a crystals & jewelry adventure

Chuck of CSH, who does my shipping got back home over the weekend. He had kidney stones and gall bladder problems, poor fellow. He is back at work today — let’s color him stubborn — but obviously has to catch up on top of recovering completely.  I’m really happy he’s feeling better!

Since I don’t want him to do himself in trying to catch up faster than he should to get back to totally tip top shape, I’ve decided to leave the Win-Win Sale up through this week.

Yay for Chuck being ok!

Chuck of Crystals and Stones Haven, who’s contracted to do my shipping, has a medical emergency and is on his way to the hospital.  Typically of him, his biggest concern was that he couldn’t ship anything while he’s in the hospital.  Since even he’s not sure what’s wrong yet, he doesn’t know if he’ll be there just at the ER today, or for several days or what, but he certainly can’t ship anything while he’s at the hospital  He said he would ship things as soon as he returns, and if he can’t be back within a couple of days, we’ll arrange for one of his daughters to start shipping things out for him.  Thanks for your patience.

Please send Reiki or other energywork, prayers, positive vibes to Chuck to feel better soon. Not because of the shipping. Because he’s a good person.

Going Green has been a big movement, both at large and within the jewelry industry. I see a lot of good in it, working together to save our planet. I really hadn’t thought about it a whole lot as far as my jewelry business goes, though, because being green has been part of my jewelry work from the beginning.

I recycle and reuse a good bit more than I’d realized. I fanatically recycle sterling wire — every bit that doesn’t end up getting shipped out as a piece of jewelry gets sent back to a refinery to be made into more sterling goodies. The same with the 14K gold-filled wire that I used to use a lot and now use occasionally. I also recycle paper, cardboard, plastics, and even any soda cans I have when I’m working. I reuse packing peanuts, and even bubble wrap when I can. I use biodegradable chemicals for cleaning jewelry, including plain soap and biodegradable tarnish remover. I’ve even used old jewelry to create new parts for jewelry or new pieces entirely, and hope to do more of it because it’s fun. I even use jewelry boxes where the paperboard is made from 100% recycled materials, with 75% of that being post-consumer recycled materials. With just the paper, cardboard, plastics and metal recycling, I’ve reduced my trash level of a decade ago by two thirds or more. Wow!

The little bits and pieces of going green with a business can really add up.

I’m back from the holiday weekend.  I was going to post a note yesterday, but I didn’t even have time to breathe hardly.  I still have very little time, so I’ll just say hi, mostly.  HI! I will leave you with this thought though.

“When we come together to play and be we are truly ourselves When we are truly ourselves it is wonderful and when we act collectively in that wonder we do transformative work for our community and our world.” ~~ Brad Colby

I know, it’s Sunday and I seldom say anything on Sunday.  I wanted to shout out that my vision is almost right again, though. Yay!  I’m excited about that!  So I’m getting much more functional and starting to be able to work to catch up on made to order goodies.

Also….
The office is closed Monday, October 13 for Columbus Day.  The post office gets it off, so I do too.  Since they’re closed nothing can be shipped, but Chuck says things will start going out again bright and early Tuesday.  I’ll answer emails, etc. starting Tuesday in the order they’re received.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend

I’m thankful for many things. It’s harder to remember while I’m still waiting for adjustments to make my vision not blurry and double, but it’s healthy for me to remind myself. Today’s thankful Thursday is to remember 3 things to be thankful for. I’m thankful for my good friend M. He’s been a wonderful friend for years, and right now, I’m thankful that he’s been so sweet to help me get around to the bank and post office and everywhere for a week now, since I can’t drive. I’m thankful to know that my vision won’t always be messed up. And I’m thankful for my kitties, they help me stay cheery when I feel down about things going on like this. It’s hard to be bummed out while snuggling a furry purring feline.

If you haven’t been over to the site in the last week or so, there is new metaphysical info and a whole new section of stone identification stuff that went up with some help from friends. You might find it fun

And on a light note, my mother decided to help me out with my vision problem. She gave me new eyes! hehehe

I’m not quite sure why she gave me three, but it was fun.

I’ve been away from this here blog for a while. Why? I got my feelings hurt, I’m ashamed to admit. One of the participants in the Carnival of the Cats below called this here blog a splog, spam blog. I pondered it and came to the conclusion that in some sense, that person may be right, because so many links lead back to my metaphysical stuff on my site. Of course, in other senses, he’s quite mistaken.

Having thought about it, though, I’ve decided to turn this into more of a real blog than an article repository for all sorts of articles that go with my site. I’ll continue writing them, yes, they’ll just end up at CrystalsAndJewelry.com instead of here. The old ones will be moved over there too. That way all the metaphysical stuff is together, and the crystals stuff, etc.

Since it’s time to get real here, and have a real blog, I’ll risk being seen as a nutcase and having you all run away. I have fess up to the fact that I’m behind on made to order jewelry. You see, I’m sick. An odd sort of sick, though.

The past few weeks I’ve been struggling to adjust to a new bipolar medication so I can switch from one medication to another. The reason it’s a struggle is because I have oddball side effects as my body adjusts to each increase of the new meds that come and go: seeing green flashing lights, feeling incredibly drunk without drinking, being wobbly enough to need a cane, nausea, blurred vision, weird vivid dreams, hand tremors, etc. Reiki is helping with all of it, and supplements, and crystals. I might just be lying on the floor now otherwise.

Because of this chaos going on, I’ve marked all made to order rings and such as temporarily unavailable for the moment. I’ll start back up with them after I adjust to this. And of course, I will get everything done that’s on my current to do list, just a bit slower than I’d prefer.

I feel very blessed that Chuck of Crystals and Stones Haven ships almost everything, so that everything in stock at CrystalsAndJewelry.com just keeps going out as usual. A big cheer for Chuck. Hip hip hooray!

And thank YOU for your understanding. It really means a lot to me.

Hi, as you can see, I haven’t been able to keep up with this blog. Nor my calendar about WCB, apparently. So I’m moving it over to the House of the (Mostly) Black Cats.  See you at HotMBC for WCB!

What’s that rumbling noise? Do I hear music?

Look! It’s Victor Tabbycat bringing the Carnival of the Cats to a crystals & jewelry adventure!

It’s here! Carnival of the Cats #223! I’m standing in for Artsy Catsy who has to take care of a bedridden relative this weekend. We’re celebrating cats today and visiting a bunch of them, even though I’ve got a huge head cold. I’ll wear a mask so yall don’t get it.

Let’s go visit the kitties and get some grins and chuckles!

Cats love baskets. We all know this, right? Well Elms in the Yard shows definite evidence.

Over at Blog d’Ellison has SOME CATS.

The Poor Mouth shows that Robyn is unimpressed … “Call that the evil eye human?”

Om Shanti Handcrafts tells us about Two Days Later with some incredibly cute cute cute kitties.

Perfectly Parker says “Sometimes you just don’t mind striking a pose for the Mommy!”

Friday Cat Blogging comes to Manx Mnews.

The Scratching Post is shown Performance Art by their Maximum Leader.

It’s Furbaby Friday - Got cape, need boots at Texas Oasis.

At TacJammer, Mycah is in danger of being renamed Pokey.

There’s a great sunspot for Hi to nap in at Your Moosey Fate.

Matt shares part of the list of 67 Ways to Spoil Your Cat. A must read for all cat people.

The folks at Bloggg need help naming the new baby kitty, of course.

There’s a Whodunnit? mystery over at A Byootiful Life.

They’re Thankful over at Chey’s Place.

Mr. Milky of Artsy Catsy needs urgent purrs.

It’s Weekend Cat Blogging Outside! with CatSynth.

It was Salome Saturday with Kashim and Othello.

Uh oh. There are Cat Encounters of the Passive Aggressive Kind over at StrangeRanger.

Composite Drawlings has Friday Catblog: Kitty vacation pix.

The gang at Artsy Catsy doesn’t seem to be sure it’s really Easy Like Sunday Morning.

It’s also Easy Like Sunday Morning with Samantha Black and Mr. Tigger at Life from a Cat’s Perspective.

Friends Furever has a Not so Easy Sunday Morning - We have a guest!

Thanks for coming. The next Carnival of the Cats will be at Counting Cats on 9/7/08.

Isn’t this just a stunning bead. Yes, it’s a bead. A lampwork glass bead made by one of the best beads I know of, Kim Miles.

One thing I find interesting and a little sad in the metaphysical community is that glass is considered “not real” and often without metaphysical properties. Hmph. I say not.

Can you not just feel the spirit of this bead echoing even though the photo? It’s energy is of the lotus, with all these colors a symbol of purity, perseverence, wisdom of knowledge, and love. Each color relates to a chakra too. And glass is magical in itself. The whole process of turning silica into glass is in effect a miracle of transformation and brings those energies. I’ve always found glass to be a mystical and energetic thing. (more…)