Ch ch cha changes...

What a weekend! I have to say, I am so relieved it is over! LOL. Now I can destress and get back into my usual groove. Saturday's fall walk was lovely and we all had a frigidly fun time. The water was raging at the falls from all the rain. It was amazing. We were too late to see any good foliage but it was still a great trip just that same.

I have lots of photos to show you from the walk. So I made it is easy and put them all on one page for you. Check out "Fall Walk" to see how our day went. You'll see photos of the two waterfalls on the trail, our new family photo (Lauren wouldn't cooperate for), a cool old flour mill (one of several on the trail), pics of the kids, Ron in my sister's coat and a neat log that looked like an animal. After our lunch and walk, we stopped at several wineries. It was great! While at Miles, someone bought one of my necklaces. I was dying to go and talk to her, tell her "hey, I am the artist!" but stayed with my family. I just grinned happily the whole time.

The only downer of the trip was the kids and the car ride. The boys have been having a heck of a time behaving lately. They seem to be testing us every chance they get the past few weeks. They were just wild in the car... fighting, bickering, talking back... it was just rotten. That is why I say that I am relieved the weekend is over. Sunday was really no better with those boys. Ron and I ended up having a "military" school style day, for lack of a better term. We went and pulled all the toys out of their room, PS2 is away for a while and no dessert is happening anytime soon in our house. All things the boys are going to need to earn back with some good behavior. I hate being so hard on them but we can't keep having the kinds of days we have been having lately. And they seem to understand, a little. I will let you know how things go.

In the meantime, I have been working on beads. I have some cool experiments working in the kiln now. I decided to stick with the amethyst, dark lavendar and silver plum combo. I think it is perfect for winter. They'll be some mod dots, some plaids, cool shapes and all sorts of stuff. I am thinking I will have everything ready for the Bead Box on Friday. So stay tuned! Oh, lol, I bought another zoozii tool! (don't shake your head at me, lol) I got the "Kalera Long & Lean"... it makes "squeeze" beads. I have been trying to make them with my nugget press and they don't come out as nice as I would like them to. So I can't wait for it to get here! Yoo HOOOO!!!

My schedule is going to be thrown for a loop starting next week. I have decided to pull Lauren out of the preschool she is in. The program is just not working out and I am concerned for Lauren's safety. She came home today and told me a little boy was hitting her in the back. I spoke to the teachers and no one knows anything. Someone broke the necklace she wears off her neck and no one saw that either. I few weeks ago she was bit on the arm, the boy broke the skin and left a mark so deep you can still see it. She was in the nurse's office for being hit in the face with blocks too. It is just not a good environment for her. They have also changed teachers 3 times since September. I called the preschool where the boys went and thankfully, there is still openings! I am so relieved. But Lauren will be going just two afternoons a week instead of three mornings. So my time at the torch is going to get cut back. I will just have to work more in the evenings. We'll figure it out.

Gosh, what a bummer of a post. I hope you aren't miserable after reading this, lol. Just think... pretty beads coming on Friday! YOO HOOO!!!!