Catching up

Okay, so I'm a little behind on the blogging. And the housework. And my Inbox. Steve's been traveling a lot (although it's not his fault), and I seem to be happier and get a lot more things accomplished when he's home. And I seem to have a pretty bad case of Babies on the Brain, so I tend to have more to talk about over on my other blog.

In the jewelry department, I am working on a Bird Nest tutorial (pictured), cleaning off my workbench a little, ordering silver, embellishing some Viking Knit... Of course I like to actually finish something before telling you guys, but I thought I'd throw you a bone to let you know what's in the pipeline. I went to an awesome bead show in Vienna, VA a few weeks ago and saw some of my favorite lampworkers, including Patti Cahill from Dyed in the Fire. Talk about little works of art! And yes, you heard me right. The market price of silver has been over $21/troy ounce this year and now it is around $9, so I will be adjusting kit prices accordingly.

Website update: When I said the site now has a "fresher, high-key" look, I didn't realize that everybody except for me was seeing just a boring plain white screen aside from the text and pictures. It's supposed to look like this, with a sage floral print in the background. I posted on a webmaster forum and got a quick response, so the problem should be fixed now. (You may need to hit Refresh to see.)

Perhaps the next installment in my book collection should be The Lazy Housekeeper: Easily-cleaned surfaces, those that hide dirt, etc. I personally believe that dust is a protective covering, so my coffee table is actually "flocked". If you're in the market for a dog, choose one with short hair that doesn't tumbleweed, thereby keeping your wood floors cleaner. Having a screened porch with brown indoor-outdoor carpeting has really cut down on the paw-wiping necessity, too. Now if I could only find a way to harness the energy in the wagging tail and apply that to the noseprints on the windows.