Christmas Eve--oh, what a night!

Merry Christmas! As my family and friends know, I tend to have mishaps around holidays. Distracted? Me? Well . . . there were the eight stitches the day before Thanksgiving when I washed an espresso pot and didn't notice the chip on the rim. And then there was the incident with the knife twirling off the kitchen counter on the Saturday before Thanksgiving in 2004. I spent five days in the hospital that time and very nearly lost my right foot. Last year at Christmas, I sported that nasty burn on my hand.

Yesterday, Christmas Eve 2008, I thought I had made it, even though I did cut my index finger on my right hand opening a can while making dinner. All day I chatted with our daughter about whether she should drive here for Christmas Eve dinner. 9:00 a.m.: No, icy; noon: No, still icy; 3:30 p.m.: Stay put, still icy; 5:30 p.m.: Yes, we are going to church, but we have all-wheel drive and you don't. The 6:00 p.m. conversation was pretty funny in that she called to see if there was some kind of catastrophe in Tyrone because she had been hearing sirens for over an hour (she doesn't have cable). We checked the news--no catastrophes. Then she looked out her window and saw the fire trucks bringing Santa Claus to town.

Okay, so while I am chatting with her, I notice some flour dust on the bottom drawer of the kitchen cupboard by the stove. Oh, I think, I can get it with my sock. I wipe. The sock gets stuck on the drawer handle. I try to unstick it, losing my balance. I fly. The phone flies. I scream. My daughter, of course, thinks I have been murdered or something. With the phone on the other side of the kitchen, and me flat on my back on the floor and having wrenched my back, twisted my right wrist, and slammed my butt (well padded, thank goodness), I say . . . what else? "I've fallen, and I can't get up!" But I really could, and by this time, Mr. 13% hearing in his right ear heard the commotion and came to my rescue. But Allie had already rescued me by licking my face.

Now, why am I writing this on my beading blog? It's Christmas Day. The baking is done. Presents are wrapped. I have a whole day to relax. Do I dare pick up a needle? Stay tuned.

And have yourself a very Merry and relaxing Christmas.

What????

What is a nice beady gal like me doing with a link to a libertarian blog? It belongs to my student, Dave. Hey, Dave! It's true. I will read anything, especially if one of my students writes it.

Go Nittany Lions! Go Steelers! Go Golden Eagles!

Of course, my blood runs Penn State blue, so I made myself some Penn State earrings to wear while watching the games. We are . . . Penn State! Go Nittany Lions! Beat USC! For those of you who may not have heard, the Nittany Lions will play USC on New Year's Day in the Rose Bowl. We had an 11-1 season. Our only loss was a real heartbreaker.

The Pittsburgh Steelers are having a great season. If they beat the Ravens tomorrow (Dec. 14), they could take the AFC championship and start working toward the Super Bowl. Several weeks ago, I also made myself some Steelers earrings to wear while watching the games. Don't you love seeing Troy Polamalu run down the field? He always looks joyful, like he's having a good time. Maybe it's the bouncing hair... Anyway, it occured to me that other football fans might like something pretty to wear while watching Troy and the guys.

And . . . now that my daughter is the library director in Tyrone, I made earrings to honor the Tyrone Golden Eagles, who also had a fabulous season this year. You can buy these earrings at the Tyrone-Snyder Public Library or at my Etsy shop (http://www.pfordcustomjewelry.etsy.com/). If you buy them at the library, the library gets to keep all the money. If you buy them at Etsy, I make a little money to buy my next batch of beads.

I will be uploading several versions of my sports theme earrings and bracelets to Etsy in the next day or so. Check them out, and if you would like custom earrings in your team's colors, let me know.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hello beady people and other friends and family!

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day. I have much to be thankful for, including our 34th anniversary, which is also tomorrow. In addition to a wonderful hubby, I have the best daughter in the world, a cute dog, a great job, and a wonderful passion for beads I am able to support by selling a few items here and there.

Right now, I am working on a piece for the Etsy Beadweavers December Challenge. The theme is Snow Queen. I love this theme. First, not all of us celebrate Christmas. Second, because it will be white and will be suitable for winter holidays or for a bride. There's a lot of red and green on Etsy right now. I made some cute little Swarovski crystal earrings that look like Christmas trees. Just on a whim I searched Etsy for any Christmas tree earrings and got 847 hits. The bad news is that my earrings are not unique. The good news is that the going price seems to be $18 plus shipping. I will be selling mine for $15 at the Polished Edge Day Spa in Altoona. No shipping charges.

That's the other good news. The Polished Edge will be setting up a display of my jewelry to sell. Anyone is welcome to stop by and take a look. The spa is located at 2612 Broad Ave., Altoona, PA 16601. The phone number is (814) 949-3442. Stop by and take a look. While you are there, schedule a massage, manicure, or pedicure. They are fabulous.

Don't forget (marketing switch on), if you see something you like at the Polished Edge, but you'd like it in a different color or length, etc., just let me know. That's one advantage of custom jewelry: for less than you'd pay for comparable mass-produced jewelry, you can have exactly what you want.

I also have a few items left at the Art4 Gallery in Hollidaysburg. Many thanks to the customers who bought most of what I had on display there.

This weekend!

I'll have a selection of jewelry at the Harvest Fest at the Lutheran Home in Hollidaysburg. It's not too early to think about Christmas, so I have lowered most of my prices to reflect the fact that I don't have to pay for shipping, insurance, PayPal fees, etc. when I sell in person. Also, I do realize that some people want cool gifts for holidays but might have lots of financial issues right now with gas/food prices and such.

See you there! For details, see http://www.alsm.org/events/events.html

Yikes!

Check this out: a beady friend had a very interesting visitor to her home:
http://marlainephotos.blogspot.com/2008/09/big-bear.html

Hi, Mom!

My mother doesn't do computers, but she's staying with my brother (hi, Dave!) while waiting for Hurricane Ike to do its thing, so he will show Mom my blog. Is this fun or what?

Philadelphia or bust

My hubby and I attended the BeadFest last weekend. It was really great, but I had this headache. Ouch... I spent about half what I had budgeted because it hurt to lean over the tables.

The tables. Full of beads, bead-related tools, findings, books, ideas, colors, and wonders.I saw a great lampworked bead with a dragonfly (my logo!) in shades of blue and purplish and green. Hmmm. It was on sale. Such a deal! I couldn't pass it up. I had just bought some seed beads a half hour earlier in the same shade of blue. Okay, the bead gods want me to have this bead. And at home, I have those vintage beads I bought two years ago and have been waiting to find the perfect focal bead for. Okay! Mine! I will post a picture when I finish the project because the vintage beads are absolutely perfect with the dragonfly bead.

I bought a whole bunch of seed beads and cabochons. I always want to buy cabs in person because they are hard to photograph. David Kramer of Dikra Gems (http://www.dikragem.net/downloads.html) must be the best salesperson in the world. Every year at BeadFest he greets me as if (a) he remembers exactly who I am and (b) I am his best customer. This year I spent about $30 at his booth, so I am definitely not his best customer. He just has that salesman's personality that is super friendly, but doesn't seem phony. See you next year, David. Maybe one of these years I will surprise you and visit your shop in NYC.

We stayed with my cousin, John. (Hi, John!) What a gracious host! He made us so comfortable, and we enjoyed visiting and remembering fun cousin times. Thanks, John!

Hello, everyone!

Isn't technology great? I have a brand-new laptop and a brand-new blog.

Family, friends, and customers know I have a little shop of jewelry on Etsy: www.pfordcustomjewelry.etsy.com News from that shop: In 2008, I will donate 10% of all purchases you make to the Lutheran Peace Fellowship (http://www.lutheranpeace.org/ ). Please take a look at my Peace Bracelet. All profits from this bracelet will go to this wonderful organization.

Other news: On September 13, I will have a table of jewelry at the Autumn Fest at the Lutheran Home at Hollidayburg. See this link for more information: http://www.alsm.org/events/events.html

I also have a few items available at a wonderful new art gallery in Hollidaysburg: Art4 Gallery.