Glass Art

Not long ago Toby was watching a T.V. show on glass blowing and commented that glass blowing was an art that has always intrigued him. Although there are many glass shops in and around Austin, it reminded me of one in particular, Wimberley Glassworks,  that offers glass blowing demonstrations.

I had seen it mentioned on the local home school  site a couple of years ago and had always wanted to take Summer but never carved out a day. I figured today was a good day to for a day trip to Wimberley to watch some glass blowing.

The shop was a bit "off the beaten path" it seemed for such beautiful glass work to be displayed. Wimberley Glass Works has a positive reputation and is a familiar name to those in the area though so I guess it doesn't really need the location, location, location.

When we first got there we browsed a bit before they started the demonstration. There were some beautiful creations to admire with bold price tags attached.

Here's a glimpse of some of the work displayed in the store...

The demonstration was informative and interesting.....

After watching the patience and monotonous process it takes to make glass I totally understood the price tags that are attached to their glass pieces.

Thumbs up to our field trip to Wimberley Glassworks.

How Annoying

I do my best to keep an open mind and realize that people can't always live up to the expectations I have of of us ALL as a human species and most of the time I can rationalize or excuse most behaviors but I do have a few "pet peeves" that frequently test my patience in mankind.

Here they are in no specific order.....

Kids who tease a dog through a fence.  The animal always gets blamed/punished when the child gets bit.  Of course the animal bit you! It doesn't use deductive reasoning like humans SHOULD be doing.

People who keep shopping away while their obviously past nap time curtain climber is screaming or whining their ass off while mom/dad is totally ignoring it and keep browsing. Take that screaming ass kid home for a nap because people like me don't want to listen to it.

Taking up two parking spaces or being parked so crooked that you are taking up two spaces. I have actually visually hunted down the culprit once in a Jack in the Box once for this particular offense.

People that play their music so loud the whole neighborhood can hear it. Really?? You may like your music and I even may like it, but that doesn't mean that I want to hear it full blast for the duration of your party.

Incorrect grammar usage when speaking.  Example: I ain't got nothin'. Just writing about this one pisses me off. Once again, I want to thank my parents for that expensive education they blessed me with for this particular pet peeve.

People that give vague FB statuses. Example: They are nothing but fish bait for an invitation for people to ask questions or feel sorry for them. Grow up, nobody really cares what anybody posts on their status anyway....unless it really is something worth mentioning.

People that pollute. If I see it in progress I usually will pick up the discarded trash, hand it to them and point towards the nearest garbage can.

When you can't tell if someone is male or female. My daughter at one time has fallen into this category so I have an extra annoyance for it now. I have seen more than my share of these types in Austin. It bugs me only because I don't know how to address the person if I don't know their gender. Please just be one or the other...I don't care which.

People who bring their sick kids out in public - especially a restaurant - to hack or puke.

People who let their little dogs roam the neighborhood  thinking just because they are little they aren't annoying. I still have to pick their tiny shit up out of my yard and watch my ankles as I walk down the street.

When people refuse to be the decision maker about something simple (which restaurant, which move, etc.) Why do I always have to wear the pants as far as decisions are concerned? Let me guess, so I get the blame when it's a failure. Wimps.

People who refer to everything good that happens because of  "prayer" or "god was watching over". Things happen, good and bad every day. The ebbs and flows of life..plain and simple. No magic involved.

When somebody uses all but a smidgen of food or drink and puts it back in the pantry/fridge. If you are not going to leave enough for the next person you may as well just finish it off.

People who leave their Christmas lights up until February or beyond. If you don't plan on taking them down, please don't bother to put them up.

People who complain out loud while waiting in a long line at a store. It's just an invitation to be invited into their bitch-fest and I don't care to be drawn into their public display of drama.

People who misspell something on FB and then immediately correct themselves on the next line...as if the reader isn't smart enough to figure it out.  I guess they are just making sure we knew that they KNEW how to spell that word. Insecurity at it's best.

People who post endless pics of their kids doing the most mundane things or boast about how special their kids are. I can guarantee you that only YOU think your kids are that special and wonderful so keep it to yourself as far as FB is concerned. An occasional or special pic is acceptable but a pic a day of your kid is not necessary.

People who are over the age of 21 and use the words "dude", "man", "cat", or other teenage lingo word. Makes me cringe every time. Matter of fact, right along with incorrect grammar usage.

When I go to check out of a department store and they ask me for my email address and phone number and ramble on about store policies and updating the system, blah, blah, blah. Just let me pay for my purchase peacefully without asking me a million questions or giving me information about how the store functions. I don't care about how the store functions I just want to make my purchase and get out of there.

I know there are many more, these are just a few that I had to get off my chest.

Show Me Love

On the way home from my morning run this morning I stopped to let Bo get his last sniff and pee in when I heard an owl "who". I thought at first I was hearing things because owl's don't typically "who" during the day. I perked my ears and heard it again nearby. I listened. I heard it once again and began to search it out.

I finally saw it in a deciduous leaf barren tree in the yard right across the street from where I was stopped. There he was just sitting on that bare branch whooing away in broad daylight. I watched him for a little bit wondering what his motive was for whooing during the day before heading  home.

I let Summer sleep in late this morning. We all deserve to sleep in a bit late from time to time. Around 11:00am. I finally went and snuggled up to her in the bed to awaken her. Snuggling with her in the bed felt so good. The wind was blowing fiercely outside with weather advisories and fire hazard warnings and all I could think about was how SO GRATEFUL I was  to be snuggling up against my little girl in a a warm bed chatting away about the dreams she had the night before and her plans for the day. These are sort of things life is made for....what my life is made for.

With my recent camera woes I decided to do a little playing with my phone camera and a camera app. I have never really used my phone camera much and never really considered it a camera source for picture manipulation like cropping and editing. I was surprised that I could do so much more than I thought I could so I've been doing some experimenting with it lately.

These are a couple of pics I took the other morning at the park when I took Bo for a walk.....

Here is the evening sunset....

I also took some time out this week to clean out my small garden area. Summer, Bo, and I had a good time....Summer sifting and digging in the dirt and Bo stalking and eating the grub worms. I was glad to finally get it ready for a couple tomato plants, some bell pepper, and some jalapenos. We'll see how it goes. I had really good luck with tomatoes last year so I'm hoping that same luck will spill over into this year.....

The wind storm we had yesterday was pretty rough. The winds topped out at 52 mph in our area. I noticed many people had lost shingles off their roof and most everybody had at least one fence panel down..some more. I was glad that everything in our yard and on our roof stayed in tact. I also was glad I had elected not to put my veggies into the ground yet!!!

My Kind of Rain

You never know how much you care about someone until their health is compromised.

Last Wednesday Toby started complaining about some lower left side back pain. I really didn't think much about it initially because he does have a tendency to have occasional unexplained aches and pains. I usually mentally contribute his pains to his predominately sedentary lifestyle and extra "baggage' he carries around with him.

This pain has been different though. He has spent a lot of time soaking in a hot bath and I can tell he is in pain when he moves around. I also am awakened during the night by the sounds of him grunting in pain as he tries to get in a comfortable sleeping position. He even came home from work early last night, something he has very rarely..if ever...done.

What worries me the most is he says it doesn't feel like a muscle. If it were anywhere else on his body..shoulder, leg, etc.,  I wouldn't be quite as concerned but I know there are a lot of vital body parts in the torso area.  I won't even share what sort of  detrimental scenarios I have let my imagination dream up as the cause of his pain.

Of course, we are "self-employed" so health insurance is not a household name for us. With the exception of Summer who is on Children's Medicaid of Texas,  when we (Toby or me)  get sick we either have to suck it up and move on until it goes away, self medicate, self-diagnose, use home/natural remedies or just die...Period. That's just the way it is and what we are accustomed to.

We have both done our research on the Internet and presume that it may possibly be a pinched nerve. Of course we are not doctors but not having health insurance for most of my adult life has made me more perceptive in matters of health. Being able to listen to our own instincts about our bodies and how we feel has more than once proven to be more reliable than those of a health care professional that has no mental or physical connection to us.

That said, I know there are times that a doctor is necessary, but we save those times in cases of emergency or when there are no other alternatives.

I remember when I was going through pre-menopause in my late 30's I bled for 3 weeks straight. I finally went to the doc only because I wanted to stop bleeding all over everything in my path.

Doc scraped my pelvic walls and sent it off to the lab sending me out the door to the tune of  $250 and they would "call and let me know".

A week later I got a call from the doc office telling me I needed to come in. I won't lie I was scared. I'm sure  it was meant for me to be scared. What better way to manipulate a person than with the fear of the unknown??

I was nervous as a cat as I waited for the doc to enter the room and give me the verdict. Instead of a verdict I got a lecture and a ticket to come back with another $250 for another cervix scraping. Apparently the lab couldn't get a good reading from the previous one because of all the bleeding that I had going on.

I immediately went from scared to pissed. Not only was doc - the same doc that delivered my daughter just a couple of years earlier - asking me to fork out more money (that I didn't have) to do the same thing I just paid for a week earlier he was lecturing me on all the possibilities of things that could be wrong with me that could kill me and how I was going to leave my daughter behind with no mother if I didn't pay for more tests.

I won't lie, I was scared and numb when I walked out of that doc's office without scheduling another appointment for another test, but there was that other part of me that well....I don't know...maybe self-preservation???

Either way, I never went back for that second lab test and 10 years later I feel physically and mentally better than I ever have.  I think your mind and the way you think is the most important thing when it comes to health.

I almost feel blessed not to have health insurance. It makes me more aware of my own body and keeps me self-educated in the matters of health. It also makes me responsible for my own well-being.

Hopefully it wall all work itself out and hubby will be back to normal soon....CROSSING MY FINGERS!!

UPDATE: Hubby's back is feeling better with a little TLC. :-)

Cyber Friends

Through my five year blogging history I have made a few of what I call my "bloggy friends".  In the land of blog it's like a small community of bloggers you connect with. Even though I have never met them personally, there are a select few that I feel like I know and connect with just from reading their blogs.

I know one loves frogs, sewing and gardening, the other loves nature, cats and spirituality, one enjoys the more scientific and analytic side of life...etc.

Ultimately, we all have at least one thing in common., we publish our most personal thoughts and emotions on our online diary for the whole world to read. For some people blogging is considered an intimidating, questionable and frightening thing.

Today I received a gift in the mail from one of my bloggy friends who lives on a totally different continent than I do. I am always grateful for the kindness my friends bestow on me and I was equally grateful for the kindness of someone who only knows me via my blog.

A heartfelt card and some owl print table placemats were waiting in my mailbox this afternoon all the way from Australia....

On another note, not much else been going on here lately. We did come upon by accident a nice garden center in Elgin called Bloomers while out and about today. I was impressed and came home with a Texas Red Lantana, some tomato, bell pepper, and jalapeno plants.

I spent the afternoon digging around in the dirt underneath the warmth of the sun. Perfect meditation.

Yesterday I got in the mood to sew and I'm in need of replenishing my quilting fabrics so I opted for a small project and whipped up this little bag just for fun...

Not much planned for the weekend, but maybe doing some much needed spring cleaning. Fun.

Dragon Dance

I'm posting this immediately after I have just viewed my brother's beautiful pics on FB from his Vietnamese Lunar New Year celebration in Saigon. Although I'm sure the Chinese New Year celebration we witnessed at Austin's Chinatown Center can't be compared, we still had a good time. You have to take what you can get.

When we first got there it was really crowded and people were already gathered around the dragon dance area. I was a bit annoyed because the dragon dance is the only reason I attend the celebration and I certainly didn't want to miss it.

We watched what we could see for awhile and eventually moved on......

Summer had spotted some dragon looking marionettes that some other children had - I know they probably have a specific name but I have no idea what it may be - and wanted to search them out.

We found the area where the marionette thingies were and purchased a couple of them...one for Toby and one for Summer.

Luck was on our side and by the time we made our purchase the dragon dance people were headed in our direction to do more blessings. We got a first row view of the dances and firecrackers this time....

After we watched the second dance and blessing Toby said he he had seen a couple items in the store that he wanted to purchase before we left.

By the time we left the celebration we had spent approximately $250 on trinkets. Apparently their blessings work. I told Toby he could have bought that stuff in Vietnam for a fraction of the price he paid for them there and he replied...."Am I going to be in Vietnam anytime soon?"....Guess he had a point there.