Happy New Year (belated)!

I'm feeling a lot better. This whole past week was pretty much shot, what with my head cold and all the work that's being done around here. The good news is that the fluorescent lights are up in the bead cottage. I don't really like the light fluorescents put out, except that my light fixture gives a nice long horizontal stripe of light across the top of my bead while I'm making it. This allows me to see if there are any flat spots, or wobbly areas that need to be better balanced. Keith and Charlie also designed some cool covers for the fixtures so they're not plain bare bulbs. I'll take a picture and post it this week sometime.

I'm still really sad about Barney. I miss the little guy so much I can hardly believe it. I wish he were here (but healthy) again. He was a little high maintenance doggie. He had epilepsy, glaucoma and dry eye, necessitating 3 different veterinarians and 3 different pharmacies. That's more doctors than I have! LOL. Anyway, he was a lot of work and in a way it's good for that to be done with. On the other hand, I'd take him back in a second if he could stay with me forever. I wouldn't take him back only to have to lose him again. Death is so complicated.

I don't want another dog right now, but I can't stop looking at the Bostons on Petfinder and looking for them in the local shelters' listings. It's going to be much easier with one dog this summer. So I should just stop looking. Plus, I don't think that Java, at almost 9 years old would be as accepting of a brother at this point as she was when she was 2. I wouldn't want to upset her.

This coming week is going to be a busy one, but I will try to make some beads at some point. Another thing I need to do is start taking the ones I do make off the mandrels, clean them and photograph them. I've been making some pretty neat ones that I really like. If I don't make beads tomorrow, then cleaning the ones I have is the first priority.

Tuesday I'm going to the knitting store to buy some yarn for a project. I'm going to take the project with me to Vermont this weekend when the whole family goes to the Woodstock Inn. Martha and Angie go every year and this year invited the rest of us to go with them. It's going to be fun. They're going to bring Elizabeth skiing if it's not too cold. The forecast is for temperatures in the single digits, so it might not happen. If it does, I'll take a picture.

So that's about it. I've just been rambling here but it's good to get back into the swing of the blog. Have a great rest of the weekend and dream of spring training with me.