Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Living with your mother
That said, she's also hard to guard! She still mows - if I don't beat her to it, climbs on ladders to hang curtains - here's the roman blinds she made for our living room -
The lighting isn't perfect in the pic, but they are lined keep the living room well shaded from the outside sun.
I asked her if she wanted to list custom roman blinds on the website but she said "Heck no! These were hard enough!" lol!
She did a beautiful job, as she always does. Mom's been sewing in some capacity or another, since she was 5 years old. That's a lot of experience with a needle!
I came in the living room to see her on a ladder hanging these. Scared the crap out of me. Mom has a sinus condition that often has her balance a little off kilter so I was terrifed that she would topple off the rungs and break something! Like I said, she's hard to guard.
I spend a lot of time following behind her turning things off. Usually the water. She's not at all bad about the stove, but the water seems to be something she likes to leave on. Fortunately, we have good drains so nothing floods.
I also have to always look in the oven when she puts something in there. It isn't uncommon for her to leave the potholder or dishtowel in with the roast or rice pudding. mmmmmm .... terrycloth flavored cookies.... ack!
Mom will spend hours in her garden. We have this horrible weed that has no end to it growing in our yard. Nothing kills it. The roots speak Mandrin. She will crawl around her very large garden on her knees for hours trying to get this weed before it violates her veggies! Usually, I can keep track of her from the windows when she's out there. But I have to go out and make her come in to eat or convince her to take a break.
Mom has an incredible work ethic and always has had. Trouble is, she expects us all to get up at the butt crack of dawn and get to work before the first cup of coffee is done! She has a time clock of her own and she expects us all to punched in when she is. Savoring that cup of coffee is an unecessary luxury as is breakfast or Good Morning America.
Her failing hearing is hard my throat. After repeating louder and louder and answer to her questions I usually get a sharp retort, "You don't have to yell at me! Sorry I asked." Of course that leaves me not only with a raw throat but a crappy attitude.
I don't mind repeating some things for her nor do I mind her repeating some things over and over for me. I can always use the reminders. But it gets tiresome to remind her that she is 88!
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Shower with a Centipede
This did not make me happy! I quickly jumped out of the tub. Now the floor is soaking wet - long hair can hold a LOT of water! I reached under the sink looking for anything to zap this thing with. I laid my hands on The Works toilet cleaner bottle. What the heck? I thoroughly doused him and shut the curtain. After a jittery moment I looked back in and he was not moving, just floating a little bit in the running water. He was a lot lighter in color too. A wad of toilet paper and a flush later and he was gone.
Knowing that I have saved myself a possible ugly bite did not make me feel better about killing him that way. Nor did knowing he was dead and gone keep me from looking down at my feet almost constantly! I managed to get soap and shampoo in my eyes about four times from being on the lookout for another one. ouch!
Here's what the thing looked like:
http://tinyurl.com/oqorzt
I couldn't get the picture to load. Blogger gives me a lot of trouble with that.
I hope the rest of you have a better start to your day!
Sunday, May 3, 2009
A Rake is a Lousy Date
I am so tired of this wanna be garden! I may never eat another tomatoe just on principal.
My hands are so worn out I won't be handling a needle for beading for the next two days. This keyboard is enough trouble.
I am beginning to think we should have bought a condo or something..... arghhhh!
We do love this grand old lady though. Now if only she'd 've come with a garden plot already plowed!
Now get this.... my mother is 88 years old. She is out there digging and raking and planting flowers with us. She still mows the yard with her self propelled lawn mower my brother bought her last year. She can outlast us on our best day of working! We are thinking of signing her up for Survivor.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
New Ventures
I thought I could jump on that polymer clay wagon and make stuff! Ha! I had no idea how hard it was! Yes, you poly artisans have my total respect! I did manage to make a little pudgy pigeon that turned out pretty cute. I put a hole in some of them for beads and others - at my sister's suggestion, I left whole. But I struggle with each and every one of them! I am soooo not an artist. My sister is though. I tried to get her to mold me some things but she was too busy and wouldn't.
Thankfully, it is raining today and I am getting a break from Roy the Rake and Sherm the Shovel. So today it will be the tedious struggle to create more pudgy pigeons. I think I will try to make one like our African Grey Parrot, Mr. Boo.
Please visit our website to see our beaded glassware and table linens. Our beaded stemware often coordinates with our table linens for a really lovely table display. You can also custom order colors in any of our stemware for yourself!
http://triplewillowgiftgallery.com/
Or, if you prefer to purchase on Etsy...
http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=71726
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Rainy Days!
See what I mean? These glasses are soooooo pretty but I can't get the pics to look good enough. I have tried every tip I've been given too! Well, I guess I just need to practice more.
Friday, March 27, 2009
Finally they are done!
Thursday, March 12, 2009
The Eagles are Leaving
I also can't figure out how to get pics on the side bars. I love the green spaces but I want to feature other crafters and artists. Until I figure that out.... well they have to wait. I hate that.
Any clues out there?
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Still Waiting
Monday, March 9, 2009
The Weekend Flew!
This weekend we found an antique dining room table, chairs and ottoman for our lovely old house. I had planned to work on photos again but that plan got changed for me. I had also planned to work on them again today. Again that plan got changed for me. I have to pick up the set today. We could have had it delivered but the $75.oo delivery fee was a bit steep to go six miles. Besides, the dogs bite and they are a pain to get outside out of the way, then lay down rugs for the guys to walk on so they don't damage our antique, hard wood floors... and then there's Boo. Strangers scare him and when they are carrying large objects, they really scare him.
I worked on photos. Sadly, they really aren't much better than the ones I had. Some, but not much. They are more in focus and the colors are true, but the lighting still sucks. I have taken every tip and instructions to be found and I still can't get these things quite right. Except on cloudy days, outside. Then they seem to be perfect. Here's what I ended up with.
So it's back to the photo shoot operation again for me. sheeeeeesh! It's too bad too. These glasses are simply lovely and deserve a better respresentation than I am giving them!
Fortunately, sales in the wine stores are doing pretty well. I can't seem to give them enough of them to stock or to place orders in. It takes too long to do them, then I try to photgraph them, and then I deliver them. By the time I have that done, the others are already sold out! I guess I could have worse problems!
Time to go pick up the new table set.
Friday, March 6, 2009
New Pictures
This is our much loved historical home. It is a 1904 Italianate. We love the Italianate design with the flat topped widow's walk and hip roof designs. We are planning on looking under the siding this spring to see if we have eyebrows above the original windows.
We only got part of our furniture. The loveseats came in damaged so they only delivered the chair. Nice for mom since she sits in the chair. Nice enough for sister, she has a recliner she loves. Not so nice for me, I sit on the loveseat in the bay windows. We gave away our living room set the night before delivery was supposed to happen. So now, I am sitting in a very uncomfortable, antique, wing back chair until Saturday. This is not conducive to working. ugh!
I haven't yet finished the Hummingbird crystal wine glasses. Since one of them was broken, I have rethought the whole color scheme. I think the next pair will be red on green. That way they can be presented as a four set or sold as separate pairs.
I'll get some really nice pics of these later when I am ready to list them. I think I'll list them on Etsy for a little while and see what happens. I don't have duplicates of these so I can't list them on Etsy and on our website http://www.triplewillowgiftgallery.com
Off to go take pictures!
Thursday, March 5, 2009
New Furniture
The furniture we chose is a wonderful old style set in chocolate brown leather with brass finish nail heads. We just loved the look of it for our old house. We chose two loveseats and a chair instead of the traditional couch plus set. I can hardly wait to get it situated and take pictures of it!
While moving the old set out yesterday, (we gave it to a woman with three kids that needed a set) we managed to break one of my new hummingbird crystal wine glasses. I wanted to cry! So instead of three pairs, I will now how two pairs and a spare. They are turning out just lovely.
Mr. Boo is still making us laugh. He's still trying to say swear words he learned from his sitter while we were away. He can't quite get them right. We are hoping it goes away when he doesn't hear them anymore.
We had to laugh at Tucker too. He's afraid of the dark. Poor dog. That has to be the ultimate dog humiliation. Last night, he had to go out sooooo bad! Elvis did not have to go out. We tried to get Tucker to go out but he wouldn't leave the porch without Elvis. He kept dashing back inside to get Elvis but all he got for his trouble was a nasty growl and bark. Finally, sister had to step out with him where he could see her so the poor thing could go hike a leg! Who ever heard of a dog being afraid of the dark?! *sigh*
I have got to get busy on this glassware. I am getting low on completed inventory! It seems like the things I have been making are just duplicates of what I have already completed! That's nice for sales but it totally stagnates my creativeness!
I am hoping to feature some other crafters and artists here soon. If you read this and want to be one, just let me know! triplewillow@mchsi.com
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
The First Day
I am going to make a few more variations of these black and white champagne flutes soon. I already have the black and white wine glasses on the website. Here's the link in case someone doesn't know it. http://www.triplewillowgiftgallery.com/ Look in Browse and choose Beaded Glassware.
Here's the link to the glasses: http://triplewillowgiftgallery.com/Wine_Glasses_Tuxedo.html
There's a sweet table runner that matches these, I'll be getting it listed soon too.
One of the things I'd like to do with this blog site is to help promote other's work too. So if you have a website or store site hosted elswhere, (Etsy, Designs to Love or whatever) let me know and I'll get on it! I hope to start that next week.
Please don't ask me to feature you in my blog if you have items like mine (glassware that is). I could hardly be considered intelligent if I hosted a direct competitor! There are a few others out there that bead on glassware (stemware) but I have been doing this for years (over 15 years) and I have worked on a method and technique that works well, and lasts a long, long time even with careless handling, because of the combined bead weaving techniques that I use.
But all other websites and content will be considered and welcome! Drop me an email with your site's addy! triplewillow@mchsi.com