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Charlie watching me and trying to convince me to go play ball a little earlier than usual.

Hi! So much has been going on and so many weeks have gone by without an update from me and well, I felt I should get to it!

We've relocated again... well, technically, we are still in the middle of the transition because our house has yet to sell in Fayetteville. We had a good offer from an eccentric woman who wanted to include a lot of our personal property in the deal. The deal fell through about a week before we were to meet the movers to pack up our stuff... it sucked, but also was kind of a relief because the woman kept changing her mind and trying to change the terms of the contract... apparently, she did similar things to another family before us and the last I heard, she was onto another family. I hope she finds what she is looking for. 

So, we are currently waiting for another offer... the winter didn't help,what with the winter weather warnings and what-not. Life seems to stop in NWA whenever any winter weather is predicted for the area, so the weeks have been dragging by. Anyway, with a bit of luck and some actual spring-like weather, we should have another offer soon. We put in a contract for a house here when we had agreed on the first contract with our house. The sellers here have been amazing and patient while we wait for another offer. The house isn't all that I wanted, but once again, majority rules and that is the house the husband and kids wanted. At this point, I'm over my disappointment about not getting the house that I wanted and am just anxious to get moved and settled.

We are in the Memphis area now, living in a town called Collierville. It's been a big change from the paradise of the quiet country! We like that the winter was more mild than NWA, it still isn't Florida-like, but we do enjoy it. The people are a lot friendlier, the shopping is better, and it's closer to both sets of parents. My husband likes his new job a lot and doesn't have any complaints, which is a nice change from the old job.

We adopted a dog, Sage, last February, and she has issues. We were managing those issues, overcame a few, but we had no idea how big those issues could become until we made the move. She hates change! She can't handle it. Any change needs to be in little increments. She is also very high energy. We could handle that as our property was huge and we enjoyed being out there with the dogs. Now, we are in a little rental in a crowded neighborhood where people come and go all of the time and make a lot of noise and sure don't seem to mind annoying their neighbors :-( I hate it!

Anyway, you do what you have to do to keep your pets with you when you move. We rented a house that is about a third the size of what we are used to because it was one of three rentals available for short-term (ie six month lease or less) as well as allowing dogs and cats without breed restrictions (we have two pit bulls)... so we have been going a little crazy. We actually ended up putting Sage on Prozac on the advice of the vet. In spite of exercising her like usual, training, vitamins, Thundershirt, homeopathic solutions, etc, she was starting to take her fear and anxiety out on our other dogs. If she is to stay with our family, she had to be medicated because I was scared she was going to end up biting one of the kids. Thankfully, the vet didn't err on the side of over-medicating her and turning her into a zombie... instead, she is back to being the happy puppy (she'll be 2 years old at the end of April) that she used to be. :-)

Magnolia blooming on a rainy day.

This spring, instead of hearing the frogs come out of hibernation we get to hear the neighborhood mechanics take their motorcycles out of hibernation. That means listening to the loud, rumbling engines all day... they stop at sundown, but the rumblings begin at 5.45am... We've been here almost 6 months and we've learned to tune out the airplanes and trains and police sirens. I haven't yet learned to tune out the tow truck driver's "beep, beep, beeping" whenever he backs out of his driveway nor have I learned to tune out the little kids screaming their asses off after school. Hopefully, we aren't here long enough to get used to it.

In the meantime, we've continued our homeschooling and I've continued my beading. I've started playing around with bead embroidery and I've also played around with peyote stitched stars. I will post pictures in a future post... playing catch up, so to speak.

I look forward to getting back into the groove of my blog and hopefully blogging at least once a week. I want to try offering a free bead weaving pattern once a month, but haven't decided how to do it. Should I just post the picture of the pattern and have the reader just print the page? Or ask the reader to post a comment and include their email address and then I send them the pattern via email? Any ideas would be appreciated.

Wordless Wednesday 11-7-2012

4-18-2012 More - What I've Been Up To on the Beading Table

Here's another update about what I've been doing... I have a few that still need photos, but hopefully I will get to that soon. Anyway, here we go!

I made this Colorful Cats cuff for my friend, Pam. I added a beaded edging to take it up a notch and am glad I did this as I think it gives it a little extra oomph.

The following cuffs are not total re-do's, I just switched out the toggle for a more suitable button. Also, hoping to give them an extra oomph.

Like I said, I still have photos to take of more recent work. I've also added to the number of patterns I have listed in my Zibbet shop. I have more items in the works, a couple of experiments and gifts and I need to make some more of my Paw Print cuffs for my shop. I'd also like to get a couple of my Pit Bull Cuffs made up to have on hand for rescue groups and silent auctions. So, I am keeping busy and I hope to learn a few more techniques this year and do a bit more experimenting.

4-4-12 What I've Been Beading

I can't believe it's been so long since I have updated my blog!! I've thought about it, but haven't actually made it here til now. I've been beading and training the wild child, Sage, for life in our house and of course homeschooling and managing the kids. This is the first day of our spring break.... the public school had their's a couple of weeks ago, but it was also the same time we had a bunch of rain so I postponed it. The kids just took their skills test (yesterday) and I figured it was a great time for all of us to have our break.... I think I needed it more than they did. Whew!

So, anyway, I have been beading... for friends (like the cuffs above), for my shop, for donating, and now for myself. I have also updated both of my shop listings and they are coming along quite nicely. Here are the pictures...


My fascination with beaded ropes continues.... the above was made with Czech seed beads in a spiral weave chain with copper finished chain and ribbon. I like it a lot and need to make one for myself... in fact, I've already ordered the beads.


Here are two versions of my loomed Sugar Skulls Cuff. I completed this for a Facebook group I am in called Bead Looming Intervention. I used the warp management technique taught by Erin, the group's creator. I like the pattern on the right the best, but the bead edging on the ribbon crimps on the left for finishing it up.


Here are two cuffs that I donated to The Cats House On the Kings and their silent auction. I love being able to help organizations like this! One of these days I will learn to make some ahead of time, before they are needed, in order to always have some on hand. I do like to be prepared in case I can help out.


This is my first attempt at bead embroidery on a bracelet or cuff. I think it came out pretty good, I love the mirrors on it, although when wearing it, I'll have to remember to check that the mirrors stay clean. I look forward to doing more bead embroidery in the future.


And here is another spiral beaded rope... this time using some large shell focals. Considering the colors I used in both of these beaded ropes, I guess it's not hard to figure out that I am missing the ocean... a lot!

And I have more pictures to share of what I've been up to... another day :-)

Wordless Wednesday 2-22-2012

Busy and Not Very Beady Motivated 2-9-2012

Hi! Life sure has been busy in the Ahleman household... we've got a new foster after having a little over a week off from getting Hootie adopted. This time - and for the very first time, I might ad - we are taking care of a little chihuahua. She is adorable, about 6 months old, 4.9 lbs and her name is Twinkie. She's been in the shelter pretty much since birth, she and her littermates ended up with Parvo and she is the only one who survived. She's gone between the shelter to the shelter manager's house and now our house. She was a bit scared on the drive and a bit timid the first couple of days but she's getting confident and we are seeing more and more of her wonderful personality. I have to admit, I was both scared and excited to foster her. Excited because she is so cute and who wouldn't want a little dog that could fit into a purse? Scared because we have 2 big dogs (almost 80lbs) and they get excited - especially Apple, she loves little dogs but doesn't know how to play calmly with them. But Twinkie is doing well and our 2 dogs are doing very well with taking it easy with her.

Charlie is happy to resume his nanny duties with Twinkie and I think in a few more days he will have her playing chase with him - they've already started a little bit of tug of war (he lets her win and just stands in one place) and she's having fun stealing his toys. She plays a lot more than I had expected and she doesn't care if its a big toy or a little toy... she likes them all. Charlie doesn't mind sleeping with her and even lets her sleep on top of him on his couch. At night, Twinkie sleeps in her crate (Yay! She was already crate trained by the manager at the shelter) and doesn't cry. That's a big plus because I would be scared of her sleeping on the bed with anyone but my daughter. Why my daughter? Because once she falls asleep, she doesn't move! She isn't a crazy tosser and turner and she doesn't sleep so deeply like the guys that she isn't easily woken up if something is going on.

She's still barking at the cats, but they are a bit sneaky and unpredictable, but it's nice to see that the cats are not nervous around her. She is also now feeling confident with exploring the house and that has helped with her barking - at first she would bark at noises and her reflection in the window. Now she only barks at sirens on television and the cats. She does talk a bit... it's something inbetween a growl and rolling her tongue - it's very cute!

So, she's 6 months old, she's teething and will be getting her adult teeth in, she's recently spayed and up to date on shots. Again, the shelter we are helping out is the Madison County Pet Shelter and the adoption fee is $65. We are looking for someone with another dog who's calm and well-balanced to continue Twinkie's development into a well-rounded dog. She is both paper trained and will potty outside (we are working on getting her totally outside potty trained, but so far she doesn't like going outside at night - can't say I blame her as on some nights, the coyotes are very loud.) We've got her on a schedule for feedings and this helps out with her potty training. She has the potential to become possessive but we've been good about rotating people with her here in the house and we've taken her for rides to get used to the car and to get used to being out with other people.

Anyway, she's a ton of fun and a lot of people have already commented that she looks like she has found her forever home already. I don't know about that, LOL, but I am definitely going to take my time finding her a forever home. I'd love it if a family member were to adopt her rather than a stranger, but who knows.

Hootie update! I've heard from Hootie's family and he is doing great!!! That is so nice to hear! Hootie's new name is Achilles and he still fits the sweater Danni made for him :-)

Fostering 1-26-2012

Sorry I've been so slow with updating my blog... I have a good excuse... actually a few :-) We've been fostering some dogs... 1 adult dog and 3 puppies since the last week of December. The nice thing is that, aside from the fun we've had with all of them, we've found them all homes too. We are working with a small shelter in the next county that is filled to the rim with dogs and cats. Their county is very rural and they are the only shelter. It's called Madison County Pet Shelter and they are about an hour away from us. We first became aware of them when we saw their group having an adoption event at a local store. After speaking with them, well, I hadn't been able to get them out of my head. It was clear they needed more volunteers and foster families.

Well, not only are we helping them out with fostering, we are networking and I hope we can teach some of the other volunteers how to harness the power of the internet (especially FB) and network these pets to get them adopted. This area isn't exactly on the cutting edge of the internet. There are so many stores and restaurants that don't even have a website - it's rather crazy, especially coming from an area where everyone has a website! Anyway, they have a couple of their pets posted on petfinder and only a handful on their FB page, and I find that sadly lacking. We've even participated in one of their adoption events, which I didn't think I would like, but turned out to enjoy. So my family and I are doing our part and hopefully even if we do this for only a short time, we make an impact. I mention that we may only do this for a short time because the last puppy we fostered, we really started getting attached to and it was very sad to see him go even though his new family loves him a lot. And even harder than how we feel is to see my dog, Charlie, pouting and moping around because he misses the little guy. Charlie is really a good dad and has had a good time playing with and teaching these puppies. Anyway, here are some pictures.....

This is Lola, she's a Corgi/Chihuahua mix between 2-3 years old. She's a lovely little girl, she'd been at the shelter for 4 months (brought in with another dog, listed as found) and was clearly eager to get out of there. She was spayed the day after we took her home, we took care of her during her recovery and got to know her. We found her a family with 2 kids, a dad and a grandma, so someone was home with her all day. She was with us for 2 weeks.



These two little guys are the Italian Brothers... Mario and Luigi! They are Dachshund/Lab mixes (best guess) that were found in a ditch. They are adorable and we had a good time with them. They were adopted quite quickly and their families are enjoying them a lot! They were with us less than a week!


This is Hootie... he's a 12 week old English Pointer/Lab mix and is incredibly smart. We had him for about 2.5 weeks and in that time he learned to sit and lay down, learned the word "no" and was doing well with learning bite inhibition. He was also doing great with potty training and rarely had an accident. Crate training was the hard part, he didn't like it. But with perserverence and the right rewards for him and after 9 days, he would sleep peacefully in his crate all night long. The rewards he required were a big raw hide bone and a big stuffed monkey to sleep with, other toys and a kong filled with peanut butter didn't appeal to him at all. Oh and a loud ticking clock on the top of his crate also helped... now that he has been in his new home for 2 nights, I think I need the ticking clock to help me sleep at night LOL. Anyway, Charlie and Apple both loved him and had a lot of fun playing with him. Charlie really took to him right away and was doing a good job playing with him and watching over him.


So, now that Hootie has been adopted, we'll be going back to the shelter this weekend and hopefully finding another dog or puppy that will fit in our household while we try to find him/her a home. We are trying to be smart and only bringing home puppies or dogs that we know get along with other dogs and cats.... Our cats liked Lola, didn't like the Italian Brothers, and liked Hootie... I would foster cats, but I have a proven history of bonding with them, cats take longer to adjust to new environments, and my daughter is proving to be a bonafide cat lady.

Closing

Well, I've decided to close my Artfire shops. I have noticed a significant lack of traffic to the site and have not seen any advertising by Artfire - just individuals doing to the promoting and whatnot to drive traffic to the site. It's disappointing, but what broke the camel's back was the new assurance program and the rude and disrespectful manner in which it has been handled by the Artfire staff, namely Tony.

So, my 3PeepsDesigns shop is open until Jan 10th and you have a chance to save a significant amount of money on my beaded jewelry and keepsakes! I lowered the prices a little bit on most items at the beginning of the year and now I am adding to that 25% off storewide!!!

My 3PeepsDesignsToo pattern shop will stay open until Jan 31st. So I am offering a Buy One Get One Free (pattern of your choice) until my shop closes!

After they close, I hope to have a new venue set up to sell my wares. If you have any suggestions, I sure would love to hear them.

December 2011 Creations

Well, I thought I should do a post of what I've been up to creatively.... it's been a busy month, but I am happy to say that I finished up a couple of things and did a couple of new items. Most will end up in my shop, two were for my kids. I have a couple of works-in-progress that I will include in another post. I hope to finish them before the new year... but that will depend on the new foster we brought home this past Tuesday.... Miss Lola :-) She's a cute little corgi mix and she is looking for a forever home. I will also blog about her another day.

I did this on in my favorite shade of green... I like to call it Spring Green or Synergy Green :-) The pattern is available in my 2nd Artfire shop; 3PeepsDesignsToo.

I needed to make another one of these for my Artfire shop. I simply love this bracelet and need to make one for myself... perhaps with fuschia colored lips. And I should make one for my daughter too. You can buy the pattern at my 2nd Artfire shop; 3PeepsDesignsToo.

I did this for my daughter, Danni. She has a pair of cowgirl boots from her aunt and uncle that she wears everywhere and when I saw this pattern, I instantly fell in love and thought this would be perfect for her. She really likes it ;-) This pattern is one of Candys S. McCulley's creations, you can purchase the pattern at her online shop Bead of My Heart.

I drew this up for my son, Eddie. He had mentioned that he named his bedroom the monkey Lounge (Lord only knows what he and one of the dogs and cats do when they go to sleep at night) and so I thought I would paint up a sign for him instead of making him jewelry for Christmas. I used two of his favorite colors and he loves it!

I wanted a more neutral color for my beaded paw prints on leather... I think this came out great and I have plans for one in brown and gold... soon ;-)


This one was done in November and I love the hot pink and black and white paw prints :-) Soon to be listed in my shop.

This one was also completed in November and will appear in my shop soon. It would be great for a Georgia Bulldogs fan :-0

F.Y.I. There are new changes coming to Artfire and I don't particularly like the proposed changes as of today. I may be shutting down both of my Artfire shops and heading for other venues. I have a lot of research to do.

Just in case you are curious about what we do for Betty and the pups every day....

It's Dec. 16, 2011 and we have been done with our part of taking care of Betty and her puppies - another volunteer stepped up to help and we are on the back burner in case our help is needed again. I can't say I'm that upset, I don't mind not spending 2 hours in the car every day going back and forth. And I also don't mind because we realized we are still hooked on Fiona and while this is fun, we would rather have her back in our household.

Anyway, this is from a note I posted on Facebook on Dec. 8, 2011 so that our friends and family could step into our shoes and see what we have been up to.

Well, taking care of Betty and the pups is a big job, as I am sure you can all imagine. We stepped in and volunteered to help when we heard she was going to be taken to a kill shelter in a city with a breed ban. We originally volunteered our garage - not perfect by any means but it was a place to bring her to until we could figure something better out and learn more about her and the pups. Then luckily the other foster, Ashley and her family, talked her father into letting us use an empty rental property. So, each day we drive 25 minutes across town (Fayetteville seriously needs an East to West bypass) to see Betty and the pups. Ashley goes to visit Betty 3 times a day as she lives closer. And FYI, Ashley already fosters 3 dogs at her home for the Humane Society and works every day and has a cute little toddler and the support of her husband. We don't currently foster, but have 2 dogs and 3 cats, homeschool, online business, Jay works and manages to come in some days of the week and then weekends. Add to that the stress of the holidays and winter arriving and it can be pretty chaotic. Meanwhile, the mastermind behind the rescue, Pit Bull Ambassador of Northwest Arkansas, spends her day working and taking care of her family and networking the rescue and the immediate needs of Betty and her pups. She squeezes in phone calls and meet-ups in between her daily activities. And then we all try to update our FB profiles with Betty's progress and the pups. I am sure there is a lot that I am leaving out, but I'm trying to squeeze this note in between a few errands and stuff.

So, when we get to Betty's house, we take her out first thing and she goes potty. She is doing really good in the house and hasn't had any accidents now that she is eating regularly. She is always happy to see us and we are always happy to see her. We give her her medicine and that includes some vitamins that she likes to spit out. So we have to watch her closely to make sure she swallows them. After Betty is taken care of we focus on changing the bedding if its needed and then once Betty lays down, we give the 3 littlest ones first dibs. Now that they are more active and bigger, it's becoming more of a challenge. We are waiting for Betty to show signs that she is getting tired of feeding them, but so far she is doing well. While the puppies nurse, we hang out with Betty and change the other half of the bedding. Once she puts her head down to sleep, then we collect our garbage and leave so that she can sleep. It's another 25 minutes home... we make any pit stops for errands if needed then. Then in around 4 hours, we do it all again.

We were taking turns bringing laundry home to wash, but thankfully we got a volunteer for that and it's a big help! In the beginning we brought in wet wipes for cleaning, wet wipes for sanitizing our hands before touching the puppies, and baby wipes for cleaning Betty up. We also brought in some towels and bedding and puppy food, both wet and dry. Then, thankfully volunteers provided more dry and wet food and more bedding and towels. Whatever doesn't get used for Betty and the pups will be taken back to the rescue and used for whatever dogs come next. I can't stress enough how thankful I am to the volunteers, the donations, and the networking that everyone is doing. It is simply fantiastic!

When we get home in the evenings, well, we hang out with our pets and do whatever needs doing, chores, laundry, cooking, cleaning, etc. I network as much as I can and pretty much put my online shops on hold... as in I haven't networked for them nor have I created anything new for them. Of course with the holidays here, we have also been trying to get stuff done for that.... the cards are all done, thank goodness. And we've got most of our shopping done. Now we just have to wrap everything, box them up, and get them to the post office in time :-)

So, time for me to close this note and go take care of a few items on my to-do list before heading back over.