What's Going On ...

Beads be here..

And here they be!

Uh oh...its getting dark outside and that means I wanna stay inside and work...yesterday's rain never materialized, so I hope we get 15 inches today...well, maybe 1 inch...anything...i'll take it...

When I opened the propane cannister outside yesterday, I had 3 toads hanging out in it..one of them was poking out from under the tank itself...Hotel Propane Tank...

Bead and Button is coming up and I'm looking forward to it..I would love to meet ya'll if I run into you in class or at the market...my sched is pretty packed, especially Wed and Thur, and I don't have a booth (not this year, but maybe one day)so finding me in a specific spot wont be easy...I'm also notoriously SHY, which sounds weird, I suppose, but I always sound like a goob when talking to people in person...I'd rather not insert-foot when I meet you, but there's no guarantee...Last year I had a class with my buddy Gail and we had a lot of fun harrassing Kate McKinnon...so if you're taking any classes and wanna see if we 'match up', just email me and we can check it out...I can tell ya I'm taking classes from Anne Mitchell, Lisa Niven Kelly, Janice Berkebile, Jane Friedmann, and I'm not sure who else...

Oh yeah, the rain is coming and the kitties are dashing indoors, all wet...its rather amusing!!

Did you see that Lance was cleared of all doping charges? I never ever believed he's done any doping, at least not after he's had cancer...I don't know the dude personally, and while I've heard stories about his personal behaviour (not the easiest person to deal with, but are you really surprised about that?), I can't imagine he would put nasty drugs in his body after fighting for his life...I just don't buy it...that's a chicken way of getting a result and after nearly dying, I just don't see him infecting himself with anything other than healthy treats...but then I will never know for sure, cause I don't stalk him and go thru his garbage...heh...

It might rain today...

which doesn't sound exciting, I know...but we always appreciate rain...I like to stay indoors and work when its raining outside...so, I should live where it rains everyday, huh!! yeah!

Hope ya'll had a good vacation...I like when it's quiet here, I'm able to kinda take a breath and look around and get stuff done...like deadheading the roses, watering the herbs, lacing the climbing shoots thru the arch...we bought a few more butterfly plants, but they are small (globe amaranth) and a couple more pipevine, since its so hard to find locally...Brian planted the stuff we bought over the past two weeks, and put the birdbath into the garden...A female cardnial visited the passionvine, jumping all over the trellis and finally plucking a caterpillar before flying off...we'd never seen a bird on the passionvine before...I was hoping she'd take a bath, but no...

The a/c dude is doing to finish the work he started last week I should be back up and with a/c in the studio again...good grief...

Lazy hazy crazy days of summer...

Are ya havin' fun this weekend? I am enjoying myself, yes indeedy...
The flowers need pruning and feeding, the cats spent the night out last night, so they are all inside, taking naps (they must spend all night chasing bugs, I guess)...And I made some hot and fiery beads last night...hot hot hot...

I've got some new pics of the Purple Striped Tote to show ya'll in here...

Havin' a groovy weekend...

We just got back from the XMen 3 matinee and it was fun... a lot of characters die in it, but I was entertained...I dunno anything about the XMen, but I've seen the other two and Hugh Jackman is always easy to watch...If you go, be sure to stay thru the credits, for a surprise! (we always do the credit roll, ya never know what might pop up)...

Are ya'll excited to have a 3-day weekend? Its gonna be a quiet one here, which is what I prefer...I'm workin' and we'll be just workin' in the yard, mowin', waterin', blah blah...but its a good blah...

I found two of our toads in the backyard, they had been living under the verbena plants in the butterfly garden...when I put the sprinkler down, they came popping out...such cute little dudes...

Did i tell ya', I put a re-order in for the little 3mm gold and silver beads that I used when I make my squeeze bracelets (they are on either side of the crystals and act as separators...the last time I ordered, the total was 52.00...this time, the total - for the same exact amt of beads - was 92.00...the cost of silver and gold has gone WAY up...good grief...It won't adjust my asking prices for the bracelets, you're still in essence paying for the lampwork beads and not the crystals or metal beads, but I was surprised at that total, believe me...whoa...

I'm pretty much outta the Icicle earrings, so I'll be making more over the weekend...I have a bunch of them already hammered and filed, I just need to fire up the torch and get the wire soldered on...so if you've been waiting, they'll be coming...

Everything domestically has shipped, I still have a couple of overseas stakes and beads to mail, I need to find boxes that fit, but if you're in the US and have been waiting for your goodies, they are on their way...seriously...

I already know what I wanna work on today, so I hope to have some interesting things for ya'll tomorrow...Interesting to me, anyway...

Didja miss me?

I try to update every day, but I'm not always able to, nor do I have really interesting things to say every day...this morning started off not so hot, and I wasn't in the mood to make beads (cause I felt like crushing and breaking things, which is not the best mode to be in for making small hot glass objects), so I vacuumed, did the dishes, took the dog for a walk, and snapped pics of the gigantasaur caterpillar...and then I had a bento box for lunch and made a trip to the yarn shop for some neutral wool to make a larger striped tote...so far, the day has been ok, I still need to mow the lawn later today, but that's ok...after 7:00 it should be somewhat less-hot (but still as humid) and I can work on it then..Just to give ya'll an idea, last night at 10:00pm, it was still 85 outside...so it doesn't really 'cool down' here, it just gets 'less hot'...heh...

Got this email today, it tickled me...
Hi Donna,
First --- Thank you so much for the beads I just bought from you (since I can't remember the name you'll have to look it up). I liked the beads in the picture, never realizing they were a bracelet, BUT I love them in person. I didn't realize that they were sort of flat. They fit my wrist like it was made just for me. Everyone has complimented me on it -- including a person at a large meeting that kept staring at my arm as I did a presentation. It is a nice surprise to love something more than you expected. How talented you are!!
I don't usually print emails and if I use your name, I will ask your permission to use the text..but since i'm not 'naming names' I figured it would be fine...

and I liked this one too
I purchased these from your earlier this month. First, let me tell you these haven't come off my wrist (except when sleeping or bathing) since I got them. I love them.

Second, they were premade into a bracelet. Between the beads you have the most intersting bicones. From some angles they look light blue, from others brown, and at times have an oil slick sheen. Can you tell me what they are? I've never seen anything like them.

I'm always happy to tell ya'll the name of the crystal if I can remember it- but if ya wait too long, I'll prob forget what I used...This was a recent purchase, tho, so I think I can tell from the photo what the crystals are...

Early bird, worm, all that...

Do you think I can get my caterpillars to do this?

yep...i got up early...i said I would and I did...but I forgot I have a haircut at 10:00, so instead of torching, i'm shipping...i'll torch when i get home...the cats aren't sure what to do with me up so early, so they all went outside to hunt bugs and toads...they wouldn't know what to do with a toad if they caught one...bah...

Taylor won American Idol...i always liked him, but wasn't sure he had enough fans to get him thru...i expected Chris to win, and then saw Elliott making a big run, but I'm glad that Taylor made it to the end...I didn't think I could handle a 2 hour cheese fest, so I flipped back and forth between "Now, Voyager" with Bette Davis and the show...I missed Hasselhoff, but caught Prince, so that was enough for me...

Dog is looking for Brian...she's ready for a walk...I'll take her out when it gets a little lighter outside...

and that's all that's happening in my world this early morning...Seacrest Out...

Did you know its dark at 4:00am?

As the Soup Nazi would say "no a/c for you!"...the blower/motor broke...its not a generic 'easy to replace' one...gotta wait for it to ship...Wed of next week...but i have a plan...i'm gonna work in the mornings and take the afternoons off...or at least stay outta the studio for the afternoons at least...I'll prob have to go to bed at 9:00pm just to get up, but so be it...the mornings are fine in the studio...

The good news is the a/c dude is here, fixing my studio a/c...no more sweaty afternoons for me...booya...

The other good news is, I just posted the beads for today...

I've gotten maybe..maybe...2 hours of sleep...I woke up about 3:30am before the 4:00am alarm went off (Brian had to be at the airport at 5:30am) and I'm kinda running on fumes...I'm sure I'll hit a wall this afternoon and need a nap...right now I need some breakfast tacos...hungry...

I've posted my review of the Da Vinci Code on another page, so it doesn't take up tons of my blog space...here's the official site if you wanna visit it...

And yeppers, I've got some beads...still need to clean and process them, so you'll see um later this morning...

24 rocked...oh yeah...

With everyone freaking out about the religious aspects of Da Vinci Code lately, I thought ya'll might find this amusing...a lighthearted look at religion

I enjoyed the finale of '24' quite a lot...and seeing Jack floating to Shanghai - you know its gonna be an interesting next season...I thought the actor who played Logan was brilliant - everyone wanted to hate him...He said that at the wrap party, cast and crew spouses didn't want to talk to him, cause they disliked him so much as the rotten Prez...I think he's great...He was in Austin for a golf tourney recently, i wish I knew that...and good for Martha for setting him up and bringing him down...awesome...Brian wants a messenger bag like Jack's and I think he needs a monocular too...that's my favorite toy he uses...

I'm working behind the scenes...I'm not ready to post what I have, its been long days in the un-airconditioned studio and I've been suffering...but tomorrow that will all be in the past...cool air will swirl and I'll be happy again...So, just know that I am truly 'suffering for my art' in the heat...makes ya feel sorry for me, huh...[smirk]

A few goodies..

Things are good here...watering the front yard and working...I was inspired to pull the colors that match my new tote, and I made a couple of small strands...and I'm still playing in the organic world...

'24' wraps up tonight...I'll have my Monday nights back again..and tomorrow we go see Da Vinci Code..I'm glad to see it did so well opening weekend, after all the bad reviews..18% positive on Rotten Tomatoes? wow...

Never enough jewelry or knitting stuff

I just caught the two new shows on Oprah's network...kinda interesting, and not really competition to the DIY shows I love and watch everyday...

Tote this around...

Ok, here's the before and aft of the tote...I made up the pattern and directions myself - well, I should say I expanded on the clutch pattern from the OneSkein book, and just made it bigger, but the colors, stripe pattern and decision on where to increase can all be attributed to me...I can already see where I wanna do things differently - make the handles bigger, make the gusset smaller, but since this is my first foray into the 'make it up as you go' sector of knitting, and considering I've only been knitting like this since the first of April, I'm pretty happy with the end result...

we just got back from Our Fave Nursery - this time I took the camera and shot 85 pics of the place...lots of the butterfly garden, some of the succlent garden, even the donkeys...amazingly none of the people I know and love there (sorry Christie and Natasha!)...so I'll get those posted as the summer rolls on...

I'm gonna do some behind the scenes beads for awhile, so you'll hear from me when you hear from me, but I have to get some other stuff ready for June/July as well...Bead and Button, a Kate McKinnon class, an Intermediate class at BlueMoon, and other groovy things I'll announce later...there will be beads, oh yes...ya never know when...

Leo Leo Leo...

Some very smart person has made a list of all the 80's videos on YouTube.com...so when you're bored, go watch Aha or Donald Fagen's New Frontier (one of my faves) and put on your lace gloves...

So, the Da Vinci Code movie is being trashed by all critics who've viewed it...but that won't stop us...we've already bought the 'feast' at Alamo Drafthouse and on Tuesday we'll go pig out on tasty treats while viewing the film...I never saw Tom Hanks as Langdon, but then Hollywood does what it has to do, and TH is a pretty ok guy, so I'll deal...We're looking forward to the heavy cheese factor of XMen-3 later this month too...Brian even Netflixed the XMen-2 movie, so we can 'catch up' on what happened...ha...I'm even quasi-interested in the new Vince Vaughn/Anniston movie, cause he makes me laugh...the Devil Wears Prada will prob be a matinee that I attend (doubt B would be remotely interested in that one) and then in August - the movie we are REALLY waiting to see - Snakes on a Plane...the title says it all...

Today everything gets shipped and I have a little knitting in progress to show...I might wait till I finish it, its almost done anyway...

I put up a cute new South Park character with a link where you can make your own - feel free to email them to me and I can build a page if there's enough interest...the Picasso page went great, but the Lego page kinda petered out...if you don't watch SP, that's cool, just go and play on the site like 'paper dolls'...there's lots of cool pieces to build and play with...I built like 6 characters before I settled on this one...

and apparently my posting of game show quotes wasn't entirely off base for me..."It's better to be zany and keep a sense of fun than to yawn your way through life, don't you think? So what if someone else thinks you're being foolish -- you're having a much better time than they are."

Favorite Smell

This made me laugh...if you aren't familiar with her, here's a little background..

The radio station is asking what's your favorite smell...its interesting to hear this, since I have no sense of smell, and can't tell you what anything smells like...suntan lotion, cut grass, a set of new tires have all been mentioned...hmmm...ok...I've heard about cut grass smelling like watermelon, and how wonderful a bakery is...and mimeograph ink (remember those purple pages? I used to get to run those machines in high school- fun!)...There are good and bad aspects to not being able to smell, but if you had one sense to lose, its probably the best one to lose...

Circle gets the square...

...big money big money...is the next card is higher or lower?...these are things that you see on a playground...the password is "bananas"...no whammies, no whammies...i wanna buy 8 Excedrines, Bob...Deal or No Deal?...survey sez...where did you have your first date?...bank...i'll give you $100 for a paper clip...is that your final answer?...If you were on a desert island, what would you do?...

Put a stake in it...

Shiny, happy garden stakes...bright and friendly...I took a few shots, set these up in various spots of the garden, and tried to make them easy to see...They are about 9" in length and would fit in a potted plant on your desk, in the kitchen, or en masse in your herb patch...

PLEASE REMEMBER to refresh the page to see what has sold...groovy!

Taxman cometh

Oh man, I just got back from the accoutant's office, which is about 25 miles from my house, but along all sorts of gorgeous twisty and hilly roads...and its so nice out..only 70 and low humidity...like a real Spring day...I know what i'm gonna make at the torch, so it should be a good day for offerings tomorrow...I just looked at the roses and they musta grown a foot from when I fertilized yesterday...wow...I used a foliar feed and I guess they were hungry...

I'm glad ya'll enjoy the garden pics, cause sometimes that's all I have to show ya'll...No new beads today, but i'll be melting this afternoon, indeed...after a quick run out to the accountant to pick up our taxes and mail them off...

its a nice day for a drive w/ the top down...i've fertilized the plants in the front and back yard, so they will grow...the climbing rose is all over the arch in the front yard, its already traveling down the other side...the lemons are getting yellow, the limes are green, the basil is 6 feet tall (well, almost), and there's loads of new growth on all the roses...

Butterflies are free...

Some days in the garden are good, others not so much...we've had a few near misses and one fatality in the garden this morning...Abby was beating on a newly hatched Black Swallowtail but thankfully I caught her early enough to save the butterfly- which is now high in the Red Bud tree and out of kitty view....and then we found Clementine beating a newly-hatched gulf fritilary , but again, it was averted early enough and now its in the crossvine sunning itself, drying its wings, getting ready to make its voyage...But unfortunately the greatest loss was one of our two Giant Swallowtails (the caterpillars that look like poop!)...Abby managed to find the one that had hatched and when I found it, she had done a pretty good number on it...its wings are ravaged, and one of the body segments is oozing...so Brian put it in the freezer where it will slowly fall asleep and not know what happened...

sounds harsh, I know, but we didn't want to see it flounder and suffer in the real world, although I suppose perhaps a bird might find it a tasty treat...we have one more Giant that we are keeping our eye on, and hope it hatches and flies away with no problems...

I wish I had my camera yesterday - we visited Our Fave Nursery and on their pipevine plant were gazillions of the caterpillars crawling all over it...it was crazy..black with caterpillars...awesome...everywhere you looked they were squirreling around...they had stripped the plant (although I hear it'll come back in about a week), and we didn't bring any home for our little vine, cause we don't want to strip it before it gets established...I don't wanna be playing Catepillar Survivor with these guys just yet...

The demo yesterday was a blast...the new BlueMoon store is fantastic, and the lampwork area is amazing...loved it...lots of folks stopped by, (why do people come by who are grumpy? bah), and I made some crazy beads...it was loads of fun...and Jim asked me to bring some strands of beads in for sale- everything right now are organic focals, so they want some strands...looks like I need to get back to work...!

The frozen caveman butterfly just emerged...I'm curious to see if he comes back to life once he warms up...I saw a goldfish do that at a science fair in middle school once...i'll keep ya posted...

Digger the dog...diggin he goes with you...diggin along...

Yet another commercial jingle that haunts my adulthood...this was for a little dog toy that you could drag around the neighborhood...Digger the dog...and I'll be diggin in the backyard later today, Brian brought home a surprise yesterday...Our Favorite Nursery (OFN) was out of the pipevine that we want to plant in our garden to encourage those red caterpillars I showed ya'll the other day...

so he spoke to some of the folks who know us by sight and name by now and they dug some up from their own butterfly garden and gave it to Brian...how groovy is that...? and it looks like there are 3 tiny caterpillars on it, and some ladybug larvae on it as well...quite the bounty...And he picked up some small brazillian verbena which the butteflies go crazy over, so that needs to go in too...and the swallowtails put a big hurt on the bronze fennel, so we need to plant more of that..and finally we have to fix what the dog has dug up - thanks dog!

I'm off to do the demos this morning, but I'll only be there till noon...so swing by if you get a chance...i dunno what I'll be making, probably some fish or twisties or who knows what...small beads are boring for folks to watch being demo'd, they like big showy things they can see...I've learned this...

New Poll...

He should take this gig...seriously...

I've put up a new poll...I should probably make the answers 2 or 3 polls, but for now, just choose your best answer...you'd think I know how to put together a better poll, having worked at a survey software company for 5 years...sheesh...

The hibiscus is coming into bloom...we have loads of buds ready to pop...its about the right time...it amazes me- the plant was cut to the ground in December...seriously...and now, its huge and full of blooms...I am always amazed at nature...truly...

I'll be doing a bead demo from 10-noon tomorrow at BlueMoon Glassworks grand reopening...Jim emailed and called yesterday, I dunno what happened, but he's scrambling for demo people and I was happy to step in...at least it isn't for the whole day, which is fun and all, but we have butterfly gardens to attend to tomorrow and hope to learn more about what we need to do...we live for the bugs...I did see a new swallowtail caterpillar on the fennel in the front yard yesterday, which made me happy...

If you put sweet pebbles in your mouth...

...you'll never have rocks in your head! anyone remember that jingle from childhood? it was selling fruity or cocoa pebbles cereal...Well, I have MORE Brangelina Rocks for ya'll...they're posted now!!

And WHO...WHO...WHO saw that coming? Chris was sent packing...DialIdol got it right, so when Ryan lined up the pairs, I knew who was top and bottom and when he told Chris he was going home, Chris looked stunned...From what I've read, he and Ace were divas - very demanding and complaining about everything all the time...whiners...I hope he cuts an album and makes millions...all rock stars are whiners, really...

So I received my OneSkein secret pal name and wrote to her, but she hasn't 'despammed' my email and I haven't heard back from her yet...AND, i haven't heard from the person who has MY name - so I'm kinda bummed...a friend who also is participating received a pal who is allergic to nearly everything (wool, cashmere, alpaca, silk) AND, who isn't even a knitter! she's going to 'teach herself' to knit 'eventually'...wha??? she shouldn't be in this exchange, should she?? boo...

The A/C isn't fixed, but hopefully by next week we'll have relief..amazingly a cool front has come thru and its gorgeous here today...thank god...outdoor airconditioning is my favorite...and its cheap!

Brian brought home the first season of Dr. Katz and we were cracking up last night..the episodes were from 1995..wow...I can't believe they're that old...so brilliant...

Good thing I have nowhere to go..

UPDATE: A/C dude is here and he's the nicest guy...he has serviced our front a/c in the past and he loves animals...I have Lady in the front of the house, otherwise she'd attach herself to his leg and never leave the petting, but Bagheera is outside 'assisting' and making sure things run smoothly...i like this service guy, he's already found the wasp nests that I knew were in there (thank goodness they were very small), and he's not afraid of them...things are groovy...hopefully some cold air by lunchtime...

The a/c dude is coming out to service the studio a/c today - good thing I have nowhere to go cause he'll be here 'between 8am and 8pm'...well, that narrows it down now, doesn't it...

American Idol will be interesting tonight...who do you think will be punted? DialIdol gives their un-scientific prediction...we'll see...

I have the last ep of Gilmore Girls to watch today...love that show...i'm watching reruns of it at 4:00pm on ABC Family...

I did some really interesting research last night, surfing other websites and eBay auctions...it was good to see what was going on out there...the general consensus that I get is - lots of folks are using presses to make beads instead of making well executed round beads...hmmm...ok...and I noticed that when one design is popular, everyone else copies it...I saw some blatant rip offs of talented designers, which is sad...the 'big' thing now seems to be those multi-colored organics with a black and white twisty scrolling thru them, and a bit of frit on one edge - oh and etch the whole thing...I saw page after page of those things...amazing...some beadmakers make awesome sets (like Pati Walton), but then there are loads of not so hot ones that are making MORE money than the good ones...go figure...it reminds me of lemmings- 'lets all make this style of bead, oh wait now that's popular, lets all make those now!'...good grief..no wonder ya'll are looking for original stuff - its hard to find it out there when people are being copied at every turn...wow...amazing...I'm sure you must notice this trend as well...

I have a small set to post today, and more to make while waiting for a/c boy...the studio isn't too hot right now, and even when it is, i'll just sit and sweat...its not like I'm not used to it...after walking the dog its a pretty ugly scene...took me 20 min to cool off yesterday...from all the rain we've had, the ground is wet, and the heat just brings it up like a sauna...so pleasant...

Hunker down...

Wow...I did not expect the author of this page to look like this...i like the project, only I'd use nicer beads...ha!

Are any of ya'll making these? I think I need to, just cause...

I made these little squeeze bracelets cause yeah, I'm still goofing around with these colors and I'm trying new things...and that's what I'll be doing today - experimenting...its all good...

Dentist was successful this time, the crown is glued in my head and I'm gettin' used to it...but overall it was a success..yea...

And with that, I'm off...everything is normal here...nothing to report...I slept thru the night - no storms...yeehaw!

Here, there, everywhere...

I've got a busy day today of dentists trying for the second time to adhere my new crown into my head...second times the charm? and I may have a couple of things to post for ya'll later, it all depends on how they come out of the kiln...

The storms just keep on coming...and waking me up in the middle of the night...i love storms, but man, I'm tired...the past 5 days, waking up around 3:30am is not the best way to start the day...bah...

We are glad that '24' and 'AI' are winding down...we are spending too much time watching tv during the week...time to get a life..

The garden is looking good...a few replacement plants to put in, the swallowtails put the hurt on the bronze fennel, so we bought 3 more for the next batch..and next week we're putting in some pipevine so those swallowtails start coming around...butterflies are free...

Mother Nature run wild...

Because ya'll are probably tired of listening to my weather rants, I've hired a 'weather pixie' to take care of the weather bidness for me...just check her out and she'll tell ya what's going on here...if you don't see her on screen, she's probably been blow away by hurricane winds...or she's covered in 20 feet of snow...sheyah right...

I was being all arty farty and taking shots of these Brangelina Raku rocks in the butterfly garden...so that you can see they look like rocks from nature, only better...the same colors came out on both the black and ivory base, you can't really tell which is which when they're laying next to one another...

I'm trying to keep the website as 'normal' as possible, but this new computer has changed my resolution to very small, and now lots more stuff can be crammed on my screen...however, I'm staying w/ my old resize measurements, which should keep my photos the same, but if you notice a painful difference, or if the screen should start scrolling left to right again, let me know...I might not see what you're seeing...

I tried to reset the settings back down to what I was using previously, but they came out all squished and skinny...so I'm gonna have to wing it and count on ya'll to tell me if I'm going out of bounds here...

There are folks who are still without power in Austin, from the Wed storms, and I'm even more grateful for that...there's carnage all over town...its crazy...more storms are planned for tomorrow, I hope things settle down after that...Brian is moving more gravel into the walkway and I'm gonna get to work myself...time to fire up the kiln and see what happens...I will be getting back to the Icicle earrings as well, so I'll have more of those ready...my little experiment came undone when I broke my drill bit, so after the dentist tomorrow, I have some errands to run...back later, babies...

I'm completely operational and all my circuits are functioning properly...

A few interesting sites in my yard...more to come, as I get the pics optimized...making small strides...

I'm here...I'm back...(boring computer info here)- turns out it was my hard drive causing the heat up, not a broken fan...so when Brian replaced the new HD with my old one - it just heated right up like always...not good...So, he took both machines to work and imaged the new HD with my old HD and I got this puppy back at 8:00pm last night...by then I was knee-deep in knitting a new clutch (teehee), so I waited till today to give it a whirl...and I'm happy to say - no heat is percolating under my left wrist...this HD is behaving normally...and I just found that the memory stick reader wasn't moved to this machine, so I can't show you all the cool pics of the storm damage we had on Wed night...

Austin hasn't been on the news much, Dallas and San Antone has gotten all the headlines, which is fine, but we got 75mph winds and lots of felled trees with a massive Spring storm on Wed night...a little hail, not too much...but I was watching our young Bur Oak spin around like it was made of elastic...the addage is true - 'what does not kill us, makes us stronger'...winds are good for trees to strengthen their trunks, limbs, etc...Mostly we had shredded leaves and such (looks like a green parade went thru the yard) but the biggest damage was our 53yr old dying Sycamore who lost the top 1/3 of its canopy into the street on Wed...at least the car wasn't parked directly under it, some folks' cars are completely crushed..and it didn't fall on the house, which it could have and folks down the street had tree removal companies taking the large oaks off their roofs...so all in all, we lucked out...we need to take this tree down anyway, its dying, so this just took about $300 off the removal bill...ha...Brian is gonna pick up the old computer at his office so I can have the memory stick reader and get some pics posted for ya...

Because, I have a couple of beadstrands to offer...they are still in the kiln, and if the gnomes got them, then I'll give them to the bad bead jar...but if everything went well, I'll have a couple of goodies for ya'll in a while..

I woke up at 3:30 and was awake for a few hours during a big storm last night (no downed trees that I know of), so I'm kinda flying on fumes, but I'm working on shaking out the cobwebs and will get this show on the road...Man - I REALLY like this new computer keyboard, its so much nicer than my old one...and its so clean...and pretty...too bad I'm the one using it...it'll prob get cat hair and cocoa puffs in the keyboard by the end of the weekend...

Shall We Play A Game?

Hello.

This is W.O.P.R.

Donna's replacement computer is here and I will be transferring her hard drive image from the old system to the new one.

She's off to play with silver and anvils.

Brian Out.

I am the Dog Whisperer..

Who saw South Park last night?

That was one of the funniest shows in a long time...Cesar started 'tsst'ing Cartman on his neck - until he finally fell over with his hands and feet in the air...Cartman walking with a harness, throwing a fit, his Mom tugging on the leash to 'correct' him...I loved the intro of Cesar's show - they had him running on the beach, rolling with his skates, it was so well done...I tried to find screen shots, but there aren't any out there yet...The show re-runs tonight, if you get a chance, TiVo it and crack up laughing...
Hey, after hitting one yarn store yesterday, the other store sent an email saying they're having a 25% off sale today...aaagh! I need to swing by and pick up more of that Citrus Lime color, before its all gone...

So, I have some things to take care of behind the scenes the next day or two...silversmithing needs to take place, more Icicle earrings, and maybe something new...I have some ideas...wheeee!!!

Angelina has sandy toes

I spent a lot of time working on these, I hope you are looking for something unique, different and earthy...Inspired by Brad and Angie in Namibia, the colors in the pics (on the RfP page) were just too good to pass up...I had a great time making these, and hope you find a strand that speaks to you too...

A quick drive by update...

Rachel sent me this link yesterday and already folks are emailing me about it, so you know its a good thing...Rachel does the most amazing work, I just love her pieces and most of the time I miss out on buying them, which is probably a good thing for my bank account...I actually own the rose bracelets cause I had to have them...groove on...

Jenn sent me this felted Kitty bed - check out the kitties in their beds...I think I know what my next project will be...(Darcy was sleeping in two of the bowls, her front in one bowl, her back in the other)...Oh, and beads are in the kiln and they are lookin pretty groovy...hope you like organic...there's a story to them, and I have to get back to them...toodle-do...p.s. - I've felted the citrus clutch, it came out funky and weird and I like it...its drying now...

Well, yeah, its an early update, and then I'm turning this machine OFF...the kiln ran all day, I pulled stringers and am ready to go, but not a bead was made yesterday...boo...so this morning I woke up, watered all the plants in the front and backyard, talked to all the toads and lizards I met and plucked some more society garlic seeds that are ready to harvest...(call me 'farmer donner')...Brian said it smells like a rain forest outside...probably the wet mulch...I have loads of pics from the backyard to post, but will do that later...I did submit some cool bug eggs to the Bugman site, asking for identification...the three black swallowtail caterpillars are getting nice and juicy, and I'm still waiting to find the giant swallowtail chrysalis in the garden...see ya'll later when i've done a real day's work...

I think ya'll are great, have I ever told you that? I got this email from the guy who runs the 'own an inch of any state' site that I mentioned the other day...so many of ya'll visited the site that he noticed an increase of traffic that he sent this - "I personally missed your posting but apparently lots of your visitors did so it resulting in noticeable traffic to our site. If you'd like to put a logo on your site feel free to go to our partners page. By copy of this email, I'm asking my tech support person to put your link on one of our pages.

Best regards,
Scott Moger"

Sweet Computer Gods...

Gah! I just ran across this at 6:30 and the deadline to join is TODAY, but if you're into knitting, or are enjoying the One Skein book (its where the bowls and clutch patterns come from), you might find joining the Secret Pal Exchange...There is a button in the left column on my site now...I've joined, but I have to go 'incognito' so my secret person doesn't know who I am...this'll be sweet...!

If you like caterpillars and strange looking worms, check this very cool site out - Bugman

Things are great with the computer today...! It probably knows its going back to the factory and is trying to behave so it wont have to be scrapped in the dung heap of computer parts...too late! You're going back, buddy...now sit up straight and behave...

I've been able to draw a name for the April Freebie - Mary Lou E...! And because I had SO MANY votes for April, I've been thinking that I should draw more names for some other freebie beads, so that's what I'm gonna do...I won't be giving away icicles to everyone, but I'll be announcing the winners here as I draw them...I do THANK YOU for all the votes for this month and hope you like the May beads as much...

I got up early and mulched all the plants we put in the ground yesterday, and gave them all a good watering...I am just completely filthy from head to toe, literally...dirt in my hair, on my legs, under my fingernails...I must go get a shower in a few minutes...and then I'm starting some new beads...And just to clarify cause some of ya'll were wondering - my inquiry to the eBay thing was only cause I was surprised to hear the number of auctions was half as much as last year (which didn't sound right at all, but then I don't follow eBay so I put word out to hear what ya'll thought), not cause I was poking around about whether or not I should post auctions of my own...I'll keep selling mostly thru my site and occasionally on eBay (after someone told me they didn't know I was still making beads cause they never saw me on eBay, I figured I probably should have a small presence out there from time to time- and this latest auction has had over 600 views, and I'm happy about that)...I know ya'll prefer to buy directly from me and I prefer to sell that way...as long as ya'll keep buying from me, I'll keep posting here...

Ok, time to run some hot water and scrubba scrubba...