JAEbugs

Sanibel Island

2009-02-18T06:55:00.000-08:00

Found out my birthday gift is a family trip to Sanibel Island. I have wanted to go there for years. Does that sound like I want to go there to stay for years or that for years, I have longed to go? Both apply, I guess.

I love seashells. I collect tons and tons of them and never know what to do with them. Prior to our last move, Brad frowned at my pile of shells sitting unused in the basement. I ended up throwing them out into my landscaping but did tell Brad that I expect to be able to collect new ones to replace them. And now I get to travel to one of the most popular shelling places in the U.S.

We are going Easter weekend. The weather will be great. I think one day we should head for the Everglades, a mere 75 miles from Sanibel. Emma is already worried about getting eaten by an alligator.

If anyone has been to the area, let me know what you loved about it! Also, pass on any ideas for what to do with all the shells I will be bringing home...

Time to face the music....

2009-02-13T10:18:00.000-08:00

It's time to change my blog name. I need to take the "nearly" out. Forty is here today. A friend of mine from Lincoln mentioned in "25 things about her" that she hates it when people complain about their age. She's right. We shouldn't. It beats the heck out of the alternative. There's nothing I'd rather be today. Plus, I happen to know that I am getting a family vacation to Florida at Easter time for my fortieth birthday. Happy Birthday to me!

Crazy Bird Lady

2008-04-22T08:20:00.001-07:00

It seems I am turning into a crazy bird lady. In 40 years, picture me on a bench feeding the swarming pigeons.

I just put an oriole feeder up in my backyard, right next to the kitchen window. I am hoping it will double as a hummingbird feeder. Although, I have several hummingbird feeders to put up as well. I feel bad for my hummingbirds back in Illinois wondering where their feeders went.

Much of my time is spent in the kitchen looking out at my feeders. My sister says I have too much time on my hands. I believe it would drive her insane to have as much free time as I do. She's a total A, while I would be the farthest away from a type A, Z maybe?

Here are some of the delights I see throughout the day (house finch, goldfinch, white-throated sparrow):

Saw my first white-throated sparrow April 21st.

The grackles are taking over. I removed a feeder that had black oil sunflower seeds in it but they adapted to the woodpecker feeder and my window wild seed feeder. Buttheads.

I am delighted to report that a cardinal has made her nest right outside my family room window. As of yesterday, there are 3 speckled eggs in it! By the end of April, I hope to have 3 baby birds to shoot and share.

Hopefully soon as well, I will have some hummingbird and oriole pictures to share.

Patty Gray class at the Vinery

2007-04-23T11:24:00.000-07:00

I recently attended a 3 day glass intensive class taught by Patty Gray. My friend Dakota and I road-tripped up to Madison, Wisconsin, to take the class at the Vinery glass shop. It was a bit humbling to be in such company! Many of the students were experienced glass workers and Patty has a scary amount of glass knowledge and talent. Dakota was a huge help to me and the other students were great about sharing ideas and helpful tips.

We worked for 3 days straight from 9:00 to 5:30 or even 6:00. I took bunches of pictures, as many as I could, anyway, during breaks.

Dakota's red bowl:

The wonderfully talented and patient assistant, Richard, demonstrates combing:

A peeking admission... I am a peeker. I don't peek into folks' medicine cabinets but I do peek into hot kilns. It is FABulously thrilling to see glass in its melted stage. This kiln was being vented. I wouldn't want to open the kiln and ruin someone's piece. I do look into my kiln when it is down to around 1400 degrees. I need to get some special glasses since this is a compulsion I can't resist.

Making stringers First blob of glass out of the kiln:

Bummer- it's blurry:

Hot and dripping:

Here Patty is coiling the glass around a copper pipe:

Here is my tile of glass for a high-fire experiment. The glass is supposed to move around in designs but I am guessing the kiln was overloaded or not hot enough or mine was in a bad spot b/c the glass didn't move despite tons of voids in the design.

Our bowls after fusing:
Mine is the bottom right. Hard to tell from the pic but it turned out quite lovely. I left it there for them to slump. Didn't want to take a chance of messing it up myself!

Pattern bars and a few bas reliefs: My pattern bar set is the one that looks like a roll of lifesavers. After cutting is when I discovered some of the strips look like a roll of lifesavers. Wasn't intentional but it turned out super cool.

Misc. mosaics: Mine is the lizard. Jacob is getting an anole from school so I made this tile for him. Since I have no blasted clue what an enola looks like, I made a blue-collared lizard that Dakota told me about.

Here is a fun group shot (minus two, I believe- Carol and Charlene):

Denny (Vinery owner) Ann Janet Dakota Jean Pam Richard

Patty (Patty Gray, renowned glass artist and teacher)Nancy Kathryn Dawn Lisa (me)

And finally! We spotted the great pumpkin on the way out of Madison. How cool is that?!?!?!

(taken via high-speed drive-by)

The face of a show-stopper.

2006-12-12T06:46:00.000-08:00

Emma Kate is a show-stopper. Literally.

Picture us at Jacob's winter band concert. The director of music for the school district organizes it to showcase her talented teachers and intermediate students. It is a HUGE deal. We arrived 15 minutes early and still had to sit in the nosebleed section (high up in the stands is a foreshadow of how Emma came to be a show-stopper). We were about 25 hollow, wooden steps up, third row from the top (another hint). Oh, and this is the second section of the high school gymnasium, so be thinking huge capacity.

Jacob's group went very first out of what was an 75 minute concert. We sat intently for the first five minutes then had to suffer through the remaining 70 minutes. About halfway through the concert, a restless Emma decides she has to go to the bathroom and Abby agrees to take her. Upon their return lies the problem. One song had just ended and another was about to begin. However, about two steps up, Emma discovers that she can make a delightfully loud noise by stomping up the stairs. Thwomp! Thwomp! Thwomp!

I start immediately snapping my fingers and yell-whispering, "Emma, stop that! Emma, that is too loud!" to no avail. She is coming up the stairs one painfully loud stomp at a time with her head down watching every footstep. By the time she discovers me yell-whispering, she is nearly to me. She looks up at me and smiles. Probably 50 people around us are laughing and half of them clap when she smiles.

Aye, aye, aye. As if that weren't bad enough, I then discover that the band director had to wait for Emma to sit down before she could announce the next song!

Abby's comment: "Mom, your face is bright red!"

The Melted Pane

2006-11-23T18:31:00.000-08:00

Check it out!!

http://www.themeltedpane.com/

Thanks to my web designer Brad and my friend JanetK who suggested the name.

Fused Glass Samples

2006-11-18T17:51:00.000-08:00

Here is a quick and dirty grouping of pix that will give you an idea of some of the glasswork I have done.

A poor picture, but this shows one of the few pieces I have done that have no function other than dust collecting.

This can be used as a serving plate or a center-piece. After Thanksgiving, I will add greens and candles or maybe something like dried cranberries and candles.

This teal piece I made for an anniversary gift. Teal and white were the bride's colors 50 years ago. Also pictured are a fun orange one and one that Diane wanted for her beautiful new home.

This is an absolute favorite of mine. They are the same piece but one with light behind it and the other just sitting on the counter:

Another favorite serving piece of mine. Please disregard the glare.

Another fave:

A load of glass (pic from cam phone) just before fusing:
The precious little piece (right hand side, 2nd from top) was made by EmmaK8.

Another personal favorite for really no good reason is the Crazy Quilt Bowl. This bowl contains most of the colors that I have used in all of my other pieces. Guess that is why it is special to me. It has a totally different look inside- not as bright and see-through.

Meet Miss Molly

2006-07-22T07:30:00.000-07:00

We have a new bundle of joy at our house in the form of a canine companion. I have been looking for a snuggly little lapdog for about six months now. I have looked at rescue groups and our local humane society over and over. I took several home from the humane society but they weren't just right for our family. This is a tough order since the new dog would have to get along with 3 kids, loads of neighbor kids and my two big pooches. Abby and Emma wanted every dog I looked at but I kept telling them when the right one came along, we'd know! I saw Molly's picture on the humane society's website just a few minutes before they closed one Saturday. I knew from the picture that she would be the one. I could just feel it. The minute they opened on Sunday the girls and I were there ready to check her out. Molly burst into the room and when I called her name, she ran and jumped into my lap. We took her home for a trial and when I called the shelter Monday morning, I told them she was home and not coming back! We did take her back Tuesday for her shots from a wonderful vet who volunteers his time there. Oh, and to pay the minimal fee it takes to get a dog. I know that fee doesn't even touch the love and care they provide.

Molly loves everyone she meets. She has gotten along great with Penny and Gracie. If you can believe this, she has not had one single accident in the house!! She lays on the bed with me at night to snuggle up while I read or watch t.v.

Molly has shown Gracie who is boss several times. The first time was when Gracie was frisky and wanted to play. Without any noise at all, Molly thrust her head forward in a threatening manner and Gracie took off like a shot. Well, actually, it was a bit cartoonish the way she took off. She was on linoleum and couldn't get traction on the floor and spun out a bit before taking off. She looked like Scooby Doo cutting out. What a hoot!

This new doggie loves car rides and walks on the leash. The shelter originally thought she was around 7 because of the condition of her teeth. After having her overnight, I guessed about half that age. She is so spunky! The vet guessed about 4-ish. Someone didn't do a good job of taking care of her teeth. Too much soft dog food maybe? I mix some hard dog food with a little soft so she will eat it. Unfortunately she is about 5 pounds overweight so we are working on that. Lucky thing she won't eat plain hard dog food, or she'd have Gracie afraid to eat.

There is no background on her. A volunteer from the local shelter goes to a nearby town that has a high-kill rate shelter to save adoptable dogs. I just can't believe someone gave her up or that she wasn't snatched up earlier. I picture her with an old lady who couldn't care for her anymore. She certainly seems like she was loved, though not super-well cared for.

She went in for her first groom today. She is a bit of a scruffy mess with some matting and skin allergies. They asked what breed she is but I really have no clue. The vet said her body fur is like a cairn terrier. I think she has a bit of a shih tzu face. Would this make her a shit-terr? A terr-shit? A cair-shit? I think I will just call her MINE!

Summer Garden 2006

2006-07-22T07:11:00.000-07:00

This year's garden is thriving! I did space apart my tomato plants this year like I have sworn for years I would. However, after pulling up over 50 volunteer tomato plants, I gave up and my garden is a jungle. We started getting our first tomatoes in early July. The peppers are coming on strong and Emma and I ate nearly every snow pea straight off the plant as they grew. The herb garden is out of control but am a bit too paranoid to trim it back since the bees are a'swarmin'!

The absolute best thing about it this year would definitely be the sunflowers. They grew to be monsters! The tallest one is nearly 12 feet tall. Some heads are so big they are bowed over.

I have made one batch of fresh salsa and will be canning as much as I can as soon as I start to get bunches of tomatoes at one time. Here is the fresh salsa makings:

Nothin' like a barfin' baby to remind me I'm a mother!

2006-05-15T16:09:00.000-07:00

Poor Emma! She was sick ALL day on Mother's Day. Saturday night she was going to spend the night with our neighbors and ended up coming home around 11:00 p.m. when about a quarter of town had a power outage. She was scared and wanted to come home. So that explains why she was with us in our bed when the chucking began at around 6 a.m. Bed sheet change number one. She went back to sleep until chuck number 2. Bed sheet change number 2. She had various blow-out problems throughout the day but seemed better in the early evening. She ate a little spaghetti (I subscribe to my mother's theory that if they feel like eating it, they can probably handle it). She kept it down and slept well Sunday evening. Emma woke up fine this Monday morning but spent the day home. She will go back to school tomorrow.

I still had a nice Mother's Day even with the reminder that I am a mother. :)

Emma's Match

2006-05-02T08:11:00.001-07:00

Those of you who know Emma well might be frightened to know that her best friend is a lot like her. Well, even more so, I am afraid. Here is a story shared by her mom (Diane) that proves this point.

First, a little background: My friend Diane has a very close family friend named Heidi. Heidi is just graduating from college with her teaching degree. They attend the same church and Heidi loves to baby-sit Diane's kids. She is a very kind-hearted, sweet young lady. We just found out that she will be one of the new teachers where my kids and Diane's kids attend school.

So, here is the story. Heidi has explained to Diane's kids, including Kendall, that they will have to call her Mrs. Smith at school because she is a teacher there. Here is a conversation that took place between Heidi and Kendall at school recently when Kendall saw Heidi in the hallway:

K: Hi Heidi!
H: Kendall, remember, I am a teacher now and you will have to call me Mrs. Smith.
K: I don't like that idea. Bye Heidi.

Gardening Update

2006-04-27T10:28:00.000-07:00

So far so good! There are sunflowers, snowpeas, lettuce, potatoes, and onions growing so far. A few cool nights haven't damaged the tomato and pepper plants. Hard to see anything in this shot but it will be nice to compare the view of the garden throughout the summer:

I bought two dogwood trees for Bradly to plant. Bought them then remembered I had the small car.

Here is how I got them home:

Clever perhaps but too bad for me- it was rainy, chilly and windy.

Fantasies of a longtime-married couple...

2006-04-17T13:29:00.000-07:00

During Easter weekend when we were sitting around gabbing with Brad's family, the issue of sleeping in came up. I told them all I lived my fantasy last Friday because I went to sleep at 8:00 p.m. and slept until 9:00 a.m. Then Brad says, "Now if she would have just gotten up and cleaned the house, I could have lived my fantasy too."

Garden 2006

2006-04-12T08:44:00.000-07:00

No pictures yet, but I have begun planting our garden for summer 2006. Potatoes, lettuce, snowpeas, onions and one tomato plant have found their new homes thus far. It is early for tomato plants but the long-term outlook is warm and our soil temps are warm from a mild winter. Still to come will be miscellaneous peppers, more tomatoes plants and many herbs.

Stay tuned for more information and current pictures.

Saga of a birdbrain

2006-03-25T10:52:00.000-08:00

March 2006

It all started with a thump. I knew what it was immediately because it wasn't the first time I had heard it. However, it was the first time I heard it repeatedly. A bird had flown into the dining room window. This time it didn't just pick it self up and fly away. It perched its little brain-damaged body on the ledge and would fly up and down, up and down the length of the window pecking, pecking, pecking. This first day it randomly charged its reflection in the window for nearly 3 hours. My amusement turned to amazement and wonderment to slight irritation.

What's a word worse than irritation? I am not sure but that is how I felt when it was back the next day at the living room window which is directly opposite the dining room window. I was in for another day of random tapping. Just when I thought it couldn't get worse, the little pecker discovered the brass kick-plate on our front door.

The first time I heard it at the front door was 5:00 a.m. Saturday morning. I get confused in my sleep. My husband doesn't hold me accountable for things I say and do in my sleep, thank heavens. I don't think a court of law could hold me accountable. I am not rational or reasonable. I am groggy and confused. So when I hear the birdbrain I woke my husband up to see if the bird woke him up. (Or so I am told. I don't remember doing this.) I did however ask him later if the bird woke him up. He replied, "No, YOU woke me up." Heehee, sorry. But, you know, he should really be more aware in his sleep...

Do you believe in karma, fate or what comes around goes around? How about voo-doo dolls? I may be getting paid back for a few little stunts I pulled on my little brother. I was somewhere around 15-16 and watched Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds" with my 5 or 6 year-old brother. When it was over and he was in the bathroom brushing his teeth for bedtime, I yelled, "THE BIRDS" and lobbed a stuffed animal at him. As if that weren't enough, I then stood by the edge of the door to BOO! him when he walked out. He slept with our parents that night.

He is a well-adjusted electrical engineer in Tokyo, Japan now. I guess that is far enough away from me. Although, I always thought China was the farthest away possible. Do they have voo-doo dolls in Japan? I am picturing a doll of me with a bird beak pecked into it somewhere.

We are on day 5 of bird-pecker hell. Today is the day I am going up to the attic to dig out the last of the screens that the former owners inexplicably removed. Someone suggested that may cut down of the reflection of the bird. Were it not pouring rain, I'd cover the kick-plate with newspaper. That may have to wait for sunnier days.

You know, now that I think of it, where was my mom on that fateful night? Why was she letting a 5-year-old watch "The Birds"? Mom, this is all your fault.

Gardening

2006-03-25T10:16:00.001-08:00

Last year we planted potatoes, tomatoes, cucumbers, herbs, onions, eggplant, misc. peppers (pablano, banana, jalapeno and habaneros), and probably more. My tomatoes plants grew so much that this year (2006) I am going to space them out more. I say that every year then cram in as many as I can. Stay tuned to see if I honor my promise to myself...

Just a few pix of last year's garden progression:

Tika and Ninja

2006-03-25T10:16:00.000-08:00

Penny

2006-03-25T10:15:00.003-08:00

Gracie Mae

2006-03-25T10:15:00.002-08:00

Emma Kate

2006-03-25T10:15:00.001-08:00

Abigail

2006-03-25T10:15:00.000-08:00

Lisa

2006-03-25T10:14:00.002-08:00

100 Things About Me:

1. I didn't get a cavity until I was 31 years old.
2. Jumping out of an airplane was the most thrilling thing I have ever done.
3. I don't nor have I ever smoked.
4. My beautiful grandmother died of emphysema.
5. I knew how to spell "emphysema".
6. On my ACTs, my English score was 4 times my math score.
7. While growing up, we had a pooch that I named Fluffy.
8. Creativity has NEVER been my strong suit.
9. I have never been bitten by a dog.
10. My sister has a scar on her hand in the perfect shape of Pi from Fluffy.
11. My sister has been bitten by two different dogs. She doesn't like dogs.
12. I love dogs.
13. Many years ago, I taught school. Well, I taught children stuff at school.
14. I blow really big bubblegum bubbles.
15. I am certain I could break the Guiness Book record for bubblegum bubbles.
16. The urge isn't there to be a world-record holder.
17. "Driven" does not describe me.
18. I got one C in high school. Computers, not math.
19. When I saw my husband, it was love at first sight.
20. We met and married in the same year.
21. I was 21 years-old.
22. While not gifted in school, I did well because I tried.
23. My son is in a talented and gifted program. He hardly tries.
24. I was born and raised in Idaho.
25. Moving back to Idaho is a fantasy of mine.
26. In 6th grade, I was reading at a 12.9 reading level.
27. I still prefer reading to almost anything else.
28. I have a brother who is an artist.
29. My daughter is a talented, artsy girl.
30. My parents are brilliant.
31. My sister and brothers are brilliant.
32. I grew up well-loved.
33. Flickr is my favorite website.
34. My in-laws are lovely people.
35. December 28th, 2005 was my 15th wedding anniversary.
36. I have touched a fistulated cow.
37. Not many people know fistulated cows stink when opened up. I do though.
38. I worked at Tidyman's during college.
39. I graduated from h.s. in '87, college in '91 and grad. school in '93.
40. My folks are proud of me.
41. I have a little blond girl who cracks me up every single day.
42. People notice the little blond girl.
43. I have been to 30-some states, Canada,Mexico and Japan.
44. If given a blank map of the U.S., I could write in every state correctly.
45. I shop at thrift shops.
46. I have been knitting for 26 years but I took off 24 of those years.
47. Crocheting is harder for me than knitting.
48. Glass fusing is my latest hobby.
49. My hobbies are costly.
50. Thankfully I have a hard-working, intelligent husband.
51. Diet Coke is my drink of choice.
52. Margaritas are good too.
53. I am a list-maker.
54. I forget about my lists and lose them a lot.
55. Grocery shopping is fun to me.
56. Clothes shopping isn't. Never has been...
57. In high school I got 2 piercings in my left ear and 1 in the right.
58. I have 2 holes in my left ear and one in my right. still.
59. I would like to pierce my eyebrow or nose for a daintly little jewel.
60. If I could weld, I'd make giant, junky yard art from scrap metal.
61. As a child, I collected every piece of scrap metal I found on the street.
62. If I never have another job in my life, I will be forever relieved.
63. If I could own any car it would be a '67 Mustang convertible. or a 65,66,or 68.
64. Or a brand-new Mustang convertible.
65. Or a lime-green Volkswagen convertible.
66. I will keep the cars I have now for when my children are 16.
67. Then I am getting a convertible. maybe one of the aforementioned convertibles.
68. Or maybe a two-seater convertible.
69. I had a bi-level in high school.
70. In college I had really, really big bangs.
71. My husband and I are both left-handed.
72. All three of our children are right-handed.
73. My parents always made sure I had left-handed school supplies.
74. I don't have one single complaint about my childhood.
75. Well, maybe just moving to Gooding, Idaho from Boise in middle school.
76. I grew up Catholic.
77. I am no longer Catholic.
78. I think my mom says novenas for me.
79. Novenas don't really work. I have tried them.
80. I want to be cremated when I die.
81. My dad does too. He wants to be useful after he dies.
82. We are going to split up his ashes and store them in our trunks.
83. In case we ever get stuck in the snow.
84. I think he suggested that.
85. My blond daughter has my dad's sense of humor.
86. I have my mom's beautiful blue eyes.
87. My kids were all lucky enough to inherit blue eyes.
88. My dog trainer called my dog Gracie "stubborn and sneaky".
89. We call my dog Penny "big, ugly dog" but she is beautiful.
90. She thinks we are complimenting her.
91. I hope there are no spelling errors in this. I am not going to proof-read.
92. My mom is the best proof-reader I have ever met.
93. My husband works so I can play.
94. Thanks, Brad!
95. He doesn't seem to resent this at all.
96. He can't afford to divorce me.
97. I drive a Camry and sometimes an Expedition.
98. I love my family with all my heart. my growing-up family and my in-house family.
99. This was fun for me and took 30 minutes.
100.I could do another 100 easily.

Brad

2006-03-25T10:14:00.001-08:00

This is me and Brad on our Florida trip. His whole family went to spend a week in Clearwater Beach. We had so much fun!

Brad is a very hard worker which keeps us all in comfort. He started out after all the schooling was done by working at a feedlot. He was their nutritionist but somehow managed to help all over the feedlot. His boss told him that his Ph.D. stood for post-hole-digger. He worked there for 5 years and now has a job using his brains more than his brawn.

Brad is quite handy around the house too. He saves us a lot of money by being the plumber, electrician, handy-man, painter, grounds-keeper. Here is a picture of him installing our dishwasher:

Lest you think he is all work and no play, I will post two playing pictures:

We are the most important thing to him as evidence by his first tattoo:

It stands for Lisa, Jacob, Abby, Emma. I love the bull hovering over our family because that is what keeps us in bread and butter. And meat.

Jacob

2006-03-25T10:14:00.000-08:00

1/15/2005

coming soon