Sunday, May 27, 2007

Sick Again

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I feel like I have had one health issue after another. While nothing has been major, I'm actually sick of doctors!

This time, it's a severe eye infection. It has me in a very nasty mood as I can't see to torch or much else. My eye is swollen shut every morning and opens with the help of cold compresses. I'm on two types of antibiotics and I swear the thing is getting worse before trying to heal.

Mabel also is on the mend today. Yesterday in the creek with her buddies, Hank & Sue, they were doing their usual rough-housing in a sand pit. The pack ran over to the edge, where I was hovering near some bushes. Mabel spun and managed to get her left hind leg twisted through some tall shrub and tried to take off running before she realized she was hung up. She yelped in pain before I could work her loose. Last night she was barely moving. Today she looks very tired. But -- of course she perked up when we got a phone call from Hank / Sue's Mom... I think she would've gone to the creek anyway... silly doggie!

Hope everyone is having a restful, fun weekend.

Thursday, May 24, 2007

Internet Scams

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I received the email below today. Normally I just delete but I was in an "entertain me" sort of mood. I wanted to see how good this jerk thief's plea for money was.

We've probably all seen the warnings on t.v. about people who fell for this sort of thing and are now in debt up to their eyeballs or the woman who just thought she had found a work from home job and was completely surprised when the FBI showed up and arrested her for laundering money.

I read this with an open mind trying to figure out what on earth would make someone think this is legit. As I read his promises of 1.6 million dollars in return for my assistance, the thing that makes me the warning bells start going off in my head (why not in other heads???) is "why me?" Out of all the millions of well known people with money in the world, a) why me, and b) why not contact me a more legitimate way???

The fact of the matter is this guy has sent millions of emails just like the one below and I am but a pawn in his game. And the email address was harvested by some robot... notice the email contains no personal reference to me??? (Since when am I a sir??) It really makes me sad that so many fall for this.

I am posting his email below with links and whatever other contact info he included... I feel no guilt about this as he has probably already hurt many with this scam. And as for the Icard which this thief is using to make himself seem legitimate, what do you want to bet, we could all go over there and create a business card for ourselves? Maybe I will be president of the U.S. on mine....

************************************************************************

chungu mimi wants you to check out iCardme.com!

Sir,

My name is Mimi Chungu I am from Luanda Norte in the Central district of Angola. I am presently in Cote d'Ivoire where I am on transit. I am contacting you for assistance in the clearance and transfer of Eight Million three Hundred Thousand Euro which was deposited in Finance Security Firm in Cote d'Ivoire.

This deposit came from private mining of diamond in our region which represent the major deposit of diamonds in my country. Coupled with the rebels activities which are sponsored by illegitimate sales of diamonds to foreign companies.

The local district heads conducted there activities for personal gains due to conflict in my region which has provided a heaven for local district heads before the intervention of the government forces which controls our areas forcing most of the locals out of the country.

Hence I will require your assistance in transfer and receivership of this deposit and for your compensation you will have 20 percent of the total amount and five percent will be used for logistics.

For further details please call me directly on this number +225-08-541-351 Please remember that this offer is very confidential and requires strict confidentiality. Waiting for your response.

Sincerly,
Mimi Chungu
chungumimi@hotmail.com

View my iCard at http://www.iCardme.com/100727

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Mabel's New Friends / Company

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My new obsession with my torch has left me with very little blog worthy info. So this will be a quick Mabel Lou story and a little update on life in general.

I was visiting with an acquaintance the other day and explaining how grateful I am that Mabel, at long last, has a new best friend. Mabel's first best friend, Sarah Jean, belonged to my BF and died two summers ago. (There is an online album of the two of them frolicking at the creek HERE.

In the past few weeks, I realized the the two Rhodesian Ridgeback puppies Mabel loved running into at the creek were actually neighbors! As luck would have it, I took a different route home from the creek on my way to show ugly beads to the best friend. The pups were in the truck in front of us and I realized we had to live on the same street. Since then phone numbers were exchanged and we've made a daily hike most days as a pack of five. We've even gotten the dogs together for play dates at home. Now that Mabel is aware of where the Ridggies live, she stares at their house as we drive by on our way into town.

There is a boy, Hank, and his sister, Sue. The two girls are inseparable when we are all in creek and clearly the bestest of dog buddies. Sue actually hugs and kisses Mabel when they first get together (or if Mabel wanders off during a hike.) It's so cute! Sue kinda squats as Mabel runs toward her, throws both forearms around Mabel's neck and kisses her. Sue's Mom and I are both desperately trying to photograph it.

Anyway, as I was describing my joy at my girl having a new close friend, the person I was with exclaimed, "It's almost like you are talking about a child!"

Duh! ALMOST?? I couldn't love her more if she were human. I explained, God didn't give me human children so it's my duty to love what He did give me to the best of my ability. And I do. So there.

So these next few weeks are shaping up to be very busy... not work wise ...that's dead as can be. But lots of company. A former production buddy who lives in Reno is coming to stay. Her favorite vacation is to hang out at my house. She doesn't leave the house for days on end when she visits. So we will have a house guest for eight days.

And my "Greek Mother" is coming. One of my closest friends, Kat, is Greek and I just adore her mom. Marg is a former model and t.v. producer and one of the most stunning women I have ever met. She's also one of the nicest ladies in the world and I can't wait to see her. Marg's best friend was diagnosed with cancer a few weeks back and has already passed. So, it's not the happiest of visits. But her daughter, grandchildren and I are so excited at getting to spend some time with her. So the blog page may look the same for a bit.

Hope all of are doing something interesting and fun.

Thursday, May 17, 2007

Guess?

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Can anyone guess what this is???



And, in case you were wondering... I still have insomnia. Check the time.

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

One Woman's Junk = One Thrift Store's Treasure

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A week or so ago, I was sitting at the computer tweaking my never finished website when the office closet started rumbling. Thinking we were about to have an earthquake, I was mentally debating my options when I realized just the closet, not the rest of the world, was moving. A shelf collapsed and spilled its contents halfway across the room. Not wanting to deal with it, I have just hopped over everything since the disaster.

That is, until my insomnia hit at 3 this morning, after a whopping 2 hours of sleep. Insomnia runs in my father's family. Both he and his older brother functioned many, many years on end with around 3 hours of sleep a night. My aunt never slept more than 4 hours. Luckily, it only tends to hit me every couple of months and lasts about two weeks - - Something good I got from my mother's side... the need for sleep! But during this time, I can get tremendous amounts of things done. I remember as a child, I would awake in the middle of night to go to the bathroom and find my father wide awake and doing his bookkeeping for his business on the dining room table. Then, I thought he was crazy. Now, I get it.

So my task this morning is the closet. The last time I really went through anything other than the clothes I keep in there (nicer short sleeve shirts and dressy dresses rarely worn), I haven't really dug around in there since moving in - October 2000.

Things I found:

- My old power book (long ago sold on ebay) power adapter.

- An original Sony Walkman in working condition.

- My 1999 LA 411 Production Guide (A 5+ pound book that is a bible for film production. I always kept an old one around for my assistants who couldn't afford one to use on a shoot. My newer one is on a bookshelf and still utilized.)

- Resume paper in honey brown and rose quartz. (I can't remember the last time I printed a "nice" resume... I email them on the rare occasion a client needs one.)

- An HP Deskjet 340 b/w portable printer and cables (for above mentioned laptop), purchased on the fly when I was traveling cross country constantly working on "Forrest Gump."

- Numerous black "carry-all" bags from my production days.

- My tackle box full of office supplies. (You would be amazed at how many big Hollywood Production companies don't stock basic supplies! When you need to hit the ground running with a big, frantic job, you don't want the first thing you have do to be shopping for office supplies.

Most of the above is in boxes now, headed to my local charity thrift store.

Every time I get on a cleaning binge like this, I am amazed at the amount of stuff I allow to clutter my home, life and mind. Not to mention the money spent on things now deemed worthless...not even worth the time it would take to list them on ebay.

And while I vow to change my ways, that closet is still stuffed to the gills...

Sunday, May 13, 2007

Stupid Is as Stupid Does

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Since my previous post where I mentioned the challenges and frustrations of having a high IQ, several people have written to me privately about this same issue. I get particularly frustrated when someone won't just say what they mean.

I recently had Sears Home Improvement install new vinyl siding on the front of my home. About 400 square feet of my house had lots of wood trim... a rarity in California. As this side of the house gets a lovely Southern exposure (and plenty of sunshine), the wood was rotten, which is why I opted for vinyl.

Sears did a great job. If I have one complaint, it is the number of follow up surveys they send to see how happy I am with the job. "Uh - I would be a lot happier if I didn't have to fill out any more surveys..."

The other day, the Sears office lady (SOL) called and asked if I had received my permit from the city in the mail.

CH: I really wouldn't know. I don't open my mail for months on end.

SOL: You're kidding!

CH: No. I have my bills emailed and if I doesn't look like a birthday card or something really important, it goes in a pile and I deal with in January when I start posting last year's bills.

SOL: You're serious?

CH: So, if you really need to know, you're about seven months too early. (chuckle)

SOL: Oh, well, I was wondering about the permit cause I need to schedule your final inspection with the city.

CH: OK.

SILENCE

CH:.... And you need me to....

SOL: I need to schedule your final inspection with the city.

CH: And you need me to???

SOL: I need to schedule your final inspection with the city.

CH: How can I help you with that?

SOL: I need to schedule your final inspection with the city.

CH: (Frustrated) Ma'am, is it not clear to you that I don't understand what action you want me to take? Repeating yourself word for word when someone does not understand what you want does not help the situation. Now, again, what do you need from me?

SOL: I need to schedule your final inspection with the city.

CH: (Very frustrated) OK then, you go right ahead.

SOL: But I need to schedule it.

CH: It's on the front of my house.

SOL: But I need to schedule it.

CH: R i g h t... schedule it for any time you like. It's on the front of my house on a very busy, very public street and my house is pretty much here 24 /7. Try as it might, the poor girl never leaves home. So whenever you want to schedule that, the house is right here.

SOL: (Very frustrated)Ugh... OK thank you. Goodbye.

************************

Just WHAT did this poor girl want from me?? After she had repeated herself, I decided I really wanted her to spell it out. I was NOT going to offer up anything.

She could've said:

-I really need you to find that permit.

-I need you to be home in case the inspector has question. Can you give a few choices of times?

-I need you to schedule your own inspection.

Something, anything direct would have been nice.

Looking down on this girl from my lofty IQ, I can chalk this experience up to dealing with an idiot. But then, I'm reminded of a conversation I had with one of the ladies who designs cookie bouquets for me.

She is a psychiatric social worker and we were once talking about dealing with the intelligence impaired. She said the funniest thing: "You know, you can stop the next 100 people you see and ask them what they would change about their body and they will each give you a list as long as your arm. But ask them if they think they are smart, and every single one will tell you yes."

I am certain that poor girl at Sears turned around and said to her co-workers, "You won't believe the idiot I just had on the phone!"

Wednesday, May 09, 2007

Seven Things Meme

MABEL LOU UPDATE BELOW

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Janet tagged me for a Seven Random Things / Facts about Me. So here goes.

1) I have an allergy to cigarette smoke. It's a real, honest-to-goodness, diagnosed by a doctor thing. I literally cannot breathe around the stuff. My mother has something similar but more severe. Once, we were all out at a Christmas light display in downtown Baton Rouge. It was around nine at night and there was only one other family in the park. No matter how hard we tried, we couldn't seem to get away from the other mother's cigarette smoke. My poor mom went from being just fine to having her lungs fill with fluid from an allergic reaction to the smoke. And she had no inhaler with her. It was such a frightening drive home. My brother-in-law ran red lights and sped like a maniac while I sat in the back seat holding my mom up debating whether to hit the hospital or try and make it home.

When I think of leaving California for someplace cheaper, our laws which make it hell for smokers to find a public place to smoke is one of the things that keeps me here. I'm always shocked in when I travel other places and smell it, especially in a restaurant.

2) I'm 22 years younger than my 64-year-old (for a few more months) sister. My mother likes to say there's nothing slow about her. I like to kid her that she just wanted to give each of us individual attention.

3) I have a near genius I.Q. - 146. 150 is the threshold for genius. So that makes me smarter than most of the guys I meet and too dumb to join Mensa and meet smart men. Seriously, I'm convinced it's one of the reasons I'm still single. It's also been difficult for me work-wise. I can't stand it when I have a boss who won't look at the big picture. Or one who can't / won't make decisions.

4) My mother always wanted me to work for the phone company just like her (42 years) and my sister (30 years). I've always told her point blank, "I would rather have a bullet in my head." But she just doesn't get it.

When I was around 6, my the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission made it a lot easier for a woman to get a "man's" job with the phone company. My mother was the second woman in the state of Mississippi to get a "man's" title. Her best friend was the first. They had to put up with a lot of verbal and even physical abuse. It seemed sexual harassment was invented for them. Once, after my mother had been injured on the job, the big wigs there tried to keep her from returning to make sure a man would get the job. But Mother wouldn't have it. The President of the company (and several other men) came to the house to talk Mother into early retirement. He told her she needed to go along and get along if she were to come back. She informed him that the phone company didn't pay her enough to let anyone pat her butt and pinch her titties. She got her job back and the harassment stopped.

But it changed something in her. When I would visit her job and we would go to the restroom down this long hall. She would look around to see if anyone was looking...there rarely was. Mother would lock the bathroom door, turn on the hot water full blast, tear off bunches of paper towels wet them and throw them away. She would put handfuls of toilet tissue in the toilet, flush, repeat, flush, repeat, flush repeat. Then she would use the restroom, more tissue, flush, flush, flush. Wash up, more towels, toss, more towel and toss. Then, she would crack the door and check the hallway. If no one was there, she left the hot water running. That's how much she loved her job. That's the life she wanted for me! NO THANKS!

5) My father died when I was eleven. It was one of the most painful events of my life. It only took 30 years for me to stop going into a depressive funk around the date of his death. It was around this time I knew I would move far, far away.

6) I feel dead people... seriously. I have that weird Pisces thing going on where we're supposedly unaware of which world we are in...real or afterlife. I often see spirits in my dreams and out of the corner of my eye. But, more often, I feel their presence. It's not scary (most of the time). And it has only served to reinforce my faith.

7) Jesus gave me a rosary. Not in person to me. He gave it to someone and told her to give it to me. But it was Him. I would rather He just hung out and talked for a bit but, I needed a special message that day and it came in a way that had my full attention. This one is quite a long story so I'll just leave it at that.

Since everyone I know in Bloggerville has been tagged, just tag yourself if you haven't done this one!

Whew!

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Well things are mostly peachy here.

Mabel only has very minimal damage to her kidneys! They still function fine but her creatinine levels are slightly elevated. Her liver function is fine. And thank goodness for the urine test because the vet found she had a bladder infection unrelated to the bad food. So she's on antibiotics and anti-diarrheal meds for the next eight days. And no more canned food EVER! I feel like we dodged a bullet.

There is water in the creek!! It was almost bone dry yesterday. We had to hike quite a ways east to find water. But tonight, it was higher than it has been in months. Mabel Lou and I were both doing the happy dance. I hope to make it down to the waterfalls tomorrow.

The house gets new windows tomorrow. They arrived a week early! After I got new siding a few months ago, it made my circa 1958 front windows look really crappy. I'm sure my back will be in fine form tomorrow night after moving all that furniture. But I'll now be able to get a cross breeze in the house! Yeah!!

And on a sour note, my oxygen concentrator is being weird and I only got to make 8 beads today. I have no idea what to do for it... the pressure drops out the minute I light the torch. Oh well, guess I'll have to actually work in the shop on something I'm supposed to do instead of playing on my torch.

I attempted three off mandrel projects and succeeded with two before the oxy con problem. So yeah again!

And, for Janet, the tale of urine collection. I really wanted my vet to keep Mabel and get the sample but he seemed to think I could do it. What he doesn't know is that Miss Mabel is a modest girl. She really doesn't like anyone looking at her while she's doing her business. Her favorite places here are all where I can't see her from the porch. And at the creek, she runs ahead and tries to finish before I round the bend. Even now, I'm supposed to check her poop to make sure it's firming up. Tonight, she just glared at me because I stopped and watched her. And I swear, she really didn't finish. Brat!

So, I gave her water and put her on a leash, hiding one of the plastic dishes I keep in the shop for glass staging behind my back. I took her to all her favorite places. Nothing... she just kept looking at me like "Why am I on a leash in my own yard??"

So I took her inside and tried again an hour later. Nothing.

I kept her outside for a bit. It was close to 100 yesterday. Then she got more water and we tried two hours later.

As I walked her to her favorite spot, her rear end started to dip. Still she kept looking at me all strange. But finally gave in to nature. When she turned her head, I jammed the plastic dish under her. As soon as I knew we had a enough for the doc, I stooped to get the dish back. She jumped and turned around, staring at me with her best, "What the hell are you doing to me back there?" look. But of course, we got to take the leash off, so all was forgiven.

I don't know what I would do with a boy dog!

Thanks to everyone who said prayers and wrote and called. We really appreciate it!

Tuesday, May 08, 2007

Uh Oh!

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I received a letter (!!!!) stating that Mabel's dog food may be contaminated with melamine and to watch for diarrhea and lethargy... symptoms from last week...

Naturally, I opened the letter after the call center and my vet had closed for the day. It's almost 4 a.m. and I have yet to sleep. To think that I could have been poisoning my baby. I'm just frantic.

Mabel has been perkier...but she's been on Mom's chicken soup diet. She just went back to her regular food Sunday.

The fact that they wrote me really pisses me off! I checked their website on the 28th... the dang letter is dated April 26th.

I was out with BF Barb and she asked me, "What are we doing going to China to get wheat and rice?? Don't we have farmers here struggling to keep farms afloat?"

You just don't know what to trust anymore. I don't really like veggies unless I grow them but I stocked up at the store the other day. Today I found myself staring at the spinach and green onions in my fridge thinking "How do I know I won't get sick from that?"

Excuse my rambling thoughts; I'm just worried about my girl. I would be lost without her.

Saturday, May 05, 2007

Just Making Sure...

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I went shopping today to pick out a Mother's Day Card. I've made hand-stamped cards for my mom for well over a decade but now that own a rubber stamp business... I have no time to make cards anymore.

As I searched, my thoughts started to wander to previous cards given to my mother.

I learned rather quickly as a little girl that my mother preferred really sappy emotional cards over the funny ones I like. There was a real internal drama in my heart the year I was living in Argentina for Mother's Day and realized there were only Spanish cards. (We have both Spanish and English cards here; why not there?)

I ended up writing my mom a letter about the sacrifices she had made for me and how much I truly respected and admired her. She still has it all these years later.

I found the right card for me and a silly one for Mabel to give Mother and started thinking about her reaction to the gifts I am sending this year. It gave me the giggles to envision Mother reading the card because she asks the same thing of both my sister and I every holiday.

"Did you read that?"

As if we happened to run into the store and pick up the first card we saw! I guess it's Mother's way of just making sure we actually mean those sappy things.

We do Mother Dear, we do.

Friday, May 04, 2007

Crouching Photographer, Hidden Peacock

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I'm terribly busy with some sketches for a client so I thought I would put up this out of focus picture that I really like. It was raining and I went scouting for our peacock flock and found this guy taking cover in some ivy.

Wednesday, May 02, 2007

Ugly Beads...Great Joy

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OK... these are very ugly beads but I had so much fun I thought I would bite the bullet and show you what has kept me so pre-occupied this past week (besides strep, a tummy ache & a sick puppy).


I've always had a thing for glass drops and it turns out they are fairly easy to make. Naturally in my favorite color of purple.


My friend Bindy once told me that {when working glass in a flame} "When all else fails, make a fish." I can't look at a glass fish without wondering what it was "really" meant to me. This was a round bead gone really wrong. Still, it's so much fun sculpting in the fire that even my disasters make me chuckle out loud.



Another lopsided one but I really love dichroic glass. I'll probably wear this one.



Another round bead gone wrong here. As luck would have it, I had read a tutorial on lampwork butterflies that day and thought I would try something besides a fish. It is the biggest thing I've made and I was so amazed the wings didn't pop off. It's quite a juggling act to keep everything warm and heat up an area to work on it all at the same time. I was just grabbing whatever colors I had on the table so he certainly wasn't well planned.





And finally, a little mis-shapened heart that I really like.



I still have such a long way to go... but the journey is so much fun.

Oh, Mabel is MUCH better! She chased me out of the house with a toy yesterday... a very good sign.