checking in

Hi there! I've been long lost from the jewelry world and have not made a single piece of anything in a while... To catch anyone not in the know up to speed, here are my activities & passions of late:

I've gone to work full time for state police again. Yeah, yeah. Again. This takes up HUGE swaths of my time!

Needlework has intensely captured my imagination again and much of my spare time (heh. what spare time?) is spent bent over my tambour work (for which I have signed up for the next University of Kentucky School of Fine Arts master class in May- woo hoo!!), or an embroidery hoop, or free hand with cross stitch (mostly subversive cross stitch because it's more fun!)

www.postcrossing.com has brought me immense pleasure, introduced me to new and wonderful people around the world and I'm happy to have made one very special new friend in particular in Britain. Check it out!

Our sweet dog Lucy is almost 15 years old now and requires special needs care at this point. She is on pain meds, melatonin to help her sleep and Hills Prescription B for brain health food. So far she is holding steady but it's increasingly difficult. So when I am not at my ten hour shifts at work, I am spending time walking her and just being with her while she is still on this side of the hereafter.

Still working on numerous sewing projects and saving for my dream Bernina sewing machine!

Thanks to my cool friend in the UK, Michael and I spend as much of our time off as we can indulging in our new passion-- geocaching. We both love it! Good fun, outdoors, minimal expense, spend time together. What else can you ask for? www.geocaching.com

Oh, yes. Cleaning, cooking, laundry, shopping. The usual drudge everyone deals with. For now, I may as well take the "beads and jewelry of" off my banner (in fact, as an after thought, I just did). My jewelry bench has collected serious dust.... Honestly I have just lost the mojo for it for the foreseeable future, and I'd rather wear the pieces I've made than sell them. :D

In case anyone was wondering what I am doing in this photo rooting around in the bushes, I have just found my first geocache and am examining the treasures! Woot!