Leap Year

Today is the elusive 29th of February which only comes once every four years. I think that's kinda neat. This morning I had a doctor appt. at 9:15am which is pretty early for me these days. I don't have to get up early anymore since Desiree graduated and has her driver's lic. so I have been getting up whenever I please. It was hard to roust my rear out of bed at 7am this morning, I tell you! Anyway, the drive was nice, and the weather is amazing here right now. It was a little foggy this morning but it burned off by noon and turned into another absolutely gorgeous day.

I am doing orders right now and, happily, they are all for beads I absolutely love. That makes me a happy little beadmaker. *sigh* I'm a lucky woman.

Sorry I've been boring lately. Last weekend we got a PS3 and the Ratchet and Clank game. Des and I have been very, very busy with that for the past week. Oh, and we are catching up on the previous seasons of Lost. OMG. How did I miss this show. It's awesome!

I did manage to make some beads though:

Just a picture today...

Good weather = good beads

I love making the Puppy beads. They just make me happy.
I finally went to the doctor about my back, got a stronger Motrin Rx for the pain and I finally feel human again. YAY! I was able to make some really cute beads at the torch yesterday. Hopefully I will finish wiring them up today so I can take pictures tomorrow.
The weather has been amazing lately. The sun is shining and the sky is the most beautiful shade of periwinkle blue. For some reason, the beads always turn out just a bit better and come just a little easier when the weather is good. It's good torching weather right now. I think I will go take advantage of the sweet smelling breeze before the gardeners come with their noisy blowers later this afternoon.

Backs are bogus sometimes

Ok, so, this back thing is starting to get on my nerves. Everything I do takes longer. I look like a 90 year old woman trying to get in and out of the little Eclipse I drive. If you are wondering why it is taking me so long to finish orders, mail stuff out, etc. it is because of this dang back! I am running at least a week behind in everything. Blech! If you need something right away, email me. I am checking my email at least twice a day. Unfortunately, the computer chair has become an instrument of torture for me right now. Every time I sit at it, my back seizes up and when I try to walk afterward, I am hunched over like - you guessed it - a 90 year old woman.

Ok, back to laying down.

OK. I'm older.

I had a birthday over the weekend (go groundhogs!) and I was not having a problem with it... much... until my back went out. Now I feel old. :( I was vacuuming the kitty condo and it just pulled the wrong way. Blech.

Mark and Des took me to the Tanglewood restaurant in Santana Row for my birthday. It was yummy and we all had great table conversation about science, politics, history and such. It's nice to have family time together and have everybody get along so well.

I also managed to make some beads this weekend...

So. Much. Fun.

I had a completely fabulous time at Kim's this weekend!!! I feel like my creative batteries are up to full power again. We had a great time and we even made beads. I miss her already.

It's been raining here like crazy and Friday night, when I was driving up to Kim's house (about 2 hrs north of me) they closed one of the freeways due to flooding! I was in the middle of NOWHERE and had no idea how to get around the flooded area. What a mess. I have a GPS (which I have named GyPSy) who just kept telling me to make a U-turn and get back on the freeway. Uh, no can do, Gypsy. What now? I would drive a mile or two down the road and see if Gypsy would re-route me using some other route besides 101, which was closed. Nope, no matter what I did, she just kept telling me to get back on 101. I swore a bit. I swore a bit more.

I should probably mention that I was driving around in the pouring rain, in pitch black hills in an area I am completely unfamiliar with and armed with nothing but a cantankerous GPS, a cell phone and a sketchy route map printed off from Yahoo maps. I have been driving for 2 hours and still have a long way to go. I finally pulled over in between a long line of cars, filled with people trying to figure out what to do now, and called Kim for help. Notice...I am not crying....yet.

Kim manages to point me in the right direction, backtracking a bit and taking another, much smaller highway that circumvents part of the flooded area. Still not crying. Close, though, very close. I backtrack a few miles, feel vaguely sorry for myself but also renewed with optimism that I might actually get to my final destination.

Ok, so on the smaller highway...oh my... kinda narrow, very dark and scary. I finally allowed Gypsy to speak again and she was helpful this time, not asking me to make a gosh-dang U-turn but rather confirming Kim's instructions and promising to do better in the future.

That is the only reason there is not a slightly smashed GPS sitting on the side of the road somewhere in Sonoma county.