Nearly December

Is it me or are the days just disappearing very rapidly? This week is zooming past and I can't believe that Saturday will be the first of December. Maybe the speed that days go by at is directly proportionate to how organised you are for Christmas? I say this because my Christmas organisation is non-existent. I've purchased a net of chocolate coins for Robyn's stocking and a chocolate orange which, let's face it, I'll probably end up eating. It's not like I'm being lazy - I just can't think of present ideas for people this year. If I had the ideas I'd go and buy the gifts, but nope, I'm stumped. And the days keep disappearing .......

I'm sure that all the smug I-finished-my-Christmas-shopping-in-October people are eagerly awaiting Christmas day and that time is going by at a normal pace for them. I'll be one of those people next year! Mind you, I say that every year and nothing ever comes of it.

Oh well. I'm sure it'll all sort itself out!

In the meantime I'll just keep on making beads (like those ones up there) while I try to think of gift ideas .......

Warm at last!

Sorry I haven't posted much. It's been a week of making phonecalls, chasing phonecalls, waiting for plumbers that never arrive, chasing up those non-arriving plumbers and occasionally melting a bit of glass in between all that.

But yesterday the plumber did arrive and finally mended the boiler. A whole week of no heating isn't much fun. In the evenings I'd be curled up with the cat and a hot water bottle, watching the television and I could actually see my breath on the air. Brrrrr!

But it's all fixed now and this evening I AM off to Cambridge so I will see you all next week. Have a great weekend!

Grrrrr and Brrrrr!

Yeah, I know I'm not meant to be here as I'm supposed to be in Cambridge. I'm now going next weekend which annoyingly means I have to wait a-whole-nother week 'til I see my boyfriend. Rubbish!

As I type I am waiting for the boiler engineer man to come and fix the central heating which packed up yesterday afternoon. Dad's away on holiday for two weeks and before he went he left me a list of numbers to call if something were to go wrong with the heating, electricity, phones etc and I said he was making a fuss and that nothing was going to happen! How wrong was I?

So now I'm sat here shivering wearing a jumper, a cardigan, a terrible brown knitted wrap-type thing (bought it last year - goodness knows what possessed me to purchase such a hideous item of clothing but I'm sure glad I've got it now!) and super-fluffy-pink-stripy-knee-length socks under my jeans. I look like a crazy-socked Jedi.

Buster's cold too. He's buried himself under the cushions on the armchair - see above.

Also, Vittorio (my Vespa) decided to conk out on me on Thursday. He won't start - just makes a quiet whirring noise when I press the ignition. The fastener on my crash helmet is broken too. Pants!

Something somewhere is telling me not to travel or leave the house, methinks.

'Batikas'

'Batikas' is the name I've gone for as suggested by Beth. Well done, Beth! Please email me with your full name and address and I'll get your 'Batikas Quartet' in the post to you.

Big thanks to everyone for your excellent name suggestions! It's so tricky to pick one out of the stacks of brilliant suggestions.

The larger set of 'Batikas' will be for sale tonight at 8.30pm (GMT) on my website along with the rather cosmic-looking ones pictured above.

I'm off up to Cambridge tomorrow so I won't be posting until next week.

Have a fab weekend everyone!

These beads need a name

I've been quiet - not much bead news to report, really.

My fabulous earring kit from Lynne at The Dragonfly Company arrived on Monday and I had a lovely time making the jewellery. I think I may be ever-so-slightly hooked on the chain maille thing. If you fancy having a go at chain maille then I really recommend the earring kit.

I will have some beads for sale on my website tonight. One of the sets is a larger version of the one above. They're ivory and turquoise and they've been etched to a matt finish. The ivory glass has done that 'dirty-look' caramel striation thing which makes them look kind of ancient. The four beads pictured here are up for grabs in another naming competition. Normal rules apply - post your name suggestions for these in my comments section, I'll pick my favourite at 8.00pm (GMT) tonight and the supplier of my favourite name gets the four beads pictured. You can post as many names as you like.

One last thing - thank you to both Maria Joao and Siana who both sent me the 'Cat Alarm Clock' video. Buster is just like this cat in the mornings. In actual fact he bit my leg this morning because I wasn't getting his food ready fast enough! I'll just have to hope he doesn't get hold of a baseball bat . . . . . .