Thursday, November 30, 2006

Freezing Rain!

Woke up this morning to a world covered in ice! Unfortunately, it is mostly melted now, when the kids are up. I had planned to let them go outside and play in it, but it is all slushy and mucky now. Blech.

Today we get our new washer and dryer!! We purchased a new HE system that can wash 2 to 3 times as much as our current models do. Jessica is especially excited, as she's been doing much of the household chores while I've been down.

Having to help the kids lots with their schoolwork, so haven't had time to work on any websites, jewelry or EBaying...

I do have an update ready for thelowcarbcook.com but I can't seem to get it to upload...???

Blessings,
Sharron

Saturday, November 18, 2006

Made a bunch of jewelry

I'm feeling a lot better, and I had committed to donating some jewelry to a charity auction back in October. The auction is in December. Yesterday, we got it mostly all put together. It is a truly gorgeous set -- I hope that it does really well for their auction!! It is all white and peach grade A pearls and mother of pearl with sterling silver findings.

So, I was in the mood for making jewelry! I made another several piece set -- the one for the auction is a 7 piece set -- and this one I made today is something like 5 pieces. When I get it up on the website, folks will be able to purchase whatever parts of the set they want. That is why I'm making so many options. This set is really cool -- features a lot of shimmery, shiny goldstone and hematite plus some really cool silver Bali beads.

Then, my friend Martha came over and we went through the jewelry that is left from the summer sales. She loves pink and purple, especially purple, so it got me motivated on those colors. I made a very long pearl and gemstone necklace that is pink and magenta with matching earrings. It is just a 2 piece set. I think it is the longest one I've made thus far. I really like having my extra-long beading board!!


On EBay today I got a few books listed (www.stores.ebay.com/jamsgems4u):
PURPOSE DRIVEN LIFE What Am I here for? Rick Warren HB
Don't ALL RELIGIONS Lead to GOD? Tough Questions #5 Wow
TOUGH QUESTIONS Leader's Guide Willow Creek Excellent!!
MASTERING the BASICS 1 Peter Study Guide EXCELLENT!!


*****

Leviticus 26:6
New Living Translation (NLT)
“I will give you peace in the land, and you will be able to sleep with no cause for fear. I will rid the land of wild animals and keep your enemies out of your land."

That is a good one. Here's another:

Psalm 91:5
New International Version (NIV)
"You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day"

That second one is really good -- there is nothing to fear at night, nor during the day. No fear for what you imagine or for what can happen that you can't control.

Re-train the mind. No fear. Peace that passes understanding instead....

Blessings,
Sharron

Friday, November 17, 2006

The Bully and The Defender -- A True Story

When I was in sixth grade, I was in the school play. However inappropriate I realize it to be now, the play was about a family who was up in the middle of the night arguing. I played the part of the teenaged daughter coming in with her boyfriend at 2:15am. We walk into the scene, realize what time it is, that the family is awake and dive behind the couch for cover. That is pretty much the play...

The kid who played my boyfriend, Greg -- I barely even knew him. He wasn't in any of my classes or anything. He was, however, one of the "popular kids" -- all the girls in sixth grade had a crush on him. That is all of them except me. I couldnt' have cared less. He was just opposite me in the play.

Dawn was one of the biggest kids in sixth grade. I think we had PE together. Well, she decided that Greg was HER boyfriend (never mind what Greg thought about it!) and that I was in her way. She was going to take me out. She told me to meet her in the cafeteria after school so she could hammer me. Like a ninny, I showed up -- no, seriously, I think she threatened me something worse (worse than being hammered??) if I didnt' show up... Anyway, here I was sitting in the cafeteria after school that afternoon. I was going to try to convince her that I couldn't care less about Greg and that she could have him for all I cared. He was only opposite me in the play -- we weren't even friends, much less boyfriend and girlfriend!

Well, off to the left, who should walk in but Dawn... at the same time, off to the right, in comes Shawna.

Now, I had mentioned that Dawn was one of the biggest kids in sixth grade. Shawna was the biggest. She was absolutely enormous! Fully 5'10" in height and she had the shoulders of a linebacker. I'm certain she probably ended up being a professional athlete when she grew up! Anyway, in walks Shawna and places herself between Dawn and me.

I'd never had any previous contact with Shawna. I knew who she was by sight -- we didn't go to that big of a school -- but we didn't have any classes together and we'd never spoken.

Dawn starts blustering, "Get out of my way! She stole my boyfriend and I'm gonna beat her up!!"

Shawna very calmly and quietly responds, "No. Sharron wouldn't do that. She's a nice girl."

Dawn says more loudly, "Get out of my way!! She stole my boyfriend and I'm going to beat her UP!!"

Shawna, still quietly and calmly responds, "No. Sharron wouldn't do that. She's a nice girl."

At this point, my jaw is firmly on the floor. I manage to protest weakly to Shawna, "Shawna, you don't need to do this..."

Shawna basically tells me to shut up and that "yes I do."

"But why??" query I.

"Because it's the right thing to do," comes the reply.

Again, Dawn blusters for Shawna to get out of the way so she could pound me into hamburger.

Shawna this time, quite calmly, but firmly replies, "If you are going to get to Sharron, you have to go through me first."

Dawn starts to get even more aggitated, "Get Out of My Way!!!"

Still firmly, "If you are going to get to Sharron, you are going to have to go through me first," was the reply.

At that, Dawn turned tail, only to run into the Principle -- a formidible woman in her own right. She was about 5'9" with fully a foot and a half piled up flaming red hair! The principle took her by the shoulders directly into her office.

Shawna turned to me. I pulled my jaw up off the floor again, to ask her, "Why did you help me?? You didn't have to..."

"Yes, I did."

"But why? I don't understand??"

"Because it was the right thing to do. You are a nice girl and I couldn't stand by and see her beat you up when I could do something about it. It was just the right thing to do."

I stammered a weak "Thank you."

Shawna replied, "Don't mention it," and turned and left the building.

From that point on Dawn never bothered me again, in fact, she avoided both myself and Greg for the rest of the school year.

And Shawna, we never spoke again. If we saw each other in the hallway, she would nod a greeting, but that was it.

That summer, both girls moved away from our town.

*****


Why am I telling this story? I've been struggling with attacks from the Enemy of my Soul. This morning the Lord reminded me of this event from my childhood. It very clearly and tangibly illustrates several things:

1. Sure the enemy was big and scary,
2. But my Defender was so much bigger and scarier had she chosen to be my opponent!
3. The enemy has to break through my Defender's barrier to be able to get to me,
4. He's afraid to do that!!

Plus, here's where the analogy breaks down, but it is still really cool:

Not only is my Defender bigger and scarier and tougher than the Enemy, but my Defender lives in me!! That makes ME bigger and badder and tougher than the Enemy, as long as I don't allow fear a foothold.

Reminder: Put on your armor every day. Ephesians 6.

Blessings!
Sharron

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Very, Very AWAKE!!!

I woke up at 4:15 this morning Totally and Completely Awake!! So, here I am working on my www.jamsgems.com website. I should have a lot of the revisions done today and a bunch of new items added.

So far, I've added a whole bunch of 40 gram packs of beads in the beading section and the PowerMark Christian Bible-based comic series.

Also,
ARK of the COVENANT BIBLE Board Game

JOURNEYS OF PAUL Bible Board Game

SETTLERS OF CANAAN Bible Board Game

SOLOMON'S TEMPLE Bible Board Game

LIFE of CHRIST Bible Board Game

Proverbial WISDOM Bible Edition Game

SALVATION CHALLENGE Bible Game

BIBLEOPOLY Bible Board Game

BIBLEMAN Adventure Bible Board Game



Wow! I got a lot done today. Several of these games are new to both my www.jamsgems.com store and my www.stores.ebay.com/jamsgems4u store. I hope folks enjoy the games!!!!!!!!!!

And.... I vote for Emmit in Dancing with the Stars :)

Blessings,
Sharron

Monday, November 13, 2006

Did an allergy self-treatment today

I'm feeling pretty loopy. Today we did an allergy treatment for corn -- the treatment is described on my www.thelowcarbcook.com site in full. It basically sensitizes you to the item you are allergic to -- however, the day of treatment can be pretty rough. Makes you feel really cruddy to put it nicely! We are doing this so that we won't have so many issues when it comes Thanksgiving next week!!

Needless to say, I've not gotten much done on EBay. I've been working on my site www.jamsgems.com but it isn't ready to load yet. I'm making it a little wider so more will fit on the pages, and I'm going to add a bunch of new items. It will take time ...

On my EBay store www.stores.ebay.com/jamsgems4u, this is what I got done today:

Lovely WHITE STAG Embroidered Shirt Flamingo XL 18 NWOT -- this shirt is so great!! It has these cool embroidered appliques with pink flamingos and trees and flowers on it... so cool! Wish it fit me ;)

I didn't do any other listings on EBay or on my site, but I did get my WebRings all set up! I've applied to join 4 distinct rings because of the differing scopes of the areas of my site. There is a Christian biz owners, Family fun, Hand-crafted jewelry and a beading one. I think it will be fun for folks :)

Back to the treatment:
Aaron had the roughest time of it of the four of us. His corn allergy really must have been something! Just think -- I used corn as a replacement for wheat for him for a long time! Explains a lot of problems we had. I think Melody had the easiest time of it, overall -- she was mostly just hyper. Jess was droopy and slow, but not too bad this afternoon. Mine, as I said before, made me a bit loopy and gave me gastrointestinal symptoms. I'll leave it at that ;)

Lord willing, in 3 days we will be able to add corn back into our diet -- YAY!!

Blessings,
Sharron

Sunday, November 12, 2006

I made it to church & some new items...

I made it to & through church this morning. At first I didn't know if I was going to or not, but it went fine. It was good to be back! Pastor said he will do the Christmas play, since it is so simple. That is a relief!

I've got some new items up on our EBay store www.stores.ebay.com/jamsgems4u

I have added several 40 gram bead packs:

Red White & Blue BEAD Mix Flowers & Hearts 40 grams(Z5)

Pretty Variety BEAD Mix Flowers & Hearts 40 grams(Z2/4)

Watermelon TOURMALINE glass BEAD Mix 40 grams (41A)

Wonderful OCEAN Colors Glass BEAD Mix 40 grams (Z4)

Super FANCY Variety Glass BEAD Mix 40 grams (Z2)

Stunning BLACK Variety Glass BEAD Mix 40 grams (Z8)


These are some really great bead mixes! I trust folks will enjoy working with them :)



Today was Great-Grandma's 90th birthday party. They had a big shin-dig for her -- primarily, everyone was to bring photos for a big photo album for her. Grandma's memory isn't what it once was, so we're hoping that by having a page with everyone's name and how they are related to her will help her to continue to remember us. Last time I saw her, it was so distressing to see her -- she knew she should know who I was, that I was someone in her family, but she couldn't remember me. Very sad. I hope the photo album helps!

Dinner time!

Blessings,
Sharron

Saturday, November 11, 2006

Feeling better today!

I'm feeling quite a bit better today! I still can sit for only short periods, but the pain is a lot less intense. I still can't sit in a normal chair, but I have a nice "reclining" chair at my desk :)

Had the kids make Dan's boss a Thank You card yesterday, intend to get that in the mail today!

Friday, November 10, 2006

Quick update

Can't sit for more than just a couple of minutes, but wanted to update this morning's topic.

Hubby was offered the full raise from his boss, so he doesn't have to change jobs and gets the increase in salary :) :)

Big relief to hubby.

Now, we just need me to get well.....

Blessings,
Sharron

A new job or keep the same one??

My husband has been presented with an interesting dilemma. Last night, he was offered a job at a shop that makes very pretty cabinets and furniture. It pays, starting wage, better than what he is making right now. However, and the however is big, it doesn't offer health insurance. Today he is going to speak with his current boss and see if his boss can help him out...

I, also, had been offered a job -- working at home, taking into account my disabilities. However, with my re-injury yesterday, it is going to be a while before I'll be able to do anything. I'll be in bed most of the day again for a while. That income really would have helped us a lot, too.

Ah well, God knows, and I trust him.

Because of the re-injury, I didn't get much done on my EBay store yesterday www.stores.ebay.com/jamsgems4u . I listed just a few books:

Exploring through Ephesians, J. Vernon McGee Bible Study -- I really think this is the last of the McGee books!

The Wrath of God, John MacArthur's Bible Studies

Perfect Love, John MacArthur's Bible Studies

Exalting the Crucified Christ, John MacArthur, Jr. -- this book is interesting. It is by the same author, apparently, as the others, but it seems like it was an early version, before they decided to standardize them and make them into a series. Took me a while to figure that out! This is also the last of the MacArthur books.

These books are in EXCELLENT condition, especially the Perfect Love book!! It is bright and shiny :)

I'm going to go take a shower... Lord willing, the door will stay right where it belongs!

Blessings,
Sharron

Thursday, November 09, 2006

This is Cocoa and his friend


This is our kitty, Cocoa. He's a 10 year old Maine Coon Red Tabby -- don't know if he's purebred or not, but he's very "typical" even down to being polydactyl (having extra toes.) He's got the sweetest disposition -- just perfect for my kids! He tolerates -- even seems to enjoy -- being dressed up and put in the doll stroller and being run through the house "in his royal carriage!"

In the photo, he's in his favorite position -- flopped out on his back taking a snooze!

Blessings,
Sharron

I believe I've had a major breakthrough with my back!!

I believe I've had a major breakthrough with my back!!!!!!!!!

I've been down with my back since Oct. 23. Last night, around 9 or 10 pm I noticed that I no longer had that "very large knife stuck into the middle of my back" feeling. The back doesn't feel perfect, but OH so much better!!!

Thank The Lord!!!!!!

Also, last night I got some major work on our www.jamsgems.com website. I added all of the computer games for PC (Windows) and Macintosh that I currently have on my EBay store www.stores.ebay.com/jamsgems4u to my inventory on my regular website:

VeggieTales Minnesota Cuke & the coconut Apes
VeggieTales The Mystery of Veggie Island
VeggieTales Dance dance dance
VeggieTales Creativity City
BibleMan Video Game Adventure: A Fight for Faith
Catechumen Teen Bible game for PC
Adventures in Odyssey & the Treasure of the Incas
Adventures in Odyssey & the Great Escape
Adventures in Odyssey & the Sword of the Spirit

Getting all these games in my inventory has been very exciting for my kids -- now the question will be which of these great gifts are they getting for Christmas presents?!

I'm hoping to get a lot more done today -- I'm feeling so much better!!

Blessings,
Sharron

PS: I don't understand why the Lord is allowing this... It's been years since I've gone for more than 24 hours without pain.

Right after I typed this, I got in the shower and the shower door fell off!! I had to catch it and put it back on. Now my back is re-injured.

"Though He slay me, yet I will trust Him........."

Wednesday, November 08, 2006

Hubby woke me up, so...

Since I was awake, I decided I might as well get some listings done. I got the following listed to our www.stores.ebay.com/jamsgems4u EBay store JAMSGems4U:

John MacArthur’s Bible Studies:

Comfort for Troubled Hearts – John 14:1-14; 16:16-33

Security in the Spirit – Romans 8

Signs Of Christ's Return – Matthew 24-25



Christian & Family Games:

Lewis & Clark Adventure Educational Board Game

POWERMARK Comics Autographed Collectors Box Set 1-12

VEGGIETALES Dance Dance DANCE! Dance Pad Game for PC & Mac

ADVENTURES in ODYSSEY & the Sword of the Spirit Game for PC & Mac

ADVENTURES in ODYSSEY & the Great Escape Game for PC & Mac

ADVENTURES in ODYSSEY &the Treasure of the Incas for PC & Mac

BIBLEMAN Video Game Adventure: A Fight for Faith for PC & Mac

CATECHUMEN Teen Bible PC Game -- Exciting!!

VEGGIETALES Minnesota Cuke & the Coconut Apes PC Game

VEGGIETALES 100 Piece Puzzle LARRY BOY

Settlers of CANAAN Bible Board Game


Also, I figured out that the Christian & Family Games can be shipped to Canada!! If you want an item shipped to Canada, please email me for a personalized S/H quote :)


More later....

Blessings,
Sharron

The real 7 wonders of the world


A friend of mine sent this to me this morning. I hope you can read it!

Blessings,
Sharron

My kids day yesterday...

I particularly wanted to mention how Aaron and Melody did yesterday with schoolwork and Jess in the afternoon.

Aaron had a "bit of an issue" about not "quite telling me the truth" yesterday morning, so he ended up being on restriction for the rest of the day. In fact, I don't really think the restriction would have made any difference because he had so much schoolwork left to do in the afternoon that we were doing it until about 6:30 pm!! That isn't what I wanted to mention though...

We were working on his math -- he was struggling with the concept of "long division." When they had first introduced division in his PACEs, he thought it was a breeze, then they introduced Long Division and he choked on it. He's had trouble with it sinse. It just didn't make sense to him and he couldn't remember the steps! Well, yesterday, I decided to have him stop trying and approach this from a different angle. I picked the easiest problem on the page which was 34 divided by 2. I had him get out 34 beads. I then had him make them into piles of tens and a pile of four. Then I showed him his problem... he had 3 tens and 4 units as his number he was dividing into. After that, I had him make his piles in to piles of 2s, then he counted how many there were: 17. I showed him his problem again: 34/2=17. Then, with that knowledge, we worked the problem together Long Division way. He asked, "Am I going to have to make piles of beads for all my problems??" I told him No, I had just done that so he could see what was going on. He said, "OH!!" It was so cool to see those lights all going off in his head!! Major Math Victory :)

Melody also had a victory -- she read one of her stories by herself. She can read, but is still lacking confidence and guesses a lot rather than reading like she actually CAN. All kids seem to go through this phase -- at least mine have! Anyway, yesterday, I was doing something and she said, "Mommy, if you want to keep doing what you are doing, I can read my story myself." And she did just that! Mind you, she wasn't able to do it twice in a row, but, Hey, it's a start!!

Jess was just a seriously MAJOR helper yesterday. I'm currently down with a very badly sprained back and can't stand for longer than to brush my teeth. I can only sit in my special chairs. Really makes cooking, etc., very difficult, so Jess and my husband have really had to step-up what they do around here. Yesterday, she wanted to bake a dessert -- so cool, she's discovered she can read recipes!! -- but there were some Household Items that needed to be made: Salad dressing and seasoning salt. She put her own desires aside and did a very fine job of making those items. She's such a sweet girl :)

Have a great day!!

Blessings,
Sharron

Tuesday, November 07, 2006

Oh well....

I was busily posting to my EBay store www.stores.ebay.com/jamsgems4u this afternoon using my Auctiva.com account and the whole thing went down. Sigh. At least I got some items listed before they stalled out. I'll try again later.

This is what I did accomplish:

Tonight I added several more of John MacArthur’s Bible Studies:

Love’s Humility – Selected Scriptures
Liberty in Christ – Galatians 5
Paul on Trial – Acts 24-26
Christ Displays His Glory – Matthew 16:24-17:13

We also added a very nice, gently used Venezia Pretty Pale Pink Polo in size 22/24 (3X)

I was trying to list a really cute red and white striped t-shirt in size 14P when Auctiva went down. It is still down.

I was planning to add a bunch more PUZZLES to my EBay listings... Guess not tonight!

Maybe I'll work on adding the Christian Games to our www.jamsgems.com site... Hmmmmmmm.... Opportunity knocketh!!!

Blessings,
Sharron

My First Post!

Here I am! Entering the great vastness of cyberspace with my own personal web-blog. A small speck in the pool of typefaces and settings and html...

I'd like to tell you -- whomever you are -- about me, my family and our home-spun businesses.

Me: My name is Sharron Long. I'm an author -- actually have written and published 3 books. You can see two of them at www.thelowcarbcook.com. Do you know what folks say about artists (of which I am one also) and authors? They call them "starving" that is what! Well, I'm not starving, but let's just say book writing doesn't pay as well as one would like, and that is why some authors are so prolific! I just don't have the time to write more books...

Why?

Well, I'm also a home schooling mom of three wonderful kiddos! I've got a teenager and two little kids who are terrific helpers to their mom and dad, but nevertheless, they do take time :)

Also, we have some e-commerce going on at the Long House! Our own website is www.jamsgems.com . We even just got our own Business License -- how cool is that? Our legal business name is JAMSGems4U. That is from our ebay store: www.stores.ebay.com/jamsgems4u . We have a whole lot of Gems for sale in our EBay store as well as our regular online store.

Our EBay store has essentially 4 main areas of focus: Books (Home school materials and curriculum, textbooks, fiction and non-fiction books, Christian fiction and non-fiction books, children's books, Bible study aids, etc.); Clothing (New and gently used Women's clothing, Men's clothing, children's and baby clothing); Jewelry Craft supplies (Beads, beading, glass beads, fine gemstone beads, 1/4 pound packs of fancy glass beads from around the world, fire polish faceted beads and other fun things); Christian & Family Games (Christian comics, games, puzzles, computer games and other family friendly leisure games).

Our family's site has a bigger focus on jewelry and the craft supplies, though I do plan to add a large section devoted to the Christian and family games.

Anyway, I'm planning to post to this whenever something exciting happens around the house or around our stores.

Like, just last night I added a whole bunch of puzzles to our EBay store! We've now got VeggieTales and BibleMan puzzles joining our other Christian and Family Games.

So far we have several PC games from VeggieTales (Minnesota Cuke and the coconut apes, Mystery of Veggie Island and Creativity City to name a few) and also several from Adventures in Odyssey (Treasure of the Incas, Sword of the Spirit and the Great Escape). We have a BibleMan game (Fight for Faith) and Catecumen -- that one is cool! It is actually based on historical facts. Very cool! We added a lot of PowerMark Christian comics yesterday too. Now, those are cool -- my kids loved the first issue so much it is all worn out!

Another thing I'm really excited about is Auctiva.com -- they have a free enhancement service for EBay sellers. Things that would normally cost over a dollar are free with their service! I especially like the ability to put multiple pictures on a listing and not have it cost any extra. Like just yesterday I listed a really nice pair of LizWear Jeans Petite Houndstooth pants and was able to put 4 pictures up so folks can really see how nice they are! Not just one shot from far away, but I was able to show a close up of the front, tags, back pocket. Very cool!

Well, the kids are just about done with their school work and it is time for lunch . Happy Blogging!

Blessings,
Sharron