Necklace finished

I finished my necklace made of size 3 Lizbeth.

It has a purchased pendant and lots of 6/0 glass beads. I like it! (That's a pin by Jane you see there hidden in my hair.) The necklace is crocheted with a size D hook.

I'm tatting stuff to teach in 2013 conferences, so I can't show you much! I'm hoping to teach at both Palmetto Tat Days AND at the Finger Lakes Tatting Conference. I'm working on some starry things for Finger Lakes. And I've been schooled on how to pronounce Lodi - it's not LOW-dee, it's low-DYE. Alrighty then!

Lily has been very very interested in our fish (two Oscars) and has worked hard on catching them. Today the top of the tank slipped, and she went swimming. This has not deterred her one little bit.

FYI - Lily likes to sleep ON my head in the bed. I wake up and there she is.
 

Thanksgiving 2012

The 28 pound turkey fit in my oven with no problem, except for the fact it was SO DAMN HEAVY.

Fortunately, DH helped me load it in. And it cooked up beautifully and tastily. Nummy. My guests were happy with the feast, which included rice and giblet gravy. cornbread dressing, sweet potato casserole, squash souffle, green beans, broccoli in a cream sauce, spinach dip & crackers, rolls, cranberry jelly, pumpkin bread, 2 kinds of wine, and 4 kinds of pie (pumpkin, apple, cherry, and chocolate chess).

I'm too stuffed to move, and I ate dinner 7 hrs ago. Oooff.

In other news, my crocheted necklace is coming along nicely. Almost done, in fact. This is done in size 3 Lizbeth with 6/0 beads.

Larry has been working on a castle for his guys. It gives them a place to hang out. Heh.

Lily has discovered a wooden bowl and now sleeps in it.

I need to sleep soon. G'night!

Mom's necklace is finished.

I have finished the necklace for my mother.

It's inspired by Sally, from a star pattern by Jane, in Lizbeth 20. I hope Mom likes it - 'cause if she doesn't, I'm taking it back. I think it's pretty, if I do say so myself.

My friend Mrs V gave me some nifty gifts. The little boxes are for holding beads - they originally held dental crowns! (Mrs. V does dental work.) And the darling little kitty is a needle minder with a VERY powerful magnet. Me likey!

Larry got a bit of further bad news on Friday. While his injuries are healing nicely (thank heavens!), he has missed so many of his paramedic classes that he has to start over. Again. The next class starts in September. Larry is pretty morose and has been having a bit of a pity party. ("Why does everything happen to me!?!") I'm ok with a pity party, as long as it only lasts for 30 minutes. Then buck up, son.

Enough of the pity party. Here's a bit of what's growing in my yard.

Gladiolas!

And lilies! It's been a lovely summer so far...

Some bargains

Still tatting the necklace - all stars are done, working on split rings.

I am a major tightwad, so I relish being able to find a bargain. I found two!

The first is a great tower fan. I found this at the grocery store Aldi. Seriously, at Aldi, for $19.99 USD. I now have two. The fan oscillates and has a timer, and it's not loud. A fan is essential in Hotlanta.

And I found a terrific portable Ott-Lite for the same price! $19.99 at, of all places, Office Depot! Yes, at an office supply store - who knew? It's more expensive online at $21.99, but still a good buy.

It weighs a pound and a half. It's coming everywhere with me. I lurve it.

And finally..

A lovely video of sweet lion cubs and their keeper. Awww.

Puppies and avoidance

The puppies are getting bigger.  The two on the left are girls, they're a bit smaller.

Our mama dog is taking good care of them.  They are mighty fat.  The white girl is very calm.

I've still making necklaces.

And I'm doing my best to avoid Christmas shopping.

Black Friday and Thanksgiving wrap up

I did a very minor bit of shopping today.  I bought one item at 5 am online (I went right back to bed - shopping in my nighties is the way to do it) and a few items at 2 stores, not the big box kind. And I put things back - I spent less than $100.

Yesterday was good.  The only really interesting thing happened during preparations.  I use a brown-in bag for the turkey - I swear by them.  I don't try to carve at the table, so having the look of beautiful bird is of no importance to me.  I'm nore interested in the taste of the turkey and how juicy it is.  That, and all the yummy juices which I use in the dressing and giblet gravy.

Anyhow, the 23 lb turkey was removed from the oven and allowed to rest for a few minutes.  I called DH to help me drain the precious, delicious juices.  I was pretty distracted because I was running behind.  I got a bowl and DH hoisted said fowl and got the juices running into the bowl.  All was good.

Until the brown-in bag that DH was holding the turkey by broke and the turkey - and its juices - escaped.

(You saw that coming, didn't you?)

The good part is the turkey did not hit the floor.  It hit the counter.  And the bowl I was holding to catch the goodness.

Most of the yummy juices went on the counter and the cabinets and the floor.  Some hit my clothes.  (I fortunately was still in cruddy clothes that I had cooked in all morning.)

DH immediately went about cleaning up the mess, calling for towels and lots of them.  He wisely sent me upstairs to change clothes and take a breath.

I did not have a fit.  I thought this was pretty adult of me.

I came down in company clothing, put the remaining turkey juices in the gravy, and used organic commercial stock for the dressing.  I was so rattled by all of this that I was late in putting my rice on, so folks had to wait until they went back for seconds before the rice was ready.

The turkey was slightly damaged, but not much.  It stayed together, and carved up nicely.

All things considered, things were good.  Everyone enjoyed the meal.  My friend S brought some wine, hors d'oeuvres, 2 pies, and squash casserole.  I fixed turkey, rice and giblet gravy, dressing (a ton of it), fresh green beans, steamed brocolli with a sauce, sweet potato casserole, cranberry sauce, and rolls.  And it was all good.

There was no fighting, no biting.  The table conversation was pleasant and did not veer into the dangerous political relm. DH sweetly cleaned up after the meal, bless him.  We laid around for a while.  Then we ate pie.

It was a good day.

Also - here is the latest necklace I've tatted, a present for a sibling.

Hope your weekend is good....

Another necklace

I'm making some Christmas presents.  I liked the necklace I made for myself so much that I decided to make some for my family.  Here's the latest:

It's done in navy Lizbeth thread, size 20, with two types of silver glass beads and a lobster clasp.  It's about 18 inches long.

I did a lot of work on this on the train, and some folks asked me if I sold them someplace, which I took as a complement.  (No, too much work.)  Larry liked the necklace enough to ask if I would make one for his girlfriend. (Maybe.)

I'm diggin' this one too.  I hope the recipient will like it.

New necklace

I whipped up this little goodie this week. mostly while riding the train.  (See, I use my time wisely.)

It's super simple - I tatted it in DMC Perle 8 with size 10 glass beads and a magnetic clasp.  The pendant is one I found at Michael's - it's by Blue Moon. 

The basic pattern is R 4-4-4-4, with a little bead at the top of the ring.  The chain is 4-4, with a bead in the only picot.  Too simple for words.  I did use a SCMR to attach the pendant - all done with chains of 4 ds separated by a bead, until it was long enough to attach the pendant.  True confessions - I took the ball thread off the shuttle here and threaded it through the hole in the pendant before closing the SCMR.  I am not as fine a tatter as Queen Jane, who I'm sure would have come to a better solution.

I'm very pleased with my necklace.  It's very light and super cute. I wore it to church this morning, and on the way there I said, "I'm really diggin' my new necklace."  Moe said, "It's a good thing it's not diggin' into your neck."  Hee.