Weekend Plans?

Tomorrow my family and I are volunteering at the Special Olympics being held at UC Davis. I can't wait and will give a full report after.

Crimps Breaking Your Necklace

I received a very nice e-mail today from a women who also makes crochet necklaces. She was asking my advice on keeping the crimps from rubbing on the crocheted silk thread and breaking the necklace. This is a pretty common issue when working with crimps and silk. Here's her e-mail to me and the advice I gave her.

Q: Hallo, I love crocheting w/ beads & have only seen one other talented lady that does this in VA. Anyway, i crochet a loop on one end & then on the other end add either a round bead or button to be used to go into the loop. My problem is that after i tie off & crimp, the crimp or cord will eventually go off w/ wear & tear. I only use a simple crimp & flatten w/ beading pliers. Any other suggestions. I used a 5 or 6 mm cord( silk or nylon). Do you know of any other websites that do similar crochet jewelry. I love this type of jewelry making cause I can carry my little bag w/ me anywhere & make a bracelet or necklace. thanks for your input.

A: My suggestion would be to coat the silk or nylon with clear nail polish (a few coats wouldn't hurt), then allow to fully dry before you crimp. This should help protect the threads and keep the friction down. I also try to not get my crochet necklaces wet as this can help weaken the threads and allow the crimp beads to cut away at it. When crimping, I try and get the crimp just firm enough so as not to cut the thread, but enough to crimp securely. Often I will double loop the thread through the crimp bead before crimping to help add some extra resistance. You could try both, the nail polish, and the double loop to see if that helps?

Crazy For Hair!

I had some of my women friends over last night and noticed a common topic and interest. Hair. Women are nuts about their hair. We're like birds building a nest with all the time, thought and product involved. We wax, buzz, trim, shave, laser off some areas... but dye, fluff, condition, and lovingly grow other parts. It makes no logical sense. Do men really care that much about women's hair? Not as much as other women.

I'm not immune to this pandemic. I color, tweeze, and hack just like the rest of us. I also surf the net frequently for hair I like. I try to grow it long, I really do! But I have... a... what's the word? LIFE! Lack of a swat team who's full time job is to make me look like a Raphaelian Goddess. I'm busy and hate spending a lot of time on my hair. I also don't really like the feeling of hair all over me (in my face specifically.) My husband claims not to care, and as I had short hair when we met, I feel he knew what he was getting into up-front.

My hair is also very straight and pretty thin, so once it gets a certain length, I just pin it up all the time anyway. My hair has of-late gotten to the annoying length and I decided to whack it. I took the above picture to my hairdresser, but all I got was a trim and a little layering. I'm not posting pictures cause I'm not 100% sure I'm keeping it as-is. I may ask my stylist friend to have another go.

I have ALWAYS admired women like Anne Lennex (pictured here) who are beautiful women who just let their face take center stage. They say "To hell with it!" for one reason or another and hack it all away. I think she looks beautiful and if I lost 800lbs (and looked as hot as her), I may consider it. (Though I did have my hair this short, and white once as a teen. A VERY thin teen.)
This is my dream hair. I think most women would agree. If I could wave a magic wand, drink a potion, swallow a pill, give up a goat... well, you get the idea. This would be my hair. But would it even look good on me? I doubt it. I think you just work with what you've got, be happy you have hair at all, and move along with your day. At the end of it, I'd rather be with my girlfriends, drinking wine on my patio than at the salon any day of the week!

Another Pretty Picture

I saw this GIANT dandelion weed thing at the dog park this weekend and luckily had my camera with me. I found it so beautiful! I had to walk around a bit till the lighting became just right (taken in the evening.) I'm pretty happy with the end results. This was the first (and best) of 3 shots.

New Blog 100 To Go

It’s no secret that I’ve struggled with being fat, or being phat pretty much since my son was born. For those of you who aren’t aware of the term phat, let me help you out. Phat is a slang term that is an adjective for attractive and good looking (an acronym could be Pretty Hot and Thick.) Self acceptance vs reality check so to say.

I’ve never been a size 0, but really wasn’t “big” till after I stopped nursing my son. I was used to eating whatever I wanted and just burning it off while sitting on my butt! Suddenly, I wasn’t burning it off by watching I Love Lucy and eating Mac and Cheese and felt very confused by the whole matter. Fast forward 15 years and I’ve just gotten bigger and bigger.

Unlike a lot of big people, I know exactly why. I hate to exercise and love to eat. Those two are a terrible combination. Sure I could blame my almost non-existent thyroid, but I know 1 hour of exercise 1nce a week and the delicious port brownies in bed at 10:00PM are the REAL culprit. So what to do about it? How much does it bother me? Is it REALLY a problem or does our culture just hate fat people? My answer to all of these is “yes.”

I watch shows like The Biggest Loser where the entire family is huge (including very little kids) and cringe. I know in my heart that if my son was at all overweight, I would have done something long ago. Truth is, he’s borderline underweight and I have to beg and remind him to eat all the time. If I would lose weight with my son and address his needs immediately, why don’t I do it for myself? That’s the catch… the real mommy question. Everyone comes before you (especially your children.)

I don’t need to be FAT to be PHAT! Here are all the reasons (personally) why I want to get rid of some pounds:

-To comfortably fly and travel (I REFUSE to ever get so big that I need a belt extension on a plane!)
-To comfortably go on amusement park rides with my family.
-To be more comfortable in class.
-To not second guess chair strength at people’s homes.
-To not have my knees, back or hips hurt.
-To not have to buy something just because it fits, not because I love it.
-To live a long life with my family.
-To walk all day w/o my feet hurting.
-To be comfortable being naked with my man.
-To shop in the same department or store as my friends.
-To be a good example to my son and other larger family members (which is pretty much every woman in my family.)

With these goals in mind I created a new blog to help me out a little. I joined the Self Fitness Challenge and was finding no support on their forums, but love the tools they have. I thought about how cathartic blogging is for me and that if I have to publicly blog something about being healthy every day, I'll more likely stick to my goal... to loose 100lbs. Voila! My new blog was born, 100 To Go. Enjoy and feel free to post feedback.

Feel Like Art?

This Sunday (May 31st) I'll be holding a community art event at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Davis (click to see their website.) The church is located on lush grounds, perfect for art and nature exploration. I'll be bringing along all my art supplies, and for a small donation you can help yourself to them, wander around the grounds till you find inspiration, and spend some time creating. It should be a wonderful experience.

Sunday, May 31st
12:45-2:45
$15 (50% church donation)
27074 Patwin Road, Davis CA
(530) 753-2581 office@uudavis.org

Wine Good!

I have BIG plans this Saturday! My husband and I are going wine tasting in Lodi with our good friends. Ms. Melody and I met while in the Sacramento Craft Mafia and hit it off at my very first meeting. Melody, like myself, is a busy mother, wife, artist, freelance writer, jewelry designer and photographer. Another creatress, and we were lucky enough to find each other!

I found this gem of a necklace in Melody's Etsy shop, Crimsin. Melody has a knack for off-beat kitsch (as you know, I ADORE!) and her talents know no bounds. I'm assuming by the end of Saturday, we'll look a lot like the women featured in her "Boozin' Buddies" series.