Back to Cool

Son started 4th grade yesterday. Youngest Daughter started preschool two days a week this morning. She walked in and looked around, met the teachers, then went to the playground without saying goodbye. Two years ago when Oldest Daughter started daycare she cried like I was abandoning her forever - she went to Kindergarten testing this morning and her shyness won the day. She did write her name but she refused to count and then she wouldn't draw a picture. She starts school tomorrow.

Husband and I went to St Louis over the second weekend of August for the WheresGeorge.com 10th Annual National Gathering. We met a lot of people we've known only through the forums and facebook, and then we left early. We don't do so well in crowds and thankfully most of the people there understood that and were okay with us leaving early.

My really exciting news is that we finally decided that Youngest Daughter was never going to be potty trained if we relied on PullUps to get her through it. We went out and bought "big girl" underwear for her last week. After a couple days of accidents, she's finally made the association and has started coming to tell us when she needs to go. She had one accident yesterday morning and was good the rest of the day. Not sure how well things will go at school because she's in a new situation in a new place with new people, and she's wearing PullUps just in case, but I'm cautiously hopeful.

As for work, I'm in the midst of a project that will be a gift, and I have a couple more things planned out. Also, I've been working on my competition piece for the HBS Creatin' Contest since I'm down to about four months left. Here's where I was as of yesterday.

So that's all I've got for now. Planning to work on the roof this afternoon if I get a chance. 

Lace Parade

I finished my latest bead embroidery project yesterday. It is a 21" Chenille stitch necklace and a bead embroidered pendant that is 2 1/2" wide by 4" long.

It is up for auction here for the next 29 hours, if you're interested :-)

My next project is already in the beginning stages but I can't post pictures as it's a surprise for someone.

Thanks for stopping by :-)

Independence Delay

Been almost two months since I posted so I guess it's time to catch up. The mystery sickness I had for so long has finally been determined to be fatty liver. Most likely hereditary and the explanation for a lot of other problems. Drastic diet changes and more exercise will hopefully take care of it relatively quickly. I had a spot in my right kidney when I went to the emergency room a few months ago, and I went in for an high definition CT scan and it's not cancerous. I still have to have an endoscopy done to make sure that I don't have and am not developing esophageal cancer, but I'm not worried about that.

Today is Independence Day in America and a phone call I had has brought to my attention that you can tell a real  American holiday by whether people wish you to be safe or to have a good day. Everything about Independence Day and New Year's is always bid to be safe- today meaning not to blow your fingers off or burn down your house.

We spent the first two weeks of June visiting family in South Carolina, so I wasn't home to work on any projects. I did, however, learn peyote stitch and made a small bracelet for my mother-in-law.

After getting back home, I decided I was finally going to teach myself to do bead embroidery, so I have two in-progress pieces. The first is a blue pendant with a druzy agate center focal and a faux pearl, and the necklace is my first attempt at twisted herringbone peyote stitch. The second is a piece I started last night. The large focal is a Czech glass button and the two smaller buttons were in an old can my grandmother had.

We found this zombie troll out in our front garden a couple nights ago. We think someone left him here last Halloween. We left him out there because he fits in. 

Husband and I will be celebrating our sixth wedding anniversary in 11 days. He got me a Lego Castle set because I never had Legos as a kid and I've recently taken up and obsession with them. My favorite thing is to put the characters in compromised situations (where they're usually prisoners or dead) and posting photos to facebook. I was very proud of myself for getting most of it put together without looking at the book. So here's a picture of my cat as she was waiting for me to look away so she could chew on the wizard's hat. 

Anyway, that's all that's happened lately. I've been feeling much better and it's nice to be creating again. 

April Showers bring May Flowers. Mayflowers bring smallpox.

Haven't updated much lately because I haven't felt like I've done anything. Mystery sickness is still hanging around a little bit, but I'm working on getting back in the creative saddle. So here are creative happenings from the last couple weeks.

Daughters turned 3 and 5 last week (they share the same birthday, two years apart). These were their cakes - ying and yang, light and dark, half and half, flora and fauna. They were happy and I was satisfied with my first ever attempt at drawing a koi fish. The cakes were marbled Devil's Food and butter cake with raspberry filling and vanilla buttercreme.

Next comes jalapeno peach, and jalapeno strawberry jam. We were out after mailing a bunch out as Pay It Forward and Christmas gifts, and they make an amazing glaze on pork or chicken so I had to make more. 

Third grade at Son's school did a mini-society project where every kid had to make something worth selling, then they earned fake money for a couple weeks and sold their stuff and bought goods from the other third graders. His project was a pillow box with three glass beads in it, tied with a ribbon. Each one was different. 

I've spent the last week or so working on seed bead projects. These are peyote stitch. I've now made three similar sets and have moved on to starting a spiral tubular piece that will be turned into a bracelet if I ever finish it. 

This table and chairs set was found by a friend in North Carolina as she wandered an antique shop. So I plan to take the stain off and re-do the upholstery. It will make a perfect addition to my Painted Lady house. 

So that's that. No updates don't mean no work, though it feels that way to me. Thanks for stopping by :-)

Uh oh! Guess What Day It IS?!

Guess. What. Day. It. Is.

Hump Daaaaay!

There is a nest of tiny birds somewhere right outside my office window and they have quite a story to tell this morning. I am glad they waited until the sun was up before they decided to sing the song of their people so loudly.

Today we are doing laundry and trying to get the house somewhat ready for a large birthday party this coming weekend. The carpets need cleaned anyway since they haven't been cleaned since before the floods last fall and I'm sure the dogs have tracked in obscene amounts of mud over the winter. I also really need to throw out a bunch of stuff that's been sitting around forever so now is as good a time as any.

I made one bead yesterday but it took five tries for me to get the core finished without my bead release breaking for no apparent reason, and I'm so glad I didn't give up on it because it is technically the best bead I've ever made. It even slid off the mandrel like melted butter. It's currently on a 24 hour auction on the facebook page Lampwork Beads for Sale but here picture collage of all sides of it. It did take three tries to get the cubic zirconia to stick but well worth the effort, I'd say

Also, congratulations to my little sister who ran off and eloped over the weekend. We were all starting to wonder if she and he were ever going to get married, so there was that surprise. 

Anyway, that's what I've got for today. Thanks for coming by.

Pretty in pink

Yesterday I wrapped my new rod of goldstone in a striking pink before pulling it into stringer. This is the result.

I'm very fond of this new purple and the pink together, so I may be expanding upon this idea. I also have some French renaissance ideas to combine with some gothic elements that I'd like to experiment with translating into glass. So maybe some new stuff coming soon. 

Splitting Hairs

I have a friend who got married back in October. When she met her to-be spouse, she had VERY short boyish hair. She grows it out really long and cuts it all off every few years. She has done so as long as I have known her. She grew her hair out long for their wedding and now that they're back from their honeymoon, she wants to cut all of her hair off again. Her spouse is saying "no" to every style she's chosen. It makes me wonder; if her hair was acceptable when they were dating, why is it unacceptable now?

Anyway, I made some beads yesterday. Nothing too spectacular as I've been away from the torch for months and I'm very out of practice (and I had to force myself to get started in the first place), but I've finally got some goldstone that I actually LIKE, and I've got some ideas for dichroic additions to my beads. I made a small dread slider yesterday, and a bunch of small beads for Beads of Courage, and this cone-y tube thing.

Shaped a little strangely at the top because I'm out of practice but I like it anyway. I had a couple people remark that it reminds them of butterflies or dragonflies and that has given me some interesting ideas that I want to play around with. I may add it to my Release A Bead stash, or save it to send out as a bonus for Etsy sales. I'm undecided. 

Anyway, we celebrated Son's 9th birthday on the 26th and this weekend we're having a big birthday party for him and my aunt and my grandmother. Husband and I went to the Avalanche v Sharks game on Saturday to see the Avalanche clinch a playoff spot. I'm waiting on frit and purple glass and a couple other things to be delivered today. Not a whole lot else happening around here, it's mostly the same thing day in and day out.