Middle School Blues

How did this boy...

turn into this boy...

seemingly overnight!!!  He is off to middle school today, riding the bus for the 1st time.  He will turn eleven on Thursday. He is holding a set of bells - his 1st middle school band percussion instrument.  He was happy not to have to lug his snare drum yet. You can see he is a bit embarrassed because the other boys at the bus stop were watching his proud Mom take his picture!

We got guinea pigs on Saturday...Ben has been wanting a pet so bad!  We got 2, so they would be friends and keep each other company!  They are sweet little girls, named Zelda and Samis, after favorite video game heroines.

Sorry for the blurry pictures...they wouldn't keep still!

Happy Monday!!

Long Time, No See...Ramblings

Hello, friends!  Time has flown by since I last posted anything...a lot of family activity this month and I have had a hard time sitting down and documenting anything.

School ended, B finished 5th grade!  He received a Presidential Certificate of Excellence!

We immediately went to the beach for a few days...had a blast, although the weather was not optimal.

We got a bit of sun, but it was mostly cloudy...

and windy!

B found this on the beach for me!

After we got home, we celebrated Father's Day, and our 13th anniversary on the 20th.  J got me 2 books I had on my wish list...Mixed Metal Mania by Kim St. Jean and Foldforming by Charles Lewton Brain!  I love them both...be prepared for new metal pieces!

Since then, it has been 9-5 work, house work, yard work, Boy Scouts (B got his Scout badge, so he is official!).  We are getting ready for him to go to Boy Scout camp for a week...his first sleep away...yikes!

Not much jewelry making going on...have some things started, and simmering, but not ready to show!

Here are some pretties from around my yard, however!

Stay tuned...I will be introducing my Bead Soup partner soon, and hopefully unveiling some new Melismatic Morsels!

Happy Friday...hope you have a fabulous weekend!

Butterflies and Dragonflies...

Hi folks!  It is a coldish, rainy day here in Maryland.  There is talk of snow this weekend...can you believe that?  Time will tell!
I thought I would share photos of some earrings I have finished up recently...most of the components have been shown in past Bead Table Wednesday posts, but I neglected to show off the finished products.



These are my favs - embedded brass sunflowers into solder with faceted golden stones.



More embedded brass into solder with Swarovski drops.



Enameled butterflies with faceted ametrine.



Embedded brass dragonflies in solder and Czech glass flowers.



Etched brass, faceted Canadian jade and Czech glass.



Brass flowers embedded into solder with pretty green stone drops.


I bought this strand of multi-colored faceted stones that included the golden yellow ones and the blue-green coins above...there are other varying shades of green and some that are lighter blue...they are mostly transparent with some veining running through...they could be glass, or some sort of quartz. If anyone knows what they are, I would love to know.  The place I bought them didn't have them labeled, but they were a reasonable price and I loved the colors!
Am trying to get my inventory up for my next Arts Market on November 5...stay tuned for that!

On the home front, have been getting ready for Halloween!  B chose a skeleton/zombie sort of costume from Tarjay the other day...I think this will be the last year we buy a costume!  We took a jaunt out to the pumpkin patch and chose a few, but were pretty dissapointed in the selection.  It has been so rainy here over the last few months, that the pumpkins didn't have enough sunshine to actually turn orange, so many in the field were still partially green.  We will probably carve them on Saturday...fun! 

Thanks for all the wonderful comments during Barbara's Virtual BookTour!  I loved making that bracelet and it was such an honor to be included!  Virtual hugs to you all!

Miss me?

Wow, June has just been flying by! When last I posted, we were sweltering and miserable after our AC had broken down.  A couple days later, though, a brand new HVAC system was installed and we were cool again, although broke!

The day after, was B's last day of 4th grade - J went to get him and attended the flag lowering ceremony...here they are!

Then, that weekend, we headed for Ocean City for a few days!! Lots of fun, but unfortunately, mostly stormy and rainy...we finally had about a day and a half of sun.  We found things to occupy us, though!  The boys wanted to go see a movie, so we caught The Green Lantern, which was entertaining enough...luckily, Ryan Reynolds was pretty hot ;)  We went to an Arts show that I knew my friend Shelby of Sundown Bead Designs was going to be at.  It was fun chatting and admiring her gorgeous jewelry!  We also visited nearby Berlin, MD and had fun going through the antique shops there.  I found a Westmoreland "Old Quilt" milk glass S/P, which I snagged to add to my collection.  J found a gorgeous old brass dragon wall plaque that I decided he needed for his Father's Day/12th Anniversary present!

Finally, we made it to the beach and got a bit of sun!  The surf was amazing...waves were really big  and the water was cold!

 

B made a new friend from Ohio who body-surfed with him and played at the pool!



Back home to clean house, do laundry, buy groceries, get B ready for Summer Day Camp, and more!  The only jewelry I have had a chance to work on was for a deadline and custom orders, but I hope to remedy that some this week!

How is your summer going so far?

I'm mellllltttttiiiinnnnggg!

Just a quick post to say hi and let you know that we are in the midst of an AC meltdown, in the hottest week you can imagine in Maryland!  We have a pretty obsolete HVAC system in our house and knew that it was going to need to be replaced, especially the furnace, after numerous pilot light re-lights this past winter and a visit from a reputable source.  We were hoping to replace everything in the fall, but little did we know that the AC unit was also a goner! 

Woke up to a hot and sticky house last week, but rather than call a repairman and pay a big ticket to get it repaired, we just moved ahead on our big purchase...a brand new HVAC system!  The obvious catch is that it doesn't get installed until mid-week, next week! AArrrgggggghhh!  We have lots of fans going, and  all our windows/screened doors opened, but it doesn't help that the temps in our area have been 95-100 degrees pretty much all week!  Not very conducive to creativity, right?

Even my very cold-natured boy, B has been hot!  He is the one that we have to remind to bring a hoodie to restaurants and school so he won't freeze!  He and his dad have been going to the pool everyday after school, so that helps..luckily there is not a water ban 'cuz we have been sprayin' that hose a lot!!

This is one of our favorite things on days like this...

Disclaimer..this is not a paid advertisement for Flavor-Ice, or I would be demanding a bigger check!  We buy them by the crate at Costco all through the year...several of these actually make both my boys, ages 9 and 54, quite happy for dessert. Yay me!!!

Happy Snow Day!

So, we in the DC subs are in the middle of a winter storm ...B's school was closed today,  and it probably will be tomorrow as well.  I decided to work from home, which basically means taking a vacation day, but checking email and being available for anything that comes up that I can handle over my work laptop and a remote server.

The early snow was the perfect snowball/snowman snow.  We built this guy in record time!  Not sure what B was going to use his pool toy for?  That's my cool chenille hat on the snowman's head...I forgot the scarf.  Rocks for eyes, half-used carrot for a nose and for a mouth...holly berries!  Those things wouldn't stay in...I kept having to add fresh snow around them!

He is a bit leafy and dirty, as there wasn't much in the back yard when we built him, but it is really coming down now...

A few hours later, he was playing on the back porch...




Wow, I love this face!



Look at that face...wish I still had that outlook on a "snowed-in" day!  Instead of worrying about what is not getting done, all he is thinking about is the "here and now moment". 

Goodbye Cookie Jack!

see you next Halloween!  Thank you, Sister/Aunt Judy, he is a great cookie jar and will be missed until next year!  I delayed in packing him away, as I don't have another real cookie jar :)

Went looking for a tree today, but couldn't decide on one, then it got dark, so just bought a Christmas Cactus instead :)  Oh, and this cute snowman 3-level tin!  We'll try again tomorrow!