Hello everyone! Hope you are doing well and in good spirits as you read this! As you can see and will continue to see, there have been additions and changes added to the blog. I still cannot figure out how to add pictures, ads, etc where I want them to appear on the blog. I don't want everything on the right hand side of the blog. The loomwoven bracelet I've made would be nice to have underneath this post. I cannot figure out how to do that. I'll eventually and hopefully figure it out in due time. I'm just keeping my fingers, toes and eyelashes crossed for that! (AH! I think I've got it figured out!!!!!!!) Here goes nothing.... YES, YES & YES!!!!!!!!!!!!! I did it!!!!!! Whew HOO!!!! I'm thrilled! Can't you tell?!!!!! YES!!! Whew! It's about time! lol! As you can see I used three different Delica color cylinder seed beads. If you like the colors, email me and I'll give you the colors I used. I have tiny wrists so I only made it slightly larger because I don't like anything snug fitting on me. It's 6 1/2 inches long. The width is 13mm which basically translate into nearly 1/2 inch wide. I have woven in the weft threads. Yesterday (Thursday) Kiersten & I went to the store and purchased several different buttons that would go best with the bracelet... problem is, the shank seems bulky so I'm not quite sure how to get that in between the tightly woven beads. I then would need to weave in the warp threads. Can't wait till it's done! I should also scan the buttons that would go best with this bracelet. I have to go with the gold which I usually don't even wear... the silver just looks horrid with the colors of the Delica seed beads. The gold goes perfectly well with it.


I have no clue if you can zoom the scans in or out. I hope you can. The scanned buttons do not look great at all. It's so much prettier in person. The spiral ones have a frosted or brushed look to it... and the buttons on the right, the interior of the square button is a opalescent shell I think or something like that. The outer edges of the opalescent is just gold edgings. It's really pretty. They both fit the bracelet thankfully! I'm literally smiling from ear to ear that I can finally put pictures in! About time! Whew hoo!!!!

Well tomorrow, (Actually later on today) is the Deaf Expo in College Park.
http://www.deafnation.com/page.php?id=444 My oldest daughter, Kiersten moved back home from college. She's had quite a whirlwind couple of years at school and it's really nice having her home. She's able to just slow down which is something she's not entirely used to but has been doing extremely well. She no longer has her car so being without her car has been difficult. She has however been handling everything with grace. We were actually a little concerned having her living at home because we just have been so used to the peace and quiet around here. When she would come home, it was a place for her to more or less let off steam and it wasn't pleasant. However since she's been home, she has surprised us a great deal. She does her thing and keeps herself busy doing whatever she wants. She has been removing weeds from our front yard of the house. That has shocked my husband & me. We used to beg and plead with the girls when they were in their teens to please help around the house and they wouldn't have anything to do with it. I guess it's true as they get older they really do appreciate the finer things in life. It's starting to look lovely outside.... I miss working outside a great deal. I do have those moments where I just want to get out there and be with mother earth but then I immediately know of the consequences if I do that. Lupus is not a fun disease to have. It's wicked to have to deal with limitations. I was never like that. I lived an extremely active life until I was hit with unimaginable pain that was blinding, searing, binding and really just excruciating. I learned over the years doing the most mundane things such as going out for a few hours will wipe me out the following day and all day. Sometimes it will wipe me out more than just the following day. If I do the slightest things as laundry, vacuuming, whatnot, pain sets in very rapidly and quite viciously. So I have had to learn how to avoid pain. It did take me several years to get it in my stubborn head that I just cannot be like most people can be. It's not worth the consequences. I especially make sure I stay away from stress. Stress can truly create havoc for those of us afflicted with lupus. It will be a real nice day to have the family together this weekend! I enjoy it when the girls are home and at the same time I truly enjoy it when they leave for a while with their friends.
Anyhow...
Yesterday (Thursday to be politically correct)... I'm still on Friday's time even though it's almost 1 AM. Kiersten needed to do something which gave me a chance to run some errands. I like it when one of the girls go out with me. It's nice.... I wanted to have my hair cut today but Kiersten fussed and said, "Mom, you need to let your hair grow." I have very, very short hair that spikes on the top. It's very short on the sides and in the back it tapers nicely... so my hair stylist ended up agreeing with Kiersten! (Grrrr!) She said that I should let my hair grow for another 3 (yes THREE) months or so and then something nice can be done with my hair. I don't know how I feel about it at all. I have such incredibly thin hair and DEAD STRAIGHT hair. When it gets long, it's lifeless. There's not a single thing that can be done to keep curls, etc in it. I used to have perms moons ago and every single time I had perms it would come out that very day. I would always have to go back one to three times within one to two weeks to have it re-permed. I just have dead straight hair. So this short spiked style works best on me. So for the sake of Kiersten and the hair stylist, I will do my best to give this a go and see what happens. After the salon, we headed out to http://www.joann.com/ where I needed to get some items to do my "Polka Dot" fat book project. I also stopped at Lowe's to get some items for the project. I don't want to reveal too much here because there are a lot of participants in this project. We all have to submit our project to the host no later than the 30th of May. I am just so incredibly anxious to get started on this project! It's nice to do something different than beading. I need variety when it comes to the arts. It keeps things interesting!
I have purchased watercolor pencils. I guess I just do what I want and rub some water on it. I've never heard of watercolor pencils before. Regardless, I'll have fun with it... I'm going to practice this on Strathmore™ Watercolor cold press 400 series professional paper. The website is at: http://strathmoreartist.com/ I wish I could tell you what else I'm using for an object but if I say anything, it could easily ruin the excitement and others may use the idea as well. I was inspired to do what I want to do with one of my subscription magazines.
Since I have been out of it most of the day today (Friday), I haven't gotten anything done. We'll be leaving by 9 in the morning to go out to eat breakfast with a bunch of our Deaf friends and then head on over to the Deaf Expo. Fortunately we learned a lot of new things from back home in NYC... friends of ours in NYC informed us of new things and we signed up for the new things before others get wind of it here in the good old south. Home for us will always be New York. We moved here in Atlanta due to a job relocation my husband had to do. Where he used to work in Westchester County, NY closed. So we were given several options as to what we wanted to do. We of course had no choice but to choose Georgia. The important thing was that he kept his seniority, etc... He has been working for the same company exactly 28 years. He started May 9, '79. So it's officially 28 years now! Long time to work for the same company. So many people just easily quit their job after just a few years or so. It's just rare to hear of anyone staying put at their job for good.
We do like the weather here in the south as opposed to the weather back home. I just couldn't handle the cold weather. When you have Raynauds, it is extremely painful when you are exposed to the cold environment. Your body stiffens up and feels like you're an ice sculpture that cannot move at all. It's very painful. So the weather here in the south is just perfect. The hotter, the better. We do not like the south for other reasons. One is for it's religious way of life. The other is people (our culture) very quickly recognize you as an outcast if you do not side with them religious-wise. Our belief has always been and always will be, whatever your beliefs are, we support you so as long as you don't impose them on us. Religion is such a personal matter and we prefer it to be a personal matter. The worse thing I think is when anyone compares or finds criticism with something you say... so the best solution is to simply NOT discuss religion at all. I'm a very religious person in a very free way... Nature, Mother earth, the ocean, lake, pond, river, stream, waterfalls, woods, trees, you name it is my religion. To me that says volumes.
Kiersten came home... Now I'm waiting for Nicole to come home. She lives in Atlanta proper but is home for the weekend with us... the girls are very anxious to go to the Deaf Expo... it'll be a nice day! It's very RARE when we go out as a family since they are adults. So it'll be nice! I'm hoping Sunday will be equally nice outside. If it is, I would love to go to the Atlanta Botanical Gardens, http://www.atlantabotanicalgarden.org/home.do But we'll have to wait and see.
While I'm waiting for Nicole to come home, I'm going to start fooling around with a little bit of watercoloring and see how it works! It should be fun... I'll take pictures of whatever I'll be doing and post it! (Glenda... I'll email you soon. I haven't forgotten you!!) smile....
Well... you all continue to be in good spirits! Yours in whirlwind of beads, ~Snowrose~ _\m/