Saturday-2:30am--Dad and the cottonwood tree

Karma reluctantly keeps me company during my kind of "split shift" sleeping lately--I'm down for a few hours, awake for a few, down for a few.

But when Karma gets too exhausted she disappears under the bed or into the dark hallway at night to catch some uninterrupted sleep--hehe! Can't blame her. Sometimes I wish there was room for me under the bed--ROFL!

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I have been puttering away on the Christmas cards. Shorter sessions--20 minutes instead of an hour and less sessions in a day--but you can still get a lot done that way. :) I taped all the green front pieces to the black ones...

...and the both of them to the front of the white card.

The roofers have been right outside my window for a couple of days.

I opened the blinds to take the pictures, but you can see why I keep them down and closed. It's kind of unsettling to see people looking in at you on third floor--hehe!

Since repetitious movements are what set my bum arm off...I also took a break to do something different and made this card.

I had never gotten around to using the FlowerSofts that I purchased. I LOVE IT! This was so much fun!

I used the new Martha Stewart scoring board to make the border ridges around the front sides of the card. Then I used this tree stamp and the new brown StazOn ink pad.

Dabbed the glue around on the naked stamped tree, sprinkled the autumn colored FlowerSoft all over it, pressed down a bit with my fingers, and then tapped off all the excess FlowerSoft like you would for embossing powder. Soooo cool!! It turned out even better than I imagined. :)

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This is not the direct eye view you want to see from your chair in your nightgown at 7:30am.

Yup! Yesterday they were climbing up and down right there in front of my porch--(25 degrees that morning)--made me wish I had blinds on my inside porch door--hehe!

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Anyways, I managed to nap a little during the day on Thursday and Friday even with the workmen over our heads pounding nails. Just shows you how tired a person can get without decent sleep--ROFL!

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I kept doing my short sessions--worked up to 30 minute sessions on Friday--and finished taping the front pieces onto the white cards--tada!

What's left? Distressing all the circles and ovals...and then attaching them. Don't worry. Unless I could figure out a way to do it one-handed, I am going to leave the distressing for Leah.

Getting close, though, eh? Gets exciting when you get to the end of a big assembly project. :)

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My friends and family know I don't have money for gifts--haven't had for years--and they understand. But this is the one thing I can do. Handmade Christmas cards. Made with love and joy. Just makes me smile to look at them. :):)

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I was working at the table so much...

...and Karma likes to be close-by.

She actually got brave enough (well I actually hoisted her up there and she didn't flee for her life) to spy on the roofers as they were leaving my end of the building yesterday afternoon.

They left the ladder on the ground, tho...

...and it looked like maybe they were moving around to the front of the building by the main road.

Karma seemed more relaxed after she saw them drive "bye-bye" around the corner--hehe!

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My new debit card arrived in the mail Friday, but I haven't received the new pin number--and wasn't even sure they were going to give me a new one like I asked. So I spent an inordinate amount of time listening to cheerful recorded voices, pushing buttons, and speaking slowly to a machine just to get to a couple of different folks at Wells Fargo Bank (the first one transferred me to the second one--you know the drill) who couldn't tell me if I was being sent a new pin number because the computers were acting up. They both did tell me that I could go to one of their banks right then and pick my own new pin number.

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So--I made a quick trip to the closest Wells Fargo in the late afternoon. Waited in a long line, picked out a new pin number, and drove home.

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I should have had my camera. Above me there still is all the green plastic covered areas where the roofers have not re-sided yet? Wonder what they are doing up there? Maybe they are putting the peak covering strip thingie on? I can't see up there that well to know if that part is on or not--but I am amazed that they can spend days up there and it looks exactly the same to me? They are pounding and doing something, tho. I guess I'd rather they take their time and do it right--right? And they were actually working on the front side of the building late on a Friday afternoon. :)

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Anyways, I came home and went to order stamps by mail with my new debit card. I hope it was just too new (just activated it that very afternoon), because it wasn't recognized as a valid account. I'll try again today.

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Have you ever woken up with a song playing in your head? It happens to me fairly often, actually. I just slept from 7pm-12am and woke up to "You Light Up My Life." Nice way to wake up. ;)

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And I have been waking up this past week thinking about the cottonwood tree that was in our front yard where we grew up in Fridley. Probably because of my dad's birthday. I am going to email my sister and see if she can go and take a picture of it, if it is okay and still standing. I would love to see it one more time.

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We moved to Fridley from South Minneapolis when I was five years old. My dad was pulling weeds around the cement basement and window-wells of our new house and I came to watch him...and ask questions, as was my job. I know I asked enough questions about weeds to find out that this one larger one was a baby tree! I begged him to leave it grow. Too close to the house. Please plant it somewhere, Daddy! Please! Save it! Save it!

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I missed trees soooo much! Fridley was a stark naked suburb--barren--blank. I missed the "old" feeling of South Minneapolis. I missed trees.

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I begged and pleaded and promised to water it--until my daddy finally agreed to move the sapling. We planted it in the corner of the yard down by the street near the driveway. He said he'd just forget and run over it with the mower. No--you won't. I could tell he thought it was a silly thing to do to his brand new lawn and thought it would just die anyways.

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I remember standing guard when he mowed--carrying glasses of water out to my tree. I remember daddy being surprised that it was getting bigger. I spied and saw him watering it with the big green hose one day and I knew he cared for it, too. Dad grew careful about mowing around it. I remember how excited I felt when it outgrew me. How annoyed Dad was with the sticky pods (we got a boy cottonwood) all over the lawn.

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That tree towered over the neighborhood. Was a landmark for directions. Grew with two trunks. I loved listening to the leaves tremble in the wind and watch them silver-shimmering in the sunlight. It is almost 55 years old--if it is still standing tall--towering--and tearing up the asphalt road a bit along the edge of the yard. I have always loved that tree--and always thought of my dad when I noticed it and when I think of it now. :):)

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I hope it is okay? I am going to email my sister...

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"The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams."

Eleanor Roosevelt

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Note: My aunt corrected me. It was South Minneapolis and not North Minneapolis. Sorry. I fixed it. :)