John Bead, Here I come!

There was a huge summer sale at John Bead today. After inviting Kirsten last week, she finally accepted to come with last night, which left me in a crunch to find a sitter for Mimi, as children under the age of 16 are not permitted in the warehouse; it's an insurance thing, and I can't blame them. People, this is a HUUUUUUUUUGE warehouse, where they house millions of beads. Man, as a beader, you haven't lived until you've gone shopping for beads with a shopping cart. Yeah, you read that right: A SHOPPING CART!!!!
This is where you buy your seed beads by the 1/2 kilo (or more if you want to...), and you cry when you calculate how much money you've spent at your L.B.S. (local bead store), and how much you could have bought here. Granted, you need a business number, and a mandatory $1000 minimum purchase/year, but just one more visit like today, and I'm set! ;)



Here's what I got:
1/2 Kilo each in size 6/0: White/Crystal mixture, Silver-lined Dark Amethyst, Silver lined Amber mix, A/B Amber mix, and A/B green mix.

1/2 Kilo each in size 11/0: Transparent Amethyst mix, Silver-lined Red/Orange mix, Gold-lined transparent Olive Green.

1/2 Kilo of those gorgeous size 8/0 Oily finished green Charlottes (they look just like a deep colored Jade)

1/2 Kilo each of 4 mm cubes in Opaque Black, Crystal Clear, and Silver-lined Crystal (wait 'til you see what I make with THOSE!!!)

100 g. packs each of:
15 mm hearts in Dk Green, Amethyst, and White.

300 g. of gorgeous Copper Accented crystal Lantern beads.

For a grand total of 6.6 kilos ( or approximately 14.5 pounds) of BEADS!!!

Now, I realize to my non-beady readers, this might not sound like much. But the beaders out there will get it... Yeah, I'm a hoarder. My name is Jewels, and I am a Beadaholic! Yes. I purchase my beads in bulk portions. Why, you ask? BECAUSE I CAN!!!!! Mouah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!!!!! LOL!

I've already decided that the next trip will be entirely for size 13/0 Charlottes. I've been really getting into the cabochon work and embroidery lately, and I'm going to need to increase that bead stash... ;)

You know, one thing really surprised me today. I really wanted to find those size 8/0 green Charlottes mentionned above, but the place is so dissorganized, that I had to ask for assistance. Clerk # 1 didn't even KNOW what a Charlotte was... #2 showed me 2-cuts instead (Totally different from a Charlotte B.T.W.!!!!), and #3 took me down 3 full warehouse aisles before we stumbled upon the right 'kind' of bead... He showed me some light Aqua ones, I said "Yup! That's what I'm looking for, but in green..." You know what he said? He said this: "Well, if you're looking for this style/size of bead, the first 3 numbers are '666'..." and he walked off.... Oh dear! I'm so sorry I interrupted your COFFEE BREAK!!!!! I dunno. I'm such a helpful person by nature, and when I encounter this kind of behaviour, it irks me. I mean, yeah, it's a warehouse, but if your employees are going to be asses, then why not hand-select a few helpful ones for when you have a "HUGE SUMMER SALE! MOST STOCK 60% OFF! SHOWROOM SALE ONLY!!!!" Well, if the sale applies solely to custommers who will actually take the time out of their busy lives to drive all the way there ( Our total travel time was 4 hours. We met some folks who'd driven all the way in from Montreal. That's at least a 9 hour drive - each way!!!), and who'll spend large sums of Dineiro in your store, I'd think that you'd want to offer stellar service... Heck, I don't care if you just walk in off the street: I will be helpful, polite, and personnable when you come to my shop!
That said, I'm off to play with my new beads. Yay! Of course, my present skill level being limitted by this broken finger business (Doctor informed me yesterday that I'd need to start exercising it next week, so it doesn't heal all wonky like... But I'm to "take it easy and keep it immobilized for another week"...), I probably won't be able to go all out crazy, but I can certainly very carefully, very slowly, get through a few simple projects... ;)

Peace! Me!