Motoring along....(image heavy!)

This is a very disjointed blog post - I am still trying to get used to my new laptop...moving pics around and inserting text is killing me!!!

So, what have I been up to? Well, we had a nice long weekend - We spent part of the weekend raking and bagging leaves - 19 bags so far, packed VERY full...more to go...

LG was a BIG help, he raked and bagged, and took a couple of small breaks. :) I was really impressed with how hard he worked. It was a beautiful day - hard to believe that it is almost December!

I've talked about our kitchen renovation - here is a shot of our make-shift "cooking" area - a toaster oven and microwave in the garage! We thought it would get us through - and it has, but we had no idea the amount of other 'stuff' that would get packed all around it!

This is where I have been prepping food for the past two weeks - eeeewwwwwwwwww!

Here is the kitchen with just about everything removed. It makes the space look so tiny!

We made it through Thanksgiving - despite not having a proper kitchen. The day was quiet and largely uneventful. (thank you God!) We purchased a turkey and some fixings and sides as we still have no oven. It all came together quite nicely. And was actually rather tastey from what everyone said!

I ate raw - had a big salad and made myself a mock pumpkin mousse - it was delish!

In the kitchen we now have a new floor, new cabinets and countertops. We now have a new microwave installed and a new working dishwasher! We have new lighting - and there are closets in progress in the garage and the paint is going on the kitchen.

There is still a lot to be done, but WOW the place is looking good! I need to grab a photo of the counters which are now in place. Oh, and we have a sink and running water!

I've been experimenting with some different raw recipes -

This is a berry tart I

made a couple of weeks ago - all raw....made with nuts and berries and other good stuff. :)

I managed some bench time over the Thanksgiving break. (YAY!) I have 4 or 5 pieces in the works. I am also knocking around some ideas for a custom set of anniversary rings. I was contacted by a lovely lady who is looking for rings and had some previous work of mine in mind which gave me a great starting point as I normally don't do custom work. She has made this very easy for me to work in a theme that is familiar (and dear) to me. I hope to have some of the pieces finished and take photos by tomorrow night and then new listings in my Etsy shop.

I was also contacted by a sweet girl I met at a show I did in October. She has a bracelet/cuff that broke and we are discussing options of fixng it or creating something new. I am excited about these two projects. Neither are 'raw' custom orders, both have a starting point that I can work with which takes off any pressure that might come with a typical custom order. For that I am thankful. I am enjoying working with people in this way but really don't want to do traditional custom work as it stresses me out too much!

Some more pics of LG in the leaves...........

Will be more coherent next time - this post took me a half hour to write rather than a quick ten minutes....

~Janice