Sunday-11:30pm

I took a little blogging break. Been on my most unfavorite hours--sleeping from morning till night--and not up to much. The biggest excitement over here was the new sheets and throw arrived. I washed them up...

...and Miss Karma had to check them out, of course. Took a long bath on them right off--hehe!

Not my safe cream colored sheets, either--"ocean" blue. And I got another set of sage flannel sheets for when it gets even colder--hehe! I am really living high on the hog, as they say. Wonder where in the world that saying came from?

Last I heard Leah has been feeling better. Ruby is feeling better. I am feeling okay--just have been in one of my fibro "kitten" cycles (as in weak as a kitten)--sooo tired. Barely even able to putter--hehe! Did watch another series of nature shows called Wildlife Specials--also with David Attenborough. Excellent, of course. :)

Just wanted to pop in and say I am still alive and kicking up here in Fargo. :):)

Thursday-6:15am

Poor Leah! Her back went out on her and she was home from work yesterday and just miserable. I didn't know she'd been going to the chiropractor the last couple of weeks--was getting steadily better, she said--then woke up in terrible shape yesterday. I sure hope she feels better today. She wasn't even up to emails yesterday. Ariel was there to help her out. Poor baby! :(

Since I had been basically at the computer a lot, I took the day off from anything extra yesterday as long as Leah wasn't coming over. We've been having above normal temp days--upper 50's! First we had below normal and snow and now we've had 20 degrees above normal. Been gorgeous!

I actually slept for a while during the night--12:30-5am! Kind of a long nap? So--what to do today...?

I need to double-check and tweak the Etsy posts. I was way too shot to do that by the time I got done.

Then--the irons in the fire...do I want to tackle the rest of the clothes...or the 30 gallon tank...or the Christmas cards...?

Or should I make a trip to the Post Office, buy gas, and pick up the typewriter? The gentleman called yesterday and the Underwood is ready! I could probably have him put it in my trunk and worry about getting it into the apartment afterwards, you know? We left my little green cart in Dagan and Leah's car...so I could go over and pick that up tonight...and see how Leah is doing and if she needs anything...?

Will any of that happen? All depends on how my day unfolds.

This is a daily process. I wake up feeling dang awful every day. After 3-5 hours of being awake I have a better idea of how "good" or physically productive my day is going to be. Some days it takes even longer to get to the better part of my day and some days never get any better. But--I do love the planning and prioritizing my options. I always assume I will have a good day and will be able to get something extra done, right? Think positive. :) But--even if I don't have a good day physically--doesn't mean it won't be a good day, right?

I really don't have too many miserable, whine-whine, feel-sorry-for-myself days since I have been lucky enough to be house bound here in Fargo. Being able to self-regulate my physical activity (and therefore the pain level to a fair extent)--the freedom from having to push myself like I did attempting to work or go to school--not having a family to take care of--being free to sleep whenever I am able to, however crazy my hours end up--all of that is such a tremendous blessing I can't even tell you!

Life could be soooo much worse. I know. It was.

Still is some days.

I wouldn't wish this pain and exhaustion on my worst enemy. And I really, really wish I could take it away from the people I love. I have felt like that about Dagan since the day he was born--always wished it could be me instead of him, you know? Now Leah is suffering. And my dear friend, Ruby, fell and broke her arm--nasty break--and is suffering. I wish I could take their pain for them.

Ever since I was a kid I have wished I could take away people's pain and fear. Just wash love over them--soothe their souls.

Contemplative this morning.

Well--we'll see what kind of day will unfold. But--it will be a good day--regardless. :):)

Can you feel love washing over you?

Wednesday-6:30am

Seems like it is feast or famine around here with getting things done--chuckle! The last couple days I have been going thru these two notebooks I made up when I was a day care teacher in another lifetime. Haiying is teaching art to kids now in California...

...and I made her copies of everything I could find on art projects...
...and all my various recipes for things like paste and clay and fingerpaints.

Now I just have to get them ready to mail. :)

And this is what I was working on all night long...

...boring Miss Karma to tears.

Posting bookmarks in our Etsy shop.

But there was no singing or dancing to keep Karma awake.

Just pictures and filling in the blanks...

...boring! For Karma--hehe!

I finally got all the bookmarks posted--tada!

We had a small box full.

These are a few of them. :)

I also washed clothes while I was puttering away. So, right now, I am going to go to sleep for a few hours. Leah will be over after work. Craft Night! We're going to work on the Christmas cards tonight. Leah's planning on coming over Thursday night, too. She's doing pretty much okay--not totally well--so we'll see how she is feeling.

The sun is trying to peek thru the clouds this morning. We almost hit 60 yesterday, I believe--supposed to be upper 50's again today. Ahhh! Have a great day--I am off to snooze...zzzzz! :):)

Tuesday-5:15pm

The back ordered Spellbinder's snowflake die set arrived yesterday!

Leah and I were shocked! We thought we'd be lucky to see it by January because of the Christmas rush and all. Sooooo glad to see it, tho! We can go back to our original plan B--hehe!
I showed Leah what has happened with the little Christmas tree dies (plan C). They have a padding that is supposed to help pop the trees off the dies...well, the padding has flattened and the edges of the die have become a bit ragged, I think. Anyways, the trees don't come off easily any more. Well--that's really an understatement! It is quite a difficult process to dig them off the die without ruining the little paper trees--and I haven't even cut out 65 trees yet! We need almost 300!

Well, you get what you pay for, I guess. Those little tree dies were only a dollar apiece. (The snowflake die set was about $20.00.) I don't know as I would trust cheap dies with foam backing again--hehe! At least not for a mass production project. I guess we'll find out how well the Spellbinder's dies hold up, won't we?

Leah tried out the snowflake dies before we left. We checked that we have enough red paper to make red and white layered snowflakes. We do!
We just needed more white brads. Couldn't decide between the plain little round brads or the snowflake brads. Since we didn't have enough of either we decided to see what we could find and let that decide for us.
We went and dropped off the Underwood typewriter--which he said could be done in a few days! And then we went to our favorite local craft shop--K & Krafts--and found both of them--hehe!

Now we'll have to decide on how we want to actually construct the finished product, but this gives you an idea of what the colorful layered snowflakes will look like.

Also--we picked up a new product at K&Krafts. More about these when we try to figure out how to use them--ha! :)

My goal tonight is to get some more bookmarks posted on Etsy.

I am thinking with these crazy hours I should probably post before I go to bed for a while. Leah and I are planning on having Craft Night Wednesday and Thursday this week--so I'll be scrambling when I wake up. So--later gator...hehe! :):)

Monday-1pm

Sometimes all you have to do is move something to another spot to make it interesting again. :)

This will be quick. Leah is coming over and we are taking the Underwood to drop it off so the gentleman can clean and oil it. Since I just got to bed this morning, I am not moving too quickly. But I had to say--can see blue sky this morning! Well--this afternoon--hehe! What a welcome sight!! :) Later...

Sunday-noon

Karma and I are stretching and waking up...

...sadly...to rain...yet again. Light rain.

So much for the dry days? I hope not. Been warmer for a couple of days--50's and we even reached 60 one day! Those are the gorgeous fall days we usually see up here. Well, I shouldn't complain. We did have a beautiful spring and summer without all the heat and humidity--and I loved it. And if I had to pick between these cool dark days and the hot sticky humid days--I'd pick these cooler days. I guess I wouldn't do too well in a rainy place like Seattle. I'd miss the sun too much. I think that's what's bothering me--rare glimpses of the sun for over a month now--having my favorite season kind of taken away. I am missing the crisp air--the sun reflecting off the brightly colored trees--the crunch of dried leaves. Everything is just soggy and damp and dark. Pout! Pout! Oh well--this too shall pass, right?

Meanwhile, I hope Leah is feeling okay. This was her weekend to work.

I get to feeling frustrated with my snail life sometimes. I have so much I want to be getting done, but I have so little control anymore. Always pain. Always way behind. Always playing catch up. Whine. Whine. Whine.

Sorry. Wrong side of the bed today. I shouldn't complain. Feel like I should cross myself and ask for forgiveness--and I'm not even Catholic--hehe! It could always be worse, right? Darn right! As Scarlett said, tomorrow is another day. In fact, things might look better in a couple of hours, for that matter. Keep smiling! :):)

Saturday-3pm

These are the stamps I couldn't resist. What a hoot! I remember them all. Texaco Star Theater is a little vague, but it's there. The rest I remember clearly.

Much quieter day yesterday. Karma decided to also give away all her cat toys she never plays with. Two small zip lock bags full! :)

These were keepers, tho.

Fell asleep on her treasures.
Literally trash to treasures, eh? Trash seems to comprise most of her favorites. I guess Karma is into recycling, too--hehe!