The Re-Freeze - January 30, 2026

Yesterday, the high temperature pushed 50 degrees.  This morning (and for the rest of the week), it's well below freezing.  What melted yesterday re-froze last night.  We still have several inches of snow on the ground.  It will be early next week before this stuff disappears.

Son #2 and his family braved the ice and drove to Atlanta so that Granddaughter #3 could participate in a gymnastics competition.  With bad road conditions all over the south, I am surprised the competition wasn't cancelled.  In any case, the kids have gone and have left Roscoe (aka Shithead) home alone.  (The other grandmother has the other three dogs.)  They were going to take Roscoe with them, but he acted a fool in the car, and they turned around and brought him home and asked us to tend to him until they return home Saturday.  The Husband took Roscoe duty Thursday night and yesterday.  Today it's my turn.  I crunched through the snow at 7 this morning to let him out to do his business and stretch his limbs.  When he finally agreed to come inside, I shut all the bedroom doors and left him in the living room.  I'll have to go let him out again in a few hours.  If he has acted a fool in the interim, I will put his ass back in the kennel.  If he will go.  A dog that big you don't MAKE do anything.  

Yesterday was a good day in the craft room.  I ran several UV resin experiments that turned out promising, made three or four pendants that turned out so-so, and learned to make chains for pendants and earrings.  Making chains is, for me, a slow and tedious process, and it uses a lot of wire per inch of chain.  I may tat or macrame hangers for the pendants.

Last night, I discovered resin boogers in my nose.  I have not faithfully worn a mask and gloves when working with resin.  A couple of my fingertips are kind of crusty with resin, but I am pretty sure I never stuck them in my nose while the resin was wet.  Those resin boogers must have formed from inhalation.  However they got there, they pulled out all my nose hair when I pried them out.  I'll be more careful about remembering the mask from now on.

Snowmageddon 2026 - January 27, 2026

Snowmageddon arrived some time after I went to bed Friday night but before I got up Saturday morning at dawn.  Sleet that changed to snow (some of the biggest flakes I've ever seen) then changed to sleet again.  It all froze together in one thick layer than you can walk on without breaking the crust.  Four days later, the main roads are passable, but our country road is still a frozen sheet.  Today, Tuesday, it is sunny and almost 31 degrees.  Water is dripping off our roof.  Whatever thaws today will freeze tonight and stay frozen until early next week.  It's a good thing the craft room is well stocked.

Birds have been finding their way onto the porch.  I opened the screen door and shushed one out yesterday.  Another one was on the porch this morning.  I keep the bird food for the feeder in a plastic bin inside a garbage bag (to catch the spillage) on the back porch.  When I came out, the bird was IN the garbage bag, eating the spillage.  I eased inside and told The Husband, "Put your coat on and come out to the porch; there's a bird IN the feed sack."  (He will catch them with his hand; I won't.)   It didn't work.  The bird heard us coming and flew up to the rafters.  There's a tunnel up there, just below the rafters, where a bird can run three quarters of the way around the porch without ever showing a feather.  I opened the door, and we knocked on the tunnel with a broom, but he wouldn't come out except to fly from one screen to another before going back into the tunnel.  We gave up chasing him when our hands froze.  I hated to leave the door open so that more could come in, so I watched through the kitchen door until the bird finally found his way out.  

I have been trying to make jewelry this week.  Not having great luck.  I'm casting resin cabochons in various shapes and wrapping them with wire.  Only a few have turned out to suit me, but my skills are slowly improving.  Maybe there's hope.

 

Waiting on the Blizzard - January 23, 2026

The bad weather is expected to arrive here around 8 p.m. tonight.  Rain/sleet/snow, most likely.  For the next few days, the roads will be like skating rinks.  My fingers are crossed that this won't be a storm that ices the limbs and power lines and causes power outages.  

We are as prepared as we can be, I reckon.  Yesterday, I made enough soup to last a few days.  The Husband's propane heater has arrived.  Last night, he came home with six 5-gallon water jugs.  (We're going to need a bigger shed to store all this sh*t when this is over.)  Son #2 came over yesterday, gathered up our gas cans, and filled them at the convenience store up the road.  When he brought them back, he tinkered with the generator and had it running in nothing flat.  Let's cross our fingers that we won't have to use it.  It is so freaking loud.  Son #2 and The Husband say that we can use the truck to power the house.  There's a special outlet where we used to charge the camper that will hook to the truck.  #2 started to tell me how it works - "You've got A and B, and when B is open -." 

I just held up my hand and shook my head.  Don't.  Just don't.  I hope it is something I never need to know.

Whether we lose power or not, I foresee him and The Husband plugging the truck in to the house at some point this weekend.  I intend to be at the opposite end of the house when it happens.

If they can't devise enough power to charge up my laptop, I will go apeshit.  

This morning, I have been pouring resin into jewelry pendant molds, trying to learn what colorants work, and how they act when mixed.  If anything turns out nice, I will try to wrap it with wire to turn it into a pendant.  

Someone or something is forever screwing up my plans.

This time, it's the weather.

Yesterday was supposed to be a no-shoes, no-bra day.  It was chilly and raining, and I planned to stay home, warm and cozy in my jammies, and craft from dawn until bedtime.  

Mid-morning, I looked outside and noticed that the garbage truck had been by.  The garbage can lid was open, the can filling up with rain at the end of the driveway.  I put on The Husband's shoes and clomped out to the road in the rain to close the lid and bring the can to the back yard.  While doing this, I noticed that Nanny's garbage can was also open at the end of her driveway.  She's been feeling poorly and did not need to be out in the cold rain dealing with the garbage can.  I came inside, put on some clothes (but skipped the bra), and went back out to deal with Nanny's can.  This required tying the can to my car so that I could drag it down the long driveway.  I was soaked by the time I got back home.  Changed clothes again.  Went back to crafting.  

An hour later, The Husband called, wondering if I planned to go to the dollar store.  He said we needed two bottles of propane.  He said he'd stop on the way home if I wasn't going out.

Propane?  As far as I knew, the only propane-fueled object we own was a patio heater, and the last time I tried it, it would not light.  "What do we have that works that even uses propane?"

He said he'd ordered a propane heater in preparation for the predicted Snowmageddon arriving this weekend.

I hated to make him stop after work, so I went to get the propane, in the rain, hiding my bra-lessness with my coat.  

With that done, and leftovers for dinner in the refrigerator, I anticipated that the rest of the day would be uninterrupted craft time.  It was not to be.

As soon as The Husband got home, he changed clothes and said that he was going to get some stuff (for the blizzard) out of the shed.  The generator.  The propane stove.  I knew that stuff was buried behind layers of other stuff, so I put on some shoes and went out to help.  We dragged all that stuff to the back porch in the rain.

Pray that the power won't go out and we won't have to use those things, or the propane heater.  The generator probably hasn't been cranked in two years.  The Coleman stove is an artifact from our tent-camping days, 30 years ago.  I'm surprised the lid hasn't rusted shut.  If either of those things works, it'll be a miracle.  And I am nowhere near comfortable with running a propane heater in the house.  

While I'm hoping that the coming weather won't knock out our power, I'm going out this morning to prepare.  We're running low on toilet paper, and I need ingredients for soup and/or chili that will last us a few days.  

I didn't accomplish much in the crafting department yesterday.  My plan was to make a bracelet I'd seen on YouTube. Making it involved twisting wires to a length of 7.5", then folding the excess down the sides to frame the twisted section.  Although I'd followed the instructions, both in the gauge of the wire and the length of the wire, there wasn't enough excess to fold completely down the sides.  I tried to "engineer" it and made a mess of it. 

Hoping to salvage some of the work, I decided to cut the twisted wire section in half and make rings out of them.  Made a mess of the rings, too.  

I'm going to try again when I get home from the grocery store.

Bad Weather Ahead - January 21, 2026

The weatherman says some nasty stuff is on the way.  Rain south of us.  Snow north of us.  We, being in the middle, will be getting a little of everything.  And it's supposed to get really cold.  I dread it.  Good thing I've got enough craft supplies to get through it.  ;)

It's been a week or so since I've posted.  Been busy crafting and doing other things.  

This past Saturday, we did an impromptu "junkin' trip" with the Sister-in-Law and Brother-in-Law.  All we bought was a framed poster to go with one we already had, a bag of popcorn kernels, and a jar of caramel seasoning to shake on the popcorn as it is popping.  I haven't popped popcorn in a pan on the stove since microwave popcorn came out.  It was a disaster.  For starters, the vegetable oil that I used had gone rancid and I did not realize it until the process was underway.  On top of that, the caramel seasoning was mostly sugar, and it scorched right away.  We couldn't eat the popcorn, and it was so nasty that I wouldn't even throw it out for the birds.  

Sunday was the Little Rotten Baby's birthday.  She and her family were out of town, attending a gymnastics competition in which Granddaughter #3 was performing.  When the LRB found out her parents weren't planning a birthday party, she was upset.  Her mom texted us that there would be a party, after all, once they got home on Monday.  I hurried to the store to buy a cake and some party food.  At the end of the day, the LRB was happy.

Yesterday morning, I drove Nanny to the doctor for a routine test.  She talked my ear off, going and coming.  She would ask a question and then not give me an opportunity to answer.  It was a long morning.  ;)

When I got home, I ate a sandwich, did some household chores, and then sat down to play with beads, wire, and UV resin.  My immediate goal is to make some resin beads lovely enough to be used in jewelry.  This morning, I made a few that might work.  Now, if I can only set them in wire and come up with something a person might actually want to wear.  

I'm having issues coloring the resin.  What to use?  I've tried mica powder, and it is lovely, but I want some non-sparkly things and can't find the right additive that will cure properly.  

I bought two bottles of resin, one to practice with, and one for "real" items.  It looks like I might have to break out the spare bottle for more practice.

Resin Shapes - January 13, 2026

Monday's resin experiment was a little short of successful.  ;)

The top left wing has a little bit of "run-off" on the corner, but it's thin enough that it could be trimmed off with scissors.  Otherwise, the wings kinda rock.  The body?  Not so much.  The black resin (which I made with clear resin and black alcohol ink) did not want to fully cure.  I was able to lift him off the silicone tape intact, using a pallet knife, but if I had tried to peel the whole dragonfly off without supporting the wings, they would probably have fallen off.

This morning, the dragonfly is propped up on the back porch rail, facing the sun.  It's sunny and cool right now, high 40s, supposed to be in the 50s later today.  The cool temps may slow down the curing.  I'm going to leave him there until either he cures or the sun goes down.  Might put him out again tomorrow, if necessary.  

If the home-made black resin just won't cure, I may try another recipe or order some factory black resin.  If this dragonfly body never cures, I shall snatch off his wings (if possible) and make another body. 

It's really too cold to be on the back porch this morning, but I'm out here, anyway, in the big fuzzy robe I got for Christmas (I feel like Fozzy Bear when I wear it), with a cup of coffee rapidly chilling on the table.  I spent the weekend in the house, setting up a work area in the sewing room for wire and resin crafts, and I just need a little fresh air and sunshine.

My wire jewelry-making skills are slowly improving.  Two of The Granddaughters came over here Saturday night and raided the bowl into which I was tossing rings as I finished them.  None of the rings were worthy of retail sale, but the girls thought they were magnificent.  

The Granddaughters (#1 and #3) also went home with the four pastel pencil portraits I did a few months ago.  Those pictures have been piled up in the sewing room, under various stacks of sketchbooks and fabric, awaiting final tweaks that I will probably never make.  I figured it was best to get them out of here before they get ruined.  [It just occurred to me (this instant) that I never sprayed any fixative on them.  Must remedy that soon.]   I told The Granddaughters to tell their daddy to make frames for them.

This morning I have been playing with UV resin, trying to create 3-D-ish flowers and bugs that can be set into bezels and such.  I am mixing clear resin with various colorants (mica, alcohol ink, watercolor paint) to see what works and blobbing it on silicone tape, hoping I can gradually build up the shapes and peel them off the tape.  I'm not having much luck stirring up black resin that will cure hard.  My little UV lamp only works up to 60 seconds at a time, so I'm having to babysit the resin to cure it.  If I get the hang of this, I'll want a better lamp.

Score! - January 9, 2026

Despite my vow not to go back to the hobby store, I stopped there on my way to pick up my grocery order.  It was fortuitous.  

This week, I have been watching videos on how to make wire jewelry.  In a ring-making video, the instructor used bail-making pliers to make a loop.  I once had some bail-making pliers but gave them to Granddaughter #1 for a project she was doing.  I could have walked across the road and asked to borrow the pliers but preferred to buy another one for myself.  However, when I was in the hobby store on Tuesday and saw that the pliers cost $24.99, I decided to borrow the Granddaughter's pliers, after all.t

Wednesday, I tried to duplicate the ring in the video with limited success.  I cranked out 5 or 6 rings (which The Granddaughters have already confiscated), but none of them suited me.  I blamed it on not having the right tools and moved on to other videos until I could borrow the pliers. 

Yesterday, on my way to pick up the grocery order, despite my vow not to go to the hobby store, I went to the hobby store to look for pretty beads.  There, on the bead aisle, hung two identical bail-making pliers.  One was marked $24.99, printed right on the package.  The other had a sticker that read $$9.99.  No, that's not a typo, there were two dollar signs.  

I knew what had happened.  For some reason, the $$9.99 pliers had been hand-priced with a sticker gun, and the worker had made a mistake.  The price should have been $19.99.  I shop at the hobby store enough to know that the cashiers enter the item prices by hand instead of scanning them.  The cashier might realize, as I had, that the pliers were priced incorrectly and charge me full price for them (which would still be $5 less than the other one).  

At the cash register, the cashier typed in 9.99.  

A brief internal battle ensued.  Should I be honest and point out the error?

The bad angel won.  I kept my mouth shut.

That afternoon, I was too busy with household chores to fool with crafting, but after supper I got out my new pliers and attempted another ring.  It turned out the worst one so far.  Evidently, the problem is not the tools.

But I shall try again today.

Small successes - January 8, 2026

Yesterday, I decided to educate myself on how to make a costume jewelry ring.  Ten or twenty years ago, when I first started fooling with jewelry-making, I tried to make rings but never produced one that anyone even wear to a cat fight.  I still have a load of jewelry supplies, so I fired up some videos and had a go at making a ring.

The first ring turned out so-so.  It's not perfect, but I'd wear it.  I made 5 or 6 more within a couple of hours - one for each granddaughter and their mother, guessing at sizes - and then tried a different design, which did not work out as well.  I'll try again today, once I get a move-on.  

Before I can play with jewelry, I've got to go mail something and pick up a grocery order.  I WILL NOT STOP AT THE HOBBY STORE ON THE WAY.

I messed with jewelry until nearly 10:00 last night.  When I realized what time it was, I did my night-time routine, then as I was about to get in bed, I went back to the kitchen for a drink of water.  My Kindle - the thin, paper-white kind, about 1/4" thick - was in my hand.  I laid it on the counter by the stove while I got my water.

The counter by the stove doesn't fit snugly against the stove.  Our original stove was a drop-in.  When it went kaput, we installed a free-standing stove.  Had to cut the counter for the stove to fit.  Our cutting was not precise, and we ended up with a 1/2" gap between the counter and the stove.  I keep intending to get new countertops, but haven't gotten around to it.  I do all of my meal prepping at this counter; the crack is littered with dried-up vegetable pieces and dust bunnies that nobody can get to without moving the stove.  

When I reached for my Kindle, I somehow knocked it into this crack, a feat I probably couldn't reproduce if I tried.

I shouted a truly nasty cuss word and started looking for something with which to fish the Kindle out of the crack.  Swiffer duster?  I stuffed it in.  Nope, too short.  To make matters worse, when I withdrew the Swiffer, the fluffy duster pad stayed firmly in the crack.  Flyswatter?  Nope, too short and too flimsy.  A yardstick finally worked, but it took some hands-and-knees doing.  

The Husband was on the porch during this battle.  He had heard my nasty cuss word and had watched the shenanigas through the back door window.  About the time I got the Kindle out and was hauling myself to my feet, with a big shout of "Good GRIEF!"), he came in grinning, and when he saw that it was the Kindle that I'd been fishing for, he doubled over laughing.  

I didn't think it was all that funny.  ;)

Strange Meat - January 7, 2026

Yesterday, I accompanied The Husband to a couple of follow-up doctor visits.  We left the house in the morning, got home at supper time.  

The first visit was with his dermatologist.  We got shuffled around between rooms, and at one point we were sent to a small waiting room that was separate from the big one in the front of the office.  There were about 10 people in the room, and some of them had been there long enough to have started conversations with other patients.  The atmosphere became rather like "old home week" as people discovered mutual friendships and interests.

I had taken a book to read while we waited and was not paying much attention to the conversations when two guys behind me started talking about hunting.  One guy said his grandson had killed a bobcat and the two of them had skinned it.  Something about the way he was telling the story made me turn and ask, incredulously, "Are you intending to EAT the bobcat?"  He kind of laughed and explained that it wasn't a regular cat, like a housecat, but he never admitted nor denied that there was bobcat meat in his freezer.  

I asked him if he'd ever eaten groundhog ( Susan's fancy: Another One - March 23, 2022 ), but we were called back to an examining room before he had a chance to answer.  

We had over two hours to kill before the next appointment.  We grabbed some lunch, then The Husband asked if I had any ideas about how to kill the rest of the time.  Despite my vow not to buy any more craft supplies this month, I suggested we could go to the hobby store.  

In the hobby store, there was an elderly lady, pushing a walker, who called to us as we passed her.  "Excuse me, can you help me?"  She was holding a stuffed animal toy.  "Is this a buffalo?"

I said, "No, ma'am, that's a highland cow."

She'd never heard of a highland cow.  She explained that she had traveled from (somewhere) and was about to go visit her brother, who was "a big Buffalos fan."  She thought it would be funny to take him a buffalo.  She was mightily disappointed that the toy she held was a cow.  She thanked us and lumbered away.

A few minutes later, The Husband discovered a small plastic buffalo among some other plastic animals on a shelf.  We grabbed it and started looking for the old lady.  When we found her and showed her the plastic buffalo, she was thrilled. "It really IS a buffalo," she exclaimed, "and it's only $5.99!"

We felt as though we'd done a good deed.  :)

Analysis Paralysis = January 5, 2026

This past fall, I spent most of my craft time painting Christmas cards.  I mailed them during the first week of December.  

We traveled during the second week of December.  I had not done a lick of Christmas shopping, so when we came home, I knew better than to start any new projects that would distract me from the things I needed to do.  The shopping got done, the wrapping got done, the cooking got done, but during that time I was planning ahead for the time when I could get back to crafting.

Before Christmas, I ordered air-dry clay (several different kinds) and UV resin (and the supplies I'd need to work with it).  I already had some clay and resin tools from previous undertakings.  Last week, I straightened up my craft room (kinda) and spent a couple of days dabbling with the new toys to familiarize myself with the materials and identify potential pitfalls.  And, of course, I discovered that I didn't have quite the right tools/supplies, hence a few more craft store runs became necessary.  Yesterday, at the checkout counter at the hobby store, I told the cashier, "If you see me walk in those doors before the month is up, shoot me."

Today, a rivet gun arrived in the mail.  I can't even remember why I bought it.  More stuff is scheduled to arrive tomorrow.  I AM NOT BUYING ANOTHER FREAKING THING for a while.

I'm paralyzed, not knowing what to work on first.  Last week, while I was in craft mode, ideas streamed through my head.  "Oooo!  I could use [this] to make [that]."  And now all those wonderful ideas have vanished.  

I guess I should work on the 'possum bag holder I started over the weekend.  I downloaded the pattern from Etsy, but it has errors in it and I will have to go rogue to figure out how to finish it.