Shop Update Today! (pssst. eggs are included!)

Here are pics of all the sets going in the shop in just under two hours!

And these sets of eggs are also going in the shop.  :)

This week has flown.  It feels like today should be Friday.  I made close to 250 beads in just three days.  I got close to 250 beads all cleaned in just three days!  The boy child finished a diorama of the Piedmont that is due tomorrow.  The girl child finished reading her first real chapter book after starting it last week.  Two of my photos got published in a Minneapolis magazine which you can read about here.  And I rid our bathroom of a nasty stink that was lingering for a few days after I found a dead snake underneath Todd's sock bin in our bathroom (thanks Jezzie).  All in all, a rather productive week!

I hope your week is going just as swimmingly!

Power Tools Gone Wild

I am getting into a daily routine and enjoying every aspect of it.  After getting the kids off to school, I spend the first 30 minutes to an hour cleaning out bead holes with my dremel.  I try to finish up by 8:30, but if they're not all done I let them soak in the sink while I head into my studio to melt glass for an hour.  But this morning was a little different.

After ten minutes of dremeling (yes, I made that into a verb.  and I also sing to myself "Here I Go a Dremeling, a Dremeling I Go" to the tune of a Christmas carol.  and yes, I know I'm a dork.) it sped up for a moment and made a high pitched noise (more so than the normal high pitched dremel noise).  I turned it off, checked out the tightness of the bit in the tip and then went back to cleaning beads for another ten minutes.  And that's when my dremel went AWOL and sent itself into hyperdrive.  It wouldn't turn off and the speed could not be adjusted with the dial.

I haven't ever had a power tool misbehave like this, so I did the only sensible thing I could do.  I walked out the front door with my hyperdrive dremel in hand and marched myself over to my neighbor's house.  He is a power tool king and also has extra power tool knowledge through the osmosis of working at Home Depot part time.  He had never seen a power tool do this, either.  And so in the end, after it wouldn't shut off and had started smoking, my poor dremel was beaten to death on the cement sidewalk until it stopped whirring.  It lived a good life, but apparently two years is the limit for these little hand held rechargeable devices.  Sniff.

Now that I am back from Home Depot with a new replacement, the remaining beads have been cleaned.  I am sticking to fall colors this week in the hopes it will help get me more excited about Autumn as I say goodbye to my favorite season.

The kiln is now full with over another fifty beads from sitting in front of my torch today.  I will be busy tomorrow cleaning, photographing, blogging and listing so everything is ready before the next shop update in a little more than 24 hours.

Seventy Beads!

Came out of the kiln last night.  Holy cow that's a lotta beads to clean!

This isn't all of them.  I pulled some of each kind to put into my extras box because I occasionally put in an extra little bead or two with orders when I ship them out to folks.  

I think I made close to another 70 beads today.  I'm quite industrious this week.  A fire was lit under my feet this past weekend to get things done and I'm not slowing down.  I think after weeks months of being demotivated to do very little because it took so long to decide what to do with my job that now I'm playing catch up on so many things I SHOULD have been doing.  Cleaning baseboards and decluttering closets is in there with all of the beads I missed out on making for so long.

Happy Monday!

This was another weekend of celebrations for us.  Besides disbelieving we just hit our 11th anniversary and have been together for thirteen years, we also celebrated our youngling turning seven years old.  Apparently you wear your pants on your head when you turn seven.

She chose carrot cake for her candle holder and I made a double decker of it in a heart shape for her.  I'm not sure what she wished for and will have to ask her later.  I'm betting it was not anywhere close to her brother's wish last weekend to not be aggravated the rest of the birthday by his little sister.

So many wonderful folks scooped up the batches of eggs last week that now there are only six sets left in the shop.  If you like any of the colors schemes, go grab them now.  Tomorrow they will be pulled from the shop to be re-arranged. 

Kids are off to school and the animals have been fed.  Even though there is a dishwasher full of clean dishes waiting to be put away, it will wait some more.  I'm running off to my torch.  I was so enchanted last week with the the transparent speckles on eggs that I feel the need to make some sets of rounds that could coordinate with the eggs or be just as great on their own.

I hope you have a fabulous week!

Happy Friday or Happy Anniversary

There are several sets of eggs flying out of the shop, some as far as to Alaska!

I won't be on the torch until Monday, when the kids return to school after their week off for fall break this week.  We had fun together and visited the public library multiple times.  The girl child started picking out books from the 3rd grade level, even though she is only in the 1st grade.  She is always so determined to do what her brother does.  It's not just reading, but also in throwing and catching baseballs and footballs.  That same girl child is turning seven years old this weekend.

Today is my 11th wedding anniversary.  I am continually amazed at how time flies, seemingly passing me by.  My memory is like a sieve and has forgotten more things than I like or would like to admit.  I do remember it was my smart mouth that caught the attention of my honeys and invited me out on a lunch date.  It was two years later to that first date when we exchanged vows on the deck built out from an old grist mill.  We have spent just as many years working together at phone companies and sometimes on the same team as we have spent working at different companies since we met.  The years we worked together were hands down the best.

He is my best friend, my husband and a wonderful father.  I don't think I will ever understand his fervor for the Minnesota Vikings or how he can drink a Mountain Dew at 10pm and then go straight to sleep, but that's okay.  I don't need to.  Neither of us have the need to fill the air with idle chatter as we are comfortable in silence.  We don't like crowds and almost always agree on paint colors and furniture.  No matter what fire has been lit under me, he has supported me 100% in trying what has inspired me (from buying a sewing machine that sat unused for years, to a stint of selling cosmetics to playing with fire and hiding behind a camera).  He has my back and I have his.  I know he loves me and that is enough.  I feel so undeserving, yet incredibly thankful for this man in my life who puts family first.

And if you're reading this Todd Wenzel, I love you more than you know.

Eggs Going into the Shop Today!

Wow!  I have over 50 eggs that have been split up into 18 little groups that will be going into my shop at 2pm EDT this afternoon.  I let my kids have fun deciding on the color combos and groups, so we have only one group of two...the rest will all be fraternal triplets.  Some of the eggs have randomly unique spots or a dusting of speckles on their bottoms....those will have additional pics in the listings.  There are a handful of etched eggs scattered throughout these batches.

See you at 2pm!

Tuesday Eggs

Here are the nine little eggs that came out of my kiln last night.  I now have over 50 eggs to group up in sets of twos and threes for an update tomorrow.  Come back tomorrow morning for pics of those sets.

I am having fun with the kids this week.  We are playing outside, going to the library and straightening up the house (way past due in so many rooms/closets!).

More Eggs

The weekend flew by quickly as we celebrated our boy child's ninth birthday.  Many grandparents filled the house, as did an aunt and a few friends who spent the night.  Monday blurred into the weekend as the kids are home from school this week and we had three dental appointments yesterday.  Two of us got a thumbs up and the third needs to go back on Thursday for three fillings.  :(

Here are beads that came out of the kiln on Thursday and Friday nights.  I made another nine eggs this morning that should be coming out of the kiln soon.  I'm hoping to have in between 50-60 eggs to put into the shop on Thursday.  Based on that poll up there on the right, it seems that sets of two or three eggs are the most wanted.  So that's what I will do.

I'll start grouping the eggs together tomorrow to show the twins and triplets that will be listed together in the shop on Thursday.

TGIF!

My days have new meaning to me now.  Fridays used to mean that the work week was almost over and I would have two very short days to rush and get the house straightened up, grocery shopping completed, laundry done and maybe a little time to relax with my kids and husband if I was lucky.  

Now Friday is my last day to rush and getting everything done around the house that I need to get done so the weekend can be much more laid back with my family.  I have steadily been working at cleaning off my desk and my torch table in my office/studio.  As of this morning, my torch table is completely free of all junk and everything that should have never been set there in the first place.  It just needs to be wiped down to get rid of all the dust.  And a sizeable amount of real estate is now visible on my desk top.  It feels so good to finally be reclaiming my office and studio from all the clutter!

These are all of the eggs that came out of the kiln last night.  There are twenty four new bebes and I am LOVING them!  Aren't they delicious?  More are in my kiln now, but I'm not sure if I will get more torch time today.  I have errands to run....namely spending time at the elementary school.  The boy child turns nine this weekend and I will be surprising him at lunch time with a special cookie cake to share with his classmates.  And a little later, I will be reading to the girl child's classroom.

I hope you all have a fabulous weekend and are enjoying the autumn temps that have been blowing in over this last week.  I am enjoying having all the windows open in the house and NOT running the air conditioning!!

p.s.  there is one set of eggs left in my shop waiting for a good home  :)

p.p.s.  I have added a poll up there on the right to see how many eggs you all think should be listed together.  Tell me what you think is the perfect number!