Posting has been slipping my mind. You'd think keeping up on the blogs I read would remind me to update my own, but no. I also have several saved drafts to post from weeks ago. Should I just go ahead and post them even though they are no longer in chronological order? I guess.

Well here is today. Today is the day before Thanksgiving. Tomorrow we shall be joining Brandon's parents for lovely food, and one of my favorite things: mashed potatoes. The day after Thanksgiving is, as I'm sure you know, "Black Friday." I am avoiding black friday. I never go out shopping on that day, it sounds like torture to me. I despise crowds and waiting in lines, and that's pretty much black friday in a nut shell. I'm pretty sure the only time I ever ventured out on black friday was the year Toy Story came out. My family was in Indianapolis visiting my cousins, and we all went to see the movie the day after Thanksgiving, and then walked around the new Circle Center Mall. That was 14 years ago. My god.

That being said ... I am definitely having a "black friday - cyber monday" sale in my etsy shop. So, if you live in the good ol' U.S., make a purchase between 11/27-11/30 and you'll get free shipping on any purchase (free shipping = refund through paypal after you've made your payment).

Oh and in case you are unsure as to whether or not you want to spend your hard earned money in my shop, just take a look at this guy:



He would love to live with you.

be careful with knives, kids

i'm going to give you some very useful advice. do not try to hurry when using an exacto knife. do not turn your attention away for even a fraction of a second. if you do, you will slice off the side of your finger and end up having a very painful afternoon. and maybe you only have rubbing alcohol in the house, and no peroxide, so you have to use that to clean the cut, and it burns like you never imagined anything could. and when you go back to the job of cutting an hour later, trying to psych yourself up for it, mustering up as much mental concentration as possible, you find that side tip of your finger laying there, like something out of a horror movie.

please learn this lesson from me.

tonight some friends of ours are getting married. i'm very excited for them! it's been a long time coming, and they will be very happy together.

here is the drawing i made for their card:



fall is in full swing around here. today i got blisters on my hands from raking leaves, and i think i'm working on a sore shoulder. fun. but the good news is that i find pretty things on my way home from work.



and here is a picture of mona for good measure, in her new bedroom (where my studio used to be).

i frequently find her in there taking a little nap. so cute.

i will update again soon to tell you about all my exciting school visits and book signings from this past week. have a wonderful saturday!

Happy belated Halloween.



I forgot to tell you that I had sleep paralysis 3 times last month. Weird, huh? All three times it was the same, so by the last time it didn't scare me any more. But the first time, man. What happened was I "woke up" and heard people walking around in the house. Someone was either going to rob us, or hurt me. But I couldn't get up. My eyes were open, but no matter what I did I couldn't get up. When I finally actually woke up, I realized no one was really there, but every single hair on my body was standing up straight and I had goosebumps everywhere. It had felt so real! But yeah, by time #3 I knew no one was actually there, but it was still very frustrating that I couldn't get up. Such a weird feeling! Brandon said he's had this happen a few times, too. One time he fell asleep on his parents couch and "woke up" to find a dead body on their coffee table. Heh!

Now onto the pictures.

Here is a better image of the beautiful glowing tree out front:


Then later it threw up on brandon's car.



Now the tree is all bare. I suppose it's time to rake.

Here is part of my new beloved studio:



And finally, the best costume I saw at the Irvington Halloween Festival last saturday:

it's bender!

This week I will be doing my very first book signings with the author of Oliver at the Window, Elizabeth Shreeve. I am very nervous! Not so much nervous for the signings, but for the school presentation. Yikes!

See you later.

yesterday brandon and i finally went to see Where the Wild Things Are. He wasn't sure he liked it, but I enjoyed it a lot. However, I spent the majority of the movie wanting to cry ... as I get older I'm becoming one of those women who cries at Hallmark commercials, so you can imagine what happens during a movie with a lonely little boy who makes up sad stories and is quite unhappy and angry.

The past couple of days have been really beautiful, weather wise. The trees all around us are turning to gold, and it's amazing when you walk underneath one of them and the light filtering though seems to change the whole atmosphere. Here is the one in our front yard:



I didn't capture the amazing light. But it's still pretty.

Next saturday (halloween!) is a mini INDIEana Handicraft Exchange event at the Halloween Festival in Irvington. Come on our if you can! The festival is a huge event that shuts down US 40, and they're on their 63rd year, so you know they must be doing something right. See you there!

I have things to do, but I do not want to do things. I worked at the library all day, and now i just want to veg. i should be picking from:
scanning an image;
matting said image;
finishing a painting;
sewing cat-erpillars to send to the Renegade store;
bringing more things up to my studio.

instead i suppose i am mentally preparing myself for having to go get my tires rotated and checked tomorrow. it's a little overdue ... my signature from the paperwork from the last time i was there is just "candice hartsough." no mcdonald. uh oh. i'm hoping they're not like "oh well you just need 4 new tires, sorry."

here is a picture of me pretending to work last night:



A friend is applying for a grant for a *secret* project, and needed pictures of crafty people working in their studios. and hooray, since i'm halfway between old studio and new studio, we went up to the new one for the photo shoot. fingers crossed she gets the grant, because if she does, some amazing things will be happening soon. i'll keep you posted.

brandon and i are both home sick from work today. and we have different ailments. i hope we don't cross contaminate each other. i really hate calling into work, i always feel bad. i can't tell if i just have a headache that is causing a stomach thing (which happens to me occasionally), or if it's something worse. i don't have any body aches or fever, so i'm thinking it's not the flu, thank god. brandon is reporting a sore throat and cough. no fever either. hopefully this day of rest will bring us back up to speed by tomorrow.

i must admit that it is fun to have a lazy snuggle with blankets watching court tv day, even though i feel a bit miserable.