Crazy Purse

This project has been taking up a lot of my free time.  I took a Crazy Patch class at Piecemakers one weekend, then the Crazy Patch Embroidery class the next weekend (they seem to do both classes every month).  Instead of doing a square (to piece together with others in a quilt).  I made my pieces a bit bigger than the pattern pieces for the outside and 2 outside pockets.  The purse is completely lined with cream colored canvas, and there are a half dozen pockets inside.  One side is trimmed mostly with embroidery, the other mostly with pre-made trims.  I used leather for the bottom and added brass feet to protect it from wear.  I used a magnetic closure instead of the zipper the pattern called for.  It took a lot longer than I'd hoped to finish but I am thrilled with the result!!

Drunkards Weave Bracelet

I've been taking lots of classes lately, but haven't gotten many of the projects finished - thus the dearth of photos lately.  Here's a bracelet I finished recently.  I took the class for this at Beadology - they have the best classes!  The instructions (and instructor) were phenomenal.

I Have No Words

Last night saw Brad Paisley at the Staples Center.  It was amazing.  First up, proof I was there!  The first act was Justin Moore (he sings Small Town USA).  Then came Miranda Lambert - she was fabulous and so full of energy it was hard to get a good shot of her that didn't blur!  Then came Brad Paisley.  At one point I rushed the catwalk and he touched my hand.  I screamed like a little girl!  I pretty much screamed all night.  I wanted it to never end.  Alas, it did, but I have a great weekend coming up.  A beading class tomorrow and then I fly home for two whole weeks.  I won't scream like a little girl, but I'll be quietly very happy.

 

I discovered the sports continous mode of my camera (I knew it was there, I'd just never tried it).  I got so many terrific shots (that were almost exactly the same!) it was hard to chose among them.  I want to make a flip book with one sequence!

Two Wire Classes This Weekend

I took two classes at Beadology in Huntington Beach this weekend, and I'm thrilled with the results!  Love Knots bracelet on Saturday - I made the knots and the links and the clasp.  We bent and wrapped and hammered!  Sunday was wire wrapping the handmade glass cabochons.  It was tough working with such heavy wire but the results were worth it.

Dumble Got a Haircut!

And boy does he look cute!

Craft Super Show

The weekend before last, I went to the Craft Super Show.  I took classes and went to a crop.  I met some very nice ladies that invited me to join them at their great table right at the front by all the action.  Top to bottom, left to right:  Crystal puffy heart and matching earrings that I made at a local store a couple of weeks ago.  Mixed media collage using Makin's Clay.  A lovely lady named Sara taught a cool class at the crop, where we altered a Create and Treasure canvas book using Earth Friendly paints and rubber stamps.  The crystal and gold bead earring were what I worked on during the crop.  The kit came from Beads & Magic Wishes and I bought it at the Gem Faire.  The Boho Bead necklace was a class at the Super Show using beads that are going to be available at Michaels this Spring - love the colors.  The class was chock full of wire wrapping!  Lastly is a crystal puffy heart that I made this weekend using the techniques I learned in the earlier class.   

Schrödinger's Cat

 According to a web page at Cornell University:

• A cat is placed in a box, together with a radioactive atom. If the atom decays, and the geiger-counter detects an alpha particle, the hammer hits a flask of prussic acid (HCN), killing the cat. The paradox lies in the clever coupling of quantum and classical domains. Before the observer opens the box, the cat's fate is tied to the wave function of the atom, which is itself in a superposition of decayed and undecayed states. Thus, said Schroedinger, the cat must itself be in a superposition of dead and alive states before the observer opens the box, ``observes'' the cat, and ``collapses'' its wave function. 

I thought of that cat and its unknown state a lot during early January, after getting a phone call while I drove to work one morning.  It was the lab where I'd had my mammogram, and they wanted me to come back for some more scans and an ultrasound.  "But,"  I'm thinking, "I just got back from a long trip to CT, and when I don't work I don't get paid, and I'd be letting my employers down if I leave again so soon."  I was thinking about when I'd planned next to go back, and the cost of airplane tickets. I was also thinking that there were probably labs in California that can take the scans.  All these thoughts flashing in a moment, while I'm driving, and explaining to the gal on the speaker that I was out of state and didn't really know when I'd be back.  A moment later, sanity came to me and I knew that it wasn't the sort of thing one put off, and that introducing another variable in the form of a whole new lab was not a good idea.  So I took the next appointment she had, a week and a half later on a Friday.

Those intervening days gave me a lot of time to think of the poor cat, alive and dead, or neither, and effected by the very fact of being observed.  Was what they thought they saw dangerous or benign, or was it neither and both until the moment it's observed?  I obsessed over things trivial and large.  Did I have long term disability?  Should I take the dog with me to CT or leave him with my aunt?  Would I be able to keep my job if I were sick?  Would I be treated in CA or CT?  With my loved ones or with employment?

I stared at a lot of ceilings that Friday, looking for patterns in the dots in the tiles.  Thinking of the cat.  Trying to read hints from the remarks of the techs.  The gal doing the mammogram seemed surprised that I'd come in from CA just for the scan - that must mean they don't think it's bad.  But they want the ultrasound - that's a bad sign.  She sat me in the little room with the tea and magazines, but came back to get me for another picture - bad.  But she made it sound like something was bunched up in one of the pictures - not so bad.  But the ultrasound tech took a long time in one particular area and didn't spend nearly as much time on the other side.  She left for a few minutes and came back with the radiologist.  She went over that same spot and as she did, the radiologist nodded slightly, over and over.

  Again I'm overwhelmed with trivia for a little while until the priorities suddenly line up.  I need a biopsy, can it be done today - I have a flight back to CA Sunday afternoon, a job to get back to and each day away costs serious money my family needs.  Calls are made to my GYN, she sets me up with a surgeon for Monday, I'm given a packet with my films, and I'm sent home to spend the weekend wondering about that damn cat.  Is the lump benign or cancer, is it both and neither, waiting for a lab tech to analyze some cells and observe and collapse the quantum waveform into good or bad news?  I contact my family, my employer, Jet Blue.  I tell my younger son only that I need to stay to get a test, I tell my older son more.  But then I'm talking with my sister, the breast cancer survivor, and forget my son is in the room.

I've made my plane reservation for Tuesday afternoon, in case the surgeon can't perform the biopsy in her office and I need to go to a hospital.  On Monday, there is more ceiling analysis, more contemplation of the cat, getting novocaine somewhere a needle should never intrude.  Discomfort and some pain, trying not to watch - but the ceiling is really not all that interesting, but returning to it resolutely when I realize I really don't want to watch.  There's the damn ceiling again, and thoughts of the benighted cat, and a really nasty sound that comes four times.

We ask about worst case, and it's really not that bad.  The lump is small, there'd be a lumpectomy, some checking of lymph nodes, and assuming they are OK, localized radiation.  That sounds like something that could accommodate at working at least part time.  I wonder about the cat - when was he observed, or has he been yet?  Was it in December, when they first got suspicious?  Was it during Friday's scan, or the ultrasound?  Was it just now when she pulled small pieces of me out with a little vacuum?  Will it happen sometime in the next couple of days when someone I'll never meet looks at my flesh under a microscope?  Or will it only happen when someone tells me?  Am I already sick?  Or am I still both sick and well, and neither?  I may have my answer Tuesday afternoon or Wednesday morning.  I'm trembling, and a bit weepy.  I feel a little beat up, and a lot violated.  My insides are supposed to stay inside.  Nasty, noisy machines aren't supposed take parts of me away.  I just want to go home and be with my husband and my boy and my dog, and wait for news of that infernal cat.

At one point during what must be the longest weekend of my life, I thought of how I wish on stars for my family to be happy and healthy, and how it has worked for me so far, but now it's letting me down.  But then I'm struck by a thought - I still have a healthy family.  If it's bad news, it's me who's sick.  My loved ones are still OK, and I realize that I'd much rather it be me sick than to have to stand by and watch and wait for Schrödinger's cat to pass judgement on one of my guys.

Tuesday evening, Dumbledore and I were in the departure lounge, I'm eating a sandwich, he's chilling in his carrier trying to telepathically convince me to share, when the phone rings.  I can scarcely believe her when she says I'm fine.  I've been so convinced that the cat was dead, that it takes a while for it to sink in that he's OK.  Blair and Daniel are still on the road home from the airport, and he's as stunned and relieved and happy as I.  My Dad is also relieved and promises to pass the news to the rest of the family.  Poor Alex's phone is dead, and has to hear the news by asking on Facebook if everything is OK. And everything is OK.  I'm thousands of miles from my guys, but that stupid cat lives to fight another day.

Catch Up - The Holidays

I was home from the weekend before Christmas to the weekend after, and it was lovely spending so much time with my guys.  In between more enjoyable activities I squeezed in (ha ha) a mammogram and some doctor's visits.  More entertaining was a drive up to the Springfield, MA area to dine at the restaurant Alex works in and bring him back with us for the holidays.  We had a lovely dinner and dessert, and Alex was able to get away from the kitchen for a little while to sit down with us and have a salad.  At the end of the evening, the other staff helped him finish up his chores so we could head back home.  During the long drive down, we plugged my Ipod into the stereo and listened to Billy Joel - who knew Alex was a big fan?

Christmas Eve we went to a friend's traditional Christmas Eve party - a lovely, low-key way to spend the evening.  Delicious food, interesting conversation, gorgeous huge tree.  On our way home, we stopped by to look at the lights at a particular house in Stratford, that we've stopped by for years.  They usually go all out, even to the point of filling in the whole front lawn with green lights.  But the house was dark this year.  I hope it doesn't reflect bad news for that family.

Christmas itself was also low-key.  The family gathered at my sister's and we watched the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame concert (which my BIL had Tivo'd.)  It was a wonderful concert.  Dinner was fabulous and everyone seemed very happy with their presents.

Funny story about the presents.  I asked my SIL what my neices wanted.  She suggested a particular book for one and something from Forever 21 or Abercrombie for the other.  Blair and I took a trip to the mall.  First we stopped in the bookstore.  I had planned to get a gift certificate, but thought I'd try to find the book first.  Blair says, "What are we looking for?"  I replied that I couldn't remember the name of the book, but that it was long and I'd probably recognize it when I saw it.  I started at the top left corner of the shelves in the chapter book section and began to read the titles.  Over the other side of the shelves, Blair reads the title of a book aloud, "The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Prisoner's Dilemma."  "That's it!"  I cried, giving the woman behind us a good laugh.  I grabbed it and one of my favorites from when I was a kid (A Wrinkle in Time.)

Next stop, Forever 21.  But they were having some sort of computer problems and couldn't process gift card sales.  So we went upstairs to Abercrombie & Fitch, which I try to avoid because of the loud music and overpowering perfume smell.  We waited on line, and asked for a gift card.  "Sure," the salesperson said, "but we only have this one."  The card had a picture of a shirtless young man.  A very nice young man, I'm sure, but my sister in law would not approve.  I didn't approve too much myself.  Oh - but there's an Abercrombie across the hall; they carry clothes for the tween set, surely their gift cards would not depict semi-naked people.  Wrong!  They had two to choose from: a young man with no shirt and another young man with a t-shirt slung around his shoulders.  I chose him, since he only had one nipple exposed instead of both - being the lesser of two evils.  But on the way home, I had an epiphany, and before I sealed him up in the envelope, I drew him a black t-shirt with a Sharpie marker.  He was the hit of the Christmas party.

Latke Fest 2009

I couldn't find my recipe, so I hunted on line until I found one that resembled what I could remember of the recipe I got from my mom.  Mom always pulverized the potatoes, though, and I know from my sister-in-law that true latkes are grated.  I used my food processor anyway, but I used the grater disk instead of the whip it to $&*% blade.  They turned out perfect, if I may say so myself, albeit a little late for the holiday.

Home at Last

When I got to Long Beach airport, it was very crowded, but I was in plenty of time to catch my flight.  Little did I know how true that was!  My flight took off an hour and a half late, after two gate changes.  I was worried about making my connection in Las Vegas, but first they told us that because so many folks on the flight were making the same connection, they would hold the flight, then later they told us the New York flight would be using the same plane.  Whew!

Then even better, when we landed in Vegas, they told us not to deplane.  All I had to do was slide my luggage to the other side of the overhead, and pop into the seat right behind mine!  It sure took a lot of anxiety out of changing flights!



As we waited in Long Beach, Dumble was intermittently whining (very quietly) - he wanted off my lap to make friends with people he saw.  There was this guy a couple seats away from me who kept muttering about how I should shut him up and why couldn't I keep him quiet.  He was the first person we ever met while travelling who wasn't charmed by Dumbledore - go figure.  I doubt anyone further away from me than he was could even hear him.  The folks right by me liked him though; they both talked to him, and one let him lick his fingers.

There was another dog on the flight to Vegas, and before we took off he started barking.  Of course, Dumble couldn't let that pass without comment so he started barking too.  And he would settle down, then the other dog would start in again, and so would Dumble.  I could picture that going on the whole flight!  But they both quieted before we took off.

Blair was in baggage claim when we got off the flight, and he had my big down coat for me.  Before we headed to the car, I took Dumble to the doggy rest area at the Jet Blue terminal.  The had a little fenced in area with benches for the people, and clean up stations, but the best part was the two fire hydrants.  What a riot.

We made it home hours before the snow hit.  Blair thinks we got 6 or 7 inches.  Before it started, he went to the supermarket and got the fixings for latkes (a little late for Hannukkah, but what the hey).   We'll decorate our tree this afternoon (the one my Jewish husband selected) with Christmas and Hannukkah decorations and have latkes for dinner.  'Cause that's how we roll here in the Satter house.

Busy Busy

I had a wonderful time at the bead show on Saturday.  I took two classes (and was the only student in each).  In the first, I made the lovely beaded beads in the first picture.  The second was on stringing.  First I learned to string pearls (with the knots between).


Then I crocheted silk thread with crystals and lastly learned to make links with the crystals and silver wire.

I was enchanted by the jewelry in the booth that sold these acrylic flowers and leaves.  It looked like fairy jewelry.  I had to get some so I could try it for myself.

The last photo shows the kits I bought from the lady who taught my first class.  All her stuff was sooo gorgeous, I couldn't resist!

The next day, I made earrings from a kit that used crystals to mimic christmas lights.  I used my new link-making skills and my loops and wire wrapping were much improved from the day before.  I'll be sure to post a photo of my new holiday earrings.

Tonight I packed, because tomorrow night I'm headed home for a whole week+ for the holiday.  We'll celebrate Blair's birthday a little late, the last day of Hannukkah, and then Christmas!  Mom (and hopefully my sister and aunt) and I will bake the Christmas cookie dough we made before Thanksgiving and froze.  And I'm looking forward to a friend's annual Christmas Eve fete.  And Alex will be down from Massachussetts.  I also have a batch of doctor appointments.  Fun!

Bead Envy

I takes about 40 minutes or so to get home, and I call the guys on my cell phone (hands free of course), it's about 8 their time when I get out, so it's a good time to call.  They've had their dinner, and sometimes Dan is done with his homework.  We catch up and chat and they keep me company on my drive.  And I'm very happy that I'll be home for a long visit starting next week.

Dumble is getting along well with my aunt and her doggy.  He defers to the other dog, and has charmed my aunt completely.  He's such a sweetheart - we got really lucky with him.

I went to a bead show today.  I went to work an hour early (left home around 6:30) so I could leave work at 4.  With the drive and dinner I had a bit over 2 hours to walk the show tonight and register for the classes I want to take tomorrow.  I didn't manage to see all the booths yet!  The array of beads and crystals is overwhelming.  There are these opaque crystals in black and red that look like sparkly velvet if you can imagine such a thing. 

I bought a couple of extra kits from one of the ladies I'm taking a class with tomorrow.  They were too yummy to pass up!  I'm doing her beaded bead.  I'm also taking advanced stringing with this lady .  I'm very excited.

My aunt is very crafty, and the thing I most looked forward to when I realized I could stay with her was crafting together.  She's into beading too and makes these amazing little purses.  (and makes amazing lace).  We were showing each other our treasures (I have a half finished necklace I have to work on before I get to my new kits) this evening.  I was so pumped from my trip to the show that I can't get settled down to go to bed.

Tomorrow morning early, Dumble gets to meet my Aunt's groomer, then I'll head back over to the show for the day.  Happy, happy!