**Tap Tap Tap** Is This Thing On?

**eh-hem**

I JUST HAD MY FIRST TWO SALES IN THE ETSY STORE!!!!

whew, that felt good!

All for now,
Nugget

Really There are NO Excuses, but Try This One On For Size...

I SO had good intentions to rock hard on the remodelling project(s) underway and for about 2 hours I really opened up a serious can of whoop ass.

Yes, we sat around for some time this morning leisurely drinking our coffee and watching the renno-fest marathon that is HGTV on Saturday morning: Holmes on Homes, eh, and some other ones. I don't quite remember, it's all a blur of fencing, tiling, dry walling...And you'd think that would put a fire in our belly, but people, we were tired and clearly in need of much greater motivation than mere TV personalities were going to provide. At least for me. Hubby Nugget had far greater initiative at that point, but I needed additional prodding because I was tackling the dreaded problem: the butt-ugly, unevenly applied popcorn ceiling that the obviously EVIL previous owners put up. There really should be a law against that, if not some code violation.

Having already accepted (due to my habitual viewing of HGTV) that I will have to slip coat every square inch of wall in the house (the alternative being new drywall), I had yet to reach acceptance about what needed to be done with the ceiling. I envisioned water, drop cloths, breathing aparatii, and hours and hours of horrible aching tedious dirty work.

And all that was true, except the hours and hours part. The ceiling had been painted, so no need for water. I just knocked off the popcorn part, and was done in less than two hours. Which is awesome, except I had really just expected to work on that today, and wasn't really in the mood to start slip coating. (I have to psych myself up for something I've never done before. Well, I've done slip coat, but that was on plaster, no biggie. This is 50-year old sheet rock. Nuff said.)

Plus when I got done, then allowing clean-up time, it was about 4 o'clock, which really is too late in the day to start something new. Ehem. Now don't get me wrong, I've been busy: I cannot tell you how many messes and toy box explosions I've cleaned today. Plus laundry sorting...oh yes, and Monkey wrangling. That's job number one.

Oh who am I kidding...I feel like an unbelievable lazy turd right now, obsessively checking Facebook and the Blog-o-sphere for new updates. Busted! But I did do all that stuff today. I just feel bad that I should have done more. Oh well, some days you just need a day off...oh wait...TOMORROW'S MY BIRTHDAY!!! Well if that's not an excuse to be a slacker for 2 or 3 hours, I don't know what is!!!

Check out the computer game that's been occupying much of my lazy turd time: Pure Hidden. If you're into seek-and-find games and like really pretty, relaxing graphics, check it out! (note to self: must remember it's OK to take some relaxation time!!!!)

All for now,
Nugget

I Know You Are, but What am I?!

There are few things about the 80's that are worthwhile mentioning. Yes, it was a dark time of mullets and Three's Company to be sure, but a few bright stars shined like a beacon of hope in the bleak days of my teenage years.

Let us start with the unbelievable Hello Kitty store at our local mall--I KNOW! A whole store devoted to Hello Kitty and Pals. You could see the sparkly pink goodies glow in the distance, beckoning you to peruse their unbelievably adorable goods, and maybe to perhaps part with a small portion of your allowance...I still have my Hello Kitty scissors don'tcha know. And yes, I know Hello Kitty dated pre-80's. But it hit the Midwest in the early 80's, so there.

Luckily, HK lives on, and Thank You God, my daughter is a fan. Which means I can buy HK gear until my heart's content, and this pleases me. No, I'm not all "oh I love Hello Kitty so much I'm going to turn my house into a pink dollhouse of Kitty-lovin shame,"

nor will we be totin' this regal firearm...

but we have a number of sticker books and a stuffed doll or two. And some hair accessories. And socks. I feel pretty good about that, and it satisfies my unresolved childhood desire for absolute cute. See this blog for the antidote. It's hilarious!

Item number two of the few good things that emerged from the 80's: Pee Wee Herman and Pee Wee's Playhouse. God I loved Pee-Wee. Yes, Paul Rubens the person ran into a bit of trouble (what with the movie watching habits and all), and as a result the Playhouse was cancelled. I understood, but it was sad.

But guess what? He's back! There have been 2, count them, TWO Pee Wee sightings in the last week:

Sighting 1) Conan O'Brien's show (sorry you have to endure an ad first)

Sighting 2) Doing an iPad review (hilarious!)

Nothing pleases me more than to see Pee Wee Herman again. Hell, you can even become a fan on Facebook, or follow him on Twitter.

Infinity!

All for now,
Nugget

The Early Bird Gets the Worm, But Might Get Killed in a Late Season Frost...

The planting catalogues are here! Yea!!! Time to think about gardening again!!! I say that as another blizzard approaches...


I never thought I would be one of those people who 1) looks forward with great anticipation to the upcoming spring plantings in October; and 2) peruses seed and bulb catalogues with deep and meaningful purpose. Oh yeah, and I want a goat. Nobody saw that one coming.

Honestly, who could resist that cute face? I will have my pygmy goat one day, oh yes I will. But for now, I have The Bug.

So yes, I am very excited about Spring and have been thinking about upcoming projects. First off, the rock wall garden is complete. The only thing left to do is let it do it's thing. Oh sure, I am going to take the iris, ornamental grass* and some of the sedum out**, maybe move some stuff and add some goodies in the corner near the tree, but other than that (!), really all that needs to be done is to let the ground cover by the road cover the ground.

*OK, so here's the story with that. The iris was planted willy-nilly at the end of '08 because I received it as a late season gift and needed to get it in the ground. Now I have a better place for it, so it gets moved this year. And the ornamental grass, well I put it in the place it now resides simply to prevent erosion. Now that the ground cover has kicked in, the grass can move elsewhere as it looks a bit out of place.

**And the sedum. Sigh. My poor sedum. Oh it's OK, but it really could use some more sun. Some are doing well, like the angelique and blue spruce. But the others, the stonecrops, are just too leggy for my liking. Even though I love sedum, leggy sedum is just plain ugly. So leggy sedum in the front yard are heading to the back where they can bask in the sunlight, at least somewhere in the NE corner.

That leaves a little patch of ground by the front door in need of tendin' to! Wahoo! Another garden spot! Not sure what yet, probably has to be something that doesn't need much light. Maybe rocks. And another tiny tiny gnome.

In the backyard (yes I know we agreed that's Hubby Nugget's domain, but I ran out of places to plant, and I wore him down), I will continue the plantings around the Juniper, another azalea bush to be sure. And vinca. It seemed pretty happy there last year. Of course the beloved Garden of Sedummy Goodness. This will include rocks, and definitely lavender (mmmm). Oh yes, I'm excited. Again, not sure where it's going to go, but I need to be able to see it from inside the house.

On the west side, I'm going to plant the orphan Norton grape from the vineyard. This is mostly so I can practice pruning it. Probably would be a good idea to learn how to prune if one is going to be a grower of grapes and maker of fine wines.

And finally, as if there aren't enough projects already, I will embellish the newly finished rock wall that surrounds the fire pit/patio area with plants from Larry's House of Cheap Sedum (a local nursery that I was told about and am salivating at the thought of visiting this spring...big surprise there).

Come on spring!

All for now,

Nugget

Bookclubbing

Back in the day, I was in a bookclub of sorts. It was populated by like minded sorts, and was devoted to all things Arty. It went on for quite some time, a few years even. At first we met once a week at a local coffee shop (thereby augmenting my caffeine addiction), and discussed an article or chapter that someone had chosen. Then it was every two weeks, then once a month, you get the idea. Eventually I engaged in the madness that was a PhD program and drifted away, although by then it was really kaput anyway. On the bright side, I formed wonderful friendships with my two remaining girlies, A & R. No readings anymore, just hangin with my girls.

So why the nostalgia? Well, since I came to my senses about the advanced degree, I have had a hankerin to read for fun. I've been pecking away at this one book for awhile, but I find I really need the discipline of deadlines to really accomplish said reading enjoyment. Reading for fun seems so...wrong. Which is crazy, I know, but after years of my advisor asking why I was reading such and such, it's not scholarly enough to use in my dissertation, blah, blah, blah, it kind of gets drilled in your head that books are work. You use them for research, you write them, you don't read them for entertainment.

I guess what I'm saying is I'm looking to join a book club. I see this thing on Facebook, so I might check that out. But still might be kind of cool to join something locally, not virtually. Because I don't drink enough coffee as it is!

All for now,
Nugget

Diversions of Goodness

I'm looking for a new game to play. I've never really been a game player, but I've been giving it a go as a way to unwind after a busy day.

When I joined Facebook, I really got into Farm Town, as witnessed here. When I say I, I mean we, in that Hubby Nugget was equally enthralled with this time-wasting endeavor. I have to give the Town some cred for making me realize that a relaxed Mommy is a happy Mommy, one that requires less drink to achieve the desired relaxation level.

But all good things must come to an end. My love affair with Farm Town began to fade. I looked to Facebook for another and began playing Farmville. But really it was just a rebound relationship. Who am I kidding.

I re-evaluated my priorities. It wasn't about the coin. It wasn't about the small house versus the farmhouse versus the mansion. I was perfectly happy with the farmhouse (more closet space, but not so much that you felt compelled to become a compulsive shopper). And I really didn't even care about the crops. Oh I did at first, but that was just a means to an end. Plant the crops, harvest the crops, sell the crops, get the coin. Coin in itself doesn't bring happiness, no, Coin brings choices, and choices are good. I digress. What I'm trying to say is that I realized what appealed to me about Farm Town was the fact that I could design elaborate gardens and mazes, and THAT was cool.

So while I am simultaneously amusing myself and cursing Jungle Jewels, I would like to invite someone to create an awesome landscape gardening game app. I bet it would be HUGE. Or not. I know I would enjoy it.

All for now,
Nugget

Scaredy Cat!

C'est moi.

Have you ever canned? I haven't. But I want to. That whole botulism thing is just a bit intimidating.

I have been saying I'm going to can ALL summer. Have I? No.

In my defense, most of the things I wanted to preserve were HIGHLY discouraged for home canning festivities. So instead of making roasted red peppers in oil, I roasted and froze them instead. As it turns out, that works just as well, if not better. Take a couple of strips out of the freezer, chop them up, and voila! Super-tasty FABulousness!

We've been freezing tomatoes as well, not because of The Fear, but just because it's easier. Chop them up, simmer them a bit, cool, put them in bags and freeze. Plus HN LOVES his vacuum sealer. Who am I to disagree!

I've also used the dehydrator of goodness to make "sun"-dried tomatoes, now resting comfortably in the freezer. Can I get a "YUM-MEE!"

But now it's the end of summer, well OK fall, and I can no longer put off the inevitable. Can I must.

Sigh.

Wish me luck in that I don't poison my family! It can't be that bad, right? I mean our grandparents did it, their parents, etc., and they survived! Sheesh, Just do it!

Yes, I admit I'm a giant goober,
Nugget

PS. oh you know I'll let you know how it goes!

Pardon Me While I Go On About Work Stuff That Probably Means Nothing to You, Dear Readers...

You may or may not recall my blathering about The Big Project at work. Back story: I manage an image collection used for teaching art and art history classes at our local university. For many years, that meant using slides, but we are now increasingly becoming digital, against the odds of a small staff, budget, faculty enthusiasm, etc. Fast forward to now: almost all the faculty has embraced Tech, some more so than others. The Big Project has been converting our analog collection to digital, and it's been a task that has fallen solely on my shoulders.

And now, now there is a new chair. This is big people. She is technologically savvy. I cannot express the excitement I have about this. FINALLY, the big dream could become a reality. A searchable, on-line image collection. Ahhh. I'm feeling a little Pollyanna about it, but I think it could really happen this time. I know others have promised it, I have been there for 12 years after all, but there is a glimmer of hope in this cynical girl's eye. Oh yeah, they're forming a committee (jacking off gesture), but MAYBE THEY REALLY WANT TO DO SOMETHING THIS TIME!

A girl can dream...

All for now,
Nugget

I'm So Excited...

and I just can't hide it! There is a small area by our front porch that has not really received much gardening attention due to my obsession with the hard rockin' Rock Wall garden. Oh I've put some things here and there, just to brighten it up, but put no real thought into it.


So now that the big garden is basically running on autopilot, I diverted my attention elsewhere. Thought I might spruce up the bushes a bit. Hmm, maybe a few things in front of the bushes. Then it hit me last night. I seriously hate the petunias I put in earlier this summer. Really. They suck. I'm sure they are gorgeous in your yard, I've seen them from the road, but in my garden, well, they just don't dig the clay soil. They're all gangly, half dead, just plain ugly.


So I ripped them out!!! Very liberating. Plus they only cost about 4 or 5 bucks to begin with, so I had little remorse. Good riddance. Well, I put them in pots, but now they look even more hideous, shriveled and pathetic gangly bastards. They may be heading to the compost pile if they're not careful...


Last night despite going to bed late, I could not sleep, had visions of garden planning running through my head (well, creating a formal garden in the middle of my watermelon farm in FarmTown could also be part of that). Regardless, I couldn't wait to get up this morning and get some new plants.


So bright and early this morning, Babygirl and I head to our favorite place to acquire cheap annuals, our local Sutherlands Lumber Yard. No go. All gone. Poo. Off to the Lowes of goodness. Not much selection in the annuals, just over-priced "designer" genetically engineered corporate creepy plants. I was about to head over to our local nursery, then realized how much I'd be spending for something we'll only enjoy for another couple of months and said screw that, lets go with perennials, which I'm a big fan of anyway.


So with that attitude adjustment, we perused the selection of reasonably priced perennials and came up with several fine offerings.

Lovely Ruby Red Tickseed (coreopsis). These were so full of bees! Yea!

Moonbeam Coreopsis...I couldn't resist all those tiny little flowers!

Royal Blue Speedwell...mine has no flowers on it yet, just lush, dense green foliage. So I'm not sure how it's going to work with the other two colors. If it doesn't, we'll move them somewhere else.

So now these lovelies (plus a sedum for the backyard) are hanging out by the porch, enjoying a nice rain shower. Can't plant today anyway, much prep needed! Have to till, put down landscape fabric (wish I had done that for the rock garden), maybe a little mulch.

I'm so excited!!! Woo-hoo!

All for now,

Nugget

I Have Not Forsaken You...

Although it may seem that way. I've just been distracted...again. Hubby Nugget and I have been unwinding these days with the Facebook phenom, Farm Town.
I was going to publish a screen capture of my farm, Avatar Acres...but I'm having technical difficulties! Anyway, I have wheat and watermelons planted right now...Hubby Nugget's got wheat to harvest when he gets home from work! I have lots of animals too, including FOUR goats, yes, FOUR goats. Can never have too many goats. I won't go into the details of how to play this VERY addictive game, but check it out if you're on FB...my animals are sounding off in the background as I type...he-he!


What else has been going on...you know, I've had several blogs rollin around in my brain, but now that I've cranked one up on the 'puter, I'm drawing a blank...


So I guess we'll go with random thoughts, should be interesting. You've been warned.


Random thought #1, titled "WTF?!"


Not to sound all Paris Hilton or anything, but our daughter is stunningly beautiful. To that, add a little bit of sassafras, well, a lot of sassafras, and she's irresistible. We know this for a fact because everywhere she goes, young boys are taken with the sight of her and rendered speechless like tiny little toddler-sized deer in headlights. Young ones (like 18 months) and older ones (like 3 or 4 years old) alike follow her around in stores, parks, zoos, swimming pools trying to win her attention...luckily she is clueless about this right now. But we are so screwed when she gets older and hoping she will go though a prolonged awkward period that lasts through high school, maybe even college.


Random thought #2, also titled "WTF?!"


Where did summer go? I just read somewhere that local institutions of higher learning will be starting in 4 weeks. All I can say is HOLY CRAP! See, I'm still working on mammoth projects for two of the professors in our department. I'm doing OK, but I still panic at the thought of only 4 weeks left. Mind you, I have to have this done BEFORE the semester starts. Oh I'll finish, I always do, but not without several anxiety attacks prior to completion. And to make things more awesome, Little Nugget has done something to jack up Photoshop on my computer that I work on at home...so I have mucho image editing, but cannot get rid of the stupid hand icon so I can, oh I don't know, DO MY WORK!?!! Sorry just another thing for me to worry about, no doubt Hubby Nugget can fix it, but I worry, it's just what I do.


Random thought #3, titled "No really, I am in Weight Watchers."


Nobody forces me to eat birthday cake or scrumptious birthday bacon cheeseburgers, but when you have back to back birthday parties every weekend since the first week of June, it wears on your ability to say no after a while. Again, I take full responsibility for the choices I have made, and while I gained NO weight, I still haven't lost any either. We are now in the clear until October, so no excuses pour moi. Upside my head. And heiny. Got Hubby Nugget (and myself, he-he) a Wii fit for Father's Day, gonna fire that bad boy up! Word!


What else...hmm...


Random thought #4, titled "MAN it's been hot..."

Much too hot to garden in the last few weeks, then too rainy...but this is a perfect gardening weekend. Unseasonably cool, low humidity, no rain in the forecast,...and no plans other than hanging out in the yard. Sa-WEET! Hopefully Crazy Bitch next door won't make it unpleasant with her unbelievably LOUD speaking voice. "Conversations" peppered with exclamations of "FUCK" and "SHUT UP" are also a treat. I say "conversations" because nobody really ever talks when she's around, because she.doesn't.shut.up. AWEsome neighbor. OK she gave us a bunch of plants from her yard (thereby reducing the value of her new house by about 5 grand, stupidhead), but that still doesn't make up for her high level of annoyance. I see you talking neighbor, but all I hear is "Crazy Bitch!!!" Dude.


Random thought #5, titled "Lovin the Duck..."


Little Nugget loves Word World. She has one dvd that she loves, but I got her another the other day just because. This one is just stories about the character Duck, who she loves. OMG I've never seen the girl so tickled about something before in her short life! She cackles at this dvd and gets so wound up! It's been so worth it just watching her run around repeating the dialog and quacking like Duck! Good stuff!


All for now,
Nugget

Gardens Gone Wild!

OK, so I'm impatient. You may or may not recall my ranting last year about my garden, or lack thereof as I had planted several fine specimens and was disgusted at the slow pace in which they were (not) filling in. Before:

And now fast forward nearly one year later:

Much improved over last year, with the addition of the new rock wall around the tree, and oh yeah, the PLANTS! The above pic was taken two weeks ago, and now after the scorching heat and torrential rains, all is lush and dense-like (including the MANY weeds):

I made a truce with the walnut tree, it will continue to poison the ground with its juglone and I will only plant juglone-tolerant plants. And for some reason, the squirrels and bunnies aren't much problem anymore either, I won't question why, don't want to jinx that...

So now that it's all coming together nicely you'd think I'd be content with just relaxing and enjoying the wonder that is nature...but no. See, I still have a jones to buy more plants. And while this was justified last year, kind of seems redundant this year. But I keep doing it anyway, because that's just how I roll. What am I going to do with this plants, you ask? Got me. Oh wait, I know! I'll dig up established plants and replace them with new ones!!! Behold my lunacy:

In all fairness, the plant, a sedum, that I had there originally was WAY too prolific, tried to take over my beloved Scotch moss (which is now dying due to the heat last week BTW). My Mom-in-law gave me a few clumps last year and it went bat-assed crazy this year! It is now happily ensconced around the walnut tree, cascading over the rock wall like a good trailer should:

And speaking of sedum, let's take a tour, shall we? As of last year, I'm a big fan of sedum (this is my very first official garden being a first-time home owner and such) so how about some glamour shots.

This one is gorgeous, a light chartreuse color. It's called Japanese Odon Sedum. The photo doesn't do it justice:

This one is Sea Urchin, note the moss growing in the lower left corner. I found out last year that you really can't plant moss, more like just give it a general suggestion. It takes up residence where it wants.

These are Blue Spruce and Angelique:

I think this one is Autumn Joy, or Showy, either way, it gets about 15 to 18 inches tall!

This one is stonecrop, it's blooming now...really pretty purple flowers!

Showing the other plants some lovin... These bad boys popped up briefly after the rain, so cute!

I thought this fern died last year, but it surprised me. Love the perennials!

Two of the groundcovers I went with are moneywort (creeping jenny) and mazus. They have filled in nicely, but are a little aggressive this year! Witness the Clash of the Groundcover:

The bigger leaves are moneywort and the smaller ones are mazus. They both flower in the spring, it was so pretty. They spread a little too eagerly, as witnessed by my Irish moss:

While last year I coveted every inch of plant in my meager garden, this year I have to rip the groundcover from the other plants to keep them from, well, covering them. The plan is to take them all the way to the road, and that should be no problem this year, given how much they've grown already since May. For a little color, we've also added bugleweed:

Love the contrast of the red-violet leaves and the blue-violet flowers...and isn't that a nice name? Bugleweed. Also called ajuga. And yes, it's also an aggressive spreader....Sweet! Hence the "weed" in it's name...

So that's what I've been up to, that and pulling weeds, which I pretty much have to do on daily basis. Good times. But in the end, it's worth it! Now I just have to find another place to put a new garden.....

Yea more plants!!!

All for now,

Nugget

A Good Day to be a Lazy Turd

Team Nugget slept in today, didn't even get dressed until noon. Not even strong coffee can rouse us from our grogginess.

Camping was postponed due to medical emergency, D had a reaction to either a virus or prescribed medication and ended up in the hospital yesterday, so we wish the family H a speedy recovery! And as it turns out, it's been rainy all weekend anyway, so it probably just wasn't in the cards this time. Little Nugget will have to wait for her first camping experience just a little bit longer.

So instead, Team Nugget is engaged in a massive spring cleaning campaign, organizing and such. In the garage Hubby Nugget built a fabulous recycling center and abode for our soon-to-be-acquired composting worms. I'm still working on a collective name for our new Team Nugget mascots of topsoil-creating goodness. I will keep you posted, I'm sure you're on pins and needles!

I cleaned the living room, picked up toys, put away things, then moved to Little Nugget's bedroom, did the same, then back out to the living room where she had messed it up again, then back to her bedroom, where she had messed it up again, repeat, repeat, repeat. The final time she managed to sneak out a crayon and mark up the living room. Good times! Anyone know how to get crayon off carpet? Luckily it's not too visible, it might wear off on it's own. If not we'll just put an ottoman over it. :-)

All for now, time to make lunch!
Nugget

Socialpalooza!

Sorry I haven't been around lately, but it seems I have gotten myself overloaded on social networking sites. Two blogs: Team Nugget and one for work; Two Twitter accounts: Team Nugget and one for the Bug (he has more followers than me!); and now Facebook, which has been occupying a lot of time at Chez Nugget (Hubby Nugget signed up for that one too). So when we're not goofin with the Little Nugget lately, we're catching up with old friends and just generally hangin out. Being social is exhausting! But like I told Hubby Nugget, we need to stay up-to-date so we won't end up like those people who don't know how to email (my boss)! We're doing it for the Sweet Babygirl.

And to those friends and family (especially my family) who haven't got on Facebook yet, sign up already! I'll be your friend!

That's all I've got for today, but I will have grand adventures to retell later, we're going camping tomorrow, Little Nugget's first time!!!! Should be *fun*!

Nugget

I just did spell check and it suggested "forsook" instead of Facebook, he-he!

Geeks of the Midwest, Unite!

I am an art historian. Have I ever told you that? I don't remember. I know that I've alluded to my *useless degrees. (*I mean that in the best possible way. That is to say, art and art history are wonderful and interesting courses of study, but they rarely pay the bills.) Anyhoo, I seriously got burned out while pursuing the doctorate, and could no longer stomach the stuff. It just wasn't fun anymore, felt like work (same thing with reading...). Didn't step foot in a museum, except to have lunch with my Visual Resources peeps N & D (see you next week ladies!).

Fast forward to this week, and the annual gathering of regional art historians in a convention-like setting held this year in my fair town. I used to always go to this thing, back in the day when I had mad love for it. I even presented a paper once, in Chicago, 1998 ("Influences of the Decadent Movement in the Art Nouveau Jewelry of Rene Lalique".) That cracks me up, hard to believe that I presented a paper in front of a audience of almost 100 people (people with PhD's!!!)!!! But I can't remember the last one I went to, I just wasn't interested once I went into burn-out mode.

So last week, one of the professors in my department asked if I wanted to go since we're hosting it, I thought, "why not. I'm not paying for it. Plus I get a day out of the office."

You know what? I had fun. It was energizing! All the papers were interesting and I learned a few things I didn't know before. I saw a lot of friends and colleagues I hadn't seen in some time!
And as it turns out, one of my BFFs was presenting a paper! (Little stinker didn't say anything until the last minute!) It was a very good day.

And the best thing, I like art history again!

But no, I am not going back to school to finish the doctorate. You can't make me.

All for now,
Nugget

The Official Cereal of Team Nugget...

Makes me giggle every time I see it...

All for now,
Nugget

Baby Grapes and Some Artsy-Fartsy Nature Pics

Part two of the Thanksgiving festivities involved a walk down the hill to check out how the baby grapes were doing. They were happily snuggling with their cordons. Hubby Nugget joked that it looked like a stick farm. If you click on the pic below, you can almost see the supermodel-thin grapevines. :-)

Oh but they will take off next year, for sure!!! Now that they're woody, the deer won't have much interest in them...Oh wait, is that a deer trail right by our grapevines?! Indeed it is, and there are more where that came from. Hubby Nugget inspects the Bambi freeway to the grapevine buffet:

Faced with such encouraging news, I headed into the surrounding brush to play with our camera's macro setting and captured some awesome sights of the vineyard in winter (almost winter).

I don't know what this is, but it's sure pretty.

Did I mention how much I enjoy a good moss? Only a few times I imagine. Alas, I won't be trying to plant more moss in my garden this spring. I give up! Do you hear me, squirrels?! You won!!! But don't think I won't still throw rocks at you. Oh I will. Right upside the head. You won the battle, but the war is still on. Bring it.

I reached far back into my dressed-in-black, art-school past to achieve this artsy-fartsy pic of whatever that is. No, really I just put the camera down by my leg and shot up. Caught a lucky break and got a good pic! They call that a "happy accident" in art school, btw.

Another one in the same vein. Love the gnarly vines! Who knows what they are: grapes, poison ivy, trumpet vine...they all grow wild here.

Pretty berries...

Back at the top of the vineyard, got shocked back into reality by this little sight: hard to see, but it's a mole hole and trail. Bonus!

Green Acres is the place to beee...stick farming is the life for meee...

All for now,

Nugget

It Was a Good Day...

Team Nugget publicly displayed its World Domination tonight at Buffalo Wild Wings where we were high scorers at the Trivia game thingy, coming in first and second, blowing the competition out of the water!! Yours truly scored 382nd nationwide (or network-wide)--only 381 positions more to go!!! Victory is ours!!!

It was a good day at work, too. The departmental meeting was a success, no staff or small animals were sacrificed. You just have to remember to avoid eye contact...it angers them. One of them spoke to me today in a non-confrontational tone. Spooky. They're up to something...

All for now,
Nugget

One Step Closer to World Domination...

...one piece of jewelry at a time! As pledged to you last weekend, I completed the challenge to myself to make some jewelry. Since I don't have a dedicated spot to work in, I decided to hold off on getting out my torch and instead worked with beads. Note the sweet organizer I mentioned in the previous post, lower left, black. It's actually made for scrapbooking, but served my purpose very well indeed. Got it at Michaels, clearance. FYI. Anyhoo, I set up shop on the kitchen table, and Hubby Nugget distracted the Little Nugget with the promise of outdoor play so that I could have some "alone time" with my jewelry toys. But the Babygirl knew Mommy was up to something cool and forbidden, so she insisted on coming back inside where she could be of assistance. She's very helpful that way.

In this photo, the Little Nugget is holding on to Mommy's fabulous Craftmates bead storage containers. Mommy bought them because the compartments lock to keep the contents safely ensconced in their plastic goodness. It works very well. Except when Sweet Babygirls throw them on the floor with all their might. Three times in one afternoon. From that point on, I elected to embark on the jewelry adventure whilst the Little Nugget napped quietly in her bedroom. It was really better for everyone that way.

So here's the net result of my jewelry production: behold!
















On the top is an eyeglass chain I made for the reading glasses I need because I'm friggin' OLD. So might as well make something snazzy to dress them up, I say. Glass beads and Swarovski's on that one. Got a little experimental with the photography, too. Glamour shot!

On the bottom is the first piece produced, a bracelet of citrine, pearls, mother of pearl, river stone, dichroic glass and swarovski crystals. I don't usually work in shades of yellow, so this was fun. I found out how rusty I was, too. Had to do one of the strands several times before I got the hang of the knotting again.

This sweet little bracelet was made just for the Little Nugget, who is enthusiastically learning her colors and is rather fond of wearing jewelry (good girl!!!). It is made of vintage and non-vintage glass beads I had on hand, strung on memory wire, nice and indestructible for a highly spirited toddler.

So today at work, I (allegedly--I was working!) saw that I had a comment on my last post from none other than Hazel Wheaton, the editor of Art Jewelry magazine--can I just say that I majorly geeked out in my chair, jumped up and down like the uber-dork that I am. Her words of encouragement meant a lot and will go a long way to kept the inspiration alive. I plan to continue making jewelry regularly, not just on holiday weekends. It shouldn't be a luxury, I enjoy it too much to deny that to myself.

Jewelrynugget out!

Did I Mention I'm the Jewelry Queen?

Self-proclaimed, of course. Jewelrygirl, to be precise, Queen sounds so stuffy. Boy, from my posts, you'd think gardening was my passion. I totally dig it (ha!), but I've been obsessed with jewelry, jewelry design, jewelry making and jewelry history for many, many moons (you can count them in decades). You probably wouldn't know it by looking at me. I don't wear too much, just wedding ring, antique engagement ring and simple hoop earrings most of the time. Kind of got out of the habit once I had the Little Nugget.

But I have a hankerin'. I get them every once-in-a-while. They feel...decadent. I feel the desire to make some jewelry. I get these ideas of things to make, they just pop into my head, I get the feeling, I buy supplies/tools/organizers/whatever, then....it goes away. Oh I jot the idea down in my sketchbook, but I never seem to get around to the MAKING part of jewelrymaking! Seems I get caught up in the supplies, tools and organizers and forget about the best part. Could it be possible that I love jewelry supplies more than the actual making part? I will admit to having a short attention span, so it could be. Maybe it's enough for me that I had the idea, it's done. Nope. I really would like to make something.

I bought a new organizer today (don't laugh Hubby Nugget! It's the best organizer, better than all the rest!!!!!), and the latest copy of Art Jewelry magazine, and I am motivated to make jewelry again. I have some ideas rolling around in my head. And I pledge to you, dear reader(s), I will make some jewelry this weekend, with God as my witness, I will make some jewelry this weekend!!!!

If I don't, you are free to mock me mercilessly.

All for now,
Jewelrynugget

Canine Mascot Profile: Jacksonian the Presidential Dog

A profile of Jackson is long overdue. He is quite possibly the sweetest dog to roam the face of this planet. I thought it would be so easy to write a profile of Mr. Cup, but really what can I say other than he's just a sweet old dog. He's such a good boy! The Bug, well, he's a boy.

Like his counterpart, he goes by many names: Jacksoncup, Speedbump, Jacksonian the Presidential Dog, Mr. President, to name a few. He has the BEST theme song of all the Team Nugget Canine Mascots:

lyrics lovingly crafted by Team Nugget:

Jacksonian, the presidential dog...

He's presidential, and he's a dog!

He's got the quiet dignity of a president,

But he doesn't have thumbs and he can't give speeches.

He's strong on border control,

And he's pro-rawhides and naps!

He's Jacksonian, the presidential dog!

While he is an elder statesman, don't let his advanced age fool you. He has some spunk. When it's least expected, he will show you. Right upside the head.

Imagine if you will, a crazy scenario in which I have elected to make the cake for my own wedding. It was a wee cake, but stressful nonetheless as it would be photographed by all who were to attend. Being the OCD kind of gal I am, I made several cakes so just in case I screwed up the fondant, I would have a backup. (Note to self: you can't really screw up fondant, it's a force to be reckoned with.) So on the fateful cake assembly day, I pull the ziplock-ensconced cakes out of the fridge and put them on the counter to acclimate. They're pretty tall counters so I think nothing of it, I know that our scavenger dog, Stinkbug, can't get to them as he has legs that are only like 3 inches long (hence the Napoleon syndrome and his bad attitude). I go to the store and pick up more tulle or some other wedding nonsense, then come back to begin the frightening task at hand. Except I walk in, and there are cake crumbs all over the floor. So after I come to, I realize that my sweet, quiet, layed-back old dog ate the wedding cake!!!!! After all, he does have dog-sized limbs and could easily snatch the ziplocks off the counter. Luckily he left one package, so we had our wee wedding cake.

So when I got pregnant, Jacksoncup was by my side constantly. Like I said, he's a sweet boy. He always checked on me when I didn't feel well, and would lay beside me when I was crashed out on the couch from carrying the big load that was the Little Nugget. I never had a doubt that Jackson would do well with the baby, and he has proven me right.

I thought he would take care of her like he does me, but he keeps a little distance from the whirling dervish that is the Babygirl. I'm sure this is because of his age: we found out not too long ago that he has bone spurs on his spine and arthritis in his hips, poor guy. But that doesn't keep him from doing the occasional happy wiggle out in the yard. He loves the sun!

We love you Jacksoncup!

All for now,

Nugget