My Rambling Tale Part 1

I know that it has practically seemed as though I disappeared off the face of the earth. Or at least as far as this blog was concerned.  Well I am back and I thought that it was only fitting that I let folks know some of what has been happening.

I had mentioned before how I was feeling more and more run down.  Almost like I wasn't able to recharge no matter what I did.  Well on September 25th, it started to catch up to me and I was only able to work in the afternoons as I couldn't get my body to move in the morning.  Now that of course was burning up my FMLA hours but I didn't see where I had a choice.

Well on October 8th, the choice was made for me.  I had no energy at all.  Just wanted to sleep.  I managed to make it to my primary care doctor who took one look at me and put me off work for 30 days. She also started me on some new Fibro medication in hopes that my exhaustion and fuzziness was caused by my Fibro.  Oh yeah, fuzziness.  For some reason, my brain seems to be wired to my exhaustion.  If I am tired, my short term memory becomes really short term.

That first month, all I seemed to do is sleep.  And I am talking anywhere from 18 to 20 hours a day.  After that first month though things did start to get a bit better.  I still didn't have any energy but I was awake.  And I needed something to do as I haven't been able to really sit down and enjoy a book since late September.  And I flat out didn't have the energy to go down the stairs to the basement without having some place to curl up and take a nap down there.

Anyways, to get back on track, I picked up a new hobby.  One that I can do in bed and fills my need for creativity.  Oh and it helps with the depression I have been also blessed with.  It's never just one thing.  I have to keep life interesting for my doctor after all.  Now what was I saying...oh yeah.  I have become addicted to Adult Coloring.  There are such a range of wonderful artists out there that are putting out coloring books.

One thing that I really like I how I can go back through my pictures and see where I have improved and what I still need to work on.  Oh and I am going to share my work through various posts in chronological order so you can tell me what I need to work on.

Well my hands no longer allow me to do a lot of typing so I will probably end up doing shorter posts more often.  Or at least, that is the plan but I have learned not to really plan anymore as I don't know how I will be doing day by day.  Heck, hour by hour.

Now catch me up on what's been happening in your life.  Any new moves?  Creations?  Significant others?

Bead Peeps Swap N Hop 2019

Now I am sure that you are impressed and shocked that I have two posts in two days.  Well I am going to do better and this hop with all these talented designers is just the ticket to motivate me.

Now I am sure that some of you are curious just what a Swap N Hop is.  Others..well I am sure that they have seen one of these blog hops before as they are an on going event.  But if this is new to you the basic run down is this.  Our wonderful hostess, Linda Anderson who plans this event every year, will partner us up.  We then chat a bit with our partners to find out what they like and what will challenge them.  Then comes the fun part as we get to pick out some beads and findings to send to out to that partner.  At least one of those goodies are to be handmade.  Once we receive our goodies, it's time to create one of more designs.  Then we will show them all off today.  So get ready for a good time and some eye candy.

Now this is an international event and for the first time, I have an international partner.  Rozantia is from Bulgaria and has an active blog at bairosan's blog.  I was so excited but then disaster hit.  I received my beautiful beads and the incredible wire woven pendant with real sea glass (Bet you want to see it.) but the beads I sent to her still haven't arrived.  Rozantia is still planning on joining us though with some beads that she already had.  We are hoping that they will still show up but I am planning on sending her more if they don't.

So now let's show you the pretties that Rozantia sent my way.  Here are the 'standard' beads that she sent my way; lava beads and agate.

And then there was a lot of lampwork, ceramic and polymer clay.  And below is that gorgeous pendant.  Rozania made that!  I can only wish that I had the patience and hand dexterity to pull that off.

Now onto what I made.   One promise that I made to myself was that anytime that I was in a swap style blog hop, I would make at least one piece for myself.  And I have kept that promise though I have more then enough jewelry that I don't wear more than a quarter of it.  So I just ducked around the issue and made something for my new studio.

Yes you heard that right.  For years, my studio was in a huge room in the basement of our house.  I really enjoyed it down there though I  was isolated and it was dark (hello..basement).  I am in the process, far too long of a process, to move my studio up to the spare bedroom so I can be closer in case my husband needs me.  It's a smaller room but I have a window!  Yep color me excited.

Anyways with it being a smaller room, I will be looking for ways to utilize the walls.  So I hit upon the idea of using that incredible pendant in a wall hanging.  And if that wall hanging just also happens to be a place to store some ribbons and silk laces, then all the better.

I do plan on doing more with the beads that I was blessed with but my studio got packed up while I was still pondering on just how I want to use them.  I will be sure to share them as I get them completed.

Thank you so much for stopping by and I did say there were several designers participating so be sure to check out what everyone has made with their goodies.  Be sure to head over to From the Bead Board to get a complete listing with links.

Ramblings

I felt as though I stepped through a time warp as I wrote this almost a year ago & it was never published.  Boy have things changed. I will be doing up a post in the next week to bring everything up to date.  Just wanted to share this with everyone. 

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Just as I expected.  Since the new laptop is almost as portable as my iPad and easier to type on, I find myself sitting on the bed in the evening and using it rather then play solitaire on my iPad.  Not listening to as many podcast though which could be an issue as they are ever expanding.

And I went girly.  Never really thought about having a case on a laptop until I stumbled across one in Amazon.  What cool way to protect the computer and make it pretty.  The keyboard covers are nice too.  With the many critters that I have, it's great to have found a way to protect the keyboard from fur.

The new shift seems to agree with me.  I only backed things back by an hour but I find that I am sleeping better and waking up before my alarm.  I also have more energy during the day.  I am no not an early morning person.  Apparently I am better off starting work around 11 as that gives me time to feed the dogs and putter around waking up.

I have actually started cooking again.  I love my husband for being willing to take over the household chores including cooking but he isn’t the most imaginative cook and easily falls into a rut. It’s my hope that he will pick up some ideas from the nights I cook. And it gives me an excuse for collecting recipes again. This time, I am using an app that syncs between my phone & tablet. It makes it super easy to capture recipes from the internet & has some great search features. I use an iPhone & I am not sure if it’s also available in android.  Oh, it’s called Recipe Gallery.

Also been watching a cooking show online ‘America’s Test Kitchen’.  The host is kinda goofy but I am learning all kinds of tips and they have some great recipes that I want to try.  Now if only I could direct that ambition towards cleaning my studio.  I know a good part of my procrastination is the fact that I hate to leave Pooka locked up alone in the bedroom & he doesn’t settle well in the studio.