Beading Therapy

Over the week and the past weekend, I've been doing a lot of beading and making memory wire bracelets. It's wonderful therapy I tell you! I call it "beading therapy" as those who are here to view my blog knows I am an "emotional eater" and still struggle with it growing up. It's very easy to "emotion eat" to escape from the issues that bothers me but it doesn't mean I am resolving them.

I had therapy and emotional eating was what I learned that didn't help so I had to find other coping methods and beading therapy came from this. It's beautiful. Quite relaxing and helps me focus, learn to be patient because stress does a lot on your body and if you're all tense, you're not able to hold a bead especially when it is a glass bead.

I love using glass beads because the designs are always beautiful and the texture is smooth. Memory wire I use all the time as I started off using crafting wire a long time ago but couldn't get the desired shape. Some would break until memory wire was what I wanted and stuck with it.

I hope you enjoy the visual aspect whereas I loved the tactile aspect of beading therapy.

Tactile smile to all and with love,
Patty oxox

A cute joke I came across today!!

Life Lessons

Life Lesson# 45893 = Always check your child's homework before it gets to school!

When asked to draw a picture of what they wanted to be when they grew up, second-grader Sarah turned in the lovely drawing shown below. Needless to say, the teacher was a bit surprised -- Mrs. Smith had always seemed like such a conservative woman. So she sent a note home to the girl's mother asking for clarification as to the picture's meaning. (Read Mom's reply below the picture)



(Here's the reply the teacher received the following day)

Dear Mrs. Jones,
I wish to clarify that I am not now, nor have I ever been, an exotic dancer. I work at Home Depot and I told my daughter how hectic it was last week before the blizzard hit. I told her we sold out every single shovel we had, and then I found one more in the back room, and that several people were fighting over who would get it. Her picture doesn't show me dancing around a pole. It's supposed to depict me selling the last snow shovel we had at Home Depot. From now on I will remember to check her homework more thoroughly before she turns it in.

Sincerely,
Mrs. Smith


Today I was killing time making a necklace & earring set and a bracelet as well. I loved how they came out. They're just so pretty and vivid purple as well. Tactile smile!

Cold weather means staying indoors!!

The weather these days have been just too cold these days! BRRR! As of now it is -12 C with the high windchill making it much colder than it really is.

Hubby and I have been staying indoors lately because it is just too cold to go outside. We've been cooking lots of hearty food to keep ourselves warm, yum!

I've picked up a new hobby and it's jewelery making. A cute hobby for the meantime and I enjoy it. It can be a headache at times because the beads are so tiny so I use a needle to help me guide the beads into the string and it works!

The dollar store is fantastic for the beads, accessories and I've made several items. See what you think! They'll make great gifts for friends.. just for them and because they're special!

Limited edition of candles

Tonight I was thinking about Valentine's Day and how I could do something to cheer up a sweet friend of mine. She reads this blog and if I mention her name she will know what she is getting. Ha ha ha, you..you, you and you! I'm not going to say what you are getting!

I was hemming and hawwing over what to make for Valentine's Day and what to give to my sweet friend until something popped up in my mind. I read up about this and tried it tonight. Lo and behold, it came up quite nicely for a first time try! I had hubby take pictures for me.



What do you think of this? It's Cheesecake candles and it smells great!

We've been anticipating the arrival of our sweet little Wooky for quite a while. I've been posting about her on Facebook and Dawn, my good friend would keep us updated about how Wooky and her brothers/sisters were growing up & coming along.

Who exactly is Wooky? She is the most beautiful lop-eared rabbit and probably the most affectionate one I've ever had in my life. Growing up, my family had all kinds of animals including rabbits. Albino and dwarf rabbits were what we always had but not lop-eared ones until I had Wooky. Now I really wish we had lop-eared ones because their ears are just something I love playing with. What I mean by playing with is that I love to kiss and feel the ears. The shapes and you can see the texture of the ears, if you tickle a spot behind Wooky's ears, she will kick her behind legs as it's a sensitive & ticklish spot for her.

At first Mosey and Ashy wasn't sure how to receive their new sibling. Ashy took slowly to Wooky and accepted her. Mosey struggled with dominance issues. I was quite surprised because I thought it would be Ashy with the dominance issues as she bosses Mosey around.

Mosey would stalk and bully Wooky to the point I would pick up Mosey and reassure him he was not being replaced. Poor Mosey would tuck his ears down and I knew he was upset because he was going through this twice already. First Ashy second Wooky. Now Wooky and Mosey are just fast friends. Mosey loves to lick her ears.

All three of them are tuckered out. Ashy is in her cat house, Mosey's sleeping on top of the blue rocker and Wooky's grooming herself on the window ledge. Each time Wooky grooms herself this means she's going to sleep.

A beautiful picture Chris took of both Mosey and Ashy.




Ashy, of course, was hiding in her favourite spot.. under the blue rocker!

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Memories

Memories are what creates & shapes us and our friendships.

Last night I had a great chat with a long-lost friend that I reconnected with. It was really great sharing really fond memories with Jeanine. At first I was a bit nervous, excited and overwhelmed.

It was like the first day of school all over again, you're not sure what to expect but this is the same friend I shared a lot of my life experiences with. Marriage, divorce and a lot of very personal life experiences. Quite a lot of dark paths she was on with me, giving support and I went on a different path by myself because I had to take care of myself.

Through Facebook, we re-connected and it was great.. really amazing to see how we both have gone through so much. There was always something missing in my life and it was that special bond.. the friendship.

We always have our own friendships but it was THAT friendship I mourned when we were apart. Last night it was amazing reconnecting and it was as if we were together in the same room typing in AIM.

A lot of questions were asked and answered. For once, we both were on the same plane and we both related together and now I have a deep profound respect for my friend.

This is for you, dear Jeanine. Remember when I mentioned to you that it hurted to look at you because it was looking right at the mirror.

Here's to you, my twin. I love you.

Happy Birthday J9!

This blog entry is dedicated to a very special friend of mine as today is her birthday. J9 is a good friend of mine and she not only teaches me braille and intervenes for me.. she's also a good person to be with. She's really funny, she has vim, verve and vitality.

A beautiful aura around her and you just want to be with her and be in her presence. Happy Birthday girl!

Today I was going to do some scrapping but wouldn't you know it, Mosey wanted nothing of it and disrupted everything I did. He'd sit on my lap and purr. He'd either headbutt me or sit on the box where I do the scrapping and then paw on the box so I'd let him inside the box. Sure enough he wanted inside the box so I can flip it over for him.

I just knew my plans for a whole afternoon for scrapping would be out of the window. Hubby said I simply enable him.. true about that. I packed up everything and Mosey was happy to help me by playing with some of the scrapping things. Now where's Mosey? He's sleeping with Ashy. She can do no wrong until I sleep.. ha ha!

Wooky.. we'll wait and see! We have a zoo here but of course growing up, I came from a zoo so what's new!

As I was putting the things away, I asked hubby to help take pictures as he does photography much better than I do. You see, I love sharing ideas and tips with people that's cost-effective and "wallet-friendly", big smiles! Growing up, I knew what it was like to be under the poverty line because my family grew up poor even though my parents would say they weren't.

Hubby and I are under the poverty line and we make do with what we have. We do our Christmas shopping very early and when we do our gifts, we make them rather than buy them.

I decided to do a year of cost-effective gifts starting two this month. Here's the first one with step by step pictures. Quite easy if I can do it, then you can!

All you need are the Christmas bargain clearances from either The Body Shop and/or Bath and Body Works oils. They go for $4.00 sometimes and when they do go for really cheap prices, grab them by the dozen!! You will thank yourself later!

Go to Dollarama (Canada) and/or Dollar Tree (USA) and get several bamboo skewers (they are used for the BBQ) and save some leftover fabric bits and pieces. You can even go to a fabric store and ask for leftover bits, they will gladly give to you for free!

I have Blue Spruce from The Body Shop and they were on deep clearance two years ago. Hubby and I grabbed a whole lot and put them away. We are really thankful we did that.



Cut three skewers in the middle.



Tie a blue ribbon in the middle to hold the skewers together. Make sure you insert the jagged edges inside the jar.



Remove the plastic stopper from the vial at the top with the scissors and be careful too. (Ignore the sink! I'm environmentally friendly and only fill it up to wash the dishes once a day!)



Insert the jagged edges of the skewers into the oil bottle for better presentation.



Ta-da! You have yourself a very cost-effective and wallet-friendly, kid & pet friendly room deodrizer!



Best of all.. the Noel deodrizer isn't all so lonesome by itself now! Ha ha!



Those lasts a good 3 months and when the oil evaporates, it is absorbed by the skewers. The skewers lasts much longer and the scent lasts longer. It is about a good 4 months and I recycle the whole thing.

If I camped outdoors, I would have thrown the skewers into the fire for a fragrant scent.

Watch for my next cost-effective and wallet-friendly project.

Tactile smile!
Patty oxox