A Week of Firsts

This week just abounded with "firsts". The first of the month, the first of the year, the first time I sunburned my nose in 2009, the first time the Little Red Dog saw Mobile Bay and got sandspurs in her fur, the first time the cat burped up on the carpet since December 31, 2008, and the first time I had to do housework this year. What a mad and giddy whirl my life is!

It's snowbird season here on the Gulf coast so the library was balls to the walls on the first day we opened after the New Year's holiday. We're hoping the crappy economy doesn't mean our usual influx winter visitors is down this year. The city has already started cutting the budget and laying people off because of a projected revenue decrease - fewer folks down for the winter would really suck. I'm hoping Obama can deliver on his promise of change and get us out of this recession and quickly.

At the moment, we are okay here in the Green House. The offshore oil and gas industry still needs supply boats so the company the Taller Half works for still needs able bodied seamen. I've have made some adjustments to our household budget - cut back on the satellite TV channels (how many versions of Starz do you actually need anyway?). I canceled the online music subscription that wasn't being used very much and I'm only going to the grocery store once a week and then with a list - no impulse buys. The economizing that's the toughest to do though, is not buying any more beads (aarrgghh, the pain :<), yarn, paint, etc. I need to use the things I already have and allow my creativity to come up with new designs and patterns. I mean, isn't that what creativity is anyway? Necessity really is a mother sometimes though.

As a parting thought, I want to share a wonderful piece of journalism from the Mobile Press-Register in 1859. Oh, that we would write so eloquently now.

"A Happy New Year! We have the gratification of offering our readers our cordial greeting on the opening of the New Year. Blessed as we are with a bright and beautiful dawn on this natal day of the new circle of rolling time, and the blue sky that canopies our wide blue horizon with it's warm and pleasant airs, we have besides a world of moral glories and genial sentiments that invite us to the enjoyment of the festivities of the occasion, and the interchange of the compliments appropriate to the season."

Relaxing and Crafting - the Perfect Sunday

What a lovely Sunday. The little red dog and I have had a wonderfully relaxing time today. I actually got to read the whole Sunday paper without any interruptions or chores that really needed doing. The Taller Half comes home on Wednesday, so this was my last chance to enjoy an unwrinkled newspaper. This time of year the sun comes in the southern windows and makes the love seat in the kitchen the most wonderful place to read. There's a big windowsill to hold my coffee and any cats who want to watch the birds on the feeders.



This afternoon was Christmas card time. I was determined to get them done before the middle of December this year. My intentions are always good, but my follow-through leaves a bit to be desired. Not this time, though! The cards are signed, sealed and stamped, ready to go into the mailbox in the morning. Now I can start working on the handmade cards I've planned for my family. Since these won't be mailed, I can take my time and get creative. Recently I got the neatest CD-ROM / book of old fashioned Christmas card illustrations. I'm flipping through it to pick which ones I want to use in my snow globe design. In the one in the picture, I cut the figure of the penguin from a piece of wrapping paper. Pre-made blank cards, decorative paper for backgrounds and shapes, wrapping paper, designs printed from my computer, spray adhesive and opalescent glitter are the supplies I'm using. The local scrapbooking store, Gigi's Scrapbooking, was having a buy-2-get-1 sale on rubber stamps when I stopped in on Saturday, so being the frugal gal that I am... three holiday greetings stamps are now living on my workbench. My plan is to get all the printing and cutting out done in the evenings after work this week and spend next Saturday assembling the cards. For right now, though, it's time to finish watching Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire on TV. The snow scenes are really getting me into the holiday spirit.

Peace and Quiet (for the time being)

Gustav is gone with no lasting scars except for the pine tree in my neighbor's yard. It looks really cool the way it just snapped in half and the green part is still attached and hanging down. It sort of looks like a closed pen knife. Now if we can only hold off Ike. The Cone of Doom is moving slowly westward so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

The weekend was nice and peaceful. The little red dog and the Pink Man actually sat together on the couch while I read the Sunday paper. What you can't see in the photo is Mimi walling her eyes at me in terror every few minutes. The little sweetie cat was in the window sill behind me biting my head when I took the photo.

Saturday was just a do-nothing day; I watched movies and read most of the day. Sunday, however, was a festival of jewelry making. There were some good old films on Turner Classic Movies it is was just too hot and humid to even think about staying outside for longer than 10 minutes at a time, so I sat down to the work table and began thinking. Not having any sort of pattern or even I idea of what I wanted to make, I started looking through the stash for inspiration. There were a few things (okay, quite a few) I had forgotten I had. The moss green freshwater pearls caught my eye and for the next couple of hours I was lost in my work. The result was this necklace with a rhinestone centerpiece. I've been trying to get a good photo of it but I'm having trouble with the lighting. I want to catch the glint off the crystals in the focal piece and the ones in the pearl strand and yet show the beautiful color of the pearls. This is the best one so far. I'm going to keep trying until I get it right.

I was on a roll after I finished the pearl necklace and in the next 4 hours I made three more necklaces using some of the beads I've shown in past posts - the blue and white porcelain and Russian serpentine. Let me mention at this point that I hate to do the fiddly work like putting jump-rings on charms or making wrapped loop components. I like laying out the design and picking the colors to put together. That said, I spent close to an hour putting jump-rings on tiny, gold-plated maple leaves for the serpentine necklace. It wouldn't have taken that much time if I hadn't kept jumping up to _____(insert name of activity here)________. Anything from laundry to brushing out the dog's ears to making a pitcher of tea gave me an excuse to put down the pliers and get up for a few minutes. I finally got it done and am pretty pleased with the results. Now for really hard part - taking the photographs. I'm going to make a start at it tonight but not really spend a lot of time on it.

The taller half is coming home Wednesday and I want to get the house nice and tidy (jeeze that sounds domestic...bleah!) so that he can trash it when he comes in with 9 weeks of laundry and assorted boat crap. The crew change was cancelled last week because of the Hurricane Gustav so he is more than ready to get off that boat this time. Well, come ahead on, Big Guy, the beer is cold and there are plenty of Bush's beans to keep you content. That is unless Ike changes his mind and we have to go back into hurricane mode. Keep your fingers crossed!

Time to straighten up the workroom

I finally had enough. The workroom, which is also the entrance to the house from the carport had reached critical mass. The stack of library books waiting to be read was starting to teeter and all the new beads I had splurged on were at the bottom of a pile of magazines and mailing supplies. So into the chaos I plunged.

I'd like to say that I quickly and efficiently dispatched the task at hand, but who am I kidding. With breaks to take the red dog outside, hang some sheets on the line, put a crock pot of fresh cream peas on to cook, watch the all day marathon of Deadliest Catch http://dsc.discovery.com/fansites/deadliestcatch/deadliestcatch.html, stand patiently in the spray of the garden sprinkler to get some great photos of a blue dragonfly and paint my toenails, I finished up at 7:30 tonight. Who says I can't multi-task.

Last night I had a spurt of energy and made a new eyeglasses holder for the http://BeadDEyes.etsy.com shop. As my friends know, I like any color as long as it's blue. This piece is no exception. I used large size seed beads in a rich cobalt blue and accented them with silver filigree tubes. The combination reminds me of Faberge eggs and the fantastic Russian glassware set in filigree holders. My mother has a perfume bottle like that and I always love looking at it in the sunlight.

Now it's Sunday night - the laundry is done (okay, it's not all put away yet, gimme a break), the kitchen is cleaned up, I'm on the last episode of Deadliest Catch and as soon as I take red dog for her last walk of the day, I'll be ready to snuggle down on the fresh sheets that smell of the sun and salt air. I really am blessed.

Okay, now take a deep breath...

Damn it's hot! The weather radio kept going off all day with severe thunderstorm warnings. No rain here at the house just unbearable humidity. The taller half put in the invisible dog fence, mostly, so I guess I'll start with the training sessions tomorrow. I hope this doesn't make nervous red dog a complete basket case.

Just call me stupid: I went to Wally World today - along with every tourist in town for the holiday. Sometimes I have to wonder where my brain goes at times like this. Ran into a couple of friends who had the same deer-in-the-headlights look as all the poor locals. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad folks like to vacation in my town - keeps me in a full-time job. But ... does the whole family have to go to the store together? There ought to be a crowd cluster limit on the shopping carts. No lie, I saw 17 people walking along with one cart and driver. Seventeen!? Why can't just a couple of the group go shopping and the rest stay at the beach I thought they came to see?

While I'm on a roll ... why do tourists have to go eat at the fast food places exactly at noon when they could go anytime at all because they are on vacation! It is almost impossible for us working people to get out in the traffic, go through the drive-up (or even walk in, for that matter) and get back to work in the allotted hour lunch break. I really feel for the people who only get 30 minutes. Please, visitors to our fair city, think about those of us who aren't on vacation and don't have all day to grab a bite to eat because we are providing the services you want, deserve and expect to be available. Please don't make us wait behind you while you keep asking "honey, what do you want" when "honey" is only 3 years old and would believe anything is a chicken nugget if you said it was. Actually, I tried that with a little one once -told her that popcorn shrimp and bites of hamburger steak were chicken nuggets - it worked.

Whew, that was a lot to get out of my system. Now for the rest of the weekend I'm going to stay here at the ranch(house), drink lots of cold beverages, barbecue some ribs, spend a little quality time at the workbench - still haven't gotten to those lovely new beads - and read the new Dave Robicheaux novel from James Lee Burke. www.jamesleeburke.com/bibliography/42.php

Thanks for reading and letting me vent my frustrations. I feel like I have gotten in touch with my inner George Carlin -- God I'm going to miss him. www.georgecarlin.com/

I really do like tourists it's just that sometimes...