It's Been A Month?

Wow! I had no idea that I had neglected the blog for so long! Okay, here's the scoop.

The wire is out and I feel great! Progress is good and I'm actually starting to move. I tried to drive. Driving went well, stopping did not. Fortunately I chose a safe place for the test.

Max came home the week before Thanksgiving!



Marshall is doing well and we're hoping he can come home by Christmas (positive thoughts, please!).



For Thanksgiving dinner we had our traditional mac and cheese with sausage, ending with a homemade lemon curd tart. The only thing missing was being in front of a campfire with a warm sleeping bag waiting. Next year we'll get back to that.

It's freaking cold here. We'll need to protect the garden from a freeze on Friday (we don't want to loose our winter tomatoes!) only to have it get all warm again next week. That's winter in Central Texas.

T-man finished the first classes of his degree plan with an 82 and a 97, and I am so proud of my husband!

Ariel has started rock climbing and made her very first summit.

I've had my first 2011 teaching proposal accepted and as soon as the contract is signed I'll have details. I'm finishing a new teaching piece. I'm in my winter doldrums and pretty much have to force myself to work.

And that's all I have for you. Stay warm and keep on beading on!

This Is Kind Of Cool

I found something a little different to share with you today. I know some of you use and keep smaller amounts of beads, and as such you want something inexpensive for your beads. Check this out. It uses not only inexpensive but recyclable supplies to make your storage tubes.

Hope the sun is shining on you today!

What More Could A Beader Want?

How about another chance to win Marcia's book? Hop on over to Lorelei's Blog and leave a comment. Maybe you'll win. Maybe I'll win. Someone is going to win!

AND if you pre-order Beverly's new book (also signed), you receive free beads and a chance to win beads and fibers worth over $400!

Don't forget about Art Bead Scene with their weekly giveaways and the monthly challenge. The newest challenge started this week. Take yourself on over and see the inspirational painting.

Everything I did bead-wise over the weekend must be redone. SIGH And I must go back to my orthopedic surgeon in two weeks to have a little something fixed. SIGH BUT the grandsons are growing like weeds and doing just fine, so something in my world is still okay!

Excuse My Being Remiss, Please!

It's been a hectic week here at Chez Bead-Mused. Fortunately, things have turned around. I got my most recent teaching proposal out the door just in the nick of time. Whew! Our little Marshall had a reaction to his dialysis fistulas, which caused a bit of alarm since the first thought was infection. Apparently this reaction is not unusual, just scary and for now he is fine. His dialysis starts next week so hopefully he'll be ready to come home in a few weeks. And Max is now four pounds big and nursing on his own. He'll be ready to come home soon. I'm waiting for just a few days when Natalie and Bryan can take deep calming breaths and just sit still for a while. And my physical therapy is progressing. This time has been a bit more difficult. I think it's just due to the other stress surrounding me right now, but I'll muddle through.

I have more giveaways and contests for you. I really didn't forget.

Heather Powers at Humbelbeads has a little project driven giveaway. You still have time to use your creativity to win a nifty prize. If nothing else, the visit is worth it just to look at Heather's designs.

I've missed seeing all the color on Beverly Gilbert's blog, but she more than made up for it this time. Hurry! You have until this weekend to enter and win and explosion of yumminess!

I'll try to keep up next week. In the meantime, have a fun, safe Halloween and remember to honor those who came before us on All Hallow's Eve.

Creative Thoughts

This is a "skewered dragon-fae" necklace that I made for my dear friend Michelle back in July. It was a special request, right down to the beautiful blues. Michelle and I met way back when I belonged to the fantasy/medieval role playing group (the same one wherein I met the love of my life). Once upon a time, Michelle and I did not speak to each other for years, which was a very sad time for me. We have since found our way back to each other, for which I'm exceedingly grateful. It's not easy to find good friends. It's even more difficult to hold on to them. I kept forgetting to post the picture of her birthday present! Her birthday is three days after mine, and her celebration was absolutely fantastic -- it was at a CHOCOLATE AND WINE BAR in Austin! Heavenly!!

And I've been trying to take my mind off my pain. It's a little worse this time, but this knee was in worse shape. Anyway . . .

I'm looking more at fibers. I left off fibers a while back, thinking that I just didn't have time to play with them. I might be wrong. I'm still hungering to work with wire more. I feel that if I make more of my own findings, the pieces will belong to me even more so. Of course, that might make parting with them even more difficult. Then there is metal. Geez, I love copper and bronze and etching seems not so difficult to do so I really, really want to.

But I also have to consider what I've chosen to do for a living and try to work all my little desires into the time I have left over when not coaxing little bits of glass into pleasing shapes and then writing down how to exactly that for others. And I couldn't leave those infuriating bits of melted sand if you held a gun to my head. As a result of all this musing, I've also been trying to think of ways to meld a few of the "I wants" with the tiny beads. Aha! (Believe me, it's probably much more difficult for me than it sounds.)

I'm also trying to come up with little items to stock in the Etsy store that folks might like to purchase for holiday gifts, and I've made the monumental decision to offer my patterns, tutorials and kits in the Etsy store. At this point I would like to open the floor to you, beadlings, to find out what you would like to see out of my repetoire of said patterns/tutorials/kits. Just remember that I'm still not up to full steam, so it will be a trickle of goodies, not a huge flood!

Have a beadiful weekend!

Giveaway Wednesday And Other News!

So I changed the day of the week. Look, I'm lucky if I know what year it is right now! First, Cindy at Sweet Bead Studio has a little giveaway that is right up my alley. I've really been wanting to delve into more wire work and this is perfect for a beginner when it comes to just that.

Lorelei has the final Green Girl Studios giveaway -- hearts! Yum. Go leave your comment and good luck.

Can you name these beads? If you can, you might just win some. Go help Kelley out.

And one of my favorite places, Art Bead Scene, is having a book giveaway. We all know we need more beading books, and this one is from my pal Marcia DeCoster!

Babies: Natalie was supposed to be able to hold Marshall for the first time last night. I'm waiting for an update and new pictures. Max is in the intermediate care nursery now. His next step will be to actually nurse. He's rooting and trying to tell everyone he's ready.

Knee: I'm just waiting on my therapist for today's torture session.

Beady stuff: Little feelings of creativity are surfacing. I just need to be able to sit up without becoming utterly exhausted. Here's a hint, kids, when your doctor says to take it easy he really means it. When you end up overdoing, you kind of slide bassackwards. Know what I mean? (but I would do it again in a heartbeat!)

Life Is A Roller Coaster

Well, my impatient little grandsons are here, 10 weeks early. They came Tuesday morning, just could not wait until Thanksgiving. They barely waited until Nonnie got out of the hospital! That's Max on top, he's older by six minutes. Then there is Marshall, who gave us all quite a scare but now he's just fine. And Natalie is fine, but tired. They weight around 3.5 pounds, but Marshall is now just over 4 pounds! They will both be off ventilators today, and breathing on their own with just the CPAP for help. And they can now both be held by their mommy and daddy. Max looks like Natalie, and Marshall looks like Bryan. We are just all so happy that there are not enough words. Bear with me for a while as my beady blog gets taken over by baby news.

The knee is fine, but I'm exhausted. This is the first day I've had to relax since I was discharged Sunday. I need to take stock of where I am in the beady scheme of things since life has been a big series of ups and downs this week. I cannot believe it's already Friday. I'll try to get back on track this weekend and intersperse some beady stuff with babies next week. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. I know I will!