Happy Easter

We hit the Spring Fest over at Joint Base Pearl Harbor Hickam this weekend.  It wasn't something I would normally check out but my 3yo's BFF (ok, her mom) wanted to meet up there with some other mommy friends and hang out.  I wasn't really expecting much but was more than a little surprised.

There were tents with craft stations, healthy snacks, multiple bounce houses, a batting cage, pictures with the Easter Bunny, and tons and tons of other booths with information on all sorts of things to do in the community, whether you were looking to attend college, learn about diet/nutrition, or take the kids to the Hawaii Nature Center.  There is a youth program on Hickam that teaches kids how to dance, so they did a couple of numbers, then played music and invited the rest of the kids to get up on stage and follow along with them- that was a blast!

The most interesting was a Maggot Art station for Earth Day.  Some paint was applied to the paper using an eye dropper, then about a dozen maggots were placed in the paint.  As they crawl around, they mix colors and leave interesting wriggly patterns on the paper.  Kind of gross but kept the kids' attention.  (Um, yeah... that is one piece of art that is NOT going on my refrigerator!)

Anyway, I wasn't really expecting to have a good time but it was fun and I would totally do it again if we were going to be around next year.

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We did another Easter Egg hunt in our front yard this year.  A nearly-4-year-old is a LOT better at finding eggs than a nearly-3-year-old.  Then again, it probably doesn't hurt that the nearly-13-year-old was spotting for her.

No matter what you believe or whether/how you celebrate, I hope everyone has a great weekend and remembers to cherish the little miracles that happen around us every day.

 

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Moving to Hawaii with Dogs - Emergencies

Cover via AmazonWe have a 4-legged house guest this weekend.  His human mommy and daddy are in the process of PCSing from Japan to Hawaii, so he and his furry brother were dropped off at the MWR Kennel in Halawa on their way to the Mainland for leave in transit.  The kennel requires an on-island emergency contact.  We've boarded our dogs there several times and never needed to use it, so I volunteered to be the emergency contact for my friend's dogs.  The dogs were in the kennel for less than a week (out of the month) when one of them (let's call him Lucky) needed emergency surgery for gastric dilatation volvulus (GDV) or bloat/torsion.  (This is what eventually kills Marley in "Marley and Me".)   Fortunately, the prognosis for GDV is pretty good these days and Lucky (a yellow lab like Marley) is stretched out and snoring on the couch (our dogs are not allowed on the furniture but we're giving Lucky a bye since he's had a rough week).  In case you were wondering what happens if your dog has an emergency while you're PCSing to Hawaii, here's how it went for us.

If your dog is in quarantine, they have a vet clinic on site... it's rigged for routine checkups, administering the rest of the rabies vaccinations, etc.  I am pretty sure they can also handle minor illnesses and injuries on site, but I am not sure they can handle emergency surgeries because the vet is not always there.  (My dogs had to stay there for a month in 2006 when we moved here from Virginia.)  The quarantine section is close to but run separately from the MWR Kennel.  (Quarantine is run by the State of Hawaii Dept of Agriculture, the MWR Kennel is run by the Army's MWR program out of Schofield.)  If your pet is at the MWR Kennel, they will call the emergency on-island contact (this may be you if you're staying in a hotel without your dog) for anything not life threatening but still requiring medical attention.  (IE, minor injuries, illness, etc)   The closest full service vet clinic that is open to the general public is over in Pearl City.  (There are some smaller clinics, but the major one is VCA Pearl City, which also has 24 hr emergency services.  It is always VERY busy, but they are also very good and will take new patients, walk ins, and emergencies.  They also take treatment authorizations over the phone.  If you are over on the Windward side- ie MCAS Kaneohe Bay, then VCA Kaneohe also offers 24/7 emergency care.  I should point out that VCA tends to be more expensive than the smaller clinics, but if you don't have an established vet, they will take your pet and they are equipped to handle most emergencies.)

Unfortunately, I don't have my cell phone or internet access at work and my office phone number got messed up so I missed the initial call that one of the dogs was in trouble.  Furthermore, once a dog is bloating, you really have to get them into surgery ASAP.  So although I was able to respond an hour after the initial phone calls, the folks at the MWR Kennel already brought him over to VCA Pearl City.  (German Shepherds and other "deep chested" dogs are also susceptible to GDV so bloat scares the living daylights out of me.)  Since this happened on a Wednesday afternoon, he was held in the hospital for observation until Friday afternoon.  (This is when I picked him up...)   If I wasn't able to take Lucky in for the weekend, the vet would've kept him until Monday afternoon, since the post-op standard is close observation for 4 days and the kennel is not manned 24/7.  We're bringing Lucky back to the kennel on Monday since we both work full time.  (He's on 5 different meds for the next week and he'll be more closely monitored at the kennel.  Not to mention, his doggie brother is waiting for him there.)

If Lucky needed to go back to the vet to have a follow up (ie remove stitches), then it would be on me as the emergency contact to pick him up from the kennel and get him to the vet.  Doesn't really bother me- I love big dogs and he's pretty tame for a yellow lab.  (If I flaked out and the dog really needed to get to the vet, I have no doubt that the folks at the kennel would figure out a way to get him there, but the preference is to have the emergency contact take care of it.)

But what do you do if you're PCSing to Hawaii and don't know anyone willing to be an emergency contact for your pets?  Whatever you do, do NOT just throw some bogus contact on there.  Lucky's human dad is a college classmate of mine that I haven't seen since college, so it's not like we're super close although I think he's a nice guy and consider him a friend... the only way I knew he needed an emergency POC was by a Facebook status asking for help.   People are generally willing to help others, but won't know you need help unless you ask!  If you don't know someone, maybe one of your friends does.  If that doesn't work, ask your sponsor to find one for you.  If that doesn't work, then ask the senior enlisted advisor, command master chief, or top, whatever it's called for your service, and ask them for help.  Every unit has a crazy dog or cat person.  They'll know who it is.  Sometimes it's someone who loves animals but can't commit to having a pet full time.

And in case you were wondering, my dogs seem to enjoy going to the MWR Kennel.  For what it's worth, the people there never seem to remember who I am, but they remember my dogs.

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

Re-opening for now...

Hi folks,

Most of you are probably already aware of this, but I happen to have another "part time job."  That is, I'm a reservist.  As part of that gig, I had orders to leave for Afghanistan this weekend.  But with current events being what they are, my orders got cancelled, which is a very good thing because my husband is due to rotate this summer... and while the intent was to stay in Hawaii, the lovely Navy found him a job in Virginia.  So we'll be moving to Hampton Roads this summer.

Meanwhile, we're prepping this house to be rented, trying to convince my tenants in Virginia Beach to leave, finding schools for the kids, and I'm looking for another job.  As you can imagine, it's a little crazy.  

I had actually put the shop in "vacation mode," which is Etsy speak for closing temporarily, in preparation for my mobilization, however, I decided to reopen to see how much inventory we could get rid of before moving.  Unfortunately, I just don't have time for custom orders or special trips to the post office so for now I'm suspending my hand made sterling rings and international orders.  Hopefully the transition will be easy enough that once we've set up shop in Virginia, I'll be able to resume both services.

Anyway, thanks for your support and for bearing with the constant roller coaster that is my life!  ;)

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

Happy New Year

Christmas came and went so rather than being late, I'm claiming the Japanese side of the family and wishing you a Happy New Year!!  :)  We've had a relatively quiet year here, for which I'm grateful.

For a change, I really don't have much to say beyond that.

Be safe, be happy.

See you next year!



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

Buy Local?

Image via WikipediaIt's no secret that the cost of living in Hawaii is extremely high.  There's very little competition and virtually all of our goods are imported.  You can get some great produce locally, but for the most part, small business owners around here tend to provide services or cater to goods that would appeal to tourists.  There are also some GREAT eateries and wonderful artists.  One thing I love about living on the Windward side of Oahu is the variety of small businesses in the community.  You can find all sorts of creativity from hobby shops to older clothing recycled into really great accessories.

However, the big box stores are starting to creep in. I've got mixed feelings about that.

As a consumer, I like the idea of not having to make a 30 minute drive to get some of the items that the shops here don't carry.  There are also some local businesses who took advantage of the lack of competition for many MANY years by jacking up their prices on items we all use, such as construction materials and some groceries.  Oddly enough, now that the bigger stores are here, those businesses- the ones that claimed the price gouging was necessary- are still around, but I digress.

On the other hand, as a hobbyist who peddles a few items here and there, I can appreciate the small business and the amount of work it takes to run them.  In particular, hobby supply and and other specialty shops which bring in items readily available online.  One day, I think it would be fun to be an entrepreneur.  Maybe as a retirement project or something.  Local businesses really should be the backbone of a thriving economy, not these huge conglomerations.   However, I've found that we simply can't afford to buy all the things we use in this household at local shops... so much of our shopping is done at larger national chain stores and online.

I come from a family full of civil servants- teachers, state and county workers, and military... we serve our communities on a daily basis.  (And before that my family worked on plantations for literally pennies a day.)  So when I get lectured by someone who sells a lot of product (we're talking SEVEN figures), criticizing me for not supporting local businesses, I get a little pissy.  Do not EVER accuse a mother who has deployed in defense of her country of being socially irresponsible unless you want to make a scene.  There is A LOT more to supporting your community than just throwing your money around in it.

Crafting is what I do with the "extra" spending money leftover after we take care of everything else.  This certainly is not how I make a living, and quite frankly, if my friends want something I can make for them, I would prefer to just give it to them because to me, the joy in is in creating- not making money.   There is also fun in discovering that someone else values your work enough to part with some of their hard earned money.   But you see what I'm getting at- I do this for fun, not to make money.  And so, if I bought all my stuff locally from local run stores, I couldn't afford to keep progressing along with skills and techniques at a rate that would be creatively satisfying.  At the same time, I can appreciate the amount of work and thought that goes into starting and running a local business, particularly in this economy.  I also believe that small business is vital to our economic growth, and competition is a key factor in capitalism.  So if I can afford to buy local, I do.  But if you're going to charge me double what the same item costs online, guess who's getting my business.



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

Silversmithing Class Review

Hi folks, I know it's been a while.  The holiday season is always packed- I haven't even addressed my Christmas cards yet!  But I wanted to take a quick minute to talk about a 2 day silversmithing class I took at Bead It! Kailua.  They brought in a "guest" instructor from the Mainland, which was a real treat since more or less everyone in Hawaii learns their skills and techniques from one of two primary bead stores.  So anyway, his style was totally different than what you typically find among the local artisan jewelers, and therefore, interesting enough for me to take a couple of days off of work.

I wasn't really sure what to expect.  This is the most expensive class I've taken thus far.  (Maybe that's why I was the youngest student in the class?  Might also have to do with the fact that the instructor's style is a native American style, which tends to be bigger and very ornate compared to the "local" jewelry styles.)  When I looked around and all the other students were my mother's age, I thought maybe I was in the wrong place.  But I have to tell you, now that I've completed the class, I think that it was a GREAT deal to get that much instruction and information.


Some of the students had no previous experience, others had taken several classes.  One lady used to carve stones, which I thought was really cool.  I have some experience soldering and fusing, but only on very small projects like toe rings and making my own simple charms and links.  Here are some photos of what I learned... after two days (17 hours total) of instruction:

We learned how to make a bezel, rope, silver balls, and how to solder all of that (and sterling charms) without losing definition or detail.  Then we learned how to set cabochons and also how to use a dremel to trim and polish.  (Obviously, the crystal flatback is NOT an element normally found in a Native American motif, but I couldn't resist adding a touch of bling!)

David, the instructor, had his hands full with all of us constantly asking questions, but he answered all of them while making sure we didn't burn ourselves, each other, or Bead It! down to the ground.  There is a lot of science and math behind silversmithing.  Not to mention, there are many ways to approach a project.  Everyone figures out what works for them.  Not everyone is good at teaching those techniques to others.   There were actually 3 classes scheduled, more or less back to back.  I cannot believe this guy travels as far as he does, spends 8-10 hours a day setting up, teaching, and cleaning up, and doesn't fall over from exhaustion.  I worked my butt off to make this ONE piece and I was so tired!

We all had a LOT of supervision but also the opportunity to practice different techniques multiple times.  I am confident that I can continue to do this type of work on my own!  Not bad after just 2 days, right?

Of course, that doesn't mean my first attempt was perfect by any stretch of the imagination.  I kind of mangled the back on this one with the dremel when I was supposed to be grinding down the excess silver on the back side...  This is what happens when you are in a rush- I had to wait for a tool and was rushing to catch up with everyone else, then I accidentally skipped the dremel across the back. Fortunately, the texture hides most of it.  I love that multi-face texturing hammer... One of the best things about a class like this is trying out all the other tools without having to buy them first!  The hardest part is not buying EVERYTHING.  You could easily drop a couple thousand dollars on tools, but you don't need to.  I didn't get the texturing hammer but I did get a really cool lazy susan soldering board and upgraded to a larger torch, which can also be used to make bangles.

We also had a chance to make some earrings.  I couldn't decide whether or not to make these into links or rings instead, so I set and polished the stones, and left the wires unfinished for the time being.

Let me tell you, I sure did develop an appreciation for the work that goes into these pieces, even if it's not my typical style!!!  The techniques I learned will definitely help me make things that ARE my style!  Oh, and I would definitely wear this, in case you were wondering.

And if you're interested in finding a session near you, here's the website:  http://silversmithingclass.com/

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

Beach Combing, Sea Glass, and Wire Wrapping

My mom and grandma (her mom) went beach combing for me a couple of weeks ago, and came back with almost a gallon of beach glass. I guess it helps to know where to go because there is NOWHERE on Oahu where you could pick up this kind of glass in only half an hour.  (Yes, the colors really are that bright, but they did sort the glass by color.)

Here are some of the larger pieces my son found.  Too large for jewelry but supercool for collectors.

Naturally, I had to make SOMETHING out of the beach glass... (you seem shocked!)  Rather than mess with drilling holes in the glass (many of these pieces are VERY thick and old), I decided to make some simple pendants... some are wire-wrapped, and others have a glued on bail.  Each is truly one of a kind and quite beautiful, don't you think?  Just goes to show you that one man's trash is a crafty woman's treasure!

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

Some Cute Christmas Tree Earrings...

Ok, now that the turkey is put away, it's time to get your Christmas on!!!

Here's a classic little design that makes a great stocking stuffer or co-worker gift.

Make it easy on yourself- don't you have enough to do already?

 

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

Nice Girl Notes Cute Stuff Sale: PREVIEW

So, what all is up for sale on today's Nice Girl Notes Cute Stuff Sale?  You'll have like her on Facebook to get the special prices, though.  Trust me, it'll be worth your time- there are all sorts of cool things from hair clippies to sweets, scarves, gloves, kid's organizers, and all sorts of handmade goodness up for grabs!

Gray double wrap bracelet by Simply Leilani.  Original price, $20.25.

"Love" Resin Necklace by Simply Leilani.  Original price, $18.  

"Blue Starfish" Resin Necklace by Simply Leilani.  Original price, $18.25. 

"Koi" Resin Necklace by Simply Leilani.  Original price, $18.

Purple triple wrap bracelet by Simply Leilani.  Original price, $25.25

Lilac Kumihimo & Bali Silver bracelet by Simply Leilani.  Original price, $78.  

TWO PAIRS Snowman Earrings by Simply Leilani.  Original price, $21.

TWO PAIRS Angel Earrings by Simply Leilani.  Original price, $21.

Large Puffy Heart Wine Stem Charms by Simply Leilani.  Original price, $18.

Medium Heart Wine Stem Charms by Simply Leilani.  Original price, $18.

 

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

Examples of Variation: Botswana Agate

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