Pretty Pretty Bang Bang

As Ferris Bueller said, “Life moves pretty fast.” That quote pretty much sums up our Saturday night. Steve’s been sick since right after Christmas so he’s been glued to the couch for the last 48 hours. Since there was no chance we’d be hitting the town for drinks and dinner, I stayed out most of the afternoon and early evening with Valerie. On the way home, I decided to stop at the grocery store to get coffee filters because I’d used the last one today and knew I’d be too grumpy in the morning to go to the store. I got home around 7 pm to a still-sick Steve and made dinner. Steve had indulged in some mac and cheese earlier (a stocking stuffer from mom) so he wasn’t hungry. I didn’t take the time to get a movie and wasn’t really in the mood to watch something we had, so I ended up continuing my deconstruction of Christmas. What a thrill. Staying at home on a Saturday night with a sick husband, taking down the holiday decor. Yup, life moves pretty fast.

In my opinion, the perfect gift is something you really want but would never buy for yourself. I can be wildly expensive and extravagant, or simple and cheap. Regardless, it’s something you want but don’t want to spend the money on. This year, Steve managed to get me the perfect gift. It’s something I’ve always wanted, would never spend the money on, is completely impractical, and makes no sense. It is a year’s subscription to People magazine. I know, I know, People is just the National Enquirer for snobs, but I love it! I once had a 20 week subscription I bought for $20, but I’d never pay for a full year.

Thank you, Steve for the perfect gift. I can guarantee I’ll enjoy every issue.

Having Christmas with a 3 1/2 year old means that the holiday takes on a new meaning. You can’t go to bed without leaving cookies for Santa and carrots for his reindeer. Tearing open gifts with wild abandon is the norm. Best of all, your mom lets you eat as many cookies as you want for one day (Julia consumed four large sugar cookies along with a whole cinnamon roll). What I liked best about spending time with the kiddos is that Julia has now reached an age where she says some of the funniest things I’ve ever heard. Here are two favorites from the weekend:

* Julia: Aunt Tammy? Do you like this song? Me: Yes, I do. Do you? Julia: No, I’m not a fan. Me: What did you say? Julia: I’m not a fan.

* Julia: Where’s Santa? (We were at the Mall on Christmas Eve). Me: I think he’s gone to the North Pole to get ready for tonight. Julia: Well, where’s the pretend Santa? I looked at my sister in surprise wondering if she’d told Julia the Mall Santa was pretend. Ralph just shrugged and whispered, “I don’t know where she got that.”

It just amazes me her insight and intelligence. She’s so quick and funny. I’m sure some of you may think that’s just normal for a 3 1/2 year-old, but I’d like to think it’s because she’s brilliant!

Lydia, at almost 11 months, is a sweet, sweet girl. She’s cuddly and quiet unless she’s sick or hungry. Otherwise she finds joy in watching Julia dance around, playing with toys or having someone make faces at her. It’s going to be really fun watching her grow up.

It has been requested (by my friend Paul) that I post my grandmother’s toast. So when you’re gathering this weekend to celebrate, here’s a great toast to share.

Here’s to Eve, mother of our race. She wore her fig leaves in just the right place.
Here’s to Adam, father of us all. He was Johnny-on-the-spot when the leaves began to fall.

Thank you, Grammie. You’ll always be remembered.

I’ve never made anything for my dad with my metalsmithing skills. He doesn’t wear jewelry, except for a wedding ring, so I didn’t have any brilliant ideas for him. Steve suggested a divot repair tool and ball marker set for him and I thought that was a great idea (and a nice new challenge). Using a divot tool, I traced an outline to get the shape. I added a bit of length to the handle for comfort. Because this needed to be strong, I used Nickel for the prong ends and sterling for the decorative handle. The piece is Nickel, Sterling and some exotic wood I bought years ago. I riveted the thing together and am pretty pleased with the results. The ball marker is sterling silver and is a little larger than a penny.

Not bad considering I don’t play golf and had no idea what I was doing!

I just had to post pics of my final project for school. The assignment was to create a wearable piece of jewelry using cast elements with fabricated pieces. In other words, you couldn’t just cast the whole thing. My inspiration was those little plastic monkeys that hang on drinks. I created a monkey cage brooch with one monkey on the outside and one on the inside. The cage door slides up to let the monkey free. The inside piece is removable so you can wear the monkey as a pendant. The entire piece is created from sterling silver and measures 2.5″ tall, 2″ wide. It’s really cool!

As mentioned in the previous post, today was the day I would be finishing the cloisonne pendant. I turned on my kiln then went upstairs to make coffee while the kiln heated up. About an hour later, I went back downstairs to do the firing and my kiln was off. The switch still read “on” but it wasn’t working. Neither was the light above it or my pickle pot. Basically, everything that was plugged into my industrial-grade power strip was out. The breaker hadn’t been flipped so I did some troubleshooting and nothing worked. I called Steve who suggested I clean out the strip with canned air. Still nothing. It was finally determined the strip had blown. I got out my other good power strip and plugged the kiln into it. Thankfully, it worked which meant the problem was the strip and not the kiln (that would have sent me over the edge.) While the kiln was reheating, I thought I’d sand down the front of the bezel using my nice belt sander. I plugged it in and…nothing. A little hum, but no movement. I was really getting irritated by now. Turns out the belt had frayed and the threads had wound around the gear making it impossible for the belt to move. I removed those and the thing started running again.

Bottom line: the cloisonne pendant is done, the other special order is done, my sister’s gift is done and my dad’s gift is done. I think I’ll take a break from power tools for the rest of the day.

It wouldn’t be Christmas in my world without special orders. I’ve limited myself to just a few after December 1 since I knew I’d be busy with finals and shows. Of course, I received a couple of phone calls after WinterFest wanting special items so I relented. One is for a good friend who I’ve known since grade school, so I couldn’t say no. The biggie is a cloisonne pendant for a good customer who wanted something really unique for his wife. I love creating new things so I jumped at the challenge. The enamel work came together beautifully and I began work on the setting. Naturally, things were going too smoothly. Saturday, I went to fit the enamel to the bezel and the enameled piece got stuck. Really stuck. It wouldn’t move. I panicked. All I could think about was how I was either going to accidentally ruin the enamel or I’d have to trash the bezel to get the damned thing out. I took a break then went back to it. Thankfully, it popped out with little harm to the enamel. All I have to do is re-fire it to get the scratches out of the back from where I poked at it with my file. Tomorrow’s the big day when I attempt to finish it. Wish me luck! I’ll be really glad when it’s boxed up and out of my hands.

I received a frantic call today from my friend Mary who desperately needed someone to pick up her kids Sam (13) and Madeline (8) from school. I was working from home and classes were finished, so I was available to help. Sam was first on the list as his school commenced at 3:15. I headed over to St. Agnes where I waited in the car line to pick him up. How do mother’s do this daily? It was so boring sitting there for 15 minutes in stalled traffic to wait for the kids. Sam spotted me and we headed over to Sherwood Elementary to get Maddie. She was nowhere to be found. Again, stalled traffic and a slow car lane. We circled around, parked the car and headed inside to search for her. She’d made a detour to the bathroom.

Time to go to my house where they were planning to stay until Doug and Mary picked them up later. I wasn’t sure if we were going to feed them dinner, but I offered in case Doug and Mary were late. I began thinking like a mother (or at least what I think a mother should think like). I needed a healthy after school snack. I offered cheese and crackers, but neither of them were hungry so I allowed Maddie a Coke. I was lamenting the fact my I had no peanut butter and my fridge was full of low-fat options. Sam announced he needed 2 dozen sugar cookies for school tomorrow so they could be decorated. I was sure Mary didn’t know about this and I knew she’d be stressed so I launched into “save the day” mode. I whipped up a batch to cookie dough just as Doug and Mary were pulling in the driveway. Sure enough, Mary knew nothing of the need for cookies and was immensely grateful I’d made the dough. All in all, it took two hours out of my day, I helped out a friend and hung out with some cool kids. Now that’s the kind of parenting I like!

If you read this, tag! You’re next. Compliments of my friend [Cindy](http://herethereandback.blogspot.com/).

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate?
Mostly Hot Chocolate, but I allow myself one Egg Nog (it’s so full of fat!).

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just set them under the tree?
In our house they were usually unwrapped, but I’d probably wrap a couple.

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white?
White lights on all greenery. Color wheels for the aluminum trees.

4. Do you hang mistletoe?
No. Suzanne has the “Mistletoad” a little frog from our college days.

5. When do you put your decorations up?
Normally right after Thanksgiving. I relented this year and did a little before since I knew there was no way I’d get it done in time.

6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)?
Spritz cookies! Guess that’s not really a “dish” but I do love them. We don’t have a family dish we reserve for holidays. Unless you count green bean casserole which is disgusting.

7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child?
I have a couple. I fondly remember Christmas Eve celebrations at my Nana and Papa’s where we’d eat boiled shrimp (a filet mignon for my sister), recite the Christmas story, and got to Christmas Eve services. Pat and Jane Ciccone would drop by later in the evening and Pat would play carols on his trumpet. My sister and I would put on a Christmas program and it was so much fun. When I was older, we spent Christmas with my other grandparents in Fulton, MO. The year I was 21, my older cousin John received a case of Corona beer as a gift from my mom. John and I managed to drink 22 of the 24 beers on Christmas Day. We were never really drunk because we started at noon with dinner and ended at almost mignight (and average of 1 per hour). We still refer to it as the “Corona Christmas.”

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa?
I don’t remember. Obviously it was not a traumatic experience to learn the truth. I’m willing to bet I shared my knowledge with my younger sister.

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?
We always opened gifts at my grandparents on Christmas Eve.

10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree?
With ornaments I’ve been collecting since birth. I like anything old!

11. Snow! Love it or Dread it?
Love the look. Hate the reality.

12. Can you ice skate?
I could at one time, but I won’t try it now. Don’t want to risk hurting my back again. (That sounded really old!)

13. Do you remember your favorite gift?
A couple of years ago, I found a really interesting piece of jewelry I wanted. I rarely ask for jewelry since I make it, but this was really unusual. Steve, in one day, drove to Kansas City and bought it for me. I thought that was really cool. Otherwise, as a child I always loved the stereo equipment I received. I distinctly remember my 8-Track player.

14. What’s the most important thing about the Holidays for you?
Trying to enjoy them! I love going to church on Christmas Eve and singing “Silent Night” while holding candles.

15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert?
Spritz cookies, pecan drops and sugar cookies with Spumoni ice cream.

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition?
Stuffing stockings, Christmas Eve church.

17. What tops your tree?
Nothing. Can’t put anything on top of an aluminum tree because it messes up the branches. I do have a lovely glass topper in case I ever go back to live trees.

18. Which do you prefer giving or receiving?
When I find something special for the people I love, giving is truly a joy. I do love receiving when I get a nice surprise. It’s hard to pull one off on me, but it’s been done before and that’s so much fun.

19. What is your favorite Christmas Song?
I have tons, but the Christmas albums by The Kingston Trio and The Beach Boys are really special to me.

20. Candy Canes?
Peppermint makes me sneeze, but I do love them.

21. Favorite Christmas Movie
All the Rankin/Bass movies, Scrooged, Christmas Vacation, Charlie Brown Christmas, A Christmas Story. I know this may sound un-American, but I truly dislike “It’s a Wonderful Life.” I have no idea why, but the movie irritates me.