I. Have. A. Job.

Thankfully I am now back among the ranks of the employed. Well, technically, I don't start until 9/4, so maybe I'm not officially employed yet. But I have accepted an offer, and I have been hired. So I feel I may now relax just a little.

I went to Sears and bought an in-sink garbage disposal unit. Sears (specifically Kenmore, their store brand) is my new favorite for higher-ticket items, as they are usually made by an expensive brand maker but cost much less. Insinkerator makes their disposers. Adam can put it in and then we have to hire an electrician to hook it up to the juice.

(I also intended to buy the sewing machine I've been reading about and wanting to get, but they didn't have it in stock. Kenmore machines are made by Janome, a well-reviewed brand. WAH! I was disappointed, as was the lady who hoped to make the sale. They work on commission. Which immediately made me feel bad for not wanting to let her order it for me. I just didn't want to go back over there to pick it up, and I had second thoughts while she was looking in the back storage room about spending $450. Well, I'll probably get it, just not right now.)

We will probably also hire the contractor to do the back yard work, too, once I am working again. We just didn't feel it was wise to spend the money when I wasn't earning any. I'm glad we waited, for that reason, but it would have been convenient for us to do the work while I was at home, so I could supervise. Well, not all things are possible. That was the choice we made.

My great pal Beth, who moved to San Francisco two years ago, was in town for a couple days and I got to hang out with her for several hours yesterday. It was great. We had lunch (Adam joined us) and then hit the craft shops. We went to a few bead stores and to M&J Trimmings (chorus of angel voices sing an extended joyful chord) and finally to Metalliferous, a jeweler's supply store. I didn't buy anything in Met., but I spent lots in one M&J and in one of the bead stores, so I don't get credit for restraint. I just realized I don't know what the hell I am doing with jeweler's materials so I didn't get anything there. They do have some really lovely gemstones for sale, but what the hell would I do with them?

I got a ton of beads though, which I hope to use in knitted beadwork. I got amazing colors, in particular some matte black ones. When I see stuff like this, I can't help myself - I actually experience greed - I have to buy in bulk. I bought, we think, about 5000 beads in the matte black color, as well as ~2000 of the cream color ones, and ~1000 each of several other really good colors. At least I organized them all (and the rest of my scattered stash) when I got home last night.

Look at this booty!



I put everything into these organizers I bought. What's scary is I thought I had a lot of the red ones (top center), until I realized how freakin' many of the other colors I just bought! I weighed out 1 gram, and there were 31 in that sample; the entire single bag of the gray-blue color (top left) was about 75 grams, meaning each bag may have contained as many as 2300! JEBUS! Well, obviously I do have a little greed problem. But they weren't very expensive ($7 for that size bag) so it's not unmanageable, at least not yet. I've seen photos of people's stashes that put mine WAY to shame. On the other hand, I'm really a knitter, not a beader, so this IS kind of embarrassing...