Life Can Get Out of Control - As Humans, However, We Need Control

Our temps are back to a comfortable level, and the clouds and storms have left us behind for a little while, so I should be able to see a lovely sunrise today while in the pool. There's just something wonderful about sunrise - it's my favorite time of the day. Sunrise means the day is ahead of me - untrammeled. It means that I can make my decisions to react to things in a positive way, instead of a negative one. I can decide to mindfully react to customers, any problems that arise, or tasks of varying industry through a positive outlook instead of a negative one. That point of view is my own - totally within my own control. 

During the height of Covid, when we were all under 
quarantine, these items were our focus to allow us 
to remain under control of our lives. It hasn't 
really changed much, even though the world has 
re-opened in many respects. 

Of course outside influences will try to intervene. Traffic may be bad, customers might be pushy or even angry (it's rare, but it can happen), the news on the television may be bad (almost a guarantee these days with our world in a trashcan the way that it seems to be), but I can keep an inner core of calm, and while acknowledging the outside influences, hold onto my personal center. Easier said than done? Sometimes. But well worth the attempt and if I fall down, I'll just pick myself up again and continue trying. 

"Normal" is a constantly shifting platform upon which 
we are trying to keep our balance. But looking through 
mankind's history, "normal" is a constantly shifting 
thing - dependent on location, historic/prehistoric 
time period, and politics. Were two small bands 
trying to join forces for their mutual good? Or was 
a King with expansion desires making war on 
the people next door. That's our history - long, bloody, 
and repetitious. Maybe we should try something else. 

Today's task is to finish working on the 4mm cubes so that I can bring that section live into Etsy. Maybe I can start work on the 6mm cubes too. That would be lovely. I'll do the 8mm cubes last, since they are already up from the very beginning and I'm just replacing them with the new format and photos. So I still have quite a bit of work to be done, but I'm farther along the path than I was a month ago. 

  

After I finish the 4mm size, I'll start on the 6mm size. The 
photos are complete and ready to upload onto Etsy. Here 
is one page from a 6mm splash page in the AB section. You 
can tell from looking at these vs the 4mm from earlier this 
week, there is a serious size difference between the cubes. 

The heat wave has passed over us with yesterday's storms. It's much more comfortable today. We had some serious winds pass over us, but they were to the north, or south, to the east or they never arrived from the west. Places to the east of us were hit by tornadoes, but all we got was a fast rain. It's summer in the Great Plains of the USA, and that's always weather, weather and weather. Come to think of it, that's all of the time because in the Winter, it's the various snow storms, and in the Spring/Summer, it's the rain and wind. Yesterday's swim was under clouds, but today I should be back to watching the sunrise while swimming my mile. Yippee! 

Have an excellent Thursday and I'll be back tomorrow. Be kind, be patient and remember to be kind to yourself as well as others. Slava Ukraini. 

Speaking Out Against Hatred - Let's Rise Above It

It's Saturday - what a relief! It's cold, and there's already snow in the northern part of the state. We're about a week ahead of time for leaves and weather, which really doesn't make me super happy - winter is my least favorite season here in the Frozen Northlands. It has its' own beauty, but I'm not a fan. The one nice thing about this time of the year is I can start wearing my long-sleeved T-shirts again, and I love my selection of long-sleeved T's. I also get to wear my sweatshirts and sweaters again, and I have several of those that I really like too. So ... good and bad - that's how so many things in life are. 

One of my favorite long-sleeved T-shirts is the skeleton
of this guy - the Short Faced Cave Bear, standing 
erect. It's a beautiful shirt that I bought from the Field 
Museum in Chicago many years ago. I wear it often and 
will hate it when it finally gets too old and worn to wear. 

Yesterday President Trump and Melania were diagnosed with COVID-19. By the end of the afternoon, the President had been moved to his suite at Walter Reed Hospital, to work from there under more controlled conditions while he recovers. I don't like the man - have never liked him, but I don't want anyone to get sick and suffer from this damned disease, not even the mini-tyrant in the White House. 

I'm not a fan of the President. I didn't vote for him and I 
don't support his policies. I think he was a huge mistake, 
and I'm hoping he gets defeated in the November 
election. But, that said, I don't wish death and harm on 
anyone, so I'm sorry he caught COVID. It's a bit of 
poetic justice in a way, I admit. 

I visited FaceBook yesterday to catch up with some friends and the vitriolic posts being slung back and forth between my friends and acquaintances frankly made me a bit sick. One dear friend of many years was openly wishing death and torment to Trump. I did post a couple of time in various boards that we should all be above the hatred, that we shouldn't fall to those depths, but the poison was horrific. So I'm putting this out here now, and if you hate me for it, so be it. 

Nobody deserves death. Without doubt there are 
evil people in this world who probably push that 
a bit, but very few people are evil. Most are walking 
a wide space between angelic and demonic. 

I don't wish death and destruction upon ANYONE. I'm not sorry that Trump is getting a taste of the terror others have been feeling over the past few months, but I'm not wishing death on him either, because that's not in my hands, and I wouldn't want it to be. I have a hard enough time killing the occasional spider who won't leave, or a mosquito that's trying to bite me. I can go after flies with gusto, but a person? No. Absolutely not. I'm not going to sully my own karma by wishing death to another human being, no matter how heinous that person might be. 

I want us to be able to return to the days when we could 
hug a child without fear of infection. I want love, not 
hate to be the standard for the day and our lives. I dream 
of peace, brotherhood (or sisterhood) and understanding 
I am TOTALLY a child of the 1960's 

So I hope EVERYONE with this horrible disease is well cared for and will recover because I don't want ANY more deaths from COVID in this nation or in the world. I hope that we can all meet our friends and relatives without social distancing, that we can enjoy hugging a child or a sister, brother, father or mother without worry. I hope that love triumphs over hate. But the posts I was seeing yesterday were hateful and reminded me how very far away that goal seems right now. Have a good weekend, be kind, and please be safe. I'll be back on Monday. 

Today Will Be A Waiting Game

The old saying goes something like this: "When opportunity knocks, open the door". I had asked my primary physician for a referral to a dermatologist because it makes for a faster appointment in a very busy department. I also wanted to see an M.D. instead of the Physician's Assistant I have been seeing for the past few years. She went ahead and wrote the orders and I spent quite a while with the receptionist before getting to the next stage. No appointment yet, but pending. 

Waiting can be annoying. I don't wait well, but I always have
something I can read or a game I can play on my phone. Before
the days of cell phones, I always had a paperback book with
me at all times. If I have to wait, I might as well read the next
chapter or six ... LOL. 

Yesterday afternoon I got a phone call from Dr Farhat's office. They had a cancellation on Friday mid-day, would I be able to make that? No, I had to work, so I had to pass. My only day off is Wednesday, so that's the only day I can get out to their location (in one of the southern suburbs). Her receptionist checked Wednesday appointments and there was an opening at 1:15 pm today. How about that one? I jumped on it. 

There's something quite sad about this Bansky wall
decal named "Waiting in Vain". I feel very sorry for
the man who has obviously been stood up. I can only
hope the delay was due to circumstances beyond
his control. 

So today my day is filled with my usual things - laundry, grocery shopping, cooking, etc., but also with labs at 8:15 am this morning at my local clinic and an appointment with Dr Farhat at 1:15 pm at the Bloomington clinic. Normally it would be a 30 minute drive to her clinic ... but EVERY road I would usually use to get there is either closed or constricted because of road construction. I've spent more than half-an-hour just trying to figure out an alternative way to her office that will avoid the worst of the construction. It's going to be a total PITA, but it's necessary. She rarely comes to my clinic, although I did have a consult with her almost two years ago about my alopecia. 

This chair/bench looks very uncomfortable for a long
wait. Fortunately, the chairs in the clinic are much
easier on the back, and easy to clean and sanitize, too. 

So, my "day off" has suddenly gotten extremely busy. I'm exhausted already, just thinking about it - LOL. I hope you have a more relaxing Wednesday than mine will be. Have an excellent day and I'll be back tomorrow, and don't forget - Be Well, Stay Safe and Wear a Mask! 

Celebrating World Environment Day

Today is World Environment Day and we get it crowned with a full moon. How delightful. Even though things are far from settled around the nation and the world, I need to move off the track of doom and gloom and focus on something different - at least for today. So, the environment seems a good choice because it's so varied, so amazing, and somehow life manages to exist almost everywhere on earth. 

Life is hard for the Emperor Penguins of Antarctica. Now they're falling
ill because they've been studied so much and are in greater contact
with humans. 

Let's start with the deep cold, since we're in the middle of an unseasonable heat wave here in the Frozen Northlands. Thinking about the deep cold turns my thoughts to Antarctica which turns my imagination to Emperor Penguins. I adore penguins anyway, but these guys are the prize. Huddling in huge groups of ever-moving birds that circle from the frigid exterior rings to the warm interior ones and back again, the males carry the eggs on their feet as they move in and out. If the egg falls off, the chick dies - not instantly, but very quickly. There aren't a lot of second chances in the ice and snow of Antarctica. 

The Amazon Rainforest is amazing, stretching as far as the eye
can see. It's being seriously impacted by clear-cutting, however,
which is changing the ecosystem in a way that may not be able
to recover. 

Moving to a bit warmer climate, how about the rain forests of Brazil. Without the rain forest, our world may well die. But this forest is dying - clear-cutting for new places to live and for materials for resale are killing the trees and environment. The Amazon will still flow, it takes a lot to kill one of the world's great rivers, but the breath that a forest can give to the land is being stifled. I hope this trend can be reversed, we need our rain forests. 

The Sahara Desert in Morocco is stunning - ever-shifting dunes punctuated
by settlements around oasis of water. Once upon a time the Sahara was
lush and green. Climate change turned it into desert and it's growing
larger every year. 

Across the world from the forests lie the deserts that are increasing daily across Northern Africa. Deserts are another amazing feature of our world and they have their own remarkable life within and upon them. For mankind to live on the deserts is difficult and dangerous - water is essential to life and barely exists in a desert environment. But people do live here - not in the absolute depths of the desert, but at the fringes and the oases that exist. The deserts are increasing, sending their sands forward into villages and towns, slowly expanding their reach. 

There is nothing quite like the Himalayan mountains - the backbone
of the world. These almost impassible mountains are still growing
annually as plate tectonics works its magic miles below ground.
Aren't they magnificent? 

The mountains are an environment I'm more familiar with because I grew up in the mountains. These examples of the earth's cataclysmic formation rise high into the sky, attracting and influencing weather patterns throughout the world. It can be harsh living, close to the top of the world, but all over, in almost every continent, people brave the altitude and weather patterns and live close to the clouds. The eternal city of Shangrila is rumored to be in the Himalayas, the tallest mountains on earth. Maybe you'll be fortunate enough to see the world from the top of a mountain peak sometime in your life. It's an experience like no other. 

I realize there are other environments - lake country, the plains and prairies, the high mesas, and the deep fjords of Northern Europe to name a few. But, I think I've given you enough diversity for one day. We live on a remarkable planet where there's something for almost anyone if they're willing to take a chance. We are the caretakers of the earth and I suspect if we don't live up to our obligations, Mother Nature will toss us away and start again. Have a safe and happy Friday and I'll be back tomorrow. 

Leaders, Kings and Fools - I'm More Comfortable as a Fool

In the old days, when we were first gathering together for safety as a species, we pulled together for safety. We wanted strong people who would be able to go hunting for prey so that we could eat, but we also wanted sharp-eyed people with lesser brute strength who could spot edible plants and useful plants, as well as watering holes. Over time, settlements developed and people began to specialize in various areas - hunter, farmer, shepherd, healer. Finally, when someone stepped out enough or the need presented itself, the jobs of "leader" or "Head" or even "King" came about. 

Pompous leaders. Why do we continue to elect them? Possibly
because anyone with common sense would never run for
office? 

Now, this is only my own opinion, but anyone actively seeking the position at the top of the food chain, probably doesn't deserve to be there. Kings, various Leaders, Heads or Dictators have a tendency to aggravate other nearby people with similar titles which leads to wars of words, and finally wars of people. It's rarely the Heads, Kings or Leaders who are killed in the wars, it's everyone else who had the bad luck to be under that leader's rule or influence. 

Nothing can reflect "pompous" much better than a cat, and this
lovely specimen has the look completely nailed! 

So ... why raise up a topic like this? Because I'm none-to-fond of our leaders today. I don't like the person who is in "charge" of the nation, but I don't like those standing in the wings either. I don't like much of the Congress, I don't like many of the Governors, and I'm none-to-fond of many of the mayors. I ask, "Whose interests are they really trying to protect? What people are they looking out after? Why this one and not that one?" and I don't come up with good answers. 

The book seems to have the appropriate ribbon bookmarks, but for
all we know, it could be anything. He never opened it, never actually
said a passage from it. It was totally a photo-op and was a really
poor showing all around. 

But I will tell you this, before signing off for the day. When I see our current "Leader" standing in front of a burning church with a religious book in his hands for a photo op, and he doesn't open the book, read from it, or apparently learn from it, I find one more instance why I don't respect him. It's shades of Hitler, and it's past annoying and into frightening. 

So, on that note, I'm, out of here for my day off - needed and deserved. I'll be back tomorrow and wish all of you an excellent day. 

Just My Viewpoint - We Need Variety To Be Strong

The store was fine when I drove up on Monday, and we actually had a really busy day with lots of fun, interesting customers, so that was great too. There were more peaceful protests taking place in the Cities - the days seem to be full of peaceful protests, the nights are a bit more fraught with tinder, tempers and confrontations. We're far from an isolated voice in the wilderness. It seems that almost every large metro area is having its own riots and demonstrations - many not peaceful at all. 

I'm putting pictures of flower gardens in my blog today. Why flower
gardens? Because they are beautiful to look at, calming to the eye,
and because it is the diversity of plants that makes for a beautiful
garden. 

I look at the history of demonstrations in this country - so many demonstrating for equality, for human rights, for dignity for people of color, and so many starting out with great promises and ended up running on the same old tired treadmill to nowhere. It's no wonder to me that people are angry. They have every right to be. Yes, opportunities have increased since I was young, but true equality isn't there yet. When Navajo Indians are fighting COVID without running water to more than 30% of their homes, and when multitudes of Lakota Sioux people live in substandard housing without heat in the bitten winters of South Dakota, there is no equality. There are no jobs, there are limited opportunities, and the only ways out are by leaving home, family and heritage behind. 

I love the red and blue flowers in this garden. They're
bright and colorful in the sunshine. 

People of color are looked upon with greater suspicion, watched more closely in a crowd, and dogged when in larger groups. Why? The white person around the corner is just as likely to be a thief, but it's the brown person who is watched. People are tired of feeling like they're not good enough. They are tired of walking with a target on their backs, and tired of having to take low paying grunge jobs because that's all they can get in their neighborhoods. 

Here are some shorter flowers, but again, the mix of colors
and blooms are what's so interesting and beautiful about
the garden. 

I'd like to see some serious changes because I've always believed it is possible if corporate America would just wake up to the reality of a huge pool of talented people that just need a place to be able to use their talents. I want large corporations to start looking at the poorer, more colored sections of town as opportunities to set up a location and hire local talent. I want manufacturing plants, design studios, architects and think tanks to spread out from their comfort zones and see what America can truly offer to them. You want thinking outside the box? Try hiring a poor black kid who's been trying to self-educate. You might be very pleasantly surprised at the viewpoints and skill sets he/she can offer. 

Even in the wild, nature prefers to mix things up. Here we
have a bee garden in the wild, and I'm quite sure the
bees enjoy visiting the blooms. 

Just my thoughts, and I fully admit I'm a privileged white girl who got really lucky. But I think that luck has to spread, thus this little rant as we all try to get our feet back under us once again. Have a wonderful Tuesday and please, stay safe and stay well. 

It Was Fun To Be Open Again

Yesterday was a lovely day. We had one of our regular customers waiting at the door for us to open in the morning, and we were busy, but not overwhelmed, all day with almost everyone telling us how happy they were that we were open again and how much they had missed us. (The exception was two new customers - they can't have missed us, they had never visited before. But both of them bought and said they'd return again, so win-win.) 

It's rather fun being open for business once again. My customers
missed their bead "fix" and almost all of them expressed how
happy they were that we were open once again. Everyone
practiced Social Distancing and everyone wore masks. 

We were all wearing masks, and Chickie apparently spent some of her stay-at-home time with a borrowed sewing machine making some really nice masks. Both DH and I were allowed to choose from her selection and I sewed the attachment straps this morning - they're ready to go. 

Although these are not Chickie's masks, they are very similar
in style to what she made. She did a great job for not having
touched a sewing machine for years. I'm quite pleased
with the one she gave to me. 

I was on my feet a lot, but also sat quite a bit with my foot propped up on my scooter. That's a great height for my leg, so I may not be scooting around the store, but I'm using the scooter quite a lot. At the end of the day, we had a good shift with a lot of customers and good dollars in the till for the first time in seven weeks. I'm so grateful for all of those wonderful people who walked through our door telling us how nice it was that we were open. Hopefully we'll keep this on a roll. 

Here's hoping you have a great Tuesday, and I'll be back tomorrow. 

Stay-at-Home - Day 40 - Channeling My Inner Dorothy

Sorry about missing yesterday's post. I ended up having to run quickly to the shop for a customer query and by the time I got back home, DH had the garage overtaken with his building. He's busy building privacy screens for the shop. Things were going OK ... but I've learned over the years it's better to walk through and ignore to the best of my ability. Which is exactly what I did. 

The walking boot is working OK, I'm still using crutches, but I'm not 100% dependent on them. I see the Podiatrist in two hours, so I'll get the scoop on the boot and how soon I can take the darned thing off when I see him. I might be tolerating the boot, but it's really hurting my shin and I hope he'll have some suggestions for that. 

Although Dorothy Gale overcame many obstacles on
her hunt for the Wizard and a return home, she isn't
the Dorothy I'm channeling.  

I headed today's post "Channeling My Inner Dorothy". Some of you may be thinking of Dorothy Gale, from "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" fame, but no. My Dorothy was a very real woman whose fortitude I've been amazed by at various times of my life, but especially now that I've been relying on crutches and boots. 

Dorothy wore braces on her legs and had crutches
similar to these - attached at the upper arm with
bars for the hands. She managed to keep her rambunctious
family all together, kept a clean kitchen, and was
a rather phenomenal person. 

Many of you know I grew up in Denver. My best friend in childhood (aside from my cousin across the street) was the girl across the alley from me. She and her two younger brothers lived in a small house with their parents. Both parents were polio victims, her father usually in a wheelchair, her mother with arm-attached crutches. He was a talented jeweler, working for one of the downtown Denver custom jewelry stores, she was a stay-at-home housewife, because that was the trend back then in the "dark ages". 

Many of my readers are too young to remember the last major
Pandemic that spread through the world - Polio. I knew people
directly affected by polio, and even met a woman living inside
an iron lung when I was in my 30's. It's a truly frightening
disease and we managed to find a vaccine. We'll find one for
COVID-19 too, it's just going to take a while to find the best
one to offer to the world. 

When I look back at all they managed to do for their kids and the friends of their kids, I'm amazed. Dorothy was the mother's name, and what she could do on crutches was beyond amazing. Her husband, whose name I don't recall, was the handyman. He made us a seesaw for their back yard, he also made us our first skateboards from an old set of roller skates and a one-by-six board. We got really good at going full speed down the VERY steep hill at the bottom of my block. I suppose we could have seriously hurt ourselves - no helmets, no knee pads - but we all were very lucky and lived into adulthood. 

I think it's always good to remember people who left a positive impact on us. So, I'm channeling my own Dorothy as I work through the problems ahead with my foot being broken and still having to make my store ready to open on the 18th. I just thought I'd share a bit of her story with all of you today. As always, Stay Safe, Stay Home, Stay Well. I'll be back tomorrow. 

Stay-at-Home - Day 38 - A New (Old) Ride

Late yesterday I got a call from my auto body shop - Minion was ready first thing in the morning and "Looks like a Million Dollars'. That made me happy. I was perfectly fine driving the rental out on my own, as long as DH pulled it from the garage for me. Getting into the door with crutches and my walking boot would have been challenging. He decided to pull it out, but also to accompany me. So, we were off in the early morning, enjoying beautiful weather that was destined to turn colder and wetter as Cinco de Mayo moved forward. 

Originally we had planned on Margaritas for
Cinco, but with my foot and the cooler weather,
we'll stick to tacos. 

They were absolutely correct - Minion looks like a Million Dollars. She's absolutely perfect and stunning and I'm beyond happy. I handed them my credit card, they charged me $50 for a $2700+ invoice and I was thrilled. They took care of my rental car for me, and later the rental car emailed me my bill from them, a $268 bill which cost me $0. Hurrah for good insurance. Sometimes it can really pay off. Now to keep Minion looking this good for another decade. 

If you live in the Twin Cities area, and need any auto
body work, I highly recommend these guys. Totally
AWESOME! 

After the auto body shop, we headed to the Post Office. I had a bunch of papers to mail to Social Security (they're saying I didn't pay one payment, but I did), and I didn't have an appropriately sized envelope. I also wanted to pick up the held mail for the shop - bills, bills and more bills. *sigh* 

After the Post Office, we headed to the shop. We paid bills, balanced the checkbook (since we finally had some bank statements to work from) and made sure everything was OK. Apparently a large package of paper towels I had placed on the bathroom shelving had fallen, hitting the bucket and mop, and blocking the bathroom door from easy access. DH mounted an extension for the shelf so that we won't have that problem again. 

I don't usually buy more than a 12-pack of paper towels at
a time, but we're going to be cleaning like crazy at the store,
so I suspect our 18 roll package will get used up much
faster than expected. 

Finally, it was time to go to the drive-through mail depository at my local Post Office and we started gathering things, only to be missing my keys. After a half-hour search, DH finally found them in the trash can. They must have fallen down while I was putting the mail down. Crisis averted. 

I'm going to try and take it easy tomorrow, but Thursday morning, I have an appointment with the Podiatrist at my clinic. He'll review my x-rays with me, talk about what I can and can't do, I do have questions for me about how long I'll be stuck with crutches, but the walking cast seems to be working well, so that's one positive. Here's hoping that your crises will be minimal and resolved easily. As always, Stay Safe, Stay Home and Stay Well. I'll be back tomorrow. 

Happy Christmas or Best of the Season To All

Just a quick note to all today. 

It's Christmas Eve and Santa will be dropping by many homes overnight, leaving presents and toys. Please don't forget the cookies for Santa. After all, he has to burn a LOT of calories to make it around the world in a single 24-hour shift! 

Celebrate the spirit of giving with the Jolly Old Man. Have
a safe and joy-filled holiday and I'll return on Friday morning. 

Have a wonderful Christmas, or just enjoy a few days of a holiday season. I'm taking Wednesday and Thursday off before we dive into our biggest sale of the year. I'm already exhausted just thinking about it - LOL. 

I'll be back on Friday morning so be good, enjoy your couple of days, and be kind to others. 

I Want to be Selfish

It's warmer, but I feel colder. Go figure! There's no real reason to it, except it's mid-November and I have time ticking off in the back of my head. Still, my cards are progressing and, all things considered, I'm actually almost on schedule. Almost. 

I would love to be selfish tomorrow and spend my Sunday
on my own personal projects. I know for a fact that it
won't happen, so I'm already resigned to not even mentioning
it to my DH. Sometimes I have to choose my battles. 

I had my security alarm person back at the shop yesterday morning before we opened. I wanted him to be able to work without having to have things unlocked or unarmed if he needed to test something. We altered the system a bit, pulling off the WiFi portion and switching everything over to an older, but more reliable format. I'm much happier, and really hope that my technician won't continue to be my best friend over the next week or two. Three visits this week was quite enough. 

I'm pretty sure my security alarm technician was
starting to feel like entering a revolving door whenever
he looked at his scheduled stops. I think we finally
isolated and excised the problem, but what a
nightmare to achieve success. 

Along with everything else, I received one of two large shipments yesterday. This one, mostly of crafting products, has to be prepped for sale and ready to go ASAP. We're running out of time for holiday shoppers and crafters and need to have that product out for sale. I'm expecting a second shipment, this one of smaller jewelry items from my Southwestern US Native American crafts people. I usually prefer to hand-pick my products for jewelry, but no time this year. It's mostly smaller items - earrings and pendants, and that shipment should arrive next week. It's going to be a busy week ahead. 

I'm bringing in a bunch of smaller Navajo and Zuni
earrings. We're super low on stock at the shop, and
need some for the holiday season. I'm not stepping too
far outside the common styles with this shipment.
I prefer to hand-pick, and didn't have the time for
a quick flight out to the Rez this year. 

My cards are progressing, though. I'm ready to begin impressions of the interior panel, and just finished one of two stages for the card cover detail. This clock is ticking, and usually I'd spend my Sundays painting or working on them. I can't do that right now - DH is determined that our merge of my studio at the shop with my studio space at home will be complete by Thanksgiving. There's still quite a lot that needs to be completed on that, and that's where my Sundays are going. 

My personal hamster wheel is alive and well. 

So, the hamster wheel is in good shape in my household. I'm running full out and feeling as if I'm barely getting anywhere. Frustrating. but becoming the norm. 

Be good, be kind, and make some time for yourself. Have a great Saturday and weekend and I'll be back on Monday. 

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.