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.