friendship and apple pie

Jess and Hailey made 4 apple pies the day before Thanksgiving. If you follow my etsy store, you might kow that Hailey either approves or disapproves of my earring designs for kids - she just turned 9 last week.




Jess (my daughter) babysat Hailey from before Hailey was even one year, and nine years later, they're fast friends. It was great to have Jess home from college and both of them providing pies ( and humor) in the kitchen.



Hailey wasn't quite tall enough to get the right leverage for the apple slicer - but she was determined to try and get it, and it was the humorous climax in the pie-making-show. Eventually Jess helped in the midst of fits of giggles.




The pies were absolutely delicious and the friendship; just as wonderful as ever.

I want to add in reference to my previous post, that the turkey that my husband so lovingly injected with marinade after three trips to the store, a broken seal on the blender, a syringe that somehow missed the turkey and got the refrigerator on the first attempt, and the entire comedy of errors which caused husband to sound quite like a salty sailor in the kitchen - was awesome.

off the hook at the last minute

I got to sleep in this morning.... after originally thinking I would be up getting the 'bird' ready for operation roast the turkey. However, last night, while spending a couple of hours over at Jeff and Helen's house (where we are celebrating Thanksgiving later today), and talking about today, Jeff and my guy decided that our turkey (one of two turkeys for our rather large gathering) must be deep fried. That is, without a doubt, a more masculine type job in my opinion. They like to fill the pot with oil, get a propane tank hissing, and drink manly drinks around the turkey fryer.

In the spirit and execution of more masculine-type-decisions, it was made late, and there are items that are missing this morning to prepare for the operation. As I write this little blog {whilst I manage to hide my occassional grin} my guy is searching for the needle which must be inserted into the syringe which makes injecting the marinade (which according to the directions should have been completed last night) a breeze. He has already been to the store for the ingredients for the marinade; the attic to look for aforementioned needle; and is preparing to go to the store again to purchase a needle which I'm sure is very easy to find the morning of Thanksgiving :)

I wasn't anticipating a comedic morning, and my guy isn't expressing much, if any humor as he adds up the sum of all parts and comes up short, but I will tell you, here in cyberland, that I am experiencing humor with my coffee this beautiful morning. And I am thankful for being 'off the hook'.

new new new

I've been working, working, working (happily) creating, photographing, and uploading: here's a few samples.



I've started with a bit of sterling silver wire this week - wire wrapping is an art, and I practiced quite a bit with inexpensive wire (not intended for jewelry tha I found in my husband's store of amazing things in the garage). Sterling feels different, it's easier to manipulate than my practice wire, but I'm glad I practiced hoops, loops, curves, wrapping, etc. before doing it with the much more expensive sterling!





Unrelated, but just as fulfilling and happy to me, is my daughter shall arrive here from college for the Thanksgiving break in less than an hour :) Happy Thanksgiving to all of my readers, I wish the best for you and your loved ones.
Kerstin

links

if you're feeling helpful tonight - you could leave me a comment tonight about how to make an addy a link in my blog.... I'll be late for work if I try one more thing, and I already said one (or two) bad words.

extraordinary week!

well, I need to leave for work soon - and I was killing a couple of minutes scrolling through the blogs that I like to read, and I was a featured etsy seller on this
http://jangiesetsyshop.blogspot.com
wonderful blog :) thanks! take a minute and check out her blog... go on, the link is right there!
I also learned today that I was accepted at another juried site for artists :)
I also learned today that my whole entire family will be here for christmas!
And, I blogged a couple of days ago about learning of a trip to NYC!
The only tiny little thing I'm missing and I'm not complaining, I'm just sayin', is that I've yet to have a sale this week... I'll be checking again when I'm home from work :)

thanks-giving

today I've recieved two emails to read and pass to the appropriate persons from my friend Helen. (see birthdays, bracelets and skydiving post in october's posts). Helen is making a list, checking it twice, and then sending it into cyberland for all of the families to read and follow. my list has a turkey and two crumble-crust-apple-pies to bring.

I'm thankful for the lists, thankful to pass them along, and thankful that I'm on a list! we live in a community near Ft. Bragg, and each of us that has recieved a list is the thankful recipient of a family here - not a biological family - but a family nonetheless in the sense that we care about and take care of one another.

for all of us that miss our biological families during the holidays, we celebrate with each other the blessings we do have - life, love, health, faith, love of this country, love for each other.. the list of gratitude is a little bit endless, and for that I'm grateful too. We've even started traditions in our 'family' - who prepares and brings what (according to who makes the 'best' one), who says Grace (jeff, as long as he's around), specific games we play after dinner, and who gets what leftovers!!! looks like there's be over 20 adults and 8 kids to share the love!

the emails made me feel a bit excited and antipatory, and it's nice to think of and write about that which I'm grateful for.
kerstin

old friends, new techniques

Well, my weekend was fabulous :) It was wonderful to have old friends around for a few days and we made the most of the time we had together.

This week I've been busy learning a new technique for earring creation; german style wire. I like it :) Here's an example, just listed this morning in my etsy shop:



And by the way, I learned yesterday that my hubby and I are going to Times Square, NYC in December and have tickets to see the Rockettes Christmas Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall! I've never been to New York City, and I'm very excited about it. Any readers out there that have suggestions for spending time there (we'll be staying at the "W" hotel right in Times Square), please pass them my way!

blessings and anticipation

two more days. just two more days until two of my childhood girl-friends arrive for a long weekend :) they're flying here from minnesota - where I grew up. first, there were three of us that met in 5th grade. then, when we moved to our jr. high school, and in the awkward and new halls of maplewood jr. high, the three became six. that was in 1976.
this year, we've all turned or will turn forty-four years old. we all got through puberty together, all graduated from high school together, went in different directions after that; college, work, marriage, starting a family, and all stayed close, fast friends. we've been through 8 marriages and 2 divorces together (still makes six :), the births of thirteen children, the death of two parents, two high school graduations of our children so far ( my kids are the oldest), and so much amazing minutia that make up the basis and blessings of a life.
Our husbands all enjoy each other and spend time together when they can golfing, boating, or just goofing off ... our children all enjoy each other (ages 7 - 20)... and we get together as often as possible. just two more days til a part of a whole gets to indulge in the gifts of love, friendship, and fellowship sharing laughter and tears while catching up with the stories of our lives!
most everyone still lives in minnesota - and my husband and I got to visit everyone while we were vacationing there this past summer. now two of them are arriving in two days! yay :)

two.oh.nine

I called my husband this afternoon to say hello, ask him a specific question, and share with him that while I was out running some errands, I noticed that gas was 2.09 a gallon at murphy's. whoa. it's really sad, but I remember not long ago paying 4 dollars or more a gallon for gas, and now it seems like a deal at 2.09. maybe that's been the plan for awhile... change our comfort zone so more seems like less, and less; more?

In other news, I was forced by my conscious today to relate a tale that I didn't want to, didn't want to be involoved with someone else's 'stuff', but saw that my employer was being taken advantage of ie: one of his employee's was stealing... so I did what seemed like the right thing, and let my employer know. Now on the one hand, my conscious is clear, on the other, I can hear the kids on the playground taunting me with cat-calls... tattle-tale...

it's hard to be a grown up. I'm just sayin.

omg - savin' my beans for this!

I was just browsin' tonight, checkin' out who has left me a heart in my etsy shop :) (thanks to all of you)... and I had a heart from Ralph.

It's oddly wonderful that Ralph is from Minneapolis, because St. Paul/ Minneapolis is my home town area, though I've been in NC over twenty years....

I scrolled through Ralph's shop, and I became smitten with this made-just-for-me listing. For those who know me a bit, it's no surprise that this would speak to my heart - my coffee addicted heart, my hot tea lovin' heart, my one-more-mug-is-not-enough kind of heart.

So, I'm hoping that either someone who loves me very much happens upon this manipulative and conniving post, or that my own earning power is great enough for one tiny little self indulgent thing!

I'm off to look for items which one wishes fervently upon...falling stars, four leaf clovers...

I almost don't want to tell you where to find Ralph's shop, I want to keep and covet it as my secret... but I know you want to take a peek - go on, it's ok, and I'm sure that he would enjoy the company!
http://ralphnuara.etsy.com

current favorite day

I worked the past three days (actually nights) and now it feels like friday! Sundays and Tuesdays are my two favorite days currently, because both my husband and I are off of work :)
My "victorian holiday" earrings sold while I was at work last night - it's fun to sign on and find a little sale in my inbox - I think I'll dedicate a few hours this week to my 'holiday' section in my shop this week. You can look for new listings soon!


Sold

unique is as unique does

I met a couple of friends at Starbucks this afternoon, and I don't know if you can see in the picture the spelling of my name "Kristen". It's cute how they do that bit of personal marketing there...
Anyhow, my name isn't spelled that way or pronounced that way, in fact, one of the friends I was with had to tell me that they called 'my' name for my Gingerbread Soy Latte. Thanks, Shannon :)
...if I only had a nickel for every time I corrected the spelling or pronunciation of my name... most of the time now, my friends make the corrections before I do....

free entertainment

This morning I took my cup-o-joe out to the front porch - it's beautiful here in NC today! We have a fish pond garden just off of the porch, and along with my coffee, I got to watch this little guy stalk, catch, and eat his breakfast! He would hold on to the pole (it's a small sheperd's hook that holds a wind chime) and sit so still, and suddenly launch himself into the air and catch insects. I saw two successful launches :) It's going to be a great day - for the little guy, and for me!

this just makes me smile

Another pair of earrings that I just listed today - don't they have a fun little attitude and a sassy personality? I love the beads with their proud polka dots, they're fun and I think make the statement that you don't take life or yourself too seriously. Girls just wanna have fun....

green orbilicious

Just listed :)
I almost want to keep them for myself because the Good Lord knows that I don't have enough earrings (heh). It's just that the beads were hard to come by, and I don't have any more of them... they remind me of a wonderful planet somewhere in the universe.
Also, just say 'orbilicious' out loud... feels nice, huh? If you're at work just wait til you're driving home or something...

photographs and memories

It's wednesday evening and I thought that I had to work tonight, but I got there and wasn't supposed to be there for another 24 hours, so here I am, working on the blog post that I thought I would get finished earlier today.

I've spent the past couple of days contorted in and around my new light box, camera in hand. The time and effort has paid off and I'm slowly changing photos in my webshop for better color and clarity of the items I find so fun to make.

In addition, I've found myself ruminating over a dear friendship that has drifted into polite aquaintence, and wishing that we were given a magic moment of clarity prior to the loss of what was precious, so that we could say nice things and be remembered that way... Sometimes when the loss is sudden or unexplicable, it's so easy to say things that shouldn't have been said, and the recovery from that may never happen.

I've let my mind wander while photographing and rearranging, and come to the same place through my thoughts... I'll take this and apply it to the present, while I can tell someone how much I think of them and how fond I am of them.

no lines!

I went to the polling place that I was supposed to around noon today with my husband... I was thinking that we probably were going to wish that we would have voted early as we waited in a long line in the light but chilly drizzle. I had visions of my entire afternoon spent waiting to exercise my rights and obligation as a citizen of this great nation. I would've waited, too, but there was no line!

We walked right to the registration table, handed over our driver's licenses, signed where we were supposed to, moved down to the lady handing out the ballots and listened to her short explanation and then we separated and cast our votes. After a bit, we finished, slipped our ballots into the machine and went out for lunch. I'm not going to tell you who I voted for, but during a conversation at lunch my husband and I discovered that we didn't vote for the same candidate... interesting, but not the topic of this blog!

The last presidential election I waited in line for just under an hour to cast my vote. I don't know about other states, but North Carolina did a great job with early voting as evidenced by our experience today. Kudos to election officials in our area - I'm impressed.