What's Been Happenin'

Wow...been busy, busy, busy!!!!

Started out last Thursday, the 3rd, I went up by Manhattan and picked up my cousin, Shon. She was showing me their new barn/stables when I saw this ox yoke hanging there. Oh-oh!!!! So I had to go talk to Charlie (her husband) about it, and wound up bringing it home with me. I love it!! It's about 50 inches wide, and will require at least 40 inches vertically. I may not get it up til spring as I want to sand a little and then put tung oil or something on it. I'm thinking probably the back wall of my dining room...but friends say the side wall of the living room. We'll see.....







Then Shon and I went on to Becky's (Shon's sister, my cousin) at Maple Hill. Both Shon and Becky have incredible talent! I didn't take the time to take photos at Shon's but she does awesome work as well. But these are a few (and I do mean FEW) of the gorgeous wood carvings that Becky has done. My photos are a little confusing sometimes as I was shooting against a mirror and sometimes through glass besides. Just incredible...even the leaves are carved or "formed" by hand. Everything looks so real you expect them to move. Both Shon and Becky are wood carvers and compete in shows and do quite well. And you can surely see why!!!!









This last one is definitely one of my favorites. The little chickadee and the blue bird on the same piece of aspen (which is also carved!!)....WOW!!!! She calls it something like Mountain Song....as both birds are found like this quite often in Colorado (I hope that's accurate!?!?! It's been a long, full week and I may not have my facts straight.)

Anyway, the three of us had a wonderful visit. We laughed and laughed til we were crying. It was a most relaxing, entertaining, fun-filled day I've had in quite a while...and I totally enjoyed it.



Then Saturday my friend Pat who does Iris-folding greeting cards and I shared a booth at the Hutch Rec Craft Fair held at Trinity Methodist Church. I think someone said there were 15 jewelry booths out of a total of 30 booths. I had a great day. Sales were pretty good. I think maybe the gals in the booth behind us (who sold jewelry) weren't real happy with me, but I can't help that. People that like sterling silver, like sterling silver! And Pat had a very successful day with her cards as well.

Monday was my big Christmas Open House Craft Fair here at my home. I wound up with eleven vendors: beaded jewelry, sterling silver jewelry, embroidered tea towels +, goats' milk soaps, antiques, Pappardelle's pasta, purses, metal art, Scentsy candles, candies & baked goodies, and Iris-folding greeting cards. The weather was NOT cooperative. It was very, very cold!!!! And by late afternoon had turned to snow! We didn't have a huge crowd, but still it wasn't too bad. Everyone did ok I think. Everyone made a little...some made a little more! But the best of it was the entertainment. Who had time for customers anyway...we were too busy laughing at each other and telling stories!!!! And there were some FUNNY stories!!!

I won't go into all the details here, but Mark...the goats' milk soap guy...has 27 goats and does all his production himself, except the packaging which his mother-in-law does. He's a hoot!!!! He was telling stories about goats that kept us all in stitches!

Tuesday was "carpet cleaning" day...and cold and snowy...as was Wednesday when I was supposed to do a trunk show at a local tanning salon. I postponed it until next Wednesday. Today was the first day I've had my car out of the garage since early Monday morning. Our snow wasn't necessarily all that deep (I've heard 1"...and I've heard nearly 3") but the roads looked pretty slick and it was VERY cold, so I just stayed home!

Life is good overall. I count my blessings...and I hope you'll count yours too. If you ever think you've got it bad, look around. You'll most likely see you're pretty blessed! With that, good night.