January 30

Wow, so January is gone already?  Oh my!  Bead orders are piling in, so I’m a happy camper going into the new year.  I even had two orders for earrings, which is unusual for this time of year for me.  Keep it coming, I’m happy to oblige!  Love that I can continue to do what I love because of people who like my beads!!

Funny how nature sort of throws a cold at you when life seems too hectic.  I think it’s her way of saying, slow down, waaaay down.  Luckily I wasn’t the one who caught it, but my DH did and it laid him out flat.  Needless to say it was a nice and relaxing weekend just vegging and trying to get him on the road to good health.

Have a great week (and wash those hands to keep all those nasty bugs at bay)!

January 24

Happy Birthday Tammy!

Looks like vacation is over!  But in a good way!  I’m always happy to return busily to my life of torching.  Had some fun a few days ago when I tried to do some work on very little sleep.  I kind of felt I was a bit out of it, but of course I still sat at the torch.  I had a rude awakening when I accidentally slipped my finger into the flame!  Good times.  I was actually very lucky. I burnt the tip of my fingernail and my finger got this white film on it up to the second knuckle.  It hurt for a split second and then the pain was gone.  No blisters, no scars, just one fingernail that badly needed to be filed down, whew!

Over my break I took up a little scrapbooking.  That’s an evil hobby.  I went to Hobby Lobby, just to buy a few starter things, and my eyes quickly glazed over as I walked up and down the isles.  I didn’t leave before I bought a neat little contraption that puts spirals on journals and way more stickers than I can use in a life-time.  I did end up making a very cool journal.  I’ve always kept a journal for my daily exercise and diet and it was so fun being able to make my own.  I can see that I’m going to love this new hobby!

January 16

Turns out there WAS a need to stress over that insurance thing after all.  (See below.)  Apparently, the billing girl just went ahead and re-submitted the bill to the same old insurance number.  So this time I get a bill telling me that if I disagree that my insurance has been terminated that I need to call the insurance company, not the billing person at the doctor’s office, unless I want to set up a payment plan.  Idiot.  I called the insurance company and they said they never even got a claim from my doctor.  So I get in my car, drive all the way to the hospital and the billing girl tells me that it’s not her fault, that I need to call my insurance company.  I tell her that I feel helpless b/c she’s not actually billing the correct insurance and I want to just get into her computer and do it correctly.  (No, I don’t tell her that part or the part where I want to drop her computer on the floor.)  Finally after forcing myself to calmly talk to the billing girl, she sees her error and tells me that she promises she has fixed it this time.  She also apologizes!  I’m hopeful that I’ll get a statement from the insurance company this time...

If you are even thinking of reading The Evolution of Bruno Littlemore, don’t.  It’s one of the weirdest books I’ve ever read!  This research monkey falls in love with the woman who does research on him and they start an intimate relationship.  It’s just plain creepy and much of it runs on and on and will bore you to death.  Pass.  I’m sad that I wasted even a minute on that book.  I’m excited to start the new Stephen King book next.  It’s called 11.22.63.  It has great reviews and it’s keeping my DH up all hours of the night reading, that’s enough of a good review for me!

January 11, 2012

Happy New Year!  Happy birthday Cindy, Roberto, Beck and Kristy!

You all are going to probably think that this is the worlds dumbest question....is the iPhone really all that?  My latest contract with Sprint has just run out and they've informed me that when I sign up for my next contract that they will no longer be able to honor my plan.  (I pay $35 bucks a month!!!)  I know, unheard of.  I've been with Sprint since I got my first cell phone like a billion years ago.  Same plan all these years, same price.  More minutes than I’ve ever used in a month and enough included texts to get me by. 

They obviously appreciated that I stuck with them for so long b/c now they're showing me how they feel by sticking it to me.  Long story longer, I'm going to switch carriers b/c even Sprint’s cheapest “new” plan is more expensive than some others out there.  Just wondering if I really NEED an iPhone.  I work from home, so I’d rather go to my computer to look up something than look at a 2x3” screen.  I’d also rather type an email on a keyboard than try to type out a text on a tiny screen as well.  Sounds old fashioned, but I think it’s sensible, why pay for something I don’t need?  I’ve noticed that certain people are iPhone conceited too.  When a friend of mine pulled out her tiny, and old, flip phone, her iPhone friends teased her to no-end.  She confided in me that she also likes the price she pays and she loves that she can slip her tiny phone into her jeans pocket.  I don’t see anything wrong with that.  I knew there was a good reason that she was my friend.  I have a small LG Rumor that I love and it suits my purposes just fine.  Of course on occasion I would love to have the conveniences the iPhone offers....

Do I have to give in to iPhone pressure?

December 17

Merry Christmas!  Happy birthday Deb!

I think I may have just finished the last of the Christmas orders that I need to get into the mail on Monday.  Time to give my little finger tips a nice break.  (Unless you are local and need something ASAP... call me!)  It’s been so fun and exciting for the past three weeks, listening to requests, helping people either plan out what they’ll make as a gift or help them plan out what I’ll make.  I love that I can play just a tiny part in so many people’s celebrations.  It’s great that people will be opening gifts that have Venus Beads in them!  Hopefully everyone will love all of the creations.

I’m thrilled that my DH is coming home after 8 long days away.  He should be home any minute now.  Yay!  He was in the bitterly cold UK and I think it’s going to feel like summer for him here.

December 13

Happy birthday Mary Lou!

Usually about this time of year my business slows down, waaaay down.  I can take pause, do other creative things, then start stocking up and making jewelry for next season.  Not so this year!  Things are hopping, people are buying stuff and people want lots of last minute jewelry gifts.  I thought with the economy in the state that it’s in, that those days were over.  Well yay for the economy and yay for bead/jewelry orders during my usual slow times.  I’ll gladly sit at the warm torch for you in the cold of winter, so bring on the orders!

BTW, my insurance mishap from last week?...(I know you’re waiting with bated breath to see how it all turned out.)  It was a two minute call in which they told me that it was just an error and they’ll re-submit it with the correct insurance.  No need for stress on my part.

I’ll be taking some new jewelry pieces to the Townsend Artisan Gallery today, so if you’re in the area, stop by and check it out!

December 6

Happy birthday Bryan T, Jakob and Travis!

We had a nice peaceful Christmas party this year with my DH’s new job.  It’s a new small company, so it was more or an intimate dinner in a nice restaurant.  We really enjoyed that there were no crazy stage antics or dance floor for people to make fools of themselves on.  Quiet and calm was a nice change.

Just got a huge bill from the doctor saying my insurance had been terminated.  Why oh why do these type of things infuriate me so much?  I took great care in actually walking into the office with my new insurance card in my hot little hand so I wouldn’t forget to give it to them.  I made sure to tell them that it’s still United Health Care, but an entirely different number.  It’s almost like I knew what kind of mistakes would be made before they were made and they still screwed it up.  Part of my visit, the lab part, was billed correctly, but the office part was billed to the old insurance.  Seems like people are pretty careful with their own money and pretty careless with other people’s.  Although, with the state of the economy these days, I guess that isn’t really true, is it?  Time to practice being calm before calling them.

I’m happy to say that a few of my items have been selling steadily at the Townsend Artisan Gallery where I placed some items a few months ago.  it’s nice to have a little local following in my new home town.  They are located right across from the Visitor’s Center on 321 in Townsend.  If you’re ever in the area, stop by the gallery and look around, they have some beautiful items from lots of different artists.  Great Christmas gift ideas!  (They are also on facebook.)

November 28

Happy birthday Martin and Jim!

Another wonderful long weekend, this time spent with my DH.  I’m so lucky to have two amazing weekends in a row!  We had our enchiladas for T-Day, which we’ve been doing for several years now.  I make turkeys quite frequently throughout the year, so enchiladas are more of a special treat for us.  I’m thankful for my DH, my good friends who are my homemade family, for my DH’s family who has been very good to me and that we are lucky enough to have found a wonderful place in beautiful TN.

I’ve been reading A Vintage Affair by Isabel Wolff.  Really good so far, I’ve read so many books and I forget to post my little informal reviews for those of you who join me in my reading obsession.  I know you all wait with bated breath for my fantastic reviews.  Ha!  My latest scariest craze has been buying books for my Kindle.  I was trying so hard to ignore the Kindle and read the books that I have on hand, but then when I travel it’s so awesome to carry the Kindle.  Great b/c I can carry so many books with me at one time, scary b/c I’m already a book fanatic and I’ve bought way more books for my Kindle than I can even read in the next year.  Even more scary b/c I have at least as many hard copy books that I could not even read in the next year.  Such is the life of a person who is obsessed with reading.

Lots of new stuff on Etsy, take a look when you get the chance!  Still taking your Christmas orders if you can get them to me by the end of this week for the best shipping por favor!

November 21

Happy Thanksgiving, Happy Birthday Bry!

I had a wonderful long weekend with my friend Cindy in NE.  We followed the crazy itinerary and now I’m ready for a vacation!  Her daughter is now the proud owner of the first glass kitty that I ever made.  She’s going to be getting a new real kitty soon, so I thought it would be appropriate.  We spent a whole day with my friends daughter being a kid.  I rode a ride that gave me some major whiplash, but I still had fun.  I got my toes painted purple when we got pedicures and I danced the night away too.  We fit everything we possibly could into three days!

I’m going to try to concentrate on getting some more stuff on Etsy this week.  I know a few of you have asked.  I’d be happy to take requests.  Any color combos you would like to see more of?  What are your favorite styles that I make?  The good thing about the weather getting cold is that I can stay nice and toasty by the torch!

November 14

Happy Birthday Alec and Zoey!

I’m getting excited for my trip to see my bestie.  She’s prepared an itinerary, no not for my flight, but for an hour by hour play of what we’ll be doing!  For those of you who know me and my OCD ways, you now understand why I mesh with this friend so well!

Finally had a nice relaxing weekend.  My DH was home after weeks of travel and it was nice to relax knowing he won’t have to go anywhere this coming week.  We read practically all weekend, blissfully being couch potatoes after our long morning workouts.  (So no guilt involved.)  We also watched Band of Brothers.  A really good series about E Company in WWII.  Really riveting.  If that kind of thing floats your boat I highly recommend watching it.  My own Dad was in WWII, so it’s fascinating to me to watch anything about it and picture where my Dad was in all of it.

Yes, I know I haven’t listed on Etsy in a few weeks.  I do have new stuff to list!  Unfortunately, I’d rather be at the torch than on the computer.  Any volunteers to do the dirty paper/computer work for me?  Maybe I could afford to have an assistant if I listed more often...sort of a Catch 22, isn’t it?...

Check out the new bracelet on my Cool Stuff page.  A woman from Greece emailed me about how she could purchase my beads.  Since I don’t mail outside of the US, she went to a lot of trouble finding a US friend, setting up the PayPal and having me ship the beads in the US and then they shipped them to her in Greece.  She worked quite hard for my beads and I sent her a little thank you gift for all her effort.  Her beautiful creation is on the Cool Stuff page!

November 9

Congratulations Hannah and Garrett!

Has it already been two weeks since I last spoke my mind?!  It’s so unlike me to be so quiet!  I’ve been a busy busy girl and my DH has been traveling for three weeks.  For some odd reason when he travels I start working some really odd hours.  One night I’ll be up until midnight and then another I’ll be ready for bed at 8pm.  It’s not like I need him around to keep me on schedule, but I think just the fact that he’s in the house makes me walk away from any work that I’m doing to do something more entertaining.  Next week I’ll be on the move for a change.  Time to go visit my friend, (the one who could visit me a few weeks ago).  I’m really looking forward to a little R & R while the DH is home taking care of the little ones.

October 24

Happy Birthday Sweet William Jefferson Traywick!

So sad that one of my besties in the world had to cancel her visit this weekend.  Long story, but there was a problem with the plane ticket and we couldn’t fix it in time for her to still come.  Good news is that I’ll be going to see her next month, so all isn’t lost. 

Had my biggest earring class last week, it was great.  I would have to say that it was very challenging with so many people and that I ended up not having enough of one particular tool that had to be shared.  They didn’t seem to mind too much and hopefully everyone had fun.  They did make some beautiful earrings! 

October 13

Happy Birthday my DH and Tom!

We had a rare and wonderful three-day weekend last weekend, now the week is just flying by. 

Fall Festival was packed this year!  I couldn’t believe the number of people who attended and the wonderful vendors that were there.  I think that’s the busiest I’ve ever seen it.  I got my kettle corn fix and I think I’m set for another year!

I’m all set for my earring class next week.  Should be about 5-7 students/friends.  My norm is three people per class, so this should be fun.  If you and your friends would like a tutorial, just email me and we can set a date.  I usually start with earrings and then move on to necklaces and bracelets of varying degrees when everyone is ready to advance in their technique.  I also teach lampworking for students ready to move on beyond jewelry making!  Lampworking is one-on-one teaching, but I have done two before with a shared torch.  Let me know if you are interested in a class or two!

October 6

“A computer is the most remarkable tool that we’ve ever come up with.  It’s a bicycle for our minds.”  ~Steve Jobs.

October 3

Happy Birthday Christina and Jackie!

Brrrrrrrr!  I can’t believe it’s getting cold already.  We had a low of 39 last night, which isn’t very typical of TN.  Hopefully it was just a freak thing and not a sign of what is to come this winter.  I was actually out in the cold yesterday planting bulbs.  Sometime last Spring I got one of those beautiful flower catalogs and I ordered 308 bulbs!  Good Gawd, what in the world was I thinking?  I think the most I’ve ever planted at one time is twenty?  I guess I just saw the pictures in the catalog with fields of flowers and thought “That could be my yard!”  With all the bulbs in various places, snug in the ground I’m praying that Spring comes soon.

So what can I say about family?  Can’t live with them, can’t shoot ‘em?  (Or can you?....)  Such is life, we have a Drama Queen amongst us and for some reason, on occasion, more than any one of us would like, she makes our lives miserable.  Sad to say that we probably all have a Drama Queen or King lurking in a corner waiting for any little thing to set them off.  Times like these make me glad that I moved away from my home town many, many years ago.  Now I decide who I see, when, and for how long.  Perfection.  It’s much easier to endure the torture over the phone, or through email and text.  Certainly much easier to ignore the phone when it’s ringing and turn off the computer.  This is when I am especially grateful for technology.  “Wait, oh no, I’m losing my signal.”  It’s really too bad I lost them and couldn’t hear them whine about some senseless issue that is really no issue at all.  The beauty of getting older is that I’m getting smarter and I know when to stop the madness.  Life is so short to sweat the small stuff.  It’s been said before, but can’t be said enough.  We have this one small chance to enjoy the beauty around us.  Why waste all of our precious time being bitter or listening to those bitter comments?  My friend told me a fantastic quote today: “The one that angers you, controls you.  Don’t give anyone that power.” 

September 24

Here are two scenarios to contemplate:  #1 - Hubby outside working hard in the yard, me inside, “hmmm, wonder if he needs something to drink, water or maybe a beer, better bring him both, he hasn’t eaten in a while either, better bring him out a snack too.”  #2 - me outside in the yard working hard, hubby inside, me yelling up to the porch “can you bring me out some water?”  him, “yeah.”  30 minutes later, wonder where my water is?  I go into the backyard where hubby is now cutting the grass, “did you remember my water?”  “Yeah, it’s there on the porch, I wasn’t sure where you were at.”  Three cheers for warm water I could have more easily gotten from the garden hose.  I think we’re supposed to revel in the differences of the sexes, but I think I would pass out from dehydration if I reveled too much.

Saturday we enjoyed a visit to the Old Timer’s Festival.  What a name, but it was great.  It’s a craftsman fair, but lots of people bring their instruments and have little mini jam sessions.  The best part was watching people playing their banjos and fiddles, really interesting.  There was a guy there making sorghum too, complete with a donkey walking in a circle crushing the sorghum cane.  I loved that an older gentleman asked me to dance out in the courtyard when he saw me tapping my toe in time to the music and I loved it even more that he was so surprised that I could follow his lead.  I came home happy with a big bag of homemade carmel corn.

Just added tons of new photos to my photo pages if you’d like to check ‘em out...

September19

I love the weekends, so sad to see them go by.  We had a nice weekend.  I cooked most of the day Friday so we could enjoy a Jamaican dinner.  Jerk chicken, sweet potato casserole, corn bread, Key lime pie.  We ate a bit too much, but couldn’t help ourselves.  A long bike ride out on Saturday morning.  It’s getting chilly already, but it made for a nice comfy ride.  Steve worked a bit yesterday, so I worked a bit too.  Obviously not enough b/c I’ve got the kiln warming right now....

September 12

Happy Birthday Nadya, Lilly and Randal!

The kitty training excitement continues.  Kinzy is now only using the trainer on the toilet.  I’m getting ready to start taking that away and see how she does.

Date night on Friday was to a new-to-us restaurant close to us.  It’s called The Carriage House and I had the best hamburger ever.  We learned something from our waitress about the city too.  Sometime after Thanksgiving everything pretty much closes down and reopens again three months later!  We don’t eat out a whole lot, but now we know we’ll be eating out even less during the winter months.  Townsend puts you on a eat at home diet!

September 7

Happy Birthday Brad!

Yesterday there was some excitement in our house...Kinzy our new kitty used her toilet trainer for the first time!  I’m hoping there is more of that to come and we can say bye bye to the kitty litter box soon.  I’ve been raising the height of her litter box to get it to toilet height.  It’s finally the same height, so yesterday I put the training thing in the toilet with litter in it.  I really wasn’t expecting her to actually use it yet, maybe just get up there and check it out, but yay!  I wish I had caught her in the act, but she knew I was pretty happy about something when I came across it yesterday!

What an awesome long weekend we had.  Steve had our day on Saturday planned out.  (It was our anniversary!)  First we rode our bikes at Cades Cove taking Zoey along in the cart behind Steve’s bike.  Next I got a massage, then my choice of dinner.  It was a perfect day.  I even got some beautiful flowers the night before, not to mention the beautiful roses that my Mom-in-law sent us.  It felt like a really special occasion.

Off to the torch with my new color wheel templates in hand.  Let’s see what disasters I can come up with.  It usually an epic fail when I try to mix colors that I’m not used to working with, we’ll see....

August 29

Congrats Perla!

Friday night was fun.  A friend of ours just got her US Citizenship and we went to her celebration party.  We played a quiz game where she asked us the same questions that she had to study to become a citizen.  Wow, were they ever tough to answer!  Guess it’s a good thing that I’m already a citizen?

I finally found a way to keep Kinzy off of my studio counters.  I made some boards with sticky tape on them and I put them where she was jumping.  She’s not a fan and it worked perfectly.  Oddly enough she hasn’t been jumping on other stuff yet, so hopefully she won’t try in the future, but time will tell.

Saturday we went for a long bike ride and I kicked some bike @$$ and took names!  I really pushed it and kept a 20mph speed a good deal of the time.  I was even able to do 14-15mph going up some of the hills!  That never happens!  All of my training is really paying off.  (I even had to buy a new training bike last week b/c I wore out my old one.)  My DH was proud.  I’m just happy to keep up with the boys now.

August 22

We’ve been busy again with more out-of-town visitors.  It’s been fun, but it will be nice to have our house back to ourselves for a while and it will be nice for me to get some work done!

Kinzy is turning into quite the excitable little kitty!  She’s learning to jump on things to get up to even higher things.  It’s sort of funny, but sort of scary.  I’ve been keeping the doors to my studio shut ever since the day I walked in there to find her up on one of the counters with all of my supplies!  I don’t need to find a little kitty with burned paws b/c she found a way to jump up on the kiln shelf!!!  That scares me the most, so the door will stay shut unless I can be sure to teach her to stay away.  She does seem to respond to “No” quite well, but I’m not taking any chances with her delicate little paws near my glass or the kiln.  So far she’s just limited to the bottom floor until she heals from her spaying (last week) and we can ease her into the rest of the house.

Now that I no longer have to be polite to my guests off to the torch I go...

August 7

Happy Birthday Jane!

I’m excited to say that my beads, wine stoppers etc. are going to be in the Townsend Artisan Gallery!  They’re having an artist open house this weekend at 4pm, come check out the gallery if you’re local!

Being a cat owner is certainly different than being a dog owner!  Thankfully Kinzy is sweet and easy going.  She hasn’t gotten into anything at all and she has run of the entire basement already.  People told us that she would be into everything, but she’s pretty laid back.  She doesn’t really act like at typical crazy kitty.  I thing that’s the main reason that my DH bonded with her at the shelter, she was just chillin’ while all the other kittens were bouncing off the walls.

Happy to say that all of our UPS’s and two whole house surge protectors are now in place throughout the house.  I don’t think I’ll be quite so stressed the next time the power goes out.

August 1

So this is going to be waaaaay boring for some of you, but when I learn something new, that I feel is important, I feel the need to share.  Do you know what a UPS is?  Not the brown uniform kind, but the Uninterruptible Power Supply kind.  If you have any kind of power surges where you live, you should think about getting a UPS for your computer and any other equipment in your house that is valuable and important to you. 

This is the basic 411 on how a UPS works...first of all, it protects your electronic stuff from the power surge, then second, it has a bit of battery back-up.  (You can get hours and hours of battery back-up, but the price of the UPS jumps with longer run time.)  This battery back-up gives you time to shut your computer or whatever, off the proper way so that it doesn’t get damaged.  Some UPS’s will even shut the computer down properly for you if you get one with a USB cord. 

My printer has some type of electronics in it so that if it isn’t shut down using the power button, it shuts off this little electrical panel inside the printer.  I then have to remove the panel and re-set the printer before it will turn back on.  My last printer did this only so many times before it turned off permanently.  :(   Since then I keep my printer unplugged unless I’m using it, which is a bit inconvenient.  This weekend the power supply cord on my laptop blew out because of power surges.  Thankfully it was just the cord that had to be replaced and not the computer.  This (and all electronic equipment we have) are plugged into surge protectors.  Really good surge protectors that still failed.  We have power surges quite often in our neighborhood b/c of tree branches hitting power lines.  Our plan of action is to put really good UPS’s on the computers (b/c our hard-drives are precious to us!) and some pretty good ones on the TV’s and my printer.

We tend to have more surges/brown outs than some people, but most people have them to some extent.  Bottom line...save yourself from a computer loss heartache and get yourself a decent UPS. 

July 25

Happy Birthday Marion and Kim!

Some big changes in the Torres household since I last blogged...we have a new edition of a sweet little kitty we named Kinzel.  (Her name was “Star” at the shelter, but we felt a name-change was in order.)  We’ve had her for one week now. 

We went to the rescue shelter, still just sort of entertaining the idea of a kitten.  We saw a few cats, but saw Kinzel at the last minute.  Steve just seemed to bond with her immediately.  We left, sans kitten to contemplate the huge decision.  Two days later, after a little push from Steve, I returned to the shelter and picked up our new little kitty.  (Feeling a little guilty because I got there minutes before someone else came to pick up Kinzy as well.)  I’ve never owned a cat before, so this is HUGE for me.  I’ve always been a dog owner and I feel totally out of my element, actually even a bit scared that I had made a huge mistake.  Holding Kinzy and feeling her purr against my neck, I know she’s mine for life!  So cute, sweet and gentle-natured.  Steve really picked the perfect kitty for us.  Zoey is warming up to her and neither seems to feel the need to torture the other so far.  Thankfully.

Kinzel has gracefully endured what I’ll call my dog-like torture.  She got a bath when she came home, she lets me brush her teeth, clip her nails and I actually walked her up and down the driveway in a leash yesterday.  This is truly one patient kitty.  She didn’t fight me on any of it except for a tiny attempt at an escape in the bath and a flip on the driveway on the leash.  Next will be my attempt at toilet-training.  I’ll let you know how that goes...

July 9

Happy Birthday Debra!  Congrats Ruben and Maria!

Having company visit is nice, but it’s also nice to have a peaceful house back in order.  We’ve had quite the revolving door, first a friend over night, then my DH’s Aunt for four days, then my DH’s sister, hubby and kids for six days.  All the visits over-lapped and as you can imagine that we are in dire need of some serious vegging time.

We went tubing yesterday in Little River.  Actually I sort of went body surfing.  I lost my tube when someone majorly wrecked into me at the top of one of the rapids.  I became one with the river and unfortunately the rocks too.  The rapids wouldn’t allow me to stop and stand up and the water was too shallow to swim freely in.  Then before I knew it the second set of rapids came along and I had no choice, but to body surf those as well.  Thankfully my nephew was able to grab hold of my inner tube and a huge rock.  He hung on there until the water flung me towards him.  By then I could stand, or sort of stand, on my rubber legs.  I’m a little worse for the wear and my legs are sporting some purple and red beauties.  Weird, but my finger nails are sore too.  I guess as I moved along I grabbed for some kind of leverage and came up with slippery rocks.  Not sure if I’ll ever try that again, but now I have a story to tell.

We biked quite a bit.  Luckily my nephew Alec is a fan, so we rode a few days while they were here.  We had a busy week and I’m sure I’ll sleep like a baby for a few days at least, if not the next week!

June 26

Happy Birthday Isaac!

The creature sightings continue.  We saw what we think was a bobcat yesterday morning.  I ran for the camera, but it was too little too late.  I got a blurry shot through the screen of the bedroom window.  We also saw three cute wittle bunny wabbits!  Mama was feeding them and stepped away.  They were all bunched together in a sweet little pile.  So cute!  They look like they are about two or three weeks old.  They all made a dash for the rock wall in our yard when I stepped out on the deck with my camera, but I got a few good pictures before they went into hiding.  We’re hoping to see more of them soon and as exciting as it was to see the bobcat, we really want him to stay away from the babies!

June 20

Just posted lots of pics on my site.  Most pic pages have some newbies, so check ‘em out.

Really enjoyed the week off with my DH.  Peaceful at relaxing.  Except for the weed-pulling rock laying day, that day doesn’t count.  Other than that, pure ahhhh.

Saturday night we meet up with a bunch of friends to watch another friend who plays in a band.  Nine Eight Central is the name of the band.  Great classic music.

June 17

Enjoying a stay-cation with my DH.  So far the name of the game has been relaxation.

The latest creature sighting was a crawfish that was the size of a small lobster!  I was out in the yard taking photos when I came upon an earthworm close to the creek that looked like it had just suffered it’s last breath in the sun.  I threw the worm into the creek and within seconds this huge crawfish came floating up, took the worm and backed away from me.  I was able to get some good photos, but I’m still in shock at the size of it.  Makes me wonder what other large creatures are lurking in the woods out there....

June 6

It’s amazing how one late night can tire you out for the entire weekend.  We went out with friends on Friday and didn’t get home until 2am.  We still got up early and worked out the next day, but I was ready for bed early on Saturday and then again last night.  Good thing we don’t do that often!

The latest creature sighting in our yard is still a mystery to me.  I saw some kind of animal walking in the creek and I would swear it looked like a goat.  Yes, I do know it couldn’t possibly have been a goat and it seemed to short to be a deer, so who knows.  I really need to see it again with camera in hand!

May 30

Happy Birthday Carla!

An amazing weekend!  My DH got off work early Thursday and we went to the bike shop for a few things and then out for sushi.  Friday I had a friend and her daughter-in-law over for lunch and a lesson on earring making.  Friday night was game night!  We had three other couples over, tons of homemade Italian food and some fun games.  Whew!  That was just the weekend until Friday night!  Saturday was a bit more relaxed, then Sunday was a bike ride with my DH.  It was 32 miles, but not as far as usual and a bit more laid back.  We enjoyed my Italian left-overs and didn’t have to feel too guilty.  Today we went for a nice walk with Zoey around the neighborhood.  I can’t believe our long weekend is almost over!

May 23

Happy Birthday Doyle and G!

I had what I would call an ultra exciting time this weekend...I saw a Mamma bear and her baby!  My DH started the excitement Friday morning when he called me from the car saying that he saw a Mamma and baby as he was leaving our neighborhood.  I flew out the door with the camera in my hot little hand, but alas, I was too late.  That was it for me though, I had the bear fever and I had it bad.  We packed up early the next morning to head to Cades Cove, just minutes from our house.  (I had just been reading that there are about 1500 bears living in Cades Cove and that this is the year that the bears favor to give birth.)  We were barely 10 minutes into our ride when I saw a huge bear and a tiny bear for just a brief second.  Since I knew there was a baby around, I knew I had to wait.  I took lots of pictures of Mamma while we waited.  I even took a picture of some crazy deer that came closer and closer to the Mamma bear, almost challenging it.  The bear sniffed in the deer’s direction, but didn’t make a move. 

My DH was soooooo patient!  Finally our waiting paid off.  We were probably there about 1/2 hour when the cute little thing made it’s appearance.  I took pictures like it was going out of style and I think I got a few good ones too.  So adorable, and so tiny.  It was crying and running up the trees looking for its mom.  At one point it slipped, hung down off a horizontal branch, finally losing its grip and falling to the ground.  I let out a gasp as we watched the baby fall several feet, but it got up like nothing had happened and continued it hunt for its mom.  Something I never thought I would see, especially so close to home...someday maybe in our own back yard!

Sunday we walked through our neighborhood and this is kind of gross, but we saw a dung beetle.  I thought they lived in the dessert for some reason, what do I know about beetles of any kind?  What was really strange and even grosser was that it was pushing coyote dung.  How did I know it was from a coyote, you ask?...  A friend of mine had told me that I would know if coyotes were around if I saw their poop.  He said it was very recognizable b/c it has pieces of bone, skin and hair in it.  This did and it was terribly gross and terribly fascinating at the same time.

May 17

Here’s the latest on the backyard creatures... one chipmunk, one water snake and a couple of luna moths.  The coyotes are definitely making themselves known with their howling, but I’m happy to say that we’ve only heard and not seen them.  Zoe has her little fenced area and I hope that keeps her hidden when she goes out during the day.  When we’re out in the backyard I keep a close eye on her.

I’m shocked that it’s May and I had to put a winter sweater on today.  I finally broke down and turned the heaters back on too.  It’s been hot, cold, rainy, anything you can imagine in just the past week alone.

I finally finished reading The Dome by Stephen King.  I was actually angry when I finished it.  I think it was 1100 + pages, very good, but then the answer to the dome was summed up in like two lame sentences.  It’s like King suddenly got bored and decided to wrap it up.  Not cool.  It’s hard to say whether I would recommend it or not, but it was a good read until about the 900th page.  That book seriously could have been 500 pages or less.  I’m wondering if after his, what, millionth book, if he’s finally losing his edge. 

I started reading Agnes and the Hitman on my new Kindle!  Here’s where it starts getting weird on the Kindle...I can’t tell you what page I’m on, or even how many pages the book has, but I can tell you that I’ve read 2% of the book.  A change like this is hard, but I’ve been wanted to try a Kindle for ages.  I was happily the receiver of one as a gift.  Yay!  It’s an adjustment, you have to change the page sooner, you have to learn how to hold the tiny Kindle so that you don’t accidently turn the page and you don’t actually know the page you’re on.  It weighs practically nothing and it’s going to be nice to have handy when I’m waiting in a long line or at the Doctor’s office.  I already know that I’m going to miss books for various reasons, but good grief I still have enough books in paper to read for the next year.  For now I’m going to alternate those with Kindle books.  (PS: if you’re thinking of getting an electronic book reader, the Kindle and the Nook are the only ones with E-ink right now.  Easy on the eyes, looks like a book page.  Other readers are back-lit, meaning you can read them in the dark like the computer screen, but they can strain your eyes.  iPad is going to come up with a way to incorporate E Ink, but they haven’t just yet.)

May 9

Happy Birthday Richard, Lynn and Faith!

Sometimes time just runs away.  I haven’t posted in such a long time.  My DH had last week off and he still worked for most of it!  That’s what seems to happen when he’s off and we stay home.

I’m having a hard time focusing on the torch when there is so much to see outside the window!  Today I held an itty bitty salamander in my hand.  It was no bigger than my little pinkie finger nail.  I also had a run in with a very scary looking spider.  I looked it up and it turns out that it’s perfectly harmless.  It was a female Regal jumping spider.  It was sitting on the furniture on my deck, so of course I ran to get my camera.  The weird thing was that it was more interested in me than I was in it.  It followed my every move and when Zoey circled behind it, it turned to looked at her too.  It wasn’t scared of me at all and it let me get my camera nice and close.  It had four eyes in front of it’s head and two on the side.  It also had two iridescent blue/green fangs.  Scary, but sweet?

We also have a bunch of wild turkeys living up in one of our trees.  We haven’t found the nest, but we hear them.  Seems like every time we turn around there is something new out the window.  Still haven’t seen a black bear yet, but I’m looking!

April 24

Happy Easter!  Happy Birthday Rhonda!

Wonderful bike ride this morning.  We even saw a wild turkey flying!  Poor little guy, I think we snuck up on him. 

New photos: Torch Session!

April 18

Happy Birthday Tony and Junior!

Still enjoying the Ahhhhhmazing Smokies behind us.  Seems like everyday there are changes to the greenery that just continues to amaze us.  We watched one of the huge mutant rabbits frolicking in our back yard yesterday.  We were surprised that he crawled right through the creek to get to the other side and then on his return back he took one flying leap over it to stay dry.  Zoey calmly watched right along beside us.  The other day Zoe was out front and accidently came across two rabbits, one went one way that the other when the other way, making in X right in front of her.  Zoe just sorta stood there, not even quite sure what she had just seen.  Quite a sight, I sure wish I could have gotten that on video!

April 11

Happy Birthday Hannah!

Spring has sprung!  I’m loving all the green everywhere and we were surprised to see that we have four naturally growing dogwood trees in our yard.  The bright white flowers on the trees pop against the green of the Smokies behind them, just beautiful.  I planted 19 phlox and of course the second I did that it stopped raining.  My DH watered them yesterday, but we’re supposed to get some rain tonight, so hopefully they’ll be happy campers and root nicely.

April 5

Happy Birthday Shelby and Tiff!

Talk about your April showers, we’re getting buckets over here!  Our peaceful little creek has turned into some raging rapids.  I ventured out into our property yesterday.  I had my mind made up that I was going to clip down some invasive vines that were growing on some trees.  I easily got the ones that were in the clear, but once I tried going further into our “little jungle” I found that I had to give up the good fight.  There were so many vines growing that I couldn’t even walk through them.  Maybe I’ll find me a scythe and try again another time.

It’s nice to have my DH back after he was gone for 8 days in sunny India for work.  He had quite the adventure just getting around and saw some scary sites.  Sadly, trash everywhere and people living in the equivalent of cardboard boxes in downtown Calcutta.  He came back saying how lucky we are to live in the US.

I had a busy week working at the torch.  I did take some time to have lunch with a good friend and dinner and a movie with another good friend.  When the hubby is gone I tend to work a whole lot though.  Thank goodness he isn’t gone much!  :D

March 27

We were sitting out on our front porch when I heard a scratching sound.  Zoey heard it too and we were both up looking around pretty quickly.  I was expecting to see a rabbit scratching at something on the side of the porch.  I followed the sound and it went up and up.  My first thought was a mouse and I was thinking, “how the heck did a mouse get way up there?”  Then the scratching sound came again and a big ol’ bat wing jutted out of a crevice in the ceiling of the porch!  Darn right I jumped about ten feet back!  My DH has named it Batilda.  We put up the bat house on the back side of the house in a hot sunny spot, but instead of living there it chose a nice shady cold spot on our front porch.  I hope Batilda finds her way to the bat motel out back, but if she doesn’t I’ll gladly let her live where she wants to as long as she behaves herself!

March 22

Happy Birthday Mary Ann (and happy belated B-Day Karen!)

So it’s been over a week and I’m still trying to get used to this darn time change.  I’m just not loving the switch.  I think we should vote it away like they did in Arizona, Hawaii and Indiana.  They don’t “Spring Forward,” why should the rest of us suffer gladly?  I think I say this every single year, some day I’m actually going to really do something about it instead of just being a crabby sleep-deprived complainer.

I’m reading The Queen’s Fool by Phillipa Gregory.  Usually I adore her books, but this one seems to be dragging a bit.  Maybe that’s just the sleep deprivation talking, who knows.

The wine stoppers are getting rave reviews, thank you very much.  If you have a specific color combo that you would like one in, just email me with your request!

March 18

My wine stoppers are ready!  Two on my website and three on Etsy, check them out!

March 14

Happy Birthday Zigler!

I have always said that bead people are good people...it’s usually my slowest time of the year and you guys are keeping me as busy as a torching bee!

I’ve been working on a new type of wine stopper and it’s been a challenge for sure.  In the past I’ve used wine stoppers that are sort of an “add a bead” type of stopper.  You have to make a bead to fit the little pole on the top of the wine stopper or fill it up with small beads.  I wasn’t thrilled with this stopper and went in search of a new way.  I finally found some wine stoppers that just have a large screw on top b/c they’re made for woodworkers.  Even better, they’re sold stainless steel guaranteed not to chip or stain.  Next I did research, could I somehow put the stopper in the torch and melt glass on top?  Nope, that would melt the rubber seal!  Could I somehow affix a glass knob to the top, yes!  But how?  More research and Two Part Epoxy came to the rescue.  I spent the next week making knobs of various sizes and finally found a mandrel thick enough to support the “glass knob” that will become the topper to the wine stopper.  Over a week later I have three testers that have been made, cleaned, annealed and are in the epoxy drying state as I type this.  I have to wait a whole 24 hours to see if this will even work.  Cross your fingers that it all works out!

Friday night was a nice at home sort of date night with some take-out thai food and an evening in front of the boob tube watching American Idol.  (Can it even be called a boob tube anymore?  Do the newer TV’s even have tubes?)  Saturday night my good friend Hannah came over with her boyfriend and we all went out for burgers and watched the movie The Last Three Days.  Good movie btw, lots of suspense and action.

Anyone here with me on booing the time change?  I don’t get it.  DST was originally created so that farmers could work in the daylight.  That’s all good and fine, but most of us aren’t farmers.  Can’t the farmers just set their clocks an hour earlier and let the rest of us sleep for another hour?

March 10

It’s raining again.  I should always remember Red Bud Winter.  When we moved here I commented to a friend how nice the weather was one February day and she told me that we still haven’t had “Red Bud Winter.”  Apparently Mother Nature sneaks in all this beautiful weather late February, early March and then she say’s Hah!  Fooled ya!  It’s gets super cold again and all the red bud trees blossom.  The red buds are beautiful.  Have you seen them in bloom?  Go to Google and type in “pictures of red bud trees.”  It’s okay, I’ll wait.........

BEE U T ful, am I right?  I had a huge red bud in my yard at our last house and I already planted two here.  I was very sad that we had to cut a large one down here after we moved in.  I guess it was none too happy with it’s new view.  I’m hoping the two new babies happily bloom this year.

Posting new pics today on the site, check ‘em out.

Okay, it’s cold, time to warm myself by the torch...

March 7

Happy Registered Dietitians Day, March 9, go hug your favorite RD!

So sad to say that my bird feeders will be coming down this week.  We’re getting ready for the bears to come out of hibernation and they love a tasty bird-feeding-snack.  The good thing is that I know that even without the bird feeders we’ll still see tons of back yard birds because we saw them last summer while we were building the house.  I never understood why it would be wrong to feed the bears, but I just read a book about them and it’s crystal clear to me now.  Feed one time and they are quick to learn that they can come back for more, if they don’t find more, they go look at the next house.  It’s at that next house where they’ll scare the living daylights out of someone that isn’t expecting bear visitors and those people might be the ones that call the authorities.  That bear gets tagged as a nuisance bear and next time it’s seen by a human it’s  either trapped or sadly, shot.  So if you’re ever in bear country, don’t feed the bears!

Our “homeless” friend, Radu, came to visit on Thursday.  He’s homeless because he’s getting a new position at his work and he sold his condo and is in-between everything.  He travels a lot and sometimes stays with us when he’s here.  We always have a good time when Radu visits.

We now have our screech box, we just need to find a good spot for it.  We hear the owls almost nightly now.  I find their little sounds comforting for some reason. 

Winter came back to bite us this weekend.  I had the heat off and the windows open all week, but this weekend we even had to turn the fireplace back on and get out the down coats.  Nothing too exciting for us, my DH worked pretty much all weekend, which always gets a big Boo, hiss, hiss from me.  I watched a video that explains the details of my camera.  Exciting stuff.  Finally watched Julie & Julia last night.  I loved the whole movie except for the part where Julie finds out that Julia Childs doesn’t like her.  Why wouldn’t she like her?  They soooo should have left that part out.  Other than that, great movie.

February 28

Still nothing on the trail camera, not even a big mutant rabbit.  Oh well, patience is a virtue.  I’m hoping for a great black bear picture, but it won’t be another month or so until they start waking up and moving about.

We actually went to a 13 y/o’s birthday party on Saturday.  My good friend Tammy had a party for her daughter and we thought it would be nice to go hang out with her and her hubby while 40 or so 13-year-olds ran about.  It was fun, they had a DJ and I really wanted to dance, but decided not to embarrass the birthday girl.

February 21

Business seems to be picking up a bit early this year.  I’ve been a busy little torching bee and for that I’m grateful!

Another awesome Spring-like weekend.  We ran about a million errands on Saturday and then we totally vegged on Sunday.  A perfectly perfect weekend for us.

Nothing exciting on the trail camera yet.  Just pictures of my hair hanging down when I try to read the screen without letting the camera take a picture.  So far I’m not very successful at that.  I moved it to a new location where I saw the biggest rabbit I’ve ever seen in my life the other day.  It was like some mutant radioactive rabbit.  I’m guessing it has a little burrow somewhere nearby and maybe I can catch it in action.

My DH put up a bat box for me yesterday.  Yep, I actually want the bats to come nest near by!  Sounds crazy, but if you don’t already know this, they are mad for mosquitos and I’m mad for them eating up the mosquitos before they eat me up!  I posted earlier on that one was nesting in our house before they put the windows on, so I know they are around.  I just want to keep them close by.  We went to sleep and woke up to the sounds of owls outside our bedroom window.  More creatures that I’m happy to have around.  I’ll be getting a screech box to put up soon!  They are supposed to start looking for a safe place to have their babies in March and April and I want them to eat any mice that might think that my house is good place to hang out.  Do they eat snakes?  That would totally work for me too!

Enjoy your week!

February 14

Happy Valentines Day!  Happy Birthday Nina, Kelly, Georgea and Paul!

The weekend sure felt like Spring to me!  Sunny and warm, we went for a nice walk and spent some down time reading on the back porch in the sun.  Spring is weeks and weeks away, but I certainly have the fever. 

On Saturday we went to see a play called Rumors.  It was done at a small playhouse downtown.  It was really good, the local players were excellent.

We just set up a trail camera that my DH’s friend lent us.  It’s a big camera that you tether to a tree or a post.  When it senses movement it takes a photo.  I’m dying to see if any creatures come around while we’re snug in our beds.  I hope to see something and I hope it isn’t scary!

February 7

We had a wonderful weekend.  Game night on Saturday with lots of good friends and lots of New Mexican food made by yours truly.  I love having people over and enjoy knowing that they are well fed and happy.  We had tons of fun.  Sunday was a relaxing day for sitting in the sun and reading a good book.

It’s a bit of a slow time as far as bead sales go, so I’m revving up my other artistic drives.  I just drew a sketch of a painting that I’d like to do.  Time to start on the background...

 

"Some people never go crazy, What truly horrible lives they must live.”

                                                       ~ Charles Bukowski

"If at first you don't succeed, try, try again, (Then quit.  There's no point in being a fool about it.)

                                         ~W.C. Fields

It's a very odd thing --

As odd as can be --

That whatever Miss T. eats turns into Miss T.

-- Walter De La Mare

A Woman's Poem

He didn't like the casserole

And he didn't like my cake.

He said my biscuits were too hard ..

Not like his mother used to make.

I didn't perk the coffee right,

He didn't like the stew,

I didn't mend his socks

The way his mother used to do.

I pondered for an answer;

I was looking for a clue.

Then I turned around and

smacked him...

Like his mother used to do.

Whatever you are, be a good one.

~Abraham Lincoln

Be the kind of woman that when your feet hit the floor each morning the devil says “Oh crap, she’s up!”

I never met a color I didn’t like.

    ~Dale Chihuly

Life is like riding a bicycle.  To keep your balance, you must keep moving.

     ~Albert Einstein

Why do people say “Grow some balls?”  Balls are weak and sensitive!  If you really wanna get tough, grow a vagina!  Those things take a pounding! 

        ~Betty White 

Be yourself; everyone else is taken.

            ~Oscar Wilde