Saturday, it's Office Depot who's my friend

So close...SO CLOSE...

But on the home stretch of printing, we've run out of toner - we literally down to 60 more patterns to print. Yet now it's going to cost $300 in ink to get that accomplished. ARGH!

On the other hand, please note that I do not leave Austin until Sunday. And we'll be finishing on Saturday. Do you realize how big of a deal that is??? And I'll have every single kit ready to go. None of this "I need to run by XYZ vendor and quick buy ABC supply to put in the LMO kit" stuff. Not for me, not this time. I even have a larger number of each type of kit made up, so I shouldn't be running out of anything. I'm very conscious of the fact that I will have a San Antonio show just 2.5 weeks after returning from Tucson, and then the Santa Fe Bead Fest show is another 2.5 weeks after that. Not a lot of time between gigs this year so being prepared up front is essential.

With all of my "extra" time tomorrow, I think I'll do something wild and crazy like laundry. Clean clothes might be good, hmm? Even that is something I can work around this year, though, since my little home away from home in Tucson has a washer and dryer too. The luxury! A trip to the grocery store for snacks is essential too. When I get sleepy while driving, the first line of attack is listening to books on CD. The second line is eating. And finally, I just pull over at a rest stop and nap for 30 min. in the car which refreshes me and off I go again, just like the Energizer Bunny.

Maybe I won't NEED to sleep on the road if I actually get some normal people sleep before I leave. I think I'll try it!

UPS is my friend

Oh, how I love our various delivery services in the US. The Post Office, UPS, FedEx - they're all my very dear friends. How would I ever manage a business without them? And today UPS became my special friend for delivering a big ol' package of beads a whole day early. I'm rejoicing! I may manage to get everything done before I leave on Sunday after all. Maybe. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

I have rented an adorable guest house called Casa Bonita for Mom and I to stay in for the week. It's much cheaper than a hotel, plus you've got all the comforts of home including a kitchen.

After a day of printing patterns with Mom, and working on last minute jewelry samples on Sunday, I got a very special break from work on Monday night. I actually made time to go out to dinner with a friend I've known for more than 25 years now. As happens with most friendships, we go in and out of phases of spending time together - and lately - mostly because of my crazy schedule - visits have been few and far between.

But with my reduced teaching schedule freeing up many of my nights and weekends, and some changes in her personal social schedule, I have a feeling we'll be rectifying the "seeing each other once every six months" problem. Tonight was like old times, and we talked nonstop for hours to fill each other in on the events in each others lives. It's so nice to have people like that in your life. Someone who knows all the secret nooks and crannies of your head and your heart. Someone with whom you can pick right up where you left off so long ago. I'm really glad that our friendship has survived some really hard times.

After I got home tonight, I worked on finishing up a new Butterfly Kisses kit contender - I'm going to leave it out for Mom to vote on in the morning before she goes to work. I'm obviously running out of time to have anything new for the Tucson show at this point, but that doesn't mean I won't be introducing even more new kits post-Tucson. There are several that are almost right, but not quite. So I'm holding on to them until they make the grade.

Jill McKay is at the Craft & Hobby Association (CHA) Show in California this week, and reports that Paris Hilton was there one day, and Jane Seymour another. I asked what day Brad Pitt would be attending. Surely he's into crafts, what with all those children around...right? (Please don't burst my bubble.)

Glamorous day

I did not get out of my jammies all day today. I did not leave the house except to pick up a UPS package on the front step, and spend five minutes in the back yard, enjoying the 80 degrees out there with the dogs. What did I do instead?

Well, I spooled WildFire and Fireline for kits, mostly. A LOT of it. Like 1,380 yards of WildFire. I can't even remember how much Fireline at this point. 10 hours of doing nothing but winding thread onto bobbins in 20 yard increments and catching up on TIVO shows. What's sadder is that I'm not even finished! But I did run out of material until my HUGE restock shipment comes in, so Saturday I'm off to other tasks.

I'm teaching my second-to-last class for a while at Nomadic Notions Saturday afternoon - it's Parisian Lights, which has been such a hit, it's quite astonishing. I took like 75 kits with me to the bead retreat last weekend in Temple, and even though there were only 100 folks there, I came home without a single one left!! I'm working on making an equal quantity for the Tucson show, just in case. And if they don't sell quite as quickly there hopefully I'll have some for the San Antonio show two weeks later, and/or the Santa Fe show two more weeks after that. A lot less time for me to restock between shows this year, so I'm trying to make larger quantities at the outset to hold me over for a few shows. It's always a guessing game/balancing act that sometimes I hit dead on, and other times I miss entirely.

Anyway, after I'm done with class, Mom and I are headed over to my brother & sister-in-law's house for dinner with them and the Munchkin. It will probably be the last time I get to see her until I get back from Tucson in four weeks. It's hard to go that long without seeing her at this age because they change so rapidly at this age. She's 19 months old now.

I also desperately need to update the website with new kits and new teaching dates. And I have an illustration project that has a Monday deadline. I guess that year-end holiday stuff is over for really real now!

Be afraid. Be very afraid

They've already passed my house and made a direct hit with Peanut Butter Patties and Lemonades.

It's my Birfday

Monday was such a lovely day. I had birthday wishes from so many friends and family (including Donna Mehnert of Blackberry Beads who said it was my "Birfday" - that sounds SO much like me, so I'm stealing it!) I was able to sleep to my heart's content with no guilt over things I should be doing. Mom & I went out to dinner tonight, followed by an intent viewing of the latest episode of "24." I had threatened to go out and book myself a massage for today, but when push came to shove, the Jilly hermit chose a simple day of secusion. I was supposed to go to a friend's house for a beady play day, and I'm sorry, Gwen! I simply couldn't make myself leave the house and the bed.

Tuesday I'll be glued to the tv all day, enjoying the festivities. My personal forcast calls for 100% chance of tears of joy.

And then it's back to the grindstone! I've gotta get a bazillion or so packages out to the Post Office, dash to the bank, and then get all my supply orders finalized and sent in. I'll have three or four days before the beads arrive, and then it's massive production time again. In the down time, I'll be working on printing patterns. I'm worried whether our Color LaserJet printer is going to make it until after I get back from Tucson. It was giving me fits before the Retreat - that mechanisim which picks up the next sheet of paper from the tray and feeds it into the paper path is not working properly. Sometimes it can't grab the paper and says it's jammed. I finally discovered though trial and error that if the paper try is half-full (not ALL full, and certainly not barely full) it will work. Sometimes. I'd really love it if I could nurse it along another few weeks and then I'll put it out to pasture. We'll see who wins this battle of wills.

Also on the agenda is to do a mock table set up for the new display. We need to make sure it looks okay, and that everything fits. I'm also going to purchase some new fabric to create a table runner down the front that will inject a splash of color into the display.

More from Temple, Texas!

I'm pretty sure we all managed to pack several week's worth of fun and gabbing and beading into a single day today. At least that's what it felt like! As a regular at the Texas and Shreveport retreats for the last few years, it's like a mini-reunion each time. The only time I get to see most of these spirited ladies is at the retreats, and then we have to do all our catching up in such a short time frame. This year there are a few who are dealing with some pretty daunting physical challenges - seems like more than usual - but they're not letting it stop the all important therapy of beading! And you know what I mean.

I taught a class Saturday afternoon of Parisian Lights, and will do another session Sunday morning since there were so many folks who wanted to take it. Most of them finished their bracelets by the end of the evening, and it was fun to walk around the room and see everyone wearing them en masse!

I also set dates to teach at the Dallas Bead Society (August 29 & 30) and another teaching day in Spring (Houston) at Beadaholique on April 18th. We're working on figuring out the exact projects, and we'll update you on that as it comes together.

I tried going to bed at 10:30, but pretty much tossed and turned for a few hours. Now I'm up again and hoping to lull myself to sleep playing Solitaire after I finish updating here. 7am is going to come all too soon. On the other hand, one of the benefits of being only an hour away from home this time is that I'll get back in time for a nice nap in the late afternoon!

Tip: Don't be late to a bead retreat

So a lady walks into a bead retreat....okay, it was a little later than she thought she'd be there...it wasn't really her fault...okay, really it was. But she had good intentions. And she was THERE after all. And she sees some of her very best beady friends and is so happy and starts giving hugs and catching up. And then something catches her eye. Her friend, not named Jill, is wearing a Jill Wiseman name tag. Ha ha. Very funny. Giggle. Wait...what is this?? Here's another friend, not named Jill, wearing a Jill Wiseman name tag. And slowly but surely, the lady realizes most of the ROOM is wearing Jill Wiseman name tags! This is what happens when you're late to a bead retreat. Be warned.