than I ever have before. It’s refreshing…..  And while my parents were here, I was better able to prioritize my work hours, and still manage to make memories….   The feast was delicious. Mom made her very first lemon meringue pie from scratch this year.  It turned out fab!!  Daddy carved the bird, football was on, my house was clean (thanks to mom), all my laundry was done…..   just an all around good week we had. Bout the only thing that was wrong with it, was that we weren’t all together, meaning, my sisters and their families celebrated Thanksgiving down in California. Felt a little guilty about stealing mom and dad away,,, but .. well….  it was my turn.

But it wasn’t until last week did it hit me that my kids are in that stage where they are going to remember. A part of me is scared.. are they going to remember when I flew off the handle and screamed and shouted and sent them to their rooms??  Hope not.  Are they going to remember how absent I was around the holidays because I was slaving away in my workshop trying to stay caught up on MGS orders??  Hope not…    I just know that they are going to remember last week when we took my folks to go get our Christmas tree. Every adventure is fun with my parents. There are those moments when my mom is trying to get into the van and we have to push her butt up in there, then we all start laughing so hard that we can’t help her….  Or maybe the moment when I whip out the video camera and record my dad and how he would pretend to order a drink at Starbucks……. a “licorice lattatta”….   just good stuff.

One of my Facebook friends recently posted as her status  ”There is nothing that can tell your family story better than your Christmas tree”….   Luckily, my mom let us girls take the ornaments that were ours when we left home and got married and settled down.  So true…  putting the tree up and decorating it left me in a nostalgic coma.  I watched Maggie delicately put her ornaments on the tree, she’s 5, so she has maybe 7 or so ornaments to date….  But when she was done putting hers up, she asked if she could help me put mine up. I selfishly thought for a moment,, NO WAY IN HELL, THESE ARE MY ORNAMENTS AND I WILL PUT THEM WHERE I WANT THEM!!   For a kid tho’, she’s pretty careful when it comes to stuff that is delicate. Anders on the other hand, not so much.  So I did, I let her put some of mine up, naturally they landed on the bottom 3 feet of the tree, and when she was done and had left the room, I sneakily put them up towards the top.  Don’t think she didn’t notice tho’….  ;c)

Anyways,  I got my nose pierced on Sunday.  I know it’s a little radical and everything, my parents are not pleased. My mom said, “Oh no you didn’t”…   I did. It’s a very small little stud. You can barely see it. Ive wanted my nose pierced for the longest time. So finally this past weekend, I had two hours to kill between dropping off and picking Maggie up from a birthday party. Eric told me I should use the time to go shopping or do something that I wanted to do w/out the kids, and as I was leaving the party, BAMMM  I see a professional piercing place. Yes, it was clean.  Took less than 5 mins, hurt like hell, but I couldn’t be happier.  BUT,, it is infected.  ;c( Everything I’ve read about nose piercings online (no… it’s not my septum) states that it’s pretty typical for nose piercings to get mildly infected.  If you have any insight on this… PLEASE email me!!  mountaingirlsilver@mac.com  with your experience.

Off to eat fried chicken for now. I assembled this morning, finished around 1pm, ran to the post office and fed ex, got a lattatta, filled my bug with gas, came home, headed down to the basement to start tackling orders from the 30th, and then just said screw it…   took the rest of the day and shopped online. Spent enough money that I wish I wouldn’t chosen to stamp the 30th….   oh well… I never buy clothes for myself.

night…

I know it’s kind of cliche’ to do the whole going around the dinner table at Thanksgiving and saying what you’re thankful for…. for that particular year or whatever. But.. have you ever really stopped to think what you are thankful for? Health? Wealth? Your kids? Your new pair of Nike slippers? I mean, have you really ??  I want you to stop what you are doing right now, look up at the ceiling, close your eyes, nevermind who might be looking at you like you’re a weirdo, and think… think hard…. what are the things in your life that you are thankful for. Even tho’ years F-L-Y by wayyyyy tooooo fassssssttttt, reflect on the beginning of the year, January, and go through the months one by one and try to remember something significant, what were you doing? How did you spend your spring? How did you spend your summer?

Naturally, when we reflect on the year, our minds automatically look back and note the negative….. the stress, the illnesses, the financial woes, the car accidents, the loss of pets, or whatever. The bad things pop up vividly, because they scar us. Yah, sure, we heal, but the scars are there.  We’ve got to start remembering the positives. The good things we witnessed, the good things that allowed us to grow. The fact that burdens made us stronger, and wiser.  I know that that one saying,, “What won’t kill ya will only make you stronger.”…. what a bunch of shit that sounds like right?? But it is so true. Sadly, it is true. Or… “Absence makes the heart grow fonder” …. PUH LEEZE!!!  Again, true.

I guess what I’m getting at, is that for the first time in a long time, I’m experiencing a clarity that has been shaded. I’m seeing things in a different light.  I look back on my past year and I’m blown away…..  I guess the one major thing I’m thankful for is the fact that we were able to move out of our old house and into a new, nicer neighborhood. Again, I try to look back and ignore all the crap that you have to do when you move…. the endless trips in the trailer, and unpacking boxes, and it was HOT that couple of weeks…  and we lived on fast food for a few days…. I remember the negatives.  But now, I’m sitting here in a beautiful office of my own, and I’m thankful for everything around me. The older I get, I’m learning not to take things for granted. It could all come to a screeching halt tomorrow.

Another thing I’ve learned recently, is that you just have to live one day at a time. You look too far into the future at your “goals” or whatever…  and you lose sight of what’s in your palms at the moment…. all you have for now is today. Be thankful for today. Worry about tomorrow, tomorrow. Live for tomorrow, tomorrow. Live for next week, next week.

I know this sounds all Indian hair tampon-ish… and granoli…. but it really resonates deep within me this year. I’ve reflected a lot and I’m thankful for a lot. I’m thankful for my family and my friends. I’m thankful for the unconditional loving marriage I’m in, I’m thankful for the health of my kids. I’m thankful for the trees that I stare at from this very chair……….  even superficially thankful for this new kick ass computer monitor I recently got. I’m thankful that I haven’t yet killed my orchid, I’m thankful that none of my fish have died recently, I’m thankful that I’ve learned more about running a business this year, I’m thankful that I can stay at home with my kids and earn income doing something I’m totally passionate about. I’m thankful that gold is so expensive right now that people are buying sterling silver instead….. HA HA HA….  But seriously, I’m thankful for myself. That may sound a little conceited, and maybe lame… but I am. I’ve grown so much this year. I’ve matured in ways that I didn’t even know I could mature.  Life is nuts. Nothing in life is easy. But that’s what makes it all fun and challenging. If you take things for granted, then you’re never going to be able to feel thankful.

So this Thanksgiving, when it’s your turn to spit out what you are thankful for……..  really let it out. Get it off your chest, let people in your life know that you are thankful for them and what they mean to you. So often things get left unsaid……..    Life is too damn short……  spit it out……    Live for today, be thankful for today. And at the end of the day, reflect on the day, because when today is over, you’ll never get it back again.

Just recently, a gal called me wanting to know if I would offer a discount on a large order for her……. as she was getting ready to head to her annual gathering/trip with her gal pals from elementary school. Initially, with the way the silver market is these days, I hesitated, but ultimately said yes.. Afterall, she introduced herself as a fellow “mountain girl” and her and her buddies were going to hook up in some mountain cabin and build fires and chop wood n’ stuff like that. I was still a little hesitant, but when he said that she wanted “Mountain Girl” with the mountain stamp on them, seriously, how could I even say “NO”???  My signature stamp (which is stamped somewhere on every piece that goes out the door) is a very subtle, clean, but very detailed stamp of Mt. Hood. The mountain that I stare at all day. The mountain that inspires me to reach great things, the mountain that keeps me here. It’s the mountain that entertains my free spirit in the winters as I blow down the slopes, the mountain that is the base of where I sleep under the starry skies, camping, in the summer. Essentially it is the mountain that keeps me here. And it is a beautiful stamp, but very rarely do I stamp it on the front of things, I never oxidize it to make it stand out…. it’s as if it’s MY little secret…MY mountain.  There was NO WAY I was going to stamp these ovals with “Mountain Girl” and then just huck the generic mountain stamp that I carry on there and make it all ugly and unoriginal. In case you’re not catching on here, I’m not a big fan of my generic mountain stamp. I’ve GOT to find a better one forsure! So I made an exception to my rule, and had to stamp my stamp on these gals’ bracelets. They …..turned…..out……awesome!! Pictured to the right, is a photo that Jessica H. sent me after their trip was over. Along with the photos, an email about how much fun it was, how much her gifts to her friends was, and how it was if I was there in spirit to celebrate and have a kick ass time. So thank you ladies!! Thanks for letting me be a part of your fun time. And the fact that you all still hang out once a year and you’re friends from high school and there are EIGHT of you that still work at the friendship…..  bravo zulu!!  Friendship is a total blessing, and to have 8 friends from 20 years ago in your life… well … theres something to be said for that!!

I work on many projects. Some are more fun than others. For instance, me and Daneen just recently had to stamp something like 250 ovals for a book club that was hosting a signing for the author Alice Hoffman. And while it was a cool thing to be a part of, the stamping got to be very mundane and very monotonous and very “boring” if you will.  Stamping the same thing over and over and over and over and over again gets old…… really quick.  Stamping each letter individually, there were 250 ovals, all of which had at least a 6 letter words on them, picking up the hammer twice per letter, I dunno… you do the math..  that’s why I’m an artist, not a professor… ha hah ah

But that’s not to say that I don’t absolutely LOVE what I do. I couldn’t think of a more gratifying job than the one I have. The one I created out of silver.  It didn’t just pop out of “thin air”… it popped out of silver. ;c)

At the beginning of the year (and here we are, almost at the end already) I blogged about how I wanted this year to be full of change, and I wanted to have a spiritual awakening, and I wanted to start taking better care of myself. Well, as the year progressed, I never forgot about that particular blog post. But I continued to think, “Man,,, when am I really going to start changing?”  ”Ahhhh I still have 6 months, I’ll work on it later”…..  Well… let’s just say that this caterpillar is turning into a beautiful butterfly……. day by day…. one day at a time….

I was on my way up to Freddy’s yesterday with the kids to get some things, and we’re cruising up I-205 and the big traffic report signs .. you know,,, the ones that have the amber alerts and the driving conditions.. the big lit up ones? Well.. it said this..and I quote, ‘DRIVE SOBER AND HAVE A SAFE HOLLOWEEN”  Yah, HOLLOWEEN… spelled wrong. It’s hAlloween.. not hOlloween. But for a second there, I thought… oh crap, I’ve been spelling it wrong all these years!! Have I? No…. because every time I type it on my computer, it doesn’t highlight red indicating it’s misspelled.  Now… I’m no literary genius, far cry actually, but come ON…..  get it right!! I wanted to whip out my iphone and take a picture, but with as hard as it was raining, and with shouting kids and dog in the car, I stayed focused on the road and just said I’d get a pic of it on my way home as I looked in the rearview and saw the same message blinking on the southbound side.  We came home a different route tho’.. maybe I’ll head up that way today and snap one. I dunno,, it just left me entertained that’s all. Way to go, there, highway message inputter dude.  HAlloween is one of my faves. Growing up in the mountains like I did, (I think I blogged about this last year too) we were in a town that was specifically built up for the employees of the Southern California Edison Company. Hydro electric power.  It was candy hay day man…..  then we’d head back to my friend’s house, change our costumes, and head out again.. and again.. and again.  And we didn’t just use little ghetto candy bags… we used pillow cases…  and those babies were chock full by the time we were done. All proud of our stash, but I’ve never had a sweet tooth, still don’t, so the candy part wasn’t what excited me. Just going out, unsupervised, in the dark, with friends, egging peoples houses, toilet papering peoples yards….  yah,,, I was one of those kids. Shocker right??  

So Eric has been gone all week. Up in Seattle at some regional conference thingy, and I’ve been here flying solo with the kids. Anders ended up coming home on Monday with symptoms of H1N1, and I was like, NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO don’t do this to me!! Not this week. And, honestly, I’ve never seen my boy so ill in all my life. It started with a headache, then the fever, then puking, then higher fever, then no appetite, then achey body, more fever….   All the poor kid wanted to do was just live in the bathtub all week. That, and hold my hand. I know this sounds awful, but I secretly love it when he’s sick. Because he’s at that age that affection just isn’t something he shows, but when he’s sick, he’s all over me. Wants me to rub his back, wants me to hold his hand, wants me to run my fingers through his hair. When your kids are sick, you feel more like a mom than ever. It is your job to not only take care of them, but it’s also your job to make them feel better. Two totally different things. 

But man.. the week was hard. REALLY hard. Maggie didn’t have school all week due to conferences, so not only was she home, but Anders too. And juggling the two of them, and him being sick, and then trying to stay caught up on stamping, and then Heather’s hubby came down with H1N1, so she was tired,, but I still forced work on her…..  and then the house being a friggen WRECK all week. Missing soccer practice both nights, trying to figure out what to cook, and laundry, and the dog didn’t get but one stinkin’ walk the whole week, so she was a disaster waiting to happen. Loosha is the kind of dog that if you don’t walk/run her every morning, she’s a bull in a china shop all day..  Honestly,, I don’t know if she pooped…. I’m sure she did, but where?? I dunno… on the neighbors lawn I’d imagine. And man,, I hate to be a whiner and a complainer, but when I have a week like I had this week,, I gotta vent…..   And even tho’ Anders was sick, he and Maggie still fought all day long everyday….   I got to the point where I just felt like letting them beat the crap out of each other… knock each other out….  I was tired of yelling, I was tired of reffing the situation.  So my good friend Betsy told me this thing she does with her boys. A star chart if you will.  But not stars.. points.  They both have a good column and a bad column. When they do something good… they get a point,,,, when they do something bad,,, I either take away a good point, or put up a bad point.  Haven’t really determined what the “prize” is for  getting the goods…  But yesterday seemed to be a little better. At one point, Anders said, “Thanks mom, I appreciate you”…… and I was like “WHAT?? WHO ARE YOU??”   Then they started going a little overboard,, and after everything they did that they deemed “good”… they’d ask, “Is that a good point mom?”   and it got to the point where I was like,,, “If you guys have to ASK me if something is a point,,, then I take away a point”…   We’ll see how long this little thing works. Raising kids is just downright complicated and confusing, and to some, a chart sounds stupid,,,,, but you do whatever you can to get them to behave. Bribery… whatever……   withholding food……  ha ha…   

Anders is on the mend tho’.. and headed back to school today. I forced him to do his homework all week…. and yah,, that made me feel like an idiot. How can you figure out how many chocolate chip cookies you can make with 202 chocolate chips and you want to put 8 chocolate chips in each cookie…. and how many cookies can you make.. but the kid is in 3rd grade and 3rd graders are just mastering addition and subtraction… NOT division (which would be the math of choice in this particular problem)… so it was 8 + 8 =16… 16+8= 24… 24+8+ 32… etc.. etc… and each math problem caused tears and broken lead….  at one point I was willing to let him just use the calculator… but then I’d have to teach him how to use that….   Whatever… it’s over… the week is over.. almost. I’ve almost made it out alive. The scary part is that my forehead is feeling hot, and I’ve got mad pressure in my eyelids when I bend down to pick up something….. If I get it, then I’m totally SCREWED.  I’ve got my last soccer game of the season to coach on Saturday, and I want my boys to come out with a win… I CANNOT get sick. As my Grandma Doodie used to say, “Rebuke it in the name of the LORD”… and I intend to Grandma!!!  

Anyways… HAVE A HAPPY HOLLOWEEN …  as per Oregon Dept of Transportation…