Do you like my beads

click on the line above to go to my new blog site.

Friday, January 9 - It's late and I'm tired so I'll be brief! I've been working on using blogging software instead of doing everything here myself. There's lots of reasons why: You can comment right on the blog page. That's the best reason in my book! I never get any feedback and this will allow you to make comments whenever you want!

It's in an infancy stage. A really header that personalized would be what I'd like to do next. But, hey, it's a start. Take a look here.

Tuesday, January 6 - Happy New Year! It's been interesting so far. I've been hurting since the weekend. My back is acting up for some reason. In the realm of help yourself, I've discovered that if I lay on my right side at the end of the couch and push with my left leg on the arm of the couch, I'm better. What kind of weirdness is that? I'm not even sure how I discovered this miracle cure. But I can't dispute the results - I feet 100% better tonight. This morning just lifting my leg caused a great deal of pain. I was afraid I might be trapped in the shower all day long but somehow I bit the bullet and got out of the tub.

Do you suppose this cure will work for a while? I'm thinking of a regime of couch therapy once a day now. I'll let you know how it works out.

Saturday, Dec. 27 - Merry Christmas! I'm having a nice afternoon watching DH Don watch the Wisconsin Badgers playing in some bowl game. They aren't doing well and he's got lots of complaints and let's just say "suggestions" on what they are doing wrong! I'm glad no kids are here.

We've added a new pet to our household and little Alpine is thrilled with the addition. Zoe comes from a house with three dogs, so one Scotty is no match for her. I'm happy that she keeps him on his toes plus she's such a sweet kitty it's no trouble having her around. She camped out in the basement for the first four days before getting the courage to come upstairs with the rest of us. Here's a picture of her on that first day of exploring the great "upstairs!"

Cute! We all getting used to each other and the two of them can be quite entertaining. She came from my friend Jayne's house. Jayne moved into a condo and is only allowed to bring two pets. Since she's got two dogs, her cats needed a new home. We got Zoe in deal!

Our Christmas was very nice. Though we had a pond emergency on Christmas Day. I ended up heading out to my sister-in-law's house while Don filled the pond with water from the basement and joined us later for dinner. We had to defrost the hose first and then hook it up to the downstairs sink and haul the hose out to the pond. We're guessing the ice built up and caused the water to flow out of the pond. At least the water level hasn't changed since he filled it and rearranged some of the rocks and ice on Thursday. Well, actually it's overflowing now because we got some rain. I'm hoping we won't have any more problems with it this winter. It ain't cheap filling that thing up with water all the time. Our water bill will be the same as a small Arab country, but at least the fish are happy and safe!!!

I think I'll leave the room for a while to organize and clean our second bedroom. I'm sure I'll be able to hear Don from there and then the room will be fresh for New Year's Eve. We're hosting the party this year and someone is going to be sleeping in there. All the socks on the bed and gift wrap have to go!

Wednesday, Dec. 17 - Today was a shopping vacation day. You've never heard of that before? Well somehow I had one more day of vacation that I needed to take before the end of the year. I'd sure like to know how that happened. Usually I keep track of them pretty carefully! But heck, if someone is going to tell me I need to take another day of good old vacation, who am I to disagree? So I spent the day shopping. I've only got a few more gift cards to purchase and then I need to make some holiday goodies and I'll be done. Just in time, too! Christmas is only a week away.

I've got knitting pictures to show you. My mom was the lucky birthday girl on Saturday: She got the multi-colored shawl below. My cousin Joey and his wife Erica are expecting a baby in February and the sweater and hat have already been given to them. I miss looking at them laying around the house. I would touch them and generally admire my work. Now that they are gone I miss them. Silly! I need to get a life!

Tomorrow I'm back at work again. Yuck! I'll spend my lunch break waiting in line at the Post Office to send my packages to Germany and then we'll have dinner with the neighbors. My day is all planned out. The post office thing gets to me though. Do you know that you can only ship packages to Germany via air mail? No more ground service! I'm outraged! I used to send my Christmas gifts ground shipping really early in the season. Say right after Halloween. They all got there before Christmas and I didn't need to float a loan for the shipping. Oh, well; I guess times are changing. Maybe I need to check out UPS???

Saturday, Dec. 6 - I have the best of intentions when I sit in front on my computer. Somehow I always get led astray and before I know it, no update gets done here. On Monday I was just going to do a quick update and then go do a little knitting. Of course I had to check my email first. There were a few jokes to laugh at, some spam to delete, pictures sent from friends and before I knew what was happening an hour had passed and I was on YouTube watching il Divo singing Amazing Grace. How the heck did that happen? The singing got rather loud at one point and I think it rocked me out of my state of oblivion! The update did get done that night but not much knitting or anything else.

Must get some discipline on the computer . . . .

Let's talk about my back. What a hot topic for a Saturday night! It has been getting better and better recently. I'm thankful for it, too. I joined a gym and have been exercising three nights a week. (Side note: That's another reason why updates have been sparse - I've been at the gym!) I've been riding the bike, lifting weights and walking on the treadmill. All this has made my back much less achy! I've been hurting for so long that I've just gotten used to it. Now that it's improving I'm not going to stop doing my weekly routine. I hope that it continues to improve but I'm still careful about lifting. I don't want to stress that bad disc in any way. The trainer at the gym helped me develop a program that will strengthen my back and not harm it any further. So far, so good!

I think I'll head off to YouTube and see what il Divo is up to . . . . NOT!

Monday, Dec. 1 - Where does the time go? My most faithful reader, Mary, has been so patient waiting for an update, too!! I've been avoiding the computer at home. Not that there isn't stuff going on behind the scenes. I've got lots of knitting projects going. Yesterday I made a silver chainmaille bracelet with a blue snow bead in it. That one got donated to the Goodfellows who raise money so local kids can have a better Christmas. Every year I make something for the Goodfellows; this year I didn't take a picture of it though. There was just no time because I handed it over to them today. Nothing like cutting it close. The knitting projects are all gifts so there will be no pictures of them. I can't be sure who's stopping by here and I don't want to spoil someone's gift by posting it here.

I do have some pictures of the deer my brother Mathew got during the recent deer hunting season here in Wisconsin. He was lucky enough to get three deer. One buck with a very nice rack, another spike buck and one doe. Most of that meat will end up in my parent's freezer because Mathew doesn't have room to keep it at his place. I'm thinking there will be some sausage happening soon, too. Yumm! Here's the pictures:

Don't you just love the confused look on Brutus' face? He's the dog in the first picture. He's adorable!!! Not a bad season for Mat. Thanks to Tiffany for sending the pictures.

For those of you not in this area, we got hit with a snow storm yesterday into the morning today. More snow is forecast for Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. I'm not exactly on board for that much snow but I guess there's not a lot I can do about it. DH Don has been dreaming of a Caribbean vacation - but that won't be happening any time soon either.

I've got a hankering to make another one of those chainmaille bracelets. Maybe I'll snap a picture of that one so I can post it here. We'll see . . . . Hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving.

Saturday, October 11 - Bad news on that lantern tour of the cemetery. By the time we called it was full. I guess they didn't want too many people tramping around in the dark at the cemetery.

And, as an interesting side note, it seems that there was at least one person offended by the whole idea of the tour and that person had his/her opinions published in my very own newspaper. The "Voice of the People" had an entry in which this person questioned the sanctity of the tour. He/she felt it was being disrespectful to the people buried there. I have to say that I don't find it disrespectful at all and actually think it would be a fun way to learn a little history in the process, which was the focus of the tour. I would be happy to have a tour pass over my resting spot on a dark October night. How cool is that? I've often thought that I would like to have a bench as my head stone (an idea I got from the book "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil"). I wonder if the writer of the Voice of the People article would find a bench on a grave disrespectful, too? It would be great to have someone come out to sit around where ever I end up . . . but I've also thought I would love my ashes let loose in the ocean, a place that I love to swim, dive, snorkel and just float around. I guess one day I'll have to make up my mind or someone else will do it for me! And enough of this morbid talk for now!!

It was the most gorgeous day here today. And "gorgeous" doesn't even seem to do it justice. It was warm, in the 70's, the sun was shining, there was a beautiful breeze and I spent they day with my friend Jayne in Lake Geneva. If you've never been there, it's a beautiful town west of Kenosha. Many, many rich people live there or have lived there. A beautiful, deep lake is the centerpiece of the town and on a day like today, the lake was almost as full as the shops. Boats and water craft were on the waves. Sailboats were out taking advantage of the that breeze I mentioned before. The streets were full of people shopping and enjoying the Octoberfest that was going on. Blocked off streets had kids attractions like those jumping thingys and pony rides. Plus our friend, Mary, opened her new store there today, which was the real reason for our trip. But what a nice day for a ride and to walk the streets of Lake Geneva. Mary's store has a good start, though she needs more inventory and that takes me to my next subject!

Tonight I actually ordered that sterling silver wire to make jump rings with! It's coming Priority Shipping and should be here sometime next week. I didn't chicken out this time! Though I did find a couple of the pattern booklets I had and that led me to the right size wire. I've got some beads hanging around, too. Bracelets are in the offing here!!!

I've written quite enough for one update and now for some pictures from my awesome day!

I guess I can't help myself and have to write some more about these pictures!

The first picture is the beach looking out over the waters of Lake Geneva. Ralf, you know this beach, it's the one you have to pay to get on - we were there before the boat ride we took last year (or was it the year before? I'm all mixed up on the dates)!

The second picture just tickled me. Two bull dogs in a wagon - and they look like they should really be walking! What a funny way for a dog to get around!!! I might add that after the people around me saw me take this picture, they all had to take pictures themselves. The couple with the dogs obliged and seemed more than willing to allow all the pictures but I like the shot I got with them behaving more naturally. Alpine would never allow himself to be wheeled around in this fashion! Not in a million years would he sit there when there were so many smells, people, dogs, grass, dirt and what have you for him to check out up close and personal!!!

This left picture was such a nice view and really shows you just how beautiful it was today. No sweaters, jackets or warm clothes needed. Sunglasses? Those were a necessity!!!

And the right picture is of my friends Jayne (her back is to the camera), Mary and Bob. EverArt is Mary and Bob's store in Lake Geneva and they had their grand opening today. I'm hoping to have some bracelets for the store soon. I wish Mary and Bob good luck with this venture. It's been Mary's dream for many years and it was great to see it come true for her!

Good night!

Monday, October 6 - So you all must be wondering what edge of the Earth I fell off of!! Let's just chalk it up to laziness! I've been busy, beads have been few but I'm still happy and working and looking forward to Fall - it's my favorite time of the year.

Want to see the knitting project I worked on all summer? It's a vest for me! I rarely knit for myself and did I ever pick a project that took some time. It feels great on and I even made myself a button! It's quite long, down to my knees, in fact, and really warm. It came out even better than I had hoped; I can hardly believe that I actually made it!

After that week in July when Carlo was here, I wanted to take a bit of a break from the computer and enjoy summer. And it seems that when you take a break, it's easier and easier to not get back to it! So I'm turning a new leaf (it's Autumn after all) and get back to beads and my website. That was officially a promise to be around much more often!

I've got a few beads that I haven't taken photos of and mostly have given away as gifts this summer. Ebay seems a little slow, difficult and blah lately. I haven't considered an auction in quite a while. My most recent set of beads, a blue-ish metallic set that Jayne thinks is good enough for ebay, is still tucked away in a pocket in my purse, I think!

I've got a hankering to use the jump ring maker DH Don got me for either my birthday or Christmas last year. Though I had hoped to order some silver wire this weekend, I chickened out once again; I'm worried I'll buy the wrong stuff and it ain't cheap!!! So now that I've announced my wish, I hope this will actually get me going. You might see bracelets here sometime soon once I figure out what kind of wire, how thick and what the heck is dead soft or dead hard anyway? I see some research in my future.

We're skipping Surivor dinner this Thursday in favor of a lantern walk in a cemetery somewhere in Kenosha. At least Patti, Gail and I are - I suspect the guys will hang out at home. I'm dusting off my lantern (which is way cool, by the way - it's got a remote control!) and I'll bring my camera. It sounds like a good subject for my next update!

Special hello to: Mary V. - who has been exceptionally patient waiting for this update; and everyone in Germany! I hope you all haven't forgotten about my little website!