Uh Oh......

It looks like my oxy generator may need servicing. Dang! I'm going to try and give it another run this weekend but that may not be possible since I have a sick boy.

I did get a small hand full of goddess's and the like made. A couple mermaids too. The mandrel dip I use for my glass rings sucks, so I need to find something new. I've been losing about half the rings I make to being stuck on the mandrel and then having to be broken off....ARRG!

So this weekend is dedicated to getting Duncan well again and seeing what I do about my generator, and getting the beads I made cleaned and photographed. I'm sure there will be some crochet in there somewhere too.

Speaking of crochet here are some wire crochet rings I've been playing with and...........



My youngest son (not the sick one) in a surprise moment, cute huh!

I'm Lampworking Again!

I'm doing other things too, but it had been months since I sat in front of my torch and it feels darn good!!!

This week I was able to squeeze in a couple of hours on both Monday and today. I'm hoping to add a couple more on Friday. Sometimes that's all it takes. I'm experimenting with enamels and I cannot tell you how fun that is. The only bummer is that a couple of hours isn't nearly long enough! Oh well, I'll take what I can get! :)

The one picture above is of my nice "clean" lampwork area, ready to go!

The other is a copper wolf pendant I made awhile back. I'll be listing that on my Etsy in the next day or two. I also have a tiger in the works.

My Mom came by today and saw some of the crochet rings I've been making and promptly bought one. I love my Mom, she's truely one of my biggest fans! Of course I think she may be a bit biased ;)

So that's my little update today, yeah!

Enjoy the rest of your evening.

Snapping Pictures & Getting Down To It!

Keep watching......

My Ode To Orange On Etsy

I'm working on trying to post my link to my Etsy Treasury. "I know you don't like orange" is the title. Being a lover of orange and sort of yearning it because it reminds me of Summe, I'll at least lead you to the link......I know you don't like orange

Check it out if you have a minute or 2. I realize now that if you don't post regularly (On Etsy) you are probably not going to get the recognition you need to make it a success there.

I picked up some office supplies today and am ready to get back to business this coming week. Yeah! It's about damn time! (my words)

Enjoy your weekend!

I'm Almost There!

My desk is almost to the point of "perfection"! I use this word very loosely, but it works for me. The whole house is still recovering from Springing forward.

We still have some snow on the ground, from our little mini storm on Monday (I was wrong about the last storm). It caused school to run 2 hours late and on snow routes Tuesday. I don't think I'll say that "I think this is the last if it." Should that cause a foot of snow next weekend. Now it's just clear and cold.

I have a half dozen crochet necklaces, chokers and bracelets. However none of them have closures yet. I'm torn on what to do but it looks like I may do several different things and see how each works out.

I'm also taking an online class over at Crochetville.com on publishing designs. I figure it's the motivation I need to actually "push" me into it. Pushes can be a very good thing, especially when you're dragging your feet. I know that once I do one, it will motivate me to keep it up, or I'll decide to go in another direction.

Things are really looking up with getting the junk out of here. I've got the Blind coming again next week and I should have another bag to go. I'm taking an (almost) no holds bared approach to clearing the clutter and our next book club book is "Clear Your Clutter With Feng Shui" by Karen Kingston. It's Spring Cleaning time too, which coincides nicely with the coming season.

More after recovering for the time shift.....

Did You Spring Forward?

Most people have remembered by now, but it's one of those things that's easy to forget until you wake up on Monday and find you're an hour late for work or school. Luckily the boys are out tomorrow for a teacher in-service day.

It has been a lazy day in general today. I picked up the last of a small birthday celebration for the boys yesterday and set up my Dollar Tree mini tripod for my camera (took 10 sec to screw it in). I've set up a new spot for photos right next to my computer but I had to put a few things there to keep the cat from lying in it when I'm not around.

The snow is pretty much gone. I'm hoping this is the end of it until next Winter. I don't have a problem with the snow in particular but I do not like being cold. I'm ready for a bit of a warm up and we have decided that we need to stock up on at least a couple of cords of wood, maybe 3 to get us through (next year). It's a hell of a lot cheaper than electric!

I've always had a bit of a yearning to live in California. The other half of my gene pool (father's side) is down there and I was born there, although I was too young to remember when my Mom moved back up here. The weather has a major appeal, plus family, not that I don't adore my family here, but most of Cali does not get the extreme weather we get here. Plus, I always liked the idea of having palms, lemons and hibiscus growing in the yard year around and not seasonal.

A long time ago, about 10 years or so, I used to do a lot of gardening. When I got divorced that went by the wayside because I put so much energy into the kids, and having a garden is like having children only you do it (in Washington) for a few months of the year. Over the last couple of years I've slowly started to feel the need to re-connect with the earth again. I have always seen, and felt a certain joy, and work too (does that sound like raising kids?) in having a garden. Year around would be wonderful.

Don't get me wrong. I do love it here and the change of seasons are wonderful but sometimes you just feel your roots calling you.

No worries. We are not going anywhere..........at least not in the near future.

Sorry, sorry, sorry.......

It's been too long, but I did get the "new" computer up and running, although I don't think I can do the hand me down thing again. I'm just going to have to splurge on a new one.

While I was setting up I ended doing a total re-arrange of my desk and although I've still got a couple things spread out here and there, it's much better than it was. AND I've started working on cleaning and organizing cupboards all around the house.

My Lampwork area is ready to go to, but my metalsmithing area still needs a bit of organization. Slowly but surely my house is getting to the point of me being able to create without feeling guilty. That's a big YEAH for me.

I also, after a lot of talk and no action, am finally actively working on a pattern/tutorial for submission to a magazine.

We are a little more than half way through the school year and you can feel the kids (and grown ups) chomping at the bit for Spring to get here. We've had a couple of really nice days but for the most part Winter is hanging on. It has even snowed twice over the last couple of weeks, including today.

So I'm back to it, and things should start to even out again to where I'll be posting more often. Don't give up on me yet ;)