Where'd the Time Go?

A very wise and talented man once said "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans". I couldn't agree more! Since the last entry, I've had a serious case of double pneumonia that knocked me out of commission for the better part of 2 months, we've discovered that my eldest daughter has chronic migraines and hypoglycemia, and on Easter Sunday we (quite unexpectedly) had to put our much-adored miniature schnauzer, Gracie, to sleep. This has NOT been a good 2010 for our family so far.  But I've always had the feeling that bad things happen in threes, so I think we should be good for a while, right?  Right?! Why'd it get so quiet in here?

I have decided to return to school and pursue a degree in nursing, but no worries - I definitely will still be making beads.  I love, love, LOVE making beads, but with this economy... Blah, blah, blah, how many times have you heard THAT expression recently?! Seriously though, how on Earth would I pay for college if I no longer made beads?  Yeesh!!  I'm showing my age here, but the last time I was enrolled, colleges still used the quarter system and my tuition and fees for a full load was about $700, not including books. Now?  It makes me a little green around the gills to think about the checks I have to write to the Registrar's Office.  Ouch!

But back to the beads, I'm going to be putting some new things up very soon.  Like maybe, tomorrow?

First Day of School

The kids and I woke up at 0-dark-thirty this morning. I was scared of oversleeping and the kids were all excited about getting to class and seeing their friends for the first time in months. It felt weird being up literally before the chickens! Since May 23, 2009 (last day of school), I haven't even set my alarm to go off before 6 a.m and even then I had the bad habit of hitting the snooze alarm a couple of times before getting up. *grin* And of course, the girls would've stayed in bed until mid-morning all summer long if I had let them. Davis isn't much of a sleeper - he'd rather hop out of bed and hit the ground running. (You can squeeze a lot of video game playing time into a day if you start early enough!)

Now I find I have my mornings to myself again. I'll do my normal early morning walk and then I think I'll add another once the sun starts to go down. In between, I'll make beads and get supper started. During the summer, sometimes we wouldn't even eat dinner until 7:30 or 8 p.m. Since the kids are complete bottomless pits, there were usually several snacks in between lunch and dinner! Now I'll aim to be feeding people around 5 p.m. With an 8:30 bedtime for the kiddieboos, you just can't wait 'til much later.

Gosh, the house sure is quiet right now! It's kinda relaxing and creepy at the same time. I'll get used to it soon enough, I'm sure.

Okay, well - time to go get started on the "alone" portion of my day!

Fried Day

Autumn Glow bead set - $36
now available in the Boutique

School starts back up on Monday and I have to say - it'll be a relief! We spent the early part of the morning at Elinor and Davis' school, getting classroom assignments, buying uniform shirts and PTA memberships, talking to the other moms and checking in with last year's teachers to say "Hi" and see how they were doing. Both Ella and Davis were beyond thrilled at the teachers they've got. Davis is in 3rd grade now and ended up getting the teacher that Elinor had when she was in 3rd. The teacher is an absolute doll, I just wanna keep her in my pocket! Ella is ecstatic because the teacher she got is the one she has been hoping and praying to get all summer long. I don't know her as well, but she seems to be very personable and all the other mothers I've talked to have had nothing but good things to say about her. So we're off to a good start! This is Elinor's last year at the elementary school and she's really excited to be "top dog".

Tilly will be in 8th (eek - one more year until high school!!) and we picked up her schedule after leaving the elementary school. We wandered the halls until she found all her classes. The school is 3 stories and spread out, plus her classes don't seem to follow any kind of natural flow, so it looks like she'll be doing her best speed-walk to get from one room to the other in the allotted 4 minutes!

After orientation was over, we met my Aunt Virginia for lunch at our favorite Mexican restaurant. It was a joint celebration for both her birthday (Aug 6th) and the end of Summer vacation. Much chips and salsa was snarfed, along with oodles of good conversation. Then, we headed home and hopped in the pool for a couple of hours while I gleefully reminded my children that this was probably the last weekday that they'd be able to swim with school starting on Monday. That was probably a little mean, but I did remind them afterwards that until it was too cool to swim, they'd still have the weekends!

Now it's time to cook dinner and then make beads. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!!

Last Week of School

It's a little hairy here, now that we're into the last couple days of school for the kiddos. I'm doing a lot of last minute running around and helping out as much as I can.

Everything on the *jenagirlbeads* front should be back to normal by the weekend. I can tell you that everyone's beads have been mailed out, so be sure to check your mailboxes in the coming days if your beads haven't already arrived.

For some reason, I ended up with quite a few duplicate orders this last time around. Either my shopping cart wasn't updating quantities correctly or several people ordered the same beads at precisely the same time. Whatever happened, it sure made it interesting come time to pack the beads and mail them! But hey - on a good note - I've discovered that quite a lot of people really like the Cabana Boy color scheme!!

Boy, do I need some caffeine right about now!!

All Alone...

And I'm NOT complaining!!

Wahoo!!! The kids are in school and I'm footloose and fancy-free! Well...not exactly. We're trying to settle into a routine and right now - I'm a little tired. I've been getting up at 5 a.m. (my usual bedtime is in the 11:45 - midnight range), getting the kids ready to go (Tilly's school starts at 7:10), going to get my exercise in before it gets too hot, and then working like a demon until I have to pick everybody up from school. Then, depending on the day, it's: tennis, homework (yes - already!), fix dinner and get the kids in bed. By 8:30, I'm usually back out in the studio again and I stay until Dean calls me after 11 to remind me to come to bed.

All is looking good on the order front, though. All the old orders are made and shipped and I'm well into the new ones that came during the last 2 weeks. I'll be done with them by Wednesday and then I'm back on new beads in new colors!!

Like a Headless Chicken

I was planning to post a cartoon or picture of a headless chicken running around to symbolize how chaotic and scattered I've been feeling this week as we run infinite errands to get ready to send the kids back to school (They start tomorrow, but the way), but they're all really, really GROSS! I know, I know - - what did I expect for an image of a decapitated animal? Cute and fluffy? Well.....yes. I suppose I did! I found one that I thought was clever, but didn't want to offend anyone by posting it. If you want to see if and aren't easily offended, click here. If you are and you look anyway, don't come whining to me! *wink*

I did learn something interesting during my Google image search though. I learned all about Mike, The Headless Chicken. It's a fascinating story, if a bit yucky, and answers some fundamental questions I've had about a few people that have passed through my life. Hey, if a chicken can function without a head and only a partial brain stem...

Elinor and Davis got new hair cuts yesterday and Tilly's appointment is scheduled for today. We've got all the school supplies we need and I've purchased the necessary uniforms. Elinor wants a new backpack, but I want her to wait until Saturday, when the Limited Too Bucks we have are redeemable. I'm not a bad Mom to make her carry last year's bag tomorrow and Friday before I buy her a new one, am I? The card is for $25 off, people! Worth the slight wait, right?

Anyway, I've got some more errands to run before Tilly's Open House at 4 this afternoon, so I'd better get to it!