Must...Make...Beads....

I've been off the d*mn torch too long. I need to make some beads and get the creative juices back flowing (what an icky metaphor!)

I've been being a good girl - taking care of house and it's inhabitants. I actually dust-mopped yesterday, and dinner's been involving fresh vegatables lately. I've even done some yard work (gasp!) But the beads. The torch is calling my name, and I need to dust off the Ebay account.

The torch is like a love affair - if you've been away a long time, getting back together is a process of re-aquaintence, of relearning each other all over again. In my case, I have to remember NO CAFFEINE or the dots get a bit too jiggely, and also that poppy hot glass will stick to bare skin, so, long (cotton, please) sleeves are really better, dear.

Taz the dog is stretched out under the table, eyes closed, tongue sticking out while she snores in a stray patch of sunlight. I need to ignore her inviting lassitude. I'm off to switch on the kiln, finish raking the lawn, and fire up the torch.

After, of course, I change into a long sleeved cotton shirt.

Vacuums can go backwards

Fang (hubby) "broke" the vacuum while I was away in Tucson for the past three weeks. Eleven y/o daughter (dd1) was vacuuming the stairs and I could hear the machine limping on about 20% capacity. Ten y/o daughter (dd2) said that "dad was trying to take off the beads from the tree before the ornaments and a bunch fell off and broke and he used the vacuum to clean it all up and they got stuck and clogged it up and then he said, "Oops." Busted!

Ah well. I directed dd2 to open up the vac (the bag was full) and see what kind of filter it has (type C) and then see if we had a replacement (last one) then put it back together. It was still clogged. I suggested putting it in reverse to clear it. "It doesn't do that." "Yes, it does." "Oh Yeah!" Then I hear a fumbling, a woosh, then a, "Turn it off!" After that I recommended they sweep up the debris that had been spewed out, considering what it did to the vac the first time.

Oh yeah, Tucson. I got a call on December 16th evening. Seems my Mom (75 y/o) broke her arm earlier that day. My sisters (ds1 and ds2) took a poll and I got voted onto the island. December 17 I was in sunny Arizona, and I stayed for almost three weeks. I make a lousy nurse, by the way, but we figured out the basics and she's on her way to healing.

In Tucson I got to meet up with some buddys - Angel and Tonie. We had lunch, and we drove around Tucson checking out the bead stores, which was a LOT of fun. A few days later Mom made the mistake of pointing out a bead store (A Beaucoup Conge) while we were running errands. I went in and found a delightful range of bead afficianado stash, including some glass rods. A call to proprieter Dave idendified them as vintage German glass - I discuss it on LampworkEtc.

Well, back to the regularly scheduled madness. School starts back tomorrow, and I'm going to try to be on a regular torch schedule to be in a light production mode.

Happy New Year!

R.