Cuts of Life - Not Always A Bad Thing

Thanks for all of the kind wishes. The finger is healing, and it doesn't hurt at all (which is a very good thing). I've had it bandaged except for changing to new bandages, and I've been wearing a glove in the shower to keep it clean and dry. I'll replace the Band-Aids again early this morning and I might be able to start keeping it open to the air during the night depending on how it looks. It was such a ridiculous thing to happen and I'm super annoyed at myself - just a stupid accident. 

The flexible fabric style of Band-Aids actually are too strong
for my skin. I have a real hunt to find the plastic strip versions
since they aren't as popular, and I buy them whenever I can
find them since I'm always needing a Band-Aid for one
place or another. 

I've been emailing with my possible tattoo artist and we're going to set up a time outside his usual hours for a consult. I told him I didn't want him losing paying customers for the sake of a consultation because that really wouldn't be fair to him. He concurred, so we'll start hammering out a schedule later this week, figure out a mutually agreeable time, and I'll hopefully get in to see him in early November. My private goal is for this to be completed by Solstice, but I'm really not operating under a specific time deadline of any type and won't rush for the sake of a fake deadline. 

We've only had the truck in for service once since we bought
it last year. It's been a good truck, although there are certainly
things I would change in the next vehicle. If Mazda had still
made a truck, I probably would have gone with that brand. I
do love my Mazda CX-5. Still, the Toyota truck is doing exactly
what we needed it to do. 

Today we have to take the truck in for servicing and they'll also install the cover to the truck bed for us. I bought the cover for DH for his anniversary gift. He had been wanting it, but just didn't have the time or ability to get it purchased. I wanted the truck bed protected for the winter, so ponied up the cash since it was our 40th wedding anniversary. Of course, his gift to me was half the cost of my tattoo, so we might be close in terms of expenditure. 

My copper is cutting well in my Sizzix BigKick
diecutting and embossing machine. I picked this
up years ago on sale, and it's my major workhorse
for my holiday cards. I can't imagine being without
one of these. I use it year-round in projects and
with a variety of materials. 

Yesterday morning I started cutting out the copper for my ornaments in my holiday cards. It's working really well. Since I have to take DH to the car dealership and then bring him back home for the day - truckless, so he'll be working in the house for the day - I won't have any time this morning to cut more copper. Still, I'm quite pleased that my concepts for this year's holiday cards are coming together. Next bridge to cross will be the card interior. I want it two-layered and fancy-cut. My edge cutters work, but they're fussy and don't always work as well as I need. I may have to switch to fancy-edged scissors instead of a cutting blade. 

Fancy scissors for scrapbooking ( which I NEVER do) are in
my cabinet. I've used them for cards in the past, but mainly
have them for metal clay. Still, I can use them if my larger
sweep cutters don't work. I'd rather use the blades than the
scissors, though. It's a lot faster, and there are 50 cards and
four edges for each card. That's a LOT of cutting. 

So, onward we go. Life progresses and we check out the scenery on our personal roller-coasters of life whenever we have the chance. Take a few minutes today to go outside and take in a deep breath. Feel that? Hear that? That's life, and beauty, and the change of seasons all around you! We're all so fortunate to be sharing this wonderful day. I'll be back tomorrow.