The Request Line is Open! Gem Show Time Again!

I will be heading to a gem show on Jan. 6 - yippee! - and I'll be happy to take your requests with me! If you will kindly leave your requests below in the comment section that will help me keep everything together in one location and I will add them to my shopping list.

On the list so far I have Sunstone briolettes, Peruvian Opal rondelles and Kyanite ovals. Anything else you want or need just let me know!

Thanks so much! =)

UPDATE - I'll post Tuesday night/Wednesday morning with a list of all the goodies I uncovered. So please check back here to see if we had any luck with your requests =)

Weekly Scoop

I've been a bit lax in my posting the last couple days but I assure you it's not because I'm lounging around sipping away on my hot cocoa ;). And it's been 70 degrees the last 2 days and again today so not exactly hot cocoa weather - at this rate I'm going to have to will that big o' tub of hot cocoa to someone.

I've been busy retrieving cat toys ;), making and packing several last minute orders I've received, making trips to the PO, taking care of all the "kids", cleaning this house from top to bottom because I can't function properly if things aren't clean and trying to wrap up some last minute prepartions for Christmas next week. I can't believe it's almost here! "Slow as Christmas" is absolutely inapplicable these days - I swear it gets here faster and faster every year! Aside from that I have Dan's school's graduation tonight and the staff Christmas party get together afterwards at Depalma's - yummy Italian food! That always makes for a good time because we do the White Elephant gift exchange where everyone brings a gift valued around $10 and you draw numbers, choose a gift or steal a gift from someone else based on your draw. We ended up with a bird feeder last year - which I loved - but someone else ended up with a used candle. The year before we had some sort of musical snowman that played the piano... shhh! Don't tell anyone but I have no idea where that thing is now. Hopefully I'll have good news on gift front to share tomorrow. And now that I've reminded myself I need to get in there and wrap our gift for the party... I can't tell you what it is because someone might read this that will be there tonight and ruin the surprise! ;) And I need to go get cracking on two more orders that have to go out first thing in the morning too!

Hope you're about ready for the big day next week! Happy Thursday! =)

Hmmmm..

Someone's kitty toy is stuck under the stove AGAIN. And someone is giving me the "aren't I adorable and you know you want to help me face" AGAIN. This scenario plays out at least a half dozen times every day. But who can resist THAT face? I think he does it on purpose now.

And sadly I couldn't get any decent photos of the full moon Friday night to share. Hopefully you had a chance to enjoy it because it was absolutely beautiful! A bit chilly here but that just adds to it!

Saturday we spent the day in Atlanta finishing up our Christmas shopping and I'm happy to say that I am done! Now to get everything wrapped up which may be tonight's task! Hope your weekend went well!
Now off to retrieve kitty toys... AGAIN! ;)

Moon Shine!

Tonight is the biggest and brightest full moon to be seen in 15 years so be sure to get out and take a peek at it! The next time the moon will be this close won't be until 2016!

It was positively lighting up my house this morning when I awoke to let Debbie out. I thought someone had left a light on! And it should be clear as a bell tonight so hopefully I can get some great photos and share them tomorrow =).

Have a great weekend!

Blue skies again!

The rain has finally stopped! And as I was walking to the mailbox I couldn't help but notice how beautiful it was to see the little blue sky peeking out from behind the clouds. So I thought I'd share it =)... Is it just me or does that field not make you want to take off skipping through it? I guess the party's over because the cows are home. I haven't seen them for a couple of days or Buster either. Hope he's ok and his little self didn't get washed away.

And I stopped working to get up and see what all the loud chirping outside was about. I look out the window and our entire field and the neighbor's too had been taken over by thousands of black birds. I guess they were making a pit stop on their flight further south. But they're the reason I ended up taking a little break to get the mail and share these photos with you =).

Rain, rain

I would say go away but the lakes around here need it! I love the rain but this is a little excessive. We've had nearly 5 inches of rain in less than 24 hours and we're forecast to get another 1 to 2 inches today. So it's no wonder Oglethorpe county is in a flood watch.

Thank goodness my rain boots come almost up to my knees because I've needed it on my daily treks to the barn. At least the geese are having a blast!

Hope you're enjoying decent weather and if not be careful out there!

Ummm...

Who is this and why is he wearing my crown AND giving me a dirty look?!

It is cloudy, rainy and we're under a tornado watch until 3pm today so I let the little chick-a-loos out for a bit before the really nasty stuff gets here. Chick Pea, who you might recognize from my custom item listings in my little shop, doesn't seem to remember Mr. Toad who she has "met" several times before. I think it's the dirty look that's throwing her off ;).

Hopefully none of us will have to duck in the closet today but we could very well get washed away! It's pouring!

Hope you're staying dry and cozy! =)

The Best Dog Ever

Debbie (the snoring dog in my studio). And her favorite octopus toy. Who can resist the octopus face? Not me! Dan teasingly calls her "Road Kill" because I literally scooped her up out of the middle of a rural highway on my way to work one morning in November seven years ago. It's one of those things that I just think was meant to be. I barely noticed her as I was driving closer because I just saw this little pile of red fur in the middle of the opposite lane and assumed it was some poor creature that didn't quite make it across and didn't want to see much more of it. But as I got closer a truck in that lane straddled her and I saw this little head pop up. I immediately slammed on the brakes, pulled off to the side, jumped out and scooped her up. I had never smelled anything that smelled quite as bad as this tiny little thing and I could see she was missing most of her hair from mange. Which I'm guessing is why she was laying in the middle of the road - trying to soak up some heat from the pavement... either that or trying to put herself out of her misery. She was pitiful!

As I sat her on the floor of my truck and she looked at me with those tiny little pitiful puppy eyes I started formulating a plan of what to do next. I would stop by the local vet's office and ask where the nearest animal shelter was. I worked in Jackson county which is 2 counties over and 45 minutes away so I wasn't very familiar with where anything was other than where I worked. The vet informed me that there wasn't an animal shelter in that county and even if there was they wouldn't adopt out a puppy in her condition. They said I could leave her with them and they would euthanize her. Well that just wasn't option. Especially after I saw the desperation in those tiny little eyes. So I adopted that tiny, smelly, mangy puppy that cold day in November. I left her at the vet's office, told them to go ahead and treat her and I would be back to pick her up at 5:30 (which I'm sure they were all thinking "Yeah. Right"). Well that treatment turned into months of weekly trips to the vet for dips and daily oatmeal baths to cure one type of mange and keep the other genetic type she had under control. I remember calling Dan on my way home that day and telling him "It looks like we have another pet". And he said "Oh lord. What is it?" Because I'm known to bring home all sorts of critters. I told him it was a puppy and she had some "issues" but it wasn't anything that we couldn't fix right up ;). He wasn't exactly thrilled when he saw her "issues" and he honestly didn't think she would make it but obviously she did and now he is absolutely in love with her. I don't think a day goes by that I don't hear him saying "I love this dog! She's the best dog ever!" =)

Mandy says...

"Thank you" for her hay! And this is why I do what I do - well besides the fact that I love it but if it weren't for them I probably wouldn't do this on the scale that I do now. My work supports all the critters here on our little farm including vet bills, feed and the occassional treat which can add up to quite a bit this time of year. Hay has been steadily increasing in price due to the drought we've been having here in the south and the rising fuel costs we experienced this summer. I bought hay this past fall at $6.25 a bale and when you need 100 bales to get through the winter well that's quite a bit of green they're chewing up out there! But I wouldn't trade them for anything. I love Mandy (aka My Woman) and all my "kids" more than I can express but she and I have a special bond. I bought her when she was 6 and I was 19 and that was nearly 18 years ago. I had wanted a horse since I could actually speak the word horse - which my mom claims was my first word ;). I asked for a horse for every occassion I could possibly imagine getting a gift - I even asked the Easter Bunny to bring me a horse instead of an Easter basket. And when I was in elementary school I wouldn't wear any clothing (including socks, undies and pjs) unless it had horses on it. Drove my poor mom batty! Luckily Jordache was all the rage then and I think I wore the same 2 pairs of jeans with horses running across the pockets every single day. To be at least a tiny bit cooperative I would settle for unicorns too. I had the most extensive My Little Pony collection and I still have my Breyer horse collection. I would get extra credit from my 4th grade teacher, Mrs. Nash, because I used the word pony or horse in every single sentence that we had to construct with our daily vocabulary list. It didn't matter what the word was I always found a way to incorporate horses into it. For some reason I still remember the sentence I used for the word "quality". I wrote "If you own a horse and ride alot you will need a quality saddle." To say I was obsessed would have been an understatement.

Of course no one ever bought me a horse because we really didn't have anywhere to keep one. I begged my parents to let me have one and keep it at my grandparents (which my grandparents agreed to) but mom said it wouldn't be fair to ask them to take care of a horse. There was no way we could get over there every day during the week and deep down I knew she was right. So as a teenager instead of saving up for clothes or a car I saved up my money to buy a horse and pay for her board. Shortly after I bought her my parents closed on a house that had 8 acres and a barn and I was ecstatic! After months of trekking back and forth between my house and her boarding facility Mandy could finally come home and live with me! My boyfriend at the time was getting increasingly jealous that I was spending more time in the barn and riding than I was with him. So he bought his own horse, King (pictured above with Louis in the barn), so he could join us I suppose. Mandy doesn't much like human men and she never approved of him. If he even attempted to ride her she would immediately try to buck him off. I learned to trust her judgement in men and always introduced her to my dates - call me crazy but she was and still is an excellent judge of human character. And when she said Dan was a keeper well he's a keeper ;). Anyway the ex-boyfriend and I obviously parted ways but I couldn't bear to part with King and neither could Mandy so I acquired him on a trade out deal of sorts. We had bought a horse trailer together so the deal I proposed was that he keep the trailer and sell it and I'd keep King. So 18 years later and a move to the other side of the state here we are. We don't do much riding any longer because King is nearing 30 and has arthritis (he did alot of barrel racing in his younger days) and I don't think his sight is anywhere near what it used to be because he gets startled quite easily now. These days our riding is pretty much limited to a leisurely stroll around the lake here and that's perfectly ok with me because I enjoy their company more than anything else. So again all of us here at the little farm say "Thank you" to those who help support us and those wishing us well too! =)

This is why...

I should never be allowed to go to Sam's Club at certain times of the month.

I think I have enough hot cocoa and Tootsie Rolls now to last me into the next century. So if you don't hear from me tomorrow it would be safe to assume that I'm in a sugar induced chocolate coma ;).

And on a happy (not sugar induced note) my desktop computer is finally well again! Yea! After many, many hours on the phone with Microsoft and McAfee, some new anti-virus software and a little chunk of change it's back to normal! Thank goodness! Now I should be able to list some new work this week =).

Hope you're having a good weekend! And if you ever need to borrow any cocoa mix you know who to call.

My Neck of the Woods - The Neighbors- Part 3

This little (well it's not exactly little) piece of history belongs to Mr. Norman and Mrs. Linda our next door neighbors. And when I say next door neighbors what I really mean is the property that directly adjoins our property. They have 75 acres so I don’t really have a view of their house from where we are. I can see their horse pasture, complete with the white wooden fences, 2 of their barns and in the winter if I squint just right I can see the back of the house and their patio from my back yard.
The house itself was built prior to the civil war sometime in the 1820’s or 30’s and it has survived 2 fires and obviously the wrath of time. It’s also on the national registry of historic homes. Some of the original outbuildings are still standing too including the carriage house and the slave quarters. Mr. Norman and Mrs. Linda have been working hard to restore it for the last 8 years and they’ve said they plan to retire there.

They don’t actually live there now- it’s their “weekend home”- so we don’t really see them on a regular basis. They live and work right outside of Atlanta and come visit on a semi-regular monthly basis. They have a small crew of people who work there daily feeding and caring for the horses and keeping the property up (must be nice right?;). They’ve also hosted several weddings and most recently a memorial service for one of our neighbors that passed away. The last wedding was a couple of months back – I think September – and Dan and I laid in our upstairs bed making wagers about what typical wedding song the DJ was going to play next. We sleep with our windows open in the summer and into late fall so it was almost like we were at the wedding ourselves. We both started laughing when we heard “Brown Eyed Girl” because we kept saying that it had to be next. But mostly it’s pretty quiet around here and that’s how we like it =).

See you next time!

Irony

Apparently whatever I had last week was contagious to computers. It decided to get sick Sunday night right before Cyber Monday. I just had to laugh because honestly what are the odds of that happening on the busiest online shopping day of the year and in conjunction with my first ever sale? In the 15 or so years I've owned a computer I've never had one contract a virus before. I guess you could have called me lucky up until Sunday night. So after multiple phone calls with lengthy conversations with folks at AOL, Dell and Microsoft and multiple several hour computer scans it's still sick. I guess we'll be taking it into the computer hospital this weekend. Thankfully I have a laptop otherwise I'd be up the creek without a paddle as they say!

I almost felt like I was back at my days as a head of store working retail on Black Friday. It seemed like whatever could go wrong on that day usually did. I always tried to have back up plans but when the computers and registers crash on that day and you have to write every receipt up by hand and key everything in later... well there's just no plan in the world good enough to keep things running smoothly then! Oh I could tell some tales about managing a high volume/high traffic store on the day after Thanksgiving... like the time someone decided to use the floor as a restroom (and I'm not talking about a little tinkle either - and I cleaned it up because I just couldn't bring myself to ask someone else to) or the customer throwing a shoe and hitting one of our sales clerks in the head or the old man walking down the side of the road dressed only in ladies underwear that I passed at 4am on my way into work the last Black Friday I worked ;)... yes I'll take computers with viruses on Cyber Monday any time!

Me, some wire, a hammer, pretty gemstones...

Several pairs of pliers, 3 cats, a snoring dog and 2 chirping chicks. That pretty much sums up my day in the studio today=). The "sale" continues to keep us busy (and by us I mean me, the cats, the dog and the chicks) although they aren't really much help but they sure are cute to look at and I guess they did keep my lap warm ;).

Hope your "Cyber" Monday went well whether that means lots of sales for your online business or finding that perfect gift for someone special! =)

Busy Bee

I've been a busy little bee today - or more like a little elf up in my studio working away! The first day of my first official sale was pretty successful and I've still got a few pending orders to take care of before I can call it night. But it seems as though all my planning is paying off! And it was a cold, rainy day so it was the perfect setting to work away in my warm little upstairs studio. Glad I had some work to keep me busy! Here's to hoping tomorrow brings more of the same!

Hope you had a wonderful Sunday! =)

Sneak Peek!

Here's a little preview of some of the goodies I'll be offering at 50% off to celebrate my first official "SALE" which starts tomorrow! These won't be listed until then but you're getting the first peek! These little pearl danglies are entitled "Mellow" and will be just $9.50! These are the perfect danglies for that hard to buy for younger girl on your list or anyone who prefers petite earrings! They are the "Solitude" earrings and I'll be listing them in Garnet shown below with the polished/oxidized finish, Smoky Quartz and Citrine and Labradorite with a heavily oxidized finish. They will be $8.50 for 3 days only!

In addition to the deals listed above I'll also be offering this special:

Spend $30 – 49.99 take $5 off*
Spend $50 – 99.99 take $10 off*
Spend $100 + take $15 off *

* Does not include shipping fees

Hope to see you soon! And happy shopping! =)

My kind of Black Friday Shopping

This was definitely my kind of Black Friday shopping today =). After we spent the first half of Thanksgiving day with Dan's family in Sandy Cross we hopped in the car and drove 2 hours to the north Georgia mountains to my Aunt and Uncle's log cabin in Blue Ridge to spend the second half of the day and the night with my family. We got up this morning had some pancakes, blueberry muffins, coffee, fed the fish in my uncle's pond and then took a stroll around downtown to do a little shopping. My uncle knows me all too well because he couldn't wait to take me to the local feed and seed store and now I hate to say it but I think I have a new favorite feed store! It's too bad it's a 2 hour drive away! But this little lady, Baby, was their "desk clerk" and yes that is a blue bow in her "hair". How stinking cute is she?

And this little man was their "security guard". He sat perched up high watching everyone come and go. He would occasionally hop down to take a little stroll to make sure everything was in place but every now and then I'd catch him slacking and dozing off. Kinda reminded me of the little old security guard that we had at the local mall back home ;).

But finally some more folks who get my obsession with chickens!

And of course I couldn't leave empty handed and who could resist these little cuties?! So please meet Thelma and Louise (which also happens to be my mom's name - although she wasn't quite as amused as I was that I honored her by naming one of my "kids" after her ;) . These little sweeties rode all the way back home with me in my lap and they'll be my new studio helpers for the next several weeks cause it's just too darn cold outside for little babies right now!

Hope you had a happy Thanksgiving!

Inside Scoop

Today is all about finishing up some new pieces I'm working on and making pecan pies for tomorrow's Thanksgiving dinner! Yummy!

I'll be listing a couple of new pieces at special prices ($8-$10) valid for 3 days only starting this Sunday - then the prices go back up on Wednesday! In conjuction I'll be having my first official "Sale" in my jewelry shop. Stop by Sunday to see what the sale is!

In the meantime here's my recipe for Pecan Pies if you'd like to try it!http://jnicdesigns.blogspot.com/2008/11/almost-time.html

Happy Turkey Day everyone since I won't see you tomorrow! I'll be traveling to the Blue Ridge Mountains w/ my pecan pies to visit the family =).

It's a Beautiful Day

Bright, clear blue skies - the perfect back drop to the plump little yellow berries on my China Berry tree. It's too bad I don't feel up to enjoying it. I think I'm trying to come down with the flu or a cold =(. So instead of enjoying the beautiful weather outside I think I'm going to curl up in my big chair next to the window and enjoy it inside with a couple of books, a big glass of orange juice and a bottle of Nyquil. And hopefully nip this thing in the bud - I've got pecan pies to make tomorrow gosh darn it! And I'm trying to get several new pieces listed in my jewelry shop before this weekend. I refuse to be sick!
Hope you're enjoying lovely weather!

The City of New Orleans

Dan and I get wild hairs sometimes and just decide to hop in the car and go places (depending on if we can get a sitter for the furry "kids" too of course ;) . We have a few favorites and New Orleans is one of them. I LOVE that city! It's just full of history, entertainment, great food, interesting people, beautiful art.. I could go on and on. So we hopped in the car, drove 7 hours and spent this past weekend there.

We strolled around town, did a bit of shopping in the French Quarter and stopped off at Cafe Du Monde for beignets and coffee. I highly recommend not wearing black there! Lesson learned.

Stayed out a bit too late on Bourbon Street and now I'm downing my 3rd cup of coffee this morning trying to make up for it ;).

Hope you had a great weekend!

Thursday Morning Meeting

Apparently we're having a meeting this morning. Not sure what's being discussed between my horses, Mr. Norman's horses and Buster but Buster has alot to say as usual. You can't really see his little self in this photo but trust me he's there. Right behind that big cedar tree on the other side of the road. I'll let you know if I hear anything good though ;).

Daily Scoop - Wednesday

It is down right cold here today! In the 20's which is unheard of this time of year so I had to dig out my big wooly socks and flannel pj's last night and I've already had 2 huge cups of hot coffee this morning. But I have to admit I love it! I'll take the cold over the sweltering heat of the summer any day. You can always put more clothes on but there's only so many you can take off without having someone call the police on you ;).

Today is errand day for me. I've got to head into town to the feed store to pick up horse feed, chicken feed and a salt block. Stop by our little post office, say hi to Andrea and get some packages on their way (thank you!=) and pick up some packaging to wrap my mom's birthday gift which is Monday (happy early birthday mom!). Oh and go trade my cell phone in which I think may be older than me ;). I'm crossing my fingers my old truck will crank in this cold! It's been awhile since either one of us has had to deal with temperatures this cold!

Another little tid bit you might be interested in - because what could be more interesting than our weather and my errands ;) - is that I am contemplating running after Thanksgiving sales in my little shops. I very very rarely run sales so this may be my first "official" sale ever. I'll have another posting here early next week with the details.. until then I hope you're staying warm!

My Neck of the Woods - Part 2 - The (Neigh)bors

I'd like to introduce you to Buster (at least that's what I've nicknamed him) and his exercise partners (but not by their choice). They live directly across the road from me on Mr. JB's (I'll refer to all my neighbors by their first names only - you know, for privacy's sake;) farm which consists of about 500 acres, a couple of barns, a pond or two, a few broken down tractors, a few working tractors and a truckload of firewood that is always for sale at the entrance road.

Buster just sort of appeared here one day running down the side of the road so Mr. JB corraled him into his pasture and posted "Found Pony" signs up and down the road and in alot of the local businesses around town. No one ever responded. So we speculated that either Buster's owners couldn't care for him any longer and just turned him out or he was so darn mean and onery they ran him off and didn't want him back. Now Buster spends his days chasing the poor cows (who seem to be in much better shape) up and down the hills and speaking incessantly to my horses who don't seem to have much to say in return. My horses are like an old retired couple and I don't think they have much use for his nonsense.

Next week I'll see if I can introduce you to my next door neighbors - Mr. Norman (not to be confused with the previously mentioned Mr. Norman who is the county extension agent - funny how both my neighbors on each side are named Norman) and Mrs. Linda. They own the old southern plantation home that they've been working on restoring for the last 8 years.

Until then happy trails!

Pieces of me

It’s often assumed that I grew up on a farm but actually I grew up in a subdivision surrounded by houses on every side. I think I was born with an affinity for living on a farm though and I probably inherited that from my mom’s parents. They had a little 5 acre farm where my grandfather raised goats, a garden where they grew most of their produce for the year, pear and apple trees, a little creek that ran through their property where I’d collect crawdaddies (crawfish as most people know them), seemed they always had at least one cow and he always had 5 or 6 Beagles. Running rabbits, as he called it, was a favorite past time even though it did not meet my approval. I remember having "talks", or more like lectures, with his dogs and telling them they absolutely could not/should not harm any bunnies. There were times when they had chickens and the occasional pig but my grandfather had a fondness in particular to goats. I spent nearly every weekend there and most days during summer vacation preferring that to staying home and playing with all the kids in the neighborhood. I’d call my granddaddy and ask if I could come over and even though my mom would say “They may have other things to do today” his answer was always the same – “Sure little buddy!” I was his corn shucking, bean shelling, tomato picking, dog feeding, goat herding buddy and I loved every minute of it. My grandfather passed away in 1997 but I know he’d be right at home here (and sometimes I think he is) on Wolf Skin Road helping me collect all the pecans that have made their way to the ground.

Cluck Cluck

I've had a couple of requests to share more chicken mugshots so here you go! Say "hi" to Mona =)

A (breakfast) Room with a View

It has finally stopped raining here after 3 days. Although I quite enjoy the rain it puts a bit of a damper (pun intended ;) on my schedule of photographing some of my new work. So I should finally be able to get my Silent Night earrings listed on Monday barring any other unforecasted surprises from Mother Nature.
But today the sky is blue and the sun is peaking through white fluffy clouds and I think it's a great day for some pancakes, eggs and coffee. So come join us. I've saved you a seat right across from the window =).

My Neck of the Woods - Part 1 - The big city of Arnoldsville

I thought I might share with you each week little nuggets about where I live, my neighbors and any other little interesting tid bits that happen, have happened or will happen in "my neck of the woods". But before I introduce you to the neighbors I'll give you a little bit of insight about where we call home. I'm in one of the more rural (and older) counties, Oglethorpe, in the state of Georgia in a tiny little town called Arnoldsville. Population 336. I know our post master by name - Andrea, our mail carrier, Peggy, who has an affinity for my fresh eggs and takes extra special care to be sure my packages get to where they're going =), the county extension agent, Mr. Norman, is one of our neighbors and I think you get the idea.

The county itself was founded in 1793 and named after James Edward Oglethorpe, who as you may know was the founder of the colony of Georgia back in 1733. There are 5 little towns in Oglethorpe county - Arnoldsville, Crawford (our neighboring town which actually has a bank, gas stations, a Chicken Express and my favorite feed store ;), Lexington (the county seat), Maxeys and Stephens. We're about 75 miles east of Atlanta and about 15 miles east of Athens, where Dan commutes to work each day and home of the University of Georgia, where we both graduated college. We have no red lights, no gas stations, no banks. The one little restaurant we did have, Momma's Place, closed down about 8 months ago. We do have a little post office, a volunteer fire department, a few very lovely pre-civil war historic homes (one which happens to be our next door neighbor), lots of lovely scenery and that brand new water tower you see above. If I remember correctly the water tower was erected about a year and a half ago but the pipelines haven't quite made it out to where we are yet. We still use a well for our water. But don't worry - it's electric ;).

Now that you have a bit of background on my neck of the woods I look forward to introducing you to some of the goings on around here in the next few weeks ;).

Daily Scoop - Friday

After quite a few loud Journey and REM songs, two huge glasses of iced tea, a basket of fried pickles and some chips and queso you are looking at the Thursday night World of Wings Trivia champions! So my wealth of useless knowledge helped to pay off in the form of a $50 gift certificate... looks like more fried pickles and iced tea coming soon. We had to battle it out against "Your Momma" and "The Buttery Elvis's" or should that be Elvi? ;) but we ended up pulling out the win by 24 points. The other 6 teams didn't pose much of a threat... those college kids are gonna have to study up on their useless facts before next time ;).

Oddly enough one of the questions was "what is the Moh's scale used to measure?". I wouldn't really classify that as useless knowledge since it measures the hardness of minerals and that little tid bit of information comes in quite handy to me almost on a daily basis!

Another random question was "if bovine refers to cattle what does ovine refer to?"... of course everyone at the table turns to me for the answer (they're all city folk ;)... if you don't know it I'll let you guess or you can cheat and see the answer in the comment section below =).

It's another cold, rainy day here - perfect for staying indoors and getting the creative juices flowing, my coffee is gone and the "kids" are waiting on their breakfast so until next time...
Happy Friday everyone!

Daily Scoop - Thursday

Today is one of those rainy, cloudy, lazy days that I really enjoy. Except I can't be lazy. But that's ok because these are the perfect days to sit up in my studio and create and not feel guilty for not being outdoors. But before I can do that I've got to make a run to our little post office, order some packaging supplies, finish up the earrings for the Silent Night Collection I'm debuting this week, polish up the bracelet and necklace in the same collection and hopefully get them photographed and listed this afternoon. I'm going to need the cooperation of the weather though to get my photos done - I'll have to see what Mother Nature says about my request ;). And then later this evening it's out to meet Dan and some of his co-workers for a birthday dinner and trivia. I usually do pretty well at trivia because apparently I'm full of useless information - did you know that a group of geese on the ground is a gaggle and a group of geese in the air is a skein? See. I have no idea how or why I know that.

Enjoy your day!

Fall, falling, fell..

Even though it's cloudy, cold and a bit windy here today I just couldn't help but notice how beautiful the leaves looked against the grey skies. So I grabbed my little camera and took a few photos... here's one of my favorite places and where you'll find me every morning - my barn =).

It seems like a great day to wander off and munch on a grill cheese and sip a bowl of soup...

see you next time!

Inside Scoop

More sterling silver coming to the little Loft shop next week! Including square lobster clasps, satellite chain, larger size spring rings (which are hard to come by), rubber earring back clutches and the ever elusive disc chain. I had the toughest time finding a supplier that kept the sterling disc chain in stock on a regular basis but I found one at my last wholesale show so I just ordered a ton - and at a really good price too!

If anyone ever has any requests for gems or sterling supplies I always welcome them!

Have a happy Wednesday! =)

Naked Chicks

Well not entirely! My little ladies are molting so they look like vagabond chickens at the moment. I think they get a complex about it too because they stop laying during this process and me telling them they look like little hobos probably doesn't help either ;).

But I have quite the collection of feathers now... I've been thinking about listing them but I have no idea what the going rate on vagabond chicken feathers is these days.

Happy Veteran's Day!

Stuff your Stocking!

I've been working like a little elf all weekend (well Saturday anyway;) at my bench on some new pieces that would make great little stocking stuffers with prices coming in under $23. I'll be listing a few of these today with more to come this week!

I'm also working on a new little collection I've entitled "Silent Night" which features a soothing, softly romantic combination of silvery white keishi pearls, seed pearls, Moonstone and oxidized sterling silver. The photo above is the bracelet in the collection which is still a work in progress... he still needs oxidizing, polishing and a few other finishing touches but look for this collection to debut this week!

Newest new member..

Hanna. This little wild ball of grey was found meowing like there was no tomorrow under my deck one stormy Saturday afternoon in late August. We decided to name her after one of the two tropical storms/hurricanes that had been brewing in the Gulf of Mexico that weekend. If she was a girl obviously she would be Hanna and if a boy we were going to name him Gus after Hurricane Gustav. A trip to the vet that Monday confirmed my suspicions that we had a little girl on our hands - I don't try to guess any more because the last few times I did that I ended up with a girl kitty named Howard, a male duck named Lilly and a female goat named Norman ;).

But I'm guessing someone decided I needed another kitty (I already had 2 - Jackson and Alley) and dumped her out here. I haven't seen an adult cat outside around here in months - probably a year - because they seem to be a favorite meal of the coyotes that live on the 500 acres across the road. Needless to say my kitties spend all their time indoors although I could desperately employ a barn cat!

Almost time..

For PECAN PIE! Yum! Yum! Yum! We have 10 pecan trees here on the little farm with 8 of them producing nuts this year (sometimes they decide to take a year off for vacation I think ;). So plenty to share!














It has become a tradition that I bring pecan pies made with our home grown pecans and fresh eggs from my little chickies to Thanksgiving dinner.. my whole family looks forward to them!
Here's the recipe if you'd like it try it - I typically double it for 2 pies:
PECAN PIE
3 eggs
1 cup corn syrup
2/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup of butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/4 cups of pecan halves
Beat eggs lightly w/ a fork. Stir in corn syrup, sugar, butter and vanilla. Stir well. Stir in pecan halves.
Place a pastry lined 9 inch pie plate on the oven rack (you can make your own pie crust which I do sometimes or if I'm feeling lazy the frozen ones at your local grocery work well too - just be sure to get the deep dish variety!). Pour filling into pie plate. Cover edges of the pie crust with foil and bake in oven at 350 for 25 minutes.
Remove foil and bake for another 25 minutes or until knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool and then enjoy!

* As a little side note if you mention "pecan" in the notes to seller in either of my shops I'll refund the shipping to you now through Thanksgiving (Nov. 27)! =)

Back in the Saddle

Or so they say ;) ... Stay tuned for updates about both my Etsy shops and a little bit about me thrown in here and there =).
The first little piece 'o news is I will start offering commercial sterling silver findings and chains in my little Loft. I have got a couple of pieces listed already with more to come in the upcoming weeks. I'm also thinking of adding a small collection of some of my hand crafted findings starting with the earwires you see in the pair above. So stay tuned!

Hooky!

So this is where I spent the day yesterday - on top of Blood Mountain in the North East Georgia mountains =). The weather here has been so nice and spring like the last few days that I just had a mad case of spring fever and couldn't take it anymore! Especially since the forecast is for rain this weekend. So me, Dan and Debbie (our pooch) loaded up in the truck and headed for the hills for a little day hike and now I'm paying it for this morning! But it's back to "work" for me today! Hope spring time finds you soon if it hasn't already! =)

Newest Addition

So this is Jackson the newest member of our little homestead =). He just appeared one day on the carport of my friend Michelle's house. Apparently word must have gotten out that she's good at finding kitties new homes because they keep finding their way to her doorstep!
He's made himself right at home here the last two weeks and his favorite past time is trying to catch my fish through the glass. The fish have figured out he can't get to them so now they swim by and taunt him - it's too bad I don't have a video camera because it's quite funny!

And obviously I have been slacking on updating my blog so I'm trying to get back at it! I've had quite a bit going on over the last few months!
My parents moved over the holidays. They finally sold their old home to the GA DOT =( - see my previous post about eminent domain, found a new home and moved in over Thanksgiving weekend. So we were back and forth between here and Rome (a 2 hour drive) ALOT over the holidays! Dan had a bout with the flu followed by Bronchitis so I had to baby him for a bit ;), we took a little weekend get-away trip to the Smoky Mountains in Jan and we've been actively searching for a bigger piece of land to possibly build a new home on one day. Add all that to the normal routine of taking care of our little farm and all the critters and it turns into quite a busy few months! And now I'm excited to announce I will be opening a second shop on Etsy in the next couple of weeks to share some of my gemstone goodies with everyone! So be on the lookout for updates and when to come visit me at jNicLoft to take a peek at some of the goodies I've been stashing away!