September 7

Happy Birthday Brad and Nadya!

I was joking about those Grey’s Anatomy disks being in Chinese, but yikes, just got them today and they were mailed from China!  It’s obvious that they are knock-offs, but thankfully they still work.  At lease the three I tried out do.  They have some issues with the menu functions, but seem to play okay.  The package has a Chinese address and they were FedExed internationally.  I got online onto eBay so I could leave feedback saying they were from China, not Ohio, like the seller claimed and got a big surprise...the seller is no longer on there.  I’m guessing that someone reported them.  Even the box I received says that it’s only for sale in the US or Canada and there is a typo on the length time on the disks.  I never intended to buy knock-offs, but I’m sooooo glad they at least work b/c I would have been out 70 bucks, which of course was a too good to be true price for all the seasons of the show.  The seller had a 100% rating, but only had 10 sales, I still thought it was good odds.

What has become of eBay?  I depended on them in the beginning for my own business and then come to find there are a lot of crooks on there.  Even one lady was purchasing other lampworker’s beads and then claiming that she made them in Italy and sold them as her own art.  (If you were with me a few years ago you’ll remember that b/c she bought some of my own beads and resold them as her own.  I still get angry when I think about that dirty rat.)  I guess I’m going to still believe in people b/c at the same time that I bought those knock-off DVDs I bought a pair of brand new Adida Supernova tennis shoes and they are awesome.  I don’t know the story on the shoes, but they are authentic, new and a great price.  I guess with eBay, you win some, you lose some and hopefully you’re dealing with an honest person most of the time.

Wonderful long weekend.  Friday was our anniversary and we celebrated by going to Hana’s for sushi.  Love that place.  Saturday we spent the day shopping for a new desk.  We’re determined to give-a-way our Office Depot desk that I put together myself and have a nice real wood desk for once in our lives.  We found a nice one with book shelves to match.  It’s such a shame that we won’t see it anytime soon.  We’ll be calling them to deliver it once the house is complete.  We spent the rest of the weekend at the house vegging in our lawn chairs enjoying the wildlife.  It was great.  Hope you all had a great weekend as well, and enjoy the short week!

August 31

This past weekend was relaxing and fun.  We spent both days at the new house.  We set up chairs in the screened-in porch and made ourselves right at home, so-to-speak.  The weather was heavenly.

The sheetrock is going up slowly, but surely.  It’s amazing how different things look once the “walls” are up.  I should be thrilled, but with each visit I get a little more anxious because I just want to move in already!

I decided that Ugly Betty is the next series that I’m going to watch while riding my bike trainer.  My friend Hannah has been coming to work out a few times per week and I think we both might like watching that.  For when I’m here by myself I just ordered a set or Grey’s Anatomy from eBay.  I’ve never seen it!  I know, hard to believe, the whole world has seen it.  First of all, remember that I’m a Dietitian by trade and when I was working in the hospital the last thing I wanted to do was come home and see more hospital drama.  Now I might find it amusing, we’ll see.  I got a really good deal on all six seasons, so let’s see if the discs I get are in Chinese.  :0

August 24

Thursday I went to lunch with my awesome friend Marion.  Ever just hang out with someone who makes you feel good about yourself?... that would be Marion for me.  Thursday night was dinner with friends, then Friday night was supposed to be a game night with friends, but we ended up talking the night away.  Good conversation with good friends is always an awesome way to spend an evening.  I’ve decided that I’m going to start eating like my friend Tammy.  We sat down to dinner, but she was starving and couldn’t wait.  She ordered a dessert through our waitress while her hubby went to the counter to buy her a cupcake.  We helped her eat her desserts and then I must say that I wasn’t at all hungry for the dinner salad that I had ordered.  Go figure.  And speaking of figures, Tammy is a knockout, so desserts as an appetizer has gotta be the way to go.  Hmmm, after all this time as a Dietitian and I just finally figured it out.  Ha!  I wish it could be the way, but you can’t blame the skinny girl inside me for dreaming.

Our sheetrock is being delivered tomorrow so I’m putting on my dancing shoes...I’m gonna do the sheetrock dance!  This phase is the best ever.  We’ll be able to envision every room and really get a feel for what the house is going to really be like.

Reading A Respectable Trade by Phillipa Gregory, one of my favorite writers.  If you like period pieces, you’ll love this book.  Almost done watching Desperate Housewives, Season 5.  Season 6 comes out next month and until then I guess I’ll have withdrawal symptoms.  Anyone have a series that they love and would recommend?  I’m always looking for something new to watch while I’m riding the trainer.

Happy Sheetrock Day!  :)

August 16

Just to preface...I’m not in the least bit complaining about all the hot weather, but instead I’m rejoicing over the fabulously cool weather we’ve been having!  :D

We took a cool ride on our bikes up to Tremont on Saturday.  I’m proud to say that all of my training is paying off and I was able to keep an 18-22mph pace!  Crazy, I know.  I even gave my DH a run for the money in the end there and tried to glide by him on the home stretch.  He wasn’t having it.  I think he especially doesn’t want to lose to a girl, wife or not.  Not that we’re at all competitive with each other.

Yesterday we returned to Tremont to hike a trail that neither of us had been on.  It’s called the Middle Prong Trail.  It was dark when we got there, nice and cool.  The trail itself was pretty flat and easy.  Beautiful waterfalls and river views everywhere.  I decided that I wanted a close up of one of the falls and got a bit more than I bargained for...famous last words...”these rocks are slippery.”  I was out on a huge steep rock and slipped just slightly, whew, it’s okay, just wet feet.  Then without warning my wet feet gave way and I slipped all the way in.  Forever the photog, I held my camera high.  My DH said he saw me go down and my camera go up.  What can I say, next to my DH and Zoe, that camera is my next precious baby.  A few bumps and bruises, but I not enough to keep me off the trainer this morning.

Reading a book called “Dorie.”  It’s about some of the first families that lived in the area where we’ll be living.  I know, sounds history-like and boring, but it’s not.  It’s really interesting.  Just watched “The Dutchess” while I was on the trainer this morning.  Great movie. 

August 11

Happy Birthday Jane!

In the past weeks so many exciting things have been happening with the new house, but not this week.  Electrical and plumbing.  Necessities, yes, but it couldn’t get any more boring than that.

My DH survived his Triathlon.  Did he once again say he’d never do one again?  Yes, immediately upon completion.

August 4

Happy Birthday Kim!

What?  August already?  That’s just crazy.  All winter when I was freezing my you-know-what-off I swore that I wouldn’t complain about the heat of the summer.  So bring it on, 92 degrees?  No problem.  Ahem, ahem, ahem.

My DH is once again doing a Triathlon on Saturday.  Hmmm, now what happened after that last tri he did?  Did he say he’d never do one again?  Yes.  Did he curse the laps that he, a self-professed non-swimmer, had to do?  Yes.  Did he curse his aching knees and solemnly make a promise to them that he would not torture them with a third knee surgery?  They’re screaming yes.  He’s not even home and I can hear them screaming.  (PS: first surgery, tennis, second surgery, softball game.)  Boys.  Namely his friends that are also doing the tri.  Boys.  They all push each other, more like peer pressure I’d say.  Far from High School, but these things never change.  Well there could be worse things that he could be doing for sure, but why not stick to a bike race?  A nice no-impact bike race?  Oh well, he could be out cruising and playing poker at all hours of the night, guess I’ll pick that third knee surgery... At least then I can make him sit still for a few weeks.

July 28

Oh my gosh, we have a roof!

July 27

The Tour de France has already come and gone.  Lance Armstrong had a tough time of it.  He had like three crashes in the first three days and that totally messed up his chances of winning.  What I hated most of all is that they constantly referred to  him as the old guy.  He’s 38 years old and apparently that’s ancient if you listened to how the commentators talked about him.  Team Radio Shack won and Lance still placed 23rd overall out of 170 riders that finished, not too shabby for an “old guy.”

The house is framed.  The roof boards were going up yesterday.  We’re told that we’ll start seeing some shingles on Friday!  The sheetrock going up will be my favorite part, then you can get a real sense of the rooms. (House Album)

New stuff listed on Etsy!

July 13

Thanks for all the acorn peeling suggestions.  I’ll have to try one or two of the ideas out next time I make my Hot Pepper Soup.  The soup was all the better this time b/c I knew about my hard labor on those darn solid as a rock acorn squashes!

Moving on with the house details....because I know you’re all on the edge of your seats wondering what’s going on right?  Right.  We now have our cement basement walls, a nice slab of cement at the bottom and even our back porch has been poured.  Okay....wait for it...the framing starts today!!  Or so I’ve been told.  It was supposed to start yesterday, but the rain coming down in buckets changed that plan PDQ.  Cloudy today, but no rain so far.  We’ll see what happened when we “visit” the new house tonight.

Busy week filled with boring house details.  I did break away for lunch with friends one day and we also tried out an estate sale on Saturday.  That wasn’t so great.  I had never been to an estate sale, but heard that you could come away with some great finds.  This one, not so much.  Lots of junk, but what really surprised me were the beds.  There were four huge beds out on the lawn.  All of them were fully covered with linens, it was quite a site to see for some reason.  Just not something that you see everyday I guess.

My total biking miles are creeping up there.  I think I’m close to 6,000 this year so far.  I’m shooting for 10,000 so we’ll see what happens.

July 6

Happy Birthday Debra!

Hope everyone enjoyed their long weekend.  I know I enjoyed mine.  My DH took Monday and Friday off and the long four-day weekend was a wonderful change of pace.

Friday was such fun b/c we spent the day at Lowe’s picking out appliances and light fixtures.  Sounds tedious, but it wasn’t, it was pure fun for us.  Saturday we rode in the Rocky Top Bike ride.  It was just 30 miles so it wasn’t as grueling as our regular Saturday ride, a nice change of pace.  We went with lots of friends too, so that made it that much nicer.  After the ride we ate pizza and watched the start of the Tour de France.  Go Lance!

Anyone know the secret for peeling an acorn squash? Normally I cut them in half and bake them, but this recipe called for it to be cut into 1/2 inch cubes. I broke a sweat cutting and peeling two squashes. Please tell me there's an easier way...

June  28

Happy Birthday Isaac and Alex!

Well I never thought I would be so happy to have a hole in the ground on our property.  The basement is all dug and we’re now getting ready to get the septic, electric, etc, all that not-so-fun stuff.  Next will come the foundation and that’s when I’ll start getting even more excited.

Here is something that is odder than odd...my DH and I drove over to our property yesterday.  We were going to go for a walk here and he thought it would be funner to walk around in our new neighborhood-to-be.  So on the way over it starts pouring.  Just buckets of rain.  We get to the new neighborhood and when we are about a block away the rain stops.  Just like that.  We thought it must have already come this way, but no, the ground is as dry as can be.  We look up and the sky is blue in a circle right above us.  Not a drop of rain on our property.  I don’t know about you, but I thought that was pretty odd!  I guess they don’t call our street Sunshine Way for nothing!

We took another 48 mile bike ride to Tremont this weekend.  Our friend Jim came along and he found yet another scenic route for us to follow.  Again with the hills though, enough it enough.

I got as far as getting my continuing Ed. off of the shelf and putting in on the kitchen table.  Well, it’s a start.

June 22

I just heard that they are digging out our basement!  Woo hoo!  Looks like we’re on on way to living in the mountains.  (My DH hasn’t heard this news yet, so I’m going to take him to the land tonight to surprise him.)

We’re loving living closer to the mountains so far, even where we are now.  We’ve been going up to visit the land and riding our bikes to Tremont as usual.  Saturday we drove to the land and then went on to Tremont.  My DH found a new way to get us home (thanks Jim...I think).  It’s through some back neighborhoods.  Really nice, very little traffic, but really hilly.  My legs are definitely feeling the pain, but I’m feeling strong and proud of myself too.  Looks like our old 40 mile Saturday ride just got increased to 48 miles.

I’m reading Roommates Wanted by Lisa Jewell.  Loving it so far.  I’ve got some continuing Ed. that I need to get read and sent in, but I can’t seem to bring myself to do it just yet.  I always pick topics for CE that interest me, but somehow it still feels like homework. 

I’m dying here without my torch. 

June 14

Just totaled up my biking miles so far this year...5241 miles!  Wow, even I can’t believe it.  I was trying to beat my total of last year that was 6374 and I’m almost there already.  Maybe I’ll actually make it to 10,000.  It could happen!

I’ve been staying busier than ever.  I found that there isn’t a darn thing to do around here in our rental.  I can clean the whole place in maybe an hour tops and there is a yard, but it’s pretty much void of anything.  I can only take so many neighborhood walks, but Zoey actually seems to be enjoying those very much.  I’ve become a lady who lunches.  Ask me to lunch and I’m there.  Ask me to go anywhere and I’m there.  Quite a difference from my hermit life in our house.  I could easily stay at home for ten days in a row and be as happy as a clam.  I think I’ve been out on average three to four times a week lately.  Yesterday I even went to the mall.  Yikes.  I’m sooooo not a mall person.  Not really the shopping type at all.  Put me in a book store or a glass rod shop and my wallet is history, but regular shopping not so much.  A fact that my DH appreciates about me very much.

Today I had the best hamburger evah!  Becky took me to lunch at the Laurel Valley Country Club, which by the way I went to last week with two other friends!  I told you “a lady who lunches.”  That whole country club things sounds kinda snotty, but it’s not, it’s just a nice place to eat.  We spent the next couple of hours looking around Townsend at little museum type shops.  We even went to the visitor’s center, which I found had some really nice books on the history of the area.  I even bought a book on insects.  There are some interesting little creatures around here for sure and I want to be sure of friends and foes.

Tomorrow should be the first official day of our house being built.  The home site will be cleared.  Of course I just heard that we’re supposed to have a horrible rain storm...

June 7

Really busy week! 

I got in a 66.5 mile ride to Cades Cove with my friend Jim.  I hadn’t intended to go so far, but Jim was pretty good at pushing me to keep going.  (And I was pretty good at not smacking him upside the head when he insisted that we keep going.)  Those hills were hard!  Yesterday I rode with my DH to what we call the Y in the Smokies.  We might have pushed further, but it started raining and we decided to turn back.  We still got in 40 miles.  Luckily it never got past a light rain while we were riding, later it poured buckets!

My friend Hannah took me to this place called Chill.  (If you live in TN, there is one off Northshore.)  It’s an ice cream place, but what’s different about it is that you make the ice cream yourself.  They give you a liquid milky cup with either chocolate or vanilla to start.  Then you add flavor, next comes anything you want in it like chocolate chips or nuts.  Then they take the cup from you and they use nitrogen to freeze it and give it back to you as ice cream.  Kinda cool.  I flavored my chocolate ice cream with mint, then added Andes Mints, chocolate chips and almonds.  I added Waaaaaaaaay too many Andes Mints pieces, but it was really yummy.

Last, but not least, YAY and DOUBLE YAY, we finally closed on the house/land.  I was beginning to wonder if the bank really didn’t want our money!  I’m off to meet with the builder today so we can get started on our new house!

June 2

Several people, (okay, well, three) contacted me that they tried to buy beads on my site, but were told they were no longer available.  Sorry, my bad.  I accidently entered zero for inventory when I last added beads to my site.  I did mark the items as sold and invoiced people who wanted them, but as for what’s left it’s been corrected.  Sorry for those of you who tried!!  (And thanks for understanding my error.)

June 1

Happy Birthday G and Carley!  Congratulations Hannah and August!

Yep, still playing the waiting game.  We were supposed to have it all wrapped up on Friday, but there was a snag with the appraisal.  Hopefully we’ll be able to close this week and start with the fun.

The games for our last game night last were really fun.  I highly recommend either of them.  Funglish is a guessing game, but you have a list of descriptive words to use and you can’t use any others.  The Game of Things was really different.  People have to write their own quips to answer the question on the card and then you go around the game table and try to guess who said what.  For example the card might say “things you would never say to your wife.”  Anyway, you get the idea.  It was fun and the almond cheesecake was yummy!

I’m reading The Believers by Zoe Heller.  I don’t know if I would call it a real page turner, but it’s interesting.  I’m also reading The Last Train to Elkmont.  It’s about the area in Townsend TN that we’ll be moving to.  Again, not a page turner, but very interesting.  It’s nice to know the history of the area.  I’m already very grateful for one of the men in the book who refused to sell his land to the logging company.  He wanted to preserve his land and it’s still preserved today.  It’s where we ride our bikes every weekend in Tremont and it’s beautiful!  That book probably wouldn’t interest anyone who doesn’t live in the area, but it’s better than sleeping pills!

Hope you all had an amazing weekend.  We did!  We had two graduations to go to, but other than that, we rode bikes, watched movies or we sat outside on the porch and read.  Very relaxing.

May  20

Happy Birthday Doyle!

Still waiting for our home plans to be approved so that we can move on to the fun part...building!  Seems like we’ve been in our new rental forever, but it’s only been three weeks.  I can’t believe that I’m actually missing doing all the little chores around the house that I thought were so irritating before.

Tomorrow night is another game night.  We enjoyed it so much a few weeks ago that we’re doing it again with a different set of friends.  I’m also going to see how much fun it is to cook for six people in my new little kitchen.  Thai food is on the menu, yum.  Dessert is a new recipe for almond cheesecake with a chocolate glaze.  Last time I made this chocolate tort with raspberry sauce.  Blech, my friends were kind with compliments, but I knew the truth, blech.  We also got two new game to try out...Funglish and The Game of Things.  I’ll keep you posted on the fun level.  We almost always end up playing Catch Phrase.  Really fun, but it’s been a constant for too many years now.

May 10

Happy Birthday Richard, Belin, Lynn, Faith and Arlene!  Whew!

What a nice weekend we had.  First Steve and I went bike-riding to Tremont on Friday.  We were trying to get a few more miles in so we ended up riding back to the neighborhood where we just sold our house.  We saw two of our neighbor buds outside so we bummed some cold water and spent a few minutes chatting with them.  My neighbor Marion has a beautiful garden.  She showed us around and we got to take a nice break before returning to our bike ride.  When we were in Tremont we saw a whole bunch of butterflies.  I don’t think I had ever seen so many in my life.  All different kinds too, it was really something riding our bikes through a sight like that.  We decided right then that we needed to return the next day to see if we could get some good photos.

Friday night was our first game night at the condo.  Nothing makes it feel like home more than having your friends over.  We had such a good time.  I can’t remember laughing so hard and so much.

Saturday we went “to visit” the property where we’ll be building the new house.  Then we went to Tremont to see if the butterflies were still around.  So many butterflies!  It was too amazing for words.  I did get some good pictures.  Some of them even let me hold them for the ultimate shot.  What an awesome day, the weather was just cool and perfect.  We ate at the Back Porch, which I’m kind of afraid to say is going to be about a 1/2 mile walk from the new house.  Hopefully we can restrain ourselves because they make the best burgers ever!

Believe it or not, I’ve actually posted some new pictures.  Pup and Stuff, My Pics and an album of Steve doing the 3 State, 3 Mountain Challenge last weekend.

Also, two new bead sets!  Beads to Buy

Hope everyone had a nice Mother’s Day!

May 4

Happy Mother’s Day!  Happy Birthday Richard, Belin, Lynn, Faith and Arlene!  Whew!

Yay, all moved in and it feels like home.  It’s been fun trying to judge Zoey and her “needs,” but she’s been really good so far.  Not to mention that I’m letting her out like every two hours just in case AND she’s getting a daily walk now too.  I’m guessing that she’s actually loving all the extra attention.  We bought a little wireless pet fence kit and we just need to get it installed to make our lives a little easier.  It’s not a problem letting her out, I’m just afraid that a neighbor will be in their back yard and she’ll make a bee line their way once she sees them.  So far, no one seems to hang out in their back yards, just the front.  It’s kind of odd b/c it’s way more private out back.  There’s a brick wall to block the neighbors and a hill in the back directly behind us.  We couldn’t have been more lucky in finding this place.  Truth be told, the front is pretty private too.  We’re on a cul de sac and there isn’t anyone coming down the street except for other neighbors.  I love walking Zoey, there’s an American Legion close by and right behind it is a fenced, grassed baseball field.  I can just let her lose there and let her get out any anxiety.  Someday I’m actually going to get all the way over there and have remembered to bring a ball for her to chase.  Maybe today if I go right now....

April 28

It’s final, we closed on the house today and are officially homeless.  Well sorta...we’re in the condo now and it’s actually really nice.  The people who bought our house are really nice too.  Here in TN the buyers and the sellers are together at closing.  We’ve never had it that way anywhere else we’ve ever lived, but that’s how they do it here.  In this case I was really happy to find that the buyers are very sweet.  I kind of wish that they were going to be our new neighbors because they seem just that nice.  They even said that they had already bought some netting to cover the strawberries.  Awwww, I’m going to miss having my garden this summer!

I overdid it, as usual, and pulled my back but good yesterday.  My DH keeps telling me that I need to learn when to stop.  Somehow I never get that message.  I did splurge on a massage today and I’m feeling much better now.  I still have a few boxes to unpack, but I forced myself to let it be today.  Actually, by back kinda did the talking (or should I say screaming) and it didn’t have anything nice to say.

April 222

Today is a very sad day for me...I’m packing my studio to be taken away to storage for 6 months.  I feel like crying just thinking about it.  I’ve been picking up every single item and it’s like “oh, I want to make this, oh, why haven’t I used this, oh, these colors would be fabulous together.”  Waah, waah, waah.  I really didn’t know it would be so hard.  My DH and his Mom have encouraged me to take my sewing machine and knitting supplies to our rental place.  My creativity has to be released in some way, or else I’m going to go absolutely batty!  My acrylic paints and drawing supplies are also traveling with me.  My closet in the condo is going to be a little mini art room, with clothes on the side.  (My DH has been gracious enough to give me the big closet of the two we have there!)  I’ve packed up some writing that I’ve been working on and plan to work on that too.  Hopefully the next six months are going to fly by and I’ll have rediscovered myself in other creative ways.  It will be fun, right?  Right.  No torch, no glass, shut up bead brain!

Even through all the moving mess I’ve been keeping up with the bike riding.  Anywhere from 800 to 1000 miles per month.  It’s been awesome to eat like a real human being and still keep the weight down.  Not to mention this moving stress.  I lost four pounds in the last two weeks without even trying.  Maybe I need to write the Moving Diet book.

I’m reading a hilarious memoir book by David Sedaris.  At least I’m trying to read it...these days my head hits the pillow and I’m asleep in two minutes flat.

Thank you to everyone who has been writing to me and encouraging me.  I love love love to hear from you all.  I appreciate the kind words you all have for my “torch loss.”  I always say bead people are good people and you people rock!

April 19

Happy Birthday Tony, Junior and Rhonda!

What?!  I forgot to update my site last week?  Time is flying over here for sure.  Things are rolling right along with our move.  We’ve passed all the house tests and we’ll be getting close to closing in just 1 1/2 weeks.  Can I give everyone out there some moving advice?...Don’t try to save money by packing everything yourself!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Big mistake.  I’ve been a packing fool for two weeks now and lemme tell ya, it ain’t fun.  Finding good boxes, packing paper and then do all that and the movers won’t cover breakage.  Ugh, whatever they ask, just pay it!  Trust me.  One million dollars?  Sure, here ya go, worth every penny.  Here’s to hoping I learned a lot about packing from our many moves and was able to do it right.  In the past we’ve moved with my DH’s company and they did it all.  I sure took all that for granted back then.  No envy here for the packing people.  I laugh now when I think about how I used to wonder why it took them so long to pack.  I literally had no idea of the work involved.

I almost cried on Saturday when I had to unplug my kiln.  :(  Giving up my torch is going to be the hardest part of all.  I’ve built up my inventory a bit, but I’m pretty sure it won’t see me through the 4-5 months we’ll be in the condo.  Oh well, maybe the demand for me stuff will increase!  Sales will explode!  People will rush to my site when they hear I’ve listed something new!  Well, a glass girl can dream, can’t she?

April 5

Happy Birthday Shelby!

What a nice sunny weekend!  We enjoyed time on our bikes and lots of time outside.  Friday night was a date night with friends.  We had my favorite sushi from Hana’s and then we moved on to Sullivan’s for dessert.

The next step of the move is complete with our house getting appraised this morning.  It’s hard to believe that in three weeks we’ll be gone and someone else will be living here!  Change is good...right?

April 1

it’s all things house sale these days.  It always seems to be a slow and painful process.  We’re getting estimates from movers, trying to find a place to live and talking to the builder about our new house.  My sleep, what little of it there is these days, is filled with house dreams/nightmares.  Our agent said that this is the first house that she’s ever sold where the buyers didn’t ask to get something fixed after the inspection.  I think she was surprised, but at the same time she knows me and my anal ways.  I’m not one for living with something that isn’t right.  If it’s broken, we fix it ASAP.  I also think the people buying it know that we went to great pains to price the house where it should be and it’s worth every penny.  It’s going to be an exhausting month, but at the same time we’re excited to move on to the next chapter of our lives.

The hardest part will be packing away my studio.  I won’t be able to make beads for four whole months!!!!!!  Looks like we’ll be in a condo while our house is going up and the torch won’t be allowed there.  That’s going to be tough, but I’ll see if i can get some inventory up for my break.  I’m so paranoid that I’m packing my glass rods up and taking them with me to the condo.  I can just imagine the breakage if I let the movers take them!

Should be nice weather for a bike ride this weekend.  Maybe even tomorrow.  My hubby took the day off and I’m looking forward to some sun on my back.

March 23

Happy Birthday Mary Ann!

Sooooo busy!  Since we painted our house we’ve had three showings!  So my day starts everyday with a total cleaning of the house...just in case.  This ritual may be ending soon.  (Although I love the extremely tidy look and as most of you know a daily cleaning fits right in with my clean freak ways.)  We got an offer on the house yesterday.  Turns out that the last two showings were the same people!  If all goes well we will be on our merry way soon.  Sounds like they are a nice couple.  Hopefully we can meet in the middle with the back and fourth counters and everything will be simpatico.

I’m now watching another British mini series called Cranford.  It’s really good and making my bike ride fly by.  Still too cold to ride this past weekend, but there is hope for the coming weekend.

March 15

Happy Birthday Zigler!

Where did last week go?!  I didn’t even realize that I had forgotten my blog last week until today.  I guess I’m late this week too.

I had quite a few emails from people asking to bring back the Top 25 voting, so I emailed the site.  I got an email back from the guy who runs the site and he told me that there are lots of issues with the site right now and he doesn’t plan on fixing the issues.  He said it’s not compatible with Mac and that the software that runs the site is very old.  It’s not profitable for them to update the site to today’s standards.  I tried!

I watched another mini series called Daniel Deronda.  Soooo good.  It was another British mini series that I got to watch while on my trainer.  I’m hoping that soon I can give up the trainer for sun and the open road.  The way things are looking it’s never going to warm up outside!  :(  Mother Nature is mad at Tennessee right now.

February 26

Looks like it was time to retire my “free beads” page.  Ever since I closed down the Top 25 link monthly votes went from 80 to about 3.  I think it was fun for people to vote on the Top 25 site, but not so fun for them to search for the secret word on my site.  If anyone thinks of another fun way for me to do my give-a-way send me a note.  I actually love sending people free beads!

Downstairs is nearly finished.  The magic paint color is “Whispering Wheat.”  It’s a warm neutral color and I’m surprised that I quite like it.  The rooms that are painted look twice the size, it’s really shocking to me.  When we moved in the walled were a dull grey/white, it was awful.  I didn’t want that again, so I found a neutral that I could live with.  They’re starting with the upstairs tomorrow and I’m taking a break from removing stuff off the walls and moving furniture.  Whew.

I found a nice little mini-series to watch while I ride the trainer.  It’s called The Way We Live Now.  It’s a british film, really good, set about 1915 or so.  I really like it so far.  I watched while I rode my 50 miles this morning.

I’ve added new items to the Cool Stuff Made With My Beads page.  Maybe some new ideas for you?

Time to move some more furniture...

February 22

Happy Birthday Nina, Kelly and Paul!

I’ve been a busy bead today helping a friend make beads for bookmarks that she’s making.  She volunteered to make 200 bookmarks for gifts for a program that she’s in for school.  Wow, that’s a lot of bookmarks and a lot of beads!

We’ve decided to bite the bullet and paint the house in neutral colors.  I fought it for a long time b/c I LOVE the colors in my house and I painted each room with care all by myself!  It took me five and a half years to get the whole house painted and then we decide to move.  Oye vey.  If our house doesn’t sell after doing this I’ll probably cry.  We only have had the one showing and the agent said they would have bought it if it weren’t for the paint.  The had narrowed their choice down to our house and another and ended up signing the contract on the other one.  Sigh.

We were hugely happy to see the sun for about five days in a row.  Sounds like it’s going to get chilly again, but we’re moving our way over to Spring!

February 15

Hope everyone had an enjoyable day with their sweethearts yesterday.  My DH got me some nice gifts...flowers, bike glove liners and a “Biker Chick” T-shirt.  No, not very romantic, but that was perfect for me.  (After all, my gift to him was bike socks!)  I also got two large dark chocolate bars, which met the required V-Day candy bill.  No romantic outing or dinner, guess after many years I’m finally learning that my DH doesn’t have that que romantico gene anywhere in him, but he’s a good guy in his own way.

The weather has been up to all kinds of nonsense.  We have had sun, snow and rain all in the last 24 hours.  It was snowing/sleeting pretty violently this morning, but it lasted all of ten minutes.  Just enough to give us a light white dusting on the ground.  Who knows what the day will bring.

I’m reading The Wise Woman by Philippa Gregory.  I always love her books and this one is no exception.  In the old days the wise women were the healers and they usually used black magic.  This story line is really interesting.  A young girl leaves a nunnery when it burns down and gets caught up in black magic.  It’s a real page-turner.

February 8

Happy Birthday Radu!  Happy Valentines Day!

I’ve been busy at the torch, but mostly experimenting and doing some fun new stuff.  The above beads were an idea of my DH’s.  I had made some really funky beads (huh...me...make funky beads?)  and he thought one of the designs on them looked like a “V.”  He said I should make some “Venus” beads.  Now why didn’t I think of that?!  They came out pretty cool.  I’ve made lots of beads with letters on them, but never made any for myself.  I think I ended up with three N’s and several E’s by the time I was done.  I wanted them to be just right.  I love ‘em! 

I’ve been asked on occasion where I came up with the name Venus Beads...Venesa / Venus...sort of a natural transition I guess.  It has been my nickname since I was really little.  Other nick names: V, Nessie, Loch Ness.  Of course I like Venus the best!  What girl wouldn’t like to fancy herself a goddess (and not so much a swamp monster)?!  Aphrodite is the Roman name for Venus.  Venus was known as the goddess of love, beauty and fertility.  Not too sure about the fertility thing, but I’m liking the love and beauty part for sure!

Hope you’re seeing sun in your part of the world!

February 1

The weather is doing a Jekyl and Hyde thing over here in TN, sunny, rainy, sunny, snowy.  Then there’s the ol‘ slide right off the road icy.  Luckily today it’s been sunny and nice, so it’s Jekyl today.  (That’s the nice one, right?)

Have you had your fill of Clementines yet?  If you haven’t, then run out and get a box.  Yummy Clementines are easy to peel kind of like tangerines, except Clementines are practically seedless.  Clementines originally came to us from Spain and most of the really good ones still come from there.  They’re available from November through March, but the best and the sweetest come to us in December and January.  Better hurry!

No, I still don’t haven’t any new beads to show you, but don’t worry, they’ll be coming soon!  I did list some jeans on eBay, so if you’re interested, check them out...http://shop.ebay.com/geminidream7/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=&_trksid=p4340 I have about eight more pairs to list also.  Maybe you’ll see some new beads in the next few weeks!

January 25

Wow, the river behind us is so high!  It’s been pouring and Little River is roaring. 

Nothing came about with that showing that we had on our house last week.  We’re still hoping and still looking at land that’s available.  For the longest time we were set on some property that we saw in Sweetwater, but now we’re having our doubts and we’re going to try to concentrate on finding something closer.  There’s so much out there, but it’s all so far away from everything.  This week we’re going to check out a few parcels in Townsend and see if we find anything promising. 

We went for our first outdoor bike ride of the year on Saturday.  40 miles to Tremont.  Another reason we’ve had a change of thought about the land we purchase.  Right now we can literally ride from our house to one of the best bike paths in the state.  People come from all over to ride here and it’s just outside our front door.  Since we’re such bike fanatics we’d miss that convenience.   It was a cold ride for sure.  I’ve decided not to attempt that again until we’re above 50 degrees.  I thought I was going to lose all the toes on my feet by the time we got home!  Next time my DH can ride with the boys and I’ll stay warm on the trainer watching a nice movie!

January 18

Happy Birthday Tammy!

Today is just beautiful.  Warm and sunny and making me crave the Spring even more.

Friday was an at home date night with my DH.  Saturday we had several friends over for a New Mexican dinner.  We rounded out the evening with board games.  Such a fun night!

January 15

Happy Birthday Becky and Kristy!

I was right, I stopped keeping the house just perfect and we had our first showing yesterday.  It was a mad rush to tidy up, but I was happy to have a showing at long last.  Unfortunately, I went for a walk while the house was showing and I watched as the people looking at homes stopped at two other homes in our neighborhood besides ours.  They didn’t stay, but a few minutes at each of the other two and I couldn’t see how long they stayed at ours.  No news/feedback yet, but I’m not holding my breath.  With all the houses on the market right now I’m sure people are sufficiently overwhelmed when they are looking.

Dragonfly in Amber was good, but still too long IMHO.  I started reading Spandau Phoenix by Greg Iles.  It’s really interesting so far.  This is the second book by him that I’ve read.

I know I haven’t sent out any email letters in quite a while, so that means site voting is very light.  That also means that if you’re reading this and you send me an email with the secret phrase, then you have a very good chance of winning!

January 6

Happy Birthday Cindy & Roberto!

It took me a little longer this month, but I finally got this month’s bead freebie on.  Check it out, it’s kinda cool.  Don’t forget to vote.  Anyone who voted this past week will still be in the running for January’s freebie.

Another long long weekend for me and my DH.  It was really cool, he went to work last Monday, realized that it was kinda slow and mostly everyone else was gone, came home early and didn’t go back until this past Monday.  It was such a nice surprise.

I’m already sucked into Dragonfly in Amber.  I’m on about page 300 with only 600 pages left to read.  It’s still really good.

Here’s a first for me...no New Year’s resolution.  I just decided that I wasn’t going to worry about it this year.  I’m happy with my weight (for once,) happy with my life, no resolution needed.  That in itself is a great thing.  Oh sure, plenty of room for improvement, but when are we ever going to just give ourselves a break and just be happy right where we are?!

December 28

Happy Birthday Bryan!

It’s a festivus miracle...the sun is shining again!  It’s been kind of touch and go with the whole “is the sun going to come out today?” thing. 

We had an amazing long luxurious weekend.  What’s even cooler is that we should have another one coming up any day now!  :)  We looked at land on Thursday, but then we decided to take some time off from that for the rest of the weekend.  Who would think that searching for land is so stressful?!  Our house is now on the market and there are no buyers to be seen so far.  We’ve been keeping the house in perfect tip top shape.  I’m sure as soon as we let the clutter start piling up we’ll get a showing.  I’m not usually a superstitious person, but hmmm...maybe I’ll just let the catalogs pile up on the kitchen counter for a few days and see what happens.

I’m now reading Dragonfly in Amber.  It’s the second book in the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon.  I’m already sucked into the story like I was with the first book.  It’s so detailed, yet the pages just fly.  The last book was over 1000 pages and this one is about 950 pages.  I’m sure I’ll enjoy every single page.  I think there are three more books to this serious after this one.

Have a happy and safe New Year’s Eve and a fabulous 2010!

December 21

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!  Happy Birthday Mary Lou and Deb!

I’m so happy to see the sun shining!  it’s still cold outside, but the sun cheers everything up. 

We spent our Saturday searching for land once again.  I think we’ve seen just about everything out there.  Scary...there was this guy that was trying to get us to look at land that he has for sale.  Luckily we talked to a friend about the area and he told us that there was a TVA coal ash spill close to the land and it was not a good investment.  We did some research and found out that the whole area is full of arsenic and other pollutants.  Funny how the man selling it left out that little fact.  So sad that we can’t trust everyone.

Now is about the time that I take a little break from the torch.  I guess people are concentrating on the holidays and family and not making much with beads.  Good for you and happy holidays!  I’ll still be around if anyone has any bead questions for me!

December 14

Here we go...can I just whine about the cold weather some more?  My DH says that there can’t possibly be any global warming when this is the coldest winter we’ve had since we’ve lived in TN.  Okay, enough whining, the sun is actually coming out as I write this!  Oh yay, the sun.

Still no luck with our land search other than the piece that we found that is ions away from civilization.  We saw the most amazing land yesterday.  Literally a blanket of pine trees.  There were tons of lots to choose from and each lot backed to a piece of icky land behind it.  Mostly unrestricted properties that the people have turned into junk yards.  It’s really hard to believe that anyone wants to live like that.  Who wants to step out of their front yard into piles of broken down cars and trash?  Just doesn’t make sense.  Then to top it off a good friend tells me that there is a boat factory right in the area of the property we looked at.  She said it smells really bad when the factory is cutting fiberglass.  I don’t see how any of that beautiful property with the pines on it will sell.  So our search continues.

On Friday we had a fun time at a party with friends.  Saturday and Sunday was a land hunt, but Sunday we took a break and met a colleague of my DH’s for lunch.  Love that sushi and since our lunch partner was from Australia we had some interesting conversation too. 

So much for the sun, it came and went and I’m hoping it decides to stick around a little longer if it comes out again! 

December 8

Believe it or not I added pictures to my site!  I know, I know, I forget about these things.  When it gets boring, you’ll need to remind me!  Go to My Pics to check them out.

December 7

Happy Birthday Jakob and Bryan T!

Yes, it’s cold enough for me darn it!  I’m dreaming of sunny days, a green garden with fresh tomatoes and sitting in the sun with a good book!  Well I’m sure that put a damper on your Monday morning.  I hope you’re seeing some sun wherever you’re at!

We’ve been spending our weekends out in the cold looking for a piece of land to buy.  We’ve decided to buy some land to build a house on, but as you can imagine we’re having a hard time finding perfection.  We’ve found lots of beautiful land with trees and lush greenery, but along with the beauty comes traffic noise from a highway near by or across the street will be “a junk yard” because they aren’t any building restrictions.  So far we’re hooked on a piece of land that we think will give us privacy and a beautiful view, but it will take my DH almost an hour to drive to and from work every day.  Decisions, decisions....

November 30

Happy Birthday Jim and Martin!!

That four-day weekend was gone in a flash.  Hope everyone had a good Turkey Day.  As long as I can remember my hubby and I celebrate with homemade New Mexican food.  This year I made a red chile stew and tortillas.  The pumpkin pie was still there just because we love it.  Our usual fare is enchiladas with lots of cheese, but this year I was trying to health it up.  It was still yummy and enjoyable and we were still thankful for our “healthier” meal.  I even made the tortillas with 1/2 wheat flour.  We were actually thinking that they even tasted better with wheat in them.  Go figure, our taste buds are changing, maybe I should say improving.

We made time to ride our bikes as usual.  I got in 217 miles this week!  It was either freezing or totally nice and warm about every-other-day.  I’ll never figure out this TN weather.  I feel for the weather guys who are out there trying to predict what will happen next.  Most times it’s pretty pointless to watch the weather on the news.

Hope you all have a nice warm week wherever you are!

November 23

Happy Birthday Bry!

Looks like my tweaking of the Top 25 link didn’t not work.  Either that, or they are extremely lame at updating the votes, (which they’ve always been).  Either way I’ve decided to find another way for you to win my beads.  I’ve devised a little contest of my own....All you need to do is visit my Beads to Buy page, find the secret word, then email me and let me know what the word is.  I’ll still draw a name at the end of each month.  Like before, the more you vote, the greater your chance of winning!

November 20

So I’ve tweaked my site a bit as for as the voting for my site on the Top 25 goes.  I’ve been getting all of your emails telling me that you vote, but my site doesn’t have more than 5 votes on it.  Your emails all tell me that I’m staying at five votes and that you all know it’s not right.  I’ve got at least 45 votes in my hot little hand, and rest assured I will draw from my pile when the time comes.  I re-did the HTML code to get the vote where it needs to be and let’s see if that works this time.  It looks a little odd, I know, but that was the best I could do and I’ll know in a few days if it’s working right.  Thanks for voting and for being concerned and emailing me about it!!!  Bead people are good people!  :D

November 16

Happy Birthday to our little Zoey!

Looks like the housing market is picking up a bit.  Two houses down our street just sold in the past month and we hear that two more in the neighborhood are going under contract in the next few days.  It’s nice to see that.  Our next door neighbor is a real estate agent and she told us that house sales heat up closer to the holidays here in TN.  That’s so different from any where else we’ve lived.  Makes me feel good to know that we’re surrounded by people who think that their family and home are top priority.

Yep, I’m aware that the Top 25 Bead Sites website is not tallying the votes correctly.  They’ve always been a bit slow on updating the site, but it’s been ridiculously slow this month for some reason.  Just know that I print every email that you send me with your vote and I put it in my pile to draw from at the end of the month no matter what the site says.  I have about 45 votes in my pile this month so far!  I do appreciate that you’ve kept me in the Top 20.  Seems to help my business b/c people do tell me that they found me on that website.  So keep the votes coming and I’ll do my part to keep some cool freebies coming!

Friday the 13th was supposed to be a fright fest, but was a bit of a snooze fest instead.  We went to dinner with friends and came back to the house to watch a scary movie.  We were trying to decide between 13 Ghosts and The Exorcist and we chose 13 Ghosts.  We had seen it ages ago and thought it was scary, but this time through it was kind of silly.  The ghosts/special effects are cool, but the plot was a bit weak.  We still had an awesome time with good friends though!

I finally gave up on The Historian.  It was just moving too slow for me and I couldn’t handle it anymore.  I gave up on page 145.  Last night I started reading Bitter is the New Black: Confessions of a Condescending, Egomaniacal, Self-Centered Smartass, Or, Why You Should Never Carry A Prada Bag to the Unemployment Office.  I only read a few pages last night and I like it already.  It’s supposed to be a memoir about the author’s life.  I’m intrigued.

Enjoy your week!

November 10 Happy Birthday Alec!

This is too cool.  I just open my website program on my own computer, make the changes and load it online.  I can now put away my old computer b/c I can do everything on the Mac now!  If you haven’t read my blog in a while I’ll catch you up.  I got a Mac, found out my website looked wonky on a Mac, the people that hosted my website offered to switch me over to something better for a measly 2K and double what I was paying yearly!  Since I’m not related to Rockerfeller, (darn it,) I took the job of creating a website into my own two hands and that’s what you see here!  I now will pay 1/5th of what I was paying before to host my site on a Mac/Windows friendly platform.  Yay!  I’m loving how I can have fun with it too.  The only problem I ran into was getting the www.VenusBeads.com domain in my own name.  It took me over two weeks to get the guy to sign it over to me and now it’s mine, all mine!  I’ve gotten some good feedback and made some changes, let me know if you think anything else can be improved.

I’m now reading The Historian.  OMG, it is slow reading.  I’m giving it until page 100 and if it doesn’t just send me then I’m bagging it.  The old days of me finishing a book no matter what are gone.  I’ve learned that life is too short and there are way too many good books that need to be read!

Pomegranates are in season!  In Greek mythology Persephone is the daughter of the harvest goddess Demeter. Hades, the lord of the underworld, kidnapped the beautiful maiden. As the story goes, Persephone ate a few pomegranate seeds before being rescued and had to spend several months every year in the underworld with him as her punishment for partaking of the the forbidden fruit. According to the myth, the months that Persephone spends in Hades is when the earth was forced to endure winter. 

If you aren’t already savvy to this trick, here’s how to cut a pomegranate open... first cut around the top sprout using a small sharp knife.  (Kind of like cutting the stem off of a pumpkin.)  Next cut four slits evenly from the top that you cut off to almost the bottom.  Be careful to just penetrate the skin and not damage the fruit.  Next use your muscles and pull the fruit apart into four sections. 

I love pomegranates b/c they’re yummy, loaded with potassium and antioxidants and they take a good long time to prep and eat.  That means I keep my hands too busy to eat things that I shouldn’t be eating!  With less than 250 calories for a large pomegranate, it’s a caloric bargain! 

My hubby saw my freebies for November and has informed me that he’s going to win them this month.  Watch out, there’s some fierce competition this month!  ;)

November 6

Happy Birthday WJT!

Hope you like my new site!  Missing a few blogs that I forgot to copy before I said hasta la vista to my old site, but hope you like everything you see.  This is my baby, created from scratch using software on my computer.  It’s been quite a road to learning everything and getting this out there.  If you’re planning a website and have any questions, I’d be happy to try to help if I can.  Please take a few minutes to look around.  I’d love your feedback, good or bad!  VenusBeads@charter.net

Next week, back to the torch and new beads to come on my wesite, Ebay and Etsy.

The trunk show at White Fox was awesome.  Thanks again to everyone who came to visit me!

October 19

Happy Birthday Tom and Steve!!!

Come visit me at White Fox Beads in Maryville on Saturday.  I'll be there from 10am - 2pm.

Looking out my window it seems like a perfectly sunny 80 degree day.  Go outside and freeze your you-know-what off!  We actually got down to 34 degrees last night.  It's so hard to get out of bed on a cold morning.  I've been good though and getting up bright and early at 5:30am to work out every day.  EVEN WEEKENDS!  Which ain't easy.  My doctor told me that I wasn't getting quality Stage 5 sleep and I needed to start a solid schedule ASAP.  I've been working on it for months and months now.  Finally I'm up at the crack of dawn (or before really) and asleep before 10pm.  It's really been a good thing for me.  It's a whole new world when you've had enough sleep at night.

I had a wonderful 3-day weekend with my DH.  We went to the Fall Festival on Friday.  It was sooooo cold!  Usually I'm in shorts for that every year, but this year it was coat weather.  I hope all the vendors did okay in the cold weather.  From the looks of things this winter is going to be a cold one.

Hope to see you on Saturday!

October 12

Happy Birthday Chris and Jackie!

Gloomy drab day.  Seems like we had a lot of those this summer and there is no exception for the transition into fall. 

I put down Milky Spore the other day.  If you don't know what that is, it's a powder that you put in your yard to get rid of Japanese beetles.  You'll know if you have them b/c you'll have brown spots in your grass where they feed on the roots of your grass.  Another way you'll know is if you're digging and you find the white grubs that turn into the beetles in the spring.  When we first moved here Japanese beetles munched up a beautiful tree that we had in our front yard.  They didn't waste any time chewing it up until it died.  We had no idea what was happening or how to stop them.  I remember pulling them off by hand and putting them in a ziplock bag to suffocate them.  The next year we learned about the sacks of stuff you can buy to put out in the yard.  They attract the beetles and when they go into the sacks they can't get out.  It was disgusting work getting rid of the sacks that quickly filled with the Japanese beetles.  And the sack traps actually attract them to the area.  Not smart either.  After that I figured out what not to plant and that there was nothing left in our yard that appealed to the beetles EXCEPT FOR OUR GRASS.  Hmmm, that's where the milky spore comes in.  You buy a canister of it and you put it down every four feet in a grid pattern.  It's a spore and it multiplies and kills the little buggers.  Yay!  The awesome part about it is that it lasts for 10-20 years once you put it down!!  Double yay!  It would be really great if all my neighbors did it too.

I made my very own heating pad!  I bought a heating pad at CVS that frankly didn't work very well, so my brain starts ticking...I have this little eye pillow that works great when I have headaches, you heat it in the microwave, it smells like rosemary, retains heat, I don't have to worry that I'll forget to turn it off and burn down the house.  Okay, why not a bigger version of that little eye pillow?  I made a long tube out of flannel, I think it's about 30 inches long, 8 or so inches wide.  Next I filled it with a mixture of jasmine rice and rosemary.  Then I sewed it into four sections so the rice wouldn't all go over to one side, kind of like a quilt.  Next I made a nice little cover for it with ribbons to tie it shut, so I can wash that part of it.  (My first zipper idea was shot down when I realized that the metal pull wouldn't go well with the microwave.)  I used it for the first time last night.  It's absolutely toasty and wonderful!  What are you waiting for?...Go make one for yourself before it gets too cold!

Anyone missing their garden tomatoes like I am?  I'm in mourning.  It's not even very cold yet and I'm already longing for next summer and fresh veggies from my garden.

October 8

What was I thinking...a whole week into October and I didn't do the bead freebie drawing for September!  My bad.  (I'm going to blame my new computer since the old one has built in reminders for things like that.)  Congrats Cindy R!!

October 5

This bike-riding thing is really working out for me.  I love the exercise and haven't gotten bored with it at all.  I'm averaging about 160 miles per week and it's really helping keep my weight at a happy level.

Look Me in the Eye was interesting.  Makes me wonder how many people have Aspergers.  Seems like it might be a lot.  I started reading Twenties Girl a few days ago.  My DH gave it to me!  Really good so far.

The verdict is still out on whether or not I think everyone should switch to a Mac computer if you have an IBM compatible PC.  There are so many differences.  So many things I already miss about my HP computer, but at the same time there are so many cool new things that I love about the Mac.  One thing that doesn't thrill me is that my website editor can only be used on a PC that runs Windows.  So yep, I'm updating my site on my "old" computer.  I got a program to create a website on my own space, but I know that's going to take a painfully long time to put together.  I think the main thing will be to see how long the Mac lasts.  My last three computers started giving me heartache when they were about 5 years old, maybe even at 4 years.  I'm not thrilled at the idea of shelling out big bucks for a computer every few years.  I blame Microsoft and Windows for those woes.  And really blame the idiot hackers who have nothing better to do with their time then screw up other peoples' computers with viruses etc.  There are uncountable viruses for Non-Macs and for Macs there are only 6 known viruses.

BTW, who started calling non-Mac computers PCs anyway?  A Mac is a PC too.  After all, PC stands for "personal computer."  Seems like everyone says PC or Mac these days and it's just wrong.  In the really old days it used to be IBM or Mac.  Then it became IBM compatible or Mac.  Now it should be Mac or non-Mac.  Okay, off my soapbox once again.

September 19

I will not have access to a computer until about Thursday of this week. Please feel free to place an order or email me, but know that I will not be answering emails or filling orders until after Thursday.

I just got a new computer today and I have to take it back tomorrow so they can transfer my files from the old to the new.  I'm switching from IBM compatible PC to a Mac.  Yikes.  I'm a little nervous, but it sounds like I'm making the right choice.  We'll see, by the end of the week I should know if I'm going to go crazy or if it's for the best.

Finished reading Pillars of the Earth.  OMG, such a long, long, long book.  Almost 1000 pages.  I did like it though and I'll be getting the sequel soon.  The writer has a bit of a temper though and makes his characters do some violent things.  A bit odd.  Just started reading Look Me in the Eye: My Life with Asperger's.  Love it already and I know it's going to be a quick interesting read.  My friend Becky recommended it, we seem to have similar tastes in reading.  Come to think of it, she recommended Pillars too.

My DH is doing his first Triathlon tomorrow.  Wish him luck and godspeed to the finish line!

This blog comes early b/c I know I'll be away from the computer for a few days.  I'm going to have email/facebook DT's by the time I get my computer back!

September 16

Happy Birthday Lilly Rae and Randal!

Still riding, still reading, still gardening!  Well, preparing for next year's garden anyway.  My raised garden beds are more than double what they were now and I just transplanted 25 strawberry plants from pots into the garden beds.  Hopefully they'll flourish and spread and multiply!  Neither of the raspberry bushes that I planted made it, but the walnut trees are doing great.  Now it will only be like another 8 years before I see any edible walnuts.  Patience is indeed a virtue.

My DH is taking a few days off here and there so we've enjoyed several long weekends together.  Apparently he's not very good at taking his vacation time and come to find that he has the most vacation time not taken of anyone else in the company.  They decided to force him to take a few days, so he's taking them here and there.  I think he could have three day weekends for the next year and still not catch up.  Of course he won't do that no matter how much I beg.

September 9

Happy Birthday Nadya!

Here's a good torchin' burn story for ya: A sliver of glass popped off the rod that I had just stuck in the flame and landed on my upper chest area. I didn’t think it was any biggie until I flicked it away and it fell into my bra. THAT was a biggie. I dropped everything and lifted my shirt and bra and the stupid piece of glass fell into the waist band of my shorts. Next I jiggled the shorts and that frickin’ piece of glass fell onto my sandaled foot, where it still left a burn. How could such a tiny shard of glass stay hot long enough to follow that trail and still burn my foot?!  Here’s where safety doesn’t count for much…over my tank top and shorts I was wearing a nice thick leather apron. Big deal.  There's irony for ya.  Just thought I’d share.

August 31

Sad to say that my friend Cindy came and went ALREADY!  :(  Such a quick trip, but we had so much fun.  We chatted like crazy on Friday and then Friday night I had a little party for her so she could meet some of my friends here in TN.  What a great group it was, I don't remember laughing so much.  Saturday we worked out and then we drove to Cades Cove so Cindy could see a bit of the Smoky Mountains.  In the evening we watched a movie.  Sunday we had an early morning bike ride.  She was such a trooper and actually rode 22 miles!  The rest of the day we hung out by the river and just chatted some more.  Last night she tried her hand at the torch and she did really well.  She got out two nicely shaped beads with dots on them.  She left today and we were both so sad that it was all over.

After all that I need another weekend to relax!  This weekend we'll be riding a metric century, so I need to rest up for that.

August 24

Oh my gosh, almost September already?  I'm definitely not saying goodbye to summer for several more months.  I'm keeping it right here.  I'll be sad when it gets too cold to ride my bike outside.  Yesterday we rode to Tremont and it was 65 degrees or so for almost our entire ride.  Just perfect for riding.  I got in almost 180 miles this week! 

Busy week as usual.  I decided to do some power-washing.  I did the whole huge deck the back porch and part of one of the driveways before it started raining.  A whole six hours of power-washing.  Was I ever tired that night.  Seems easy enough, but it's a lot of work! 

The weather has been cool and perfect, I'm loving it.  Not a typical August at all.  Today I was out there spraying the weeds.  It was cloudy, but no rain for a change.  I think the rain might hold off for a few days.  We have the windows open and we're enjoying a cool breeze.

I'm so excited for Friday to come already.  My best friend from college, my best friend ever, is coming to visit.  I just can't wait.  I even have a little party planned on Friday for her arrival so she can meet all my friends here.  It's going to be awesome having her here.

I have several new beads sets listing on my site, so make sure to check those out before you go!  Beads!

August 21

New pics on pups page and my pic page!  New items on Etsy too!

August 11

Happy Birthday Jane!

We finally saw An American Haunting.  It's supposed to be based on real life events in Tennessee and the Bell Witch story.  It wasn't really scary, but good. 

We had an wonderful Thai meal at Lemon Grass on Saturday.  We usually do sushi there, but we tried something different for a change.  Yesterday I made my own Thai dish.  It's lentils and carrots in coconut milk.  OMG - yum!

Just finished trimming the bushes.  That's one heck of a job.  I know I'll be feeling muscles I didn't even know I had tomorrow.  Luckily it was nice and cool to get my work done.  All that after riding 31 miles on the spin bike first thing today.  Can you say Nap Time? 

I've been watching Weeds when I'm riding the spin bike.  I already got through Season One and I'm on two this week.  SO GOOD!  Really keeps me on the bike because I want to see what's going to happen next.

Enjoy your week...I'll be at the torch!

August 10

Awesome weekend.  I got in a 40 mile ride on Friday.  Then we went to a Triathlon on Saturday.  There were a few people that we know in the race, but we mostly wanted to check it out.  It was pretty cool, people of all shapes and sizes.  Even a few kids, some really young.  Good to see so many people trying their best at being fit.  Now Steve wants to do a triathlon in October!

Sunday we did our bike ride to Tremont since we missed it on Saturday.  I got in 40 miles plus a five-mile warm up on the spin bike.  I know, sounds crazy, but the warm up really helps get me into the ride right away. 

Finished The Body Farm book, which was really good.  Now I'm reading Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett.  (So good, thanks Becky.)  I'm also reading a book called The End of Overeating by David Kessler M.D.  It's really interesting.  It talks about how the food industry, restaurants etc. specifically makes foods in a way that we'll crave them and come back for more and more and more.  They use specific ratios of fat, salt and sugar to keep us hanging on.  Even the size of the bags of chips are made so that we have just enough, but not too much and then we'll want to go back for another bag later.  It's crazy, but makes perfect sense as to why Americans are becoming obese.  They can even correlate the date that high fructose corn syrup was developed to the date that Americans starting gaining weight.  Yikes.

One of my best friends from college is coming for a visit at the end of the month.  I'm so excited and can't wait for her visit.

Time to torch...have a great week!

August 7

Happy Birthday Kim!

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August 3

The two hottest days of the year just passed and we had record lows for them.  I'd say we're doing okay over here in TN!  Lots of rain though.  I've never seen so much rain in my life.  Short as it's been.  :)  My poor little garden is drowning.  The watermelons are cracking before they have time to get big and the corn is ripening before it has time to grow long.  We're still picking the corn a bit small and enjoying it very much.  Tomatoes are still doing well.  I do have to pick them a bit smaller with a bit of green or else they split as well.  You wouldn't think that too much water in the garden could hurt.  Next year, a better drainage system will be in order.

 

"Some people never go crazy, What truly horrible lives they must live.”

                                                       ~ Charles Bukowski

"If at first you don't succeed, try, try again, (Then quit.  There's no point in being a fool about it.)

                                         ~W.C. Fields

It's a very odd thing --

As odd as can be --

That whatever Miss T. eats turns into Miss T.

-- Walter De La Mare

A Woman's Poem

He didn't like the casserole

And he didn't like my cake.

He said my biscuits were too hard ..

Not like his mother used to make.

I didn't perk the coffee right,

He didn't like the stew,

I didn't mend his socks

The way his mother used to do.

I pondered for an answer;

I was looking for a clue.

Then I turned around and

smacked him...

Like his mother used to do.

Whatever you are, be a good one.

~Abraham Lincoln

Be the kind of woman that when your feet hit the floor each morning the devil says “Oh crap, she’s up!”

I never met a color I didn’t like.

    ~Dale Chihuly