Restringing a Bracelet

I know it has been a while since I blogged but I do have a good excuse.  I am trying to get stuff caught up at home because of my knee surgery on Monday.  

One of the things that needed doing was mailing a bracelet to a friend.  When I make a new Awareness pattern, I usually give it a name and the first edition of that piece goes to the person I named it for. 

I have a friend named Debbie.  When my epilepsy was out of control she set me straight.  She insisted that I take my medication regularly.  She told me that taking it eradically was worse than not taking it at all.  She got me involved with the group of people that  enable me to speak publicly to help spread epilepsy awareness and end the stigma.  Do you get the feeling that Debbie is important to me?

I lost track of Debbie but not the organization that she was affiliated with.  Back in May I sent the bracelet to them in hopes that they would forward it to her.  I finally asked them to return it to me.  So I sat my little butt down and using the internet I found Debbie.  I got in contact with her and I now have her mailing address.

Wait, this was supposed to be about restringing a bracelet.  It is.  I kept thinking that I should restring the bracelet because I have improved my technique since I made the bracelet last year.  So here is the bracelet before I restrung it:

I don't know why it takes me so long to simply restring a bracelet.  Now for a look at the re-strung bracelet:

At first I was just going to replace the rock shaped beads.  Well then I had to replace something else, then something else.....

Have a good weekend!

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Friday's Cat-Antics

For this cute story I need to give you some background from Outsmarting Myself vol 3.


My little girls may be a little spoiled, but just a little. They have always enjoyed their time outdoors. When we moved to a large apartment complex in Vegas the outdoor time went away. So being the nice Mommy that I am I make sure they have grass to chew on. Larry likes it because he is the one who has to clean up the upset tummies. And grass does help the tummy.

The grass is being grown in a larger container than normal. I have it in a rectangular planter that measures about 12 inches by 6 inches. The grass was growing well and then suddenly it stopped. It started laying down flat. I couldn't figure out what had gone wrong. Then one day as I was watering I looked closely. Can you see it in these pictures?

Evidently Smokie really loves laying in the grass. Even a small patch like this. She is careful only to lay near it while I am watching during the day. Now I put the grass on the counter every night.

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I'm in a Blog Treasury

Thank You Roseworks Jewelry. 

My Snowflake Earrings are featured in the "FFEST in Green" Treasury on her blog. 

Here is a link to the Treasury:

http://roseworkstreasury.blogspot.com/2009/09/ffest-in-green.html 

Click here to read more!

Treasury Tuesday: FFEST "Diversity" Treasury

Happy Treasury Tuesday.

I curated a Treasury today that showcases the diversity of art available in the FFEST Team Stores. I didn't fully realize the variety until I started researching for this Treasury.

Click here to read more!

Friday's Cat-Antics

I love my little girls. They do some amazing things. They can also be cute, mischeiviuos, sweet and sometimes they are just downright funny.

My Spaz is, well, she's a Spaz. That is why we named her Spaz. Because she is spastic. But she always manages to put a smile on my face.

This morning Larry and I were on a teleconference call so the phone was on speakerphone. I have done this many times before and the call has never interested her. This morning though, you would have thought the phone call was being held for her benefit. She would sit, looking at the phone, then at the appropriate time, Spaz spoke her mind. She is like me, if she has something to say, you will hear it.

This was a business call and both Larry and I were attempting to give it the attention and importance it deserved. But I guess Spaz thought we needed to know that even important business calls should have their lighthearted side.

Thank-you Spaz for brightening my day. Click here to read more!

Freedom of Speech

I try to keep my blog light. I like to address fun things. But I haven't written in awhile because I am in the middle of a situation. I guess I have to write about it so that I can move ahead and get back to the fun blogging. The situation concerns freedom of speech and the privacy of your own home.

Freedom of speech is granted to each American in our Constitution. But what does that really mean? You cannot yell "Fire" in a crowded theater because people can be hurt in the stampede. So where are you free to say anything that you want about anything at all? Most of us wait until we are in our own homes with our significant other. Because we all know that when you start to vent you will say things that you don't mean. And what better place than in your own home? You know that in your own home you are safe to speak knowing that nothing you say will be heard.

But what if due to some fluke your conversation was broadcast somehow? Do the people who hear it have the right to listen and to continue listening or do they have the responsibility to try to alert you? What kind of person would continue to listen? My answer is an unethical one. And if that person was at work and reported the conversation to their boss, what is their responsibility? Is company that they work for at risk of being branded unethical for condoning the action? And what of the head of the company? Is that person unethical for condoning it by willingly keeping this type of person as an employee? And what if they use the information from the conversation that was eavesdropped on?

I am in the middle of this situation right now. I completed a frustrating phone call and did not hang up my cell properly because it was on speakerphone. My husband and I spent about 20 minutes venting our frustrations. We were in our home. We were preparing to leave but stayed in the house to complete our venting. The person on the other end of the line stayed on and listened to our venting. They never once tried to alert us that the connection was still open. Then they reported the conversation to their boss. Instead of feeling uncomfortable about how the eavesdropping occurred, they proceeded to try to make my husband and I feel guilty about the conversation we thought was private. (We were in our home).

I work with these people to help others. I enjoy helping others, I am a nurturer. We agreed to move on. I was already scheduled to attend a meeting in early September. I was notified by the company last week that another employee (totally unrelated to any of the events addressed here) reported that I was hoping they would find someone else to attend in my stead. The tickets were already purchased. I had even re-confirmed my intent to proceed despite the "incident". The company acted on the rumor and took a financial loss.

My problem is that I really enjoy doing this work. It gives me a real sense of purpose. And the only feasible way for me to provide the assistance, is working with this company. It seems such a shame because it may hurt me a little, but what of the people I was to help?

I have done quite a bit of research since this happened. Did you know that the US Supreme Court ruled recently that a mother's eavesdropping on a telephone conversation between the woman's daughter and her daughter's boyfriend violated the children's privacy?

So what did I do wrong and what did someone do wrong to me?

I think that I have gotten this out of my system. thank you for listening. Click here to read more!