Back on the horse

Well, we got most of the birthday extravaganza accomplished. My daughter is having her party in a few weeks because she wants a Luau and the pool is just not warm enough, yet. We're taking Connor to the Fun Spot, a small amusement center, on Sunday. But all the cake has been eaten and the gifts ripped open. That's good. I can breathe again. (and clean up the disaster formerly known as my home!)

I've been sick this week. Some kind of debilitating flu, combined with a sinus infection. I haven't actually left my house, other than to make a quick run to the post office. It's been horrible. So yucky.

I did make some beads last week that turned out very pretty. They are hollows and were extremely difficult to photograph, as is all glass, but I thought I'd post a quick picture. I hope to have them listed tonight, if I can get myself off the couch.

~*Ghost Dance*~

Birthday Month

Well, the day has come and gone. I ended up spending my birthday exactly how I wanted to. I have the best husband in the world when it comes to gift giving. I got just what I wanted for gifts, then we went to the beach for a few hours, then he and I went out for a quiet dinner together. It was lovely.

Now I have to plan my kids birthdays, since they are both this week as well. We just refer to February as the 'Birthday Month'.

However, I did do some work in the last week. Dawn- beads in various red-toned glass with some violet and amethyst thrown in for contrast. They are on eBay right now. These beads didn't photograph very well (sure, blame it on the beads!) but I like them very much in person. They are very earthy and organic.

~*Dawn*~

and Bunny Hop. These beads are part of my Painted Lady series. I just love the fun, lively glass colors in this small set. The beads themselves are a bit smaller than I usually make the Ladies, because I have had a few requests for smaller ones. I thought I'd give it a try. They will be listed on eBay in a couple of days.

~*Bunny Hop*~

I have some additional beads and a couple of small jewelry pieces to share, but I'll do that later. Have a great day!

Life as I see it

As I sat outside by the pool earlier, sipping a glass of white and eating a Valentine chocolate (a dark chocolate-covered caramel, no less) I took a moment to reflect. I'd had a pedicure, gotten my roots retouched, had a lovely two mile run and a shower and was lounging in...well, lounging pants and a tank top. I was comfy and content. So I have a birthday in a couple of days? You know what else I have?

A job I love
An amazing, gorgeous husband of 16 1/2 mostly happy years
Two beautiful, healthy kids who are smart and talented
A great relationship with my family
A few wonderful, close friends
A home in one of the most naturally beautiful places on earth (A home that we bought before property values skyrocketed a couple of years ago!)
Both of my parents
Life and health insurance
Relatively good health myself, all things considered
The sweetest pets on earth
The support of those who matter to me

Have I accomplished all of the things I thought I would have at this stage in my life? No. But not many people have.
So, I'm having a birthday. So what. I'm another year older and that's certainly better than the alternative.

Peace, love and happiness, everyone.

Stop time

Birthday....almost....here. Fighting it. Not believing it. Oh, crap, here it comes. I can't stop it. Can't stop it. Aaaahhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!

O.K. So, like, my birthday is coming in just a few days. Did I mention that? Also, I don't use the word 'like' that way in general conversation. I just wanted to revisit my misspent, mall-cruising youth for a second. 'Kay, better now.

I think we've discussed this before, but, do any of you ever look back on your life and just sort of, I don't know, wonder about it? I mean, wonder about how you ended up making some of your decisions? I do. I look at some of my choices and I can't understand or remember why I made them in the first place. It's like, I'm one person on the inside, but on the outside I'm acting out some different sort of existence and all of the things I've done (or many of them, anyway) have been taken out of my context. They don't seem to make much sense when grouped together as a whole.
Is everyone's life like that?
Even now, in my own awareness, I can't seem to stop doing these things. For example:

My husband's car broke down this week and he can't seem to figure out the problem with it. I'm concerned about how much it's going to cost to repair it, can it be repaired, etc. We've already spent over $2000 on it in the last year and a half, but we can't really afford to replace it right now.

In an unrelated discussion yesterday, he asks me what I'd like to do for my birthday.
Now, inside, I'm saying, "Well, on Saturday, I think I'd like to go to the beach. Maybe see if my parents want to go. We could hang out, relax. Just chill to the waves for a couple of hours. On the way home, I want to stop at the Tiki and sit outside and eat some rock shrimp and have a couple of Corona. There's a band playing and we could just hang out for a while. Then, on Sunday, I'd like to go shopping and pick out that awesome new stool for my workbench. You know, the swivel one with the back on it? At Sears? Then, on the way home, why don't we swing by Seasons 52 for a casual dinner. I love that place. It smells so good in there."

On the outside, I say, "I just want to get your car fixed. I can't relax until that's done."

WTF? Why would I say that? It's my birthday for crying out loud. I want to work on his car on my birthday? No wonder people take me for granted. I set a perfect example.

Have a better day.

Yummy!

I never used to think that I had an addictive personality, but now...? Maybe. I have this particular thing that I made for breakfast a couple of weeks ago and I completely must eat it every single day now. Seriously. Every day.
Though I am rarely hungry in the morning, I always eat a little something because morning is when I visit my torch and make my lampwork beads. Can't have shaky hands when you are working in a 1400+ degree torch. Ouch! So I limit my coffee and eat a little something to keep me from getting wobbly.
Anyway, this is such a yummy, healthy breakfast, I must share.

First of all, I must also clarify that I am not a vegetarian. I don't eat red meat and poultry only occasionaly. I do eat seafood fairly regularly, though. However, that said, this is a vegan recipe.

1 whole wheat vegan tortilla - taco size (vegan not necessary, but I prefer)
extra firm tofu
mushrooms of your choice
onion (not scallions, they get too wilty. Need crunch.)
fresh spinach (not frozen. Too bitter.)
low sodium soy sauce

Cut up tofu in small pieces, chop onion, slice mushrooms thin.
Throw in a hot skillet with a few shakes of soy sauce and sear for seconds - just until browned
Loosely chop washed spinach and throw into skillet just for a couple more seconds
Drain juice (this is important or you will end up with soggy tofu and tortilla slop!)
place on tortilla, wrap and eat
Yummy!

It's a really simple breakfast to make and to eat, although you have to like veggies. The main thing is that it's super filling, very healthy and it keeps me going well into the afternoon! It has real staying power.

My favorite afternoon snack is:

1 firm apple (I use Fuji) chopped into smallish chunks
Raisins
plain or vanilla yogurt
walnuts (some people use almonds, but I like the super-nutty walnut flavor)
a shake of cinnamon
*I use all organic ingredients

Mix this whole deal together and then eat it. More yummy!
Also extremely healthy and terribly filling. Lasts long in the tummy and packed with vitamins.

Well, I got an amazingly huge shipment of the most luscious glass last night so I'm going out to the studio to play and maybe come up with some new bead ideas. Yay me!

Have a healthy day.

P.S. Did you see 'LOST' last night? Thoughts? Please share. How about 'SURVIVOR'? Again, please share.

To the Moon!

O.K., not exactly the moon, but to space anyway. As some of you may know, Robert works at the Kennedy Space Center, so he's privy to all kinds of interesting stuff regarding the Space Shuttle. (I capitalize those words because it's still, after all these years, a totally cool thing that we Americans are insanely patriotic about!)

As some of you may also be aware, there was a launch today. So I decided to post a few of his pictures. They're not great. He took them with a little digital binocular camera that he keeps in his truck. He always forgets to take my good camera, for some reason. I think he's just gotten used to being out there and he doesn't think about it any more.

This one is taken early in the morning. The date is wrong, too, obviously. It's a little blurry, but you can see the shuttle, lit up like a Christmas tree.

I love this sign. They do a running countdown at KSC and I love the one that has the "0 Days to Launch" on it. You can just see the Shuttle Assembly Building in the background. It's huge in person.

These next ones are from the last Night Launch. We were able to take the kids to this one and, I have to say, there is nothing on earth like it. KSC issues a limited number of special access passes for each launch to employees and you are able to get unbelievably close. When that beautiful thing took off, it lit up the sky like it was 12:00 noon. And you could feel the heat of it and the quake of those massive boosters even from a mile away. It was insane!

I have video of this launch. Maybe I'll post it, too.

Peace

I find this place very peaceful. So soothing to say what I want - when I want, to listen to my music, to look at some of my favorite photographs. I like it and I highly recommend it to anyone who ever wanted to keep a diary but didn't.

Partially, I think it's like, you are proud of something and you want the world to know, even if no one else is really out there. Maybe? But not entirely. It's also about fulfilling something in yourself, keeping you in touch with you. Or it can be that way.

Even blogs that are not about the individual - like those that highlight weird signs or the ones that concentrate on strange 'polls' - still they are about the person writing them. Whether they know it or not, their choice of content shares much. It's an interesting phenomenon.

Feeling nostalgic. Birthday coming soon. Even worse, kid's birthdays coming. The one true measure of passing time; the aging of your children. Beautiful and heartbreaking at once.

So that's what she's been up to!

I told you I’d be posting something new, didn’t I?
I’ve been wanting to move my blog for a while, but I never seemed to find the time. I finally just decided to go for it. I really wanted something cleaner and fresher. Well, something more like me! Also, I got tons of spam at my old sight. Yuck, spam. Speaking of Yuck, I’d just like to apologize for my old blog. As I cut and pasted and moved stuff over, I was able to see how awful and bo-ring many of my posts were. I can only apologize in arrears for that.
Sorry.
I’d love to know what you think of it, so please chime in with comments. Seriously. I mean, I’m not going to change it, but I am curious.
I’ll be adding links as I go, so if you want to ‘hook-up’, let me know.

Moving on. I’m taking Anna to see Hannah Montana today. Wow, that was alliteratively challenging, even to type. She really wanted to see the concert, but it sold out so fast we got stuck seeing the movie instead. Hannah Montana? Where have I gone wrong? I’ve tried to fill my children’s little minds with a love of music on a broader scale. Eclectic-ly, if you will. (See my playlist). Still, she is only 9 and cannot be expected to show good judgment at all times. It could be worse, I guess. She could like Britney Spears.

Here is what I've been working on. These beads are on eBay now.

~*Dusk*~

Here is a focal bead that I made some time ago and can't decide where to list it. It doesn't show up very well here, but it has some gorgeous colors. It's a little small, though, only 34.5 mm long. Tell me what you think of it.

Any newcomers, you should probably visit my website http://www.mermaidglass.com. You can see lots more lampwork glass beads and beaded jewelry, as well as my glass home decor items. It's a great place to explore some of my past work!

Here is a picture I like. It’s a little birdhouse I made out of leftover glass. Isn’t it cute? Lizards live in it.

Have a great day, all!

Oh, oh, oooh, I'm on fire

Sorry for the long delay. Lot's going on here. First of all, I burnt the Shazam out of my hand.
My kids expressed a completely unprecedented interest in beadmaking, so I thought I'd give them a little lesson. The first time went off without a hitch. The second time, not so much. In a valiant attempt to keep my daughter from burning herself by reaching across the torch, I bravely sacrificed myself and demonstrated why not to do it.
Not really.
I just got distracted and reached over and sizzled myself fairly badly. Not pretty. So, needless to say, no new lampwork beads from Laurie this week.

Also, believe it or not, it's Spring here in Florida. For anyone who is familiar with our climate and our junglelike vegetation, you understand that this time of year means that things that have been quietly and unobtrusively growing all through the winter suddenly explode into a massive abundance of messy, overgrown flora. If you let it get out of hand, it quickly becomes unmanageable and you might as well throw your hands in the air and just surrender. I can't allow that to happen. So, last week I concentrated on raking, pulling, spraying, cutting, hauling and, occasionally, crying, as I beat my acre of paradise into submission.
It was horrid.

I dream of a lovely, well tended oasis of a garden but it ain't easy, let me tell ya! I'm still not finished but I no longer feel like I'm about to be overrun by creeping vines and giant, prehistoric plantlife. I think I can safely get back to the torch for a few hours. (Huge sigh of relief!)

Also, next week is my birthday and I don't want to have to do anything worrisome as I deal with that trauma. It would be too draining, both mentally and physically. I think you know what I mean.

Will post pics of new beads later.
Have a great day!