Deb's Doings

A new decade

2010-01-13T10:09:00.000-08:00

It appears I can't keep up with a blog anymore than I could keep up with a diary when I was younger. This is the year I hope to get more organized and get more of my jewelry and beads up on the internet. We shall see.
The last part of last year had a lot of ups and downs. My mother may need surgery and she's hesitant to have it. She's afraid it'll be something she can't recover from, meaning she'd never get back all her strength. She had a two day stay in the hospital which was horrible. We thought my son might have to have surgery on his shoulder which would have halted any possibility of him playing baseball in college. After many weeks of physical therapy, the doctor gave him the go ahead to continue with his pitching. We had to put down our horse and one of our dogs. Those were not good times. We've had horses for a long time and it's kind of sad not having one now. They are such beautiful creatures and even if we didn't ride them often, they were fed twice a day so there was a lot of interaction and I really miss that. Our dog we had to put down was a stray that showed up at our house the first week we were here. One thing about living in the country, people drop off their strays and if they're lucky they show up at our house! She walked up our driveway the first week we were here like she belonged and was with us for eight years. I used to tell my husband she was our "welcome to the neighborhood" along with our shotgun blasted mailbox!!!
The year ended with a White Christmas. Something I've never had before. Even living in Ohio for four years when I was growing up, it was never snowy on Christmas. How crazy is that, a white Christmas in Texas and not in New York!!! We probably got about eight inches which is more than I've ever seen here. It was so pretty and stuck around for a long time. It was still on the ground the next week when we had another snow!! Snow on top of snow in Texas??? Wow!!!
Now we've entered into 2010. I've already had another birthday and found out I was one year older than I thought. I got a Wii for Christmas and I exercise every morning. I'm bound and determined to lose weight and get fit this year. I've really let myself go. Imagine my surprise when the Wii wished me happy birthday and it was a year older than I thought. I did the math and dang Wii was right. That was depressing!!! lol Oh well I don't feel that old.
On the glass front, I'm trying out boro glass. It's a harder glass to work with, not really more difficult, but harder, it takes a much hotter flame to melt the glass. It moves around like a thick syrup and I'm really having a little trouble adapting to it. I have the hardest time getting the right shape, not to mention getting the colors to strike. Oh my gosh, what gorgeous colors they have and I have so much trouble getting them to come out. It's just one of those practice things.
On the home front, this is the year my baby will be leaving home. My son turned 18 in December and he'll be going away to college this year. He really has such a busy schedule now we don't see him much, with school and practice and games and such. But knowing that he's really gone is going to be tough. We'll still have our daughter at home, as she'll always be with us, but it'll be hard sending my six foot one baby out into the world.

Amazing Nature

2009-06-10T06:35:00.000-07:00

Walking around the back of my house the other day, I ran into this!! Isn't it amazing??? I had thrown some Hollyhock seeds out last year, but it was in a spot the dogs insisted on lying in so nothing came of them. Everytime they tried to grow they got dug up, along with my zinnias. Well this year the little fella prevailed and look at him. Isn't he gorgeous???

This morning, my husband nonchalantly mentions there's a painted bunting on the fence out here. Of course I had to run go look. well I saw a reddish belly but that was all. So I scoffed at my dh, no it's not, I don't know what it is but it's not a painted bunting. I run get the binoculars, and dang if it's not a painted bunting. Much groveling later, and praising my husband for his keen vision, I admit to him he was right! Here's this amazingly colorful bird sitting on the fence. I wasn't able to get a picture, and even if I could my lens doesn't enlarge that much, so I found a painted bunting for all to enjoy.

Oh No you don't!!!!!

2009-05-23T09:46:00.000-07:00

WEll it's spring in Texas so of course with the warm weather comes the snakes, lizards and toads.

This little story is called "a funny thing happened on the way to the hummingbird feeder"

We had this tarp that Greg had brought out for me for the last freeze, to cover my clematis and gardenia. It had been folded on top of a table up until about Thursday week before last, when Greg and I went fishing. He had caught 2 catfish, I had lost several!! Anyway, we have this scrap of silestone from my countertops, he uses to clean the fish. So he dumped the tarp on the porch floor. The next day or two, he casually mentioned we needed to get the tarp off the ground, it was a snake invitation. How true!! So a couple days later, I was headed to grab an empty feeder and I thought I really need to get that tarp off the ground so I bent over and picked it up. I got it about 2 feet off the ground and saw a snake coiled up under it. YIKES!! With my lightening quick observation skills, I knew (or was 98% sure), it was not poisonous. I grabbed a something that was there that had a long handle and proceeded to knock the tarp out into the yard. Ummm no snake... which way did he go.. which way did he go???? So I finally found the little sucker at the foot of my clematis. So I rannnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn around the house and grabbed the hoe and rannnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn back around to the back of the house. No snake. Well heck where had the little sucker gone. I looked and looked finally found him up in the corner. He was black, about an inch in diameter and three feet or there abouts. Well my "tree hugger self" sitting on one shoulder whispered in my ear, "you know, he's not poisonous, he probably was just looking for some place out of the sun, why don't you just throw him back out into the woods and let him go his merry way?" So I thought, Ok I can try that. So with my trusty hoe, I tried to pull the little sucker out of the corner. Well the idiot instead of going out towards the yard, turns around and starts back up on the porch where I'm standing. Talking about doing a little dance!!! I was dancing and yelling at him, "NO NOT THIS WAY!!!!", so he took the hint and started back into the flower bed. Heartrate back below 100 and I'm ready to proceed to step 2. He gets up in another corner and I try and get him out with my hoe. I try pulling him with the hoe part and lifting him with the handle part to no avail. He wasn't having any part of it. He goes back towards the porch and gets in the corner where the porch meets the house. I try and lift him again with the handle, no luck. While I'm watching this snake, he raises his head like he's going to go back on the porch, but he STARTS TO DISAPPEAR INSIDE MY HOUSE. He's found a hole/crack/crevice large enough for him to slip thru. NOW I'm REALLY dancing, OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm trying to catch him with the hoe with no luck. So I reach down and grab the snake, (I know, I can't believe I did it either) and start pulling. Well he doesn't want to come out!!!! He's a strong little sucker. The siding on our house is that hardiplank siding, which is cement made to look like wood. Well heck I was afraid I was going to break the siding to get that little shit out!!! Finally, the head pops out and I sling him out in the yard. On my other shoulder is my little self that thinks the only good snake is a dead snake yelling kill the sucker, kill the sucker, so the tree hugger self gets knocked off and I hoed that little monster into postage stamps!!! How dare he try to get into my house!!! I think by the time I got in the house, my heartrate was well over 100 and my blood pressure was probably about stroke level!!! Wow what an afternoon!!!!

Branching out? Or maybe I"ve just lost my mind completely

2009-03-30T07:15:00.000-07:00

I have two friends who are very talented artists, Lin and Penny, they're blogs are listed to the left. Penny has been doing these great drawings lately of children with the big eyes. Well, she's also got some collages she's done. So I was thinking, I have all these beautiful grandchildren! Sooooooooooooooooooo I thought I'd try a collage with two of them. It's not done and it's got lots of problems!! But it's kinda fun. Especially, since I'm not pressuring myself to be perfect. I'm not going to use it for anything, I'm just playing. Sometimes, just playing is a lot of fun. Another reason I started this, is it's been too dang cold to torch, and I'm not in jewelry mode! lol

The background got muddy, and it's not done, but this one is the learning experience! The dark haired girl has a lot of paper seams in her face which was a mistake, so I know to be more careful next time.

This was my first face, drawn from a template. LOL Even with a template, she's pretty bad.

Now this one was done freehand and I thought her face came out pretty good. I did another one and the face was ok but I got carried away with the paint so she looks like a country western singer from the 60's with the big hair!!! For some reason I can't get that picture to load.

This and That and More

2009-03-29T07:54:00.000-07:00

The necklace has been sent and received, yay me for actually following thru on something!!!

Happy Birthday Linda! Now the beauty of internet friendships is I will never know if Linda hates it, cause even though she said she liked it, how will I ever know if she wears it!!! lol

The heart was cut out of 24 ga sterling silver, then filed, stamped, patinaed and put on a chain. I was pleased with the results and hope Linda really likes it!!

Ok let's talk about high school baseball. When did it become so bloodthirsty? When did the coaches become so obnoxious? and WHEN DID GOOD SPORTSMANSHIP FALL BY THE WAYSIDE???????????????

Friday night as I sat freezing my butt off I was truly disappointed at what I saw as poor sportsman like conduct and it was led by the opposing teams coaches. Our temperature which had been so pleasant, dropped on Friday to a blustery (and I mean the wind was brutal!!) 30 degrees with a windchill in the teens. I personally had on an undershirt, two long john shirts, a t shirt, long john bottoms, jeans, insulated coveralls, a knit cap and a hooded sweatshirt and I was still cold!!!!!!!!!!! OH AND I was sitting on the south side of the dugout, a little bit out of the wind. Several of the other local teams cancelled due to the weather. It dawned on me after the game, if our coach had suggested postponing the game, these opposing coaches would have jumped at it on the grounds we forfeited the game and so the game was played. Those boys played out in that weather in their uniforms and sweatshirts. The opposing team had set up their dugout with plywood boards to help cut the wind AND had a heater set up, so they could thaw out, no such accommodations were made for our team. I know it certainly wasn't a requirement, but it would have been nice. We lost a game we should have won, but this isn't about being a sore loser, really it isn't. I realized at the game, I'd seen this team play several times before and the coaches were the same. I just don't know why, they are allowed to be loud, obnoxious, argumentative to the referees and instill poor sportsmanship in their team. Come on guys this is 1A(small schools) baseball, we're not talking professional, college or even 5A(large schools)!! Oh well let it go I guess, but it sure was disappointing.

Ok have to get my flight of ideas under control so I can decide what to do today. Silver? Jewelry? Beads? or work on my little collage I'm trying to make?? Decisions decisions!!!

Adult Attention Deficit Disorder AKA Can't remember squat!!

2009-03-21T11:58:00.000-07:00

I've self diagnosed myself with AADD. I'm sure I have it, either that or dementia is setting in!!
I go up to clean my messy craft area (I think it's #3) and I'm cleaning away and ooh ooh templates for scrapbooking. I've been wanting to make a necklace for a friend's birthday. She's an internet friend, I've never met her in person, or talked to her on the phone but I know she's a wonderful person. She's a gifted musician and singer, so I've been told. This lovely very Italian lady was born on St Patrick's Day which I think is so funny!!! Anyway, I always remember her birthday but I don't always send her the gift I had wanted, or the card that made me think of her so I usually end up doing nothing. I'm so bad!! So this year I wanted to make her a silver pendant. I've been thinking and thinking about how I was going to go about it. I know exactly what I'm going to stamp on the pendant etc. probably hang it on a simple chain, but I haven't completed that thought yet. Anyway in the midst of cleaning I come across this template and think.... AHA!!! A heart!!! I can make the pendant heart shaped!!! So before I know it the cleaning is long forgotten, and I've got my saw, silver, files and snips out cutting a piece of silver into a heart. Well I can't get too energetic, as I'm upstairs and my son's room is up there. And he was asleep, so I was impatiently waiting for him to get up. He's a teenager, they don't get up before noon!!! So I go down stairs, see it's almost lunch time, fix lunch and think ooh, it's Saturday.

Well I did a drawing on a yahoo group I'm in. I had some flower lampwork beads I made and had a drawing to give them away. Five beads to go to five people. So I get on the computer to get the rest of the names, and pick the winners. My Mom picked the five names and I was just fixing to send the announcement to the list. I remembered some of the people wanted to know about a website and mine is soooooo outdated, so I thought I'd update my blog to include my etsy shop which has some lampwork beads on chains for sale (oh yeah I bored yall with that a while back!!!).

So now instead of sending the drawing results, here I sit typing on my blog!!! LOL
Now you see why I think I have AADD(if that's even the way they abbreviate it!!).
So blah blah blah blah, aren't you sorry you came to my blog????? LOL

Dare I say it? Spring is here??

2009-03-18T07:54:00.000-07:00

After freezing cold last week, a fire in the fireplace, Weds-Friday, it looks like spring may finally be here. I've got some flowers blooming and I noticed yesterday when I had to go to the accountants office (yeehaw) wisteria and all kinds of springy stuff going on!!!

The only thing, I'm impatiently awaiting the hummingbirds. They're my favorites of spring. I've got a couple feeders up and now the waiting begins. I think they're a little late this year, must be the crazy weather, cause it seems they're usually here by now. I've got a video from April 1st one year where there were at least a hundred hummers swarming around the feeder and it was snowing like crazy!!! If I knew how to attach a video, I'd show you!!! lol

I've got so much things on my to-do list I'm stressed out. My copper bracelet is brown and it only gets that way when I'm stressed!! lol I tried to explain that to my husband this morning and his remark was he had a lot of pennies on his chest of drawers and they were brown, did I think they were stressed??? He's such a brat sometimes!!!!

I'm still struggling with boro in my lampwork endeavors, but I did get a cool tutorial on making little face/head beads. Here's my first attempt and while she's got some crooked parts I think she turned out pretty cute. I call her Wanda.

I'd kinda like to make a body for her and maybe make her into an artdoll, but I'm going to have to find out how!!!

Well got company coming today, a possible candidate to provide respite care for my daughter, so dh and I can go to my son's baseball games. I guess I better clean some, so she won't be scared away by the mess. I sure hope she likes dogs!!!!!

24 Degrees?? Give Me A Break!!!

2009-03-01T07:10:00.001-08:00

Yes after 3 days of 90 degrees, yesterday and today we're down in the 20's. I don't think I'll ever warm up!!

The puppy has had an adventurous week and she's learned so much!! She's learned about the bowl with the never ending clean water supply (the commode), she's learned about the receptacle with the easily moved swinging lid with the never ending food supply (the garbage can), and last but not least, she's learned even better than playing with a toy, is making a hole in said toy and pulling the stuffing out all over the house!! Alas she also faced a big disappointment, the goats are no longer impressed with her, and don't care if she runs up to the fence, they don't run from her so she can't chase them... bummer.

I've added four more capped/cored beads to my Etsy shop if you're interested, please check it out. www.glastique.etsy.com

ANd I've also learned a new technique. This was my first attempt done in copper so it wouldn't be an expensive mistake if I screwed it up. It's not perfect but for a first attempt I was kind of pleased, there are a few mistakes but all in all, it's a very sturdy bracelet. The next one I make I'd like to make about an inch wide and then I'll try combining sterling silver with gold filled.

I think I'll go get the house cleaned and then attempt another bracelet and try and stay warm.

90 DEGREES???? Seriously????

2009-02-25T08:18:00.000-08:00

Yep the high yesterday at my house was 90 degrees and that was in the shade out of the sun! How unfair of Mother Nature to tease us with these wonderful warm and sunny days. I know as soon as I get acustomed to it, we'll have a snow storm! It happens every year. I have a video from one year on April 1st, it was snowing like crazy and I had hundreds of hummingbirds at my feeder!!!!

Yesterday, while I was soaking the heat, felt like the first time I'd been warm in a long time. Guess it's the lizard in me. Anyway, I had a visitor on my daffodils. These little guys are just too cool. They're called hummingbird moths. This one was about 2 inches long with racing stripes on his back. The pictures aren't that great, but to tell the truth I was amazed I got him in the picture at all, as fast as he moves!!! Of course, when I tried doing a little wildlife photography, sitting on the floor of the porch on the other side of the railing, with my camera positioned in between two rails he refused to come back.

Yes I'm a serious sufferer of spring fever!! My peach tree has already bloomed, usually we get a frost while it's blooming and no peaches but this year we ought to be good. Next time I'm in town I intend to get my tomato plants and get them started early, rather than waiting til May when a week after I get my plants in the ground the drought will start and they'll burn up. I can protect them from a freeze a lot easier than I can protect them from 100+ degrees days.

Of course I have to add one more "baby" picture. Clancey(the dog) isn't too sure about Buddy (the horse)!!

I'm trying to get motivated to do something, whether it's clean my house or make jewelry. Yesterday, I tried punching silver disks and my cutter is sticking, so it's bam, bam, bam with the hammer, disk comes out, then 10 minutes spent getting it unstuck. :0( So frustrating.

Protect your pets!!

2009-02-12T03:59:00.000-08:00

Ok obviously I'm an animal lover, or I wouldn't have this horse puppy, two other dogs, five cats, ten goats and a horse. This was one of the headlines on my aol welcome page this morning and I thought I would pass it on.

"To help you protect your furry friends, we tapped Fiona Fisher, D.V.M, veterinary expert at JustAnswer.com, who practices in Ontario, for her roundup of common household foods and items that pose a threat to your beloved pets. Avoid these common toxins to keep your dogs and cats living long, healthy lives.

Grapes and Raisins

Healthy for you? Yes. Healthy for pets? No. In dogs and cats, grapes can cause kidney failure. "We're not exactly sure why grapes pose a health hazard to pets," says Fisher, but experts suspect it has something to do with a chemical in the fruit's skin. Raisins are even more dangerous because they contain a concentrated supply of toxins. Keep this snack out of the reach of your pets.

Bread Dough

"I see this one a lot when people make bread, leave it to rise, and come back to find their dog has helped himself to a serving," Fisher says. What's the harm? The dog's body heat will cause the dough to expand quickly resulting in severe abdominal pain and bloating. In some cases, death can occur if enough dough is eaten.

Chewing Gum

A dog might be attracted to the sweet-smelling gum that your kids are chewing or that's tucked away in your bag. But the artificial sweetener, xylitol, in many types of gum and breath mints, can be deadly to pets. The sweetener can cause a low-blood sugar crisis in your pet. In fact, just one pack of gum can kill a dog, warns Fisher.

Macadamia Nuts

Careful where you keep that bowl of mixed nuts. If they're on a low table that your dog can reach, your pup might get into trouble. Ingesting these nuts can cause tremors, weakness, unsteadiness, depression, a rapid heart rate, and a dangerous rise in body temperature that can lead to other complications. Though macadamia nut toxicity is very scary and dangerous, most dogs recover within a few days, says Fisher.

Nicotine

It may seem unlikely that a dog would eat cigarettes, but those nosy, little creatures will gobble them without a second thought. Nicotine is highly toxic so it doesn't take much to cause a health crisis for your pet, including seizures, coma and death.

Chocolate

Who doesn't find chocolate irresistible? But when it comes to dogs, chocolate is one deadly treat. Caffeine-like stimulants in chocolate known as methylxanthines can produce vomiting, diarrhea, excessive thirst and urination, hyperactivity, abnormal heart rhythm, tremors, seizures and even death, cautions Fisher.

Alcohol

"This type of poisoning happens a lot after people throw a party and their dog or cat gets into a glass of alcohol sitting around or that's spilled on the floor. Sometimes, children will think it's funny to give a dog some beer," Fisher says. And while animals may experience some of the same wobbliness and weakness that humans do after drinking, they are much more sensitive to alcohol than humans and can quickly be in a life-threatening situation, she says. Alcohol ingestion can lead to seizures, heart arrhythmia, vomiting, coma and death.

Pain Relievers

According to Veterinary Pet Insurance (VPI), the number one insurance claim by far for poisonings in 2007 was owner-induced. In most cases, the problems were caused by pet owners giving their pets drugs intended for human use. "Sometimes when the vet's office is closed and a pet is in pain, people will administer over-the-counter pain relievers like ibuprofen or acetaminophen to their dogs," Fisher says. Never give your pets these types of drugs, warns Fisher. One tablet of acetaminophen can kill a cat, she says.

Tea

Ever had your cat poke its head into your cup of tea? It's not just annoying, it can be downright dangerous depending on the type of tea you're drinking. Caffeine in your tea is toxic to both cats and dogs. Depending on how much is consumed and the size of your pet, ingesting it can lead to vomiting, diarrhea, hyperactivity, seizures, coma and even death.

Onions

You'd probably never consider giving your dog a piece of an onion, but if you toss her a piece of steak or a bit of stir fry cooked with onions, you're putting your dog in danger. Onions are toxic to dogs and cats whether they're raw or cooked. When ingested, onions can cause hemolytic anemia, a condition that destroys the red blood cells in the bloodstream. A dog with onion poisoning may become lethargic and have difficulty breathing. Generally, a large amount of onions would need to be consumed to pose a serious threat to your dog, but cats are highly sensitive to onion toxicity.

Organization

2009-02-05T08:14:00.000-08:00

It might as well be a dirty word, you say it and I break out in a cold sweat!! I am not organized, no way, no how. My house, my work area, all in a shamble. Now I basically know where everything is, but it may take me a while to remember exactly where it is. So how am I going to make myself organized? Maybe I need a schedule. Mon-make soft glass beads, Tues-make boro beads, Weds make beadcaps and core beads, Thursday-make jewelry, Friday-take pictures,Sat-list on Etsy,Ebay,or my website,Sun-catch my breath and prepare to start over. Hmmmmm I'm going to have to think about this. But I do need to get organized.

Here are the newest capped beads I've made. I'm really loving the look. Most of them are animal print with pawprint beadcaps but my favorite is a boro bead and since it's my favorite I made hearts on the cap.

I'm still pretty boro challenged, I'm thinking it's because my torch isn't hot enough. I was going to borrow my husband's oxygen tank from the barn and his hoses but they're not the right size, so I've got a hose ordered. Soon, I hope I'll have the heat to melt the boro like butter!!! It's real funny going from boro to soft glass, I had glass melting off the mandrel sometimes as it was melting so fast!!!

My new "thang" with the dog is letting her walk with me to the mailbox without a leash. Lots of treats in my pocket ensure she doesn't get too far from me on the walk. The only problem is on the way back, no matter what treats I have, fresh horse poop beats it. As we get closer to the house, she always heads for the horse. yuck!! Yesterday, she had a traumatic trip to the mailbox. We were on our way back and I had called her and she was coming to me when she got butted by a goat! Dang goat came out of nowhere!! LOL I don't know who was more surprised, the dog or me. The goats usually keep a pretty wide berth from the dogs and in particular this one as she's new and unpredictable!! So this goat came flying up from behind me and butted her good. Today the dog kept a good distance from the goats until they started running then she fell in line behind them. She felt better after they ran from her! lol

Let's see, it's Thursday, I'm supposed to be making jewelry. Dang, I'm already off schedule!!!!

A Hot time last night

2009-01-24T05:07:00.000-08:00

People's stupidity never ceases to amaze me. We have not had any rain in over a month, needless to say add this to the gusty winds we've been experiencing for a while the ground is DRY!! There's been a burn ban forever. Welllllllllllllllll, yesterday, someone on this huge ranch decided to have a "controlled burn" that unfortunately became an "uncontrolled burn". It started spreading in the afternoon and by nightfall it was completely out of control. Now we live in a mountainous area... is that a word?? Lots of hills and valleys and it's very remote. Unfortunately, this is one of the disadvantages of living in the woods. Anyway, this fire got down in a valley, called "Dark Corners" because it's so remote (it was often used by rustlers to hide their illgotten cattle). The fire trucks were unable to get to the fire. So not only was there a burn ban but there was also an expected cold front coming in with gusts of wind from the north, big gusts!!!
Our house sits on the side of the mountain and we're covered in trees, so our visibility is limited to the north, we were unable to see any of this going on. A neighbor called last night, he lives on top of the mountain and he was warning us it was headed towards us. My husband left to go up the mountain to get a better idea what was going on and left me with a final shot "You better start thinking about evacuating".
Now that's a heartwrenching thing to have to think about. What do you take? Of course my first thought was, what's irreplaceable?? All I could think of was pictures, pictures of my Dad as he was growing up and during the war, pictures of my children growing up. My computers would be first on the list along with the pictures... then I just kept thinking of more and more things I'd want to take with me.
Luckily, the wind was blowing the fire southeast, while we were more directly south, luckily this area is sparsely populated so there were only a few homes that could be in danger.
So last night at 11:30, I stood at my kitchen window with the binoculars watching the orange glow behind my house. It was behind a hill so we couldn't see the flames, just the glow. You could see as the wind gusted the flames got higher because the glow got brighter. It was really scary but we were able to tell by about midnight that the fire was going to go east of us and it looked like we were safe. Of course that doesn't keep you from waking up every little bit to make sure the sky is still dark and not bright orange outside your bedroom window.
This morning there was just a faint glow before the sun came up. Now that the sun's up, you really can't see anything but lots of smoke. We see fires all the time out here, usually way in the distance. We've had several that came this direction but never got too close to us. A couple years before we built our house, there was a major fire out here, that burned thousands of acres, we came up to check on our property at the time and at one point there was fire on both sides of the road, I made my husband turn around and get us out of there, it was freaky. There were like three major fires going at that time. There was another one closer to the house we were living in at the time and at night you could see the fires in the distance, flames and all.
People just don't realize I guess how fast this dry grass can burn. We've been fortunate as we've never lost anything to a fire, but we get a scare every now and then, and it's a most unpleasant feeling. My heart goes out to anyone that has been less fortunate in these cases.
Have a great day, I think I'll go count my blessings.

More beads and silver caps/cores

2009-01-22T05:59:00.000-08:00

I'm really having fun with this technique! Unfortunately, I only have 1/4 inch tubing and three 1/4 inch mandrels to make the beads with, so it's a slow process. I can only make three beads at a time!! So that's three a day, as adding annealing time, it's a slow process!! These beads will be sold in my etsy shop, they come on a 18 inch sterling chain and sell for $25.00. My friend Irene gets first dibs on these, to see if she likes any of them and if not, I'll try again and list all three.

http://www.glastique.etsy.com/

The beads average 3/4 inches x 5/8 inches wide, so they make a nice focal, large enough to be worn alone on a chain.

Please excuse my rusty measuring tape, classy look huh????

Country Living

2009-01-13T13:01:00.000-08:00

I live four and a half miles down this dirt road. Now obviously this is not what it looks like right now, everything is brown. But this is what it will look like come spring. This is my very favorite part about coming home. This natural tunnel goes down the road about half a mile. I know that when I get here I'm almost home and I like that!!! I've seen turkey, deer, skunks, raccoons you name it,along with snakes and crawly things. You can just barely make out a sign up the road and that's a bridge. It's a little one lane country road bridge that crosses a ravine that's about 30 ft deep. For the most part the ravine is empty, people dump their trash in it sometimes, I think there's an old microwave stuck in the dirt. About spring, which is our rainy season, it will start to have water in it, mostly it'll just be a trickle after each rain. In the seven years I've lived here, I've seen the water rise to within a foot of that bridge three times. Now if you don't think that'll get your attention, think again! The last time was 2 maybe 3 years ago. My husband and I drove down to see it. The water was rushing under the bridge, carrying all sizes of limbs. It was pretty amazing considering the bridge usually is over nothing.

My husband's spring routine used to be after the hay was cut and baled he would start to run. He would run about 4 miles and then turn around and walk back. Last spring, he was walking on his way back and had just passed this bridge when our neighbor happened to be driving down the road so she stopped and they talked. While they were talking my husband looked up and there in the middle of the road was a mountain lion. It was probably 1/2 mile away, crossing the road where my husband would have been walking had he not stopped to talk to the neighbor. We've always heard rumors there were mountain lions and panthers but of course we had never seen any until then. He and my neighbor couldn't believe their eyes!! Needless to say she offered him a ride home and he accepted. I like to think his guardian angel was watching over him that day. He hasn't run since, my son doesn't run anymore and I don't walk like I used to, which I really miss. There's just something about strapping on a gun, just to take a walk!! Kinda ruins it for you!!

Well that's my ramble for the day, have a good one!

2009-01-12T07:10:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I tried the coring again. I used a larger tube of sterling which made things a little easier. This bead which is very metallic looking doesn't show up very well in the pictures but it was really kind of pretty. I cut the disks for the beadcaps, stamped them, domed them then put them on the bead with the silver tubing. They have these really cool gadgets that do a real pretty job of turning the tubing into perfect rivets on the ends, but I used the old fashioned way, hammer a couple times, turn it, hammer a couple times, turn it etc etc and hope against hope I didn't bang too hard and break the bead.

It's certainly not perfect but it's not bad for a second try. Today I think I'll make some more large hole beads and try this some more.

Have a great day!!

BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

2009-01-10T10:59:00.000-08:00

You know we probably wouldn't notice the weather changes so much if they weren't so drastic. Yesterday it hit the 80's, today it's 30 with a wind chill of 17. That's probably sissy stuff for northern dwellers but for us southern dwellers that's just not fair!!!
I tried capping/coring a bead today, one side turned out ok but the other side wasn't even ok. ick This is going to require some practice. Oh well making the beadcaps was fun.
I think I'm going to go start a fire and make some hot cocoa then sit in front of the fire and be a woos!!!
Have a great day.

Poop Scooping Boogie

2009-01-09T15:55:00.000-08:00

Well I'll give you three guesses as to what I did this morning and the first two don't count!!! All I'll say, is if they could fuel your car with dog poop, I'd be in great shape!!!
Yesterday was pretty and I was at the torch most of the day. I've been trying to make larger hole beads. I've seen some people make the large hole beads then they core them in sterling silver tubing with a sterling silver bead cap. They are so pretty!!! Lord knows I've got the tubing, I've got the punches, the stamps, the sterling sheet, the only thing I don't have is the easy corer, I'll have to do it myself and I don't know about that!!!
I spent a lot of time making hollow beads and vessels. I even blew a couple. I haven't blown glass in a while and it was fun.
I had planned to repeat yesterday but my Mom needed me. Soooooooooo, maybe if it's not too cold tomorrow I can torch, if not I'm sure I can find something to do!!! That's the beauty of buying everything, you usually have a pretty good supply to make things with. OH and I got a new toy today. It's a metal power punch. I'm going to use it to make the large holes in the bead caps. The punch I've been using you could only go so far away from the edge but this I can go 2 inches from the edge, not that I"ll ever make anything that big. Have a great day!!!

5 minutes in the jaws of death

2009-01-08T07:53:00.000-08:00

Having a new puppy in the house has been pretty interesting. I'm like a new parent which is really pretty ridiculous when you think about it. But when I had to go to town last week to get a new microwave oven when ours bit the dust, I of course had to go by Petsmart and check out the toys and goodies for the new "baby". The selection is amazing, one whole long aisle with toys on both sides. Now I had to keep in mind, the average puppy probably doesn't weigh 70 pounds so in making my choices I had to check out what I thought would be the safest and the most durable. My daughter is a dog person and she was telling me about the toys with the little electronic noises and how her dogs flipped over them!! Well while at Petsmart I found a cow that moos. It was fairly large and I figured probably well made. HA! This morning I broke down and gave the toy to my little girl and after about 5 minutes this is what's left of the cow. Her horns obviously were not made for a lot of chewing!!! But I have to say it was hilarious the first time the thing mooed. She was standing there with this cow in her mouth looking all around for where the sound was coming from!! I put it up and she found it and got it down to play with again. After I put her outside for her morning romp with one of the outdoor dogs, I noticed that the cow was minus her horns or almost anyway. Guess I need to sew them back on so I don't have stuffing all over the place!!

After putting her outside I noticed she was keeping her eye on something, very intense!!

and the culprit is.... one of the outside cats! She just doesn't understand why the cats don't want to play chase with her!!!!!

Well it's Happy Birthday to Me today. Yes 55 years ago, my mother gave birth to a short, fat baby girl and things haven't changed a whole lot!!! The sun is shining, my kiln is hot and today is looking good. It's good to be alive!! Have a great day!!

2009-01-07T06:01:00.000-08:00

This picture doesn't even begin to show the true colors of last night's sunset. It was really remarkable. The sky just glowed with orange, HOT HOT pink and purple. Unfortunately, a camera can only do so much!!!

Today hasn't started off too well. The puppy got me up twice last night to go out and this morning when I walked into the kitchen and turned on the light, I thought surely the horse has snuck into the house during the night. So my first job this morning was cleaning up a mountain of poop. Trying to be a glass half full person, I'll say thank goodness she did it 1 on the tile floor and 2 in the kitchen towards the back door instead of the path I normally take every morning in the dark!!! Ick that would have been really grose!!! I've got a new book,"Rover, get off of her leg", I think I better start reading it! Oh it's about dog training :0) and obviously the author has a sense of humor!!!

She is sooooooooooooo funny, I've had her six weeks (I think she's doubled in size!!) and she has just discovered my doorstop. In the laundry room, which I usually don't let her in cause that's the cat's room, I have a lifesize black cat castiron doorstop. Well this morning when I followed the barking, here's my 70+ lb puppy barking and backing up from my doorstop. I finally got her to come up and sniff it but as soon as I moved it she went tearing past it. Hmm, I think I just thought of how to keep her out of the laundry room! lol It'll work until she figures out it's not the boogie man!!!!

Today I won't bore you with too much, I've got a busy day ahead!! Today is poop scooping yard day!!!

What a difference a day makes!

2009-01-06T09:05:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was so crazy, they even closed school before lunch time. Today we're enjoying a beautiful bright and sunny day. The snow and ice are melting making for a major mudfest when you're in the country!

I'm a tutorial HO. I guess it's because I can make just about anything but I need to follow instructions. After a while I can take off on my own but creativity is not one of my virtues!! On the Lampwork ETC forum, they've started a thread where some of the talented artists can sell their tutorials. One of the ladies who decided to sell her tutorial goes by the name "Loco" and she is a hoot!! What a personality!!! She makes these adorable dragons and she shared her instructions. Well, being a tute ho, I snapped that one up.

My first two attempts were following the directions exactly or as exact as I could. The first dragon (the little purple people eater) had nares issues. He needed a little plastic surgery(aka super glue) to make his snout presentable.

The second attempt, "Oh you're a GIRL DRAGON" said in donkey voice, had a little problem with her lipstick, I guess her flames burned it off, I'm sure it's not because I forgot to strike my red glass....naaaaaaaaah that's not it!!!

The third attempt turned into a Holy Cow. What a babe, she looks like she's saying "Who Me?" What cute hind quarters!!!

Last but not least is Yuda (distant cousin of Yoda but not near as smart!) He's a purple little thing, hmmm he's not a dragon, or a cow, maybe a gnome or troll??
Anyway he's kinda cute.

"Does this collar make my butt look big???"

This morning I needed to hit something, so I grabbed some copper sheet put it under a torch to get the pretty colors and punched and stamped.

The earrings have really pretty rosey color that didn't show up too well in the picture. And of course I can't find my copper ear wires, (being the president of the local "Slobs are Us" club, our motto: Yes I've got one but don't ask me where it's at.) Organizing is definitely on my list of things to do!! Well I've yammered enough for one day, have a great day!!

I'm on a rolllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll!!!!!!

2009-01-05T08:36:00.000-08:00

Look at me two days in a row!!!! I'm blogging!!!
We've got some crazy weather going on here! SAturday it was 84, I was barefooted with shorts on, Sunday it was windy, cold and in the 30's, today it's sleeting and 29-32. I just don't know how the northerners stand it!! There must be something to adapting cause I'm like a lizard let me soak up that heat!!!
Days like this I'll probably spend in front of the fire or upstairs wrapping jewelry. I've really gotten hooked on making earrings with gemstones. ooooh they sparkle!!!

This is labradorite, they have this beautiful glow. This was the first pair I made and I antiqued/aged them. I thought they turned out nice.

These are citrine and I haven't antiqued them yet, can't decide if I should leave them or what? Whatcha think???

These are a grapefruit colored quartz. Obviously they aren't antiqued.

These are the ones I just finished, one was way bigger than the other so I had to redo the one, over and over!! lol But they match now. The stones are hot pink quartz, niceeeeeeeee!!!

Obviously before listing them online I'll want to take better pictures. Which brings me to another idea I've had. Yeah there's this little lightbulb lighting up over my head right now!!! My husband has become a crafter, I NEVER thought I'd see it!! He bought a mini lathe last year and has been making varmint calls (which is a call to call coyotes, bobcats, varmints). Please no anti hunting slams, this is Texas we hunt (well I don't but). Anyway, he's been making these really pretty calls out of all these different types of wood. The prettiest ones are made of cedar and mesquite, and geez we've got plenty of mesquite and cedar!!! He's a perfectionist so until they're perfect, he keeps at it. I've gotten a lot of his rejects now I just need to figure out how to add something for the earrings to hang on.

Well I've been lazy this morning, sort of. Although I did get the kitchen cleaned, really cleaned probably since Christmas. It was hard to get back in routine over the holidays but it's easier now that my son is back to school and the routine is back. Clothes washed, bills paid and a stew in the crock pot, but I'm still sitting here in my pajamas!

What can I say, it's a lazy Monday. Oh yay, freezing rain, sleet and snow falling now.

It's all about ME, a novella

2009-01-04T07:20:00.000-08:00

A lot of people consider themselves artists, but I think of myself more as a jill of all trades, master of none!! As far back as I can remember I've been crafting something. I think I'm probably a little (ok a lot) ADD as I lose interest in something over a period of time. I can't even begin to tell you how many unfinished projects I have. Of course anytime I start a new craft, I have to have EVERYTHING involved with that craft in every color, size, shape, etc etc. So needless to say, I have a stash of supplies that have taken over my home. My husband calls different rooms in the house, "craft room 1, craft room 2 and craft room 3", he's so funny haha.

Craft

room 1 is the very large laundry room we had drawn in the plans when we built our home. It was intended to be my stained glass studio, as after years of creating in the garage, in the heat and cold and dodging wasps and dirtdaubers I thought how wonderful to make my panels in the house. We were to have a stained glass front door, my husband decided the design (ok that caused a lack of enthusiam right there) and even after I had gone thru the painstaking part of cutting glass shapes out with a band saw, he made the remark about instead of having a cowboy on a horse chasing a horse, he thought it would be better to have a cowboy on a horse chasing a cow. Phhhfttt well, that project got set aside, due to the lask of enthusiasm of my DH and due to the fact of the solid wood door I had bought in anticipation of my beautiful stained glass door was left in the weather during the construction of our home and it got warped. Bummer!! So as I sit here and type this I'm thinking I should go ahead and finish it as a panel, that would be kinda cool. Unfortunately, the stained glass studio has become a lampwork studio. My stained glass table (which I constructed I might add AND remains in one piece to this day, talk about modern miracles!!!) now holds thousands (yes thousands) of glass rods, a big girl torch, a kiln, and an assortment of presses, pokers, tongs, etc etc. with another kiln on a metal tool cabinet with more glass and pokers etc. every size, color, yes I have a problem but at least I know it.

Moving onto Craftroom 2, now here is where my husband is exaggerating, it's so NOT a craftroom!! It's our study, which houses our computer, where I print my labels for shipping off beads to wonderful people who take pity on my fledgling talent and buy my beads. It's more of a overflow as this is where a lot of the beads that haven't been sold come to live until I get off my duff and sell, give away or put in the aquarium.... oops wait a minute the last fish finally died, so the aquarium idea doesn't work anymore (note:find new spot for orphan beads). Craftroom 2.5 is really another overflow aka my dining room where mostly finished jewelry pieces have been left for one reason or another.

Now Craftroom 3 is upstairs aka Craftcave aka disaster area. This is where my sloppiness really shines!! The skeletons of past crafts are still evident in the form of glues,papers,stamps, books, and yarn another addiction
a felted bag for my daughter
(in progress: 2 sweaters, a shawl and a knitted afghan,... I think that's all). Now besides the lampworking, which I've slowed way down on, is jewelry making. I'm not a big jewelry wearer but I love sparklies, so I now make jewelry with my lampwork beads, silver wire, stamped silver,gemstone beads like turquoise, I guess they're gemstones and then the really sparkly ones like amethyst, apatite, topaz, quartz, a new found addiction which is really not good for my budget.
Ooooh rubies, yummie!!
Well, if you've gotten this far in my ramblings I commend you for your tolerance!!! I'm a non working nurse, I guess that explains it the best, my husband tells me I'm unemployed which grates (and of course that's why he does it!!!) I worked until we started building our home in the boonies. I worked mostly in Neonatal ICU which is the premature and sick babies. Saw a lot of strange and heartbreaking things but also met some wonderful people who got to take home some pretty special babies. Worked with a lot of great people and witnessed miracles and saw things I would have rather not seen.
I now live with my husband, my teenage mutant son,my handicapped daughter, my psychotic inside cat named Molly and my new inside semi psychotic great dane puppy Clancey2(named after Clancey1).I also have three lovely grown daughters who finally outgrew that horrible teenage period to become really terrific people add in the five grandchildren I cursed them with ( you know the one your mother cursed you with, I hope you have a child just like you!!!)So now in addition to my family obligations, and craft addictions, I have to train a 5 month old, 70lb female great dane to NOT stand up at the doors (and windows) on her back legs to go out, "COME" is NOT a suggestion and should be taken more seriously, chewing on the cords under the computer desk, really, isn't a great idea, you can have the loveseat but the couch and my bed are MINE!!!and last but not least, sticking your nose in my mouth at 1 AM is just plain RUDE!!!
thanks for all the help training the pup dear!!