You don't get out much, do you?

I was out walking Kana this morning. It's more of a slow stroll than a hike. We passed a couple and this was the conversation:

Weird Couple (WC): That's an old dog. How old is she?
Me: Yeah, she's almost 12.
WC: Well I guess that breed ages fast.
Me: Larger dogs don't live as long as smaller dog do.
WC: Maybe she'll make it another year or two.
Me: *glaring at them as they walk away*

WTF? I honestly think they thought they were leaving me with a happy thought, but why would you say that to someone? Well, she might be old, but she's more polite than you'll ever be.

Wiren't you a Star?

Sometimes I really enjoy the simplicity of wire earrings. Both the making and the wearing. These are my new Good Morning Star Shine earrings. Made of heavier (18 gauge) sterling wire and strategically soldered to keep their shape, they are big enough to make a statement, but really lightweight. When creating a design like this, I love figuring out how to fabricate them so the shape works, can be easily put on, is comfortable, etc. I have other wire earwire earrings in my shop too, but these are the new ones.

Topo Gigio no morte

Uh, sorry Aimee, the peppermint oil only made my house smell like a chewing gum factory. Mousy is scampering about unimpeded and laughing and laughing. Under my feet. During the day. Right past the dog. Laughing and laughing. This morning I had it trapped under the fridge. Whoosh! There he goes. Laughing and laughing. I've done everything I can think of to dissuade Topo Gigio from hanging here. Although I do not want to become Mousy Murder Inc., I might have to go to something a bit stronger and potentially lethal. We'll see who's laughing then.

The story behind the title of this post is that I went to school for a year in Rome. Although we didn't live at the school, there was a kitchen there for the students to use. One evening I was in the kitchen and the only other person there was the school janitor. I didn't speak much Italian and he didn't speak any English. I went to wash something and saw that there was a dead mouse in the sink. Not knowing what else or how else to say something so the janitor could come see (and remove it), I said excitedly, pointing in the sink, "Topo Gigio es morte!" Which means "A little hand puppet from 30 years ago is died in the sink!" First he looked at me like I had an extra arm growing out of my forehead, then he laughed and laughed.

Sproing!

A couple of warmer, sunny days entices some plants to start yawning and stretching and, well, just showing off. Here are some lovelies from around the 'hood.






Inspired, I created my own spring flower necklace, Morning Glory Choker. I've had these vintage Lucite flowers around for a bit, but haven't found a good venue for them. The blue aventurine goes really well with the Lucite and I love these chartreuse triangles as modern leaves. It can't stand up to the beauty of the real thing, but then it won't fade away in a week or two either.

The Mouse Police Still Aren't Sleeping Too Well

So my friend Aimee (Newrotic Girl), the self-proclaimed mouse guru, said to gently discourage the mousies I should take "cotton balls and put 1-2 drops of peppermint essential oil on them." When she did it, she "Tucked them into the corners of my living room, bathroom, and kitchen (it wasn't a large apartment). You might want to put them in places where there might be a hole in the wall -- like where hoses come in for washer/dryer or heat or stove or whatnot." Simple enough. I ran right out and bought the essential oil.

This evening I went through the apartment stuffing little cotton bits here and there. I might have over done it. It smells like the Doublemint Chewing Gum International Chewathon is taking place here. I now know how this little remedy works: it burns the crap out of their little mousy noses cuz I know my sinuses are clear.

The Mouse Police Never Sleep

I got a mouse in the house. I'm all hyped up as I just had a small battle with said mouse and the mouse won. I had it trapped in the pantry and I was going to bag it and take it out. The little fucker (actually it's a cute, small, grey lil guy) ran right past me. Gotta admire that sort of guts! Big old giant coming at him with a grocery bag and he says "hell no, I won't go" and runs for it. It's got it too good here: big bowl of kibbles n bits and fresh water. I really hate finding 1/2 a cup of nibbled dog food and mousy dung (Mao Zedong!) under the kitchen sink. Bums me out, I feel like I'm running a mouse motel.

Pleasure Principle

I recently posted a silly thread on the Etsy forums called Things I Like. Thinking about it later, I realized that a lot of pleasurable things other people were posting don't even occur to me anymore. In the past couple of years, my life has become so insular and isolated that my previous ideas of pleasure - even at a simple, everyday level - have been transformed into the "I've heard of that", not even the "I used to do that". It's not that I don't find pleasure in things (I started the thread afterall), it's just startling how dramatically what they are has changed.

All this leads to two conclusions:
1) you never know how something silly like that thread can provide profound fodder for self-examination, and
2) it's a really good thing I found something like jewelry making, that I can do at home alone, that gives me such pleasure. Else I'd be shitouttaluck.

New Beginnings Two

Not that I don't ever put anything away but when even I can't find anything on my work bench, it's time to clean up.Clean actually means straightened, not really clean. And it certainly doesn't mean organized. Hopefully that will come about soon, because even straightened up I still can't find stuff. It's no way to work and keeps me from motivating to make jewelry.

After "straightening" however, I did manage to produce a couple of things.
Like this new ring I call Midnight Rising. I really like the look of lapis with sterling, but then, I've always been partial to blue.

I also made this sweet, bright Millefiori Necklace of colorful glass discs wired with oxidized sterling. The colors pop against the contrasting wire. Wire wrapping like this takes lots of time, so I don't do entire necklaces that often, but every now and again...

New Beginnings

So.
Here I am.
It's been quite a year of beginnings. In the past year, me and the dog moved to a new town (Portland) in a new state. I started a new business in a newly learned craft (metalsmithing). It was just over a year ago that I started my jewelry shop on Etsy. Feels like there's lots more that's new and I'm sure I'll think of it a 3:17am. If I remember, I'll tell all later. Not at 3:18am.
And now I'm beginning this blog.

Ain't life an adventure?

So there.

Breakfast: coffee and oatmeal