World's greatest brother

This is my 'little' brother, Chip. He just celebrated a birthday. Happy Birthday Bro!!
And, he retired!! I can't believe it. Why am I still working?? Maybe because I like it.

This is Chip's one year picture. Cute huh?

And, I have to share these pictures of ...

Joey's new hat. As I have mentioned once or twice before, Joey is, and always has been, a hat person. He got this cool knit hat a few weeks ago.





Joey was about 2 years old when these pictures were taken, or maybe 3. He 'borrowed' this knit hat from Amy so many times that she gave it to him. The first time we found him wearing it, he was sitting on the front porch stairs in his snugly footed pajamas, wearing it.

BTW, Amy still refers to Joey as "my little brother".

... and, don't you just love the green pants! What a fashion statement.

Oh Noooo, the feathers are too low...

Feathers just right.


Feathers toooooo low... grrrr. I have to take it apart.


Purse without feathers. The picture seemed low enough. It's really difficult to tell until it's all together. I'm going to have to pin it together somehow, before sewing, so I can look at where the feathers fall.


This is the first feathered bag. Dog is Snickers, a friends pet.

I'm not sure how my client found this purse - I don't remember ever advertising it. We had it on display in St. Charles as a sample. Someone fell in love with it and 'made an offer we couldn't refuse,' so we sold the sample. Anyway, she had an adorable picture of her Pug, Dottie in a pink plaid, pink fur trimmed jacket and sunglasses that she wanted on a similar purse, but with - you guessed it - pink feathers!

It turned out really cute, after I moved the pictures down on both sides. I'm going to have to figure out how to determine where to put the picture first, before I make any more of these purses. People kept coming into my studio to see what I was working on with all the pink feathers!

Couch Sled, Another great idea . . .

It's Saturday afternoon...what should we do?? Well, when great minds meet it goes something like this..
"Look - I found some water skis in the trash!!" "Wow, I saw an old couch down the street. If it's still there we could grab it, put it on the skis, and ride it down the sledding hill behind the house." Cool!! Lets do it!!

Of course, you have to be a 12 year old boy (Glenny) or a 40 year old man with a spirit of fun (Joey and Mike)... and it doesn't hurt to be a little bit 'nuts'. Who would get on a couch on skis without breaks, and slide down a hill??? The answer is in the pictures below. Oh, and you have to recruit other slightly nuts people to help push it up the hill...
Quote from Joey. "Couch Sledding January 22, 2011 Parts Needed: 1 Couch, 1 Set Water Skis, 2 2x4’s.. Tools Needed 1 Roll Duct Tape, 1 Vodka Martini, 1 blow Torch… push up hill and your sledding in comfort and style.."







It was a great ride! Let's do it agian!!

OK, so it's January . . .

I remembered to purchase my parking permit for 2011, and was so pleased with myself for getting it before the end of the year, just before. We, my memory being what it is, I remembered to buy it, but did not remember to display it!!
Now, I know it's my mistake, but . . . when I apply for the employee reserved permit, I give them my company name, and address. They have the information available on line, including that the permit is paid for. The parking lot is right outside the door to my building. It was the first working day of the new year. DO YOU THINK THEY WOULD GIVE A WARNING TICKET RATHER THAN AN ACTUAL FINE??? NOOOOO WAAAY! Or, maybe I'm crazy but, they could have come in to the building and reminded me that the permit was still in my purse. So, $400. to park, plus another $25 bonus to the city. It seems like a contest somehow, and I lost.
I know this isn't Mayberry - but, where does the spirit of cooperation and niceness come in? Is the City so poor, or the parking officers so pressured to give out tickets, that they can't take a few minutes to 'be nice'? Life is easier if you're nice. It wouldn't do any good to tell them that . . . sigh.
BTW, I did go to the police station as soon as I realized what happened, and they said to go to City Hall for an adjustment. I did that and was told there are no adjustments, no exceptions, no excuses. YOU HAVE TO DISPLAY THE PERMIT. There is not even a one day 'grace period'.
Rant over - except that I might send this to the 'letters to the Editor' section of the Elmhurst newspapers. Any suggestions of comments??

I'm adding a picture of my studio window - I love the pink tree. I used it to display jewelry and it's so cute, I hate to take it down. May wait a while and enjoy it.

2011 is here and not much has changed.

Well, that's not entirely true... all the snow went away. We had RAIN and 55* temp. last Sat. then it went to 21* that night. Weird.

Bob and I went out to dinner NYE, then watched a movie. It was a nice evening - and totally stress-less.


I'm excited. I just looked at FB and saw this picture of Lauren and George, good friends that I like to keep up with on FB. Lauren is wearing a portrait necklace I just sent her as a gift. So Cool!! I posted a picture of it under our Family Tree, last year. The picture in necklace is one I 'borrowed' from George's FB page. It is of the two of them dancing and it's sooo romantic - I love it.