Friday Came (and went) So Fast!

Much was accomplished this last week (this was written Friday morning, but the post got derailed when my card reader died and corrupted my camera's memory card in the process, losing many photos.  boo.  hiss).  I made close to 250 beads in three days last week.  Even more miraculous, I cleaned all of those beads in three days.  My dremel died and was replaced.  I removed multiple snakes from the house.  I saved multiple chipmunks.  Or I saved the same one three times in one day.  One was being carried around upside down with his heinie in Jezzie's mouth.  I aided in the completion of a diorama.  I received a shipment of glass...the first one in well over six months.  Sigh of contentment.

I made a couple more eggs and this time shipped some off to Canada.  So exciting sending my beads off hundreds/thousands of miles away when I apply shipping labels and postage.  

This weekend, we celebrated the girl child's 7th birthday with a few friends at the tennis courts (she asked for a tennis party and we were lucky enough to have my Dad up visiting and helping with feeding the balls over the net!). 

Amy of Copper Diem is coming close to celebrating the end of her bead fast.  You can read about it here and how I (along with other bead makers) have been torturing her during this fast.  I can relate to bead fasts and other fasts that have my check card under lock and key.  I apologize for teasing you with my beads.  But thank you Amy and so many others for not only blogging about my beads, but to those of you who have shared links to my beads/blog/shop on facebook.  You all are just the best!

Day One of Vacation

Today is the start of over two weeks of vacation for me.  I enjoyed sharing the breakfast table with my kids this morning.  I also enjoyed the fact that I didn't hear any noise complaints from them as I unloaded the dishwasher or used my dremel to clean beads....because they were getting a rare, but special treat of watching cartoons this morning.

I photographed beads once I got them clean.  These are two special sets for a friend using the ashes of a family pet, but I need to remake one set using a different glass.  There were either temperature issues or compatibility issues with the glass and ashes (I think the latter, as I rarely deal with thermal cracks due to temperature probs) which showed cracks once out of the kiln.  Most of the cracks cannot be felt (you can see a major crack in the worry stone on the far right below), but I would not want to make jewelry with the beads for fear they will break later.  Sigh.

Little Horse survived his two months of crate rest and has now been on three walks this week.  Fifteen minutes of walking wore him OUT to the point that the ground didn't even have to reach up to grab the drool hanging from his mouth.  Utter grossness that I'm sure you wanted to know about, right?

I had hoped to make more beads to do a shop update before leaving for Minnesota, but work and life got in the way and it's just not gonna happen this week.  So here's your warning....if there's anything in my bead or jewelry shops which you have had your eye on, go ahead and get it now.  I'll be closing down both shops this Friday night for two weeks.

My mind is still rather jumbly, so I will stop for now.  Just wanted to share a little since it's been awhile :)

Lately

I have been distracted.

So many things running through my head and not one them wants to stay put long enough for me to gain much of any focus.

I burned my fingers on the grill last week when I wasn't paying attention and grabbed the lid, instead of the handle to close the top.  Ouchie.  Thank goodness for my tube of unguentine that I keep next to the torch.  By the next morning, the band-aids were gone and there were no blisters.  No pain.  That has really been a miracle ointment for me!

I have several countdowns in my head.

Four more days until Little Horse is done with his heartworm treatment and he can run and be crazy again.  I can't believe we are almost through this two months of crate rest and am so thankful.  After he chewed through his leash in week one and took off running the length of several football fields, I was certain he would kill himself before we got through this.

Eleven more days until I drive the kids to Minnesota where we will all be spoiled by the grandparents.  This is always my favorite part of the summer.  To relax and not have my blackberry with me.  To fish.  Or not.  To enjoy my children and my inlaws to levels of happiness that are truly off the charts.  I feel undeserving.

I am inching closer to two photography workshops in August and so stoked for these upcoming opportunities to learn from photographers I greatly admire.

My boy child will turn nine in 95 days.  He now has very little hair as I gave him the routine summer buzz cut.  He does not look like my boy with so much missing hair.  But he loves it and that's more important, I think.  Combined with the fact he'll grow it out for the school year for me.

I will celebrate my 11th wedding anniversary in 101 days.  Wow, where did the time go?  Soon I will tell you how much this man loves me by what he is willing to give up.  It involves football.

And only 103 short days until my baby turns 7.  I did not authorize this and am very much opposed to her leaving six behind.

My blogging has been sporadic at best over the last several months.  That will change.  But not quite yet.  My apologies for shoddy blogging, torching and shop updates.  I am really looking forward to getting back into a weekly routine where I can combine all of these, yet still take care of work and home.

On a fun note, I will be taking off Wednesday through Friday of this week to use up some vacation time and help clear my mind.  Previously, I had not thought I would find time on the torch before leaving for Minnesota or be able to get in a shop update, but now I can.  Woot!

A couple of weeks ago, I had two friends reach out asking if I could make some beads for their family members who recently lost their family dog using the ashes.  I was honored and humbled.  Here are a few of the beads which I made for the friend whose package arrived in my studio first.  I will be starting on the next round for my other friend tomorrow.

My friend Keirsten just made this bangle with my Azure Island beads.  Awesomeness, right?

And Erin Prais-Hintz used one of my purple & green headpins in the flower focal of this great design.

That's all for now.  I hope that you all are enjoying warmer summer temps and NO tornadoes.  There have been some horrible storms sweeping the States, leaving much devastation and some flooding in their wake.  I pray you all (and your loved ones) are safe.

I'm Still Alive

I can't believe it has been a month since I last blogged.  Time has slipped through my fingers.  Thank you to those of you who have reached out via text, email and facebook to check on me.  Who have randomly sent me messages encouraging me, telling me you don't know how I manage to keep up with so many things in my life, asking me how I keep up with so many things (gosh, how I wish I felt I were keeping up!) and to just do the best I can do.  You don't know how much I appreciate you.  And others, I see faithfully hitting my blog to see if anything new posted that might not have shown up in your blogroll.  You all really are just the best!

We'll play a quick catch up.  The last week in March, I got a little over 31+ hours of sleep in one week.  It was miserable between nightly storms with Little Horse's panting and late work nights.  I got sick and spent six days with a 102+ fever.  That carried into our spring break, which meant I did not participate in the Taekwondo camp with my family and spent over half sleeping in our cabin.  Up until that weekend, I had refused to go to a doctor because I knew I would just be told to keep doing what I was doing....alternating advil/tylenol, sucking down fluids and getting lots of rest.  But I broke down on Monday morning because Tuesday we would be starting our roadtrip to Florida and I didn't want to be sick through our entire vacation.

The doctor in North Georgia told me I had the flu and she thought I was on the tail end of it.  If we hadn't been leaving for Florida the next day, she would have told me to suck it up and come back in 2-3 days if not better.  So she prescribed my antibiotics and steroids, which kicked my fever two days later and had me feeling back to 100% on day six when we drove home.  I lost eight pounds in the process.  Two weeks later, those pounds have not come back.

We visited a rather cold Jacksonville Beach and had the pleasure of meeting up with one of my friends from work who is just THE best.

And a crowded Disney World (note-to-self -Thanksgiving is SUCH a better time to go to Disney if we go again) where I was thankful I had long lines to rest in, which gave me breaks from walking from one ride to the next.  I loved that throughout the parades, Chloe would shriek "She KNOWS me, Momma!  Snow White KNOWS me!"  I heard that for every Disney princess we saw.  And then, "And there's the Princess and the Frog and that Princess does not know me.  But she will."  She was so matter of fact about this and would not back down when her brother insisted that the princesses did not know Chloe.

Our last day was spent at Clearwater Beach.  The kids had a blast and I had so much fun just sprawling on my beach towel photographing them playing in the waves.  Another note-to-self - if changing clothes and applying sunblock in a restaurant bathroom before hitting the beach, do NOT miss the backs of the knees with the sunblock.  At the end of the day, we drove into Tampa and met my good friend Chel.  I have known her for almost 20 years and she was my maid of honor at our wedding ten years ago.  We rarely talk on the phone and are bad at keeping up through email.  But no time has passed and we can pick up right where we left off and catch up quickly when in person.  I wish she lived closer.

We drove home on a Saturday and spent most of Sunday doing laundry, straightening the house, driving to the trainer's/kennel to pick up Little Horse.  I was so thankful my Dad had called during our vacation to offer to drive up and cook us dinner Sunday night.

The next day, I took Little Horse to the vet's to start his heartworm treatment.  He came home two days later with steroids and valium to get him through storms, along with strict orders for no exercise jumping and four weeks of crate rest.  Then he can start round two of the heartworm treatment and another four weeks of rest.  Yegads and leetle fishes.  Twenty-one more days of rest until round two starts.

This past weekend, I took the kids out for a mini-photoshoot.  I was a bit crabby because they took FOR-EVER to get several things done I had asked, so we were off to a late start.  During the middle of the photoshoot, Little Horse chewed through his leash and took off running for close to a half mile at top speed.  And I lost my cool, yelling at the kids asking why I don't have problems with other kids listening to me when being photographed.  Really not one of my finer moments.  I was thankful when Monday arrived this week.  I had planned on re-washing my fabric and ironing to prep for cutting before piecing and then quilting.....because this boy thinks it is the best nap spot in the house.

I have these beads clean right now, although I still need to photograph each set individually to go into my Etsy shop.  I have another 50+ beads hovering over my kitchen sink waiting to be cleaned.  It has been over a month since I torched and am pretty sure my torch is giving me the stink eye every day.  My goal is to have the beads ready for a Saturday shop update (as in April 23rd, the day before Easter).  But I'm not making any promises and will firm up a date/time as I get closer to having all the beads cleaned/photographed.  The eggs need to be etched.  And the buttons on the bottom mandrel are already off to a new home where some of you may see them grow up on another blog.

I promise to not let another month go by.

Productivity

That would accurately capture my weekend activity.  I helped the boy child thoroughly clean his room AND his closet.  Now I just want to stand in his room with the closet doors open, just gazing at the cleanliness and order of it.  He was so good at helping throw out junk and putting things in the trash or recycling.  The boy was ruthless and I was proud of him.  One item off the To Do list that has been there for over a month.

I also helped the girl child go through her room to clean and organize.  Her closet wasn't as bad as the boy's but now she has more hanging storage space (I bought hanging organizers for both kids almost two months ago on a trip to IKEA...finally hung them up and filled!).  Another item off the To Do list!

I went through all of the clothes in their dressers and pulled out ones they have outgrown.  The boy's clothes filled a large black yard bag!  Those will be leaving the house tonight when my friend Tabitha comes over so we can go out to dinner with Cas and then to the Roswell Photographic Society meeting.  The girl child's outgrown clothes were not as many, but still filled a large bag and need to be dropped off later at Goodwill.

Both Friday and Saturday evenings after the kids went to bed, we vegged on the couch together and watched movies.  I don't remember the last time we did that, but it was so nice and relaxing.  It seems like we have been non-stop go-go-going every day of the week since before Thanksgiving.  We have been crazy busy with Tae Kwon Do at least three if not four nights a week (the kids aren't going to bed any later for it, but it is requiring more planning on my part for meals to be ready).  Soccer every weekend.  Friends and family have been a part of almost every weekend for the last four months straight.  

It was nice to take it easy this weekend and make it all about us.  We got things done around the house that needed doing (including re-attaching an organizer rack in my pantry that has sat on the counter for the last two weeks since a crazy girl child went on a quest for pasta one night when she was cooking for us).  I took the kids to Chuck E. Cheese for an hour to play games.  And to the carwash (I think my minivan still had Orlando dirt on it from Thanksgiving).  Note-to-self: take more pics of the kids at the carwash.  The lighting is awesome and they're happy at the carwash!

Todd had two tennis matches this weekend, but helped me find multiple hours on the torch.  As a result, I made 18 new headpins and over 100 new beads!  Can I get a woot?!  Now to find the time to clean them all.  :)

I hope you had a wonderful weekend doing exactly what you wanted to be doing.  And that you were warm doing it!

Wednesday Randomness

We are getting back into the normal routine after not hearing alarm clocks for over a week of snow days. 

My headpins got included in this cool treasury!

Monday night, Tabitha drove down and joined Cassie and me for dinner before the Roswell Photographic Society meeting.  We had a wonderful time together, enjoyed some good Mexican food and talked about our cameras/photography.  I had submitted this photo of the girl child and was thrilled I received an honorable mention at the end of the evening!

I cleaned up the kitchen counters by the end of last week and am feeling so much better about walking into that room.  Next step is to re-arrange some of the cabinets.  I can do this.

My girl child is doing well in karate and is receiving commendations for being loud (when she yells Yes Sir!).  Finally.  A place that is pleased with her volume.

I took Little Horse out last night and ran more than walked the 1.2 miles.  Hopefully it won't be much longer before I can run all of it.  And then run longer.

I need to do laundry.  So I can pack.  So I can take advantage of that free frequent flier mile ticket and fly up to New York City on Saturday morning.  I can.  not.  wait.  I'm meeting Erin, Lorelei and Nancy for a girls weekend away.  I also need to make a Mississippi Mud Cake to pack up and bring with me.  I'm worried about the smackdown that Nancy might deliver if I show up empty handed.

I am looking forward to next Tuesday and taking the day off from work to take a lampworking class from Sara Sally LaGrand on using silver glasses.

And I'm also looking forward to the end of the month when my photography class with Karen Russell begins.  I am so loving my camera and am excited about where it may be taking me!

After bringing Little Horse back home, I hopped on the torch for an hour and a half and made two new sets of beads.  I also worked on cleaning up my torch table a bit more.  And after setting the self timer on my camera and getting a couple of pics, I remembered to put my safety goggles back on.  Please don't try that at home, folks.  Safety goggles are a must at the torch!

Nothing sold after my last shop update, which left me wondering if my beads seemed too pricey or if folks are just caught in the post-Christmas budget slump.  I know my beads were a little higher this time, but that just reflected the cost of the glass for more specialer colors.  Yes, specialer is a word.  

So.  This week (and next) I am focusing on making some of my more popular beads.  Some with raku.  Some etched.  And some eggs.  Since I'll be gone this weekend, I won't be doing a shop update.  I had contemplated listing new beads on Friday, but I didn't think that would be fair since I won't be around on Saturday to pack and ship them out.  So I think I'll just wait until the following weekend and hopefully have more to throw into the shop.

I made a video that I plan on sharing later this week.  I need to finish editing it and then get it uploaded to youtube.

My pile of clear shorts is being whittled down in size and my torch table is slowly getting cleaner!

My girl child is now cooking dinner for us once a week.  The boy child has been doing this since September.  While I am helping a TON, I am enjoying the fact that I am technically only cooking five nights a week now.  :)

It's never too late to be who you might have been ~ George Elliot

And on that note, I'm planning another trip to San Diego for next month to take a two day photography workshop.  I am simultaneously thrilled and nervous as I'm finding that chasing my dreams is a bit scary....I am in awe of how things are falling into place and happening for me.  I am so thankful for my friends who have encouraged and supported me.  Who tell me life is short and to take the necessary steps to improve my skills so I can get to where I want to be in my life.  Who cross their fingers and say prayers right along with me that I'm on the right path.  

And for my husband, who has supported me and my heart unfailingly.  Unwaveringly.  One hundred percent.

Snow Days

The kids will likely be out of school all week.  The roads are still pretty crummy and not very safe for school buses to be out running.  One of the downsides to working from home is I don't get snow days (as rare as they may be).  But one of my conference calls got canceled yesterday and I was able to take the kids out sledding with friends over the lunch hour.  They have never been sledding before and had an absolute blast!

There was rough housing among the boys while the adults decided on the best hill in the neighborhood.

We don't have any sleds, so Owen chose to slide on his belly half the time, rather than waiting on friends to share their sleds.

He also tried surfing down while standing up.  My brave boy.

Someone brought a real surf board, which was a favorite for adults to ride down on with multiple kids on their back.  Chloe was THRILLED to get a chance on riding down on top of Mr. Shannon and several girls.  (This is the same Mr. Shannon who spotted Jezzie Monday morning and called me :)

Chloe also hitched a ride while squatting on the back of a sled and hanging on tight to Ms. April.  Note the tutu flying out behind her!

After two days back at home, Jezzie was finally brave enough to venture outside.  But she stayed close to the back door on her first trip outside.  

These are some of the beads that have been cleaned, but there are gobs more waiting in the kitchen sink.

This is my snow-covered bead photography studio.  The sun has melted some of the six inches that were originally piled on top of my tiles, but not all.

And this is one of Little Horse's favorite snooze spots in the house.

Hope to have more bead pics to share with you tomorrow!

The Weekend and a Little Drama

The weekend was good.  We survived karate and a morning of two soccer games.  Even if it was freezing cold outside and about 15-20 degrees too cold inside the car.  ;)

The kids and I took Little Horse for a walk on Sunday afternoon.  They each practiced making snow angels, knowing that we would be hit with a big snowstorm.

The predictions of the weather forecasters did not disappoint.  We got two inches of snow in less that two hours and it was absolutely bee-you-tee-ful coming down.  I enjoyed listening to the sound of snowflakes hitting the trees and landing on the ground.  Like fairy wind chimes.  But there was a damper on this beauty.  We realized after dinner that Jezzie had been missing since lunch time.  Todd and I both walked the streets of our neighborhood calling her.  

And Todd continued those walks early this morning.  He was supposed to fly to Orlando this morning, but many of the highways were closed, our governor declared a State of Emergency and all flights were canceled out of the airport.

Georgia only has 11 snow plows (that'd be 11 more than I thought we had) and fewer than 200 salt trucks.  Needless to say, neighborhood streets are not the priorities.

School was canceled today and is canceled for tomorrow.  We are expecting there won't be any school for most of this week.  Our way of dealing with the snow is to wait for it to melt before driving around again.

At least for the sane or the cautious.  There are always the crazies out there who think they know how to drive on the snow and don't, or those who know they don't know how to drive on bad roads and don't care because they like to slam on the brakes and slide.

I'm glad the kids and I got to the farmer's market on Sunday afternoon and loaded up on our weekly groceries while Todd was playing in his first tennis match in two months.  

I love how the snow collected on this owl's feet.  He faces in towards my kitchen and is covered by the deck coming off our bedroom.  The snow had to work extra hard to come in and cover his feet!

Todd was out on his second or third search party walk around 9:30 this morning when I got a call from a neighbor who saw Jezzie in his front yard before she ran around the back of his house.  She had made tracks up to their front door.  With the length of time she was missing, we were both worried she was long gone.  But ended up only six doors down, thank goodness.

And thank goodness for facebook, prayers and good will sent by many friends to help us find her.  I don't think our neighbor would have known Jezzie was our cat if I hadn't posted her picture last night.

Abbie tried to keep me from working today by blocking my laptop.

And then Jezzie took her spot.  Jez slept most of today and was more cuddly than normal.  I hope this made a big impression on her that if she sneaks out, she'll be stuck overnight in the COLD and have to deal with a TON of snow so she won't even think about running away again.  So very thankful to have her back!

So that was my weekend.  How was yours?

I had planned on being on the torch tonight, but walking Little Horse with the boy child in the snow took longer than expected.  The boy had to make Owen Angels, which is the equivalent of a running start before a belly flop while doing the splits.  Tuesday night I will be on the torch.  I hope!

My Weekend Recap

We started off the weekend with my Mom's birthday celebration.  Of course my kids were right there to help blow out the candles.

  

Saturday morning we went to the meet and greet for the boy child's new indoor soccer game.  It is on a basketball court inside a Presbyterian church gymnasium, so it's smaller than a normal soccer field and the ball moves fast.  The boy child is very excited for this indoor season to start and can't wait to live an breathe soccer again each week.  We are thankful they will not be holding practice, so that's more time together for us as a family.

Chloe asked if she could take my picture.  How cold do I look?

When we got home afterwards, I pulled all of the Christmas decorations out of the attic.  The kids couldn't wait to put together the tree and were big enough to everything but the top.  The girl child is wearing her Santa dress from last year over her other clothes.  She is my little fashionista.

Saturday night I took the boy child to the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra to hear Handel's Messiah.

We got the cheap nosebleed seats up in the balcony.  I had hoped my boy would be as enchanted with the music and the singing as I am, but he was bored.  I think he may have been more interested if we could have sat closer and he could have seen the instruments being played.  Perhaps not.  He fell asleep during the last 30-45 minutes of the performance (and missed my favorite part!) and wasn't willing to go backstage with me afterwards to speak with one of the musicians.  He had been a champ all night using his manners, being quiet and generally on his best behavior.  I couldn't bring myself to force him into staying longer and took him home.  When asked if there was anything he liked about the evening, he replied "The brownie you brought for me to eat during intermission."  I love his honesty.

Today we met my friend Cas at the Chattahoochee River and walked along a trail through the leaves and always within sight of water.  I was well bundled and didn't have to whine about the cold (because I freeze when it goes under 85F/30C) and truly enjoyed this time out with my honeys, kids and friend.

I like this shot of Cas.  She's not a real photographer.  She just plays one on tv. ;)

I'm not sure if it's possible for siblings to get through a day without arguing, whining or intentionally irritating each other, but we had a banner time with lots of fun and even cooperating when standing in front of my camera.

They both had to bring special leaves to show me throughout our walk.

So many cool things I saw.

We even found a few caves that the kids had fun running into and playing in, climbing the rocks and hiding to jump out and yell "BOO!"

Before dinner, we walked up to the tennis courts with Little Horse.  It was still very cold, but such a gorgeous day!

Sunday afternoons are normally quiet at the tennis courts, so if they're empty we can close and lock the gates and then let Little Horse off his leach to run.  He had so much fun running, as did the kids.  Here's my little fashionista again.  I don't dress like this now, but I made very strange clothing choices as a child.  Apparently this runs through our blood.

I filled up the kiln last night with beads to use in filling a couple of custom jewelry orders.  Which means I will be sitting down and making jewelry one evening this week so a few lucky ladies will hopefully be surprised and very delighted come Christmas morning.  Not sure which nights I will be on the torch, but I definitely want to have new items to put in the shop this Friday night!

I hope your weekend was just as wonderful as mine, only warmer.  Unless of course you love the cold and snow, in which case please keep all of the cold and snow to yourself and I will smile knowing you are happy.