Thursday, July 30, 2015

My New Type One Diabetes Blog

I've been writing this blog for around 10 years. 

I've been living with Type 1 Diabetes for about 20 years.

But I've barely ever written about my diabetes on my blog.  I've avoided it, because I realize it would be pretty boring to read for a non-diabetic.

Lately tho, I need to write about it.  It's become more challenging than ever, and like any chronic disease, it just doesn't stop.

I have found a few blogs written by other Type 1s, and I find them so interesting and helpful.  I relate so much to their challenges and struggles and triumphs! So, I recently started a blog called My T1 Diabetes.  If you happen to know someone with this disease, perhaps you could pass along the link. Thanks! 

Please click here to visit My T1 Diabetes.

Monday, July 27, 2015

Bachelorette Finale Tonight!

Tonight, as you may know, is the Bachelorette finale.  It's been going for so many years now, I don't even know what season we're on.
Yay! Bachelorette Kaitlyn is having a party tonight!
This season has been most notable because the bachelorette, Kaitlyn, had sex with one of the bachelors a little earlier than the girls usually do. Typically, they wait and have sex with several of the men (so I've heard) during the final couple of weeks when they get the card for the fantasy suites.  No one ever makes a big deal about it.  But because Kaitlyn got some of it out of the way earlier in the season, the word on the street is that a lot of viewers got really angry.  I mean really angry.  Death-threat-angry.  Which reveals a little about the type of people who watch this show.  Oh but wait-- I watch this show. Honestly, I appreciate that she kept things from getting too predictably boring. A few episodes after "the intimacy" with Nick, Kaitlyn decided she needed to confess it to Sean.  It seemed ridiculous, but made for great tv.
"Hey Sean, I'm totally having fun with you, but I need to tell you about someone else I had fun with..."
Tonight, Kaitlyn is down to just having Nick and Sean to choose from.  Nick was the guy that lost out on the final night with Andi on the previous season of The Bachelorette. He is also the guy Kaitlyn had sex with early on in this season. Somehow, he met Kaitlyn before filming started. Although he didn't make it onto Kaitlyn's season at the beginning, he did show up a few weeks into it, and was a clear front runner.  She got so excited when she heard he going to show up.  She asked the other men if they were okay with him jumping onboard, and although they clearly didn't like the idea, she had him on anyway.
I think this was the first day Nick showed up on set. Kaitlyn seemed to kind of like him.
I wasn't a fan of Nick previously.  But just due to the fact that Sean seems like such a cocky/bully/possessive boyfriend, I can't help but root from Nick.

Possible Spoiler....if it's correct information:Apparently, Kaitlyn snapchat-ed a video of her and Sean in bed together since filming has ended, therefore giving away who she's currently involved with.

Since I have already heard about that little rumour, I'm assuming Sean will get the final rose and Nick will once again, be the runner up.  I'm not on pins and needles to how it all turns out. Maybe I'm wrong, but either way- who cares?

The show called "After the Final Rose" airs right after the finale.  That's the show I'm most looking forward to tonight. It will be fun to see how Sean handles seeing all of Kaitlyn's escapades with the other men that he didn't previously know about. And since there was such a dislike between the two final men, it will be funny to see if they even pretend to be happy for the other and Kaitlyn in the end.

I don't watch The Bachelor or The Bachelorette because I believe any of it.  I feel pretty sure that there's no way that either one of these relationships are real and will last much beyond the filming of the show.  Mainly, it's a great excuse for me and my friend Kathy to get tacos every Monday night and watch 20-somethings get drunk, say stupid things, cry, kiss in hot tubs, etc.  Good times!  And nothing serious. 
Who's going to propose tonight?!

Friday, July 24, 2015

Vintage Jewelry Repurposing- Before and After

I haven't posted any vintage jewelry repurposing "before and after" projects lately. Now is just as good a time as any, right?!

I was so lucky to be sifting through a jar of vintage jewelry to find these! I'm not sure if they were parts of earrings that had broken off, or charms, or what?! But I thought they would be a perfect component for dangle drop earrings.  They are a gold leaf metal backing, with a pink rose clay enamel.  Very sweet and dainty.
"before" repurposing- not sure exactly what these even were!
I have some beautiful handpainted vintage beads that I just love that I knew would look great with these. I put them between two pale pink faceted beads so their color would really pop. Then they were attacthed to gold tone ear wires. 
"after" repurposing- pink rose drop earrings
Now they are functional and oh-so-pretty in pink.  You can click over to my ResparkableVintage shop at Etsy to find out more about them.

Tuesday, July 21, 2015

On Songwriting- Good Enough

1950s repurposed earrings
For the past year or so, I've been very distracted by shiny things.  Shiny, vintage jewelry things in particular.  I spend loads of time running all over town, finding vintage jewelry in need of repair and redesign.  I spend lots of hours making the jewelry.  And then I spend at least that much time photographing the jewelry and listing it in my Resparkable Vintage store on the Etsy website.
repurposed... and shiny!
Partly due to that, my songwriting muscles have gotten a little out of shape.  Next month, I'll be attending a songwriting workshop in Nashville, so I figured I better get back into the groove of songwriting so I'll have something to take.  In the past week or so, I've spent a little time just sitting down with my guitar and noodling around.  The sparkly things around me in my studio are still a bit of a distraction, but I am trying to divide my time a little differently, at least for the next few months.


Fortunately for me, I'm not a perfectionist.  I never have been.  I am not setting out to write 10 amazing, blow-everybody's-socks-off songs.  I just need a few new songs to bring to the workshop.  Songs that are decent enough to share, but not so good that I'm married to them, and can't take constructive feedback on them productively.

In other words, all I need is good enough

So, I'm working on making a regular practice of songwriting again.  And I intend to make a lot of big, bad, ugly messes.  Forced rhymes, cheesy sentiments, tired cliches, lines that don't quite work, etc. Because I know from past experience, that's how you get to the good.  Or at least, the good enough. Practice has never made me perfect.  But on a good day, it's made me good enough.

Tuesday, July 7, 2015

Getting Over You

I finished reading You 5 days ago.
YOU by Caroline Kepnes
I'm not going to write a review of this book, but I'll just say, the book was very creepy in the best way.  The narrator was a sociopath--- so that gave it an edge over other suspense thrillers I could compare it to.  It was just so crazy, and sick and enjoyable!  The perfect summer read, if you don't mind having a few nightmares along the way.

However, since finishing that book, I've picked up and tried to start reading at least half a dozen other books.  I'm not sure if I'm just having a hard time focusing because I'm distracted by life (and I am), or if I'm picking up boring books.  OR, is it that You has temporarily ruined me when it comes to reading?

Today I picked two more books from the library, hopeful that they might be the antidote to You. Reading the book jackets, and being familiar with the authors, they seemed like reasonable choices.  But then I made the mistake of reading Amazon ratings and reviews, and neither sounded worth the read.  Going to Amazon reviews first is never really a great move.  You can read good and bad reviews on any book out there.  It would be better for me to just form my own opinion once I'm about 50 pages in. 

Funny Girl by Nick Hornby
So that's what I'm going to do with this book, Funny Girl by Nick Hornby. It deserves a chance! I've liked a few of his other books, (About a Boy comes to mind immediately), and is his first book in about 5 years.  On the jacket of the book, it says that it's about a young woman whose heroine is Lucille Ball.  I realized I happen to be wearing one of  my I Love Lucy t-shirts today.  Oh, and my dog's names are Lucy and Ricky.  I  obviously have at least something in common with the girl in this book! It takes place in 1960s London, and the main character, "Sophie Straw"  gets cast in a BBC sitcom and becomes a comedy starlet- A British Lucy!  Sounds cute enough to give it a go. Screw those Amazon reviews.  I'll read them after I finish the book- or at the very least, the first 50 pages.

I don't think this book is going to be You, or anything like You- but maybe it can be a decent rebound book.

Saturday, July 4, 2015

Nothing Says "America" Quite Like Home Made Ice Cream

Happy July 4th- What a great holiday! It's one of the few holidays in America that isn't centered around consumerism.  For a great celebration, all we really need is fireworks (any kind you want!) and home made ice cream.

At least that's how it is for me.

Dad used to make his home made ice cream on this day each summer while we were growing up.  He made 4 flavors: 
Vanilla
Vanilla with Pecans
Vanilla with Pineapple
Vanilla with Pineapple and Pecans

I might have been the culprit for why he had to make these subtle varieties.  I was a very picky eater as a kid.  And still am.  Although now, I'm past my "no crunchy things in soft things" texture demand.  I'm nuts about nuts.  Just like my dad.

He would spend hours on the makings of that ice cream of his!  I remember that it involved salt rocks, and that his hands got scratched up.  He did it out in the garage and it seemed very messy with newspapers all around, insulating the ice cream maker.  I could be wrong and may have mixed up these memories... but what I remember for sure is it was THE. BEST. ICE. CREAM. I. HAVE. EVER. TASTED.

So today, in celebration of America- and my Dad- and my idyllic childhood- I'm making my version of Dad's famous "Vanilla Ice Cream with Pineapple and Pecans".  Delicious!
Not as good as Dad's, but it'll do!