Carve your own pumpkin!
Learn the history of Halloween (its not a satanic holiday)...
What's your Vampire Name? I'm the Duchess of Scandanavia!
Did you miss The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown like my friend Katie B did? (they moved it to 2:35am and showed political debates instead - bogus!) You can watch the WHOLE thing on YouTube (thanks other Katie for the link)...
The pink part of my cotton candy is mostly missing...I ate the blue portion, yes...but the pink was full...and now its mostly gone...and yet - there's a large section in the bag that looks mysteriously like a dog might have licked what she couldn't reach...hmmm...I wonder if the dog would be interested in cotton candy...dogs can't taste sweet, right? I know cats can't (although Clementine does love chocolate, although we don't give it to her, she can sniff it out in a bag)...I can't imagine a dog sneaking a snack w/out our knowledge...ha!
What a fantastic weekend! We visited local organic nurseries, found loads of fruit trees to replace the ones we're leaving behind in Austin, and walked thru a butterfly garden that was amazingly wonderful..full of big fat bumblebees, giant and pipevine swallowtails, millions of tiny snout noses, gulf fritilary and loads of monarchs on migration...
We had lots of monarchs in our garden, I shoulda taken pics but didn't manage to have my camera with me...d'oh!
I like the time change, it always makes my life easier falling back...but come Spring time - its not my favorite week...check this out - In 2007, daylight time begins on March 11 and ends on November 4. [New law goes into effect.] In 2008, daylight time begins on March 9 and ends on November 2. Remember that being signed into law...
While watching a very nerve-wracking Longhorns game Saturday night, I started channel surfing and ran across a Comedy Central showing of "Shaun of the Dead"...Its about the funniest zombie/british/comedy I've seen...we laughed thru the whole thing..."you have a bit of red on you"...
We found out from the previous owner of this house that we won't have any trick or treaters...they don't come down our street...looks like Brian will be taking all the candy into work this week...I still have the pumpkins out front, at least for our enjoyment...
There's a whole buncha stuff going on, but its not even 7:00am Monday morning, so I'm gonna go take care of some work and I'll be back...
Move your clocks back tonight...
We're listening to a garden show this morning and a caller says she has these weird caterpillars on her lime trees, and she is afraid they'll strip her tree...she has a butterfly garden, and is worried these caterpillars will eat all the foliage for her butterflies...the host is telling her to hand pick the caterpillars and dump them in soapy water to kill them - which would be good except these are GIANT SWALLOWTAIL caterpillars!!
How can you have a butterfly garden and NOT do the research to know what these things are? They thrive on fruit trees, the first thing you should do is Google them...Brian and I were yelling at the radio 'nooooo! don't kill them!'...He tried to call in and tell them what to do, but our phones don't work well in the country (we're going to get new phones next week), and the signal cut out...thank goodness someone else called in and told them its the Giant and not to kill it...good grief!
We are headin' out to the local town festivities...I did get some cotton candy at the carnival last night, but we didn't play any of the games - the prizes were really gnarly and the carnies were even gnarlier...but the cotton candy is pretty tasty, I must say...I'll prob have it for the next 6 months, tho...I don't eat that much cotton candy..ugh...
I made some new beads to take to BlueMoon for some additional 'adjusting'...once I get them back, i'll show ya what i'm talking about...Jim emailed me yesterday to say he's been practicing and I told him I had some crappy beads ready for him to ruin...ha!
I KNEW there was something I forgot to tell yall...tonight - Great Pumpkin!!!
Although you might think that I am very outgoing and wacky, I'm actually quite the hermit...I am not good in social gatherings - I don't know what to say, I don't know who to talk to, I end up eating the cheese and staring at cracks in the wall...so when I donated two bracelets to the local art show yesterday and was expected to attend last night's festivities, I was apprehensive..I've met two folks in town so far, and I guess in some way that's not so bad - when we arrived at the shin dig, we didn't know anyone, so we could walk around like art critics from out of town...we did go, and stayed for a few minutes, and had a cheese sandwich...it wasn't too bad, but that's probably because I didn't get the chance to stare at the cracks...
I hope the bracelets sold well, I'm sure I'll hear about it...its a small town...I think my pieces were the most expensive things on the auction table..I felt kinda bad saying what the retail price was, when the little hand made stool was going for a $5 bid...I do hope that went for more money than five bucks...
Anyway, there's a little carnival setup at the end of our street, with tiny rides and a cotton candy/popcorn stand...and the cool weather has blown thru overnight (it was 87 and crazy humid yesterday so thanks for the cool weather!), so I wanna go toss some rings and eat some corndogs...but I'm not riding the rides - don't trust those suckers...no way...maybe I'll win a large teddy bear to haul home...
I have kitties in every window, soaking up the interesting scents (probably goats) from outside...
Raise your hand if you were up at 5:00am...I'm feelin' a little groggy...at least it's light outside, it seemed as if it was going to be dark until noon...
If you're feeling creative, check out Not Martha's Halloween snack cakes...Pocky!
Why does the dog need to bark when she goes outside...can't she just chew on her new bone and enjoy the morning quietly...
Did you know the creator of Dilbert has lost his voice? Its not a joke...I didn't know you could lose that...I've heard of loss of sight, hearing, smell, etc...but voice...wow...I hope he has success getting it back eventually...
I just got back from lunch in Austin and a trip to BlueMoon where I picked up some Renaissance Wax...while that might not mean anything to you, it means a bunch to me - I've been looking for this since LAST October when I took Kate Fowle's class on electroforming...now I can seal the copper on the beads and feel a lot more comfortable in selling the finished beads, knowing they should stay pretty and coppery and not tarnish nearly as fast, if at all...so, i'll be doing a little scrubbing and posting some of these beads - I have loads of them...and maybe I ought to setup my e-forming and start making more...hmmm...I know where part of the stuff is...time to go box-diving...I also learned of a new tool that Jim is carrying, so he asked me to make some beads and he's going to try it out for me...Once they are done, I'll give you more info, right now its just an idea...still, I hope they turn out alright...time to go practice...
My friend Francoise sent me the most cool pic of her house decorated for Halloween, so I had to share it...the front of the house is faced in stone - so its perfect for the season...Love it!
Yeah, so I stayed up late last night watching Rocky Horror...I dunno why...I can say that I know the words to all the songs because in college I bought the soundtrack because our dorm was putting on a scene and I was playing Riff Raff (fun!)...so, while I don't know anything to yell at the screen, I can sing along with the rest of them...I tend to get lost in the middle of the movie, tho, the dinner scene kinda drags and I get bored...still, it was fun to see it again...
Uh oh...another rainy day means the dog stays inside (she doens't like getting wet - do any of us?)...and she doesn't like being inside because she's so big, and the pathways are still a little clogged with boxes...and there are 6 cats in here all ready to swipe at her...she's not gonna enjoy today...I did clean her food bowl, tho, so its all shiny and new...
I've heard from a few beadmakers about my mini-rant yesterday...everyone seems to be in agreement, not that I was looking for consensus, but I think its a frustration that many of us share...I'm sure there are rants about this on WC every day, but every once in awhile I make the mistake of cruising other websites and regretting it..and that's all I'll say about it today...
and so, its time to get moving, but I'll be back...and as always, rock on...
Its always dangerous for me to surf other beadmakers sites, because it tends to make me a little crazy...there are so many beadmakers who can't make a decent round bead - their raised dots have undercuts, their stringer is applied terribly, they can't get nice puckered ends - and yet they are asking upwards of $10 a bead for these things...
now, granted, I don't know if they are selling any ugly beads at this price- I would hope that the general public is getting wiser to what a bad bead looks like, but it still makes me go cross eyed...No wonder so many beadmakers are just mashing beads in a press - no need to worry about undercut dots or puckered ends that way!! I make my share of bad beads too - but they are fed into my Bad Bead Jar (or I give them away, I would never sell a crappy bead knowingly), so I don't claim to make only perfect beads...but really, I hope that YOU don't buy beads that aren't executed properly from whoever you buy from...
I've finally found where I need to go to register my vehicle (yes we are in a different county), so today I'm heading over to make the Vampyre and truck legal on the road...how exciting is that??
I've ordered some glass from Val Cox lately, so maybe I need to go find my 100lbs of frits and play..she's had some really cool beads for sale lately, I ordered a couple of sets and they arrived yesterday..one in particular has caught my eye and I'd love to make some myself...sparkly and delicious...
Are you watching that new DIY show called "B. Original"? I've kinda got sucked into it, even tho I'm tickled that so much of what is made is stuff we were doing back in the 70's...she made some jewelry out of rocks and lock washers that I thought were pretty cool...it reminds me of when I would take a black adhesive glue and glue beads on a Cool Whip container to hold all my trinkets...awesome...
As my thoughts return to silversmithing, I remembered that a friend of mine has a wonderful silver jewelry line here in Austin...I took bead classes from her years ago and its been cool seeing her business take off...Go see what Lisa Crowder is making today...!
The most magnificent dragonfly was hanging around our ladder yesterday...I was hoping that if he was perhaps not feeling well enough to continue his journey, he would expire on my ladder so that I may electroform him and keep him in his splendor...but I would never ever hurt a bug just to plate him in copper...so later in the day, I found Mr. Dragonfly had flown off to his next more interesting ladder...He was enormous and blue-green with these fantastic wings...I hope he has a successful journey and is not lunch for an opportunistic bird...with all the rain we've had, our flower pots are filled with water, so perhaps he'll return...
On a more 'back down to earth' thought, the cats have left throw up for me in my studio and I just stubbed my big toe...and so, Monday has begun...
The pumpkins all survived their first night in our yard...I was kinda wondering if they'd all be there, after last year's Halloween where we lost some of our pumpkins to the night theives...we haven't spent much time decorating for Halloween this year, a lot of stuff is still in boxes and we just haven't had the energy or desire to dig it out...but now that its cool out, i'm in the mood to decorate...and I've pulled out some more wild petunias to make room for new butterfly plants...I have a hard time pulling out perfectly nice purple flowers, so I only do a few at a time...they survived our freakishly hot summer, so I should reward them with some water, not ripping them out of the ground...
Today has been an awesome day...we spent a hunk of it at Our Favorite Nursery, talking to the chickens, buying two monarch butterfly plants (they are on migration and we see them flying over, but we have no garden to lure them)...and finally cleaning out one of the flowerbeds in the front of the house and planting the plants, and setting up 3 of our lighted pumpkins...I have the compost gate setup in the yard now, so I can start stocking it with pecan leaves and grapefruit rinds...the snoutnose butterflies that are all over South Texas this year are all over our yards, and we had some fun with some spiders and lizards...all in all, its been a fantastic fall day...why can't it be 64 every day?
Did you know Bela only played Dracula 3 times in his career? I was watching TCM (again) and Robert Osborne tossed that fact out there...I thot he made loads of Dracula movies...the movie they played last night was pretty weak and over in 60 minutes...as I was making beads, and not paying attention to the movie, it just up and ended on me...weird!
I managed to successfully order the 3mm beads from Rio yesterday..it took some hoop-jumping to change my address with them, and to find the beads in their catalog, but I managed...and living in the stix comes with it's downside - delivery costs went up...I'm not surprised...but I don't pass that onto you - I just groan and deal...
I couldn't stand it and I had to string a few bracelets yesterday with the few beads I have left (I still have a small amt if you want one of the remaining sets strung, tho)...and I made myself a set of the twisted squeeze (like set 4) cause I knew once I put these colors away, it'd be awhile before I do this again...at least in these colors...I was thinking of doing some in amethyst, silver grey and black...very wintery...I need to make some new twisties first, tho...and I'm having a real push to make some organic beads that are chunky and funky...out of my normal realm...so stay tuned...
The studio is a complete wreck, I don't have any shelving yet, and so everything lives on the floor...its making me mental...I need to get this place cleaned up...
The roosters and goats are outside protesting, and the kitties inside are begging for breakfast...I need to go see what I can do for everyone...
11:25 - I found warm clothes and shot the pics...beads are posted for ya...enjoy!
Beads are cleaned, but its 45 outside and I've gotta find some warm clothes to go shoot the pics...what wuss I am...complain complain...bah...
Back in a bit w/ the pics...groovy tunes...
Pretzel Day with 18 toppings - can I get one with everything?
Yesterday was small town errand day, and today is big city errand day (funny how i don't miss the big city traffic anymore - geez)...I'm still working on the new beads, with more to make today...I'm taking a clue from ya'll who say you want me to remake beads - I'm remaking some that I made in June that I wasn't able to offer because I took most of them with me to Bead and Button...so I hope (re: will twist your arm) you like them and will want to scuffle over them...heh...
Its gorgoeous and fall-like here today...and the sun has come out...too bad I wasn't tooling around in the Vampyre, but it was rainy and cold this morning and I don't see well in that car w/ the top up...
I had sushi for lunch and the place musta turned the a/c down to 50 - it was freezing in there...I ate as fast as I could and bailed...but my favorite sushi chef saw me and waved...he sends over free rolls to me sometimes...awesome...
I had an offer to take a Persian/Himalayan pair of cats home with me...the owners have a new baby and the husband freaks out when he sees cat hair on the kid - one minute he's ready to give the cats away, the next he can't live without them...psychos if you ask me...they just had a litter of kittens last month, so they are ready to be adopted but apparently they all have homes...oh well..not like we need any more animals at the moment...next up for us are chickens, as soon as we get a coop built...and our neighbor's goats are keeping Lady entertained on her walks...they are pretty funny...we don't have room for goats just yet...maybe we'll move further out into the country and become farmers...ya never know...
Feeling sleepy?
I should just shave my head and stop fighting this crazy wacky hair..it seems no matter what I do, it is always a freak show on my head...argh...
So, the consensus is to do away with the mini poll and just get feedback directly from ya'll...sounds good to me!
yesterday's beads turned out really nice, I'm tickled with them and inspired to get to work today...now that I've had my shower and am all clean and shiny myself...
The knitting is coming along, I just tied on a new color that is slightly lighter than the first color, but really - this tote will be what it will be, and the unplannedness of it will come thru loud and clear...now I'm realizing that I need to get MORE of the neutral yarns (they are called Brown Heather and Sable)in order to complete the many many rows it requires...looks like I'll be making a trip to the yarn shop Thursday after my haircut...
I tried logging into Rio Grande yesterday and I could get in, but couldn't find the 3mm beads I was looking for...will try again later...
Sure enough, Clementine made me cough all night last night, after I inhaled her flea medicine while she layed down on me...she's so clever...if I'm passed out, face down on the kitchen floor, she can use me to sleep on...right now she is hiding in her 'paper nest' - where all the packing paper is piled in the corner, and she climbs into it and hides...she likes the crackly noise it makes, plus she likes paper...its a perfect fort...
I tried something a little different today - I didn't turn on a television or radio all day...and I got beads made as a result...but I have a lot more that I want to get done before I'm ready to offer them, so we'll shoot for later this week...
I've had my little 'mini poll' for the past year and have only run about 12 polls, (about one a month - hey, I'm doing higher math!)...do you think its worthwhile? I'm not sure I need to renew the subscription, since I don't have many questions that I ask...would you be bummed if I didn't have a poll, and instead just went back to the 'old' way of just asking questions in my blog?
It rained here all day...so I gave everyone their flea treatment and they were not happy...I haven't seen any fleas on anybody, but since the dog does go in and out, she could carry them on her (she doesn't seem to have them either)...I always get a cough when I give treatment cause Clementine likes to climb up and lay down on my chest-so that I inhale the medicine and get sick...she's so clever...so now i'm coughing, although not as badly as I have in the past...I got wise and make her get down before she does too much damage...she'd probably be a good villian in the Batman universe, don't you think?
Brian dropped all the domestic packages off in Austin, I took the international stuff to the local post office, so everything is on its way...I love it when I don't have any beads to ship...sweet...
I started knitting a new felted tote last night, in fact, I knitted an entire skein of yarn and ran out about 50 stitches before the end of the row...so now I'm upstairs hunting for another skein, but I don't think I have any..so I will have to get creative...good thing this isn't going to be entered into a show or photographed in a magazine...I kinda like funky weird handmade stuff...I will be making this one a lot bigger this time, tho, many more skeins of yarn, so that it will hold more stuff...i like my last felted project, but it came out a lot smaller than I realized...boo...
Yesterday was a gorgeous cool day, so we went out tooling about...a nearby town has a Tractor Supply store, and seeing as how we don't know nuthin' 'bout country livin', we moseyed on over there to check it out...We found all sorts of stuff we wanted, but didn't get any of it just yet...we're still digging out from our boxes, which is what we did when we came home...it was like 'do we buy more stuff for our already stuffed house, or do we just unpack our stuff and look at it?'...we are both in purge mode - time to donate stuff we've moved but aren't going to use...both of use like to donate lots of stuff (I donated 6 bags of clothes and 4 bags of shoes - big black garbage bags full of stuff - before we moved)...
Although this house claims to have more square footage, it feels smaller, but that's ok, we still enjoy it...as the boxes are getting cleared out, the house seems bigger! Its the little triumphs that make us happy...next, I need to clean off the front porch, and get some of our plug in pumpkins up and going for the holiday...
Today is rainy and hot and humid, so we are staying indoors...I am going to ship everything - hurray!...so be on the lookout for your tracking number today...everything will go out in tomorrow's mail...Brian will prob take it into Austin so it'll go a little quicker...groovy...
And tomorrow its back to the torch for me...I have some ideas of what I want to do - pull loads of stringer and just make lots of crazy idea beads...we'll see where that leads...ok, off to the printer, enjoy your Sunday kiddos...
Don't let the Friday the 13th phobia scare ya today...its a great Fall day to be out and about..go buy some pumpkins and carve them this weekend...shovel that driveway!...gather fall leaves and acorns and save them...buy lots of Halloween candy and eat it all before the end of the month, so you have to buy more (I'm not taking the bait on that one)...
I know The Great Pumpkin will be on this month, but I haven't found the airdate just yet...I'll keep you aprised if/when I spot it...
Its 66 here and we are celebrating w/ all the doors and windows open (the screens are up, to keep the cats inside, tho Darcy is protesting)...Thank you Canada, as always you rule...
The lip balm suggestions are super fantastic, thanks for coming thru as I knew you would/could...I need to get some of this stuff ordered so I can melt it and pretend I live in the 1880's...
Why are there still so many moving boxes in the house...oh yeah, cause I haven't gone thru them yet...and there's no place to put the stuff except on the floor...I need some shelving solutions...where's my circular saw...hmmm...
Anybody out there ever made your own lip balm? I was watching a show this morning where they did it, and I've seen Martha Stewart's lip balm kit, and read 'not Martha's website about her attempts at it, but have never tried it myself...all the teeny measurements seem daunting, I'm kinda a 'toss it in' kinda chick...I use Burt's Bees lip balm right now and love it, but I'm always up for this kind of homestyle crafty goodness and wondered if you have any clues as to where a GOOD place to get ingredients and balm pots might be...I thank you...
I'm enjoying the Bullseye I picked up yesterday, I made a few little beads with them and they are just different enough from Moretti to be interesting...a nice hue, a little brighter in some cases, a little dustier in others...the glass is a 90 COE, so its stiffer, and that makes for encasing w/ the clear a little tougher for me, I'm used to Moretti being very soupy and I use that to my advantage when encasing, but Bullseye doesn't get all soupy...challenges are good...
My new DVR is recording all the shows I've lined up for it - South Park, Gilmore Girls, Signing Time, B. Original and others that I kinda grab when I feel like it..I erase a lot of shows that I record as well, I tend to only record them in case I'm not there to watch them...like when I'm upstairs on the computer and not by a tv...we need to bring our big tv up here - but then I'm not the one carrying a heavy tv up the stairs, so I don't mention it...15 steps...heavy objects...
Its going to be cooling off and raining a lot over the next few days...or so they say...at least it feels more like Fall than Summer..it was 90 yesterday again..not that i'm complaining, I see that some places are getting snow dustings - yeehaw...!
I feel like knitting...
Errand day in the big city...I exchanged my digital controller box for one that records, like TiVo, so I can record and watch shows in my studio...we ordered one way back in August, but the kid doing the install didn't bring the right one...now I'm all hooked up and ready to record my sign language show so I can study my signs...yesterday I learned "corn, carrot, bean, lettuce, strawberry and potato"...I'm tellin' ya, if I ever go to a zoo, and see a star fish and eat a strawberry, I'll be able to sign with the best of them...
And then my next stop was to deposit the Euro's a brought home with me...thanks to my wonderful students in Germany, I am able to buy the
washer and dryer AND oven for the house...we found them on Craigslist for very reasonable prices, and all are in good shape and now the house feels more like a real place to live (our old appliances were gas, and the new house is all electric)...The nicest girls helped me at the bank, they were intrigued with the Euro's and all the color and metallic strips on them...and they were very complimentary about my beads (they asked why I was in Germany, so I had to show them some beads)...I hope to talk to them again, this new bank has been so friendly and great...they even called me back when I had a question yesterday - people don't call you back anymore, but they did...awesome..
but the really exciting news for me - I hit BlueMoon and they have the Bullseye line in stock...i've never been able to see all the colors up close and personal before, so I added to my stash..lots of fall colors, new lime/olive colors, new pumpkin, new pink and purples, teals and denim...I'm really tickled to have the chance to see the colors and pick and choose...of course I wanted more, so I stopped at a 'reasonable' price...I've bought very little glass this year, mostly because I have PLENTY of what I've bought over the past 5 years, so I did my best to go slow...3 rods of any color is all I bought, just a taste...plus I do have a bit of Bullseye from previous small purchases, so I need to get that organized...I'm ready to jump in and make some small beads, and I have been feeling like encasing stuff lately...I dunno why...
I'm supposed to go into Austin, but I don't want to leave...its raining buckets here, the ground is messy and yucky...I'm gonna post pone my trip till tomorrow, and make beads instead...I'll be shipping everything shortly, so you'll have it in plenty of time for Halloween...
The icicles are zipping, half are left, so if you're waiting, don't wait too long...!
Anything exciting going on in your world? In the bead world?
I've posted the few remaining ONE inch Icicle earrings for sale on my Icicle page...I will make more in the future, yes, but I haven't setup my silversmithing station yet (the acetylene is still outside), so these 5 pair will be it for a little while...get 'em while you can...(the price went up slightly due to the crazy silver prices that we all know suck)...
A fun little weird game to play...I stumped it on my first try - it doesn't know what a glass bead is...ha!
Dogs are loud...they bark too much...at 6:30am...when its dark and people are trying to sleep...and they keep barking...even at 8:30, and you go outside and play with them, they just keep barking once you come back inside...its insane...
I dunno what she's seeing, I don't see anything..I know the neighbor's goats are wandering, but not in our yard...she's normally so quiet, this is ridiculous...I think she needs some time out indoors...I can't make beads with her barking all day...
The pumpkin patch was a hoot - we saw a young steer, a pig in the mud, ducks and geese, a llama, a horse and teeny tweeny pygmy goat babies that were only about the size of a small dog...they kept bleeting and were just about as cute as they could be...we are 'so city', I drove the Miata w/ the top down and we wore sandals - into the pumpkin patch which was filled with stickers...I suppose in time we'll figure out how to blend in with locals, but we obviously aren't from around here...still, we are both enjoying living out here, and now that a cool front has blown thru, its really quite nice being outside...
The Ride for the Roses is this weekend, there'll be 5000 bicyclists all over the city and road ways...very colorful...I doubt I'll see Lance or anyone famous, but then I'm also not really standing in the streets looking for them either...still, I have on my LiveStrong shirt to support the day...
The UT game was fun, I think Bob Stoops is getting a raw deal on offical calls - the Oregon game and now this game had some REALLY questionable calls, but you know what? OU has kicked UT's butt for so many years, that I can't feel too bad about the calls...I'll take the win and enjoy the day...
I got up early, still dark, and when I looked out, our elderly neighbor who lives behind our house was furiously watering her plants w/ her garden hose...I was surprised anyone else was up while it was dark, but there she was...keeping things green...it was nice...I keep seeing Giant Swallowtail butterflies floating thru our yard, I wonder if she has some plants they are attracted to...still, it was an amusing way to start the day...
Rumour has it, we'll be seeing highs in the 60's later next week, but for today, its still summer...90...i'm ready to put in a jacket, if I can find one...still, we are going to a pumpkin patch just down the road to enjoy some catapulted gourds, seed spittin' and maybe pumpkin ice cream...after that, its time to head N to some friend's house and watch the rival UT-OU game...
Brian just finished hooking up the washer and is working on the dryer..we might have just enough space to put the doors back on the area and still use the dryer door properly...lets see what happens...
I hope your weekend is action packed with pumpkin carving (or painting) and over all Fall goodness...are the colors turning where you are? I used to get fall leaves from my grandmother in Pennsylvania, because she knew how much I loved them...Growing up outside of Chicago, we had all the seasons (I don't miss the snow of course), but I do miss those fall trees...
I've just been summoned to a call of 'breakfast', so I will take off...time for some breakfast tacos...(potato, egg and cheese - yum!)...Rock on kiddos...
3:35 - I've completed everything, its posting as I type this...If you can't see it (AOL folks), email me and I'll send a different link...
Oh, and the October Freebie has been posted too...groovy...
11:38 - I started to take pics and noticed I had 6 min left on my camera battery and 11 pics left on my memory stick..so I've dumped the eleventy million pics to have a clean stick, and am charging the battery, in case my back up is out of juice as well...at least everything is cleaned and ready to go...that took awhile...back later...
I have a lot of work to do - everything needs to be cleaned, etc...I'll letcha know when I have a better idea of when things will be ready...and because these are new, of course I figure no one will want them...its always a gamble...back in a bit...
Beads Tomorrow..something a little different...
I'm into the second week of the 'new' Gilmore Girls and its still different...Brian really doesn't like the new pace, and I guess I'm not wild about the camera close ups but I don't mind that they are talking at a 'real' person pace...and Luke had LOTS of airtime and things to say, although his sister and brother in law kinda drive me loony...Kirk is still silly and Lane is good, but Rory seems to whine and slump her shoulders a lot...anyway, I'll be watching this season, just to see what happens...I also tuned into Veronica Mars because its needs the viewers and its a mystery show, which I love, and if Stephen King is a fan, how bad can it be? Turns out, I actually kinda liked it...the actor who plays the dad has the same exact birthday as me, so I like him...and the chick who plays Veronica isn't that annoying like I thought she might be, and of course,
the actress who played Deb in Napoleon Dynamite is in it, and she's kinda a punk/goth quiet kid...I hope it made the ratings it needed to...I see that Studio 60 is hurting for viewers...I watched and enjoyed the first night, but then everyone on the show seemed so self indulgent and everything was such a 'big deal' that I got exhausted from their chaos...No more for me...Tonight is Brian's big night - Lost is back...that'll make him happy...
He hooked up the dryer last night and then realized that the dryer door won't open properly because the dryer sits behind a small part of the wall and there isn't enough clearance...and if we put the doors to the laundry room back on their hinges, there will be even less room...man, I shoulda seen that...in our old house, there was nothing blocking access, so when I spied these machines for sale, it seemed perfect- but I didn't take into account the nook they are residing in...hmmmm..
On a good note, I made some new freebie beads and some really cute pumpkins and ghosts...I plan to make more today, trying some different designs ideas...I don't do sculpture and I try not to do 'cutesy', but these little guys have personality and I dig them...more to come...
Our Austin house has gas for the hot water, heat and dryer...the new house is all electric (not our choice, but that's how it is)...so we left our old washer/dryer at the old house, since we can't use the dryer out here...last night we picked up a used set of washer/dryer that are almost identical to the set we left behind...and for a pretty sweet price...I'm happy to have a washer/dryer here, and although they are still sitting in the pick up (it was too dark to try to take them out last night), it'll be cool to get them setup in the coming days...It hasn't been that bad, I have plenty of clothes to last awhile, so doing laundry isn't something that needs to be done all that frequently in my house...
It was really cool to drive the backroads to get around, instead of driving the interstate at rush hour...we saw all sorts of farms and houses out in the sticks that we didn't know existed...we are such city folk, having lived in Austin for well over 20 years, and we never ventured out into the country much...but man, we are certainly enjoying it...for one thing, its so much quieter than the city...and the wildlife is readily available...and the speed at which things happen is slower...traffic is practically non-existent and when it is, its slow going...I love Austin and our old house and the memories and convenience of living in town, but I am really enjoying being away from it too...Sure, we don't have sushi restaurants nearby, and I have to go into Austin for a movie, but its not like I was doing those things on a daily basis anyway...there were times that I'd stay home for 5 or 6 days at a stretch, never driving my car, never leaving the house...we just weren't taking advantage of the convenience of the city, so it made sense to move out where things are quieter and we can get some chickens to cluck in the backyard...that's the next big thing I want to do, before planting anything, is get a chicken coop setup...anyone have any experience with that??
Freebie names have been posted, I'm finally getting back to life as normal...
I was called for jury duty last year, spent about 2 hours in the courthouse and was sent home...so when the summons arrived in the mail the other day, I was only TOO happy to go online and report, and let them know I don't live in Travis county any longer...yahoo, i'm excused from jury duty...I'm happy to serve in the new county I live in, but I didn't look forward to driving to downtown Austin each day...
I'm looking forward to today, I've done some good work on listing our home, Brian took care of the mowing/watering yesterday, and the only thing I need to do (need to do) is make beads...sweet...I'm ready...kiln is warming up...bagels and cream cheese have been eaten...
We bought chain and rubber hosing (to protect the tree branches) and an extension ladder so we can hang our bird feeders in the very tall pecan trees...I hope we can work on that this afternoon...I've got some feeders sitting just outside my studio window, so I've been enjoying the birds, but I think if they were hanging from the trees it would make the birds feel better...and with this new ladder we can clean the gutters - oh my, something fun to look forward to...but they need to be cleaned...we can see the twigs sticking out of them...
If you've been voting for me, its not for naught...I will be drawing names for August and September and sending some beads your way...and I have some new beads for October that I want to make and post...maybe a bat and pumpkin, something festive and silly...and thanks for your votes, as always...
Yes, its that time of year again, Fall...and I love it...(although the 90 degree temps are back with a vengence, but we won't talk about that)...The weekends are filled with football games, groovy Halloween goodies (I'm staying out of Target, lest I buy one of everything they have), and hopefully some cooler weather in the coming days...I'm enjoying this time of year, and have been making some fall beads but its been slow going, so I don't have anything to show just yet...the ideas are in my head, its just a matter of getting the time to get them done...Brian was off Friday, having his big toe worked on...he's had an ingrown toenail since May, and its never healed properly...
it was time to have a professional step in, and so far its healing nicely, but that blew my Friday...and this weekend is house-related work, so no torching right now...I'll be glad when the Austin house sells, although I'm discouraged that half of the folks who've looked at it are 'flippers' who want to buy it cheaply and put a few thousand into it and sell it for a ton...the little house across the street from our Austin house is going for 295K, after selling in May for 219K (and its smaller than ours)...no one has lived in it since January, its just been sitting, flipping...I'd like to sell our home to someone who wants to LIVE in it, not just gut it...so we have some plans on how to make that happen...Dell is hiring 500 engineers, maybe we can snag one of those newbies to Austin...heh...
Brian put in a new disposal for us yesterday, we've been in this new house for 2 months and the sink didn't drain or dispose properly..now its like having a new sink again...nice...
I'm glad to see that Corina is back posting again...I had heard some things thru the grapevine, but I didn't know how reliable they were - and I didn't feel comfortable spreading the info w/out knowing the facts...I figured when she was ready and willing, she'd be telling you everything that's been going on...I just hope she's ok and back on her feet...
And so with that, I'm off to take care of some business on my end...We are really enjoying living in this new house, in this new town...country living rocks!