I almost always avoid talking politics here, because that just isn’t what I want from this blog or this site. Talking politics nearly always devolves into nastiness, and I want this to be a comfortable, enjoyable site to visit. I do have to post this one video, however, not because of its politics, but simply because while the production value is quite low, the humor factor is quite high. Enjoy it for a laugh thanks to the amusing lyrics and hilarious facial expressions, and don’t worry about the politics of it:

Meanwhile, I’ve reviewed Mercedes Lackey’s Foundation and Candace Havens’s The Demon King and I. Coming up: reviews of some Cuisipro cookie cutters, measuring spoons, and a pastry blender; reviews of two cookbooks.

If you’re thinking of buying any of our beaded bookmarks [link] from our etsy shop—now’s the perfect time! I just got a shipment of new bookmark making supplies in after using up my original stash, and in celebration I’ve marked ALL of the previous bookmarks down by 20-30%! They make great stocking-stuffers.

I’ve had a wretched headache since sometime last night. But I hadn’t gotten on the wii fit and exercised since Thursday, so I didn’t want to skip another day. I went and did a few carefully-chosen exercises from the balance, aerobics, and strength portions, and then did entirely yoga for about 20 minutes. After all, the headache was centered on a muscle knot in the back right of my neck, and yoga is fantastic for stretching out the spine and the muscles around it.

Whaddaya know—headache mostly gone now. So the wii fit worked better than several rounds of Tylenol.

The latest book review is of Ad Hudler’s amusing and fun Man of the House, and I’m in the middle of reading Mercedes Lackey’s Foundation.

I did a new round of photographing items to go up on Etsy this morning. This includes many of the new wire-wrapped stone chokers, and some other new items like that. Also a cool surprise that our business partner had for us; I’ll post about that as soon as I have it up on Etsy later this week! I also just ordered supplies to make more bookmarks, since those seem to be the things people have been most interested in so far (speaking of which, I sold two more through Etsy at the end of last week!).

I have a feeling there were several other things I wanted to post about, but I can’t think of them, so they’ll just have to wait!

Although I’ve seemed relatively quiet these last few weeks, I haven’t been idle. Today’s book review is of Deidre Knight’s Red Fire, a paranormal romance involving Georgia and immortal Spartans. Really.

I’ve been taking a ton of photos while out and about, mostly of plants and flowers; here’s a sample:

Many of those photos are available as prints.

I’ve also been putting together (and posting at our etsy store) plenty of jewelry and beaded bookmarks. Of course what with the economic crisis this was exactly the wrong time to start such an endeavor—I hear even the long-time sellers at Etsy with large followings have made few sales in the past weeks—but I have patience. I can wait until things get better, and in the meantime I’ll build up our stock of lovely things. I’m getting much better at taking photos of items, thanks to a light box and lots of practice:

If you want to buy any of them, the photos at DeviantArt have links below them to their listings at Etsy, or you can go directly to our etsy store (errantdreams.etsy.com). There are a few items that are more expensive—usually jewelry sets—but there are also plenty of items that are under $10.

Plenty more things to come soon! I have some cookware to review, as well as a ton of books. I’m in the middle of reading Ad Hudler’s Man of the House, and we’re making recipes out of some cookbooks I haven’t reviewed yet. So stick around!

We’ve done it! We’ve opened our etsy shop (errantdreams.etsy.com)!

In case this means nothing to you, it means that we’re starting to put our jewelry and other crafts up for sale online. We have the first 14 items up right now, with many more to come soon. (Sorry, but we’ve already sold that magnificent dragonfly choker!)

Here are some of the nitty-gritty details, all of which should also be on the ’store policies’ page of the etsy shop. If you order more than one item, the shipping charge for additional items is much lower than that for the first item. The shipping cost is what it is because we get delivery confirmation and try to package things very carefully so as to avoid any possibility of damage during shipment. We do have to collect sales tax from anyone who lives in Maryland; PayPal should calculate that automatically. All crafts are made in a smoke-free environment, and we do our best to keep our two short-haired cats out of the craft-work!

If you have any questions, do let me know! I have a light box for photo-taking now, so the photos are really nice and should be pretty clear, but I’m learning more with every batch that I do. Here’s a little frobby to show you some of the things we currently have up: