Project #2 and #3S

Beaded Sea Horse

Bracelet using same type of cabochon as Project 1

The Seahorse is a pattern that I learned during a class at a local bead shop.  I changed some of it by adding wire so that the tail bends differently.  The mane on top of the head has also been changed.

 The Bracelet is also a modified pattern from an old beading magazine. I used the same type of cabochon that was used in project #one.

 If you would like more info on any of these projects, please email.  I would be happy to help you.  Also both projects are sold on baybeadersbaubles on etsy or you can contact me direct if you want a different color or a larger or smaller size.

Its All in the Soup

J's idea of a diet bowl of soup

I have always had a problem with weight.  When I was younger, I was able to control it with exercise   I could never figure out why I would put on weight without over eating.  When I was in my mid thirties, I found this Dr who diagnosed me with PCOS. She told me that the extra weight was not my fault.  That Dx changed my life.  I found out that this syndrome plays havoc with insulin levels which makes you insulin resistant. (if you need info about this condition, please email me.  I can help.)  
But, that is not what this writing is about.  I know what it is to be aware of every morsel of  food you put in your mouth.  I know the guilt associated with going off of a diet.  Only someone who had or has a problem with weight would know and understand all of the feelings associated with being overweight.  The other thing I learned is that the term overweight is subjective.  You can be 10 pds  or 500 pds  or somewhere in between and if you feel overweight, those feelings are still the same.  So knowing what I know,  my wonderful husband J grew up as one of those skinny kids.  He never could understand what it was like having a weight problem.  While He never teased me, I know he knows I am overweight, but I'm not sure that he sees it.  Even after being together for over thirty years, he still grabs at me.  I am sure that his friends have probably teased him about having a chubby wife especially when I started to out weigh him.  So....., I have heard that love is blind but, I have also heard the phrase any port in the storm.  I am not sure which applies but probably a little of both.  Once again I got off track.
 Why I am writing today is over the past several years, my husband put on a lot of weight.  I never saw it, just like I think he looks at me.  When I look at him, I see the man I know as J, my strong, honest, stubborn, funny, hopelessly optimistic husband, the man that still can give me goose bumps with a wink, not the guy who can put my eye out when he pops a button.  I think it is harder on him to accept the fact that he is now someone who has a weight problem than to actually deal with it.  The Dr has told him that many of his complaints are due to being overweight and that he has to get the weight off.  So since the beginning of the year, he has been trying.  The scale is in the bedroom and he announces his current weight, as I like to call it, a profit or loss with a smile or a frown.  There have been more frowns than smiles and normally a profit should make you smile but in this case it is just the opposite.  He has put on a little over 5 pds.  I started watching what he was eating and I now know why.  He would tell me that he had a bowl of soup and a salad.  He also goes to the health club every day.  It just didn't make sense until we went out for lunch, He ordered his usual diet lunch---A chefs salad with french dressing (a lot of it) and a bowl of chicken noodle soup with extra crackers, a cup of coffee with cream.  Look at that picture of soup!  He crushed up enough crackers to make the soup thicker than any stew I could make.  He poured at least 6 oz's of french dressing on his huge chefs salad with cheese, meat, bacon and hard boiled eggs.  Even the coffee had three creams.  I started to laugh not at him but because he has no idea of what a calorie is, and of the amount of calories he was about to eat.  I also found out that when he goes to the health club, he meets up with a group of retired men to discuss the days events, wives or women, but mostly politics. They sit around a round table hence,they are known as the round table group.  It all made sense now because my husband has more will power than anyone I know.  He stopped smoking as soon as he made up his mind.  I will keep you aware of his new project but it doesn't look good. As for me, I am trying also and have lost 9 pds since December 2012.
 The other pictures are of  him looking at his lunch after I told him that He was not eating as if he were dieting and the approximate number of calories his lunch contained.

 I also am putting another project on baybeadersbaubles blog in case you are interested.  Also feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

project #1 beaded necklace

    Rose colored beaded bezel cabochon with rope necklace

This is a beaded necklace approximately 24 inches long.  I have used size 11 seed beads and a round cabochon with a magnetic clasp.  I also used 6 pd test Fireline.   The rope part of the necklace is made from the cubed right angle weave stitch.  The bezel is also right angle weave and the bail is peyote stitch.  The colors used are  mauve, pinky rose color.  Most likely if you are one of my beading buddies you know how to do all those stitches and can figure it out.  But if you would like detailed instructions, please email me.

R 

Well the holidays are over, and were pretty much uneventful. (Unlike Thanksgiving more to come later) My husband and I went to church on Christmas Eve.  I always enjoy that.  The church is always so elegantly decorated but even more, it is the feeling that invades your heart.  It is peaceful and all encompassing of what Christmas is all about.  For a short time, all is well.

 My stepson came over for Christmas Dinner with his beautiful wife and their son.  Riley was born in May of last year and definitely lights up our lives.  He is the smiliest baby I have ever been around and he just laughs out loud at about anything.  He was born with a cleft palate.  I hope I am using the right word but anyway, the outside of his lip was corrected last September and he is scheduled to have the inside of his mouth done this coming May.  My heart breaks just thinking of this beautiful little boy, a gift from God, having to go through this surgery. The picture is Riley enjoying his first taste of sweet potatoes, turkey in a jar, his first surgery and Baptism.  And most of all his beautiful smile.