More Custom Pieces

Wahoo! I'm finally caught up with custom orders! It only took 3 months. Just in time for a quick breather before the holiday shopping frenzy starts. I can't believe I'm getting Christmas catalogs in the mail already. Hello - it's OCTOBER. I promise...you will see no Santas and reindeer on this site until well into November. Pinky swear.

Anyway, here are the latest custom pieces. I really love both of those stones. I'm always so happy to know these goofy rocks are going to good homes.

[Edited to add...]

And here's why I love working with custom orders:

Let me start out with...

Oh my god thank you Toby they are absolutely gorgeous. Definitely worth the wait (you should see the giant smile on my face now).

I can't wait to see them "in the flesh". Thank you so much, I don't think I will be able to say that enough.

These are going out to Australia, cool, huh? I still can't wrap my head around it being spring over there. All our beautiful flowers are brown and crispy now and theirs are just popping up.

[Edited even later to add...]

Hi Toby,

Just writing to say I received the necklaces today and they are absolutely gorgeous. I can't express how much I love both of them.

It was also a great pleasure getting to know you and if anyone asks I won't hesitate to tell them where I bought these beautiful necklaces.

Preview of things to come

Want a sneak peak of what's coming for the holidays?..... This is laboradite and moonstone. The photos absolutely don't do it justice...the stones are really irridescent. Coming soon to a browser near you. And if you have ants in your pants and can't wait that long, send me an email.

Poor Dave, he humors me so much

Want to see where I'm dragging him and Devera this weekend? Richardson's Rock Ranch >> There are miles and miles of rocks there. I'm so excited. Ah, the things you do for love.

Here's another custom piece

This piece of jasper has just been begging and pleading to be a ring. And now it's finally gotten its' wish. Cool, huh? Hope they like it.

Microlending - yet another payment

Got an email today that said my gals made another payment on their microloans. That means that they're a third of the way through their repayments. It's pretty cool that $850 will buy you an acre of land in Samoa and some workspace improvements So far so good.

Free Geek Count Is In...

Wow, who knew? There were just as many girl geeks at Free Geek as there were guys. Lots and lots of bikes there. You could barely get from the street into the place without weaving between all the bikes parked outside. The computer is off to it's new home (and out of my house, yippee!!).

These geeks are great

So, it's time for my old computer to get the hell out of my house. It's taking up space, wasting energy, and not doing much else. So, I found a new home for it tommorrow: free geek

These guys are so cool ( yeah, 20 bucks says that they're 95% guys, it'll be interesting to see - I'll report back). Anyway, they have a computer adoption program that's just a great idea. If you volunteer 24 hours of your time to them, they'll give you one of their rebuilt computers and teach you how to use it.

As the guys on the Guinness commercial say, "Brilliant!"

Microlending - So far so good

Hey, so I think this Kiva thing is working out. Both of the entrepreneurs are on payment #3. How cool is that? Maybe I'm helping create a Manioc Land Barroness and a Matt Maker Extraordinaire? Either way, these guys are 1/4 of the way through paying back their loan. I'm so excited. I tell ya - a whole bunch of little people doing little things can do some pretty cool stuff!

Hi Guys - I'm taking a vacation

Wahoo! I'm out of here for a couple of days. After a CRAZY couple of weeks I'm soooooo looking forward to getting out of Dodge for a little while. I'll be back on Tuesday, I promise.

Here's a little eye candy to keep you tied over for a couple of days. It's a custom order I finished up a couple of weeks ago. Pretty, huh?

And here's the comments:

"I have received my necklace-it is absolutely beautiful. Thank you so much!"

Wanna see the latest custom piece?

I've been awash in custom orders lately. And it's just so fun. First of all I get to talk to the people ordering the pieces instead of just sending out an order to jkl1132@yahoo.com.

It's kinda lonely having a web based business, you don't get to meet the people browsing around your shop. So, doing the custom stuff is fun.

Anyway, this is a piece of montana agate I just put the finishing touches on. The photo doesn't come close to doing justice to the piece. But, yeah, it's a gorgeous stone.

I offered to take it off my customer's hands and keep it for myself, but darn, she really likes it. Oh well, I'll just have to make one for myself.

Looks cool, huh?

And I so love getting these emails in my inbox:

"I got my necklace the other day and I just wanted to say that you were right, the pictures didn't do it justice and I just absolutely love it. It's beautiful and unique and it's phenomenal. Thank you so much!!"

Wahoo - no more diapers!

Devera's gotten with the program and has figured out the whole potty training thing.

I heard a saying a while ago - start when they're 2 and they'll get it at 3. Start at 3 and they'll get it at 3. Well, we did the latter, and holy cow it worked!

12 years from now I can imagine she'd be completely mortified that I'm talking about this on an open web site, but right now she's prancing around the house telling anyone who stops to listen.

So, I made a promise to allay my guilt for going with disposable diapers instead of cloth ones to plant a tree when we were done with this whole thing. I'm sorry, but any instructions that involved the words "poo" and "swish", I just couldn't do it. So, hey, if you've got any suggestions for good charities to donate to that do tree planting or something like that, let me know...I'm all ears.

Powered by ScribeFire.

Times a Million - This guys's a great writer

It's pretty cool to have smart, succinct marketers who aren't working for Philip Morris or Exxon. Check out this post on why every little bit helps. Seth Godin's just a smart guy. I hope a bunch more people jump on his bandwagon.

I've been waiting YEARS for this thing to bloom!

Dave says it's been 4 years - but I'm sure it's been longer. It almost got the boot (or the yank) last summer but we decided to give it one more year. Maybe it got scared straight because it's got the most amazing flowers on it. It's called a passion flower, and you see them growing every so often around here in the Pacific Northwest. Unreal, huh? I have no idea why, but they look biblical to me. Maybe I saw them growing up the side of a church or something. Wierd how you make associations to things, huh?

Hey - Payment #2!

Yay! The women I made the microloans have paid back month #2 - I think they've got 14 left.

Lotufaamanatu and Lolofa

Want to see what I've been working on?

Well, I was going full bore on these for months until Lucky Magazine happened to give me a call, then I got sidetracked by my old favorite love, picture jaspers. But, before I was so rudely interrupted (I'm lying - thank you, Lucky!!!), I was deep in the middle of making these beyond cool porcelain roses. I'm really excited by how lifelike these have been turning out. And it's such a nice, tactile project for me to sit down and do. I get into a zen-like state making these. Anyway, these are eventually going to make their way into some bridal pieces like combs, pins, and tiaras. Cool, huh?

And here are the offending ruffles.

I'm dry heaving just looking at the thing. But she's just so happy.

My daughter is a girlie girl!

And she sure didn't get it from me!

So, I'm in desperate need to find a bathing suit for Devera before our trip to Detroit (which, if you want to get completely grossed out by bugs, check out Dave's blog). And I'm in the kid's section of Marshall's completely paralyzed with indecision.

I'm holding in my hand a frilly pink bathing suit emblazoned with all the Disney princesses. I'm trying not to dry heave looking at it, but I can't put it back because I know it will make her sooooo happy. And it's the only bathing suit and it's her size.

Good lord I'm condoning this stuff! I haven't worn makeup in a good 6 months, and I think Devera's got more high heels than I do (and more fairy wings tooo).

She and I have a long standing argument on who the princess in the blue dress is, Sleeping Beauty or Cinderella. I've shown her that the ABC's on her purse with that princess on the front of it say Cinderella, but she's not going with it. Dammit it's Sleeping Beauty. I remember my mom and dad had a long standing argument on wether it was Carribbeeean or Cariiiibbean. I don't think they resolved that one either. At least I know I'm right.

Out for the next couple of days

Hi guys, just wanted to write a quick note to let you know that I'll be out of town for the next couple of days. I won't be able to grab any emails. So if you're desperately waiting for email from me at least you'll know that I haven't disappeared on you. See you Sunday.

Hey, Lucky Magazine thinks I'm Lucky!

And I think I agree with them. If you happen to see the July issue lying around, flip through it. This bad boy... ...one of my picture jasper necklaces, hiding in there. It's funny, everyone who's seen this piece keeps asking me, did you draw that? Is that a real rock?

Rock dork me, my instant reaction is to go into a 3 hour discussion on how what where and why this stone is so cool. But my semi-good sense takes over, says yeah, it's real, and then sends them over to this page on my site. The only guys who can talk about this stuff longer than I can are the 90-year old rockhounds I get my materials from.

Anyway, check out the magazine!

My microlendees made their first repayment!

Well, that's pretty cool. The budding captains of industry that I lent a whopping $50 to made the first repayment on their loan. (If you're confused, here's my first post)

So, I guess Lotufaamanatu bought her parcel of land and Lolofa has a new roof for her workshop.

This will be fun to watch - I'll keep you guys posted too.

An Inconvenient Truth - Want to read it?

Let me know if you do. My copy is just sitting here collecting dust, and it seems like a good book to keep in circulation.

If you want to read it, shoot me an email. I'd be happy to send it to you and even pick up the postage.

Happy Reading!

Chocolate Jealousy

Ever have a conversation with a friend that just hits the jealous button hard?

I ran into a really fun friend of mine at the Farmer's Market this weekend. He's retired and dabbles in all kinds of fun projects (he was actually instrumental in setting up the market in the first place).

I hadn't seen him in a while and I asked him what kind of trouble he's been getting into these days. He said he'd just finished certification to become a master chocolatier. I don't know, I hear mouseketeer when he said it first and all I could think of was the mouse ear hats.

So, now I'm so jealous! He's going to open a chocolate shop in our neighborhood, and play with chocolate all day. Doesn't that sound like loads of fun? I kept telling Dave the rest of the day, "I want to be a Chocolatier!" poor Dave.

In my oodles and oodles of spare time...yeah, I guess I can't fit it in. Maybe when I retire. Someone else do it for me and tell me how fun it is: ecole chocolat.

Give money or lend money?

Hi Guys - I'm back, and amazingly not sunburned. Devera is a little fish now, spending a good 18 hours a day stuck to the side of the pool like a little snail. She thinks she's a mermaid now.

Anyway, I wanted to share this cool site with you. It's called Kiva.com and it's a micro-lending site for disadvantaged people across the world. I don't know if you've heard about micro-lending, but here's my take on it...so, some woman in Somalia with 6 kids sells drinks by the side of the road to make enough money for her family. She knows she can really hit it big time if she can buy a bike so that it doesn't take her 4 hours to get to where she needs to go.

Good lord, I can loan her money to buy a bike. I could just give her the money and call it a day, but I like the idea of a loan, because it teaches you a little money management in the mean time. She's going to make enough to pay me back over a period of time.

Cool concept, huh? I think the guy who won the nobel peace price did because he set up a microlending network in like bangladesh or something. So, I think I'm going to start investing some of my tobyDESIGN profits in Kiva.com and see if I can spread the joy a little. Right now I'm investing in a Taro Plantation and a Mat Weaving business in Samoa. We'll see what kinds of captains of enterprise these women can become. I've got my fingers crossed for them.

Hi Gang...I'm out for the rest of the week

Hi there...just so you know...I'm out of the country until Wednesday (soaking up some sun as we speak). So I may be a little slow getting back to you, but I promise I will. Have a great week!

Make your money count, organically

Treehugger, that I am...I subscribe to a really cool online newsletter, Organic Bytes.

They had a great tip that I thought I'd share:

TIP OF THE WEEK: SHOPPER'S GUIDE - BUY ORGANIC & AVOID THE "DIRTY DOZEN" FRUITS & VEGETABLES According to the Environmental Working Group's (EWG) analysis of data from over 43,000 tests on pesticides in conventional produce, over 90% of ingestion of pesticides in foods can be eliminated by avoiding the most contaminated foods. The "Dirty Dozen" most contaminated foods are peaches (97 percent tested positive for residue), apples (92 percent tested positive), sweet bell peppers, celery, nectarines, strawberries, cherries, pears, imported grapes, spinach, lettuce and potatoes. The "Consistently Clean" are onions (90 percent tested negative), avocados (90 percent), sweet corn (90 percent), pineapples, mango, asparagus, sweet peas, kiwi, bananas, cabbage, broccoli and papaya. "Federal produce tests tell us that some fruits and vegetables are so likely to be contaminated with pesticides that you should always buy them organic. Others are so consistently clean that you can eat them with less concern." Says EWG Senior Vice President Richard Wiles. Download your wallet-sized shopper's guide here:

I know it's really expensive for some people to buy organic foods, but maybe this helps you spend wisely. Happy Eating!

Woo Hoo, the scales are tipping!

It's so cool to see more and more people talking about sustainable living these days. Or maybe I've found my niche and tune out everything else. I ran across a great post on Seth Godin's blog: Noimpactman Makes Quite an Impact If you're looking for some good reading on marketing and advertising in general, he's got a really great take on how the world works. He's a breath of fresh air in a world where companies are trying to push Disney Princesses and Chuck E Cheeze down my little kid's throat.

The Little Brute Family

You have no idea how excited I am. I was at the library checking out some books for Devera when I spotted it...my favorite book from when I was a little girl...The Little Brute Family. I've been searching for a copy of it for years - it's been out of print for like 20 years. But the library had 2 copies. It's the sweetest little story. The little brute family are just a bunch of grouches...always fighting and snarling. They never smile, their kites never fly and they always sink when they swim. Until one day baby brute finds a good feeling fluttering over a patch of dasies and puts it in his pocket...long story short...they end up changing their name to nice. I used to think of that book whenever I met grouchy people. You know, I'm a big believer in karma...I wonder if this book had anything to do with it?

Now, if I could only get my hands on a copy of Father Fox's Penny Rhymes...

My favorite tree in Portland

My favorite tree in Portland is blooming these days. The cherry trees are blooming around here and there's one that I drive by every day. I swear the trunk's a good 3 feet wide and it is just a huge puff of pink. I got stuck in traffic the other day right next to it ahh..the one time I actually enjoyed being stuck. Hey, it's getting to be gardening time around here. I found a cool site with umpteen gazillion organic gardening tips. Happy reading (and gardening!)

Kermit's singing us a lulaby

I love this time of year. I've got the windows open for the first time in forever. And while I'm writing this there's a little tree frog in the back yard that's just singing his little heart out. You can just hear him saying, "Hey, baby!...Hey, baby!" Hopefully he finds his Ms. right and leaves us some more tadpoles to watch this summer. A couple of weeks ago Dave and I were sitting in the back yard with Dave's sister on an unbelievably sunny day. Dave's sister was getting really indignant in part of the story she was telling. And while she was telling it, the little frog in the bushes was croaking "You, tell it, sister!" at just all the right times. It was a little surreal. Hang in there all you guys suffering with ice storms...this weather will head your way too.

A sure sign of Armageddon - Toby joins a soccer team

I could see the horsemen of the apocalypse racing around the perimiter the whole time I was on the field.

Here's a little background for you. Dave is a HUGE soccer fan. How many of you guys had an Italian flag flying outside your house when Italy won the world cup? Yeah, we did. He plays twice a week, and yeah, he's really into it. I, on the other hand have always been extremely vocal about how incredibly BORING soccer is to watch. I mean really...it's really really boring. Well, I partly do it to annoy Dave.

Hipocrite that I am, when I was asked to join a soccer team full of newbies, I thought, What the hell! You only live once. So, this is the first organized sport I have EVER played. Well, there was bobby sox softball for about 3 weeks when I was 8.

So, my friends and I played our second game last night. I'm sure we looked like a bunch of 4 year olds swarming the ball, with the one super clueless player in the corner picking their nose. We got CREAMED, but we're a good natured group, and most of the time we couldn't figure out where the score was posted anyway, so we didn't care. I found out that I like playing defence. I like that it kind of freaks guys out to see a little girl running full force towards them. It throws them off just enough to get my little foot in there and every so often get the ball out. The girls though, yeah, no fear.

Yeah, so maybe you should start...start...what are you supposed to do to prepare for Armageddon? I should ask some of my religious friends, cause I think it's around the corner.

Good god, I'm part of the problem!

I get so agravated when I get 99.9% of the way through an online purchase and get an "ERROR - Card not found 998833762xxbb" makes me say "#&*@^!!*#&#!" Well good god, my site's been doing that too! How embarrasing!

My site's been giving people errors when they get to where they have to pick their shipping. How frustrating. To make it up to everybody, I'm offering free shipping for all of February.

If you were having problems with my site, shoot me an email and let me know. I'll make it worth your effort somehow. But please, be honest, I've already been taken for a ride over some Christmas orders. So much for the Christmas spirit! Downright Grinchy if you ask me.

Oh, and I fixed the shipping error - let me know if you see any other funkiness. Somebody emailed me a couple of weeks ago asking if the price for one of my necklaces was really $3,700. I wrote her back that the piece she was looking at had a chain handmade by pixies from pure unicorn hair, thus the exhorbitant price. Yeah, it was supposed to be $37. Oh well!

I love my Subaru!

So, we got a solid dusting of snow a couple of days ago...enough for Devera to stay home from school for the last 3 days. The really bad day I had to drive in the snow...there were people in the ditches all over the city...but not my trusty little grasshopper!

I used to joke when we first moved to portland that you were assigned a dog and a subaru when you move here. And I resisted for soooooo long - I'm not really a conformist, you see. But there's a reason that every 3rd car around here is a subaru - because we're the only guys not in ditches when things get slippery!

Be safe out there!

Here's a good cure for the winter blues

It's cold and dark around here these days. Uggh this is just the worst part of the year here in Portland. But I found a great way to kick the S.A.D. ... I bought some clay a couple of months ago and a book on making sugar flowers (like the kind on fancy wedding cakes). And ta daaaaa - the first fruits of my labor. Can't you see these on a bridal tiara?

Let's see what else I can come up with - there are a whole bunch of different flowers in here. Maybe I'll have to start baking some cakes now.

Hey - free beads

You'd think I'd read my husband's blog a little more and know what's going on! He was as touched by an Inconvenient Truth as I was - check out his blog and maybe get some beads.

The 2 month trudge

Ok, Portland is the greatest place on the face of the planet...that is, if you can make it through this 2 month trudge. I swear, it takes like 12 cups of coffee to survive January and February. It's sooooooooooo dark and cold and rainy, and did I say dark? All I want to do is hibernate like a bear. But if I can make it through these 2 months, the rest of the time it's about as wonderful as you can get. I've already had my latte this morning (it's pretty funny - there are just about more dogs in the coffee shop these days than there are people - last weekend there was even a cat - go figure). But, yeah, already caffeinated, and I'm ready for bed. If I can just make it 2 more months...let's see...60 more days...how many more minutes? I think I can stay awake that long.

Happy New Year!

Looking for a good way to eat healthy this year? I found this great site: Local Harvest. It lists the farmer's markets and locally grown foods in your area. Pretty cool, huh?

So, we spent New Years Eve watching An Inconvenient Truth, now there's a happy way to kick off your new year. It was a really good movie, though. Good old Al, has a good way of simplifying the ideas that have always seem pretty convoluted and Carl Sagan-ish to me (although he did quote Carl-the Cosmos guy-a lot in the movie, which brought back some bad middle school science heebie jeebies!).

Any way...good movie...interesting stuff, and you can go their web site for some good ideas on how you can help. Seems like the best things you can do are to watch the movie and vote...seems simple.

Ok, off my soapbox. Happy New Years, everybody. Hope the hangover's not too bad.

Happy Discardia to you.

For those of you who don't celebrate festivus...I've got a new one for you, well, treehugger.com does...Discardia. Since I've taken a couple of days to sit and veg out this week, I've noticed that every corner in my house is just piled with stuff. And me...I guess I'm just not the kind of person to sit and veg out. So I'm big into preparations for Discardia day. It's not nearly as fun and festive as Christmas - and there's no candy involved. But when the day actually comes, whooh! I feel a lot better. My rule...if I haven't touched it in a year, and it doesn't have huge sentimental value...out it goes! Happy Discardia to you!

Not a fan of blinking snowman earrings?

Yeah, me neither. Which leaves me in a hard spot. I have a little bit of elf blood in me. I'm sure of it because as soon as the Thanksgiving tupperware's put in the fridge I've got the goofiest Christmas grin on my face. But I just can't bring myself to wear blinking snowman earrings for the next month.

So, I had to take things into my own hands. Here's what I do to be Christmassy, without looking like a complete goofball. These Sari Earrings always do it for me. I just love these beads anyway. Since they're a solid color, you can pull them off later in the year too and not look too silly.

I like this lampwork pendant too. I really like the silk cord it's hanging from. You've got to see it in person to see how cool it is. The pictures just don't do it justice.

There - now you can be festive without needing batteries to do it.

Oh momma - these turned out cool!

Ok, fresh off the work bench and I just had to share. How cool are these two pieces? The solder gods were smiling on me for these projects. These are both custom orders. The first one is a montana agate, from, you guessed it, Montana (the banks of the Yellowstone River to be exact). And the second is an Owyhee Picture Jasper from Eastern Oregon. If you want to see the before, these are #2 and #14 on my rock dork page. I can fit in two more custom orders for Christmas, so if this strikes your fancy. Email me quick!

Ok, today I'm a white chocolate goddess!

Mmmm...death by white chocolate today. How's this for divinity: white chocolate irish cream truffle dipped in white chocolate. Yep, I ended up licking the bowl on that one too. These ones actually turned out pretty so I didn't even have to wrap them in foil this time.

Ok, if you're looking for a book to turn you into a chocolate snob, this is the one to do it. There's more that you ever wanted to know about tempering chocolate, and some really cool things to do with it once you've got it tempered (which is the HARDEST thing to do! I think you need to be an industrial chemist to figure that one out).

So, all I've got left now are my osbcene turtles (there is nothing better on the planet than homemade caramel! It's worth the hours and hours of stirring). And a secret for Judy - since I know she's reading I'm not going to spill the beans.

So, did you make out your wishlist to Santa yet?

I Guess if Starbucks is Doing It....

Good lord! When did Starbucks become the herald for the holiday season? It's like it wasn't official around the country until the red cups and gingerbread lattes got pulled out of the back cupboard.

Me? For some reason I keep thinking it's still April. It really can't be November, can it? Thanksgiving's not really next week, right?

Well, gingerbread latte in hand, I put together a new little contest together that should be fun. Tell Santa what you want for Christmas >>

Happy Holidays, I guess. Oh, and twenty bucks says my Christmas cards are going out as Happy New Years cards (happy valentines?) Oh goody.

Stop! no Go!

Perusing my favorite treehugger site again, and I came across this cool little article

Drachten, a small Dutch city with around 50,000 residents has removed almost all of its traffic lights. Major intersections have been converted to roundabouts, smaller intersections just let drivers work make decisions on their own. Basically, it's anarchy. Anarchy that has completely eliminated dangerous crashes and road fatalities and created a surge in bicycle and pedestrian traffic. Read the rest here...

How neat is that? Although, I bet that wouldn't work if you got too much bigger - can you imagine like Paris without any stop lights? I wonder what Portland would be like...

I am a chocolate goddess!!!

No, not in the Ray Nagin sort of way... But I made my first batch of candy of the season. Oh momma! I almost don't want to give them out. I found a truffle recipe called "Death by Chocolate". Now, if there's any way to go out, going by chocolate is the tops. Anyway, the filling in these things is just unreal. I ended up with more filling than I needed...and you know, you just can't let something like this go to waste...so I ended up squirting the remains of my parchment bag of obscenely creamy chocolate directly into my mouth. MMMMMMMM. I felt like I was a little kid with a whipped cream can. Well...actually I think I'm more of a chocolate princess than a chocolate goddess - I still have to work on the presentation - they're still a little swirly on the outside instead of perfectly shiny like I want them. But that's just an excuse to practice more and have more leftovers. Dave gets all excited too 'cause he gets to eat all the broken ones. And Devera...well, you've seen the photos.

I found a good quote...

A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in.

Ok, that's a little better

It's like a kaliedascope for those of you who visit frequently. I think I'll settle down now. I don't promise anything though. At least I'm back to purple and green again.

Dammit - I pressed another button again.

Aack! When am I going to learn. Hold tight while I figure out how to turn this back.

2 Lines I Really Like

2 of them caught my eye (and ear today one was on the radio) We're all just recycled stardust (cool concept - and true if you really think about it). The people who are in control are the people who come out. (Don't just sit there - go out and vote - for ANYTHING!) Ok, there are my random thoughts for today.

More spiders please

Yep, that's certainly my kid. No that's not halloween face paint. It's cupcake frosting. We got halloweeney cupcakes for Dave's birthday on Monday. Devera's had a big black spider in frosting on top. She literally sucked the spider off the top (yes, you could hear slurping sounds and everything). When she was done with the frosting, not having eaten any of the actual cupcake, she looked up at me and said, "More spiders, please." There's an equally entertaining and very technicolor story on the other side of this event. But I won't gross you out. Oh yeah, and after I posted that I'd never have another reese's again, I had 2 more after dinner. I earned them, dammit!

Toby does pennance - goes to aerobics class

As pennance for eating reese's peanut butter cups for breakfast, lunch and dinner last night (note - not "with" breakfast, etc. but FOR breakfast). I decided to go to my first ever aerobics class. Those of you that know me are laughing already. I learned a whole lot of things tonight. In order to be proficient (or even not look like a complete idiot) you need the following skills:

1. Need to know your left from your right (I'm still working on that one - I have to make an L shape with my left hand for verification - hard to do when you're bouncing up and down)
2. Need to have just a little bit of rhythm (SP??) - yeah, don't have that.
3. Need to kinda be able to dance - I got nothin there.
4. Need to be kinda perky - I wonder if they make surly aerobics? I'd probably be good at that one!

I'm just really glad my spot wasn't anywhere close to a mirror. I would have run out crying. I know I looked like Devera when she does the hokey pokey, except that I'm not 2. But then I thought - she throws herself into the hokey pokey with wild abandon. I guess I could just laugh my way through it - it was really comical. I completely gave up on the arms halfway through after I almost hit the poor woman next to me a couple of times. At least I was entertainment for somebody - the little 70 year old ladies were smiling and winking at me. Oh yeah - this was the EASY aerobics class. I will never NEVER eat reeses for breakfast lunch and dinner again!

Good god I've got a lot of rocks!

I'm not just a rock dork - I'm a hording rock dork! While I was updating my site, I decided to redo the custom orders page. So I pulled out all of my rocks to take some photos of, and good god - where did all of those come from? I couldn't even label them from A-Z - I've got too many! Take a look at the cool ones I've got listed here >> There are some great landscapes hiding in a bunch of them. I think my favorites are number 11 & 12. Which one's your favorite?

Aaaah much better

I'm a consumate button pusher. I'm on the verge of getting myself in trouble - since I didn't build this new shopping cart myself, I know just enough to break it really good. I'll have to smack my hand each time I reach and think..."I wonder what would happen if..." I still like this purple.

Fix one thing break 12 others.

Looks a little different here, huh? This new color change was the result of a "Well, what do you think that button does?" Pardon the blue for a couple of days - I'll turn it back to purple shortly. Dave just asked what the big sigh was. The good news is that there's now a new shopping cart on my site with all kinds of cool new bells and whistles. Super exciting, and it's going to save me a ton of time. Bad news is that I broke a bunch of other things while I fixed the cart. I guess that's where all the saved time's going to go. Oh well - hey if you see any funkiness on my site, will you let me know?

Yippee, It's Open Studios Time!

And even bigger yippee - I'm only visiting instead of participating. So, Portland's Open Studio Tour went on this weekend - and it's going on next weekend too - if you have some free time. It's nice not to be a nervous wreck for a weekend, like I've done in years past. It's fun to go see the artists in their natural habitat (picture buffalo grazing on an open plain). We were able to make it to 2 of my favorite aritsts this weekend...

Ryan Birkland

And Pam Greene: Her studio is BEYOND cool! Devera was a true patron of the arts...she was very good at pointing at the pictures instead of mauling them (although I think we gave a weaver a heart attack in her studio). Good old kermit the frog came along on the tour too, and he enjoyed pointing at all the works of art as well. I wonder if Devera will be into arts when she gets older (I wonder if Kermit will too). Anyway, if you're in town and you're looking for something to do next weekend - grab a tour guide from New Seasons markets and go take a tour. It's a lot of fun.

oooh, it's so close I can almost taste it!

I've been working behind the scenes for the past couple of weeks putting together my new site...which looks remarkably (exactly) like my old site, but on steroids. And I'm soooooo close to having it finished. I hate going though and making sure my i's are dotted and my t's are crossed - but the devil is in the details. So if you don't see anything witty being posted here, it's because I'm saving my wit for the bigger site (and there's not that much wit to work with in the first place!) When I do taste it - I hope it tastes like chocolate (and not the child labor kind).

Well, this kind of killed the little chocolate binge I was on.

How sad is this? I just go this in one of my little tree hugger emails: The scariest thing about Halloween this year won't be the costumes... it's the chocolate. Almost half of the world's cocoa is being produced on West African plantations where, according to the UN's International Labor Organization, 284,000 child laborers "are either involved in hazardous work, unprotected, or have been trafficked." Say no to the chocolate industry's ghoulish links to child slavery by buying Fair Trade and organic chocolate. Say it ain't so!

Which one do you think's my kid?

Certainly not the clean one. It's pretty funny scrolling through the photos of her birthday party. She starts of with a tidy little blue goatee and pencil thin mustache, and as the photos keep going she ends up with a good santa beard. Just like her mom. Give me a good cupcake and I'll show you how to make a mess.

Rock dorks united.

Yep, it was a large collection of rock dorks all together at the expo center this weekend. It was pretty funny, the expo center the event was held at was also having girlfest and the roller derby going on at the same time. So door A had a bunch of girl scouts streaming through it, door B had a bunch of hipsters dressed in black, door C, though, had a couple people sitting on their walkers out front, so we knew we were in the right spot. Yep, lots of walkers and rascals at that event. And yeah, I spent waaaaay too much money. But I got a lot of good stuff I can't wait to share.

Yep, I'm a rock dork

This weekend is the Portland Gem & Mineral show - and I'm all over it! It'll be me and a bunch of 85 year old rock hounds in their walkers and rascals. It's kind of sad...lapidary is really a dying (or at least shrinking) hobby. I guess it doesn't hold a candle to xboxes and myspace. Anyway, my primo primo rock guy's going to be there - so hopefully I'll excercise just a little bit of restraint with the credit card. I'll post photos of the goodies I come back with. Rock dorks unite!

It's alive....ALIVE!!!

Farmer Dave's new site, that is >> Check out Dave's new site...tons of cool bead photos...a video of Dave making beads...a new blog (which surprisingly looks like a fall colored version of the page you're reading right now - what a copycat!) Actually, I built the site for him, so there's no reason to reinvent the wheel (call me lazy). I'm going to steal a bunch of his cool little gizmos for my site too. Not to be outdone, my site's going under a major overhaul too. But you won't be able to see most of it, all hiding behind the scenes. I'm putting in a new shopping cart system. Yippee - no more broken links and yucky stuff. And what a concept - I'll be able to spend more time making jewelry. Stay tuned! oh, and go visit Dave's site. Good riddance to neon green and hard to read white text on a black background. Hello streamlined. I'd love to hear your feedback - oh and I'd really like to hear if you found something broken or typo'ed.

Where a kid can be a kid...

It's scary that I even remember that jingle. So, we're leaving the parking lot of Home Depot with a trunkload of pansies to plant in the yard along with the shipment of 18 gazillion tulips that I vaguely remember ordering in the spring...anyway, we're pulling out of the parking lot and completely covered by trees except for maybe his little glossy nose...Devera starts crowing "Chuck E Cheese, Chuck E Cheese!!!!" It sent shivers up my spine. Now, Devera's only been there once (with her Daddy, I "unfortunately" had to miss the outing) and it was like a year ago. But good god, this kid sure knows who good old Chuck is. SHE'S 2!!! I guess Chuck made an appearance at her preschool carnival a couple of months ago, and now he's completely imprinted on her brain. I'm glad they didn't invite the Marlboro Man or she'd have a 2 pack a day habit by now! It's crazy what things stick in their head. She still talks about going to the fair, and that was a month ago.

I was surfing around this afternoon, and came across this product description that made me giggle...

Now that you're four, life is really starting to force responsibility on you, making you begin to work through some tough decisions like "toilet or my pants?," "pet the kitty or bite the kitty?," "Cheerio in my mouth or up my nose?" Thankfully, not all choices are that difficult - take these lovely sky blue Snap Tees for example -all you have to focus on is, "Do I feel like a kitty or a monkey today?" Easy, right?

These shirts are really cute And the site's really well written. There...I've fueled your random surfing for today. Oh, and I go for the cheerio up the nose any day!

Yep that's my kid.

We went to the Oregon state fair yesterday. What fun! We just happened to enter by the livestock section...and Devera got her first up close and personal glimpse of the barnyard animals Old McDonald's always singing about. The cows kind of freaked her out...they look a lot smaller in the picture books. The pigs kind of freaked me out. They're awfully big too. But yes, this is a child after my own heart...we couldn't drag her away from the horse show that was going on. She was just fascinated, and couldn't stop talking about it after we left. In fact it's still a hot topic of conversation.

I hope my customer satisfaction's just a little better...

I found a really interesting map showing Starbucks and McDonald's effects on the world. I think the line that's most interesting is that McDonald's customer satisfaction ranking is below all the major airlines and the IRS. Wow! I didn't think that was possible. These guys have a whole bunch of interesting maps: International Networks Archive

I knew there was I reason we switched...

So, I was reading my favorite site today, and I feel better dishing out that awful lot of money for organic milk. It's has finally been proven--organic milk really is healthier. It looks like the cows that are able to munch on grass have 68% more omega 3 fatty acids in their milk - I guess that makes sense. That's a good consolation for a milk junkie kid and a milk junkie husband.

Gotta get me some!

Ok, I've found something new to drool over. And, yeah, you can laugh at my extreme rock dork side coming out. But check out this new material (well, old material). It's the scrapings from the inside of a car paint booth from an auto factory in Detroit. How cool is that? It's beautiful, if you ask me. And an awesome way to put this stuff to good use. Now I've got to figure out how to get my hands on some!

Oh, what a nice vacation

How'd you like to wake up to this every morning? It's wonderful, let me tell you! We just got back from our week long vacation to Orcas Island and Vancouver. They're a pretty short (4-6 hour) drive from Portland, so it makes for an easy trip with the Munchkin.

I really like Orcas Island - I've been to San Juan Island before, and it was a bit touristy for my taste. Orcas is smaller and more off the beaten path. And, holy cow - they know how to cook there! Great place to unwind.

We also ditched the kid at grandma's house for a couple of days and went up to Vancouver by ourselves. First time we'd spent that long away from her (we'd gone overnight once before, but had such terrible food poisoning that we could barely drag ourselves out of bed!). It was lovely. My mom looked so tired when we picked Devera up. She's definitely a handful! Anyway, back to the grind. At least the little stress muscles in my are all unwound now.

Sfogliatelle

Mmmm...I've been thinking about this line I heard on NPR all day... A dessert so delicious it confirms the existence of God. You can listen too, and giggle with me >>

My favorite site...

Fitting...they used to call me "one of those earth babies" in college. So I guess it makes sense that the site I've ended up surfing a lot these days is called www.treehugger.com Anyway, the real story I want to share is a cool one about organic farming in Cuba. So I guess after the fall of the Soviet Union, Cuba was cut of from exporting it's main cash crop, sugar cane. That really spread poverty and was causing a lot of famine. So, Castro decided that he wanted his peeps to be self sufficient and created a bunch of small scale organic farms. The results were really impressive. Read the rest of the story here >>

A perfect afternoon...

Want to know the ingredients for a perfect Portland afternoon? Meander your way to the Pearl District. Hop on the streetcar, also known as the choo choo train, to the munchkin in my entourage. The drivers are so nice - they all waved to her and rang their little bell - she couldn't have been happier. Well, until we made our way to the gelato stand on Northwest 23rd. A little sugar boost to get us through the afternoon, and back down to the Pearl to Devera's absolute mostest mostest favorite place in the world, the fountain at Jamison Square. (Just imagine it with about 50 times more kids) There's no way to go there without getting completely soaked, which is fine for Devera - she has no problem changing clothes in front of hundreds of strangers. Me, I just drive home wet. Hope you had a great afternoon too.

Who's your favorite?

Artist, that is... I'll tell you mine - it's a no-brainer.

James Michalopoulos

He's an artist that Dave and I got into while we lived in New Orleans. He channels Van Gogh and does really cool paintings of New Orleans houses. I think I got hooked on him when I saw a painting in his gallery of the little yellow house that I was daydreaming over buying in Uptown. Oh, how I wanted that house soooo bad. It was the sweetest little shotgun shack. And just a happy yellow. It's funny when you look back at things...I'm glad we didn't buy that happy little yellow house. I have my own little happy yellow house here in Portland now. Although it's well on its way to being a happy purple house as we speak. So, who's your favorite artist? I'd love to hear. Expose me to some culture!

Who's your hero?

So, you know, you're stuck in traffic, bored to tears, and you make your lists? The list that occupied me for those 30 minutes was...who are my heroes? Thank god I don't live in LA any more or it would have been 2 hours! Maybe my list would have been longer though - cause I could only really come up with two. I'll give you one today... Maya Angelou Even if you haven't read any of her books, just to look at her face and to hear her voice. I don't know - something about quiet strength. And anyone who could come from being mute, to being a prostitute to one of the first woman streetcar ticket takers to - holy cow - poet laureate. That's pretty damn cool. Her books are a fantastic read too, if you haven't picked one up before. Who are your heroes? I love to hear what inspires and motivates my friends - leave me a comment. And tune in next time...I share hero #2.

The new diet craze??? Let's cross our fingers.

So, you've got the South Beach Diet, the Atkins Diet...how 'bout the 100 Mile Diet? If you've been reading this blog for any length of time you've probably learned that I'm a nut for organic and sustainable food. I was reading about this concept a couple of days ago and I really hope it catches on. The premise is that your diet only consists of food that came from less than 100 miles from wherever you are. You end up eating fresher food that hasn't been shipped for days to your market. You support your local farmers, and you get a better connection with the place you live. The tradeoffs? Yeah, no tomatoes in February (they taste terrible then anyway). Anyway, if you want to read more, here's someone else's experience. Where does your food come from?

And the winners are...

Thanks to everybody who placed orders during my private sale yesterday. It was great talking to a bunch of you. The winners of the $10 gift certificates are...drumroll please... Eva Alpert Suzanne Taylor Angela Oldham Thanks again - it was a lot of fun.

Oh, isn't this fun.

There's some hard core shopping going on behind the scenes here. I don't know about you but I get in a frenzy when there's a good sale going on. I'm really glad I don't live in Boston - Filene's basement just sends me into coniptions. It's been fun - I get to talk to some of my old customers, and meet some new ones - and some of Dave's too!

Invites are out

If you didn't get yours, email me.

Aack, where's my invite?????

Looks like the invites for the private sale aren't going to go out quite as early as I had hoped. I planned in my little head for them to hit everyone's mailboxes at midnight tonight, but it looks like they'll be sent out some time tomorrow morning. The newsletter has to be approved before it gets sent out (which is pretty cool of my newsletter service, so they don't let spammers weasel their way into it). But I guess all of their approvers actually like to sleep at night, and don't want to stay up till midnight to send off my INCREDIBLY important email. Oh well, hope that doesn't junk up your plans too much. I'll keep the sale open until Saturday morning to make up for the lost shopping time. God forbid you lose precious shopping time! I'll post on my blog once I'm sure the invites went out. Then you can truly say "Aack, where's my invite?!?"

Hmmm...cut it a little more

I'm putting the finishing touches on the private sale as we speak. It's kind of fun. I look at a price...hmmm...I think I'm going to lower it by $10 more. Good thing I'm having the sale tomorrow - if this lasts much longer I'm going to be paying you guys to buy the stuff! So, I'm scheduling the email to go out at midnight tonight (Pacific time, that is) - first come first served. Check your email, and happy shopping. Oh, and I'm sweetening the deal too - 3 lucky orders will get a $10 gift certificate too, along with their cool lampwork keychain. Are you feeling lucky?

I've gotten out my big red pen

Ok, you may not see it now, but I'm frantically marking down a whole slew of goodies for my private sale on Thursday. Let's see - I think the biggest discount so far is $75 off one piece - which one? Well you'll just have to get an invitation to find out! Want another little hint? Start picking out your curliecue necklace. Or maybe some flowers...lots of flowers.

Back from Puerto Rico

Wow, it's taken a while to get my act together from coming back from Puerto Rico. I didn't get to stay nearly long enough, and didn't get to leave the resort grounds - but what the hell - I was in Puerto Rico on someone else's dime. I can't complain too much. By far the coolest thing I saw there were the unbelievably cute little coqui's all around the grounds. They're these teeny little tree frogs that sing their little heart's out once the sun goes down. Listen to this little guy, and imagine thousands of them all singing together. It was by far the neatest thing I'd experienced in a long time. Between the frogs and the hermit crabs, we were knee deep in critters. There were little crabs everywhere! You'd go to the beach to try and collect a couple of shells to bring home with you and...oop's someone's in that one...oh, someone's in that one too...hey - that pretty shell's walking away! One evening before going back to my room, a friend of mine and I were catching frogs (yeah, some little kids just never grow up!) We put our little frogs back in the bushes and looked down it the ground was just crawling with hermit crabs - and we were quite a way from the beach. Having had a very traumatic childhood experience with hermit a hermit crab (those guys hold on for dear life no matter how hard you shake your hand!!!!!) I was a little hesitant to play with the crabs as much. But the frogs were good fun!.

A burger joint with roots

So, a couple of years ago, Dave and I decided that we would only eat free range meat (Read Fast Food Nation and it will sway you too!). That really kills you when you're looking for a fast greasy burger - and some times I really jones for a Western Bacon Cheeseburger all drippy and gooey and yucky. But there's this one fast food joint (or chain rather) here in Oregon called Burgerville that decided, during the whole mad cow escapade to only serve local free range beef. Whoopee! They're pretty cool - they're a total fast food joint but they still only serve seasonal stuff that's locally sourced. So I drove past one of them this morning, and I notice their sign said "Get gardening tools and seeds with every kid's meal purchase". What an awesome idea! Instead of junky little spongebob plastic things that are either going to get choked on or forgotten in 10 minutes, they're teaching munchkins how to plant seeds. I love it. Something tells me Devera would be a big fan of their strawberry shakes! We'll have to find out.

Ok, flower photos as promised

And a cute little petunia in the front.

How sad...

Ok, so this is how sad my life has become. Dave and I went out to the movies for the first time in - yikes - 2 years. (DaVinci Code - we liked it a lot, but I think you would have had to read the book before you watched it). So we're walking to the movie theater and Dave looks over at me with this concerned look on his face - he says - "Are you ok? Your eye looks purple"... Um, yeah - that's called eyeshadow. Obviously poorly applied if it scared my husband. I learned it's a lot harder to do with a squirmy 20 month old kid in your arms who wants to do everything you are doing. Maybe I should warn him first next time. I had to laugh - and Dave was so embarrassed. He'd dug himself a good hole. Oh, and I'd take some garden photos for you if it would stop raining for 2 seconds!

The happiest comment

Hi guys - took a little extended hiatus there. So we got the sweetest comment from someone this evening. Devera, Dave and I were working in our garden this afternoon. One of our neighbors was walking her dog and stopped to introduce herself. She told us that we just had the happiest looking house. Isn't that a cool concept? I have a happy house! I really do. You know our garden is just going bezerk these days. I think I'll take a bunch of photos and share them with you all week. Sounds fun, huh?

Private? Exclusive? Special?

I don't know about you, but I'm a sale junkie. Especially if it's a good one. Well guys, hold onto your hats. I put a countdown on my home page...this is my first ever private sale. It's such a fun concept...I'm actually going to be closing the shop to the general public and only letting newsletter subscribers and previous customers in. All my new designs I've been putting together over the last couple of months will be previewed there as well as a whole bunch of pieces that will be 50% off. I'll give you a sneek preview on my blog of what's going to be on sale as it gets closer. So, mark your calendar and spread the word...June 23rd is the big day. To get your invitation, join my newsletter here >> Sounds like fun, huh?

I've got some updating to do

Here are some remnants of last weekends show. I've got a whole bunch of cool new pieces to add to the site over the next couple of weeks. Oh, and if you didn't notice on my home page - I've got a newsletter signup form I just added. Sign up for it (I promise I won't spam you every week). I'm planning on having a sale just for my newsletter subscribers and previous customers - I'm going to close shop for everyone but you guys and give you some HUGE specials. Sounds fun. So sign up and feel very exclusive.

You thought I was exagerating...

When I said that in a couple of days it's going to be snowing pink around here. This is the view out of my car window this morning...

A rain shower hit right when the cherry tree's flowers were about done - and poof - instant pink snowstorm! If you enlarge this one, you can actually see it snowing. Beautiful, isn't it?

Ok, everything's set

I went over to Tracy's house this evening to set up for the show we're having there this weekend. It looks gorgeous there as usual. There are some really talented craftspeople set up there. I'll take photos when I stop by there tomorrow. I think I've got all my mother's day presents picked out now. Wish us luck! Toby

I love portland in the spring time!

These are my neighbor's trees. It's so cool to go outside these days. In a couple of days it will be snowing pink!

Yippee! New Tools!

Oh, I'm always so excited to get new goodies in the mail. Here's the latest. It's a custom metal stamp I had made to stamp my logo on the back of my pieces. It's teeny tiny - like 1/4". Poor Devera's not going to be able to sleep tonight - she'll keep hearing me "tink tink tink-ing" with my hammer playing with my new toy. I think my next design will be a big sheet of metal with my logo all over it. Talk about self gratification!

Gearing up for the show next weekend!

Hi all, hope you had a great weekend. For any of you local guys who are looking to do something fun next weekend, I just wanted to remind you about the show Dave and I are going to take part in. Here's where it's going down: Moss Street Studio 1938 SW Moss Street Portland Oregon 97219 (503) 327-4899 Here's a map>> I've got to get crackin and finish up some pieces - yikes! You'll see lots of new lampwork pieces from Dave and I, and we're joining up with another talented glass artist, a furniture maker, a paper arts person, and a couple others. I remember the first time I joined these guys I was a little hesitant - you never know if you're joining a group who knit doilies and make toilet paper covers (remember the ones that had the little barbie dolls coming out the top? I think my great grandma had some of those) Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised - this is a REALLY TALENTED group of artist. I'm excited to be a part of them. Anyway, stop by and say hi. Oh, and here's a Sunday Devera picture. We went to the tulip fields yesterday in Woodburn. Beautiful as always. As quickly as we could say, "No, no, Devera" she lops off the first flower she can get her grubby little hands on. And then she's like a shark tasting that first drop of blood. We pretty much had to drag her by her ankles to get her out of the flowers. Here she is holding up her contraband...

Hallelujah - the sun is out!

Portland is so funny when the sun first comes out in the spring. EVERYONE comes out of the woodwork to soak up any ounce of sunshine available. Devera and I went for a walk yesterday afternoon and we saw every one of our neighbors - most of whom we haven't seen since, say, October. And the same thing comes out of everyones mouth, "Isn't it beautiful?!?" It's kind of cool to see an entire neighborhood in a good mood. Here's to more sunny days!

Ok, start hunting!

It's an excuse to surf a bunch of fun sites. It's a way to win a cool box of goodies. Whatever excuse you want to use, the seek indie scavenger hunt has started. Look for one of these... Hiding somewhere on my site and from 4 other sites from this list: http://www.seekindie.com/participants.html and you could win a really cool gift box chock full of fun stuff. HERE'S YOUR HINT: It's good for giving gifts (you know, Mother's Day is coming up!) Happy hunting!

I bet you thought I fell into a well!

Nope, I'm here. Recovering from a flurry of bridal orders. I've got something cool to show you though... It's my teeny tiny trifold that I just got back from the printers. They're really cute - they're a little under 2"x2" and they tell the "magical story of tobyDESIGN" (well, the photos are nice, I'm not much of a copywriter). Best thing is that they're printed on recycled paper. It's really surprising how hard it is to find printers who will do stuff on recycled paper - and it costs like twice as much. Oh well - the price you pay for being green. If you want one, send me an email and I'll send you one. I'll have to find a teeny tiny envelope to mail it in.

I bet you thought I died

Sorry, skipped off to Detroit this weekend to visit some family. I was a little (ok very) leery of hauling that kid through all the airports and strapping her into an airplane seat for hours and hours. But we all did really well. Devera has developed a new found fascination for airplanes, so she thought the whole concept of them was pretty nifty. And all I can say is God Bless Elmo! The secret to happy kids on planes is a portable DVD player. We plugged that kid into Sesame Street as much as we could (she'd watch that for hours if she had the chance) and it made life just so much easier.

I'll be out of commission for a couple of days...here's some eye candy to keep you occupied for a little. A friend of mine and his girlfriend are incredible photographers. This is a photo of Susan Creek here in Oregon. Beautiful, huh?

I don't know 'bout you but this time change is killing me!

It just completely wacks me out for some reason. Between the time change, the extra daylight, the warmer weather, it completely freaks me out, and I just didn't sleep last night. I'm a zombie now, but the cats sure appreciated that there was someone who would scratch their chin at 3 in the morning. I'm going to crash now.

Yoga guru in training

This kid is such a goof ball (yes yes, and I'm perfectly sane - I know you were saying that under your breath). Devera likes to drag out my yoga mat and dance around on it. A couple of weeks ago I wanted to see what she'd do if I started doing some poses - and she's a natural! Can't you tell? I've booked here a trip to India to study with Iyengar next week.

My new favorite coolest toy in the world

I was at Fred Meyer (Portlands grocery/everything store) and say this little goofy metal bin that was on sale for about 500% off. And impulse shopper me put it and 6 other bins into her cart. Who knew how handy this thing would be? I'm always misplacing my tools on my bench. I can loose something faster than you can say, "now where did I put the....." I bought a bunch of plain magnets and now I can stick anything I need to find onto my little green board. Fantastic!!! It was pretty fun walking through Home Depot buying those with Devera. She'd stick them to different parts of the shopping cart and just giggle her little heart out. Now, where did I put my keys?