Contains Caffeine

I stopped by the thrift store last weekend and picked up a mixed bag of costume jewelry for $7.

Here’s my loot, laid out after I washed it. Loki helped of course.

There were some beads that will definitely make it into my wardrobe rotation, including some long dangley white faceted disks that really catch the light, and some deep red seeds of some type.  Some I think I can re-craft into something cool, and a few things are just plain ugly. Including a giant pile of faux pearls in a very unfortunate peach colour. 

Mixed in with the necklaces were these two treasures:

I am waiting for the time when that button will come in handy.

It’s hard to see from the picture, but Mao’s hand actually waves back and forth each second.  It is a truly amazing sight.  Unfortunatley, it doesn’t keep proper time.  I will be looking for a good home for this gem.

Tags: General by Mel
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I’ve been seeing a lot of recycled magazine beads on Etsy and other places on the internet, and thought I’d give them a try.

There’s a lot of instructions on the internet, I used http://www.craftcritique.com/2007/05/paper-beads.html  It’s a pretty simple project, easy enough for kids to make.  I think I might try it when my little niece visits sometime.

I have a compact paper cutter, which made cutting the strips really fast.  Using scissors would probably make this project a lot more time consuming.  Most sites recommend using decoupage glue (which has built in varnish).  I didn’t have any, so I just used regular white glue when rolling up the beads, and then some spray varnish to seal them.

I was able to turn out a big amount of beads in a short time, and I’m pretty happy with the results.  Now I just have to figure out what to make with them!

Tags: Craft by Mel
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OK, I don’t want to be one of those bloggers who promises to post pics later, and never does.  For mother’s day, I crocheted some pussy willows for mom.  They really did not come out in a realistic way, but they were cute so I still gave them to her.  I promised to post pictures, and after a combination of forgetfulness and procrastination, here’s the pic! (Click it to embiggen).

As you can see, the are quite a bit fatter than genuine pussy willows, but they still have some charm.  Your mom is morally obligated to like anything you made yourself, right?

Tags: Craft by Mel
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Last night Joe and I saw The Kids in the Hall live….it was a great show.  I’m still recovering from strep throat (or something like it), my voice was gone, and laughing was extremely painful.  It was worth it.

The show was lots of new material, mixed with several classic characters making an appearance.  All of them were still on their game, but I think Scott Thompson was especially great.  Buddy Cole was not my favorite character on the TV show, but his sketch at the live show was one of the highlights.  “Was Jesus gay? Pu-lease”.  Another highlight was a couple of jehovah’s witnesses running into Bruce McCulloch’s character “Gavin”, the boy who never shuts up. There was an also an encore sketch with much head-crushing.

I miss the days when Kids in the Hall was always on a Canadian channel somewhere…I’m really craving the DVDs now.

Tags: General by Mel
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Google pointed out that today is the anniversary of the first laser: http://www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/284158_townes.html

Tags: Science by Mel
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For those of us who cannot afford to drop a few grand on a handbag, Hermes is offering free printable patterns to make your own Kelly bag.  The blank version is here.  You can find more patterns by navigating their annoying flash site: http://lesailes.hermes.com/us/en/  Click on the square with the white Kelly bag and orange scissors. Don’t you hate those types of websites?

Tags: Craft by Mel
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Etsy has the craziest stuff sometimes: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=10652308

      _~~_
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 (O)  (O)  (O)
 (O)  (O)  (O)
(O)    (O) (O)
 (O)   (O)   (O)
       (O)

Tags: Craft by Mel
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For someone who is normally a homebody, I’ve been really busy lately.  

I got home from San Jose (eBay head office) about 1am Friday morning.  It was a great trip.  I got to meet lots of San Jose coworkers, but also got to hang with some Salt Lake and Vancouver co-workers who were there the same week.  A highlight of the trip was a night out in San Francisco.  We had dinner at a restaurant called The Stinking Rose, known for it’s all-garlic menu. Our great meal was served by a very entertaining waiter.  He was 76 and had the most animated personality, even by San Fransisco standards.  At the end of the night, he brought out a photo album and shared some pictures of him carrying the Olympic torch.  He was nominated to carry it based on his 40+ years volunteering as the Easter Bunny at 10 nearby hospitals every year.  He also showed us some pictures of the King of Jordon, who after eating dinner at the restaurant and hearing his story, invited him to Jordon for 3 weeks to stay in the royal estate.  I just did a Google search, and found a story about him.  I wish we could have stayed longer, because it seems we had just scratched the surface of this guy’s amazing life.  Thanks for the great hospitality Ray!  After that we took a quick walk down to Pier 39 and saw the sea lions, and then had dessert at Ghiradelli.

After not enough sleep, I had to catch up on all the work I missed during the week. A small emergency broke out in the afternoon when I was not in the office and I completely passed it off to someone else to deal with.  This is not something I normally do, but at some point you have to finish work for the day and just leave it until Monday.

Yesterday we attended the wedding of two good friends, Gord and Anya.  They’ve been together 9 years, and we weren’t sure Gord was ever going to go through with it.  They are a great couple, and it was a great wedding. 

After the cake cutting we had to get Loki home (we didn’t have a baby sitter), and then realized we had just enough time to get down-town and catch the Darkest of the Hillside Thickets at the media club.  Their old guitar player, Warren Banks, was in town from England for a couple weeks, and it was great to see him.

Tonight is Mother’s Day dinner with my mom and step-dad. Indian food, yum!

All of this social interaction has me totally exhausted.  Blogosaurus posted a great article about introverts which describes me very well.  I’m going to need a break from people for a while.

Tags: General by Mel
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Today I flew to San Jose, with a stop in Seattle.  I really hate the travelling part of travelling.  It’s fun once I’m at the destination, but the process of arriving there is boring, time consuming, stressful, and uncomfortable.

The plane to Seattle was one of those smaller planes that have propellers.  The ride was bumpy the whole way…at least it was short.

The plane to San Jose was a large jet.  My seat was in the back right next to the engines.  You could not see out the windows there because they were blocked by the engines, and it was insanely noisy.  You could say it was noisy like a jet engine.  They gave us earplugs, which helped a bit.  The plane was very crowded so I couldn’t score an empty seat next to me.  My legs are long.  If I can’t stretch them out diagonally, I pretty much can’t move them at all…my knees literally bump into the seat in front.  And if the person in front of me tries to put their seat back, well, forget about it.

But, it’s hard to complain when you arrive in California to beautiful weather and views (San Jose does not have the smog that LA does).  I’m writing this from my luxurious hotel room while sprawled out on a faux mink throw.  The hotel is much nicer than what I normally get to stay in for work trips…check it out:  http://www.hotelvalencia.com/san-jose-santana-row-home.php  My favorite part is the bathroom.  It’s huge, and it has one of those showers with no door…it’s liberating!!

Tags: General by Mel
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