A New Year

A time for new beginnings. I have already cleaned up my work space. I have started using some of the ingredients I have been hoarding to make new products. And....... I have been contacting new businesses to carry my soap. You know the old saying, "Talk to 100 people to find 10 interested people to find 1 person who will DO it."

I found that person here. The owner of Body Language, Debbie Nalder, is now stocking SierraSnowSoaps in her incredible day spa.


From massage and skin care


salon and nail services




to laser-medical services with Dr. Nita Schwartz


this spa has it all.
Right from their website

"philosophy…..
health, wellbeing, and beauty come together at bodylanguage. more and more people are discovering the enduring pleasure and benefits to be gained from professionals whose sole purpose is to make you feel and look your best.

bodylanguage features an array of treatments designed to enhance your health and wellbeing inside and out. enjoy the healthful, rejuvenation of massage, reflexology, or infrared sauna. treat your skin to a fabulous, renewing european facial or one of our cosmetic medical treatments. let our hair and nail design professionals help you look your best.

whatever your needs, bodylanguage is committed to your health, wellbeing, and beauty. come in, relax with a cup of tea while we help transport your senses to a place of calm, nurturing bliss."

And I believe it. Coming in the front door is like walking into peace and quiet. The colors, sounds and decor is soothing to the soul. You almost hope your appointment is running late so you can relax in the sitting area.


Stop by and pick up some soaps


and stay for some pampering.


Body Language is located in the grey building at 1478 B 4th Street, Minden, NV
The spa phone number is 775.782.8485 and the salon number is 775.782.2641.

Check out their service menu.

With Arms Wide Open

A couple of years ago Creed recorded the song "With Arms Wide Open". It tells the story

Well I just heard the news today
seems my life is going to change
I close my eyes, begin to pray
tears of joy stream down my face

With arms wide open
under the sunlight
welcome to this place
I'll show you everything
with arms wide open

With arms wide open

Well I don't know if I'm ready
to be the man I have to be
I take a breath, I take her by my side
we stand in awe, we've created life

We want to welcome Mia Anna Stebel!


To start at the beginning....I met this guy 5 or 6 years ago at work one night. He says my name is Maciej Stebel. I said "What!?" He says "call me Stebel." That was the start of a great friendship.

Stebel is one of those guys, you know, that you would like to wring their neck sometimes. Funny, witty, snide, and one of the nicest guys you will ever meet. If your car breaks down, you can call Stebel any time and he will come help. He is a great photographer and owns his own busy business, Stebel Photography, but if you need some great pictures on short notice, he will be there. He donates his time and product to the community. He is also a nut.

Can you say "extreme"? Yeah, he is the one driving the jeep!


Then Stebel's girlfriend Beth came to work with us.


At first Beth seemed a little shy. But oh no, we soon learned the truth. Beth would come up with the funniest one liners, totally shocking everyone. She is a strong, beautiful, intelligent, and talented young lady. She makes a mean cake, too. This was my dear daughter's 16th birthday cake, made from scratch by Beth.

Don't ask me how Stebel took this photo of the two of them, but they sure enjoy life.


Beth is a pretty extreme girl, too. I mean, how many young ladies do you know that buy a house, get married, become a United States citizen, get laid off from their job, and get pregnant. All in one month! Yup, that's our Beth. Cool, calm and collected she takes everything in stride. Now our other friend, Jolene and I are another story. Both of us are Geminis and when all 4 of our personalities get in a room together (you know, the twins) there is trouble. We were so excited Beth was going to be a mom. Beth was a little sick in the beginning, like for 3 months, but that made us more excited because that meant she was going to have a girl! They say (the old wives tale) a daughter is jealous of the mom and tries to rob her of her beauty by making her sick. It did not work with Beth, she was always beautiful and once she got through the first trimester everything was peachy keen, until Saturday, May 22, 2010.

On Saturday, while I was at the fundraiser I wrote about, Jolene texted me and asked if I had heard from Stebel. It seems Beth was not feeling well so they went to the urgent care. At 8:00pm Jolene called me and asked what I was doing. By 9:00pm I had driven to the east side of the valley, picked Jolene up, and we drove (never over the speed limit) to the north end of Carson City to the hospital. Beth was in big trouble! They tried to helicopter her to Reno but with the May snowstorm they could not fly. Beth had been having trouble with her blood pressure and she was in distress with Preeclampsia which is a pregnancy condition in which high blood pressure and protein in the urine develop after the 20th week (late 2nd or 3rd trimester) of pregnancy.

Symptoms of more severe preeclampsia:
•Headaches that are dull or throbbing and will not go away
•Abdominal pain, mostly felt on the right side, underneath the ribs. Pain may also be felt in the right shoulder, and can be confused with heartburn, gallbladder pain, a stomach virus, or the baby kicking
•Agitation
•Decreased urine output, not urinating very often
•Nausea and vomiting (worrisome sign)
•Vision changes -- temporary loss of vision, sensations of flashing lights, auras, light sensitivity, spots, and blurry vision.

Beth had all the symptoms.
The only way to cure preeclampsia is to deliver the baby. So that is what they did. Beth had an emergency C-section and a 5 lb. 2 oz. baby girl was born. Mia Anna Stebel. The hospital in Reno sent an ambulance with a premature baby team to Carson City and within a couple of hours the baby was on her way through a snow storm to the Renown Health Hospital. They are the only Children's Hospital, Children's ER, Children's Specialty Care, Pediatric ICU, and Children's Infusion Center in the region that caters to the many pediatric needs in northern Nevada. They like to keep premature babies in the hospital until their due date so Mia might be there for 6 weeks. She had a breathing tube the first day so she would not forget to breath, but Stebel called last night and she is breathing on her own now. It will be a long month for the new parents but with their extended family, us and all their many friends, they will get through it. Mia will get stronger every day and she will soon come home and Jolene already has enough little dresses to last the first year!

We are so proud of Beth, and Stebel too. He insisted on taking Beth to urgent care and saved her life. Even with all the pain she was in, she did what she had to do to keep the baby safe. They are going to be great parents, they already are!

Here are a few pictures.

Beth is still in Carson City so Jolene came up with the brilliant idea to print some pictures of Mia so she will have her near. Jolene is a smart girl!


The proud papa! As you can see, the baby has Beth's good looks, thank goodness!

The nurse told us that light strokes to the baby are too stimulating for a preemie and to "cocoon them" which is the feeling they have in the womb. Stebel demonstrates.




Mia has beautiful color!

She may look small here but she is 5 lbs., did not need a hood on her basinet, and has quite a grip already!
This is a picture of the proud aunties! (I have not decided if I am an auntie or granny yet) Jolene in red and me in white.

Well Stebel, I know you are the man you need to be, I am so very proud of you! And Beth, I told you I wanted the baby born on my birthday, you were close. But at least we have another Gemini in our group! And Jolene and I are going to teach her everything she needs to know! Oh boy, are you in trouble mom and dad!

Come By And See Me

Thursday, April 1 (no fools day either) at Three Rooms Gallery-Felix Pottery for a Meet The Artist Reception. I am the featured artist and I will be making some wheat weavings. Starts at 4 PM ends at 6 PM, come join us for a snack and glass of wine. Hope to see you there.

Life Is Full Of Small Journeys

As I woke up this morning to a dark, silent house I remember why I am not a big fan of daylight savings time. I am an early riser thanks to working the graveyard shift for the last 14 years. I still finding myself waking up at 2 AM ready to start the day. Of course now there is no job to go to. I was laid off Oct. 12, 2009 from my job of 6 years. Before that I worked at the same casino for 26 years. I don't like to change places of employment. I guess I like the security. Now I am unemployed and jobs are hard to come by in this economy. I guess that is not a big surprise to anyone.

But.....being home in the morning has it rewards. I have a 16 year old daughter. I have never been home in the mornings to get her ready for school. Her dad and I thought we were doing the best thing for her by working different shifts so she would always be with us and not at a daycare for 10 hours a day. I never woke her up, made her breakfast, fixed her lunch, combed her hair, walked her to the bus stop. I missed a lot the last 14 years. She would get herself up, dressed and ready to go, make her own breakfast and lunch, and walk to the bus stop by herself. I am making up for it now. I set my alarm 5 minutes before her alarm is set to go off and turn on the heater. I make her breakfast and bring it to her in bed. I make her lunch, start her car, scrape her windshield, and turn on her headlights. I kiss her goodbye and wish her a wonderful day. And I LOVE it. I believe a kid's job when they are young is to get good grades in school (as good as their ability allows), do the chores that make them a part of the family, and have fun. I think my daughter does that.

Here is her lunch today.



A turkey sandwich with mustard and avocado on a french roll, nacho tortilla chips, lemon bar, kiwi fruit, juice box.

That leads us to another journey. When first starting my soap making 9 years or so ago, I built a web site. It was not a very good one so I looked for ways to improve it. I found a free SEO (search engine optimization) class on Yahoo given by Cricket Walker. It was incredible. Cricket is also a fantastic blogger http://www.cricketwalker.com/ with some of the best pictures I have ever seen. I did learn a lot from her and she has since moved on to v7n forum http://www.v7n.com/forums/. It is full of "what to do" info about working on and with the world wide web.

Cricket has another group called "the coffee shop" that was related to the SEO group but it was only to get to know each other, not work shop. It was here that I learned about "The Pioneer Woman", Ree. She is a blogger http://thepioneerwoman.com/ that when I first started reading her had 200 to 2000 comments on her funny tales of ranch life in Oklahoma. The last time she had a contest there were almost 40,000 comments. She has some great contests. Her story "Black Heels to Tractor Wheels" has just been picked up by Columbia Pictures and rumor has it they want Reese Witherspoon to play Ree. It is quite a story and has been so fun to follow Ree all these years. It's like having your little sister make it big.

So.....from there I traveled to The Tasty Kitchen http://thepioneerwoman.com/tasty-kitchen/about/. It is the offspring of Confessions of A Pioneer Woman. It is a community of cooks of all sizes and talents that share everything you wanted to know about food. It was here that I found BareFootBelle and her blog with this tasty little dish http://belleofthekitchen.blogspot.com/2010/03/i-can-see-clearly-now.html. Now if there is one thing my daughter and I love more than anything, it is lemons. So I had to make this last night. AND it is so YUMMY I am having it for breakfast too.





In fact there isn't much left, but I did put some in dear daughter's lunch.



Life is full of small journeys. What are some of yours?

This Is A Cool Thing To Do With Your Pictures

A blogger that I read, Cathy, takes incredible pictures. A friend painted a picture from one of her photos. Take a look, it is breathtaking.

http://homestretching.blogspot.com/

She wrote about a Japanese site that ages your photos 100-150 years. It is very fun, and it is free!


This is the view from my front room.







This year my daughter decorated the Christmas Tree. I think she did a great job!








Three Rooms Gallery-Felix Pottery store Downtown Gardnerville








Our kitty, Killer. We miss him so.









http://labs.wanokoto.jp/olds

It is a lot of fun. Try it.

Times Are Tough, But What If

Everyone followed the 3/50 Project whenever possible?

The 3/50 Project is one that starts with you.
http://tinyurl.com/ld3b6n

3
Think of a store here in Gardnerville that you have shopped in and found the perfect gift, pair of pants, candle, or bar of SOAP :). Remember walking into that store and being greeted with a smile, asked how you are, can I help you find anything question, I am here if you need any help. Now can you think of 3 of them? I sure can. Would you miss them if they disappeared?

50
Now $50 isn't a drop in the bucket these days. With the economy still trying to make a rebound times are still a little (or a lot) tough. But.....what if 1/2 of the employed people in the United States spent $50 each a month in a locally owned business? It would generate over 40 billion dollars in revenue. What if only 1/4 of the people did it? Or if everyone spent $25 a month. I spend that on candy every month. Yes I buy it at a local store, but what if I spent that $25 at a small local business to show my support and let them know that I appreciate them.

For every $100 spent in locally owned business $68 returns to the community. Spending the same amount at a chain store returns $43 dollars, and shopping online returns NOTHING.

Main Street Gardnerville, NV has 10 reasons to shop local.
http://www.mainstreetgardnerville.org/

1. Local taxes from spending your money helps fund local police and fire departments.

2. Local merchants contribute to local organizations. I know I give to many non-profit organizations every time they ask. I run the raffle for the Douglas High School Volleyball Team Fundraiser, The Mud Fest Volleyball Tournament http://tinyurl.com/yex5wsd and I asked over 50 local business for donations. Do you know how many I got. Over 40. Now that is community involvement!

3. Shopping keeps more cars off the road, less pollution.

4. Taxes from businesses pay for road improvements.

5. By supporting local merchants your keep them employed and help increase their income. Then they can come to your restaurant to eat, or buy your house, or have you landscape their yard. In short, they can shop local too.

6. Shopping local is a chance to see your friends! Keep in touch and see and meet others that live in Gardnerville.

7. When you buy from a local business you are talking to the owner most of the time. What a great way to get good customer service.

8. The tax dollars paid to the town from the local businesses pay for the up keep of our beautiful parks right here in town.

9. Money spent local keeps our economy strong and creates jobs. Wouldn't it be nice if every kid who wanted one could get a part time job local and pay for their own gas and insurance? Wouldn't it be nice not to have to drive the HWY 395 corridor to Carson City just to make a few bucks? Just the time saved would give them time to get a lot more homework done!

10. By shopping local you take ownership in your community.

Invest in your future and make this community yours! Shop Local!

It May Not Be Much

But it's the best I can do right now. I'm talking about helping someone out. Donating. Giving to charity. Whatever you want to call it. Whether it be money, time, or goods does not matter.

I learned from an early age that giving is a big deal. With 5 kids in the family you are always giving something up! OK not really the same thing. My mom was a stay at home mom so we were never rolling in the dough but my parents decided on an amount they could commit to and donated that amount EVERY month of their lives so far to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital http://www.stjude.org/ On their web page it says "Finding Cures. Saving Children." That was important to my parents.

Growing up as kids we were always involved in the Scouting experience, both Boy and Girl Scouts. We would visit old folk homes and read and just talk to some of the people who had no one to visit them. We all went to Catholic School and were involved in many community projects.

I like the Thanksgivings in our adult years that all of us girls would get together and walk in the Walk for Hunger in Sacramento, CA. http://www.meetup.com/downtown/calendar/8747282/
And not just because the guys would have all the cooking done by the time we got back.

When I first started making soap, one of the soap groups I was on had a soap drive and we sent over 500 bars of soap to overseas soldiers. That was very cool.

My brother and my parents have both spent Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays serving meals to others who don't have a family to share with, some don't have a home.

My folks were great travelers with the Habitat for Humanity program. http://www.habitat.org/ They would hop in their RV and drive all over the USA to help out other folks build homes for someone who otherwise would never be able to own one. Two weeks here, two weeks there, they had a great time, made many new friends, and made memories that will last a lifetime. My mom learned how to hang sheet rock when she was 60. She already knew how to paint and wanted to learn something new.

I love when my dad would tell me he had to go over to some old folk's house to crawl under his mobile home and fix his cable for him. They were volunteering at the senior center in AZ at that time. I did not have the heart to tell him that at age 70 some people might consider him old! He would just tell them that to stay young you have to act young and stay busy.

My dad has gone through a lot of cancers and with the first one my mom became involved in The Chemo Angels. http://www.chemoangels.net/ That has been over 15 years now. She is still making cards and sending "pick me up" gifts to her chemo pals. Anything to brighten their day or make them smile. I like when she sends a big plastic soda bottle full of M&Ms or other bright candies. The post office loves her. They call her their Angel.

Here in Gardnerville there are many ways you can give to the community. We have the "Ring in Kindness" program being held at Three Rooms Gallery-Felix Pottery every second and fourth Tuesday of the month. http://www.partnership-resource.org/RinginKindness.htm

My daughter is waiting for a "little sister" from the Big Brother Big Sister program. https://aim.bbbs.org/einquiry/einquiryzip.aspx Their school clubs also have them collecting and donating Thanksgiving Meals, Christmas meals and gifts, coats, and food for the Food Closet of the Carson Valley. The Animal Shelter, The CASA Program, The Boys and Girls Club are just a few of the volunteer opportunites listed here. http://www.douglasvolunteers.org/volunteerorgs.html

With both my husband and myself laid off the past year, things are a little tight but I still try to donate to local organizations when asked for raffle prizes or gift baskets. After Christmas I had an extra $25 and I was able to start something I had been checking out for a while. It is the Kiva Organization. http://www.kiva.org/ I loan my $25 to another business owner and when they pay it back I can re-loan it to someone else. It is way cool. I have only loaned to one person so far. I was looking for a woman owned business. I did not care what country or what business as long as a woman owned it. I found one and loaned my money. I just got a notification that it was already half way to being paid back. I went to the site and read about "my" lady and the weirdest thing caught my attention. She has the same birth date as me! I had never looked at all the details on her profile, just the type of business and location. I thought that it was cool we were born on the same date. I guess it was just "meant to be." It is fun to track her progress and will be very rewarding to me to be able to help out someone build up their business.

There are many ways to give in your community. You can donate your time to drive seniors to the store or doctor appointments. You can read to people in the hospital. You can teach someone to read through the reading programs at the schools. You can mentor a child or teenager. There are clubs such as the Rotary Club of Minden http://fourinfo.cioc.ca/record/HAL0039 , The Carson Valley 20/30 Club http://www.carsonvalley2030.org/ or the Elks Club http://www.elks.org/lodges/ContactUs.cfm?LodgeNumber=2670 .

We are all busy, times are tough right now, money is tight. The rewards for giving of yourself to help someone for no other reason than you can, are indescribable. Try it, you'll soon become addicted. And what a good addiction to have.

Lampworking Demo Makes "Whine About Winter Wine Walk" a Lot Warmer

We had our wine walk last night here in the Carson Valley. Six of us artists cleaned and decorated the store with bright lights, grape vines and luminaries. We just took plain paper bags and cut designs on the sides, filled with sand and put a candle in the middle. We only set one bag on fire so that was good.

We had the white wines chilling, the red wines breathing and the chocolate hidden all over the store. Melissa was at the desk handling sales, Renee was taking care of the raffle tickets and answering questions, Andy was pouring the wine, I was at the door marking off tickets (and flattering the ladies by asking if they were really 21 years of age even though they had to show ID to get a wine glass), Mary Ann was glazing some ceramics,



and Danielle was



playing with fire.

Danielle Reich is "A Self Representing Glass Artist" in the Lake Tahoe area. From her web site "I love working with glass in anyway that I can but enjoy sculpting it most!!! I teach basic and intermediate Lampworking, fusing and slumping, small glass sculpture techniques and glass blowing. My work has been featured in The Flow magazine and The Country Register." It was great fun having her demo, it really makes people stop and smell the roses. She makes the most wonderful glass beads for any occasion. Her web site is. http://www.upsydaisyfarm.com/


Lampworking is an ancient form of glass art that has been around since the 1st Century in Syria. It uses a gas flame to melt rods and tubes of clear and colored glass. It was widely practiced in Italy in the 14th Century. Lampworking manipulates glass either by the use of tools, gravity, or by blowing directly into the end of a glass tube. Early lampworking was done by the flame of an oil lamp, with the artist blowing air into the flame through a pipe. Modern artists no longer use oil-fueled lamps, most artists today use torches that burn either propane or natural gas and air (which can be produced by an oxygen concentrator) as the oxidizer. Lamp working is used to create artwork, including figurines of animals and botanicals, trinkets, curios, Christmas tree ornaments, beads and scientific instruments. Lampwork techniques were extended to the production of paperweights, primarily in France, where it became a popular art form, still collected today.

So thank you everyone for stopping by last night and visiting the shop. We love the wine walks held every "Third Thirsty Thursday" during the months of May-September so this was just an added bonus to chase away the Winter Blahs.

Let's Whine About Winter Wine and Chocolate Walk

I just bought the chocolate for the Main Street USA Gardnerville's Let's Whine About Winter Wine & Chocolate Walk. I will be in the store, Three Rooms Gallery-Felix Pottery on Thursday from 1:30 PM until 8:00 PM pouring wine and visiting with all our lovely townsfolk who will brave the winter weather.

Wait a minute, this is February. It seems like this is the month that all the spring flowers bloom, the calves are born, the buds come out on the fruit trees, motorcycles galore and then....March roars in like a lion and the flowers freeze, the calves shiver, the fruit trees frost up, and the motorcycles are put back in the garage.

They have been keeping temperature records since 1/1/1928 for this area and the average minimum temperature for February is 21 degrees and the average maximum is 51 degrees. BUT I know it was 60 degrees yesterday when I drove through town. The birds were chirping and swooping and diving and singing!

So dress warm, bring a flashlight and gloves and join us Thursday, February 18, 2010 for a glass of wine and some dark, luscious chocolate. Visit with friends and shake off the Winter Blahs. Cost for the event is $10.00 plus $5.00 for a commemorative Main Street wine glass. Register at the Carson Valley Museum and Cultural Center. The address is 1477 Highway 395, Gardnerville, Nevada.

Valentines Day and Some New Events at Three Rooms Gallery-Felix Pottery

The Gallery is involved with The Winter Wine Walk On Feb. 18, 2010 in the Gardnerville downtown area. The hours will be 4:30-7:30 PM and the theme is "Let's Whine About Winter-Wine & Chocolate Walk." Registration is located inside the Carson Valley Museum & Cultural Center, 1477 Main St., Hwy 395, Gardnerville. Wine Walkers will pay a $10 registration fee and purchase a $5 commemorative wine glass. This same glass can be used for
the 2010 "Thirsty Third Thursday Wine Walks" that resume the third Thursday of each month May through September. Wine Walkers visit participating downtown businesses to receive their sip of wine and are given a chance to browse the stores. This gives town people a chance to meet the owners, and in our case the artists, see what is available for them when they shop "local", have a few treats, taste different wines and chocolates, and have an evening out. Dress warm, wear comfortable shoes, and bring a flashlight!

Many of the artists at the store are ready for the Valentines Day holiday with a great selection of products in every price range. Here are a few pictures.

Of course we have to start with a little soap. This soap is made Monoi De Tahiti Oil. Monoi De Tahiti Oil is a unique blend of cosmetic quality coconut oil and the natural essence of tiare flowers (Tahitian gardenia). No preservatives, emulsifiers or animal products are added. This is poured into a Trillium Flower Mold and packaged in a red organza bag. Perfect for gift giving.

Next we have many different jewel artists. Here are just a few pictures of the perfect Valentines Day gift.













Some other gifts include photography, ceramics, paper and fiber art.



Come join us for a fun filled evening. Shake off the winter blahs and come enjoy some fresh air, the company of good friends, good wine, wonderful chocolates, all right here in our town.