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12/1907
Merry
Christmas
It's been quite a year for me. Seemed like I was coming down with
something and getting sick every 6 week or so. It was a God send when
I found out is was my Thyroid and the solution was as simple as hormone
replacement and time. It's been wonderful to not have to sleep 12
hours and take two naps a day and watch my bead production slow to a
trickle. I adore making beads, so I am so looking forward to a new
year of being back to normal production again.
This year, we added a new member to our herd of cats, or should I say,
he found us. He was a skinny little stray kitten that let Weazel and
Mouse bat the crap out of him. They never hurt him, and that's
probably why he never ran away. It only took a week or two for them to
except him. The girls (Tina & Jett) are still working on letting
him know he is the omega cat, but Maynerd is fitting in nicely. My
cats have been a constant source of entertainment and companionship for
us, and I need to get back to taking pictures again of their antics.
I won't bore anyone any further other than to say, have a Merry
Christmas, a Happy New Year and a peaceful holiday season. Steve found
a cute website and plugged my face into a holiday video. I thought
everyone might enjoy seeing what I look like. Miss
Donna Scrooge (fyi, if you use Netscape, the link won't
work. It opened just fine for me in Internet Explorer, though)
One last picture for this year. Santa came to Sanger tonight, riding
on top of the fire engine, blowing the horn, throwing candy to all the
kids who came out to see and wishing everyone a Merry Christmas. How
cool is that......
12/7/07
My daughter just finished her last class today. She now has a
double degree in geology and anthropology. Well, she still has a
couple of final tests next week, but basically, she's a scholar
now. She pretty much did it the hard way and struggled through
part time for many years, so that makes the degrees even more special
to me. At 33, I'm soooo proud of her.
Congratulations Kara
11/28/07
It's been two full years today, since mom passed. I still
keep telling myself she's just off at a bowling tournament somewhere
near a casino telling her girlfriends about her grandchildren. Her
greatest personal passions, travel, ten pins, nickel slots, friends
and
those grandkids.... and dad, 60 years worth of dad.... She was so
vibrent, running at life full speed. Dad's 85 and his bowling
average this year is (as he puts it) only 120. sigh
I want to be like my mom & dad when I grow up.
11/11/07
I have one smart cat, well, more on the line of just lucky. Tina
loves to come up on my desk while I'm on the net. She sits in
front of the monitor until I crab at her to sit down, or she just takes
it upon herself to flop down on the desk herself, usually aiming for my
keyboard, sigh. Last night I wasn't watching her close enough,
sigh. She usually hits the function keys, but this time I didn't
see what she plopped on, sigh. Did you know that you can change
the color of a highlighted email from black to 6 other colors just by
pressing a number key? Took Tina only seconds to discover that,
but it took me an hour to figure it out. Of course the cursor has
to setting on top of the chosen email, but I'm betting Tina already
knew that, too. Life has not been dull
with Tina around. Oh ya, for the second time this week, I have
the bottom of my stove stuffed with towels so the mouse (or should I
say mice) she brings in and drops in the kitchen don't escape into the
house before I can catch them, sigh.
11/3/07
I can't believe it's been a month since I've written. My thyroid
is squaring away, and it's great to be getting my stamina back, nuff
said on the health front... Our TV started getting flaky this
week so we went out and bought a 47 inch HDTV. Dish came
yesterday and hooked us up to receive HD programing. Holly
mackerel, what a picture.... Even the sound is different. Fall is
definitely here, the yard is full of pecans with more to fall,
and the house has had a rash of mice lately, all brought in by cats, of
course. We're getting good at snaring them with either a towel or
the leaf net for the pool.
10/4/07
"What's that nibbling at my toes in the middle of the night? I'm
not sure, but it's probably the baby mouse that Jett brought in and let
go in the bedroom!!!"
Since we couldn't find it, we figure one of the 5 cats should
eventually catch it, or since it's so tiny, it may find it's way
outside again. At least we found Jett's stash of bugs and birds
under the bed, the ones she sneaks in, in the middle of the
night. Just part of the joys of having their own cat door, I
guess. It's been a while since I've updated and although I feel
better than I did 3 weeks ago when I started taking my thyroid meds, I
still don't feel all that great. But at least my 2 naps a day
have been reduced to just resting a lot with an occasional nap. I've
even started spending more time at my torch.
Having good
health really is one of the most important things you will ever own in
life.
9/11/07
Well, I had my appointment with the endocrinologist yesterday to see
how to treat my fluky thyroid. He put me on snythroid, hopefully
that will reduce the goiter and stabilize my thyroid. Not much
more to say than that, it's a waiting game now.
9/7/07
And
Maynerd Makes Five
This is the new addition to our herd of cats. He was a stray and
wouldn't go away when the other cats chased him, so he gets to stay.
He's probably 5-6 months old, and it took us about a month
to tame
him. Tina & Jett still hiss once in a while, but they're getting
better. I love the way his white fur feathers into the black. He has
very long legs, long head and tail, so he probably has a bit of Siamese
in him.
Just a short
announcement
My doctor diagnosed me this week with hypo thyroid, guess that
explains my chronic fatigue
coupled with this annoying insomnia the past few months. I'm not going
to stop making beads but expect I will be slowing down a bit until I
can get my health under control again. So please don't stop looking
for my beads, I haven't left the planet, just taking production a bit
slower.
!
! !
! !
WARNING ! ! ! ! !
! ! ! ! ! Proud
mother announcement ahead ! ! ! ! !
I am proud to
announce the engagement of my daughter, Kara Hillius, to
David Whitney. Kara is a part time pharmacy tech for Walgreen and a
student at The University of Washington in Seattle, Washington. She
will graduate in December 2007, with degrees in geology and
anthropology. David has a degree in business administration and also
photography and is employed at Trident Seafood. A wedding is planned
for late 2008.
The Ring - it's brilliant cut round set in a square setting.
I love this ring, but I'm betting Kara loves it even more.
8/10/07
Well, I went outside to get the mail this morning, and when I came back
in I noticed feathers. It's been a long time since I've had to
clean up feathers. I did a quick surveillance of the cat toys and
didn't find anything that didn't belong... phew. So I got out the
vacuum and cleaned up the feathers under my desk as two of the three culprits cats scurried
from the room, then I went on to the ones by the door. As I was
almost done, it felt like I was being watched so I looked around for
Tina. Nope, it was the bird, I have no idea where he came from
but he was sitting about two feet away calmly watching me vacuum up his
cloths as if to say "When you're done there, can I have my tail back...
and oh ya, where is the exit"? Through experience I've learned
the easiest way to catch a bird is to throw a towel over it, so I went
to get one expecting one of the cats to resume the chase. Guess
the fun was gone once mom interfered, cause he was still sitting there
calmly waiting for me and I caught him without an incident. I
though birds couldn't fly without a tail but it was like a Disney
movie, he took off and didn't look back. duh
7/29/07
When you see a disclaimer, you know it was because someone did
something stupid. Steve found this ATM at the drive through of a
local bank this afternoon and came back home to get me with the
camera. It speaks for itself. Watch out for shooting money.
7/20/07
When I was growing up, one of my favorite things to do was to put
puzzles together. I had one that was a circle and that I knew so
well, I could put it together with the picture facing down, and from
the center working out to the border. I loved that
puzzle... Guess that's why I loved putting stained glass panels
together too. But I didn't expect it would help prepare me for
what happened yesterday. Steve went outside and found the yard
flooded. What the heck? "Oh sh*t, that's why it took
so long for the washer to fill." Now it was only a matter of
finding which pipe had broken. (I'm getting to the puzzle
part) Steve turned the water to the house off and put our sump
pump (doesn't everyone have one?) in the pool of water next to the
house to drain the pool of water running out from under the house. Three
hours later and we hadn't made a dent in the amount of water,
that's cause the leak was at the far end of the house, under the
kitchen... again... So Steve ripped up the floor, repaired the
leak, turned the water back on, let out a sigh of relief and four hours
later was still pumping water out of the yard. While I got to
work with my puzzle skills of piecing the floor boards back into
place. But the funny part was later in the afternoon when we
heard a faint meow... After a 10 minute hunt, we found all four
cats, safe and sound above
the house.
7/16/07
Just a fast update. My catalog is full of the new oval beads from
the mold I had made.
It's a chunky little oval at 13x22mm, but it's a comfortable width for
bracelets.
7/13/07
Once again, I had a
new custom mold made and it was delivered to me
this week. It's a chunky little oval that is 13x21mm and I love
this
shape. The mold is super easy to use, and since I just put
Steve on
an airplane and have the whole weekend to myself, I'm planning an oval
marathon. There will be lots of ovals in the catalog next week so
if
you're not on my notification list, you can just come back and check in
yourself. What else is new in my life? Well... it rained
again today... sigh... monsoon season in north Texas.
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(FYI: This set
is up on eBay this week.)
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7/5/07
Happy 4th of July, well, better late then never. We did ours last
week end. Went to some friends house and had a nice time. Fun, food and
new friends, what more can you say. Here's a
picture of the fireworks we bought (all aerial) with Tina
guarding them, obviously we had quite a show, with people from across
their lake applauding. The other picture is of Steve and his BBQ pit
hooked up to our friends tractor, and Woody in attendance.
 
6/27/07
Need a little fun quiz for once? Which
Fantasy/SciFi Character Are You? I get to be "Yoda: A
venerated sage with vast
power and knowledge, you gently guide forces around you while serving
as a champion of the light." Maybe that explains why I feel a
need to have all the lights on when I'm home alone at
night. Not cause I'm scared, but because I'm championing
them. (but I'm only green when riding a roller coaster.)
6/18/07
You know it's been too long since you've made beads when... you find a
spider has built a web between two dipped mandrels.... (forgot to take
a picture before I scooted him off). Sooo... I go to light the
torch, and I think I forgot my didymium glasses at the
meeting Saturday night... drat, I have boro glasses though, but,
drat. Then I get a glass sliver in my foot, dang, those hurt worse than
a
wooden sliver, I'll finish my stringer
first. Now the cat wants to rub on the bottom of my foot. What the
heck? he's never done that before, dang that hurt, I'll finish my
stringer first. But I could be wearing high heals, working in a
stuffy office somewhere. Live ain't too bad after all. Ok,
then I break a few of stringers cause I forgot not to touch them with a
cool tool,
that breaks the glass, drat. Here's my saving grace --- I found a
rose
on my giant rose bush and measured the stem at 4'11". Yep, almost
a 5
foot stem. I'll cut it in a few days when the bud opens and take
a
picture.
Bare feet, cats and 5 foot roses, ya, I guess life is pretty good after
all.
6/9/07
DISCLAIMER: If you are squeamish about what cats do to birds,
don't read this post.
Sometimes my cats make me feel like I'm in a bad movie satire. This one
I call:
"Godfeather,
Part 1"
rated I for icky
(the condensed version)
It was a restful nights sleep. Her husband was out of town, and
in spite of four cats to contort around, Donna had the king sized bed
to sprawl out in. It was Saturday, and there was no alarm clock
to wake her, only the post man delivering the mail to the box at the
curb. Three of the cats had already dispersed to their favorite
sunny windows, only Tina was left, meowing softly, wanting her
customary morning treats from the jar on the night stand. Donna
flipped the covers off, sat up, reached for her glasses and the
treats. Then she discovered it.... laying next to her on the
bedspread.... It was the liver of a bird.... "WHAT THE
F***..." Fully expecting the house to be riddled with feathers,
she grabbed her robe and cautiously peaked out into the hall. Nope, all
clear. On to the living room, her luck ran out. Next to the dinning
table was a wing. She cautiously did a visual
check of the 30 million cat toys sprawled out over the office
floor. "Oh no, more feathers?? Oh wait, those are cat toys"
as she giggled at the silly mistake, then came to her senses and
finished the search. Only the other wing was discovered at the
cat door in the studio. With the house cleared of all the muck,
Donna threw the spread into the washing machine and dragged out the
carpet cleaner. At $199, it had become her best friend.
6/7/07
That learning curve I was referring to in my last post has gotten a
little bumpy lately. I've only had one bead electroform in the
past
week. The paint on the other beads has just washed off instead of
plated, and it's so time consuming to trouble shoot. Not to
mention the stomach crud stuff that's going around landed at our house
again and it's my turn to be whiny this week. Bizarre stuff this time,
you feel sick and at the same time you don't.
5/28/07
Well I finally did something I've been wanting to do for a long time
now, I revamped the top of my website. I took out the old tired
Black Velvet logo beads, and redid some html so I can switch photo's in
and out. I really don't know html and had to played with it
and just experiment, so it was a little nerve wracking, trying to not
screw it up. The new beads are three of my electroforming success
stories. Man, I have fallen in love with this new toy, so as soon
as I can get some non-experimental prototypes done, they'll be in the
catalog. I Still have a bit of a learning curve to go through.
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5/17/07
I finally realized
how long it's been since I wrote something and since I don't have much
to say, I thought I would show a picture of my second successful
electroform bead. I haven't taken the time to play with the
electroforming much in the past couple of weeks, but I think I have
weeded out all the things I've been doing wrong. Next week I'll
be making some focals to form and sell online. Our little local bead
society just became an official chapter of the ISGB
and we are having a booth at the The Bead
Renaissance Show in Grapevine (TX) this weekend, I think
I'll wear the bead and show it off a little.
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5/4/07
I found this flower in
the yard, on a weed, no less. Looked almost like a dandelion
plant. I don't think I've ever seen a
square flower. Guess I'll have to do some research now to find
out what it is.
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5/2/07
Well here it is, my
first electroformed bead. It only took me 6
attempts to figure out that they call it an electrical "current' for a
reason. I had it just high enough that it was just "washing" the
conductive
paint right off the bead. You can still see one spot inside the
beads that has a hole in the platting, but I think that may just be due
to the way I had it hanging on the wire. All in all, I'm happy
and am looking forward to many more beads, got two hearts plating as we
speak.
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4/29/07
I've had a busy couple of days and I'm just going to hit the highlights
in a nutshell. Steve has been out of town at some friends
house. Our guys are in the same line of work and they are doing a
project together, so I drove up for a couple of days. Lynne took
me into Oklahoma City Saturday. First we went to the memorial at
the bombing site. Wow, surreal... I had forgotten my camera at
home so I missed a shot that would have probably become one of my
favorite photo's. We were standing and looking at the memorial
chairs of the victims, when a duck and about 8-10 ducklings waddled through. Now that was surreal,
life goes on. If you're ever close to OK City, it is worth the
side trip to see. Next was the Festival of Arts and we wondered
through the art & craft booths, mostly painters though, not much
glass. Now for the best, we walked over to the Art Museum to see the
Chihuly display, now that's a whole lot of glass. I told the
guard that one of the pieces was broken and I would be glad to remove
it for them, I don't think she believed me... Thank you Lynne, I
had a great time, don't forget to send my cook home soon, I'm starving
(footnote: Steve does all the cooking cause he's good at it and I suck
at it).
I drove back home this morning to go to an open house at Kittrell/Rifkind
Art Glass Studio in Dallas, they have given me the honor of
carrying my beads for sale. I got to see my friend Ginny
Hampton Schmidt demo beads for a couple of hours, saw Donna
Merrill again (she teaches there and it's been several years since I've
seen her), finally got to meet Marsha face to face, a customer who has
gone from being an email friend to just plain old friend, and of
course, owners David & Barbara Kittrell, wonderful fun people to
know.
Here's an update picture of my rosebush from 10 days ago. Over
half the buds are yet to open. The rose in my hand is from a bush in
the front yard, each year the flowers get bigger.
 
4/24/07
However many lives we think we have, this is the one one we need to
make the most of.
(from: What Cats Teach Us... Life's Lessons
Learned From Our Feline Friends by Glenn Dromgoole)
This is Mooch. He was born from a stray cat in
our barn. After his mother and siblings moved on, he stayed and
would come in to eat (thus the name mooch) but we were never able to
fully tame him. Thank you Cheryl, for the book.
4/19/07
This year one of my rose bushes brings a whole new meaning to the term
bush. I trimmed it back last fall and all of the purple leaves
are new to this year. This thing was an ugly monster out of
control 10 years ago. Now it's a beautiful monster under
control. We guestimated there are over 200 buds right now.
I counted 19 buds on this branch, that beats last years record of 13 on
one branch.
4/14/07
Spring has sprung
The grass has ris'
The taxes are done
I'm not a good poet
But I'm a happy one
We did some spring things in the yard a few days ago, one was to spread
some new mulch. I put some in front of the hole leading under my
studio and it hasn't been disturbed so I guess our little possums are
gone. phew Now on to the next 'friend' in the house. Except this one we
won't mind. Seems one of the stray cats has
found that where there are other cats, there is probably food. 'It' was
in the house twice today. Our fab four seem to be
indifferent about it. They will hiss and scare it, but don't seem
to be very bothered too much by it's presence, so we'll see. Mouse does
chase it around the yard, but they don't fight, so maybe
it's probably just a territorial thing. And the highlight of the
week... I had a local toolmaker make me a new mold. One of the
shapes is an inch long oval and I'm real excited about. Even
though the round bead will always be my main shape, it's nice to expand
my line. The others are a couple of barrels and a veeery long
thin barrel.
4/6/07
I guess the season for bringing friends into the house has
started. A couple of nights ago, we were sitting at our
computers (yes, we
have three, plus two laptops.. doesn't everyone? Well now a days,
if you're both self employed it's a must), anyway, gecko's are a
favorite around here, and sitting in the middle of the floor was the
biggest one I've seen yet. Gecko's and twigs are Jett's favorite
things to bring in, so I'm putting my money on it beeing her. Then
there was that noise at 4 AM. I
went out to see which two cats were having a spat and saw this huge rat run into a corner,
except rats don't have bunny ears.... A neighbor across the
street runs a salvage operation (that's PC for junk yard) in his back
yard. It's mostly behind a fence, goats keep it clean and the
cats & dogs keep unwanted critters and vermin's under
control. It's a small rural town and it's been there for over 50
years so he's just the lovable
old guy down the street. How's that for getting sidetracked....
This year he also has rabbits and how that bunny got in my house will
remain a mystery. (darn cat, now I want a bunny) Have a
peaceful Easter weekend.
4/1/07
If you haven't read yesterdays post, please read it first.
Just an update on our possum. The neighbors told us yesterday it
has been around for a while. Their dogs have had it tree'd a
couple of times. Dogs?? If you call something that is smaller
than our cats a dog, but I digress. Well, that darn critter was
in the house again when Steve got up, just having a lovely breakfast of
cat food. He managed to trap him in a corner so we stuck a cat
carrier in his only escape and just waited. Didn't take him long
to come out. We have a lake nearby that will make a lovely new
home for him. I'll be removing the 'beware of attack cats' sign
from the window.
3/31/07
If excitement also comes in three's, than we've had an exciting 24
hours here. I didn't quite tar the roof of my studio good enough
last summer, as I found out when the storm system went through last
night. I always thought it would be fun to have one of those
waterfall walls, and I got to have a temporary one for about half an
hour. 'Storms are gone, now I can settle in and have a peaceful
night of making beads." Yep, stayed up until 2:30 AM, got to
listen to Coast to Coast again, surreal. Went into the kitchen
before heading to bed, 'aw crap, what is that noise, sounds like water
running.' Nope, it wasn't rain leaking into the house again, this
was coming from under the floor. Steve mentioned to me a few
weeks ago that one of the toilets needed to have the tank stopper
replace cause he could hear water running. Nope, that wasn't the
toilet, it was a slow leaking pipe under the kitchen floor and you
could just hear it in the bathroom piping. I checked the utility
bills and realized it was slowly leaking for at least a couple of
months, but last night the house was just quiet enough to finally
notice it in the kitchen. I left a note for Steve and went to
bed. 5:30 AM he wakes me up. Nope, it wasn't to help fix
the pipe, it was to help corral a possum out of the house. Steve
was sitting at the computer when it came in the cat door, three cats
right behind it, as if to say, "Hay, come on in here, it's dry and
we've got good food. Can you stay a while and play?" Good
thing possums are nearly blind and slow moving, much easier to get out
than a mouse or bird. When I finally got up at 10:30, I found out
that he had come in for a second visit but decided he didn't like his
butt whipped with a broom, and he gladly left on his own. Now on
to the pipe fixing, those are never quick projects. The kitchen
has a hole in the floor and there's a thin layer of sawdust everywhere,
but the leak is fixed and I'll clean up tomorrow after we are sure it
will stay fixed. Finally it was 4 PM and we went to pick up a
ridding lawn mower Steve had located on craigslist.
So I tried it out, pretty neat, and did you know you can knock a wheel
off just by running over a decorative railroad tie? I think I've
had enough excitement for 24 hours.
3/29/07
It's gone, I miss it, but I sure don't regret that it went away. Had a
tooth pulled this week. Second from the back, upper left so
there is a lone tooth back there for now. Funniest darn
feeling. It's like having a wad of gum in your mouth that is
irritating the crap out of you cause there's nowhere to throw it away,
so you have to keep it tucked away in your cheek. Hay, maybe I
could fill in the gap with a wad of gum for now, hmmm, maybe not....
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3/22/07
Ever wonder what's
on people's walls? Well, this is what I stare at every time I sit
at my computer. We went to New Orleans a few years ago and I
splurged on this ceramic & feather mask. It's as if those
eyes are looking straight into your soul. And of course, from my
stained glass days, copper is my favorite color.
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3/18/07
Where do pets come from?
A newly discovered chapter in the Book of Genesis has provided the
answer to "Where do pets come from"? Adam and Eve said,
"Lord, when we were in the garden, you walked with us every day. Now we
do not see you any more. We are lonesome here, and it is difficult for
us to remember how much you love us."
And God said, I will create a companion for you that will be with you
and who will be a reflection of my love for you, so that you will love
me even when you cannot see me. Regardless of how selfish or childish
or unlovable you may be, this new companion will accept you as you are
and will love you as I do, in spite of yourselves."
And God created a new animal to be a companion for Adam and Eve. And it
was a good animal. And God was pleased.
And the new animal was pleased to be with Adam and Eve and he wagged
his tail.
And Adam said, "Lord, I have already named all the animals in the
Kingdom and I cannot think of a name for this new animal."
And God said, " I have created this new animal to be a reflection of my
love for you, his name will be a reflection of my own name, and you
will call him DOG."
And Dog lived with Adam and Eve and was a companion to them and loved
them. And they were comforted. And God was pleased. And Dog was content
and wagged his tail.
After a while, it came to pass that an angel came to the Lord and said,
"Lord, Adam and Eve have become filled with pride. They strut and preen
like peacocks and they believe they are worthy of adoration. Dog has
indeed taught them that they are loved, but perhaps too well."
And God said, I will create for them a companion who will be with them
and who will see them as they are. The companion will remind them of
their limitations, so they will know that they a> not always worthy
of adoration."
And God created CAT to be a companion to Adam and Eve.
And Cat would not obey them. And when Adam and Eve gazed into Cat's
eyes, they were reminded that they were not the supreme beings.
And Adam and Eve learned humility. And they were greatly improved.
And God was pleased. And Dog was happy. And Cat didn't give a shit one
way or the other.
3/14/07
I got bawled out again last night about not posting enough, so I guess
I'll try to stop in on my own blog more often. Darn daughter,
she's just too lazy to call to catch up on my news. Actually,
she's pretty busy. She works 25 hours a week as a pharmacy tech
and has a full load of classes, at opposite ends of the universe of
course. She'll graduate next winter with double degree's in
anthropology and geology. She'll be taking a geology field
trip to Montana for 6 weeks this summer, so hopefully I can talk her
into some pictures to post later in the year. (There Kara, bet
you're popping in to see what's new and all there is to read about is
yourself. haha) There has actually been a (lame) reason for me
not posting much lately. We have had three rounds of full blown
two week cold/flu episodes since Christmas. So my 'good' time has
been mostly spent on catching up with eBay, bookkeeping, cloths
washing, etc, and generally getting some energy back. And not a
minute too soon, spring is here and the yard is full of weeds. We
had them all weeded out last year (pun intended) but we sit on a
downhill corner lot and all the rainwater washes everyone's weed seeds
into our yard. With a bit of consistent 'WeedStop' spraying,
they'll all be gone soon. Then we're going to revamp the rock
garden again, tried to make a stream in it last year. We won't be
making that mistake again this year, just a simple waterfall without a stream will do
just fine, we like the noise of the waterfall.
3/9/07
I have two websites for you to take a look at and enjoy. The first was
sent to me by a friend and I have never been so awe stricken and felt
so insignificant. Akiane
is a child prodigy painter & poet and the only way to describe her
work is,
calming and profound. The second is an 'I need a good laugh' site my
daughter, Kara, found. Engrish
What is Engrish? The site defines it as: "the humorous English
mistakes that appear in Japanese advertising and product design".
2/25/07
Well I guess it's time to do an update again. The week has been a bit
daunting. I've been smelling a very faint gas leak for a while
(natural gas, not propane), so Steve went looking for it last week. We
live in a house built in 1902 so no project is just cut-and-dried. We
spent two days digging new trenches, tearing up part of the floors in
two bathrooms and rerouting & replacing pipes. Then two more days
replacing
floors, resheetrocking the wall behind the washer/dryer and painting.
But the good news is that I have a new washer & dryer and a marble
will not roll to the wall on at least 1/5 of the floor in the main
bathroom. The rest of the floor will wait until I save up some money
for some exotic type of tub. aaah We found three layers of floor in
the main bath too, the third was put right on top of the linoleum of
the second floor. Two layers of sheetrock on the wall with 3 different
wall papers. All in all though, I love our little old house, my only
regret is that when it was remolded in the 50's-60's, the originality
of it was destroyed. sigh
2/17/07
I love my cats, but sometimes they go too far. They usually
scatter around the room at night, but on cold nights, they like to pile
up at the foot of the bed. Sleeping in a fetal position can lead to back
aches.... Ya know those boxes that a magicians assistant lays in
while he stick swords into it? Well if you've ever seen the
inside of one, you know that the person is just contorted and twisted
like a pretzel around where the sword goes through the box. That's kind
of what our cats think they are training us for.
Now for some good stuff. I was up late last night so I turned on
Coast to Coast. I love that program and boy did George have a
good show. I've heard him talk about this topic before, but now
someone has actually put together a scientific team to explore the
"Hollow Earth Theory". I was making beads so I didn't listen all
that closely, just thought I would go to the website later, but it
doesn't say all that much about the expedition. sigh Here's the
gist: there's been a theory around for thousands of years that the
earth is hollow. A bunch of scientists have a Russian ice breaker
and three documentary film crews lined up to leave for the North Pole
on July 4, 2007, and yes, seats are available to the public. The
site doesn't talk much about the theory but they have a neat
picture of what the hole might look like. They (and
who are these "they" anyway) theorize the hole may be anywhere from 80
to 500 miles in diameter and that's why Admiral Bird didn't know he was
flying into it when he supposedly
did. It's too big to see from the ground. Dr. Agnew said
(on Coast to Coast) that the theory has the earth at round 700 miles
thick and being hollow, with the inside possibly having it's own
ecosystem, complete with intelligent life, and the sea linking the two
worlds. I'm confused on the gravity thing then. If gravity
keeps us on the ground by pulling us to the center of the planet, how
do they stay on the ground on the inside of the planet? Sure
hope one of the 'big boy' networks has one of the documentaries on
this fall.
2/1/07
Grab the other people in the house, sit down and be prepared 6 minutes
of laughing.
Evolution
of Dance - YouTube video
1/28/07
I'm finally feeling better. Cold is gone, strep throat is gone,
sinus infection is gone, two rounds of anti biotics done with. All
that's left is to get my stamina back, but then, I've always liked
to sleep late and stay up late.
Our house was built in 1902 so it's a never ending fix-it-up
project. We have a couple of kitchen counter top tiles that
needed replacing so we decided to tackle that this weekend. Funny
how these things around here grow beyond the original project. The
caulk between the counter and the wall was discoloring, so we might
as well replace it too. Yeck, mold!! Not much, pretty
localized, and pretty old so it was dead, but still, it expanded the
project. We replaced a 1"x6" section of sheet rock behind the
sink and hoped we still had paint to match. Yep, phew. I
could just see replacing a few tiles growing into painting the whole
kitchen. The grout wasn't sealed yet, so it was pretty
interesting having cling wrap on the counter top so you can cook. Nope,
no take out in this house, not with Steve, an award winning BBQ
cook, doing all the cooking. He'd rather east sawdust
first. Come to think of it, we've done that before too.
1/18/07
I normally add a picture & caption to my
auctions, usually one of the cats. This time I thought
I would also post the picture here. Here is how I described it: we went out driving the other night after
the freezing rain. The lights in the park lit up the ice
accumulation on the branches of this tree. Looks like a great
character for a sci-fi movie. This has become one of my favorite
pictures. We didn't get a lot of ice on the roads here (north of
Dallas) but it's been a longer low 30's cold snap that we usually get.
1/3/07
I hope you all are having a good new year so far. Just a brief
summery of my holiday. Christmas was the Saturday before at our
house. Great, it came and it went, and so did the
relatives. Then Christmas day came and went, quietly, and so did
the hubby. He left the 26th for California to work until the
2nd. What a holiday, alone, with lots of time and peace and quiet
to myself to make lots of beads. Then it hit, the cold from h*ll,
and oh ya, strep throat, and with it an allergic reaction to
amoxicillin. My lovely time along turned into a History and
Science channel marathon. Not a total wash though, I learned all
kind of archeological things have happened in the past 30 years. I even
understand E=MC2 now, and the new theory of parallel
universes. Did you know King Hared made his 17 yr old
brother-in-law high priest of the Jews, then drowned him? On that
lovely note - I'm off to make my first bead in over 3 weeks. (did
I mention, I finished the last half of an afghan?)
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12/23/06
this
years Lindsey lights video
We got back from Vegas a few days ago and blogging about it has
just not been on my list. If you've ever seen one of those shows
on TV about Vegas, well then, you've seen better pictures than I took,
so that saves me from uploading them.... It was wonderful though,
to see Kara & Dave again, and it was fun to watch Kara play the
penny slots, o-n-e p-e-n-n-y
a-t a t-i-m-e. And this was the first time I saw the
dealertainers at the Imperial
Palace. They have an area where the dealers are celebrities
impersonators and every hour or so, they get up on a stage and lip sink
a song, fun stuff, except Louis Armstrong sang live, wow, he was good.
Well, my Christmas is officially over. Yeehaa. We had the
gang in today, done, finished. Christmas just isn't the same for
me after loosing mom last year. It's getting easier though, and
maybe when I have grandchildren the season will be alive for me again.
Merry Christmas
to all of you.
12/13/06
It's vacation time so the catalog will be down until Dec.19th. We
will be flying to Vegas and meet my daughter and her boyfriend
there. Then after someone wins their first big jackpot, we'll get
tickets to
The Beatles Cirque Du Soleil. The cheep seats are $130, times
four equals 'a big jackpot first'. Kara hasn't decided which
cheesy Christmas show to see, but we'll probably figure that out when
we get there. We've planned a rental car side trip into the
mountains so I'll have pictures next week.
11/30/06
Do you think this is a little bit toooo compulsive? We had been
babying these tomato
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| plants
since early spring. They finally
started to
produce fruit this fall so it was just a matter of "we will not give
up" when the arctic cold front hit last night (we're just north of
Dallas, Tx. don't ya just hate global warming). It went from 77
degrees yesterday to 26 last night. The cold snap will be too long to
just cover them up so we pulled up plants and all and drug them in the
house. |
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11/29/06
One last picture of my rose in full bloom.
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11/27/06
Here is an updated
picture on my ruffled rose. It's in full bloom now, and the color
is actually a deep
burgundy rose, darker than the picture. There's still one more
bud but I don't expect it to survive the hard 20 degree freeze
that is suppose to hit in a couple of days. Couple of years ago,
one rose had a 3 foot long stem all to itself.
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11/25/06
I pruned my rose bushes about a month ago and one had a few buds that I
decided to leave along. I went out to look at them today and got the
most lovely surprise. One is in full bloom, and it has ruffled petals.
It's not suppose to have ruffles. The second picture is from last year
from the same bush. Guess it has evolved or something. We
had a peaceful Thanksgiving this year, no one came over..... I
lost my mother at this time last year so it was fine with me to sit all
day with my sweetheart and watch TV..... and just be still.
 
11/18/06
This is the first
flower on my African
Violet that we bought a few months ago. This just amazes me, cause if
you want a plant to die, just give it to
me. But I have no problem with these plants.
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I
stumbled across some of my first beads today. They're from the
summer of 2001, top set
in my hand. They didn't sell at the time and I'm glad now that I
still
have them. It's been quit an evolution. The bottom set on
eBay right now, so you can see the size difference. The old set
averages 5x10mm,
as compared to the 18mm that is my standard bead now.
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11/10/06
At the risk of sounding like an advertisement page, I'm once again
going to push a product for ya'll to try. Zicam, you know, that stuff
they advertise that will "reduce the duration and severity of a cold"?
Wow, does it ever!! I've never had a 3 day cold before.
11/5/06
Do you like to try new flavors? Something you maybe wouldn't
stumble across on your own? I'm originally from North Dakota and
there are a few wild berries that we make into jelly. My favorite
is the chokecherry. Others
include buffaloberry, juneberry, sandberry and wild plum. These jellies
are hard to find, if non existent, in the south. I've lived in Texas
for 23 years now, and believe me, you just can't
find them here. Except for now, they finally made it to the
web. I am now in chokecherry heaven. The flavor is
undescribable, laterally, it's not like any other flavor you'll ever
taste. Here is a link to Dakota
Seasonings and Berry Dakota,
each has flavors the other doesn't have so look at them both. The
prices are reasonable and they would make a great unusual Christmas
gift.
10/29/06
What a wonderful way to spend a Sunday afternoon, I took a 4 hour
nap and then updated my bead catalog. Had to build up some mental
energy...
I've come to realize that my eBay customer base is quite different than
my web site in terms of # desired in a set of beads. So, I will
start to concentrate on making small sets specifically for the site
instead of someplace to stick my odds 'n' ends. I've also started
an email list to notify when I update with new 'stuff'. There's a
link on the 'Bead' page to email me if you want to be added. Phew, that
wore me out, think I'll go take another nap.
10/21/06
I took a picture of the full moon a few weeks ago. It came out
kind of blurred so I wasn't happy with it, but you know what? It
has grown on me since then, it has a bit of an eeriness to it. How many
faces can you see in the moon? So far, I've found five.
10/16/06
I didn't realize it had been that long since I posted last until my
daughter phoned me last nite to complain. Sorry Kara, I'll try to post
more often but when you lead a boring life... But, we did go to
the State Fair of Texas yesterday. It was drizzly all day, mostly
light, so the crowd was about 1/4 of what a
family-Sunday-at-the-fair-day should have been. Nice. I get
headaches from too much sun and heat and I love the rain anyway so this
was the most enjoyable fair visit I've ever had. Nope, I don't do
rides either. I'm one of those old fogies that goes for the food
and exhibits. They had a new thing this year, fried
cheesecake. Can you say 'seventh heaven'?? It's nothing
more than a frozen cheesecake log with fillo dough, deep fried with
powdered sugar sprinkled on top. But the freezing keeps the
cheesecake cold. The fair grounds has one of the largest ferris
wheel in the world and I took a picture that gives a pretty good sense
of how big it is, and you can see how crowded it was at three in the
afternoon at the state fair...on a Sunday.
10/6/06
I thought I would write something about beads this time. I've
started into another of what I call my "if you think you're done, add
something" style, some other bead makers are calling it "the kitchen
sink" style. Here is my latest set up on eBay
right now, ending 10/11. I though I would show you
what it took to make this set. 9 different colors of glass rods,
9 different stringers and 11 twisties. It took 1-1/2 hours to
pick the right contrasting colors and pull stringers &
twisties. Then it took another 2-1/2 hours to make the beads,
then overnight to anneal.
9/26/06
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DARYL
Today is my brothers birthday and
tomorrow is mine. Just what every little six year old boy wants
for his birthday, a baby sister. Well, he probably got something
else too, but I'll bet he's toooo old to remember what it was....
9/23/06
As most of you know, my mother passed away in Nov this past year. My
children have had a second tragedy, their fathers mother (my ex) passes
away a couple of days ago, it was terminal cancer also. It was
her birthday today, she would have been 74. Fortunately, the
kids (I have two) traveled home earlier this week to visit her so they
will also be able to attend the funeral. My condolences to
my children, their father, grandfather and the family. That's
both grandmother in less than 10 months. You know the commercial
for the credit card with the punch line "life comes at you pretty
fast"? sigh
9/20/06
It's a bit of a surprise when you are taking a shower and you look down
and see a cat. Weazel loves to go outside and play in the rain so it
was only a matter of time before he decided to check out the shower
too.
Saturday
8/26/06
We got a new baby this week. Since Steve drives a lot of miles a year, we
wanted to go to a diesel engine vehicle. He drove in a Jetta
diesel but like baby bears bed, it was too small. He settled on a
Dodge Ram 2500 4-door pickup. Wow, am I impressed. More
pick up & go than any vehicle I've ever been in, extreeemely quiet
ride, just tall enough for me to fall out of when getting out, huge inside, room for 6
people and best of all, an engine that will last him for the next 10
years of driving 40,000 to 45,000 miles a year. He's
already enjoying being a bully on the road. You know the saying:
"I love my truck".
Thursday
8/24/06
When we constructed my new studio earlier this year I said, if nothing
else, the whole project was worth have the cat door. With 4 cats,
I was getting up 3-4 times a night letting someone in or out. Every
once in a while, they make me eat those words. Like the
other night when I was torching. I heard Weazel bolt in, there
was a commotion with Tina & Jett, jumping around, then
calmness. I knew it would be some sort of bug. It was a
gecko. I gather him up, along with his detached tail, and threw
him out but knew that wouldn't be the end of the hunt. Sure
enough, in the morning I found two more tails and will probably find
dead gecko's behind furniture next time I clean (which could be
months). Last week, Jett brought something
in to play with on the
bed in the middle of the night. I turned on the light but
couldn't find it. Next morning I found I had been hugging a
grasshopper all night. Last night around midnight the terrible
trio came zipping into the bedroom, bouncing around. I got up,
went to the kitchen to get a fly swatter, thinking it would be another
hoppy thing like a cricket or a grass hopper again. When I turned
on the bedroom light I discovered the hoppy
thing had wings. Luckily, the dove was unharmed, just
minus a few feather and his sanity. Glad I decided not to wait
till morning.
Friday
8/18/06
Ever feel like you are living in a
movie? That's how I felt this morning. I was sitting in my
studio making beads and a pecan hit the skylight. Then a couple
of more... Then a couple of more... "What the heck, it's
not windy". I'm very nearsighted and work without my glasses, so
I put them on and looked up. There were a couple of doves pecking
on the skylight, "oh, how cute". Then a couple of more peeked in,
"oh, how cute". I ran for the camera hoping they
would stick around for a picture. Then
they started growing in numbers instead of going away, "oh, getting
eerie". Twenty minutes later they were still there, "oh, now it's
scary". Must have been a dozen or more. What was the
ladies name in 'The Birds"? (had to go google it, it was
Melanie) Most of the pictures didn't turn out very well, but you can
see the shadows of more birds in this one. Pretty cool.
Tuesday
8/1/06
I
thought I was fairly adept at arranging flowers but arranging 3 dozen
roses was a bit of a challenge. Tough job but someone has to do it.
Thank you sweetheart.
(if you missed yesterdays post, it's our 10th anniversary)
Monday
7/31/06
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY STEVE
That's one decade down, only 5 or
6 to go. All my love ! ! !
Saturday
7/29/06
Just
a short update to the last post. Steve has been out of town for
longer than usuall this time and I've had Murphy's law all week, no
catastrophes since I pulled the outside water faucet out of the house,
but just constant little stuff. Couple of days ago when I was
photographing some beads, my camera started to fall over on it's tripod
and when I went to catch it I knocked the snot out of my glasses. Got
them straightened out without breaking the frames though. Now
today, you know that yummy crispy chicken crust that always sticks to
the spatula? I had to have it, but fortunately the spatula wasn't
hot enough to blister my tongue, but it's not a pleasant tingle.
Wednesday
7/26/06
Wouldn't
you know it, whenever my husband goes out of town, I have some guy move
in. His name is Murphy and he follows me around and breaks
things. This time hasn't been too bad though (haha). When I
was watering a tree in the yard a few nights ago, he managed to pull
the faucet out of the house. So while I'm running around in a
panic trying to find the water shut off to that part of the house,
Murphy is standing there admiring the new waterfall coming out of the
side of the house. Well, at least I still have 2 other bathroom
that didn't get caught in the shut down, but dang, it's a chore to walk
all the way across the house just to go to the bathroom. waa Today he
broke the extension phone in my studio, now that
pissed me off. Brand new phone system, only a
couple of months old. Made me feel like a fool
the third time a customer
called and I picked up a different phone and heard "oh, can you hear me
this time?" "Sure, I was just distracted by my house guest Murphy
the first two times you called" sigh Can't wait to see what
tomorrow brings. Three more days till Steve comes home and Murphy
gets kicked out.
P.S. Just heard from my daughter and she was wondering who Murphy was,
sooo for all of you who are not familiar with him, it's a reference to
Murphy's law, if something can go wrong, it will. Kara - Murphy
is not a new cat.
Thursday
7/20/06
Well,
this morning our parsley was in danger of succumbing to the heat wave
but by evening it didn't matter. The leaves are half gone and I
counted at least 11 of these Black Swallowtail Butterflies. Seems
they lay their eggs on parsley. They were so camouflaged that I
didn't see them until I got up real close.
Tuesday
7/15/06
OMG, you have to see what my
daughter Kara sent me. I can't figure out if this is funny or
funky but I'm still giggling..this is just too cool.. I think I'm in
love.
David
Hasselhoff's "Jump In My Car"
I took the opportunity this week
to travel out of town for a few days with Steve. He repairs injection
molding machines so he (obviously) has to travel all over to
manufacturing plants. We left Sunday and visited the bath houses at
Hot Springs Ark. Back in the 50's Steve's Aunt & Grandmother would
drag him along when they would go to the spa's. He was
just knee-high to a grasshopper so he doesn't remember much, but then
it probably wouldn't be all that exciting to any little kid, then or
now. None the less, it was a nice
little nostalgic trip for him and a glimpse into his past for me. Only
one house has been restored as a museum, wow, I was really
surprised at how accessible they left it. The only things behind glass
were rooms with things that could easily be stolen. ie: the beauty
salon, gym. I've only uploaded a few pictures. Take a
look at this shower.. we think a dozen shower heads is new? And I just
can't imagine sitting in one of those steam things, makes me
uncomfortable just looking at them. Having my roots in stained glass,
the Neptune ceiling just blew me away.. and don't you just love the
rates. Obviously the Fordyce
Bathhouse Tour on the National Park Service web site has
much better pictures, check it out, they're all on one page.
 
 
Wednesday
6/21/06
(for the entire blog history of
the studio, visit my bio
page)
Introducing my new studio. Yeehaa.
I've ammassed so many hobbies so this is a dream I've had since
high school. No more sharing space with our home office, no more
dragging something out to use it because there is no space to leave it
setting out. I have stations for taking pictures and cleaning
beads. The cabinet in the first photo houses my last remnants of
stained glass and the photo tent is sitting on my old light box. I have
also tooled leather, crocheted, quilted and made stained glass
kaleidoscopes. The cabinet in the second
photo houses my latest passion, making jewelry with my own beads. And
with 4 cats, I especially love the cat door in the wall next to the
oxygen tank.
 
And here's the good stuff, my
greatest passion (and income generator). My torch table, glass next to
me, the kiln within reaching distance and a smaller second kiln waiting
for me to learn to fuse.
I love this wall, it use to be the
outside of the house and we just left the siding on and painted
it. Someday soon it will be host to 10 feet of storage units
instead of cat toys. Speaking of cat toys, we plan on putting a
jungle gym of ramps on the this wall around the storage
units. Can you spell s-p-o-i-l-e-d ?
Weazel and Tina already had
their first fight over sleeping space at the window.
Sunday
5/7/06
Found some rather interesting
things in
the grass this week.
This is Jett and I love this shot.
You can see by the full size of the tree how small the bee is.
 
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Sunday
4/16/06
I caught this
picture of the
Easter Bunny
putting eggs in our yard this morning. Sure glad the Easter
Hunters visited and found all those pesky eggs filled with candy and
money so we would have to go look for them ourselves.
 
Saturday
4/1/06
Well now I'm really excited. I've
been wanted for a long time to have a separate studio, one that didn't
include our home office. My own little recluse place to go to
concentrate on my glass work, might even make a few kaleidoscopes
again. We decided to close in the back patio area. Yesterday we tore
down the patio roof, hauled off the old cement and
laid down a sub-floor today. Since we'll be using two exterior
walls we'll only have to put up two walls and
roof it in. This is a week-end warier project that we will be
doing ourselves but I hope it won't take too long. Hot days come
very quickly here in Texas. Too much of a mess, maybe I'll take
pictures of construction later, but definitely when it's done.
Tuesday
3/28/06
Do any of you ever listen to Coast to
Coast AM on late night radio? It starts here at midnight. I
like to hear about some of the stuff that people actually believe
in. Last night was about shadow people again. I have to admit, this
subject creeps me out and I usually wind up turning it off. Here are
some quotes from last nights guest and will tell you why it's
freaky... Shadow people
have been around since the beginning of time and are a dark influence
upon society. They also relate to negative alien entities such as the
Reptilians and
Greys, and may in fact be part of the same overall phenomena.
Typically, shadow beings don't like to be spotted but they are
sometimes discovered by a person who wakes up to find them trying to
choke or suffocate them. I have 4 cats so of course if I'm working
on my torch while listening about shadow people any little noise behind
me, well, lets just say that I have a few flame scars. hehe Just so
you don't think that Coast to Coast is always off beat, they talk about
a wide verity of things like the climate changes, building a base on
the moon, the influence of prayer on healing, even the bird flu.
Saturday
3/18/06
New fish
beads in the catalog and a couple of new links to the
left. I've gotten a little lazy with pictures of new techniques
that I've been playing with. I'm having a great time with the
raku though. Most of my auctions lately have raku beads. Here is my
favorite set. The auction is closed but you can have a
look at the beads. It's tax time for me (slow at that too)
so by this time next week I expect I'll be half bald. I'm off to
visit my dad for a couple of days next week, I think I'll need the rest
by then.
Thursday
3/9/06
Here is a preview of
the beads with gold
leaf that will be up on eBay from 3/9 till 3/16. Big patches of
gold leaf, raku swirls, urchin twisties and all that sparkle is silver,
topped with metallic dots. This was a compilation of several some
of my old standard favorite things to do and a few new things, like the
gold and raku. I'm doing a bunch of raku fish today so look for
them Saturday night (3/11) in my catalog. Tomorrow is play
day. A friend & I are going to the gem & mineral show in
Dallas. I think I hear a sucking noise pulling money out of my
purse. Yep, I'm sure of it, it's building into a roar.
Monday
3/6/06
Oh boy am I in hog (or
rather, glass)
heaven today. I got some of the new blue silver leaf today and my
first gold leaf, and last week a freind gave me my first raku. I'm only
behind on the raku craze by a 1-1/2 years and of course, gold
has been around as long as glass beads. I'll try to get up some
pictures in a couple of days.
I also have some new fish
up for sale in my catalog.
Thursday
3/2/06
Well the books are on
their way, Bead
Review 2005 should have been shipped out to all the people selected to
be publish in the book. Can't wait to see which one of my beads
made it in. I haven't heard when it will be available for the
public to buy but as a participant, we were offered a discount for
additional books. I got 5 extras, two for my kids and one for
each of my bathrooms. hehe I've made it into two other
publications but only by osmosis, once in
someone else's jewelry and
once in a Corina Spotlight. This is my first real bona fide
print. Can you tell I'm excited? There is a new silver on
the market, it has been "treated to add a blue coloring". Not
sure what that means but I ordered mine last night along with my first
gold leaf. Can't wait to experiment with my new metals next week,
like a kid in a candy store. I'll post pictures.
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Thursday
2/16/06
It's been a while
since I have
talked
glass beads. It's taking a while for me to get back into the
swing but I've made several sets in the past couple of weeks. Round,
round and more round. I bought a mold to make 'round'
beads and I just love working with my new mold, much more fun
than a press. I can now see myself someday
advancing into glass blowing, my kids have been hounding me to that for
a long time now. I've even made a few fish lately. They're up for
sale on the fish page. I've had a bit of a problem
trying to get them to sell on eBay so they will be then exclusively on
the site from now on. I am hoping that the book 'Bead Review
2005' by Deanna Griffin Dove & Brad Pearson will be in my mailbox
soon. It was my first juried event to enter and I made it
in. I'm still ecstatic to have been selected.
Thursday
2/9/06
Someone showed me this
story and
remarked
that there are twenty books of the bible hidden here. He
challenged me
to find them. Sure enough they're all there. Still this thing's a
lulu, kept me looking so hard for the longest time. Some of you
will
get bogged down with facts, other are hit by them like they were some
kind of revelation or something. You may get in a jam, especially
since the names are not capitalized and often leap the spaces between
the words. This makes it a real job to find them but it'll
provide a
most fascinating few minutes for you. Yes, there are some really
easy
ones to spot, but don't get the big head cause truthfully you'll soon
figure that it would take most federal judges and preachers numbers of
hours to find them all. I will admit that it usually takes a
minister
to find one of them and that is not uncommon for there are to be loud
lamentations when it is pointed out. One lady says that when she
is
confronted with puzzles like this she brews a cup of tea to help her
concentrate better, but then this gals a real pro! Verbs, nouns,
and
all that stuff are her thing. See how well you can compete. Relax!
There really are twenty names of the bible books in this story. If you
fail to find them there's a penalty. You'll have to go fly a
kite, sit
on a banana, hum the battle hymn of the republic, or hose a dog (a mean
one). Get to it!
Saturday
1/28/06
It's been a whirlwind
few months.
My
daughter was going to come to south Texas to visit her grandparents
(my parents) last December 14th. Mom had been fighting cancer for
2 years. But on November 15th she was diagnosed as
terminal. On the 16th I (and my son Arik) went to be with my
parents (I'm 350 miles away)and mom passed away the 28th (see my tribute
to my mom). I went home a week later. Kara was
heartbroken, she still had her airplane tickets so I went back for a
short vacation with her since dad had taken mom's remains back to North
Dakota to be buried. I went home for a couple of days then back
to dads again for Christmas. Back home for one day then on to
Hawaii for 12 days. Back home for a couple of days then back to
dads (again). He had been putting off knee surgery while mom was
ill and decided to have it done while we were gone to Hawaii. My
sister had taken time off to be with dad after the first funeral and
was still there but flying out the day after he would get out of the
hospital and I would take over helping with his home recovery. He
had his right knee done and couldn't drive for a while. Mom's
brother and wife will help him for a few days then he'll be in the
clear and on his own. We worry about him though, mom & dad were
married for almost 60 years. Yep, it's been a whirlwind few
months for me, but nothing compared to what my parents went
through. Mom's final 6+ months were painful for her to endure and
arduous for dad to watch.
Thank God, Time heals the
heart and rearranges the memories.
Tuesday
1/12/06
two versions of our
trip to
Waikiki,
Oahu, Hawaii
the short
version - 32 of the best pictures
the long
version - 337 pix and lots of sunsets
Tuesday
1/10/06
Aloha. Hope your
holidays were
memorable. I'm back from vacation in Hawaii and I have some great
pictures. We were gone 12 days and landed at 5:45am after an
almost 8 hour flight so I am tired and have a lot to catch up on and
will update with some fantastic sunsets later. I have so much
cloths to wash that for the first time in my life I could separate the
colored wash into colors, one load of red, one load of blue, etc.
That's a funny feeling. My father had knee surgery while we were
gone and since mom passed away my sister and I are helping with his
recovery process (it is recommended not to drive for 30 days). This
week-end I'll go and take over for a week to two weeks, so I'm not
opening my catalog up until I get back.
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Monday
12/22/05
A blonde goes to the post office to buy
stampls for her Christmas cards.
She says to the clerck, "May I have 50
Christmas stamps?"
The clerk says, "What denomination?"
The blond says, "God help us. Has
it come to this? Give me 6 Catholic,
12 Prosbyterian, 10 Lutheran
and 22 Baptist."
A Texas Christmas at the Alamo, went
their
last week with my daughter Kara.
Monday
12/13/05
There's
a new series
of books being published entitled Bead Review 200? with the 2005 being
the first in the series. I was informed by Deanne Dove
(co-author with Brad Pearson) that one of my beads has been chosen to
be 1 of only 50 in the book. Can you tell how ecstatic I am? Mom
would
have been so proud, but then I'm sure she was watching as they put the
'congratulations' letter in the mail to me. This one's for you mom.
Monday
12/5/05
My
biggest bead fan is gone. Tribute
to my mom.
Tuesday 11/15/2005
My
catalog will be temporarily down. My mother had surgery this
morning and she is gravely ill. She has been battling cancer for
2 years now and I am going to help out. Please pray for my
mother, and my father, and her caretakers. Thank you.
Sunday 11/6/2005
I
have some new eye candy in the gallery
if you would like to have a look. I've also revamped the focals
and sets pages of the bead catalog. Been having a lot of fun
working on refining my fish and there has been a favorable response on
eBay. Yeehaa Have gotten a few tips from people and the
fins are really starting to take on a better shape.
Tuesday 11/1/2005
Last
week I got together with a few bead buddies and we had a 'bead day', it
was a blast. We didn't do a whole lot of torching cause we were
so busy exchanging info and ideas but Jennifer (our host) did make us
one of her famous fish. Some of her fish are the size of your
fist. Just awesome. Well this week I got adventuresome and
started making fish. Here are my first two, they will stay in my
collection but start looking for them on my auctions.
 
Wednesday 10/21/2005
My
tribute to Maggie, that's her on the right.
This has been a very sad week for me. I lost my treasured cat
Maggie. We found her in the corner of the yard so she was
probably hit by a passing car. We have 5 cats and several of them
are lap cats but Maggie was my snuggle bum. Sometimes when I was
typing on the computer she would come and stand between me and the
keyboard until I would giver her a good long hug, then she would settle
into my arms and sleep while I worked. She was big and fluffy,
slept on my pillow and was always near by. Maggie was the 'top dog' so
it has been interesting to watch the other 4 since their whole social
structure was based around her. Tina was her litter mate sister and
they were as attached as any human twins would have been, she is
obviously lost. Maggie was a tortie, very territorial, she immediately
took over the rule of the house from Mouse who had been hear for 5
years prier to her. Mouse is a little crosseyed so it was easy to
terrorized him until she had established her 'queenhood', I don't think
he misses her but he notices her absence. Weazel and Jett were the
bottom of the ladder and although they seem to look for her from time
to time, the only thing that seems to have changed for them is that
there is no play time at night like there use to be. Everything
centered around Maggie so they seem to be a little lost, but not nearly
as bad as I am.
Wednesday 10/10/2005
We
had a special guest at our bead meeting this week-end. Her name
is
Baylie, she's 6 years old and she has Chiari Malformation &
Psuedotumor Cerebri. That's OK, it was all Greek to us too but in a nut
shell it is a condition that causes the base of the brain to protrude
below the skull and crowd into the spinal canal. I spoke to her
mother and found out she has had 2 brain surgeries so far and an almost
constant headache. At the time Baylie was diagnosed their was very
little research, almost none, it is rare in adults and almost unheard
of in children. Baylie had seen a Lance Armstrong bracelet and when her
mother explained that the proceeds went toward research, Baylie said "I
can do that". Remember she was 3 at the time. This gal is astounding.
She has been selling bracelets for the past 3 years and her mother said
she has raised $25,000 dollars just since May of this year, one
bracelet at a time. She is selling them on her website Baylie
for Braines.com for a $5 donation. I do hope you will check
it out.
Wednesday 9/242005
(check out
the bead catalog, I have some fall colored beads up)
Howdy
ya'll. I've been absent for a while. Just seems to take a
while to get back into the swing after vacation but this is
ridiculous. eBay sales have been horrible this summer so I
figured it was time to jump off into another phase of beadmaking. I've
been making focal tubes lately and a couple of weeks ago decided
to try long barrel focals. They have to be formed by hand and I
am having the best time making these things. My longest to date
is 2-7/8 inches long but one of the ends broke (that learning curve
thing) so I get to keep it. Funny, my hand really isn't that stubby,
it's just the angle it's laying at. Just had to stick that
disclaimer in their.
And here is a preview of a set that I'm working on. When it's finished
it will be on eBay. I love the color combo so I'm adding some
rounds to it.
Thank God for all the preparations for hurricane Rita. It's
Saturday afternoon so she is well inland as I write this with no deaths
as of yet. How amazing is that??? (keeping
my fingers crossed and praying a lot) We live
just north of Dallas and were predicted to get 50-60 mile an hour or so
winds. Since she took her northern turn before landing we only
got a couple of small wind gusts. We sure could have used the
rain but I'm glad she decided to downgrade and come ashore in less
populated areas instead. I can always put the sprinkler
out. Don't forget, give money, not cloths and here's why.
Here's a picture of our little corner of the hurricane. I'm a
cloud lover.
Wednesday 9/14/2005
I'm back
and I had the time of my life with Kara & Dave in Seattle. We went
to the glass museum in Portland, drove around Puget Sound
in the rain, saw the Fremont Troll, ate at Crabpot where
they dump your seafood on the table and eat with your hands, saw a
silent movie starring Harold Lloyd (can't remember the name but it's
the one where he climbs the outside of the building, I held my
breath). Then came the best part, Dave went to work and Kara
& I went shopping. I am now the proud owner of a pair of
shoes from Macy's (well, it better than Walmart shoes). Got to
ride the bus half a dozen time (little things thrill me), got to be an
ave-rat (those are the people who hang out in the University of
Washington shopping/entertainment district better known as the U
district), had plenty of Starbucks but will have to admit that
Seattleittes are right that Tully's is better, went to a book signing,
watched 5 hours of old Star Treks in one sitting, got up late and
stayed up late (how do mothers and daughters find so much to talk
about), spoiled her cat rotten (she has a
Balinese), met the Russian tortoise and water dragon.
Then came the crowning jewel, I got to meet Peg Medill. If
you're not familiar with Peg's challenge here is a short thread on WC. I'll
put some pictures up after I dig out my camera. Not counting
family, I have met two ladies in my life that have touched my soul, in
my brief encounter with her Peg became the third. Landed at DFW
at 9:30 Sunday night, Steve had to be in Louisiana on Monday so we
headed for Houston to at least get half way their. Steve fixes
injection molding machines so he travels a lot and it's been a long
time since I've gone out with him. Guess he
forgot I hadn't seen our 5 cats in over a week cause he didn't bring
them with. Landed back home late Tuesday night so today I'm
washing cloths and playing with cats. I'll write
more
later when I put up pix.
Thursday 9/1/2005
Well I'm
goin fishin. Packing my bag and going to Seattle. Why do we get
stupid? I haven't seen Kara in a little over three years, you'd think
it was on the other side of the globe. Found a nonstop flight from
Dallas to Seattle, I figured it was worth the $40 extra to not sit in
the Salt Lake airport for 2 hours. I love Seattle and this time I plan
on taking a few more pictures just for those of you who are getting
tired of only seeing my cats on the auctions. Got to get one of the
troll under the bridge.
I've taken the catalog down and will put it back up on the 12th and I
have one auction on for a 10 day stint so don't forget me. The
focals page will begin to look a bit different, I've started to make
long barrel focals and am really enjoying it.
Sunday 8/14/2005
Well it
only took me 6 months to get my act together and put some of my
husbands copper
countertop wine glass racks up for sale. We gave a
bunch of these away for Christmas present's and they were a big
hit. I had wanted him to make a wooden rack, something like the
ones mounted under a cabinet or overhead in a bar, but for a countertop
area. He came up with a copper one instead and I love the metal
idea for a bar area and copper is my favorite metal. It also
serves to drip dry the glasses on, just put a towel over the base to
soak up the dripping water. Oh, he's so clever, we will include
glasses and wine glass charms made with some of my beads.
Friday 8/5/2005
This is too
bazaar and I had to share it with you. Last night my husband and I got
to talking about a friend who is in Ohio on business. Well the friend
has gone fishing a couple of times already and we wondered if he took a
fishing pole, can you just see someone walking down a terminal with an
8 ft fishing pole (maybe he borrowed one from a friend)? Do you
remember the Ronco Pocket Fisherman? Well I had to see if it was still
around, yep, Ron's still selling them. But here's the best part, you
can buy artwork on his site. You can get Van Gogh's Starry Night for
$425, Ronco
and Van Gogh teaming up, go figure.
Tuesday 8/2/2005
Well I
finally figured out the pesky little glitch in my shopping cart. Took
me all night to get it straightened out so if you've been one of
the lucky ones who got an error when checking out, you can come back
now. I've also added some options for shipping, something I
should have done long ago. Is it hot enough for you where you
are? We put up one of those above ground swimming pools this
year. Not big enough to swim in but big enough to get ya out of
the heat and fun enough to get kids out of the house. That's the
best part.
Sunday 7/31/2005
My
husband in on an internet forum that is mostly made up of locals within
a couple of hundred miles of the Dallas metroplex and every once in a
while they get together. Just
when I was getting
use to being a stay-at-home fuddy duddy they decide to have a party
theme Saturday night I can't resist, Texas holdup poker. I love to
watch the game but don't really like to play so I volunteered to be the
dealer all night. It only took me 7-1/2 hrs to deal a straight flush
but if you think of the odds it's lucky one got dealt at all. The fun
part was all these guys throwing money at me and I didn't have to do
anything in return for it. It's a fun game if you've ever wanted to
play I recommend PokerRoom.com,
there is no software to download on this site.
Sunday 7/24/2005
Not
much to write about, just the dog days of summer, eBay is ok, sales
here on the site are slow. Guess you guys are all out selling
bookoos at the art shows, go get um. My sale in the focals will
last until August 1, then I will put up a whole new bunch of
focals. The extras and sets will be combined into one page and
will be completely replenished every Monday night too. So if
there's something you want in these two pages, get them this week cause
they'll be gone Monday night 8/1. Later, dudes.
Sunday 7/10/2005
It
was about time to feature Mouse again and he gave us one of his
'dead-dog' posses this week. Mouse is laid back but cross-eyed
and completely freaks when you try to pet him. *** My heart goes out to
the residents in the way of hurricane Dennis. I was working for
FEMA when Andrew hit. The financial devastation a super hurricane
can leave is hard to imagine, you will hear estimated total figures,
how much is a billion anyway?, but processing individual claims is a
sobering reality of devastated lives. And then there is London,
what a bunch of troopers our parent country has. *** Stop over and take
a look at my new line called Southwest,
it's replacing my Black Velvets.
Monday 7/4/2005
Well,
Happy Independence Day to the
greatest country that ever existed. We wound up at to the Lone
Star Park yesterday. The races were great, I staked out a
10 inch ledge inside an air conditioned crowded beyond belief building
while my husband braved the near 100 degrees outdoors with friends. He
saw them live while I watched 3 inch horses gallop across a TV monitor,
not sure who was the wise one in this situation. But we have been told
Lone Star has some of the most spectacular fireworks in the Dallas
metroplex. When we went into the park they handed us those funky
little 3D glasses and got a few pretty cool fireworks pix through
them. I got a new camera earlier this year and it has a setting
specifically for firework, go figure, guess I'll have to move next to a
Disney park so I can use it more than twice a year. Anyway, here's my fireworks
pixs.
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Sunday
6/26/2005
For
some time now I've been wanting to start doing something different
again. Lentils are fun to make and wear and they sell great for
me but... I've made hearts before but have struggled to sell them so
this week I delved into long focals. Had a great time too and
realized my skills are more advanced than I have been giving myself
credit for. Now I have a whole new pallet for my style. This focal was
the first one I made so I kept it. A while back,
Heather of Red Ocean
made this watch for me with some of the first beads I made
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and
I love the watch so much that I
replaced the so-so beads with my new focal and it looks so much better
and wears beautifully. I have a watch fetish and this is my
all-time favorite one. I go back to still having my a wind-up
watch I had as a kid. Oh ya, there's my Mickey Mouse watch from
the seventies with the neon green band, a pendent watch bought with
green stamps and a Jetsons movie watch. FYI: look for the focals
on eBay.
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Sunday
6/19/2005
 
Just a little bit of the tropics in my own
front yard here in Texas. When I first moved into this house I didn't
know what this tree was so I kept trimming it from the bottom like the
previous owners. Then it bloomed & I realized it was a hibiscus and
not a tree. There is a white one on the side of the house & when
that one blooms I'll post pictures of it too. I'm off to get a pina
colada smoothie and sit by the above ground pool we put up this year.
Well, it will have to do for now.
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Satruday 6/11/2005
I have a new love. This is one of the new 'odd'
lot colors that has come our recently. It's called green ocean
and it is a spectacular color. These are up on eBay this week and
will run from Saturday nite (6/11) till Thursday nite (6/16). There is
also a separate auction of a focal to match. The glass
runs from opaque to semi-translucent and comes out with striations so
it has movement to it. I know as soon as they sell I will be
p*ssed cause I like them so much. Oh ya, I'll make myself some
more just like them, sure-sure. I did manage go pull one out of
the set to keep so maybe in the future (near future) I'll sit and make
some more, hmmmmm, what should I change about them? Well, I'm off
to play with fire and see what happens.
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Thursday
5/12/2005
Last
year I was diagnosed with a condition that puts me at 4 times greater
risk for breast cancer, a few months ago the condition still existed so
last week I started to take tomaxifen cause it's approved for breast
cancer prevention. What a joy ride I've been on, if there's a
side effect to a drug you can bet I'll get it. I'm off of it
already and found this article entitled Tamoxifen
- A Major Medical Mistake? That stuff has
some
nasty long term side
effects. California's Carcinogen Identification Committee
even added it to their list of all known carcinogens. It's been a
roller coaster for cancer lately. A year and a
half
ago my mother had a double mastectomy for breast
cancer, done - gone - take care of. Then a year ago they
discovered cancer in her colon, 11 inches were removed. Chemo and
radiation followed. The radiation was too hard on her and she landed in
the hospital on an
I.V.
for 9 days so they stopped the treatment early...too early. A
few months ago she lost another foot of colon to cancer and it had also
spread to both ovaries and some nodes. She is taking chemo and
radiation separately this time and the after surgery problems have all
been cleared up so she is doing pretty well now. And
it's a good thing too, she's 79 and one of the hardest things she's
ever had to do was cancel going to the national bowing tournament in
Tulsa OK. But they'll make it to dads family reunion come hell or
high water. Grandpa was a homesteader in the Dakota Territory and
my father is one of 17 kids. Dad was 8 when grandma died giving
birth to their 12th. Grandpa married a widow with 4 kids and then
came baby Carol to tie them all together. We have a reunion every
5 years and with some of us cousins being great-grandparents ourselves,
I counted over 500 in the last family cook-book and that was 5 years
ago. You think you come from a small town? Check out New
Leipzig North Dakota, I think the
population is around 275
now.
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Saturday
4/23/2005
I bought a new
kind of
rose bush this year
from Heirloom Roses. It's called a
Chihuly rose and if you are familiar
with Chihuly
glass
you will
know why it is named after the glass artist. The bush
is just a sprig so the roses are the size of a miniature
rose and are delicate and beautiful. |
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Saturday
4/16/2005
(Just
put up an new batch of "Heathers Monets" in the 'beads' section, please
have a look.)
I have a new
favorite comedian, his name
is Steve
Bridges. We saw him for
the first time on Comedy
Centrals roast of Jeff Foxworthy. When in makeup and in
character, you almost can't tell him apart from President Bush. The
reason I like him is because he doesn't take cheep
shots. I have heard that even the president likes to listen to
him so that should tell you how funny his material is. I like our
current president but don't always agree with him, but ya got ta
respect a man that can laugh at himself. |
Thursday
4/7/2005
In
case you've been
wondering what that
photography page is
all about, Silver Paw Studio is my daughter Kara and her boyfriend
David. David works full time but has a degree in photography and
is
getting into freelance. Kara makes jewelry, works in a pharmacy
and is
attempting to finish out her degree in
biochemistry-something-or-other. So with all that stuff going on,
their
portion of the site is mostly under construcion. Here are a few
of the
links they have going, of course they are the pictures of the pets and
since they live in Seattle, you get coastal pixs.
kitty
rat
amadeus
& elvis
oregon
coast
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