On My Christmas List

I know, Christmas is a time of madness and confusion.  I often wonder how many of us are trapped into this holiday for all the wrong reasons.

[caption id="attachment_78" align="alignnone" width="259"] And so this is Christmas...[/caption]

And what exactly IS this holiday? We know the current birthday of Jesus was borrowed from more ancient celebrations connected with the return of the sun after the longest night of the year.



We know (well at least we are pretty sure) that Jesus wasn't born at this time of year, that it is more a symbolic celebration of his birth.

I digress...

Disclaimer:

In no way is this post intended to offend, upset or otherwise harm anyone's feelings, beliefs or spirituality - I am writing it as a bit of pure fun.  I will also say that I am not intending to infringe on any Copyrights, the product mentioned below is totally fictitious and offered as just a bit of pure fun!

In a culture of STUFF and selfishness what do YOU want for Christmas?

I think I might like one of these -



Now remember, this is a fictitious product, it can't be bought anywhere!! That makes it kind of special right there - no one has it in stock - desirabilty on a scale of 1-10 at least 11!



If it were available this is the blurb that you would find associated with it -

Congratulations on becoming the proud owner of the Google Mat!

A Spiritual manifestation of enlightenment

Thank you for receiving you Google Mat, may abundance be yours! Please read all instructions carefully before using your Google Mat in order to prevent any unwanted phenomenon.

Care and handling: Your Google Mat is created with utmost care from high quality products.  Under normal use it should last you several lifetimes.  When not in use your mat may be carefully rolled and stored in a secure place. Do not vacuum your mat, instead gently shake out any spiritual detritus that might accumulate.

About the Earthing cord: Your Google Mat is equipped with an Earthing cord, this should be attached to the ground thus enabling you to receive the additional benefits associated with Earthing whilst you call on Google.

About the Couples Mat: If you have the Couples version of the Google Mat you will find the Mat is in two pieces connected by natural hemp cords braided by bushmen in the Andes.  This is to enable two people to sit side by side and not interfering with each others vibrations.  The cords connect the Mat while keeping each half at optimum distances from each other.

Operating your Google Mat:

• Always place your mat facing East (unless you live in the Far East in which case you can orient it 3.27 degrees slightly to South East, preferably on a declination of +/- 2 degrees if possible).


• You might want to consider placing your Google Mat in a room of it's own, may we suggest a quiet space with gentle sunlight.


• Make sure you are wearing comfortable attire and are sitting comfortably.


• For optimum satisfaction you should ground (or mat) yourself before beginning the process, taking a few minutes to breathe deeply and relax (avoid inhaling mat fibres as they may contain carcinogens).


• Once in a relaxed state call upon Google.


• State your questions in clear concise words and continue to breathe.


• Google will answer all!


• You will find the more you use your mat the more enlightened you will become.


• For best results use your mat several times a day and upon waking at night.


• Some users find it beneficial to set their smartphone alarm for specific intervals of time.

Customer Care and Emotional Support: Should you have any enquiries regarding your Google Mat please contact Vince in our Customer Appreciation Department, he's there most days now that his stint with Shamwow is over.

Moonlight Oatmeal?

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 Cups of Steel Cut Oats


• 6 Cups of liquid - Milk, Almond Milk, Coconut Milk, Water - or a mixture


• 1/2 Cup of shredded Coconut (more or less to suit your taste)


• Tablespoon Coconut oil - or butter


• Handful or two of Dried Fruit - Blueberries, Cranberries, Black currants - whatever you like -- or even fresh fruit but NOT citrus if you are using milk ;o)


• Dash of salt - if you like


• Sprinkle of dried Ginger - if you like

[caption id="attachment_66" align="alignnone" width="300"] Moonlight Oatmeal[/caption]

Mix ingredients in a casserole and bake for 1 hour at 350 degrees.

You can probably guess I'm pretty slap-dash in the kitchen - I'll use a recipe as a guide but generally wander off course and switch things up without too many disasters.

---------

Have you ever made Moonlight Oatmeal?  I have!  Prepared with love and little light-heartedness it tasted just delicious!

I came downstairs a couple of mornings ago and found an almost full moon shining in through the kitchen window.  It was bright enough that I decided not to turn on the light.  I gazed up as I filled the kettle and started to make my tea.  Realising we needed oatmeal for breakfast the idea popped into my mind of making it by moonlight.

Of course making oatmeal by moonlight presents a few challenges, I'm not sure I got the oatmeal measurement entirely right, I couldn't quite find where the black currants spilled in the dark and I almost added rice instead of shredded coconut.

I did decide that once everything was in the dish that I should give it a good stir - clockwise - preferably 13 times, one for each moon of the year (I forgot to count so estimated but the intention was there).

After an hour in the oven it was ready to come out - I usually let it sit for about ten minutes to cool and thicken a little.  This has become a staple breakfast in our house, though not always made by moonlight!  If you've never tried steel cut oats, well, all I can say is you owe it to yourself to give them a go!  Mmmmm Mmmmm Mmmmmm.... it's like eating dessert for breakfast!

Wavey Lines

My first post on a shiny new blog - it's rather like writing on the first page of a crisp new notebook. Thoughts race through my head; 'make it worthwhile', 'don't smudge the ink', 'best handwriting required'.  You know what happens, inevitably the pen clogs and deposits a big clump of glue-like ink in the centre of the page, or the near perfect handwriting gradually deteriorates to near illedgible scrawl by the last sentence.  I suspect this blog will be like a new notebook in more ways than one.



So why a new blog?

I recently had my website and blog hacked multiple times.  Nothing personal I'm sure, just some bot finding it's way in through outdated code, old passwords - who knows.  The first couple of times I took a deep breath and managed to recoup - or thought I did.  After this last attack I felt so overwhelmed that I just deleted everything.  Website - gone. Blog - gone.

At first it felt almost good, but then the loss of several years of blog posts hit me. What did they all say? What was gone that I didn't even realise?  Was I going to miss them?  I do have a backup somewhere, but not a particularly recent one.  Maybe I'll try importing it at some point, maybe I won't take the risk.

Wavey Lines??  Have you tried coming up with a blog name at WordPress lately?  It's hard to get a name that hasn't been taken.  At first this one was almost out of desperation but the more I sit with it the more I like it.

If you are at all familiar with 'The Shipping News' you might remember a character named Wavey.  Visiting Newfoundland I came across this name a lot, one was a perfectly named hair dresser that I wish I had written down.  Wavey Cuts and Curls or something.  Anyway, I took the name to use as and when I want.  Sometimes it's just Wavey, sometimes it's Wavey Raven...



What is a blog filled with? Lines!  There you have it - Wavey Lines!  What are wavy lines?  Vibrations of which we are all made, heat, light, electricity, and so much more - we are infinitely amazing beings.  Far more infinitely amazing than this blog will ever be!

Blogging and Sharing

Today's post is about Mallory!

Mallory, or Fairy Princess Mallory to be correct, is one of our 'newbie group' on the Wet Canvas Forums.  Most of us aren't newbies any more, including Mallory, but we all like it there so much we can't bring ourselves to move on.

Mallory has a blog - For The Love Of Beads, she is very generous and spends as much time writing about other people's beads as she does her own.  Yesterday she very kindly featured me - thank you Mallory!

I enjoy visiting For The Love Of Beads because I never know what I might find.  Some days it is a focus on another bead artist, or it might be pictures of Spike under the covers -



Mallory looses things a lot, (don't we all?) and it's quite humorous to see what she's lost next, or what picture she might be posting to give us all a little inspiration -



But most of all I like to visit Mallory's blog to see what she's been creating herself!  Here are some of her beads and a link to her Etsy, where you'll find all kinds of pretties!

FREE Tools!!

I entered December's challenge over at The Glass Challenge and have just found out that this little monkee

[caption id="attachment_1296" align="alignnone" width="175" caption="2nd prize winner!"][/caption]

has won me second place in the Hobbyist's category!  The prize is a $75 gift certificate from the lovely folks at Burning Brass.  To say I'm excited is an understatement - ordinarily, brass tools are way beyond what our bank balance can afford, so this is going to seem like real luxury shopping!  I know I'm going to have a very hard time deciding, they have so many great  lampwork tools.

This looks like it would be wonderful for putting necks on animals, vessels and much more -

[caption id="attachment_1357" align="alignnone" width="425" caption="Neck shaper from Burning Brass"][/caption]

But ohhh this looks like a dandy little knife -

[caption id="attachment_1358" align="alignnone" width="425" caption="Shaping knife from Burning Brass"][/caption]

and I've always hankered after one of THESE -

[caption id="attachment_1359" align="alignnone" width="310" caption="Brass Shaper from Burning Brass"][/caption]

And this looks like it would be really nice for making captured bubbles -

[caption id="attachment_1360" align="alignnone" width="425" caption="Round Push from Burning Brass"][/caption]

You can see, I have a hard choice ahead of me!  The nicest thing about the whole competition is this -

Burning Brass was proud to be the sponsor for the November / December Glass Challenge.  We would like to thank everyone who entered.  All of the entries were very creative and since judging so many great entries was difficult for any one person, we decided to make judging a company project.  We spent most of one morning casting votes to determine the winners.  Everyone here at Burning Brass had a chance to vote for their
favorite.

Thank you Jim and everyone else at Burning Brass!

It's still Christmas at my house!

I'm sitting here feeling very blessed.  For many reasons but one big one is that I'm part of a wonderful community on the Wet Canvas Glass Forum - I've mentioned them before but they have to be the most giving, wonderful bunch of friends I have ever come across online.  I'm almost embarrased to share everything I've received but want everyone to know much I appreciate their kindness.

I went to the Post Office this afternoon to see if my copy of The Flow had arrived - YES!!  Woohooo!  The Women In Glass Edition - crammed with incredible pictures and tutorials!  But alongside that was a 'come and pick your package up' ticket.  I wasn't expecting anything so imagine my surprise when the clerk brought out a box -

[caption id="attachment_1342" align="alignnone" width="400" caption="My box!"][/caption]

One of my WC friends had sent me something!  I couldn't wait to get home to see what was in there!

[caption id="attachment_1343" align="alignnone" width="400" caption="Oooh! it looks EXCITING!"][/caption]

Wonder what could be hiding under the tissue paper??

[caption id="attachment_1344" align="alignnone" width="318" caption="SOCK MONKEY SLIPPERS!!!"][/caption]

OH WOW!!!  It doesn't get much better than this!  Thank you SO much Deborah for finding these and thinking of me!  The funny thing is, I had put slippers on my family Christmas list and even mentioned I'd seen some cute monkey ones, but they were not forthcoming - so these put an extra big grin on my face, and my feet!  My old slippers are just about in pieces.

[caption id="attachment_1345" align="alignnone" width="400" caption="Warm tootsies!"][/caption]

I wonder what Raff is going to think when I chase him wearing these?? Hehehe!

Since I had the camera handy, and since I'd been so remiss about posting most of the other wonderful things I received over the last while I decided to get some more pictures while I was at it -

[caption id="attachment_1346" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Monkey Socks!"][/caption]

Rita of Rita'z R-tistic Ramblez gifted me these colourful socks!  I wore them for the first time on Christmas Day and got lots of great comments!  Thank you Rita!  --anyone would think I liked monkeys?! ;o)

[caption id="attachment_1347" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Karen Leonardo Book"][/caption]

I was speechless when I opened a package to find this book that Deb sent me - It is full of tutorials for different beads followed by a section on how to turn them all into different pieces of jewellery.  I made my first brooch following instructions in this book and was thrilled with how well it turned out!  Thank YOU Deb!

A while back Paula had surprised me and sent me two crochet books -

[caption id="attachment_1348" align="alignnone" width="400" caption="Books from Paula"][/caption]

The Bead Crochet book answers so many of the questions I had about how to do, and what to use, and I'm looking forward to trying some of the 'recipes' in the wire book too!

As if this wasn't MORE than enough, I also received Pipyr's eye cane tutorial from Maggie - I'm working on this one, I've got a cane made, but trying to perfect setting it into beads.

I know I posted this before but will show it again, Maxine sent me one of her presses!!



If you aren't a beadmaker and wonder what this contraption does it helps to create beads of a certain size and shape when the molten glass is pressed between the brass blocks.  I'm still working on this, it doesn't come naturally to me and is going to take some practise.  There is a definite skill to getting just the right amount of glass melted to fill the press and no more!  When I get some decent beads made with it I'll post them here.  Thank you GirlFriday!

And to top it all off Rhonda sent me the Lichen glass I wrote about a few posts back - I don't have a picture of it as I made it into -



(except the bottom one which is my interpretation of Pipyr's eye cane tutorial)

I'm now feeling very indebted to everyone!

Here's The Flow



It's very exciting to see beads by so many people I know all in one place!  I'm now going to go and have a proper look at it, the gallery of glass in there is breathtaking.

Finding My Voice

I'm in for a challenge!  I have joined a group run by artist Sylvie Lansdowne called 'Finding Your Voice As A Glass Bead Maker, and today is the first day of my little groups assignments!

Just to make things interesting I'm going to have to switch back to my hothead until my new oxycon arrives, but hopefully I'll have that in time for assignment two or three.

This group is meant to help stretch our imaginations and beadmaking styles with positive feedback from the other members.  I know a couple of people in my group but am also excited to meet some new glassy folks!

My assignment, should I choose to accept (Hah! not much choice there, I committed!)

Assignment #1 This picture

[caption id="attachment_1331" align="alignnone" width="231" caption="assignment 1"][/caption]

My first bead will be based on this image, and use only the colours in the swatches.  I have to use all three colours but can use them in any amounts.  I have until Sunday to make one bead, and one bead only - take a picture and post to the group.  Failure to do so will immediately result in my self destruction!   This is going to be interesting!

Immediately it seems to me that this should be an off mandrel creation, BUT I'm hopeless at loops so I'm going to have to think very seriously before I attempt something like that.  Today will be my thinking day, oooh and idea just came to me!  "Please Miss!!  Can I use clear as well"?

Marcy Lamberson's blog today was talking about Typealyzer, it's an online thing that analyses your blog and tells you what kind of person you are and what parts of your brain you are using when you write.  I couldn't resist giving it a go - here is what it said about me - funnily enough it was almost the duplicate of Marcy's!

ESFP - The Performers

The entertaining and friendly type. They are especially attuned to pleasure and beauty and like to fill their surroundings with soft fabrics, bright colors and sweet smells. They live in the present moment and don´t like to plan ahead - they are always in risk of exhausting themselves.

The enjoy work that makes them able to help other people in a concrete and visible way. They tend to avoid conflicts and rarely initiate confrontation - qualities that can make it hard for them in management positions.

- I don't see myself as a bar floozy, but the rest is pretty accurate!

The Brain Part -


I'm not sure what this means exactly, but like Marcy, I wish there was more of an imaginative slant to it. Oh well, we can't be all things at 6am in the morning can we?

I'm going to sneak off now and analyze husband David's - I'm curious to see what lurks in his brain....

Well isn't he the 'Artist' of course!

I decided to do some more checking and took another test at Bloginality.com this one came out a bit different and said I was -

An ISFP, you are Intraverted, Sensing, Feeling , Perceiving.
This makes your primary focus on Introverted Feeling with Extraverted Sensing.

This is defined as a SP personality, which is part of Carl Jung's Artisans (Sensation Seeking) type, and more specifically the Composers or Artist

Because you are in touch with the inner-artist, you see things heavily in relationship to your feelings and their beauty. You may not be as likely to have a public site, because you feel better sharing with only those who are closest with you.

I think this is closer as I'd definitely consider myself an introvert NOT an extrovert.  -- What are  YOU?