Friday-1:15pm

Puttered and puttered all day--til dawn. Am only up now because the mail lady rang to tell me I had a package that wouldn't fit into my mail box (a couple sheets of stamps I ordered).

Okay--first of all--Leah was still battling that cold and sore throat so she went home after work to rest and we postponed Craft Night. I wouldn't doubt she has caught that awful, draggy cold I had for weeks that Caroline said is going around all over campus. If that is what Leah's got she might not be over for crafts for a couple of weeks. This particular cold makes you exceptionally tired. I was coming down with it for the better part of a week--first the sore throat and then the sinuses hit later on. She's just got to take it easy, rest, and wait it out. :)

I went out to the cold garage and dug around until I found the air pump. Had some new filters to put on the end of the tubing, too. Also discovered a heater--and it worked--tada!

Had no idea it would take me soooo long to switch the plugs and get everything hooked up! I tried a few different adapters and could not get the plugs into the wall despite my acrobatics, pleading, cursing, knee pain, and smacking my elbow. Finally took a strip from the living room. Was quite a trick to reach back and plug it in, but I persisted--took breaks--and finally got it--tada! Long, long process. Made all the more embarrassing and ridiculous by the calm observation of an inquisitive, dispassionate feline.
In the end--the fish were delighted...

...and I took victory photos! hehe!

I did slow down the force of the bubbles a little this morning, but I wanted to circulate and oxygenate the water really well for a while.

I took a long break after the wall plug ordeal. Watched a movie. In fact I watched three movies during the night: Luther, House of Games, and Sweet November. None of which are worth telling you about, but they were far superior to the infomercials that run during the night--ROFL!

I watched movies while I cut out tiny Christmas trees with the Cuttlebug.

We're cutting three trees into each of these strips of green paper...

...so that we can reuse these strips in some future Christmas cards.

I found out quickly that it was kind of hard to eyeball the spacing, so I took a piece of white paper and made a guide so that I could line up the trees. We only have two of the tree dies so first I cut the two center trees on two strips of green paper.

Sandwich all the parts to get it just the right width--even used some cardstock paper shims...

...and crank...

...and roll it right through the machine. I still can't get over how easy this Cuttlebug works!!

Then the two trees are embedded into the centers of the paper strips.

Quite amazing to the easily entertained--hehe!

Then you pop them out...

...and peel them off of the dies.

I am keeping the little ribbon slot holes...

...inside of an old film container. We want to try using them in handmade paper later on.

Then I use my line guide to set the two tree dies on one of the strips...

...roll those through the bug...

...and repeat. One of those meditative activities that I can do while watching TV or movies. :) I'm piling the trees into a tiny old candy dish. As you can see, I didn't get a ton of them cut out. Time consuming. I'll try to do some every day. :)

After another long break--toward morning I went thru my coat closet, linen closet, purse drawer, and pajama drawer. Have three big bags filled and ready to go...

...and two more in progress in the bedroom.

Still have another rolling wardrobe to go thru from the storage locker. I am actually shocked by how much I am finding to let go of!!

I have to say--once I got going--this is a deeply refreshing process! Has a lot to do with my letting go of the past and my own acceptance of my health issues. More of an internal process than even the external sorting entails--hehe! But also--just feels good to know someone else can use what I am not, you know? It is very selfish of me to keep things around for no valid reason when someone else could actually get good use out of them. There have been times in my life where I would have been very grateful to have these things--but that old lack is no excuse for me to horde them now. Isn't that--on some level--living a fear based life?

My dream is living fearless. :):)