A piggyback update

So Kathleen rocks for updating the blog. I was, indeed, occupied with my nearly obsessive compulsion to have everything clean and orderly before our third baby, Simon, arrived.

He was born a week and a half ago and my nesting instincts have subsided...completely. I don't want to hang a picture or clean a dish or do any more laundry than is necessary, though I seem to be doing those last two tasks much more frequently than I did pre-baby. Nonetheless, Simon is sleeping, my other kids are swimming at a neighbor's with my husband and my sink is not full of dishes at the moment. So, I am sitting at the computer for a few minutes and attempting to fulfill my obligation as blogger.

As Kathleen noted, she is off to Utah to hang out with her family and feed her muse. She took her little kiln, a bunch of clay, and abundant supplies to work on jewelry for the month of June. She plans to sit on her sister's back porch and soak up the gorgeous Utah summer. We are all a little jealous as we sit here and watch the thermometer creep up into the 100s.

Lynn is feeling the emotional and physical fatigue of breast cancer, but she is ever optimistic. She has informed us that she is soon to schedule her double mastectomy and reconstructive surgery in the next month or so. And she has an Edward t-shirt all ready to wear to show case her new rack.

Incidentally, she loves her doctor and knows he is absolutely the right person to treat her. He told her this last week that the two lumps they found on the right side were 8 mm and 5 mm respectively (I think I'm remembering the sizes correctly).

And Lynn's response?

"Oh, they're beads."

The doctor looked at her, puzzled. And her daughter, who had accompanied her to the appointment explained, "My mom is a bead artist. She creates all kinds of things with beads, so when you're talking in millimeters, it totally computes."

This is so Lynnie! She's going to be the spokes woman for early detection and regular mammograms. We are cheering her on and are confident that she's going to pull through this with flying colors.

Ami has designed the most beautiful business cards. I'm pretty certain that I have made mention of this before, but I can't help saying it again. They are beautiful! (And so is the soon-to-be-launched website.) About a month ago Ami was sitting near me at an event and she turned her head with a huge smile on her face and whipped her arm towards me with a chocolate colored card grasped in her fingers. I snatched it and proceeded to ooohhh and aaaahhh.

Seriously, they are gorgeous!

I think everyone else has her business cards except me. And this is because I'm still not sure what I should put on them as "irregular blogger" or "defunct blogger" doesn't sound entirely professional.

Any suggestions?

Summer Fun

It has been a couple of months since we posted any news. This is because we have been very busy developing business. Jayne (our regular blogger) is due to have a baby boy any day now and has been busy cleaning out closets and completing final preparations for her third child.

Lynn has been busy creating beautiful new earrings, planning jewelry for her son's wedding, and going to medical appointments. When her doctor told her she had breast cancer, she comforted him. Her faith is strong and she has been assured that God is watching over her. You are in our prayers Lynnie!

Amy T is planning to move to California this summer. She has decided to focus on making her beautiful headbands and beading mostly for fun. Being 23 and single, she has to maintain her day job working in retail to support herself.

Ami Jo is doing a fabulous job building our new website. We have decided to launch at the end of summer. We all have travel plans and beading seminars to attend. Who wants to stay home and fill the massive orders we expect once we start advertising on Google?

Finally, Kathleen is spending the month of June - early July in Provo, Utah visiting family and working on her PMC (Precious Metal Clay) creations. She then returns to Arizona for a short stay before leaving again to work on PMC. First, taking a class in New Mexico on Bronze Metal Clay and then heading out to the PMC Conference at Purdue University. She is also taking some pre-conference classes to learn new techniques.