Instant Bead Soup, Canine Style

This story started when I finally made a jewelry sale in my new shop (no offense Monkey Girl but your purchase didn't count -- you are not a total stranger ;-)

I could not for the life of me find the little chacha rings I'd made, one of which sold. (yay!) I reorganized everything on my work table in case I'd inadvertently set it there. Stayed up late putting things away and triple-checking my Etsy inventory drawers. No chacha rings. So I set out the materials to make another one, and finally went to bed.

The next morning I got up and re-inventoried everything in my Etsy drawers against what I've got in my shops, and lo and behold, found both the rings. Whew!

But once that cleaning gene gets activated, it's hard to stop and I've learned not to ignore it since I know from experience it'll go back into remission in a few hours (sometimes for months . . . )

I tend to keep things in little paper plates or bowls. They're cheap, eh? They double as paint trays, glue puddle holders, portable organizers. I had a plate for seed beads to put away. I had a bowl of tiny vials of sterling silver components. Stacked bowls with gemstones and the findings to make them into bracelets. A neat little tray of pairs of earrings waiting for me to make sterling earring wires for. By golly, I haven't been this organized in . . . well, a very long time.

So today I come home from work and immediately noticed the dog is trotting out of the computer/jewelry table room, instead of sneaking off the couch before we bust her. I'm like, wha??? She is always at the door to greet us. Today she comes barrelling around the corner in bark mode.

To my great and utterly depressing dismay, I see that for some strange reason (bird? peeping tom? low flying hot air balloon?) she has jumped onto my once-in-a-lifetime-tidy worktable and swept EVERYTHING off onto the floor, in order to CLIMB UP on the windowsill (this is an adobe house, my windowsills are a foot deep) where she managed to knock off some antique bottles I use to photograph earrings.

Right now, I'm looking at headpins and short lengths of silver wire strewn around my feet. A strand of turquoise on the carpet, with loose beads nearby. An upside down vial that once held some silver finding or another. I can't quite bring myself to look beyond (or under) the chair cushion in the corner of the room. But lemme put it this way, I'm seeing more table right now than I have since the holidays, when I boxed everything up and put it UNDER the table. ;-)

Can't blame the dog. She's normally so mellow you'd think she was on medication. My kid says she probably scared a burglar away. He's probably right. And now . . . for the cleanup. See ya in a few days . . .