Ri'ffd

OOooooo, shiney.   Love love love, these new necklaces I made, based on the one my lil'sis was wearing one day.  And no, all the Christmas decorations aren't quite put away just yet.*  The first one is turquoise and lime green, with beads made of coral, resin, glass, howlite, amazonite, and even some turquoise.  I love the focal beads - the art glass one makes me smile and the huge chunky aqua cut glass is so cool.  And when I saw the "green cheese" howlite beads, I couldn't resist as I had given lil'sis such a time about her hunk of melted cheetos.  The seed bead are matt, pearlized, and glass in shades of green and turquoise.  Once I had the bead inventory, putting it together was a snap. 

The other necklace is in shades of grey, black, and purple.  I thought it was going to be purple, with black to make it pop, but instead, it ended up being more black with highlights of purple.  Of course, I thought lil'sis necklace was turquoise with brown, but further analysis revealed that it was brown, with turquoise highlights.  Guess I was fooled by my eyes.  Oh well.  The beads in this one are mostly glass, with some dyed agate and mountain jade and freshwater pearls.  The shards are blue goldite (maybe) and snowflake obsidian, while the seeds are matt, pealized and glossy glass in shades of black and purple.  And dang is it hard to photograph. 

I put both of these together Sunday afternoon, while listening to the football games in the background.  It really was a snap once I had the inventory put together, but that took a while.  I visited 3 or 4 Michaels, Beverly's and a bead specialty shop, 3 beads and a button.  3 Beads has a great selection of seed beads, but it looks like they are trying to limit their inventory exposure.  Since Michaels and Beverly's are both "craft" stores, they have similar but different inventory.  I got some of the nicer beads (real stone) at Beverly's, and the glass beads more at Michaels.  And what I thought I was going to use to start with, well, let's just say they are still in the bead bucket.   

*I may have to keep a couple of the stocking hangers out as they do make a great setup for displaying necklaces.  And I'll do my best to get the rest of Christmas put away this weekend.

The week slides by...

Plans and schemes and dreams, and they all slide by.

This morning I ordered a pair of shoes on line - I've worn out all the shoes in my closet and my recent shopping experience has left me bereft of anything to wear upon my XL size feet. Added to that, I've been a bit of a klutz as of late, and don't feel comfortable wearing anything with a heel higher than 1". So. I'm not really a shoe girl - Imelda Marcos (and Michael Jordan admitting to over 500 pairs!) has nothing to fear from me. I prefer to spend money on other things. So it was with a bit of trepidation that I dropped some bucks on a pair of shoes on zappos. Free Shipping, ease of shopping (show me only shoes in my size, in the color I want, with the heel height I prefer...) it can only be a dream come true IF they actually fit. We'll see in about a week. If they do fit, I think I’m going to have to work a pair into the budget on a more regular basis.



When the "little" sis was here, she pointed me in the direction of some plus size active wear. So that went into an on-line shopping cart as well this morning. I’m hoping that will be here sooner than a week. In the unbelievable words of my mother, "I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired!" I had a really emotional day yesterday and although I couldn't point my finger at any overwhelming one thing to make me mad, I had a whole ball of "irks" wadded up to equal one big mad. And tucked into that wad were several that have to do with my self image and my lack of follow-thru, particularly on the weight-loss/exercise front. I mean seriously, I have no excuses. I have the equipment, I have the time, I have the access, and I can get the instructors and the groceries. The only thing left is me. It’s not like I don’t know what to do. And this is something that I can control, independent of others. So check up on me from time to time and see how I’m doing.

 I’d appreciate it.

What a week(end)...

One storm after another rolled into the Bay Area this week, and it's still not done.  We have had rain every day since Saturday, there's snow on the tops of the surrounding hills, and the power was out for 40 hours straight. 

But, up in the hills, we are prepared.  We have a gas generator, so I had lights and refrigeration and even an oven that works.  We have a wood stove to warm the house, and because it was an "equipment failure" and not a "line down" we even had cable, internet and phone service.  The constant noise of the generator tho, wears on me.  I have had a headache for the past three days.  I drove in to work this morning and there was evidence of trees down and slides off the hills across all the roads.  Glad to be able to work from home in weeks like this.

Saturday I went to the Mission Santa Cruz for a bit of exploring and picture taking.  The Mission is on a hill top with nearly 360-degree views.  Unfortunately, the "mission" that is there is a 75% replica, as the original was destroyed in an earthquake and another, Gothic Revival style church had been built in its place.  There is a state park on the site, but the only building that remains from the original Mission site is actually housing for the native Ohlone Indian neophytes and contains 7 rooms for viewing.  As the building had been remodeled several times, they originally believed that it was army barracks until they began to remove the wood facade and found adobe bricks behind.  It's a lovely little spot, but completely surrounded on all sides by homes and small businesses. 

Oh, and while the power was out, and we weren't going anywhere, I managed to make a couple of loaves of Buttermilk White Bread from my go-to bread book Beard on Bread.  It claims to only make a loaf, but I managed to get two very nice loaves of sandwhich bread from it.  And let me tell you, fresh bread with real butter, fresh from the oven - it gets no better.

Whew! Glad that's done (mostly)

I love doing what I do for a living - it's not exciting, it's not rocket science, and it's not going to make me the most popular person at a party - but it can be intense sometimes, and it's logical, and it's something that I know how to do well - at least most of the time. And this past couple of weeks have been some of the more intense of the year. But now, it's over, it's done. And I get to coast for a couple of weeks until the next burst of activity.

Which means, I should be able to work on some of the things I want to work on, instead of the things I need to work on. I still have an outstanding Christmas IOU to my honey for some house socks and I'm down to where he actually needs to try it on so I know how much further to go. And then I have an IOU that's more than 10 years past due. Can I? Will I? I'd like to. We'll just have to see.

This weekend was mostly spent working, but I did manage to do something new to me: I made Salted Caramels. I was fascinated at how it seemed that the sugar mixture went from this cloudy white grainy fluid, to a clear smooth bubbly syrup, and then in a blink of an eye went from pale golden to a true caramel color. Be sure to use the larger pot when you are boiling the sugar as the introduction of the cream/butter mixture to the hot syrup causes foaming that could be quite hurtful. If you think you want to "salt" the tops, do it shortly after you pour the caramel into the pan or it won't integrate into the top. I brought most of them in to work today - they don't need to be in easy reach of my hands at home - and the tin is very nearly empty.

And last week, in the middle of all the hullabaloo, my honey and I went to Sur La Table and took a class on basic knife skills. The instructor, Nikki, was a hoot and a half, knowledgeable and willing to share her enthusiasm with us. We learned the easy way to dice an onion, how to segment a citrus fruit, and how to make a garlic paste, as well as some of the usual julie-ann (like the green bean!) matchstick and dice cuts. We also splurged (another Christmas IOU) on a set of awesome knives - Wuesthof - Classics. We're both infatuated with them and keep trying to figure out a way to get more veggies into dinner - just so we can use the knives. I broke down some stew beef into user friendly bite size pieces and it was a dream. And those caramels - don't even think about using one of your p-o-c knives to cut them down to bite size pieces.  One more thing off my wish list....

New Crafty Crap...

So, as I believe I have said earlier, I dig in my heels and fight the urge to get into new creative endeavors. But eventually, I cave. And when I cave, I go deep.

I really just started with the beading here in the past month or so. I finally found the books that made sense to me: Bead Simple: 150 Designs for Earrings, Necklaces, Bracelets, Embellishments, and More as well as Teach Yourself VISUALLY Jewelry Making & Beading. Bead Simple gave me visual inspiration, while the Teach Yourself book gave me the detailed how-in-the-world-do-you-do-that directions. It's a learning process for sure, but in all things, practice makes better. I'd love to hear from my sisters regarding what they think could be improved upon as they were recipients of my Christmas gifting.
And no matter how many times I tell myself, I'm not going overboard with this (whatever it is!), I still end up with a pile of tools and supplies and then there is the storage part of it. Yikes. Fortunately, most of the supplies needed for jewelry beading are small and compact, and for a while I was storing them in a small art box I had found some time ago. Recently though, I've had to expand into the art tackle box that I originally bought for paper crafting, only to overflow in a hurry.

Beads are "ooo-shiney" and I always think, hmmm, potential. I'm only buying beads on a by-project basis right now, but the excess is starting to add up. I'm finding that in the future, I'm going to want to get bigger beads to make more of statement pieces. There's some jewelry that I've admired from afar that I think, maybe, just maybe, I can riff on that.

Christmas Cookies

(unrelated picture)

This past Christmas, Chris and I made a handful of cookies out of Martha Stewart's Cookies Book. We ended up making:

• Snickerdoodles: These cookies didn't spread as much as I expected, and were soft and quite tasty.
• Citrus Cornmeal Shortbread: If I make these again, I'll definitely up the level of zest and probably add some extract as well. The citrus portion was sadly lacking. Also, roll the cornmeal prior to chilling so that it sticks. Still, I'm not throwing them away.
• Rosemary Butter Cookies: If you are looking for a cookie fix, this isn't it. If you have a tea tray, these will make an interesting counterpoint to the sweet cookies. Skip the egg wash and sanding sugar.
• Chocolate Crackles: Rich, chocolate, puffs of cookie, covered in powdered sugar. Num. We used Guittard French Vanilla Chocolate instead of the bittersweet, and I am glad. I can't imagine if we had used the bittersweet.
• Chewy Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies: Slap-your-mama delicious! Oh my. These are the cookies that Chris and I both lusted after and secretly ate behind each other's backs. They are rich and chewy and mmmm good.

I still have a load of cookies, and I think I'll deliver a batch to work tomorrow. Just to get them out of my house. Too bad there's no gingerbread left!

2009 - the year in review

What a year.

I got to visit with nearly all of my near relatives this year - Mom & Dad came for a visit and Christine did too. I went to Texas to see Kim and visit with her kids, and Aunt Doris too. Mark's brothers (and thier wives) came out to visit us, after we spent a weekend in Georgia. And 25 years later, we still stay in touch with high school friends.

We lost some loved ones ~ they will be missed.

I did some traveling, solo and with family - Napa, Big Sur, Point Lobos, Ana Nuevo, Sequoia, Las Vegas, Georgia, Texas... And was highly entertained by the likes of Bruce Springsteen, Toby Kieth, and AC/DC, as well as a raft of stand up comedians.

I worked for three different companies, and Mark is semi-retired now.

Creatively, it was mostly yarn this past year, but I have begun playing with beads and wire recently. I try to avoid new crafts as best I can as I don't really need the tools and stash that seem to accompany them. And then, once the "craze" has passed, that's when I seem to find the class or the inspiration.

It all sounds good, but it seems that the sad outweighs the glad. We'll be glad to see the end of the "naughts".

I've got big plans for 2010 ~ but I do every new year. Wish me luck!