Father’s Table Desserts…

I'm not supposed to eat dairy or wheat, but some times I do cheat and the Father's Table Strawberry Swirl Cheesecake I can get at Boney's in Coronado is to die for. You can also find them all over the U.S.

http://www.thefatherstable.com

Diane Hyde - WOW!!!...

I always think the last gorgeous piece of beaded jewelry I saw was the greatest piece I've ever seen until I come across the next one. I think to myself..."that is the most beautiful piece and how could any piece be any more beautiful?". The next piece is always more beautiful than the last piece that I thought was so beautiful that nothing could be any more beautiful than it. Does that make sense to you? I hope you get my drift.

My latest finding is by Diane Hyde, and her neck piece "Tangled Up In Time" which placed first in the Crystal Jewelry category. You can find out more from her sites http://www.dianehyde.com.

Besides beautifying each piece with wonderful beads she'll add metal findings, a style we are calling steampunk to her pieces.

Lone Survivor ... a must read... a true story!!!

Due to my attention deficit disorder I usually don’t finish a book, I get so bored with it. I won’t even pick up a book unless I have a recommendation from a reliable source that it's good. So I found it on Amazon and bought it (used) at least two years ago, and there it’s sat on top of a stack of books I plan on reading. I literally couldn’t put it down, once I started. I stayed up until 1 or 2 am a couple nights in a row not able to find a good place to stop and go to bed. I don't cry very often. I don’t have anything to cry about (Thank you Lord and knock on wood), until I read something like this true life story about the treacherous acts of heroes dying to save their country, to save us, to save me. I cried.

This book is about one such hero who survived (I believe) because God wanted him to come back and tell us what happened.

I’ve always had an interest in the Special Forces ever since I joined the U.S. Navy and spent four years working at the command that trains these men. I’ve wanted to read factual publications about what they have done for us when they’re out on these dangerous missions in foreign places in the world where there’s turmoil and where murderous people who hate the U.S. plan and train to come to our country and kill as many of us that they can.

I will only read non-fiction because I want to find out the truth, and I do sit back here in my secure place in the U.S. ignorantly not knowing what is really going on in the world, not trusting the media that is supposed to be neutral, reporting only the news, only the facts, because so many times they have been proven to only report what they want to report, and not checking out the facts before reporting.

Millions of people go through their every day lives not knowing that events like the one described in this book are happening at the same time, in other parts of the world, for them so they can be safe in their country, in their states, in their cities, in their homes, at their jobs, at their parties, on their holidays.

Whilst we do sit back in our comfortable homes, workplaces, going through the daily things we think are so important to get done, actual heroes (men) are dying for us, dying trying to keep the people of the U.S. safe from people in other countries that want to hurt us.

This was written by one survivor. He knows and I know that he was saved by God so he could come back and be able to tell his story.

What I hope and pray is that future Special Forces personnel will never let what happened here, happen again, no matter what they have to do, so that they'll come back alive. They should continue to do what they’ve been trained and taught by the military, and not give a damn about what the liberal, unethical, biased, media and politicians say or do back in the U.S., that they are over there protecting. These men would be alive today if they hadn’t given a second thought to ROE (rules of engagement). Now all of them dead except for one lone survivor who will never be able to get the memory of what happened out of his head for the rest of his life because he let the liberals influence his actions. I pray that Marcus will fully recover, physically and mentally from the tragedies he has had to endure protecting our country.

Mikki..

Another find on Facebook. What would we do without this world wide web social society. Mikki is very HOT right now. This is her latest from her blog entitled Urchin Wings.

It reminds me of a bracelet and a dragon at the same time. The wings look like they have wire threaded through them, but it's actually copper seed beads. What else? See more on her blog, or gallery. I just can't stop staring at it.

Maggie Meister’s Byzantine Collar…

I must have taken this class 7-8 years ago at The Shepherdess in San Diego (when they used to have many great bead artists teaching classes) and of course still haven't finished it. I recently decided I am going to finish it damn it! I have a lot of it done, but something else had gotten my attention and it got stored with the others.

 I only have about ten unfinished projects that I need to finish before I retire because then I want to bead for my business full time. Here's what I do have done and I think it's just beautiful.

 Maggie takes you through her instructions step by step and I have no trouble at all with them. Sometimes I just have to give up on some projects when I return home from a class and start working on it, because it just isn't coming out right or I can't get it to come out right..

and below is Maggie's original piece created and beaded by her with a link to her kit for this on her site...

http://www.mmmbeads.com/kits/byzantinekits.html

Eva Maria Keiser

Have you seen her work? I have never seen any bead work like hers before, it is definitely original and soooooo incricate. She definitely spends a lot of time on her pieces. I don't know how she does it, I get so tired of working on the same piece day after day, night after night. Don't you? She also is generous enough that she added free/complimentary projects of  some of her pieces. Thank you Eva, I can't wait to try beading one of the triangles.