One step forward, two steps back...

Christian and I fixed our toilet seat!! Background, we have a wash and dry toilet seat for Lukas, since he needs help with toileting. Well, last week the toilet was leaking, so we shut off the water until a friend could come over and look at it. The bolts holding the tank onto the toilet had eroded, so he replaced them. Well, the toilet seat wasn’t functioning right. It wasn’t heating the water that sprays up to clean, and after 10-15 seconds, the seat would beep and the water would quit spraying. So I called the company that makes them, and since it was still under warranty, he said we could ship it back, or we could try to take it apart and checking to see if the thermostat had been tripped because of the lack of water in the tank.

I was hoping my nephews would come up this weekend and do it, but Mark had to work. So today I got the screwdriver and tackled it. It took a while to figure out how to get it apart, and then Christian and I just looked at all of the little gadgets and wires inside there. We couldn’t figure out which one was the thermostat, so we just pushed everything that looked like a button, and finally found it. Got it put back together and tested it, and it works!! Yippee!!

That was the one step forward. Now for the 2 back...

My computer has been really slow opening and saving files, and I suspected that it was one of my internal drives. So I got a newer, faster one and yesterday Christian put it in. So last night I got to install a new system. Well, of course, all of my programs and prefs needed to be reinstalled and replaced. So I figured I’d try using SuperDuper to clone a copy and installed it on the new drive. I still have to put back in all of my serial numbers, and now my Photoshop isn’t working. I tried uninstalling and reinstalling it twice, but it still won’t work. So I’m biting the bullet and buying and downloading the upgrade. And it is soooooooooooooooooo slow! It’s got an hour and 36 minutes left. Information superhighway!?! More like a gravel path meandering through the back 40.

I got the last of my bulbs dug up. About time, considering Monday will be November 1. November... hmmmmmm... only another 8 weeks until the days start getting longer.

This time of the year (winter depression), I find it daunting to accomplish anything. So I instead of thinking, I have a load of dishes to do, supper to make, beads to list, varnish the new glass cabinet, find hinges for it so the drawers the boys made will all come out, move my glass rods into it, etc. etc., I find it easier to break my tasks down.

I just listed 2 beads, cleaned the cat litter box, had Christian move a fan and more bulbs down to the basement, tried to find the hinges (and cleaned off the kitchen wood stove instead), watered some plants, and am now back on the computer.

Here’s one I listed on Etsy, with the proceeds going to AGLF (Artisan and Glassworkers Legal Fund),

Listed another bead,

made Lukas his supper, washed dishes (I love well-seasoned cast iron frying pans, they're so easy to wash), cleaned the counter, back to the computer.

Isn't this exciting?

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Dark Aurae!!

Meet Strip (as in New York Strip, just a reminder that he’s not a pet).

Chickens are so fascinating to little kids (animal and human).

Some new beads to show off:

We went back down to the farm last Saturday to get more stuff cleaned out of the old house. Very, very depressing. There had been a box of Grandma’s papers underneath the chaise lounge (photos of that to come after I get the raccoon poop cleaned off of it), and all that was salvageable was a half dozen postcards from the 1910s. But I found something else that I was hoping to find, and it’s in remarkably good condition, considering where it’s been for almost 50 years.

Here’s another quiz. What do you think this is?

Here it is with the cover taken off.

You would guess right away if it had the crank and speaker on it, but they’re in rubbermaid containers yet.

Yup, it’s an old phonograph, and it plays cylinder records. I haven’t found any of those yet.

We used to play with this when I was little, and I vaguely remember listening to a recording of Thomas Edison.

Cute pet photos, my babies sleeping in a suitcase,

Oh, I wish I could sleep as soundly as these little guys.

I think I should just go shopping.

Last night I was going to list some beads on ebay. Opened my listing program, and forgot that I had upgraded it. So I had to put all of my info back in and go onto Paypal to get an API signature. Noticed my API signature had my old, old email address, so I removed it and made a new one. Still had the old email address. Well, I haven’t been getting notifications from Paypal for the past 2 weeks about payments received or shipping labels purchased, so I thought maybe it was because for some reason they were defaulting to my old email address. Called Paypal.

Half hour later they’re still saying it’s something on my end. Grrrr. Went to make supper for the boys.

Back to the listing program. Took another half hour to figure out that the new update constricts the photos by the smallest measurement of the photo, so now I have to make sure when I crop the photos that they’re shorter than wider. Humbug!!

By then it was getting too late to do any listing, so I did some more researching on interior dimensions of Pandora beads. I want to be positive that my beads will fit. After 45 min of doing that, I ordered a bracelet, figuring the only way I’m going to be positive that my beads will fit a Pandora bracelet is to have one to fit them on.

This morning all I wanted to do was copy some papers. Had to replace 3 ink tanks, and the paper kept jamming. I had a horrible feeling that when Chunk got up on my desks and uprooted all of my orchids, that he flung some chunks of dirt and wood into the printer, so I turned it upside down and shook it. Success!

Another hour of my life wasted!

Had a good laugh at a post on LE. I just had to copy and paste it.

“i didnt write this but i'd like it to be true

To my friends who enjoy a glass of wine...
And those who don't and are always
seen with a bottle of water in their hand.

As Ben Franklin said:
In wine there is wisdom,
In beer there is freedom,
In water there is bacteria.

In a number of carefully controlled trials,
Scientists have demonstrated that if we drink
1 litre of water each day,
At the end of the year we would have absorbed
More than 1 kilo of Escherichia coli, (E. Coli) - bacteria
Found in faeces.
In other words, we are consuming 1 kilo of poo..

However,
We do NOT run that risk when drinking wine & beer
(or tequila, rum, whiskey or other liquor)
Because alcohol has to go through a purification process
Of boiling, filtering and/or fermenting.

Remember:
Water = Poo
Wine = Health
Therefore, it's better to drink wine and talk stupid,
Than to drink water and be full of s**t.

There is no need to thank me for this valuable information:
I'm doing it as a public service!”

I’ve been working on photos so I can get some beads listed on ArtFire. Doing glass can be so frustrating some times. Look at this gorgeous bead. Nice colors, huh?

 Well, I should have had my close up glasses on before I cored it, otherwise I wouldn’t have gone through the trouble of coring it. Air bubbles!!! Grrrr!

Here’s a couple of wonderful examples of why I love Dark Aurae so much. I’m still haunting Double Helix’s website in hopes they do another batch of it.

 A nice warm color, especially for this time of the year.

And more lovelies:

This one came out just gorgeous! It has purple iridescent shimmers.

And I had to try my hand at dragonflies. I think I’m going to keep these and try to make some beaded cuffs.

Meanderings today, all over the place.

This morning when I was giving Lukas a shower, I was thinking it would be so nice if I could just put him in an ultrasonic booth, push a button and he’d come out clean, just like in the Jetsons. That thought led me to thinking about complaining, and how so many people complain about things, myself included. That let me to my phone (a Blackberry) which says I have a message, and I can’t figure out how to get to the message, and how I wish I had an iPhone (was seriously thinking about it, a phone is only $200, but a minimal monthly plan is $70! No way!), which led me to thinking about happiness. Which led me to thinking that my happiness has to be based, not on a new phone or a new camera (yah, I want one of those too), but on doing things that I know will please God, because God and my faith in his promises is the only constant thing in my life that only I can take away.

As I mentioned in my last post, we went down to the farm yesterday and I bought a few things back. Here’s a quiz for you. This is something that poorer country people like my family used,

and this is something that more well-to-do people, like my grandma, used for the same purpose. Can you guess what they are?

A hint. When my brother saw the first pot, he explaimed, “I remember that, and sitting by the stove using it.” And my sister replied, “How did you rate? We had to use it upstairs.” (where it was colder, especially in the winter).

My sister told me that we only got to use it at night, otherwise we had to go outside...



to the outhouse.


Figure it out yet?

Another day down at the farm today, trying to get more stuff salvaged from the old house. So much of it was soaked from the rains they had down there last week. This will most likely be the last trip down, since the days are getting shorter and I can’t see to drive at night, and it’s 6 hours of driving time.

I went out and covered my dahlias. It’s going to get frosty tonight. I quick shot some photos this morning before I left.

Believe me, it looks much better in person.

Recently, my blog been deluged with anonymous comments selling everything from women to watches, so I’m switching comments prefs to word verification, which means if you want to leave a comment, you have to go through the hassle of typing in a couple of words that Google puts up.

Stupid spammers! Get a job!

What a dark week it’s been.

Tomorrow it will have been 9 months since David died. I miss him. Tears have been all too ready the past couple of weeks.

We’ve passed the autumn equinox now. 3 more months of increasingly dark and dreary days.

More goofy, unseasonable weather. Lots and lots of rain. We had 2 1/2 inches here, and further south, in the Mankato area they had 11 inches, and Owatonna is flooded. We’re used to hearing of flooding in early spring, but in the fall?!

Monday, if she makes it that long, I’m going to call the vet and see if I can get David’s cat in to have her put to sleep. She’s 20+ years old, and has a tumor on her side, and is having trouble with her breathing.

As I said, a dark week.

We went down to the farm this past weekend to try to get more stuff salvaged from the old house, which is slowly collapsing. My grandmother had to be put in a nursing home in the early 60s because of dementia, so her house had to be sold to cover the costs. My mom packed up everything and moved it to the house on our farm, which wasn’t being used, since by then she had remarried (my dad died in a farming accident when I was a baby).

When I was a little girl, I would go up into grandma’s attic and pluck away at her ukelin (I was quite surprised when I googled it and saw utube videos showing it being played with a bow). Well, that was one of the treasures we found. I opened the box and was relieved to see it looked in excellent condition, but when I got home and pulled it out of the box to show my boys, I saw that the strings had never been loosened when it was put in the box, and between that and the dampness, both ends have pulled up. I’m hoping that a friend who repairs guitars will be able to fix it.

I wonder about its history. I never saw grandma play it. I wonder if it was from her mom or dad.

ArtFire is running a really good deal right now for anyone who’s been thinking about setting up an online shop. If they reach their target of 20,000 sellers, you can get a Pro shop locked in at $5.95 a month, for life. Etsy is more well-known, but unlike Etsy, ArtFire doesn’t charge a listing or final fee. And also, the items you list don’t expire. They stay in your shop as long as you want them to.

I signed up for the $7 a month for life when they first started up, and I’ve been very happy with them. I find it easier to list things on ArtFire than Etsy, and they have a lot of tools to help you promote your shops, which I really need to investigate and learn how to use.

There’s more info. here, http://www.artfire.com/groupdeal

Blahhhh, computer problems!!! It’s been going wonky for the past couple of weeks, and this a.m. couldn’t get it to start up. Finally wiped one of my drives and installed a new system. So now it’s getting everything re-installed and back the way I like it.

Scientists think that monkeys are so amazing for their tool using abilities. They should study ferrets.

I have a cabinet that is about 6 inches shorter than the room, so I put a couple of empty cat litter boxes back there to keep the ferrets from going back there and pooping (their natural instinct is to find a dark corner for relieving themselves).

The cabinet isn’t finished, so I have a 24” sheet of wood against it to keep the babies out of it, so there is a gap of a foot between the top of the wood sheet and the cabinet top. Chunk is severely challenged when it comes to limitations. He just HAS to find ways to get into things he’s not supposed to. And right now, getting into that cabinet is his main goal in life.

Hence, the use of the empty litter boxes to further his purpose in life. He pushes them out from the side of the cabinet and around to the front so he can use them to be able to climb into the cabinet.

Monkeys are so outclassed by ferrets.

Here is Chunk using a rubbermaid box as a launching pad. He would jump (and every jump he made ended in a belly flop at least a half a foot from the cabinet), then go back and get on the box for another attempt. Persistent little bugger.

This one looks like he’s going to make it, but he’s a good foot away from the cabinet yet.

Boom!

Yes, ferrets can be very focused if there’s something they want.

It was a long weekend, my nephews and 4 kids/grandkids came along with, and stayed overnight. Gets a bit hectic with 4 kids 10 and under! But the boys got my kitchen/family room ceiling sanded and 2 coats of paint put on. One more coat to go, and then that ceiling will be done. Sanding is just the pits, and I didn’t even do any of it. It leaves a fine dust over everything. I think Scott was ready to shoot me when I told him there were only 9 more ceilings to go. I hate popcorn ceilings!!! With a passion! They’re dirty and hard to clean or paint. So they are going, and I’m going to have just plain white ceilings, and hopefully, over time, I will get woodwork and ceiling borders put up.

Today they got a gate built by the hay barn, and fencing put up by it, so in the winter if the tractor or snowmobile won’t start, it’ll be a lot easier getting hay to the animals.

Winter, oh yuck!! I hate the thought of it. The days are getting shorter so quickly, and I’ve been getting more and more melancholic. Today I got some pork out of the freezer to have for the boys’ lunch, and it was dated 11/09, and it just hit me that David was still alive then.

Little things like that.

I’ve been working at getting beads ready to list on ArtFire, and here’s some of my favorites, bright, cheery and warm colors, except the last one:

Tomorrow’s Monday, so I get to play at the torch.

I got to play a little bit with some new Double Helix silver glasses last night.
I really like this one,

And this one I need to try reducing more. That’s what I did with the small bubbles, and they came out a lighter sea green, and maybe some striations.

This one I like too. Maybe I’ll get some of the reactions like Dark Aurae.