What I Haven't Been Writing About

I haven't been writing about the main focus of my life right now: preparing our house for sale. This is because (a) I'm too tired, and (b) there really are no words for this level of stress.

And then there's the other side of the equation… looking for a new home to buy… not even gonna get started on that one right now.

When I have some concrete news to report, maybe I'll try to summarize.

To the dump, to the dump, to the dump-dump-dump…

Home Depot.  My home-away-from-home.

Off to a Good Start

Early Sunday morning we set up this week's art exhibit, part of a 4-week Jewish Arts Month (JAM) series at the JCC.  Each week features a new set of artists, and this is my week. We all take turns manning (womaning?) the show. I have 10 pieces of beaded jewelry in the exhibit.  Well, about 3 hours after we finished setting up, I got a phone call saying that these two pieces sold already!! The funny thing is that they were both quickie "flash challenges" for my online beading group. I'm very excited about it, but also a little sad to see them go.

Birthday Beading

Today was sort of a revival of my birthday. Today was the beading class that Gershon bought for me as a birthday gift. And today I finally opened up the beading-board that Micah gave me for my birthday.  It was a glorious experience!

I love taking beading classes, but I don't take them very often because they're expensive! So now I've figured out that they are a good thing to request as a gift!

Today's class was held at Village Beads,

and taught by Virginia Blakelock.

Virginia's projects tend to be very complex and detailed. This one looks deceptively simpler than it actually is.  It's called Serpentina Bracelet.  I made pretty good progress during the class, and will add a picture here when it's finished.  

Here's the publicity pic of it:

There were only five students in the class, so it was a cozy group, with lots of personal attention from the instructor. Village Bead has a lovely atmosphere for classes, because the class table is right out in the showroom, not tucked away in a back room. 

All in all, it was a wonderful day.

(And then in the evening, our Couples Mah Jongg group got together to play Mah Jongg and celebrate PI Day.  Yum!)

Missing a Dog

Today is the one-year anniversary of Nacho's passing. I still miss him, and I still cry, but not as much. And I'm starting to laugh sometimes at memories of him... I think that's a sign of healing.

I also feel I'm almost ready for a new dog. I really miss having that sweet animal presence in our life.  Can't take on a dog at this moment, as we prepare the house for sale, but I think we'll get one as soon as we move. What breed? I don't know. But I think the right dog will present him/herself.