Another year almost done!

Have a couple new beads I've made - some are already sold, some are going up on Etsy soon.

A couple things...

First of all, wow. How long has it been now? Nearly a month? Jeepers. How did I let that happen? Surely, I must have had something to say in all that time. Right? Probably. But did you want to hear it? Probably not. The glass world has not been a kind and gentle place lately. The glass message boards are abuzz with turmoil and just general yuckiness. Now, don't get me wrong, I love a good train wreck as much as the next Nosey Nelly. Truly, I do. I just like to keep my head down during times of strife....you know, so it doesn't get blown off. :) Curious about what I'm talking about? Check out Lampworketc.com and look for any thread in the Family Room with a bajillion posts. It's either going to be a great read with lots of love (like the thinking thread) or something that makes you want to wash your eyeballs off after reading. Anyhooooo...that is neither here nor there, really.

Ok, in other news, I have been chronically uninspired lately. When that happens I resort to the unspeakable. I copy. There, I said it. Most of the time I copy myself. I look at old photos of beads I made back in the early days and try to remake them, only better. This time, though, it was different. Even copying myself didn't pry me out of the funk. I had to do something drastic. I looked to Melanie Egan ( http://www.moonrakerbeads.com/ ) and Megan Ballarini ( http://www.glassbeadfairy.com/ ) for inspiration. I found the cutest aliens and had to make some for myself. Now, what to do with them?

Last weekend, I went and visited my buddy, Kimberly Lynn ( http://www.kimbeads.com/ ) for the weekend and she helped me put together a fantabulous bracelet. Seriously, I love this thing. It makes me happy on the inside. Check it out -

Isn't it the cutest thing you've ever seen?

Now, I hope you've been keeping up with http://www.cakewrecks.com/ and http://www.postsecret.blogspot.com/ because there has been some good stuff in both of those lately. But, wait! I have a new Web Jewel for you to visit! Set aside a few minutes and check out http://www.boxerjam.com/ for a whole slew of fun and smart puzzles and games. I have been playing Strike A Match since the beginning of inter-web time, I swear. They have a colorful and fun version of sudoku called Wasabi. Enjoy!

Stuff I'm proud of

Desiree has voted in some prior elections - every election since she turned 18, actually - but this was her very first presidential election! She was so enthusiastic about the political process this year that she got Brandon, her apathetic friend, to FINALLY register to vote AND he voted in his first presidential election, too! I am proud of them both. We all sat down as a family (yeah, Brandon has been around for so long that he's now family) and watched the election results and the speeches together. Mark's birthday was Tuesday, too. It was a nice evening. :)

Not the end of the world...but....

I've been dreading making this entry into the blog. Just dreading it. Desiree went to work on Wednesday morning and that afternoon they told her that she didn't get the job. They said that she just didn't have enough experience and would need a bit too much hands-on training for them to take her on at this point.

I can't adequately express how deeply sad I am for her. She loved working there during those two weeks. She had such a great attitude and really blossomed while she was there. I'm so incredibly proud of her, even if she didn't get the job. This was her very first job experience outside the home and it was such a positive one that we all wanted it to go on forever. I am sad that she gets up early in the morning now and has nowhere to be.

So, now we are back on the job hunt trail. Hopefully she will find something even more perfect for her and this will all make sense.

Sunday Night Web Jewels

Yeah, yeah, it's not Sunday and it's not night. You'll be glad I posted early when you check out this blog. OMG. I laughed until tears were squirting out of my face like a sprinkler.

http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com/

I've been tagged!

Kaye and Marcy tagged me so I'd better comply (they know where I live). :)

Seven weird little facts about me and seven blogs tagged by me...

FACTS:

1. I worked in Finance & Accounting at Hewlett Packard for a bunch of years. Can you imagine? Me? It wasn't a good fit. LOL! I liked working with people but the numbers bored me. I started in the collections department. Again, can you imagine ME collecting money from people? Yeah, neither could they. LOL!

2. I met my husband at Hewlett Packard. He worked in the IT department (computer nerd!) and had just moved here. I dated a few guys from work before him but he was the only KEEPER! I actually had a check list - you know, like, traits I needed a man to have (sense of humor, good listener, intelligent) and stuff I would never put up with again (lying, cheating, etc.) and he was the only one who passed the list test.

3. My husband is originally from the UK. He still has the British accent but I have trained him to use American words for stuff like elevator (lift), trunk (boot), faucet (tap) and cigarette (don't get me started...) His parents and brother still live in the UK. We miss them.

4. I am originally from Minnesota. Not much to say about that except that it's a good place to be a kid in but I'm not sure it would be all that much fun as an adult. Playing in the snow is way more fun than shoveling it. My mom is currently living in MN, taking care of my elderly grandmother. We miss them, too.

5. I am constantly thinking about cookies. I don't eat them constantly. But I do think about them. If we have any in the house, I can hear them begging me to eat them.

6. I am a sweet, surrounded by salties. I love sweets and my whole family prefers salty snacks. This is a blessing and a curse. The cupboard is stocked with a constant supply of salty and savory snacks. When there are actually sweets in the house, they're mine, all mine. The tough part is figuring out who to blame when the bag of cookies is empty.

7. Despite my bright colored beadmaking preferences, I actually wear a lot of neutrals. I do, however, have a really bright pink pair of Crocs that I adore.


TAGGED:

http://lisaliddy.wordpress.com/
http://islandtopdesign.wordpress.com/
http://glassmuse.blogspot.com/
http://rufusandroxy.blogspot.com/
http://novembersfyrestudio.blogspot.com/
http://blog.formfireglassworks.com/
http://teaguemakesbeads.blogspot.com/


There we have it! Thanks for tagging me, gals!

Desiree's Job, Day Three!

The first two days of Desiree's job are under our belts!

Day One: Makeover!
They took Desiree's funky fun look and updated it! She looks so much more mature and professional - yet still funky and fun!
She didn't do much in the way of actual work but she did manage to accidentally spray water on one of the other stylists during a practice shampoo. LOL! Desiree spent all evening wringing her hands over that one. The next morning, she was in a full-fledged stress coma. Poor little Dez. She managed to pull it together and got to the salon early for:

Day Two: Let the Learnings Begin!
She had a full day of learning, cleaning, shadowing and getting to know everyone. When she got home, she was fully exhausted but grinning from ear to ear. She loves it there so far! I am as happy as humanly possible for her.

So, there we are. Day Three is underway. She's bound to have good days and bad days. So far, so good, though!

My Baby's First JOB!!!

Desiree got a real job, in a real salon! She starts tomorrow morning! She is over-the-moon excited and verrrrrrrrry nervous, too. She has a two week trial period, of course, but she has a real, honest to goodness J.O.B.
I am very, very proud of her. In fact, I am as proud as a ... peacock!

Sunday Night Web Jewels

Ok, yes, I am a day late. But this one is worth the wait...
http://www.pandora.com/
Pandora is a free, customizable internet radio site that has a unique way of catering to your tastes. You pick some "seed" songs and the radio station grows from there. If something plays that you don't like, it apologizes (how polite!) and vows to never play it again. If only I could get my local radio station to stop playing that moronic 80's flashback song, "Sex on Fire".

I'm ready for turkey day!

Come October, I start obsessing about turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce and sweet potatoes. By the end of the month, I can think of nothing else. I've already bought butternut squash soup, just to get me through the month without getting the shakes. I love autumn. I just love it.

Yesterday was a Feel Good Day

Yesterday I mailed out a bunch of packages. Only a couple were actually tied to buyers of beads, though. I did a bit of "just because I like you" gift giving and I am amazed at how good it made me feel. Don't get me wrong, I love it when my beads sell. It's that little drug called 'approval'. But this was a wonderful feeling, too.

Sunday Web Jewels

Yeah, I know. I'm a little late because it's now Tuesday. But I had to share one of the web sites that I just cannot live without. If I go without my http://www.cuteoverload.com/ for more than a week I get all cranky and out of sorts. Be prepared to "Awwwwwww".

It's been a crazy busy week here. I wrote a tutorial for making four different Halloween beads. Two types of pumpkins, skulls (with or without bows) and some very cute bats are covered in the tutorial. It's available from http://www.loribeads.etsy.com/ if you're in the market for that kind of thing...

Dachshund Stampede!

Mark and I were driving down a really busy street in San Jose, not far from our house. Mark spied out of the corner of his eye a couple little dogs running down the street. We pulled over and it was a group of three little mini dachshunds and a Chihuahua! You should have seen Mark trying to herd these dogs back into their yard (which was 4 houses away from where we found them!) without getting bitten. It was hilarious and scary at the same time. The cars go nearly 50 miles an hour on that street! I was so scared that they would run out into the street. Mark found the house with the open gate and figured that had to be where they lived so he started slowly herding them toward that house. One of the little dachshunds was vicious! He bit Mark on the heel, luckily Mark was wearing hiking boots. Dachshunds are such brave and bold little dogs. Anyway, he was finally able to get them all back in their yard and closed the gate (which had a "beware of dogs" sign on it). I wish I had a video camera with me. It was so funny to see the attack weenie dogs chasing Mark.

Sunday Night Web Jewels

Beware: This is a time-eating site that will devour hours and hours. Lots of cool stuff and links galore. They even have a monthly challenge.

http://artbeadscene.blogspot.com/

Better in Person

These leaves are super scrumptious. They are just the most delicious and rich looking leaves I think I've ever done. I paired Vetrofond Rainbow Red transparent with Double Helix Nyx and sculpted the leaves by hand. The Nyx was a completely different color when I put it into the kiln. I LOVE the colors that struck while it was in there. Yummy irridescent turquoise and green and gold and deep, dark blue. The pictures, however...kinda 'eh'.

Sunday Night Web Jewels

OMG. Sheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee's Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!!!! Miss Doxie, as I live and breathe, is back and funnier than ever! PLEASE go visit her site and read her funnier-than-humanly-possible blog. You'll thank me for it.

http://www.missdoxie.com/

If only wishing made it so...

There has been a heat wave this week and I am SOOOOOO ready for autumn to show up. I am tired of being hot! I have been getting up early to torch before the temperature in the studio makes it unbearable. I have a little portable air conditioner out there but I'm sure the thing eats up power at an unbelievable rate so I hardly ever use it. So, in order to nudge autumn along, I made some autumn leaves.



We are in for cooler temperatures this weekend so maybe it worked. I hope so!
I also made lots (lots!) of Halloween beads. I will hopefully have them up on Etsy this weekend.
www.loribeads.etsy.com

Ready for Autumn

Ok, I can honestly say that I am COMPLETELY ready for fall. I am tired of being hot. Granted, where I am isn't all that hot, compared to a lot of places, but it is hot enough to make me cranky. I have started making holiday beads in an effort to hurry things along, I guess.

Mark was glowing when he announced that our power bills were actually lower this year than last year and I was thinking, "yeah, I bet. Last year I was home alone all day running the A/C!" This year, he is working from home and makes a fuss if I turn on the A/C too much. Feh.

Sunday Night Web Jewels

I thought it might be fun to start something new on my blog. Every Sunday night (my web browsing night, typically) I will post some fun or interesting web site with a little blurb about why I like it. Sounds fun, no?

This week's Web Jewel is PostSecret
Mary Lockwood posted a link to this site and I've been hooked ever since.
The premise of the site is that people send in anonymous postcards with their deepest, darkest secrets written on them. Some of them make you think, "That's your deepest, darkest secret?" and others just make you gasp in amazement that, even anonymously, someone would actually write that down and send it in.

What Else Can I Put a Puppy On?

I have been adding puppies, bones and hearts to everything not nailed down. You've been warned.

Combining Forces

I guess if you've been here before it's no secret that I enjoy making puppy beads and kidlets. I think you'd be surprised to find out that I've never combined them until now. I think they were two great tastes that taste great together... or something to that effect.

My inner child

My latest blog entry is one I did for the collaborative blog - Watch Me Create.
Check it out!
http://watchmecreate.com/?p=1698

My Trip Down the Rabbit Hole

Mad Hatter's Teapots!



www.loribeads.etsy.com

Just some beads

Looks like my work here is done

Desiree PASSED her cosmetology exam!!!!! She is a full-fledged hair stylist or whatever they are called now. I am SO thrilled! When she finally got her results (she was the very last person in the room to find out if they passed or not) she ran out to me and promptly burst into tears! Then we both cried and hugged and hollered and jumped up and down until we could cry, hug, holler and jump no more. We got in the car and drove home, at which point I collapsed into a very tired ball and slept for hours. A good sleep this time. A happy sleep. :)

Good Bead Day

Some days are better than others for making beads. Wednesday was a Good Bead Day, or GBD, as in, "All I need is a GBD and I will stop being a beezee." Yes, we speak in code here.

Since I am testing frit for 2 Toucans Treetop Creations I have *finally* been bitten by the frit bead bug. Oooh, frit is a lovely thing. I had no idea. Don't get me wrong, I loved iris orange (AKA raku) frit but it didn't really fit in with my regular bead style all that much. And it was a lot of work getting it to do anything besides baby poop tan. It definitely had it's place in my beadmaking palette but it wasn't the first thing I reached for every session (like...say...pink) LOL!

Well, I am in love with frit now.

Been Busy

This month has been crazy busy so far. Mark is officially self-employed now. He is working from home and has been cracking the beadmaking whip on me. No more life of leisure! Dang it. Oh well, I had a good run, there. Now I have sales targets to meet and business plans to follow. It feels pretty good to set goals and meet them so I will play along for now. LOL!

Desiree has her cosmetology test on the 23rd of June. If you have fingers, cross them for us please. She and Brandon have been having so much drama this month that her studying has been sporadic so I am a bit worried. Hopefully she will buckle down soon and get crackin!

I went and saw my friend Kim ( www.kimbeads.com ) while Mark was in New Hampshire/New York/New Jersey last week. I had so much fun with her. I wish she lived closer so I could pop over there regularly. It was great to hang out with her and make beads and giggle and stuff. She's an awesome cook, too! I was totally spoiled and didn't want to leave.

Kidlets...

I'm ready for my close-up, Mr. Deville. This little kidlet has just been photographed for an ad in Step-by-Step beads magazine. She might just be my favorite kidlet so far. So cute.

New Hampshire Pictures

We went to northern New Hampshire for a business meeting. We stayed in Dixville Notch at The Balsams resort. It is an amazing place that is more beautiful I could have ever imagined.

Here's a sign that details why Dixville Notch is such a special place (especially this year!) It's where the very first votes are cast for the presidential primaries.


Here's the sign at the entrance to the resort:

Here's a wide shot of the whole resort. It was built in the late 1800's. The building details are incredible.

Here's a funny sign that they really do enforce. It's like stepping back in time. It was fun to dress for dinner, though. I thought I would hate it, being from laid-back California and all. But, I got a kick out of it, really.

Here's a photo of the room where the actual voting takes place at midnight during the primary. The candidates meet with all (lol - all 17) the residents of Dixville Notch and then they vote.

There's just beautiful scenery everywhere!

Pictures, pictures, pictures...

First, here's the improved kitchen color/lighting. I really like the soft green color a lot. The recessed lighting is way easier on the eyes, too.


Ok, so here are some pictures of Boston.
First up is a photo of some really cool row homes in downtown Boston:


Here's the world's poshest 7-11:


Harvard? I'm pretty sure it's Harvard, anyway...


Here is a photo of the most beautiful dogwood tree in the Public Garden of Boston, right next to the famous Boston Common.


I loved the color of these tulips!


Next post I will show pictures of my trip up to New Hampshire. GORGEOUS!

My Kingdom for a Card Reader

I am in Boston right now and having a fantastic time. Wow! What a beautiful city!!! I have a ton of photos to show but no way to get them into the computer. Wah! I knew I forgot something. Oh well, I will have to show you when I get home. Anyhooooo, I had lots of fun walking around downtown Boston. We even took a tour of the state house and learned lots about the history of Boston and the founding of the country. Interesting stuff. I'm glad I'd watched the John Adams series on HBO because I had at least a vague idea of who these people were that the tour guide was talking about. Mary, our tour guide, was a completely adorable lady with a thick Boston accent. She did a great tour and was quite an animated speaker. I want to do that kind of thing when I get to retirement age. She was so much fun.

Today we are travelling up to New Hampshire. I have purchased a vat of Deep Woods OFF! I am going to slather myself with DEET or whatever that chemical is called. I am totally freaked out about ticks and hear that they are out in full force in NH this spring. Ugh.

The saga continues...

We are still plugging away on the home improvement front. I wish I had taken before photos so I could show you the before/after progress that's been made. I am very pleased with how much we have gotten done in less than a month. I especially love the new color of the kitchen. We went with a shade of pale beachy green called Beach Bum( www.kellymoore.com ) in a very nice, subtle sheen. The kitchen color before was a color that I had originally planned on being butter yellow but turned out to be more of a sunshine yellow that was just a little too bright, a little too shiny and a lot grating on my last nerve at the end. I gussied it up with a kitchy cat border that I actually liked but wasn't much good for selling so it had to go. The recessed lighting really makes the whole kitchen look so spiffy.

Desiree's room is the next room that received a complete makeover. Gone is the blood red enamel wall. That thing always looked like it was bleeding to me. The inside of the closet was painted the same glossy red so it really looked like the portal to hell. She liked it but I think even she was beginning to tire of it. The whole room is now a peaceful shade of sand and it looks amazing. She also got a new light fixture that, thankfully, doesn't hum every time you turn it on. Progress!

Her bathroom has been repainted the same color (pacific sand - again, from Kelly Moore) and is ready for us to install the new light fixtures, mirror and cabinet.

Gee, it's so pretty that maybe we'll just stay...

My baby is no longer a baby

Desiree is now officially 21 years old. How did that happen? You know the drill...just yesterday she was toddling around, etc, etc. But, seriously, where did those years go? Now she's a full-fledged adult with a driver's license and everything. Eek.

Work on the house is progressing. We got recessed lights to replace the horrible fluorescent light fixture that Mark has hated ever since it was installed. Why did we have it for so long? I wish we had gone with these lights in the first place and city permit codes be damned!

Desiree and I painted the shutters on the outside of the house last week. They look fantastic. Didn't take us long to finish that job, either. We had a great time, too. Laughing and talking while painting makes work easier, for sure.

So. Very. Tired.

My husband isn't the 'sit around and veg' kinda guy. He's definitely Type A. I'm more of a Type B-. We have been clearing out all excess clutter and stuff from the house (even the stuff you can't see!) and donating it, recycling it or giving it away. So far, it's been nothing but hard work!

Yesterday I went through the metric ton of books we had stashed away. Well, the kid books, anyway. There were books from when I was a kid in there, too. I whittled it down to only the very favorites (I can't tell you how many times I've read The Little Mermaid) and gave the rest to the new library down the road.

Mark did his part, too. He whittled his collection of DVDs down to levels that reflect merely an obsession rather than an actual addiction. :D The man does like his movies.

I used to collect teapots. I had way too many. I got it down to my five favorites. Everything else goes to Goodwill! I am not a garage sale person. I've had one and it was a total PITA.

I managed to get a few beads done here and there. My torching is mainly done in a couple hours each morning before Mark wakes up and starts cracking the whip.

New Beads

www.loribeads.etsy.com

Desiree and I are back from Sacramento. She passed the written part of her cosmetology exam! She has to retake the practical part. She only missed it by 25 points. We are very proud of her!