My Dad as a Bead

My dad's birthday is today! On Halloween! So when I was a kid, we had lots to celebrate on this day. We ate candy AND cake. My dad's birthday cake was usually a Halloween scene, but one year my mom ordered a cake of his head. He has a very recognizable look, one that translated well to a cake. As kids, my sisters and I were also experts at drawing my dad's face.

My dad also is an ophthalmologist. When I was little, I imagined that he had a box of spare eyeballs. You know, like a shoebox filled with them. I figured that if someone hurt their eye so badly that it no longer was useful, my dad could pop out the bad eye and let his patient pick a new one from the shoebox. This turned out not to be true (bummer, right?). But being an eye doctor and having a Halloween birthday works out very well for gift-giving. We love to find him eyeball-themed birthday presents and there are lots of them out there this time of year. One year I got him eyeball soaps, and this year I found some eyeball post-it notes. But I also was delighted to find some gory eyeball murrini (made by Lori and Kim). I used some of the eyeball murrini on various animal beads, but I saved one for a bead for my dad. I thought and thought about what to make with it. I couldn't come up with anything quite right. Then a couple nights ago I thought, "I should make a bead of my dad!" How could I not? I had drawn his face so many times, why not make it in glass? So here is what I made:

This is my dad as a bead. He's wearing his light blue lab coat with yellow index cards in the pocket (he always has those there for taking notes and making lists). He's also holding a gory eyeball (probably freshly removed from someone's face). His face is pretty spot on, if I do say so myself (and if you can't tell, he's smiling under the beard). The only thing that's not quite accurate is his hair color - it's not exactly black anymore. But this is how I picture my dad. :)

Here is my real dad with his bead. 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

AND

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Murrini Monday

 This awesome BOO murrini was just asking to be melted onto a black cat. I think the cat is more scared than scary.

These big-hole turtles love to show off murrini on the tops of their shells. I put a layer of clear over it and it gives it a magnified effect. The eyeball is sure to scare the pretty beads on someone's rope chain.

 Heart murrini is still one of my all-time favorites. It can be used just about anywhere, and I love giving it to little owls. This big slice almost didn't fit on this little yellow owl, but we made it work.

Pinky the owl is always impressed when an owl suitor looks her in the eyes, and not the chest. But his hooter wouldn't blame her new friend for sneaking a peek at her pretty pink and yellow murrini heart.

Murrini from this week's episode of Murrini Monday is from Lori and Kim!

HAPPY MURRINI MONDAY!!!

Murrini Monday ~ It's Spooktacular!

It's been too long since my last Murrini Monday post, but that doesn't mean I haven't been having fun with murrini. Quite the opposite, in fact! A few weeks ago I received the Monster Mash blend from Lori and Kim and I can't keep the critters away from my stash!

Dragons like to steal murrini in broad daylight. They are that bold. This trio found a Frankenstein head, a zombie head and a candy corn, and they're not letting them go.

These two big hole dragons got ahold of a jack-o-lantern and a bat. They act like they had nothing to do with taking them - they won't make eye contact with me.

This army green dragon picked out one of my largest skulls and then asked me to paint her toenails orange to match the murrini.

This time of year, black cats feel quite deserving of something special like Halloween Murrini. Two of these cats picked out murrini from my stash, but one slinked off with a candy corn in his mouth. 

The gory eyeball murrini is one of my very favorites from this blend. This elephant an pug obviously agreed with me. 

The Monster Mash murrini blend is already sold out, but you can still purchase smaller packs of two varieties, like the Creature Feature blend of black bats and spooky spiders. Funny, none of my critters has swiped a spider murrini yet . . . or maybe I haven't come up with a critter brave enough to stick one to - any ideas? What kind of critter would be able to handle a spider murrini?

Now I'd better start doling out more Halloween murrini to all my critters, because guess what? Lori and Kim have already stocked holiday murrini! Find these wonderful little pieces in the Holiday Shop!

HAPPY MURRINI MONDAY!!!

Destination ME - week 2

Last week I announced that I was going to start taking care of ME. I was inspired by Hallie, who writes The Princess and the Pump blog (check out Hallie's latest Destination ME post HERE). My goal last week was to start getting more sleep. I wish I could say that I achieved that goal, but . . . Zzzzzzz. Where was I? Oh yeah, more sleep. I do believe I was asleep before 11pm on two nights, but that's not enough of an improvement. Getting enough sleep is something I've struggled with for a long time. When I used to wait tables, I'd come home at 11pm or midnight (wreaking of pizza, sometimes waking up my husband just because he could smell the sausage and garlic). But I wouldn't go right to sleep - noooo, that was "my time." I'd stay up and watch whatever show I'd recorded and usually nod off around 1am or so. When I left my waitressing job, I could not break that habit of staying up late. I obviously still can't break it. So I'm going to put it on the back burner and try some easier, mini goals this week.

First, I'm going to get outside for a walk every day. And I don't mean taking bead packages down the driveway to the mailbox. I'm talking a walk around the block at the very least. I had my follow-up appointment with the Infectious Disease doctor (lots of hand sanitizer in that office) last week, and he gave me to go ahead to start exercising. Hooray! He also warned me that I'd be winded easily. Boo! But I guess that's to be expected after nearly two months of pneumonia. 

It's been super hot outside, but soon it will be cold and rainy and snowy, so I'm going to take advantage of the nice weather and breath some fresh air. I've already started doing this and let me tell you, it's a mood lifter for sure. I've walked twice with my neighbor/bff, and not only are we getting exercise, we get to catch up with each other and vent - the cheapest therapy.

I walked once by myself, and even ran for a bit (the doctor was right, but winded would be an understatement). When I go by myself, I take my iPod and listen to music. That's my second goal - more music! I tend to listen to talk radio (nothing political or controversial, just good, fun talk) when I'm making dinner or driving. But I'm making an effort to play more tunes in the house or keep my iPod on while I do laundry, etc. It really does keep me moving, sometimes a little faster than usual. :)

For my third mini goal, I'm going to make sure I have breakfast every day. I know all the good things about eating breakfast, yet I tend to get caught up in my day and don't eat until around lunchtime when I'm too hungry to make smart choices. So I've been making green smoothies (they taste much better than they look, trust me!). Today I'm having half a banana, a handful of frozen mixed fruit, a bunch of kale, chia seeds (ch ch ch chia!), a few walnuts, a couple spoonfuls of Vanana yogurt from Trader Joe's, water and ice. Cheers!

Good luck on all the goals you have set for the coming week!

Destination ME

This post has been a long time coming.

First off, some background - I stole the title and the first sentence of this post from one of my favorite new (to me) blogs, The Princess and the Pump: A Type 1 Diabetes Blog. I can't remember exactly when or how I found the P and the P blog, but I'm almost sure it was late at night while I was trolling the 'net for information on Type 1 diabetes. The author, Hallie, is a wife, teacher and mother to a darling T1D girl. In her blog, Hallie chronicles the challenges they endure and triumphs they achieve with their T1D child. It is a wonderful resource for parents of diabetic children. 

Hallie's daughter is elementary-school age and was diagnosed at age 3. My T1D daughter is a freshman in high school and was diagnosed at age 12. The circumstances that Hallie and I deal with are probably very different, but still very much the same. Her daughter, being so young, is still dependent on her parents for her diabetic care. My daughter is fairly independent with her diabetes care, but that doesn't mean I'm not there questioning when she last tested her blood sugar and did she do a correction for a high number, etc. With all that goes on with having a T1D child, it's easy to lose yourself in it. Hallie's most recent blog post, Destination ME, is about how she is going to find her way back to herself. She will have a weekly post about her current goal, and she invited her followers to join her. When I saw that, I thought, "Count me in!" It was just what I needed. It was just what I'd been thinking. It is so easy to get caught up in our children and lose sight of ourselves. And having a child with diabetes - or any other challenging illness or circumstance - compounds that. 

Hallie's goal this week is to get more sleep. As much as I'd like to be original, I'm going to make that my goal, too. Sleep is where it all starts. 

I don't check my daughter's blood sugar in the middle of the night like we did when she was first diagnosed, so I shouldn't be as sleep deprived as I am. My sleep deprivation is mostly self inflicted. I find I can't go to sleep until after I know all of my kids are sleeping. If my T1D daughter has had a high or a low right before bed, of course I'm up with her until we get her numbers in check. But even when everything is going well, I tend to stay up until I know everyone is asleep. With two teenagers, this can be pretty late. 

Sleep is also important for me right now as I'm getting over this awful bout of pneumonia. I've been struggling with it since the end of July, and I'm finally feeling pretty good. So at the moment, exercise is out of the question. Getting more sleep would be the best thing I could do for myself. 

As I embark on this Destination ME journey, I know it's not just for me. If I can get to where I feel like myself again, my family will benefit, too. And my T1D daughter, a teenager, needs good examples healthy living. She doesn't need a grouchy mom with dark circles under her eyes. 

This goal won't be easy. It's years of a bad habit I need to break, but now is the time.

I'm going to say I'd like to be asleep every night by 11pm. That didn't happen last night, even after reading Hallie's post. But tonight I will stick to it. 

** I know I've been absent from my blog for months. I will definitely be back here more often, starting with Murrini Mondays (I have some awesome Halloween murrini to show off!). Then I'll post my new Destination ME goals on Wednesdays. I like the idea of putting a new weekly goal right in the middle of the week - it will change things up for sure. I probably won't post every day because that's when I get overwhelmed and just stop completely. But I'll take baby steps with my blog as I will with my new goals, so please check back!

Looky What I Got!

Don't you just love getting packages in the mail? I know I do! I just got these wonderful feather earrings from Cali at the The Bead Muse. The pictures don't do them justice - they're beautiful and delicate and so so soft. That's because they're made with feathers that Cali hand selects from her own flock of birds. I chose the red and black rooster feathers (on the left) for my chicken-obsessed daughter. She will LOVE them! And she'll flip when she finds out they came from an actual rooster. The other pair is made with pheasant feathers that are a stunning dark green and have wonderful polka-dotted markings on them. They are so unique and I'm so happy I got them. Check out more feather earrings in The Bead Muse's Feather Jewelry section.

Turtle Tuesday

It's been so long since I've blogged regularly, and I do miss it. I think of things to blog about all the time, and then I just don't follow through. So here I go again, trying to start being consistent. :)

Since today is Tuesday, I thought I'd bring back Turtle Tuesday - woohoo! I haven't made a whole lot of turtles lately, but when I do I always wonder why. I love making turtles! Unlike dogs, they're all the same breed - at least when I make them they are. So I don't have to worry about whether to put on a nubby tail or a long skinny one, cropped ears or floppy ones - I just make a turtle. And I can decorate them however I want!

I recently got some awesome murrini from Lori and Kim called Electric Jellyfish, and it was perfect for turtle shell decorating.

Turtles in my shop aren't just a pretty shell. Nope. This one has chosen to decorate his shell in a rainbow of colored spots, as well as wear a symbol for Marriage Equality on his backside. I like to give turtles a nice backside because when they're moseying away, it can take a while. So you might as well have something appealing to look at back there. I even have an album on Facebook featuring my favorite Turtle Butts. 

Right now the Turtle section in my Etsy shop has seven turtles in it - that's pretty sparse. I do hope to add more soon! But if you purchase a turtle bead today,  put "tiny turtle" in the notes to seller and your turtle will travel with a leetle friend. 

Happy Turtle Tuesday!!!