Bella!

This is Bella. She's a yorkie-poo (yorkshire terrier and poodle). She's peachy and soft and so friendly. She doesn't shed! She's about 18 months old and she's mine. I missed Annabelle so much when she went with Natalie that Natalie got me my own dog to spoil. Bella's family could no longer keep her, and when I saw her picture I knew she was exactly what I wanted. She loves Ariel, and is getting along pretty well with most of the animals. She is fascinated by the chickens, even though her nose has been pecked a couple of times. She and Oliver are getting to know each other slowly. Bella is definitely an alpha female.

It's a gorgeous day here on the prairie. It's fairly cool during the days and almost chilly at night. It is supposed to get a little cooler next week. And Saturday is T-man's birthday. He's finally getting gray hairs! And yes, you can tease him about it. You have my permission.

Okay, the shopping cart is coming along at a snail's pace and I am the first to admit it. The biggest question looming in my mind is what will I put in it? Keep in mind that I got out of the retail business for a reason, and I don't want to get bogged down in selling again. So what will go in the shopping cart? Hmmm. Since there are several of you have brought it up in the past few months, give me some hints. Seriously, either leave a comment or email me with what you would like to see in the shopping cart. I'm not making any promises, but all suggestions will be considered and I'll see what I can do.

Shopping Cart Woes

In the attempt to customize my shopping cart and have a cohesive look with the web site, I not only mucked up the cart settings -- oh, no -- I messed up EVERYTHING associated with my domain name for about 24 hours while poor Lauren fixed my mess. She is the best, which is why she has been my web host for about 10 years. So I get email again, my web site is still there and I can go back to work CAREFULLY on the shopping cart! So be patient a little longer and I'll let you know when everything is up and running. In the meantime, surf some links down there on the right. There are some new ones for you. Bead on!

Shopping Cart News

A few of you have requested that I sell my kits and patterns on line. In the interest of keeping my customers happy I am learning about the shopping cart feature available to me from my web host. It's quite a bit of reading, and the reading is on the computer monitor, which is very irritating to my eyes. See how much I appreciate y'all? I thought you would.

I'm working on another project to send off for acceptance or rejection, and watch for a collaboration piece that will also be submitted. It is still nice and cool and sunny and all the animals are quite happy. Now that it's cooler, maybe the hens will start laying! Other than that, it's SSDD chez Buchle. Anything new in your world?

COOL FRONT

Yippee!

Today is a no stress day!

Yippee!

Today is computer day!

Okay.

Still Don't Know How To Read A Calendar

Nope, I don't. I'm hoping that sometime soon I learn the trick of reading one of the infernal things. On the 10^th I thought to myself "I can get these out on the 14^th and be okay, that gives me three more days to stitch and one day for packaging." Yeah dummy, except that the 15^th is on Monday, which means everything has to go out TODAY! One nifty project doesn't get to go this time, but I've still got other proposals to send off with later deadlines. Maybe it will get included in those. Thankfully, I always have other projects on hand to submit. Otherwise, I'd be up a nasty creek in a leaky boat with no paddle.

And tonight we will batten down the hatches for any stray winds from Ike. I'm looking at the tracking maps, thinking we may be far enough west to miss out on the really nasty stuff. Right now we have a wind advisory, but we had those all spring. Fortunately it just means taking down some hanging things on the deck and securing patio furniture. But for those of you in Ike's track, our thoughts are with you. Be careful riding out the storm.

And lest I forget, I must issue a retraction. Pam was NOT an English major. In her words it was "Psychology all the way for this chica. Minor in philosophy". There, she has proven there was no English major AT ALL. lol!

Grammar

When I was achieving my degree in foreign languages, one stipulation was that my English grammar be as close to perfect as possible. Sometimes I slip. After all, my native tongue is Texan. But my dear friend Pam was an English major before she went on to pursue her graduate degrees. It was she who located this delightful blog (for you fellow Texans, let me translate: "She done found this right nifty site". Gawd, I'm channeling Jeff Foxworthy.)

And there are some NEW links over there on right. Enjoy!

Addendum to BOHICA

Kate just let me know that this is a military acronym. It's one I had never heard until today. And until today my favorites had been FIIGMO and FUBAR. I worked with a lot of ex-military men (like a full bird colonel) when I worked for that State of Texas agency that will remain unnamed. I'm just guessing that they didn't want to appear crass in front of us "gals". I just love it. Let's suffice to say that every day contained some SNAFU that had been FUBAR because some flunky decided to do something entirely incorrectly with the excuse of FIIGMO. So, again I say, BOHICA, y'all.

And yes, it appears I am having one of those days, so I'm out of here before I become maudlin and bring the entire room down!

BOHICA, Y'all!

Thanks to my e-pal Kate for this new twist on "SSDD".

"Bend over, here it comes again!"

Boy, if that doesn't describe some of my days, I don't know what will, except for this one:

"Well, Jane, it just goes to show you, it's always something."

And if you're old enough to remember that, let me know. I'm feeling my age these days. My 30 year college reunion is coming up. Oh boy.

Pray For Me, Beadlings!

I'm working on the web site this week. This means I will be dealing with Front Page.

Your thoughts and prayers are appreciated.

You Blog Why?

When I first decided to blog, I looked at it as a way of advertising what it is I do for a living. Intertwined with that, I wanted you to get a glimpse of the life that makes me who I am. Like the title says, musings on beads and beading, art, life, and whatever else.

As I started blogging, I started making friends with a few cyber-celebrities (you know who you are) here and there, mostly in the art/craft/design world. I started linking to their blogs with links back to mine, which is a high form of cyber-compliment. I also followed links from links from links. I read bead magazines, mixed media art publications, fashion magazines, stitching magazines, fiber arts publications --- whatever it has taken to keep my eye on what's going on in the world of indie design. What I have also tried to keep doing is provide you with plenty of places to look for ideas, inspiration, instruction, and impetus to let you see that you could have a life doing what you love and actually make money with it. I've linked to the web sites of some people who inspire me greatly. I've linked to the blogs of some people who have taught me alot about business in this cyber age. Jeez, if I had known some of this stuff 12 years ago when I started Bumble Beads^tm . . . . but that's water under the bridge as they say, and I have moved on to what I believe are better avenues of adventure for me.

Anyway, the point is that I'm trying to offer you more than just an entertaining picture of me running around the yard in my jammies, chasing escaped chickens with Natalie's puppy at my heels. Hopefully you are taking something away that helps you realize your dream of being an artist,

or a cyber-celebrity!

So, if you have found a web site or blog that you think might fit in with what I'm trying to provide over there on the right-hand side of the page, send me a link so I can look at it. You can comment (you don't need a Google ID to comment, you know) or you can hit the "email me" link over there and drop me a line to let me know what you have found. Keep in mind that I'm looking for artistic beading, bead artists, fiber artists . . . . just check out some of the links to get a good idea. But to me the best ones are the ones who say "this is how I took my dream and made a successful business of it".

And next week, I'll let you in on a few of those secrets that I used and am still using. In the meantime, happy surfing and let me know what you find!

Crikey!

Yes, I really do say "crikey". I say it a lot. It's better than some other words I could say. Don't get me wrong. I don't say it disrespectfully! The company T-man works for is Australian and his boss is an Aussie (I try not to let loose with "crikey" in front of the boss), plus I think Steve Irwin was great and I miss seeing his cute Aussie face and those short, shorts on TV. I haven't seen shorts like that since Tom Selleck played Magnum, but I digress. Anyway, GG sent me this and it was waiting in my inbox this morning. What a great way to start my day.

I am feeling so much better today, but I'm still not 100%. I'll just keep taking the pills and everything will be fine. I'd still like to see more responses to yesterday's question: When you were a tiny tyke, what did you want to be? So 'fess up, beadlings, as inquiring minds would like to know.

I Wish I Were Samantha Stevens

Everything would get done on time without much more than a twitch of my nose. But then what happens when a twitchy witch gets a sinus infection? I guess I'm better off this way, huh? I better get my rear in gear, beadlings.

Here is a question of the day for you, preceded by a personal intro. When I was s little girl, I wanted to be a ballerina. For my sixth birthday my mother decorated my cake with ballerinas, including a beautiful china ballerina that I still have somewhere. When I got my own bedroom, it was decorated in ballerinas and most of my paper dolls and coloring books were ballerina inspired. But I never took dance classes. Go figure. So tell me (and the rest of the world), when you were a tiny tyke, what did you want to be?

Cough, Hack, Sniff, Groan

These are not beaded pieces. No, no -- they are unwanted visitors. Streptococcus and sinusitis came a little early this year. I usually don't get a visit from them until October or November. Did you know you're not really sick until you run a fever? And although I can breathe better when I sit up, it makes my head pound, so I'm going back to my bed as soon as I take an antibiotic, a vitamin and a few OTC pain relievers. Carry on without me, troops. I will return!

Yuck Still, Yet & Again

It is a gloriously beautiful day here on the prairie. There is a nice, cool breeze gently blowing. The pool is sparkling and very inviting. The birds are singing and cooing. It's a good day for a book, a lawn chair and a shade tree followed by a dip in the pool. Yesiree, it's a great day.

I feel like shipoopy (as Margot would say). My ordered books have not arrived, and I have lawn chairs but no shade tree. I'm afraid that if I go float in the pool, I'll fall asleep and burn to a crisp. Crapola. T-man swears that my symptoms indicate the downside of this cold, but I believe he may be wrong. I also believe he is forgetting about my wonky immune system. If most people have a cold that lasts for 48 hours, you can bet that Theresa will have it for a week. I say again, YUCK. Please keep in mind that this is NOT a plea for sympathy. I'm just venting before I go make my chicken soup AGAIN. I detest being ill and not being able to function normally, well as normally as possible for me.

If you'll excuse me, I'm going back to my bed for a bit. Maybe I'll feel better later. Maybe. Possibly. Jeez, I hope so.

Summer Cold ~ Yuck

Yes, it's true. I caught this freaking cold from T-man who caught it from Ariel who caught it who knows where. I'm hoping I'm on the downside, but I feel like something the cat drug in and forgot about for three days. Yippee. We're still planning our Labor Day relaxation fun, I'll just do it all in slow motion and maybe from my bed.