Tuesday-7:45am

A couple of nights ago my Holtkotter light bulb started to flicker. A couple minutes later it went black in the room. (Big excitement for Karma at 4 in the morning. I'm sure that will go in her memoirs--hehe!). Tried and tried but it wouldn't come back on. I watched a movie and then tried it again--and it worked!!

For a day.

The next night--no flickering warning this time--poof! Darkness befell us once again.

Well, I need light! So in the middle of the night I am dragging in the frigid glass tables from the porch, wiping them down, and stacking them next to my chair so I can put another lamp by my chair. Karma seemed quite distraught by this turn of events.

After all--these are the tables she sprawls about on all summer "outside".
Then, of course, I was doing something brand new that she'd never seen before. That's always a thrill--hehe!
Most importantly--that is the side of my chair where she jumps up from behind onto the arm of the chair and demands cuddle time. Waits for me to get a pillow (she knows it hurts for her to walk on me because of the fibro and she can be most considerate at times) and then she's up and over my shoulder for 10-20 minutes. I am not sure she has fully realized the fact that the tables have blocked her usual route to affection--hehe! But maybe that is why she's been so wound up the last couple of days--racing about the apartment and being all foul mooded and full of the devil...?? hehe!


Well--Leah stopped by after work with the product pictures on the jump drive and with bookmarks for me to measure. And all the poinsettia cards so that I can add the inside holiday sentiment this week. Naturally she wondered about my sudden change in decor. I explained the story to her--and checked the light. It was working once again. So Leah took the bulb out and put it back in again--made sure it was snug.


So, we'll see now tonight if it works and stays working. If it does, maybe it had gotten loose somehow. You know those special halogen light bulbs that you can't even touch directly with your fingers? Well, I have been so careful and have always followed the directions from when I bought the lamp where every time you turn it on you have it on high for a few minutes first before you dim it. Done everything right--hummm? The first bulb I had lasted something like 6-7 years. But since then I have had trouble with them working for any length of time? And they are supposed to last for years. Baffling. As baffling to me as computers!


Anyways, Leah and I went thru and picked out and put together a set of business cards from www.zazzle.com. Got those ordered last night--tada! Eventually we do have our own idea for using original abstract painting, but that may not happen till this winter or so. (You can use your own artwork and make up cards at Zazzle, too.) We wanted to have something right now to put in with our orders or to give to people. Exciting! We found something "crafty" looking that we both liked.

I showed Leah what I had discovered by accident on youtube about die cut machines and how they have changed over the years. The one I bought years ago....well, sadly, I bought the Beta of die machines. In fact--at least Beta was user friendly--ROFL!! I'll see if I can post pictures of what I am talking about later--for all you non-crafters. :)


Leah and I spent the better part of the night discussing our Zip'eMate vs. The Cuttlebug--watching youtube demos--discussing the process of finding out if we could adapt our dinosaur to the newer models, etc. We came to the conclusion that by the time we paid for all we'd need to buy to attempt to get our old Zippy to work properly--we may as well buy a Cuttlebug.


I showed Leah what I had been up to lately, too. Since we need to find some other quicker and easier way to make Christmas cards right now, I began snooping thru all my card magazines (the first four magazine holders).
I have been thru all four of these! Took notes and drew little sketches on ideas for card layouts and designs. (Something else that had been on my "one day" list--tada!)

I have two huge three ring binders where I keep craft ideas and information...

...so, of course...I had to go thru and do a little reorganizing in both of them while I was at it, too--hehe! See that pile of smaller notes? Well, down the line I want to recopy them onto larger sheets so they can be organized and then filed properly in the binder.

But--for now--they got placed inside a plastic zipper pouch made for a 3-ring binder. The blue binder has card making, altered books, card templates, and angel companies. The green one has beading, polymer clay, aromatherapy, miscellaneous crafts, and information on selling crafts. Whew!

Now this week I can go thru the card one, snoop thru what supplies we have on hand, and come up with a simple Christmas card idea. :)

I'm hoping to get the poinsettia card sentiments done this week, also. And learn how to post on Etsy. Busy week for me, eh?

Leah didn't leave until after 10pm! We were just soooo excited and having such a great time--ideas spinning and flying about!! We really did need to get out from under the pressure of the time-consuming handmade Christmas cards for this year. Time just got away from us. Felt like a weight has lifted off of us! And we want our craft time to be just plain fun and pleasant and relaxing--something we look forward to. We are back on track now. :)

And big business decisions were made. We will eventually purchase a Cuttlebug--ROFL!

I had been awake almost 28 hours by the time I went to bed at 2am. Overdid it with all the magazines, etc. Was up at 6:30am and so sore I couldn't get back to sleep--but very, very happy. I can always get started on my to-do list tomorrow. No problem. :)

When my body speaks, I have to listen. So today I take it easy and watch some Nature documentaries...

Say--that reminds me--I think I have one more piece of writing from college that I haven't posted..."I Mourn My Body Past"--maybe I'll post that later. (Was published in the local paper up here a few years ago--won a contest for "over 50" authors). I'll make a note.

Have a wonderful day!! :):)