The Latest from my Beading Desk

These are the latest two necklaces. I am always amazed at how different two necklaces can be when they both have the same lampwork beads. For those of you who don't know the term 'lampwork' - the largest beads in the necklaces are lampwork beads made by a local artist. The photo with the royal blue beads is brighter/clearer than the other photo. I really like the necklace with the turquiose color beads.
When I haven't written anything to post but I have new jewelry, it does give me something to put on the blog.
Gifts for Christmas are buzzing around in my head. There is another necklace being restrung on the beading desk. It was strung and ready for the clasp when I looked at it and decided I didn't really like it. It is more neutral colors. I have one half of it restrung.
The 'Web of Silver' bangle bracelets are fun and so easy to do. I think I posted photos of them before. Anyway, there are two of those awaiting the finishing touches.


We found two bead shops that were closing due to retirement of the owners. One in Pueblo, Co. and the other in Door County, WI. One place the sale was 40% off and the latter was 50% off. So I added to my supply of teeny, tiny seed beads and also found some crystal. I have lot of different type beads. Now all I need is time and inspiration. ;-D

Precious Memories

These items are precious for various reasons. The top left, middle, and bottom left have to do with Rainbow for girls. The ribbon was presented with the certificate for the Grand Cross of Color. The two pins on the ribbon and the large pin in the middle were probably purchased at the Grand Assembly meetings.

The Kansas pin is from Kansas Girls State which I attended the summer between my junior and senior years in high school. It was held on the campus at Kansas University. I learned a lot about how government at every level works. It was a very good experience for me.

The middle right pin and the two bottom pins were purchased when Tony and I went to the Ukraine to work with orphan children in summer camp. I will write about that at a later date. I love the pins and brought a dozen or so back to give to the people who supported my trips.

Order of Eastern Star and Order of Rainbow for Girls

One photo is of Worthy Advisor Rhonda and Mother Advisor BJ. The other photo is Kathy, Rhonda, BJ and Patti.

I joined Eastern Star when Patti and Tony were pretty small. I needed a night out a couple times a month to keep my sanity.

Eastern Star is an organization supported by the Masonic Organization. I needed to have a member of my family to be a Mason. All three of my brothers belonged to the organization. So I was able to use one of them so I could be acccepted in the organization. I was a "Star Point" one year and was Adah. The next year the five of us who were "Star Points" were hostesses. For the first, we wore matching white dresses. For the latter we wore matching dresses of gold color. The second time we were hostesses, we wore matching blue dresses. I enjoyed being part of this organization for a number of years.

The Order of Rainbow for Girls is also supported by the Masonic order and also by the Order of Eastern Star. Rainbow girls range in age from 14 to 20, at which time they "age out" and can no longer be officers in the local chapter.

Rainbow is for the girls and run by the girls with a board of adults (Masons or Eastern Star members) who "oversee" things. The girls elect officers to lead the organization and also some are appointed positions.

Patti joined when she was 14 and was active all through high school. It was so interesting seeing the girls grow and learn and become poised leaders. Some even learned that they couldn't wear colored panties under their white dresses!!

I served on the Rainbow board for several years. The only thing I didn't like about the board meetings we had was that people wanted to chat and not get down to business. I always wanted the business out of the way before the visiting began! Sometimes it happened; sometimes it didn't.

Each year the girls had service projects chosen by the Worthy Advisor. They held fund raisers to help pay for things needed for the service projects. I especially remember one spaghetti dinner that I helped with. Somehow we got it way too salty. So we added sugar to tone down the saltiness! It turned out okay!

Two adults served as either Mother Advisor or Associate Mother Advisor. They were part of the advisory board. Many of the girls formed lasting friendships.

Several years later, the Mother Advisor was relieved of her duties while attending the annual convention (for lack of a better word). The following week several of us were invited to a meeting to decide how to proceed through the next months until time for a new Mother Advisor to take over.

Patti, Lisa (my daughter-in-law) and I volunteered to do whatever we could to help out. Patti ended up being musician (she had also done this when she was an active member). Lisa became the Associate Mother Advisor and I became Mother Advisor. We did every thing we could to keep things running.

The girls loved the previous Mother Advisor who could no longer be part of the group. They were angry and upset and didn't want anyone else. So they made it extremely difficult.

Lisa and Tony moved to Wichita during this time. She told me she would have resigned if they hadn't moved.

I think it was probably October when I submitted my resignation. The regional "big wig" (since I don't remember the correct title) was a dear friend. She would not accept my resignation. She said it was ok if I chose not to return to the meetings and that is what I did.

Lisa, Patti and I thought it was important to help the organization continue. I'm not sure whether anything positive came out of this. It was very discouraging and very difficult. I hated being a quitter but it was anything but a positive experience for me during those months in 1985.

One of the nicest things that happened to me is when I was voted to receive the Grand Cross of Color. If I recall, the girls voted on whom they wanted to have the honor. It is an award given to girls or adults who have worked for the good of the order.

Jewelry Again

The top bracelet is the second bangle brace I made after my class. The second bracelet is a bronze Czech Fire Polished beads made into a sidewinder bracelet. The third photo shows the "treasures" I bought at a going on out business sale in Pueblo, CO. The owners were retiring. the bottom bracelet is made of pale green "river" beads found at the sale. I made this bracelet for Leslie while we were in Colorado.

Adventures in Cooking

As a young bride, I knew how to boil water and make meatloaf. I could probably bake a chocolate cake from scratch. That's about the extent of my cooking ability.

I made biscuits one time. They were terrible and hard as rocks! We threw one outside and the neighbor's dog wouldn't even eat it. :-(

I know there are many "never fail" recipes out there. I also know I won't ever try one of those recipes again! I tried a never fail rye bread recipe. Guess what!? Yep, it failed!

Mom gave me many of her tried and true recipes and some from her sisters. A neighbor made yummy pecan pie and I have that recipe. I also had a couple recipe books. Even with all this, I still had some crazy adventures in cooking!

I'm sure you have heard the expression, "burned to a crisp." Well, I can testify to that fact because it happened to me. I put a pot roast on the stove, seared it on both sides. Then we left for church. Halfway through the church service, I wondered if I had lowered the heat after searing the meat. I could not remember. When we returned home from church and opened the door - we were greeted by smoke! The three-and-a-half pound roast was reduced to ashes and one piece - a cinder about 1"x1"! Oh, my!

Another time I fixed baked beans for a Sunday evening supper. The beans were actually ok. The adventure came when I was carrying the dish from the stove to the table. Evidently my bare hand touched the hot dish and I reacted - I just threw the dish straight up! There were beans on the curtains, the floor and the ceiling! The dish landed rightside up with enough beans for supper. When Chuck came upstairs he viewed the wreckage and asked, "Are you redecorating?"

My Mother made wonderful cinnamon rolls; however her recipe left a lot to be desired - a pinch of this and a bit of that. These directions did not translate into wonderful cinnamon rolls in our home!

There are successes to my adventures in cooking. They aren't nearly as funny but they tasted better! I made carmel candy at Christmastime for many years. The kids help cut and wrap the carmels. The Open Line cookbooks (from a local radio station) had a number of fudge recipes that were good - chocolate marshmallow fudge and brown suger fudge. Yum! Those recipe books had many good recipes in them, shared by listeners to the radio station. Texas sheet cake with cooked brown sugar frosting became a favorite of mine. Lemon bars from a neighbor's recipe were really good. None of the successes came from "never fail" recipes!

We perfected a tasty pizza sauce and made good pizzas from scratch. It took several months to perfect the sauce. We found the secret ingredient was a little sugar in the sauce brought out the flavor.

The kids loved to help with filled cupcakes - ala Twinkies. They would put too much filling in the cupcake and cause it to blow apart. They thought that was great fun - and loved eating them. The probably have cooking adventures of their own that they could share! ;-o

More Jewelry (2)

The top left photo is of two of the six-strand necklaces I've made. The top right photo has a dark bracelet done in peyote stitch and a Russian spiral bracelet that Patti liked. The middle photo shows the focal beads I used for four different bracelets plus the red and black bracelet. The bottom photo has the same red and black bracelet (I forgot I'd already taken a photo of it.) The two other bracelets were made with new beads with the exception of the focal bead in each one. These focal beads were left over from a lovely necklace and bracelet set I made for myself.
Making jewelry is such fun because I always get the first of any project!!!!!

The bottom three of these bracelets were made with the focal bead from a set of beads (in the front) that Don's daughter Leslie gave me. The focal bead on the pink and green set is one left over from a necklace and earrings set I made for myself. Often it is hard to decide what to do with one lonely bead. This was an excellent idea because all four bracelets were made with beads I had in my bead stash! They were fun to make, and especially because I had everything on hand!