Seismic Twitch

What can I say? I rock.

I’m driving a manual transmission car. That’s not the firsts though. I knew how to drive one before this but I’ve gotten much, much, much more practice shifting than I ever figured I would. Bran can’t drive for another 3 weeks so I’m primary chauffeur. I’ve driven to and from the hospital, to and from work, to and from stores, to and from Boy’s work and to and from the highway where Costco is. That’s more driving than I think I’ve done in the past 10 years.

Today was the Costco run. Bran and I went to get some fruit and other essentials that we were running out of or didn’t have to begin with. One was white poultry meat. Another was some kind of spice that doesn’t have salt. Mrs. Dash was the only one of many. The rest had salt as either the primary ingredient, or listed in the top 5. Really, even lemon pepper had salt first.

We got fruit, lots of apples, oranges and grapefruit. The oranges are the delicious little zipper skins (Satsuma or Japanese oranges depending on where they’re grown). The grapefruit are the lovely sweet red ones. Red grapefruit are the sweetest of the varieties. Ruby Red is the best. We eat them like oranges but I don’t eat the hard section skin and avoid the white as it’s mega bitter. The apples, well they’re Gala and Bran likes them. Since he’s the apple eater, he gets to pick.

We also got salad fixings, cucumber, and vine ripened tomatoes. Toast and tomato for breakfast!

We looked at the salad dressings, but they didn’t have anything suitable (or frankly, appetizing in appearance) for us. I’ll be making a light oil and balsamic vinegar dressing for the salad…something good and simple.

I’m never going to make a judgment on a person who doesn’t help their spouse carry heavy things. Bran isn’t supposed to lift anything over 5 pounds and not with his right hand (that’s the hand they did the second angioplasty and stent insertion). Since it was to Costco you know that there was nothing in the cart that weighed under 5 pounds. I had to carry everything in and put it away.

So now I’m sautéing up three breasts (one for each of us – Boy will have leftovers when he gets home), the salad is ready (love the premixes, in this case bibb lettuces and spring mix) and leftover baby potatoes that can be nuked. The chicken is spiced with Mrs. Dash and paprika and sautéed in about 1 tsp of oil and a tablespoon or two of lemon juice. It smells lovely.

Later tonight I’ll package up the rest of the meat so that it doesn’t go to waste.

I don’t like driving. I don’t know if I ever told anyone here, but I don’t. That’s why this is such a difficult month for me. I mean, it’s hard on Bran the most, but it’s hard on all of us in our very own ways. Think about being phobic and not wanting to leave the house, add onto that an activity that is undesirable in a car that doesn’t have an automatic transmission and it’s an arduous time. Happily I’ve not braved parallel parking in it.

Work was ok. I spent a lot of time going through the wire working magazines I got. Two are paper, the other 4 are on disc. There are lots of wonderful ideas for making jewelry that I can hardly wait to try out. However, because Rings & Things shipped me the wrong wire I have to go to Michael’s to get some at retail cost. Ouch. I repacked it up in the original box and sent it back to them at their cost. It’s only fair. I’ll be jiggered (whatever that is) if I’m going to pay for shipping more than once, especially for their error.

I was hoping to have a few weeks of practice before I started milling out the stuff for the Spirit Moves Us: Pagan Crafters Showcase and Sale in late November and CFCR Craftacular on October 29th and 30th. I’m not sure I can do both especially now that I don’t have wire. What a pain! Yeah, cal me a waaaa-mulance, right?

Anyway, supper is ready and it’s time for me to eat. I’m somewhat peckish.

After 10 days in hospital, Bran is home in the loving clutches of his family. We won’t be answering the phone or door all weekend so we can reconnect. He’s on a shit pile of meds, but they’re all going to help him stay alive. I have more thyroid hormone so I’m good. I also have new shower stuff that smells nice (and not like a fruit salad).

This has been a hard week and a half. Now we all take time to heal.

There’s been both nothing to write and so much change in the past while since my last posting. After being moved to the cardiac ward above ground, Bran has improved dramatically. His spirits lifted with the ability to go for a walk. He now has a little bag that holds a monitor which transmits his heart information over air waves. He goes for short walks, generally 2-3 troops around the ward. This has helped his blood sugar control, his blood pressure, not to mention his morale.

He hasn’t had the second stent put in yet. They planned it for today and had him fasting in the morning, but something (probably an emergency procedure) pushed him off the schedule. We’re hoping for tomorrow. He was feeling somewhat low tonight so I texted him offering him a sugar free cake with a file baked in it. At any rate, hopefully tomorrow will be the magic stent insertion. That would mean if all went well, he’d be coming home on Saturday.

They’re still trying to poison Bran. Night before last, for supper, they gave him (a diabetic) sweet and sour chicken on white rice. Yeah. The nurse hunted down a meal that Bran could eat without sending him into a diabetic coma. He got cream of wheat again as well. What is wrong with these people?! They’re supposed to know what the fuck they’re doing and yet they make such frequent mistakes I have to wonder who’s running the show. A friend of ours is in another hospital in town. She has a severe wheat allergy. She got cream of wheat too. I guess it’s their way of cleaning out patients. Kill them.

I have a bit of a full day tomorrow. I have to pick up a package from the post depot. Then I have to get a script filled and request the pharmacist fill one of Bran’s. Then it’s off to the university to have the department head sign my withdrawal letter. Then off to visit Bran…unless he’s downstairs having the stent put in. If he is then I might just go home, leaving Boy there, and get more sleep.

I’ve not mentioned Boy much in all this. He’s been exceptional. Not that it’s unusual for him to be so, but even more than the usual exceptional-ness. He’s gone to visit his Dad on his own, is cooking for himself because I’m not home to do so, and is generally helping out a whole lot which reduces my stress levels considerably. He’s been the joy of joys of my life. He’s also helped me hold myself together. It distresses him to see me distressed and he does his level best to ease things for me. I couldn’t have asked for a better son.

Today I went to training at the CSC training centre. It was presented by two police officers (one from Saskatoon, one from RCMP in Regina) and one CSC analyst. It was all about organized crime and street gangs in Saskatchewan. It was an extremely interesting presentation by three very intelligent and savvy men. Saskatchewan has it’s share of the well known gangs like Hell’s Angels, but vastly outnumbering them in membership is the Aboriginal gangs like Native Syndicate, Indian Posse, former Crips now Cash Boyz, and Terror Squad. Some of the gang members, some rather high ranking members, have come through the centre for urinalysis or as part of their reporting requirements. We’ve never had trouble with them, but the potential issues are rather scary. We never house known and active gang members at the house…thank goodness, but we don’t have control over who comes on for extra reporting requirements.

Anyway, after that it was my regular shift. Thank goodness everyone was in a good mood. One guy is going to find out the hard way next time I’m on evenings that doing his laundry in the evening means getting it done before 11, not ignoring it and then “remembering” that it needs to be dried for the next day. It’s all about responsibility. He’s always trying to get away with short cuts and special exemptions. Tonight I was just too tired to care. I won’t be so forgiving next time.

In a few weeks I’ll be going to a “Creating Choices” thing at Wanaskewin. This one will be focusing on women prisoners somehow. If you google Creating Choices you’ll encounter a document created by CSC (Correctional Services of Canada) in response to the scathing Arbour Commission Report (that you can also google) about “certain incidents” at Prison for Women at Kingston Penitentiary (aka P4W). Of course, being a large bureaucracy they’re very adept at making it look like they’re making progress in terms of positive change without actually doing anything. Canada went from having a central prison for women to having 5 prisons for women as well as healing lodges (low security prisons for Aboriginal female prisoners that should be focusing on Aboriginal traditions and healing). The healing lodges are all on reserves.

Anyway, I hope it’s as interesting as today’s stuff was.

I’ve decided, after talking it over with Bran, and much thought and consideration (redundancy can be fun too), to withdraw from the graduate studies program. After Dad died it became somewhat pointless and now with Bran becoming sick it’s just one more pressure on me to try and deal with.

I was going to take a year off to consider my options, but the requirements to get that year off are far too intrusive on my privacy to even consider. As someone who’s been on welfare and had that department’s nose in my life, I have no wish to have another bureaucrat decide things for me. So I’m going to print up the withdrawal letter tonight, get the department head to sign it and turn it into the grad studies people and be done with it. Maybe I’ll regret it and try again at a later date, but somehow I doubt I’ll want to.

Now I’m home after 16 hours of work. I’m trying to wind down but it’s not working very well. I guess I’m over stimulated or something. I’d love to have a cup of coffee right now but that would screw with my sleep and it’s stupid enough right now.

He’s been moved from CCU to a regular ward. I’m enormously relieved. He’ll be there until they do another angiogram and insert another stent. Then he’ll be back in CCU as they monitor his heart after that surgery. If all goes well he’ll be out by next weekend, maybe early the week after. I hope for the sooner than later.

He’s got some irony happening there. They’re monitoring his blood sugars because they aren’t coming down. However, they’re not feeding him right. Get this, instead of using low fat mayo for a ham salad they used orange juice (Hello! Sugar!). He gets a couple slices of regular whole wheat bread. (Hello! Carbs! Sugar!). I’ll be taking him slices of our whole grain bread so that he can eat that instead. Not only is it lower in overall carbohydrates, they’re slow carbs (less quickly converted into sugars). I’ll also be taking him nuts and some apples. Another reason his sugars aren’t coming down is he can’t do much physically. The farthest he’s been allowed to walk is to his commode (I have to tell you about this one, it’s great!) so he’s not burning any of the sugars his body makes. He also can’t take his metformin because it interacts with the dyes used in the angiogram so they’re trying to control things with insulin.

When he gets out he’ll be doing small increments of exercise, building up to 60 minute walks each day. He was told to walk on level ground. We had a good laugh at that considering we live on a hill. No matter which way he goes he’s going to have to talk up a hill. The only major dietary change will be having to watch fat intake. That’s easy enough to do when one is cooking for oneself. Of course, trips to KFC and A&W are going to have to disappear for the most part.

While we were there I gave him a back and neck massage. He was complaining of a headache at the back of his head so I worked on his upper and middle back as well as his neck and scalp muscles. While it didn’t get rid of all the headache, it helped reduce it. Not long after that he was sleepy and wanted a nap so Boy and I left.

From the hospital Boy and I went to Go 4 Sushi (a rather unfortunate name for a sushi place on the prairies – with lots of gophers). It was expensive, $25 each, but it was tasty. It has the same or similar quality as Nagoya, but Nagoya costs a bit less and has a wider variety of choices of every type of sushi. They also have a buffet we could have eaten from. I didn’t see that until we were nearly done eating. Again, if I’m going to do a buffet I’ll go to Great Buffet for the same reasons as doing sushi at Nagoya…cheaper and wider variety.

Then we drove home. I’m getting better at driving the car. When Boy and I first got in the car getting into first gear was a trial by whiplash. By the time we were on our way home my shifts out of first were much smoother. Now I have to learn how to not roll backwards from a stop on a hill when I’m shifting into first.

That’s another change…Bran isn’t allowed to drive for four weeks after he gets out of hospital. That means that I’ll be doing all the driving to everywhere. I’m going to get a lot of practice. It makes me wish we had a car with an automatic transmission. I’ll also be using Boy to do laundry. We’ll be doing that next Saturday morning. I’ll also be taking the car to work until Bran gets out of hospital. I need to have the ability to leave work quickly if the need comes up.

That’s the news from here. Thank you for all your good thoughts, prayers and the like. Bran appreciates them (yes, I told him) and is heartened by all the care…as am I.

Bran is doing better. He’s off iv fluids though they still have an iv catheter in his hand (just in case). His blood pressure and such are good. His paracardium is inflamed causing him some discomfort, but that’s apparently not too uncommon when the heart has been aggravated. He’s in good spirits so that’s good.

He’ll have to wear a medic-alert bracelet from now on. We’ll have to take it to a jeweler to get the chain lengthened. They gave him a heart healthy breakfast and lunch. Sadly they weren’t diabetic healthy meals. This means he hasn’t had a whole lot of food today. Hopefully supper will be better for him.

Right now he’s in the CCU in bed 9. He hopes to be transferred to a regular ward but doesn’t know when that’ll happen. Probably not until tomorrow at earliest since they’re not letting him put his legs over the side of the bed yet. Tonight the nurse is going to let him get up and do some stretching. That’s all the physical activity they’re allowing for now.

There’s no word on when he’ll be getting out. The cardiologist will be installing another stent in an artery sometime before they cut him loose. Bran doens’t know when that’s going to get done. It looks like it’s going to be a while though.

We kept our visit short as I was finding myself getting agitated and that was affecting him.

If you’re going to visit him keep in mind that they only allow 2 visitors at a time. I don’t know what the visiting hours are, a quick call will tell you that. Also keep in mind that RUH parking lots are also expensive…usuriously expensive.

I got a call (expected) from one of the RUH cardiologists at 0340 this morning. They did the angiogram. It showed a blockage of an artery. They put a stent in to open up the artery and allow for blood flow to the heart. Bran’s heart slowed down during their procedure and they gave him medication to increase his heart rate. Otherwise, the cardiologist told me, that Bran is doing well. He said that Bran was adament that he call to let me know that he was ok, the procedure is done and he was in the CCU at RUH.

So, if you want to visit him, that’s where he is. I don’t know how long they’re going to hold him there.

Bran, aka Thomas, had a heart attack today. He’s on his way to Royal University Hospital cardiology department (probably already in ER there), transferred from St. Paul’s Hospital where we went at about 9:30. There is some heart damage to the inferior part of his heart (the bottom). They’ve put him on new medications and taken him off one which has a tendency to cause heart problems. He’s also on a nitro patch and morphine for the discomfort he’s feeling.

The RUH cardiology department is going to do an angiogram tonight. They’re supposed to call after it’s done and when he’s settled into a room at the hospital.

I’m holding it together, just. I don’t think I’ll be sleeping much tonight.

Let’s see. The Fringe Festival was a bust so far as selling my jewelry goes. I sold only about 10 pairs of earrings and no bracelets. There were other people there selling earrings made of feathers, glass and plastic who had better sales. Of course their prices were like, $2 a pair and such. I can’t go that low. I can spend upwards of 1/2 hour putting together a single pair of earrings (some of the more complex chandelier earrings take even longer) and use supplies that cost more than a plastic bead would cost. The shoppers wanted cheap stuff. I’m sure they got that. I hope the people who bought my stuff are happy and remain happy for a long while.

Bran was steady in his dedication to selling my stuff. He was out there every day, chatting to people, being all friendly and shit. Definitely stuff I have little tolerance for. Boy would go out and help him set up at times when our friend had to be at work. I’m extremely grateful to both of them for that.

Now I have to rethink my jewelry. People keep telling me my stuff is good and that they like it but it just doesn’t sell. That’s really discouraging. Even when the prices were cut to $10 a pair, $15 for 2 pair and $19 for 3 pair and the bracelets prices were cut from $20 to $10, nothing sold. Even people who wore dangly earrings didn’t even glance at my stuff. I just don’t get it.

One thing I thought of, judging from some of the stuff I heard, is for show sales in person, I’m going to concentrate on making simple birthstone earrings. maybe a few fancy chandeliers but nothing epic. People seemed to like the idea of having their birthstones. I heard this from people looking at the wrapped stone necklaces made by the woman we were sharing a table with. She made out fairly well and people were always more interested in her stuff than mine.

After that, I just don’t know what to do. I know I overpriced my stuff for what people were willing to pay on Etsy. That makes me sad because then my work is undervalued, if that makes sense. Plus I have to pay a shit pile to ship stuff and people don’t want to pay that either. I don’t want to lose money making jewelry. I mean, I love doing it, but I don’t want to be giving it away.

I’m feeling rather discouraged about it right now.

On a brighter, if more painful note, I got two more piercings in my left ear. I now have holes from my lobe nearly to the top of my helix. There are seven holes in total. I might get two more in the helix, I’m not sure. These last two hurt like the dickens!

Today, doing as I’m supposed to do, I went to the drug store to pick up some saline to clean the piercings. Unfortunately I picked up lens solution, not saline solution. I have to return it and get the saline. I feel somewhat stupid about picking that.

The landlords are coming into town on Tuesday so we’ve started trying to get the house less messy. We’re still going through stuff and getting rid of things we don’t want. That always creates mess. I swept up my area and the small foyer of the bedrooms and bathroom. Now to sweep the rest of the house. My back doesn’t like doing that but it has to be done. I’ll continue on and sweep up the kitchen and get the floor washed (at least where there’s obvious stuff on the floor so it looks clean).

I’ve been looking at houses around town. When Dad’s will is completed with probate and the taxes are all filed, his estate will be distributed. Probate shouldn’t take too long as he only had the house for property. When that comes through then Bran and I are going to be looking for a house, probably come next summer. I know it’s pointless to look right now if we won’t actually be looking to buy until next year, but I can’t help it. I want to stop being a tenant so very much. I’m tired of the limited space we have. I’m tired of our stupid kitchen (who puts a 4′ X 5′ island in a kitchen that’s hardly 10′ square?) and not being able to get around in it conveniently. I’m tired of having not storage space and having shit in the bedrooms that should be in a pantry or basement. I’m tired of not being able to do what I want in my own space.

Yeah. I’m a sad and pathetic case.

Well, I’m off to sweep up the kitchen.

Dad’s memorial mass was today at 11 am. It was, as masses go, a good one. I carried the cremains to the front of the church at the beginning of services. My niece, Dad’s oldest grandchild, did one of the readings. My cousin, Julie, did the other reading. Someone I don’t know, my older brother’s boss, did the intercessions. Boy was greatly distressed several times. Bran and I comforted him as best we could.

There was the usual tea after the services where I got to meet people I’d not seen in a long time (cousins I’d not seen since Mom’s funeral – I don’t remember seeing them there but they say they were and I believe them), and others I don’t remember from Adam. Of course, there were those who I’d never met before as they became part of Dad’s life after Mom died.

Other than the funeral home arrangement, there were 4 floral arrangements from family and friends. Bran too photos of them and a photo will be sent to each person along with the thank you cards.

The house was cleaned up yesterday. I vacuumed. I wish the machine was better. The suction didn’t really exist so I ended up having to go over areas I could feel stuff on, but the machine didn’t pick up the first four or five times I passed over it. I also had to pick up bits and pieces of paper (we took outdated books apart for recycling) that were in the carpet. This increase in work load wore out my back. Despite that I did get the dusting done (I don’t think the house had been dusted since before Dad went into hospital). I also cleared off the coffee and end tables of the stuff they had on them, washed up the ceramics (Mom collected Blue Mountain stuff) and put them back out.

My brother, sister and niece worked on getting the food together for the family coming by after the tea and did the other necessary cleaning. Boy and Bran did the powder room off the master bedroom. This was used as a back-up bathroom.

I’m quite looking forward to getting back home. I’m thoroughly peopled out (though my niece, Bran and Boy don’t count in that). My sister, her husband and my brother all smoke, so both my and Boy’s allergies are playing up. That doesn’t even get into the smell.

I may not like my brother-in-law much, but he has done a lot of work in a short period of time to do some of the cosmetic stuff that needs to be done to the house. He got the bathtub area done up so it doesn’t leak, he fixed the powder room toilet so it fills properly, replaced the kitchen faucet and did spot painting that needed to be done on the exterior trim (the rest of the exterior is brick and stucco). He also replaced the locks and some of the worn out light switches. All that since Friday. He’s a person who can’t just sit, so it worked out for him.

Tomorrow my niece goes back to her husband and daughter and we head back to ‘Toon Town. I have a few things that I chose to take back. One is a needle point that Mom did. It used to hang over the living room couch. I’m also taking Mom and Dad’s wedding photo, a small knick-knack stand, Mom’s family ring and a few other small bits and bobs. Boy has inherited a sweater, afghan and letter opener that was made from one of the original rail spikes used on the trans-Canada railway (at least I think that’s what it is). We’ll also be going home with a pile of food. There is a lot left over from the tea and then there was the food that was prepared here.

This isn’t home any more. It hasn’t been for a very long time. I realized it when I was laying on the back lawn with my niece and we were talking. With Dad’s death, the spirit that made this place home departed. It’s time to become someone else’s home. What we kids don’t choose to take will be sold or donated. The house will be sold and the estate distributed according to Dad’s will. The estate will probably go into probate since there is property involved. I don’t know how long that will take, but at the end of it I hope to be able to put a down payment on a house of our own.

Needless to say, going through Dad’s bedroom was like opening a time capsule. Dad moved a lot of his stuff into Mom’s old dresser, but the memorabilia she collected was still there. There were old newspaper articles about awards my siblings won, letters and cards from friends and relatives – some long dead. We found the book that Dad’s mom (Granny) used to keep track of the money that her sons sent her each month to help support her. This was before the days of government pensions for widows. We also found a couple of post cards she had written to Dad in French. Our niece translated them (the handwriting was somewhat unclear). They were both mundane and very special. My sister found a picture of Granny’s brother, Xenon. I’d never seen it before.

Bran volunteered to be family archivist. He’ll scan all the photos in the albums Dad made over the years and then he’ll can the slides. This project will consist of several years of work on his part. But for him it’s a labour of love. It also means that there will be an archive of photos available to all of us instead of only one person getting all the photos, or breaking up the collection.

It’s been a stressful time for all of us. My sister’s dog, Bailey, helped break the atmosphere. Besides grief, there’s also anger and dislike. My sister has been walking a fine line between all of us and had done it with relative grace, though she does tend to micromanage some. That’s ok. She’s executor of the estate and wants to do a good job. Dad trusted her and she wants to live up to that trust.

That’s about it. I’m going to go hunt down a sandwich (there are a gabillion of them in the fridge).

We were down to see Dad on Monday and Tuesday. Things haven’t changed any since I wrote last. Dad is not eating though he did take a few spoons of porridge on Monday morning and ice cream on Monday and Tuesday evening. They are still using Seroquel to sedate him when they are able to get him to swallow anything. If they don’t sedate him then they’d have to restrain him. For most of the visit Dad was non-responsive. He was responsive for very short time periods (two to three minutes) in a day. When he became agitated he’d strip himself of bedding, bed clothes, endanger the IV by pulling it (the entire pole and mechanics) down and out of his arm.

He would point at things that weren’t there and try to talk. However, because he has been breathing through his mouth it was impossible to understand much of what he was saying. He did tell me he loved me after I said I loved him, asked me “where is she” and when I asked who the she was, he looked confused and said he didn’t know. Then after a couple of spoons of ice cream he said “that’s enough”. I know he was trying to say things, he would repeat sound patterns when I said I couldn’t understand. This was quite frustrating.

This was only for a short time last night. Monday evening he was non-responsive and unconscious. Now we just wait while his body slowly poisons itself because of his kidneys not working properly. They work some as he has some urine passing through his body (the catheter bag had urine in it), but not enough to properly detox his body. He’s also slowly starving to death since he refuses to eat except for a few spoons of food in a day.

I emailed work while I was out of town and updated them as to what was going on. This way when Dad does die, they’ll be semi-prepared. I’ll need to be gone somewhat longer because, as with the power of attorney, both my sister and I are named as executors of Dad’s estate. There will be business I’ll have to be out of town for.

The stay at home was painful and awkward. I don’t want to be around my older brother and wouldn’t be if it weren’t for Dad dying. Bran was having difficulty with this as well since what affects me, tends to affect him as well, especially with family stuff. The entire house reeked of cigarette smoke. It probably wouldn’t have repulsed me so much but for my distaste for being around that particular person.

Bran went through the house and looked at things that needed to be done in order to get it fixed up for sale. Most of the work is cosmetic (paint, new flooring, cleaning carpets) with the exception of needing to gut the main bathroom and update the master 1/2 bath.

I went through some of the stuff in the basement. You can tell that Mom and Dad were children of the 1930s and lived on a very limited budget for many years of their marriage. I found an amazing number of things that most everyone now-a-days would have thrown out. Mom saved things like aluminum take out containers and styrofoam plates from under meat (she washed them up and saved them for who knows what). There were also various plastic containers for condiments, peanut butter and other things saved. I don’t know how we’re going to work out things around the work needing to be done around the house. I know my brother can’t be there for much of it since a) it needs to have the house cleared and b) he smokes. Any renovations need to make the house smell fresh to make the house more saleable.

I’m glad to be home. II missed Boy a lot while we were gone. We left Dad’s at about 9:30 this morning and arrived home around noon. While we were gone Boy did a lot of work to have the kitchen mostly clean. When we got home he made us Lipton’s chicken noodle soup for lunch (he forgot to take bread out so couldn’t make us sandwiches) and then he washed up all the dishes he used to create and serve lunch. He’s a darling boy. I’m glad I’m home and he’s around me again.

I got home to the happy news of receiving my mail package from China. After lunch we all piled into the car (I let Boy sit in the front since Bran had also greatly missed Boy) and off we went to the Shoppers Drug Mart where the package depot is. I now have a couple of different styles and sizes of nickel free silver spacer beads (Tibetan style), a couple different styles and sizes of nickel free bead caps (Tibetan style), two different lengths (2 cm and 3 cm) eye pins, and 200 metres of nickel free jewelry chain. Yes, it was a heavy package. They didn’t send me one item that I ordered 2000 pieces of. So I sent them an email telling them.

Everything I got has been repackaged into labelled plastic containers from the zippered plastic bags except for the chain. I want to spool that onto dowels to keep it from getting all tangled. Right now that’s also in a plastic bag. I didn’t expect that. I expected it to come spooled.

Anyway, I’ll be looking at my beading stuff and seeing what needs to be redone. I want to make sure it’s all quite durable. I used super glue on some of the pieces and those ones need to be redone because of it. The super glue makes two weak spots in the wire at each side of the glue site. The closer is also a weak spot because the crimp bead might slip (for things like bracelets and necklaces). This is especially important for the bracelets since more people tend to wear bracelets more long term (days at a time) than they do necklaces.

So, guess what I’ll be doing for the next few days. Yeah, knitting. HAH!