Beads & Babies
A quick preview of what I worked on this weekend, before the crash:
Mystery:
All that Glitters:
Focus:
Tranquil earring pair:
The Path, set of button shaped beads:
Spiral:
Rosa:
Daisies:
Psyche:
Dirty Martini:
The bead I was working on during the crash, well it’s not even worthy of a pic. The darn thing just was not right. LOL But it was goign to be a set of buttons in my “dirty martini” style, like the last snap shot of the olive colored sleek pillow focal.
Next year when I proudly proclaim that I love monsoon season, that I can’t wait for monsoon season. Please remind me of what happened today.
I was happily torching for the second time in the same day which is practically unheard of for me. I heard a bit of thunder but figured I had time before the storm rolled down the mountain. The window in the studio was open because quite frankly it was cooler outside than it was inside the studio. I had just finished one set and started a bead for a second set when I heard a loud whoosh and then a crash. The wind came up out of now where and somehow caught the heavy particle board shelf that my Bullseye 90 coe glass was sitting on.
I somehow managed to finish my bead, close the bead door on the kiln and shut everything down. By this point all the kids had run to see what the loud noise was. Katie immediately came in and helped pick up the mess. Believe it or not, I didn’t cry. At least not yet. But poor Katie was crying as she helped me pick in the little nubs of the pretty pink, purple and cream colored glass. My newest order hadn’t been put away yet and that got shattered too.
So right now, it’s all sitting in a box. I’ll check out the damage tomorrow. Devastating…just devastating….but then again, it’s just glass right?
One of the topics being discussed on Flaming Hot! is “Beat the Heat”. How do I do that?
Well, for me its pretty basic. Lots of ice water, one fan on the floor, one on the table, an extra fan blowing air out of the studio and then if I am desperate, opening the vent that has a/c going to that room. Oh and did I mention that I torch early mornings or late in the evenings?
I am gleefully looking forward to fall! I love working with fall colors and it also means I can get out to the studio more often! I won’t have to dread sweating buckets and then taking a cold shower when I finish! 
Due to a few factors, our family never got to take a trip out to the ocean like we had hoped to. Instead, we decided to take all the kids to a baseball game! Yes all ten!
The Arizona Diamondbacks are a super family-friendly ball club. Not only do they offer great deals on a big pack of tickets, they also have a “family day” every Sunday. This means that with the right coupon, kids 12 and under eat free. Yes, totally free! A free hotdog or corndog, milk or a soda and popcorn! After the game, the kids 15 and under are allowed to go down on the field and run the bases.
For our Little Leaguer this was totally awesome! To be on the same field as his favorite players…and btw, he got to see his favorite player, Brandon Webb, pitch the game! Wooohoooo!!!
To our 4 year old mentally and physically challenged child, going on the field was a dream come true. I wish I had known ahead of time that there was a “quick” way to get him on the field. The Diamondbacks crew have it set up absolutely beautifully for children with handicaps to get on and off the field so smoothly, I had tears in my eyes! Our oldest took him around the bases in the stroller and they had no issues with this. They were so very accomadating! Now had we known it was going to be an easy thing to do, I would have brought all the kids down with us. Instead, they waited in line with dad for over an hour to get down to the field. The wait was well worth it.
And I bet you are wondering just how we kept the kids sitting the entire time? Well, boy oh boy do the D-Backs ROCK! They have an indoor playground, a miniture ball field and a Peter Piper Playzone!
To top off the whole experience, it was a give-away night. The first 5,000 kids 12 and under got backpacks! Nice, good quality backpacks! Nicer than the one I paid over $15 for at a large, well-known retailer in our area that broke before our Kindergartner even got to use it!
AND YES!!!!! The Dbacks won their game and Brandon Webb, our PITCHER, won us the game with an awesome hit! GO DBACKS!!!
So the AZ Diamondbacks get two big thumbs up from this large family from Up North! Thanks for some great memories!!
driving home with our tired crew….
No, I am not ill. Just super excited about something!
As mentioned, the kids go back to school on Thursday. And with a crew the size of ours, school mornings are always a stressful mess. Partly, because most of us here are NOT morning people, including me and hubby. And mostly because with all the shoes, socks, backpacks, homework that the kids generate we are always missing someones “something.”
I mentioned below that we went school shopping over the weekend. Today, all the boys’ therapies were cancelled which gives us over 2 extra hours of time. So, I took the time to put together something that makes me absolutely giddy! So giddy, I actually took pictures with the cell phone and sent them to my hubby and teen daughter who were not home at the time.
What on earth makes a mommy of 10 that giddy? hehe
isn’t it beautiful? Each kid has their own cubbie. In in they HAVE to put their homework, backpack and shoes. Socks will go in a basket right next so those don’t go astray before I have time to wash a load of laundry. This will hopefully make our morning mad dash so much easier. I am so excited about them, I just had to share!!!
Even though we tried to split up the back-to-school shopping throughout the summer we still got hit with a big last minute list. Please shop my etsy store and when you check out be sure to mention you read my blog and I will give you 20% off! The sale category too! And remember I will **ALWAYS** take special orders!
Yep! The kids go back to school this week. Thursday to be exact.
It all went by so fast. I ponder whether or not we did all that we had sought out to do. Whether the kids are ready or not. Whether I am ready or not.
Let me go into more details. For most of our kids I do believe they are ready to go back. They have had their fun and are now bored and looking for ways to create chaos….and yes, they are succeding! We have two little guys who have special needs and they need that added structure, they strive on routine.
But, here is the only downfall to me saying I am ready for the kids to go back. Our 5 year old. *sigh* He has high functioning autism and 2 forms of a rare kidney disease. While he is doing tremendous, he still has some extreme autistic tendencies. I am worried about lunchtime. He not only has “issues” with food but he also has issues with people watching him eat. I am afraid he won’t talk loud enough. I am fearful he will hide under his table instead of participating. He will be riding the “big bus” not the little one he has safely ridden on for the past 3 years. If he is picked on, can he communicate that to a bus driver? or his teacher?
We go in Wednesday night to meet his teacher. I plan to have something written with my concerns to share with his teacher. I will ask for a daily update and pray she is willing to give me one.
Other than that….I am ready….well we still need to get some shoes…
I am an office supply junkie. Yep, I am! Now I have been aware of this for quite a while but apparently it has been less noticeable to my hubby. Well, maybe not, he knows that I absolutely adore pens and pencils! Lots of colors, lots of styles….I can drool over them daily!
Last night we had to stop at our big box office supply store for something for our little store we own. Now, we actually have a stock of office supplies that we sell but when we order it may take 2 days to get our shipments up to our beautiful, tiny little town. So when we have something that we need next day we stop on our drive home at the big box office supply store.
hehehe
Here is where the fun begins. I immediately begin to look for the 2 items we are looking for. I find them and pop them in my cart. Hubby has gone off to the software department as we are looking for a new program. As I walk to find him I am so totally distracted by the awesome back-to-school sale going on. Did you know you can get the cutest little Sharpie (omg, i love sharpies!!! especially their colored ones! *drools*) highlighter that can hang from a lanyard for just 5 cents right now? Yep, a whole whopping nickel! There is a limit of 3. So I search through the tub and find the 3 colors I can’t live without right now and pop those into the cart. Then I find the cool new Fashion Sharpies. Ahhh, ok I can only pick one because hubby just bought me this HUGE set of fine points in every color of the rainbow and then some. So I pick one out thinking, “Geez, I should make myself a lanyard to hang these on” LOL
Then I walk by the school supplies (don’t even get me started on these, I have a closet full for the school year, yes seriously a closet full) and I am ticking off the list I saw for the three kids that are in grades 3-5 and I know we don’t have pencil pouches for them. So I grab 3 colors and toss them in the cart. I have to grab hubby at this point because I know it is dangerous for me to be in there any longer.
On the way, I manage to toss in a new surge protector so I can hook the printer up to the laptop at home and manage to plug in my bluetooth and cell phone charges still. Oh and geez, I don’t have a usb drive and look!! they have cute little pink ones! In the cart it goes. I finally manage to get hubby to follow me, who is still undecided about the computer program and was reading through a book when I finally told him I was filling up the cart. *blushes*
On our way to check out, I found the coolest wireless mice for the laptop. I don’t have one and we have been talking about getting one. So they had two I liked. Please note here, I didn’t go for the cute metallic colored ones. I pointed out 2 that looked great and told hubby to just pick one and I would go get in line. I waited and he grabbed the one that was a bit more expensive and was totally awesome! LOL
So we check out, hubby pays. As we are walking out to the van he says, “wow, you are expensive” as he laughs. I just replied, “and I am so worth it” with a big grin excited to go home and go through my bags.
And sadly, yes I am planning on stopping there again today to grab 3 more of those cute little highlighters for a nickel each….and if I am nice, I will bring them to work so more than just me can enjoy their cuteness!
After months away, FINALLY, I got time to torch this past weekend. Oh, it felt absolutely wonderful unleashing my creative side again. I was a bit worried that 4 months away would mean a re-learning period. Happily, it flowed and I was extremely happy with the results. I am now aching to get back out there. I have lists of what i would like to work on. Beads that I want to make. New glass rods to melt and discover how they act or react.
It is amazing to me. I knew I missed my time in the studio. Even though I did take some of the time to create some jewelry and some cell phone charms and the like, I really need this outlet. These past months away have really shown me that. I will make every effot to get out there for sure on the weekends and try to work in one to two sessions during the week as well.
And now it’s time to share a few things that came out of the kiln! Be sure to check out my flikr site and etsy for more!
I am back to the land of the living! And with a new little baby in tow!
Please welcome to the world gorgeous baby Noah. He arrived in a whirlwind of excitement on May 9th. He is tall and skinny and absolutely adorable! He is sweet and mellow and has won us all over!
Newborn:
and one month old:
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