I was just reading Judy Dunn's blog today.  In there she was talking about thankfulness, and how it has become a lost art.  I agree with her!  And I'm guilty of that myself, of not expressing gratitude when I should.  It goes beyond just sending thank-you cards to grandma for the christmas presents;  it's really a heart issue, and got more to do with attitude than anything else.

It's not that I'm not grateful, it's putting thankfulness into action as an expression that I have trouble with.  My excuse is that I'm always too busy.  Too busy for gratitude?  See how telling that is!

It was ironic that Judy Dunn's blog post had come upon the heels of my own sense of conviction about thankfulness.  There are so many people that I owe a debt of gratitude to.  I mean it could become something wierd if I decided to get all anal about it, of course.  But I certainly could stand a bit more time using up some of the lovely notecards I have around here gathering dust.

I'm so excited about starting up my eBay blog!  I've been wanting to do this for some time now, but just hadn't taken the opportunity. 

I had a really busy summer.  Once school was over for our boys, Allen and I started participating in some art and craft shows.  We have been doing a farmer's market right on the riverfront here in Peoria, and we also did the Bead & Button Show in Milwaukee.  There was also the Craft & Hobby Association Trade Show in Chicago last month.  These have all been good experiences, and I'm glad we're doing them.  Responses have been great and people have been very excited about my work.

In late June, my webmistress finished work on the shopping area of my website, and I moved all of my loose canes there.  I still love ebay and plan to continue doing regular auctions here.  I'm also participating on JustBeads and thinking of using Etsy as well.  So if you've been wondering where my ebay store went, you can find it on my website now.  http://www.catherienarts.com/the-shop.

I have all of my canes listed here on ebay this week too (August 15 - 21).  They are the same price as on my website, but I'm taking advantage of the waiving of listing fees to bring those canes to eBay.  There are 40 different designs to choose from, and some of them are brand new. 

I'm still teaching at the Peoria Art Guild.  I've been there for almost a year already - the time has flown by.  This last session, I was teaching high-school girls.  A new session begins on October 8th.  I'm also talking with some regional craft stores about teaching workshops.

For those of you who know about our plans to produce some instructional videos, we've decided on a digital camcorder and purchased it today (from an eBay seller, of course)!  I have to get writing a script for the first video - it will be a free one, and will be available in the next month or so.  The subject is cane slicing - something all polymer clay artists struggle with at one time or other.

I'm still writing magazine articles.  We're also talking about publishing some instructional booklets on creating some of my unique cane designs.  The first one will be a butterfly cane (not just the wings, but the full butterfly in a cane).  There will be more on that soon.

In family news, school starts for us September 4, and we've ordered the new schoolbooks.  Some of it is curriculum I haven't worked with before but we're hoping it's going to be good.  We're also introducing a logic and reasoning course for the boys - too bad we hadn't found the program to use with the older kids, because it looks great. 

Our kitties, Joe and Blue are the same as ever, although I think Blue is getting kinda hoggy about the cat food.  Hmmm.  When he was a kitten, Joe would let him eat first.  Well, over the years they've continued this process and I think Blue is taking full advantage of the situation.  For a Russian Blue breed, he's putting on a bit too much weight - about 17 lbs of it!  So we're considering feeding them at different times and in separate rooms to ensure that their weight is being managed better.  Other than that, they're still the same dirty, rotten spoiled little kitties they've always been.

I'll close with a thank you to all the great customersand friends I've made here on ebay in the last several years. You've given me inspiration, great cane ideas, and awesome warmth.  Here's looking forward to another great fall and winter season together!