Caleta Cifuncho

I think most of my friends already know this, but my first ship ran aground.  Hard.  As in, stuck on a mountain in a foreign country, needed to ballast, wait for high tide, and get a tow boat...  I guess the good thing is we weren't stuck on the reef outside of Waikiki in view of our home port and wrecking the coral reef for days.  Not that it was a fun time by any stretch of the imagination, but definitely a learning experience that I am grateful for.  Then again, it's easy to feel thankful when the entire crew somehow made it through unscathed.

LMC in Cifuncho Bay

Considering the damage sustained by the ship, it is a miracle that no one was seriously injured and a true testament to the crew that she didn't sink.  Trust me.  I spent hundreds of hours learning every tank, valve, and piece of engineering equipment on that rust bucket.  People gave me lots of shit about how badly the ship was damaged and I laughed along because I didn't want to argue with someone who wasn't there, but the truth is, it's really not funny if you know how close we actually were to sustaining catastrophic personnel casualties.  It feels odd to say that was over a decade ago.  I can't get over how young we were back then.

Us, on the LMC, in Cifuncho Bay

Exactly one month after we ran aground, the USS Cole was attacked.   They were not as fortunate.  I've met people with permanent head and other injuries, unable to return to serving at sea due to the attack... and they considered themselves lucky compared to those shipmates who didn't make it.  
Sometimes it seems like life is pretty random.  I used to feel extremely guilty about the fact that we didn't lose a single person when the Cole lost so many.  But as the years have gone by, that guilt is mostly replaced by gratitude.  Not because they were in harm's way and we weren't, but because we have all learned so much from their experience.  (And to a lesser degree, folks have learned from ours, although we are mostly a tale of what not to do.)

LMC the following year.  Target practice.

When we were stranded in Cifuncho Bay, we thought that was more or less the worst thing that could happen in the Navy.  9/11 occurred one day shy of the anniversary of the LMC grounding.  By then, we'd all moved on to new assignments and I was on a completely different ship in a completely different capacity, suddenly getting ready as fast as we could to deploy when the call came.  Our expectations and perspective changed dramatically.   Now, I look back at those pictures in Cifuncho and smile wistfully because it all seems so innocent compared to what lay ahead.

Remembering the lessons of the past is not the same as living in the past.  Sometimes mistakes don't erase very cleanly, but that's okay too.  We choose to be thankful or resentful for where life takes us. 

************************************************************************************

The Navy Hymn

   Eternal Father, Strong to save,
  Whose arm hath bound the restless wave,
  Who bid'st the mighty Ocean deep
  Its own appointed limits keep;
  O hear us when we cry to thee,
  for those in peril on the sea.

O Trinity of love and power!
  Our brethren shield in danger's hour;
  From rock and tempest, fire and foe,
  Protect them wheresoe'er they go;
  Thus evermore shall rise to Thee.
  Glad hymns of praise from land and sea.

And when at length her course is run,
   Her work for home and country done,
   Of all the souls that in her sailed
   Let not one life in thee have failed;
   But hear from heaven our sailor's cry,
   And grant eternal life on high!

Please visit our Etsy store for all kinds of upcycled accessories and jewelry, created in Hawaii!

If I Had 11 Million Dollars...

Earlier this year, a co-worker inherited an insanely large sum of money.  He and two cousins were given equal shares on the condition that they use the money wisely to help the family.  Basically, the interest amounts to $500,000 a year, paid in quarterly installments.

That's right.  Every 3 months, a check for $125,000 appears in his mailbox.

After letting a couple of checks sit in his drawer for a bit, he decided to quit his job and traveling the South Pacific... to put a roof on his parents' house, to arrange family reunions, and to talk so some other cousins to see how he can help them.

It's really kind of funny because this guy is VERY NICE but also the dude calculating his share of the tip when the group goes somewhere.  I guess that makes him the right guy for the job- someone with the brains to get the most bang for his buck and the integrity not to keep all that money in the bank for himself.

If I had $500,000 rolling in every year, here's what I would do first:

1. Sell our rental properties and suck up the capital loss.  (The idea of holding onto the real estate was to generate passive income, which I now have through this hypothetical inheritance.  Plus, the valuation is totally screwed up and I don't see us breaking even there within 30 years.)
2. Send an "anonymous" gift to a cousin who is struggling to work his way through college by paying his tuition as long as his grades are good.  (He is very smart but also quite dyslexic so I think he's working hard enough just by undertaking collegiate level studies.)
3. $13,000 annually to each of my parents until their house was paid off.  (Roughly 4-5 years.)
4. $13,000 to each of my nephews in a 529 plan administered by me, made in monthly installments.  Repeat for 4 years.  
5. Start an IRA for my brother. 
6. If they would let me, I'd gift the inlaws $13,000 annually until their condo was paid off too.
7. Quit work and go to law school.  (I would love to study tax law and real estate law so I can do multi-generational estate planning.)  I think tuition and fees are estimated at $14,000 annually.
8. Install a new roof, along with solar fan and heat reflective coating on my grandparents' house on Kauai.  After rebates, this will probably amount to $20,000.  (Small house, low slope roof.)

Even with the loss of income (remember, I quit work to go to school), this still covers significantly less than the interest I would be earning.  But at the same time, gifting more than $13,000 to a single person annually has tax implications.  Speaking of taxes, I guess that would actually reduce the net amount of money I have to play with annually.  But whatever was leftover would go toward paying down my own mortgage.

In follow on years, I would like to tear down and rebuild the 70 year old house we're living in and figure out ways to help out our cousins, aunts, uncles, etc.  Once my husband retired, I would love to do some long term travel abroad- maybe spend a summer in Japan or on a river tour of South East Asia?  Pull the kids out of school and "unschool" for a year?  Hire assisted living aides to help my grandparents live in their homes for as long as possible?

What would you do?

Please visit our Etsy store for all kinds of upcycled accessories and jewelry, created in Hawaii!

New Show on Animal Planet: Tanked

In addition to beading and sewing, I also love fish. In fact, I've long since decided that my dream house would include a "fish room" (or at least space for a large Amano style tank). I am SOOOOO excited to see Animal Planet has a new "reality" show in production, called, "Tanked," which will begin airing on August 19. Check out this trailer- tell me you wouldn't kill your husband if he thought you would get into a tank of sharks to place the decorations!!!




Please visit our Etsy store for all kinds of upcycled accessories and jewelry, created in Hawaii!

Happy Birthday to Me!

Yeah, that's right. It's my birthday! Yay! Look how tiny I used to be...

Please visit our Etsy store for all kinds of upcycled accessories and jewelry, created in Hawaii!

Doggie Triage - The Cone of Shame

Unfortunately, even with my super resourceful doggie bandage and diligent foot washing, it turns out (after two rather expensive trips to the vet that included x-rays, cultures, lancing, wound cleaning, and anesthesia) that my poor fur baby had an abcess. (We were never able to find a definitive wound or insect bite.)  Here he is, the giant in the back of my car... (BTW, the car is parked in this picture.)

And on our 2nd trip to the vet... poor guy.  Look how swollen his paw is.  Turns out the cracks I thought I saw in his pads were due to swelling, not the actual wounds causing the swelling.  The vet also wanted his x-rays sent out to a specialist for another 2nd opinion.

Here's a close up of the paw, prior to the vet putting him under and lancing/digging out the abcess.  He was not putting any weight on his paw at this point.

So anyway, she took him back, shaved his toe down, put him under, and dug out the abcess.  So it looks much worse now (it's draining as it heals from the "inside out), and he is now wearing the "cone of shame."  I'm just glad he doesn't have a broken toe.  The first visit took 2 hours, and two dogs were carried in (one having seizures, the other poisoned by a toad) as emergencies, so I had to leave him for a couple of hours and pick him up.  He was still groggy and disoriented when we got home.  Poor baby.

The good news is that although he is still knocking into all sorts of furniture with the cone (the dog is big, the house is small, do the math) he is placing weight on the foot again.  Of course, this has to occur days prior to a family vacation to the Mainland, meaning the dog is now on meds with an open wound on his foot and more than likely will have to be medically boarded at the vet instead of at the MWR kennel (which is a MUCH better deal).  So not only are we whacked with the vet bill, we are looking at more expensive boarding costs AND losing the deposit we put down at the MWR Kennel.  I am hoping the results of his culture (from the abcess) are in before we leave (so his meds/antibiotics will be set) and the MWR Kennel will still take him with the wound on his paw and cone of shame.    That's five calendar days.  Joy of joys.  I am washing his foot out with Betadine twice a day, along with all of his meds.

But this is my fur baby and I wouldn't want to worry about his foot getting infected again while we're gone... and so at the risk of sounding like one of those crazy people who treat their animals better than they treat other people, no expense will be spared... at least not yet. 

Please visit our Etsy store for all kinds of upcycled accessories and jewelry, created in Hawaii!

Stationed in Hawaii with Kids: Hideaway Club at Barbers Point

Even though the Naval Air Station at Barber's Point is closed, there is still a small USCG Air Station... and there, we find the Hideaway Club.

This place has a really nice, beachy feel to it... sand volleyball court, horse shoe pit, basketball court, and pavilion for parties.  The parking lot is a little tight for larger events, but hey, it's not that big of a place anyway.  Great place to get together with other families on a Saturday afternoon.   There is plenty of space for the kids to run around and it's pretty easy to keep an eye on them.  The bathrooms are typically reasonably clean, too.

Just remember to bring your own food (which is totally allowed).  This place is not a restaurant.  The bar is fully stocked but the food offerings are  pretty limited and I am not a huge fan of frozen food cooked by bartenders between drink orders.

Now, this is a bit out of the way for me, so I don't really make it out here too often.  However, it is also the closest decent bar for folks who live out this way.  (So in case you were wondering whether or not to live in Ewa Beach, Kapolei, or Makakilo, consider whether or not you really feel like being that cut off from any sort of night life.)  It is also a military/MWR facility, so no worries about folks coming around to pick a fight with drunken soldiers/sailors.  (Which, I am sorry to say, would still be a possibility in parts of Ewa Beach and Kapolei.)  Getting back to the Hideaway Club, at night, this (being a bar) is not really place to bring the little ones. Most weekends there is a local band playing loud music and people are mostly here to hang out and drink. It's a mellow crowd most of the time, but still, you can typically count on one piss drunk idiot in every crowd of drinkers.

One thing that frequently is overlooked at Barber's Point is that there are still beach cottages and pavilions that you (if you happen to be eligible for MWR benefits) can rent... more or less right across the street from the Hideaway Club.  These seem to be less crowded than the ones at Bellows. 

How would you like to wake up to this?

Not too shabby.

Please visit our Etsy store for all kinds of upcycled accessories and jewelry, created in Hawaii!

Doggie Paw Bandage

Now here's something I never expected to need around the house, but the dog started limping and favoring his left front leg on a Sunday morning. There was no apparent blood or swelling and he didn't whimper at all when I poked and prodded his leg. He did, however jerk his paw out of my hand when I tried to inspect his foot. As it turns out, he has two torn toe pads. Not sure how he did it, but it wasn't crusty or anything so I rinsed it out with some peroxide and water, then let it dry.

Meanwhile, I did a quick search on how to make a dog bootie. Most of them are geared toward folks with little doggies that live in extreme cold weather. All I needed was something to hold the gauze on. (After cleaning, I dressed his paw using a triple antibactirial ointment, a 4x4 inch dressing sponge, and wrapped the whole thing with 1 inch self stick gauze to hold it on without pulling out his fur. If the cut was oozing, I would've also needed to use some sort of gauze pad under the dressing sponge.)

Since my dog is pretty big (he's just under 90 pounds) and has some pretty big feet, I actually had to dip into some socks I stashed away for my daughter to grow into. So in this case, the sock I used is a Hanes Girl's small. Any appropriately sized sock would do, but the idea is to use something breatheable (ie cotton) and padded. The other thing is that the sock should fit snugly around the bandage to keep it in place, and also be long enough to cover at least 1-2 inches past the end of the main paw pad (the one that would be sort of like your palm). Reason being, to secure the sock onto the dog's foot, you should secure it in the space right behind that big paw pad. Use your thumbs to gently stretch the sock around the paw and try not to disturb the gauze dressing as much as possible, much in the way a woman puts on pantyhose. (IE Don't try to pull/drag the sock over the whole foot and dressing.)

Now, you can secure the sock in a couple of ways. I happen to have double-sided velcro, which in my opinion, is the easiest to adjust for the dog. You could also use regular velcro or even thread/weave a ribbon through the neck of the sock and make a drawstring to tie it to the paw. In a pinch, you could even use tape. But back to the double sided velcro. If you've never heard of it before, google it. This stuff is cool. They use it for reuseable cable ties and attaching things like soccer goal nets. I used it to attach toys to the stroller. I measured a piece long enough to go around the dog's foot at the aforementioned spot (right behind his main paw pad) and added a couple of inches for adjustability. Then, I hand stiched about a 2 inch section to the sock with the hook (hard) side down. This allows the velcro to hold the sock in place snugly around the leg, rather than slip out. The softer loop side won't hold the sock if it gets pulled.

Please visit our Etsy store for all kinds of upcycled accessories and jewelry, created in Hawaii!

Another Kind of Busy

The good news is that the hubster made it home in one piece and the household is starting to readjust back to the two-parent norm around here.  Our landscaping project is done (except for weeding and waiting for the grass to grow in).  I also received a LOT of supplies ordered with the intent to start building inventory for some craft fairs.  (LOL, I was trying to get them to arrive prior to his return, but oh well.)  Anyway, it should keep me busy for some time.

The bad news is that I haven't had time to blog for about a couple of weeks.  I promise all is well here.  Just busy.  We are running errands, getting our quality time in, and reconnecting.  The summer PCS season is also upon us and we are trying to catch up with old friends either before they depart or assist others who are arriving.

So I hope you don't mind terribly, but this space won't move very much for about another week or two as we come up with the "new normal" around here.  
  
Please visit our Etsy store for all kinds of upcycled accessories and jewelry, created in Hawaii!

Counting Down the Days

I swore I'd never use this phrase, but... back when I was a Midshipman, one of the things we had to memorize was called "The Days."  When asked for "The Days," you were supposed to automatically recite the number of days left until certain events.

For example:
There are 14 days until Thanksgiving Leave
There are 22 days until Navy beats Army
There are 47 days until Christmas Leave
There are 152 days until Spring Break

And so on.

This was supposedly a coping mechanism to get through the year, so we wouldn't crack under the stress of deployments and other things once we hit The Fleet.  But these days, deployments aren't set in stone.  Even if you have orders, you know they're subject to changed based on a lot of different variables.  Ever wonder why there are so many "deployed dad suprises kids" videos?  Because the first time you tell your kid, "Mommy or Daddy will be home in 184 days" and it turns into "185," it's not so bad... but then it becomes "188,"  and then "186," and then "192."  And not only are you going nuts, but your kid is falling apart. 

When I was the deployed parent, I used to count paydays.  The number was smaller, which I found less depressing and easier to count.  This worked well for me, but the kids really don't see that.   So now that I'm the one home with the kids, here's what we count:

That's right, we count down bags of dog food.   In our house, one 35 pound bag of dog food lasts roughly 2 weeks, depending on how much we run the dogs.  Feeding the dogs is my 12 year old's job.  So each day, he scoops out two bowls closer to having his step-father back.  My 2 year old can see the food going down in the container, so it works pretty well for her, too.   And rather than focusing on a fixed number of days, this helps them visualize the "guesstimate" aspect that always comes with the end of deployment.

We are down to two bags of dog food left in this deployment. 

Thank goodness!


Please visit our Etsy store for all kinds of upcycled accessories and jewelry, created in Hawaii!

Where Were You: The Bin Laden Edition

This morning, I poisoned the weeds in the yard before the kids got up. Then I took some photos for listings and Skyped with the hubster.  Nothing all that spectacular.  The Boy finally got his butt out of bed to talk and I can tell he felt better.  The Princess misses her Daddy and changed into her Georgia Tech t-shirt after we were done.  It was a pretty normal day.  We were trying to watch Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, when I saw the news.  The bottom of the screen read:

BIN LADEN KILLED
BODY IN US CUSTODY

And I thought, "What the heck does THAT mean?   How do you kill a body?  Did he detonate a suicide bomb on someone in US custody? How does that even happen and since when does Bin Laden push the button? And why does THAT preempt Extreme Makeovers: Home Edition?" 

The news people kept blathering on and on, but none of it made sense until someone said President Obama was about to make an announcement.  

And then I finally figured it out.  They meant, "Bin Ladin killed, COMMA, body in U.S. custody."  I promise, I'm not a moron.  I just haven't evolved into the whole intentionally-misspelled-speak-in-cool-acronym-no-punctuation English yet.  I was so excited, I nearly started crying.  I chased my son out of the shower to watch President Obama make the announcement, and then I called my parents. 

Changing the topic slightly, my "normal" day today is VERY different than my "normal" day on the morning of 9/11, that's for sure, although my kids are 9 years apart so my son was about the same age my daughter is now.  I think I've told that story on this blog before, so I won't go into a whole bunch of details now.  But I do wonder whatever became of my old upstairs neighbor who played this song way too darned loud, non-stop, in the weeks that followed:

 Um, yeah... not so much.The guy also watched internet porn a little too loud.I think maybe he was deaf.

My Secret Guilty Pleasure - MIOBI

Now, I know this is totally ridiculous, but I am SO excited because Make It Or Break It is starting up again on March 28th.  Don't ask me why I like this show.  The girls are obviously too old, too heavy, and too tall to be Olympic hopefuls by current standards.  The "stunts" are obviously being done by "real" athletes who don't really look like the actresses.  The plot lines are predictable and contrived.  But I still love this show!!!

That being said, it's a little scary to think of all the pressure on girls who really are Olympic hopefuls.  When I was a little kid, gymnastics enthusiasts were always approaching my mom about starting me in gymnastics.  It always interested me, but there was only one coach in town.  My friends hated him, and when a one showed up to school with two broken arms (in the first grade), that sealed the deal for me.

Who knows what might've happened, had I decided to give it a go?  Eh.  I probably would've sucked.  Falling hard is not my idea of fun.  But, it's cool to watch other people flipping through the air.  (Yes, I also watch figure skating.  Shhhhhhh...)  And the show is actually interesting- at least, it is to me!

So now you know my little secret!  There went any cool points I might've had.


Please visit our Etsy store for all kinds of upcycled accessories and jewelry, created in Hawaii!

Lady Gaga ft Beyonce vs Metallica - Enter Telephone (Djs From Mars Club ...

It's been a crazy week around here, but a friend shared this with me and it was surprisingly good. I LOVE METALLICA. I don't really think much of Gaga. I thought this would suck, but it doesn't. So, I just thought I'd share with the rest of you out of the box thinkers!

An Unconventional Valentine's Day Poem

Here's a beautiful poem that I was recently reminded of while watching Oprah.  I love my children with all my heart, but not because they are a part of me as an arm or leg, but because because I love THEM.  :)  And I love my husband too, but that's another poem.

Your Children are not Your Children
Khalil Giran

They are the sons and daughters of life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,
which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.

You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.

Most folks know better than to view their children as possessions, yet still believe their children are a literal part of them.  How do you encourage your children to be themselves, and to develop their own personal strengths and weaknesses?

Please visit our Etsy store for all kinds of upcycled accessories and jewelry, handcrafted in Hawaii!

Heart of Glass

I picked this nickel plated key chain up from Artbeads over a year ago. It's a nice key chain, but the post in the middle is so thick that none of the beads I had on hand actually fit. I don't remember where those Bali style spacer beads came from, but I think it was Oriental Trading Company. So anyway, I put the spacer beads on the key ring, and that was all I did with it for a long time.

I found the key ring while digging through my stuff, looking for potential destash listings. On a whim, I tried to fit one of my Indonesian recycled glass beads on there. Even THAT didn't quite make it onto the screw in post. Fortunately, in the past year, I finally invested in a bead reamer (it set me back a whopping $6). I don't know how I ever survived without a bead reamer.

What are the tools of the trade for your favorite hobby?  Have you acquired a tool, thinking it was just going to be a "nice to have," only to find it was a REALLY NICE to have?  If you had to rebuild your workshop from scratch, what are the first five tools you would buy?

 Please visit our Etsy store for all kinds of upcycled accessories and jewelry, handcrafted in Hawaii!

Another Blast from the Past- Macrame!

When I was a kid, I spent hours making friendship bracelets out of embroidery thread for all my friends.   I didn't like "macrame" because hemp was big and scratchy. (There was only one craft store in town so you either made do with what they had or made your own stuff from scratch.) Well, nowadays with the amazing advent of internet shopping, I discovered that hemp is now made in much smaller/finer sizes in all sorts of amazing colors... and in different textures as well.

This sucker took me about 90 minutes to make. I needed a bit of a refresher on knots, which I got from this tutorial on Rings N Things.  I then modified their instructions a little bit to get the spiral pattern, once I remembered what I was doing.  Just like riding a bicycle!

I guess you can't really tell, but it's two toned (sort of the difference between milk chocolate and dark chocolate).  I used some turquoise recycled glass beads from Indonesia for contrast, since turquoise and chocolate is a pretty popular color combo around here.

The fun part is that my 11yo son saw it and decided to make his own macrame bracelet.  (His his khaki and olive drab in the basic flat pattern given in the tutorial, no beads, because apparently, "Guys don't do beads, Mom!")   This kept him busy for the better part of an afternoon AND is something else we can do together... which, these days, is definitely a win for mom!

Did you make friendship bracelets or macrame bracelets for your friends when you were a kid?  Are you teaching your kids any of those crafts?  What other things do you do with your kids to keep them busy when you can't just send them outside?

Please visit our Etsy store for all kinds of upcycled accessories and jewelry, handcrafted in Hawaii!

Don't Quit Your Day Job!

The best career advice I ever got was given to me while I was in college.  Instead of worrying about which career assignments are considered the "best," or "career enhancing," to pick the job that you were most excited about taking... because it's easy to do well in a job that you love.

When I got to my first assignment, it was so overwhelmingly difficult.  I used to walk around trying to convince myself that I wasn't really worth more dead than alive, but from a purely financial standpoint I was actually worth more dead than alive.  Again, this advice found me, this time from my boss...

As it turns out, I really loved that assignment.  It was a tough adjustment but challenging and rewarding.  I looked forward to work and I worked hard.

And that is how I know it's time to move on from my current job.  It's something I do just to pay the bills and it barely does that much.  Actually, it doesn't really cover all the bills I would like to pay.  That's why I'm still in the Reserves.  It takes two jobs to cover the mortgage.  I'm tired.  There is no end in sight to increasing responsibilities and no extra authority or compensation.   I drag myself out of bed every morning and still can't get there on time... not that it matters.  The boss doesn't say anything because I put in my 8 hours and cover my job as well as two other vacant positions... and when I'm not doing that, I read.  I bead.  I research other things online such as grad school, LSAT preps, and recipes.

I know what I love, and it's not my job.  My job is work.  It's not getting me closer to where I want to be.  It's just work.

Do you get the impression that I'm burned out?  Are you happy with what you're doing now?  What's the hardest job you've ever loved?

Lazy Saturday

It's a nice day, everyone is home, and there are no soccer games, activities, parties, or anything else scheduled. The yardwork is done, the house got a good deep clean last weekend, the dishes are done, and I've got a creative road block going so I don't feel like making jewelry right now.

I'm pretty sure it's been months since we've had a weekend like this.

We're bored.

What do you do when there's nothing else to do?

Ribbons for sale!

They say that variety is the spice of life.  And so, I had another great idea to make those braided ribbon barrettes that were popular back in the 80's, and bead them with the plastic tri-beads that everyone always wanted... or at least they did at my school!

My mom is not crafty at all, so I had to rely my friends' moms to make them for me.  Deprived much?  Over-compensating?  Perhaps.  But here's a listing to prove it... 25 yds of 1/8 inch, double sided satin ribbon, your choice of colors, in 1 yd increments. 

If I did my math right, that should come out to 9 cents a foot... which is better than wholesale and in manageable quantities.  This ribbon is really versatile- use it to wrap your goodies, thread beads, accent other pieces, or even as a draw string... trust me, I can think of at least a hundred different ways to use this ribbon.  I just don't have the time to do it all!!

Please, take my ribbon!!!

Another New Year's Resolution

Remember last year, when I decided to try "a picture a day" blogging?  Well, that lasted about a month.  :)  This year, I decided to ditch the minimalist black background and liven things up a bit.  

Here are my blogging resolutions for this year:

1. Post at least one photo a week
2. Include a tutorial or how-to at least once a month
3. Expand the content beyond just crafting projects

Simple enough, right?  We'll see.

Candy

Yes, I know this started out as a beading blog. Trust me, I'm still beading. You just can't eat beads, and therefore I'm doing some baking/candy making for the holidays. Chocolate is fairly simple as long as you remember not to apply direct heat. Lower is better, and absolutely do not let additional moisture into the melted chocolate. You can buy the professional cake decorating stuff if you like, or just spoon the melted chocolate in a ziploc bag with a corner snipped off. Easy peasy.