Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!!!! We spent the day at my brother Dave's house. It was also Kylie's FIRST birthday!!!! She was born last year ON Thanksgiving Day.

Here she is with Jordan....
Neil is with Sage, Kylie's brother....later in the day, Jordan taught Sage how to play poker....sigh....the next generation is already being corrupted!!!

This morning the boys and I stopped at "The Flower Shop" to pick up flowers for Jichan's (Jeff's father) Memorial service that we are having at the house tomorrow. Of course we have a friend at the shop....Yuki is such an adorable dog....

almost done...and false advertising???

Well, Thanksgiving is two days away...My cards are done, addressed, glittered and stuffed. Jordan and Jeff put on the stamps and return address labels...tomorrow Neil and Jordan will seal the envelopes...phew! Now I can get back to my sewing and crocheting!!! Okay, so my rant for the night...Jeff had his chiropractic appointment today and he wanted to try the burgers at Jack's Prime Burger. They had a $10 special - burger, fries and shake. Neil didn't want the special, but he had a fantastic looking kid's grilled cheese sandwich and fries for $4.99.

I feel like I am writing a math problem: Jordan, Jeff and Sheri have the $10 special, Neil has the $4.99 kid's meal. Approximately how much should the bill be BEFORE tax?

For some reason, each meal had 51 cents added to the price....when we questioned our server, he said the tax was calculated into the tab...BUT...there was another tax line calculated against the "so-called" built in tax price....so.....someone please explain. The Manager couldn't, but he reversed it and credited us $2.50...it really should have been $2.04...hmmm...maybe they can't do math.

BTW: I liked the burger and especially the fries and shake...but, I don't know if I'll go back.

Cards, Cookies and Football!!!

Yeah!!! I finished my Holiday letter....and am putting the final touches (aka glitter) on my "heart" trees. I had written in my cards earlier in the month...but am having problems printing out my envelopes...oh the horrors...I have to HAND address each envelope...sigh....I have 50 done...just another 70 to go!!! Here is a close-up of one of the cards...the first few had dots...for Christmas tree balls...but, I got bored making all those dots....sorry

My other bit of excitement was trying out "Double Delight Peanut Butter Cookies". I saw the recipe on Oprah and had to check it out...I love Peanut butter cookies....This recipe was really easy. First you make a ball of peanut butter and powdered sugar...then you take Pillsbury Peanut butter dough and wrap it around the ball. Finally, roll the ball in a mixture of cinnamon sugar and finely chopped peanuts, flatten out the balls a little and bake...quite yummy...you can find the recipe here.

Have you seen The Blind Side? Oh my...I think this is now my favorite movie....I rate it a 3 kleenex movie...it had so many touching moments and also VERY funny moments. Sandra Bullock does a GREAT job! Keep your eyes open for It's Complicated...it starts Alec Baldwin, Meryl Streep and Steve Martin! It looks hilarious!!!! (funny note: a relative on Jeff's Mom's side of the family was married to Meryl Streep's nephew....Jeff jokingly calls her "Auntie Meryl").

Wrap, wrap, wrap...

I decided to try to do some wire-wrapping on the fused glass pieces that I bought last week at BABE....The heart didn't turn out that great...the Christmas tree is simple, but, it turned out a little better....I think I need to play a little more...but, I ran out of wire :( Besides the wire work...I haven't done that much....I need to finish another afghan before Christmas, so, I am trying to focus on that...hopefully, I can finish before the end of the weekend...opps...it's Saturday night already...okay, my NEW goal....by Thanksgiving...

Gobble, Gobble!!!

After my Pilates class, I went to Joann's to pick up some googly eyes and wheat sheaves to finish up my Thanksgiving wreath! I am really happy with the way it turned out...It was really easy and fast! I started it at Jordan's basketball practice on Friday!!!

Jewelry Fun!

I bought some picture frame charms at BABE yesterday! I decided to play with them today...I think they turned out nicely. I really like these because they have a little design on the back...the other ones I saw at the show were quite a bit more expensive and were plain metal on the reverse side. The button bracelets are done! One of the blue buttons shifted a little...but, for the most part they came out really cute. I'll have to keep my eyes open for some fun buttons and cabachons.

Last year at BABE, I saw a necklace that I wanted to make...I bought the "banana" and teardrop beads...but, I forgot what the sample looked like. This year, I took a picture of the sample, and I made it today! Isn't it cute? If I only had somewhere to wear it to!

We are BABEs!

Today was a great day! I picked Julie and Jenny up and we hopped on BART...headed for BABE in Oakland. I have gone to it the past two years with Julie. Jenny and I had attended BABE about 5 years ago. BTW: I toyed with the idea of changing my name to "Jeri" to rhyme with Julie and Jenny...ha ha ha! Out on a Whim has always been a great booth...This year did not disappoint! I found clasps, I ALWAYS need clasps, and fun picture frame charms. I am going to try a new technique on the charms...hopefully it will work out okay.

Don't worry...the cabachons are just placed (quickly) on the buttons. I actually just finished making these bracelets. Julie has been making these button bracelets for a while...and I thought I would try a few. They were really easy...I also found a cool button for a sewing project!

My first stop was at the Kahn-Fagan booth. I bought some leaves and flowers for a kumihimo necklace. I also found the "strawberry" leaves. I wonder if the Las Vegas girls want to remake their strawberries...

Yoyo beads are always fun! This iss always a fun stop. The vendor also gave me a copy of a necklace pattern...so nice of him...I just had to buy more beads, a few buttons and a puffy fish. By the way, the puffer fish was the only "focal" bead that I bought. I hope my aunt likes it!

A while back I made a purse...but, I couldn't find a button...so, I made a bead....The Swarovski rivolis are always fun...and I found some HUGE ones!

Hmmm....the following picture is situated wrong...I really need an HTML class...anyways...the School of Beadwork has WONDERFUL kits...I did see things I liked, but, it was early in the show...so, I was going to go back if I didn't find anything else...yeah right...there is always next year...funny, I think I said that LAST year! I did find a beautiful clasp!

A few years back, I took a fused glass/wire wrapping class (with Jenny and a few other friends), these fused glass pieces actually have a channel on the side of the piece to make it easier to wrap...cool, eh! I also picked up a bail making plier....I SOOO NEED THIS! (BTW: The triangle next to the heart is a Christmas Tree...puts me on a time deadline....or something to do for NEXT year!)

One last (but important) note...for those Ex-Ingres folks out there....I was on BART chatting away with Jenny and Julie, (SACBC folks: I had also bumped into John Arai on the train, he was headed to the service out in Berkeley...opps!), anyways...this woman started waving at me....for the life of me, I couldn't figure out who it was....it was DENISE TAYLOR! She was headed to BABE as well. She is the Assistant Area Manager, at the Crucible. The Crucible is a fantastic place to learn everything from blacksmithing to welding, and everything in between! Of course, they have jewelry/metal classes....check out their website here.