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.

Stuck

I'm just not feeling it lately. The beads, that is. I see status updates from my beading designer friends who are just awash in ideas (and time), and I start to feel a little worried. I know that dry spells are always part of the creative process - you just can't be tuned in all the time, every day - but I feel like this latest dry spell is lasting waaaaay too long for my tastes.

That said, I took a little break after receiving a fabulous order of gemstone beads from Lima beads and made myself two pairs of earrings from Marcia DeCoster's book Beaded Opulence:

I got the cubic zirconia teardrops from Lima Beads, too. (I'd been waiting for them to come back in stock over at Artbeads, and they finally just disappeared altogether from that website! Ack!) I love the black and fuchsia pair - it makes me want to take Tom out for dinner so that I can dress up.

We had a fabulous day for Father's Day yesterday. We all went to the Keene farmers' market for opening day, and Colden loved the kites from the kite festival and seeing all the dogs. I loved catching up with the friends I'd made the last few years, and we came home with way too much food - French breakfast radishes, homemade organic berry jam and gourmet cupcakes. Colden fell asleep in the car on the way home and let me tuck him into bed when we got back, so Tom and I had a quiet lunch and then we started cooking for dinner with his folks. Dinner was fun (again, way too much food!) and then we had a relatively uneventful evening as I put Colden to bed.

So this morning it was back to work (which isn't a bad thing, ha ha ha!) and in a little while I'll take a break and start throwing together some dinner.

I keep thinking about this huge ammonite necklace that I saw at the farmers' market yesterday. It was made by one of my favorite local silversmiths, a woman from St. Regis Falls. I bought a bracelet and a pair of earrings from her yesterday, but I might have to go back and get that necklace next week... It was at "old" silver prices, too, before all this madness with price increases...

How Long Has it Been?!

It has been a really, really long time since I worked in an office setting with  more than one person. I'm becoming painfully aware of that fact this week as I try to keep up with my deadlines and not drive my new co-workers completely bonkers.

I'm absolutely in love with my new job right now. I get to write - which I've always been good at and enjoyed - and I get to write about beads. I can't decide which part is better, the beading or the writing!

Yesterday I had my appointment to re-check the cysts that they found on my remaining ovary 6 weeks ago. The good news is that the two huge fluid-filled cysts have totally disappeared and the remaining dermoid is still too tiny to really worry about. The bad news is that because I'm still having weird symptoms with the dizzies, arm pain, jaw trembling and other junk, it's time to go to the neurologist to rule out things like MS.

One thing that I did yesterday was to see my massage therapist. It's been way too long since I had a massage, and anyone who tells you that things like massage therapy, chiropractic adjustments and acupuncture don't work has obviously never tried any of them. The massage was wonderful - I left feeling refreshed and optimistic, and my other symptoms seemed to have eased up today. So I'm going to try to schedule a monthly massage and see if that gives me some relief, while I continue the chiropractic and acupuncture treatments.

The weather has been really weird this spring, too, and I feel like that's been throwing me a bit off balance as well. We had snow for what seemed like four months straight. Then it was freezing cold and rainy and damp for another month. Then for the entire months of April and May, it just rained - and rained and rained and rained. We had flooding like we haven't seen in over 20 years. Our basement (and my office) were completely trashed. And we have never had a problem with water in our basement. Ever. Now we're swinging back and forth between boiling hot temperatures in the 80s and 90s one day with dramatic drops back down into the 50s and 60s the next day. It's like my body can't figure out what to do next.

Maybe that's why the massage therapist recommended to me that I try to stay grounded yesterday. At one point before she started the actual massage, she was doing some energy/body work with me. At one point when she was down near my feet, I found my thoughts swinging violently back and forth between two extremes. It was sort of weird, but I just went with it and let my mind go where it wanted to go. After my mind had sort of quieted down a few minutes later, she said to me, "Are you feeling a little more balanced now? I felt your energy swinging back and forth between your left and right sides there for a few minutes." Totally weird. I hadn't spoken a single word during that time, instead allowing my mind to just go where it wanted to go and observing it. But somehow she had sensed that my thoughts were swinging back and forth between one extreme and the other. Sort of cool in a freaky kinda way.

Yoga tonight after dinner, and maybe a walk through the backyard with Colden and his little red wagon.

Blog, Take 2

Okay, so I tried to do my blog over on my newly-designed website, VanBeads.com.  And unfortunately, I got slammed with so much spam it made my head swim!  Oy!  What is with those spammers?!  Do they really think that there are people out there dumb enough to fall for those "Check out this website where you can marry a millionaire" links?  Double oy.

So, what I've decided to do is move my person blog back to this site and I'll maintain the blog on the Vanbeads site with stories about my work. 

What have I been up to since December?  Yikes, more than any one person should have to recap in the space of one blog post!  I've been busy.  New job, new projects, and we're almost ready to start a new farmers' market season.  We're now almost halfway through June, and I can't believe that it's been a year since I did any markets or shows.  I know there is probably no way that I will be prepared to set up shop at the first Keene Valley farmers' market on Sunday, so Colden and I may just head over there as buyers and peruse the vendors, visit with friends, and enjoy the sunshine.  (If the sun decides to come back out!)

For now, I have other blogging and writing to do.  Spent the morning working on two beading projects that just didn't turn out.  That's the nicest way I can think of to say it.  They just didn't turn out.  The good thing is that I can take that Fireline and stretch it out and reuse it for something else that hopefully WILL work out. 

Back to it!

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Beads

Okay, so I'm gonna try again for a shot at the Sisterhood of the Traveling Beads!  The box has so far traveled to Vermont, Utah, Texas, Maine, New York, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Virginia, and I would love to have this box sent back to New York so I can have a crack at it!

The box was conceived by bead artist Heather Powers, who cleaned off her work table one day and came up with the idea of sending this box of beads on a trip around the country to see how long she could keep it going. 

I've watched the box travel all around the country through Facebook and the blogs of the other artists.

If you want a crack at the box, you can leave a comment on the blog post of the current holder of the box, Cindy Wimmer of Sweet Bead Studio.

Wish me luck!