Inspiration

As far as glass is concerned, I find inspiration nearly everywhere. Trees, foods, the color of a car that goes by, the outfit someone is wearing, and animals. Having three doggies of my own, they are an endless source of inspiration (and comfort) to me so today I listed my first attempt at a dachshund bead and named it after my own doxie, Mighty. Mighty came to us as a rescue about a year and a half ago and he has been through quite a lot. Just before Thanksgiving last year, his "brother" Chance (also a rescue) blew a disk in his back. We took him to a chiropractor that also works on animals and she said our only option was surgery which may or may not work. Being a holiday weekend, the minimum was going to be $3500 for something that may not work and a 10 year old dog. We were heart broken but just couldn't afford it. Long story short, we lost him. Sometimes in doggies the paralysis will move forward and that is what happened with Chance. I still miss him every day. So what does this have to do with Mighty? Well about a month later, Mighty blew a disk in his back too. We went through the same process, vet, chiropractor etc. This time the outcome was a little brighter in that they told us for him there was hope that he might walk again. We gave him meds and since he was unable to urinate on his own, we would put a catheter in 3-4 times a day for several weeks. We took him outside with the other two with a towel holding up his hind legs so he could keep up the strength in his front and carried him up and down the stairs every day. Finally, after about 3 weeks we decided he probably wasn't going to walk again so we found a pattern on line for a wheelchair for him. He was having NO part of that! He used it for about two days before he started really trying to pull himself around on his own. It took some time but today, you can't tell there was ever anything wrong with his legs. He runs and plays right along with the other two. It's amazing how much inspiration you can find around you if you just keep your eyes open. :)

Ready for Fall

I love this time of year! The air is getting cooler, the days are getting shorter...soon the leaves will begin to change. It's my favorite time of year! I love everything about fall, the crisp air, the warm colors, the appearance of apple cider on the shelves, and pumpkins. I LOVE PUMPKINS! I have been trying to find a way to incorporate them into my home year round, I love them that much. I have some of every shape, size, and color; mostly made of glass. Speaking of ones made of glass, here is my most recent addition to my Etsy shop, you guessed it; a sweet little pumpkin!

Moving on and beads

So on the job front, I'm jobless. Yep. Really have nothing else to say about it; just going to move on and hope that the next job will be with people I can respect and who are not so threatened by someone who is going to stand up for what is right.

Anyway, I have spent most of the day back and forth between looking for a new job and working on my Etsy shop (see the shop mini to the right). I have neglected it for sometime as well. Because of that I have a PILE of beads that need to be listed. I know that sounds like a simple process but is really isn't. First they all have to have their pictures taken at least twice. Once I do that I put them in separate little baggies so that if there are several that look similar I can make sure that the buyer gets exactly what is in the picture (unless it is a made to order listing). Once I have a good bit of them packaged up this way, I get the pictures loaded into my computer. From here on out is my least favorite part of the process! I have several different places I use for photo editing, but I will be honest, I really don't know much about it. My main goal is to make the subject look as much like it does in real life as possible. Sometimes that isn't exactly easy. Once the photos are finished, then it's time to write the description. I'm not very good at that part either, but alas, it must be done. I always write my descriptions in Word fist one, to make sure I don't lose it and two because it has spell check! ;) When this is done, it is finally time to actually list the bead. This process takes some time but it is worth every step of the process when someone stumbles across something I have made and "hearts" it, or better yet buys it! If you haven't already, please check out my shop and let me know what you think!

Here is a pic of my most recent listing.

Horrible Bosses

No, not the movie...real ones! I realize it has been forever since I have posted here; I'm going to try and get better at that. I tend to have a lot on my plate and certain things I enjoy suffer for that. Anyway, back to the title of the post. Ever had one of those horrible bosses? One that always has to be right and is so intimidated by the thought of someone else stealing their thunder that they truly can't see another persons point of view? I have one. Well, I guess I should say had one. If you have read any of my previous posts you know that "by day" I am a nurse. This is my livelihood and I take it very seriously. I love what I do and I'm good at it. Am I wrong? Do I make mistakes? Of course! We all do, right? Nope, not my boss. NEVER. I had a discussion with her last week regarding a policy on a particular class of medications. The policy stated essentially"will not administer (medication)..." I thought that was pretty clear. So when she asked me to see a patient for whom I would be administering said class of medications, I explained to her why I was uncomfortable with that. She did find a policy that was newer that said it was allowable, so I made the visit and it was not discussed further. Until I was suspended. Yep, that's right; suspended. For arguing with her. Um, hello??? I was trying to have a civilized discussion about something that I felt would put my licence, and therefore my livelihood in jeopardy. In said write up, there are numerous false allegations on her part (the argument about the policy was not all that was included). Unfortunately for her, I have been concerned about her ethics for some time and have kept notes and copies of messages sent. Because of this, I have proof in most instances that she is lying. Will it do any good? I don't know. But I can tell you, I won't go down without a fight!

Ever had one of those horrible bosses? What did you do about it?

Work stuff

I don't remember if I talked about my newest "real" job task or not but I'm going to for a bit now as a bit of explanation why I haven't been blogging much lately. I am a nurse in my "real" job, lampwork/jewelry/craft stuff are hobbies for me, a sort of stress relief (very much needed most of the time). For the past year or so, I have switched from working with developmental disabilities to working in home health and I really enjoy it. However, we have a "new" computer system that isn't exactly user friendly to say the least. The agency took on this system before I started and were to start using it the day I started. To make a long story short(er) it has needed some...tweaking for lack of a better term, to get it to work for us. For whatever reason, I picked up on the system fairly easily so I have been assigned to rebuild this computer system. As I said, I am a nurse...they don't teach software programming or whatever this would be called in nursing school. Not that I don't sort of like doing it, just that it isn't what I was trained to do. And sitting in the office, at a computer for 8 hours a day for the past 6ish weeks has made me not very interested in having much to do with computers when I get home. On top of all of that, we have had 3 new directors in the past year, each with different expectations and quirks that have made all of us in our very small agency a bit....edgy...ok, we are just plain bitchy! The most recent of the 3 started this week and seems like he is going to work out well, he has a lot of knowledge and common sense, not a combo you normally see in upper management, at least not in Small Town USA.
Ok, now that I got all that off my chest, I do have pictures of the beads I made with the Devardi glass, but I don't have them edited yet so maybe this weekend (hopefully) I will get them done and uploaded so you can see the pretty colors. I have been very pleased thus far with the results of the glass especially one of the bright pink shades (I forget the name of it, but you will see.)