Breathing is good. I should do it more often.

So, as Dan mentioned previously, things are slowing down to a more normal pace here at Crooked Spoke Press. Which is good for me, because it turns out that spending 16 hours over the course of a weekend printing hundreds of invitations while standing on one foot is a little tiring.* Especially after working a full week at my desk job.

As a result, I'll be finally getting around to attending to those little things which fell by the wayside during the past few months, including:

• New Designs. Yes, I'll finally be coming up with some new greeting cards, baby announcements, and personal calling cards. This involves me and Dan poring over old illustrations, trying to decide whether or not we can get away with having a card that says "poop" on it.
  
• Updated Website. Not a moment too soon, I know. I'm sick of looking at it too.
  
• Expanded Retail Presence. Look for us soon on Etsy! Maybe!
  
• Having a Life. Oh yeah, it's summer. I gotta like, go to cookouts and drink beer and stuff. And let's not forget watch Doctor Who!**
  
• Fixing Up the Yard. Because I've been so busy, the yard looks like hell. More specifically, it looks like a vacant municipal lot, being maintained by a college intern overseeing a group of apathetic teenagers who need community service credit to graduate. Only with more dog poop.
  
• Fixing up the Shop. Although our print shop (located in the barn behind our house) is a perfectly functional space in which to work, it has a high spider-to-human ratio and lacks many basic amenities, like interior walls and insulation. Not that I don't enjoy looking at cobwebs and bare studs, mind you. But it gets a little creepy at night.
  

So there you have it! Lots to look forward to in the next couple of weeks. Further updates as events warrant.

*I'm on one foot because the other runs the treadle. Great for the glutes though.
**What's that you say? Did I already see the whole season online, even though it just started airing in the US last week? Well, yes. Yes I did. (Thank you, nerds of the UK!) But Dan didn't, so now I gotta watch it with him. It's a real sacrifice, I know.

I have a new hobby

....It is staring at the barn. I put two coats of paint on it yesterday afternoon, and finally, finally, finally covered up the dark spots of primer that was thinly covering the bare wood.

It looks clean now, and consistently white.

Ahhhhhhhhhhh....

While I did that, Kate finished up a set of invitations for a client in the Chicago area. They look great (naturally). We're going to start work on a couple save-the-date card projects after this.

Things are finally slowing down a little, and Kate says she's going to use the down time to design some baby announcements and greeting cards. I'm going to vote for doing some personal calling cards, as well. Very classy, eh? Eh?

Oh, I tried to take some pictures of the painted barn but I only have a cell phone camera and nothing turned out very well. So I'll include a picture of Roger, instead. He's our golden/lab mix who was recently shaved for the summer. He has a golden retriever's thick coat so 90 degree days are real misery for him. He looks...let's just say "distinguished." But trust me, he's a much happier guy.

Crankin'

That's right, I said "crankin'" as in, we're so busy and cool and edgy that we don't have time to type the final "g."

Kate is in the pressroom today crankin' out some weddin' invitations. Yesterday she spent a few hours matchin' a light blue color that came out perfectly on the glass palette, but was turnin' up a little green on the paper.

Her theory? Maybe the white paper has a little bit of yellow in it. I don't know, sounded clever to me. She finally got the color right and now she's printin' like greased lightnin'.

I'm wanderin' around the house, meanwhile, noticin' there is so much crud to do that maybe it would be better if I just curled up under this table with the dogs and later had a sandwich.

I think I'll actually just put some paint on the front of the barn. It's looked pretty crappy since we scraped and primed it two years ago, but, um...never bothered coverin' up the primer with a final coat of paint. Hey, it happens. We've been busy. Workin'. Y'know?