New Beads

Just a quick post.  Today flew by.  I had to drive into the office (the real one, which required a shower before leaving the house) and a few hours IN the office waiting for one of my laptops to get fixed.  I had left the house around 11:30am and planned on being back home by 1pm, but I was still at the office at 1:30 when my blood sugar dropped on me and I started shaking horribly.  I hunted down a break room and found the vending machines.  I got a Fanta Orange and a Snickers.  I don't remember the last time I had a Snickers, I'm sure it's been well over a year.  It was absolute heaven!

Here are the beads I made last night.  

I turned the captcha function off the other day since Blogger put in place special measures for spam comments.  So far, it has stopped three spam messages from posting.  Yay for things that work!

I'm hopping back over to my torch to make more beads now.  Have a great night!

TGIF!

This has been a good week, but I'm thankful the weekend is here.  

I had one crummy night on the torch and one wonderful night on the torch.  I'm a little sad that I'm nearing the end of my ride with these wonderful eggs.

I had a few late work nights.  

Today saw a luncheon with folks I have known and worked with for up to twelve and a half years.

They took turns around the table with memories of working with or knowing me.  

That was fun, but almost a little like being at my own funeral because how often do people really going around a table talking about you?  Don talked about my boss Chuck and how he heaped accounts on top of me because I was the one who would get it fixed.  Interesting to find out in hindsight how/why I got so much work.  :)

Lynn is on the left and was the one who hired me at BellSouth over ten years ago.  She went white water rafting with Todd and me ten years ago.  The last time I went before last month.  Marcia is on the right and I have known her since the second month of 1998 when we worked at Sprint.  I knew Marcia before I met Todd.  She talked about the sign that was made and hung on the outside of my cubicle at Sprint, designating that space only for Todd and no one else.  Both of these ladies were at our wedding.

Here's my Cas.  Those two little bead halves above were given to her today to hopefully make something really cool.  Whenever my beads split in half, I look at them to see if they could be used as cabs in her work.  Cas is the reason why I started selling beads on Etsy.  She encouraged me to try it and gave me so many pointers and tips.  She has been a wonderful sounding board!

Martin has been a friend since I was in elementary school and like my second dad.  He worked with my Mom for years before he hired on at BellSouth like his Mom.  Martin wrote up countless puzzles and mathgrams for me to figure out on my own when I went on vacations as a child.  In my adult life, we have gone family vacations with our own children.  Martin talked about when he was helping me prepare for my first interview at Sprint and towards the end I looked at him and said "Mart, I don't know that I really want this job.  I think maybe I just want to join the Peace Corps."  And then there was silence.  And more silence as he looked at me and I looked back.  I'm sure he wanted to strangle me, but he remained silent.  Until I broke the silence and said "Ok, I'll take the job if it's offered."  And that was the end of that.  I did not join the Peace Corps.  I was offered the job at Sprint.  And I accepted.  Rob is on the right and makes the best crab boil I've ever tasted.  Must be his Cajun roots!

Six months later I met and started dating this wonderful man.  We will be celebrating our 10 year wedding anniversary in less than two weeks.

Somehow the camera did not get handed off to take a picture of me with my friend Ozanna.  She took all the above pics with my camera.  Oz could be my second Mom or a close Aunt.  I have worked with her on and off for the past three years, but she gives me grief like no other.  Like we're family.  

Today made me realize how very fortunate I am for having walked into such long lasting friendships and second families through my work.  In a culture where it seems work is absolute drudgery, I am thankful for working with people I consider my extended family.  We have shared in each others' wedding days, births of our children, tears at funerals and birthday parties for our children and each other.

Tomorrow will be filled with two soccer games, a birthday party for 6 year old twins and a birthday dinner for my Grandma.  She will be 92 on Monday.  Ninety-two!

Wishing you all a WoNdErFuL weekend!

Back to Blogging and the New Dog!

********AT THIS VERY MOMENT, DOZENS OF BEADS ARE EITHER IN MY KILN OR THE KITCHEN SINK WAITING TO BE CLEANED OF BEAD RELEASE! THERE WILL BE PICS FORTHCOMING THIS WEEK ~ THANK YOU********

This month disappeared on me. Todd was gone for a week in Orlando for a work conference. While he was gone, I got sick with a nasty stomach bug (boo! hiss!) that made me lose ten pounds over two days. It was an effective weight loss method (yay, because it has stayed off over the last two weeks!), but not really how I wanted to do it. Oh well, I'll take the jump start into being better about getting to the gym more often so I can fit into my clothes better. Remember those 200+ cookies I baked in December? They went to my hips. So, so wrong.

Work has been nuts...back to having a healthy sprinkling of late nights working outages. Just thankful it's not like this all the time. Todd was gone again last week for tennis sectionals (where the state championship winning teams play each other) in Mobile, Alabama. I brought Dylan home last Friday while Todd was gone.

Then the girl child got sick this week with a stomach bug that had her throwing up all night (my poor baby!) and us changing out her sheets repeatedly. So lots of stuff going on. Hoping February treats us better healthwise, workwise AND finding more time on the torch!

Meet Dylan. Doesn't he look happy? This is driving home for the first time with a pit stop at Petsmart to pick up a collar that fit him, as well as a name tag with my cell # on it.


I know I had shown you Chance before....we were contemplating naming him Samson or Wilson or a handful of other pretty cool names (thank you to all of you for weighing in with your favorite names!). But then Todd met Chance, who acted a complete spaz (who could blame the sweet boy? he had been penned up in a 4x10ft space for well over a week due to kennel cough and no exercise time). Todd teased that with Chance's jumping, he would knock our piano over.


So Dylan was brought out next and all this sweet boy wanted to do was to sit by our feet and be petted. Dylan didn't jump or dance. He just sat. Very patiently. Waiting to be petted and told how beautiful he was. Dylan wasn't a name we had contemplated, but all four of us liked the name chosen by the rescue and agreed to keep it. After living with us for a week, I think he knows his name now. :)

Dylan weighed in at 68 pounds, which is about 40 pounds underweight. We are feeding him four times a day, instead of two with extra helpings of puppy food thrown in to fatten him up. During his first week with us, he has gained six pounds. He has also started the beginner training class at Petsmart with me on Tuesday nights. And is learning that going up the stairs is not scary (many rescue dogs are scared of doorways and stairs).

Friday was day 8 with us and that was the first day he ventured upstairs on his own (as opposed to me carrying his stubborn/scared self up all the stairs to go to bed each night) and visited Todd over a dozen times throughout the day. He is learning to stay out of the kitchen when we are eating meals and that he must show his manners and sit first before his food bowl will be put down in front of him.

Dylan is a super sweet boy. He is quiet and unassuming; content to sleep most of the day in any cool spot he can find (in front of the fireplace in the family room or out on the back porch). He and Maggie get along well together. She is having fun joining our little 5 minute training sessions throughout the day and is learning with Dylan how to "Watch Me" as I hold a treat in front of my face. We are so glad we found Dylan and look forward to many wonderful years ahead of us with him in our family!

Playing Catch Up from Last Week

Last Thursday I disappeared to Orlando for the day. This was the sunrise that welcomed me at the Atlanta airport. Gorgeous, no? I was greeted by 83 degree temps in Orlando at 10am and left shortly before 5pm with 85 degree temps. Oh, how I wish I could have bottled them and brought them home with me!

It was a most excellent day for me meeting the account team that I work with, as well as my customer. All were super nice folks and it was great getting to put faces with voices. I also got to spend the afternoon with my boss, which I really enjoyed. If you met her, she would only say that we work together. Good people all around!

Friday flew by and before I knew it, it was Saturday morning when the kids and I drove up to North Georgia to pick up my friend Tabitha and her two boys. We went to an apple orchard/farm so the kids could have fun picking apples off the dwarf trees and we could be nickel and dimed paying for funnel cakes, hot dogs and little rides.

The kids had fun being pulled on a tractor.

And filling their little bags with apples.

Ok, the pig races were free. Boy were they a hoot to see those little furry, pink bodies hauling tail around the little race track to get back and eat their treats. I had no idea hungry pigs could be so noisy, but they made a racket while locked in the shed waiting to start their race. They had spray paint down their backs so everyone knew which pig was the fastest.

We picked up big lollipops for the kids before we left.

On our departure, the boys took off running and I chased after to get them to stop before getting to the parking lot. In my haste, I tripped and ran nose to knees for a good fifteen feet before I lost complete balance and landed with scraped knees and elbows. The only thought running through my mind during that long fall was "Please don't let my camera break. Please don't let my camera break. Please. Don't. Let. My. Camera. Break." Thankfully, it was ok, although the lens cap knocked loose in the fall. Strangers helped pick up all of the scattered apples, but my dignity was gone and I had a hard time looking anyone in the eye. It was a shame Tabitha had her hands full, otherwise she likely would have got it on video. I'm sure I was a sight to behold. :)

Saturday I drove to the Southern Flames meeting and this is the beautiful sunset that lit my way. Heather Trimlett was in town for weekend classes and gave a demo on one of her gorgeous large holed disks made from a ginormous twisty she made....too cool!

My torch was lit for a good four hours today while Todd watched the kids. I'm really pleased with everything that came out of the kiln tonight. Can't wait to show you all of the new goodies!