Early July Morning, Cocoa Beach, Florida

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

"Funky" Jewelry?

After being gone for four weeks, I paid a visit to the Coffee Shop where I have some of my jewelry. The owner had contacted me earlier, and said she had a check for me; besides, I wanted to see what stuff I had left in the shop after Christmas.

It was a nice little visit, and I was happy to see I did pretty well over the holidays. The owner asked about any "funky" jewelry I might have, and so I came home and started creating. 
She had mentioned one of my pieces that sold specifically, "the one with the wire wrapping and rings." I knew exactly the one. The thing is, most of my pieces are one of a kind, so that one is gone.
I started looking at all my beads, and came across some purply type glass beads. I remembered the sari ribbon I had purchased a few months ago, and then got out some glass pearls.
I sat down and started stringing beads, and this is what I came up with. It really is not that "funky" but I like it. It is about 26" and has no clasp. You just put over your head and go.
I thought about selling this set, but I can't get myself to part with it, since I've won three first place ribbons with it...well, back to the drawing board...more "funky jewelry to come...

Sunday, January 26, 2014

A Snowy Trip



Well, we got our two youngest boys out to school in Idaho. Boy, what a trip that was. Heading out there was not too bad, but coming back...that was a whole different story.

The first day on our trip back, we had a long day ahead of us. We left Idaho Falls at 4 a.m. and headed through Wyoming and Colorado. Our destination that days was to be Wichita, Kansas. Going through Wyoming, though, we had times of white out conditions. I don't believe we made it much above 40 mph through Wyoming and Colorado. Just before the Colorado boarder...the road was closed. 


Are you kidding?

Nope! 

We decided to take a back road, but down about a mile or so, we found that that was blocked too. We got out the map, and headed down some country road. By this time is was dark, and I kept thinking to myself..."This is how people wind up getting lost down some back snowy road, and then no one finds them until the snow melts." Yes, I was a bit nervous. 

Finally, we came to a sign that pointed us back to the interstate. We were able to get on, and be on our way. The roads were actually the best they had been all day, not sure why they closed the interstates...oh well....

As we headed over the Colorado boarder to a somewhat larger town, again, the roads were closed...SERIOUSLY!? *sigh*

We decided to try to find a place to stay, but all the motels were full. As we stood there in the lobby of the last motel trying to decided what to do, a young man came running up the the counter asking if he could check out. He had just checked in and learned that the roads were back open...boy did we skidatle out of there!

After a very long day, we finally made it to Wichita about 2:00 a.m.; and yes, we did sleep in the next day, resting up for our last day on the road to Monroe, Louisiana where I spent the next three weeks. 
Yes, we were able to eventually get the van cleaned. Had to wait a few days, because the pipes had froze at all the car wash places in Monroe. And, Yes, I did get some strange looks driving this mess around...