Sarah Downton Beads and Jewellery

Monday afternoon

AAhhhh, I feel strange man. I returned home from my first taste of Acupuncture this morning, and oh I feel weird. Good weird, a bit spaced out and amazed at how good it was. It remains to be seen whether the course I’m about to embark on will make any difference to me, but at least I get to lie still and relax during the day instead of having to work or do housework, LOL.

It’s half term this week so no beady making for me unfortunately, I suppose I could go out in the evening but just can’t face the cold! I’m still working on dates and details of my courses, things are starting to come together so more news soon I hope.

Sunday tea time

Well, we’ve just about finished the mixing for our CD we’re producing. Phew. I really thought we’d be up into the wee hours straining our ears for clicks, and trying to get everything sounding really lushhhhhhhhhhhhh.

I’m supposed to be getting dinner ready not blogging, tee hee. I’m getting very excited at the prospect of going to Rochester this week to master the recording. Not just because it’s good fun and a good experience, but probably more because it’s just around the corner from Creative Glass, where I’m going to nick off and buy some glass. I’m hoping to get some of the new Bullseye colours and maybe some more Dichroic glass sheet and some Effetre. Can’t wait!

Friday evening

At last, I’m done!  It was with much trepidation that I attempted to file my online tax return last night.  Actually it went relatively smoothly, so I had half a Fursty Ferret to celebrate and caught up on Wednesday nights Desperate Housewives and split my sides laughing at this weeks ER. Talking of telly, what an amazing advert Honda have out at the moment.  It makes us laugh every time we see it.

I’ve had several enquiries regarding my courses, so keep them coming if you’re interested.  I’ve found a perfect venue for my bead and wire courses, and would now be interested to hear when you would like to attend them e.g. weekday mornings 10 – 1 or Saturday mornings 10 – 1, or maybe you prefer an evening class type of approach.

The lampworking will be in my studio on a one or two to one basis and will be a 6 hour day.  I’m planning to book Mondays and Tuesdays term time for this.

More details on my courses will follow very soon.  Have a great weekend.

Weds morning

Hi there, another week has passed and I’m still stuck indoors!  I’m definately going to be good and do my accounts as I go along this year.  I’ve had a real procrastination problem this last couple of weeks, there’s always something more interesting to do than my accounts (of course).  At least my virus is practically gone, I’m almost feeling like myself again.

I made the mistake of changing my screensaver yesterday to my own pictures slideshow.  Now I’m distracted by a marvelous array of my own memories – trips to Hampton Court flower show, jewellery and ancient glass beads at the British Museum and the Ashmolean in Oxford, my own glass beads, Chihully at Kew, and the list goes on.  Of course it’s making it even harder to get on with the job in hand! 

Weds evening

Almost there.  Boy this accounting stuff has given me a headache.  I’ve spent the last week plowing through my business accounts trying not to get in a muddle and being hampered by a virus.  I’m so fed up with paperwork and can’t wait to get back to my torch now.  I’ve definately decided to be more disciplined about doing my accounts and costings as I go along this next year.  So much so that I’m looking at buying a jewellery design program to help me stock take and cost jobs properly.  Just got to find a UK one!

Hopefully I’ll be back at the torch next week……4 days and counting!

Wednesday evening

Tonight’s the night!  The final 2 episodes of Lost, back to back.  Unfortunately we’re so tired we’re probably taping the final one to watch tommorrow, but I bet we’re too weak willed to resist watching it.  I love drama and films where you can discuss the plot and peoples actions for a long time.  Twelve Monkeys was one of those films.  I’d better trot off and do the rest of my chores before the fun begins.  Have a good evening.

Friday evening…..

Hello my beady buddies, or not so beady buddies (hi Peter, thanks for the link from your front page).

It’s already 6th January, and I haven’t yet made it out to my studio.  I have my lovely tax to do next week, but the good news is that I have a wonderful electrician friend coming to do my studio electrics on Monday, at last I can stop using candles and the clockwork radio (LOL).  Rick cybergeek extaordinaire (CE, haven’t used that name in a while) is very capable of doing the wiring thang but with the change in the law he’s not allowed anymore.  I knew he should have moved my studio 2 years ago!

I’ve had a lovely trip down memory lane this week, seeing 4 of my old haunt pubs on telly.  Three of them were on Thursday in ‘Three men in a boat’ with Griff Rhys Jones, namely The Barleymow at Clifton Hampdon, The Head of the River in Oxford, and The Old Anchor Inn on St Helens Wharf in Abingdon where I used to live (in Abingdon, not the pub….. or the wharf!).

The last was The Eagle and Child in Oxford, where I used to sit in the booths where Tolkein, CS Lewis and their friends used to meet and discuss their latest books.  Oh well, I shall sit and dream of Oxfords spires.

So where is it then?  It appears to be anywhere but here, where I live.  I can’t say I’m disappointed, well maybe just a little bit, I love the look of the snow, but am terrified of falling over….what a wus.

Back in the land of Lost, what a corker.  We watched both episodes again last night, doh, and now it looks like we have to wait two weeks for the season finale.  The up side is that C4 are doing a 6 hour back to back fest called Lost in Lost so at least we get to see the first episodes that we missed before we got hooked, yipee.

I’m not sure when I shall get to play with glass again, it may be next year, but hey, that’s next week.  It’s funny how the phrase ‘next year’ sounds such an age away normally, but as we race to the new year it’s only just around the corner.  I suppose we have to endure the look back at the year we’re leaving stuff now and listen to the usual list celebrities who’ve died this year, how jolly.

Best wishes for a Happy New Year. 

A very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all my customers, readers and friends.

Saturday evening

We spent time today in the Spellcast Studio in Horsham topping up my display of jewellery for sale, so do wander in and have a look if you’re in the area.  The Horsham lights and decorations are lovely again this year, they always do a wonderful job and make it a real pleasure shopping in town, especially on Saturdays when there is a Farmers Market and various deli-type stalls in the street.  We had to grab a hasty pasty (interesting rhyme) before rushing off to Horley to carol sing at an MS respite centre.  I think I’m starting to feel a little bit Christmasy, but I have to say I don’t usually feel it until Christmas eve.

Ooo and today we stumbled across someone who’d bought some of my beads at Lingfield and incorporated them into her own jewellery.  A lovely surprise.  They looked great how she’d used them (nice one Luci!).

Thursday evening

Hi there, I forgot to talk about my Thursday class discussions last week.  They became rather hilarious for me anyway, as the subject being discussed was ‘It was better in the old days’.  Even though work hours were long, pay small, and living conditions not so good, a couple of our older members said they were glad they weren’t young having to cope with society today.  It was a bit of a Monty Python sketch as going to work times and coming home times were discussed, at which point I chimmed in with ‘You were lucky, I used to get up before I went to bed, eat coal for Breakfast and we lived in shoebox int middle of road’.  Actually I think work can be as hard mentally and physically, because many people in their jobs are expected to work longer hours than their contract for no overtime on a daily basis, it seems to be the done thing, especially if you want to get a good reputation and get ahead.  OK our standard of living is way higher than 50 years ago, but this vision of a society with a 3 day week, loads of leisure time and paperless, just hasn’t come true.

Fantastic.  I’ve just seen the trailer for the new series of Shameless on C4.  Sooooo funny.  Of course it followed on from tonights gripping installment of LOST (which I naughtily watched last week).  And no, I’m not going to stay up late tonight to watch the next one.  I hope!  I think all the last months effort has caught up with me and I’m now feeling more tired than normal.

We popped to see the Christmas lights at a residential close in Horsham tonight.  It’s one of those where all the neighbours absolutely festoon their houses, gardens, paths, hedges and any available space with lights and various lit up seasonal pictures.  It’s a bit over the top for my liking but the kids love it and they raise lots of dosh for the local St Catherines Hospice.  Last year they had £11,000 donated.  At least they don’t have lots of music and sounds playing loudly to upset their other neighbours, unlike some of the other roads featured on the news recently.  If we were to light up our house and garden it would just show everyone how much work the lawn and front of the house needs!  I have to say I’m extremely relieved that none of our neighbours have decided to do anything similar, in fact our road looks decidedly dark by comparrison.

It’s over!  My last fair was yesterday afternoon at Box Hill school.  They have a large open fireplace in the entrance hall and last year made it very atmospheric by serving mulled wine and mincepies by the garland strewn open fire.  A lovely traditional start to the Christmas season.  I’m not sure if the pies and wine were served there yesterday as we were rushed off our feet during the fair, and only got this pic just before we left for home.

Today I tackled the laundry pile before it took over the doorway and attacked me. LOL.  Such fun.  You know I’m sure there’s more to life than laundry, housework and grocery shopping.  Oh yes, lampworking.  Actually that’s what’s got me into this mess indoors!  I wonder what delights tommorrow has in store for me….now I think of it, the alternator gets replaced.  That will be a relief, I’m getting a bit tired of popping the bonnet everytime I stop and disconnecting the battery.  It’s amazing that no men have asked me if I’m OK as they usually do when I get my head under the bonnet (that’s because men know how to fix cars because they have the correct equipment!).

Saturday night

Only one more fair to do, hurrah!  Friday tea time saw me driving to Worthing amidst the patchy fog for a school fair, convinced I knew where I was going once I drove over the railway bridge and arrived at the 3rd roundabout.  It’s amazing how you can look at a map, think you have the road sussed, only to find that you hadn’t actually taken in the finer details.  I thought I was going right at the roundabout, but actually needed to take the right fork, then turn right off that road.  Ho hum.  I ended up going in completely the wrong direction, however I made it there in time to set up, had a lovely evening, and even scooped the 3rd prize in their raffle.  This was pretty unusual, as it’s normally Rick that wins raffles and stuff, and took me so much by surprise that I nearly fell off my stool.

Wednesday evening

I’m feeling a bit relieved today, I have just 2 more selling events to attend and then Sunday evening it’s all over and I can concentrate on getting us ready for Christmas.  I actually didn’t feel the need today to sit and make jewellery, and fell asleep on the settee while Rick cooked dinner.  It will be good to tackle the 3 foot pile of laundry on top of the laundry basket that’s overflowing like an overflowing thing.  We might just catch up with washing school uniform by the time term finishes!

Oops, shouldn’t have kept the telly on after Lost finished at 11pm.  What another cracker, I can’t resist peeking at next weeks episode, then get sucked into watching the whole thing, and the trouble is we can only get E4+1 so it gets rather late.  So what’s in the capsule, and how come Locke can walk?  Find out in the next exciting episode……..

Double oops.  Rick’s just managed to kick and completely wreck our daughters amazing lego creation of a palace, complete with precariously balanced balcony.  I’m not looking forward to the morning.  Oh dear!

Monday evening

Hello again.  I made it out to my studio today after nearly two weeks making up jewellery.  It was 3.5 degrees C but didn’t feel as bad as last time, I think my body is aclimatising at last.  I just couldn’t help grinning as I sat to make glass drops, they’re so relaxing and theraputic to do.  I made more of my tigerlike beads and also managed to fit in another penguin cutie, this time complete with santa hat.

Looks like the big countdown to Christmas is really here now, only 20 days to go.  We’re still looking out for the new Argos advert that was filmed in town and wondering when we’re going to get time to start the numerous jobs that need to be done before the big day.  I suppose the worst of these will be getting the house to look more like a place of relaxation than a workshop/playroom/complete tip.  Maybe I should join up to this website that someone on Lampwork etc. uses to help her cope with the chaos of life, nah, I’d probably end up feeling I need to clean.  I guess this site ‘Flylady‘ is where Monica from Friends would be in heaven!

Thursday evening

The first of December, already, eeek.  Although to tell the truth I’ve been reving up for Christmas for the past few weeks with my local Christmas craft fairs.  I’m probably over halfway through these, which is good because I’m getting quite exhausted now.

We had some more interesting conversations over lunch today at my jewellery class.  The main topic was serialisations of the classics on TV, particulary with reference to Bleak House and the updated Shakespere plays that they’ve been doing on BBC1.  We all agreed that Bleak House was very enjoyable, but what a nightmare concentrating on the story in the first episode.  We were all totally distracted by all the familiar acting faces and all suffered with the same problems of ‘oh look, it’s so and so’ and ‘oooo isn’t that whats-her-name?’ (this has to be said in a David Brent type way).  As for A Midsummer Night’s Dream, I was in fits of laughter, especially at the point where they brought out the Ferero Roche pyamid to signify the luxury.  It’s almost as good as Vienetta, which I actually heard an advert for today…..’Christmas, all the better for Vienetta’.  Hmmmm, whatever floats your boat, I think I’d rather have Christmas Pud and a good glass of wine.  Incidentally I had a friend whose Nan used to call these Vendetta, I never did find out if she really thought that’s what they were called or if she was pretending to be doolally.

Monday evening

AAAAAAAAAAAAAgh, the new(ish) car’s gone wrong!  I went to the garage today to find out how much it will cost to have the car fixed.  We have a very dodgy altenator and have to disconnect the battery every time we stop for any length of time, or the battery discharges.  This happened when we were at Christ’s Hospital the other day, we packed up, Rick went to get the car and had to get a jump start and part charge the battery before we could leave.  Needless to say I think we were almost the last to leave!

I have a bit of an altenator history, which involves 3 different cars, all Fords, and breaking down in all sorts of unusual places at the most inconvenient of times.  Once my car died a death under a bridge  near Smithfields meat market on Sunday evening at 8pm.   It was cold and dark, before the advent of mobile phones and I wasn’t very pleased to be on my own in a rather empty part of London, with the occasional roar of a lorry passing by and turning into the market.  Fortunately my dad and brother came to the rescue as the nice AA man arrived, and kept me company until the wee hours of the morning.  Talking of wee, that was also the evening of my first experience in a superloo, the one near St Pauls Cathedral.  Anyway, the car got fixed on that occasion, and I ended up driving home past midnight.  I remember feeling totally mesmerised by the low streetlights and regular bumps that made the car lurch up and down as I drove along a deserted A40 past the Hillingdon airfield.  I think I made it home to Oxford by 2am on that occasion.

Oh well, we have to wait 2 weeks now until the car can be fixed, so lots more popping the bonnet and hooking up the battery with my trusty spanner over the next few weeks!

Saturday night

The marvels of modern technology delivered my shopping on time but didn’t quite stetch to bringing it in the house and putting it all away.  It was however a lot easier than the weekend we’ve had so far which has comprised 2 craft fairs and a mad trip to Ikea to buy new table coverings for my stand.  We also hoped to buy some furniture to house the TV but after much deliberation and hair pulling trying to decide exactly what we wanted, found that they were out of stock of our choice, tchh.  So we cheered ourselves up with some cool battery operated fairy lights to Christmassefy my display (and avoid more PAT testing) and an opaque white plastic storage box to experiment further with our bead photography.

We’ll have a good rest tommorrow I hope, ready for another action packed week and the beginning of December (eeek).  So much for my plans to get ahead with Christmas preparations, I can see the day looming up faster than the earth does when you land with a parachute (or should that be without one!).

Thursday evening

Isn’t technology marvelous!  I’ve just finished doing my grocery shopping from the comfort of my armchair in front of the telly – and who said I can’t multitask?  It’s so cool being able to sit wireless and cableless, and be able to print documents, surf the net and do ones shopping.  It beats trawling around the supermarket, especially at the moment when I’m sooooooo busy.  All I have to do is sit back and wait for it to arrive (and put it away obviously).  I just hope I don’t get any daft substitutions, they sure don’t think about them very well, that’s my only complaint.  For example, once I ordered 2 different variations of a breakfast cereal, one wasn’t available, but hey, they didn’t give me 2 of the one of my choices that was available, no, they chose something completely different!  Maybe the shopper thought I needed a new taste experience and what I’d chosen was too boring.

I do most of my glass shopping on the net.  Lots of good glass, frit and tools are availalable from the States, so I just have to do it that way.  I love getting my parcels through the post, especially when it’s dinky jars of frit (crushed glass) individually wrapped in pink or orange tissue paper, although one order I did with a sample pack of 18 jars had 3 or 4 pieces of sticky tape on each jar and took forever to unpack (you do the maths!).  I must admit I was getting a tad impatient to see all my purchses as the minutes ticked away and the pile of sticky tape strips grew.

I’m off to get another mug of coffee now and look at my Chihuly tome.  TTFN.