Back to the Beads

Wow, that's a really bad picture, you can't see any details at all.
Anyway.
You tried to warn me.
Provided you can consider pointing and lauging at me for "falling down the beading rabbit hole" a warning.
I should have listened, and you can take comfort in the fact that you were right.
Hubby sent me grocery shopping by myself on Monday. Being unattended, I ran off to Michael's to buy new wire.
Oh, I did tell you that the 32 gauge wire I bought before was less than useless, right? Yeah, it snapped while I was trying to make my first marker.
At the time, I called in the troops and e-mailed the teacher who does a knit-beaded bracelet class at the store and asked for advice.
She said I should get 16, 18 or 20 gauge wire, then listed a dizzying array of tools it would be handy to have, and ended with a generous invitation to come over for a quick lesson.
But I did not take her up on it, as I'm actually a little shy (no, really, I am), and thought I could figure it out.
However, I've now spent like $20 on materials and I apparently keep buying the wrong stuff.
I'm rather annoyed. In fact, I just paused to send her an e-mail and see whether her offer still stands.

The Way It Should Be
And, in case you are wondering, I did not get in trouble for wandering the countryside after work this time.
Because I was not bringing dinner home with me. ha!
In fact, when I got home, he was in the process of heating up our leftovers for dinner, the pups were eating their dinners, and the kitchen was clean.
AND he instantly started putting things away as I brought the bags in.
Yep, kinda handy to have around.

Stupid Plant
I noticed yesterday that the wisteria vine on the trestle leading into backyard is finally blooming.
This is only the second time in the five years we've been in the house. The previous owners planted it and the first year it was just a strange, unidentifiable stick.
However, the blasted thing is only blooming at the top of its canopy, where I can't reach, smell or really see the flowers.
The left photo is zoomed in.
I'm sure it is doing this to taunt me.
Especially considering I see ones on the side of the highway which are as big as my house because they've gone invasive and engulfed an entire tree.
Part of the problem is probably that we don't know how to trim it properly.
But I reserve the right to be ticked off about the situation.
Oh, and my lilac bush isn't blooming yet either.

Gratuitous Puppy Pics
Yesterday was Baru's birthday, by the way.
He is four now.
He would like you to know that gifts of Milkbones and jerky for dogs will be warmly received at any time.
Samson would like to point out that his birthday is coming up on May 27 and he believes you can never own enough tennis balls.
When I was at the store yesterday I bought them each a smoked tendon jerky thing.
Puppies don't understand the concept of only the birthday boy getting a present.
Samson started rooting through the grocery bags and seemed to realize those were for them. He was getting himself all worked up waiting for Hubby to hand them over, it was terribly amusing.
Here they are, both tired after our rousing game of morning fetch. I was taking the picture of the stitch markers and Baru came and sat down right in front of me. I can only imagine he wanted his picture taken, so I obliged.
I worked a few rows on the Harf last night, but most of my evening was dedicated to fighting with the beads.