Whirlwind week

Wow, this week has been like a crazy time and I'm still foggy coming out of it. By yesterday morning, I was in "crash and burn mode" and cried for like 45 minutes. You have to know that I am a home body. I LOVE being at home and don't function well if I have to be out on the run every day. Well, this week started out with a major grocery store run, picking up a sitter for Max so I could take Sam to his first science class. That class lasts 2 hours and goes Monday - Thursday for this whole month. During that 2 hours each day, while waiting for him, I'm either eating, running errands, etc... and I did manage Starbuck's one day and popped in at Fran's one day. Anyway, on our way home, Sam and I picked up his friend Anthony who came for a playdate and dinner for the first time. They had a blast and made pizza from scratch.

Tuesday, we had my last day of Women's Bible Study until fall. Afterwards, we had just enough time to cram lunch down, pick up the sitter for Max, and get Sam to his class. On our way home that day, we picked up their friends Daniel and his younger brother Ezra. They came over for a mud play date! Well, they had a blast but I did NOT! I had asked their mom to pick them up at 5:30 and she ended up not getting here until about 6:20 and didn't leave until 7:00. I was chicken fried! And, I bathed all 4 boys, by the way, so they were clean going home. NOT an easy task!

Wednesday, I tried to catch up on my house a bit and worked on some of the disposable art pieces. Sam had his class that afternoon and I just took Max with me so we could go straight to my mom's afterwards. My niece, Cassidy was to leave Thursday morning so we went one last time to see her. I played Scrabble with my step-dad again... and won... again! :) (hehehehe)

Thursday, I finished up my disposable art pieces. (working on these was my sanity break this week!) I picked up the sitter and took Sam to his class. After we got home, then I had errands to do for Chuck. OK, so I'm nose diving at a rapid pace by Thursday night but, I quickly ran up to the church to drop off the disposable art pieces to Steve at the prayer meeting, which I did not get to attend this week. Oh, I forgot to mention that in the midst of all my crazy running and trying to keep up with the house, laundry, meals, etc... my husband has been pretty much flat on his back in excruciating pain from degenerating discs in his neck. Even the strongest narcotics aren't touching the pain. He is scheduled for a spinal injection on Wednesday and we pray this helps with the pain or we will be talking about neck surgery! YIKES!

Anyway, by yesterday morning, I was up at 5:30 and got a lot of stuff caught up before I was to pick up the sitter at 9:30. I made a date with Fran to take care of ME! Both boys were staying with the sitter. I was an hour late getting out of the house and had my major crying session, etc... I was soooo happy to get to Fran's! We worked on some birdnest charms based on one that Shirley McCutcheon sent me (see sidebar for her blog link). Well, Fran and I made several and each time trying to change things. Here is a picture of the ones I did. The first 4 just weren't looking right to me because the eggs seemed to be getting buried in wire. I finally went in the bathroom and looked at the one hanging around my neck only to realize our mistake with some of our wiring. I also was having a problems with all the wrapping wire in my hands due to arthritis in my thumbs so this was hurting me! I started changing the whole process in how these were made. In fact, it is now a very different process from the instructions Shirley sent! The last one I made was the nest on the upper right with the light green eggs. This, I feel, is my best one and it went together in a snap with no pain for me and no buried eggs! LOL! I also went to a little heavier gauge wire which holds it's shape a bit easier and requires less wire. Shirley's gorgeous, neat little nest requires about 6 feet of 24 gauge wire! I dropped to probably 4 ft. of 22 gauge. Anyway, I still need practice but am liking these. I want to go get some more pearls to use. However, using 22 gauge wire did present a problem with the size of hole in the beads so I need new beads! LOL! Thanks Shirley, for the amazing little nest that I LOVE and for the instructions! So, here are the fruits of my labor.... the bobbin is to show the size of the nests...

I have also finally figured out what a comfortable "messy" is for me in my studio. Here are some pictures I took... these messes are enough to get and keep me creating yet can be cleaned up in less than 15 minutes! This is workable for me. Totally clear tables freeze me up!