Whew! I have been rather absent from my little ol' blog this month, haven't I? It's been a whirlwind on the Buffalo Ranch.  I've been busy with my day job and single parenting duties while Foxy's been working her little tail off trying to get grants written and trainings completed and other such things necessary to keep a roof over our heads. Those kiddos leave little time for jewelry making and shop updating and blog writing... But when they're not making me cry, they sure do make me smile! ;)   (Did I ever tell you about the time Aidan brought home a "book" she'd written at school and it was clear that they'd been given a very structured outline to work with. It had to start and end with the same key sentence. Aidan's book started and ended with, "My mom loves me more than she loves making jewelry." That girl knows her mama).

Anyhoo...

Four sleeps until Newfoundland!

I'll be putting the shop on vacation mode while I'm away so this is your last chance to place an order before I leave. Orders placed before 10PM CST tomorrow (Friday, July 30th) will be shipped on Saturday morning. Then I'm closing shop! But just until I come back on the 13th.

Be warned... everything that's available in the shop now may not be when I reopen in mid-August. So if there's something you've had your eye on... :)

And just so I don't forget what she looks like between now and when we leave for vacation, this is my recently-mostly-absent wife:

Still here...

And I've actually updated the shop twice this week!

Just a few juicy little treats for you, but something none-the-less!

Teeny tiny little earrings in carnelian and aventurine. There are a few pairs of each available (and I made a pair of each for myself!). They're great little everyday earrings. You'll forget you're even wearing them. As I mentioned, they're in the shop now. I'm still working away on some custom pieces but I wanted to make you (and me!) a little something too.

I have some very big news from last week! Our littlest peanut, Alice, took her first independent step! Those of you who know me only through my blog don't know that Alice was diagnosed with a very serious brain disorder in utero. Doctors did not expect her to survive until birth and warned us that if she did make it, there was a high probability that she would not have functional use of her arms or legs (among other just as dire predictions too numerous to list). Well, Alice is now 21 months old, crawling into all sorts of trouble, perfectly healthy, happy as a clam, and TAKING STEPS!!!

In other news... we are getting ready for a trip to Newfoundland in two weeks. I am SO excited. Most of my extended family hails from the glorious rock but I haven't been since I was teenager. I cannot wait to see it again. I cannot wait to share it with Stephanie and my girls. I cannot wait to take pictures and share them with you. I cannot wait to see all of my relatives, some of whom I haven't seen in 18 years! I can. not. wait.

I will most likely be closing the shop while I'm away. I'll post order/shipping deadlines in the next week or so. I do hope to get a couple of more items listed before I leave but I'm not sure if that will be possible. We'll see. Speaking of that, I'm off to the studio now...

xo

PS: Forgot to mention... At the request of a few people, I've added that little Google Friends widget over on the right to make it easier to follow my blog. So follow me. Please. So I don't look like such a loser! :)

So little time...

Sadly, I have no new jewelry to share with you today. I haven't had much time in the studio in the last week and the time I have had there has been spent working on a couple of custom pieces (which are not yet finished).

I have so many things I want to create and so little time for creating!

But speaking of creating, I wanted to show you this little project dreamt up and built by my 7 year old yesterday evening (with the help of our fabulous housemate, Cynthia!):

It is complete with tiny foam furniture and and a leafy bowl full of water. Now those are some happy bugs! If only they would all settle in and stay out of our flower bed...

The Bedroom Project

Ahhh... what a fantastic weekend! Full of delicious food and fabulous friends!

AND we actually finished a project! It's a miracle, really. So often we start out on these adventures and then never quite get around to completing them. Like the main floor bathroom that has been partially painted 3 (or is it 4?) times now because we never liked the color. We finally found one we liked but it's been a good two months since we painted it and still haven't done the trim.

Anyway, we had devoted Saturday to fixing up Foxy's art space/office but discovered that the only way to get my dresser out of there (the room is attached to our bedroom) and into the bedroom, was to rearrange our whole bedroom. We spent ALL DAY Saturday doing that; we stayed up until 2:00am. But the outcome was well worth it. It is now our oasis and a perfect little second living area:

We moved the bed into that little nook (which was pretty much just wasted space before) and it made room for my dresser AND our favorite chair which became homeless when we rearranged our living room a few months ago to fit in the giant storage ottoman (ahem, toybox). I'm so happy with it! We still need to get/make some new art for the walls, but I already want to spend all day in it (in fact, I believe this is the first blog post I've written from this room!)...

I love our house. It was built in 1890 and has much of the original woodwork. It's so us. At least it was until it slowly became so... toddler. But we're reclaiming it (while still keeping it toddler-friendly, of course)!  I'll have to post more photos of the rest of the house. We've lived here for 2 years but I'm falling in love with it all over again...

Of Moose and Poutine

Happy Canada Day to all my lovely Canadian friends and family!

It's homesick day to me...

But tonight we're celebrating with homemade poutine! Well, it's not really homemade... I guess assembled is more like it. For those of you non-Canadians out there, poutine is a Canadian delicacy that simply must be tried to be appreciated: French fries topped with gravy and cheese curds. Excuse me while I wipe away the drool.

Of course, there is nowhere in Kansas (that I know of!) to procure this delicious treat, so we recreate the meal of our Canadian wedding night but purchasing a giant order of Five Guys fries, topping it with a jar of Heinz homestyle turkey gravy, and muenster cheese (no cheese curds to be had around here either!). Pop in the microwave for a minute or two and enjoy this heart-stopping (um, literally!) treat. Trust me, you must try it before you judge!

On another note, I've just added this delicious treat to the etsy shop:

Red line agate, sterling silver, and punctuated by a mint green bead of aventurine.

Now don your toque and go celebrate this glorious day!

xo