Archive for December, 2008

Seasons Greetings

Tuesday afternoon

It came and went! We managed all of our preparations, and a lovely slap up Christmas dinner of turkey and all the trimmings and more was had and enjoyed by all at our house on Christmas day. Apart from all the stress and hard work we had a lovely day, and lots of fun presents. My favourite has to be the cute little fluffy sheep with spindly legs that goes ‘baa’ when you squeeze it. I’m easily pleased. 😉

Boxing Day evening was spent with lots of the in-laws, followed by a quiet Saturday, then I somehow managed to get the winter vomit bug, yipee. Actaully it wasn’t too bad, as I had it at night, and it didn’t last long, it just left me feeling extremely tired and fed up because I couldn’t enjoy any of the lovely food in the house. I’ve also been avoided like a leper by Rick and our daughter, who fortunately haven’t had the joy. I reakon my defences are so low at the moment because of the stupid cold I still have. At least I’ve had lots of much needed rest now and have lost another couple of pounds weight. Oh, did I tell you I’ve been losing weight since last April? Nah, I didn’t because it was too embarrassing and rather personal, and I couldn’t get myself out of it, but to date I’ve now lost nearly 2 and 1/2 stone, so the bug has had some benefit I suppose, and hopefully it has counteracted the effects of all the lovely Christmas food. I had my first taste again of our lovely festive Nigella ham that we cooked last week, and hope to manage a mince pie later maybe? And of course tomorrow is New Years Eve, so seasons greetings and a happy new year to all my readers.

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Cometh the day

Tuesday morning

Cometh the hour…..oh dear, doesn’t it creep up on you even though you know it’s coming and everything you do and think about is geared to preparations for it? Less than 2 days to go, and I should really be doing some food prep or something rather than blogging, but this is more fun. I’m rather reluctant to be cooking at the moment as my cold is in major full swing, and doesn’t seem to be getting any better at all. I still have achey teeth (I always get that), a painful throat, a throbbing headache, I’m very bunged up with gloop, and my eyes are bloodshot and sticky. Oh doesn’t it sound just lovely! It just doesn’t seem to be easing at all, to the point that I’m considering going to the doctor for some antibionics. Loads of my friends have had all this too, it’s a real sharing cold!

Yesterday I  took my life in my hands and braved the hoards in Sainsbury. I was kind of hoping that it wouldn’t be too busy as there are still another 2 days left to shop for food. I was so wrong, it was awful. There were 2 or 3 people for every normal one shopper with more people shopping anyway, lots of teenagers continually restocking the shelves – this was good but also meant lots of space taken with extra people and a couple of extra stacks of crates in each aisle. It was 10 times worse than Ikea on a Saturday, which I can cope with, but the slow shuffle around and waiting to get to all the shelves was awful. It took me a mamoth 3 1/4 hours to get round as I was buying lots of things I don’t normally, and it took me ages to find everything. I must have bumped about 30 trolleys in the process. I had planned to split the shop into 2 visits but couldn’t face going back again so pressed on and managed to get everything I could possibly need.

I was faced at the end with a whopping parking fee of £50 when I put my card in the slot!  This I was definately not going to pay, as I would have got round in half the time had it been less busy. I had visions of camping in the car park, hoping that the barriers would go up and stay there overnight, alternatively I would ram raid the barriers when no one was looking, I’d have to wait for the queue of cars leaving to die down first. Maybe Rick would have to bring sarnies and a hot flask of tea down to keep me going. How would he get the heavy turkey home? Would it fit on his bike? Fortunately Rick went and questioned the fee, told them to look at the swarms of shoppers, showed them our shopping bill and we got out of it. Phew.

The moral of this story…..Don’t do Christmas…..or if you do…..have beans on toast.

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Lost for words

Friday morning

It’s official, I’ve lost my voice….but not the use of my fingers, ha ha. Oh dear, this cold I’ve had for the last 2 1/2 weeks was actually starting to clear up on Wednesday, or so I thought, then my ear bunged up, my throat started hurting and I’m full of yuk. I’ve had earache for the last 36 hours (I thought only school kids got that) and today I woke up and for the first time in my life I can’t speak…hurrah said Rick…..and my daughter came in our bedroom just to say hello and laugh at my response. huh. Honestly, my family, what are they like???? lol.

Needless to say all this illness is putting a bit of a strain on my efforts to sort Christmas for us. Rick said last night that we weren’t organised, I think we are, we just haven’t finished everything we need to do! I mean, what does ‘being organised’ mean?  Lots of people smugly ask if I’m organised, now do they mean ‘Have you done everything?’ or ‘Is everything going to your plan for preparing for Christmas?’. I have to admit to always thinking I’m not organised because everything’s not done, but actually last night I realised that I am actually organised, I just haven’t done everything yet, but it’s all going to plan….except for the Christmas cards which I haven’t started yet, cos I’m too tired in the evening due to my cold. I know what we need to do each day, and have planned the jobs for each day next week. I also cunningly wrote down lots of notes about how we cooked Christmas dinner 2 years ago, you know, stuff like how many veg to do and about not cooking it to perfection………did you know if you put perfect cooked veg in a covered dish they keep on steaming and get soggy? what time things came out of the oven, and even what dishes we used to serve them. I know it may sound over the top, but the thought of having to learn it all again another year sent shivers down my spine, so I wrote as many notes as I could after the last event, and I have to say it’s already made me feel more on top of things.

Well, as nice as it is talking to you guys, I must stop procrastinating and get on with my list of jobs for the day. I hope your plans go well.

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ice, ice, baby

Tuesday morning

3 deg c today, and I thought they said it would be 6 deg on the weather forecast last night. At least it doesn’t feel quite so cold as it did last week, especially not like the day when I managed to trip the fuse, and there’s still lots of time for it to warm up a bit. I have my 90 handmade glass beads order to make today, so I can’t hang around here too long as I need about 4 1/2 hours to physically make the beads, not allowing for comfort breaks, getting hot drinks, lunch and any other faffable tasks like searching for the perfect colour rod of glass or going indoors to warm up for a bit. That means I have just under 5 hours to do the deed, I have a feeling this may have to stretch to finishing off this evening or tomorrow. I also have a fun session planned when I will make some beads to be used for making presents, and also some icicles and maybe a stacked star or 2 if I have the 40 minutes available that each one takes. Must dash and get my thermals on. Please don’t forget to check out my new beads in my shop! cheerio.

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New Beads for sale, in time for your Christmas makes

Thursday lunchtime

At last, I have restocked my shop with some of my handmade glass beads, and I hope to add some jewellery later to the jewellery and pendants sections. Please do go and take a look see. To order just drop me an email and I’ll send a Paypal request unless you tell me otherwise.

2 deg C, that’s what it was in my studio yesterday, brrrrr, and it was soooo cold that I decided to have the heater up full blast.  That was a huge mistake, as halfway through my session something went click and I was plunged into darkness and silence as the light went off and my radio, oxygen concentrator and fan heater came to an abrupt stop. Oh dear, my first thought was that we had just had a power cut, but a quick whizz up to the house to inspect the many clocks and appliances told me otherwise. An hour later and I had pulled myself together and found the blown fuse in my new Wattmeter, removed it from the circuit and managed to have lunch too.

So today, I just can’t bear to be outside again, its been really cold this week, and even with my thermals head to toe I’ve been feeling it. Let’s hope it warms up a bit next week, a bit of rain would help……tee hee. I’m hoping to make some icicles (glass ones, not ice ones, I know I’ve been complaining about the cold snap), some big holed beads for my lovely Pandora bracelet that Rick gave me for my birthday (which reminds me I need to order some larger silver tubing), and some whopper beads to adorn some of the many beadable winestoppers I had Rick bring back from the States in October.  I’m hoping to make some of these to put in my shop, and I’m planning to make a new section for my big holed silver core beads that I made to fit the Troll System. I’m still trying to think of a suitable name for them, I wish the names came as easily as the designs.

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Running on Empty (still the song titles)

Thursday morning

It’s not snowing here, all though it is oop north, we just have cold and wet, good job I’m not torchering today, even if I wanted to I couldn’t just yet as both tanks of propane are empty, and I really don’t have time to get refills. I have a pair of rather interesting raised design beads from when I was ‘running on empty’ before the flame finally disappeared, I may just turn them into a pair if earrings for me I like them so much. I have all sorts of jobs to do today to get ready for my fairs and exhibition, including cleaning my 96 beads (boo), making up jewellery (yay), making tens of headpins (boo), looking at my pretties and deciding how much to charge for them (yay)……..I also have my new simple beads ready for my ‘credit crunch range’ and they’re rummy, I may even design a tiddley pendant to go with them if I have any spare matching beadies. Have a fun day, I know I will, even if it does get a bit manic.

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Brass monkeys…….

Tuesday evening

96 beads today! woo hoo, but boy it was freezing in my studio today, it’s such a good job that I’ve finished my teaching for this year, as it’s reet proper cold now. I was dressed snuggly in thermals from neck to toe and my feet were still cold, even with the heater on. I’m going to have to resort to thicker hiking socks and hiking boots next time I think, at least I can get the laces done up now I hope…..which reminds me, I put my socks on every day without thinking about it. What’s that about? Well, before and after my op I couldn’t reach my right foot to put socks on, and I definately couldn’t do up my shoelaces. Picture this if you will, I have to sit on the bottom steps of the stairs (even now) so I can reach my feet to put socks and boots on, and for the last couple of days I’ve been sitting down and popping my right sock on without even noticing I’m doing it, you know, one minute I sit down to do it, the next I’m wandering around the house and realise the job’s done, well, woo hoo. I must try shoelaces next. lol.

All this cold weather is making me want to stay indoors and not make beads, which is sort of good because I should be making and polishing headpins, making up jewellery and generally getting ready for this weekend, although I do need to make some icicles to send to the Surrey Guild Gallery, and some simple beads for my ‘credit crunch lampwork range’. This year I have given up making any silver plated jewellery, and I’m working excusively with sterling silver, my beads, bought lampwork beads and gem stones and pearls. I will be reducing some of my silver plated jewellery and doing a few special offers for the remaining pieces to clear the decks for my silver work.

If you’re wondering about my title, follow this link to Wipipedia for a fun explanation.

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