2/22/08

The sun is shining, it's 56° and supposed to get to 68° today, and the birds are singing. What more can I say, other than I love it!

Monday was horrible, trying to get things out to the RV in freezing wind, and then driving in the wind. At least it was pushing us south. When we got down to Owatonna, we started getting into the blowing snow. It was close to white out conditions. Then when we got into Iowa, we started seeing cars in the ditches. It was down to 25-35 mph. Somewhere around Mason City, a wind gust pulled up the TV antenna and tore it off. I thought it was the awning, David thought it was a flat tire, it was so noisy. We pulled over and I went out, and saw the cable sticking up out of the roof, and figured it was the antenna. We finally stopped about 7:30 at a rest stop about 50 miles north of Des Moines. I counted 92 vehicles in the ditch, and there were more than that, because I laid down to take a nap while David drove, and then after dark, I couldn't see the other side of the freeway.

Tuesday night we stopped at a Walmart in Wheatland, Kansas for the night. We couldn't find the RV park we were looking for (we were only a couple of blocks from it, turns out). It was finally turning warmer, in the 60s. But then the next morning the cold front from the north moved in, and was cold again. Wednesday night we stopped at an RV park in Oklahoma.

Yesterday we got into Texas and went through Dallas/Ft. Worth and Austin. We ended up at Crestview RV park south of Austin. If they had picnic tables, I'd be happier to stay longer so I could go out and do some drawing. But they do have wifi for all the computers and good cable, and I promised Lukas we'd stay here for tonight too, so he can was the last episode of 1 vs. 100 on the TV. He has not been handling the transition to the RV very well, although getting to watch TV and play the computer and ichat to Christian last night helped. Today we're going to go to Best Buy and buy a new DVD personal player for him so he can watch DVDs in bed after David & I go to sleep.

Tomorrow we're going to head down to Corpus Christi and try to get into a campground by the ocean, and they have a large pet shelter there I want to take Lukas to, and look for a small dog for him. I'm hoping to get a dog that will bond to him, and maybe he'll quit complaining about the dogs wanting to sleep with me and not with him.

2/15/08

Well, the RV sits out in the driveway, just waiting for us to get the snowblower out and clear out a space on the lawn so we can get it hooked up to electric and get the furnace going. Right now it -3°, but at least there's no wind. I am really looking forward to getting out of here, but I'm going to miss my ferrets, especially Fang. She has really grown on me. When she's ready to settle down, she likes to cuddle up on my chest and conk out. She is SOOOOO cute!

I got the new Glassline magazine yesterday and started reading it while on the bike this morning. There's an article about keeping a daily sketchbook, which I'm going to try to take to heart. It's a really good idea, not only for improving drawing skills, but for keeping track of my color combinations on my beads. I have so many different colors now, around 200. And then when you get into the striking or reduction colors, it's difficult to tell which is which on a bead that was done weeks or months ago. So there's my New Year's Resolution. Keep a drawing and bead diary. And I'm going to have to do it as soon as I put the bead in the kiln, because here are 2 beads I made last night, and all I remember is the pinkish-beige one is moccasin. All the other colors I've already forgotten. It's the pits getting old...

2/14/08

MY RV'S READY TO BE PICKED UP!!!!! I'm so ready for warm sunshine!!!!!!!!

If anyone wants to pick up some of my beads cheap, I put everything on Etsy 20% off until Sunday night!

YAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!
(Do you think I'm excited?)

2/14/08

A friend just sent an email titled 'A stroll down memory lane,' and it had a picture of an old school with a tube fire escape.

Yes, that did bring back memories. We had one of those fire escape tubes on our elementary school. In the summer when the school was closed, we would climb inside up to the top and slide down. Couldn’t do it on real hot days though, because the metal was too hot to touch!

Yah, wooden floors that creaked, tall stairways that we’d line up on to file past the desk with the nurse to give our vaccinations (and me crying because I was afraid of needles, and still am!), and the sugar cube with the polio vaccination, the little old lady teacher dressed in dark clothes walking around the classroom with the wooden ruler in her hand to wack anyone making noise (Bill Severson got more than his share. I wonder whatever happened to him.)

We picked up the RV yesterday from the garage, and took it to Pleasureland to get the leak in the roof fixed and a couple of other things done. I sure hope it's a quick and easy fix. It snowed last night, and today and tomorrow are supposed to be cold again.

I've been getting some cool beads made the last couple of days. I like playing with the glass shards and reduction flames.

2/10/08

It is FRIGID out there, -17° below with a whipping NW wind. Wind chills are around -35°. And I think there's something wrong with the furnace. It's 56° in the kitchen where the thermostat is, and it's set to 68°. Just what I need on one the coldest days of the winter, and on a Sunday. I hate winter...

It was 43° in my bedroom this morning. Makes for good sleeping, though, when you have a mattress pad heater and a couple of nice warm blankets.

Nothing new, even the news is the same old stuff, people getting killed in horrible accidents, by spouses or ex's who have to be the most incredible idiots alive (one made 90 calls to the killer in the two weeks before he shot her ex). The most horrible and depressing news is when children are killed. That is the most evil of all.

Well, on that happy note, I'm off to do my Bible study and exercise on the bike, then to make some beads.

2/8/08

Goodness sakes, look what popped out of my kiln this morning!

There are some nice ones in this latest bunch.

It's snowing again... Cold and gloomy and dreary. And they still haven't finished with the RV. I just called and they expect to be done with it today. Next I have to call Pleasureland and see about getting it in to get the AC circuit looked at, and the fact that when it rains, it leaks in through the roof air conditioner. Not pleasure in a thunderstorm, as we found last winter in Louisiana.

Well, I'm off to make some more beads.

2/4/08

Well, I'm starting to get in the mood to go south. I took the RV in last week to get some mechanical work done on it. I sure hope everything works out. It would be so nice to have some warm sunshine. It's another cold gloomy day, although not as cold as last week. They're talking snow today. That's OK, we need some ground cover so the perennials don't freeze out.

I got new glass and new toys last week. I just started playing with the glass. Here's a couple of new colors with shards. I really love the Pale Old Gold color; it's a creamy translucent yellow-orange.


I also got my disc cutters and transfer punches. I'm waiting to get some tubing and silver sheets from Monsterslayer, then I'm ready to make beads caps and start coring some beads. I'll post pictures when I get some done.

1/29/08

Here I go again, whining about the weather. It's -1 and the NW wind is howling and rattling the roof. It is so cold...

I was going to take the RV in today to get some work done on it, but it ain't happening! Instead, I think I will just drool over some seed catalogs. That and run in and get a refill on my propane tank. It ran out last night when I was getting ready to make a bead.

I posted another couple of beads on etsy. This one I really like, with the metallic reflections.

1/21/08

Not much luck with the coring machine. I busted 2 beads so far. I think this is going to take a bit of practice. In the meantime, I'm still struggling to get good pictures with my camera; everything seams so out of focus. Very frustrating.

Here's one of my latest focals:

1/18/08

It is Frigid! out there, -8° with a northwest wind. I hate winter. I wish I were in Florida right now, even Texas would be better than this!

I got my new silver coring machine today. I'll give it a try and post a picture of the results.

And I just posted another bead on my shop at Etsy. It has dichroic glass under the flowers, so there's glimmers of magenta red and orange popping through.

1/9/08

I've been playing around with some new glass, ASK 104. There are a couple of violet/lavender colors that I really like. Here's a couple of florals:


It's another gloomy Minnesota winter day out there. Sometimes having nice big windows isn't so nice, like right now, although, yes it does look kind of nice with all of the trees covered with a frosty coating.

I've decided I'm going to order another oxygen concentrator to get a hotter flame on my torch. I've been following threads on Lampworketc. and everyone says that's the way to go. Maybe I'll go with Christian tomorrow when he goes shopping & I'll stop off at Menards to get a splitter to hook both of them up.

There was a post on Lampworketc. this morning about things to be thankful for. I've been reading Ahmed Al-Omran's blog, Saudi Jeans, http://saudijeans.org/. He's a Saudi Arabian blogger, and lately he's been writing about another SA blogger who was arrested for writing about the SA government. I remember back in the 70s when I was in college. I signed a petition calling for the release of a person who had been arrested for doing something against the govenment, I can't remember any of the details other than that (gosh, I hope it wasn't Patty Hearst). But as I was walking away, I got a scared feeling that I shouldn't have signed it, that the FBI might come after me for signing it. Ridiculous, huh? But think about the courage of these SA bloggers, knowing that they CAN be arrested, and still they go on and declare to the world the injustices perpetrated by their political system. Our country has its share of problems, and corrupt politicians is a big one, but even so, I'm so thankful that I live here.

1/6/08

Yippee Skippee!! I sold some more beads on Etsy! In the last 2 weeks I've sold as much on Etsy as I did in 2 months on ebay. I hope it keeps going like this.

It's a very nice day today, 41° and partly sunny. Spring is on the way; we just have to go another couple of weeks for the temperatures to officially start to warm up.

I got some new glass from Double Helix today and made a couple of beads with it. And Wednesday I've got a shipment of glass coming in with some new colors. Fun, fun! I need a little boost in creativity. I've been struggling lately to come up with something I'm really getting a kick out of doing. Maybe I'll try making another vessel. I like the way the last one turned out.

I love working with silvered ivory and getting that marbled look. Cool!

12/29/07

Another day of snow :(

I made a couple of beads, got Lukas up & dressed & fed, cleaned a bit, read a bit & took a nap. Another exciting day...

Well, at least I got some photos of my beads done and listed a couple sets and some prints on etsy.

12/23/07

Yippee Skippee!!! I made my first etsy sale! A print, not beads, which is just fine with me.

12/23/07

It's snowing and the wind is howling from the northwest. Well, at least the days are getting longer...

I have decided to shift away from making sets of beads, for a while anyway. Since I got back from going out west, I have been selling beads for too low of a price on ebay trying to build up a following, and it just isn't happening. So I'm going to make beads that I like to do, and do just focals for now. If they sell on Etsy, fine, if they don't, fine too. It least I'll be enjoying myself making them.

Diane on wetcanvas posted a butterfly tutorial, and I'm going to give that a try today. I was thinking maybe I'll try it with boro.

12/21/07

I just had to put on the pictures of a couple of beads I did this morning. They turned out really nice, especially the reddish brown with peach dots.

12/19/07

The gremlins are out to get me, truly. The cat knocked my trackball down on the floor, the ferrets found out that the scroll button has that nice, soft rubber that they just love to chew on... Scratch one trackball. Not even 5 minutes of using a mouse and my wrist is starting to ache. I know where I'm going Saturday: Best Buy to buy another trackball.

12/18/07

Oh, this winter just gets better and better... We went out to do chores and Suzy, my cow, was down in the barn. Yes, she was old, and yes, I had planned on putting her down before it got too cold, but I just kept putting it off because she was still getting around. I called the vet & he put her down. I am so tired of crying.

12/15/07

Only about another week until the days start getting longer!!!! Can you tell I DON'T LIKE WINTER!?!

I bought another ferret. I was so depressed with everything happening, I went to Petco to look at ferrets. They only had one left, and she bit me so bad the store clerk had to run for a bandaide. (They gave me a discount. What could I do? If someone with less experience had bought her, she would have ended up in a cage or released outside. Not my baby!) It took a couple of days handling her with leather gloves, but now she's such a little sweetheart! (I named her Fang.) She falls asleep behind me on my chair when I'm on the computer, and she loves to play with snow, and Pip and her play together. She is just so much fun!

This is Frankie keeping Fang inside the dirt box.

This is Fang playing with Bandit

I have flexible tubes for the ferrets to play in, and this is Frankie keeping Fang inside one, with Taz watching

And here is Pip playing with Fang. She's hiding in a watering can.

I've opened a shop on Etsy. I have so many beads laying around, I have to do something with them, and ebay is such a let-down lately. I'm just not going to sell my beads for $1 a bead when it takes me 10-15 minutes to do one, and then to have to pay ebay and paypal fees... I'll see how Etsy goes, and maybe sell my orphan beads on ebay.

12/2/07

I had to laugh watching NBC Nightly News last night. They were covering the winter storm and the reporter went on to mention the frigid temperatures in Minneapolis, then they flashed to a bank thermometer showing 19°. This time of the year, 19° is, well, maybe not warm, but it's bearable. When it gets to -19°, that's frigid!!

I put some beads on ebay, but they're not selling. It's quite discouraging, especially when I stupidly reached across in front of the torch and burned the inside of my wrist a couple of days ago.



Tammie suggested etsy. I think I'll open an account there and give it a try. It's cheaper than ebay.

I haven't seen the cardinals for a week or so. I so enjoy their color. Right now I have the blue jays, nuthatches, juncos, goldfinches and sparrows. Adds a little life in a bleak, dark, cold landscape. Can you tell I hate winter?