Here's a Health to the Company

Kind friends and companions come join me in rhyme
Come lift up your voices in chorus with mine
Come lift up your voices all grief to refrain
For we may or might never all meet here again

So here's a health to the company and one to my lass
Let's drink and be merry all out of one glass
Let's drink and be merry, all grief to refrain
For we may or might never all meet here again



Happy New Year to you and yours. There is no time like the present.

A Reprive: Charleston Flowers

For Christmas we got rain, lots of windswept, sideways rain. In many ways it reminded me of our honeymoon :lol: Seems like this year is just a wash, literally. Unfortunately between all the running around we did over the last 4 days I did not bother to take my camera because honestly it's one more thing to cart around. I can not wait till I can convince Chris that we only need to go to 2 family events for the Holidays, not 8.

In any case here's something to cheer you up if where you're at happens to be a bit dull and grey right now :)
This was snapped at the Boone Hall Plantation. It was a very wet and chilly day, but it made for a vibrant picture.




I hope to have some more crafty pictures up in the coming week :) It's going to be very busy for me since I have some rare down time from the 9-5.

A Reprive: Charleston Vegitation?

Charleston, with it's temperate climate is different. It's wetter, milder and downright odd. I found more fungi in Charleston than I ever did in any mid-Ohio backwood.



And there are ferns everywhere. It felt primeval. Marshy, bog-like, moist....well moist because it also rained alot on all of our outdoor treks. (I secretly hate the word 'moist').

But this was my favorite fungus. I have no idea what kind it is, but it's cool.

I Have Nothing Wise To Add

My "9-5" is unbelievably stressful at the moment. I've been buried under heaps of work that no one else can do. This is very unfortunate for me as I'd much rather be crafting and attending to business as it were. Adding to the "overwhelmed" feeling was the fact I forgot my house keys in the hubby's car (thank God for a spare set), the first dusting of snow that caused me to get stuck on the highway for 50 min. and driving another 20 min to work to be late a total of 2 hours, and then getting even MORE non-prioritized work that seems to be "very pressing" to upper management. But enough moping. I have to earn my keep for now :lol:

So here's a cat in a corner.

A Reprive: Charleston Ironworks

I didn't really talk a whole lot about our Honeymoon to Charleston, SC, so I'd thought instead I'd share some of the best pictures (that I have) of our trip to the south.

Charleston has a real obsession with iron. Very ornamental iron. It's on every single house that lines the inner city. I think what amazed me the most was the symmetry of each piece. Perfect symmetry is one of the most catching things to anyone's eye.









But the most interesting find was this gothic goat head door knocker.

I love it. Maybe because it seems devilish. Charleston has over 100 active congregations in the "Holy City" so finding this piece of work makes me curious about the darker side of Charleston.

Rollin' Rollin Rollin, Keep Those Doggies Rollin'!

In the beginning. There were dogs. And dogs were good and loyal and it was good.
Then came the ornaments and alot of people thought that was REALLY



REALLY




REALLY good - wait that's a cat....cats aren't "good" are they?



In any case, this is what I've been up to. And really this herd of ornaments shipped out earlier this week and there's STILL more to be made. I can't help but feel a bit sad that this year I may not be able to join in the Christmas madness "retail-wise" simply because Christmas came undoubtedly early on Tumus. Trust me there's many other things I want to be making for this shop, but the sheer volume is quite staggering at the moment. Even over my Thanksgiving break I've been working nearly all day to complete orders early!

Do I dare list a few dog ornaments again? Do I dare swamp myself with more orders? For once I find myself damning my "9-5" job and it's 8 hour shifts. It takes away valuable time I need to help people. That makes me very sad too. Can I stand on my own? Is this just the pre-Christmas rush at it's finest?
*pout* I need to figure it out.
I have a small and modest waiting list of customers who still very much want their own pup ornament so they come first when I finish the last ornament from this rush. They have been loyal enough to stick it out with me so far and that deserves something really, really, really good.

FEAST!

Well kind of lol.

Remember these? The Great Mouse Rolls of Thanksgiving 2008?




Well they didn't make it into the batch this year, but I did get to break in my lovely new mixer. If ever there were a time to initiate an appliance, Thanksgiving would be the pinnacle of hazing for all new mixers.
Making overnight rolls requires that copious amount of flour be dusted on all manner of objects, including me. But Kitchen Aid thankfully foresaw this "doom" and provided me with a flour shield. Thus my kitchen was spared, er, mostly.



This mixer is seriously the love of my life right now.....but don't tell Chris that. I also love King Arthur Flour. I'm ashamed to admit that I originally fell in love with this flour because of the name :lol: I mean come on, KING ARTHUR FLOUR!? How epic.
But then I reasoned with myself. A girl can not love a flour for it's name alone, nay, I also love it for the quality and care with which this mill produces all it's varieties of flour from. It's high quality and makes for such awesome baked goods.




In any case, happy Nom Nom Day/Turkey Day/Stuff Yourself Full Day if you reside here in the States :)