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Okay, it's time to think about
the business. I hate marketing myself,
but I think I need some more (or different) exposure. Maybe galleries or boutiques or something. Wish I had a person who would do
this for me. Ha ha
ha! BTW, I've got to say a huge
thanks to Scary Terri, even though she doesn't even know about this blog. She is being
a huge help to me with the new website.
Terri, you rock! Oh, made some new stuff, but
don't have it listed yet. Wanna see anyway?
Oh, and Monica has a slew of sterling swan clasps made from 18 gauge silver, along with a couple Lampwork bead clasps too. They're hammered, polished, and all ready to be photo'd and listed. Yay! Any of you ever hear of a place
called Trunkt? So, I'm listening to John Madden
on KCBS the other day (okay, probably more like a few weeks ago). They were discussing that ref in basketball
who was found out to be betting on games and therefore making calls that
might really have had nothing to do with reality, but more to do with his
wallet. Anyway, I'm thinking, if an
athlete knew ahead of time that the outcome of the game was already
determined... if he knew for a fact that it was decided ahead of time who
would win and who would lose, would he still be interested in playing the
game? And THAT brought me to the
thought of: How is this different from those who believe (strongly) in fate
and/or destiny? What is the fun of
playing the game if your actions really have no affect on the outcome? Ah! I’m starting to fall behind again. Let’s see... got some I have a big necklace to finish
too. Well, maybe tonight. And I've already got three bracelets to
photograph. I can't believe the kids are
going back to school in 3½ weeks. Egad! I don't think any of us are ready for
that. Not that my kids I seem to have nothing useful or
interesting to say at the moment. Sorry. Let's see what I can pull from the internet
to entertain you before you exit. Although I've seen many compiled
videos of silly cat antics, this one does rank up near the top. This is probably dumb, but I
always found it funny...
Isn't this cute!
Ha
ha!
Okay, enough fooling around… I've got work to do. TTYL! Well, it's our first weekend
with the kids in about a month and it's gonna be
jam-packed (mostly with hockey). Right
now (Saturday morning) is my most extended "down time". First hockey
today is at I got some wonderful things in
the mail this past week. Got my uberly cute cat card from QuirkyNBerkeley. She does great
work. I'll be back. Got (and already used half of
them!) my great set of cards (thanks for the extras!) from Sonita's Treasures. I hope she and
her son make more of those sets available in the future. Got some awesome beads from Patti Gill but can't show
you 'cause she pulls her pictures down to fast. Ha!
By the way, it's her son who makes those EXTREMELY useful bead caps...
in sterling, brass, copper, etc. If
you need bead caps like this, that's the place to go.
And silly me,
recently bought a nice and very unique set of lampwork beads... only to see
the same set selling again and again on eBay.
Nothing WRONG with what the seller's doing... it's just that, wow, my
beads aren't special anymore. The
circles I normally buy in (the mid to high end lampwork sellers), the sellers
make a set and move on. I'm so totally
not used to seeing a set of beads that I purchased going to other bidders
week after week. It's disheartening
just 'cause it's unexpected (but thank goodness it's a rarity), and now
whatever I make with the beads won't seem so special to me 'cause I'll know
there are so many more of these beads running around the universe. You know how I feel about one-of-a-kind
items. Sigh... Oh, I had the COOLEST surprise
when I got home from work last night. The
kids were in the kitchen and they were just finishing up their big
"surprise" project. They had
washed every single dish, pot, and pan in the house and cleaned the entire
counter off. If you've ever seen my
kitchen, you'll know just what a monumental task that was. Took them several hours. But the part that touched me the most was
that they thought of it on their own. Wow,
I feel like some of the sacrifices I make for them really are appreciated. Oh, took pictures of the few new
pieces... will list later. Want to go
take a bath while I have my small window of opportunity. I'll leave you with some
cartoons (courtesy of she who is not me)...
Weird news this morning. Still waiting to hear who it was they
gunned down here in downtown Onto other things... I have a
new project. I’m making notecards from photos of my jewelry that have been
computer-altered. Here’s an example
(going up on eBay later today):
This is the first of the "Mandala Series".
I hope to have more to show very soon. So Mandalas
got me to thinking about ... well, official Mandalas,
Buddhist traditions and all. Now
here's a perfect example of non-attachment in action. Sand Mandalas... If you go to the "pictures
from" section on this page, you can see photos of the process. Just look at one of the finished
projects...
Wow, huh? Making it…
So… why am I a fan of the Buddhist tenet of "non-attachment"? Because: A) It seems to make sense. We live in an ever-changing world and those who expect permanence in anything are often fraught with emotional pain. B) It makes for a more peaceful way of dealing with things that could otherwise cause great emotional pain, for all parties. How many times does someone tell you they love you (perhaps followed by "and need" you), when what they really mean is that they love to have you near them and in their lives? It's not about YOUR best interests or YOUR happiness that they are thinking, but their own sense of attachment to you. BTW, in no way am I saying *I*
have accomplished a sense of non-attachment in my life/thinking, but I do
work on it and the philosophy has gotten me through some times that would
have been tougher without it. And you
don't know the half of it! I am TOTAL
EMOTIONAL MUSH!!! I was born with an
overactive emotion-gene. NOT
funny! Okay, the up-side is that I can
feel happiness more deeply than some, but the downside is... well, you know
where I'm going with this. When I first started thinking
about Buddhism and the idea of non-attachment, I freaked out thinking they
were suggesting a life of flat-lining.
Y'know... nothing to get excited or
passionate about. Without deep lows
how can there be soaring highs? I
didn't want to become an emotionless human.
And for the record, the reason I say I was freaked out is because
there is SO much in the Buddhist teachings that I *do* agree with... you know
me, all or nothing. I needed to be
able to relate to and agree with it all. Well, from there two things
happened. One, I came to accept that
it doesn't need to be all or nothing. I
still have no emotional connection to the idea of reincarnation and some of
the more religious aspects of Buddhism, but I've decided I can think of my
Buddhist beliefs as a philosophy that I can live by, and not necessarily a
religion... or even a spiritual path. The second thing is that I'm understanding that losing the ability to feel great
emotional pain (through a change in thinking) does NOT mean you become a
piece of human cardboard. There is
still much happiness to be had. I'm not entirely GO with this yet, still exploring, but I'm on a definite
OKAY with learning more about it. I
think there may be a part of my brain that thinks it all has to be Yin and
Yang... how can there be happiness and joy without equal pain and suffering? Peter Morrell said: "It is
difficult to be a Buddhist, chiefly because the rest of humanity does not
approach life like this." I
wholeheartedly agree with this. He goes on to talk about how
"desire" and "hate" are the driving forces of much of
humanity. BUT!!!... he
also admits that he is part of that humanity.
Glad he said that, 'cause I want to agree with him. Although I STRIVE for certain ways of being
and thinking, it's still only STRIVING... I'm not anywhere near where I want
to be. But I feel I at least have a
leg-up by knowing what I want. J Anyway, enough of that for now. Onto other things... like the
I love them! They were made by a self-representing artist who sells on eBay under the ID mayfair106. Check her out if you have a chance… some nice work at very low prices. Oh, and the seller is also a very nice person. Well, I'd better get back to business… TTYL! |
