BEADS2008

The advance copies of BEADS2008 are now available apparently. I haven't received mine yet (it's all I can do not to jump on the mailman when he arrives, these days), but a friend received hers yesterday, and I found a pic of the cover on the Interweave Press website. BEADS2008 is an annual magazine put together by the folks at Beadwork magazine, highlighting new beads and jewelry components for the year. I have three types of beads in the magazine - the koi (both single and double), a fortune cookie and a skull. My friend kindly put me out of my misery and told me (and you can baaaarely see them in the tiny photo above in the bottom left hand side) that both of my koi pendants made the cover of the magazine. The fortune cookie also made it, apparently, but even when I squint, I can't make it out from the photograph. Needless to say, I'm quite thrilled and even the Husband is impressed by this (okay, okay, there are a hundred beads on the cover, but still!). Anyway, it hits the stands on April 22nd, so please do look out for it at the end of the month!

Shameless self-promotion aside, noses are still quite drippy and hacking coughs are in the air chez nous. H, who is still healthy, is becoming increasingly paranoid and has been trying to ward the germs off with the evil eye. We'll see if that succeeds. He has a better record than I do with managing to avoid catching the Short One's colds, but even he has succumbed from time to time. The SO, for his part, has reached that uncomfortable stage of his cold where he is definitely getting better, but the congestion in his nose is becoming increasingly irritating. This has manifested in periodic (say, every five minutes) squawking on his part and, if I fail to produce a tissue immediately, a dive for whatever part of my body is closest to wipe his nose against (knee, arm, shoulder, ear - this last was particularly unsettling). Still, I find this preferable to the alternative - when I'm not close enough, he resorts to using the furniture, windows, floor, etc. (I feel very sorry for him, but it does get a little hard to clean up after him after a while.) At this point, leaving a tissue box within his reach simply results in an empty box and a glorious flurry of tissue all over the room (sometimes I think there are marked similarities between toddlers and puppies - what is this obsession with tissue and toilet paper rolls?) I am hoping he will show marked improvement from tomorrow, although experience suggests we may have another 2-3 days to go...

I should probably try to get to bed at a reasonable hour, so I'll close now. Thanks for visiting!