I have a few pet peeves. Wait, not true - it's more than a few. But some things just make me go Grrrr. My most recent top five:
1. Restaurant servers who 'correct' my pronunciation of 'Nicoise.' (You actually do pronounce the s.)
2. Mattresses so tall you need a step stool to get into bed.
3. Finding a live snake in my living room. (It happened two weeks ago.)
4. When my dog steals sandpaper and eats it. What the heck is that? (On the plus side, he can totally speak English. When I asked him how the sandpaper feels coming out the other end, he answered, "Rrrough!"
5. When a one-sided bead spins sideways on a headpin so you can't see the pretty side.
Wow, there's a point to this post? Cool! Here's the problem. When I use a flat bead or one-sided pendant in a jewelry design, I want the front of it to show. Like this, yes?
Not like this:
Grrrr! But! There is a solution. For a nifty trick to stop the spinning, read on.
On a small piece of craft wire, make a loop. It can be plain or wrapped, like this one:
Thread the bead onto the wire...
Now bend the wire up along the back of the bead.
With your fingers or some pliers, form some swoopy bends, laid flat against the back of the bead.
Wrap the tail end of the wire around the base of that first loop and trim off the extra. Like so:
Now try and spin, sucka! You can't do it, can you? Bwahhahaha! Pet peeve annihilated!
This trick is great for earrings...
And also perfect for a pendant with the design on only one side.
If you want to add a dangle to the pendant, you can make a second loop on the bottom of the bead, instead of immediately bending it up. Then finish with the swoops-up-the-back trick exactly the same way.
Bonus: sometimes the swoopy wire can double as a design element - those earring backs are kind of pretty, doncha think?
So pretty, I might decide to switch around the earwires so the backs are the fronts.
Ooh! Please leave me your peeviest pet peeve in the comments - I promise to get all angry on your behalf. Grrrrr! How dare they? So annoying! Grrrrrr!!! (I'm warming up.)
p.s. if you like, check out Aunt Peaches' blog today, where I have popped in to recommend some scary movies (and reveal an obscure chapter from my murky past).
I like both sides. It's a great solution. Pet Peeve..trying to pull off and open the plastic salad sleeves at the grocery store.
ReplyDeleteGreat tip! Now do you have one so that pesky clasp on my necklace that starts at the back of my neck will stay there and NOT work it's way to the front to join the pendant? The zebra duct tape just doesn't cut it. (giggle, giggle...)
ReplyDeleteI came over from Aunt Peaches!
great tip- thanks- I got pesky spinning pendant to try this on
ReplyDeleteMy pet peeve is plated copper wire in jewellery. I take the coating off very quickly (something to do with the reaction with my skin) and end up with coppery coloured jewellery rather than silver. I'm having to rewire and recreate most of my bling. My local hardware store has some steel wire that I'm going to try.
ReplyDeleteHoney, I love you SO much!!! Not just for the genius idea on how to stop wayward beads (they DO need controlling, nothing worse than strutting your jewels and you look all daft because only the unphotogenic side shows!!) but also for talking to your smoochy- pooch about serious matters. Trust me, I sometimes gather my cats around me, all of them, in a half- circle, lecturing themon why it is totally not okay to pee next to the door, no matter how many marks a certain tricolour and her tailless friend have left outside. Not. Cool. Dudes. They sit there, all ears, and then walk off to pee themselves laughing.
ReplyDeleteRoooooough? Yeah. You dang well bet.
I can't say I am against snakes in my bedroom, because I never met one there. Closest I ever got to posonous fellows in my abode were a) that guy I took home over a decade ago when I was a student and I really don't want to talk about that episode any more than necessary and b) the various scorpions my Grandpa threw out of our window in Slovenia where I spent my childhood summers. I never understood why he got so freaked out over them, I found them pretty cool and not scary at all. What this story does not mention is that aforementioned superhero- turned- Steffs- Grandpa had to do a nightly round through the house (an old farmhouse in a rural community, full of nooks, crannies and unmentionables) and remove every spider he could spot and get his hands on lest his little princess lays eyes on one on a late- night trip to the loo. So, you gather that one of my pet peeves is stuff with eight legs and lots of eyes. Can't do with them.
But the weirdest pet peeve, which puts me firmly in the loony corner, is touching greasy stuff.
Sometimes, when the Mister does the washing- up, he sort of flies over it and leaves the end result desiring a lot. Bless him, he's only a man, after all, d he sure tries. But when I then pick up the dishes to put them away and findthem still greasy, it really, really ticks me off. I run a fresh sink of hot water and do the whole lot again, scubbing and wiping and scrubbing some more. If he as much as touches my microfibre dish towel, which leaves the glasses shining like diamonds, I have to leave the room and bite my knuckles.
Thing is, though, I am no neat freak AT ALL. Cat hair? Yup, all over. Vaccing up once a week? If my shifts allow, maybe. Cloudy mirror? Yeah, it gets the sleeve treatment. But a wine glass with fingerprints all over it or a slightly greasy knife annoy the heck out of me.
Anyone know any shrinks who wanna talk to me for a book or anything?
And it's Nih- Sssso- AhhhhSe. Je parle francais if needs be, especially when snobby waiters are involved. Oui, madame. Ask me about Latin at reduced rates all the way through October, special prices for families.
This is definitely one of my pet peeves and thanks to you I'll no longer have to put up with it. Very clever of you and pretty too! A snake in your living room? Let's hope you never have to put up with that one again. I have no tolerance for speaking to customer service reps on phone.
ReplyDeleteInteresting. Love your English speaking dog. Cute.
ReplyDeleteJudy
That's a great solution to the swirling issue. Plus it looks so very pretty itself!
ReplyDeleteBrilliant! You save me from wasting my zillion hours trying to correct my pendant. My pet peeve...a simple one to share... the waiter who wrote you order...said that he remember my special request... no pepper for the kids meal...and still come back with spicy sauce on top of the dish! And give me 'are u an alien mom' looks when you correct him!
ReplyDeleteBrilliant solution! I have so many earrings that have that issue.
ReplyDeletePet peeve of the day - My lovely dog thinks glasses are tasty and, once he's chewed all of them so I'm blind until I put contacts in, leaves his bones in the hallway for me to fall over. I swear he laughs at me when I'm laying on the floor at 6am.
(Note that I still can't figure out how he gets my glasses off the back of the dresser. He's also gotten them off the kitchen counter. Border collie brains - a blessing and a curse all in one!)
Okay, I'm SO late to the party, but I had to comment!!! I can't stand tuna, but thanks to my French mama, I can pronounce Nicoise. But I HATE chefs who cannot pronounce Brunoise. If you say "broon wa" you're ignoring that final "e". If you can't pronounce it correctly, call it a tiny dice already!
ReplyDelete