New Stuff

I finished these a couple of days ago... should be listed soon in ye old jewelry shoppe. I have several more rings nearly completed; just have to find the time to give them a good buff-n-polish (that sounds dirty).

Rainbow moonstone & recycled sterling silver ring

Violet chalcedony, rainbow moonstone, & sterling silver necklace

Ouch.

Okay, so I am not one of those people who notices and remembers prices on every item in the grocery store. I don't clip coupons. I don't drive all the way across town to save five cents a pound on potatoes or whatever. However, even I have noticed the incredible spike in food prices lately. Today I spent ELEVEN DOLLARS on four organic red bell peppers, and my two five-pound bags of flour (one white, one white whole wheat) were around eight bucks each! If I remember correctly, just a few short months ago, they were about half that much. And the flour wasn't even organic, although it was purchased at one of our local natural food stores, which I'm sure is more expensive than the regular grocery store. Yowza!

What are you all doing to cope with this? I know for me, it's strengthening my resolve to put in a much larger vegetable garden next year. Beyond that, I'm at a loss...

Slaughterhouses - Bad for People, Too.

It shouldn't surprise anyone to hear that working in a slaughterhouse has terrible repercussions for workers and their families; numerous studies have shown this to be true. Slaughterhouse employees often display physical, emotional, and psychological problems, and these problems are commonly brought home to their families in the form of depression, physical abuse, emotional abuse, alcohol and/or drug abuse, etc.

I noticed this story today about a Georgia man who has apparently held his family (wife and four children) hostage in their home for years. In passing, the author of the article mentions that the accused works at a 'poultry processing plant' (now there's a euphemism if I've ever heard one). Wouldn't it be great if, instead of the usual same-old-same-old sensationalized news coverage duplicated endlessly on every media outlet, some free-thinking journalist opted to actually delve deeper and use this latest incident to explore the links between violence towards animals and violence towards people?

A girl can dream.

Oh, and by the way, if this is a subject that interests you, I highly recommend the book Slaughterhouse by Gail Eisnitz.

Ta-da!!!

I was very excited when I made this moissanite wedding ring a little while ago... Well, it sold (hooray!), and the bride and groom also commissioned a wedding band to go with the engagement ring. I finished that today; here they are together -


I'm really happy with how both rings turned out, and the moissanite is SO sparkly! I hope it will bring many years of wedded bliss to the happy couple. :-)

New Beads

To be listed soon in my bead shop...

Tsavorite garnet rondelles

Sapphire rondelles

Multicolored tourmaline button beads

Faceted green tourmaline rondelles

Large multicolored tourmaline rondelles

Faceted amethyst rondelles

Faceted apatite rondelles

Faceted chrysoprase rondelles

Faceted peach moonstone rondelles

Faceted apatite rondelles

Faceted peridot rondelles

Chick Pic(s) of the Day

The cutest thing happened today. I laid (lay? layed?) down on the porch for a moment to soak up some sun and take some chicken-eye-view pictures, and within a minute or two, one of the new chickens snuggled up right next to me.


In case you can't tell what you're looking at, that's my turquoise shirt, black capri pants, hairy leg, and a white chicken butt. I think the sun was too hot for her though, because she soon moved on to a shady spot. (I refuse to consider it might have been a personal affront.)

I love free stuff.

Matt and I have been wanting to get an outdoor loveseat/rocking chair-type thing for a while since we spend a lot of time sitting outside watching the chickens lately, but the desire hadn't been strong enough to plunk down the cash for one yet. That turned out to be a good thing because Matt scored this one for free last week! Well, just the frame, which he painted and attached wood slats to. Some cushions from Target (alas, not free) completed the look and now the three of us can rock to our hearts' content while chicken- and duck- watching. :-)