I See Dead People. . .

Enter the ICHC online Poker Cats Contest!

Just thought I'd share one of my favourite websites with you - I Can Has Cheezburger is a great site to waste an hour or two. Full of pictures of animals, mostly cats, with hilarious captions. This particular picture is a current favourite of mine - every time I look at it, I LOL. So, if you have a little bit of time to waste, make sure you stop by and take a peek.

Have a good day!

Finally . . .

Wood Nymph
Originally uploaded by thatgirl1269

New beads! Yep - they're finally here. I started on this set the weekend before last and finally finished them on Sunday. I just *love* the brown/mahogany glass in this set - it's a Vetrofond "odd lot" colour called "Petrified Wood". The colour itself is gorgeous, but it also has these lovely striations reminiscent of wood grain - very pretty. So.. I hope you like these - they're up on eBay right now.

Well, I've got to keep this brief - my medical transcription job is still frantic and I've got to make a start on that. See you again soon!


Oh, and one last thing - I finally heard back from the publishers of the book I'm a contributor in (Creating Lampwork Beads for Jewelry by Karen Leonardo). I've ordered a few copies of the book to sell, so when they arrive, I'll add them to the website and/or have a few for sale on eBay. I can't remember exactly how many copies I ordered (it was months ago I placed the order!!), but I *think* it may be 10. If you'd like me to put a copy aside for you, then send me an email. And no, I'm not sure at the moment how much each copy will be - I will be keeping them as reasonably priced as possible though. More info will be available when the books arrive!

Russ' Newest "Toy". . .

BBQ
Originally uploaded by thatgirl1269

Well its only taken 2 years, since we moved into the new house, to purchase a new BBQ - and on a side note, we passed our 2 year anniversary on 10 February since we moved here - I can't believe its been that long, but hey, time flies when you're having fun (or perhaps in my case, dementia is setting in).

Mum has been harping on since she moved down from Sydney about us purchasing a new BBQ. We did actually bring one with us, but it had never worked particularly well, and the one that was here when we moved in was extremely nasty - not helped by the fact that we opened the cover one day to find a whole host of nasty cockroach-like bugs scurrying around. UGH. That was enough for me to say "no way!" when Russ suggested we use it. Yes, I know we could have cleaned it, but just the thought of cooking steak on something that had been home to a dozen or more bugs was enough to turn me off it.

Anyway, Mum got so sick of us saying we'd purchase a BBQ that she to offered to purchase one for us. So after much research and visits to various shops, I decided to browse around on eBay to see what I could find. After much debating with myself as to whether or not I wanted to risk forking over $980.00 on a BBQ that I had never seen, I decided "what the heck, I'm not paying for it", and the decision was made.

And here it is. Russ had to put it together - and what fun that was, what with the "Engrish" manual and all, but luckily Russ is good with these sorts of things, and within a few hours of opening the boxes, it was set to go. We decided to test it out last night and I'm happy to report it's the best BBQ we've ever owned. I feel very chuffed with my decision to purchase it on eBay - it's a shame that summer is almost over, but I guess it'll still be there next year.

So, that's pretty much been the highlight of my week. I guess it goes a long way to showing you how utterly thrilling my life is when I get excited about a new BBQ. I really am getting to be an old fart.

Oh.. and what about beads? Well, I know I said I'd have new beads for sale today, however, it was so hot over the weekend that I only managed to spend a few hours in the studio. I have made a start on a new set, and I anticipate that by next Sunday, there'll be a new set ready to go on eBay.

See you next time. Sue

Exhaustion . . .

My day job is unbelievably busy at the moment - I have never seen so many doctors dictating at the one time. Work is piling up way quicker than the medical transcriptionists can type - it seems that for every 2 files we complete, another 20 have taken their place.

I normally work from 9.00 am to 4.00 pm with only a 5-10 minute break here and there during the day - I don't eat lunch, so I don't see much point in stopping for an hour or so, so I'm usually typing pretty much continuously the whole day. Today however I started at 8.20 am and am only now, at 6.00 pm, taking a long break, 30 minutes or so, for dinner and then I'll be getting back to work. The upside to all this extra work is the extra money, however, the downside to that is that my beadmaking time is going to be seriously curtailed - I've agreed to work both Saturday and Sunday to help clear the backlog of reports. Just in case you've ever thought that working from home isn't really "working", I'm here to tell you I've never worked so hard!

Anyhoo, I guess what I'm trying to say is that there'll probably be no new beads out of me now until around 17 February. I really can't see myself firing up the torch in the next week or so, at least not until the medical transcription work is under control.

Well, time for me to grab a quick bite to eat before heading back to work. I might go have to grab some paracetamol too - all this typing is not helping the arthritis in my neck - I can feel the pain in my neck starting, and a debilitating headache is sure to follow.

Hope you're taking it a little easier - be back with more beads as soon as I get things under control!

Little Black Dress. . .

Little Black Dress
Originally uploaded by thatgirl1269

New set of beads - up on eBay right now.

See you next time!

Another year. . .

39th birthday cake, candles lit. wish making in progress
Originally uploaded by zabethanne

It was my 39th birthday yesterday. And really, it wasn't half as traumatic as I thought it would be. I don't know why, but it had really been bothering me - the thought that "this is the last birthday of my thirties" has been festering in my mind for the past few weeks. I know it's a cliche, but really, you are only as old as you feel, and I still feel okay.

Unfortunately, poor DH Russ has had some sort of stomach virus since Wednesday night, so our plans to spend my birthday night at the local Thai restaurant with my Mum and our friends Yvonne & Farid never did come to fruition. Instead, I cooked my "secret recipe" meatballs, loads of garlic bread and a delicious avocado salad, and the five of us stayed at home. Russ didn't dare eat anything, but apart from that, the evening was nice. I could think of worse ways to spend my 39th birthday. Life is good.

Anyway, apart from boring you with the details of my birthday .. what else to chat about? Well, I spent the whole day in the studio today, so there'll be a new set of beads up on eBay tomorrow - if you like black, white and silvered ivory, then you might want to stop by tomorrow to check them out.

And on that note, I'll say TTFN. Russ still isn't very well, so we're going to have a quiet night at home, watching the third season of "House" on DVD. Hope whenever you are, you're feeling okay. See you again tomorrow. :)