Happy Thoughts

In light of what our economy is going through and many of us are affected by it. I decided that it would be encouraging to post happy thoughts. To think on good things. "...Fix your thoughts on what is true and honorable and right. Think about things that are pure and lovely and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise." Philippians 4:8 NLT Happy thoughts to think on are: *I'm alive *I have people that loves me *I'm blessed to be able to move and get around independently *I have my health *God's love is upon me There is so much more to be thankful for and to meditae upon. If I left anything out, please add on. What happy thoughts get you through difficult times or moments? Is it your spouse, children, pets or a memory of someone cheering you up or encouraging you? I leave you with this uplifting poem that I made up. Happy Thoughts Happy thoughts carries us through, It helps us to continue, That what is meant for us to do. It helps us live and go on and enjoy life, without worries and strife. Happy thoughts are a treasure, Let's partake of it and enjoy the sweet pleasures. Let us walk on the road it paves for us, Where there is love, peace and trust- carries us through the tough times, that we are so indulged in happy thoughts, We will not notice the noise of worries, and hard times, but we will only hear the bells of peaceful chimes. Don't worry, be happy. Take care everybody.

Pets Are A Remedy

When your feeling low at times, your pets tend to sense it or pick it up. My "Pooh Bear", that's his nickname. His real name is Static, is such a sweetheart. He's a big boy, but he helps you to feel better.

He seems to be my picker upper. I love it when he lays his big head on me and he's just waiting to be pat. It's like he's saying, I'm there for you.

My static, even though he belongs to my son, he's mine just as much is part of the family and he's a great addition. Shouts out to static!

What would we do without our loving pets? They are a remedy for feeling low.

How about you, do your pets tend to help you through low times in your life? Do you think or believe that they really sense what your going through, when your sad, happy or whatever emotional state your in at that time? How do you cope with being depressed or discouraged? These answers, in particular the last one will be beneficial to me and others. We have those days sometimes ya know. Somehow, thank God we don't stay in that state of mind.

Have a great day everybody and continue to enjoy every good thing about life.

Give Away

There is a fabulous give away going on at Monogrammed Teacher www.monogrammedteacher.blogspot.com, she is teaming up with Monogram Chick www.monogramchick.blogspot.com for this. So go enter and make sure you hook a girl up by telling her you heard it hear. Thanks ya'll. Appreciate that. Chat with you all later.

Basic Yellow Cake with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

Since today was a historic and special day, I wanted to celebrate President Barack Obama's Inaugruation Ceremony. My menu was Lasagna, cooked broccoli and cauliflower. Of course for dessert, I baked a simple yellow cake by scratch-no box and lemon cream cheese frosting. Here's the finished product, which I think in my opinion tasted pretty good. My son loved it, and wanted to get a second helping.

Don't mind the squiqqly purple lines on the cake, I just wanted to try to decorate it and make it pretty so it won't look so plain. It didn't work out the way I thought it would. So I guess I'll cancell trying to be a cake decorator. Oh yeah, here's a picture of my business liscense, I was so excited to start my own business. I hope that it will be doing well in the months and years to come.

Here's the recipe for the Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting.

Ingredients:

*1 8-oz. package cream cheese

*1 stick margarine or butter

*1 box powdered sugar

*1 tsp of lemon extract (or if you fancy vanilla, that would be 1 tsp vanilla)

~Cream the magarine or butter and cream cheese in a bowl. Add the lemon extract (flavoring). Sift the powdered sugar and add to creamed mixture gradually. Spread on top of cake layers.

I hope everyone had a good day and let's not forget to pray for our new president. Hope you all try the cream frosting, it also goes well on cupcakes. What are your favorite desserts. You know, I heard that your favorite dessert says a lot about a person's personality. Hmm, is that really true? Until next time, peace everybody.

I've Been Tagged

I've been tagged by A Dozen Eggs www.adozeneggs.com/wordpress. Here are the Rules of Engagement:

~Grab the nearest book.
~Open the book to page 56
~Find the 5th sentence.
~Post the text of the next 2 to 5 sentences on your blog along with these instructions.
~Don't did for your favorite book, the cool book or pick the intellectual one; pick the closest.

O.K. heres, the text of the nearest book I found next to me:

"Bupluerum has been an important herb in Chinese folk medicine for over 2000 years. It was first used to treat fevers including malaria and blackwater fever. In today's folk medicine it is used to treat stress conditions. These conditions are known in Chinese philosophy as excessive wood disorders. They often involve an overtaxed liver and gall bladder."

Well, that was the nearest book ya'll. It's actually one of my school books that I'm using to study for my Certification in being a Health Specialist.

I tag 5 wonderful people for this interesting assignment, and they are:

*Jill at http://www.peeptoepumpsandpearls.blogspot.com/
*Andi at http://www.andibeads.blogspot.com/
*Lulu & Charlie at http://www.nixonsleeves.blogspot.com/
* http://www.bakeat350.blogspot.com/
* www.stuffbytoni.com/wordpress

Have a great Inaguration Day everybody. I'm going to finish my simple from scratch yellow cake, and I'm going to make lemon cream cheese frosting to go with it. Again I like lemon, so whatever suits your fancy what flavor you put in your cookies or frosting. Have a good day. :)

History Being Made Countdown

January 20, 2009-history will be made in the United States of America. I just want to know does anyone have any plans for that day? Or, what plans do you have for Inagauration Night? Is anybody going to an Inaguaration party? Or, are you planning one yourself? Will you be going to a friends house to watch the Inaguaration Ceremony together? What's your plans for that day or night?

What will you be doing to mark this time in history on January 20, 2009. Me, I am planning an Inaguaration dinner for my family to celebrate such a historical event.

Oh by the way, how many of you are going to record the ceremony?

Don't forget to scroll down and view my art work. It's just the beginning of some of my pieces, that I will be showing in an art exhibition-that I will be doing myself in my home. No big stuff or art critic will be there, I'm just doing it for fun, and so my family can view my pieces and see what I've been working on. Some of them will be seeing my work for the first time. I'm excited about that.

Tudalu, until next time.

Peace out

I Have No Specific Title For This Post

I couldn't come up with a suitable title for this post, but I just wanted to share with my readers (friends) what I do in my past time. I took up painting about a year ago, and loved it ever since. When I get creative and working on a piece, I'm in my own little world. A Very peaceful world I might add, not a worry in sight or some concern lurking around the corner. I love this painting hobby I took up and I'm still learning about this new craft.

The name of this piece is called, Extended, which means, break out of the mold of things or shall I say the frame that society thinks we should be contained in. Denying ourselves of who we really are.

If you notice there is a small picture frame in the painting with a flower in it, and it looks like the flower extended out of the picture frame. The other impression I tried to give is that, there's a bottle in the picutre in which it suppose to look like the bottle is trying to capture the flower, but the flower is too big to be contained. It blossoms and grows from the different walks of life. That's where you see it looks like little stepping stones in the picture-that means we can only grow through being ourselves and through life's experiences. Tell me, what impression does this painting give you? I love to here some reviews, and critique, but please don't be too hard on me. ;)

Oh by the way, whats the deal with this DTV thing everyone's been talking about? Have a good one everybody.

What I Did Today

Before we get to what I did today, this is a just a little viewing of my shop. Which by the way until I can affford a building is in my home. I get occassional loyal customers, but I do hope word and my advertising of my business will attract more customers.

Yep, I sell retail, and these are just a few items I sell. Of course I have to stock up for Valentines, that holiday a real busy for businesses.

As you can see I do handmade craft items, which people love, and I have gotten quite a few orders for crocheted wash cloths, and jewelry.

Here's some more items, ready to sell.

O.K. Here's what I've been doing today. Making heart shaped iced sugar cookies. I just wanted to practice frosting them. It's beginning to get easy, when I keep up with them. There not the best or professional looking cookies, not like L, but practice makes perfect.

I wanted to do all kinds of styles of decorating and my favorite would be the half of heart with two different colors or designs. I still haven't got the hang of the piping bag. So I took the easy way out and used the Wilton plastic bottle. I tried following the directions on the back of the box with the piping bags, but hey I'm a novice to this. It's going to take some time for me to get it. I'm not giving up, so I'll let you all know how it works out when I get the hang of it.

During this coldness, what have all of you did today, or what will you all do tomorrow?

Have fun, and enjoy life.

Treasure Ann

I Mis-calculated

I mis~calculated the cost items of my jewelry products that I will be selling to another shop. The term wholesale, and I didn't add the cost up right. L is gracious to help me figure it out and I'm giving the wrong total. Thanks L for be so patient and helping, I really appreciate it. So here are the right calculations: *For the bracelet, I spend $9.00 on material to make that. *For the men's necklace, I spend $10.00 on material to make it. I also think that I will take L's advice on the time I use to make it and bring it in to 2 hours on the products. It's gradual, but it's coming together. Getting started with anything new takes time and work, which ensures a successful business or any aspirations. Whoever has a dream of owning their own business, and it may seem hard-don't give up!!! Keep at it, presevere and believe it will happen, pray and ask the Lord to help you and be patient while your working on it and it will happen. Check out www.adozeneggs.com and see what I mean. The owner, of that cookie company made her dreams come true. She's even baking cookies for famous people. If you haven't seen Recipe for Success that comes on the Food Network-she was featured on there. I believe she has a video on her site that you can watch some segments on there. You'll get to see her presevere and made it. She now has her business to prove. L you know I gotta give you props girlfreind. That's what friends do. That can be an inspiration to you all. Stay focus, never give up and your dreams will happen. O.K. gotta go, I'm about to work on this new dream I have added with having my own business and that's work on my book. Hopefully finish it in this year and try to get it published this year. Tall order right? Well I'm gonna try. L I got the calculations right this time. :) Chat with you all later. Oh by the way, what are ya'll dreams for this year?

Reality Show Review

O.K. remember I told ya'll I'm a reality t.v. junkie. Well my latest fave is "Momma's Boys", which comes on every Monday night at 8:00 p.m. on NBC.

I think all the momma's boys are sweet, but I do have a favorite. No, it's not Rob. Although he is cute, and I think he is an adorable person.

Hello. Yep, it's Michael. Well gosh, let's face it, he is handsome. Not only that-he's a paramedic or I think he works as an EMS. Not sure, but he's in some medical field. I think he's a kind person to, oh, but wait let me think about it. He might be a player, just becasue I think he's sauve. Hey, I could be wrong though. Any who, he's still my favorite.

Oh my goodness. I feel sorry for Jojo. His mom doesn't think he's good enough to get married to anybody. If this goes on for the rest of his life regarding his mother thinking no one is good enough-Jojo my boy, you might as well look to live a single life for the rest of your life. Because mama ain't letting you out of her sight.

By the way, Jojo's mother is the one who stated on her video when the show first premiered, that she doesn't like Asians, she said, Blacks-but I refer to the term African American. Of course that really hit home for me. Know what I mean? I don't even know the woman, only from watching t.v. and I took offense to what she said, just as much as the girls that lived in the house. Oh but she didn't stop there, she stated that she don't like Jews. Wow, sounds like she doesn't like anybody. Makes me wonder if she even likes herself. Hopefully this experience will help broaden and widen her opinion and facts about the different races and culture in this world. I hope through this reality show, she will learn something from the girls in the house that come from different walks of life that help her appreciate being different.

Well that's my reality t.v. review. Which of mama's boys do you fave?

Have a good evening everybody and a.

Business Planning

Having a business is hard work, determination, and learning from great business men & women. Thank you L. O.K. , a few days ago I announced that I will be going wholesale with my men's necklace and women's charm bracelets. In order to make sure I get my profit in wholesaling, there are things that I have to get a figure on.

Here are the answers to the questions that L presented to me in order to calculate a wholesale price to the business that wants to sell my jewelry in their shop.

1. The cost of every element of each item is $25.00 total of all item cost added together.

2. I make at least 3 to 4 bracelets and/or necklaces a day (5 days). For each item it probably takes me between 30 to 45 minutes to complete 1.

3. Let's see, I hope I calculated or I hope I'm answering this with sense. How much do I think my time is worth? I would say $9.00 an hour for the 5 days I take to work on the jewelries. Estimated probably about $90.00 a week of my time.

With a beginning business, until you make enough money to pay an assistant, everything is done by yourseld. Except, if you have business oriented friends like L to help you. You rock girl.
While the wholesale price are being worked up. I'm still working in the assembly line, and production is going great. I have quite a bit of bracelets done. I have to stock up on the menns necklace though. Well o.k. I'm off now to get to work. I've given Sunday's & Mondays off for myself in order to stock up on my products. I know that with Valentines Day around the corner is going to be a great way to advertise and get lots of orders and people purchasing something for their sweethearts. I can't wait.

Enjoy the rest of your day, and always be kind to others.

Treasure Ann

Wholesale Jewelry

Here are the jewelries I'll be wholesaling to a gift shop. There are only 2 items that I am making, and I have to make a lot of it. The necklace below is called "Men of Valor". The price that I sell it for in my shop is $15.00. For the wholesale price, I'm selling it for is $9.00, but I have a minimum order policy in place. Meaning, they would have to buy a minimum of 4 or 5 necklaces. This is so that I can get my money back & a profit. (L if your reading this, let me know if that sounds reasonable. I'm still not sure about the price point and I'm still doing some figuring in my head).

All necklaces aren't going to always have the same style. However, it will be looking like this one in some similar way. The reason for this is because, I'm the custom hand maker of these items, and this is whats going to make every piece authentic and different.

I love the way the brown beads give the black beads a little bit of color, but not over bearing. It really gives the statement for any man wearing it, that they are strong & noble.

Oh I had to throw this in here. This is the beautiful poncho my mother crocheted for me for my birthday. (To see more of these pictures of what I got for my birthday, Christmas and on my trip-scroll down to the post titled Gifts From the Past & Present )

I got a lot of compliments on my birthday trip about my poncho.

My charm bracelets are usually sold at the price of $10.00 in my shop, but for my wholesale price, I'll be selling them for $8.00. It has to be purchase of a minimum of 5.

So I hope I'm price pointing them fairly, and with all the materials, supplies, and beads-not to mention time/labor I would say that's not to bad. But we'll see how my deal with owner works out.

I have a thing about charm bracelets, so I have a lot of these made up. There are no special styles to them, just random-but they are beautiful.

Does anybody have a business out there? If so, what's the name of it? What do you sell? Also what do you think about my price point for wholesale? Is it too much? or too less?

Have a great day, and enjoy living.

Treasure Ann

I'm Going Wholesale

O.K. I'm not wholesaling on dogs. No, I just wanted to show you my pooh bear. Well he's really not a pooh bear, but that's what my nickname is for Him. He's actually my sons dog. His real name is Static. He's a Red Nose pit mixed with American bull. He's a big fellow but oh he's so sweet. He reminds me of Clifford the Big Red Dog, because he was so little when we got him and he grew so fast and big. I guess love does make little things grow. My brother gave him to my son for his birthday. So that's the other member of our family.

Now, for the I'm going wholesale bit, is about an offer made to me. A business owner wants to buy some of my custom made/handmade jewelry to sell in their shop. How exciting I am. I will be wholesaling my charm bracelets and men's necklaces. So I've got a lot of work to do ahead of me.
Great way to start the New Year off right, eh. The bracelet above has dolphins on it. I love dolphins and they are one of my favorite things in the world I admire.

Here is my other charm bacelets with a blue and red stone. This one is very elegant, and it's nice for going out to an evening dinner.

Here there are snugged away in jewelry boxes. I'm going to try to have them ready to be put in the owners shop at least by this Friday coming.
Here's a new hobby, I wanted to try. Baking, frosting and decorating sugar cookies. My inspiration of course is L at A Dozen Eggs. These are not as nearly or close to beautiful like A Dozen Eggs. I'm only practicing though.

So far I love it, and L you really like what you do. Making the cookie dough, chilling it, rolling it, baking it, and decorating these sugar cookies is a lot of work. Not to mention making the batches of icing. It really is a lot of work. They are fun to make, and you get anxious about seeing how the cookies will turn out.

I made the traditional sugar cookie dough, but instead of putting in vanilla extract, I wanted to try something different. I used lemon extract instead. I like lemon, so for some you may have to acquire a taste for it. But I thought it tasted pretty good. I'll be practicing more of course, and hopefully my cookies will begin to look a litttle bit better.

I'm off to do some reading.

Enjoy life,

Treasure Ann

Gifts From The Past & Present

I know Christmas is gone and a New Year has come. Well Christmas is still in our hearts, but the celebrating of the Holiday has past. I want to share with my friends/blog readers some of the things I got. I had a great Christmas and looking for this New Year to be a great one.

I love this body wash. It smells so good. My sister gave me this for Christmas. It's Tone body wash and the scent is Island Mist. So wonderful, and it moisturizes your skin. Thanks J. She also treated me for lunch for my birthday. I have a sweet sister.

O.K. I have a thing for yarn. I'm addicted to it. I love all kind of crafts, but crocheting is my first craft love. I don't know what I'm going to make with this yellow yarn. Maybe a hat and matching scarf set. What do you think?

Oh yeah, I know my computer desk is junkie. Can you tell I'm a business women. Before I started writing this post, I was actually writing out my mission statement for my organization. (Read post below about my plans for my organization). Here's some more yarn I got off my trip. I know, I'm a yarn addict. What can I say? With these yarn I might make my brother a lap throw.

Of course I love books. I got this on my trip to. I like to shop on the discount table at Books A Million. This is a 40 day devotion about living in God's Blessing. It was only $5.97, great deal isn't it? I haven't started reading it yet, but I will tonight. I'm also a book addict. I buy books before I even finish the current one I'm reading. I guess you can say I collect books. However, I do eventually get to the ones I have already bought. This book is by the author, Rebecca Barlow Jordan. I believe it's going to be a great read.

Here's my birthday gift that my mother crocheted for me. She made me a poncho. She surprised me with this. I wore this on my trip. I got plenty of compliments about it. I was so proud and was glad to brag that my mother crocheted it for me.

My teenage son, surprised me with this elegant gift for Christmas. He got me a bath set. It included a soap, bath fizzies, lotion, shower gel and a sponge. I loved it. The fragrant is Freesia. It's very light and soft.

My brother got me a cherry blossom butter cream lotion and body spray. Oh my goodness, it smells so good. I guess you know I like sweet stuff. My brother and son caught on to that. They did good, getting the things I like. You know, with men-sometimes they don't always get it right. Well, my son & brother did pretty good.

I like trying new things, and my father knows it. He got me a Calligraphy set. I've always wanted to learn calligraphy and now this year, I undoubtedly will. Can't wait either. I'll be reading through the book tonight. Yay!! I'm excited about that.

Well that's some of the things I got for Christmas and my birthday. Last year was great, but I know 2009 is going to be even better.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot, the highlight of my trip was that I met 2 war veterans. One was a Korean war veteran and the other was a Vietnamese war veteran. I tell you, it was a pleasure and an honor to have met these men. Also I met a sweet lady that I just had to tell her to be blessed. Her response to me was, "you made my day". I treasure those moments. I probably will not see these people again, but for a short while they made a lasting impression on me. I hope I can do the same for someone else. I think that's the best gift to give. Making a good impression that will touch someone's life, a gift that will last a lifetime. Take care everybody, go out and give a good gift that will last a lifetime.

Here's a poem to you from me, be inspired good people and good friends:

2008 was great,

I learned a lot in that year,

which makes life even more clear.

Sometimes it was hard and it was a test,

But through the trials, it helped me to be the best.

So now I look to 2009,

for even greater things, this I'm inclined.

To have the best and blessed year,

Living in courage and not fear.

Knowing that things are going to be right and true,

With opportunities and things to come that's already due.

It's the time for no doors to be shut, and nothing hindered,

No more bad things will linger.

In 2009 there is only success to look forward to,

That means, blessings are coming to you and you and you!!!

Enjoy your New Year and life,

Treasure Ann.

Moving On

I'm moving on. Not physically moving that is. I won't be moving yet, physically, but I am moving on with new things in my life. Some people want to stay in the same place in life. Not me. There are things in this new year that I am going to pursue. It's funny how some people would talk about you, try to hold you down {See post below} and little that they know-it actually helps motivate you. It does hurt sometimes when someone close to you talks about you, but you get up from it, dust yourself off and move on. I'm leaving that person in their own little world to talk about me all day long. Really that's all they got, they don't feel good about themselves, so they figure they have to talk about you or put you down to make themselves feel better. The bad part about it is that they don't even know what's going on. So in this person's own little small world-I'm moving on to start building my dreams and goals to a finished product. I am going to begin writing my book. It's going to be about my life and the mountains I had to climb. I hope this book will be able to encourage people to stick to and follow through with their dreams. My other project that I will be working on is an organization to encourage people to walk in their God-given potential/gift in the world today. I would like to include in my organization to help people who is really in need for food, arts & craft classes for the youth to help develop their mind into believing that they can do any thing. I also want to contribute crochet Prayer Shawls and lap throws to as many people who needs that love and care. That's a small contribution to let someone know "I care", but it's something that I'd like to do. I'm doing some research on how I should go about planning my organization. I don't know if I should do a 501 c 3 or maybe a Private Foundation. Does anyone have any ideas how I should go about this? All ideas and opinions are appreciated. Enjoy your New Year everybody. Enjoy life, Treasure Ann