thebratqueen | Entries tagged with beading

This morning at work I had fun with macros. Next week at work I anticipate more of that, as basically I have various repetative tasks that need doing and not only would macros make this fly by, but it would also cut down on the chance for me to pull a blond moment and, say, accidentally delete tons of important data because I clicked the wrong button. NOT THAT THAT HAPPENED THIS MORNING OR ANYTHING.

(Though if it did I'd be saying yay for keeping a copy of the previous version of the spreadsheet so I could cut and paste said important data back in. But it didn't. Because I wouldn't make a silly mistake like that. Ahem.)

After work was lunch, then going to a doc's appointment to be poked and prodded at. So far so good on that end. Test results back in a week or so. And my doc was more than happy to vouch for me on my notary form, so woohoo! Next up: the test. (Dun dun DUNNNNNNNNNNN)

I then went shopping. I grabed beading stuff and yarn at Michael's, then hit the grocery store. Went back home and finished unloading my car just as the first few drops of rain began to fall. It's now thundering outside, I am in comfy clothes, and I have a Mac curled up and purring in my lap.

Life is good.

Current Mood: pleased

Note to self: Post review of my new GPS. Which I love. (The GPS. I have no feelings about my review, which does not exist yet. Though I'm sure I will love it in time.)

Yesterday I signed approximately 1,000,000,000,000 pieces of paper. Which means that yes, I did refinance the mortgage on my apt. This shall theoretically make all of my debt go away, save for that of the mortgage itself of course, and give me fun money to spend.

I am so going to town on jewelry making supplies. MWAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

Heroes = love. The Riches = love. No other news = good news? Maybe?

*is vague*

*is also hungry*

*would like to be making jewelry now kthx*

Current Mood: chipper

First off: happy birthday to the most marvy

cin1607. May there be naked boys of your choice performing whatever activity you choose, even if it's cleaning up your house.

Second: EEEEEEEE!!! SQUEEEEEE! Serenity tonight!!!!! (It's like comedy tonight, only with tight pants).

I keep going back and forth on eee and squee. Squee for the obvious reasons, eee because I'm convinced I'm going to get snarled in pre-holiday traffic on the way down and arrive just as the doors are closing and then

stakebait and I will have to stare wistfully at what might have been. [sniffle]

But won't know until tonight I suppose. At the very least I'm all packed and ready, so after work tonight it's just a matter of going home, getting changed, quickly scarfing some food and ideally finishing just as

stakebait arrives at the train station for me to pick her up.

lucifrix asked me about beading stuff, so I've got that in the bag for us to go over. I flipped through my patterns last night and got all sighy. I miss beading! Sadly it's a bit too rich for my blood as a hobby right now. I know knitting can be too, but as a beginner I don't mind working with cheaper yarns (in fact I prefer it, as I'd rather not screw up the pricey stuff) and a ball or skein of yarn can keep me amused for days if not weeks. With beading it's still pricey, even if you buy wholesale, and I don't have enough of a bead stash left over to be able to sit and play. Ah well. Stuff to get back to once I have more spending cash available.

In knitting news I'm starting a baby sweater. I thought about making my next project a blanket but then I figured take the real plunge and go for something that's not some form of a circle or rectangle. I started last night while watching Lost, but already I think I'm going to frog it and start again. There's no problem with the stitches or anything, I just think I'd like to make it a slightly larger size, esp considering how fast wee ones grow, plus how big babies in this family tend to be in the first place. So better to frog now then when I'm past the halfway point or something.

Work's been busy now that the boss is back. Phone's been ringing off the hook, which has me ready to kill people with my bare hands. Writing-wise I've got some stuff on deadline for this weekend but, knock on wood, I'm not anticipating problems with that. If I get those things done I may take some time for writing for myself. There's this thing with Wes and Angel and tiny buttons. 8)

Current Mood: stressed

Okay, thanks to the magic of a digital camera and a computer that can actually download pictures from it, I present to you my latest beadwork projects:

( Butterfly Necklace )

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( Sheribrat's anklet )

Current Mood: creative

I have had such a good day today, I'm telling you. Cleaning. Book shopping. BBQ (porterhouse steak Tuscan style, with grilled tomatoes), pedicure, and now I've got the Real World marathon on my Tivo, some ice cream, and then I'll be working on some beading. (

sheribrat? Your anklet is 95% done. I just have to attach the clasp to it and then I'll take a picture of it and upload it so you can see the final product).

Oh yeah! Also hooked up my digital camera to my computer. Go me =)

All that and some phenominally good weather, and I just can't complain about a single thing. Hope y'all did just as well today.

Current Mood: content

Today I cleaned house, did a crock pot lasagna, pulled my patio chair and table out of storage (which also necessitated doing the storage room shuffle, as some of the boxes were starting to collapse so I had to Rubix cube everything into a new position), made an anklet for my mother, and right now I'm making cookies for my dad and trying out a new pattern for a necklace. (

sheribrat? I've got my supplies in, so I'll get started on your anklet this week =) )

So... been busy, in other words. Still, it was a nice Saturday. And tomorrow is Celtic fest! Wooo!

Now to return to the magic of beading, cookies, and Tivo. Not necessarily in that order.

Current Mood: creative

Well I had a nice afternoon but didn't get nearly as much done as I'd hoped. Turns out it's hard to take pictures in a town that in no way caters to pedestrians. So I don't have all the pictures that I wanted to take, but I do have some. Plus I took a faboo walk in the woods that was worth the afternoon right there.

Now I'm home and taking a breather before attacking more chores. There's still cooking and cleaning to do. Not beading, unfortunately, as I struck out yet again at the store. Oh well, at least there's online ordering.

Current Mood: relaxed

Slept in and had pizza for brunch when I realized the multiple frustrations of yesterday called for pampering. I'm feeling much better now, albeit full.

Today is a day of multiple forms of productivity (I hope), wherein there will be shopping, an attempt to get beading supplies since the store I went to yesterday turned out to suck hardcore (did I mention multiple frustrations of yesterday?), cleaning, BBQing, writing (I hope), and a possible attempt to do this project, suggested by

onetwomany, wherein you take pictures of your hometown and haunts, but not of the touristy stuff. I'm very happy for this project as it shores up my wafer-thin excuse to spam you guys with photos care of my new digital camera (oh yeah - to today's to do list also add hooking up said camera to my computer), but I'm also fascinated by the challenge of it because how do I do pictures of my hometown without A) giving away where I actually live and B) still being pretty and interesting enough to stack up to all the people in Europe who, much like

hampden during my last visit across the pond, will roll their eyes at a pub that's been standing on the same spot since Jesus himself came of legal drinking age, scoff as though you've just told them yet again about the weather, and go "Oh that boring old thing." Somehow I don't think my local Stop and Shop is going to compare to it.

(I'm reminded of when I was in Germany a few years back and shopping with P-sis's sister, and as we walked through the town I noticed a fascinating looking structure and asked "What's that?", to which P-sis squared had to blink, look at it, and go "Oh yeah, the castle. I guess that's interesting." At which point I shot myself in the head.)

So we shall see.

Current Mood: content

Okay, finally had a chance to scan in the beading stuff I did this past weekend thanks to

byrne's inspiration. Herein lie pictures, lj-cut for size.

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( One choker )

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( Bracelet, anklet, matching earrings )

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( African Net necklace, courtesy of Byrne's inspiration )

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And there we are then. Not the best scans, admittedly, but I was sneaking in time on the work scanner so shhhh ;)

Current Mood: creative

So ultimately I pretty much took the weekend off, as my brain for whatever reason was feeling overworked. Not sure why since I think we all know I hardly use it, but there we are. It was nice. I did beading and DVD watching and visiting and even a little antiquing, which I know will shock

cin1607. (Though, true to form, I only did it for about an hour). Thanks to that last bit I am now the proud owner of a cast iron bunny, which I'm sure is not actually an antique, but it's mine and now decorates my porch. I shall call him Squishy, and he will be my Squishy 8)

On the beading front, I worked up a few necklaces and braclets and such, but sadly cannot show you any of them due to the scanner problem. I've researched the scanner thing and apparently they just did not update the drivers for XP, which was really kind of them. (obNote: In theory I can make the drivers they have work with my computer, but I've tried various ways of getting that to happen and it's just no go, so at this point the aggrevation to possible reward ratio of fixing this problem is such that I've stopped wanting to bother.)

Inasmuch as I only bought the scanner b/c at the time of the purchase scanners were cheaper and worked better than digital cameras, I have taken my now non-usable scanner as an excuse to finally get a digital camera, which I've been wanting for a while. That will hopefully be arriving shortly, at which point I fully anticipate boring the hell out of all of you by posting pictures of everything that moves, and a lot of things that don't, because damn it it'll be a new toy and it's shiny and everything!

The old scanner is now officially up for sale, so if anybody wants an Epson Perfection 610 (which was originally about $150) complete with original software CD for $40 plus shipping, just let me know.

Finally, my latest bit of amusement comes courtesy of a BBQ cookbook I've been paging through, wherein at one point they talk about the technique of putting flavored butter between the skin of a chicken and the meat to help season it and keep it moist. Now I've done this technique before and had no problems with it whatsoever, so I was scratching my head considerably at the cookbook's lead-in to this which was constant reassurance on the part of the author that we shouldn't panic! It's okay! The technique is tricky but can be done! Don't worry! Which left me wondering why on earth I'd found this simple on the first try, when apparently it was fairly complicated.

Then I read the actual instructions, which were basically "Gently insert one finger, then another, then another until you can get your entire hand in and start to truly lubricate the area."

Who knew being a slash author automatically upped your skill levels as a cook? 8)

Current Mood: busy

It is seriously annoying to go to bed not only on time but early like a good girl, only to spend the entire night tossing and turing and getting no real sleep whatsoever. Humph.

Read an article in the newest TV Guide about that model show on UPN. Is anybody out there watching it? I ask b/c they included a photo of the "plus size" model and all I can say is, [Jon Stewart voice]Whaaaaaaaaaaa??[/Jon Stewart voice] PLUS SIZED?? She's got a flat stomach! She's got tiny wrists! Amber Benson, who I never thought was fat to begin with, easy looks 3 times bigger than this woman esp if we're looking at that god-awful scene from season 5 when the costume dept shoved her into those hideous jeans that made her ass look like a German Shephard was attached to it. The Hell? What size is she?

Grrrrr.

In other news I face preparations for July 4th with dork-like eagerness. This is my first time planning a BBQ all my own so I'm sure I'll be overdoing the food big time. But still - got the whole weekend to eat the leftovers, right?

Tried more beading last night. Did sort of okay. Got one hook to look picture perfect and then promptly forgot how I managed to make that happen. Can't help but wonder if this would go better if I'd had lessons or a book or something ;) (Well a book that says more than "Bend at angle, then use round nosed pliers to make loop")

Also insurance companies are of the devil. Not that any of us doubted that.

[yawn]

Current Mood: lethargic

So I BBQed. This was actually the first time I've BBQed on my own ever. All other times I tend to stand by the person who's working the fire and say things like "Good job" and "Sure I'd like a cheeseburger."

But no, tonight I was on my own!

And I've got to say - I did pretty good. Cooked the burgers and corn a smidge longer than necessary, but otherwise they came out mighty tasty and at no time did I set anything but the charcoal on fire. Go me!

I ate dinner on the porch, then relaxed with more of my reread of Goblet of Fire, and then finally went inside once I'd decided that the cats had gone without petting for long enough.

Once inside cats were petted, yoga was done, I love the 80s was watched and I made 2 more earrings. Much like the ones I made yesterday they are not the platonic ideal of earrings, but at least I'm getting my practice in. Plus I was able to fix the ones I made yesterday (sorta). So slowly but surely I'm learning a new thing.

I also called up the plumber and snarked into his voice mail. He and I have been playing phone tag for over a week now. Granted, it's not an emergency situation but OTOH how hard is it for him to leave a message saying "I could come over on blah day, that good for you"?

Still, plumber issues aside, t'was a very good day.