Critter Visit from NLC Beads

Looky what came in the mail yesterday! An adorable kitty cat (with beautiful scrollwork that's hard to see in the picture), a 3-eyed alien with murrini, AND a screaming alien, cyclops-style. They are all from Nikki at NLC Beads. 

It's ok to be jealous. It's a perfectly natural emotion to feel when you see someone else with a handful of Nikki's beads. I'm lucky enough to own several of Nikki's awesome critters. My other screaming alien serves as the best fan-pull ever, right over our kitchen table, screaming his little head off. This new screaming alien has been a little, shall we say, nervous, since he's hopped out of the mailing envelope.  And it doesn't help that his travel companions aren't very compassionate to his anxiety. After all, he screamed the entire way here from Ohio.

The critters were checking out their new surroundings and they talked the screaming alien into trying out the playpen. He didn't like it.

Then they put him in the baby buggy. He was not amused.

They had to pry him away from the mirror. He kept scaring himself.

He finally relaxed a little when they sang Happy Birthday to him. And it's not even his birthday.

Some of my other NLC critters agreed to a group picture with the the newbie beads. I think they're all going to get along very well. :)

Thank you, Nikki!!!

Saturday is Catterday

My son runs high school cross country. Before a meet or a long run, he makes sure to get his carbs. One of his favorite ways to carb up is with a nice big bowl of cat - delicious and full of those important vitamins and long-acting carbohydrates.

       

See how fast he runs? Like a panther.

 Now he's sweatin' like a dog.

         

Happy Catterday!

Saturday is Catterday

This is my boy, pretending to be unfazed by me taking a picture of him in a restaurant. Little does he know that while he's staring me down, the cat on his shirt is taking a lick of his pizza. 

Therapy Thursday ~ it's for the dogs

In need of a good laugh? Then check out this post - My dog: the paradox - at The Oatmeal. It's full of dog humor and sweetness.

Even our dog Chunky laughed out loud - except not at the part about fireworks and staring contests with cats. 

This post at The Oatmeal was so popular that it's been turned into a poster ~ you can purchase it here.

Follow The Oatmeal on Facebook here.

HAPPY THURSDAY!

(it's almost Friday)

Hippo Tutorial

Here's how to make a hippo bead, in several easy-to-follow steps.

First - and this part is critical - plan on making an elephant bead. Wind the pretty blue glass around the mandrel. Add a head. Then painstakingly add a trunk to the center of face. Keep on adding glass until the trunk is out of control. Then get fed up with the whole thing and pull part of the trunk off (don't worry, this does not hurt the elephant if you do it quickly). Next, realize that it just doesn't seem to be working out, so smash the remaining stump of trunk into the face. Melt that in and take a look. Then come to the obvious conclusion that this bead was meant to be a hippo. Add a couple eyes, some nostrils and some horn thingies on top. Then add some legs and a tail, and voila! It's a hippo. Easy as pie.

Any questions?

Eat Cake ~ Book Recommendation

I love to read. There's nothing more exciting than being sucked into the lives of people on the pages of a compelling book. So I've decided to share some of my favorites here from time to time.

First up is a book called "Eat Cake," by Jeanne Ray. Published in 2004, it's out in paperback. If I had to describe this book in one word, I would say "sweet," and not just because there are cake recipes in the back. It tells the story of Ruth, a somewhat compulsive baker, who has come to the most trying time in her life. Her household, which includes a moody teen-aged daughter and cantankerous mother, is turned upside down when her husband loses his job and her estranged father (divorced from her mother) severely injures himself and asks to move in. Ruth deals with the stress by baking cakes, which the author Jeanne Ray describes in utmost delicious detail. When the house is in complete chaos, Ruth loses herself in her recipes and eventually finds a way to solve her family's problems. Mix in a lot of humor and warmth, and this book is definitely a recipe for the best kind of comfort food.

I have given this book as a gift several times, and everyone loves it. Ray's other books are just as good, with real characters that are so easy to relate to. So check out "Eat Cake," and when you've finished and want more - try "Julie and Romeo" and "Step-Ball-Change."