Back to the Beads!

Here's my baby Twigs looking all bling-ed out and almost finished

click to enlarge any of the pictures

But then, sigh, so much more to do......

And here is Jenna's braceled edged. 

I love it - it's pretty big; over 2 inches wide.

Joan (Jenna's mom) asked me to make a cuff for her to go with this dress:

I've started it, but no pics yet.....

And finally, my lucky win from Mzuribeads arrived today.  It's a bracelet kit and I absolutely love the colors!  It was a giveaway posted on Craft Gossip, which is a pretty nifty site - it's got every kind of creative medium covered.

Ok now that we filled our bead need,  I wanted you to laugh along with me as you watch the train chug past my new place:

It went by again this morning, which is only the second time I've seen it.  This time it was a passenger train, so I got to stand out there and wave to everyone.  They probably were thinking "oh my God, who would ever want to live so close to the tracks??"   Oh if they only knew the circumstances that brought me to living here!   Even I can't believe it !  Oh well, it is what it is.

Bead Happy and Often!

Just Checking In

Hi Everyone!

I still haven't had any time to figure out what is going on with my home computer - that dreaded blue death screen keeps appearing - so I have no beading pictures, sorry about that.  And I have had no time here at work to see what all you talented beings have been up to!!  Drat.

But I just wanted to let you know Hannah and I are settling in to our new 'country home' as we like to call it.  Our first night there was Sunday.  So far so good.  I have convinced myself that ITS ALL GOOD.  Hannah is happy and its been soooooo long since I've been able to say that, I am just focusing on that.  Everything else will fall into place.   

Last Thursday I spent the day cleaning the country place (and doing a fair amount of boo-hooing, I admit).  Just the night before, Hannah and I went to listen to a motivational speaker by the name of Ron Bachman.  (Please, if you have the time -- no please make the time -- go see his story.) So I was in the middle of cleaning the kitchen window which overlooks the railroad tracks and I was in the midst of a raging pity party, when I thought of Ron.  I immediately got mad at myself and said to myself:

 SO WHAT??! 

So What that the light at the end of the tunnel you saw when Hannah was happily attending her new school turned out to be the oncoming train?!  Get over it - get on with it!  

And then, I swear I'm not making this up, I heard the train whistle.  I grabbed my camera and ran out the front door and got a video of the train roaring past the apartment - what a sight!  I was cracking up laughing the whole time it went by.  How freakin' ironic was that timing??!  I'll post the video as soon as I can either:  (a) figure out what is going on with my computer or (b) wrestle Claire's laptop from her and use that. 

Keep Calm and Carry On!

Things are looking up

Yippee for me!  I won some free beads from the MzuriBeads folks! 

My home computer is still down, so I am posting from the office (shhhh).  So no pics for now on Twigs or the finished cuff :(  I'm going to wrangle my daughter's laptop from her so I can spend some time catching up on everyone's blogs and get some pics up.

Hugs!

Moving On

Thank you all for the encouragement!

 I woke up at 2:13 a.m. and immediately felt the pity party starting.  I got up so as not to wake Pete and after having myself a good cry, was going to get on line to distract myself and see what everyone has been up to here in blog land.  As (bad) luck would have it, my computer has taken ill -- the dreaded blue screen!!  OH NO! 

So, I put on my Ipod and pecked away at Twigs while trying not to allow the tears or the shaking hands from slowing me down.  He's looking good - almost done with his whole side :)

After spending the majority of the day yesterday on the phone trying to get to the bottom of this mess I did learn that the new school rejected Hannah because she was suspended last year.  Remember she was suspended as a result of 3 girls attacking her and therefore was involved in a fight - but the school doesn't care about the circumstances; just the fact that she was suspended is enough for them to deny admission.  Once I got over the anger at the unfairness of it, I actually felt good about it.  It made me realize this is a school that actually CARES about who is coming to their school!   

I signed my lease today and got my electrical service established.  Its a 6-month lease and my plan is to approach the School Board in 4 months and ask them to re-instate Hannah as a non-resident tuition paying student so that we can move back home and get our family back together.  I know Hannah will do me proud and give them no reason to see her as a 'delinquent'.  The poor kid just wants a fresh start and have the opportunity to make friends and actually learn, rather than being scared to death over who is waiting around the corner to harrass her. 

My Monday - Friday daily routine is going to go something like this:
Hannah will get the bus at 6:45 a.m., I'll leave the apartment and get home in time to see Meghan off to school, kiss my husband goodbye and wish Claire a good day at work, head to the office, go back to the apartment to get Hannah around 3 p.m., come back home to make dinner and have 'family time', return to the apartment around 9:30 ish for the night. 

I CAN DO THIS!!!     

Short Lived Peace

I received some devasting news on Friday upon picking Hannah up from her new school.  Somehow or another, there was a serious lack of communication between the school and the school board.  The school board has denied Hannah's admission.  This came as a complete and utter shock, as I had received and paid her tuition bill which came from the school board.  So how they 'didn't know' she was attending without 'permission' from them is beyond me.  It is a mess and confusing and at the time, I was so distraught I could barely speak, so I walked away in a state of despair with my head spinning and my heart broken.  The principal assured me there was no problem at all with Hannah and in fact, he had seen her making friends and fitting in very nicely.  He feels terrible and I do believe him, he is a very nice man.  I know he only follows the rules, he doesn't make them.  I do know that the contract I signed did state that the Board has every right to revoke admission without reason at any time.  That's exactly what they did. 

So after many tears and discussions, we have come up with Plan B.  Hannah loves that school and she deserves to be there after all she has gone through.  Our only option is to move into the district.   Moving the entire family at a moment's notice is out of the question, so tomorrow I will be apartment hunting in the district and as long as the place isn't completely disgusting, Hannah and I will be moving.  Unbelievable.  I don't see any other way around this.  It will be a huge adjustment and a sacrifice to say the least, but that is the only way I can insure her attendance without being at the mercy of the School Board.    

If I think too much about it, I feel completely overwhelmed and feel myself breaking down.  So I am going to KEEP CALM and CARRY ON.   At least that's the plan.  Wish me luck - I'll keep you posted.

Oh I'm so touched.....

Well, I was just getting ready to post about my cuff bracelet progress, and I saw that I had 6 comments to review.  (After a nasty "anonymous" commented on one post, I want to see any comments before they were published)

So I check these new comments......and.....well......I have to admit I got a little teary (I'm a crier, I admit it freely). 

You ladies ROCK!!!!  Thank you so much for all the love.  It's so so nice to know that you are interested in what I am doing and I really consider you all friends.  Really. Truly.  I still struggle with the weirdness of saying I'm a friend with someone whom I've never met face to face, but the fact is, I do consider you friends.  I just wish I could meet each of you and give you a heart-felt hug.  (ok, so I'm a hugger too!)  Just to actually hear your voices and laugh together....now that would be a blast! 

I'm always a little hesitant to expose "me" through my blog, I feel like I should just stick to my beadlife.  I guess I don't expect anyone to really care about my "life"life - but are just looking for some eye candy, inspiration, etc.  You girls make me realize that my blog is more than just about the beading.  Its about making friends, finding kindred spirits.  ~sigh, what could be better than that?

So, anyway, here's the cuff mounted:

click to enlarge

Just waiting for the glue to dry real well before I put on the edging.

Ok, and now a little slice of my "life" life:

As many of you know, my daughter Hannah had a very rough sophomore year due to a gang of girls whose only purpose in life was to torment her in any way they could [and the school administration (and the entire court system, actually) were complete failures in stopping it]. 

So returning to her school was completely out of the question.  I am beyond happy to say that Hannah started at her new school yesterday and I have to say, she is a changed person.  The happy, bubbly, chatter box is back!  She was literally bursting with relief and happiness that the kids AND the teachers AND the entire staff are the nicest people ever.  Do you have any idea how it feels to hear this ????!!!!  Talk about RELIEF!  I think I'm happier than she is :)    I wish I could turn back the clock 2 years and have her start in that district as a freshman! 

Back to the laundry.......

Bead Happy and Often!

Back in the Groove

My good friend, Joan, asked me to make a cuff bracelet for her 19-year-old daughter Jenna in black, silver and gray.  Absolutely.  Would love to.

So I started off with one of those gigantic 34 mm labradorite coin beads I had in my stash and off I went.  Beading aimlessly, not really sure what the design was going to be.  My favorite kind of beading.  Unplanned.  Spontaneous.  I think I like this type of beading because my life doesn't have a lot of room for spontaneity.  Anyway, this is what emerged:

Click any picture to enlarge

I needed an edge bead, and couldn't find enough size 8 in a black or silver and knew an 11 would look to whimpy, so I hunted through my beads and found this bag of cuties:

Spent some time digging through to pick out just the black beads and I'm ready to go. 

"Just" need to put the edging on. 

That won't take any time at all.....famous last words......

Bead Happy and Often!

2 "Wishes" Granted

Awoke this morning to 57 degrees and crisp gorgeous blue sky with scary gray globs of clouds scattered around.  YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!

Feeling invigorated and ashamed at the accumulation of dust, fur, and miscellaneous paperwork, etc., scattered about my studio, I set to work. 

I first looked at the small bulletin board that hangs above my filing cabinet.  Hmm, a letter from the high school telling me that if I didn't return Hannah's Earth Science book I would have to fork over $40.  Since I delivered that book over a month ago, I thought it was time I tossed the notice, right?  Down it came and underneath it was a mix of scraps of paper and post-it-notes that I had written the titles of various books that I had wanted to read. 

Here's one:

Now, how funny is this?  The girls and I had gone to the library last week and under this HUGE print of Niagara Falls was a display of the latest "One Book One Community" event.  Guess what book it is......

Yep. 

But what's really hysterical, is that I didn't even remember that was one of the books on my wish list until I saw it this morning on my bulletin board.  Of course, notice the date of the paper that I wrote it on - a full year ago!  I decided not to toss my little note - I tucked it into the pages of the book to remind me what a dope I am sometimes :)

Back to the cleaning..............enjoy your day!

Promises Promises

I am so SICK of summer. 

There. 

I said it. 

I can't believe I said it. 

I know that when the wind is whipping the snow around and it is dark at 4:30 p.m. until 7:30 a.m. I will be kicking myself for thinking this way.  But the heat and humidity this summer has dragged me down into a pit of the blahs. 

My body isn't made for the heat.  My head pounds at the slightest bit of exertion.   My ankles and feet swell and it actually hurts to walk.  I'm tired of having a sweat mustache.    Ever try blowdrying your hair while you're sweating?  (my hair must be blown dry, trust me - I have the worst hair on earth!) 

I miss walking my dog.  I miss digging in the garden (technically now a jungle).  I miss feeling energized and motivated.    I miss beading and knitting and zentangling.  I don't even feel like doing what I love.  I try.   Really, I do.  Mind over matter and all that.   But after 10 minutes I'm drained.  I wind up sitting on the couch with the fan blasting reading through a magazine or staring at the TV.  Soooooo not me!

I want to wear my knitted socks and my ultra-comfy stretch jeans with a long sleeve T shirt and walk the dog.    I want to go hiking into the Niagara Gorge and watch the rapids.   I want to bake and cook!   I want to clean my house.  What?!  Clean the house?  Oh my, the heat has definitely melted my brain.

The weather forecaster says I'll get my wish.  Tomorrow the forecast is for a high of 68 degrees!!  WHOO HOO!   

(thanks for listening to me whine - anybody got any cheese to go with that???)