All is Calm...

Coffee in the Chicago skyline mug, "Peace Child (O Come Emmanuel)" by The Normals on iTunes. The shuffle's battery was dead this morning so I'm back to listening through the computer's iTunes again. At least I have finished the audiobook that wasn't in audiobook format so wouldn't mark where you stopped and restart from there (oy) on the iPod so I can use it again. As I write my post, J is working on the last of the Christmas presents she is making. I have to get them in the mail today to Illinois. My UPS driver told me yesterday that he thought Monday was a holiday for them, which gave me quite a scare. Luckily for me, he was WRONG.

This morning Stacy comes and brings her daughter Grace--I have the apex of a flexible, real-life, productive, powerful and fun business here. Stacy and I will work, Grace and Jessie will play. No corporate office with a dress code, rigid hours, and no children allowed for us. Which is not to say there won't be work--I fired 17 pieces yesterday of which two need to be slumped today to ship Monday. Today, another 20-21. I am experimenting with incorporating opal frit into my Morceaux de Verre style. I am trying for something more substantial in color weight without sacrificing the depth of the transparent glass. I also have the "Enjoy" bowl commission to spur me on. The first effort was not as vibrant as I'd hoped. The opals--even with a lot of clear large frit included--were just too flat feeling.

In addition to glass (and another playdate for Jessie this afternoon with one of her Waldorf classmates--next I'll put on pearls and a lace apron, bake cookies, and cement my role as June Cleaver) I have a Christmas gift to... assemble, another one to *start* knitting, and some home electrical work and plumbing to do (one fried dimmer, one dimmer to put back, one major leaky faucet to repair and two occasionally leaky faucets to give the fish-eye... I may just buy a laundry tub when I'm at Home Depot getting the dimmer and hire the plumber to take care of all the water work--I know that's the solution Dave would like best!).

Christian has begun the work on the websites and I think I'm just going to bite the bullet and do it all the way I want instead of cobbling and making due. Blog, group list, catalog, everything all incorporated into the site as appropriate and all the sites seamlessly in one place for management. Wish us luck.

J is calling for breakfast, actually, no she's not--she got the cream cheese out of the fridge, the bagel and the knife and she's making her own breakfast. I love having an autonomous child! Just six years old and self-sufficient! Next she'll be driving herself to school. Oh wait, she can't reach the pedals. Oh well, in a few years. Now off to glass.