An New Year

Wow, I can't believe another year has come & gone. I would say good riddance to 2010, but there were some good things that happened last year. I think Chris' being so ill after his surgery has made me forget that I actually did some great things in 2010 and met wonderful people. But there were losses in 2010 too. My favorite bead store closed down, Fiona's son Forrest died, and my friend Pam's Barney died too. I almost lost Fiona this Summer due to diabetes complications, but my Vet & his staff pulled her through that. She's gained most of her weight back and is just as sassy as ever. I'm even thinking of checking out having one of her cataracts removed over at MedVet later when Chris gets home so that Fiona can have a better quality of life by seeing out of at least one eye. Speaking of Chris, he was discharged from St. Ann's Hospital and put into Select Specialty Hospital on the 1st. Select is a rehab hospital here in town. It is what use to be the old Doctor's North on Dennison Ave in Victorian Village. It is strange to go over there to visit Chris as it was 28 years ago that I did my Med Tech training at that hospital. I can't believe it has been that long. The staff & doctors at Select want to slowly get Chris built back up so he can eat & gain his strength back. I'm guessing he'll be there at least one to two weeks. All four of us here miss him so much.

I did a little deconstruction on New Year's Day. Remember my piece Napali Mist that I did for Artbeads competition a couple months ago? Well, after I finished it, I put it on, took a look at it in the mirror, and decided I did not like it at all. So I spent the whole day tearing it apart. I'm not crazy! I know I spent weeks working on it, but hey! if I'm not happy with it & won't wear it, then why keep it intact. I was successful is tearing it apart in pieces so I can reconstruction it in a more modular way. I didn't like the feel of that big breast plate just sitting there with that flimsy chain, but I like the components. So, I've been playing around fitting them together trying to find some combination that I like before I start to weave it all back together. I think there might even be two necklaces that might come out of this piece.



I got some piece back home finally. Back in October 2009, I sent two pieces that Chris & I have been working on for Art Doll Quarterly's challenge...they finally got back home on the 30th. I don't even think the magazine people unwrapped them at all as it all looked exactly like how I packaged them all up. I am disappointed as I thought they fit in well with the steampunk theme, but I guess our names aren't that out there to be published. Sometimes I feel that ADQ publishes the same people over & over again not giving new artist a chance. Just my personal opinion. Maybe some of my feelings about ADQ is because I'm changing my focus this coming year. I want to get back into my beading and jewelry making. I feel that I have so much more to explore in that arena still. Oh, I won't stop making dolls, but I feel that they are going to be taking a back seat this year as I experiment with more medias in jewelry making, take more classes in beading and metal working and finally...finally going to the big Bead and Button show in June. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I get into the Master's class.

Rachel's Dream is also going to be making it home this week. I heard from Ohio Craft Museum that the pieces for the 2010 Best of Show are back in town. I want to pick them up my next day off & take Mr. Transistor over to Chris so he'll have one of his art pieces in his room to cheer him up.



Well, off to play with my poor lonely Scotties. They miss their "Dad" so bad. Oh I miss him too! BAD! This is Frodo and Arwen wondering where all that snow went! That only means to me that it is time to clean the yard!