Happy Spring!

Spring is here, and it feels more like the beginning of a new year for us than New Year's Day did.

It's so nice to hear the birds singing and see the daffodil, narcissus, and crocus flowers all opening.

The kitties are asking to go outside to explore,

and to take baths in the sunshine.

The ducks have come back up the hill, after spending the winter on the pond.

And I...I am at the Apple Store, almost every day, taking classes!

I even beat the Easter Bunny there on Saturday.

You know you're up early when you beat the Easter Bunny to work.

One more day, hopefully, and we will start our new adventure, with a new computer, new software, and soon, a new blogging platform. I've held off on switching to Wordpress until we switch to the Mac. Pretty exciting.

So much to do, so little time to blog...

Last weekend, my cousin, Steve, his wife, Erin, and their kids, Benjamin and Sophia, were in town for Erin's brother's wedding. I got to visit with them, which was great fun.

Their new cousin, Eliana, Ben, and Sophia are so amazingly energetic. You can't help but enjoy yourself around them.

I even got ambushed...

I was too large to be carried however.

Sophia tied my legs together when I said I was going to be on my way. After securing me, she decided to let me go.

I also made it to the web design group I hadn't been to for about two years. The nice Wordpress theme developer, who was giving the presentation, gave me lots of tips for our web site migration. I was very happy because he was able to answer some questions I'd been trying to find the answers to for two weeks.

Right now, I think I am mostly trying to get up my nerve to make the change. I know that the navigation will not work just right until I've got the whole site moved over, and I'm nervous about that. Plus, I keep debating over whether or not I want to put the blogs on the home pages of our sites, or on their own sub-page. At some point, I will just jump in.

In the meantime, the Ruffing's blog is not active, although it is still up. So, here is our latest offering, "Matilda the Tuxedo Kitten", an original, one-of-a-kind art doll figurine by Max Bailey. You can read more about Matilda by clicking here to go to her web page.

We are also debating over computers right now. We need a new one, and we're trying to decide which Mac to get and when. We also need to learn to use a Mac, which adds a little extra excitement. We need a desktop to edit photos, but I'd also like a laptop, to make myself more mobile. I know you can hook the laptop to a monitor, but I'd like the option to take trips or work elsewhere for some variety. The desktop we are looking at is kind of intimidating. It seems like a TV set to me. So, another plunge to take.

Oh, and "Beatrice and Beulah" the lop rabbit folk art dolls by Max Bailey and myself, are up for adoption on eBay this week. The auction ends tomorrow night. You can check out Beatrice and Beulah's eBay page by clicking here. Once again, I'm putting announcements on our Ruffing's Facebook page. Please join us there.

I'm also finishing up a small pile of Hug Me! Slugs and a Hug Me! Toad or three. I'll be putting them up in my Etsy shop as soon as I can.

Our second snow of the winter

We had a beautiful snow last night. In the dark, the solar lamps looked like pinwheels of light on the white, and the trees were collecting little clumps of snow on every branch, no matter how small. Our kitty went out to watch the snow fall in the light from the front porch. He looked up at it for a while, and then decided to come back in the house. He's just not an outdoorsman anymore.

Again, we had one track of kitty prints going down the front steps, and one track coming back. That's it. Today he's commandeered my workroom chair and is engaging in some intensive napping. I added one track of human prints down and back too, so I could take some photos. I will probably add some more later, so I can go for a walk in the snow.

More amazing than having a second snow this winter, my mom claims to have seen a plow this time! She also claims to have never seen one here before. We went to get some food last night, and even the cashier knew about our ice-covered hill from a couple of weeks ago. "Is that the only way out of there?" Yes. "Well, you wouldn't want to go down that and end up in the lake." No.

So, this is a nice snow.

I'm waiting for a book on using Wordpress for your website. I'm still considering the options I have for our two blogs. Whatever I end up doing, the announcement will be on the home page of both elizabethruffing.com and ruffings.com. I have to at least start new blogs at addresses other than the current addresses because of Blogger discontinuing the option to upload your files to your FTP folder. In fact, I may even move the blogs to the home pages of our two sites. I now have until May 1st, but I'm hoping to resolve the issue before then. I'm not sure the fix Blogger is offering will work with our setup, and I'm not sure I want to use their fix. I have to look into it some more, and I'm still waiting for them to come out with their migration tool. If anything goes really wonky in the meantime, please check our home pages or the Ruffing's Facebook page for an update. Hopefully, everything will go at least somewhat smoothly.

Snow day

When the sun came up this morning, the snow really did look pretty. I wasn't sure what to expect, since it had been sleeting. We even had some frost on the front door.

Snow is looking unfamiliar to our kitties, I think.

One brave kitty soul took a quick run down the steps and back.

No one has plowed here, not even the highway. So, it may be midweek, when the temperature might rise above freezing, before I get to the Post Office to mail any orders. I'm sure the hill to the main road is slick right now.

That should keep me focused on my projects for a couple of days at least. One of those projects is a surprise. My next blog post will be my 300th post. Well, actually this is my 300th post, if we count the one that said "Just testing" that I deleted :) It will also be my 3rd year blog anniversary! That sounds lucky to me. So, I'm going to try something I've been thinking about for a while, a little blog giveaway. It's going to be Valentine's Day themed, and I think I'll run it until a week before Valentine's Day, February 7th, to allow for shipping time. I'm curious to know who you are, and so to enter, I'll be asking you to leave a comment saying hello and whatever you might like to say by way of introduction. I'll ask you to leave your first name so I can put your name in a hat, and if you want to, a link where I can find you (your web site, Facebook page, whatever you'd like). Otherwise, you can check back on the 8th. I'll have more information about the prize in my next post.

Harry Potter and the Temple of Hug Me! Slugs

Before I forget...I set up a brand new fan page for Ruffing's over on Facebook. I'm posting photos of art from each of us, and my videos, and anything new that comes up. Please "become a fan" if you are over that way. To those of you who already became a fan, thanks very much!

We are getting some snow and sleet here, the only snow we've had so far this year. I hurried to get a couple of "Hug Me! Slug" orders out ahead of the storm, just in case we got snowed in. There isn't much snow, but I don't know how the ice will be.

You might notice I am playing with my slug sizes. Super Slug is a little bigger than the other small-sized slugs. I'm still experimenting. I'd like to just have a small and large size, instead of having a medium in between. I might even leave the Super Slug a bit larger than the other slugs. He is super, after all.

I made his cape fuller too. It's easier to do more with his cape when he's bigger like this.

He came out about 8 1/2 to 8 3/4 inches tall, instead of the 7 1/4 inches of the small slugs. I might make them closer to 8 inches tall. I'm fiddling.

I also changed my web site photo. I asked my mom to take some new photos of me. I was going for more casual, a little more nerdy.

I find this one amusing, and the next really sad.

But I do think my eyes look really cool in that one, even if I look forlorn. Click on it and you'll see what I mean. Kind of cat like, with the light center and the dark rim. It's interesting how whatever you stand in front of brings out different aspects of your appearance.

These are one of three or four cheapo reading glasses I use. I have different strengths, depending on the focal length I need.

People have been having fun on Facebook talking about my photos. So far, I've been compared to Princess Diana....

and Harry Potter! Haha!

Retro Thursday

I had a bad headache today, and so I scanned some old photos to take my mind off of it, and off my frustration over the long delay in my sewing machine being repaired. This is me in the 12th grade. This photo was one of several proofs I still had from the photographer. Each one had a different expression, ranging from peaceful and dreamy-eyed to very annoyed. I think I was trying hard to be patient while posing for my senior photo. As I recall, that black thing they insisted all the girls wear was drafty and way too small for a self-conscious teenager. Somehow I managed to look composed anyway. Hm, this might be a theme here, me trying to be patient and maintain my composure. I'm going to be very happy once I don't have a headache and I have my machine back in working (knock on wood) order.

A nice surprise for today, one of the sluggies I put up just yesterday jumped right into an Etsy treasury. Thanks, Aimee, for including her! This is Aimee's very first treasury, and so that's extra nice of her.

Goodbye to a(nother) decade

I'm still getting some orders out that were placed just before Christmas, and I'm recuperating from my mad dash before Christmas to get them all out on time. Already New Year's is approaching, and it's a big one this time around, the turning of a decade. At first I was reflecting on this past year, but when I tried to take in the whole decade, I realized a lot really has happened for me personally.

I moved from a place I'd lived all my life to a place I'd never even seen before, leaving some good friends behind, for a place where I knew no one. I moved from the country to the city, and back to the country again.

I hoped to "find someone" and maybe start a family. I met and dated a few people I wish I'd never met, yet alone dated. Yikes.

I watched ten more birthdays go by, and managed not to freak out about most of them.

I learned how to use a computer, and got one for the first time. I learned about digital photography and printing, and made my first art prints. I learned about web design, and launched two websites. I read lots and lots about having an online business, and started one.

I got a more fuel-efficient car, and a fancier sewing machine.

I painted a few paintings, and made a lot of toys.

I hope that I learned a few things, like to when to stick up for myself, and when to refuse to settle for what I don't want, even during those times when it looks like that's all there is available to me. I hope I learned that things change, and often for the better. I hope I learned to stop trying to be nice to everybody, all the time, especially if in doing so, I end up not being nice to myself. I hope I learned when to say no, without feeling guilty about it.

I lost three kitties to illnesses, and miss them very much. I gained three kitties that people left behind. "Nature hates a cat vacuum," someone said to me. Still, I thought about Mr Laurence, when my last birthday came around. I wish he'd been here to eat a hole in the top of the cake when no one was looking, just like he always tried to do.

I got a clock for my last birthday, a kitty with a tail that wags, like I used to have as a child. I now have a clock in my workroom, something new for me too. I've got lots of ideas for things I want to try, including revisiting the idea of some illustrated stories for children. Most immediately, I'm planning to finish some art doll projects, try a couple of new toy sizes, and experiment with making some handmade books, just to see what I can do.

Most of all, as I look back on this decade, I hope that I won't ever give up on myself or what I want to do. I don't intend to. Sometimes I have some big disappointments, and quite a few small ones too. I want to keep trying, and I want to believe I can. I was just trying to finish that last sentence, but I think that's what I mean, I want to believe "I can," as opposed to "I can't." I want to believe in myself and in the presence of goodness in my life, and I want to have hope for the future. Thank you for following my journey, round-about as it may be at times. I wish you all the best on your journey as well. Happy new year to you, and all the best for the coming decade.

Merry, merry Christmas!

The stockings are hung by the chimney.

The presents are almost all wrapped.

We haven't any snow.

But we're ready anyway. Happy Christmas to all of you!