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This is a recap of Summer… heading into Winter in a hurry and thoughts of business, family, work in general. Hope you enjoy. (I am always making these ‘off the cuff & in a hurry. Letting my thoughts roll into the keyboard. I am not checking it for grammatical errors. Sorry to my English professors.)

Topics on my mind… lets go!

1. IT NEVER WAS A MAYBE
2. UNFOLDING THE TABLES
3. PERMANENT JEWELRY
4. ITS BEST TO BE LAST

Above: 5 rings I wear everyday

IT NEVER WAS A MAYBE

I wasn’t sure what to call a person like myself but recently I had someone answer me as a ‘Maybe.’ The question didn’t really matter but I thought a lot about their answer. Are you ALL IN? or not so much. I am for sure an ALL IN person. It’s good and bad so probably doesn’t matter if you are HECK YES/HELL NO person or a MAYBE person but I do think the ALL IN HECK YES/HELL NO can really benefit in the persistance of life. I do think you’re born with a certain amount of wiring harness built in so changing who you are sounds ridiculous to me but I don’t think I want to say “MAYBE”….If I am IN, I am IN and if I am OUT, I am OUT. It’s almost a gut reaction. ‘MAYBE’ to me sometimes says, ‘Maybe I’ll have something better to do, or easier to do, or I will wait for a better offer, etc…’ I don’t think I even consider that. Which is hilarious and kind of stupid or just without thought. Regardless, I AM IN. Whatever the change in the stream I will navigate it until I drown. So, I hope you don’t mind hearing from me until that day. My shows this Summer and most recent show, yesterday, was a great reminder that you are what makes all of this the best job ever. Thank you or making my ‘ALL IN’ personality work. You are my reward.

Above Bill and Savannah setting up at Resch Expo in Green Bay WI for Girls Day Out Event

UNFOLDING THE TABLES

Unfolding the tables… seems like a pretty simple statement. My daughter Savannah said those words to me while setting up Friday for our show on Saturday. I told her she didn’t have to do that and could do whatever else I was thinking about… and she said, ‘Unfolding the tables… thats my favorite part.’ It really struck me. She has been doing these shows with me since she was four years old. She’s 21. For her to have a favorite part is down right pain tolerance. Shows are hard. Shows are time consuming. Shows are cold, busy, boring, raining, 14 hour days, no food, feet hurt, sometimes lose money…. BUT…. What if we never “Unfolded The Tables?” We wouldn’t meet you. We would be sitting in a Prairie by ourselves with our ‘stuff”. We wouldn’t see your smiling faces, your eyes light up putting on a new gem that matches your eyes and makes your smile even broader. We couldn’t meet you, hear about your life and make adornments for you from your past treasures and make new adornments for you for your current & future life…

‘Unfolding The Tables’, makes it all possible, even when it sucks, it doesn’t suck. We froze our butts off in Door Co this fall… saw, met and spoke with the most incredible people. It’s not just worth it, it’s the entire point of it. We care. We care about all of it. Wild Prairie Silver is not in existence to be transactional. We are here to be personal, to be friends, to create relationships, to make real things from minerals and elements with our hands and have you cherish them forever. Nothing about it is transactional. If I had to be transactional I would work in a dental lab. (No offense dental labs but you know what I mean… no contact with your client, zero personal touch.) The Prairie is a great place to create and ‘Unfolding The Tables’ gets the creation to you, and we get to meet you and become friends. ❤️

Speaking of Door Co… the following weekend of freezing to death, I canceled a show because of weather. It turned out beautiful. So, thanks weather man… I missed a great opportunity because I listened to you. I am sorry there are a lot of people flipping off the camera in this image but this is what I was not at. So, I didn’t “Unfold The Tables” and didn’t get to meet all these folks. 😂😂😂 Next time I will listen to my gut and I NEVER WAS A MABYE/JUST DO IT.

Above is Fall Fest Sister Bay WI which I was not at because I listened to the weather.

PERMANENT JEWELRY

Permanent Jewelry is stupid. This is coming from an RN who worked in surgery. We can do Permanent Jewelry right here in the studio. Come on over and I will permanently weld some jewelry on to you and then the ER can cut it of ya, or your dog can rip it out of your ear, or your child can pull it off your neck, or you can catch it on a door latch and hurt your wrist. Have fun. Makes lots of jewelry, that comes off. There was 3 permanent jewelry booths at my last show. Good luck with a terrible fad. This fad will be gone next year.

Above selfie after I win the lottery

ITS BEST TO BE LAST

Being last place. That sounds terrible. I enjoy it. My kids use to be so disappointed in me when I was a runner that I didn’t win. They were small and didn’t understand that Mom was took 4328 place in the run on Sunday 😂 They really thought I should quit. They wanted me to be at least in the top three. 😂😂😂 It’s best being last… means you did it. It’s best being last says you tried it. You watched others. They were awesome. They beat you. You did it anyways. You overcame perfection paralysis. Those people that did take 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place had a first day and they have had days they were last. You have no where to go but up. You don’t have to compare yourself with them. You are you and be you but don’t let their talent and success stop you from starting. You can never finish if you never start. You can never learn if you never practice the skill. You have to be terrible to become phenomenal. My spirit animal is a coffee pot and this is why: need caffine to keep trying… I will never be able to practice enough to get good enough at my craft to not come in last. I am not kidding. Have you seen how talented people are!!! Holy smokes there is a lot of talent out there. Regardless, I’ll keep practicing the things I am not good at until I am good, and better than good and then great…. silly us, we forget our learning curve and don’t even realize at that point how far we have come. Just like riding a bike. Once that one thing I couldn’t even do well is great I am sure I’ll have another thing that I come in last at…. So is the life of a Metalsmith. I have 7,000 years of human existence to learn in metal in my mere 80 years of life, if thats what I am given. You have a day that is a struggle? I say Good. Carry on. Get to it. Be last.

Speaking of struggle and being last…. my Instagram account is hacked currently. Makes you want to poke your eyes out. Again, good… I’ll figure it out or I won’t and it’ll be what it was or something new. Struggle makes you change, Struggle makes you grow. And why would I care about instagram in the first place? Well, it’s a beautiful platform to chronologically have your work in a living magazine. So, I will be at a loss if all of it is gone. I hope it isn’t. If it is I will have to deal with that. Not everything is in your control. Here is a shit sandwich. Just find a why to toss it in the garbage can or choke it down. There is no way around it. Wish me luck on that. Out of my control currently.

Above so true 😂

Ok, so it’s getting to be Winter in Wisconsin which means a couple of things. I want to share with you some photos of Summer and stuff that has happened… Also “Party On The Prairie” is Dec 2nd at the studio. Please text a head count if you can come. 1-920-365-6341. It’s fun. Chocolate, Wine and Jewelry… a Bonfire with beer and smores… straw bales to sit around the fire and Christmas In A Cup to enjoy. It’s a great day if you can make it!!!! (Shhh… it’s also a sale.)

Above Kali and I take classes at GRS engraving. The are hard. We are last. This is my gummy bears that I impaled on my gravers because I was just screwing up left and right. Getting better every day though. Just did some beautiful lettering 🙌🙌🙌🙌

Above Kali and I in Emporia Kansas grabbing lunch at Jimmy Johns.. We liked their sign. “As A Cure For Worrying… Hard Work Is Better Than Whiskey.”

Above Also in Emporia Kansas… my husband is Bill. We just thought this was a sign & we were right it is a sign. 😂

Above: You can get this freekin amazing Sushi in Emporia Kansas. So if you don’t want to learn engraving just go get some awesome Sushi. It is the Hagaya Ramen Shop. The best I have ever had. They are not coming in Last. FIRST IS BEST in this case.

Above: Amazing customer braving the elements of freezing cold weather to come and say hi.

Above: Ruby… we get to make just amazing jewelry for this amazing woman. Earrings, necklace and her ring… Her ideas never disappoint. I get a full license to create when she tosses an idea at us. There are no limits 😄😄😄😄 She is a singer so this jewelry in comparison to her voice is just icing on the cake! Her heart necklace we made her still just blows my mind. It’s locket and we put led diode lights in it on a switch so it glows.

Above: These young guys stayed with their Auntie Lynn. They wanted a gift for their mom. They decided on this rock which was in my window sill. She loved it and they they loved being thoughtful young men. 😄❤️ They sent me this picture after giving it to her.

My daughter Savannah on her 21st birthday. She is not really a party animal but she tried and a good time was had by all.

Amazing customer with the boldness to buy big. Big Jewelry Big Heart! (Right Remmy!!!) When you purchase our mineral specimen pieces it really gives us the courage to make unique one of kinds without fear. Thank you for being brave.

A piece of The Prairie and Taz

Customer enjoying Sturgeon Bay 😄

Customer also in Sturgeon Bay WI and I loved talking with her. She was also an artist and doing film photography. I am so old that yes, we could still have a conversation about that. She was delight and added this heart to her locket necklace.

Unfolding The Tables… in the pre-dawn light ❤️

Walks with Taz

Wonderful customer who also came very far to see us in the freezing cold and her beautiful cuff!

Why I get out of bed.

Me mowing the Prairie 😂

Earlier this year I had a 2 year refrigerator break and leak water all over my house… how appropriate is this meme. I know everyone is screaming Green and Climate change… how about tossing a 2 year old refrigerator in a landfill???? (No it could not be repaired which is equally as crazy.) I am all for Green but conserving using straws and then tossing out a 2 year old hundreds of pounds of appliance is just crazy talk. Can someone please make large metal and plastic things last longer. My Whirlpool Washing Machine and Drier are 29 years old. Where are those appliances?

It’s Best To Be Last. This is my last apple tree in the row. The other trees had lots of nice apples on them. This fella had one single apple. No joke… there it is, right in the center. I gave the tree a hug and said ‘good job! You did it!’ Bizarre right?

This is how many burs it takes to set diamonds or gemstones. Again It’s Best To Be Last. Keep working on your skill set.

This is what my husband does.

and this… same thing just bigger

Walks with Taz

My son, Wyatt, moved to Panama City Beach Florida. He loves fishing and the ocean was calling. We went for a visit this summer and this is the beach in Panama City. It was a great time. A larger group of us went with our 20 year old children to see a concert and such a great time! Beautiful weather as well!

Wyatt caught this shark on the beach in the first photo above this photo right in front of our hotel right where everyone swims in waist deep water. 🤦‍♀️ sigh… Makes a Mother worry. He let the shark go so make sure you go say Hi to it in about 3 feet of water. 😂😂😂🤦‍♀️

R&R … it’s necessary so you can be last… still have the manicure of a jeweler 😂 gross nails

Parents and grown children concert. We had fun but this stuff is for kids. Gulf Coast Jam in Panama City Beach. From the left: self, husband Bill, Savannah, Wyatt, Ashley, Hal, Mark, Lynn and Gina.

Like I said before this stuff is for kids. Gulf Coast Jam 2023

More fish in Panama… not a shark! yea!

The fish are big in the Ocean. My son Wyatt on your right and his friend Kyle.

Good bye Florida and hello Georgia!!! We drove to Panama City and on our way home we stopped at a barn that looked like we might be murdered in it…IT WAS NEVER MAYBE- HECK YES STOP! It was against all good judgment. I could not resist the rust sitting outside and said hey Bill let’s stop and see if anyone is home. It was not store or a place of business that looked open at all. Boy, did we get surprised. A older guy came out and we started chatting. He gave us a tour of room after room after room of awesome antiques. He was not super interested in selling any of them but I did ask him if I could by a Coke Cola cooler from him and he agreed. What a treat and we were not murdered. The Coke Cola cooler is now my flower stand outside of the front door to the studio. The gas pumps in the photo all restored original. A few of them $50K. Yikes! A surprise adventure.

Bistro 311 Wallpaper in a the neighboring town… isn’t it beautiful. Art is everywhere.

Walks with Tazza Wazza… the light the end of the tunnel. Means we are almost done here, whew! What a summer and fall!

I’ll see ya at the finish line. I won’t be wearing any permanent jewelry. I will be unfolding a table and that will make me last. Until then or Dec 2nd… be well and be workin and be awesome and take care… we love ya!

PS 😂 Seriously I can’t drink that much. I am a cheap date but it sounds fun. I am sorry it takes me such a long time to sit down and write these Bringing Back The Blogg Emails… I hope you enjoy them. Wish I could just talk them… like a podcast but that sounds complicated as well. They are for fun! And I want you to have fun reading them and get to be apart of life here on The Prairie. Next BBTB email will feature new member of Team Wild Prairie: Leo… he’s now on Team Taz ~ the men of the studio. I would have shared him with you today but I have taken up too much of your time so next email after Christmas you can meet Leo…. Leo The Lion. Leo DiCaprio. Leonardo Davinci… Leo the cutest dog ever. He is Kali’s family’s new puppy and he fits right in with Last Is Best cuz he sleeps all day.