So... the good news is that my hands are on the mend from this episode and I'm starting to create again. YEY!!! The other good news is that I'm getting myself back onto Etsy -- it's been a couple of years I think. I've been stopped by several reasons, one of which has been frustration with photographing my work and I think I've finally come up with some that I like. That is a GREAT feeling. Here is a preview of a few of my pieces:

The other good thing for me right now is that my mother is visiting from Pennsylvania. I love it when she visits and she's just a wonderful person. We have lots of fun together. Of course, she usually leaves with a number of my pieces for free, but you've just got to give in to mom:) There is a funny thing about mom's visit and my hands being better though. Last night I excitedly went to get the piece that I was working on in my blog... "The Project", and after much searching I couldn't find it or any of the beads I'm using in it. I entirely blame this on my mom because it was due to her visit that I was shoving things in boxes and under tables at the last minute before I left to get her at the airport. All mom's fault!! Nope... not mine at all:) I figure I'll find it one day soon and if not, then after mom leaves. In the mean time, I'll just have to make other fun things.

Actually, that (fun things) reminds me. When we got mom from the airport in San Francisco, we went to the Presidio for the California Watercolor Association's annual National Exhibit. It was amazing to see so many variations of watercolor use. I was just blown away by all the styles and beauty that I saw there. And to top it off, as we drove in to the parking lot, we saw in the building next door there was an Andy Goldsworthy exhibit! I was SO excited. I can't even tell you how much I love his work. If you haven't heard of him, I encourage you to look him up. Maybe I'll do a post about him soon.

I guess that's it for the latest. Back to work now and more playtime tomorrow.

I decided that I wanted to share some pretty images so I've gone through some of our garden photos. Hope you enjoy them:)

Hmmm.... I can see, now that this has been posted, that these images are too small. I think I'll play with my photos some more and do smaller collages and/or with cropped images. There is so much we can do on these silly computers now. I just love it!

It will never happen to me, right? Ah.. not so right unfortunately. Several days ago I was out shopping and my credit card was denied. I figured it was a mistake until it happened again. The next day we called the credit card company and there was a suspicious purchase to the tune of $1200! At the same time, I received an email from paypal saying that they suspected a third party had accessed my account. I don't know how they got in there and I'm certainly hoping that this is all the information they got from me. What an utterly strange experience though. They got into my paypal account, purchased a laptop, and changed the shipping info to go to Texas (I'm in California). After a flurry of calls to file a police report, cancel the order with the computer company (which they canceled then sent to the thief anyway), cancel the credit card, report fraud to paypal, tell UPS they needed to stop delivery, I think it is finally taken care of. It's hard to tell, because of course as I'd call one location, for example UPS, and talk to three different people, wait several hours for them not to call back, I would eventually learn that they can't stop delivery without being contacted by the seller of the item. So yesterday I called the seller and was told their computer system was down and to call back in 30 minutes. Silly me, I waited 40 minutes and they were closed! Don't you just love it when that happens! LOL.. I got up early this morning to call them and explain again what is going on. It's funny, whenever they would refer to it as "your order" I felt so invaded because it was not "MY" order but some crappy individual who is trying to steal from me. Anyway... they said that they told UPS to cancel the shipment. Meanwhile, the shipment was sent 2nd day air and was going to be delivered that morning. When I called the computer place and they said it was taken care of, there were a couple of hours yet before the trucks were to be loaded at the hub.
A couple of hours later, I checked the UPS tracking info and it says that the delivery had been cancelled, but at the same time it was loaded on the truck and off for delivery... Sigh. SO! I'm eagerly waiting to see if the bad guy gets the computer or not. I hope not!!

It's made me realize how easy it is for people to steal online. I do fairly well at doing virus checks and not opening suspicious emails, so it still stumps me as to how they got into my account. Honestly I'm trying not to think about it much because I don't want to be intimidated by conducting business online. I love this place! But aside from wondering how they got access, I've realized even if these people get reported to paypal and such, they most likely will already have their package and be gone before the transaction even gets noticed. It took me 2 days to realize all the phone calls I had to make and play phone tag from one company to the next, and I think that I stopped them from getting the package just in the nick of time (like an hour before they would have received it!). I did just hop over to UPS and see that it is intercepted - Yay!
It's all been very interesting indeed. Paypal says it should all be taken care of, so now I just have to wait for them to go through their process to see my account credited -- still crossing my fingers there.

In the scheme of things, I feel totally blessed that only this one purchase occurred. The police call it "identity theft". I hadn't realized that it was that exactly and when I realized it was, I became a statistic that I hoped never to experience. I feel so badly for those who really get their identity stolen. The phone calls, coordinating and stress I felt with just this one incident is something I hope not to experience again. Right now I'm feeling pretty happy and fortunate.

How about all of you? Have you had any similar experiences?

I have loved this old thread spool cabinet for many years. It's been in my family for awhile and used to be in my moms quilt store when I was about 9 years old or so. Little did I know when I was a youngster that I would so desire it as an adult. I've long imagined how awesome it would be to have it in my jewerly studio and now it is! Yipeee! My dad sent it to me for my birthday, and after the adventure of driving a few hours to pick up the crate, unpack it and get it upstairs, now I get to fill it with whatever little pretty jewelry supplies I want! I am soooooo lucky. I'm so overwhelmed by it and I just don't even know where to start! Beads? Cabs? Finished work? Tools? How much fun is that! I have some information buried on my desk here that gives the year that these were made, but of course it is hiding from me so I can't share it at this moment. I'll come back with it though.

If you look onto the top right surface of the cabinet, you can barely see a small dark circle. (look real hard) Below, I've shown a blown up photo of it that reveals it is a hinged lid with a little removable glass bowl. Apparently it is an ink well because the top of the cabinet, which slopes slightly downward toward the front, was used as a desk top as well. A clever design I think. I've also shown a photo with my pliers in the cabinet to give a bit of perspective. Now... to fill it! I know, poor me right?