Sunday, December 15, 2013

Holiday shop blues...

I was really hoping to sell a little more for the holidays that I have.  Don't get me wrong, I am very grateful for the one sale I made, however I really was hoping and needing to sell more.   I have such a hard time moving forward with creating new pieces when things just don't sell.  It's so depressing.    My plans for the future of my jewelry making are shaky because I hate to put hours and hours of time, energy, effort, and money I do not have to buy supplies, when all they do is sit in a box.

I love all the compliments and praise, but that doesn't pay for my time and supplies.  I can put lower price tags on things but then, I working for pennies on the dollar and honestly, who of you out there would be willing to do that.  How many of you would be willing to work for well under minimum wage?  "Oh but at least you are doing something you enjoy" something I've heard a thousand times!!   Unfortunately when they do not sell it takes some of that joy away and joy doesn't pay bills!"

Another thing that kind of hurts is when people say to me, Oh I am so going to buy from you when I get paid, I love that one or that one etc.  BUT never do they come back and put their money where their mouth is.  I understand that not everyone has money to spend on gifts.  HOWEVER, those that do are going out to go shopping, stopping off for dinner, paying for a drink here and there, for a couple of days in a row usually. If I were to just be able to make the money they spent on dining out a couple of times I'd be pleased.

I am not able to buy for my grandchildren, much less family and friends, because I can not get sales in my shop.  Yeah, I could spend the money I spend on supplies to go for gifts, but what most people don't get is that those supplies have been purchased over time a small bit here and there.  It's not like I went out and spent all that money at once to get all those supplies.  O.o

How many people have gone out and looked at buying for children these days?  I would love to get them something that doesn't fall apart or get destroyed in the first day or two like dollar items do.  Even making gifts for them is expensive, because you have to buy the supplies for that too.

*sigh....

Well, here is the one custom ordered piece I sold:  Thanks Dana !!!  :D

Wire wrapped tiger eye and hematite with gold tone accents.  http://cybiesoriginals.storenvy.com/






Thursday, November 14, 2013

Color Corrections and crap

Well for starters, here are three of my new pieces.  (with proper coloring!)

http://cybiesoriginals.storenvy.com/

http://cybiesoriginals.storenvy.com/


http://cybiesoriginals.storenvy.com/

Now, a little about this last piece, I entered it into a contest on Deviant Art... and WON 1st place!!!!
DESCRIPTION: A sort of "goth" style 
Light weight black metal chain with a tarnished rose with two emerald like crystal gems encased inside of golden scarabs on either side. The matching earrings are roses made of hand dyed material.

1st place winner of the 2013 Summer Contest "The stuff of nightmares".
"From Death to Tombs" As black roses are often a symbol of death or impending doom, the scarab has it's own place in the process of death. Beginning at the end of the First Intermediate Period scarabs became common as they were often incorporated into tombs as grave goods. For some death and burial are truly a thing of nightmares.

Now onto the subject of color correction and crap...   I was recently at a friends house when I wanted to show her my new pieces, when she went to my shop site I saw that all the colors on my images were blue or purple or pinkish tones.  I thought at first it was her monitor, but then it was the same on her laptop.  When I got home I looked at it on my laptop... (never work on the shop on it) and damn if it wasn't the same on mine too.  SO... off to the editor I went (wish I could afford Photoshop CS5... would be awesome)  anyways, off to the editor to attempt to correct the problem.  Got my sister-in-law on chat to help look at them, but it looked wrong on my desktop screen.  SO the next evening my husband came home and suggested doing a calibration on my monitor.  Did it and WOW... what a difference.  Now everything looks the same on my desktop too.  SO ... the long process of editing the colors on ALL of my items in my shop.  This is going to take a long time!  *sigh*

Wish me luck!

Friday, September 20, 2013

Knots, knots and more knots!

I do believe I've been a busy bee!  Now all I can hope is that they sell!!!!  :D

http://cybiesoriginals.storenvy.com/collections/364494-hemp-bracelets


I'm hoping to make just a few more.  Also planning on some simple but original design natural stone bracelets and more!!!

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

My newest creations:

Mother of pearl & Jasper -SOLD 
Mother of pearl & Jasper 2pc set -SOLD


Mother of Pearl w/green 3pc set - SOLD


Mother of Pearl w/green 3pc set - SOLD

Zebra striped Jasper 2pc set - Available at CybiesOriginals.storenvy.com 
Zebra striped Jasper 2pc set - Available at CybiesOriginals.storenvy.com 
 

Rainbow Mother of Pearl 3pc set - Available at Cybiesoriginals.storenvy.com
Rainbow Mother of Pearl 3pc set - Available at Cybiesoriginals.storenvy.com
Heavy Metal Hemp Bracelets - Available at Cybiesoriginals.storenvy.com

Black and gold macrame bracelet - Available at Cybiesoriginals.storenvy.com
Double barrel hemp bracelet - SOLD


Silver Nugget Hemp bracelet - Available at Cybiesoriginals.storenvy.com
Purple nugget hemp bracelet - Available at Cybiesoriginals.storenvy.com

More to come soon I hope!   PLEASE take a look at my Store CYBIE'S ORIGINALS

Other than making jewelry, I've been sort of down in the dumps and trying to run from it all by creating more stuff to sell, wishing I could just win the damn lotto!  Things in some ways are really just not going very well.  Not just health and finances, but relationship too.  Sometimes I do wonder why I bother.  Just saying.


Friday, August 9, 2013

Support Handmade!


On Sale in my shop!

Champagne & pearl 3pc set

Click below

Friday, July 19, 2013

New painting and a few words

A new painting, one of the few I think is worthy of sharing.

Serenity - An entry in my 4x6 nautical art journal book.


Things have been rough lately (nothing new there) and I've not been overly successful in creating much of anything.  Two days agao, I had to say goodbye to my sweet furry boy Max.  He was suffering from extensive liver damage and was very sick the last 2 weeks he was here.  We helped him cross over to the kittyland.  He will be missed dearly and my poor furry Storm is depressed.  :(

Friday, June 14, 2013

Here are some of the current pieces of jewelry I've created in the past couple of months or so.  My motivation has not bee very good and so I've not been very productive.  Under these is an update about me and my stuffs.  (It's a bit of a rant... so be fore warned.)

Jewelry is available thru my shop at









Okay, update... warning some of the following may have language (or abbreviated language) not suitable to the sensitive ears/eyes. 

So let's see... life has been not so kind in the health department lately, fighting a very incompetent neurologist and waiting to see a potentially new neurologist.  My attorney for my disability is just as concerned as I am about changing doctors in the middle of all waiting for the disability appeals hearing to be set.  BUT at the same time I need better care.  

My current neuro is so incompetent that every time I go in to see him I have to remind him that I had brain surgery!  I'll mention it and his response will be "You didn't tell me you had brain surgery".  OMFG... really????  EVERY TIME.  It's right there in his notes, I know this because I have copies of his notes for each visit, I request copies frequently.  (I need to request the notes again, since I've seen him a couple more times, ugh)  He doesn't bother to look at them, even tho they are right in front of him on the computer screen of the laptop he has IN HIS LAP!  When he prescribes medications, he doesn't pay attention to how many his is slapping on top of each other at a time and never looks to see what kind of interactions they have with each other.  At one point I was on 5 anti-convulsants  and he added a sixth, at which time he started weening me off of one and onto that sixth one.  I had major reactions and after doing the research myself, found that there were severe reaction warnings for several of them.  

When I go in to see him, one of his first things he does is start asking me questions about things he should have in the notes.  Last time he asked me if he had ordered sleep study tests.  WTF, that was one of the first things he did and that is the one thing he won't leave alone.  At the first of every appt, he asks if I'm using my CPAP, because according to him I have sleep apnea, he seems to always remember that with no problem, tho seems to forget the reasons why I couldn't use it.  Another thing I have to explain to him every time.  Now let me point out that his secondary specialty is Sleep Apnea and Sleep disorders.  (Wow imagine that!!!)  So from the very first appointment with him he has pushed to blame all of my brain problems on sleep Apnea.  According to the sleep study test that he ordered I have mild apnea (mind you he is the resident doctor who over sees the sleep study center he sent me to) and I have a few things to say about all that but anyone who has had one understands how all that works and how the heck are you supposed to get any sleep with wires and leads and straps on you during the tests... and NO I did not sleep well then or when I went back in for the cpap study.  Tho according to them I sleep really well with the cpap.  Funny... I don't remember sleeping much at all!  (Hence why I spent 7 more hours in bed when I got home.)  This stupid doctor tells me that he has sleep apnea and uses a cpap every night, and he has allergies and has no problem using his cpap because he uses prescription nasal spray.  He says that using a cpap to regulate your breathing during sleep will help improve cognitive abilities and memory issues and fatigue and a whole slew of other things.  That is funny ... considering he is using one and can't seem to remember from one visit to the next that I had brain surgery or that I have had tests that he ordered or that he prescribed all these medications or any of the other dozen or so things that have been said or done over the course of the last year.  I mean really???? 

 I am so sick and tired of neurologists that are in it to make money on the patient instead of treating the patient to get well or trying to defer the patients problems over to their secondary profession so that they can make more money off of you.  I had one that was a psychiatrist and according to him all my brain problems were from being depressed.  Last time I checked depression doesn't cause seizures or purple lips or loss of coordination or cognitive abilities.  Really... come on people this is insane.  I've been to several neurologists since my brain surgery and out of all of them I've only had one that was descent and he ran into a brick wall and acknowledged that he wasn't sure what to do next.  (Which is why I looked for another one to take over.) This next one seems to have no secondary specialty other than neuroscience.  With some luck maybe I'll finally get one that is interested in treating me properly.  If not... I'm going to throw the towel in and just deal with it on my own!)  As it is, I have to go to my appoints with at my current neurologist for appearance sake, if I plan on changing doctors, at least until my possible new doctor can continue from where things were left off (without the stupid apnea shit).  

Frustrated and angry... no... not me.  Ugh.

Saturday, May 11, 2013

Cancer... Do you care enough?


I don't care how many times you may have seen or heard of Zach Sobiech, it's not enough, you have to see it again, you have to share it, you have to get the world’s attention over and over and over.  There are so many out there who suffer from one form or another of cancer.  So many who do not get the attention that Zach or others have gotten in the media and on the web.    I feel like I can't say or do enough to get YOUR attention.  

If you do anything... anything at all... SHARE THIS... not because I am writing it, not because it's just another post about cancer, share it because it CAN make a difference!  So that one more person can care, one more person can help, one more person can share with someone else and make a difference.

Do you have the funds to buy a burger and fries?  Do you have enough money for a movie?  Have you bought a latte' or Frappuccino at Starbucks lately.  Think of that amount, think of those specific dollars and how just that $6 or so could make a difference in the fight for cancer.  DO you think ... "$6 is not much"... well you are WRONG... very wrong.  Because your $6, my $6, your best friends $6, you brother or sisters $6, your FaceBook friends, Twitter friends etc.... all those $6 add up and combined with every other dollar that is donated or given, you help one more child, one more teenager have a chance to fight this battle.  You help one more family be able to be with their child in that fight.  

To face death is a scary thing, to think... "I might die" is hard enough.  I've been there, I was lucky, my tumor was benign, but it still changed my life and how I see the world around me.   But to KNOW you are actually going to die, to face each day knowing it may be your last, and still go out there with a smile, still touching the lives of everyone around you with your laugh... that is truly courageous.  

This young man, Zach Sobiech, has done so much more than that, he's touching so many more lives than just friends and family.  AND hopefully he will touch yours as well.  I hope that you have taken the time to read this all the way through, I hope you have considered every word that I have taken the time to write.  I hope that you take the time to do soooo much more.  There is a link below to learn more about his story. 

Oh and remember that $6 I mentioned before, Well...  
Zach Sobiech has written several songs as he faces his own demise, as he spends his last moments showing the world you can make a difference.  You can purchase his CD and a portion of the proceeds will will benefit the Zach Sobiech Osteosarcoma Fund.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/fix-me-up-feat.-zach-sobiech/id603389901

Please listen to his story and please help fight this battle for all those who are out there fighting it today and tomorrow.  You can make a difference.  If you would like to donate more than that $6 even better, visit the link below. 

http://www.childrenscancer.org/zach/

http://youtu.be/KvSYZHmhIAM

http://youtu.be/sDC97j6lfyc

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Being Replaced...

Today, part of me feels the need to cry and wonders why.


Am I really that miserable of a person?
That you know longer want to be around me?
So miserable a person
that you can't stand to talk to me?
Is there no desire to spend time with me anymore?


Why have you stepped away and found someone else?
Am I too... "wrong" ?
Are my morals unethical?
Am I too negative?
Are my values less than?  


You say I am your friend, am I one you chose to let go?
Whether intentional or not...
It feels as if you have purposefully chosen to back away
As if you feel it is best for you to do so
Because I am not healthy for you to have in your life.

All I can say... is it is painful.
I feel as if I can no longer depend on you.
That I can no longer turn to you
For fear of judgement or silence
I feel like I am not good enough for you.

That I have been replaced.



Sunday, April 21, 2013

Life, the Universe and Everything Else...

And the answer is...  42.  

Unfortunately... it doesn't really do me any good to know the answer when it doesn't change anything in my world.  

So, it's been a while (since 11-20-2012) and well in that time period a lot has happened.  And not a whole lot of it good.  I'd give a brief synopsis but it would do much good either.  

SO, with that said, I want to put out to anyone who may still be watching from before when I posted my jewelry or art on here.  I'm not going to do that as much now.  I am going to use this as a journal/blog which is what I need most in my life right now, a place to express what I am going thru and rant or vent if I need too.

I've spent a life time of trying to please the people around me or to be careful not to offend people and worry about how people feel about one thing or another.  I'm 44 years old, and I'm tired of catering to others.  If you don't like what you are reading, close the page.  If you don't like my beliefs, close the page.  If you respond with a hateful comment about what I've posted it will be deleted and I will deal with you as I please!

I'm not a religious person, I have nothing against those who are, just don't shove it down my throat.  I am a spiritual person in the sense that I focus on what is around me in nature and enjoy and cherish nature.  If I were to say I believe in some sort of deity  it would be "Mother Nature" so I guess you could call me a bit of a tree hugger!  :D

Currently I'm fighting for disability with our stupid government! Brain surgery and life after doesn't apply evidently.   I've watched others who have gotten theirs in 3 months and they aren't fighting near what I am physically.  But because they were able to work for most of their life and make decent money I guess they deserve it more than someone like me who fought with symptoms and problems all my life that kept me from being able to hold a job consistently.  (Until much later in my life when I guess the damn tumor seemed to go dormant or whatever.  ERG)

I attempted to apply in 1997 and didn't get very far with that because basically they figured I was just being lazy I guess.

In 2006 I started to have some problems that were not familiar to me, weirdly lightheaded, more upper body twitches, and low blood pressure.  Kept going to the doctor and he couldn't really figure out anything wrong (being a family practitioner   I came in one time and my blood pressure was so low that he asked how I felt and when I said fine just a little lightheaded, he said that I shouldn't be able to stand.  He suggested a neurologist and tests because he felt there was a possibility that I may have a tumor.  SO... went and ended up having two tests.  The MRI of the head with and without contrast was first, then immediately after I was wired up for a 72 hour EEG.  (I looked like Medusa)  On May 9th, I got the call from the neurologist, simply that I had a tumor that was approximately 2.8 cm and that I need to have it removed asap and that she would be referring me to a surgeon.  Maybe a 2-3 minute call, and simply stated.  I was in shock!  She called back about 5 minutes later and said "Do you have someone with you that can help you get home if needed?"  Good thing I was already home!!! And I was lucky enough to have friends already with me, we were going out that day to do a mall visit I think it was.  I was still wired up another day and a half.  (In fact I went to "Taste of Addison" all wired up, I was NOT going to miss seeing Daughtry!)    This was the beginning of my Tumor journey.  I spent the next 20 days making jokes and getting things in order for the worst.  Didn't want to have my family be stuck with trying to figure out one thing or another if I could get it straight first.  I was facing the possibility that something could go wrong, staring death in the face and saying, "I'm not afraid" and well... I wasn't really.  I didn't have any real fear of dying, just knew it was a possibility and faced it head on!  

My surgery was May 30th, 2007 and I've fought my health ever since.  I've been worse after than I ever was before.  I have said it probably close to a thousand times, "I want my tumor back!!!!"

SO... in 2009 I filed for disability, got denied, tried to find an attorney to help me file an appeal, was told if I could read and talk on the phone I wasn't disabled, that crushed me and I like an idiot tossed in the towel.  THEN, in 2012 said, screw that shit, I'm filing a second time.  And of course got denied even tho I sent in a almost a full pound of paperwork, over an inch think.  Plus sent in more when I filed the appeal!  The appeal was denied, and my attorney filed a request for a hearing.  That request was approved but it will take up to a  year before they will schedule that hearing.   WTF is wrong with our government????   I watch people who have less shit wrong than I do, who COULD work if they would get the fuck up off their lazy asses and just do it.  Take one fucking pill and be a responsible adult.  I see people get it with zero problems that have been able to go to the doctor, who have income, who do not have the medical costs, or that have worked under the table.  I've known people who deserved it get it too, and unlike me, did not have to wait years and fight tooth and nail.  I've spent many a day screaming to the walls, "Why the fuck do I have to wait so fucking long????"   I NEED this.  We have been in debt every since we started trying to find out what was wrong with me back in 2006.    When the surgery happened, that cost a shit ton of money!  We lost my husbands mother six months after that, the problems all this caused emotionally for my husband didn't help much when it came to our relationship.  In 2008 the estate was settled and damn near every penny went to paying off medical bills, we still had medical debt after that and constant medical tests and appointments and medications since.  We took a loan from my husbands 401K to pay off some, think we are still paying on that, then accrued more medical debt and sold my husbands car to pay off some, then used tax returns, then recently traded in my truck for a small efficient car so we could knock monthly payments down a couple of hundred and our fuel costs in half (people see new car and think "oh they have money"  ... don't I wish.)  All of this and we are still deep in debt.  Oh and another tax return towards it too.   And what happened, medical costs have gone up, the premiums went up and the co-pays went up.  I'm so fed up with all this shit that some times its hard to even bother crawling out of bed.    It's that whole, enough is enough... what the fuck?  And the government thinks I don't need disability.  Even tho I have seizures every single day multiple times during the day and experience residual effects almost every moment of every day.  Really makes me wonder if they are just trying to weed the "weak" out... just hoping we'll die off before they have to pay up.  OH... and because I've not worked a reasonably high paying job for long enough to have accrued enough funds in my SS account, my disability checks most likely won't even top $600 a month.  But I know three other people who are getting over $1000.  :(  Because they were lucky enough to have been either able to get an education so they were able to work good paying jobs. And/or didn't have physical or health problems until later in their careers.   BUT I was not so lucky, no education and had problems pretty much all my life.

So where does that leave me... Angry... very angry and frustrated and depressed and fed up.  But what do others think I should do.  Oh just accept it, there is nothing you can do to change it that you haven't already done.  That shit pissed me the fuck off.   I'm too negative all the time.  I'm not negative all the time, but when I need to talk about it... there is no one to talk to that is willing to listen and understand.  I don't want a person who acts like a wall either.  Just sitting there saying nothing just pisses me off more, because my four walls can do that.  SO... I'm at a loss.  I have no one to talk to, no one to spend time with that can help shift my focus away if needed.  I've spent my life making jokes and laughing to handle things, but I've laughed myself out this time.

Don't get me wrong, I do not rant and rave every day all day, just that its hard not to talk about it when I do have contact with the outside world in person.  LOL  Anyways, I'm sure I'll rant or rave or bitch and complain some more in the next post.  Gotta finish the rant about neurologists too.  LOL