For The Love Of Em!!!!

As I prepared for a night out with my gals last evening, my man Matt came upstairs to watch me dress...... a habit of his...... As I dressed we chatted and in walked Miss Em!!

I explained to Emma (for the thousandth friggen time) to please knock upon entering Mom and Dad's room! I felt like being a bit more blunt this time......

"We could have been having sex..... You don't want to walk in on that!!"

"Mom, why would you guys want to make another baby?"

"People don't have sex always to make babies!! Sometimes they have sex to show how much they love each other! Besides..... Mommy and Daddy can't make babies anymore............."

Miss Em replied with............... "Because you got ROTTEN EGGS!!!"

Gotta love her!

A Little Nostalgic......

Since the launch of Facebook, I have become more and more nostalgic. My sisters and I have poured through family photos, friends and classmate photos, and just getting in touch with friends lost!! It's funny how much stuff you realize you've forgotten.

I took a Facebook "test" the other day, "Who was your childhood crush" Or something along those lines...... It reminded me of a special and funny memory of my sister Elena, me and my grandmother "MA"! My grandmother had her makeup spread out all over her long kitchen table...... she had this metallic blue makeup "suitcase". Elena and I sat on the table while Ma made us up!! "Lane.... What do you want to be when you grow up honey?" Now, I don't really remember what Lana said, but I'm sure it was somewhere along the line of saving Mankind!
"Tray, what do you want to be sweetie?" "Black!" "Black??!!" "Yes.... I want to be black!!"
"Why??"........ "So I can marry The Electric Company guy!!"

Apparently nobody told me it was okay to stay brown and marry Morgan! He was my first crush..... My biggest crush....... I STILL love him today!! How can you not...... He's God for goodness sake!!!! I still wouldn't mind being black either...... God if you're listening...... A bit on the Beyonce side please!!!! Thank you!!!

MAN HE'S FRIGGEN TASTY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What the frig am I!!? ~ Just a rant!

I used to ask this question quite a bit as a child! My father is 100% Puerto Rican, his family is from Arroyo..... My mother is 100% Sicilian, her family hails from Calabria!

When filling out the census forms in elementary school, I was always stumped!!! What the frig am I!? My mother would INSIST Caucasian...... My father would INSIST Hispanic!! Needless to say they were never a help and I always felt confused and conflicted! I am proud of both of my heritages...... so why isn't there a mixed category!!?? Come on people, we have a half black / half white president!!!! IT'S FRIGGEN TIME!!!!!

This week in school my daughter was presented with the same dilemma.... Upon filling out the census form, Emma checked HISPANIC~! The obviously not too informed teacher (for lack of a better term) approached Miss Em and said......"Sweetie..... you're white.... See this box CAUCASIAN....... That means white!! You should check that!" Now not being there but knowing Miss Em..... I can imagine her face....... "I'm not WHITE!!!! I'm Hispanic..... I'm brown!!!!"

Miss Em has a diagnosis of SPLD ~ Semantic Pragmatic Language Disorder ~ Which sometimes makes it hard for her to understand what the frig you're talking about, but allows her to let you have it!! This obviously not too informed teacher (for lack of a better term) must have assumed Emily was not understanding her! "No, honey, your name is Prince ~ See the vowel at the end!? That makes you Italian!!"
Now who the frig has a processing disorder!!!??? WTF!!! Hello..... a vowel at the end..... not that the word PRINCE wouldn't be an immediate indicator of it's ENGLISH heritage, but the vowel is silent!!!!!! Miss Em stood her ground...... "I am not white, I am Puerto Rican...... I'm brown, Hispanic!!!" One child stood up and said...... "Puerto Rican is not Hispanic!!" Emma still stood her ground...... "I AM PUERTO RICAN!!" "I AM HISPANIC"

Of course in the end, Miss Em won...... She always does! But WTF!!!??? Parents teach your children who they are!!!! Let them be proud of their heritage...... Emily knows shes part English, Part Sicilian, AND Part Hispanic........ she has chosen to be all and to CHOOSE her Hispanic culture as her CHECKED BOX!!

Teachers...... learn your vowels and don't talk down or condescendingly to your student...... They're going to be wiping your ass and giving you meds someday...... Trust me, you should have seen my 11Th grade English teacher's face when he realized I was his Medical Assistant after his surgery........PRICELESS!!!!

For Yo Baby Daddy!!!

My husband recently went home to Ormond Beach, Florida...... It was an old fashioned Southern family reunion, equipped with beehive hairdos, house coats, fried chicken and baked beans!!

He really misses his family!! I'm not sure, but I think his mom is starting to "feel" her age.... she made all these photo memory books and gave him all his trophies to take home! She also gave him a HUGE tackle box filled with vintage and antique fishing lures!

Most of these lures he couldn't bear to part with....... Others..... well, I was lucky, he gave em' to me!!! I made some great (well, I think so) Father's Day treats with them!!! I used beach stones from Rhode Island and California and paired them with some sweet lures!

I find it so hard to find "manly" gifts for our men!! How man ties and soap on a rope can one man pretend to love! These are cool.... functional..... can be used every day and HEY, if he's out around a lake one day..... he's prepared!!

Genuine IS Genuine

I've been collecting sea glass since I was a little girl. My family is from Arroyo, Puerto Rico and as a child we would visit my Abuelita once and a while! Arroyo is just a town over from Ponce, home of some of the most beautiful beaches! I remember the exact day that I found my first piece!! It was brown and it was perfect!! I found greens and sea foams..... I didn't know what it was...... but I knew I had discovered treasure!!! I was nine..... I truly thought I had found emeralds, diamonds and rubies!! I brought them back to our little home and my Abuelita wrapped them carefully in a towel, safe for my plane ride home!

Upon my return, my father and I handed out gifts to my brothers and sisters! I was lucky, this was a Daddy and me trip! When we were finished handing out our gifts, I ran to reveal my found treasures to my mother! Sadly, she was disgusted! I remember her scolding my father for allowing me to pick up trash! She forced me to dispose of it! That sadness sometimes still creeps up on me! I know she had no idea what it was, but I loved it nonetheless!

In any event..... Years later...... before the days of kids..... My husband and I traveled to Mexico!

I had to be about 21, I can remember mas cervezas...... We were floating in the ocean together, enjoying our day! My husband pulled up a HUGE piece of lime green sea glass and said "Hey babe!! Look at this!!" Puerto Rico came back to me! I remembered. We spent the entire trip searching our Mexican beach.... I found a lot of crap! Broken, not so flawless (to say the least) sea glass! I brought it home with pride!

Over the years, I have used only FLAWLESS genuine sea glass in my designs! But I realized I had WAY MORE less than attractive sea glass..... In all colors! I certainly couldn't throw it away!

I made some mosaics...... didn't love doing that! Made some votives...... way too much work!

A friend of mine one day suggested hiding the chip...... I'm a Karma girl!! There was no way I could do that! BUT!!! What if I repaired the chip with a non-toxic sanding method and was HONEST about it!! Hey! There's a notion!! Re-Glass(tm) Sea Glass was born!! From time to time, I repair sea glass chips and offer them, honestly, to my wonderful customers!

You see, sea glass people...... I feel that altering our precious sea glass is perfectly acceptable, as long as we're honest about the alter and we let our educated buyers decide! Why on Earth would I re-pollute the Earth by throwing it away....... I'm more interested in preserving this amazing planet for my amazing kids! I'm able to offer gorgeous rare colors at a fantastic price!

I recently had another very reputable sea glass artist ask me how I could alter my sea glass! I asked, how can you bore a huge hole in yours, by drilling it!? After a bit of chatting, she understood...... The dishonest people make it hard for those of us who just want to be! She called me a trailblazer........ A pioneer.........


Whatever..... I just want to make pretty chit!