Eldercare

Just a quick post to say that I'm still out of town visiting with my family. This is a shot I took while still on the NC coast. It's so beautiful there! Now in the central part of the state at my parent's house. We will be here just another few days, helping out with some chores and getting in a couple of quick visits with friends. Spending so much time with my aging parents leads me to much thought about life. How brief it is. What a short time we are here. How important it is to value each day. How important it is to honor yourself as well as those you love. Lots to think about.

www.mjanedesigns.com

Hello From The Beach

We are in Topsail Beach, NC for our annual beach vacation. I grew up here and my parents still live in nearby Chapel Hill. My father just turned 80 and is not in very good health. This may be our last trip here with him, so the whole experience is bitter sweet. Some things are the same as they are every year. It's hot and humid; the kids are sandy; we've all eaten too much fried food and fudge. The ocean is beautiful and enticing. As with all family vacations, there are many good times and some old - less than good - family dynamics in play. Not much jewelry making going on, but I did bring some pieces to photograph and I'm building some new pages for the website on my laptop during the downtime. When the kids play hard all day, they are ready to collapse at bedtime...leaving Mom a few minutes to myself.

Check out my jewelry at: M Jane Designs !

Berry Pickin'

Friday we headed about an hour north to pick berries at Berry Patch Farms. I've never done this with my kids before and thought it would be a cool experience...or it could be awful!...you never know with kids. We got there around 10 and stayed 'till 12. (They were closing early because of the holiday weekend.) Overall, it was a great experience and I'd do it again. The entrance is a charming old fashioned red barn with a country store. There were very cool roosters, chickens and turkeys to look out - and apparently a pig too, although we never found her. They have a tractor driven wagon to take you out to the fields and the driver was really nice and helpful. A few things I'd do differently: check to make sure that something was actually in season to pick, take a water bottle into the field for the kids, and bring along a friend.

The pictures are really cute. However, I had a discussion with a friend the other day, how people always post cute happy pics of their kids - but leave out the gory details that all parents know all too well. So in the interest of honest blogging, I will report that it was not all sunshine and smiles at the berry patch. My 4 year old son was done with the whole thing after about 20 minutes. Being 4, he planted himself in the middle of a furrow and commenced to scream and cry that he a) wanted a juice box b) wanted his Daddy c) wanted to go home - NOW! 

There was also the issue of the potty. Both younger kids had to go as soon as the wagon dropped us off in the middle of farmville. There was a very nice CLEAN porta johnny right there, but of course neither wanted any part of that. So there was a good 20+ minutes of threats and crying to get them in there and get the job done.

If you ask them now if they enjoyed it, they'll all say yes with a lot of enthusiasm. Even the little guy. But that's the thing about kids. They don't remember the bad parts too much, just the good ones. They focus on the positive Another lesson they taught me at the berry patch. Way more important than water bottles or bathroom breaks.

Check out my jewelry at: M Jane Designs !

BUSY today!

http://www.mjanedesigns.com/Bracelets/BlueSea.html 

Wow, this has been a busy day! All kids home + a neighbor kid, took husband to airport, worked out, delivered an order (almost...) and posted new pieces to the website. When the kids go back to school I'll feel like I have all the time in the world!! Check out the two bracelets I just posted to my website. I love them both so much I almost don't want to sell them!!

Word Cloud

I love a word cloud! Do you all know what a word cloud is? It's a computer script that will take the random words you enter and arrange them in a creative way. For example, in the one above I used the text from my blog posts to create the cloud. Some programs will make words bigger that are used more often. You can usually pick the colors and also try the words in lots of different configurations. Really fun, and revealing too. When you see what you've been focusing on rearranged in an abstract way, it's takes on a whole other meaning. It can give your words a beauty and importance (maybe false?) that you might otherwise miss. Give it a whirl. Fun stuff.

Today I'm going to complete a stamped custom necklace for a graduating teacher. The words are in Hawaiian. How cool is that!!

www.mjanedesigns.com

New Earrings on Website!

I just added sterling silver spiral swirl earrings in 3 sizes to the website. Check 'em out!!

M Jane Designs new earrings!