Revamping my blog design

I'm a little frustrated by this blog, I have to say. Not because I can't think of things to write, or have too much I want to write. I'm actually in the mood to play around with the design of things and there is some rearranging I'd like to do. The site itself needs to just pop a little more and to be a little bit more personalized. But I haven't worked with HTML in a couple of years and I'm eager to learn how to program in other languages as well. So it's frustrating because there are many things I'd like to do but I don't know how to do them yet! I also have this widget that I noticed on another blog (www.savvygrouse.com) but I am having trouble working it into the layout I am given by blogspot. I can only play around so much with the HTML. Right now, if you scroll allllll the way down to the bottom of the page, it's on the left-hand side. It's a neat little Flickr cloud widget and they spin when you hold your mouse over it. I love this little widget but oh, is it frustrating! I just can't get it to go where I want.

I have a lot of ideas for background textures and some really neat layouts that I'd like to try. I was originally going to set up my own website and play with all of this as I learned more programming, but I got impatient and started this blog up. I think I will still try to do that, but I will have to point to my blog. I'm just not sure how much customization is really permitted on blogspot. Hopefully, you all will have something else to look forward to (besides photos of my artwork and book press) as I learn more.

In other news, I've had some really great ideas for objects I'd like to construct and have posted on Etsy. Right now, I only have a few earrings on there which is not a very good representation of all that I do. But I'm already committed to making some gifts this year (instead of purchasing everything) so I'm not sure when I will have the time! I've been working on hanging wallpaper at home as well and it just looks amazing! I know most people hate it and granted, I've never had to strip wallpaper, but I just love the look of it. There is just some much more that you can do with it instead of paint. I'm not really a fan of any of the textured paint techniques. Or perhaps I've only ever seen poor examples of it. But we've been putting up little bits of textured wallpaper here and there in our house and are so pleased with the results. At some point I will post pictures. I also have a few photographic ideas in mind for the walls that we are finishing up. I have lots of family photographs that need to be hung somewhere and I have some great ideas for printing on some atypical materials, maybe staining them, and then framing them. Again, I wish I had more time!

Thanksgiving is coming up soon obviously (have you been following my Thanksgiving quotes of the day on Twitter?) and I've started my baking frenzy. One pie down and four (or five) to go still. Half will be my standard pumpkin pie made from scratch (not canned) and the other half will be a new recipe I tried last year for apple pumpkin pie. It was amazingly delicious and from my Healthy Cooking magazine. Mmm, pumpkin. This year I am pretty thankful for my life in general. What are you all thankful for?