Eggs

I was cooking an egg, avocado and Swiss cheese sandwich for myself this morning, and I was looking at the egg as I cracked it into the bowl. Last month when Tom's hunting buddies came up from downstate, we used up pretty much every egg the girls laid. And then we actually had to go BUY eggs, because until Tom got the red light installed in the coop for the winter, those girls were not generous in replenishing our supply. The other morning, Colden asked for an egg for breakfast, so I opened the store-bought carton of eggs.

The egg that I cracked into the bowl for him that morning was pale, neon yellow. It looked sick. I actually felt a little sick cooking it up for Colden, knowing that it probably came from a hen that was crammed into a tiny cage so that she couldn't even stand up or move her wings, and that her beak had probably been removed, too.

It did not look like a happy egg.

This morning, I had a nice supply of eggs from our girls to use, thanks to that red light that keeps them warm and gives them some extra light when the days get short. (I could probably use some extra light, too.)

When I cracked that egg into the bowl, I noticed what a deep gold it was, how it was a thicker yolk and a thicker shell. It tasted much better than the other eggs that I cooked from the store-bought container earlier in the week. It looked better. It looked like an egg.

So here's what I'm going to take away from this experience with the eggs: Our chickens are raised with care and love and pride. We do not remove their beaks. We play with them. We pick them up and pet them. We interact with them. They get good food, lots of fresh vegetable and meat scraps, lots of fresh grass from their huge enclosure, and they get to walk and run around in the fresh air and the sun every day. They get fresh water. They get love and attention.

And in return, they give us beautiful, nutritious eggs.

If you want to do something well, do it with care and love and pride. Do it with respect and a consciousness of your actions. Do it with the understanding that everything you do will affect someone else, somewhere.

Be nice to your chickens.

Dias de los Muertos

Look what was in my mailbox today! My Day of the Dead challenge kit from The Hole Bead Shop!

I was sooooo lucky to snag one of these kits - there were only ten of them! And I cannot believe what is in there. Fire polished beads, daggers, Tilas, drops, seed beads, Lucite, freshwater pearls, and this absolutely gorgeous handmade lampwork sugar skull bead!

I love that my sugar skull bead has a happy face on one eye because I usually sign my emails with a little happy face. Goofy, I know.

I can't wait to get started on this project! I have until December 10th, which means I need to do some serious beading on it. This will probably require several late nights, which may or may not work with Colden's sleep schedule.

I feel like I'm ready to start working on large-scale projects again, I just need to figure out when and how to do that. So I called Designer's Findings to order a couple of thick brass embroidery collars, and guess what? She's traveling until the 24th! I was so disappointed, I wanted to cry. That means I probably can't start working on this piece until November 1, darn it.

On the plus side, that also means I have another week or two to do some sketching and some coloring and see what other beads I have and what other beads I might need to do this project. This is gonna be something gooooood...

Swing Time!

Here it is, the first few rows of Swing Time!

So, I'm getting a little impatient waiting for the order of chaton montees and rose montees that I ordered back in September, so I decided to start Swing Time, since I've got pretty much all the materials for this bracelet with the exception of the clasp and the liquid silver beads.

I knew which colors I wanted to use for the bracelet after my first acupuncture treatment - the colors came to me while I was lying there on the table, full of needles, relaxing. (I know, that doesn't sound like it's very relaxing, but really, acupuncture is very relaxing for me.)

Then I realized that it has been a very, very long time since I had to read a graph for right-angle weave. A very long time. The last time I did that was back in 2001 or 2002 and I was trying to do a double needle right-angle weave project using a graph from my old White Russian beading book.

Reading the right-angle weave graph is a bit tricky, but I'm coming up with a system for it, which I'll post here and on Beading Daily once I get it written up.

I also ordered a whole bunch of seed beads from Fox Den Beads, since she's going out of business, and I thought I could get some of the colors I needed for a few more projects. Well, that was a great idea, but since she's not restocking anything, I received my order and it was a few tubes short of some critical colors. Dang it. I'll probably order some more beads from her just to add them to my stash, and then get the rest of the colors I need/want from Whimbeads and Beyond Beadery. Darn, darn, darn.

The Hunter

So, one of the things my acupuncturist suggested to me at my appointment last week was that I try the blood type diet to see if it helped ease my digestive issues. I had a few issues with that. First of all, I view any diet that is "trendy" as a sham. Atkins, South Beach - they're all a crock, as far as I'm concerned. Second, according to my blood type, I'm supposed to be eating a diet of red meat and vegetables with very little grains. I haven't had red meat since I was 15 years old. I haven't had chicken or turkey or any kind of white meat since 2003. When I told the acupuncturist about this, she said that sometimes in Chinese medicine you can substitute beets for red meat. (Don't understand that, but maybe it's the color?) Since I love beets, I thought, cool, I'll make a big kale and shredded beet salad for dinner that night.

I'm standing there shredding the beets with a hand shredder (Why didn't I use the food processor we just blew a bundle on? No idea.) and suddenly my hand slips and I neatly slice off the outer 1/8" of skin from the knuckle on my thumb. Tom took over and completed the shredding while I washed the wound and put a Band Aid on it.

Thus ended my experimentation with the blood type diet.

There's really nothing wrong with the diet that I eat - no meat, lots of fresh fruits and veggies, not a lot of processed foods (since I can't digest them anymore, anyway) and whole grains like quinoa, bulgur and kasha. Lots of beans and protein sources like tempeh, too. Low-fat dairy on the occasion that I want it like low-fat cottage cheese or hot chocolate made with 1% milk. That's about it. Of course, Colden and I bake cookies and during the summer I'm a sucker for those gourmet cupcakes from the farmer's market. But I think that overall, I eat a darn good healthy diet.

That said, I had my second acupuncture treatment yesterday and I feel great. Had a little bit of a queasy stomach the other night, but I now believe that was due to other circumstances. No more nausea after every meal, no more gagging and dry heaving... And I actually feel like cooking again!

Colden and I are going to baby sit for a friend this afternoon, so we're putting a harvest soup in the crock pot this afternoon - mixed lentils and barley with brown rice, chunked up butternut squash, celery root, carrots, chopped kale and leeks. Tomorrow night after Tom's hunting buddies have left, I'll be making a vegetarian cassoulet with tempeh, carrots, white beans, sweet potatoes, chopped kale, and a yummy buttery breadcrumb topping.

Yep. I should have done acupuncture months ago.

I'm Awake

That's what the acupuncturist told me the other day. When we were talking about how my body just doesn't react well to most Western medical practices, particularly to prescription medications, she nodded and smiled and said, "Well, that's a good thing. It means that your body is still awake."

It certainly was awake the last few nights. Colden had a rough couple of nights. The first night, he would not sleep unless I was in bed with him, and even then, he would cry (with his eyes shut) and say things like, "Mommy, I wanna go an a big airplane NOW!" (The best we can figure is that he was thinking about the movie Rio and the three second clip where a big airplane touches down at the airport in Brazil.) Then the night after that, he and Daddy laid there in bed and cuddled and snuggled and laughed and laughed and laughed. Tom said something about Moose chasing a critter in the backyard, and Colden just took that and ran with it - "Moose is chasing those freaking racoons again!" Not exactly conducive to sleep, but we didn't have to get up early the next morning or anything.

We went to Canadian Thanksgiving at Rob and Jenny's last night, and the place was packed. It was so much fun! I can't remember the last time I saw so much food - or felt like eating so much! My only mistake was that I went back for thirds. After my third plate of mushroom stuffing, mashed squash, locally-raised and roasted beets and carrots, mashed potatoes and green salad, the music, noise and heat started to get to me. (It was 83 degrees yesterday!) We had to bail a little early, which was a shame because Colden was having so much fun playing with the other kids.

At one point, I heard singing and I looked down into the lounge area and saw Colden with his little friend Andrew. They were putting together a HUGE wooden train track and singing the theme to the Wonder Pets about teamwork. It was so cute and funny, I told Andrew's mom about it.

Lots of beading for today. Two deadlines: one project needs to be out the door tomorrow morning, and the other needs to be ready to post for Friday morning on Beading Daily.

And I've started another project from Bead Riffs! More on that later today once I get the camera out and ready...

The Death of Jobs

One of my beading friends on Facebook posted this quote last night:

“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.” Steve Jobs

And I just loved it. I had to share it again. I don't know why I was so shocked to hear about the passing of Steve Jobs. It's not like I knew him, although his company certainly affected my life. I can remember playing and working on my dad's Apple IIe computer during grammar school, learning about programming languages and learning how to use a word processor. I think we even used that thing to access the first BBS on a local college campus.

I can remember my uncle using his Mac to create those wonderful church bulletins every week. He was truly talented at desktop publishing, and he and my father had many long conversations about the pros and cons of Apple vs. IBM.

In 2008, my father sent me my first iPod, and I was hooked. Ever since I loaded most of my music collection into my iTunes, I've always said that the only way anyone is going to get that device away from me is to pry it from my cold, dead hands.

I also saw with some amusement this story from The Onion with the headline, "Last American Who Knew What the Fuck He Was Doing Dies". Sadly true, I think.

Wherever he is, I hope Steve Jobs could see Colden this morning as he played on my iPad. RiP, Mr. Jobs.

Night in Tunisia

First of all, I loved this piece from the minute I saw it. But when I started picking out my colors to go with those Siam Swarovski crystals that I picked, I felt totally disheartened. I just could not find a set of colors that went together well, so I cheated a bit.

I decided to stick with those lovely hematite colored seed beads for the base, and I found some silver lined red beads that were a perfect match for the crystals. I loved the way the grey-lined 15s contrasted with both the red and hematite beads, but I just could not find a color of size 8 that I liked with these beads. So I used size 8 beads in silver lined red.

Stitching this piece together was, I thought, like magic. As I made the base with right angle weave, I couldn't get over how unstructured it looked. (I should have taken a picture.) It was loose, floppy, and just didn't sit right, no matter what I did.

Then I started filling in the little squares, and WOW! Things just tightened right up, took shape, took form... It was a beautiful thing to watch.

I loved the freedom in this piece - Rachel didn't have a specified thread path for filling in each of the little units of right angle weave, so I was free to wander through my beadwork in any way I saw fit, which was good when I was trying to squeeze my beading needle through some of those tightly-filled bead holes.

My current obsession: finding the perfect red sweater to wear with this necklace this winter. I did see a couple of beautiful jewel-toned red cocoon sweaters at the Bass outlet in Lake Placid the other day. Maybe another quick trip there with Colden this weekend...

How to Bend a Tulip Beading Needle

Well, I did it. I finally figured out how to bend one of those new Tulip beading needles! I finished High Style the other day, and when I was finished, my gorgeous Tulip beading needle had a definite curve to it!

I just love this bracelet! I really should have made it one unit shorter, but as long as I don't lose any more weight, I should be okay with it. And truthfully, if I did have to tear it apart and re-stitch it together, I think I'd be okay with that. (Just can't do it right now with deadlines and some new designs floating around in my head!)

Just look at those fun little bumps! I loved them. There was just something so wonderful and soothing about stitching these. They were simple, once I got the hang of them, and I was amazed at how quick they stitched up.

And just look at how they tarnished! At first, I was disappointed that the shine of those little copper beauties faded so quickly, but then I tried it on with my favorite long copper earrings and my new favorite brown hemp wrap shirt, it looked fabulous. Really fabulous. Like, I can't believe that I made this bracelet fabulous.

I also finished Night in Tunisia, but that will be another post for tomorrow...

Why?

One of my non-beading friends asked me the other day why I had decided to bead my way through Rachel Nelson-Smith's newest book, Bead Riffs.

There were a few reasons why I wanted to do this. First of all, ever since I saw Rachel's first book, Seed Bead Fusion, I've been totally captivated by her style. I love her techniques of making peyote stitch bumps on a base of right-angle weave, the way she creates bezels to capture rivolis and cabochons... I especially love the way she uses Swarovski crystals. I've never been much of a sparkly-beader kinda gal, but Rachel uses crystals in a way so that is so subtle, you really don't notice them. So when I first took a look through her book, I was just totally inspired to start stitching up every single one of these projects.

Another reason why I was motivated to stitch up all her designs was because I don't often get a chance to stitch up another artist's designs. For the last few years, I've been so busy making beadwork for inventory and working on my own designs that I just haven't had time to make up designs from someone else. That was always something that I loved to do when I first started beading and brought home a new beading book - I would make up little lists on sticky notes with all the beads I needed to buy for each project, and my hours after work were always spent sitting with Tom and watching movies and beading. I thought Rachel's designs are just so beautiful and so WEARABLE that I had to give them a try!

I've also been feeling a little stifled in my own beading designs lately as well. I'm so used to the ideas flowing easily into my sketchbook that this most recent dry spell has left me feeling a little bummed out and a little worried about if the ideas will ever come again. (Of course, on some level, I know they will, but right now, it feels like I've been hung out to dry by my Muse.) I'm hoping that getting a peek into Rachel's process and her designs will help ignite some of that inspiration in my own designs so that I can start designing my own pieces again.


So, enough of that for now. We had a fabulous weekend up here, complete with roaring fires in the wood stove to chase away the damp chill from the rain, a HUGE (60+ pound) box of assorted squash, a big pumpkin that Colden picked out all by himself, and a dinner of roasted vegetables and tempeh with a big loaf of Tom's homemade bread.  If this is autumn in the Adirondacks, I say bring it on!

Good

I saw this on the tire of the Jeep in front of me as I drove into Lake Placid to pick up Tom from work this afternoon. And surprisingly, after having a few days of really dark thoughts and feeling very frustrated with my latest set of digestive problems, I actually ended this day feeling pretty good.

I had a good appointment with my doctor. I am so thankful that I have her as my primary care physician. She is a wonderful, wonderful woman who is not just an excellent doctor, but also has the best bedside manner of any physician I've seen, ever. She suggested to me that I start acupuncture for my digestive issues because of its effect on the autonomous nervous system, and she was pleased when I told her that I've already started. She reassured me that this is nothing more than a gallbladder with attitude, and there's really nothing else we can do for it right now. She doesn't want to push me into surgery, and that's fine with me, because I think I'd have to be a LOT sicker than I am now to go that route.

The nice thing about my acupuncturist is that she's an M.D. She KNOWS this stuff. She knows what works and what doesn't work, and like I said yesterday, she completely understands that I just have one of those bodies that doesn't respond well to Western medicine. So, I'm feeling very optimistic about things after this last set of appointments.

On my way home from the doctor, I stopped in at the local natural foods store to find out if they had any ready-made seitan for a dish I wanted to cook for the potluck tonight, but they were all out. However, when I noticed that they now stock my friend Andrea's organic jams, I mentioned to the girl behind the counter that I knew Andrea from the farmer's markets where I used to sell my work. She asked me what kind of work, and I said beaded jewelry. She looked at me funny. "What's your name?" she asked. I told her. She said, "Oh my gosh! You're the Jennifer that Annie talks about all the time! You were supposed to be at the party yesterday!" Turns out that my friend Annie is friends with this gal, Kate, and Kate does some fabulous bead embroidery and resin jewelry! We exchanged numbers quickly because I had to get home in time for a meeting, but it just made me feel all warm inside to have met another fellow beader who totally understands the addiction as much as I do! (Also gave me a great idea for a blog post about craft junkies, which is, after all, what we really are...)

Then I cooked up another batch of Swiss chard and barley stew, and we went to the potluck Autumn Harvest Dinner at Colden's preschool. So much fun. So much food! Colden got to see his friends again, we all had a great dinner, did some socializing, and then Miss Mona (Colden's teacher) told them a story before we all left.

It's nearly bedtime. Colden is out in the garage workshop with Daddy, doing "man things". (Have no idea what those are, but they're having a good time.) It's chilly tonight, so we'll be piling up a few extra blankets.

We have fresh apples from the orchard. Tomorrow, Colden has a playdate in the morning with his friend Yossi, and Yossi's mom, Martha, and I will get to catch up with each other. Colden and I will bring freshly baked muffins with jam centers.

I have three beading projects on my table for next week. I have a job that I love, a beautiful family, and the best friends a person could ask for.

So, yeah. Life is good.

Ground

So,  one of the things that I have available to me through my (wonderful) new job is this health flex account. I can use it to cover medical co-pays and my dental co-pays (ginormous) and I can also use it to cover the costs for massage therapy at my chiropractor and acupuncture. If you've never had a therapeutic massage or acupuncture treatment, you have no idea how huge this is for me. For years, struggling with migraines, nothing seemed to help until I started getting regular chiropractic adjustments and therapeutic massage.

In July, I went for my first massage in nearly four years, and it was every bit as wonderful as I remembered it. But the first thing that the massage therapist said to me as we started was that I needed to get grounded - she said that she could sense my energies swinging back and forth, which was totally on the mark and a little frightening because it was as if she were reading my thoughts as I tried to relax and follow my breath.

This morning I had another much-needed massage to try to help with this lower back pain and the digestive issues I've been having since August. Both of these things have caused a lot of stress for me (and Tom and Colden, naturally) and I finally decided that while going to the doctor and following her recommendations for treatments was a good thing, I needed to do something else to get myself grounded and relaxed so that I could deal with all of this.

It was a rough morning. Colden hasn't been sleeping well for the last three nights - he's been awake about every forty-five minutes, asking for milk and juice and then yanking the crap out of my hair as he tries to go back to sleep - and Tom and I are feeling stressed out and not well-rested at all. I was late dropping Colden off at Oma and Opa's house, and feeling more than a little wound up and strung out when I got to the chiropractor's office. Well, as soon as Dawn, the massage therapist, took me into the room, she gave me a new relaxation technique to try that involved a series of counted breaths and a position holding your arms out, palms up.

After two breaths this way, I could feel the tension starting to drain from my head and my neck. A few seconds later, I remembered her recommendation to me to get myself grounded, picturing myself as a giant tree with roots going deep into the Earth, my arms and my torso being the trunk and beautiful branches reaching up to the sky. As I did this, she said quietly, "Now, imagine yourself as a tree and get grounded again."

Mind-reading? Maybe not. My sister-in-law, who has been to massage school, has said that this particular type of massage is like "reading minds" because you need to be in tune with the energies of the person you are working with. And Dawn is very, very, very good at that. She can zero in on what is hurting me or causing me distress, and she can make it go away.

So as I was lying there this morning, focusing on my breathing and relaxing each part of my body as she worked, I came to the realization that my body works a little differently than other people that I know. I'm very sensitive to Western medical treatments - if there's a side effect associated with a drug, chances are that I'll get it. I bruise easily when it comes to drawing blood, and I have a wicked gag reflex that makes things like throat cultures and routine dental work horrific for both myself and the doctor or dentist trying to perform the procedures. But what I have noticed is that my body responds to things like massage therapy, chiropractic adjustments and acupuncture, and it responds very well.

Now, I'm not poo-pooing Western medicine. It works very well in some cases. If we hadn't had the option of having a c-section when I was in labor with Colden, we both would probably have ended up being statistics. And I am deeply grateful for antibiotics for the times that Colden and I both had pneumonia. But I just wish that there were more doctors (like mine) who recommended "alternative" therapies like massage and acupuncture, or at least who wouldn't scare the crap out of patients when they ask about them.

The doctor who is the owner of the practice where I go is pretty much clueless when it comes to things like vegetarian diets, chiropractic adjustments and acupuncture, so I do my best to avoid seeing him if at all possible. But on those occasions when he is the care provider on duty and I have no other choice, I'll go to let him make sure that there's nothing seriously wrong with me (because he is a good doctor, even if his bedside manner is horrible) and then I'll work with my acupuncturist or massage therapist to come up with an alternate plan of treatment.

Maybe it's just because I'm more comfortable with a less medically aggressive treatment option. Maybe it's because 99% of my problem is that I've never been very good at handling stress. Or maybe it's because these things actually WORK. These therapies have, after all, been around for thousands of years. We can't pinpoint exactly how they work in a laboratory, but they work.

I walked out of that chiropractor's office feeling better than I've felt in WEEKS. I was relaxed, refreshed, my sore back wasn't sore anymore, my stomach wasn't rumbling or queasy, and I felt ready to tackle the rest of my day. It wasn't just my physical self that felt better, my mental state was vastly improved, too.

So, tomorrow I go back to my regular physician to talk about the next steps in figuring out what's going on with my poor digestive system and what kinds of diagnostic tests we'll do and when. But after I'm finished there, I'll be stopping at the acupuncturist's office and setting up my next series of appointments.

So this is what I learned about myself today. Funny that I never really thought about it like this before, but there it is.

Oh, and the grounding part? Dawn is right on with that. She knows her stuff, let me tell you. I think as an artist and a writer, it becomes very easy for me to get lost, off in the clouds with my thoughts or my ideas. Working online just sort of adds to that ethereal ditziness, too. I need to make more of an effort to be present in my life when I'm not dreaming up ideas or writing or dreaming about what to write next. And it won't happen overnight, but that's what I need to do. I think all artists need to make that effort to become more grounded - otherwise, we'll all become the hazy, shadowy, absent-minded artist-figures that everyone thinks we are!

More on my Bead Riffs project later. I finished the latest project, and am gearing up for something bigger now...

Night in Tunisia

Okay, so why the hell did I choose Swarovski crystals in Siam?! Huh? Why?

I didn't like those milky pink crystals pictured in the project. No, I thought I would go with something different, something BOLD! Yikes. I think I own about one red sweater, and I only wear the damn thing on Valentine's Day. I have about a dozen tubes of red seed beads, compared to the hundreds of browns, greens, blues, pinks and other earth tones that I own.

So WHY did I choose Siam for this project? I thought the silver-lined red would look beautiful with the gunmetal grey seed beads. But now the problem becomes finding other colors of seed beads that look good with the red and the grey.

Colden and I scoured my seed bead collection. We took out hundreds of tubes of size 8s and 15s and spread them on the floor next to the gunmetal and the silver lined red. And I couldn't find any that I liked.

I finally settled on using some silver lined red size 8s (cop out, since they match the size 11s) and some silver-grey metallic lined 15s.

I just realized that I haven't done a single necklace from this book yet - this will be the first! If I can get it whipped up before the weekend, I just might have to go to Target and buy a red or a grey t-shirt to wear with it...

Shake Yer Groove Thang

Okay, okay, the project was just called "Groove", but darn it, I couldn't get that song out of my head while I was stitching up these earrings and the ring!

The only problem I had with these was my tension. At first, I was afraid to stitch too tightly because I wasn't sure how the pattern was going to work out. But after I finished the first earring and started in on the second, I saw that I could stitch with a tight tension and it actually made it easier to add the bumps and finial beads!

I didn't like the way that the tops and bottoms collapsed in on me while I was adding the bumps around the sides, but once those bumps were stitched, the earrings had a lot more body. They worked up surprisingly fast - it was like they should have been in the "Easier Than They Look" chapter.

When I ordered the 2mm gold beads for this project, I threw in some extras because I knew that I wanted to make a matching ring. And it came out beautifully:

Yes, there was a little bit of thread showing on this project. I didn't know how else to make it go away. The project called for blue thread, but I used my green Wildfire instead, which looks just as good with the olive-green seed beads.

Fun, fun, fun! These stitched up so easily, I was genuinely surprised at how fast they went. I started them yesterday afternoon while Colden was painting and put the finishing touches on the ring this morning while I was waiting for my oatmeal to cool.

I started feeling a little panicked about how quickly these projects were working up, until I sat down to look at what's ahead of me. Reading a right-angle weave graph. Adding hundreds of bumps and rose montees as embellishment to a necklace. Joining dozens of liquid silver bead components to jump rings. And I gave myself a year to complete all of these projects? I better hope those rose montees and chaton montees come sooner rather than later so I can finish knocking off all the "little" projects in this book and get on to the big ones!

Colden has conked out for a nap, and I have a choice: do I go try to catch a quick nap, take a hot bath with a piece of chocolate and a good book, do the dishes and clean the kitchen, or go rummage through the basement and look for my 1/4" plastic tubing for the two projects that call for it?

I'm thinking that the bath and the chocolate are going to win here...

Addicted to High Style

I started working on High Times last night. I couldn't stand it - that little baggie of shiny copper beads was just teasing me. They were begging me to dump them out in a little pile and start stitching with them. So after Colden went to bed, that's what I did. (The poor kid was finally feeling better, but he was totally exhausted. He ate a HUGE dinner, came into the bedroom to snuggle with me for a few minutes and just conked right out before eight.)

Once I started stitching the base, it was damn near impossible for me to stop. Seriously. There's something about the rhythm of right angle weave that just hooks me. I can feel something click in my brain and there's that rush of serotonin...almost like eating dark chocolate.

What I discovered, though, was that stitching with these 2mm copper beads was NOT like stitching with regular seed beads. I had to slide them onto the thread past the eye of the needle. The holes got stuck on the needle. And there wasn't any way to just scoop them up with the needle like I usually do with seed beads - I either had to put them on by hand or pick them up one at a time with the needle. Ack!

Then, like I said before, I don't like it when I can't picture how the piece will come together from instructions. This was the case with the start of this bracelet. I just couldn't figure it out. As I was stitching it, I felt the light bulb come on: this was a cubic right angle weave bangle bracelet! Made with metal rounds! Oh my God, it suddenly felt a lot more intimidating...

I sat down and put on 3rd Rock From the Sun, and I told myself that I would stop beading at nine o clock and go to bed. Nine came and went. Okay, I thought, I'll stop at nine-thirty. Pretty soon, I was telling myself that I would stop at ten. Finally, at ten forty-five, I had to quit. My eyes were so tired that they felt puffy and my sinuses were telling me to get some sleep. So I reluctantly put the beading aside and went to bed.

One thing I realized as I was working, though, is that I'm going to need more copper beads. Something else I don't like is when I run out of beads in the middle of a project! I can't stand it - it drives me nuts to have to put down a project right in the middle of the stitching because I've run out of beads. Darn it. And what kills me is that I thought I had way more beads than I needed for this!

I had ordered a package of 1,000 2mm copper beads. I figured that would be plenty - the instructions in the book said that the bracelet pictured used 960 beads and I only added one extra unit to make sure that the bangle would fit around my oddly enormous knuckles. I finished six bumps and I only have enough beads left to make maybe another six bumps! Even when I did the math, it came out that I should have had plenty of beads to finish this bracelet. I have no idea what happened. I know I didn't spill any on the floor, but on the other hand, I didn't count every single bead that was in the bag when I got the order last week.

Nothing to do now but wait for the rest of the beads to arrive next week.

When I looked at the bracelet this morning, I realized that the bright, shiny copper beads that I was stitching the night before had turned dark and dull overnight. I was a little disappointed at first, but then I realized that the only pair of copper earrings that I own have a dull finish. So at least the two pieces will match when I finish the bracelet...

My plan for now is to finish this bracelet, and then move on to another quick project while I wait for the rest of the beads. Maybe a pair of earrings with a matching ring over the weekend is the thing to do...

High Style

I'm 2 hours into the next project, High Style, and I've realized a few things:

1. Beading with 2mm metal round beads is NOT the same as beading with size 11 seed beads. It's much harder.
2. Somehow, I've been roped into doing a cubic right angle weave bangle bracelet without realizing it.
3. I'm gonna need a lot more of these copper beads. 1,000 of them weren't enough!

Time for bed...

Two-Beat Finished!

I finished it! Despite everything that was going on today... Last night, Colden didn't want anything for dinner. Not terribly unusual, he eats really well during the day, so we usually just let him nibble and then give him a snack. Sandy said that he didn't seem himself at their place yesterday, and he was acting strange while I was fixing dinner - he would suddenly just start crying and saying, "Moooommm-y!" We figured maybe he was just being needy. Then Tom got on the phone with Kathy, and Colden started crying again. This time, he came running at me, and - BLEAH! - just projectile vomited all over the floor.

We got him cleaned up and snuggled into bed with me, and he eventually started acting a little better and went to sleep. In the morning, he was acting more like himself and he asked Tom for some peanut butter crackers. Tom gave him one peanut butter cracker sandwich and some juice, and Colden came back into bed with me and threw up again.

Taking him to the dentist in Burlington didn't really seem like an option at that point, so after I got Colden cleaned up again and settled into bed, I called and canceled our appointment and then called the pediatrician. Everything checked out okay at the pediatrician, and we went home to let Colden rest and watch Diego for a while.

I took the opportunity to finish the last link in Two-Beat and attach everything together! And here it is! Yay! Second project down!

I love this bracelet. I loved making the beaded beads. I loved making the toggle and attaching it to the pieces of chain. I love the colors I picked for this bracelet - it will go with pretty much everything I have in my closet.

What I discovered while making these beaded beads was that I was really afraid of making those beaded beads with the size 15s! Like, seriously afraid. I whipped through the size 11 beaded beads with no problems, but when it came time to sit down with those teeny tiny beads...I felt like I had to fight myself to use them.

I made the clasp right after I made the first two beaded beads, thinking that it would be a good way for me to estimate the number of beads I needed for the bracelet. I also thought that maybe working with those size 15s on the clasp would limber me up for making the rest of the beaded beads...but it didn't. I still had to fight myself to sit down and make those tiny beaded beads!

As I stitched up the toggle bar with the 15s, I kept thinking to myself, "How many more of these clasps do I have to do?"

I've been looking through the projects and through my beads to see which of the projects I can start next without having to buy anything else. The other bracelet projects that call for a 7-strand 41mm silver tube clasp have me a little worried: the instructions call for me to nip off three of the loops on the clasp. Honestly, the thought of mauling a $35 silver clasp just makes me shiver. Am I going to be able to do it?

And now, I'm going for a break. I've been sick as a dog since Tuesday night, sneezing and coughing and blowing my nose... I was completely miserable last night, sinuses aching so bad I thought I was going to pass out. I think a nice hot bath and a piece of chocolate are in order for this afternoon...and I'll decide which project to tackle next!

Supplies

This is what was in my post office box the other morning:

My order from Fusion Beads! Sterling and gold-filled seamless rounds, a big bag of tiny 2mm copper rounds, some Swarovski rounds, bicones and sequins, a length of chain, a clasp, two sets of ear wires... And all of this was $117?! For real?!

I was really stunned at how much all of this came to when I was placing my order. On the computer screen, it looked like a lot: all those neatly itemized little lines with the numbers and the cost. And then I realized, as I was waiting for my order to arrive, that all of these items would fit perfectly in a teeny tiny little padded envelope that was small enough to fit right into my post office box. Wowza.

So, please, no one tell my husband how much all of this cost...

The upshot is that these supplies are enough for me to make five more projects from the book: two pairs of earrings (once I get the rose montees from Rachel), a necklace, a ring and a bracelet. I can't wait to jump into them, but first I need to finish Two-Step this week.

And in other news... The Keene farmer's market was open again this week after being closed since Irene tore up the roads. This was the first time that 9N from Jay to Keene was open, and the first time that route 73 was open through Keene since the storm. Upper Jay and Keene just looked like a war zone: trees down, roads still washed out and ripped up, the remains of houses and buildings flattened and waiting to be cleaned up. A total mess. So I went and did my bit and spent some money at the farmer's market. We bought some gourmet cupcakes, jam from my friend Andrea, and I even picked up a couple of hand cut gemstone cabochons:

I just know I've got the perfect gemstone beads to accent these... So in all my spare time, I'll start stitching them up, right?

Crappy, cold, rainy, grey day here today. Bundled Colden up extra well this morning for his outdoor playtime at Miss Mona's. Barley and Swiss chard stew for dinner tonight, and hot chocolate right now to get me through the afternoon...

The Bead Soup Blog Party!

And of course, here I am, late to the party as always...

My partner, Kim Hora, sent me this:

I was totally in love with these gorgeous handmade enamel rings that she sent. Kim even sent me an extra ring to play with later! I had no idea what to do with any of them, and they were certainly out of my comfort zone, even though I loved the colors. I just don't do that much with metals!

A trip to my local Michael's craft store and some new brass chain was what I needed. I came home, sat down with the chain and my headpins, and created this:

Totally NOT what I usually do, but it's still my style! I think I'm going to get a lot of wear out of this necklace - in fact, I'm wearing it right now!

I loved playing with different combinations of beads and those filigree bead caps on the headpins. That brass flower was going to get used, no matter what, I decided. I decided to save the dragonfly for another project - and besides, Colden likes to come up to my work pad (where the dragonfly currently lives), gently lift it up and make it "fly" away across the house for a little while.

Thanks so much to Lori for making this all happen! I can't imagine what kind of work goes into pulling off something like this. This is my third Bead Soup Blog Party, and I can't wait to sign up for the next one!

If you want to see all of the gorgeous designs that were made around the world in this Bead Soup Blog Party, you can find the whole list here. And make sure you drop by Lori's blog and take a look at her Bead Soup pieces - absolutely gorgeous!

And now, I go take a rest. Tom and his friend have been on the roof all day, tearing off shingles and putting on paper, and it sounds like they are starting to hammer down another layer of something. Colden and I went to Plattsburgh and ran errands, then I came home and put away all the groceries, made lunch, did the dishes, and ran to get sandwiches for the guys and the kids. And of course, I discovered that we had no frozen peas and no more sliced almonds in the freezer for tonight's dinner. Figures. So, a little rest for me before I have to get back in the car and go up to AuSable Forks and get stuff for dinner.

Starting Two-Beat

I really hate it when I read a set of beading instructions and I just can't picture how the piece comes together. I really hate that. And that's how I was feeling as I read over the instructions for Two-Beat, the next project I decided to tackle. I read about making the base, adding the bumps, adding the chain...and I just could not picture how it was all supposed to come together. I looked at the picture of the finished beaded beads attached by links of chain...and I could not figure out how it was going to work.

So, I just said, to hell with it, here we go.

I started with the size 11 beads because I didn't think I wanted to attempt this with the size 15s before I knew what the hell I was doing! And sure enough, the bead came together! I was envisioning it all wrong, and it took me a grand total of about five minutes to finish this bead.

Cutting the chain took me a little longer. Believe it or not, I had a heck of a time cutting that tiny little chain into three-link sections. My huge cutters made it hard to nip off the chain at every fourth link, but I discovered a new use for my bead scoop: scooping up the tiny little bits of chain that soon littered my work surface. Yikes.

After finishing that first beaded bead, I thought I'd make the toggle clasp so that I could easily figure out how many beaded beads I would need for the bracelet. So I took out those fun plastic rings that I found at Michael's over the weekend and the size 15 seed beads and started to stitch tubular right angle weave around the ring.

Wow. It has probably been way too long since I tried to do something like this with size 15 seed beads. Or maybe it was just the Full Moon Effect making me nuts, but those first few rounds were like dental-chair torture. Beads slipping everywhere, needles stuck into fingers... Yeouch! But after I got into a rhythm, it went surprisingly fast.

For the toggle bars, I found that I could cut up my trashed (bent) beadmaking mandrels and they would make perfect bars to bead around. I really loved using those heavy duty cutters and then the sanding machine to smooth the ends out. Something satisfying about using machinery like that. Makes me feel sort of...industrial?

How many more of these toggles do I have to make? Ha! I knew this was going to be a learning experience, and so far, I've learned that I need to do more beading! I'm almost dreading making those other beaded beads with the size 15s. Sooooo tiny! What's happened to me? I never used to shy away from using those little beads!

Still waiting on my order from Fusion Beads, and this morning I went ahead and ordered all the rose montees and chaton montees that I need for every project in the book. So there's no turning back now!

Once the stuff from Fusion Beads gets here, I'll have everything I need to make High Style, Night in Tunisia, Groove (earrings and a matching ring) and Nightingale. Five projects that worked out to about twenty bucks each for materials. Not bad for handmade jewelry, eh?

Time for lunch. More beading tonight, if I can get Colden to bed at a decent hour and without too much fuss! Bedtimes have been absolute torture lately. And even when we can get him to go to sleep, he wakes up every 90 minutes and cries for milk and juice. I hope this is just a phase and that he gets through it quickly, because I need some sleep. Again.

I Remember

Ten years ago, at around 8:46 in the morning, I was just getting off I-87, the Northway, at Exit 37, heading to my classes at Plattsburgh State University. That was where I first heard the report on NPR of a plane crashing into one of the World Trade Center buildings. I remember standing in line for my morning bagel and hot chocolate and watching the television with everyone else, still in disbelief, as the second plane crashed.

This morning, ten years later, and on a Sunday, I found myself getting off at Exit 37 on I-87, heading into Plattsburgh once again, but this time, with Colden in the backseat. We were heading to Target to do some last-minute preschool shopping for him. (New t-shirts and socks, since he has totally outgrown everything I bought for him last year at this time.)

It was strange being in Plattsburgh again at the same time, exactly ten years later. Target was quiet. Everyone seemed subdued. There was very little traffic this morning.

Tonight, we'll cook a big meal together and eat out on the picnic table, playing in the back yard and watching the sun go down. And we will remember.

I Believe

On this, the eve of the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, I just want to share a little bit of what has been going through my head. There is a part of me that feels I should not share this with anyone, but there's another part of me, a stronger part that knows I have the courage of my convictions to support me. So here it goes.

Someone that I used to work with (and whom I still greatly admire for her dedication to her family, her intelligence and her embrace of her creative side - you know who you are!) once told me that I would make a great lawyer because I have a very strong sense of justice. That was something that made me proud. I think my father also once implied something along those lines when he told me that I was a "good kid" after expressing to him my frustration about a family disagreement when I was a teenager.

Let me explain what a strong sense of justice is to me... In this country, the Tea Party, as far as I can tell, is probably the biggest threat to our security as Americans. I feel it is a bigger threat than any religious zealot in a far-flung country, bigger than any kind of "home bred" terrorism. Why is it such a threat? Because it is tearing this country apart from within.

We have children in this country who go to bed hungry every single night. We have record unemployment rates. We have people losing their homes because of unregulated practices on Wall Street. We have an unprecedented humanitarian crisis in our country RIGHT NOW. And all the Tea Party seems to care about is cutting government spending - even if it is at the expense of our children, our compassion for one another and the future of this country.

We can withstand an attack from outside - 9/11 clearly showed that. Americans came together in a way unseen since the second World War. It was an amazing and moving experience for me to live through that in my small community in the North Country. But how much longer can we allow the politicians to put their own self-interests (as well as the special interests who line their pockets) ahead of what is best for our nation as a whole? Do we really need to listen to our elected leaders talk about how PRAYER will solve everything? Hey, even the Islamic extremists don't rely on prayer alone. No, they've seen how powerful the use of guns and bombs and hijacked airplanes can be when you want to accomplish something. (Note that I am not condoning or sanctioning violence of any sort at any time. I just want to establish the difference between taking concrete action and simply sitting around, looking at the sky and waiting for something to happen.)

When someone tells me that they want to eliminate an "entitlement" program like Medicare or Social Security, I start to see red. Entitlement is a bad word now? You can be damn sure that if I pay into Social Security for my entire working life (and I started working when I was 16, just so you know) I sure as hell feel like I'm "entitled" to draw on that money if and when I decided to retire!

When the GOP presidential candidates start talking about eliminating Medicare and Social Security, I cringe. We do not live in a "welfare state", as many believe. Far from it. I have worked hard my entire adult life, and I continue to do so. But I also understand that there are many, many people in this country who have not had the same opportunities that I have had, regardless of all this nonsense talk of "equality" that the politicians like to spew at you. Should we just ignore the folks who were not born to wealthy parents? Are their lives not worth the same as mine? Do they have less of a right to peace of mind and well-being? And most importantly, should our government be responsible for assisting its citizens in becoming productive members of society if they can't do it on their own?

When Michelle Bachman starts to talk gibberish about dismantling the Department of Education, I cringe. My husband and I are going to send our son to public school. What happens to the population when there is no government mandate to educate them? Do we simply accept our fall from one of the most literate, educated countries in the world because no one in the government cares enough to make sure that we educate our children? What happens to the economy when you are faced with an entire citizenry of uneducated workers who are barely qualified to run a cash register because they lack basic math skills? How is slashing education budgets going to HELP our economy?

So here is where I think the Tea Party got it wrong. I would challenge any of them to go live in a country - say, sub-Saharan Africa - where there are NO government services. No clean water. No sewer system. No public roads. No public health care for the very poor or the elderly. No government unemployment insurance. Go live there for ten years. See what your life is like. And then after you've experienced how the other 90% of the world lives, only then can you be allowed to come back into America where we have a government that provides all these things that you take for granted every single day of your miserable lives.

And speaking of "equality" back there - why do the politicians seem to think that if all men are created equal, some of them should shoulder more of the tax burden than others? How does that make any sense at all? If we are all equal in the eyes of the government, then we should all pay an equal share of taxes. My husband and I work damn hard. And we pay nearly 34% of our income in taxes. Why does Joe Q. Millionaire only have to pay 3% or 4% of his income in taxes? Because he earns more money? What kind of weird political logic is that? If cutting the taxes of the fabulously wealthy creates more jobs, why are we still seeing record unemployment in this country? Doesn't anybody else see these things as totally outrageous and inherently unjust? (Note: I did not use the word "fair". Life is not fair. I understand that. What I am concerned with here is a sense of JUSTICE. We are talking right and wrong here, people. That's the difference between your parents telling you that life isn't always fair because you didn't make the cheerleading squad and a murderer walking free because of a lack of evidence, which, sadly, I have personal experience of.)

So here is what I suggest. We need to change the way our system works. We need to get rid of the special interests. Lobbying by special interests to the American government should become, as of this very second, illegal. If anyone is caught lobbying to an elected representative in the United States government, they are sent to jail for the rest of their lives. Sure, we designed the lobbying program to ensure that things were done "fairly" - but what we have created is a system that is UNJUST, where the corporation with the most money wins and the rest of us can go to hell and eat rice gruel while our children starve and their minds wither because we have no government that can provide services and jobs for its citizens. Is it really right that the huge corporations with the best lawyers and the most money to buy their politicians get all the perks? Is that really what America is all about?

I'd like to think not.

If the Tea Party wants to vent their anger about something, how about they vent their anger towards the illegal wars that we have been entrenched in since 2001. How about they vent their anger about the FACT that corporations receive multi-billion dollar bailouts while there are MILLIONS of children in this country who go to bed hungry every single fucking night. Yeah, I'm pretty outraged about that. How about they vent their anger about the fact that there are people in this country, the most prosperous country in the entire fucking WORLD, who are dying of appendicitis and pneumonia because they can't afford to see a doctor? How about they get angry about THAT? What would a world like that look like?

Back in the day, the politicians, the GOP, even, were most concerned with providing social services to the poor and the elderly; protecting the environment; and ensuring that no one in this country went hungry. What happened to those days? Have we coddled our politicians so much, made them so powerful, that they really don't care about the people that they are elected to govern?

Now, after reading this, you might just want to dismiss me as just another uneducated liberal. Go ahead. But in thirty years, when you are ready to quit working and spend some time with your family and friends during the last years of your life and you find that your government-ensured safety net is GONE...don't come crying to me. Because I care about this country. I care about its citizens. I care about making sure that no one goes without food, or without an education or clean water or decent health care. If that makes me a liberal or (God forbid!) a socialist or whatever the fuck label you want to slap on me, I can live with that. Because no matter what else you call me, I am, above all else, a decent human being.

I can only hope that there are few of those left in Washington, D.C., too.

Politicians

A little political "humor" from my husband last night:

A woman goes to have her hair cut at the local barbershop. When she asks the barber how much for the cut, he says, "Oh, no. I'm doing this as a community service. You're the best florist in town and you do your job so well, this hair cut is free." The woman thanks him profusely and goes home. The next morning, the barber comes to his shop and finds a thank-you card and a dozen roses.

Then a local police officer comes in for a hair cut. When he asks how much for the cut, the barber tells him, "Oh, no charge for you, sir. I'm doing this as a service to the community. You do so much to keep our community safe, so this hair cut is on the house." The police officer thanks him and goes home. The next morning, the barber arrives at his shop and finds a thank-you card and a dozen donuts.

That day, a local Congressman arrives for a hair cut. Once again, when he asks the price of the hair cut, the barber tells him, "Oh, no, this cut is on the house. You do so much to serve our country, I'm doing this as a community service." The Congressman shakes his hand, thanks him, and leaves.

The next morning, the barber arrives at his shop and finds a dozen Congressman lined up for free hair cuts.

First Project Done!

I finally finished the database with all the beads and findings that I'm going to need for these projects, and dang! I found a source for the rose montees and the chaton montees - Rachel's own website! I tallied up how many I would need - including enough for all the versions of the Five-Piece Band rings and a few extras in case I lose a couple - and it's going to be a hefty investment for me. Instead, I think I'm just going to buy them in batches - all the rose montees first, and then the chaton montees later. I also just placed an order from Fusion Beads for all of the earring project supplies and one set of necklace supplies.

And there are more projects that I can make right now, like the Two-Beat bracelet, and maybe even the Something Cool bracelet. (Although I'm not too sure about the Something Cool bracelet - I have some drop beads, but they don't look as drop-y as the beads that Rachel uses in that bracelet.)

At first, I thought I was going to make each project from the book in the exact same colors as they were pictured. Then I started thinking, no, maybe this is a way for me to experiment with my own sense of color while working on Rachel's projects and designs. While some of them will be made exactly as she has them pictured, I think I am going to inject my own color sense into as many of them as I can, using the beads that I already have. (Because I hate choosing bead colors on the computer!)

The first project that I finished this morning were here Sassy earrings. What better place to start? They were inspired by Sarah Vaughan, a fellow Jersey girl, and I just happened to have all of the seed beads handy to make them, including those yummy matte avocado size 15s:

They are made with Rachel's signature "bumps", similar to those in her Ootheca beadwork, and they were a lot more difficult to do than I remember!

These were interesting because of the change in sizes going from a 5x5 bump to a 3x3.

This is what the base looked like before I added all those widdle bumps!

So, now I'm off! More work to do, including a long-overdue stitch workshop for Beading Daily, and I have to go choose some colors for my next project or two... I've got some gorgeous vintage brass chain that would be perfect for the next bracelet I attempt!

And in case you missed my previous post, I'm giving away a copy of Rachel Nelson-Smith's Bead Riffs - check out the blog post, leave a comment (or two or three) and I'll pick a winner next week!

Rachel Nelson-Smith's Bead Riffs - and a Giveaway!

Okay, so first off, I just want to say: this book is a masterpiece. Being a musician myself, I totally related to how Rachel drew comparisons between music (in her case, jazz) and the art and craft of beadweaving. I loved the way she used names from her favorite jazz standards as names for her beaded creations. I loved the way she used Swarovski crystals - instead of over-the-top bling (which isn't necessarily a bad thing, just something I'm not personally fond of) she uses them as accents, undertones to the rich colors of seed beads that take center stage.

The materials that Rachel chooses for these projects are relatively easy to find, too. For most of the projects, you probably have the necessary seed beads and findings already in your stash. (The only things I really need to purchase are the rose montees and the chaton montees.) Seed beads in various colors? Check. Loads of Swarovski bicones? Check. Loads of Swarovski Rivolis? Double check. I'm pretty much ready to roll!


The book itself is visually striking. Lark does such an amazing job of layouts and photographs and formatting, you will want to read this book over and over.

And speaking of reading this book over and over...

After the first look-through, I felt this desire to make every single project in it. And I've been watching the movie "Julie/Julia" a lot lately. So why not, I thought, bead my way through every project in this book and blog about it? Rachel is such a pioneer in creative beadweaving that it would be an amazing learning experience to actually make all 23 projects in this book. I realized what a truly brilliant artist Rachel was while I was working my way through a series of kits for the projects in her first book, Seed Bead Fusion. If I worked my way through every project in this book, I would learn a heck of a lot.

So I'm going to do it. The first thing that I did was to set up a database that had a list of all the materials needed for each project and sources for them. (And if anyone has a good source for those rose montees and chaton montees, please share!)

Rondo Neckpiece from Rachel Nelson-Smith's Bead Riffs. If anyone has a good online source for those sparkly rose montees, PLEASE share it with me!

I'm giving myself a year to complete all the projects, which I think should be plenty of time, considering everything else that needs to get done on a daily basis around here. That breaks down to two projects per month, approximately. For some of the more intricate projects, I'll probably have to multi-task and work on more than one project at a time. We'll see how that works out!

At any rate, in my haste to get my copy of Rachel's new book, I wound up with two copies of Seed Bead Riffs. Guess what that means? I'm giving one of them away! Here ya go: leave a comment on this post, along with an email where I can contact you. Tell me what you love the most about beads and beadweaving, and on Monday, September 12, I'll randomly pick a winner. If you want more than once chance to win, spread the love: share this link on Facebook, Twitter or your own blog and come back and leave a comment telling me where you shared it with the link.

Have you ever enjoyed a good beading challenge? What kind of project was it? How did you do?

Irene

The damage from this hurricane was devastating. I still can't believe it, even though I've seen the pictures on Facebook and heard from my friends who sustained major damages to their homes and businesses. The AuSable River, which runs in a valley about half a mile down the hill from our house, rose to its highest level on record: 19 feet. Flood stage is around 7 feet. Folks who made it through our crazy spring flooding with little or no damage were completely taken by surprise during this storm. There are still parts of our area that do not have electricity, and many people are running short on water and food. There are National Guard units working with the Army Corps of Engineers, the DOT and the DEC to stabilize and repair roads that were washed away by the floodwaters and to clean up the fuel oil and heating fuel that were spilled when fuel tanks were ripped away from homes and torn up by the river.

Tom and I drove on the bridge that crosses the AuSable River over on Stickney Bridge Road and saw the roof of a vehicle smashed up against the trees on the river banks. I've seen toilets, fuel tanks, tires, bicycles, shovels, mattresses and television sets among the debris along the river banks.

Our community library in Upper Jay was completely demolished. Because it was so close to the river, the flood waters got into the building and destroyed over 50% of their collection of books, along with all of their computers and most of the historical records kept by the library. At my favorite local bakery in Upper Jay, the entire front of the building was torn off and the owner's 12-day-old car was picked up and smashed against his home. Two antique stores in Upper Jay were completely destroyed by the flood, and one of them had a huge tree fall down through the center of the building. The Land of Make Believe, the first theme park in the United States by artist Arto Monaco, was completely washed away and no longer exists. In nearby Keene, that town is still cut off from the rest of the world because the roads have just been washed away by the flood waters.

I think what bothers me the most about all of this is that the businesses that were damaged were all locally-owned businesses. We're not talking about major conglomerates like Lowe's or Sears or Starbucks, where there are deep corporate pockets to repair damages and get business going again. Most of these businesses depend on locals and summer visitors, and with the Labor Day weekend coming up and most of the roads around here still closed, I don't know how they are going to be able to survive this without some serious help.

The community response to the floods has been overwhelming, and that's one of the things that I love about living in a small community like this. There are food stations set up for people who can't cook meals anymore because of the flood, and the local building supply company is offering a discount on all supplies for Irene-related damage. Gotta love the North Country...

Bead Soup Blog Party

Yes, I'm at it again: I signed up and am participating in the latest Bead Soup Blog Party! I got my beads from my partner the other day, and this is what she sent me:

My wonderful swap partner sent me this amazing mix of gemstone and natural shell beads, a toggle clasp, some fun brass filigree findings, a brass dragonfly (which Colden immediately fell in love with) and one of her handmade enamel rings! It's such a cool assortment, I don't know where to start! So many ideas, so little time... But the reveal is still a few weeks away, so I have a few weekends to get something made with this lovely stuff.

My beading projects seem to have gotten completely out of control lately. I realized at the beginning of this week that my Beading For a Cure project is due on MONDAY, so that means some serious bead-haulin' butt this weekend. And of course, I ran out of green Wildfire...

Lately I feel as though my head is about to pop. I can only take so much with all the crazy stories in the news and what's going on in Washington with all of our elected representatives acting like a bunch of immature, selfish children. There are things that I'd like to say here, but I'll refrain out of fear that my rants may become overly venomous. Instead, I've been turning my attention towards my blogging for Beading Daily and my beading projects and trying to spread some positive vibes and creative joy in the world. I'll leave the venom for another day.

This should be a good weekend to get caught up on beading. Some of those computer models show hurricane Irene passing directly over the Adirondacks. The National Weather Service is warning people to take their boats out of Lake Champlain this weekend ahead of the predicted 70 mph winds and heavy rain and flooding. Like we need more flooding...

Meeting the Universe Halfway

So, I'm going to steal this one from my sister:

There was a devout man who prayed to God every day to let him win the lottery. Every day, he prayed, "Please, God, let me win the lottery this week." And the weeks passed, and still the man didn't win the lottery. Finally, one day, while he was praying, he heard a voice: "This is God. I hear you. But meet me halfway on this one - buy a lottery ticket!"

I sort of got one of those "meet me halfway" messages a couple of weeks ago, just a few days after reading my sister's blog post with this little story. It kind of hit me on the head, and I thought, okay, the Universe is trying to tell me something. So off I go!

The result of me trying to meet the Universe halfway on this one was a set of amazing photographs of some of my favorite pieces of beaded jewelry that I've made over the last six years. As I was looking through my collection to see which pieces I wanted to have photographed, I realized that I don't have any really spectacular knock-out pieces of beadwork for myself anymore! It seems that I've sold pretty much every beautiful piece of beaded jewelry that I've made in the last five years. I've decided from now on, I won't be automatically selling every single piece of beadwork that I make. I need to keep something for myself, don't I?

That said, the photograph above was taken by Sherwood Lake, husband of the fabulous Nancy Dale of NEDBeads. She and her husband kindly offered their professional photography services to help me meet the Universe halfway on this one, and I couldn't have been more pleased with the results!

I'm feeling strangely motivated this weekend. While we're going to be doing lots of family stuff - farmer's market and playground - I'm taking a few minutes this morning to get a jump on my week. Something about meeting the Universe halfway...

Night

Before I had Colden, I used to stay up late to work and bead. I would easily stay up until 2 or 3 in the morning, watching movies, beading, writing and just letting myself be creative. Of course, the next day I was almost always able to sleep in - no getting up multiple times each night to change diapers and get milk and juice. And tonight, even though my back is hurting and my body is telling me that it is now time to get some rest, my brain just won't turn off. Tom and Colden are curled up and asleep on the bed in Colden's room, and I need to get to sleep because I have a jillion things to do in the morning, but my brain is trying to pull me into the living room where that big beading project is sitting on my table... Something to do with an imminent deadline, I think.

Let's just cross our collective fingers that my back is better in the morning. I was actually well enough this morning to go to Plattsburgh with Tom and Colden, and then after dinner I managed a walk around the backyard a few times. Of course, there were a couple of times when I missed a step or tried to walk up or down the little hill when I felt that awful twinge, but there was no way I could have done that on Friday!

Oh, well. Uploaded 100 photos of Colden to Flickr. Maybe I'll go set up another set and then get some sleep...

Catching Up

So, despite yesterday's inability to walk or move my legs without intense pain, I managed to get around a little better today. I also decided that I needed to cook something decent for myself for dinner tonight while Tom was out with Colden, so I chopped up a zucchini and a tomato and made a baked zucchini boat with some brown rice. It was the first "real" food that I've been able to eat all week without pain and nausea, and it tasted so good! (We're hoping that we can determine on Monday if this is either one heck of a nasty stomach virus or a real honest-to-goodness gallbladder attack. Yuck.)

When I went out to the herb garden, I saw that my beloved thyme plant has been completely overrun with garlic chives and oregano. I'll have to do something about that. My first thought was that I wanted to buy a thyme plant and keep it in the house all year, the way we do with the parsley and the rosemary. There's just something I love about fresh thyme - it seems so exotic and comforting, all at once. I love fresh leaves of rosemary and thyme when they've been chopped up and thrown in with a pot of chickpea soup in the fall. It's just a taste that I can wrap around myself when it gets cold like a big, thick wooly blanket.

And yesterday, in desperation for something to do, I decided to try out the Kindle app for PC. Wow. I'm starting to become addicted to downloading books now. And here I am, the person who swore she would never get any kind of eReader. (We won't talk about my new iPad that is due to arrive on Tuesday or Wednesday next week.) I've been adding Kindle books to my Amazon wishlist, and I've got about 60 of them on there now. Being able to download a book in about three seconds to my laptop or my iPad is going to be as close to instant gratification as I can get! Oy, this could get expensive...

I went to the doctor Thursday morning to get checked out, since it was going on four days since I had been able to eat without feeling overwhelmingly nauseous. It was an odd visit. First of all, I couldn't see my regular doctor because I didn't have an appointment. So I got to see the owner of the practice who, while he is a very good doctor, is somewhat socially dysfunctional. While I was waiting in the exam room, I realized that they had left the door wide open. I didn't bother to close it, but while I was waiting, I heard him talking to one of the nurses about another patient who had just been given an i.v. infusion of something. Suddenly, I heard him say, "Oh, shit!" That just couldn't be good.

Then he comes in and starts to talk to me, and when he listens to my heart, he looks down at my toes and says, "Oh, wow, nice toe nails. I love purple nail polish." So, okay, what would YOU have said to that? I was like, um, okay, dude, just don't tell me you're wearing a thong or anything and we'll be okay. Then when we were discussing my symptoms and talking about what lab tests he wanted to run, he asked if there was any chance I could be pregnant. No, I told him, there is no chance that I am pregnant. "Well, we're going to do a pregnancy test anyway, just because I don't trust women." Okay. Now, I must have given him the hairy eyeball and but good, because a few seconds later he stammers, "Oh, well, I don't trust men, either." So, okay, dude, is there anyone that you DO trust?

Like I said, this is the reason that this guy is not my regular doctor. He's actually a brilliant physician in his specialty, but he's a social moron. No bedside manner. If he had been required to take one of those human-interaction classes that they now require of med students, he would have flunked out for sure.

But the good news is that he's not terribly worried about anything, he thinks this might just be one of those things that my body needs to kick off all by itself, so I'm just trying to humor it and take it easy. (Which isn't so easy when Colden pretty much relies on me for EVERYTHING from potty training to diaper changing to pajama time and meals.)

I can hear Tom and Colden in Colden's room right now, eating ice cream cones and watching "How to Train Your Dragon". Last night they did bedtime without me while I tried to stay comfortable in bed and get some rest, and when Tom cuddled up with Colden, the two of them started giggling like it was a slumber party. It made me a little sad that I couldn't be in there reading to Colden.

Truthfully, I have no idea what happened to my back. The only thing I can think is that it has something to do with me picking up Colden (who now weighs around 44 lbs and is about the size of your average 5 or 6 year old) and giving him piggyback rides. All I know is that after I got home from the chiropractor yesterday, I had to lie on the floor for a few hours with the ice pack on my back and that walking was so painful that it made me want to laugh. ('Cause I'd never had back pain like this before, and I didn't know what else to do.)

So. Tomorrow is Sunday. I hope to have a few pictures up of some of the work I've been doing the last few weeks. And I hope that I will be able to get outside (or at least onto the back porch) and enjoy some more of the summer while it lasts...

Vent

Maybe it's the heat. Maybe it's the heat and the fact that the air conditioner fell out of the window yesterday and cracked into two pieces in the side yard. Maybe it's the fact that Lake Placid (and Jay and Wilmington) have been overrun by the amazingly physically fit who will be competing in Sunday's Ironman triathlon.

This year, it seems like the bicyclists who are training along the race route are either dumber or more arrogant than they've ever been. And it seems to really be getting to the locals. There are have been complaints by local town supervisors about gaggles of bicyclists hanging out in the middle of the road at major intersections. I have seen them riding four and five across the road, which is not only illegal, it's stupid. And this morning, I saw the bicyclist to take the cake. This guy was riding down the hill in front of our house which is a two-lane road and a major route between Plattsburgh, Vermont, Montreal and Lake Placid. But he was riding down in the middle of the lane, with four cars puttering along behind him. Really. Way to take yourself out of the gene pool, man.

I don't understand why people get so hyped up over Ironman. I know it's only once a year, but it seems to be inconvenient for way longer than that. We locals have to deal with the arrogant bicyclists who don't follow the rules of the road for way longer than just one day. Not that every bicyclist is arrogant, but these folks either don't know or don't care about safe cycling when it comes to riding your bike on narrow, rural roads that aren't always in the best of shape. I worry when Tom takes the motorcycle to and from work, because the bicyclists seem particularly aggressive towards bikers. Not cool.

That said, I'm sitting in Starbucks this morning, trying to get motivated and stay cool because I know that if I go home, I'll just sit there and sweat and not be very productive at all. But this place is packed. I can't remember the last time I saw so many people in here. (This is definitely way busier than I've ever seen it in the winter, even during the holidays.) I might just grab my smoothie and head home for some peace and quiet. It'll be hot, but at least I'll have a cool drink.