Pizza Anyone?

Apparently Dragon has decided that the leftovers belong to him.

My Work Space

I know that I am always fascinated by other peoples work spaces. I don't know, maybe I am just nosy lol! Anyway I thought I would give you a glimpse into my working life. I have two work spaces, one upstairs in the living room where I do my wire wrapping, bead weaving and the like. My husband bought me this massive desk at a yard sale
for $25. Mostly because that way I will sit and work and watch tv and still be able to spend time with him lol! Its huge, its heavy and I love it lol! I spent three months going through and organizing my bead stash. Its finally almost all done. I don't know how many containers I have but its a lot lol!

Nature

Nature at its finest. I really just like being out in it. Its nice to really just stop and enjoy the natural beauty of even the simplest things. It helps me relax, unwind and realize that a lot of what I am stressing about is simply not that important. Enjoy the pics!

Me and Hubby at the Park

I hate having my picture taken. Absolutely loathe the camera lol! Since having kids (almost 20 years now) I have always been a bit overweight. Enough to make me feel uncomfortable in my skin and always wishing that I was a little bit thinner. I haven't been terrible fond of shopping for clothes either. I was never really skinny but after the kids were born, skinny and I weren't even remotely acquainted, much less living on the same block lol! So any way, long story short, I quit smoking 6 yrs, 6 months and 17 days ago,(and yes I know to the hour lol) after smoking for 23 yrs and trying to quite for over 13. I was (and still am) very proud of myself. Of course I promptly put on another 10 (okay maybe 15) pounds. So I started walking (since I could now breathe). At first, I was lucky if I could walk two minutes at a brisk pace without gasping for air. I can now walk/ run two miles in 15 min if I push myself. Maybe not a lot to some but amazing thing for me, who was gasping for air after climbing the stairs to the second floor (mostly the cigarettes, not the weight). I am happy to report that my doctor says my lungs sound like I have never smoked. Yay me! However I was still pretty chubby. So last december I decided that if I didn't do it now it was never going to happen and I was never going to be comfortable in my skin. I have since lost 40lbs and am almost okay with having my picture taken. This picture was taken the 6th of September (Sunday). I still have about 30lbs to go. I am also stepping up the exercize program. The other picture is of my husband, who, I might add, eats like a horse and NEVER gains any weight. God bless him he has loved me all these years through thick and thing lol! And yes, pun intended.

New Coupon Codes At Artfire!

As many of you probably know by now Artfire has created the capability for shop owners to make coupon codes for their shops. This is a huge help for those of us who run the occasional special or might want to give people a chance to save some money. I am offering a one time coupon for anyone who visits my blog and would like to save a bit on a purchase. Simply type in BLOG in the appropriate area when checking out and receive a 10% discount on your entire order! Christmas is not THAT far off and this would be a good time to get some shopping done early. Also keep in mind that when shopping on line for Christmas (no matter who you shop from) you need to take into account the shipping time, which the closer it gets to Christmas the longer it usually takes lol! Also custom orders do start to stack up closer to Christmas so keep that in mind when ordering!

Enchanted Forest

While at the park I came upon a few things that reminded me of an enchanted forest, full of fairytale folks. What a grand adventure it would be if it really was enchanted! The possibilities of the first step down the hidden pathways of the forest, the secret hiding places of the littlest of folks! I wonder who lives in the purple ones?

More Lampwork

I have been practicing! Some I am happy with some not so much lol! But I will post them anyway so that I have a good record of my progress. These beads are at the the 5 to 10 hours at the torch mark. The almost clear ones are called cirrus. And the white ones have sangria brown as the dots. The yellow ones are some tries at encasing with clear and the yellow barrel shaped one and the funky shaped one are a shot at raking and encasing. Not too bad since it was first attempt. The blue bead is black encased in the palest of blue. I REALLY like this one! (of course I haven't been able to duplicate this but I will keep trying). Then some others using the same colors but the black is much more predominant. I like them, just not as much as the first one lol! And I think I am doing okay over all, mostly I am working on round, and dot placement with a tiny bit of lines and other stuff thrown in.

Our very own Nessie?

No not really lol! When my husband and I were at the state park we caught a glimpse of this blue heron diving for food. The only part of its body above water was the neck and head. It would dive under the water and disappear for about 3 to 4 minutes. We were holding our breath it was down so long each time! Then it would pop back up again 20 to 30 feet away. It had swum all that way without coming up for air. It was amazing! I had no idea they could stay under the water that long. It was a pretty neat thing to watch and kept us occupied for a good fifteen minutes before we finally lost sight of it.