Hi friends--at long last,

I just hate spiders. I have always hated them and I expect I always will. When I was young, the sighting of a spider on my bedroom wall would cause a total panic attack. Luckily, I had mother who was sympathetic and patient and would always get rid of them for me. As an adult I have had to become both brave and brazen. When I was newly married, I was quite astounded to learn that Bob was not going to take over my mother's job as exterminator. No matter how much I begged. He would lie in bed reading under a tarantula on the ceiling and tell me how spiders are part of the ecosystem blah, blah, blah while I tearfully got the vacuum out and chased them down. Even Teri is less than sympathetic to me as she spends time coaxing them into little cups and taking them outside. For a few years I did have Peter who would get them for me, but he is unwilling to hang around the house in case one appears. OK--I admit I am a mass spider murderer and I can smack them with a shoe and send them spiraling down the nearest toilet with hardly thought. Well, the point of all this is that when we had trauma on our website the last 2 weeks--it would be a spider. After hundreds of hours on the phone to our server, distressed customers and even their computer people, we found out that hackers put spiders into things that get onto your website and cause havoc. Even after all this, I still don't really understand it, and I truly wish it had been as easy to fix as a Viva paper towel and a good flush. Thanks to Kristin, we have it solved and it shouldn't happen again. It didn't seem to adversely affect many computers, but I sincerely apologize for those that it did. Anyway, during this time, I hardly dared to write on my blog, because I hardly dared open the site. So, now, hopefully I will be able to write each week.

Summer is whipping by in all its hot and sticky manner. The shop is busy, and there never seems to be enough hours in the day to get it all done. It seems like all Lynnette and I have done for months is relentlessly make market kits to send out. It is fun, though, and keeps us hopping. Next week, I will include a few pictures of some of the new things we have going in the shop. Wait until you see the new Prairie Moon piece Cat and Spider--speaking of spiders.

Sorry, it is almost 6:00 and everyone is ready to go. I guess I am just going to send this so that you know that we are still alive and well out here. I promise to write earlier next week and hopefully something a tad more interesting. Our stitching group and others are planning an excursion of Mama Mia on Monday night. Can't wait. Have a hot, safe weekend.

fondly, Tina