ANOTHER ETSY OBJECT

I'm really determined to get some things on Etsy, so I've been trying to add something new everyday.  This is what I put on tonight.  You can see it here:  http://www.etsy.com/shop/kybeadmaker.  While making beads tonight I burned the  palm of my hand, where my thumb is.  YOWZERS that hurt.  I am now soaking my hand in a combo of Aloe and ice water.  Usually works for me.  At least I didn't stick my hand directly in the flame this time.  I laid it down on a graphite marver that I had been using on a hot bead for about 20 min.....did I mention that graphite is a wonderful conductor of heat?

BETTER NEWS

I started making some beads again.  I'm putting things in my Etsy shop for now.   Stress can really beat the heck out of a person, so I'm taking is slowly.  I'm going to a counselor too.  I just have to find a way to deal with all of this sadness that seems to surround me and my entire family. My son told me the other day that he still wakes up in the morning and can't believe that it happened.  Honestly, I can't either.  I think we will all be better when the divorce is final, but of course for the children that is when reality begins to set in.  It is what it is, but it's still the second saddest thing in my whole life.

Here are some pictures of what I put in my Etsy shop......trying to end on a good note here.  Our family is strong, in the end we will be okay.

SOMETHING HAPPY

This is our oldest grandchild, Harrison.  He's eight.  This is him holding his cousin, our youngest grandchild, Cassidy, who is now three.

                                                                                   



Harrison has been asking for a sibling for a long, long time, but it seemed like it was not to be. Several weeks ago HB and I got a bouquet of flowers delivered.  It was on a Friday afternoon and it was no one's birthday or anniversary or any other day of importance.  I opened the card and it said:


"Dear Happy and Pop,
I am going to be a Big Brother!
Love, Harrison

WOW!!  Harrison is overjoyed, so are his grandparents!

LIFE'S LESSONS

I keep finding theses quotes I just love, and for right now they make me feel better.  I am seeing my family come together during this rough time and that is a good thing.  We are  a strong support system for each other and care very much how the others feel.  I think it's during the worst of life's experiences that we often find out what we are really made of.  I am so proud of my middle child.

                                                    

QUOTE TO THINK ABOUT

I read this quote of FB tonight.  I don't know who wrote it, but I like it.  Wait, I found out who wrote it.  CHARLES M. BLOW


One doesn’t have to operate with great malice to do

great harm. The absence of empathy and

understanding are sufficient."

SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT

I found this on my friends facebook page.
I love it.

THE NOSE KNOWS

and mine knows that it is really, really stopped up.  Remember when I fell over the curb at Starbucks this winter?  After that I had a period of time when I couldn't smell or taste things.  This sent me to an ENT who stuck that long tube up my nose and told me I had a deviated septum.  Well, last Wed I had the surgery to straighten my septum and get rid of excessive tissue in my nose. It has not been fun.  First of all I can't breathe through my nose..... at all, therefore I can't taste anything.......again. Or smell. Two things I like doing a lot.  Secondly, I have to do this gross nasal wash with saline twice a day, for TWO weeks!!  I'm NOT explaining it...the term nasal irrigation should be explanation enough.  It is not pretty. I am not allowed to blow my nose, lift anything heavy, bend over to get things off the floor, and should refrain from sneezing, if at all possible.  If I do have to sneeze, I am to do it with my mouth open, only.  How do you think that goes over in a grocery store?

I'm hoping I will be glad I had this done, but right now the antibiotic they have me on makes me nauseated all day long.  So let me sum this up.  A simple little Starbucks stop  caused me to injure myself enough that I had to have long tubes stuck up in my nose, followed by surgery to fix my nose, which lead to unpleasant  treatments involving fluids running into my nose, also causing restrictions on how I am able to use my own body, to clean my house, or rid it of foreign objects, like pollens that must be ejected from said body immediately........AND finally, I am a terribly allergic person who is now a social outcast because I must sneeze with my mouth wide open.  When people look at me they don't know about my nose, it looks fine.  So, now I'm just a weird old lady who sneezes with her mouth open..........all because I wanted a mocha frappacino on a rainy winter day, and forgot that there was a cement curb to step over on my way back to the car.  It could happen to anyone...right?

IT'S BEEN A BUSY MONTH

HB has been in the hospital twice since I blogged last.  His disease affects his lungs and he has difficulty breathing.  In case anyone is interested his disease is antiphospholipid syndrome.  It's a clotting disorder.  His blood clots too easily.  While it's not uncommon to carry the marker for the disease only 4-5% of the population in the world actually has the disease.  I wonder if I've blogged about this before?  It's night and I'm too lazy to go through all my posts, so if I have, just skim on past this.  Anyhow, he's been feeling kind of punk so we've been spending lots of time at Dr's offices etc.  He has home oxygen and is hooked up to an oxygen concentrator during the day with this 50 foot tube he drags behind.  One of us is going to trip over it and do some serious damage to ourselves.  One thing is certain...it's never dull at our house.
We did go to a wedding in Indianapolis last weekend.  It was family and I made Hank take it easy.  We went to Nordstrom's while we were there.  Well actually I went to Nordstrom's while Hank and his brother, who is a pulmonologist sat in the mall.  My sister in law went to some other stores.  OMG I love Nordstroms.  In 15 min. I bought perfume, a pair of shoes and a cool top.  Everything I saw I loved!  Their shoe department was gigantic....and the shoes were AWESOME !!!!!!!!
Here's a picture  Cute huh?  It's canvas.  I love shoes and purses, way too much :)  Okay enough rambling.  I just wanted you to know I am still around.  Hope everyone is having a great summer.

AGING

This week I read an article in the paper.  I can't even remember what it was about, probably because midway through I received shocking information.  I am elderly...that's right, me, a person who still listens to country music, loves make up and clothes, has her hair highlighted, and thinks of herself as middle aged is ELDERLY.  I do remember that the article referred to an elderly 68 year old man who had been in an accident.  I am 68 and I have never, not once thought of myself as elderly, but obviously other people do.  I wonder what makes people decide when we are elderly?  Is it our age, or the way we look or dress?  What age group considers 68 year old people elderly?  Are they teenagers, thirty somethings?  I remember when I was young I thought my grandmothers were old and they were in their sixties, but they kind of acted old.  They dressed matronly, they were kind of serious, but their lives were a lot harder than mine is.
I'm not loving this getting older thing, but it is what it is. I try really hard to stay up with things...thanks to my kids who keep me technically informed.  I can accept the fact that I'm getting older, I'll be 70 in 2 years.......but journalists and everyone else, don't rub it in. Okay?  You can say I'm aging, you can say my age, just don't be calling me elderly. It  makes me kind of cranky.

LITTLE PROGRESS ON SOME THINGS

Well, I haven't started the quilt yet, even though my intentions were good.  I did, however, clean my studio.  Wow was that a job!  When you are a beadmaker there is just a certain amount of mess involved.  Little pieces of glass pop off the rods as you are heating them.  The kiln wash that you put on the mandrels to keep the glass from sticking to them seems to flake off everywhere.  Then there is the whole frit thing.  Frits are ground up pieces of glass that are about the size of coarse salt.  It is used to decorate the beads. Beads are often rolled in frit and then it is melted into the glass.  When you pour frit out into a small container to be used  on your workbench it seems to want to go everywhere.  It spills, it overflows, and never stays where you put it. Same with the enamels, which require careful use because they are a powdered form of glass, and very bad for the lungs.  You need to wear a respirator when working with enamels.  That makes you feel awkward in the first place,  Then the enamels tend to stay in clumps,. so when you pour them, they all decide to come out of the jar at once.
I will be the first to admit that I'm not a neat beadmaker, but I do clean off my workbench every night when I am done for the day.  However the stuff on the floor is left to accumulate...and it does.  So I spent a good 5 days cleaning everything up.  This included my jewelry making table where hundreds of seed beads waited to be returned to their original containers.  I nixed that idea and introduced them to the waste basket.  Sometimes I am just ruthless :).....maybe lazy would be a better term.   I did get some beads made this week and right now these beads are on ebay.

I hope everyone is having a good weekend.  I'm on Prednisone again so I'm hoping to get all my dresser drawers and closets cleaned out this week!.......and a slew of beads made!